Outbreak: Brave New World (11 page)

With that Amy crossed the room to the pile of gear and shrugged into her flak jacket,
buckled on her LCS and slung her bandoleer of CS grenades across her chest. Rodriguez was getting into her gear while Carl was nervously fiddling with a nylon belt that held 7.62x54R cartridges for the boy’s rifle on stripper clips in the pouches on it. Amy knew he could carry eight five round stripper clips because she had put the belt together a few years ago. He also had the rifle’s massive eighteen inch spike bayonet stuck into his belt, ready to be deployed if need be. He sort of looked like a picture she had seen in a book on World War Two of a soldier in the Soviet Red Army. Frays could not help smirk a little bit at that as she wondered what her father would make of the comparison. The man had warned his daughter about the ‘long haired pinko commie Liberal hippie dopers’ that populated college campuses on the way to Bard College when she was a kid.

Frays chec
ked the magazines in her pouches on her way into the back bedroom. She spared a glance at her mother as she pulled her carbine out of the cabinet and stuck a magazine into the magazine well and chambered a round. “We’ll be back as quick as we can, Mom.” Amy said as she slipped the weapon’s sling over her head and fiddled it into a more comfortable position. Frays gave the semi-conscious woman on the bed a quick grin and pointed at her. “And you just hold on a little longer, alright? We’ll be back before you know it and you’ll be up and around toot sweet.”

Jessica intercepted her daughter before she could leave the bedroom. “Honey, please be careful.” she said as she held her baby to her chest. “Promise me.” Jessie kissed the scar on Amy’s cheek and
squeezed her so tight it made Frays’ back pop just below her rib cage.

Fra
ys chuckled, smiled and hugged her mom back. “Okay, Mom.” she whispered quietly, allowing her mother to kind of rock her side to side for a moment. “Mom, I promise we’ll be careful. I gotta go now, Mom.” She laughed a little and extracted herself, still smiling as she grabbed Rodriguez’s M4 out of the cabinet. “Seriously, we shouldn’t be gone more than two hours. I left a copy of our route on the kitchen table.”

Frays handed Rodriguez her carbine as the three of them moved towards the back door. Carl shouldered a black
nylon backpack, his movements all jittery with excitement. He could not believe his luck as he more than half expected either Amy or his parents to shoot down his suggestion and not let him come along. He hoped that he would not embarrass himself too badly in front of Frannie or his sister. And, of course, he did have his little niece or nephew to look out for too… 

Amy spared a glance over her shoulder at Lacey and her father before turning her attention back to Rodriguez and Carl. “Okay, fall in guys.” she muttered as she sl
apped her patrol cap onto her head. Carl looked confused for a half second then stood next to Rodriguez. Amy grunted amusedly to herself as she checked Frannie’s gear. Once she was certain that Frannie had enough ammo, water and a fresh piece of steel wool in her weapon’s homemade suppressor, Frays moved on to her little brother.

“Turn out your pockets.” Amy said expectantly as she checked to make sure he had his
weapon loaded and the safety on then handed the long barreled rifle back to him. He gave her a questioning look after she shook the metal Boy Scout canteen slung across his chest. “Come on, let’s see what else you’ve got.” The boy held out a handful of loose rifle cartridges, a Swiss Army knife and a fistful of crumpled dollar bills. She nodded and let him put his things away. “Let me see your pack.” Frays frowned as she unzipped the bag and pawed through its contents. There was only a warm bottle of coke, a little dynamo powered emergency radio and an MRE in there. “Grab a raincoat out of the closet in the foyer and let’s get going.”

Rodriguez and Frays glanced after Carl then went over to the Humvee and stashed their gear in the back. Amy turned to face Lacey. “The truck’s still almost full?”
she asked, pointedly ignoring her father. Paulie ran up and hugged Rodriguez’s leg drawing a smile to the woman’s face as she tousled the boy’s hair.

“We put the gas in the
truck’s hole.” Paulie explained, gesturing towards the back of the Humvee. “It went all glub glub glub then spilleded.” He giggled when Frannie picked him up and the boy smooched her on the cheek. Rodriguez gave Paulie a hug then set him back down as Carl came back to the truck with a yellow rain slicker folded over his arm.

