by Diane Butler
Mary watched Roxanne go up the stairs and was immediately concerned. After she put the water on the campfire to boil she went out to the well and drew some cool water taking the bucket up to Roxanne’s room. She tapped on the door and called out, “Roxanne I brought up some water in case you want to wash. I always feel better after I wash and I can make the tea while you are doing that.”
Roxanne opened the door and Mary felt the breeze rush through the room now that it had cross-circulation. Roxanne was in her bra and panties and reached out for the bucket. “Thank you Mary. That’s a good idea, then tea and a nice cool sheet with a nice cool breeze. Sounds like the perfect thing after a tense day and being in a truck with Lucky all day.”
Mary smiled as she went down to get the kettle and bring it into the kitchen to make the tea. She remembered what Caleb had said about Roxanne and Lucky and it appeared that Roxanne was at her worst temper after an encounter with Lucky. When she came upstairs with the tea Roxanne had left her door open to catch the breeze. She was in bed lying on her stomach with the sheet across her waist and one leg uncovered. Mary caught her breath to see that Cowboy was on the bed lying against Roxanne’s side staring up at Mary. She tapped on the doorframe before coming in and circled the bed to put the tea on the end table. She was surprised that Roxanne didn’t immediately cover up to hide her scars but Cowboy never moved off the sheet and continued to watch Mary with suspicion.
Roxanne leaned out to take the cup of tea off the end table and that’s when the sheet slipped enough for Mary to see the small tattoo. She gasped and Roxanne’s hand froze as she saw that Mary was looking at her back.
“I’m sorry,” Mary said as Roxanne took the tea and sat up. “I didn’t know that you had a tattoo. Is that from when you dated Lucky?” She desperately tried to change the subject and then realized that she had dug herself in deeper by mentioning his name.
“What on earth are you talking about?” Roxanne asked as she sipped the tea. “I’ve never had a tattoo, of this I am sure. What you saw was a small branding. My healer believes it was done with needles. Why would you associate that with Lucky?”
“Did she not tell you what the mark is?”
“No, in fact she never told me that there were symbols on my back. Only that I was scarred, marked, knifed or beaten enough to leave scars. It wasn’t until I came to this place and had a mirror that I could see the circle with the X inside. I never could see the branding clear enough. I know that the circle means “death”, but you haven’t told me why you would associate any of it with Lucky.”
“The burn is a Four Leaf Clover.” Mary watched as Roxanne’s face changed with her knowledge of piecing it together. That the Four Leaf Clover was considered to be lucky, that the circle and ‘X’ meant death.
Roxanne looked up at Mary as it all came together and whispered, “Death to Lucky.” Her hands began to shake, rattling the cup and saucer and Mary reached out to take it from her. She sat on the bed next to Roxanne and Cowboy got up to lay across Roxanne’s legs blocking Mary from reaching out to her.
“If you and Lucky once had a relationship could that message have been directed at him?” Mary asked.
Roxanne gasped, “He must never know. Never! I won’t have that edge over me. I won’t give him any claim on me. I have just met him and he has just met me. I fought against a protector in the bayou and I won’t have one here inland. Jim Bob claimed he would be your protector and as you have found out we can take care of ourselves.”
“I don’t think the men in this group are of the same caliber as Jim Bob, Roxanne,” Mary said trying to calm her. She had never seen Roxanne in anything close to a panic before and wondered what had gone down between her and Lucky to cause this reaction. Or perhaps Roxanne had had another man as a protector before meeting Lucky. There was so much unknown about Roxanne that Mary could imagine several different scenarios of Roxanne’s life in the ZA.
“Wait here,” Mary said as she got off the bed. “I’m going down to the truck. I saw something in the stock that will help you.” She raced down the stairs and out to the truck to rummage through some boxes of pharmaceuticals from the mansion. Not finding what she wanted she brought a box in and dumped it on the kitchen table. She did not want to leave Roxanne alone for long, feeling that this was one of the first times that Roxanne really needed her. Finding the item that she was looking for she raced up the steps with a bottle of water and found that Roxanne was just finishing her tea. “Here, take this,” she handed Roxanne one of the pills.
Roxanne looked at the small white pill and hesitated. “I am not in the habit of taking pills. I have only had antibiotics and I certainly don’t need one of those.”
“It will help you to sleep. Not a deep sleep, just to take the edge off a little bit. You did say that you were tired and wanted to sleep. I’m sure your mind is racing now and you’ll feel refreshed when you waken. My mom used to take them on really bad days. It’s safe, don’t worry and you have Mutt and I out front and Cowboy here with you.” She heard a ‘thump’ on the floor and looked over to see that Max had entered the room from the window ledge. She smiled, “and Max has joined us.”
Roxanne took the pill and slid down from her sitting position after Cowboy gave her more room. “This ties in with what Brandon said, what all of them said. That I was part of their group and was taken by people who wanted revenge on Lucky. That they never rejected me from their group. They said that they caught the person who did this and killed him. That means that I have been looking for a ghost. Still…..it doesn’t make up for the fact that I do not remember them or the circumstance. And I don’t know what Lucky did that people would seek revenge on him. He could be a very dangerous person to both of us.”
