by Mark Tufo
“Yeah, ‘bunch’ will work,” Gary said, staring out the window intently.
“Couple of speeders, mostly deaders though,” Justin clarified.
“Thank God for small favors,” I said resignedly.
“Hi pretty lady. Can I get back in your arms?” Angel asked Tracy.
Tracy reached down and plucked the small child up. “Mike, I am not going to entrust these kids to a kid whose driving experience involves backing up in a driveway.”
“Umm, it’s a very long driveway,” Ryan said, trying to help his friend recover some of his lost ego.
“Okay, so his main experience is driving down a very long driveway and into a mailbox,”
“That hurts, lady,” Dizz said.
“Twenty-five yards, Dad,” Travis said as he took position next to his brother and uncle.
“We need to take them, Mike,” Tracy told me.
That was the most sound idea, it really was. But I felt like Big Ben was ticking in my head, that elusive concept called time was slipping through my fingers. I, we, could not afford to lose the two days it would take to get them back and then us back on track. ‘Crap,’ I thought angrily. Leaving these kids here was a death sentence plain and simple. Bringing them forward was a painful death sentence. Bringing them to Ron’s was their only chance.
I loved Tracy for a myriad of reasons. She knew the math I was going through in my head, so she solved the problem for me. “I’ll take them back.”
I was elated, I was depressed. The kids would be safe, my beloved would be safe, we would never see each other again. I hugged her just as our defensive gunfire erupted. Twenty zombies, three skilled marksmen, they should be able to make short work of it.
“Alright you guys,” I said, turning to the kids. “Grab all the crap you want to bring with you. We’re getting out of here.”
Angel jumped down from Tracy’s arms and into her brother’s arms. “We’re going home Eyean!” she said excitedly.
CHAPTER EIGHT – BT and Meredith (Plus One)
BT and Meredith had not been on the road more than a couple of hours when Meredith looked over towards BT for the fifth time, each time rolling her window down an inch or two more.
BT on as many occasions stole a sideways glance towards Meredith. He grimly did his best to cover his nose discreetly during the more noxious outbursts.
By the sixth time he could not take it. “What did your aunt make you eat? Damn it girl!”
“Excuse me?!” she answered indignantly.
“Smells like pickled weasel in here. What the hell did you eat?”
“Me?? I thought that seat belt was so tight it was cutting your large intestine in half and it was leaking.”
“So it isn’t you?” BT asked.
“God no! I thought you must be dying!”
“Pull over, I know of only one thing on this planet that could do that.”
Meredith pulled over, a look of confusion on her face. BT ripped the belt buckle from its harness, guaranteeing that it would never work again. He opened the door and took heavy intakes of untainted air before opening the back door to look for their stowaway.
“Well son of a bitch. Hi Henry!” BT uttered genially.
Meredith was peering over the seat. “How the hell did he get in there? Should we take him back?”
“Naw,” BT said, affectionately rubbing the dog’s proffered belly. “I’ve got a hunch he’s supposed to be here.”
CHAPTER NINE – Talbot Journal Entry 6
Gary, Travis and Justin came in a few minutes later.
“All set?” I asked as I finished packing up the radio.
“Yeah,” Travis said, a little flushed.
Gary responded by turning his head and vomiting into a convenient trash receptacle, and Justin resumed his vigil at the front window.
“Won’t be too long Dad before we get some more company,” Justin said.
“Yup, time has her finger in everybody’s pie,” I responded, my thoughts clouded with worry and anger.
Justin looked at me funny.
“Did I say that out loud?” I went outside, the putrid stink of the dead assailing my nostrils. “Oh yeah, that never gets old,” I said sarcastically. I walked over to the gas pumps looking over the abandoned cars. The third one I looked at was perfect, mainly for the reasons that the keys were hanging in the ignition and the tank was mostly full.
I had thought foolishly a few months ago that the parting with Paul and Alex was bad. That was topped tenfold when I left the East Coast Talbots, but that paled in comparison to what I was feeling now. I am not a perfect man, I do not claim to be. I am rife with shortcomings and my own sets of insecurities, but somehow Tracy has always been able to bring my better qualities to the fore. For twenty-three years she has been the vital piece that allows me to function correctly in a dysfunctional society. We were parting as cleanly as a rock breaks under the assault of a sledge hammer. There would be, there could be no reunion, we were now two separate parts..
“Mike, you come back to me,” she said, grabbing the front of my jacket. I couldn’t look her in the eyes, mine were rimmed with tears. “Mike, you bring my boys back,” she said, softly beginning to sob. I met her eyes and she saw the truth. She let go of my jacket and stepped back, an inaudible gasp flowing past her clenched mouth.
“Mike you have to promise me!” she said, raising her voice.
“I can’t Tracy, it would be an empty one. I will not let my last words to you be a lie.”
“Stop! You will promise me! Or I won’t go!”
I looked at her and over towards the kids who were waiting expectantly. Would a lie be so bad if it saved six others? “Tracy, please.” I wanted her to let me off the hook.
