Through Glass (24 page)

“No… nonono… not again.”

My fingers fumbled through the dark as the footsteps kept running toward me; the sound getting louder and louder in my ears. I blinked furiously as I searched, willing my eyes to adjust to the dark again, praying I would be able to see something through the dark grey haze I was trapped in.

I reached for the torch and for the rail, knowing I would need both. The footsteps of my pursuer pounded in my ears, louder and louder. My fingers fumbled. I shouldn’t have run, I shouldn’t have let my fear get the best of me. If I had only stayed still…

I shoved the thought from my mind and dragged my hand through the trash in search of at least my weapon, listening to the footsteps as they came up behind me and stopped. The echo loud in my ears as the pads against linoleum sounded only a few feet away from me. My fingers stopped, the silence freezing me in place.

I could hear the labored intake of my breath, the heavy inhale, my exhale sharp in the darkness.

However it wasn’t just my breath, it was someone else’s, too. Someone who stood above me, their body swallowed up in darkness.

Darkness that had come to kill me.

“Alexis?”

Everything in me tensed at the sound of my name, unfamiliar on someone else’s lips.

Someone, not something. I had never heard the creatures speak before, not since that first day when their voice filled my head. This was not in my head, though, this voice was in the air around me and decidedly human.

I wanted to jump into their arms and thank God I wasn’t alone, but something in me stopped. That deep train of fear taking over as the warning bells went off. Something about this was wrong.

I fought the need to turn, to look up at them and see who had come to end me. I didn’t turn, I barely moved. I said nothing as my arm reached forward, my movements slow and controlled as my sweat covered fingers wrapped around the large bed rail. It was the only thing I could reach as my torch was too far away to be useful.

“Alexis?” the voice came again. I would walk away from this. I would fight if I needed to.

I clung to the rail, allowing one more breath before my body moved, one quick swing as I turned to face whatever had followed me, whatever thing knew my name. The rail swung through the air, the point moving to come face to face with the person before me, the rail pointing at her like a barrel of a gun.

“Sarah?” The rail slowly dropped as I spoke. The surprise at seeing her hovered above me, taking away all the fear I had just felt.

I had just been thinking about her, only moments ago. Thinking about her crush on zombie hunters, on late night movies. Now, here she was, right in front of me. It was almost too good to be true.

It
was
too good to be true.

I wanted to say it wasn’t the same girl, but it was her, just in a different life. I brushed off my worry and narrowed my eyes at her, needing to know it was really her. She smiled brighter, her Barbie doll face looking more weather worn than I had ever seen it or thought she would let it get. She was as pale as a ghost, which only made her blue eyes seem brighter, the black and red blood stains on her clothes darker.

“Oh, God, Alexis! It is you.” Her voice was deeper than I remembered it and her face older. Everything about her had changed as the world had. She was no longer prissy and perfect, she was hard and battle worn.

“I mean, I knew it was… I thought it was… the red hair… that backpack. But how could you be…” she rambled for a moment, then exhaled just enough to show her relief before she was right next to me on the ground, her arms wrapping around my shoulders as she pulled me in for a hug.

I froze.

This hug was not like when Cohen hugged me. There was little joy in this happy reunion. Everything about her felt cold, heavy. She was stiff, like she was scared to touch me. The sensation sent a long shiver up my spine, one that I quickly pushed away. I was beginning to sound a bit too paranoid.

Slowly my arms lifted to return the hug, the bed rail slipping from my fingers as I wrapped my arms around her.

Then she squeezed me, her arms softening up as she pressed me against her chest. She exhaled heavily, her chest rattling in my ear.

“I’m so glad you are alive,” she sighed, her voice sounding the same way it had two years ago and I felt everything inside of me loosen. What little of the stress and fear I had been feeling practically evaporating. I squeezed her back, my body tensing only enough to try to keep the ridiculous emotion caged behind my eyes.

Sarah smiled at me as she sat down on the cluttered linoleum of the grocery store directly across from me. She flipped her head, letting her long ponytail swish down her back. It was weird, everything was different, but with the way she looked at me, it was like nothing had changed.

