Apocalypse Aftermath (61 page)

“That’s—”

“Fine.” Merrill finished, overriding the abrasive Tim once more.  “That’s just fine.  We’ll be looking for ongoing support on a variety of issues, including the possibility of longer ranged supply runs to places less dangerous than Athens.  If your club is willing to support us on those, which will be scheduled and planned days in advance, then we can make medical expertise available on a regular basis and for emergencies.”

“You give us notice and include us in the planning, and a share of what get brought back, and we can put at least as many guys as we got here now into anything like that you come up with.” Darryl said.

“That’ll work out just fine.”  The mayor repeated, cocking her head at him calmly, politely.  “Anything else?”

“Yeah.” Darryl said, ignoring the slightly strangled noise Tim made behind her.  “I gonna send one guy back to our crib with word of what we doing, and the deal.  We doing this because we need help, and you want us to do it because you need help.  Your doctor don’t show up tonight, and . . . I ain’t gonna say the Dogz can take on your whole town, but they gonna be looking to make life as fucked for you as they can.”

“Threats is it?” Tim sneered.

“Facts.” Darryl said, finally giving into his emotions and letting his voice go
dangerously flat.  “What you asking like to get us in a world of shit.  We doing it because our people need help.  The price we charging is they gonna get help; you getting the food back ain’t the price.  Us
going
the price.  We gonna stick with you, but your doc gotta fix our people whether or not your plan work out.  It
your
plan, not ours.”

“Mr. Jacobs, I respect that, and Watkinsville agrees.” Merrill said, holding her hand out.

Darryl reached and shook.  “Okay then, what we standing around for.  Daylight burning.”

Sun on her face woke Jessica.  She raised her head and glanced around.  The bedroom was peaceful, and quiet.  The armoire was still in place before the door, and when she listened for several seconds she heard nothing except a faint wheezing.  Candice lay tucked in between her and Austin, though before the girl had dropped off Jessica had done what she could to make sure the girl would flop over against her and not the injured bodyguard.

Sitting up slowly, Jessica glanced at Austin.  He still lay on his back, his bruised chest rising and falling steadily.  The bruises had spread in the night, turning the skin across most of his left chest, side, and abdomen an ugly mottled color she was all too familiar with since banging up her knee.  She caught herself admiring the view a little; he was handsome despite the unsightly injuries, and shook herself in an attempt to stop gawking.

“Things to do.”
Jessica told herself.  Swiveling her legs off the bed, she cautiously tested her knee by pushing lightly against the floor, then feeling around the joint.  It didn’t feel swollen, but it ached some.  Not sharply or deeply, but enough to remind her she wasn’t at full mobility yet.  But when she rose she was able to limp slowly into the bathroom without having to pick the cane up off the floor.  Very slowly.

She used the toilet, then started to wash her hands before she remembered Austin’s comment about the water.  Finally she risked it, making sure to use lots of soap.  It came from a pump bottle on the sink’s edge that proclaimed it was anti-bacterial, and she made sure to only lightly rinse her hands before using a washcloth to thoroughly scrub her skin off.

Back in the bedroom she reclaimed the Shield and reholstered it at the small of her back, then picked up the MP5 for good measure.  She liked the stubby ‘sub-machine’ gun a lot more than she would’ve ever expected; it was reassuring.  As she checked it over Candice lifted her head and looked around.

“Good morning.” Jessica smiled slightly, her voice soft.

“Are we okay?” Candice asked, her eyes flicking over the weapon in her mother’s hands.

“So far.”

The girl’s head turned, and she regarded Austin for a moment.  “Is Austin okay?”

“Let him sleep.  He’ll need rest to heal.  Do you need to use the bathroom?”

Candice nodded and slid out of the bed, weaving around Jessica to disappear into the bathroom.  Jessica waited until she heard the toilet flush, then waited a little more, then pushed the door open when she heard the faucet turn on.  Candice was at the sink, having just wet and soaped her hands.  She looked up in surprise as the door opened.

“Turn off the water.” Jessica told her.  “It might not be safe.  Lather up and I’ll fetch one of the pitchers so you can rinse.

Candice nodded, though her expression seemed a little confused as she turned the faucet off.  Jessica limped around to the other side of the large bed and picked up the second pitcher.  She paused to lay a hand lightly on Austin’s forehead, then smiled in relief.  He didn’t feel warm.  And the bandages didn’t seem to have picked up much blood during the night, which was another good sign.  If he were still bleeding they would be soaked.

“
He’s going to make it.”
she thought as she rejoined Candice and poured a steady stream from the pitcher so the girl could rinse off the soap.  There wasn’t much water left in the pitcher when she finished, but it was enough for someone to have a decent drink.  She replaced it on Austin’s side of the bed, considered a moment, then moved her purse to the middle of the bed where she’d slept.  She hoped that would be enough for him not to worry.

She had no intention of abandoning him.  He was going to get better, and she needed
the help he could provide when he did.  They all needed each other now.

“Want to stick with me?” she
asked Candice.

“Where are we going?”

“Downstairs to see if we can’t find something to eat.”

“Okay.”

“Good.  Grab the cane for me in case I need it.” Jessica said, pointing at where it lay on the floor next to the bed.  While Candice retrieved it, Jessica limped over to the door and laid her ear against it, listening intently.  After a few seconds she slid the armoire out of the way as quietly as she could and cracked the door open to look out.  The hallway was clear, and she still heard nothing.

Moving slowly, as much out of caution against the unknown as for her bad knee, Jessica led the way downstairs.  The house was much more cheerful now, daylight having robbed it of its former oppressive gloom and threat.  She checked the doors and windows on the first floor before going into the kitchen, but all were still closed and intact; even the big
door in the garage.  Nothing was disturbed.

