{"id":229,"date":"2013-07-21T16:12:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T16:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/?page_id=229"},"modified":"2013-07-21T16:12:10","modified_gmt":"2013-07-21T16:12:10","slug":"chapter-44","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/story\/chapter-44\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 44"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 44<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I used to like getting scared.<\/i><\/p>\n

When I was little, I loved watching scary movies.\u00a0 Black-and-white monster movies, 70s slasher flicks, movies about ghosts and aliens and killer dolls \u2013 I watched them all.\u00a0 It was fun to get scared in the safety of my house or Makayla\u2019s, knowing the movies were just pretend and nothing like that could ever hurt me.<\/i><\/p>\n

After my dad died, I stopped watching slasher movies.\u00a0 I stopped watching anything that was too realistic.\u00a0 But I still watched the stuff about ghosts and aliens and killer dolls.\u00a0 I still watched the old black-and-white movies about Dracula and Frankenstein and Wolfman.\u00a0 I took out my anger on the monsters in video games, blowing out the brains of the zombies in Resident Evil.\u00a0 That was the fun kind of scary.\u00a0 None of those things could hurt me or my family.<\/i><\/p>\n

I miss my old life, before I knew zombies were<\/span> real, before I knew I\u2019d never feel safe again.<\/i><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to be scared anymore.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Tuesday, April 17, 2012<\/b><\/b>
\n9:00 a.m.<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s rain had cleared, and the morning was bright and sunny, hardly a cloud in the sky.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be a hot one,\u201d Kevin had predicted, from inside the already-stuffy chapel.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll go out early for target practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had taken AJ with him first.\u00a0 They\u2019d left in the Hummer at the crack of dawn and still weren\u2019t back.\u00a0 Huddled inside the chapel, Gabby was starting to get worried.\u00a0 What if something had happened to them?\u00a0 Kevin was their leader, and AJ looked tough, easily the second-strongest.\u00a0 How could the rest survive without them?<\/p>\n

She looked around at the others.\u00a0 They were a pretty pathetic bunch.<\/p>\n

Her mother had gotten all domestic, of course, trying to spruce up the chapel and make it fit for living in.\u00a0 They\u2019d made their beds in the pews of the sanctuary, which had also become their living area, after they\u2019d gotten tired of holing up in the tiny Sunday school room.\u00a0 That had become their dining room, since it had a table and chairs and was close to the chapel\u2019s small kitchen, which Jo had used it to prepare meals.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t good meals, but Gabby had to hand it to her for trying.<\/p>\n

That was more than the other two had done.\u00a0 Howie talked the talk, but Gabby hadn\u2019t seen him lift a finger to help around the church yet.\u00a0 He seemed to think he\u2019d done enough by risking his life to bring back supplies with Kevin.\u00a0 He mostly sat around in his ridiculous business suit, feeling sorry for himself and finding things to complain about, while the others bustled around him, Jo and Gabby organizing and inventorying, Kevin and AJ guarding and fortifying the chapel.<\/p>\n

And then there was Kayleigh.<\/p>\n

Kayleigh had been almost hysterically talkative when she\u2019d first arrived, but since the adrenaline had left her system, she had all but shut down completely, isolating herself from the rest of the group, refusing to speak, refusing to eat.\u00a0 Gabby rolled her eyes in Kayleigh\u2019s direction.\u00a0 The older girl had wedged herself into the corner of the very last pew, sitting sideways, her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, as if she were literally holding herself together.\u00a0 Her head was bowed, so she couldn\u2019t see the looks of annoyance Gabby was casting her.\u00a0 Gabby didn\u2019t think she was praying, though.\u00a0 Feeling sorry for herself, most likely.\u00a0 As if she were special.\u00a0 As if she\u2019d had it any harder than the rest of them.<\/p>\n

