"-to kill the ones who blacked out."
Atlas froze unable to speak or move. His own father....no, his own family was going to kill him. All because he blacked out?! This was insane. Utterly insane.
Atlas slowly stood up, keeping his eye on his family in front of him. He got up slowly backing away from the people in front of him. His father took a step forward "Son, don't take this personally. This is hard enough as it is for us. I can't even imagine what's going through your head right now. But please, we know there is a good reason as to why they told us to do this." His father said taking another step towards Atlas.
Atlas shook his head, backing away towards the window of his room. "No, no, even if I did black out, you wouldn't even attempt to kill your own son if you truly gave time to figure out what was actually going on and if I was actually a threat to you. You would help me. You would help me figure out what's going on. But no, you listen to the news, not even giving a bit of time to figure out what actually is going on. So no, Dad. I'm leaving whether you like it or not." Atlas told his father staring him in the eyes. He felt a strong pain in his heart as he spoke those words to his family. He was leaving them, he was leaving his sister, his mother, his father. As much as he hated this, he had to go. He had to leave his family. For his own sake, he had to go.
He glanced over at his backpack. He had a few things that would be useful in there if he grabbed it before he left. His bag consisted of a few things like a Swiss Army knife, his phone, a lighter, some snacks, and his school books. "I'm sorry, I have to leave, I won't let you kill me this isn't right and you know it. I'm sorry." He quickly grabbed his bag, slinging it onto his shoulder running to his window, as he started to open it. "Atlas, no!" His dad sounded furious. His father pulled a knife out of his back pocket running at Atlas. His mother held his sister pulling her back, her hand covering her mouth, in complete shock and fear. His father seemed possessed, different.
Atlas's father grabbed his shoulder jerking him around so he faced him. He slammed him into the window, slightly cracking it. "Ah! Dad! Stop!" Atlas quickly shot his arms up to stop his dads arm coming down at his chest with the knife. His dad had a deathly scary expression, as he kept pushing his arm down inching the knife closer and closer to Atlas's chest. Atlas held his fathers arm tightly trying to push his arm up and away from his body. "Dad....please!" His father pushed the knife down with more force. Atlas clenched his teeth from the effort he put in to keeping the knife away. The knife reached his chest creating a small spot of blood on the left side of his shirt. "Dad...stop!" Atlas screamed pushing his arm away from him, throwing his arm to the side. His father fell to the ground the knife gripped tightly in his hands. He looked up at Atlas his teeth clenched his mouth snarling like a dog. Atlas backed away staring at his father with complete fear in his eyes. His breathing fast, his heartbeat racing, he stumbled back tripping over a book before turning around and sprinting out of his room, running past his scared and shocked mother and sister, he ran down the stairs.
He could hear his father scream "Get back here!" Atlas kept running, bursting through the door of the house. He sprinted down the street ignoring all the people giving him strange stares.
Chaos.
Everything was chaos. A few people stood outside of their homes, just frozen. Others were running just like him. And you could hear screams and cries for help. Atlas new that those people weren't able to escape their death. Atlas tried to block out the cries of help, but they were ear piercing, he felt like the screams were meant just for him, to be drilled into his head to never be forgotten.
He kept running. Trying to escape this nightmare. He ran and ran and ran. Exhausted, he still ran. His breathing quickening, sweat trickling down his face, he kept running. Holding the straps of his bag down as he ran through the streets, weaving through homes and people.
He ran, not really paying attention to his surroundings. He just needed to get as far away from his home as possible. Right when he glanced up he ran right into someone. Knocking him onto the ground, he quickly scooted away from the person still on the ground. He started to get up before he froze. Hearing a familiar voice.
"Atlas?"