Robyn

Chapter One: SALLY



         Rain, blood, and loss. Everytime we're attacked, I have those three thoughts afterward. Stumbling through the pelting storm and darkness, I clutch the pure silver dagger in my shaking hands. "Robyn!" I scream. "ROBYN!"

         No, I can't lose her now. Not when she's all I have left. They took Zac, but please, NOT ROBYN.

         "Sally?" I hear her soft, sweet angel voice from behind a dumpster in an alley. I swerve towards the noise, and, with great relief, I see my gorgeous, blonde-haired sister. She peers at me cautiously. Then she sprints out of her hiding place and into my open arms.

         I hug her tighter than ever. "How'd it go this time?"

         "I'm getting better. Stronger. But..."

         "What?" I ask, noticing the anger, hurt, and greif in her eyes.

         "They took Zac."

         "I know, sweetie. Just- don't talk too much."





         I limp and help Robyn stumble through the streets of the city, abandoned, damaged, and almost completely destroyed. Only a few buildings remain untouched. These are used for our safety. Safe havens. Safe camps.

         I know of one that will easily house us for the night, having overpowered a huge, twenty-story hotel. We're pretty familiar with the group of teenage survivors.

         "Need some help?" asks Delia with a concerned look crossing her face. We just entered the building.

         I nod and brush my hand over clotting blood on my arm, which was a really bad idea. Ever heard of "bloody fingers"?

         Delia brushes her straight red hair over her shoulder and beckons someone over with her hand. She takes Robyn from me and I immediately collapse to the ground, clutching my fists and gritting my teeth. Out of nowhere, I feel strong hands lift me to my feet. Justin. I look up at him gratefully, and I see the care and concern in his eyes.

         "Take Sally to your room," says Delia. "I'll take Robyn to mine."

         "No," I protest, looking at Robyn longingly, "I want to be with my sister."

         "Sally, we don't have anymore room. Just go along with it and you'll be back on your feet in no time."

         Justin gives me a sympathetic look. I know I can trust him because everyone else does. He's sweet and has a really upsetting past. I've known him for a month, ever since we got to this city. Robyn and I tried to leave, but, as you know, we were attacked and almost killed

         The elevators don't work, so we have to go up the stairwell, Robyn and Delia close behind. Justin keeps his arm around me tightly, holding me up so I don't fall. "Are you all right?" he asks in a clear, calm voice.

         I nod. "Yeah, sort of. I have a couple spots that I can't deal with."

         "No problem. We'll get you cleaned up and I'll help you with the injuries," he says, giving me a weak smile.

         "Thanks," I mutter.

         Justin's room is on the third floor fortunately. He helps me down the hallway to his room. I feel my cut leg and ankle sting. Justin opens his door and brings me to his bed. He turns the light on next and closes his door tightly.

         He sits next to me and takes my jacket off. A whole new wave of exhaustion and pain comes over me. Justin slips my T-shirt off to where I'm only in a camisole.

         He sits still suddenly and sees something.

         "What?" I murmur.

         Justin reaches to my arm and runs his finger along it. I feel a terrible sting. When he pulls his hand away, I see pure blood. I look at my arm. a long, clean cut goes from my shoulder to my elbow. Justin looks at my other arm.

         Then he searches the rest of my body for wounds. I've never been self-conscious about anyone seeing my body ever since everything and almost everyone on earth was was destroyed. And besides, Justin is a medic in the safe camp. If I'm going to live, he has to find all my wounds so they're not infected.

         Justin gets his first aid kit and wraps my arm and my lower leg with bandages. He smeared them first with medicine. Then he gives me a painkiller and I'm almost out.

         As I almost drift off to sleep, Justin gently cleans my dirt-covered body with a wet washcloth. The ticking of an old clock and Justin's soft breathing puts me to sleep the rest of the way. I vaguely remember a light touch on my cheek.





         All at once, a figure of a man became many, and they overcame my home, the city, the country, the WORLD. Only those who feld far into the woods where no ghostly creature was inhabiting would survive. I took Robyn and Zac with me.

         Zac and I were studying... sort of. Robyn was with us, watching TV quietly. Long story short- ghosts attacked us and the three of us ran into the woods- far.

         After a week, we were in New York and discovered that it had been completely killed over. About a month later, we found other kids like us who had the bright idea of running into the forests.

         Zac and I were dating (and I hope we still are). I was glad that he was safe, but my parents are dead. And so is everyone else's.

         Okay, the ghosts are different than what I used to picture them as. Pretty much, they're zombies who don't have a craving for brains or fall apart. They dissolve when pelted with rain.

         So pretty much we're lost, Zac is gone, and I'm severely injured with absolutely no idea if there's a way to fix this. I'm fifteen with a ten-year-old sister in need of proper care. How can I take care of her and myself without parents or a world without adults?







