Other than dropping your work phone?" she asked, rubbing the back of his neck. He closed the closet door, running his hands through his short cut hair as he let out a long breathe before turning around to face her.
"What didn't go wrong?" he sighed loudly and got a good whiff of what was cooking for dinner. "Dinner smells good. Chicken?" Alice nodded. "Awesome. Anything else?"
"Green beans."
"Can't wait. Not ready yet?"
"Several more minutes. You were going to tell me how your day went?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Alright," her husband said with an exaggerated groan. "If you want to know that badly." He leaned against the closet door, gathering his thoughts before continuing. "By the time I pulled on site, I got a call from the GC asking me why the cables for the boilers haven't been pulled yet. I go to the boiler plant to see what he's talking about to find that our sub, after telling us that they pulled the friggin' cables yesterday, did not." Scratching at his beard he continued. "So I called the sub. No answer. Left a message and pulled the cables through conduit already full of wire."
"Sorry Love."
"Ah, it's alright. After doing their job for them, I'm going to make sure that we back charge them for the shitty work they did." Seeing that he was still flustered about his day, she asked him to continue.
"So after that fiasco, I had to deal with the electricians shorting power to half our VAVs, causing several of them to burn up. So that's how my work phone got busted, fixing that screw up." Walking back into the kitchen he soaped his hands in the sink, and scrubbed them clean; the dust and sweat from the job site turning the water nearly black as it washed down the drain. "And after dealing with phone calls from the new guy we hired last month, and having to walk him through everything at the site he was on, I finally called it a day, and now here I am," he said, spreading his wet arms wide, splashing her with water. "Home with my beautiful wife and kids." Smiling, she threw the hand towel at him, wiping the water drops from her face. "The latter of whom would rather watch TV than say hello to their dad." he said loudly, receiving three quick distracted hellos. "Really feel the love guys." A smile was on his face as he turned back towards Alice. "How was your day?" She stretched slowly before gesturing towards the living room.
"Well it was quiet while they were in school. And mostly quiet when they came home, and now you're here."
"And ruined your quiet day."
"Night."
"Whatever."
Alice chuckled as she peeked in the oven, seeing that the chicken breasts had a nice golden tan to them. "Almost done." she said as she closed the oven, turning back to Dennis. "At least it's Friday, and you don't have to worry about that job until Monday."
Her husband cringed and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. About that." Alice's expression changed to a neutral near-disapproving look from the pleasant smirk she had a moment ago.
"You're not serious?"
"Afraid so. Have to be back there tomorrow morning to get those boilers done." She sighed as she grabbed the pair of oven mitts sitting beside the oven as she opened it to take the chicken out. "So we're just going to cancel the family trip to the White Mountains then? You know the kids were looking forward to going."
Before Dennis could reply, Charlie called out from the living room. Leaving the chicken on the stove they walked in to see what the commotion was about. Charlie turned up the television as they came in. A bulletin from the local news channel was scrolling across the bottom of the screen, describing a breaking story that was happening in Quebec. The show that their kids were watching was replaced by a news anchor shuffling papers before looking at the camera.
"We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this special report. Two hours ago, the Governor-General of Canada declared martial law on the town of Coaticook after reports of widespread violence and disorder seemed to have taken hold of the entire population... Now we don't know the reason for what caused this violence to take place. The Prime Minister's office has not clarified the reason for it yet. But what is confirmed is that military forces have effectively sealed off Coaticook from anyone trying to leave or enter the town."
Alice was shocked after hearing the report. Not able to look away from the television, she asked to no one in particular, "This is some sort of prank right? Some new movie for Halloween?" Before anyone could reply the news anchor continued.
"We're going to take you to Shannon, who is at the scene now. Shannon." The news station was replaced by a young blonde woman, bundled up against the cold, as she stood behind several military humvees. The dull orange glow of fire could be seen past the vehicles as it lit up the night sky. Shouts and weapons fire could be heard in the distance. "What is the situation over there? Has anyone guessed as to the cause for this violent outbreak to start?"
"Well as you can see Harry, it is like a warzone over here. The Canadian Armed Forces arrived to what, could only be described as utter chaos. The populace of the town has seemed to have gone completely mad. There have been reports of military personnel being attacked on site. As for the cause of this violent outbreak, no one here is certain. We..." The reporter was interrupted as an explosion sounded, causing her to duck. A fireball rising into the sky past the humvees could be seen.
"Shannon, are you all right?" asked Harry as Shannon straightened up, glancing behind her as a soldier came running up.
"Get out of here! Now!" He shouted.
"Can you tell us what's going on? Wha..." An ear piercing warbling shriek erupted, causing Shannon to drop her microphone as she covered her ears. The camera pointed down towards the street as the sound of gun fire erupted. Shannon screamed out in terror before the feed was cut, bringing the news room back. Harry stared blankly at the camera having seen what had happened. His mouth hung open a little bit before he caught himself, shuffling his papers before an awkward look came to his face.
