by Diane Butler
“I don’t know about that. When we were at the plantation Mutt showed up without her and left Roxanne in the marsh. I remember that Roxanne seemed perturbed about that. Perhaps Mutt and that coyote don’t get along. Or perhaps Mutt is confused by this Roxanne not remembering him.” He looked at Brandon, “Put down the binoculars. If she wants to hide from us you won’t spot her on shore.”
“I’m looking at the structures, not necessarily for her. If a home looks like it is being kept in good condition or had recent repair, or is different from the way I remember it the last time we were here, then she could be in that one,” but he put the binoculars down and walked over to the wheel to watch ahead as Lucky steered the boat.
As they rounded the last bend and straightened Jenny out toward the Bait Shop they could see the figure of a girl standing on the bank with Mutt sitting beside her. She had Roxanne’s staff and was standing with one hand on her hip as if annoyed and ready for battle. They could see a backpack and one satchel on the ground beside her as if she were planning a trip or had already been on a supply run.
“What have we got here?” Lucky asked while quickly trying to berth Jenny without ramming the pier.
“See, what did I tell you?” Brandon answered. “We come down river and someone is here to meet us. Roxanne can see us on the river and sends someone ahead.”
The girl stood her ground and did not approach while they docked Jenny. Morgan and Caleb came topside and were stunned to see her. After a moment Morgan whispered to Caleb and Caleb lifted his hand in a friendly wave. The girl was neatly attired in clean clothes with recently shampooed hair that was shining in the sunlight. Caleb thought that when they walked up to her that they would smell soap.
As the four of them proceeded up the sidewalk Morgan yelled out a friendly hello. Mary waited until they reached her before speaking in an angry voice. “She is convinced that I will want to go with you, but she is wrong!”
They looked at one another wondering what Roxanne was up to. “She told you of the paper mill?” Morgan asked. Mary nodded, “Yes, but I don’t want to leave.” She paused, “And don’t ask me where she is. You know better so don’t even ask. I’m loyal to her, not to you.”
It was not surprising that the girl was tough. You became tough very fast in this world and chose sides quickly, usually for whoever provided the best security.
Morgan was gentle, “We won’t try to push you into anything that you don’t want to do. You’re old enough to make your own decisions and since you have Roxanne’s staff I assume that you know how to use it. Did she give you a message for us?”
“She suggested that we go on a raid together if I needed time to decide. She told me where to take you for supplies that are too heavily guarded by Z’s for us to get in.” Mary shook her head, “I don’t know why she thinks that will help me to bond with you. I’m very happy where I am but she thinks that I should leave my options open.” She looked down at the ground as if she were holding back tears and kicked the dirt.
Caleb broke the awkward moment by putting his hand out, “I’m Caleb. Roxanne can be very confusing at times. None of us understand her motives and we were once very close friends.”
Mary looked up and shook his hand, “Mary. I’m sorry I forgot to tell you my name.” She looked over Caleb’s shoulder, “And this is your dad, Morgan. But I don’t know which one of you is Lucky and who Brandon is.” She looked beyond them at the boat. “Lance didn’t come with you?”
Brandon became suspicious as to the reason why Lance and Roxanne had a falling out. “You were here with Lance?” he asked but Mary shook her head. “No, Roxanne told me about him and who might possibly be on the boat.” She sighed, “Well, if we’re gonna do this raid we better get started.”
Morgan put Mary’s satchel and backpack into the Bait Shop behind the counter. “There’s no room in either for me to bring supplies back,” Mary said. “Roxanne made me pack as much as I could into the two of them but I’ll find something to carry goods back to our place.”
She led them one block and turned left onto a dirt road running between small cottages. The team had not been this way before but it appeared that Mutt had since he was trotting ahead. Lucky and Brandon walked on each side of Mary while Morgan and Caleb followed behind. “I don’t understand why she didn’t meet us,” Lucky said. “Will she be meeting us at the supply site?” Mary shook her head, “No, I told you not to ask questions about her.”
But Lucky pushed it. “Last time we arrived we saw Mutt, this time it was both you and Mutt. How does she know when we’re coming down river? Is she located where she can see us?”
“Roxanne knows everything. That’s why I like her, feel safe with her and want to stay. I don’t claim to understand her I just accept her. She’s from the bayou. She’s special. Some people down there have senses that the rest of us don’t and some people down there are just plain crazy. I haven’t seen crazy but I’ve seen talent and that she has a gift.”
Lucky smiled, “Is that what she told you? That she’s from the bayou? Actually she’s from…” “Lucky!” Brandon warned. “Leave her be,” he cautioned. “No more about Roxanne for now.”
They walked in silence keeping to residential areas skirting the town until they stopped to have some water. They had passed some zombies in back yards and seen some in windows of houses, but none had been a threat. “What’s this place we are going to that Roxanne seems to think would be a good supply run?” Morgan asked. “I noticed that we are staying in residential areas and have not approached town. We’ve never been to the town here and always raided the homes but these people must shop somewhere.”
