Regeneration (Mad Swine Book 3) (18 page)

“Well I did, before this all this
happened,” Tammy said, cutting him off. “I had two lovely children
and the best husband a girl could ask for. Seven months ago, they
died, killed by those vile creatures. I was alone, on the street
then.”

“Tammy, you don’t owe him any
explanations,” Brian said. His eyes remained on Phil, a cold look
that chilled me.

Taking his hand, she did not respond
to him, but continued talking to Phil. “I was a stay at home mom
before the world collapsed. All I knew how to do was clean a house,
wash laundry, buy groceries, and cook supper for the husband and
kids. The infected took my family, but Alvin and his army took
whatever else I had, including my dignity. He offered food and
protection, but everything came at a price.”

She took another drag on her
cigarette, and then passed it to Brian. “I won’t tell you what they
did to me, or what they made me become; I don’t owe you that. Just
know that whatever I did, I did to survive. When I hooked up with
Mikey, I did it to protect myself. As long as I was with him, the
other men would leave me alone.

“Why did I stay, you asked? I stayed
because as long as I was with them, I was alive. Without them, I
would have died sure as I’m sitting in front of your right now. The
world out there is no place to be alone. We all need people. And
sometimes we don’t have a choice who we throw in with; we can’t
always be on the good team.”

“You have a choice now,” Brian
said.

“You’re sweet,” Tammy said. She
leaned forward and kissed the corner of his mouth.

Tammy was right; we could no longer
survive on our own. We all needed people. She was also right that
sometimes you had to choose between the lesser of two evils; live
with what you must do to survive or die with your morals. Death is
never a survivor’s first choice. And I was a survivor

* * *

Stretched out on the floor of the
trailer, my head propped up on my hand, I yawned. I was bone tired
and all I wanted at that moment was eight hours of uninterrupted
sleep. But there was much to be decided before I could rest and
time was not on my side. It never is.

After Tammy’s long interrogation—I
don’t know why I even call it that; she gladly told us everything
we wanted to know about Alvin and the Route 59 Raiders, as they
were called—Brian took her over to the medical tent so Ravi could
check for signs of concussion. I did not think Brian had struck her
that hard, but I knew it would make him feel better, so I told him
to go on, but be mindful of time.

If Tammy was to be believed—there was
no reason why she shouldn’t be—we didn’t have very long before
Alvin surrounded us with his vast army of demon-slayers and laid
waste to our small community.

Earlier, I told my brother I was done
with killing; but killing, it seemed, was not yet done with me. The
fact was I was not ready to throw in the towel, not by a long shot.
Although I had suffered great loss, and life after the outbreak was
hard living, I had also experienced joy and hope in this new life.
Back at the farm, Lara and Wesley were waiting for me. As I
pictured them in my mind, I realized that I would do whatever it
took to get back to her.

Sitting up now, with my back propped
against the metal wall of the container, I kicked a foot in Phil’s
direction, knocking one of his boot-clad feet—that were crossed
over each other—down.

“What are you thinking right now?” I
asked.

Crossing his foot over the other
again, he shook his head. “Man, I don’t know what to think right
now. I feel like that woman just lobbed a live grenade in my
direction and I have no cover from the blast. I’m too exhausted to
think but we need a damn plan.”

From beside me, Sam said, “I’ll tell
you what I’m thinking. I’m thinking the man that Tammy described is
on his way here, maybe he’s already just down the road, right now
discovering his men are all dead and putting one and one together
to make two.”

I put a hand on Sam’s shoulder, but
before I could say anything, she continued: “I’m scared right now,
probably more scared than I’ve been in a long time.”

“I’m scared too,” I said.

“I think that man is scarier than any
of those damn zombies, or crazies, whatever you call them, will
ever be.” She looked at me now, her eyes locked on mine. “You have
a plan, right Matt? You always seem to know what to do.”

Her words struck a chord deep inside;
I recalled my last conversation with Wesley before I left the farm.
He had said that I promised to keep everyone safe, but I had failed
in that endeavor. I had failed miserably, to be honest. I couldn’t
even count the friends and loved ones I had lost in the last six
months on both hands and feet. I only had to stick my head outside
the door of this trailer and look uphill at all of the markers if I
wanted a visual of my failure.

