The Proposed Prophecies
Chapter 17: THE VIRUS-STAGE TWO

A week passed by and there was still no sign of Jake or her father. They still had food but it felt freezing cold inside the house. When she looked through the small space between the wood slats, she could see that it was snowing outside. She could still see the infected man’s body lying on the driveway and sometimes she could smell his slowly rotting flesh despite the coldness outside preserving him.

It was quiet in the house, but there were gun shots and screams that occasionally came from outside. There was no more radio or music to hide the reality from Tommy, who had looked sad for the past week. Liv thought he must have known it was not a game anymore and perhaps he had even realized that Amy wasn’t coming back.

Liv sat back on the sofa and turned the flashlight on and off, pointing at the ceiling. She thought of Evan and wondered if he was somewhere with Eve, or perhaps he was fighting the infected somewhere outside.

“Are you alright?” Carmen asked as she sat on the sofa next to Liv. She shook her head and turned off the light, slowly pulling the blanket closer to her. It was becoming colder and colder each day. Everyone wore as many clothes as they could layer on top of each other.

“So, I have read your grandfather’s diary like you asked me to.” Carmen shook Liv’s arm gently. It was dark inside and for the first time Liv didn’t mind. “Do you think I am a freak?”

Carmen laughed. “Of course not! How can you even think that?” Of course Carmen would say that, thought Liv initially. But she knew deep down she knew Carmen really meant it. “Do you think that Jake and Evan are one of these… Alters?” “Jake is, I know that for certain and Evan probably is too. I don’t know. I feel like my whole life has been a lie.” Carmen turned on her flashlight and Liv looked at her. “You still have us and we are real. But I must say it is pretty awesome that you have managed to choose Alter boyfriends each time.” Carmen smiled at her. “Jake is not my boyfriend” Liv replied quickly and felt her cheeks burn. It was good the lights were not on, she thought. “I am not so sure about that. You should see his face each time he looks at you when you aren’t looking,” Carmen said and laughed. “Is it the same way as you look at Joann?” Liv said and nudged Carmen’s shoulder. “Is it so obvious?” Carmen’s voice suddenly didn’t sound so jokey. “Hey… We can’t chose who we love. And I don’t want to feel the way I feel about Jake each time he is around. He is my dead aunt’s husband,” Liv whispered and Carmen laughed again. “Oh Liv. I feel like there is no such a thing as normal anymore.” Liv exhaled. The fact that Jake was Amy’s husband didn’t really feel funny.

“Maybe there was never such a thing as normal. We just lived in a dream of lies and we finally woke up,” Liv whispered.

“I am cold and I don’t want to be in this stupid house anymore. I want my mom.” Tommy started to yell as he was approaching Liv from Ashley’s bedroom. “I am sorry Tommy but we can’t leave.” Liv pulled him into her arms.

“Stop crying. We are all cold and tired of being here.” Ashley walked after him and raised her voice as Tommy fought back. They went back and forth. It reminded Liv of all those times she and Becky had fought when they were younger. “I have an idea. How about we play hide and seek.” This was something Liv would play with Becky after they fought when they were kids. Tommy yelled from excitement. “Let’s do it!”

“I don’t care. Whatever,” Ashley added and Liv walked to her and pulled her into a tight hug. Ashley now appeared to be a regular teenager and it truly was the only good thing in the middle of this whole awful situation.

“You better make it a really good hiding spot because I am coming for you,” Liv whispered and kissed Ashley on the forehead. “Eww, Liv,” she giggled. “Run! You have twenty seconds.” Liv yelled. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Carmen, Joann, and Tiffany joined in too. Liv started to count to twenty and heard footsteps as everyone was searching for the best spot to hide.

“And twenty. Here I come,” Liv yelled once she had counted to twenty and slowly walked from the living room to the hallway. It was still dark inside the house despite the daylight outside. Only the small space between the wooden slats brought a little light inside. Everyone had a flashlight but since they were hiding there was no one’s light on. She only had her own as she searched the house. She placed her gun on the top shelf in the living room. Somehow the quietness and the darkness felt scary. She could only see wherever she pointed her flashlight at. She walked up the stairs. The only sounds that could be heard were the squeak of her sneakers on the floor and the sound of her breathing.

She opened the first door which used to be Ashley’s room before she was moved downstairs. Her room was clean and organized. Her desk still had her books from school laying on top of it and posters were hanging on the wall. Her bed was neatly made and Liv spotted a picture of Ashley and Amy on the nightstand. Suddenly, a flashback of Amy’s bleeding nose appeared in front of her but a sound coming from the bathroom distracted her. Liv gulped and opened the door. There was a shadow standing in the shower behind the glass door. She opened it quickly and spotted Carmen. “Wow, your hiding spot is so creative,” Liv added ironically and laughed with Carmen. She continued into Tommy’s room which was right next to Ashley’s. His room was cluttered with toys, as always. She stepped onto a squeaky toy that made her jump and a giggle followed after, coming from underneath the messy bed that had sheets with little airplanes on them. One of the sheets moved slightly and more giggling erupted. She moved the sheet quickly and shone a light under his bed. There was Tommy and Ashley hiding and they both laughed.

