by Siara Brandt
Floris kept screaming, which was only drawing the things to her. Jes grabbed a hold of her arm just inside the kitchen door.
“Stop. Screaming.”
He left her standing there, silent finally. The only sound, aside from the snarling of the zombies, was the thump of his boots as he went down the porch steps.
Both of the undead were heading straight for the house while both Floris and Mirin were in the kitchen, staring out the window as one of the zombies landed in the rose hedge. The two women stood on their toes, watching anxiously as it struggled to get out of the tangle of thorns. The other one was almost to the house. Jes took them both out the only way he knew how, with a blow to the head. Only when there was no more threat and both zombies lay unmoving on the ground, did everyone gather around.
Lise scanned the yard. Were they capable of getting over the fences, she wondered? Or had they torn down part of the fencing somewhere?
They all continued to stare down at the zombies. One of them was only wearing underpants. And socks. One sock at least. The other zombie was covered in mud from head to toe. Lise had no idea where that one had come from.
She looked closer at the mud-covered zombie. “Why, that’s- That’s Floy Bascom. She didn’t know who the other zombie was. “How did they get in?” she asked, horrified at the close call.
“Someone left the gate open,” Jes replied grimly.
He didn’t make any outright accusations but everyone looked immediately at Bayley.
Jes paced across the front porch. When he reached the end, he turned and retraced his steps. He finally stopped before Lise, who was well aware of the fact that there was something bothering him.
“I know I have no right telling you what to do, but there’s a lot here that worries me.” He looked like he wanted to say more but he hesitated. He stared down at the porch floor, frowning.
“You can speak your mind.”
“Things could have turned out a lot differently,” he said as he looked up at her.
“I know that,” she said. “I’ll have a talk with everyone.”
A muscle tensed in his hard jaw. “You think that’s going to work?”
Probably not, she thought to herself, and knew he was thinking the same thing.
“I’ll do what I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” What else could she do?
“How?”
“I’ll have to think of something.”
Which meant she really didn’t have a plan.
Mirin stepped outside and said, “You don’t have to worry about us, Mr. Rawlins. Nothing happened.”
“Not this time,” he said curtly.
“We’re already aware of the dangers out there,” Mirin told him.
With the sunlight framing his wide shoulders, Jes looked at Lise.
“We’ve survived just fine so far,” Mirin went on.
With his jaw clamped tight, Jes looked beyond her, scanning the tree line. He looked back at Mirin.
“Just fine, huh? What will you do if it happens again and I’m not here? When you’ve got nothing more than your bare hands - and a flowerpot - to protect yourselves?”
“We’ll make sure the gate stays locked.”
“It’s already supposed to be locked. It’s not the first time it’s happened. You do know you’re lucky to be alive, don’t you?”
Mirin didn’t answer.
“If you want to stay that way, things have to change.”
“What are you talking about?” Mirin wanted to know.
“I’m talking about Bayley. He’s an adult now. He needs to start acting like one.”
It was out now, finally, the subject everyone had carefully avoided talking about.
“He’s only sixteen,” Mirin defended.
“In this world he’s an adult.”
“He’s not your responsibility.”
“When I leave here, I want to know that things will be taken care of.”
At the mention of Jes leaving, Lise felt a sharp, unexpected pang stab straight through her, somewhere close to the region of her heart. She had gotten so used to him being here that-
“He’s been working,” Mirin said low-voiced.
“Not hard enough.”
“According to you,” Mirin returned confrontationally.
“According to me,” Jes agreed. “What’s your plan when there’s ten inches of snow on the ground and there’s not enough wood to keep you from freezing to death, let alone enough food to eat? Does anyone here, besides Lise, even know how to use a chainsaw? You can’t use a butter knife to saw wood, you know.”
“Of course I know that. That is the most idiotic statement that I have heard come out of your mouth yet. You, Mr. Rawlins, need to understand that what we do here is none of your concern.”
“The rules matter for a reason. You, lady, need to understand that.” With that he turned and walked away, leaving a silent Mirin glaring murderously after him.
“It has to stop,” Mirin said as she confronted Lise.
Lise stiffened and turned around. “What has to stop?”
“He’s picking on Bayley again. He came right out and accused him of being the one who left the gate open.”
Lise stayed silent, thinking it was best to let her get it all out.
“He’s ordering him around when he has no right to do so.”
“He’s trying to get him to be responsible.”
“When is he leaving?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’ve had enough of this,” Mirin huffed.
“Of what?”
“Of you both telling us what we can do and what we can’t do. Do you know that Bayles told me he has been thinking about running away? I want you to know that if I lose my son because of you, I will never forgive you, Lise. Never.”
“He’s manipulating you, Mirin. He’s not going anywhere. How would he survive? Who would take care of him?”
Mirin just shook her head. “You’ve never had kids. I don’t expect you to get it.”
“What don’t I get? All the ways he has to get you to do what he wants? What exactly do you want me to do? Pretend things are different than what they are?”
