Annihilation

Chapter 3 - The Dead are Living

ELIAS' P.O.V

My name is Elias. I'm 17-years-old.

I stretched my arms up above my head, yawning before rubbing my eyes and sitting up, my blanket falling from my bare chest and a grin plastered on my face. It's the first day of the summer holidays, six weeks of freedom and sleeping in, my smile lazily left my face as I climbed from my bed and walked to the kitchen.

It's so quiet; I guess mum and dad are at work today? I sigh and pour myself a bowl of Cheerios, munching through them swiftly before walking back up to my room and changing into some jeans and a plain black shirt, quickly brushing my black hair so I wouldn't forget. After changing I pull the curtains back from the window, lighting up my dark room with natural light. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the change and I looked outside, spotting my neighbour standing in a sort of slouched over position on his lawn. I open my window and take another look at him, noticing the bright red stain on his neck and chest. Then I took in his face and gasped in both repulsion and shock.

His skin was a deathly white but that's not what led to my reaction. A large chunk of flesh seems to have been torn from the right side of his face, too much missing for it to be a costume, why would he be dressing up in such horrific attire now anyway?

It's not near enough to Halloween to start with creepy stuff like that... I called out to ask if he was okay only to have his head snap towards the noise and his feet drag him in my direction a strange gurgled groan rising from his torn throat. I backed away from my window shaking my head back and forth in confusion, I could blame this on that strange disease but this is different, it's too real to be a costume, right?

Banging started downstairs as Mr Gengstin banged on the front door, I presume that's him? The same gurgled groaning echoed up to me, confirming my suspicions.

I slowly crept from my room carrying my empty backpack down into the kitchen, grabbing two knives, putting a third into my bag as backup and the other two slotted between my belt and my hips. I shove numerous cans of food into my bag next to the knife and grab two small bottles of water from the six pack in the corner.

I hope my parents are okay, my mum’s a nurse and my dad is a surgeon at the hospital not far from here.

I sigh and walk up to my room, opening the window as far as I could before climbing out onto the porch roof and quietly creeping around to the side of the house and climbing down onto the neighbours small garden. As I walk away hiding behind cars and building I hear the distant sound of wood splintering before silence.

Sighing in relief I carry on walking in the general direction of the hospital, if I can find my parents then everything will be okay, right? I nod my head, responding to my own silent question. Moments later I hear similar groaning from before and sigh quietly, pulling one of the knives from my belt and gripping it firmly before turning the corner.

My stomach churned horrifically at the sight, a person- no, a zombie crouched over the still thrashing body of my history teacher Mrs Densiby, she screamed before passing out from what I can only presume is unbearable pain, her stomach had been torn open and her intestines were being pulled out by the zombie who looked a lot like another teacher at the school - I don't know his name but I recognise him. Half of his face was missing and a large bite was easy to spot on his shoulder seeing as his top has been torn away from there.

I slowly backed away and crept around the corner; the sound the zombie was making never changed as I crept away in the opposite direction and silently apologised for not saving Mrs Densiby.

Five minutes later nothing else has appended, at least until a hand lapped down over my mouth and I tried to scream in terror, however my scream was muffled by the mysterious person's hand. Once I stopped struggling, the stranger released me.

I turned around to look at the person only to realise it was the school bully Cassius. He was holding a strong looking baseball bat.

"Yeah I'm not too thrilled about it either, douche" he spat. "But we're gonna need to stick together for a while."

"I'll stick with you if you help me find my parents," I replied.

He nodded and I told him about them working at the hospital, a frown formed on his face, he said nothing when I asked what was wrong. He simply mumbled "never mind" as we set off walking.

We slowly made our way towards the hospital, hoping to find my parents there, only to find them when we were only half way; they were both slumped down over what appeared to be a person. I called out to them, their heads both snapped up as my voice reached them and they stood up from the corpse.

"Crap..." Cassius' voice echoed quietly as he took in my reaction to the two groaning zombies. A tear slowly drips down one side of my face as I take in the ragged appearance of both of my parents as the realisation set in. My dad had a large chunk missing from his chest where his heart should be and my mum was missing a hand, accompanied by a broken nose. They were both deathly pale and covered in blood.

They stumbled towards us and a small cry rang from my throat, as they got closer Cassius lifted up his bat, pulled it backwards slightly before murmuring "I'm sorry." He swung the bat forcefully into my father’s face just as he was lunging towards me, he slumped to the ground. Dead. My mum ignored the corpse of her husband and advanced, tripping over his leg slightly and stumbling.

Cassius swung the bat towards her, only managing to hit her arm as she reached towards me. I cried out as the stump where her hand was supposed to be almost touched my face.

Not knowing what to do I thrust forwards with the knife, aiming blindly and forcing the sharp blade through her throat. I cried out again as my mother’s lifeless body dropped at my feet, I had somehow managed to decapitate her.

Cassius grabbed my arm and dragged me away only to stop short after only a few metres, I looked up and followed his gaze, three shadows were thrown across our path and quiet voices echoed through the air.

There are others out there? Alive?