“How are you… are you okay… wow… I mean...” I just looked at her as she rambled, her arms folded in front of her as if she was cold. It was so like her to ramble. Of course Sarah used to be a bit better at forming coherent sentences, but I guess given the situation it was expected.

“Sarah?” I asked uncertainly, not knowing what to say, what the proper greeting was in a situation like this. Somehow,
have you killed any monsters lately
didn’t seem to fit.

Her eyes snapped back to mine at her name, her eyes widening as if she was as confused as I was.

“So, I was thinking,” Sarah said, the confusion in her eyes only growing, “We should do a double. I’ll take Luke and you should invite Cohen.”

“I’m sorry?” I asked, my nerves jumping at what she had just said.

I couldn’t be sure, but it sounded familiar, like what she had told me one of the last times I had talked to her. Exactly the same. The infliction, the tone. It was as though she had just played back a recording. I felt a prickle of fear at the thought before she started talking again, her voice changing and taking my agitation with it.

“The last time I saw you, remember?” she asked, but I could only nod in agreement.

It was, I knew it was, but how she’d said it… like someone had pressed play on my mind and her memories. I shrugged the ridiculous thought away, hating how paranoid I was sounding.

“How are you here, Alexis?” Sarah began, interrupting my thoughts. “How are you alive?” she whispered, her body leaning toward me as she continued to hug herself around her middle. “I mean, they cleared out our neighborhood years ago… how are you still alive?”

“Cleared out?” I whispered, trying to make sense of what she had said. Of course, it must have been the cannons I had heard on the first day, the screaming. They had killed everyone. Everyone, except Cohen and I.

“I… just…” I tried to form coherent words, but nothing came as bigger questions clouded my ability to speak.

For years we had watched as the people in the houses around us tried to escape, as the Ulama had murdered everyone around us. Yet, we were spared. It wasn’t just because we stayed inside; we had watched them emerge from other houses. We didn’t even hear the fight of the battle. They just emerged, their cry wild after a job well done. They had taken everyone, everyone other than Cohen and I. Why were we spared? This wasn’t the first time I had asked the question—the first time I had wondered—but now, looking at Sarah, walking around in the dark, I was beginning to wonder why we were only jailed inside of our own houses. Why were we allowed to live?

The few words I had been able to conjure up faded into nothing, however Sarah didn’t seem to care. She simply went on talking like she was on autopilot, just like always.

“What happened to you?” she asked. I felt a twinge of guilt join the confusing emotions I was already bogged down with. I wasn’t sure; should I have told Sarah all about Cohen and what had happened? I should have been able to do that with my best friend, but I couldn’t. The words were still stuck inside of me, the confusion and fear keeping them there.

I had apparently closed myself off so much that I didn’t even want to talk to my best friend.

“I don’t know,” I said simply. It had been so long since I had an actual conversation that I was having trouble piecing together what to say. I merely looked at her, her skin sickly grey in the darkness.

“I can’t believe it... after all this time, you’re still…” She faded off again and I could only nod. I knew exactly how she was feeling. This whole meeting was surreal. Of all the people to find alive, of all the people to run into, it was Sarah. I couldn’t help it, I laughed. The small laugh seeped through my lips at the strange absurdity of the situation.

I expected Sarah to join me, but she didn’t, instead her head whipped around dangerously as if she expected someone to jump out at us. The look on her face stung, the harsh reminder of where we were unwelcome. The laugh died in my throat and Sarah turned to stare into me, the intensity of her look sending shivers up my spine and I didn’t know why.

“How are
you
out? How have they not gotten
you
?” I asked as she leaned forward, papers and old plastic packaging crinkling under her knees.

“I don’t know,” she sighed, her head shaking as her arms clung to her sides. “They stopped chasing people a while ago. It was like they just didn’t care anymore. This area has been empty for years. I was here just looking for food. How are you… out?”

“I’ve been in my house. I never left,” I said, suddenly feeling like my excuses were inadequate. Maybe I should have just left, fought, and been with Cohen, but I had seen the flash of talons, watched the murders. The images of that first day had never faded, they were still imprinted inside of me. None of those people had any chance to live then and I had no reason to assume I would.