“We’re skirting the town,” Mary said. “It would be shorter to go through town but it’s safer not to do so. I don’t need to prove myself to you. Don’t need to put myself into a situation where I need to fight my way out just to show you that I can. We will just touch on the town, about two blocks in to get where we’re going.” She got up and started to walk again. Morgan nodded at his son who caught up with her.
“Can you tell us something about this place, Mary?” Caleb asked as he walked beside her. “I think we would all feel better about it if we knew what we were walking into.”
Mary glanced at him and relented. “Well, if it was me I’d want to be prepared, so I guess you’re right. Roxanne found some old newspapers in the house and one of them had an article about the Mayor of the town. Seems when the ZA first started and he was telling people to stay calm, he was hoarding supplies in his mansion, secretly promising the storekeepers that they would be the first ones out if evacuated. Late at night the storekeepers would make a run over to his place to stockpile it. The next day’s newspaper had the headline “National Guard Arrives!” and that everyone was to meet at the school to be evacuated to a Medevac site outside Baton Rouge. We figure that’s why the town is so untouched. And, the real evacuation site was the fairgrounds, so the Mayor sent the average citizen to the wrong place. The newspaper never mentioned the fairgrounds, but Roxanne saw military vehicles on that road. We checked the Mansion and the fence is still up so the citizens didn’t have time to vent their anger and storm the place once they found out that the Mayor was hoarding supplies. We think that it’s probably all still there.”
She hushed them as she began to hear the moans of zombies and the occasional rattle of metal. She quickly got off the road and darted across the street to a service alley. She turned and whispered, “It starts to get thick through here and the Z’s are closer together with more of them. We need to go another block so look both ways before you cross the next street so they don’t see you. If you need to take them out, try to do so quietly so you do not attract more.”
Brandon smiled thinking that Mary was definitely a mini-me of Roxanne by the way she was giving orders. Caleb loaded his crossbow and everyone took out their choice of weapon. Brandon noticed that in addition to carrying Roxanne’s staff that Mary had a sheath on her hip with a knife. They looked
up to see three Z’s crossing the alley and quickly hid behind a large dumpster to wait for them to pass. “On the next block is a door with the number 5 on it,” she whispered. “It’s unlocked and safe inside. We put a bar through the handles so the Z’s wouldn’t go in after we left.”
They were about to rise out of their crouched position when more zombies came into view to cross the alley. “We can’t wait all day,” Lucky said. “If they’re in groups of three’s then we can handle that. Caleb, you want to take the first shot?” But Morgan reached out and lowered Caleb’s crossbow, “Wait for these to pass and then we will move forward. If we see more coming down the street then Caleb can take the first shot.”
The Z’s hadn’t stopped and were soon out of sight around the corner. Upon Lucky’s signal they moved forward to the end of the alley. To his left and across the street Lucky could see a wrought-iron fence that he assumed surrounded the mansion that Mary was talking about. Lined up against the fence were zombies with their backs to him, some would grab the fence and shake it. None of them turned around but there were some stragglers pacing up and down the street and any of those would see movement by them. Lucky thought that if the Z’s should spot them that they would be across the street and inside the door before the Z’s could locate which building they went into. He decided to chance it and waved the group to make a run for it.
As soon as they were out into the open a passing zombie saw movement and turned toward them. Its moans became louder attracting those who were against the fence. The zombies turned in unison and left the fence to stumble toward them. “Quickly,” Lucky ordered. “Go, go” waving them across the street and behind the buildings. Mary ran to the fifth building down the alley and pulled the bar from across the door to open it. She held it open while everyone caught up to her and ran inside but by then the Z’s had turned the corner and spotted her. She pulled the door shut after her and put the bar through the handle then she turned to look at the group. “Well that’s just great! Now they know what building we’re in. Why on earth would Roxanne think that I would want to go with you people?”
The zombies had in fact seen and located which door the group had gone into and were now banging on the metal. “They will tire of it after a while especially if we are quiet, and go away,” Lucky said. “Show us the best place to see this mansion.”
Mary left the storeroom that they had entered and lead the way to a staircase at the back of the display room. It appeared to be a book store still neatly lined with books and had a second story upstairs for the used book selections. When they ascended the stairs Mary took them to the front of the building which looked out over the Mansion across the street. The wrought-iron fence had not buckled and was still standing. It was not leaning nor was it breached at any point that they could see. But it was the largest gathering of zombies that they had seen in a long time. The fence was lined with Z’s, some two-fold with more straggling up and down the street. Everyone was quiet as they looked out the windows and took in the situation.
“Never seen anything like it,” Morgan said. “There’s no movement on the Mansion grounds that I can see that would keep them occupied like that.”
“I’ve seen one other place in town like that, just not as bad,” Mary said, “a school with zombie children pacing back and forth in front of it. They go just one block and then come back again. Back and forth, never going beyond that. We thought perhaps they have some memory of the place and it draws them. But it’s just a guess.”
“Have you noticed?” Brandon asked. “Most of these zombies have been shot and then turned. Or perhaps they turned and whoever shot them didn’t know to do it in the head. An early attempt I would say, before word got around that it had to be the head.”
