“Boys, you’re going to strip to underwear and get in the tub. I don’t like mud all over the house,” Arthur said, turning the engine off.
“Yes sir,” the boys said in unison and climbed out.
They helped Arthur pull their stuff to the front door and all of them froze as Donald and Daisy walked up to them, sniffing. “They are getting to know you,” Arthur explained, unlocking the front door.
Kit and Kat charged out and Donald and Daisy took off after them as Arthur ducked inside, turning the alarm off. Stepping back outside, he found the boys stripping down. Seeing the mud caked under their fingers, toenails, caked in their hair, and packed in every crease of skin, Arthur knew the mud wasn’t going without a fight.
He led the boys into the house to his bedroom and they all gasped at the huge garden tub. “Don’t get in till I get back,” Arthur told them, turning on the water and leaving. When he came back carrying a sleeping Nicole in the baby carrier, Arthur grinned at the boys who were leaning over and looking into the tub.
Setting Nicole down, Arthur reached over and squirted some of Wendy’s bubble bath in and the boys grinned wider at seeing the bubbles.
Taking off his weapons, Arthur pulled his shirt off. “Get in and let’s get you three cleaned up,” he sighed, grabbing a rag. When the boys climbed in, Arthur had to admit for their size the tub looked like a small swimming pool.
Arthur handed a rag to Kirk and to Pat as he got on his knees, leaning over the tub. Starting on Jim, Arthur never remembered having to work so hard to get a body clean. Working on a farm and being a nurse, that was a statement.
When the tub was full, Arthur turned off the water and then turned on the jets, making the boys laugh as he grabbed the baby shampoo and finishing Jim off by washing his hair. Seeing Pat hadn’t made much progress knocking the mud off, Arthur took over. He was halfway done when Nicole announced it was feeding time.
Arthur stopped and fed her and then put her back in the carrier. Undoubtedly, Nicole thought the boys taking a bath was hilarious because she squealed and laughed as they splashed around. When he reached Kirk, Arthur was pleasantly surprised that Kirk done a fair job. But Arthur grabbed a nail brush, going after the fingers and toes.
When he was done, Arthur let the water out and the boys all let out a moan. “Boys, we have a swimming pool that you can swim in but not for a few days, we have work to do,” Arthur told them while standing up and grabbing towels.
Jim jumped out and Arthur dried him off, then wrapped the towel around his waist. Kirk and Pat saw that and tried to copy it, so Arthur came over and showed them how. “Boys, you want to take a nap until I get some food ready?”
“I thought we had to work?” Kirk asked with heavy eyelids.
“No, first you need to rest,” Arthur chuckled, leading them into the bedroom. “You can take a nap here. I’ll get one of the beds upstairs made up for you tonight.”
With no protest, the boys climbed in the bed and before Arthur was out of the room, they were all asleep. Leaving the door open, Arthur carried Nicole into the living room and started cleaning up. The boys didn’t wake up until Arthur woke them the next morning.
Chapter Fifteen
Surviving a killer takes a toll
May 9
Feeling very painful needles stabbing her legs, Wendy struggled to open her eyes and then felt sharp, searing pain in her throat. Trying to swallow, she almost passed out from pain that filled her vision with bright lights. Grabbing a bottle of water beside her, Wendy sighed before tossing the empty bottle on the floor.
Blinking the crust and haze out of her eyes, she saw empty bottles around her and an empty bottle of Tylenol. Slowly moving her gaze, Wendy spotted an unopened bottle under her right leg and that thought brought the pins in legs to the forefront of her mind.
Rolling to her right, Wendy unfolded her left leg from under her butt and stretched it out. Extending her left leg, Wendy gave a wince and then grabbed the bottle of water. She could feel how dry and scaly her throat had become as she opened the bottle of water. Grimacing beforehand, Wendy took a drink as searing pain shot out from her throat with each swallow.
The only satisfaction was the wetter her throat got, the more the pain diminished. With half of the bottle gone, she smacked her lips while lowering the bottle and then realized, she tasted blood. Wendy looked down and saw she was naked from the waist down and blood covered the front of her shirt. Lifting her eyes up, Wendy saw from where she sat to the end of the bed was covered in dried blood.
Moving her feet to get blood flowing to them, Wendy winced at the pain of the circulation returning.
Rolling her eyes up, she gave a small thank you that the sheet rope she’d been hanging from had held up. She could remember from dream-like states that she had gone to the bathroom and had struggled to get back into the loop of sheet that was holding her up. So many times, she could recall just wanting to lie down, but a small voice in her mind would scream, ‘NO!’
Then, Wendy noticed a putrid smell and opened her eyes wider to look down.
