by TJ Weeks
Milissa walked out with some plates and all of my utensils for the pit. “You’re welcome.”
I took them from her and laughed. “Thank you.”
She walked back to the cafeteria and we got comfortable as close as we could to the smoke boxes to keep warm.
About an hour into cooking, the girls came pulling back into the gate. I didn’t see any less or any more heads bobbling inside the car so I sat back and relaxed.
They pulled up next to the bunker and started unloading the trunks worth of plants and storing them out of the cold. It didn’t take them long before they walked over.
Kris was the first to speak. “Thanks for the help, guys.”
I placed my hands behind my head and leaned back. “You’re welcome.”
Lisa had her hands on her hips. “Should have known since we have meat that you would be out here smoking something.”
I started laughing. “Hey, at leas t I thought of y’all and threw enough on for all of us.”
Lisa shrugged her shoulders. “So what are we having?”
I opened the pit up. “Alligator steaks.”
Gizmo pulled the backhoe up next to us to help block some of the wind and joined our group. “We need to have a fish fry.”
“We would have to get some fish baskets for our pots and find some peanut oil.” I suggested.
Karen stepped closer. “Should have told us before we went to town.”
I looked over at her. “You was kind of already gone before we even got back to suggest anything.
She crossed her arms. “Well, we wanted to get back before dark.”
Lisa started laughing. “Well…they did. I could turn shopping into a living.”
I laughed too. “We all know you could.”
I grabbed a fork and opened the pit to stick one of the steaks to see how long they needed. “They’re ready. Start passing out plates.” I turned to Kris. “Will you run to the cafeteria and grab the baked potatoes from Milissa?”
She smiled. “Of course.”
Lisa walked over to Kris. “Wait, I’ll go with you so I can grab a couple
thirty packs of beer.”
I interrupted them before they got too far. “Meet us in the room. It’s too damn cold out here.”
We took our plates and walked to my room. I walked back out for the table and chairs. Kris and Lisa walked in with the baked potatoes and beer. It was almost like sitting down as a family which hasn’t happened in a long time and well over due.
Milissa and Chelley walked in carrying some butter, bacon bits and shredded cheese. They tossed them on the table and Bo and I moved to my cot so they could have a seat.
Milissa pulled her chair up to the table. “I think we have plenty of meat to last us the winter.”
Chelley shook her head to agree. Lisa started laughing. “Yeah, if the boys stay out of it.”
I ignored the gesture and kept chewing my mouthful of potato and steak.
I watched everyone talking and laughing once again as if we were almost in a normal world.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MILISSA AND Chelley took our dishes to get them cleaned up. The girls stayed in the room to gossip and the rest of us went outside to look at the pond.
It was a fairly small pond, covering about half an acre. The center was about twelve to fifteen foot deep.
Robin walked in the center and poured some water out. “I don’t think we need the sand or gravel; it seems to hold water just fine.”
I looked over at Gizmo. “We got the shit, we’re going to use it.”
He started laughing. “I figured we would.”
Robin looked at us like he was confused. “We can still use the stuff somewhere else around here.”
I pointed downward. “No, it’s going in this hole. Maybe not the concrete, but the rest of it is.”
I walked around and opened the tailgates to all the trucks and jumped in the backhoe. I used the stinger to pull all the sand out onto the ground and used my bucket to push it into the hole before driving into the hole and spreading it out.
Once it was spread I came back for the gravel. Gizmo hopped up on the side and started pouring gas in while I ran the stinger to drag the gravel out. I again used my bucket to push the gravel into the hole.
Bo ran to grab the women while I spread the gravel around. By the time he returned with them, it was ready to throw plants in.
I parked the backhoe out of the hole. “Start taking the trucks back.” I told my guys.
They started moving them out and Kris’ team started putting the plants in.
Once complete Kris walked up. “So, how are we getting water in here?”
I laughed. “I guess Gizmo better figure that out. I suppose he can run a water hose for the rest of the
winter…Don’t think I’m worried about getting a bill in the mail. He may want to start collecting some nets too, if he plans to stock this damn thing with fish, because all you’re going to be fishing for now is hopes and dreams.”
Everyone made their way inside for showers and sleep.
***
Tina laid quietly staring out of the window into the stars. She was wondering which one was her baby.
She lightly got out of bed and walked over to Gizmo’s things. She found his nine millimeter and ejected the magazine. She used her thumb and removed all the shells, but one and loaded it back into the pistol. She stood up and walked out of the door and down the hall. She looked back before walking outside.
The pond was new to her, but she walked around it and kneeled at Hudson’s grave. She brushed her hand across the dirt, then chambered the round.
***
Everyone was sound asleep until we all heard the gun shot ringing out.
I jumped up with my heart feeling like it just took a leap from my chest and ran out into the hallway. Kris was right on my heels and everyone else was coming out of their rooms.
“Tina!..She’s gone, Tina’s gone!” Gizmo screamed as he bolted out of his room.
