“Wanna play Mommy?”
“Not right now honey.” Turning away from the window and kneeling down beside him. “I have an idea. Why don’t we pack stuff to go camping?”
“Camping! Yes! Let’s do it!” Sam said, jumping up from his cars.
Unable to hold back a grin, she said, “We can’t go right now, but we can get our stuff ready.”
“What about Daddy?”
“Let’s just get our stuff ready and see if he gets here soon.”
Tom taught in his training to always have a “go-to-hell bag” or “bug-out bag” for times when things went bad, then you could grab it and know you had the necessities to survive for a few days. When he made a couple packs for the family and put them out in the shop they never anticipated having raving lunatics between the house and their backpacks. She and Sam would have to make due and gather what they could.
They had plenty of food and supplies to withstand an extended siege, but if those things found a way inside she would feel much better having bags to grab on their way out. If nothing else, maybe she would sleep better feeling like she was doing something to protect little Sam.
“Why don’t you go grab your adventure backpack…I think it’s hanging on your door handle? Mommy will help you get some clothes in a bit.”
Sam’s little legs churned and his arms pumped as he sprinted out of the room, on a mission. “I’ll load stuff.” He shouted from down the hall.
Grabbing a couple day packs out of her closet, Kelly loaded one with extra clothes and then headed downstairs in search of goods.
Fifteen minutes later she stood over her day packs, not fully satisfied, but knew she at least had the necessities. She figured as long as they at least had clothes, food, water, and the ability to make fire they could survive for quite awhile. They should be able to scavenge for more if it came to that.
The shop containing their gun safe was less than a hundred feet away, but it might as well have been a hundred miles. If only she could figure out a way to get to her hunting rifle.
Interrupting her thoughts, Sam came hopping down the stairs. “Ready mom." He said, puffing his chest out, a proud grin on his face.
Rubbing her hand through his hair, she said, “Let’s go take a look.”
He spun around, little feet pattering up the steps. Kelly followed him up to his room where she found his backpack sitting on the floor in the center of his room. The bag bulged from its contents. Unzipping the top, she could not help but laugh when she saw it filled with toys.
“What mom?”
Still laughing, she said, “Should we take some clothes?”
He looked down toward his feet and then back up at his mom with a look that said can’t you see I’m dressed dummy?
“How about you pick two small toys to keep in there and I will get you some clothes and jammies?”
Looking down at his backpack, clearly wondering how he would ever pick just two toys, he said, “Two?”
Knowing he would do as she asked, even if it was grudgingly, she headed to his dresser to gather the other items he would need.
A few minutes later she had all three backpacks lying near the base of the stairs. This was the central point of the house and was connected to the back door by a short hallway. Kelly felt good about the location and decided she would bring them upstairs with her when they went to bed.
She and Sam sat down in the living room to play some board games and try to block out the incessant pounding at the front door.
******
The room was cramped, containing only a tan microfiber couch, a small coffee table, and a wall mounted flat screen. It was clean, smelling of Pine Sol and Windex. The soft light of evening filtered in through the partially closed blinds, casting long shadows of the three men standing over the table.
“We need to get back to the mog, but we have to wait.” Hank said.
He looked terrible. The scratches from days before were swollen, red, and filled with small white blisters. In addition to these, were newer wounds from the battle at the top of the stairs, including a huge gash from temple to neck, a black eye, and an ear with the upper half torn off.
“We have to get moving, I can’t just sit here rotting…on top of that we’re nearly out of food.” Ben replied.
Hank looked over to Danny to see what his response would be.
Danny sat down on the couch. “I’m with Ben, we need to move. Every time I look outside there seems to be more of them wandering around the streets.”
Hank paced around the room, trying to think. The last couple days had been just like this, them standing around arguing over what the next plan should be.
“Hey! He’s coming to!” Rachael’s voice could be heard shouting down the hallway.
Hank raced down the hall, turning into one of the back bedrooms. The room had previously been a little girl’s bedroom. Little ponies and teddy bears surrounded a lacy pink bed. In the center of the bed, propped up on a couple pillows lay Tom, with his eyes finally open. He had been under since the attack and none of them were sure he would pull out of it. Rachael sat beside him, cupping one of his hands in hers.
“Well look at you. Sleeping beauty’s finally awake.” Hank said with a grin, clearly happy to see Tom looking alive. “You don’t look nearly as bad as the others that have come back from the dead.”
Tom sat with a confused look on his face. He did not look near as torn up as Hank, having only minor bruising on his face. All things considered, he looked great for having been dead for over a minute.
He looked over to Rachael, “Where are we?”
She rested a hand on his shoulder and gave him a smile, happy to hear him talk. “I don’t know how much you remember, but we are in a newer housing development, about four blocks from the old building.” She looked over toward Hank. “Can you get us a glass of water and maybe some of those crackers?”
Hank gave a quick salute and left the room.
Turning back to Tom, Rachael said, “How do you feel? Do you remember much?”
Closing his eyes, he said, “Yeah, head hurts…I feel okay…I think I remember everything up until they swarmed over me. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t get ‘em off.” Opening his eyes he looked over at Rachael, locking on her large brown eyes. They were warm, comforting. She sat still, looking back at him, tears welling up in her eyes.
