Hana let Darnell guide her to her parent’s room since she couldn’t bear to keep her eyes open anymore. She sat on the floor, next to her parent’s bed, cradling herself. Darnell made himself busy on his phone. Darnell suddenly spoke to her, “I got a hold of Michael and Alicia.”
“You did?” Hana replied lowly, still saddened by the events that had previously transpired.
“Yeah, but judging from what Alicia is saying, it doesn’t seem like they have much time.”
“You’re going to help them?” Hana's voice shook as she looked up at Darnell with a frown.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Darnell put his phone in his pocket, “They’d help us wouldn’t they?”
“Are you going to leave me here?”
“Not if you come with me.”
“Oh…” Hana lowered her head. Hana winced at the thought of seeing those “things” again. Her heart began to pound again. She remembered how hopeless she’d felt. How helpless she’d been.
Darnell kneeled down next to her, and spoke calmly with his hand rubbing her back, “I won’t force you to come with me. If you choose to stay, I promise I’ll come back for you.”
Hana looked him in the eyes, “You will?”
“Absolutely. But, what I can’t promise... is that you’ll be safe while I’m gone. I can’t protect you if you stay here, Hana.”
Hana gazed at Darnell for a moment, then down at the floor. She pondered. The thought of going outside made her stomach twist, but Darnell being near filled her with comfort. She tried to open her mouth to express those feelings. But it was like her lips were sealed shut. Her own body wouldn’t obey her, just like always. Hana turned to Darnell again, sending a silent plea for help through the silver beads of her eyes.
Darnell slowly reached for her hands to hold them. He whispered, “Just squeeze my hand if you want to come.”
Hana’s heart jumped with joy. She squeezed as tight as she could.
The two wasted no time. Hana had to close her eyes as Darnell guided her through the house. As they exited through the back door into Hana’s backyard, Darnell whispered to her, “You can open your eyes now.”
Hana gradually cracked open her eyes to the view of her backyard. It only consisted of a minimalist patio occupied by a single grill. The rest was just unkept grass and fallen leaves from the trees overarching the yard.
Hana spoke, “So what do we-” and was cut off by Darnell’s hand being placed over her mouth.
Darnell motioned for her to lower her voice.
“What do we do?” she leaned in whispering this time.
“We should’ve discussed this in the house…” Darnell muttered under his breath, then turned to Hana, “We’re gonna hop through the backyards until we reach Michael’s place.”
He pointed at the fence across from them, “I already know what direction his house is in, this should be the least risky route. You up for it?”
Hana nodded her head.
“Aight let’s go.”
The two crept through Hana’s backyard, trying to avoid crunching as many dead leaves as possible. Once they reached the fence, Darnell stood next to the fence and cupped his hands. Hana stepped onto his hand and Darnell effortlessly boosted her to the top of the fence. Hana made it over with ease. Once she sat on top of the fence, she looked around her neighbor’s backyard. No signs of life, at least that she could see. Before she even realized it, Darnell had scaled the fence and was quietly dropping to the ground. He helped Hana get down slowly to prevent her from hurting herself.
The two gradually made their way to the backyard on their left. As the two hopped over the next fence, Hana realized how they were virtually trespassing. And after the near death experience, everything felt so surreal. She couldn’t help but feel slightly exhilarated. Especially while following Darnell.
They repeated the same process for every fence they reached. Hana had lost count of how many backyards they’d broken into by now. The exhaust was only minimized by Darnell carrying her.
They reached another fence, but Darnell suddenly motioned for Hana to stop. She froze immediately. Darnell slowly crept towards the fence and tried to peer through a crack. Hana's heart began to pound. Darnell peered through for a solid minute. Hana awaiting his next move. She dreaded what he was going to tell her.
Darnell turned to Hana and put up two fingers. Two. There were at least two of those same monsters that had attacked her on the other side of the fence. Hana's heart began to pound even harder. No. Not again, Hana panicked internally. Before she realized it, she’d lost control of her body and stiffened up completely. Her gaze glued to the fence, dreading the other side. There had to be another way around, right?
Not to Darnell. In the midst of Hana’s panic, Darnell had already scaled over the fence. She noticed just in time to see his body disappear behind it.
“No!”Hana shouted without thinking. She immediately covered her mouth, flinched, then ran to the fence. Just after hearing the crash of Darnell’s feet on the other side, the sounds of groaning and croaking could be heard. Rampant stomps occurred in a matter of moments. Hana’s mind painted a thousand pictures of what could possibly be occurring. There was a swing of a metal object, a bang, a thud. More rampant footsteps. Hana tried to look through the crack. All she could make out were random blurs, nothing defining. Then another swing and a crack, followed by a screech. The screech was abruptly silenced by another bang, then a thud. Silence.
