Demi

The next morning I was exhausted. I had barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Peter again, getting ripped to shreds by those things. I had shared a bed with Olivia, but we had not spoken a word this whole night. We were both occupied by our thoughts.

I decided to get out of bed and head for the kitchen, to see if anyone was awake yet. I needed someone to vent to, anyone. But the only one already up was Ben. He was sitting at his kitchen table, drinking coffee and reading through a magazine. I sat down across from him, but he didn't bother to look up.

I started observing him. His sandy blond hair was messy, his face wrinkly. His glasses made him seem older than he actually was and his face looked hollow. I remembered how Victor had mentioned he wasn't doing well, and by the looks of it he had spoken the truth. Ben looked awful.

"Ben?" I tried, but he was preoccupied with his magazine. I waited, but no response came.

"Honestly, you're going to ignore me? What are you, twelve?"

Finally he looked up, but the look he gave me was anything but pretty. He took off his glasses, and closed his magazine.

"What is it, Demi? You wanna act like nothing happened? Like we're friends?" The anger that resounded in his voice sent shivers down my spine.

"Hey Ben, Demi," Victor entered the kitchen. He didn't seem to notice the cold atmosphere between us. "I hope you had a better night than I did. I did not sleep at all." There were dark circles under his eyes.

"Me neither," I admitted, staring at my feet. "I kept seeing Peter, getting attacked, over and over again..." My voice trailed off as I tried not to cry.

Victor stared out of the window. "I'm actually thinking about going back to town, paying a visit to the police department. I need to know what happened yesterday, what these things were. Can I use your car, Ben?"

I was about to respond to Victor, but then Ben opened his mouth. "If you're thinking about going down there, I'm going with you. I need to see this with my own eyes, and hear this with my own ears." Victor stared back at him.

"You would?" Ben nodded.

"There's no way I would let you go back all by yourself after what you told me last night. What kind of best friend would that make me?"

"If you go back, can you drop me off at my house?" I asked Victor, who looked at me in disbelief. Ben just snorted.

"It's just... I really wanna go home, take a shower, sleep in my own bed." I shrugged apologetically.

"I can't just leave you alone in times like these, Demi," Victor raised his eyebrow at me. "It's dangerous."

"Oh, but I'm not alone. One of my roommates decided to stay home for the weekend. And I have a feeling not everyone here is happy about my stay," I said, one eye on Ben. He rolled his eyes and walked out of the kitchen. "So, if you go, do you mind driving past my house? It's en route to the police station anyway." Victor let out a sigh, and didn't directly respond.

"Alright then, if that's what you really want... We'll be leaving in one hour. But we can't go unprepared."

***

"I found a hockey stick and a baseball bat in your garage, Ben. For now it will have to do. I assume you don't have any guns or so, for protection?" Ben stared at Victor with an open mouth.

"Why in God's name would I carry a gun? What do you think I do in my free time?"

Victor threw his hands in the air. "I don't know man, just asking. Are you guys ready to go down there? Are you sure about this, Demi?" I quickly nodded. Olivia had decided on staying, which was fine with me, but I couldn't stay here one more minute. Ben's face expressed resentment every time our eyes met, and it slowly drove me crazy.

Before we opened the front door Victor carefully observed the street, but there wasn't anything in sight. It was a rather secluded street and Ben did not have any direct neighbors. Victor quickly walked through the door and motioned us to follow him. Ben took place on the front seat of his car, while I sat in the back. Victor drove, he knew the way.

None of us spoke to one another the whole road down. I felt nervous, like I could throw up any minute, and that only intensified as soon as we came closer to my house. I could tell Ben felt the same way, as little drops of sweat glittered on his face. Victor stayed icy calm on this deserted mountainous road.

I let out a relieved sigh when we reached my house. I lived in the outskirts of town, not that far from Ben's place by car. Victor parked the car on my driveway and looked around again, but there was nothing in sight, aside from some police vans that were not occupied. The place looked hauntingly deserted. Victor insisted on inspecting the house before leaving me behind, something I thought was unnecessary, but I was unable to change his mind.

"Well, so far I didn't spot anything that looked unnatural," Ben remarked, shrugging. "You're not playing a cruel joke on me, right? That as soon as we enter the house, Peter jumps out or something. I'm really not up for that."

