by Cenz Barone
“See they suspect me!” accusingly Claire said as she noticed Kenny overcome with a sense of purpose and awareness of Claire’s plan stepped forward holding the hunting rifle. Melissa said “Put it away, what are you doing” but Kenny was attune to something Claire might do and where Claire was moving towards, as Kenny said “You don’t want to go out there lady”. He told Claire as Melissa and Laura were both perplexed, just like Grant and Elise as Grant whispered “What do you mean Kenny”. Kenny though was speaking from a sense of experience and listening to his instinct “I notice the look in your eyes Claire, isn’t that your name”. Claire backed off as the foursome behind Kenny watched on, but Kenny was ignoring them and focused on Claire “Don’t go outside. You go out there you are dead”. Claire backed off further “I am dead in here either way. You are just waiting for me to die and pass out then you can put me outside like Paul”.
Kenny stepped forward and had the hunting rifle near his side as Grant stated to Kenny with a commanding whisper “Kenny what the fuck?” Laura and Melissa were both silent as they did not know what was happening, Elise stared at Claire then at the back of Kenny who had his hands open as though being submissive “Nobody suspects you of anything” he told her. Claire shouted “Bullshit!” Claire turned towards the door which had the blocks and bricks Kenny and Grant had put up earlier on, and she was thinking about rushing for it but Kenny had read what she intended, more so shrewdly than the others around him “Claire” she turned back to him as he said “If you go outside you will bring those things in and we will be killed by them, they will be in the garden and with the utility door broken, and the window to the kitchen as it is, they would risk breaking inside the house”. Claire shouted back at him “How do you know? Maybe they would like me because I would be like them”.
Laura pleaded “Claire just...” Claire interrupted her and snapped at her “Stop it Laura, you said in the kitchen when they took Paul that I have been bitten like him and I was fine, even a blind person could see Paul was different but you could not. It is obvious something fucked up is happening so you said I am as good as Paul, right!” but Laura shook her head puzzled, and feebly said “I never said anything like that”. Claire raced towards the door and moved the bricks, she pushed herself into them as Grant said “No, don’t” but Kenny then raised his hunting rifle and pointed it towards the direction Claire was in. Melissa was quiet as was Laura, they both thought she had lost her mind and could not protest what Kenny was about to do, because Kenny was right, if that door to the lane was open, those people could stream inside.
Kenny was however exercising restraint, there was still so many blocks there so he had time to convince her. Claire turned towards Kenny and said “Are you sparing yourself the energy to put me outside by waiting for me to die in here. Just shoot me now. I need fucking medical treatment, not this bullshit” then Claire raised her arm showing it to them “I need help, I need fucking medical aid, look at my arm, the only reason I cannot feel the pain is because I am a drunk or cold, I don’t know which anymore”.
As she unbolted the door Kenny raised his rifle by aiming directly for her head, as he said seriously “I am not going to shoot you, but if you open the door those things will get in here. Can you not hear them outside?” Kenny did not want to shoot. All he wanted was for her to be sensible. Claire did hear those things outside as she said sounding dazed “Oh I hear them, I have been out here for hours and I have been listening to nothing but them, but now you people come out”. Melissa muttered “You people” Melissa sounded insulted she would speak of her in such a way. Claire though was beyond reason as Claire said “I saw how everyone behaved in the house we were at Melissa, how selfish they became but here in this house where we were all fortunate to reach, how easy it was to put Paul outside and then it is my turn but I want to save you the pressure of arguing like you did Laura”.
Grant stated with worry “Do not bring them in here for Christ’s sake! Do not open the door Claire. Think about the rest of us if you open the door”. Kenny cocked the rifle butt and as he did so a loud moan was heard outside, making Claire fall back on the floor “We are trapped” she said and then she became delirious and hysterical calling for help. Grant commanded “Get her inside for God’s sake”. Kenny though holding the rifle then said with a command to his voice which matched Grant at the best of times “No, don’t bring her inside”. Everyone stopped as Kenny turned towards them all and Claire was still on the floor shaking her head as she became upset in front of him “Leave her for a moment”. Elise asked him “What are you saying?” Laura and Melissa looked at Kenny curiously. Kenny then took the hunting rifle and handed it to Elise who received it. Kenny ignoring the noise of those murderous people beyond the garden wall said to the group said “I don’t need the rifle, just wait”.
