Author's Note: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like the story, and it'll hopefully get better. I've been studying up on writing horror, so I'm really going for some scare factor.
Thanks for reading everybody!
...
Rocky could feel his pulse, slowly beating through his veins... no. That's not right. It isn't his pulse... its off somehow. It feels like someone else's. But whose? He stirred in place on the floor; he feels so heavy right now. Like dead weight. His bones creaked and ached when he pressed his hand to the floor to aid in shoving himself into a seated position. Breathing labored, he looked around, through blurred vision, for his little brother. He spots him over by the fountain; the long vines of the plant lay dormant inside and around his brother, probably believed him dead. Can a plant even think like that? Should it? The dead are walking after all, anything seemed possible in this researchers' home.
"Tum tum?"
His bones groaned inside of him as he crawled over to his little brother. He grunted and expressed his weakness through exhausted breaths as he inched towards the boy closer and closer. He felt his hand tremble when he touched Tum tum's still finger tips. His tastebuds began to salivate for some reason, imagining pulsing muscle and tasty rich blood, and before he even knew what it was that he was doing, he lifts the hand up to his mouth and takes a bite.
"Aaah!" Tum tum's hand jerked to him and he sat up in a hurry. "Rocky! You're awake... I think something bit me." He examined that hand that he'd pressed to his chest when sitting up. It hurt but it wasn't bleeding or anything. Must have been a bug or something.
Rocky knew what that 'or something' was. He expelled a relieved breath that Tum tum woke up and was quick enough to pull his hand away. It was so funny... he felt like... well, he felt like taking an actual bite out of his brother. Like drawing blood, and sucking tendon and bone. Crap! His mouth is watering again.
Wiping the back of his hand across it, he shakes off the hunger pangs and visually checks Tum tum over for a damage report. "Are you ok?" He asks.
"Yeah, I feel alright. That thing dropped me when I went unconcious."
"Tum..." Rocky said as warning.
Tum tum yelped and crawled over to Rocky when the plant began to wriggle and flex its vines about them as if it knew they were awake and it needed to finish the job. "Rocky... this thing isn't gonna let us leave the room."
Rocky looked around for something to beat it back with, anything would work!
"There!"
Looking over his shoulder to where Tum tum was pointing. "Weed eater?"
It was a stretch but anything was better than nothing at this point. Stumbling on shaking legs to get over to the sack standing, he felt his little brother smack into his backside while fleeing the reaching plant.
"Open that hatch," He nods over to a watering pump beside the door. "I have to get the bag open."
Tum tum hurried over to the groaning pump; it seemed the plant had other ideas as it slammed its vine into the wall before the boy's face. "Aaah!" He shrieked while falling back onto his butt, he crawled beneath the offending vine over to the pump.
It leaked water all over when he pressed the one switch and opened a little hatch on top to get to the water supply. Rocky was struggling with the sack, the fibers were tougher than he thought. His back stiffened from fear when a vine slammed into the wall after whizzing so close to his ear that the air could have actually cut him on the ear like a blade. Swearing under his breath, Rocky tries to tear it open with his teeth, but the sack was jerked from his hand when the fired up Audrey II slammed its tentical like vine through the sack like it were puncturing a human. It shriveled and shrank away revealing a weakness that not even a souped up unearthly plant like itself could handle.
Dodging attack after attack, Rocky managed to get over to the pump and dump in the weed eater, but nothing happened other than the water turning a rich red in color.
"Try a nozzle." Tum tum suggest.
"But which one?" Rocky looks them both over, there's a red and a green. 'Red usually means error, so here goes nothing.' He turns the red valve and the water comes on in the fountain.
The red liquid shot out from the top of the statue and down into the base and all over the vines and base of the plant. It wriggled and writhed and fought every second of its death, giving the boys a frightening moment of what it would be like if they sky fell and the fallen debris knew how to aim for you. Rocky covered Tum tum with his body like a human shield, or barrier by tucking him within his hold.
