Chapter Five
15 June 2011, 1523 hours 4 Old Trout Lane, 10 miles north of Holden, Massachusetts
The mood was tense in the house ever since the attack. Their little sanctuary had been violated and it startled everyone back into combat footing. Without any discussion Frays, Lacey and Rodriguez kept their weapons on them at all times now, locked and loaded. Amy also made sure they had cleaned and loaded the magazines of the two Remington 870s and their new (to them) 1014 twelve gauge shotguns in the gun cabinet, along with her father’s Winchester 1894 .30-30 rifle, ready to go at a moment’s notice if need be. The weight in her LCS’s map pocket reminded her that Dad’s pistol would…probably need some attention…
They also prepped the Humvee, stocking the back with a few cases of MREs from the attic and putting fresh water from the hose rolled up on the back of the cabin in the water cans as well as two plastic ammo cans packed with shotgun shells, half of the rounds for Carl’s rifle, the Winchester and the .45 automatic so if worse came to worse they could fight their way to the truck and bug out. Their rucksacks were also packed as well as they could with food, spare water and what little clothing they had and staged in the hall next to the bathroom door ready to be grabbed at a moment’s notice.
Lacey and Frays also spent a little time rigging up a surprise for anyone who might think of stealing the vehicle with one of Rodriguez’s flashbang grenades. The metal cylinder was taped onto the side of the driver’s seat with a thin wire wrapped around the pin then attached to the door, so that if someone threw it open it would pull the pin and detonate the grenade. The noise would alert those in the house and leave the would be thief in a state that would make it easier for them to capture.
Frays and Lacey also checked the generator and boiler in the soundproofed room under the deck. Dad had stapled heavy baffling insulation to the concrete walls, ceiling and floor so that when they had to run the generator it would not make a lot of noise. Of course, George just wanted a good night’s sleep for his family when they came up to spend a week fishing in the summer or hunting in the fall and was not at all concerned about zombies. In the end the result was the same: the machinery could not be heard much beyond the door.
Amy frowned as she rapped on the generator’s fuel tank. It was about halfway full, so they would definitely have to do more to conserve gasoline or take a trip out to the road to hunt for stalled cars. The boiler seemed to be okay, but the two of them decided to grab all the manuals they could find for them so they could study the books later. Lacey and Frays tossed a couple logs onto the fire in it just to be on the safe side. The hot showers seemed to be about the only good thing anyone could say about the place right now anyway.
The refrigerator was almost empty of perishables and there was not much left in the freezer so Frannie thawed out the plastic bags of frozen meat and vegetables and prepared a veritable feast for her friends if nothing else to try and cheer everyone up a little. She could not help but feel horrible for them especially Carl and the kids. At least Frays and Lacey still had each other to lean on. She could not help but smile a little whenever she thought about finding the two of them asleep in each other’s arms the morning after the attack.
With the windows boarded over the interior of the cabin was kind of gloomy without the electric lights. However there was still plenty of natural gas in the tank on the side of the house so they could cook and, once winter came, have a little extra heat if they needed it. Amy also came up with a work schedule and posted it on the fridge with a Garfield the Cat magnet. That done, they could at least sort of relax a little bit.
Lacey could not help but keep a close watch on Frays. When they had taken shelter in that high school in Concord almost a month ago the woman had suffered from a pretty serious bout of insomnia. She seemed okay now at least as long as they had something to do. Of course Frays had managed to find things to do for almost three or four days at a stretch. He could not help but wonder how bad it had been for the baby the first time around, let alone what a repeat performance might do. And then there was what he and Eamon had done which probably did not help the kid at all.
It was a relief to hear his friend’s snoring when they bedded down that night. Nobody said anything, but they all crashed in the living room within sight of each other with a watch schedule established. Lacey glanced at Frays as he was falling asleep. Part of him wanted to ask if she would like to climb in his sleeping bag with him.
