STAGE 1

7

Nathan

Indiana, it was so caught in between urban and rural and I loved it. I grew up in Florida, it was just urban and swamp. That's basically it, but Indiana was just so beautiful. I could imagine myself living here, having a nice job, a family, a life.

"Their house is just over here," Chelsea said pointing to a street labeled, Heavenly. It was dumb to check their house, everything seemed abandoned. Trash blew through the empty streets, weeds grew tall and proud, houses looked dark and dusty.

May's face lit up when she saw the nice, big, blue house. The typical white picket fence was stained brown, a portion was broken like someone had crashed through it. The mailbox was ajar, letters sticking out of it. The furniture on the front porch was knocked over and the front, big window was cracked. To be honest, I was scared, scared for what the Walton family might find. They were my makeshift family, they deserved the world. May and Bucky deserved to see their grandparents and Chelsea deserved her parents.

The car slid to a halt, there was a long pause and a couple of shaky breaths before anyone moved. May vibrated excitedly in her seat, Kacey slowly came up from the back of the car. I could hear her music playing; soft, sad songs. I wondered why she torchered herself like that.

"Aren't we gonna go in, Dad?" May asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, honey. Why don't you, your brother and Mom stay here. Nathan, Caleb, Kacey and I are going to check to see if Grandma and Grandpa are here first," Maverick said in a low, sickly sweet voice. May knew it wasn't natural and gave me a weird look.

"Alright Dad," Bucky replied, grabbing his sister's hand in reassurance.

Everything was in fast motion once again. We stepped out of the car and my muscles were stiff. I shook out my legs and checked my gun, we were close to a city. More Slows to deal with. Kacey checked her handgun and Maverick looked uneasily at the house.

"Alright guys, let's go," Maverick said after a few moments of uneasy silence. We all moved towards the house in a single file line, Maverick, Caleb, Me and then Kacey at the rear. Maverick pushed open the front door, it squeaked loudly as the ajar door slid across the floor. Maverick gasped loudly, the house had been ransacked twice over. Furniture laid in pieces on the floor.

"I think they got out," Maverick said, his voice trembled.

"I hope so," Caleb replied. Kacey tapped my shoulder, I turned to the short girl. She pointed up, meaning that she wanted to go upstairs.

"I'm going to check upstairs with Kacey," I said and Maverick nodded only half paying attention. Kacey and I split from the line and slowly made our way up the creaky stairs. Something stunk, like death. Kacey wrinkled her nose, tears forming in her eyes from the stench.

"Please, god no. Don't let it be them," I thought, they didn't deserve this.

Kacey shared my despair but instantly went for the master bedroom, she slid open the door and grimaced.

"It-It's them," She said, I went cold. I was about to argue, but then I saw them over her shoulder. They were wrapped around each other, as if they were hugging.

"Someone must've robbed them and killed them," I said angrily.

"The kids..." Kacey trailed off.

"They-they don't have to know," Maverick's voice said behind us.

"They should," I said slowly turning to them.

"What if we say they got out, but it's going to be really hard to find them?" He said quickly, his words jumbled together. He looked over us, at the bodies, and sighed heavily. He pushed past us and into their room, Maverick went through her jewelry box.