by Diane Butler
She crossed the wet grass and began climbing the wooden steps built into the levee when Brandon heard the boards creak under her weight and turned around. “Mind if I join you?” she asked holding up the bottle so it would catch a sparkle from the moonlight. “Sure, come have a seat on the blanket.” She sat down beside him and gave him the bottle to open. He poured wine into the glasses and she handed him one. They touched glasses, each took a drink and then Roxanne wrapped her arm through his and put her head on his shoulder. Mutt sat overlooking the river with his back to them as if protecting them from intrusion.
“You are our hero, you do know that?” she asked. “For getting us out of New Orleans safely? All those people owe you their lives.” Brandon briefly touched the top of her head with his cheek and answered, “I need to teach you how to pilot Jenny. You know, in case something should happen to me. We have learned how badly things can go wrong.”
Roxanne lifted her head and looked at him, but did not let go of his arm. “Are you thinking of leaving us, Brandon?” she asked softly. He shrugged but continued to look out over the River, “Do you see this place as permanent, Roxanne?”
“Good Lord, no. It is wide open with no defenses against a herd. A herd would take this place down in no time. Our best plan would be to run to the boats and get on the River again.”
“Yes, but no one has spoken of or agreed as to where we go from here,” Brandon said. “Toby told me he would go north, past Baton Rouge to some paper mill on the River. I don’t think Lucky would do that. I think Lucky would want to go back to his original plan of getting to the east coast.” He turned and looked at Roxanne. “If that is what Lucky wants then someone would need to know how to pilot Jenny because I would go with Toby.”
They looked into each other’s eyes for a long time, trying to read the thoughts and emotions of the other. Roxanne sighed and put her head back on his shoulder. “I would miss you Brandon. We’re family, but I would understand. Lucky already mentioned that he thought you may choose a different path when we are forced to move again.”
“I’m assuming that you would follow Lucky.”
He felt her head nod, “Probably.”
“Probably? How are things between you and Lucky?”
“Okay”
“Like before?” Roxanne knew what he meant by using the word ‘before’.
“No, not like before. But it’s Okay, Brandon. Don’t worry about me.”
He poured another glass of wine for each and said, “You need to talk to him Roxanne. You need to pin him down on some plans. You can’t go running into some cornfield without direction like we did when leaving the farmhouse at the park. Morgan stuck to the road because we had planned to travel that way by truck. He followed the route by foot always going west since the Ze’s were coming from both the north and east, preventing us from getting back to the NRA house. Morgan stuck to the plan and was picked up by Toby in a month. But we ditched the plan, crossed the road into a cornfield and wandered around for three months until we were close to dead. I don’t want that to happen to you again.” She was silent and he began to think that she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. “Promise me, Roxanne. Promise me that you will talk to him about a concrete plan.”
She lifted her head and sighed. “Yes, I promise. Now let’s finish off that bottle of wine.”
Lucky had the first shift of the night and was watching Roxanne and Brandon from the balcony. He saw Roxanne put her head on Brandon’s shoulder several times and knew that they had a close relationship. Sometimes she told Brandon of her fears when she would not voice them to him. Sometimes she looked to Brandon for strength and encouragement and it hurt Lucky to know that she felt she could not get that from him. But he was not jealous of her time with Brandon knowing that sometimes one person cannot fulfill all the needs of someone else. He would miss Brandon, felt that Brandon was a brother to him but also knew that Brandon represented his only competition with Roxanne.
Roxanne met Lucky as his watch was relieved by Smokey and they walked to the cabins together. No one spoke and Lucky noticed that she was not scanning the surrounding grounds for zombies, which was her usual demeanor. Instead she was walking with her head down and he wondered if she had had too much to drink. When they reached the footbridge over the pond they could see that Morgan and Caleb were sitting on the porch of their own cabin. Caleb waved at her, not wanting to call out but was sure that she could see him by the light of the lantern.
After they crossed the bridge Roxanne said, “I’ll catch you later,” and peeled off towards Morgan’s cabin. Lucky slowed his step and almost stopped, feeling as if he had just been dismissed. He watched her walk away, then picked up his pace again and waved at Morgan as he went toward their own cabin.
Roxanne stepped onto Morgan’s porch and leaned against one of the pillars, putting her hands in her pockets. “Let me ask you a question Morgan, just out of curiosity. Have you thought about where you would go when this place is overrun?”
“You’re that sure that it will be, Roxanne? Overrun?”
“Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Morgan agreed. “It doesn’t represent the type of security that we need but it’s encouraging that we’ve only seen one zombie. Perhaps they aren’t on this side of the Mississippi, but I know that’s probably wishful thinking. To answer your question, yes in a way we did have plans in place as a backup. It was discussed before you arrived at the Casino. Other than this place Toby knows of a paper mill up the river with concrete walls, parking lot with a fence around it, borders one side of the River. Sounds like a dark and dreary place but that was before you, Brandon and Lucky arrived. As I said at the casino, we would change our plans to go with you.”
