Story Zombies Aren't Real ... Are They?

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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This is a working title of something that is just sort of letting me burn off some of my anger and depression about things that are going on in real life right now. Read at your own risk ... that's why I'm putting it under the private section. Little diff from the stuff I normally post here. Just not feeling the other stories right now. I've got some drafted but I'm just not happy with what I've written and will have to go back after I bleed off some of my current emotions. Happens that way sometimes for me. So ... this story is born.

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Part One

I hate getting a lecture. I especially hate getting a lecture in front of everyone else even worse. They already think that I'm the weakest one. This only makes them think it more. But I wanted this notebook. I wanted it bad and I don't care what anyone else thinks about it. I'm tired of having nothing to do but run and run and run. And when I'm not running I'm scrounging for food or other supplies the group needs and praying that I get a bit of what I help to find. Survival of the fittest and all that. The biggest and baddest always get their share first.

Well I wanted this notebook. It didn't matter that I almost got torn apart. It doesn't really matter that I got beat on again. Well, yeah it does but it was kinda worth it. And I didn't go down this time like I normally do. I felt righteous. I wanted something for myself and I got it for myself. I even got myself out of the jam without anyone's help. They just saw me get in trouble is all. But I got out of it before they could decide whether they were going to take the time to help me. That's what really stunk their britches up. That for once I didn't need any of them.

I mean but still. C'mon. Jerry is the one that beat the crap out of me yet I'm the one that Moses lectured. How totally unfair is that?! Sherry said that he was doing it to toughen me up, that Jerry didn't need toughening up. Geez. No kidding. The guy makes a raw hide dog treat look like soft cheese. She added her own bit of salt to my wounds by saying that if I didn't toughen up I was going to get left behind. But you know what? That is scaring me less and less every day.

Let's see, would I rather be chewed on by the monsters or chewed on by the monsters the guys are all turning into? Hard choice right there. I mean gross. Mr. Morris offered me an energy bar if I'd do something for him. Uh ... no ... don't think so. As in absolutely no freaking way in you know where. Mr. Morris is like this old guy in his 40s and I'm fifteen. You tell me there isn't something wrong with that particularly gross picture. And his breath makes me want to hurl big time.

Mr. Morris isn't the only one. Some of the girls go along with one of them when they get hungry or scared. Most everyone in the group still try and pretend nothing is going on but everyone knows. I mean come on, sound carries which in and of itself is a spectacularly nasty bit of information that needs bleach to get out of my brain. Only I don't have any bleach. The only thing of my own that I have I carry around in my backpack and I've had to fight to keep that a few times. And this notebook. I've got this notebook now too.

I've paid attention even though none of them think I have. They seem to think I am some kind of half-wit or something. Shows what they know. I notice a whole lot more than they give me credit for. For instance, I notice the girls and women aren't any less hungry or scared the next day after doing whatever the guys ask them to do so whatever they get from doing it doesn't last long. That's what my economics teacher would have called a high cost, low return equation. I may not have much but Mom said no matter what I could always have self-respect. Dad said self-respect and honor go hand in hand and they have to be cultivated. Going with one of the men would be like cutting my own wrists. I'm not that bad off. Not yet.

I wanna go home. I wanna go home so bad. I know there is no one there. I know it isn't really home anymore, but it is still a place I want to go see one more time before ... if ... I turn into one of the infected ones. I just want a picture of my family. Just a picture. I don't want to forget their faces and I'm afraid I'm starting to. Is it too much to ask for one stupid picture? Mom had cleaned out her purse that day so she could take her small one and so only had a few things with her. I just want a picture of us all together. Surely not everything has been destroyed. I'd even settle for that really bad family portrait we took when I was in sixth grade where Toddie has the leftovers from a broken nose and I'd just gotten my braces.

Maybe nothing has been destroyed. Maybe I could find not just pictures but enough other stuff that I could make it on my own ... or make it on my own until things get better. They have to eventually get better. They have to. But it is going to be awhile, probably a long while, so I need to be prepared for that.

We had camping gear in the garage and my bike is in there too; everything BUT the car was always in the garage. I could fly like the wind on that bike. I can go anywhere I want ... well maybe not anywhere but certainly someplace away. Or at least as far away as I can get. Maybe I could take Toddie's mountain bike and head towards that place we used to go camping; there's cabins and everything up there. I'm sure Toddie wouldn't mind. It isn't like he is ever coming home from college to get it.

God. Did I really just write that? God. My parents would kill me ... or not. Maybe they are all up there in Heaven together wondering what in the heck is taking me so long to get my crap together and my head screwed on right. I'm not a little kid anymore. I know I haven't done anything to shame them - not yet - but I haven't exactly done anything to make them proud either. I haven't been a hero and saved a bunch of people like Moses. I haven't found some huge stash of food like Sherry did although it is all gone now. I can't shoot a gun worth spit because my glasses are all scratched up. About the only thing they keep me around for is to help with first aid but they've got Doc for the important stuff.

And speaking of Doc, he's another one that is weirding me out lately. He used to be cool most of the time and weird only some of the time, now it is the other way around. He's always wanting to examine me to make sure the other men haven't been messing with me. Ew. He wants me to sleep beside him so he can "protect" me. OK fine, I'm young but I'm not young enough to be that stupid. Then he gets all weird when I do have to go off with one of the guys for scavenging and stuff. When I get back he's like all over me, asking rude questions, acting ... well acting all jealous and stuff. It's not just gross, it's embarrassing.

Sherry said it is because I'm the only girl that hasn't chosen a protector, temporary or not. So that's what they're calling it these days I say back to her. She shook her head and said I was acting too old for my britches again and if I didn't stop I was going to get into some trouble I wouldn't be able to run away from. Sherry ought to know. She used to be a real tough kinda person but then she mouthed off to one of the guys and he "put her in her place." She was hurt for a long time after that and a lot of the guys took advantage of her making her hurt worse. She's better now but not the same as she was and I get the feeling she'll never be the way she used to be.

Sherry is with Moses now. I guess it works for her because he treats her better than a lot of the women and girls get treated. Some of them are even jealous and try and take pokes at her but she has toughened up enough that she won't be pushed off from him.

I suppose Moses really isn't such a bad guy if you like the biker looking guy thing. But I don't think he ever wanted to be top dog ... or at least didn't want to be top dog the way he got there or of a bunch of "leftovers." He sure doesn't like some of the people in the group and would probably kick them to the curb if we didn't need numbers to keep us all alive.

Moses used to be a felon. Seriously. He told us he was like in the city jail waiting to be taken to the courthouse when things blew apart. But he is an honest felon. He doesn't mind that my dad was a cop. Geez that doesn't even make sense. I just mean he has his own code and sticks with it; you know his rules and follow them then you haven't got any problems. And even though he slept around ... alot ... before him and Sherry hooked up he never went after young girls and wouldn't let anyone take one if they were unwilling. That's probably the only reason I've been able to make it as long as I have. The men are all too scared of Moses to force me into anything.

But I'm not so sure they are scared enough of him anymore. Moses is getting tired and it shows. And he has to fight with the men more and more to prove he is top dog. I think he's been thinking of taking Sherry and moving on and seeing how far they can get on their own. I think Sherry has been thinking the same thing because I'm pretty sure she is going to have a baby; she pukes in the morning but no one says anything. There's a couple of guys who could probably take Moses' place if he does take off but I'm not sure how long they would last. Moses isn't what you would call book smart, but he is street smart. These others guys, I don't know; they think they are smart and talk about it alot ... which kinda tells me they aren't.

Crud, gotta run. Looks like the puss brains have found us again.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Part Two

Finally. Three days of running this time. I betcha another horde is building up. They do that sometimes when so many get into an area. They get like this hive thing going on. They get smarter or more focused on the hunt when they get together like that. Dad used to complain that one or two bad guys could be handled but when too many got together in the same place at the same time with the same purpose it made for a whole lot bigger mess to deal with. Toddie used to say stupid stuff like, "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts." But I think it might actually make sense about this stuff. Kinda like the gangsta' kids at school. Dealing with them one on one wasn't so bad. You didn't want to deal with them when they got into a group because it was like they fed off each others' bad energy and it made them worse together than they would have been separately. So bottom line, if there is a horde you want to be someplace else and someplace else quickly.

I'm so tired I should be sleeping while I can. But I can't. I'm too hungry. The men split the last of the food we had up between them and now if you want to eat you have to ask one of the guys for something. Only you know what they want, what you'll have to sell to buy a little sustenance to keep you going. Doc acts like it is only a matter of time before he can persuade me to let him examine me. He said if I let him he'll feed me up good. No way in H E double hockey sticks. Even if I was desparate I sure wouldn't give myself to some druggie. Two days ago I caught him popping pills during the run. I thought that might be what he was doing before but now I know for sure. If Moses finds out he'll drop Doc over the side of a building. Head first. Drunks and druggies are like the absolute worst. They'd rather be high than alive. They always seem to be doing things that attract the puss brains' attention.

Lucky for me everyone else is just as tired as I am and they're all sleeping. All of them. No guards tonight. If we had them you can bet they'd fall asleep on duty. So we barricade ourselves in and do the best we can. We've had to do it before and it worked out ok. Just doesn't feel right this time. That's another reason why I can't sleep. It feels like bugs are crawling all over me.

There is enough moonlight tonight that I'm going to write as long as it lasts. Try and settle my nerves. And then I'm going to decide.

First off how did this whole mess start. Don't know. Don't care right now either. Don't have the time or energy to care. All I know is that whatever this mess is, it took my family away and left me running for my life. I do know it seemed to pop up all around the world at the same time. Doc - before he got really creepy and weird - used to talk about how impossible the odds were that something like that would occur naturally.

In other words alot of people think - not that there are a lot of people left to think it - that it was some kind of bio-terrorism. And maybe by that totally punked up eco-terrorist group, the ones that think (or thought) that humans were like a plague on the planet and that there were way too many of us around. If that's the truth bet they didn't expect for things to go quite like they have. Instead of people plaguing the planet we have zombies plaguing the people. Yeah, yeah. I know they aren't real zombies but close enough all things considered. They have heart beats and all that but the infecteds are way strange, like mutants or something.

I was out shopping with Mom when everything went to pieces. We'd come to the city to try and find a thrift store that had a "modest" homecoming dress; or at least one modest enough that it wouldn't give Dad a heart attack and have him following me to the dance in his cruiser with the lights flashing and the siren going off. He wasn't real happy about me dating to begin with but I told him it wasn't like I was dating, that it was only one date; one date was not dating. He didn't appreciate the difference. But it was also hard to say anything because the boy that had asked me to the dance was Kingsley "for Pete sake call me Lee before someone hears you" Berio who just happened to be the sheriff's son.

Lee wasn't a bad guy. Actually he was one of the good guys. But I know for a fact the only reason he asked me out was because he could say that he had to, that his dad had made him. It would have been a lie; the sheriff may have suggested it but he would have made him. But it kept Lee out of hot water with the three popular girls that had been fighting over him since the year before. Of course being a guy he didn't realize getting him out of hot water only got me into it. Wow they were awful and I got backed up in the bathroom a few times by those nasty she-cats. I didn't care - well I did but not enough to tell Lee no when he asked me. No one had ever asked me to a dance before and Lee was one of the older, popular guys in school. I was a Freshman and it would have been so cool to go to the dance with a Junior.

Never got the chance which sucks. And I suppose they're all dead now. That would make me sad if I didn't think they were the lucky ones. So long as they aren't you know, stumbling around like puss brains and stuff. Better to get chewed up completely and get it over with. Sometimes when you are fighting one off you can tell they aren't far enough gone that they've stopped feeling pain. That's hard. So you try and do what you gotta do as quick as possible. Just don't look in their eyes. Makes for fewer nightmares.

Anyway Mom and I had gone to the city that day. It had to be a thrift store because dresses were expensive and Toddie's grant had ended and if he worked more than twenty hours a week his grades nose dived. Dad and Mom had agreed to help him for one more year but after that he was either going to have to find another way ... like another grant or scholarship or internship or something ... or he was going to have to come home, sit out a semester or two, and save up the money on his own. He was the one that had chosen to go away to university instead of doing his first two years at the community college so Dad figured he was going to have to be responsible for what the savings account my grandparents left him didn't cover.

I had found THE perfect dress. It fit all the parameters Dad had said it had to. It wasn't too expensive. It covered all the vital bits both top and bottom, front and back. It was age appropriate without making me look like a little girl ... not like that was likely because my boobs had finally come in over the summer ... or making me feel like someone's granny which was actually a bigger worry for me. And it wasn't skin tight or made from animal print. It also couldn't be hooker red or funeral black or hoochie momma orange. Yeah, my dad really said that. He didn't just say it, he wrote it down so I couldn't possibly pretend to forget any of it. I still have the note in a little bag I carry around my neck. It also says "Love Dad" which is more important to me than the other stuff. Dad was a good hugger but saying the mushy stuff was hard for him so when he did you really remembered it. I'm glad I have that part to actually see. My dad loved me and I'm totally cool with that.

The dress was a couple of seasons out of date and had been worn by more than one person but I didn't care. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it on the hanger. And it was the perfect color too. Mint. I'd always wanted a mint colored party dress. Of course Mom hated the color but had to admit that Dad would probably approve. Then again he was the man that didn't think there was anything wrong with wearing one black sock and one navy colored sock so long as neither one had holes in the toes or heels; used to drive Mom up the wall. The only thing about the dress was it was assymetrical and only had a strap across one shoulder. That meant trying the dress on just to be on the safe side.

The cubicle they called a fitting room wasn't much bigger than my school locker but at least it had a door and not just a curtain like most places. I was in there when there was this huge explosion. I was thrown against the mirror and cracked it with my forehead. As I saw stars and was still figuring out if I should be scared or hacked off that the shopping day had been ruined the lights started to flicker. I must have been in shock because all I could think about was getting blood on the dress and having to wear stitches on my face to the dance. Then I heard a lot of screaming and then a lot more screaming of a different type. I tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. I screamed for my mother. She screamed back, "Don't you dare come out of there Deandra Dawn Phillips. Don't you dare!"

Mom only called me by my full name when I was in serious trouble. Most of the time people just call me Dee Dee. I was wondering what I had done when there was some breaking glass kind of noises and something hit the door hard enough to make dust fall from the funky accoustic ceiling. Then there was more screaming that went on and on and on but then a door slammed and things got quiet which was somehow worse. Then the growling started and I got scared. Really, really scared. I nearly wet myself but Mom had told me not to come out. She'd specifically ordered me. I kept waiting and waiting for her to say something else, to tell me I could open the door. Then I got smart and tried to call Dad and when I couldn't reach him I tried to call Toddie.

I did get a hold of him but he wasn't himself. Apparently there had been some kind of riot on campus and he'd been taken to the infirmary because some guy had bitten him. The nurse put him on the line but he didn't seem to understand what was going on. Then the nurse took over and I guess I freaked her out and then we lost connection. I'm pretty sure if my brother is still in this world he isn't my brother anymore. It usually takes less than twelve hours from a bite and you're just another infected puss brain. Toddie was always a pain as a big brother, he gave me absolutely zero respect, but not even he deserved to be a puss brain.

After a while I tried to open that door and it wouldn't budge. I kicked it and hit it with my shoulder. Nothing worked. That's when I kind of turned off. I remember the feeling and it was pretty spooky; not something I want to do again because it leaves you too vulnerable. Sherry is actually the one that found me in that stupid dressing room. My mom or somebody had shoved a chair up under the door knob and then a clothing rack had really jammed it up and the door frame was all warped. Sherry told me she almost gave up budging it. If she hadn't found me and let me out I would have probably died in there. She's the one that made me change out of the dress and back into my street clothes. She also made me get two more changes of clothing off the racks of the store and stuff them in one of those reusable grocery bags. She's also the one that said it was gonna be ok when I found my mom's purse, but not Mom, and started crying again. It wasn't gonna be ok but it's what I needed to hear at the time so I don't hold the lie against her.

I looked and looked for Mom. The one place Sherry wouldn't let me look was the manager's office. She said it was really bad in there. I know it sounds awful but I kinda hope Mom bit the bullet and isn't wandering around someplace for me to run into and have to put her out of her misery. I have no clue about Dad but he was a cop. From what I've seen since that day almost all of the cops and soldiers died fast and hard trying to protect people; so chewed up or tore up that they didn't go the way of the infecteds. That was my Dad's job. He protected people.

