Glory (Book 2) (2 page)

Chapter 3

John looked out the window of their little house. People were running around wild on the streets. And, if he didn't know better, they were killing themselves out there.

"Come away from the window," Alice said.

John turned and looked at his wife. She was standing behind him, obviously worried.

"We need to know what's happening out there," he said.

"No, we don't," she replied. "We need to call the police."

The phone was already in her hand. She had run to it as soon as the chaos had started.

"Do you have any idea what going on?' he asked.

"Of course I don't know what's going on! But that doesn't matter right now, does it? Come away from that window!"

John didn't move. He couldn't. He had to see what was going on outside, to see if he could figure anything out. He looked back out of the window.

"John!" Alice screamed.

"Give me a minute."

Instead of pulling her husband away from the window, Alice started pressing the digits on her phone for the local police department. She knew the number off by heart because she had used it so many times before. Neighbours weren't as courteous as they once had been. She raised the phone to her ear and waited for an operator.

She got a busy signal.

"What's this?" she asked. "How can the police be busy?"

John kept looking out the window, but he heard his wife all the same.

"They're busy because of this," he said. He pointed outside.

There were two men running toward each other. Their arms raised up above them, hands clenched into fists. Pure hatred on their faces. When the two men reached each other, they began punching and kicking. Soon those faces were covered with blood. They wrestled each other to the floor.

It made John nauseous. Though it wasn't enough to turn him away from the window. He needed to know what was happening out there
.
And why
.
None of it seemed real.

"John!" his wife screamed at him again. "Come away from there now! The police aren't answering. Something is wrong."

John knew that already. Something wa
s
ver
y
wrong. People had gone mad and were attacking each other out on his street. That wasn't something that you saw every day.

"John, please!"

He could hear the concern in her voice
-
the pani
c
- and felt bad about it. He considered listening to her
.
Maybe he should get away from the windo
w
.

Unfortunately, it was a moment too late.

Outside, one of the people had spotted him. A man. He stood on John's lawn, fists raised into the air and screaming. He rushed toward the house.

John turned and grabbed his wife's hand. She dropped the phone in the process.

"We've gotta get out of here," he said. He began pulling at the woman.

She pulled back. "Get out of here? Where? Why?"

There was a crash at the window. Both John and Alice looked to see the man looking at them. They could see nothing but rage in his eyes. He screamed at them as he pulled himself up through the window frame.

"He's coming in here!" Alice screamed. Her words were caught somewhere between a statement and question.

"That's why we have to go!"

John grabbed at his wife's hand again. He led her down the hallway, not sure where he was headed. It was then that he thought about the basement.

"Come on!" he said.

John hadn't moved this quickly in years. His legs felt as though they might give out underneath him, that he might trip and fall. But he kept moving. His wife behind him.

He came upon the basement and pulled the door open.

"Get in!"

He pushed his wife through it. A little too forcefully. So much so that she nearly fell down the stairs.

John didn't think much about it. They needed to escape.

Alice grabbed onto the railing and steadied herself. She didn't seem all too bothered by the fact that she had nearly been pushed down the stairs, either. She kept moving down them.

John followed his wife through the door.

As he turned to close the door, he saw the person approaching. The man was close now. Only a second more and…

John slammed the door shut.

The man outside started smashing his fists against it.

John's fingers fumbled with the lock, but he was able to slide it into place.

The man continued to beat against the door.

John turned to his wife. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs, panting.

"What's happened?" she asked.

John shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea.

Chapter 4

John stood at the top of the stairs. He kept his hand on the door knob. The lock had been set, but the man outside kept trying to get in.

His wife stood at the bottom of the stairs. She called up to him, "What's happening? What's going on?"

John ignored her. Not that he was purposely trying to be rude. He simply didn't know what was going on. All he knew was that people outside had started attacking one another. One of them had even attacked him and his wife. That man was outside the door now. Screaming. Hitting.

John felt each blow the man gave to the door rumble beneath his fingers and was glad that the doors were solid. He thought that it would hold. At least for a while.

And Alice had wanted him to change these doors a few years ago. Make them more modern.

Actually, it had probably been her brother's idea. But he had refused. He was happy now that he had.

He stared at the door. The man continued to pound against it.

"John!" his wife called up to him. "Come down here, please!"

"In a minute."

Although the door was strong, he didn't feel all that comfortable leaving it. Like it might come crashing down if he did. He kept his hand on the door knob.

"John, please!"

"Just a minute!"

But less than a minute passed before the banging stopped. The screaming had stopped as well.

John heard the man run away, his footsteps pounding against the wooden floors. He leaned against the door and let out a deep breath.

"What is it?" Alice asked. "What's going on?"

John turned to look at his wife. He couldn't make her out in any detail. His eyes sight wasn't that good. There also wasn't much lighting down where she was.

He flipped on the switch beside him. The bulb over his wife's head lit up. He could see that she was scared. Her hands were pressed against her cheeks.

