Maniacs

by Lee Wise

  Naomi and Allison smiled. “There’s some food in that warmer over there.” Allison said. “Everyone got finished about 10 minutes ago.”

  “Thanks.” I said. I got a plate for Sarah and I gave us each some food. “Where is everyone?”

  “Bill and Mrs. Ford are outside picking vegetables with the kids. Because of the rain yesterday, the bodies weren’t able to be disposed of. So that's what the others are doing. They wanted to get that done first thing. They said that they would have a meeting afterwards.” Allison responded.

  “Then I didn’t miss anything?” I said.

  “Not at all.” Allison assured me.

  Cathy came in. “You’re awake! How was your sleep?”

  “Good.” I replied.

  “That’s awesome. Sarah, you’re barely eating anything!” Cathy noted.

  “I don’t really like vegetables.” Sarah groaned.

  “We can’t be picky these days.” I said.

  Naomi smiled, got up and pulled something out of the pantry. It was a can of spaghetti and meatballs. Sarah flashed a smile. “If it’s okay with your mom.” Sarah looked at me with a pleading face.

  “Okay. You can have that.”

  “Yes!” Sarah said.

  “Where did you find that anyways?” I asked.

  “I brought some cans from home.” Naomi said. Looking at Sarah she said, “This has to be our secret okay. You can’t tell the other kids, because this is my only can of spaghetti and meatballs.”

  “Okay!” Sarah said. “Pinky promise!” She linked her pinky with Naomi’s.

  Naomi happily made her the food and Sarah wolfed it down. I just laughed. The kids had had to make so many changes lately. It was nice that finally something could be the same. She finished up just in time when Jill walked into the kitchen. “We’re going to have the meeting now. Sarah, the other kids are playing tag if you want to join them.”

  “Okay!” Sarah said and ran outside.

  “I can take care of Dylan while you go to the meeting.” Naomi said.

  “Thanks. You’re not going to join us?” Allison asked.

  “I’d rather help with the kids. I think that’s where I would do best.” Naomi said taking Dylan from Allison. We all walked outside together.

  I walked over to stand next to John. People were still walking over to join the group. I could hear giggling coming from the kids as they tried to tag each other.

  “I love that sound.” Rose said beside me.

  “Me too.” I agreed. John looked at me and smiled. “I let you sleep in. Sarah hasn’t been sleeping that well and neither have you, so I figured it would help.”

  “Thanks.” I said. “I feel guilty that I didn’t help out here though.”

  “No worries.” Rose said. “A lot of us other ladies didn’t help with the bodies. We mostly stood and talked and just watched.”

  “That’s good.” I said.

  Ben walked over to our group. “Okay, so Jacob, Robert and Luke are guarding the driveway, but we have our walkie-talkies if they need us. We will just tell them about the meeting when it is over.”

  We agreed. “So, Ethan if it is okay with you, since you ran into problems trying to bury Gavin yesterday, our first thing after the meeting will be to help you.” Ethan nodded. “Good. I think we need to talk about last night. It was quite a busy night! We found dead animals and there were a lot of maniacs! We really need to plan better defense and we need to teach those who have never been in a combat situation or used a gun how to protect themselves and those around them. Is there anything else?”

  “Sanitation.” Rose said. “The inside bathroom that was rigged isn’t working properly. Also, sleep. A lot of people need much more sleep or they won’t be able to function very well.”

  “Agreed. Anything else?” Ben asked.

  “Food.” Mrs. Ford said. “We could use more food besides vegetables and eggs.”

  “Okay. Is that everything?” Ben asked.

  “What about the kids?” Jill asked.

  “What about them?” Mike asked.

  “They really could us sort of structure and taught more about safety.” Jill responded.

  “I think Naomi and I can figure something out for that.” Mrs. Ford said.

  “That’s perfect. You can be charge of everything kid related.” Ben said. “Thank you. Angela and Allison, can you be in the committee for food? I know you guys were hunters before this.”

  “Definitely.” They both agreed.

