Five, six, your blood will boil thick,
Seven, eight, the Eaters have you on a plate
Nine, ten, never live again….
The growling moans escaped from the underneath the basement door. Drew brought his hands to his ears to drown out the awful noise. How could it be? Tears warmed his cool cheeks as he thought of the last moments he had spent with his sister earlier. She had hidden his baseball bat causing them to get into a nasty fight. Drew recalled when he had told her that he hated her and wished that he never had an annoying sister. He instantly regretted those comments because he never meant it.
Drew’s hand quivered as he reached for the doorknob. A warm hand gently touched his and moved it away.
“Let Mee-maw take you, honey,” Drew’s grandmother said as she slowly opened the door. She flicked on a high powered lamp and calmly turned around to face her daughter before heading down into the dark, cold pit. “Are you coming Jessie?”
Jessie, hesitantly, got up from the kitchen table and followed her mother along with Drew down into the basement. With each step they took down the staircase, the moans and growls became louder. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, the cold dampness of the basement along with the smell of decayed meat hit Drew in the face like a hard slap. Drew’s grandmother held up the lamp and shined it towards the corner where the furnace was located. She instructed Jessie to light the two candles that sat on the end tables near the base of the stairs. Jessie pulled out her lighter and fumbled a few times dropping it. She then grasped a hold of her self before accomplishing the task.
Drew followed Mee-maw towards the figure that moved near the furnace. Once they came within a safe distance, Mee-maw sat the lamp down on the basement floor. It illuminated the entire vast space. Jessie immediately let out a loud gasp before attempting to run towards her oldest daughter, Maryann. Even though Drew noticed that his grandmother was beginning to look frail, he was amazed at the brute strength she possessed once she held Jessie back.
“You can’t…. you can’t go to her,” Mee-maw firmly said.
“Why? She is my daughter!” Jessie shrieked as she fought against her mother’s firm hold.
Mee-maw reached back and slapped Jessie hard across the face. “You look! Look at her! Look at your daughter, Maryann! If you would have been there…. None of this would have ever happened!”
The hard, cold truth set in as the chains that bound Maryann to the wall made clanging noises. The pretty all around fourth grader, sister, friend, and daughter was now a raging hungry machine. She stood there, leaning to one side, growling and moaning gnashing her small teeth. Her once full, dark brown hair was matted to her forehead. The pink bow that was neatly placed in her hair before school dangled by a thread and was stained with blood. She had severe gaping wounds all over legs and thighs. The right leg was so badly disfigured that it seemed like her bones had been repeatedly broken in the same spot. Maryann extended her jaws so wide that the corners of her mouth split open, releasing blood.
A chain, big enough to hold a large size dog, was wrapped tightly around Maryann’s neck. A chain as such would have weighed the heftiest of men down but the small body of Maryann was fueled by something more sinister than death itself. Hunger.
Mee-maw cleared the air. “I thank God that Grace was out sick today or I would have surely lost them both. By the time I got to Maryann….” Mee-maw squeezed her eyes shut tightly reminiscent of the horrible events that took place, “The children were biting into each other in unimaginable places… chewing those poor kid’s faces off. The agony in the screams is unbearable to me now just thinking of it. “
Maryann continued to growl and moan. She slowly waved her hands at them like she was blindly reaching for a hug.
“Zombies…. The dead that lives amongst us and feeds from us. I knew the time was coming but never in my lifetime did I think I would see it. I heard my poor Maryann screaming from down the hallway. I found her in the classroom with three children eating away at her legs. I could tell she tried to escape the classroom with the others but fell in the process and was trampled, which cost her, her life. I couldn’t just leave my grandbaby there to die alone. So, I brought her back here to die with me.”
“What do you mean by that, momma?” Jessie asked. Her eyes were almost swollen shut from crying. Drew had never seen his mother this way.
“Maryann did not die at the school. She was gravely injured. Maryann died in my arms underneath the swing by the big oak tree out there. You know that was her favorite place to play, right?” Mee-maw looked at Jessie who turned away. “Death had finally arrived to take my little angel.”
