by Steve Kuhn
I’m next! A shower! We’ve been shown into the lower level, and Junior’s in there cleaning the blood and grime off of himself. This place is nice. Not super big or fancy or anything… but it’s a far cry from anything I’ve seen in weeks. I can’t help but be pleased at the idea of some fresh clothes and hot food. I’ve been wearing the same funky-ass gym pants from my bag since I messed up my Dockers in the city.
Kylee has Wyatt upstairs getting Hope and Kate sorted out, so I assume we’ll do introductions and all that in a few. They wanted some private time, and I ain’t mad at that.
After Kylee’s little display back there, I’m feeling much better about this situation. She can obviously handle herself. Wyatt really should have let us know she was a military-trained sniper long before now, the little prick. I owe him a bitch-slap, but I’m in way too good of a mood to have it fucked up right now. Hehe… even found myself a bottle of wine down here. I can’t read French, so I’m gonna just assume it says, ‘Enjoy this red wine because shit hasn’t been that awesome lately – Vintage 1998.’
Entry 19
Well, the shower wasn’t what I had hoped. The power was out, so we had to use lake water that Kylee had doctored up somehow by the bucket load. At least it was warm. We heated it using cooking pots and whatnot. Regardless, I’m crispy clean and feeling 100 percent better.
Wyatt came down after checking in with the girls upstairs and let us know that Chuck had left some clothes here. Since Junior and I are of similar stature, we were able to change. Unfortunately for Cutty, he’s a freak of nature, so he had to hand wash his own clothes. What’s funnier is that he couldn’t even find a towel to wrap himself in, so he chose to walk around in a bedsheet like we were at a fuckin’ toga party. Wyatt and Kylee called us upstairs once we were all sorted out.
Hope sorta sleeps a lot, which I guess is normal. Shit if I know. All I am sure of is that she hasn’t screamed or cried once yet, so she’s cool in my book—four months old and damn cute, too. Kate was a little freaked out when she met us, but that’s understandable, especially considering Cutty’s current choice of attire. Wyatt had to assure her we were all right, and it still took her about a half-hour to warm up to the idea. Kylee changed into civilian clothes and looked surprisingly… feminine. She still carries herself like a dude, though, and no one is doubting the fact that she could probably kick Cutty’s ass if she was so inclined.
We left Hope upstairs to sleep and met in the living room for a chat. ‘Living’ room… heh… ironic. Kylee filled us in on the general security of the house, and we agreed that we’d take turns on guard duty. Cutty and Junior would be a team, naturally.
During daylight hours, Junior intends to post up on the roof with his rifle and scope, and Cutty will take the perimeter. We don’t really want Junior taking shots unless he has to because of the noise. So, I suggested Cutty stay on the ground and Junior can just spot for him. They could simply call out to one another if they needed to communicate. Seemed logical enough.
Kylee said there’s more of them wandering by at night than any other time, so her rifle was way better for that. She can spot them in the dark and strike quietly if necessary. Trouble is, ammo will eventually be an issue—not yet, but soon enough. She’s got a decent amount for herself, but she was clear about the noise-suppression stuff.
See, it ain’t like in the movies where you just screw on a silencer and the gun suddenly goes, pfft. The suppresser on her rifle will wear out soon enough, as will the special ammo she has to use for the effect. She’s only got half a box of the good shit left. The rest is just regular.
As for Wyatt and myself, we’re gonna spend the morning hours with Kylee doing some basic training. “Lucky the four of you aren’t geek-chow by now, the way you moved through those woods,” she told us.
I kicked her under the table and gestured to Wyatt, so she offered an apology. Gary and Alex are still weighing heavily on our minds so, while she meant no harm, her comment struck a chord.
We have enough food to sustain all six of us here for a week… two if we ration it hard. I’m not too keen on the idea of going on supply runs, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. The jeep is still outside, and it’s got gas so if we had to bug out in a hurry, we’d be able to.
