Agreement

by Brian Grenda

I place the old front door in the garage, while Phil measures to make sure the new door will fit.

  “I think we are good with the new door size. Should fit like a dream,” says Phil.

  Phil and I secure the hinges into the new solid wood door and check the fit.

  I close the door, and it fits perfectly.

  Phil installs the door handle from the old door.

  “We’ll have to pick up a new front door dead bolt the next time we are around a hardware store.”

  “Yeah. I can’t have people walking in on me, when I’m walking around naked in here,” jokes Phil.

  “Gross. No one wants to see that.”

  Phil says, “Ryan, let me ask you something.”

  I look at Phil.

  “Do you think it’s too early for me to ask Nicole to live with me here? It’s definitely too early, but I think things are sped up in the current state of the world,” says Phil.

  “I think you need to talk with Nicole about that. If she is ready for it, and you are both ready for it, then go for it. Remember, she has Mia and Mason. Those babies are cute, but not when they wake you up at 3AM.”

  Phil closes the front door, and I close the garage door.

  I walk with Phil back to my house.

  “I’ll have to talk with Nicole about it, but I like the idea of us living together, like a family. I always wanted kids and feel like Nicole, Mia, and Mason deserve a true family life,” says Phil.

  We turn the corner and walk by Matt’s house.

  “Speak of the devil,” I say as Nicole walks out of Matt’s house holding Mia.

  I say hi to Nicole and Mia and leave Phil and Nicole to talk.

  “Hey Nicole. How are ya?” asks Phil.

  Nicole looks at Mia and says, “We are great. We had to get out of that house though. Being stuck inside that house is driving us crazy. I need to find a role around this place. Being a mother is great, but I miss having a job.”

  “We will find something for ya. I would like to show you my new house sometime. I took over the house behind Shaun’s,” says Phil.

  “You aren’t living across the street anymore?” asks Nicole.

  Phil is taken back by Nicole’s question. He doesn’t know what to say. He is scared to ask Nicole to move in with him now.

  “I don’t have to move into that house, I can stay at Ryan’s. I just thought it was time to get my own place, but I do like being across the street from you and the babies,” says Phil.

  Nicole replies, “I would like to see the house though. If it’s big enough, maybe I’ll move in with ya.”

  Phil smiles, and is about to respond, but is interrupted by Nicole.

  “Yeah right, you don’t want to live with some crazy chick with two babies,” says Nicole.

  Before Phil can respond to Nicole, some yelling is heard at the South entrance.

  “I can’t just let you in lady. I don’t care who you are or what you want!” shouts the guard at the South entrance.

  Phil excuses himself from Nicole and runs into my house.

  “Ryan! There’s a problem at the South entrance!” shouts Phil.

  I get up off the sofa, put my sneakers back on, grab my katana and run to the South entrance with Phil.

  Eric, Shaun, and Jon are there already.

  “What’s going on?” I ask as I walk up the lookout platform steps at the South entrance.

  “I don’t know who she is, and I didn’t know what to do. She said she knows you guys,” says Brody.

  “Good job Brody. You did the right thing.”

  Shaun who is standing next to Brody on the lookout platform asks, “What’s up Sam? What can we do for you?”

  Sam who is standing in the grass outside of the South entrance says, “My sister is worse now. I gave her the new medication, and she is worse.”

  “What do you want us to do about it?” asks Shaun.

  “You said you had a doctor here. Please, my sister is dying. She needs help. She has a daughter,” says Sam.

  I look at Shaun and Phil and ask, “What should we do? I think she is telling the truth.”

  Phil says, “I think we have to try and help her sister. We do it smart though. We take our weapons, and we go with a team.”

  I shout to Sam, “We will help you! Stay right there!”

  “Brody, you keep an eye on her. If she tries anything, or anyone else comes out when we are with her, you take them down.”

  “Yes sir,” says Brody.

  Shaun, Phil, Eric, and I exit through the South entrance and walk over to Sam.

  “Put your hands up!” shouts Phil as he points his handgun at Sam and steps towards her.

