“Thank you,” Jason said. “Someone like you, I doubt it would take very long. Jeremy will accompany you.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s something I can do on my own. We owe you that much. I’m sure your brother has more important things to do if I handle the hunting.”
“Like what?” Jason said. It was the first time I’d seen him snap, losing his cool host-like composure.
“I’m sorry?” Spade said. It wasn’t an apology, as much as a who-the-fuck-do-you-think-you’re-talking-to implication.
“No, I’m sorry.” Jason forked his eggs around on his plate before lifting a mouthful and taking a bite. He chewed slowly, his eyes never leaving Spade. “I just meant, like what is it you think there is for my brother to do? We’re up in the mountains, in the woods, while the world below us is suffering a worse hemorrhage than the black plague.”
Spade pushed back from the table. “I saw stacks of wood. Might need more chopped? Winters must be brutal up here.”
Using the tip of his tongue to pick at food in the front of his teeth, Jason again smiled, or tried to. “That is excellent. We do spend a lot of time chopping wood. The supply dwindles faster than one might think. We have a pretty efficient wood burning stove, but you are correct. Chopping wood is a daily chore. I am sorry if I sounded . . . rude. It’s just this, everything going on, it gets to me.”
“We’ve spent nearly a month watching the military prepare that camp down there. Setting up tents and cleaning the apartments inside. They made repairs to the fence, and were always coming and going. Those loud vehicles of theirs. No respect for nature, really,” Jeremy said. “We had no clue what was going on. We kept our distance, but never stopped watching them.”
“And what did you discover?”
Jason shrugged. “Only that they were expecting to lock a lot of people up inside the razor-wire compound. Of course, we didn’t know why, or what the military was preparing for. All the shit going on in nearly every third-world country, and some not-so-third-world, figured a war was coming. We didn’t take it lightly, Jeremy and me. We chopped our wood, stocked our freezers, and made sure we had a solid stack of supplies. And then we saw them. . .”
“Them?” Palmeri said.
“Those things. The zombies. They brought a few in strapped to gurneys, flown in on that helicopter of theirs.”
“Helicopter?” I said.
“Over by their little landing strip,” Jason said, pointing to nowhere in particular. “We thought for sure a new plague hit. That all these infected people were going to be quarantined in our hills. Our hills. That wasn’t going to work. Our father, he’d never have stood for it. The American military just moving in with diseased people, destroying our home.”
I put a hand on my stomach. Wasn’t sure I was going to like the rest of the story.
“What did you do? What did you and your brother do?” Spade said.
“We did nothing. We watched them. We watched the sick they brought in. Had them in collars and kept them tied to posts like dogs. Jeremy said they looked like zombies,” he said.
“I did. I knew it,” Jeremy said.
“He knew it alright. Then, a few days ago, some of those . . . zombies were outside the fence. Don’t think they were the same ones the military delivered to the camp,” Jason said.
“I was sure it was Mr. Robinson, guy who ran the little grocery store along the main road,” Jeremy said. “And then there was Loretta Breeze, she was in her night gown and just growling and moaning and wandering around aimlessly.”
“Military shot them. Put bullets into their heads. Just, killed them. You don’t shoot sick people,” Jason said.
“And again, I said, they’re zombies. Like in the movies.”
“More came out of the woods. Started sniffing their way around here. We were left with no choice. We had to shoot them. If the military was that out of sorts to the point they were shooting ‘em, it only made sense we should shoot them, too.”
“It’s the military, or I guess, the government’s fault. They brought those things up here,” Jeremy said, as he used a knife to slice open a biscuit. “So all we did was cut a hole in their fence. Gave some of the local dead a chance to enter the compound. That’s all. Served them right. That’s how we see it.”
Spade shook his head. “That’s how you see it?”
“You see it differently, soldier?” Jason tipped his head to one side. It was confrontational.
“That camp was a mobile research facility. They were going to be studying the creatures, trying to find a cure. They were looking for a way to fix the mess,” Spade said.
