They headed away from the people Danny had seen. He didn’t know about Emma, but he was really uncomfortable with walking down the open sidewalk. The thought of walking closer to the houses though, also made him uncomfortable. Nowhere seemed like a safe place to be.
“Hey, do you have any friends in the area?” Going to a familiar location didn’t sound too bad.
“No, do you?” Emma sounded hopeful.
“I don’t have any friends outside of the online ones.” This was the first time Danny was ever bothered by that fact. His friends were mostly in the United States.
“I know!” Emma sounded almost cheerful, so hopefully she had a good idea. “Luca’s at a friend’s house nearby, on the other side of the park. We can meet up with Holly, Beth, and the little kids, and then walk over there together.”
Right, Holly and Beth weren’t that far and having adults to handle things sounded better than trying to make his own decisions right now. “Good idea. Let’s go.”
Thankfully, the playground was in the same direction they were already headed. They hurried along as fast as Emma’s ankle would allow, which was frightfully slow. Along the way, they saw a lot of other people outside. Some were running. Some because they were being chased. A few were bloody and shambling along. Danny didn’t like how they would turn and watch them go, taking a few steps in their direction and reaching their arms out. The looks in their eyes didn’t suggest that they were asking for help. One man they passed was kneeling between two cars parked on the street and he was praying to his God. A couple of other people dashed between cars and bushes, trying to keep hidden like fearful rabbits. Many of the houses they passed had broken windows or doors standing open. Sometimes they would catch glimpses of movement beyond the windows or even hear a scream. One house had a man standing on the front porch with a shotgun. Danny thought about asking him for help, but as soon as the man noticed them, he pointed his gun at them. The way he was looking, anything could set him off. Danny decided to keep moving. Eventually they came to a house that had a big grey husky tied up to a stake on the front lawn.
“Tugg?” Emma looked at the dog. It was living up to its name, pulling and struggling to get loose from the chain attaching it to a large metal peg in the ground. When it heard its name, it turned toward them. It looked at Emma with big, sad eyes, head lowered. Its ears kept flicking between being flattened to its head and pointing at Emma.
“Danny stop. I want to untie him.” Emma slid her arm off Danny’s shoulders. She hobbled and hopped her way over to the dog. Once the dog got a whiff of her scent, it lifted its head up and broke out a happy smile. It pulled at its restraints a few times trying to get closer to Emma, then whined. When Emma finally reached the husky, she placed her hands on its head, stroking it reassuringly.
“There, there, boy,” Emma cooed, “you’re all right.”
Danny remembered that Emma wanted to be a vet one day. She loved animals a lot and was always asking for a cat or dog. Nelly was allergic though, so Emma had only a pair of goldfish in one bowl and a beta fish in another.
“Hurry up, Emma.” Danny didn’t like staying still. He kept thinking he was hearing noises coming from the house.
“Done.” Emma unclipped the chain from Tugg’s collar. He licked her face.
“Gross.” Danny wasn’t nearly so keen on animals. “Come on.”
Emma got up and made her way back over to Danny. She slung her arm over his shoulders and they continued down the street. The park wasn’t too far now. Tugg walked with them, staying at Emma’s side.
“So why do you know the dog’s name?” Danny decided to start a conversation. Maybe it would drown out the sounds he was hearing, or at least, thought he was hearing. He couldn’t tell.
“Oh, I was at the park once with Shelly and his owners were walking him.” Emma also seemed to like the idea of conversation. “He ran up to us with a ball in his mouth and dropped it at Shelly’s feet. She threw it for him and he brought it back. His owners came over and chatted with us for a bit while Tugg kept bringing the ball back for us to throw. Apparently, he’s always giving his tennis ball to strangers, hoping they’ll play with him. Have you ever had a dog?”
“Me? No. We moved around too much for that.”
“I would think moving a lot would be a perfect reason to get a dog. It’s a friend that moves with you.”
