Page 52 of Night of the Living Manny
“I am. I’m brave too.”
“You all are. I’m so proud of you.” He checked everywhere he could see out the door, as did Susanna. Then they took Moose out. There was something about this place, something that felt defensible, something theirs.
The yard was quiet, and Moose sniffed around in his normal way before doing all his business. “Okay, in,” he murmured.
“Is Daddy okay, Brenden?”
“He feels really bad, honey. And I know he’s worried about all of us. He’s your dad, you know?” She was old enough to know that grown-ups got scared too.
“I know. I am too. Worried, not okay.”
“I bet. Maybe we can all sit and talk about it.” Was that a long shot? Brenden had no idea. He just knew they had to do something after that fiasco in town.
“No one thinks I’m smart enough to talk about it. I’m just the baby.”
“I think you’re brilliant.” Okay, definitely time for a family meeting.
“Yeah? For reals?”
“For reals. I mean, look how fast you learned to take care of Moose.” Reassurance he could do, and she really was good with the big guy.
“I like dogs. A lot.”
“I can see that. We’ll have to talk to your dad later about getting you one.”
“Uh-huh. ’Til then, I’ll help with Moosey.”
“You will!”
Susanna chuckled. “Can we get back in all the way now?”
“Oops. Sure, come on.”
“Yeah. It’s a little creepy. I want to sort candy.”
“Well, you have a job, then!” He hustled them all back inside and got all the bags of candy to Britt.
Brenden went out to the garage to see if he could help. Liam had cleaned the car, barring a bit of blood he was scraping off the grill.
“Is that dangerous?” he asked.
“I need to study it.”
“That’s not an answer, Liam. If it’s dangerous, I don’t want it in the house.”
“It will be in the basement,” Liam answered carefully. “If I don’t get this antidote done, we could all die.”
“And what if Moose licks it? What if you fall holding it? What if it gets out?” He knew he wasn’t being reasonable, but this whole thing wasn’t reasonable.
“I’m following the best protocol we have, Brenden. I can’t—I need you to believe me. I’ll take it straight to the locking fridge in the basement.”
“Just do it. I… I hate this. I fucking hate this. You should have warned me.”
“I should have.” Liam double-sealed his sample. “I’m sorry about that, but the timeline would never have changed without Greg doing me dirty. That doesn’t excuse it, but I thought I would have more time. I thought I would have the antidote prepared and the fucking project done.”
Brenden sighed. “I know. And I know I was a new face. I just— How do we do this?”
“I have no idea. I’m winging it.”