“You think there wasn’t an evacuation and that the National Guard shot them down to keep the virus from spreading?” Lucky asked. “There was a lot of panic back then and very little knowledge as to what was happening.”
“Or,” Morgan said, “they came to raid the place and the Mayor had security who shot them. Regardless, I don’t see how we are going to get into that place with no guarantee that it is still stocked with supplies. I don’t think it’s worth the effort.”
“Watch this,” Mary said and stuck her torso out an open window. She pulled a remote out of her pocket and pointed it to the right corner of the fence. They heard a ‘buzz’ then a ‘click’ and the gates slowly opened to the Mansion grounds. The noise attracted the zombies and they began to walk to the corner. She pressed it again and the gates closed before any Z’s could enter the property.
“Where did you find that?” Lucky asked.
“On a zombie we killed wearing a security uniform,” Mary said proudly. “It didn’t work at first and we weren’t sure what it was for, but Roxanne changed the battery. We pointed it at the garage next to the Mansion thinking it would open the garage doors. Instead it opened the gates.”
“Then someone is living there,” Lucky said looking at the house. “Even if the gates are on a generator someone would need to keep it filled with gas.”
Mary shook her head in disagreement. “We haven’t heard any generator. We figure it’s rigged up on a battery that still has some juice in it. Could have been the security guard who stayed behind or got trapped in there. Anyway, he’s dead now and we haven’t seen any movement within the house. We’ve kept it under surveillance from time to time.” They could still hear the zombies downstairs banging on the doors. “But it’s all a wash now since we’re the ones who are trapped.”
While the rest were talking Caleb had gone downstairs to look around and came back up to anxiously ask, “Has anyone seen Mutt? Did we leave him out there?” Everyone looked at each other in confusion and all agreed that they hadn’t noticed him for a couple of blocks. “Roxanne will have our heads if something happens to Mutt,” Caleb said. “I couldn’t live with myself if we left him in danger.”
There was a window at the back of the second story, along with a fire escape. No one ventured out onto the fire escape still hoping that the Z’s would tire and start to disperse. They did not want to attract the zombie's attention all over again by stepping outside the building. They could see the back alley to the end of the block but not further than that and did not see any sign of Mutt hiding somewhere. “Don’t worry about Mutt,” Mary said. “He’s smarter than all of us.”
They were sitting around telling Mary stories of Mutt while they waited for the zombies to leave when they heard the sound of an approaching truck.
They ran to the back of the store and raised the window to see a red pick-up truck turn into the alley. “That’s Roxanne!” Mary yelled. “Get on the fire escape!” The zombies all turned to the new noise, a few being run down by Roxanne. But then she slowed and began to use the truck to push the zombies aside until she was under the fire escape. “Quickly!” Mary commanded. “We’ll need to jump into the bed before they grab our ankles and then fight them off while the next person comes down.”
Mary handed her staff to Brandon and told him to drop it down after she got into the truck bed, then she was out the window and descending the fire escape before they could stop her. She easily jumped into the truck and then flattened herself against the middle of the cab where the zombies couldn’t reach her. She kicked at the ones who were too close, then looked up to see Brandon who tossed the staff to her before he jumped in.
Roxanne had the windows up on both sides of the cab but that didn’t stop the zombies from gathering at each door and banging on the glass. Mutt was sitting beside her but she instructed him to get on the floor when the truck started to rock. She inched the truck up a few feet to let the people on the fire escape know that she couldn’t wait much longer. Lucky, Morgan and Caleb saw that the herd was quickly gathering and all three came down the fire escape practically on top of one another, Caleb in the middle.
Lucky kicked in the heads of a couple of zombies before he jumped and that gave Morgan and Caleb a little m
ore room as the zombies fell back into the crowd. Mary and Brandon concentrated on keeping the zombies from climbing into the truck, Mary using the staff and Brandon using a bat. Lucky drew his gun and although ammo was precious he decided that more room was needed in the truck bed to provide safety for Morgan and Caleb. He shot four zombies leaning into the truck bed and yelled for them to crouch down as soon as they jumped in so Roxanne could pull off without anyone falling out.
Roxanne was watching in the rear-view mirror and as soon as she saw everyone crouch down to the floor she hit the gas. There was a huge bump as she hit the zombies who were up against the motor blocking her view. She knew that directly ahead was a dumpster so she threw it into reverse to back off and give her some bearings. Some of the zombies that she backed into fell into the truck bed and were quickly stabbed by Morgan and Caleb. Then she put it into drive again and swung around the heaviest part of the crowd making it easier to run over the Z’s that were not up against the building.
Everyone in the back was thrown around and bounced up and down several times, banging their bodies against the hard steel. Roxanne did not panic and after turning the corner and driving another block she slowed down to give the people in the back some time to recuperate. Mutt got up off the floor of the cab and back into the passenger seat. “I’m sorry Mutt. I should have had you get on the floor in the first place. My bad. Are you hurt, baby?” Mutt did not appreciate her concern and gave her a look that is usually reserved for bad drivers.
