Walkers (Book 1): The Beginning (17 page)

     "Mason, what happened?"

     "When we got to the helicopter, it was surrounded by wolf tracks.  Big as your hand those tracks.  Another track was left by Sweets' body as it was dragged from the helicopter into the woods.  Dave wanted to go after him and bring his body back.  Said it just wasn't right, but we wouldn't do it and started after the tree.  We thought he was behind us, guarding our flank, but when we heard the scream and saw he wasn't back there we took off after him.  We found him right off, but the cat had already done a lot of damage."

     Just then we heard Melody scream Daves name and then sobs so hard and loud I grabbed my stomach, "Dammit, dammit, dammit."  I sat hard on the ottoman, grief for her loss so heavy I couldn't stand under it's weight.  I knew she'd have to though, and my heart ached for her.  Mason rubbed my neck gently as Sam fell into Howards arms.  She'd know him a lot longer than the rest of us.  I so did not want to go into that room, right then.  No way.

     A while later the door opened  and Joe came out.  "I've sedated her, although because of the baby, I didn't give her much.  We have to do something with Dave.  She'll need a funeral, now, tomorrow, soon.  Get it over with so she can concentrate on that baby.  She looses it and we lose her."  He ran his hand throught his hair. "Fuck.  What the hel kind of fucked up world is this?  We were safe.  Hell."  He sat hard on the chair and continued to ruffle his hair.  Taking a big breath, he looked up and said, "At least she won't have to pretend anymore."

     Huh?  What?

     "Sweets was a pain in the ass but you have no idea how bad he could get.  If he'd known that Dave and Mel wasn't married he would've been all over her whether she wanted him to or not.  It wouldn't have mattered in the least that they were brother and sister.  So they acted married to hold Sweets off, although, I don't know why that would matter to Sweets, but it did.  Then there was the little matter of being homophobic.  He would've killed Dave if he'd known he was gay.  So pretending to be married killed two birds with one stone.  They were planning to tell everyone today but I guess it doesn't matter anymore."   

     "But they've been sharing the same bedroom."  Sissy was as confused as the rest of us.

     "He's been sleeping on the couch in the sitting room.  They'd just found each other after two years and since they're maternal twins, they didn't look identical.  The babies father died in a plance crash two weeks after she got pregnant."

     "JD, there's a cemetary in that town east of here, right on the road...if I remember right, it had a mosoleum.  Why don't I run over there and check, maybe make room for Dave in there."

     "Not alone, Randy, no one goes anywhere alone anymore.  I'm getting paranoid now.  In fact, why don't you take Flynne?"

     "Why don't I start making plans for the funeral and we take him to one of the cabins till then.  They aren't heated and he would be ok there until the funeral.  I don't like the idea of the caves."  Lacy had a good idea, and we all agreed to it.  What wasn't said was in the unheated cabin the animals couldn't get to him and he wouldn't decompose as fast.

    Melody, however, became almost catatonic.  She just lay there staring into space, not eating or drinking.  Joe started an iv to keep her hydrated but she needed food for her and the baby, whom Joe was also keeping a close eye on.  He said it was doing ok, but Melody just wasn't there right then.  Joe was preparing to put in a feeding tube when she finally started to come around.

     We'd known we would have to make a run into town in preparation of the baby's arrival but we thought we had another month or so.  It was decided two days after Daves death.  They'd check out the cemetary on the way back.  Lacy was going this time and although, it was her turn but I was still worried.  Joe made a list and made sure everyone knew what he wanted.

      I don't know how much formula and diapers they could get but if we had to we'd go back to town.  Melody insisted that Dave be buried on the property so the trip to the cemetary was cancelled .  She did however, want a nice casket.  Sigh.  Ok, well, they would check on it while they were gone.Where and how I had no idea and didn't want to know.

     Flynne never left her side as she told us how they had come up with the idea of a being married and how Sweets figured into the plan.  Only Joe knew about it because he had been Daves best friend throughout high school.  A lot of people thought they were more than that but that's just the way people are.  They ignored it and joined the national guard at the same time.  Staying close, they managed to be in the same unit and the friendship continued.  He made Flynne understand that Melody was like a sister to him and nothing more.  Flynne just smiled and nodded.

