The Fallen (2nd Version)

Chapter One

Blood.

All she could see, all she could smell, was blood. The rotten coppery stench invaded Christina's nostrils as the monsters banged furiously on the wooden door that just barely held them back. It wouldn't be long before they broke through to devour their next meal.

The girl was frozen in terror. Her little brother, Nathan, clung to her arm as sobs wracked his body.

Adrenaline surged through her veins as she frantically scanned the room for an exit. The two had locked themselves in what used to be their mother's bedroom, and what had once been their loving mom was on the other side of the door.

The only way out was through the singular window next to the dresser. It was a two story drop onto a trampoline that their mother had bought three months earlier, which much was a much better alternative to being ripped apart by a ravenous horde of the undead. Christina rushed to the window and pried it open, not wasting a second of precious time.

"W-what are you doing?" Nathan stuttered, flicking a strand of blond hair from his tear-stained face.

"Nathan, listen to me.. I'm gonna jump out the window. When I'm on the ground and I make sure it's safe to, you need to jump too.. Okay?"

"But-"

"I promise you it'll be okay, I just need you to do this. We're gonna be just fine as long as we get out of here."

"Chrissy, what about mom?" Nathan sniffled. 

"Mom.. isn't coming with us." Christina bit her lip as tears welled up in her emerald green eyes. "I'll explain everything later, I promise," she hurriedly positioned herself halfway out the window, her legs dangling off the edge. From there it seemed like a much higher fall than it really was.

She looked back at Nathan one more time before slipping off the ledge, and she fell directly onto the trampoline and was catapulted back into the air several times. She scanned the surrounding area, seeing nothing but a stray cat roaming the yard in search of its next meal.

"Come on Nathan, jump!"

Nathan peered down from the window above, nervously eyeing the trampoline, "I'm scared..." he whimpered. Not a second later, the door to the bedroom was ripped off its hinges with a violent crash.

"Nathan, NOW!"

Nathan shrieked in terror and practically flung himself out the window. His small body hit the trampoline and he bounced off onto the hard ground, ignoring his newly acquired bumps and bruises as he frantically scrambled to his feet.

Christina grabbed her brother by the arm and dragged him through the yard toward the garage. She could barely see in the suffocating darkness and she nearly tripped over the creepy garden gnome her mother affectionately referred to as "Hank". She ignored Nathan's protests as she roughly pulled him along, she knew they didn't have much time.

 It wouldn't be long before those things found them.

Christina hastily opened the seldom used man door to the garage and grabbed a flashlight that sat on a nearby shelf, she flipped it on and its dull light illuminated the musty smelling building. She started up her mom's maroon Dodge minivan and opened the garage door, tossing Nathan in the backseat.

"Buckle up," Christina said, taking in a deep breath.

"W-where are we going?"

"Anywhere but here."

"What about mo-" Nathan's sentence was cut off abruptly as Christina sped out from the garage and onto the poorly lit street.

She gripped the wheel so hard that her knuckles turned white as a sheet. She continued down the road toward Dan's Groceries, thinking that there could be other survivors gathered there. As they got closer, she could see what looked like a person sprinting through the parking lot with several other silhouettes chasing them.

Christina stopped the car in front of the store and rolled the window down to get a better view of whatever was happening in the parking lot. The lead person stumbled and tripped over their own feet with a yelp, falling face first onto the pavement. Their pursuers quickly pounced on their helpless victim, and now it was clear what they were.

Christina gasped and choked back a sob as she slammed her foot down on the accelerator, speeding away from the surely gory scene. Nathan sat quietly behind his clearly distressed sister, he was in shock from all he had witnessed in such a short amount of time.

After a few moments of tense silence, Nathan finally spoke up, "Now what?"

Christina took in a shaky breath, no longer trying to hold back the tears streaming down her cheeks, "I'm gonna take us to Mrs. Zhang's house, I guess. If anyone is still alive right now it's got to be her."

"Okay.. I hope she is."

"I'm sure she is," Christina replied, not taking her eyes off the road. The moon cast an eerie glimmer on the wet pavement.

"Chrissy, look out!" Nathan suddenly screamed. Christina swerved to the left, barely missing a person that was shambling aimlessly down the street. It only took a single glance to tell that this being was not a person, not anymore.

In the second that the headlights shone on it, Christina could see what looked like a heavyset middle aged man with a receding hairline, but a large oozing gash in his face left his jaw barely hanging on his skull. His eyes were hazy, and his white dress shirt was soaked in blood.

A second wave of adrenaline shot through Christina's veins as she passed him and sped up even more, desperate to find safety while part of her wished this was just some hellish nightmare. She had just gotten a new job, she was only nineteen, she was too young to die. Her brother was only eight years old, he had barely lived. This couldn't possibly be happening.

All her dreams for the future vanished. No college, she wouldn't become a nurse, or have kids, or buy her own house. Everything she was so excited for... Gone.

Nathan broke down in tears in the backseat as Christina pulled into Mrs. Zhang's driveway. Her small brick house was completely dark in all but one room. The hedges around the sides of her house looked immaculate as always, she wouldn't allow so much as a single leaf to be out of place.

Christina patted her pockets, realizing that she had forgotten her phone back at her house. She sighed and turned to Nathan, who was still struggling to contain his tears, "stay here, I'm gonna go knock on the door. Okay? We're gonna be okay, I promise you. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Nathan nodded, wiping his puffy eyes with his sleeve.

"Okay, I'll be right back," Christina inhaled deeply before slowly opening the car door and stepping out into the darkness that enveloped the driveway. She locked the car with Nathan inside and started walking toward the front steps.

She climbed the stone steps and crept towards the door. She set her hand against it, hesitant to knock. She bit the inside of her cheek and rapped her knuckles on the door and took a step back.

For what seemed like an eternity, Christina stood silently and shivered in the cold. Before she could process what was happening, the door flew open and she found herself staring down the barrel of a pistol.

Click.

~~~~~

Finished this up at 1 am, let me know if there's any spelling mistakes. lol