After the Bite (22 page)

“Get this thing
out of me!” Deraan was crying, sweating, and screaming; she looked up at Grace as she rushed over with things from the cart.

“All right
, try to quiet down! We don’t want those things hearing us. Just breathe. You’ll do fine.” Deraan breathed in and out, in and out, and then cringed. Another contraction. Grace took the blanket and pillow and set up a nice little spot for Deraan.

Deraan
lay down and removed her jeans and underwear. Baby Caleb began making his way out of her, and she was screaming bloody murder. Tears and sweat ran down her face. She tilted her head back and closed her mouth, moaning loudly as she gave one good push.

“That
’s great! You’re doing great!” Grace said.

For the next four hours, the two women worked hard
. Finally Grace got a view of Caleb’s head beginning to poke out into the cool air of the shop, and she cried tears of joy.

“Oh my God!” Deraan screamed. She let out a sob
and pushed with all her might.

“I can see his head! Give it some more,
honey! You’re getting there!”

“I
’m trying!” Deraan pushed, and Caleb’s head emerged a little more. And then some more. And then Deraan felt a release of pressure and pain, and Grace held out her arms with a smile, lifting the baby in her arms.

It was the most beautiful sight
Grace had seen since she’d watched Byron come into the world, and for a moment the joy she felt outweighed the grief of him leaving it.

Deraan tilted her head up when she heard the sound of her baby
crying. She smiled, and all her pain turned joy.

Grace separated Caleb from Deraan
and took him to the sink, where she had set up a little station. She cleaned Caleb off and wrapped him in a towel.

“My baby
,” Deraan said. “Oh my God, he’s so beautiful.” Her voice caught in her throat and was hoarse from labor, but she was the happiest she’d ever been. Grace knelt down and set Caleb on Deraan’s chest. Deraan embraced him, closing her eyes, letting out a relieved sigh. “I really can’t thank you enough… and I really am sor—” Grace cut her off with a wave of her hand.

“
It’s really all water under the bridge at this point, I think. We both acted like children, and I think it’s time we grew up. Don’t worry about it.” Deraan nodded. Caleb was making little random faces up at the ceiling, and then he looked into Deraan’s eyes. She met his gaze, smiled, and then realized how much Caleb looked like Byron. She began to cry again. Grace wrapped her arms around Deraan and tried to comfort her as best as she could.

“I-I just wish Byron could have been here to see little Caleb
. He’s so beautiful…”

“I know,
honey. I know.” Grace felt tears fall down her face, and sniffled. “We’ve just both got to be strong now. I don’t know what’s happening right now, but we need to be strong. We need to keep the baby safe.”

“You
’re right. But where will we go?”

“I think we should head to a sturdier building than this, for sure. Maybe back to your place
. But for tonight, this will do us just fine. You and the baby need your rest. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

“That
’s probably best,” Deraan said. She hugged her baby. Grace smiled and hugged the both of them in the silent calm of the ice cream shop.

BAZK

“Guys, we need a name,”
Sam said. “Something badass.”

Harry tapped steadily but quietly on the hi-hat before him as the five teens stood, sat, or leaned around the garage. Their ears were still ringing, and the summer heat filled the
room, but their band was a labor of love.

“Forget the name,” Wilder, their lead guitarist, said. “We need to not suck, first.”

“We don’t suck,” Sam said. Wilder raised his eyebrows momentarily, then looked away.

“We have, like,
two songs we practice over and over,” Eddie said. “I’m pretty sure all of Harry’s neighbors hate us.”

“I have an idea,” Andrew
said. “Harry has Rock Band, let’s just start it up and have it randomly generate a band name, and whatever it comes up with first will be our name.”

The five exchanged glances.

“That’s a great idea!” Sam said. “We take the first name it gives us, even if it’s a winkie name, agreed?”

“Winkie?”
Andrew, being relatively new to the band, looked at Harry.

“His dad
’s British, it’s something his family used to always say.”

“All right,” Wilder said. “Let
’s start it up.”

****

“This was an awful idea,” Sam said. The five stared at the screen, the terrible words burning into their eyes in a bright shade of yellow, never to change, no matter how badly the boys willed it.

“Scowling at Babies?” Eddie
said. “That’s fucking stupid.”

“Well, we agreed,”
Sam said. The other four moaned in unison.

“We can just change it,” Harry said.

“Tell you what. We’ll all go home tonight, yeah? Anyone comes up with a better name by the time we practice tomorrow, we’ll use it. If no one has anything, we’ll forever be Scowling at Babies.”

“Deal,” Eddie said. He grabbed his guitar, which was already in its case, and stood up. “I have to get home, though.”