"Rocky?" Tum tum pleaded with his brother when he grunted in pain from having a vine slam into his back. He didn't need him to protect him, honest! But after the most grueling three minutes of their lives, the vines shriveled and calmed and died off. They even turned a different color as if to tell the trapped children that everything truely was alright.
"You ok, Rock'?"
"Yeah, nothing a trip to a back specialist couldn't fix."
Tum tum chuckled from the joke, then pushed past his brother to get up from the floor. "Guess we can get the mask now." He says while standing. Carefully, slowly, he walks over still vine, after still vine to get to the back of the room where one of the stone mask lay embedded in a wall placque. Removing it, he closed his eyes tightly waiting for something else to happen, but when the room remained still, he let out a relieved sigh.
"Well this hall is secured." Tum tum walked over to his brother, handing him the mask.
Rocky couldn't help but chuckle, leave it to Tum tum to break the tension in the air with his words of wisdom. "We'd better get back and check on Colt and the others. They'll be happy to see this." He twist and turns the mask with his hand. "Come on."
They crept carefully out into the hall, the guy at the window might still be stapled in place waiting for them to pass through. They feel no pain these things. It might just smash through the window as the dogs had before; and frankly they don't have enough ammo to have another encounter. And after the plant beating, neither male has enough strength of any kind to be engaging in hand to hand, or rather, knife verses pure desire to kill combat.
The glass and frame strained beneath the zombies weight as he leaned in harder against the window trying to touch the two wandering dinners. Rocky and Tum tum moved swiftly through the hall and out the door, and down another long hall.
"I'd sure like to get my hands on that shot gun." Tum tum says incase his brother has forgotten about the broken one they found.
"I know, Tum, and we'll do that as soon as he put this thing somewhere." Rocky means the mask.
"Why not in the wall?" He shrugged as if to say it was the most obvious choice they had to make.
Pulling open the door to the room where Colt and the others reside, Rocky cocks a brow and looks around the small space. "Hey Rebecca." He greets with an odd air to his tone.
"You're back. Did you find anything useful?" The girls asks, turning herself in the small seat next to the bed where Richard is still laying nearly conscious to the world.
"A mask," Rocky says hurrying the polite conversation to get to the more pressing matter. "Where's Colt?"
"He wasn't with the two of you?" She looks past the two as if the missing male were in plain sight somewhere and they were playing a weird joke on her.
"No." Rocky tried to staunch his growing panic by running a hand through his hair. "How did you not see him leave? Weren't you here? Didn't he tell he that he was going?" After all, people who are in the company of others seldom just vanish like an instant-transmission, if you're stared at its just not possible.
"I heard gunfire, I wondered where it was coming from so I went to check it out." Rebecca explained. "I'm sorry. I was only gone for fifteen minutes... didn't even find the person who was shooting."
"Fifteen minutes? And Tum tum and me ran into some trouble and got knocked out... I don't know for how long." Rocky almost swore but he bit it back. "We have to find him. Even if it means splitting up, he can't be alone in this house, its too dangerous!"
"I understand that." Rebecca gets up from the small chair. "I'm responsible for his being gone, I'll search as hard as I can, no matter where."
"Thank you."
"But you and your little brother should stay together." She informed them. "We only need one missing person on our hands, not two."
Nodding, Rocky opens the door to the hall. "We'll search through the east side of the house, you take west."
"There's a good chance Colt went to the bathroom in that one hall where we first came in at." Tum tum gave his opinion to where the missing ninja might have gone.
He just couldn't figure it out why Colt would leave at all unless it was something like a trip to the bathroom. They'd find out soon enough by either running into Colt on his return, or stumbling upon him in a scuffle somewhere in the massive home.
"Do you need a map?" Rocky asked Rebecca when remembering that they have two.
"No. But you'll need a radio incase you find him." She unlatches a radio from her friend's hip. "Take this. Its already set on the proper frequency for you."
"Thank you."
Nodding, Rebecca then heads out of the room taking a right down the hall.
"Can we get the shotgun while we look for Colt."
