Cage was not arguing any points with Hank, he was just keenly aware that his mother and father were gone and would never be back. Thankfully, he did not carry any survivor's guilt on his conscious.
Juan, meanwhile had safely settled back into his chair and was surrounded by kids again, mostly boys and younger girls. The kids all had hand held game players and were eager to show Juan how they could all play together wirelessly. Juan watched them for a minute or two coaching them when he noticed Cage watching them with interest. Juan tousled one boy's hair and whispered in his ear that he should go and get Cage a game too. Eager to please the boy ran off and was back and showing Cage how to play in less than five minutes. They had a little bit of a language barrier, the boy was Hispanic and not yet in school, and spoke little English, however video game playing would not be denied and through gestures and much button poking the boys got Cage playing the racing game they were all in. This made life easier for Hank as Cage soon wandered off with the pack of boys, who were already teaching him to say things in Spanish. They didn't go far though, just over to an outlet where they could all plug in their games instead of running off battery power. They sat on a carpet, which had been rolled out by the women, who had also set up a play area for the toddlers which was ringed in with boxes and chairs so they could not easily escape. The thirteen to fifteen year old teen girls were assigned the task to watch the children and Hank noticed that one girl in particular was keeping an eye on Cage.
Juan saw Hank's interest, "I asked Nanci to clean them up and keep someone watching them." He said in Spanish, "Nanci said they don't have many kids cloths here, no shoes either and their shoes were all bloody so they washed them and set them to dry up on the roof, not that they seem to mind going without shoes. She wants us to raid a clothing store or a Wal-mart to get all the kids and some adults the essentials, underwear, socks, shoes, that sort of thing. Plus she says the doc is complaining about no equipment, he stitched you up with thread one of the women had boiled up in water on a hot plate, he was not happy about it either."
"Ah it is summer, we won't have to worry about cloths right now, just put all the kids in swimsuits and hose em down, once a day."
Juan looked at Hank as if he were crazy, "You never had to deal with kids much did you Hank? You know what kind of rash they would get if you do that?", shaking his head, "You better not tell Nanci that either, unless you are joking. Here she comes now, hope you are hungry friend."
Indeed Hank was hungry, he accept the plate from Nanci for himself and Nanci handed another one to Sylvia, speaking in Spanish Nanci said, "Sorry she is barefoot Hank, her shoes, they were dirty, we got them clean, but they are still drying. You know all those dryers they got here?" Hank nodded, "Well they take special plugs, so we can't use them without re-wiring something somewhere. Alfonso is a journeyman electrician; he is going to get a bank of dryer's set up for us near the electric box, when he has time. Right now he is working on getting a bunch of generators hooked up on the roof, so when the power cuts out we won't lose electricity to the cooler and stuff. We can hook up a washer too, but only with cold water from a hose, they got a hot water heater near the bathrooms, but the men think setting up a shower is more important. I think so too."
Hank read between the lines, clothes could be cleaned in cold water, bodies could not. He did not doubt for a moment that one of the women had suggested showers instead of washers to one of the men, who was led to believe it was his bright suggestion. Sighing and thinking about the 'way the world works' he thanked Nanci for the food.
After handing out the food Nanci asked if they wanted to watch television, there was nothing on locally, but one of the women had set up several dvd players and they had at least a hundred titles to choose from, all in high definition. Sitting back Hank watched a kid's comedy a movie starring twins who were taking up where the Olson twins had left off so many years ago. He must have dozed off, because the credits were rolling for the movie, he saw Evaine approaching him she grabbed his dirty plate, she had another jug of juice in her hands too and a half smile one her face.
"Hank, the doc says you gotta finish that juice." She said pointed to the jug beside him, "And I have to leave this on here for you to finish off over the rest of the afternoon, plus you have to drink as much as possible tomorrow too, after that you get to drink yourself silly on beer and liquor so he can save the pain medicine for other people who need it more."
She stood by while he finished off his jug of juice, though he did cheat by letting Sylvia have a few gulps too. Then he handed her the empty and she sat the full one down on a tray by the side of his chair. She pulled a couple of medicine bottles out of a fanny pack she was wearing and held them up in her hand.
"Doc also said to sleep as much as you can, and take one of these four times a day until they are all gone and to take these as you need for the pain, but the more you take, the less other people can take later. Got it?"
Hank nodded 'yes' sleepily and watched as Evaine gathered up Juan's plates and several other that had been set down by the children watching the movie. Juan was not in the chair by Hanks side, but he walked up as Evaine walked off, he watched Hank watch the woman leave.
"You are doomed you know. Why did you not date her more? Or call her even?" asked Jaun.
"Naw, me? She is just a kid, what? 24? Thirteen years younger than me, too young, we got nothing in common, though she is easy on the eyes."
"Nothing in common, isn't that good? Gives you more to talk about….late at night."
Shrugging his shoulders, Hank responded, "Well maybe, but things have changed now, there won't be time for stuff like that anymore. I don't even know, you know, how to do that stuff anymore, like dating and all, the other parts I still get."
Shrugging back Juan said, "Too old for love, huh? Still life goes on amigo. This is a mess and I am not talking of making a family right here and now, we're gonna beat these things and people like you and me, workers who know how to put broken things back together, we are gonna do well."
"Ha! Look around Juan! You see any useless bodies around here. Hell even our former drug pushers are productive these days, sure we are all wondering what the future will bring, but these people. " Hank paused and waved his arm around at all the people in the Mike's Club, "These people, know there is going to be a future and that we are going to be a part of it."
Chapter 9
Jack walked up to the men in the recliners, "You talking about me again Hank? I suppose I am not gonna see much in the way of drug demand for awhile am I? Well no worries man, I have seeds stashed and the market it going to be wide open, who's gonna worry about a little happy plant when you have blood sucking zombies chasing you down? Doc said you might want to talk to me about the bitten we are keeping in the parking lot."
"Well yeah, how are you keeping them there?"
"We got a chain link fence roll from across the street and set it up with posts on the concrete. We welded the posts together out of angle irons and other fencing, it is not zombie proof, not really, but when they turn we try to get to them before they gnaw on anyone else. That wasn't what doc said that had me curious though, he said something about you running into a guy who got bit, but didn't turn?"