by Lee Wise
We played board games for an hour. At 11 o’clock, everyone checked in saying that that they hadn’t found anything so they were going to keep looking around for an hour.
“We can start prepping the food now if you want.” I suggested.
“That’s music to my ears!” Allison said and we all laughed.
“I was thinking of making an apple pie.” Mrs. Ford said. “Who would like to help me?” All the kids cheered.
“Can I just have an apple?” Sarah asked. “I don’t like apple pie.”
“You don’t like apple pie?” Naomi asked.
“No.” Sarah said.
“My girls are very fussy.” I explained.
“I know what that’s like.” Naomi said. “Piper is fussy also.”
“Mémère! I like a lot of foods!” Piper protested. Allison and Naomi laughed. “I do!”
We all moved into the kitchen and were soon completely enwrapped in the wonderful smells and the cheerful talk almost forgetting what was going on outside. At 11:45, we heard a gunshot in the woods.
“What was that?” Mary asked. Molly and Mr. Doggleton began to bark and the cats went to hide. The adults looked at each other.
“Go in the pantry.” I said to the kids.
“Allison, you too.” Naomi directed.
“Mom, what about you?” Allison asked.
“I know how to handle a gun. I’ll stay out here.”
“And I will too.” I said.
“I’m coming in.” Mrs. Ford declared. “You all stay behind me.”
“I know how to handle a gun also.” Piper said. “I go hunting all the time with Uncle Ryan.”
“Good, then you help me in here.” Mrs. Ford said. Piper sighed but got behind Mrs. Ford and closed the door.
“I wonder why there was only one gunshot.” I pondered.
“Well, let’s hope it was the good guys that shot that bullet.”
We heard a commotion outside and the front door swung open. I raised my gun. “Don’t shoot your sister!” Cathy laughed.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“You didn’t hear over the walkie-talkie?” John asked while he walked in. “Yum, smells good in here.”
“I didn’t hear anything on it!” I announced.
John checked the walkie-talkie. “The battery is dead.” He stated. “We need to keep an eye on that. What’s for lunch?”
“John! What’s going on?” Naomi asked.
“Angela got a deer.” Bill said.
“That’s all the gunshot was?” I asked.
“Yes! Just me! Sorry.” Angela said coming into the kitchen. “Figured that we could use the meat.”
Jacob came in shaking his head. “It’s great that we have meat, but I’m worried that gunshot is going to track the maniacs.”
“Not to mention, we still don’t know who or what got Greg.” Ben stated. Jacob cringed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say it that way.”
Jacob sighed. “It’s true though. We didn’t see any signs of Greg or anyone in the woods.”
“Neither did we.” Sammie said. The others agreed.
“So, what now?” I asked.
“Can we come out now?” Jenny yelled from the pantry.
“Whoops!” Naomi smiled and opened the door.
“It’s a little warm in there.” Allison said. “And I need to sit!”
“Can we set the table now?” Megan asked.
“Go for it!” I said.
“From now on, we will have three people at the end of the driveway and four guarding the perimeter of the house.” Ben announced. We all agreed with that. “Right now though, I’m starving! Do I smell apple pie?”
Mary giggled. “That’s dessert. All of us kids helped make it, but Sarah doesn’t want to eat any.”
“Really?” Ben asked.
“It’s gross.” Sarah crinkled her nose.
“Well,” John said. “More for me! I’m going to eat the whole pie!”
“No daddy. You have to share. We made two pies so everyone can have some.” Megan stated.
“That’s right.” I said. “Except for daddy.” The kids all laughed.
“Hey!” John joked.
“Save me some food!” Robert said over the walkie-talkie. We all laughed. It was like they could hear our conversation.
“So, what happened to hunting these things?” Angela asked. “You know, I get that we have to guard the perimeter, but what happened to being proactive?”
“I’m for that.” Jacob agreed.
“We can probably send out a group of three or four during the day to hunt them, but what if it gets too dangerous…” Ben began.