The silence was deafening to Hana. She began to pant heavier and heavier. Hana’s hands slid down the fence as her mind continued spiraling. With no sounds coming from the other side, her eyes began to water.
Then, the fence shook violently and Darnell swooped over the top. He dropped to the ground and dusted himself off. Before he could even finish he was assaulted by Hana who wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tighter than a lion holding down a gazelle.
Darnell, caught by surprise, recoiled from the affection. He grabbed her by the arms and slowly pulled her away so he could look her in the eye. He whispered softly, “I told you, I’d protect you.”
Hana nodded in agreement.
Once again, Darnell boosted Hana over the fence. As soon as she got over, the aftermath of the scuffle was revealed to her. There were two bodies. Sprawled out on the ground in pools of blood. The nearest one to the fence was on her right. Its head had a gaping crater that could only be caused by a blunt object. To her left, a bit further away, the other body had a similar injury, but its left arm took a severe blow as well. Hana was still taking in the sight when Darnell hopped over. He helped her down again.
The longer Hana stared at the dead bodies, the more sick she felt. Her first time seeing them, they were already dead. She never witnessed them as “monsters.” Darnell guided her away from the bodies. Hana continued to stare at them as the distance widened. The bodies didn’t even look like monsters once they were dead. They looked like normal people. Normal people who had been brutally murdered in their own backyard. She had no idea why these thoughts were running through her mind. Hana shook her head then looked at Darnell.
Hana asked, “What do you think is happening?”
Without stopping, Darnell responded, “Good question, wish I could answer it.” He stood by the next fence and cupped his hands again.
“Do you think it’s only here in Callaston?” she stepped onto his hand and he lifted her up again.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“If it was anywhere else,” Darnell launched himself over the fence, “wouldn’t the military or something be here by now?”
After sticking the landing, he continued to speak as he helped Hana down, “What I do know, is that our friends need help.”
Hana nodded.
Darnell pointed to the street that was on the other side of the house from the backyard they were in, “Michael’s house is that way.”
“We have to cross the street?” Hana fretted.
“No… we have to cross the street fast,” Darnell grinned. Hana didn’t laugh. He cleared his throat, “As long as we don’t make too much noise, we shouldn’t run into too much trouble.”
“You promise?”
“Promise.”
Hana’s eyes narrowed towards the direction of the street, with a nod she assured herself, “Okay. Let’s do it.”
The two treaded along the side of the house to the fence facing the street. Just before Hana stepped into Darnell’s hand, he whispered, “Once we’re out, we gotta go aight?”
Hana nodded again. Darnell lifted Hana to the top of the fence like he’d done before. This time though, Darnell moved much swifter than all the other times. Before Hana had fully situated herself at the top, Darnell was already swinging over. Hana noticed how, despite his speed, Darnell was completely silent.
As soon as he landed, he lifted Hana off the fence from her legs then placed her on the ground. Then he immediately took hold of Hana’s hand and bolted to the street.
There were signs of break-ins down the entire street. All they had to do was cross from one side to the other. The street was relatively clear of life. There was an overabundance of greenery, with trees overhanging the street creating a decent shadow. Darnell turned to Hana and gave her a nod, signifying that the coast was clear. The two ran across the street together. Darnell ran behind Hana to make sure she wouldn’t fall behind. As soon as they reached the next house, Darnell stopped and tried to listen for any noise. Nothing. The two hopped over and kept moving.
Alicia was reaching her tipping point with Michael. Michael had been reacting incredibly sluggish to everything that had happened up to this point. There was a horde of cannibalistic, deranged men trying to feast on the flesh of anything walking, and the only thing protecting Michael and Alicia was a twin sized mattress and a wooden desk. And Alicia felt like she was the only one trying to survive. She put her back to the barrier and tried to push into it, giving them more time for help to arrive. She had to yell at Michael before he contributed to the effort.
“Jesus, Michael, you’re going to get us both killed like this!” Alicia shouted at Michael, as their bodies shook back and forth from the onslaught on the door.
“What do you want me to do? Everything keeps happening so fast!” Michael retorted.
“I want you to act like you’re not seven years old!”
“I’m sorry, okay! I- I can’t think… There’s no way this is real right?”
“It’s as real as the burning in my legs right now!”
The two grunted, pushing with all their might. They had no idea how long they’d been holding this door closed by now.
“I want to kill them. I want to kill all of them, ” Michael said sternly.
“And how will you do it Michael? With a textbook?”