Kenny turned and went towards Claire, he stood over her, and she was on the ground looking up at him, he stood there staring down at her. The group watched in the foreground, none able to understand what he was doing as he said to Claire whose white party dress was all ruined by this point. Kenny told Claire “Look at this” he lifted up his sleeve on the left side, showed her a gnash, Claire looked at it as he knelt down facing her. A he narrated “I thought I was bitten, I thought I was infected and you do get this illness by being infected. I wandered around for what seemed like weeks but it was not even a day thinking I had it in me. I witnessed people being bitten, being murdered and coming to life differently but it has not happened to me” he came closer towards her and said “You have been sitting out in this cold and wet for hours and you are still alive. Your friend Paul was bitten at the same time you crossed the garden to get here and he changed, his change was obvious, but you are still alive and I see no change in your skin colour or your eyes. Like I said, I thought I was bitten like you do, I said it in there when you and your friends were threatened” referring to Cherie and her outburst as he went on and said “But as far as I am concerned you and I are different from the others from our uncertainty but we are nothing like those people outside who want to kill us”.
Claire stared at him, he was getting through to her as the others watching from the standing position and listened, it was touching what he was saying. Claire asked “How are we different?” Kenny replied instantly “We have had closer encounters with those things than anyone else here, you when you crossed the garden to escape the house you were in and me when I was roaming around the streets. I am not even from here. But you and I are still here! Do you understand?” Claire seemed to take in his words and she said “But I think I was bitten?” she said as Kenny replied “So did I, but it happens so fast and like I said, you are alive and so am I. Don’t let the fear of what might be take over you. Just be happy you are still alive and even if you were bitten, ask yourself Claire, why have you not turned or changed” this was a point which made Claire think long and hard about, he truly did have a point as she said “I was bitten at the same time as Paul and he...” Claire could not deny Paul was infected, the state he was in. So Kenny added “You see, nobody knows exactly, go on where you are now, and how you are. Not what you might think might be or what we will do”.
Kenny stood up and placed out his hand, offering her a means to get up as she said to him “I am sorry”. He shook his head and said to her sympathetically “Don’t apologise. Nobody knows what’s going on but what I know is you are not one of them, if you were, if you were bitten you would not be talking to me right now, would you?” again reaffirming his point, as Claire placed out her hand and Kenny gripped it and lifted her up as she stood. She looked at him and confessed “I am just so confused!” as Kenny answered “You and me both” he smirked as he then looked across at Melissa and Laura and said to Claire “Go with your friends, go inside and rest”. Claire turned towards them as Melissa and Laura stood dumbfounded just like Elise and Grant were at the way Kenny suddenly switched and changed into such a way to convince her to come within. Claire nodded as she walked towards Me
lissa and Laura who went towards Claire and took her in their arms as Claire broke down crying muttering over and over how sorry she was. Laura looked back at Kenny who stood there observing them all, and Laura was gracious to him for his actions for her friend. Kenny lowered his head and Laura, Melissa and Claire disappeared inside the house.
Grant and Elise were outside in the garden with the light still on looking at Kenny who seemed overwhelmed by what he had just done and he said “I will be on shift now if you want to go and sleep” he said towards Grant and Elise. Grant went into the utility room and put off the gardens bright light, so now it was darkness and he walked back towards Kenny, with Elise standing near him. “I am okay mate. I think though we have to keep an eye out in case one of those people freak out again and try and open the back door, we should put the bricks back up against the door” Grant saying in reference to the bricks Claire had taken down in her anger. Kenny though was quiet as Elise said to Grant “Just lock the door Grant from the kitchen to the utility room, that will be enough, we have the keys”.
