by Jay Morris
*click*SQUEAK*zzzz*click*
To me so I laughed a “well hello to you to” back.
It walked over to the metal tub and sat waiting for its snack.
“I think you are starting to take me for granted.” I said.
It blinked back at me *click*click* but it still waited patiently. I picked up a piece of meat and it raised its head a bit, apparently very interested.
“Oh, so you want this huh?”
I know what I did next was stupid and in retrospect I shouldn’t never of even thought of it but I slipped my hand into the cage with the meat on my palm, like I was offering a carrot to a horse.
The creature leaned forward, obviously wanting the meat, it looked up at me then with surprising care it opened its mouth, showing its incredible array of razor sharp teeth, and it took the meat from my hand. I pulled my hand back and started to tremble, my Before could have with a flick of its head, took my arm off halfway up to the elbow. But it didn’t, it DIDN’T. My mind was racing and all I could do was wonder if somewhere in there the human being it once had been still existed. Tucker had said that the nerves that had grown at the base of the skull actually severed the existing spinal cord, that the old human brain had just been absorbed, re-purposed to kill us. But this was weird, I was upset and couldn’t actually say why. I took the rest of the things and started to push them through the chain link and into the pail, at the bottom I found another piece of meat and held it out to it. This time it scooted a bit closer, sitting on its haunches like some giant glossy black gorilla. It reached out and its long, boney fingers, tipped with two inch spikes instead of finger nails gently, carefully took the piece of meat from my hand and plopped it into its mouth.
*CLICK*hmmmnnn* it said.
“You are welcome” I said.
I checked and filled the water pail and then went down the hill back to the house.
Lunch was peanut butter and two different types of jelly on Ritz crackers with a side of Vienna sausages from about 8 tiny little pull top cans. We talked for a bit and everyone checked the lists. Amy asked Gina if they had gotten to the bathrooms but she just blushed and elbowed Lucy.
Lucy answered “That was Ronald Bear’s job, I guess I’m going to have to half a talk for him.”
Tucker laughed and Amy leaned her chin in both hands and said
“Is that right?”
She nodded big like she does and said “uh huh, bears can get really ...” she paused trying to think of the right word.
“Tired-Full?”
Tucker laughed again.
I had over watch after lunch so Mrs. West helped Karen in the armory. I scanned the horizon with the binoculars. I never let my guard down, if anything happened to us again, it wouldn’t be my fault. I wasn’t scared anymore, I knew we were going to die and there was nothing I could do about it except fight as hard as I could for as long as I could. No one was going to die because I didn’t do my job.
At three I saw storm clouds heading our way and thunder off in the distance. At four I heard a loud banging and noise coming from the stair well. I went over there and saw Tucker huffing and puffing his way up the stairs.
“You stand relieved Mr. Williams” he said with a smile on his face.
I chuckled, “What are you doing up here?”
“Taking my turn on watch kid, taking my turn on watch. Would you drag Mr. Livingston’s chair over to the edge for me?” he asked.
I did so then gave him the binoculars after he sat in it. I told him the perimeter was quiet and then pointed out the closing clouds. I brought him one of the umbrellas and one of those sand filled bases and set it up to keep him out of the rain.
“Thanks John” he said and I felt he really meant it.
I said “You are welcome John”.
“How in the hell?” he said looking startled.
I laughed “you and Amy are not always quiet when you argue.”
He laughed right back at me then said “Let’s keep it Tucker though, I mean too many Johns and all that.”
I smiled and said Okay and told him to keep his eyes open and went down stairs to help Karen and Mrs. West in the armory. I wondered if Mrs. West had “THE talk” with Karen the way she had with me.
In the bedroom we had set up for the armory Karen and Mrs. West had a desk covered in weapons, those taken from the bikers. Several looked new but some had real issues. One revolver, when you pulled the trigger and the hammer went forward, the trigger wouldn’t return to its original position for the next shot. You had to physically pull the trigger forward. One single shot shotgun actually wiggled when it was closed, heck I would have been scared to death to try and shoot that thing. Anyway, any that looked or acted questionable were set off to one side and Mrs. West tied two “do not use” tags on them, one on the muzzle and one on the action. It turned out that we had weapons, but ammunition was another thing. We had burned through quite a bit although we still had plenty of 7.62x54 and 5.56. We were short on the .308 and Tucker was down to 20 rounds of .41 long colt. We had a box and a half of .45 ACP and maybe 300 rounds of 9 mm. We had exactly one round of 7.62x39 for the AK47. We were desperately short on shotgun shells, it seems that Mr. Lowe and Mr. and Mrs. Livingston had kept the fire up pretty hot and heavy all the time Karen and I had been trying to flank them or run away.
Finally we finished the inventory and headed downstairs, none of us liked being in the kitchen, I was missing Mrs. Boudreaux, Mrs. King, and Mrs. Livingston in there something awful, they were always so happy, even when they pretended to argue about something. It was like having grandmas and I had never known my real ones. But we did get started on dinner. Again, no propane meant no stove. We considered trying to cook outside but it was now raining pretty heavily. We finally decided that we would try and get a fire going in the fireplace and maybe heat up some cans of soup, that we had quite a bit of. Most were Tomato, not my favorite but we did have some Chicken&Noodle and even Bean&Bacon, that one I loved a lot. We cut up the last of the fresh vegetables and I put all of the bits left over in a plastic bag, I decided to add some of the spoiled beef and take it up to the Before.