“Can you give us a second chance to hide?” Tommy asked. “That’s cheating,” she laughed.

There was a sudden sound of glass breaking and they heard a scream that sounded like Tiffany. “Stay underneath the bed, don’t come out,” she ordered Ashley and Tommy. She realized her gun was downstairs. She always carried it with her but didn’t have it this time. “Liv!” Carmen ran towards her. “They are breaking in. The infected people broke the window and they are breaking though the wood too,” Carmen yelled.

Liv ran after Carmen down the stairs and spotted the light from the outside through the living room. Bloody hands were reaching through the broken wood and glass. Tiffany stood in the center of the living room. She was holding the gun and fired a few times. Liv grabbed the gun that she had left on the top shelf in the Living room and aimed at the window. She realized they were so many infected people outside that soon, their guns would not be enough.

The sound of the gun shots was loud and numbed Liv’s hearing to a point where she couldn’t hear anything. Shortly afterwards she realized that all of them were standing next to her. There was Tiffany on her left and Joann with Carmen on her right. Liv realized that this was the last moment they would all stand next to each other. “We have to run.” Carmen’s voice came as a quiet echo but Liv knew she must have been yelling.

“We can try to break the bathroom window upstairs in Ashely’s room. It looked like the wood was cracked,” Carmen yelled as she started running up the stairs. Liv suddenly thought of all those horror movies she used to be so angry about when the victims ran upstairs instead of to a nearby exit. She looked around and realized that wasn’t the case here. The doors and windows were nailed with thick wood and they would need a lot more than just their hands to break through it. Plus Ashley and Tommy were still upstairs. The only exit was through the main front door but the driveway looked like it was already flooded with frenzied bleeding infected people.. Liv wondered what they would do if they caught her. Would they tear her apart into small pieces of flesh? Would they eat her? Or would they only attack her enough to infect her so she became one of them?

“Liv!” Carmen yelled from half way up the stairs. Liv spotted Tommy and Ashley crying at the top of the stairs. She ran up and pulled Ashley. Joann was already holding Tommy and heading towards Ashley’s room.

“Liv!” Tiffany’s sudden yell made her turn around and Liv realized that Tiffany was laying on the floor trying to get her leg out of the hand of an infected man. Everything was happening way too fast. She screamed and Liv ordered Ashley to follow Joann. She started to run back down and fire her gun.

“Liv!” Carmen grabbed her arm. “It’s too late, we have to run.” Liv saw the infected man biting into Tiffany’s leg as she screamed and cried. Liv’s eyes teared up but she ran after Carmen who kept pulling her arm. “Liv! We have to run!”

Carmen, Joann, Liv and the kids ran into the bathroom and locked the door. The upstairs bathroom window was covered with a thinner board and it was cracked just like Carmen had said.

“We might be able to jump out,” Carmen said and was already breaking the wood. Liv saw the window looked over the sanded back yard which looked clear from infected people. “There is a small boat tied to the doc” Carmen said and pointed at it as they were breaking the boards.

There was a noise outside the door and Liv ran to the door and held it with Joann as the infected people tried to break in. There was a crack in the door, but Carmen managed to break the wood off the window and open it. “It is too high to just jump but we can climb down the rose stairwell,” Liv said and forced Ashley to start climbing down. She ordered Joann to go next and hold Tommy as Carmen switched places and helped to hold the door. “Go.” Liv yelled at Carmen. She knew there would be no way for both of them start climbing at the same time and to hold the door “I am not leaving you behind,” Carmen yelled.

Liv realized it would be harder to get Carmen to leave her. “You are a better shooter than I am and the kids need you. Please don’t waste time.” She pushed Carmen away from the door. Carmen hesitated at first but the crack in the door broadened and Liv ran to the window and pointed her gun at the cracking door while screaming at Carmen to start climbing and she did so. The door cracked open completely and Liv started to shoot as people’s arms and legs started to find their way inside the bathroom. Her gun ran out of ammunition shortly after and she turned around and started climbing through the window. Her body was out trying to grab the rose staircase next to the window but she froze as she spotted the door break open completely and the infected people running in like cockroaches.

Blood was dripping from them and they were making animal noises that were more terrifying than in all those scary movies Liv used to love to watch.

One of the infected one ran towards Liv. His eyes fixed on hers; she was a piece of flesh offered to a hungry lion. She saw him approaching fast and she realized she wasn’t even afraid anymore, she had made peace with the fact that she was about to die. He reached her and grabbed her by her arm that was still holding onto the window frame but a sudden explosion and the forced hot air kicked her out through the window. As she was falling along with the infected person that held on to her, she could smell his burned flesh and blood and hear his breathing. He eventually let her go as they touched the ground. The pain that came after was more excruciating than anything else she had ever felt. As she hit the ground, she felt as if her breath had been kicked out of her. Everything else become dark. She thought her life was over. She thought death would bring some sort of a brightness but there was only darkness. Jake’s deep voice came from somewhere in the distance and she heard gun shots. She felt a sudden peace; if Jake was here then there was hope for the kids, Joann and Carmen. Even the sounds of gunshots eventually faded and she succumbed to the darkness. The quietness felt peaceful and calming. She exhaled. Nothing could bother her anymore, not even the death itself.

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