Not dnf fanart but meh.
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George POV.
I stared boredly out the window as Mr Winter told us about a school sports event in a few weeks time. It was close to lunchtime and all I could focus on was the food that I had. It was also a Thursday, in my opinion the worst day of the week. Monday you could have a weekend hangover, Tuesday it can carry over to, Wednesday was a gray area, and Friday was practically a weekend. Thursday you had to be focused on and it sucked.
Suddenly an older student burst into the room. Mr Winter turned to tell him to leave the room and ‘knock before you come in because we could have been busy,’ but his panicked look caused the teacher to be quiet. “Mr Winter, the principal told me to tell you to turn on the news…”
He went quiet as he began panting, clearly he had run here but none of us commented on it. Without speaking Mr Winter just nodded and turned on the News. We all went silent as we began listening to what was being said.
“The president just released a warning and sent the country into lockdown while scientists are evaluating the danger of this other-worldly power. Other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, and even China and Russia, are offering to help with what is currently affecting the United States, Canada, and parts of Mexico. The government is recommending people stay indoors and shut all doors and windows.”
The window in our classroom was open and upon hearing that Mr Winter rushed over to shut it. He’d just reached it and shut it when we noticed the black dust-sized particles in the air. Mr Winter was surrounded by most of the cloud and once he inhaled it he immediately began coughing.
He doubled over, coughing and gasping for air as he tried to steady himself on a table. The teacher's eyes widened and one of his hands moved up to try and cover his mouth. When he pulled his hand down it was covered in blood and that was the cue for everyone in the class to scream.
Without waiting for instruction we began running for the door, me being one of the furthest away from the door saw Mr Winter as his breathing stopped, his eyes stayed wide, and he fell limp in front of us all. That was the first death I saw, but definitely not the last…
Students were crowding the hallway, all trying to get to one of the doors as some teachers tried to get them to calm down. Other teachers however were joining students, calling loved ones perhaps as they moved with the swarm of kids.
All around us there were students dropping to the ground, gasping for air and coughing up blood before they stopped breathing all together. If they fell to the floor the other students wouldn’t try to go around them instead just trampling them. I recognised several of my classmates but couldn’t help them because I’d be pushed out of their reach before I could.
After what felt like hours in the hallway we ran out onto the grass in front of the main building and everyone ran in different directions. I was slightly dazed at the extremity of the situation but began running in the direction of home, even though I knew it was at least a 30 minute walk away.
I had to go closer to the centre of town to get there and a lot of other students were heading that way too. A lot of other students were heading that way too, some riding bikes, scooters, skateboards, and cars which not all of them owned. I tried to stick as close to the fenceline as I could to avoid getting pushed out of the way as people rushed home.
Still this cloud of black dust was looming in the air, and people dropped dead all around me. I thought that this was some kind of apocalypse or something and tried to figure out what that would mean when I saw someone falling off of the skateboard he was riding as he began coughing up blood.
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.