Frannie smiled as she watched the children playing with the toys she had brought back from town for them the following morning. It was good to see them starting to do stuff on their own again. For the last couple of days Paulie and Becca would get upset if they were not within sight of one of the grownups. She could not help but think that it kind of strange the way the little ones seemed to take to her. After she had gotten out of the hospital Rodriguez could not help but notice the way kids clung to their parents or people quickly looked away as she passed them on the street.
A bitter memory sprung to mind from about a year and a half ago: she was out at the bodega down the block from her mother’s apartment to get some stuff to make dinner for her mom when she got home from work. She was supposed to be spending the day combing the neighborhood looking for a new job but pickings were slim. Mom had been a little pissed because she had not left the apartment in a couple days to go look. Frannie could not bring herself to explain that this camel jockey had set up his falafel cart or whatever the fuck it was on the corner.
Frannie had almost pissed her pants in the building’s foyer when she saw the guy throw something in the trash can outside the front door, go back over to his cart and pull out his cell phone. There was something in the man’s eyes that made the hair stand up on the back of her neck, every single nerve in her body screaming that it was a trap that there was an IED in the trash can despite how fucking stupid she told herself she was being. He might have been looking at her like that just because she had been staring at him but still…
She had been so freaked out and terrified that she had spent a couple hours locked in the bathroom crying her eyes out, so scared that she was puking her fucking guts up and shaking like a leaf fighting the urge to call the police or something while she waited for an explosion to take the façade of the building off. She ended up washing down some Percocet with a pint of cheap brandy and watching trashy daytime talk shows for most of the day. There was a hazy memory of an argument sometime yesterday but she was too high and drunk to really remember the details very well. Having a hot meal on the table when Mom got home would at least get the woman out of her asshole for a little bit.
So she had been out looking for a job all morning that day and stopped off to get stuff so there’d be dinner on the table when Mom got home. She noticed this cute Dominican guy she had seen around the neighborhood come in and they made eye contact briefly, just long enough to exchange smiles. The guy tried to make it look like he was being nonchalant about it, but he was coming towards her with a purpose. Frannie remembered snickering a little as she put a loaf of bread and a jug of milk into her basket. She had been stalked by professionals and this guy was definitely an amateur by comparison.
The guy worked his way over to her, coming from the left. “Hey, mamacita.” he began, getting into his ‘rap’ strait away. Frannie could feel his eyes on her ass, checking out her rack as he pretended to search the cans of dog food on the shelf in front of him. She was wearing a pair of kacki colored slacks and a snug fitting deep red polo shirt. The top three buttons of the shirt were open showing the hint of cleavage. Not terribly professional attire for a job interview but well…anything to draw attention away from her face. “Do I know you?”
The cocky little grin on his face disappeared when she turned to look at him replaced by an almost cartoonish expression of abject horror. She left her stuff in the middle of the aisle and marched out of the bodega and right into a bar a few blocks away where she got absolutely shitfaced on the money meant to buy food
plus what little extra cash she had in the bank at the time.
Frays tapped her friend on the arm, startling Rodriguez out of her thoughts. Amy smiled a little and nodded towards the table. “You guys feel up to playing a little Risk or something?” Frays asked as she crossed to the little cabinet next to the table and started poking around inside. Lacey was sitting on the couch watching his kids playing on the floor. Carl barely seemed to notice. The boy seemed stuck in a funk ever since the morning after they had gotten back and had thrown up a couple times yesterday. Frannie could tell by the perpetually cheery way Amy kept suggesting activities she had to be worried sick about her little brother.
“So, what’s it gonna be?” Frays asked as she stood up with a couple different board games in her hands. “Monopoly? Risk? Trivial Pursuit?” Amy set the boxes on the table and looked around at the others.
“Uh uh. Not Trivial Pursuit.” Rodriguez said quietly as she sat down at the table and looked into the living room, hoping that Carl would join them. “You always kick my ash….butt.” Lacey smiled at the way Frannie had kept herself from swearing in front of the kids. He still had to remind her to watch her language in front of Becca and Paulie once in awhile but she was getting better about it. It made him think of Frays’ mom scolding her son… “How about Monopoly? I get to be the shoe.”
