Chapter 14 --- Land of the Dead
Chronicle I
Footsteps could be heard from downstairs. Jett suspected that it was his mother; but when she burst into his room he realized it wasn't her. It was an intruder.
His mother closed the door silently and pressed a finger to her lips. Her wavy hair reached her shoulders and her fringe had been clipped back on top of her head. It had been dyed a very light oak-brown, yet grey still ran through her hair. She had the kindest and softest sky-blue eyes which radiated warmth and love. Her face had sunken with age; showing that her life had been filled with happiness and joy.
But today all her kind features were missing. Her eyes reflected fear and anxiety, and the loving and tender smile that was always plastered on her face had disappeared. It had been replaced by trembling lips as she tried her best to speak.
"Jett, dear...did you invite a-anyone over today?" She tried her best to cloak the fear in her voice, but it shone through.
"No." He looked over at the door. "Maybe it's..." He trailed off, as did his mothers gaze. It slung off his face to the ground.
"Ali wouldn't have arrived home y-yet, dear."
"Yeah...."
The footsteps grew louder. The mysterious person snarled.
"I-I'm going to go down there and face them."
"What!" Jett snapped. "No! Don't do that mum! Let's just wait here!"
"They'll be searching the house, it'd be no good...dear, just let me-
"No! I'll call 911!"
"Dear...."
"Mum!" Silence filled the room. The floorboards creaked from below again, and something fell to the ground with a loud bang, startling Jett and his mum.
"Please...don't go down there."
His mum narrowed her eyes at Jett. "Jett, please let me deal with this. I'll be back shortly. I'll call out for you if it's safe to go down there."
"You can't!" He hissed. "Mum! Please! Mum!"
His mum opened the door and slipped between it. "Call your sister if something goes wrong, Jett. Love you dear."
"Mum! Please! You can't!" She shut the door instantaneously.
"If you come out you will be severely punished! Now be a good boy and stay in there for mummy!"
"Mum! I'm not a young boy anymore!" Jett collapsed onto the ground, not knowing what to do. His eyes glazed over his bed. Underneath it was his sword. Should he unsheathe it or leave it under the bed?
He could hear the staircase creaking. "Hello?" His mum called out. "Is anyone there?" The stairs stopped creaking, and there was silence for a few moments as Jett rocked back and forth on the floor, his gaze still settled on the sword under his bed.
Suddenly his mum started screaming and wailing from below. In an instant Jett was on his feet. He grabbed the sword from under the bed and unsheathed it.
"MUM!" He shouted.
"JETT!" She screamed back. "STAY!"
"NO!" Jett shouted. He tried opening the door but it wouldn't budge. He cursed loudly and started banging against the door. Something fell outside of his room. He stopped when everything went silent.
"M-m-mum?" He called out. There were munching sounds from below. Their dog started barking.
"Save her." He whispered, hoping the dog could hear him. Their dog started whimpering from below.
"Please...." He dropped to the floor again, tears threatening to spill at the corners of his eyes. He blinked them away. His father had always told him that a real man never cried. But he never wanted to be a real man. He'd rather be a figment of someones imagination.
He dropped his sword on the ground and quickly pulled his phone from out of his pocket and turned it on. He started going through his contacts and when he found Alice's he clicked on it, taking a deep breath.
He called her twice before she finally picked up.
"Yeah? What? What do you want?"
"Alice...." Jett whispered.
"What? God, just hurry up and spill already. I haven't got time for people like you."
"Alice, somebody just attacked our mum."
The other line went dead for a few moments. "Alice? A...Ali?"
"Stop playing with me!" She hissed.
"I'm not messing with you! Please believe me!"
Their dog started barking again. "Ali..."
"Jett...Jett, just shut up...wha-what the hell?! Dumbass."
"What?"
"There's a lot of traffic. And...whoa! What on..." Alice trailed off. She went silent again.
"...Ali, what is it?"
"J-J-Jett...I'm coming home right now."
He heard somebody screaming on the other end.
"Alison!" Jett half-shouted half-whispered.
"Oh my god...somebody is chewi-
The line went dead, and the room was cloaked in a sudden darkness; before the lights flickered back on for a second, illuminating the whole room before sending it spiralling into darkness again.
"Alice?" Jett whispered into his phone. He could hear the wind howling outside, and the rain pelting against the windows.
"Alison, are you there?"
There was no reply. Only moments before he had heard her voice, quivering on the phone. She had been cut off midway through speaking.
Jett hung-up and turned on his wifi with shaking hands. He had no signal, and his wifi wasn't working. He attempted at dialling 911, but it didn't work. Of course it didn't work. He only thought of how many calls they'd be receiving around about now.
The lights went out, leaving Jett in complete darkness. He stood there for a few minutes, contemplating on what to do.
Growling sounds came from downstairs. It's just our dog, Jett told himself. It has to be our dog. It started getting louder. Then there was munching. Was their dog eating something? Was it eating the intruder?
Jett shuddered at the thought and turned on his flashlight. With shaking hands he started to slowly twist the doorknob to the right. It made a soft clicking sound and he pushed it open slightly.
He peered through the crack in the door. Their house seemed creepier bathed in complete darkness. Part of it had been done up, but the rest of it belonged to the 90's. In front of him was a chair. His mother must have quickly propped it up against the door in an attempt to stop him from leaving the room.
Jett stepped out, his flashlight absorbing the darkness. His sisters room, which was to the left, was messy inside. The door had been left ajar, and he could see the small television was still on, but nothing was playing. Instead, it was all static.