“A mess they caused,” Jason said.
“Dammit, you had no right. Do you know how many people were in there? How many you killed?”
“We didn’t kill a single one of them.”
“No, but you wanted them gone. Away from your precious land.”
“That so wrong? We built this land. This has been with our family for generations, soldier. Generations. It is ours. My brothers and mine. Military has no right infecting the area with their mistakes. None!” Jason slammed a first on the table. Silverware rattled.
“Our father would have done the same,” Jeremy said. “We just did what he would have done.”
“Then your father was crazy like his boys. Is that what you’re telling me?”
Jeremy jumped to his feet. “You take that back, right now. Take it back!”
Spade shook his head. “Not a fucking chance. I had brothers inside that camp, my family. They’re all dead because of the stupidity of the two of you. Did you ever think to just go and talk with someone at the camp? Ask a few questions before sabotaging their safety?”
“You think we could just stroll up there and introduce ourselves and ask questions, and they’d be all like, come on in, have some coffee and cookies and we’ll give you all the answers you want?” Jason said. “You’re a soldier, yes. But you’re not a robot, are you? You ever know your military to be upfront and honest about anything?”
“Would have been worth a try, first,” Palmeri said.
“A try? A try? I know the soldiers there did a survey of the area. I don’t think they knew we lived so close. They never came around to talk to the neighbors, let me tell you. Not once. So either they knew we were there and didn’t care to introduce themselves, or they didn’t know. I wasn’t going to risk what might happen if they found us.”
“So you killed them all,” Spade said.
Now Jason got to his feet. “We didn’t kill any of them!”
“We’re leaving,” Spade said.
I wanted to bury my son. I took Allison’s hand, giving it a quick squeeze. Things were not going well. We were all on alert. I know I was. I wanted to be sure everyone else was, too.
“Leaving? Going where? You’re in the middle of nowhere, soldier. This place, our home, it’s your best chance to last through the winter. We’ve got everything you could want. Leaving would be foolish. An argument, no, a simple disagreement and you’re just going to up and leave? That’s ridiculous,” Jason said, and sat back down. He motioned for Jeremy to do the same.
“I still want an apology for what you said about our father,” Jeremy said.
“Well, you’re not getting one, fuckface,” Spade said.
“Name calling, really? Is that what we’re resorting to, name calling?” Jason said. “Jeremy, sit down. We need to work past this. Everyone is tense. It’s okay. It’s expected.”
“On behalf of my friends and I, thank you for your hospitality, but after I fetch you some squirrels, and chop a little extra wood for you, we’re leaving.” Spade kept both hands on the table. The fingers of both hands. Reminded me of the way a gunslinger stood, hands by the gun handles, ready to draw if necessary.
“You want to leave, really? It’s so bad is it? A few things, then,” Jason said. “Everyone should tell me for themselves whether they want to stay or not. I know you think this is the army, but here, I don’t think
you call all the shots. I think--”
“You want to ask each one of them, you go right ahead,” Spade said. “Ask.”
Jason looked around the table. “You all have eaten two wonderful meals, thanks to Jeremy. Thank you, Jeremy.”
“Welcome.”
“You all slept in warm beds in nice rooms and in a safe log cabin. No reason any of that will ever change. Ever. We work together, we unite as a family, and this little log cabin in the mountains is as good a fortress as the White House -- which, by the way, I hear did not fare well during this apocalypse. So I ask you, each of you, who would like to stay?”
I had to look around. I needed to see expressions on faces.
Dave and Sues both shook their heads. No.
Erway and Palmeri said no, too.
Allison, Charlene and I said no.
Crystal looked undecided.
“Ms. Sutton?” Jason said.
“I’m not sure,” she said.
I wanted to lash out, call her a traitor, but was she? The Terrigino’s made me nervous, apprehensive. They were crazy, no doubt. Weren’t we all a little crazy at this point?
Jason nodded. “So, soldier, not everyone wants to leave.”
