Grace Lost (24 page)

Julio walked to Louisa’s side and
took her hand.  We all moved into the living room.  Gus and Boggs
brought three of the kitchen chairs in with them. 

Once we were all situated, Gus’
body language signaled he was ready to speak.  “We need to start making
some major plans,” he said.  “
There’s
seven of us
now, and we’ll be needing food, medicine, clothes, and some other basics. 
I’ve been going over a way to do that in my head, and as much as I hate to say
it I think I need to head out with Boggs and Julio while you girls stay here.”

“Gus,” interrupted Boggs.  “I
don’t want the girls left here alone.”

Julio echoed the concern.  “I
agree.”

Gus nodded.  “I know
,
that’s the part I’m not fond of.  I think, though,
that it’s best they stay here.  We can put it to a vote.”

“I want to go where you go, J,”
said Louisa.

“I agree,” I said.  “Strength
in numbers, remember?”

“Do the rest of you feel this
way?” asked Gus.

Emilie was biting on a
fingernail.  “I hate to say it, Gus, but I agree too.”

“Ok then,” he responded.  “I
think we should go first thing tomorrow morning.  The next topic is
probably the least fun to discuss.  We need to talk about Wanda.”  He
sighed heavily.  “I’ve seen someone turn into one of those fucking
creatures after being bit, but Wanda died of other causes.”

“What do you make of that, Gus?”
asked Boggs.

Gus shook his head back and forth
slowly.  “I’m not really sure, but whatever has caused this might still be
around.  We know the dead rose initially, and they can infect the
living.  At least I’ve assumed they can infect the living.  Now I’m
not so sure.  The guy I had picked up on Day One had been bit, and
died.  But did he turn because he died or because the bite infected
him?”  He paused for a moment before continuing.  “I just don’t
know.”  He looked at me specifically before continuing.  “Zoe, Louisa
and Julio know about your hip wound and your brain somehow being linked to the
creatures.  I’m sorry to have talked about you in such a personal way
without permission, but when it comes to the group I decided there shouldn’t be
secrets.”

“What are you talking about?”
asked Susan.  “What
brain
link?”

Boggs looked at Susan for a moment
then answered her.  “The bodies we were burning when you all showed
up.  Zoe knew they were outside before the rest of us.  She
could…hear them…in her head.”

Susan laughed.  “That’s
ridiculous.”

Gus picked up on explaining. 
“She injured her hip on Day One.  She got really sick and the wound has
healed with a strange green pattern around it.  We think she was infected
somehow.”

“Uh,” mumbled Susan.  “Well
maybe she shouldn’t be in here with all of us?”

“Oh please, you
bitch
,”
snarled Emilie.

Gus looked at Em sideways, shocked
by her tone.  She’s almost always the sweetest thing, so it was a bit out
of character.  He looked like he was stifling a chuckle.  Gus spoke
directly to Susan.  “Zoe seems healthy.  And she’s family.”

“It happened again, with Wanda,” I
said quietly.  “I felt that a zombie was inside the cabin.  I didn’t
know it was her until after she was really gone.”

I could tell Louisa was fighting
tears at the mention of Wanda’s name.  I felt so bad for her.

“Once she was really dead, there
was a sense of peace,” I added, embellishing what really happened in my own
head to help Louisa cope.   The girl smiled gratefully at me.

“What about the smell yesterday
morning?” asked
Emilie.

“What smell?” asked Julio.

Emilie continued.  “The
bodies before we burned them.  They smelled…sweet?”

“I noticed it too,” I said. 
“It was like rotten candy.  What do you think it was?”

Susan rolled her eyes.  “Why
don’t you call 1-800-whothefuckknows,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Susan,” said Julio sternly. 
“Stop it.”

“Well, seriously, we’ll never
fucking know what all this shit is,” she snapped back at him.  “Besides
what do you know?  You’re only eighteen.”

I looked at Boggs.  The
tension in the room was uncomfortable.

“Ok, enough,” said Gus,
irritated.  “As much as I hate to say it, Susan’s probably right. 
But let’s be civil.  Today we need to dig a proper grave for Wanda. 
Tomorrow we need to head out for supplies.  I also suggest we build a safe
room here at the cabin.”

“I second that,” said Boggs.

“Boggs said you guys plan to dig
this morning, so if no one minds I’d like to do some laundry in the kitchen so
we can get stuff drying,” I said.

Louisa raised her hand.

“What, Isa?” asked
Julio.
 