  “Again, with this?” asks Sam as she puts her hands above her head.

  “Where do you live? Where is your sister?”

  Sam sees Phil walking towards her and shouts, “You touch me, and I’m cutting you! I mean no harm! I need help!”

  “Easy Phil. Don’t touch her.”

  Sam says, “I’ll take you to where we live. It’s not far. We can walk there.”

  Sam escorts Phil, Shaun, Eric, Jon, and myself down the street and into a neighborhood.

  “Where you from Sam?”

  Sam replies, “Does it matter? Where you from?”

  I walk next to Sam and say, “It does, and it doesn’t matter. I want to know a little more about you.”

  I stop walking and point my handgun at Sam.

  Sam stops walking and faces me.

  “I’m from Kentucky. My sister, her daughter, and I are from Kentucky. Andre is from Hawaii,” says Sam.

  “Good. Nice to meet you Sam, from Kentucky. I’m Ryan from North Carolina. You already know Phil and Shaun. These two are Eric and Jon.”

  Sam looks at everyone and says, “Nice to me you fellas, but can we move it along. My sister was in rough shape when I left her.”

  Sam starts walking again, and we follow her.

  After a short trip down the main road by Citrus Oaks, we enter another nearby neighborhood called Rosewood Estates.

  Sam says, “Down here. It’s the center house in the cul-de-sac.”

  Phil notices the street that we are on and shouts, “Hell no! You see what street we are walking down?”

  Shaun sees the street sign and laughs.

  “Elm street. Relax Phil. I doubt we have to worry about zombies, and a guy in our dreams,” says Shaun.

  Two zombies come out from the house next to Sam’s.

  “Damn it, the fence must have broken again,” says Sam as she sees the zombies walking towards her.

  I point my gun at the zombies, but before I can take a shot, Sam kills both zombies with a pair of knife strikes.

  I look at Jon and say, “Guess this Sam chick is capable.”

  “We are here. Anyone allergic to dogs or cats?” asks Sam.

  Eric says, “I’m allergic to dogs.”

  “You should stay outside then,” says Sam.

  A short brown skinned guy stands up from the seat next to the front door of Sam’s house.

  Shaun looks at the truck in the driveway and asks, “You Dre? The guy that we saw leading all those zombies away the other day?”

  The man walks towards Eric, Shaun, and Jon.

  Phil and I walk into the house with Sam.

  “Yeah, that was me. I remember you two guys from the drugstore. The name is Andre, but you can call me Dre or Andre,” says Andre.

  “That’s a big ass machete you got there. You think it will hold up against my sword?” asks Jon.

  “Nope,” says Andre.

  Andre is holding a big thick black machete in his right hand and wearing a gun holster on the left side of his chest with a handgun in it.

  Eric says, “I like that gun holster. I’ll have to get one of those.”

  “There is a gun shop on 301 that might have a couple holsters left,” says Andre.

  Eric replies, “I’ll have to remember that. Thanks for the information.”

  Shaun walks
up to Dre’s truck and says, “Nice setup. I bet you can crank out some loud tunes in those speakers.”

  Andre says, “That’s the point. I want to attract as many zombies as I can with my speakers.”

  Sam walks through the front door of her house.

  “Watch your step. We have some animals here, and they might come running by you,” says Sam.

  The house Sam takes us in is a nice two-story home.

  It’s very hot in the house, and I don’t see any fans moving or feel any air conditioning.

  A dog comes running up to Phil and sniffs his pants.

  Phil reaches down to pet the dog and says, “Hey little buddy.”

  The dog bites Phil on the hand as Phil tries to pet him on the head.

  Sam says, “You have to be careful with that little chihuahua. He’s the biter. His sister is the nice one.”

  “Thanks for telling me now,” says Phil.

  Sam walks Phil and I into the back bedroom on the first floor. Sam asks the teenage girl who is taking care of Jerri-Lynn, “How is she doing Kiersten?”

  Kiersten says, “Not good. She just threw up, and her body is still really hot.”