Not the kind of protection Doc and the other men want to give me though. I ... Oh crap, not again .... Time to run.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Part Three

Huh. What do you know, I didn't have to decide afterall. They left me. They just flat out left me behind. I don't think Doc meant to but he was kinda busy getting chewed on. I know he was a creep and all but he was nice in his own way in the beginning so I put him out of his misery. I might be a terrible shot but I've developed really muscular arms and a good swing. Better than I ever had when I was playing softball at school.

My weapon of choice is an aluminum baseball bat that has a couple of round training weights glued to the end. All you have to do is pop the skull or take out the heart by crushing the rib cage. I suppose a sledge hammer works too but it doesn't feel as right in my hands as the bat does. The do-hicky-ma-jigger on the end of the bat means that even if your hands get slick from sweat or other stuff the bat won't go flying away. I lost two hammers that way - nearly hit Moses with one of them and boy was he hacked - before I figured out a bat would work much better.

No matter what you're swinging though you gotta be quick because the infecteds heal ... and I mean heal fast, and from things they shouldn't be able to heal from. I think that is why they are always hungry. They have to burn up a lot of energy doing that healing thing. I've seen them eating the covers off a leather chair. They'll eat grass mats. They'll even eat cotton clothes ... not synthetic ones though. Anything that used to be a live something or other they'll eat.

The mess the infecteds make - their waste - smells sooooo bad when it is fresh. But it is so dry when it comes out it decomposes fast and stops smelling or I'd have been puking every moment that passed for the last year. So if you can smell the mess the infecteds make then you know they've been in an area real recently; within the last twelve hours or so.

They're messes have made most of the water sources we used to have too dangerous to drink. You gotta be real careful about what you eat too. Soap and water or bleach and water if you got it. If not, boil it. You keep your utensils and drinking bottle clean or else. Infected e.coli is a really hard way to go. It didn't happen to anyone in our group but when we cross paths with other groups we share news and gossip and we've heard stories.

Like I said, infecteds need to eat and they'll eat almost anything that used to be live ... even carrion. But they prefer the live something or others. The feral dogs and cats that are left in the city are mean but cautious. They've gotten good at hiding and usually the only reason you know they are there is if they attack you first or you feel their eyes watching you as you go through their territory. Believe it or not the infecteds have gotten to most of the rats too ... when the rats haven't attacked them first. Don't hack off a rat pack. Especially not one that has started to consider people shaped things as a food source. And never go below ground. Not even the puss brains go down there. I don't know if that is true of every place but it is certainly true of of this city.

The bigger something is the more likely the puss brains are to be attracted to it. Before the electric went out there was a youtube of some puss brains attacking a herd of elephants. I never want to see anything like that again. It gave me the runs. It even made Sherry gag.

And just for chucks and giggles the weirdos who made the whatever it is that causes the infection that makes the puss brains made it so the older the infecteds are ... or I mean the longer they've been infected ... the faster they heal. Their bones and connective tissues do anyway - skin, muscle, tendons, and that sort of thing. Some stuff doesn't ... like eyes. Gross. Alot of them look like they've got mange too. And alot of them have fingernails that are missing. Doc said it was because they weren't getting the right nutrition for their condition and that it would eventually kill all of them. It's always good to have hope. And if they get busted up bad enough but not killed, when they heal it is like a broken toy that doesn't get glued back together right. I've seen some really freaky looking and moving puss brains. And right now I don't want to think about that too much. I'm kinda upset enough as it is.

My feelings are hurt that Sherry would just dump me like she did but I'm thinking maybe she thought I was dead or bit up ... not salvageable at that point which is what Moses used to call members of our group that got the infection passed along to them. I wouldn't blame her if she did believe that. But if it had been her I would have made sure to put her out of her misery. I wouldn't have left her to wander around as a puss brain for who knows how long.

By rights I should be chewed to ribbons but I fell through the floor where it was being repaired before things went to heck in a handbasket. It knocked the wind out of me and hurt like you figured getting your boobs wracked would, but it also meant the puss brains were a floor behind me and since they couldn't move too fast on stairs - the ones that cornered us acted like they had inner ear issues - I started running.

I didn't stop running until I was as far away from the developing horde as I could get. Not coincidentally I'm pretty sure I'm heading in the right direction to go home. I also got to one of our group's caches before any of the others did. They'll get around to it eventually but I'll be long gone by then and so will most of what was in the pipe; a big PVC pipe that was capped on both ends. Except for the booze; they can have that. And the cigs. In the past I've tried both to see if it would make me feel any better like the others made it seem like it did them; the booze just gave me a headache and queasy stomach and the cigs stole my breath to run. So, no booze and no cigs. Wasted weight in my backpack and this thing is heavy enough as it is. Well, except for the Everclear but that isn't for drinking; it is for sterilizing stuff. Doc used to use it to sterilize his medical stuff or what he used as he medical stuff because he said nothing survives a 24 hour soak in Everclear. The smell alone makes me tend to believe him.

Ravioli, potted meat, two canned hams, some fruitcocktail, beanee weenees, and some other canned junk should hold me for a while. Sherry also taught me about some weeds that can be eaten. I recognize them but I keep forgetting the names. I nibbled on some wild ruffage last night to keep things moving because that canned stuff totally kills my digestive track. TMI but true.

I shouldn't feel as good as I do but ... well ... I do. For one thing I've made killer time today. I found these really cool inline skates and they've been as good as a bike. Even better because I can manuever with them better than I could a bike. And I only took one header when I hit a crack in the side walk running - er, skating - from a group that had marked a whole city block as their territory since the last time we passed through there. Luckily in addition to the skates I found the knee and elbow pads and a helmet at the same time. It was in this store that sold sports and exercise equipment. I went in there looking for some tape for my bat handle. I walked out with some clean clothes - totally rocking the sports bra thing - a new rain proof jacket with a hood, and a couple of other odds and ends that I found back in the camping area. The place was a wreck but I also managed to grab some first aid junk and some thirst quencher gum and some of those whacked out energy bars. Mom would have had a kitten over the number of carbs in these things but hey, a girl needs some energy if she is going to run ... or skate ... away from the puss brains.

I try and balance eating the "carb bars" and the "protein bars" because too many carbs and I get tired, too many proteins and my kidneys feel like someone kicked them. The carb bars have a lot of sugars in them which is why I want to take a snooze after they run out. Doc says the protein bars are hard on people's waste disposal system when they don't get enough water to help process them through. I guess I learned something from Doc after all.

And I'm jazzing on one of those five-hour energy drinks. I need to sleep but I can't afford to, not tonight anyway. I couldn't find a real secure place so I've got to be my own guard since I don't have anyone to share the job with. If the map I found in the bus station is right as soon as I get on the other side of the warehouse district I should be real near one of the bridges. The question is whether I can get across the bridges on this side of the city. The ones on the other side were blown up by the soldiers or something like that and another one fell down when a barge hit one of the those things that hold the bridge up out of the river.

I've seen the bridges though not up close. Moses always said it was a waste of time and energy to go that way because even if we could figure out a way to get across the broken bridge spans people on the other side of of the river didn't want us and would shoot us to keep us bottled up with the puss brains. In the beginning that was true, Sherry and I saw it happen before we joined Moses' group. It was so bad that people just stopped trying to get across. But I figure enough time has passed that surely they wouldn't care about one girl wanting to go home. It isn't like I expect anyone to feed me or anything. I just want to go home one more time.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Part Four

Total suckage. I fell asleep and drooled all over my notebook. At least I didn't wake up to a puss brain drooling all over me. I guess I was so tired or wasted or whatever that the five-hour drink didn't work. Or maybe that stuff is getting old and losing its oomph. I know that after watching one of the girls in our group die of food poisoning I learned to be real careful and read the lables of stuff to see when it expired. Guess I need to check the exp dates on everything again just to be on the safe side.

It will give me something to do because right now I'm not going anywhere. It's raining and I betcha by the time it stops it will be too close to getting dark again. I stepped out of my refuge to take care of business in the rain and I saw quite a few puss brains heading the way I had come the day before. That's when I noticed there was an extra pee-you to the air despite the rain and turned to see a great big tower of smoke coming from downtown. Something is on fire, something big. The rain doesn't look like it is putting it out.

Fire is one of the things that freaked Doc out and would get him drinking. He worried that someone would start a fire, lose control of it, and it would "engulf the entire city and leave us with no escape except to jump into the river and try and swim across." Then he would shudder because of course Doc can't swim. It was one of his phobias.

But hey, Mom always said there was no loss without some small gain and boy did I gain when I picked this office to hole up in. It didn't look like much to begin with. This area of town was kinda rundown before, but since they closed the city off it has got even worse. And there's enough people left in the city, and enough time has passed, that most places have been turned inside out for edibles and drugs. The front area had been worked over already and I was flush so all I was really looking for was a place to sleep.

I stumbled into the back area and it took me a while to figure out that this placed must have been some kind of stock and supply business ... the kind that filled vending machines, gumball machines, and candy counters. Holy diabetic shock Batman, I hit the mother load.

My brother Toddie and his friends were like junk food afficianados. Dad thought it was a riot, Mom not so much. Geez those guys would come up with the craziest things in scouts. For example, their troop had this cooking contest and one of the areas was called "microwave breakfast." It was supposed to get the guys more self sufficient but I think it was just a way for them to goof off and gross each other out. Only as gross as the recipe Toddie and his team came up with it actually tasted pretty good. Even Mom admitted it. And it only took three ingredients: a small bag of frito chips, a box of cracker jacks, and a little bit of marshmallow fluff.

First they pulverized the chips until they were basically just powder. Then they mased the cracker jacks until they were small bits. From there you added enough fluff to to the "frito powder" to make a really dense paste which you then microwaved for fifteen seconds. You took that out of the microwave, topped it with some smashed cracker jacks and a dollop of fluff and you wound up with what they called "fluffy grits with caramel crumble." It should have been totally gross. It wasn't. I later found out that it wasn't even their recipe exactly but one they read in this book called "Junk Foodie" or something like that.

My back pack is now so stuffed I won't absolutely have to look for edibles for quite a while ... maybe a whole three weeks. 'Course I will anyway if I get the chance. Never look a gift horse in the mouth and food is a gift of sorts these days. People in the city are going to be starving soon. Some might already be. The Puss Brains will run out of people and stuff to eat and then they'll find some way out of the city come heck or highwater. Will it happen tomorrow? I don't think so, especially not with the horde to keep them entertained. Could it happen before winter gets here? Maybe but the puss brains kinda get slow during really cold weather. Will it have happened by spring? Yeah ... yeah I am pretty sure it will happen by then. And I want to be gone and hiding some place safe before that happens.

Guess what I ate for lunch? Never mind, you'll never guess. French onion soup! ROFL! The last time I had it was the day Mom and I ... never mind. It's a good memory but one that hurts too much to write down. But this particular soup I ate was another one of Toddie's experiments. You take onion rings ... like funyuns or those that Utz sells ... and a small bag of Cheetos. Yes, I said Cheetos.

Directions for Toddie's French onion soup: place twelve onion rings in a bowl and cover them with two cups of water of boiling water. Then you mash the heck out of the Cheetos sprinkle that over the top of the soggy onion rings and let it sit just long enough for a lot of the hot water to get absorbed. Then you close your eyes and pretend you aren't totally grossed out and eat it. It really isn't bad. Pretty salty though and it makes you thirsty. But at least it doesn't cramp my guts all up like eating another can of beans would.

And for dessert I had what Dad used to call a Virgin Black Russian. You mix a bottle of Yoohoo chocolate drink with a can of Coca-cola and then you use a Twizzler as a straw. Mom hated them and not even Toddie liked them but to Dad and I they were "our" drink. Sometimes, when he would have to work odd hours, he would come home really stressed out about a case. My bedroom was right across from the kitchen because it used to be the old laundry room and I would hear him moving around. He would always tell me to go back to bed but I would make us "our" drink and we would sit in the kitchen and not talk. But I think it made him feel better all the same. When our glasses were empty and we were done not talking he would say, "Better clean these up and put them away so your mother doesn't wake up to dirty dishes." We'd do what needed doing and then he'd make sure I was tucked back in bed and he'd go slowly down the hallway.

I wound up crying half way through my dessert and blowing snot bubbles. I don't cry very much anymore, not near as much as the men in the group used to accuse me of, but once in a while you just have to let it out or you're gonna blow up.

Tomorrow I'm gonna have to move whether it is still raining or not. I peeked out the back door of this place and the fire is getting bigger. Not a lot but it has definitely spread. In fact, I think I'm going to go ahead and pack up and see how far I can get. I can't wear my skates or I'll break my neck, but I can at least get a little further along. Maybe a lot further along.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Five

Jerry was a jerk. He died a jerk. Or will die. Well not die exactly but he'll probably wish he had for a while until he forgets who he is. He always said that if he got infected he would just off himself. I'm thinking the bully is too big a coward to do it though. He got away but not before getting nibbled on. The smaller the dose of infection the longer it will take him to go over to the dark side and the more pain he'll be in until he does. I had to work to make myself feel bad about that.

They never even knew I was there thank goodness. They were making way too much noise; Moses would have slapped them up side their heads fast and hard for being so sloppy. But I didn't see Moses or Sherry. I don't know if they made it or not. Good luck to them if they did. It isn't healthy to hold grudges.

I was up on the bridge trying to remember all the bragging that Jerry had done about working maintenance on the bridges and how, even if the spans were down, there was a way for work crews to get across. There's like scaffolding that runs under the road onthe edge on each side of the bridge. So it is like the black top can disappear but there is still a skeleton that will help you cross. Only it is really freaky because there is no floor on the maintenance crosswalk. You have to wear these harnesses like mountain climbers do and just walk across metal beams.

Holy frijoli, I was ready to blow chunks just thinking about it once I'd gotten up there and seen how high everything really was. That's when I spotted them being chased by a small group of puss brains. I recognized Jerry right away because of that stupid hard hat he always wears. Once I recognized him I recognized the rest of them though I couldn't make out their faces. Hardly any of the old group made it apparently ... or maybe some went with Moses or ... it really doesn't matter anymore. They left me so I've gotta leave them.

I bet they were following Jerry's lead and had come to do just what I was doing. He'd always said if we wanted to get out of the city that was going to be the best way. No one really listened to him because Jerry bragged alot. Or maybe it wasn't his bragging so much as the simple fact that he was such a jerk. For whatever reason they were listening to him then ... only instead of making it to the bridge they got cut off and got stuck out on a pier with nowhere left to run. They were getting a dingy off a tug that was moored to the pier when one of the puss brains broke through the group's defenses and came straight at Jerry who had been supervising rather than working to get it done faster. Chomp. Chomp.

McDowell threw Jerry out of the boat when he tried to get in and then those that remained started paddling with their hands to get away. Haven't the foggiest if they'll make it. Once they get near the center of the river there is no way paddling hands are going to control where it goes. If they're lucky it will just take them in the current and carry them off until they hit dry land somewhere down the way. If they aren't careful though they'll flip over where it gets rough.

I was really worried that Jerry would come back and try his old plan out without the rest of them so I opened the maintenance locker at the foot of the bridge and sure enough the harnesses were right where he said they would be. It took me a while to figure out how to put one on and when I did it was all baggy and stuff.

That was like the longest four hours in my entire life. It was dark by the time I got to the other end of the bridge and I kept expecting someone to shoot me. I was afraid to call out and afraid not to. Espcially when I saw how clear of cars and junk that the road was. Well there were leaves and that sort of trash in the road but nothing big. No skeletons or anything either like if someone had been shooting at anyone that crossed the river. There wasn't any kind of sounds at all except regular ol' night sounds. So I started walking. Carefully.

The moonlight was pretty decent until the clouds came back then I was nearly blind as a bat so I found a building and crawled inside. It had been stripped bare but not like someone had done it in a panic. There were broken out windows but I didn't know where the glass had gone because it had all been swept up; none crunched under my boots at all.

I curled up in a room labeled janitor's closet and fell asleep. I woke up having to go to the bathroom really bad. I almost didn't make it I was so careful about getting out in case there was someone around. Necessities taken care of it was light enough for me to really look around.

I'm telling you the dead city never felt as empty as that stretch of road did. Every building had been stripped. Every vehicle had been stripped down to the metal frame. The place was so neat that it looked like a movie set. It was spooky weird. There was no trash anyplace. Not for at least three or four blocks on either side of the road the bridge fed into. I didn't go any further than that.