Chapter Two: ROBYN



         "How do you feel?" asks Delia, pulling the blankets closer to her shoulders. All of my clothes have been stripped away and I'm in severe pain. Where's Sally? Did Zac really get taken? Is this really happening?

         "Horrible," I croak, my throat scratching and causing me to touch it in agony.

         Delia sits next to me and hands me a glass of water. I can't drink it, though. "What happened out there, sweetie?"

         I swallow hard and ball my fists under the covers. "We were trying to leave, you know, but the ghosts attacked us. One of them cornered me in the alley and tried to stab me with a knife. It only cut me in many places, though," I say quietly.

         "You should practice the defense moves we taught you when you got here. It'll help," says Delia with a sweet, caring smile.

         "I try to," I say, my voice starting to waver. "But I'm just not good enough."

         Delia doesn't say anything as I wipe my tears with my sleeve. "Get some rest," she whispers.

         I turn to my right side the gaze out the glass window. I know there used to be lights in this city. Probably tons. I'm so curious to find out why this happened. Our parents, my friends' parents, and all the other people who run the world are DEAD. The guy at school I had a huge crush on is dead. My best friend is dead. Everyone but a few teenagers and me is dead!

         No one cares about me. Not Sally; she doesn't protect me as well as a big sister should. Not Delia; I hardly know her. I doubt anyone cares how I feel or what I'm thinking. I just want to run away from it all like I wanted to do so many times when the world ws still sort of together. Who will ever know me?





         Three weeks later, we're all healed up.

         "Let's try this again," Sally sighs as we stand together in the lobby. She takes my hand, and for the slightest second, I believe that she feels for me, but i see the look on her face. She's scared.

         "Good luck," says Delia, putting her hands on both of our shoulders. I stare at the ground. "Be careful. Contact me when you're at the next safe camp. You know the way, right?"

         Sally nods and gives my hand a squeeze. "All right. Thanks for all your help."

         The other kids from the safe haven wave at us, but I remain motionless. Justin hands Sally a backpack. "I put Band-Aides and antibiotics in there. Two water bottles, fresh blankets, and extra clothes. You can still find good food in cities. Just be careful because those are the places ghosts attack."

         Sally nods and hugs him. She whispers something to him that I can't hear, and then she parts. "Bye," she mouths to him.

         Without another word, Sally slings the pack onto her shoulder, pushes the hotel doors open, and drags me out onto the empty street. The hotel is the last building standing, so it is the safest because it could not be brought down, except all the people who were there before are gone.

         Sally hurries me to the sidewalk and we walk at a fast pace.

         "Is someone supposed to be following us?" I ask softly.

         Sally stops abruptly. "No.., why?"

         I turn around but see no one. "Just keep going."

         We run through streets for what seems like forever. Hour after hour, I feel like I'm going to puke from the intense heat. It becomes dark quickly outside. We arrive in a deserted neighborhood with perfectly aligned houses. They're surprisingly untouched. Sally pulls me to the third house on the right. She easily busts the door open without completely knocking the it down.

         "Luckily," Sally says, closing the door behind us, "the ghosts don't attack inside. And-" Sally flicks the light switch to on and the house illuminates. "-we have perfect electricity. Come on. We should sleep in the same room to stay safe."

         "No," I protest suddenly, "we're not going to get attacked in here, like you said. I want to be by myself... for privacy purposes."

         Sally knows I don't have privacy issues, so she gives me a confused look. "If... that's what you want..."

         We part in the house to search for rooms to crash in for the night. Sally gets the master room on the second floor. I don't want to be near anyone, though. I climb into the attic.

         As I sit down, I hear the all-too-familiar whispers. They are close to my ears, near the ceiling, on the floor. Everywhere.

         One is in my head. "She doesn't love you," it hisses. My stomach drops. "Just go along with this all for now. She may be your sister, but she will never see your true worth."

         In the middle of the room is a pedestal. A vase with dead lilies sits upon it. I raise my hand to it, concentrate, and it shatters into a million pieces.







Chapter Three: SALLY



         I'm worried about Robyn, but deep inside, I know she can take care of herself.

         The house belonged to a cute little family of three. A young mother, a young father, and a small toddler of maybe one or two. I feel sorry for all three of them. I know they're all gone. Dead.

         I lay down on the queen bed with deep exhaustion. Never in my life have I wanted sleep so much. I'm not a runner, so today was horrible. I don't get under the covers or anything. I just lay on top of the bed and fall into a deep sleep.





         I find Zac in my dreams. He talks to me softly in a beautiful forest hollow. We don't say much. Just that we miss each other. I don't know if this is real or not. He reaches to touch my arm, but I don't feel a thing. I pay that fact no mind.

         But soon he disappears and I can't find him. I see the ghosts beyond the trees, moaning and looking for me with their blood-red eyes. Somehow, I'm hidden.

         And that's when I wake up.