  I instantly see that Jerri-Lynn is not doing well. She is pale, sweating, and is in bad shape.

  “What happened to her Sam?”

  Sam looks at Jerri-Lynn and says, “We were on a run to get supplies for the house and pets. She was fine. We ran into some zombies. We killed the zombies with our blades. Jerri-Lynn loves her blades. We came back home, and she has been sick for days now.”

  “What’s her temperature?”

  Sam says, “It’s been between 100 and 102. She wasn’t bit. I checked her for bites and scratches. Don’t worry about that.”

  Phil asks, “How long has she been like this?”

  “Four days now,” says Kiersten.

  “What have you been giving her Sam? What medication did you start giving her and change to?”

  Sam goes into the bathroom and finds the prescription bottles.

  I look at Kiersten and ask, “Is this your mom?”

  Kiersten nods her head yes.

  “Don’t worry, I will make her all better. Okay?”

  Kiersten smiles at me.

  Sam hands me a prescription bottle and says, “I gave her these pills first.”

  I read the label and it says, “Penicillin 10mg.”

  “Okay, you gave her Penicillin. Then what did you give her? Why did you stop the Penicillin?”

  Sam says, “Because she was starting to get worse. I wanted to get another drug with a stronger milligram. I gave her this one, after she was getting worse.”

  The label reads, “Amoxicillin 20mg.”

  “Amoxicillin and Penicillin are in the same drug class. They are very similar to each other. She is probably allergic to these drugs. When was the last time she took one of these pills?”

  Kiersten says, “A while ago. She threw up recently.”

  “Okay good, she probably threw up the pills. Do not give her anymore of those pills. What other pills do you have? Tell me what other prescriptions you have.”

  Sam goes back into the bathroom and checks the other bottles of medications that she has.

  BANG!

  A gunshot goes off outside.

  Phil looks at me and says, “I’m on it.”

  Phil exits the room and runs to the center of the cul-de-sac.

  There is a group of zombies walking down the street, and they are coming towards Sam’s house.

  Phil says, “I knew this was a bad street to be on.”

  BOOM!

  Shaun kills two zombies with a single shot from his rifle.

  “Conserve your ammo!” shouts Phil.

  Sam says, “I have another Penicillin, and two bottles of Tetracycline.”

  “Good, Tetracycline is what you give her from now on. Make sure she stays hydrated with water and keep her cool. Take her temperature now. I want to see what it is.”

  Phil sees that more and more zombies keep coming in from one spot behind the house next to Sam’s.

  “We need to cut off the zombies from coming into this street,” says Phil as he points to the location of the zombies coming in.

  Andre says, “We have some wood in the backyard that we can use to make a barricade.”

  “Good, go get it and bring everything we need to make the barricade. Nails, hammers, whatever you have,” says Phil.

  Jon kills two zombies with Silencer.

  Eric kills a zombie with his aluminum baseball bat.

  Shaun walks towards Phil.

  SVAASH!

  Jon kills the last two approaching zombies with a slice from Silencer.

  Andre comes back to the cul-de-sac pushing a wheelbarrow holding several long pieces of wood, nails, and two hammers.

  Phil says to Shaun, “Go check out where the zombies are coming from. I’m going to check on Ryan inside.”

  Andre, Shaun, Eric, and Jon go to the house next door and check out how to repair the fence that is broken.

  “Everyone okay in here?” asks Phil.

  “Yeah. Jerri-Lynn will be okay. Her temperature is 99.8. With the medication change, she will be okay.”

  Sam says, “Thank you Ryan. I know I gave you a hard time, but I’m just a tough ass, I guess.”

  “You care about your sister. I get it. I would be the same way with my wife and family.”

  Jerri-Lynn wakes up from sleeping and starts coughing.

  I look at Jerri-Lynn’s daughter Kiersten and say, “She’ll be okay. Don’t worry. She is just trying to get that medication out of her system. I need you to let your mom sleep though, okay. She can still spread whatever she has in her system. Make sure you wash your hands and give your mom some space for a couple of days.”