The only thing that has me a little worried is Kate. She just doesn’t seem with it. Sure, she’s got a lot on her mind… losing Chuck, her parents, dealing with Hope. I don’t know. Wyatt seems all right for the most part… I just feel like snapping my fingers at Kate, though. She needs to get her shit together for her baby’s sake.
When I shot a puzzled look over to Kylee during our little powwow, she silently mouthed, “Shock,” with an expression that made me understand it should pass with time. But still… it’s bugging me—not bugging me enough that I won’t sleep well tonight for the first time in weeks, though.
Entry 20
Kylee woke up later than everyone else after having spent the night on watch. So, Wyatt and I spent the morning packing go-bags in case of emergency, while Junior and Cutty bitched at each other out of sheer boredom. We couldn’t hear what Junior was saying from the roof, but Cutty could clearly be heard saying calling up things like, “Uh-huh, keep on talkin’ that mess an’ I’ma git Kylee to stomp a mudhole in that ass,” and, “Bitch, please, yo momma wasn’t sayin’ that when she took it all in the jaw.” So, yeah, there was that. Not loud enough to bring on the dead, but loud enough to be annoyingly funny.
Once Kylee was up and around, though, we got crackin’. She showed me and Wyatt how to properly clear rooms of any potential threats. We practiced by working from room to room in the house.
One of the coolest things we learned how to do was what she called an “Israeli Sweep.” Wyatt and I just call it “The Pizza Thing.” It’s where you start on the outside of a door, off to the side of the frame. Then, you clear the majority of the room on the other side by circling the door opening slowly. Your viewpoint reveals more and more of the room in ‘slices,’ but it ensures that nothing sees you before you can see it. She showed us a few more tricks to make sure we stayed covered and concealed as well. Beat the shit outta my plan of just running in as fast as I could.
Then we worked on hallways. Wyatt stayed at the bottom end with his rifle trained ahead of us as I moved up to the next doorway with Kylee, pistols drawn. He would be able to fire on anything that posed a threat to Kylee and me as we moved. We used the pizza thing then entered the room and cleared the nooks using various tactics. After a room was clear, we’d wave for Wyatt to move up to us, and then we’d keep going.
Slowly and methodically, we cleared the house all the way up to Kate and Hope’s room. Then we did it again—and again. Kylee was brutal and rightfully so. She’s a patient teacher, but she hates when one of us makes the same mistake more than once. She has a way of smacking you right across the back of the head, in the same place every time. Bitch made my teeth click.
Kate hasn’t said much to anyone really. She just tends to the baby and such. When we broke for lunch, I caught a glimpse of Cutty on the floor playing with Hope. Thankfully, he was back in his regular clothes. It really messed with my head, because he was being so gentle with her and laughing when she giggled at his funny faces. Not even two days ago, I was watching him split skulls, and here he was in front of me sayin’, “Oos-a-boo-boo,” at a baby. Junior and Wyatt were cracking up at the sight of him.
This afternoon should be a breeze.
Entry 21
Kylee’s up on watch for the night, and thankfully she’s taken Wyatt with her. Hopefully she can keep his head clear and on task. He’s precocious enough, but he’s still just a teenager and prone to doing stupid shit that teenagers do.
Junior and Cutty are actually being quiet for once. They were cracking back and forth until Kate came down and snapped, “If you two assholes wake up Hope, both of you can stay up the rest of the night with her!” We waited until she went back upstairs before snickering qu
ietly to ourselves.
Hope was funny this afternoon. She was gettin’ her scoot on, and she kept going over to where Cutty was sitting. She likes him for some reason. Anyway, Junior was trying to get her attention, but she was all about Cutty. So, finally, Junior gets up and reaches out to her, and she starts crying. He’d walk back across the room, and she would stop. He’d come over to her again, and she’d cry again. Then he went away, and she stopped. It was hilarious watching Cutty scoop her up and poke his tongue out at Junior.
All in all, a good day. This is the first day in probably three weeks where I can honestly say I didn’t see a single geek… and I’m happy.
