We Are Risen

Chapter Two

I stared at the carnage in front of me, the smoke turning the sky black and making my lungs burn. This. . . this can't be happening! This is stuff for. . . for Hollywood to make up! How is this possible? What was wrong with those people? I heard a sob, turning to find Ally crying. Bryson put his arm around her shoulders, and she covered her mouth to muffle the noise.

"Well, it looks like we're trapped up here for now," Toby said behind me. 

"How are we going to get down?" Ally asked, her voice shaky. 

I turned to Toby. "And how are we going to get past those people in the parking lot? They've gone full cannibal!"

Toby sighed, running his hand over his face. 

"We're going to fight," he said finally. "We're going to sneak between the cars, and we're going to make it to your truck and my bike."

"We can go to Dirk's Hunting Store," I suggested in a small voice, and Toby frowned.

"Why my dad's store?" he asked. 

I sat down on the roof, and my friends followed. I was never much of a talker, more of a listener, but they're scared. I can see that.

"He might know what's going on," I stated. "He has access to the News. He can see what's going on in places that we can't."

I jumped when Toby put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at him, and he was smiling. 

"You're brilliant," he said, and I quickly turned away to hide my blushing face.

Ally chuckled, and I rolled my eyes before I pulled my phone out of my pocket. My thumbs flew over the touch-pad as I typed in my password, before clicking on my contacts. 

"What are you doing?" Ally asked. 

"I'm going to call my Mom," I told her. 

Toby frowned, looking towards the fire. He shielded his eyes from the sun. 

"It looks like the fire is close to the Cell Tower," he said. "Will it even work?"

I thought about it, but bit my lip before clicking "Call". It rang five times, before going to voicemail.

"Shit," I cursed.

"What?" Toby asked, leaning over my shoulder. 

My heart started to pound with panic. 

"She- she's not answering," I stammered. 

I looked out into the parking lot, people stumbling around and snarling like rabid animals, and then I looked back to the exhausted faces of my friends. 

"What if we call 911?" I asked. "And they come to get us down?"

Toby shook his head. "They won't be able to get us down. They won't even get past those people in the parking lot."

I stood up, throwing my hands out beside me. "Well, we have to try something! Those people, we can't get through to them. They aren't who they once were. You saw how they just lunged at our classmates, and our teacher. . . They're monsters."

I suddenly felt exhaustion take over the adrenaline rush, and my shoulders slumped. I hadn't slept hardly at all in the past five days, maybe an hour a night. It had been taking its toll on me, and I could feel myself crashing. My body was getting heavy, and I could feel my eyelids start to grow heavy. Toby walked forward and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay, Dee?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, leaning into him. "I just. . . I just need to close my eyes for a minute."