“What about the other one?”
“There was only one way to keep him silent once he saw you.”
I nodded my head in understanding putting my free arm around Jessie while she caressed Amy’s back in soothing motions. After a minute I pulled myself away leaving Jessie to take over while I filled those that had woken up in on the details of what occurred. I put a bullet in Scott’s head to make sure he didn’t come back.
By six in the morning all of the supplies were loaded up in crates around the tank in the trailer that didn’t fit in the cabinets of the R.V. We had a quick burial in the backyard for Scott leaving the two men to rot in the house were they had died. The twelve of us piled in deciding it was long past due to head back to Ruidoso just as the sun crept up over the horizon.
Many towns and brief stops later with occasional small occurrences with
Fallen
we finally arrived back in Ruidoso. April took over the cabin formally occupied by Jessie and Amy. Thomas and Kyle picked out one of the other vacant cabins to share.
By summer the rubble from the demolished cabin was cleared. In its place construction of a secured greenhouse was erected. Using seeds we had collected for a long time we planted a variety of fruits and vegetables. The responsibility of maintaining them was one of many shred chores for the entire group. Being late in the year already we didn’t expect a harvest. The hope was that whatever grew would at least give the soil the nutrients it needed for planting earlier next year. Plus we could gather new seeds from whatever might grow. It helped to preoccupy time giving some sense of a normal life in the world we now lived in.
Many animal species were killed off by toxins produced by the weather. Others were killed off by the infected as a secondary source of food. We presume the rest have instinctually gone into hiding. Wolves are one of the few predators that have thrived often preying on the infected in packs. We have seen them many times but they appear to be smart enough not to attack a large group of humans. Their instincts probably tell them that we are smarter or more dangerous than the
Fallen
. Occasionally we see or hear a few birds, but lately they seem to have all but vanished. I can only guess they have all migrated to some far off unpopulated island perhaps. The sight of butterflies in the greenhouse was one of pure joy. They must have flown in at the small gap near the roof. Another day Amy found a couple of beautiful blue jays in a tree. Watching them play was the highlight of the evening. It was nice to see that not all the birds were actually gone.
One day I took David and Star with me to search for metal shingles to cover the roofs of the cabins in case the fiery hail we had witnessed on our trip decided to eventually come our way. It was Amy’s idea to have them together as much as possible ever since the loss of Michael. I’m sure the fact that she knew they both had secret crushes on each other had nothing to do with it. I’m actually pretty sure she hoped something would blossom between the two of them. The matchmaking seemed to be her way of coping with her own emotions over Michael’s death. The incident with Nicholas made her wake up screaming for a few weeks after it happened.
At a small roofing company we found a large stack of metal roofing materials. I had the two of them work together loading up the back of a truck while I stood guard. My senses must have been lacking since the first sign of trouble came from Starlette shrieking. David called out my name about the same time. I spun around on my heels finding a tattoo covered man with a black bandana on his head standing between the kids and myself. He was closer to them which made the threat even more dangerous. He pointed a gun in their direction keeping an eye on me at the same time. I recognized some of the tats from a documentary I had watched years ago. Some were for gang affiliations. Others were prison markings signifying how many people he had killed. I knew if I made a move for my gun one of the kids might get shot in the gun battle that would ensue.
“Sup? How bout we have a chat old man? By chat I mean you do what I tell you and maybe everyone lives. Don’t be a hero or I shoot them first.” He focused on my holstered pistol. “How about you lay down that piece real slow like to start. Good, that’s right. Now kick it over.” I stepped closer attempting to distract him with idle talk. He turned his pistol on me. “Don’t move!”
I froze raising my hands high in the air. “Whatever, you say. We don’t want any problems.” Hopefully he would slip up giving me an opening.
“Where you guys staying at? How many total in your group? What kind of supplies do you have?”
“It’s just the three of us.”
“Shut the fuck up! I wasn’t talking to you bitch. I’ll tell you when I’m speaking to you.” He turned his head satisfied to see that Starlette was shaking. I decided to make something up to redirect his attention.