“I guess,” Danny shrugged one shoulder. Pets were never something he thought about much. Instead, he had an Xbox. “There’s the park up ahead.”
They came to an intersection and turned. The street ended one house down where it turned into the path that went through the centre of the park. Metal posts stuck up out of the asphalt where the street and the path met, to discourage cars, but they were spaced widely enough for people and bikes to pass through easily. They headed toward them, relieved their goal was in sight.
Tugg suddenly scooted ahead of them and stopped sideways, barring their path.
“Tugg, move,” Danny commanded.
Tugg continued to stand in front of them, looking intently into the park.
Danny was going to shove the dog with his free hand but instead, followed its gaze. He saw nothing unusual, just the normal collection of trees and trashcans that had always been around that entrance. Then he saw a shadow move among the trees. Tugg lowered his head and flattened his ears. The fur on his back began to rise in a menacing way.
Little Nelly appeared out of a stand of trees.
“Nelly?” Emma called to her. She should have been with the others at the playground, which was deeper into the park.
Nelly continued walking toward them. Tugg started growling ferociously. His deep growl caused Danny to look at Nelly more closely. Her dress was a deep red, so it took him a moment to realize she had a hole punched into her stomach. There was blood soaking her legs and shoes.
“Nelly.” Emma tried to take a step forward, but Danny locked his arm around her, stopping her.
“I don’t think that’s Nelly,” he said. He wasn’t even sure what he meant by that, but it was nothing good.
Tugg’s growling got louder.
The sudden shriek that came from behind them startled the hell out of both the teenagers. They wheeled around and watched as a woman in her pjs ran at them, hands out in front of her, covered in blood.
Danny couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t react.
Tugg was in front of them in a flash. He leaped at the woman, all teeth. His heavy weight knocked the woman off her feet. She continued to try to get to Danny and Emma, but the dog sunk its teeth into her, holding her back.
Danny grabbed Emma and ran past the woman and the dog. He took almost all of Emma’s weight just to make sure they were moving at full speed. He didn’t look back at the park, at little Nelly.
“Which way is it to Luca’s friend’s house?” Danny panted, having to slow down from exhaustion.
“I’m not totally sure. We need to stop. I need to stop.” Emma let go of Danny and collapsed on the nearest lawn.
Danny knelt down beside her, trying to look in every direction at once. “What do you mean you’re not totally sure?”
“I only walked over there once.” Emma rubbed her ankle, which had already swollen badly. “Holly went to get him one night when it was dark out. I was pissed at Jon, so I went with her to get out of the house.”
“Great,” Danny sighed. “Would you recognise the outside of the house if you saw it?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, it was dark.” Tears started to well up in Emma’s eyes again. Her glasses amplified them.
“Maybe it’s for the best,” Danny tried to comfort her again. “We can’t even be sure it’s safe there.” He really sucked at comforting. He kept making both Emma and himself feel worse.
“Then, where are we going to go?” The tears finally spilled over running down her smooth cheeks. “What are we going to do, Danny?”
“I… I don’t know.” He stood back up. “But we
can’t just continue to sit here. You know the area a lot better than I do, where do you think we should go?”
Emma curled her knees up to her chest. Danny hoped she was thinking. He didn’t get out much so he didn’t know the area very well. The only time he ever really left the house was when Mathias came and took him to the movies or a hockey game or something. And when he went to school, of course. The school that was closed over the summer.
“I got it!” Danny reached down to get Emma back on her feet. “We’ll go to the school.”
“Why?” Emma didn’t fight against getting up on her feet again, but didn’t do much to help either.
“It’s closed for the summer so there shouldn’t be anybody there. We can break in through a first floor window and then barricade it with desks or something.”
Emma still didn’t look too sure.
“All the doors in that place are made of solid metal. And there’s at least one bathroom that has no windows which we can hide out in,” he did his best to convince her. The bathroom he was thinking of was, of course, a boy’s bathroom, but he thought Emma wouldn’t mind if it was safe.