Mary reached over and touched the sheet covering Roxanne’s knee. “Don’t think of this right now. Get some sleep and I’ll start to sort things off the truck.” But she didn’t unload the truck. When she reached the porch she collapsed into a rocker and stared out into the landscape. It wasn’t until Mutt sat down in front of her and put his paw on her leg that Mary covered her face and began to cry.
Andy turned in the middle of the night. Morgan and Caleb were standing guard on Jenny when they heard the banging begin in the trunk of the car. Not wanting the noise to attract zombies they went over to pop the trunk and give Andy mercy. Morgan had Caleb hold a flashlight on the trunk while he popped the lid and jumped away until Caleb could find the right spot to shine the light on Andy. Afterwards Morgan had him turn the light off while they stood at the car and listened for approaching zombies but all was quiet. It gave both of them an eerie feeling after being among so many Z’s earlier in the day. Their moans were always hard to get out of your mind and when you were finally able to do so you found that you couldn’t stand the silence.
“Come on,” Morgan whispered taking Caleb’s arm. “Just leave the trunk open. We’ll bury him in the morning.”
“I was hoping he wouldn’t turn,” Caleb said as they walked back to Jenny.
“Yeah,” Morgan looked around nervously, “me too. But we may find other clues later, or start to see a pattern. Perhaps you could keep a record and we may see some similarities. I’ll give you the age, race and conditions of the man we found who didn’t turn. Then you add Andy with his age, weight, race, health condition since we know about that. The cause of his death and results afterwards. We’ll put in everything we know about each person no matter how insignificant it may seem and perhaps we’ll start to see a pattern. We only know the other man was sick, but don’t know what illness he had and don’t know his weight before getting sick. We’ll just use what facts we do know and go from there.”
“I hope the list won’t be long,” Caleb said.
The next morning they found a soft place behind one of the houses and the three of them began to dig a grave while Caleb had his crossbow loaded to keep lookout. But Brandon noticed that Lucky kept looking up from his digging as if listening for something.
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��She said that we would not see her today nor would she see us off,” Brandon said while continuing to dig.
Lucky dug a few more spades of dirt and without looking at anyone said, “I don’t think we should leave today.” Brandon and Morgan stopped to look at one another. “There is one more place that I would like to check. Roxanne showed me how to get to it yesterday but said that she had never been down that road to check it out.” He stopped shoveling to go over to Andy’s body that they had wrapped in a tarp. “That’s deep enough. Help me roll him in.”
After they had rolled the body into the grave and were covering it with dirt Brandon said, “We made a good haul yesterday and were fortunate not to lose anyone. There’s only the four of us which is fine for scavenging but not to fight a large battle like yesterday. Whatever you have in mind it can wait for another trip. We stirred up a lot of zombies yesterday and in this place we never know which way they will go. Some have patterns and some don’t. This town mystifies me.”
“It’s because of that that I do not like leaving Roxanne and Mary here. They may not be safe,” Lucky said. “I think that she has not made the right decision to stay, that she is ignoring the situation, that she is under some false idea that she rules this town and that it is safe. She shouldn’t be traveling alone and now she has put Mary in danger. I don’t trust her judgement anymore and her stubbornness is going to get them killed.”
Morgan stopped shoveling, “We’ve already seen that she cannot be swayed into joining us. And I think that she is right in not wanting to go to the Mill. She doesn’t belong there. I can’t picture her there among the others doing mundane work. I’ve accepted the fact that she is no longer a part of us, however sad that may be. And I think that she has Mary’s best interests at heart. After all, she did try to encourage Mary to go with us.”
They began to pat down the earth and to walk across the mound and ended by hammering in the cross that Caleb had made with Andy’s name on it. As they walked back to Jenny Lucky continued to try to persuade them into staying. “Roxanne showed me where the EVAC site was. You may have seen the signs yourself when we were going to the mansion yesterday. There could be medical supplies, Army rations, gasoline, tarps for tents and sleeping bags.”
Brandon said over his shoulder, “Jenny is full. This is the best haul that we have ever made, especially the medical supplies. The only reason why I didn’t set sail already was to bury Andy. I’m Captain of the ship and I say that we are leaving right away.”
Lucky stopped. “Then I’m not going with you.”
“We need to find an outboard if I’m going to haul all this stuff back to the bayou,” Roxanne said. “Even with you helping it would be too difficult to pole the weight of two people, two canines, our own supply of survival gear and all the supplies I want to trade. We need to find a boat with an outboard motor and pull the pirogue behind us. There will be a lot of stop and go to clean out the blades as I’m sure the roots of the lotus flowers will get tangled up in them and clog the motor.”
Mary had been fishing off the pier where the pirogue was docked when Roxanne came out with Cowboy at her side to make this announcement. Mutt had gotten so that he stayed with Mary unless Roxanne gave him an errand to go on. Mary turned to look up at Roxanne over her shoulder, “I haven’t seen any other boats since we’ve been here. Have you?”
