John was first to arrive. He had his sidearm out. He quickly evaluated the scene, noting the freshly destroyed zombie. “You guys OK?” he asked. They nodded.
“It came around from around the back of the shed. Surprised me as I stepped out,” Nat said.
BB and Bill had arrived by then. They scanned the surrounding area on a command from John. They returned a couple of minutes later, having seen no movement.
The ex-soldier turned to Jack.
“I should have told you. Don’t go into enclosed locations together. One of you should have been posted at the door.” John said this as he looked at Jack, and the young man felt the color rising in his cheeks once more. He wanted to avoid appearing embarrassed in front of Nat for some reason, so he stepped towards the shed and closed the door before turning back to John.
“There was nothing in here... Should we head back to the house?”
John softened his expression as he met the younger man’s eyes. “OK.”
BACK INSIDE THE HOUSE, an embarrassed Jack explained to the rest of the team what had happened.
John posted BB and Bill as lookouts. “That noise might attract more zombies to this location. You guys keep an eye out while the rest of us do a thorough search of this place.” The two soldiers accepted the order without question and stepped outside.
John turned to the rest of the team. “Let that be a lesson, guys. Don’t let your guard down. We’ve got a job to do here, so let’s get back to searching the rooms. Jack, you’re with me.”
Jack cast a worried glance at Nat as he followed John up the stairs. She looked back at him with an unreadable expression.
Michelle was searching the master bedroom to their left as they got to the top of the stairs, so they turned right and crossed the bridge. They were going to search the two smaller bedrooms.
John stopped at the first door. “I’ll take this room, Jack. You take the other one.”
He was about to turn and enter the bedroom when Jack stopped him. “Hey, John...”
The ex-soldier turned with an inquisitive look.
“Um ... I wanted to apologize for using my gun out there,” Jack said, his eyes downcast.
“Huh?”
John looked surprised. He studied the younger man for a moment before understanding.
“Hey. Jack.” He waited until the young man looked up and met his eyes. “You did exactly what you were supposed to do. Don’t think for a second that you did anything wrong.”
Jack was about to say something, but John was not finished.
“You see that sidearm?” He pointed at Jack’s pistol and continued speaking as Jack looked at it. “That piece of machinery is intended for one purpose. And you let it achieve what it was made for. I know that sounds hokey, but it’s true.” The rugged man was dead serious.
“You did a good thing. You saved Nat from being harmed. But every good thing has consequences. So maybe our noise discipline has been broken. Well, we will just need to prepare for those consequences. Nobody on the team is going to be mad at you for what you did. I wouldn’t allow them to be, anyway.”
He took a breath and his expression softened.
“Hey. We need to focus on the task at hand. The reason we’re here.” He smiled at Jack. “Buddy, you’re a good shot. That’s something you can be proud of. But you have a mission to complete.”
He gently turned Jack’s shoulders, so the boy faced down the hallway towards the second bedroom. The two men smiled at each other and started on their way.
Jack walked through the door of the second bedroom and stood there for a moment. He had looked through this room before, but without really seeing it. This time, he noticed the dresser with the jewelry box on top of it. He saw the mirror with pictures of people and small intricate drawings inserted into the edges. He saw the flowery duvet cover on the bed. He knew that this must have been Maddie’s room.
Jack walked up to the mirror. Most of the items stuck into the frame consisted of hand-drawn images of unicorns and flowers. He was impressed. Maddie was quite the artist. He scanned the pictures, hoping to see Maddie in person.
There. That’s got to be her, Jack thought as he pulled the picture of a young, dark-skinned woman with her arm around a Latino man. The pretty woman looked happy. Jack could tell, as her smile was broad; and more so, it reached the eyes.
“Maddie,” Jack mumbled.
Thank you for saving my family. Even if it was not intended.
He shook his head as he put the picture down, berating himself for getting distracted again, and started searching the room for clues.
He had only been looking for a minute or so when he heard somebody call out.
“Guys!”
Jack recognized Tammy’s voice. It came from downstairs. Her tone made it clear that she had discovered something important. Everybody made their way downstairs and to Tammy, who stood in the kitchen area. When Jack got closer, he saw that she was holding up a note.
“It’s funny how sometimes the things you are trying the hardest to find end up being right in front of your nose,” she said with an embarrassed smile.
“I found this note on the fridge door. It’s addressed to a ‘Pedro’.” She started reading:
Pedro,
We hope you are safe. Couldn’t wait any longer for you, though. Rumor is that the government is about to declare martial law, so we’re packing up the rest of the supplies and headed to the Satellite. We trust that you remember the directions. Get over there as soon as you can.
The note was signed ‘Randall.’
Below this there was another note, which appeared to be hastily scribbled:
Pedro. I
