zombies they hit went down, however most were not destroyed by a single bat blow.
Moving the gun Dora swung it around and fired at a zombie on the other side of her.
'Come on!' screamed Paige, 'There are more coming, the whole block is full of the fuckers! You gotta move!'
With the man on Marge's other side, Dora hefted her friend to her feet and they made a mad dash for the porch, the young man and the woman followed them. Halfway to the porch Dora ran out of shells to fire. She had to use the gun as a club to bash through the last three zombies and make it to her open front door. Once the young man, a boy really, was in she slammed the door and locked it. Dora sat Marge down on the tile of the entry way. 'Don't you move from there. I don't want blood on the carpet.'
Marge babbling hysterically slumped to the floor and sobbed. The three people looked at each other and then at Dora, who shrugged her shoulders, 'My house, my rules, right? C'mon Paco, flip the lights on and let's make sure no zombies got inside while I was out fooling around.'
'My name is Alex.' said the man, turning he flipped on all the lights, including the one on the porch. The room was clear. She brushed by Alex and grabbed the other box of shotgun shells off of the knickknack table, then shut off all the lights except the one that had come on in the kitchen.
'Fine Alex. I am Dora. Who are these?' she asked pointing at the woman and the boy.
'This is Peter and Marybella, Mary for short. Don't you think we should do something for…' Alex pointed at Marge.
'This woman? Her name is Marge, she used to be my best friend.'
'And you make her sit on the floor so you don't get blood on the carpet?'
'She used to be my best friend until yesterday morning, when I caught her sleeping with my husband.'
'Oh.' Alex gave Marge a hard look, 'But you rescued her.'
'I never claimed to be bright. She got out of the car, did you see the car?'
'Yeah, we did, only as it was going through, we saw the woman get out of it.' Alex was holding his arm where Dora had hit him.
'Walk it off Alex, we can't afford to have you gimping around here one limb short.'
'I think you broke it.' Alex said seriously.
'Really?' Dora sounded impressed, 'I didn't think I could, I mean it takes a lot of strength to break an arm right?'
'Alex, let me look at it.' said Mary.
Dora's eyebrow raised up, the way the woman said it let her know that they had some history. The man turned and pulled up his sleeve to his shoulder, wincing as he did so. Mary came forward and touched it tenderly where it was beginning to bruise and felt around the back side of it as well. She asked him to squeeze her hand and then said, 'We better get a sling on it and clean this woman up. You have any towels, Dora, right? You have any towels or bandages for your former best friend?'
'Well la-te-da, you a nurse or something?'
'No. I am a doctor.' the woman said rather more coldly than Dora would have thought possible.
'A doctor, you look like you are twenty five years old? And you want me to believe this is your kid? Or did you find him somewhere?'
'He's mine.' Seeing Dora's look, Mary went on, 'Yeah, sometimes life throws things at you, just to see what you can handle. I had a kid at seventeen and still went on to medical school. And I am thirty, thanks for the compliment. Now if we are done sharing irrelevant stories can I get what I need to mend these two up? I need a sheet or a shirt to make a sling for Alex.'
Dora had finished reloading the shotgun and put the box into her robe pocket, which caused it to sag down and reveal a bit more of her breasts than the man and boy were comfortable with, they averted their eyes, Mary did not. 'Towels? Sure, right away, Doctor! I will have my people get on it.'
Moving into the downstairs hallway Dora headed for the linen closet and pulled out the guest towels, she didn't grab the good set, but grabbed the older set she had gotten at her wedding so long ago. She grabbed a set of sheets for the day bed downstairs too and returned with all of this laundry to the living room. Alex was on the leather chair, Marge was still sobbing quietly on the floor.
'Did I miss anything?' asked Paige, coming down the stairs. 'I check upstairs, but didn't find any zombie. I checked because I figured you didn't shut the door when you ran out there.'
'Oh you missed me making friends in the usual manner. Paige this is Mary, Alex, the boy is Peter and, of course, you have heard all about Marge.'
'She gonna be okay?' Paige asked looking at the bleeding woman.
'Sure Paige, she will be fine, Mary is not a nurse; she's a Doctor! In our own neighborhood, in the middle of the fucking night, imagine our luck! Anyway she will fix us right up, won't you Mary?' asked Dora.
'Don't worry about Dora.' Paige said, 'She is always a bitch, but it will grow on you.'
This brought a started, wet laugh from Marge, they all turned towards her and she said, 'My God, Dora! Not even now! You can't change even now!'
Rather stiffly Dora replied, 'Why change perfection?'
This brought a sharp bark of laughter from Paige, who came up behind Dora and gave her a pat on the back, 'Yeah we love you too, you stupid, stupid woman. You gonna hold that shit all day or give it to the doctor? What can I do to help?'
'God, Paige every time I think I start to like you, you surprise me. Go check the rest of the downstairs, we only cleared the living room. Here, take the shotgun, it is better close up than the rifle.' Paige propped her rifle up against the back of the couch and Dora handed her the shotgun.
The young woman then started walking towards the hall, then paused and addressed Peter, 'You stop slacking, come with me.'
The boy looked to Alex and Mary, who both gave curt nods and he followed Paige down the hall.
'Ah, young love, so innocent! So sweet! It's amazing how it happens, isn't it?' said Dora. She handed the sheets to Mary and went over to Marge, where she dropped a towel on the floor. 'You look even worse than your normal, ugly self.' crouching she looked the other woman in the eyes, 'I don't know why I saved you. I really don't. I am so mad at you right now… But I couldn't let them get you. And I couldn't shoot you. How is that for fucked up?'
Behind them Mary was saying to Alex, 'Don't do that again. You don't tell him what to do, or give him permission to do anything. You. Do. Not. Do you understand? You do not tell him what to do. He is my son. Mine.'
'Maria, not now!' the man hissed.
'Then you stop. I am not fighting you in front of him and you defer to me in everything when he asks, do you understand?'
The man looked at her for a moment, then sighed and said, 'Fine, but it won't work for long, you see how he looks at me.'
'Fucking great!' Dora injected, 'A nice little domestic feud in my home. Hey, doc, could you leave off badgering your baby daddy and come give a look at Marge, she is all pale and shitty looking from blood loss. I may not be a trained professional, but I think bleeding to death takes precedence over a broken arm.'
Mary shot Dora another cold look, which had no effect whatsoever on the other woman, then she stopped tending Alex and came over and took a look at Marge.
'Dora, get your gun. Sorry, Marge is it? But you are dead. Dora might as well do it now.'
Chapter 19
'What?' asked Dora.
'You've not been watching the news? It's all over. This is how they reproduce. They think it is something in the saliva, like rabies. Your friend here has maybe a day to live. Then she joins them becomes one of them. She
