Chapter 7

Two long years passed have already passed. Throughout their life, he was always there for her. So, as she counted the days, she prepared to reciprocate everything he had done for her with equal kindness. However, now she was being told that the person she had longed for disappeared from her life once more. Just like her father.

Sarah couldn't deal with those thoughts as she stared at the restroom door in front of her. She breathed separately while moving her hand towards the handle. When she went inside, she didn't see him. Sarah slammed open every stall, but still, he was nowhere in sight. She felt the weight of the situation crush her heart, as her brain raced with the worst that could have happened. 

"Sarah?" In the door frame, Sarah could see Jean look at her with a worried expression. 

The sight of her niece didn't bring her much comfort but made her remember something. Without acknowledging her words, Sarah walks past her and towards the female restrooms. 

Jean could hear doors slamming open, causing heavy emotions to wash over her. When she looked through the doorframe, Jean could see Sarah fall to her knees. "Sarah." Jean wanted to say more, but she stuttered as her eyes began to shake.

"He's not here." Sarah's words were filled with sadness, weighing down Jean's already troubled mind even more.

"I." Jean struggled to find the right words, but Sarah didn't give her a chance.

"I don't know what to do if he's gone as well. I really don't." Sarah's voice quivered with a stutter as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. 

Jean who looked on could see the desperation in Sarah's action, causing an emotional rollercoaster sweep over Jean. Being an only child, she struggled to comprehend the deep connection between twins, but she knew that if her parents were absent, she would feel the same overwhelming sense of loneliness.

Jean knew not what the best action to take was, but this felt right to her. She walked up to Sarah and put her arms around her. "I'm here." 

While being held by Jean, Sarah let everything out.

As the two girls reappeared, a heavy silence fell upon them all, unsure of how to navigate this. With the strangeness and dangerousness of this situation, they could only imagine the worst had befallen Samuel.

"Sarah." George wanted to say something, but the right words didn't come to mind.

"Who's that?" Upon hearing Kathleen, everyone turned in the direction she was looking.

On the long straight road in front of them, they could see a figure running towards them while waving their hand.

Sarah's heart began to pound rapidly as she stared at the person coming their way. She was sure of it, she could see him, he looked at her with a smile and a welcoming presence. She didn't waste any more time her hands pressed against the glass front door pushing it open.

"Sarah, I don't think that'll." Jean's sentence was left unfinished, for Sarah had run off already. 

As Sarah got closer, the figure became more distinct, causing her heart to drop and her feet to slow down. It was a woman. It wasn't him; she hoped by chance he had made his way back to her, but that was wishful thinking. 

Sarah blankly stared at the woman. She seemed relieved, something Sarah couldn't be. Joy must be overflowing inside her, while Sarah despised this encounter. It made her feel like the world wasn't fair.

Sarah's perspective changed as she saw an object hurdling towards the woman. She shouted to warn her, but it was already too late. The tip of a spear pokes out of the woman's chest as she hurtles to the ground.

George didn't know what he had just seen, but when he stopped next to Sarah, what he feared became a reality. He felt sick to his stomach. "Don't come any closer!" George knew they were following him and he didn't want them to witness this repulsive sight as well.

Kathleen and Jean looked at him with confused expressions but the worry on his face made them halt their pace.

George's gaze moved back to Sarah but passed her when something else caught his attention. On top of mounts in the distance, he could see creatures who were looking in their direction, and in between all of them, he could see one taller than all the rest.

"We should leave." He didn't give Sarah much of a choice as he instantly grabbed her hand.

Before she was pulled along by him, Sarah's eyes stopped at the roof of a building to her right. "Is something wrong?" George saw her strange reaction, but when he looked where she did, he saw nothing.

It was when he opened his ears and let his mind rest for but a moment. That his heart began to race. George wanted to shout something, but nothing could come out. The weight he had been placing on his shoulders was getting heavier as time went on. He tried to hide it; he tried to get over it, but there was no way around it. He was scared, just like them. Everything was just too much for one person to handle all by himself.

Ever since he married the love of his life, George wanted to be a pillar his family could lean on, but that false reality was crumbling away. He couldn't even move an inch as he heard footsteps surrounding them.

"Honey?" Kathleen looked at George, who seemed completely out of it. Ever since he ran after Sarah, something bothered Kathleen. Her husband didn't seem his calm and collected self, as if all his confidence was snapped in two.

"Let's go, mom." Jean, who had noticed her father's strange behavior as well, pulled onto her mother's hand. "Right." Kathleen nodded her head and together they continued towards George and Sarah.

George's heart sank when he saw both of them stop next to Sarah. "What are you doing here? Didn't I-" He wanted to say more but he couldn't get out the words.

Sickly expressions were conveyed on their faces when they saw the bleeding corpse, but even then there was some steadfastness lingering in the eyes of his wife. "I understand you didn't want us to see this, but-"

George listened to his wife for a bit, but when it went down the wrong track, he cut her off. "That's not it. Honey, look around you, don't you get it?"

Her husband's words took her by surprise. She didn't get what he was trying to say, so she let her surroundings do the talking. It was when she did this that her mind began to acclimate. the post-apocalyptic environment was not the same as the bustling city from before she knew this; her eyes saw this, but deep inside her brain, it couldn't accept this.

The world had changed, but she hadn't. She had seen things that were out of this world that made her body squirm and her mind numb. Nothing was the same, everything was a red flag, yet she could stay calm. She deliberately ran after her husband afraid something could happen to him, but never worried about what was going to hurt him and what scared her so much.

Darius and his family had left the building as well but were staying close to the entrance while watching from afar.

"I think we should go back inside?" Maria's anxiety intensified as she observed their distressed states, and a persistent unease lingered in the depths of her mind.

