Empty the Sea

"Hannah,help me."
"But there's so many of them.."
"HELP ME!"

Hannah drew her remaining fencing swords and handed one to Aki.She kept another for herself and passed the last one to Zeke. The two girls and boy faced a wave of diseased flesh and bone. And they were alone.

Accompanying the three fighters however, were three other girls, all non-fighters. Christine and Shahana were Hannah's best friends and had from the start vowed to stick together but never fight together. The last was Alice, Aki's friend and a fierce fighter, until she lost her mind after a particularly bloody battle with grown-ups. The three other girls stood by the three fighters. To Aki, all they were doing was making themselves a target. She admonished herself quickly. They were her friends! And she was the leader of the students now since Quince returned half dead bringing news of Matt and Leon. What leader would abandon her charges like this? Aki shamefully admitted to herself she did not want to lead, but holding off the approaching horde of grown-ups was her duty, to distract them while the rest ran to find a new hideout. As Aki started to dream about living before the disease, the first grown-up fell within range of her sword.

Aki stared horrorstruck as the grown-up reached for her. It used to be a janitor, judging from his rags.  What scared her was that his lower jaw had been sheared away, giving her a clear look down his throat. Before the janitor could grab her, a gleam if metal whirled and the janitor fell. Aki shook herself and turned. Hannah had saved her, once again displaying her expert skill as a fencer. "Don't falter now Aki, we need all three swords at work." gasped Hannah. Aki nodded gratefully and looked for Zeke. He was nowhere to be seen. Dread clutched at Aki's heart again until she spied a lone figure to the side running away from the battle. It was Zeke. "You useless arsehole!Coward!Help us!" screamed Aki as she and Hannah hacked into the mass of grown-ups. Behind the pair of frantic girls, their three friends stared wide eyed at the scene.

Aki was tiring and so was Hannah. The number of grown-ups barely seemed to have diminished, despite the number if their bodies. Both swords were caked with blood, and the two fighters were equally drenched with sweat and blood. They had to keep fighting, or all would be lost. Suddenly, Aki heard a metallic sound akin to glass shattering and a wounded cry.

Hannah dropped, gasping while holding her midsection. A jagged fragment of her broken swird quicered from her body. The rest of the sword lay in pieces on the ground where Hannah had in her exhaustion, struck instead of the grown-up she was aiming for. Hannah mumbled,"This is bad." Shahana rushed forwards to drag Hannah back, but a sudden rush among the grown-ups drove her back and covered Hannah. Christine grabbed Zeke's discarded sword and attempted to hack away the grown-ups on Hannah, but a large diseased man chraged into her and strangled the hapless girl. Alice started to scream as she witnessed her friends slaughtered. The grown-ups were still tearing into Hannah, and the large man carried the limp Christine away, no doubt to be eaten later. Aki was still fighting the grown-ups, but was now being pushed back rapidly. Shahana once again went for Hannah, but two grown-ups trying to get to Hannah for their share of food veered towards her so abruptly, she did not have time to scream as they plowed into her.

Aki could hear the sounds of chewing and bones breaking. It tore into her heart that her friends were dying or already dead. Instead of desparing, a rising sense of fury started to grow. The students were dying one by one, and the grown-ups were never satisfied in their hunger. They would hunt down every kid under eighteen until they overrun the entire country. And she could not let that happen. With a burst of aderanaline, Aki waded into the throng of grown-ups and strted to tear into their ranks. She laughed at the blood that spurted from the grown-ups that fell to her sword. Bam! That's one less grown-up. To worry about! She was going to win! She hacked deeper into the grown-ups, strength still not flagging. She was about to cut down yet another grown-up when soemone barrelled into her, throwing off her slash. Aki screamed in fury and slashed at the intruder. A voice called her name, and the frailty of it cut through her battle fury. She looked down at the jntruder she just slashed and started.

It was Alice.

Alice smiled weakly, though her eyes still showed signs of madness. She opened her mouth to say something else, but she was engulfed by the still numerous grown-ups. "NOOOO!" wailed Aki. She mercilessly cut diwn the marauding grown-ups and reached Alice. She looked terrible, trembling from the bites and cuts the grown-ups inflicted. Aki dropped her sword and cradled her best friend. Alice still wore her beatific smile, staring past Aki. She whispered,"Friends." Aki nodded, tears flowing. "So true, sister." Aki hugged Alice as the grown-ups closed in.