Instead I started walking towards home. That's when I noticed the other weird thing. It didn't smell. I mean there were smells but they were proper smells, the kind you would expect to smell if the world was operating sorta semi-normally except cleaner. What I wasn't smelling were puss brains. I looked around and I didn't see any of their waste. I mean they weren't exactly shy of where they dumped so I should have seen some.

By the time the sun was straight over head I bet I'd gone about five miles and still no people and everything was that weird kind of freaky neat. I decided to take a chance and sat down to put on my skates. I knew from the map I was still a good forty miles from home and that I wouldn't get there in one day but I was going to get there faster by skate than I would by feet alone.

A quick hour later I noticed that things started to deteriorate. I was hitting the suburbs that were closest to the city. Here most of the houses had some kind of X or O on their front. Some people had spray painted messages like "GONE TO GRAN'S" or "HEAD TO UNCLE ALBERT'S". There were numbers on some of the houses but I can't imagine what they are. Some had too many to be phone numbers and some had too few.

I had to slow down as there were more cars in the road. Things weren't totally trashed but they weren't as neat as down by the river. Then I saw a delapidated sign hung across a big church. "RED CROSS STAGING AREA". I skated that direction, but cautiously. Hospitals weren't the healthiest places to be and usually they were good for housing at least one or two puss brains if not more.

Inside the "staging area" was a mess. I didn't find any puss brains but I did find the morgue. The bodies were like a lot that we ran across in the city; nature had do what it was programmed to do and there weren't any serious fluids left after a year. They weren't mummies exactly though, more like raisins. And a lof of them looked like they'd taken what Moses called a Mercy shot to the back of the head or the temple ... a few took it in the forehead. A few must have done for themselves because the shot came from below the chin. You could tell where the bullet went in at because the exit hole was bigger and nastier ... sometimes real nasty.

It was depressing. I don't know what I expected once I left the city but not the emptiness I've found. I want to know where all the people have gone. They had to have gone someplace. I know a lot of people are dead. I saw that with my own eyes as it happened in the city. But if outside the city was as dead as inside the city there'd be bodies all over the place out here too. Not this ... this ... whatever it is.

Maybe they've moved people to someplace safe. But around here seems pretty safe. I haven't seen any puss brains. But somebody took all of the stuff. The groups in the city salvaged too but they sure weren't this neat. This looks like somebody's housekeeper did it. Or somebody's mom. Kinda to the point of being OCD.

I'm actually glad things are looking a little messier than they did at first. That painful cleanliness was hard to take. It was so fake.

I gotta sleep. Too much thinking.
 

CGTech

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Kathy, I think you are taking out the sense of Spiritual Desperation that seems to be pervading everything and everyone at this time. That being said, this is one heck of a story! May things in your life start improving soon!
 

nancy98

Veteran Member
Kathy, I haven't started to read this story yet but just want you to know that I am so sorry your life is stressful right now. I hope everything smooths out for you soon. ((((HUGS))))
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Six

They starved them! They starved the puss brains! That's why I haven't seen a bunch of live ones. They pulled back, stripped everything as they went, and then somehow funneled the puss brains toward the river and back towards the city where a lot of them came from in the first place. That is so totally freaky!

I know what happened because I came to a wall ... a concrete block wall made up of those big things they build the interstate overpasses with. They look like giant, concrete leggo blocks and fit together just about the same way. The wall stretched for a long way in both directions. It was crap to climb I tell you that much. Especially with my pack. I finally had to tie a rope to it, climb to the top of the wall which was a good fifteen feet high, and then use the rope to pull the pack up to where I was sitting.

I looked around from up high and saw ... nothing. One side of that big concrete fence didn't look much different than the other side. It reminded me a little bit of the Great Wall of China only not as tall. It stretched as far as I could see in both directions. It looked like they'd used a highway so it would stand up straight without falling over. I found out later that it was also so they wouldn't have to bulldoze down any buildings as they were running out of time.

I lowered my pack and then climbed down; going down was definitely easier than going up. I decided to leave my skates off for a while and look around. The buildings on this side were stripped too but not as neatly. Then I walked into this real estate office and I smelled it. I hadn't smelled it since I'd left the city but I sure smelled it then. Not even that morgue had smelled like this.

It felt like it took me forever to pull my bat and get ready. I was mad at myself for getting careless. Then I saw it chewing on one of those cheap naugahide sofas like it tasted bad and I knew I wouldn't get a better chance.

SPLAT!!

I looked around and listened but I didn't hear another one. I was wiping my bat off with a curtain when a voice said, "Thanks Kid."

I turned around swinging but didn't hit anything but wall. "Damn Kid, guess I better be glad my leg is busted or my head would be as flat as Henry's there."

I looked down and there was this man sitting in the door way of one of the offices. He didn't look too healthy, like he was hurting in places he didn't know he had. Saw a lot of that in the city. I probably looked the same. I started to back up and he said, "What's your rush? Do I look like something to be afraid of? Look at the shape I'm in."

I just looked at him. "Silent type are you?"

I still wasn't biting.

"Geez I suck at this. Why do I always get stuck with the special cases?"

I snapped, "I'm no one's special case."

"Hah, so you do have a tongue in that head of yours."

A little in spite I told him, "You talk funny ... sound funny I mean. You aren't from around here."

"Nope. Born in North Carolina but I've been travelling quite a lot since then. And since we are on the subject of origins you want to give me yours?"

I suddenly noticed the patch on his shirt and tried not to get excited but I figured I had a way to test the man in front of me. "Who is the Sheriff around here?"

"No clue Kid. Liberated this from a cruiser out back a couple of days ago when some woman yacked all over me. That's when Henry here decided he wanted to dance and I busted my leg."

"Why are you calling that puss brain Henry? Was that his name before he got sick?"

"Yeah. Or at least that is the name on the tag on his shirt. You probably can't see it beneath the mess you made."

I had fallen silent again, losing the little bit of hope that I had. Stupid.

"You gonna tell me where you're from or not?"

"Not." We just stared at each other and I figured out he was trying to play tough. He didn't know me anymore than I knew him. "Are you thirsty?"

"Hell yeah. You got any water?"

I took a bottle of water out of a pocket on the side of the back pack and rolled it towards him. "Cautious type huh?"

I shrugged. But when he started to chug the water I told him, "Ease up or you're gonna puke."

He gave me an irritated look but then nodded and set the bottle down. "This all you got?"

"You can keep it. I've got a filter."

"Filter huh? Those things are only good if you've got something to filter in the first place. Take this kid. Can't promise there isn't backwash in it but ..."

"I said you can keep it. I know how to make do. Besides there's an artisian fountain over by the Baptist church on third street."

"All fountains and water sources were turned off and capped by order of the Governor months ago."

I shrugged. "Unless somebody from the church did it, there's still a spigot in the baptismal."

"Take it you're from around here."

I shook my head. "A friend from school used to go there. Her uncle was the minister."

"That still means you are from around here close."

I shrugged. He let it go.

"Kid. I need my pack. I gotta call in. I been out of touch for over 48 hours. Don't want to give them the idea that I up and died on them or anything. There's a Ford Explorer three buildings down on the other side of the road. Give me a hand to get over there ... or if you won't do that at least give me a hand to get up off this floor."

I looked at him and looked good. He had a buzz cut that was graying around the edges and really hard features. Especially his eyes. They were like chips of ice. He could play at anything he wanted to but I knew a hard case when I saw one.

"Are you a criminal?"

"Hell no Kid. What gave you that idea?"

"The top dog of the group I was with was a criminal before the puss brains attacked the city jail and he escaped. You've got the same kind of hard eyes."

"When the hell were you in the city? Are you telling me that's where you came from? Dammit. That means the ... ARGH!" He'd tried to stand up and had done something to his leg.

I sighed. Then backed up. "Are there any more puss brains around?"

Sweating he said, "Puss brains? That what you call the infected people?"

"Yeah. If you've cracked open a few you know why."

"Yeah," he said in disgust. "Yeah I do. But you're too damn young to know what the inside looks like."

"No one is too young. You figure it out or you become puss brain chow." I repeated, "Are there anymore around?"

He shook his head. "Naw, not that I've seen. This guy shouldn't have been around. This area gets sanitized on a regular basis. Shouldn't be any more."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah well, Shouldn't Bees still sting." He gave me a funny look and I shrugged. "Something my dad used to say. He said his mom used to say it to him alot when he was a boy."

"Yeah. Got a few of those rattling around in my head too. So Kid, gonna give me a hand up?"

"No. I'll bring your junk to you though. If there are any puss brains around you'll just slow me down too much."

"Hell's bells," I heard him mutter as I backed up and then turned out the door.

I was much more cautious. Sanitized or not where there was one puss brain there could be more. But my luck was in and I made it to the truck he'd told me about with no problems. Except for the fact that it was locked. But after being around Moses and some of the other people in the group locked vehicles were not a problem. The slim jim didn't work on the truck door because it was a newer model but punching the lock never failed, I just didn't like doing it because it was loud in all the quiet.

Fifteen minutes later I was huffing and puffing as I dragged in the man's stuff. "Geez, you got lead in this stuff or what?"

The guy had been attempting to crawl to the door but stopped, slack jawed when I appeared. "Well damn Kid, you really did come back."

"I said I would."

"Yes you did. Now hand me that radio and I'll get us a ride out of here."

I wasn't sure what to make of that bit of news so I let it slide. He'd gotten kinda bent when I asked him if he was a criminal so he probably didn't think of himself as one. I knew he wasn't a cop because he all but admitted it. But he was something and his gear looked all military and stuff. That still didn't mean doodly squat. I wasn't going to be dumb enough to take candy from a bad man.

From all the noise on the other end of the radio it sounded like whoever he was talking to was happy to hear from him. They didn't talk long and it was mostly in what sounded like code but he looked pretty satisfied when they signed off. "They'll be here midmorning. We'll catch us a ride and I'll get this leg looked after."

"I can look at it if you want me to ... but no ... you know ... stuff."

"Huh?"

"Look, I may not be much but I didn't let the others drive me to that. And I learned a few things from Doc and I can at least make sure it is set right. But not if you want something ... and since you're a grown man I shouldn't have to spell it out to you."

"Kid you aren't making any sense. You ..." He slowed to a stop and then sighed. "Aw hell. I guess you are after all. You musta had some guy mess with you. Well I ain't that kind. If I was Major Jeffries would have strung me up a long time ago. She and Colonel Matthews don't tolerate that kind of thing. Not for any reason."

"Are you in the military?"

"National Guard. Or what's left of it."

"OK. But just so we're clear. And no one has messed with me. Moses wouldn't let them. If I had said yes that would have been different but he said girls had to be willing. The other girls did it but I never did. It's gross."

"We're clear Kid. Moses your top dog you mentioned?"

"He wasn't mine, he was Sherry's. They still left me behind though so don't think just because you have eyes like Moses it means anything to me."

I went to work and then gave him what for. "This is a total sucky job. No wonder it hurts. Nothing is broken that I can feel, you've just knocked it out of whack. And what's the big idea of cutting off the circulation? Good way to give yourself a dead leg."

"Ok. Ok you little spitfire. My skin is tender enough as it is, you don't need to rake me over the coals and make it worse."

I snorted but left off. For a big guy he was pretty good at not hitting out while I was hurting him but I could tell he was in a lot of pain anyway. When I was done stabilizing the knee the way Doc had shown me I leaned back and pulled the first aid bag out of my pack. "Percoset or Tylenol? The percoset will make you feel better but the Tylenol won't slow you down ... or at least not more than you already are."

"Tylenol." I handed him two extra strength and he dry swallowed them.

He leaned back and was breathing heavy then I realized it really stank and knew I'd have to move "Henry" if we didn't want to have to smell him all night. I stood up and went to do what had to be done but the man reached out and grabbed my calf so fast I nearly screamed. I got loose and backed away and found myself in the worst place you could be ... a corner.

"Hey Kid. Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you like that. Just ... I'm a little jumpy and Henry there ... we need to make sure he won't get back up."

"He won't," I said cautiously looking for an out. "I felt the crack all the way up the bat to my hands."

"Yeah well, pardon me if I would feel better when I see a bullet properly lodged where it belongs. I need my gun."

"No you don't. Besides how are you going to hit it from the other side of the counter? You need to stay put."

"You shoot him."

I sighed forlornly. "I can't hit the broad side of a barn, not even this close. My glasses are all scratched. I could hit him again but that'll just make a bigger mess for me to clean up. Let me drag him out and I'll put something through its heart if it bothers you that much."

He gave me a weird look. "You been on the street a long time."

It was a statement not a question so I didn't lie as I pulled "Henry" off the sofa and started to drag him outside. "Since the first attack or whatever you want to call it. Mom and I had gone to the city to look for a homecoming dress that wouldn't freak my dad out too much. I was going with Lee Berio."

I kept tugging and eventually got the body out to the side walk and then used a piece of broken furniture from the next store over to make double sure like I had told the man I would. I came back in and saw him tuck the radio back down.

I looked at him suspiciously and he nodded. "Yeah, I was talking to base. Gonna make something of it Kid?"

"Not so long as that is what you are really doing. I don't want to wind up some slave girl or anything disgusting like that."

"Damn you've got some imagination."

"You try living in the city with your only protectors a criminal, a high priced hooker, and a doctor that is also a druggie and you see how much trust you got."

"And you got a hell of a mouth on you too."

"So? It's not like we're besties or anything. I don't even know your name."

"Watson. Sgt. Watson to you Short Stuff."

"I'm not short. I'm height-challenged. The school nurse said so."

"Oh she did did she?"

"He said so. Don't be so sexist. We're way beyond the 20th century you know."

"Don't remind me." But he was grinning.

I wanted to but I still wasn't sure I trusted him. He kinda reminded me of some of my dad's friends but a girl can't be too careful. Men are weird.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"If you tell me your name."

"Why?"

"Would you rather me call you Short Stuff?"

I thought it over. "DeeDee. Why was that puss brain such a light weight? He should have weighed more?"

"DeeDee?" He started laughing so hard he bumped his leg and then had to bite off what I figured was a lot of bad words. After he got his breath back he asked, "Seriously? Your name is DeeDee?"

"Yeah. It's not like I had a lot of say in what my parents picked out so I just have learned to live with it."

He laughed again but then settled down as I cleaned my hands with the Everclear and dumped the scissors I had used to cut his pants in a tupperware container and poured some of the booze over them and then put the lid on and set it aside.

"Who taught you that?" he asked.

"Doc."

"The druggie?"

"Yeah. So what about it? Why was Henry ..."

"... such a lightweight?"

I nodded and that's when I found out about them starving the puss brains. After he explained he said, "There were too many to corral and after the doctors explained that there was no cure for the condition everyone agreed there were simply too many to euthanize like we'd been doing. No one really thought it was a great idea but it was the safest one for the uninfected and the kindest for the ... the ones you call the puss brains."

"Did anyone think there might be some people ... uninfected people ... still in the city?"

"Kid ... DeeDee ... like I said, no one thought it was a great idea. And by the time they got around to it the cities had been cut off. We thought anyone left would be one of the infecteds and we had no way to screen people for bites and other wounds."

The world was hard and it wasn't fair. I knew that. Still, it had sucked to be me.

"I guess. Are you hungry?"

"Hell yeah. Push the rest of my pack this way and we'll split some rations." He started digging around and pulled out a sealed pouch. "Hadn't even gotten around to opening this up yet."

He pulled the tape off, looked inside, and then made a face. "That jackass Mendelsohn." He sighed. "Well Kid, it ain't gonna be great but it'll fill most of the empty spaces. You want ginger ale or this lime tea crap?"

"What else you got?"

"Not much." He proceeded to pull out a package of saltines, a small can of Vienna sausages, a can of sterno, and a can of creamed corn.

I looked it over and said, "OK. You gonna go berserk if we light your sterno in here?"

"That's what its for Kid."

I pulled out the mess kit I had found and popped open the creamed corn and poured it in one of the pots. Pulled out a bag of fried potato sticks and crunched them up a little and put them over the top of the corn then dug the cheese out of a package of cheese dip and glooped that on top of the potato sticks. I wiped out the can the corn had come in and then cut some air holes into its sides. Then I lit the sterno and set the can of the top of it. When I was sure the sterno wasn't going to go out I set the mess kit pan with the corn and junk in it on top of the can.

Sgt. Watson just watched me through slitted eyes as he leaned back. I could see the pain lines around his mouth and eyes.

