The Roaming

The Roaming: Part 10

She sits slumped against the breakfast nook, her cheeks flushed and a trail of bronze drool leaking from her lip. I reach for her with small, stubby fingers, and she returns my gesture with the swipe of broken glass. The alcoholic residue stings in my blood while she ignores my pained whimpers. She stumbles to her feet, her palms dripping crimson as bits of Jack-Daniels-liquor-bottle feather to the ground.

"I wanted to abort you," she hisses before burping uncontrollably and vomiting near my feet. Another figure enters the kitchen, shouting and cursing incomprehensibly. She slurs her words, jabbing her pointer finger into his chest. With a sudden flash, the back of her hand cracks against his jaw. He bends down, a welt already forming under his mouth, and cradles me in his arms.

"Valentine!" Dad violently shakes me awake, baleful heat filling and overwhelming my lungs. Flames come into focus as Dad throws my duffel bag into my lap, "there's a fire, we need to leave."

I'm up in seconds, now acutely aware of my surroundings. Smoke billows through the bedroom doorway, and no more than a few feet away Jeremy is scrambling out of the window. Dad drags me from bed and shoves me away onto the roof. He follows closely behind and crawls

in front of me, before lowering himself from the gutter. He dangles for a moment, then drops and rolls off the porch steps below.

In the distance, I can see Codi carrying Colton out of the horse barn, both Baxter and about one dozen roamers hurdling after them. In the fields, Aunt Brenda and Heather chase after frightened horses. They're able to wrangle two, which buck and whinny frantically, but the remaining five escape over the fence and into the neighboring farmlands. Boltana and Uncle Greg scream angrily at each other, Maara trying her best to mediate all while the three of them struggle to fend off a gnashing roamer.

"Valentine!" Dad brings me back to my present situation, "jump down, we'll catch you," he urges, getting into position with Jeremy at his side. The soreness in my leg has almost completely disappeared, but it's not surprising that Dad still feels the need to baby me.

I drop my duffel bag off the roof, hoping Dad and Jeremy didn't hear what I presume to be a bong breaking on impact. Skittishly sliding off the roof panels, I let myself hang before releasing my grip from the ledge. I'm only falling for a nanosecond when I feel arms hook around my own. Dad and Jeremy buckle under my weight, skidding in the dirt and nearly tripping backwards.

Now that I've got a better view of the house, the real adrenaline and fear sets in. Most flames burn around where the kitchen would have been. All that's left now of that part of the house are charred pipes and peeling walls. Smoke escapes out of each window, and through the glass front door, I can see fire dancing its way through the main hall and skipping up the stairs.

Dad and Jeremy pull me up onto my feet. In the distance, a plethora of roamers leak out of the forest and into the fields, drawn towards the fire. Turning back towards the cars, Aunt Brenda and Uncle Greg have managed to attach a trailer to the back of the truck. Heather and Boltana struggle with the reigns of the captured, refractory horses, trying unsuccessfully to push them into the trailer. Now past the two barns, Codi directs Colton to take Baxter and run ahead. Codi then whirls around and confronts the roamers on his tail, whipping his machete out of its sheath. I make the wise decision to look away when Codi decapitates the first roamer with one clean swipe of his blade.

Together, me, Dad, and Jeremy manage to make it to our car. Colton appears at the trunk, climbing inside with Baxter as we throw our bags in.

"Babe, we have to go," I hear Aunt Brenda shout. Uncle Greg stands coldly beside her, watching stoically as his house burns in front of him. As a former fireman, it must pain him to know he's powerless against the fire. As parts of the roof sink and crumble through, the roamers grow closer, following the light and the smell of human flesh.