I had no time to prepare myself as the full weight of my mother's body slammed against mine and sent us both crashing to the ground. I barely even registered the pain of the rocks and sticks digging into my back as I landed. I was too busy trying to keep my mom from sinking her teeth into my neck.

Now, there's a sentence I never thought I'd say.

But that's exactly what she was trying to do. She had her teeth bared, saliva dripping from her open mouth, a low growl coming from her throat as she tried with all her might to take a chunk out of my flesh.

The gun had fallen from my hands the minute she launched herself at me and what good would it do me now anyway? All my concentration and strength  was now being used on both my hands to keep my mother from doing what she seemed so desperately to want to.

"Mom! It's me!" I cried as my arms began to shake from exertion under her weight. But even as the words left my mouth I knew they were pointless. Whatever had happened to her, this wasn't my mother.

Not anymore.

I was probably only on the ground for a few seconds, but those few seconds felt like an eternity as I stared up into the blank stare of what used to be my mother's eyes, before I heard my dad's voice.

"Eve!"

The sound of my dad's voice paused my mother's actions as she snapped her head up and turned to look in the direction of his voice.

Another low growl came from her throat as she snapped her teeth and cocked her head to the side, the action almost bird like.

I watched in horrified curiosity as she lifted her head to the sky and sniffed loudly before letting loose a guttural moan, the noise grating on my ears.

"Eve?" My dad tried again.

It was like the sound of his voice triggered something within her because one minute she was on top of me and the next she was hurling herself at him.

"No!" I screamed as I watched her launch herself at him and they both fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Fortunately, he had more luck dealing with her than I had. He was able to throw her off him and flipped them both so she was pinned underneath him.

"Eve, please! Calm down!" My dad struggled to keep her arms pinned at her sides while also trying to stay out of reach of her snapping teeth.

"Dad... I-I don't think she can hear you." I slowly stood from my place on the ground and watched as my mom continued to try and sink her teeth into any piece of exposed flesh she could find. "Or at least she's not listening."

My dad's brows pinched together as he stared down at his wife. At her slowly decaying skin. At her now yellowing and jagged teeth. At her blank and cloudy eyes.

"What do I do?"

The question was barely a whisper, obviously not intended for me to truly answer but my eyes found their way to the gun that still lay on the ground a few feet away from me.

Could I really do that?

I glanced back at my dad, the pain on his face clearer than the moon that shone overhead, as he continued to restrain my mom.

Could he?

My hands shook as I reached down for the gun.

Turning towards them I slowly took aim and drew in a deep breath.

"Dad, let her go."

My dad, who hadn't looked away from her face until that point, finally looked up at me and his eyes widened as they traveled up the length of the barrel before finally resting on my face.

"Allona, what are you doing?"

Tears burned my eyes as I looked between both him and my mother.

"She'll kill us dad." The tremble in my voice was unmistakable.

"Ally, put the gun down. We'll get her help. We'll take her to a hospital and everything will be fine. So, just put the gun down."

Even as he said the words I could tell from the look on his face that he didn't believe it.

Whatever had happened to my mom, to his wife, it was incurable. All it took was one look at her to know that.

"Dad."

He shut his eyes and turned his head away.

"There has to be another way. There has to be. We won't know that they can't help her until we-"

My mom chose that exact moment to lurch up, arching her back off the ground in way that was equal parts unnatural and bone chilling, and would have ripped my dad's nose clean from his face had he not leaned back in time.

As my mom continued to struggle against him, wildly thrashing her body from side to side, he looked back at me and the look on his face broke my heart into a million pieces.

He knew.

He knew no amount of medicine would fix this, whatever it was.

He knew what had to be done.

I steeled myself and adjusted my hands to get a firmer grip on the rifle, preparing myself mentally for what I was going to have to do, no matter how much it hurt.

However, instead of leaping out of the way so I could get a proper aim, my dad sprung up and away from my mom and came marching straight towards me.

I barley had time to open my mouth before he took the gun from my hands and turned around just in time to watch my mom climb to her feet.

"Please Eve. Please don't make me do this." He whispered through clenched teeth as tears ran freely down both of his cheeks.

My mom heeded no such warning.

She let out another agonizing moan before charging forward.

My dad closed his eyes for only a second before opening them again, his jaw clenched and face determined.

"Turn around Ally."

I didn't question him and simply turned around, wrapping my arms around myself and waited for the telltale sound that would mean my mother was well and truly gone.

A few seconds later a resounding boom echoed around us and there was a thump as my mother's body hit the earth.

A sob tore from my throat the moment her body hit the ground but I refused to turn around even as I heard footsteps approach me from behind.

A gentle hand was placed on my shoulder and only then did I turn to look up at my dad, his eyes red and watery.

"Let's go."

***

The road was eerily quiet and desolate as we drove away from the lake house.

Neither of us had spoken a word since we started driving.

What could we even say really?

We were both hurting in ways that words would never convey.

I had lost a mother and a sister.

He, a wife and a daughter.

All we could really do for one another was simply be there.

The reassurance that I still had a father and he still had a daughter was enough.

It had to be.

It was the only thing keeping us both going at this point.

We had been driving for a little over fifteen minutes before my dad began to slow down.

Knowing that we hadn't reached the city yet, I glanced over at him, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"What is it?"

My dad leaned forward his eyes narrowed and a frown on his face before he swore under his breath and came to a complete stop.  He quickly killed the engine and cut off the headlights, his eyes never straying from what was in front of him.

"What's wr-"

Still without looking away, he quickly placed his hand over my mouth with one hand and pointed ahead of him with the other.

I turned back to the front and looked out the windshield.

It took me a moment to see it with how dark it was outside, but when I finally did an icy cold fear settled over me.

There a few feet ahead was a police cruiser. The car had obviously run off the road as the front end was now smashed against the side of tree, smoke still rising from underneath the hood.

The front driver side door had been torn off and inside feasting on the remains of what was once one of the police officers...

Was one of them.

I guess we knew why the police had never made it now.

***