“You weren’t there, BT, he begged me to. I didn’t want to,” Gary said, finally catching his breath.
“I know, I know how he is. Stupid Talbot and his death wish persona.”
Mrs. Deneaux had not said anything from the corner of the room, but secretly she was overjoyed. Surely any questions of her culpability in the death of Brian and Paul’s disappearance would die with Michael.
“You ready to go back out and get his ass?”
“You know it.”
“You coming?” BT asked Deneaux.
“Not a chance. He got himself into this mess, he will have to get himself out,” she replied.
“I would have expected nothing less,” BT said flatly. “That’s the woman whose words you want to believe,” BT said to Mary. “If she had to step two feet out of her way to not step over you, she wouldn’t do it. We’ll be back.”
Josh raced out the door before his mother could stop him.
“Josh! What are you doing?” Mary cried from the front door; she was too afraid to follow him outside.
“I’m the man of the household now and I’m going to help them get Michael Talbot back here,” he answered not once raising his voice, just stating a factual matter.
“You will do no such thing!” she screamed, her face turning a bright crimson.
“I am and I will. Let’s go,” he motioned to BT and Gary. “I know all the short cuts around here.”
“Joshua Hilop! Get back here!” she screamed uselessly. “Do something!” she asked BT desperately.
“He’s safer with us than with her,” he told Mary, looking back at the hawk-eyed Deneaux.
She grabbed BT’s arm, but he shrugged her off. “I don’t have time for this little family drama. I have a brother to retrieve. I promise he’ll be as safe with us as he would be at your house.”
Mary was now beginning to doubt the sanctity of her own home, and looked to be moments away from joining the rescue party. “You hurry up and get back here,” she said to Josh. “I love you.”
“Mom, you’re embarrassing me.”
Mary went back into the house, shut the door and watched the small party of three head down the street from the vantage point of her living room window.
“They’re probably all going to die,” Deneaux said from the chair across the room. She lit a cigarette and took a long slow drag.
“What?” Mary didn’t think that Deneaux had just uttered those words because no one with a soul could have. She chalked up her missed hearing to stress. “There’s no smoking in this house.”
“Sure there isn’t,” Mrs. Deneaux said, shaking her ash on the carpet.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Tracy was alternating between sitting at the radio, pretending to read a series of books she couldn’t get into and working on the beefed-up fortifications Ron was installing when Henry started barking. A sound that was much closer to a sound a seal might make than any dog.
Tracy crossed the room quickly, trying to follow Henry’s line of sight, but since he was looking at a wall, she didn’t understand what he was getting all riled up about.
From Ron’s front door, you could see the long gravel roadway that was his street and that was where she went. She was slightly hesitant to open the door, lest something previously unimaginable was on the other side. But Henry never turned to look at her as she disengaged the lock and pulled the door open quickly. Kind of like the band-aid removal method--do it fast before it can sting.
Ron had come quickly with rifle in hand, almost pushing past Tracy to shield her from whatever Henry was going on about. Henry was all about conservation of movement and energy and would only reveal his true inner wolf when someone he loved was in danger.
“What’s going on?” Ron asked wide-eyed, looking around expectantly for any signs of danger.
“He just started barking, but he keeps looking at that wall,” Tracy said, clearly confused.
“Mice maybe?” Ron asked, trying to fill in the knowledge gap.
“Henry? Barking at mice? Not unless they are carrying his cookies away. What’s on the other side of that wall?”
“That’s south so about a fifty-foot clearing and then the woods,” Ron answered.
“South?” Tracy asked and she began to turn ashen.
“What’s the matter?” Ron asked in alarm. “What’s south?”
“North Carolina.” Tracy was slammed with a heavy dose of vertigo. “I’m…I’m sorry,” she said as Ron helped her to a chair.
“Let me get you some water.” Ron was back in a few seconds, Tracy felt a little better as she drank. Henry barked a few more times and then yelped once before he walked out of the room with his head down. Tracy’s glass shattered to the ground as she passed out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“We were about three or four streets over,” Gary said.
“By the Fredericks’ house?” Josh asked, cutting through some hedges that had looked impenetrable.
“I don’t know; how would I know that?” Gary asked.
“Did you see a bright, bright blue house?” Josh said, extending his hands.
Gary couldn’t see how stretching your hands equated to brightness, but he went along. He thought for a few moments. He hadn’t really been taking in any qualities of the neighborhood. Houses, even garish ones, tend to become less important when one is looking for things that will possibly get them killed. “I don’t…wait, I think it was further up the street. I kept thinking that I hoped they got a good deal on the paint because it was pretty ugly.”
“Do we know where we’re going?” BT asked, clearly agitated.
“Yup.” Josh seemed to be reveling in this. He’d probably played this game a hundred times before, hiding from the enemy. It would have never been a real life scenario like it was now, but practice does have a way of making things perfect. Josh pulled two slats from the fence to the side so he could fit his slender form. BT ripped another five off to get through. Josh did not seem pleased, but he pressed on. Within a few minutes, they were assailed with the smell.
“This is the place.” Gary said.
“What gave it away?” BT asked, wanting to hold his nose.
Josh opened the gate from the homeowners’ backyard and was heading to the front when BT grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground.
“Hold on. Gary, go check,” BT said. “You’re the fastest at the moment,” he added when Gary passed on by.
“I think that honor goes to Josh, but I’ll check.”
“Any chance you’ll let me down now?” Josh asked, his legs kicking in the air.
“Do not go anywhere, unless it is back to your house,” BT said as he gently placed the boy on the ground.
Gary got up close to the side of the house and inched himself around, taking a quick peek. He immediately turned back to where Josh and BT were. “Send him home NOW!” Gary yelled as quietly as he could.
“Now, kid, go home! Do not turn around! Do you understand me!” BT yelled.
Gary had started firing his rifle. BT urged Josh in the opposite direction as he brought his rifle to the ready. He was wholly unprepared for what he witnessed as he turned the corner to stand side by side with Gary.
Michael was completely surrounded by zombies. His skin was the color of burnt hamburger and large curled flaps of skin were peeling away from his singed chest and shoulders. These were being torn off by zombies, struggling to get at the flesh. Michael was screaming as pink, oozing, tender flesh was exposed while the zombies tore off the blackened parts.
At least a dozen zombies were dropped by Gary’s and BT’s rifles fire before Mike’s attackers took any notice. At first, two or three went after the pair and were quickly dispatched, but as Michael went to his knees and then his face, the rest turned and went for the new meat.