Gabby thought that, for a girl who was old enough to be considered an adult, Kayleigh was being awfully selfish.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t bothered to ask anyone else about what they had been through since the plague had struck.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t know \u2013 or care, it seemed \u2013 that Gabby had seen her best friend dead, or that Gabby\u2019s mother had tried and failed to save everyone in the hospital before she had finally left, or that Kevin had watched all of his Air Force comrades die and turn to zombies.\u00a0 Howie and AJ had lost friends and loved ones, too, no doubt, but you didn\u2019t see them curling up to die themselves.\u00a0 No one else had the nerve to act that way when there was so much to be done.\u00a0 Even Gabby had snapped out of the stupor she\u2019d been in on Sunday and was ready to help.<\/p>\n

It was too bad, really.\u00a0 Kayleigh was the only one even close to Gabby\u2019s age; they could have been friends.\u00a0 But Gabby didn\u2019t want to be friends with such a Debbie Downer.\u00a0 She missed Makayla more than ever.\u00a0 Makayla had always been able to lift her mood, even this past year, after her father\u2019s murder.\u00a0 Sometimes Gabby had taken her for granted, but now, more than ever, she realized what a valuable friend Makayla had been.\u00a0 The realization made her throat tighten and her eyes burn, but she refused to let herself cry.\u00a0 She was not going to break down now.\u00a0 She was not going to be like Kayleigh.<\/p>\n

The morning sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling stained glass window behind the altar.\u00a0 Gabby watched dust particles floating in the beams of colored light, gazed at the patterns they made on the opposite wall of the sanctuary.\u00a0 She would have wanted to get married in a church like this, with wooden pews and stained glass windows.\u00a0 Once, she and Makayla had gone through a bridal magazine and planned their fantasy weddings, picking out gowns and flowers and cakes.\u00a0 Gabby had pictured herself grown up and beautiful, walking down a long aisle with her father, ready for him to give her away to the cutest boy from school, who was no longer boyish and cute, but also grown up and handsome.\u00a0 Before she got to the altar, her father would lift her veil back off her face and kiss her, and she would hand her bouquet to Makayla, her maid of honor, who would fluff out her long, white train as she climbed the steps to meet her groom.<\/p>\n

The long-ago, little-girl fantasy still played vividly in Gabby\u2019s mind, but she knew now that it was just that:\u00a0 a fantasy.\u00a0 Never meant to be a reality.\u00a0 Her father was gone, and so was her best friend.\u00a0 There would be no one to give her away on her wedding day, no one to fluff her dress, and if this was all that was left, no one for her to marry when she was grown up.\u00a0 What was the point of growing up, anyway?\u00a0 Maybe that was the way Kayleigh saw things.\u00a0 For a moment, Gabby could understand.<\/p>\n

Then she heard the low rumble of an approaching engine outside, and her gloomy mood lifted.\u00a0 They were back!<\/p>\n

She jumped off her pew and flew to the door just outside the sanctuary, arriving just as three short knocks sounded on the other side.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s us!\u201d came the deep, rasping voice of AJ.<\/p>\n

Gabby threw her weight into one of the marble pedestals they used to block the door, inching it out of the way.\u00a0 She unlocked the door and opened it just a crack to peek out.\u00a0 Seeing AJ, Kevin, and no one else \u2013 undead or alive \u2013 she stepped back out of the way for the two men to come in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, kid,\u201d said AJ gruffly, while Kevin immediately bolted the door shut again and dragged the pedestal back in front of it.\u00a0 It was the only door they hadn\u2019t boarded up, so that they\u2019d be able to get in and out.\u00a0 The pedestal wouldn\u2019t do much to prevent zombies from getting in if they managed to force the lock, but if the door was kicked in, it would fall, and the heavy crash would be loud enough to alert them.\u00a0 That was the rationale, at least.<\/p>\n

