fourth? Has it been only six days?”
“Could be.” Stewart leaned closer to Max, looking in his eyes. Max didn't back off from her, wondering if something was wrong with him, maybe he took a blow to the head that he didn't remember and she was examining the wound. Her kiss took him by surprise and rocked him back onto his buttocks.
“Wha-what are you doing?” he sputtered.
“Damn, not the reaction I was going for. Is it the eyes? I mean I can't see them but bloody eyes would be kind of a turn off.”
“No, no! It isn't that, it's just, well. I don't know…”
Upstairs they heard people climbing up the porch steps and Amelia's voice admonishing the kids to go to the tire swing and not inside the house.
“Forget about it Max. C'mon, help me up so I can go get cleaned up in the bathroom before I gross the kids out too.”
Woodenly Max complied, getting to his feet then helping Stewart into the bathroom. Jessica came into the house screaming “Daddy! Oh God! Daddy where are you?”
“Down in the basement Jessica! Down here!” His daughter ran down the stairs and threw herself on Max's back just as he closed the door to the bathroom. Behind her Amelia was on the stairs one hand held to her mouth.
“I tried to keep them outside.”
Max cut her off as he turned around, pulling his sobbing daughter into his arms, “It is okay Amelia, really. No problem.”
“But the dead…”
“They've seen just as bad the last few days, I would rather not have had them see more, but it isn't your fault. Did the boys come in too?”
“No, Tom told Kenny and Seth to go to the tire swing and they went. As far as I know Cory is still in the car and Nick is upstairs on the porch.”
“Dad?” Nick called down the stairs.
“Yeah buddy?”
“You okay?”
“Sure, you can come down if you want to. Amelia could you go check on Stewart? She got hit pretty hard.”
“Is it bad?” Amelia asked.
“Not terrible, just a little gross.”
'Okay I will check on her and then come back and get you cleaned up too, you are bleeding all over you know.'
“Dad!” Nick yelled as he ran across the room to hug his father.
Amelia ducked into the bathroom where Max heard her whispering to Stewart. He took his kids over to the couch and sat them down, Jessica stayed on his lap, arms around his neck and Nick burrowed into him from one side.
“Whoa, whoa, what is all this? I am fine.”
'You're bleeding everywhere!' sobbed his daughter.
She buried her head in his neck and cried. Nick looked at him helplessly and shrugged his shoulders, “We were just worried. We don't want anything to happen to you. I was afraid, we never went away from you since we left home.”
Sitting there with his kids next to him Max pondered for a moment before replying, “I know and don't think that I would risk anything to put you two in danger. Sometimes we have to do things that might be a little dangerous. This wasn't any worse than at the hotel, or when Stewart and Tom went into the hardware store. I had to take a little risk to make sure something bad didn't happen later.”
His daughter pulled back from him, eyes red and wet from crying, snot dribbling out of her nose, she pointed one finger at him accusingly, “You could have made Tom stay instead! You didn't have to stay! Why didn't you make Tom stay!”
“Jessica.” he admonished moving her off of his lap onto the couch next to her brother. Max slid off of the couch onto his knees in front of them, he kept one of each of their hands in his and continued, “You know that would not be right. I know Tom would have done it. Just like I know Amelia would have stayed with Stewart. But it is like this…let's say we have chores to do, like doing the dishes. What if I made you do the dishes every day, all the time and let Nick just play instead of doing his share, would you be happy?”
Jessica shook her little head from side to side, “But this isn't the dishes.”
“No, it is worse, it is a bigger chore and if I don't do my share then that isn't fair. If I don't do my part other people might get grumpy. If you had to do the dishes every day and Nick played you would be complaining to me in three days.”
She shook her head, “I like doing the dishes, I will do the dishes for everyone every day if you don't have to go away from me again.”
Max looked at Nick for help. Unfortunately, at only ten years old, he didn't have much to offer. “It wouldn't be fair for dad not to go once in awhile, everyone has to take their turn. Like at the hotel when we stayed up with the adults, I was doing my share. It is important Jess.”
Jessica still wasn't buying into their logic and Max was saved by the bathroom door opening.
“I can't believe we still have power.” Amelia said as she came into the room. Stewart trailed behind her, a wash rag held to her forehead. “We are going to get some ice for that bump on her head and then rig some sort of head band there so her hands are still free. She can keep an eye on the kids while the rest of us clean up the house.”
Max nodded then turned back to his kids, “See? We all have to do our part. I have to go clean up the kitchen and you have to go outside and play on the tire swing, okay?”
Jessica nodded reluctantly, then whispered, “Daddy, there was a baby up there. It was dead.”
“I know honey, I know. You just keep your eyes closed until I get you outside, I will give you a piggy back ride okay?” Max knew all the parenting books Sarah had given him to read might have come in handy now, he didn't really know how to comfort his daughter in this situation.
The kids were told firmly to stay outside while Tom, Amelia, and Max cleaned up the mess he had made in the kitchen. The first part of cleaning up involved Amelia bandaging up Max's cuts so he would stop dribbling blood everywhere. Stewart was given a cold cola and sat down in a rocking chair overlooking the swing. The picture would have been serene if not for the pistol belted to her hip and the shotgun she was using to gently rock the chair back and forth.
“This really kind of sucks.” Tom said, while mopping the floor a third time. Amelia had loaded the dishwasher with all of the contaminated plates and pan that had been on the counter and was now washing the rest of the utensils and surface areas with a bleach solution.
“I know Tom, I am sorry. It wasn't a good idea. We should have ambushed them in the next house and just come back here.”
“No, no it isn't that, I didn't think of that either, it is just that I don't know how long we can stay here. What if we have to do this every day? Or twice a day? How long before we have a line of zombies at the door banging to get in? Then we are back at MAC Co. under siege.”
“Maybe it won't be that way.” said Max thinking back to the days early on when they had been stuck in the office surrounded by the undead.
“Well this time, don't leave me if you bail out!” Amelia said with some humor in her voice.
“Never, we are in this until the end, together forever right?” Max said.
“Maybe.” Amelia said.
“Just maybe?”
“Max if it comes down to leaving me again to save the kids, then you leave me to save the kids.” She turned from the stove and looked at him, “I guarantee if I have to leave you to die to save them I will.”
