Zach went on a date with Amber on Friday, the first time they had been alone since their walk together the day after they arrived in town (Abby had helped arrange it). Then Sunday came, and both Zach and Abby had the day off, but Zach still woke up at around 6:00 AM to go running. He got dressed in his camouflage pants and a loose t-shirt, attached his holster to his thigh, and slid his pistol inside of it. He then opened his bedroom door and almost bumped into Abby, who was just stepping out of the bathroom.
“Where you going?” she asked lazily, her tired eyes only half-open.
“Just out for a run.”
“Can I come?”
“Sure.”
“Okay. Just let me change real quick,” Abby said. She went into her room and reappeared a minute later wearing her pink wind-pants, a t-shirt, and her shoes. “Ready,” she said as she put her hair into a ponytail.
It was quiet this morning, as most people were either just waking up or still sleeping in on this Sunday morning. Zach did not run very hard, as he knew that Abby would not be able to keep up with him if he did. She knew this too, and it annoyed her a little that she could not even run half as well as Zach could, but the only way to get better was by running with him. Besides, she liked spending time with him, and going for a run reminded her of the old days with Zach, when they would exercise together outside their cabin.
Abby was breathing heavily as she ran through the lightly wooded area around their cabin, struggling to keep up with Zach. It was the middle of June, and even in her light-weight, sleeveless shirt she was sweating profusely. Zach had marked out a one and a half mile long route around their home and would run it with her almost every day. She was almost thirteen years old now, and Zach had decided that she should exercise with him so she could get into good shape. “Cardio is very important,” he had said, “especially when you’re being chased by a zombie.”
“That’s not gonna happen, is it?” she had asked.
“I sure hope not. But if it ever does, you need to be able to run fast. I know that dancing was good exercise for you, but we also need to get used to running and doing other things to strengthen our bodies.”
She had not really wanted to at first, but she knew that Zach was right. So almost every morning they would go running around their make-shift track and afterwards would do push-ups and sit-ups. Abby could tell that she was getting stronger; Zach, of course, was much stronger than she was. She had been dumbstruck when she watched him do ninety push-ups and eighty sit-ups without stopping. He could also run much faster than her, but every day she would push herself harder than the day before. He never left her by herself on the track, but Abby still made it her goal to at least keep him in sight while allowing him to run at a good pace for himself.
Up ahead of her, Zach had reached the end of their trail and was walking around in a small circle to catch his breath, wiping his face off with his shirt. Abby licked her lips and then pushed herself as hard as she could for the last fifty feet, running as fast as her legs would carry her. By the time she got up next to Zach, she was out of breath and her legs felt like wet noodles.
“Good job, Bug. Your time improved again,” Zach said.
“How much?” Abby gasped.
“Three seconds,” Zach said.
Abby frowned at this; she thought that she had done better than that. Zach chuckled and said, “Little by little, Abby. Every little improvement is a step in the right direction. Remember that.”
“I want to make big improvements though,” Abby said.
“You will one day. You’re still a young girl, don’t forget. When you’re older, you’ll see some significant differences.”
After they had cooled down from their run, they both took turns doing push-ups and sit-ups while the other counted. Zach managed to get one-hundred counts for each, and Abby scored thirty push-ups, the same as her last time, but improved her sit-up count by two. Once again, Zach congratulated her on her improvement.
“Don’t worry,” he said when Abby still did not look happy with her results, “you’re doing great. Take pride in these small victories. Don’t try to set your bar at what I’m doing, because you won’t be able to reach it, especially as young as you are.”
“One day I will though,” Abby said, ever determined.
Zach smiled and said, “I’ve no doubt of that.”
As they walked slowly back towards their house, Abby said, “Well, you kicked my butt on the run again, so how about we play some poker?”
“You really do want to beat me at something, huh?” Zach said, laughing. Abby smiled and nodded her head.
They ran for about twenty minutes before coming to a stop outside their apartment building. They were stretching out their muscles while they cooled down for a few minutes when they suddenly heard a familiar voice behind them.
“Well, if it isn’t my old friend Zach…and little Abby.”
Abby froze in horror, her jaw agape and her silver eyes alight with fear. She did not dare to move or even breathe as a cold shiver painfully clawed its way down her spine and her legs, rooting her in place. Zach turned around slowly with hatred smoldering in his eyes like hot coals. His jaw was set in a grim line and his hands were clenched in white-knuckled fists.
“As I recall, I have some unfinished business with y’all,” said Henry. Then he leered at Abby and said, “Especially with you.”
Chapter Twelve
“Bug, why don’t you go see Amber?” Zach said quietly. Abby said nothing as she hurried inside, not once glancing at the man from her nightmares. Henry followed her with his gaze, still leering at her and smiling his wicked smile.
“You take care now, Abby!” he called after her.
“Shut the fuck up, asshole,” Zach muttered through clenched teeth.
“Now is that any way to speak to an old friend?” asked Henry.
Zach took a quick step back, drew his pistol from its holster, and leveled it at Henry. “Give me one good reason to not kill you right now,” he said.
