A World Fallen

it.
“Regan!” the little girl exclaims, still not screaming.
Her sister, now clutching her mother’s hand, does not respond.
“Regan!” the young child says again, a little louder, but no response is given.
The little girl sits up and grabs her sister’s arm, finally gaining her attention. Regan’s face washes white as she realizes there are more diseased. Their tent is being pressed down upon and is beginning to collapse.
“Mom said run.” the words barely limp from the little girl’s mouth.
Regan grabs her younger sister by the arm and pulls them out of the tent just as it collapses to the ground.
“We need to-”
Regan’s words are cut short as a sordid and morose hand lunges from the darkness, grabbing her head. Another hand follows grabbing her neck, and another on her arm, and another, and another, and then, Regan disappears. The little girl hears her older sister struggling and screaming, but once again she also hears that singular sound of flesh being pulled from bone.
“RUN ROSALINE RUN!” is shouted from the darkness. From beneath gurgles and pain.
The little girl turns from her place and runs. Her little legs have never moved so quickly, or with such purpose. She can feel the diseased behind her. She knows their hands are stretched out trying to claim her for their own, just as they have done to her mother and sister, but she does not look back. She keeps running.
◆◆◆
Rosaline shoots upright from her sleeping state. Her hands are clammy, her breathes are deep and heavy, her shirt is drenched in sweat, and her heart pounds just as it did that night.
“You were having the bad dream again.” Mikey says, his voice low and sweet.
It isn’t until he speaks that Rosaline realizes he is already gripping her hand as tightly as he can.
“Yeah.” she replies, gripping him back.
Something about the way he embraces her always calms her down. He is her world. She runs her hand through her dark hair and closes her eyes, trying to slow her breathing.
“Did you sleep?” she asks, in between panting.
“A little. You were shaking and it woke me up.” he replies as he sits up and rubs her back.
She puts her arm around him and pulls him close to her, “I’m sorry buddy.” she says.
He lays his head against her chest and hugs her tightly.
“It's okay.”
She kisses his head and lays back down, keeping him close to her.
“Still a little while before sunrise, try to sleep again.” -her hand gently strokes his hair- “We’ll cook the other rabbit in the morning before we leave.”
Ever since that night Rosaline has never slept on low ground. Always on top of a building, or in the top floor of a house after barricading the stairs, or in a tree, or on top of a vehicle, but never, ever on low ground. It was the most painful way to learn this key to surviving, and she has never forgotten it.

CHAPTER FOUR
“Slow down!” Kylie yells at her husband. The tension in her voice is thick and unsettling. Her hand firmly grips the handle above the door, her gaze intently set on her husband. Markus doesn’t budge, keeping his foot heavy on the gas pedal.
“We need to get far away from the city! Away from people.” he says, his brow raised and his forehead wrinkled.
He is just as frantic as she is. Neither of them have been able to be the calm under pressure they each need the other to be. Patrick fidgets about with his Tonka truck in the backseat, blissfully unaware of the danger crashing down upon their world. The roads around here aren’t overblown with traffic yet, however precaution set in for Markus, causing him to journey down back roads as often as possible.
“What are we doing Markus?!” Kylie yelps again, still in a state of near hysterics.
His mouth opens but no words follow the action. Truthfully, he has no idea what they should do. Something like this can't be planned for, not by the every day person. A wide scale disease outbreak doesn't have an instruction manual. “Where is safe? Is there even safety anywhere?” his thoughts crash about inside him. It guts him to realize that he doesn’t know these answers. That is what pains him the most. The thought of not being able to take care of his family. He wouldn’t dare say this to his wife, and certainly not with the state she’s in, or he's in for that matter.
Something in him is telling him to get far away from population. This is always what they do in the movies. He’s not naïve. He knows the movies aren’t real. The disease infects people which makes people the threat, so getting far away from large groups of people seems like the best idea.
His brother lives pretty far out in the country. Pete has never been one for social activities. He's always been viewed as the strange one in the family, the black sheep. This didn’t really affect their relationship. They were always close growing up. They even worked in the same job field for a while, but Pete’s propensity for solitude eventually won out.
Pete is a very intelligent man and a quick study. He only lasted a year in the nine to five office setting. Too many people, and he liked being outside. He started working for a construction company. He watched how they operated, saved his money, and when the time felt right he took out a loan and started his own construction business. It’s not much, but it’s enough to allow him to live in the means he enjoys.
After Pete married June they moved to the country. It was there they started their family. Pete’s business has maintained just enough success for them. They have two boys. Markus and Kylie haven’t been out to see Pete, June, and their nephews since Patrick was born. This always bothered Markus. He calls Pete at least once a week to check in on him. Their