The Last City

Chapter 4

Crestfield University, Cite De Sierra, 1:23 A.M.

“Where did dad go?” asked Belle, one sunny afternoon while she was wrapping pastries for her mom to sell.

“He went for work,” replied Mrs. Summers without changing her expression. She was stirring in the last mixture for her to bake.

Belle knew it was supposed to be the end of the discussion. It was as if an invisible hand had cupped her mouth. She always knew when not to press her mother further.

“Mom, I won’t allow you to leave me,” she said finally.

“I’ll never leave you,” said Mrs. Summers who was now filing in the cookies into the oven. “But for now, you need to promise me one thing.”

“What is it mom?” asked Belle, quite surprised at the sudden melancholic tone of her mother.

“Be strong, for me…”

Belle awoke with a start as she sat up. It took her sometime before everything to register in her mind. She looked around, trying to see through the darkness. There were movements in the room. Where was she, in a classroom? She assumed after seeing the blackboard somewhere in front of her and armchairs carelessly plucked to the sides.

She looked to her right and a stabbing pain erupted from behind her ears. She winced at the pain as she struggled not to pass out again. How long had she been unconscious? She tried to recall what had happened just before the blackout was the mayor’s speech, then the hysteria. The mass running everywhere and she was caught in between the stampede. She was looking for her mom.

“Mom!” she finally cried out, struggling to be on her feet.

“Shh.” said a familiar female voice beside her as she was pulled back to the floor.

“Flannery!” Belle sighed in a momentary relief, getting on her knees and gathering Flannery’s hands into hers. “What happened?”

“You collapsed during the stampede,” whispered Flannery. Belle noticed something strange from her voice, as if she had just been crying. “I went to my family and couldn’t find you anymore. I thought you were lost, so we evacuated along with some others. It was horrible, my dad… my dad.”

“What happened to your dad?” asked Belle but Flannery had began crying again before she finished her question.

“Those things outside the wall got in,” said Flannery in a hushed tone, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “They were too fast. I watched with my own very eyes as my Dad was eaten by one of them!”

Belle suddenly felt uneasy. If her mom was out there. Was she still alive? Was she caught by the undeads?

“How did I get here? I need to find my mom!” imposed Belle as she now stood on her feet. It was then when Belle realized what was really going on around her.

They were inside one of the classrooms of Crestfield University. The darkness was reason, but Belle could see through that there were others in the room; people who were silently weeping and devoured by their own fears about six of them including Flannery’s mom and brother. The same people who were now staring blankly at her.

“Don’t be rash,” Flannery once again began whispering as she pulled Belle back to the floor before crawling towards the nearest windows. “Look, they might hear you.”

Belle took a hidden glance outside the windows and for the first time in her life felt actual fear crippling her.

The school grounds were as if an actual scene in hell. The creatures were about seven feet tall. Their skin had grayed due to the rotting flesh accented by the humid atmosphere. Their limbs were unlikely long with razor sharp claws. Their face wore a blank expression. Their eyes really hollow and deep that gave out the impression that it were devoid of the actual eyeballs. Their teeth snapped through the air, quite apparent that an uncontrollable hunger is eminent within their long crooked stomachs.