“Did you know how to shoot it, though?” pressed Mallory.
“I did and do,” I said.
She thought about this for a minute. About what I’d said about Charlie. Every once in a while she’d glance up at him as if trying to size him up. Charlie started soaping up dishes, rinsing them off, and putting them in the drainer.
“It doesn’t make sense, though,” she finally muttered. “Why wouldn’t you get infected like everyone else? What’s different about you?”
If it had just been Charlie and me together, he’d probably have made some kind of joke about all the ways he was different. But he took the question seriously as he was finishing up with washing a glass.
“I wonder if it had something to do with my vaccinations,” he said slowly.
“Vaccinations?” asked Mallory.
“Yeah. I’d just changed jobs. I was tired of being a salesman. Always on, you know. Always Mr. Personality.”
I saw Mallory nod a little, as if she could understand that.
“I wanted to have a job where I really felt like I could help people and make a difference. I know that sounds cheesy,” he said with a little laugh. “But after selling a software product for years to corporations that probably didn’t even need it, I needed a real change. So I decided to become a paramedic. Huge career change.”
Mallory raised her eyebrows in agreement.
“Anyway, I ended up having to get tons of immunizations. Some of them were boosters, some were totally new and different from the shots I’d gotten as a kid.”
“And you think that one of those vaccinations might have given you some kind of immunity,” she murmured.
“Maybe,” said Charlie with a shrug as he leaned back against the sink. “The tetanus maybe? Who knows? But it’s the only thing that makes a little bit of sense.”
“There are tons of people who have updated tetanus shots, though. Like me,” said Mallory slowly.
“Right. But I
just had
mine. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of time the vaccination is in the bloodstream. I’m not a scientist or a doctor, so I’m just throwing out guesses. For now, though, I’m going to be a party pooper and hit the sack,” said Charlie. “The last couple of days have worn me out.” He hesitated. “I’m not anticipating any problems, but if anything happens tonight or if anybody needs me at all, just come wake me up. I might sleep pretty hard since I’m so exhausted.”
Mallory considered him thoughtfully. I thought I saw a little bit of the ice thawing. She nodded.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Charlie
I couldn’t remember where I was when I was waking up the next morning so I had that kind of startled, confused, alarmed feeling that made me sit straight up in bed.
Once I realized I was in the cabin, I relaxed a little. It did feel like a safe place. Safer even than that house in the woods I’d gone to earlier. I knew Mallory was still worried that her friend was lurking around, waiting to attack., but I knew one thing: I felt pretty good about fighting off one zombie. It was the city of zombies or the retirement home full of zombies that I didn’t feel so confident about.
Mallory was something else I didn’t feel so confident about. I’d felt an immediate pull toward her when I’d first seen her. She was strong, smart, and beautiful. And probably a good twelve years younger than I was. She was way out of my league—in a normal world. But this was the zombie apocalypse, where there were different possibilities. That was, as a matter of fact, the
only
good thing about the zombie apocalypse—that we could experience a totally different reality.
It was obvious, though, that Mallory had put major barriers up. She was uncomfortable around me. She tensed up when I entered the room. As somebody who’s gone through divorce and experienced how bad a relationship can get, I saw some of the same characteristics in Mallory. She acted like someone who’d been hurt. Like somebody reluctant to trust again. I could get that. And there was one thing I knew I had in my favor—time. As long as Annie the Zombie didn’t get me, that was. Although, considering I’d already survived one attack, I was feeling a bit more optimistic about my chances.
I decided that actions spoke louder than words. If I wanted Mallory to trust me, I should behave in a trustworthy, adult manner. I decided to scrounge up breakfast from the hodgepodge of stuff we had accumulated here.
After a quick perusal of the food, I decided to treat us with some of the breakfast MREs. They were actually tasty, unlike some of the other MREs. And, since they took no time to prepare, I had breakfast ready in minutes.
Ginny was the first one up. “Can I feed Mojo?” she asked shyly.
