Chapter
31
When we pulled up to the house, Toby and Luke were on the porch waiting for us. I had called Katie on the way home to let her know I was bringing more people to stay with us. She didn’t complain. I knew she wouldn’t.
She must have told Toby and Luke we were on our way. Toby was standing guard with his .22 rifle. When I saw him, my first response was to take it from him. Before I could chastise him for taking it from the safe without me being there, I reconsidered. Today was different than two days ago. He deserved a chance to protect himself as much as the rest of us did and he had proved himself worthy of the responsibility of carrying a gun.
“Hey, buddy,” I greeted him. “How did you get your rifle out of the safe?”
His head hung slightly as he realized he was going to be in trouble. “You said we can’t leave the house without a gun. Mom said you were coming home and Luke and I wanted to wait outside for you,” he offered in explanation. “Mom left the safe open so she could get to her gun if she needed it. I got mine from the safe so Luke and I could go outside.”
The logic made sense. He was doing what I had told he and Katie to do yesterday even though it went against previous instructions I had given him against getting his gun without me. “Do you have any bullets?” I asked, pretty sure of his answer. We kept the guns locked up, not the bullets. He had his own stash of bullets in his room and he was responsible for getting them when we went shooting.
Toby reached his right hand into his pants pocket. I could hear a metallic clank as his fingers dug around the interior. He withdrew his hand and opened it, palm up, revealing twenty or so gold colored cartridges topped with copper jacketed projectiles.
“Is it loaded?” I asked, already sure of the answer.
“An unloaded gun is a useless gun,” he said, repeating the phrase I often used. Careful to keep the muzzle pointing skyward, he worked the bolt open halfway, showing a shell clinging to the bolt face, half in the chamber and half out. He then pushed the bolt handle forward and rotated it down to lock it in place.
“Alright,” I said, proud of his capabilities. “I guess you’re going to need a sling for that thing if you’re going to be packing it around.” I tussled his hair with my hand and his face broke into a huge smile when he realized I wasn’t upset. The truth was, his gun safety was as good, or better, than most adults I knew. He was fully capable of carrying and shooting his rifle. I briefly savored the moment, basking in pride for my son. “When you are carrying your gun, you are a man and you need to act like it. No playing around. Do you understand?” I asked.
“Yes Sir,” he quickly answered, not having expected my indulgent response.
“Can I carry my gun, too?” Luke asked Matt.
“That’s up to Connor,” Matt said. “This is his place. You’ll have to ask him.”
“Can I?” he asked, looking me in the eye and standing up a little straighter.
Matt and I had bought Toby and Luke matching rifles two Christmases ago. We regularly took them shooting together. Luke was every bit as competent and careful with his rifle as Toby. I looked at Matt to make sure it was okay. He nodded his head in approval, trying to hide a smirk.
“Well,” I said, trying to drag out the suspense as long as I could, “Matt and I are going to be gone a lot. We aren’t going to be around to keep an eye on you and make sure you and Toby are being safe,” I said, kneeling down to his level so I could look him in the eye, man to man. “That also means we won’t be here to look after the women and they need someone to protect them. I would feel better if the two of you were here with your rifles to keep them safe.”
“What do you think, Matt? Are they up to it?”
Matt turned from me to his beaming son and answered, “I would feel a lot better if I knew they were here to protect Eve and Katie,” he answered with an overly serious expression on his face.
“That settles it then. Toby and Luke will be in charge of security while we’re gone.” I stood up and walked past the two boys with Matt on my heels and Cindy and Kimiko close behind him. I could sense the aura of excitement coming off the boys as I walked by.
As I entered the house, I heard Luke tell Toby, “Dad left my gun in the truck. Let’s get it.” Whatever was said after was inaudible as running footsteps carried the sound away from the porch.
“Katie, we’re back,” I called out.
Katie stuck her head around the corner of the kitchen and smiled as she walked toward me. “I’m glad to see you,” she said as she reached for me. I caught a slight wince in her face as she stretched upward to kiss me.
She ran her hand through my hair and it was my turn to wince when her hand brushed against the top of my ear. The injury was small and the blood had clotted. She didn’t notice it. She did notice my response to her touch, though. Before she could question me, I went on the offensive, attempting to keep her from finding out I had been shot.
“You’re supposed to be in bed,” I chided in genuine frustration. I had never met anyone as hard headed and stubborn as her and I told her that.
“Don’t be mad,” she said as she angled away slightly, lowered her head, raised her blue eyes upward until no white was visible at the top and then stuck out her pouty lips. It was a pathetically sad look and it had its desired effect.
“What I am I supposed to do with you?” I asked, trying to convince her I was still upset.
“Don’t worry,” she said, her visage returning to normal and cheery. “I wasn’t doing any work. I was just sitting at the table watching Eve work. I got lonely laying in bed with no one to talk to. Besides, I’m feeling a lot better. My rib still hurts, but overall, I feel great.”
“The only reason she wasn’t doing any work was because I forbid her. She tried and tried to clean the living room,” Eve said, walking out of the kitchen and drying her hands on a towel.
“Shhh,” Katie whispered to Eve. “I just got out of the doghouse. You’re going to put me right back in.”
Katie suddenly noticed Cindy and Kimiko who were standing behind Matt. “Cindy, we are glad to have you with us. And you must be Kimiko,” she said, reaching out to shake hands. “I’m Katie. Welcome to our home. We’re still trying to put it back in order after last night. They really messed it up.”
The truth was, it wasn’t that bad compared to what it had been earlier. Matt and I had buried the bodies with the back hoe. All the furniture had been righted and the broken sheet rock had been cleaned up. There were still blood stains on the carpet and there were still holes in the walls, but overall, the house once again appeared neat and organized. Eve had obviously been working hard all morning.
