E52

by Lowther, Shawna Stewart

  Tommy's feeding frenzy continues for over a half of an hour. Once I feel that Tommy has had enough food I walk over to the back door and slowly open it. Tommy is still eating, his face buried in the man’s midsection. Tommy glances up for a second, blood and bits of the man’s internal organs smeared across his face.

  He smiles, showing his blood covered teeth.

  'Thank you Mommy,” He states.

  I stare in disbelief. How could such a small child eat so much. By the time he finally finishes eating there is merely specks of flesh left on the man, and where his intestines were once housed, is but a hole.

  “Tommy is full now,” He states, exciting the car.

  He is calm and by his actions I can tell that I have satisfied his hunger, well at least for now.

  “See Mommy, I won't hurt you,” he suddenly states. “So you don't have to tie me up any more.”

  It had never dawned on me that he understood the truth as to why I had to keep him tied up.

  “I am sorry,” I explain, “Mommy just don't want you to bite her.”

  Tommy giggles. “Okay.”

  There is not a spec on Tommy's body that is covered in blood so I need to get him cleaned, but I can not leave the carcass in the car; not only will it start to stink, but just the thought of it being in there sickens me. Besides, blood is one thing, but a half eaten body in my trunk would be hard to explain.

  After taking the remains out of the trunk, I close the lid and instruct Tommy to follow me into the house. I am both too mentally and physically tired to worry about burying the remains.

  Once inside the house I close the door behind us and search for the bathroom. It just down the hallway from the living room between two bedrooms. I walk over to the bathtub and turn the faucet on. The water is cold; once again there will be no warm water for us to bath in.

  “I am sorry the water is so cold,”I state, feeling Tommy shiver.

  “Its okay,” He smiles, placing his hand under the streaming water. “It isn’t that cold.”

  With a little help from me Tommy gets into the tub. The water instantly turns red so I decide it would be best to release the stopper until I can get the blood off of him. I do not want him bathing in the disgusting water.

  It take a few minutes to get the blood off of his skin, but I manage to get every speck of it off.

  “Did the man that tried to attack you bite or scratch you?” I ask.

  “I don’t think so,” he answers looking at his arms.

  I have never been quite certain that if he was bit or scratched by one of the Creetions, it would make him worst, so it is a fear that continues to haunt me. Is he enough like them that the poison that they omit wouldn’t affect him? Or would he instantly change? This is something I pray that I never have to worry about.

  I have him stand up so that I can check his entire body for possible scratches or bites. It appears that he is free of any. I plug the tub and let him play in the water as long as he wants.

  “I am getting cold,” he states, between chattering teeth.

  He stands up and puts his leg over the side.

  “Will you help me?” He asks.

  I smile and help him out. He skin is colder than usual and has a darker color gray about it than usual.

  “We will look upstairs and see if there is anything you can wear,” I say, wrapping Tommy in a old towel I spot on the floor.

  In case my instincts were wrong and we encounter any more of the walking dead, I hold the gun one hand and situate Tommy between my other arm and waste, his legs hugging my hip.

  One step at a time I walk slowly up the stairs, ensuring that the wood does not creak beneath my feet.

  The rest of the house appears as silent as the bottom floor of the house. I open the door I come to and peak in. The room is unoccupied by either the living or the dead. By the pink walls and princess toys lying about it is obvious that this is a little girls room. I will not be able to find clothes for Tommy in here so I turn and walk out the door.

  “I don’t think you want to wear girls clothes,” I chuckle.

  “Yuck,” Tommy laughs.

  The next room is just feet away. I open the door and peak in. It to is deserted and to my delight is decorated in more of a boys motif with blue curtains, little toy trucks and a baseball themed blanket lying on the twin bed.

  “Maybe we can find something in here,” I state walking over to the first dresser I see.

  I find a shirt and some pants, so I set Tommy down on the edge bed.

  “They look to be your size,” I smile.

  The clothing fits perfectly on his body, so I decide that before we leave I will take a few more outfits.

  “Is that better?” I ask.

  Tommy smiles, laying back on the bed.

  He yawns.

  “Are you tired?” I ask.

  He yawns again, “Yes.”

  I pull the covers down and instruct him to crawl to underneath them.

  “You take a nap and I will go look through the rest of the house. When I know it is safe I will come lay with you.” I explain.

  I thought I had lost him and that fear was enough that I don’t care anymore if he has any intentions of biting me. I have to trust my son or I will never be able to show him the love he needs, and if something was to happen I want him to remember being loved and not being a monster that his mommy was scared of.

  I kiss his forehead, tuck him in and after another quick glimpse of him quietly resting, I close the door behind me.

  There is only one room up here that I have not checked and a few downstairs. I need to check them all before I can feel safe enough to relax for the night. Prepared to shoot anything that may moves, I walk over to the last room upstairs and open the door. The room is much different than the rest of the house, resembling more of what you would expect to see as a farmhouse decor. The feeling of peace is apparent throughout the room with flower curtains and a quilt to match. The country accents nicely accentuating the pink striped walls. The room reminds me of my grandparents room.

