Stay Home (Ep. 2)

Zack is home alone—and something is terribly wrong in Maplewood. Strange sounds echo through the neighborhood, emergency alerts crackle over the radio, and the streets outside don’t look the same anymore. As Zack pieces together what’s really happening, he realizes the danger isn’t just on the news… it might be right outside his door. With Scottie at his side, Zack must decide whether to hide—or prepare. 

Parent Note:
Stay Home Z is a suspenseful adventure story for tweens. While it features zombies and moments of tension, there is no graphic violence or gore. The story focuses on problem-solving, bravery, and friendship. 

Episode 2 Credits:

CAST

Narrator - Jeremy Lipps

MUSIC - from freemusicarchive.org

All the Pretty Horses - John Stebbe
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/John_Stebbe/Lullaby_and_Goodnight/lullaby_and_good_night_13_-_john_stebbe_-_all_the_pretty_little_horses/

SUBSCARA, by Soularflair
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Soularflair/mere-death-experience/subscara/

SOUND EFFECTS  - from freesound.org

Video Game Music Seamless - x1shi
https://freesound.org/people/x1shi/sounds/685206/

Computer Chimes - Logged In - marlonnnnnn
https://freesound.org/people/marlonnnnnn/sounds/351880/

Game Controller Mashing, by SmartWentCody
https://freesound.org/people/SmartWentCody/sounds/179018/

110552_Noisehag_hard_drive_shut_down_01_remix, by Timbre
https://freesound.org/people/Timbre/sounds/112167/

Sirens, fire, police, close pass, distant, urban, CALGARY, 2011 by TRP
https://freesound.org/people/TRP/sounds/577312/

1130_low frequency thuds (nr), by lonedroner
https://freesound.org/people/lonerdroner/sounds/713088/

Transcript

Episode 2 - Stay Home

Welcome back to Stay Home Z. In episode 1, something strange was happening in town, school was cancelled and Zack’s dad rushed him home. Now he’s alone.

“Stay home, Z.” These were his dad’s last words before he jumped back in the car and took off to get Maggie and Zack’s mom. 

“Ok,” Zack thought to himself. “Fifteen minutes. No problem. Dad said he’d be back in fifteen minutes.”

Zack walked around the house, he looked at the oven clock. The TV screen on the wall reflected only the empty living room and Zack’s lonely image. Scottie followed him around, slightly confused by his wandering - her tail periodically giving an unenthusiastic wag. Zack still didn’t know what was happening and why all the adults were acting so odd. As he stood in the living room looking out the window at the front street he felt an urge to close the drapes. Zack walked over to the front window. He looked up and down the street, no one was out there - not the mail carrier, not Mrs. Jackson watering her lawn - no one. Zack pulled the drapes shut and suddenly it was dark inside.

He needed a distraction, what if he played Mineworld until his dad came back. That would pass the time quickly. Zack went upstairs to his room and turned on his computer. While it booted up he looked around his room, his video game posters suddenly felt menacing. The monsters felt bigger and meaner.

“Welcome Zack,” his computer said once it had booted up. Zack clicked the Mineworld icon on the desktop and the game started up. The game began to play its odd melody of spooky digital music. The menu listed Zack’s different worlds he’d built since he was just a little kid. Now he only played in a world he named “Gern Town.” He clicked on the Gern Town file and the world began to open. His character, named Jimbo Rains, was a confident and crafty hero.

Zack felt a slight chill and his open door glared at him like eyes from the shadows. He could barely focus on the game, the door’s glaring opening felt like a hole in Zack’s defenses. He got up and closed it. If there’s anything he learned from Mineworld it was that you had to secure your house.

He sat back down in front of his video game world and began moving Jimbo though the underground fortress he’d built. On the surface of the video game world zombies and scorpions patrolled for young explorers like Zack’s character.

Jimbo Rains ran up the cave wall toward a small door. Zack hit the “B” button on his controller to open the door. Just outside his fort were countless zombies and they immediately came toward Jimbo. He was ready. The little video game man suddenly pulled out a blue diamond sword as the zombies closed in. 

Then the screen went black.

“Hey, what happened?”

The computer was off and the lights on his chargers and other devices were off. The power had gone out.