Roxanne shifted her position on the post but kept her hands in her pockets. Morgan was surprised to see her without her staff tonight but then Mutt came out of the darkness and dropped the staff at her feet. “Oh, I’m so sorry Mutt,” she said as she reached down for it. “I forgot that you were following behind carrying that. Good boy, now why don’t you go home to Lucky,” and she waved her hand toward their cabin but Mutt disobeyed and sat to the side of her. Roxanne shook her head and looked at Morgan, “Don’t know what’s gotten into him lately.” She sat down with her back against the pillar and dangled one leg off the porch.
“But, what if Lucky doesn’t agree with Toby?” she continued. “What if Brandon doesn’t agree with Lucky and wants to go with Toby? Would you stay with the larger group or weigh the pros and cons of each proposed destination?”
Morgan remained silent, looking at her. He wasn’t pleased with the way this conversation was going. He never thought that there would be problems between Brandon and Lucky or that their group would be willing to split up after finding each other again. “I guess I would weigh the pros and cons, Roxanne. I wouldn’t blindly follow someone if I was opposed to their suggestion and there was another option offered to me. But I’m glad you brought the subject up. It sounds like something that all of us should have a meeting about and make plans. Since getting here no one has spoken of a back-up plan.”
Roxanne nodded and got up, “Will you spread the word tomorrow so we can all meet? I’ll speak to Lucky about it tonight. Come Mutt,” she said as she walked away and this time he obeyed.
Lucky had already washed up and was in bed when Roxanne arrived. After bathing from the basin he had put the lantern in the living room so she could see and had lit a candle on each side of the bed while waiting for her. She picked up the lantern and brought it into the bedroom with her where she put it on the sink. Without speaking to him she poured water into the basin and turned her back to face the mirror. He watched as she undressed and bathed but couldn’t stand the silence any more. “Is something on your mind, Roxanne? Something bothering you?”
She looked in the mirror and could see him on the bed behind her but continued to wash. “Brandon wants to teach you or me how to pilot Jenny. He’s concerned that people will become separated
as they did at the Park, which brought the question up of a second plan, an escape route. As of right now everyone would run for the boats but from there, what? Where do we go? I’ve asked Morgan to gather everyone for a meeting tomorrow. We need to explore ideas.” She put on a clean t-shirt and turned the lantern out then waited until her eyes adjusted to the candlelight before coming over and sliding into bed with him. “Have you thought about it?” she asked. “Have you heard of the paper mill that Toby has suggested?”
He put his arm around her and nodded, “Yes I have heard him speak of it. But that’s further up river and away from the east coast.”
“You’re still determined to go to the East coast, even though Toby said that Jenny wasn’t designed for open seas?”
“We have gas for Jenny now. The motors are stronger than the paddlewheels. I’d like to give it a try. Is that why Brandon wants to teach one of us how to pilot? He would prefer the paper mill?”
He could feel her nod against his shoulder, “Yes, it is his choice so far. But that’s one reason for the meeting, to put these ideas out there and then take a vote on which people think is best.
Lucky leaned over her and caressed her cheek, “Doesn’t matter what everyone decides. You and I will always travel together.” He gave her a tender kiss and pulled her closer, considering the conversation to be over.
Gretchen only cooked one breakfast in the mornings and if you were not there to eat then you were on your own. She was not going to cook different meals for different guard schedules and so far no one had ever missed breakfast. Terry attempted to do so once, but found that no one was cooperative in helping her start the grill outside so she could make breakfast for herself.
Morgan took control of the meeting after breakfast and announced that they were gathered to put an escape plan together. Terry was the only one confused by this, insisting that she saw no reason why they could not permanently stay at the mansion. In frustration Morgan sighed and said, “Does anyone think that we could fortify this place against a herd of Ze’s? If you do, we would all like to hear your plan on how we should do that.”
Upon receiving only silence he continued that suggestions were open as to where they should evacuate if the plantation was overrun. Toby told of the Paper Mill up river and that it would not be comfortable living quarters, but a safe one. “We can always make it comfortable by raiding the surrounding towns for beds, towels, blankets and even furniture that my tugboat can haul. Natchez is just across the river and that’s a tourist town, but also surrounded by residences. The restaurants may have been cleared out by residents who hunkered down, but it’s worth checking out. We need to make another trip back to the barge in New Orleans for more barrels of fuel. That’s the only barge I have seen on the river and once that fuel is gone we’re on foot.”
Morgan asked if anyone else had an idea but everyone admitted that the places they had traveled from were already overtaken. “Okay, so are we in agreement? If this place should fall our next destination would be the paper mill and if anyone doesn’t make it to the boats and is forced to travel by foot that they will find us at the paper mill, heaven forbid that should happen. You would need to go by Baton Rouge and I don’t see anyone making it through or past that city.”
Brandon noticed that everyone spoke up and agreed but that Roxanne and Lucky remained silent. “Lucky, did you have other plans? Perhaps we should hear them.” Lucky was at the table but Roxanne was standing off to the side with her last cup of coffee. She had already fed Mutt who was sitting in front of the sideboard where she had leaned her staff.
