Maniacs

by Lee Wise

  Steve came into the room. “Me too.”

  Molly started barking from the kitchen.

  “Everybody to the door now! Aleisha, Liz, go upstairs!” Ben shouted. Liz and I went upstairs. I wasn’t going to argue!

  Soon, they had us come back down. “There’s something you should see.” Robert said. “Cathy, you too.” The kids, Naomi, Mrs. Ford and Leah remained upstairs while the rest of us went downstairs andthen outside.

  “Does anyone recognize this?” Luis asked. There was a pile of dead animals, but on top were “treasures”.

  “What the hell?” I asked.

  “That’s what we said.” John responded.

  I went closer. I couldn’t believe my eyes. “That’s Sarah’s blanket and Megan’s teddy bear.”

  “I found Mary’s bracelets and Nate’s watch on the pile.” Jill said.

  “I recognize that.” Cathy said getting closer to the pile. “Caleb was wearing those sunglasses a few days ago but he said that they went missing.”

  Allison got closer. “There’s Dylan’s rattle!”

  “And I found Brianna’s doll also.” Steve said.

  “Why did they leave these?” I asked. I was getting ready to speak again when Cathy gasped.

  She was walking around the pile. “Jenny’s cell phone!” She grabbed for it.

  I walked over to her. “It still has a charge!”

  Cathy turned it on. “Oh my God!” She showed me the phone. On the screen were the words “I love you.”

  “What the…” I said. She showed everyone the message.

  “Oh Jenny!” Cathy cried.

  “I don’t mean to be rude, but who’s Jenny?” Steve asked.

  “She’s Cathy’s daughter. She just turned this morning.” Jill responded.

  “She’s a maniac?” Steve gasped.

  “Actually a leader.” Liz said.

  Steve looked at her. “I don’t care what the hell you call her. She’s one of them and if I see her, I will kill her!”

  “You bastard!” Cathy shouted and charged him but I stopped her.

  “No, the only way to stop this is to capture her alive.” Christian said.

  “Why?” Mason asked. “Look at what they have done!”

  “It wasn’t her group at your house first of all and second, we need to learn from her.” Liz explained. Steve shook his head.

  “Why did they burn down Steve’s house and they are leaving you gifts?” Anne asked.

  “We’re not sure.” Liz said.

  “Think of it this way,” Ben reasoned. “People are still changing. What happens if one of you changes? Your daughter? Then, wouldn’t you want to get your daughter back again?”

  Steve sighed. “Of course.” He looked at Cathy. “I’m sorry. I’m still upset. They killed Rachel. It’s… it’s still fresh in my mind.”

  “We understand.” Robert said. “What I don’t understand is this.” He indicated the pile in front of us.

  “This is a first.” Liz said and we all agreed.

  “And I definitely don’t understand that.” Robert said pointing to the phone that Cathy was holding. “Do you think she’s trying to communicate? Do you think that the real her is somehow trapped inside this crazy body?”

  “I really don’t know, but I hope to find out.” Liz responded.

  “And they didn’t attack us.” I said. “Why is one group attacking and burning down houses and this one is leaving us presents?” No one had a response for that.

  “That’s what the scientist is for. “ Jacob declared. “We’ll let her think about this and the rest of us can figure out protection for the night.” He looked at his watch, “It’s almost 9:00.”

  “I have to get the girls to bed.” I announced.

  “Cathy, Allison, Aleisha, Liz and Christian, why don’t you get the kids to sleep and get some rest also. We’ll come to get you if we need you. Anne, you can stay and make plans with us or you can help get the kids to sleep and get some rest also.” Luis said.

  “I would love to get some rest!” Anne exclaimed. She went upstairs with us. The kids had already cleaned up their mess and Mrs. Ford had fed them some squirrel stew (with mixed reviews) and bread with butter. They were sitting, listening to a story when we walked into the room.

  “Auntie Anne!” Brianna jumped up and hugged her aunt. Allison went to hug her mom and look at Dylan who was asleep in a bassinet. Jill and I tucked our kids into bed. They were already in pajamas and had brushed their teeth. Cathy helped Alyssa and Jake with brushing their teeth and tucked them in.