“I agree.” John said. “Let’s gauge it by doing a little at a time. Right now, I just want to eat and not think for a little bit. These mashed potatoes are so delicious. Compliments to the chef.”
“I helped with those.” Piper boasted proudly.
“She did.” I agreed. “She mashed them, added butter and helped cook them. She practically made them by herself.” Piper’s face gleamed.
Luke smiled. “My beautiful chef!”
“Dad!” Piper blushed. We all laughed and talked about mindless things to try to have a peaceful meal even though everyone had the maniacs on their mind. After eating, John, Luke and Ben went to replace Mike, Ryan and Robert so they could eat.
“That’s a good size buck!” Mike said on his way in.
“Thanks!” Angela said. “I couldn’t resist it.”
“Yeah, we heard that gun echo all the way down the driveway.” Robert commented.
Angela shrugged. “Well, now we have meat that we can enjoy!”
“That’s true.” Robert said and sat down to eat.
The rest of the day wasn’t too eventful. We made plans for the night. We set the shifts on who would be taking each of the times. The shifts would begin at 8:00 PM. John and Robert would stay at the end of the driveway. Sammie and Jill would guard the perimeter of the house from eight to midnight. From midnight to 4:30, Luke and Ryan would take their turn at the end of the driveway and Angela and Cathy would guard the house. At 4:30, Mike and Ben would take over at the end of the driveway and Jacob and Bill would cover the front of the house. In the morning, we would discuss further shifts.
CHAPTER 7
At 1:00 AM, Molly began barking like crazy. She was downstairs in the kitchen. John and Robert, who had just went to bed, made sure all the kids were in one room and took off downstairs. Sammie grabbed the walkie-talkie. “What’s going on outside? Over.” She asked.
“Everything is fine down here.” Luke said.
“Angela?” Sammie asked.
No response.
“Sammie,” Jacob said. “We need someone to stand guard at this door while the others go check the downstairs. Are you all set to do this?” She looked a little bit annoyed, but she agreed. I went back into the bedroom with the kids, Mrs. Ford, Allison, Naomi and Rose. The others were already running downstairs. We could hear someone scream from outside. Piper got up to go look out the window.
“No honey.” Mrs. Ford said, “Stay right here with us.”
Sammie opened the door. “Aleisha, can you guard the room out here with me?” I knew she wanted to talk.
“Yes.” I replied. I walked out of the room.
Sammie began to whisper to me. “How could people get past Luke and Ryan? I think this may be something suspicious.” Sammie had suddenly become very paranoid the past few days, so I was prepared for this.
“There are other areas to enter. They could have easily jumped the fence.”
“I don’t know. I think it’s suspicious.” I shrugged my shoulders. There wasn’t much I could say to her. We heard someone coming up the stairs and she aimed her gun in their direction.
“Whoa! Easy!” It was Robert. “You guys need to see this. I’ll keep watch here until you see it.” Sammie and I looked at each other and then went downstairs. In the kitchen we noticed everyone was crowded around someo
ne. I walked over and gasped. There was a naked lady twirling around. She was mumbling something and was covered in blood.
“What the hell?” Sammie asked.
“We heard Molly barking, so we went to the back of the house and found this lady in the garden.” Angela explained.
“She just keeps repeating herself over and over and twirls. Not sure what she is on…” Cathy said.
Mrs. Ford walked in the kitchen and gasped when she saw the lady. She seemed to listen closely to what the lady was saying. “Dr. Seuss…”
“What?” Mike asked.
“She keeps repeating lines from ‘Green Eggs and Ham.’” Mrs. Ford said.
I listened closely and I agreed. “You’re right.”
The lady looked up. “Green Eggs and Ham!” She shrieked and began to cry.
“I’m going to go check on Luke and Ryan.” Ben said while rubbing his eyes. He seemed as tired as I felt! “Maybe you ladies can figure her out while we protect the house. If she got here, others could too. She doesn’t seem to be a threat.”
