The Dawn of the Lost: Prequel to The Lost and the Wicked Read online

  I step into the cold hallway of the basement. Even though I have my thick jacket on, my skin goosebumps. No matter how many times I come down here, I’ve never been able to get used to the creepy dark cement walls, the ominous smell of dead rat, or the loud footsteps that echo on the hard floor with every step I take.

  Steeling my nerves, I hurry down the corridor. I reach the termite-infested wooden door at the end and push it open. To my relief, Rob is already here. He’s laying down on the old sofa, his feet on top of coaches’ desk.

  “Coach would kill you if he saw you,” I tell him. “You know how much he loves that antique he likes to call a desk.”

  He shrugs. “I don’t see him here. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen anyone down here all morning.”

  “Well, the library is closed on Fridays. And you know how late coach always is.”

  “I guess it’s just you and me then.”

  He puts in a holo recording. The images of the team we’re facing tonight flash in the dirty monitor. I take a seat on the coach’s chair and stare at the monitor, not really paying attention. Instead of football, I can’t stop thinking of Summer. I wish there were a way she would notice me. Not just as the jock, but the real me. Sadly, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. I got stuck in this role and I don’t think there’s a way out.

  “Did you hear that?” asks Rob.

  “Hear what?”

  “Don’t tell me you didn’t hear that noise.”

  “I didn’t hear anything.” Then again, I wasn’t really paying attention. I was a little busy daydreaming about Summer. I decide to leave that part out.

  He lifts his finger in recognition. “There it is again!”

  This time I definitely do hear a loud banging noise above. It sounds like someone is banging something on the floor. Suddenly, a thunderous crack echoes through the air and the earth shakes. The monitor, along with the countless trinkets coach has on his desk, skids to the floor.

  A second later, the shaking stops, then another one follows it. This one rattles the ground even harder than the first. My throat goes dry as the ground concrete ceiling above spider-webs into countless cracks. Dust and small pieces of stone rain on my hair.

  Just as quickly as it began, the shaking stops, leaving behind a haunting silence.

  “Let’s get out of here, man!” shouts Rob. “It’s an earthquake and we’re underground. The whole thing could come down on us.”

  He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I follow close behind as he sprints out the door, down the hallway, up the stairs, and out onto the school’s front yard.

  It takes me a second to register that the air has a green tint to it. It takes another second to figure out that Rob is having a hard time breathing. He clutches his throat and looks at me pleadingly, as if begging for me to help him.

  “Hey, man, are you okay?” I ask him, my pulse racing. I don’t really know what to do. I’ve never had CPR training, and even if I did, I doubt it would help. I think it’s the air doing this. The fact that dozens of corpses litter the ground only solidifies my suspicions.

  His face turns a shade of blue. He’s choking. Before I can catch him he falls to the floor. I turn him, but it’s too late. His eyes have rolled back and he’s no longer breathing. I close his eyelids and turn toward the school building beside me, which appears to be mostly intact.

  Lucy! Ms. Lopez is her first period class. She may be bossy, but she’s still my girlfriend. I rush through the door, past the bodies of dozens of dead students. I try my best to not look into their faces. All of them have their eyes open, and every time I look into them, I feel a sense of guilt wash over me. Why am I alive while they’re all dead?

  Before I know it, I arrive at room thirty-two and swing the door open and the air instantly leaves my body. No one seems to be alive. Ms. Lopez has a piece of glass stuck in her head. Lucy is dangling out of the window, her hollowed lifeless eyes glaring accusingly at me.

  I have to get out of here. As I reach for the door, out of the corner of my eye, Inotice the slightest movement. My head must be playing tricks on me. I reach for the handle, but this time I see it again. It’s slight, but there is definitely something moving.

  Bracing myself for the worst, I trudge toward the motion. To my surprise though, the rise and falls are not of a dying person. No, actually Summer looks very much alive. There is some dust on her hair, and there is a small scar on her left arm, but besides that, she looks great.

