by Diane Butler
He saw the shadow of movement within the house and the screen opened this time to Roxanne. “Lance? What are you doing here?”
“You’ve had visitors Roxanne, which I’m sure Mutt told you by now.”
Roxanne stared at him for a long time and then softly told him to come in while holding the door open. He followed her to the kitchen, heard a ‘thump’ from upstairs and knew that Max would soon be down. Roxanne stood in the kitchen looking out over the canal. Lance followed her glance and in the distance he could see a riverboat on the water. “They said that they were looking for a woman who had become separated from them. I didn’t tell them that we had met.”
Roxanne turned and smiled at him, “That was kind of you Lance.”
“They didn’t appear to be dangerous, Roxanne. Do you want to tell me what’s going on? If I’m living alone I should be prepared. Should I expect any more visitors looking for you?”
Roxanne turned back to the river as the boat disappeared upstream. “They say that they know me, but I don’t remember them. They make me uncomfortable and I’m not ready to meet with them again.” There was a long silence as he tried to comprehend her words. Finally she smiled and said, “I have a present for you. I’ll bring it out to the front porch.”
Lance went to the front and saw a rocking chair on one side of the porch and a swing on the other. He went to the swing thinking that Roxanne would sit beside him. Max was on a beam looking toward the road. Mutt was sitting on the bottom step also looking toward the road and the coyote was further up the driveway, just standing there. He had never seen the coyote sit and relax like Mutt. It appeared to always be expecting trouble and on the alert.
Roxanne came out and handed Lance a box of shells. “Here. I know that your gun is empty and you shouldn’t be out here without a loaded gun. These people were friendly but the next group may not be.”
After handing Lance the box of shells Roxanne went across the porch and sat in the rocking chair. Lance felt as if she had just distanced herself from him. “Do you know how to use a pirogue, Lance?” she asked. “When I go back to the bayou do you want to come with me?”
“I thought that you wanted to stay here for a while. I thought that you liked it here and weren’t planning to go back for some time.”
“Oh, I do but there should always be a back-up plan and you said that you did not know where you would go from here. You’ve already tried north and that hasn’t worked. That would mean going back to the south and the bayou is safe.”
“They told me of the paper mill, the one that you mentioned.”
She looked over at him, “And is that what you would do?”
“Is there something that you’re not telling me Roxanne? You are keeping me in the dark and I do not know what is going on. You give me ammo which tells me that I may be in danger. Your animals are on alert. I can tell because I have learned how to read them by watching you.
Roxanne smiled, “That’s good. That’s good that you’re learning.” She stood up, “It’s late in the day and you better head back before it gets dark. I’ll have Cowboy accompany you. If I should ever need you here I will send Mutt. Why don’t you meet me tomorrow morning at the Tackle Shop? I’ll bring the pirogue around and give you some lessons.”
Lance knew a dismissal when he heard one and was disappointed that Roxanne was still so distrustful toward him. He got up from the swing and looked out. She was right that the sun was quickly setting and he wouldn’t want to be on a strange road by himself. “Thank you for the use of Cowboy,” he said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Once Lance left her long dark driveway and turned south on the road to his house he could see that a fog was quickly rolling in from the bayou. He stopped and looked back wondering if he should ask Roxanne if he could stay the night, on the porch if it made her nervous to have him in the house. Instead he picked up the pace and began running toward the fog with the coyote trotting beside him. All he wanted to do was to get back to his house, bolt the door and light every room with candles.
He was surprised at how quickly the fog surrounded him, dampening his shirt and prickling his face with moisture. He stopped to catch his breath and leaned over to put his hands on his knees. When he straightened he realized that Cowboy was no longer with him and he could not see the edge of the road on either side of him. He listened for moans or shuffling that would be a zombie but there was only an eerie silence. “Cowboy,” he whispered. “Cowboy, come closer to me.”
He armed himself with both his knife and hammer but found that he was hugging his arms because of a cold chill that was overtaking him. His teeth started to rattle and he could feel the fear starting to creep in. It’s her, he thought. It’s Roxanne. She thinks that I have betrayed her. He felt a nudge on the back of his leg and screamed out as he jumped away and turned with weapons drawn. He could barely see the shadow of Cowboy in the darkness.
“Lead the way Cowboy. I can’t see a damn thing and stay close this time.” He continued at a fast walk but found that his mouth was dry and that he desperately needed water. He was hesitant to stop and had the sensation that he was walking amongst evil. He wiped his face with the arm of his sleeve and realized that it was sticking to his skin. He hadn’t felt this type of fear in a long time, not since the unknown origin of the zombies first came to surface. What if Roxanne had told Cowboy to lead him into danger? Could he trust Cowboy? He told himself that the fog was playing tricks on his mind but he decided that if he should get out of this alive that he was going to go with that group to the paper mill. He couldn’t be alone anymore and he was convinced that Roxanne was a witch, that she had been tried as a witch and found guilty, had been scarred to warn other people and then sent out into the bayou.