Next I pulled out the kabob sticks that I had made months ago as I'd learned to make do with whatever the group let me have. I threaded the Vienna sausages on them and set them to the side. Next I took an empty water bottle and filled it half way with the tea and the other half with the ginger ale and mixed it together.

"That's gonna taste like ... er ... crap."

"It might surprise you."

Soon enough the weird dinner was finished and in our bellies.

"You know Kid, that wasn't near as bad as I expected it to be."

"Told you."

"Smart mouth."

"Yeah, well you aren't going to like what comes next."

He looked at me suspiciously. "What? Did you poison me?"

"Don't be silly. No. You gotta get up so you can go do your business. You're lucky though. You're a guy so all you have to do is point and shoot."

"Damn Kid!"
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Seven

Figuring out how to get him into a closet big enough wasn't the problem. It was that he insisted that I stay in there with him.

"Oh no I won't."

"Oh yes you will. No way am I going to let some scrawny, pint size girl child sleep off on her own when their might be infecteds roaming around. What? You're all of twelve?"

"Twelve?! I'm fifteen!!"

"Well hello Methuselah's grandmaw. And stop shouting. ]i\I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. How the heck am I supposed to know how old you are?"

I was mad for about two seconds and then I smiled. "OK, you just proved it."

"Proved what?" he asked grumpily.

"Most guys would have looked at my chest and seen I'm more than all grown in that area."

Even in the dusk I could see his face go red. "Aw hell's bells Kid. Don't start that kind of talk. And you're not going to distract me. Fifteen or not you're still not going to ..."

We went back and forth a little while but I gave in since he'd let me fight it out and hadn't tried to make me no matter how much he growled and threatened.

Next morning we split some cold poptarts and powdered sugar doughnuts and chased it with some cheap knock off orange breakfast drink.

"What have you got in that pack? Aladdin's lamp? You make a wish and your favorite junk food spews forth?"

Rather than answer him I threw a packet of instant coffee at him. "You are as bad as Toddie in the morning."

Flipping the brown packet around in his hand he gave me a troubled look. "Kid, this could bring you a pretty penny on the barter market."

I shrugged. "I've got more. It's not like I drink it. Dad would kill me. He says I can't have coffee until I'm eighteen."

When I saw Sgt. Watson giving me a funny look I thought back and realized I sounded a little crazy. I sighed. "Sorry. I'm not used to having anyone to really talk to."

"Thought you mentioned you talked to this Sherry chick and that you were in a group of about twenty people."

"OK, let me rephrase that," I said trying to sound like I had some sense and didn't belong on a crazy farm. "I'm not used to people actually listening to what I say so I could say just about anything and not have it mean nothing."

He grinned a little reluctantly and told me, "My sister the teacher would call that a double negative."

I shrugged. "Grammar. It's just not as important as it used to be."

He nodded. "Maybe not but words can still get you into trouble and out of it. For instance, don't be so free with that stuff you keep sharing out of your pack; save it for when you really need it. I'll keep what you gave me and be happy to, but you make sure you keep your mouth shut on the rest of what you got. We got a tight ship going but we still have trouble makers and no-goods. No need to create a situation with too much temptation."

No time like the present. "I never said I was going with you."

He smiled which made me suspicious. "I figured you might try and pull this. And no, I'm not angry at you; I would probably feel the same way you do. Just wait until our ride gets here to make your decision."

It was at that moment that his radio crackled and they said something that basically meant that they'd be there in five minutes.

"Let's pack up this trash Kid and hide it until you can dig a hole and get rid of it privately."

We'd finished that and then there was the sound of a couple of trucks coming down the street. Big trucks. I went to stick my head out but Sgt. Watson pulled me back and said, "Not until we know for sure. Could be anyone. You need to be more careful." I shrugged and let him lead. It was his show. Besides Moses was always saying basically the same thing.

He picked up his radio and clicked it a couple of times. Then someone clicked something back. Then he clicked it again. And then a voice called, "Hey Watson, where you at? Got a medic and she sure is anxious to get a look at you. Allll o' you."

I covered my mouth when I noticed how red Sgt. Watson's face got all of a sudden. The Sgt. had a girlfriend. He radioed back to let him know his position and I started edging away. "Oh no you don't kid. Just one more minute."

"Why? You can't talk me into something I don't want to do."

He nodded. "I know I can't. I'm hoping that someone else can though."

"Not your girlfriend."

"Nope."

I turned as the door that faced the street opened and in walked four people while some others took up positions just outside. The first in was a long legged blonde. Even without makeup she looked like she belonged in a fancy magazine. She had what I was never going to have but the smile on her face made me somehow less jealous of that fact than I could have been. There was another woman with her and then the two guys. One was dressed in military fatigues but the other was dressed in the kind of clothes that the swat team wore. Then I saw the patch and I jerked my eyes to the guy's face.

I sighed in disappointment and looked away. I didn't recognize him either. That's when he said, "What's wrong DeeDee, don't you know me?"

I jerked my eyes back to his face and he took off his raybans. He'd cut his hair short, a lot shorter than he'd ever had it. And it was done in a flat top just like his dad's always was. He had a mustache like his dad too only it was kind of puny in comparison. I swallowed twice before any sound would come out. "Lee?"

Then he grinned and the hair and other changes didn't matter. "Have you seen my dad?" I asked.

Lee's smile dimmed. "I'm ... I'm sorry DeeDee."

I had promised myself I wouldn't cry and I didn't, but it was a near thing. "It's not like I wasn't already pretty certain. But I had to ask. You know?"

"Sure. Of course. I would have done the same thing," he said uncomfortably.

I could feel the others watching and it made me self conscious. Still I felt I had to be polite. "Your dad?"

"He's ... he's working with the National Guard, handles the local security while they handle the overall stuff."

"Oh."

"Uh ... what about your mom?"

"She disappeared in the city."

"My mom too. She was working at the hospital and ... anyway, what were you doing in the city? I mean why weren't you at school like the rest of us?"

"Dad said I could play hookie so that Mom and I could go find a dress for the dance." He just looked at me blankly. "Homecoming? Remember? Or ... uh ... maybe you don't. I guess ..."

"No ... no I remember it's just ... you mean you went into the city because of me?"

Then suddenly it was just Lee standing there and I was just DeeDee. "Don't be a doof. Not because of you, because of a dress. And I found it too. Would have knock you right out of your socks. It was mint colored and had only one strap. But it covered all the vitals so my dad and your mom wouldn't have had kittens or anything."

Quietly he said, "I wish I could have seen you in it."

"You can. Or you could if I could find something to load my cell phone card onto. I wanna go home."

The last four words just sort of fell out of my mouth and I started shaking. And I had to either shake or cry so I just kept shaking because I sure wasn't going to cry in front of Lee Berio.

His eyes widened and he had the nearly panicked look of a guy faced with a crying girl. Only I wasn't crying so I can't imagine how bad he'd be if I had let the waterworks turn on. "Oh ... Hey sure. I'll take you there myself after Dad let's me off duty. He'll wanna see you. You bet he will. A lot of people will. They want to know where you've been at this whole time. So do I. Why did it take you this long to decide to try and come back?"

"We thought people would shoot us if we tried to cross the river," I whispered, trying to push sound around the lump in my throat. Not answering though wasn't an option. Moses had programmed that into me pretty good.

"There's nobody manning that check point; hasn't been for a long time."

"There used to be. I saw it. They shot at anything that got passed the half way point whether it was on the bridge or on the river. Then for a while the waterside area was too dangerous because of the gangs. Lee, can I not talk about this right now. I just wanna go home."

I saw Lee look at the woman that was taking care of Sgt. Watson. The Sergeant and the lady had been whispering. She looked at me and said, "My name is Maria ... Maria Riccardo."

"You don't look Spanish."

"Cuban believe it or not. Some of us are very blonde and blue eyed."

"Oh."

"I'd like you to come back and let me check you over at the clinic. It is kind of routine. Once you get a clean bill of health you can go with your friend Lee here."

I didn't like the sound of it and it must have showed on my face because Lee said, "It's no big deal DeeDee. Everyone that comes back from an outside patrol or a salvage run goes through the clinic. It's SOP so that we don't ... you know ..."

"So you can't hide an infection or something like that. They don't want any potential puss brains roaming around their precious streets."

The Riccardo woman said, "No. We don't. Can you blame us?"

I shrugged. "No. Just don't pretend we are going to your clinic to be nice. You just want to make sure I'm not contagious."

"Alright. I admit it."

"Fine. So long as we have that straight. No fake stuff."

She shook her head. "No fake stuff," she agreed.

I jumped when Lee tried to take my pack. "It's mine. I'll carry it."

"OK," he said putting his hands up in surrender. "You don't need to make such a case out of it."

Then we heard someone scream.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Eight

I said, "Hey Sarge. I think we found some more of your shouldn't bees."

"Shut up Kid and keep your head down. There's almost a dozen infecteds out there. That's a big group."

"Oh that's nothing. You should see how lively they get when they form hordes."

The puss brains suddenly rushed the guy that had stayed nearest the trucks. Everyone else just sort of froze. "What are you all waiting for?!" I shouted. "He's going to get chomped it we don't do something."

"We can't shoot, we'll hit the trucks!"

"Who said anything about shooting?" I yelled and then ran outside and straight at the puss brains.

I heard someone scream but it wasn't me or the guy on the ground.

I had already taken two out with my bat when two of the soldiers came up and started helping me. They were using those crowd control batons like my Dad used to carry with when he wore his riot gear. We were down to one mobile puss brain when the guy that had been on the ground managed to get up and yanked my bat out of my hand and whaled on him until there wasn't a whole lot left above the shoulders.

I tapped him on the shoulder a couple of times before I finally got his attention. "Can I have my bat back now?"

The guy collapsed back against the truck and started yanking at his shirt. He had some kind of long sleeved shirt on under it and it yanked that one off too and started looking his his arms and the rest of him. I got a good look too. Wow. Definitely closet poster material.

Then the guy starts praying. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. And bless the inventor of kevlar whereever he is."

I picked up my bat where the guy had dropped it and the t-shirt too which I felt and realized it felt like Dad's bullet proof vest. I handed it to him when Lee came up and snapped, "Put your shirt on Cochran. Stop showing off."

Cochran gave Lee an irritated look. Before any more guy drama could start Medic Riccardo stepped between them and busted out with some orders concerning the puss brain corpses. Then she looked at me with pinched lips but if she thought that was going to put me in my place she was sadly mistaken. Moses was much better with the fire and brimstone than she was and I wasn't scared of her.

I walked over to find Sgt. Watson trying to get up. "Dammit, give me a hand kid. 'Cause when I get up I'm going to bust your butt so hard you aren't going to be able to sit down for a month of Sundays."

"Yeah, yeah. Why the freak out?"

"Why the freak out?! You charged not one but a dozen infecteds without any protective gear on!"

"So? They were going to chomp on that guy that fell over ... Cochran or whatever his name is."

"Everyone knows the risks when they accept an assignment to go outside the perimeter."

"I live outside your stupid perimeter so I don't know any other way. The rule is bash or be chomped. Moses said you don't pick fights with the puss brains but you don't let 'em chomp on a buddy either. Safety comes in numbers. You let all your buddies get chomped then you wind up all alone against a gazillion puss brains. Those odds just don't work long term."

"I'm getting a little sick of hearing about what this Moses guy had to say. If he was so great why did you leave?"

"I didn't leave, they left me. Although I was thinking of leaving. The men in the group were getting too ... stuff and junk."

"Stuff and ju ... er ... oh," Sgt. Watson said starting to calm down. "Well ..."

"Deep subject."

"Smart aleck."

"Maybe."

He sighed and shook his head and Lee came back over and asked, "What's up with you anyway? You never did stuff like this before. Your dad would have had a lot to say about it."

"Maybe yes and maybe no. Zombies weren't real before. They are now. It was either change or get chomped. Or have to find some man that wanted to 'protect' me. I don't want to be chomped and I sure don't want to be protected."

Talking like he was a lot older than he is he said, "There's nothing wrong with being protected DeeDee, especially when you are small like you are."

I was mad for two whole breaths but then Sgt. Watson told Lee, "Not the kind of protection you're thinking about."

"What other kind of protection is there?"

I looked at Sgt. Watson who had an irritated look on his face and then at Lee who was truly confused. I said, "Never mind Lee. Guys like you and Sgt. Watson will never get it. You're too nice."
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Nine

I rode to town in the back of one of the trucks trying to ignore the looks everyone was giving me. Lee was sitting beside me and had a grumpy face on that only got worse when that Cochran guy started talking to me.

"You really been in the city this whole time?"

"Yeah."

"For real?"

When I caught him popping a pose I had his number. "Less time working the six pack, more time developing your listening skills."

A couple of the guys in the back end snorted or tried to cover their mouths.

Cochran though only grinned after a brief surprise. "Dang. You're like my grandma's chihuahua. You may be small but you're fearless."

I gave him the look that kind of stupid deserved. No girl wants to be compared to a dog. He wasn't near as smooth as he thought he was. Dad had warned me plenty about guys like that so I decided the best thing to do would be to ignore him the same way I had ignored the men when they had started to try and sweet talk me.

We passed through two checkpoints and I got a good stare each time. I leaned over and whispered to Lee, "What's with the visual third degree? Do I have something growing someplace I can't see it?"

He leaned over and answered, "No. Word got around fast last night that you made it out of the city. You're the first since they built the wall. For some people that's enough. Others want to know how fast the infected are going to follow you out."

"Probably not before winter but maybe in the spring."

I felt Lee stiffen but before he could say something about my comment we pulled up in front of the old walk in clinic near the Little League fields. I jumped out of the truck but then almost jumped back in it when three people in space suits came out of the clinic doors. Lee grabbed me and said, "It's ok. Some folks are just extra stupid and make a big production about the sanitation process."

I didn't like the sound of that. "Sarge?! Sarge!"

"Whoa Kid," he said being helped over by a couple of guys from the other truck. "You charge twelve infecteds but are scared of those three turds?"

"Lee said sanitation! That's what you called getting rid of the puss brains!"

"Uh ... yeah. I did. Hmmm. Maybe bad choice of words."

Then one of the space suits said, "You'll do as you're told."

Medic Riccardo snapped, "Back off. This is my clinic and ..."

One of the other suits said, "You were warned Dr. Riccardo. Now you've been exposed. We believe that you are no longer objective and that you have been compromised and are incapable ..."

She hissed, "Oh for the love of ..."

Then the first guy makes a grab for me and says, "You're going to exam room one." I get a good look in the fact mask and can't help myself.

I start laughing. "Toby Holloway?!" I look at Lee and asked, "Tokin' Toby? Seriously? That's the best medical professional this place has to offer?!"

I'm rolling and Lee makes a face and then starts chuckling. Then he starts laughing too when the guy in the space suits starts cussing and making so much noise that it comes out sounding like a squawking chicken through the speaker thing he is wearing.

I said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Ain't no way I am letting Tokin' Toby get his nasty hands anywhere near me. Geez. He used to spy on the girls in the bathroom at school. Dad busted his chops twice that I know of and told his father that it didn't matter how many laundromats he owned, that if he caught Toby lighting up or spying one more time it was off to family court and juvie."

Toby made another grab at me and I clocked him so good in the boy parts with my bat that there was puke on the inside of the plastic mask when he finally stopped rolling around. "I said I don't want your nasty hands on me. What part of no did you not understand?"

About that time a man came up and calmly answered, "Most of it apparently."

I looked up and stood straighter. "Sheriff!"

He smiled and said, "Deandra Dawn. I wish your father could have seen this day. I see you finally learned to hit at what you were swinging at. That one would have been a home run for sure."

That did it. No matter how hard I tried I felt my eyes fill up and overflow. But I wasn't really crying. "Yes sir. I ... Did he ..."

"A drunk t-boned his cruiser going 90. There was no time for anything else. It happened about two hours after he came on shift that day ... even before we got word of what was happening in the city."

"I knew it had to be something for him to not answer my emergency text. I knew it. Dad would have ... would have ..."

The sheriff nodded like he was trying to contain big emotions. "Yes he would have," he agreed. "Now I want you to mind Dr. Riccardo here and let her take a look at you. You know your dad would have wanted to make sure that you were ok. Lee will go with you so you don't have to be scared. I'll be waiting to talk to you afterwards and we'll figure out what needs to be done. But I don't want you worrying about a thing. Understand young lady?" He gave me a one armed hug like he wanted to use two arms but worried about pushing some kind of boundary.