Kenny sounding downbeat just said “Do whatever you both want” he brushed past them both and went back towards the kitchen. Kenny thinking about how hopeless this situation was as Grant and Elise looked at each other in the darkness of the garden, with the rain trickling down. Grant said to Elise “I cannot sleep, how long until morning comes?” Elise had no idea how to reply and she did not even think about looking at her watch, such was the strange situation which had developed with Kenny and Claire. Elise answered “I cannot sleep either Grant. I am so fucking lost in what to do or what not to do. I don’t know whatever the fuck this is, what is going on. Is it a fucking virus or gang’s gone crazy, a new drug craze? Or an invasion by aliens, or a terrorist attack of some kind, Kenny has a point though, Claire was supposedly bitten the same time as Paul, so why has she not turned like Paul has, she looks okay”. Grant shrugged his shoulders and then Grant pressed her “So how long until morning?” but Elise again did not answer his question, her response out of proportion to his simple question as she said “I just miss my husband Grant. You are speaking to me like I should know what to do!”
Grant felt awful because all he asked her was how long until morning comes, twice he asked her and he felt so different from how he usually was, his safety blanket was in the office and being in a position of power over people who were underlings who had to listen to him and respect what he said because their pay dependent upon it in relation to the hierarchy of the company himself and Elise worked in yet now he was lost in what to say. Elise answered “I am going back inside”. Elise left Grant and headed back into the house. Grant took a short moment realising he did not pick up on how dire and defeated Elise sounded, and then he heard the noises outside in the lane beyond the wall of this stranger’s house and joined her within.
Inside the kitchen Kenny had gone back to the kitchen table he was at prior to Grant, with Laura and Melissa had earlier disturbed him. He sat there and did not pay attention as Elise came inside from the utility room and opened the fridge and took out a bottle of cold flavoured vodka, she drank from it and then looked at Kenny who was sitting near the kitchen table and was staring into the distance, lost in thought. Grant eventually came into the kitchen and closed the door to the utility room. Grant saw Kenny and Elise drinking the flavoured vodka bottle, passing it between each other. Grant now bolted the kitchen door which led into the utility room and he said in despair “This door should remain shut for as long as we are in here”. Elise just sipped the vodka and did not reply to Grant as she went towards the cupboard she knew hosted the drinking glasses and took from another cupboard a bottle of coke, so she began to mix coke and a little bit of vodka. Grant felt like he was losing control of the situation but did not bother fighting it, he felt like everyone should be more astute but after what happened in the garden between Kenny and Claire he did not know what to say anymore. If they wanted to drink alcohol, so be it he thought.
Kenny said loudly as he laughed sitting near the kitchen table “You know my biggest worry before this was my exams. I kept thinking if I did not pass I would have to find the financial funds to get my ass to wherever the university told me to go to next in order to repeat the exam, just so I could pass but I would know I would get the lowest grade possible because in the university they classify a previously failed module as being capped off to a result of 40% no matter how well you perform in the re-sit”. Kenny sat back in his chair and said “Isn’t that funny?” Kenny asked as Grant looked at him while Elise just drank back the beverage she had made, thinking was Elise about her husband and how much she loved and missed him. Kenny continued to speak “Ah, it is all bullshit isn’t. It doesn’t matter anymore”. Then Kenny said after a silent spell “I do wish in hindsight I chose to study biology or maybe a demonology course now. Might have come in handy given our current situation, but here I am, and here you are” Kenny trying to make some light of the situation, but Grant uninterested in responding to his quirky thoughts instead seriously answered “Kenny, are those girls back upstairs?”.
