by Mark Clodi
“You don't clean your own house?”
“I don't mop it.”
“Fill the bottle, find a mop or at least a bucket and come back here to clean up the floor around the doorway. I am moving Marge to the kitchen as soon as I can get her wounds cleaned and bound up.” Turning to Marge said. “Okay this is going to burn a little, but if we are lucky, maybe it will sterilize the wounds.” Mary then pressed the bleach soaked towel to the wounds on Marge, cleaning them out one at a time and making shushing sounds as the chemicals started to irritate the wounds. Dora got out of there fast, flashing Paige a dirty look when she caught a smirk on the younger woman's face. Paige noticed and immediately put an expression of complete angelic innocence on her face instead, causing Dora to scowl.
“Why don't you check the garage for a mop? And then go fill Mike in on what is going on.” Dora said.
“Sure Dora, sure.” said Paige heading towards the garage door.
Chapter 20
“Fill the bleach bottle. Find a mop! Get me towels. Blah, blah, blah.” Dora muttered to herself as she topped off the bottle of bleach with water at her sink. Her back was to the rest of the group in the living room and she heard Marge's ongoing complaining about the treatment Mary was giving her. When Dora came back Paige returned from the garage with a mop and bucket. The mop was old, stiff and full of cobwebs. Paige handed it to Dora and set off up the stairs, with a bit of amusement in her eyes.
“Do you repent your sins?”
Dora heard Mary asking Marge as she arrived at her front door. Marge was standing up and Mary was working her legs over, each sported several oozing, bloody wounds that made Dora want to vomit. Looking at the bucket she was glad she had it handy, just in case.
“You about done, doc? Or should I say 'preacher'?”
“Don't. This is serious. Maybe she still has a chance to redeem herself, maybe the Lord means for her to find her way, even at the end of days. Do not make light of this situation.”
“Give it a rest. She is chomped up and bleeding and you are the only person with any way of helping her. Do you think she wouldn't say anything you asked her to? What is the Lord's feeling on coerced confession?”
Mary's face flushed slightly, but she nodded, “Really what you say is true, Dora, I had not thought of it like that.” Turning back to Marge she said, “Whether you repent or not, I will do what I can for you, and be as gentle as possible. I will still help you. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Marge said.
“Do you repent your sins?”
Marge looked at Dora, “Yes. Yes, I do.”
Dora let out a short, “Hah!”
Marge continued to look at her, “I do. I am serious too. I messed up Dora. I messed up bad. I am so sorry for what I did to you. And to him and to Jerry. If I could take it all back, I would.” The sincerity in her voice bothered Dora, this was not like Marge at all.
“Why Roger? I mean, you could have done so much better!”
“He showed interest, I am not like you Dora, men falling all over you, flirting. Roger...he, well, he showed interest.”
“How long?”
“Two months, it started when you went with your sister on that trip to Chicago. Roger said he was sure you were cheating on him, so you wouldn't care. He made it sound like you had practically agreed to it.”
“Roger was a player? God! Who knew? Marge, you don't think I would have told you first? I mean, if it was okay?”
“He said you liked to keep things discreet. Which is why you never talked about your other men to me.”
“You stupid, stupid woman! The fuck of it all is, if I had been getting some on the side, I totally would have told you. We'd have laughed about it.”
“I can't believe how naive I was.” Marge said, casting her eyes down.
“It takes two to have an affair.” said Mary, “You knew it was wrong when you did it and you have suffered the Lord's vengeance because of it.”
“I know and I knew it then. I knew it was all lies when it happened, but I let it happen. I was mad at you Dora. Angry at how you seemed to have everything, you ate what you wanted and never gained a pound, had a husband who wanted you sexually and was around, you had friends, money and, well, things.”
“Margie, Margie, Margie, don't go all like this on me!”
The other woman just looked at Dora, “Of course darling. So sorry about Roger and I. You are so right, I could have done better.”
