by Diane Butler
Lucky went into the lounge to have a cup of coffee since the riverboat had the only supply of that precious commodity in the community. Gertrude was trying to teach people how to make coffee out of chickpea but most of the people didn’t like it. As Lucky was pouring a cup Brandon came down from the pilothouse and asked, “Have you told Karen about Roxanne yet?”
Lucky slammed the pot down and turned, “What is with you people?”
Brandon smiled and leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. “Just asking. I’m not being judgmental. Hell, I would do the same if I found a woman who I could partner with. I’m happy for you, just being nosy I guess.” As Lucky stormed out Brandon continued to stand there smiling, thinking that perhaps it was time that he started to woo Roxanne.
***
Roxanne stood at the pier and watched as a hawk circled above. She called for Mary to bring her leather jacket but Mary stuck her head out the door and asked, “Do you see a zombie?” She saw Roxanne looking up and tried to follow what she was looking at, but could see nothing. She shook her head and went back inside for the jacket, knowing that whatever Roxanne saw it would be along later. By the time Mary arrived with the jacket she was able to see the hawk circling above. “Dinner?” she asked.
“No, just wait.” With each circle the hawk came closer until it swooped into the tree that Max always used to gain entry to the house. Roxanne put the jacket on and then held out her arm. “Stand still Mary. Don’t be afraid.” Suddenly Mary gasped when she saw the hawk fly off the limb to come right at them but she froze into place as it settled on Roxanne’s arm.
Roxanne started to coo and whisper words that Mary did not understand. She feared for Roxanne when Mary saw her slowly reach up to pet the bird. “Don’t be frightened,” Roxanne said. “The appearance of a hawk is a good sign for me. The hawk spirt is one of intuition and power of vision, the ability of observation and the influence to lead. Yes,” she continued to pet the bird, “this is good. I know that I have been going in the right direction.”
The hawk flew off into the tree again and turned to look at them. Mary looked at Roxanne and then back to the hawk. “Oh no. Another pet?”
“No,” Roxanne shook her head. “I don’t think so. Hawks are monogamous so he must return to his loved one, unless his mate has died. He could be out seeking a new mate, and then again perhaps he sees plenty of snakes in our grass,” she chuckled.
Mary looked down at her feet, “Ewww.” At that moment Mutt came running from the front of the house and tugged at Roxanne’s sleeve.
“Someone or something is coming,” Roxanne said as she unholstered her gun. They both grabbed their staff and ran to the front of the house to see four Z’s coming toward them. As the women advanced to take action Roxanne noticed a fifth zombie still some distance away in her driveway. She only had a moment to take note that his clothes were not in rags and that he was moving at a swifter pace than the rest. Mary and Roxanne separated, drawing off two zombies for each of them to fight, Roxanne trying to keep an eye on Mary and the faster zombie in the driveway while she killed her first one. “Fresh one in the driveway!” she yelled out to Mary.
Mary was momentarily distracted after killing her first zombie, allowing the second one to grab her from behind. Mary screamed and immediately bent over to flip the zombie across her back and to the ground where she stabbed him. She barely had time to get up when the fifth zombie was upon Roxanne. It was fast and it was strong and Roxanne’s methods of kicking a zombie off balance did not work for this one. He maintained his balance and lunged a second time at Roxanne who used her staff to hold him off while backing up for a better position. Mary grabbed her staff and ran over to help when Mutt suddenly joined the fight and grabbed the zombie’s pants leg.
“Mutt no! He’s too strong!” Roxanne ordered as she took the opportunity to thrust the staff at the zombie’s neck. He was swift and almost as if he were still alive he reached out and grabbed Roxanne’s staff before it could penetrate his neck. Mary lunged at the zombie with her staff but he knocked it away and it flew out of her hands. They both began to back away from the zombie who was still holding onto Roxanne’s staff. Mary drew her knife. “No,” Roxanne warned putting her hand out to stop Mary. “Don’t get close to him! Draw your gun!” She knew that the zombie would turn to her voice but was surprised at how quickly he reached her and grabbed her wrist before she could stab him. She fought to hold him off until Mary could take her shot, trying to stay away from his teeth and give Mary a good angle too.
Suddenly she heard a screech, a flapping of wings and had to duck as the hawk flew over her shoulder and landed on the zombie’s face. It startled the zombie only long enough to drop Roxanne’s wrist and reach for its face. The hawk immediately few off before the zombie could touch it, but it gave Roxanne enough time to draw her gun and shoot the zombie in the head.
Both women were breathless and stood there looking down at the zombie.
“Jesus, Roxanne,” Mary said. “Do we go back to using guns again?”
“It’s fresh, newly turned”, Roxanne said as she tried to calm her breathing. “Wonder where it came from?”
“The new community perhaps? But why didn’t they finalize and bury it?” Mary repeated, “Do we go back to using guns again?”
