Jacklyn was heavily breathing in the dust-mite filled air. It was musty like boxes that had sat around for years before becoming consumed by a fungus after coming into contact with water. A rot had formed in the attic and covered most of the surfaces with a green-yellow mildew that was slimy to the touch. She brushed a heavy lock of red, frizzy hair from her eyes, feeling sweat forming on her forehead. Something crashed with a loud 'thud' beneath the planks of wood that supported her weight. She held her breath, heart racing until she heard one of those creatures stumble into something else further away. It had been like this for hours. Sitting, waiting, listening, staring at the trap door that led to the upstairs hallway that was a floor below her. The door had been broken and wouldn't bring the ladder back up to her or close, causing panic to course through her whenever one of them came near.
Downstairs, in the basement, as a matter of fact, played a very similar situation to her twin brother, Leon. The difference being that his door would not open, and the dead were trapped inside with him. The almost dead. The bodies of two of their neighbours who had come when they first heard the screaming, were temporarily immobilized with their legs caved in by the spade of a heavy shovel. Leon still held that shovel now, unblinking as he watched the couple. They had been bit only an hour or so ago, and had long gashes from the raking of nails down the bare flesh of their backs, nails having ripped through the thin material of their shirts. He had already seen what such things had done to his parents, but he refused to get closer to his neighbours, in case they had already changed and were simply lying still to catch him unaware. Were they that smart? He didn't know.
Jackie started to shake as adrenaline pumped through her, making her jittery and fingers numb as they tried to fumble with her shoe laces. She needed them tight. One of them had finally decided to climb up the rings, or crawl, and was snapping its teeth in the darkness, a sharp crack emitting from every bite that sent chills down the girl's back. The last she had seen of her brother, he had been shouting at her to run as he and the Smiths had been chased downwards by the things. The ground floor had been littered with them, so they must have gone to the basement and, knowing him, there could only be three reasons for why he hadn't come back yet. Either he was dead, turned or trapped. None were pleasant but at least the third left the possibility of being able to help him.
She waited until the body began rummaging through the decaying boxes that smelled like it did, then crept from her hiding place and made a run to the hole in the floor, scrambling down it as quickly as she could. Her legs were numb though from the long hours of remaining still, and left her finding it difficult to remain upwards as spikes of pain prickled up her legs. A sound of shrieking rage from the creature got her legs moving again though as it flung itself towards the hole. She screamed when one of its clawed hands wrapped around a fitful of her hair and began ripping it towards the creature's other hand so that it might claw out her eyes and rip the young skin from her face. The grip on her knife tightened as she squirmed in the hold, raising it up and cutting off a large section of her bound curls. She fell several feet and took off at a run, shoving the retractable weapon into the pocket of her jeans.
Leon's eyes were wide with fear when the bodies began to convulse and quiver as something took over them. He had been forced to knock them unconscious after they had been bit and he knew that he was trapped with them. It seemed only now though that they were starting to wake and they were no longer human. That much was clear. They were growling and spitting at him, using their arms to crawl towards the boy at stomach churning speeds, like something straight out of The Grudge. A fierce hammering on the door behind him made him jump out of his skin. They had smelled their own and were trying to get in! He began to hyperventilate until a cold wash of relief rushed through him at the voice of his sister. "Leon? Are you in there? Open the freakin' door! Leon!" she yelled, hammering her fists on the metal door. "It's jammed!" he cried back. The girl growled in frustration and began kicking furiously at the door knob, anger swiftly turned back to fear as three more creatures appeared at the end of the hallway, having been attracted by her previous screams and found her due to her current yelling.
One more vicious kick and the door was open, knob clattering noisily to the ground. Her eyes locked onto her brother's identical set of rich blue ones. "Window," they snapped at the other simultaneously, briefly smiling at how they both thought so similarly, even in such a situation. The window was set in the far wall on the opposite side of the basement, something that they had been using for years when they were younger to leave the house whenever they got punished and were sent to the basement by their parents to 'think about what they've done'. The basement was, however, ten feet underground, so they would need the other one the reach the exit. One of the reasons that Leon had not been able escape - the only other people who could of helped him had turned and there wasn't anything large or stable enough to push under the window to help to give him a boost. That was no longer the case though.
Jacklyn and Leon ran for their chance of survival, feet sounding against the cold, hard concrete of the basement floor, sending up plumes of dust as they ran. The 'immobilized' dead, who had become very much mobile with the use of their arms and hands, led the way for the others who still had a majority of their limbs still functioning. At the window, Leon bent down on one knee to give his sister a boost and with a small grunt she was up, balanced on his hands as she pried open the window. She then proceeded to scramble through before turning around on her belly to help him up. She extended her arm as far as the muscles would stretch and, with a small yelp at the close proximity of the creatures, Leon jumped, grabbed her hand and used his feet to kick against the wall to assist her in his ascendancy. They were both panting, laughing hysterically when they sprawled beside one another on the grass, even with the cries of fury of the dead only yards away from them.
Their laughter abruptly stopped when they heard the sound of gunshots being fired from inside their house, followed by the tell-tale screams of the walking dead as they were shot to ribbons. The twins scrambled to their feet and peered around to the front of the house, where a military vehicle was parked, one man guarding it as the rest went inside to kill the beings within the house. Another two gunshots were heard in quick succession, these ones not in the house, but not far away either. Then came the sound of a young, female scream. The man by the vehicle touched his ear piece. "Alien fire has been heard in Area B7-F21-X14. Return and move out."
Jacklyn pulled on her brother's arm and shook her head no when he made a move as if to approach the soldiers. She nudged her head in the direction of another truck that was slowly driving down the road with the same emblem as on the vehicle. Inside it though were people, normal civilians, arms bound behind their heads and most of them covered in blood, whether their own or that of the dead would remain unknown. Leon nodded in understanding. They didn't want to end up like that to be taken who-knows-where. Supplies, he mouthed.
The girl nodded in agreement and the two took off like feral bullets to the market. They would need food and water, possibly some clothes, and something to carry the stuff in. They pushed through the glass door that led into the grocery store, hearing the familiar sound of the bell chime at their entry. There were no dead that they could see, but still they would need to wary. Leon grabbed two backpacks from the store's 'Back to School' promotional display, and Jacklyn went down the aisles, throwing plastic bags of dried fruits and jerky meat at her brother as he just as quickly divided then equally amongst the two bags. The sounds of approaching footsteps from outside made them freeze. Soldiers or the dead? They didn't stick around to be spotted by them first. Using the shelves to their advantage, they rushed to the far end, backs against the displays, silently awaiting the newcomers. The bell rang, announcing their arrival. "Alright, you get some food for you and her," a male voice seemed to suggest. "I'll be close behind." The two looked across the gap that the aisles created between them, one simply shrugging to the other with a nudge of their head. Risk it? the gesture seemed to ask. The other shook their head vigorously in answer. No, not yet.