“Don’t forget to practice,” Sam said.

“Why do I have to practice?
I haven’t even
left
practice, yet.”

“Practice anyway
.”

“We should all probably get going,” Wilder said. The others nodded.

“Sam, can I talk to you for a sec?” Harry asked.

“Sure
.” The others left, but Sam stayed behind, and the two waited until they heard the front door close. “What is it, mate?”

“It
’s about Andrew,” Harry said. “He’s terrible. We have to get rid of him.”

“He
’s not that bad,” Sam said, his partly British accent seeping through.

“He
’s exactly
that
bad. He’s awful. I mean, we’re all awful, but he can’t even keep up. And he’s always un-tuned, or off key. Usually both. It’s throwing us all off. Even you.”

“Yeah,”
Sam said, “but we’ve pretty much had every bassist in the county, and they’ve all quit. We need Andrew.”

“For
what?” Harry asked. Sam was startled by the sudden anger in his voice.

“For our band
.”

“What band? Some stupid garage practice group with two songs and a lot of pissed-off neighbors? We
need that?”

“Harry, what are you
saying?”

“It
’s over, Sam,” Harry said. “I know how much music means to you. It means a lot to all of us. But we’re no good. Before, we were at least no good
together
. With Andrew we’re four no good guys and a terrible bassist.”

Sam
sat for a while, not saying anything. Harry sighed.

“Look, get rid of Andrew. We
’ll look for a bassist, and if we find one that at least works, I’ll stick around. But if we can’t, I think it’s time for us to move on.”

Sam
said nothing, only stood up and headed for the door. He stopped before he left.

“I
’ll talk to Andrew tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Harry said.

“One day, we’ll make it,” Sam said. “We’ll tour in your van.” Harry smiled.

“That thing
’s a piece of crap.”

“We
’ll play in cities all over the country, right out the back of the van if we have to. It’ll be beautiful.”

“Yeah
.”

“Good night,”
Sam said.

“Night,” Harry
said. Sam left the house.

****

They met the next afternoon at the usual time. When Andrew showed up a half hour late, Harry’s eyes death-locked on Sam, who went over to him as Andrew started to set up his equipment. The two spoke quietly.

“Are you going to talk to him?” Harry
said.

“Let
’s just see how he does today, okay?” Sam said. Harry rolled his eyes.

“It
’s not like he’ll have suddenly gotten better overnight.”

“Well, let
’s just wait and see. I promise, if this goes badly, he’s out, and we’ll start looking for a replacement, yeah?”

Harry sighed. “All right.”

“You guys ready over there?” Wilder asked.

“Yeah,”
Sam said. He took his place at the mic, and practice began.

As usual, they practiced the same two songs and minor pieces and fragments for several hours. They left the garage door open so that they wouldn
’t die from the heat, and just about anyone who passed by cringed. Even the select few who pretended not to notice showed signs of distaste on their faces. Still they practiced until the sun was nearly gone. Finally, things began to quiet down, and Harry’s eyes locked on Sam once again. Sam’s shoulders dropped, he sighed, and then approached Andrew. The looks on Wilder’s and Eddie’s faces told him that they knew what was coming, and approved.

“Andrew, there
’s something we need to talk about,” Sam said.

“What is it?”

“Guys,” Wilder said, “looks like we have a fan.”

Sam
looked over Andrew’s shoulder into the driveway, where a woman was slowly walking across the cement toward the garage. She had no disapproving cringe or scowl. Her face was plain, except for her eyes, which gave off a sort of ‘nobody’s home’ look.

“Hey, can we help you?” Eddie
said. He turned to the others. “She’s probably just coming to complain.”

“Yeah,” Harry said. Andrew turned back to
Sam.

“What were you saying?”

“Andrew—” was all Sam was able to get out. The woman grabbed Andrew where he stood and sank her teeth into his neck. He made a gurgling sound as he pushed at the woman.

The others quickly moved for their bandmate, unsure of what was going on.

“Hey, what the fuck?” Eddie said. “Get off him!”

Sam
tried to pry the woman’s head from Andrew’s neck, but it only seemed to make things worse. Blood poured down Andrew’s front.

“Call an ambulance!” Wilder
said. Harry, who was all but trapped behind his drum set, went for the garage door. He opened it and saw his mother standing there.

“Mom! We need help, this lady
’s crazy!”

Harry
’s mother lunged at him, her eyes as vacant as those of the woman in the driveway. The two nearly fell down the stairs. Harry caught himself at the last minute, but his mother stumbled down the steps and into the drum kit, her face slamming against the crash cymbal.

