Mr. Watts.
He drew the curtain closed again and hobbled to the kitchen. “Where are we?” he asked Nicole.
The next morning they moved to Alex’s house, just down the street. When they left, Alex recognized the house they’d been staying in. He had passed it the morning he had to go out searching for Shadow. The day all of this started. The last day he saw his father and baby sister.
They saw some mudmen as they went, but always in the distance, moving in their little groups, taking no notice of the kids. They just went about their own business, whatever that was. Rather than risk an attack, the group would hide and wait or keep moving. They didn’t run into any trouble.
Alex’s front door was unlocked when they got there, which made sense. Having been in full flight from Mr. Watts, he didn’t remember even closing it, let alone locking it. The front hall was still a mess—flyers and papers and shoes and coats all over the place.
“There’s some food in the kitchen,” he said to David after a quick search showed that the house was free of mudmen. Or anyone else.
Earlier, they’d decided to take turns with meals, and it was David’s turn to make lunch. Alex realized it would have made more sense for him to make lunch—it was his house and food, after all—but he didn’t want to argue with the plan, especially since it was Nicole’s. The rest of them looked through the shoes and coats, hoping to find some good stuff—it was turning much colder and soon they would need hats, mitts, scarves—anything to help them stay warm.
“There’s a box of winter stuff in the closet,” Alex said to Nicole when she asked. “Up on the shelf.” He was about to walk over to the closet himself to get the winter goods when he stopped. He saw Kaitlyn looked confused; staring at a piece of paper.
“What?” he asked her.
Kaitlyn looked up at him. “What day is it? Like, what day of the month?”
David ducked his head out from the kitchen, a box of cereal in his hand. “There’s a calendar in here!” he called, “I think it’s the fourth. Of November. Something like that.” After a pause he added, “It’s definitely November. I think.”
Nicole sighed and shook her head as she pulled down the box of winter clothes.
“Why?” Alex asked, walking toward Kaitlyn. “What’s that?”
Kaitlyn handed the paper to Alex. “It’s from October twenty-eighth.”
Alex read the note.
ALEX—
WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU.
IF YOU READ THIS, STAY HERE!
WE WILL BE BACK IN TWO DAYS (OCT. 28).
—DAD
Alex stared at the note. His dad was alive! He was here last week! He was looking for him!
But that was on October 28th. Or was he supposed to be back on October 28th? Either way, he was out there, looking for Alex. Whatever he had planned to do obviously didn’t work or he would have come back. Even if he didn’t stay, he would have left a new note. Alex tore through the piles of paper in the entrance and found no newer notes.
He did the same thing in the kitchen—the window was boarded up where Mr. Watts had smashed his head through (Dad fixed that!)—and every other room in the house.
There was no note.
His dad was out there. Somewhere, looking for him.
Alex stood in the hallway between the entrance and the kitchen. Everyone looked at him as he breathed heavily.
“We have to go,” he said. “We have to find my dad.”
Nicole stood up from her spot with the winter box and walked over to Alex. “We will,” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder looking straight into his eyes as they started to water. “We’ll find him, and we’ll find everyone else.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
He knew she meant it, and smiled back at her.
They only spent a few hours in Alex’s house, gathering supplies and eating the lunch David made, each with a side of stale sour cream and onion chips. Shadow had her own food and played with her stuffed stump-bear.
Before they left, Alex checked out the front window and was glad that he did. Another group of the creatures was walking past the house, still without a care in the world.
“It’s weird,” said a voice next to him.
He turned, and David was kneeling next to him, also watching the creatures as they passed.
“What is?” Alex asked him. What isn’t?
“It’s like ...” David started. “It’s like they’re just ... animals, you know? Like they don’t know what they’re doing, and they don’t know that we’re watching them. It’s like ...” He stopped for a moment, and smiled. “Do you ever watch New Wilderness? With Lorne Green?”
Alex smiled back at him, thinking back to a better time not that long ago. “Every week,” he replied as he closed the curtains and walked away from the window.
Soon after, they headed out—six friends ready to face whatever challenges waited. They had to find their families—and keep each other safe. That was their goal, in the new wilderness.
THE END
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Sherry, Nancy, and Julie at Third Person Press for a) taking a chance on this novel and me, and b) going through the editing process with me (when I had no real editing experience to speak of) to make the book, well, better.
Thanks to the Dead Puppets Society (my go-to team of writers/friends) for all their advice, assistance, and notes on this book (and pretty much everything else I write). It’s good to know that you guys always have my back.
Thanks to George Romero for, you know, inventing the genre and all.
And, finally, thanks to Erin and Seamus. I have
