Page 46 of The Crowing of Hell

After five minutes of riding, my ass was sore, and I was dirty from the splash of mud and puddles. I was going to kill the four kids myself when I saw their dirt bikes parked up near an old barn. Angrily muttering under my breath, I headed for them. As I got close to the barn, Kit and Troy popped up from a ditch near it.

“Kenny! Go back!” Kit screamed, panic in his face.

“What?” I cried.

“Go!” both boys shouted, and then my world lit up in red, orange and white, and I flew backwards off the ATV and landed hard.

???

“You killed my Kenny!” Brax sobbed as I struggled to understand what the hell had happened. Little hands slapped my face as somebody else shook me violently. Someone was also pounding on my chest in between the shaking.

“Stop!” I murmured, slurring the word.

“Dad! We killed Kenny, she’s got blown up!” Finnscreeched from somewhere close by.

“My angel, mine!” Brax wailed and threw himself over my body. That fucking hurt.

“What the fuck happened?” I demanded.

“Man down, Dad!” someone was yelling. That was Troy, I thought.

“Dad! O. M.G. We killed Kenny!” Finn cried, and I could hear tears in his voice.

“Can everyone stop shouting?” I muttered.

“She’s alive!” Kit crowed and reminded me of the film Short Circuit, where the robot squeals, ‘Number five is alive!’

“Will you all shut up?” I whispered, but nobody paid any attention.

I batted at the hands shaking me and opened my eyes to see Finn straddling my body. He looked relieved at seeing me awake. But he started pounding my chest. Why, I’m not sure.

“Gotta keep your heart beating,” Finn muttered, focused on his task.

Meanwhile, Brax was slapping any part of me he could reach.

“Brax, stop!” I moaned and frowned as I saw stars.

“Do not leave me!” Brax screamed right in my ears, and I winced.

“Dad, her eyes are open. That means she is alive, correct? I can’t feel a heartbeat, though. Kenny’s not turned into a zombie?” Finn screeched, staring at me in horror. “There’s blood everywhere.”

“My Kenny’s not a zombie! Stop saying shit like that! She’s my angel, but you killed her, and nowshe’s a dead angel!” Brax wailed.

“Dad, I’m scared. Finn thinks she’s a zombie. Should I shoot her?” Troy yelled, panicked by Finn’s reaction.

“Don’t you dare shoot me in the head!” I wheezed, eyeing Troy for a gun.

“Dad, Troy says she’s a zombie. I gotta poke her brains out,” Finn shrieked.

I nearly cried with him. This was chaos. I focused on the mobile in his hand and made a grabbing motion for it. “Is that Rooster?”

A high-pitched scream left Finn’s lips, and I found my head wrapped up in a child’s arms and choked on a tee.

“You can’t kill her. She wasn’t trying to eat you; she wanted the phone!” Brax shrieked.

I managed to turn to the side where I could breathe and decided to lie here quietly. Someone should be along soon. There was no point in attempting to reassure them because they were convinced I was a zombie.

I was drifting on the clouds when a deep voice bellowed. This was peaceful, and there were no screaming kids or somebody wanting to smash my head in.