“Don’t touch that window,” I tell her. She doesn’t listen to me; instead, she reaches for the blinds. I hear the sound now too—a soft tapping. “Reese!”
She shifts to the side of the window and separates two of the blinds just slightly. I sprint across the living room to stop her, but it’s too late. She releases the two blinds and backs away. “Okay,” she says.
“What are you doing, Reese? Come on now. Don’t press your luck with this shit. There could have been someone out there.”
“There is someone out there,” she says, walking into the kitchen. I close my eyes briefly, trying to tame the anger raging through me.
“Who is out there?” I walk into the kitchen, finding her digging into another can of Spam. “What is going on?”
“Spam?” she holds the can out to me.
I take one of the chairs from the table and pull it out to sit down. Resting my elbows on my knees, I lean forward and calmly ask, “What did you see out there, Reese?”
“So,” she says mid-bite, swallowing the mouthful. “You know how we thought the patrols took that family away?”
“Yeah,” I say, having a hard time swallowing against the sudden dryness in my mouth.
“Well, that isn’t exactly the case.” She takes another bite, chewing it much longer than Spam needs to be chewed. Her eyes are wide, and she isn’t blinking as she stares past me to the tiny-checkered papered wall behind me. “That man’s family…half of them are standing on the balcony of this apartment. They’re covered in blood. They were staring into the window as if they were waiting for something, as if they could see inside past the blinds. They’re going to kill us, Sin. They’ll blame us for the man’s death.” Reese walks past me and begins moving the furniture away from the front door.
“What are you doing?” I ask, frustrated. “Stop. Reese, you’re obviously not thinking properly right now. You’re going to get us killed. Stop!”
“Either help me, or I’m doing this myself. I need to see something.”
“See what?” I try to pull her away from the furniture she’s moving, but she’s shrugging me off, pushing me away from her.
“They’re dead, Sin. Those patrols are not the people we need to be worried about right now.” I suddenly get what she’s thinking, and she’s right, we have to see. I give in and help her move the furniture away from the door. “Do you remember how many of them there were?”
“There were ten family members including the man, so nine left,” I tell her.
“There are only six of them out there. But, the others might not have made it. They were fighting for a good while.” Please don’t let these fucks be out in the hallway right now, unless they’re dead.
I unlock the deadbolt and pull the door open slightly, nervously poking my head out. “Dear God.”
Pulling my head back in, I re-lock the door and lean up against it, letting my head fall heavily against the cold wooden slab. “I don’t think either of us comprehended their capabilities. Those people. The patrols are dead, but the way in which they were killed is—I’m not sure I could even explain it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.” My stomach churns at the thought of what that fight must have looked like, but after seeing this, I think I just figured out what the hell Mom has been trying to do. Holy shit, I get it. I was wrong. I was so wrong. “We have to get back to Chipley. Now,” I tell her.
