Episode 2: The Change

Episode 2

"The Change"

I then met the last two people of the group. An older woman walked up to me, and shook my hand.

"I am Margaret." she said.

Margaret had short white hair, she was short, and was wearing a flowered shirt and blue dress. She looked around the age of sixty or so. Another man came up and shook my hand, the last one I had left to meet in the group. He had a turtleneck sweater on, and chinos. He wore big glasses and had black hair that was slicked back.

"I'm Paul." he said, shaking my hand. "Sabrina's husband."

I looked behind me to see Sabrina, she looked up at me and smiled. Wow, I never would have expected that those two were in a relationship.

"I know," Paul said, "I'm nerdy and she's, well beautiful."

Sabrina blushed.

I patted him on the back.

"Don't think of yourself like that."

"Well, I'm going to go hit the hay." said Patrick, he sat up and stretched his arms.

"Jeff, I'll show you and Kayla to your rooms."

I got up and held Kayla's hand. I then followed Patrick down the hall and into a room. It was a nice cozy looking style room. It had one big double bed, a television, and a window.

"Thank you." I said.

Patrick nodded, "No problem."

He shut the door and I went to turn on the T.V. You couldn't go on any other channel, it was stuck on the news. I guess the television companies don't want to show anything else at the moment. It showed a news lady inside of a building, she was sweating, and nervous. They were standing in front of a window, and stranglers would run up and bang on it once in a while. They looked extremely scared. They shouldn't be doing this, screw the news. They need to find a safe place to stay. I turned it off, I don't need to scare Kayla. I'll watch more of it when she's fast asleep. Kayla curled up in the blankets and closed her eyes.

"Good night dad." she said.

"Night." I answered.

I went to go look out the window, it was far too dark to see, but I felt at peace. We were safe here, I know it. All we have to do is hold out for a week or two, and the military will have this all sorted out. I sat around until I was sure that Kayla was asleep. Then I turned on the T.V, and turned the volume way down.

"The virus does not seem to be getting any better as of now." the news lady stuttered, sweat pouring down her face.

"But, the military says in a couple days they can secure some parts of Canada. They encourage everyone to hold out in a safe place until then. In a few days, they will have cleared out Toronto."

That's when I heard a smashing sound, it sounded like glass. Like the stranglers finally got in, then the T.V turned black. The program shut off. Oh no, did they get to the news cast as well? I shut off the T.V and crawled into bed beside Kayla. I held her tight in my arms.

"I'll never let them hurt you." I whispered, "Never."

I was woken by Patrick, he was poking me, chanting.

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey."

I opened my eyes and sat up, I looked beside me to see Kayla awake. She was brushing her teeth by the sink in our room. Already dressed.

"Morning." I said, rubbing my eyes.

"We got a big day today, I have something planned." said Patrick.

"Like what?"

"We're gonna build a fence, to keep the stranglers away. Just incase a few of them stumble upon the farm, we don't want them trying to get in. We'll build a tall fence, tall enough to stop them."

"Sounds like a good idea." I said.

I got up, and Patrick left the room. I went in the bathroom and changed clothes and brushed my teeth. Patrick had a ton of spare toothbrushes lying around. He said whenever he goes to the dentist, they give him a new toothbrush, but he only uses his one. So they add up after the years. Thank god he was so prepared. I honestly think we are doing better than most people. It's sad, but I am relieved that we are doing ok. I was lucky to meet Patrick. If I left that apartment room, I would have never met Patrick. Good thing I stayed. When I was all ready, I walked into the kitchen to meet everyone once again. Patrick was cooking toast and eggs, Paul was reading the paper, Mark was helping Patrick, and Sabrina was talking with Kayla. I was glad, Kayla is going to have a friend, even if they are not the same age. I sat down beside Paul while Patrick served breakfast.

I decided to visit with Paul. He looked like a nice guy to hang out with.

"How did you meet Sabrina?" I asked him.

"Oh, well, we were in the same drama class in tenth grade. Our class put on a play, and Sabrina and I got the main roles. We got closer in the production of the play, and well, I guess stuff went from there."

"Do you have a wife?" Sabrina asked me.

"Sabrina!" Paul exclaimed, "You don't have to answer that Jeff."

"No it's ok," I said, "I think you guys should know I little more about me. Her name was Samantha, she went missing a long time ago."

"She's dead." Kayla said.

I kept my temper in, It angers me every time Kayla says that. She didn't know her well enough to have sympathy for her, and she didn't know better to not say things like that. Some day I'm just going to explode on her though. But I can't now, I have to be strong for Kayla.

"Well, I'll assign jobs for the day." Patrick said, changing the subject.

"Jeff and Paul, you guys will gather wood from the creek. We live right next to a creek. Just cut a few small trees down, I'll supply the saws. Mark and I will turn the logs into fences by cutting them up, and Sabrina is in charge of watching Kayla, and keeping an eye out for stranglers. Got it?"

We all nodded, this fence was going to take all day and night if we are actually cutting down trees to do it, but Patrick did say small trees, so it may not take as long.

We got to work, Paul and I headed down the creek with our saws, while Patrick and Mark marked where they wanted the fence along the yard. Sabrina and Kayla sat on the porch, reading stories. Sabrina had a handgun ready in her pocket if anything goes wrong. I slushed around in the river, looking for good sized trees, not too big, but not too small either.

