Times A Ticking

10

"What do we do? What do we do!" Andre yells as he begins to panic just like he had done at the school. I shake my head confused myself trying to come up with a plan. "We are gonna die, we are so gonna die." He whispers to himself as the doors behind us try to open.

"Just hold your ground, there can't be too many." I say as I close my eyes. "We need to yell. As loud as you can to get their attention. Ready?" Andre nods his head and we both begin to scream at the top of our lungs.

The doors kept opening and closing with our body weight forcing it back, the growls from the undead forcing their way into our ears. I could basically hear their hunger as they became more aggressive.

After what felt like forever I see Adam running in front of Dad and Lee running towards us. As Dad gets closer his expression changes into a hint of disappointment and anger.

"What the hell are you two doing!" Lee yells as Adam tosses his body between us helping us hold back the door. Dad grabs me and replaces my body with his as he holds the door back.

"It's my fault, I was just being nosey!" I admit and Dad shakes his head and grabs a knife from his back pocket. "I'm sorry." I say to him and he just nods his head.

"Adam take Gabby and Andre and get them the hell out of here." He grunts as he presses the door back closed. "Tell your mother everything is okay."

"I'm not leaving I caused this." I say as I move closer to the door. "Let me help." Dad quickly shakes his head as Adam grabs my arm, and I watch as Andre already begins to run down the hall.

"Go." Dad orders and Adam begins to drag me but I jerk away running back to Dad as I try to press against the door to help them. "Gabby get the hell out! Now!" He yells harshly as he grabs my right arm and tosses me towards Adam.

Adam begins to tug on me and run, I follow behind and force myself to keep looking forward. I didn't want to know what was behind those doors.

We reach the main lobby and Mom runs to me engulfing me in her arms. "Oh Gabriella. My sweet Gabriella. Are you okay?" She asks before I nod my head into her shoulder.

"Yes, Dad is too. I caused a little mishap but they are fixing it. Everything is okay." I say as I pull away and force out my best fake smile. She caresses my cheek and kisses my forehead.

"We're all going to be okay." She whispers as she fully pulls away from me. I look to my right and watch as Andre hugs his mother, I could tell how worried she was.

"I think I am going to rest for a bit. I'm really shook up right now from everything." I say as I give Mom one more hug before walking over to my sleeping bag and getting in it.

I lay on my left side and sigh heavily as I close my eyes. The scene of those monsters outside and the sounds kept appearing into my head, it was like a never ending nightmare.

I sigh heavily and my eyes immediately open as I hear yelling coming from the hallway. I lean up and look at Andre before jumping up and we both run down the hallway towards the yelling.

I notice the door pushing more again Dad and Lee as they attempt to hold it back but they begin to fail. Dad looks up at me with pleading eyes, I run over slamming my body against the door getting it to shut back again.

"Take it." Dad say as he hands me the knife, "You need to be brave for me okay?" I widen my eyes and look at him petrified. "Aim for the skull okay? We will let them out one at a time. You can do this Pumpkin."

I gently take the knife with a trembling hand before slowly removing from the door, Andre runs and gets beside Lee as he helps them hold the door closed.

"Ready?" Dad asks as I close my eyes and take a deep breath before looking at him and nodding my head.

"Don't open the door all the way please.. just enough for their head to stick out should be enough." I say as they nod their head, Dad looks at Lee and nods his head as they easy up letting the door open up slightly.

I run up and slam the knife into the skull of the monster before Dad uses his foot to kick it back inside and slam the door shut before the others could come out.

"Good job, you done great. There's at least six more, you can do this." Dad whispers encouraging as my lower lip begins to quiver, I felt like a murderer.

"Dad." My voice cracks and he shakes his head as the door peaks open slightly and he slams his body back against it to close it again.

"No. You can't do that anymore, not in this world. Just close your eyes and stab, you have to. It's us or them." He says and I bite my lips trying to stop it from quivering before nodding my head.

"Open it." I whisper as they allow the monsters to push it a bit more. I notice one squeezing its head through the crack of the doors and I do exactly as I was told. I run up and close my eyes before I stab it and listen to Dad kick it to the ground with a hard thud before the doors close again.

"Okay everybody listen." Dad grunts as the door hits against his back as they try to force themselves through. "I don't know if we can hold this door steady much longer. I have another knife, Andre grab it and help Gabby. We're going to let two all the way out at a time, do not let them scratch you."

Andre grabs my Dad's other knife and runs to stand beside of me. "We will trip them and you don't waste a second, don't think just do it." Lee says as he eyes us down.

Andre pats my back as I felt my legs begin to become jellylike and my hands begin to shake much worse than before. I grip the knife in my hand as they open each set of doors allowing only two to manage their way out.

They trip them before slamming the door back. Andre and I spring into action sinking our knives deep into the skulls of the undead killing them for the last time.

"Now we are down to three. You kiddos take our spots okay? We can handle the last three if you guys don't have the guts to." Lee says as he offers a hand out, I start to hand my knife over before Andre grabs my arm pulling me back.

"No more kid games right?"