  “Summer!” I shake her back to the present. She slowly opens her eyes. “Summer? Are you okay?” I can hear the worry dripping from my voice.

  “What happened?” she mumbles, glancing around. Her face turns a sickly pale and she lurches down on all fours. Sweat forms on her forehead. Her breaths become deep and ragged. She’s choking to death. Just like Rob. I have to at least attempt some CPR!

  “Hey, Summer!” I push her over to and lean over her. My lips meet hers, and I can’t help but think how soft and good they feel.

  Suddenly, she pushes my head back. “What are you doing?”

  “I thought you were choking. The same thing happened to Rob. He breathed in the green air and just fell down and died.”

  “Are you saying that the air is toxic?” she asks. I get up, trying to get over my shame. “That makes no sense. You and I are breathing well enough.”

  “Maybe we’re immune.”

  “Immune or not, I need to get home. I need to check on my dad.”

  Like a sudden epiphany, Gia rushes into my mind. How could I have forgotten about her? “I…I need to go check on my sister.”

  “Your sister? Where is she?”

  “She’s an eighth grader over at Virginia School.” I rush out of the classroom. Summer follows close behind. We remain quit as we pass the hills of corpses.

  We reach outdoors, and I almost trip over Rob. He barely died, but his body looks to be already decomposing. It emits a stench of death. His skin looks as if it’s leaking some kind of black liquid.

  I look past him, and over at the collection of destroyed classrooms. “Oh no.” I take a second to bring my breaths back to somewhat normal levels. “I have to go check on my sister.”

  “Wait!” I’ve seen enough movies to know that splitting up is not the best idea. Let’s meet somewhere. Around five?”

  That sounds like a good plan. We need to stick together if we are to survive. “By the Westchester city line?”

  “Yes. That sounds good.”

  “Ok. See you there at five.” I turn and take off toward Virginia. Please be okay.

  “Gia!” I shout, hoping against hope. The entire school has been reduced to a mountain of rubble. Unlike the high school, which is fairly new, Virginia Middle School was built over two hundred years ago. The infrastructure simply wasn’t meant to take this kind of beating.

  I run past mountain after mountain of broken down classrooms, throwing pieces of walls, desks, and doors to the side. I uncover a few bodies, but none of the students I find are my sister. As the minutes trickle by, my body shakes with fear. There is simply no way I’m going to find my little sister. And even if I do, the gas will probably just take her the same way it took Rob.

  “Andrew.” Now I’m certain I’m going crazy. I’m even hearing her voice calling me.

  “Andrew!” her voice echoes, a little louder this time. “Behind you.”

  My stomach hardens as I turn and see her there. She is crouching behind the school sign. There is another girl beside her. They both looked scared out of their wits. After what just happened, I can’t blame them.

  It takes me a while to realize that she’s not looking at me. She is looking past me. A haunted look traces her face. I look behind me, certain that whatever she’s looking can’t be that bad. The entire city has been attacked and thousands of people have died. Nothing can surprise me now.

  Very quickly, I find just how wrong I am. Off in the distance, in the middle of the street, is a metallic creature that looks
to have escaped from a science fiction movie. It has two curved, bird-like talons on its feet. Its thin, long body reminds me of the raptors I’ve seen in children books. It has a large circular saw in one hand. My vision looks past all that and settles on the razor sharp fangs on its long mouth.

  “Get back here!” hisses Gia, yanking me out of my reverie.

  Mind still racing, I stumble behind the cover. “What in blazes is that?”

  “I don’t know,” says Gia. “But there’s more than one. Tania and I…” She gestures to the trembling girl beside her. “We saw three of them come down from the park. They were cutting people with that saw on their hand.”

  For the first time, I notice the stains of blood spread through street and my body turns icy. There’s no denying it now. We’re definitely under attack! I try to gain composure. For now, the attack is irrelevant. I need to get Gia out of here.