  “Rose and I will obviously be in charge of all things medical.” Jeremy said.

  “That makes sense.” Ben said.

  “I think I can rig up something for the bathroom needs, both the inside toilet and shower.” Gary

  said.

  “That’s great.” Ben said. “I am willing to give some defense training to those who need it. Aleisha,

  Cathy and Jill? Would that be okay for you?”

  “I definitely need some extra training.” I laughed.

  “That obtains to not leaving your post!” John joked.

  “That’s true. Sorry, I’m guilty of that.” I said.

  “We’ll make a soldier out of you yet!” Ben said. We all laughed.

  “Now, why were those animals piled up? What was the reasoning and who put them there?” Mike asked.

  “That’s a good question.” Ben said. “I…”

  Molly suddenly began barking and running towards a figure coming up the driveway.

  The guys got their guns out. “Whoa! Don’t shoot!” The man said.

  “Jason?” Angela asked. “Oh… Oh my God.” She ran to him and almost knocked him over hugging him.

  “Wow! That’s quite the greeting!” He said as they walked up to us.

  “Everyone, this is Jason, Janet’s brother.” Angela said.

  “I thought he was helping the maniacs?” Jill asked.

  “That was Janet's other brother Miles.” Angela explained.

  “Wait! What?” Jason asked.

  Angela told Jason about Miles’ involvement with the maniacs. “Wow.” He said. “I had went looking for him and Janet, but couldn’t find either of them. So, I decided to come see you here. I looked for other people I knew also and no one was home. I’m really happy to see you again.” He looked around and smiled at some of us. I thought I saw him glance at Ryan and Allison, but decided it was all in my head.

  “I’m so glad to see you again.” Angela announced happily.

  “Nice to meet you.” A bunch of us said.

  “Is my sister here?” Jason asked.

  Angela’s eyes teared up. “She… we found her body shortly after this began.”

  “Oh.” Jason said sadly. “I found our parents last week. I was hoping…” He sighed.

  “Are you hungry?” Mrs. Ford asked.

  He laughed. “I haven’t had any problem with food surprisingly. For some reason, I really have been finding a lot of that. I actually…well” He pulled his backpack off his back. “Janet, she loved candy bars and I remember you do too Angela, so I grabbed a bunch.” He heard the kids laughing and looked in their direction. “Maybe they would like them.” He opened the bag and reached in. Several guys got their guns ready just in case. Jason pulled out a handful of candy bars and showed them to us. “Hopefully they aren’t melted.” He noticed the guys with their guns. “Don’t worry. I haven’t been armed for a while except for a pocketknife. That’s one thing that I’m having a hard time finding. Guns and ammunition weren’t a problem at first but as the days have gone by it’s harder to find and these people to seem to be crazier.”

  “They definitely are.” Jacob agreed. “That’s why we were having a meeting when you got here.”

  “Sorry for interrupting.” Jason said.

  “Maybe you can tell us some things that you have seen out there.” Ben said.

  “Mostly I just saw maniacs and fires. My whole goal was to find my family. After I found my parents, I started searching for my sister. I fi
gured Miles was long gone with Carrie. My sister was all I had left.”

  “What about Amanda and the baby?”

  He shook his head and tears came to his eyes. “We were at the doctor’s office for Grace’s 18 month checkup.” He began to cry and shook his head. “We were in the waiting room when it happened. Amanda was checking Grace in at the receptionist desk, she was holding Grace. I was in the waiting room and I was on my phone. I was on that stupid phone.” He took a deep breath. “The attack was quick. Two of those… Those things, they just…” He sighed. “They broke Amanda’s neck and killed my baby. I couldn’t get there in time.” He was crying and shaking his head.

  Angela hugged him. “You’re welcome to stay here.”

  He nodded. “I appreciate that. I… well, there is nowhere left for me to go. I’m sorry I interrupted you guys.” He said again.

  “No worries man.” Jacob said.

  Mary ran over to us. “Mama!”

  “Yes honey?” Jill said.

  “Can we tent outside pretty soon?”