I nodded. What else was I supposed to do? He was the sheriff, my dad's boss, and his friend. He looked at Lee and gave him the what for glare that he'd always been good at giving. Lee said, "I'll stay with her dad."

"See that you do," he said then Dr. Riccardo the long-legged blonde led us into the clinic with Sgt. Watson being pushed in a wheelchair behind her. I would have thought he'd make a fuss about that until I realized it wasn't the doctor's bouncy ponytail that he was watching.
 

Jeepcats 3

Contributing Member
More edgy than usual but still characters that draw my interest.
Looking forward to more!

Sorry about the personal turmoil.
I don't know what it is this year but everyone seems to be off balance!
It is not the usual happy time.

Jeepcats3
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Ten

"Damn it Lee! I told you to stay with her!"

"Dad! She was changing her clothes!" There was a squeak of embarrassed outrage in Lee's voice but there was anger too. I kinda remember him having fun pounding on Toby after he pulled him off me but I went unconscious before I got to see who won.

I heard the sheriff growl and wanted to say it wasn't Lee's fault, that it was partly mine for hurting Toby's pride. And that I'd been beat on harder and lived to tell the tale. But mostly all I wanted to do was tell them to go away or be quiet because they were making my head hurt again.

As I lay there I realized there were other people in the room too. "Why is she taking so long to wake up?" That was sarge.

Blondie long-legs answered, "She's extremely malnourished, traumatized, sleep-deprived, and as verbally combative as she was I didn't even dare do a sex kit on her to see if she's been sexually abused. She's talks a good line however she all but admits that the men in the group she was part of before they abandoned her were attempting to molest her."

The sheriff growled, "She said that?"

"Not in those exact words. But she appears to have some emotional stunting. She is both extremely mature, yet extremely immature for a fifteen year old girl."

Lee muttered, "That's just DeeDee being DeeDee."

"Excuse me?" she asked.

The sheriff explained, "Witt ... her father ... was very protective. As a cop you see both the worst and the best of people ... but mostly the worst. He ... sheltered ... his daughter. Ask the daughter of any cop and you'll probably find the same thing. But with Witt it could be pretty heavy handed. Deandra Dawn didn't seem to be bothered by it, she never rebeled that I was aware of. Witt was always saying how proud he was of her and how she gave him and Carla so much less trouble than her brother ever did."

I could hear papers flipping and then someone else said, "Todd Phillips. Nineteen. Was at university on Z-Day." I think it was the guy that had been giving me all these stupid word association and ink blob tests.

"That'd be him. Todd was a good kid but he could be a peckerwood too. Too smart for his own good. He didn't have to work hard enough for what he wanted. He was the kind of kid that thrived on pranks and partying and could get away with it because he never had to study to pass the test. Drove Witt crazy because he knew Todd was meant for better things than what he seemed to be satisfied with achieving."

I'd never heard Toddie described better but at the same time it bothered me to hear people criticizing my brother even if he could be a jerk most of the time. It didn't seem fair since he can't be here to defend himself. They were still talking but moved out into what I knew was the hallway. Not everyone had left the room. I heard a chair pull up next to where I was laying. "Did you get an ear full?"

I cracked an eye open and said, "Just tell me you pounded Toby righteously."

"Me and about three other guys. The NGs have him now. God help him when the Major is done with him."

"NGs?"

"National Guard. Major Jeffries ..."

"That's Sgt. Watson's boss."

"Er ... yeah ... I guess in a way. Not his immediate boss but close enough." After a minute he asked, "How stupid would it be if I asked you if you hurt?"

"Kinda stupid but not too bad." I checked under the covers to make sure I still had clothes on and then sat up with a little help from Lee. "Am I in trouble?"

"No. Why?"

I shrugged. "Because people are weird and don't make a lot of sense these days."

"Oh."

"And I'm sorry your dad growled at you. It isn't your fault Toby is a jerk."

"You're right about that. But not about it not being my fault you got hurt. I should have made sure the room was secure before you stepped inside. I underestimated Toby and I shouldn't have. Or it could have been something or someone else. I made a mistake and you paid for it. Dad was right about that part."

"Yeah, like I was gonna let you follow me when there wasn't a back on that stupid gown."

Lee wouldn't look straight at me but he did try not to grin. Then he got serious again. "I'm glad you're back DeeDee."

"Were you serious about helping me go home Lee?"

"Yeah. But Dad will want to talk to you first. Uh ... see ..."

Slowly I asked, "What? Is ... is it bad?"

"It wasn't supposed to be. And we can fix some of it maybe but ..."

"But what?"

He sighed. "The town turned into an evacuation point. There wasn't room for everyone. Empty buildings and houses and the stuff in them were ... er ... commandeered."

I sat there trying to take in what he was saying and understand it. "You mean ... you mean there's someone living in my house now? That it isn't my house anymore?"

"Yeah."

I drew my knees up to my chin and hid my eyes. "All I wanted was a picture. I'm forgetting what they look like."

"Oh hey. Dad is going to kill me if I make you cry."

"I'm not crying."

"The sheets are wet."

"Shut up."

"DeeDee ... the furniture and stuff got used ... and the food ... and clothes ... but personal items were boxed up and put in storage. It's supposed to be anyway. There ... there's been a few problems. But we can probably find some of your stuff. No one is going to want pictures."

I laid down, turned towards the wall and pulled the covers over my head. He tried to get me to talk again but I wasn't in the mood. A few other people tried to too. Eventually I went to sleep and they left me alone.

I woke up in the night needing to go to the bathroom. I swung my legs off the bed but instead of floor my feet landed on something live and squishy that grunted.

"Geez, what the heck Lee?" I hissed pulling my feet back in the bed really fast when I realized what ... who ... it was.

"Hmph."

"I said ..."

"I heard you. I ... look ... there's been a few people nosing around. They don't like the idea that someone from the city ..."

When he stopped I filled it in. "You mean I'm like unclean or something."

I heard him shrug. "Or something. Dad has someone stationed outside your room but I figured you might not like that so I ... look, you got a problem with me crashing here?"

I looked over the edge of the bed and told him, "Move. And don't peek. I'm in jammies."

"You're wearing scrubs not ... er ... pajamas."

"I'm sleeping in them so they're jammies. Now move."

"Oh," he said as I made a beeline for the door on the other side of the room.

I came out and asked, "How come the water still works?"

"Huh?"

"The toilet flushed."

"Oh. The town engineers hooked the old dam back up to the city power supply. It only runs part of each day but it works ... kinda ... most of the time anyway. The power hook up for the clinic and the school are more reliable and stay on all the time."

Thinking it over I said, "I guess that's cool."

"Yeah though people still complain because it isn't on all the time or because certain things are on the forbidden list ... like TVs, freezers, heaters and other things that pull a lot of juice. You get caught running a forbidden item and you get your power connection dismantled."

"Bet some people are mad about their Xbox."

He snorted. "They've got rooms set up at the school you can earn credits to use if you've got it that bad. Same for computers and stuff like that."

"I guess there's a lot of things that are different."

"Yeah," he said quietly.

Trying to sound nonchalant I told him, "It's not like I really expected things to be the same you know."

"DeeDee, it's OK to be mad ... about your house and stuff. Even if no one else understands I do. They took Laura's things and ... and ... and Mom's too."

I felt like a jerk. "I ... I didn't even ask about Laura."

"She and Glenn ... I found them ... I didn't say anything to Dad but I think they were out behind the bleachers making out and they got caught by some infecteds. I told him that it looked like Glenn had put up a fight trying to protect her ... not that ... you know ... she didn't have all her clothes on."

"Oh Lee."

"Yeah, so anyway I just thought ... if you knew about that you'd know that ... that if you wanted to talk to me but didn't want me to say anything you'd know I could ... not tell anyone I mean. That I wouldn't rat on you."

I sighed. "I was telling the truth. Those guys didn't mess with me Lee. I don't care what Dr. Ponytail thinks. I'm not talking about it with her and that's it. Sure they wanted to but I turned 'em down and it never got to where they could force me. It might have. That's why I was thinking about leaving but they left me first. So there. Either believe me or not. I don't care."

A second passed before he said, "After seeing what you did to Toby out in the parking lot I think I'll choose to believe you. Too bad you couldn't swing like that during games."

"Geez thanks."

"No problem." I heard his jaw crack from a yawn. "You mind if I catch some z's? I'm beat."

"Go ahead."

"You should sleep too. Dr. Riccardo says you are sleep-deprived."

"Dr. Riccardo can mind her own business."

When Lee didn't answer I realized he was asleep. I scooted out of the end of the bed and got this notebook after making sure no one had been reading it. I've written down what I wanted to write down, the stuff I think is important right now. Now I just have to wait for the sun to come up.

And I'm not sleep-deprived. I'll sleep when I'm good and ready to sleep. That blonde pony-tail is not going to tell me what to do. She might be able to lead Sgt. Watson around with her you know whats but not me.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Eleven

"Girls. Geez. We're in the middle of the zombiapocalypse and you still worry about your weight."

"Don't be a dork," I told Lee. "All I said was that I'm 4'11" and unless I want my butt to get as big and round as a beach ball I need to eat what a 4'11" person is supposed to eat, not what a dimwitted 5'11" guy eats. So stop putting stuff on my tray."

A catty voice chimed in with, "Yeah DeeDee. C'mon and eat. You look like a toothpick with boobs and a pointy head. It's not very attractive."

I sighed. Just my luck. The three scream queens survived and picked up where they left off making my life H E double hockey sticks. However, they were about to learn I was done being a doormat. "Denise! Wow, look at you though. You've really perfected the vamp look. Pale and sickly really suits you. It really, really does."

Her mouth fell open in shock. It had taken a year in purgatory but I'd finally learned to fight back.

"And Brenna. You are rockin' that fresh as a daisy zombie girl thing. Is it make up or is it real?"

Leila was the smartest of the three and got before I turned the crosshairs on her, dragging away the other two with her while they still looked back at me confused.

"Dang," Lee whispered. "What is up with you? I know things were bad for you but you're home now. You don't have to act like that. No need for the cat girl routine."

I shrugged and started mixing the scambled eggs, cheese, and sausage on my plate into a nearly unidentifiable mess. I figured if it was going to taste gross it might as well look gross. Cafeteria food is still cafeteria food even when the world has ended. Turning to Lee I said, "I want to be left alone. What they wanted was to go back to running my life the way they always had. What I wanted was more important than what they wanted so I made it happen. I'll give you your space."

I tried to stand up and take my tray but he grabbed my arm. "Sit down. All I meant was why so touchy. You never cared what they said before."

And apparently boys were still idiots too. "Oh I cared," I answered him. "I just wasn't going to let anyone else know that. But ... oh just forget it."

Then that Cochran guy suddenly appeared and sat down right next to me and told Lee, "Hey Bro ... your ol' man said I can take this watch. He said you're scheduled for debriefing."

Lee said a bad word and I kicked him under the table. "Ow! What was that for?"

"For the F-bomb."

"Cochran curses too."

"I know. I heard him yesterday."

"How come you aren't kicking him?" he complained.

"Because you are normally a gentleman, know me better, and have better sense."

Lee was scowling and Cochran was smiling. Two seconds after what I said registered Lee started grinning which set Cochran to frowning. Lee said, "Yeah. I do." With a warning look at Cochran he turned back to me and said, "I'll catch up with you as soon as I can. Sometimes the debriefings go a little long."

"OK."

Lee walked away and Cochran eased back on the the intentional irritation. "Friends with Berio a long time?"

"Sheriff Berio was my dad's trainer when he first became a deputy. Lee and I have just sort of always known each other I guess."

"He you're boyfriend?"

I looked at Cochran and rolled my eyes. "Is that all guys think about?"

"Maybe not all ... but a lot. In case you haven't noticed there aren't exactly a crowd of girls our age to talk about it to though."

I had kinda noticed that. "I know three that are."

"The ones over there that you were fighting with?"

"Not fighting with. Discouraging. Go show them your six pack. Last I remember they were really into that sort of thing."

I don't know what he would have said to that because I nearly fell backwards off the bench when Sgt. Watson sat down on my other side. Hard. And on top of that nearly cracked Cochran with his crutch.

Cochran's voice went up an octive. He stood up real fast and said, "Sgt. Watson."

"Go check the duty roster Cochran."

"Uh ... Sheriff Berio said that DeeDee here needed an escort and ..."

"I heard what the sheriff said. And that's Ms. Phillips to you until I say otherwise. I will be escorting her back to the clinic."

When Cochran left at a real quick walk I turned to Sgt. Watson and said, "I could have handled him. He's a puppy compared to what I've been dealing with."

He snorted. "I didn't do it for you. I did it so Cochran wouldn't get in trouble or cause a fight. You're too young and like he was telling you, there aren't all that many females in your age range around."

"Yeah, what's up with that?"

He sighed. "I could say it nice but apparently you prefer the unvarnished truth."

Since it was true I just asked, "Which is?"

"Girls don't run as fast as guys." I sighed when I understood what he meant. Sarge continued, "I was told the school was completely overrun. The scientists we've got around here think the infecteds were actually attracted to the school first because they sensed prey either by sound or even pheromones."

"Hmph. If they smelled anything it would have been the guys' locker room. That place always reeked."

Sgt. Watson looked at me and said carefully, "You're home Kid, you don't need to act so tough anymore."

"I'm not home. Apparently I don't have a home. Someone else is living in it and the stuff that used to be mine is likely being used by someone else." I shook my head when he started to say something. "No. I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I'm kinda hacked off but I didn't have a lot of hope there'd be anything left when I got here anyway." After a paused to let the burn cool down I said, "The town is different than what I expected."

"How so? A lot of the residents said it is almost normal."

I nodded slowly. "Exactly. It feels like the Twilight Zone. To me the city is 'normal' or the way things should be. Here is ... here is like the echo of a really old memory. It's real ... but only because it happened in the past."

Giving me a look that was uncomfortably understanding he told me, "Give yourself time."

Problem was I did believe that was gonna work. I told him, "That's the thing. I don't know how much time I've got and if people are all happy with this Mayberry make believe and wanting to forget what is really out there ... I don't know how much time they've got left either."

He glanced around quickly and then said, "If you're through eating we need to get you back to the clinic."

"Whatever."
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Twelve

Sarge complained, "Slow down Kid. I can't exactly run with this crutch."

I felt like being in a snit but I slowed down. "I'm perfectly capable of walking from the cafeteria to the clinic. I don't need an 'escort' or a babysitter."

"Yeah. You do."

I thought about that. "Because of the girl thing or because people are freaked out I came out of the city?" He glanced at me. "Lee told me his dad posted a guard because people had made some noise."

He muttered, "Boy talks too much."

"Maybe. But I'd rather know than not. Although technically I really don't know anything except I make people nervous. Is it just nervousness or is it something more?"

He sighed. "Kid ..."

"Or is it somebody doesn't want me to do any talking until they hear what I might be able to say?"

That got me a sharp glance. "I'd be careful letting people know that you're alot smarter than they think you are."

"Sorta like not letting them know about the stuff in my pack?"

"Along those lines. Where is it by the way?"

"In Sheriff Berio's office. He was in a meeting when Lee and I went by this morning so I just kinda of ... borrowed ... a little space in the supply closet in there. I figure if someone goes through it one of two things will happen. The sheriff will be in on it and I'll have things I have to figure out; or, the sheriff is going to rip someone a new one for violating the privacy of his office which will give me time to figure things out. Either way I'll have added to the list of people I can't trust."

He nodded. "Not bad Kid, not bad."

We weren't exactly gliding along so there was some time and I decided to ask him, "Can I trust your girlfriend?"

He gave me an irritated look. "She's not my girlfriend. We ... er ... we're seeing each other. That's all."

"Are you sleeping together?"

"What the Sam Hill does that have to do with the price of beans?"

I shrugged. "In other words you are but you aren't real secure about it yet ... or comfortable with people knowing about it yet ... or something."

"That ... is none of your business Kid."

"No, it isn't. But when you answer me I have to know if you're telling me the truth or if you've got the lusty fuzzies and only think you are telling me the truth."

Giving me the kind of look Dad would have given me he snapped, "Hell's bells ... what are lusty fuzzies ... and how the hell do you know about 'em?"