     I waved bye to the team the next morning and although I was apprehensive about Lacy going, I tried not to let on.  She was so excited, that I didn't want to ruin it for her.  They had a specific plan and I was confident it would work cause I knew the team, I just remembered the last time at Walmart.

     One thing we had to do while they were gone was get that damned tree done.  Joe let Melody sit on the couch and watch things but the saddness in her eyes was a distraction.  Mandy kept asking her opinion to the point that Joe finally led her back to the clinic where she would live until she had the baby.  No more climbing stairs for her. We decorated that tree all day.  Mandy would find something else to put on it and up the ladder Joe would go.  Sissy was at his side to the point he was tripping over her.  I finally sent her with Sarah to start supper .  She started to object until she remembered our "agreement" then sulked off behind Sarah while Joe shot me a look of graditude. When we finally had the tree the way Mandy wanted it, we were too absorbed in Dave's death to be excited.

     I was up all night waiting for the crew to return.  I paced the floor and wondered what Lacy was doing and if Mason was ok.  All night long I worried and tossed and turned.  I couldn't think of a good enough reason for them not to have returned the day before.  I cornered Duke the next day and asked if there was something he could come up with that would enable us to communicate at long distances.  He said he didn't know but would start working on something.  I left him to play with the idea.

     I couldn't eat breakfast so I drank a pot of coffee instead.  Melody was depressed but seemed better that morning.  The death of a twin had to be tough but she was handling it the best she could.   Dave would have a funeral in the lodge after Christmas and he would rest in his casket in one of the caves until the ground thawed enough to dig a grave sometime in June.  She made all the arrangements and then she rested.  It sounded like a solid plan and one we could all live with.

      I sat in the recliner and dozed until Duke yelled the teram was back. 
Mason, is everyone ok?

     Yea, we're ok, just tired.  I'll explain when we get in.

     
I've been nuts waiting for you to get back.
  He caressed my mind then was gone.  I ran to the front door at the same time as a caravan of semi's and trailers rounded the bend toward the lodge. I had taken to counting them  since the  time they brought back Flynne, so I was relieved when only three  semis pulled to a stop in the parking area.

     Lacy didn't run to greet me like she would have a year ago.  I missed that hug.  They climbed down from the rigs and tiredly shuffled into the lodge.  Sarah had thrown together a decent meal, venison steaks, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and homemade bread with peach cobbler for dessert.  I was able to wait till desser before I wanted answers.

     "Gee, where to start?"  I tried to raise just one eyebrow, but as usual I just looked surprised.  Mason got the hint, and Lacy stiffled a giggle.  "We didn't have much trouble at the warehouse.  There were still several trailers at the dock so Howard hooked up to one and I started filling it.  Got a lot of baby stuff...formula, diapers, jars of baby food, though I don't know how good it is yet.  Picked up some gardening stuff for the ladies too. We managed to half fill the trailer and then had to find the rest of the stuff."

      I refilled his coffee and he softly kissed my hand.  Taking a sip, he continued.  "We found there were several specialty stores in a strip mall on the other side of town, so Howard offered to be the decoy while we mined them."  A decoy went as far from the mine (area to be stripped) as possible and as soon as the miners were in position he made some noise, usually a car alarm, which attracted the walkers away from the area.  "We broke out the window of a baby store and gave Howard the sign.  We heard the alarm and went in the store, bagging and loading as quick as possible.  We were so busy we didn't notice the alarm had stopped until the walkers came barreling into the store.  We didn't know at the time, that the car alarm only lsted about five minutes cause the batter ran down."

     "I had a hell of a time finding another car that had an alarm that was active so I used the horn on the truck.  By then, Mason and Lacy was locked in a bathroom in the store and Randy was locked in the trailer."  Howard said as he petted Bubba.

