Monuments of the Dead
Murphy
"Dil?" Called Riley Murphy, Dilan's big sister. "What was that?" She closed the door behind her, still in her scrubs from work. "I brought home donuts..." She called, making her way to the kitchen and placing the paper bag of groceries on the granite countertop. As she began unpacking the bag, she turned her head and noticed the balcony door to the fire escape wide opened. Shaking her head and sighing, she called back up, "Dilan, how many times do I have to remind you that you have to close the fire escape door?! You'll let in raccoons--" She strutted to the door as quickly as any exhausted-overworked young lady would. "--or worse!" Riley peeked out of the door and peered around the big city of New York, listening to the sounds of sirens, cars, wind and people a moment, "People..." She sighed once more before pulling the door shut and locking it. "Dilan? Are you even listening...?" Riley's sneakered feet creaked on the old apartment floors as she cautiously approached the bottom step and slammed her hands on her hips. From upstairs, she could hear clanking coming from in the bathroom. She furrowed her brow, "Dil...?" She called once more, straddling her feet and feeling quite uneasy. One more creaky step towards the staircase as she held onto the bottom railing, leaning to get a better view of the upstairs bathroom. "This isn't funny, little brother..." She tried to calm her nerves as her stomach turned upside down. Something wasn't right. He should have responded to her by now...the door shouldn't have been opened...What was going on?
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her wrist and she let out a scream as she spun around.
"Oh my GOD, Dil, what was THAT for!?" Riley scolded, ripping her arm away from his grasp. "You scared the living daylights out of me, I thought something happened to you--Ugh I was so worried--"
"Someone's in here..." Riley stopped at his remark. She tilted her head in disbelief.
"What?" Dil's eyes were widened. He looked like he had seen a ghost. "Dil?" He didn't respond. Riley was getting slightly impatient with him at this point. She knelt down and grabbed both his arms, shaking him a little. "Answer me, dammit!"
"Don't...move..." Dilan's enormous blue eyes stared directly passed Riley as his lip quivered in fear. "Don't speak..." He lowered his voice to an eerie whisper, still staring past her.
"You're scaring me, Dil." She said, her big green eyes glinting as she stared at his. "Look at me..." Her voice wavered in absolute terror, "I SAID LOOK AT ME!"
That was a huge mistake on her part. Riley really should have listened to her younger brother, even if he was being slightly vague.
Following her holler, a high-pitched long shriek came from upstairs behind her. She spun around immediately and stopped, petrified.
At the top step was what looked like a person, hunched over on all four with their head raised up and mouth wide agape. They had stringy thin black hair and were clothed in a ripped up stripper outfit. Once they ended their shriek, they let their face down to stare at the two petrified people below them. Their face was mangled and rotted with fresh blood still oozing out from their teeth and head. They were missing an ear and the hole where it should have been was spewing out blackish red blood. Their eyes were like a blind person's, milky white blue and seemed to stare just beside you. Its skin around it's mouth was ripped in a shape that made it look like an eternal stretched out smile. Slowly, it tilted it's head, letting the stringed hair fall to one side. In a sudden, the thing growled and leaped from the top step all the way down in a very inhuman way. Riley's first reflex was to pick Dilan up and leap to the side, out of the thing's range. It scrambled on the frantically like a dog on a kitchen floor before regaining its animal like stance and turning to face them.
"Dilan! Run!" Riley exclaimed as she shoved him aside for his safety.
"Bu--" He began, stumbling to his feet.
