Static Screams

Where was the sun?

The sky was pitch black, the ground was golden. Spinning in circles, the panic in my chest grew. Before I could process the emptiness, I was falling. As if a hole appeared underneath me and swallowed me. I hit a wall sideways, collapsing in on myself as I tried to right the world again. Both hands on the ground, gasping for air, a pair of dirty blue sneakers appeared in my vision. I followed the feet up, until my eyes met Lila’s. The smile on her lips reached her green eyes, little wrinkles forming at the edges.

“Lila?” I sat back on my haunches, confused at why she was so happy.

She held a hand out to me, wiggling her fingers. “Scarlett, come on!” I took a few slow breaths. Where had I just been? Her fingers moved again, convincing my own to meet hers. Lila pulled me to my feet, tugging on my hand so I would follow her.

The world was white. Heaven? Was I in heaven? If I was in heaven why would Lila be the one greeting me?

A door appeared in the emptiness, and Lila yanked it open, pulling me through behind her. Into the house we had lived in. Everyone was gathered around the living room. It was crowded, but in a comforting family way. Holland had the iPod I’d gifted him as an apology in his hand, the earbuds split between one of his ears, and one of Cosmic’s. They were singing along - badly - to whatever song was playing. There was no way for us all to listen, so they had taken it upon themselves to create the music for us. I didn’t recognize the song. I stood still.

The laughter filled the room, infectious. Everyone was laughing, Sawyer and Natalie danced together on the coffee table. Lila pulled me deeper into the room. As if by magic, Ryanna and Hollyn appeared in Lila’s arms. She danced in a circle, a white nightgown twirling around her. Holland passed his earbud to Peter, but continued singing along. He took one of the babies from Lila, and took her free hand in his.

They danced around the room to the music created by our family. As we all joined in, singing, dancing.

My heartbeat pounded through my bones as the panic appeared again, spreading. This wasn’t real. It had been real. But it wasn’t now. This was joy, and nothing would ever feel this way again. I screamed, the hollow pain of loss erupting in my chest. The world spun. My friends blurred out around me, laughter turning into screams.

And then I was falling again.

---

When I hit the ground, I heard my own scream echoing around me. It wasn’t a tearful scream, but an angry one. My vision tilted, and the red on the floor merged into my sight, everything tinted to match the rage in my bones.

I stood, ignoring Logan’s frozen body beside me, and walked slowly into the room. I grabbed my weapons, before turning and sprinting away. Leaving Natalie and Wren standing in the door of the bathroom, holding each other as they sobbed.

Somehow I knew where to go. I knew what direction she would have gone. As I approached the giant room where the hotel held events, I saw the blue sneaker again. Alone, outside of the door, flesh still inside of it.

My heart pounded harder as I stepped around it into the room. In the center, a pile of undead swarmed. Crimson vision didn’t stop me from nocking an arrow and releasing it into the crowd of decaying flesh. A squelch confirmed the hit, followed by one of the dead hitting the ground. The rest looked up, and screeched before righting themselves and heading towards me.

I released a second arrow before switching to the pistols in my belt. My bullets were true. Not one missed their targets, embedding themselves into the rotten brains sprinting towards me.

Unable to count how many were on the faux marble floor, I lost track of my bullets until the guns clicked in my eerily still hands. I dropped them to the ground, yanking the machete from the sheath on the floor, before screaming and running to meet the moving dead.

First strike decapitated the one closest to me. Before it started to fall I swung at the next. A flurry of motions followed, my red hair mimicking the flames I’d seen under the breezeway mere hours ago. Eventually the room was still. And I was standing in a circle of death. My hair settled around me as I stopped moving. My breath was heavy, I took a moment to try to catch it, the sound of metal clanging on the floor echoed around me as I dropped the machete.

Finally turning, my eyes fell upon her for the first time. The only recognizable features left, chunks of her short red hair, and the remaining blue sneaker. I stood still, frozen as the same hollow pain from the memory returned.

I heard the sound of a door, and turned just in time to see Holland collapsing to his knees, his cries echoing the ones in my heart.