Amanda Carter in the L.A.Z., life after zombies

by Jo Lee Auburne

  “Oh, goodness,” Maryanne said, looking obviously torn between which child she should be with right now.

  “I’m good, Mom, it just freaked me out a little, that’s all,” Sam said, stifling a leftover sniffle. “You don’t need to stay with me. Let Dad know it’s okay, will you.”

  Maryanne looked at Sam and then Tammy and decided to go to Tammy, who had made the trip down the hill alone. She realized that it must have been horrible for Jason to be stuck up there, completely incapacitated, while his daughter screamed; that had surely awoken him.

  “I’ll take Tammy back up the hill and explain it to Jason,” she said, taking her young daughter’s hand.

  Amanda turned back around. Red had a snake locked in his jaws, holding onto it just behind its head. She couldn’t believe it. The snake was enormous, fat and long. Red had broken its neck, instinctively knowing how to dive in for a kill and where to do it. In its death throes, like the Anaconda, it had wrapped its powerful body around Red’s legs.

  “See what I mean?” Sam asked of them. “It’s a really big snake. I didn’t see it. It blends in so well with the dirt and the rocks. That snake was coiled up a few feet from me, mad and ready to strike. I had nowhere to go, couldn’t move,” Sam said, and Amanda could see that her body was still shaking from the experience.

  Roy was working to untangle the snake’s body from around the dog’s legs. The snake was beautiful in its very dangerous way, but the body was limp now. Its girth was so large around and it’s muscular body so long that it was taking Roy a while to untangle Red. Additionally, there were a few reflexive spastic movements from its body that kept startling Roy.

  Amanda couldn’t even fathom the fear that Sam must have felt, stuck, fearing the moving would cause it to strike but knowing that it was going to strike anyway.

  “This is one big-ass snake,” Roy said after finally getting it away from Red.

  Red then opened his jaws, releasing the snake; its head plopped onto the dirt, jaws continuing to open and close. Amanda had seen this before; rattlesnakes, even with their heads chopped off, continue to do that as if still trying to strike. They are dangerous even in death.

  “How did he do it, Sam?” Amanda said incredulously.

  Now that she felt more comfortable getting closer to the snake, she could see just what a monster it had been. The snake’s head alone was a little bigger than the size of Roy’s fist, and Roy had large hands. The venom pockets would be large too, holding a lot of poison; and for a foe as large as Sam, a wise, old snake like that wouldn’t hold back. The thought of almost losing Sam to a snake bite during the middle of a zombie apocalypse seemed so surreal, as did the snake itself—as if the snake had teleported to earth from a different world where everything was bigger.

  “When I was gathering information for work, I had listened to some of the old-time miners warn me to watch for rattlesnakes out here. Some of them had even mentioned having seen eight- to nine-foot rattlesnakes with thick bodies, but I thought that they had been exaggerating,” she said, trying to estimate its exact length.

  “I’d put this one at nine feet at least,” Roy said.

  “I am so creeped out right now,” Sam said with a shiver. “It’s like I can never go to the bathroom again and feel safe.”

  “I don’t think that you have anything to worry about,” Amanda answered. “Red has been following you around, protecting you. When you feel the urge to go, just call him, and he’ll look out for you.”

  It was hard for Amanda to believe that it was just yesterday that she had taken in these two grieving dogs, not knowing if they would be a liability to them. And here, the very next day, Red saves Sam’s life.

  Sam had knelt and was hugging Red, who appeared to be smiling in his wolf dog way.

  Upon hearing Sam’s screams, Roy had grabbed the machete that he kept in the Jeep. With this, he whacked the head off of the snake’s body, and still the large jaws opened and closed.

  “We’ll need to bury this,” Roy said, pushing the head farther away from him with the tip of the machete. “Can one of you go get the shovel from the truck?”

  “I will,” Sam said. “Come, Red.”

  Red obediently came, going in front of Sam on the trail down, blazing a safe path for his new master.

