Childhood's End by Jennifer Reynolds

Author:Jennifer Reynolds [Reynolds, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror | Dystopian | Zombies
Publisher: Jennifer Reynolds
Published: 2019-08-09T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Tuesday morning, Dad woke up sick. In the back of my mind the day before, I’d thought he looked drained, paler than usual, and not himself, but I chalked it up to losing my mom and sister. I’d felt run down, raw, and numb myself.

Dad had slept on the sofa again. That time I understood why he wouldn’t sleep in Alley’s room, and of course, he couldn’t sleep on his own bed. I did offer him mine, but he adamantly refused. Since I couldn’t make him take my bed, I stopped insisting after about the hundredth time of asking him.

Not that it mattered. It wasn’t as if either one of us got much sleep that night. Our neighborhood usually shut down around seven or eight during the week. Everyone was home from work, fed, and relaxing. Sometimes you could hear the sounds of kids playing, but mostly all that filtered through was the occasional car driving by. Curiosity had me itching to find the nearest window so I could watch what was happening, but fear of one of the creatures spotting me and trying to get into the house kept me away.

That night and on into the morning was chaos. Glass broke, people screamed, and sirens blared in-between the sounds of gunshots. The news stations played the same images and videos it had most of the day. Occasionally we’d get something new, but I got the feeling most of it was on repeat. The radio was the same.

When some unknown person had banged on our door for half a second, screaming for us to let him or her in, Dad and I started barricading the doors and windows the best we could.

At first, when Dad hadn’t woken when I called, I’d assumed he was just exhausted from the day before. I could sympathize, and if it hadn’t been for fear of what the day would bring, I’d have probably slept in as well.

Not until I had to shake him awake, which was never the case with Dad, did I realize something was wrong. He was paler than usual and running a fever.

He mumbled something when I shook him, and he rolled his eyes in my direction, but I could tell that he didn’t see me.

“Shit,” I said, thankful he wouldn’t be aware of my cursing in his presence.

“Dad. Daddy,” I said, shaking him a little harder.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“You’re sick.”

“I’m all right. Just tired. Let me sleep a bit longer.”

“I’m going to get you a fever reducer and some water. I need you to wake up and take it.”

“Okay,” he said, but immediately rolled his head away from me and went to sleep.

“Fuck,” I said to no one. What was I going to do? Take care of him, of course. But what if he died?

I got the potty seat out of my parents’ room and set up it next to the sofa. I got water, meds, and some wet wipes and set them on the coffee table. I looked down at my dad for a long moment, wondering what else I needed.

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