We all ran outside. My eyes darted everywhere trying to find her and trying to see where the gunshot had come from.
From the distance, there was Tina lying on the ground next to her son’s grave.
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MEET THE CHARACTERS
STEVEN
DONALD
HOWARD
MILISSA
BOBBI
CHELLEY
JASON
KAREN
LISA
KRIS
SHIANNE
TJ
GIZMO, TINA, HUDSON and CLOIE
BO
SANDRA
DALTIN
TIFFANY
ROBIN
TEASER FOR: Loki and I: PLAGUED
“I’ve heard about the zombie apocalypse my whole life. Mostly from movies, which started out in black and white and slowly moved to color, but it was all wrong. Not everyone who dies comes back. It wasn’t far from wrong in the
beginning. They don’t run at you like some fucking idiot all cracked out, they walk. They don’t just eat your brains, they eat all flesh.
Watching movies when I was younger, it was like a perfect zombie walking around with a little bit of a mess around its mouth, but it’s not like that at all. They shit and piss all over themselves, but who could blame them, it’s not like they can just stop and think about it.
Fuck it, let me just take you back to the beginning.”
LOKI SAT at the foot of my
recliner nudging my leg with his nose for me to carry him outside to go to the bathroom. My wife, Kris and I were watching the latest release, Krampus that we had just bought on DVD while our son Daltin was in bed sleeping. I fe
lt around next to my chair to find the remote. I grabbed it and paused the movie.
“Where are you going?” Kris
asked.
I walked over and grabbed the leash that we kept next to the door that hung by a tack. “I’m going to take shithead out real quick.”
She flung a piece of popcorn in her mouth. “Just wondering, I’ve got to get to bed soon.”
“I know…I still can’t believe you didn’t just take the truck to the airport and fly to Colorado. That’s a long fucking drive.” I responded.
“I didn’t want to leave you with the Envoy to drive. It’s a piece of shit and I never know if it’s even going to start.” She replied.
I latched the leash to Loki’s collar and opened the door. “It’s only two days, I’m sure I would have been fine.” I looked outside. “Fuck, it’s raining.”
I stepped onto the porch and looked at the lightning lighting up the sky. Loki slowly stepped out behind me. “Come on boy, let’s get this over with.”
He looked up at me and dipped his head down.
“I know you hate storms, but you’re not peeing in the house. Let’s make this quick and I’ll give you a treat.” I spoke to him.
He perked up after hearing, “treat” and made his way off the porch. Normally we do a couple of walks around the house, but he quickly started relieving himself on a bush right off the porch and stepped back up the stairs to the porch.
I started laughing at his quick efforts. “Good boy.”
I unlatched him from his leash and let him shake off before opening the door and then he ran inside.
Kris was still shoveling popcorn in her mouth. “That didn’t take long.”
I hung the leash back up on the wall next to the door and started heading to the kitchen for his treats. “Yeah, he wasn’t all about the storm.”
“He never is.” Kris stated.
I grabbed his bacon strip treats and pulled two out. Loki followed to the edge of the carpet in the living room and sat pretty waiting, because he knew he wasn’t allowed to come into the kitchen.
I started breaking the treats up into smaller bites so he didn’t choke while trying to inhale them as he did every time. I walked back to my chair and pressed play on the remote before placing one piece in one of my hands and making a fist. I fisted my other hand as well and held them down to make him pick the hand it was in. He pawed at the hand with the treat in it. I opened the hand and let him have the treat and patted his head. “Good boy.”
“He gets it every time.” Kris stated.
I grabbed the rest of the treats and held them out for him once he
finished the one. “Yeah, I think I’ve trained him pretty good.”
“He should be very trained…He’s pretty much been up your ass since he was four weeks old.” She suggested.
I started laughing at a part in the movie when seeing a gingerbread man stabbed into a refrigerator. “Yeah, but he’s not a pup anymore. He’s working on three years old now and definitely not small anymore. I think he’s
pushing about one-hundred and sixty pounds.”
“I’ve never seen a Rottweiler that was small.” She cracked sarcasm.
“There’s a runt in every litter.” I replied while insinuating that she was a runt.
All I got was a go to hell look that she shot at me.
“Well, I’m headed to bed. I’ve got to be up at four in the morning so I can leave out by five.” She implied.
“I guess I’ll join you.” I told her. “Go to bed.” I called out to Loki as he darted to our room and laid down at the foot of the bed.
I followed after grabbing a bottle of water to sit on my night stand that I could sip throughout the night. I pulled my crappy android cell phone from my pocket and plugged it in to the charger and sat it next to my water. I threw my pillow on the wall for a back brace and laid back and lit up a cigarette.
“You need anything?” Kris asked. “I’m fine, honey. You need to get some sleep.” I replied.
“Are you going to sleep?” She questioned.
I took a deep drag from my
cigarette. “Yeah, I still have to take my never ending pile of medications, but I’m going to finish my cigarette first.”
