Orson spoke to Jess firmly – commanding his attention.
“You should stop the children from watching, Jess. Now!”
Jess turned, almost involuntarily, and grabbed the boys around the neck, swung them around and pulled them into his chest. There were trees behind him. Tall pines. A raindrop fell upon his nose and in a matter of seconds, rain filled the air around them as if the skies were giving up on what they held so tightly to.
Several gunshots rang out at the same time, and at first Jess thought perhaps it was thunder.
Jess looked up and saw Toni, covered in bloody bullet holes. It seemed as though acknowledgement could be read on her face, finally. After looking so confused and angry since Jess found her wandering the front lawn of the apartment building, she finally appeared for a frozen moment in time, to understand what had happened.
Her legs gave out and her body slumped to the floor. Michael screamed.
Jess pulled the boys into him again, not realizing that they had broken away from him, and covered their faces with his hand.
“Don’t look,” he said. “Don’t look.”
They composed themselves as best they could.
One of the officers motioned to Jess: “Come on, this way,” he said. “We need to get you guys examined and then I’ll get you a beer. We have a brewery on site and you look like you could use one.”
“No,” Jess said. “Never again.”
Jess stopped mid-stride, grabbed Michael’s hand and picked up Dustin in his other arm.
Dustin let his head rest against his father’s shoulder, experiencing a strange bout of déjà vu or re-experiencing a childhood memory.
His father’s neck was thick and strong and seemed covered in several large white boils.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Among the Roaring Dead Page 25
