Amanda Carter in the L.A.Z., life after zombies (40 page)

Chapter 65

S
ky opened her eyes and clutched Maryanne’s arm with her left hand. It was a weak grasp, and the woman’s lips moved, but the sound was not intelligible. And then she closed her eyes again, but she continued to breathe, deeper and more steadily now.

Maryanne knew what she had said, even though the words had not come past her dry throat. She had said, “Thank you,” having recognized that they were there to help.

“Is she okay?” Cody asked, looking alarmed that she had closed her eyes again.

“I think she’ll make it. You’re doing a great job cooling her, Cody. Now take the rubbing alcohol and put it on the rag and start wiping her down. Don’t let her drink any of it because you only want it on the skin, it’s poisonous to ingest it. I’ll dress her again when you’ve finished,” Maryanne said, standing on stiff legs. “I need to get some more water started so that we have enough around camp. Lord knows the way we’re going through it, it’ll be gone by morning.”

“Sure thing,” Cody said, beginning to get started on the task.

“Sorry,” Amanda said, referring to her liberal use of water today.

“Don’t be, I’m just happy to have it,” she said, grabbing a bucket.

“I’ll go too,” Amanda said, grabbing another one. “That’ll give us twice as much.”

“If you’re feeling up to it, then okay,” Maryanne said, beginning to feel too tired to argue with her seemingly healthy patient. “Why aren’t you sweating, it’s certainly hot enough?”

“Don’t know,” Amanda said with a shrug, falling in line with her friend to go down the hill for more water. “I don’t feel hot at all. Actually, it seems kind of pleasant, really.”

Maryanne eyed her friend suspiciously but said nothing.

There were a couple of oddities about Amanda since she had come back from town with the bite, but it wasn’t anything at this point that she felt, as a doctor, too alarmed about. Overall, she was pleased with how well Amanda was doing and surprised that the burn wasn’t causing her more pain than it seemed to be. Amanda had not asked for a pain pill since the one that she had given her this morning. Either she was really good at faking normalcy, or it really wasn’t bothering her as much as Maryanne would have suspected.

The doctor felt very weary by the time she had trekked down the hill. It had been a long night, and she had had very little sleep and a hot day with a lot of chores and excitement, and the day was far from over. Even with Cody being such a great help, there was a lot to do. More water needed to be sanitized; she had another patient; Jason needed his leg checked and needed to do some physical therapy with his other leg and arms; dinner needed to be prepared; and dishes washed again after the meal. Unlike usual, when she was easily throwing herself into the camp chores, today felt like it would last forever.

Maryanne wished that she could go and take a nap, but it was out of the question with so much to do and impossible for her in this heat. She opted to put the tailgate down on the truck and sit for a few minutes, hoping it would take the place of a “power nap.”

“Not surprised to see you down here,” Roy said to Amanda. “Did the doctor give you the all-clear?”

“Not yet, but I begged a trip down here off of her,” Amanda said.

“How’s the woman?” Cole asked, not knowing Maryanne well enough yet to be able to read her.

“Good, looks like she’ll make it,” Maryanne said before yawning widely.

Cole nodded. His hair was wet, and he had on the pair of coveralls that Amanda had found at the rental lot repair shop.

“Where’s Sam?” her mother asked.

“She’s practicing her bow skills, giving me a chance to wash up,” Cole said. “Washed my clothes too and found these,” he said, looking down to indicate the coveralls.

“I knew that those coveralls would come in handy,” Amanda said, pleased that she had thought to throw them in with the load.

Amanda and Maryanne carried up five gallons of water apiece, and then they went back down and repeated the process, until they had twenty more gallons of water to be sanitized.

On the way up the hill, Amanda’s stomach growled loudly, and she realized that she was not only hungry again but that she felt famished.

“Was that your stomach I just heard?” Maryanne asked, before laughing, but it was a thin and tired sound.

Amanda’s hand went to her forehead. She had missed having her morning coffee, and now she had a caffeine headache. But there was no sense in having any now, and besides, even though she had found a lot of coffee grounds on the run, it wouldn’t last forever. She might as well get used to life without it a little at a time.

Once they had made it up to camp for the second time, Maryanne sent Cody down to see his father so that he could get washed up too. And the boy was happy to oblige, leaving with a skip to his step.

“He sure is a happy boy,” Maryanne commented to her husband.

“He’s definitely a glass-is-half-full kind of guy,” Jason said.

