by M. E. Betts
"Fauna, I'm so honored...thank you." Shari stopped and hugged the other woman. "Thank you. You're a good woman, and I have a feeling you were a great mother."
"Not 'were,' actually. I still got two sons out there somewhere, too. One's 26, the other'll be turnin' twenty-three in July. This may be hard for you to understand since you don't have kids, but my motherly intuition is tellin' me they're still alive out there...somewhere. My older one, Luke, was downstate at an archery expo. My younger one, Travis, just kinda hops around. Last I knew of, he was in Missouri, doin' guitar lessons. You should hear him play, he's nothin' short of amazing on that guitar of his. I ain't holdin' out hope that I'll ever find 'em, though. It's chaos out there. The chances of anyone findin' any particular person, even if they are alive, are slim to none. Ain't no tellin' where the winds scattered any survivors to. I just hope they remember everythin' me and their daddy taught 'em. I hope they put it all to good use to stay alive, and to help others do the same."
"If they're anything like you, I don't think that'll be a problem," Shari said. "They're the kind of people we need out there."
They reached the pile of bodies, starting to rot in the sun, flies swarming around. Fauna reached into her pack and took out a bottle of lighter fluid, dousing the corpses.
"I think we should have a moment of silence," Fauna said. "Say a little prayer. We didn't know these people, but they were people all the same." Shari nodded solemnly, lowering her head. Sorry. I hope you're all in a better place, was all she could come up with. After a minute, Fauna took a lighter from her pocket and set the bodies on fire. They turned away and started to walk back south toward the house.
They were about 100 yards from the house when they saw something moving near the garage.
"What the hell is that?" Shari whispered, perturbed.
"I don't know, but I think it's best if it doesn't see us."
They moved closer to the treeline on their right for cover. After they had closed about half of the distance, Fauna took out her bow and an arrow. "Now this must be about fifty yards. It might be awhile before you're hittin' targets at this range." She nocked her arrow. "Now let's get their attention, give 'em a shot to live, if by chance they're human."
"Hey!" Shari shouted, cupping her hands over her mouth. The figure began waving its arms, and shouted back. The two began to approach the garage again, but Fauna didn't lower her bow. Shari took hers out too, just in case some intimidation was in order. They didn't yet know what type of person they would find when they got up close, only that it apparently wasn't undead. Fauna glanced at Shari, and they both saw the seriousness on one anothers' faces. They nodded slowly at one another. The non-verbal exchange conveyed the shared mistrust the two had for this new stranger, at least for the time being. They advanced on the figure, who they could now see was a man, their bows drawn.
"So who are you?" Shari demanded.
"And who the fuck are you, lady?" the mystery man returned. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with stringy, dark blonde hair that hung in his eyes and an unkempt beard to match. He started to reach his hand into his pocket.
"Hey asshole, the lady asked you a question!" Fauna roared back, arrow pointed at his head. "This here ain't your property, and I'd say you're mighty bold for a man with two arrows pointed at his face."
"Okay, I'm sorry," he said more gently, hands above his head. "Can we please start over? I'm Nick. I'm sorry if I came across as rude. With all that's been going on, I haven't been myself lately. I'm sure you ladies can understand that. Also, I can't help but feel vulnerable, staring down those arrows." They continued to glare at him, and declined to lower their bows. "I came in off the highway. Road's jammed. I was on my way to Harrisburg up in Illinois, to see if I can find my brother. But those things...they're everywhere! Please, please, don't make me go back out there! I swear, I'm not violent or anything. I'm very sorry for the first impression I gave you."
Fauna looked him over, bow still drawn, unwavering. "You know Nick, the thing about first impressions...you never get a second chance to make one. And I gotta be honest, I don't know if I feel comfortable lettin' you stay with us."
He looked around nervously. "So what, then? You gonna send me back out there, down to the killing floor? Send me to my death? You feel comfortable with that?"