He took his other hand off of the knob of the door and started to walk down the stairs. As he made his way, he kept hold of the railing and took slow, cautious steps. He had almost slipped down them a few years ago and didn't want to make the same mistake. He didn't think that the ambulance would come for him any time soon.

When he got to the bottom, he could see that his wife was crying.

"Oh, John! What's happened?" she asked.

He put his arms around his wife and pulled her into him. "I don't know. I really don't. But we'll be safe down here."

"We will?" Alice's voice cracked as she spoke. "How do you know?"

"The door is thick. It's strong. And there are bars on the windows." He looked over at the windows and pointed. His wife followed his gesture.

"So they can't get in?"

"I don't think they can."

"Oh, John."

John squeezed his wife tightly in his arms again, but by now his thoughts had shifted back to the people outside. He still wanted to know what was happening out there.

"Wait here," he said. He took his arms from around his wife.

"What are you doing? Where are you going?"

John walked over to one of the windows. It was up higher up than he was tall, so it was difficult for him to see much of anything. He looked around for something to stand on.

His wife came up behind him. "What are you doing? We need to call for help. We need to know what's happening."

At that, Alice looked down. John could see that she was searching for something. He didn't know what. Surely she wasn't looking for something for him to stand on.

"What is it?" he asked. "What are you looking for?"

Alice looked up at her husband. There were fresh tears in her eyes.

"The phone," she said. "I dropped it upstairs."

John didn't think that it mattered. He wasn't sure that anyone was going to be able to answer their call. He ran his hand up and down her arm.

"It'll be okay," he said. "We'll figure this out."

John turned and continued to look for something to stand on. He found a little stool over by his workbench. He shuffled over to it and picked it up. He placed it at the foot of the window.

"What are you doing?" Alice's eyes opened wide in disbelief.

"I need to know what's going on out there."

"
What's going on out there
?
You saw what was going on out there!"

"But you just asked me what it was? I thought you'd want me to look."

Alice shook her head. She placed her hands back to her cheeks. "I don't want you to look. I don't want you to!" She began to cry once more.

John was torn between looking out of the window and comforting his wife. But, in the end, he decided to look out the window. He needed to know what was going on out there. There had to be an answer.

"I'm sorry, honey," he said. "Just give me a minute."

John placed his foot onto the stool. His balance wasn't quite what it used to be. It's not that he fell over everywhere that he walked. He wasn'
t
tha
t
bad yet. But it had still been a long time since he had stood on something like a stool.

He placed one of his hands on the wall and the other on his knee. Then he pushed himself up onto the stool. It wasn't easy. Yet he was able to do it and that was what counted.

He felt his legs beneath him. They felt sturdy enough. He thought he'd be okay.

John turned to the window. It was still a little bit above him, but he was able to make out a lot of what was going on out there. He could see feet scurrying by. He could hear screaming. He heard a car horn honk.

He wanted to get a better look and tried to stand up taller. He got onto the tips of his toes. He knew that this was dangerous for him, but he had to see more of what was going on.

The screaming continued. The feet hurried by. The car horn sounded once again.

Then a face fell right in front of him. It was covered in blood. John could see streams of it coming out of the person's nose and mouth. He didn't know who it was, but that didn't matter.

He pulled back in surprise. And, in doing do, lost his balance.

He felt the wall slip away from his fingers. He felt his feet move from underneath him. They lost purchase of the stool and John fell crashing to the ground. A sharp pain ran up his arm and leg.

His wife came running up to him. She bent down and grabbed hold of him. She placed his head in her lap. "Are you okay? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

John was in pain, unsure if he had broken anything.

"I think I'm okay," he said after a moment.

His wife continued to cry. "Oh, I just couldn't bare it if anything were to happen to you."

John looked at his wife. The words were nice to hear. He felt them toward her too. Of course she could drive him crazy at times, but he truly did love her.

"I'm okay," he said. "Just give me a moment."

Alice didn't argue. She let her husband lie there. When he was ready, he sat up a bit. He didn't think that he had broken anything. Sure, it had hurt. He was sure that some of it was his pride as well. But, no, he didn't think that he had broken anything.

His wife leaned over and kissed him. "Don't do that again."

John smiled. It was strange. He knew that something terrible had happened outside and that he and his wife were trapped in their basement, but the words made him happy.

"I won't," he said. "I promise."

Alice helped him sit up more. He was still resting against her. John took a few deep breaths, stunned by all that he had seen
,
all that had happene
d
.

"So?" Alice asked.

"S
o
wha
t
?"

"What did you see?"

John didn't want to tell her about the face. He couldn't let her know that a man was lying dead right outside of the window.

"It isn't good," he said instead.

"What do you mean, it isn't good? What's happening out there?"

No, he thought. He wouldn't tell her about the man. Except he wouldn't lie to her, either.

"Something's happened," he said. "Something bad."

His wif
e
tske
d
. She already knew that. She wanted something more. "What did you see? Tell me."

John took a deep breath. Then he looked into the eyes of the woman he had been married to for 40 years.

"I saw killing," he said. "Lots of killing."