foundations protruding from the ground like twisted limbs. Even through the pain of my cravings, itching skin, and agonising thirst, that voice inside of me, the Kiera that was pushing me on, told me that something was terribly wrong. But my thoughts of searching for help – for Potter – nagged away at the corners of my mind and I knew that we must keep on going. We needed to find food, water and some clothes.
A bath would be good too! I thought to myself.
So we passed the deserted homes to the left and right and I walked towards the town. As we grew nearer we could see more deserted houses. The world seemed so quiet, only the sound of our bare feet could be heard smacking off the tarmac. Looking down, I was shocked to see that the road surface had split and cracked in places, leaving wild and untamed weeds and plants to sprout from them. Nearing the town, I noticed a sea of lights twinkling on and off up ahead. As we drew nearer, it became clear to me what these lights were. It was the glare of the pale winter sun glinting off the cars that lay strewn across the deserted road.
We walked slowly towards the cars. The wind blew amongst them and I could hear the creak of a car door as it swung open and closed. I took my hand and covered my mouth and nose as a rancid stench wafted towards me. A gasping sound came from behind me and I spun around to see Isidor doubled over getting sick. His sense of smell was far greater than mine and Kayla’s, so the stench must have been overwhelming for him. Going to him, I rubbed his back, and his flesh felt burning hot.
Brushing my hand away, Isidor straightened himself and whispered, “It’s okay, Kiera, I’ll be fine.” Covering his nose and mouth with his hands, he walked on.
Passing amongst the rows of cars, I dared to glance into some of them and then looked quickly away. There were people in them – dead people. Their faces were bloated and purple in colour. Black crusty lumps of blood had dried in streams around their noses and mouths. It was obvious they had been running from something – trying to escape the town with the people that they loved. I saw the broken windshields, the scratches running across the hoods of the cars, the hanging bumpers, the upturned faces of the dead, the desperate fingers forever frozen as if clutching the air. I could see the black tire tracks on the road and then my head was thrown back as if invisible hands had grabbed at my hair. And, closing my eyes against the glare of a cold winter sun, I could see what had happened to these people as if being played out like a movie on the inside of my eyelids.
They had come…
… at dawn, just as the first shades of pink had spilt over the mountaintops. But there was something wrong! Why, on such a beautiful morning, were there black clouds in the sky? The clouds were moving fast, racing over the horizon as if a storm were coming. Black and threatening they came, and as they grew nearer they changed shape. It was as if the clouds where breaking up – falling apart – and the shadows they created on the fields below were just as black and moved faster if that were possible. But they weren’t clouds or shadows. It was Vampyrus that raced through the sky and Lycanthrope that sped over the mountains and fields towards the town. Swooping low, their giant black wings splayed on either side of them, the masses of Vampyrus flew over the town, their white fangs glistening like knives. The werewolves howled and barked as they bounded through rivers, leapt over gates and crashed through people’s front doors.
Children sat up in their beds, rubbing the sleep from their eyes, as they stared in fear at the giant wolves that stood licking their giant snouts.
“Mummy…!” the boy cried, but before he’d had the chance to raise the alarm, he had been snatched away, carried like a rag doll in the giant jaws of a werewolf as it raced back across the fields and between the mountains with its prey.
The
A bath would be good too! I thought to myself.
So we passed the deserted homes to the left and right and I walked towards the town. As we grew nearer we could see more deserted houses. The world seemed so quiet, only the sound of our bare feet could be heard smacking off the tarmac. Looking down, I was shocked to see that the road surface had split and cracked in places, leaving wild and untamed weeds and plants to sprout from them. Nearing the town, I noticed a sea of lights twinkling on and off up ahead. As we drew nearer, it became clear to me what these lights were. It was the glare of the pale winter sun glinting off the cars that lay strewn across the deserted road.
We walked slowly towards the cars. The wind blew amongst them and I could hear the creak of a car door as it swung open and closed. I took my hand and covered my mouth and nose as a rancid stench wafted towards me. A gasping sound came from behind me and I spun around to see Isidor doubled over getting sick. His sense of smell was far greater than mine and Kayla’s, so the stench must have been overwhelming for him. Going to him, I rubbed his back, and his flesh felt burning hot.
Brushing my hand away, Isidor straightened himself and whispered, “It’s okay, Kiera, I’ll be fine.” Covering his nose and mouth with his hands, he walked on.
Passing amongst the rows of cars, I dared to glance into some of them and then looked quickly away. There were people in them – dead people. Their faces were bloated and purple in colour. Black crusty lumps of blood had dried in streams around their noses and mouths. It was obvious they had been running from something – trying to escape the town with the people that they loved. I saw the broken windshields, the scratches running across the hoods of the cars, the hanging bumpers, the upturned faces of the dead, the desperate fingers forever frozen as if clutching the air. I could see the black tire tracks on the road and then my head was thrown back as if invisible hands had grabbed at my hair. And, closing my eyes against the glare of a cold winter sun, I could see what had happened to these people as if being played out like a movie on the inside of my eyelids.
They had come…
… at dawn, just as the first shades of pink had spilt over the mountaintops. But there was something wrong! Why, on such a beautiful morning, were there black clouds in the sky? The clouds were moving fast, racing over the horizon as if a storm were coming. Black and threatening they came, and as they grew nearer they changed shape. It was as if the clouds where breaking up – falling apart – and the shadows they created on the fields below were just as black and moved faster if that were possible. But they weren’t clouds or shadows. It was Vampyrus that raced through the sky and Lycanthrope that sped over the mountains and fields towards the town. Swooping low, their giant black wings splayed on either side of them, the masses of Vampyrus flew over the town, their white fangs glistening like knives. The werewolves howled and barked as they bounded through rivers, leapt over gates and crashed through people’s front doors.
Children sat up in their beds, rubbing the sleep from their eyes, as they stared in fear at the giant wolves that stood licking their giant snouts.
“Mummy…!” the boy cried, but before he’d had the chance to raise the alarm, he had been snatched away, carried like a rag doll in the giant jaws of a werewolf as it raced back across the fields and between the mountains with its prey.
The
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