Chapter 3
John noticed right away the fresh blood dripping down his basement wall. He could see small clumps at the base of it, along with something jellylike. Julie was upset. Emily was crying. He turned to Scooter.
"What happened down here?" he asked.
"It was one of thos
e
thing
s
," Scooter replied. "It was trying to get through the bars." With the way the young man's eyes darted down every so often, it looked as though he was trying to appear stronger than he felt.
John looked back at the window. "The bars would've held."
"I know, but…"
"You didn't have to kill it!" Julie shouted. "Not in front of us!" She pulled Emily in closer against her.
Scooter opened his mouth, but took a moment to think about what he had to say. His eyes darted around from Julie to John, then settled on the broken window.
When he turned back, there was no longer any hesitation in him. "I did what I thought was right!"
John could hear Scooter's voice border on all-out anger and he didn't want it to go any further. He put his hand on the young man's shoulder and told him not to worry about it right now.
"Do you see the way she's looking at me? Like I'm the bad guy here!" Scooter pointed over to the blood on the wall.
"
That'
s
the bad guy! He's the one you have to watch out for! If you hadn't noticed, they are all trying to kill us!"
"I noticed!" Julie screamed back. "But you didn't have to do it in front of Emily! She's just a young girl!"
His eyes wavered once again before they locked back on her. "I know she's just a young girl. But those things are out to get us. They're not going to change back. So the less of them out there, the better!"
John squeezed the young man's shoulder again. "It's okay. What's done is done. Let's not worry about it right now."
He tried to lead Scooter over to the work table, but the young man wouldn't leave so easily. He continued to stare at Julie.
"Come on. Sit down over here." John pulled again at the young man.
This time, Scooter let himself be guided to a chair. On the way, he mumbled, "Things have changed. I didn't ask to be part of this world. It's either us or them. That's all there is to it."
John had thought the same thing several times over the past several days, though he could understand Julie's concern as well. No one should have to see anything like this. His thoughts drifted quickly to his wife and how she had responded to their neighbour
.
No, it wasn't right for anyone to have to go through that.
When they got to the table, Scooter sat onto a chair. His shoulders heaved up and down with each breath he took. His fingers still clasped the axe.
"How about something to drink?" John asked. He didn't wait for a reply. He walked over to the far wall and grabbed a couple cans of pop. He brought them back and handed one to Scooter. "They're not cold, but they're the best that I've got."
Scooter didn't say anything in return as he took the can. He simply opened it and took a few large gulps. His breathing had started to settle. Not by much.
John brought the other can to Julie and Emily.
"Thank you," Julie said. She opened it and let Emily take a sip first. She turned back to John. "It's just…she shouldn't have to see stuff like that."
John nodded. "I know. None of us should. But we've all been put in a bad situation. There's not a lot that we can do about it."
"Emily is so young."
"And he was trying to protect her." John tried to smile. "He was trying to protec
t
yo
u
as well."
Julie looked at him out of the corner of her eye and took some time to process what he had said. When his words settled in, her eyes drifted over to Scooter. He was sitting there silently, looking down at the can of pop in his hands. "I know," she admitted. "It's just…well, I wish that Emily didn't have to see these things."
"None of us do. But we don't always have a choice. Sometimes we have to do things that we don't like."
"I know," Julie said once more. This time her voice was soft, reproachful.
John didn't want that. He was only trying to explain why Scooter might have done what he had. "Let's go sit down over there. You must be tired." He pointed to the chair beside Scooter.
Julie looked back at the work table. Scooter still hadn't taken his eyes off of the can of pop.
"I don't know," she said. "He's mad."
"He's not mad. He's…" John wasn't sure what to say
.
He was hurt? He was frustrated
?
He was certain that neither of those would make her feel any better. "He's just tired," he decided on. "Like you."
Julie stood up. She held onto the little girl's hand. "Okay," she said.
The corner of her mouth raised, but John knew that she was still upset. Of course, he couldn't blame her. She had just seen a person chopped to death with an axe.
Chapter 4
John led Julie and Emily to the work table. Julie sat down and pulled Emily up onto her lap. The little girl took another sip from the can of pop.
"You probably want something to eat too," John said. "You must be hungry."
Emily looked up at him and nodded her head. Scooter and Julie didn't even appear to know that he had asked them anything. Julie was looking at Scooter. Scooter was looking at the can in his hands.
"Let me see what I have." John went and grabbed a few things he had brought down over the past week. "We have some crackers, some cereal. Oh, and a bag of chips." He brought them over to the table.
As he did, he noticed that Julie's hand was on Scooter's arm. She was saying that she was sorry for how she had reacted, telling him not to worry about it. Scooter seemed to have calmed down a bit more as well. Though he still had yet to speak.
John placed the food in front of everyone. "What should we have first?"
Emily immediately pointed to the bag of chips. He pulled open the top and held them out toward her. She reached in and pulled out a handful, then shoved them into her mouth.
"Take your time," he warned her. "You don't want to get sick."
The little girl slowed down.
"That's better." He patted her head.
Emily grabbed a few more handfuls and tried her best to eat them slowly.
Scooter and Julie eventually joined in.
"Now I told you that door was strong!" John said after a mouthful of his own.
The creatures continued to beat against the wooden structure, but it didn't sound like they were going to get through.
"You were right," Scooter said. His voice was soft. There was no longer any anger attached to it. The fire from his eyes was also gone. "Looks like we'll be safe down here."
They listened to a few more deep thuds against the wood.
