Chris Wakes Up (11 page)
Authors: Sean Platt,David Wright
Tags: #Horror, #Romance, #Science Fiction, #Suspense, #zombies, #Short Story, #thriller
Alex breathed a sigh of relief and started to stand. But then, just as Alex thought he was safe, Mr. Henderson’s eyebrows arched in anger, and he raised the bat again.
A gunshot exploded cracked behind Mr. Henderson, and a man in a black Paladin Security uniform appeared seemingly from nowhere, aiming a pistol at Mr. Henderson, screaming, “Drop the bat!”
Mr. Henderson turned to the security guard, and then, again, looked like he’d just been woken up, and realized what he’d been doing.
“Put the bat down,” the guard repeated.
Mr. Henderson looked up, then at Alex guiltily, and placed the bat on the porch, gently as if it might explode if he wasn’t careful.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, breaking down into tears as the guard grabbed one of Mr. Henderson’s arms and twisted it back, and then the other, handcuffing the man. Once Mr. Henderson was restrained, the guard turned from Alex, and used his radio to call dispatch.
“This is Sanders. We’ve got a situation over at Mr. Heller’s house.”
As Sanders started to inform dispatch what had happened, Alex heard the sound of his little sister screaming from inside the house.
Oh shit.
He pointed at the house, “My baby sister! I’ll be right back.” Alex motioned to Sanders, who nodded okay as he continued speaking into his radio.
Alex went inside and closed the door, even though he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He sure as hell wasn’t going to leave it open with Mr. Henderson on the verge of violence. Alex bounded up the stairs and into Aubrey’s room to see her red-faced, screaming, crying her eyes out.
He picked her up, and pulled her to his chest, “It’s okay,” he whispered repeatedly, holding her tight, rocking her in his arms as he’d seen his mom do a hundred times before.
To his surprise, Aubrey calmed down, snuggling her tiny face against his chest.
Oh my God, she’s letting me comfort her!
Alex finally cried.
He held Aubrey for a long minute, inhaling her scent and feeling the glow of being a big brother that he’d never felt before.
Aubrey was asleep in minutes, also to his surprise. He laid her back in her crib, covered her with her baby blanket, then went back downstairs in case Sanders had any questions or needed to take a statement from Alex or anything.
He went to the front door, just as a black Paladin SUV rolled up into their driveway. Sanders led Mr. Henderson to the SUV, placed him in the back, as the man kept crying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” to the guards, too distraught to see that Alex was in the doorway. Probably a good thing, Alex figured, afraid the man might see him and go off again and get himself shot.
Sanders returned to Alex, taking out a notepad and pen.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Sanders asked.
Alex stepped onto the porch, keeping the door partially open so he could hear if Aubrey cried again. The black van was still in his driveway, probably waiting for Sanders to finish.
Alex told him what happened, saying that Sanders didn’t miss anything, as he showed up pretty quickly right after Mr. Henderson got there.
“Thank you,” Alex said. “You saved me.”
“No problem, kid,” Sanders said, even though he was 30, tops, hardly an old man, with a baby face and brown hair, cut military-style, like all the guards who worked for Paladin. “Now, did Mr. Henderson say anything to you?”
“No, he just said ‘you’re gonna pay.’”
“Because your dad killed his son?” Sanders asked matter-of-factly, as if he were used to asking kids about their crazy dads who had just shot up the school.
“
I guess.
I don’t know what else he could’ve been mad at. I mean, I didn’t know Teddy all that well.”
“And you’re sure he didn’t say
anything else?
”
The way Sanders asked ‘anything else’ struck Alex as odd. As if there were something in particular he thought that Mr. Henderson might have said. Alex was about to ask what he meant when his mom’s silver Passat pulled into the driveway.
She was out of the car in seconds, her eyes wide and scared, “What’s wrong?” she asked, running up to the porch.
“Nothing, ma’am,” Sanders said. “There was just a little . . .
incident
.”
“What kind of
incident?
” she said, looking at Alex and then back at Sanders.
“One of the fathers, um . . . one of the fathers who lost his son in the shooting. He came to your house. He was pretty upset. And he had a baseball bat.”
“A bat?!” Her voice rose five octaves and she turned to Alex, touching his shoulders. “Oh my God, are you okay?”
Alex nodded, hugging his mother. “Yeah, mom, everything’s okay. Officer Sanders arrested Mr. Henderson before he could do anything.”
His mom turned toward the SUV still in the driveway, glaring. He’d rarely seen his mom get angry, and this was the most furious he’d ever seen her. He was certain she was seconds from running to the SUV, pulling Mr. Henderson out, then pounding on him, even though she was a small woman who’d never hurt a fly.
“Everything’s okay, Mom,” Alex said, putting a hand on her shoulder and meeting her eyes. “He’s just upset about Teddy. I can tell he was just confused and angry. He said he’s sorry.”
Alex wasn’t sure why he felt a need to downplay the incident and protect Mr. Henderson, who’d just tried to kill him. But there was something in the man’s eyes, sadness, or something along with the confusion in the moments between his bursts of anger. And that something called to Alex, asking him to show compassion.
Alex’s mom wasn’t feeling compassionate, however.
“I want him in jail. I don’t want him anywhere near my family!”
“We’re going to take him to the police station now,” Sanders said. “They’ll have to decide what to do with Mr. Henderson, and will probably ask if you want to press charges.”
“Damned right I do,” she spit.
Alex put his arm on her, trying to calm her. He felt embarrassed that his mom was overreacting so much, especially given what happened. People had a right to be angry. She couldn’t get too worked up.
“Okay, ma’am. We’ll have someone get in touch with you. Might I make a suggestion?”
“What’s that?” she said, her voice slightly calmer, but suspicious of what he might suggest.
“Would you mind if we posted someone outside your house to keep watch? You know, just until things calm down a bit?”
She stared at him, then turned to Alex, her eyes growing more concerned.
“Do you think that’s necessary?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Your son is lucky I happened to be in the neighborhood when I was, and got here before Mr. Henderson could really hurt him.”
“What do you mean
really hurt him?
Did he hit you, Alex?”
“Just a little, on the back,” Alex said, not wanting to whine about the throbbing pain.
“Let me see,” she said, pulling his shirt up, embarrassing him further. “Oh my God! Your whole back is bruised!”
“It’s not that bad, I swear. I’ve been hit harder in soccer. This’ll be gone in a couple of days.”
“Yes,” his mom said. “I want someone here to watch over us.”
Alex closed his eyes and sighed. The last thing he wanted was for people to see that they — the family of the man who shot their sons and daughters — had security stationed at their house. It would be seen as a big “fuck you” to the victims’ families.
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll send a truck by in 20 minutes to keep an eye out for you all.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t been here. We’re so lucky you happened to be in the neighborhood.”
“Right time, right place,” Sanders said. He handed her a card, wished them well, then headed toward the SUV.
As the SUV rolled away, Alex found his mind turning over the phrase Sanders had said.
“Right time. Right place.”
That’s when Alex realized that he hadn’t seen Sanders arrive in a car. Had he
just happened
to be walking by on foot at the exact moment that Mr. Henderson decided to go apeshit? Something wasn’t right.
Aubrey started crying, pulling Alex and his mother into the house, as he continued to consider the odd coincidence of Sanders saving the day.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Table of Contents
Author’s Note — Chris Wakes Up
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