Amy snickered. “Alright, fine but I call dibs on the racecar.” she said and glanced at the others in the living room. “Who else wants to play? Lacey? C’mon, Carl. Want to be the top hat?” She seemed to deflate a little when the boy barely acknowledged that his sister had spoken to him. Frannie gave her friend a sympathetic look as she opened the box and started setting up the game.
All of sudden Frays pushed away from the table and leapt to her feet, crossing to her brother in the recliner in two or three quick steps. “Look at me, you little punk!” Amy shouted her face flushed with anger as she grabbed a double handful of Carl’s Dropkick Murphys tee shirt and started shaking the boy like a ragdoll. “Mom’s dead. Dad’s dead. They’re gone, alright? I’m not losing you too, so just snap the heck out of it!”
She stopped suddenly aware of what had just happened. Becca and Paulie left their toys on the floor and scurried into their father’s arms, staring at Frays with wide frightened eyes as if she had suddenly lost her mind. Amy frowned at her brother and shook her head disgustedly, slowly releasing him and turning to go out on the deck. Rodriguez and Lacey looked at each other for a moment after Frays threw open the door and closed it so hard that it banged into the frame and bounced open a couple inches.
“It’s alright, guys.” Lacey said reassuringly to his children as he extracted himself from them. “Daddy’s just gonna check on Amy. Don’t worry. Frannie’s right here.” He glanced over at Frannie, who nodded uneasily. He found Frays sitting on the deck leaning against the house’s aluminum siding with her head in her hands. The Marine stood there a moment, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He could see that she was breathing heavily, on the verge of tears. “You alright, Frays?”
Frays sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Fine.” she muttered sharply. He sat down next to her, resting his forearms on his knees. They had not been alone together since the incident in the foyer. Part of him wanted to put an arm around Amy’s waist, to hold her close and give her comfort. He wondered if she would get mad at him if he tried.
Adam glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Frays was trembling with her face in her hands so he could not tell if she was crying or not. He really, really hoped not. “My parents are dead, my brother hates me…” Frays grumbled quietly her chest heaving as she struggled to not break down.
Adam’s face wrinkled up in a quick little smile as he slipped an arm around her shoulders, moving his hand up and down Amy’s arm soothingly. “I’m sure Carl doesn’t hate you.” he whispered in her ear. Frays was shorter and more solidly built than Laura but her shoulder seemed to fit just right inside his armpit. He squeezed Frays and grinned slightly when she put her arm around him. “It’s probably more of a mild dislike at worst.”
She snorted and glanced at Lacey, shaking her head for a second then pinching the bridge of her nose. Frays squirmed, as if she was unsure if she was entirely comfortable with the situation or not. She hissed when Lacey moved his hand to the base of her neck. “I just want him to be okay.” Amy muttered quietly then she smiled awkwardly. “Stupid hormones.”
Adam laughed as he stood up, grabbed a plastic chair and plopped down in it next to her. The man smiled and motioned for her to lean against his shins. The woman complied, a look of mild reluctance on her face. Frays gasped when Lacey put his hands on either side of her neck and started kneading, beginning at the base of her skull and slowly working his way down to her shoulders. Adam frowned when he felt an alarming bulge in the base of her neck. “Gah!” Frays shouted as a lightning bolt shot through her shoulder and down to the tips of the fingers of her left hand when Lacey’s hands got near it. “What the heck did you do?” she asked, staring at her hand as she tentatively wriggled her fingers. Her arm felt sort of numb and tingly at the same time as she opened and closed her hand and tried to shake the strange feeling out of her limb. She glanced from her hand to Adam then scowled at her hand.
Adam frowned when he remembered the spill that Amy had taken on their mission to the grocery store the other day never mind her…other injuries. “Sorry! Sorry!” he said quietly, pulling his hands off the woman as if she were made of hot metal. “There’s some swelling in your neck here. Let’s see if we can find you a cold pack or something.” Lacey stood then helped Frays to her feet. He looked critically at her for a moment. “Have you been taking any of the aspirin we brought back?”
