“Go on and head home for a shower, I'll just harass the nurses till you get back.” I want to argue with her, convince her that I'm fine and don't need a shower and a nap, but she knows me too well. I've been awake for over twenty-four hours now, running basically on caffeine at this point and battling a rough adrenaline come down. I'd just been too worried about Allison to get any sleep, even after the doc had given me the all clear and the danger had passed.
We'd gone out to dinner the evening before and gotten burgers and shakes. Sarah had gotten second place in her school's spelling bee and dinner of her choice was her reward. She had run around the burger joint telling everyone who would listen that she was “the other winner!” and had devoured a cheeseburger and a whole chocolate shake. On our way home I got to carry her, thanks to the sugar crash combining with the excitement of the day. I could feel her steady breath against my neck as we walked back home, her head lolling on my shoulder. Allison and I talked about this and that, marriage small-talk in hushed voices so as to not wake the munchkin.
We rounded the corner to our little place and I crossed the street after a quick side-to-side glance. It wasn't till I was across that I realized that Allison wasn't beside me. I looked back across to see her coming up from tying her shoelace. She smiled and started to jog towards us. I only half-registered the car coming down the street with only it's parking lights on. Allison had just enough time to turn her head and throw her hands out before the car clipped her hip, sending her spinning back to the sidewalk. It was dark and low-slung, some Japanese import with tinted windows. It was going fast and, when it hit Allison, the brake lights flashed for a moment and then went dark as the driver floored the accelerator and fled the scene.
I don't remember yelling and I don't remember running to Allison. I certainly don't remember our neighbor taking Sarah from me and telling me that he'd called an ambulance and the police. Nothing really registers in my memory except Allison, laying there with her leg bent weirdly under her, swearing like an Army ranger and crying. She had gotten lucky, the paramedic told us. A broken leg and a nice collection of bumps, bruises and scrapes. The doctors would have to look her over further, but the paramedic gave us a smile and said again how lucky we had gotten. Allison was fine despite the pain, being her normal funny self and making jokes. She even managed to crack up both paramedics when they asked her what happened and she explained how she managed to almost catch the only civic in Seattle without a too-loud coffee-can muffler on it, but it put up too much of a fight for her. That was my Allison.
“Earth to Alex...come in Alex.” I snapped back to the hospital room and to Allison's blue eyes.
“Sorry hon, you're right...I'm spent. I'll take the munchkin with me and we'll get cleaned up. I'll come back after I drop her off with Chesty and I'll bring your sweats. Want me to grab you a book or something?” I said, running my hand over my face and yawning. She shook her head “I think the munchkin is pretty zonked out. I'll keep her with me. She'll probably do better if she wakes up and sees mommy's just fine. But I'll take you up on that book. Think you could find it in yourself to swing by the store and pick up the latest Plum novel for me? I think I might have some free time now to read it.” I gave her an exaggerated thoughtful look
“Oh, I suppose. And maybe I'll also pick up some of that overly-chocolatey ice cream that you like” That really made her smile and I felt my eyes threaten to tear up.
“I love you beautiful, and I thought I might have lost you last night.” my voice was thick in my throat and I had to blink a couple times to keep the waterworks from starting.
“Oh hon, come here.” I moved to the edge of the bed and leaned down to kiss her
“I love you too and I'm not going anywhere.” The kiss was long and tender and I felt the fear that had been clutching my heart all night start to loosen up.
“Now go, you're starting to smell funny.” she laughed and playfully pushed me off. I leaned in again and stole another kiss, then planted one on Sarah's head before saying I love you again and heading out the door. I had ridden to the hospital in the Ambulance, which meant that I was sans car. The hospital was a hell of a walk from home and I had no idea which bus to grab.
Luckily, I had my cell on me and Chesty answered on the second ring. “How is she?” I told her Allison was fine and the docs were just keeping her for observations till tomorrow.
“Thank god! I was so scared last night. I heard the hit and when I ran out and saw her laying there...oh god, Alex I thought she was dead! I've never been so happy to hear anyone yelling “motherfucker!” in my life!” Chesty laughed and I could hear that she was probably tearing up. “That’s my dainty flower. Think you could take a break from work and come pick me up at the hospital?” I was hopeful, because I hated cabs and doubly hated cabbies.
“Oh, I'm pacing around my house worrying about you two, instead of pacing around my office. My inbox was full of 'out sick' emails from most of my staff and the news was going on and on about how the roads were a mess. I figured staying home and wearing a rut in my carpet beat possibly killing anyone on I-5.” Chesty was our neighbor. Her name was actually Elizabeth Chesterfield, but thanks to genetics giving her small A-cups and a sense of humor bigger than a Buick she had gone by Chesty to her friends since high school. She and Allison had been friends for most of forever and she had helped us get into the house next to her when it went on the market. She lived with her on again, currently off again, boyfriend Cory and a parrot that Allison has been steadily teaching George Carlin lines to since Chesty had brought it home. With her dark brunette hair and small stature, she was night to Allison's tall and blonde day. She was also currently my best bet on getting home without some serious walking.
