Fortunes & Failures - 03 (36 page)

Erin turned, not saying a word, but her face was full of challenge and defiance. 
 
He briefly wondered where this little girl had come from. 
 
Perhaps it was some kind of crazy pregnancy hormone overload that had turned her into such a hellcat all of a sudden.

“You gonna talk or gawk?” the teenager huffed.

“Look,” Kevin raised his hands, “I just came to give you these.” He produced a pair of magazines for the Beretta that she’d stuffed into her coat after shooting Shaw. 
 
“And to offer you a boost. 
 
You might have this new pissed-off attitude, but it ain’t gonna help you climb up into this truck when you’re nine months pregnant.”

Erin looked down at the two magazines, then back up at Kevin. 
 
Her face flushed just a bit. 
 
She reached hesitantly for them. “It’s just…” Her voice faded and tears suddenly filled her eyes.

“What is it, sweetie?” Kevin was hit by a brutal reminder of his little sister and he pulled the girl into an awkward hug.

“I don’t know how to change the magazine thingies,” Erin cried.

“Is that all?” Kevin pulled back, allowing himself to chuckle. The tiny girl nodded, sniffling, and allowing herself to return the smile. 
 
“Hand me the gun.” 
 
She pulled it from her pocket, careful to hand it over with the grip presented to him. 
 
He went through
 
the process twice, then had her repeat it. 
 
She did so with a deftness that belied the fact that she just moments ago claimed ignorance. “Okay?” he said after her second repetition.

“Okay,” Erin agreed.

“Now, in you go.” Kevin hoisted her up and ruffled her hair. “Keep your eyes open. 
 
If I hear gunshots, I’ll be coming on the run.” He turned to go catch the others.

“Kevin?” Erin called before he got more than a few steps away. 
 
He stopped and turned.

“Thanks.”

“No prob, sweetie,” he said with a smile.

“Oh…and could you not tell anybody?”

“Deal,” Kevin nodded.



The fact that the door to the pro shop was unlocked put all of them on high-alert. 
 
The lingering stench of undeath only ratcheted things up one more notch. With Kevin leading, they first cleared the entire pro shop. 
 
It was in the small—what looked to be—employee bathroom that they discovered the first zombie: an elderly man with grossly stereotypical plaid knickers and the shredded remnants of a sweater vest over a once white button-up shirt now stiff with long-since-dried blood. 
 
He’d been easy to find. All they had to do was follow the dark trail. 
 
Kevin put the man down with three swings of the pitching wedge he’d pulled off a rack.

The facility was huge. It held three grand reception halls, a fine dining restaurant, and a huge open entry foyer. 
 
The five other zombies that they encountered proved to be no problem. 
 
Once they were absolutely certain the place was empty, they went out to bring in Erin, Matt, and all the supplies. The numerous offices would serve nicely as private bedrooms, but the first night, everybody chose to sleep in just one together.

After dinner, Kevin pulled Aleah aside. 
 
“First thing in the morning I want to travel to the groundskeeper shack. 
 
I saw it on the overhead shot. 
 
That’s our best chance at finding what we’ll need for the front entry.”

“What are you thinking?”

“A reinforced gate. 
 
Maybe we could build something onto that sturdy metal gate so we can open and close it when we want to go on supply runs.”

“Sounds good,” Aleah nodded, 
 
“but the way you’re telling me this has me thinking you have more planned that that.”

“I want you to find a golf cart, see if you can get it running. We need to do a complete tour of the perimeter,” Kevin said with a strangely serious tone.

“So why all the doom and gloom on your face and in your voice?”

“We have to make this work and there is a lot to do in what I imaging to be very little time,” Kevin admitted. “I’ve been paying attention, and the weather is turning. 
 
It’s getting chilly and the days are definitely feeling shorter.”

“Hey…you can relax a little bit” Aleah pulled Kevin close. 
 
“I think we found our new home.”

* * * * *

14

Problems Solved

“Now just because you’ve graduated to this cane, that doesn’t mean that I want to see you stomping around this place all the time,” Dr. Zahn said in her usual dry tone.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied, slowly hobbling around the large, open kitchen area. 
 
Satisfied, I returned to the chair and took a seat. “So, how’s Jamie?”

“All better.”

“How crazy is it that he suffers from food poisoning and being bitten at the same time.”

“I’d not use the word crazy. 
 
However, it was of interest.”

“Interest?” I asked as I accepted the handful of multiple vitamins and who-knows-what that Dr. Zahn dumped into my hand. 
 
I tossed them in my mouth and chewed, trying to ignore the nasty aftertaste, then took a big swig of water.

“Well, it’s obvious that this immunity must be genetic. 
 
It still expressed even though Mr. Blossington was not in good health.”

“So what does that mean?”

“Very little since I don’t have a lab or any facility to run tests. Although I believe that it would take a much greater mind than I possess to crack the code on this.”

We sat quietly for a moment, me sipping water and the doctor writing notes in my medical file. She now had complete medical files made up for every single person in our group. 
 
I didn’t really see the point, but it seemed to make her happy.

“Sometime soon we should really talk,” I finally broke the silence.

“There is nothing to talk about,” Dr. Zahn replied, not bothering to look up from her scribbling.

“I know that Randall’s death had you twisted up.”

