Chapter Twelve: The Request (pt2)
Gasps rang through the air, "What!" Marie protested, "Jane- No- That's crazy! We can't jus- we can't just kill you!"
"Is there any other way?" Hyun-Bin asked the Mexican-American woman sobbing on the ground as he came down onto one knee to get to her level.
"Nothing else can be done. Please, I don't want to turn into one of them. I don't want Juan to see me like that. Please. Please don't let my baby see me like that." Jane sobbed.
Fuck.
Juno turned away and wiped her errant tears, Sean was crying silently even harder now as his whole body shook. Fuck. He was only six years old, he shouldn't have to witness all this shit.
"Hey, hey, Sean." she cooed, crouching down beside him, "Do you remember me? I'm Ms. Juno, I work with your Nana at the preschool. Remember?"
The boy sniffled, a few sobs shaking out of his body, before nodding.
She tried to smile reassuringly at him, "Ven, come here papi. I'll take you to your Nana, okay?"
The boy shook his head, burrowing further under the seat in his fear.
"No, no papi, it's okay. No one is going to hurt you. We're going go to the truck okay. Your grandma is super worried about you, okay?"
"A-Are tha mo-monsters ou-out th-there?" he asked shakily, more tears streaming down his face.
"No monsters out here." she reassured him, "I got them all. We're just going go to Mr. Kim's truck now, alright?" Sean nodded as he started scooting over towards her, "Good, good boy. Come here." she cooed as she wrapped the little boy in her arms and rubbed his back soothingly before hooking his legs underneath him and picking him, "Ya, estoy aqui nada te va pasar. It's okay now, I got you." she whispered. Sean just buried his face snuggled into her neck and tightened his grip.
"He okay?" John asked her as she went to the edge of the pontoon, he helped her up onto the deck and steadied her when she faltered.
"He will be, once I get him to Marcy." she responded, "Do you know how to shoot John?"
"A little."
"Grab my Ruger, I can't use it with my hands full like this," Juno commanded.
The man grabbed her weapon carefully, testing its weight in his arms, "We finished loading up the truck, we were just waiting for..." he trailed off. Juno nodded as the man opened up the door for her.
"Help me up, please?" she asked. The truck was too tall for her to just hop in, and she'd fall backward if she stepped onto the rig.
"Yeah, yeah I got you."
As soon as the door shut behind her, Juno readjusted the dirty-blonde haired boy in her arms and let him sink into her embrace. She gently rubbed his back, hot tears still soaking into her shirt, "Arrorró mi niño, arrorró mi sol, arrorró pedazo, de mi corazón." Juno sang softly in Spanish. It was a lullaby her Abuela used to sing to her a lot when she was little and scared. If anything, Sean melted even more into her arms and it only took four more verses for him to drift off to sleep.
A light knock on the window startled Juno out of her thoughts. Lexie was on the other side, tears brimming in her eyes, as she dragged a dejected Jeff behind her. Juno quickly unlocked the car, the two Evans siblings climbed in and shut the door behind them. Jeff was sitting the closest to her, he settled in his spot before the teen leaned his head on top of hers and slumped.
"They're gonna kill her." he whispered after a moment, "Jane says it was the only way. Didn' wanna watch. They'll be here in a minute."
Juno shut her eyes in grief, grabbing his hand to try and impart some sort of comfort. Lexie just shuffled around in her seat until she could press her face into her knees in an effort to ignore the situation happening around them. There really wasn't anything she could say. Though, if she was being honest to herself, Juno would want the same thing if she was bit and she couldn't cut off the appendage.
"Do you want to talk to your mom?" Juno asked instead, "She's probably worried by now, we can walkie her real quick and let her know we'll be there soon."
"Yeah?" he asked softly.
"Yeah." she confirmed reaching for the walkie on her hip, "Hey Kathy, you there? Over."
"Juno!" the woman practically shouted, "Is everything okay? You've been gone for a long time now! Is everyone okay? What about my kids? Was anyone hurt? Over."
