by Mark Clodi
"Blam! The contender hits the zombie between the eyes! Another dead zed."
"Ow!" Hon raised his hand to his head, "That hurt!"
"Jesus Jed, you play hard."
"Aw, c'mon, it's no big deal, the zed will play with you harder than that."
"Yeah, I guess." said the boy, taking a metal spoon and stirring the potatoes.
The older men moved away and let the boy take care of the cooking, Jed motioned to Bubba's recreational vehicle and they hopped inside. Bubba moved to the thermostat and the heater started up with a smooth whirring sound. Sitting down one one side of the table Jed put his feet up on the only chair and put his hands behind his head. Bubba moved around to the bench on the other side of the table and said, "You're kinda hard on the boy sometimes."
"We need to toughen him up. He can't be a kid, there are no kids anymore."
"Well he is a kid. You can't make him an adult just by punching in the head and saying 'man up'."
"No?"
Grinning and shaking his head Bubba said, "No."
"Let me ask you something, about you and the boy."
"Shoot."
"He kinda is attached to you, like a dad now."
"Yeah, I guess."
"You 'guess'? Is it something else? You sleeping with him or something?"
Bubba lashed out without thinking boxing Jed upside the head with one of his meaty hands, somehow he was on his feet staring down at the other man, who was cowering backwards on the seat, raising his hands in a placating manner. His voice came out in a ragged, cut burst, "Don't you ever say something like that. Don't you ever! I will kill you if talk such filth about me and Hon, I will fucking kill you!"
"Back off! Back off Bubba!" said Jed, regaining some of his composure, "The guys and I have been wondering that's all, not like there is a cop we can go running to or a prison to put you."
Still brimming with anger Bubba said, "Bullshit they've been wondering. You've been wondering. You've known me all my life, all my fucking life! And I know you too, Jed. Don't you forget I know you too! There is a reason that boy is in here with me and not in your RV with you, you son of a bitch!"
"Okay. Okay. I was out of line. I apologize. No need to go making this world war four or anything. Just calm down. You're right too, completely right, I ain't no good with kids and I ain't got no business questioning yours."
"And you lay off a him too! No more of this shit hitting him in the head or tripping him or giving him all the shit jobs that don't even need done!"
"A boy's gotta stay busy Bubba. I just keep him busy, keep him outta the way."
"You gotta stay busy, you stay outta the way. And you lay off Hon, we clear?"
Nodding his head Jed answered, "Crystal Bub. This is the last time it will come up. I ain't going to go easy on him though, but I won't be such a hard ass anymore either. We gotta teach him to survive. C'mon, sit down."
"Survive Jed? Survive? Are we surviving here okay? Think about this for a minute, Hon found us. Not the other way around. He was out there on his own for how long? Three months? With them? And he managed just fine. Seems to me he don't need us at all and I can't for the life of me think of why he puts up with all your shit when he could just walk."
"Aw we ain't that bad." seeing anger in Bubba's eyes, he quickly amended his statement, "I mean, I ain't that bad."
"You are that bad. You done crossed a line here Jed. Normally I am content to put up with your shit myself, but you went too far. I know you weren't joking around when you asked, and I know exactly what you were implying. As far as Hon is concerned he ain't none of your business."
Jed's eyes grew hard and he nodded once, briskly, "Good. That is the way it should be. A boy's gotta have a strong father figure looking out for him. I was afraid you weren't up to the job and I shoulda known better."
"This wasn't no test. We both know it."
Sighing, Jed once again nodded, but didn't say a word.
A soft knock came on the trailer door, then it opened, revealing Steve and Greg standing outside with their rifles, behind them, silhouetted by the flames on the grill Hon was still doing his best to cook their dinner.
"You guys done yellin' at each other?" asked Greg, "You got the boy all worked up."
"You don't say?" asked Jed.
"Sure enough he was about near crying." put in Steve.
