Chapter 11: The Stranger and His Dog
"Boys!" Merida hollered. She banged open the last door of the house, only to find yet another empty bedroom. She let out a grunt of frustration.
"Now is not the tyme!" She was across the room in two seconds and ripped open the closet door to shuffle through a collection of pastel shirts and grey suits. After finding the closet to be absent of any small children, Merida went over the the bed and dropped to the floor it investigate the space underneath.
"Where are ye wee devils hiddin'? Come'on, we have teh go—eep!"
Merida suddenly felt a weight land on her back as two others collided with her sides. In seconds, she was rolling on the floor, wrestling and giggling with her three younger brothers, hopelessly outmatched.
"Merida!"
The laughter tumbled to a stop as the four of them froze. Merida was on her back and tilted her head backwards to look at the figure standing in the doorway.
"Ay?" she asked her mother.
"Boys, it's not play time, go find your father. We're leaving."
The toddler triplets hopped up at once and scurried past their mother, pushing each other and giggling as they went.
As they left, Elinor stepped forward and gave her daughter a hand in getting up form the floor.
"Merida, I told you to find the boys, not play with them."
Merida rolled her eyes.
"Mum, we were just havin' a wee bit of fun. Besides they attacked me firs'."
"We don't have time for games, dear," Elinor explained calmly as she stood Merida up and they left the room, "we have to leave while there's still daylight."
"Allrigh' allrigh'," Merida said, slightly irritated by her mother's strictness. "No need teh natter," she finished under her breath.
The two followed the boys to find Fergus by the door of the house, arms full of duffle bags.
"Here ya are, lassie," he grunted as he tossed Merida a bag and then another one. She shouldered both of them and picked up her bow from where she'd left it propped against the couch. Elinor took two bags of her own along with another sword and the boys shouldered their own, mini-backpacks.
The family gathered around the door, Fergus in the lead with a broadsword and the ready, Merida behind him with an arrow strung in her bow, and Elinor cluttered with the boys behind the both of them.
The family grew quiet quickly. Even the boys stopped their playful shoving to look at their dad and sister. Fergus looked back at his family, counted to three, and then very carefully, unlocked and opened the front door. He slipped outside quietly as Merida wedged herself in the doorway before it swung shut. She watched her father trudge out onto the street, keeping both eyes and ears peeled.
After a few moments, he turned back to her, and motioned for them to follow. With a nod from Merida, the five of them filed out of the house and onto the street to join Fergus.
"Yeh did nit see any sickos?" Merida whispered as she was the first to reach her father.
Fergus shook his head no.
Merida cast a glance around, her stomach suddenly becoming queasy. That was strange. Usually, when ever they left a house, there was always at least three or four of the infected wandering about for them to take down. But now, there was nothing. The absence of any sickos set Merida's teeth on edge.
The family quickly made their way down the empty street, keeping their footfalls as light as possible. The house they'd just left was the last one in the street that had been cleared out by them. It was at the end of a cul-de-sac, so the family had to make their way back up to the main street before they found another house to squat in.
When they reached the intersection at the end of the street, however, Merida pulled them all to a stop.
"Do you hear tha'?" Merida asked in a low voice, her head bent as she strained her ears.
"The infected?" Elinor asked quietly.
Merida shook her head.
"No, no. I's….music," she said, surprised at her own realization.
"Music?" Fergus asked incredulously. "Lass, tha's not possible—"
"No!" Merida hissed. "Jus' listen."
The family stood in silence for a few seconds more, listening to the wind. Elinor and Fergus both heard the music at the same time, looking up at each other in surprise.
"What does it mean, Fergus?" Elinor asked, concern creeping into her voice for the first time in months.
The large man shook his head in answer.
"Can' have been left runnin', the batteries would've died by now."
"Do you think i's a call for help?" Elinor asked.
"Or a trap?" Merida suggested, her tone not as hopeful as her mother's.
Merida's fingers began to dance on her bow, a nervousness coursing through her body. They had to get out of the open. Sure, there weren't any sicko's around now, but it wouldn't stay like that forever.
Fergus glanced between his wife and his daughter. After a moment's thought, he came to a conclusion.
"Aye'll go see what it is. You lot stay back here in tha' house on the corner."
"We are not going to be separated!" Elinor hissed, loud enough to make the boys jump.
"Wha' if tha' music's where tha' sicko's are. Maybe tha's why they're no' here," Merida suggested. "Yeh'd be goin' intah a slaughter."
She hated agreeing with her mother, but she couldn't shake this feeling that something was going to happen soon, if they didn't move. A street completely empty of any sickos was a truly eerie picture.
"I's jus' fer a quick look teh see wha' it is," Fergus insisted.
