It had been a week now since the two nukes had affected Lilly and Mark's school. Lilly, Mark, and another two people were the only ones that had gotten flash blindness, which had gone away two days after getting it. Lilly and Mark had found out that there was a total of fifty people in their University that had survived, over half of which had left to find their families. So there sat Lilly, Mark and nine others in a classroom with the desks all cleared to the side. The professors all left as well, most likely to find their kids. One professor stayed though, she was the newest and youngest one in the university. She probably didn't have family anywhere near here.
Some students had the courage to move all the people that had died to a different room. Just thinking about that made Lilly go into slight shock. People had died in front of her eyes. They had bled out while she was in the exact room and died when she was right there. That made Mark squeamish as well, even though he usually plays gory video games.
Mark and Lilly had been best friends since childhood. They played in sandboxes together, went to elementary and middle school together, played sports together, and even hit puberty together. When Mark's father had passed away, they endured it together. When Lilly's sister had died, Mark was there for her. They were best friends, and nothing could change that. But they hadn't lived through an apocalypse yet. If that's what this was.
Lilly grabbed her backpack and searched through it for her car keys, coming to her senses finally. She grabbed Mark's arm and yanked him up.
"We should go, I doubt all this radiation is good for us." Lilly stated to Mark, wiping her face free of tears. She had been overthinking everything, like the fact her parents were on the other side of the world and her only home was a hotel right now. The rest of the students all turned to look at them as they started for the door.
"Where are you guys going?" The young professor named Mackenzie called, discarding the radio to which she found no clear frequency. That made everyone go quiet and turn to them. I guess the hierarchy of professors above students still worked after bombs dropped.
"This radiation can't be good for us. We all need to go." Lilly stated, trying to convince the students. Some people scoffed and went back to their conversations. Others nodded and grabbed their stuff then headed to the door with Mark and Lilly. They all knew her and how she was valedictorian in high school, also a know-it-all. She was beyond smart.
The young professor named got up as well, knowing full well she was right. She grabbed her book bag and dumped everything out before stuffing in the radio, paper, pencils, and a couple snacks inside the desk. Mackenzie met the students at the door and looked Lilly in the eyes.
"Let's go then." They left the school all while knowing that they couldn't force the others to come with them. When they got outside, everything was calm. Small trees were flush to the ground with their roots out of the dirt, but strong trees were just somewhat tilted. They could smell a trace of smoke on the breeze, but the sun still peeked through the hazed clouds. The twelve of them headed to the parking lot and grouped their cars together, Lilly's at the front and the professors next. In Lilly's car sat Mark and two other guys she didn't know well. Their names were Joseph and Andrew.
She knew Joseph and Andrew were best friends and they were in her history class. She knew Andrew had a tick to push his black hair off his forehead every few seconds, she guessed it was from stress. Lilly also knew that Joseph's eyes followed Andrews every move and asked every couple minutes if he was alright. She didn't know where they wanted to go or if they had any family.
"Where are we going?" Joseph asked from the backseat, leaning up into the front. Lilly kept her eyes forward, worry etched in her features. She had begun to feel tears well in her eyes again. She tucked her black hair behind her ear, her dark brows furrowing together.
"We just have to get away from the explosion site, that's all I know," She told them. Joseph took that as a good answer and leaned back into his seat. Lilly looked in her rear-view mirror and watched as all the cars pulled out after her. They followed her in a straight line, driving away from the crater in the distance, wanting to put as much space as they could in between themselves and the radiation.
They drove in complete silence, worry still in the twelve students' minds. It took about half an hour, but they reached Mark's house. He burst out the car and banged on his door. After no answer, he went to the nearest window and threw a rock from his garden at it. He obviously had no patience. Everyone sat in their cars and watched Mark, their engines revving. After ten minutes went by, Lilly gave up and put the car in park.
"You guys watch the car. I'll be right back," She stated while exiting the car, then slammed the door shut. She walked across the neatly kept grass and up to the broken window before hitching a leg up to it. Lilly swung herself in. "Mark?"
The house rung quiet. She called his name again, but no answer. His living room furniture was perfectly in place except for one lamp was broken on the floor, his mom's favourite lamp. Lilly sighed and continued through his house, turning up the stairs to his room.
Lilly finally heard a faint whimper. Her nerves shot through the roof and she broke into a sprint up the rest of the stairs. Her black hair flew behind her and her steps were loud against the wood.
"Mark?!" She called again with her voice spiked with anxiety. When she made it to his room, she couldn't help but to throw herself back into the wall. Her eyes were locked on the scene in front of her. A scream found its way out of Lilly's lungs and tears came rushing to her eyes.
In front of her, Mark sat in the middle of the floor with his mom's head in his lap. Blood coated her hair as Mark tried to smooth it back down, his hands shaking. Her skin was red in some places and bleeding in most, as if she were picking at it. Fingernail marks all over her neck, face, arms, legs, everywhere. But her eyes were clouded with blood dried like tears beneath them. A string of loud curses came from Lilly's mouth, only sobs coming from Mark's. She began hyperventilating for about five seconds, a scream coming out every other breath.
"What the-- What? What the hell happened?!" Lilly finally made out but was still frozen. Tears of shock and fear were beginning to fall down her face. Mark sobbed hard. His whole body shook with every breath he took, his eyes locked on his mother.
"I had to--" He sobbed even harder. "She came at me, she wasn't herself. I--" He could barely make out sentences between cries. Lilly's ears were ringing, but not from a bomb this time. Her body was rigid and frozen. "I grabbed my lamp and smashed her over the head, Lilly. I killed her."
Lilly couldn't comprehend anything, she couldn't breath and she couldn't speak. It was like she had become a statue. Mark continued crying, tears replacing themselves in his brown eyes. The events that had just happened continued to replay in Mark's brain over and over again. His mother had gone crazy from the radiation, though it didn't help that she was a heavy alcoholic.
"She came at me, Lilly, she attacked. The look in her face!" He cried out, grabbing his mother's lifeless body. "It was like she wasn't there anymore, it wasn't her."
Lilly shook out of it, making her way towards Mark carefully. Her eyes followed a trail of glass, another vase had been broken. It was used to smash his mother over her head.
"Mark, we should go." She choked out. Her tears had begun to halt. Mark felt like everything was in slow motion.
Lilly pulled him out of the house and got him in the passenger's seat of the car. He kept sobbing until his throat became raw and all that came out were dry whimpers. They made it about an hour away from the city while trying to calm him down until they gave up trying. Mark cried until he finally passed out. That left Lilly to explain what had happened in his house to their new friends. She had no idea what to do or where to go. She also didn't know when everyone decided it was her who should call the shots.