Fire Birds (5 page)

“I drove around downtown Clayfield this morning before coming out to the Lassiter place,” Sara said. “It looked a lot different...overgrown…banged up. I noticed a big hole in the roof of my church.”

“A tank shell did that, I think. I haven’t been in there, but that’s probably what did it.”

“I wonder where they found tanks.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “There are armories around. They could have taken them from there. The National Guard might have had them out when things were getting bad and abandoned them. Wheeler’s men weren’t military. They might have been an organized militia, but I doubt it. I got the impression they had all come together after Canton B and not before. I still don’t know where they went. Maybe they all succumbed to the virus.”

“So you’ve had Clayfield to yourself for a while,” she said.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “It’s not as awesome as it sounds, though.”

“I saw the yellow cars,” she said. “Did you do that?”

“No,” I said, then I explained about the cars, the heads, and all the rest.

“Hmm,” she said, getting an odd tone in her voice. “That’s…that’s weird.”

“Yeah,” I said. “When I was waiting with Julio, I was thinking about it, and I thought maybe you’d done it since you’d been back for several days. I was going to ask you about it.”

“Wasn’t me,” she said.

“Whoever it is...I’m not sure what they are up to. I was glad to see there was another healthy person around, but I’d hoped they’d have more sense.”

She was quiet for a moment then she said, “You look kind of banged up and overgrown yourself. Is this what happens when there aren’t any women around?”

I glanced at myself in the rearview mirror and brushed my hair away with my hand, “I could use a shave and a trim.”

“And a bath,” she added.

I grinned. “I’ve been saving my water for drinking and for the garden. I know I stink.”

“I think a dip in the horse pond would be an improvement.”

“I’m sure you’re going to smell lovely when you peel out of all that leather.”

She giggled a little, “I’m sure I won’t.”

It was nice to hear a laugh from her.

After a couple of minutes of silence, I changed the subject.

“For a while, I tried putting down as many as I could. I went out every day.”

“Killing the infected?” she said.

“Yeah.”

“We did that down in Biloxi,” she said. “We had teams that would go out every day. There were a lot more infected there.”

“I don’t think I made much of a dent,” I said. “I have a notebook at the house where I was keeping a tally. I think my last count for those runs was around four hundred. That’s not counting the ones from before or the ones I came across when I was looking for supplies.”

“That’s four hundred less to bother us,” she said. “How did you dispose of them?”

“I didn’t really. At first, I tried piling them up and burning them, but it was just too much work.”

“I’m here to help you now,” she said and patted my leg. “This all feels kind of bizarre. It doesn’t even seem real that you’re alive.”

“I’m glad you came back,” I said softly and took her hand.

She scooted across the seat and put her head on my shoulder.

When we pulled into the driveway at the Lassiter place, I got out and shut the gate and latched it. I never locked it, because the undead could never figure out how to open it. It was late afternoon, and, ordinarily, I would still have a few hours of chores left to do, but not that day. I decided chores could wait. I wanted to devote that afternoon and evening to celebrating Sara’s return.

“Since this is a special occasion,” I said. “How would you like a hot shower?”

“Hot shower?” she grinned. “You’re really moving up in the world. How are we going to do that?”

“That RV over there. You’ll just have to give me an hour or so to fill the tank and heat the water.”

“What about the garden?” she said. “I thought you were saving the water for that.”

“I’ve been praying for rain. Maybe God is done being mad at us.”

“I know I need a shower,” she said, “but you need one more than I do. You first.”

By 7 p.m. we were both bathed and smelling considerably better, dressed as nicely as we could in new clothes, and seated at the table having a celebratory dinner of spinach salad, canned tuna, fried squash, and crackers. Since the blackberries happened to be in season, we had a blackberry cobbler for dessert. I had plenty of alcohol stashed away, and Sara had overcome her aversion to drinking, so the wine flowed freely.

“It feels so good to be here with you,” she said as she finished off her bowl of cobbler.

“That’s the wine you feel,” I said. “Or feeling clean.”

“We had showers down in Biloxi. The group we joined had electricity, running water, even a movie every night.”

“Why in the world would you leave?”

“Everybody wanted what we had. We weren’t only fighting the undead; we were also defending where we lived from gangs. It wasn’t worth it to me. I liked it better here. It was simpler here.”

“We’ve had gangs here.”

She shook her head, “Not as bad.”

I nodded and tried to imagine what it might be like in other parts of the country and the world–particularly in the cities.

“This squash and spinach came from the garden?” she asked. “From the seed packets we had?”

“Uh…yeah. Those tomato and pepper seedlings we had before you left are about waist high now. The tomatoes are blooming. The sweet potatoes are doing well too.”

“What about the millet? Did you plant it?”

“No,” I said. “There was a lot of winter wheat growing at different farms. I collected as much of that as I could a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I wasted a lot. Still, I got enough to fill a fifty-five gallon barrel.”

She shrugged, “Maybe we can figure out how to make bread out of it. I miss bread.”

“If we can’t, I’m sure the chickens will like it,” I said.

“Are they still around?” she asked. “I haven’t seen them today.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I keep hoping to find more on my supply runs, but I suppose that all of the chickens that have survived thus far have escaped and lived in the woods away from their former homes. I haven’t seen any living chickens anywhere except for the two here.”

