This Beautiful World - Book #1 (BxB)

Chapter 18

Arin grabbed me and pulled me away from the window as the creature shattered it. The zombie crawled into the room on all fours. As it sat there in the moonlight, it raised its head and started to sniff. Arin had moved us to the darkest corner of the room. The creature couldn't see us, but it was searching.  

I stayed pressed up against Arin, frozen in place. I was afraid to move and make a noise. As I was up against Arin, I could feel that he was trembling. Though we have seen the zombies quite a bit now, it didn't make them any less scary. This zombie was somehow able to reach the second floor from the outside.

When it crawled out of the moonlight and into the darkness, I lost track of where it went. The room's corners were too dark where the light couldn't reach. I was only able to pinpoint where the monster was when it started scratching. It sounded like it was close to the bedroom door. Though we were stuck inside of here with that thing, I was glad that the door was shut. At least then it couldn't get to the others.

But unfortunately, that was short-lived. Riley's mother knocked before opening the door, the light from the candle illuminating her face. She must have heard the sound of the window shattering and came to investigate. She looked worried.

She was about to say something. She wasn't given the chance to when the zombie growled. Then it pounced on her. Her shriek was cut off by the sickening sound of a crunch. I didn't need to see it to know what had happened.

Arin wouldn't let go of me when I tried to detach myself from him. He had an iron grip on my arm. At this point, I wasn't sure what I could even do when I got away from him. I felt like a shitty person for not doing something sooner to help Riley's mother. I could have yelled out to her and warned her. The zombie most likely would have come for us then. It would have given her the opportunity to escape and warn the others about the danger.

The sounds that the zombie made had me feeling sick to my stomach. I desperately tried to not think about what was happening. Barely any time had passed since we got here. Things were going so well for us. Why did this have to happen now?

When I heard what sounded like Riley's door opening up, I had to get away from Arin. I was well aware that he was only trying to protect us. However, I wouldn't let something happen to my friend or sister. Just like Riley's mother, they must have heard the commotion. I understood that they wanted to know what was going on after hearing the loud noises, but I was still annoyed that they couldn't stay put. Loud noises during this shit might be a sign that there was danger.

"Stay in your room and keep the door shut!" I shouted. 

There was hesitation, but I heard the sound of the girl's door shut shortly after. Knowing that the girls were safe did relieve me, however, that feeling didn't last for long. After I yelled, the zombie's attention turned to me and Arin. We knew that these things were fast, but it still took me by surprise when the zombie pounced at us. Arin pushed me out of the way before the creature was able to grab onto me. He was able to dodge the zombie's claws as it swiped at him, but barely. If he hadn't moved when he did, the zombie would have had his neck. 

This thing didn't give us much time to react before it started attacking us again. With the speed of its movements, it seemed impossible to fight back. It was also too dark. While my eyes had adjusted to the darkness a bit, it wasn't enough. The best hope that we had of surviving was to escape.

I grabbed Arin's hand. We needed to get out of this room. I could barely see the outline of the door in this darkness, but I dragged Arin with me out of the room. When both of us were on the other side, I slammed the door shut before the zombie could catch us. The creature started banging on the door. It strikes the door, but couldn't get through to us. After the zombie tried a few more times, it eventually stopped, then let out an awful cry. Though we were on the other side of the door, the scream that it let out was piercing. The sound made Arin and I cover our ears. 

The scream came to an end, then the zombie left only silence. My head was now pounding, but my thoughts were on the girls. There was no sound coming from Riley's room. They were smart. They knew that something terrible happened and that they needed to stay silent. Regardless, I needed to check on them. I was shaken over what happened to Riley's mother. I refused to look at the body as I passed it to get to Riley's room. Without knocking, I entered the girls' room. 

When Riley saw me, she rushed over to me. A worried look was on all of the girl's faces. I blocked the door so that Riley couldn't see what lay outside. She needed to know what had happened, but I didn't want her to see that scene. After coming all this way to find her parents, this would destroy her. I didn't know how I would be able to break this news to her. 

"Aiden, what happened? We heard screaming. I thought that I heard my mother scream as well," she asked quietly, though panic was in her voice. She glanced behind me, but Arin was now blocking the door.

Riley tried to push past me. I grabbed her arm before she could, and kept her in place. "Riley . . ."

"Where's my mom, Aiden?"

How could I tell her? The words wouldn't come to me. All I could do was look down and mutter, "I'm sorry."

She pulled her arm out of my grasp. Riley tried to run for the door, but Arin stayed firmly in place to keep her in. He wouldn't budge, even when she pounded on his chest with her fists. She stopped hitting him, then tears began to run down her face. I wanted to console my friend, but I didn't get that chance to. 

My little sister, who had been looking out the window, grabbed our attention when she said, "Um, guys, I think we're in big trouble."

I approached Caitlyn to see what she was talking about. When I glanced outside, my blood ran cold. 

Running towards the house was a horde of zombies.