“Then you aren’t quite as clever as you lead yourself to believe.”

“What?”

“Yes,” Dr. Zahn slammed the pen down on the table and glared. 
 
“I am obviously upset that Mr. Smith is dead. 
 
But…” her voice trailed off. 
 
For the first time ever, I saw tears well up in the doctor’s eyes.

“It’s Paul,” I breathed. 
 
But I didn’t buy the idea that those two were romantically involved. 
 
It wasn’t that I didn’t think older women could hook a younger man. 
 
It was just that it didn’t sit right. 
 
That’s really the best answer I had.

“He was my son.”

And boom goes the grenade! I don’t know how long my mouth hung open. By now, the tears had actually spilled over and were running down the doctor’s cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Francis.” I worked my way to my feet and crossed the room. Leaning the cane against the counter, I put my arms around the doctor. 
 
She stood rigidly for a few seconds before her body shook and she actually allowed me to hold her.

We stood there for a few minutes and the doctor cried. 
 
I tried to think of something to say, but came up with nothing. While we hadn’t seen the actual body of Paul Wimmer in with the others, that wasn’t enough. 
 
Plus, like it or not, hope was something in short
 
supply these days. And there was far too much false hope out there. No sense shoveling any more out there. 
 
Besides, Dr. Zahn wasn’t stupid.

“Well,” the doctor eased away and wiped at her eyes,
 
“that is about enough of that.”

“Doc, I—”

“That’s quite enough, Steve,” she cut me off. 
 
“I appreciate your concern, but it is the nature of things nowadays. 
 
I’d appreciate if you keep this between the two of us.”

“Of course,” I nodded.

“And if you so much as whisper a word about this little emotional outburst…I’ll poison you.”



“Sanchez, Melissa, and Billy will be making this run,” Jon said.

All of us had gathered at the picnic area for our daily meeting. 
 
I had my hands stuffed in my pockets. 
 
It wasn’t long before we’d need to have these meetings inside. The clouds were breaking up, but it’d rained a good part of the night.

“I thought I was up in the rotation,” Jamie protested.  Theresa’s elbow to the ribs shut him up and Jon’s smile said that he’d just been given his answer.

“They’re making the first run to Joseph,” Jon continued.  “They will be tasked with marking the doors for future runs.”

“Can I say something?” Sunshine spoke up.

“The floor is yours.” John sat down.  All of us were curious.  She almost never spoke so much as a single word at these things.

“One person should be tasked with finding seeds and anything else that we can get.  I’m afraid of how the bad weather may affect anything that gets left to the elements over the fall and winter months.  Also, I have a small list of a few things that will be necessary next year when we start our garden.” With an embarrassed wave, Sunshine sat back down.

“Excellent point, Sunshine,” Jon said as he stood back up.  “Give your list to Sanchez, he’ll see to it personally.

“Other than that, I’d like to announce that the trench is officially complete now, the last section has been dug out.  Also, we are now at work shoring up the walls. Of course there will not be nearly enough plywood to line them.  We will need to do daily inspections, especially as the weather continues to get wetter.”

“Is that everything?” I asked and looked around the group.  There was an assortment of nods and indications to the affirmative.  “Good, because I would like to announce that, upon Melissa’s return, we would like to invite you all to attend our little wedding ceremony.  And I’d like to ask Ian if he’d be my best man.”

“Wow!” Ian sounded genuinely surprised.  “Sure, I’d be honored.”

“And I have two requests,” Melissa stood, coming to be beside me. “I would like Teresa to be my maid of honor, and it would mean the world to me if Thalia would be my flower girl.”

“Abso—” Teresa began.

“No!” Thalia screamed, jumping up from her seat and taking off at a run from the tree covered area of the picnic grounds and towards the house.

“Thalia!” I called after her, struggling to untangle myself from the picnic table.

“No, Steve,” Teresa grabbed my arm.  Melissa was already running after the little girl with Emily right on her heels. “This is something they need to work out.  You can’t help with this.”

“What the hell was that all about?” I pulled my arm from her grip.

“She thinks you’re replacing her,” Teresa said, acting if I should know what she was talking about.

“Say what?”  Obviously I didn’t have a clue.

“There is a
 
new
baby
 
on the way…and
now
you’re getting
 
married
,” Teresa emphasized too many words in her statement.

“So?”

“You’re
 
all
 
she has,”

“What?” I didn’t understand, “She has everybody.  Me.  You. Ian.  Everyone here adores her.  I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Like it or not, Steve,” Dr. Zahn stepped in, “you are Daddy to that little girl.  And she thinks you are not going to want her anymore.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“And completely normal in children her age when an addition is about to be introduced to the family.”

I looked around the group and immediately felt like an idiot.  Literally everyone was meeting my questioning look with a nod.

“Give Melissa some time with her,” Teresa repeated.  “This is as much between them as you two.”

The flare burst in the sky.  That was the signal from the lookout tower where Fiona was currently on watch that we had someone or something arriving.

“Steve, you, Sunshine, and Dr. Zahn use the rear drawbridge and pull it across,” Jon barked.  “Sanchez, take Billy and Teresa around the right and come in from behind the softball field backstop.  Jake, you come with me and Brad.  Everybody hurry.  Melissa and those little girls are alone in front.”