by Nord, K. C.
"Good job, Norah, you were completely believable." I enthused.
Trevor grinned, "that was amazing; you had Stephanie's personality down to a T. Which is crazy considering that you never met her before."
"Just two more treatments, and you'll have the old Stephanie back," Norah replied.
"I sure hope so," Trevor said quietly.
JUST A FEW MINUTES after the next treatment, we started noticing a significant change in Stephanie as her skin started to lose the grey pallor and take on a more healthy appearance. Her pale blue eyes deepened to a beautiful azure, and the skin under her fingernails became pink again. It was amazing to see, and you could tell the exact moment when the cloud of confusion lifted from her mind, and she became completely aware of her surroundings. Probably the best moment was seeing the joy on Travis' face when she asked for a glass of water. Seeing them get their happily-ever-after gave me hope for my brother and our family.
CHAPTER NINE
Four days later:
We were walking in the front door and laughing about a story that Norah was telling about one of her cousins; when she stopped suddenly, causing me to bump into her back. "What is she doing here," Norah hissed.
Confused, I looked up to see an older dark-haired woman standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
"Don't you dare speak about me in that disrespectful tone, young lady," she snapped.
Not one to back down easily, Norah drew herself up to her full height, "Iris, you're not welcome in this house."
"I grew up in this house the same as my sister Celeste and I have just as much right to be here as either of you."
"Maybe so," Norah replied calmly. "But we don't want you here."
"Celeste wants me, and that's all that matters," Iris answered with mock politeness. "Besides which, you should be thanking me for coming."
"And just why would I want to do that?" Norah asked.
"Well," she replied with a faint smirk on her lips. "If I hadn't shown up when I did, she'd still be lying there at the foot of the stairs."
"What happened?" Norah gasped.
"One of her patients, a teenage boy, went crazy on her, and when she tried to stop him from leaving, he knocked her down the stairs. The poor thing had been lying there for hours with a broken leg when I found her."
"Oh no, what happened to the boy?" I asked.
"I have no idea," she replied carelessly. "He ran out the door several days ago and hasn't been seen since."
Norah reached out and took my hand, "don't worry, we'll find him. Let's go talk to my aunt and find out what happened."
"She's sleeping right now, but you can see her later," Iris said and stepped in front of the door with her arms crossed.
We'll just take a peek and see how she's doing," Norah said firmly, and only when I was starting to think that we might have to either give up or push our way past her. Moose curled back his lips and let out a soft, barely audible growl.
Iris gasped and jumped back in alarm, "get that beast out of here!"
"He's with us," Norah replied impatiently and brushed past her.
"I'm warning you, Norah, dogs aren't allowed in this house," Iris snapped.
"This isn't your house, and you don't make the rules around here," Norah said, leaving Iris, I was amused to see, speechless.
"Oh, Kaley, I'm so sorry about Lucas," Celeste exclaimed when we came into the room. "He was doing so well at first; it took me completely by surprise."
"What happened?"
"Sometimes, during treatment, they suffer from hallucinations and have to be restrained to keep them from injuring themselves or others. But Lucas wasn't experiencing any side effects until right after the 2nd treatment. One minute he was completely fine, and the next, he was out of his mind."
"We have to find him," I exclaimed. "He's been out there on his own for almost three days now."
"But how?" Norah asked. "He could be anywhere by now."
"Why don't you see if Moose can track him," Celeste suggested. "Give him something of Lucas' to smell and see what happens."
"You know, that just might work," Norah said encouragingly.
"I'll go get one of his shirts," I said and abruptly left the room just in time to catch Iris lurking just around the doorway. Obviously eavesdropping on our conversation, she looked a little surprised to get caught; but overall, I would say she looked more defiant than embarrassed. Ignoring her, I ran upstairs and collected one of Lucas' recently worn shirts.
ONCE I SHOWED THE SHIRT to Moose, he seemed to know what I wanted instinctively. He sniffed around the area for a couple of minutes before taking off into the wooded area behind the house. Curiously enough, when we reached the spot at the edge of the yard where I'd thought someone was watching us on our first night here. Moose uttered a low growl and started sniffing all around in a circle.
I looked at Norah, "that's a little odd, don't you think?"
She shrugged, "it just tells me to always trust my instincts."
"I think that you might be right about that, " I said and showed the shirt to a bored-looking Moose who had laid down on the ground and seemed to have forgotten that he was tracking. He became instantly alert and took off like a shot at the first whiff of Lucas' shirt, but luckily I had him on a lead this time, so there was no chance of losing him in the woods.
A couple of hours later, we found ourselves on the edges of a little town called Sweet Springs with a rusty population sign that read 425. The town, which was so small that you could walk from one end to the other in five minutes, comprised a general store, a cafe, a hotel, a barbershop, and a mayor's office. The town's buildings did look a little rundown, which was to be expected. But you could tell that someone was taking care of the place because the street was clean, and somebody had planted flowers in the pots that lined the sidewalk.
