She had baked a large roast, then pan fried a million steaks. From that she made gravy to pour over mashed potatoes. There was some canned fruit, applesauce and homemade bread. She sure could whip up some wonderful homemade bread and rolls. The men were starving, so she had a huge smile on her face as she watched them eat, blushing when someone yelled out what a fine cook she was.
Our two newest additions were getting special attention from Joe and Sandy. Kevin said he was 10 but a very skinny ten years old if you ask me. They'd been abused by their father and Joe took a special interest. Sandy had his sister, Amy, sitting on her lap. Pa was gone along with that part of his anatomy that haunted me and from now on they would be loved as children should be. They both had taken naps but were already nodding so Joe and Sandy carried them off to bed.
Bruce was sitting at the big table with the rest of us which left Nancy sitting by herself at the table by the door. She kept glancing at Bruce's back like she wanted to say something but I think she'd probably said too much as it was. She never said a word to anyone and after eating a bite, she stormed from the room...her footsteps marked her path down the steps. The air cleared after she left and everyone talked quietly then. Bruce seemed more relaxed than I'd ever seen him and joked with the men, telling one hunting story after another.
"Why do you think we are finding so many children all of a sudden?" Lacy asked.
"I was wondering that myself." George replied. "We seemed to be finding them or they're finding us. Not that I mind. The poor things. Sally is so sweet that I feel like she's mine already. Riley is a fool around her."
"Yeah, we've all noticed. Well, as long as we can take care of them I don't see a problem with it."
"How's your arm doing, JD?" Mercy asked. She'd fed Davy and then Flynn disappeared with her to put her to bed. Hard to believe he was the hard nosed ex-seal. He was so cute with that baby.
"Better. I've been exercising it all day so I can go on the next trip to town. I wanted to do some shopping so get your lists ready. We need to get some extra stuff for the new kids and I was thinking about Christmas coming up in a couple of months."
"You gonna bring back a trailer full of stuff like last time?" I'd filled a trailer full of nonsense stuff last year and everyone had the chance to go shopping for their loved ones. They all hand made presents for me because I knew what was in the trailer. It was great and I got some really unique gifts. I became sad at the thought that all those gifts were destroyed when the lodge went up, except for the silver crossbow necklace Mason gave me. I wore it all the time.
"It seemed to work so I'll see what I can do. We have more kids than last year so might have to bring back a trailer of toys. This trip, though I'll just try to get the stuff we need. There's a Tractor Supply store at the intersection when we came in, they should have some bib overalls for Howard. I noticed the ones he has are about worn out."
"Yeah, he found them hanging on a clothesline at that little ghost town with the natural pool. I thought he was gonna cry when he saw them." Sam, his better half, said. "I have to admit he looks better in them than those sweats we were having to wear. He tried to talk me into wearing a pair but I just couldn't bring myself to his way of thinking. I prefer the sweats over the bibs but I would sure like to find some jeans."
We all nodded at that. Good, clean, well fitting clothes would be wonderful. I needed new shoes and I'd noticed yesterday that everyone else did to. This called for a trip to a warehouse. You could just about find everything on your list at one place. But it was an all day affair clearing the building of walkers then loading the stuff. In the end it was worth it but it was an overnight affair.
People started saying their good nights and drifting off to their different 'homes' after the kitchen was cleared. I ended up on the porch in my rocker (Nancy must of went to bed) sipping my tea while Mason sat in his rocker, his head back and eyes closed.
"What ya thinking?"
"I was just wondering where all these kids are coming."
"Yeah, we were thinking the same thing after dinner but didn't come up with anything. I'm not gonna worry about it. Long as we can take care of them I'm not going to worry about it."
"Yea, you're right. How about a little stroll in the moonlight, lover, I feel like holding hands."
"That all you feel like?"
"Well, I think I could be persuaded."
I laughed. "If you have to be persuaded, you're out of luck. I don't have the energy."
"You ok?"
