“Geez, Mason. I don't know. Let me think...hmm. Do I even want to read 'its' mind? Hell no, I haven't read its mind nor do I intend to.” I got out of bed and began searching for my clothes, mumbling. “Like I even know what 'it' is for Gods sake. If you want 'its' mind read, then do it yourself,” I said pointing my shoe at him with every word. He was just looking at me with 'that' look. “Oh for heavens sake, get a grip already...” Then the loudest, most horrendous scream I'd ever heard came from above us. Mason was out of that bed in a shot and had his clothes on before I even got my other shoe on. Of course I'd ducked although I have no idea why. He was armed and dangerous in a blink of any eye while I was mentally calling Lacy who is in the camper behind us. I ran to the kitchen, kneeled in the booth, and looked out the top part of the window.
The bottom of the window is blacked out to keep walkers from looking inside and seeing you and getting all excited and whatnot. I couldn't see anything but stars when I looked out, so I sat at the table and stared at Mason while he tried to see in the dark. Then I wondered what time it was. The walking above had stopped, so we looked at each other like fools while we waited for Lacy to shine a light at us to see what the noise is all about.
I can't see anything, Lacy thought, but I damned sure heard that scream. George said it woke up some of the kids but otherwise no one else was bothered but us. Did you hear walking on your roof?
Yeah, then running, jumping up and down, the Texas two step and the Cowboy cheerleaders at half time before the screaming started. You sure there's nothing out there?
Mason was on his way out the door when I heard another scream. It almost sounded human, but didn't, if ya know what I mean. He hesitated and squared his shoulders before taking an tentative step out the door. Something shook the camper again and he slammed that door so hard I jumped. “My God,” he said as he crouched on the floor, ducking down like the roof would come down any minute. I'd been doing the same thing a few minutes earlier so I didn't comment. The hair was standing up on every part of my body, then the scream sounded again but it sounded like it was farther away. We heard it one more time, barely, before it quieted again. “Well, hell,” he mumbled, before opening the door and walking out into the predawn light. When he didn't scream, I followed him out and heard all the sounds of morning, bugs and birds and turkeys so I relaxed, a little.
People started coming out of the woodwork. Tentatively at first then with more purpose and we all congregated in the yard in front of the cabin.
“Well?” asked Duke, looking all around us.
“Well what? It sounded kinda like a panther to me. But I didn't see it so I can't be sure.” Flynn said, as he scanned the area with a pair or binoculars. “I think it's gone now, but I don't like the idea that it was so close. It might be a good idea to go after it.”
“I'll go do some research and see what I can find out.”Duke said. But, If you ask me and you didn't, if the damned thing doesn't want to be found, it won't be and we could be wasting time and energy looking for it.” Clint nodded his head as he continued to look around. We were a bunch of nuts standing in the yard twirling around in circles hoping to find the 'it' that had screamed. Now that they figured out what to do or in this case what not to do, they were hungry.
“OK, now wait a danged minute.” They all turned to me and waited. “I don't think a big cat made that noise on the roof of the camper. It was too small for that.”
“No, I think it was a panther or bobcat or something like that. A bobcat is smaller than a panther so it could have been what was walking around on the roof.”
“Really? Then why did it leave? Better yet, why was it walking on the roof. And running back and forth and jumping up and down? No, it was something else and I think we should find out what.”
“How JD?” Lacy asked. “Unless we actually see it, we can't begin to figure out what it is.” Then everyone trooped inside the cabin in search of coffee. I just stood there with my hands on my hips, frustrated with the response and the fact they were right. No one had seen the 'jumper' in question so we didn't know what it was. Evidently we didn't care what it was, until we had some coffee. I finally threw up my hands and followed them inside but not before I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. I turned to look at the hills of the valley searching the trees and cliffs but saw nothing. Yet I had the feeling the nothing in question was watching me. It would be back. I thought bring it on and flipped it the bird before going inside and slamming the door.
