They made their way along the river bank and to the clearing when Dez called out, "Hey, you want a baby?"
"Huh?" Mort asked over his shoulder.
"Well, I got this damn bastard baby inside of me, and when it comes out, I don't want nothing to do with it. I was figuring maybe you wanted to be a daddy or something."
Mort laughed a little bit, not at the question, but at the thought of him being a father. "I can't be no daddy for no white kid. How's that going to work?"
"You sure? You'd probably be good at it. You're strong, not a dick. I mean, what else is there to being a father in this world?"
"A daddy," Mort said, amused.
"You oughta think about it. I mean, if we don't find any other men, there's gonna be five little kids running around camp looking for someone to look up to. Maybe you ought to have one of your own, ya know?"
This Dez… she was most definitely crazy, Mort decided.
For the first time in a long time, Mort was able to walk through the woods without the fear of the dead appearing out of nowhere. Their journey back to camp with the bear meat was entirely forgettable. Mort thought he would remember that snow-filled, peaceful walk for the rest of his life.
When they reached the gate, Tammy opened it right up for them, and though they didn't receive a hero's welcome, they were greeted somewhat more cordially than he had expected.
****
Theresa couldn't believe it. They had returned, and they were both intact. Maybe it wasn't as bad out there as she thought. She could tell by the strained way that Mort moved that their mission had been successful. Her mouth watered at the idea of fresh meat. How long had it been? Months?
When Chad and the others had still been alive, they had experienced a week of living off venison. Chad said that there were fish to be had in the river as well, but it had never been safe enough to venture out and get them. Maybe they had thinned the dead out enough for some fishing to be done as well. Fish offered a lot of vitamins and things that her baby could use.
Hell, maybe the highway wasn't as dangerous either. The highway sat two miles up the road, and Chad, the last time he had ventured that way, said it was clogged with the dead due to a rockslide and a jack-knifed truck. The cars stretched for miles. How many of the dead could that be? Hundreds? A thousand?
They had certainly made a dent in that number in the days after Chad died. His plan to blast music hadn't been the smartest idea, but even without the men, they had been able to handle it. The hard part had been piling the bodies up and soaking them in gasoline. All those bodies. She shook her head as Dez and Mort laid down their bundles.
She had found herself wandering in her mind recently. Her thoughts were her own best company. Liz and Tammy were fine as far as their physical presence went, but they weren't much for conversation. Half of the time, they complained, and the other half of the time, they talked about things that they missed, coffee, cigarettes, getting blackout drunk, shit like that. The other day, she had listened to Liz go on and on about a NASCAR race she had watched.
Mort opened the bag, showing them the meat. They would eat well tonight. Theresa and Tammy fetched a cooler to store the meat in. When they had first arrived at camp, it had been filled with things like beer and hot dogs that they could roast over the firepit, but now it sat empty. There was nothing that they needed to keep fresh anymore. They packed the cooler with snow and placed the cuts of meat inside. Still, there was more meat than there was room in the cooler. They chose a section of the camp that they didn't walk over, and they set the meat down in the snow and covered it over, leaving the cooler there as a marking spot to prevent people from actually walking over the spot or taking a leak there.
"Nice job," Theresa said to Mort.
He nodded at her and then headed into the ranger station. Dez followed him, casting a hard glare in Theresa's direction.
Theresa didn't worry about the others. Katie was crazy, but she got the distinct impression that if she left the woman alone, she would never even notice that she was there. Joan didn't have a vindictive bone in her body as far as she could tell, and Mort just seemed like a genuinely nice guy, almost childlike.
She did worry about Dez. She knew good and well that Dez knew that she had made the suggestion of tying her to the bed. If she had known Chad wasn't going to be around, she never would have suggested it. It had been convenient for her at the time. Get Dez out of the way, and maybe she could spend more time with Chad. That's not how it had worked, though. Chad had ignored her, turning in upon himself and doting on Dez, talking about how she was his one true love. That didn't stop him from spending his time in her trailer, but there was no emotion there. She might as well have been a hole in the wall for all Chad cared.
"You flirting with the black fella?" Liz asked in her dumbfuck, backwoods drawl.
"What are you? Stupid?" she asked. "I ain't flirtin'. I'm jus' tryin' to set him up."
A stupid look crossed Tammy's face, and her lower lip stuck out so that Theresa could see her crooked bottom