"Kathy we're okay, I got Jeff and Lexie by my side. We're in the truck. The others are coming in a moment." she reassured her, "But before I can turn you over, Kathy, just answer me this one thing... Is-Is Juan close by? Over."
"Thank god." the woman gasped, "Thank god yer all okay. Nah, Juan is helpin' Marcy an' Ashley with the kids. Over."
"Ok, I'll pass you over to Jeff now. Over." Juno passed the walkie over to the excited teen, but warned him seriously before he could press the button, "Jeff, I know that Juan isn't there right now... but don't say anything about it, alright? Just in case. This isn't an over the phone kind of news..."
He nodded, "I won't." Jeff promised before pressing on the receiver, "Mom?" he questioned over the walkie.
"Jeff! Baby! Oh, I'm so glad to hear yer voice!" Kathy exclaimed, "Are you okay? Lexie, darlin,' you there too?"
"Yeah, mama." Lexie confirmed wetly, "I'm here. We're okay. We didn' get hurt... but mama!" she cried out, "It was awful! There was people dyin' everywhere!"
"Oh, honey-"
"Mom, Spencer died!" Jeff blurted out, as if he'd been holding it in this whole time and couldn't control himself anymore, "We was video chattin' an-and that thing jus-just came from behind him an' started bitin' and eatin' him! Wouldn' stop no matter how much Spence screamed!"
"Oh, Jeff... I'm so sorry, baby... I'm jus' so happy yer okay. You an' Lexie. It's a blessin' tha' ya'll ain't hurt. I'm gonna be with you real soon, okay. Ya gotta stay stong. We got some real lil' kids 'ere who got no idea wha's goin' on outside, an' we can't scare 'em. Alright?" Kathy spoke to her kids in a soothing manner that had the two relaxing in their seats.
"Alright. I'll see you soon." Jeff confirmed.
"Tha's right baby, I'll see ya'll real soon."
Juno smiled at the pair of siblings before taking the walkie back, "Hey Kathy, how's everything over there? Any changes? Over."
"It's all good Juno. I think ya really got 'em all. The Kim twins mama radio'd us 'bout fifteen minutes ago, askin' 'bout her kids an' wayward husban.' Nothin's changed up on the farm either. No livestock missin' an' no shamblers either. Over." Kathy reported.
"Alright. We'll see you soon, I see the others coming now. Oh, and let Marcy know I got Sean with me. Over."
The drive to the preschool was done in a solemn silence. Marie was sitting in the front with the Kim men, refusing to make eye contact with any of them in the car. Alice was crying into her father's shirt as their small dog yapped on her lap, and Jeff was completely facing away from his older sister by turning his body towards her and burying his face into her left shoulder, the one that Sean hadn't fallen asleep on. Lexie was taking a page out of her little brother's book and was curled up around him with her eyes shut. Juno was only thankful that there was a silencer on the gun that Jane had used to- well, she was just glad that they couldn't hear it from the truck. John was sitting in the back, in the truck bed, since there wasn't any space inside of the truck, but she'd given the man her Ruger for protection as a "just in case" type of thing.
"Hey, Kathy we're pulling up in a minute. Over." Eun-Hyool spoke softly into the car radio.
"Alright, I got Marcy waiting for you guys in the cubby room. Over." the woman responded promptly.
As soon as the truck came to a stop there was a flurry of motion. Juno's door was right in front of the steps up to the daycare, so she briskly opened it before jumping down and climbing the three steps quickly and running into the preschool with Sean still sleeping in her arms. She passed the sleeping six-year-old to his anxious grandmother, before bursting out once more to help unload the truck. John was still on top of the truck bed keeping point while Danny passed bags to his nervous kids. She quickly grabbed two heavy looking duffels and booked it once more into the building behind Jeff. As soon as the truck was unloaded and everyone was in the school, Juno let out a relieved sigh.
They'd made it.
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(It's been a really long time since I updated this fic... life in general has kept me pretty busy. LOL. I hope you all enjoyed this update! Thank you all for the FAVS/FOLLOWS/REVIEWS!)