“No,” Roxanne shook her head and looked out over the canal to the river, “but Caleb said something about Brandon using binoculars to check homes along the canal looking for me. I’m just not comfortable using the pirogue on a body of water as wide as the canal. We can be easily spotted and a canal can be rough water which a flat-bottom boat is not designed to handle. I don’t want to go up river to check those homes for boats.” She looked down at Mary, “I found several Marina’s listed in the local phone book. If they weren’t raided we should find what we need. Even if we just find an outboard motor I can attached it to the pirogue and use light-weight doors to build a raft on barrels and tow the supplies behind us.”
Mary raised her eyebrows, “You know how to do that? Both of those things?”
Roxanne smiled. “We improvise in the bayou and I learned quickly. Never stop learning Mary. Never think that the next person can’t teach you something. My teacher was an old woman and these supplies are for her. She exhausted her means of support to keep me alive and I owe her these replacements which she can use on the black market. Pull up your fishing rod and let’s go. Come Mutt,” she called as she walked away.
As Mary was gathering her staff and long sleeve leather jacket to protect her arms against zombie bites, Roxanne came downstairs carrying what looked like a cloth sling-back purse. “Here, try this on,” she said as she handed it to Mary. “I made it for you until we can find the right thing .” Mary put it across her shoulders and saw that the pouch came down past her hip but she was confused as to why it had two strings attached at the bottom. It also seemed heavy and she could tell that Roxanne had put something in it. “Tie the strings around your thigh.”
Mary looked over at how Roxanne had her holster tied to her leg and looked up in surprise. Roxanne smiled, “Part of the supplies from the mansion. It’s time that you had your own gun. Keep the flap closed when you sit down or are in the truck so it won’t fall out. But when we are scavenging have the flap open so you can quickly reach for it. Perhaps one day we’ll find you a holster. We will visit a few more bars and check behind the counter for their secret panel of stash. I don’t expect to find a holster in anyone’s home or gun shop.”
Mary tied the straps to her thigh and while walking to the truck she practiced several quick-draws with her new gun. It felt good, it felt damn good and her heart swelled with pride that Roxanne had accepted her as a partner.
The two canines jumped into the back of the truck and lay down on the mattress as Roxanne headed out the driveway, making a left to go to the intersection at Lance’s house. “This will be new to both of us,” she said to Mary. “The Marinas are further north than we have ever gone before. They’re all located on the canal further upriver so I’ll be passing all the turn-offs into town that we have used in the past. I don’t know what we will be running into.” She rounded the curve in the road that approached the intersection and suddenly threw on the brakes to stop in the middle of the road. There, parked outside Lance’s house was the limo.
CHAPTER 9
Roxanne and Mary stared at the limo parked in front of Lance’s house. “Damn! I thought you said that you watched the riverboat go up the canal!” Roxanne tried to hold onto her temper.
“I did,” Mary pleaded, “the very next day after we got back from the mansion. I watched until it was out of sight to make sure that they didn’t turn back around. Maybe they left the limo here for a reason. It doesn’t mean that anyone is still here.”
But they received their answer when the door of the house opened and Lucky walked out with a coffee mug in his hand. Mary held her breath, expecting another explosion from Roxanne. She saw Roxanne grip the wheel until her fingers turned white. “Damn it”, Roxanne sighed and leaned back against the seat. Cowboy poked her head through the back window of the cab and saw Lucky on the porch. She nudged Roxanne’s face and began to growl while looking at Lucky. Roxanne reached up to cup Cowboy’s face so that she could rub her cheek against the coyote. “No, it’s all right Cowboy. We’ll take care of it, but you and Mutt stay by my side. The four of us will take care of this as a team.”
At that moment Lucky waved at them and Roxanne took her foot off the brake. “Prick,” she muttered under her breath and drove the truck to the house, blocking the limo. Lucky came off the porch to the picket fence as Roxanne and the two canines got out of the truck. Mary turned in her seat to put her arms across the window sill and prop her chin on them while looking at Lucky. Roxanne leaned against the fender with her arms crossed.
“I have coffee made,” Lucky said. “Anyone up for some?” No one answered, Mary waiting for Roxanne to take cont
rol. Lucky looked at the two canines, at Mary’s confused face and then back to Roxanne leaning against the truck. “So that’s the way it is, is it?”
“And just why are you here?” Roxanne asked. “It was agreed upon that I would show you the mansion and you would not rape my town of its supplies. Did anyone else stay behind?”
“No,” Lucky shook his head. “Brandon is Captain of Jenny and he was ready to leave. I was not. It’s as simple as that. I’d like to get a look at the EVAC camp. I think that you are right and that it could have some supplies essential to our group. Where are you two off to?”
Roxanne dropped her arms and began to go back around the truck. “I will not help you with that. I’ve already told you that the place is evil and haunted. There are some things best left alone. If you go in there you are putting your life at risk and I will not put my team in jeopardy to save your ass one more time.” She gave a whistle and the two animals jumped in the back. Lucky looked at Mary again who had not moved from her position at the window. She held a stone face and Lucky knew that something had changed in Mary. Perhaps the death of Andy had been too much for her after being trapped in the backseat with someone who could turn right in front of you.