Dora looked at her and let out a heavy sigh, “Alright, I supposed I can deal with 'maudlin Marge', I mean you are dying and all.”
“Thank you. I am sorry.”
“As Mary said, it takes two, lucky you, I can blame Roger for most of it. Are you going to be okay?”
“I don't know, doc?”
Mary finished binding Marge's leg up with strips of towel and said, “The bites will not kill you. Pray that you don't have the virus or whatever the infection is, if you don't have it, you will live.”
Dora made the sign of a cross with her fingers in front of her and said, “Lord hear our prayer, please don't let Marge have the virus so she can get better so I can kill her myself. Amen.”
“Dora!” Marge said.
“I will agree to the first part. I hope God gives you time to reconcile and repent Marge.” said Mary, then to her son, “Peter, we need to clean this up, come and help.”
Mary and Dora wiped Marge down with the towels and then led her across to the kitchen and sat her on one of the bar stools by the island. Mary sniffed the air as they went. “What are you cooking?”
“Oh that? We popped a bottle of wine last night, to help us think things through and decided to make all the meat in the freezer into beef jerky so it would last longer, we expect the power to fail any time.”
“That’s a good idea. Russell has a freezer full of meat too, venison mostly, we should get over there and bring it back here. How many days does it take?”
“Just about twelve hours actually, this batch is probably done. I think we made some of it a little too salty, other bits are too dry. We used the grill outside too.”
“That was the smell we ran into last night, there was a rot in the air, but fresh meat too, the mix was disturbing.” said Mary.
“We killed a lot of zombies yesterday afternoon. We dragged them all out back behind the pool shed.”
Paige came downstairs with Mike right behind her. He was carrying two rifles, the thirty aught six and the military rifle they had found hidden in the garage.
“Everyone, this Mike. Mike this is Mary, Alex, Peter and Marge. Why don't you lend Peter a hand cleaning up the entry Mike. Make sure not to get any blood on the carpet.”
“You are welcome Dora, for saving your life I mean. Don't mention it, no problem.” said Mike sitting down at the island next to Marge. “This the woman who was sleeping with 'The Bastard?'”
“The Bastard?” asked Marge.
“Roger. A little nickname we came up with. And yes, Michael, thank you so much for being there shooting when I ran out to save Marge. I could not have done it without you and it is good to know you had my back. The entry way isn't going to clean itself.”
Mike just stared at her, Peter spoke up, “I got it. Almost done.”
Looking over they saw that he had placed towels around the edges to protect the carpet and had moped up most of the blood. He had the mop in the bucket and brought into the kitchen to rinse out in the sink.
“A handy kid to have around.” said Dora.
“He helps around the house. He is very self-sufficient.”
“We could use that around here. Mike cooks, Paige manages and Marge and I mostly just sit around telling people what to do. Mary you get to be the medical staff.” Turning to Alex she asked, “What can you do?”
Dora noted with interest that Mary was also watching Alex closely for his answer. The man slowly rose to his feet and said, “I worked as a locksmith.” to Mary he added, “I went to trade school, made some sort
of life after I...left you.”
Mary's eyes were disapproving, “You could have contacted me at any time in the last thirteen years, don't look for me to be happy with you about getting your life together.”
“Mary...” Alex began, only to be cut off by Mary making a firm cutting motion with her hand.
“I don't want to hear it and in front of these people, definitely not.”
A zombie pounded on the front door of the house, causing Peter to jump.
Dora laughed, “Don't worry son, the doors in these places are pretty solid.”
“Don't laugh at him.” said Mary.
“Oh don't be silly, it was funny. If we can't find humor in our situations then we are just...lost. Look at me, I just fended off a zombie horde to rescue my husband's lover. Now that is funny!”
“No. I don't appreciate you laughing at him.”
“Noted. Now we move on, right?”
Mary turned away from Dora's gaze to look at her son, who had stopped mopping and was looking at her.