"JUST GO!" She faced him, waving her arm for him to go and crawling backwards from the monster. Dil sighed with reluctance as he spun around and ran out of her view. Riley flipped her head back to the thing, her curly red hair flowing out of her ponytail. She slowly pushed herself to her feet. "Come here..." Her voice quivered as she was still unsure if this was real or simply just a nightmare. "Come on you ugly bitch..." Snarling slightly, she backed away towards their floor lamp. It gurgled as it slowly crept like a hungry lion towards her with grimy translucent hands. Riley jumped a little as it let out another shorter shriek in her direction. Immediately she knew that this thing shrieks before pouncing. Riley panicked slightly as she swung her head back and forth to look for something to save her. Her eye caught the metal floor lamp, about as tall as she was but thin like a staff. Just as she saw this, she heard the loud thump of the thing's back foot pushing off of the ground to leap once more. Riley grabbed the rod-like lamp, yanked it free from the wall plug, and spun back to face IT just in time to slam the rod against it's neck to hold it back. She wrestled awhile as the monster gnashed it's bloodied teeth at her and reached its long thin arms over the ride, attempting to grab her. Riley gritted her teeth as she forced with all her strength to push the monster back, with little to no success. The thing reached one grimy hand over the rod and grabbed Riley's ponytail, yanking at it to pull her to it. Riley screamed in pain and frustration, yanking her head backward to free the grip. The thing clawed at her hair as she backed up and slammed against the wall behind her. Riley spun around and pinned the thing up against the wall instead, pushing the rod as hard as she could against it's throat. It gurgled out as blood began dripping down the sides of its mouth. But before Riley could make her finishing move, something leaped up onto her back and latched onto her. She screamed and dropped the rod, causing the thing to fall to the floor and vomit a waterfall of blood. Riley clawed at whatever was on her back and shoulders frantically. She turned her back to the wall again and slammed the thing off her, but lost her balance, faceplanting onto the hardwood floor. She gasped for air as she held her stomach in pain from the force, turning herself around on her back to look up at what was on her. Another one! Now there were two deranged monsters trying to eat her and now she was even weaker.
One of them pounced to her, ready to gnaw away, but Riley slammed her weakened hands on its shoulders to hold it back. She could feel something clawing at her leg as she attempting to wrestle the one off her. Riley kicked her leg to free it and then slammed her foot into the other thing's face, disorienting it a moment. The one ontop of her was winning the wrestle as her shaking arms slowly lowered down and slammed her elbows on either side of her, making the thing just one bite away from victory. She squeezed her eyes and held her breath, accepting her defeat.
TA-THUNK!
Riley's eyes fluttered open as she looked to where the sound came from. In the kitchen, hiding behind the counter, was little Dilan with his nerf gun. He cocked his gun once more and shot another foam bullet at the monster's head. It snarled and shot it's head towards Dilan before releasing Riley and bolting to the kitchen. Now Riley could see where the other one was. It's face was smashed in and pouring out blood as it gurgled weak growls at her. Riley snarled and stood to her feet while grabbing the rod lamp before slamming it down multiple times into the thing's skull. Blood spewed all over the lamp, the floor, her face and her scrubs as its brains began to smash into ground up pieces.
"Riley!" Dilan's weak voice came from in the kitchen again. Riley breathed heavily as she spun to face the kitchen. Dilan was standing on the stovetop and kicking the thing below him as it tried to grab him. He ran across and hopped up, pulling himself onto the top of the fridge where it could hardly reach him. Before he could settle there though, the thing's bony hand snagged his leg. He squealed.
"I'm comin' baby!" Riley hollered back, rushing into the kitchen. She passed the monster and ran to the knife block, yanking out the biggest one she could find. "Don't fuck with my little brother, you ugly bastard!" With that, she screamed and lunged forward at the thing, jamming the enormous knife into the back of it's head and then backing away.
The monster collapsed to the kitchen floor lifelessly as a pool of thick blood grew around it's head.
"Riley!" Tears streamed down Dilan's chubby cheeks. Riley could feel her heart pounding in every limb of her body. She would never forget this day. She would never ever let Dilan fall into danger. Riley reached up to him and pulled him off the fridge, wrapping his little legs around her waist as she held him in a tight hug.
"You're safe now, baby..." She sniffed away a tear and hugged him tighter, "You're safe now..." She could feel his small body shivering and quaking with absolute terror. Her shoulder grew wetter and wetter as his tears built up into a stain on her scrubs. Suddenly, the sound of sirens interrupted their moment. Riley flipped her head over to look to the window as she let Dilan down. She ran to the fire escape door and swung it open, dashing to the railing to peer over. "HEY!" She yelled to the build up of SWAT team and cop cars on the street below her, "HEY! HELP US!!" She waved her arms to them but none of them batted an eyelash in her direction. "The fu--" Dilan's slow paced feet approached her and stood next to her, hugging her leg from the side.
"Are the Police going to protect us, Riley?" Dilan asked, gazing up at her with sparkling eyes. She sighed and looked down at him, caressing his blonde curls and smirking a fake smile.
