Revolution

Carrie

Raya and I jumped awake, startled, when we heard the bus station doors being ripped open and then slamming shut behind someone. We both sat up and rubbed our eyes, blinking a few times. The sun was high up now.

“Holy…” A female voice echoed around the room. “Raya? Raya, I know you aren’t dead!” The voice softened to a pleading sound. “Please say you aren’t dead.”

Raya jumped to her feet. “I’m not dead!”

I stood and stretched my arms over my head as she ran around the counter and fell against another girl. They were identical. Long straight black hair, mocha skin tone, and long legs. Which showed off in the short shorts they were both wearing.

“I heard the screaming before you hung back up last night. I wasn’t sure if I should call back, I didn’t want to be what gave your position away. But you never called me either. I was so worried. It took me nearly two hours to walk over here. Are you alright? What happened?”

Raya started crying again as she told her sister everything that happened. When they got to my part, the twins looked over at me. I gave a small, somewhat awkward, wave.

My stomach also chose that moment to let its presence be known. They were close enough by that point that they heard it. We all laughed.

“Any idea if there is anything open around here?” I asked Layla, the mirror version of her sister.

She grimaced. “Every place I passed on the way here had been broken into. I doubt anyone will be brave enough to go to work today.” She tilted her head, thinking. “We could always just head down to the nearest place and see if we can get in and make something ourselves. We need to eat, right?”

“Sounds great.” I gave them a tight smile, one that I didn’t feel at all. I could always leave a little cash behind, not that I had much on me.

“Oh! Hold on, I have an idea.” Raya ran from her sister and passed me as I was moving to go around the counter. She pushed a few buttons on the register and it popped open. My jaw dropped as she cleaned out the till. She shrugged when she saw my face.

“Mr. Robertson is dead. The Greyhound bigwigs won’t be coming anywhere near here.”

Layla laughed as Raya divided up the money. She turned and handed me a small stack. “This is the refund for your bus ticket, both ways.” She held up the one in her other hand. “And this is my last paycheck. See? Not stealing. Surviving.”

I took the money from her hands, a soft sardonic chuckle on my lips. “Thank you for trying. I’m just desperate enough to choose and see it that way.”

I folded the money and stuck it in the small pocket of my backpack, then repositioned the bag on my back. This was all I had left in the world at the moment. My home in Phoenix no longer counted, seeing as I couldn’t get there.

“Shall we survive at a place with food next?”

The three of us walked the few blocks to the Del Taco, but the place had been nearly burned to the ground. The Jack and the Box next door went with it. I searched the skyline, noticing the buildings were smaller now, as well as the fires. The smoke was still plenty high though.

Another block away, we found a Carl’s Jr, looking at least halfway decent. One wall was completely gone, mainly because the windows had all been smashed in. Another wall still had bricks going through a crumbling phase. We stepped through the window carefully.

As we walked through the dining room, we were careful to step around and over the parts of the burned down roof. Outside of structural damage it was workable. Even the plumbing in the bathroom still worked.

Our first stop was in the bathrooms, where we cleaned up in the sinks as best we could. Nothing like a paper towel bath (using my packed body wash instead of the hand soap), followed up with finger brushing our teeth (with my toothpaste), to make a girl feel good about herself. We all took a turn with my deodorant, as well.

Feeling slightly better about our hygiene, we moved to the kitchen.

Inside the walk-in fridge, we found eggs, bread, bacon, and all sorts of things. Layla had worked fast food for a few months the summer before, so she knew how to turn their oven on.

We made a ton of food and ate most of it. The rest we wrapped up and put into any bags we had, not knowing where our next meals would be. Call me a snob, but I have never been a big fan of leftover fast food. Thanks to the last 24 hours, I didn’t care anymore. Food was food by this point. Who knew where, or when, our next meal was coming from.

“Where’s your parents?” I asked, as we walked down the street, not really having a destination in mind.

“Mom died last year, cancer. Dad didn’t handle it so well. He’s had one cheap floozie after the other spending the night. Sometimes he doesn’t even come home for a few days at a time.” Layla informed me like she was reading a schoolbook-report, not talking about her own father.

“He’s a truck driver, Layla. He’s out working all that time.” Raya lightly scolded her sister.

Layla waved it away with a click of her tongue. “Tomaato, tomahto. He never used to work that much. Anyway, he probably won’t be coming back now. Not with the freeways gone. That’s if he wasn’t on them when they blew up in the first place.”