Henry slowly put his hands up and said, “Because that would be murder, Zach. That’s against the law.”
Zach actually scoffed and said, “You have got to be joking. You’re going to lecture me on following the law?”
“We’re back in society now, boy. That means we have to play by their rules…for now.”
Zach slowly lowered his gun as he realized how bad this situation would look to a casual passerby. He clicked the pistol back into its holster and said, “How in the hell did you get here?”
“Well, that’s an interesting story. The morning after you left me to die, I went about burying my family. I had just finished and was walking back to my house when suddenly I heard a helicopter approaching. I used my shovel to flag it down and it turned out that it was being flown by some military folk out doing some kind of long-range reconnaissance. I told them what had happened that night, how my entire family had been murdered, and convinced them to take me back to their base.”
“That Air Force base,” Zach said.
“So you’ve been there? Well, I told the man in charge my story, showed him my hidden camera and he said that you’d pay for what you did.”
“What the hell do you have hidden cameras for anyway?” Zach asked in disgust.
“Oh, those are old. Pa set one up in the dining room, another in the kitchen, one to watch the back of the house and the garage, and one to watch the road up to the house, but that was way back in the ‘Before Times’. We got robbed once and he wanted to make sure that never happened again. Anyway, those military fellas flew me out here and I’ve been living here ever since. I had no idea you were here though, so you can imagine my surprise and joy to see you and your beautiful daughter jogging this morning.”
“Not one more word about her, you sick fuck,” Zach said coldly, but Henry seemed not to hear him.
“So you tell me,” Henry said, “how did you get here? Why didn’t those soldiers kill you like they said they would?”
“Those pussies. I knew I’d have to handle you myself,” Henry said, clearly agitated.
“Then let’s dance,” Zach said, expecting a fight.
But Henry just laughed and said, “You think I’m that stupid? I have to give credit where credit is due: you fight like the Devil himself, Zach, and I underestimated you. Fighting you straight up would be a death sentence for me, no two ways about it. But don’t you worry. There’s gonna be a reckoning, mark my words.”
“Consider them marked. Asshole,” Zach said as Henry turned around and walked away.
While Henry and Zach were talking outside, Abby had run up to Amber’s apartment, and she now sat on the couch with her and Al, telling them the whole story about her encounter with Henry, this time omitting no details. She told them how close she had come to being raped by Henry, and how close Zach had come to dying for her.
“Pardon my French, but what the fuck kind of a monster is this Henry?” Al said, his face flushed with anger. The mere thought of that kind of harm coming to Abby made him want to go settle things with Henry once and for all himself.
“The worst kind,” Abby said. “I didn’t tell you guys about this before because I wanted to just leave it in the past. I had no idea…” Abby started to cry, but she wiped away the tears and said, “I had no idea that he would show up here.”
A knock came on the front door, and Abby almost jumped off the couch. But then Zach’s voice came through the door and he said, “It’s Zach. Open up.”
Al got up and crossed the floor towards the door, opened it, and allowed a very angry looking Zach into the room.
“Let’s go, Abby,” he said.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Town Hall. We’re gonna have a little chat with Mayor Calvin.”
Not even ten minutes later, Zach strode into the Mayor’s office with Abby in tow. Zach looked like a man on a mission, taking long steps and clenching his fists, but Abby, in a rare display of vulnerability, looked timid, almost scared.
The Mayor was not expecting anyone this early on a Sunday morning as he gazed thoughtfully out of one of the open windows in his office, sipping on a cup of tea. He turned around in surprise when he heard the door open, but smiled when he saw who had entered.
“Zach, Abby, good to see you!” he said cheerfully as he walked towards them.
“Please excuse me for being rude, sir, but I have some serious business I need to discuss with you,” Zach said.
“Oh, I see. Very well, sit down,” Calvin said as his face took on a grim demeanor. Walking over to his desk, he motioned for Zach and Abby to sit down in front of him as he lowered himself into his large chair. Folding his hands on his desk as if he was about to pray, he said, “Okay, let’s hear it.”
“There is a problem with one of your residents: Henry Marshall,” Zach said as he and Abby both sat down.
“Henry? Has he done something?” Calvin asked.
“Yeah, you might say that,” Zach replied. He proceeded to tell Mayor Calvin about all that had transpired at the Marshall Farm, leaving out not one horrifying detail. With each new accusation levied against Henry and his family, from incest to cannibalism, the Mayor looked more and more appalled. When Zach told him of the events that unfolded in the garage (here only did he speak in generalizations, for Abby’s sake), Calvin lifted a clenched fist to his mouth, softly biting into his knuckles in an effort to keep from crying out. A tear spilled out of his eye and traversed his worn face, gliding over the wrinkles that evidenced a long and difficult life.
Abby was quiet this entire time, hardly even moving, staring only at the ground. Her complexion was deathly pale, a disturbing contrast from her usual radiant and beaming self. The sudden return of Henry had left her shell-shocked. Her dreams of finally having a normal, happy life had come so close to being realized, only to be shattered like a bullet breaking through a window.
