part 8!

From a girl’s perspective. (sadie!)

the sun beams hit me directly in my eyes. i cannot see. i am momentarily blind. is there anyone in the boat? i squint as i walk, continuing to round the bend.

slam. i scream. limbs and bodies go flailing – mostly my own because i feel like i just hit a brick wall.  the burns on my stomach flair in pain again.
“sadie! sadie you’re ok!” arms fling around my waist.
“benjamin….ow!” i yelp breathlessly.
“oh. sorry. what’s wrong?”
“oh just some casualties of war.  my stomach is killing me. i think i sprained my wrist.”
i can see again. there is a man standing beside ben. survivors! i almost sink to the ground in relief.  maybe the town had been evacuated.
“hi there. i’m sadie.”
“frank. hammill.” he says in a short tone.  i raise my eyebrows. frank is rigid and gruff like a man in his late fifties but he’s probably closer to 33. he has shaggy brown hair and a scruffy beard.  in other circumstances i might have looked twice.
“are you from the village? are most of the people safe? have they left town?”
“not likely.” he doesn’t elaborate.
“do you know what’s going on here?”
“not sure. but we will have time for that later.” he looks at ben.  “now that we’ve found the other girl, maybe we should take them back to my house and then continue to look for the other boys.” i see ben cringe at the word ‘boys’. this man is only a couple years older, yet obviously condescending us. do we really seem like mere children to the guy?

frank continues. “it is going to start to get dark soon. i am telling you now, they will want to be somewhere safe. you have seen the very least of the problems in this town. it’s part of the reason i haven’t been able to call anyone for help.  i got in last night. late. village was already in mayhem. i didn’t leave the basement until i heard the two of you blundering around upstairs.” i almost laugh. i probably would have in another situation. it was almost exhilerating to see ben get put in his place.
“and you. how fucking stupid to you have to be to go wandering into a house alone after what you’ve seen?” i am instantly unamused.
“oh i’m sorry that you don’t approve.” i start with attitude. “but we were sitting all alone down here while the boys had disappeared. forgive us if we wanted to find some protection.” i glance over their shoulders and see the girls and jake sitting in the boat.  and a dog? i would save those questions for later.

“ryan and bradley?”
“Went to call 911. never came back.” ben shakes his head. “wish we hadn’t split up.” i can see frank, almost gloating behind him. i do not like this man.
I glance back at the boat again. the girls are huddled in a bunch. there are a couple, by what i can see from a small distance, two corpses (headles?) by the water. clearly it had not been fun and games for anyone today.
“ben. i think frank’s right. if he says its going to get worse at night. we should get everyone to some type of safety. i had like four try to attack me today. luckily they were slow but i’m tired. and in pain and if i have to fight something off right now, it will overtake me.”

ben looks at me, then frank and then back to the others. he begins to nod. reluctantly. i begin to walk down the path toward the small group in the boat.
“sadie!” melody calls. “we were so worried about you!” mira and melody jump off the boat and we embrace in a tight hug. sammie hangs back. after only two days, we haven’t had the time to get to know each other but there is relief written on her face.  I jump into the boat and grab her in a quick hug.  we all deserve it.
“whats with the dog?” i finally have to know.
“ben found it.”
there are so many stories that need to be told but with the sinking sun hanging ominously in the west i bite my tongue. i tell the others that we are heading somewhere more protected.  the thought of getting off the boat again has them grimacing reluctance but they begin to follow me up the path to ben and frank.

as we begin back up the hill, frank in the lead, i hear him muttering about the extra burden and frustration we would cause him. i roll my eyes. whatever. hopefully by evening this place will be swarming with cops and ambulances.