“If you ask me, he’s the glass-is-all-the-way-full kind of guy, regardless of how full it is,” Amanda said. “He’s the biggest reason why I trusted them enough to bring them back here. You can’t be too careful these days.”

“You got that right,” Jason said, before returning to his book.

Sam came up the hill and got herself a big glass of water, claiming that her bow skills had already improved. She shed the cotton long-sleeved shirt that she had put on to practice so that she didn’t further aggravate the red mark that the bowstring had rubbed on her arm earlier. She claimed that she had figured out how she had been holding the bow at the wrong angle, thus the mark.

“I’m glad that you’re figuring it out,” her father said. “God knows that we could use someone in this crew that can be silent but deadly from a distance. By the way, thanks for the book, it’s really interesting, and you’re right, it’s helping me to pass the time without going stir crazy here.”

Sam smiled, pleased that she had garnered not one but two compliments from her father. The way she saw it, her relationship with her parents had changed a little since she had come back from the run. She felt like they were treating her more as an equal now, and not like a little kid. That’s the kind of independent relationship that she wanted to have with them.

“Sam, do you have the time to clean this fridge up?” Roy asked from over where he was fussing with the wiring for the solar panels.

“Why do I have to do it?” Sam said with a moan. “Do you know how messed up it is, yuck. It almost made me vomit when I first opened it.”

“I’ll help,” Amanda said, “shouldn’t be too hard, considering that we brought back all those cleaning supplies.”

“You want that refrigerator as much as anybody else here,” Maryanne said, with her hands on her hips, giving Sam a no-nonsense look that said she was about to give her a lecture.

“So much for equality,” Sam said, mumbling under her breath, but she followed Amanda to where they had placed the bottles of cleaner.

Sky sat up. Maryanne had soaked the woman’s clothing with water, before putting them back on her, to help with getting her body temperature down. All the doctor’s efforts had worked. She was alive, conscious, and sitting upright.

“Can I have some water,” Sky said, gathering the attention of the group.

“Mercy!” Maryanne said. “You’re with us. I did all that I could do, and we were just waiting for you to wake up.”

Maryanne filled a water glass and quickly made her way over to the woman.

“I’m sorry, the water’s quite warm. I just boiled it not half an hour ago to make sure that it’s safe. It’s still hot but drinkable,” Maryanne said, placing the glass in the woman’s fragile-looking fingers.

Sky took a long drink, before setting the glass down nearly empty.

“It tastes wonderful,” she said. “I want to introduce myself. My name is Sky, and I want to thank you for rescuing me. I thought that I was done for, and I curled up to die. That’s the last thing I remember. How on earth did you all find me way out here?”

“The buzzards were circling in the air over where you had parked in the next canyon. When they went to investigate, there you were. I’m Amanda, and this is Maryanne. Roy’s over there, and Sam is behind me. There’s Maryanne’s husband, Jason, convalescing in the chair, and little Tammy, she’s our resident artist. Cody and Cole are down the hill. Red’s the big wolf dog, and the little dog is Boo, she’s Tammy’s companion, and Red shadows Sam. Cole, Sam, and Roy brought you in,” Amanda said, before offering the woman a smile.

“I’m having trouble accepting that I’m not dead. I thought for sure that I was,” Sky said. “My mother always told me that I had a guardian angel. I guess it must be true. And with all the bad people out there now, you good people found me. I must have a guardian angel. I’m sorry, but I’m a bit foggy and will probably forget all your names. Forgive me if I have to ask again.”

Sky had felt that her eyes wanted to water with emotion, but she was still too dehydrated for the tears to form.

“Don’t worry about it,” Amanda said.

“I bet you have a story to tell,” Maryanne said. “I’m a little busy with camp stuff right now. Sit where you like, and be sure to drink lots of water and get to know everybody. Dinner will be in a couple of hours. I don’t want you eating anything any sooner than that because it’s likely that you’ll toss it right back up. We’ll all be together at dinner, and we’ll hear what you have to say.”

“I just can’t thank you enough,” Sky said, and now her voice sounded less raspy.

Sky reached for the glass and easily finished off the remaining water.

Fortunately, because she had tucked herself into the hole she had made in the mountain, she had no sunburn issues. Amanda could see that the woman had naturally dark skin, and it appeared that she had at least some Native American heritage, judging by her skin tone and facial features. She had high cheekbones, a narrow face, brown eyes that spoke of intelligence and kindness, and a small, framed body. Though Amanda was petite, this woman was smaller, frailer-looking. The wrinkles in her skin told of age, both in her face, neck, and hands. But what was most striking about her was her very long, silvery gray hair.

