It had been a week since Layla woke up. She had a hard time adjusting to her cast, but she got it eventually. During the seven days, Layla found many weird occurrences with some patients that came in. After some people woke up, Layla assumed that they were having episodes. They would scream in the middle of the night or shout at nurses trying to help them throughout the day. At first, Layla found these people to be annoying but started to feel bad for them after they were moved to other rooms.

Since it was her last day, Layla was told to sign out of the hospital before leaving. One of the nurses told her that there were many donations to different hospitals, leaving them with some items they could give her. After leaving the room, Layla began to walk to the front desk. Many nurses were moving from the receptionist to other hallways in the hospital

“Luckily I rented an apartment in Atlanta. Only if I had left earlier then I could have avoided this,” thought Layla as she was walking.

When she reached the front desk, a receptionist welcomed her and asked her to fill out a form. She was right-handed, so Layla didn’t have too much trouble filling out the form. After filling out the form, Layla was given some of the belongings that she had with her before the accident. The receptionist gave Layla a leather bag with some of her belongings.

The receptionist pulled out medicine from under her desk. “We would recommend Miracle from Virtue. They can help with the pain that you may feel as your arm continues to heal. We won’t charge for these since we were given so many,” said the receptionist.

The receptionist put the containers in the bag and then pushed them to Layla. Layla wore a troubled expression as she saw the nurse put the medicine in her bag. She hesitated to take it, before eventually grabbing it.

“Thank you,” said Layla.

The receptionist smiled. “You're welcome, I hope you get better soon,” said the receptionist as she waved to Layla before turning back to her work.

As Layla was leaving the building, she found multiple families sitting at seats at the front of the hospital. She could only describe their expressions as being desperate and scared. Layla left the building and was welcomed by the bright sun hanging in the sky. Layla looked down as she walked towards the sidewalk at the end of the parking lot. She put the bag on the floor and took out her phone when she reached the sidewalk. The screen was cracked, and the battery was dead. Layla started to look around the parking lot for other options of transportation. After looking around, she found multiple taxis parked at the side of the road.

“I should have enough money to get to a nearby mall, Luckily my credit and debit cards are here,” said Layla.

After walking to the edge of the parking lot, Layla talked to one of the taxi drivers, and he agreed to drive her to the closest mall. He had a simple yellow car with a taxi sign on the top of it. He helped get her things in the car and started to drive away from the hospital.

Layla felt like this part of the city felt barren. There were very few people on the road, which felt out of place for a hot summer day. While she was looking around, she heard a voice from the front of the car.

“I just wanted to ask, are the dogs real?” asked the driver.

Layla shrugged her shoulders while leaning in her seat. “What do you mean by dogs?” said Layla.

“I guess you haven’t been out of the hospital recently. There have been rumors that there were monsters that caused the destruction of New York,” said the driver.

All Layla could remember from the event was the bright red fire. His question picked her curiosity. “I don’t know anything about any monsters, so I wouldn’t be able to answer your question. But how did you get this information?” asked Layla. The dream Layla was thinking about felt too real, leaving her many questions about who Satanachia was and what really happened in the incident.

“The rumors started to spread over the internet after survivors started to be interviewed. Of course, there is no proof,” said the driver.

“What do you believe?” asked Layla.

The driver shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t believe what they are saying, some even claim to have seen winged beings that look like angels,” the driver started to laugh, “it gets more ridiculous the farther you dig into it,” said the driver.

“Angels, huh. Thanks for the information,” said Layla. Images of Satanachia formed in her head as she tried to compare her to anything that she has seen before. She became anxious, thinking of what Satanchia could be, and started to fiddle with her hair.

“Does that mean people could really be after me,” thought Layla?

As she was lost in her thoughts, the driver called out to her.

“If you don’t want to talk about it anymore, I understand. Since you were generous enough to answer my questions. I’ll give you a warning,” said the driver.

“For what?” asked Layla.