Suddenly Cowboy came to a stop and Lance almost tripped over him. Lance tried to get his bearings but he could only see darkness on each side of him in the fog. He looked down at Cowboy but she appeared to be calm, waiting for him. Becoming nervous he attempted to take a step forward but the coyote blocked his way. He did not hear anything and anxiously looked around again when the fog temporarily thinned in an area in which he could see a mailbox. He walked over and put his hands on it, not believing that he had made it home safely. He began to giggle and leaned against the structure for support but he still did not feel safe, not out here, not in this fog. There was evil out here, perhaps something in the air that turns people into zombies. He began to run up the sidewalk to the front porch and tripped over a vine which sent his backpack sprawling on the grass. He sat up and began to sob as he frantically searched his pockets for the key to the house while Cowboy stood near him. He grabbed his backpack and with shaking hands lit a lantern that he kept on the porch but he still dropped the key before finally able to open the door.
He slammed the door behind him and set the lantern on the floor then collapsed against the door and slid down to the floor. He grabbed a blanket that was on the couch beside him and while continuing to sob he tore off the wet shirt and wrapped the blanket around him.
“I’m sorry that we missed Roxanne, Lucky” Gretchen said as they entered the river. “But at least she sent Mutt to say hello.” Lucky was leaning against the railing looking out at the passing levee and did not respond. She reached over and put her hand on his back, “Lucky don’t get your hopes up that you will ever have the same relationship with Roxanne again. From what I’ve heard she is entirely different except in her ability to survive. I don’t think that ever changes in a person no matter who they become. Once you learn how to survive you will always be able to do so. That may be the only similarity that you will recognize in her ever again.”
Lucky stood up and looked at her, “Last time there was nothing, absolutely nothing in her eyes that I recognized. They are as black and lifeless as coal. I think that she has gone to a place that she will never emerge from again. At first I wanted to try to help her memory, but now I’m not so sure. You can tell Brandon that I will leave her be, but that doe
sn’t mean that I don’t care about someone who was once part of our team. I wouldn’t want to see you and Larry out there alone, or Morgan and Caleb out there alone. So in that sense, I can’t help but to worry about her.”
As they continued with their duties onboard they noticed that Brandon was doing a lot of sudden maneuvering with Jenny. The crew went forward to the bow to see debris consisting of floating trees, planks and pieces of broken fence or hulls. Lucky went to the bridge to be with Brandon. “What going on?”
“Must be that storm out on the gulf a couple of days ago,” Brandon said. “It will be getting dark soon and I don’t think we should travel in this. I’ll go to the plantation instead of attempting to make it back to the paper mill. We should get Jenny tied up for the night and let some of this stuff float by. Looks like the storm did a lot of damage to old structures and the river is carrying it in. Plus the undertow is strong as hell and Jenny is struggling. Have the guys get the poles out and try to push some of the debris away from Jenny so I can make better time.”
Brandon didn’t tell Lucky that he was nervous about damage to Jenny or that some barbed wire could get caught in her paddlewheels and stop them in mid-stream to be pounded by debris. He could hear the “thump” against her hull as a few things got past the crew trying to push floating logs away. A dead wild pig floated past and he wished he knew where they could hunt the animal. Once the river lowered he would suggest to Lucky that they go closer to the Gulf to see if they could find the wild pig’s habitat.
The night was coming in and Brandon wouldn’t relax until they reached the pier at the plantation. Everyone had seen that the clutter in the water also consisted of dead zombies and he knew what was going through everyone’s mind. He didn’t think that this part of the river would have a repeat occurrence as Lake Pontchartrain but he wanted to have a meeting and reassure everyone. He almost missed the landing at the plantation because the pier was partially submerged. If they were going to continue to come here for fruit and vegetables then they would need to find lumber to repair the landing. They tied Jenny up to the pilings and everyone except Caleb went to the lounge to relax and have some water. Caleb wanted to remain on deck to pole out any debris that floated too close but his real concern was that a live zombie would float by and try to board Jenny.
“Do you think that the levees and canals in New Orleans have been breached and are now flowing into the river?” Gretchen asked. “I don’t like the possibility that we will have another event like the one that forced us out of the city. The lake couldn’t be fished and the bodies caused that awful fog that lingered over the water, and the smell!”
“I don’t think that’s the situation we have here, Gretchen,” Brandon said. “This storm was in the gulf and I think it took out structures that have been abandoned and in disrepair along the shoreline. I only saw five or six dead zombies and those could have been trapped in any of those buildings. I also saw a few hulls so a boat shop or marina was taken out, or else they were beached and picked up by the storm. I imagine we will start to see more of this in the water as things collapse from age and deterioration. But if it makes you feel better we can go closer to the city tomorrow and see what condition it’s in. We haven’t been back there since we retrieved the last of the fuel from that tanker a year ago.”
