“I figured as much. Good to see you vertical, my brother.”
“Are we in a safe house?” he asked.
I nodded my answer. For someone who a second ago couldn’t see anything, he did have a fast response.
“What about BT and the rest?” he asked, getting more comfortable.
“Josh, could you please get me some water and aspirins?” Mary asked her son.
Josh had been at the far end of the room, almost completely obscured in the shadows. I thought I may have detected the glint of a weapon. I couldn’t fault him that. In fact, it was quite the opposite, I thought it was admirable that he remained vigilant over us, protecting his mother and his homestead.
“I don’t know about any of them. BT was too far down the street to turn and make it back. And I haven’t heard anything from the rest.”
“The rest?” Mary asked as she gave the glass of water and tablets to Gary.
The ham made a great show of effort in reaching out to get the meds.
“We were with another three people besides the big man you saw.”
“What were you doing?” Mary asked, helping Gary more when she realized he was having a difficult time. He was completely soaking it up. Even Josh from across the room could tell he was over-exaggerating. The only one who was missing it was Mary.
“Payback,” I told her vaguely.
“Against who? The zombies? But you just said they don’t really have any feelings beyond survival,” Mary said as she checked Gary’s forehead for a temperature. “You feel a little warm.”
“Yes, I do,” Gary said as he slouched in his seat like that was now the most difficult thing in the world, sitting up straight.
“Oh, you poor baby,” I told Gary. “I hope you’re going to be alright.”
“He’s been shot in the head!” Mary shot back at me vehemently. “And you did it! Maybe you should be a little nicer to your brother!”
Gary was smiling over Mary’s shoulder at me; I could tell by the flash of his white teeth. “Yeah nicer,” Gary said weakly, slouching even further into the couch cushion.
“I’ve got to find BT,” I told Mary.
“Unless you’ve got a machinegun on you somewhere, you’re not going to get past the zees,” Josh said.
“Any chance you got one?” I asked.
“Even if I did, mister, I wouldn’t be giving it to you,” he told me.
“Fair enough. Do you have anything you could spare?” I asked.
Mary was shaking her head from side to side. “Greg took his rifle and a pistol with him when he went. The only reason he left behind the pistol Josh has is because he had no bullets for it.”
“Mom!” Josh said hotly. “Why would you tell them that?!” he said, storming out of the room.
“I don’t think he’s yet convinced about your intentions. You’ll have to forgive him. He has a lot of Greg in him.”
“That’s probably a good thing these days,” I told her.
“Didn’t help Greg out much,” she said.
“But you two are safe,” I told her. There was an awkward silence as Mary thought that through. Gary saved the day with a soft moan.
“Oh, you poor baby,” Mary said, stroking the side of his face.
“My ass,” I said.
“What was that?” Gary asked with strain in his voice.
“Mary, do you mind if I walk around the house, looking for a way around the zombies?”
”You won’t, but feel free.”
“Thank you,” I told her.
She had already forgotten I was still in the room as she turned back to Gary’s ministrations.
I did a complete circuit of the house. In typical zombie fashion, we were surrounded. It wasn’t thousands, maybe a hundred or so. My OCD half thought about counting, but the asses wouldn’t stay still long enough for me to get an accurate tally. One would go, two would come, a few would just run endless circles around the house until I started to recognize them and I had counted them more than once. With two full clips, I might be able to cut a path through, but then what? Most of these zombies were speeders and I was no track star.
I walked up the stairs to see how disappointed I could get with an aerial view. I had just pulled the shade to the side when Josh spoke.
“I’ve kept her safe all this time while we’ve been waiting for my dad to come home.”
I don’t know what stopped me… Divine intervention? A brain? My conscience? I don’t know, but I had just about turned and said “You know he’s not coming home, right?” If Tracy had been here, she would have smacked me just for thinking it; and somehow she would have been able to tell. I was stuck. I had been so intent on flat out telling him the truth, I couldn’t think of a viable alternative. I came out with the lame, “That’s nice.”
He gave me a look I’d become all too familiar with seeing.
“How long are you going to stay?” he asked. I’m not sure if it was because he wanted us gone, or it took the burden of protecting his mother off his shoulders.
“Just long enough until there’s a way through the zombies and I can get back to my friends.”
“What about your brother? He’s going to need time to heal.”
“Him? He’s faking.”
“I thought so. He’s not a very good actor.”
I laughed. “Your mom is buying it.”
He stopped to think about that for a minute. “That’s alright; it gives her a chance to stop worrying about me.”
“You’re a smart kid.” He was probably on to something. Mary, on some level, probably knew Gary was hamming it up, but it was a diversion from the nightmare outside.
“Yeah, I usually like to build radio-controlled cars, but guarding this house is a full time job,” he sighed heavily.
“Can I see them?” I asked. We’ve all established that I’m just a larger version of a kid so I wanted to see them; and the word “diversion” was now stuck in my head.
The kid’s room was crammed with at least a dozen different vehicles that I could see. There was a lunar module with six wheels, a tank, that fired projectiles, some racing cars and other sets that were in various states of repair or disrepair.
“I’m still working on this one,” Josh said, picking up what looked like a waste basket on wheels. “My dad went out to get me some parts for this. He had come over to work on it with me and then the zombies had come.”
“What’s it going to be?”
“A half scale R2D2.”
“No way? That’s awesome. You have some incredible stuff here.”
Josh sat down heavily on his bed. “I haven’t touched any of them since he left. He didn’t come back and he was out getting stuff for me.”
Man I hate the serious talks. I sat down next to him. “Listen Josh, I’m a father too.”
He looked up at me with “Really?” written all over his face.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my kids, from giving up my life all the way to seeing a smile flash across their lips. You’re dad went out, trying to do just that. You can’t blame yourself for his actions, it was something he wanted to do.”
“Thanks mister, you seem like you’d make a good dad.”
“Thanks kid, now if you could just tell my wife that, I’d really appreciate it. Can you show me how a few of these work?”
Josh’s face lit up. He was back in his element, tinkering with the small machines. We spent a few hours going through his wheeled assembly. It was nice to forget for a while what lingered mere feet away outside.
Mary finally had to come up and get us for dinner. Her first two shouts had fallen on deaf ears as we recreated the chase scene from Mad Max.
