Thomas smiled again as he reminisced about the past. It looked like he had won the bet about the canoe. Then Thomas shook his head, a bit disgusted at his ability to laugh at a time like this.
Mathew’s death was not something he was supposed to get over. Not this quickly.
Thomas forced his smile into a frown, but the exaggerated frown just made him want to laugh harder. It was almost contagious. Through his tears a snort escaped his mouth. Thomas was quick to cover his mouth. His eyes darted to his right. Out of the corner of his eye he looked over at the couple down the cemetery.
He honed in on the grieving mother’s crying. Even with the fracking field and the groundskeeper Thomas could hear the woman’s sorrow. It brought Thomas back down to a somber reality. Trying to be discrete Thomas got a closer look at the gravesite the couple was standing at. The dirt was fresh. The pain of loss must have still been fresh as well.
Neal wrapped his arm around his wife, Jessica. Jessica wasn’t holding any of her emotions back anymore. She had been strong during the funeral service. She hated being given the permission to cry by her friends and family. She had cried for days with Neal about the death of their baby son.
Josh was their first born. After years of trying to conceive they were finally blessed with his presence only a few weeks ago. Then one night Josh simply stopped breathing. The doctor said there was nothing they could have done differently. Sometimes babies just stopped breathing.
Everybody told Jessica not to blame herself, but Jessica couldn’t help it. She was Josh’s mother. She was supposed to protect him from any kind of harm. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Neal remained quiet. His pain was gone. All that was left was an empty void that Jessica could usually fill. Not now. He put his arm around his wife out of sympathy and basic instinct. But right then and there he wanted to be anywhere else. Anywhere alone. His family had fallen apart in a matter of days. The night they discovered Josh in his crib dead they rushed him to the hospital. Neal prayed to God to bring Josh back to them. Neal promised he would devote his life to God and raise Josh the same. Josh was his saving grace. He never told Jessica, but he almost left her once. For years they failed at conceiving, and Neal wanted a family. It was getting to a point that Neal was going to have to make a choice: Jessica or a family. Thankfully, the choice never had to be made. Soon after, Jessica revealed she was pregnant. Neal thanked God then, only to curse Him later.
“We should be going,” Neal whispered to Jessica. His voice was almost hollow from the sound around him, but Jessica heard his words loud and clear.
Jessica shook her head. She couldn’t fight off her crying to properly object.
“Jessica, please,” said Neal. “We have to go.”
“No,” said Jessica firmly. “I’m not leaving. I can’t leave him.”
Neal took his arm away from his wife. He used his hand instead to rub his temples. Jessica’s crying was giving him a headache.
“Are we just going to stand here all day?” Neal asked bluntly.
Jessica glared at him, the father of their child. Her eyes were red. If it wasn’t from the crying then it was from the hatred she was seeing Neal with.
“Josh needs us,” said Jessica.
“Josh is dead,” said Neal. “He’s dead. That’s it. I know it, and it is fucking horrible. And I can’t stand here and be reminded of that all day. Us grieving here is not going to bring him back. We can go home.”
“I can’t leave him,” said Jessica. “He shouldn’t… he shouldn’t be here.”
“I know,” said Neal. “I know, but he is. You can visit him every day. But you can’t do this all day.”
“I will do what I want,” shouted Jessica. Her voice broke through the thundering rhythm of the fracking sight. “Don’t you dare tell me how to look over my child!”
Neal took a step back. He breathed deeply several times to prevent himself from exploding on his wife. She was angry, and so was he.
“We should talk about this at home,” said Neal.
“I. Am. Not. Leaving,” said Jessica through gritted teeth. Spit sprinkled out of her mouth and hit Neal on the face.
“You are starting a scene,” said Neal, embarrassed for his wife.
“I don’t care!” said Jessica.
Her last words could be heard across their section of the cemetery. Thomas looked over from his spot at Mathew’s grave. Emma and Cara both looked over in silent unison at Jessica and Neal. All were stunned at the volume the couple were reaching.
“I am not leaving Josh yet,” continued Jessica in a stern and loud voice. She poked at Neal’s chest as she spoke, but Neal was not giving any ground to his mourning wife. “Go. Just go. Leave your son. Do whatever you want. I am staying here. I’ll Uber home.”
Neal stared back at his wife. Neither of them were concerned that the others were becoming an audience for their escalating fight.
“I just want us to go home,” said Neal. “Together. So we can figure out what the hell we are going to do.”
“I don’t want to go back there,” said Jessica. Her words came out broken as if fear had gripped her throat.
“I know it’s hard,” said Neal in a soft voice. He was trying to calm Jessica down. “I haven’t gone in his room since that night.”
Jessica shook her head. Her tears were coming back harder than ever. The thought of packing up Josh’s things was too devastating to consider. Neal broke down and began to cry again. It was the first time in days. He stepped forward and hugged Jessica. They were all each other had now.
As the scene quieted down Emma turned away from the once fighting couple. She was relieved to see them consoling each other. Emma was worried their fight was going to escalate into something much worse.