Amanda caught herself staring at the woman and quickly looked away, not wanting to be rude. But when she looked away, she thought that might seem rude, so she looked back again to see that the woman had made it to her feet.

“If you want, I’ll show you around,” Amanda said, moving closer to her.

“And you are Amanda, right?” Sky said, and now that she was on her feet, Amanda could see that the woman was a good two or three inches shorter than her.

“Yes, that’s right. Do you feel up to a tour of the camp, or would you rather stay put for a while? It’s not like there’s all that much to see,” Amanda said.

“I’d love the tour, thank you,” Sky said, before smiling. Her teeth looked startlingly white in comparison to her naturally dark skin.

“I thought you were going to help me clean the fridge,” Sam said, sounding disgruntled.

“Don’t be rude, dear, I’m too tired to deal with it,” Maryanne said. “Besides, it’s a small fridge, you have the cleaners, just get it done.”

“Fine,” Sam said and then issued a groan.

“And who might that sassy young lady be?” Sky asked, and Amanda saw a twinkle to the woman’s eyes when she said it.

“That’s Sam, one of our resident teens,” Amanda said. “We have two of them, but the other one’s more agreeable.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” said Sam. “I’m agreeable. I think so, anyway.”

Amanda didn’t bother to answer and merely shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, “See what I mean.”

“Children,” Sky said with a sigh, “I never had any, but sometimes, I’ve regretted that decision.”

“Sam’s a very talented young lady, she’s just sassy, like you said. But she’s a real survivor, and I’d let her watch my back any day,” Amanda said, feeling that the girl deserved at least that.

“Thanks,” Sam said, walking up to them with a bottle of cleaner in one hand and a rag in the other. “I’ll clean the fridge. I thought I should at least protest a little, you know, or else someone might think I’m sick or something.”

“Nice to meet you, Sam, I’m Sky,” the woman said, and the twinkle had not left her eyes.

“Cool name,” said Sam.

It occurred to Amanda that though the woman was small and frail-looking, she probably had her fair share of spunk as well. After all, she had survived the initial outbreak. She eyed Sky, as the woman interacted with Sam. There is something very mysterious about her, she decided.

“Are you ready?” Sky asked of Amanda.

“Oh, sure, yeah,” Amanda said, and the two women went off together, beginning with where Roy was working.

Chapter 66

C
ody was nearly finished with scrubbing his body. He had had dirt caked onto his skin, nearly everywhere. It had taken soap and a lot of scrubbing before his father had given him the okay to stop. Now his fair skin looked pink and delicate. The dirt had been acting as a sun block. He would have to be more careful now to not get sun burned.

Cole handed him the other pair of coveralls, which were way too big for the boy. He obediently shimmied into them, and then Cole helped to roll up the pant legs, while Cody worked on rolling up the sleeves so that his hands would be usable.

Cody had never been one to care much about fashion, and he wore the new, much cleaner clothes with confidence.

His father scowled as he peered into the brown soapy water in the bucket. They had brought down two half full buckets of water: one for bathing and washing his clothes, and the other for rinsing the clothes. Cole shrugged. They would have to use the brown water to wash the boy’s clothes. Both his son and Maryanne had been working for hours at preparing water for them, but still it had been being used up fast. This would have to do. At least, he considered, the clothes will be cleaner than they are now, and that’s what mattered.

At times, Cole felt bothered when a job could not be done well the first time. But the circumstances that the infection had forced them to live under had been straining the boundaries of his beliefs. He had come to realize that sometimes, if a job could be done at all, then that was a good thing. This was one of those times, and so he opted to let it go.

He could hear voices traveling as a couple of people were coming down the hill. He recognized Amanda’s voice and figured that the other must belong to their newest member. In just a matter of days, this little camp had grown by three. He wondered how well everybody would adjust to the change and then figured that if anybody was having trouble adjusting, it was himself. But he would work to fit in, because in his mind, he had delivered his son to the right kind of people. And now it was just a matter of keeping all those people alive.

Cole looked down to see that Cody was swooshing his dirty clothes around in the wash bucket, without being instructed to do so. He suddenly wished again that he had spent more time with his son before the infection had changed everything. He took a deep breath, as he remembered all the times that he had telephoned home to say that he had picked up some overtime. At the time, money had seemed important. He had wanted to save up and be able to leave the house that they had been renting and buy a place of their own.