Gabby led the two men back into the sanctuary, where the others were scattered.\u00a0 Jo and Howie looked up as they came in.\u00a0 Kayleigh kept her head down, either completely oblivious or intentionally ignoring them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d said Kevin, looking around at them all, \u201ctarget practice went well.\u00a0 This guy\u2019s a damn good shot, for an amateur,\u201d he added, jerking his thumb towards AJ, who smirked, pleased with himself and trying to hide it.\u00a0 \u201cWe took down quite a few on the way to the skeet range and back, and we stopped by the communications building to do another broadcast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how are you feeling, Colonel Richardson?\u201d asked Jo, looking at him in mild concern.\u00a0 They had all been on edge since he\u2019d come back on Sunday with his mask off, but so far, the horrifying symptoms of the plague that had killed everyone else had not yet claimed the colonel.<\/p>\n

\u201cKevin, please,\u201d he insisted with a warm smile, \u201cunless you\u2019d rather I call you Mrs. Lopez.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course not\u2026 Kevin,\u201d Gabby\u2019s mother replied, nodding.\u00a0 \u201cBut don\u2019t change the subject.\u00a0 You\u2019re feeling okay?\u00a0 No fever, aches, nausea, skin rash?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin shook his head, still smiling.\u00a0 \u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jo let out her breath in an audible sigh.\u00a0 \u201cThank Heaven,\u201d she said, and Gabby felt relieved, too.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to think about Kevin covered in sores, like the woman behind the gas station counter.\u00a0 Like Makayla.\u00a0 She closed her eyes and shook the image from her brain.\u00a0 When she opened them, she focused again on the colored sunbeams filtering through the stained glass.\u00a0 She tried not to think of Makayla.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to take another group out now, before it gets too hot,\u201d said Kevin, looking around the sanctuary.\u00a0 \u201cWho wants to go next?\u00a0 Howard?\u201d\u00a0 Howie nodded listlessly and got up.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t look particularly enthusiastic.\u00a0 \u201cKayleigh?\u201d\u00a0 Naturally, there was no response.\u00a0 Kevin tried again.\u00a0 \u201cKayleigh?\u00a0 KAYLEIGH!\u201d<\/p>\n

When he barked her name, Kayleigh\u2019s head finally jerked up.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0 She blinked dazedly, but Gabby thought she was faking.<\/p>\n

\u201cTarget practice.\u00a0 You, me, and Howie.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right away, Kayleigh started shaking her head.\u00a0 \u201cNo\u2026 no,\u201d she repeated.\u00a0 \u201cI told you, I\u2019m not shooting a gun.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going anywhere near those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to go near them; that\u2019s why we\u2019re going in groups.\u00a0 I\u2019ll cover you,\u201d said Kevin.\u00a0 He had been patient with her the last two days, but it seemed to Gabby that his patience was wearing thin.\u00a0 \u201cBut you do need to learn how to shoot a gun, in case you do end up near them someday with no one around to protect you.\u00a0 You have to be able to protect yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Kayleigh kept shaking her head, refusing to listen to reason.\u00a0 \u201cNo\u2026 not now.\u00a0 Not today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin sighed, pressing his lips into a thin line.\u00a0 \u201cFine,\u201d he said grimly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll come!\u201d Gabby volunteered, jumping on her chance.\u00a0 \u201cI wanna learn how to shoot!\u201d\u00a0 In her head, she saw Makayla again, but this time, her best friend was alive, sitting next to her on the floor as they played Resident Evil<\/i>.\u00a0 The game had taken on more reality than Gabby had ever imagined.\u00a0 But if zombies were real, then she wanted to be like her character in the game \u2013 a gun-toting zombie assassin \u2013 not a helpless victim, like Kayleigh.<\/p>\n

It was Kevin who had planted this idea in her head yesterday, when he had suggested that even she should learn to shoot.\u00a0 But now she caught him eyeing her mother, silently asking her permission.<\/p>\n

Jo looked worried.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know\u2026\u201d she began, already shaking her head.\u00a0 \u201cShe only just turned thirteen\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKids my age ran off to join the army during the Civil War,\u201d Gabby piped up immediately, her heart starting to pound faster.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re at war now, Mom, and there\u2019s no one left but us to fight.\u00a0 I have to learn!\u201d<\/p>\n