Rather than answering outright Kenny leant forward across the kitchen table and looked at Grant, prolonging his gaze on Grant’s before relaying “Mate, I have no idea where they are. I hope they are back upstairs, sleeping snugly and no longer thinking about the shit going on. I wish I could switch off like that. I envy anyone who can sleep right now. I just want to get fucking hammered, nice big drink” Kenny was teasing Grant as Grant looked towards Elise but all he saw was her from the rear as she necked down her alcoholic drink, he wanted Elise’s support in handling Kenny and his oddness but Kenny now spoke, his tone serious “It is best we are all vigilant Grant, and about those girls. They seem unpredictable and given over to hysteria or whatever you call it, maybe they are still drunk but there is no telling what they will do if they get too excited. Nor do I know what they are capable of”.
Grant replied to Kenny’s pragmatism with confidence and said “Yes, with everyone moving back and forth, they are opening doors and closing them. I do not like it! We need to know what goes in and what goes out. You understand?” Kenny just nodded as Grant added “Plus the girl Claire is bitten isn’t she?” but Kenny reminded Grant “I do not know Grant. As far as I am aware she is okay, like me. She might have brushed past those things and had a scrape with them” but Grant was confused and said “You made it clear out there you were convinced she was not”. Elise turned to face Grant and Kenny as Kenny said to Grant “I only know what I see and I do not think she is bitten. I am basing it on the fact she is not looking like that Paul guy and she was supposedly bitten the same time. For fucks sake Grant I don’t know. Maybe it isn’t a bite that does this! I don’t have any idea anymore! It could be something in the air”.
Kenny lowered his head and then picked up a packet of chewing gum and launched one into his mouth and began to chew. Grant was confused as he slammed his hands onto the kitchen table and exclaimed in frustration at Kenny changing his opinions on what causes people to go insane, Grant stated “For fucks sake!” but Kenny replied calmly “I am basing all I know on what little information I know and she, this Claire does not look anything like that Paul guy did. Isn’t that enough for you mate, I am no expert on what is going on, I am only going on what I have experienced and things are changing all the time. I think something and it is contradicted by something else”
Grant then turned to his side and saw Elise standing solitary as Elise said “Kenny is right, Claire went missing and now she is back and if she was infected she would have turned by now, or shown signs of something, surely after being outside in the rain and the cold it would have made her sicker, if she had this thing in her, but she is alive and well. This thing happens fast, right, and there is nothing to worry about concerning her. It could be an infection brought on by a bite or something else. Maybe people need to die to be reanimated before coming back as those fucking things surely are dead”. Grant stared at Elise and said to her wi
th concern “Elise I need you to think...” but Elise interrupted him and said “Grant please stop. This is not a situation we can control. What good is it for us to try and work this thing out? It is not our job. That is up to the authorities, all we need to think about is the fact we are all here and stuck. This girl Claire has not turned or changed yet so we have no idea what is happening. I am confused just like you but I just miss my fucking husband like I said before. And I am tired of thinking or you needing me to be anything other than I am. I just want to make sure this house is secure and safe, and wait until help comes, that is it”.
Grant lowered his head and said “I am sorry Elise”. But Elise moved from the kitchen worktop and said “Don’t be. It is not your fault you cannot help thinking about what is really going on, but it serves little purpose stressing ourselves out when we have so much other things to worry us, and let alone trying to control us in this situation”. Kenny listened to Elise’s wise words as Elise looked at Kenny and then back at Grant, she said tiredly “I am going to bed, I cannot take this strain no more. I am really tired”. Elise then looked at Kenny and asked “Can you take over my duty” she included duty in her words, and said it slightly sarcastically for Grant’s purpose because it was meant to be an indirect swipe at Grant, which Grant realised as Kenny indifferently said “Sure, why not. I cannot sleep anyways”.
Then Elise left the kitchen without Grant having a chance to say anything more to her. Elise went to find a quiet place, any place in the house to try to sleep. Grant then looked at Kenny who coughed mildly and took his time before saying “Elise is pissed at you, you know that don’t you?” but Grant did not reply to him as Kenny added with a smile “You must be such an asshole to work for”. Grant looked at Kenny without knowing how to answer as Kenny said “I don’t care mate. I get your attitude, it makes sense. I am just talking shit”.