  “I guess she’s not afraid anymore to be heading off on her own,” Amanda said, noticing her carefree manner. “Kids can be surprisingly resilient, even teenage kids, like a diving board, they spring back quickly.”

  “I know what you mean, Tammy’s probably adjusted to this new world already better than any of us,” Roy answered.

  “Jason would probably have a clinical term for that,” she said.

  Roy picked up the giant, limp rope of a body, holding it so the blood drained out.

  “It’s heavy too,” he said, struggling to hold it with one arm.

  “Want me to do that?” she asked, not really wanting to have to touch the snake but knowing that it was awkward for Roy right now, given the injury to his other arm.

  “Nah, I got this, but thanks. I know how much you hate snakes,” he said, flashing a big white grin.

  One of these days, she considered, I’m going to have to ask him what the secret is to keeping his teeth so white. She almost laughed when she imagined him in town slipping a carton of whitening strips into his pocket and using them when he went to take his alone time.

  “Got the shovel,” Sam said breathlessly. “Where do I dig?”

  “Find a place over there,” Roy said, pointing. “Just dig it deep enough so that the dogs or anything else out here won’t dig it up.”

  “Feels like chicken tonight,” Roy said with a chuckle. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had some fresh meat, and I am looking forward to that.”

  “Yuck,” Sam said, overhearing their conversation. “That is so disgusting.”

  As if Red had understood, he focused on the snake while he licked his lips.

  “I’m sure the lack of meat these days has been particularly harsh on a wolf,” Amanda said. “I think he’s looking forward to it.”

  Red looked torn, indecisive, when Roy began to march the snake up the hill. He was looking longingly at the snake that he had risked his life to kill, knowing that it would make a great meal, and then to Sam, whom he had chosen to protect.

  “It’s okay, Red, I’ve got Amanda,” Sam said, noticing his dilemma.

  Red understood and trotted up the hill, following his catch.

  “He’s amazing,” Amanda said with awe. “It’s like he’s a human in a wolf’s body.”

  “I know, right,” Sam said, pounding the dirt down, where she had buried the snake’s head.

  Amanda had been thinking lately, especially with Jason and Roy on the injured list, that having another able-bodied, quick-thinking team player would aid in their survival. She was just surprised when he turned out to be a wolf.

  As far as Amanda was concerned, they had spent entirely too much time down at The Pit. She swatted at the flies that were attempting to land on her. This just reinforced her belief that they needed an outhouse to do their personal business in.

  Chapter 14

  The meat was surprisingly delicious. That was the group consensus as they sat around, full, picking strands of it out of their teeth. Roy had fried it up in olive oil, apologizing that it wasn’t butter, and added some seasoning—pepper, salt, some basil leaf, and a dash of cayenne pepper. Amanda had scavenged several kitchens early on and had come back with armloads of seasoning containers. She was glad that they had been put to good use and couldn’t remember a time when food had tasted so good.

  Amanda had spent most of her adult life as a vegetarian, not a vegan because she had loved ice cream, root beer floats, real cream in her organic, fair-trade coffee, and real butter. But the LAZ had changed that. There wasn’t a way to be selective about food anymore, not unless she wanted to starve, but this meal was a delight—not like choking down some chopped-up processed canned me
at that didn’t set well with her stomach. She decided that she could get used to eating like this, and she had Red to thank for that. They all did.

  Maryanne couldn’t stop fawning over Red, giving him big fat chunks of meat off of her plate and thanking him repeatedly for saving her daughter’s life. Red took the adoration in stride by gulping down each piece appreciatively. The little dog had grown so attached to Tammy that she would rarely leave her side, unless it was to curl up alongside her friend, Red. Amanda found this union to be surprising because every time Tammy would go anywhere lately, she would attempt to carry the little dog with generally poor results. Maryanne had made sure to load Tammy’s plate up so that both she and her new companion would have plenty to eat.

