She is down the hall. Standing straight. Her fists clenched. Staring at something in the kitchen. When I round the corner, I have to restrain my voice, stop the gasp, and I feel my entire body seize. My mouth hangs open.
Casey clutches at her shirt, winds it around her forearms. Her face calm and still. The twist of her arms is her only outward emotion as she watches her parents feed upon her sister. David and his wife are bent on the ground, bent over the gaping body of Casey’s sister which rocks with each bite and has the appearance of rising whenever they pull the tougher muscles from the bone. They make an appreciative sound which I originally mistake for humming.
The horror does not wash over me. I mean to grab Casey’s shoulder, to reassure her that this is nothing, this is unallowed by the universe, and cannot exist, but she stands farther away than I thought and I end up waving my hand in a distracted way, carving slow and useless circles through the air. I recognize what is before me, but can no longer comprehend the impact it must surely be making.
I do not know how much time passes before I hear my voice stark in the still air, repeating aloud the single echo which replaced my thoughts. Casey jumps at the sound.
‘They’re eating them.’
‘Wouldn’t it be kind if we could be like that?’ Claire said after she’d come back from making friends with the people next door. Seeing it right in front of her invigorated her in a way I hadn’t seen in at least a year, and she celebrated the firmer picture with a bout of happiness which seemed to last and last.
She’d look over her shoulder sometimes after that, like a reassurance.
David stands from his crouch without seeming to move through the intervening space. I take a startled step back at his suddenness and grab for Casey. David makes a deep huffing noise and his shoulders rise and fall, rise and fall. His wife, intent on what lies before her, pays little notice to the noise. I pull at Casey but she resists, and as her father turns, she closes her eyes and clutches at her shirt.
‘David, now now, David.’
huff huff huff
I clench my hand, quickly, squeeze too tightly at my hollow palm. The axe. I’d closed the front door and voided my mind. I can’t remember where I put the axe, I don’t even know why I unlaced my boots. The hallway is too dark to see, I can barely make out the rattling door.
‘Casey,’ I say and grab her arm and pull her down the darkness of the hall. I trip in the dark, tumbling into the living room. The world upside down. Casey drops and lets out a yelp. Bright white fills my eyes.
I roll over and sweep my eyes around the scattered room as David advances upon us.
‘David,’ I say, ‘Casey.’
Casey scrambles away, up to the window. The clerk from the gas station jerks in attention and bangs his hands up against the pane. The glass webs, cracks shoot towards the frame. His hands, dumb, clumsy, push at the glass, and for a moment there is the grind of sand.
‘Casey.’
Casey screams and throws her hands above her head as the window collapses inwards, showering glass into the room. The clerk turns his head at Casey’s voice and lowers his hand away from the hole in the window. He raises his head, his nose. Sniffs the air as it escapes.
A hush sound burbles from me, I am aware of it only as I hear it. Quiet Casey. Quiet. I roll over on my stomach and get my hands below me. I imagine the strength to pull myself up.
‘Casey.’
David lets out a deranged sound as he falls upon my legs and thrashes and scratches and bites. I struggle with his arms, but lose my grip in his writhing. I hold his forehead up to stop him from biting me. Across the room, more glass breaks. Casey screams.
‘Stop,’ I shout. Casey scrambles away from the clerk reaching through the window. I try to say her name but it turns into a surprised whine at the sudden pain in my leg.
‘God,’ I yell. David grips my thigh unrelentingly, crushing the bone. Blood seeps from under his hand.
‘God,’ I yell and punch at his head as he plunges towards the wound on my thigh. With all my strength I can hardly hold him back.
‘Why?’
The window makes a strange sound as it finally gives in to the body weight of the clerk and more glass scatters across the room. I grab at the shards and force them into David’s mouth, holding my palm over his gaping mouth. I try to ignore the sound as his teeth shatter.
‘God.’
He’s too strong. I focus on controlling my voice, my breath. My arms become my entire being, my heart the centre of my competing will, and I am realized solely in their struggle. I am going to fail. I am going to fail. I am not even aware I have closed my eyes until Casey screams.
She screams again. A submerged tone which sounds like a single angry word. My eyes snap open, and I quickly shield my face as she swings the axe. She screams as the blade bounces off David’s scalp, screams in surprise as the axe slips from her hand.
The blow is weak, but it is enough. It is enough. David’s grip relaxes and I push him from me. I grab Casey, scooping as she leaps, and carry from her father. I try to keep the strength in my voice.
‘Close your eyes,
