"Come on Cowboy, time for bed." I grunted, as I helped him stand then we headed for the clinic but he steered us towards the stairs instead. "No way buster, we cannot do those stairs."
"Mind if I give y'all a hand?" Joe asked as he stood there looking innocent. I smelled a rat.
"Course not, Joe, old buddy. Just what we need. Isn't that right, JD?"
So Joe helped Mason up to our room while I trudged along behind them trying to figure this out. We got to our room where Joe deposited him on the bed. Then when he was leaving, he gave me a wink and shut the door. By then I had figured out what the rat was up too.
"You planned this didn't you? You know better, Mason."
"Help me off with my pants will ya, JD?"
"No way, shit for brains, you take off those pants and we're both in trouble. You want to have a set back? What the hell are you doing?"
He had managed to get his pants down on one side but when he tried to pull them down on the other side, the other side came back up.
"Shit, these things are possessed. Did you put a curse on my pants?
"No, but I should have. Stop that, you'll hurt yourself."
So I helped get him into pj's and into bed with pillows propped up behind him. He was pale as the sheets and out of breath by the time I got him settled in. I grabbed my robe and headed to the shower. I got so tickled about his pants that I inhaled some water and nearly choked on it, so I calmed down after that and finished my shower.
The sight that met me when I came out of the bathroom nearly took my breath away. I have a thing for Always have. I remember once I went to a local bookstore to get an autographed copy of a popular male strippers calendar. I was gonna have him sign something on my birth month but when I saw his beautiful, bare chest I nearly swallowed my tongue. There was a stripper very similar to that one in my bed. The head attached to it was asleep but 'oh my goodness.' I just stood there and looked my fill cause it was after all, mine.
I approached the bed like it would bite. Slowly I took off my robe, lay it across the foot of the bed, pulled the covers back, got into bed, pulled the covers over me, lay on my side with my back to Mason and tried to go to sleep. After an hour, I was about to give up with he rolled over to me and snuggled up...close. So close, I knew without a doubt he was very happy to be there. I froze. I waited. I stared at the closed blind that I usually open at night so I can see the stars. I felt tiny hairs on the back of my neck move with each breath he took. I felt things tighten up below so tight it was almost painful. Grrrr! This was so not going to work.
"If you don't quit moving your butt, I'm going to have to have to do something."
"I am NOT moving my butt. You just got out of your sickbed and I want you to stay out of it. So, no you are not going to 'do something' cowboy."
I felt my pajama bottoms sliding down my legs and all logical thinking flew out the closed window. I didn't do all the work, but it was close.
I awoke to someone clearing their throat. When I realized Mason was asleep, I grabbed the covers and jerked them over us. Rolling over, I saw Joe standing there looking like... well, Joe.
"Shit, Joe, can't you knock or something? Geez, you nearly scared the crap out of me."
"Is he still breathing?" He nodded towards the lump under the covers. I looked and couldn't tell either. So I reached under the covers and pinched him on the ass...hard.
"Dammit, JD, I'm recuperating from a serious gunshot for heavens sake. I can't do anything for you again until tonight."
"Yes, he's still breathing. Now, if you will excuse me, I'd like a shower." Slipping my robe on, I walked with as much dignity as possible to the bathroom and closed the door. I could hear talking coming from the room so I turned on the shower and ignored the fools. Coffee, I needed coffee.
When I got out, Mason was trying to shave at the sink. You ever share a bathroom with a man? I rest my case. I brushed my teeth around him and rinsed my mouth in the shower but when I turned to leave he grabbed me and kissed the stuffing out of me. His face was once covered with shaving cream. Mine was now. Still I have to say, the smile was hard to miss on either of our faces when we finally went down to breakfast.
He was definitely feeling better this morning. I was too, for that matter but still I got his coffee with mine and we sat at the table and enjoyed the quiet till our guests started to come out of their cabins and head towards the lodge. I noticed a couple of them stop and look around before they headed on in.
"Do you smell that?"
