Red Tear

It was the first time that my family and friends had been separated from each other after the release of Red Tear. The major power cut that had occurred two days ago had left us without any clue of what was happening on the small island of Malta. Water and food supplies in our house were getting low as we hadn’t been prepared to lock ourselves for more than a week to protect ourselves from the nightmares haunting the streets. However, hunger forced my family and two friends to venture out to find food and help. I remained behind with Adeline, my mum, to protect our small apartment in the small, quiet village of Qrendi.

I looked at the lit candle which cast shadows on Mum who was dozing on the black leather sofa. Her long, wavy, dark-auburn hair was spread across the sofa’s arm. The slight wrinkles around her eyes were the only give away that she was in her fifties. We hadn’t heard anything from my dad, Will, and my sister, Scar, yet. They’d left in the morning together with Nick, Scar’s boyfriend, and Kim and Jon, who were our friends. We decided that we’d use our phones only if we really had to, in order to preserve their batteries. However, we’d tried to call them about two hours ago, and no one had answered us. We were worried sick as they had to be back before sunset, but they didn’t come back yet, and they weren’t answering our calls.

At that instance, a loud, disturbing noise came from the apartment below us. My mum woke up wide-eyed.

“Alex, what happened?” she asked anxiously.

“I think our neighbours dropped something heavy,” I said.

At that moment, loud shrieks that sounded like dogs in agony came from the street in front of our block of apartments.

“Oh, my God! They’re coming for us!” screamed my mum.

“Shhhh, shhhhh!” I shouted as I went to peep from between the curtains to see what was happening. At that second, loud thuds could be heard coming from the common silver aluminium door of our block of apartments. Gone was the silence that our once-peaceful, but not-so-peaceful-anymore street offered. I looked down, but it was quite difficult to make out what was going on since no light was present in the streets. As my eyes adjusted and some light was reflected from the moon, I could see some moving shadows. I immediately regretted the fact that I looked outside. The scene just a few steps away from us was like something from an unbearable movie, a deleted scene that producers remove because it’s too unpleasant for people to watch.

There were dozens of savages, all running towards our block. Blood poured out of their mouths. All of their clothes were torn. They all looked so violent and bloodthirsty. The loud bangs came from some of the savages that were running and colliding with the common door of our block of apartments. The door rattled with every crash. I hoped that the dim light was creating tricks on my eyes and that the nightmare wasn’t happening.

I moved back from the curtains, slowly turned around, and looked back at my mum, who was terrified. My heart was beating at such a rapid rate that I thought it was going to explode.

“What’s happening? What’s happening?” my mum asked repeatedly, tears in her eyes.

“They are trying to get in,” I said.

Dad was mistaken. Scar and I had told him that we needed to find a safer place. If the savages managed to get in, it would be a disaster—we wouldn’t have another way out.

“Alex, we should place the sofa in front of the door so that at least we won’t let them get in our apartment,” my mum said as she tried to compose herself. At that minute, a horrible noise like the uncomfortable sound that nails make with glass was caused by the aluminium door being slammed on the floor. The sound that it made echoed throughout the block of apartments and the street.

They were in.

Now, their deadly screeches sounded closer. They were so loud. Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead. I just wanted to get out of there, but now I knew that it was impossible.

“Hurry, hurry!” shouted my mum as she dashed behind the sofa and started pushing it towards the door. I headed for the sofa and helped her place the sofa in front of the door.

Cries for help could be heard coming from the apartment below us. They were mixed with the endless demonic shrieks of the savages and their echoing steps as they ran through the building. My mum ran to the kitchen window that looked out into an air shaft linked to our neighbour’s small yard.

“Lina, Lina!” shouted my mum.

Then I heard our neighbour’s voice crying loudly.

“They are coming for us! They are coming for us!” wailed Lina.

“Mum, Mum! I’m afraid!” screamed Lina’s three-year-old child.

I tried to shut out all the screams and horrible noises that infiltrated my ears. I leaned against the wall and slid down on my buttocks, disheartened.

“Try and bring a ladder and climb here!” encouraged her my mum.

“I don’t have a ladder,” whimpered Lina hopelessly. “They’re in! They’re in! Leave us! Leave us. Ahhhhh!”

Screams of agony and the cries of suffering people pierced the air. I put my hands on my ears to block them. A wet drop fell on my knee. I hadn’t realised that I was crying uncontrollably.

“Poor Lina!” sobbed Mum as she dropped beside the kitchen window.

After a few seconds, we heard ear-splitting pounding on our apartment’s bronze-brown laminated wooden door. My heart was thumping, but I was sure that no one could hear it amongst those foul noises. Both me and my mum looked wide-eyed at the door as we gasped for deep breaths. The hinges of the door rattled with every slam. The sofa moved with every bang. It was clear that it wasn’t enough to keep those monsters outside.

“Oh my God!” whimpered my mum.

I was so terrified that I couldn’t utter a word. I saw my mum scanning the house, but there was no way out except for that door that the savages were trying to get in from. We lived on the second floor of a small block of apartments.

“We should try and climb down from the balcony!” my mum uttered urgently. We went outside on the balcony and looked down. We were greeted with a warm humid breeze. There was no way that we could jump from there and remain unscratched. My mum held her head with her hands.

“Promise me … promise me that if they come for us, you’ll stay behind me, and try and run as fast as you can if you have the chance,” whimpered my mum as she gently placed my face between her palm of her hands.

“We’ll both die, Mum,” I replied with a gulp.

We stayed on the balcony looking at the door, both feeling helpless and powerless. I held my mum’s hand, too afraid to let go. I couldn’t believe that death was just behind the door. Would it be painful? Would it be quick? Was there another life? I wasn’t much of a religious person, but I hoped that there was something else. Otherwise, my life would have been too short. My thoughts went to the others—my sister and my dad. How devastated would they be when they realised what happened to us? Or maybe they were in a worse situation than us or maybe they were already done for. I couldn’t think anymore.

One of the door hinges broke.

Another two to go until our end. It was the worst feeling ever, knowing that death was just behind the corner. The agonising screams of victims all around us in the building reminded us of what we were going to suffer, what we were going to feel. We were being tortured by that realisation.

Another door hinge broke loose.

I closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing as I was really panicking. That was it.

Just another one. Just another hinge between our lives and death.