“Name?”

The sound of a pen clicking broke the silent atmosphere of the cold room.

"Jake," I said, uncomfortably shifting in the firm steel chair. "Jake Everest.”

“Age?”

“17”

The room grew colder by the minute, and my jacket provided little, if any, warmth at all. 

"Jake Everest, aged 17, did I get that right?”

I nodded, my temper growing shorter by the minute. From the looks of it, she knew, and she wanted to see how much I could take.

"From what you have told—”

"I'm sorry, but is there a reason why this room is so cold? I'm freezing in here.” I asked, my teeth clattering as the chill seeped into my bones. 

“It is all a part of the procedure.” She replied with a smug expression.

‘What procedure?’

Is what I would have said, but I bit my tongue.

“Now, before I was rudely interrupted, I want to know how much you remember.”

“You mean 7 years ago?”

“Yes”

“Why’d you want to know?”

"Just answer the question, Jake.” 

I collected myself; it wasn't worth it to get into a fight with her. That’s not why I'm here. I wasn't going to let a little cold do me in. No, I'm better than that.

The memory wasn't pleasant; it wasn't one I’d want to relive either.

“I was ten when it happened.”

***

It was a cold, rainy night. I was wrapped up in a blanket, watching cartoon marathons on TV. I didn't know it then, but that was probably the last time I felt happy. 

My dad came home late that day. Like every other night, his eyes were tired. Dad went into the kitchen to grab a drink and joined me on the couch. He grabbed the remote and switched channels, which made me quite mad, I'll be honest. I even tried my damn hardest to reach for the remote, but he kept it over his head, which made it an impossible task.

While changing channels, the broadcast was interrupted nationwide by an emergency announcement. 

A lady in a lab suit appeared in front of the screen. She looked extremely nervous to the point it made me, a child, terrified. 

"Citizens of America, it greatly displeases me to inform all of you that humanity as a whole... I-I-It is coming to an end. Our Ark Labs stationed all around the world worked on all sorts of cures and vaccines, a-a-and we decided to take on cancer."

Loud bangs were heard in the background, and I drew closer to the screen to hear the faintest guttural screams, which were soon followed by the sound of gunshots. 

"We didn't think it would turn out like this. " If we had known, we would have never tried it in the first place." 

She said frantically before readjusting herself. 

"In our pursuit of a cure, we turned to regenerative healing factors that exist in some amphibians and other creatures."

She paused and looked elsewhere from the camera. I heard words being exchanged but couldn't tell what they were saying. 

I looked back at my dad, who had a terrified look on his face. Further back, I saw my mom on the stairs watching as well in her nightgown. 

The next few moments were what I can only describe as hectic.

The lady screamed and got up as a huge hulking monster that vaguely resembled a human being appeared on screen. It swung at her only to be met by gunfire. 

I watched as the lady emptied a clip into its face only to have absolutely no effect. 

It then lunged at her, and I saw it crush her head before my dad pulled me away and covered my eyes. The last thing I heard was the sound of bones crunching and flesh tearing.

Dad got up abruptly; even back then, I could see the sheer panicked expression on his face. The stark contrast between his initial weary expression and the alert yet terrified one was something I never imagined was possible. My dad was my hero; nothing could bring him down as far as I was aware.

Dad went to pick up his phone, which he left charging on the kitchen counter, and dialed up John Thompson. I'm friends with his daughter, Riley. They lived next door to us. 

I didn’t know what to do; both my parents were frantic, and I could faintly hear the chaos outside. Cars were honking, and people were arguing. My dad was yelling over the phone in an accusatory manner. Did Uncle John have anything to do with the broadcast? With the monster that appeared on TV? I still don’t know. 

My mom urged me to go and wake my brother while she ran to and fro, possibly packing. I didn’t want to get an earful from her, and I knew that this wasn’t the time to ask questions, so I bolted upstairs to my room, grabbing my action figures and shaking my brother awake. He jolted to his feet. The tiredness was still evident in his eyes. 

I’m sure he was extremely confused when I dragged him downstairs only to be met by the disarray of my parents. The living room was a mess. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought a hurricane passed through. I didn’t even have the time to process anything, and before I knew it, I was in the backseat of the car with my younger brother, Will, beside me. The hurriedly packed luggage was violently thrown into the trunk, and both Mom and Dad got into the car at nearly the same time. 

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My neighbours—nearly everyone was in a rush to hit the road. I looked over and met Riley’s eyes. We both exchanged a look of confusion. We were the first to leave; I only managed to wave goodbye to Riley as we drove onto the road.

“Where are we going?” Will asked, an innocent expression on his face.

My doting mother replied. “We’re just going on a road trip; that’s all sweetheart.”

Bumpy couldn’t even begin to describe the way my dad drove; I didn’t know where we were going, and it didn’t look like either Mom or Dad wanted to tell us anything. 

We veered violently at every corner we turned, my nails dug into the seat as I hung on for dear life. I have never seen this side of Dad, and I’m guessing neither does Will.

The fear in Dad’s eyes, the look of sheer panic—I'll never forget it. 

When we came to a sudden, abrupt stop, the deafening screech of tires and the sickening crunch of metal on metal nearly shattered my hearing; both Will and I slammed hard against the seatbelt. 

The smell of burnt rubber made me sick to my stomach; I was dazed, and my ears rang. I can’t even begin to describe the awful sound of cars honking over one another. I looked over to Will, and he wasn’t doing any better. He looked as if he were fighting every urge to puke. 

