Chapter 3:

Family (1)

Don't Die, Will


Will struck the door as hard as he could.

"Dad! Mom! Open the door!"

No response. He backed off a little. Tried to see through the window above. No, nothing. No one was there. He also looked around him. The “things” weren’t there. Yet.

"Dad! It's me! Will!" he tried again, "Julia? Are you there?"

No, still no response. Where are they?

"W-Will, is that you?" a voice came from the other side of the door.

"Julia? Open the door. Hurry!"

She opened the door and let his brother in.

"Where's mom and dad?"

"Mom’s upstairs and dad isn’t home yet.. He went out a little while ago to see what’s happening."

"God."

"W-what's going on?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Will?"

"Mom?"

"Oh thank God you're okay!" Ruth hugged her son.

"Y-you don't need to hug me," Will said, "Where's dad?"

"He'll be here soon." replied Ruth, "But what's going on? I am hearing screaming and weird noises. We are all terrified."

"You're not gonna believe what I saw but it's real."

"What's real?"

"Monsters."

"Monsters?" Ruth and Julia said at the same time.

"Yes, they attacked our bus but we barely escaped with our lives." Will replied while sitting on a sofa. His hands were shaking.

"M-monsters, you're joking, right?"

"Do I look like I am in a mood of joking right now, Ju-"

"Ruth! Open the door!" A known voice came out of the front door.

It's dad!

Ruth opened the door. David came in and closed the door.

"Dad!" Julia hugged her father. David put his hand on her head.

"Will, you made it in one piece."

"I did, somehow.”

"What's going on, David?" Ruth asked.

"It's hell out there. I don't know what they are. Some kind of creatures or something like that eating people."

"W-w-what?"

"I met some of our neighbors on the way. They are all planning to go to the west."

"West? Why?" Ruth asked.

"It's not safe here anymore. The streets will be full of these creatures in no time."

"What about the others?"

"Others?"

"Yeah, Mr. And Mrs. Miller. Are they moving to the west?"

"Honey, I don't know. It's not the time to think about it. Our first priority is to survive," said David, "So, we will move. Is there any problem with that?"

No one said anything.

"Fine then. Pack up your things. We gotta move."

Will went upstairs in his room and started to pack his belongings. His school life was a mess so there was actually nothing from school to pack for memories. He just grabbed some clothes, some snacks he eats while watching TV and a notebook.

"Will! Let's go!" It's David from downstairs.

Will grabbed his bag and went down the stairs. They all gathered in the living room.

"So, we have clothes, water bottles, foods, flashlights, phones and..." David thought for a while and then said, "We don't have anything to protect ourselves. Ruth?"

"Huh?"

"Take out all the knives you have from the kitchen."

She went to the kitchen and brought some knives.

"We can also grab the stuff we need from the supermarket. I hope it's not overrun by them."

Everyone got ready and left the house.

The main street was quiet for some reason. There were no monsters roaming around. That seemed a bit odd for Will and his family. The street was full of abandoned cars so it wasn't possible for them to go through with their car.

David was observing the atmosphere and looking for their neighbors and people. But there was none.

"Millers are just a few blocks away, can we go check on them if they are still there or not?" Ruth insisted.

"All right, all right," David replied.

They moved slowly and steadily. They could still hear the screaming of people from a long distance. It was freaking out Julia. She held tight to her brother's shirt. He noticed but didn't say anything.

By the time they reached the Miller family, the sun reached its highest mark in the sky.

"Mrs. Miller?" Ruth whispered.

Nothing.

"Mr. Miller? Are you there?" Ruth whispered again. But it didn't seem to help.

David tried to spin the door knob of the front door.

"It's locked. They might be still in there," David said.

I hope so, Will thought.

David busted down the door and the family entered the house.

"Mr. Bill?" David slowly moved around with a knife. No one was responding so he stopped calling out after a while.

On the other hand, Will decided to go upstairs and check. He slowly went upstairs and carefully looked at all the rooms. No, nothing. As soon as he decided to give up and go he heard a noise. it came from the end of the floor. He was scared but he still went towards the end and stopped in front of a door. A bathroom. He grabbed the door knob and started to spin it slowly.

"No, please no. D-don't kill me."

He almost couldn't hear it.

"Lucas? Is that you?"

"W-Will?"

"Come out, it's safe."

Will backed off a little. Then a 16 year old boy came out of the bathroom. His hair was a mess and it seemed like he was crying for a long time. His body kept trembling. Will took him downstairs.

"Lucas!" Ruth exclaimed.

"You're safe. Where are your parents?"

"I-I don't know. They went to the supermarket to buy some groceries but they never came back."

"Supermarket, huh." David said to himself.

"I think we should look for his parents," Will suggested.

"Okay," said David and looked at Lucas. He looked scared and hopeless.

David put his hand on Lucas's head and smiled, "Don't worry kid. We will find your mom and dad."

"We need to hurry, dad."

"Yeah, right, right. Let's go." David headed for the front door but stopped, "Hey, Lucas. If I remember correctly, didn't your father have a rifle?"

"He does have one. For hunting."

"Would you mind bringing it?"

Lucas went to his father's room and brought a long bag. David opened it. There was a hunting rifle with a couple of rounds.

"Dad, you know how to fire a rifle?" Julia asked.

"No, Jul. Never fired one," he took the rifle on his back and said, "But at least it's better than having nothing."

___