Yesterday's Gone: Season One

kid. He picked it up and brought it to his nose. He expected to smell her, flash back on some memories of them together, hugging her maybe. But the unicorn brought no memories. And it smelled different, not like her; unfamiliar perfume.
    He glanced at Jade’s nightstand, saw a framed photo from her 16th birthday party. He smiled, remembering the night, and the photo. One of the rare pictures he’d been in. However, he noticed he wasn’t in the version on her nightstand. The photo had been blown up and reproduced, to edit him from the photo. A knot formed in his heart and throat and he swallowed the bitter fact that his daughter didn’t want reminders of him.
    “Nice room,” Teagan said from behind, snapping Ed from his thoughts.
    He returned the unicorn to the top of her pillows.
    “Let’s go see who’s in Room 410.” Ed said.
    They didn’t bother checking the third floor. Ed opened the door to the fourth and came face to face with a young man with a baseball bat.  
    “Put the bat down!” Ed yelled, aiming his gun at the stick-thin olive-skinned guy with thick black framed glasses and long dark hair.  
    The guy was frozen, very likely the first time he’d ever had a gun pulled on him.
    “I said fucking drop it,” Ed said, voice sharp.
    Dude dropped the bat and stepped back, “Sorry, man. I wasn’t gonna hit you with it.”
    “Just wanted to play some ball, eh?”
    “I didn’t know if you’d be human.”
    “What?” Ed asked.
    “I thought you might be one of them. ”
    The man saw the look on Ed’s face and said, “You haven’t seen them, have you?”
    “Seen what?” Ed was getting impatient with the clown.
    The guy stammered, trying to find the right words, when the door to Apartment 410 opened behind him.
    “Daddy?”  
    It was Jade.

* * * *

BRENT FOSTER

    Brent jumped down, ran over another car, then leapt again as he heard the creatures landing on the cars behind him, navigating the metal and plastic maze with ease. They wouldn’t be able to outrun them, not when they were that fast and agile.
    Brent’s mind raced, keeping time with his heart, as he tried to think of something to do. He could barely keep up with Luis, now two rows ahead.  
    Just keep running.
    A creature shrieked behind him, so loud, it seemed like it was right over his shoulder, about to take him down.
    Brent turned back and saw the black monstrosity. Distracted, Brent’s foot slipped from under him and he landed on the hood of an old Nissan, smacking his right cheek hard against the hood before he slid off, hitting the ground hard on his back. The bag of weapons slid beneath the car along with the gun he’d been holding.
    The creature jumped over the thin space between the two cars as Brent rolled over , and reached for the pistol.
    CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK, the sound came from above, audible even over the incessant warbling of the triggered car alarm. The creature circled back, about to pounce as Brent got hold of the gun and rolled onto his back.
    The creature landed on him, knocking the breath from Brent’s lungs. It opened its large mouth and wailed an unearthly shriek as it straddled Brent’s chest, swiping at Brent’s face with its claws. Brent pushed against the creature’s wet fleshy chest with his left hand, trying desperately to hold it back.
    “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Brent screamed as he struggled to raise the pistol and steady his shaky aim. He fired twice. The bullets hit the creature’s chest and head. The thing was still moving.  
    Brent emptied the clip into the creature and got a hot splatter of hot black gore to the face for his effort.
    “Fuck!” he yelled, trying to wipe the goop from his eyes and face as he pushed the twitching creature aside and got to his feet.  
    Before he was fully upright, something punched him in the ribs, sending him hard into another car. The gun fell from his clumsy hands again. Brent looked up just in time to see another creature coming at him, two eyes narrowed on him.
    Two thunderous gunshots ripped through the air knocking the creature back. Relieved, Brent turned to see Luis standing on the hood of a pickup truck. Luis fired another four shots at creatures Brent couldn’t even see yet.
    “Come on!” he screamed, though Brent wasn’t sure if he were yelling at him or the monsters.
    Brent ducked down, found the bag of weapons, grabbed two more pistols, fresh clips in each, and jumped onto the truck’s roof beside Luis, who had opened fire with