"We are having technical issues it seems. Please stay tuned and we will update you on this breaking story." With that the television was switched back to the original show Alice's children were watching.
"What the fuck was that?" asked Charlie, gesturing to the TV.
"Language." scolded Alice without thinking as she glanced at Dennis, seeing the same shock and disbelief on his face that she was feeling.
"Alright guys," said Dennis, clapping his hands loudly to get everyone's attention. "Time for dinner. You know the drill, come on. Scoot, scoot." As he got the kids up and ushered them into the dining room, he shared a glance with Alice as she walked into the kitchen.
"What is going on? That looked pretty serious." said Charlie as he took his seat at the table.
"What? You didn't hear?" said Dennis as he pushed Paulie's chair closer to the table. Charlie and Julia glanced at each other before looking at him.
"Hear what?" asked Charlie.
"That's the teaser trailer for the new horror movie coming out."
"I didn't see a release date."
"Course you wouldn't. They want people to think it's real. Like that witch movie you like so much. What's it called..." Dennis thought for a moment.
"The Salem Witch?" offered Paulie as he looked up at his dad.
"That's the one." said Dennis with a smile as he ruffled Paulie's hair. "How is it that you know that movie, little man?"
Paulie lost his smile as he realized he made a mistake. Turning around he shrugged as he toyed with his silverware.
"Really? They're coming out with another one of those kind of movies? Where did you hear this anyway?" asked Charlie with an eyebrow raised, having a hard time believing his father.
"Heard it from Luke. The movie buff at the office this morning."
Charlie was silent as he thought about it. Before he could question his father again, Alice called out from the kitchen, asking for Dennis's assistance.
As she took the chicken out of the oven, her husband came up behind her with a quiet sigh, scratching at the back of his neck, a habit of his that was
a clear indication that he was nervous about something.
"How far is Coaticook from here again?" Alice whispered as she cut the chicken breasts open to make sure they were cooked through.
"About forty five minutes to an hour drive from here."
Alice was silent for a moment, as fear started her thoughts racing through her mind. "We should leave, Love. We can pack up our things and go see my parents for the weekend, wait and see what happens. I don't want to take any chances if it's some biological attack or..." Dennis put a finger to her lips, stopping her mid-sentence as he wrapped her in his arms, holding her. She heard him take in a breath as he was about to speak when a loud crash came from outside. Alice gasped, gripping her husband tightly as he swore, looking out the kitchen window. Seeing the barn doors slightly ajar, he swore again as he stormed out of the kitchen down the hall towards the stairs that led up to their bedroom.
"Dennis? What's going on?" she asked worriedly as fear made her stomach do flip flops. She glanced out the window to see the barn doors had been jimmied open.
"Those goddamn raccoons got into the barn again." replied Dennis angrily as he went up the stairs, taking two at a time.
"What's going on Mom? What was that noise just now?" asked Charlie, standing in the doorway to the dining room. Alice turned around, masking the worry on her face with a small smile as she waved his concern away.
"Nothing to worry about, Hun. The raccoons just broke into the barn again." As she spoke they could hear Dennis coming swiftly down the stairs. Alice and Charlie glanced down the hallway as they watched him walk towards the front door. She could tell her husband was seething from the way his shoulders were squared, a grim expression on his face as he mumbled to himself.
"You need help, Dad?" asked Charlie, as Dennis bent down to pull his boots on before straightening up.
"No bud, won't need any help with what I'm going to do." Opening the door he took out his 9mm pistol, taking the safety off before slapping a magazine in. He walked outside as he loaded a round into the chamber as the screen door closed with a bang. Alice turned to Charlie and pointed towards the dining room as she said, "Go get your brother and sister and help them get packed up." Charlie blinked at her, confused.
"What? What's going on?"
"Don't question me. Just do as I say." she said sternly, as fears from what she saw on the news continued to gnaw at her. "Now Charlie." Her son snapped out of it, going into the dining room to usher his siblings upstairs to get packed as she turned back towards the window, seeing her husband enter the barn. Alice grew nervous as the fear that came from the news report continued to gnaw at her, making her chest tighten as her heartbeat increased. The eerie feeling of something watching her made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end before the feeling vanished as the lights in the barn turned on. Fidgeting she glanced at the drawer where she kept her gun before looking out the window once more, her hands clenching and unclenching before finally giving in. Pulling the drawer opened she unsnapped the small .38 special revolver that she kept secured to the inside of the counter. Quickly taking it out of its holster, Alice took the key for the trigger lock from her pants pocket before letting out a yelp of surprise as a gun shot rang out through the night. Looking out the window towards the barn she was waiting for her husband to come walking out before several more shots rang out in quick succession. Panicking Alice fumbled with the trigger lock, finally unlatching it as she ran towards the door. She heard a scream of terror so primal that she was frozen where she stood, the gnawing fear in the back of her mind fully spreading throughout her body. Dennis! She thought franticly, barely noticing the cries of fear and confusion coming from her children upstairs as she opened