“Multiple people have disappeared from New York City, this is why you don’t see many people around,” said the driver while looking around the empty street.

“Well, I plan to leave for Atlanta, so you don’t have to worry about me. I was able to get into a university there and I plan to move there,” said Layla with a light smile.

“That’s great, just watch yourself,” said the driver.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The rest of the drive passed in silence, as the taxi approached the mall. Layla was very familiar with the mall, it was called Spring mall. It wasn’t too popular because it was at the edge of the city, but was somewhere Layla often visited for jobs. As the car approached the entrance of the mall, she saw that it was much more crowded than usual.

“I've never seen the mall so busy. Is there something going on?” asked Layla.

The car was forced behind traffic at the entrance. The driver released a sigh and said, “Since the center of the city was destroyed, small places have gotten more attention.”

“Does that mean that most of the edges aren’t destroyed?” asked Layla.

“Yeah, luckily only the center of the city was destroyed,” said the driver.

While Layla was talking to the driver, they managed to make it past the entrance into the parking lot. The taxi driver parked along a sidewalk and helped Layla out of the car.

“Thanks for all your help,” said Layla while waving to the driver.

He nodded and started to drive away. Layla walked into the busy mall and went to different stores to get the essentials that she lost during the accident. Some of her favorite stores were really busy, making her wait longer than she initially thought. After buying the things that she needed, Layla began to walk to the cafeteria.

“The phone and the laptop were more expensive than I expected. I am going to have to sort all these out when I reach the new apartment building. Now it’s lunchtime,” said Layla.

A small smile crept on her face as she started to look for a fast-food restaurant. The cafeteria was full of people, making the lines long. Layla took a deep sigh while wearing an exhausted expression as she walked towards a line. When she got in line, she put down her bags and started to stretch her right arm.

Eventually, Layla made it to the front of the line and ordered a meal. While she was waiting, a small feeling spread from her chest to the rest of her body. She felt like a burst of energy spread across her body.

Layla looked behind her, but all she could find were groups of people moving through the mall. “What’s this feeling?” said Laya as she starred in the crowd.

Once the group passed, the feeling quickly disappeared. Confusion spread across her face, as she wondered what the feeling was. While Layla was still looking behind herself, she heard her number being called.

“I'm here!” said Layla as she started to walk to the counter.

She grabbed her lunch and started to find a place to sit. Layla spent some time waiting for a seat to be open, luckily she was noticed by a family, and they gave her their seats. She grabbed the seat and enjoyed her lunch. While she was eating, she used her new phone to check on some buses and times that she could use to leave the city.

She found one that would leave the area in a couple of hours in the evening, knowing that she had some time. Layla started to walk around the mall.

“This may be the last time I come here. It was fun,” said Layla as she was walking around.

During the walk, Layla found one of the shops that she regularly visits. As Layla approached it, the sweet smell of flowers hit her senses. She went into the shop and started to look for her favorite perfume. While she was searching, Layla noticed that there were multiple clearance signs on many of the products.

“Did something happen to the shop?” thought Layla.

She walked to the cashier while picking up her favorite flower and perfume. The yellow carnations are her favorite flower. The bright yellow color of the flower was something she enjoyed looking at.

When she reached the cashier, Layla was relieved that there wasn’t any big line. After some waiting, she reached the front of the line.

“I’ll be getting these two,” said Layla.

“Ok, would you like a bag?” asked the cashier.

“No, I’m good. I wanted to ask, why are there so many things on clearance?” asked Layla.

“I don’t know for sure, but I’ve heard that this shop will close down. It’s probably because of the New York situation,” said the cashier while packing the things in Layla’s bag.

“When you see the owner of the shop, can you tell them? ‘Layla said hi’ ” said Layla.

The cashier gave her a slight nod and gave Layla her bag. “I’ll try to let her know,” said the cashier.