Around the breakfast table they discussed whether they should go to town as planned or go hunting for the screamer. I kept quiet because I had other plans. I was going to go find out what that thing was that was playing on my roof this morning. Mason kept looking over at me, expecting me to jump into the conversation at any moment and when I didn't he squinted his eyes at me. I gave him the innocent 'what?' look while I blew into my coffee mug. Then I smiled big and scooted the chair back.
“Where do you think you're going?”
“Out to the rocking chair. Want to join me?” I smiled at him again and went outside to sit in the dawn and scan the cliffs around me. The squeaking of the chair and the tapping of my shoes as I pushed lightly on the wooden floor soothed me while the feeling of being watched stayed. I couldn't find its source, although I looked everywhere. Mickey came outside and handed me a small pie. It was half moon shaped and contained peach pie filling. Sarah made them so they could be eaten on the go and we all loved them. We chatted for a few minutes then he ran back inside when Bobby yelled for him. They were best friends now and when Bobby yelled, Mickey went running. I took a bite of the pasty and sighed, then followed it with a sip of coffee.
Something made a noise and I looked for the sound. I finally saw movement in the corner of the roof rafters and when I squinted, a pair of small, black, beady eyes looked back at me. Mason, dammit, get your ass out here. The eyes didn't even blink but neither did mine. They were about the size of marbles, black and shiny. Mason! The door slammed open with a bang as Mason propelled himself out, armed to the teeth and spinning in circles looking for the enemy. Just then the eyes jumped at me, landing on my shoulder in a blur or white and black, then it grabbed the pastry from my hand and began eating it. I made a very unladylike squeak which surprised me enough to make me duck again. Seemed like I was doing that a lot lately.
I froze. I couldn't even look at Mason, whose feet turned slowly in my direction. I watched them and when they didn't move, I raised my eyes just enough to see his waist. My head wouldn't move any farther cause the 'it' in question was sitting on my hair. I usually keep it short but I've been overdue for a haircut from some time. I was hoping to get Sarah or Lacy to cut it before we left. Soon, a lot of someones clomped their heavy boots out to the porch and stood looking at me. I knew this because all the toes of the boots were pointed my direction.
Then I heard a snicker. It was followed by a couple more snickers then they all started laughing. Great big guffaws and belly laughs. The ones that make you grab your stomach and snort coffee up your nose. I still couldn't raise my head cause of the something sitting on my hair, so I had no idea what was going on. I was not only curious as you might imagine, but I was quickly becoming pissed off. Sloppy, wet eating sounds were great big booming noises so close to my ear and just when I was ready to do something, a great long, skinny, fuzzy tail wrapped itself around my face right under my nose. That of course, cause the laughing, snorting troop of idiots surrounding me to start rolling on the floor. I, however, was Not amused.
I found my legs and stood. At this height I could see the faces of my 'rescuers' which were various colors due to their hilarity. My new 'friend' was starting to get heavy on my shoulder, so I walker over to Mason and glared at him. I guess my glare is losing some of its effectiveness because Mason just looked at me. I noticed his lips thinning and his chin moving and realized he was trying not to laugh. I bent forward a bit and said, “You WILL get this thing off my back,” snickers rose behind me, “ri
ght this minute or you WILL sleep elsewhere the rest of your natural life. Do. You. Understand?” Evidently, he didn't cause he chose that moment to resume laughing. I turned just in time for Mickey to come back out on the porch and yell, “A monkey, look everyone. JD, found a monkey.” For some reason this prompted my 'heroes' into action because they jumped at the door en mass to stop the kids from coming out. The cabin shook as they barricaded the door with their bodies .
“A monkey, Mason? That's what's sitting on my shoulder eating my pie? A damned monkey?”
The guys didn't know whether to look at me or Mason. They finally decided that the best defense in this case was to back off. So they all, man to man, stood behind Mason and tried unsuccessfully not to laugh while a monkey sat on my shoulder eating my breakfast. So I walked towards Mason who started to back away. OK, so I turned towards the cabin and came face to face with a window full of kids. As a group they tilted they heads to one side and said, “Aww”. Well, that wasn't a good idea so I turned back to the guys, who parted as I approached them. Then I slowly walked down the steps, so the monkey on my back wouldn't get excited and shit down my back on my way to my camper. Every step of the way was punctuated with laughter and smacking noises in my ear. When I finally got inside, I barricaded the door because Mason just done pissed me off royally and he wasn't getting in my bed for a long time.
