Amber

Thump.

Thump.

I can hear my heartbeat in my chest, pounding, longing for oxygen. My feet pound against the hard pavement as I wipe the sweat off of my forehead with the back of my hand, the cool weather keeping me from getting too warm. It is early April and the sun is only peaking outside of the clouded sky.

Step.

Step.

I can hear footsteps beat behind me, but I can see my house so I snake around the white fence that surrounds my front yard. I close the gate as quickly as possible, locking it closed with the latch. I back away from the gate and look up to see James smiling teasingly at me. He jumps over the fence and tackles me to the ground in a wide hug.

We both start to laugh with each other in rhythm. We are laying on the damp, cool, ice patched ground. I look up at the grey sky before looking at James, studying all of his features.

I look into his big, brown eyes; there are lines creasing beside his eyes, indicating that he is smiling. I look at his lovely smile, not perfect, but close enough to perfect for me. I run a hand through his newly cut, blonde hair. I was about to give him a kiss, my hand resting on his muscular chest, but he speaks instead.

"Wanna know something?" He smiles and looks straight into my grey-blue eyes. I raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "You are absolutely stunning. Did you know that?" I roll my eyes at his statement.

"You know, you're bright eyes. Your long, wavy, dirty blonde hair. That sun-kissed skin of yours. The natural beauty that you always cover up with makeup. And your prize-winning personality and smile. The list could go on I me-" I interrupt his sentence with a soft kiss on his lips. I pull away and we both smile like idiots simultaneously.

"Now, what do you say about us going inside, and getting some chips and salsa to share?" I get up from the cool ground and he does the same. We are now facing each other.

"I would love that." I smile and he gives me a peck on the cheek before we head inside. As we walk into the home, the warmth of the heated home surrounds me. Goosebumps that had prickled my skin on my arms fade away as I take off my jacket and rub my hands together.

We prep our food and get a mug of hot cocoa for James and some sweet, hot, tea for me after we went into the kitchen because it is still cold enough to drink hot drinks. We walk into the living room and put on some T.V. I plop onto the couch and he plops right beside me, wrapping his arm around me while he settled.

I move closer to him to kiss him again but my 10-year-old brother comes in and speaks. "You know, there is the bedroom for all of... this." He points at us with a weird gesture. I watched as James started laughing lightheartedly. I love his laugh. I could listen to that contagious laugh of his all day.

I throw a pillow at Jaspar and he dodges it. "Oh, shut up Jaspar. I'm not the only person who has been caught kissing someone on the couch," I respond in a smart-aleck tone. Before I know it, the same pillow that I threw was hurdling towards me. Before it hits me, James catches it. A sigh of relief came out but then I got hit with the pillow by James. "James. You know this is war now," I draw out, raising an eyebrow. I smile mischievously before starting a pillow fight.

The three of us are having the time of our lives when we suddenly hear a crash when a lamp falls over. I try to reach my hand out to grab it before it made impact with the ground, but, I was too late. It crashes onto our hardwood floor surface. The blue lamp shatters on the floor everywhere. I cringe at all the glass on the floor. Mom will kill us for sure, no doubt.

Speaking of my mom, as soon as I thought of this incident the front door opens to reveal the smiling mother that is mine, her eyes glistening. We share the same bright smile according to my dad. I get up from the couch and give my mom a hug and she kisses me on the cheek. I begin to speak but my mom walks into the kitchen. It is currently 5:37 pm.

"What do you guys think about us having eggplant parm for dinner." My mom says. She puts her stuff down on the dining room table and starts to take out the needed ingredients for the meal. I nod in agreement.

"Do we have to have that?" Jaspar wrinkles his nose at that meal. James rolls his eyes and I disregard his comment.

"When will your husband be home Mrs. Kennedy?" My boyfriend asks.

"For the last time, instead of using my last name, you can call me Maddy. And Brent will be home around 6." My mother cuts on the T.V. to the evening news that will come on soon. I grab my cup out of the other room and come back. I fill up the cup to the brim with more tea. Channel 6 news finally comes on so I start watching it. I have to watch the news once a week so I can write my weekly paper on current news for a class.

I lousily take notes on different things when I hear the door open, probably the front door. I turn around and my dad comes up behind me and gives me a great big bear hug. I smile in his embrace. "Hey, dad."

"Hey hun, hey Jimmy." James chuckles quietly. He hates being called Jimmy but has gotten used to it. I give James a kiss on the cheek again and he starts to massage my shoulders. I smile and give one of his hands a squeeze before continuing my homework.

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"Hey sweety, ahem, pay attention," my mother randomly says. "This might be something worth writing about for that daily assignment." My mother turns up the T.V. quickly.

"Breaking News. Authorities say a scientist has gone rogue after a rumored experiment that was said to have gone wrong. There are two other scientists who are injured after reported that the first scientist had gone cannibalistic. We will continue to update you with details as this story further develops."

I scribble down this information as quickly as my hands can write. My boyfriend wraps a sturdy arm around my shoulder, and I lean into him. "You plan on staying for dinner, or are you gonna eat your mom's... interesting food?"

"I think I'm gonna stay here, I can't pass up your mom's delicious cooking. Plus, my mom's food can be brutal." He chuckles and I rub his back with my left hand. "How's your older brother Kyle, he doing okay in college?" I smile at the thought of my older brother.