“I ‘m so glad you’re okay. I thought maybe you…” She was unable to finish, instead she moved her hand to his neck and leaned in toward him. He was nearly certain of her intentions and turned his head away, unsure if his feelings mirrored hers. She quickly sat back. “I’m sorry…I…” the words catching in her throat.
“Here comes the gravy train!” Hank blurted out as he came rushing into the room, holding a glass of water and a package of crackers. He slowed when he saw the two of them, Rachael with tears streaming down her red face, and Tom looking like he saw a ghost.
Completely unsure of what to say, Tom was relieved for the distraction. Plus the sight of food made his stomach rumble, reminding him of just how hungry he was.
“Am I interrupting something?” Hank asked.
“No, you’re fine.” Tom reached for the crackers and water. “Thanks.”
Rachael stood, brushing tears from her eyes, and headed for the door.
Hank pointed a thumb over his shoulder toward her retreating form and gave a questioning look.
Tom shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what to say. He sipped at his water, not wanting to make himself sick by chugging too much at once. Between drinks, he nibbled on the crackers.
Sitting down in Rachael’s vacated chair, Hank said, “I’m not going to beat around the bush. We have to move out pretty soon. Every day the numbers of undead and demented out on the streets keeps increasing. I think a lot of people died those first couple days and now we’re seeing the affects.”
Pulling himself up to a sitting position, Tom asked “What happened anyways?”
Hank sat
back in his chair, scratching at the thick stubble on his face. “Rachael saved our asses. I ran out of ammo. Started using my knife. I think you were down by that point. That’s when she came rushing down the hall shouting for the brothers to help. Had a chunk of metal pipe in her hands.” Making swinging motion with his hands, Hank went on, “She started bashing the hell out of those things, screaming at ‘em the whole time. I was about to be overwhelmed, a couple of them had me down beside you, and then the brothers came rushing in behind her with a couple wooden desk legs. There weren’t many left at this point and most of them were the slow moving undead. The four of us were able to make quick work of them…went around bashing in skulls just to make sure they wouldn’t surprise us later.”
Tom nodded his head. “Brothers huh…guess they do look alike. They with us?”
“Yeah, they’re out in the living room.” Hank said, nodding his head back toward the door.
“How are they?”
“They seem alright. Younger one, Danny, is scarred out of his mind, but seems to be a good kid. He’s been helping Rachael, does whatever needs done.” Hank glanced over his shoulder then looked back to Tom. “Older one is a bit antsy…I think he was about ready to leave you…us. Rachael told them about the mog.” He held up both his hands and said, “Hold on, I’m gettin’ a bit ahead of myself. After we beat ‘em off of you, Rachael found you dead, ticker not ticking type dead. She pounded on your chest, mouth to mouth, the whole bit. Brought you back.” He hesitated a bit, thinking. “You’re lucky she was there. I wasn’t about to resort to mouth to mouth.”
This got a chuckle out of Tom. “How’d we end up here?”
Nodding, Hank replied, “You still weren’t awake. Breathing and beating, but non-functional. More of those things could be seen outside, coming our way, so we decided to bug out.” Looking around the room he continued, “It was light by then and we went out the back window they had bashed in, found this place. Packed your heavy butt the whole way. Been here a couple days now.”
“So what’s the story with the brothers?”
“Holed up in their house for a couple days and then when they started scouting out to leave, they attracted the whole lot of ‘em. That’s when we caught wind of the situation.” Glancing over his shoulder again, he went on, “They say they want to stick with us. Ben insisted they head for the mog with gas…come back and get us. I’m not so sure they would’ve come back.”
Tom threw the blankets off of himself, a bit embarrassed to find he only had his boxer shorts on. “Clothes?”
“They were a bloody mess. Rachael took them off to get you all cleaned up.” Hank stood and walked over to the shelves on the wall and grabbed a stack of clothes. Holding them out for Tom, he said, “Are you sure you’re ready to be moving?”
Not responding, he took the clothes and began dressing, wincing in pain from time to time. His body ached everywhere, reminding him of the hell he had been through.
Walking out into the hall, he saw Rachael standing near the window of what looked to be the parent’s bedroom. He stepped in and decided it was better to deal with this now. “I don’t want this to be awkward, I…”
Interrupting him she said, “I shouldn’t have.” She turned and walked toward him. “I’m really glad to see you doing okay.”
“Hank filled me in…thank you. Thanks for everything.”
“Hug?”
With a smile, Tom stepped over and wrapped his arms around her. They stood embracing each other for several minutes.
As the two of them walked into the living room, Hank and Ben turned from the large window and Danny looked up from the couch.
“Hank and I were just discussing the best way to go about getting out of here.” Ben said. Looking at Tom, he continued, “Until you get your strength up, Danny and I will go get gas and the Unimog. We will come back and pick everyone up.” He looked back at his brother, who was staring down at his feet. “Right Danny?”
Not raising his head from the floor, he simply nodded.
“I think its best we stick together.” Tom replied.
“You aren’t yet up to it. No offense but you’ll just slow us down.”
