The Risen

Chapter 8: Restless Night

        In six minutes we arrive at Keira's house. She lives in a two story tan brick house with a robin egg blue door. The fact that the door is still intact is a good sign. This means the zombies haven't been here yet. 

        Who is Keira? She is my best friend. I've known her since kindergarten.

        Mom and I get out of the car, somewhat shakily. We walk to the door and ring the doorbell. We wait for a minute, feeling guilty. It's at least 11:00 by now, so Mrs. Doble (Keira's mom) will probably be sleeping.

        Suddenly a light flicks on inside the house and the door opens. Mrs. Doble stands in the doorway, squinting at us.

        She wears a pink robe pulled over silky dark green pajama bottoms and a light green tank top. Her dark blond hair is pulled up into a really messy bun.  

        "Hi, Alice. Sorry it's so late. Do you mind if we come in?" Mom asks awkwardly. 

        "Oh, hi Beth. Of course not, come in!" Mrs. Doble responds.

        We step inside. Mom starts trying to explain, but Mrs. Doble cuts her off when she sees my arm. 

        "Holli! Oh my goodness, what happened?" Mrs. Doble looks at me, concerned. 

        "What? Oh!" I say, remembering the little boy's bite marks on my right arm. I glance down. The bite marks are now yellowish, and something, maybe puss, is oozing from it. "Umm..." I look at Mom for help, but she seems to be too tired to think. 

        "Nevermind, we need to get that cleaned up!"

       Mrs. Doble rushes me to the bathroom, where she begins to take all sorts of medical ointments and liquids out of the bathroom cabinets. The first thing she does is wash my arm in cold water. Then she applies peroxide, which stings. She procedes to wash the bubbles away with more cold water. Next comes thick healing ointment and a big bandage that she tightly wraps around my arm.

        "Thank you," I tell Mrs. Doble when she's finished.

        Mrs. Doble nods. "I assume you would like to stay here since it's already so late at night?" she asks.

        I look at Mom, who is standing in the doorway. "Is that ok? I don't mean to intrude, but I did have something important to tell you." Mom says, stifling a yawn.

        "Oh, it's fine. You can tell me in the morning. I have a sleeping bag, and one of you can sleep on the couch," Mrs. Doble tells us. 

        Soon I am in the sleeping bag and Mom is on the couch. Despite all the events of the day, I quickly fall asleep. 

                                                                                        ^^^^^

        Someone is chasing me. I can hear their heavy breathing and footsteps behind me. I cannot run fast enough to get away. It's like I'm in syrup, and my legs refuse to carry me faster than two miles an hour. I can hear the person behind me gaining. I turn to look at my pursuer, but all I see is a shadowy figure. Suddenly the path before me is blocked by a solid metal wall. I have nowhere else to run. I turn to face the person who is attacking me. I am ready to fight, because I am sure the person is evil, but that person is already dead. He is the little boy I killed. Then he gets up and takes the knife out of his head. He starts running at me. I have nowhere to go. He is upon me. He raises the knife and slices it, blade down, towards my head--

        I sit bolt right up in my sleeping bag. I am panting heavily. I fight to calm my racing heart. I am drenched in sweat. I close my eyes, but quickly open them again, because the nightmare is starting to replay itself.

        I take a deep breath and get up. I go to the kitchen. The microwave clock reads 4:43 A.M. I sigh, knowing I won't be able to sleep anymore tonight (or this morning, whatever).

        I sit on a bar stool and trace shapes on the smooth marble countertop. I sigh again and lay my head down on my arms. I stay like this for a few minutes before I get up and start pacing.

        I think about all the facts I know about the creations my father technically made. 

        One: They are zombies who want to kill all humans.

        Two: They don't bleed.

        Three: These creations are not really capable of speech.

       Four: They are now breaking into houses at night and killing humans so my father can turn them into zombies.

        I think about this until the first rays of dawn are visible over the horizon. I look out the window, watching the sun reflect off the distant skyscrapers. I guess I never realized how beautiful Moddo City was until something was going to destroy it.