This time though, I was ready.

Time seemed to slow down as I swung with all of my might towards the woman's head. With inhumane reflexes she managed to pull her head away enough that it just grazed her. She balled her hands into fists and then wildly, without any regard for her own safety, she began to swing at me. I tried to defend myself, but three of her swings managed to connect directly onto my cheek, stomach and shoulder. Pain reeled through my body and for a moment I was stunned, not only because of the pain, but because of the shock of such a weak looking person throwing such a strong punch.

However, I ignored the pain. I ignored the complete absurdity of the situation. I had to pull through, I had to survive. For Aaron.

The woman ran at me again, swinging her fists even more wildly. I was ready this time though and managed to block her flurry of punches with the crowbar. I heard bones in her fingers crack and snap as they bashed against the hard metal. For a moment, pain seemed to seize her body and she faltered. I used that one slip in her attack to bring the crowbar as far above my head as I could reach... then I slammed it down with every bit of my remaining strength. It connected directly with her face, sending her hurtling to the ground along with the crowbar, which slipped from my hands.

She had died the instant she was hit.

I dropped to the floor and gasped for breath. As my chest heaved, I stared in shock at what I had just done. The crowbar was impaled directly into her forehead, blood seeping from the hole I had made. I felt disgust at myself, but only for a moment. More than anything, I felt relieved that I had defended Aaron. If I hadn't done anything, if I had refused to fight, I would have been lying there dead instead of her and soon Aaron would have been dead as well. There was no need to feel any remorse and yet, I couldn't help but still have a tinge of regret.

The couple had looked so happy in those photos, what could have driven them to behave like wild animals? Was it the madness that lurked in the storm, or was there some other cause? At the time, there were no answers to my questions.

I came back to reality and realized that the sounds of Jared's struggle had come to an end as well. I turned towards him to find him standing above the body of the old man, gasping for breath, his body splattered with blood. At that moment I realized that I was covered in blood too and I tried to wipe some of it off of my clothes but only succeeded in staining them even more. I curled my nose in disgust, but then my thoughts turned towards Aaron.

"Aaron, you can come down now! It's safe!" I screamed out.

It took a few moments before he came down the ladder, and he ran into my arms. "Dad, I was so worried, I thought that you wouldn't make it! I thought that we wouldn't make it!"

"Me too Aaron, but we're safe now. We'll probably be safe for a while..."

"Those people," I heard Jared start, "What the hell was wrong with them? I've seen quite a few crazies in my life, but none that ever acted like that..." he shook his head, "not ever..."

I slowly stepped towards him and instinctively put my hand on his shoulder. I tried to articulate my thoughts, tried to give a reason for their insanity, "They probably lived in a better time. I'm sure watching your world slowly decay around you as you grow older would have been hard enough on them, but then this storm came along. I think anybody could have been driven mad by something like that."

He nodded, but then shook his head again, "No. This is different. They seemed beyond insane! They tried to kill us above all else, even at the cost of their own lives and for no discernible reason!" he looked at me with conviction, "There has to be something else at work here. Something else..."

Jared's words ignited the paranoia in me again, "Let's not worry about it too much... We won't get any answers, so let's not think too hard about it..." Everything that's happened in the past days was too much for us to take in; we had no choice but to bury it all away, lock it where couldn't see it. Otherwise, we could risk being consumed by paranoia.

He nodded, "You're right. Let's go back, bring the supplies with us, clean ourselves up and get some rest."

Wait. "But what about the bodies?" I asked.

"This basement can be their tomb. It'll be too hard to dig holes in the storm and I doubt we'll be returning here anyway." Jared replied.

We moved the bodies into the wine cellar and rested them down next to each other. Jared found a box of ammunition in the room, which he took with him along with the gun. All three of us went back up the ladder, grabbed the supplies we had gathered and walked towards the house.

I prayed. I prayed for the souls, if there was such a thing, of the couple to find rest. I prayed that I wouldn't be driven mad by the storm too.

I was restless that night. No matter how hard I tried to sleep, I just couldn't. My thoughts wouldn't leave the old couple and the young girl in the photo. Had she been separated from her parents when the storm hit? Was she with someone right now, trying to come back here? Or did those things get her? Or was she in Arborline when the bomb had hit? Would she come back to find strangers in her home and her parents missing?

As per usual, the only response to my questions was the howl of the wind and the pattering rain.

I took one last look at Aaron and then shut my eyes. It had to have been at least two hours before I finally managed to fall asleep.