Buster followed behind her. He had finished his food.
As she went into the living room, Marianne thought of going to the huge window that looked out onto the street. She wanted to see if the creature/man had come back. At the same time, another part of her didn't want to. She didn't want to lose her appetite. Not again.
She decided against it. She assumed that she'd hear him anyway. She'd hear any of them.
She sat down on the couch. Buster jumped up onto it and came beside her. He rested his head in her lap.
Marianne didn't mind. She liked it. It was nice having someone else around
-
even if it was only a do
g
. It felt comforting.
She petted behind his ear. He buried his head deeper into her lap.
She grabbed one of the peanut butter cracker sandwiches and placed it into her mouth. She didn't feel the same apprehension that she did with the baked beans
.
This was only peanut butter and cracker
s
. Brown, not red. Nothing like the blood and brains she had seen outside...
Stop thinking about that!
She took a bite. It crunched in between her teeth. It crumbled. She managed to catch the pieces on her plate.
Buster moved his head at the sound, then settled back down.
Marianne took another bite. And another. It tasted good. She felt good. She felt safe. Things were looking up.
Chapter 4
Marianne heard a noise that brought her out of her sleep. The dog was resting on the couch beside her. He had perked up at the noise too.
She glanced toward the living room window, but couldn't see if it wa
s
one of those thing
s
or if it was the creature/man.
She stopped and listened. She heard a scream. It was one of thos
e
thing
s
.
Marianne looked at Buster. His gaze shot frantically back and forth between the window and Marianne. She put out her hand and rested it on the dog's head. She didn't want him to be frightened. More than that, she didn't want him to bark. That was the last thing she needed
,
for him to bar
k
.
"It's okay," she said in soothing voice. "Everything's all right."
The screaming continued. It seemed to be getting closer.
Marianne wanted to get up to see who was out there, but she knew that the dog would follow and sh
e
didn'
t
want that. She couldn't have him making any noise.
She looked back toward the window.
The noise from the creature's had changed somewhat to a gurgling sound. To Marianne, it sounded like a baby blowing raspberries. It was an idea that was too much for her to bear. She hadn't thought of it before, but it was possible that the thing out there actually was a baby. Well, maybe not a baby. But it could be a child. It could be like one of those kids that she had seen at the park.
Marianne kept her hand on Buster's head.
"You have to be quiet," she said. "I have to see who's out there."
She stood up slowly, frightened that the dog was going to bark. Buster looked up at her and tilted his head questioningly. Other than that, he didn't move.
"Good boy." Marianne took her hand off of the dog's head. There was a moment of worry as she expected him to get up and run around. He didn't. He stayed on the couch. She was pretty sure that he was going to obey her.
"All right," she said to herself. "Let's see who it is."
She took a few careful steps toward the window and stopped as soon as she could see out on to the street. Unfortunately, she couldn't see the creature.
She took a step closer and found it off to the side.
It wasn't a child like she had feared. It was a young man. And by the looks of it, he was strong. Marianne could see the muscles on his arms. They showed through a ripped dress shirt.
He took deep breaths. Each time, there was a wet noise that followed
.
The gurgling
.
Marianne hated the sound of it.
The creature stood there, staring off down the road. She couldn't see what it was looking at, but she expected it to scream and run after whatever it had seen.
It didn't. It just stood there.
Marianne heard Buster move. He stood up and jumped off of the couch. Marianne's gasped. She knew that the dog hadn't made that much noise, but she worried nonetheless.
Buster crept up to her. The look she had given startled him. She decided not to bother with it. She placed her finger to her lips and turned back to the window.
The creature was still there. Breathing heavily. Then it screamed.
At first, Marianne thought that it had heard the dog. That it was going to look over at her and attack. But all it did was raise its fists into the air and shout.
Marianne didn't know what was happening. She couldn't see anything that would have set it off.
A few seconds passed before it dropped its hands and ran off down the road, out of Marianne's sight.
Marianne looked back to where it had been standing. Her heart was racing
.
That had been clos
e
. She took a moment to catch her breath.
But, as she did, she caught sight of something else: the creature/man. He was standing on the other side of the road, hiding beside a house, looking directly at her.
Marianne pulled away from the window. She hoped that he hadn't seen her, but she knew that he had. He had been staring directly at her. She pressed her back up against the wall and pulled her hands against her chest. Her breathing got out of control again.
He had seen her. He had seen her. Her had seen her.
Marianne pushed herself off of the wall. She couldn't remember if she had locked the front door and needed to get to it to check. She didn't want that creature/man opening it and coming in.
She ran to the front hallway and grabbed for the lock. At that exact moment, the creature/man's face appeared in the door window. Marianne jumped back. Though not before she was able to check if the door was locked. It had been.
"Hey," the creature/man called to her. "Open the door" He smiled at her through his bloodied face.
Marianne didn't respond. She had nothing to say to this man. Nothing at all. She also didn't have any intention of opening the door.
He knocked. "Come on. Let me in. It's not safe out here. I can explain about what you saw before.
I
ca
n
."
He was obviously frightened, pleading with her, but that didn't matter to Marianne. She wasn't going to open the door.
She heard Buster come up behind her
.