“Alright, everybody ready?” Frays asked as Carl
stuffed his raincoat into his pack and put it on the back seat. She smiled over her shoulder at Lacey as she snapped her M4 into the rack next to the steering column “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll be back before you realize it.”

Adam snickered and gave Frays a nervous smile. “Look…I appreciate you guys doing this.” he said quietly, walking towards her with a hand extended. When Frays took it
he pulled her in and gave her a quick sort of half hug, clapping her heartily on the back. “Thank you.” Lacey whispered in her ear “Be safe, okay?”

Amy spared the man an awkward smile then hurried over to the truck. “Don’t worry about it, buddy. See you in a few hours.” Frays said as she climbed behind the wheel and shut the door.
Adam smiled to himself when he saw Amy bow her head, make the sign of the cross then sit quietly for a moment before the truck’s starter motor whined. It took a couple tries, but the engine eventually turned over. He could not help but feel a little left out and incredibly touched as he watched Frays back the truck away from the house and pull off down the gravel road. Frays, Rodriguez and Carl barely even knew Laura but they were willing to risk their lives to help her because she was important to him.

George shook his head and turned back towards the house. “Lacey, come on in the house.” he sai
d after a moment. Lacey took his children by the hands and led them back inside behind the older man, Adam shaking his head. He could not imagine what George was going through with his daughter treating him like he did not exist. It made no sense to him after everything they had gone through to get here.

He let Becca and Paul go on ahead. “Mister Frays, what’s going on?” Adam asked quietly. Jessica was still in the back bedroom taking care of Laura and the kids sounded like they had made their way into the living room.
He frowned, remembering Frays’ cheek the other day. “Frays hasn’t said a word to you in like two days.”

George grumbled under his breath. He felt a brief ripple of shame at
the memory of the stinging in his hand, the surprise and shame and humiliation on Amy’s face. He was a Bible believing Christian but he had never ever raised a hand against either one of his children before. There were passages that people liked to use to justify such things but in his opinion it was someone using the Good Book to excuse their own bad behavior. “It’s none of your business, Lacey.” he mumbled angrily. The man fiddled in his breast pocket and came up with a pack of cigarettes. “I’ll be along in a minute.”

Adam shook his head. “If I didn’t know Frays was your daughter I’d know Frays is your daughter.” he said quietly as he turned at started towards the house. The younger man glanced over his shoulder and frowned, still shaking his head as he paused at the door. “I said some things I really shouldn’t have and
she wouldn’t talk to me for almost a day and a half.” George lit a smoke and looked curiously at the young Marine. Lacey smiled awkwardly and shrugged. “Just sayin’.”

George half smiled and squirted smoke out of his nose. “Sounds like her.” he mumbled and coughed, covering his mouth with the side of his hand. “How long did you know Amy was pregnant?”

“Sir, I swear I didn’t know anything for sure till you started yelling at me earlier.” Adam said. He grumbled under his breath, scratched nervously at the back of his neck. “Hell, I don’t even think
she
knew what was up. Frays was acting weird sometimes, not sleeping. I thought she was just stressed out or something until she thought this canned ham we were eating was bad while we were holed up waiting for Rodriguez to get well enough to travel.”

George nodded, scratched at something behind his ear. “I’m sorry I blew up like that.” he said suddenly, an uncomfortable sort of a smile came to his face. “I was wrong to jump to conclusions like I did.”

Lacey looked at the man, a brief flash of anger flaring up. “Apology accepted sir.” he said quietly, scowling as he turned back towards the house. If he had just kept is fucking accusations to himself Laura would not have gone running off like she did. She would not be in that room suffering…dying… His friends would not be out there where anything could happen to them and his babies would not…not have to worry about losing their mom.

