Dismemberment - Book One: The World We Once Knew

Chapter 6: For the Kids

    Moving toward the auditorium, Cait and Monique walked side by side, slowly patrolling the perimeter. Both girls had their weapons out, ready to crack skulls. Cait had her bloodied bat ready to swing, while Monique held her folding chair over her head, ready to bring it down upon anything that attacks her. “Hey, Monique. There’s something I’d like to talk about,” Cait said hesitantly. Monique shot a glance toward her friend. “What is it?” Monique asked. “It’s about that thing that happened before Ben found us. The thing with Samuel’s sister?” Monique lowered the chair and rolled her eyes. “I did what I had to, damn it. Elise got bit, I put her down. Simple as that. Now can we stop talking about it?” she said angrily. “This shit has been haunting me enough without you bringing it up, you know.” Cait opened her mouth to apologize, but quickly decided against it. The two walked in silence down the hallway, a newly formed tension between them.
Eventually, Monique and Cait reached the auditorium. Cait put her ear up to one of the double doors, and noticed the silence on the other end. The two girls got on each side of the door, and slowly opened it. When they looked around inside, they saw that the auditorium seats were completely empty. They looked to the stage and saw the curtains were drawn. They noticed some movement behind the curtains. Cait and Monique silently patrolled their current area, and when they saw that there were no threats around them, Cait called out to the person behind the curtain. "Hello? Is anybody there?" She asked out loud. As her voice echoed throughout the auditorium, the person hiding behind the curtain stepped out into sight.
"State your names!" the person exclaimed, gun drawn and pointed at the girls. The two promptly put their hands in the air and dropped their weapons. They gazed upon the gunman. They saw an overweight man in a police officer’s uniform. Sweat dripped down his forehead right past the nervous expression on his face. Monique spoke up to comply with his demand. “M-my name is Monique Davis. She’s Cait McElroy. We are students here,” she told him. The officer sighed in relief as he lowered his gun. “Officer Jacobson. Northwood PD,” he replied while wiping the sweat off his forehead. “Do you kids know what the hell has been going on around here lately? It’s like everyone has gone crazy or something.” Cait and Monique shot a glance at each other. “It’s not just around here, officer,” Cait said. “This is a global phenomenon. Some sort of disease. You get bit, you go crazy and bite other people. At least, that’s what we’ve seen,” she muttered while looking to the floor. The officer’s eyes widened with fear. “Oh god. Then that means… the kid!” Jacobson exclaimed, rushing back behind the curtain. The two girls followed.
When they passed the curtain they saw Officer Jacobson standing over two children. One was a little boy with black hair. He wore a white shirt and blue shorts. His pale skin made him look like his shirt blended in with him. Next to the boy, a little girl with ginger pigtails was lying down on the stage. She wore a pink blouse and a pair of white denim jeans. The children appeared to be no older than six years old. Monique observed the girl and noticed blood on her right leg. She stepped back and grabbed the top of her chair defensively. “Whoa, now! I think that little girl has been bitten!” Monique exclaimed. Officer Jacobson turns to look at her. “She was. One of those things lunged at her. As I was pulling him off, he bit into her leg,” Jacobson explained to the girls. The little boy started to cry. “Mr. Jacobson, is my sister going to wake up soon? She has been asleep for a while,” the boy asked. Jacobson cringes when hearing this, since explaining to the young boy that his sister is going to die will be the hardest thing he will have to do all day. “Listen, Landon-” Jacobson starts to speak, but is cut off when he hears the little girl make a sound.
Cait and Monique ready their weapons. Tears are streaming down Cait’s face. “I-I don’t think I can handle killing a little kid,” she says, lowering her bat. Officer Jacobson turns to face Cait with an angry look on his face. “Excuse me? I’m not about to let you harm her! We can make her better. We just need time, damn it!” As he goes on, the little girl lunges at the little boy. The girl growls as she tries to bite him. “Susie! Stop it!” Landon screams while pushing her away. Jacobson runs over to pull the girl off of Landon. As he pulls her off, she bites down into his hand. Jacobson yelped in pain and dropped the girl. As he looks at the new bite on his hand, he begins to panic. “Oh God, oh God! What am I gonna d-” Before he can finish his sentence, Cait swings her bat as hard as she can into the officer’s skull. Blood shoots out of his mouth and stains the stage. The fat man falls to the floor, groaning in pain. Cait raises the bat once more. “I’m so sorry officer, but we have no other option.”
Landon screams in terror as Cait brings the bat down on Jacobson’s head. The whacks made by the bat echo throughout the auditorium as Cait crushes his head into a bloody pulp. The officer’s hands start convulsing, then stop soon after, signaling that he has died. Monique picks up the officer’s gun and puts the little girl out of her misery. As the shot rings out, Landon starts to sob uncontrollably. Cait runs over to him and wraps him in a hug. “It’s okay, it’s okay. They aren’t going to hurt you anymore,” she said, crying with him.
As Cait comforted the crying child, Monique searches the officer’s corpse. Digging into Jacobson’s pockets, Monique pulled out two boxes of bullets and a radio. “Score,” she says under her breath. She puts the supplies back into the officer’s jacket and takes it off of his body. As she puts on the officer’s jacket, Cait shoots her a judging glance. Monique glares at her. “What are you looking at? I always wanted a jacket like this. A bit big on me though,” she says, looking at her new accessory from multiple angles.
Cait stands up and clenches her fists. “The body isn’t even cold yet and you’re just brushing this off? What the hell is wrong with you?” Cait lectured. Monique grinds her teeth. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you?! You just gonna cry over every freak you put down? Weak behavior like that won’t get you too far when the dead start walking, Cait. The way I see it, they stopped being human the second they turned,” Monique retorts. Cait looks to the ground, lets out a defeated sigh, and grabs Landon’s hand. “You’ve lost it, Monique. You’ve gone completely homicidal. I’m taking Landon back to the lounge where it’s safe. Come and join us when you get your shit together,” she says, walking Landon out of the auditorium. Monique stands on the stage with two bodies at her feet and lost in thought. She holstered her new gun and turned her head to look at little Susie’s body. Monique stared at the hole in the side of the little girls head and started to chuckle to herself. “Homicidal? You haven’t seen nothing yet…”