killing rink.
'Can't stand zombies, Mike!' he yelled back.
'I got that,' I said, giving him the thumbs up.
My dad was on the porch watching, a look of concern on his face; the illusion of peace had been shattered.
My nephew Mark asked his dad, my brother Ron, something and then headed down to the edge of the pond with his gun. Looked like a .22 long rifle caliber. It's a relatively high velocity round but it is used mostly for small game. Now I'm not saying I'd want to get shot with one, I was just wondering how effective it would be against men. Travis and Justin immediately followed with much heavier calibers.
Mark's first shot skidded off the lead hunter zombie's head, a three inch swath of skin pulled back to reveal a gleaming shiny white skull. I thanked God I had not eaten Lyn's breakfast because I could not imagine that it would taste any better coming up than it had going down. Mark's next shot, much like Gary's puck crusher, could not be duplicated on a bet. It skidded to the left this time nearly making an equal skin flap. It looked like the zombie was trying to sprout a head visor. The whole front of his forehead was exposed in all its horrid glory. The small window of quiet was only broken by Gary's splashing vomit as it rained down from on high.
He, unlike the hunters was downhill; the smell of his tossed up salami would take that magically delicious deli meat off my menu for the remainder of my life.
'Sorry,' he gurgled. There is something disturbingly fascinating about watching half digested round meat slices swirl through the air in a haze of brownish bile. My reverie was short lived as much larger rounds punched through the air. The Flapper fell in a puddle of his own making. Mark took a few more shots, actually felling one of the smaller zombies. Travis' shotgun ended the minor threat that had unveiled itself.
My dad had come down to the edge of the pond to see if he knew any of the men, but the gory nature of zombie killing can make even the most basic of identification damn near impossible.
'The big guy with the peeled back scalp looks like a guy I'd seen a few times in the post office. The other three, can't really tell.' My dad looked more than a little upset. 'Haven't had any this close to the house in over a week.'
'We tend to have that effect,' I said absently.
Gary's dry retching filled the air.
'You alright?' Ron asked him.
Something along the lines of 'fine' was Gary's only response. A perimeter of brown now encircled the tree he was perched in.
Ronnie's youngest daughter Melissa ran out of the house to see what all the 'to do' was about. Like a typical teenage girl, she was way late to the party. All she got to witness was Gary's fragile constitution expressing itself.
'Oh my God, why is everyone out here watching Uncle Gary puke. Eww, that is so gross! It's way too cold out here. Why does Mark have a rifle? Do I smell gunpowder or is that Uncle Gary? Dad, are you going to get Aunt Lyndsey away from the stove, she's making the house smell like dead mice again! Mom says Mark has to clean his room. Can't you make my cell phone work again? I haven't heard from my friends in Massachusetts in forever. Do you think I could turn on the second generator, I really want to use a hair dryer. Are there dead guys over there? Oh gross, I'm so not cleaning that up.' The whirlwind that was Missy immediately turned and fled back into the house. The scene was once again quiet, broken only by Gary's gurgling geyser.
Ron came down to inspect the situation, then looked over at me. 'You had nothing to do with this little brother.'
'Can you be so sure? Ron, she took down a fully fortified military base in a few hours.'
'This is just a coincidence.'
I wasn't nearly as convinced as he was. She couldn't have found us this quickly, could she? She had Tommy and if she could follow his link to us then that was really the answer, wasn't it? That's why I hadn't heard anything from the kid. He knew that too. 'Oh Tommy.' My gut was beginning to feel a lot like Gary's.
My sister poked her head out the door. 'Breakfast!' she yelled. Gary threw up again. Now I don't know if it was in response to my sister's threat but his timing was impeccable.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT - JOURNAL ENTRY 30 - 
'You can't be serious, Mike?' Tracy asked. I stopped packing to look over at her. 'You don't honestly think those zombies were from Eliza?'
'They probably weren't, at least not this time, but it really is only a matter of time. Eventually Justin's shots will run out or Tommy is going to cave and the mind highway is going to open at that point. Eliza will just waltz on down the yellow brick road.'
'Nicole won't stay behind, and are you going to be the one to tell BT he's staying here?'
'It's for the best, and I really wish you'd stay here too,' I said grabbing her shoulders tenderly.
She shrugged my hands off. 'Not a chance. Tommy has as much access to me as he does to you, and I don't trust you not to get into trouble.'
'But I've been doing it for so long, why stop now,' I asked facetiously.
'Yeah, I just wish you weren't in such a rush to hook up with it again.'
'This is my … our family I cannot bring her to them. She's already taken Tommy away. I will not let her do us more harm.'
'Do you think you can get him back?'
'I have to try.' Which loosely translated to, 'I doubt it, but I'll die trying.' Now the hard part of the equation was, was I willing to sacrifice my two sons in a vain attempt?
'If Nicole stays behind, can't Tommy link to her?' Tracy asked.
It was a valid question. Tommy was so completely enamored with her, he could barely say 'hi.' Making that intimate linkage through the mind would probably shut him down. I smiled wryly at that thought. I missed that kid. So much so that I would be willing to try one of his cherry frosted sausage Pop-Tarts.
'I'll tell Nicole, but you get the pleasure of telling BT.'
'I'd rather eat Lyndsey's cooking!' I groused.
'Come on, be realistic. BT will only kick your ass. Your sister's cooking can kill you.'
'True. What about your mom?'
'I think she'll be thrilled to stay here. She'll be able to watch over Nicole, and truth be told I think she might be a little smitten with your dad.'
'Really?'
'Why not? You had to get your good looks from somewhere.'
Man, that woman knew how to stroke my ego. I was the violin and she was the world-class musician. The real damned problem was that I knew I was being played. I just couldn't do anything about it. 'Wouldn't that make us brother and sister if they hooked up?'
'First off I don't think they'd use the term 'hooking up' and second, ewww, what is wrong with you?'
I grew serious. 'You know, Tracy, I'd prefer you stay here also.'
'I know you would,.' she said, stroking my cheek. She turned to go downstairs and talk to her daughter.
That was the end of that discussion. How the hell was I going to tell BT and survive? I did the long march down the hallway. Nicole was on the couch wrapped up in her grandmother's arms, both had tears streaking down their faces. BT was sitting across watching the entire scene unfold. He looked over at me suspiciously. 'Don't you even think it, Talbot.' He fairly thundered. 'I can't eat any more of your sister's food,' he added in a conspiratorial tone.
Melissa had been standing at the entry to the living room. 'It'll be alright, Nicole, this way I can brush your hair and then Dad will have to let us turn on the extra generator for the hair dryers and then we can give each other pedicures and manicures, it will be amazing! So what do you think of Justin Bieber? I always thought he was a little too pretty, but I'd still go out with him. Did you watch the Twilight movies? Oh, why couldn't we have had vampires or werewolves instead of stinky zombies and then there was this one time when this boy Matt kissed me and my whole face felt hot. He was super cute and he was going out with Cathy Jacobsen, I can't stand her but I would have kissed him anyway.' As Melissa rambled on, Nicole cried harder.
