BEYOND THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETE

Twenty-Six |

Twenty-Six |

Red flashed across the room. In the small instances that should have reminded me that I was safe in this room fortress of password guarded doors and security cameras—far away from the monster locked in the basement—it brought me no comfort. The monster sat on my chest, her legs on either side of my body, her hand grasping my jaw so tightly I wondered if she'd break it off. A smile stretched across her face and I was more afraid of the flashes of red that revealed her form than the flashes of utter darkness.

At least in the darkness I could convince myself this was all a terrible dream.

"We didn't get much time before. So I will take my time now."

Her hand left my jaw and I flexed it slightly, "Are you here to kill me?"

"Kill you?"

Her laughter reminded me of the guttered moans of the dead. My entire body was frozen with fear. I think, even if I could throw her off of me, I'd still be glued by this horrible feeling that slithered through my body like that of a snake.

"No. I'm not going to kill you. How could I kill my sister?"

"Y-you keep saying that," I stuttered to buy time. I didn't trust her words, but I knew the longer I kept her here, the quicker someone could arrive, "Why? Why do you keep saying that? I-I'm not your sister. My sister is dead."

"Does anyone truly die in this world?" She screamed loudly with delight, throwing her hands out and grinning, "The dead do not rest Sister! The dead is as loud as ever! Ah ha! Hahahahaha!"

My fear snapped to anger. I dug my hands into the bed and let out a cry, buckling my hips as hard as I could. She was thrown off my body and across the floor. I took three steps: from my bed I launched myself forward on my left foot, I landed on my right in the middle of the room, and with one more I was at the door. My hand wrapped around the metal handle and as it gave, Persephone grabbed my arm, wrenching it behind me. I let out a scream, hot pain slamming through my joints as she held me against the door.

"So rude. I wasn't done."

"So then speak faster," I snarled, "Better yet, say nothing. I won't believe any of it."

"It's not my position to convince you. I will say my truth whether you wish to listen or not. Make no mistake Sister, we are bonded by Death herself. When those bonds are served, we will both be free. Doesn't that sound nice?"

No, it didn't, it sounded scary. I licked my lips slowly, "Say your piece."

"My eyes were healed two years ago. The day Death freed me. Little sister, you will go home, I will give you that head start. When the sun sets, the world will yet again end."

"W-what?" it came out a pathetic cry, "I-I don't understand."

"Man will yet again destroy themselves."

I shivered at that, "Is this about the Delta virus?"

"We are already dead little sister. We cannot die again. But they can."

It shouldn't have made sense to me. Her words could not make any sense to anyone else and yet, I understood her warning. I shoved my head back, the satisfying crunch of her nose breaking told me that I only had a half of a second. Those cold fingers left my arm and I pulled the door open, running through. As I did, I couldn't help the instinct to look back.

She watched me go in the darkness of the room.

I couldn't see her face in the dark but those opal eyes told me everything I needed to know. Swinging my head forward, I kept running. As I did, I screamed for my friends. Thankfully, I didn't even need to get to their doors before they were swinging open. I looked back down the hall—Persephone didn't follow me. Why not? Why did she want to keep me in the room to tell me those words? I looked up towards the ceiling. The red light told me we were on display. She'd have had to pass the camera's to get into my room so why not talk outside of it

"What's going on?" Idris asked quietly.

The siren was quieter in the hall.

"We need to leave. Now," I replied.

Cerci nodded, "Those sirens; Cora told me that means zombies have gotten in?"

Or gotten out.

"I have all that I need to know from here," I breathed slowly, "Let's go home."

Pushing open the door at the end of the hall, I looked around the large cafeteria area. Despite the lights still on, the siren was louder in here—and had a few red lights flickering and yet there was no one here. In fact, aside from the siren, this place was quiet.

Too quiet.

"How?" Idris asked, "We don't know our way back."

I paused, pushing my hand through my hair nervously. I didn't know. I didn't have Dad's gun either which I knew wasn't good. None of this was good and yet this would most likely be our only chance to go home. It was odd that the director would tell me so much then just allow me to leave—I shouldn't have followed him into that basement.

There were no words I could think of that could convince them of anything so I said nothing. Instead, I began moving towards the door opposite to where we'd come in from. As I placed my hand on the knob, the door swung open. I tensed getting ready to fight.

Cora looked surprised at my tensed form, "Hello."

I reared back, "What are you doing here?"

"The siren's on," she replied, "That means there is a Delta on the compounds. We've only had that happen three times—it means that I should make my way to this room."

"Why?" I demanded.

"This building is the safest on the compound. Where are you going?"

"We're going home," Cerci replied softly, "Come with us?"

My eyes widened and I stared at her, "What?"

"Cora is treated like crap here. She should be given the chance at a better life," she replied with a smile before looking over to Helen Meitner's daughter, "Come with us?"

Before I could protest, Cora merely nodded.

"Ok. I can show you the way out."

I sighed. This was such a stupid idea.