It wasn’t long after we stopped that I heard a horrifying shriek, as if hundreds of people started screaming at once. I hurriedly rolled down the window while the car started to vibrate with a low rumble as a crowd of people all ran at once. A mob was running, all of them terrified. I wasn’t keen to find out what scared all these people. My instincts screamed at me, and my body started moving on its own as I frantically unbuckled my seatbelt. 

I spent what seemed like an eternity fiddling with the buckle. 

In the corner of my eye, I saw a shadowy humanoid figure jumping from car to car. In my delirious state, I was sure that I had to be seeing things. 

“J-Jake?” Will called out to me.

I didn’t need to look back at him; I knew that he could see it too.

It was the monster from TV.

As it got closer, its grotesque humanoid figure made itself more apparent. It didn’t look exactly like the monster that appeared on TV, but it looked related. 

All of us were too scared; we froze. 

It wasn’t long before the monster landed on the hood of our car.

Its bones were protruding from its body. I could see some of its muscle fibres out in the open. Its jaws hang out of its skin, its eyes bloodshot and sunken. Its exaggerated features mocked humanity. 

In a split second before I could react, the monster grabbed both Mom and Dad, breaking the windshield. Glass shattered everywhere and I instinctively put Will behind me. He was crying his eyes out. I wasn’t doing any better. Tears streamed down my eyes as I saw the terrified look on my parents. My brain had blocked out most of my senses at this point. 

The monster drew both of my parents into its mouth.

In the next moment, blood spurted everywhere. It killed them. My parents were killed in front of my eyes. The helplessness, the despair I felt in that moment. My stomach still burns with anger when I think about it. 

My brother was crying hysterically and all I could do was hold him close to me. There wasn’t anything I could do. 

Will cried into my shirt as I pulled him closer. My eyes were closed shut, waiting for my impending doom. 

A barrage of gunshots rang out, which prompted me to open my eyes. Before I had time to register anything, me and my brother were being carried away. The man who rescued us was Uncle John, Riley’s dad. I knew Uncle John had some ties to the military since Riley bragged about it once. Uncle John kept shooting at the monster while Riley’s mom, Aunt Mary, pulled us into the Jeep.

“Are you alright?” Riley asked, with a worried expression. 

I knew she meant well, but the aftershock of what I saw paralyzed me with fear. My body trembled uncontrollably. All I could give was a slight nod. Will was still crying into my shirt, sticking onto me like a house lizard. 

Uncle John kept shooting at the monster’s face; all it did was make it angrier. 

Uncle John rushed into the driver's seat and floored it. Crashing the monster into a nearby building. The building collapsed on itself, trapping the monster under all of its rubble. 

Uncle John reversed as quickly as he could and drove as if he didn’t have anyone with him in the car. The road ahead of us was like a scene from a movie. Bodies littered the street, the power lines dangerously sparking with electricity. 

I collected myself and turned to Riley.

“Where are we going?” I whispered.

“The bunker,” she whispered back.

“The bunker?”

“You didn’t know? Ark made doomsday bunkers just in case situations like this might happen.”

“Ark? Like Ark Labs?”

“Yeah”

“How do you know this?”

“Dad told me,” she said proudly. 

“Whatever”

She wore the biggest grin. That stupid idiotic grin. For some reason, Riley always liked to show off; given the opportunity, she would always try to one-up me. 

It wasn’t long before our banter was interrupted by Aunt Mary’s scream. Both Riley and I looked ahead to see more monsters, each grotesque in their own right. Uncle John swerved hard, driving like a madman. If it weren’t for his obsession with reinforcing his Jeep into a mini tank. I’m sure we would’ve been dead by now. 

After what felt like an eternity, we arrived at the bunker. Cars were parked chaotically. A crowd stood in front of the impenetrable reinforced steel gates. Uncle John parked hurriedly and we ran towards the bunker. As I got closer, the crowd mostly consisted of men, all of them angered over something. Riley, Will, and I pushed into the crowd. The mixed smell of sweat and odour made my head spin. I kept pushing until I made it to the front.

“This is discrimination!!” 

“Please let me see my wife and son.”

“You can’t do this to us!”

The crowd protested.

“I’m sorry, sir, but only women and children are allowed in.” The female officer said, her face wearing a nervous expression. 

There was a line of soldiers guarding the entrance to the bunker. Nobody in the crowd was willing to take a chance because all the soldiers were armed. Uncle John and Aunt Mary somehow followed closely behind us. One of the soldiers saw Uncle John and immediately saluted. 

“General Thompson.”

"At ease, soldier." He saluted back. 

Before I could hear anything else, Aunt Mary pulled all three of us towards the gate, only for Riley to protest.

“Wait, what about Dad?” She screamed as we were dragged inside.

Riley screamed and kicked against any soldier who attempted to hold her down. 

Inside the bunker were children and women only. Some of them were injured, while others were crying. The sterile white room lit with fluorescent lights made me feel uneasy, like a trip to the dentist. 

“No, no, let me go!” Riley cried out while Aunt Mary struggled to hold her down. 

Will was still stuck to me, like glue. 

Surprisingly, Riley broke free from Aunt Mary's clutches and snatched a radio from one of the soldiers. 

“Dad, Dad, are you there?”

The radio buzzed for a minute. Her expression grew more distressed.

“Dad!” she screamed.

The buzzing stabilised, and Uncle John’s voice responded to Riley.  

“Riley, sweetheart, I’m here.”

“Dad, why didn’t you follow us?”

“Daddy’s got something to do, so I can’t join you and your mom yet.”

“Dad, I’m scared.”

“Don’t be. Be the strong girl I know you are.”

“Promise me you’re going to be safe.” Riley said with tears rolling down her face.

“I promise… Sweetheart.”