My lips twitched with a smile that wanted to sneak onto my face. "My dad didn't shelter me quite as much as people think. He set boundaries. He ran interference so I wouldn't have to deal with certain kinds of guys. But he said he didn't want me to grow up stupid to the tricks people ... in particular guys ... can play. Lusty fuzzies are what happens to people when they are in love or lust and only want to see the good side of the person they are in love or lust with."

After a moment of thinking about it Sgt. Watson snorted in amusement. "OK, good name for it." Then all the funning went out of his voice and he sighed. "I'm not saying you can or can't trust Maria. You'll have to decide that for yourself. But she ... she means well. She believes in what she does. But like with anyone else you'd be foolish to not ... er ... be cautious."

"She doesn't like me."

"Now hold on a ..."

"Relax. It's a girl thing. She thinks I have a crush on you."

He had to stop when he choked on some spit. "Damn you say the most outrageous things."

"It's true. That's what she thinks. I don't though. I like you. Just not in a mushy kind of way. You're just ... normal. And you aren't weird ... well, you are but not in THAT kind of way. You're like the sheriff. You shoot straight."

He didn't say anything as we made our way into the clinic but before I had to go answer more questions he stopped me and said, "I like you too Kid which is why I'm going to give you some more advice. Those people in there? Don't lie to them. But you don't necessarily have to tell them everything either. If they make you feel uncomfortable, tell them. If you don't want to answer something, tell them. Don't play games. And if you don't understand something, tell them that too and ask them to explain. They might not but at least you'll know one way or the other where you stand. Got it?"

Before he walked away I asked, "Should I be afraid of them? Will they hit me if I don't do what they say?"

He got an outraged look on his face. "Hell no. And for that matter if anyone ever hits you, you come tell me about it. I've got a little sister ... she's older than you ... or would have been," he said sadly. "You remind me of her a bit." After another sigh he said, "Go on. Sooner you start the sooner you'll finish."
 

SheWoff

Southern by choice
Another good story in the making :) I like this one almost as much as Mom/Zombie story. Deedee acts like someone I know lol. Can't wait to read more of this!

I just hate you're having such a rough go of things irl Kathy. Lets all hope this next year is a lot better....Merry Christmas gal

She
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Thirteen

I was sitting in the sheriff's office spinning around in his desk chair when he came in. He stopped short, nodded to the man that had been about to follow him in and then shut the door in his face. I got up out of the chair but wanted to keep spinning. I didn't though, that would have been a "childish and emotionally stunted" thing to do.

I went to the other side of his desk and sat in the chair the man outside probably would have sat in. Instead of sitting behind his desk the sheriff sat in the chair next to the one I was in. "Deandra Dawn, that face would curdle milk."

Trying harder for him than I would have for most people I kept my voice even as I said, "They don't believe me."

"Who doesn't believe you and about what?"

I tried to get rid of the pouty face I knew that I had on. I was trying real hard. But when you're short and have a small, turned up nose it doesn't give you quite as much scope to look righteously indignant as a long legged blonde bombshell. "Dr. Riccardo and those military people. They don't believe I've been in the city the whole time. They want me to prove I'm not lying."

The sheriff's lips tightened. "And did they say just how they wanted you to prove this?"

"I have to take them back the way I came."

I could tell he was mad. "And you don't want to go."

"No." There, I said it. But then I said, "I'll take them as far as the bridge. I'll show them how I used the harness and where I climbed but I am not going to cross that bridge."

"You don't have to do that much if you don't want to," he said fidgeting in his chair the way only an adult could get away with. "There's absolutely no sense in this."

"Well if I don't then they'll be able to tell everyone that I lied so they won't be so freaked out that people can get out of the city despite their dumb wall."

He gave me a look then sighed. "Witt said you had a good brain." He was quiet for a moment. "They could say that anyway even if you took them all the way into the city."

I snorted in a less than ladylike way and said, "If I took them all the way into the city they wouldn't be coming back out. I might not be coming back. They can't do what you have to and I can't make them. There was only twelve puss brains yesterday and they just stood there shaking in their boots and wouldn't shoot because they were going to hit their precious trucks and might have to walk or something. The people around here are too soft." I looked at him under my lashes and added, "Even Lee. He's too nice. To survive the city you have to ... lose something. It's going to get like that here too."

"Deandra Dawn ..."

I shook my head. "You still have your lights and your water on demand. You still have food ... it may not be the same kind of food as before but it is still there and no one goes hungry. You feel safe. But you aren't. And that's the part that will get people killed. That wall gave you some breathing room that you should have been using to get ready. All people did was try to go back to the way things used to be. It'll take more than a wall for it to be that way again."

He sighed. "Well you're in a mood young lady."

I thought I'd completely goofed. Dad had always said if I was in trouble and he wasn't around I was to go to the sheriff but it didn't sound like he was hearing me. Then he surprised me.

"But then again I've been in a mood for months now myself. That's why I've been so hard on Lee. But I'm just one man, even if I'm his father. When everyone else is telling him something else it is very hard to get him to believe me. One of the reasons that I agreed to him going out on the salvaging runs despite his age is so that he could be exposed to things he wouldn't be if I kept him wrapped up and safe here in town. I already lost his mother and sister, I don't want to lose him too and if that means making him angry enough to see things he doesn't want to see then so be it." He sighed before adding, "We'll get back to the issue with the infecteds in a moment. Now you tell me what else is bothering you."

"Aren't the puss brains enough?"

"Deandra Dawn, I'll have you know Witt would get that exact same look on his face when something had burnt his tail feathers and he needed to talk about it."

I thought about it then said, "There's nothing wrong with not being ready to take on all the rights and responsibilities of being a fully grown woman."

His eyebrows parked themselves up in his hairline.

I continued on. "Seriously, just because I don't cuss and don't care to discuss certain things does not mean that I am traumatized or emotionally stunted."

The beginning of an all too understanding look crossed his face. "Whew. Said that did they?"

"She did. Just because she's tall and looks like a model and can lead men around with both her front side and her back does not mean she knows everything."

"Dr. Riccardo?"

"Yes. And I do not have a crush on Sgt. Watson. I didn't have a problem with her thinking that even if it isn't true but that was a very rude thing to say outloud; especially since she said it in front of everyone and they smiled and laughed at me like it was silly and cute. Silly and cute. Grrrr. First off I haven't known him long enough to go stupid on him like that and mostly I wouldn't anyway because it would be a bad way to repay him for getting me a lift back home. He's just nice ... like Dad and you. A real man kind of guy. I can tell the difference you know, even if she doesn't think I can."

"Really."

"Yes. And Dad would have had kittens if I'd ... well you know what I mean. Nice girls that want to stay nice just don't act like that. And no matter what they say they can't make me act like that or even want to act like that. She seems bent about the fact that I won't no matter how much I get egged on."

He nodded. "I happen to agree with you there, but I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm not too sure that Dr. Riccardo understands that. She's a nice woman but she's ... hmmmm ... a liberated kind. What she considers ... er ... age appropriate and allowable just isn't the way girls around here are supposed to be raised."

Only part of what he said made sense. I asked him, "What's being liberated got to do with it? I'm liberated too. If I was eighteen I could vote. Dad would have never made me marry someone I don't want to like they do in some other countries. I don't have to be a slave to anyone. I could work a job and have a bank account if things like that still existed. I can own things in my own name. And I've got opinions all my own. Being liberated is not the problem. Being stupid seems to be their problem."

I was stepping close the to the line and I guess the Sheriff felt he had to defend the adults. "Whoa now Honey. They aren't stupid people. Actually they are very smart ... maybe too smart. They believe in their smartness so much they can't see the danger that they could be wrong."

"Like Toddie."

He looked at me then admitted slowly, "Like your brother. And speaking of, you ready to talk to me about what's been going on with you since Z-Day?"

So I told him. Some parts made him sad. Some parts made him mad. But he never called me childish and he never called me a liar which was way better than anyone else had done. Sgt. Watson hadn't wanted to hear what I could tell him because he knew it would make him mad or embarrass him. Lee couldn't hear what I was saying because he was too nice to understand what I had I lived with. The sheriff wasn't squeamish like that. He knew he had to know so he could put things in perspective.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Fourteen

It has been a couple of very unpleasant days. I am right back where I started from ... maybe not geographcially but that doesn't seem to matter very much.

Lee and I were cutting through the park and it was a perfect day for being outside. Somehow that should have told me to watch out. Things are always best before they suddenly aren't. I'd spent another night in the clinic but the sheriff had mentioned that he didn't feel that was appropriate and that he wanted me to come live with them. I was going to use Laura's room. For some reason Lee and I started bickering. It was for no good reason but I guess that's the way it usually starts.

"Don't be a dork."

"Will you stop doing that?"he snapped.

"What?"

"Making me feel ... I don't know ... that you're suddenly older than me. 'Cause you're not."

Nonchalantly I told him, "Nope. I'm not. But just because you are older doesn't mean you aren't a dork. Why my mom and yours always thought Laura would want to play with me when she was a year older than you is beyond me."

"I don't know what your mom thought but mine hoped you'd slow Laura down. She said she was growing up too fast."

I shrugged. "Opposite on my side. My mom thought I was going too slow on purpose. I suppose they thought if they put us in a shaker that we would at least rub off on each other and even it out a little. Geez. For smart people our moms could sometimes totally miss the point."

Lee was silent then said, "How can you talk like that? I mean they ... they died. Probably really horribly."

I wanted to kick him in the ankle but didn't because he'd promised to take me to the warehouse where all the "personal items" had been stored. "Look. It's not that I don't feel bad if I start you know dwelling on the how they died part. I cried a lot in the beginning. I cried so much that I could have been puss brain chow a hundred times over if Sherry hadn't been willing to put up with me until I toughened up. But if you think I'm bad then you just don't understand how bad people can get."

He shook his head in denial.

"Seriously Lee. People are bad and hard. Our dads knew that. Our moms probably did too when they let themselves think about it. But here's the thing, why should I Iet the way Mom died take away from how she lived? My mom was a pain but she was my pain and was kinda cool in her own way. We had a garden. She made cookies and baked our bread so we didn't have to eat the gross spongy stuff from the store. She was real organized so that we could live in our little house without going crazy so Dad didn't have to worry about money so much and could focus on staying safe. Mom may not have worked a job like your mom did where she saved people's lives everyday, but she was still a good person."

"I didn't say she wasn't," he said defensively.

"I know. I just meant I don't want to make how she died to where it covers up who she was when she was alive. That's all. Mom would be sad if all I remembered of our time together was the last bad thing rather than all the good and normal stuff that came before it. I mean why do you do good stuff for and with people if it isn't to balance out the bad stuff that is bound to happen?"

He was silent and then grumbled, "You're even stranger than you used to be DeeDee."

I shrugged trying to show he wasn't close to hurting my feelings. "Probably. A year on the run from Puss Brains and perverts will do that to you."

We walked another five minutes in silence when he asked out of the blue, "Were you really in the city the whole time?"

I stopped dead in my tracks and turned on him. "You know you can call me a lot of things but liar isn't one of them. Go away Lee. Leave. Now. I don't need a babysitter."

'Hey ..."

"No. Just like with the puss brains and thinking you're all safe and crap here in town, you are listening to the wrong people. I could tell you things about what it is like to really have to deal with puss brains. I could teach you things about how to avoid them, out smart them, avoid being chomped, win in a hand-to-hand fight. You haven't asked me one single question about that. Not how did I survive, what did I have to do day in and day out. No one around here has. Not even those so-called scientists at the clinic. That's sad. That means you think you know everything. Well you don't." We were drawing a crowd but I didn't care. "For instance, you think it is that dinky, stupid wall that keeps the puss brains out. It's not. It's that they've still had things to keep them occupied in the city. Like when I left they were starting to form a horde ... they do that sometimes. And the horde was attracted to a big fire that had started downtown. That's how I was able to get away without having to splat too many of them. That's why there weren't any to take notice of how I got across the bridge on the scaffolding. But eventually some puss brain is going to get hungry and they aren't going to be able to find anything left in the city and they are going to look across the river and their tummies are going to growl. That's what drives them the most, hunger."

Acting superior he said, "Obviously. The scientists told us that a long time ago."

"Yeah, but did they tell you that puss brains still think? That they plan? That they can learn? That they have strategies? They aren't all just instinct; yes, some of them are but not all of them. And some of them still feel pain. That's why you don't look them in the eye when you are putting them out of their misery. They heal fast too, the longer they've been infected the faster they heal. Now put all of that together Lee. Really think about it. If they feel pain and don't like it then they'll fight being in pain. When they don't get enough to eat it hurts them. They'll figure out a way to escape that pain and they'll be able to take risks that uninfected people wouldn't because they don't have to worry so much about being Humpty Dumpty."

"The infecteds' brains don't work like that," he denied. "They can't. They're too messed up. The doctors all say so."

"All the doctors or only the ones saying what you want to hear?" I shook my head. "You and the people around here have bought into that stupid zombie mess. Puss brains are still people. They still breathe. Their hearts still beat. They still think even if it is in a different way than uninfecteds do. They still need to eat to live. They still poop and urinate. They are more than just animal instincts. Most of them aren't real bright compared to what they were before they were infected but there are a few that are close ... or at least close some of the time and it isn't just by accident. And those are the leaders that can gather the other puss brains together and get the hordes started. And when that happens they get like this hive mentality and work together and work smarter for some reason. It will be a horde with a smart leader that figures a way across the bridges ... not just the bridge I came across but any or all of them. And when that happens it won't just be here that the puss brains head it will be every place they can spread. And when that happens there won't be any place to run."

A man from the crowd said, "Then we'll fight them."

I turned to him and said, "It isn't just a matter of being willing, you have to be ready, and you aren't. And you have to know the best ways to fight them so the fewest people on your side get chomped on. And I haven't seen that you know how. That's why I didn't stay in the city by myself. I wouldn't have been able to survive. You need numbers to cover your back and you cover theirs."

A sharp female voice snapped, "That will be enough."

I turned and saw the woman - Major Jeffries - that had all but called me a liar straight out. I told her, "You just don't want me telling people the truth. You want people to think I'm a liar, that I'm just a kid with a big imagination. You want people to forget what it was like a year ago because if they think about it they'll know that it could happen again and some of them will panic and you'll lose control. Well I tell you what, you wanted me to take you back the way I came. You want me to prove to you that I did just what I said I did. OK. I'll do it. But not just with you military types. Some regular people have to go with us so they can see too. And when ... if ... we come back you have to let them tell what they saw ... the truth, not just what you want them to say. Deal?"

"I do not make deals with children."

I let the "children" remark pass and asked, "Too afraid that I really am telling the truth ... a truth that you don't want anyone else to know? What are you? Chicken or something?"

Lee yelped, "DeeDee!"

I turned on him, "Stop ... being ... so ... nice! It is going to get you dead or worse, infected! I've seen enough dead and dying people! I don't want to see anymore! I sure don't want it to be my friends!"

Two guys with medic uniforms came up behind me and I couldn't move fast enough. I felt a pinch in my arm. Stupid, stupid, stupid. But then again, it was like being the lone person in a world of puss brains. I didn't have anyone to cover my back.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Fifteen

My head was pounding. Again.

I heard the sheriff yell from some place close by. "What happened to the damned Constitution?!"

"She was a danger," I heard a woman say. It wasn't Dr. Ponytail's voice so I was going to go with the Major or someone like her.

"To whom?! You? Your plans?! What?! And to simply drug her?! In public?!! Have we sunk this low?!! My son, who was her deputized escort, was hit so hard with the butt of a gun by one of your people that he's lost two teeth and required a number of stitches inside his mouth. That tells me that the girl needs protecting not the other way around. So tell me again, who was she a danger to exactly."

There was a brief pause and then in a reasonable voice the woman replied, "To herself of course. It's obvious she is suffering some kind of severe psychosis. The poor child actually believes she has been in the city this entire time and everyone knows that is impossible. Isn't that correct Major Jeffries?"

OK, so the woman talking wasn't the Major. So who was she? Then I heard Dr. Ponytail say, "I'm going on record that I do not agree with the heavy handed tactics being used. I'm the girl's physician of record. The drugs used were not approved by me and the dosage was totally inappropriate. Even if the girl is suffering from severe mental trauma as Dr. Reed suggests ..."

A man's voice piped up angrily, "Are you questioning my diagnosis?"

"I'm saying that a second opinion is needed on this yes. If for no other reason than to circumvent any suspicion that this girl is being railroaded to shut her up. I can tell you that there is already talk ..."