         It definitely wasn't a natural wake-up, though. A couple taps on the far wall causes me to turn the lamp upon the side table on. I look to the wall. The taps become louder, and then I hear a high-pitched scraping noise on the wall I see what goes along with it.

         A figure is drawn out of thin air on the wall. It's a circle with an X and a cross on it. The X and the cross are on top of each other on the circle. A thin whisper echos into my ears. "Robyn..," it seems to hiss.

         I jump out of bed and run into the hallway. "Robyn!"

         I hear a thud above me and then running footsteps of a little girl. A door behind me opens and I turn around swiftly. "Where were you?" I ask my sister.

         Robyn shrugs. "The attic."

         "Oh, okay. I think there's still good food here. Let's find out."

         Robyn follows me in silence. I try to forget the symbol that was drawn on the wall... and the word whispered in my ear.

         Eventually, we find unspoiled food in the kitchen, eat quickly, and lead out the door with ease. but soon after we get on the sidewalk, a huge hawk flutters to the ground in front of us. It carries a wrinkled paper in its talons in which it drops on the sidewalk, and then the bird flies away.

         Robyn picks up the paper and flattens it. "This doesn't make sense," she says quietly. She hands me the paper and we keep walking.

         There, on the paper, I find the same symbol fove times in a row. Below each symbol is the word "hate". And at the very bottom of the page is "life."





         Into the forest. I feel so much safer now. I hold onto Robyn's hand, but she doesn't speak.

         "Sally," she asks after a while, "if the ghosts can't get into buildings now, then why are all the people dead?"

         I shrug. "I don't know. Maybe there were too many at the time. I'm not a ghost expert."

         Robyn falls silent once again and I feel that I've hurt her, but this is all too serious. A matter of life and death.

         As the day goes on, I start to hear Robyn muttering to herself under her breath. I can't catch a single word, though.

         "Hello?" a raspy voice asks.

         Robyn and I look up. Finally! An adult. Someone responsible and wise. Maybe. "Hello?" I call back.

         An old grey-haired, small-eyed man comes out of the trees. He has a long beard that reminds me of the Santa Claus stories. He watches us skeptically. "How old are you, children?" he asks quietly.

         "I'm fifteen," I say. "She's ten."

         "Names?"

         "Sally. Robyn."

         "I'm Jenkins," says the old man. "come with me, if you'd like. I want to know what's happened to the world."

         Robyn and I exchange looks, and then we shrug. If anything goes wrong, we have our daggers. The only things that penetrate a dark force like the ghosts. Silver is its worst enemy. A knife plain out is man's. Next to a gun.

         Jenkins takes us to a surprising location. A campsite in a dirt clearing. Huge tents are set up in a circle around a bonfire with sitting blankets around it. A young girl and her twin sit on one blanket and look at us curiously. An older boy and girl share the next one over. Three younger boys about Robyn's age are spread out on two blankets. Then there's one more empty spot for the old man.

         "Take a seat," says Jenkins, seeming to resume his spot on the ground between the twins and the oldest children.

         Robyn and I sit on the blanket with one of the ten-year-old boys. He gazes at Robyn, knowing that she's probably the last girl on Earth his age. She pays him no mind, though.

         "What happened?" Jenkins whispers.

         "How much do you know?" I ask.

         The eldest teenagers don't seem to pay attention. The boy picks flowers, rips them up, and sprinkles them in the girl's hair. I don't care, though.

         "We know that the dark spirits have arisen and terrorized everyone on Earth. Only the ones who fled into the deepest of forests could survive."

         I shrug. "That's it then. Everyone's dead except for those who escaped."

         Jenkins sits back and sighs. "If the survivors live long enough to have children, then maybe the world will prosper. Right now I'm devising a plan to rid of the ghosts. It takes time and a great power..." His gaze flickers from me to Robyn, but it lingers on her.

         "What kind of power?" I ask, just trying to make conversation.

         Jenkins shrugs. "It's hard to explain. Someone who can do things that no one else can."

         I watch as Robyn's face grows pale. Is she all right. "Do you know who that person is? If they're still alive?"

         Jenkins nods. "I know. You know. She knows." His gaze once again lingers on Robyn. Does he think she possesses the abilities? "Anyway," he continues, "before I let you go, I should probably tell you both: these ghosts are not just dead things. They were once living, breathing creatures that were not consented into Heaven. They've been let loose on Earth, trying to kill as many as they can. They've been convinced that they can buy their way free by presenting souls. The only way we can get rid of them is if the Powerful One can gather enough strength to do so. Otherwise, we need to just fight until all the dark spirits are gone."

         I think of how many souls never entered Heaven. Too many. Way too many. We would be fighting until we're among them. Or in Heaven.

         "Just remember," he says, looking directly at Robyn, "whatever they say, they're ALL EVIL. None of them have a good thing about them."