Lake Yixa (10 page)

     
"Yeah!"
Zoe said with a shout and ran over to the couch. "Sit next to me."
Zoe's cheerful joy made Sarah smile. Matt, on the other hand, seemed a bit more
down. She wondered if it had to do with the whole “end of the world” or the
loss of his mother.
Have they seen a zombie?
Sarah wondered as she sat down. Matt got up and sat by the fire, playing with
his GI Joe.

     
Tux came wandering
out of his hiding spot and sat down in Liam's chair. Zoe caught sight of him
and jumped to her feet, but before she knew it, Tux was gone again.
Clearly he isn't a fan of kids
, Sarah
thought.

     
"Why don't
you leave Tux be. He still needs to get used to you guys."

     
"Okay,"
Zoe said with sadness in her voice. She returned to her seat next to Sarah.

     
"
James and the Giant Peach
," Sarah
read before continuing on.

     
Sarah sat there
reading to the kids, not realizing how much time had passed. Only when she felt
her stomach ache with hunger
did she look over at the two kids.
Both had fallen
asleep at some point. She wondered how long she had been reading to herself.
Sarah
worked herself free from Zoe, trying her best not to wake either of them.
She opened the
door and looked out. It was past noon.
Jeremy
has been gone for a few hours now
, she thought as she closed the door.

     
She move
d
to the kitchen
and opened up a can of chili. She only ate a small amount, leaving the rest for
the kids. She sat at the table for a while, hoping Jeremy would walk in at any
moment, but seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. The kids
had woken up in that time and eaten the remainder of the chili.

     
Sarah had gone out
to the shed and found a few of the toys Liam had made and a box of blocks. She
brought them in for the kids to play with. As they played, she sat there going
over the events of that morning.
Why did
I let him leave? I should have gone
, she thought over and over. She was
dumb to believe he was a nice guy.

     
She returned to
the door and opened it again. The sun was starting to set. Her gut twitched
with the thought that she was left with two kids to take care of. She turned to
look at them. Matt was moody but still a polite kid. Zoe was too cute for words
with her dimples in her checks and her long black hair. Sarah’s brain started
to hurt as she thought of everything.

     
"Damn it,
where are you, Jeremy?" she said aloud, turning back to close the door. As
if on cue, Jeremy was riding up the driveway on a bike, a few small bags
strapped to it.
H
e smiled when he saw
Sarah
, but
as
he came closer, his smile soon faded
.

     
"Sorry,"
Jeremy said as he pulled up to the door. "The nearest houses are not
really that close, it turns out." Matt and Zoe both heard his voice and
came running out.

     
"Daddy!"
Zoe
squealed
and Matt
shouted
.

     
"I'm just
glad you
’re
back," Sarah said with a note of relief in her
voice.

     
"Were the
kids bad?" he asked, looking down at the two of them hugging him.

     
"No. I just
was getting worried that something happened to you," she replied.

     
"Sarah read
to us," Zoe said. "She also found us toys!" She held up a wooden
train.

     
"Oh, that's
really nice of her," he replied. "Can you guys let go of me now? I
need to get off this bike sometime before nightfall." The two of them
backed up, letting him off. He leaned the bike against the house and undid the
two bags.

     
"There wasn't
really a whole lot of houses around this area. There are a few by the
coastline, but they had been looted already," he said as he moved by
Sarah. The two kids followed in behind him and returned to playing with the
wooden toys.

     
"I found a
few cans of food and some other random things," Jeremy said as he set the
bags down on the table. He then took off a backpack. "I went to my house
and got some clothes for the kids and myself."

     
Sarah was looking
at the cans of food, sorting them into two piles. Jeremy looked at her, not
sure what she was doing. Sarah looked up after the last can to see Jeremy
looking at her.

     
"Was checking
the dates," she said.

     
"Even if they
are past due, we could still eat them," Jeremy replied, looking at the two
piles. One was much smaller than the other.

     
"It's not
that. Didn't you read or listen to anything that's been happening over the past
few months before all this happened?"

     
"No,
what?" he asked, looking at her. Sarah told him everything she knew, which
wasn't a lot when it came right down to it. Jeremy wasn't sure why there were
zombies, but
over-processed food
did sound like a passable reason. He pack
ed
the bigger group of cans
into a bag and set it by the trash can.

     
"Sorry,"
Sarah said, watching him.

     
"It's all
right. Better safe than sorry, you know." Jeremy smiled softly and turned
to look at the kids. "I was wondering if tomorrow you would be okay with
keeping lookout at the lake. Kids need a bath, and I could use one too."

     
Sarah didn't reply
right away, making Jeremy wonder if he said something wrong. When she finally
answered, it was just a single word.

     
"Okay."

     
"Thanks. I'm
going to put the bike in the shed." She watched as he went out the front
door.

     
They spent the
rest of the night sitting around the fire. Jeremy played with the kids, building
castles out of blocks and continuing to read
James and the Giant Peach
to them. Sarah would listen herself or
read her own book she had started. Even Tux had warmed up to the family and lay
there, letting Zoe pet him.

