Today is a speshle day. Something relly bad happened 10 years ago. It was befor I was born. Evry buddy started geting sick and then they died and turned into zombies exept for my mom and dad and the other peple here. They servived and that is why we are selubrating tonite. It is speshle but sad and also a little happy.
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Ten years after Infernal Friday
“Ten… eleven...”
Her heart pounded hard against her ribcage as she raced around the side of the building.
“Twelve… thirteen…”
She flattened herself against the brick wall, panting, and looked around frantically for a place to hide.
“Fourteen… fifteen...”
Across the yard, a clump of colorful flowers caught her eye. She hesitated, her heart still hammering in her chest.
“Sixteen… seventeen...”
Almost out of time, she made a split second decision and took off through the tall grass, sprinting toward the overgrown garden.
“Eighteen… nineteen…”
With a little gasp, she ducked under a pair of wooden planks and dove onto her stomach, flattening herself into the field of flowers, where she hoped she would disappear.
“TWENTY! Ready or not, here I come!”
As Joshua’s voice rang out, Evette held her breath. She held herself perfectly still, not daring to move a muscle. Yet she could feel her heart fluttering away. She could hear the blood rushing in her ears and his feet rustling through the grass. She hoped he couldn’t hear her heartbeat or the rush of breath that escaped her screaming lungs. She sucked in some fresh air and held it for a few seconds before letting it out slowly, trying to calm her racing heart. She felt a shivery thrill of excitement mixed with fear as she lay waiting for him to find her.
A shrill scream and the sound of running feet told her one of the other girls had been found. She lifted her head a few inches to see Josh chasing his sister, Leslie, around the chapel. Eve ducked down again, but not before she’d been spotted.
“Psst!” a voice behind her hissed, and she turned her head to see her own little sister, Kayleigh, crouching at the base of a tree just beyond the garden. “I see you, Evie!” KJ sang out in a voice just above a whisper, a wicked grin on her face.
“Shush! He’ll hear you!” Eve hissed back. They both paused to listen for the sound of footsteps, but Josh seemed to be back on the other side of the building. “He’s gonna see you, too; that tree’s not big enough to hide behind.”
“I know! I was gonna climb up into it, but I can’t... reach!” Having risen to her full height - all three feet and four inches - KJ took a flying leap at the lowest branch, but her fingertips barely brushed it. The six-year-old looked pleadingly at her sister. “Gimme a boost, pleeeeease?”
“No! Then he’ll see us both! And besides, climbing trees can be dangerous. Ask AJ.”
“But Evie!” Kayleigh stamped her foot.
Then, all of a sudden, Josh’s voice rang out over the chapel roof. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Both girls froze, staring at each other with wide eyes. KJ started to shrink back behind the tree, then seemed to think better of it and trotted over to where Eve was instead.
“Hey!” Eve hissed. “This is my hiding spot! Go find your own!”
“I don’t know where!” KJ whined.
Realizing it would be best just to shut her sister up before she got them both caught, Eve replied, “Well, get down then!” and pushed Kayleigh’s face into the flowers.
They lay like that, side by side on their stomachs, for what seemed like forever, listening to the distant sounds of Josh chasing the other two girls - his roaring laughter, Leslie’s giddy shrieks, and Asha’s screams of “Stop it! Stop scaring me!”
After awhile, KJ whispered, “D’ya think he gave up?”
Eve considered this. Josh, give up on a game of hide and seek? Never. “He’s probably just trying to trick us,” she whispered back, “waiting for us to come out so he can catch us.”
KJ nodded, giving her sister a knowing grin that said, We’ll never let a dumb boy fool us! But after a few more minutes had passed, she let out an impatient sigh. “This is boring,” she complained, flipping over onto her back.
“I know.” Eve, too, turned over. Folding her arms behind her head to prop it up, she could see the crude letters carved into the wooden cross above her.
“What’s that one say?” Kayleigh wondered, noticing her looking.
Eve took a second to sound out the single word. “Spunky. That was Josh’s daddy’s dog,” she added matter-of-factly, remembering Nick telling her and the other kids about his canine companion one time.
“Oh.” Kayleigh looked curious. “Did dogs turn into zombies too?”
Eve frowned. “I don’t know… I think Spunky just got eaten,” she said sadly.
“Oh.”
“But hey, I bet you know what the next one says,” Eve added quickly, hoping to distract her sister from the dead dog.
Kayleigh’s eyes moved to the next cross and lit up as she recognized the arrangement of letters. “It’s my name!”
“Yup. Only it’s not for you; it’s for the other Kayleigh.”
“She got eaten, too, didn’t she?” KJ said solemnly.
Eve nodded. She had walked through the memorial garden many times with her parents, asking about the people who were commemorated on the crosses there. She always listened intently to their answers, and she remembered their stories. She knew that on the other side of Spunky’s cross was one for Howie’s little boy, who had died before he came to the base, and that behind them, in the last row, were the twin crosses that belonged to her daddy’s other daughters, her half-sisters. Sometimes she wondered what it would have been like to have big sisters, instead of always being the oldest one, the one who took all the blame.
“Olly olly oxen free!” Leslie’s voice rang out at last, signaling that it was safe to come out of hiding. She or Asha must have gotten caught.
“Come on,” Eve said, standing up. She brushed herself off before reaching down to grab KJ’s hand and haul her up, too. Giving her sister a sidelong glance, she said slyly, “Bet I can beat you back to base.” Then she took off running between the rows of crosses.
“Hey, no fair, you had a head start!” Kayleigh whined as she chased after her.
“GIRLS!” The sound of their cousin Kevin’s barking voice made them both jump. They stopped in their tracks, exchanging guilty glances before they both turned to face him. Kevin was standing by the tree where Kayleigh had been hiding, his arms crossed, glaring at them. “Haven’t I heard your mother telling you not to play here? This is a place of respect, not a playground. You know better,” he added, his eyes narrowing at Eve, the oldest.
She hung her head. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry,” Kayleigh echoed in a tiny voice, her chin quivering as she tried not to try.
“Aww, Kev, cut ‘em some slack,” said Gabby, coming up alongside Kevin. “Why can’t they play here? I bet our people would’ve wanted it that way.” She gave a wide sweeping gesture across the garden. “I know my mom would have.”
Kevin raised his eyebrows at her.
“Seriously,” Gabby added, smiling at the girls. “I know she was always trying to stop me from doing stupid stuff, but I think she’d be happy to know that this is finally a safe place… a place where kids can run around and play without worrying about being… bitten.”
Kevin shrugged. “You have a point. But still…” He eyed Eve and KJ. “You’d better ask your parents before running around in here. I know you’re too young to understand,” he added, his voice softening, “but it holds a lot of sad memories for us old people.”
“Hey!” exclaimed Gabby, playfully smacking his arm. “Are you calling me old? I’m not old, am I, guys?”
Eve and KJ exchanged glances again. “Well…” said Eve, a sly smile sliding across her lips. “You are turning twenty-three tomorrow…”
“That’s practically ancient,” Kevin agreed, winking at Gabby. “Well, all right. I’m headed over to the club. Apparently one of our solar panels stopped working. I wanna make sure we have plenty of power for our feast tonight. Hope you girls like gator!” He grinned at the Littrell girls, who wrinkled their noses.
“What?! Eww!”
Gabby laughed. “Careful climbing on that roof, old man. If I’m ancient, then you’re, like… Jurassic.”
“You’d best be careful, girlie, or you’re gonna get yourself roped into helping,” Kevin retorted as the two of them walked away, leaving Eve and Kayleigh to go find the other kids so they could start another game of hide and seek.
