I ducked into the room I’d slept in. My belt was on the chair by the bed. I strapped it on. The sword and knife already felt like a part of my body. I slipped my head under the shoulder harness, and sighed with the machete affixed to my back.
“All set?” Allison said.
“Don’t think I’m ever taking these off again.”
“Think we get to keep them?” Charlene said.
Was a good question.
In a bedroom toward the front of the cabin, Jason had raised one of the windows. “The bars will keep the zombies out even if they managed to climb up the side of the cabin like Spiderman.”
Leaning against the wall was rifle with a scope and a silencer screwed on to the barrel.
“When Jeremy and I were younger, we’d come up here with .22s and shoot at beavers, woodchucks, and squirrels. Whatever was out there, you know. We’d just pull a chair up to the window and…” He aimed his rifle out through the slatted bars, and pretended to shoot. “…ping, ping, ping. Just pick off rodents. Were some great times. Truly amazing memories. Thing is that whatever we shot, we ate. Father taught us that. So after we’d hunted, we’d go down and collect up the carcasses, gut ‘em, skin em, and bleed ‘em. Stews and jerky were two of the things we made regularly.”
That awkward silence fell over the room once again as we watched Jason, who now seemed lost in reflection. I wanted to grab him by the shoulders and give him a shake or maybe yell in his face, What the fuck is wrong with you?
“Okay,” Jason said. “Who’s gonna be first?”
I jumped back. His sudden enthusiasm caught me off guard.
Spade hadn’t moved. The guy was as tense as a statue.
No one moved. We stood there. Waiting.
Jason smiled. “It’s not only simple, it’s kind of fun.”
With the rifle aimed out the window, Jason squinted. He pressed his open eye to the scope, and aimed. A moment later, he fired off two shots. Sounded like puffs of air slamming into a pillow.
Never heard a gun with a silencer before. Had to admit. Was kind of cool.
Palmeri was at the window. “Headshots. Nice.”
“Want a turn?” Jason offered her the rifle.
Palmeri shook her head. “I’m good.”
Crystal stepped forward. “I’ll give it a shot,” she said, and laughed. “No pun intended.”
“Ah, but a funny one at that,” Jason said, and handed her the rifle. “Here you are, dear.”
Crystal aimed and fired. “Huh. Got ‘em.”
“Nice shooting, nice.” Jason clapped.
Crystal took three more shots. “Okay, yeah, this is fun.”
There was nothing fun about it. My stomach rolled. Killing the things to survive was one thing, but making a game out of it, a mockery of what we were against, seemed wrong. They had been people.
My ex-wife had been staring at photos of our kids. She was a zombie, but she somehow held onto to some part of her that still possibly felt or thought of being loved.
The others didn’t know this. I hadn’t found the right time to share some of my suspicions.
“Who’s next?” Crystal said, holding the rifle out to anyone.
Charlene took a step.
I grabbed her wrist. Didn’t want it obvious to everyone that I was stopping her.
She caught on, stepped back, stood next to me, and stayed still.
Jason took the rifle, offering it to Spade. “How about you? Not much of a challenge for someone of your skill and training, I’m sure. But, just the same, might feel good getting out some of that pent up anger.”
“And what makes you think I’m angry?” Spade said.
“In today’s world, soldier, who among us isn’t angry?”
“Coffee’s ready,” Jeremy called up to us.
Jason and Spade seemed locked in a staring contest, neither moving a muscle.
Jason gave in first. He aimed it out the window. Five quick shots fired. “Hmm. There we are.”
He lowered the rifle and leaned it against the wall.
“Coffee is ready,” Jason said. He wove his way between us and left the room.
“We’re getting out of here,” Spade said. “In the morning. You all get some sleep tonight. I’ll keep watch.”
“Watch over what?” Sues said. “You heard them. No way can zombies get in here.”
Spade sucked in a deep breath. “Isn’t zombies I’m worried about tonight.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I showered before bed. Stood under the spray for as long as I thought allowed. Others wanted in, so I did not want to use all the hot water. Easily could have, but I refrained. The smell of shampoo and Irish Spring soap was in and of itself, invigorating. The dried dirt took serious scrubbing to remove. I had to keep swiping my foot to clear mud from over the tub drain.
After toweling off, I took advantage of the situation, and found an unused razor and shaving cream. Always hated shaving, always. On that night, I reveled in it, enjoying each pass of the blades over my skin. Splashing hot water on my face afterwards, felt both comforting and soothing.
Someone knocked on the door. The moment was chased away.
“Dad, you take longer than me!” Char stepped into the bathroom as I left with a towel wrapped around my waist. “And don’t walk around like that. No one wants to see your chest hair, geesh!”
I raised my eyebrows as she closed the door, and went to the bedroom Allison, Charlene and I would share for the night. In the few short steps I took from one door to the next, I’ll admit I was fooled.
Caught believing this was normal. Like we were on a vacation. The three of us staying over at some bed and breakfast in the Thousand Islands. In the morning, we’d fish, and walk to town for ice cream.
The illusion didn’t immediately vanish. When I walked into the bedroom, Allison was there, smiling.
“Jason brought you a change of clothes. That dress shirt, and vest coat. Gave you a pair of jeans, too,” Allison said.
“That was thoughtful.”
“Guess, we don’t have long. Shut that door, drop that towel and get over here,” she said. Demanding. I loved it.
“Good thing, I don’t think it will take long,” I said. Never one to disobey orders, I did as instructed.
# # #
Monday, November 2nd -- 0913
“Rise and shine.”
I opened my eyes, expecting either Allison or Charlene to be the one waking me. “Spade?”
“Brothers have been up since dawn. Got bacon on a griddle, scrambling up eggs. Jeremy’s making biscuits. They wanted to me to come wake everyone up,” he said.
“You get any sleep?” I said.
Allison sat up, while Charlene rolled away from us, pulling blankets over her head.
“Not a wink,” he said, and winked. Ironic.
“Hey, man, what’s going on here?” I said.
Charlene lowered the blanket and looked at us.
“Oh, they are up. Hurry down or everything will get cold.” Jason leaned in the open doorway. “I’ll wake the others.”
“Just follow my lead,” Spade said, in a whisper.
I nodded.
We got out of bed, about to leave the room, when I stopped and strapped on my weapons. Allison and Charlene grabbed their rifles and handguns.
“Wonder if they have holsters. Tucking this Glock in my waistband, not so comfy,” Charlene said.
“Stay close, you two,” I said.
“What’s wrong here,” Charlene said.
“I don’t know but I feel it. Spade does, too.” I took in a breath and sighed. “After we eat, though, I am going to go out back. I am going to bury Cash--”
“I want to help,” Charlene said.
“Me, too. We should do it together,” Allison said.
I pursed my lips, hoping it resembled a humbled smile. “Okay. That’s a good idea. Together.”
We walked out of the room. The aroma wafting up from the kitchen was immediate. “Bacon,” Charlene said.