by Cenz Barone
Kenny made eye contact with Grant and then calmly he said to Traci over the phone speaker “The people out there are only interested in killing you. It is all they want, they want to come into the house and kill you all. It is why you have to make sure you are boarded up downstairs like you are boarded up upstairs”.
Traci paused and then hyperventilating stated “What the fuck are you talking about? The TV said that they are...” annoyed Kenny interrupted her and stated “Fuck what the TV said, every channel is saying different things about what is going on. Just take it from me that they want to kill you all. If they know you are in there, you are in danger. So you have to make sure you have weapons. Be it a screwdriver, a hammer but ideally a knife or a gun”. Another girl came on the phone having snatched it from Traci “Mr what are you talking about, kill us”. Cherie muttered, amazed at how many people had been talking to them over the phone “Christ, how many people are over there again” Cherie felt there was more people than the group across the street had let on, it was not lost on the rest of the people in the room either.
Now Kenny became shaky, Elise noticed his hands shaking as he stated to the girl “I have seen it happen myself! Those people outside they are not human, listen to me, please it’s for your own safety go down and board up the house”. Elise then whispered “It doesn’t make sense for them to go down and board up the house Kenny when they are hidden upstairs, they might not be known to be in the house by the people outside it is why they have lasted this long. Why risk them banging when they board up, it will just draw those people to the noise”.
Before Kenny could answer the girl on the phone shouted back “You are scaring us, stop saying that”. Kenny was losing his cool and shouted back, ignoring Elise and her very sensible point “You will be more than scared if those people break into the house. They want to kill you people. It is all they care about is killing...” Kenny continued to rant as Grant watched on horrified at the things Kenny was saying, despite Grant knowing the reality as much as he could appreciate it, he felt it was deeply wrong for Kenny to be so blunt and raising his voice, then Cherie having had enough moved from the wall and placed her hand on Kenny’s shoulder.
Cherie calmly said “Kenny, let me handle it”. Kenny stopped his rant and was breathing deeply as he just nodded and walked towards the window overlooking the lane where those in the house said they were, he had to give himself a break. Elise was tempted to comfort him but abstained, he was still a stranger after all and seemed to be highly strung at this moment. Cherie then spoke “Hello, I am Cherie” the calmness of her voice made those on the phone go quiet, all they could hear was muffling, and the distant noise of shouting in another part of the house. “What is your name” Cherie asking the girl who took the phone from Traci. “I am Lisa, Traci’s friend, what was that guy saying...” Lisa replied and asked in reference to Kenny’s rant.
Cherie exuded coolness in her voice wanting to get those across the street to think pragmatically, Cherie said “Forget about what he said. Okay Lisa, listen to me. There are people outside who will break into the house if they know you are in there and they will mean you harm. So you have to convince your friends to try and not let that happen. They are not interested in money or property and it’s not a gang despite what the television is saying. Its people who you know and trust out there who want to hurt you”. Lisa replied angrily “You’re making lesser sense but I will tell them okay” it was only due to Cherie’s relaxed voice that made Lisa listen “Good girl” muttered. Lisa went away from the phone and tried to calm her friends who were shouting out quite loudly at each other in another room. Mark was on the floor being pinned down by Alvin and some of the more excitable boys. Lisa raised her voice but to no avail but she did manage to speak with Tom, Alvin’s friend, who accompanied Lisa and picked up the phone and spoke.
“We have boarded up the master room door, it’s safe and secure and there is a door to enter the upstairs from downstairs which is tightly secure” said Tom. Cherie though replied knowingly “It’s not enough, you need to make sure they do not enter the house at all”. Tom answered “There is an attic, we are more than safe up here we can get up there and they won’t be able to climb up. There is a ladder we can use to close the attic lid”. Suddenly the voices within the house across the lane went quiet and over it was thudding noises. Traci was heard saying “What is that noise?” It sounded like windows smashing and Kenny and Elise were in the window of their room and Cherie saw what they saw. Cherie’s voice then became worrisome “Listen there are people outside in the garden, they have just smashed the shed window, get down stairs and make sure you lock the house door to the garden. You have to make sure it’s locked, lock it and close the curtains if they are not closed. Kenny focused across the garden and stated “It’s not even closed” said Kenny. “Traci, Lisa, Alvin anyone, get down stairs and lock the door”. Elise was confused and voiced “How did they get into the back, the wall could not be scaled from the lane”.
