A New World: Untold Stories by John O'Brien Page A

looking again toward the front window.
    “That had better not be the Mayer kids partying,” he said, referring to one of the families living just a few houses down. “Their parents are ill and at the hospital.”
    “I doubt they’d be doing that. They seem like pretty good kids to me,” Bill responded, forgoing his earlier decision to not disagree. Dave only grunted and eased back into his chair, taking another drink from his beer.
    “Mooooom. Stop! Moooom,” a cry erupted from the night, edging on panic.
    Both men sat straight up.
    “Dammit!” Dave said sharply, rising from his chair and stepping toward the window. “This isn’t right, Bill, I’m tellin’ ya. The world just isn’t fucking right. We made a wrong turn somewhere and this flu thing is another piece of evidence saying just that.”
    A scream of agony overrode the yells of “stop” causing Dave to hesitate a moment on his way to the curtains. Shaking his head, still holding his half-empty can in one hand, Dave continued. Throwing one side of the drapes aside, he stepped to the window, cupping one hand against the glass before the curtains fell back into place, hiding him from view.
    Sitting up in his chair, worried over what the scream might mean, Bill waited for word from Dave. The terror inherent in the piercing shrieks made Bill believe that some kid had been found doing something elicit and the mom was about to descend with the hounds of hell behind her. Discipline was one thing, but causing such fear as he heard in that shout, along with the scream of pure agony, well, that was just going too far. He was reaching for his phone when he heard Dave.
    “Whoa! What the fuck?” Dave said from behind the curtains.
    “What?”
    “There’s a bunch of people running down the street,” Dave answered.
    “How many are there? And why are they running?” Bill asked, curious and   still holding onto his phone.
    “I don’t know. It’s hard to tell but I can see some of them running this way under the street light at the corner. It beats all that I’ve ever heard.”
    Bill pushed down the leg rest, thinking about joining Dave, wondering what was happening outside. The shrieking sounds, having become more numerous, also gained in intensity. The first twinges of fear crept into Bill, agreeing with Dave’s exclamation that “this isn’t right.”
    “Whoa! What in the serious fuck?” Dave exclaimed, beginning to back out of the curtains.
    The sound of breaking glass shattered the last remnants of their peaceful evening. Bill watched as Dave stumbled backward. Reaching out in an attempt to keep his balance, he only managed to pull the drapes down. Stunned, Bill saw someone grab hold of his brother. Stumbling over the falling drapes, Dave went down with his attacker, who apparently charged through the plate glass window, falling on top of him. Dave’s beer was thrown from his hand, arcing through the air and spraying its remains across the room.
    Bill remained standing, startled and watching on with disbelief. His beer slipped from his hand, forgotten. The can hit the floor sending a spray of liquid and foam into the air. Falling over, fluid flowed from the opening, gurgling onto the carpet.
    With the living room opened to the outside, the shrieks were much louder. Dave screamed, adding his own cries to the mix as he fought the person on top clawing at him. Still in shock, but seeing Dave in desperate straits, Bill ran around the chairs and launched himself at the person attacking his brother.
    Slamming into the side of the intruder, Bill grabbed hold of him and rolled over, pulling the crazed man from Dave. The attacker continued shrieking at an ear-piercing volume, all the while trying to free himself. It was all that Bill could do to hang on.
    Throwing bales of hay around and working on his little plot of land kept Bill in good shape. He shouldn’t have had any problem subduing the screaming man on top of him. However, the smaller man gave him