He clenched his jaw and shook his head.
“It’s my fault.” He looked at Sarah, who was still sitting beside him. “Isn’t it?”
“No.” Something in the way Sarah said it appeased the young boy. “What happened next?”
“I ran home. Or I ran to the hut that was my home. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Lock myself in or something.” His stare was lost in the distance for a moment. “That wouldn’t have worked, would it?” he asked nobody in particular.
“Anyway, I made it home and tried the door, but it was locked.”
STEVE POUNDED ON THE door.
“Dad! Let me in!”
He waited for a response. After several seconds of silence, he heard the sound of people approaching behind him. Steve’s fear convinced him that these were zombies. He felt the hair on his neck rise and was too afraid to even turn around.
“DAD!” Steve screamed and pounded the door several more times.
He had started to cry in his distress. He cringed as the sounds of running got closer, then passed right by him, continuing along their way down the avenue.
Steve leaned his head against the door, breathing heavily as his body responded to the shock and fear. As he stood there, he could hear somebody moving inside the hut. The footsteps approached the door. Steve pulled his head away and took two quick steps back, the earlier scene of the day replaying in his mind.
The door unlocked and opened partially. His dad poked his head out and looked around. He opened the door further when he was satisfied there was nobody nearby. He stood in the doorway and looked at his son, noting the wet stain down the front of Steve’s pants.
Steve took a small step forward. “Dad. There are zombies in the camp! Let—” He abruptly halted as his father put up his hand.
“The situation is a lot worse than you think, boy. I’ve been preparing all morning.” He cast a glance over his shoulder before turning towards his son with a calculating look. His eyes narrowed. “Did you just call me dad?” He snorted in derision. “I thought I wasn’t your dad.”
Steve did not respond. He didn’t know what to say.
His silence seemed to anger his father. He regarded Steve in silence for a moment.
“You’re not my son,” he said.
Steve still said nothing, even as his father shut the door in his face.
Coming back to the present, he realized he had been crying. He sensed Sarah’s hand still on his back. People were looking at him with a mix of concern and sadness. He wiped his eyes and faced the group.
“There’s not much else to my story. I ran around looking for a place to hide. I ran into Breanne a few minutes later, and we made it to Mike and his team shortly after that.”
Unexpectedly, a smile came to Steve’s lips at that memory.
“She’s funny.” Steve said, clarifying, “Breanne. I guess I did not just run into her. I bowled her over. She swore up a storm as she picked herself up from the ground but settled down when she saw that I was crying. She said, ‘Kid! You hit me so hard that my ovaries clapped together!’... I don’t really know what that means but it sounded funny.”
Several people in his audience knew, as the comment elicited some laughter.
Steve smiled, responding to his audience. “I remember later that day, after we had arrived in that communications building. We were sitting around, sipping water. She looked at me and mentioned our collision.” He shook his head in amusement.
“She really wanted to get a reaction out of me. ‘OK, give me a moment,’ she said, and she was scratching her chin with the lid of a water bottle. ‘You hit me so hard, that my grandchildren will have bruises,’ she said.
“Before I could answer, she continued, ‘Ah, I can do better. Come on, Breanne!’ Then she finally came up with: ‘You hit me so hard that Chuck Norris sensed it.’”
That got an out-loud laugh by Nancy. “Oh, dear!” she said, embarrassed by her outburst. That got the rest of the group laughing.
Rosa stood when he was done. “Thank you, Steve, for sharing your story. And I know that it sounds cheesy, but you have fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters, right here.” She spread her hands around the room. “We’re happy that you’re here with us.”
She walked up to Steve and hugged him. Steve turned a bright shade of red at the embrace from the curvaceous woman.
“Damn!” Q said. “How do I get one of those?” He chuckled with a wink at Steve.
Chapter 51
John
All was quiet inside Car Two. The Humvee, driven by Mike, was en route to its destination: a breach in the wall.
They had not seen any movement on their drive so far. They had passed the point where they could break noise discipline and speed up a few minutes ago, and the vehicle was jetting down the road at a solid forty miles per hour.
John looked at the two soldiers in the front seats. Abi seemed much younger than her age. He figured that she was in her mid to late twenties, but that bubbly personality and youthful face made him second-guess himself, so he constantly had to remember there was a soldier and not a teenage girl manning the radio in front of him.
She sure handled Jack’s call with efficiency and professionalism.
Mike, in sharp contrast, probably looked older than he really was. His lined face was focused on the road ahead. He seemed capable of handling a