  Tammy had been intrigued to know where the meat had come from, and she had been eager to try it; while Sam, on the other hand, had been highly skeptical to even taste it. She had finally relented when she saw how much everybody was enjoying it, realizing that it didn’t taste as disgusting as the thought of it had seemed. Maryanne had just let things play out, not pushing her oldest daughter at all. She had already learned that the more she pushed Sam, the more Sam pushed back. Secretly, as a mother, she was pleased that her daughter had this personality trait because in the LAZ, those strong, independent types had higher survival rates.

  Her mother was glad to see that she had eventually relented and sat down to eat with them because, both as a mother and as their doctor, she knew that her children were not getting nearly enough to eat on a normal basis. That was not true for today though. The snake was big, and there was plenty to go around. Unfortunately, especially in this heat, there would be no way to save any of it past this evening.

  “Roy, I did not know that you knew how to cook,” Maryanne said. “Here I’ve been sweating my ass off in the kitchen for months, preparing barely edible food, when we had a gourmet in our midst.”

  Roy laughed at this. “I used to burn the hamburgers every time we barbequed until Jason told me I wasn’t allowed to do the cooking,” he said.

  “Amen to that,” Jason said, “he’s no gourmet. I think this was just a fluke.”

  “We’ve all been so hungry for so long that we just think it tastes good,” Roy said. “What I wouldn’t give sometimes for just one of those burnt hamburgers.”

  “True that,” Sam said, tossing Red a piece from her plate. The dog would be gorged before too long.

  “Did you know that in the state of California, it’s illegal to intentionally kill a rattlesnake?” Jason said, with some off the cuff trivia. “That makes every one of us outlaws.”

  This had the entire group in stitches, except for Tammy who looked perplexed because she didn’t know what an outlaw was, but eventually, she joined in to the spirit of the joke, if not the intent.

  The day had begun to cool as big thunderclouds rolled in, moving quickly until the sky above them looked almost black. The wind had begun to tear at the tarps, slapping them furiously, up, down, and to the side, so violently that the tent poles were bending in their effort to hold them.

  Even though they all wanted nothing more than to sit and rest with their full bellies, Roy and Amanda jumped up to take the tarps and the poles down. Too much more of that abuse, and their only shelter out here from the sun would be shredded pieces of tarp fabric.

  Amanda had wanted to call a meeting, at which they could all sit down and discuss their options for either making this place sustainable or moving someplace closer to the resources, but that wasn’t going to be possible. Rain was inevitable, judging by the ominous look of the sky, and as the first drops began to fall, nobody was surprised.

  Their little encampment was a long ways from being ready for any type of shower, let alone the torrent that was sure to follow. For the next half hour, the camp was buzzing with activity.

  Amanda sent Sam and Red down to the truck to bring back all four of the empty five-gallon buckets. They would want to catch as much of the water as they could. Once up topside with the buckets, Sam was frustrated that the wind kept blowing them over. Amanda had her put medium-sized rocks in them to weigh them down. With the buckets out, they should be able to collect some water, but Amanda wished that they had been thinking in advance and had already dug a hole to catch the rain at the base of one of the two remaining unused boulders that bordered their camp, similar to the one she had seen at the stagecoach resting area with the rock house. There was nothing that could be done about this now, but she would make sure that was remedied in the future.

  Each of the able-bodied members made trip after trip, with sleeping bags, clothing, boxes of food—anything that could be damaged by the rain—down to the truck, chucking it in with no particular order to it because the summer storm that had descended upon them had moved in quickly. Their camp was about to become a big muddy mess. Maryanne was working to secure all the medical supplies and safely store anything that could be damaged by the downpour inside of the truck. By the time they were finished rain-proofing the camp, the truck looked like a hoarder had taken up residence in it.

  Given the geography of the land, with any amount of rain, their entire camping area would act as a natural basin, and water would be pooling up shortly. They could not expect for anything left out to remain dry at all, even should they cover it. The wind had already blown the ball cap off of Amanda’s head, sending it swirling out into the desert. Shame, thought Amanda, I liked that cap. She had aspirations of searching for it after the storm passed, but the chances were good that she would never see it again. By the end of the storm, it could be fifty to sixty miles away, unless it got hung up on something.

