Final Hours

Chapter Fifteen

The car ride was long, I kept feeling a dropping pit in my stomach that just kept growing. I was prepared for what I was going to see, I was aware it wasn't going to be pretty. I knew no matter what I said I'd want to be in charge, but I kept holding on to some hope that they'd be holed up in there waiting for us. That we could take them home with us and be complete again. Nobody spoke on the drive there, other than little groans from Eric, from moving wrong and causing pain to his wound. I recognized the road as we pulled into the neighborhood. The streets seemed empty, and the neighborhood looked the same. But as we neared closer to the middle of the neighborhood where our house was, more broken windows and ransacked homes became evident. "God it's like a bomb went off here." Eric mumbled looking around at the houses. I looked around at the houses in front of us and he wasn't wrong. Just across the street from us, the house was nearly burnt to the ground. The car finally slowed down and when I looked up I noticed where we were, our house. It wasn't as destroyed as the other houses, the windows were boarded up on the inside and only one window was broken and it was the attic window. I took a deep breath and grabbed my backpack and left the car closing the door quietly behind me. I walked up to the porch trying to see through the windows while I waited for Eric and Chris. Chris walked over to the window next to me while Eric turned the knob slowly and quietly. The door popped open and he pushed it while we filed inside. I could see the patio door was wide open on the other side of the house so I pulled my knife out for safety reasons.
"I'll check upstairs." I whispered looking over at Eric and Chris. Eric nodded, Chris wasn't sure about it but he still allowed me to go alone. I tiptoed over to the carpeted stairs and walked up them quietly while they searched downstairs. It wasn't big upstairs, just me and Chris's rooms and our parents room. It was dark but not dark to the point I couldn't see, I walked into Chris's room, the first room in the hallway. It looked like how he left it, just a little more ransacked from leaving so fast. I checked under every surface for anything valuable and left his room. My room was next, I'd noticed a set of photos sitting on my bed. They used to be in a photo album I kept in my room. They seemed to have been pulled out. In a rush I grabbed the photos and put them in my backpack, I grabbed some extra shirts from my closet and a necklace that belonged to my mom. I finally walked out of my room and back into the hallway, I felt the pit in my stomach return as I walked towards my parents door. It was the only closed door, I placed my hand on the door knob and turned it slowly. I was immediately met with a smell...a smell I couldn't place but already knew. The room was a mess, dressers ripped open and bloody handprints on almost everything in the room. I already felt tears in my eyes as I walked around the room. I couldn't find any sign of either of my parents. I sat down on the bed and wiped a tear that had fallen down my cheek. A watch that belonged to my dad was sitting on his nightstand, I grabbed it and looked at it closely.

A noise came from the closet behind me as I admired the watch. "No..." I whispered, I'd started to believe they'd been attacked and left or were taken somewhere else. I stuffed the watch in my pocket as I stood up grabbing my knife. I walked over to the door and grabbed the handle turning it slowly. I opened the door and the smell grew immediately. I wanted to just turn and throw up everything I'd eaten in the past few days, but I looked up and froze. It was my mother...her cheeks were sunken, her eyes were deep and dark. She looked starved, but the undeniable grunting and growling noise I was met with stopped my heart. "No...please no." I whispered as my voice broke. She struggled towards me, her body withered and bony. "Momma." I let out my voice breaking as I felt the tears falling down my face. A large bite mark on her neck became more evident as she left the dark closet. She lifted a hand out at me and walked closer to me struggling. I stood in my place pushing her back lightly doing everything I could to stall. "No...no!" I cried shoving her backwards, she hit the doorframe and still continued coming towards me.
"Why!" I let out angrily, I didn't care if I was being loud anymore. I thought I could handle it but I couldn't. I walked backwards falling against the wall as she continued towards me. She pushed against me, biting at me and grabbing me. I knew what I had to do and I knew it was the only way but I couldn't even raise my hand. I closed my eyes and forced my arm upwards while she struggled to bite at me. I lifted my hand up and dropped it down, I knew it was over. She'd stopped growling and dropped to the floor in front of me. I dropped with her and just cried, I couldn't explain how I was feeling but it wasn't how I thought I would. I had prepared myself for this and here I was balling like a baby. I looked down at her and stood up walking over to the closet, sprawled out on the floor covered in bloody fingerprints were family pictures of me and Chris. Her wedding pictures...and our baby pictures. I grabbed a wedding picture and stuffed it into my backpack with tears still streaming down my face. I pushed the knife back into its sheath and walked downstairs. I looked around and saw Eric standing above Chris who was sitting in a deck chair bent over. I walked outside and saw a figure sprawled in the grass, it was our father.

I walked out the door and Eric turned to look at me. He lifted his hand off Chris' back as Chris sat up to face me. I could tell Chris had been crying his face was puffy and red. He stood up and walked over to me,
"She...I-...I did it." I whispered looking up at him. He didn't say anything, he just stood there for a moment. I think he'd hoped one of them had survived too. I felt the tears start falling down my face again and he pulled me over to him and into a hug.
"I'm so sorry." He pushed out in a broken voice. I felt his grasp tighten for a moment and then relax as he pulled away. I looked at him and reached into my pocket pulling out the watch. "I thought you'd like this." I whispered with a forced smile. He looked at it and let out a gasp like laugh noise. I pulled the watch over his wrist and clasped it on. He pulled me into a light hug before pulling back to look at the corpse of our father. Eric stumbled trying to lean against the fence and I looked over at him. Chris rushed over to him and helped him up.
He seemed fine, he was good at masking his pain. But the growing blood stain on his white shirt said otherwise.