When the light began to fade we lit candles and moved into the living room, each of us carrying a bottle of wine and a glass. I wanted her to talk about Grant and the others, but she avoided the subject. She did talk about her time in Biloxi, but she shied away from any mention of Grant, even though I knew he must have been a part of some of the stories she recounted. I didn’t know if she was staying away from that for her sake or mine, and I didn’t want to bring it up if she felt uncomfortable. Eventually, she would have to. Eventually, I would press the matter, but not that night.

I couldn’t quit staring at her, and I did so unabashedly. In the past, I would have looked away when she noticed me, but I wanted her to know that I enjoyed looking at her. She even blushed a couple of times under my gaze. I remembered her standing in this very room months before making me blush with her advances. I wanted to follow through with what she had proposed on that night, but I didn’t know if this particular night would be appropriate.

She was in the middle of one of her stories. “…I looked in the closet and found this garbage bag full of money...” I was only halfway listening. I was so caught up in her being there. My outlook on living had changed since that morning. I felt so full of hope for how things could be.

“Was that thunder?” she said.

“Huh?”

“Listen.”

There was a faint rumble. I stood and went to the window. Off to the west, I saw the flicker of lightning.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” I said. “It is. Maybe it’ll rain after all.”

“See,” she said. “God doesn’t stay mad.”

I nodded, still looking out the window. Then I remembered...

“Hold on a sec,” I said. “I’ve got something for you.”

I went upstairs, opened the closet and pulled down the gift from the shelf. The red wrapping paper had dust on it. I blew it off and carried it downstairs.

“Here,” I said. “I got you something.”

“What’s this for?” she said, smiling.

“Just because,” I said. “You had a birthday while you were away. It could be for that.”

She ripped into the package and her smile widened.

“Yertle the Turtle,” she said.

“It’s an old copy,” I said. “Kids marked in it.”

“I love it. Thank you.”

Thunder rumbled again, and I looked out the window.

“Have you moved my things out?” she asked.

I turned to face her, “No. Your room is as you left it.”

“Good,” she said, standing. “I’m ready for bed.” She wobbled a little because of the wine and put a hand out to steady herself.

“Need some help?”

“I’m okay,” she said.

I watched her go upstairs then I went around and made sure all of the doors were locked. Then I took the two empty wine bottles into the kitchen, grabbed a lit candle, and went up to my own room. The thunder was louder. It was getting closer. We needed more than a storm; we needed two or three days of steady rain, but I would take what I could get. A single downpour, if long enough and hard enough, would refill the cistern and rain barrels. I heard the first, fat drops hitting the roof as I removed my boots. I fell back into bed and was asleep almost instantly.

I woke up to the sound of crashing thunder. I opened my eyes. The room was dark. Lightning flashed bright followed quickly by another crash. I didn’t know what time it was, but the storm was right on top of us. The wind made the house groan, and the rain beat against the windows. Lightning lit up the room again, and I saw Sara standing in the doorway.

“Are you awake?” she said, almost in a whisper.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Can I get in bed with you?”

“Uh…yeah.”

I could see her only as a shadow, but I could see that shadow was undressing. I swallowed hard. A brilliant, blinding flash filled the room, burning the image of her unclothed body into my brain. Then the deep boom startled me. She crawled in and scooted close to me. She was warm. I breathed her in. She smelled good like a woman. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t think of anything.

“I’m glad this is finally happening,” she whispered.

The next morning, I opened my eyes and looked around. It was later than I normally wake up. The light in my room was much brighter. There was this noise that I couldn’t identify. I was alone. I wondered if it had all been a dream. I pulled the sheet away. I saw that I was naked, and I grinned. It hadn’t been a dream.

There was the noise again. I stood and went to the doorway.

“Sara?” I said.

“Downstairs,” she called out.

I put on some jeans, strapped on my pistol, put on my boots, and went down to join her. The noise was someone yelling.

“What’s going on?” I said as I walked into the living room.

She was standing at the front window wrapped in a blanket.

“It’s Grant,” she said.

I looked out the window. The red van was parked out on the road. Grant was hanging out the driver’s window shouting toward the house, but I didn’t know what he was saying. Then he got on the horn for one long, continuous blast.

“Shit,” I said. “He’s going to have every zombie for miles coming in.”

“I have no idea how long he’s been out there,” she said. “Maybe all night. I heard him honking a few minutes ago, so I got up.”

“He could have walked up the driveway and knocked,” I said.

“He can be immature.”

“Are Julio and Christine with him?”

“I haven’t seen them,” she said.

“Well, the gate isn’t locked,” I said. “If he wants to come up here, he can. Once the infected show up he’ll either have to leave or come in. It probably wasn’t a good idea to tell them the address to this place.”

“I’ll go out and talk to him,” she said.

“Is this going to be a thing?” I said. “Is this going to be a problem?”

“No,” she said. Then she stood on tiptoes and kissed me. “Last night was nice.”

“Yeah,” I grinned.

“You go make some coffee. I’ll talk to him.”

“No,” I said. “Why don’t you take care of the coffee and let me take care of him.”

“Don’t be like that,” she said. “I’ve had experience breaking up with boys. I don’t need you to do it for me.”

She left me and went upstairs. I was still standing at the window staring out at the van when she returned dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. There was a small, pink pistol sticking out of the back of her pants.