“Is there anything to eat?” I asked hopefully. My stomach had been gurgling for an hour and I was starting to feel the beginnings of hunger pains.
“It’s cooking,” Eve said, turning back to the kitchen. “If you would have given us more than five minutes notice, we would have had it ready when you got here. Now you’re going to have to wait,” she added over her shoulder, having returned her attention to the food.
“Matt, it’s bad enough when I have to take that sass from own my wife, but now I’m taking it from yours too? A man can’t even get respect in his own home these days.”
“Tell me about it. You keep that complaining up and you probably won’t even get your lunch. Trust me. She’s vindictive.”
“Your house?” Katie interrupted in mock anger. “If you keep picking on Eve, you’re going to find yourself sleeping on the porch in front of
my
house.”
“Matt, I can tell when we’re not wanted,” I said in mock annoyance. “Let’s go see Toby and Luke. At least we’ll get some respect from them.” As if to accentuate my statement, the
report of a .22 rifle
cracked
through the open front door. The
crack
was immediately followed by the dull
thwack
a bullet creates when it strikes flesh. An instant later, another
crack
penetrated the room, followed by another
thwack
.
Before I could ask Matt what he thought they were shooting at, a terrified “Help!
”
turned the room into panic.
I was two steps behind Matt when he exploded through the front door. We rounded the corner of the house and saw Luke and Toby tearing down the hill behind the house. Two infected were in pursuit and closing the distance. Their path was going to take them past Matt’s truck, which was parked by the shed sixty yards from the house.
“Get in the truck!” Matt screamed as we ran toward them. Both boys were emitting panicked screams as they ran.
The face of the closest infected was covered in gore. Chunks of bloody meat clung to his neatly trimmed brown beard. Moving aimlessly through the brush had shredded his white button up shirt to the point it hung in tatters from his torso. His lilted gait was further hampered by the fact that he was missing the shoe and sock from his left foot. Walking through the countryside had shredded the skin on his tender, bare sole, leaving the foot a deep crimson.
The second infected was an overweight woman in her late forties. She was fifteen or twenty paces behind the first. What remained of her tattered skirt hung just below her knees. She had lost her shirt somewhere along the way. Her disheveled bra barely maintained her modesty. With each step, her plump belly and bosoms rose upward as the effects of gravity were temporarily suspended. When her foot struck the ground, the effects of gravity once again reigned supreme and the belly and bosoms flopped downward. Momentum carried them past their normal resting place and then they recoiled upward, repeating the process again and again with each pounding step. Like the male, her skin was streaked with bloody scratches. She shrieked and howled as she gained on the boys.
Matt’s gun was out of his holster and in his hand. As he sprinted toward the boys, there was no way he could hold a steady aim. He fired anyway. The hot lead ripped harmlessly passed the grizzled man again and again. Matt lifted the barrel of his gun, dropped the magazine to the ground, and inserted another as he advanced on the infected at full speed.
The boys were nearly at the truck. The first infected was only steps behind and gaining. It was clear we weren’t going to close the distance in time. Matt suddenly stopped in his tracks to get a steadier aim. I ran wide around him to the left so as not to cross his field of fire. Once I was clear of Matt, I began loosing rounds down range in desperation. Matt’s pistol barked as I passed him. The lead infected stumbled and then regained his footing.
I could see Toby working to put another round into his rifle as he ran. The effort was slowing him. He wasn’t going to make it to the truck. My bullets were kicking up dust behind and on all sides of the lead infected. None were finding their target. A red spot appeared in the center of the first infected’s chest and a red emulsion spewed from its back as one of Matt’s bullets exited. The force of the bullet rocked the beast back on its heels, momentarily halting its advance. It regained its balance and resumed its charge.
Luke reached the truck, pulled the passenger door open, tossed his gun inside, and climbed into the seat. “Run, Toby!” he screamed in desperation, urging his friend.
I was twenty yards away when I shot the last bullet in the gun. I released the magazine as I ran and it fell to the ground. I bobbled the new magazine in my hand as I tried to insert it into the gun and it fell to the ground, too. I reached for the last magazine on my belt. My eyes were still on the advancing beast. As I slammed the magazine home and released the slide, the beast’s head snapped backwards as the back of its skull exploded. Its forward momentum carried the body along its original trajectory even though its legs were no longer moving. The beast sprawled out on its chest and skidded to a halt in the loose gravel. It came to rest just short of the open door, having nearly slid into Toby.
Toby stopped and turned around as I reached his side. He brought his rifle to bear on the rotund woman. His gun
cracked
at my side as I brought my pistol up. Before I squeezed the trigger, the female crumpled to the ground less than ten feet away. A well placed bullet from Toby’s rifle struck her in the forehead and proved to be all that was needed to fell her. Random impulses from intact portions of her mostly scrambled brain caused her foot to twitch several times before it came to a final rest.
Luke’s terror turned to instant elation. “You got her, Toby! You got her!” he whooped.
I started to scoop Toby up in my arms and he pulled back, digging furiously in his pocket. “I haven’t reloaded yet, Dad.” I couldn’t argue. His instinct to reload on the run had brought the infected woman down a fraction of a second before she was on top of us. That survival instinct and refusal to give up could not be trained into a person. At eight years old, Toby had it and I wasn’t going to squelch it.
I looked the boys over. Neither seemed the worse for the incident. In fact, they were both extremely animated over the shared experience of nearly dying a brutal, gory death together.
“Did you see how she fell when I shot her?” Toby asked no one in particular. “I dropped her in her tracks. She almost got us. Did you see her, Dad? She almost got you.”