“Listen Talbot, you stubborn bastard. I do not want an empty promise. I want a promise that you will not break. I have known you long enough to know that you would rather go to hell, come back, and maybe revisit one more time before you would break your damn word. That is what I want from you, not this death march mentality I see in your eyes.”
I looked away marshaling my reserves. The best part of me was leaving and she wanted me to be a better man than I was. “How?” I said so softly Tracy did not hear.
“I’m waiting,” she said, arms crossed, foot getting ready to start tapping.
“Dad,” Justin said. “Multiples coming.” Just the way in which he said it implied that this was a major battle about to take place. Saved by zombies, again! I was going to have to send them a Thank You card.
I started to turn to judge the new threat. Tracy grabbed my arm. “Don’t even think about it.”
I coalesced the scared little boy inside of me. I drew on all the best parts of me that Tracy saw. I reached down, figuratively not literally, and grabbed my balls. “I promise you, I will do all that is within my power to bring all of us home,” I told her with conviction.
She stepped in and pulled me close; we kissed. No further words were needed.
“Um, Mike we gotta go,” Gary said as he stepped away from the window.
Tracy quickly told Justin and Travis how much she loved them and that they needed to watch out for each other and especially their dad.
I walked over to a darkened corner. Crying was a solitary endeavor for me; I did not want an audience. Gary grabbed some gear off the table and walked over my way.
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked.
I quickly rubbed away the incriminating evidence from my cheeks. “Do I look like I want to talk about it?” I told him without looking to face him.
“Well I don’t know, that’s why I asked, and you didn’t turn around, so how would I know?”
“It’s a good thing you know how to shoot,” I said as I brushed by him.
“What’s that mean?” he asked as he struggled to catch up to my quick pace.
Speeders were bearing down, we had half a minute tops to get out of here. After that it would take a major gun battle and a shitload of ammo I didn’t
want to waste on these flunkies. No, this ammo was being especially saved for the queen bee and her minions.
Travis let fly some well-aimed lead. The closest zombie’s forward momentum brought his headless body skidding to a halt. Travis’ next shot ripped an arm from the elbow down clean off its victim. The zombie did not slow a beat as thick half congealed blood dropped in fat globules from the wound.
Tracy hopped into her new Subaru hatchback after she made sure all the kids were in and secure. She gave me one long look and mouthed words to me which were unmistakable. “You promised.”
Gary, Justin, Travis and I set up a small firing line to give Tracy some safe clearance from our pursuers. Legs crumpled, heads disintegrated, blood arced, and still they came. Injuries that should have sent our attackers shrieking into the night had absolutely no effect to the throng. They trampled over their fallen without pause or hesitation, their need to feed far surpassing any other feeling they might possess. But something was happening here, wasn’t it? The mere fact that they hunted together implied some sort of cohesion, a hive mentality maybe? Could these ones also be under Eliza’s control? How far did her powers extend?
These were all higher functioning questions that I ran through as I took a breath, aimed, fired, reacquired, took a breath, aimed, fired.
“I can do this all day motherfuckers!!” I screamed. They didn’t care.
Travis and Gary were running to the far side of the truck as Justin tugged on my sleeve.
“Dad, time for a hasty retreat!” Justin yelled over my death dealing cycle.
I dropped two more before I let my self-preservation kick in. Tracy hadn’t been gone more than three minutes and I had almost broken my promise. Yeah, this was starting off just the way I wanted it to.
‘I miss you my love, but not as much as I will,’ I thought.
CHAPTER TEN – Tracy
“Pretty lady. Why are you crying? My mom says crying makes your asscarrots run,” Angel said.
Tracy could only look at the small child in confusion.
“Angie, no swearing!” Ryan berated her from the back seat.
“What?” Angel asked indignantly. “I only told the pretty lady her asscarrots would run! I did not say a bad word!”
Tracy understood now. “Did you mean mascara? My mascara would run?”
Angel nodded as if this is what she had said all along, then she turned around to stick her tongue out at her brother.
“Thank you sweetie. I needed that,” Tracy said. “I was crying because I miss my family.”
“Like I miss my mommy and daddy?” Angel asked.
“Just like that,” Tracy answered her.
“Oh. I don’t like that feeling,” Angel told her matter-of-factly.
“Me neither, sweetie.”
“Will you ever see them again like I will see my mommy and daddy again?”
Tracy wanted to tell Angel that absolutely NOT like that. If Angel’s parents were still alive there was a good chance they had been participants in the mob of zombies that had been attacking the rest stop. Tracy was glad they got out of there when they did. She had been fearful that they might have spotted people that the kids had known.
Tracy was vague but Angel only heard the words she wanted to hear. “Someday sweetie, we will all be reunited with the ones we love.”
Angel might have missed the subtleness but it was not lost on Ryan. He knew what Mrs. Talbot was trying to avoid saying but wisely thought better of calling her on it. ‘I guess this is what it means to grow up,’ he thought to himself sourly.