Now, all the money was lost, to some bank that would be no more—at least, he figured, not in his lifetime. And when and if the banks did start up again, all that had been before would be gone. People would start over fresh, tabula rasa, a blank slate. To Cole, all those hours had been lost, and they would have been better spent on his son.

He had hired an elderly lady from down their street to sit with Cody and to make sure that there was an adult around while he was gone. The woman had, like most people, got along well with his son, and she had appreciated the extra cash because of her fixed income. But now, it seemed that it had not been worth it. He had missed so much and at times had gone an entire day or two without seeing the boy awake, only able to check on him in his sleep.

In the LBZ, the world had revolved around money. But now, things had changed, and the only things that mattered were the good people in your life and staying alive. Cody did not possess any natural survival skills, as he perceived it.

In school, his son had been recognized as brilliant right away. After testing, it had been determined that the boy was operating at a high genius level. That, combined with the boy’s natural ability to win people over, had almost assuredly meant that he would be set for life. But now, Cole sighed, things had changed, and he worried about his son more than anything else in the world.

In the raider camp, Cole had watched his every step, careful to not infuriate them and get him and his son killed. Cody had, as usual, made himself useful. But he had been denied the time to have much interaction with his boy, and that had worried him. He worried that Cody would say or do the wrong thing. Cody had known better than to tell them that his father had been a police officer in the time before. And that had been a blessing. On second thought, he does have some natural instincts when it comes to people, Cole considered.

The voices had stopped drawing near, and Cole figured them to be coming from The Pit. That reminded him that there was work to be done. Not only did he have to map out the garden area and get that ready to plant as soon as possible, but he wanted to make sure that some sort of bathroom facilities could be worked out because as it was now, going to relieve oneself was a tedious chore that offered minimal privacy should someone wander up.

And then, there was the matter of security measures that they still needed to work out. He hoped to have some time this evening to discuss precautions and outline a plan, should they come under attack, by either the creepers or the raiders. After looking over the supplies, he had come up with a few ideas that he would like to be able to share with the group.

“Hey, Cody,” Cole said, “are you interested in helping me get the garden ready?”

Cole was eager to have this time to spend with his son, and he was determined to cherish it, like he had not done before.

“Nah, Dad, that’s okay, I need to help with the water, and then there’s dinner and dishes. I have an official job, with a title and everything. I have to go to work. Maybe we can do something some other time?”

Cole sighed and reached to grab one of the buckets to dump. They would be able to carry up ten more gallons of water. It seemed to Cole, like the tables had been turned, and now it was Cody that would be putting in the overtime, leaving him alone.

“This is where we park the vehicles,” Amanda said, having led Sky down to the flat section where Cole and Cody were.

“You must be Cole, and that’s your son, Cody. Amanda’s already told me a lot about you two,” Sky said. “I want to thank you properly for bringing me in to your camp.”

Sky extended her petite hand toward Cole, who was careful to grasp it gently while he looked her up and down, using his long years of training to try to make an assessment of her.

“Don’t thank me, Cody and I are almost as new to this camp as you are. They’re the ones that had it all set up out here. A safe haven in a world gone insane, is what I think,” Cole said, before offering the woman a smile, having decided that she was not a threat to them.

It would be difficult, he considered, for anyone to view this woman as a threat, but he supposed that stranger things were possible but doubtful.

“Amanda pointed out where you intend to put the garden,” Sky asked, and Amanda realized that the woman’s voice, now that it had been hydrated, had a melodious tone to it.

“Yes, ma’am, that’s right,” Cole said, perking up a little, realizing that he might have some help with it, judging by her interest.

“I’m really better with plants than I am with people,” Sky said. “I’ve spent many months now on my own, solitary. Some time working on the garden would be wonderful for my soul.”

“I’ll carry up the rest of the garden supplies,” Cole said. “Feel free to get started whenever you’re feeling up to it, because I really have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to growing things. That was never a hobby of mine,” Cole said, realizing that he had accidentally killed the last five or so houseplants that people had given him over the past few years.

“I’m really feeling much better now, and getting my fingers dirty will be wonderful,” Sky said, and it appeared that she was beaming at the prospect of the task.

Cole decided that it would be impossible to perceive this woman as any type of a threat to their little community. She appeared to be very good-natured and seemed to carry a gentle, quiet spirit.

“I don’t suppose that you also know how to fight or shoot a gun, a bow, or anything like that?” Cole asked, thinking that if she could also help them to defend themselves, then she had just become an ideal new member.

“Oh my, no, I’ve never had need of anything like that,” Sky said. “I wouldn’t know anything about firing a gun, and I’ve only killed two of those creeper things, and that was with a shovel and only because I had too.”