  Sam says, “Go wash your hands now Kiersten, and let’s give your mom some time to rest.”

  Kiersten goes into the bathroom and washes her hands.

  Sam says, “I’ll keep an eye on her. If she gets worse, I’m going to be right back banging on your gate again.”

  “Better yet, when she gets better, you and your sister should come by our neighborhood and say hello.”

  “Will do. Thank you again Ryan,” says Sam.

  CHAPTER 13

  DAVIS ISLAND

  “You ready for this?”

  “Yes, I am a ready. I need to leave the safety of the neighborhood. I need real world practice,” says Lauren to me as she puts some water in her backpack.

  “You are right. I just want to make sure you are confident and ready for this trip. Eric says that Davis Island is full of zombies. You better be prepared with your gun, knives, and bow.”

  Lauren zips up her backpack, grabs her compound bow, and exits our master bedroom.

  I see that Lauren is mad at me.

  “You pissed at me?”

  Lauren mumbles something under her breath as she walks towards the front door.

  I know when Lauren is mad, because she gets quiet.

  I grab my body armor, samurai armor, backpack, handgun, ammo bag, and katana from the master bedroom.

  I exit my master bedroom and say, “Lauren, come here please.”

  Lauren turns towards me and shoots me a look of annoyance and frustration.

  Lauren walks over to me as I’m standing in the living room and asks, “What?”

  My frustration level is through the roof right now. I only want to protect Lauren, and she sees my concern as an annoyance.

  I look at Lauren and say, “You need to understand something. I’m only looking out for you. This trip today could be dangerous. I’m concerned about you and the group. Don’t take my concern the wrong way. You could die out there today. I’d rather you be pissed at me and alive, then dead.”

  I walk away from Lauren, and I exit the living room. I say goodbye to Milo and Callie, who are sitting near the front door, and then exit my house.

  Lauren gathers her thoughts, as she stands in the living room
. Callie jumps up on the sofa and walks over to Lauren.

  Callie meows at Lauren.

  Lauren looks at Callie and says, “I know he is just worried about me. I just need to know that I can take care of myself in this world.”

  I walk over to Phil’s SUV that is parked in Bobby G’s driveway.

  Phil has already loaded up the SUV and is ready to go.

  I put my gear in the trunk of the SUV and take a deep breath.

  “Everything okay Ry?” asks Phil.

  “Yeah. It will be. I hope it will be. Lauren is pissed at me, because I’m concerned about her coming today. I’m not sure she is ready for this.”

  Phil says, “Only one way to find out. She is pretty deadly with that bow. I’ll look out for her, don’t worry about her.”

  “I can’t help it. We risk our lives every time we leave this place. I can’t afford to lose her.”

  “You won’t lose me Ryan! I will be safe and won’t do anything risky!” shouts Lauren.

  Phil says, “We work together, always. We are never alone. We will all make it back from this trip. Let’s stay positive people.”

  Lauren puts her gear and compound bow in the trunk of Phil’s SUV.

  I look at Lauren, and she playfully punches me in my right shoulder.

  “Don’t be fresh. I know you are concerned about me, I appreciate that, but I’m ready for this. I won’t let you down,” says Lauren.

  Eric pulls up to Bobby G’s driveway and parks his truck.

  Jon, Julia, and Eric get out of the truck and walk over to Phil.

  I walk into Bobby G’s house and shout, “We are leaving!”

  Bobby G walks out from his bedroom and says, “Okay Ry. Be careful out there. I’ll help Shaun and Matt take care of this place.”

  “Thank you, please check on the cats if you can later today. We shouldn’t be gone past today, but you never know.”

  “I’ll check on the cats. I haven’t seen them in a while. I plan on mowing some of the grass around the neighborhood. I found an old push mower that doesn’t need any gas or anything,” says Bobby G.

  “Great. I see you are feeling better. I’ll see you later, but I just wanted to say that I love you and thank you for everything.”

  Bobby G replies, “I love you too son, but you’ll be back here, and I’ll see you later.”

  I give Bobby G a hug, and we both walk out of the front door of his house.