“Hank’s been out in this mess quite a bit. How about you and him go and we’ll stick here with Danny?”
Ben chuckled, his long goatee bouncing comically. “What, you don’t trust us to come back?”
“I don’t even know you.”
“We could have ditched you a long time ago.” Ben shouted.
“Well why didn’t you? Last I saw you, you and your brother were running up the stairs, leaving the three of us.” Tom shot back.
Tension filled the room, thick and tangible. The two men staring each other down like a pair of silverback gorillas.
Rachael stepped in between the two of them. “Hey now, Danny and Ben came back to help at the top of the stairs. You got us out of Portland. We need to work together.”
Tom took a deep breath, nodded his head, and said, “You’re right.” He looked at Ben. “What do you know about the demented?”
Ben turned toward the window, still looking agitated.
Danny looked up from the couch and said, “All of us have been talking the last few days and we don’t know much more than you guys. A lot of people got infected or whatever it is and are super pissed at anything that moves.”
“Some are really fast.” Ben butted in. “The next day is when we noticed the slow ones. Some with horrible wounds…mortal wounds. We knew they were coming back.”
Danny looked up at his brother, and then continued, “We found the same kinds of reports on the internet that Hank found. Last news we found said that a few scientists out of Japan thought that an infection had spread over the last few weeks. No symptoms showed up initially, and then there was a reaction or something. They think it interacts with the new stabilizer they are putting in vaccines. Some formaldehyde replacement.”
“What about those that come back from the dead, is it everyone?” Tom asked.
“No…I don’t think so anyway. Any of what you call the demented definitely come back, but from what we found, it is only those that got the initial infection, whether demented or not.”
“So we don’t know who is infected, other than those that had a newer type of vaccine...with the new stabilizer or whatever it is?” Tom said.
“That’s right…unless they die, then you’ll know in a few hours to a day.”
Tom looked over at Hank, not quite sure how to say it. “What about those that get scratched or bitten by the infected?”
Danny scratched his head, “I don’t know. We didn’t find any confirmations on what happens.”
Ben turned around, looked at Hank and then back to Tom. “We have to assume they are infected. “
“Which is only a concern if they die, right?” Tom said, looking at Hank.
Hank, clearly getting tired of everyone looking at him, gingerly touched the large gash on his neck. “I feel fine.”
Ben held up his hands. “If the infection and the stabilizer are in blood or saliva then it seems possible they could go crazy.”
“I’ve been keeping some of that triple antibiotic ointment on them.” Rachael added.
“That’s not going to stop this!” Ben shouted.
Tom had to admit Hank’s older scratches looked really bad, infected at the least, but he did not want to add fuel to the fire. “Could be transferred, but that seems highly unlikely, plus it’s been a few days now.”
“I’m just say’n…you never know, worth keeping an eye on.” Ben said while looking at Hank.
Not wanting to get into another argument, Tom just nodded and walked over to the window. Peeking out through the blinds, he could see several infected staggering around about a half block down the street. The surrounding houses were all of similar build, typical colors and designs of a new development. The wind was blowing hard, sending trash and debris swirling around in the cul-de-sac. Other than the infected, no living coul
d be seen.
He turned back to the group. “We need to get to the mog. It has everything we need and we can be mobile again. If those things get a whiff of us being in here, we’re dead.”
“Exactly! Danny and I will go get the gas and bring the Unimog back.” Ben replied.
Ignoring him, Tom asked, “Has anyone watched the infected, what they do when they’re not trying to kill us?"
Ben and Danny shrugged their shoulders. “Not really.” Danny said.
Nodding his head, Hank said, “I’ve watched them quite a bit. Most just wonder aimlessly, even bouncing off stuff from time to time. Some of them though are more…” He looked toward the window, thinking. “More aware. They do things like peer into car windows as they stumble by, or open mailboxes. Probably the creepiest I’ve seen, is one of the turds was trying house doors, went in the green house down the street. Haven’t seen that one since, but makes my toes curl thinking one like that might come trying to get in here.”
Tom looked back out the window. “Sun is mostly down. I say we leave once full dark hits. Biologically they shouldn’t be able to see in the dark any better than we can.”
Nobody argued with the plan, even Ben nodded his agreement.
“Okay then, I’m not sure what all this house has, but let’s gather whatever food, water, and weapons we can.”
After grabbing a bit more to eat from the nearly bare cupboards, Tom and Hank headed for the garage. Opening the door, Tom was surprised to find the expected smell of gasoline and oil missing, instead he only detected cardboard and dust. Flipping on the lights he could see why, the garage was piled with junk, the only vehicle in sight was a battery powered pink jeep. The bulk of the garage was taken up by stacked moving boxes.
Hank pointed toward the jeep. “Should we just drive that out of here?”
“You go ahead, I’ll watch from the window.”
Hank began looking through the stacks of boxes, while Tom worked his way around the edges. After several boxes, Hank decided it was a waste of time since they were filled with all the items that nobody actually needed. It was the stuff people would put in boxes, move several times, and finally get rid of in a garage sale. “Nothin’ here, unless we need to make a bloomin onion or have a talking fish.”
The Demented Z (Book 1):The Demented Page 10
