by Mark Tufo
“They can’t get in,” Josh told me. “The only way things can get in here is if we let them in,” he said pointedly looking straight at his mother.
“They needed help,” she told him quickly.
By the time we settled Gary down into the couch, he looked to be more comfortably asleep than anything else.
“He’ll be fine,” she said, sticking out her still bloody appendage. “My name is Mary, Mary Hilop.”
I looked in horror at the proffered hand. “Um, your hand is soaking with blood.”
She pulled it back slightly to look. “There’s like three dots and it’s your brother’s blood anyway.”
“I don’t know where he’s been,” I told her.
“Oh, for Christ’s sakes,” she said, heading into the kitchen and turning on the faucet.
“You’re not worried about contaminated water?” I asked her in all seriousness.
“It’s well water and are you going to make me regret my decision to let you in?”
“My name is Mike Talbot and that’s my brother, Gary,” I told her. “And why did you let us in? You don’t know what kind of people we are.”
She stood for a long time with her hands under the water. (And, I’ll happily admit, she was using liberal amounts of dish soap.) I think she was deciding what she did or did not want to tell me. She finally turned the faucet off and turned to face me. “This morning I was saying my prayers, like I do every day. You know knees on the bedroom floor, hands on top of the bed, and I was just getting up when I heard an answer back.” She looked me straight in the eye, wondering if I was going to think she was nuts.
I didn’t so much as flinch. That was far from the craziest thing that had happened to me, and I’m just talking about today.
When she realized I wasn’t going to try and have her committed, she continued. “The voice said I should help those as I would want them to help me. And when I saw you and the other two running from the zombies out there, I put Josh and myself in your places and thought what would I want someone to do, so I opened the door.”
“That was very brave of you,” I told her, meaning it.
“Did I do the right thing?” she asked me.
“Well, I think so. You saved my brother and my lives.”
“But were you worthy to be saved?” came her next question.
“My brother is,” I told her flatly. She left it at that, and I silently thanked her.
“What of the other man?” she asked.
“BT, his name is BT and he’s quite possibly the best friend I have ever had. We’ve traded saving each other’s lives so many times, I’m not even one hundred percent sure who is in the lead, although I suspect it is me. I have got to go and try and find him.”
“Not for a few days,” Mary said, turning back to the kitchen window. She stood on her tiptoes and pulled the shade to the side. “The zees will stay out here for a few days before they go to wherever they go or some other hapless idiot starts running down the street and then it starts all over again.”
I’m pretty sure she just called me a “hapless idiot.” I’ve been called worse, but it still stung.
“When they first came, they were out there for a couple of months.”
“You never had a breach?”
She turned back to me. “No my ex-husband ended up being a paranoid delusional. He spent more on the security of this house than the actual worth of this place.”
I’m a paranoid delusional, but my house fell in the first few days. What I wouldn’t have done to have talked to her ex beforehand. “Where is Mr. Hilop?”
That was a pretty personal question, and I was still some guy she had just let into her home. I thought she might lie and say sleeping upstairs, but she came out with the truth. “It ended up being his sickness that got the best of him. He was convinced that the zees would be able to get through the back basement window and he went to the hardware store to fix that problem and get some supplies for my son’s hobby, he’d do anything for him. That was three months ago. I’m figuring he’s not coming back, although Josh is still holding out hope.”
“Food isn’t an issue?” I asked.
“You heard the part where I said he was delusional?”
“Gotcha,” I told her. “So you said a couple of days?” I asked, coming up to look through the barred window.
“Yeah, they go somewhere and only come out when someone rings the dinner bell.”
“They go into a stasis,” I said as I quickly pulled the shade back into place. Three zombies were fighting over some sort of scraps and I had no desire to discern what it was. “They all pile up into this giant mass of decayed flesh and stink and sort of hibernate. Our best guess is that food is becoming scarce and this is a way for them to extend their lives, such as they are.”
“They’re cognizant?” Mary asked incredulously. “They have thought beyond hunger?”
“It’s some sort of parasite, so it has a survival instinct, but beyond that…” I shrugged my shoulders.
“How long have you been on the run?” Mary asked.
I got a faraway look in my eyes. “Since the beginning,” I told her.
I know she wanted to press me for more information. She and her son had ridden out the entire storm in the relative safety of this house. Luckily, Gary saved me.
“I can’t see!” he screamed from the living room.
Josh had pulled down all the blackout blinds when the zombies had returned. Besides a few strategically placed emergency candles, the house was as dark as the inside of a coffin.
“You’re fine, Gary,” I said. “Shit!” I yelled as I slammed my shin into a table leg.
“Mike? Mike? Is that you? It’s so cold and dark where I am. I can’t see you, brother. I’ve been shot in the head and I think it’s the end for me. Mom, is that you?”
“No, my name is Mary,” Mary said, getting to his side quicker than I could. Being familiar with the house, she was able to navigate through it more rapidly.
“Mary? Such a beautiful name. Are you my guiding angel?” Gary said dramatically, maybe a little too much.