  Normally I was so exhausted that I would fall asleep right away, but tonight my mind was just everywhere. I wished that I would just go to sleep and that I would just wake up back at my house and all of this would have just been a dream. It was almost August. Last year at this time, I would be planning the annual trip with Cathy and the kids to different outlet shops in New Hampshire for school shopping. We would be having barbecues and going to the nearby amusement parks. This just felt so surreal. Would I ever get used to this new life? I tossed and turned. After a little over an hour I guess, I fell asleep.

  I had a dream that I saw Jenny in the garden picking all the vegetables and throwing them into a fire. I tried to shout to her to stop. “No!” I tried yelling. “We need that food. Why are you doing that?” In my dream, she giggled. Next, I heard a “habba de ba” from behind me and felt a hand on my shoulder. I gasped and woke up.

  John was sleeping beside me. He also woke up. “Everything okay?”

  “Just had a bad dream.” I sighed.

  “I don’t know anyone who’s having good dreams.” John said. Then, John jumped.”Holy shit! Damn cat!” He woke up a lot of people. One of the cats had jumped onto his legs. A lot of the kids laughed. John and I joined in.

  “Can I have the cat daddy?” Megan asked.

  “She’s all yours!” He picked up the cat who had curled up at his feet and put her by Megan’s feet. The cat stretched, jumped off the bed and ran out of the room.”

  “Daddy!” Megan whined.

  “She’ll come back.” He said.

  “Yeah, but to you.” Megan cried.

  “Let’s get some sleep everyone!” I said. I heard some giggles.

  “Amen!” Christian laughed from the other side of the room.

  Ben walked into the room. “Is everything okay up here? I was just getting some water and I heard a commotion.”

  “Everything is fine. It was just a cat.” John groaned.

  “The cat made all the noise?” Ben asked.

  “John getting scared of the cat was all the noise!” Jill joked.

  John shrugged his shoulders. “Pretty much!”

  Ben laughed. “Alright, sweet dreams everyone.”

  “Why’s everyone so loud? I’m trying to sleep over here!” Nate grumbled.

  We all laughed.

  “Mama?” Megan asked.

  “Yeah babe?” I answered.

  “I have to go pee.” Megan responded. We all laughed even harder.

  “You always have to go pee.” Sarah teased.

  “Come on honey.” I said.

  “Actually, I kind of have to go to!” Sarah mumbled getting up also.

  “Mama, I have to go too.” Mary said.

  “Oh geesh!” Nate complained.

  “I can take her.” I said.

  “No, I want mama.” Mary whined. Jill got up also. Then it was the snowball effect and all the kids suddenly had full bladders. Luckily, Jacob had fixed the inside bathroom so we didn’t have to trudge outdoors with all the kids! After our bathroom break, we went back to our beds. John was already snoring away so I tucked the girls in.

  “John snores too loud!” Nate complained.

  “Just go to sleep!” Jill demanded. Nate groaned. Those who were awake laughed and finally went back to sleep. My dreams weren’t bad after that.

  CHAPTER 18

  I woke up to the most delicious smells wafting up the stairs. I t
hink the smell actually woke up the rest of us who were still in bed. It was only Sarah, Leah, Allison, Mary and I still in the room and we all kind of woke up at once.

  We hurried downstairs. “Something smells so delicious!” Allison said as we all went into the kitchen.

  “It’s all Jeremy!” Liz replied as she took a big bite out of a pancake and then sausage.

  “Well, it’s the food not me!” Jeremy laughed. Liz blushed. “I was able to make something delicious thanks to these gentlemen!” He motioned towards Ben, John, Gary and Ethan.

  “Well, how did you make this happen?” Leah asked.

  “We went to get a tractor and the house beside it had a few handy things.” John said.

  “In other words, we now have a lot more pets and supplies.” Angela explained.

  “Pets!” Mary exclaimed.

  “A cow!” Megan shouted.

  “Miles let us milk her!” Nate said.

  “Miles?” I asked.

  “He’s outside getting things situated for his animals.” Luis replied.

