“I’ve missed you, Greg. The lack of headaches I’ve had to deal with has been really missed, my friend.”
“What the hell did you do for all that time?”
“Same ol same ol, meet new people, try to train them to stay alive and then lose them one by one. We were ready to not be able to go on and we met Mr. Li. He trained us and gave us new options. It helped me focus on things.”
“But he didn’t take that chip off of your shoulder?”
“No, I mean I was trying to but he got sick. That’s when I met Earl. It was the only time since I’ve known him that I haven’t had to listen to him talk. He had a pretty serious throat wound going.”
“If only that would have lasted a minute longer. I mean, as much as I have enjoyed getting to know him.”
“I’d say it takes longer but there isn’t any way of knowing. I’m still not sure what I think of him. But instead of being one of those who sat around waiting for someone to save him, he took what skills he had and contributed. He’d probably fit well with us in the beginning, he seems like he can do about anything with his hands.”
“Maybe, do you want to take the door or do you want me to?”
“You hit it; I’d like to keep it a surprise if there’s anything in there.”
“Is ninja Shaun going to come out?”
Shaun didn’t reply; he pulled a tanto blade. It was sharp enough to decapitate anything in its path or cut off any hands stupid enough to reach for him. Greg realized that he wasn’t going to reply and saw, as usual, that his focus was in place. He knew it had to be a look that the Fox men all had, because when day one had hit, his dad was using the exact same expression, never faltering.
Greg did a one-two-three before pulling the door open. Shaun went in, staying very aware of his surroundings. The cupboards were all in order, there were no looters that had come through here yet. Shaun wanted to say hello but didn’t want to draw the attention of anyone who was in the house and wanting to tear his head off. Shaun motioned for Greg to come behind him as they worked their way room to room. When they made it to the top of the staircase, there was only one door open. Shaun walked forward no longer worrying about anyone trying to eat them. A man and woman that he made the assumption were husband and wife and owners of the house were lying in the bed. Each of them with a handgun in their hands resting on the pillow next to a long since dried wound. Their once white sheets were not a color that did good for his stomach, nor was the smell.
“Well, Shaun, just like old times, isn’t it? This is about one of the worst things that I’ve ever seen. I mean at least go down fighting, right? How alone can you be when there’s two of you?”
“When everything outside is either trying to kill you or turn you, I’d say pretty damn alone. If they don’t have a TV or radio that was working, they might have thought they were the last ones to be alive. They might have gotten bit and decided to just give in instead of dealing with the alternatives.”
“So long as we can get out of here, is all that matters to me. Sucks to be them though, did you see those pictures on the wall? He looks like he was in the Air Force or something. I wonder what he’s been doing since Vietnam?”
Shaun walked over, seeing the wall as well, and knew it as well as Greg would’ve if he’d had gotten to the picture first. Shaun said, “I don’t know if this is good, or bad, but it could be effing awesome if they can make it work for us.”
“Did you want to go a little more into detail for me?”
Shaun pointed at a picture on the wall and tapped it. He said, “This guy was better than the Air Force, this dude was a crop duster.”
“Oh, awesome, Shaun, because I didn’t know you turned into a ninja and a pilot while you were gone!”
“Oh, the sarcasm is strong with you. Yeah, I know I can’t fly, dipshit, but the guy Pilot Bob, sure as shit can, did, and could. Maybe we could get places in the plane. I don’t know, but it seems like if he has one here, it would be too good to be not utilized in some way. If he doesn’t park it here then maybe we can find it relatively easy. There aren’t that many places to take off in planes from around here I’d think, right?”
“Dunno, I’ve never been on a plane. I don’t know if I want to now.”
“It kind of made me want to puke thinking about it when we took off...given the fact that the dude’s previous flight had been a crash. But, in his defense, there was a zombie outbreak on the plane and that had to be a real eff you.”
“So, if we find it, you think we take it back. That’s worth the time?”
“About time the base is totally taken over or we need to do something quicker than wheels or a boat could offer us then yeah I’d say it’s more than worth it. We can find a wagon trailer or something, I’m sure between Clary and Earl they could figure it out, no matter
