All Of Us Are Dead

chapter 8 The encroaching darkness

After Tommie and I had a moment alone, we headed back to the living room. The atmosphere was tense—no one said much as we settled down. Uncle had done his best to make the place feel safe, but there was no comfort in this situation. Blankets covered the floor, and he'd piled every pillow he could find to give us something soft to rest on. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

There was a quiet agreement between us all that sleeping in the same room was the best option. The world outside had turned hostile, and none of us wanted to be caught alone. We also decided someone had to keep watch, taking turns through the night to ensure we stayed vigilant. We couldn't afford to let our guard down. Uncle volunteered to take the first shift, sitting by the window with his rifle, eyes scanning the darkness outside.

The rest of us tried to settle in. Jake and Riley had found a corner to themselves. They were whispering, their voices too low for me to make out, but from the way they laughed softly, you could tell they'd found an odd friendship through all this. It was strange how quickly people bonded when they were faced with something bigger than themselves. Jake, my brother, now found comfort in a near-stranger. It felt surreal.

On the other side of the room, I sat with Reya, Quin, and Tommie. The four of us leaned against the couch, our backs pressed into the cushions as if that could somehow ground us in reality. We tried to talk about what was going to happen next, but none of us had any real answers. The weight of the unknown hung heavy between us, like an invisible fog we couldn't push through.

"I don't know how much longer we can keep running," Reya said quietly, her voice thick with emotion. She hadn't stopped shaking since we'd arrived. Her eyes were bloodshot, her body curled into Quin's side for support.

"We can't think like that," Quin replied, his voice steady but low. "We'll figure something out. We just have to stay together, okay?"

Reya nodded, but the fear in her eyes told a different story. She didn't believe it, not really. None of us did.

I wanted to say something comforting, to tell them we'd all be fine, but the words felt hollow. I wasn't sure if I believed them myself. I glanced at Tommie, who was sitting next to me, but we couldn't even make eye contact. There was an awkward tension between us, something left unsaid. We both knew it wasn't the right time to talk about it, but it was there, lingering between us like an unresolved question.

Reya suddenly leaned her head against Quin's shoulder, and he instinctively wrapped his arm around her. They found comfort in each other, in the familiarity of their friendship. Meanwhile, Tommie and I sat in silence, our knees just barely brushing as we both stared at the floor. Every now and then, I would catch him looking at me from the corner of my eye, but neither of us spoke. I didn't know how to deal with it—with the feelings building up inside me, with the world outside falling apart. How could we talk about something like that when everything felt so wrong?

"What's gonna happen to us?" Reya's voice broke the silence again, softer this time, her eyes filling with tears she tried to blink away.

"I don't know," I whispered, my throat tight. "But we have to keep going. There's no other choice."

For a while, we all just sat there, lost in our own thoughts. The occasional sound of sirens outside or the rumble of helicopters filled the void. It was the only reminder that something much larger than us was happening out there, beyond the walls of Uncle's house. That, and the quiet hum of the TV, where the news was playing on low volume.

At some point, the exhaustion got to me. I don't even remember falling asleep, but I must've, because when I opened my eyes again, it was pitch black outside. The only light came from the dim glow of the TV, where the news continued its endless loop of terror and despair.