Tuesday, August 4, 2009

08/04 | 08:31 AM

"Colin?"

Voices. They're so far away. Or maybe not. I can't tell. They seem so loud. But so far away. Stretching and shrinking without reason...

But maybe that's just my focus that's elsewhere?

Faint. Getting fainter. Shit. I'm tired...

I wanna sleep...

"Colin!"

That little tosser? Shit, fuck him. He... he...

Where am I again? God, I feel...

I feel...

Itchy?

Focus.

"Colin? Where's Alex?"

This voice is different from the last. Lower, but warmer. Closer to the heart. Anna? What's she doi... oh shit. No, no, no. Colin. Fuck. Fuck. Get away from that little shit, he's-

I can't open my eyes. They're too heavy. But my body feels so light. Shit.

I remember. I got shot. Hard. Fuck... Goddammit. Am I dead? Shit. My mouth wont open. Jesus Christ, what the fuck.

Spit, spit, spit. Aw, god. My mouth feels so dry...

"Colin? Are you okay? What happened? Where's Alex? Where did all that blood come from?"

This is the voice from before. The older voice. More fragile. More edged with contrite inner pain. Henry. The old doc.

Right, right. He went to Anna. To help her move Monica...

He's moving now. I can tell from the voice. Moving closer to me... And if I'm in the bushes... he must be moving toward the porch... toward Colin...

No.

No! No! No! No!

"What?"

And I expected it but I still squirmed; gunfire rolled out in a solid sweep. I heard someone curse but I couldn't tell who in the sudden storm.

Goddammit. Fucking shit.

Someone fell. Their body hit pavement. And the everything was silent. I waited a few minutes. I wrung my fingers wildly from the tension. It was the only body part I could move. I wanted to scream but I couldn't. I tasted blood in my mouth and realized I was biting down on my tongue. But I couldn't stop.

"Was it you?"

Anna. She was alive. Alive. My heart missed a beat painfully. Henry was dead. He just got killed. But Anna... he hasn't shot Anna yet? Why?

Why? WHY? WHY?

Get away. Get AWAY.

"Did you let that dog into the school that night?"

What? What dog? Anna... what's she saying?

"Get away from my mom."

"You let the dog in. You were trying to kill the others. Me and Alex?"

"Shut the fuck up and get away from my mom you fucking bitch."

He... Oh!

He isn't shooting Anna because she's standing next to Monica. Henry and her were helping bring Monica here. He doesn't want to shoot his mom with the rifle. The gunfire is too unsteady. He might pop her by mistake.

He shot Henry when he stepped away from his mom... out of the safety zone...

"Were you trying to kill me and Alex that night? Maybe you thought you would open our classroom doors and the dog would finish the rest?"

"YOU FUCKING BITCH! YOU TRIED TO KILL MY MOM! GET AWAY FROM HER!"

"Didn't work out though, huh? You didn't expect a whole pack would descend on the school just because one dog died inside. You didn't want to endanger your mom. You just wanted us out. And with the whole pack there, you couldn't come back-"

"I COULDN'T COME BACK BECAUSE YOU TRIED TO SHOOT ME YOU FUCKING CUNT!"

Their words were slowing down. Taking a strange new dimension. I kept flashing back to the night the dog got inside, and kept seeing Colin's shoe propping open the roof's entrance.

But... what?

Anna knew he was alive? Did she see him do it? He says... wait? What? Did she shoot at him?

Anna? Why would she...

He was only going to open the door... but he never got to open our bedrooms because... Anna shoot at him. And he fled the school? Then...

She woke me up that night. She called me on the cell. She was downstairs with Monica.

Why? Why was she downstairs? I didn't pursue it. I should have thought about it more...

Anna... she... how innocent is she?

She told me. Colin's alive. She made me promise to consider him 'alive', right?

And she started to laugh.

"Sorry, kid. You're not getting your mom back."

"Fuck you bitch."

"Shoot me. Go ahead. But kid? Don't you know? How long has your mom been unconscious? How long, how looong? She's never even opened her eyes in all that time. Don't you think that's a little bit weird?"

"FUCK YOU-"

"You fucking spaz, kid. That night you opened the door? I thought about strangling her. Finishing the job from that night you interrupted-"

"YOU FUCKING PSYCHO BITCH-"

Anna? Wait... what?

"But I had a better idea. The next day, before they buried Sean, I drew blood from the dead Dog-Freak in a needle. And I injected that shit straight into your mom's skull, you little shit."

What?

"YOU LYING CUNT! SHUT THE FUCK U-"

"She's infected, kid. God knows how that shit's been changing with all the fucking sedatives she's been on. Slowing down the process? Making it more painful? And I shot that shit into her brain kid-"

"YOU'RE LYING, YOU DIDN'T-"

"I did kid. Shoot me, but your mom's infected and you'll never be able to kill her, huh? She'll turn and she'll rip your guts out-"

"YOU-"

"Bon appetit."

Gunfire rolled out, drowning out remains of the burnings school.

Crackle. And boom.

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