Lucky pushed his plate aside and cupped his hands on the table. “It had always been my intention to go east to the Atlantic coast, perhaps to one of the Carolina’s. One reason is because we have seen that the herds are crossing from east to west. It is possible that the Carolina’s have now been cleared of Ze’s. If we could not make it that far, then I would stop in Florida. I say Florida because we met a man fleeing from that state, saying that Florida was toast. That could mean that Florida has cleared out too and Ze’s have moved west to New Orleans which is what we saw happening on the Lake.” He paused and shifted his weight in his chair before going on. “You see, we keep running ahead of the herd and they keep catching up with us. It is my theory that we should circle and get behind them.”
“It’s a good theory, Lucky” Toby spoke up. “But those are rough waters you’re talking about and we don’t have enough gas to get that far. Your riverboat, even on gas would not have enough to get around the tip of Florida. In fact you probably won’t get past St. Petersburg on the West Coast of Florida.”
“What about other Marina’s on the coast?” Lucky said. “We could stop at a different marina every night or two and fill up again.”
Toby shook his head, “I wouldn’t count on that Lucky. You saw how many boats, all kinds of boats that were docked at Lake Pontchatrain. All those people had run out of gas coming from the marinas in Florida. When the ZA hit, anyone with a boat immediately ran for it. Get out to sea where it’s safe, that was their intention and they all had to come back to land.”
“Lucky,” Smokey said, “if your theory is right, about the zombies moving west, then the paper mill would be safe. It is on the west side of the Mississippi so the river would stop them from coming out of the east. They wouldn’t be able to cross over and any zombie that was already on the west side of the river would be moving toward the West Coast, toward California.”
“Roxanne and I will talk it over tonight and let you know what we have decided. Brandon has offered to teach us how to pilot Jenny,” Lucky said.
“I don’t think that a discussion will be necessary, Lucky” Roxanne said and stepped forward. “It’s a good theory, but you and I cannot do it alone. No one can go it alone anymore and the odds are against us. We have battled too many odds and I don’t think our luck will continue to hold out. Just the two of us?” she shook her head. “I think it would be foolish. Brandon is right that someone other than he should know how to pilot Jenny and I’m willing to learn. But if the group has decided to go to the paper mill, then I will be going with them. I hope you elect to join us. We would hate to lose you.”
Lucky was trained to keep his face void of all emotion, so no one was aware of how Roxanne’s statement had surprised him. The awkward moment was broken by Terry who jumped up and cause her chair to topple over, “I’m not going to some smelly, cold concrete paper mill.” She ran out of the room yelling, “I’m staying right here. I’ll learn everything I need to know. You’ll see!”
Morgan sighed, “Well, I guess this meeting is over,” and everyone began to leave the dining room to attend to their duties. Roxanne took her staff from the sideboard and Lucky joined her as she began to walk out.
Mutt went in the opposite direction, causing Roxanne to stop and look behind her when she saw Mutt run up to Brandon as he was leaving to go to Jenny. Brandon stopped and glanced down at Mutt and then looked back at Roxanne, both surprised at Mutt’s decision. “Is it alright?” Brandon asked. Roxanne shrugged her shoulders, “It appears that he has made his choice.”
Lucky waited until they were away from the house before speaking up, “If it was your intention to hurt me, you were successful.” Roxanne stopped and looked at him, “Hurt you?” she questioned. “That was not my intent,” she began to walk again. “I’m going by instincts, by a gut feeling that the Mill is the safest place. It’s not that much further up river and if it turns out to be a mistake we haven’t gone that far out of our way.”
“But we keep getting further and further away,” Lucky said. “Just coming here was in the opposite direction, continuing to go west instead of east.” As Lucky was talking Roxanne was looking to her left past his shoulders at a large trunked tree along the path where she thought she saw movement. She let him continue to talk but never took her eyes off the tree. As they passed it a zombie silently stumbled out from behind and she quickly shoved Lucky out of the way. She raised
her staff and began to circle in front of the zombie to draw it away from Lucky.
Lucky quickly regained his balance after she pushed him and turned to see Roxanne run her staff through the neck and back of the skull of the zombie. It had been completely silent even in death as Roxanne killed it, but Lucky should have picked up the scent of rotting flesh. He was surprised by his lack of attention and a chill ran through him that the zombie could have easily bitten him. “Why didn’t you say something?” Lucky asked. “I could have handled it.”
“Sorry, I acted on impulse,” Roxanne answered. “Let’s drag him to the pool and then we better check the rest of the property.”
Brandon walked with Mutt to the Levee where he saw Toby and Smokey talking. “When do you want to make that run back to the barge again,” Brandon asked.
Toby turned to look at him, “We were just talking about that. Ordinarily we would all go on my tugboat, but if Lucky is serious about going to the East Coast then you and he can follow in Jenny while you train him how to pilot.” He shook his head, “Damn fool. I don’t know him well enough to know what’s going through his mind. He’s your friend Brandon. You’ve traveled with him for a long time. Okay, he has a theory that could be correct, but he does not have the means to get to the East Coast. He would be putting both his and Roxanne’s life in danger,” he looked down, “and Mutt.”