Rocky cast his brother a disbelieving look, but he allowed him to get it from the storage room before they marched back upstairs to search. The house was eerily quiet considering most of the time they could hear shuffling or soft moans coming from somewhere beyond their vision. It was like the calm before the storm.
"We're gonna have to break the no loud noises rule, he could be hurt and not know we're around." Rocky informs Tum tum who just pushed a door open with the front of the broken shotgun.
"Colt!"
His sudden shout had Rocky tense up a second, but he calmed his nerves considering the only danger from Tum tum was a busted eardrum. "Colt." Rocky called into the hall. Nothing.
"Should we go in? Maybe he's unconcious in one of the rooms."
"Could be."
Stepping into the hall where they found Richard and Rebecca, the brothers step carefully down the hall, past the room where the snake was foretold to inhabit. They continued calling out their brother's name as they stepped infront of a large set of double doors, colored blue.
Tum tum tried the key. It worked, which meant that Colt was not in the room because if he had the key to unlock it, Colt could not have gotten in.
"Should weeee check inside anyway?" Tum tum asks.
"Sssh! What was that?"
Silenced. The two listen. It sounds like a jiggling door knob.
Looking over their shoulders to the area they had just passed, they hold their breath waiting for whatever was coming out to spring forward. But the rattling stopped just as soon as it started.
"Maybe its Colt?"
The rattling started up again causing both males to jump in start.
"He might not be able to talk. He could have crawled over to the door when he heard our voices and rattle a knob is the only thing he can do."
It sounded right enough to Rocky. But, then why wasn't the door opening? Colt would simply turn it and fall out onto the hall floor if he's truly inside and in need of help. He wouldn't just use his last ounce of strength to rattle a knob.
"We both know what Colt's like... He would have gone to check on something like a huge snake."
"You're right." Rocky said after a resigned sigh. He could be that weak that he can't even open the door."
Their wonder was satiated by the door swining open with enough force to break a hold in the wall with the door knob. But it wasn't Colt who emerged but a rather pissed, rather animated zombie fit to kill! He's drooling blood as if he just got through with a fresh kill and was ready for dessert.
"Run!" Rocky grabbed his brother by the shoulder and took off down the opposite end of the hall.
That bulbous red headed zombie tore after them like an olympic runner, thrashing and reaching through airspace for a touch of that warm tender flesh. Scary thing... Rocky kinda felt the need to chase after Tum tum too. It was like... something in the back of his mind was telling him that he's hungry, and Tum tum would make the perfect snack to relieve those crying growls in his stomach.
It was seeing Tum tum's eyes scrunch when he dug his fingernails into his shoulder that Rocky took aggressive action and shoved his little brother into a slightly ajar door beside them, whereas he found himself sliding into a cabinet placed at the end of the hall.
The deadman went for the meal he could see directly and continued on after Rocky. Inside the cabinet, Rocky slides the door open, wishing like anything that there were a knob inside to hold onto. But the most he could do was keep his fingers tucked around the door's back to hold it closed. The darkness only made his stir worse, because he could swear he felt Tum tum's heart beating still. What the hell is going on with him? One minute he's fine the next minute he's looking at his brother like he's a large drumstick.
Rocky cried out when the dead-weight slammed into the door. Rocky sure was glad that this case wasn't glass like the ones downstairs, its sturdy and solid, and completely groaning in pain from the zombie pressing into the door with the force he is. Damn shabby craftsmenship. But Rocky held the door fast, and regardless the cramped space he squeezed himself into he was seated quite comfortably enough to keep himself safe from the reach that came in at him.
Tum tum lay on his back in the small office space panting in confusion and disbelief. Why did Rocky shove him? Was he out of his mind? Was it part of a plan he was unaware of? Whatever the reason his brother is being attacked right now, and he has to help him! Removing his knife from its stashed away location in his sneaker and sock, Tum tum hurries out of the room and into the hall. The zombie was so intent on getting at his brother that he didn't stand from his position on the floor on-all-fours, even when Tum tum crept up behind him and stabbed him in the back of the head.