Drew stared at his sister. She had the classic look of death. Her eyes were rolled upwards as if she had suffered a seizure. Black spidery veins ran through her ashen, dusky skin. He remembered the vivacious curls that Maryann had wore in her hair earlier before school. She had gone to school with her mane styled different because she had planned to add her name to the ballet for student council. All those dreams and goals of Maryann Jacks would never happen.
Drew walked closer to Maryann but was stopped by his grandmother. Maryann continued to moan and grit her teeth at Drew. He slowly but carefully reached out his hand towards his sister.
“Maryann…. I am sorry about this morning and all of the other times you and I argued. I wish I could take back, what I said to you but I know it’s too late. I hope that you can forgive me. Please don’t get mad and try to eat me. Remember, I am your brother and I love you no matter what.”
The scent of Drew caused Maryann to go wild. She started flailing her arms wildly like she was swatting at wasps. Drew jumped back as Maryann tried to lunge for him. Jessie walked towards Maryann and sobbed again.
“Maryann, I am so sorry that I was not the mother you needed. Please forgive me for missing your birthday parties and school events…. Please baby…. If there is any chance that you are still in there, please forgive your mother.” Jessie could no longer bare her shame. She left the basement crying.
Mee-maw glanced at Maryann and mouthed the words I love you. She motioned for Drew to go back up into the house. Drew took one last look at his sister before heading back up the stairs. He stopped midway up the staircase when he noticed that his grandmother did not pick up the lamp nor blow out the candles.
“Are you going to get the lamp or blow out the candles?” Drew asked.
“I will be back later for it. It won’t be long…” Mee-maw slowly said with quick short breaths. She hobbled up the stairs cautiously until she met up face to face with Drew. Drew noticed that his grandmother’s pupils were dilated and were as big as dimes.
“Are you okay, Mee-maw?”
“Yes, Drew. Had a rough day baby. This old body isn’t as strong as it use to be,” Mee-maw nervously laughed. She pointed towards the door that led out of the basement.
**********
“Drew, go upstairs and get Grace. Be sure to get the black backpack that I set aside for the both of you,” Mee-maw said. Drew could tell that his grandmother’s breathing had picked up rapidly. The dampness on her face glistened slightly as the rays from behind the bleak clouds snuck in.
“Yes ma’am,” Drew said as made his way up the stairs.
There were four bedrooms upstairs in the massive house. Drew and his siblings stayed with their grandmother a many of night to escape the varmints that would seep through the holes in the floor of the trailer. Each of the Jack children had claimed their own respective rooms and enjoyed the fruits of their grandmother’s labor. Drew walked down the hallway towards Grace’s room. He knew he was getting closer to his sister when he heard the child’s play coming from outside the bright pink room on the right. He quietly walked in and blushed when he saw Grace playing house with her baby dolls. She was stilled dressed in her khaki uniform dress.
Grace’s golden strands were bright enough to add sparkle to the dimming room. She had a male and female baby doll in her hand. He watched as Grace chang
ed her voice to angry when the male baby doll spoke to the female baby doll. It was then Drew realized that Grace was reliving the fight that he had with Maryann earlier in the morning before going to school.
“Hey Grace….” Drew said kneeling down beside his baby sister, “what are you doing?”
Grace looked up at her brother with sparkling blue eyes that mirrored his own. “Playing with my babies…. See?” She held the dolls up high. The female doll was a missing a leg. “This one is my sissy.”
Drew observed a white 4 X 4 gauze taped to Grace’s right upper forearm.
“What happened to your arm, Grace?” Drew asked as he knelt down to inspect the makeshift bandage. No blood was visible.
Grace frowned as she continued playing with her dolls with her free arm. “Maryann was being mean to me. After Mee-maw picked her up from school. She would not play house with me. She bit my arm. I have a boo boo.”
Grace held her arm up higher for Drew to inspect it. He felt her forehead. No fever. He slowly pulled back the tape and bandage to get a good view of the bite.
“Owww!” Grace howled.
