The Dead Ones

Ms. Pillair

Luca's POV

A loud crash was the cause for my abrupt awakening. I yawned, causing a tear to fall from my dry eyes. why do your eyes water when you yawn? I never understood that. I slowly began to sit up in my warm bed. Why would I ever want to leave this place? Why am I even awake? Oh, the crash outside. As I moved to get up from my bed, my joints popped, making a satisfying crack sound. I let another yawn escape my tired lips as I checked the time. 2:24. what would cause a crash at 2:24 in the morning? Just as I was about to investigate, my little sister Adeline came barging into my room. 

She didn't have an ounce of sleep on her face. If anything she looked wide awake. Her eyes were wide and her lips were slightly parted. She looked worried. No, scared. She looked scared. "What's wrong Adeline?" I asked walking over to comfort her. Adeline, my sixteen-year-old sister. Her brown curly hair was the only thing that made us look alike. She has dark brown eyes, whereas I have blue. You could hardly see the freckles that dot her face due to the darkness.

She opened her mouth to speak as a tear fell onto her rosy cheek. "Something is happening outside. I think its Ms. Pillair," she said. Ms. Pillair, the elderly woman that lived next door with her grandson Christopher. Christopher is Adeline's age, 16. he's a quiet kid, Adeline told me that she tried to talk to him at school, but he just brushes her off. not in a rude way, in a my-parents-are-dead-I-don't-wanna-talk-about-it kinda way. his parents died about two years ago. that's why he lives with Ms. Pillair. Adeline and I are in the same situation. Our parents died last year. Now it's just us. 

I felt a small hand grab my arm, causing me to snap out of my thoughts. I looked down and saw my tearful sister gazing up at me. "We have to go. Now" she pulled me out of my room and to the front door. she clung to my arm as I opened the door. The dim street lights did a poor job illuminating the street. My eyes took a second to focus on the scene a few feet in front of me. There was an accident on the road. A green Honda was the cause.

 A power line was knocked down in the process. The wires fell around the street causing cars to stop. The car was badly damaged. The hood of the vehicle was wrinkled in an accordion pattern. A few hubcaps fell off and were laying on the cool asphalt road. I recognized the car to belong to Ms. Pillair. 

the car was basically split in half. the back of it was lifted off the ground. the tires were still spinning as smoke poured from the hood. "Luca we have to go help." she pulled me to move forward with her. I nodded and started to walk towards the reck. a few people were already there on the phone. It reeked of gasoline, that was probably the liquid that was pouring from the car. wait. I put my arm in front of Adeline, stopping her. I saw her looking at me from the corner of my eyes. 

"What? What's wrong?" she asked. I ignored her as I watched a puddle of gasoline form. a small stream began to trickle towards a fallen wire. the wire sparked, almost like a warning to the gasoline heading towards it. My eyes widened as I realized what was about to happen. I cupped my hands around my mouth as I yelled. "EVERYONE GET BACK-" it was too late.

 I turned around and covered Adeline from the massive explosion. I felt heat radiate over my back. Even though my eyes were tightly closed, I could see a flash of light. And the sound. That sound gives the word loud a new definition. I was positive that I went deaf that night. Once the ringing in my ears went away, I slowly uncovered Adeline. When I turned around, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Ash was slowly falling back to the ground. The green car was now on fire. Or what's left of the green car. Its parts are scattered around. Some were on our lawn, some on roofs. There were people lying in the street, their skin severely burnt. Some moved, most didn't. The dark street was illuminated by the fire. An orange glow tinted everyone's skin. 

I didn't even think about Ms. Pillair until I saw her burnt crushed body lying in the street. A high pitched scream echoed through the night. I turned around and saw Adeline. her shaking hands covered her mouth as she looked around. her gaze fell onto Ms. Pillair and she screamed again. I quickly ran in front of my sister to block her gaze. I put my hands on either side of her face. "Hey, hey. It's okay. You're okay." I whispered to her. she opened her mouth to say something but I shooshed her. 

I turned back around to look at the scene. my eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as I saw Ms. Pillair start to move. She started to stand up, stumbling a bit. Another person noticed this too. A man, maybe a neighbor that I didn't know. I watched as he made his way over to her quickly. at this point, Ms. Pillair was on her feet stumbling. 

The man put a hand on Ms. Pillair's shoulder. I watched as she made a terrible noise. it sounded like a growl mixed with a gargle. Then she bit his hand. Why would she bite his hand? The man screamed and grabbed his wrist. I then realized what was happening. 

I turned back around and found my little sister to be missing. my stomach dropped. I frantically looked around for my little sister. where could she have gone? I became more scared every second. "Luca!" I heard her small voice yell. I spun around and saw Adeline surrounded by a group of people. No, not people. they looked like Ms. Pillair. Burnt skin and pieces of flesh falling from their faces. 

"NO!" I screamed. I ran towards her. I didn't have a weapon or shoes on. I didn't care though. that was my little sister. she was the only thing that I had left, and I wasn't about to let a bunch of corpses take her from me. 

once I reached her I did the first thing that I could. I punched one of them on the head as hard as possible. It stumbled a bit and turned around. I didn't recognize the person. Maybe because their face was falling off. I punched it again and ignored the shooting pain going through my hand. It fell to the ground and I quickly looked around for some sort of weapon. I found a long metal rod. Maybe it came from the car. I picked it up and stood over the corpse. My hands gripped the rod and raised my arms over my head. In one swift motion, I brought my arms down and stabbed the rod through its decaying face. 

blood splattered on my face and body but I didn't care. I pulled the weapon from the now dead corpse. two more came running at me. The one that reached me first was met with a kick to the shin. It fell to the ground easily. the other one grabbed my arm and brought it to its mouth. these things were surprisingly strong. Instead of biting me, it got elbowed in the face. I felt something grab my ankle. I looked down and saw the one I kicked grabbing me. I kicked it hard in the face and heard a crunch. 

I took my weapon and stabbed it in the head like I did to the first one. The second I turned around I was met with the other one. before it could get to me, it stopped. A confused look washed over my face. It fell to the ground and standing behind it was my little sister with an ax in her hands. an ax covered in blood, much like her. 

"Where the fuck did you get an ax?"

"Don't as questions you don't wanna know the answer to."