  “Maybe this was a grandma's room,” I think to myself.

  Curious I walk further in the room. Small pictures line the top of an old dresser. They are newer pictures, mainly of small children... children that I believe are the ones that use to reside in this home.

  “How cute,” I think in my mind, picking up a picture of a little boy. His hair his black, his skin dark and eyes that sparkle like an angel. I set the picture down and pick up another. This child is much different than the last. The little girl appears to be Asian, with dark hair, light skin and the most adorable round face. If I was to guess, I would say she is around nine years old. There are at least ten pictures of different children all of different races, ages and sex.

  “All these children were adopted,” I state, spotting multiple framed adoption papers surrounding a hand-embroidered picture on the wall. The pictures read: “I did not give you life but you brought life to me.”

  I let out a loud sigh and walk out of the room.

  It only take a few minutes to search the bottom half of the farmhouse with only a family-room and one other bedroom that I had not searched. The house is free of anyone except for the man I killed earlier.

  “I need to get him out of here,” I think in my head.

  I walk into the kitchen and walk over to the man. Reaching down I grab his legs and begin to pull. He is heavy but with great determination I am able to get him from the kitchen to the front door. I drag him out and push him off of the side of the porch. I walk back in and pick up the remains of the dog. I silently thank the dog for saving my sons life, lie him on the porch and cover him with a crochet blanket from the couch.

  “Now I need to clean up,” I say to myself, closing and locking the front door.

  From today’s events I have gotten blood all over me again. Most of which is dry and crusted on my skin, causing me to itch. I venture down the hallway to the what I believe to be the parents room and go
inside. I need to find some cleans clothes to wear so I do not take time to look around; I head straight to the closet and rummage through the clothes. After finding a summer dress I go into the bathroom and turn on the bath. I know the water will be cold, but I need to get this muck off of me.

  After the tub is filled I place my feet in. Instantly I shiver as my skin comes in contact with the icy water.

  “Just act like it is a hot day and you are going swimming,” I think to myself. “And just get in.”

  As I emerge the rest of my body the coldness causes me to lose my breath. I gasp

  “Brr,” I say aloud.

  At first I try to endure the brisk water, but my body will not allow me to relax. Trembling, I grab a bottle of shampoo and quickly wash my hair.

  “I cant take it anymore,” I think to myself, leaping from the bathtub and drying off.

  I get dressed quickly and walk up to the room where I left Tommy sleeping. I open the door. He is still sleeping, soft snoring comes from within him. I crawl under the blankets and try to get my body warm. It takes a while but I finally stop shaking.

  “That is better,” I think in my head as my body relaxes.

  I am tired but today's events keep running through my mind. Two times today I could have lost my son. I am not sure if I alone will be able to continue to protect him.

  “I have to find that man that John spoke of,” I think, my mind fading in unconsciousness. “Mr. Marvin

  My eyes close and I fall asleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next morning I wake to the sunshine on my face. It is warm and feels good on my skin. For a moment I forget all the bad in the world and lie there and enjoy the moment.

  “Boo,” Tommy yells peeking his head out from under the covers.

  He giggles.

  “Good morning,” I smile, turning my body toward him.

  His smile brightens the room even more.

  “I am hungry,” He states.

  Forgetting that his hunger means I will have to kill again I sit up and start tickling him. I have the need to smother him with my love.

  He laughs for a while and then suddenly stops.

  “Mommy I am really hungry,” He states again.

  “Okay,let's go downstairs and see if there is anything we can eat,” I suggest.

  Knowing that anything can happen while one is sleeping I walk over to the door, lean against the door and listen. Once I am confident that there is no one in the hallway I unlock the door and open it. The sun is shining bright through the downstairs windows, lighting up the house. It looks to be a nice day outside and I feel confident that today will be the day that we will make it to the compound or possible find Mr. Marvin.

  Always keeping aware of our surrounding, I lead Tommy to the kitchen. There is blood scattered among the floor and walls so I sit David down at the table and tell him to wait.

  More than likely the refrigerator will not be working, but I always make it a point to check just in case.

  To my surprise it is on and fully packed with what appears to be fresh food. I glance around and look for a light switch and flip it to the on position. The light turns on.

  “They must have a generator that is powering the kitchen,” I think in my head. “But where would it be?”

  I look around the kitchen for anything that appears to be a generator.

  “Nothing,” I think in my head, walking to the back window.

  A quick glance outside and I understand how it is that they have electricity. They have their own electric generating windmill sitting in the yard.

  “One of the lucky ones,” I say to myself, walking back over to the fridge.

  Every package is individually marked with what kind of meat it is and when it was package, making it easy to find something to eat. I pull out a package marked “bacon” and some eggs that I find in a glass bowl.

  “The people who lived here must be near,” I say beneath my breath.

  Opening the package of bacon I smell it. Its fresh.

