by Kate Morris
“Shh,” he whispered and slid his hand down her arm to clasp her hand as Brutus backed away from the door. The dog, like her, was also afraid to take his eyes off it for fear that whatever was on the other side would make it through.
“What is that?” Brian stated as he came down the stairs in a rush.
“Shh, quiet!” Roman warned with more fervor and held his finger to his lips.
Jane noticed that Brian had the shotgun in his hands and his shoes on.
“Get everyone down here,” Roman commanded. “I’ll get Steph out of the basement.”
Within a minute or two, they were all gathered in the middle of the living room, huddled with fear.
“I don’t hear anyth…” Stephanie complained as a loud racket in the driveway, probably near one of their vehicles assaulted their ears. “What the…”
“Shh!” Jane shushed her this time. Brutus mewled softly, so Jane stroked his neck to settle him. “Shh, boy. Quiet.”
“Do they know we’re in here?” Destiny asked.
“Not sure,” Roman answered in a whisper. They were all whispering. “Just be quiet.”
They huddled together on the sofas and even on the floor watching the fire die out in the fireplace. They were scared, every one of them. Eventually, no other sounds came. It was just quiet for a long time. Connor fell asleep against Jane’s side. He was the only one asleep. Jane wasn’t even close to falling asleep. Neither was Roman. Her mind was too busy racing…
Life was precious. People used to say things like that all the time, but none of them in this room realized how true that saying would turn out to be. Life was precious, indeed. Each person in the room had lost someone or everyone.
They huddled in front of the low, crackling fire in the small fireplace trying to stay close to one another and keep warm. They were cold, scared, terrified to be more precise.
Outside, a screech owl called out to its friends, unaware of how horrifying his nightly conversation sounded to the humans in the house in front of the fire. A few of the people in the room even jumped at the noise. Every little sound made people jump now. Every noise a potential threat. Every reverberation in the air a possible harbinger of danger. The howling wind brought in by the rainstorm caused the windows to rattle, which also made people edgy. One of them rose to check the window latch to make sure it was secure. Only one of them had the courage to do so. She was so glad at that moment when Roman rose that he was with them. He didn’t seem as afraid as the rest of them, and for that, Jane was glad. Her father was thankfully still asleep in the bedroom mere feet away. She hoped he didn’t wake. She prayed more fervently that those things were gone. They’d heard a series of noises at the door, near their vehicles, and then nothing.
Then there was silence. Sometimes silence was even more frightening. She knew that from growing up in the type of home she’d been born into. Silence was sometimes just as frightening as hearing something. Just straining to listen and wade through the silence was stressful and nerve rattling. The not knowing was sometimes as bad as the knowing. This situation was no different. Silence was not golden in this case. Silence was horrifying, too. But the seeing of them was even worse. She saw them today, though, as they’d fled from the city. That was way worse.
A commotion, a racket of some kind banging on the roof caused all of them to look up. Jane gasped and held her hand over her mouth to keep from crying out and the other pressed against Connor’s ear to keep him asleep. It came again, that dreadful noise. This time followed by a shuffling and sliding sound as if someone had lost their footing. Then another clank against the metal roof. She held her breath in anticipation and fright. Was it one of them trying to get in?
Jane and Roman will return in book four of:
Apokalypsis