U.U.S.A

Chapter 1. Outbreak

"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up wake up!"

I open my eyes to see Kaitlyn standing at the foot of the bed, I tilt my head to the side and as my eyes adjust I see my watch and that it is half four in the morning.

"Honey go back to bed it's late, try to get some sleep" I respond sheepishly

"But daddy, the monsters from the tv walked past our house and tried to get in"

I sit up and pull the covers off me, rub my eyes as I try to find my slippers which sit below my bed. As I rumble my feet about looking for my slippers, I notice a sound of static coming from our living room which sounds like the tv has went on standby, she's been watching horror films again I think to myself.

I find my slippers and pull myself up on my dresser, i notice a red glare coming from my window but I ignore it, it's probably just next doors neon lighting or something like that.

"Right have you been watching horror films again? What did I tell you about watching horrors before bedtime huh?" I ask

"No daddy I wasn't it was...."

"Now now don't lie to me, there is no such thing as monsters so let's just go back to bed and forget about it ok?"

She looks up at me and I see that she is really scared by the look in her eye, almost as if her eyes were asking me not to leave her alone tonight, I sigh and grab my dressing gown then walk out the door and wave my hand prompting her to follow.

I open my panel sliding door and stumble down the stairs in the dark, the stairs seem a lot longer in the dark almost like the are indefinitely being created one by one by the blackness but I eventually hit the bottom and hit the light switch so I can now see where I am going.

I reach for the handle of the door when I see a shadow looming over a picture of my wife and daughter taking when we traveled the Snowy mountains of New South Wales in Australia.

I expect it to be Kaitlyn's shadow but I feel her arm pressing against my leg so I spin my head around and jump at the window trying to catch a glimpse of what ever it was peeping in at us but it scares off and the shadow disappears away behind a bush in the distance.

I consider going out there and checking it out, but I recon it is only a raccoon or some woodland creature that must have came looking for food.
I push down the handle and open the door to the living room and notice a spilt bottle of fresh orange juice on the flood lying by the fridge, I look down at Kaitlyn and raise an eyebrow, she looks up at me like a sad puppy and says,
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it I swear I just dropped it and it burst and...."
I interrupt "it's ok, nothing that can't be cleaned up eh? As long as you didn't mean it and won't do it again yeah?" She smiles and nods he head then asks,
"Can I watch some tv?" Haha its twenty to five in the morning and she wants to watch tv, I guarantee if I let her she would fall asleep in a minute and I would have to carry her up to her bed and I really don't have the energy to do that so I guess I should just put her to bed.

"No Sweetie I think it's time you go back to bed, you have school tomorrow, or should I say today." She doesn't look too impressed after I said that, she opens her mouth to protest but realises she won't win and she nods and walks to the door and turns,
"Can you tuck me in then? Please." I see no problem with that.
"Sure just head up I will be a minute, just have to clean the kitchen up first." She turns and runs up the stairs, huh kids always running somewhere aren't they? I walk over and pick the tv remote and turn it off standby then flick the remote onto the couch and walk over onto the cold tile flooring of the kitchen and grab a cloth and begin mopping up the Orange juice and putting the empty carton in the bin.