"Yes, Dil. We're safe now...remember?" It felt like a dream. Everything they ever knew...everything they ever lived for...it all seemed so pointless.
In the distance a low rumbling was heard. The two lifted their heads off to the alley way far from them and waited for the appearance of something.
Emerging out from the corner of the street was a long pipe-like structure in tannish shade. More was revealed and out came a treadmill looking object, rolling and rolling, kicking up loose dust around it. Finally, the body of it emerged. It was larger than it seemed. Scary, more intimidating....
An army Tank...
And behind it...
An army of soldiers, rushing to position and waiting for some sort of battle.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her wrist and she let out a scream as she spun around.
"Oh my GOD, Dil, what was THAT for!?" Riley scolded, ripping her arm away from his grasp. "You scared the living daylights out of me, I thought something happened to you--Ugh I was so worried--"
"Someone's in here..." Riley stopped at his remark. She tilted her head in disbelief.
"What?" Dil's eyes were widened. He looked like he had seen a ghost. "Dil?" He didn't respond. Riley was getting slightly impatient with him at this point. She knelt down and grabbed both his arms, shaking him a little. "Answer me, dammit!"
"Don't...move..." Dilan's enormous blue eyes stared directly passed Riley as his lip quivered in fear. "Don't speak..." He lowered his voice to an eerie whisper, still staring past her.
"You're scaring me, Dil." She said, her big green eyes glinting as she stared at his. "Look at me..." Her voice wavered in absolute terror, "I SAID LOOK AT ME!"
That was a huge mistake on her part. Riley really should have listened to her younger brother, even if he was being slightly vague.
Following her holler, a high-pitched long shriek came from upstairs behind her. She spun around immediately and stopped, petrified.
At the top step was what looked like a person, hunched over on all four with their head raised up and mouth wide agape. They had stringy thin black hair and were clothed in a ripped up stripper outfit. Once they ended their shriek, they let their face down to stare at the two petrified people below them. Their face was mangled and rotted with fresh blood still oozing out from their teeth and head. They were missing an ear and the hole where it should have been was spewing out blackish red blood. Their eyes were like a blind person's, milky white blue and seemed to stare just beside you. Its skin around it's mouth was ripped in a shape that made it look like an eternal stretched out smile. Slowly, it tilted it's head, letting the stringed hair fall to one side. In a sudden, the thing growled and leaped from the top step all the way down in a very inhuman way. Riley's first reflex was to pick Dilan up and leap to the side, out of the thing's range. It scrambled on the frantically like a dog on a kitchen floor before regaining its animal like stance and turning to face them.
"Dilan! Run!" Riley exclaimed as she shoved him aside for his safety.
"Bu--" He began, stumbling to his feet.
"JUST GO!" She faced him, waving her arm for him to go and crawling backwards from the monster. Dil sighed with reluctance as he spun around and ran out of her view. Riley flipped her head back to the thing, her curly red hair flowing out of her ponytail. She slowly pushed herself to her feet. "Come here..." Her voice quivered as she was still unsure if this was real or simply just a nightmare. "Come on you ugly bitch..." Snarling slightly, she backed away towards their floor lamp. It gurgled as it slowly crept like a hungry lion towards her with grimy translucent hands. Riley jumped a little as it let out another shorter shriek in her direction. Immediately she knew that this thing shrieks before pouncing. Riley panicked slightly as she swung her head back and forth to look for something to save her. Her eye caught the metal floor lamp, about as tall as she was but thin like a staff. Just as she saw this, she heard the loud thump of the thing's back foot pushing off of the ground to leap once more. Riley grabbed the rod-like lamp, yanked it free from the wall plug, and spun back to face IT just in time to slam the rod against it's neck to hold it back. She wrestled awhile as the monster gnashed it's bloodied teeth at her and reached its long thin arms over the ride, attempting to grab her. Riley gritted her teeth as she forced with all her strength to push the monster back, with little to no success. The thing reached one grimy hand over the rod and grabbed Riley's ponytail, yanking at it to pull her to it. Riley screamed in pain and frustration, yanking her head backward to free the grip. The thing clawed at her hair as she backed up and slammed against the wall behind her. Riley spun around and pinned the thing up against the wall instead, pushing the rod as hard as she could against it's throat. It gurgled out as blood began dripping down the sides of its mouth. But before Riley could make her finishing move, something leaped up onto her back and latched onto her. She screamed and dropped the rod, causing the thing to fall to the floor and vomit a waterfall of blood. Riley clawed at whatever was on her back and shoulders frantically. She turned her back to the wall again and slammed the thing off her, but lost her balance, faceplanting onto the hardwood floor. She gasped for air as she held her stomach in pain from the force, turning herself around on her back to look up at what was on her. Another one! Now there were two deranged monsters trying to eat her and now she was even weaker.
