He opened another suitcase. It was filled with more of the same.
He wanted to find Emily something nice to wear. Something that would fit. He thought of her covered in blood
.
She shouldn't have to stay like that.
He stood up and looked through the luggage again. This time, he searched for a little suitcase, something that would belong to a child.
He came upon one. It was small, pink.
He pulled at it and placed it onto the ground. As soon as he opened it up, he could see several colourful little pants, shorts and shirts. He even found a little dress that Emily might like to wear.
He closed the suitcase and placed it into the cart. He didn't plan on taking all of the clothes with him when they left the airport. But this way Emily could choose what she wanted to wear. He figured that that might make her happy.
Scooter turned back to the other suitcases and found some things for Julie and himself to wear. He placed them into the cart too.
Yeah, things really were finally working out.
He walked back to the front of the cart and made to step into it. Then, once more, he had another idea.
He looked back to the baggage handling area. He knew everything about the inside. He could picture it perfectly. And, in that image, he could see an axe. He knew where it was and how to get to it. It wouldn't be hard. He just needed to hope that none of those creatures were there.
Scooter walked over to the loading door. It was open. There was no reason why it wouldn't be. People would have been working when everything had happened, when they had all changed.
He took a few steps closer and stopped.
He listened. He couldn't hear anything. He looked back to the cart. It wasn't too far away. He could run to it in no time. Plus, he had left it on.
No problem.
He turned back to the loading area. It was dark inside. It was dark outside too. And that didn't help.
Scooter leaned forward.
"Hello?" he said.
He waited for a reply.
Nothing.
He turned on the flashlight and pointed it into the room.
He could see a few bodies lying about the floor. He knew that they were his co-workers. Some of them were his friends. But there was nothing that he could do about that now. They were dead. He wasn't. He needed to move on.
He took a few steps into the loading area. It was a big room, filled with lots of luggage.
"Hello?" he called again. He really needed to stop doing that. It didn't help. It just freaked him out. Each time he said something he expected one of thos
e
thing
s
to reply.
He made his way into the room, knowing exactly where he was going. He had to pass over some more dead bodies to get there.
Along the wall was the fire hydrant. Beside it was an axe. And besid
e
tha
t
was another flashlight. Scooter hadn't remembere
d
tha
t
.
He took the other flashlight and placed it in his pocket. You never knew when you'd need an extra one. Then he reached out and pulled the axe down from the wall. It felt good in his hands. Strong. Powerful. He held it tightly in his grip.
He turned around and hurried outside.
Scooter hadn't found food. And, for that, he felt bad. But he didn't want to walk around the airport and search for something. Not anymore.
Sure it had been his idea. But it wouldn't work. It was too dark. Too dangerous.
He'd have to wait until the morning. He could search then.
He walked over to the little cart, placed the axe down beside him and drove back to the old hangar.
Chapter 15
Julie sat with her arms around Emily. They were sitting on the floor, leaning against the far wall in the hangar.
The hangar was dark. And scary. But it also felt a safe. She didn't think that any of thos
e
thing
s
were going to get in here. The door seemed solid enough. She had checked it enough times to make sure.
She closed her eyes and hugged the little girl.
Emily hadn't said anything to her since they had gotten inside. Though she didn't know the details, she knew that Emily had been through a lot and must have seen some horrible things. She was covered in blood. Whatever had happened to her couldn't have been good. She wasn't going to pressure her to speak.
She hugged her tighter, then looked toward the door. It was difficult for her to make out, but she knew where it was. She wished that Scooter would get back soon, that'd he'd knock on it and everything would be all right.
But everything wasn't going to be all right. They had to deal with all of those creatures. They had to try to survive.
Still, she wished he was back.
Emily moved in her arms. She nestled further into her shoulder. Julie ran her hand up and down the little girl's back.
"It'll be okay," she said. "He'll be back soon."
Julie wasn't sure how much she believed her words. But as soon as she uttered them she heard a noise. It sounded like someone was outside.
It's hi
m
, she thought straight away
.
It had to be Scooter.
Julie let go of the little girl.
"Wait here," she said, standing up. "I'm gonna open the door for Scooter. He's come back. I'll bet he's brought you something nice to wear."
Julie added a smile. The little girl couldn't see it. It was too dark.
She quickly made her way over to the door. As she went, she turned on her flashlight. The light shone at the door and guided her way. She had never thought about turning it on while she and Emily waited for Scooter. It might have made things easier for them.
Can't worry about that now.
She reached the door and undid the lock. She could hear Scooter outside, moving around. She opened it.
"Scooter?" she called out. "Are you there?"
She flashed the light outside. She couldn't see the cart. Scooter was nowhere to be seen, either.
She stuck her head out of the door a little bit more, sure that he she had heard him.
"Scooter?"
Again there was no reply.
"Scooter?"
She heard a noise.
"Is that you?"
She took another step out of the hangar . Then she saw someone come around the front of it.
At first, Julie wasn't sure who she was looking at. Her mind didn't register it. A woman stood there, staring. She looked familiar to Julie
.
But where had she seen her before?
The woman started to scream and run toward Julie. At that, Julie remembered
.
It was the woman from the shuttle bus. She must have followed them to the hangar!
Julie didn't have much time to react. She rushed back into the hangar and closed the door behind her. She locked it quickly in the process.