“The three of us have been traveling together for a couple months. We saw a nice cabin when we came in town yesterday. Thought it would be a nice place to stay for a while. We only have a little food and a few bottles of water left. Planned to search for more today.”
“Is that so? What’s all the metal they’re loading up for?”
“In Arizona we recently saw a weird storm with hail that caught everything on fire except for metal. Thought we should put some on the roof just to be safe.”
“Your story could be legit. I’ve seen the storm you’re talking about.” He looked directly at Star. “How about we go for a ride? Let’s go see this cabin. If I see everything he told me is true then I let you live after I take whatever I feel like.”
“Alright let’s go.” I responded knowing full well he likely did not mean just the supplies I had fabricated from the way he was staring at Star.
“Are you stupid old man? Were you a law dog before the freak show starting taking over the planet?” He stepped further away from me towards our truck motioning with the gun for Star to move. “Get in girl or I’ll shoot these two for fun. Then I’ll drag you by your hair into the truck anyway.”
“Please don’t take her. She’s scared. Let me go instead. I’ll show you where the cabin is. I promise I won’t cause any trouble.”
“Yeah? Tell me kid, was the old man’s story true?”
“No, but only because she had already said there were three people. He didn’t want her to get hurt. There is actually one more guy that could be at the cabin. He went out to search for food while we came here.”
“I knew something was off. Thanks for being honest kid. The girl is still going with me. I won’t hurt her if she does everything I tell her. You are going to do what you’re told right girl?”
Still shaking she started tearing up. “Yes, I’ll do whatever I’m told. I got it.”
David tried to step in the way as they moved toward the truck. The man hit him in the face with the side of the gun knocking him to the ground.
“You have guts kid, but you need to learn respect for a man with a gun.” He opened the passenger side door smacking Star on her behind to get in. She got in the truck slamming the door shut. “She’s got some spunk! Maybe she’ll decide to stick with me after we get to know each other a little better.”
Sticking his gun halfway down his pants he walked around the front of the truck. A red streak came flying out of nowhere. The guy must have heard something running in his direction. He spun around as the mass of red fluff leapt at him with protruding fangs. It clamped its teeth down on his wrist pulling him towards the ground. The gun fell out of his pants sliding a small distance away. The man began wrestling with what was now visible some kind of dog. I went for my gun still laying a few feet in front of me. Just as I reached it a gun shot went off. Dropping to the ground in case I was under fire I looked up to find both the gangster and the dog were lying motionless. I sprang up heading towards them with my gun aimed for a kill shot should the punk still be alive. The dog stirred struggling to get up from the ground. It walked with a limp over to the passenger side door staring at Starlette through the window before sitting down. She opened her door bending down to pet the dog that had saved her. It began wagging its tail vigorously. It gave her big wet kisses that made her laugh and smile despite the circumstances from moments ago. A puddle of blood grew around the man on the ground. He was obviously dead but I gave him a head shot to make sure he didn’t change. On closer inspection of the dog I saw the red color that covered its fur was actually dried blood. It looked like it was half wolf and half Akita. I was pretty sure that it was likely pure white underneath all that blood but a bath would have to determine that. I got down on my knees putting out my hand calling to it. It wined but limped over to me. After sniffing my hand it attempted to try to give me wet kisses as well. I looked it over for any visible wounds finding none. It was a malnourished female that had been on its own for a while now.
“Can it come with us?” Star gave me puppy dog eyes while pleading.
“I haven’t seen a dog in a long time. I wonder how she survived all this time. It’s up to her if she wants to come with. I have no objections.”
“It’s a girl?”
“Yes, most definitely female.”
I put down the tailgate. She pulled herself up with her good leg into a standing position looking into the bed. Glancing over at me she whined. Understanding that she was favoring an injured leg I picked her up lifting her into the back. She moved near the cab curling up in a ball on the truck bed.
“Seems that she wants to come home with us. Let’s go see about getting her some food and a bath.”