"Oh, yea, great. Just weary. Every day is better than the last and at this rate we can head to town this weekend. Think you can fit me into your busy schedule?"
He opened the door of the camper and let me go first so he could pat my butt as I walked by. This time however, he did more than that and I found out later, I didn't have to do any persuading at all.
I woke to the sun shining in my eyes through a slim crack in the curtains. I felt all refreshed and tender in the right places from a long night of loving. I was in the middle of a very good stretch when Mason came out of the bathroom. He was toweling off his hair when he noticed me, and stopped to watch, his eyes getting darker. I foresaw another round of love when someone knocked on the door. Pulling the covers over me, he shook himself, then pulled on some sweats before glancing in my direction, shaking his head and pulling the door closed behind him to answer the door.
I grinned as I jumped into the shower, pleased with myself as only a woman who makes her man happy by doing nothing much, can be. I took a quick shower since Mason had just gotten out and put on some clean sweats and my tee shirt that read, 'Zombies are Stinkers' when Mason came back. I was tying my Nike's while he told me that Nancy had disappeared. They searched the area for an hour and she was no where to be found. Flynn had come by to say one of the newer pickups were missing along with some food stuffs.
I remembered when Sissy disappeared and tensed up, because she returned with reinforcements to destroyed the lodge. "Don't be worried, she isn't as smart as Sissy was. It just means we don't have to deal with her anymore."
"Well, I smell coffee so Nancy is on the back burner for now anyway. Walk me to the cabin, and we can start planning our trip to town. How ya doing for underwear?"
"Babe, if ya want to see my underwear all ya have to do is ask." I laughed like he wanted me too and slowly walked by him as he held the door for me remembering the night before. He laughed then and all was right in the world.
The dining hall was busy with the kids. They had their own table now with Bobby the leader. We sat nearby so we could monitor things but the older kids were helping the younger ones and doing a good job.
I was examining the many slips of paper from everyone that wanted things from the trip. We really needed to stop at a children's store. Underwear was high on that list. I also had so many sizes, that I may have to spend the night there. Most of the other things could be found at a Big Lots or Sams.
The maps were brought out, so Bobby switched over to the big table to help. After we got breakfast dishes done I wandered out to the porch to enjoy my coffee. Flynn and Randy took off to do some hunting while I settled into the rocker to enjoy some alone time. I'd just gotten comfortable when the pot of dead flowers on the table beside me exploded. The shot was heard right after that. Oh for heavens sake. Coffee had split all over me when I jumped and the cup went flying when I crouched on the floor. Still crouched, I crab walked back inside the cabin, where the kids had been herded to the clinic while everyone armed themselves. I nodded to Mason and Joe that I was fine and grabbed a rifle.
I reached out to the mind in the distance and tilted my head back and forth to zero in on the signal coming from the top of the cliff in front of us. I found rage, and confusion and immediately recognized Nancy's wavelength.
"It's Nancy and she's pissed. She plans to wait me out but wouldn't mind putting a bullet into that bast...ah...Bruce."
I shrugged my shoulders at him to let him know I was sorry about the slip u
p and he just gave me a grin and a thumbs up.
"I'm sorry, JD. I should have known she would do something like this. She hates you with a passion and I'm not sure why." Bruce said as he took up a position at the side of the dining hall. I didn't know if he'd be able to shoot her or not but as long as he tried to protect us that was all I cared about.
Randy had taken the walkie with him so I told Lacy what was going on and she relayed the information to him.
"They're working their way around to the caves so they can get a clear shot but it may take a bit. They said to stay low until they get into position." So we stayed low but every once in a while Nancy would shoot out one of the windows just to let us know she was still there. Flying glass had managed to cut everyone which kept Joe busy running around trying to put band aids on us. At the rate he was going we were going to run out of them soon.
We got into position but she has the jeep between us. We have to move to another position or wait for her to stand up. Flynn is gonna move down the ridge a bit and see if he can get a better shot at her. Give us about another half hour.