Roxanne was still looking down at the zombie, “I can’t remember killing a fresh zombie. I can’t say that I was very good at it this time. It was too fast, too strong and disarmed both of us,” she looked up at Mary. “What about you? What technique have you used on fresh zombies?”
Mary shook her head, “I always ran and hid. I was twelve.” She was almost in tears. “I don’t want to go back to that Roxanne. When they are fresh they can climb, they can figure out how to get around barricades, they use rocks to break windows, they’re faster and stronger.” Her voice cracked and Roxanne reached over to put her arm around Mary’s shoulders.
“It’s an isolated case, I’m sure,” Roxanne said.
“But what if it’s not? What if the whole community was overrun and now all of them are Z’s. It would be a herd of fresh zombies and we can’t fight those. They would tear the house down.” Mary started to shake and Roxanne held her closer seeing fear in Mary for the first time, knowing that Mary’s memory was pushing back to things that she would rather forget.
Roxanne bent down and began going through the zombie’s pockets. “If he is part of the paper mill crowd we should find out his name and tell them of their loss.” She turned him over and pulled out a wallet from his back pocket to find that his license was still in his possession. “It has an Arkansas address. He came out of the north so he could be part of their group.” She stood up, “I’m glad it did not have a local address or he could have been hunkered down all this time and we missed him. I’ve never searched the whole town or all of the outskirts and I now feel that the opportunity has escaped us since the paper mill crowd moved in.” She looked out toward the road and saw Lucky’s jeep turn off the highway and onto her driveway. “Perhaps it’s time to move on,” she said softly.
“But where?” Mary asked.
At that moment the hawk screeched again which echoed among the clouds and Roxanne looked up at the sky to see it floating above. She didn’t say anything as Lucky came to a stop and both he and Karen got out. He looked down at the zombies and questioned, “Five? I haven’t seen this many out in the open. The Mansion and the fairground was the last place where I saw an accumulation.”
“Is this one of yours?” Roxanne asked, handing him the license. “He’s fresh but the others turned long ago. There weren’t together and this one lagged behind as if he were following them although he was much faster.”
Lucky looked at the license and then turned the zombie over, “No, he’s not ours. Even if I didn’t know his name I would have recognized the face since he is newly turned. He must be a local who has been hunkered down.”
“Not with that Arkansas address on his license.”
&
nbsp; Lucky looked again. “He may have been here during the last year and stayed put somewhere. Like Maria and Earl came here because her grandmother lived here and they knew it was quiet. He could have done the same and we missed him hiding all this time.”
Roxanne paused, not comfortable with that answer. “I’m going up to the Marina where you put the helicopter down and check the road to see if he abandoned a car. Also, to see if more Z’s are on that highway. Things are getting too crazy around here. What did you two want?” Her tone of voice was both sarcastic and impatient.
Lucky looked embarrassed. “We want to sail Karen’s boat around to the dock so we can get it seaworthy again, but that can wait. We will go with you and check the highway, but I don’t expect any cars there. Earl said he blew up part of the bridge out of Baton Rouge so no one would be traveling out of the city.”
Karen objected to the idea, saying that she was anxious to work on her sailboat and that Roxanne and Mary knew how to take care in a dangerous situation. But Lucky overruled her, “Why don’t Karen and I follow you in your truck, Roxanne? It will be a quick trip since I do not expect anything to be there and we can come right back to get the boat. That is, if you don’t mind us being on your property.”
Roxanne eyed them carefully, seeing that they were not in agreement and became uncomfortable with the situation. “Mary and I are going. Whether the two of you come or not is of no concern to me. You can take the boat and come back for your jeep later. That should be the end of it. I like my privacy but I suspect that the heavier zombie traffic is due to your crowd and I need to be kept apprised of what you are doing and if you are putting me in danger.”
She did not wait for a response as she and Mary went back to the house to get their backpacks, her crossbow and supplies in case they broke down on the road or ran out of gas and were forced to walk back.
Karen stepped forward and put her hand on Lucky’s arm. “What’s going on between you two?” she asked.
Lucky jumped and pulled his arm away, “What are you talking about?”
“I felt the tension as soon as we got out of the jeep. For some reason Roxanne doesn’t like you and Mary tensed up as if she were expecting trouble.”
“Nonsense,” Lucky replied. “Roxanne doesn’t like people in general. You heard her. She likes her privacy. She’s backwoods,” he lied. “Why do you think she encouraged you to live within the community? She doesn’t get along with anyone and is uncomfortable around people. She has yet to visit the community and meet anyone other than those of us who came in on the riverboat. She has resented us ever since we brought over the people from the paper mill.”
“But Roxanne took me in and cared for me,” Karen said as they got in their jeep.
“Yes, you were alone. She has done that before with Lance. She taught Lance a few survival skills and then turned him over to us. I’m surprised that she hasn’t rid herself of Mary yet but Mary has been stubborn although Roxanne has attempted several times to persuade her otherwise.
