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"Vultures"

It's interesting how the collectives mind works. A disaster takes place. It may not affect the mass or they may believe it to be fake, and they ignore the warnings that follow. There's so much mistrust of authority and so many conspiracies that it's now normal to believe the higher up's staged something to get new rules in place. It splits people, and instead of the conversation of why, we point fingers and break relationships. This is why wars don't end, not because it's nature, but because it's easier to fight than to resolve.
        
After I got out of bed, excitement filling me as it was Halloween, I got my costume ready and threw it on. It was a cut up shirt with some fake blood in spots to look like I'd been stabbed. I got out my tube of fake blood and applied it over my exposed skin, only making it look more realistic. Then, for the finishing touch, I grabbed half a package of hamburger meat from the fridge and draped it over myself. As you had probably guessed by now, I was aiming to be a zombie.
I knew my school probably wouldn't allow the hamburger meat as part of my costume but I didn't care. It looked cool anyways. I said goodbye to my parents and headed out the door. The school wasn't too far away, so I always walk just about every day. Besides, what better way to show off my costume before the school potentially makes me get rid of half of it?
As I walked, I passed under some trees that sounded like some birds or squirrels were fighting in there. I ducked down, hoping they wouldn't bring me into this. When I was about a block from the school, I was excited to see what everyone else had as costumes. I could see one of my friends up by the entrance. I was about across the street from the school when I heard a bird above me, trying to swoop down and grab me. I ducked a couple times. I tried swatting it away only to realize it was a vulture.
It pushed me to the ground and landed on me, digging its claws into my back. I cried out in pain, but found nobody was coming to my rescue. I tried swinging at the bird until it dug its beak into my flesh. It was eating me, alongside the meat around my neck. It pecked and ripped at me until there was nothing left.

Me and many of my friends stared in horror as we watched my close friend, Brendan, being eaten alive. We wanted so badly to help, but the teachers held us back and locked the doors. They said they didn't want us to get hurt, yet refused to help. All they did was call the ambulance. We had moved on to our first class of the day before the ambulance finally showed up. We all rushed over to the window to see his body being carried off. All I could do was cry. He was my closest friend and I saw him die.
Midway through our second period class, an assembly was called. It was odd for this to happen so early in the day, but I knew what it must have been about. I kind of expected it to go unmentioned today, but I don't think there's a way they could ignore a fellow student dying in view of everyone at the school.
Of course, I was right about the assembly. Some teachers talked about Brendan. They said if anyone needs to talk, the councilor's door is always open. They let us go home early today. It was heartbreaking that some of the students didn't care much until they got to go home. I called my mom and asked her to pick me up. I was sobbing so much I was lucky she could make out anything I was saying. As I waited, one of the teachers put their hand on my shoulder. She didn't say a word but I knew she felt bad for me.
Returning home, somehow, people were still planning on going out for Halloween. I wasn't sure I could stomach it. I was too devastated by the events of the day to have the temporary joy of dressing up and collecting candy. All I could think about was Brendan. My mom encouraged me to go out anyways. She hated seeing me like this, saying I deserved to have fun tonight. I hugged her and got dressed in my costume.
As I was getting dressed, my mom had the television on. I could overhear a reporter talking about another vulture attack that had happened not too long ago. This was followed up by saying that they're urging people to stay inside this Halloween night. There was no way anyone around here was going to listen to that. I know I wasn't. But I didn't want to head out alone, so I asked my mom to come out with me. I told her I was afraid the vultures might attack out there tonight. She agreed.
Walking around the neighborhood, I got plenty of compliments about my costume before receiving a bunch of candy. With fewer people coming out, there were more houses to hit and more candy to collect. I was midway to another house when I heard bloodcurdling screams coming from behind me. Everyone on the streets turned to see a man running toward us, screaming that one of his friends was just attacked by a vulture.
We all took off running toward our homes, frantically. As we all ran in a swarm, several vicious birds swooped down and attacked various people. There was a mix of screaming and ripping flesh flooding the air. Nobody had time to look back on the horror, we just kept running.
My mother and I were some of the lucky ones to survive the night. Running through the door, I crawled up into her arms, sobbing.

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