“Hey!” Raya stopped walking, we stopped and turned to her. “Where’s that jerk boyfriend of yours, Carrie? Maybe we could hide out there for now.”

Yuck. That did not sound like a good plan. I was going to tell them that too, but their faces looked so happy at the idea. I forced a smile.

“Sure. Let’s go find, Bryce.” I put all the fake enthusiasm as I could into that.

Layla snorted as we started again. “Bryce? How did you not know he was a douche with a name like, Bryce?”

“Har, har.” I nudged her in the arm. “I always knew there was something off about him. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.”

Raya looped her arm through mine, effectively locking me in the middle of them. “Your next boyfriend needs to be cooler. Someone who is buff and goes all alpha male. That’s what you need.”

I laughed and shook my head as they both listed various attributes I should look for in a man. They had already informed me that they were only six months away from turning 17, and yet they wanted to give me boy advice.

Sadly, it sounded like they knew more than I did on the subject.

An hour later, we stopped in front of Bryce’s apartment building. The front door was hanging off.

We all shared a look. I motioned for them to get behind me, and I took the lead.

I gasped when I saw the doorman from the day before, slumped into a corner of the room. His neck was covered in dry blood. He had been semi-decent to me yesterday.

I vaguely heard the curse words flying behind me as I rushed toward the elevator. We didn’t bother stopping on other floors, I went straight to the 5th floor. We took soft steps as we approached Bryce’s door.

Which wasn’t closed all the way.

I pushed the door open, and slowly stepped through. It wasn’t long before we found them. Bryce was lying across the couch, and his new toy was lying on the floor. From the positions they were in, I had to wonder if it was the same set of vamps that rolled through after the others were dead.

I stood there, frozen in shock, as I looked down on the man I had dated for nearly two years.

“You know what? I think that hoochie saved your life.” Raya said in amazement.

“What are you talking about?” I asked her, tearing my gaze from Bryce’s vacant stare.

“Think about it. Where would you have been last night if she hadn’t been here?”

“Huh, you’re right. I would have been here with him.” I shook off the sadness and made my way to the room I thought was his.

In his nightstand drawer was his wallet, which I emptied without guilt. I then walked to his closet and searched for what I was looking for. I grinned like a maniac when I found it.

I used to tease Bryce for being so obsessed with security, to the point that he had a small safe. And I knew the combination. It was the day we went on our first date. I was only slightly worried that he would have changed it, but that had been fruitless. He hadn’t.

There wasn’t much inside, just a little more cash, a gold watch, important papers, and things like that. I was surprised when I found a small velvet box tucked into one corner. I opened it and found the diamond ring I had pointed out to him one day. It was simple, yet elegant. Something I could wear to work and not worry about getting broken.

“Oh. Who was that for?” Layla came around my side, looking at what I held.

“Me, I think. I pointed this very one out to him right before he left. He said he had to make a phone call for work and would meet me in the food court. I can’t believe he bought it.” I was shocked and amazed. I had no idea he was thinking about proposing.

What was with this other girl then? Or maybe he bought this before he ever came here. Before he met his boss’s daughter.

A small tear fell out of my eye for the dead traitor. Layla snapped the box out of my hand.

“That’s enough with that. He was an even bigger jerk than we knew. He was going to ask you to marry him, all the while having an affair. Odds are, he would have continued after the wedding. Screw him.”

“Yeah, he was a grade A jerk, good riddance, I say. Now you are completely free to move on, no doubts about what happened.” Raya backed up her twin. “You know what this calls for?” She gave us a big teasing grin.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “What?” My voice was still a little shaky as I wiped my cheek.

The sisters looked at each other, then me, and shouted, with both arms in the air, “shopping!”

It was easy to forget they were both still teenagers. At least until they did that. I was really glad I met them when I did. They were great at keeping things light and helping me process all this. It was loads better than wallowing in my own fears and anxieties.

“Do you really think anything is open right now?” I asked incredulously.

Raya gave a nonchalant shrug. “Eh, who knows?” She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the door. “But we won’t know for sure unless we try.”

We made our way back out of the building full of dead people, thankfully the only other one we saw was the doorman in the corner.

By the time we hit the streets, things had picked up. More people were roaming around. Their faces pale, the sadness and grief shining in their eyes. Hardly anyone spoke to anyone else. It was like everyone was a ghost of their normal selves.