I raised my eyebrow at him. "You really think we would joke about something like this?"

"Well, there was more that I didn't expect from you, and you proved me wrong nonetheless," he shot back. I placed my hands on my hips.

"Excuse me?"

"Guys, we don't have time for this right now," Victor intervened, looking tired. "You can discuss whatever issues you have with one another as soon as we get to safety. We should consider ourselves lucky we didn't encounter anything on the way here. Let's hope it stays that way." I rolled my eyes, but Victor had a point. Ben sighed.

"Fine, let's enter the damn house."

I swiftly pulled my keys from my pocket and opened the door. Victor entered first, and when he declared that the coast was clear, I followed and speeded to the door of my bedroom while Victor insisted on checking the rest of the house, before they left. Relieved I sat down on my bed, happy to be back in my room again. Everything was still exactly as I left it. I crossed the hallway to knock on my roommate's door.

"Lisa? Where are you?" When no response came I opened her door and entered her room. I noticed a small trail of blood, all the way into her bathroom. An eerie sound echoed through the room, piercing my ears.

"... Victor? Is that you? Ben? You're not being funny!" I turned around, and the sound got louder. It sounded like someone was growling. That couldn't be good. I reached for the baseball bat Victor had given me, my heart pounding in my chest.

Then I saw her. Whatever was left of my roommate. Immediately I knew she was one of them now, I had never seen a live person function with her cheek torn open. Her pace quickened when she saw me, and I just stood there with my bat, a million thoughts crossing my mind. Was I supposed to hit my roommate with this? I had never hit a person before. What if I would hurt her? Or worse?

I froze to the ground, petrified, while the creature's pace kept increasing, obviously hungry for me.

"Demi, watch out!"

Victor loomed up behind the creature that once was my roommate, and swung the hockey stick against her head with great speed. She thudded to the ground, but crawled up immediately. My eyes were big as plates. How was she able to rise up from a blow to the head like that?

Victor seemed to be thinking the same thing, but he regained himself just in time, and took a swing at her again. The hits kept coming, faster and faster. Finally the creature seemed to succumb, and didn't rise from the ground anymore. Her head was split open, exposing her fractured skull. The sight of it made me vomit.

Ben was standing in the doorway, white as a sheet. "What in the world..." Was all he could stammer.

Victor was all covered in blood from the impact. He looked like a serial killer. "Guys, we have to leave here as soon as possible. I found out someone left your back door open. Who knows what's inside of your house... Please, Demi, grab your stuff and come back with us." I could only stare at him.

"My roommate, is she... Is she dead?"

"Well, I hope so."

Ben shook his head in disbelief. "This is madness. You just killed a... I don't know what it is. But you killed it."

The dark-haired man wiped his face clean with one of my towels. "Whatever it was, it wasn't human. And I wanna bet there are more of these things, who knows how many. So let's get out of here."

I quickly stuffed a small suitcase with spare clothes and other necessities. Victor led us down, making sure there were no surprises along the way, and we timidly followed. Ben still looked like he had seen a ghost, which wasn't entirely untrue. All I could think about was my roommate, who was lying dead on the floor of my room now. We had spent plenty of time together, watching our favorite shows and gossiping about boys. Yesterday she had been fine, and now she was dead.

And Victor had saved me from her, I owed him my life. Without him, she surely would have bitten me. The thought of it made me shiver. Would biting me mean that I would die? Would it have changed me in one of these creatures? It was obvious something had turned her into such creature, but what?

Suddenly Victor stopped moving. We immediately did the same. "Did you hear that?" His voice trembled.

"Hear what?" Ben asked. But then we all heard it. A scream. Was it from somebody in need? Victor walked up to the window next to the front door and gazed outside. There she was; a lone woman, on the streets, clearly being chased by these things. Victor sent us an apologizing glance, and I started to shake my head, but he opened the door and ran towards the female.

"Victor, come back! Vic!" Ben and I both watched in horror how the things were about to grab the woman, who started screaming even louder as a result.

I witnessed one of these creatures pace up to Victor, trying to grab his arm. Quickly I closed my eyes. I could not bear to watch him meet his fate like Peter had.

***