"Not really," Fauna replied. "Tell you what. We're gonna put you up in the loft for now. I got a panic room up there. You're gonna sit tight up there for a little bit, and Shari and me are gonna talk it over real thorough, figure out exactly what we want to do. We'll go from there."
"Fauna!" Shari protested. "Do you really think we should trust him?" Fauna held up her hand to her, as if to say, Let me handle this, never taking her eyes off Nick.
"Bu...but...." Nick sputtered. "I can help you ladies out! Come on, you know you could use a man around to keep you safe. I'm a real good shot. Come on, girls, lower those bows! You're freaking me out pretty bad."
"You been bit, Nick?"
"No, no! I haven't been bitten, I promise!"
"You better not be lying to us," Shari said in a low growl, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Set that pack down on the ground," Fauna instructed him, arrow still aimed between his eyes. "Shari here's gonna search you." Shari lowered her bow, re-quivering her arrow. "I'll be honest, Nick. My intuition has never failed me, and right now my intuition is sendin' my brain a real clear signal. And that signal says that, frankly, I don't like you and I don't trust you. Now maybe if you play by our rules, you can earn our trust." Shari pulled a pistol out of his pocket and continued to pat him down.
"Hey, I need that! What the hell did I ever do to you?!"
"You mean besides try to pull that gun on us?" Shari mumbled, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Listen real carefully," Fauna said. "That panic room I got up in that loft...the good news is, it's safe as safe can be. Ain't no zombies gettin' in there. Now, the downside is when I put you in there..." She chuckled. "You're not gettin' out 'til we let you out. Now as I said, I don't trust you. But on the other hand, I was just tellin' Shari a little while ago that I really believe it's our job as human beings to do what we can to keep other human beings alive in times like these. But to tell you the truth, I don't feel any more comfortable turnin' you loose out there than I do lettin' you roam free in the loft with us. For all I know, you could be the type to hold a grudge and come back to fuck our world up. So what's it gonna be? You wanna reasonable, let us do you the same favor?"
"I gotta say, I don't like the idea of that. What if something happens to both of you, and I'm stuck in that damn room up there, left to starve to death?"
"Well Nick, times like these, you gotta learn to sometimes make a tough call. I did. It's that, or we can put an end to this right now," she said, nodding toward the arrow she still had pointed at him. "Besides, the sooner you can play ball, the sooner we can get a fair game goin'. I never did like the idea of keepin' a person prisoner, not if that person gave me an option."
"Well then, I guess I don't have a choice," he conceded indignantly.
Shari led him by the arm toward the garage while Fauna followed right behind, never lowering her bow. She took out the remote for the garage door on her keychain, and they entered. She closed the door behind them, and the three of them ascended up to the loft. Fauna motioned to Shari to lead him into the pantry, where the panic room door was located.
"When's the last time you ate, Nick?" Fauna asked, linking his hands together with a pair of cuffs. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I had a granola bar earlier, and one the day before. Other than that, I haven't eaten since before all this shit went down."
"I'll be back in a bit with some food. You sit tight."
"Yeah, what else am I gonna do?" he shot back as she closed the door, punching a keypad on the wall to lock the room from the outside.
"If it's a panic room, does that mean he has access to phones and radios and all that stuff I saw in there?"
/> "No, I would have to connect the radio down in the garage for it to function. Phones ain't workin' and that radio ain't hooked up to anything. Not for the time being, at least. Only the one down in the garage is functioning."
"So what are we gonna do with him?"
Fauna shrugged. "For now, we're gonna give him somethin' to eat. Then you and me are gonna sit and have a long talk. Whatever decision we come to, I don't want it to be made lightly." She opened the deep freezer and took out a frozen dinner, popping it in the microwave. "No matter what conclusion we come to, it might be the wrong one."
Shari rubbed her face. "I wish he never showed up here."
"You and me both, but you can wish in one hand and...well, you know the rest. Now come with me, this is gonna require both of us to do it safely."
