Sorrow's Gift

Chapter Twenty-Three: Karmen

Sleeping in the complete and utter darkness was harder than Karmen would have thought. There were no sounds at all. No fans running. No hum of electronics in the background. The air was warm and thick without air conditioning and every time she took a breath, she felt her lungs clog with the humidity of it.

The group had spent most of their day playing cards and hanging out by the light of the lantern in the living room. Crash had eventually left his room and joined them for a few games, but he still wasn't feeling up to turning the power back on. Even without the electricity, there was comfort in being awake and around the others, but there was a vulnerability now that the light was off and everyone was asleep.

She'd never really given much thought to the noises of her old house, but now, in the silent darkness of a foreign place, she missed every single sound. She missed the bathroom fan. Her brother's music thumping through the wall even though he was supposed to be asleep hours ago.

She missed the sound of Zoe's violin next door well after the small child should have gone to bed.

She even missed the sound of her mother's snoring.

What she didn't miss was the sound of her father's footsteps in the space just outside her door. Or the way the knob used to creak when he turned it, trying to be quiet so no one else in the house would know.

How many nights of her childhood had Karmen spent huddled up in bed, praying not to hear that sound?

She closed her eyes and listened to the thundering of her heart.

He's never coming back. He's dead now.

He was gone. Replaced instead by another threat. An unpredictable one. At least with her father, she knew he wasn't going to kill her. She knew that no matter what, she could live through it and that someday, she would escape and have her own life.

In this new world, she didn't know what to expect. She didn't know if she'd be alive tomorrow, much less ten minutes from now. Now, instead of the turning of the doorknob, she found herself listening for the shuffling of feet or the groan of the undead.

It was quiet enough here in the dark that she could almost convince herself she could hear them. They were coming for her now, their footsteps shuffling across the floor just outside the door to the bedroom.

Karmen gripped the edge of her sleeping bag and drew it up tight under her chin. She squeezed her eyes shut and reminded herself to breathe.

It's just your imagination, dummy.

But there it was again.

Not a shuffling of feet exactly, but something else. Her eyes flew open and she stopped breathing completely.

What the hell was that?

She wanted to sit up, but she was paralyzed with fear. There was definitely something outside the door. She could hear it moving around, sliding against the walls.

She was afraid if she forced herself to breathe, it would come out as a scream. They would all wake up and call her crazy. Everyone else was either asleep in the two bedrooms or in the living room. They had all retired early tonight.

Parrish and Noah had gone up to check the roof several times throughout the day and the news was not good. They said the rotters were most definitely starting to come their way. The fire had spread across a good portion of the city, the flames and smoke rising into the air for miles. They needed their rest tonight so they could figure out where the heck they were going to go tomorrow or the day after.

If she woke everyone up for some trick of her imagination, they would never let her hear the end of it.

She convinced her shoulders to relax and opened her throat to let in a tiny whisper of air. Everything would be okay. There was nothing out there.

The door to the bedroom squeaked open and she turned her head and sat up.

"Parrish?" she whispered.

No answer. Karmen swallowed thick air and panic.

"Crash? Is that you?"

Again, nothing. But the door was open. She could feel it.

And then she heard them.

Tiny feet skittering across the floor. The chattering of teeth and an awful, high-pitched squeaking that was definitely not human.

She tried to yell, but nothing came out at first. Not until she felt the first of the rats climb onto her sleeping bag, clawing their way up toward her.

That's when she finally found her voice and screamed.