Her mother let out a long sigh, her brow knitted with worry.\u00a0 But finally, she nodded, just as Gabby knew she would.\u00a0 After all, Gabby was right.\u00a0 They all had to do their part.\u00a0 They all had to learn.\u00a0 If they didn\u2019t, who would?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get her back safely,\u201d promised Kevin, his large hand clamping down on Gabby\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s go, kiddo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabby bounced on the balls of her feet as they trooped back to the door.\u00a0 Adrenaline was coursing through her now, and she felt eager, almost excited.\u00a0 She flashed a grin over her shoulder at Howie, but he didn\u2019t return it.\u00a0 He looked pale, like he was dreading leaving the safety of the chapel again.\u00a0 At least he was man enough to do it, though, thought Gabby.\u00a0 Kevin, too, looked grim-faced and stoic, as he hauled the pedestal out of the way once more and unlatched the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll go out first,\u201d he told the others in a low voice.\u00a0 \u201cThen, Howie, you run Gabby to the Hummer and get in.\u00a0 You can drive again.\u00a0 Put her in the back.\u00a0 I\u2019ll cover you and ride shotgun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howie nodded.\u00a0 When Kevin inched through the door, his gun at the ready, Howie grabbed Gabby roughly by the wrist and yanked her out into the open.\u00a0 He took off running before she was ready, and at first, she stumbled, but managed to regain her footing and quickly matched his pace.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t slow down until she reached the Hummer, thrusting out her arms to catch herself against the back door.\u00a0 She quickly climbed in, while Howie ran around to the driver\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

As he opened his door, a shot rang out, and Gabby looked out her window in alarm to see a thin wisp of smoke curling out of the barrel of Kevin\u2019s gun.\u00a0 She followed its trail to a fallen zombie, and her breath caught in her throat as she saw more behind it, closing in on Kevin.\u00a0 He fired another shot and sent another dropping to the ground, giving him enough time to get to the Hummer.\u00a0 Howie already had the engine running when Kevin scrambled in, and before his door was shut again, they were already driving away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhew,\u201d sighed Kevin, yanking his door shut.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood shooting,\u201d Gabby congratulated him, trying to keep her voice light, but inside, she was shaken.\u00a0 Cooped up inside the chapel for two days, she\u2019d almost forgotten how truly terrifying the zombies were.\u00a0 Her eagerness to fight them quickly drained away, as fear took hold of her.\u00a0 But she kept it in check.\u00a0 She was not going to wig out now, not after she\u2019d pled her case for coming.<\/p>\n

While Kevin drove, she looked out her window and tried to focus on her surroundings, not on what might be lurking within them.\u00a0 She\u2019d never been on a military base before, but she could see now why her mother had thought to come here.\u00a0 It was like a small, gated city \u2013 and small was an understatement.\u00a0 Just like in her neighborhood, there were winding side streets with neat, little houses on both sides, but there were also large, modern-looking buildings and complexes.\u00a0 Under the clear, blue sky and the bright, Florida sun, everything gleamed, crisp and clean.<\/p>\n

The base was well-designed, visually appealing, but it was also haunting, in a way.\u00a0 It reminded Gabby of the block of model homes that had gone up near Makayla\u2019s neighborhood.\u00a0 She\u2019d toured one of them with Makayla and her mother once, just for fun, and come away with the same feeling.\u00a0 The house had been lovely, decorated in neutral colors, smelling of fresh paint and new carpet and upholstery, with shiny appliances and spotless surfaces, a beautifully-landscaped and well-manicured lawn, and a glistening teal pool.\u00a0 Everything in and outside the house was untouched and perfect.<\/p>\n

Too perfect.<\/p>\n

It was obvious to Gabby that no one had ever lived<\/i> in that house.\u00a0 No mother had ever cooked in that kitchen.\u00a0 No father had ever mowed that lawn.\u00a0 No children had ever plastered posters on those walls or splashed in that pool.\u00a0 No pets had ever lain on that furniture.\u00a0 Though fully-furnished, the house had seemed empty, sterile.<\/p>\n

