by Diane Butler
“What about food?”
“Some left. I’ll show you where it’s at. It’s the water that went so fast with these hot summers.” Andy started to get up from his chair but almost collapsed and had to sit down again. “It’s my health. The Mayor had a lot of pharmaceuticals brought in and I have high blood pressure. Didn’t look like a problem at first but as time went on I started skipping a day to make it last, then two days then taking it just three times a week. I just recently ran out altogether and I’m always exhausted. I guess you would want that stuff too? There’s a lot of antibiotics if you know what you are looking for and what to use it on. There’s seed from the hardware stores for fruit and vegetables.” He got up again. “We keep it all down in the basement but I hope you don’t mind that I don’t go down there with you. I went down a week ago to bring up just enough supplies for myself and knew that I wouldn’t be able to do those stairs too many more times. Had to rest three times before I could make it back up again.”
Both Brandon and Roxanne could hear the conversation from their lookout point and both came back into the kitchen. “I have not heard any movement within the house,” Roxanne said. “Have you Brandon?” Brandon shook his head. “Why don’t you show us where this stock is being held. What about the garage? What’s in there?” Lucky became annoyed by Roxanne taking over what he felt was his interrogation of Andy and gave her a look which she ignored.
“The limo, extra batteries, some tools,” Andy said. “We also put a small stockpile of supplies plus ammo in the car in case we needed to get out fast. I still say that we need to take the limo. As long as they don’t swarm it they won’t be able to break the glass and it holds the road in a high speed chase.”
Morgan laughed, “Well I don’t think that we will be involved in a high speed chase, but why don’t I take the kids out to the garage and check it out while Andy shows you the basement.”
Lucky felt that he was losing control and that everyone was making their own decisions. “Don’t you think that we are being just a little too relaxed about this situation? We don’t know who is in the barn, we don’t know who is in the basement and I see no reason why we should trust Andy,” he said gesturing to the man.
“I do not feel danger here,” Roxanne said. “But I am never relaxed when I walk into a new situation and I have trained Mary to always be distrustful and on the alert. She will not walk blindly into that garage and we will not walk blindly into the basement.
They had to drive down to Roxanne’s truck a few times to load the heavier equipment like the generator, gas and oil cans, batteries and extra motor parts that could be used for cars or converted to boats. Each time they drove down to the gates the zombies became more active but the truck was holding the gates together. Since Roxanne had backed the tailgate up against the gates she would need time to turn the truck around once she pulled away. She and Brandon walked the high grass that was once a manicured lawn to make sure it was dry and that she would not get stuck once she pulled the truck away from the fence. If the zombies followed the same pattern as observed in the past, they should follow Roxanne’s truck across the lawn and not go up the driveway where the limo would be parked. Roxanne would drive across the front lawn of the house to the back yard and pull in behind the limo. Once the Z’s scattered across the lawn and thinned out at the gate the limo would run through the zombies still on the driveway and go out through the gate. Lucky would remain as Roxanne’s partner and would be in the bed of the truck to remove the ties from the gate. After driving behind the house he would get in the cab with Roxanne.
Brandon would be driving the limo although Andy insisted that he knew how the car handled and that he should be the driver. But no one trusted Andy’s health and were afraid that he would not be able to take the stress as it was obvious that he could not handle being among the dead. The ideal setting would have been to shut the gates with the remote again so they could continue to come back for more supplies. But the gates were too damaged by the hit that they sustained from Morgan’s car and the latch no longer worked.
Roxanne had the truck running and was standing outside watching Lucky untie the cables from the gate. She looked up at the mansion and saw the nose of the limo peek out from behind the house and knew that Brandon was in position. She stood up on the running board and told Lucky to let her know when he was ready. He threw the ties in the bed of the truck and the gates immediately banged up against the truck as the Z’s tried to push their way through.
Lucky sat down on some boxes when Roxanne cautioned him not to fall out and that she would take it slow to allow most of the zombies to follow. “Just not too slow, okay?” he asked holding on to the truck and looking back at her. As Roxanne pulled away Lucky shouted, whistled and waved his arms for the zombies to follow. Everything went as planned with the zombies following, the truck not having any trouble with muddy, soft ground and none of the Z’s diverted up the driveway to the back of the house or toward the limo. Roxanne speeded up to round the corner of the house and Lucky jumped out to get in the cab with her. She pulled up behind Brandon and waited but from her position she could not see the gate and was dependent upon Brandon to make the decision as when he felt it would be safe to storm the entrance. She hoped he realized that he could not wait too long or the Z’s would round the house and catch up to them.
“Why doesn’t he go?” Lucky asked. “Most of the herd should be through the gate by now and crossing the front yard.” He turned to look behind them and saw the first of the zombies turn the corner of the house into the back yard. If it hadn’t been for the sound of the motors running on the vehicles the zombies may not have noticed them at all and would have wandered further into the backyard. But they turned and began to approach the vehicles. The windows of the limo were tinted prohibiting Roxanne and Lucky from seeing inside and why Brandon was hesitating.
