Losing Touch

Madison, Alicia and Nick sat around the coffee table, halfheartedly playing Monopoly, Madison's mind frantically elsewhere, putting on a face for her family, when out in the hall, the front door suddenly flew open with a crash, making their heads snap up, Nick dropping all his cards.

"Maddie!" Travis yelled from the hall. "Maddie!"

Madison threw herself through the lounge doorway, crashing into the coffee table as she ran, only to find Travis standing in the hall, face strained, carrying a strange woman in his arms, one of her shoes missing, the left leg of her white Capri pants pushed up, revealing a mangled foot and ankle. Behind him stood two more strangers, a young woman and an older man, then Liza, Lourdes and Chris, all three looking like they'd been dragged through a hedge backwards.

Instantly, Madison took control, realizing this wasn't the time to start asking questions. "Upstairs," she said quickly, motioning Travis on, "I'll get the first aid kit." As she dashed into the kitchen, Travis and the strangers hastily made their way up the narrow staircase, Liza hard on their heels, not before dropping a fierce kiss on each of her children's brows.

Leaving Chris to close the front door, Lourdes wandered dazedly into the lounge, only to find Nick muttering over the Monopoly board, straightening it to his specifications, his mother's careering into the coffee table having sent everything askew. Alicia glanced up, only to see Lourdes standing in the doorway, dark eyes wild and wide.

"What's with you?" Alicia asked coldly, leaning back in her seat, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Lourdes just stared at her. "You were all playing Monopoly while we were out there?" she said incredulously, waving her arm agitatedly at the candlelit lounge, its comforting domestic cocoon the very antithesis of everything she and the others had just endured.

"I was the shoe," Nick announced, holding up a finger, looking proud of himself.

"You were the shoe?" Lourdes said in disbelief.

"Yes, I was, Mother Hen," Nick said, getting unsteadily to his feet, looking better despite his poor balance. "I made a rather splendid shoe, if I do say so myself."

Before Nick could react, Lourdes was suddenly almost on top of him, shoving him backwards, making him stagger. "You were a fucking shoe!?" she screamed, shoving him again, before launching a full-scale attack, Nick throwing his arms across his face to shield himself from her pummelling fists.

"Lo!" Alicia yelled, throwing herself between Lourdes and Nick, before shoving Lourdes back by the shoulders. "Back off! He's just had a goddamn relapse!"

Lourdes crashed into Chris, who had come into the room, flicking all the lights on, looking shocked at his sister's violent outburst.

"What the hell's going on?" Alicia demanded, stepping in front of Nick, protecting him from any further violence. "Why do you all look like hell!?"

Lourdes just stared blankly at her, shaking from head to foot.

"What happened out there, Lourdes?" Alicia said slowly, enunciating every vowel and syllable as she stepped forwards. "What's going on?"

"You were playing goddamn Monopoly," Lourdes burst out again, voice hysterical, "Monopoly" -

- "So you keep saying," Nick sing-songed sarcastically.

"Shut up," Alicia snapped over her shoulder at him. "Of course we weren't just playing Monopoly," she then fired at Lourdes, facing her again. "Mom's been going out of her freaking mind, and Nick was doing his usual projectile vomiting routine, whilst you were all God knew where. We had to do something to stop climbing the walls with worry - that's why we had the goddamn game out!"

"I'm touched that you care," Lourdes retorted, wiping her still wet eyes with the back of her hand, hiding her shock at Alicia's angry concern; that somewhere beneath Alicia's still surface, there was some strange modicum of family feeling after all.

Before anybody could react, the lights suddenly went out, plunging them into almost darkness, the candlelight keeping the blackness at bay. Then there was the sound of stumbling and banging about from the bedroom above, Travis loudly cursing, making Alicia go out into the hall, hesitating before coming to a stop at the foot of the stairs.

"Mom!" she called up, grabbing the newel post, one foot on the bottom step. "Do you need help!?"

"No, just stay put, baby," Madison called down, "we've got torches."

Sensing her mother was all but saying 'butt out', Alicia rolled her eyes, only to start violently as a loud scream shattered the silence outside, the noise abruptly cut off. Rushing into the lounge, banging her arm off the bookcase as she ran, it was only for Alicia to find the others congregated around the window, Chris clutching a torch, Nick peering through the blinds, shoulders hunched, Lourdes with her back pressed against the wall, looking like she was going to hyperventilate.

