The Xen

A/N: Yay I finally finished chapter 4! I hope you enjoy ^_^.

Chapter Four: Apocalypse


Time passed on and classes finally ended. Finals were over and our high school graduation lurked around the corner. However, the summer would not go wasted. Amari and I stepped out of the car and made our way towards the tall silver building. We had both applied to the same martial arts internship and we were to be interviewed together much to Amari’s delight.

The gentle ding of the elevator alerted us that our transportation had arrived. We stepped in and Amari pressed the button for the 8th floor. With a gentle jerk, the elevator began its ascent. I glanced towards Amari and found him looking very distinguished. He had shed he usual pretty school boy appearance for a suit and tie. His hair was neatly pulled back, save for a few strands, into a long braid. I noticed his tie was a little bit crooked. I took it upon myself to straighten it for him which rewarded me one of his beautiful smiles.

The elevator doors opened with another familiar ding and the two of us stepped out. The second my foot stepped out, I felt a knot form within my stomach. Silence crept throughout the building, the rustling of life absent. Our footsteps seemed to be the only sound as we walked through the hallway. I turned towards Amari but the smile had never left his face without any uneasiness to be found.

At the end of the hallway was Ms. Edwardson’s office, the woman who was to interview us. Only a small creaking noise was present when Amari opened the door to the office. Inside, we saw Ms. Edwardson behind a large wooden desk with the back of the chair turned against us. The whole scene felt strange. The lights in her office were turned off with the only source of light coming from sun rays through the blinders of the large windows. It was too silent, so silent you could hear the whispers of the dead. A creaking noise interrupted the silence and I realized it was coming from the chair turning. Her head hung low, her dark medium length hair covered her face. Her skin was a strange pale olive color but the most alarming thing about her was blood splattered on her blue collared shirt.

“Ms. Edwardson? Are you okay?” Amari asked, stepping forward to her aide. I quickly grasped his wrist and pulled him back. He gave me a weird look.

“Something isn’t right,” I whispered to him. Ms. Edwardson’s head suddenly snapped up.

“Oh God…” Amari whispered his aquamarine colored eyes wide with shock.

There was blood all over her face, particularly around her lips and neck. Her eyes were bloodshot; the irises dull and empty, as if devoid of human life. She smiled eerily and licked her lips, relishing in the taste of the blood. Then she spoke for the first time.

“I’m….fine. Just…really…hungry…” she muttered with voice that didn’t seem to belong to a human. With her eyes fixed on us, she gave us an even larger smile, showing off her bloodstained teeth. She slammed her hand on the desk, the abrupt noise causing both of us to jump, then the other. She placed her knee on the edge of the desk and hoisted herself on top of it. Slowly, she crawled towards us, giggling the whole time.

It was time to leave. I grabbed Amari’s arm and bolted out the door, ignoring his confused outcry. I ran as fast as my legs would allow me, dragging Amari along with me. My ears picked up a loud hissing sound and I turned around to see Ms. Edwardson trailing clumsily behind us.

“Faster, Amari,” I told him. “Run faster!”

When we made it back to the elevator I frantically pressed the down button, never letting go of Amari’s hand. I whipped my head around to see the woman approaching at an alarming rate. The fear racked through my body as I pounded my fist into the button. What was taking so long for these doors to open?!

Amari instinctively moved in front of me to protect me just as the elevator doors began to open. My relief was cut short when I saw a group of people standing inside, all with unordinary skin tones. I quickly backed away, cursing.

“Chotei, what’s going on?” Amari questioned, his voice cracking with panic. There was no time for any explanations. The group in the elevator lunged for us, the moaning and groaning mass reaching out to grasp our flesh. I pulled Amari away to the right, their prying fingers barely missing his long braid.

“The stairs!” I yelled as I lead him to the door with stairs sign over it. We quickly pushed the doors open and began to make our way down. We weren’t too far down, when we heard clawing and grunting at the door we just went through. A loud clang erupted in the stairway and the monstrous crowd began their descent to get us. Thankfully, whatever caused them to be this way also caused them to lose some of their motor skills.

We made it to the first floor, the light from outside almost a godsend. To our dismay, there were more like the people in the building. Some wandering around aimlessly, some feasting on mounds of flesh that I didn’t dare try to recognize. I motioned for Amari to slow down, as to not bring too much attention to ourselves. We made it to the car after a few nerve racking minutes. With haste we locked the doors and buckled ourselves in. As I started the ignition, I heard a loud bumping noise. My head slowly turned to the left to view the driver’s window. I felt myself holding my breath as the cause of the sound came into my range of sight. It was an elderly man, his face and hands pressed against the windows of the car. His loud snarls could be heard through the roar of the car engine. His face was caked with blood, whether it was his own or another’s was unclear. I took no time to shift the car into reverse causing the creature to tumble. I shifted the car into drive and we made our escape.

