Please Stand By

Chapter 6

Harmony, Jade, DeShawn, and Cain stared at the limp body of the man who had delivered their groceries just earlier today, the word "Perve" still oozing a red liquid as he hung from the porch.
"What the fuck!" Cain shouted. He ran back into the living room and began searching for something, tearing through the cushions like it was wrapping paper. The others had tried to ask what he was looking for but he did not respond. After a moment, Jade approached him and hugged him from behind.
"What are you looking for babe?" She asked in a calm tone that made Cain pause in his tracks.
"That guy..." he replied, his siblings coming over to him. "I called him a perve because he was staring at Jade... someone was listening to us! How else would he look like that?" he said, gesturing to the body without looking at it. 
"That's impossible." Trevor said. "One of us would have had to have seen someone sneak in and place a listening device in here then sneak out."
Suddenly, the television made a loud shrieking noise that lasted around half a minute. Jade and all three of the siblings covered their ears with their hands.
"Mom!" Harmony shouted. A few seconds later, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson burst into the living room, Trevor at their heels. Mrs. Anderson crossed the room to approach her panicking daughter. Jade had sunk herself onto the floor with Wolf at her side. Cain had ran over to her and gently put his arms around his frightened fiancé.
"What the hell was that?" The latter said.
Jade pointed at the television. "Look."
Everyone had turned to look at the television screen. On the screen, in white lettering, the text had changed. Where it normally said Please Stand By, it now said:
One Of You Is Infected
Nobody knew what to say. Who was infected? Nobody showed symptoms yet. Were they going to die or turn into a monster? There were no answers or explanations and too many questions.
"Harmony?" Trevor asked. "How long after we get a sickness do we see symptoms?"
"It depends." She responded. "Depending on when someone got infected, it could be a few hours or a few days. I'm not sure."
"Great..." Trevor said. "We're stuck in a house with a monster. And to think I was gonna be able to see my boyfriend."
"Would you stop!" Cain shouted. Everyone turned to him. "We're in a pandemic! This is a world wide emergency and all you can think about is how much you want cock! You're so selfish Trevor! Can you think about your family for once? If we make it out of this don't you think I wanna marry Jade, who I proposed to last night? You don't think we have dreams?" Everyone backed away from him, except Jade, who was still on the floor. She had covered her ears again with her hands and was panicking. She was shaking and rocking herself back and forth. Cain looked at her, his eyes full of worry. She had her head in between her knees, her breathing heavy. Cain backed away, appalled at everything that had happened. He suddenly ran upstairs. Trevor plopped onto the couch, his head in his hands.
"Jade is gonna be our sister in law soon and this is how you're acting?" Harmony asked. "What a great first impression."
"I know I know!" He yelled. "I know I'm a horrible brother and son and such a disappointment. Why do you think I moved so far away?"
"Would you stop that?" Harmony said. "First of all, your yelling is making Jade more scared! Second, you're not a disappointment!"
Trevor looked to Jade. She was still curled into a ball with Wolf by her side, putting his head between her head and legs. Trevor nodded.

Jade felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked up, her hands still covering her ears. DeShawn had approached her, a concerned look on his face. He gently reached for her hands and uncovered her ears.
"Do you wanna go upstairs and see Cain?" He asked. She nodded. DeShawn helped her up. They went upstairs and approached Cain's room. The door was open. Jane knocked on the doorframe.

"Cain?" She said. Cain perked his head up. His face suddenly filled with relief.
"Jade?" He said. "A-Are you alright?" She sat down next to him.
"I'm fine... just worried about you." She explained. He wrapped an arm around her gently. She leaned into him.
"I'll leave you two alone and go make sure Trevor is ok." DeShawn said.
"Can you tell him that I feel bad? And that I'm sorry?" Cain asked. DeShawn nodded in response.
Jade shifted and leaned her head on Cain's shoulder. "What happened back there?" She asked.
"I don't know..." Cain started. "Trevor pissed me off and I'm scared and I wanna protect you. I want us to have a life together after this all finishes."
"Well... what if we just take one thing at a time. Let's start with Trevor. What pissed you off exactly?"
"It just feels like he doesn't care. It feels like he always wants to stay with the latest guy he's seeing rather than his family. I don't understand."
"Do you think he views your guys' family as toxic?" Jade asked.
Cain shrugged. "I don't know how. They've never really been toxic people."
"Maybe he just doesn't feel welcome."
A sudden realization hit Cain. "After Ellie..." he mumbled the rest, Jade being unable to make anything out other than "spending time... no attention... set out... own path." Jade decided not to intrude on these thoughts. She was also did not to pry where she was not welcome.
"I'm so scared..." Cain whispered, finally loud enough for her to hear.
"About what?" Jade asked
"Whose infected." Cain replied. "I don't know whose sick and how we're gonna take care of them."

There was a sudden knock at the door. It was open but Trevor had still decided to knock.
"Hey..." the latter started. "I came up to... apologize for everything."
Cain went over and hugged him. The two brothers hugged for a moment, feeling awful about their past actions. "I forgive you Trevor. I just need us to work together. I need us to be able to cooperate so that we can figure all of this out. Right now, we have big problems with no resolution."

"Agreed." Trevor said. "We need to start working together. I'm gonna head downstairs and see what I can do."

"Alright, I'll meet you down there." 

As Trevor walked downstairs, Cain sat on the bed, putting his head into his hands.

Jade came over, not sure if she should ask what is wrong because there are a lot of things wrong right now. Instead, she gently rubbed his back up and down. 

"I wish I had my little sister here..." Cain said through his hands. 

"Harmony? She's downstairs."

"No... I... I never told you about Mary?" He asked, a certain look that Jade could not place. 

"No?" Jade responded.

"Mary was... she was my youngest sister. She was eleven when she went missing. It was right before I went off to college. Trevor and I searched out in the woods for hours. We lost track of time." He paused, tears in his eyes. "We searched all night for her but she was gone. Authorities never found her."

He let out the tears as his fiancé hugged him and they both slowly sunk to the ground. She had never seen Cain cry before. She gave him comforting words and continued to rub his back, comforting him through his sobs.