I took a moment and locked down my mind. I imagined a brick wall that narrowed at the top to gradually meet and close off. Then I reinforced it with steel and re-bar and mortar. No one had access to my mind until I took down the wall. My feelings had been hurt and that's how I planned to deal with it.
I made my way to the bathroom where I stood and looked at the monkey in the mirror. It was all black except for its face, chest and from the upper arms to its finger? tips. Its tail seemed as long as the body. It reminded me of the organ grinder monkeys of long ago. At present, its tail was tightly wrapped around my face, and under my nose. Our eyes met and although I blinked several times it continued to lick the remains of my breakfast from its fingers. I turned the water on to get it a drink and it jumped down on the edge of the sink where it drank from the facet. I sat on the toilet and watched it as it jumped from the sink to the bed, landing right in the middle where it curled up in a ball and proceeded to go to sleep.
I thought of closing the door and locking it in, but why? It hadn't hurt anything and keeping it locked up wasn't the best thing for anyone. I opened the window over the bed and pulled out the screen so it could get out when it was ready, and headed back to the cabin. All the guys were sitting on the steps but were smart enough to move out of the way before I got there. Mason began to follow me around. He got my coffee, then another pie, then sat beside me while I ate. I ignored him. He tried to get inside my head a few times but the wall was still up and all I heard was knocking.
“JD, I'm sorry, honey, but it was so shocking I didn't know what to do.”
I looked at Sarah and said, “ Can you make these little pies with apple pie filling?”
She smiled and said, “Yep, you name it, I can do it. They freeze good too.”
Bless her little heart. “I'll look into it and see what I can do.”
“Great Sarah, sounds like a plan. Let me know if you need any help.”
“JD, darling, please don't be mad.”
“Mason, if you haven't figured out yet that she's pissed at you then you need to talk to Duke. He can give you some pointers.”
“How is Duke this morning, Sarah? He's the only one I haven't seen today.” Mason gave up talking to me but sat beside me while I ate. I hoped he gave up soon and left me alone cause I just couldn't deal with him or the guys yet. They'd let me down and I just couldn't deal with it.
. “He's around someplace. He said something about checking the solar panels on the Dukemobile So if you're looking for him that's probably where he is.”
“OK, I'll check with him before we leave.” I turned to Mason and asked, “When are we leaving cause I can be ready anytime?”
“I thought we were going horseback riding while the other team went to town.” He almost sounded like he was going to cry.
“Not any more. I want to go to town so that's what I'm doing. You can go riding if you want to.”
“But what about the panther? I thought we'd go hunting for it today.”
“I'm sure everyone here knows how to handle a gun. If they see it they can shoot it. From what I've heard they're night hunters anyway, so no one will probably see it anyway.” I got up and started for the door when he grabbed my arm. I turned on him fast. “You will not touch me again unless I touch you first. You will not sleep next to me again unless I ask. Until I'm over being mad at you, and I have no idea how long that will be, you will keep your distance and I'm so serious about this that you don't even want to cross me. Do. You. Understand?” I didn't wait for a response but continued out the door and headed to the Dukemobile
We found the Dukemobile in Colorado and Duke fell head over heels for it the moment he saw it. It was around 30 feet long with pretty purple swirls that roamed up and down its side. The front bumper was triangular and the headlights were recessed. The grill was extra large and hung over the front bumper while the windshield looked like a five foot compact disc hanging over the front of the vehicle and just on top of the grill. The tandem rear end was closed in and the whole thing looked like it came from another planet. Oh, and lets not forget the observation deck on the roof, the three tip outs and the inside, which had enough electronics to send a space ship to the moon. What cinched the whole thing were the words 'Communication/Command Center Larimer County' written in large letters on the side. The steps leading the the inside were covered in red carpet Duke had gotten somewhere making me smile every time I went inside.