"So," I said to Paul, "What's your full story?"

"Well," he said, "I was born in Toronto. Lived there until I was about twelve, then I moved down here. I finished elementary school in Chatham, and also finished high school here. When I met Sabrina, we both went to the same colleges, since we had the same in common. After college, we got married and moved to a small town house in Chatham. We lived happily ever after, until now. Patrick found us in our homes, we had given up hope, but he brought it back. Patrick is a good man."

"Indeed he is." I said.

"So, what's your story?" he asked.

I then stopped, I put my arm over Paul so he couldn't go any further. I saw a strangler in the distance, down at the end of the creek. It was too late though, it jolted it's head in our direction and ran at us.

"Run!" I yelled.

Paul and I ran down the creek with a strangler following right behind us. I scattered up the hill of the creek and ran to the house, I noticed Paul was slower. I went back to help him out, but it was too late. The strangler jumped on him and started punching him. I had to help. I pushed the strangler off of Paul and helped him up. It then tackled me onto the ground and tried strangling me, Paul kicked it off of me and I grabbed a stick from the ground. It was long and sharp, good thing it was lying there. It ran after Paul, but I speared it through the back, it dropped the the ground and died, for good.

"You good?" I asked him.

"Yeah."

I covered my mouth, I couldn't believe I just killed a man. I've never murdered anyone, when this is all over, will I be arrested? No, I've got to stop thinking like this, it was self defence, I'm too worried to be thinking right now. Patrick and Mark ran our way, they must have seen it go down.

"Oh shit, what happened?" Patrick asked.

"Strangler attacked, I had to kill it."

"Ok, well. Are you good to go back in the creek?"

"Sure." I said.

"No," Paul cried, he fell to the ground. "I don't feel too good."

"You're just scared, it's understandable." said Mark.

"No, but I feel really sick." he then threw up on the ground, and passed out.

At first I thought it was only just him being scared, but I don't think so anymore. We brought him inside and rested him in his bed. We all sat around the bed, waiting for him to get up. Sabrina was really upset, but I assured her he would be ok, everything would be fine. I went to go turn on the T.V, to see if the news people were ok, luckily they were. The same lady was on, in a different building. Broadcasting.

"Everyone needs to hear this important message." she said.

"Stay away from the stranglers at all costs, do not get close to them. Not only are they dangerous, but their sickness is extremely contagious. They carry an unknown virus, and when you get close to them, you are risking your life. Their sickness carries through the air, coughing, screaming, and talking may infect a person. If you get too close to a strangler, you can get their sickness, and turn into one of them. Be careful."

Sabrina ran and shut the T.V off, we all slowly looked over at Paul. Was he infected? Was that why he wasn't feeling too good? It's scary that how easy you can be infected, just being breathed on by a strangler risks your life. Does that mean I am infected? I was attacked by it too. I started to panic, I can't die, not this soon. I would have been sick by now, I feel perfectly fine.

"We need to strap Paul down, get the gun." Patrick ordered.

Mark nodded and left the room going to get the gun, incase we have to shoot him.

"No! He's fine!" Sabrina cried.

"We have to be careful, just incase." Patrick said.

"The news doesn't know anything! He's just traumatized that's all!"

Margaret held her back and comforted her while Mark returned with the gun. We sat down around him, waiting for something. I put Kayla to bed, she can't see this if Paul really does turn. I knew Paul was going to die, his appearance was slowly changing as well. His veins turned from blue, to red, and started showing a lot more. His fingernails turned yellow, and his skin started getting paler, and paler over the minutes. It was over for him. I guess I don't have to worry about myself, I would have died by now if I was infected. But seeing Paul like this, is terrible, I really thought we could make good friends. Sabrina definitely noticed his changing as well, she started crying even more, Margaret holding her back from doing something stupid. Paul finally opened his eyes, after about two hours of waiting for him. His eyes were bloodshot, and he lifted his head up and looked at us. He started screaming like a maniac, and tried to break out of the straps. He really wanted to kill us, Sabrina kept trying to tell him it's ok, but he couldn't hear her, he was in full out rage mode.

There was a bang, followed by a blood splatter. Patrick had shot Paul right in the chest, Paul stopped screaming and closed his eyes. Sabrina screamed and ran over to his lifeless body, she hugged it and cried over and over again. It was a sad thing, losing someone like that. Especially your spouse, it makes me grateful I never saw Samantha die, for all I know, she might still be alive. It's unlikely, but I want to believe she is ok.

"We will resume building the fence first thing tomorrow, and from now on, we carry guns with us at all times." Patrick announced.

"And how about we execute the bodies outside." Mark plugged his nose.

He was right, Paul started to smell already. We had to clean up the blood and get him out of here. Margaret took Sabrina for a walk outside, to calm her down, but I don't think it was really helping at all. I scrubbed the blood off of the walls, floor, and ceiling. It splattered everywhere. Mark unstrapped him and brought him outside. Patrick had some air freshener lying around, and he sprayed it everywhere. After that, the house looked better. We had one less person though, which ruined everything. We didn't have time to dig a hole, it's too dark, and we can't leave Paul lying around all night long, he will stink the whole yard up. We brought him down to the creek, and we placed him in the stream, it carried him along, never to be seen again.

"Goodbye Paul." I said.