The next day Roxanne was at the Tackle Shop as the birds began to sing with the dawn. She tied up the pirogue and mounted the steps to the wooden sidewalk to wait for Lance who she expected to see coming down the road shortly. She had both Cowboy and Mutt with her and she let them explore on their own. She knew that they would not leave her if they felt danger nearby. She left her backpack on the pirogue along with fishing gear that both she and Lance could use to try their hand at some catfish. The sun soon burned off the morning mist yet Lance was still not on the road. She wandered over to the house with the tomatoes in the backyard and found that one more had ripened so she sat on the front porch to eat it while waiting.
By the time she finished eating she was becoming concerned about Lance. He should have been here by now but she didn’t know him well enough to know his habits yet. She didn’t want to make the trek to his house and lose valuable time but she didn’t want to leave him behind either. She walked back to the pirogue to retrieve her staff and to put on her holster and then clicked her tongue to attract the attention of her animals which joined her as she began her walk.
As she left the houses behind and entered that portion of the road with open fields she spotted a zombie wandering among the trees but he was at a distance as to not be a threat. Lance told her that Brandon had killed the zombie that Max had attracted that was pinned up in the house next door so she knew it wasn’t the same one. She didn’t like that it was on the same side of the road as Lance and she became concerned for him.
When she finally approached the intersection of the four houses she could see two more Z’s coming from the north. Their heads were down as they walked and she didn’t think that they had seen her so she picked up her speed and quickly left the road to Lance’s yard. She gently tapped on the door and softly called out Lance’s name, testing the knob at the same time but found that the door was locked. She pulled out her knife to pry the lock while both Cowboy and Mutt became nervous at her feet. She looked to her left to see that the Z’s were still on the road and just passing the house. They probably would have gone by unnoticed if Max hadn’t darted out from under the house across the street and ran to her on the porch, but the movement attracted them and the Z’s changed their course toward her. She felt both canines stiffen beside her and knew that they had gone into attack mode.
“No, let me handle this,” she commanded and pulled her staff forward while she stood at the top of the porch steps.
She felt that it gave her an advantage to stay on the porch and above the Z’s so she waited until they approached. The first one tripped over the first step and fell face forward onto the porch. She quickly put her boot on the back of its neck to hold it there while she rammed the staff through the chest of the second zombie. She hadn’t realized how deteriorated the Z’s had become during her absence in the bayou. Her staff went through the zombie and never made contact with any organ or bone to push it backwards. She let go of the staff and darted aside as the zombie reached for her and plunged her knife into its skull. It fell on the zombie that was already on the porch pushing the staff through its chest and out the back. Roxanne pulled out the pole by its sharp end and turned it to stab the head of the first zombie. She was surprised to see how easily the skull shattered but was delighted with the knowledge that zombies were becoming more fragile.
She looked up to see that Lance had pulled the curtain aside and had been watching her. She didn’t know if he had just come to the door or if he had been standing there all along but she smiled and said, “It’s safe now. You can open the door.” She looked back at Max who had come out from under the porch and was sitting on the railing. “I’m surprised at you Max. I thought you were more careful than to show yourself to zombies and you put us in danger.” Both Cowboy and Mutt growled in agreement but Max went about licking his mouth as if he had just eaten.
Lance opened the door but left Roxanne on the porch while he immediately went to the kitchen where she saw a pile of canned goods, his duffle bag and sleeping bag on the table. She walked over and said, “What is this? We are only going fishing. We won’t be staying the night anywhere.”
“I’m not going,” he said slamming more items on the table. “In fact I’m not staying either. I’ve decided to hit the road again. I’m getting out of here,” he said as he stuffed more items into his backpack.
Roxanne looked at his supplies and then at him but remained silent. She could tell that Lance was in a panic and didn’t believe that he had started cleaning out the cupboards just because of two zombies on his porch. “I shouldn’t have stayed here this long,” Lance said. “You should never stay in one place too long or things will catch up with you. The
y always catch up with you.”
“What is it Lance? Was it meeting the other group? You needn’t be afraid of them, Lance. It is my own Karma that is keeping them at a distance, but it hasn’t anything to do with you,” Roxanne said as she noticed that he was loading and unloading the same items in his backpack.
“I’m going to find them,” Lance had yet to look her in the eyes and was keeping busy doing the same thing over and over just to avoid looking at her. “I’m taking the road north which will cross the river before Baton Rouge and hopefully I’ll see their boat. I’ve decided to go with them to the paper mill. “
“But they don’t travel that part of the river, Lance and it’s too dangerous to enter Baton Rouge. They will be back in six days. Why not wait?”
“I’m not good at waiting. I need to get back on the road.” He picked up his backpack and decided it was too heavy. He dropped it on the table and began unloading items again. Roxanne watched him in silence and wondered if he felt caged because she was standing in the doorway blocking his exit. He was so keyed up that a thin sweat had started to bead on his face.
