OUTBREAK

Fresno Pt3 #33

In the morning when the sun shined brightly through the window, Carmen awoke with a jolt out of bed. She breathed out of her mouth and strands of hair fell over her face. Her eyes had bags more prominent than before, and her cheeks were crusty with dried tears.

Lila wasn't in the bed, but before Carmen freaked out she heard a commotion in the living room. The clicking and clacking of what seemed like utensils and bowls.

She left the room, wiping the crust from her cheeks. Entering the living room, she found Lila and four other kids at the dining room table; all having bowls of milk and banana chips.

"H-how?" Carmen asked.

Lila looked at her, "David gave us cereal," she said happily. The kids seemed happier than ever to have something so good.

"Where is he?" Carmen asked.

SHINK went the sound of a shovel hitting the dirt outside.

Carmen looked out the window, seeing David digging a grave, with a cloaked object beside him. He was also still wearing the same clothes.

Stepping outside, the sun almost blinded her. She squinted with her hand over her eyes as she made her way around the house.

When she found David, he was dragging the object into the grave. She noticed four more lumps beside the hole. Remembering the family photo she saw last night, she decided to double check the photo when she could.

"David?" said Carmen.

He jumped at the sound of her voice, "Raroro..." he said.

"Sorry...Is that..." she pointed to the gave.

David nodded somberly.

"Okay. Do the kids know?" Carmen asked.

David shrugged as if to say he didn't know. He stabbed the dirt with his shovel and took out his pencil and notepad from his back pocket. As he wrote in the notepad, Carmen glanced over to where the boy was caught in the trap.

The fenced area was a small garden with bushes that stood on wooden stakes, but they were growing multiple types of fruits.

"Woah. Is that real?" said Carmen. David looked to see Carmen glancing at the garden.

"Webi wabo," he said. He began writing faster on the note pad.

When Carmen looked back at David, he held out the notepad: "I gave them cereal to distract them, but your little girl saw the boy before I covered him. Also, I grafted the bushes to grow multiple fruits. Works wonders."

"Huh," said Carmen. She paused for a moment, unsure of what to ask. Her eyes glanced down then back to Dave. She tilted her head slightly and looked to the side when she spoke, "We have to get going soon. Thank you for feeding the ki-" She thought for a second. What if the kids stayed here? But she couldn't risk leaving the kids so close to Tulare. She shook her head. "Thank you for feeding them. We'll be out of your hair soon."

David shook his head and began writing in the pad: "Get some banana chips before you leave, I have plenty," he wrote.

"Thanks," Carmen said.

She re-entered the home through the front and stopped at the family picture on the wall. It was David in the photo as the male adult, with presumably his wife, two sons, and his mother-in-law. He was smiling and much brighter than the David she knows now.

Back in the kitchen, the kids were finishing up their cereal, but their happiness had dimmed down.

"What's wrong guys?" said Carmen.