Preciliano sits down on the same couch that
Tracy is sitting at, she looks at him and asks meekly.
"Percy may I lay my head on your lap?"
Preciliano places his baseball bat on the coffee table in front of the couch and answers.
"of course sis."
she lays down and uses Preciliano's lap as a pillow, he gently caresses her arm and chuckles.
"remember when your friend Ahsley slept over at our house when we were little and she showed you a bunch of scary ghost videos on the internet and you would get so scared that you would lay down on my lap so that I can calm you down."
she asks.
"are you trying to make fun of me?"
Preciliano responds.
"no, it's just seeing you like this reminded me of a time when used to be real close."
he sighs.
"I miss those days."
she responds.
"me too, but you were the one who put a distance between us."
he replies.
"you already know why, but I'm going to promise you that no matter what happens, I'll be by your side, since you are the only family I have left."
she asks.
"what about uncle Diego?"
he answers.
"you already know he hasn't talked to us since he moved to Guadalajara, Mexico."
he then said.
"at least you still have aunts and uncles in Vermont, we could always go to them if you ever felt like we should go."
she sighs.
"yeah, but they wouldn't exactly welcome you with open arms, since they were against my mom marrying your dad many years ago."
he replies.
"still, they are your blood family."
she responds with a bit of resentment in her voice, because her family from her mom's side, didn't bother to stay in contact with them.
"they don't matter, right now the only family I care about is you."
Troy enters his house and notices Tracy using Preciliano's leg as a pillow, and he starts to feel a bit jealous, and he thinks to himself.
"what the hell, when did they start getting close?"
he approaches them and interrupts by asking them.
"where are my parents?"
Preciliano answers.
"your mom is looking after your dad, since he is fighting a fever."
Troy asks confused.
"he was feeling fine before I left, what happened?"
Preciliano tells Tracy.
"Here let me stand up, I need to talk to Troy about something important."
Preciliano grabs his baseball bat from the coffee table and whispers to him.
"come on, what I'm about to tell you something you won't like and I don't want my sister getting more upset."
Troy asks while whispering.
"what's wrong man?"
Preciliano responds.
"I think the flu is somehow connected with people acting crazy and eating each other, and if it that is the case your dad might end up like that."
Troy shoves Preciliano.
"are you fucking kidding me? do you really expect me to believe that?"
Preciliano takes a deep breath to calm down, so he doesn't go off on Troy and then he replies.
"look I think my dad was attacked by one of them, and when I came back from school after getting expelled, I found both my mom and dad eating Thomas."
Troy seems to understand what Preciliano is implying and asks.
"was my dad attacked by one these crazy fuckers running around?"
Preciliano nods.
"yeah you mom mentioned it to me."
Troy stares at the baseball bat that Preciliano is holding.
"so are you planning on taking care of him?"
he shakes his head.
"if it comes to that I will, but I'm hoping that my theory is wrong and your dad is really fighting off a regular fever."
they both enter the bedroom where, Kelly who is sitting by her husband's side, gets up from the chair and hugs Troy.
"oh honey, I'm glad you came back in one peace."
Troy asks his mom, concerned about his dad.
"he wasn't sick when I left, what happened to him?"
His mom pulls away from his hug and fidgets with her hair.
"your dad went out to gather some more supplies,
and was attacked by one of them."
her husband has a coughing fit that makes Kelly rush by his side.
"it's okay Ryan honey, your body is just fighting off the fever."
Ryan looks to Preciliano and Troy, and said with a raspy voice like he was struggling to breathe.
"can you two come here?"
Troy nods.
"sure dad what do you need?"
after they approach him, Ryan said while coughing.
"listen boys, they don't go down like regular people, when I got attacked I did whatever I could to try to hurt her, but she just wouldn't stay down."
Troy asks.
"why are you telling us that?"
Preciliano thinks to himself.
"he probably had to kill his attacker."
a coughs a bit more before continuing.
"she only stopped after I stabbed her in the head."
Troy is baffled on why his dad is telling him that he killed someone.
"did you really have to do that dad?"
Preciliano understood that Troy's dad did what he had to do, and he answers Troy's question even though it was directed towards his dad.
"Don't you get it, he is telling us exactly what we need to do to protect ourselves against them."
Ryan smiles weakly and nods.
"it will be up to, the two of you to protect them while you are on the road towards our vacation home up in the mountains."
Kelly asks.
"what are you talking about honey? we are not leaving you behind."
Ryan answers while fighting off a cough.
"I can already feel something in me changing, and
my gut is telling me that I'll end up like those crazy people out there."
Troy shakes his head in denial.
"you will get better dad, and as soon as you recover from that fever, we will leave together."
Ryan looks to Preciliano and said while coughing.
"I know you and my son Troy have some issues that you've been dealing with these past few years."
Preciliano looks at Troy and he whispers to him.
"did you tell everything that you have done to me?"
he whispers back.
"yeah, he is aware about some of the things that I have done."
Ryan coughs and interrupts their whispering.
"listen, put the past behind you, if you guys can do that, you'll be able to survive this shit show."
Troy asks visibly mad.
"why are you talking like you are already dead."
Kelly strokes his hair.
"you are not going to die honey."
Ryan sighs frustrated.
"whatever, I want to rest now, so leave me alone."
Kelly replies.