Kenny pointed across to the connecting gardens as he said “They must have gone over the fences of the next door gardens, look how low those fences are, the walls connecting the gardens on that side are much lower than the connecting gardens on our side” and Kenny was right as Kenny added in relief “We really were lucky in picking this house, on this side of the lane”. Grant could see in other gardens people moving around and going over fences, then Grant looked down to the garden of the house they were in, but just as Kenny had said and luckily for them the next door walls to get into the garden they were in were far higher and robust, with no signs of those people on the nearby gardens to them.
Then there was screams as it dawned on those on the other side that they were in trouble as people were outside. Cherie realised it was too late, as Cherie whispered “There is someone already in the house”. Cherie could see it play out, as Grant, Elise and Kenny watched the same scene unfold. Grant bit his lip and over the phone speaker they could hear the screams and shouts “Someone is inside” “Get to the attic” “Get out of the house” “Help!” just some of the discernable words said which were understood, the rest was just noise. Grant muttered in desperation “We have to do something they are going to get slaughtered”. Elise turned to Grant who looked at her and he had tears in his eyes “We have to do something” he pressed did Grant.
Then Grant stated aggressively “I am going to go out there and do something”. Kenny stated aloud “What the fuck, there is like 5 of them out there and more coming. Are you insane?” Grant thinking about the family he saw slaughtered earlier outside this house, he was not thinking straight and he was about to storm to the door of the bedroom to go downstairs but Elise took hold of his arm and stated “You will get yourself killed. You nearly did earlier on. It is stupid to go out there and fight them. Stay here please”.
Kenny now shouted over the screams and shouts heard over the phone from the other side because he had to make Grant see it was foolhardy for him to go out there alone. Kenny began to say “For Christ sake Grant what is your problem. Stop acting like a hero, you are just as helpless as they are. You go out there you die”. Grant was sobered by Kenny’s tone as he then kicked the bed which made Elise jump, Cherie as ever was silent and observing everything. Then Grant stated “What the fuck Kenny! How would you feel if we were over there and someone was here watching it happen to us? Watching us get killed, would you want someone to do something for us?” Grant was just too empathetic for his own good Cherie thought.
Grant internally conceded it was foolhardy but he nevertheless had an equal sobering point to Kenny who glanced back at the house the people were in, through their intense staring out of each other then the phone which was still on relaying the screams and shouts across the street seemed to snap Grant out of his own disquiet. So Grant pressed Kenny once more, using the same point he did when he argued about going out the front door to help the family, as he said “What if I had the same attitude you have for those people, towards you be
ing on the side of the road when you wanted help? Huh! Where would you be right now Kenny because that is exactly what this situation is with those people and us here” Kenny lowered his head as the screams and shouting continued then Cherie stated in support of Kenny “We don’t know who those people are, there sounds like there is a lot of them, to bring them over here, all of them would be...” then Grant interrupted her and set Cherie straight “I didn’t know who you or Kenny were when I picked you up. Sure there happened to be just two of you but I didn’t know anything about you. I still don’t know much about you except what you have said about yourself. Yet I chose to help and you both stand here allowing others to die”.
Kenny and Cherie looked at each other and they felt slightly foolish but somewhat justified in their decision. Elise wanted to find common ground “No matter what we decide, we need to decide right now. I support assisting them but I do not support you going out there on a suicide mission Grant. Think of Kirsten and your dogs”. Kenny then said “Fine” they all looked at him and he stated “You are right, I would want someone to at least try and do something” then Kenny walked over towards the phone and picked it up and spoke to the group “There is something we can do to help them” he said.
