Episode 6: The Risk

Episode 6

"The Risk"

(This part of the chapter will be from Kayla's point of view)

I sit at the kitchen chair, watching my dad Jeff, and the rest of the men load everything in here. We got a lot of guns, so much guns. Margaret is cool too, while they were gone, she watched me. We did all sorts of things, she even taught me new words. Well, she didn't teach them to me, I just heard her saying them. Whenever she would mess up on something, like drop something or trip, she would say a new word, and I would learn it. Some of them actually sound pretty funny too. Anyways, I really hope Sabrina is holding up ok. She has started to go on runs with my dad now, I think she wants to forget about Paul, and doing this will get her mind off of it, I don't know. Maybe. Once my dad was done, he came and sat with me, we all sat at the table. Margaret already had dinner cooked, and it smelled really good. She made spaghetti and placed it on the table for us. All the adults talked during supper, I was bored. Half the words they said, I didn't even know what they meant. It sucks being the only kid here, I wish there was another one. I wish I had someone to talk to.

"How is dinner?" Margaret asked me.

"It's good." I lied, the spaghetti smelled good, but it was gross.

"Why aren't you eating?"

"I found a hair in it, I think it fell from you."

"Be polite." Dad said to me.

"To hell with that!" I yelled.

I got up and I ran out of the kitchen and into the living room. I turned on the television and watched the news. Dad keeps on telling me not to turn on the television, but I am getting bored, I have to. I saw the news lady talking, she said something about Toronto being badly overrun and it's going to take a long time to clear. She then pulled out a gun and shot herself. I screamed, the clip then went back to the start. My dad ran in the room, with everyone following. He saw that I had the television turned on, and he turned it off.

"What did I say about watching the news?" he asked me.

"Not to do it." I said, with my head down.

"What was all of that?" Margaret asked, "I saw her shoot herself, there was blood everywhere. Is there something you aren't telling us Jeff?"

My dad sighed, and he started explaining stuff, I didn't quite understand it though.

"The military is behind in their work of clearing Toronto. It's going to take longer for them to do it than expected. We are gonna have to hold out here just a little longer."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sabrina yelled.

"I didn't want to get anybody upset dammit!" My dad yelled, "We have gone through so much lately, and I didn't want to put more stress on you guys!"

"Um? What's happening?" I asked.

"Go to your room Kayla, it will be better that way." Margaret said.

"No!" I yelled, "I want to know what is going on! I know I'm just a kid, but I have been told not a lot of stuff lately and I don't like it! I want to know something! I can handle it!"

Everybody stopped arguing and looked at me, they thought for a while, then my dad knelt down to talk to me.

"It's grown up stuff." he said.

I screamed in anger, I am bored enough here, I want to at least know what is going on! I can handle it! I ran for the front door and went outside. I kept running, I hopped over the fence and ran down towards the ditch to be alone. I hated it there now, I don't ever want to come back, ever again. I could hear people following me, I wanted to run further, I can't be caught already. I ran, but a strangler appeared. It came out from behind a tree. It screamed at me and jumped on me, it punched me across the face, and I started crying. There was then the sound of a gunshot, and the strangler fell off of me, there was a lot of blood. I looked to see my dad, he shot the crazy person. I got up and ran into his arms, he picked me up. He carried me back to the house, and brought me to my room. He placed me on my bed, he got a little teary eyed, I wasn't sure why.

(This part of the chapter will be from Jeff's point of view)

I ran downstairs from Kayla's room, where everyone was waiting at the bottom for me. I was scared, I know what happened to Paul and I don't want it to happen to Kayla either. The strangler was on top of her, she could very well turn. We don't know for sure if you get infected every time though.

"Oh my god, is she going to be ok?" Sabrina cried.

"I don't know dammit!" I yelled, "We all know what happened to Paul! A strangler got to close to him, and he died! Got the flu, then boom, dead."

Sabrina started crying, she ran in another room to sob and weep. Patrick came up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down.

"Listen man-" he said.

"No!" I yelled, "My daughter might die! I don't know what to do."

"We don't know that for sure! Have a little hope!" Patrick said.

"You know damn well she might turn." I yelled.

I stopped yelling, I realized how I was acting, I needed to calm down. I sighed and leaned up against the wall. Then just stared blankly into nothing, I didn't know what to think.

"Paul got sick very soon, if Kayla is fine by tomorrow, maybe she got lucky." Patrick said.

"Yeah," I sighed again, "Let's hope for the best."

I went back upstairs to check on Kayla, has she already come down with the flu already? I opened the door and went into her room, she was crying.

"Daddy am I going to die?" she asked, trembling in fear.