Moose, who was no doubt confused by all the different scents, had stopped tracking and was now eyeing a squirrel that was chattering down at us from its perch in one of the trees that was lining the street.
"I think that we might have lost the scent; why don't we ask around and see if anyone has seen your brother," Norah suggested.
We tried the mayor's office first, but the place was deserted, so we moved on to the cafe. The cafe, which several friendly-looking locals occupied, was nice and homey if a little worn looking. Once inside, we sat at a small table in the corner and ordered the special, which was gumbo with rice and cornbread and a couple of bunless burgers for Moose.
The waitress, a friendly young woman named Penny, stopped by to chat a little while we waited for our food. When I asked her about Lucas, she suggested that we try the barbershop because Joe, the Barber, usually knew everything that was going on in town.
Joe, the Barber, was a friendly older man with dark weathered skin and a ready smile. We took a seat and waited for a bit while he finished up with his current client before I asked for a trim.
"You could certainly use a trim, young lady," he observed while checking out the sad state of my hair. "What did you do? Chop it off with a chainsaw?"
"No, I used my knife," I replied laughingly.
"Well, in the future, I would suggest that you try using scissors. Or maybe better yet leave it to the professionals," he suggested with a grin.
"I will keep that in mind," I replied.
"So what brings you two young ladies to Sweet Springs?" He inquired as he started evening out the jagged ends of my hair. "I know almost everyone around here, and I don't remember ever meeting either one of you before."
"We're looking for my twin brother; he's been missing for about three days. And we tracked him to the edges of town."
"I haven't seen or heard about anyone new in town, but you should check with my friend Roy down at The Red Rocket. He pretty much knows everything that goes on around this place."
"That sounds like a good idea. Where can we find The Red Rocket?" I asked while admiring my neatly trimmed hair in the mirror. It was still long enough to
braid or wear in a ponytail if I wanted, but was not so long as to be a liability.
"Oh, you can't miss it, just follow that road out of town for about a mile, and there it is." He paused for a minute and then gave us his stern grandpa face. "Things are mostly pretty safe around here. There hasn't been any report of a zombie in this area for quite some time. But just the same, you girls be careful and keep your gun close at hand."
"CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT less than twenty years ago that everyone had electricity and cell phones?' I mused out loud as we walked down the road. "Now, if you don't have a working generator, you're pretty much out of luck."
"Don't forget about the cars and airplanes," Norah added.
"I wonder what it would be like to fly in a plane?" I wondered.
Norah shook her head, " it must have been awesome, but that's not something that we'll likely ever get to experience in this lifetime."
"It's crazy how fast life can change, so many lives were destroyed, and nobody knows why," I replied.
"This world will never be the same, and I just hope that we can live with the answer when we get it," Norah said ominously.
"What do you mean by-" I was just starting to say when we rounded a bend in the road, and The Red Rocket Gas N Go came into view. It was a lot more kept up than the previous Red Rocket that we'd visited in Mississippi. Everything was so much cleaner, and someone had even made an attempt to repaint the fading sign. But that wasn't what caused me to lose my train of thought. It was the three men on horseback who were leaving the service station.
They looked like trouble with their stern hardened features as they rode by, and I made an effort not to catch their eye. The first two had already passed us on the road when Moose decided to growl at the third one who was lagging a little behind.
Instantly he pulled a pistol and pointed it right at Moose, "Control your dog, little girl, or he's dead."
Just as quickly, I pulled my pistol, pointing it at the man on horseback, knowing all the while that it was probably a huge mistake but unable to stop myself. The other two men had pulled up and turned around to watch the standoff.
"There's no trouble here; he's just a puppy and doesn't know any better," Norah said soothingly and reached out to pull my hand that was holding the pistol down.
Mollified, the man lowered his pistol, "you might want to teach your friend how things work around here. Otherwise, she may not get off so easily next time." With that, he spurred his horse to catch up with the other two riders.
"Kaley, you have to be more careful. Those guys are part of a militia, and some of them would just as soon shoot you as look at you." Norah said as the three men rode away.
"I couldn't just let him shoot Moose, " I protested stubbornly.
" I know. But with situations like that, you have to try and defuse things."
"You're right," I replied. " Sometimes, my temper gets away from me. Lucas was always the more leveled-headed twin; I'm the one who rushes in without thinking."
"That's not always a bad thing," Norah replied.
"Maybe so, but today certainly wasn't my best day," I said ruefully.
"Well, it wasn't all your fault. There was no reason for him to be so hair-trigger like that and all because of a puppy growling at him. He's a grown-ass man, but he certainly wasn't acting like it."
I reached down to pat Moose, who had sensed that he'd done something wrong and was looking guiltily at me with his droopy head and big eyes.
Norah laughed, "He's still learning."
"Silly puppy," I smiled despite myself. "You need to be more careful about who you growl at."
We both laughed when Moose simply looked at us with his head lopsided as if he was trying to figure out what we were saying.
CHAPTER TEN
"So what's the story with the Militia?" I asked as we walked up the drive to The Red Rocket.