Lacy relayed the info but we heard him over the walkie in the silence of the cabin. So we hunkered. Sarah came out once and wanted to know if she should try to fix some lunch for us but I told her to wait a bit longer. We almost had things under control. The kids were getting antsy and scared out of their minds and I couldn't blame them. I was antsy as hell myself.
Another gunshot made us duck again but she either missed or was killed. Randy came over the walkie and said it was all clear. I took that to mean the wicked bitch was dead. So we quietly eased out the door ready to run but nothing else happened. After about an hour, Flynn came driving in with the missing truck and a tarp covering Nancy's body. Bruce walked over, lifted the edge of the tarp, stared for a minute, then walked to his cabin and shut the door.
"I'll take care of her." Flynn said, and drove towards to the ravine.
"Well," I said, not sure where to go from there. Doing the dance of joy was probably not appropriate for the situation...ok, it wasn't, I know but I couldn't help being thrilled. I wouldn't have to duck every time I turned around and I was really getting tired of being shot at.
Sarah, and Mercy, were in the kitchen digging up something to eat, while Melody and George was cleaning up the glass and putting cardboard over the windows. The rest of us put up with Joe tending our various wounds so we could put the weapons up. Duke went back to hanging monitors he had scavenged from the surrounding homes and after cleaning up the mess around 'my' chair I sat down with some iced tea, again.
It was almost amazing that the life of a woman could be snuffed out and we could go back to living. But we'd learned over the past two years, the next disaster could be around the corner and we had to put the last one behind us.
We'd plan for the trip to town in two days. Tomorrow the guys wanted to go hunting and I hoped to get to go with them. I was ready to get into the swing of things again. My arm was just an aggravation now, and I figured it could use the exercise of a town run. In the meantime, I found one of the many hot spring pools, stripped and waded in, enjoying the warm, bubbling water, making plans for a trip and playing Clue with the boys.
CHAPTER 13
My face hurt. I was smiling so much that my face actually hurt. My cheeks were knotted up under my eyes and would probably stay that way. I don't care, lets roll. The drive to town was short, unlike in Montana, but I took pictures like a tourist and smiled at everyone. Randy moaned and asked if I was gonna be that way all day and I told him to kiss my ass. I was happy. Happy to be alive, happy to not be in pain, happy to be going somewhere. Just plain happy. I knew it would go away soon, so I milked it for all it was worth
The weather was perfect...a bit of wind but not much. The sky was light blue, with wispy, thin clouds moving slowly west to east. The landscape was a lot different from Montana, cause everything was brown or a color similar to it. And rocks, lots of rocks, but then Montana had fields of rocks too. I once wondered how they grew crops in those fields of rock but I after a while I just ignored them. I knew in Montana, snow was flying in the higher elevations. I had no idea if it snowed here but I guess we'd find out soon.
The first place we hit was a small mall or mallet. Lacy gave them that word when she was young, around 11. It probably had a dozen specialty stores and a grocery store on one end. Flynn took off on his own to set off a car alarm about a half mile away to draw the walkers. As it was, it took over an hour to insure all the walkers were past us so we could begin.
The first store was electronics. The boys carried out laptops, monitors, programs, routers etc. I found computer games, printers and the stuff that goes with it along with it, speakers, headphones, night vision campers and goggles. Whatever Duke would need and then some.
A tobacco store yielded quite a bit of lighters that we were always needing and batteries. The art shop next door gave me a lot of stuff that our resident artist, Randy, could use and the bookstore next to it gave me the stuff to help teach the new kids how to read and write. I got some magazines for the guys, hunting fishing and car repair and the girls got good housekeeping, gardening, sewing etc. I didn't get a lot, Christmas was coming up but right now I knew where everything was and that was fine with me.