"Aye am not loosing my husband to a stupid stroke of curiosity," Elinor whispered, her eyes furious.
"Fine, fine. Yeh can come along if yeh like, jus' stay behind me," Fergus bargained.
And with that, Merida's father started jogging towards the source of the music, leaving Elinor no choice but to follow. Merida stared after them in disbelief. Had they gone mad? This had to be the worst idea ever. She couldn't very well stay behind on her own, though.
So with a grunt and roll of her eyes, Merida started jogging after her family.
As they continued towards the source of the sound and the music grew louder, Merida gripped her bow more tightly, expecting to see the sicko's that must've been attracted to the music. Only there wasn't any. They didn't come across a single infected person, which only managed to grate against her nerves even more.
Where are all the bloody sickos?
They'd made it a few streets before they heard something else under the sound of the music.
Barking.
It was drowned out for the most part by the music, but it was obvious that it was the barking of a dog. Fergus slowed his gate slightly as he cast a glance at his wife and then back at his daughter. The music was incredibly loud by this point, impossible to ignore. And still not a sicko in sight.
When they came to the next street over, a stray dog with shaggy, midnight-black fur, came loping towards them out of nowhere, bringing all six of them to a stop. Fergus aimed his sword at the canine, while Merida trained her bow, waiting for it to attack.
Only it didn't. The dog just stood there, barking at them, as if it was trying to tell them something important. After a minute of the Mexican Stand-off, Fergus cautiously lowered his sword. The dog hopped a little closer, its barking more insistent. The large Scotsman took a step forward, causing the dog to paw nervously at the ground.
"Fergus," Elinor hissed in warning.
"I's a'right," Fergus muttered, distracted as he held a hand out to the creature. "Aye think he's tryin' teh tell us somethin'."
The dog stopped barking, its voice fading out to a whine as its inched its way closer to the large man.
The DunBrochs had had dogs of their own at one point. Hunting dogs that Fergus had running around the house uncontrolled enough to drive Elinor mad. They'd had to let them go at one point to save food for the rest of the family. But Merida remembered how much her father had loved those dogs, how hard it'd been to let them go. Those canines had saved his life on a hunting trip more than once and it had broken his heart to send them away.
The black dog came closer to the Scotsman, sniffing at the outstretched hand. After a few sniffs, it let out a small yip and licked at Fergus's hand before turning and taking a few steps in the direction it had come from. It looked over its shoulder barked at the DunBrochs with a small hop, encouraging them to follow.
Without question, Fergus stood and followed the canine. Elinor and the boys were close to follow as the dog started loping back down the street, barking all the way. Merida tagged along reluctantly. Her heart was pounding and she couldn't shake this strange feeling in her stomach. Something was definitely off. They still had yet to come across a single sicko, some mysterious music was playing during the end of the world, and now her family was being lead by some strange dog to some strange house, only to find lord knew what.
Merida was the last to get to the house, trotting up behind the others. The stray had apparently ran straight through the front door, leaving the family at the open doorway. Elinor, the boys, and Merida stayed behind as Fergus peeked around the edge of the door. He waved at the others to stay back as he cautiously stepped into the house. It was obvious that this was the house the music had been coming from. Some cacophony of pianos and violins was blasting through the open door from some unknown source just on the other side.
Merida's palms had started to sweat as her nerves screamed at her. The fact that this strange dog appeared out of nowhere to bring them directly to the house that the music was coming from, with not a single sicko yet to be found still. It was all becoming more and more unsettling. She just wished they could cut the music leave the dog, and be on their way—
"Elinor!"
Merida's father's yell erupted from inside the house. Elinor was through the door in a second, with Merida quick to follow. The boys crammed their way in through the front door after the both of them.
With a quick glance around, Merida found that the house was clear. No sickos, no humans. Both her gaze and her heart stopped, however when she found what her dah'd had been hollering about, and what both her parents were huddled over at the moment.
It was a boy.
A stranger that looked only a year or two older than herself, with shaggy, brown hair and grungy clothes, passed out underneath a coffee table in the front living room of the house. From what she could see, he was very pale, his cheeks and lips a bright, feverish red as his eyelids fluttered frantically. The stereo that the music had been coming from was still on and blasting from the coffee table the boy was under. The stray that had lead them here was still barking and whining as he licked at the boy's face.
In a few short strides, Merida had crossed the room to the three of them and turned off the stereo, a blissful quiet falling over them.
"Fergus," Elinor started, "Check his eyes. See if it's the virus."
Fergus carefully lifted the boy's head and opened both of his eyelids while Elinor pinched at several places along his arm.
"They're green and clear," Fergus reported.
"Skin's taunt, as well," Elinor said. "It's not the virus, but he's burning up."
She reached forward then to lean over the boy and lightly tap his face. When nothing happened, she tapped a little harder and lifted his eyelids for herself.