The man flippantly said, "People always talk."

"People yes ... but security personnel, no ... and not just the national guardsmen."

The woman I hadn't identified by name yet asked, "I assume that you've heard this from your sergeant?"

There was a pause. "Actually Sgt. Watson and I are not currently ... in communication."

I could actually hear the surprise in the silence that followed. Carefully the woman then said, "Surely you are exaggerating the reaction. Why make such a fuss over one girl? We've handled deranged people before without this level of outcry."

Irritably Dr. Ponytail said, "Yeah, about that. I think you may have overplayed your hand this time. People - even some of my own staff - are beginning to wonder how many of those people were actually mentally disturbed and how many simply weren't bringing facts from outside the protected zone that agreed with your theories ... yours and the Committee's. I myself am beginning to question a few things."

Dr. Reed said, "This is ridiculous. Surely everyone must understand that Dr. Hanson and I ... and the others ... only have the best interest of everyone at heart."

The sheriff jumped back in and said point blank, "Regardless of your intentions, you have exactly two hours from this point to produce Deandra Dawn - undrugged and unharmed - or you will find yourself deposed from your positions by the people of this community. She will not just disappear like the others did. She's a fifteen year old girl. I don't care whether you believe her story or not because it is immaterial at this point. The fact remains that she is a citizen of the town I serve and as such has my protection. She's a minor. Any kind of legal manuevering that you are thinking of requires at a bare minimum that she has an adult representing her interests during the proceedings. Her interests, not the interests of your damn Committee."

The woman I now knew was called Dr. Hanson said, "Major Jeffries, the Sheriff is making threats against me ... and the Committee."

Major Jefferies didn't answer for a moment, like she was weighing her words. "I warned you this could happen. The Colonel warned you this could happen. The control and authority we have in this area is only nominal. When Command stopped communicating ..."

The Sheriff and Dr. Ponytail shouted "What?!!" at the same time.

Drs. Reed and Hanson yelled, "Major! That is private Committee business!" over the top of them.

The Major was laconic. "Perhaps it was but your ... actions ... have led to a ... let us call it a minor revolt in the civilian staff we've been forced to employ to fill the gaps in communication that were created last year when so many of the Colonel's staff was lost in that riot. I am sure that the word is spreading across town even as we speak."

"This ... this is totally unacceptable!" Dr. Reed said. I could hear anger and fear in equal measure in his voice.

"Unacceptable or not, it is the result of your actions ... yours and Dr. Hanson's ... by choosing to act so precipitously and against counsel."

"Bah!" the sheriff spit. "We're wasting time. Mark my words, the girl is released unharmed and uncoerced. You have no other options."

I could almost see him slam his hat on and stomp away. Obviously he hadn't known I was only a few doors down or he might have just come in and got me. The rest of them continued talking but they moved away as well and the automatic lights went out in the hallway.

I sat up carefully and took stock of my surroundings. They'd made a huge mistake not tying me up. I carefully tried the door but it was locked but I wasn't too worried. If they were dumb enough not to tie me they were dumb enough to miss other avenues of escape. The window was locked but then again I wasn't too worried about that either. If worse came to worse I could always break it out. But that would make noise and I didn't want that except as a last resort.

I looked around some more and then up. And grinned. I wouldn't even have to move furniture. There was a medical cart and a book case against the wall. Our group had learned a gazillion ways of getting out of places that supposedly we shouldn't have been able to get out of. They sent me up into the acoustical ceiling a lot of the time because I was the smallest and lightest. I would then distract the puss brain(s) and those that couldn't go through the ceiling would go through a window or door. Divide and conquer.

I wasn't dealing with puss brains. I was dealing with people that acted almost as dumb as puss brains could act on occasion. I escaped the prison they had fashioned for me with almost no trouble and total silence. I stayed on the main beams so that I wouldn't make the ceiling move or creak. Then I went looking for a room with an outside wall that had a window that I could open. Got it on the first try. Also "salvaged" some first aid supplies to replace the ones that I had used on Sgt. Watson and a couple of sharp instruments that would be useful if I was unable to get to my backpack in the sheriff's office.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Sixteen

I was almost out of the window when I wondered where Lee was. It was dark so given the time of year it was either very late afternoon or early evening. It might even be night I thought. I had no way of knowing exactly how much time I had been knocked out. Long enough for Lee to have what probably amounted to oral surgery. I then surmised that that was likely what the Sheriff was doing at the clinic, checking on Lee.

I pulled my leg back in and sighed. More than likely all I was doing was heading straight into more trouble. But Lee was a buddy ... you didn't let your buddy get chomped; figuritively or literally.

Staff was almost none existent on the second floor where I was. That told me iit was probably "after hours." And they must have thought I was really zonked out since they didn't have a guard on the door or anything. I freaked for about two seconds wondering if there were any security cameras so I rushed back up into the ceiling like a good little mousey. I gave a brief smile remembering that "Mouse" is what Moses had called me the first few days after Sherry and I had joined his group, before he'd bothered to learn my real name.

I looked for wires and cameras and found none. I guess they thought observation windows were sufficient. There hadn't even been a window in the door of the room where I was held. Someone really, really didn't know what they were doing. I knew the sheriff was smart and the military people had to be smart - or at least some of them - and you would think the Committee people would have been somewhat smart. But apparently they weren't working together which wasn't smart but turned out to be good for me. I didn't relax but it made them seem less overwhelming and unbeatable.

I set off to do a serious search and my luck was in, I found Lee in a room in the opposite corner from where I had been locked up. There were about a dozen beds in there but only about four people occupying them and all but Lee looked like they were hard asleep. I was about to slide down inside the curtains that enclosed his bed when someone came on the ward, looked around like she wasn't trying to look around, and then headed straight for Lee's area and swooped down on him.

I stiffened thinking she was attacking him and was ready to bash her when suddenly I realized he wasn't exactly objecting to getting manhandled. "Oh Lee. Oh Lee," the girl was saying in this retarded breathy voice.

Oh brother.

He sounded all garbled from where I was at which told me he was either pretty goofed up with dental pain killers or his mouth was pretty wrecked ... or both. But seems the girl wasn't having any trouble understanding him.

"Oh Lee."

<Lee>

"No, I don't know where she is at. You know Mother doesn't tell me anything."

<Lee>

"Lee, I can't believe you'd ask me to do something like that. Besides, it isn't safe. Dr. Reed says that she is really, really bad off. The answers on all of her tests were so terrible ... frankly now that I know how bad she really is I'm scared to death to think about what she could have done to you at any point you were alone with her."

<Lee making a bunch of racket.>

"Don't take it the wrong way. Of course I feel bad for the poor girl. Lord only knows what she had been through. But Dr. Reed, Mother, and Major Jeffries all agree that there is no way that she could have come from the city. It just ... well ... "

<Lee making a growling sound.>

"How can you think that?! Mother works herself to death for the health and safety of this community. Not that there is a lot of appreciation. I don't know what the problem is. Everywhere Mother went she was always afforded a great deal more courtesy than she gets here."

<Lee>

"I'm sure your father is misunderstanding the situation. Dr. Reed suggested that he is looking for a substitute for your sister. He called it transference of affection."

I almost transferred my booted foot to her backside. It didn't sound like Lee was too happy either.

"Honestly Lee. How can you say such things? And do you know what I've risked to be with you? It has taken me forever to talk Mother around."

<Lee>

"I'm sure Mother is giving those men a good talking to. They obviously went beyond their instructions. Mother has to be so careful; people can get so devoted and get a little silly in their desire to fufill her wishes."

<Lee>

"What do you mean ... cr ... criminal proceedings?" the girl trilled. Yes I said trilled. That's the only word that fits that stupid giggly sound that came out of her mouth. "Lee, we are under martial law. Your father might think he has a certain amount of authority but the truth is that it all lies someplace far above him."

<Lee>

"Oh please don't be like that. Things are hard enough as it is. Everything is just all turned upside down at home. Mother is so upset about your poor friend. She said that it could have been me wandering lost and helpless and abused. It is why she ... well, I know it isn't very objective but it's why she is trying to help her as quickly as she is. But you know how it was for the others Lee. They just didn't want to let go of their delusions and they eventually ran off. And we just don't have the resources to hunt them down. And frankly, though please don't tell your father, I think she is doing it for you too. She knows how I feel about you, how ... how close we've become. She knows that girl is like a little sister to you. But you can't say anything Lee. Mother, because of her position, can't be seen as showing any kind of favoritism no matter how much it is deserved."

Gag me.

There was some more PDA type stuff though Lee looked like it hurt more than felt good.

"Oh Lee. I just can't wait for us to announce our relationship so we can meet each other openly. All of this sneaking around ... and meeting in dark places ... and ... and doing things we shouldn't ... wellllll ..."

There was a sound from out in the hallway and the girl straightened up and away from Lee like she hadn't just been about to jump his bones. "I have to go." And poof she snuck back out as quickly as she'd snuck in.

In through the door came a guy dressed in scrubs but carrying a sidearm so my guess is he wasn't the night nurse. He looked around half heartedly and then went back out. Obviously they hadn't discovered I was gone yet but they might sooner rather than later so after checking to make sure the other patients in the rooms couldn't see me I popped off the ceiling tile and climbed down the junk that attached the bed to the wall.

When I got down I looked at Lee and his eyes were huge. I nearly laughed. Instead I kept a straight face and told him, "That had to be the most sickening display I've ever seen you in."

He tried to shake his head but I could tell it hurt so I stopped him. "Look, I don't have much time and I know your mouth and head are making you feel miserable. So, just answer me a couple of questions. Who's the sickly sweet thang that just left?"

"Eeeeshellll."

I thought it over then said, "Michelle? It wouldn't happen to be Michelle Hanson would it?"

He gave me a briefly surprised and then guarded look. I nodded. "Yeah. I'm putting a few things together. If I were you I'd be real careful she isn't leading you around by your ... er ... manly bits." Even in the dark I saw him flush dark red. "Look, that is none of my business. I know you only ever let me hang around because your mom and dad kinda pushed you to." He tried to say something and I shook my head. "No. Your mouth is too messed up to go into a long drawn out discussion. Facts are facts. But here's something to think over. Major Jeffries admitted in front of your dad and Dr. Po ... er ... Dr. Riccardo that Command stopped communicating at some point in the past ... maybe a while in the past; I'm not sure of the timeline."

His face told me he was horrified by that bit of info and he tried to say something again but I held my finger up to shush him. "I told you stop. For one I can't undertsand you too well and for number two I have got to get out of here before your precious committee members disappear me like all those other so-called deranged people they've tried to help. Run off my Aunt Fanny's fanny. If they did run off it was because they were trying to escape. Which is what I'm going to do."

Lee made more noise. "Boy, you sure are hard headed. I just came to make sure you were ok and to say I'm sorry that you got beat up over me ... again. And ... and to say goodbye. I'm heading straight out of here. Like right now. And to tell you thanks for being my friend. Just do me a favor ... watch your back ... and your dad's. People around here are in for a rude awakening pretty soon. It may not be this winter but I'm betting not too long after the spring thaw things will start changing. And that is if like you don't have a civil war before then."

I looked at him and then kissed his forehead. It wasn't like a real first kiss but it was better than nothing. He grabbed my arm but it wasn't with a lot of strength which added to the idea that he was kinda drugged up. I pulled his hand off and patted it. "Relax. There's only two possibiliites here. I'm telling the truth that I survived the city for a year. Everyone agrees that that is next to impossible so therefore I've developed some skills I didn't have before all this mess started. Or two, I'm lying and I didn't spend a year in the city. But I still had to have spent that year someplace which still means that I've got skills I didn't have before. Either way I'm not the little kid I was when you asked me to Homecoming. And all my family is dead or might as well be. I'm leaving Lee ... this isn't home anymore."

Then I turned and skinnied back up into the ceiling and left. I hated lying to Lee. I really did. But I wasn't sure if I could completely trust him. Not because he would mean to hurt me but because he wouldn't want to see me get hurt. He'd either tell his dad or let it slip to his girl friend. The sheriff would try and stop me form my own good and I'm sure the girlfriend would go straight to Mommy Dearest.

I was going to leave, just not as quickly as I wanted Lee to think.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Seventeen

First I knew I needed to get to the Sheriff's office to see if I could get my backpack. It wasn't easy but it should have been a lot harder than it was. The school had an amazing number of entrances and exits and not all of them were being watched. Oh sure, they had boarded them over but come on ... after a year in the city salvaging to survive there weren't too many places that I couldn't break into thanks to the ... er ... enlightening education I received from some of our less law abiding members.

Dad would have had a fit at what all I had learned. I'm learning to accept that. I spent a year being ashamed of what I had to do, wondering what my parents would think of me. I thought I would be able to put all of that behind me. I was obviously living on a different plane of reality. So, I've decided to stop worrying about it. There isn't anyone left that is responsible for me or who I might embarrass, that means I have to be responsible for myself and after all that I've been through I've given up being embarrassed for myself.

I used one of the basement windows on the original section of the school to get into the area of the basement where the ancient and defunct boiler was located before the new heating system was installed. I knew that the pot heads used to use the area to toke up during school from listening to Dad talk to some of the other deputies at departmental BBQs and stuff like that. It is amazing what you will learn by keeping your mouth shut, your ears open, and your eyes innocently directed away from the voices you are listening to.

I also knew from listening to the janitors complaining about the occasional rat problem the school had that if you crawled behind the old boiler and up the old air blower vent pipes that you could get all the way to the third floor of the school in the empty spaces left behind when the duct work was dismantled. There was a fourth and fifth floor but those had been closed off years ago and were used for storage when the two new wings had been built onto the highschool.

I didn't need to go to the third floor, only the second where the sheriff's office was located. And when I had been in there spinning in his chair I had seen that the old grate was still right where it had always been when the room had been Mrs. Kirkpatrick's AV class. It was going to be a tight squeeze but I'd climbed in tighter ones. The problem was going to be getting out but I would cross that bridge when I came to it.

Once I finally maneuvered my way through and into the Sheriff's office it took me a while to get the vent cover off. In frustration I almost punched it off until I realized two of the screws were stripped and could be pushed out. It meant stripping a third screw and bending one corner of the vent cover to get out but I wasn't worried about that. It didn't matter whether the Sheriff noticed because I was going to leave him a clue anyway.

I stood up and cracked my back from being in such a tight space for too long. Then I headed right to the closet and opened it up. Sure enough the pack was where I left it but much to my disgust so was a couple of terse notes. One from the Sheriff and one from Sgt. Watson. No more telling secrets to anyone, not even people I wanted to trust.

Both notes said basically if I ran off they were going to make it so that sitting was going to be a painful exercise for a while. Well, that didn't exactly scare me because I'd seen real bad guys, lived with them, and there was no doubt that those two men could growl really well but I knew they'd never actually lay a hand on me. I opened my pack to check things over and found another note. This one from Sgt. Watson.

Don't know why but I have a feeling you are going to ignore good sense and run anyway regardless of what I have to say about it. Can't say I blame you but you better not get dead or infected Kid or you aren't going to like what I have to say about it. And that junk food is not going to carry you far. More than likely will make you sick as a dog if that is all you are counting on for food. This isn't much but they're better than what you've got. Don't know why I even care. You've been a pain in the backside from the word go.

Brief and to the point. It choked me up some and I took the note and folded it into the bag that I around my neck; stuck the other two notes in there also. Sarge had given me some high calorie food bars. Right on the package it said "tastes like shortbread" which told me they probably tasted like cardboard or worse but beggars couldn't be choosey.

Now for the getting out unseen part.

Instead of going down I went up. It was easy. Apparently people here think if you get passed security on the first floor you must be OK. And after hours no one was on the second or third floor anyway so what was the sense in having a security guard stationed up there. And if you go all the way to the fourth or fifth floor, well golly gee whillikers, there's absolutely nothing up there.

Stangely enough there really wasn't except for a lot of empty cots. I realized they must have used the area to house refugees in until they pushed them out into the community. Briefly I wondered where they had put all the stuff that used to be stored up there but I didn't give it much thought time because it didn't matter. What I was after was the old fire exit.

And there it was at the end of the hallway on the fifth floor. The way Mom told me there used to be a really long, enclosed slide that kids were supposed to be able to use in case of fire. She said her mother, who had also attended the school, had told her about how the boys always looked forward to fire drills because it was as good as getting to go on a ride at the fair when it came through. The girls hated it because their skirts would fly up. The girls all went down first while female teachers waited at the bottom to help them. Then the boys came down next. They said it was to teach the boys the lesson of "women and children first." My mom said it was so the boys wouldn't see the girls' underwear. Guess boys have always been the same.