It didn’t take long for word to spread about our incident. Everyone gathered at my house to see the dog that had come to our rescue. We bathed her until all the blood was out of her coat. All cleaned up she was a giant fluffy white tail wagging machine. Dan checked her leg feeling no broken bones before wrapping it with gauze. She looked even more malnourished right after she had been bathed. We gave her some sealed salami (the kind that doesn’t have to be refrigerated and stays good for years) which she devoured happily. Jerod and Sam went out to find some dry dog food. They came back with around twenty large bags of the most expensive healthy kind the Altawa’S Pets had in stock.
“She needs a name. She doesn’t have a tag or anything. Do you think she’s had her shots?” April seemed overly concerned that the dog had not been properly cared for.
Thomas threw out a couple names as suggestions. “How about Ghost or Snowball?”
Everyone started throwing out names that had to do with the color of her fur. Star was the last to make a suggestion. “I think she should be called Tempest.”
“Good a name as any. Since she did after all storm in to our rescue I think it’s fitting. Her ears perked up when you said it. Try calling her to you.”
“Tempest here girl.” She lifted her head out if my lap looking around. “Tempest come to me.” She got up walking over to Starlette wagging her tail for attention. “Good girl.”
The next few days we put metal roofing on all the buildings. We tended to the greenhouse as usual among other routine chores. In the downtime we taught Tempest tricks and commands. She caught on amazingly fast especially when it was Star working with her. The first night we had brought her back she chose to follow Starlette home. She pretty much followed her around throughout every given day afterwards. David told us that she even lays at the foot of Star’s bed when she falls asleep.
While messing around with a shortwave radio we acquired from a vacant house it surprised us at first to hear a voice. Turned out to be a recorded looping message from some cracked nut job. He went on about how the CDC in the US had created the virus intentionally. He claimed he had proof that they also created an injection that would make
Fallen
less aggressive and follow commands. His last statement was that the government officials that escaped the US had in their possession an antivirus that would keep you from turning if bitten. Jerod shut off the radio shaking his head.
“That guy is about as convincing as Hitler coming back from the dead to hold a peace rally with the
Fallen
.”
Later that evening Kyle was the first to notice smoke billowing in the sky. He spread the word until everyone was standing outside staring off in the direction it came from.
“I wonder what caught fire,” Amy said.
“The real question is how it started. Perhaps some faulty electrical issue could be the culprit. The other possibility is there are other survivors somewhere in the city that accidentally or deliberately set the fire.”
While continuing to stare off in the distance a black helicopter appeared far away heading towards the smoke. Everyone started pointing in addition to talking excitedly.
“Haven’t seen anything manmade airborne in a long time. That’s a military chopper. The smoke might be a signal for an extraction. I’m curious what they are up to in our city of all places. We need to go take a look but keep off their radar so to speak. I have a feeling that whatever they are doing here it’s not good for us.”
“Alright Jessie. Jerod, Kurt, you, and me will go take a gander. Sam monitor the radio in case we get in trouble. David you’ll be his runner if he needs to get ahold of anyone else in the neighborhood. Everyone else keep out of sight until we get back just in case the helicopter decides to fly over the area.”
My group loaded up into Dan’s newly acquired black Econovan with Jessie at the wheel. We sped through the streets heading towards the smoke. For one moment I thought Jessie was going to hit an awkwardly parked car in the middle of the road, but she navigated around it at the last split second. We parked a few blocks away from a five story building that was a blazing inferno. The helicopter hovered overhead unable to get close enough to the building. As I watched through a pair of binoculars a man appeared at the edge of the building waving his arms. Someone on the helicopter dropped a ladder still unable to get close to the building. The man vanished for a second reappearing as he leap from the building into the air. He barely grabbed hold of the ladder as the chopper was swinging out to avoid flames that had just burst through a window on the fifth floor shooting upward. He climbed the ladder pulling himself inside before the helicopter flew off. I told the others what I had seen. Jerod relayed the message over the radio. He also informed them that the chopper was heading in the opposite direction of our neighborhood.