By the time Zach had finished his story, Mayor Calvin looked devastated. He was leaning back in his chair as his mouth hung slightly open and his hands rested limply in his lap. He was silent for a long time as he tried to make himself believe this awful tale. He stood up and strode back over to the window he had been looking out before, but Zach and Abby stayed in their seats.
He stood with his hands folded behind his back, trying to stop them from shaking. He looked out the window, gazed upon the small part of his town that lay before him. He watched the people walking here and there, going about their business of the day. Across the way, he saw the town church. It was empty now, but soon the faithful of the town’s citizens would be pouring into the door, being greeted by the good Reverend Mansfield, a righteous man who seemed to know everybody by name.
Several minutes had passed since Zach had stopped talking. The silence in the room weighed heavily on all three of its occupants and was practically choking them. Finally, Calvin sighed and said, “Henry came to us a month ago. Since then, he’s been nothing but helpful here in Little America. The people he works with love him, he’s a great handyman, and he even volunteers to run community programs in his free time.”
“Is it the kids’ programs he volunteers for?” Zach asked.
“Don’t interrupt me again, son,” the Mayor said sternly, though he did not deny the accusation.
“Sorry.”
“What I’m trying to say, Zach, is that Henry has a stellar reputation in Little America,” Calvin said, turning around and walking back to his chair. “I’ve heard the elder women around here call him a ‘big, sweet teddy bear’. And now you’re telling me that this teddy bear is actually a murderous grizzly?”
“If you’ve ever read the Bible, sir, then you’d know that the Prince of Darkness oft appeared as an angel of light.”
Calvin sighed again and collapsed back into his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
“Mr. Mayor?” said Abby quietly.
“Yes, child?” Calvin responded, running his hand through his wispy white hair.
“Henry, he…he was going to rape me. He pulled my pants down, and my underwear, too. He touched my thigh. And he said…he said…” Abby said. She was starting to cry as the memories from that dreadful night were forced back into her mind.
The Mayor held up his hand to interrupt her and said, “That’s enough, Abigail. You don’t need to go any further.”
No one spoke as Calvin appeared to be deep in thought, his head resting against the back of his chair, his eyes fixed on the ceiling above. After a minute, he looked back down and said, “It’s not that I don’t believe you, but these are some serious charges to put up against Henry. And without proof, it comes down to your word against his.”
“I understand, sir,” said Zach.
“Here’s what I am going to do: I’ll bring Henry into my office today, as soon as I dismiss you, and I will get his side of the story. I will then have to do some serious thinking on this issue to determine the truth of it. Now go home. I don’t want either of you in the same room as Henry.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll send for you when I have made my decision.”
“We’ll wait to hear from you then,” said Zach, then he and Abby left the Town Hall and walked back to their home.
Amber was waiting outside for them, sitting on a bench not far from the front door.
“How’d it go?” she asked, standing up as Zach and Abby approached.
“About as well as I thought it would,” Zach answered. “Without evidence, he can’t believe me just yet. I can’t blame him; it’s a sick story that no one wants to believe.”
“So what is he going to do?”
“He’s going to talk to Henry and get his side of the story, and then will decide who to believe.”
“There’s no way he’ll believe Henry, will he?”
“
I’m not sure. Henry apparently has a good reputation here, so it’s my word against his.”
“And Abby’s!” Amber quickly pointed out.
Zach nodded his head and said, “Yes, I’m hoping that will carry a lot of weight in his decision.”
Amber hugged Zach tightly, kissed his neck, and said, “I’m so sorry.” She then hugged Abby and said, “Are you doing okay?”
“Yes,” Abby replied, though she definitely did not look okay.
“Come on upstairs, I’ll make you some tea,” Amber said, putting her arm around Abby. “Zach, are you going to join us?”
“No, I’ve got some business to handle at the Drill Field. I’ll be back soon though. Bug, stay with Amber, okay?”
“Okay,” Abby said. Amber gave Zach an inquisitive look. She knew that Zach did not have any work to do today (most people did not on Sunday), and wondered what was going on in his head. But the look he gave her strongly suggested that it was better for her not to ask, especially not in front of Abby. So she took Abby upstairs into her apartment and made some hot green tea for both of them.
Meanwhile, Zach was quickly making his way back to the Town Center. He crossed his fingers and prayed that he would not run into Henry as he entered the large plaza and looked over the fountain at the Town Hall. He checked his watch; he didn’t think that Henry would be with the Mayor yet, so he decided to wait for five minutes. He walked into a convenience store behind him and walked up to the counter.
“Can I help you?” said the man behind a cash register, a man who had a big, bushy mustache that would have put Wyatt Earp to shame.
“A Coke, please,” Zach said as he fished a folded dollar bill out of his pocket and set it on the counter.
The cashier turned around and opened a fridge, retrieving an aluminum can of Coca-Cola and placing it next to Zach’s dollar. He then opened the cash register, slid the dollar bill into place, and gave Zach fifty cents in change.
His Name Was Zach Page 23