"No," I said, "You'll be fine."

"Stop leaving me in the dark! Be straight up with me for once!" Kayla yelled.

I sighed, she is really young to know all these things, but I think she deserves to know some things. I just don't want to scare her, I am terrified for her right now.

"How are you feeling right now?" I asked.

"Scared." she said.

"Are you feeling any, sickness?"

"No."

I looked out the window of her bedroom, the sun shined in. Maybe there is hope for Kayla, I wonder if she will be ok. Maybe we will get lucky, and she will get another chance at life.

"Tell me as soon as you feel any sickness. Anything, it can be so much as a cough, tell me."

I then got up and walked out of the room, I don't know if it is contagious before you turn. I don't know if Kayla could infect us right now without knowing it. I have to keep my distance, at least for today. I went back downstairs and saw everyone talking at the dinner table. I sat back down, I didn't want to eat though. I couldn't finish dinner, not after this.

"How is she holding up?" Margaret asked me.

"She seems fine," I said, "I don't know how long it takes to kick in, it may be different for every person."

"True, but I think she will be ok. Maybe it's not common to get infected, Paul was just very unlucky." Patrick said.

"I think we should stop talking about Paul." Mark said, he pointed in the living room, where you could hear Sabrina crying.

"I'll talk to her." I said.

Patrick grabbed my arm.

"I don't think you should, I will." he said.

I sat back down and Patrick went into the living room. The crying stopped, I think he may have calmed her down. He walked out of the living room with her, she had a kleenex and she was blowing into it. I felt bad for doing that, I was a little too harsh. Paul just died a couple days ago, and I brought his death up like it was nothing.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"You," Sabrina began, "You aren't allowed to be sorry! You haven't lost someone you love! Paul just died, and I was starting to feel better, but you went and brought it up again! You asshole!"

I looked down, too guilty to even look back up at her. I went too far this time, I was trying to keep my cool this whole time I was living here. I wanted to be strong, but I guess Kayla is my weak point. Sabrina then stormed off to her room, crying again. Patrick sat back down.

"I tried." he said.

"That was uncalled for Jeff, bringing up Paul like that." Margaret said.

"I know." I said.

"He get's it Margaret, I think he feels guilty enough. Let's just forget about it." said Patrick.

I walked outside and onto the porch. I was looking out into the sunset. It was really beautiful here, sundown is really nice, you can hear the birds still chirping, but the only thing that throws it off are the screams. Once in a while, you will hear a scream from a strangler in the distance. That must mean they found someone, and they are chasing them. If this goes on too long, the screams will get less frequent, because there won't be as many people alive for them to scream at. I keep thinking over and over and over again, and I have come to a conclusion that this apocalypse of some sort, is permanent. I walked back into the house and decided to check on Kayla, I wonder if she was sick yet. I walked up the stairs, but then stopped. I heard Sabrina talking, it was coming from Kayla's room. I slowly crept up the stairs, and pressed my ear to the door. I could hear Sabrina telling Kayla something, I couldn't tell though. I opened the door and saw Sabrina reading Kayla a story. My eyes brightened, Kayla looked perfectly fine. Her skin wasn't paler, it was bright tan, like it always was. Sabrina stopped, and looked at me for a moment. I smiled, then closed the door.

Later that night, I walked into my room to go to sleep. Sabrina had already left, and Kayla was already asleep. I crawled into my bed beside Kayla. I think she will be ok, I think she will be lucky. I smiled and closed my eyes, but I couldn't sleep. I heard something, I heard the sound of footsteps walking on the roof. I opened my eyes wide again. I got out of bed and left the room. Was there a strangler on the roof or something? I headed downstairs and got my gun ready. I put on my boots and climbed up on top of the house. I also had my knife ready if I had to react fast without making any noise. Once I was up, I saw Sabrina. Was she thinking of jumping? Oh god I hope not, I slowly crept closer to her, she saw me at the last second. She turned and looked at me, she sighed when she saw me. I sat beside her on the roof. She looked off into the fields, I could tell I was making her a bit uncomfortable.

"Sabrina." I said.

"Please go away Jeff." she said.

"Just listen to me," I began, "When you said I don't know what it feels like to lose someone, you're wrong. My wife, she was kidnapped a long time ago. Never seen again. I think about her everyday, what I could have done differently. I know she is out there somewhere. I am very sorry about what I said, it slipped out. I was angry about Kayla being attacked, It kills me to not know what is going on with Samantha right now. It kills me even more not knowing if my daughter is going to live or die."

Sabrina closed her eyes, then hugged me. She rested her head on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry too." she said.