(I need to go to bed, so not writing any more of this right now, but this just came to me, figured I’d post it)

Sharon came to, blood on her teeth, on her hands, on her son, at her feet.

“Sharon-?”

Richard stood nearby in the doorway to their son’s room. The same dried burgundy stain ran down his chin, over his torn shirt, across his chewed-up skin, ending at his heart. He walked over to Sharon and, wrapping an arm around her, sat down beside their dead child.

“Rich? What-? Oh god, Roger. Roger. What happened to Roger?”

“Stop. Stop. Sherry, stop. Close your eyes and listen to me. Don’t look at Roger. I need you to close your eyes. Can you do that?”

“Okay.”

“Something terrible has happened. What do you remember last?”

“I… I just got home. I just walked in the door. Just now. I guess I went upstairs to see you, and I-”

“Blacked out?”

“I guess. I don’t know! What happened? What happened to Roger?!”

“Roger is dead.”

Sharon began to weep. “Oh god… I knew it, as soon as I came to, I knew it… oh god…”

Roger embraced her tightly, cupping his hands over her eyes as she disintegrated into a sobbing mass. Richard softly stroked her hair for minutes that seemed like hours. Sharon turned to look at Roger, but Richard kept his hand over her eyes.

“Rich, what are you doing? Let me go! I need to see our boy!”

“Stop, Sherry. I need you to keep your eyes closed.”

“What? Stop it! I just want to see him one last time!”

“No, Sherry, I need you to rest your eyes. Because you have to see for the both of us now.”

“What…?”

Sharon stopped struggling, and Richard slowly let his hand down. Two dry, shiftless eyes met Sharon’s gaze with a lifeless stare. She waved her hand slowly in front of his face, but they did not move.

“Are you blind?”

“I got bitten awhile before you, and because of that, I came to sooner. I saw Roger, and I saw you, and I just cried, and cried, until I had no more tears left. None. There wasn’t any water left. My body just wasn’t making any more. I started having a hard time moving my eyes, until they finally just stopped, and my sight faded out.”

“…bitten?”

“…like I said, something terrible has happened.”