“They told me to stay, they brought food…” I continued, my lame reasoning fading off as Sarah interrupted me.

“You ate the food…” Her hand jutted out from where she had kept it wrapped around her, her hand resting on my shoulder awkwardly.

“Don’t ask him to Sadie’s, Lex. That would just be weird.” I jumped at the voice, the same voice as last time; young and perky. Just hearing the phrase sparked the memory of that day, hot like a branding iron to my heart. The day I asked Cohen to that dance, the warning she gave me only moments before.

It was just like before, when she’d talked about the date; her voice was more of memory than of repetition. Yet she had said it. I had seen her lips move. Fear snaked up my spine as I stared at her, her eyes moving in and out of focus quickly.

“Sarah?” I asked, careful to keep my voice low and hesitant.

She looked at me, her eyes drifting back into focus as she did. Her eyebrow rose in confusion.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked as if she was oblivious to what had just happened.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I tried to smile, but I don’t think it really took. I could still feel the fear as I tried to figure out what had just happened.

I couldn’t count it as simply being a fluke anymore, her voice was too perfect, too much the way it was. Then, to have it happen twice.

I swallowed heavily as I tried to control my panic, the fear that I had been controlling so well was coming back as quickly as if someone had just flipped a switch.

I watched her as I leveled my breathing, trying hard not to let my panic show. She sat in the darkness, holding herself like she was cold, her eyes darting around as if she expected something to jump out at us. Her actions reignited the warning lights I had been trying so hard to ignore and I leaned over to grab the torch. I couldn’t sit here in the dark anymore, something was wrong.

“You don’t really need that,” she spat, her voice hard and angry. It hissed through me like a snake, the tone sounded feral and uncontrollable. I froze at her voice, my body leaned over precariously as I fumbled toward the plastic piping.

“They don’t attack us anymore,” she continued, her words sending a wave of ice over me, her hard voice triggering something deep inside of me. I froze for only a moment before I tried to brush her words aside, but they wouldn’t leave. They only sounded more like a warning, a warning that was screaming at me to run.

“What do you mean they don’t attack us anymore?” I asked, my body moving up only enough so that I could look at her. “I was attacked last night.”

“Here? In this area?” she asked, her eyes wide in disbelief. “This area has been empty for years. They declared it safe after they cleared it out.”

“
Who
cleared
what
out?” I asked, my eyes narrowing. She said it so off handedly, like everyone should know. As if I should know. Maybe I should, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was missing something.

She’s not a threat, don’t attack.
I didn’t take my eyes off her as the ridiculous words entered my mind; my more logical side was desperately begging me to think rationally.

“They cleared out all the Ulama from this area. There aren’t any more monsters here.”

I looked at her as she spoke. Her fingers kneaded into her sides while clinging to the fabric of her shirt. Her actions flamed the fear in my chest

“What are you talking about, Sarah?” I asked, trying to keep the panic out of my voice as my hand moved to grip the bed rail tightly. I hadn’t even realized what I had done until I felt the hard edge dig into my skin. “I saw one yesterday. Two. They attacked me, but I scared them away with fire.”

“I saw him at McDonalds last night, so don’t try to tell me…” she said, my whole body jumping at the sound. It was that same recorded voice before she continued on as if nothing had happened.

“They are gone.” Her voice was hard and angry again. It was nothing like what I had remembered, nothing like the sound a girl her age should be able to make. Nothing like how she had been only moments before. This voice was different and dangerous.

It wasn’t just her voice that had changed. I stared at her through the dark as my hand kneaded around my rail, she looked nothing like she had a moment before. Her skin looked even greyer, her eyes too dark.

I stared at her, my heart rate picking up as everything tightened up in fear. This was worse than I had thought. My brain screamed at me as my heart picked up, everything tensing until my muscles were rocks and my shoulders one solid mass. I needed to get out of here. I needed light. I said nothing as I leaned toward the torch again with my eyes refusing to leave hers. I was suddenly scared what she would do if I turned my back on her.