“I’m sorry. I just want to make sure your boo boo is okay.”
Drew saw the teeth marks embedded in Grace’s arm. He noticed the bite seemed unusual. There was no blood. No redness. No oozing. Nothing. It did not even look infected Grace just had a set of teeth marks stamped into her skin. Drew studied his sister’s movements and mannerisms. She did not have the same characteristics as the other kids that were bitten. Strange…. Drew thought. I will have to watch her.
“Mee-maw fixed my boo boo,” Grace softly said.
Drew reapplied the bandage and tussled the hair on his sister’s head. Her thick, silky hair was neatly pulled back and secured with a pink bow. It was just like her older sister Maryann’s pink bow, which was now blotted with crimson. Drew studied how neat and clean the pink bow was secured in Grace’s hair compared to the bow that was bloody and dangled from the side of Maryann’s head. He shuddered at the thought of what pain his sister, Maryann, might have endured. Drew made a pact that he was going to protect his sister, Grace, at all cost. He would not lose her to the Eaters like Maryann was lost. He would die first.
“You need to change into some pants. We are about to leave,” Drew said. “Get up Grace, we have to go now. Jessie is here.”
Grace ignored her big brother’s comments and continued playing with her dolls. Drew went to pull her up but noticed the camper size backpack in the corner of the room near the dollhouse. He walked over to retrieve the gear and observed a yellow sticky note that read; do not open until you see me. Drew recognized the writing and knew it was from his grandmother. He turned to get Grace but was startled when she was standing right behind him ready with her two dolls.
“Geesh, Grace! You got to stop doing that! You always appear out of nowhere,” he joked half scared to death. The outbreak of zombie Eaters was enough to have Drew living on edge for the rest of his life.
“You said let’s go, Drew. I want to see Jessie.” Grace stood there with big bright eyes that twinkled.
“Go on over there and put something comfortable on. We have a long trip ahead of us, I suppose. Be sure to put on some boots, just in case we have to walk through the woods,” Drew said as he dashed off to the hall closet to put on his hunting boots.
When Drew came back to get Grace, she was standing near the window dressed in denim overalls and her white uniform shirt. She stuck out her foot, displaying brown cowgirl boots that her grandmother had purchased for her birthday.
“You look great, Grace. Jessie is downstairs waiting. Come on,” Drew smiled as he reached for Grace’s free hand. At the sound of the name Jessie Grace’s tiny body livened up with energy.
“Yay! Jessie is here! My Jessie is here!” Grace said as she jumped up and down.
“Shh, Grace! We can’t be too loud anymore,” Drew said with his eyes darting around.
He went over to the window to peep outside. He studied the wooded area that surrounded his grandmother’s house. Drew turned to leave the window but noticed a movement in a nearby bush. He instinctively felt for the knife that was in his pocket but when a medium sized deer followed by five more deer bounced out, Drew slowly concealed the knife once more. He thought that it was very unusual to see that many deer fleeing together at one time.
I must be dreaming, he thought. I can’t be dreaming. Maryann was not a dream.
The bush rustled once more and Drew waited for more deer to pass through. He stood on his toes and leaned further into the window. He looked closer as the thicket and bush swayed forward again. This time the bush moved more forcefully. No deer or any animal exited the bush. Time stood still as an army of olive and dark brown Eaters shuffled through the thicket. They stumbled together in a herd moving in a direction unknown. The disfigured children ranged in ages from five to sixteen-years-old. Drew noticed that one of the Eaters, the sixteen-year-old boy, used to help Mater and Marley bring firewood to his grandmother’s house.
Oh my God…. Mater!
Drew panicked as he instantly realized that the group of stumbling Eaters was Mater’s cousins who lived in nearby homes. He hastily grabbed up the camper sized backpack and swooped up Grace. Throughout the process of exiting the room, Grace dropped one of her baby dolls, the female.
“I gotta get my baby!” Grace cried out loudly. “Pleaseee! My baby!”
“Hurry up, Grace! Go get it!” Drew snapped.