I was rooting around through a cabinet for some pain meds in a pharmacy, when my hand was grabbed by a gray one with long, black pointed fingernails. The fight was on. While I tried very hard not to scream, I did make enough noise that Clint came running. I don't know where they get their strength but it was doing a good job of pulling my hand closer to its mouth. About the time the thing was ready to take a bite out of my wrist, Clint cleaved his head in two and it nearly took me with it through the shelving unit. After climbing back down I came around the end of the cabinet, rubbing my wrist and looked at the thing while Clint put his foot on its chest and pulled the cleaver out of its head.
"You ok?" He asked, as he wiped the cleaver off on its clothes.
"Yep, I just wish they'd attack one of you guys instead of me. I always end up with the bruises."
Mason, who was in the next building over whispered through my mind, You're just prettier and sweeter than the rest of us. I smiled and at Clint's questions expression I told him what Mason said. He just shook his head, "We done in here?"
I looked at my list and nodded towards the cart I'd nearly filled with 'necessaries' as Sarah called them. With all the women in the group, we needed a lot of 'necessaries'. It was the second cart we'd filled and nearing noon, so we adjourned to the truck and ate the sandwiches Sarah had made. Someone produced a bag of chips which the men devoured but I thought they tasted stale. After sitting on the shelf for nearly two years I would say they should have been getting stale. I guess it was a guy thing.
Mason looked at my wrist, shook his head then shooed me out of the truck and into the next store, this was a children's store. After the guys cleared the store of two walkers, I grabbed my list and a cart and went to work. I spent two hours and filled six carts trying to dress eight children. Davy was still a baby so I got a lot of baby stuff and larger sized clothes than requested because kids that age grow so fast. She still used a bottle, but was drinking more from sippy cups so a little of everything went into the carts.
The grocery store took a while. I was checking out the flour and sugar isle when a walker came around the end of the isle, when I took off to the other end another one came around the corner so that left me with no choice but to go up. So I climbed the shelves with the cake mixes and hopped around on top of the icing until Randy could use his handy dandy pistol with the silencer to take them out. I glared at him when he started to laugh but finally accepted his help down.
"I'd shoot 'em myself, if I didn't need my hands to shop. Just one smile and I'll wring your neck." He pulled me in for a hug which I grudgingly accepted then went to stand guard at the end of the isle. Mason sent me some love and if I didn't know better, I'd swear it was laced with laughter
. I blew a raspberry in his general direction, noticed the brownie mixes on the floor and scooped them up. I'm not one to miss out on a golden opportunity like that.
By afternoon we had the trailer nearly full. I hadn't realize I'd gotten so much stuff, then I realized the guys had been doing some shopping on their own. Howard, Samantha and Mason had hit the sporting goods store at the end of the mall. I wasn't sure what all they'd gotten but, please, it's a sporting goods store for Pete's sake.
My butt was dragging, we had some great stuff and the lists were lying crumpled in a wad on the floors. It had been a good day and I was ready to go home. If you look at the last two months, I'd been shot at and hit, shot at and missed and attacked by two walkers. But life just keeps going on. Like that battery bunny, I take a licking and keep on ticking. OK, cheesy I know, but hey, it works.
The trip back wasn't nearly as thrilling as the trip in but I was a happy camper. I wanted to soak in one of the many hot springs pools, eat a stuffing dinner and make love to my man. At that thought I glanced over at him and he gave me a quick wink and a grin as he made the turn onto the gravel road leading home. I didn't read his mind but I didn't need to, that look means the same thing even if it hadn't been spoken aloud.
We arrived to a crowd. Our group keeps getting bigger but at least we hadn't found any more kids this trip. That little problem keeps nagging at me but I hadn't come up with an iota of an idea yet. They were gonna have a blast going through that trailer and I would just sit back and watch. In my rocker, on the porch, with a glass of tea. I'd picked up another case of tea bags so I was looking forward to a hot cup. I smelled venison cooking and bread that probably just came out of the oven.
Walkers (Book 3): The Survivors Page 11