In Sam’s eyes, I saw her need and so
I told her what she needed to hear. “I always have a plan,” I said.
“Let Alvin Stone and his army of sadistic freaks come. We won’t be
here to welcome him.”

“Where the hell are we going to be?”
Phil asked.

“We’ll all be at the farm. There is
plenty of room for everyone. We have food, we have water, and
shelter. More importantly we have friends waiting for us
there.”

“I could sure use some friends right
now,” Phil said. He scooted up onto his knees and stood up. He put
his hands on the small of his back and stretched. “You think the
rest of your group will take us in? I mean, after what happened
between us?”

“They’d be happy to have you,” I
said.

I spoke for the group, but I truly
had no idea how they would react when I returned with a bunch of
Providence refugees. There were definitely old wounds that had not
yet healed. We’d lost many friends at the hands of Providence.
Wesley had lost his parents during the war.

“We made it work, I’m sure the rest
of them are willing to give you a chance,” Sam said to Phil. “You
were there when we needed you. That counts for something.”

“And you were there for us,” Phil
said.

“Do we want to hug it out?” I
jokingly asked. For a moment, they both just stared at me, then
Phil started to laugh, but he came forward and embraced me in a
manly hug. Suddenly Sam was up quickly and joined in on the group
hug.

“Okay, okay, enough of that,” I said,
still chuckling as the two released me. “Back to the business at
hand; we don’t have much time if what Tammy said is true. How many
people do we have here?”

Phil and Sam both looked at each
other and then started doing the math in their heads. Sam’s mouth
moved as she silently counted on her fingers. After thirty seconds
she said, “Forty one, not including you or Brian.”

“That sounds right,” Phil said.

“So we need enough vehicles to move
forty plus souls. Brian and I can take probably twelve or so on the
wagon if they squeeze in.”

“We have wounded,” Phil said.
“They’re going to need to be laid out and that’s going to take
space.”

“And we’ll need to take whatever
supplies we have on hand—” Sam started.

“We have plenty at the farm,” I said,
cutting her off. “We need to get light. Folks are going to have to
take a few items but not more than that.”

“I understand,” Sam said, “But we
can’t just waste food and water. And we can’t just leave weapons
and ammo behind.”

“I agree with Sam,” Phil said. “It’s
not much anyway, but I don’t want to leave it.”

Continuing this argument was going to
be a waste of time. They had both been through hard times and
wasting anything these days was a tough pill to swallow.

I said, “Look, I get it. We take food
and weapons; everything else stays unless they can carry it on
their backs. Now give me transportation options. Do we have
anything that can pull these trailers?”

Phil shook his head. “Not without
diesel. We used the last of it hauling in those containers on the
road.”

“Figures. So what else do you
have?”

“We have a couple of vans and pick-up
trucks we should have enough fuel to get running, but that’s about
it. Fuel is the issue,” Phil said. “I’m sure you guys didn’t ride
up here on horseback because you enjoy it.”

“Some of us are going to have to
walk,” Sam said. “It’s not ideal, but it is our only choice. We
cannot be here when those guys show up again. Look at the damage
they’ve already done with a small contingent.”

“We use the vehicles for the wounded
and the weak,” I said. “Everyone else is humping it, no other
choices. We’ll need to make sure everyone on their feet is armed in
case we’re attacked by the crazies.”

“Sounds like we do have a plan,” Phil
said.

“That was the easy part. Now we have
to make it work. What is your leadership structure here? Do you
have folks you can trust to get everyone organized?”

Sam was nodding her head. “We have
some good people that can help us with that. What are you
thinking?”

“Let’s break up into five groups.
Each group will have a lead and a vehicle. The lead’s responsible
for getting their group organized and ready to move. Each vehicle
carries wounded or sick and whatever supplies can fit. Everyone
else is on foot.”

Everyone was quiet, thinking over
what I just said. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was our only
plan. “Any questions?”

“No,” Sam said.