"Maybe we should." Darius struggled to make sense of it all, feeling overwhelmed. In the wake of Samuel's disappearance and the unexpected appearance of bloodthirsty creatures.

"Let's go back inside." Upon turning around, Darius heard a strange noise enter his ears. Confused about what it could be, he noticed only seconds later both his arms were hanging loose. That's impossible he and his wife had their hands interlocked. With wide-open eyes, Darius raised his left arm. 

Darius's screams filled the air, as he couldn't tear his gaze away from his wife's severed hand. In a daze, he felt a heavy force collide with his side, sending him soaring through the air. His body crashed to the ground, skidding to a halt not too far from where George and the others were standing. An excruciating pain coursed through his body, that was covered in numerous abrasions. He forces himself to straighten his back and finally sees what had struck him.

A ginormous creature pulled its claws out of the wall and dropped to the ground. While falling down its paw cushes James, who stares at it with a horrified expression.

When it roared, small creatures began to fill the roofs of the buildings around them. The gigantic creature glared at them with a bloodied mouth before dashing straight for them.

Turning around, I could see its undeniably large body. "Darius, Maria, look out!"

Instead of heeding my words, they gradually raise their gaze. As it descended from the wall, its paw mercilessly smashed down on Maria, overwhelming her with its immense pressure, and its gaping mouth devoured Darius in one swift motion, leaving only his ankles protruding from its jaws.

In a matter of seconds, they had been horrifyingly ripped out of my life. My head spun and everything around me became hazy. I felt like I was back in that nightmare. Black goo surrounded me, and their horrid voices reminded me of their deaths.

"Why did you just stand there?"

"Are you going to let us die again?"

"You're useless, Samuel."

Their ugly malnourished white bodies pulled onto me. They climbed up my body and got a hold of my face.

"Look out!" I could hear George shout, but for whom was it?

"Jean!" Sarah screamed in sadness at her niece. Why did she feel this way?

"George, get out of the way, now!" Kathleen sounded distressed, but I couldn't see a thing.

They were all desperately trying to survive, and I could do nothing. I felt stuck in a cage. everything around me was dark but they were still should be around me. My family, they are experiencing genuine horror, but I, Maybe I'm completely useless.

"Samuel? Samuel?" From within the darkness, two hands grabbed my shoulders and my sister's image appeared in front of me.

"It's not your." As she stuttered, a subtle change came over her expression, and her face contorted with frustration. Her soft and kind voice turned hoarse, seemingly filled with extreme fury. "It's your fault!" Her skin melted off her body, showing a pale disgusting face underneath. Her teeth sharpened and black sludge seeped from her eyes. "Weren't you going to protect me!? Was that all a lie!"

"I" I didn't know what to say. So, I simply said all I could. "I'm sorry."

In the face of danger, my lack of action left me speechless and filled with regret. I had shut myself away in a world of my imagination, not wanting to witness what was right in front of me. They were my family, the people I should care for, those who were there for me, but I was just a useless coward.

The ghastly creeps disappeared into dust, leaving me alone in this darkness. My eyes spotted something less monotone. It had a pinkish color, and I could see sharp teeth pointing toward me. I knew where I was, but I remained still. 

Without a warning, the enormous creature's mouth snapped close and my consciousness faded away.

When light penetrated my corneas, I found myself in a similar round room. The standing mirror stood right in front of me and inside of it, I saw him. He was huddled in a corner, holding onto his hair.

"They should die. Everything should die." While speaking hysterically, he frantically tugged on his hair.

"Right?" My mirror self looked at me. "Haha hahaha, right Samuel." Coming closer, his hands move towards me. He tried to grab my shoulders, but I walked backward. "We should kill them. No, we should kill everything that took from us."

My mind was racing seconds ago, but now I somehow felt calm, relieved, and saddened. This made me think back to everything that happened, all those experiences, all those emotions that welled up inside me. What were they? I thought about it for a few seconds, but I couldn't be sure.

My eyes stared at the once-refined me. His hair was in disarray. The clothes on his body were barely even on and were quite messy. "What happened to you?"

Swiftly moving his arm, he caught me by surprise and got a hold of me. His eyes stared at me, But I couldn't do the same. He gets a hold of my chin and forces me to look at him. "Are you scared of me?"

Unable to utter a word, my eyes begin to shake. He moves his hand over my cheeks, caressing it. "You must kill them all Samuel, tear them to pieces for what they have done. It's the only way we'll be able to see them again." His voice was soft with a mixture of sadness and eagerness, but with his next sentence, anger could be clearly heard in every word. "Slaughter them until the blood in your body stops flowing!"

I pulled myself out of his grasp and when I tried to look back at him; he was sitting on the ground holding his face while he cried. "Please Samuel, do this for me, no for us."

from above him, I could see gray sparkles descending towards his body. Upon contact, he began to scream in pain. "Kill! Samuel don't." from out of his mouth I could hear two somewhat similar voices trying to speak. "Destroy everything! Don't lose yourself, Samuel."

In a flash, my surroundings changed once more. A rotten smell permeated through my nose as my eyes adjusted to the new environment. A moist and sticky feeling drenched my body and clothes. I attempted to shift my body, but a heavy pressure held me in place. With great effort, I struggle to move my arm through the dense mass surrounding me. After I had fully stretched them, I reached out and grasped onto anything I could find, pulling myself forward. 

After some time I could see light peaking into darkness. As I poked my head out, the fresh air hit my lungs, providing much-needed relief from the suffocating feeling inside. Finally, I get the rest of my body out from beneath the fleshy objects. As I looked at what I had just escaped, I felt an overwhelming wave of nausea as I beheld a towering mound of lifeless bodies.

Startled by the loud stomps behind me, I try to push aside the disturbing image I witnessed and cautiously turn around to see the source of the noise.