I had told them before we unloaded the truck this wasn’t permeant. That we would make our way home come morning. If there was even anyway to even get home with the traffic and chaos in the streets—that was for me to worry about in the morning. I only had rest on my mind.
The part about the infected, I didn’t bring up for Ava’s sake. Still some part of me believed this was a nightmare and would pass. However foolish the thought was, I had to be strong for her.
A loud thud hit the floor as Gary set feet from steel to concrete. He kicked off his mud clung boots underneath a cheap foldable chair sitting in front of a greenish-tan metal desk.
All the furniture in here appeared to have been chosen carefully. And none of it looked like something you’d find at a suburban garage sale. This was Army Depot level items here.
Gary began to eagerly thumb through a stack of papers scattered about in no particular order on his desk. He flipped through what appeared to be maps of communities in and around Austin before landing on a page filled with landmarks and numbers.
Coordinates perhaps I gathered by the placements of them next to the images of parks and highways. From the looks of the dried inks, he had been planning for some time now.
“You mind hitting that switch over there Nathan.” Gary pointed at a glass covered light switch on the wall wedged between two tall lockers. Each secured with its own combination lock. One of those radial dial ones where you might make your password your birthday month and date.
Through the pattern of fingertip sized holes that dotted the front and sides of the tall lockers, I could make out the forms of automatic weapons stashed inside. Each locker was made of thick metal with NRA symbols and Texas Longhorn stickers covering its facade.
God, guns and football. The Texas pride tri-fecta. I nearly chuckled.
I was never comfortable being around firearms of any kind, another thing my old man would gripe about the differences between my brother and I…
I eyed from over my shoulder to Gary, checking to see his reaction at my discovering his weapons as he went about setting a radio atop his desk.
He was too busy stringing cabling from a hatch that stuck out of the wall beside his desk and started to connect them into ports on the backside to notice my prying eyes.
Guy sure is locked and loaded down here isn’t he? I questioned to myself.
By all accounts it appeared Gary was eager for the end of the world as we once knew it by the sheer amount of supplies and firepower he had stocked like a bear preparing for winter.
Only, it didn’t seem he was going to be doing much slumbering. Not with that many riffles at his disposal. It looked more like he was preparing for combat.
“You find the switch Nathan?” Gary called from a crouched position overtop his old radio. He worked busy hands of the plugs and thick colored wires.
“Oh yeah, found it,” I replied as I flipped up the glass covering and hit the switch, at first puzzled when nothing happened and thinking it was blown fuse.
“Give er’ a moment, the ginny needs a second to fire up.” Gary assured throwing a cable to the ground and pulling another out of the wall.
Within a moment floodlights from above flickered to life—illuminating the room from dull red to a brightly evening of soft-yellow.
I glanced over to Hailey with worry she would have awaken disturbed only to hear a momentary disgruntled snore followed by apparent deep sleep as she drifted away further into sleeps rhythm.
Ava was then beside me, pinned to my leg and holding a soaked wet Pups up toward me with a frown across her face.
“Daddy, Pups is wet. We need to dry him or he’ll catch a cold Daddy.” Ava said concerned for her stuffed animal. I couldn’t help but to shake my head at the thought of a sick stuffed animal. Then the image of Pups coming back to life as an infected. His fur stained in blood…damn I’m tired.
“Emma, help your sister get dry please,” I asked her as Emma pecked at her phone as only a tech addicted teenager would. Even days like today where the world has seemingly gone to shit, leave it to a teenager to not find it interesting enough to hold her attention.
“And Pups too Daddy.” Ava pleaded, tugging my jeans.
“Yes, and Pups too SweatPea.” I said shining her a smile and a wink.
I waited for Emma to protest in a show of teenage outburst of stubbornness but was pleasantly surprised when she took her sister’s hand toward the bunk where our belongings lined the floor.
I let out a huge sigh of relief from under my breath that I wasn’t forced to go all out “Dad mode”, as Emma would pronounce whenever I was made to be the bad guy of the household.
Emma retrieved a towel from Hailey’s backpack and rubbed it over her little sisters head and body. Ava shivered and demanded Pups be first. She was just tired. We all were.
Dead Over Texas: (Infected Texas Book 1) Page 8