I really liked Ginny. She seemed like an awesome kid. A lot of middle school kids had issues, but I saw no sign of any in Ginny, which was pretty amazing, considering everything she’d gone through. And I’d kind of gotten the impression from Ty that the kids’ home life hadn’t been exactly easy, either. “Sure thing! He’ll be your friend for life. As a matter of fact, I think he’s your friend for life anyway.”
“What should I give him? Is there any dog food?”
“That’s sort of an unfortunate thing. There isn’t any dog food in there. But we’ve got some canned soup in there. I bet he’ll eat a meaty soup. Then, later on, I’ll figure something out for Mojo. Maybe he can eat squirrel or possum or something.”
Ginny wrinkled her nose at the thought of squirrel and possum.
The dog had clearly fallen for Ginny. His amber eyes were full of love as she found a large can of soup and poured it in a bowl she found in a cabinet.
I knew I shouldn’t quiz Ginny on Mallory, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. I glanced to the back to make sure Mallory wouldn’t pop up and hear me pumping Ginny for information. I handed a plate of food to her and then asked in a low voice, “So you and Mallory have gotten to be good friends, right?”
Ginny nodded, smiling at Mojo as he decimated the bowl of soup. “Right.”
“What do you think of her? I mean, did she talk about herself at all or her background?”
Ginny considered this for a minute. “I really like her. She’s almost like a much-older sister or a cool aunt or something. But she didn’t talk about herself much. I think she worked in government, but I don’t know anything else. I just know that she saved my life. She stopped her car when she didn’t have to and let me ride with her. There’s no way I’d have made it without her.”
Ginny was starting to get that haunted look, which made me realize that she didn’t need to revisit the moment when she and Ty got separated.
I quickly changed the subject. “She sure does seem really great. Hey, do you know how to play cards?”
She laughed at the swift subject change. “Only Old Maid. And Crazy Eights. Maybe Go Fish.”
“No, no, no,” I said in mock horror. “I meant
real
card games. Like poker.”
“Nope. No poker. Ty knows how to play, though. Sometimes he plays with his high school friends.”
“Well, when I was in the back bedroom, I found a couple of decks of cards. What do you think about learning how to play well enough so you can beat your brother?”
Her eyes lit up. “Show me.”
So for the next hour or so, I showed her how to play the game. Ginny and I joked around a lot during the process. It was fun and I hadn’t had real fun in a long while.
I looked up at one point and saw that Mallory was in the doorway, watching us with an expression I really couldn’t read. I wondered how long she’d been studying us.
Ginny saw the direction of my gaze and said, “Hi Mallory! Charlie is showing me how to win at poker.”
“It’s a survival skill in the new world,” I said with a smile.
I saw just a hint of a smile from Mallory at me before she gave Ginny a full grin. “Sounds like you’ll be beating me, then. I haven’t played since college.”
I quickly stood up and handed Mallory a plate of food. “Breakfast for you, madam,” I said with a mock bow.
She gave me a slightly reproving look, although I could tell she was starting to melt a little. Unless it was just wishful thinking on my part.
“Thanks,” she said, quickly looking away. “Ginny, catch me up to speed on poker so I won’t lose too badly.”
“Don’t you do it, Ginny!” I said. “Make her learn by losing.”
It was good to have that sort of banter happening. It helped make the horror of the last week get pushed into the background a little.
A few minutes later, Ty was up. “Could you guys be any louder?” he asked sleepily, looking and sounding like a normal teenage boy for the first time since I met him. I was glad to see the teen side—he’d been way too mature for his age and had too much responsibility. Life and death responsibility.
“Want some breakfast?” Mallory asked. “Charlie made it for us.”
To my surprise, Ty shook his head. “No appetite this morning, sorry. Maybe later on.”
I said, “You
are
a teenage boy, right?”
He smiled at me. “Yeah, but I can’t eat when I first wake up. Need to move around some first.”
Ginny said, “Ty, want to throw the ball outside for Mojo with me?”
Mallory froze. I could tell she cared a lot for Ginny and didn’t want her even thinking about being outside. If she had her way, Ginny would probably stay inside the barricaded house—safe and secure—for years.
The thing was, though, that since she had decided not to share her concerns with Ginny, Ginny saw no reason
not
to go outside. Because this house had been billed as a safe house by Mallory herself.