The base, to Gabby, now looked the same way.\u00a0 Everything was in its place \u2013 cars parked in driveways and parking spaces, flowers growing in beds, flags flapping in the breeze \u2013 but there were no signs of life, no people<\/i>.\u00a0 Only the undead, who occasionally stumbled out from behind buildings and trees, staggering aimlessly through lawns and across roads.\u00a0 Gabby got a startle each time, her heart leaping into her throat, until she remembered that she was safe in the Hummer for now, safe with Kevin and Howie.\u00a0 Even so, she felt increasingly uneasy as they drove through the deserted base.\u00a0 Even under the radiance of the spring sun, it was downright creepy.\u00a0 Fog and a full moon would have been more fitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we are,\u201d said Kevin after a few minutes, coming to a stop.\u00a0 Gabby looked out onto a wide, open field.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t just a field, though.\u00a0 There were two, small, brick buildings, almost like short chimneys, spread apart, and between them were markings on the ground, arranged in a large circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is this place?\u201d she asked Kevin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a skeet range,\u201d replied Kevin.\u00a0 \u201cPeople come here to blow off steam, shoot a few clay disks.\u00a0 It\u2019s good target practice \u2013 more for bird hunting than the war, but even so, it helps your tracking and precision.\u00a0 For our needs, it\u2019ll be better than shooting at stationary targets.\u00a0 When you\u2019re trying to take down zombies, they aren\u2019t gonna be stationary.\u00a0 They\u2019ll be moving \u2013 not too quickly, but still moving \u2013 and you\u2019ll have a small target to aim for:\u00a0 the head.\u00a0 A shot to the head seems to be the only way to kill a zombie \u2013 you have to take out the brain, you see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabby knew that from Resident Evil<\/i>, of course, but even so, a shudder ran through her.\u00a0 Her game was becoming a reality.\u00a0 The monsters of her imagination were now a part of her real life.<\/p>\n

They climbed cautiously out of the car, already looking around for signs of the undead.\u00a0 Gabby felt like a scared rabbit, taking tentative hops into the open field to graze, wary eyes darting all around, ears cocked for the slightest rustle of grass or leaves.\u00a0 And it was a good comparison:\u00a0 she was<\/i> being hunted.\u00a0 The food chain diagrams in her science book at school were wrong; humans weren\u2019t at the top.\u00a0 Zombies were now the ultimate consumers.\u00a0 The ultimate predators.\u00a0 And Gabby was nothing but prey.<\/p>\n

No, not nothing<\/i>, thought Gabby, as a sudden, fierce determination took her in its grip.\u00a0 The rabbit, who can only run away, is nothing but prey.\u00a0 I\u2019m not a rabbit.\u00a0 I\u2019m not just gonna run.\u00a0 I\u2019m gonna fight back!<\/i><\/p>\n

She turned to Kevin.\u00a0 \u201cI wanna learn how.\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiled.\u00a0 \u201cThen let\u2019s get started.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Gabby had never shot a real gun before, but she quickly discovered she was something of a natural at it.\u00a0 After just half an hour of practice, she had gotten the hang of skeet shooting and was able to at least take a chip off the flying clay disks with almost every shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you can hit something that small while it\u2019s flying through the air,\u201d said Kevin, grinning with pride, \u201cyou can definitely connect with the head of a zombie while it\u2019s lumbering towards you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howie did not appear to have the same beginner\u2019s luck.\u00a0 He took too much time aiming his shotgun, and his shots were always too late, whizzing past the point where the clay disk had just been.\u00a0 He apparently didn\u2019t have as much experience with video games, thought Gabby.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t get how to follow the trajectory, how to anticipate where the target would be by the time the bullet reached it.\u00a0 Zombies, of course, would not be quite this predictable, but you still had to try to guess their next move.<\/p>\n

She was contemplating whether or not to speak up and offer this piece of advice to Howie when she heard a guttural moan.\u00a0 It curdled her blood; her whole body froze up.\u00a0 She saw Kevin stiffen and turn to look and forced herself to do the same.\u00a0 Following his gaze in the direction of the moan, she watched with horror as a small pack of zombies emerged from the trees on the outskirts of the field.\u00a0 As soon as the undead caught sight of the three of them, as soon as the scent of their live flesh carried over to them on the wind, the zombies began to stagger towards them.<\/p>\n