  Jill made a face and said, “In a few weeks maybe.”

  “Yay!” Mary said. “Hi!” She said to Jason.

  ”Hi!” Jason said back. “Would you guys like some candy bars?”

  Mary looked to her mom to make sure it was okay. Jill nodded.

  “Definitely!” Mary said. Jason handed her the candy bars. Mary’s face lit up. “Thank you so much! I’m Mary.”

  “Jason.”

  “I love chocolate.” Mary said and ran off.

  “Me too!” Jill joked.

  “Oh. There are more candy bars where those came from.” Jason said. “I really wasn’t kidding when I said I have a backpack full of them. Actually, I have been living off of those and water for the past two days. I don’t care if I never see another candy bar again!”

  “Well, we have a garden full of vegetables.” Mrs. Ford said.

  “And beer.” John said.

  “Ooh! I haven’t had either of those for a long time.” Jason said. “But that can wait. Have you guys seen an influx of maniacs lately? A few days ago, it seemed like they were all around me!”

  “That’s because more people have changed into maniacs.” Mike said.

  “Wait, you mean they weren’t maniacs from the first day? That they changed later on?”

  “That’s right.” Mike said.

  “Oh man! So, how do we know who’s going to change?”

  “We don’t.” Ben said.

  “Shit!” Jason sighed. “So what now?”

  “Well, that’s one of the things our meeting is about, the influx of the maniacs. We need a good plan because they like to attack at night.” Gary said.

  “That’s definitely when I felt least safe while traveling. I used to hole up at night, because they would be howling and saying the weird things they say.” Jason said. “Anything you need my help with, I’m willing to do.”

  “What did you do before all of this happened?” Ben asked.

  “I was actually a carpenter.” Jason said.

  “Then you can help me with my projects.” Gary said and explained to Jason what he was in

  charge of.

  “I definitely can help with that.”

  “How are you with guns?” Ben asked.

  “I wasn’t the most skilled before this happened, but I have learned a lot since.”

  “Perfect.” Ben said. Ben told Jason about the night before. “Now, we have to best figure out what to do at night and set up guard schedules.”

  The schedules were set up for guard duty. They set me up for day schedule since they said I wasn’t that great at guarding at night. I was secretly happy for that. It was decided that that night since Jason was new he would be a guard in the front of the house with Allison for half the night (instead of the end of the driveway). Cathy and Robert would take the second shift.

  The rest of the day was uneventful. I got some training on guns while I “guarded” the house and after that I played board games with my girls and helped make supper. After supper, I finally got to spend some time with John and the girls as a family. It was a good day.

  CHAPTER 12

  It was nighttime. John was on duty and everyone around me was asleep. My throat was so dry. I slipped out of the room and went down to the kitchen. I could hear Allison and Jason talking. They weren’t talking too loudly, but the window was open a crack for me to hear a few things. I heard them talking about the fun they had as kids together and things along that line. The strange thing to me was that they had acted like they had never met that day. I didn’t understand why. I heard someone coming out of the den and heading towards my location. I was not even sure why, but I hid in the pantry. I heard the refrigerator open and close. The person stood in the kitchen for a while and soon I heard the door open and close. I quietly snuck out of the pantry.

  I heard Luke’s voice outside. “I can hear you guys inside.”

  “So?” Allison responded.

  “So? Are you serious? Anyone could have come downstairs and heard you.”

  Allison sighed. “Luke, you are so paranoid.”

  “Seriously? If they find out… Someone’s coming up the driveway.” He said.

  That was my cue. I hustled out of the kitchen and back upstairs to lay down. A few minutes later, I heard the bedroom door open. It was Angela. She was waking Cathy and Robert up for their shift.

  “Where’s John?” Cathy asked.

  “He’ll be up in a bit. Allison wanted to get back to Dylan.” Angela whispered.

  Cathy and Robert threw some clothes on quickly and left the room. I really needed to talk to John, Cathy and Robert. It just wasn’t the right time. There were too many ears around.

