Chapter 4

I looked down and there was a solid silver chain with a beautiful black stone hanging off it. In the center of the stone was a brilliant yellow star that caught the sunlight just perfectly, so it seemed to twinkle and dance. I looked back up at the woman in amazement, but she had vanished. My gaze swung around the street and over by the river that separated the school from the farmlands. Although, there was no sign as to where she had come from or where she went. The wall that had been keeping me upright suddenly disappeared and I fell on my butt with a hard thud. Looking behind me I realized there had never been a wall there and assumed that it had been my own mind that had prevented me from moving further back.

A glint from the silver chain caught my eye and I picked it up gingerly as if it were a hot rock about to burn me. After all, it was rather warm as if it were heated from the inside out. I turned the stone this way and that, staring at the beauty of it in awe. The yellow star seemed to glow brighter and brighter until I was forced to look away from it. Suddenly the warmth of the rock transferred itself into my hand. I tried to drop it, but it seemed to stick to my hand despite how I flung it around. The heat continued to travel up my arm and then wormed its way deep into my chest where it sat like a lump until it was gone.

Hesitantly I peeked at the now cooling rock and I noticed the star in the center of it seemed as if it was moving. I was mesmerized for a moment at the dance it gave and at the fact that I didn't feel even a pinch of fear when I held it.

A whimper off to my right caught my attention than drawing my gaze back to the playground area. Underneath the slide sat a little girl. She was rocking back and forth with her head hiding in her arms that she had wrapped tightly around herself. She seemed to be trying to make herself as tiny and inconspicuous as she could. Her entire body was shaking like a leaf, and I could hear her crying, but it was quiet and the only thing that came out was little whimpers. Her little blond hair was put up in what would have been the perfect ponytail if it weren't crooked now and caked in mud. She still had her backpack and jacket on leaving me to wonder how long she had been there and why no one had come to find her.

The racket on the far end of the playground seemed to be getting even louder as they shoved harder and harder at the fence. I hastily threw the necklace around my neck and hunkered down as best I could, hoping to keep out of their line of sight as I slowly made my way to the little girl. When I got close enough, I reached my hand out and touched her shoulder gently. The little girl curled even tighter into herself, and her whimpering got louder.

"Shhh, sweetheart. It's okay," I whispered to her.

Her head jerked up and her bloodshot, teary eyes slammed into mine. Then she jumped into my arms and buried her head against my shoulder, wrapping her arms as tightly around me as she had herself. As if she suddenly thought she was perfectly safe, the crying got worse instead of better.

"Shhh, sweetie. We've got to be quiet," I murmured to her as I looked around to see if those things had come any closer.

I could hear them continuing to bang on the fence with great force. Even though we were out of sight they were still acting as if they could see us perfectly and it was this very thought that had me concerned.

"I want my Mommy," she whimpered against my coat.

"Where is she, honey?" I asked.

Instead of saying anything, she pointed down by the river. A giant lump of dread began to lodge itself in my chest as I began to wonder what I would find when I went down there.

I worked my way out from under the slide then ran as quickly and quietly as I could to the building, this time pressing my back up to a real wall. My mind raced with 'what ifs' and scenarios about what was happening. It kept coming back to zombies and would not budge from that. Great, I told my head. So, if it's zombies now what? The only thing I could think of was to find this little girl's Mommy and find a way to get the hell out of there.

I took a deep breath and squatted down so I could set the little girl on her feet.

"Okay, sweetie, what's your name?" I asked her gently.

"Melissa," she said wiping the tears out of her giant blue eyes.

"Melissa, huh? Well, that's a beautiful name. My name is Vicki. Can you say that?" I asked.

"Vicki," she repeated dutifully although it came out more like 'wicky'.

"Good job. Now I want you to repeat after me. Piccolo Pete."

She struggled for a moment on the alliteration but finally said something close to it.

"Close enough. All right, I need you to run out to the big blue truck parked at the front of the school. Pound on the door shouting that as loud as you can. My son Marcus is in it, and he will let you in. It's our secret password," I explained to her.

She looked around wearily and obviously afraid to leave my side. I wondered once again what was going on to make this little girl so frightened to let go of a complete stranger's hand. I tried to encourage her once again hoping if I added a little incentive, she would give in.