The Reanimates (Book 3): The Escape (9 page)

"They just do. It keeps them out of the way and not as blocked by trees and stuff." Lucas replied. His face twisted in confusion and then asked, "Why?"

"We live in snow country here. If we get solar panels, we aren't going to want them on the roof where we have to knock the snow off of it, will we? If we mount them on the ground then we can clean them better, right?"

"You know that our global positioning isn't as ideal as it was in California for these solar panels, right?" Trent asked me. I nodded.

"Some is better than none, right?" I retorted. He had to agree, and he accepted my rationale with a kiss.

Trent kicked at the rocks at his feet, thinking heavily. Before long he said, "I'm thinking there would have to be a place to build a metal forge, right? It should be easy enough to build windmills too. There are all sorts of parts lying around here that would work well in a windmill. It's a good thing that we've all become used to energy conservation here."

"So, where are we going to find stuff like this?" Matt asked.

"Big brother, I have a solution." From his pocket, Lucas pulled out a map and began to unfold it. "I found this in the garage and thought it might be handy, you know find out where the bigger towns are. And, as it so happens, Livingston and Bozeman aren't too far away from us. I bet they would have something in the way of a home improvement store."

Home improvement stores. Just the thought of those wonderful places was enough to make us bounce around like little kids. I saw the possibility of paints and wallpaper and gardening stuff, including stuff we didn't really need, like flowers. I was grinning like a fool at the mention of getting things like solar panels and paint.

"So Cal, you wanna go with us?" Matt asked.

The word yes was on the tip of my tongue and almost out of my mouth when I looked back at the playground. Drew was still standing there, watching over the kids and I began to realize something. From the start, I was running off on adventures to kill zombies and grab stuff. Drew didn't play. Drew didn't play, despite the open space and despite the bicycles that were put in the bike rack for the older kids to use. I wondered how much of the maturity and over-developed sense of responsibility was my fault.

"Guys, I'm going to sit this one out, but I do have a list, if that's good by you guys." Trent looked at me like he understood why I turned down this run. He smiled at me, seemingly proud of the choice I just made. Tanya volunteered to take my place, and I was glad that there was someone who knew what sort of plants had a prayer in surviving around here. I asked her to connect with Kristen as well on the plants. I told them that I would provide for them a list of things I wanted in just a bit.

Speaking of Kristen, I wanted to talk to her. I excused myself from the group and found her looking at her house.

"Hey Cali. I was just checking out the house you found. I like it. I really like being able to see it from the street and admire the curb appeal, if you know what I mean. It's been a long time since I could walk up to a house and say, ‘there it is.’ I also love that you put me next to the playground. I don't think I will ever get Nathan off that jungle gym, you know that, right?"

I laughed. "I know this is a goofy question, but I need to know what you would need from a home improvement store for a project idea that I have."

"What kind of idea?"

"We have a lot of meds still from before, and while the group is out they are going to grab any meds that are still around, because there will be a time when all the meds run out, but I have a feeling that the diseases won't run out. I want to make a homeopathic garden, like what you started in Idaho, to help all the meds from being burned through too fast. If there is a mint plant, for instance, I could use that for little cases of nausea and save the Zofran for the big stuff. I don't know a whole lot of herbs so I would have to have you take over that. Who knows how long the meds are going to last anymore?"

Kristen smiled. She looked like she was excited about helping me with this, but she looked at me with a questioning expression. She said nothing for a moment before she finally had to ask.

"Why are you not sure about making the meds last? Are we expecting an outbreak of something?"

"Well, we have neighbors. Did you see the people we passed on the way in? The ones standing on the porch?" Kristen nodded, so I continued. "Well, they've been having a hard go of things. They offered to help us out if we can help out them with meds and someone who can diagnose stuff."

"Very cool. Yeah I'll get that together here. I had a small one before but it would be a good idea to have a larger one."

"Know what I was thinking? There is a ton of space behind the clinic. For things that could grow outside of a green house, we could plant them there, makes sense after all, to grow the stuff where we are going to use them. There was a shed behind the clinic that we could use to dry stuff that needs to be dried."