Fauna and Shari walked into the pantry to the door of the panic room. "Okay, I'll punch in the code. You open the door and give him the food. Bottles of water are on the shelf there to your right. I got your back. Should be safe enough, I got him cuffed." Fauna punched in the code and then took the pistol from her pocket, getting ready to aim. Shari opened the door, setting his food on a desk. "How's he supposed to eat?" she asked Fauna. "His hands are behind his back."
"Just come over here and grab him a bottle of water," she replied. "She's right, Nick. Keepin' you in handcuffs just ain't gonna work. So I got a better idea. You left or right-handed?"
"Left," he responded, sounding dejected. "Man, I didn't even do anything."
"Yeah, besides trying to pull that pistol on us."
"But you were pointing your bows--!"
"Shhh!" Fauna cut him off. "You were on my property, it was up to you to prove yourself, not the other way around. When Shari here showed up, I did the same thing to her. Pointed an arrow at her face 'til I had seen she wanted to be reasonable. It's what anyone would do to defend themselves on their own property in the middle of a nightmare like this. Now all this is besides the point. What I was gonna say is, we'll keep your right hand in a cuff--"
"But--"
"We'll keep your right hand in the cuff and attach the other one to this here chain--"
"Is that a dog chain?! Aw man, you gotta be kidding me!"
"...To this here chain, and attach the chain to that pipe over there in the corner. Long enough to give you some freedom of movement, but not long enough for you to reach the doorway. It'll give me and Shari here some peace of mind. And," she added, "it's like I told you. If you show us that you can be patient and play nice, it'll work in your favor. We really don't want to keep you in here forever. Shari, come reach into my pocket, take out the cuff key." Shari found the key and freed his left hand. "Now take the chain, wrap it around the pipe, and put this deadbolt through an end link and another link on the loop, make sure he can't get it off." Shari complied, then slid the right cuff onto a link at the opposite end of the chain, sliding the cuff closed. "Alright, now do me a favor and take that wallet you saw earlier in his back pocket. I want to see it."
"What the fuck? That's my wallet! You're already keeping me prisoner, you got no right to take my shit! I got my rights!"
"Welcome to the new world, Nick, where everywhere's the Wild West. You got no rights, except the right to shut the hell up. Just be glad Shari and me is humanitarians. Better treatment than you should expect, given the circumstances. Bon appetit." Fauna and Shari left the room, closing and locking the door.
Shari on a lounger on the balcony, rubbing her scalp, eyes closed. "So what are we doing about Nick?" They had been sitting out there for about fifteen minutes, and had discussed the weather, the horses, how much food was left in the freezer...but had danced around the brass tacks that they needed to get down to.
"Well...let's weigh our options carefully. Seein' as we know next to nothin' about this man, I'd say forcing him back out into the world would probably be the most dangerous option we got. We send him out there, one of two things'll prob'ly happen. One, he'll die. Two, he'll live and come back with a beef, some'd say a legitimate one. As I said, we don't know him. But when I look at him, I see a livewire. I can't guess exactly what a person like that'd do, and that's a variable that I don't like. But if we keep him here, give him a chance to live, maybe we can earn his trust, and hopefully his loyalty along with it. Regardless of what he tried to say earlier, I don't think we need his help. He can pander to what he sees as our womanly sensibilities all he likes, but all that proves to me is that he doesn't look at us and see two strong, reasonably intelligent, survivally-inclined women. He just sees...two women, and that don't mean much in his eyes. In all reality, we can help him more'n he'd ever help us, but he don't see it that way. Now, I don't like that quality in him, but bein' a chauvenist ain't enough for me to want to give the man a death sentence."
"I definitely don't trust him, but I guess I see what you're saying," Shari conceded reluctantly. "So what do you propose? We let him wander freely in the loft with us?"
