Chapter 7

I lingered for a moment before stepping out. hoping it wouldn't be the last time, I would be able to tell him that. I locked the door to the truck and shut the door firmly so I knew it was closed completely, worrying that if it wasn't they wouldn't be safe.

Walking up to the house, the ominous silence that radiated from it had my gut winding tighter and tighter. My hands shook so hard I dropped the keys while trying to unlock the door. I finally got it unlocked and I slowly opened it, grimacing at the creepy horror house squeak it made that echoed disturbingly in the silence. I left it wide open so that I could make a quick escape if I needed to.

I stepped inside quietly and began searching for some sign that my husband was okay. I heard a noise coming from the back room and I stopped in my tracks. My heart pounded in my ears as I waited, frozen to the spot. A high-pitched mewling whine from the back room killed that hope as it began to bloom. Tears welled up in my eyes as I recognized that noise, it was the same one I had heard from the bushes right before Melissa's mother had burst through them.

"No," I whispered feeling my world turning on its axis.

I reached out and grabbed the back of the nearest chair as my legs threatened to give out. I forced them to move forward a little further just as a body came into view from around the corner. He was hunched over and the only way he could have looked more dangerous, or horrifying would have been if he had been crawling around the walls or ceiling. His normally beautiful warm hazel eyes were completely black, and they were piercing through my body.

"Darren," I whispered as I hurried forward.

I reached for him, but he just regarded me with a weird clicking noise that sounded as if it was resonating from his chest.

"Honey, it's Vicki," I tried again, my voice cracking.

I moved closer to him causing his gaze to jump up to my face and lock on. The look in his black eyes went from curious to hungry all in a matter of seconds. Instinctively I began to move backward toward the open door hoping to make an escape before he could act on that look.

"MOM!" came a scream from behind me.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Marcus at the driver side window with an intense look of panic on his face. The window was just barely cracked, and his lips were pressed against the opening as he shouted again. I turned back to Darren and choked out a sob as the tears began to flow from my eyes. I knew this thing in front of me wasn't my husband anymore, but I still had to stop myself from running to him, to hold or even touch him one last time.

"I love you, my husband. I swear I'll find a way to save you," I whispered passionately.

I hoped vehemently that there would be a way to save him since often in the movies there was only death. However, those were just works of fiction; then again so were zombies.

I turned and raced out the door slamming it shut as an angry bellow came from inside followed by a loud thud as something hit the metal. I flew to the truck trying hard to stem the flow of tears so that I could somehow be strong for the children whom I knew were already terrified. I got to the door and barely had enough time to shout out "Piccolo Pete" before I caught sight of the reason behind the desperation in Marcus' voice. My worst fears were coming true; Johnathan had started to seize. I threw open the back door and reached in to jerk him out of his seat. Laying his stiff body on the ground, I was forced to watch helplessly as his eyes rolled back into his head and his body was a mass of jerky uncontrollable movements.

"No, no, no," I began chanting.

His arms and legs were kicking and thrashing. His whole tiny body was contorting. Unable to figure out what else to do, I grabbed him and held him close to me.

"No, please not my son. You took my husband, not my son," I begged as I cried.

The tears ran unchecked down my face as I leaned over his jerking body protectively, holding him tightly. Foolishly hoping that if I stopped the twitching it would halt the inevitable. A warmth began to bloom on my chest, and I looked down expecting to see blood or something staining my shirt. Instead, I saw a light glowing from the stone around my neck, the stone I had forgotten. It was laying over the top of his head and began to glow brighter. His body suddenly stopped moving, like someone had flipped a switch and turned the twitching off.

The light that was shining from the center of the black stone once again grew so bright that I was unable to look at it. I turned away and squeezed him even tighter, still pleading aloud that my son was not going to be the next one to turn into one of those horrible creatures.

"Mommy?" came the sweetest sound I had ever heard.

I waited for a moment before opening my eyes because I was afraid that I was only hearing things.

"Mommy, what happened?" came the sound again.

Hesitantly I allowed my eyes to slowly open and came face to face with Johnathan. Joyfully, his beautiful hazel eyes that were such a reminiscence of his fathers were clear and shining so brightly that I couldn't stop staring at them.

"Johnny?" I whispered touching his face.

"What happened, Mommy?" he repeated looking around in confusion.

Finally convinced, I set him away from me and searched his entire body for some sign of the sickness. Only when I was reassured that he was truly fine did I begin to breathe again.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" he asked with worry growing in his voice.

His little hand reached up and wiped the tears off my face.

"You were really, really sick, baby. I was worried about you," I explained as gently as I could, choking on my own words as the tears started fresh.

"Well, didn't I tell you I wasn't feeling good?" he accused me with a glare.

I laughed and gave him a tight hug once again, thankful for whatever miracle that was concealed in this necklace.