  Their only lawn recliner, being aluminum and light, tumbled across the camp, driven by the wind. It hit Maryanne squarely in the legs but did not take her down. The doctor was naturally worried for her husband and patient. She had stood in front of the oncoming chair in order to protect Jason.

  The rain had begun to fall in earnest now, and soon, Jason, who was lying on a sleeping bag on the ground, would be lying in a puddle of muddy water.

  “I have an idea!” Maryanne shouted to be heard above the wind.

  “Amanda, Sam, come help,” she said, folding up the chair. “Sam, grab the chair and take it to the kitchen area, we’re going to move your father.”

  “Why do I have the feeling this is going to hurt?” Jason said, loud enough for Amanda to hear.

  Maryanne, with Amanda’s help, was able to drag Jason over to the shelter of the kitchen by using the sleeping bag. The trip wasn’t too rough or bumpy, but it seemed that any movement at all was causing him a great deal of pain. Now, for the hard part, Amanda thought as each of them grabbed him under an armpit to lift him off of the ground and into the chair.

  Jason tried to use his legs to help and let out a scream of agony.

  “Will you just be still and let us do this,” Maryanne said, scolding. “Now I’ll have to recheck that leg, possibly set it again. Be still please.”

  Jason had turned whiter than he had already been, with sweat popping out across his brow. He nodded but said nothing, looking weak and helpless, gritting his teeth.

  It had been awkward and clumsy, but they had Jason positioned as comfortably as possible on top of the lawn chair inside of the little bit of shelter that the rock walls provided in the kitchen area. Maryanne had removed the IV bag but kept the needle in the vein. She wanted to get more fluids into him but not during the storm. Besides, the temperature had begun to drop into the nineties, and they were all feeling the relief from it, including Jason, and since he wouldn’t be sweating as much, it wasn’t as necessary to keep him hydrated as it had been before. Secretly, Maryanne was hoping that with prudent use of the IV fluid bags, she would have some left over in case another emergency were to crop up.

  In her world before, there had been enough resources to go above and beyond the call of duty when caring for a patient. It had been customary to err on the side of caution and precautions, like, IV fluids, antibiotics, pain
pills, sterilization procedures, and more, could all be liberally used. She knew that this was not the case anymore. Resources were scarce and at some point would become even scarcer, until they would dwindle into extinction.

  She thought of her daughter nearly being bit today by a monstrous rattlesnake and knew that Jason’s current predicament would not be the last emergency that they would experience amongst their members. She was responsible for seeing to it that all their medical resources were used wisely, and if she could get Jason through this and still have IV fluids available for the next emergency, that would be ideal.

  Using the tent poles, they pounded the stakes into the ground around the perimeter of the rock wall shelter and set one of the tarps up about four feet off of the ground. Maryanne didn’t want Jason to be exposed to the pelting rain. She needed to keep his leg as dry as possible, and he needed to be able to get some rest. Their new makeshift shelter was barely adequate as the downpour turned into a cascade. The sky lit up with lightning, and they could feel the ground beneath them vibrating with the echo of the thunderous claps as nature unleashed her full glory. It was a flash flood.

  The wind drove water in under the shelter, but it was still much dryer under the tarp than anywhere else. The little dog was afraid of the cracking sky and the rumbles that could be felt through the ground. Tammy clutched her to her chest as they all squeezed in, huddling underneath the tarp. It wasn’t long before they were sitting in a mud puddle, but Jason was resting above it and appeared to have fallen back asleep, exhausted from his move.

  Chapter 15

  Tammy, with the little dog on her lap, was having fun, splashing a small plastic horse in the pool of water.

  “Stop splashing me,” Sam said, irritated.

  “Seriously,” Amanda said, giving Sam a puzzled look, “she’s just having some fun. It’s not like you’re going to stay dry if she stops playing. We’re all wet, kid, get over it.”