“Well, if you can tear yourself away from destroying your carpet, I'll buy you coffee.” I could hear her already grabbing her keys from the hook by the door.
“Deal, but none of that hippy-dippy crap you usually get. I want Starbucks.” and with that she disconnects. Once home I can barely keep my eyes open. I had mumbled thanks to Chesty once we pulled up in front of our places and got a Starbucks cup salute from her as I stumbled towards the house. I thought about showering first, but my body was already pulling me towards the bed. I at least remembered that I needed to charge my phone and popped it into the charger before crashing out.
*****
I have no idea how long I've been out when a banging at my door wakes me. The darkness in the bedroom is disorienting and it takes me a moment to remember that I'm home and not still at the hospital with Allison and Sarah. “Alex! Wake up! Cory collapsed on the porch!” Chesty's voice was panicky and that cut through my haze. I had been too tired to even undress, so I went straight to the door.
“What happened?” I didn't stop moving, heading straight across our strip of lawn and towards her porch. I could see Cory lying limply against her door. I shook his shoulder, unbalancing him and sending him flopping onto his back, eyes open and unseeing. I put my fingers to his neck, trying to feel for a pulse but couldn't find anything. He felt still under my touch.
“I can't find a pulse! What the hell happened to him?” I'm desperately trying to remember the CPR course I took last summer, but all I could visualize was every CPR scene I'd ever seen in movies. “What? No pulse, what the hell are you talking about?” Chesty shoves past me and her fingers go to his neck. I know she's feeling the same nothing that I did because she keeps shifting her fingers trying to find...something. She stands back and I hear her cell phone flick open and the quick three tones that tell me she's dialing 9-1-1. I lean in and put my ear to his mouth, trying to see if there is any breath coming out. I try and tune out Chesty as she mutters at the phone to pick up, but I don't hear anything at...wait...I hear something. A low, barely audible groan deep in Cory’s throat escapes, then nothing.
“I think he's alive!” I'm shifting to put my ear to his chest. Nothing at all, there’s no heartbeat, no rasp of the lungs drawing air, nothing. I quickly put my ear back to his mouth, hoping I can hear that groan again.
“Come on Cory...” I'm muttering to myself, but still listening. There, another groan! I nearly jump out of my skin as I feel his hand lift from the ground and strike my stomach. I lean back on my knees, looking down at him and see his eyes track aimlessly and his body jerks like he's having a mild fit. “Cory? Baby?” Chesty is holding on to her phone, from which I hear the steady drone of the disconnect tone. I get to my feet and step back as Chesty leans in, trying to catch Cory's attention.
“Baby?” Cory's eyes snap to Chesty, his eyes dilated to just pupils. Another groan comes from somewhere deep in his throat and his hands lash out, grabbing handfuls of Chesty's shirt and yanking her off balance on top of him. I can't see what’s happening, but Chesty's screams are loud and terrified. I leap forward and grab her shoulders and try to yank her back, but Cory has a steel grip on a double handful of her shirt. I can barely see over her shoulder, but I catch a glimpse of Chesty's phone jammed in Cory's mouth, but Cory trying to chew past it. She uses her phone hand to keep shoving his face back, but he just keeps lunging forward, as if he can just swallow the phone to get at her. I get my arm around Chesty's waist and a foot on Cory, getting leverage to give her a heave, finally breaking his hold on her. With a loud tearing noise, Chesty and I go over backwards from the porch onto the walkway. Chesty lands on top of me, knocking the air out of my lungs, and quickly rolls off me. I look up just in time to see Cory roll to his hands and feet and push himself to standing. His movements are jerky, like something’s misfiring.
“Cory, man, calm down! You're sick!” I'm yelling at him, hoping I can talk him down because he looks like he's going to charge us. It doesn't seem to even register and he leaps at me like an animal. I fall back as he flies towards me and plant my feet on his stomach, catapulting him over and past me. My elation over pulling off the move right is quickly replaced with horror as I hear a loud crack and see Cory land badly on his face and lay still. The street is quiet, with just a distant siren carrying through the air. My own ragged breathing seems loud in my own ears; almost drowning out Chesty’s hitching sobs. I approach Cory slowly. His head is tilted at an angle that immediately strikes me as just...well, wrong. I lean over him carefully and grab his shoulder so I can roll him onto his back. As I do, I hear bone on bone grinding as his head shifts.
“Jesus, I think I broke his neck...” As the realization hits, all I can do is lean over and puke my guts out. I feel a hand on my back, but I can't stop puking. I drop to my hands and knees with stinging tears in my eyes.