"Hell, no! We live in the loft, keep it closed up just like we always do. The barn's got a loft same as here, he can pull up the ladder and everythin', keep himself safe. We can bring him food and water, books if he's literate and wants somethin' to pass the time. He can shower outside the barn, there's a spigot out there with hot water and everythin', so it don't make me feel bad. He's got all the necessary amenities that he should need. We'll give him an inflatable air mattress, some blankets. Bases are covered, so he can't complain. I'm sure he will, all the same, but ask me if I give a shit."
"And weapons?"
Fauna sighed heavily. "I don't think he needs a gun up there. He's gonna try and raise holy hell when he realizes he won't be armed, but he don't need it, as long as he stays put up in the safety of that loft. Hopefully it'll give us the added benefit of makin' him think twice about comin' down, not havin' anythin' to defend himself in case a zombie comes mosyin' up."
"So...I guess everything's decided. Nothing left to do now but let him know what the plan is."
"Yeah, I guess so," Fauna said, standing. "You come with, I'll do the talking."
"The barn?" Nick whined. "Are you serious?"
"We're tryin' to help you," Fauna replied. "You gotta understand, we want you to live. I'm tellin' you now, ain't no zombies gettin' up into that loft. You'll be safe up there. And it ain't like it's filthy up there. Ain't no animals been up there, and me and my husband take personal pride in keepin' that barn clean. It was just two weeks ago, I cleaned and mopped that loft. We'll give you an air mattress, blankets, whatever'll make you feel more comfortable up there. So what do you say?"
"Well, once again, you haven't left me an option. I mean, what do you mean, 'What do you say?' You've made it clear that it doesn't matter what I say." He saw Fauna's expression, saw that she was unflinching and getting a little perturbed by what she was coming to see as his argumentative nature. "But then again, I guess I should be grateful that you're trying to help me at all. You don't know me, and I guess you don't see any reason to trust me. I just hope you can come around, is all. Stop treatin' me like I'm your enemy."
Fauna shook her head. "No, Nick. I don't see you as my enemy." She pointed to the road, where he had come from in hopes of finding refuge from the undead. "They're my enemies, and yours too. Don't you get it? We share a common foe. But I do see you as a potential threat. Now, over the comin' days and weeks, I'd like us to get to know one other. Survivors gotta stick together. Shari and me agreed on that from early on. You're a living human being, and we value life. I'd like to see you prove to us that you feel the same. You get to know us, we get to know you, and I'm sure before too long, we'll all see eye to eye."
Nick stood silent for a moment, thinking. "You're not giving my gun back, are you?"
Fauna smirked. "Let me put it this way, Nick. Imagine you're Shari and me, in our position. Two women, facing a man who obviously doesn't think too much of women."
"Where'd you get that idea?" he shot back.
"It shows in your words and manneris
ms, fella. Now let's not argue the fact, alright? Imagine you're us. Can you honestly say you'd give a man like you your gun back if you were in our shoes?"
He glared at her. "It doesn't matter what I say, you're obviously not gonna trust me."
"No, it doesn't matter what you say, at least not right this second. What matters is what you do and say over time. And for the time being, we're giving you a safe place to stay. You don't need your gun up there."
"But I can help take out zombies from up there! You can't deny the value of a third pair of eyes."
"Yeah, eventually. But for now, me and Shari can keep doin' what we've been doin'. No offense, but we don't exactly need you. We got along just fine before you showed up, and can continue to do so. Seems you're the one who needs us." Nick lowered his head, looking emasculated. Fauna softened her features, and took on a more sympathetic tone. "Now Nick, I'm not tryin' to make you feel bad. I'm sure you'll prove to be a valuable member of our group. I'm only tryin' to say that you shouldn't underestimate me and Shari's abilities just on account of us bein' women. We weren't relyin' on you before, and to be honest, me and Shari shouldn't even be relyin' on each other. We can't just take for granted that any person'll be around forever, 'cause it just ain't true. We never know what'll happen, now more than ever. And it's time you learned," she added, "that you should treat a survivor as a survivor, and not a man or woman."