"Now I doubt that." said Jed, his voice getting louder, "A strong boy like Hon don't get spooked when a couple of old friends are having words with each other."
Steve looked doubtful, but said, "Words, huh? Yelling loud enough to wake the dead. I thought you were gonna kill Jed here and then we'd be a player down on family game night."
"That'd make playing 'Axis and Allies' hard, 'cause you'd want to play two powers and you go slower than shit on your turn as it is." said Greg, referring to a board game the men played with Hon once a week.
"Nah, nothing was happening like that. We're okay, just sorting things out like men do. It turns out Bubba here has a bigger set of balls than I gave him credit for. No harm done. Hey Hon?!" Jed yelled at the boy.
"Yeah?"
"How're those steaks coming?"
"Burned on the outside, raw in the middle." Hon called back nervously.
The men laughed, this was a statement about how Jed cooked when he grilled. "Well okay then. Those potatoes warmed up?"
"Inna minute."
"We'll set the table in here then. Steve, why don't you give him a hand bringing that stuff in. Greg go get a bottle and me and Bubba here will get the places all set up for us."
When the men shut the door and left on their errands Jed turned to Bubba and said, "You were right and I am fool. I am sorry Bubba. You've always been a friend to me, even knowing how I am, and kept me outta more trouble over the years than I could have handled on my own."
"I never thought I'd live to hear you admit you was wrong about anything."
"I'm trying here."
"I still got some anger left."
"Okay. I can see that. Peace?"
"I won't kill you just yet, if we make it through dinner I will be fine. Why don't you go show Hon how to cook a steak right? You go make nice with him to make up for hitting him earlier. We both know you can and there's no sense in us sitting in here staring at each other, I'll just get mad again. And if he burned those steaks, you go cut off some new ones and show him how to cook them right. Lord knows we won't starve this winter, so there's no use yelling at him about it."
"I will lay off him, treat him better, I already said that, as for the steaks, I can do that too." And he did.
Chapter 7
Xavier padded around the perimeter of the fence warily. He found several good positions where he felt he would be unseen while keeping an eye on the building he thought the man had driven to. After he saw the original guy and a couple of his friends go in and out a few times he settled on the best roost to keep watch. Well after dark and once he knew they were asleep he left his perch and moved back towards town, making an effort to conceal his tracks as much as possible.
It was still snowing at a brisk pace, but Xavier used the terrain to cover his tracks when he could, a small stream was perfect for putting some distance between him and the warehouses. It was not yet cold enough for the water to freeze and he was able to get back to the ditch by the side of the road after putting a curve between himself and the men. When he got to the road he debated on traveling along it or busting through the woods just out of sight. Finally he decided to go through the woods, it made for a longer journey, but he didn't want to take the chance of leaving tracks that could be easily seen. The snow was still coming down, it might cover his foot prints, then again it might not. Xavier was not in a rush, the living were holed up in the warehouse, there was only one place for them to go from there, into Xavier's arms.
They were smarter, these ones. Xavier knew the pickings were getting slim and only the smartest bastards would still be alive, but this group may have gotten co
mplacent, the zombies in the area were all of the slow and stupid variety. The warehouse area looked like it had been full of smaller manufacturing plants, along with a shipping outlet off to one side. The men had chosen a building nested within the others to set up camp. Xavier had spotted at least three men coming in an out of the building.
'Three living guys, a feast!' he thought. The building that the men were hiding in had a huge bay door that a semi or bus could easily fit through, the man, however, had left the truck outside. ‘Why? Is the whole building full?’ wondered Xavier.
From the road a normal person would think the place was deserted, Xavier would have passed the place by without a second glance. It was clear the survivors had taken great care to hide their presence. When he had cased the buildings he had found that they were only fenced in on three sides, the back, which faced towards the swampy woods, was still open with just metal poles marking the perimeter. However, because the building they chose was near the center there was not a good way to approach the building without leaving tracks.