He groaned horribly, blood choked up from his mouth; he turned as if to see who had hit him, before the blood rushing from his swelled head dropped him like a sack. Shoving the deadman out of the way, Tum tum grabs for the cabinet door.
"Rocky?" He tries to pull it over. "Rocky, its dead now, you can come out."
"Get away from me, Tum tum!"
"What?" Severely confused, he tries for the sliding door again. "Rocky, I told you its fine, he's dead."
"Nooo! I'm dangerous." Rocky halfway explained. "Tum tum... you smell really good."
Taken aback, the boy didn't exactly know what to say to that; but he does know that it sounded like his brother were on the verge of crying. Something is definitely wrong. Quieting, he recalled Colt telling him that Rocky was acting very strangely. This could be another one of his brother's episodes.
"Rocky, what are you saying?"
"I.. I don't know what's wrong with me. Its like I'm not thinking straight... like maybe my brain is sick." He sobbed a moment. "Tum tum, I tries to eat you."
"Whaat? When?" He asked in disbelief. Couldn't have been just now.
"When you were unconscious on the floor in that room with the plant. I'm the one who bit you."
"Rocky, but... I don't understand what's going on." He tugged at the door again, still having resistance with opening it.
"I don't either... its better that we stay away from each other." His breathing seemed to be picking up. "At least until I can figure out what's going on, or how to curb my cravings."
"Cravings?" Tum tum tugged the door again. "Rocky, we're supposed to be looking for Colt and," He grunted when tugging at the door and it pulled open a little bit on to pop back closed. "I trust you enough to know that you won't hurt me. You're the strongest guy I know Rocky... whatever's going on you can fight it."
"But what if I can't? What if I'm turning into one of those things."
"But how? You weren't here when whatever happened happened."
"I think its because of the bite from the dog."
"A bite?"
"It burns and its really itchy... its healed over but it still feels like my skin is crawling inside, and I can sometimes hear blood. Blood, Tum! ...it's safer for you if you just leave me here."
"So what? You can turn? No way." He sits back on his legs and looks at the lump of a man splayed out and bleeding all over the wooden floor and runner carpet. "... Rocky, as long as you're with me, and you don't wanna hurt me.. you can fight it. And, I may be young but if I have to back you off once or twice, I can. Trust me."
He knows that Rocky has a bit of a trust issue no matter how much he likes you and cares for you, he'd still push you aside and get things done himself.
"Please..."
It took exactly three minutes before Rocky opened the little cabinet. "Okay. I'll trust you."
Nodding, Tum tum smiled at his brother giving him a thumbs up.
"We'd better keep looking for Colt. He could be anywhere, even outside."
"I hadn't thought of that." Helping his brother out of the cabinet, Tum tum wraps his arms tightly around him for a very tight hug. "Don't scare me like that anymore, Rocky. Its bad enough Colt's missing, don't you act squirrely on me too." He smiled.
"I won't. I'm sorry."
"Forget it. Let's just find Colt, and Dad, and go home."
"I'm a hundred percent with you on that."
The two head down the hall back the way they came. With the door broken down, they may as well search beyond the frightening hall where the snake resides.
"Sam's not picking up, Dad. Do you think something could have happened to them?" Jessica closed her cellphone.
"Its hard to say. You know how your husband gets whenever someone is in trouble." Mori nods. "He's about as fired up as the boys."
"Not exactly comforting." She rubs her arms as if to wipe away the chilling feeling creeping through her.
Seeing that his daughter isn't taking comfort in his words, Mori scratches his wispy beard contemplatively. "Maybe we could fly out there, and see what's going on?"
"Its a good idea but..."
"But what?"
"If they're fine then I'll be smothering them... besides, how would we even be able to find them out in the woods. They could be anywhere."
"The door's locked." Rocky says while twisting the knob. Sighing in defeat, he looks around the door's whole, frowning at thick thick cobwebs decorating its upper corners. That's some infestation. "Wonder how Richard managed to get in?"
