~ Luke ~

The clanking of silverware hitting glass plates was the only sound at dinner for the longest time.

Pa looked around the table and cleared his throat, "This is some amazing meatloaf, ain't it kiddos?" He smiled as he put another forkful into his mouth.

Lucy looked up from her phone and stopped texting and took another bite. "It is very good Ma, thank you for dinner!"

She smiled and swallowed it before going back to her phone. "Cassidy says there's some crazy stuff on the news, may I get up and turn the TV on please Pa?" Lucy said setting her phone down.

Pa slowed his chewing and nodded. "Of course honey." He wiped his mouth with a napkin as she got up and turned on the television.

Ma spoke softly, "Lucas... do you want to talk about it?"

I was staring at the plate of food before me. The visions of the zoo made me sick to the stomach. The plate remained untouched.

I looked up and softly smiled, "Nah I'm alright thanks Ma. I'm, uh, full. May I be excused please?"

Ma and Pa exchanged looks. "Yes you may. You going to bed?"

I stood up and slid the chair in before picking up my plate and going to the sink. "Yeah, I'm not feeling well."

I set my plate in the sink and headed to the stairs. I stopped and listened to the television.

This is an emergency broadcast requested by the Hanbrook Police Department. For all residents within the viewing area, please stay indoors and avoid going outside at all costs. Looting has caused havoc throughout the city. Crime has also spiked. For everyone's safety, we advise that you remain indoors until tomorrow. We will continue to give you hourly updates...

There was a pause as the words finished scrolling up the screen.

This is an emergency broadcast requested by the Hanbrook...

Again, I brushed it off. I went upstairs to my room and shut the door. After walking into the bathroom, I took off my shirt, leaned over the sink and looked down the drain for a minute before turning the water on. I stuck my toothbrush in my mouth and stood by the window that faced the city. I brushed my teeth and watched lights flicker and smoke rise up from the distant orange glow. The pleasant minty taste counteracted the sight laid before me.

"What's going on out there...? Protests probably. Why can't everyone just get along?"

Finished with my teeth, I washed my face and put on plaid pajama pants and an oversized shirt I used for sleeping in. I crawled into bed.

"The bed hasn't felt this unwelcoming since the death of my parents..."

There was a soft knock on my door.

"Come in." I said turning over to face the door.

Pa and Ma stepped in. "We just wanted to let you know that we are heading into town to help with the injured. We heard on the television there are a lot of people hurt. With us being part of the Legion, we figured we'd help the best we could. We just wanted to make sure you guys were okay home alone for a few hours."

I nuzzled my head into my pillow. "That's okay with me. It looks and sounds bad out there. Please be careful."

Pa and Ma smiled. "We will Sweetheart." Ma's soft voice said. She walked over and kissed my forehead.

Pa stood at the door, crossed his arms and laughed, "I'd come kiss ya, but I don't think that works well with you anymore kiddo."

I smiled. "I'll see you guys in the morning, kiss me then!" Ma and Pa started to leave the room. "Ma, Pa."

They stopped and turned around. "Yes?"

This felt like a goodbye, I hate goodbyes. My chest tightened and throat began to dry.

"What if they don't make it back? What if something happens? We'll be all alone again..."

"I love you." I managed to say.

"Aww honey we love you too. We won't be long, we promise." Ma said with a loving smile.

"Okay." I yawned.

They shut the door and I rolled back over and stared at the clock on my night stand. It read 10:47 p.m. in bright neon green print. I closed my eyes and before long, I was sound asleep.

A nightmare filled my sleep.

A black silhouette was chasing me in a white abyss. No color, except the shadowed figure behind me. My heart raced and I called out for help, but no one came.
I fell and the shadow did the same.
Everything I did, the shadow did.
I was running from myself.
Scared, of myself.

Something woke me from this nightmare. I gasped for air and sat up. The sweat that covered my forehead was accompanied by a racing heart in my chest.

"What a dream..." I croaked.

The clock's neon numbers shone bright in the dark room. 3:12 a.m.

There was a noise in my room. Lucy was slowly closing my door.

"Lucy... what do you want? It's too early for games and stuff." I groaned with a sleepy voice.