Kristen interrupted me with a hug. I was a little surprised by this sudden emotional display. "We're going to be okay now, huh? I mean, we are in a town, and safe, and we even have neighbors. Right here, standing in front of my house? I can't even hear the zombies. Do you know how long it has been since I could say that?" Tears were streaming down her face. She looked up at the sky and sighed. Still staring at the sky, she added, "I'll get you a list. When are they going?"

"Probably first thing in the morning."

"OK. I'll make sure I have it for you."

"Kristen? Enjoy this. We are getting to make things how we want it now. We are going to be surviving, but even better, we can stop being dependent on these runs for supplies soon. We're going to make it, I promise."

She hugged me again and after, I started to walk up the street to go to my house. My house. I walked a few steps before I called back, "Hey, Kris? Dinner at six in the cafeteria of the school, alright?" She nodded and so I went back on my trek home, listening to the sounds of the birds in the trees and the way the leaves rustled in the slightest breeze. I pictured growing old with my husband here, and that one thought wove images of us sitting together, hand in hand as we sat on rocking chairs. Trent was the love of my life. I could not ask for more than I had right now. With all of the old world being washed away, the new world was so much easier to see what did matter. My clarity was being with the love of my life and my son until the end of the world, and even beyond that.

House Clearing

We were home. That first dinner in the cafeteria confirmed what we already knew, like all roads had been leading to this point in time and it felt right. This was home. For the first time in a long time, even while we were sleeping on the floor of an abandoned school, we all seemed to have that sense of relief, like we all had been scared of the dentist so we were harboring a broken tooth and finally got it fixed. We had learned to live through the pain and function with it, but now we felt like we really had a shot at being alright.

We talked about watch schedules and set up a rotation that would put a person at each gate while we ate like kings on the boar that had been caught the night before. Tanya and Kristen were making plans for the garden while Trisha and I were talking about how we were going to set up the clinic. She had been my faithful student and I valued her help. She would have made an excellent nurse had she been given the opportunity to go to a traditional school, instead of my crash course in keeping people mostly alive. She was so smart and mature, and I was grateful that she seemed to like working with me.

When we went to bed, we fell asleep in total exhaustion. It was harder to move to another state than I figured it would be. Physically, we didn't really do a whole heck of a lot, but it certainly felt like we had. There was a lot to be said about how much our emotions played on us, more than I figured there would be.

In the morning, Trent slid on his boots to go take watch duty, and I wished he didn't have to go. I wanted his help on getting started on our house, but there was a bigger picture to be had. I understood that, but I still was moping a little. Drew proudly offered to be my right hand man, and I rustled his hair when I said that I would be more than grateful for his help. He was excited to be moving into his house too, and he told me he almost forgot what it was like having his own room. I told him he could have his choice in the bedrooms, to which he made a play for the master bedroom. I laughed and said that he would have to take a roommate in either his dad or me if he claimed the biggest room. He sighed and rolled his eyes before turning down the buddy system. Fortunately I knew that the other bedrooms were bigger than the room that he had in the complex, so I knew that he would be happy with any of them.

Before all of us scattered to the jobs we had in mind, we wrote down a list of things we wanted to have from a scavenge trip. I handed my paper in to Tanya, who was excited to be going on this run. I knew that even though she wasn't going to be with Tyreese, Matt and Lucas would keep her safe. I asked that they keep an eye out for any pharmacies that weren't totally ransacked for anything they could get their hands on, and Lucas looked at me like I had just stated the obvious. I knew they knew what it took, but there were some things that I couldn't shake from micromanaging. It was a flaw I had to work on.

Matt caught up to Justin and Jackson before they went to take the other gate watch. He gave them both a hug and seemed to try to reassure them that he would be home soon. Since the loss of their mom, they had adopted the look on their faces that said to me that they didn't trust that anyone would be there for long. I hoped that in time they would be able to trust again, but only time would tell.

The SUV rolled up to the gate with Lucas and Tanya inside. Matt climbed into the backseat. He gave a last wave to his boys and they responded with a half-smile. Lucas turned and asked Matt something that I didn't hear. He nodded and Lucas turned forward and waved at Trent.

Trent ran the gate for the SUV to slip through and once the gate was closed again, he climbed back up to the top of the shipping container and waved them off.