She pulled herself closer to me. “I know babe, I wish the VA would stop guinea pigging you out on shit.”
“You and me both. Half the shit makes me feel like I’m in the twilight zone.” I replied as I took another drag.
I flicked my cigarette on my
ashtray and started pulling my
plethora of bottles onto the bed from my nightstand and start shaking out the amount of pills I was supposed to take from each bottle and placing the bottles back on my stand.
“I’m sorry.” Kris stated.
I grabbed my bottle of water, put my cigarette out and took my handful of pills, put them in my mouth then chased them with a swig of water. “Not your fault.”
Kris sat up a bit. “You’re still having nightmares.”
I looked over at h er. “I know, but it is what it is. If I’m hitting or kicking you at night, I’ll go sleep on the couch.”
“No, you actually kick and punch to your side of the bed.” She
answered.
I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Well, that’s good.
Goodnight babe.”
“Goodnight…I love you.” She responded.
“I love you too.” I told her before scooching down and getting
comfortable.
I AWOKE fifteen minutes after
five in the morning and jumped back when I opened my eyes to see Loki right in my face. He shifted his eyes up and back down as if he was trying to lead me out of the room and take him outside. I brushed my hand across the top of his head a few times and then rolled over to see that Kris had already gone. Loki started pawing at the edge of the bed, so I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I grabbed a pair of shorts that I had lying next to the bedside and slipped them on. We walked out of the bedroom door together and into the living room. I latched the leash onto his collar and went outside. Rain was steadily falling and lightning was still lighting the sky. The clouds were as dark as the night. I gave Loki’s leash a few light tugs to lead him back up onto the porch. I looked out one more time and could see my neighbor standing out on her porch. She appeared to be pacing. Even though I felt for it to be weird, I walked back into the house.
After taking the leash off of Loki, I poured him some food into his bowl and then walked over to the
refrigerator pulled out three eggs, four strips of bacon and the butter. I cracked the eggs into a small pan and placed the bacon on our flat burner before walking over and grabbing two slices of bread and placed them into the toaster. I reached into the drawer and grabbed a fork, a butter knife and a spatula. I scrambled the eggs, gave my bacon a slight crisp and buttered my toast before taking a seat at my table.
Loki had his head still buried into his bowl when I got to take my first bite. I chomped through about half of my breakfast when Loki shot his head from his bowl and started pacing around the front door. It sounded like something was shuffling around on the porch.
“Loki, no!” I called out to him.
He stayed in front of the door, but started walking circles. I kept eating my breakfast until it was gone. I dropped my dishes in the sink and walked over and led Loki back to my bedroom.
“Lay down.” I told him before walking into my bathroom and jumping in the shower.
I soaped up my sponge and
scrubbed down my body. Loki
seemed like he had calmed down a little bit or at least I couldn’t hear him over the running water beating down on my neck and back.
After washing all of me and
catching an extra ten minutes of relaxation, I turned the water off and stepped out. I wrapped a towel around my waist and reached into the cabinet to grab a Q-tip. I could see a boy sitting on the edge of my bed in the reflection of the mirror. He kept repea
ting, “Jibber Jabber” and rocking back and forth with my loaded
twelve-gauge that I kept on a rack on my wall. I slowly turned around once I heard the sound of Loki clawing at the door trying to get in. I could see a bite mark that was dripping of blood from his right forearm. Once I was fully turned around, I noticed that it was my neighbor’s son. He was a special needs child that I had only met once before.
I could recall him repeating, “Jibber Jabber” when his mom was talking to me the one time they came over and he wanted to go back home.
I extended my arms straight out with my palms showing. “Let me go get your mom and we’ll talk about this.”
“No, jibber jabber, jibber jabber.” He responded.
“How about we go into the kitchen and talk about it over some ice cream?” I suggested further.
“No jibber jabber, no jibber
jabber!” He screamed out before setting his chin down on the barrel of the shotgun and pulling the trigger.
His head exploded from the slugs that I had loaded in it and my room quickly found a new paint job. I heard Loki yelp from the other side of the door after being startled of the
gunshot.
My eye’s widened as I watched the rest of his body fall back onto my bed. I quickly grabbed my phone from my night stand and started trying to wipe the blood from its screen onto my towel which had blood splatter on it as well. I unlocked my phone’s password and started calling 9-1-1, but there was no answer.
I walked out of the room to catch a better view and to calm Loki down. I couldn’t believe I didn’t hear my door open or the short struggle of Loki biting him. I also couldn’t believe that the kid was fast enough with the door to lock Loki out.
I started trying to call my wife on her cell phone as Loki paced around me, checking to make sure I wasn’t injured. There wasn’t an answer from her either. I tossed my phone onto my dining room table and turned on the sink to run water over my face to clear as much blood off of me as possible. I dropped my towel and walked around the corner and into the laundry room to grab some pants and a tank top so I didn’t have to go back into my room. I walked back into the living room and sat on my recliner to seat my boots over my feet.