"It could have been open, and maybe Richard locked it to keep it inside." Tum tum turned the knob for himself. "Maybe the key is somewhere inside the house, could be hidden like the rest of them were."
"That's what I'm afraid of, I don't wanna make a mistake with one of this house's traps and have the roof cave-in on everyone." Going down the three wooden stairs that lead up to the locked door, Rocky sees that there's a zombie down the hall. Gasping, he presses himself against the wall.
He wondered if they could wait this thing out, only problem was which direction it would go. Will it to either see the both of them, or wander off into the room its standing infront of so they can ambush him. How did it not hear them anyway? He thought these things based their attacks on hearing first and feeling later, like when they run and every zombie and its mother seemed to be on it. They could see it a little better if the lighting back there weren't so sparse. When the aimless man swayed into the dim light, Rocky saw that the things ears had been caved in somehow, like someone had started to attack but withdrew. Could it have been Colt?
"Maybe we could toss our knives?" Tum tum suggested.
"Good idea." Rocky whispered back. Slowly lowering himself to the floor, he grabs his knife waiting for Tum tum to do the same.
"On my count... one... two... three."
The two jumped into view for the walker and tossed with precise aim for the head. Tum tum winged him on the neck and Rocky the throat. They would have hit the mark exactly if it weren't for the fact that the seemingly out of it zombie had decided to turn at that moment and spot the two boys illuminated in the light over the locked door.
"Shit." Rocky declared to fate and went in with a kick to the stomach. "Tum, get the knives!" He ordered his brother.
The younger male hurried over the collapsed zombie, who reached and moaned at him without success of grabbing him. Rocky stomped at the man's face in order to keep him down on the floor, but he didn't expect his foot to smash right through his head. The loud pop filled the air, along with the burping squelch of his oozing blood, and the horrific stench like his stomach's rotted scent was now coming up through his mouth.
Seeing the blood all over his sneaker and dampening his ankle through the jeans, Rocky felt his stomach turn, and unfortunately the only place he had to vomit was right there. Tum tum nearly gagged himself when seeing that the deadman was now sporting hurl right there on his lap. As if the stench of rotted stomach weren't bad enough, now there's vomit in the air. Tum tum hoped that it wasn't going to call attention to them, as he helped his brother from the floor.
"Geez Rocky, I can feel your heat through your clothes." Tum tum slapped the back of his hand to his brother's forehead. "Maybe you should lay down in that one room where we took a nap. The hall is cleared out, you should be ok while I look for Colt."
"I'm not leaving you alone... you told me to fight this thing, and I am. Let's check this room and then report to Rebecca."
"Okay."
He allowed Rocky to remove himself from his aid to head down the hall, now with help from the wooden wall. Opening the door, Rocky peeks inside.
"Do you still have that lighter?"
"Yeah." Fishing into his pocket, he hands it over.
Rocky muttered a 'thanks' to him before stepping inside. It was quiet for the most part. Rocky crept softly, silently into the room and over to a candlestick holder. Lighting three of the four candles in the holder, he looks around the room now that its lit up for them. It looked like a break-room. There's a wooden table that seats four, cluttered with all kinds of dishes, half eaten meals, the chairs are pushed out or knocked over like someone's evening got severely interrupted. Rocky could see the scenario playing out in his head. They were eating, and conversing completely unaware of what's come into the room behind them, and then a few of those walking dead would swarm in fast and start eating them.
Rocky closed his eyes as if to shut out the picture from playing in his mind. It was much too gruesome to think about, too raw to digest. 'I can't imagine Colt being lost somewhere in this house, or outside of it. The possibility of him being bit is too real, and if what I suspect is happening to me will happen to him... it could be much worse if its from a person.'
"Rocky?"
Tum tum snapped him from his thoughts.
"We need to look around for anything useful." Rocky instructed.