“Move up and tap his bumper,” Lucky suggested. “Tap it a couple of times.” Roxanne did so only once and suddenly the limo jerked forward throwing pebbles under the truck. Roxanne let Brandon put a little distance between them in case he should need to throw on the brakes and then she rounded the corner to see that the driveway was clear except for a few slow Z’s. The gate had the heaviest population but it was nothing that the limo could not drive through as long as he was not reckless about it and he was going a little too fast for that. Roxanne was afraid that the impact of hitting four to five zombies may stall the car or send it out of control if the bodies blocked Brandon’s view but at the last moment she saw the brakes lights come on.
The first two zombies flew off to the side when Brandon’s car hit them. Two more zombies went under the car and one flew onto the hood. Brandon did a short swerve from left to right to shake off the zombie and then sped up to clear the gates and access the street. Roxanne hit only two Z’s as they came from behind the fence, one by each fender. She looked into the rear view mirror to see that the crowd had turned and was now following them north.
“I don’t know how far they will go or if they will turn back to the mansion again,” she said. “But I hope Brandon knows to lead them out further and not to go directly back to Lance’s house or the Bait Shop.”
“We are a long way from there yet,” Lucky said. “There is no way that they can track us there,” he turned around to look behind them. “We’re already leaving them behind and will shortly be out of their sight.”
“This was a good haul for you,” Roxanne said. “I see no reason for you to stick around but Mary and I will be here for a while yet and I need to know where the zombies are at all times.”
“No place is protected a hundred percent of the time, Roxanne. We have been run out of a couple of places that we thought could be permanent. But a herd always shows up, or enough of them to make the place more of a prison than a safe haven. When we are hiding more often than fighting, then it is time to move on. I don’t know where you are living here, but eventually you will be forced out. Are you prepared for that o
r do you honestly think that this town is permanent for you because if you do, you are sadly mistaken.”
When Brandon stopped at Lance’s house Roxanne swung the truck around him and continued toward the Bait Shop. “What are you doing?” Lucky asked. “We were going to divide the load up so you could be on your merry way.”
“I’m carrying the heavy stuff,” Roxanne said. “Why transfer it to the limo and then take it back out again when you get to Jenny. Easier to divide it up at the boat.” But in truth Roxanne felt that they wanted to divide the goods up at Lance’s house so that they could see which way she left to go toward her home.
She pulled into the Bait Shop and both of them got out of the truck. They didn’t have long to wait before Brandon showed up and parked behind her but as he and Morgan got out of the car she could tell that something was wrong. Roxanne unfolded her arms and straightened up. “Is everyone alright?” she asked as she saw Mary and Caleb practically jump out of the car.
Brandon shook his head. “Andy had a heart attack in the back seat while we were still at the mansion. Morgan and I couldn’t get to him unless we got out of the car and time just didn’t allow that. The kids did their best. Mary said she knew CPR but she wasn’t able to revive him. It wasn’t the best of experiences that a kid should have on their shoulders, watching someone die like that.”
Morgan went over and put his arms around Caleb and Mary came over to silently stand beside Roxanne. Roxanne looked down at her and, showing a side of her that Mary had never seen, Roxanne put her arm on Mary’s shoulder and gently pulled Mary to her. The only time Mary had seen softness in Roxanne was when she was with her animals and this gesture toward her almost made Mary cry. “Why don’t you and Caleb get on Jenny while we unload the truck,” Roxanne almost whispered. Morgan overheard her and seconded that he thought it was a good idea. He and Roxanne locked eyes and both knew what she was doing. Mary would think that Roxanne felt that Caleb needed to be consoled and Caleb would think that Morgan wanted him to console Mary. Neither would think that they were being accused of being the weaker of the two.
As they walked away Lucky said, “We wondered why you were sitting for so long before driving out from behind the house.”
Brandon nodded, “We hadn’t realized that you had pulled up behind us because we were so involved with the emergency. When I felt the bump and looked up to see you on our tail I knew that attendance to Andy had to be our second priority. The kids got thrown around in the back though since they continued to try to help him and didn’t put on their seatbelts. He died shortly after leaving the grounds. I think he was so upset by the thought of going through that crowd of zombies that he worked himself up into a heart attack.”
“Who did the final hit?” Roxanne asked. “Who made sure he wouldn’t turn while back there with the kids?”
The two men looked at one another before Morgan replied. “We’ve decided not to do that anymore when someone dies. We want to wait to see if they turn first.” Morgan explained about the dead man that they had found in the repair shop and how he had not turned after death.
“I have heard of only one story in the Bayou about that same thing happening,” Roxanne said. “But there are many fables and exaggerated truths that cause stories for the purpose of entertainment around the fire at night. I thought that was one of them. This story was of a person who was bitten by a copperhead and died, but did not turn. Unfortunately people who believed the story attempted to collect copperheads for their venom, saying that it reversed the bite of a zombie and that you would not die.”