Kenny now began to address those in the other house if someone was still around the phone “If anyone can anyone hear me make your way to the house where the light was coming from! We have a secure house here with food and water. You will be safe here”. Elise was worried about doing this “Wouldn’t that attract them to us, I mean putting the light back on” Elise thinking of the attackers in the opposite house garden and streaming into the house. Grant merely listened what more Kenny would say and he was relieved Kenny became proactive and unlike he was earlier with the car crash outside. Grant answered Elise “They already know we are here Elise, we cannot turn them back, Kenny you keep on at them on the phone. I will go downstairs and open up the door for them, Cherie I need help”. Elise then nodded and went to put the bedroom light on, she gasped as the light came on, thinking about those murderous people suddenly noticing it.
Cherie sheepishly said “Sure” Cherie not wishing to be the odd one out to not offer help, exchanged an unhappy look at Kenny for his sudden change of mind, and thus Grant left the room with Cherie following, they raced out of the bedroom and then headed on the landing towards the stairs. Grant was on a mission and he was so swift and quick moving in the dark. Cherie almost lost her footing trying to keep up with Grant. Grant had raced through the lounge and Cherie followed close by, they went into the kitchen and then to the side door into the utility room from where they entered and now both were outside in the garden with the trickling rain felt coming down. It had not let up at all.
Grant went towards the far back garden door which gave access to the lane and where the van was. Kenny meanwhile was upstairs speaking aloud towards the phone so the group across the lane could hear “Anyone who hears me make your way to the back of the garden and towards the lane, someone is there waiting for you. Can anyone hear me? Beware though, there are some of those things in the garden but if you can avoid them, you can bypass them, they are slow moving” but there was nobody on the other side to answer Kenny. Kenny could hear murmuring and he saw a person standing up in the other house with a light on showing their body, he raised his tone “Please make your way over here, they are in the house, you have to run for it”. Elise asked Kenny “Do you think they can even hear you?” Kenny replied despondently “I have no idea”. As the phone on speaker had not gone off to a dead dial, so he kept trying.
Kenny felt all hope was lost and waited for an answer but then about six other people lingered on the grass outside the house where the people they were trying to help were. Elise pointed this out “There is more of them in the garden” she and Kenny glanced around in other gardens nearby the house and he stated “They are scaling the fences and small walls. They must be attracted to the noise. This is useless there is way too much of them in the garden, we have to stop this”. Kenny shouted banging the window to Grant and Cherie, both Grant and Cherie looked up from the garden of the house and saw Kenny waving his hands as he opened the window and shouted “There is nobody coming, get back inside. There are more of those things in their garden, it is too dangerous”.
Grant shook his head and looked at Cherie “We have to try” and then Grant opened the lane door and Cherie felt compelled to go and assist him, as Kenny was amazed “He is risking himself too much” outside in the lane, it was troublingly quiet, considering the mayhem which was occurring on the other-side of the wall in the house where the people they were trying to help were. Grant gasped checking each side of the dark lane and he was relieved none of those things were in the lane. Kenny and Elise could not see the lane properly but just the tip of the van such was the height of the wall and the narrowness of the lane of opposing houses backyards. Grant stood in the lane holding a plank of wood whilst Cherie held the hunting rifle which she had taken from the bedroom.
Grant now tried to open the back door to the house the people were in but it was locked from the inside. He cursed loudly as a light breeze blew across him which brought some strewn leaves from a tall tree in one of the adjacent houses which made Grant and Cherie conscious of how vulnerable they were outside amongst the elements. They knew those dead creatures could come at any moment. Cherie checking on either side of the van as Grant banged the door to enter the house garden. Cherie stated “We should go back, maybe they cannot get out into the garden” Grant shook his head and replied “No, just concentrate on either side of the lane and let me know if you see someone”. Cherie angrily said in response “Grant, I can hear those things in the garden, if you open that we are going to have them all over us”. Grant turned to her and took hold of her shoulders as he pleaded “I am scared to Cherie but I need you here with me. If any of those things come into the lane we go back, okay that is the deal, those things are not on the other side of this door, they are in the garden and it is big, we can escape into the house we came from, okay” he could see how scared she was and she just nodded and muttered “Just hurry”. Grant went back to banging the door with the wood, hoping to break the lock.
