by Lee Wise
“I hate this!” She cried. “I just want to go back to the way things were before, go to the mall, hang out with friends, go to school!”
“Me too!” Piper agreed. Emma pulled Piper in for the hug. Chase didn’t complain.
Luke came upstairs. He had dirt all over him. “Bubble space!”
“Dad!” We all laughed in spite of all that was going on.
“We… We need to bury Pépère, Julia and now I guess Connor.” He sighed. “What a rotten day.” We agreed.
“Emma, Piper why don’t you wait in the room. You don’t need to see this.”
“Do you need help carrying him sir?” Chase asked.
“Ryan is coming in and a few of the others, I would appreciate the help though.” Luke said. The kids went back in the room with Mrs. Ford.
“I’ll… Mom and I can wait outside.” Naomi and Allison went downstairs.
“I’ll get some blankets.” Jill left to go search for some old blankets.
Luke sighed. “What a day. If… if I wouldn’t have gotten him those cigarettes.” His eyes teared up.
“Don’t do that, Luke.” Cathy said. “Don’t blame yourself. You heard Jeremy. There was more going on than that.”
Luke nodded. Jill came upstairs with blankets.
Angela also came up. “You need anything else?” She asked.
“Just help moving him.” Luke replied.
“We are here.” Ryan said joining us. He had Ben and Mike with him.
“Thanks. I don’t know how many of us it will take, but…” Luke broke down crying.
Ryan hugged him. “Why don’t you let us carry him?”
“No…” Luke wiped his eyes. “I need to help.”
“We’ll see you guys outside.” Cathy mumbled. Cathy, Jill, and I went downstairs. We reached the landing as we saw Gary, Luis and Jason carrying Connor out of the living room. I held the door to let them outside.
“Where’s Ethan?” Jill asked.
“In here!” We heard a shout from the den. Jill, Cathy and I went into the room and then to the den. Jeremy was doing a check up on Brandon. Ethan was rubbing his neck.
We heard the front door slam and some then footsteps. It was Jason. “They got Connor the rest of the way. Is my boy okay?”
“I’m fine dad.” Brandon responded. “Thanks to Ethan. Connor went nuts!”
“My boy!” Jason hugged his son. He went over and shook Ethan’s hand. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“No problem.” Ethan said.
“They are both okay?” Jason asked.
“They are.” Jeremy said. “But Brandon needs his rest.”
“This house is too loud for me to sleep!” Brandon joked. We smiled.
“He sounds good to me!” Cathy laughed. “Get some rest now. Listen to the doctor.” The ladies and I left the room. We got to the door in time to open it for the guys who were carrying Bill downstairs. We followed them to the gravesite. Julia’s body was already there.
“How did she get here already?” Luke asked.
“Maya and I carried her.” Angela said.
“She’s strong!” Maya said towards Angela. Angela blushed.
“Three bodies and two holes.” Luis said.
“Can we just put Connor and Julia together?” Chase asked.
“No!” Maya and Angela said.
“They were two people and they were so very important.” Maya said. “They need two graves and deserve to not just be tossed in there!”
“I agree.” Angela said. “I’ll dig.”
“I’ll help.” Maya said.
The guys put Bill and Connor into the holes and started covering them up. “Need a hand?” Chase asked. We could tell that he felt bad.
“I think we’ve got it.” Angela replied.
“I’m sorry.” Chase said.
Maya smiled. “Kid, don’t sweat it. We know you mean well.”
“I’m 18. I’m not a kid.”
Maya laughed. “I’m 29. Anyone under 21 is a kid to me. I’m old.”
“You’re 29? You look like you’re in your early 20s.” Angela flirted.
“Well, thank you!” Maya laughed.
It took a while, but the grave was finally dug. It was pretty shallow.
“I’m surprised you don’t have a tractor.” Gary said to Angela. “With that big garden, it would be a good thing to have.”
“I agree. We should go get one.” Ben said. Some people looked at him. “What? It’s not like they’re in high demand right now and if America ever gets on its feet again…”
“When America does…” Luis said.