     We all gasped at that, then for some reason, I don't know, I got tickled.  I could feel the corners of my mouth starting to turn up and then I laughed.  It wasn't funny, but I laugh when I'm tired or nervous. I remember once in high school, I had this very prim and proper French teacher.  She walked around the room, back stiff, smacking a ruler in her hand as we recited french.  Anyway, she walked primly and sedately past my desk one day, stepped on a piece of paper and her feet went straight up in the air, and her ass hit the floor.  Her hair had come loose from the very proper bun she had it in and a hair pin was dangling from some strands of hair, while one shoe had flown three feet away.  I was the only one laughing then and I was the only one laughing now.  When I finally got control of myself again I motioned for Howard to continue, while I cleared my throat.

     Glancing repeatedly at me, he coninued, "So I drove around blaring my truck horn until I hit a dead end.  I mean a dead end as in can't-go-another-foot-at-the-cemetary dead end.  I'm not real good at backing trailers, especially a 53 foot trailer. So with walkers climbing all over me, I'm trying to back up enough to get turned around.  I accidently hit the truck horn one time and it stuck. So, not being able to go anywhere, I turned the truck off, climbed in the back and shut the curtains.  That horn blared for over an hour before it finally quit, so I figured the battery died."

     "Meanwhile,"  Mason said,  "we're in the bathroom with walkers beating on the door.  There was a window but it was one of those with the thick glass blocks you can't see out of.  I knew if I broke it, it would be heard for blocks so we just sat tight."

     "I'm in the trailer with walkers bouncing me back and forth like crazy until I finally found a hand hold and held on.  I figured if it was quiet inside they would eventually go away. I could barely hear Howards truck horn so I didn't know what he was doing."

     We all looked at Mason.  "We spent the better part of the night in that bathroom, waiting.  We didn't hear anything for over an hour, but I knew they could just stand in one place until something got their attention.  Truth be known, we were too scared to do anything.  I guess Randy was having the same problem.  We finally got the walkies to work but couldn't reach Howard.

     So now we're all stuck.  We managed to doze during the night but we were so worried about Howard we didn't sleep well.  Anyway, somewhere near dawn there was a loud explosion.  Rocked the building and Randy said the trailer swayed."  Randy nodded his head when everyone looked at him.

     "I heard it in my sleeper of the truck, so I peeked out the window and saw  the walkers headed in that direction.  I waited till I couldn't see them anymore, then rolled my window down and looked behind me.  There was a fireball from hell north of town, so I got out the map and looked and saw there was a propane company in that area.  Not long after the first explosion, I heard trucks racing by a few blocks over and using my binoculars saw they were a bunch of guys wearing scarf things and football helmets." He shrugged his shoulders at that.

     I suddenly remembered Del and Dean from the Walmart store a few months back.  They had both worn those scarfs on their head.  If this a part of their group I could almost see them trying to steal propane and screwing it up.

      "I got out as quiet as I could and disconnected the horn, then tried the battery again.  It almost went dead again but finally caught.   While I'm waiting for the truck to build up air pressure, I took a look around and saw a funeral home a block over.  I tried backing up again. I guess I do better when I'm not being chased by a herd of the undead.  I pulled up in front of the funeral home and snuck inside, found an empty casket and using one of those casket hauling carts I managed to get one loaded."    

     "While he's loading caskets, we sneak out and when we don't see any walkers, get Randy out of the trailer.  There isn't a walker in sight, so we raid every store in the mall until Howard drives up like nothing happened.  Smart ass even tipped his hat and said 'Top of the morning to ya'."

     Howard was grinning over that, while he was holding Bubba, who was licking his cheek.  Feeding him some of his leftover steak, he rose.  "I'm gonna take us out for a little walk, then hit the sack.  I want to talk to Duke tomorrow about a different communication setup.  That was a right fine meal, Sarah.  Thank you.  Night everyone."

     After that, the night quieted down.  Sissy and Sarah cleaned things up while I sat with Randy, Lacy and Mason.  We had three more trailers, even though one held a casket, that was fine.  The others held all kinds of treasure according to them.  I was just glad they were back okay.

     Randy and Lacy said their goodnights, went in to visit Melody and finally, arm in arm, climbed the stairs to bed.  I walked Mason to his room, where we necked like teenagers till he fell asleep.  I went back to my room, showered and climbed into bed.  No one was leaving my sight for the next year.  I swear, my nerves just wouldn't handle anymore.