Playing With Death - Part 4: Reunited

Blood flew onto Cody's face, as his mother's head fell off her shoulders.

Cody screamed louder than he ever had before.

He fell to his knees and sobbed, mortified that his mother was gone... forever. There was nothing he could do, it seemed, except cry.

He gathered himself together. Now was not the time. He had to be strong and find the rest of his family. His mother had been trying to get into the bathroom closet, maybe someone was in there.

He grabbed the machete and made his way into the bathroom. He knocked on the closet door. "Anyone in there, it's Cody!" In reply he heard a muffled voice, and then the closet began to open. There stood his 13 year old brother David. "Oh thank God!" Cody exclaimed, running up to hug him.

Tears started running down David's face. "Cody, we thought you were dead, we didn't think you'd make it home-"

"Stop." Cody interrupted. "I'm home, that's what matters." At that moment, he felt a tiny body hugging him. His eight year old sister, Lucy. He felt a taller body hug him as well. It was Mark, his eleven year old brother. "Where are the rest?"

Nobody answered him.

Cody grabbed David's shoulders. "Where is everyone else!?"

David yanked himself away. "Dad's dead."

Cody took a sharp breath. "How?"

David looked away. Cody could tell it was going to be painful for him. "Mom... she... when she died, she came back somehow and... Dad was in the room..." he burst out in tears, and everyone joined him. It hurt worse than hell.

"Where... where's Jack and Rose?" Cody asked. Jack and Rose were the last ones to be accounted for, their ages six and five.

David shook his head. "They were playing outside. They were gone by the time Dad was dead, and I couldn't find them anywhere. I think they're dead."

The four of them sat there, holding each other.

Their lives had been changed forever.