I thought about telling Karen and Mrs. West about what I had done but I really didn’t want to be yelled at for being stupid, not yet at least. I took the bag and started up the hill, I stopped by the garden and was pleased to see that weeds had not taken over yet, I thought that we would have to have a weeding day soon so our fall garden could continue to grow. Some things, like the radishes had already sprouted but the others hadn’t started to appear yet, all in good time, I repeated what Mrs. Livingston had said to me.
When I got to the clearing I called out to the Before, I looked at the cage expecting it to be waiting for me but I didn’t see it. I tapped on the cage but still no monster. I moved around and tried to look into the back of the trash truck, I could just make out its shiny black exoskeleton.
“Hey!” I cried. “Aren’t you hungry?”
There was no response. I picked up a stick and tried to wake it, it didn’t even flinch.
“HEY, wake up!” I said angrily, but still it didn’t move.
“Don’t make me come in there.” I threatened.
Still nothing. So then I tried
“*click*buzz*buzz*clickety*clack* something*like*that*”
Still nothing.
I sat the food bucket down and went over to the cable that was still attached to its neck. I pulled on it. Nothing. I pulled harder, then I pulled as hard as I could and it slowly slid out of the back of the truck. Its eyes were grey, its tongue was hanging out of its mouth and a trickle of blood flowed from its mouth onto the ground. I ran over to the gate and opened it, yeah I know, not smart, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to hurt me. I walked into the cage suddenly feeling nervous but when I knelt next to it, I knew it was dead.
I stepped away from its corpse, already starting to smell, and all sorts of things went through my mind, why did it die? Was it the rotten food? Not likel
y I had seen them eat month old road steak and cow patties and never shown ill effects before. Did Tucker come here and do something to it? I checked it over, no new wounds, nothing. I looked down at it, I don’t know why but I said quietly
“I’m sorry this happened to you.”
I closed the gate and latched it behind me and walked back down to the lodge. I went into the kitchen, Mrs. West and Karen both saw the expression on my face.
“What’s wrong Johnny?” Karen asked.
“Oh nothing, just the Before up on the hill? It’s dead.”
Mrs. West crossed her arms and looked at me bewildered but said nothing.
I said “I think I should go tell Tucker.”
Once on the roof I walked over to him in the rain, I was already soaked and my shirt was clinging to my skin.
“Hey Tucker” I said “did you kill the Before in the cage?”
“What? No, not yet John, I still wanted to try a few things. Why? Is it dead?”
“Yeah” I said.
“Maybe it starved to death?” he suggested. “No, no that isn’t it, I’ve been feeding it twice a day most days and always at least once.” I stated.
“That’s strange.” He said.
I added “It was starting to heal you know? The shell on its back was almost grown completely back.”
“No way” he said with genuine incredulity in his voice.
“Way” I answered.
We sat there a minute, I was actually relieved that Tucker hadn’t killed it. All at once Tucker asked me
“John, what time is it?”
“Hmm, I don’t know, maybe six?” I said.
He got up and using his cane we walked over to his directional antenna located under its own awning. He turned it on and listened at the headset. For twenty minutes he listened, then he sat it down and looked at me.
“Nothing John, not a single signal that we can hear. There should be at least 6, or more likely 8 that we should have picked up tonight”.
He looked at a map that was covered with intersecting arcs.
“Yea, eight. There should be 8 humming groups in range.”
He sat the headset down and said
“We need to talk to the others.”
“What about over watch?” I asked.
“I don’t think we have to worry about that right now. Come on, help me down these damn stairs” he said.
I helped him down the stairs to the second floor, I have to admit that while he was big, he sure was heavy and to top that off he didn’t take healthy criticisms very well. Plus he needed a shower.
We called everyone together in the great room. I told them about the death of our “prisoner” and Tucker told how we had failed to pick up any signals at all. None. He said he would stay up and check every half hour until 2 AM if someone could figure out how to make coffee. Weir volunteered to stay up with him he said that he had over watch later anyway. I figured he just wanted an opportunity to drink more coffee. Karen had been silent but finally she spoke,
“Do you think that this had something to do with what we did? The ambush I mean.”
I looked at Tucker and I could tell he was keeping something in, something that worried or frightened him pretty badly.
“I don’t see how honey. After the group the strike team took out that group, the signals sounded panicked, but they settled down after 24 hours. “
Then what does it mean John?” Amy asked.
“I don’t know” he said “but if nothing changes I’d like to take the truck and scout it out.”
His voice deep and serious. Amy said that she would drive if he went, Tucker looked at me, sadness in his expression as if he had hoped I would have offered and to tell the truth I was going to but Amy beat me to it, so I just shrugged.