"okay honey, I'll get ready for bed and join you."
he coughs.
"no, I don't want you anywhere near me tonight, likke I said earlier I have a bad feeling that this sickness will turn me into one of those crazy people."
Kelly responds.
"the fever is not letting you think clearly, I'm not leaving you alone tonight."
he gets angry and has another coughing fit.
"listen to me, if I don't get better and I hurt you because of something out of my control, Troy will be going on with this life without us."
he then said to both Troy and Kelly.
"you two go, I want to have some private words with um."
Preciliano replies.
"You can call me Percy sir, I know it is hard to pronounce my name."
after they leave the bedroom Ryan stares at Preciliano for a moment and then said while coughing.
"listen Percy, I can tell by the look in your eyes that you can see that I'm not going to pull through."
he looks at his baseball bat and asks.
"Troy mentioned about picking up Tracy's family up and bringing them here, but from the looks of it, he only brought back you and Tracy, what happened?"
Preciliano goes into detail about his dad getting attacked by some crazy homeless and how he found his dad and mom eating his younger brother, Ryan's looks at him blankly and unfocused for a few moments, and sighs.
"I was hoping that wouldn't be the case for me, but this just confirms my suspicions that this flu virus is killing people and bringing them back from the dead."
he coughs as Preciliano thinks to himself.
"if my parents are just walking corpses now, does that mean there is no way to save them?"
Ryan stares at Preciliano's bat and said.
"kid, I need you to do me a favor, if I ever turn into one of them, do not hesitate to kill me, I don't want to hurt my family."
Preciliano tightens his grip on the baseball bat and responds.
"yes, I can do that sir."
he coughs.
"good, now go and get some rest and let's hope I don't become one of them."
Preciliano leaves the bedroom thinking to himself.
"this straight from a nightmare, how can people come back from dead?"
Kelly who was waiting outside of the bedroom, said to Preciliano.
"for sleeping arrangements, I'll be sharing Troy's bedroom with Troy and you'll be sharing the guest bedroom with your sister."
he nods.
"okay I don't mind."
she guides him to guest bedroom and said.
"let's hope this is all just a terrible nightmare and we wake up and everything returns back to normal."
Preciliano sits on the side of the bet still holding on to his baseball bat.
"this all feels too real, to be just a regular nightmare."
he hears the door open and sees Tracy entering.
"Percy, are you still awake?"
he answers.
"yeah, I'm still up."
she lays down on the bed and said.
"we should have packed some of our clothes."
Preciliano tries lighten the mood and chuckles.
"then we would have never left the house, with you packing your clothes."
she playfully shoves him, giggling.
"your so mean."
Preciliano puts the baseball bat on the nightstand
and lays down next to Tracy.
"sorry that you have to share a bed with me, instead of Troy."
she grabs his hand.
"I don't mind, since it reminds when we used shared a bedroom when we were kids."
he teases her.
"yeah and I would have to evacuate the room, when you would drop your stink bombs."
she giggles.
"shut up."
he continues to tease her, so he can keep her laughing.
"I swear, I always thought that they should use your farts for chemical warfare."
she laughs, and pulls his ear playfully.
"thank you so much, I really needed a good laugh."
she cuddles up to Preciliano and said.
"this is the best birthday gift I've gotten today."
Preciliano and replies feeling guilty.
"oh, don't hate me, but I kinda forgot that your birthday is today."
she pinches his cheek.
"how could you forget, your beautiful sister's birthday?"
she sighs.
"who would have thought, the day I turn nineteen the world turns to shit."
Preciliano then said.
"I know I forgot, but happy birthday, I wish I had gift for you."
Tracy leans over him and when she kisses him on lips, catching him by complete surprise he thinks to himself.
"shit, why is she kissing me."
he forgets all reasoning and caresses her cheek as they continue kissing.
"whatever stop worrying so much and just enjoy the moment."
she pulls away and smiles while blushing.
"goodnight and sweet dreams."
Preciliano manages to close his eyes but the rest is short lived as he is woken up by a loud shriek, he leaps off the be and instinctively grabs the bat and makes a dash to the hallway where he see Kelly trying to hold off Ryan, who is growling like a rabid animal, trying to bite her, Preciliano tackles Ryan off Kelly using his shoulder, and just as he is about to swing his bat, Ryan bites Preciliano's hand, he yells in pain.
"aw, fuck!"
he quickly uses the knob of the bat and starts to relentlessly bash Ryan's with it using all of his strength, and manages to break free from Ryan's mouth, Preciliano snaps and angrily swings the bat to Ryan's head, knocking him down to the ground, Preciliano then swings downwards using the end cap repeatedly hitting his head, until it is completely caved in, with his brain matter, splattering the floor, Preciliano looks at his bitten hand, trying to catch his breath.
"fuck."
Kelly hugs Preciliano sobbing.
"thank you."
Preciliano looks around and sees Troy just standing there frozen in fear, Tracy comes out of the room and is visibly distraught with the gruesome scene, she looks to Preciliano and asks.
"Percy are you okay?"
while hugging Kelly with one hand he drops the baseball bat and shows his bitten hand to Tracy.
"no, I've been bitten."
she hugs him crying uncontrollably.
"no, it is isn't true!"
unsure of what do next, Preciliano just stands there letting Kelly and Tracy hug him.