by Cal, Sarah
How dare they!
Even knowing what she could do wouldn’t be enough, that all she had done was cower and let them do whatever they wanted—hurt Chase, threaten her family, taken their food—she was as much mad at herself as she was with them.
"If you come up with an idea of how to stop them, you can tell me," Chase said, sounding tired. "But until then, we should sit tight and stay out of their way."
He left her standing there, and she could feel him drop to the floor, where he had probably been sleeping. She felt jealous that he even could. After what just happened, Emma didn’t think she would be getting anymore sleep for the night.
She hadn't even looked to see if Brian had come back in the house, but he probably had. Merry and Janice must have gone back up the stairs, because she heard Janice start to cry as soon as the women were out of the house and she couldn’t hear it anymore. Hopefully, Merry was taking care of their grandmother, because Emma couldn’t do that right then.
Emma looked out of the window angrily, unable to move, unable to look away. She eyed every single one of them. They were far enough away that Emma could only see their dark outlines as they moved around. She could do nothing but stare at them and will them to drop dead, and it annoyed her.
But she vowed to herself that things wouldn’t stay as they were. She would die first before she let those women do what they wanted a second time. If the police were out of the question, she would just think of a way to get her family out of the problem they found themselves in. Even if it meant talking to and agreeing with Merry.
She decided she would not allow anyone to destroy her life, not anymore. After everything she had survived through, this wouldn’t be what took her down. And, somehow, she would be prepared for the next day. She decided she was going to fix everything—Merry's mania, their food shortage, and Kellen's anger at her.
She turned away from the window, preparing herself mentally for the fight ahead.