Grace did not hesitate as she ran back quickly and snatched up her baby doll off the floor. Drew secured the backpack on his back and took hold of Grace’s hand. They dashed out of the room and headed towards the staircase. As Drew passed up the room that he slept in, something in the corner near the window glistened and caught his eye.
“Stay here, Grace. I will be right back,” Drew instructed.
“Noooo! Maryann might get me! I want to come with you!” Grace stomped her feet and pouted.
“Alright, come on,” Drew said.
As he rushed to the window, Drew saw a silver pocketknife that was placed neatly on top of a handwritten letter. A black pen was on the floor. Maryann must have been in a hurry to get out of here, Drew thought. His heart fell into the bottom of his stomach as he realized his sister had made every attempt to apologize to him. He picked up the shiny new knife and read the letter.
Dear Drew
Please do not be mad at me. I am sorry I took your bat. If you look down right now, the bat is under the window. And I borrowed this knife from Mee-maw to give to you. Friends?
Check yes____ or no____
Your Sister,
Maryann
Drew looked down, underneath the windowsill and saw his wooden bat with the silver knob. A wave of nausea hit him as he folded up the letter and placed it in his pocket. How could he have been so harsh with his sister this morning?
He took the knife that Maryann had given him and secured it in his back pocket with the other knife. His fingers went along the rough edges of the name Drew Jacks that Maryann had carved into his wooden baseball bat. His eyes began to water and flow
over like a broken levee. Drew picked up the pen that was lying on the floor and went to work on marking his bat. He inscribed the word Maryann in the center on both sides.
The shatter of glass downstairs caused both Drew and Grace to jump. Drew threw the pen back down on the floor and took Grace by the hand. He placed his bat in the corner pocket of the backpack and bolted down the steps with Grace trailing behind. Once Drew landed at the bottom of the steps, he saw Jessie standing at the gun case, holding a 12 gauge shot gun in her hands. The broken glass from the case lay scattered all over the floor. Grace shouted for her mother and broke free from Drew’s grip.
“Jessie!” Grace shouted in her squeaky voice. She ran up to her mother and embraced her with a big hug. Grace still had the dolls dangling in her hand.
“Hey momma’s sugar pie,” Jessie sweetly said as she landed a huge wet k
iss on Grace’s forehead. She looked assertively at Drew then back at Grace. A look of surprise was written all over Drew’s face. Jessie had never referred to herself as a mother before; she sniffled and rubbed her puffy eyes. Drew did not know if Jessie’s red, swollen eyes were from crying or drinking.
“Maryann is sick, Jessie,” Grace softly said as she batted her eyelashes slowly.
“I know baby. We need to leave now or we will be sick too.”
“Is Maryann coming?” Grace innocently asked.
“Not this time honey. Maryann has to get better first. We will come back for her later,” Jessie lied.
She bent down to kiss Grace again on the forehead. Her heavy bosom threatened to fall out of her apple red shirt.
“Are you okay bo… Drew?” Jessie quickly corrected herself. Her arm shook as she held the black shotgun.
“I will be, Jessie. Thanks,” Drew said. He pointed out the window. “There are Eaters outside.”
“I know. It looks like the Butler family from across the woods,” Jessie said with her voice shaking. “We need to go and quick!”
Drew knew that the Butler family meant Mater’s family. A flood of feelings washed through him. What if Mater was dead? Drew did not see her passing through the woods with the group of Eaters. He hoped that if all else failed that she had found her mother safely and they evacuated. Drew then thought about his other friends at the Fairgrounds Center, Sue Ellen and Tarynn. For sure by now they were all waiting with their families for him to arrive with his grandmother and sisters.
Jessie’s eyes flew down to Drew’s backpack. Her eyeball’s twitched at the sight of the baseball bat.
“What is that for?” Jessie pointed towards the bat.
“It’s time to play ball,” Drew said as he made a swinging motion with his hand.
Jessie winked her eye at Drew. “Looks, like my boy has some skills,” she said as she loudly racked a round into the chamber.
Death's Little Angels Page 17