Free Burning Eden by Kelly Fisher Page B

yelled at again for some reason. Once Carrie started talking I could see all the tension relax in their faces as they accepted her apology with smiles and nods. Maddie even hugged her which didn’t surprise me. Maddie was always more of a lover than a fighter. Unfortunately with the turn of recent events she had to learn to become a fighter. I suppose we all had to.
    Although we were lucky, it seemed most of the biters (what the kids had nicknamed them) didn’t find their way onto the farm. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the huge lake close to the farm or if it was because the farm was so far away from everything. The nearest neighbor was miles away. Uncle Dave had said when things first went down he had checked on a few of them and they had either left or had been killed. He didn’t say any more than that but by the look on his face I was sure he had had to kill some of his neighbors.
    I wondered if there were others out there somewhere like us. There had to be I hoped. Our little makeshift family couldn’t be the only ones left. What about the police, the army, the government? Someone had to be left; someone had to be trying to fix something somewhere, didn’t they? A few weeks back we heard helicopters flying nearby I guess that was a good sign, right?
    I shook my head trying to clear away these thoughts and focus back on Carrie and the kids. Me having a panic attack and worrying about things in which I may never get an answer wasn’t going to help anyone. As my focus came back I saw that Carrie had put Jonni down and was chatting it up with the kids, which was good. I didn’t want anyone to feel like they weren’t wanted or welcome here. It just wasn’t in my nature to behave that way.
    I watched Jonni chasing a butterfly and wished Jesse had been there to see his son’s beautiful innocent smile as he ran around the yard trying to capture the butterfly. My smile quickly fell from my face and my heart felt like someone was trying to rip it out of my chest when I saw the butterfly fly over the fence and on the other side was a biter waiting in the bushes hoping that little Jonni would get close enough to grab.
    I stood up immediately and the tea that had been sitting on my lap crashed onto the porch causing Carrie and the kids to look my way. I pointed towards where Jonni was headed and screamed one word: “Biter!”
    I tried to make my feet move faster but it felt like my legs were stuck in quicksand. It felt like every step I took was taking minutes instead of seconds. I was kidding myself anyway I was too far away to get to Jonni in time. My mind kept playing over and over the scene of him getting bitten and the pain I would later see when Jesse found out his son had been turned into a biter in front of all of us. He would never forgive any of us and honestly who could blame him?
    As I put one concrete foot in front of the other I saw my screams had brought Cain, Uncle Dave, and Jesse out of the fields. I guess he would get to witness his young son’s demise after all. I tried to pick up my pace hoping maybe I could stop it from happening. Luckily my calling out had stopped Jonni in his tracks out of fear but he was still awfully close to the fence. The kids couldn’t take a shot at the biter for fear of accidentally hitting Jonni.
    Our only hope was that the kids or Carrie would get to Jonni in time. I saw Kairo in the lead and knew he would save Jonni. He loved him like his own little brother; there was no way he would let him get hurt. My heart began to slow down when I saw that Kai was really close to Jonni but it seemed that everyone running towards Jonni spooked the little boy out because as we all got closer he began to slowly step backwards away from us and closer to the fence that the biter was at. I suppose everyone running toward you screaming their heads off with guns drawn did not make a child feel safe.
    God damn butterfly I thought. How perfect for something so beautiful and innocent to