Spade just looked down, clearly disappointed with Crystal. “We’re leaving, all of us.”
“Except Ms. Sutton,” Jason said.
“No. Including Ms. Sutton,” Spade said.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I didn’t want to use the spot by the tree that Jason suggested, out of spite, or principle. However, he’d been right. It was an ideal location. Peaceful. So it was where we dug, but on the opposite side of the tree, not facing the log cabin.
With our weapons against the tree, we took turns shoveling dirt. The ground was cold and hard. All the rain that had fallen had made the ground rock hard now. Chipping away with a pickaxe helped. The work was laborious, but no one complained.
Cash was wrapped in a tarp, just feet away from where we dug. After each shovelful, I couldn’t help but look at him. The idea of putting my son into the earth was haunting. Nightmares would plague my sleep forever.
Burying a child was something no one should ever have to do. My heart was broken. Shattered.
We’d cleared roughly four feet in a couple of hours. Despite gardening gloves, my palms were blistered and raw.
Charlene and I gently lifted Cash. She held his legs and I had the shoulders. We placed him into the hole, stood around it, and stared in.
Allison held my hand and laid her head on my chest.
We were all crying and sniffing.
It was time to say something, but I had no words. My emotions ran rampant inside me. I wasn’t sure I could speak, or if whatever I chose to say would even be coherent, or make sense. “I’m going to miss you, little buddy. I miss you.”
Charlene sobbed, her shoulders shaking. I pulled her in tightly and held her close.
“When you were born,” I said. “I brought your sister in to meet you. You were just a tiny thing in your mom’s arms. We didn’t want your sister to be jealous. Your mom bought a couple of Barbie dolls and had them in her hospital bag. So, when Charlene and I came in to say hello, your mom gave Char the dolls, and said, ‘Your brother got these for you.’ Charlene took those dolls, and just looked at you like you were the greatest kid in the world and she said. . . Do you remember what you said, Char?”
She ran a sleeve under her nose. “I looked at him and I said, ‘Thank you, brother.’”
“Yep, that’s what you said. I’ll never forget that,” I said.
“What are we going to do without him, Daddy?” Charlene knelt by the grave. “I don’t want to just leave him here. Out here. All alone.”
“I don’t either.”
We were silent while we filled the dirt back into the hole. I tried my best not to think about what it was we were actually doing. As we patted down the earth, I saw Spade and Jeremy approach the side of the log cabin.
Dave and the others had spent a better part of the morning loading the zombies killed from the bedroom window last night onto a wheelbarrow and moving them far off the Terrigino property. To where, I hadn’t a clue.
“Listen, I have a bad feeling about how things are going to go down. I want both of you ready and on alert at all times. Got it?” I said.
They nodded. We grabbed up our weapons and carried the shovels back to the cabin.
Jason was out on the front porch smoking a cigarette.
I didn’t know he had those. I wanted one. A pack. A carton. I’d settle for one.
“It’s nearly four. We all worked through lunch so we’ll have an early dinner. I’ve got mashed potatoes. They’re from a box, but with enough butter and salt, you’ll never know the difference,” Jason said.
“Thank you, but no thank you,” Spade said.
“Still have your heart set on leaving?”
An early dinner did sound good. It would be dark soon, I thought. Almost had to shake my head to clear away the thoughts.
“We are. We’ll just make sure we have our things and we’ll be going.”
Erway, Palmeri, and Crystal came out of the cabin.
I didn’t see Dave or Sues. I checked the woods, but saw nothing.
“Okay, but I must tell you. In order for you to leave, there are two things you need to know.” Jason smiled.
I hated that smile.
Spade took an aggressive stance. “Yeah? And what’s that?”
“The weapons. They’re ours, not yours, so you can’t have them. We’ll be wanting those back,” he said.
All I could think was, oh shit!
Spade snickered, as if he thought Jason was telling a joke. “And the other thing?”