  “We need to make a run for it.” I point over to the only car that is not overturned. It’s an old Ford Vision that rests on a home’s front yard about one hundred meters away. All the windows are shattered, as are the side mirrors, but it at least looks drivable, which is something I can’t say for the rest of the vehicles littering the street.

  Gia nods. “Okay. You tell me when.” She looks scared, but determined. The other girl, however, does not seem to share in my sister’s tenacity. Her teeth are chattering loudly, and she is now mumbling to herself, growing louder by the second.

  “Who is your friend?” I ask Gia.

  “She’s not my friend. I found her after that strange gas hit. Before she stopped talking, she told me her name was Lana.”

  I grab Lana’s shoulders tightly. “Listen, Lana. You need to get a grip of yourself or we’re all going to die.” But I quickly see that my words are doing nothing. She is zoned out, lost in her own little world.

  “Snap out of it!” A hard slap smacks her across her face.

  Lana turns toward Gia, caressing her red cheek. “You slapped me!”

  “I had to. You weren’t listening.”

  “But…”

  “But nothing,” I interrupt. “There is no time for idle chat. On the count of ten we’re going to make a run to that car.”

  “REEEEEEEK!”

  Before I turn, I already know what it is. Sure enough, the raptor-like creature has spotted us. Its metallic talons clank on the street as it puts its head down and rushes toward us at an alarming speed.

  “Run!”

  Gia grabs Lana by her hand and pulls her out of the hiding spot.

  I quickly surmise that there is no way they’re going to reach the car before the creature gets to them first.

  “Over here!” I shout, also jumping from behind the hideout. I take off toward the school.

  “What are you doing?” I hear my sister call out.

  “Leading it away from you!”

  Gia yells something else, but I’m not really sure what it is. The creature has taken the bait and has locked its red eyes on me. My heartbeat pumps in my ears, drowning out all other noise.

  Still in a daze, I run down the street and zigzag between two cars obstructing the street. My hope that the creature is slowed down by this comes to a screeching halt when, from the corner of my eye, I see the creature pounce through the air. With a loud thump, it lands directly in front of me, obstructing my path.

  Thinking quickly, I throw myself to the floor. I crawl inside the shattered window of an overturned truck. A piece of glass digs itself into my knees. A spasm of pain travels down my leg and toward my hip. Nonetheless, I continue to crawl. From my position, I can see the high school. If I can only crawl out of the passenger side window, then perhaps I may be able to run into the school.

  No such luck. As I prepare to peek my head out, the creature brings its saw down. Metal grinds against metal. My ears ring. My chest tightens. Moments later, the saw cuts clear through the bottom of the vehicle. I lay face up, looking up at the creature.

  Its sharp fangs glisten with crimson blood dripping from it.

  “Reeeeeeek!” Its saw comes down on me. I roll across the floor. With its second arm, it reaches toward me. But the clumsy attack only sends me, along with half of the truck, skidding down the street.

  The creature quickly takes off after me.

  Hoping against hope, I stagger to my feet and dash toward the high school.

  The metallic clanks grow louder by the second. A sudden sharp explosion of pain pounds my lower back. I’m sent crashing to the ground. I try to stand back up, but something heavy pushes me back down.

  I crane my neck around. The creature stands triumphantly above me, its left foot firmly holding me in place. I scream in pain as it slowly digs its talon into the back of my shoulder.

  The creature brings its head down, directly above mine. The stench of oil and blood assaults my senses. The talon digs even deeper, and I scream out yet again.

  This is it. This is how it all ends. As my blurry vision scans my surroundings, a bittersweet sensation comes over me. I will die here, but at least my sister is alive. She’s a smart girl. I’m sure she will find a way to stay alive.

  A bright light flashes before my eyes. I close them, fully expecting the end. But instead, what I get is the sound of screeching tires, a loud banging noise, and a feeling of suddenly losing two-hundred pounds.

  My groggy eyes open. I turn my head to find that the creature is no longer holding me down. Instead it lies crumpled against a brick fence that is half knocked over. The air around it is buzzing as sparks of light shoot from its eyes and mouth. Is it malfunctioning?