Before Drew and I left for our new home, we told Trent that we were going to go begin on the house cleaning and he wished us luck. He told Drew to not let me work him too hard. Drew rolled his eyes. He figured that he could outlast me, and honestly, these days, he probably could. We walked with Justin and Jackson since our house was on the way to where they were going, and by walking together, I hoped it would open the door for them to talk to me if they needed it. It didn't take very long to cross the town, and we only had time to exchange pleasantries. That short journey was still something that I thought was odd; being in such a small place that it was easy to walk from one end of town to the other in just a couple of minutes was just so foreign to me.

When we finally reached the front of our house, Drew was able to have his first look at the place.

"Mom? Did you tell them to grab a goat while they were out?"

I must have given the best quizzical look I had in me. "Um, a goat? What are we gonna do, sacrifice it or something?"

Drew laughed at me. "Didn't even think that would be the first thing you'd ask. No, a goat because this yard. It looks like it's from the set of Jurassic Park or something."

"It's a little overgrown, I admit it. Just think though of all the fun you're gonna have on weeding duty."

That stopped Drew dead in his tracks. His eyebrows were lifted as he studied my face, as he tried to figure out if I was joking or not. I worked really hard at keeping my face neutral, but after a few seconds of this standoff, I finally broke into a smile. Relief washed over his face in great waves, and once he recovered from his shock, he mock scowled at me.

When I opened the door to the house, the smell of mustiness poured out. I was grateful that this was not one of the dead houses, but the sign that read For Sale hanging askew on one hinge in the front yard made me believe that this house had been vacant for a while.

"Do we have to keep the furniture?" Drew asked with a tone of distaste when he spotted the gold and green tapestry couches. I must have made a face when I looked over to where he was staring. I didn't think there was any way that anyone would have wanted these things. Clearly they were intentionally left behind from the previous people.

"I wonder if they were new when the house went up." I remarked. "On a serious note, for now, I think we probably will keep them, but we'll throw a cover on them until we find something better to trade them with. Better than sitting on this green shag carpet." Drew looked down to where he was standing and jumped back a foot when he saw the flooring beneath his feet in mock horror. He was so my kid. I loved his sense of humor. "Still better than having a room full of kids as roommates?"

He pretended to be thinking hard about his options. "Yeah, I guess," he conceded finally in mock resignation.

"You sure? You know, I could probably go over to Kristen and ask her if you could bunk with Nathan again."

Drew kneeled on the floor and began to stroke the carpet lovingly. "Mom, this is the best carpet ever. I love this carpet."

I believed him.

Drew worked hard with me, and I was actually having fun with him. We made a significant dent in our house by the time we took a break for lunch. I pulled out foil packages that contained chunks of leftover pork from last night's dinner and passed one to him along with a bottle of water. The cool breeze felt nice as we sat on the porch together while we ate our lunch, and I felt like a normal person again.

Trent walked up the road towards us and I saw that in his hand was a piece of paper. He handed it over to me. It was an invitation for a get-together for as soon as we could. I raised my eyebrow questionably.

"I met Jack. He's a nice guy. He was bringing this note to post, not expecting to see anyone. Since he ran into me, he bypassed the posting part. We had a lot to talk about. Mostly he asked if there was anything we needed, and was helpful about suggesting how to set up to take animals. He said that they have some goats they'd like to give us." This, of course, got Drew giggling and Drew's giggles fired up mine. Trent looked at me like he was confused about what inspired that seemingly random reaction.

"We were just talking about needing a goat," I tried to explain weakly. Drew giggled more.

"Ah. Um. Okay," he replied, clearly not yet getting the joke. "He said that they have a couple of questions for you once we were settled in."

"Anything serious?" I asked, not wanting to put them off if there was something big.

Trent shook his head, "That's what I asked. He said that they were fine right now.  They mostly had questions about some meds that were in their stash that they haven't figured out yet. I told him that if anything serious came up to give us a holler. He said he and his wife would come up later with a house warming gift. I told him you and I would meet them at the safe house, if you were game for it."