  “Fresh bacon and eggs,” I whisper. “Man is this going to be good.”

  “When you get done can we go play with the animals?” Tommy asks.

  “What animals? I inquire, searching the cabinets for a pan.

  “The animals in the barn,” He answers.

  I glance over at Tommy.

  “When were you in the barn?” I ask.

  “Yesterday.” He answers. “There were babies in there. I want to play with the babies.”

  He smiles

  “Sure, If it is safe.” I answer.

  The oven is propane so as long as there is still some propane in the tank outside cooking the meal should not be a problem. Within seconds the burner turns scorching red and the smell of cooking bacon fills the kitchen. It has been months since I have smelled something so good. I cook the entire package, sneaking bites of the crunchy meat every once in a while.

  “Here you go,” I state, handing Tommy a plate of food.

  He looks down at the food and then pushes the plate away.

  “What is wrong?” I ask.

  “This smells yucky,” He states.

  “You are going to have to eat this,” I snap. “Remember what we talked about? You can not eat like the others anymore.”

  Tommy looks at me and throws his plate across the room, the ceramic plate hitting the window on the far side of the room.

  “Now you go over there and pick that up,” I demand. “That was very bad.

  I take a bite of bacon and cut my egg allowing the yolk to run freely on the plate.

  Pouting like a normal three year old would, he leaves his chair and walks over to the window. He stops and stares, glaring outside.

  “Look Mommy,” He states, pointing toward the barn. “There are people out there.”

  I drop my fork and glance over at Tommy. The curtain is obscuring my view.

  “Where?” I ask.

  “Right here.” He states, opening the curtain a bit more.

  I gasp and begin to choke on the bite of food I have just taken. There is a man standing at the window. He is one of the dead walkers. His face is against the window, he has spotted Tommy.

  “Get away from there,” I scream, standing up to retrieve my son.

  Just as I scream the man breaks through the window, reaching out to grab my son. Tommy screams, turns and before I can get to him, he is by my side.

  “How did you see?” I ask, shooting the man in the head.

  “I don't know mommy but there are more right there,” He states pointing to the window behind me.

  I snap my head back and glance over. There is a least ten of the dead walkers standing on the porch, our whereabouts known to them all. They slam their heads and their arms on the large plane glass window. It cracks.

  “Shit!” I yell. “There is only like three shots left in the gun, I left all the ammo in the car.”

  Swooping Tommy up in my arms, I rush upstairs. I do not have complete hold of him so half the way up he slips, his legs drag on the stairs, banging on the wooden steps.

  “Which room do we go into?” I question in my head.

  There is three rooms up here, one on each side of the house, the other situated in the middle. I had forgotten to plan a way out n case of an emergency, so I do not know which one would be easiest to escape from. How could I have been so careless.

  “Grandma's room,” I state.

  The walking dead have made it into the house, so there is no more time to waist. I have to get in a secure room and hopefully be able to make it outside to the car.

  Pulling Tommy beside me I do not worry about hurting him, I drag him along and rush into the room, close the door and scoot a dresser in front of the door.

  “Sit right there,” I instruct Tommy, setting him on the rocking chair. “Mommy needs to look outside.

  The chair is next to the window so I feel better knowing that Tommy is close to me. I open the curtain and look out. There is a small sect
ion of roof outside the window just big enough for us to stand on.

  “Mommy is going to step right out here to see if there is a way to the car,” I state, “If you need me just yell and I will come right back.”

  “But listen,” he says.

  Tommy points the door. The walking dead have already made it up stairs and sounds to be right outside the door.

  “Your going to have to go with me,” I say, afraid that they will be able to break through my barricade.

  Carefully I step out the window, reach my hand out for Tommy and help him out. The roof is steep so it is hard to keep our balance.

  “Take small steps and hang on to my dress,” I instruct.

  With the roof being at such slope I will have to hang onto the wood siding. The sections between the wood siding is small, and hard to keep hold of. My fingers instantly begin to cramp as I continue to make my way to the front part of the house It is flatter and lower there so I feel confident that once we conquer this small area we will be able to find a way down and get to the car.

  “Mommy my legs hurt,” Tommy states.

  Tommy is using all the muscles in his leg to keep him from slipping.

  “I know,” I assure him, “We are almost there, so just hold on tight.”

  Once we reach the step-down on the roof, I keep hold on the wood slats as tight as I can and reach for Tommy. The muscles in my hand begin to burn as the muscles are being overused.

  I grasp his arm with the intention of flinging him around my body and down the the front porch area of the roof. He is heavy, to heavy for my wounded arm to lift.

  “You are going to have to pull yourself up and crawl over my body,” I state.

  Confused Tommy looks up at me.

  “Use my dress like a rope and pull yourself up and over me. There is a ledge right over here that you will be able to get to and be safe.” I instruct.

  He does as told and crawls up my dress. His weight pulling my dress toward my backside, causing the collar of the dress to pull tightly against the front of my neck. I feel as if I can not breath and fear that if he does not hurry I will pass out.