We agreed. “Who screamed?” I asked.
Cathy blushed. “Me. I didn’t see her at first in the garden. She was so quiet. I turned around and then she was there. I'm probably not the best person to be out guarding the house, but I tried!”
“You did fine.” Angela said.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Ford sat down next to the lady. “I am Sam!” The lady looked at her.
“Have you seen him?” The lady asked.
“Sam?” I asked.
“My son. He’s two. He has been missing for a couple days.” She cried.
“Tell us what happened.” Mrs. Ford said.
Between tears, the lady began her story. “We were camping, my husband myself and our son Sam. He likes ‘Green Eggs and Ham’, because it has his name in it. I read it to him all the time.” She began to cry again.
Rose handed her tissues. “Are you hurt?” Rose asked.
“No.” The lady shook her head. “This is not my blood.”
“Okay.” Rose said not knowing what else to say.
“We were camping and suddenly there was screaming not too far from us. My husband thought that maybe it was teenagers telling scary stories and screaming, but then we heard gunshots. My husband had us hide while he grabbed the gun, but he hadn’t loaded the gun. I don’t know why it wasn’t loaded!” She began to cry again.
“I’m sure he wasn’t expecting any trouble.” Jill said.
“But there are dangers in the woods. I told him that before. Bears and coyotes. He never listened!”
“What happened next?” I asked.
“These crazy people came running into our camp. They jumped on him and hit him. I don’t know what I thought I could do, but I told Sam to stay and I got a stick and ran at those people. They tore my clothes off and threw them in a fire and then tried throwing me into the fire. These teenagers came out of nowhere and I thought they were there to help me, but they killed the others and started to kill my husband. I fought them off as best I could and I shouted at them to take anything they wanted. That stopped them. They grabbed everything! All our bags, our tent, the gun, and then ran off. I tried to save my husband, but I couldn’t. I went back to the spot where Sam was, but he was gone. I have been looking for him ever since then.”
“When did this happen?” Mrs. Ford asked.
“Yesterday afternoon.” We sighed. It was clear who the teenagers were.
“I think that we know the teenagers that you are talking about.” Jill said. “Two were here yesterday and we kicked them out. They may know where your son is.”
The lady looked up. “Really?”
I nodded my head. “There’s a chance. First, let’s clean you up and get you some clothes and food. We’ll talk to the guys and figure out the best way to find those two teens to see if your son is with them.”
The lady nodded and looked down at herself. “I’m sorry! I just thought…”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what I would do if something happened to my daughters.”
“You have kids?” She asked. A weird look was on her face and then it went away.
“I’ll show you the bathtub.” Rose said. “And then we can find you some clothes.” They walked off.
When they were away from ear range, Angela looked at us. “Something was off about her.”
“I thought so too.” I agreed and so did the others.
“Why the hell was she twirling around naked?” Cathy asked.
“Maybe she was grieving?” Jill asked.
“Nope, don’t trust her.” Sammie stated.
“Well, let’s get the guys up to speed about what’s going on and then keep a close eye on her.” Angela said. We all agreed.
After hearing the story the lady told us (she still hadn’t told us her name), the guys agreed that it sounded strange but that they would help find Sabrina and Caleb and hear their side of the story.
The lady finally finished eating and bathing and getting dressed at 3:00. She hadn’t talked at all since she first got there, but had been humming instead.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Oh! I can’t believe I didn’t tell you! Michelle Jensen.”
“I’m Aleisha.” I said. She just nodded. “Are you tired?” I asked. She shrugged her shoulders.
“Have we met before?” Angela asked. “Your name sounds very familiar.” Michelle just shrugged her shoulders again.
We set her up in a spare bedroom downstairs and Sammie stood guard outside of the room. Soon we heard snoring from inside. I went upstairs and then somehow fell asleep with my girls right beside me with the door locked. The other kids slept in there also with Cathy, Allison, Naomi, Piper and Jenny. Angela insisted on guarding our door. I didn’t argue.
