Page 35 of Night of the Living Manny
Britt grabbed his arm, staying close. “Maybe we should go back in?”
“I think so. Come on, hon.” They went right back inside, Brenden locking the door. “You come on and stay in the living room. I’m going to look at the garage door.” Moose had to go potty, but he could do it out front.
“Okay. Should I call 911?”
“Nope. I’ll call animal control, okay? Why don’t you turn on the TV so we can watchDescendants?”
“Oh, okay! I love that one.” She brightened, just the smallest thing needed to make her smile.
“I do too!” He watched her patter over to the couch before taking Moose out front. “Fast, buddy. That stench!”
The garage door was dented, an awful-looking bloody smear on the scratches. Crazy. He would call the door guys tomorrow. Today was that smell in the back. He let Moose do his business before heading back inside to call the city.
The phone rang and rang, then went to voicemail. Weird.
He shook his head but dialed again so he could leave a message. “Hey, this is the Whitehouse family at—” A crash upstairs made him toss the phone down and run. “Susanna? Peter?”
“My mirror fell! Help!” Susanna was holding the glass, barely keeping it up. “It’s heavy!”
“Got it.” He helped lift it off her, then set it on the floor. “Wow. What happened?”
“I was trying to stick pictures around the edges like you see on TV.” She sighed. “Sometimes I’m such a klutz.”
“Oh. Well, maybe we need to hang it a little better if it’s going to get that much use, huh?” His heart was just racing. What a weird day.
“Yeah. A lot better. Thank you.”
“No problem. Would you mind coming down with Peter? We could have a snack. I just—” He felt the need to get all the kids in the same place and keep an eye on them.
“Sure. Why not?”
The front door opened, and he headed back downstairs, trying not to run. “Britt? Brittany?” If she was trying to go out, or if someone was coming in, he might just explode. After he fixed it.
“Daddy’s home!”
Oh. Oh damn. Better. Liam had been at work all night, and Brenden had texted him about school but hadn’t heard back.
Susanna had stopped to get Peter, so they all convened in the living room. Brenden stopped short at the expression on Liam’s face, though. Pale, set, and hard.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Kids, I need you to give me a second. Please.”
“Is Brenden in trouble?” Susanna asked, sounding worried instead of pleased.
That was what he wanted to know. Liam looked like someone had died or something.
Brenden smiled at them all. “I’m not. Why don’t you guys go to the kitchen and get that snack started?”
“Good idea.” Liam took him by the arm. “We need to get the kids packed and get the hell out of here. Now. Clothes, food. I stopped and got some supplies on the way home—gas, propane, batteries for the radio.”
“Wait, what?” They’d pushed back toward Liam’s office, but Brenden forced himself to lower his voice. “What’s going on? There’s some kind of dead animal in the backyard, and the garage—”
“Listen to me. We have to get out of here. We don’t have any time. Please, trust me. We have to get the kids and Moose and go.” The look in Liam’s eyes was pure terror.
“Okay. I’ll take Britt and Peter, and you handle Susanna.” He wasn’t going to argue. Not when Liam was pale as milk and shaking. They could talk later. He had to trust that Liam knew something he didn’t. “Hey, guys? Can you come upstairs with me?” His mind was racing. He’d get the younger two packing a bag and grabbing pillows, then go pack some food. God knew they had cans and boxes of shelf-stable stuff.
“Susanna, come here, baby.” Liam started talking hard as Brenden took the other two upstairs.