"Yeah, his work with the animals has been going well. He has already laid a job as some nurse in a family-run vet clinic. Hey, maybe I can call him about my paper. I mean, he's more about the whole 'pet thing', but maybe he knows about this." I look out the window, wondering what he is up to. James embraced me from the back and kisses the top of my head.

"I think that would be a great thing to do."

Axel

I ride in the motorcycle that I stole from my dad's garage. I love how the wind blows through my dark brown hair. "Woohoo!" I shout out loud, I can see my breath because of the cold air. I speed up, passing the speed limit, checking around for the coppers. The coast is clear.

I pull over to an empty warehouse that is in the city. I hate Chester, the city has so much more action. Once I secure the bike, I break a window with a rock I found to get into the building and I find my way to the roof. I look out into the city and see a cop car slowly drive in my direction. I duck down low, hoping he won't see me.

I look down and see the cop pull up. He's inspecting my bike when he steps on a piece of glass. I cringe at the sound and begin to feel nervous. I can hear someone's raspy breath behind me. I turn around half-expecting the cop to be there, but it isn't him.

A homeless-looking man starts irking towards me. I take a closer look at him to see that his eyes almost look like they have some sort of slimy-looking glaze. This man must be on some hard stuff. The copper is upstairs now. "Hey, you two... freeze where you are. Now." My eyes keep on flicking between the madman and the police officer. I stand up cautiously, throwing my arms behind my head.

"Hey man, I mean." I let out a forceful cough. "Sir. I don't think this man is alright." The guy is snarling at me, like some wild animal. I slowly back away and he continues walking towards me. I feel the back of my legs hit the wall, barricading me from falling.

"Hey, freeze sir." The brainless dude redirects his attention to the officer. I take a sigh of release. The police officer is face to face with the fry-brain. "Hey, I said freeze." The officer is starting to getting nervous. I can see the officers fingers slip as he is trying to pull the trigger. The fry-brain bites into the officer's shoulder. I suddenly hear screaming. I snap out of my gaze and start running towards the exit.

"Oh, shiiit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!" I say, not being able to muster up any other words.

The exit I try escaping through is blocked and suddenly whilst trying to escape, I hear a gunshot. The police officer is standing ruggedly now, and the person is on the ground, shot in the chest where the heart is. The copper is slowly walking over to me, his breathing labored. "Young man, you're coming with me." He winces in pain. The dead body starts to move again; my eyes practically fly out my head.

The officer turns around and starts to shoot the man, repeatedly. He stays up, despite being shot in multiple places. Before I am able to escape, the fry-brain starts attacking the officer again. I jump off of the roof and into a trash compact, frantically. I freak out so much that I don't realize until moments later that I banged my head and that my ankle might be twisted,

I drop my keys to the motorcycle as my hands shake. I fumble my fingers and shakily get onto the bike. I speed off as quickly as I can, not even bothering looking back. Once I realize that I am far enough away from that horrifying sight, I pull over next to a park. I stagger off like a drunk man because of my shakiness and my ankle. My hands are trembling as I call 911. 

"Sir, I need you to remain calm, just tell me the location and we will send a dispatch out immediately. Please remain calm." I hear some shuffling before hearing her say, "shit, that's the seventh call tonight." I tell them the location of the incident. "Thank you very much, sir, stay safe driving tonight. Goodnight." With the end of the call, I drive home as quickly as I can.

As I get into the driveway of my dad's house, I park his vehicle in the garage. I walk inside the house and it is silent, so, I just assume that my dad has gone out to the bar with his friends. I walk upstairs and pass my bedroom door and go straight to the bathroom.

I go into the shower and let myself relax. The water runs down my body and I clean up. I get out of the shower and wrap a towel around my waist. I grab a different towel and dry out my hair. Finally, I walk into my room and sit on the spinny chair. I cut on the T.V. in my room and go onto my laptop.

I go to all of the news websites that I know about in Virginia to see if there are any other cases of the crazies. I proceed to go onto wtvr 6 and see that there has been a case of a scientist going animalistic. It is said that he attacked his co-workers and showed cannibalistic activity.

I search up the scientist to see what he worked on. "He worked on... mm, let's see. He worked on viruses," I mumble to myself quietly. I really hope that this has nothing to do with that. I call my best friend, Callum. "Hey Cal, did you see the crazy story about the scientist dude?" I put the phone on speaker.

"Yeah man, what about it." He sounds tired, I probably woke him up. Oops.

"I saw something similar to that. Some guy went ballistic on a copper that caught me at that warehouse. I saw the whole freaking show. He started to eat him! I was so freaked out." I start speaking kinda fast.

"Man, that's wack, you're alright though. Right? He didn't get a chunk of you?" Callum says in a jokingly matter.

"Dude, too soon. But nah, I'm fine. Well, Imma go get some sleep. What happened was really freaky. I'll see ya at school tomorrow, bro." I yawn.

"Kay man, see ya tomorrow." The line goes dead and I cut off my computer and change into boxers and some joggers. I keep the T.V. on channel 6 for the 11 pm news in case the incident I saw is or was broadcasted. My phone dings. An article popped up about the scientist thing being a hoax. Thank God for that.

I run my fingers through my hair as I process what happened and get in bed. I think about the hoax and what happened to me. They are way too similar. I wiggle around restlessly in my bed before drifting into a dreamless rest.