The Unknown

Chrissie

There is red everywhere. Red has always represented death and loss- anguish. That's why I am so drawn to use it, to convey this horrible feeling I have inside me.
"Are you finished?" She sits by me and glances at my drawing.
"No." I fill in a few spots but she stops me and takes the drawing.
"You drew your family?" She points at the names I wrote under each person: Oliver, Dad, and me. She flips the paper over and notices how I drew my mother and William- covered in blood, dead.
"Why did you draw them like that?" She asks as she places a hand on my shoulder.
"Because they're dead." I take the drawing back and continue my work. I shrug her hand off of my shoulder.
"Is that all you remember?" She takes the crayon from my hand. "Only their death?"
I take the crayon back, turning away from her. "It's the only thing I can think of."
"We don't know if William is really dead."
"He was there during the first attack." I draw a smile on William's face. He was always cute when he smiled.
"He was there...but that doesn't mean..." She stops and sighs.
She stands and places herself in my view.
"Try to remember the happy times, Chrissie." She grabs me by both shoulders now.
"They're dead, Abbie." I push her hands off. "There's nothing happy about that."
I tear the drawing in pieces. The horrifying look on her face pleases me.
I head over to the door, and decide to give her a salute.
"Bye bye, captain." I follow through with the gesture with a snarky smile.
She rolled her eyes, and that was enough to make me grin.

Steve

"Dad!" Oliver runs up to me. "There's a group of them coming, we need to leave now!"
"We can head back to the south wall." I grab my rifle. "We can gather everyone down there, and head to base after."
Suddenly, I hear the loud metallic crashes. They're close, too close.
I motion for Oliver to follow me. We crouch down and look for a place to hide.
"There's an abandoned shop." Oliver whispered. He points in the direction.
We both silently make our way into the shop, everything has fallen over. The shop is destroyed, leaving no evidence of what it used to be two years ago.
The crashes get louder and louder with each passing second. I glance around, trying to find a more consolidated place to hide in the shop. I see an old desk with scattered papers on top. I grab ahold of Oliver's arm and drag him to hide with me under the desk.
We watch as the creatures with their machines scurry past the store, chasing after people.
"Those are the Yearson's." Oliver whispers, and begins to stand up. "We have to help them."
"No." I pull him back down. "We'll get killed, there are too many."
The piercing sound of the invaders' guns go off. Immediately after, we watch the family fall to the ground, bleeding out.
"We could have helped them." He pushes off of me.
"Even if we tried, we wouldn't have made it to them in time."
We wait for the herd to leave, in silence.