Kenny and Elise could hear the banging from the window and it was obvious what he was doing “He is trying to break in the door. He is going to get those things swarming on him, is he stupid” Kenny stated. Elise was just quiet and had to hope for the best. Grant had a complex whereby he wanted to help others and wanted to be a hero but it was all done in such a reckless way. Cherie kept her eyes down the end of the lanes as Grant worked on the door, her eyes trailing and the trickling rain making it hard for her to see but this was because she was sweating mainly but she did not see anyone pass. All she saw was just a field at the bottom left lane and at the bottom right solely she saw some walls of other houses. Each banging sound Grant made Cherie flinched, thinking it was he noise which would turn those people in the large garden to their direction. Kenny felt helpless watching the strangers outside and he said to Elise “I just hope your friend does not do anything stupid like go in there. Why is he acting like this? I want to help people to but come on this is beyond sensible”.
“He feels guilty” replied Elise. Confused Kenny asked her “About what, how can he possibly feel guilty about not helping those people across the street”. Elise stroked her hair and with her eyes still outside said “No it is not them, something happened before we picked up you both. It has been bugging him”. None of this made sense to Kenny so he demanded “Come on Elise tell me what happened”. She then disclosed regretfully “We picked this father and boy, the father had been injured by those things and was not good and his child was sick and was begging to stop so he could go sick outside. So we finally stopped the van to let him go sick. The road was quiet and we were on a street which gave a good view of our surroundings, but it was not a big street you know. We thought a minute stop would be fine but those things came out of nowhere. They were not even
close but Grant saw them up ahead and he freaked out, he left him there by the side of the road when those people came with his son”. Kenny was further confused as he said “I thought you said the man who you picked died, you dumped his body, I am sure you said that is what happened”.
Elise corrected Kenny and said “Not the man, his son, his son was outside going sick. I suppose he was going sick from seeing his father’s wound. The wound was after all disgusting. The bandages had not been able to protect it from infection, and flies were buzzing around it. It was horrible and he needed medical attention but...” she desperately laughed at the horrible memory but out of terror “We could not find a hospital. So when they were outside the truck those people came out of nowhere and like I said when Grant saw them, he just panicked and Grant hit the gas, he bolted out of there like lightening. I did not tell him to wait, to stop. I wanted to go and I myself told him to go, and he did. I know it was wrong to leave the little boy and his dad, but secretly I am glad we left and I am ashamed to say I’d do it again even though those things were far enough away for us to wait. Grant has been replaying it over and over in his mind, dwelling on it. I suppose he feels worse because he was driving and maybe he feels like he has to help someone else to erase his guilt, I don’t know it is all pop psychology but I am just guessing that is why he is acting like this, but he will get himself killed if he keeps doing this, you are right about that”.
Kenny felt sorry for Grant and replied “Well it makes no sense getting himself killed does it Elise. Jesus he acted as anyone of us would. Nobody can be blamed for being frightened. So many people passed me on the road when I was thumbing them for a ride. You would not believe how many could have stopped when I was free from those things. All it would have taken was about 3 seconds for them to stop and me to get in the vehicle. I am glad Grant stopped for me though, I do not know where I’d be if you guys did not pick me up”. Elise had an intense look on her face as she glanced at Kenny and stated “Well it is a good thing he stopped for you isn’t. Kind like he wants to stop and think about those people across the lane, or like he did for the family outside earlier on”. Kenny knew what she meant and just nodded unable to look at her, despite him being prepared originally not to do anything for those across the street, he knew deep down it was the right thing to do, if not the most sensible decision to make, but to try would be enough.