John grabbed another handful of chips and popped them into his mouth.
"Do you have another seat?" Julie asked. "You must want to sit down."
The old man raised his hands and shook his head. He swallowed his food and responded, "I only have the two down here. I hadn't been expecting company. But it's okay, I'll just sit over there." He pointed to the mattress where his wife was.
"No, really," Julie continued. She moved to get up for him. "Sit here."
He placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down. "It's okay. I want to be with Alice anyway."
He walked over to the mattress and sat down beside his wife. It was difficult for him to lower himself. His knees cracked and his back pained him.
Once settled, he placed out his hand and ran it over Alice's hair. It was gray. It had been for a while. She had said that she was never going to dye it. She had never been embarrassed to be gray, never ashamed to get old.
That was his wife. Strong from the beginning.
Until now.
"She hasn't talked since all of this happened?" Julie asked.
"No, she hasn't." John kept his hand on his wife's head. "She barely does anything." It hurt for him to say so.
"Have you tried medicine for her?"
"I wouldn't know what to give her."
"Have you tried taking her upstairs?"
"She wouldn't go."
Julie stopped asking questions. "I'm sorry. I should've kept quiet."
"It's okay," John assured her. "I only wish that I knew what to do."
He looked down at his wife. She hadn't moved. Not even with all of the commotion that had just happened.
At that, he felt his heart break. He loved her so much. But he hadn't been able to reach her
.
He had tried and failed.
"Are you okay?" Julie called to him.
John broke his gaze from his wife and looked over to the work table. "Yes," he said. "I guess I…I’m just tired." It seemed to be the easiest explanation of late.
H
e
ha
d
been about to sa
y
I miss he
r
, but he knew that those words would bring tears rushing down his face
.
He could feel them welling up in his eyes and he didn't want to cry in front of the newcomers. They had finally started to calm down and he didn't want to alarm them.
As he raised his hand to his face, the first tear fell from his eye. It ran down his cheek and fell off onto the mattress. Another followed, though John was able to wipe that one away.
He bent over and kissed his wife on the temple.
He missed her so much.
He kept his lips pressed against her skin for a few seconds. In a fairytale, this would be when the princess would awake. But, unfortunately, this wasn't a fairytale.
"I love you," he whispered.
When he raised his head, he could see both Julie and Scooter staring at him. In Julie's eyes, he could see her fighting back tears of her own. Even Scooter looked as though he was having trouble with it all.
He stared back at them, unsure of what to say.
It wasn't until he noticed the little girl that he broke their silence. She wasn't paying them any attention. She was too busy shoving another fistful of chips into her mouth. And, as sad as John felt, he couldn't help but laugh at that.
Chapter 5
The others didn't laugh along with him, but they definitely began to settle once more. The creatures continued to wail against the door upstairs, but that didn't seem to bother them anymore, either.
"I'm sorry about that little breakdown," John said after some time passed. "I had been doing pretty well up until that point. Don't get me wrong, I've had my ups and downs. But I thought I had it under control."
"That's wasn't a breakdown," Julie said. "And it's totally understandable."
"We're all going through a rough time," Scooter added. The young man's voice hinted at an apology for how he had acted earlier.
John managed to work up a smile. The others smiled back. Except Emily. She had moved onto a box of crackers now and still wasn't paying them any attention.
"So how did you three meet?" John asked.
"We were at the airport," Scooter replied.
"The airport?"
"We both worked there. I found Julie in one of the staff rooms."
"And Emily?"
Scooter turned to the young girl and carefully thought about his next words. "She was in an elevator. I heard her crying."
John almost asked more about it, but by the look on Scooter's face it was obvious that something horrible had happened. It wasn't something he wanted to pursue at them moment.
"That's where you got the plane?" he asked instead.
Julie shook her head. "That came later."
"Later?"
"We got that at an small airport where my father used to take me flying," she explained. She told a bit of their journey to it as well.
"You're the one that flew it?"
She nodded.
"Amazing." It was hard for John to believe that these people in his basement had gone through such an experience.
"What about you?" Scooter asked. "How did you end up down here?"
The old man's story was nothing as dramatic, but he told it to them anyway. He started with how he had heard the commotion outside and looked out of his window to see what was happening. He described how one of the creatures had broken in through his front window and chased him and his wife into the basement. Then he told them about Mr. Williams trying to reach in through the window.
"I had told Alice to get away from him," he said. "But she wouldn't listen. She nearly touched him."
"Why?" Julie asked.
"I don't think she believed it was happening. Maybe she thought it was a dream."
"And she hasn't talked since?"
John shook his head. "She talked for a bit after that. It was the next day that she went quiet. After everything had a chance to sink in, I guess."
He ran his hand up his wife's arm. Alice remained still.
"Did you have the mattress down here already?" Scooter asked.
Despite his sadness, John chuckled. "It wasn't as easy as that." He explained about he had had to go upstairs to bring it down. He also mentioned the thrill he had felt pushing it down each flight of stairs.
"That took some strength," Scooter said.
"More than I thought I had," the old man admitted it.
"But you did it," Julie concluded.
They fell into silence as they recounted all that had been said. It was bizarre to them that these stories were actually a part of their introductions. There were no longer the usual questions that they had at one time expected. Nothing to do with school or jobs. They didn't talk about family or friends. There wasn't much small talk of any kind.
They talked about the change that had happened...and how they had survived it.
At least, for the most par
t
, John thought. His eyes drifted back to his wife. He ran his hand back down her arm
.
When would she come back to him?