“Sorry when…then we’ll pay for it. We’ll all split for it.” Ben said.
“Sounds good to me!” Luis said. We all agreed.
“Good. It’s settled. When we came here we passed by a tractor place.”
“Yeah Healey’s. It’s about 10 minutes from here. They have four wheelers there too.” We all looked at her. “What they’re fun?” She laughed. “I’ve always wanted one!”
“Yeah, I think we’ll stick with just getting a tractor for now.” Gary said. We laughed.
“Okay! I thought I would try.” Angela laughed. “There’s a feed store near there also. I think I’ll go with you. I actually got my food for my animals there and I know the chickens, dogs and cats could use more food. The horse has plenty of hay at least. I also want to check on the cats that live there.”
“We can go tomorrow.” Gary agreed.
“Sounds good. You know, I often wonder what happened to all the innocent animals out there who lost their owners to this.” Angela said.
“And babies and kids.” Chase nodded.
“What?” Jill gasped.
“Well, imagine if any kids or babies were left by themselves like Emma and I were, only younger ones.”
“Oh… I don’t even want to imagine that!” Cathy exclaimed.
“Me neither!” I agreed. I couldn’t get the picture out of my head.
“Okay, the bodies are covered. So, we can do a graveyard service. Should the kids join us?” Ben said.
“I know Piper will want to be here.” Allison said.
“I’ll go get them.” Naomi said and walked off.
“Poor mom.” Allison mumbled. Ryan put his arm around her.
“We’ll just all be more around her and give her more attention.” Luke said.
“The good thing is that she has all these kids who she can look after. They can keep her distracted.” Maya said.
Luis nodded. “The hardest time is nighttime. When you lay down and your thoughts drift to what used to be.” We all nodded in agreement. It got quiet as we waited for Naomi and the kids to come out. We were all alone with our thoughts.
CHAPTER 15
The kids came downstairs. Mrs. Ford was holding Dylan. Jenny wasn’t with them though. “Where’s Jenny?” Cathy asked.
“She’s acting funny.” Megan said.
“No!” Cathy said. She ran to the house.
“Stay here with Mrs. Ford.” I said to my girls. “Ben?” He nodded his head and we followed Cathy. We got upstairs and went into the bedroom. Jenny was in the middle of the room, arms outstretched, staring at the ceiling. She was mumbling. I gasped.
Ben grabbed his walkie-talkie. “Luis, I need you in here please. Ethan, can you replace Robert?”
“Yes.” Ethan said into the walkie-talkie.
“What’s going on?” Robert asked.
“Get up here now!” Ben said.
“Is everyone okay? Cathy? Jenny?” Robert asked.
“Jenny, honey?” Cathy said.
Jenny stopped mumbling and looked to her mom. “Mama?” She tilted her head to the side.
“Why don’t you come downstairs?” Cathy asked.
“The lights are so… so pretty.” Jenny said.
Cathy was crying. “There’s more outside honey. Come on.”
Jenny looked at her mom. “We all have colors inside.”
I
began to cry too. I couldn’t help it, but I did. “Come on outside with us Jenny.”
Jenny smiled at us and walked towards us. Robert came running up the stairs as Jenny approached the landing. “What’s going on?”
“Colors!” Jenny said and pushed her father down the stairs. Luckily, John was coming up and caught him halfway down. Cathy and I were screaming. Luis came running into the house and Jenny started giggling.
“We all have colors. I like red the most!” She shoved her mom against the wall. Ben pulled her off. John was helping Robert. Luis hollered outside for help. Jenny was struggling in Ben’s arms. She seemed so strong.
“What the hell?” Ben shouted.
“A maniac!” I said.
“What?” Cathy cried.
“She’s acting like a maniac.”
“No! No…” Cathy cried. “Not my baby!” Jenny started laughing and bit Ben in the face. He
managed to shove her off. I tripped Jenny. And she fell on the floor. “Sorry!” I said. I felt bad for tripping my niece, but right now I had to protect us all. Ben pinned down Jenny.
Luis came upstairs and helped Ben. “We need some rope to tie her up until the cell is done.”