"He's responding to light, but he's not waking up," she said, concern edging her voice. "Merida, would you get that bloody dog out of here," she said, swatting at the stray that kept trying to get at the stranger's face, "and keep the boys away."
"Wha', why?" Merida asked, confused.
"Because, we need to help this boy and I can't do it with everyone messing about!"
"Help him?!" Merida asked. "Wha' doya mean help him? Mum, sickos'll be coming tru tha' door any minute. We need teh go!"
"Then close the door!" Elinor retorted. "Merida, this boy needs our help, and I will not leave him to die."
"Well, wha' then after? Is he jus' gonna tag along wit us?" Merida asked sarcastically. "We can't feed him. We can barely feed ourselves."
"We'll figure something out," Elinor replied, her temper growing short. "Just do as I say."
"If we take him wit us, we'll be in danger. He can't fight lyke tha'!" Merida insisted. "Family's firs', tha's wha' Dah'd said. If we take him, we won't be able to protect ourselves! We won't be able to protect the boys! Our food—"
"Merida," her father interrupted. "Do as yer mother says. We are helping this boy."
"But Dah'd, we can't help him," Merida insisted. "If yeh help him now, he won' be healthy enough teh fight. He'll die anyways."
"Then we'll fight for him," her father responded.
"How can we protect ourselves if we're lookin' after a babie lyke him—!"
Elinor was on her daughter in a second, eyes serious, hands clamping down on shoulders.
"Merida, listen to me," she said, her tone so intense, it shocked Merida into silence. "The virus is everywhere. Everyone is dead, do you understand that? We are the only thing that's left of the world. We are what's left of humanity. This boy is sick and he will die without our help. If we don't help him. If we let him die, then we have lost our humanity and there will be nothing left. Do you understand that, lassie? Nothing."
Merida glared back at her mother, the two of them at a stand still, waiting for the other to give in.
With a glance at the boy on the ground, Merida looked back at her mother before giving a grunt and shrugging out of her grip.
"Boys!" she hollered to the three still gathered around the door. "C'mere, and close tha' door!"
Merida grabbed the dog by its collar and dragged it away from the stranger, having to heft her weight against its protests as the boys slammed the door shut and scurried over to join her.
"Go teh the back of the house an' find a room," she told them, still while struggling against the dog's attempts to get back to the boy. "Lock yerselves in thear an' STAY THEAR," she said, emphasizing her words. "If yeh come out, Aye swear, yeh won' have deserts evar again. Got it?"
"Fergus, help me with him," she heard her mother say as the boys scurried off into the house.
Together, the two of them managed to haul the boy up onto the coffee table.
"Hand me your knife."
Without hesitation, Fergus handed his wife the knife he kept in his boot. With one, swift motion, Elinor had ripped the boys shirt off to reveal a bare chest covered in blister and sores.
"Devil's highlands," Merida could hear her mother swear under her breath. Though she couldn't see the blisters herself from struggling with the resistant canine, she could guess that they were bad. She heard more ripping noises and a "bloody hell" from her father. She glanced over her shoulder as saw the that boy had a fake leg from below the knee down, just like her father's. Elinor reached forward and quickly removed the leg to reveal a grotesque mess of blood, black skin, and puss. Merida caught a feint whiff of rotting meat. That couldn't be good.
"Fergus," Elinor said quickly. "Give me the whiskey from your bag."
"The whiskey...?" Fergus asked.
Elinor glanced up at her husband with that looks only wives could give after years of marraige.
"I know you swipped it form the last house, dear, now hand it over. I need to clean his wound."
Fergus gave a worried glance down at the boy.
"But, Elinor, dear," he muttered leaning towards his wife, "the whiskey?"
Elinor simply gave him the same look as before and held out her hand.
"Alrigh' alrigh."
A slightly disgruntled Fergus reached around to pull a full bottle of Irish Whiskey from the bag slung across his back and handed it over to his wife. She uncapped it and poured the spirits over the mangled mess of the boy's stump, eliciting a moan of discomfort from the stranger.
"Bloody dog," Merida muttered as the dog suddenly gave a very powerful lunge towards the boy and her fingers threatened to slip from its collar.
"These blisters are filled with puss," Elinor said, looking over the sickly skin. "We need to cut it out and cut off the dead skin," she said as she poured whiskey over her husband's knife to clean it. "Fergus, I need you to hold him down in case he wakes up."
Merida managed to wrestle the dog behind the couch, her parents and the boy on the other side and blocked from view by the couch back as she fell to her rear and brought the dog with her, wrapping her arms and legs around him in a bear hug to keep from getting away.
"Ready, Fergus," she heard her mother ask.
There was a moment of silence before the screaming began.