‘The roof maybe? Nah, no need yet, they aren't going anywhere.’ thought Xavier as he walked back towards town. ‘Tomorrow,’ he thought, ‘we will come out and get a better picture of how many are in there.’ He doubted it would be enough to give his gang any trouble. After all he had fifty two of the smartest zombies around waiting for him back in town.
Getting back to town was no problem at all, there were no humans living in the area, the place was a virtual wasteland and it was only pure luck that Xavier had heard Bubba's truck. The group of zombies had been heading south for days and if they had left twenty minutes earlier or later they would have missed the humans altogether. ‘Let's see what this po-dunk town has to offer.’ Xavier that as he arrived back to where he had left his 'friends'.
Approaching a much abused woman named Maggie, Xavier asked, “Anything sweet around here love?”
Maggie shook her bruised head, “Nothing you're going to like, so I guess it is beatings again for me tonight.” Her dark curly hair hung just below the level of her shoulders and her green eyes held a cold, uncaring look in them.
Xavier frowned, ‘She is getting uppity. And used to the abuse, which makes it less fun.’ He debated killing her on the spot and decided against it, “Define 'nothing you're going to like'.”
“Well Ed and Tom say the pharmacy was already cleaned out. The Big box store has a drug store attached, maybe there is something there. Gary still has that ditch weed he found yesterday, but probably not enough to do more than buzz you. I didn't...”
“Boss!” called a voice, interrupting Maggie from a distance, “I got something good!”
Xavier continued to stare at Maggie for a moment and said “Get out of my sight. I don't want to see hide nor hair of you....”
“Boss!” called the persistent voice, interrupting again, “You hear, I got horse, a shit ton of it too!”
Turning his head away from Maggie, Xavier looked towards the speaker, who was carrying a black leather bag. The zombie had a great big grin on his face. “Dammit, Jeff! Can't you see I am dealing with Maggie here? Just gimme a moment and I will get to you.”
Turning back to the woman he was surprised to see she was gone. “Fuck! Goddamn it!” Whirling on a surprised Jeff, Xavier lashed out at the over-sized man, crushing his cheek bone and knocking three teeth from his mouth. The large, soft man went down with a cry and laid on the ground scrabbling with one hand to gather up his teeth in the shallow snow of the sidewalk.
Xavier stomped on Jeff's arm, snapping it, then aimed a kick at his ribs. His foot smashed through the ribcage and lodged itself in the fallen zombie's chest. Jeff moaned and writhed like a snake, trying to get off of Xavier's foot. Eventually Xavier pulled his leg free then looked at the bloody mess on his boot.
Bending down Xavier said, “You fucked up my boot. Clean it off.”
Propping himself on the elbow of his broken arm Jeff used his other hand to scrub his blood off of the boot. Xavier waited patiently and while he did the other zombies of the group gathered around. Most seemed apathetic to Jeff's plight; they had all been there. A few were still new to the troupe and looked on with a mixture of pity, fear and shame. Xavier looked around to see which of his people were showing the most empathy, he filed the information away for later. Those were the individuals that were the most fun to exploit. Jeff was one of the zombies Xavier regarded as broken, like a loyal dog the man followed him around and didn't mind a good ass kicking once in a while. Jeff had been overweight when he died and he was very tall. After coming back his muscle tone softened his features making him look like a giant eunuch of yesteryear. Like Xavier, Jeff didn't wear a shirt; he emulated his master as much as he could.
“You're done.” said Xavier, yanking his boot away from Jeff, “the only reason I got you in the ribs, instead of your head, was because you brought me something. Otherwise you would be dead. Now...what did you bring me Jeff?”
Jeff was reverting, his injuries were healing with extraordinary speed, but such efforts took a lot of the energy he had stored up from devouring the living and drained him of mental prowess. Slowly he rose to his knees and picked up the black bag to hand to his master. The white broken bones of his ribs were covered again in tight, paper thin flesh. “Drugs. Heroin and needles.”
Xavier smiled.
