Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone)

Boricio. He wondered if that jolt had something to do with his inability to bring Mary or Paola back. Maybe his healing powers were gone.
    Or maybe he just couldn’t bring people back once they were dead.
    His heart was broken, even more so for Desmond, but they had no time to nurse their wounds now. The Sanctuary had become a battleground, as the men, women, and children fought the demons with guns, shovels, and anything they could find.
    The courtyard was bathed in the orange glow of the children’s house, which had caught fire. Corpses, at least a dozen humans and maybe nine of the demons, lay on the ground. Luca saw the mean girl from his class, Tammy, lying on the ground in front of the barn, choking up blood. One of the monsters came out of the darkness, and landed on her, it was on all fours like a beast. It grabbed both her arms and ripped them from their sockets, then ran off with the souvenirs. Tammy’s dead eyes stared at the churning clouds in the night sky above as blood spurted out of where her arms had been, adding more red to the snow.
    Despite all she had done, Luca wanted to run to her, and try to save her.
    Then he remembered Rebecca, and couldn’t believe that he’d forgotten about her in all that had happened. His eyes found the box Rebecca had been in, turned over on its side in the middle of the courtyard, open and empty.
    Oh God, she’s dead, too .
    He scanned the chaos, searching for her. Maybe she’d made it into one of the houses, where he could hear gunshots as the people tried to fight off the monsters.
    Luca searched the corpses, praying not to find hers.
    Boricio raced off, firing shots at one of the creatures and then another.
    Luca turned, confused, overwhelmed by the cacophony of noises both external and the flood of frightened thoughts all around him. These thoughts were even louder and more powerful than the others, though, as he could also feel the fear, and pain of the people of The Sanctuary as they fought for their lives.  
    Luca dropped to his knees and closed his eyes, oblivious to the danger of doing so, as he reached out into the madness to search for Rebecca’s thoughts. People and monsters both raced past and bumped against him. He tried to ignore them until he heard her.
    “Luca are you out there? I’m so scared. Please . . .”
    Then something slammed into Luca, knocking him back. He opened his eyes to see one of the demons on top of him.  
    It looked down, eyes gleaming, mouth open, rows of jagged teeth ready to bite.
    An explosion of thunder, and the monster’s head erupted in black goo.
    Boricio appeared, firing a second shot, which thrust the rest of the monster to the ground.
    Boricio yanked Luca off the ground. “Not a good time to be napping, kid!”
    Luca was stunned and disoriented. The world was speeding by in a blur, and he just wanted to retreat. Close his eyes and go back home.
    But he had to find Rebecca. Though he couldn’t close his eyes and concentrate, he still tried to listen for Rebecca’s voice again.
    Boricio fired at another monster, dropping it in two shots, then turned to Luca.
    “Looking for Strawberry Shortcake, kid? Follow me and we’ll find her together.” Boricio handed Luca a pistol, then said, “I imagine you’ve got dick of an idea how to use that, right?”
    “I’ve never used a gun.”
    “Ever play with toy guns in the backyard?”
    Luca nodded.
    Boricio held his gun in the air and aimed. “It’s exactly the same as toy guns. Point at what you wanna kill, then pull the trigger till it’s dead. If you don’t think, it goes faster. Now come on.”
    Boricio raced through the courtyard, gun in in the lead. Luca followed.  
    It was easy to feel safe and strong behind Boricio. He seemed fearless, even when there were monsters running toward him. He never flinched, just raised his gun, aimed, if he had time, then pulled the trigger until the monsters stopped moving. Once, when one of the monsters was faster than Boricio and he couldn't get his gun raised in time, he used his fists instead.  
    Luca cringed at the sounds of Boricio’s flesh sloshing into the monster’s slippery black skin. The creature cried like a swung cat, probably shocked by Boricio’s lethal attack. Boricio spun himself behind the monster, then kicked it from the back. When the creature landed on the ground, Boricio aimed just above its slit for a nose, pulled the trigger, then laughed. “Will you look at that gallon of demon goo! You