“We can’t put her in a cell!” Cathy cried.
“She just tried killing you and your husband.” Ben said.
I went to hug Cathy. “Cathy…”
“No… I… I have to check on Robert.” She ran downstairs and Jenny giggled louder.
“We need rope.” Luis said to me. I nodded and went to get the rope we had used for Sammie. I couldn’t believe that this was happening.
Jeremy came upstairs. “Where’s Brandon?”
“What?” Luis exclaimed.
“I checked on Robert. He has a hurt ankle. I went to get my bag from the den and Brandon’s not there.” Jenny giggled really loudly. We heard mumbling from the room that Bill had been in earlier. It sounded like “habba de ba”.
“I’ll go get… somebody!” I said running downstairs and outside.
“What’s going…” Jill began.
“We need people with muscles inside now! Brandon and Jenny are turning!” I blurted out.
“What?” Rose asked. Angela, Maya, Gary, Jason, Ryan and Luke ran inside.
We heard a gunshot. “Oh no!” I said.
A few minutes later everyone came outside. Ben had rope tied around Jenny’s hands and she was doing a strange dance. Jason was crying but he also had rope around his son’s hands. Robert was limping.
“We need everyone right here right now!” Ben said.
“What about Chase, Jacob and Ethan?” Allison asked.
“Them too!” Ben said.
“But, then no one will be guarding the driveway.” I said.
“If one of them is changing, then they will have a bigger issue.” Ben said.
Gary sighed. “Chase, Jacob, Ethan we need you up here.” He said into the walkie-talkie.
“Who’s going to replace us?” Chase asked.
“No one.” Gary said.
“Ah… come again?” Ethan asked.
“Just get up here!” I said after I took the walkie-talkie from Gary.
“We are on our way up.” Ethan said.
“Okay, so how do we know she’s a maniac?” Jill asked looking at Jenny.
“That’s not my daughter.” Cathy cried.
“Agreed.” I said.
“What was the gunshot?” Jill asked.
“That was nothing. I had my gun out and tripped.” Robert sighed.
Cathy looked at Robert’s foot. “You’re bleeding!”
“My foot got in the way. That’s not important right now.” Robert mumbled.
“But…” Cathy began.
Chase, Jacob and Ethan arrived. “What’s going on?” Chase asked. “We…” He noticed Jenny and Brandon tied up. “Ah…”
“They just changed.” Ben explained.
“What!” Jacob exclaimed.
“She’s only 14.” Chase gasped.
“Exactly. If we are going to keep them and us safe, then we need to get those cells done now!” Luis announced.
Cathy was crying. “My daughter is going to have to stay in a cell!” She went to hug Jenny. Robert pulled her back just-in-time from getting head-butted by Jenny.
“She’s our daughter, and she will be cured, but for now we need to listen to Luis. We need to build those cells.” Robert announced. Jenny laughed out loud.
Brandon looked at Jenny.”Habba de ba?” Jenny laughed and nodded her head. Brandon kicked his dad in the knee. Jason grabbed his knee and yelled out.
“I think she’s a leader!” Maya said. “Brandon just took an order from her.”
“Let’s tie them to a chair for now or something. We need to stop them from hurting anyone else!” Gary said.
“Are you all right Jason?” Jeremy asked.
“I’ll be fine!” Jason groaned.
“Robert, we need to check out your foot.” Rose demanded.
“I’ll be fine also!” Robert growled.
“Robert, go get your foot fixed. Don’t give them crap.” Cathy nagged Robert.
Robert sighed. “Fine, but you guys better be extra gentle with my girl.” He looked at Jenny. She screamed in his face and started laughing. Robert shook his head and went inside with Jeremy and Rose.
“I need to check on the kids.” I said suddenly worried. “Where did they go?”
“I think Mrs. Ford took them to the garden area.” Allison responded.
Jill and I ran to the garden. The kids were picking vegetables and putting them into a pile. Mrs. Ford noticed us. “Good job kids. Keep it up.” She walked over to us. “Please tell me Jenny didn’t change.” I told her what happened.