Chapter 8
They were snowed in. Hon loved it, except he could not go outside to play; the men didn't want any tracks around where they lived. The farthest any of them went outside was to visit the shitter they had set up across the alley before the snow fell. Pissing at the edge of the building was one thing, shitting, as Jed said, was something else entirely. They had three recreational vehicles in the warehouse and each of them had sanitary tanks, but no tank was large enough to last all winter, so by common consent they had worked out a toilet plan. The 'shitter' was actually six port-a-potties the men had brought in from “Jon's Johns”, four of them were empty and waiting to be filled with fluid as needed when the first two filled up. The plan was to empty them in the spring. The men all hoped the temporary toilets would last that long.
“Whatcha thinking Hon?” asked Bubba setting a hot mug of cocoa down in front of the boy on the table they shared.
“I'd like to go sledding.” Jed had picked up four sleds they found in the back room of a hardware store, but so far they were unused.
“Doubt Jed would like that.”
Sensing a weakness in the man's defense Hon pressed on, “Will you ask him?”
Bubba nodded once, “Yeah, I will. But you gotta read a bit before I do. You know how Jed is, if I go tell him you've done your book reading he will be more likely to give you what you want. Plus he is going stir crazy, being locked in here a month already.”
“Why is it up to Jed?” Hon asked. Despite the fact that the older man had been a little nicer to him recently Hon still didn't care for him too much.
“Well, every group has a leader and Jed is more or less ours. We can disagree with him and try to persuade him to do things we want, but ultimately someone has to be the decider.”
“Why Jed?”
Shrugging his shoulders Bubba tried to think of a way out of the 'why' game Hon liked to play, “Why not?”
It was Hon's turn to shrug, “I dunno, he just seems...mean, I guess. I don't know why you like him.”
“We go way back. Think about your friends, chances are they all like you and you like them, but that some of them don't really care for each other too much. I like you. I like Jed. It doesn't mean you and Jed have to like each other.”
Hon thought about that for a moment then asked, “Okay, how much do I have to read?”
“Hm, let's not say it has to be so many pages, but if you read for a couple of hours real quiet then I can go out and butter Jed up so he'll agree to breaking out the sleds. You should read at least twenty pages, and read at the table so we can keep an eye on you. If Jed sees you I will talk you up a bit.” Bubba
gestured towards the man in question, who was outside at the grills. Unlike the other men, Jed seemed to relish the cold and every morning he made his coffee using a coffee pot on one of the grills, most days the other men joined him.
Bubba got dressed up in warmer clothing and pointedly dropped a history book in front of Hon on the table. The boy looked at it and pointed a frown Bubba's way, “American history?” he groaned, “Can't I do math?”
“No. You got all the math you'll ever need. And Jed likes American history, you start reading up about the civil war while I go talk to him, but I aim to be out there an hour or so before I even say anything about sledding so you keep at it and don't get distracted.” The men thought Hon should still learn a few things and had picked up several books from the local big-box store. Hon considered himself lucky that Jed had shot down going to an actual school for books there. For the most part the boy loved math and hands on science. History and grammar were secondary concerns, if they made it even that high up the list. Jed and Bubba didn't have much use for grammar themselves, but they did push history on the boy. The slight compromise was that they allowed Hon to read about all the wars and skip the 'boring' times when nothing interesting was going on.
Once outside Bubba walked over to Jed, who lifted the coffee pot off of the grill and poured some of the boiling liquid into a travel mug on the table.
“Cold morning. Hon ready to go sledding?” asked Jed.
“I told him I was going to 'talk' you into it. And made him sit down and get through some of that history book.”
“You are becoming a parent, aren't you?” laughed Jed.
Bubba smiled back and took a sip of his coffee, “Well it seemed like a good carrot to dangle over him. He is reading ain't he? He wouldn't be otherwise, 'cause he knows you are going to quiz him when we get done talking here.”
Jed let out another laugh, “How long you gonna make him read?”