“I want you to stop letting that- that bully trample all over you. That’s what you let Doug do. Why don’t you admit it? It wasn’t really your idea to hide the key. It was his. Do you know how hurt we’ve all been by that? It’s like you’re telling us you don’t trust us.”
“Someone been stealing food, Mirin. It has nothing to do with trust. Do you expect me to just look the other way when it means our very survival?”
“Do you want us to leave?”
Lise sighed heavily. Now Mirin was being as manipulative as Bayley. “No, of course I don’t want that. Where would you go anyway?”
“There are a lot of vacant houses out there. Nice houses.”
“You sound like you’ve already been giving this some thought. Have you?”
Mirin didn’t deny it, which made Lise wonder if Bayley had been pressuring her to leave. She wasn’t at all sure Mirin wouldn’t go along with it.
Mirin had one last thing to say to her. “There have been plenty of times in the past when you’ve been a terrible judge of character, Lise. Like with Doug. Just make sure we don’t all have to pay for it this time.” With that, she turned and walked away, her whole attitude making Lise very much aware that her sister believed she had scored some kind of emotional victory.
Chapter 17
The greenhouse was her private retreat where she could get away from all the stress and the problems, the bickering and the arguing, the demands that came with everyday life now. It could all get overwhelming sometimes. Jes had rigged up a better watering system, which made things much easier than hauling heavy buckets from one end of the greenhouse to the other. He was also working on an ingenious heating system so that they could extend the growing season and keep plants alive throughout the year, something he thought was especially important for surviv
al.
Pulling the weeds in the pots was mindless work but somehow it helped her clear her mind and put things in perspective.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding,” she heard.
She paused, but didn’t stop pulling weeds when Jes came up behind her.
“Maybe I have been hiding out here,” she admitted.
“I can’t say I blame you.”
Without saying anything else, he moved over to a nearby tray of seedlings and started working at her side. They worked like that in silence for a while until Lise heard him say, “I heard what she said earlier. Part of it any way. It was never my intention to cause you so much trouble.”
“You haven’t done that.”
When thunder rumbled quietly in the distance, Jes cocked his head and looked up from the tray. “That’s a good sound. We could use more rain.”
It had rained yesterday, too, and they had counted it a blessing.
“Since the ground is soft, it’s a good time to weed the garden,” Jes said. “I’ll head out there after we finish with this.”
He turned to look at her. “You don’t have to be the one carrying the burden all by yourself, you know.”
“I’m not.” She looked back at him. “Am I?”
“You already know the answer to that. Ever wish you could get through a day without the mind games?”
She already knew that he had an uncanny way of reading things accurately. “Things have been strained between us for as long as I can remember,” she said about Mirin. “A zombie apocalypse hasn’t changed that.”
“Would it be better for you if I left?”
She stopped pulling weeds. Without looking at him, she said, “You would only be giving Mirin what she wants.”
“And what do you want?”
I want you to stay forever, Jes.
She didn’t say that out loud, of course, although eventually she did look at him and say quite honestly, “I don’t want you to go.”
“Then I won’t.”
Without saying another word, without another word being necessary, they both went back to pulling weeds.
“We’re not alone.” Noby’s whisper was tense, barely audible. “Someone else is here.”
Kel held up a hand to quiet him.
The trampling of feet was soft but steady on the glossy tiled floor. They could already tell, sight unseen, that whoever was coming down the hallway, there were a lot of them. Alive or undead, there was no way of knowing. Not yet.
Belatedly, Kel realized that the school had not been a good idea. Now they were trapped and whoever, or whatever, was in here with them was approaching so fast that they must know they were here.
They could try to hide, maybe escape through the windows.
But there wasn’t time.
The sound of footsteps grew louder, stopping just outside the closed door of the room.
As the doors burst open, both Noby and Kel shoved Hezzie behind them and stepped in front of her. But they both knew that wasn’t going to do any good, not if they were the wrong kind of people. Or if they were even people any more.
Hezzie peeked around Kel and saw all at once the group and the woman who was leading it. The woman’s eyes were blazing as she called out in a strident voice, “Hezzie. Hezzie Nezer.”
“Grandma,” Hezzie cried back. She never thought she would see her grandmother again, not alive, not among so much death and destruction.
As Myrtie Nezer opened her arms wide, her granddaughter ran straight into them.
Myrtie was a formidable sight to behold. Her arms and legs were encased in some kind of homemade armor. Badass armor. Hezzie was surprised to see the assortment of weapons strapped to her grandmother’s body. And she had some kind of crazy hat on her head, but she had always been partial to hats. What was it they called them? Pith helmets. There were all kinds of things dangling from it. A compass, a whistle, and what looked like a can opener.
“Grandma Myrt,” came a disembodied voice. “Myrtie, are you there?”
Hezzie watched as her Grandmother pulled a walkie talkie from a pocket and held it close to her mouth. “I’m here.”