  “Our deal was that he could move in here and have protection if we could have the cow.” Gary said. “He agreed that we could share the cow and he would like the protection, but his other animals would come also. He also had a ton of supplies. And gave us some goat cheese along with jams and other things his wife had worked on before passing away.”

  “Yes, including some beautiful quilts.” Liz said.

  “What other animals?” Mary asked.

  An old man walked in who I figured was Miles. Allison confirmed my suspicion. “Mr. Grant! I haven’t seen you for a long time!”

  “Allison, I didn’t know you were here!” Miles responded.

  “Miles is in charge of some of the farm related/living off the land community events in the area.” Allison explained. “Mrs. Grant makes….made the best strawberry rhubarb jam I have ever eaten!”

  “I brought a bunch of those with me.” Miles said.

  “How many of your animals did you bring with you?” Allison asked.

  “All of them!” Miles responded.

  “All of them? But…but you had…” Allison stuttered.

  “Yep! All of them.” Miles responded. Allison looked surprised.

  I got up from the table and looked outside. It looked like a zoo out there. I laughed. Mary said, “I want to see!” I lifted her up. “That’s awesome! Can I go pat them?”

  “Finish eating first!” Jill responded. I lifted Sarah up to look also. Mary and Sarah wolfed down their food.

  “They are really friendly!” Miles said to the girls and they ate faster.

  “Slow down girls. The animals aren’t going anywhere!” Robert said. We all laughed.

  “Aren’t you going to eat?” Sarah asked Miles.

  Miles laughed. “I’m a farmer. I’ve been up for hours. I ate earlier. Actually, I haven’t been getting much sleep lately.”

  “Mommy’s been having nightmares also.” Sarah announced and I blushed.

  “I think we all have.” Ben said.

  “This whole damn thing is a nightmare.” Cathy complained.

  “I don’t know. Yes, Birdie passed. But she died of natural causes. We are all still alive and here for a reason, so let’s make the best of it.” Miles said.

  We heard barking outside. The guys went to grab their guns. “That’s just Mr. Doggleton.” Robert explained. “He’s teasing the animals. Don’t believe the barking unless you hear Molly.”

  “Yeah, and Sugar doesn’t hear very well lately, so you won’t hear her barking. She’s also toolazy.” Miles said.

  The front door opened and in came Jacob with a chubby older dog. The dog came over to Miles and sat by him. “I don’t have any food. You want some sausage, ask one of them!”

  Sugar looked at the kids and Nate handed her a piece of sausage. “Nate!” Jill scolded him and looked at Mike. He was also handing her a piece of sausage. The kids started laughing and we all did also.

  The kids finished their food quickly. “Can we see the animals now?” Sarah asked.

  “You sure can!” Miles agreed.

  “We’ve already seen the animals.” Megan said.

  “So?” Sarah sassed. Megan stuck out her tongue at her sister.

  “Mama!” Sarah whined.

  “Nope! None of that. You can’t fight around my animals. It makes them sad. Come on. Let’s go feed them.” Miles said. “Helen, would you like to join us?”

  Mrs. Ford’s face turned red. “Sure.” She replied and they all went outside.

  Piper was still inside getting some water. “He called her Helen!”

  “That he did!” Luke said. Piper smiled.

  “Can I go outside and see the animals?” Chase asked.

  “Why don’t we all go outside and see what’s out there.” Luke said.

  There turned out to be a farm’s worth outside which was perfect. Now, this could definitely be a self-sufficient area, if only we could get the security part down.

  “Did you see the tractor?” John asked me. “Just like the one I always wanted.”

  “That’s awesome.” I said. I really had no interest in tractors!

  “We also picked up lumber to make the cells and I guess now build a little barn for the animals. We have to go back with Miles to the feed store to get more for his animals. I’m thinking that they’ll be a lot of work, but worth having.” John said excitedly.

  “Mama, come see all the animals!” Megan shouted. I smiled at Megan and let her and Sarah show me around. There was a cow and a calf, two horses, five goats, three sheep, some bunnies and a donkey.

  “Wow!” I said.

  “There’s also a rooster, six more chickens, three old cats, Sugar of course and the pig.” Miles said from behind me. “Not to mention a couple barn cats that Angela grabbed from the feed store!”