This would be a good time for him to bar
k
, she thought. Maybe it would scare the man away. But Buster didn't make a sound. She wasn't even sure if the creature/man had seen him.
He continued to look at her. She could tell that he was getting frustrated.
"It's not what you think," he said again. "Open up." He knocked on the door once more. This time, it was a little more aggressively. More of
a
ban
g
.
Marianne started to panic. It wouldn't be hard for him to get into the house, even if the door was locked. All he had to do was break the window and reach in to turn the door knob.
Marianne wished that she had something to fight him with. Like a knife. She had never stabbed any one before, but she was pretty sure that she could do it now.
His eyes grew larger. "Open...the...door!" he said.
Marianne didn't move. He banged it again.
"Come on. They're out here. I can hear them. Let me in."
Marianne listened. She could hear them too
.
The
m
. She knew that there was more than one of them out there.
"They're coming. Let me in!"
Marianne felt bad. Even after seeing this man digging into a corpse, she felt sorry for him. She knew that the creatures were going to come. And if they saw him out there, they'd kill him. She didn't want that to happen. But, at the same time, she wasn't going to let him in
.
It simply wasn't an option.
"Go away," she said. Her voice broke as she spoke, yet she knew that he had heard her.
"Let me in!"
"No. Go away."
"You've got it wrong. I can explain."
"I don't want you to explain. Just go away."
The creature/man didn't move. He wasn't listening to her. He wanted in the house and that's all there was to it. Marianne could see his frustration turn to anger. She could see his eyes begin to bulge. And his lips, which were once smiling, thinned out into an evil grimace.
He banged the door. Once. Twice. He began shaking the door knob.
"Open up," he screamed. "Now!"
Marianne didn't listen. She wasn't going to open up.
The creature/man swore as he raised his hand and smashed it against the window. It didn't break.
He swore again and tried once more. This time, the window shattered.
"Open the fuckin' door," he screamed at her through the broken window.
Marianne didn't move.
The creature/man reached his hand through the opening. She could see the blood-stained arm right in front of her, the freshly cut fist trying to feel for the lock.
Marianne attacked.
She rushed at the door and grabbed at the man's hand. She tried to pull it away. It slipped from her grip. The blood.
"Fuck off," he shouted at her.
But she wasn't going t
o
fuck of
f
. She was going to fight.
Buster started barking behind her. Though that wasn't going to make much of a difference. Not anymore. The creature/man wanted in. It didn't look like there was going to be much to stop him.
He grabbed again for the door lock. Marianne fought him once more.
This time he was ready. He balled his fist and punched out at her. It slammed into her face, just missing her nose. She had never been punched before. The feeling exploded in her skull. She fell back. But she didn't give up.
She charged once more at the creature/man.
Instead of reaching for his hand, she crouched down and bit it. She didn't think of the blood that was on it. She didn't remember how he had been digging in the body. All of that could come later. All she thought about was stopping him from getting in. Her teeth dug into the his hand. He pulled away. Marianne was sure that she had ripped some of his flesh.
"Fuck," the creature/man screamed. He pulled his arm from the window and looked down at his hand. "You fuckin' bitch!"
He reached in again. Once more, Marianne went to bite it. To her surprise, he moved out of the way and grabbed her hair. His grip was strong and there wasn't much she could do to pull back.
Marianne screamed. Buster continued to bark. The creature/man wouldn't let go.
She saw his other hand come through the window and reach for the lock.
At that, she was able to pull away. It was too hard for him to keep hol
d
an
d
grab at the lock.
With his freed up hand, he tried again.
Marianne was quicker. She ran at the door and slammed her shoulder against his arm. There was a loud crack. She didn't know if it was the door or the man's hand.
The man swore. At least she knew that he was hurt.
"You fuckin' bitch," he said again. "When I get in there, I'm going to..."
Marianne waited to hear what he was going to do. By this time, she was ready to accept whatever challenge he threw at her. She'd fight him to the death. Or at least somewhere close.
The words never came.
Marianne backed away from the door and looked at the creature/man's face. He was looking down the road. He had seen something. He had see
n
the
m
. Marianne heard the screaming.
The man turned back to look at her. The pleading was back in his eyes. No more anger. No more threats. He only wanted to be saved.
Except Marianne wasn't going to be the one to do it. Sure, she felt bad about it. Even after being attacked, she couldn't simply accept that this man was going to die. Yet she couldn't let him in.
She knew that he could see the determination on her face. He turned to look back down the street. Then he started to run. His leg limping as he did
.
She had forgotten about that.
The screaming got louder. The creatures had seen him.
She watched him go.
A few moments later she saw the creatures run by. There was more than one of them. She had never seen that before. It looked as though they were hunting together now.
The creature/man turned the corner. Th
e
thing
s
followed. Marianne didn't know if he was going to get away. It didn't look good.
She really didn't want him to be killed. No matter what she had seen him do.
She turned to look at Buster. He was no longer barking. He was standing there, looking up at her. She reached down and scratched behind his ear.
"I guess we've got to get our things together," she said. "We can't stay here anymore."
They couldn't. Marianne didn't think that the creature/man was going to survive. But if he did, he'd come back for her. She knew that. She couldn't take the risk.
No, they had to go. That's all there was to it.