We With Daisies Lie

Menace

It must have been November because the wind had a near winter bite and the leaves fell dead to the ground in carpets. I sat uncomfortable on watch in the bird's nest, thirty feet up. In the short time they had together, Bambi and our grandfather had built many things to keep the farm safe including a small wooden platform on top of the highest tree at the edge of the farm. It must have been hard work but it was worth it. I could see nearly six hundred feet into the woods, anyone trying to come into the farm would have a hard time doing it in secret, and my shots would give ample time to warn the others.Just as I was thinking this, something did move.

I watched it meander slowly through the trees. I lifted my gun, as I was about to pull the trigger, I saw how low to the ground it was. I lowered the weapon and waited. The brittle branches gave way and the dog, Menace, walked through. I rushed down and put my arms around him. He smelled terrible but I didn't care, I knew Emily would be ecstatic.

"How the hell did you get here boy?" I said. Then it occurred to me this was a legitimate question. I looked up to the dark forest ahead. Dry leaves rolled quietly in the wind, other than that, silence.The more I thought about it, the more I realized this could only be bad.

Either the town gates had been left open, which probably meant a horde had over-run it, or the bikers wanted us to think that and let him out to lure us in. Either way, bad things were coming. He whimpered to me, I walked farther into the woods and made sure no one was coming, then me and Menace hurried back to the house.Emily damn near burst when menace scuttled to her, his long nails clicked and clacked on the hardwood.

"Where did you find him!?" she squealed and knelt down nuzzling his face. I grabbed a half eaten can of chicken soup and poured it on a plate for him. It was gone before I could answer.

"He wandered in from the forest," I told her. I couldn't help but smile at her unabashed show of love for the creature. Oliver was sitting by my grandfather's piano with sheet music he had written for Emily's poem. When he saw her fawning over the dog he folded the papers and put them back in his pocket.

"Match made in heaven," he said through a warm smile."I bet he knows all sorts of tricks," Emily guessed.

"Is he theirs?" Bambi asked as she came down the stairs."We saw him when we snuck into town," I told her.

"How did he get out?"

"I don't know."

"We have to check it," she said and darted off to get her jacket and weapons from the closet.

"We can't- it could be a trap," I said.She ripped the closet apart and suited up as if getting ready for a war.

"What if it's a horde? You want to sit here and pet the dog while we're overrun by dead men?"

"No..." I started- knowing there was only one solution to this problem, "...we have to leave."

The room went quiet. Bambi snatched the shotgun from the closet and pumped it."Leave the only home we have? Because a dog wandered in?"

"He didn't escape, he couldn't have. It's either a trap or a horde and either way the safest thing to do now is just take as much food and water as we can and go," I said. Emily stood and put a hand on my arm.

"I agree. I don't think we're safe here. It's too close to them," she said.

"And you?" Bambi asked Oliver. His eyes drifting away from her hard stare.

"Too many things could happen if we stay," he told her.

"Fine," she said as she took up the rifle and slung it over the shoulder- she headed for the door without another word. Outside, I ran after her. We stopped dead center of the floodlights. I rushed past her and blocked her path. "Why can't you trust me?" I said, my stomach tying itself into knots. "Everything has to be your way! This is going to end bad, let's just leave, please!" She stopped but kept her back to me.

"If we don't make a stand against the hordes or those who want to take what's ours, we're weak. They'll drive us off again and again and we'll never have a home. We have to fight!" she shouted. Her eyes burned into mine. I had to look away, I had known her eyes all my life, but when she looked at me now all I saw was a soulless warrior.

"What about back when we were kids? We didn't make a stand against dad. We did what we had to do to get out of there," I said.

"I got out of there..." she turned to look at me, "I abandoned you," she said, regret filled her eyes and I knew then that she had never forgiven herself for leaving. Her sadness in that moment gave me hope. Maybe my sister was still in there somewhere. I walked to her, close enough to see the tears dripping to her cheeks.

"Anything else would only have made things worse..." I started, "...you and I both knew that then and we know it now. Please Bambi, they're coming, I don't know if it's the dead or those people but they are on their way. If it was just you and me I would fight. I don't want to leave here either. But, I love Emily too much to put her in danger. If something happened to her... I'm not strong like you, losing her would kill me."

She looked back to the house. I now know what she saw, though at the time I hadn't realized. She saw the only place we ever felt happy. For us, coming to stay with our grandparents was more than just a visit. It was a break from the nightmare of our lives. It was a real home, that's what Bambi saw when she stared at the house that night, not saying a word to me. But I knew that house wasn't home anymore. It wasn't anything more than a tomb, just a plastic shelter on the path of a tornado.

"I can't. I can't leave here. I don't have anything else. I'm glad you're happy little brother, take her, take Oliver, take the dog. Go," she turned away from me and said "I can't leave." And with that she walked off into the darkness ahead. I was left to make the decision, leave while we still could, or stay with my sister and fight whatever was coming. "Wait..." I said to the black beyond the lights, "I'm coming."