The solar system greeted Tum tum when he turned his head from looking at the mess on the table, he followed the sun and the moon, a few stars over to a little wooden cabinet that housed plates and a few boxes of cereal. Searching for his brother, he spots him inspecting a dusty, termite-bitten bookshelf.
"Gimme a hand with this, I thinks its been moved a few times; there are scratches on the floor- see." He points down.
Getting at his brother's side, Tum tum helps Rocky shove the rickety old shelf aside. The moan was instant causing both males to leap a foot back, frightened and unprepared. The moaning continued; there was even a shuffling sort of scratching sound, but nothing followed. No threat to their lives from the launch of a cannible... just the terrible 'could be' brought on by the noise.
Easing his shaky battle-stance, Rocky holds out an arm to stop his brother from following him forward. Carefully, one step at a time, Rocky moves to the open entrance of the hidden space. What he saw turned his stomach, he held his core solid enough to not put his hand to his mouth in order to keep his vomit in.
"What is it?"
"Its okay... he's not going anywhere."
"What do mean?" Tum tum wasn't as held-together as Rocky could be, he turn his head and just let his stomach contents hit the floor.
This only seemed to revitalize the hungry living dead's spirit, and he reached and thrashed for dinner. He was having a hard time of it with his legs missing and his torso torn out, guts missing. Whoever did this must have been a pack, or hoard, to have pulled the man's legs off as they had.
"Should we.." Tum tum trailed off, then spoke again. "Put him out of his misery?"
And that surprised Rocky, in fact it damn neared smacked him in the face. 'Out of his misery? Of what? immense hunger? Of being a zombie?' He looks at the writhing, snarling half of a man. ...A man. 'Can he really still feel his humanity in there? Does he know what he's been doing- what's happening to him? Or is he simply gone?'
Rocky rubbed his once bitten forearm. He recalled very vividly how gone he felt when he wanted to snack on his brother. He didn't feel like himself, he just felt the driving force, the need to feed.
"No. Let's leave him for now." Replied Rocky after mulling over the answer.
"O..kay." He had to shake off being the heart of the group, sometimes these decisions were just the right ones to be made. "Well, do you see anything useful then?"
That seemed to be a more productive topic. "Some sheet music aaand, looks like bullet capsules... to.. maybe a larger gun. Like a gerenade launcher."
"What's sheet music doing up here?" Tum tum asked himself.
"Not sure, but... maybe we should take it with us." Though the man can't move, Rocky manuevered past the reaching arms that were much to close to him for his liking, and in an instant he snatched the sheet music from another cabinet holding cups and pitchers.
"The bullets?" He shrugged. "We might find a big old bazooka while we hunt for Colt." He follows his brother to the door.
"Rock...y."
He looked down at his talking hip.
"Are... y-. Com..."
Removing the radio from the back waistband of his jeans, Rocky turns the dial. "Hello? Rebecca?" He called into the machine. "I can't really hear you. You're gonna have to move, the reception's bad."
"Nast-... but... mask... man in a box" came in clear. "back door-... go."
"I think she just said the back door is open." Rocky knew the device was as useless as a ice cube in a toaster. "If she got outside, Colt may have as well. We should get moving."
"Do we even know how to get outside? Besides the front door." He added upon recalling the swarm of evil mutts heavily roaming the area.
"I remember seeing a room, you know, off from the room where the art gallery is... we haven't looked back there yet, and Rebecca hadn't seen Colt pass her and we were unconscious. He could have gone looking for us and went out the door leading to the dining room."
"Wouldn't he have checked every room though? He would have seen us."
The two are now walking down the stairs to the storage room in the hall exactly over the location they're speaking of.
"Maybe he was chased out before he could really look. Those two guys were kind of a hassle, maybe we didn't really re-kill them." He shrugged. Reaching the door, Rocky turned the knob for the last time, because when the door opened it remained in its hand when the door moved.
"Looks like we gotta find a way to keep this door open."
A slamming door stopped them from their mission before it ever began.
"Rebecca?" Rocky called, but the silence that filled the air told them that they are alone. "Maybe she didn't hear me, but where did it come from."