The hours droned on as Tracy drove, deep in her own thoughts. The boys occasionally horsed around in the back seat but it was more of a remembered activity, something they were supposed to do as opposed to wanting to do. They were seeking ways to strive for normalcy in a screwed up world.
It was Dizz who said something first, although Tracy had seen it a few seconds earlier.
“Is that a car?” Dizz asked, leaning over the front seat.
Tracy’s heartbeat had accelerated. Absolutely no good came from dealing with zombies, and the odds were near to that bad when dealing with humans, post-apocalyptically speaking. And even a lot of times beforehand now that she thought about it.
“Angel, you scoot down under the dashboard. Boys, I want you to sit up and puff yourselves up. You need to look as big as possible.”
Angel didn’t argue, she quickly picked up on Tracy’s trepidation. Dizz and Sty were a little slow on the uptake.
“What’s going on?” Sty asked. He was nervous and now he didn’t know why.
“Just do it!” Ryan said, folding his legs under his butt to gain some height.
Tracy wanted to laugh when she looked in the rear view mirror and saw that Ryan was turning varying shades of red as he took in large breaths of air in an attempt to gain bulk. She wanted to tell him to stop before he hurt himself but he was trying and for that she silently thanked him.
The cars were on opposite sides of the highway, hurtling towards each other. Tracy kept her eyes locked forward, not daring to glance over and possibly let them see any signs of weakness.
Dizzy had no such compunction. “Oh my God!” Dizzy said, fear twanging his voice two octaves higher, which immediately had the added effect of de-pubertizing him.
“What?” Tracy asked. She could only picture the worst. Red Neck Number One was alive, jaw-less and seeking revenge. Or it was Eliza herself come to finish them off personally. “Fine!” Tracy steeled herself. “I’ll finish the bitch off myself.” The words flowed out easier than she would have imagined. Now if she could only infuse some belief into her words she’d be all set.
“I just saw…” Dizz started.
“A man with no jaw?” Tracy finished.
“Ooooh gross,” Angel said from under the dashboard. “How does he eat licorice?”
In spite of her fear Tracy still managed a grin at that statement.
“A man with no jaw? No, and I agree with Angie, that is gross,” Dizz said.
“What did you see?” Tracy asked as she saw red brake lights flare to life in her side view mirror.
“I just saw the biggest man I have ever seen in my life!” Dizz said with amazement.
“What color was he?” Tracy asked. Durgan might be under control to not kill Mike, but she didn’t think that extended to the rest of his family or whoever else he might run across.
“What?” Dizz asked. “Oh. He was black.”
“You’re sure, Dizz?” Tracy asked.
“Positive, and the driver was a white girl. So what?” Dizz asked.
“Can I get out from under here? It smells like feet,” Angel giggled.
“Yeah, come on up here sweetie and get your seatbelt back on,” Tracy said as she took the Subaru over the grassy median.
* * *
BT and Meredith
“Did she see us?” BT asked as he tried to fit his immeasurable bulk under the console. His success rate was much, much less than Angel’s.
“Umm let’s see. She just crossed over the grass and is now heading this way, so my guess is yes.”
“Does everyone in the Talbot family have to go to a special ‘smart ass’ class before they can be considered an actual family member? I mean, do you guys have to get certified or something?”
“I don’t think you’re going to fit,” Meredith told BT.
“Is she still coming?” BT asked without turning around.
“No, no, she thought better of it. It looks like she’s heading the other way.”
“Really!?” BT craned his neck around to confirm this new information. “What? She’s not turning around!” BT said, more than a little miffed.
“You’ve known my uncle how long?”
“Hilarious, drive. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“I am not driving away from my aunt,” Meredith said as she pulled over, placing the car in park and getting out.
“What are you doing? We have to leave!” BT s
aid in alarm.
Meredith peeked her head back in. “You scared of Aunt Tracy? I mean, you should be, she’s probably a good buck ten, buck fifteen tops.”
“How long you known your aunt?” BT asked in disbelief.
Meredith actually stopped to think about that point. “I guess you have something there. If she has to deal with Uncle Mike then I guess she must have some serious brass tacks.”
“Of that I can assure you,” BT said, slowly getting out of the car, dreading the confrontation that was about to ensue.
“Meredith, BT?” Tracy asked as she pulled the car up alongside them and quickly hopped out. “What are you guys doing here?”
“I guess we could ask the same of you,” BT said. “Is everything alright, where’s Mike and the boys? Okay I get it now,” he said after looking over the precious cargo she was hauling in the small hatchback. “Where’d you pick up the vagabonds?”
“We are not bagavonds!” Angel said coming out of the car, yelling at BT’s knees. “Mommy says we’re Protestants!”
“Holy crap mister, you’re huge!” Dizz said, slowly approaching BT as if he were a carnival attraction. Ryan grabbed his sister before the giant inadvertently stepped on her.
“You first,” Tracy said, circling back to her original question.