I was actually looking forward to it. I was very curious about the people that were our neighbors. I was holding out hope that they were as good as they seemed to be, but at the same time I was scared. I remembered the warnings to never take candy from a stranger. It made me wonder if there was ever going to be a time when I would be able to take people at their word. I wanted to feel like I could trust again. Funny how much was lost when the zombie apocalypse began. I knew that there had to be people like us, but part of me wondered if the good people were the first to be eaten. What if we were just a fluke? If I was thinking about this, I knew that Trent had to be doing the same.

"When are they going to be here?"

Trent glanced at his watch and said, "They are going to be a few hours." I nodded.

"Alright, then. I'm going to clear out the rest of the hall closet and then I'll get cleaned up. I'll meet you at the wall in a bit."

Trent leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "OK.  I love you, and I'll see you there." I smiled at him as he stood up. I brushed off some dust that collected on his pants.

"See you soon."

The meeting with the new people was weighing on my brain like an obsessive-compulsive loop while I cleaned out the closet. I wondered what on earth they really wanted out of us if they were already talking about giving us a goat. Really? A goat? That was a huge thing now. It was the possibility of milk and cheese and if all else failed, meat. These guys had to know that. They had to know that we all lived on a day-to-day stance that screamed that at any time this was all going to be over, that everything could be lost, and whatever you had on you could be the very last of your resources.

I made myself refocus on what I was doing, and after the tenth time of reminding myself about the task at hand, I finally reached the last item out of the closet. There was nothing in the closet that I wanted to keep, so I had Drew help me lug all the stuff to the road. After the last of the stuff was in the street, I looked down at myself and realized I was a filthy mess. I wanted to make these people comfortable with us, I wanted to make a good impression, and here I was looking like a reject from a coal mine. I glanced down at my watch and I knew it was time to go clean up anyway. I had some scrubs sitting in a pile next to my bed in the cafeteria. We found them in one of the houses and while they were a couple of sizes too large, I decided that getting dressed up as a nurse was a good idea. I wanted to make myself look like I was a part of an intelligent group.

"Hey Drew? I need to walk you back to the group so I can go clean up to meet with these people."

"I wanna go too, mom."

"Nuh uh. Not this time. I want to see for myself that these are the kind of people I would invite home for dinner before I have you mixed in with it. I want you to help your grandma or your aunt while I talk with these guys, and if everything is great, and I feel like they will be, then we'll go from there."

Drew wore a look of resignation as he accepted that this was not the time for him to help. I saw so much of his dad in him and I knew that he was going to grow up into an awesome man, despite all of this. Looking at him absently kick the rocks in the road as we started walking to the school, I knew he was going to be okay. That gave me such hope.

After I dropped Drew off, I picked up my change of clothes, a bar of soap, a comb and my blade. I debated bringing the weapon, I didn't want to be hostile looking, but I did need to be practical. After all, I was planning on going outside the walls and I didn't want to go unprepared, I walked over to the wall where Trent was watching the road. I told him I was going to go down to the creek. He nodded and I climbed over the bus to leave. I walked with my blade at the ready as I went down to the water.

I hung my clean clothes up on a branch, kicked off my red All-Stars and I waded into the water with my clothes that I cleaned the house in still on. It was really cold, standing there with the rushing creek running past my knees, so I made this clean up as fast as I could. When I was done getting a layer of grime off of myself and my clothes, I waded back out and went to the clean clothes. I was so grateful to peel off the dripping wet things I was wearing when I went in. I pulled off my shirt and hung it up to dry, then I slid the hospital-issued green scrub top over my head, feeling the fabric against my skin, and I recalled the many times I put on a scrub top in the past. I loved being a nurse. I loved making a difference in the lives of others. I was a good nurse, long ago. A breeze blew by, and I was reminded that I was still in wet denim. I refocused and peeled the jeans off of my legs so I could put on the soft cotton pants. I never did understand why denim changed to glue when a little bit of water was involved. After quite a bit of wriggling, I finally changed into the pants, tied the drawstring tight around my waist and quickly slid my shoes on, realizing that I failed to bring my socks. The jeans that I peeled off were now a muddy pile of gross, so I rinsed them off in the river before I hung them on the branch to dry next to my shirt. I was going to have to remember to pick them up in the morning when we gathered the fishnet.