“Well now that we are all here, we might as well finish cleaning up and make a little breakfast, while we still have power to do so. We did raid Russell's fridge so I think we have enough food to go around for now. Why don't you manly types move the couch in front of the door. If it has Peter worried, I am worried.”
Mary's eyes snapped back to Dora's face, “You took food out of Russell's house?”
“Oh. That. Yes. I understand you knew him?”
“Did you kill him?”
“Us? Please lady! I could not put a bullet through my lying cheating, husband's head when I had the chance and you think I killed Russell, someone I don't even know?”
“That isn't an answer really, is it?”
“It is of a sort.”
“Jesus Dora!” said Paige, “I am too tired for this shit. No, Mary, we got there and this Russell guy was dead, or rather undead. He attacked us and we killed him again. He was the first one we killed, before him we just ran away. We found the key to his gun safe in his basement and took his guns too. Oh, and we did a load of laundry at his place, because we all got splattered with his blood and were worried that we were contaminated. We took the food when we left as an afterthought, because Dora here,” Paige pointed at her with the barrel of her rifle, “really didn't have any food here. Well except for the meat.”
“I normally eat out a lot.” Dora said with a shrug of her shoulders, “See? I am really not the bad guy.”
“No, just a bitch.” said Marge from behind her. Dora laughed again.
“So, Paige while the boys are moving furniture, can you make us breakfast? Mary could you help Peter clean?”
“Sure Dora, me and you can make breakfast, why don't you check the beef jerky when I get the coffee started?”
Dora sighed and nodded, “Fine, I won't return to my warm bed, but will do a little work with the common folk. Marge you don't have anything to do, on account of your condition, I'd say you should just sit tight. Would somebody turn on the news and see if we missed anything last night?”
Chapter 21
The group sat around watching the television, listening to the news from Diane, Jim and even a short segment from Ned, the news was all bad. The sun was barely above the horizon and Marge was sleeping fitfully on the couch. The couch had been placed in the way of the front door, as a makeshift barricade. The house was sparkling clean again, they still had running water, although the electricity had blinked off twice in the last forty five minutes. Diane droned on as the group sipped their coffee.
“...our viewing audience, my last word is that if you are in the evacuation zone, to please do everything you can to get out, we will be hearing from Ned again shortly, from the evacuation zone. Jim what have you got for us on the national scene?”
Jim, somehow still looking fresh and ready, said, “Thanks Diane. Nationally communication is gone. We have only rumors about what is happening out east. The governor has rolled out the guard here, and is in a meeting with the governors of Iowa and Missouri, which have not been hit as hard as Kansas. The Nebraskan governor is out on the front lines himself, he left only a message that if you are an able bodied adult you should be heading towards the fight, not watching the news. It appears his strategy has had some success, they seem to be holding the horde that came down interstate eighty on the outskirts of Lincoln after an orderly pull back from North Platte to give the troops time to recover and rest.”
“Iowa is sending troops to all of its borders, but so far they have neglected to cross those borders, citing the rivers on both the west and east side of their state as 'natural boundaries' that other states should fall back to. The last news we had out of the state department was a warning to evacuate Chicago, this was six hours ago. From an affiliate station in the south of Kansas we have word that the national guard of Louisiana has blown the dikes and flooded New Orleans and the surrounding area.” Jim paused and put his hand to his ear piece, “The governor has announced an agreement with Iowa, Kansas and Missouri to act in concert to stem the advance. Iowan troops are streaming into both states now and should be to the outskirts of Kansas within thirty minutes, with some troops arriving sooner by helicopter.”
From inside the house the group heard a series of shots ring out in the street, awakening Marge, whose complexion was gray. Dora and the others went to the window and carefully opened the shades. Some of the zombies in the street in front of her house were taking fire. Others were milling about on the lawn starting to head towards whomever was firing the guns. Dora pointed out three zombies who were hanging back, or in one case outright retreating. “You see it? Tell me you see that?”
“We see it.” said Mary and Paige at the same time. Alex, Mike and the boy merely nodded.