One of them pounced to her, ready to gnaw away, but Riley slammed her weakened hands on its shoulders to hold it back. She could feel something clawing at her leg as she attempting to wrestle the one off her. Riley kicked her leg to free it and then slammed her foot into the other thing's face, disorienting it a moment. The one ontop of her was winning the wrestle as her shaking arms slowly lowered down and slammed her elbows on either side of her, making the thing just one bite away from victory. She squeezed her eyes and held her breath, accepting her defeat.
TA-THUNK!
Riley's eyes fluttered open as she looked to where the sound came from. In the kitchen, hiding behind the counter, was little Dilan with his nerf gun. He cocked his gun once more and shot another foam bullet at the monster's head. It snarled and shot it's head towards Dilan before releasing Riley and bolting to the kitchen. Now Riley could see where the other one was. It's face was smashed in and pouring out blood as it gurgled weak growls at her. Riley snarled and stood to her feet while grabbing the rod lamp before slamming it down multiple times into the thing's skull. Blood spewed all over the lamp, the floor, her face and her scrubs as its brains began to smash into ground up pieces.
"Riley!" Dilan's weak voice came from in the kitchen again. Riley breathed heavily as she spun to face the kitchen. Dilan was standing on the stovetop and kicking the thing below him as it tried to grab him. He ran across and hopped up, pulling himself onto the top of the fridge where it could hardly reach him. Before he could settle there though, the thing's bony hand snagged his leg. He squealed.
"I'm comin' baby!" Riley hollered back, rushing into the kitchen. She passed the monster and ran to the knife block, yanking out the biggest one she could find. "Don't fuck with my little brother, you ugly bastard!" With that, she screamed and lunged forward at the thing, jamming the enormous knife into the back of it's head and then backing away.
The monster collapsed to the kitchen floor lifelessly as a pool of thick blood grew around it's head.
"Riley!" Tears streamed down Dilan's chubby cheeks. Riley could feel her heart pounding in every limb of her body. She would never forget this day. She would never ever let Dilan fall into danger. Riley reached up to him and pulled him off the fridge, wrapping his little legs around her waist as she held him in a tight hug.
"You're safe now, baby..." She sniffed away a tear and hugged him tighter, "You're safe now..." She could feel his small body shivering and quaking with absolute terror. Her shoulder grew wetter and wetter as his tears built up into a stain on her scrubs. Suddenly, the sound of sirens interrupted their moment. Riley flipped her head over to look to the window as she let Dilan down. She ran to the fire escape door and swung it open, dashing to the railing to peer over. "HEY!" She yelled to the build up of SWAT team and cop cars on the street below her, "HEY! HELP US!!" She waved her arms to them but none of them batted an eyelash in her direction. "The fu--" Dilan's slow paced feet approached her and stood next to her, hugging her leg from the side.
"Are the Police going to protect us, Riley?" Dilan asked, gazing up at her with sparkling eyes. She sighed and looked down at him, caressing his blonde curls and smirking a fake smile.
"Yes, Dil. We're safe now...remember?" It felt like a dream. Everything they ever knew...everything they ever lived for...it all seemed so pointless.
In the distance a low rumbling was heard. The two lifted their heads off to the alley way far from them and waited for the appearance of something.
Emerging out from the corner of the street was a long pipe-like structure in tannish shade. More was revealed and out came a treadmill looking object, rolling and rolling, kicking up loose dust around it. Finally, the body of it emerged. It was larger than it seemed. Scary, more intimidating....
An army Tank...
And behind it...
An army of soldiers, rushing to position and waiting for some sort of battle.