We pulled up in front of Reese‘s house. It was on a quiet suburban street with similar looking houses lined up side by side. The usually immaculately kept houses all looked ramshackled and broken, like a large tornado had swept through the area. Glass in windows was shattered and broken, parts of the buildings had fallen away exposing their interiors and roofing tiles lay scattered across charred lawns.
Reese’s mum was an avid gardener so there were always lots of plants and flowers in the front yard, but no longer, the nicely manicured trees and hedges that had also lined their yard were in a state of chaos.
Reese gasped in shock. The trees had been uprooted and the hedges had pieces of roofing and wooden slats sticking out from within them from where the debris from the houses had landed.
Roderick stopped the car and Reese quickly got out.
“Just be careful.” He called after her as she ran up the path. She turned back and gave him a nod and then ran to the front door.
Reese grabbed the handle and tried to push it open but it wouldn’t budge. She rattled it, trying to get it to loosen and started banging on it, calling out for her parents. There was no answer. She turned back to the car with a worried look on her face.
She then stood back and looked at the house trying to see a way in.
“Where’s your key?” Roderick put down the window and yelled out.
“In my bag back at school!” She yelled back, but bent down and picked up the welcome mat, pulling out a spare key from underneath it. She held it up to show us then put it in the door, opening it.
Cautiously, she went inside and stood there for a few seconds waiting, before shshe went inside Roderick looked at me and then review Barry are you hanging in there could he asked me I look back at them
barely I said a tear slipping down my face as if he could read my mind he said mum is gonna be okay. I nodded mutely.
Eamon moaned and wiggled slightly before drifting off back to sleep.
Eamons head was on my lap and a gym gently wipe his hair away from a sweaty for hit some comforting him as he slept.
“What’s taking her so long?” Roderick said looking out the window with his fingers nervously tapping on the steering wheel.
“She’s only just gone in Roderick, give her some time.” I answered gently.
“We don’t have time Ariah, we’ve already wasted so much by just sitting here.” He snapped back. My heart jumped in hurt and tears started to well up in my eyes.
Roderick let out a sigh and put his arms up on the steering wheel, the let his head drop onto them in resignation.
“I’m sorry, I just don’t know what we’re going to do.” Roderick said, his voice muffled from his sleeves. “Ariah, I have to be honest. I’m scared.”
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“It’s okay Roderick and it’s okay to be scared, we all are. You wouldn’t be human if you weren’t.” I said softly. “I think we stick to our plan, get Mom and get to the forest.”
He lifted his head up and turned to me giving me a small smile then nodded in agreement. I could see his face was wet and realised that he’d been crying. He wiped his face with his sleeve then took a deep breath, relaxing slightly in his seat.
I looked out of the window towards the house. I’d been to Reese’s house many times before when Roderick was picking her up or dropping her off from school with me in the car too. But I’ve never actually been inside. I imagined it was just as vibrant and vivacious as she was.
I knew her parents from the local bookstore in town and often visited there to get my dose of comic books. I loved comics. I'd often sit for hours just reading them in the bookstore’s chill out space. Reese’s parents had set up an area with bean chairs and big soft comfy couches. They welcomed people to sit and read the merchandise before they actually bought it. They generally gave me a discount on the comic books I did buy and always sent me off with a smile.
“She’s been in there too long, I’m going in.” Roderick said authoritatively. “Wait here.”
He got out of the car and closed the door behind him.
“Wait!” I called out. But he had already started to run up the path towards the front door of the house.
Nerves started to form in my stomach again, but I remembered the newfound powers that I seemed to possess and that quelled my nervousness. At least I knew I could hold my own against one of the monsters if I had to. It’s just Roderick and Reese that I was worried about.
The sound of thunder from the sky above made me jump in my seat knocking Eamon’s head on my lap. He moaned and rolled over, his feet kicking out against the closed door as he tried to get comfortable. He murmured in his sleep then settled again going to limp against me.
Lightning lit up the darkened sky and I peered out trying to scan the horizon for any sign of danger. Heavy rain started to cascade down onto the windscreen and I heard it hitting the top of the car in the loud thumping beats. It grew heavier and heavier until it was nearly impossible to see through the blanket of water that it had created against the windows.
Suddenly I felt extremely cold and noticed that Eamon was shivering too. Grabbing Roderick’s old football blanket emblazoned with the logo of his favourite team from the foot well, I pulled it out over us bringing along with it lots of empty packets of chips and rubbish that he had obviously forgotten about.
I dusted it off and back onto the floor where it had come from, then pulled the blanket up tighter around Eamon’s neck and my legs to keep us warm.
“It’s okay Eamon, we will get you somewhere safe.” I whispered, noticing that as I spoke my breath sent steam into the car due to the now freezing temperature of the air around us. My teeth began to chatter and Eamon started shivering more violently.
I took my hands out from under the blanket and started to warm them up by rubbing them together. As I blew on them, I noticed that they had started to glow and feel incredibly warm. The colour of them changed to a vibrant red and flames appeared in my palms. I balled the energy up and held it on my fingertips, a glowing orb of pulsating warmth.
The car began to heat up and I felt Eamon stop shivering. He let out a giant exhale and stopped moving completely. Frightened, I quickly extinguished the ball of flame and shook him.
“Eamon!” I cried. “Eamon!”
I leant over and put my ear on his chest. He had stopped breathing. Quickly discarding the blanket from my legs I manoeuvred myself into the foot well so I could lay Eamon down completely on the back seat, moving his head from my lap.
I put my ear to his face and felt no breath on my cheek. Adrenaline started to pulse and I opened his mouth with my fingertips and began to blow into it. I listened again. Still nothing. I began compressions on his chest, pushing down to try and get his heart started. I then opened his mouth and blew again. His body lay limp beneath me.
Tears welled up as I continued to work, to no avail. There was no movement, no sound.
EAMON SINCLAIR…
STATUS UPDATE:
HEALTH: 0/100
Eamon was dead.