The woman outside started banging on the door. She continued to scream.
Julie heart was beating quickly. She couldn't believe what had just happened.
And Scooter, he wasn't even back yet!
Julie moved away from the door. She was reluctant to let go of it, but she didn't want to leave the little girl alone any longer than she already had.
"Emily," Julie called out, "it's okay. I'm coming back. Don't move."
Julie walked away from the door and made her way to where the little girl was sitting. Or, at least, where she had thought she was sitting.
Emily wasn't there.
Julie flashed the light around the hangar.
"Emily," she called out. "Where are you?"
Julie continued to search around for the little girl. But with the woman outside, screaming and hitting the door, it was hard to concentrate. She started to panic.
"Emily, where are you? Emily!"
She searched around the hangar, crossing over every section of it, barely noticing anything as she went.
When she came upon the little girl, Emily was sitting up against one of the walls, crying into her knees. Julie rushed over to her.
"It's okay. I'm here." She sat down beside the little girl and wrapped her in her arms again. She felt her shiver and pull back. "It's just me."
She hugged her again. This time, Emily didn't move away.
Julie started to rock back and forth, the little girl in her grasp.
When was Scooter going to get back?
Chapter 16
Marianne woke up. She had heard a noise and craned her neck around to hear where it had come from. She couldn't find anything. She sat up.
It was night time. The moon was bright and the stars shone overhead. She couldn't remember ever seeing them like this.
She was still on the park bench, the one she had fallen asleep on. She knew that that hadn't been a good idea. It wasn't safe out here. One of those creatures could come along.
But she had been so tired.
She heard the noise again. It was a scream. And it was close.
Marianne got off of the park bench. Her feet hurt as she placed them onto the ground. It had been years since she had done so much walking in one day. But she couldn't worry about that. She needed to find a place to hide.
She grabbed her purse and started to walk. She wasn't sure which direction the scream had come from, but she couldn't hang around to find out. She only hoped that she wasn't going toward it.
She passed several houses along the street and supposed that she could have just gone into any of them. They would have given her protection. But the truth was that she didn't want to.
First off, she wasn't sure if any of thos
e
thing
s
were inside. And she didn't want to find out in the dark.
She also didn't go into any of them because she felt as though she'd be intruding. She knew it was a silly way to think. Those houses didn't belong to anyone now. The creatures weren't staying in them. They weren't going to host any dinner parties or sleep in their beds. Yet something about it felt wrong.
Of course, she knew that she would if she had to. But, right now, she didn't really feel as though sh
e
ha
d
to.
She kept walking, accidentally kicking several bodies along the way no matter how hard she tried to avoid them. Each one startled her. The thump soft. It felt like kicking a sack of thick jelly. Not that she had ever done that before. That was just how she thought of it. Or that was how she tried to think of it. It was easier than thinking that she had just kicked a corpse, someone who had had a life, someone who had had friends and family.
It was definitely easier to think of them as a sack of thick jelly.
She stopped when she came upon another park. This one was much bigger than the last one she had stopped at. There was even a playground.
In the moonlight, she could make out the monkey bars and the swings. On the far end, she could see a playhouse. One with a ladder and a slide.
She walked toward it, quietly. She wasn't sure if anyone was in it and didn't want to startle them if they were.
She raised out her arm and grabbed for the ladder. The metal was warm under her grasp. It had been a warm evening.
She leaned forward, standing on the tips of her toes, and peeked inside. There was no one inside.
This would be as good a place as any to sta
y
, she thought. She knew it wouldn't give her much protection. Bu
t
som
e
was better than none.
She pulled her purse up further over her shoulder as she stepped onto the ladder. It had been around thirty-five years since she had been on one of these things. And even as a kid she hadn't liked it all that much.
She took her time, holding on firmly to the railing. One foot after another, she climbed.
It didn't take her long to reach the top. It was a ladder made for kids. But she was proud of herself for making it.
She pulled herself into the little room.
The floor was dirty. There were little pieces of gravel on it. They scratched against her pants as she adjusted herself on the floor. They screeched and crackled underneath her weight.
She didn't like the sound of it.
But they were only rock
s
.
She settled down into place, then looked out of the window. It was a little round one in the side of the playhouse that faced onto the park.
Marianne couldn't see much aside from a few dead bodies lying through out the area. She knew that they were children. They were small, dressed in bright colours. They almost glowed in the moonlight.
She kept looking, though it wasn't easy for her to see much of anything that wasn't right in front of her.
She concentrated on her listening. She could hear another one of thos
e
thing
s
. It was screaming. Again she didn't know from where.
After a while, it died down
.
Had the creature been killed or just run away
?
She supposed it didn't matter. It was gone.
Marianne pulled away from the window. She didn't want to see the dead children anymore. She didn't want to search for any of the creatures. She wanted to get some sleep.
She turned herself around and rested her back against the playhouse wall. The rocks screeched underneath her again.
What did that matter? They were only rocks.
She closed her eyes.
But, before Marianne drifted off to sleep, she thought once more of the pills that were in her purse. She had almost taken them earlier. She had almost killed herself.
Except she hadn't.
She wasn't sure what that meant. Or if it even meant anything.
It was simply enough to know that she was still alive.