“Whether he turns or not,” Morgan said, “I think we should give him a proper burial before we leave. Perhaps behind one of the houses here where the ground is soft. We can lock him up in the trunk overnight in case he turns.”
Roxanne shrugged her shoulders, “If you want to hear a zombie pounding on the trunk hood all night, that’s up to you. Mary and I will not be back in the morning to help you or to see you off so I suggest we start unloading and dividing things up.”
Mary and Caleb went up to the pilothouse where they could watch the unloading but would not get in the way of anyone. Caleb handed her a bottle of water and took his crossbow off while they stood watching through the glass. “I don’t know about this new theory ya’ll have,” Mary said. “As soon as Andy died I was ready to shank his ass. I didn’t like sitting there at all, just waiting to see if he turned. It makes the situation more dangerous especially in a tight area like the backseat of a car.”
Caleb shrugged his shoulders. “It’s certainly a puzzle as to why that guy didn’t turn. Maybe none of us will turn. Maybe that’s all over now and there’s only one way we can find out.” He sighed and wiped his brow showing his exhaustion after the ordeal. “We’ve noticed that the zombies are becoming more fragile, more brittle and that there are less newbies who have strength. Some of that could be that people don’t let them turn anymore and put them down as soon as they die. Or it could be that the virus has run its course.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure that I would ever feel safe again or be able to return to the way life used to be. It seems so long, long ago that I hardly remember it.”
“Sometimes I go into places that remind me of home,” Mary said. “That’s when it hits me the hardest. I’ll be scavenging for food or water and suddenly I’ll see pictures of a family, or a kids room all neat and tidy with posters of rock bands that I liked and it hurts so bad that I just want to cr..., just want to smash the place out of anger.” She turned to look at Caleb and crossed her arms the way Roxanne often did when serious. “But I’m glad I met you and if the world is actually starting all over again I think we would make a good team.”
Roxanne looked over at Mary as they drove home. She noticed that Mary had waved to Caleb as they left but hadn’t said goodbye to anyone. As for that, neither did Roxanne. Roxanne had a habit of abruptly leaving without the social goodbyes used in the past. To her a ‘Goodbye’ meant ‘for now’ but everyone in the ZA knew that each goodbye could be forever, so she had stopped saying it altogether. Mary had been silent and Roxanne became concerned that watching Andy die had been harder on her than watching Roxanne kill Jim Bob.
“Are you becoming more comfortable with that group?” Roxanne asked. “Are you thinking of joining them?”
Mary shook her head, “No, I still have too much to learn from you, but I do like Caleb. We worked as a team in trying to save Andy. I realized that I can be a team player with others, if it’s the right people. I’m just not sure how to choose the right people yet but I’d like to keep Caleb by my side.”
“It’s more dangerous staying with me,” Roxanne said. “I’m traveling alone and can run into all sorts of trouble that you, Mutt and Cowboy couldn’t get me out of. If you are ready to go with that group I can bring you back in the morning before they raise anchor.”
Again Mary shook her head. “No, I need more time. I need to figure things out and I can’t do that around a bunch of people. I understand why they are not giving mercy to the dead, but I think it’s a dangerous game that they are playing. I need more proof or reports from them that it’s happening more often, this thing of not turning. For right now I’ll let them do their own thing, but that doesn’t mean that I’m ready to be a part of it.”
“You are very grown up for your age, Mary. So is Caleb. The two of you are our future, the rest of us are just trying to survive in a life that we don’t understand and wish that we could go back to what we once had.”
Mary looked at her and paused before asking, “Do you remember what you once had?”
Roxanne waited until she parked the truck in front of the house and turned off the ignition. She saw the two canines get up from their position on the porch and stood watching her. She seemed to be staring off into the distance and Mary felt that the question had made Roxanne sad. “No, I don’t. But I have walked into homes and have seen how other people were living, their daily life before the chaos. I imagine that I was just
like them, had their same wants and needs, same happiness and pitfalls. I don’t know how I got from point A to point B and sometimes I find that to be disturbing because it is two years of learning how to survive in a ZA that I don’t remember. I’m sure I made mistakes and I don’t want to make the same ones again. Hopefully I have only forgotten the parts that I don’t want to remember or are insignificant to my survival.”
Roxanne got out of the truck and walked up to the porch to have Mutt greet her in his fashion of jumping up and down with joy. While petting Mutt she put her hand out for Cowboy to sniff. The coyote must have decided that all was well and walked beside her. Roxanne turned to Mary, “I know this isn’t like me but I’m going to lie down for a while. I find that this group exhausts me in a way that I haven’t felt for a long time. Do you remember the tea I taught you to brew, Mary? The one with the herbs for energy? Could you make me a cup and bring it to my room? You don’t need to worry about unloading the truck right now. I’ll help you later. I just want an hours rest and, like you, I need to think about a few things in private. Mutt,” Roxanne ordered, “stay and protect Mary. Cowboy, come with me darling.”