“ohgod...ohmigod...Alex, look at his face! Look at his face!” Chesty is screaming right next to my head and I barely hold down another retch. I turn my head towards Cory's and even the urge to retch freezes. He's still staring at me, his dead eyes jerking between me and Chesty and back. I can still hear a grinding sound and I realize it's Cory's teeth. He's grinding his teeth, chewing nothing while staring at us. I slip and slide backwards as my feet scramble to push me back away from whatever is happening here. I back into Chesty's legs hard and she goes down on her ass right behind me. “What’s wrong with him, Alex?” Chesty is barely whispering, the terror in her voice mirroring what I feel gripping my stomach.
“He just had a cold Alex. It was just a bad cold.” Her voice sounds tiny. I slowly get up and reach down to pick chesty up. She takes my hand thoughtlessly as she continues staring at Cory, who just keeps staring back at us and gnashing his teeth. I pull her up and her grip is like steel, refusing to let go.
We back towards the porch and we both can hear a siren getting closer. All I can think is thank god, someone’s coming, someone has to know what’s wrong with him, someone has to be able to make this make sense. We stand there, holding hands and staring at Cory’s broken body, as the police car comes whipping around the corner in a screech of tires and flash of strobing lights. The siren is blaring and the headlights whip over us as the car over-corrects then rights itself and shoots off down our road. It takes another hard turn up the block, and we hear a screech of metal kissing metal. I can mentally see the black BMW that always parks on the street right on that corner and can perfectly imagine the cruiser taking that corner too hard, metal screeching as the cruiser slides along the parked car and off down the road. The siren dwindles away as Chesty and I keep standing there, staring off after tail lights that never stopped.
“Let’s get inside.” I start pulling chesty along with me towards the house. She doesn't resist and lets me tug her along.
“They didn't stop Alex. Why didn't they stop? Cory is...sick and laying there and they didn't stop.” She sounds far away and I wonder if this is what shock sounds like. We reach my front door and we step through, closing it behind us. Chesty leans back against my door and slides down to a sitting position. Her eyes glisten with tears and are jumping all over as she plays everything through her thoughts again. I'm doing the same thing and it just doesn't make sense. He was dead. No heartbeat, no breath. Nothing. The Cory we knew ended on Chesty's porch and...something else came after us. I look Chesty over and she seems fine, I don't see any cuts or anything on her. A part of my mind says she's lucky she wasn't bitten and I physically recoil from the thought. Why the hell was he trying to bite her? Hell, bite me? And what the hell was going on with his eyes?
“Did you see his…” We both jump and Chesty screams as someone knocks on my door. I can see Walt, our across the street neighbor, through the three little windows in the door. Chesty scrambles away from the door as I step up and open it.
“Are you two kids alright?” Walt is easily in his sixties and his wrinkled face shows years of working outdoors. He told me once at a barbecue that he'd been in the navy and years of sun burns, wind chapping, and hard drinking in port aged him more than time ever did. He watery blue eyes move between the two of us and I realize he's holding a rifle.
“Cory’s dead. He was dead, I don't know. He was sick and collapsed, and I thought he was dead. But then he attacked us and I think I killed him. But he keeps staring at us...” I'm babbling, but I can't stop. I glance past his shoulder and am eternally grateful when I see that Walt has draped a piece of cloth over Cory and I can't see his face.
“Did he bite either of you?” I almost laugh hearing Walt ask something that my mind had already been thinking about.
“Did he? Come on, Alex, stop staring at me and answer the fucking question!” It was then I noticed he had his finger on the trigger of his rifle. Walt was a guy who lived hard, but he was never careless and I’d gone shooting with him enough times to be able to still hear him harping on trigger discipline and how you never put your finger on the trigger unless you were ready to shoot. He was ready to shoot.
“No bites, no bites Walt.” I quickly said. He visibly relaxed, his body sagging.
“I was over at Chuck’s place, helping him get that piece of...” he caught himself “His mustang running again. The Collins girl, Deena or Deanna, whatever, stumbled out into their yard like she was having a fit. Chuck got to her first and started yelling about her not breathing, started trying CPR.” He faltered.
“She bit him, Alex. Right on the face, took a fucking bite out of his chin. I…I hit her with the wrench I was still holding and she collapsed. Chuck was screaming and rolling around the ground. By the time I got him back into his house, he was barely able to keep his eyes open.” His voice cracked.
“He died about twenty minutes ago. He passed out right after we got inside and he just never stopped going down-hill. It was just a bite on his chin.” Tears were running down Walt’s face.
“Then he got up and came at me. Only it wasn’t him, you know. It wasn’t! I’ve known Chuck for goin’ on twenty years. Hell, I’ve spent more time over at his garage dicking with his cars than I’ve spent at home.”
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