“I didn’t know you had a daughter. Where is she?”
She’s taking a nap right now. She’ll come out here when she’s done.”
“Shhh,” Kyle said putting a finger on his lips. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” Victor said holding still.
“The banging on the garage door stopped.”
“I told you it was going to stop once they lost interest,” Susie said. “They’ll walk around the house a few times then go into their hiding spots until dark.”
Kyle finally found the time to ask more questions. “How do you know so much about them?”
“I’ve been in here since it started. Franklin reinforced the doors and altered the garage door. We made a hole in the roof so we can go onto the roof in case they get in somehow. All we did was watch them for a few days. They’re very strange beings.”
“You got that right. I saw them eat someone whole,” Victor chimed in.
“What did they do when you watched them?” Kyle asked, intrigued.
“Well, we made some noise and they started walking toward the house out of nowhere. It’s like they hide during the day until they hear a noise. Then they’ll come out. I tried to hide myself while staring at one and it seemed to just disappear. It walked behind a large tree and it was just gone. It doesn’t take long for them to get bored; if they can’t get you within ten minutes they’ll leave.”
“That makes sense,” Victor said. “I’ve seen them do it. When I was on the roof of the gas station I would stare at them and it seemed like they would just disappear.”
Hearing the word “disappear” made Kyle uneasy.
“It’s already getting late. Do you guys want to stay for dinner and we can discuss more about our plans?”
“Our plans?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah, now that you know about the safe zone, don’t you guys wanna go there?”
“No,” Kyle said sternly. “I told Victor I’d take him home and I’m on my way to California to find Jasmine.”
Susie sighed. “Just stay for dinner. It’s already getting dark and the streets will be filled with them. I have a ton of canned food. I’ll make us something real special.”
It has been a few days since Kyle or Victor had had anything decent to eat. Mary wasn’t much of a cook, and he knew for a fact that Susie was a wonderful cook. He had tasted her casseroles many times during neighborhood potluck parties. Kyle’s stomach grumbled. He turned to look at Victor who was half asleep, his mouth in a crooked smile position.
“Okay, we’ll stay,” Kyle said, “and we’ll talk about getting you and Angel to the safe zone.” Kyle had no idea why he was considering taking them. It might have been that he was starting to feel lonely without his real family and he wanted these people to fill in the void. There was only one problem. Angel, whoever she was, didn’t fit well in his family image. It was only supposed to be a father, a mother and a son. No daughter.
Chapter Six
The house was filled of a scent that could only be described as a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. Kyle was right: Susie was a phenomenal cook. She managed to cook canned spam in such a way that it smelled like real honey baked ham. The mashed potatoes were straight out of an instant bag, but they smelled and looked like she picked the potatoes out of a garden and mashed them herself. The gravy was out of a can, but Susie added some extra flavors to make it her own. To top everything off, she cooked a nice pumpkin pie out of materials unknown.
It was an amazing sight to see Susie cooking dinner. Never in his life had he seen anyone cook such a magnificent meal with no oven or stove. She used a grill that was connected to a propane tank. Kyle took in a large breath in anticipation of the meal.
Victor was feeling much better. The pills Susie gave him were in full effect. The boy was up and moving like nothing had happened to him.
“Victor,” Kyle called out. “Go set up the dining room table. I’ll start taking the food.”
Victor nodded as Susie told him where to find the dishware. He grabbed what he needed and carefully walked to the candle-lit dining room.
“Is Angel still sleeping?” Kyle asked quietly.
“Ever since the dead have been rising, she spends a lot of time in her room sleeping.”
“Well, shouldn’t you go wake her? Isn’t it almost dinner time?”
“No, she’ll get up when she’s ready.”
Kyle decided to drop it and walked into the dining room. Victor was finishing up placing four settings.
“Hey,” Kyle said softly. “Susie wants you to go check on Angel. She’s in one of the rooms. I’m not sure which one.”
Victor looked at him skeptically. “Are you sure she said that?” he asked.
“Don’t argue with me,” Kyle said, “just go check on her quietly and then come back and let me know what she’s doing.”
Victor sighed.
“Okay, Susie didn’t tell me to tell you to check on Angel. Something’s not adding up. I don’t trust Susie as much as I’m letting her think. Just sneak around and go look. Let me know what you find.”
“Why don’t
“Because it’ll be easier if I keep Susie busy while you go look around.”
“Well, what am I supposed to tell her I’m doing?”
“Tell her that you need to go take a shit.”
“We’ll that’s true, I do need to go drop a duce.”
“Okay good, then tell her you need to go and that will buy you some time to go check on Angel.”
“Fine,” Victor said. “But I don’t like this sneaking around stuff. I kinda like Susie, even though she did throw a bomb at us, and pushed a zombie off the roof on top of me.”
“That’s exactly my point. She’s not really stable. Just go now, before we waste more time.”
Victor nodded. Kyle stayed in the dining room and listened carefully.
“Miss Susie,” Victor said. “I really need to go number two. Is it okay if I use your restroom? I promise I won’t totally blow it up.”
“Yes, Victor, that’s fine,” she said, chuckling. “Just remember that there is no running water. Make sure you take some water out of the tub to fill the toilet up with water. Don’t use too much water, just enough to make the toilet flush.”
Victor nodded. “Where is the bathroom?”
“Just go up the hall and it’s the second door on the right.”
“Thanks,” Victor said as he took off up the hallway.
“So how much time before dinner?” Kyle said, walking into the room.
“It’ll be another ten or so minutes.”
“Okay, great. I’m starving and it smells divine,” Kyle said, rubbing his belly.
“Yeah, I always remember you eating a lot during the potluck parties.”
Kyle smiled. “Yeah that was me. I’m a growing boy who needs food to keep me strong.”
Susie laughed. “Sure, growing boy. You’re what twenty-nine? Thirty?”
“I’m thirty-five actually. But, I know, this baby face will help keep me looking like a youngster.”
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Susie said. “I didn’t mean to throw the dynamite at you guys. It was more of a reflex.”
“Where did you get that, anyway?”
“Franklin was a chemist. He made them from stuff that was lying around the house and other things he had in the car.”
“Well, that explains it.”
“Listen, I know this might be something hard for you to talk about, but …” she paused to check something on the grill.