The twins led me down another street, and then another, and back the direction we came, just on another street. A few times we changed streets just to avoid the fires we saw still blazing along.

Raya whooped with joy when we got to an outdoor shopping center. It was short lived. We froze at the sound of a crash and a scream. It took a minute for our brains to catch up to our eyes.

The place was being raided.

Nearly every store had broken windows. People were running, screaming, fighting, and carrying things to their cars that they obviously did not pay for. Not that we should be judging others for stealing, but at least our contraband was on the necessity side of things.

I grabbed both of the girls’ arms and pulled them to a small alleyway. “We need to get out of here. I did not survive a night with vamps to get killed by a bunch of random people who are taking advantage of a bad situation.” I hissed at them.

They both nodded their agreement. Even still, we just stood there, around a building corner, unable to take our eyes off the insanity of what was now the world we lived in. No one said a word. We hardly even blinked.

We jumped when we heard a loud buzzing sound coming from somewhere near us. Almost like a helicopter, only smaller. All three of us spun around in circles, frantically searching for where the next horror was coming from.

Layla saw it first and pointed back the way we came. Sure enough, we saw a black drone headed down the street, toward us.

At least, I thought it was a drone. It was a lot bigger than any I had seen before. It looked like a small airplane, maybe one the military would use.

As it got closer, it got bigger, much bigger. Still too small to be a real plane, but big enough to mean business. The drone hovered in the air right in front of us. It had what looked to be a camera on the bottom of it, swiveling back and forth.

It looked like it had four wings, with propellers spinning on top of each of them. The camera rotated, taking in the madhouse in front of us, then turned to us.

We froze, our eyes on it. Nobody moved, not even the camera. I was so scared, that all I could hear was the buzzing from the drone and the panicky breaths of my new friends. Until another large crash was heard.

All four of us turned to it. Then the drone took off. Not far from us, the drone began doing something new.

A long oval looking thing lowered from the bottom. Loud popping noises soon came from it, and people started screaming as they ran for cover. Many hit the ground, not moving again. The drone was shooting them.

With only one thought on my mind, I tightened the grip on the twins’ arms and began running back the way we came.

When we heard the buzzing coming again, we ducked behind a dumpster, hoping to hide from it. I didn’t release my breath until it had passed us by. We all fell into manic fits of panicky laughter, our eyes overflowing with tears.

“Maybe no shopping today.” I said in between fits. They both started laughing harder, this time with more amusement.

Layla sank onto her butt, her breathing labored and her voice slightly lighter. “What do we do now? Where do we go?”

The way they both looked at me made me realize I was the adult here. Somehow I was in charge and responsible for them.

How in the hell did that happen?

“We need to get somewhere safe. Somewhere the other humans won’t go, nor the vamps.” I racked my brain on where that might be. I could only come up with two options, neither of which were sitting well. “We either go back to the bus station, or to Bryce’s place.”

They both grimaced. Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of hanging out with dead people either.

“I vote for Bryce’s. We can shower, and have real beds to sleep in. The vamps know they took it out last night. They have no reason to go back there. Same with the bus station, but it’s farther and doesn’t have beds.”

I crawled around the dumpster to get a better look at the street. Giving them a minute to think about it.

“Are you sure, Carrie?” Raya’s voice was shaky.

I looked around the area, noticing the sun getting dimmer. When I looked at the sky I realized why. Storm clouds were rolling in.

“Now more than ever. A storm is coming. That means the sun will be blocked. If we don’t get moving now, we’ll be overrun by vamps.” I stood up, ready to run.

They both just gaped at me. I clapped my hands together as hard as I could, making them jump.

“Think about it, they only come out at night. Right? Well, night is about to come a little early. Bryce’s apartment is the closest. And I know he has food there. Now!” I added the last in a shout, as both girls were still not moving.

They jumped up, their legs shaking in fear. All the bravado they had had was gone now. At least they followed me as I ran.

We ran quietly, no one talking, until we were getting close to our destination. The clouds nearly had the sun covered now. My eyes kept shooting up at them, and then around the street at all the new shadows.

I froze when I felt intent. This was one of the few powers I wasn’t all that good at yet.

Sensing the lie was one thing, that was easy. It had come first. Lately, I had been feeling intent. Was it their intent to deceive? Were they lying to protect someone? Or were they just uncomfortable talking about themselves?

