All That Remains

The Cole Family

I kicked in the door to the apartments where Ryan lived. As we approached through the clear white corridor we could see the open door and hear growling coming from within: not a good sign. Cautiously, Ryan stepped inside. The room would be pretty nice if it weren't for the tall hefty man and the bleach-blond, skeletally thin woman advancing on two young boys and an amber dog.

The dog seemed to be protecting the two boys, who were retreating into a corner, one hiding behind the other. Even with its teeth bared and its hackles raised the dog looked like nothing compared to the zombies, whose eyes were terrifyingly empty of emotion.

Ryan dashed into the room, clutching his hammer so tightly his knuckles turned white. I grabbed a silver alarm clock from the table on my right and threw it at the woman. She slowly turned to face me. Darting forwards, I kicked her in the knee and she slammed head first onto the shiny marble floor. Horror movie-like, she dragged herself towards me with her manicured glossy pink nails. Clawing at my legs, she pulled me over. I was panicking as I shuffled back. I felt my back hit the wall. Trapped. I kicked out at her head, once, twice, three times. Howling, I struggled as she threw herself over me. With all my strength, I kicked her off of me and threw her a couple of metres away. Leaping up, I buried my screwdriver into her temple. She released a guttural scream and collapsed.

Ryan stood across the room from me in his father's shadow; his bigger stronger reflection. The two stood there for a second and I could almost imagine they were both human. But then, the moment ended and Ryan's father grabbed his shoulders, in an attempt to bite his son's neck. Moving fast, I dashed to the chairs to the right of the dead zombie and, lifting one high above my head, threw it with all my strength towards the struggling pair. It slammed hard into the grunting man's hip, knocking him to the ground and causing him to hit his head. Hard. As his father lay stunned on the ground, Ryan let out a sigh of relief and stood up. "Dad," he said to the zombie. "I'm sorry it had to end this way." He shut his eyes and swung down the hammer. His dad went still. Ryan sunk to his knees. "I'll miss you dad, as long as I live, I'll miss you." Slowly, Ryan walked over to me. "Thanks." He gave me a sad smile. The boys that were cowering in the corner scrambled up. "Ryan we knew you'd come!" Assured the smaller of the two; a young lad who looked very much like Ryan. The boy ran up to Ryan and gave him a warm hug. His brother, I figured. "What took you so long? And who's this?" said the other boy accusingly, gesturing at me. He was short and stocky, with spiky black hair and pale, almost transparent skin. You could see faint lilac and blue veins running underneath his eyes making him appear as if he hadn't slept much.  In comparison, the other was tall and lanky with floppy brown hair, tanned skin, soft doe-brown eyes and an adorably nervous little smile. He stood awkwardly with his back hunched slightly and his long arms swinging. He really did look a lot like Ryan. "Oh erm, Zoey this is my brother Ben," The taller one smiled shyly. "And my step-brother, Justin." The boy stared right at me, making me quite uncomfortable. "Guys, this is Zoey, she goes to my school." Ryan finished. Justin studied me with intelligent deep blue eyes. "Hmm, okay." The dog's nose touched my leg. "I didn't know you had a dog." I said curiously.

"I don't, it's my neighbours. her name is Starla." Ryan stroked the amber dog's head. "She is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, I think." Starla gazed at me with her dark emerald eyes. I patted her head awkwardly, I had never been much good with animals. "We can't exactly leave her here," Ben remarked. "She saved our lives."

"Okay," Ryan sighed. "The dog comes." He grabbed a rucksack and began to search his apartment for anything that might be useful.

"Ryan, meet me at my house, I can't just stand here in case something has happened." I called behind me as I left the apartment and dashed down the pristine marble stairs onto the street below.