Jett manoeuvred around the chair and placed his foot on the top step. It creaked slightly and the munching sound stopped. He stood frozen on the top step, until the munching sound started again.
He took a deep breath and slowly started down the steps. It began creaking under his weight.
He stopped at the bottom step and raised his flashlight. Suddenly he dropped his phone. He tried to scream, to shout, but he couldn't speak. His dog wasn't eating anything.
Instead, something was eating his dog.
His very own mother was eating his dog.
"M-M-M-..." He stuttered. His mother suddenly stopped eating their dog and sharply turned to face Jett. Her face was covered in blood and hair. The whites of her eyes had been fully revealed. Her nails were long and jagged, along with her teeth.
Their dog lay on the floor, all torn up. Body parts and fur were strewn everywhere and blood poured from the open wound.
"MUM!" Jett shouted. He fell backwards and hit the staircase with a loud bang. It shuddered underneath him.
His mother moved slowly. She opened and closed her mouth numerous times, her teeth clacking together. She slowly got up onto her feet.
"M-mum...what kind of joke is this? Please, that's enough, you can stop now! Haha, it's...very...funny, yeah."
His mum didn't reply. Even if her eyes were only white he still felt like he made eye contact with her. It saddened him at the fact she had lost her kindness and warmth.
She hissed at him. He started clambering up the stairs and she started to rush after him.
"MUM!" He shouted. She grabbed his ankle but he started flailing his leg about. Her grip loosened on his ankle and she stumbled backwards, hissing.
Behind her, stood another one of those things. What on earth were they? What was going?
Jett rushed to the top of the stairs. He burst into his room, picked up his sword and prayed that the lights would flicker back on so he could see. He could hear something sliding up the steps, hissing and spitting.
He gulped. Tears threatened at his eyes again. "M-mum...please don't make me do this...mum..."
His mother stepped into the room. Light filtered through the the blinds in his room, and he could now see marks running across her face. She had been attacked, probably by the second...thing.
His mother launched herself at him. He reacted quickly and thrust the blade into her head. Blood sprayed everywhere and she fell to the ground in an instant.
Jett fell with her. He let a single tear slide down his cheek. He wasn't weak, but he wasn't strong either.
He looked up, anger suddenly overwhelming him. He stood up and as the second zombie shuffled into the room he drove the blade into its head, twisting it round. The zombie fell beside his mother and he looked down at them both.
"Why did you make me do this? I-I-I don't understand." He looked at the sword he held in his hands. It was long and silver; and the red and gold handle was engraved with unique patterns.
He heard a car pull up outside. The front door burst open and was flung off its hinges. Alice came crashing upstairs.
"Jett!" She cried out. She came to an abrupt pause outside of his room, holding a torch. It flickered over the two bodies that lay on the ground. She started shaking.
"No...no...y-you...you killed..."
"She tried to kill me."
"I don't know what's going on! People are just...eating each other! Tearing each other to bits without a care! It's gruesome! Jett, how could you-
"I said, she tried to kill me." He glared intensely at Alice.
"Grab those weapons from your room, I'll grab food. We're leaving, right this instant."
"You can't instruct me on what to do! We're not little kids any longer! You know that!" Alice started hiccuping. She crumpled to the floor and started whimpering.
She grabbed her mothers hand. "Mum..." She whispered. She slowly looked up at Jett, and in the moonlight the tears that streaked her face were visible.
"I'll never forgive you for that day. I'll never forgive you for today. I'll never, EVER forgive you! I hope you die at the hands of one of these things!" And with that, she got up and went back downstairs again.
"Alice...wait..." Jett reached out for her. "You don't need to forgive me. But...at a time like this, we need to stick together. We can't let past problems get in the way." Alice paused at the top step.
"Ali...I can't let you die out there. I want to keep you safe, just like-
"You're doing it all for mum, aren't you? You still haven't forgotten either."
Jett didn't reply. Alice started crying. She spun on her heel and ran at Jett, slamming into him. They landed on the floor, and Alice wrapped her arms around his neck.
"F-fine..." She said into his shirt. "B-but we'll only do it for mum. I'll still NEVER forgive you."
Jett nodded, and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. "Yes. We'll do it for mum."
~*~
Thirty minutes later everything was packed and ready to go. They said their final goodbyes to their mother, dog and the house, and set off towards no where.
"Where do you think we should go?" Alice asked, gazing out her window. She held her trusty AK47 in her grip.
"I dunno. To the...plaza?"
"No, it'd be too crowded."
"At night?"
"Yes, at night. Think of all the survivors, they'd be luring the things straight there."
"True, I guess. What about a friends house?"
"No."
"...beach?"
"Hell no."
"Random dudes house?"
"...you really want to die, don't you?"
"Well where else can we go?!"
"Some place other than here..."
"Dudes place."
"Umm, no. You're still stupid."
"And you're still a-
"No, shut up Jett."
The car sped down the street, and Alice and Jett were leaving everything behind.
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A/N: So.I'm two chapters ahead. :3
Yyyaaaayyyy. I don't know right now.
QOTD (Well I dunno).: Who do you ship in this story? :333333 banana.
I can't exactly say anything. At all. I mean they are my characters. And it would be weird. Yeah. But if I did have to say anything ... Slate x Alice? WELL I DUNNO. I just realized Jett might be forever alone. :3
Anyway. Yeah. Sorry, this chapter probably is pretty boring. But if you did enjoy it, please leave a vote and comment. And yah.
Until the next chapter,
~Alicion
UPDATE: UPDATED