Skylar

9-Skye Present Day

"BANG! BANG!"
My last day in the village I had called home for years began with gunshots, shattering the calm silence of the morning.

I jumped out of bed. Somehow, I knew they were gunshots, although I had never heard a gun go off. There was some kind of distant memory, just beyond my reach, teasing me. Frustrated, I shook my head to try and clear it. More gunshots rang out, and a feeling of dread settled over me as I came to my senses and realized that they were nearby.

Frantically, I threw on my clothes and raced down out of my room and down the hallway. I ran into Annalise and Lucia' s room without knocking and shook them awake frantically. "Annalise! Lucia! Get up!" I screamed.

They jumped up out of bed. "Skye, for heaven's sake, what is going on?"

"Gunshots!" I screamed, because that was really the only thing I knew for sure about what was happening.

They exchanged looks and, not bothering to get dressed, ran out of the house in their nightgowns. I followed them outside just as even more gunshots rang out. We raced down the street into the village to the sounds of screaming and shooting. Finally, we reached the end of the street and, with a feeling of dread in my heart, turned the corner onto Main Street.

A gasp escaped my mouth before I could stop it. The sight before us was awful. There were bodies everywhere, some killed executions style and others sprawled out in every direction. They eyes were wide open and glassy, pupils dilated from sheer terror. Blood oozed from their mouths open in silent screams which would never again be heard. The streets were slick with sticky blood from the bullet holes that riddled their lifeless corpses. It ran like a river in between the stones, pooling around the fountain in the center of the town square like a thick black and red lake. Bike rose in my throat and I turned around and threw up. The sickening feeling in my stomach worsened as I turned back around and began picking my way through the corpses and puddles of blood. Carefully, I made my way down the street, Annalise and Lucia following close behind me.

When we got to the town square we stopped at the corner and peered around carefully.