Save Me From The New World

Wake Up!

"This is the emergency broadcast channel. We advise everyone to stay inside and lock all windows and doors. Repeat. Stay inside and lock all windows and doors"

I turned over on the right side of my body to be facing the radio. Am I dreaming? I thought to myself. I turned my radio off and then on again, just to be sure it wasn't faulty. The radio said the same thing over and over. I jumped out of bed and put some navy skinny jeans, a black baggy top on and my combat boots that I always wore on days off. I went out my room and walked down the hall to James' room. "James, Wake up" I shook him as he lay like a rock in his bed. "Wake up!" he grumbled and turned over in his bed. He never was good at getting up on the weekends. I went into the bathroom, poured a glass of water and walked back into his room. "James, for God's sake, Wake up!" I gave him one more chance to get up before I threw the glass of water at his face. "What the hell Emily! What was that for?" he shot up wiping the water from his face. I turned on his radio, "Listen" The Radio said exactly what it said before. "What happened? Is it on every station?" he asked with a confused look on his face. I went through every station on the radio and each said the same thing.

"I don't know what's happened. I saw some articles of riots getting out of hand yesterday, but –" I was cut off when we heard gunshots in the distance. Fear raced through my body, I stood and listened for a moment as faint screaming accompanied the shots. "Get dressed" I stated as I walked out his room and into the lounge. I switched on the TV and a blue channel appeared on the screen. It read 'Emergency broadcast system. Please stay inside until further notice.' I skipped through every channel and each read the same, just like the radio. I recognized the footsteps of James as he walked into lounge. As he stood next to me a worried look came upon his face. "Shit." He said as we both stared at the screen. "Yeah, shit" I replied. We stood there staring at the screen for a moment before I headed towards the door. "Where are you going?" James said as he grabbed my arm, making me turn back towards him. "Outside, I have to see what's going on. You Comin'?" I motioned towards the door and sure enough he followed me outside.

What we saw was chaos. People running and screaming, not knowing what to do. I ran down the street and saw people who were packing up their car. "What's happening?" I asked the familiar face that lived down our street, "People are rioting, violently, people are getting killed" He replied in rushed manor as he started up his car with his family inside. "Where are you going?" I looked up at him, hopeful he would know somewhere safe. "Atlanta, there are reports of safe houses for people there, the army is there so it's our best bet." He nodded to me and then started driving off. I turned on my heel to see James who was helping a neighbor who had been hurt on the street. I ran over to them and grabbed the man's bloodied arm and helped him inside.

We lay him on the Kitchen table as he was screaming out in pain "What happened to you?" James asked the man as I fetched some towels to try and stop the bleeding on his shoulder and leg. "Some crazy motherfucker bit me. Twice." I looked up to James for a moment trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together in my head. I wondered what the hell this world had come to as I tried to clean up the wounds. "It's no good, he's losing too much blood. He's bleeding  out." There were chunks of flesh missing from his leg and a bite mark on his shoulder. "You have to try and save him!" James looked at me with a pleading face as he knew I was the one who attended that first aid course for work. I motioned to James to keep pressure on the wound on his leg. I checked the man's pulse and it was weakening. After a minute or two his pulse stopped. I placed the man's hand down on his chest and shook my head towards my brother. He looked up and me and dropped the towel he was holding on the man's leg.

James stood back from the man and put both his hands on the back of his head. I stood there for a moment and looked down at the man who lay in a puddle of blood on our kitchen table. He looked at peace finally after battling the pain of his injuries. I looked up to my brother who was now sitting on the couch in the lounge. Ever since our mum died he never really handled death well. He always wanted to do everything he could to help someone, even if they were a complete stranger. He always looked to me when something was wrong, even though I was younger than him, as he knew I would also want to try and fix it. I knew this was hard on him, but I had a feeling this wasn't the last death we were going to have to deal with.

I poured him a glass of water and took it over to him. "I'm sorry" I handed him the water and he took it from my hand. I sat next to him for a moment in silence listening to the screams that were going on outside. "Are you sure?" he broke the silence. I looked to him with a puzzled look on my face. "Are you sure he is dead?" he asked me. I thought it was time to teach him how to save a life if he ever needed it in the future. We walked over the kitchen table with the dead man lying on it. I showed him how to check for a pulse on his own body, before getting him check the one of the dead man. He picked up the man's wrist and used to fingers to check the pulse, just like I showed him a few moments back. He stood there for a minute trying to find a pulse on the man who he knew was dead but, didn't want to accept it. He shook his head and placed the man's lifeless hand back on his body. I turned and sat back down on the couch and leaned back, thinking about what to do next.

Out of nowhere James' familiar voice spoke up "Hey, can you hear me?" I stood up like a bolt and walked over to him "Are you talking to me?" I questioned him, but I realized he was talking to the man on the table who was slowing opening his eyes. They looked dazed and white, though he had gone blind and there was a cold expression on his face. How the hell is that possible I thought to myself as I leaned closer to the man. He started to open his mouth as though he was going to say something but only a faint moan came out of his mouth. He lifted his arms and James supported him as he sat him up on the table. The dead, well, not so dead man looked him in the eyes and started grinding his teeth. Something about this didn't feel right. "James, stand back from him" I said motioning him to move back.

"Why? He's alive, don't you see it? He's alive" he looked towards me with relief. As James was looking towards me the man lunged and tried to bite his arm. James pushed him off and the man slid of the table and hit his head on the hardwood flooring beneath. He must dead now I thought to myself. I took a step towards James and the man rose again like something from a horror movie. He lunged again but towards me. He places his hands on my shoulders as his face was getting closer and closer towards mine. I walked back trying to get him off me. I tripped over the bloodied towel James had dropped earlier. I fell onto my back with the man on top of me, trying to push him away. A second later James came and pulled the man off of me, giving him punches to the face. I watched as the dead man tried to kill my brother. I ran into the spare room and rifled through the drawers, knowing that there was a gun in there somewhere. I searched for what seemed like hours, when I finally found the hand gun that was lurking in the bottom drawer. I ran back into the other room, holding the gun in my hands to see my brother still trying to fight off the dead man. James managed to push him away and I aimed the gun at the dead man's head. The shot echoed through the house and the dead man fell dead once again.