“Happy to have you,” Cole said, suddenly feeling deflated because though they had someone to work in the garden, she was an additional member that would require their protection. “Would you be willing to learn?”

“I suppose, if it’s necessary, but I don’t think I would have much skill with anything like that,” Sky said, suddenly looking worried that she may not be such a welcome addition after all without any fighting skills.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll make sure that you receive some basic fighting and shooting skills. But you will be greatly received with your work in our prospective garden. There does not seem to be one of us that has much experience in that area,” Amanda said, trying to be sure to assuage any fears that the woman might have been experiencing because of Cole’s abrupt way of putting things.

Cole was certainly given to confrontation, Amanda considered. But she did realize that this was a skill that would undoubtedly be very useful in today’s society and useful to them when they needed to venture out again.

Amanda escorted Sky back up to the camp, being sure to point out the spot where she and Sam both liked to come at times in order to have some private time with their thoughts. Sky had made a point of saying that she had been used to having time alone and the hustle and bustle of camp could grate the nerves without the ability to safely spend some meditative time of reflection.

On the way back up, Amanda was curious about how it was that Sky had survived this long on her own. With her gentle disposition, no fighting skills, and no one to protect her from the raiders and the creepers, it seemed impossible that the woman could have lived through all this.
Maryanne had said that we would save her story for this evening while everyone was collected for dinner
. She felt that she couldn’t wait to hear what Sky had to say about how she had been living. The other curious thing was how she had come to be in the adjoining canyon.

Once back up top, Amanda realized again how hungry she felt. But it felt wrong to bother her friend by asking her when it would be time for dinner. Her injured arm was itching, and she unconsciously reached to scratch at it.

“Don’t do that, you’ll dislodge the dressing,” Maryanne said, having noticed. “Why on earth would you want to scratch at it? Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Hurt, no,” Amanda said, removing her fingers from the gauze. She had not even realized that she had so automatically reached to scratch at it. “It itches,” Amanda said.

“That can’t be right,” claimed Maryanne, moving to come over to her. “I want to take a look at it.”

“I want to see it too,” Cody said. “I was the one that put the dressing on it last time.”

“Yes, Cody,” Maryanne answered, but she sounded weary.

Sky had wandered off to meet Cole at their new garden sight, where he had come up and off-loaded some of their supplies. He had several more trips to make and was looking forward to doing it on his own. Ideally, he wanted to do something with his son, but that wasn’t happening, so he was feeling like Sky, in that he wanted some solitude.

“I have the fridge running,” Roy announced, standing up to stretch his back.

Everyone, except Jason, dropped whatever they were doing to come over and see it.

“I cleaned it,” Sam said, as if she was expecting accolades from the group.

The little refrigerator’s motor hummed. Roy had set it upon a scrap piece of plywood in an area underneath one of the tarps, and it looked out of place in this environment.

“Right now, it’s running off of the batteries while the solar panels are collecting the sunlight that will recharge them,” said Roy, and it was obvious that he was very pleased with his work.

“I can’t believe it,” Maryanne said. “Now we can store food so that it doesn’t spoil in this heat.”

“We can cool the beer,” Roy said with a smile.

“We can have cold water,” Cody said.

“Cold soda,” said Sam. “Can I put one of the sodas that I found in there?”

“Does this mean that we will have a house again soon?” Tammy asked. “We had a big one in our house, and Momma used to use it to make ice pops. Can we have ice pops again?”

“Come here, sweetheart,” Jason said. “Come sit with me, and I will answer all your questions.”

Maryanne felt compelled to go and open it, wanting to feel that it really was working to cool down.

“You won’t want to leave it open. As it is, it’ll be hours before its cool enough to be effective,” Roy said.

“Sorry, but I just had to,” Maryanne said, quickly slamming the door and making sure that it was sealed tight.

“Why don’t we wait an hour or so to put anything in it? The more that we pack into it now, the longer it will be before it cools down, especially in this heat,” Roy said.

Amanda’s headache had become worse; she didn’t feel like joining in on the festivities, and she slipped away to get a glass of water and then to go and rest on her mat. She was not only suffering from a severe headache, but she was feeling week again too, and her stomach would not stop protesting at not having any food for a few hours.

Sky had not bothered to come over. She had simply stood up to look and then went back to work on the garden preparations. Amanda presumed that even though the woman was friendly and a good conversationalist, she would prefer to stay away from everyone at this time, and perhaps, that would be true for most times.