Mad Swine (Book 2): Dead Winter (10 page)

She turned around and her crooked smile barely parted her lips. “So this is where the coffee-making magic happens, huh?”

“You call it magic but I call it trial and error. Mostly error.”

“I’ll have you brewing the best coffee in the community in no time. Point me to your wares and I shall instruct you.”

I actually started to move toward the stove before I realized I’d forgotten my cowboy coffee pot with Ray. “Shoot. We’ll have to postpone the lesson. I just remembered I left my pot with Ray.”

She raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

I shrugged. “He’s the only one that likes my coffee.”

“That’s fine. Now we’ll just have more time to talk.”

And with that she was on the move again. In the living room, Lara sat down on the sofa and looked at me with her crisp, bright eyes. My heart started to beat a little faster and I suddenly felt awkward, like I always did on a first date. I’d almost forgotten the feeling; my last first date was with my wife more than fifteen years ago. My hands were suddenly moist and my mouth was dry. I couldn’t believe I was feeling this jittery. As a distraction, I strode briskly to the fireplace and knelt down on one knee. Stacking what remained of my wood into the hearth, I said, “After this fire, I’m probably going to freeze. This is the last of my wood.”

Instead of making a joke about our botched wood patrol as I expected, Lara surprised me when she asked, “Do you think there are others like Mr. Elmore who are burning their last logs and not asking for help to get more?”

I nodded my head. “Unfortunately, yes. And I’ve got to figure out what to do about it. And soon. We lost the sled back there
and
came back empty-handed.”

Standing up and crossing the living room, I sat down beside Lara. “Anyway, don’t worry about me. I’ll probably crash at the CP tonight to stay warm.”

After a moment, Lara slid closer to me, her thigh and elbows touching my own. “Or you could stay at my place. I still have some wood.”

I looked at her to see if she was teasing and then quickly turned away when I realized she wasn’t. I couldn’t stand how uncomfortable I felt and I hoped desperately that Lara wouldn’t pick up on my insecurities.

Lara continued to watch me for a few long seconds before she finally looked away. She reached out to her left and picked up a photo of my family from the end table. Holding the mirrored frame in her delicate hands she examined the picture. Finally she said, “Your wife was really beautiful. And your kids are so adorable. They look just like you, Matt.”

Reacting without thinking, I plucked the frame from her hands and laid it face down on the coffee table in front of us. I cringed a bit at the harsh sound the frame made against the wood. “I don’t want to talk about them.”

Immediately I could see that I had hurt Lara, but I was hurting myself, too. I was in a place that was unfamiliar and I just didn’t know how to react. I wished I could start over.

“Okay,” Lara said. She looked down at her hands that now rested on her lap.

After an awkward moment of silence, I put my hand over hers and when she looked up, I leaned forward and kissed her. For a moment she was surprised and I thought she might pull away, but then she leaned into me and we kissed deeply.

When we parted Lara said, “I understand if it’s too soon.”

Still I did not know what to say; everything that came to mind was either too painful or too revealing. I wasn’t ready to share my family yet with Lara. Instead of responding with words, I pulled her close and kissed her again, this time more slowly, feeling the softness of her lips and tasting the strawberry flavor of her chap stick.

In the heat of the moment my passion took over and all guilt and awkwardness I may have been feeling only moments ago was swept up and washed away. My hands found Lara’s warm body and rested on the swell of her breasts. Lara responded by burying her face in my neck and kissing along the ridge of my throat. Suddenly I felt warm and beads of sweat broke out on my brow.

My thick fingers fumbled with the small buttons as I started to unbutton Lara’s shirt. In the middle of undoing the third button a loud pounding at the front door scared the crap out of me. Lara and I both jumped, and stared at each other with wide eyes, feeling like high school kids making out and just being caught by their parents. Lara burst out laughing and I could not help but laugh uncomfortably as I jumped up from the sofa. I glanced at Lara on my way to the front door and saw she was straightening up her clothes.

More pounding sounded at the door just as I reached for the knob. I thumbed the bolt and opened the door. Samantha stood on the porch with her fist poised, ready to start pounding again. She was wearing her navy blue parka and her face was covered with a black scarf. When she pulled the scarf away from her face plumes of breath exited her mouth and nose with every ragged breath she took. She swallowed hard trying to catch her breath.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“You have…to come…to the CP,” Sam said between breaths. “You need…to see…for yourself.”

“Come inside and get warm a minute,” I told Sam. “I have to get my gear.”

Sam entered and closed the door behind her. When she looked up she saw Lara at the head of the stairs. The two women looked at each other for a moment and then Sam looked knowingly at me.

“Hey, Samantha. What’s going on?” Lara asked.

Still looking at Sam, I said to Lara, “Get your coat. Something happened. They need us at the CP.”

From the corner of my eye I noticed Lara stood for a moment longer before finally moving away into the living room to get her coat. I turned to head back upstairs to get my gear when Sam reached out and grabbed my arm.

She whispered, “I’m happy for you.” Then she winked at me and turned and ran down the porch and onto the street in the direction of the command post leaving me feeling embarrassed and awkward.

Lara and I slipped into our coats and gathered our gear. I took my splitting maul and together we left my house and headed in the direction of the command post. We walked side-by-side in silence, our steps falling into line at some point. A few blocks before we reached the CP I felt Lara’s gloved hand grab mine. I squeezed her hand reassuringly. I glanced at her and took note of how cute she was without the damn scarf covering her face and her little freckles.

“What do you think is going on?” Lara asked, finally breaking the silence between us.

“I have no idea. Sam sounded urgent, but she didn’t appear to be worried.”

“Well, whatever it is, we could sure use some good news. It’s been a hell of a day.”

