Chapter 6
Jane stood at the door, waiting. She kept expecting the creatures to come running by at any minute. One of them must have seen her.
She pressed her hand against the door. It was closed. She had locked it too. But it didn't feel secure. She was sure that they could break it down. Or they could easily come through any of the windows in the house.
"Maybe we should find somewhere to hide," she said.
"I think it'll be okay," Charles assured her. "I don't think they saw us."
"How can we be sure?"
Charles shook his head. There was no way that they could ever be sure. They would constantly be under threat.
He rested his hand on her shoulder. The touch felt soothing.
"It'll be okay," he said again.
"Where's Mr. Gordon?" Robert asked.
Jane looked around. He was standing beside Charles, holding his other hand. She couldn't remember letting him down, but she must have done so when she entered the house
.
In order to lock the door maybe.
She thought about his question, yet didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell the boy that Mr. Gordon had run off to attack the creatures. That he had probably been killed. No, ha
d
definitel
y
been killed. No one could have survived that many of them. Besides, the man had stopped screaming. There was no better sign than that.
"Is he coming back?"
Jane still couldn't speak. She looked down at the little boy. She could see the worry in his eyes. And she wanted to cry.
Charles bent down beside him. It took him a great deal of effort. He was old. His body hurt. And he had been winded by the rush to the house. "I don't think Mr. Gordon is coming back," he said.
"Why not?"
"Because he wanted to save us."
Robert didn't understand.
"From thos
e
thing
s
," Charles added.
"Is he dead?" the little boy asked after a small pause.
Charles raised his hands and placed them on the boys shoulders. "I think so."
Robert nodded his head, seeming to accept it all.
"I'm sorry," Jane said.
Robert looked at her as though he wasn't sure what she was sorry for. "It's okay." He squeezed Mr. Baker in between his arms and turned back to Charles. "What are we going to do?"
"I think we're going to stay here for a bit. We have to make sure that none of those things are out there."
"All right."
Charles stood up. He grabbed his lower back as he did so, but didn't make a sound. "How about we look around? Might be we could find something to eat."
Robert liked the sound of that. Jane said that she did too. Though, in truth, she didn't want to leave the door.
*
Jane walked behind Charles and Robert as they made their way to the kitchen. But, before she got there, her eyes caught sight of several photographs lining the walls. She stopped in front of one of them and let Charles and Robert continue on their own.
It was of Mr. Gordon's family. She could see the man sitting on a camping chair. A woman was beside him. Jane assumed that it was his wife. She had long black hair and a smile that made Jane think the woman had never been so happy than as at this moment. There were two children beside them. They must have been their children. A boy and a girl. Both looked around ten years old.
Jane moved onto another picture. It was the same family. This time, they were on a boat.
In another picture, they were all swimming in a pool.
Her thoughts shifted to her own family. There was photo in her bag that she had taken from her house. But that was all. She'd never be able to take pictures like these. Her life had been changed, ruined.
She placed her hand on one of the photos.
It was then that she heard a noise.
At first, Jane thought that it was Charles talking to Robert. But it didn't take long for her to realize that this wasn't the case. It wa
s
the
m
, the creatures. She could hear them banging around, growling.
Jane pulled her hand from the picture frame and ran into the kitchen. Charles was sitting at the kitchen table beside Robert. He had gotten the little boy a glass of water. Charles was looking at her.
"Do you hear that?" she asked.
Charles nodded his head.
"We have to hide. Now!"
Charles lifted his hand to calm her. "Just wait a moment. Maybe they'll pass."
"And if they don't?"
Charles didn't know what to say to this.
"Let's at least go upstairs," Jane argued. "We can hide in one of the rooms."
"What's wrong?" Robert interrupted.
Jane didn't want to alarm the child, but she couldn't pretend that there wasn't a problem. "It'
s
the
m
. We have to hide."
Robert looked at Charles. The old man smiled and told the boy not to worry. "But maybe Jane is right," he added. "Let's go upstairs. It'll be safer in one of the rooms. They won't be able to get us in there."
Robert stood up and ran next to Charles. He helped the old man out of his chair.
"Come on." Jane led them out of the kitchen and into the hallway. "I think everything will be all right. It's just to make sure."
As they walked to the stairs, Jane motioned for the two to wait so she could quickly check back outside. She made her way to the window, pulled open the curtain and looked out onto the street.
Three of the creatures were passing out front.
Jane almost pulled away, but didn't. She wanted to make sure that they hadn't seen them.
"Let's go," Charles called to her. "We don't want them to see us."
Jane closed the curtain and led the group upstairs.
*
Jane came upon the top floor hallway. She grabbed hold of Charles's hand - the old man was still holding onto Robert's - and led him down the hallway until she came upon a room.
The door was slightly ajar.
Jane peered through the crack and thought that she could see something on the bed inside. It hadn't occurred to her that anyone else might have been in the house.
She raised her finger to her lips and told Charles and Robert to be quiet. Then she let go of Charles' hand and pushed the door open.
It creaked as it moved and startled whoever was on the bed. A head turned and stared at Jane. A young girl - the girl from the photos downstairs
,
Mr. Gordon's daughte
r
.
