Page 70 of Night of the Living Manny
“I know. I’m sorry, kiddo. I’m going to try to make it better soon.” His heart ached for her.
“Susanna says it’s going to be bad for a long time.”
“Does she? Well, we’ll see, huh?” God, he hoped the military could figure this out. Brenden had no illusions that life would go right back to normal. This would be a historic plague. But they would find a way.
Humans did that. They persevered.
The sound of shouting brought him up short, and he took Britt and Moose back inside, holding on tight.
“Don’t lie to me!” Peter was screaming.
Susanna waved her hands in the air. “Stop yelling at me!”
“You fucking bitch!”
Susanna balled up her fist and popped Peter right in the nose.
“Stop it right now!” Brenden put on his nanny voice, thundering right into the fray. “We don’t need this. Peter, do you need a towel?” Peter’s nose was bleeding, bright red and shocking.
“He’s going to need more than a towel if he calls me a bitch again.”
“Susanna. Peter, apologize to your sister.”
“She’s a liar! She thinks she’s all that because she’s sixteen!”
“Peter!” His voice snapped like a whip. “That’s enough. I need all of us to be calm and get along.”
God, thirteen was a bitch of an age without all this.
Peter snort-cried, blood gushing. Christ. Brenden got a towel from the kitchen. “Tilt your head back,” he said gently.
“She’s so mean….” Tears slipped from Peter’s eyes.
“No, she’s scared. Worried. Just like all of us, kiddo. I know you’re mad and freaked out, but we can’t fight, okay?” Susanna had disappeared to the kitchen, and Britt was all curled up with Moose on the couch, crying quietly. “We need to make supper soon, feed Moose.”
“I’ll be good.”
“I know you will.” He hugged Peter, then sat him down to stop bleeding before going to look for Susanna. She was slapping together peanut butter sandwiches.
“I wasn’t mean to him.”
“No, it’s just easier to call you a liar than it is me.”
“Here.” She handed him a plate. “Dinner. I’m going to my room.”
“Okay. I’m sorry.” He didn’t know what else to say, so he didn’t insult her with platitudes.
“Me too. Thanks for coming back.”
“I would never just leave, okay?” Her dad had, even though she knew he had no choice. It had to mess her up.
“Yeah. Cool.”
“Go get some rest. I’ll sit with Britt and Peter.” She’d been on pins and needles all day. He would head down to the lab when they were all asleep.
Peter was going to have two black eyes, and Britt was never going to stop crying.
He left the PB&Js in the kitchen for a moment. “Hey, Peter. Here’s a wet towel. Britt, blow your nose. You need to feed Moose.”