Mary produced a small flashlight and checked Gary’s wound and his pupils, then turned to me. “Does he have a flare for the dramatic?”
“You tell me,” I replied.
“You know that your wound is not much more than a scratch, right?” she asked Gary.
“Are you sure? Because I see the light,” Gary said.
“It’s a Ray-O-Vac penlight,” Mary told him.
“Oh,” Gary said, sitting up. “Then I’m fine. Mike, you know I’m going to have to tell Dad that you shot me.”
“I figured as much. Good to see you vertical, my brother.”
“Are we in a safe house?” he asked.
I nodded my answer. For someone who a second ago couldn’t see anything, he did have a fast response.
“What about BT and the rest?” he asked, getting more comfortable.
“Josh, could you please get me some water and aspirins?” Mary asked her son.
Josh had been at the far end of the room, almost completely obscured in the shadows. I thought I may have detected the glint of a weapon. I couldn’t fault him that. In fact, it was quite the opposite, I thought it was admirable that he remained vigilant over us, protecting his mother and his homestead.
“I don’t know about any of them. BT was too far down the street to turn and make it back. And I haven’t heard anything from the rest.”
“The rest?” Mary asked as she gave the glass of water and tablets to Gary.
The ham made a great show of effort in reaching out to get the meds.
“We were with another three people besides the big man you saw.”
“What were you doing?” Mary asked, helping Gary more when she realized he was having a difficult time. He was completely soaking it up. Even Josh from across the room could tell he was over-exaggerating. The only one who was missing it was Mary.
“Payback,” I told h
er vaguely.
“Against who? The zombies? But you just said they don’t really have any feelings beyond survival,” Mary said as she checked Gary’s forehead for a temperature. “You feel a little warm.”
“Yes, I do,” Gary said as he slouched in his seat like that was now the most difficult thing in the world, sitting up straight.
“Oh, you poor baby,” I told Gary. “I hope you’re going to be alright.”
“He’s been shot in the head!” Mary shot back at me vehemently. “And you did it! Maybe you should be a little nicer to your brother!”
Gary was smiling over Mary’s shoulder at me; I could tell by the flash of his white teeth. “Yeah nicer,” Gary said weakly, slouching even further into the couch cushion.
“I’ve got to find BT,” I told Mary.
“Unless you’ve got a machinegun on you somewhere, you’re not going to get past the zees,” Josh said.
“Any chance you got one?” I asked.
“Even if I did, mister, I wouldn’t be giving it to you,” he told me.
“Fair enough. Do you have anything you could spare?” I asked.
Mary was shaking her head from side to side. “Greg took his rifle and a pistol with him when he went. The only reason he left behind the pistol Josh has is because he had no bullets for it.”
“Mom!” Josh said hotly. “Why would you tell them that?!” he said, storming out of the room.
“I don’t think he’s yet convinced about your intentions. You’ll have to forgive him. He has a lot of Greg in him.”
“That’s probably a good thing these days,” I told her.
“Didn’t help Greg out much,” she said.
“But you two are safe,” I told her. There was an awkward silence as Mary thought that through. Gary saved the day with a soft moan.
“Oh, you poor baby,” Mary said, stroking the side of his face.
“My ass,” I said.
“What was that?” Gary asked with strain in his voice.
“Mary, do you mind if I walk around the house, looking for a way around the zombies?”
”You won’t, but feel free.”
“Thank you,” I told her.
She had already forgotten I was still in the room as she turned back to Gary’s ministrations.
I did a complete circuit of the house. In typical zombie fashion, we were surrounded. It wasn’t thousands, maybe a hundred or so. My OCD half thought about counting, but the asses wouldn’t stay still long enough for me to get an accurate tally. One would go, two would come, a few would just run endless circles around the house until I started to recognize them and I had counted them more than once. With two full clips, I might be able to cut a path through, but then what? Most of these zombies were speeders and I was no track star.
I walked up the stairs to see how disappointed I could get with an aerial view. I had just pulled the shade to the side when Josh spoke.
“I’ve kept her safe all this time while we’ve been waiting for my dad to come home.”
I don’t know what stopped me… Divine intervention? A brain? My conscience? I don’t know, but I had just about turned and said “You know he’s not coming home, right?” If Tracy had been here, she would have smacked me just for thinking it; and somehow she would have been able to tell. I was stuck. I had been so intent on flat out telling him the truth, I couldn’t think of a viable alternative. I came out with the lame, “That’s nice.”
He gave me a look I’d become all too familiar with seeing.
“How long are you going to stay?” he asked. I’m not sure if it was because he wanted us gone, or it took the burden of protecting his mother off his shoulders.
“Just long enough until there’s a way through the zombies and I can get back to my friends.”
“What about your brother? He’s going to need time to heal.”
“Him? He’s faking.”
“I thought so. He’s not a very good actor.”
I laughed. “Your mom is buying it.”
He stopped to think about that for a minute. “That’s alright; it gives her a chance to stop worrying about me.”
“You’re a smart kid.” He was probably on to something. Mary, on some level, probably knew Gary was hamming it up, but it was a diversion from the nightmare outside.