Jane opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to tell the young girl not to be worried. That they hadn't come to harm her. But, before she managed to say anything, the young girl started to scream. Not the frightened scream that Jane had expected. It was a scream of anger. A scream of one o
f
the
m
.
Jane couldn't move. The young girl continued to scream and thrash around on the bed. It took a few seconds for her to realize that the girl had been tied down and couldn't break free.
Charles came up behind her. "What's the matter?"
Jane didn't have to say anything. He saw the young girl on the bed.
Robert did too. "That's Elsie," he said.
Jane and Charles looked at the little boy. They both rushed him out of the room.
"Don't look in there," Jane said.
"Everything will be okay," Charles added.
Robert shook his head. "No, it won't. The same thing happened to my brother."
Neither Jane nor Charles could disagree with that.
"Come with me," the old man said. He led Robert down the hall to the room at the end of it. It was the master bedroom and looked safe enough. "Stay in here a moment."
Robert walked over to the bed and sat down on it without complaint.
Charles turned around. Jane was behind him, just outside the room.
"What do we do?" he asked.
"We have to get her to be quiet," Jane said. "She's going to attract thos
e
thing
s
outside. They're going to know that we're here."
"How do we do that?"
Jane shook her head. She didn't know. She could only think of one solution, but she didn't want to have to do that.
"We have to think of something quick," Charles said.
Without much more thought, Jane spoke. "We have to kill her." She was surprised at how easily the words came out of her mouth.
Charles took a step closer toward her, so that the little boy wouldn't hear them. "Kill her?"
"We can't let her go. She'd attack us if we did. And I don't think that she's going to change back. We don't have a choice."
"But she's just a young girl."
"No, she's not. And you know it. She's one of them. What else can we do?"
Charles didn't answer.
"We could just leave," Jane said next, "and hide in another house. But she'd die that way too. She needs to eat. And if we just leave her tied up, she'll starve. It would be more humane if we just killed her."
More humane to kill he
r
. The words sounded strange to her. They were talking about killing a young girl.
But she knew that she was right. Charles did as well. He nodded.
"I'll do it," he said.
"No." Jane argued. "I will."
Charles didn't like that idea. "I don't want you to have to do it."
"I'll be okay. Go be with Robert and make sure that he's all right."
Charles nodded again. Then he wrapped his arms around Jane and gave her a hug. Jane almost collapsed in his grasp, but fought to stay strong. Charles kissed her on the cheek before heading back to the little boy.
Once he got to the room he gave Jane a smile. It was forced, but it made Jane feel a little better.
He closed the door.
Chapter 7
Jane stood in the hallway. The sun still shone outside, but not much of it made it into this part of the house. She could hear the little girl screaming
-
Elsi
e
- and walked to her bedroom.
Elsie thrashed around on the bed. She pulled on the cords tying her down, but couldn't break out of them.
Jane walked to the foot of the bed and looked down at the young girl. Her face was red. Her eyes bulged. Her tongue shot out wildly.
Jane wanted to cry.
Her own daughter had changed just like this. Thrashed around in her playpen. Had tried to attack her.
Her husband had changed too. Then he had come in and killed their little girl.
And, though the circumstances were different, Jane was about to do a similar thing.
She needed to do
.
She couldn't let Elsie continue to scream. It would bring the creatures from outside into the house. It would threaten their lives.
"I'm sorry," she said.
She approached the young girl and grabbed the pillow behind her head. It was difficult to get because Elsie kept trying to bite at her. But, in the end, she managed. She held the pillow out in front of her.
"I'm sorry," she said once more. The young girl continued to scream.
Jane couldn't wait any longer. She knew that any more delay might cost them their lives. She placed the pillow down on the Elise's face and closed her eyes. She pressed down.
One...two...
The young girl continued to thrash around, her screams muffled.
…three…four…five
Jane placed her knee on the bed so that she could lean forward a little more, press down a little harder.
…six…seven…eight
Elsie's head shifted from left to right, but she wasn't able to get any air. Her efforts began to slow down.
…nine…ten…
It took longer than ten seconds. But, when she was done, Jane could no longer feel the little girl struggling underneath her. Elsie's screaming had stopped as well.
Jane kept the pillow on the young girl's face. Her finger's clutched the side of it, as though she was afraid to let go. She had killed her.
But there hadn't been a choice.
Jane's finger's relaxed. She took her knee off of the bed and stood up. She took the pillow from the girl's face. Even in death, she looked angry.
Jane lifted her fingers and placed them on the young girl's eyes. She closed them. It made Elsie look a bit more peaceful. She lifted Elsie's head and placed the pillow back behind her head.
Then she walked out of the room.
"I'm sorry," Jane whispered as she left.
*
Charles and Robert were sitting on the bed when Jane opened the door. They both looked at her.
"Everything okay?" Charles asked.
"Yes." It was all that Jane could manage. If she had said any more, she would break down in tears.
She walked over to a chair beside the window and sat down on it. She looked outside.
The creatures were gone.
They were safe.