  “Get up!”

  What? Who?

  A pair of soft hands comes under my shoulders, pushing me up a few inches. “Didn’t I tell you to lay off those Twinkies? Now get up! I can’t carry you alone!”

  I want to yell at her. I want to scold her for not leaving while she had the chance. What was she thinking running into the creature head on? It might have destroyed the car, with her in it, too. But I’m much too happy to say a word.

  She heaves loudly as she helps me into the backseat of the car.

  Quickly, she jumps into the driver seat and grabs the gear stick. She’s so short that she has to almost stand in order to reach the accelerator pedal. At her side, in the passenger seat, sits Lana. She’s rolled up in a tight ball, crying and mumbling uncontrollably.

  “When did you learn how to drive?”

  The car skids loudly as it takes off down the street. “Just now!”

  My heart leaps to my chest as she clumsily weaves between a pair of mini-vans that obstruct the street. From one of them, I catch a glimpse of corpses slumped against the windows. Some are large, adult sized, others are small.

  “Reeeeeeek!”

  “Oh, no!” cries Gia, a second before I could say the very same thing. I know what she’s thinking. There’s no way we’ll be able to outrun that thing. There are too many vehicles littered across the street to make a clean getaway.

  “We’re dead!” cries Lana.

  “Shut up!” yells Gia. She has a determined look in her eyes, the same one I’ve seen when she gets serious in her little league soccer matches. She turns the car sharply, leading it onto a ramp that spills onto the hallway.

  My heart drops to my stomach, where it stays. I can only imagine that the freeway is going to be filled with cars, making it impossible to maneuver.

  To my surprise, however, the two lanes to the left of the four-lane highway are completely empty. The two other lanes are stacked with cars, almost as if something has blown them against each other.

  “Reeeeeeek!”

  Ignoring my pain, I look to the back window. The creature emerges from the ramp. Its cold eyes lock on our small car.

  “Go!” I shout.

  Gia presses on the gas. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

  The creature takes off after the car. It looks to have been damaged during the crash. One leg drags behind it uselessly, causing it to run consid
erably slower than before. In less than a minute, the creature becomes a speck in the distance.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, I turn to my sister. “Take us to Westchester.”

  “Westchester? For what?”

  “I’m going to meet someone there.” At least I hope I am. After what I just saw, it would be nothing short of a miracle if Summer survived. But if anyone can do it, I know it’s her.

  ~~~

  “Andrew!” calls Gia from inside the car. “We have to go.”

  “Just a few more minutes,” I answer, knowing full well that it probably won’t matter. I’m right here, standing in the middle of the street by the Westchester city limit sign as Summer and I had agreed. Instead of the usual skyscrapers I’ve grown accustomed to, tall pine trees on both sides of the road flank me. Being this close to nature in the dark puts me on edge. I feel like I’m in some type of horror movie. A movie where the psycho, axe-wielding killer will run out from between the trees at any moment. Except in this case, a murderous robot has replaced the axe killer.

  “C’mon,” insists Gia. “We have to get out of the city and toward grandpa’s farm in Bakersfield.” Her voice becomes a hushed whisper. “If dad and mom survived, they would have headed that way.”

  The time on my phone now reads 11:27 P.M. She should have been here hours ago. I remain silent, knowing full well Gia’s right. The realization that Summer did not survive washes over me in a wave of pain. Disappointed, I turn, limping to the car. As I open the door a loud roar breaks the silence.

  My first instinct is to panic. My thoughts race back to the raptor creature. However, as the roars continue, I realize that it’s a different kind of noise. This sounds more like a motorcycle.

  A faint light breaks through the fog. It grows in size, revealing a black Harley Davidson behind it. It’s a big bike, with shades of gray and blue. The rider stops the bike short of the car and takes off the dark helmet.

  I smile inwardly as me and Summer’s eyes meet. She looks tired, but in one piece.