Haunted

I'll never forget the day when I woke up to people eating each other, and I don't think I will for a long time, and I'm trying not to think about it. I stare at the ceiling and listen to my little sister's snores. We'd found an abandoned house and decided to spend the night here. I can't sleep, so I kiss the top of Ellie's head before carefully getting up so I don't disturb her. Poor kid.. She didn't need to see any of the shit this apocalypse has put her through. I need to clear my head, so I go outside to walk around a little. I don't intend on going very far from the house. As I walk, I find a body on the ground. The corpse was holding a bow and had a sheath of arrows on their back. I tear up because it reminds me of Katniss, one of my other sisters. I still remember how she died..

~FLASHBACK~

I'm driving Ellie to her soccer game, when out of the corner of my eye I think I see someone lying on a sidewalk. "What the hell?" I mutter under my breath. I look out the window and see a person EATING someone. "Uh, Kira..?" Ellie seems to notice this as well. I hadn't been paying attention. The truck hit us head on.

"ELLIE?!" Is the first word out of my mouth when the car stops flipping. We landed upside-down. I try to kick the door open, and realize the hard way that my leg's probably broken. I try not to scream and kick the door again. It opens. I climb out of the car and open Ellie's door. She was in the back seat, so I couldn't really see her when the car flipped. "Oh my god, Ellie!" I say as I see that Ellie's seatbelt had cut through the skin in her neck. The wound was gushing blood. I immediately and carefully got Ellie out of the car, then took off my jacket to use as a temporary bandage for Ellie's wound. I put pressure on it and she whimpered. At least she was still alive. "Shh, it's okay, you're gonna be okay.." I whisper reassuring things to Ellie as I try to fix her up as much as possible. I carefully pick her up and she lets out a strangled cry. "I know, I know, shh.." I move her around carefully until she's in a position where she'd hopefully not be hurt that much. I know we need to get out of the city, so I start limping towards the highway.

About ten minutes of walking along the highway later, I hear a familiar four-note whistle behind us. I turn around slowly. "Kat!" I grin. At least our older sister hadn't gotten eaten and had somehow found us. "Where's Prim?" I ask, and she looks down. "Mom got to her before I could," she says, quietly. I don't know what to say, so I just remain quiet for a moment. We'd have time to grieve for our little sister later. Katniss then notices Ellie in my arms. "What the hell happened?!" She asks, shocked. "Car flipped and her seatbelt got her," I say. Katniss simply nods. My jacket was really the only thing we could do for her at the moment. "We should keep moving," Kat says. I nod in agreement. "I'll cover you," she adds. "Where the hell did you get a gun?" "Not time to ask questions," Kat says, and I hear the screams and groans of those.. things. I nod and turn around, headed the same way we were headed- out of the city.

Eventually we come across a man who looks like he's part of the military-big gun, gas mask, those kinds of things. "Thank god!" I say as I approach the man. "Stay back!" He shouts. I pause for a moment. "Sir, please, my sister needs help-badly! Please!" "I said stay back!" He orders again, and draws his gun. "Please, help her!" I take another step towards him. I hear a gunshot. As if in slow motion, I feel a hand on my shoulder which pushes me and Ellie to the ground, and hear a thud behind me as blood splatters on my face. I feel a deep rumble in my throat, and realize I'm screaming Katniss's name. I carefully lay Ellie on the ground as I get up. "Please, I didn't mean to, I swear!" I hear the military man say. "Like hell you didn't!" I scream at him. I pick up the gun Katniss dropped and shoot the man in the face. I shoot until the gun runs out of bullets. "He's dead," a small voice croaks from somewhere near me. I realize it's Ellie. I drop the gun and drop to my knees next to her. "Ellie-" "It hurts.." She whimpers. "I know, I know it does, you'll be okay, hang in there baby girl," I whisper back, my voice breaking. Tears are streaming down my face. Ellie can't die. I won't let it happen. "We're going to fix you, I promise. Stay strong," I say as I brush her hair out of her face. I turn to Katniss's.. Body. It's hard to think, but I manage to find a needle in her backpack. I tear off a not bloody section of my jacket and unravel it into thread. I thread the needle. "This is gonna hurt. Try to think about happy things. Think about last week's game. You scored ten of the twelve goals," I try to reassure Ellie as I start to stitch her neck. She screams in pain anyway. Now that I got started, it should be relatively easier. "Shh, shh. Here," I grab Ellie's hand with my left hand. "Squeeze my hand when it hurts, okay?" I'm pretty sure noise will attract those monsters to us. She nods ever so slightly. I squeeze her hand reassuringly and put in the next stitch. By the time I'm done, I'm surprised that my hand isn't broken.

~FLASHBACK OVER~