I keep my eyes peeled for any signs of life and remember the incident when i saw someone running through the houses.
“hey! were any of you running away from something earlier? through the houses further up the hill?”
everyone shakes their head. “why?” mira asks.
“i saw someone running. i heard a shout.”
“why were you at the other end of town.” frank inquires.
“i — uhm..had an incident and freaked out. i didn’t stop running until i was as far away from whatever those people have become as possible.”
“how long ago?”
“probably only 10 or 15 minutes ago.”
ben checks his watch. it’s been just over an hour since we arrived.
“definitely wasnt any of us. maybe it was brad or ryan.”

i don’t know if i should feel hopeful because they were still alive then. or worried because they were running. i see mira’s pain etched face. “don’t worry hun. they aren’t fast. brad could definitely outrun them!”

“ok. enough talking.” frank demands. “its getting too late in the day to feel confident that there will be nothing around.  i was depending on your friends to make a 911 call but no one has arrived so i have to deduce theywere never able to do it. i will call when we get back to my house.”

everyone becomes silent. this guy really knows how to make people feel better. what a jerk.

we walk  between houses and down streets. nothing is paved here. just small gravel lanes that weave through the homes.

the crunching beneath our feet lulls me into a drowsy gait. my body is exhausted. my mind is swimming with questions and possibilities and things we could have done differently up to this point.  why didn’t we just drive into the other town? why didn’t we call 911 right away? why did any of us split up?

i almost splutter out a laugh when i realize we’ve made all the mistakes that happen in dumb horror flicks. all the times i had watched a movie and thought – there is no way i would be so stupid! and here we are. so stupid. it couldn’t be helped. i let my mind wander through the events of the day, trying to puzzle them together to have something cohesive, something that makes sense. nothing make sense.  frank looks over at me and notice my smirk. he frowns and walks closer to me.

“whats so funny?” he mutters.
ugh. i think. “nothing. honestly. morbid sense of humour i suppose.”
“you think this is funny!?”
“no!! i don’t. people are dying. i’ve watched people die. of course i don’t think its funny.”
“then why are you smiling?”
how could i explain what i’d been thinking to this man? obviously people he knows have died. he must think i’m completely callous and unthoughtful.
“god. im sorry. i was – its just — i was thinking about horror movies….” i lamely trail off.
“Horror movies?”
“Ya. and about everything we’ve done wrong today. its stupid. really. im sorry.”
we lapse into silence. everyone has heard the argument and there is tension throughout the group.  obviously no one else had made the connection. i am all alone in that department.

we walk up to a large farmhouse.  the door is open and i wonder if there’s any chance that i will see another creature before the day is over.  frank doesn’t seem concerned and walks into the house without hesitation.  he takes us down the steps into his basement.  there is another room at the back. he leads us into it.
“here. its a metal door. i leave all my hunting gear and camping equipment in here so it doesn’t get stolen. we’ll have to take some of it out to make room.”
he looks at ben and jake. “help me grab some mattresses and blankets from upstairs.  while we do that. start making room in here.” he glances at us girls as he finishes his statement.
as they walk away i turn to the girls “seriously? he thinks his shit is going to get stolen in this god-forsaken town?”
i don’t get the response i was expecting. they just shrug and start to move the equipment. i think its strange that frank has this room. i will ask him about it later.  i start to grab tents and icepicks and throw them out into the main basement.

five minutes later, the room is mostly cleared. we’ve kept any type of weapon we could find. i had grabbed the icepicks and put them back. who knows when they’d come in handy.  the boys arrive with mattresses, blankets and pillows.  we set them up in the room and frank turns to us all.
“i’m going to make the phone call. stay here.”
“What about the other two guys?” ben asks.
“we’ll look for them once i’ve made the call. it will take anyone close to 50 minutes to get here so we need to phone them now. “

we wait in silence. there is so much we could be saying to each other but everyone is lost in their own thoughts.  frank comes back after a few minutes.

“they thought it was a hoax at first. but some police and paramedics will be here soon. i told them the severity. i think they want to arrest me. whatever gets them out here.”
im not surprise. what do you say to the operator? “hi there. some strange disease has taken over the town and now everyone’s either missing or have turned into some zombie type creature.” Zombies! thats what these things were.

man. i really am in a bad horror flick.