  I started to think it through in my head. Why did they keep it secret that they knew each other? What was going on? Was Angela in on it? Who could I trust? I knew that I could trust the people from my town, but now I was unsure about everyone who was from this town. I would just have to wait until the next day to talk to someone, but it would be so difficult to wait that long.

  John came into the room and laid down beside me. I cuddled up next him. “We really need to talk tomorrow.” I whispered in his ear. He looked at me and was about to say something, but I whispered again in his ear, “Not here. Somewhere we can meet in secret with Cathy and Robert also.” He gave me a look like I was crazy, but I kissed him and somehow I managed to fall asleep although there were a lot of thoughts in my head.

  I wasn’t able to get together with John, Cathy and Robert until a little after lunch the next day. It felt like forever! Now, I was wondering if maybe I was being a bit paranoid and that maybe it just was not such a big deal.

  I made sure we were out of earshot for anybody and then quietly recapped what I had overheard the night before. I said, “Maybe it’s not as big of a deal as I think.”

  “No, that’s a big deal.” Cathy said. Robert nodded in agreement.

  “Why wouldn’t they have just said that they know each other? What’s the big deal that they do?” John said.

  “Exactly!” I agreed. I was about to say more, but Allison came over to us.

  “Ryan was trying to reach you on the walkie-talkie.” She said to John. “He was wondering if you can come down and watch his spot for a few minutes. He has to… well he has a bowel issue.”

  “I can do that.” John said.

  “Sorry to interrupt your meeting of the minds.” Allison said.

  We laughed, it was a noise that sounded fake, unfortunately. “Nothing exciting here.” Cathy said.

  “Hey! Speak for yourself!” John joked and walked off. We all laughed again. This time, the laughter was real, but Allison didn’t look like she bought it.

  “Thanks!” Allison shouted to John and walked off. Soon, Ryan was hustling up the driveway and to the makeshift bathroom/outhouse.

  “For now, I say we go on with our regular stuff. We don’t need them thinking that we know one of their secrets. I’m g
oing to walk off now so we don’t look suspicious.” He kissed Cathy. “Keep your eyes peeled.” He walked away.

  “I can’t believe that you hid in the pantry.” Cathy mumbled to me.

  I laughed. “I panicked!”

  “I’m glad you did. I would have also. That’s so strange.”

  “What?”

  “I just saw Allison head in the direction of the outhouse. She’s going to talk to Ryan. If I only knew what that was about.” Cathy remarked.

  “Well, she gave us a look. Did you see that? Like she didn’t believe that we weren’t talking about her?”

  “I didn’t notice, but that’s crazy!”

  “I know, right?” I responded.

  Megan ran up to us. “Mama!”

  “What honey?”

  “Nate caught a frog and he said that we had to eat it for supper, because we are low on protein! I am not eating a frog, mama!”

  Cathy and I laughed. “He’s just teasing you.” Cathy said.

  “I hope so, because I’m not going to eat that.” Megan ran off and stuck her tongue out at Nick as the kids listened to Mrs. Ford explain how to “properly” take a carrot out of the ground.

  “Stop it!” Caleb and Nate began arguing.

  “I think I’m going to go help Mrs. Ford out with that. Stay safe, okay. No eavesdropping on any more conversations.” Cathy joked.

  “I didn’t do it on purpose!” I laughed.

  She walked off and John came back over to me. “He’s already done in the bathroom?” I asked.

  John nodded. “He is.” He sighed, “So… Aleisha, I… Okay, so…”

  “What?” I asked.

  “So, Robert was just talking to me. He’s worried that you’re getting…well, paranoid.”

  “What?”

  “I just want to make sure that you‘re okay.” John sighed.

  “Seriously? I heard what I heard John.”

  “I know. I just…”

  “John! All right, let’s just forget it then.” I growled. Was he serious right now?

  John sighed. “Aleisha…”

  “No, I’m not in the mood to talk right now.” I was livid!

  “Aleisha…”

  “Which means, walk away!” I said. I stomped off away from him. I heard him sigh and then head in the way of the house.