“Yeah, I usually like to build radio-controlled cars, but guarding this house is a full time job,” he sighed heavily.
“Can I see them?” I asked. We’ve all established that I’m just a larger version of a kid so I wanted to see them; and the word “diversion” was now stuck in my head.
The kid’s room was crammed with at least a dozen different vehicles that I could see. There was a lunar module with six wheels, a tank, that fired projectiles, some racing cars and other sets that were in various states of repair or disrepair.
“I’m still working on this one,” Josh said, picking up what looked like a waste basket on wheels. “My dad went out to get me some parts for this. He had come over to work on it with me and then the zombies had come.”
“What’s it going to be?”
“A half scale R2D2.”
“No way? That’s awesome. You have some incredible stuff here.”
Josh sat down heavily on his bed. “I haven’t touched any of them since he left. He didn’t come back and he was out getting stuff for me.”
Man I hate the serious talks. I sat down next to him. “Listen Josh, I’m a father too.”
He looked up at me with “Really?” written all over his face.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my kids, from giving up my life all the way to seeing a smile flash across their lips. You’re dad went out, trying to do just that. You can’t blame yourself for his actions, it was something he wanted to do.”
“Thanks mister, you seem like you’d make a good dad.”
“Thanks kid, now if you could just tell my wife that, I’d really appreciate it. Can you show me how a few of these work?”
Josh’s face lit up. He was back in his element, tinkering with the small machines. We spent a few hours going through his wheeled assembly. It was nice to forget for a while what lingered mere feet away outside.
Mary finally had to come up and get us for dinner. Her first two shouts had fallen on deaf ears as we recreated the chase scene from Mad Max.
Mary had made us a simple meal of beef stew and corn, but it was warm and we were safe. I said a silent prayer for my family and friends before I sat down. I noticed only two settings at the table. One for Josh and one for me. “I’m sorry we’re late. Did you guys already eat?” I asked from the kitchen.
“No,” Mary said. “Your brother is still in a lot of pain, so I set up a tray for him out here and then it didn’t seem quite right that he had to eat alone, so I’m staying with him.”
Josh rolled his eyes as he sat down. I snorted out a laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Mary asked a little peevishly.
“Ah nothing,” I said, trying to stall for a more acceptable answer. “Josh had just told me a funny joke before we came downstairs.”
“Josh, it had better not be that one you heard at school!” Mary yelled from the living room.
Thanks, Josh mouthed.
“Better you than me,” I said quietly.
“What are you two whispering about in there?” Gary moaned. “The noise is hurting me.”
“You two stop it or I’ll make you eat upstairs!” Mary yelled.
Funny, Gary didn’t seem to complain about her volume and she was right next to him. And actually, going back upstairs sounded like fun. Josh’s myriad of radio-controlled vehicles was a good diversion from the cold hard truth. “Diversion.” There it was again. The word kept popping up in my head inadvertently; maybe I should actually pay it some heed. I was three spoonfuls into my stew when I looked over to the wastebasket. Gary’s blood-soaked shirt and a bunch of bandages dominated what I could see.
“Hey Josh, can your cars go faster than a perso
n?”
“Yeah, why? You want to race? Because I will SO kick your ass.” He said the last word softly so his mom wouldn’t hear. But she was entirely too busy cooing over my malingering brother to know anything about what we were doing.
“What’s the range on the transmitter?” I asked him, an idea beginning to formulate in my head.
“If you’re talking inside, it would be the whole house.”
“What about outside?”
“A football field, I guess. I don’t usually let them get out of sight though.”
“Do you have one you wouldn’t mind not seeing again?”
“No,” he answered quickly and decisively. “Why?” he asked hesitantly.
“I’ve got an idea,” I said, my gaze still focused on the trash.
“Oh kid, don’t listen to any of his plans,” Gary said. He was leaning up against the entrance to the kitchen, Mary was helping him stay propped up.
“I told him not to get up,” Mary said, exasperated. “But he just wouldn’t listen. He’s a stubborn one.”
I noticed that her eyes seemed to shine a bit as she talked. Looks like someone has a crush and someone else is eating it up in a big way. I was about to give him silent kudos until he spoke.
“I had Mary help me get up because when I heard how quiet you two were in here, I knew it meant you were thinking about something. You have to be careful, Josh, my brother’s ‘plans’ usually don’t work out so well.”
“Don’t you have an injury you can go ham up?” I asked him.
“You shot him in the head!” Mary exclaimed.
“It’s alright, Mary,” Gary said calmly. “Now do you see what I’ve had to put up with?”
“You poor baby. Here, let me help get you back to the couch, or would you be more comfortable in a bed? I’m sure Josh will give you his.”
“Mom!” Josh yelled.
“The couch is fine,” Gary moaned.
“Oh brother,” I said as both a euphemism and a commentary on his acting skills.
“But I’d love to hear Mike’s plan before I do,” Gary said, smiling to me when Mary turned to scowl at me for delaying his return to a horizontal position.
“Mom, Gary is smiling,” Josh said, pointing over his mom’s shoulder.