disturbing.' said Mary.
'We killed a lot of zombies yesterday afternoon. We dragged them all out back behind the pool shed.'
Paige came downstairs with Mike right behind her. He was carrying two rifles, the thirty aught six and the military rifle they had found hidden in the garage.
'Everyone, this Mike. Mike this is Mary, Alex, Peter and Marge. Why don't you lend Peter a hand cleaning up the entry Mike. Make sure not to get any blood on the carpet.'
'You are welcome Dora, for saving your life I mean. Don't mention it, no problem.' said Mike sitting down at the island next to Marge. 'This the woman who was sleeping with 'The Bastard?''
'The Bastard?' asked Marge.
'Roger. A little nickname we came up with. And yes, Michael, thank you so much for being there shooting when I ran out to save Marge. I could not have done it without you and it is good to know you had my back. The entry way isn't going to clean itself.'
Mike just stared at her, Peter spoke up, 'I got it. Almost done.'
Looking over they saw that he had placed towels around the edges to protect the carpet and had moped up most of the blood. He had the mop in the bucket and brought into the kitchen to rinse out in the sink.
'A handy kid to have around.' said Dora.
'He helps around the house. He is very self-sufficient.'
'We could use that around here. Mike cooks, Paige manages and Marge and I mostly just sit around telling people what to do. Mary you get to be the medical staff.' Turning to Alex she asked, 'What can you do?'
Dora noted with interest that Mary was also watching Alex closely for his answer. The man slowly rose to his feet and said, 'I worked as a locksmith.' to Mary he added, 'I went to trade school, made some sort of life after I…left you.'
Mary's eyes were disapproving, 'You could have contacted me at any time in the last thirteen years, don't look for me to be happy with you about getting your life together.'
'Mary…' Alex began, only to be cut off by Mary making a firm cutting motion with her hand.
'I don't want to hear it and in front of these people, definitely not.'
A zombie pounded on the front door of the house, causing Peter to jump.
Dora laughed, 'Don't worry son, the doors in these places are pretty solid.'
'Don't laugh at him.' said Mary.
'Oh don't be silly, it was funny. If we can't find humor in our situations then we are just…lost. Look at me, I just fended off a zombie horde to rescue my husband's lover. Now that is funny!'
'No. I don't appreciate you laughing at him.'
'Noted. Now we move on, right?'
Mary turned away from Dora's gaze to look at her son, who had stopped mopping and was looking at her.
'Well now that we are all here, we might as well finish cleaning up and make a little breakfast, while we still have power to do so. We did raid Russell's fridge so I think we have enough food to go around for now. Why don't you manly types move the couch in front of the door. If it has Peter worried, I am worried.'
Mary's eyes snapped back to Dora's face, 'You took food out of Russell's house?'
'Oh. That. Yes. I understand you knew him?'
'Did you kill him?'
'Us? Please lady! I could not put a bullet through my lying cheating, husband's head when I had the chance and you think I killed Russell, someone I don't even know?'
'That isn't an answer really, is it?'
'It is of a sort.'
'Jesus Dora!' said Paige, 'I am too tired for this shit. No, Mary, we got there and this Russell guy was dead, or rather undead. He attacked us and we killed him again. He was the first one we killed, before him we just ran away. We found the key to his gun safe in his basement and took his guns too. Oh, and we did a load of laundry at his place, because we all got splattered with his blood and were worried that we were contaminated. We took the food when we left as an afterthought, because Dora here,' Paige pointed at her with the barrel of her rifle, 'really didn't have any food here. Well except for the meat.'
'I normally eat out a lot.' Dora said with a shrug of her shoulders, 'See? I am really not the bad guy.'
'No, just a bitch.' said Marge from behind her. Dora laughed again.
'So, Paige while the boys are moving furniture, can you make us breakfast? Mary could you help Peter clean?'
'Sure Dora, me and you can make breakfast, why don't you check the beef jerky when I get the coffee started?'
Dora sighed and nodded, 'Fine, I won't return to my warm bed, but will do a little work with the common folk. Marge you don't have anything to do, on account of your condition, I'd say you should just sit tight. Would somebody turn on the news and see if we missed anything last night?'
Chapter 21
The group sat around watching the television, listening to the news from Diane, Jim and even a short segment from Ned, the news was all bad. The sun was barely above the horizon and Marge was sleeping fitfully on the couch. The couch had been placed in the way of the front door, as a makeshift barricade. The house was sparkling clean again, they still had running water, although the electricity had blinked off twice in the last forty five minutes. Diane droned on as the group sipped their coffee.
'…our viewing audience, my last word is that if you are in the evacuation zone, to please do everything you can to get out, we will be hearing from Ned again shortly, from the evacuation zone. Jim what have you got for us on the national scene?'
Jim, somehow still looking fresh and ready, said, 'Thanks Diane. Nationally communication is gone. We have only rumors about what is happening out east. The governor has rolled out the guard here, and is in a meeting with the governors of Iowa and Missouri, which have not been hit as hard as Kansas. The Nebraskan governor is out on the front lines himself, he left only a message that if you are an able bodied adult you should be heading towards the fight, not watching the news. It appears his strategy has had some success, they seem to be holding the horde that came down interstate eighty on the outskirts of Lincoln after an orderly pull back from North Platte to give the troops time to recover and rest.'
'Iowa is sending troops to all of its borders, but so far they have neglected to cross those borders, citing the rivers on both the west and east side of their state as 'natural boundaries' that other states should fall back to. The last news we had out of the state department was a warning to evacuate Chicago, this was six hours ago. From an affiliate station in the south of Kansas we have word that the national guard of Louisiana has blown the dikes and flooded New Orleans and the surrounding area.' Jim paused and put his hand to his ear piece, 'The governor has announced an agreement with Iowa, Kansas and Missouri to act in concert to stem the advance. Iowan troops are streaming into both states now and should be to the outskirts of Kansas within thirty minutes, with some troops arriving sooner by helicopter.'
From inside the house the group heard a series of shots ring out in the street, awakening Marge, whose complexion was gray. Dora and the others went to the window and carefully opened the shades. Some of the zombies in the street in front of her house were taking fire. Others were milling about on the lawn starting to head towards whomever was firing the guns. Dora pointed out three zombies who were hanging back, or in one case outright retreating. 'You see it? Tell me you see that?'
'We see it.' said Mary and Paige at the same time. Alex, Mike and the boy merely nodded.
'What?' asked Marge from here place on the couch.
'Gunfire in the street, some of the zombies are running away from it.' said Dora, 'It wasn't just chance then last night.' Dora caught a flash of white in the woods across the street. The trees were not really woods so much
