Page 2 of Pet: Genesis

I watch my father struggle to get out of the front seat, my eyes shifting to my mother. I can’t see her face from here. Only her hair, which is now wild and dripping with blood. My father screams from the front seat as he breaks his windshield with his elbow and crawls out of the vehicle.

He immediately comes to my seat directly behind his, trying to open my door, but it’s stuck. His panicked gaze meets mine.

“Iris, turn away from the glass and cover your face. I’m going to break it!” he calls. I do as he says, still unable to lift my right arm. I hear the sound of the glass breaking, followed by the spray as it covers me. My father wastes no time undoing my seatbelt and pulling me out of the car.

I cry out in pain when he grabs my arm, and he notices, his eyes wide.

“Oh no,” he whispers. He pulls his phone out, frantically dialing for someone as he hoists me up in his arms, pulling me away from the street that has now become a bloodbath. I look behind him at the park. People have begun to turn on one another, snatching things like purses and wallets before running away desperately. The sound of gunfire fills the air, and I look up to see what appear to be missiles heading toward the massive ship that looms in the sky. Fighter jets zoom overhead, following a pattern to strike the intruders.

“Ow, ow!” I cry out from my father’s jostling. He limps through the chaos with me in his arms until we find a now-empty stand, and he sets me down gently. He pushes my hair out of my face, handing me the phone.

“Iris. I need you to listen very closely, sweetheart—”

I scream just as another explosion sounds around us. I can feel the heat of its proximity. I look around in terror, trying to see where the threat is coming from, but there are only people running past us.

“Iris! Keep trying your brother, okay?” my father says, turning away from me. I watch him in confusion as he begins kicking the wooden stand’s edge.

I press my brother’s name on the cracked screen, my eyes widening when I see the dried blood. I look up at my father’s face, and there’s blood pouring from a wound in his head. It’s a deep wound.

“Dad?” I whisper. He ignores me, though, continually breaking down the stand.

“Hey, you’ve reached Cypress. You know what to do.”

I hang up the call, dialing again just as my father comes near me with a small piece of wood.

“Give me the phone, honey,” he murmurs. I’ve never seen my father so desperate as he moves around me. He pulls the phone out of my grasp, setting it on speaker between us. He then grabs my injured arm, earning a hiss of pain from me.

“This is going to hurt. I need you to be brave for me, okay?” he asks with a pleading gaze. I nod my head vigorously, more tears streaming down my face.

“Hey, you’ve reached Cypress. You know what to do.”

My father murmurs another curse as he redials my brother. I look beyond his shoulder and see smaller ships descending toward the ground. My father grabs my hand, and I cry out as pain shoots up my arm from his trying to set it properly.

“It’s broken, Iris...”

“Hey. You’ve reached Cypress. You know what to do.”

The sound of foreign weapons soon fills the air, followed by screams. My eyes widen when I look behind my father’s shoulder to see the buildings that once stood tall in the city’s skyline suddenly collapse.

“Dad...?”

My father frantically pulls his blazer from his shoulders, tearing at the frayed material. A shocked gasp leaves my lips when I notice the bloody stain that has saturated his once-white shirt, right in the center of his abdomen.

He begins wrapping the strips of his torn shirt around my arm, fastening the board to me as he creates a splint. My ears are ringing from the adrenaline and loud explosions surrounding me, but as I calm my breathing and focus on my father, I finally notice his breathing. It’s shallow. He’s fighting to remain conscious as he rapidly blinks the blood from his eyes.

“Okay…” He leans back against the stand just as more people run by us, and I study him closely. His skin is clammy and pale. The wounds on his body don’t look shallow at all. They look fatal. He offers me a weak smile, reaching into his pocket. He holds hishand out to me, giving me my mother’s necklace, and I notice the tremble of his arm.

“Daddy, we need to go,” I whisper in a panic. Another rumble shakes the ground, and I can hear foreign gunfire getting closer. I reach for his hand, trying to pull him with me, but he slowly shakes his head, looking down at his phone.

“We’re sorry, you have reached a number that—”

He sucks in a shaky breath, looking at me. And I see defeat wash over his features.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat things for you. I’m dying,” he says, his voice weak.

He reaches for my face, placing his hand against my cheek. He seems at a loss for words. A large shockwave ripples across the land, causing the trees to shake and some in the distance to snap. The force rocks even our bodies.

“Iris. You know you’re my brave girl, right?” He places his palm against my cheek, his eyes desperate to take in every feature of my face. Tears stream down his cheeks, something I’ve never seen from my father as he studies me.

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