Episode 5: Some Things Better Left Alone

Episode 5

"Some Things Better Left Alone"

(Mark's Point of View)

I stood by the window, sweat beading down my face. I peeked my head above and saw the stranglers, getting closer. How did they know we were here?

"Where's Stan?" I asked again, "He's not here."

"Try the basement! That's where he hangs out." Jess whispered to me.

I crawled on the floor, trying not to make myself visible through the window, I made it all the way to the stairs. Stranglers got closer, and they started checking out the house. I slid down the stairs carefully and made it to the basement. I stood up and frantically looked for Stan.

"Stan?" I whispered.

I looked around some more, and I saw Stan hiding in a closet with a pistol in his hands, trembling in fear.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"We need to hide! Stranglers are coming!"

"Yeah, we know. We're about to fend them off, what are you doing down here?"

"Hiding! What does it look like? You can't fight stranglers! There are too many of them! I've had this problem before, if you hide they leave!"

Just then there was a crashing sound of a window upstairs, and then gunfire. I grabbed Stan by his shirt collar and lifted him out of the closet.

"Come on! We need to fight! They're here."

We ran up the stairs and saw the group fending off the stranglers who have broken into the house. Hiding didn't help, they knew we were here for some reason. I started spraying some of them down with my machine gun.

"Don't let them get too close!" I hollered.

More came crashing in through the window, and the front door started being pounded up against, more stranglers were trying to get in. The stranglers didn't stop coming either, they jumped through the window one at a time, once the front door breaks open, we will be hoarded by tons of stranglers all at once.

"Barricade the door!" I yelled, "they can't get in!"

"Stan!" Jess yelled, "You run the construction shop downstairs! You must have something!"

"Yeah! I can get some wood and nails! We can hammer barriers over the door!"

The door kept getting pounded on, and I had a feeling they would be getting in soon. We had no time for that.

"No! It'll take too long! Get anything you can find and push it in front of the door!"

Everyone went with that idea and started scrambling the house for anything big and heavy to push against the door. Stan and I shot the stranglers that came in through the windows. It was easy, only one could come in at a time through each window, there wasn't enough space for them all to crowd in here at once. Jess came running back to the front door pushing a giant china cabinet with Bay.

"Be careful with that!" Stan cried, "that was mother's."

Jess and Bay rammed it up against the door, everyone came back with something small and pinned it up against the windows, making sure no more stranglers could get in for now, a china cabinet was definitely heavy enough to hold the door for now. The pounding didn't stop though. This was a mansion as well, we didn't have enough time to cover every window, it's only a matter of time before the stranglers figure out this place has more windows too.

"The cabinet isn't gonna hold forever!" I panicked, "we need to get the stranglers away from the house!"

"I got it!" Bay exclaimed, "the flare gun!"

"What about it? We gonna fire it off in the house?" I asked.

"No, we have someone sneak out the back or something, they head into the forest and fire it off! Send them away!"

We all thought about it for a while, that might actually be a good plan. The stranglers love bright lights, they are distracted easily. They will leave the house alone if they see a giant flare in the sky.

"Let's do it," I said, "I'll sneak out."

"No," Jess stopped me, "I'll do it."

"Jess-"

"Mark, I'm more agile than you. I'm quick, I can do it."

"I'm quicker," Kayla said, "they won't even see me."

"Absolutely not, I'm going." Jess stated.

We all started rushing to the back of the mansion, Bay ran upstairs and grabbed the flare gun. She came back and opened the window.

"I'm going." Bay said.

"What?"

"I'm the quickest out of everyone here. I always go on runs to Kingston. I can do this."

There was no arguing that, Bay was the best fit for this mission. We were about to give our goodbyes and wish her luck, but the china cabinet shook again, the stranglers really wanted in. Bay snuck out of the window and into the cold snow. She looked around until for reassurance and ran off towards the woods.

(Bay's Point of View)

I rushed off towards the woods, the stranglers didn't see me yet. Thank god. If they saw me now, it would make things way harder than they needed to be. I finally made it to the woods after running through Stan's giant backyard. I needed to get a good distance away from the mansion to fire the flare, if it's not far enough the stranglers will just come back. I rushed through the forest with the flare gun clenched tightly in my right hand.

"Don't panic Bay," I said to myself, "you've run into Kingston hundreds of times before. This is no different. Fire the flare and run for your life."

Once I got a far enough distance from the mansion I stopped running. I was in the middle of the woods, looking around for an escape plan once I fire this thing. There was none. I would just have to run. I pointed the flare gun in the air and took a deep breath in. I pulled the trigger and the flare shot in the air. I hope they saw that. I started running back through the forest as fast as I could.

As I was running, I started hearing screaming, which got closer and closer. They were definitely coming. I started running faster, hoping I could beat the stranglers out of the forest. By the time they get to the forest, maybe I could be out. I saw the first strangler running through the forest about one hundred yards away from me. Then more followed, I slowed down and crept through the forest.

"Stay quite Bay, they're only stranglers."

Once the stranglers passed, I started running again. I kept looking behind me every once in a while, making sure they weren't following me. I felt something fall out of my pocket while I was running, I couldn't stop for it though I emerged from the forest and my heartbeat pounded faster and faster. I ran through the snowy backyard and finally made it back to the mansion. I climbed through the window where everyone was waiting for me and rolled onto the floor. I dropped the flare gun beside me and breathed heavily.

"It's okay," Jess comforted me, "you did it, they're gone."

"Are you sure?" I panted, struggling to stand up.

"For now." Stan said, peering out the window.

"We need to shut all of the lights off." Ned said, switching the lights off.

"What? Why?" Stan asked.

"How do you think they knew we were here? We're like a beacon! Shining in the middle of the forest! Stranglers are attracted to these things. Everyone get to a room and switch the lights off!"

Nobody argued, there was no time for arguing. I ran upstairs to my gun shop, Kayla followed behind me. I got to the room and turned off the lights.

"What was it like?" Kayla asked me.

"What was what like?"

"The chase, all of those stranglers running after you."

"They didn't get me, that's all that matters." I said.

(Ryan's Point of View)

Hours passed in the mansion, and the stranglers never came back. Stan lit some candles and we sat at the kitchen table, Mark and Jess boarded up the rest of the windows. It was nighttime, and we were safe for now. I sat beside my mom, Elise. All of the adults were talking, something about the generator acting up lately. Ever since the cabin burnt down, I have been feeling guilty. I had to let the guilt out. I tugged on my mom's shirt.

"Mom." I said.

"What Ryan?"

"I need to tell you something. It's important."

"What is it?"

"It needs to be in private."

My mom got up and I followed her to another room where nobody was. She looked at me, waiting for me to tell her what was wrong.

"Well? What's bothering you?"

"You're going to hate me for this, but I need to get it off of my chest."

"What? You're starting to scare me Ryan."

"Remember the fire at the cabin?" I asked her.

"Yes. How could I forget?"

"I did it."

"What?" Elise asked, stunned, "what do you mean you did it?"

"I did it!" I cried, "I burnt the cabin down! I did it!"

Elise looked at me in shock, tears starting falling down her face, she backed away from me.

"W-why did you do it?" she asked me.

"Because of them," I said, "Because of Jeff's group. They killed dad, they killed him! If they never showed up, then dad would have never died! I burnt the cabin down, because I thought maybe I could get rid of them that way."

"Ryan, what were you think-"

I clenched my fists.

"And I'd do it again. They ruined everything mom, they deserve to die."