The Orphans (Book 2): Surviving the Turned (34 page)

“You dead, boy?” Pat asked, as politely as possible.

“D…dead?  Dead?  No way!” Mike responded, sounding more timid than his urinated pants would suggest.  “I’m stuck on something!  I came out here to use the bathroom and some sort of trap caught me.  I can’t get out!”

Pat walked over and shined a flashlight at Mike’s urine-stained pants.  Pat didn’t ignore the opportunity to chuckle, but the chuckle stopped abruptly as the flashlight captured the image of what was really happening.  Attached to Mike’s calf was the mouth of Charlie.  Mike was lucky, it didn’t have any arms.  It had bit and it wasn’t letting go, but there was no way there would be the carnage Pat had witnessed tonight.

“Okay.  Okay, here’s what we are going to do…Mack, is it?” Pat asked.

“Mike!”
He
exclaimed.  He had just seen what was attached to his leg and he was trying not to let go of his bowels.

“Mick, okay.  Got it!” Pat empathized. “Okay, Mick.  On the count of three I want you to jump toward me.  You got it?  Pat used his most calming
voice possible to express the severity of the situation.

“Yessi…”

“THREE!” Pat exclaimed and shot Charlie in the head.

Mike shrieked and let go of his bowels.  He forgot to jump, but at this point it didn’t matter.  Charlie was dead and Mike was alive.

“Alright, son.  Let’s get you out of here.  Lucky for you that thing had no arms or you’d be toast.”  Pat made his way back toward the road.  Mike followed the best he could with an awkward penguin walk.

***

“You found him!” Christy yelled with a perturbed glee.

“Yes, I found him.  But you’d best stay quiet.  It ain’t safe out here no more.” Pat explained.  “We need to get our vehicles together and get out of the State immediately!

Christy looked at her penguin-walking boyfriend out of confusion first, and then at her grandfather with more confusion.  “What?”  She asked, “Why?”

“This isn’t the time…” Pat started, only to be deflated by a withering and practiced glare by Christy.  “Alright.  You want to know?  I’ll tell you.  But only on the condition your boyfriend Mick goes and changes his clothes.  I got a pair in my car if he ain’t got nothin’.” 

Christy and Mike both agreed to the terms. 

“And you better find some leaves to wipe with!” Pat yelled before explaining the events of the day.  By the time the story was finished Christy’s eyes and mouth were as wide as he’d ever seen them.  Mike and what was left of his dignity had returned and was mirroring her sentiment.

“So now you see why we have to get out of the State!” Pat urged.  “We have to get out before they lock us down!”

“No way, Grandpa, not without mom!” Christy demanded.

Pat’s face drained of color as he ran Christy’s words over in his mind.  His inner voice whined, “we’re doomed.” 

Muffin Whined with him.

The End

By Shaun Phelps

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