"Sounded like down the hall." Tum tum points to the dark and unexplored corner of the hall.
Its exactly where they planned on going. Rebecca was probably just letting them know that that's where she was radioing from.
"Here." He takes the broken off door knob from his brother. "We can use this to keep the door open." Sitting the knob on the floor, the younger male gave it a few test tries to see if it would close or not, and his theory was tried and true, the broken handled door did not close shut.
"Very smart." Rocky congratulated his little brother, adding a pat on the back for good measure.
It wasn't exactly Rebecca who greeted them once they walked beyond the door and found themselves outside in what appeared to be a very thing strip of courtyard. Its was a lot like the outdoor balcony upstairs, all gray stone and weeds climbing. And much like any time they find themselves outside of the haunting mansion, they greeted with those monsterous dogs.
"Look." Kneeling, he reaches a hand out.
"Tum, be careful."
"I think its okay, look... they're dead. Not only that.." He removes his knife, shining the light from the moon against the blade. "it looks like something smashed it, not ate it. His legs are all flattened."
"Did Rebecca do this?" Rocky looks ahead to another dog's carcass.
"If she did, I wanna know her secret." Straightening up, he looks to his brother for instruction.
Following his gaze he sees a wooden door illuminated in the distance; a stone podium stands beside it. The two walk over the door, spotting blood all over the podium, as well as a strange sort of emblem stuck inside the top center of it.
"If she did, doesn't seem like she made easy work of it." Rocky says; he inspects the blood by ghosting his fingertips over it. He didn't dare touch it, it could be infected.
Moving over to the door, he gives the bar handle a good tug pulling it open. The smell of mold and dirt hit their sense right away, and dust clouded past their vision. Its a storage shed, housing all kinds of thing for gardening: shovels, rakes, hand-rakes, fertilizer, mulch and so on. A wheelbarrel looked suspiciously dirty and not with soil, but it was neither his nor Tum tum's concern at the moment.
"They sure like gardening around here." Tum tum noted the gardening supplies as well.
"Considering they're growing plants to heal people, I would think they'd have green hands rather than thumbs." Rocky said absently, looking at one direction then the other.
2 ways: a large set of wooden double doors before them, and to their left a solid metal door down a few stairs.
"Smaller door seems like the better option. Its less likely to have a larger distance to travel." Rocky decided.
Nodding, Tum tum descended the stairs almost beside his brother, pushing the door open for them once at the bottom since he wound up being the closest. They were met with cool air once again, though they had expected it since the garden wasn't exactly the dog littered walkway they'd left behind before the oversized gardening shed. Its very dark outside, as if the moon chose to stick to lighting one side of the enormous home, but even in the thick darkness Rocky can see the tell-tale sight of headstones. This is a graveyard!
Wanting to hurry out of this particular area, Rocky pushed on ahead but his trail was ceased by Tum tum grabbing him by the back of his shirt and jerking him into hiding behind one of the large corpse-markers.
Knowing better than to fly off the handle, Rocky instead looked at what of his little brother he could make out and shrugged. Tum tum pointed outward toward a large statue of a woman draped in a long flowing stone dress, but it wasn't the woman he was pointing out but the zombie standing before her. He would have seen, or at least heard them for sure if they just went whizzing by talking to each other as they had been a moment ago.
Miming that they could just sneak on by by making his index and middle finger walk on air, Rocky nods to show he understands then he follows his little brother silently through the graveyard, hiding behind heeadstone after headstone until they came to a gate of tall and slatted bars, made of iron.
The escape was better on this end... sort of. It became much darker due to the trees' thick leaves and a large rocky cliffside. There's even water flowing somewhere. Their sneakers thumped and squashed over the trail laid out ahead of them. The water smelled fresh considering its coming from this very rancid place. It made the two realize just how thirsty and hungry they truly were.
Carefully sneaking past another rogue swaying zombie, they find themselves doing a little zombie-style swaying of their own as travelers exhaustion took the place of finding their missing brother.