"What?"
"That smell...kinda like dirty gym shoes."
"Yea, I noticed something stunk out there."
Something about the conversation tickled my memory. I searched for it but gave up when breakfast was served. Everyone laughed and told stories until Joe came in and some of the fun went out of the morning. I didn't think Joe was very happy because he was missing Sissy. I wish there was something I could do but I had my hands full of cowboy.
"Whats that?" Mandy asked, pointing outside.
"What dear?" Sarah asked, looking out the window. Then I saw it and my blood ran cold. White tendrils of smoke drifted over the valley coming from the south. We have the tall cliff to our south so we couldn't see where it was. The reference about the smell finally hit me and I remembered it was what the pine trees smelled like when they're on fire. We had a forest fire.
Everyone moved with a purpose. The caves had been outfitted for just this event. So the kids and dog was taken there right away. Ken dragged out his plane saying something about checking the size of the fire. Flynn was off on his four wheeler and around the cliff base before I could think. Riley and a few of the new people were busy putting space blankets over the hay bales while Randy was on the barn roof getting the sprinklers ready. They hadn't been finished yet so Randy was working on em. The piping was steel so they wouldn't melt and the generator for the pump was ready to supply electricity to the water pump should we need it. The lodge had two sprinklers on it's roof and the stock barns were protected also. The sprinklers were working fine so I felt a bit better.
"A flareup just occurred about 3 miles from the lodge. It's headed your way and it's bad. Stay in the caves till I let you know it's clear. I can't land this in the field so I'm going to stay airborne as long as I can then I'll go to Valley East and help them anyway I can. Ken out."
We donned our oxygen masks and I was immediately thrown back to the facility at Flagstaff having a panic attack. Next thing I knew I was laying on the ground in Masons lap trying to figure out how I got there.
I swear Brat, you keep doing that and I'll tie you to the bed and never let you out.
The air got hot and Howard closed the large door of the cave against the heat. So that answered my question. The generator started up and a fan somewhere in back started circulating the air while we waited for the storm to pass. It seemed to last forever but couldn't have been that long. Just a flash and burn and it was gone, right? (I later figured out we'd been in that cave for three hours) We kept our masks on and stepped outside. The lodge was standing but there were small places where the ground was smoldering.
Everyone grabbed the atomic water guns and scattered. While we did that the other guns were being loaded. When a gun was emptied it was replaced and the empties refilled. We worked all day. Every step we took, little puffs of ash rose from our shoes. Our clothes and hair was covered in ash. Soon the sprinklers on the lodge and stock buildings caused mud to form and then everyone was just nasty. A branch had fallen on the RV crushing the roof and two of the five cabins were burning. They were too far gone to try to put out, so we let them burn.
The livestock fared a little better. We lost seven chickens, two pigs and three turkeys. The greenhouse had a broken roof and some of the plants inside were probably damaged. Melody and Sam ran in there to check things out. Flynn, Randy and Riley checked the inside of the lodge for hot spots but didn't find any. The wind turbines were okay so it looked like we were lucky. Except for my panic attack and Joe's bad cough, we weren't complaining.
"Valley East was spared. That crazy fire got to within a hundred yards then a wind came up and sent it north. It's over the mountain now so I'm gonna watch it for a bit more before I land at Valley East. That valley at the lodge is gonna be too hot and I don't want my plane to land there. I'll stay the night unless you need me."
Everyone turned and looked at Jill who blushed and shrugged her shoulders like she could care less. We told Ken to stay there, we were all fine. Duke went in and worked at his computers so he could monitor the fire while we all gathered in the dining room. Some of us started to take showers while the rest of us sucked up the water. I listened to the guys talking about taking turns watching areas for hotspots.
Alice had swept off the back deck so we sat and enjoyed our drinks back there. It was covered so the sprinklers gave us the impression it was raining. After being in the caves, we were a bit claustrophobic so we opted for the great outdoors even if it looked like a war zone and smelled worse.
