Fortress

Chapter 1

When the worst thing happened, there was no way of predicting it. There was no different smell in the air of her afternoon walk. The ground didn't feel unknown to her feet. There wasn't even a strange feeling in her gut, telling her to go back, that she would have ignored anyway. The only thing that told Amelia to be scared, that made the pumping of her blood quicken and adrenaline to ripple throughout her was the bloodied hand print left on the kitchen window.

Amelia stopped, frozen for what seemed like an eternity, mind racing through all the possible scenarios in which that hand print could have been placed there, each one more gruesome and eccentric than the last. The only thing waking her from panic stricken paralysis was the slight shuffle of movement from someone that wasn't her family.

Amelia managed to evade the noisy gravel of the driveway by creeping around the sides, on top of the flower beds. Making her way through the front door and into the kitchen, she was not prepared for what lay before her. The sight was one that would be burned into her memory forever, haunt her waking thoughts and terrorise her with horrific dreams after dusk. Before her, was her mother, dead, bloodied and in pieces, covered in teeth marks, clothes and skin ripped open until nothing remained but a pile of shredded flesh, dyed blonde hair and blood stained clothing. Whoever was moving in here, whoever did this had moved further into the house. But, no screams or noises of any sort came which meant the same fate had fallen upon the rest of her family. All was silent apart from the alarm going off in Amelia's head, screaming at her to run. Run anywhere. Just get out.

It wasn't possible, how could this have happened? What kind of a sick person could have done this? There were so many emotions tearing at Amelia, begging to be felt, yet only one thought came to the front; whoever did this, was still in the house. She walked over to one of the white, blood stained cabinet fronts, opened it and reached in to find the biggest knife she could. Next, she started hunting the sociopath that did this. Knife in her right hand, blade facing outwards, ready to cut with one simple thrust. However, what she found first wasn't her target, but her older brother, in the same condition as her mum, in the doorway from the bathroom to the hallway, opposite the stairs. Amelia knew that feelings would have to be pushed aside for now. She clenched her jaw and set her eyes ahead of her, all her featured had hardened. Her green eyes turned dark and full of anger, under her furrowed eyebrows, her dark brown hair surrounding her face, making her bone structure sharpen as she tilted her head down slightly.

The stairs creaked slightly under the pressure of her feet, but all Amelia could concentrate on was finding her target. A low groan came from the spare room at the end of the hallway at the top of the stairs. Her breathing quickened as she neared the room her killer was in. Approaching the doorway, Amelia found the third and final body of her family. Except her Dad's body was still being devoured by a man, crouched over, bloodied and filthy, consuming the flesh of her fathers dead body. This was no man, this was a monster. By the time the monster had realised he was no longer alone, it was too late. Amelia swung at the monster's head with her knife and she swung hard. Removing the head from the shoulders of this abomination.

It toppled to the floor, blood pooling around the decapitated head and neck, dead. Amelia's breathing had quickened even more, causing her shoulders to rock up and down with every inhale and exhale. Then it became uneven, and slowed as she realised that she may have killed the monster, but the damage had already been done. Her family was dead. They were all dead and she was alone in the world. She fell to her knees next to the unrecognisable corpse of her dad and wept. The tears never ended whilst she shielded her vision from the horrors in front of her. When she finally looked, all the emotions she had inside demanded to be released and she let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Hours went by and Amelia was still lying, broken on the floor of the spare bedroom. A sudden realisation hit her; this won't be the only monster out there. The panic started up again and forced her to sit upwards. Fear distorting her grief stricken face into one of fear and dread. The tears stopped flowing and her eyes widened as she let a single word escape her lips, a name; "Jo"