Ginny frowned, uncertain why no one was answering and why everyone had gotten tense all of a sudden. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I said lightly, “except for your brother’s odd disinterest in food, that is. Go on outside. Mojo will love it.”
Ty glanced back and forth between Mallory and me, trying to get a feel for what he should do. When Ginny had gone into the back of the house to get the ball, I mimed a gun, indicating that he should take it with him. “And be sure to keep an eye out,” I added in a low voice.
Ty gave a quick nod and a couple of minutes later he and his sister and an excited Mojo ran outside.
Mallory was strained and silent again and I hated that it seemed like we’d lost any of the ground we’d made that morning. I cleared my throat. “Mojo is real good about pinpointing zombie activity. He can smell them from a huge distance away. And you can’t miss it when he does because he starts growling and his fur stands up on his back.”
Mallory sighed. “I just don’t want them out there. Not considering what I saw.”
“I know it’s got to be tough on you, Mallory. It’s been a really rough week,” I said in my most understanding voice. Although I didn’t actually completely understand—I just
wanted
to.
“You think you understand, but you don’t,” she said almost absently as she stared out the window at the kids playing.
“You’re right. Then tell me what’s wrong,” I urged.
She gave a harsh laugh. “What’s
wrong
? What
isn’t
wrong? I see a new friend of mine get attacked by zombies as he tries rescuing me. I see a girl who was almost kidnapped and taken away by a gang. I experience a retirement home overrun with zombies. And my best friend in the world is hanging around me in the hopes of attacking me.”
I was quiet for a few moments and then said, “If it helps at all, remember that these infected people
aren’t
thinking at all. They’re just reacting. It’s not like Annie wishes you harm in any way. And I know you’ve gone through a nightmare. We’ve
all
gone through a nightmare. But it seems to me like there’s something more. Maybe something that happened before the infection started.”
Mallory still stared through the window, this time looking blankly out it and not really seeming to see the kids.
I said, “I went through a divorce pretty recently. I know what it’s like to get hurt in a relationship.”
She gave that hard laugh again. “Not like this.”
“I’m sure that’s true. But all I want is to be friends,” I lied. “I want to have a stress-free environment for us all to relax in. Because it sure as heck ain’t stress-free out there,” I said, motioning out the window. “Can we have a truce?”
Mallory hesitated and looked at the hand I had outstretched for her to shake. Slowly, she reached out to shake it. “It wasn’t about you,” she said softly.
“I know that,” I said with a smile. “Because you don’t even know me.”
It got a little easier from that point. We had a good working relationship for the next couple of weeks. But it wasn’t exactly what I wanted from Mallory. I wanted more.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mallory
Like anything new, it took a few weeks for me to feel like I’d really settled in at Crepe Myrtle Lane. For one thing, Annie’s appearance had totally unnerved me and the fact that I hadn’t seen her since didn’t exactly make me relieved. It only meant that she was still out there somewhere.
I saw exactly why Ginny was such a fan of her brother. Ty was a great kid and completely changed my opinion of teens. He was mature and capable and a hard worker.
And Charlie seemed warm and funny and smart. The only problem was me. I had this huge emotional and mental barrier I had to somehow get past. My relationship with Brendan had been damaging in many ways and one of those ways was the fact it eroded my ability to trust. I was working to get over it, but it was tough.
One day, a few weeks after we’d moved in, Ty went out for his shift of weed pulling and crop watering and Ginny was tossing the ball to a joyful Mojo. It was a hot summer day and I was trying to clean our dirty laundry by hand so that I could hang it outside and dry it. Charlie was in the front yard, building more shelves so we could better organize food and other supplies.
My blood ran cold when I heard it. A sharp, alarmed, throaty warning bark from Mojo and a piercing scream from Ginny. Everyone was outside, so with shaking hands I found the gun that I hadn’t shot since the day Ty and Charlie joined us.
I yanked open the door and saw Mojo lunging back and forth between Ginny and the back of a disfigured, gaunt form dressed in an outfit that I recognized. Annie. And Annie, or what had been Annie, was standing between Ginny and the safety of the house.