by P. S. Power
“Yeah, you?”
“Not bad. Here, spoon with me.”
At least he got to be on the outside, arms wrapped around her warmly. It was a good thing. Sweet and gentle. Being daring for no reason at all, he leaned in and kissed her neck gently. The small hairs tickling his lips as he did. That close to her he could tell that she smelled familiar, like earth and dust. It wasn't unpleasant. He probably smelled like soap after all. Which was hardly romantic. Not that this was that kind of situation.
He told himself that as he fell asleep. Oh, he wasn't stupid. He got that she intended what she'd said about them to be real. Or him to think that, at least. Jake just didn't know if it would lead anywhere at all. Heather had said she'd liked him and Jake had let that become too important internally, which made things hurt worse later when she'd thrown him over for Randy without pausing. This time he wasn't going to do that. Oh, if he could score with Vickie he would, and even better if she'd be his girlfriend, but he counted on nothing.
He was going to confirm all that in light of day. Tomorrow though. He wanted to enjoy the here and now for a bit first.
Even if it wasn't the right thing to do.
Chapter Seven
They had a team of fifteen going into town, all ready to fight, even die, if they had to. The zombies wouldn't stand a chance. They moved slowly, the distance was great, and nerve wracking, fifteen miles of forest lined roads, then city, where anything could jump out at them from behind buildings, parked cars or bushes without warning.
They saw a cat.
Not even two cats, just one. It was a nice orange one, with a white chest that reminded Jake a bit of a creamsicle. He got ready to get caught in a strange desire for those now too, but nothing came. Oh, he'd eat one if it were there, just for variety, but it didn't do what fudge kept doing to him.
Fudge...
“I don't even like fudge.” He muttered out loud. Carl looked at him like he was insane and shook his head.
“You don't like fudge? That ain't natural man. I'm starting to worry about you Jake. What kind of person doesn't like any kind of chocolate?”
That got a shrug in return. It was a real point, but didn't help to talk about.
The point was, there was nothing in town. No people were out and no dead walked the streets searching for food. Right up until they got about a half mile from the police compound, the old Compton place. Jake had thought the name was different before, but the ladies there had corrected him. It was a thing for him to consider as he walked, and searched the roadside for the hiding undead. Then they found about two hundred zombies, all at once. Well, it made sense. they hadn't all vanished, they were all here, trying to get in to the food.
Jake looked around, but noticed there was no cover at all. He wanted his rocket launcher then. It was kind of a tempting target, the tight knot of hungry dead just pushing against, and walking past the metal fence, groaning just like the always did.
He didn't see any regular people inside at least. They looked to be hiding, which was sensible enough.
Thank goodness they had plenty of ammo with them.
Jake just sighed.
“Spread out. Molly... Darla, we need screamers. Brief noise to start, Molly first, we want to spread them out if we can. Keep an eye out all around though, in case more show up from the sides or back. Everyone ready?” He grinned and made a face, as if to say, if you are ready, you've lost it. Vickie walked over and gave him a hug with one arm.
“I'm good.”
Molly nodded and then everyone else did the same except Robin, who looked damned determined. Jake patted her on the back gently, making sure she knew he was there first.
“Calm, and make each round count. Try not to let them get to us. If they do, Vickie, Tipper and I will handle them, unless there are just too many, which we'll signal by running away suddenly.”
The girl just nodded, as if he hadn't been kidding.
He waved at Molly, who did her job, a single brief scream. At first nothing happened, so she did it again. Then two more times. Finally a few pulled off, walking slowly toward them. Jake could have managed most of them himself he thought, as long as they came at their current speed. After half an hour they had about twenty of them down and switched to Darla screaming, which let things pick up a bit. It wasn't hard. Vickie cleaned up the few that tried to come from behind, letting the rest of them focus on the job before them.
They needed to speed up though, because, if they could, Jake wanted to get the first load of people and supplies in that night. He got Molly to scream too and had both girls go longer. That got things moving. It was a grind, and a little nerve wracking, but they finally had the last ones walking toward them by about dark.
Then they had to scale the fence, to get in. No one from within the beige and tan barn buildings or golden yellow house came out at all.
“They'll be hiding in the bunker.” Robin said with authority. “It's what we were trained to do when the zombies came. Hide and wait, while the men fixed everything. Or screwed it up worse. Whichever.”
It wasn't a bad plan, Jake thought. If you couldn't fight, hide, and let those who could do it without worrying about you. What it meant though was half an hour of breaking in to the building before they got to the right door inside. It was a thick metal thing done in gray, that could easily keep them out. Robin just walked over and started pounding. It wasn't some complex thing, one knock, followed by two, three, five and seven in clear groups.
The idea being that even a smart z might have problems with prime numbers in sequence.
“The radio suggested it.” The dark haired girl said, repeating it all twice more. Finally the door opened, slowly, with a short person with blonde hair popping their head out. She had cornflower blue eyes, like Rachel had. Colleen Becks.
“Um, hello?” She said, which seemed really funny for a few moments for some reason, not able to help it, Jake moved to the door.