Only there wasn't a slide there anymore; but there was a sort of escape hatch. There was a metal ladder bolted to the side of the old brick building. You wouldn't notice it unless you purposefully went looking for it because when they renovated the school and added the two new wings they built a kind of chase around the ladder because it was "unslightly" but fire codes had still required it. The chase was quite large, or so it seemed to me. It was big enough for a large man to go down so it was big enough for me to go down with the backpack on.

I had one bad moment when I came down at the same time that two guards were passing.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"I thought I heard something."

"Probably that cat we keep running out of here."

"I don't think so. It sounded bigger than a cat."

"That cat is pretty damn big. Stop freaking out already. @#$%. You've been listening to stories about that girl haven't you? There are no Infecteds here. They are all in the city, they are going to stay in the city until they all starve."

"Are you sure? I mean ..."

"Shut the @#$% up. It was just the cat if it was anything at all. Now move it. I got a date and I'm not going to be late because we have to file some kind of report."

The started walking back the way they had come but continued to argue. I didn't want to make people argue, it was a waste of time. But they need to start thinking. Maybe the one guy was thinking. Maybe he'd think enough that he wouldn't get chomped. That was good enough for me. Those that refuse to think for whatever reason will wind up getting what they deserve though they won't feel that way.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Eighteen

Sticking to the increasingly dark shadows I made my way across town to where the warehouse district was. That is where Lee had told me they stored all of the personal items of the people whose homes they had taken over. He told me things had been stored by street and house number in crates hastily cobbled together from scraps at the lumberyard.

Lee had admitted that there was suprisingly little left after things like furniture, clothing, dishes, and that sort of stuff was redistributed to the homeless refugees who had crowded the town. All I was really hoping for was that our family pictures didn't get thrown away.

I crawled into the warehouse and sighed. I was definitely not going to find anything that night, it was too dark inside the warehouse. The only good thing that I noted was that the place was dirty and had an abandoned feel to it that meant no one really guarded the place on a regular basis. Hopefully that wouldn't change in the next day or two and I'd been able to find what I was looking for.

Just to be on the safe side I climbed up to the second level of the warehouse and from there to the top of the shelving on that floor. I was in the back, darkest corner. I heard a little rustling but it wound up being from all the accumlated dust and dirt resettling after I had stirred it up rather than mice or rats or bats. I was tired so after a few sips of water and a bite of one of those awful calorie bars I created a little nest and went to sleep.

I woke the next day when a sun beam poked me in the eye. Before I moved I took silent stock in my surroundings. The warehouse still felt empty. I didn't hear anything except for the wind as it blew against the metal roof of the warehouse. It was cold and I shivered hard enough to disturb the dust around me and I had to hold my nose for nearly half a minute to control the sneeze that wanted to escape.

I had meant to wake up at dawn but obviously hadn't. I climbed down from the shelf I had been on then carefully looked out the window on that floor. Nothing. The entire area looked abandoned. I quickly got down to the business that I had come for.

Looking around I noticed signs with words and numbers on them. I realized they corresponded to street names and house numbers. Going downstairs I looked around but couldn't find my street name. In frustration I went upstairs to have another bite of the calorie bar and then could have just kicked myself when I realized I'd been sleeping one shelving row over from where I needed to be.

Locating the approximate place the crate containing my family's personal belongings was one thing. Locating the crate itself was totally different. It took me three hours of hard searching to find the crate and then another hour to unearth from the stack it was buried in. Actually I didn't unearth it so much as create a tunnel back to it.

The crate was depressingly small. It might have made a coffin for me but only if my knees were bent. I used a screwdriver from my backpack and finally pried the metal staples out so that I could open the crate. Once I got it open I had to breathe deeply to keep my self from turning into a watering pot again. Once I started to dig through stuff to try and decide what to bring and what to leave behind I had to fight the urge to stop and look through the photo albums.

When I was little Toddie hadn't turned into a super jerk yet. One year for Christmas he digitized all the family photos. I remember helping him and it took days and days and days straight even using one of those portable flip scanners they'd come out with, the ones that scanned at five times the speed of the fastest flatbed scanners on the market at the time. Mom and Dad had been so surprised and grateful that they had continued the project. I grabbed the portable hardrives that the pictures and family movies were kept on. There was another copy in my parents' safety deposit box but who knows where that stuff is now.

Most of the digital photo frames that Mom had used were missing. There had been dozens of them and she had them playing all the time. I did manage to find a few hard copy photos in an old wooden box. The box also held the family Bible that had belonged to Dad's grandmother. I set that aside as well. Some stuff in the crate I didn't recognize which leads me to believe that after a while people just threw things where ever they felt like.

There was a box of Mom's costume jewelry but most of her expensive stuff was missing. Dad's gun and knife collections were missing. Mine and Toddie's baby books were in there. I didn't know whether to take them or not so set them aside. I found a lot of our old school awards and in the scheme of things they didn't matter so I ignored them. I found a box that was tightly taped up and knew they were the very special Christmas ornaments and the manger scene that Mom never let anyone handle but her. I put it on the keep pile. Then I found some stuff they'd obviously taken from my room. I hardly had any connection to any of it, it was like that girl was a completely foreign person from the me I am now. Then I saw it and nearly shrieked in glee.

I pulled out my oldest, rattiest purse that was a million years old and inside it were three glass cases. My eye prescription hadn't changed since I was a little girl. Doctor said it was odd but not unheard of. I opened the snap on one of the cases and slid one of my second pairs on. I could see without having to look around a bunch of scratches.

Beyond what I had taken out there wasn't much that I could justify trying to carry. It was like my life had been deconstructed and I was left with barely a connection to what it had once been. I decided to take the baby books. It was stupid but it had Mom and Dad's handwriting in it and Toddie's had our grandparents and a few other family members that I hadn't grown up knowing. I took the costume jewelry too just because I had a little room. Maybe I would regret it, maybe not; either way it didn't belong to whoever stole the other stuff.

I was exhausted again. Whatever had been in that knock out drug the Committee goons had used on me hadn't worn off completely so I decided to grab a couple of hours of sleep and then hit the road.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Nineteen

Escaping had to be the most boring thing I'd done up to that point. It shouldn't have been but I was grateful that it was. The warehouse district was on the north end of town which was the direction I wanted to go anyway. I knew where I was headed. We'd gone there every summer for as long as I could remember. The name was the same two words I had left the Sheriff as a clue.

Singing Waters.

I had written it in pencil on the dark part of his desk blotter. He would either see it or he wouldn't. If he did he would have some general idea of where I meant to go. But by the time he notices I hope I am a good ways down the road to where I'm going so he won't be tempted to try and stop me.

I've been on the road three days now with no sign of anyone following me. The only reason I've stopped long enough to write all of this down in my notebook is because of the rain. The rain and the puss brains. They are in the next big town, almost a city really just not a big city, north of where I came from. Bet their precious committee wasn't telling folks that the wall may have been keeping them temporarily safe to the south but that there looked to be a small horde forming behind them. When I realized that I almost turned around and went back to warn the Sheriff but then stopped.

Maybe I am a bad person but when you try and tell people the truth and they refuse to believe you then at some point you have to just kind of shake it off and move on. I was dead to them for a year. Maybe some of them shed a tear for me or maybe they were too busy or something. I'll have to let them go the same way. Maybe I'll get someplace safe enough for long enough that I can cry but for now I've decided to give it up. Kinda turning into a major waste of time.

This town is trashed almost as bad as the big city was. Weirdly it hasn't been salvaged as far as I can tell. There are quite a few puss brains but not so many that a decently organized group shouldn't have been able to work around them or put them out of their misery. A grocery store that I passed by had not been completely cleaned out and it was too big a temptation not to peek. Store was full of mice and things that eat mice but that's the only reason there wasn't more left on the shelves.

I watched the store for quite a while and realized that the puss brains considered it finger food central. They'd go in looking hungry and come out with a handful of mice like appetizers and whatever else they could sweep off the shelves. Yuck. I've seen them do worse but there was something about watching a still wiggling tail hanging out of the mouth of one of the puss brains that just turned my stomach and I lost my appetite. That didn't stop me from going in and taking cans off the shelves to add to my collection of food. I couldn't take a lot but I did mark the place on a map I've started in case I get so desperate I need to come back this far looking for food. I don't want to start acting like a puss brain and get so hungry I'll eat leather furniture and cotton undies.

There aren't that many stores around Singing Waters. There are a few but they're more like tourist stops and camping and fishing supply places. I know some of them shut down in the winter too. Singing Waters is a campground set way back off the main highway. I remember one year we went there for Christmas and there was so much snow on the ground that we had to leave the car at the bottom of the hill and hike up to the registration office because not even the snow chains were enough to stop us sliding.

Now that I am really on my way my one big worry is that someone is going to have beaten me to my chosen hideaway. I don't know what I'm going to do if someone has taken over the campground. If it is one person I'll have to see if they are crazy or not ... or one of those weirdos. If it is a group I'll have to see if they'd let me work for a place to stay. I won't be a slave but I don't have to be top dog. I just want a place to stay for the winter or longer.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Part Twenty

When I was little we learned a song in Sunday School. It started out "Oh be careful little ears what you hear" and went on and on about stuff. The verse that is stuck in my mind right now is about being careful what you see. Once you see something you can never wash it out of your mind no matter how much bleach you use. I have enough of that rolling around my brain cells, I didn't need more.

After the rain stopped I skated for two days and then one of the wheels broke on the inlines and I took a dive onto the blacktop. Even though I was wearing pads and a helmet I got pretty wrecked up. When I could make myself get up and start walking again I knew I wouldn't get much further so got off the highway and turned into a little town where we used to stop to get gas and old-fashioned thick cut baloney sandwiches. We'd also get ice cream if it was hot and my favorite that I never found anyplace else was lemon drop flavored milkshake. For some reason I just had to see the place again.

Walking into town I noticed right off huge signs that directed people to an "evacuation point." It might explain how come I haven't been seeing people, not even salvagers. I've seen some triage type set ups off the highway but nothing that looks like people - uninfected people - have been in the area any time recently.

I limped my way to the store and sat down on the bench outside. It seemed somehow sacreligious to just bust a window to get in but it is probably what I would have done if I hadn't looked up and seen the little boy. Talk about a freak out. I was doing a total spazz.

What you have to understand is that puss brains are not zombies. I know I've said it but most people don't really understand the difference. Zombies are the reanimated dead. Puss brains are not dead. They're people infected by a totally gross virus that speeds up their metabolism, makes them angry, and as a consequence of both, makes them very, very hungry all the time. Doc used to talk about how the metabolization rate on a puss brain was off the chart. I always wondered how Doc knew all of the stuff he did but sometimes I looked in his eyes and realized that I might not really want to know afterall. The guy had a hole ripped in his soul that was letting his humanity leak out.

So yeah, get bit by a puss brain and you're going to turn into a puss brain ... you're infected. They don't bite to infect, they bite cause they're freakin' hungry and can't seem to help themselves. I've seen a puss brain eat another puss brain but it isn't pretty. And for some reason puss brains will gang up on another of their kind that starts feeding like that. They'll tear them apart but not eat them. Doc said it was one of those mysteries that had yet to be tested to find out why. Puss brains had a real thing against cannabalism though it makes no sense since they at uninfected people every chance they got.

To make the explanation of why I spazzed out even longer it's that when a puss brain gets hungry they are a sloppy eater and not real careful with their "food." A lot of people who are chomped by a puss brain don't survive to turn into a puss brain unless the infection kicks in and starts healing them up fast enough. If you have more than one puss brain chomping on you the damage is likely to be so bad you don't survive. Or, if you are small or young or something along those lines. The damage is just too bad. And that's why you hardly ever see kid type puss brains. Teenagers yes but kids and baby puss brains no ... hardly ever. And when you do they are usually really, really bad. I don't know why, they just are.

So seeing that little boy was truly spazz-worthy. The problem was the little boy wasn't alone. In my panic I rolled off the bench just in time to avoid getting shot though that isn't why I hit the ground. "AAAAaaack! Jerk! Your aim is off! Hit the puss brain kid! Not me!!" I didn't know who I was screaming at, it just sort of came out. All I know is that puss brains don't use guns.

I was busy scrambling, trying to get my stuff together, keep an eye on the kid, and avoid the nearsighted shooter. I was almost to the corner of the building when the kid stuck a finger in his mouth. I took two steps then stopped and looked back. Puss brains don't suck their thumbs. I've seen them gnaw a finger off but never suck their thumb. I was trying to decide what to do when I turned around to find someone ready to shove the barrel of a rifle up my left nostril. It was so close I had to be crosseyed looking at the end of it.

Then I looked up and there was a guy who looked about Lee's age and behind him were another girl, her about my age or maybe a little younger, it was hard to tell. "Don't move."

"Nooooo kidding," I muttered.

I wobbled and then squinched my eyes shut ready to get shot.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Huh?"

"Have you been bit?"

"No. Why?"

"What daya mean why? You're covered in blood."

"I'm not covered in it," I told him looking down at myself briefly. "I blew a tire on my skates and took a header. I'm just a little scraped up that's all."

"Yeah right," the girl snapped. "Don't listen to her."

"Shuttup Sammy. She's the first person we've seen since Uncle Simon left and ..."

"Don't tell me to shut up!"

I sighed. "Look I don't wanna get shot but I either sit down or fall down. Not to mention I gotta sneeze and when I do I'm gonna get boogers all in your rifle barrel."

I heard snickering behind me. I looked over just in time to see a little finger poke one of the places I'd shredded my jeans. "You gotta boo boo."

"Ouch!" And then finished falling down. "Brilliant DeeDee," I muttered angrily. "Good way to look like a complete idiot."

The girl Sammy added, "You got that right."

I sighed. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time." I turned my eyes up to the guy with the gun and he didn't look amused or anything else. In fact his eyes were getting a little scary so I started talking fast in his direction. "I'm no puss brain. I'm really serious about wrecking on my skates. You can even see here," I said pointing to the skate. "One of the wheels cracked and broke. I've got replacements. I just needed to get someplace off the road so I could clean up and do it. My folks and I used to come here for lemon drop milkshakes on our summer vacations. That's all. If it is your place I'll leave. Just tell me if I'm going to violate someone else's turf or whatever. I'm kinda tired and banged my head."

I'm on the ground where I'd fallen and looking up when suddenly the little kid with no boundaries body slams me and knocks the wind out of me in a great big woof. When I can breathe again I'm trying to move out from under the little crazy body.

"Geez, what is this kids problem? Do I look like a trampoline?!" I scrambled up and backwards when the little boy looked all set to repeat himself.

The guy with the gun sighed and said, "Knock it off John-John." When the kid gave him a smirk and acted like he was going to do it anyway the guy reached out real quick, grabbed the boy's arm, and then kinda tossed him in the direction of the girl Sammy. "I told you to knock it off." He looked at the girl and said, "Get your brother under control or I'll lock him in the bedroom again."

Sammy grabbed the little boy and held him to her even though it was pretty obvious he didn't want to be held. I got a look from her that said it was all my fault but I didn't pay too much attention to it because the guy was back to pointing the gun at me again.

"Where are you from?"

"Like where was I born or where did I come from just now?"

The guy said irritably, "Keep playing stupid and see how that works for you."

"I'm not playing. I mean I'm not stupid. I just mean there are two pieces to the answer and I'm not sure which one your want."

"Try both Einstein."

This guy was for real. He wasn't naturally bad but something about him told me he was ready to be bad if he had to. He was like a guard dog. I gave him the name of the town I'd been born but tried to give him a short explanation about the past year.

"Stop. Are you saying you come from St. Louis?"

"Sorta kinda. I told you ..."

"Yeah. Say I believe you but you're saying that you've been in the city for months and just now escaped."

"Uh ..." I said looking at him and trying to find the trap. "Yeah."

"Are you infected?"

"No. And ... look if I have to Sammy can look me over for bites but I'm not letting you anywhere near me."

The guy looked at me hard but something in his eyes had also changed. It was something about saying I was from the city. "You let Sammy look and if you're clean ... if you're clean I ... if you're clean you can fill your water bottle before going on your way."

I thought that was fair all things considered. I had stepped into their turf uninvited afterall.
 
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