“Hey, Duke, we're going to town soon, you have a list of stuff you want this time?” He was at the big 10 foot long desk working on something and looked at me sideways before going back to working. “Yea, it's on that board there next to the door. You look better since you shaved.” I flipped him the bird, grabbed the list and stomped outside to wait on the team going to town. It was a very quiet group that left that morning. The guys knew me well enough to leave me alone. Mason tried several times to read my mind but the vault I had around my mind refused to let him in. He finally settled in the bunk behind me. Eventually he planned to stay close until I indicated he was forgiven. Until then there would be no monkeying around.
Pun intended.
Chapter 3
A few hours later found us up to our armpits in walkers. I don't know how it happened, the guys said they'd cleared the small gun shop, but here we were, climbing the walls again. Literally.
I was standing on top of a cabinet on one side of the room, just out of reach of grasping hands. Across the room from me on the opposite wall, each standing on the top of a steel gun vault, was Mason and Andy. Andy looked like he was about ready to die of fright as he plastered himself against the wall and panted. I was catching my breath while I contemplated how to get out of this new mess. I looked at Mason who just shrugged his shoulders while we looked at the mass of stinking, rotting bodies below straining to reach us. The rest of the crew was locked in the back room and since I had no telepathic connections to any of them, I had no way of knowing what they were doing. I hoped someone came up with something soon, this was simply not acceptable.
We'd decided to hit the gun store barely minutes before entering it. Clint or was it Randy, said it was clear, so we were happily grabbing what we could when Andy let out a squeal, that I'm sure he will be embarrassed about for the rest of his life. He pushed the walker away with enough force that it fell, and then that 14 year old was up on the gun safe before I could really process it. Mason followed suit and after I did a quick spin around looking for a place to hide, I climbed the shelves next to me on the opposite side of the room. I yelled to the guys in the back of the store who saw the horde and slammed the door. Next thing we knew th
ere was a crowd of walkers divided on each side of the room stinking up the place.
The slight breeze coming in the doorway swept the smell upwards right under my nose. I felt bile rising in my stomach and swallowed continuously while I tried to ignore the raised hands reaching for me. The combination of rotting flesh, unwashed bodies in the 90 degree heat and foul breath was so alien I couldn't describe it. While I tried to look calm and remain still, I happened to noticed one of the walkers at the back of the herd that just watched me. He didn't strain forward against the wall of bodies in front of him like the rest were doing, but just watched. I looked at Mason then motioned towards the walker in the back of the horde. See that guy in the back? He isn't like the rest of them. He's just watching.
He looked and then grew very still as he turned his whole attention on the guy. He reminded me of the time when me and Lacy was being chased by a herd of senior citizen walkers in northern Florida. Just because they're seniors don't mean they're slow by any means, but I noticed a lot of them would just stare at you, like this guy was. I have no idea why, Lacy and I tried to think of reasons for this but we finally decided it was the age of the walker before dying the first time that mattered. Still, this one, who looked to be around 60 when he first died, acted differently and in a group like this it was just plain spooky. I have no idea why he's acting that way as long as he does it over there. I could always count on Mason to be pro active. Bless him. .
I felt my shelving unit start to get a little shaky so I scooted the day packs off the next unit and shuffled over to it. I decided to be as still as possible to calm the diners while I racked my brain to come up with some way of getting them out of the building. I noticed the guys across me were having some problems with their footing also and were trying to settle into another position when a loud horn sounded somewhere close. They froze too, then I saw Riley hurry across the street and throw a grenade. I wanted to duck down but I was trying to get the walkers attention off of me. The explosion did a wonderful job of it though. They all froze, then turned as one body and started out the door, the watcher walker at the head of the pack. I saw a long, piece of glass sticking out of its back when it led the others out. Mason and Andy hadn't seen Riley and had no idea what happened but as luck would have it, froze when the grenade went off and stayed that way when the walkers started out the door.
Seeking Sanctuary (Walkers) Page 2