This feeling was different. This was new. I could feel someone’s intent to harm without seeing who, or where, they were.

I stopped running, putting my arms out to my side to stop the girls. Then I put a finger to my lips. A strong feeling of darkness came into me, coming from the alley across the street.

It was aimed directly at me.

We were only half a block from Bryce’s building, our safety zone for the night. It was waiting to see where I would go. It would follow.

Not for the first time, I wished my parents were here to help me with my growing powers. I closed my eyes, as they had taught me long ago, slowing my breath as though I were meditating.

Yes, the vamp would follow. It wanted me, but I had no doubts he would hurt these girls as well. No one else was around. It was me that was going to get them hurt. That left me with only one option.

Speaking through the side of my mouth, as quietly as I could, I told them what to do.

“There is a vampire hiding across the street. He wants me, not you. It’s my smell, I think. He is watching me closely. You are going to walk back about half a block. I am going to get him to follow me. I will lose him and meet you back at the apartment when it is safe.”

“No!” Layla whisper-yelled at me, her fingers wrapping around my wrist.

I turned to face them, placing one hand on each of their paled cheeks. “You will be safe. He only wants me. I can feel his intensity. Once we separate, he won’t spare you a second glance.” At least I didn’t think he would.

Raya was silently crying, a plea in her eyes for me not to leave her. “How do you know? I can’t even see him.”

“It’s a gift. I can tell when people lie, and I can feel their intent. This vamp’s is so loud, it’s practically shouting at me. Please. I can’t stand the idea of you two getting hurt because of me. I will find you once I lose him. I promise.” I tried to give them a reassuring smile, it was a little shaky.

We all knew what the odds of me getting away from him were. I kissed each of their foreheads, then with a deep breath, took off running, praying they would listen and be safe. The vamp stayed where he was until I turned down another street.

I sped up when I heard his steps behind me. He was barely jogging, enjoying the chase. He wanted me to feel like I had a chance.

I turned many times, listening, falling, running. My jeans ripped from falling and sliding against walls. He drew close enough that I could hear him, which I was sure was what he wanted.

“Hmmm, something smells good over here. Looks like I don’t need to pay for a donor tonight. I can get myself a free snack, right here.” I didn’t need to see him. His voice was creepy enough.

I spun and started running again, turning down another street. I screeched as the streetlights flickered out. I could hear a mixture of laughter and screaming somewhere in the distance. My heart stopped for a moment when I heard shoes scraping the pavement nearby. The vamp was getting closer now, he was about done playing.

My heart started pounding a mile a minute again.

I sped up, frantically searching for a place to hide. The steps, getting closer and closer. I turned down another street. In my panic, and blindness in the early dark, I misread where I was going.

I hit the dead end of an alley.

Someone inhaled deeply from my only way out. “Hmmm, you smell divine. I bet you taste just as good too. Come my pretty, I promise to make it good for you.”

I started screaming as he got closer, his glowing eyes shining in the dark. I reached for my bag, pulling it to one shoulder, desperate for anything that could be used as a weapon.

“Help! Help!” I started banging on doors, screaming, but no one was coming. I fled further into the corner of buildings, hitting everything I could.

Finally, a crack of light shone through.

“Help, please!” I desperately reached to pull the door open further.

I screeched when a hand wrapped around my arm and tried to pull me back. But instead of going backward, I flew forward, into the light. A man stepped between us, blocking me from the outside.

“I saw her first.” The menace snarled. “She’s mine.”

“Not unless she is willing. You know my rules. You don’t drink unless they are willing.”

“Yeah, well, she wasn’t in your bar. She was strolling around out here.”

“She belongs to me. Everyone knows you can’t touch a human that belongs to me without paying. You wanna pay, go around the front. I have rooms available and plenty of willing donors.”

The menace grumbled something I couldn’t understand and then left. My savior closed the door and turned to face me.

He had to have been the hottest guy I had ever seen, way hotter than Bryce. His black hair was pulled into a short pony on his neck, his skin had a touch of caramel, and his muscles had muscles.

What really caught my eye were his eyes. They were as black as the night, which should have scared me. Instead, I felt comforted, like they promised I would never be hurt again.

I felt like I could trust him, like he would protect me at all costs. And he would rather die than hurt me. Something I never felt with Bryce.

Something I had only ever felt with my parents.

Loyalty.

Devotion.

Home.