Demons (DNF)

Chapter 63: August 2nd

Without a second thought I ran over to the skateboard and grabbed it, surely this would be easier and quicker than running. I began riding it down the streets. I've ridden a skateboard before with one of my older cousins teaching me but it was still difficult.

I was certain I had just started to get the hang of it as I got to the main street when suddenly I was knocked off of my skateboard and onto the concrete by something that looked human. I let out a yell as the skin on my hands and legs was scraped off, being replaced by blood.

The person that pushed me let out a growl and that was the first glance I got of a demon. It wasn’t just one person, there were 4. The one who pushed me was tall and well built with dark skin and hair. What scared me the most was that his eyes were glowing a deep yellow (or maybe green) and something that was growing out of his hands that looked like a cat's claws.

Beside him stood a woman who looked quite similar, her teeth were barred and looked way sharper than any that I had ever seen. She had lighter skin, blond hair and freckles. Just like the man, she had claws growing out of her hands and glared down at me with glowing pink eyes.

Behind the pair were 2 smaller people who looked like kids. One, the boy, looked a year or two older than me and looked quite similar to the female, in fact both of the kids did, except his eyes which glowed a similar colour to his father. He had a little girl with green eyes and a pink tinge who looked about 4 and unlike the other 3 who looked angry, she just looked confused.

They spoke to each other in a foreign language and it seemed like they were about to kill me when the sound of gunfire drew their attention away. Police were firing at the people and after a glance at me the weird people began running at the cops. The man and woman with the claws run in the front with the blond boy helping the little girl who was most likely his sister follow behind.

I watched them with wide eyes, but looked away when I felt someone's hands on my shoulder. I let out a gasp of surprise and turned around to see my dad there, he pulled me up and grabbed my arm tightly as we began running towards his car.

When we got to the car I climbed into the passenger seat and hastily put my seatbelt on. Now that I was in a car and my dad began driving I could properly see what was going on. There were police and other people shooting out at those people with claws. None of the clawed people seemed to be affected by the gunshots though except being slightly fazed.

“Dad… what’s going on?” I asked, looking over at him with sad eyes.
“I can’t say George…” my father blatantly responded as the car sped down the road towards our home. The clawed people were everywhere, and my dad swerved the car around them all. “All I know is that those things are demons and they are trying to take over the planet…”

“What?” he turned down our street, it didn’t have any of those demons hanging around.
“Have you seen that black fog thing yet George?” my father asked, sending me a sideways glance and seeing me nod. “Well those demons released it, they are trying to kill all humans and a lot of people are being affected by it but some are immune.”

I nodded at his explanation even though I didn’t really understand it. “What about mom?” I asked, suddenly worrying about her. “Is she alright?”
My dad gave a nod, pulling the car into the driveway. “She should be in here grabbing some essential stuff and so you and I need to do the same.”

“What will we do?” I asked as the car slowed to a stop but he left the engine on.
“Drive,” is what his response was. “We will drive as far as we can and then we will hide as a family. I don’t know how long this will last but we will get through it together as a family.”

He climbed out of the car and ran up to the door, I followed behind. We burst into the hallway and my dad told me to go to my room and change into some better clothes, shoes, and anything else that might be essential. I nodded and began running down to my room as my father started calling out my mothers name, trying to find where she was.

I reached my room and looked around at the light blue walls, the shelves of books, toys, and games in the corner, the desk full of pencils that I never used beside it. My bed, still unmade from this morning with my pajamas thrown messily over the sheets. In the corner besides my drawers of clothes was a beanbag that I sat in to read.

When will I next be in here? I wondered, looking around at the room I had had my whole life, and remembering all the memories that I had had here. I didn’t bother to answer because I didn’t know when I would be back, I just hope that it is soon.

I looked over at a backpack that was sitting in the corner and picked it up, before looking around to figure out what was essential and what wasn’t. Eventually I decided to grab some more clothes and a pair of sneakers and stuffed them into the bottom of the bag. There was still a little room and so I bundled up my pajamas and threw them in the bag.

What else was essential? I pondered that question for a few moments before grabbing my favourite book and some pens as well as an atlas of the world that I hadn’t touched until now, but if we were travelling around the country to who knew where it might be useful. Finally I decided on some framed photos of my parents and my friends.

I had zipped up my bag and turned around to see my dad standing there with a bag over his shoulder, his eyes were watering but I didn’t pay attention to it, not being able to see my friends or most of my family for a while was making me sad.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked me, trying to hide the sadness in his voice. “Because we want to hurry before the demons start looking for us.”
I nodded and stood up, grabbing the bag and taking a final look around the room. No matter how long I was gone I’d still miss this place. Finally I decided to grab some money but my dad followed my glance and told me to leave it.

So I turned around and ran over to him, he began leading me to the hallway and I saw that he had a bag of food sitting by the door. “Wait, where is mom?” I asked, trying to look into all of the different rooms on either side of us as we walked to the door.

“She isn’t coming, George.” my father stated quietly, it was barely more of a whisper and he gently grabbed my arm, continuing to lead me to the door.
“Why not?” I asked, “where is she? I want to go with her!”
My father didn’t speak up, he just tried to continue walking but he gave a sideways glance towards the kitchen.

Immediately I jumped from his grasp and ran to the kitchen as he called out my name and tried to tell me to stop. I didn’t until I saw a limp body laying on the floor, with wide brown eyes staring into space. Blood was covering her face which she must have coughed up.

I let out a whimper and collapsed in front of her, tears immediately spilling out of my eyes, my dad was behind me in an instant, his arms wrapped tightly around me and he shushed me but I could tell he was crying too.
He pulled me into the car and locked the door before I could run back out to my mothers side. Before I could however he threw our stuff into the backseat and reversed out of the driveway.

“Dad, how can you leave her!” I yelled, tears still pouring out of my eyes. I glared at my father who stayed expressionless, although he seemed close to tears too.
“I’m sorry George… there is nothing we could do for her.” he muttered sadly, not taking his eyes off the road.
“We could have gone back and stayed with her! Please let me go back!” I begged. “Please!”

“George no,” my dad sounded more firm now. “I am sorry but Ashley is dead. Your mother is dead! We will be too if we go back and she wouldn’t have wanted that!” he must have noticed how firm he sounded because he softened it after that. “George… you are a survivor, and you are going to survive this. I promise we will get through it together and stop these things.”

I nodded, leaning against the window now and watching what was going on. Sometimes I had stayed up late and had seen my father watching a movie where the world was ending and this looked kind of like that. The skies were dark, there were fires everywhere, dead bodies were laying around, and people were armed with guns and fighting.

Other people were trying to escape and being ruthless while doing so, pushing, trampling, and even shooting people who got in the way of their families or themselves. Some people were in cars, speeding down the road and over the dead bodies as though they weren’t there. Another tear rolled down my cheek and I prayed that this would be over soon.
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2400 words.