Layla left the store and headed for the bus terminal. The sun started to set, giving the sky a light orange color. Layla looked to the parking lot as she walked to the bus terminal. There weren’t as many people as there were during the afternoon, but Layla felt like it was pretty packed. When she reached the terminal, she found that there were people constantly moving around it. She still had some time before her bus arrives, so Layla found a place to sit.

While Layla was sitting, she began to go through multiple things in her bag. The two medicines that she got from the hospital.

“Why was Mom so afraid of this company,” said Layla as she started to look at the blood-red liquid medication.

Every time Layla thought of her mother, complicated feelings spread in her mind. Their argument played in her head.

“Mom said that leaving New York would be a mistake. I think that’s the only way I could make my own path,” though Layla as she wore a determined expression.

A sudden feeling spread from her chest. The feeling was more intense than when she was in the mall. Layla clenched her teeth and stood up to look around to try and find what the source of the feeling was.

“Why is there more than last time? What is this feeling?” said Layla.

As the feeling was growing, it quickly cut off and Layla felt normal again. The only thing she noticed was the constant movement of people around her, but nothing out of the ordinary. Layla took deep breaths and opened her new phone to check the time. She realized that there were only a few minutes until the bus came. So she got up from her seat and started to walk to where the bus would be with her bags.

A few minutes later the bus arrived, multiple people were surrounding the terminal also waiting for the bus. Once it approached, Layla began to walk to the open doors. As she was entering the bus, she took a quick glimpse of the city in the distance.

“I guess this is it,” said Layla before entering the bus.

After entering the bus, Layla showed the bus driver her ticket on her phone and went to find a seat. The bus wasn’t very crowded, but the majority of the seats were full. Once Layla found a seat, she started to stretch her right arm. After picking up all the passengers, the bus left the terminal.

After entering the main road, Layla started to sort through her things until something weird happened. The bus took a different turn than it was supposed to. Instead of going away from the city, it started to go towards it. While Layla was looking outside the window, she heard at the front of the bus.

“Why are we going towards the city?” asked a passenger.

The driver didn’t respond and continued to drive. More shouts of confusion spread throughout the bus. When Layla was trying to get a better view, she saw someone staring at her from the corner of her vision. Once their eyes met, he returned a bright smile and waved at Layla. He had black hair and bright red eyes, as Layla looked at him. She felt like prey being watched by a predator.

Layla slumped back into her seat, but the voices only got louder.

“I have a plan to catch, I don’t have time to deal with this!” said a passenger.

While some of the passengers started to get up and walk to the front. A man got up from his seat and stood in their way.

“Why are you blocking us! don’t you also have somewhere to go?” said a passenger.

“Of course, We all have somewhere to be,” the man looked up at the back of the bus, “are you guys ready?”

Four different voices responded to his call and one of them was right across from Layla. She heard clicking noises and saw him put on a gas mask.

“What are you talking about?” asked a passenger.

He responded with a small grin and held his hand out. Red energy started to gather in his hands. Layla stared at it and her chest started to tighten up. She couldn’t help but clutch her chest from the pain coming from it.

Passengers tried to run away, but the smoke expanded and engulfed the bus. Layla’s vision was quickly filled with red gas.

Layla panicked and tried to cover her mouth. “What’s this gas? How can I get out of here?” thought Layla.

As she was trying to leave her seat, a hand came out of the gas and pressed on her right shoulder. She could hear people falling on the floor around her as she was pressed to her seat. Layla tried to move the arm from her shoulder, but couldn’t move it. It felt like she was trying to push a wall.

“Get off of me!” said Layla.

As she was trying to get free, a metal object came from the gas and hit her across the face. The last thing she remembered was bright red eyes, looking at her.

When Layla woke up, she found herself in a familiar place. The absolute darkness surrounded her as she felt confused and scared.

A familiar voice came from the center, which sent shivers down her spine.

“It seems you didn’t listen to my warning, Layla,” said a voice in the darkness.