Silent Horizons

Chapter 7

After a while, the girls woke up and the adults assumed their new roles.

Falling into a task once familiar in his previous life, John prepared the children some food and sat the newly formed family unit at the table together. Unsure what they'd like to eat he made some beans from a can. Thankfully as children raised in the apocalypse, he heard no complaints.

Surprisingly, both girls seemed quite unbothered by the recent changes, particularly Beth. Looking just shy of a year old, she was a sweet baby who didn't seem to care about much. In fact, she was very calm and didn't seem to take much notice of what was going on around her. She contentedly allowed her sister to feed her and didn't seem particularly bothered by any of her surroundings. Considering what she'd probably experienced in her short life, John told himself it was safe to assume she'd be unflappable.

Observing the sister's dynamic, he could tell that Sarah took her role as the older sister quite seriously. In the short time they'd been together, he could tell the little girl was a force of nature that would do anything for her younger sibling. Always watching the infant, she made sure the baby's needs were always met before Beth even realized she required something. Guiding the food into the babbling baby's mouth, Sarah smiled, the picture of a caring sister.

"How long have you girls been in this apartment?" Halle asked, interrupting the moment of companiable silence they had been enjoying.

Sarah lowered the spoon she was using to feed her sister.

"We've been here for a couple months, I think. Before that we lived on the farm."

"A farm?" John asked, leaning forward in interest.

"It was my grandpas. When They came, I was still a baby, and my parents went to stay with grandpa." She smiled, no doubt remembering a better time. "It was a really cool place. We had this big house with our own rooms and tons of toys to play with. Plus, Grandpa had an apple orchard, so we were never hungry. We stayed there for ages and that's where Bethy was born. It was good until those creepy Others came and ruined it."

Sarah shifted uncomfortably in her chair and resumed feeding her sister. John could tell the topic was not one she liked discussing, her discomfort and fearful eyes shifting in recollection.

Looking across the table to Halle, he could see her observing the girl's reaction with a concerned frown. Gently, John asked her who the Others were.

With eyes shuttering in fear, Sarah launched into the shocking story.

"They're the worst! Like seriously, so scary. Like wearing weird clothes of fur and stuff. And their faces are all painted with blood. And they have like a bazillion weapons." She shivered, wide eyes darting between the adults facing her. "I think they eat people."

John felt his stomach drop to the floor as he remembered the group they had observed before entering the city.

Brushing her hair out of her eyes, Sarah took a deep breath. "Grandpa saw them one day. They were hiding in the trees spying on us. My Mom and Dad said they wanted to take it from us because we were so safe, and we had lots and lots of food. I was so scared. They were so creepy, just watching us and they weren't even pretending they weren't. It was like they were waiting for the night before they came and killed us all. Even those creepy Aliens never scared me as much as them.

Mommy, Daddy, and Grandpa decided that we should try to protect the house. They said it was too special to lose. They told me and my sister to hide under the bed upstairs and not to come out, no matter what scary sounds we heard. I was really scared, but I tried to be brave and read a book to Beth to distract us."