“I don’t care. I just want all of them to die,” he choked on his words as he spoke.
Alicia looked over at Michael and tears were streaming down his face. Remembering what transpired not even ten minutes earlier, he had every right to feel that way. She knew if she saw someone she cared about be attacked like that, she’d want revenge too.
“You think those are the terrorists from the alert?” Alicia gritted.
“Probably. Another reason they deserve to die.” Michael responded.
“If they are, then that means help is on the way, right?”
“I guess so.”
“So then someone else will take care of ‘em, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Then let’s hold out until then, Michael!”
“Fine. Let’s hold out.”
Suddenly, the entire barrier slid forward, nearly sweeping Michael and Alicia off of their feet. The two panicked as their butts nearly hit the floor, but they both managed to catch themselves. They jumped up to push the barrier again, but it was too late. One of the men outside had just enough time to shove their arm through the door. Alicia yelled at Michael, “Push the barrier!” He listened to her, and with his heart racing and his legs already burning, he willed himself to push the barrier with all his might. Alicia hurriedly grabbed a textbook off the floor and slammed it into the man’s hand as hard as she could. It faltered, but it didn’t give up. She tried again. “C’mon!” she yelled at it, and threw the book at the hand. She didn’t wait to see if it would have an effect, instead she grabbed one of their pencils and attempted to stab it. Alicia barely made a scratch. She looked around the room, there weren’t many options left. Michael grunted, implying that she should hurry. That did not help her panic in the slightest.
Her eyes darted all over the room, hoping that some tool would just magically appear to save them. But there was nothing. At some point, her eyes weren’t even searching anymore, they were just scurrying around like wild rabbits in a prairie. There was another creak of the door and the barrier altogether. Alicia spun around and now one of the mens’ arms was fully through the door up to his shoulder.
The man screeched and roared as he continued to force his way in. Michael screamed, “Alicia!”
“I know!” Alicia shouted.
“RAAAHH,” the man boomed.
DINK, the window went. The window? Alicia turned to the window of Michael’s room, and outside was Darnell, waving in. All of her uncertainty of what to do next was flushed away. She immediately ran over to the window, unlocked it, and swung it wide open for Darnell to jump in. As soon as it was open, Darnell became a blur. He dashed through the room with determination in his eyes and a wrench in his hand. He charged the man in the crack of the door and bashed the wrench directly into his face. With a loud crack, the man went flying back far enough for the door to be completely shut again.
Michael immediately collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. Darnell looked back and forth between them with his eyes still narrowed, “Are yall okay?” he said sternly. As Darnell finished his sentence, he was ambushed by a tight hug from Alicia. “Oh my god, thank you!” she cried, pressing her face into his chest. Darnell put his arm around Alicia’s waist, responding, “Yeah, yeah, it’s no problem.” He gently pulled her away so he could help up Michael.
“C’mon we g-” Darnell was interrupted by a giant bang on the door that caught all of their attention. Then continued, “Yeah we gotta go.”
The three moved to the window to escape. Darnell and Michael let Alicia go first. She poked her head out of the window to find a ladder stretching up to it. At the bottom of the ladder was Hana waving her down. One by one, they all climbed out of the window, with Darnell being the last. Darnell shut the window on his way out and climbed down to the ground with the rest of them.
“Thank you guys so much,” Michael said, still catching his breath.
“Now where are we going?” said Hana.
Darnell pointed behind them towards Michael’s backyard, signifying they needed to get out of sight first. The four of them jumped over the fence without any difficulty. After getting behind cover, Michael and Alicia started to relax, but their rest was cut off the moment it began.
“Now we head to Tristan’s,” Darnell commanded them. He began walking over to the far side of the backyard.
“Wait, Tristan is in danger too?” Michael called out to Darnell.
Darnell spun around with his finger on his lips.
“Oh-” Michael realized his mistake. None of them moved for a minute. A long minute. Then Darnell signaled the coast was clear. They all huddled together so they could lower their voices.
“Are the terrorists on Tristan’s side of the neighborhood too?” whispered Alicia.
“Terrorists?” Darnell replied.
“The terrorist attack,” Michael went.
Darnell just glared at them.
“It said it on the alert- le- lemme show you-”
“Man, ain’t no terrorists.” Darnell swatted the air.
“So… no terrorist attack?” asked Alicia.
“I wish that’s all it was,” Darnell shook his head.
Michael and Alicia exchanged an anxious look at each other, then back to Darnell. “So what is it?” Alicia said.
Darnell looked both of them in the eye, then stated, “Pretty sure it’s the apocalypse.”