137 Days by Emelina Valentin — Grade 9

It’s been 137 days since I’ve been outside and my mother left to get more supplies a week ago. She hasn't returned and I've been surviving on what little food and water we saved up. I lie awake every night prepared to fight the monsters that might be waiting to devour my body. There is no internet to get into contact with anyone, and even if there was no one would come and help me. I tried to keep my hopes high and tried to not think about what would happen if a monster came in. I hear the screams of terror and agony from the people outside the boarded-up windows. All the authority is gone and all that is left is destruction and despair. The people on the third floor got attacked by the monsters and had all died. I’m not sure about the people living beneath me but I do hope they are okay, I liked them. My mother warned me all the time that if I leave our tiny apartment I would die immediately. As much as I knew how correct those words were I needed to find her and bring her somewhere safer. As the days past and the food and water supply started to get lower my determination to find my mother became stronger. It’s been three weeks since the day my mother disappeared, and I finally prepared to leave and go outside once again. I didn't know what to expect so I geared up just to ensure my safety. I wore two face masks and I wore the sweater my mom got me before all this happened. The weapon my mother and I made together was a metal pole with sharp objects super glued onto it. I unlocked the locks on the door that had kept me from the outside. I did not have to check on my neighbors since I already wasted enough time being in that apartment for three weeks. As I walked outside I saw the sky and sun for the first time in a while. The summer breeze felt good on my skin, and in that, I felt okay for the first time. With my hand-drawn map in hand I headed down my block looking around for any sign of monsters. It was so quiet and peaceful that I almost forgot that this was an apocalypse. While walking I stepped on a necklace by accident. I bent down and picked it up, while I examined it I realized it was my mothers. I knew this because it was a blue butterfly with a picture of us and our initials under it. Tears started to well up in my eyes and I started to call out for mother hoping she would hear me. Instead, a rather scary looking monster came running out, and at that moment I felt like a scared little kid again. I quickly came back to my senses and whacked the monster with my weapon as hard as I could. The monster stumbled back and let out an ear-piercing screech that hurt my head a lot. Other monsters start coming from out of hiding and I became surrounded. There were eight scary monsters around me, what could I do? I’m just some scared teenager that wants to see her mother and go home. There was no way I was gonna escape this besides my weapon had already dented from hitting that one monster. One of the smaller monsters picked me up and threw me against a destroyed car. The impact of hitting the car so hard made me cough up a little blood. I got up and dashed away from the monsters as fast as I could. Of course, I wasn't fast enough and they caught up to me pretty quick. One of the monsters with really long arms grabbed me and started to slam my body into the concrete. As my body was being slammed into the pavement and I felt my conscious wearing thin I started to think back on my life. My mother's face popped into my mind and I felt something I haven't felt before. My body started to feel heavy and I felt so much power flowing thru entire my body. The monster that was slamming my body into the ground let go and backed up. I looked up at them and smiled, while they bowed down to me. I was a monster now.