Adam paused just inside the door.
It should be me in there.
Lacey thought bitterly, wiping his face with the back of his hand.
I fucked up and hurt those people, almost got Frays killed
. He frowned and took a deep breath before continuing further into the house. The cabin seemed strangely empty with Frays, her brother and Rodriguez gone. Paulie and Becca were sitting in the recliner where the boy had been cuddling with Frannie, bunched up together in the chair. Lacey could not help but wonder if they missed their friends too. Did they know what exactly was going on?

Lacey walked up and leaned against the wooden pillar
and forced a smile onto his face. “Hey kiddos, want something to drink?” he asked, then moved off towards the cabinets in the kitchen and took down a couple small plastic sippy cups. “I’ll get you guys some lemonade, alright?” He got the pitcher out of the fridge, filled the cups and pressed the lids on them then brought them back out to the children. “I’m gonna go check on Mommy. I’ll see if she’s well enough for you guys to see her for a minute, okay?”

Paulie watched Daddy go into the other room and frowned.
The children were quiet as they looked at each other. “I wanna see Mommy.” he said and started trying to get out of the chair. His cup fell out of his hand and he scrambled to snatch it off the floor. Luckily only a few drops of lemonade splashed out of the straw in the top of the cup and landed on the carpet. “C’mon, Becca.”

The little girl looked at her brother suspiciously. “I dunno
. Daddy said to wait.” she said but still climbed down from the chair anyway. The two of them crept up to the door waiting on the other side, both of them now suddenly unsure. Becca glanced towards the back door wondering when Mister Frays was going to come back. She was starting to not like him very much: he yelled and said mean things to Daddy. Plus he made Mommy cry right before she got the owwie on her leg. He had probably been mean to Amy too because she looked mad at him a lot after she had to go to the bathroom the other day.

Finally Paulie stood up on his tiptoes and grabbed the door handle. “C’mon.
” he whispered, giving his sister a grin. “Let’s surprise Mommy.” It took him a couple tries, but he managed to get the door to open up. The two children stopped in the doorway and stared into the dimly lit room. Mrs. Frays and Daddy looked up at them, confused for a half second. Mommy was on the bed all sweaty and pale, looking kind of like one of the Bad People.

“C’mon back outside, babies.” Jessie said as she bolted to her feet and hustled the kids out of the bedroom.
Why didn’t I lock the door?
Jessica thought angrily when she saw the stunned expressions on the children’s faces. They were not crying again or at least not yet. She scooped the little boy and girl up and carried them to the couch.

She held the children and rocked them gently
. Jessica frowned, wishing that she could think of something to say to them. This whole thing was confusing and scary enough to her but the kids…they were just so tiny and innocent. How were they making sense of all this? “Shh…” Jessie whispered as she continued rocking the children. “Shh…”

They started a little bit when the sound of the ba
ck door opening reached them. Jessica looked up her breath catching in her throat. A muddy, disheveled man stood where she expected to see her husband. When the stranger’s milky eyes met hers his jaw dropped, a low animalistic growl emanating from its chest as it lurched and stumbled across the dining area towards them hands groping at the air in front of it. Unthinking, Jessica snatched a child under each arm and dashed towards the back bedroom.

She dropped the kids at the door, threw it open then pushed Becca and Paulie ahead of her into the bedroom. Jessica slammed the door shut behind her just as the creature rea
ched it. Adam leapt to his feet his eyes wide with surprise. “What the hell’s going on?!” he asked glancing wild eyed around the room. A familiar mechanical wet thump on the thin wooden door pretty much answered his question for him.

He looked around and dashed towards the sound, shoving Jessica out of the way as he tugged his pistol from the holster strapped to his thigh. Adam
raised his weapon guessing at about where the zombie’s head might be from the thumps of the creature’s fists on the door. Becca started screaming as cracks spread along the door and her father dumped a half dozen panicked shots at what he hoped was head level through it.

Ears ringing, Lacey slowly lowered his weapon and flicked the M9’s decocker with his thumb
, safely lowering the weapon’s hammer with a dry metallic snap. After a few seconds the whining noise was replaced by the sound of his children crying. “It’s alright, guys.” Adam whispered as he eased his pistol back into its holster and turned around. Becca and Carl peeked over the edge of the bed staring wide eyed at their father.