“I’m sorry I didn’t see it before, I…” She was looking in the direction of the woods. “Kids come here right now!” The kids ran to her. I was confused and then I saw it too. There were a few people standing in the woods. Mrs. Ford and Jill got out their guns. I didn’t have one because I hadn’t been on duty for a while.
I did have a walkie-talkie though. “We need people here now!” I shouted into the walkie-talkie.
John, Gary, Ben, Jacob, Ryan, Ethan and Maya came running over. “The rest are guarding the other two. What’s wrong?”
“Look.” Mrs. Ford pointed at the woods. “Aleisha, let’s get the kids inside.”
“Hold it.” Ben said. “We are surrounded.” We looked around and they were all around us.
“Guys? Jenny is doing something really strange.” Allison’s voice came from the walkie-talkie.
“Kids, get in between us. We’re going to try to get you inside.” Gary said.
We encircled the kids. Emma, Piper and Caleb made sure the younger ones were in between. “Luis,” Maya said into her walkie-talkie. “We are surrounded. We’re headed your way. Have Naomi go inside with the baby.”
“Do you need us?” Luis asked.
“We are almost there. Keep an eye on Jenny and Brandon.” Ben said.
“Brandon’s easy. He’s just watching Jenny.” Luis said. “Jenny’s well… You’ll see.”
We managed to make it to the front of the house and Mrs. Ford went inside with the kids. “Aleisha, Jill can you go in also?” Ben asked. We agreed, but I glanced at Jenny. The way she looked will be forever in my mind. If only I would’ve known what would happen next, but this future is not something I ever would’ve predicted. Jenny had her arms in the air like at the beginning of a race or something as if to say wait until I say begin.
I went in the house with Allison. Mrs. Ford and Naomi were already upstairs with the kids. I looked out the window. Allison joined me. “They should’ve tied her hands in the back.” Allison said. “What is she doing with them anyways?”
“I’m not sure.” I said. I looked closely at the woods. “We are completely surrounded.” I said. Liz and Christian came into the house.
“They sent us in.” Christian said. “I’m no good with a gun.
I…”
I had walked to the side door to look out. “Yup. Completely surrounded.”
Allison picked up the walkie-talkie that I had set down as she gasped at the numbers of them. “Guys! There’s too many out there. There has to be hundreds!”
Ben looked around and finally saw how many were around them. Luis also did. The window was open in the house so we heard him shout “Get in the house now!” and they all began running to the house. Jason was pulling his son who was barely moving and John and Jacob were trying to pull Jenny.
Robert limped into the room with his foot wrapped. “What’s going on?” He looked out the window. “Holy shit!” At that exact moment, Jenny lowered her arms. People came running out of the woods. Jenny sat down. The front door opened and everyone started rushing in. Everyone, that is except for Jason, who was now being attacked by Brandon and John and Jacob. Jacob was dragging John away from Jenny. They managed to get to the door right before the maniacs. Luis had already dragged Cathy in right before.
“No!” Cathy was screaming. “My baby!”
“Oh wow!” I said still staring out the window. Others joined me. Jenny was sitting in the middle of all the maniacs. She gave them a sign and they all turned towards her. Brandon stopped hurting his father. Jenny rose and walked to a nearby maniac who helped her untie her ropes. They were really loose already. I don’t think anyone had known how dangerous she could be, so it was easy for her to move her arms. She then untied Brandon’s ropes which were a little more secure but not by much and reached down and broke Jason’s neck while giggling. She looked towards the house.
“Get ready !” Luis said. Everyone (who had one) got their guns ready, even Robert.
Jenny giggled in our direction and then began to head down the driveway. All the maniacs followed.
“What the hell?” Christian said. “Wait! Alex is out there!”
We all watched as Alex followed them. “I didn’t even know that he changed.” Liz said. “I…” Suddenly, all the maniacs and Jenny stopped and stared at Alex. “Oh no!” She cried. What was Alex doing? Did he think that he could blend in with them? Well, he was wrong. The maniacs didn’t fall for it. Jenny walked up to him.
“We need to do something!” Christian said.
“There’s too many of them.” Jacob remarked.