Featured Fiction: The Plague S:1 E:5

Living by hour

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Chapter 5

“My name is Drema. I’m 30. This is my husband, Harold. He’s 32. And my three kids, Jack, 18, Alex, 9, and Dwain, 18. Dwain and Jack are twins.” The woman said.

“Jack and Dwain don’t look like twins, they’re very different, but it isn’t my family so I can’t say otherwise. Can you please put your knife down?”

She was obviously addressing me but I didn’t want to take chances to I calmly responded.

“Ma’am, it’s just a precaution, Many people made a U-turn for the worst when everything went down. I don’t want to take any chances. I hope you understand.”

“Ok.” She said. It was amazing that she did understand why. We had a group a day ago meet us who was polite but once we drew out knives and explained why they turned hostile and pulled a gun. We put down our knives, put our hands up and re-explained why we pulled our knives but still that screamed and where hostile, sometimes They seemed more hostile than they should have been. There was one shot fired but it missed everyone.

“May we ask you a three questions?” William asked.

“Ask away,” she said. Seeming optimistic, but I know what an attack does to people and by the looks of it, they were definitely attacked.

“Where you attacked? If so, by what?” William asked.

“Yes, I don’t know what by, they looked like my neighbors, but blood was trailing down their faces.”

She starts crying. I want William to stop questioning for a bit, the first question is always the hardest with him, if I’d have been questioning I’d have rearranged the questions, but he refuses and continues asking.

“Only two more questions. Are you trained with any weapons? If so, what ones?”

“I’m not,” she said.

“I am. I’m an American War Veteran, 56th Maryland, I’ve been trained in Snipers, ARs, and Pistols.”

Harold, the husband, said, “Honorable Discharge. I lost a leg to a sniper on patrol”He pulls up his baggy Kakis to reveal a prosthetic limb, “MIA for 3 weeks, got a purple heart and was shipped home, that was 3 years ago.”

“Can you still use your weapons?” I asked

“Of course.”

“I played baseball, if that helps,” the eldest child, Alex bumped in.

“Where you a hitter?” I ask

“Yes, if it was in the strike zone, I hit it, never missed,” Alex said.

“Ok” I say. I turned to William and said, “Harold can use firearms and Alex can use a blunt weapon accurately. They’re useful.”

“Jack and I don’t play much sports but we can entertain pretty well, if that helps.”

“It does actually.” I say.

William obviously disagrees with me but continues to address, Drema “Ok, Drema only 1 more question. Where any of you bitten during your attack?”

“I wasn’t.” Drema said.

“No,” Harold said.

“I wasn’t,” Dwain and Alex said at the same time. The only one who didn’t answer was Jack.

“Jack, were you bitten?” Lance asks from behind us. Hailey, Kenny, Jamal, and him had all been watching over Shawn the entire time. They’ve been so silent that I forgot they were even here.

Beginning to sob, Jack lifts up the bottom of his shirt.

There’s a large bite mark.