     
Sarah felt herself
growing tired, so she excused herself and went to bed. She fell asleep quickly,
not worrying about Jeremy murdering her in her sleep. From talking to him and
his interactions with his kids, he seemed like a good guy. She only hoped she
was right.

     
She awoke the next
morning from a night with only a couple bad dreams.
Sarah
found Jeremy and the kids already sitting at the kitchen table eating.

     
"Hi,"
she said, waving at Jeremy.

     
"Hey, did you
sleep any better last night?" he asked, already knowing she had had
nightmares.

     
"Better than
normal," she replied as she sat down.

     
"Would you
like me to make you a can of green beans?" Jeremy asked, starting to get
up.

     
"No, I got
it," Sarah replied. She set about warming them over the small fire. Even
though they could make another fire, she liked to keep it going. It was nothing
big, mostly
a few glowing embers
, but it made breakfast so
much better when it was warm. The house was a nice temperature too. After a
while, she spooned herself a small amount, and the rest she split between the
Bakers. They each thanked her in turn.
 
She smiled back and sat down at the table.

     
"So about
noon we can go to the lake. Hopefully the water won't be too cool," Jeremy
said. Sarah let out a small laugh. "What?" Jeremy added.

     
"It's going
to be cool no matter what time of day it is," she said with a smile.
Jeremy was happy to see Sarah smile. He hadn't seen her smile in the few days
they had been there.

     
The kids finished
their food and went to play by the fireplace. Jeremy finished up his and went
to go fix his bike, even though to Sarah, it seemed fine when he rode up last
night. She then moved to Liam's chair and continued to read her book. Jeremy
came in a little before noon and helped the kids get a few things. Sarah went
and grabbed a few of her own things
:
a bottle of shampoo,
a
change of clothes, and a bat. She returned to the living room to find Jeremy
and the kids ready and waiting. She held out the bat for Jeremy.

     
"Are
you sure?" he asked.

     
"Yeah,
you seem like a pretty nice guy," Sarah replied. Jeremy smiled and took
the bat from her. Sarah quickly went back to the bedroom and grabbed an axe she
had left there.

     
The
four of them
made their way down the trail to the lake. The water sparkled as the sun glided
off it.
 
She let the Bakers go first,
setting her stuff down by the dock and moving around the outside of the cove
till she could see most of the lake in all directions. She heard the faint
sound of laughter as the kids played in the water.

     
Sarah sat there
looking out at the lake, glad not to see
any
boat
s
. Her mind
drifted back to that night.

     
" Is there
anyone else?"
a muffled male voice asked.

     
"
It's
just me
.
"
Liam replied. Then a pop of a handgun going off.

     
"No!"
Sarah screamed as
she watched
Liam fall backward onto the
deck. She let out another scream, the shouts of the men from the other boat
drowned out by her. She rushed over to Liam and grabbed ahold of him.

     
"No, no,
no," she shouted at him, not seeing him mouth words to her. She heard the
men say something, and then a few shots cracked into the boat around her. She
squeezed Liam's hand one last time and started to crawl toward the front of the
boat. She waited a moment after the shots stopped and then jumped over the
side. Her arm had a sudden pain shoot through it as she was in midair.

     
"Sarah?
Sarah?" Jeremy said as he shook her on her shoulders. Sarah snapped out of
it and looked up at Jeremy, tears streaming from her eyes.

     
"Matt, take
your sister to the clearing over there," Jeremy said, looking at them.
Matt took his sister by her hand and walked down the small hill.

     
"Why did they
have to kill him?" she said between small sobs. "We didn't do
anything." Jeremy sat down next to her and put his arm around her
shoulder. He didn't say much and just let her talk. Sarah told him how she met
Liam and what happened. He felt angry for what had happened to Liam and Sarah.
It had to have been the same guys that had tied him up. He was lucky to have
made it out alive. The two of them sat there for a while. Sarah’s crying soon
subsided after a while.

     
"I'm going to
wash up myself if you don't mind keeping a lookout," Sarah said as she got
up.

     
"Sure,"
Jeremy replied.

     
Sarah walked back
down the small hill and around toward the dock. She kept an eye on Jeremy.
Sarah
didn't think he
would look, but she still wanted to make sure. She stripped down to nothing
next to the dock and slid into the cold water.
Sarah
shivered for a few moments
and then began to clean herself. She grabbed the shampoo bottle from the dock.
Sarah
watched Jeremy
the whole time, making sure he didn't try and take a peek, but he didn't try or
even look back. He kept his eyes fixated on the lake.

     
Sarah didn't take
long to bathe, and soon
,
she got out. She dressed in
the bushes and called out to Jeremy, making sure only to be so loud that only
he would hear. He turned and gathered up the kids, and they headed back to the
house. It wasn't long till they had made it to the front of the house when Zoe
pointed and squealed.

     
"Look,
another kitty!" Both Jeremy and Sarah turned to look at where she was
pointing. Near the shed, a large raccoon stumbled about. It hissed and clawed
the air.

     
"Shhh,"
Sarah said as she moved in front of the kids. "It’s most likely a
zombie
," she
added.