“What’s your location?” the voice over the walkie talkie asked.
“The school,” her grandmother answered.
“What’d you find?”
“We got some live ones,” Myrtie replied. “We’re bringing them in now.” More feelingly, she said, “I found her, Joe. I found her.”
Chapter 18
Lise sat in one of the porch chairs with a book in her lap. Jes was standing at the porch rail with his back to her. The sleeves of his blue shirt were rolled up to his elbows. She couldn’t help noticing how the shirt clung to his muscular shoulders as he crossed his arms across his chest and watched Mirin who had done her very best to ignore him for the past two days.
Just being near the man did something strange to Lise’s heart. There was no denying it any more. With him close, she didn’t feel so alone or so burdened. Life took on an entirely new meaning. It seemed impossible, but it almost became hopeful again.
She closed her eyes. This was not the time for this, she chastised herself. They were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. How could she even allow herself to be attracted to a man? There were so many other things that were more important. Far more important. Like basic survival.
She turned a page of the book in her lap slowly. Looking up again for a moment, her heart skipped a beat or two when Jes turned and his eyes met her own, but he had no idea the effect his words had on her when he said, “It’s time I tried to get to Bron’s.”
Only then did Lise realize how much she had been dreading hearing those very words. So much that she had to swallow an unexpected tightening in her throat.
She didn’t trust herself to speak, or to look at him, so she sat silently looking down at the book in her hands and heard, “I need to know.”
“You don’t owe me any explanations,” she said quietly, already understanding his need to know if his friend was still alive or not. It was a question everyone found themselves asking these days.
“You’ll need some food for your trip,” she said. “And water. And- ”
She couldn’t look at him for fear her eyes would reveal too much, so she looked beyond him as she said, “I’ll have to sew a patch on that rip in your shirt.”
“I’m coming back.”
She looked at him then, trying to keep the obvious question from showing in her eyes.
“I’m coming back,” he repeated, more tenderly this time. “For you. If it’s safer there, I want you to think about re-locating.”
Ignore the change in his voice, Lise told herself sternly. Focus on what you need to focus on. He doesn’t- He doesn’t mean anything- else.
Jes already knew what she was thinking. The rest of them were a package deal.
“Bron will take them in, too,” he told her. “But they’ll have to obey his rules.”
For a while he stood there leaning back against the railing, his head bent, saying nothing. The next moment he had silently crossed the porch and was sitting in the chair next to hers. His hand came down on her wrist where it lay on the book. “There’s no way I’m leaving you behind permanently. I want you to come with me.”
The look in his eyes was intent now, penetrating, which brought a heady sensation spiraling through her body.
“There’s no way I’m going to leave you behind, Lise,” he repeated. “So you gotta say yes.”
She nodded silently. He reached over and took her in his arms and just held her against him for a while she reveled in his warmth and his strength.
“You don’t know how relieved I am to hear you say that,” she heard him say against her hair.
And then he kissed her. It was a kiss that turned her world upside down in a way no zombie apocalypse could ever do. When he finally drew back, he said, “We’ve sealed the deal now so you can’t change your mind.”
“No,” she said as she smi
led back at him. “But I can still negotiate the terms.”
He raised one dark brow, questioning. “And what terms would that be?”
“I’m going with you. To Bron’s.”
Bron saw them coming long before they reached the compound. He wasn’t alone. There were other people with him. It was a thriving group, a strong group of survivors, each one of them determined to make the most of the hand they’d been dealt.
Bron was truly happy to see his friend. When he stepped back after grabbing Jes in a bear hug, he asked, “What the hell took you so long?”
“Long story.”
Only it wasn’t a single story. It was a series of them. Everyone had them.
Bron looked past Jes. “I see you brought Lise with you. I’m happy to see you, Lise. I’ve been hoping you were all right.” He looked back at Jes. “How did you two meet up? Wait. Save that. We’ll have time for that story later.”
Jes turned and looked at Lise, sharing a smile with her before he turned back to Bron. Seeing the look on his friend’s face, Bron’s expression went through a series of changing expressions, wonder and delight not the least of them.
“Well, let’s not waste any more time standing here,” Bron said. “Let’s go inside and get comfortable. We’ve got a good group here.” And then the introductions began.
Later, Bron said, “I’ll introduce you to a woman named Myrtie Nezer. She’s out in the field right now. The woman has done more than anybody else I know to rescue the living. She started by setting up a rescue center at the Methodist Church. Runs it like a general. You don’t want to mess with her. She’ll kick anybody’s ass that gives her any kind of trouble. I just got word that she finally found her granddaughter alive and well. She’s been looking for her since this whole thing started. So, yeah, good things can still happen.” He graced Lise with a brief glance.
“We’ve gathered all the instruction materials we could lay our hands on,” Bron went on. He picked up a thick, well-worn book with the words Holy Bible emblazoned in gold letters on the cover. “But this one is the one that matters. The only one that has ever mattered.”