So it was that Tucker and Weir went upstairs to over watch and after dinner we all just went to bed. Amy was reading to Lucy and Gina a story about some moles that ate rocks, Karen and I just snuggled. When it got dark and I was sure that Amy and the girls were asleep I asked Karen if Mrs. West had spoken to her about THE talk.
“Of course she did” she laughed.
I whispered to her that I really wasn’t quite sure of the details, and I told her about what Billy and I had seen. Karen tickled me and she told me to relax, she was a girl and almost 14. That she knew all about it and if the time came and if she thought I needed to know she would explain it to me in great detail. Then she kissed me, told me to go to sleep, rolled over and pressed her back to me. Great, I thought, the rest of my life I am going to have to wait for her, then she sighed and pressed her butt up against me and I thought, well, I guess it didn’t hurt to try waiting for her, huh?
Day 30
Time is a funny thing. When you are tired and sore and can’t sleep, night time seems to last forever. When you are sleeping next to beautiful girl it seems to be over before it starts. That’s the way that night went for me, it seemed that we had just closed our eyes when we were awakened by Lucy jumping on us. Karen was saying something like the tickle bug was going to get her and when I started to get out of bed there was Gina, a sad look on her face, one that didn’t belong on any child.
“Hello.” I said.
She whispered “hi” and I knew she was missing her sister and her mother, so I just asked her if she wanted to go down stairs and say good morning to THE very important picture, she nodded so I told Karen and Lucy that we would meet them downstairs; then I took Gina’s hand and went with her to tell our dead families and friends that we missed them.
Everyone seemed in a good mood, hoping for, no, anticipating the best. Tucker and Weir had remained at the antenna all night and had not picked up a single signal with the exception of what might have been a short wave broadcast, Weir said he thought someone said Columbus but wasn’t sure. Only Tucker seemed down and a bit moody, which I didn’t understand. Amy seemed okay and she was talking over possible search routes with Mrs. West. I was happy to see that Gina’s mood had improved a lot and I once again vowed to thank Karen for THE important picture, and to tell the truth while I held Gina up so she could talk to her mother and sister I silently said hi to my family as well and wished I could tell Billy about my pretty older woman. I know he would have liked Karen a lot too.
Breakfast was a collection of scrambled powdered eggs and slices of canned ham heated on a barbeque fork over the fireplace. There was coffee and tea and something called Tang that Amy tried to convince me that astronauts drank but I think she was making that up.
Breakfast was just ending and Amy was rolling her map up when Mrs. West lifted her coffee mug and said to Tucker
“To the hero’s return!”
Tucker turned red, not the blushing color, but the ‘I am about to explode’ color. He stood up and growled
“Don’t say that to me, never say that to me!”
He slammed his coffee mug down on the table and stormed out, his cane banging harshly on the floor. Karen said
“What was that about?”
There were some ‘I don’t knows’ and ‘no idea’s’ but it was Lucy who spoke up
“It’s his job.”
When we asked what she meant she didn’t look up from the yellow castle she was making with her eggs when she said with a sigh as if we were inattentive kids in school
“When everyone is sleeping he watches out, when everyone is afraid he is brave, when we are not worried then he has to be, see? It’s his job.”
I thought about it and decided she might be right but I had this little ‘itchy’ feeling that just would not go away, that there was something else that we didn’t know. Something that no one knew except Old Man Tucker.
Tucker was waiting out by the truck for Amy, she started to help him get in the passenger seat but he dismissed her. He reminded me of Lucy when she was three: “I can dood it mesef.” The memory made me chuckle and I got a glare from Tucker and an elbow in the ribs from Karen for it. Amy jogged around the front of the truck and fired
it up, only a few minutes later they were out of sight.
The day seemed relaxed but we still kept strict over watch. Mrs. West helped me bury the Before, I thought she would be mean or something from the way she hated them but she only seemed a little curious. She examined the claws and the boney eyelids, she pressed the wrist to make the wrist spikes pop out.
She said “it’s small.”
I answered “Yeah, I think it was a girl, maybe a little older than me, I don’t know why really, I just do.”
She looked at it a while and said
“I think you are right. I wonder what she was like.”
I told her I thought she was sweet, then I told her about my relationship with it, how it had ate from my hand. She suggested we not tell Amy or Tucker about that and I said she was probably right about that. We put it in the ground just inside the woods, then went back to the lodge.
As we went down the hill I saw that Amy, Weir and West had been burying our people and I felt guilty for not helping. She said not to worry she knew there was always chores to be done. After that Lucy and Gina and me started to weed the garden but the sky darkened and it began to rain heavily and there was lightning so we went inside. It stormed all through lunch and it got dark so to save the batteries we shut off the solar and lit a couple of oil lamps. Amy and Karen had a pile of dry firewood ready for the fireplace if we needed it as well.
It was kind of hard to wait, and being dismal outside it limited our chores. We did clean every one of our guns, when that was finished Gina and Lucy wanted to play “Viking Boat” again but Amy thought Monopoly would be better since everyone knew how to play. The game did help pass the time until dinner at least even though I didn’t get to be the shoe; after that Karen had over watch so I kept her company.