I nodded my head as we neared to our destination. We could see all of the lights in the CP burning brightly behind curtained windows. As we drew near I noticed several of our neighbors standing around outside. A small group stood off to one side all sharing a rare cigarette. One of them waved to Lara and me before taking his drag on the smoke.

“At least no one looks defeated,” Lara said. “That’s a good sign.”

We entered through the main door as I was in no mood for Ray’s negativity at the moment. I still had to get my coffee pot, but that could wait. All of the council members were gathered around the dining room table in their usual spaces and other folks were standing around or sitting on furniture, wherever there was a place to sit. In the living room even more people were spread out on the furniture. On the sofa I saw a man and woman I didn’t know and two other men sat on the coffee table in front of them, with their backs toward us. In the kitchen, Ravi was working on a wounded man who sat at one of the chairs with his left arm on the table.

Spotting Sam, I took her by the arm and led her a few steps away from the dining room. “Who’s that with Ravi?”

Before Sam could answer, a voice spoke up from behind. “That’s Ian. He’s with me.”

I turned to see who had addressed me and was shocked to see my brother, Brian. His face was a bit red and chapped and his beard and mustache had grown pretty thick since I’d last saw him. He wore a knit cap pulled down over his long brown hair. Although he wasn’t wearing a coat, he appeared to have just come in from the cold.

“Holy shit,” was all I could manage. Sam smiled and gave my arm a squeeze before leaving me and my brother alone. We embraced, grabbing each other in great bear hugs and slapping each other on the back. I lifted him slightly off the ground and laughed when he told me to ease up, that he couldn’t breathe.

“Good to see you, bro,” he said. “You’re looking fit.”

I shook my head, still shocked that he was here. “I thought I was never going to see you again.”

“That hurts, dude,” he said and punched me playfully in the chest. “I thought you had more faith in me than that.”

“It’s been six weeks, man,” I said trying to explain my comment. “You said you’d be back in a few days. What was I supposed to think? Where the hell have you been?”

“Don’t worry about that right now. We’ll talk all about that later,” he said and threw his arm over my shoulder and walked us to the threshold of the kitchen.

I stared at him for a moment and then nodded. He was right; now that he was back we had plenty of time to catch up. “So who’s your friend?”

“That’s Ian. He’s part of a small group I brought back with me. He’s a really cool guy. You’ll like him.”

“What happened to Ian?”

“We had to clear out a group of infected from the front gate before they’d open up and let us in. We were using blunt and edged weapons to keep it quiet. Maureen took a swing at one of the creatures but the thing tripped and fell and her blade caught Ian. It doesn’t look too bad, though.”

As I watched Ravi finish stitching up Ian, she caught my eye and gave me a look that could only mean she wanted to talk. I was pretty sure Brian picked up on it, too. She wrapped fresh gauze around Ian’s wounded arm and finished taping it off. “Keep this dry. Please try to keep your arm elevated and stationary if possible.”

“Aye,” Ian said in a fairly thick Irish accent that I wasn’t quite expecting. “I’ll be doing my best, doc, don’t you worry.”

Ravi stared at him for a few seconds and then said, “Stay here for a little while and let the stitches get settled.”

She did not wait for his response but instead went to the sink and stripped off her rubber gloves. She put the disposable gloves into a plastic bag which she tied tightly, dropped that into another plastic bag which she also double knotted. She placed the double bag into the sink and then ran the hot water and started to scrub her hands vigorously with dish detergent.

“Hey doc, can I have something for the pain?” Ian asked.

Ravi shook her head. “Not yet.”

“How about some ibuprofen, Ravi?” Brian asked. “Just something to help him with the pain.”

“No,” Ravi said adamantly. To me she said, “I need to speak to you.
Now
, please.”

I looked at Brian and then back at Ravi, unsure about what was happening. Brian’s brow furrowed and he shrugged his shoulders slightly, indicating he had no idea either. I nodded my head and followed Ravi as she led us through the kitchen and into the laundry room. Brian followed us in and closed the door.

“Ravi, what was that all about?” Brian started in. “If you don’t want to give him the good stuff, I understand, you want to keep that for our own folks, but—”

“I think he might be infected,” Ravi said in her matter-of-fact, all business doctors’ voice.

We all fell silent and the small room had suddenly grown very uncomfortable. I could see that Brian was considering his response carefully; his mouth was closed tight and his eyes flicked back and forth between me and Ravi.

“You mean infected with…”

“You know what I mean,” Ravi said loudly enough to surprise me. I saw Brian flinch as if struck.

“Why do you think he’s infected?” Brian asked.

“You have to ask?” Ravi questioned and gave him a look of incredulous contempt. “You should know better than anyone why I think he’s infected. He was sliced by a weapon used on those things out there. That blood is in his system now.”

“We don’t know that’s true,” Brian said. I had never seen him so subdued. Ravi’s unusual attack was just as much a surprise to him and had likely thrown him off his game.

“We don’t take chances here. He needs to be isolated immediately.”

“Look, I brought him here so let me handle it,” Brian said.

“I know he’s with you but that doesn’t mean shit around here anymore,” Ravi snapped. She turned to me and said, “I want him quarantined. He needs to be watched and dealt with. We need to follow protocol.”

“What the hell is happening here?” Brian asked, obviously as confused as was I. “What exactly are you trying to say, Ravi?”

“Okay, let’s all calm down here,” I finally said, raising my voice. “Everyone just take a damn breath and be quiet for a second.”

“I don’t exactly know what the hell is going on right now,” Brian said, “but Ian is my problem, man, and I’ll handle this.”

“He’s
our
problem,” I said, suddenly feeling like I was in the middle of a tennis match. This was an argument for which I would be forced to take sides. Making a conscious decision under pressure, I looked my brother in the eyes and continued, “Ravi’s right, we have procedures and we follow protocol, no exceptions.”