Bonenapper

Prologue

  A/N: here's a playlist for the book. If the link doesn't work, the playlist is called Bonenapper by Danielle LaBore. I'll add more songs as I add more chapters :)
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2bGUddWMxmXtLmCkdEW4wa?si=kmUQ6-gmT5ukZHldhcNIsw&pi=u-avr8z4dJQruY

There was no alarm to signal the coming of the apocalypse.

It began as a whisper. In hushed tones between doctors and scientists, creeping into a disease mainly affecting animals.

Genius, really.

Because that's the thing with humans; if it doesn't affect them, they don't care, they won't notice, until it's too late. Until it finally does affect them and by that time there is no cure, no remedy. Only death and destruction of their own design.

   By the time the news of the apocalypse reached fifteen year old Maeve in the dark cell she called home, it was loud and tumultuous. It awoke her in the dead of night with shrieks of creatures that were once human, and the piercing screams of their victims.

Instinctually, Maeve backed against the wall. She didn't know who or what was on the other side of her door. There was no news of the outside world allowed in the prostitution ring, known as the White Lotus.

She supposed they didn't want any hope seeping through the cracks of the brothel that someone might be looking for the lost girls.

Either way, Maeve knew better than to hope. She had no family, no friends, really. Just a long list of foster homes that eventually led to her entrapment here. No one was looking for her.

   A loud thud echoed off the cement walls of her cell as something collided against her door.

At first, she thought it might be a battering ram; that this whole ordeal might be part of a raid.

The sound of gut-wrenching screams, accompanied with ripping flesh and crunching bones, caused her to reevaluate her theory.

Maeve backed herself as far back into the far corner of the wall as her body would allow. Despite the horrific commotion of gun shots and shrieks and clawing happening outside her cell, she could not take her eyes off of the pool of blood slowly creeping towards her from under her door.

The moment it reached her white, tattered night gown, she couldn't move. She could only sit there frozen, and idly feel the sticky warmth of the crimson liquid creeping up her gown and clinging to her skin.

A sudden onslaught of fiery light brought Maeve out of her trans. Her eyes focused on the silhouette standing in the doorway, with a ring of bloody keys.

"Zara?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Tiptoeing through the pool of blood and over someone's remains, Maeve couldn't tell who, she made her way towards the older girl.

There was a small group of other girls clinging to each other behind Zara, all in the same dirty nightgown.

"Got these off of Mike." Zara explained with a smirk, jingling the keys in her hand. "I wouldn't have known it was even him, if it wasn't for that stupid bandana he wore around his arm all the damn time. His head was gone. Come on, we need to free the others."

"How are you so calm about this?" Maeve whispered, as she sprinted to keep up with Zara.

"I'll freak out later. Right now, I need to make sure the rest of you get out of here in one piece."

   Quickly and quietly, they made their way towards the exit. Always stopping by every cell door they came across to release another girl. By the time there were no more cells to open, there were no less than thirty girls trailing behind Zara.

Sometimes, they'd have to huddle together against a wall as one of the creatures patrolled the hallway. Maeve was the closest, next to Zara, by the edge of the of the wall. Once, she mustered up the courage to peak over the corner and see into the hallway. Her curiosity begged her to catch a glimpse of the creatures that had caused so much destruction.

In the light of a fire that had started against the far wall, she spotted the creature. It's skin was a lifeless grey, and stretched over its skeleton like clothing that was a size or two too small.

Tattered remnants of what Maeve assumed were once clothes, hung loosely around it's body. Indicating that this thing was once a person, like her. She thought the clothes might've been a suit at one point, but couldn't tell.

If there was ever any hair on its head, it had fallen off. Which is why Maeve could spot the wide gash that had taken the thing's ear. Though, the closer she looked at it, the more she realized it wasn't a gash at all, but a bite mark.

Curved fingernails that extended about four inches were coated in blood and grime.

White, thick cataracts covered the creature's eyes. As it switched from standing to all fours and moved it's head about, Maeve realized that it couldn't see. It relied entirely on sight and sound.

Knowing this, Maeve extended her head a little farther out to get a better look at the monstrosity.

Her actions were quickly stopped, though, as Zara slammed Maeve back against the wall and gave her a warning look.

   Crisp air flooded their nostrils as the girls made it outside at last. Maeve craned her head towards the sky and smiled slightly as she caught sight of the moon for the first time in two years.

Her reverie was soon broken by Zara's hurried whisper.

"Come on, this way. Quick, before they come for us."

The girls soon found themselves in a parking lot housing several vans with various name brands and fake companies painted on their sides.

"I'll drive one of these vans, but it won't fit all of us. Who else knows how to drive?" Zara queried.

No one except Dina, the second eldest, raised her hand.

Maeve realized that none of the others were even old enough to have a drivers license.

"Okay, that'll work. Everyone pick a van and climb in."

"Where are we going?" A young girl asked in a shaken tone.

"Anywhere but here." Zara replied, then turned to Dina. "Let's take that road over there and see where it takes us."

As the vans turned out of the driveway, Maeve noted the irony of how the very vehicle that had brought her to this never ending nightmare, would be her rescue.

   It couldn't have been more than a couple of hours before the girls found themselves in the midst of towering mountains and diving canyons.  As the sun greeted the horizon, Maeve noted the caves and outcrops in the cliff sides on either side of the road.

"We should stop somewhere around here." Zara suggested. "It looks like there's a lot of cover and protection in this area. We'll be safe here."