Entry 22
We met this morning, all of us, to discuss the geeks that are making their way through the woods. Kylee told us first thing this morning, “I dropped four last night about a quarter mile out. They looked like they were wandering aimlessly, but that’s a total of seven in three days. We need a better plan.”
Wyatt confirmed the story and encouraged us to go with Kylee on this one. Junior suggested baiting them in at night using light or a fire and then taking them out using Cutty’s tactics of brute force. Of course, it came out like, “Oughta set us up a fire or sum’n… mebbe bring ‘em in an’ bash’m. Might could get Dext to play bait.”
I shot down the suggestion of me as live bait immediately, saying, “To hell with that! If we’re in a pinch, that’s one thing… but I’m not gonna go running around just to bring them out of the woods.”
“Well, Cutty is obviously fine with choppin’ ‘em up, but I don’t know if I could even handle more than one by myself without guns,” Wyatt added.
I couldn’t disagree with him there. He picked up Hope and bounced her on his leg while we all brainstormed. Not surprisingly, it was Kylee who came up with the best option.
She pointed at Cutty and said, “You… you’re the key to this whole thing. How many can you handle by yourself without cover fire?”
Cutty shrugged and estimated, “‘Bout six… Maybe eight if dey ain’t all in a tight group. I need some room ta move so’s I can circle ‘em.”
Kylee nodded her assent and continued, “Good. I figure that’s a fair number. We haven’t seen any more than three together in the woods anyway, and zero have made it to the actual property yet. When we do see them, they’re about as far out as they were when you guys were on the way in. I’ve been considering using an old trick lately, and I think we can make it work.”
We listened closely as she went on to explain her idea. We know they move towards sound and food, so we would post one guard up on the roof as usual. Junior, Kylee, or Wyatt would do fine, and they could take shifts behind Kylee’s rifle.
When they spot a stink or two, they simply call for us to take up our positions, which would be as follows: Cutty takes his spot halfway between the tree line and the house in the middle of the gravel driveway, totally exposed. Whoever isn’t on the scope, plus myself, will lie on the ground covered with blankets.
We agreed on smearing one side of the blankets with whatever we could find that would make them sticky then get them all grassy and shit like a sniper’s ghillie suit. I’m telling you, this girl is brilliant. We’ll lay under the covers on either side of the driveway as Cutty calls out and makes a bunch of noise to bring them out in the open. They’ll pass right on by us, focused on Cutty, and as soon as Cutty says, “Go,” we’ll pop up and beat them from behind. They’ll be totally surrounded. Cutty can handle them by himself if it’s only one or two.
So, I’m off to find spare blankets and hopefully a baseball bat or something. In a way, this is good. Sure, I’m a little scared of going toe-to-toe with some deadheads, but if we do this one or two times a day, we’ll only need one person on watch. The rest of us would be more or less ‘on call,’ and I’m okay with that. Even Kate thought it was a good plan. She did mention that she’d want to keep an eye on the operation from the safety of the porch in case something goes wrong. Can’t blame her for that. Wyatt’s taking first watch, so we’ll reconvene if he spots something.
Entry 23
Our first attempt could not have gone any worse. Kate is upstairs with Hope, and she’s an absolute wreck. I can’t imagine how she feels right now. It was such a close call for her. She’s been unstable for so long, and this is the last thing she needs right now. We all know that the geeks head to familiar places from when they were alive, but no one ever expected this. I’ll start from the beginning.
Wyatt gave the shout shortly after our lunch break, and we all jumped. Kylee had us run drills after this morning’s planning session, so we got into position quickly and efficiently. Cutty was centered on the path with Kylee on one side and Junior and me on the other. Wyatt had us covered through the scope, and Kate watched through Kylee’s binoculars from the porch. Hope was quickly stashed in her and Kate’s usual room, safely out of harm’s way.
The first two emerged and headed to Cutty as planned after he shouted a few select words in their general direction. As they passed, we peeked from under our covers, and they shuffled right on by. I gagged at the smell, but managed to do so quietly. Cutty would have had no trouble with them, but we wanted to test our method, so right before he struck we popped up. Both of the geeks turned to face us, and Cutty swung down from behind them with both blades, simultaneously dropping the pair. It felt great to see that the plan was solid.