Lucy hurried over to me and held a finger to her lips. "Shh! There's someone downstairs... and it's not Ma and Pa... their car isn't in the driveway."

I covered myself with my blanket.

"They probably parked it in the garage with the truck because of all the looting and stuff." I mumbled, trying to get back to sleep.

There was a loud noise of glass breaking from downstairs. That got my attention. I opened my eyes and peeked out from under the covers.

"Ma would've screamed from that loud of a noise...she hates loud noises because they make her jump..." Lucy said as she trembled.

"Maybe it's a ghost?" I was trying to make the situation better.

"Did it help?"

"Not funny, Lucas." She whispered angrily.

"Nope it didn't."

"Alright, alright I'll go check it out." I got up and walked to the door. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything in my room that could be used as a weapon.

"Shame you aren't prepared for break-ins..."

I shook the thought from my head as Lucy tiptoed over.

"What if it's bad guys Luke...? What do we do?"

I slowly open the door a tiny crack and peeked out, "We run and get help." After opening the door all the way, I stuck my head out and looked both ways.

"You stay here. I'll come back for you. If I'm not back in 5 minutes, open my window and climb onto the roof. At the back, there's Ma's weird garden ladder thing her plants use to climb up. Climb down that and run to John and Christy's house next door and get help, do you understand?"

Lucy took all the information in and nodded to show she understood.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, "Good. I'll be back okay? Just a quick look." I slipped out of the room into the black hallway.

I crept along the wall, feeling my way nervously, like a really bad ninja. I slowly traced the walls I knew well, but with all that's going on, they felt strange.

"What are you doing? You aren't afraid of a ghost are ya? ... okay ... maybe a little."

The stairway was lit up from the lights downstairs. I peeked over the railing, but saw no one. There were sounds though, so I knew people were still there.

I've never walked down stairs so quietly before in my entire life. Midway down the steps a hand touched my back, making me jump a little. I had to force stop a girly sound from escaping my throat. When I turned around, Lucy was staring at me.

"You scared the hell out of me! Don't do that to someone!" I whispered loudly.

"Sorry!" she whispered apologetically.

"I thought I told you to stay in the room." I looked back and forth between her and the open doorway at the end of the stairs.

"I couldn't let you go alone..." she whispered.

Just then a few men walked past the stairway. Lucy covered her mouth and sat down. My hands began to shake.

"What should I do? I can't take on three grown men... they'll end up killing us both and we'll end up on a horrible TV crime show."

I stood up and was about to turn around as a masked figure walked up the steps and paused as the two of us came into his view. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

"Make a move pal."

Lucy whimpered behind her hand as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her cries put me in protective brother mode. I clenched my hands, prepared to swing.

"Get any closer, and you'll go down these steps faster than you came up them."

The figure looked at us then looked back down the stairs. He turned back and pulled off his mask. The darkness shadowed most of his face, but the light from downstairs illuminated it enough.

He seemed familiar, but I wasn't sure where from.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. I didn't know this place had kids in it."

That confused me, but didn't make me lower my guard. "What are you doing here? This is our house. Where are our grandparents??"

The man made a hushing sound and looked back down the stairs. "We thought the house was empty, honest. And as for why... do you know what's going on outside kid?"

The TV broadcast came to mind as well as the view from my window. "Looting and some other stuff?"

The man chuckled a worried laugh. "It's worse than that. The dead... they just, here." He set the backpack he carried down on the step by my feet. "This has canned food, bottled water and other supplies in it. Go. Get out of the city."

I hesitantly took the bag and handed it to Lucy, who took it then rushed quietly up the stairs.

"I still don't know what's going on. But thanks, I guess." As I turned away, the man stopped me.

"One more thing."

I turned back and faced him.

"Do not, I repeat, do NOT, trust just anyone. You hear me? Everyone wants to take advantage of everyone now and then there's the roamers..."

"Roamers? What's that?"

The man wiped his brow before continuing, "I know this is hard to understand, but the dead are coming back to life and killing people. I saw it before my own eyes... my neighbor was torn apart..."

I scoffed in disbelief. "You mean to tell me that zombies are real and taking over the city?" I don't think I could've rolled my eyes any harder than I did just then.