Looking back toward her mother’s grave, Emma noticed something was different. She did a double take around the cemetery to pin point what was wrong.
Nothing looked out of place. The cemetery was peaceful.
Then it dawned on her. The cemetery was too peaceful.
She looked around again. The landscaper that was cutting the weeds around them was gone. His weedwacker was just thrown on the ground in the middle of the lawn around a bunch of dirt.
Emma hadn’t noticed the man walk off. She looked around to see if the man was just getting a new set of tools or anything like that, but he was gone. Not that it really mattered, Emma told herself.
He was probably on a break. It was the heightened tension from the couple, Emma thought. They had spooked her, and now she was being paranoid from all the adrenaline running through her system. Emma took a deep breath and started walking up to join Cara at their mother’s grave.
Maybe the quieter atmosphere would lighten the mood between the two sisters. Emma didn’t count on it, but she always hoped for the best. She got that from her mother.
Chapter 3
Emma took her time speaking with her mother. Pictures of their mother were positioned near the grave post. It was a collage of their mother through her entire life. The two most prominent pictures were associated by one particular dress. It was their mother’s favorite dress she found the day she met their father. She said it brought her good luck for the rest of her life. One picture was from her wedding day, wearing the special dress before the ceremony. The other picture was from their thirtieth anniversary, and their last one. Emma had their mother buried in the special dress. There was never any debate.
As Emma spoke, Cara was kind enough to stand patiently without interrupting her sister. Once Emma was finished she stepped back away from the gravesite and looked over at Cara.
Cara lowered her head and stepped forward. She sniffed air through her nostrils to clear them up. Cara was already fighting back tears and she hadn’t said a word yet.
“Hi, mom,” said Cara. “I’m sorry I missed the funeral. I heard it was beautiful. Emma took pictures. I hope wherever you are that you’re feeling better now. I
remember when I was a kid, you told me that there was no pain in Heaven, and that’s where grandma was now. You can see her again.”
Cara’s words trailed off. She couldn’t continue. Her crying was overcoming her ability to speak. The feeling finally hit her. Her mother was gone, and she was never coming back. Cara wouldn’t be able to call her some other day. She wouldn’t be able to get around to visiting. Her mother was gone.
“I’m sorry,” mumbled Cara. “I missed you.”
Emma approached her sister. She wrapped her arms around Cara from behind. Whatever they were arguing about was in the past. At that moment they had to be there for each other. No matter what.
“GET OFF THE GRASS!”
The five visitors of the cemetery all turned their attention to the shouting. They all looked straight ahead farther into the cemetery. Out in the distance they could see a man with a bright orange hat and vest running toward them.
The man weaved in and out of the headstones at full speed. The lower standing stones he hurdled or ran directly over. He continued to shout the same thing over and over again. “GET OFF THE GRASS! GET OFF THE GRASS!” He waved his arms to try to get everybody’s attention. It was something he had already accomplished, but none of them were listening to his message yet.
The oil worker did not stop. He ran right past Emma and Cara. He waved his arms signaling them to follow him. Neither girl moved a muscle. They could not rationally explain the man’s bizarre energy. His run looked like a panicked spree, and as he had gotten closer to the sisters they noticed splotches of red staining his neon jacket.
Farther ahead, the worker ran past Jessica who crouched low to the ground ready to protect Joshua’s grave from the stranger. Then the worker zipped toward Neal. Neal was barely paying attention. He turned just as the worker was running past him. They collided shoulders. Neal was toppled to the ground while the worker stumbled, but continued to hobble forward to keep his momentum going.
“Watch out!” Neal shouted through his frustration.
Because the worker had hit Neal his speed decreased. He couldn’t get his footing back to continue to run and eventually he crashed into the muddy ground. The dirt was soft. His hands sunk an inch into the earth.
“No, no, no, no,” scolded the oil worker as he tried to get back to his feet. He crawled forward through the soaking wet grass. The road was only a few yards away from him.
The worker stood up. He took his next step with his left leg to get back into a run. Only his left foot was harshly pulled into the ground causing his leg to remain in place as his body flipped forward. His body slammed back into the ground.
Neal winced at the sound of the worker’s left leg snapping from the fall. He could see a piece of bone sticking out through his trousers. The worker screamed out in pain. He screamed for help. He screamed for God.
Emma was stunned. She couldn’t believe what she just witnessed. The man must have been drunk. Then her jaw dropped when the man continued to try to crawl forward.
“What the hell?” Cara said.
Thomas started to walk forward to see what all the commotion was about. He slowly began to approach the worker who was screaming and gyrating on the ground.
“Get off the grass,” the worker said once again.
Then hands began to break through the ground’s surface around the oil worker. Four hands with barely any flesh, and nails three inches long tore at the man’s skin and grabbed him by his arms and legs. They slammed him tightly into the muddy ground. His body sunk into the slush and mud forming around him.
“Oh, shit!” shouted Neal. He jumped back several feet upon the sight of the attack from underground.