“Hi, we were wondering if, in these troubled times, you'd heard the word of our Lord, Jesus Christ?”
From behind the small woman a familiar voice came, also a woman. Which really just made sense given everything.
“Who's there?”
Colleen popped her head back in and pushed the door all the way open, so everyone could see.
“I don't know... I think they're Jehovah's Witnesses...”
That got a real laugh for some reason. From the other side of the door too. That one was more nervous though. Becky Fines walked forward and looked around. She stopped when she saw Robin and walked over to the girl.
“Are you OK? Darla?” She asked, so softly that it sounded almost like she was trying to keep the rest of them from hearing it.
“We're good. These are... Really good people Becky. The rules are strict about noise though. But not who you can sleep with, or have to obey. You can even walk up to Nathaniel and tell him to stick his head up his butt, and he'll just ask you what's wrong. I tried it just to see. He hugged me. Can you imagine dad putting up with that? Plus... everyone is really special there. I mean, really. I'll try to explain that later, but they're good. They couldn't have kept up appearances like that the whole time.” Shifting to the side Robin pointed to Darla, but didn't say anything else.
“We can trust them.” The tiny girl said, her voice young but suddenly ancient too. Jake glanced at her and the girl smiled, no missing teeth he noticed, which a kid that age should have. It seemed that not all the special people were there already, at the House. Interesting. Well, not too shocking either. The world was too hard for most regular people anymore. Everyone alive had something going for them. Some kind of an edge. Even him, possibly, whatever that was. Even if it was only just luck.
She continued, turning to him directly, “Can we speak about this privately? Later I mean?”
Jake shrugged.
“I think so, as long as you aren't a threat. So far so good?”
“I'm... not a threat to you or yours Jake. I give my word
on that, by breath and blood.”
He nodded, the reference shot by him totally, but heck, it sounded nicely formal, didn't it? Carley stepped in for him then, with Tipper right behind.
It was the Val who spoke first.
“By breath and blood, received and bound.”
“Heh. Of course.” The tiny girl bowed.
If she was a girl at all. Whatever. As long as she didn't want anyone hurt. Well, not their people. Of course, he counted these as his people too and said so out loud, just to make it clear. She counted too, as long as... He couldn't explain what that meant, but it got nods all the way around.
Carley looked at the little form and smiled. “Just to be clear, Jake is A Very Good Man. Think on that before you answer.”
Darla took a full step back and stared at him for a long time.
Then bowed.
Oddly three other people did too. One of them was Sue. Another was one of the older teen girls, this one with bright red hair that looked fake, but probably wasn't if the color still held. The last was a boy, who couldn't have been nine, who stood and walked to the front, looking at everyone from the House with care, a blank look on his face.
“Shifter.” He said... delicately. As if waiting for the other shoe to drop. An attack maybe?
Vickie moved to meet him so Jake followed. Even he could guess what a shifter was. It wasn't exactly rocket-surgery was it?
The blonde spoke quickly, in a tongue that Jake had never heard before. It sounded like German. Only harsher in tone.
The boy spread his hands, his dirty brown and white shirt looking odd for a second, and then, the dusty skin shining briefly, not glowing, just reflecting light, he stretched upwards. Until a much taller, older man stood in his place. He looked around the room and sighed. Before he could speak, the woman he'd been standing near, who looked about thirty-odd, or slightly older, moved forward, sounding scared.
“Daryl? What...”
The man turned and shook his head.
“No Lyn, the child you thought you met the day after the announcement and took as your own was me all along. I'm... a different kind of person. I can assume the shape of nearly anyone, at need. I quickly figured that this would be my best chance for survival and chose a small and un-intimidating male form to prevent challenge or rape. It is the way my kind survive. Hiding with the strong. Thank you for your kindness. It shall be repaid, if it is ever within my power to do so.”
The woman cried, but the man turned from her, his cheeks firm and smooth. No look of age to them, but a feeling of being much older lay behind his eyes. The hair on his head was a gray-blond and his skin nearly true white. Not an albino, but close. The eyes were gray as well, and bland. Mild. As if still not seeking challenge. The clothing was similar, but suddenly clean and bigger. So that was part of the package too?
Cool. No need to get him a lot of new outfits then.
Jake shrugged.
“Right now we need to load up and get people to the House. Snow is coming and I don't want to get caught and have to wait.” He looked at Becky Fines and then Colleen, hoping they'd help him get everyone moving. They just stood. Not budging at all. As if frozen for some reason.
Yeah, a man shape-shifting would have had that effect once on him too.
When he was twelve. Jake rolled his eyes.
“Don't get silly. Other than... Lyn here, no one should be too surprised, it's... just a thing. Some people are different than others. For instance, I'm hugely good looking.” Jake glanced around the room, which was a little dark at the back but painted a nice blue color. “You know, inside, where it counts? I have a lovely spleen. Are the vehicles ready at all? Who was in charge of that?”
People chuckled a little, but also got Tandy to come forward, a woman so bland he just decided not to remember her after that. There was literally nothing to distinguish her from anyone else in the place.