"Yes. There was an incident earlier today, that was the first public occurrence of it in this city." The man said with a straight face. "This guy was crazy at the zoo and he..."

The flashback was fresh in my mind, so I finished his sentence, "Walked into the lion den."

The man looked up. "You heard?"

I nodded. "Kinda, I was there."

The man turned as voices called in the distance. "There's no more time. I can't guarantee your safety if they find you. Please go now and remember what I told you. Don't trust anyone, and last but not least, stay away from the slow, sickly looking ones. Usually with flesh between their teeth. I wish this was a joke kid, but the punchline is, it isn't. Now hurry!"

"What a wild story to cover up your crime. Zombies? Please. Zombies are as real as flying pigs and Big Foot... But what if it's not fake? What if there's truth to this man's words? If so, Lucy is my first priority. She needs to be safe. Zombies or not, she needs to be safe."

I hurried up the stairs and shut my door.

"Where is she?"

"Sis?" I whispered.

A head poked up over the bed. "Are they gone?"

Her fear could be heard in her voice. I hurried over and knelt beside her.

"We need to go, okay? Come on."

Grabbing the backpack, I put it on my shoulders, unlatched the window and slid it open.

"We're going out in our pj's?" She looked over her clothes.

"Good idea. Quickly, go grab a pair of new clothes. Meet back in here, fast." I threw open my drawers and began to put fresh clothes into the backpack.

"We're gonna need another bag..."

I grabbed my school bag and emptied it's contents onto the bed. History notes, a math textbook, the expensive graphing calculator I needed for Algebra 2 this year, a dull pencil with a worn down eraser and other assorted school related items, such as a few of those erasers you put on pencils and a spring from a pen.

"Will I ever need these again? Won't be that bad of a loss if I don't."

Lucy quietly rushed back into the room with her arms full of clothes.

"I said a pair of new clothes. Not everything in your closet." I stuffed the clothes into the empty bag.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't decide what to wear..." Her response was actually sincere.

"I'll take the bag with my clothes." Lucy wove her arms through the straps.

The window was a tight fit, but we managed to get onto the roof.

Lucy walked back and forth. "So who were they?! What's going on??"

I looked through the window to make sure the door was still closed. "I don't... I don't know. Go, climb down and go for the garage. We'll take the truck to the cabin."

Lucy stopped and relaxed a bit. "Pa's cabin?" She started to climb down.

"Yes, Pa's cabin." I climbed down as well. The grass tickled my bare feet when I jumped down. I opened the back door to the garage and looked in. It was dark except the overhead lamp above Pa's workspace. The transfer from soft grass to hard and cold concrete sent chills up my spine.

"We'll need shoes..."

We slowly went to the truck. It wasn't in the best of shape. Pa and I were working on the front passenger side tire. Pa had given an hour and a half long lecture about ball joints and upper control arms.

We weren't completely done and some of the lug nuts lay on the ground. There wasn't any time to fix the tire, so it'd have to go as is.

Lucy got in the passenger seat as I snuck over to the door that led into the house. I pressed my ear to the door and listened.
The men were still in the house, but not close to the garage. While heading back to the truck, I saw a metal baseball bat sitting in the corner as well as some of mine and Lucy's old sneakers.

Lucy whispered loudly, "Luke! Luke come on!"

I grabbed the bat and shoes and hurried to the driver's side of the truck. I flung the door open and placed the backpack in the backseat and hopped in while flipping down the visor. The key dropped into my hand.

"Seat belts Lucy." I said, clicking mine into place.

Lucy clicked her seatbelt in and slipped on her shoes, "Luke... what are we going to do? Where's Ma and Pa...? And can you even drive yet?"

"Maybe they are at the cabin waiting for us already. And of course! The DMV teacher just didn't like me..." I finished tying the laces to my shoes.

Lucy sighed. I grabbed the garage door opener and took a deep breath. "You ready?"

"Not really. Please don't kill us." She tightened her seat belt.

I turned the key and hit the garage door opener at the same time. The truck roared to life as the door slid up. I kept my foot on the brake and put it into drive.

The garage door slowly opened up as the door to the house opened. The men rushed into the garage and Lucy pushed the lock down on the door. "Luke!"

And with that, I tore out of the garage.