And there were no zombies.

“Alright, so let’s see what might be around.  Whatever you do, don’t open the fridge or freezer.” Jessica told Candice when she assured herself nothing
else
had taken up residence since their arrival.  She knew days without power would have likely left anything in the icebox well on its way to becoming rank.

The kitchen cabinets had some things, but the real score was a shelf in the laundry that apparently was where the former occupants had kept the bulk of their pantry.  She selected some cans and boxes, then tried the stove.  It had gas burners, but nothing happened when she turned the knobs.  No hiss of fuel.

“Damnit.”

“We can’t cook?”

Jessica shook her head.  “I guess not.”

“What about that?” Candice asked, pointing at the sliding glass doors in the dining room.  Jessica looked, then limped over to check more closely.  The doors opened out onto a patio of very weathered brick.  The
‘back yard’ went on for acres, showing only scattered trees and the patch of garden she’d noticed last night.  On the bricks though, off to the side, was a simple little barbecue grill.

“Hmmm, that might work, but we need something to burn, and a way to light it.” Jessica nodded.  Other than some rusting patio furniture, the grill was the only thing out there.  Her dad had kept an outdoor closet for his grilling supplies, but she didn’t see anything like that here.  “Candice, look through the drawers for me.  You know what a can opener is?”

“There’s no power.”

Jessica smiled.  “No, an old fashioned one.  It sort of looks like a nutcracker with a little handle you can turn.”

“I’ll look.” Candice said dubiously.

“Good. 
Look in the drawers for me.  If you find one, or any lighters or matches, put them on the counter.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to check the garage to see if there’s any charcoal.  Don’t leave the kitchen.  If anything happens, run upstairs to the bedroom and wake up Austin.”

Leaving Candice digging through drawers, Jessica limped into the garage.  Sure enough, against the far wall she saw an open bag of briquettes, plus lighter fluid.  They weren’t very heavy, but it was awkward trying to hold them so the weight came down on her right leg as she carried both back inside.

“Is this a can opener?” Candice asked, displaying one that looked remarkably like the kind Jessica had grown up with in her own mother’s kitchen.

“I miss you mom.”
Jessica thought sadly before she answered Candice.  “Good job.  And I see you found some kitchen matches.  Looks like we’re in business.”

Jessica checked the backyard carefully before opening the sliding doors, but it was clear.  With Candice helping to keep watch, Jessica built a fire in the grill and managed to warm up some food without burning it.  The kitchen turned out to be very well equipped with cookware, so when she finished cooking she put an enormous soup pot on the grill and filled it in a few trips using smaller pots to ferry water from the kitchen sink.  Even if her knee was intact, she wasn’t up to carrying what had to be somewhere between five and ten gallons of water comfortably.

She insisted on eating at the table in the dining room, but because it was inside more than because it was a table, while she waited for the pot to boil.  After she was convinced the water had been heated properly, she used a long spoon to knock the coals apart so they’d start to die out, then carried the rest of the food upstairs with Candice’s help.

“I was beginning to worry.” Austin said when she pushed open the door.
  He was sitting up against the headboard, awake and watching when she appeared.

“How are you feeling?”

“Hungry.  I smelled the fire.  Everything okay out there?”

“No problems.” Jessica said as she set the baking sheet she’d pressed into service as a tray on the end of the bed.

“Austin, are you okay?” Candice asked as Jessica took the soup pot of tea from her.

“I’ve been better girlie-girl.” he admitted.  “But I think I’ll turn out
fine once I get some healing behind me.  What’d you ladies bring me?”

“Green beans, cream of chicken soup with plenty of rice, and crackers.” Jessica said as she dipped a glass into the pot to fill it.  “And sweet tea; extra sweet, actually.  I figured you could use the energy.  No ice though.”

“Thanks.  Smells good.”

“Good.  I was afraid you might not have an appetite.”

“Nope, starving.”

Jessica moved the tray up the bed so it was within his reach, then sat on the hope chest beneath one of the windows.  “I boiled some water too, though getting it up here in any quantity could be a chore.”

“Sorry I can’t be more help.”

“No, I need you focused on healing.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her as he tried the soup.  “I’m going to be at least a month getting back to normal.  Probably longer.”

“I know.  I wasn’t complaining.”

Austin inhaled a good portion of the chewy soup in short order, though she could tell every breath he took hurt.  When he started to slow down he gave her a long look.  “So, talk to me.”

Jessica shook herself a little.  “About what?”

“I know you too well by now.  You’re not going to just camp here without a plan.”

“I’ve been thinking things over.” she admitted.

“That’s good.  Spill it.”

Jessica shrugged slowly.  “Right now we’re safe, I think.  The area seems to be somewhere between deserted and dead, which should mean we’ll be okay.”

“Unless something happens, probably.”

“There’s a lot of food downstairs,
enough for maybe a week or so, but I’m not sure how long the charcoal’s going to hold out.  We might be down to cold cans tomorrow or the day after.”

“Are there any tools around?”

“Like what?”

“Saw, axe, anything like that?”

Jessica thought back to what she’d seen in the garage.  “I think so.”

“Then with some effort we can come up with some wood.  Or, you
can, at least.”

“I don’t know the first thing about chopping down a tree.”

He grinned.  “I was thinking branches and bushes.  Anyway, it might not be that pleasant, but as far as I know anything that comes out of a can we can eat straight if push comes to shove.”

Jessica nodded, though she knew it might take some effort to get Candice acclimated to that sort of thing.  She also suspected it would come up sooner or later; if not here, than elsewhere.  “I think we should camp here at least through to next week.  Give you a chance to recover some.”