Frays nodded thanks to Lacey when he opened the door for her. “No. I’m afraid it would hurt the baby.” she said quietly. Amy wandered over to the couch and sat down while Lacey went into the bathroom and rooted around in Eamon’s bag, preparing one of the precious cold packs inside by squeezing it and sloshing the chemicals inside so that they mixed. The children were at the table goofing around with the pieces of the Monopoly game with Rodriguez. Paulie glanced up from the game board and frowned, his face pinched up in anger. He had seen what Daddy and Amy were doing outside.
“Is Amy going to be our new Mommy?” Paulie asked as his dad came back into the dining area with a cold pack and a towel in his hands. Adam stopped and looked at his son then turned to Amy, first mock throwing the cold pack then actually tossing it to Frays when she held up her hand to catch it. The boy looked up at his father, his little face trembling with anger. “I don’t want a new Mommy. I want regular Mommy.”
Adam knelt next to his son and hugged him tight. “Amy…” he started, trying to explain what was going on in a way that the little boy would understand. “I know you miss Mommy, Paulie. I do too.” he said quietly as he held his boy. “Amy’s my friend and she’s just sad because she misses her Mommy and Daddy too.”
“They went away when the Bad People came, like Mommy did right?” Becca asked, looking for confirmation from either of the adults at the table. The look of genuine puzzlement on the little girl’s face brought tears to Frannie’s eyes. It was what they had agreed to tell the children even though they were probably old enough to understand what had happened and Amy’s little outburst probably did not help keep up the façade very well. Jessica, George and their mother had gone away when the ‘Bad People’ came. Becca climbed down from her chair and came around the table then climbed up on the woman’s lap. “Right?”
Oh God… Rodriguez thought and held the girl. “We’ll see ‘em again someday.” she said quietly, somehow able to sound way calmer than she felt. “Don’t worry.” Frannie and Adam’s eyes met for a brief moment. He nodded gratefully to the woman as he looked like he might break if he had to open his mouth.
It was quiet for awhile, the game forgotten on the table. Amy stood up from the couch and reluctantly went into the back bedroom, holding the cold pack in
place with one hand. She came back out a moment later juggling a large rag and a small wooden box as she tried to get the door shut without dropping anything. The young woman paused on the step between the dining area and living room. Frays glanced at the floor. “Carl…would you come out on the deck with me, please?” she asked, hoping the boy would agree.
Thankfully Carl rose from his seat and opened the door. Frays smiled at him and nodded thanks when he closed the door behind them. It was warm out and bright, especially as Carl had been inside for the better part of two days. They stood there blinking for a moment, waiting for their eyes to adjust. She set the box and the rag down on the table in the corner of the deck then set up a couple chairs. Amy took one and Carl sat down across from her, regarding the young woman with indifference as she spread the rag on the table in front of her.
Frays reached into the map pocket of her LCS and pulled out Dad’s .45, still in its holster and crusty with dried blood. She tugged the weapon out of the leather holster and cleared it, ejecting the magazine and racking the slide to remove the round in the chamber then double checked that the chamber was empty with the tip of her pinky finger. “Did Dad ever tell you anything about this gun?” she asked as she released the slide lock, pressed in the recoil spring plug and carefully removed the bushing.
Amy noticed that Carl sat up a little and leaned forward slightly as she removed the slide stop and set it on the rag. “Our Grandpa Joe bought this pistol when he was an Army private in the infantry when he got sent to Vietnam.” she said quietly, noting the boy’s interest as Amy flipped the pistol upside down and removed the slide from its frame. She swiveled the barrel bushing around and removed the barrel then set about scrubbing all the little metal parts with a piece of fabric and solvent from the kit. Carl had never met their grandpa and she vaguely remembered a kindly old man with a white beard that gave her candy. He had died when she was about the same age as Lacey’s kids. “He gave it to Dad when he joined the Marines.” Frays said quietly, finishing with getting the…organic matter…off of the writing engraved into the slide then started in on the frame. “Dad carried it with him when he went to go fight in Desert Storm.”
Outbreak: Brave New World Page 12