“Okay,” she finally nodded. “I just wish we had a cell phone or something so that we could keep trying to call someone.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and find one on the way.” Danny didn’t believe that could ever happen. Everyone else at their school seemed to have cell phones but Holly and Beth hadn’t been keen on the idea. Even Jon, the oldest and most likely to need a cell, didn’t have one.
Emma gave him a weak smile, trying to humour him, but she clearly didn’t think that could happen either.
Danny got their bearings from the nearest street signs and they headed in the direction of the school.
* * *
“Does your ankle feel any better?” Danny would never think of leaving Emma behind, but it would be nice not to have to carry half her weight.
“A little.”
“Do you think you can walk on it?”
Emma tried putting her weight on it. She sucked a sharp breath in through her teeth and shook her head. Her braces almost made it a whistling sound. They continued in the same manner as they had since leaving the house.
“I hope Tugg is okay,” Emma finally said after a few blocks.
“He’s a dog, he’s probably better off than we are.” Danny finally believed something he said.
“Good. He’s a good dog.”
“Yeah, he was.”
They walked in silence a little longer.
Danny was about to try starting another conversation, but when he opened his mouth, Emma clapped her hand over it. It hurt his teeth. Danny saw her eyes get extra big and so he closed his mouth. Her hand tasted like bread; it was odd. Emma pointed and he followed with his eyes. An erratic-looking older teenager had run out from between some houses up ahead. He was wearing only a pair of dirty boxers and his skin was snow white. It had a sickly sheen to it. He was facing the other way, his head darting back and forth, searching. He could turn around and spot them at any moment. Danny looked around too, for somewhere to hide. There were no bushes in the immediate area and he didn’t trust the houses. He went for the nearest car and started trying the handles.
Of course, they were locked. He left Emma leaning against the car and tried the next one. Also locked.
“Danny!” Emma started hobbling toward him.
The teenager had turned around, his eyes as white as his skin. He opened his mouth and screamed, then began running.
Danny tried the next car, one that was parked on the street. The passenger door was locked. He tried the one behind it. Also locked. By chance, he glanced through the windows and saw that the rear door on the other side wasn’t.
“Go around the car!” Danny called to Emma as he dashed around to the street side. He yanked on the handle and ripped the door open.
The older teenager was closing in on Emma. Danny ran to meet her. Finding strength he hadn’t been aware he had, Danny grabbed Emma and picked her up in his arms. He ran for the open car door. The older boy was fast, but he wasn’t very co-ordinated. He had nearly grabbed Emma when Danny picked her up, but his leg smacked into the front bumper of the car and he spilled onto the ground. It gave Danny and Emma the precious time they needed.
Danny reached the car and threw Emma into the backseat. He quickly jumped in after her and slammed the door shut behind him. The teenager smacked into the door right after. Danny locked it and he and Emma moved as far from the window as possible. The teenager scratched at the window, his head and body covered in red marks from the partial road rash he had given himself when he wiped out.
“What’s wrong with his eyes?” Emma wouldn’t stop screaming.
Danny kept himself between her and the window, the two of them crunched up in the backseat. If the teenager got in, he would protect Emma. The teenager then started throwing punches. His hands were slowly being mushed, but the glass was also starting to give.
Just as Danny thought, it was hopeless, when he thought he would have to sacrifice himself to give Emma a chance, that’s when they were saved.
It was by a car that came roaring down the street. Whoever was behind the wheel was either not paying attention or didn’t care. Or maybe it was even deliberate. The car scraped along the side of the one Danny and Emma were in, hitting the teenager. The teenager was flung and bounced up the road. Danny saw it as if in slow motion. He could actually make out the hairs on the teenager’s belly that trailed down from his navel into his boxer shorts before he went spinning off. The car never stopped. It didn’t even slow down as it swung wildly around a turn up ahead.
