The Rain (Book 1 - The Unprotected)

Chapter 2 - La rue des os et de sang

The sounds of car alarms, glass smashing and people screaming echoed through the entire school. Jane's head shot up like a bullet, eyes wide in terror and concern. Everyone shot out of their chairs and raced towards the windows, Nate almost tripped over his own feet in the process.

Jane gasped at the sight and Courtney froze in horror. It was like a scene from a horror movie. Something fabricated and unrealistic. The grey concrete ground was bathed in red.

For a second Ross thought that it was raining blood, as did Annie. Then they heard the screams and saw the bodies of people writhing on the ground, their skin melting from their bones like acid was being poured over them.

Nate's eyes widened, he turned his body around and puked. He gasped for breath, heaving air into his dry lungs, his hand gripped a desk and he held on tight knowing that if he let go then he'd fall to the ground. He closed his eyes, the smell of vomit hitting his face like a tonne of bricks.

Drew's hands shook, his eyes stuck were on a woman who'd managed to hide under the canopy of a sweet shop. Her little blonde daughter stood beside her with her arms coiled around her leg. He almost sighed in relief until he saw the skin on the lady's arm fall off, leaving nothing but a sea of blood that gushed to the ground.

Drew watched as her skin fell to the ground and melted as soon as it hit the concrete. He watched as the grey bones in her body crashed to the ground. It was like thousands of bugs were eating at her skin. The little girl was screaming now and just before she could get to safety a drop of the mother's flesh fell onto her face and in seconds, she was burning too. A man ran out of the shop, reaching out for them in horror. Water crashed down onto his exposed arm and he was crumbling too.

Drew tried to look away but he couldn't tear his eyes from the three of them. He couldn't blink, he didn't even know if he was blinking. His hands found each other in an attempt to stop the shaking but it didn't work. Soon the little girl's face was gone, the skin tearing apart. Her eyes fell from their sockets and her skull was all that was left, but the screaming never stopped. The blonde girls bones clattered to the ground along with the father's and the mother's.

In seconds, a family that were breathing had been reduced to nothing but a pile of bones. The sky was raining death upon them.

At first, Drew thought it was the people outside screaming, then he realised it was Annie. The remains of the family crashed to the ground, their bones scattered and knocked into other people's while their clothing flew into the wind. They were dead. In seconds, they had all died. He snapped his head to the side, staggered over to the nearest desk and leant against it. He clutched the sides of the table for dear life, fearing that if he let go he would pass out.

Alex couldn't breathe, it was as if every organ in his body had stopped working, his heart stopped pumping blood hence why his face was pale and colourless. His lungs stopped working, thus resulting in him gasping, searching for air but it didn't seem like there was enough. His mind was working in overdrive and he felt the pressure build up in his head.

Courtney's hand clasped Jane's, she held it so tight that both their hands became numb. The sight of blood and bones covering the streets made Courtney lose her mind. Cars were crashing into each other causing smoke to cloud her vision. People of all ages thrashed in pain, she watched in shock as everyone in the rain died. The water burning their skin, eating at it like a rabid animal. Everyone was dead. She couldn't comprehend what was happening.

Even though the screams weren't as loud they still rang in Jane's head, filling every corner of her mind like sirens until it was all she could hear and all she could think about. Jane had never been very good with blood or gore. Her cheeks felt cold, she raised her right hand - the one that wasn't held in Courtney's vice-like grip - to her eyes and realised she was crying, the tears were streaming down her face like an unstoppable river, a constant flow of salt water. She looked over to Courtney who's wide eyes were glued on the outside world, the world that was being destroyed.