A few hours later, around 7 AM, I woke up. Allison and I were the only ones in the room. I panicked and got up quickly knocking my knee into the desk and waking Allison up. I was groaning when she looked over.
“Is everything okay?” She asked.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I just noticed everyone is gone, so I got up quickly. I forgot that I was sleeping near the desk.” I explained.
“Gone?” She looked panicked.
“Just not in this room.” I said.
“Oh wow! I really thought you meant gone completely!” She sighed “With all the surprises lately, one of these times they are going to make me have the baby!” She laughed.
“Sorry!” I laughed.
Angela walked into the room. “There’s the sleepy heads!”
“What did we miss?” Allison asked.
“Well, John, Ben, Luke and Sammie went with Michelle to look for Sam.”
“They took Michelle with them?” I asked.
“Better than leaving her here. She was one strange lady!” Angela replied.
“I don’t know. I just might get a little crazy if someone took my child.” Allison commented.
“I don’t know if I believed her story.” Angela said.
“I think something was off about her.” I agreed.
“Really? Hopefully the guys will be safe with her.” Allison said.
“There’s four to one.” Angela remarked. “I really think they’ll be okay. Meanwhile, Aleisha why are you limping?” Allison and I laughed and I told her what had happened.
“Wow! John did say you were klutzy!” She laughed.
“Really?” I asked. “Well… well, he snores loudly.”
We all laughed and went down to breakfast. Lately, I felt a little nauseous so the smell this morning made it a little worse and I ran to the bathroom to be sick. I came out of the bathroom and all the ladies were looking at me. “I know,” I said. “I’m hoping that it’s just nausea.”
Allison smiled. “I remember feeling that way.” She said rubbing her belly.
I sighed. “I don’t want to believe this right now!”
“Believe what Mama?” Sarah asked.
I l
ooked at Sarah. “Believe how beautiful it looks out there. Look at that sunshine!”
“That’s not what you were talking about!” Sarah argued.
“Sarah was a big help making breakfast this morning!” Mrs. Ford said. I smiled, happy for this change of conversation. Mrs. Ford was very good at distracting the kids.
After breakfast, Mrs. Ford and Naomi brought the kids outside to get their energy out. Cathy, Allison, Jill and I remained inside to clean up.
“Makes sense why you’re tired all the time.” Cathy said to me.
I sighed. It did make sense. The girls would never have been able to go downstairs without me noticing before. “Damn.” I sighed.
“How far along do you think you are?” Cathy asked.
“I’m not sure.” I said. “Maybe a few months.”
“That’s awesome!” Allison said.
“I always wanted another one.” I said. “It’s just not the best timing.” Everyone nodded. It obviously made sense.
“Did you have any clue before?” Jill asked.
“No, well, it’s not like we weren’t trying. But that was way before all this happened!” I sighed.
“Well, I guess there will be two babies around here soon!” Allison smiled and hugged me.
Three hours passed by and there was still no sign of the guys and Sammie and Michelle. We were getting a little worried. The walkie-talkies were probably out of range and there was no way to find out what was going on. Luckily, Mrs. Ford knew how to keep everyone busy and got us to help with lunch. It also happened to be Nick’s birthday, so she had everyone working on making him a little party with decorations and a cake and we would celebrate that evening with him. He was so excited that he would be double digits finally.
“Mom? Will we celebrate my 10th birthday in here like Nick’s?” Sarah asked. “He’s only three months older than me. Remember his birthday party last year?”
“I remember.” I said. “I’m not sure where we will celebrate your birthday, but we will definitely have a big celebration. I promise.”
“I want a piñata also!” She exclaimed.
“We’ll see what happens!” I responded.
We heard a commotion outside. I quickly went and looked out the window. Everyone was back, but Michelle wasn’t with them. They came into the house. “Yum! I smell cake and you decorated just for me!” John said.