Except that she had the vehicles already loaded, with the food and important supplies ready, along with room for everyone to ride in the first trip. So even if she was the definition of bland, Jake sort of fell in love with her a little, right there.
It took hours to get everyone on the vehicles though. They were already packed, but two of the little kids hid, afraid of going out at all, and then a whole bunch needed to use the bathroom before they left, even if it was only a fifteen mile trip across town. That meant it was dark when they left, driving slowly, in a long caravan. Jake watched the shadows closely ready to fight if he had to, in the shotgun position of the lead vehicle.
Nothing happened at all. They didn't even have a breakdown. Forty minutes later the whole of the old police compound, all ninety-three of them, settled into the House. Maybe not in perfect comfort, but with food, warmth and hopefully enough protection to keep them all safe.
Plus a field full of zombies to play with in the morning. What kid could ask for more?
As it turned out, adding a hundred people, nearly at least, to the House made a huge difference to how loud and crowded it was. Each person was quiet enough, even the kids, though Darla had to go around and hit a few people to make them get that way. Jake let her. If they didn't learn, he'd have to kill them, but it would crush his soul to have to shoot a living little kid in the head. Plus, that just wouldn't play well at all.
On top of the public reception he'd get, there was also having to chop off the little head. That was always gross. It was just worse when it was a child. Of course, with a kid, they could just grab them and stuff a rag in their mouth. That didn't work with an adult. Not if they were losing it big time. It was something to think about though.
Everyone just kind of stood for a while, but that wouldn't work. They needed to get things from the compound, which meant more trips back in the dark. It wasn't a fun thing to consider. Nerve wracking just to think about, but at least one more trip was needed. Jake mentioned it to the room, looking for volunteers.
“I'll go.”
Jake had to search around in the candle light to find who said it. After a bit he recognized the voice and found who it belonged to. Colleen. That got a half dozen other people to step forward, but they needed more, if they didn't want to take all night. The orphan boys and the shape shifter, who'd held to his more drab, but manly, looks, volunteered as well, and so did Sammi and Ken. Dave already had, so that would help.
Their kids could shoot at least.
It took hours, but they got in to the driveway of the House just as the snow started falling. Heavy white flakes, like lace in the headlights of the vehicles, making the ground a softer color already. It was pretty, for all that it meant a giant pain in the rump trying to get anywhere for a while. It was late already, it had been dark for hours, but that didn't mean that it was time for sleep yet. Unfortunately. There was a lot to do still.
First they unloaded the large police vans they'd taken, having picked the place clean of sleeping mats and mattresses, so that people wouldn't be on the floor. Or they wouldn't be the next day. These had to go into the underground rooms, which was a bigger task in the dark than it sounded like. Then, it would always be dark down there, so no big. Even Sammi needed some light to see, so they had to arrange the space by feel. Basically the rooms, all three of them, just got lined with padding on the floor. Not perfect, but it was flatter and warmer that way.
They all had chimneys, but only one had a stove yet. It was the one spare they'd managed to find. Until they got more, people would have to share rooms inside the House. It would suck, which was why Jake was getting out of there in the morning.
If he could.
It was nearly light when they finally got everything arranged and the snow was about two inches deep already. Julio had said it would be about four inches, but that was a guess, super-powers or not. After all, what did four inches feel like to his internal abilities? Jake couldn't even imagine it.
When they walked into the House, through the kitchen, Lois was already hard at work, trying to get everything started by hers
elf. Since her job had suddenly gotten twice as hard, more than that, cooking for so many new people, Jake stopped and looked at her in the very dim light that came through the window.
“OK, Lois, what do you need me to do?” The words were a little louder than he intended, but not too bad. Enough so that everyone else that had been working just stopped and stared at him. Robin gave a very soft groan, but didn't complain otherwise.
“Oh... I need more wood and two large pots of water, then if you could tend the fire while they heat, that would be wonderful. We didn't set up any extra helpers for the kitchen.” She actually sounded relieved, which Jake wondered at. She could just tell people they were on kitchen duty after all. No one would speak against her on it. If they did, they could just not eat, since Lois controlled all the food. It would be stupid though. Really, there was almost nothing else to do but work.
Instead Jake nodded and gave her a grin, then, trying not to be a standoffish jerk, he moved in and gave her a quick hug. She stiffened at first, but patted him on the back, rubbing it a little with her right hand before stepping back.
“Um...” She said.
“That's just my way of letting you know that everyone will be helping you out. We'll set up a rotation and have people here for lunch and we'll all stay and help for this meal, so you won't be caught out. Well, part of us will. We have too many people in here really. So, how many do you need?”
The number was smaller than he thought, only five people. He'd have picked twice that, but Lois was the one that knew what to actually do.
Sammi sighed, “a long night already, but I can hold out for a while longer.”
That got Robin as well, who had some experience, gotten in the last weeks, and Colleen. They needed one more then. Jake cast around, wondering if Ken would step up but it was Dave that did it. That got a blink from everyone except Sammi.
“There we go then. The rest of you get out of here then. You can do dishes after dinner.” Jake said, trying to be playful.
Everyone else just mumbled as they walked out. Too tired to argue it seemed.