Rise of the Dead

11

Max finally woke up, and he got up onto his feet, his head hurting from the blow. With his right hand, he touched the side of his head. He pulled his hand away, and he saw blood on his fingers. All around him, flames were busy devouring the house. The smoke was filling the air, making his eyes watery and his mouth dry. "Sophia, where are you?" he shouted, his voice louder than he wanted it to be. "Sophia, where are you?" he shouted again, trying to be heard over the sound of the crackling flames.

There was no response so he walked over to the stairs. "Sophia, where are you?" Max shouted a third time, and he stood there, listening for a answer. There was still no response, the only sound was from the roaring flames. Suddenly, upstairs, over the sound of the crackling flames, he heard the sound of Sophia's voice.

"Max, I'm upstairs. Please hurry!" he heard her shout down to him. Looking up the stairs, Max could see that the smoke covered the second-floor landing. He covered his mouth and nose with his right jacket sleeve. Taking a deep breath and holding it, he rushed up the stairs, taking them two steps at a time. As he ran into the smoke, the smoke split in half then the smoke covered him like a blanket. Even with his jacket sleeve covering his mouth and nose, Max could feel the smoke creeping into his nose.

He finally made it to the second-floor landing, and while trying to see through the thick smoke, he made his way to Sophia's bedroom. Max stopped in front of her bedroom and he grabbed ahold of the doorknob. He turned the doorknob and pushed, but the door wouldn't open. He released his grip on the doorknob, and pressed his right shoulder against the door. Groaning with effort, he pushed against the bedroom door. The door still wouldn't open, so he took a deep breath and tried again, this time pushing harder against the door with all of his strength.

The leg of Sophia's wooden desk chair scraped across the floor as Max pushed the bedroom door open. When the bedroom door was almost completely open, Max pushed against the door one last time. The door swung wide open, causing the chair to fall back. The wooden chair landed on the ground with a "thump".

He stood in the bedroom doorway, his eyes scanning Sophia's bedroom. The flames roared behind him in the hall-way as he stood still. His eyes landed on Jake's dead body, and just like Sophia did, Max let out a gasp and he looked away from his best friend's corpse. His eyes landed on Sophia's bedroom window. He rushed over to the open window and leaned his head out into the pouring down rain. Max could see Sophia standing a couple of feet away from him.

Sophia stood near the bottom of the roof, the tips of her sneakers just inches away from the ledge. "Sophia!" he called out to her, climbing out onto the roof. He wasn't sure if she could hear him over the sound of the beating rain. She spun around, looked at him, and stepped away from the edge of the roof. "Max, I see my brother.... Daniel's in the front-yard." Sophia told him, pointing out to where her brother was on his knees in the wet grass. "Grab my hand. We need to go, now." Max told her, reaching his right hand out to her for her to grab.

After Sophia said his name, Daniel raised his head out of his hands and looked up at the roof. He could see Max and his sister standing there in the middle of the roof. Before the two of them could see him again, Daniel got up onto his feet and rushed over to the left side of the yard. His Nike sneakers almost slipped across the wet grass as he ran across the yard. He hid behind the tree at the edge of the front-yard, his back pressed up against the trunk of the tree.

On the roof, Sophia took ahold of Max's hand and Max pulled her over to him. "We have to jump," Max said, looking over the edge of the roof. "I can't do it.... I can't jump." Sophia told him, raising her voice so he could hear her. Max turned his head back to her and looked her in the eyes. For a moment, the two of them stood there, staring into each other's eyes. Finally, he turned his head back to the street, and looked back over the ledge. "We have to do this," he said, not looking up at Sophia.