"Tum, wake up." Rocky shakes the younger male when his head bobbed forward causing Tum tum to smack his forehead into his back. "We can't fall asleep out here."
"But I'm tired, Rocky."
'So am I.' Rocky tubs his eyes. "Think about Colt right now, he could really be in danger."
"Or he could have gone to pee, came back and figured we were all goooo..." His word broke off by a very hard yawn.
"Look, we'll take a little break." Though he can barely keep his own eyes open. "I think there's a cabin just up ahead." Taking his brother's wrist, he pulls him along with his pace.
They passed between two hideous dog statues where one faced East and the other West. And sure enough, the cabin that Rocky thought he saw appeared before them. The outside appeared to be small and comfortable; there's a light on inside. Could it be from Colt?
"Should we knock?" Tum tum asked when they got right up on the door.
"Honestly, with everything that's going on, I'm looking forward to running into someone alive."
Tum tum let a delirious smile fall over his mouth at how his brother couldn't just say 'privacy can shove it, he's going in'.
The door creaked open and flopped shut after they made their way in. He expacted another shed, but Tum tum was overwhelmbed by the sight of a large roaring fire, a few stairs leading to an upper area where the large brick fireplace resides along with some blocks of wood to build the fire back up should it dwindle away.
"A bed!" Running into a room ahead of them, Tum tum's tiny body drops down onto the bed and let's his weigh just ease into the surpringly warm mattress.
Rocky looked enviously at his brother snuggling into the pillow. "Maybe just a quick nap." Lowering himself to the floor, he lay his head on the mattress and closed his eyes, allowing the warmth of the fire in the other room to soothe the chill in his bones, and the ache from his muscles and heart.
...
Rocky awoke to the gentle shaking of his brother. "How long were we out?"
"I don't know," He's standing by a desk. "but I found this weird scribbling on a photo of a family. It says 'The Trevors'."
"I woke up," Rocky reads when taking the picture from his brother. "and mommy was gone, where is she? I look but neder find her." He's alarmed at the sudden drop of spelling, even the handwritting suffered. "I n have tea pa-ee and find her there. But wasn't mommy, just face. I took it but want to give it back. Momy... were R yu?"
"Pretty freaky right."Tum tum takes the offered photo and sets it back down on the desk top. "I also found this." He holds up what appears to be nothing more than a crank. He wasn't sure what the younger male thought they would do with it, but he figured it might have some sort of use. This place never seems to have things just unimportantly lying around, though he'd rather not have them carrying so much stuff.
"If anyone can hear me," A male voice came over the walkie talkie.
It was thick and commanding. But the frequency was a bit muffled, though not as much as when Rebecca had used it.
"do not go into the woods... somethi-... out there. ...i..structable."
The radio died again.
"Rocky... if I tell you that I'm scared, you're not gonna pick on me are you?" Tum tum moved closer to the safety of his brother.
"No. But I think we definitely need to get out of h-..."
It was the sound of chains sliding lazily across the wooden floor that silenced him but, when looking out of a window made in the wall of the bedroom showing the entrance/exit of the cabin what he saw ran Rocky's blood cold. Large flesh shaped tentacles whipping through the air like a roaches antenea, stuck to the back of a thing so large it could only be called a monster.
Shaking at his brother's rigid posture, Tum tum grabs the male's arm. "Rocky, what did you see?"
"Ssshhh..." Rocky listened. "its not moving right now, maybe we can find a back way out."
"Good idea. There's a sorta trap door where I found that crank, it might open."
"Where?"
Tum tum turned around walking through the slim bedroom to a doorway, leading to an even more narrow hall where at the end of it they found what appeared to be a trapped door. Pulling on it, they struggled, and groaned quietly but it wasn't budging.
Tapping Tum tum on the shoulder, Rocky gestures that he's going to break it with his elbow. But something broke him first.
"Rocky!?" He reached for his slumped brother, long enough to check his pulse. When turning to see what hit, His eyes widened in utter horror before a knock to the head made everything black.
