The Days Are Tired (Book #1 of the Dark Skies series) - A Zombie story

Chapter 9: Omitted

I don't know how long I was unconscious. Warmness seemed to be covering my face and I couldn't open my eyes. My temple throbbed.

"Bri! Bri! Briana, please wake up!"

The scared voice was finally able to reach my ears. My head pounded so loud that it almost drowned out all sound, so it was hard to comprehend.

My eyes... I tried to open them but when I did, wetness invaded my left eye. I wiped at it and looked. My hand was covered with a thick red.

Blood?

The metallic taste in my mouth almost made me sick. I gagged and then felt hands lightly caressing my face.

I was finally able to think properly. I looked up - scared to see what predicament we were in. The van had hit a tree straight on. If I didn't have my seatbelt on I probably would have been propelled through the glass. The tree branches seemed to be twisting towards me - reaching like a withered hand. I shivered, realizing how close to death I had been.

I looked over at Mark, his eyebrows were angled down in pain.

"Mark, are you okay?"

"That's what I should be asking you."

I noticed that he had just dodged my question.

I looked over him quickly, the right side of his shirt was soaked with blood. I reached my hand out and grabbed his hand, lifting his arm to get a better view. Some glass was stitched in his side and I felt my head cloud with confusion.

Mark pulled his arm away from me and stiffly reached over to open his car door. The door creaked painfully, taking a lot of strength on Mark's part. I watched him as he basically rolled out of his seat. He barely landed on the ground, as he let out a harsh breath.

"Mark, are you okay?"

He nodded his head, waving off my concern. I tried to open my car door but it hardly moved. Mark came over to my side and pulled the door open. His face was red from exhaustion and his eyes seemed to be filled with tears of pain.

He finally was able to get me out of the car. I stood in the grass on shaky legs, blood still coated my face. I reached up and winced as my fingers touched a cut above my left eye. I managed to get some of the blood out of my eyes using the ends of my shirt.

"Bri, come on we can't be that far from the hospital. Let's get there and get your cuts looked at."

I was shocked that we weren't more badly injured. My mind wandered back to the other cars on the road. I hope no one else was hurt.

Mark reached his hand through the broken glass window in the back of the car coming back out with the metal bat. He lifted it a little - as if testing the bat's weight in his hand. I saw his face draw blank at the sight of his aunt's dried-up blood still coating the tip of the bat.

We walked up the path where we could see that the car had rolled down. Tree branches were snapped and broken. Mark held my arm as we tracked back up the hill. I was finally able to see the road and my eyes widened in shock. Cars were smashed together and people frantically tried to get their loved ones out of the torn-up cars. I heard lots of people screaming and kids crying.

I moved to go help a woman in a blue truck that was rear-ended in the back of a red jeep- but Mark pulled me back.

"We have to go to the hospital." He said as he gave me a serious look.

"We can't just leave them here, we have to help!"

"We are helping, will run to the hospital and get an ambulance out here. We can't pull all these injured people out and we need to hurry and check on your parents!"