“Wow, John. I take it she wasn’t that hot?” I asked, and we all had a good laugh.
“While you were sleeping,” said Leo, “Marshall took the courtesy to show me how to work the tractor. We had to work quickly to build up our defenses, and I found myself actually enjoying riding around in a vehicle that big, digging into the land.”
“Every now and then I stared into the distance; the intensity of eyes following me was constant. I knew there were unfriendly eyes upon me, I could feel them; I could practically smell them. If there was something John and I had learned, was to trust our senses and our instincts.”
“John had advised me numerous times about the various smells he kept picking up as well, but we were uncertain as to how we could distinguish them. It’s a matter of experience, and we know that it could be potentially handy in the future.”
“I visited you in your room a few times, Max always sat next to you looking over his Dad like a guardian angel. It was worrying that you had been out of it all those days, but Max would smile up at me and say, ‘Don’t worry Leo, Daddy is only sleeping, he will wake up right on time.’
“I felt sorry for Max, he shows a maturity beyond his years, but he is nevertheless still a child. I took him outside, staying close to the mansion, whilst both Mrs. Tookes and I kept a watchful eye on him. The days have been warm, and it would have been a shame keeping Max locked up inside the house like a prisoner the whole time.”
“He stooped over me putting his hands on his hips, ‘You need to play more tag Leo!’ I was sitting on the ground watching him draw pictures in the dirt with a stick, when he approached me. ‘The bad man is really good at playing tag, we can’t let him win!’ as his eyebrows pulled together. Max is a special kid, his abilities never cease to amaze me, and I knew that if I ignored his advice, it would work against all of us.”
“I’ve found that to be true myself,” I said.
“He’s a good boy, Tookes. Well, I had to wait until John and Marshall returned from their salvage mission to take any action, there was no way I could leave Max and Mrs. Tookes on their own, with you unconscious and the zombies lurking outside our perimeter waiting to attack at any moment.”
“By the time the boys returned, the sun had almost set. We were ready for dinner, and the wait for them to return was almost agonizing.
“I didn’t like being left out of the action; it would have helped if we had some sort of communication system so we could at least keep in touch, and put my mind at ease you know. It was very risky leaving the mansion at such a delicate time, but it was necessary, still, it didn’t fail to annoy me.”
“To my relief, they acquired some pretty nifty gadgets amongst them a few radios. John was describing in detail the guns he had gathered, but his voice drifted off when Marshall handed me a pair of blades, I was delighted.”
“It was too late for me to train up my skills, so we ate instead, and took turns during the night circling the mansion. The eerie silence made all of us uneasy, we knew the smart zombies where planning something big and it was the calm before the storm.”
“As soon as the sun was up, I headed outside to stretch my limbs and watched as Marshall shot a few arrows at a makeshift target. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to put my speed to the test.”
I interrupted, “Oh? How fast are you?”
“Check this out, Marshall stepped about a hundred yards away from the target and raised his compound bow, aiming through the sight. I ran alongside the arrow as soon as he let go of the string, my aim was to reach the target before the arrow did. It was easy as pie; I was there with seconds to spare.”
“I returned the arrow to Marshall, who had now mounted another one to his bow; he shot again, this time I ran past it catching it before it hit the target.”
“You outran an arrow? Holy crap Leo!” I exclaimed.
“Yeah! Can you believe it? There’s more. John decided this was not challenging enough for me, and suggested to join in the fun, this time going against one of his bullets. It wasn’t as if we had enough to spare, but he insisted that two bullets in the name of training where not a big deal.”
“No, you didn’t outrun a bullet. Maybe we should call you super-girl?” I asked.
“To add extra difficulty to the challenge, John placed the target about four hundred yards away, there was no doubt in my mind that he would hit the bull’s-eye.”
John looked up at me with his mouth full of rice, grinning as he winked. We all laughed.
“So anyway, John aimed with the rifle and I watched as he pulled the trigger, running with all my might towards the target, and coming to a halt a few seconds later to find the bullet wedged in the piece of wood already. I looked at the hole in the inner circle and looked over at John turning my thumb upside down disappointed.”
“I made my way back, positioning myself next to John once again.”
“Marshall watched from his binoculars as John shot another round at the target.”
“The adrenaline kicked in, and my sight slowed down, making the bullet seem no faster than a bird flying past. I ran alongside the bullet, watching it from the corner of my eye, as we both sped towards the target. The bullet hit bull’s-eye once again as I simultaneously came to a stop.”
“I looked back at Marshall who was giving me the thumbs up from four hundred yards away, I was getting close; I just had to figure out how to trigger my senses to repeat the same action.”
“We decided not to spend any more rounds, and I spent the rest of the afternoon challenging myself against wildlife instead, in between adding the last touch of our defenses and eating dinner.”
“When John came running to the kitchen the next day to tell us that you were awake, I felt a jolt of relief. I wanted to knock you out for another nine days for your stupidity back at the shooting club, but I didn’t think the rest of you would appreciate it.”
“You looked pale and weak, and I couldn’t imagine the amount of pain your broken collarbone was causing you.”
“Once you were up and walking, there was nothing that was going to stop you, and there was no point arguing with you. I led you to Max and turned towards the window, the air felt dense, it smelled different.”
“I ran outside to meet John, who was already standing near the gate.”
“We got trouble”, he had said, looking straight ahead, and then he called for Marshall.”
“After a quick briefing we took our positions and watched as a line of trucks approached the entrance.
“Marshall’s voice chirped through the radio. ‘Shit John, there is a shitload of them’.”
“Just stand by our plan, Marshall. Leo are you ready?” John responded.
“I called back, ‘Ready,’ tightening my hand around the handle of my blade.
Just as Leo finished telling her story, the radio crackled.
“Company, front gate. They look military,” came a voice over the radio.
“Who’s that on the radio?” I asked as we all stood up from the table.
“That’s Charlie Bookbinder, he’s a marine, and he’s helping me with security.” said Marshall.
We were strapping on our weapons, John shrugged into his new rig; a black leather vest that held magazines facing outward from his spine, his pearl handled revolver above his hip, and two 9mm Glock 17's under each armpit. Leo donned her new sword holsters, the handles sticking up in an X above her head, with her collapsed batons across the small of her back.
“When did we start a leather tailoring company?” I asked, “And where’s mine?”
“Leo’s been busy!” said Marshall, holding his side.
“Marshall. You should stay back, you’re still wounded.”
“No, I’m fine,” he said. “It just itches.” Marshall raised his shirt to show that his bite marks were completely healed.