We drug them off to the side of the driveway and headed back towards the house. When we got within talking distance, Wyatt peeked over the side of the roof and said, “Fuck yeah, man! That was the shit!” We were all smiles. Unfortunately, no one was watching Kate.
We were so fucking pleased with ourselves that we just missed the one straggler altogether. Before we knew it, Kate had dropped the binoculars and was running right between all of us. She was in a full sprint across the grass and down the driveway, shouting, “That’s my Chucky! My baby! I’m coming, Chucky!” It was an ‘Oh shit’ kinda moment.
None of us knew what she was going on about until we finally spotted him off in the distance, directly where we dropped the other two shambling up the drive. Chuck had made his way home… somehow. I’ve seen roamers do this before. There’s something about the ones that die in the presence of family. I dunno.
Emotion had her blind to the fact that he was one of them now, and she was headed right to him. She was going to get herself killed! All of us gave chase, and we were gaining ground, but she was just too far ahead of us. She held out her arms like she was expecting him to catch her in some romance-novel hug as she got within ten feet of him.
Hiss! Chuck’s head exploded right in front of her. Wyatt had just saved her life. She fell to her knees over the headless corpse and sobbed uncontrollably. She was beating on his chest and screaming, “Why?… Oh God, no!… Not again… not my Chucky,” through her tears. We dragged her inside and stayed with her until she stopped crying.
Kylee and Wyatt took her upstairs and stayed with her until she sobbed herself to sleep. Poor girl.
Entry 24
Kate came down the steps without Hope this evening, walking slowly and shaking uncontrollably. We were all in the living area. Something was clearly wrong. She was making these little whimpering sounds and saying, “Everything is fine now… Everything is all better.”
As she moved into the light of the candles, the blood was clearly visible all over her hands, arms, and face. She was also holding one of our pistols, which was covered in blood as well.
We rushed to her side cautiously, and Kylee asked her very gently, “What happened, Kate? Try and calm down… Tell us what happened.”
Kate just kept looking at the gun, then her bloody hands, and sobbing. No one heard a shot, so we started looking at her arms for bites or cuts.
Nothing.
Wyatt stepped in front of us all and addressed Kate a little more sternly, “Kate. Give me the gun.”
He held out his hand. “What happened to you, Kate? Is
Hope all right?”
She looked right at him and put the gun under her chin. We all backed up half a step to give her some space. “Hope is fine. It’s going to be fine,” she said, smiling psychotically. “Don’t you see? Why can’t you see? I can just pull this trigger, and everything will go away—all of this… this nightmare. It’ll be all better.”
I’d never seen anyone like this before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to say or do. Junior and Cutty were at a loss. They just looked at her, each offering their own little form of protest, Cutty saying, “Eeeeasy, girl. Ain’t nuttin’ gon’ happen here,” and Junior holding his hands up, saying, “Whoa, whoa, calm yerself down, li’l lady”
I certainly didn’t want to see her blow her own head off right here and now. I tried to reason with her, saying, “Look, Kate, we’ll get you cleaned up, we’ll settle down, and we can talk this all through. Hope needs you. You can’t do this.”
She just stared at us all. She looked at us one by one before speaking through teary eyes. “Hope is in heaven with Chuck now… and I’m going to see them.”
Bang!
We all jumped at the shot as Kate’s lifeless body hit the floor with a solid thud. Cutty shot up the steps after Hope with Kylee right behind him.
I held Wyatt down, pinning him to the floor with Junior, and just told him not to look. He actually held onto me… He held onto me and cried.
It was only a moment later when we heard Kylee scream in horror. I knew it was bad because Kylee’s not that type.
Cutty emerged from the top of the staircase supporting a hysterical Kylee. He reached the landing with tears beginning to fall down his own face, closed his eyes, dropped his head, and silently shook it.