Emma finally stopped screaming and stared in shock. Danny slid over to the street side of the car and looked out. The teenager was up ahead, unmoving. A large red smear led from their car to him and his limbs were twisted at odd angles.
“I think he’s dead,” Danny whispered, fearing his voice would somehow cause the teenager’s body to rise up, fuelled by rage at what had just happened and doubling his strength and efforts to get Danny and Emma.
“What if he’s not?” Emma seemed to have the same thought.
Danny looked around the outside of the car. “There.” He pointed.
Emma shifted to see what he had spotted, her hands resting on Danny’s arm. Her hands were surprisingly soft. Emma saw only a house. “Where? What?”
“That house’s garage door is partly open. We can get in it.” Danny suddenly realized that one of his hands was resting on Emma’s creamy soft leg and that her sundress had ridden up quite a way. If he turned, Danny might have been able to see her underwear. He quickly removed his hand.
“Why would we want to do that?” Emma seemed to take no notice.
“Because I don’t think we can make it to the school.” Danny faced facts.
“But there could be something in there.”
“The door is really low; we’ll just be able to squeeze through. Not many people could get through that and we could close it once we’re on the other side.”
“Can’t we stay here?” Emma sounded terrified about leaving their current safe zone.
“The glass is weak.” Danny pointed out the cracks, which gave him an excuse to move further away from Emma. “Especially since that car hit us.”
“If you think it’s best.”
Danny didn’t like that the decision was being put squarely on him, but he would make it. “Okay.”
He unlocked the street side door. It took a few pushes, but it finally swung open with a pop. Danny looked up and down the street, trying not to focus on the teenager, and got out of the car. Emma followed him and grabbed hold of his shoulders once more. Unlike Danny, she wouldn’t take her eyes off the mostly naked teenager. His road rash had gotten a lot worse.
They crossed the street at an angle, trying to get to the house as quickly as possible. The teenager never moved.
Once at the house, Danny leaned Emma against the garage. “I’ll go first a
nd make sure it’s safe.”
“Okay.”
He lay down on his belly, and peered through the gap, all too aware of Emma’s long legs and dress right next to him. The gap let in just enough light for him to make out the wheels of a car, the bottoms of some tool chests, and what he thought might be a staircase leading into the house. He couldn’t see any people but that didn’t mean they weren’t behind one of the tool chests or even the car.
Danny crawled into the garage on his belly, his back scraping against the bottom of the garage door. It was a bit painful but he bore through it. Once inside, the ambient light was enough for him to make things out. Still, he found a light switch and flicked it on. The overhead fluorescents flickered a little, but provided great illumination for Danny to patrol the garage. The stairs turned out to be a ramp, but other than that, everything looked like a normal garage.
That’s when Emma let out an ear-piercing scream.
* * *
Danny ran back to the front of the garage. Emma was already trying to get through, but something was clearly trying to pull her back.
“Help me, Danny!” she shrieked. “Oh God, he’s biting me! He’s biting me!”
Danny grabbed her arms and pulled. Tears were flooding down Emma’s cheeks. She got mostly into the garage, but a flayed, bloody arm and face still held onto one of her legs outside. The skin that was left on the attacker was pale white. Danny kicked out and hit him in the face. Still the attacker held on tight. Danny kicked again, and again. Eventually the attacker let go. Emma pulled herself the rest of the way in. Despite the repeated kicks, the attacker tried to follow but he was too big. An arm snaked around inside, trying to grab either one of them. Danny tried to close the large door, but it was jammed, it wouldn’t go down. He found that a wooden block off to one side was the culprit. He kicked it out, feeling a pain like that of a bad toe stub, and the garage door slammed down the rest of the way on its own. It nearly severed the arm of the attacker, but despite that, the arm continued to move and grab at air.
Danny grabbed Emma and pulled her away to the other side of the parked car. He looked down at her leg. It was bloody, but not as bad as he had feared. There were no chunks missing. He managed to find a clean rag in the garage and wrapped it around the wound. Emma wouldn’t stop crying.
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