My Insurgent Life (Completely Fanfiction) Wattys2015

Chapter 39

Screams. Everywhere. Filling my ears with the horrible, strangled sound.

These are the screams of those I love.

My father, Lamar, Alice, Grace, Faith, Adrian.

But then, Christine, Mathew, my mother scream for me as well. From the opposite direction.

The sounds of their screams burn into my soul, passing through my ears, shattering my insides like glass. Fragile glass.

Adrian's voice stops abruptly and switches it's direction of sound. Moments later, Faith's does the same.

I start running, towards the sound of Alice, Grace, Lamar, and my father screaming. But then, my father's voice switches it's direction as well. Joining my mother, Christine, Mathew, Adrian, and Faith.

Alice, Grace, and Lamar, I say to myself. Then Grace is gone. Soon on the other side.

I run and run and run and run. Darkness clouding my vision like black ink overrides the white of a paper.

Then, I am stopped, I have run into something hard, the impact dizzying me momentarily. Arms curl around me- Lamar.

"Stella," he says. "Stella, I'm sorry."

"Why?" I ask. "Where's Alice?"

He hesitates. "She's gone, same with your father, Grace, Faith, Adrian. I don't know what happened."

"They're just . . . Gone?"

"Yes," he says. "It's just us."

"But," I say. "They're still screaming, I hear them! We have to go find them, Lamar, come on!"

He pulls me back. "Stella, are you crazy?" He asks. "They're gone, and their not screaming, not anymore. I need you to listen to me," he pauses for a moment. "We have to get out of here, I don't know what's happening, so we need to get out before we find out."

"No, Lamar," I say. "You don't hear them?" I ask. "You can't hear them?"

"No, I don't hear anything," he says. "Come on, we have to go before-" He is cut off abruptly.

"Lamar?"

His arms fall away from me, I hear something hit the floor, hard. Then, I hear his screams alongside the others behind me.

Dead, I realize. They're all dead.

* * *

I wake with a heavy gasp, I am sitting up already, Lamar's arms having fallen away from me. My heart pounds violently against my chest, as if trying to break through my skin. My breathing is abnormal as well, my inhales and exhales desperate.

My face falls into my hands, I sit there, for a long time, trying to calm myself down, but then, every time I am near calm, the memory of why I am awake at the moment, in the cold darkness, come flooding back like air floods my lungs each time I take in a breath.

"Stella?" His voice is a slurred whisper, a recent awaken causing this. "Stella, why are you awake? It's 1:30."

I shake my head. "Bad dream," I whisper, my voice all too shaky.

He pushes himself into a sitting position next to me as I lift my head from my hands. His arm slides over the small of my back, his hand resting on my waist. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shake my head. "It's too soon."

He nods. "Do you want me to stay awake with you?"

"No, you can go back to sleep," I say.