“I have one,” Phil said. “What do we
do about the posse that’s coming for us? What’s to stop them from
following right behind us and taking us out?”

“I’m still working on that. I have a
plan, but no one is going to like it. I don’t even like it, but we
don’t have many choices.”

“Well, are you going to share?” Sam
asked.

I shook my head. “No, let me worry
about this right now. You two share our exit plan with your leads,
start getting things organized.”

“What are you going to do?” Phil
asked.

“I have to check up on a few things
and figure out my problem. Find me if you need me.”

Fortunate Son

After a very long day, a good night’s
sleep was at the top of my list, but I had a few more things to do
before I lay my head down. My first stop was to check in on Kat and
see how she was doing. I found her in good spirits—considering what
she had been through—and I was grateful that whatever she had
endured at the hands of the raiders had not broken her.

Lying in bed, her blond hair flowing
over her pillow, she looked like an angel. Both Sam and Kat were
beautiful women, but of the two, Kat was stunning. My wife, when
she was alive, joked that she was jealous of Kat and she’d do
anything to keep me away from her if she had any interest in men
for procreation.

At first, I thought she was asleep.
Her head turned to the left, the awful scar hidden from view. When
I sat beside her, she turned and a smile tweaked her face. The pale
bruises would turn a dark purple in the next few hours. Above her
right eye was a deep cut sewn together by Ravi’s steady hand.

Pushing her lose hair back behind her
ears, Kat said, “I know I look like crap warmed over.”

“No,” I said, awkwardly. “You look
beautiful.”

She tried to force her smile again.
“You’re sweet.”

There was a moment of silence between
us. I wasn’t sure what to say. Once again, my wife proved right.
She had said I was no good at small talk. But it wasn’t just that.
Only a couple of hours ago, she had been through a life-altering
situation and I wasn’t sure how she would react to anything I might
say. I didn’t want her to relive any part of that experience. I
hoped over time, she would forget.

“We’re getting out of here, first
thing in the morning,” I said. “You’re coming home.”

This time, her smile did not seem
forced, but rather genuine. “That sounds good to me, boss.”

“Wesley misses you something fierce.
And Sam.”

“We miss him, too. Has he grown?”

“Like a weed.”

“Is he…okay? Is he fitting in?”

“Absolutely. There’s other kids his
age there and he’s taken to them. And he and Cody are
inseparable.”

“And how is crotchety old Ray? He
still treat Wesley like his personal butler?”

My silence was answer to her
question, but I said, “He didn’t make it.”

Now it was Kat’s turn to be silent.
She looked down at her hands for a moment, then back at me. “I’m
sorry,” she said finally. “I know we all said things about Ray, but
he was good for Wesley. How is he taking the loss?”

“It was a little hard at first, but
like I said, there are kids his own age there and they helped him
pull through. Kids are resilient and they bounce back, better than
the adults, anyway.”

Kat reached out and took my hand.
“Thank you for taking care of him. In all this time, we didn’t know
what happened, whether you made it, whether you were coming back.
But I knew, whatever happened, Wesley would be safe as long as he
was with you.”

My breath caught as I thought about
Wesley saying I couldn’t protect him from the crazies, that I
couldn’t protect anyone. Under my watch, his parents had died. So
had Ray. So had many, many more.

Before I could tell Kat that her
faith in me had been sorely misplaced, Sam entered. She stood at
the foot of the bed and said, “Am I interrupting something?”

“No,” I said. I pulled my hand out of
Kat’s, perhaps a bit too abruptly. “We’re just catching up.”

“Your eyes are red,” Sam said to me.
Then she looked at Kat and asked, “Is everything okay?”

“We’re all just tired, I think,” Kat
said.

“I am tired,” I said. “I should get
some rest. Big morning ahead of us. Where can I grab some
shuteye?”

Sam looked at me for a moment longer,
still sure she was missing something important. Finally, she
reached into her bag and pulled out a set of keys and handed them
to me. I recognized my house keys which still dangled from a
keychain shaped like a house. My wife thought it was a cute way to
remind me which keys were for our home.