Zack gulped. And a small sweat broke out on his brow. It had been about five minutes since his dad left but it felt like it had been an eternity already.

“Please hurry, dad,” Zack said to himself.

“How much time has passed?” Zack thought. He had a digital watch in his nightstand, an old kid’s watch with a dinosaur on it. It had a basic digital time display, his Nana had given it to him and he thought it was sort of dumb because it didn’t have any fancy games, videos or Wi-Fi. He looked at the cartoon velociraptor on the face of the watch. The words “Raptor-watch” were printed in big exciting letters. Now this simple old watch was the only thing that worked in this digital house.

“1:35 p.m… it’s been fifteen minutes. Ok, any minute everyone will be home,” Zack told himself as he climbed into his bed. Then he got back out of bed and helped Scottie up, then climbed back under the blankets to wait. Scottie wagged her tail slowly, did three circles and plopped down in the curve of Zack’s knees.

Zack held the watch in his hands, curled up, waiting. His senses came alive, his sense of smell could detect his own adrenaline-fueled sweat, the flower scented chemicals of the detergent his dad used to clean the sheets. His ears were strained, the muscles on the sides of his jaw hurt with tension from subconsciously perking up his ears. 

The sheets blocked the watch so Zack gently tugged them down a few inches and poked the Raptor-watch out of the blankets just enough to see the time - 1:37 p.m.

Two minutes had passed since Zack climbed into bed. Seventeen minutes since his dad left. Time was crawling along, barely moving forward at all.

“That’s normal,” Zack thought to himself. “Fifteen was probably too short to get to the daycare and the train station for mom. Twenty minutes is more realistic,” Zack justified in his mind.

In the distance Zack could hear the wail of sirens. He swallowed unintentionally. The sirens grew louder.

At first he hoped they weren’t coming to his house. But then, he started to think that he might prefer it if they were coming to his house. The sirens sounded like they got to within a block or two before they started to fade. And then it was quiet.

The minutes stretched on and on. Zack kept hoping the car would pull into the driveway, he could almost hear the gravel grinding underneath the wheels as it did when someone came home. Several times he thought he heard it for sure, moving the blankets away from ears to better listen. But it was never his family. So Zack stayed hidden.

The sky was changing color, Zack could tell the way the house shifted to a darker tone. The Raptor-watch showed 3:30 p.m., two hours had passed. His dad said fifteen minutes. A flash of heat washed over Zack and sweat beaded on his forehead. He grabbed Scottie and pulled her up toward him and pulled the covers over them both. He began to cry.

Zack cried hard, he sobbed, like he hadn’t since he was just a toddler. But when he was done, he was still just a boy hiding under his covers. Nothing had changed. His family was still gone.

His worry had settled from a panic to a deep fear. As he lay there, time did pass, slowly, but it did pass. Soon it was dark and Zack felt a hint of drowsiness creep into his eyes.

“I can’t fall asleep.”

Across the room, Zack saw his baseball bat. With the speed of a cheetah he bounced out of bed, darted across his room and grabbed the bat. He was back in bed in two bounds, which he’d been doing to avoid imagined monsters under his bed since he was three.

Buried under his covers with Scottie and his Louisville Slugger, Zack nestled in to wait some more. And he waited. His eyelids were getting heavier than the ache in his stomach. He was struggling to stay awake and his mouth smacked with dryness. But he was locked under his blankets, maybe forever.

Time continued its slow march into the night and Zack saw the purple glow of afternoon fade to the darkness of night. Zack still strained to hear his family returning but instead he heard awful noises. What had been a chorus of pops and creaks had now become a symphony of creepy sounds. 

Straining to hear, hoping for the familiar sound of an engine Zack heard what sounded like a bump on the wall outside. He froze, he even stopped breathing. It definitely sounded like something bumped against a wall outside, he heard it. Then… moaning? Did he hear that?

Sweat dripped down Zack’s brow, running sideways down into his pillow, which was becoming soaked with sweat. But even the most terrified minds become exhausted, and soon Zack could not keep his eyes open. He pulled Scottie close and she let out a little high-pitched sigh as she settled into his tense embrace. Scottie was all he had as his mind slipped into sleep.

Thank you for listening to Episode 2. In the next episode, Zack and Scottie find out what’s been upsetting the town.