Doom Days

chapter two

I rub my eyes wearily. Everything is a hazy blur. I blink a few times, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness surrounding me. My hand reaches over to grab my phone from my bedside table. The screen is too bright, and forces my eyes to tear up. I adjust the brightness hastily, and check the time. It's 2:34 AM. I unlock my phone, noticing the string of urgent notifications I've received during the night. The most recent ones were missed calls from my mom, five of them in a row, each spaced no more than two minutes apart. I call her back, listening anxiously to the rings until they cut off, over and over again.

My eyes wander around the unlit room as I continue to call both of my parents numbers, waiting for the time they answer and tell me it was just a mistake. They don't.

The hallway light is on, which means Amelia has forgotten to turn it off before she went to bed, again.

I stretch out my legs and decide to go and get a glass of water; I knew I wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep any time soon. I take my phone with me, in case my mom called again. I stumble into the kitchen, becoming quite confused. The lights are on, and Amelia is sat at the glossy table with her phone clutched tightly in her hands.

"Amie?"

I yawn loudly, walking hesitantly over to her. She turns around slowly, visibly shaking. Her face is stained with tears and her eyes are red and puffy.

"Amie? What's happened? Are you okay?"

I panic, grabbing her frozen hands. Her phone slips out of her clutch and the screen shatters on the kitchen floor. She doesn't even flinch.

"Amie? Please, say something"

I beg her. She doesn't look at me, her eyes are fixated on the counter top, tears continuing to pour from them. I feel my breath begin to shorten, making it difficult to concentrate. Anxiety runs through every part of my body, building up towards a panic attack.

Sirens blare arrogantly in the background, lighting up our curtains with neon red and blue flashes; more follow soon after. I look back at Amelia, who still hasn't moved. I swallow hard, wiping my sweaty palms on my shorts. The room feels tense and unfamiliar. I hold back streams of my own tears as Amelia continues to sob audibly.

Gunshots and screaming arise hand in hand from the street outside of the house. I stumble backwards in shock, knocking into Amelia's arms. My heart stops for a split second, and then begins to speed up. I can't stop the tears from flowing down my face any longer. They all gush out suddenly.

"What the hell!?"

I exclaim, in instinct, ducking under the table. I reach up and pull Amelia down with me, almost forgetting for a moment that she was there. The kitchen floor is cold against my sticky skin, and everything is darker. Amelia cries harder, wrapping her arms around her folded knees. I bring her close towards my chest, threading my arm around her hunched shoulders.

"Amelia, what's going on?"

I ask once again, in a quieter and calmer tone. I've managed to convince myself that it wasn't as bad as I was making it out to be, and that Amelia was overreacting like she always does. She looks up at me for the first time tonight, and she frowns. Her dark brown eyes are half closed and sunken. I can't look at her without feeling some kind of guilt, but for what? I hadn't done anything to my knowledge, and Amelia would tell me if I had. Her lips twitch, and she contemplated what to say next. I prepare myself for whatever she might say next, admittedly expecting the very worse.

"It's real, Nat"

She stutters, more tears hurriedly flooding from her ducts.

"What's real, Amie?"

I ask gently, using the sleeve of my pyjama top to wipe the tears off of her flushed cheeks. She sniffs a few times, eventually calming herself down enough to continue.

"The zombie infection.. virus.. disease thing, it's actually real"

She whimpers, looking away from me. I roll my eyes hard, beginning to become annoyed at how paranoid she was about the so called 'epidemic'. I cross my arms against my chest in frustration, shouting at her, angrily.

"Amelia Marie Roberts, I am not joking around with you, this is not the time for your stupid-"

"I'm not joking Nat, it's real!"

She defends, cutting my sentence off. My eyes meet hers, and she nods her head slowly.

"It's real"

I'm taken aback, and still not able to believe it. Amelia and I were fans of zombie movies, who isn't?, but not once have I ever thought that something like that could actually happen. How was that even possible? I hold my head in my palms for a while, finally letting out a lengthy sigh.

"You have got to be kidding me"