" A few years ago some of the locals created the Militia. Their main goal was to fight zombies and help with natural disasters and such. But, since the previous Commander retired some of their newer members have started acting out and causing problems, but overall they have been very helpful." Norah replied.
"They must be taking advantage of the change in power," I commented and waved when I recognized someone standing by the Red Rocket. It was the waitress Penny from the cafe in town.
"Do you know where we might find Roy?" I asked when she greeted us with an absent-minded smile.
"Roy's my dad and you'll most likely find him tinkering on something in the garage" she replied and walked around the side of the building with us.
"Say did you find out anything about your brother?"
"Nothing yet, we were hoping that your dad might have heard something."
"Let me go ask him." She said and disappeared inside the garage leaving us standing outside on the sidewalk only to reappear moments later with her dad in tow.
"Penny tells me that you're looking for a missing person?"
"Yes, my twin brother went missing a couple of days ago and we were wondering if you might have seen or heard anything?"
Roy frowned, "well, now that you mention it a couple of city guys stopped by the rocket yesterday for some fuel. And I really didn't get that good of a look at him but they did have a dark-haired teenage boy with them."
"Do you have any idea where they took him?" I asked urgently.
"One of the guys said something about Atlanta. I don't know for sure if that was your brother with them but I would be very careful. Those guys looked more dangerous and organized than those Militia fellas that are running around playing soldier."
"What would they want with my brother?"
"I have no idea and we really don't know for sure that it was your brother. If it helps I heard one of them refer to the boy as Lucas."
My breath caught for a moment, " it's him, I know it!" Distractedly I brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen into my eyes. "We need to get back to Celeste's and see if I can get ahold of my mom or grandma."
"Are you talking about Celeste LeBlac?" Roy asked.
"Yes," Norah replied. "She's my aunt."
"If you want to wait a few minutes I can give you a lift after I finish up with this tune-up. I'm supposed to deliver some generator parts to your aunt today. I do have one stop to make on the way but that shouldn't take much time." Roy invited.
"That sounds good to me," I replied. After a long day of chasing Moose through the countryside, I was grateful to get a ride and for a chance to sit down for a while.
"Great," Roy replied, disappearing back inside the garage before calling back. "Penny, why don't you take the girls inside for a cold glass of root beer."
" Sure thing, Dad." She answered and led us inside the waiting area. "We make our own root beer and I have to say that it's the best that you can find in the whole state."
"I JUST HAVE TO DROP off a case of root beer for the Landry brothers," Roy said as he drove off the highway onto a long dirt driveway leading up to a large ramshackle two-story farmhouse with badly peeling paint.
We had just pulled up in front of the house when a gun-shot went off inside and the front door was flung open by two elderly men who shot out the door each running in a different direction as fast as their legs would take them. If the situation hadn't been so serious it would have looked pretty comical. They both looked to be at least in their eighties and I was amazed that they could move so fast.
"What in the hell -" Roy breathed. Before calling to the one that was closest to us. "Jeb, what's going on?"
Upon hearing his voice the elderly man jogged over to the pickup, "My girlfriend Lois, just turned into a zombie. One minute she seemed perfectly fine and the next she was trying to have me for dinner. I think that Clem might have shot her, she's not coming out anyway but neither is Judy."
"Who's Judy?" Roy asked.
"She's Clem's girlfriend, we were getting ready to have dinner when Lois turned."
"That doesn't sound good," I said and pulled
my shotgun from its sheath. Most likely Judy was already dead but we needed to check it out as quickly as possible just in case she was trapped inside the house.
"No, it doesn't, Roy replied and grabbed his shotgun from the gun rack in his pickup. "Jeb, you stay here with the pickup and we'll go see if Judy is still alive."
"Don't worry I'm not moving from this spot until we know that Lois is dead."
"Be very quiet," Roy whispered as we approached the house. "I'll cover the front door. Kaley, you check the window and be ready to draw the zombie out. Norah, we're going to need you to cover the two of us."
We nodded our assent and I went around to the right side of the porch and crept up to the window. I held my breath when one of the boards creaked loudly and my right foot almost went through the rotten wood. I reached the window and slowly exhaled, looking through the dirty glass I could make out some movement inside the room but was unable to see clearly.
Taking a chance I wiped off some of the dirt in order to get a better view. Unfortunately, things didn't look so good for Judy. In the doorway to the kitchen, I could see a woman's body lying on the floor with another woman bent over her. Turning to Roy I shook my head and made a throat-cutting motion. He nodded his understanding and motioned for me to proceed.
I checked to see that Norah was in place before crossing over to the front door and slamming the screen door. The zombie looked up with blood dripping down her pale face and snarled when she saw me standing at the door. I waved my hands and attracted by the movement she took a couple of tottering steps toward me and then just stopped seemingly confused.
"Dammit," I swore and waved my hands again. Zombies weren't exactly intelligent, to begin with, but this one was acting even dumber than usual. "She won't come out," I called back to Roy and Norah. "It looks like we're going to have to go in after her." I couldn't believe it when she turned around as if to go back into the kitchen.