Kevin raised his gun first, aimed, and fired.\u00a0 His first shot was low; a zombie in the front of the pack took a bullet to the chest, but continued forward, undeterred.\u00a0 His second shot rang true, and the same zombie collapsed.\u00a0 One behind it, wearing military fatigues, tripped over the first\u2019s fallen body and crumbled to a heap itself.\u00a0 As it dragged itself back to its feet, Kevin aimed low and fired again.\u00a0 The second zombie immediately fell back to the ground, a gaping wound in its skull.<\/p>\n

There were still more coming.\u00a0 As she started to come to her senses, Gabby raised the shotgun in her shaking hands.\u00a0 Knowing what she had to do, the very reason she had come out here to practice, she brought the shotgun up level to her cheek, resting the butt of it against her shoulder, the way Kevin had shown her.\u00a0 She took aim, pointing the gun barrel at the zombie coming closest to her.\u00a0 Resisting the impulse to close her eyes, she took a shaky breath and squeezed the trigger.<\/p>\n

The force of the blast pushed her backwards, but she kept her eyes on the zombie, watching hopefully for the zombie to stagger and fall.\u00a0 Nothing happened.\u00a0 She had missed.<\/p>\n

Next to her, Kevin\u2019s gun went off again, causing her to jump.\u00a0 Another zombie fell, but there were still two more.\u00a0 Determined to get one of them, Gabby raised the gun again, steadied it, and fired.\u00a0 This time, her bullet made contact, ripping off a chunk of flesh from the zombie\u2019s cheek.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood shot, Gabby!\u201d yelled Kevin.\u00a0 \u201cOne more oughta do it!\u201d<\/p>\n

He fired again, taking down the other zombie.\u00a0 Only the one Gabby\u2019s bullet had grazed was still lumbering around, and she could tell he meant for her to kill it.\u00a0 She positioned her gun one more time, aimed, and pulled the trigger once more.\u00a0 The bullet was too quick for her to see, but all of a sudden, the zombie\u2019s legs were folding under it; it was collapsing to the ground.<\/p>\n

She released her breath with a little gasp, staring in disbelief.\u00a0 Smoke spiraled from the barrel of her gun, and she could smell the sharp, metallic burn of the gunpowder.\u00a0 Through the haze, she saw that the field was empty again.\u00a0 All five of the undead lay motionless in the grass, mere yards from each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did it!\u201d crowed Kevin, snapping her out of her shock.\u00a0 \u201cThatta girl!\u201d\u00a0 Taking the gun out of her hand and tossing it down, he pulled her into a quick, one-armed hug, drawing her tight against his side.\u00a0 \u201cYou okay?\u201d he asked, ruffling her shoulder a little, as he held her there.<\/p>\n

Gabby nodded, still in disbelief.\u00a0 She looked over at Howie, who was standing apart from them, his own gun frozen in his hand.\u00a0 He had not even bothered to lift it.\u00a0 His tan complexion was pale with shock.\u00a0 Seeing his fear seemed to take some of hers away.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2026 that wasn\u2019t so scary,\u201d she managed to say, though her voice came out shaky and small.\u00a0 \u201cWe got \u2018em all before they got too close to us, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin squeezed her close again.\u00a0 \u201cYou did great, kiddo,\u201d he agreed.\u00a0 Following her gaze to Howie, he added, \u201cWhat do you think?\u00a0 Another few rounds, and then we\u2019ll call it a day?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabby couldn\u2019t help but giggle at the stunned look on Howie\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

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Chapter 44 I used to like getting scared. When I was little, I loved watching scary movies.\u00a0 Black-and-white monster movies, 70s slasher flicks, movies about ghosts and aliens and killer dolls \u2013 I watched them all.\u00a0 It was fun to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":44,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229\/revisions\/230"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}