Randy was in the middle of reporting on the cabins when we heard a loud thud. I turned and saw a burning body in front of the cave we had been in. What? Just then another body fell from the cliff above it and THUD!! hit the ground. Good grief, flaming walkers were falling off the cliff. Mandy screamed and pointed and around the cliff base shuffled a walker, ablaze. It was without a doubt the creepiest thing I've ever seen.
While I sat, the first airborne walker got up and looked around. He was a crispy critter and when he saw us, he headed in our direction. Duke came running out with two rifles, handing me one and Flynn the other. Mason made a grab for one but with his shoulder there was no way he could shoot. I yelled, "Wait till they cross the bridge...I don't want a dead walker in the creek." It managed to get across the bridge and when I could, I blew his charbroiled head off. Another shot rang out and the blazing walker dropped. Then another fell off the cliff and the process continued.
When my shoulder started to give out, Sandy took over and I watched as walkers fell off the cliff, bounced, lay still a minute, then got up just to die, again.
"It's raining walkers," I said, then sang softly "Walkers keep falling on my head..." Everyone moaned except for Duke who joined in, "but that doesn't mean...da da de daaaaa, hmm la la." Then I got tickled, Duke got tickled and Sarah just glared at both of us.
"The sky is falling, the sky is falling," Randy cried flapping his hands which made me fall down with laughter. THUD!! I whooped, a shot rang out. "Another one bites the dust!"
"Here comes the rain again."
"Who'll stop the rain?" I jumped up, "I know, I know. Credence Clearwater Revival." That got me going again.
"Rainy days and Fridays, or is it Sundays? Can't remember."
Just then Joe handed me a shot of whiskey. Thanking him, I downed it quick, then shivered and choked until I calmed down. "Thanks I needed that. However, you should be aware that according to the Grateful Dead, 'It Looks Like Rain'. A smile teased the corner of his mouth then he said "Go lay down, JD before that whiskey hits you."
I saluted him, then smiled big and before I got to the door I said, "I say 'Blame It On the Rain' and Let It Rain, Let It Rain, Let it Rain." As I shut the door the laughter started and when I got to my room I lay on my bed, dirty clothes and all and closed my eyes.
Chapter 14
I noticed the quiet first. The 'Thud's had stopped and the laughter quieted down. I'd quieted down also, so I thought about taking a shower. I needed a shower. The ashes mixed with the water from the sprinklers had created a nasty, dirty mess that was starting to itch as it dried, so I dragged my tired self up, toed off my shoes and padded stocking footed into the bathroom, pulling off my shirt and tossing it on the floor as I went.
I turned the shower on when I looked into the mirror, squealed, jumped back and almost fell into the tub. There was a filthy, ash cover me staring back from the mirror. I don't know how it got into bra. Where the water had splashed on me were dirty splash spots except for the tip of my nose, it was just black. My eyes were two white large ovals and when I blinked I disappeared, so I took a moment and opened and shut one eye at a time several times. Yep, disappeared.
You okay, JD?
Yea, just scared the crap out of myself when I looked in the mirror. Getting ready to shower. It's awfully quiet out there, what's up?
Flynn took a flare gun, went to the end of the valley and climbed a tree. He shoots it off toward Mount Baldy about every 15 minutes and from what we can tell the walkers are headed that direction. Shouldn't have any more fallout for a while.
I stifled a grin, cause I didn't need to get the giggles again then stripped and climbed into the shower.
I'll be down in a few minutes, I just need to get this stuff off.
I stood in the shower and watched the ash muddy the water at my feet then scrubbed at the remaining mud for the next half hour. I hadn't realized how that stuff could get into every crack and crevice I owned. It'd feel good to be clean again.
When I came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around me I saw ashy footprints on the carpet from where I entered the room, sat on the bed, slid to the floor then over to the place I taken my shoes off. I sure hope that comes out, I thought as I hunted for more clothes. Once I was covered again I felt good enough and thirsty enough to go hunting for something to drink.