They followed Roxanne to the site where Lucky had downed the helicopter and she immediately saw a car in the median strip that had not been there before. It appeared to be stuck in the mud and the driver’s door was open but Roxanne still loaded a bolt in her crossbow as she got out of the truck. She cautiously approached the car to look into the backseat and saw a revolver lying in the grass near the driver’s door. Upon seeing that the car was empty of occupants she picked up the revolver to see that it too was empty.
Lucky came up behind her and reached in to discover that the keys were still in the ignition. “Looks like he was attacked and ran out of bullets,” he said as he went to the trunk with the keys. “He made a run for it and was bitten in the process.” He popped the trunk and began rummaging through its contents.
Roxanne looked over at Lucky but the trunk was blocking his face. “They would have consumed him before he had a chance to turn. They would have continued to follow him and he wouldn’t have had a chance to die before they caught up to him.”
“Maybe he turned right away,” Lucky said from behind the trunk.
Roxanne was startled and tried to hide her fear. “I’ve near heard of this. We always finalized the death and buried someone within the hour after they died. An hour to eight hours and then they would turn.”
Lucky came from around the trunk with a bottle of water and a box of camping supplies to look at her. “I’ve learned that nothing is unheard of in this town. This place is different. Lance thinks that it is cursed, evil. It’s the first place where we have seen Z’s stay in one place or just pace around in circles or walk back and forth. It’s the only place where we found someone who had died and did not turn afterwards.”
Roxanne was silent for a moment trying to take it all in. Z’s who turned immediately? Z’s which were faster, stronger? And Mary’s statement earlier began to play in her mind. What if the whole community should turn? She quickly changed the subject before they saw her thoughts in her face. “Earl must have left a few beams up when he blew the bridge. This guy could have walked across the bridge on those beams and then found a car on the other side, or on the bridge itself. It appears to be an isolated case,” she turned to face Mary hoping to give the girl some confidence back again.
A few days later Morgan and Caleb visited, bringing a map of Southern Louisiana with them. They showed Roxanne where Lance had caught the pigs and said that they were going to go back to that area. “But we don’t know what is south of there and we would like to explore further. Would you be interested in going with us Roxanne since it appears that the area borders on the bayou? Would you know some of those marshes that trail out from the river?”
Roxanne studied the map and was silent. “I have never seen it on a map before,” she said as she sat down. Morgan gave her time to absorb it all while Caleb and Mary walked outside on the back porch. He noticed that Roxanne seemed to be excited about the river and watched as her hand trailed down the map following the various landings. “I think that Lou’s Trading Post is here, on this dry piece of land. So that would mean either this,” she pointed to a small line, “or this line would be an access to the inlet that leads past his business, then my home and up to Mamou. But you wouldn’t be able to get Jenny in there,” she looked up at Morgan. “Jenny would need to stay on the river.”
“Yes, we realize that and would not attempt to take the dingy into the bayou. It is our intent to explore the towns along the river but if we tied your pirogue to Jenny you could explore the smaller canals. That is, if you want to,” he quickly added. “We would feel a lot better if you came along Roxanne. You know the dangers in those places.”
Roxanne looked at the map again and shook her head, “Too large of an area to cross to get through the marsh and back to the bayou for me to visit my healer. Those are flatlands and you would be exposed to the elements and easily spotted by unknown enemies. I would not ask you to wait for me while I explored for another route to my homeland. You already know what that is like. Too many dead ends, too many false channels, too many mistakes and I would be lost.” She looked up from the map. “But I would be interested in going with you and if we docked I would use the pirogue only to explore buildings that we see off in the distance and can’t be reached by the riverboat.”
Morgan beamed. This was the first time that Roxanne had agreed to accompany them other than within the town and then it had been grudgingly. “Let me make arrangements with Brandon. Lance will be going but I don’t know about Lucky although we have always stayed together as a team. Lucky has been one of the foremen on fortifying the site and he may want to stay. Gertrude and Larry have been voicing a desire to get back on the river again and we will need a man to replace Lucky if he doesn’t go. I’ll leave the map with you if you want to study it some more but I would like to check out this Fort Jackson that is listed,” he pointed to the map. “I always like to have a back-up site and since arriving at Mamou no one has spoken of a possible failure in our plans
to rebuild here.” He paused and looked out the window to see that Mary and Caleb had their heads together sharing secrets. He sighed and looked down at Roxanne to speak softly. “We have experienced nothing but failure from place to place. First it was The Park, then New Orleans, then the plantation and the last was the paper mill. The Z’s always seem to catch up with us. I’m getting tired of running.”
Roxanne put her hand over his. “I would be lost if I did not have the bayou to return to. To not have a home must be awful. I can’t begin to understand how you feel.”
Morgan was shocked to hear her speak as if she were a stranger to her previous travels. “I understand and accept that you have no memory of that, Roxanne. But you are no stranger to fighting Z’s, no stranger in how to survive. You must know and feel that some of your knowledge comes from a life that you lived before the bayou.”