“Aside from Crystal staying with us, so are the other women.”
“W-what?” That last comment even caught Spade off guard.
“It’s the end of the world. It has to restart somehow, by someone. Better people like us--survivalists, than the likes of you. The women, they’re staying.”
“My daughter’s fourteen,” I said, as if it mattered, like there was any chance in hell I’d leave my kid here.
Spade took a step toward Jason.
I saw it before it happened and was helpless to do anything.
Jeremy raised his gun and shot Spade in the back of the head. Spade fell forward in a heap with arms splayed out, blood and brain spilling from the cracked bowl that was his shattered skull.
“No!” I yelled. “Are you out of your fucking--”
I spread my arms wide, pushing Allison and Charlene behind me as Jeremy pointed his gun at me.
Jeremy’s chest exploded like his heart ruptured. He dropped his gun and clapped both hands over his heart, falling to his knees.
I hadn’t heard a shot. I didn’t know what had just--
The upstairs window.
The barrel of a rifle protruded.
Jason was screaming and he started to run for his brother. Palmeri reached for him, tugged on his sleeve. It probably saved his live. Another shot sent a chunk of dirt and crisp leaves into the air. Looking up, Jason now knew where Dave and Sues were.
Like a cheetah, he spun around and ran for the house.
Erway tried to stop him. He pushed her aside, pulled his gun, fired as he ran into the house, and slammed the front door.
“He’s inside,” I said, looking up at the window. “He’s in the house!”
“Crystal’s been shot,” Palmeri said. She knelt beside the woman.
“How’s it look,” Allison said, running over to them.
I was at the front door, throwing my shoulder into it. Steel. As Jason promised, there was no way to knock it open. At the window, with the shutters open for the day, I used the shovel like a baseball bat and smashed the glass.
“The shot’s to the stomach,” Erway said. She had blood dripping from her lip, and nose. She tore a piece of Crystal’s shirt at the bullet hole, exposing the gut wound. The blood bubbled and pooled on he
r belly. With a gentle swipe of her hand, Erway cleared most of the blood off.
I used the shovel blade as if I was ringing a triangle, and knocked all the shards of loose and protruding glass from the frame before I climbed in through the bay window headfirst. Jason saw and fired at me.
Heat burned my skin on my right shoulder. I fell back out. “Dave, he’s in the house!”
“Daddy!” Charlene left Allison’s side and ran to mine. She looked at my shoulder. Copying Erway, she dug her fingers into the clothing hole, and pulled the material apart. I tried to look.
“I don’t think it went in. A graze,” I said. Sure felt like it went in. If a graze hurt like this, as if my skin was on fire, I couldn’t imagine what getting shot actually felt like.
Cash had been shot.
“You look okay,” she said.
“All this shooting, it’s going to be like ringing a dinner bell for the zombies. Keep an eye on everything. Don’t let them sneak up on us,” I said.
Charlene stood up, held out her hand and pulled me to my feet.
I was more cautious this time, and looked through the open window. I hoisted myself up and into the log cabin. I removed the machete from the sheath over my back. I stood still, listening, my eyes looking everywhere. Jason knew Dave was upstairs. Would he have gone right up after them? Did he think he’d killed me?
The stairs were right in front of me.
The urge to yell out for Dave and Sues was so strong that I almost had to bite my tongue to keep quiet. I took a few small steps toward the staircase. The silence was maddening.
Through the smashed out window, though, I could hear Erway and Palmeri working on Crystal, each one barking out different things.
They needed supplies to save that woman.
I knew where the medical supplies were. In that room with all the weapons.
We needed to stop Jason first. He was the threat. Then we could concentrate on helping Crystal. It was the only thing I could come up with that sounded remotely rational.
I put a foot on the first step.
It squeaked.
The bedroom door, behind which my son died, flew open.
Jason came out of the room holding a lit, oil filled lantern. He flung it across the room. The beveled glass shattered. The oil splashed out onto everything, and fire quickly followed.
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