“What?” asked Marge from here place on the couch.
“Gunfire in the street, some of the zombies are running away from it.” said Dora, “It wasn't just chance then last night.” Dora caught a flash of white in the woods across the street. The trees were not really woods so much as a well-manicured park, however they did provide some cover, Dora's suspicion was that the little girls were hiding over there in the trees.
“Well we better get up on the roof to help these people out. You know it is going to be Roger don't you? He probably convinced some national guard ya-hoos to bust in here so he could get his precious stuff and drag us off to safety.” Dora said.
“Alex, do you know how to shoot?” asked Paige. The man nodded, and she said, “Good you come up with us, we have an extra rifle. Mary we will leave the shotgun with you and Peter, okay?”
Mary nodded, then said, “Point the trigger and the bullet comes out the other end?”
Paige paused while handing over the shotgun, “You haven't fired a gun before?”
“No.”
“Shit. Okay new plan, Mike you stay here and at least teach Mary how to fire and reload the shotgun, then come up to the roof afterwards. You better teach Peter too, Mike, just in case.”
The group split up and Dora could hear Mike rushing through where the safety was and how to load the shotgun as she went up the stairs. A few minutes later they were on the roof and looking down the street where Roger had driven off a couple of hours ago. They left Mike the big MR556, as he had the most experience firing it, even if he didn't like it. The three of them went over to stand on the roof near where the garage roof branched out from the house. Lying down on the slope of the roof they braced their rifles on the peak to give themselves every bit of help to may accurate shots. Dora sighted in on the van down the street and then pulled her eye back from the scope to look at Paige, who stopped and turned her head to stare at Dora.
“Hell yeah, Paige! Let’s do this!” Dora said, Alex took a moment to realize what the fuss was, then he too let out a whoop of delight and started firing into the crowd of zombies around the news van at the end of the block.
Downstairs Mike had just finished showing Mary how to fire the shotgun, when his ear ca
ught Ned on the news, “We seem to have found some survivors out here, Diane.” A zombie coming towards the camera was thrown forward missing the better part of its head. The camera panned up to take in a rooftop where three people were laying down firing at the mob in front of the news van. Mike stood there watching with Mary for a moment, mouth opened. Mary was playing with the safety and without looking up she said, “You going upstairs?”
“Those sons of bitches.” Mike swore.
“What?” she said looking at him.
“They left me the god-damned MR556!”
Mary seemed impressed, “You can tell that by the sound of the guns.”
“No.” Mike said, pointing at the television screen, which showed Dora and the others up on the roof and the MR556 laying unattended by the open skylight.
Her eyes slid towards the television screen and then back to Mike's face, “That is... That is here? That's us?”
“Yeah, dammit.” Mike set off for the stairs, calling back over his shoulder, “Be careful with the shotgun!”
A few minutes later Mary and Peter saw Mike climb up onto the roof behind the others, he gave a wave into the camera clearly intended for them. Peter waved back, which brought a smile to Mary's face. Mike lugged the big rifle to the top of the garage, where he exchanged a few words with the others that ended with all three of them flipping Mike the bird. Resigned he got down behind the peak of the roof like they were and started firing towards the area in front of the camera.
Mary laughed, prompting Marge to ask, “What?” weakly from the couch.
“The television crew is here, on our street, with Ned. See?” Mary turned the television more towards Marge and stepped out of the way so she could see Ned reporting.
“...had gone on here, these people have defended themselves well. You can tell by the dozens of zombies on the ground around the front of the house. If it were not for the survivors I would turn this crew right around and get the hell out of here, even with the scores of dead, there are more than that still shambling around. Diane, Jim, the crew and I are going in, with luck we will be reporting back in a few minutes, however due to the danger I cannot I ask my camera man to film instead of fire a gun. So we are out for now. Signing off this is Ned for KSHB TV in Kansas City.” The camera went dark and Diane weakly called out for Ned to stay safe.