Beacon

8

I'm following a woman down the beach, waves crashing and the freezing water chilling my toes, but I don't notice it too much. The woman's radiant glow is almost blinding, it numbs my brain and fills me with a velvety warmth. I reach out to her, reaching for her loose blonde curls. I don't know why but I need to reach them, I just have to reach out and touch her, I need to catch up. Her pace is steadily growing faster, and I match it. I need to reach her. I finally get close but stumble over the loose rocks, the motion awkward and slow. The scene seemed to be darkening and my vision blurring and the woman finally turned around.

Mom?

BANG

I wake with a jolt, turning my head wildly to find the source of the noise. Was Oliver trying to get into my room again? My eyes adjusted to the dim light and my surroundings were unfamiliar. The lighthouse, of course,I'm in the lighthouse. I run my shaking hands over the makeshift mattress, empty.

Where's Oliver?

"Oliver! Where are you?"

I run around the room,and finding nothing, run to the window. I look up at the house and the yard and see a few bodies on the ground. Bodies. That I shot. Shaking myself I turn and look towards the coast and there he is. His little head bobbing. Unconscious, in the arms of some unknown person.

Before I could think I'm flying down the steps two at a time, my heart beating in my throat. I swing open the door and burst out trying to yell oliver's name but only managing incoherent Screams. They're already boarded onto a ship that's 20 feet from the shore. I take off my shoes and kick them aside, fling off my worn jeans and tear open my button up blouse, buttons flying off in the process.

I run out into the water and dive, I can feel the chill all the way down to my bone but I don't stop. The boat is moving slowly in the still shallow water and I've lived on the ocean my whole life, I'm a fast swimmer,I catch up quickly. I pound on the sides of the steel ship, screaming.

"Oliver! Give him back! Oliver!"

I keep banging and screaming but the water is getting deep and my muscles ache from the cold. I try scaling the slippery metal walls but it's hopeless, there's nothing to grab onto. The deck is so far up, this ship looks like it could belong to the navy. Someone looks over the deck at me, yells something I can't hear, and before I could even take a breath in to yell the ship quickened and I lost what little of a grip I had. During the next breath it was 20 feet away, the next,50.

My body was beginning to give up, but my brain kept me there in place. Looking at the huge ship that has my tiny brother on it. My face began to slip underneath the water but I kept looking to try and find some marking, some way to identity the kidnappers,nothing.

I turned and swam back to shore, kind of breathing but kind of not. Kind of caring but mostly not. I walked back to the lighthouse and opened up the door, every movement sending pain through my aching and freezing muscles. I closed the door and touched the lock lightly but not bothering with it despite the distant scuffling and moaning of the zombies. There's no one to protect anymore and besides, one of those monsters is probably my father anyway.

They took him.

Screams escaped my throat again, remembering that the zombies will be attracted to the noise but again, not minding much.

They took my little brother who I've protected all these years.

My throat began to burn, like the screams were laced with acid.

His sweet smile, his little feet and hands, gone.

Tears and saliva formed together on my face and neck and started to burn the outside of my throat as well.

Finally the screams were replaced with choking and gasping, nothing was left inside me.

He's gone.