The worker’s body continued to get pulled underground through the mud by skeletal hands that jutted in and out of the surface of the cemetery. The ground below the worker’s body was turning into loose soil and mud causing him to sink faster underground.
“Fuck, no,” said Thomas. He stopped his approach of the worker and immediately looked to his feet. Instinctively, he stood up on his tip toes and wobbled in place until he could make another decision.
“What’s going on?” Emma asked.
“Where did he go?” Cara piled on.
“He just got pulled under,” said Emma, still trying to make sense of the situation.
“Fuck,” said Cara. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Even though the worker was completely gone from sight the ground continued to stir. All five of the visitors watched the muddy pit swirl. It was now between all of them and their cars.
Then the ground erupted. From the whirlpool of mud came two streaks of broken earth; two trails headed in the directions of the only five living people in the cemetery.
“Get off the grass!” shouted Thomas. Immediately, he took his own advice. He jumped onto the nearest headstone he could find. It was only about six inches thick, but it was several feet high, plenty of clearance from the ground.
Neal raced away from the oncoming trails of death. He ran as fast as he could deeper into the cemetery. His heavy footsteps drew the attention of both death trails. The one closest to Thomas diverted its attention toward the running man.
Jessica panicked as she watched her husband abandon her completely and continue to run away from danger. The two death trails bypassed Jessica and continued their pursuit. Too afraid to move any further than what she had Jessica stepped onto a gravestone with a bench attached to it. Then her heart sunk. She realized she was no longer close to her baby, Joshua. Her baby was left alone to fend for himself against whatever monster was underground.
Emma and Cara shook their heads. Neal was heading straight for them, and he was bringing company. The two women tried to wave him off. They shouted for him to go another direction, but it was no use. Neal was on his way.
“Over there!” Emma shouted, pointing to a sight in the corner of her eye. A mausoleum was close by. It was the size of a shed with steps all around the structure. Emma and Cara booked it. They ran as hard as they could to beat Neal to their destination.
Neal was faster than them though. He caught up to the sisters then continued running past them. He left them behind to deal with the death trails following him. The death trails changed tactics. They split off a bit and each one honed in on one of the women.
The ground churned behind their running feet. Emma was too afraid to look behind her. It would only slow her down. She kept her focus on the mausoleum.
Cara was slowing down. She wasn’t as fast as her sister. The ground started to break up under her feet. She could feel the dirt giving away with every step.
Emma and Cara were almost to safety. Neal was waving them in as they made their final approach. Emma developed tunnel vision for only Neal. She was so focused she hadn’t noticed Cara cut into her lane. The surprise caused Emma to shift and slow down her speed. Cara raced past her sister and straight up the steps of the mausoleum.
Emma was the only one left on the ground. The second death trail broached in front of Emma. The ground started to churn all around her. The mausoleum was only a few more steps. Then a hand jutted out of the mud. It reached for Emma’s ankle and caught her shoe. Emma tripped onto the stone steps of the mausoleum, badly scraping her knees and shins against the rough surface.
The long nailed hand dug into Emma’s shoe. Its nail cut through the fabric and brushed up against her sock and foot. With a good grip it started to pull Emma down toward the ground.
“Help me!” Emma shouted. She reached out her hands toward Cara. Cara stretched out her arm, but she was only long enough to grace her finger tips. Without a grip on Cara, Emma was pulled down a couple of steps by the monster under the earth.
Then Neal rushed down the steps and grabbed hold of Emma. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her straight into the air. The decomposed hand lost its grip on Emma’s shoe. Then it retreated back into the ground from whence it came.
Neal breathed heavil
y. He gently put Emma down on the cold cement of the mausoleum. They were all safe. Emma looked up at Neal.
“Thank you,” she whispered. It was as loud as her fear permitted at the moment.
“Yeah,” said Neal between breaths. He turned away from Emma and looked around the corner of the mausoleum. Then he hurled his breakfast out onto the steps.
“Are you guys okay?!” shouted Thomas from his spot on the gravestone. He was about twenty yards away from the others. Jessica was on her own several rows away on the other side of the mausoleum. She was curled up in a ball on her bench. She didn’t respond to Thomas’ enquiring.
“We’re fine,” said Neal once he was done puking.
“What the hell is that?” asked Cara.
Thomas shrugged. None of them had any answers.
“We have to get out of here,” said Thomas. “Somebody needs to call for help.”
“Jessica has my phone,” said Neal, gesturing to his wife.
Emma reached for her phone in her pocket. She pulled it out only to feel her stomach drop. Her phone screen was cracked. It was damaged in her fall onto the stone steps. She pushed the power button. The phone came to life for a second then glitched into blackness.
“I have a little power left,” said Cara. “I’ll get somebody.”
“Great,” said Neal. Then he stood up and walked down one step of the mausoleum. He dared not go any lower. “Jessica! Jessica, honey. I need you to call for help. You have my phone.”
Jessica was nonresponsive. She ignored everything her husband was saying and continued to look off into the distance where the baby cemetery was.
We Woke The Dead Page 2