  “Where’s the pig?” I looked around.

  The guys laughed. “Well, he’s just like a dog and follows people around.” Luke said. “He’s really come to like Luis and is in the shed watching him work!”

  I laughed. “That’s awesome! Speaking about work, I’m going to clean up our breakfast and then I know two girls who really need to wash up!”

  “Me?” Sarah asked. I nodded my head.

  “Maybe we should wait until the end of the day.” John said. I looked at him. “Well, they’ll get filthy out here helping with the animals, picking vegetables and playing.”

  “I agree, but nighttime is always so crazy that it’s hard to get anything done.” I argued.

  “We’ll make sure it happens tonight.” Mrs. Ford said. Naomi and Leah agreed and promised to help out. “All of us could use a cleaning.”

  “Well, you smell pretty to me Helen!” Miles said, making Mrs. Ford blush.

  “So, we need people helping in the shed, running security and building a fence.” Maya said coming over to us. “Who is ready to work?”

  Everyone said they were. It was decided that John and Robert would help Miles with the fencing. Caleb, Jake and Nate asked and began to help. Jacob, Gary and Luke went to replace Ryan, Ethan and Mason at the end of the driveway. Those three came up and had some breakfast. The rest of the guys hustled to get the cells ready. Mrs. Ford, Naomi and Leah supervised and helped the kids pick vegetables and plant some new rows. After, that they planned to work in the chicken coop. Rose and Jeremy went to see what (if anything) was needed for medical supplies. Angela and Maya worked on inventory. Allison went to change Dylan’s diaper. Cathy and I went to clean up after breakfast. The others were either helping with the fencing or in the shed. In other words, we were all spread out.

  Cathy was wiping down the table while I was drying the dishes when we heard several gunshots. “Oh no!” I yelled. We raced outside. The kids were running for the door with the three older ladies. Robert was also running with the three boys who had been helping with the fencing.

  “What’s going on?” I yelled.

  “Not sure. The g
unshots came from near the woods. Get inside with the kids. Both of you.” Robert said and took off with the others to the woods.

  Luis was running over with Liz and Christian. “Cathy, Aleisha, can you guard the front of the house?” We agreed. Liz and Christian went inside.

  Twenty minutes later, a group was coming to the house. They were looking around them but I still wasn’t sure what was going on.

  “What’s going on?” Cathy shrieked.

  “We don’t know!” Robert announced.

  “What?” I asked.

  “We looked everywhere, but couldn’t find the source of the gunshots.” Luis said.

  “Is everyone accounted for?” I asked.

  “Let’s double check.” Luis said. “The group that was with me from the military, that’s left I should say, let’s see Chase, Maya, is that it? Alex, Christian, Liz and Emma must be inside.” He asked over the walkie-talkie and everyone responded except for Alex. “Okay, so far we are missing one. Are all the kids accounted for?” He asked over the walkie-talkie. Mrs. Ford responded with yes. “Ben, is there anyone missing from our group?”

  Ben looked around and the others did also. “Jacob, Gary and Luke are still at the end of the driveway, right?”

  Luis called them on the walkie-talkie and there was no response. Again, he pressed the walkie-talkie. “Jacob, Gary, Luke?” No response. “We were just down there and they were there!” He explained to us.

  We were getting worried. “I thought you said Maya was with you?” I asked looking around.

  “I…” Luis looked around. “Wait, she went with Angela and Miles to go get the pig. It ran off into the woods.” He lifted the walkie-talkie again. “Angela, Maya, Miles?” No response.

  “Where is everyone?” Cathy exclaimed. We were all even more worried now.

  “Is anyone else missing?” Luis asked.

  “What about Jeremy and Rose?” I asked.

  “They’re in the house right?” Luis asked.

  “Sound off on the walkie-talkie, who’s…” Luis began. “Make that, everyone go into the living room now. Everyone except for Mrs. Ford, Leah, Naomi and the kids.” Luis said over the walkie-talkie. Our group went inside.

  In the living room I looked around. It was Luis, Ben, John, myself, Cathy, Robert, Liz, Christian, Allison, Mike, Jill, Ryan, Chase, Anne and Mason. “Wow!” I said.