“Mom, what
’s wrong?” Harry said.

As Harry went to help his mother up, the other three were still trying to remove the crazy woman from Andrew, who seemed to be losing consciousness. Unable to move her, Eddie let go of and headed up the stairs into Harry
’s house to try the phone.

Finally Wilder was able to pry the crazy woman from Andrew
. Her head snapped back (taking a large chunk of Andrew’s skin with it) and she fell backward onto the pavement. Andrew fell, but Sam caught him and guided him more softly to the ground.

“All the lines are busy!
” Eddie said from the top of the stairs, with the phone to his ear. “I can’t even get through to 9-1-1!” He looked at Harry, who was helping his mother to her feet. She seemed incredibly dazed, then she noticed Harry and lunged again. “Guys, what the fuck is going on?”

Sam
looked at the woman on the ground. She lay on her back, empty eyes pointed at the sky, chewing on the shred of Andrew she had managed to take with her.

Andrew
’s eyes opened. Before Sam could congratulate him on coming awake, he wrapped his arms around Sam and tried to bite him. Sam managed to stop Andrew only centimeters away from teeth meeting skin.

“Andrew, what the hell
?” Sam said. “Cut it out!”

“Mom, what
’s wrong with you?” Harry said, tears in his eyes. She would lunge for him, miss by a lot, stand there for a moment, and then try again.

“Harry
… I don’t think that’s your mom anymore,” Eddie said.

“What are you
talking about?” Harry said. “Of course it’s my mom!” In his distraction, he hadn’t moved out of his mother’s path, and she pounced on top of him. The two fell over the drum kit, knocking over one of the toms as they crashed to the ground. Eddie leaped down the stairs to help.

“Wilder, get him off of me!
” Sam said. “He’s gone mad!”

Wilder
brought his steel-toed boot into Andrew’s head. He had no idea if it killed him or just knocked him out, but either way, Andrew hit the ground and didn’t get back up.

Sam and Wilder
looked toward the back of the garage in time to see Eddie raise a drum above his head and bring it down as hard as he could on top of Harry’s mother. The drum’s skin broke and the wood encased the woman’s head. She stopped attacking, stood up, and stumbled around blindly before tripping over the drum set and falling down.

“Guys, we have to get out of here,”
Sam said. Eddie helped Harry up. Before any of them could even collect their thoughts, they were running out of the garage, across the front yard. As they piled into Harry’s van, they could hear screams and sirens. Sam climbed into the passenger seat, but Harry was right behind him, so he scooted into the driver’s seat while Harry handed him the keys.

The front seats were the only ones with windows. Sam and
Harry did their best to ignore the terrible scenery as the van sped down the street.

****

The van rested by the side of a road lining the wooded at the outskirts of town. Its passengers had spent the last few hours attempting to reach loved ones by cell phone and listening to the radio for updates. Then the cell phones and radio stopped working, and everything was quiet. Every now and then a car passed, but otherwise the world may have been empty.

“So
… what now?” Wilder said, finally breaking the silence. He didn’t want to appear insensitive; at 18 he was the oldest of the group, and the only one who didn’t live at home. His family was in another state, and he hadn’t been able to reach them. Eddie had been unable to contact anyone as well, and Harry’s mother had clearly fallen victim to whatever was going on. Wilder felt like Sam had it the worst, he had gotten hold of his mother only to hear screams and snarls over the phone before it disconnected, leaving imagination to run wild.

“Can we stop by my place?” Eddie
said. “See if anyone’s there?”

“Yeah,”
Sam said. He started the van, and they rode in silence.

Weaving through the streets was difficult. There were wrecks everywhere, as well as people and what used to be people rushing about. Finally the van turned onto Eddie
’s street, and Eddie’s eyes widened with horror before they even pulled in front of the house, which was roaring in flames. A support beam collapsed and fell into the hot white flame like liquid.

“Let me out,” Eddie said, trying the van
’s door. The child locks prevented it from opening.

“Eddie,
” Wilder said, “I don’t want to sound rude, but you know there’s no chance anyone’s… in there, right?”

“I have to check!” Eddie said. He tried the handle again, fiercely jiggled it back and forth, trying to get out.

“Eddie, I can’t let you out, man,” Sam said. He stared straight ahead, not looking at the flaming house.

“Let me out!” Eddie slammed his fist into the door of the van several times before burying his head in his arms, sobbing loudly.
Sam noticed a few people starting to walk slowly toward the van. He looked at Eddie in the rearview, still sobbing, not looking up, accepting but not wanting to accept what was going on. Sam started the van and drove off, running over one of the creatures in his path to a quieter part of town.