"What is it?" Alicia asked urgently, making Nick whirl around, his face wild.

"Ssh," he hissed, pressing his fingers to his lips. "Turn the fucking volume down!"

"Did you hear that scream?" Alicia whispered, coming over. "It sounded like it came from the Cruz house" -

- "Everybody get away from the windows," Nick ordered, Chris surprisingly obeying, hastily handing Lourdes his torch, before scrolling the blinds shut.

"Nick," Alicia protested, "we have to check" -

- "Everything okay in here?" Travis demanded from the doorway, startling them all.

"Sitting pretty, padre," Nick said smartly, making Travis give him a funny look, before heading back into the hall and upstairs again.

"Isn't he going to check?" Alicia said incredulously.

"Nobody's going to check, Lish," Nick said, as he started staggering around the lounge, blowing out all the candles, "not Travis, not you, not me. We stay inside."

Alicia looked at him for a long moment, before turning to Lourdes, her face suddenly and surprisingly pleading. "It's true, then?" she said, her voice cracking. "The dead are actually walking?"

"Jeesh, there's a time and place," Nick snapped, clamping his hands over his ears. "Don't wanna hear, don't wanna hear!"

"You know they are," Lourdes said sullenly, "you heard me earlier, how they... change."

Alicia bit down on her lip, thinking of Matt, his feverish face, his body burning like a furnace, Matt changing right in front of her, Alicia powerless to stop it. The thought made her fingers fly to her wrist, closing around the vividly inked vortex on her wrist, almost manacling herself to Matt's memory.

"I'm sorry," Lourdes said suddenly to Alicia, startling everyone, "what I said about Matt. I didn't mean it."

Alicia acknowledged her apology with an abrupt turn of the head, only to flinch as something threw itself against the French doors, making them rattle.

"What the heck!?" Chris exclaimed, as Lourdes swung the torch around, its beam hitting the black and white patterned curtains.

"Ssh!" Nick hissed again, frantically flapping his hands like wings, making him strangely resemble a scarecrow for a moment. "Stay away from there!" he said, halting Alicia in her tracks, flinging his arm out to block Chris as well.

But Lourdes ignored him, dashing over to the French doors, flinging the curtain aside, only to see the Cruz family's pet German Shepherd, Timmy, standing on its hind legs, scratching the glass with agitated paws. "Tim-Tim?" Lourdes said in confusion, quickly letting the dog in, Timmy pressing himself against her, his large body shaking, a low whine escaping his throat.

"What happened, boy?" Nick asked the dog as he knelt down in front of him, running his shaking hand over the brown and black fur. "Why are you... bleeding?" Nick held up his crimson hands, face horrified, dark eyes dilating.

"What!?" Lourdes exclaimed, dropping down onto her knees beside Nick, only to see gleaming patches of red flecking Timmy's coat, large chunks of fur having been torn out. The dog looked like he'd been chewed on, making the bile rise in Lourdes's throat, fresh tears burning the backs of her eyes. "I – I need to get my mom," she said, standing up, "she – she can fix him" -

The rest of her sentence was cut off by Timmy suddenly bounding forwards, running over to the front window, barking madly at something unseen. Lourdes hurriedly slammed the French doors shut, before sliding the snib into place, Nick drawing the curtains, before slumping sideways against the glass, face exhausted. As they did, Chris and Alicia ran over to the window, Alicia laying her hand on Timmy's head, trying to reassure him as Chris separated the blind slats, eyes narrowing as he craned his neck, only to freeze.

"Chris, man, what do you see?" Nick whispered, straightening up. "Who's out there?"

"One – one of them," Chris said in disbelief, making Alicia turn wide eyes on him, face shocked.

Nick bowed his head, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "We – we need to go next door," he said in a wild rush, raising his head.

"What?" Alicia asked, bewildered.

"They have a shotgun," Nick snapped, "I tried to steal it once."

"You did what!?"

"Never mind the details, Lish," Nick said, limping in the direction of the kitchen, "it's time to make tracks."

I'm in no hurry
You go run and tell your friends I'm losing touch
Fill their heads with rumors of impending doom
It must be true…