The roads were filled with them. This was going to make driving a pain. I pressed my foot on the gas to speed through them. I came close to hitting one, but they apparently had enough conscious left to dodge out of the way. I glanced at Amari to see how he was doing. His thick eyebrows were brought together in a rather distraught expression and his hands held onto the car seat tightly.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“No,” he answered honestly.

“Physically?”

“I am uninjured. Chotei, what’s going on? What’s happened to everyone?”

“I don’t know, but we have to keep our heads. There’s someone who needs us now,” I told him. I jerked the steering wheel to left in order to avoid a woman in the road.

“Chan,” Amari uttered, after recovering the sudden jolt to left. “Where is he now?”

“Soccer practice,” I answered morbidly.

Amari shut his eyes and shook his head. “Damn it.” It was the first time I heard him swear in awhile. “If whatever’s happening is happening all over the place…”

“Then Chan is in real trouble,” I finished for him. I pressed on the gas harder.

The soccer field was empty. The stadium was cluttered with belongings as if people had just dropped what they were doing at the drop of a dime. I didn’t bother with parking and just left the car at the edge of the road. With caution, we stepped out of the vehicle and sprinted towards the field. Still, we saw no signs of life, no movement, no talking, no screaming. I turned to Amari, the uneasiness painted on my features. His eyes continued to scan the field until they focused on something left of us.

“There, the concession stand, he could be hiding,” he told me as he pointed to a small structure next to the seating. We took no time in reaching the building. Amari paused at the door to listening for any disturbances. When he heard none, he slowly pushed the door open.

“Chan?” he called in a hushed voice. We crept through the small building, there were various food items spilled carelessly on the ground. We stepped over them and peeked into the back where the refrigerated goods were kept. A sharp gasp left Amari’s mouth as he quickly turned to face me, blocking my view.

“Don’t look, it’s…” Unbridled fright swirled in his aquamarine gaze, but I ignored his warning and gently pushed him aside. Before my feet, laid a boy about Chan’s age covered in blood. Though dead, his eyes remained wide and paralyzed with fear of whoever did this to him. The limbs on the boy had been ripped to shreds. His throat had been eaten out leaving a gaping dark red hole where his Adam’s apple should have been. My eyes trailed to his torso and my stomach finally began to give in, its contents threatening to rise forth. I turned away and began to walk out of the small area. I heard Amari wordlessly follow me outside. I could not look at him, at least not yet. I wanted the terrified and sickened look I knew was etched into my features to fade away. As I stared at ground, I told him our next move.

“We should look inside the school. Chan might be hiding in there,” I explained glancing at the large brown building near the field. My effort to sound calm failed as my voice wavered as I spoke.

“We have to hurry,” he whispered. We began our run towards the middle school, carefully opening the doors to the front entrance. The area still contained no signs of life, just litter on the ground left by hasty students. We turned the corner where the hallway was lined with dark green lockers. Amari’s hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder.

“Do you hear that?” he asked. I stopped walking and listened. It was a thumping sound, flesh banging against metal. Together, we followed the noise and turned another corner to find more lockers. There, we discovered the noise came from inside one of the lockers. I instantly recognized the number engraved into the metal door.

“Chan?” I called. The banging ceased and I heard what sounded like a sniffle.

“Sis?” A small familiar voice came. A wave of relief washed over me upon hearing the voice of my brother.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Y-Yeah, but I’m stuck in here,” he replied, his voice shook as if he had been crying.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out,” I told him. I glanced behind my shoulder towards Amari. He nodded, understanding what I wanted him to do. I stepped aside as he moved in front of the locker. With a quick forceful jerk, he had the locker open and Chan tumbled out into his arms. When his hazel eyes looked up to meet Amari’s warm gaze I could see tears gathering in his eyes. He choked back a sob and buried his face into Amari’s chest. Amari rubbed his back gently, trying to soothe the distraught boy.

“Tell me what happened,” I commanded in a soft voice. He turned his head to face me, his small hands still clinging to Amari’s suit jacket.

“We were just starting to practice when things got bad. Most of the kids started to act all weird and scary. Then they attacked the handful of kids that were still okay. I ran back to the school for help but everyone there was messed up too. So, I ended up hiding in this locker,” my brother explained. Amari and I shared a glance.

“Where is everyone now?” Amari questioned. Chan tore his gaze from mine to look up at Amari.

“I don’t know. There was a lot of noise, people screaming…then it got all quiet. That’s when I tried to get out, but -.” He eased his way out of Amari’s grasp and wrapped his arms around my neck. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

I returned his embrace, my fingers running through his thick brown locks. My eyes lifted to meet Amari’s gaze once more.

“Let’s go home.”


A/N: I hope you liked the chapter. If you can, please review, I enjoy getting feedback.