“I’ll help with the laundry,” she
said, again flashing her sweet smile.  “I need to stay busy.”

“Ok, this afternoon we should also
get the step van ready for the trip tomorrow, and start thinking about where to
head.  I’d prefer to avoid large towns and cities,” said Gus.  “I
know Twisp isn’t far, so that’d be my vote.  Winthrop is near enough too,
and small.  Julio, Louisa, we haven’t talked yet about what you’ve seen
out there.  I’d appreciate your input.”

Louisa covered her belly with her
hands and hung her head, and Julio looked up after clasping his hands together.

“It’s been ugly out there,” said
the younger man.  “Louisa and I were visiting her grandmother for the
weekend when all this shit went down.  I was using the van to haul some
furniture for her, and thank God Louisa was with me.”  He reached over and
took her hand in his.  “If she would have stayed behind…”

Louisa smiled lovingly at
him.  “I just wish we could have saved Nana Juanita.”

Julio looked back at Gus then
continued.  “We saw the first ones when we had just started on the road
back to Juanita’s.  It was a group of five.  We knew right away
something was wrong because they were all either bloody or falling apart. 
I told Louisa to lock her door and we kept driving.  More and more of them
were coming out to the street as we drove past.  I thought it’d never
stop, man.  Then we saw a group of them…” his voice cracked as he tried to
gain control of his emotions.  “They were eating an old man.  It was
so horrible I sent Louisa to the back of the van so she wouldn’t see.” 

I saw Louisa squeeze Julio’s hand. 
She took over the conversation, allowing him time to compose himself.  “I
went to the back of the van.  I was so scared but I knew Julio would take
care of me and our baby.  I sat on the twin bed we were hauling and tried
to keep from crying.”

Julio spoke again.  “It was
early morning.  We just kept driving.  About two or three miles later
we saw the first road block.  There were four cars that were stopped
across the road.  It was odd, though.  They hadn’t crashed. It was
like they all stopped and the owners just wandered off.  I pulled over and
told Louisa to stay inside.  I got out and walked to a ravine that was off
the shoulder.  That’s when I found Susan.”

At the mention of her name, Susan
looked up.

“She had climbed a tree,”
explained Julio.  “Those dead fucks were feasting on other people, right
below her.”  He looked disgusted.  “I couldn’t leave here there, so
used my piece to shoot the fuckers up.”

“He went crazy,” said Susan. 
“And he saved me,” she added quietly.  I thought I even saw a hint of
gratitude on her face.

I looked at Boggs, who was
engrossed with the story.

“What about Wanda?” I asked.

“She found us, actually,” answered
Julio.  “She was driving the opposite direction.  It just made sense
to stop, so we both did.  I could tell she was ill, and scared.  But
even more than that, she seemed mad that the world had been fucked over. 
We talked for about five minutes and she came with us.”

“Did you drive through any more
towns?  Where have you been staying?” asked Boggs.

Julio looked over to Boggs before
answering.  “Ya we drove through a couple towns.  They were all
pretty overrun.  We’d drive by and the fuckers would come out of the
buildings and chase us.  We stopped outside the last town.  There was
a small neighborhood, so we drove through slowly.  We didn’t see any of
the fucks so we stopped to siphon gas from two cars sitting in driveways. 
We broke into one of the houses to get supplies.  We were low on food and
water.  Luckily no one was home, but we felt safer in the step van so used
it as a rolling safe house of sorts.  We’ve lived in it for days, taking
turns driving and stopping on logging roads to sleep.”

“We had someone else with us,”
whispered Susan.  “A guy named John.  He had been hiding in his attic
and ran out when he saw us stopped.  He was only with us a day.”

“What happened to him?” asked Gus.

“He decided to go outside his
first night with us while we all asleep.  We weren’t sure why.  It
was his screams that woke us.  We knew there wasn’t anything we could do
to save him, so we drove on,” explained Julio.

“You know you made the right
choice, right?” asked Gus.  “You couldn’t have saved him.”

“Yes, I know.  It was tough
as shit to do, though, leaving someone behind,” said Julio.  “Anyway we saw
the smoke from your bonfire when we were headed by on the highway.  We
figured it was worth looking into, so drove down and prayed for the best.”

“So it sounds like we should avoid
towns for now,” said Boggs.  “And do like you did.  Hit up vacant
houses.”

“And hope they’re vacant,” said
Gus.  “Ok, let’s get to work? 
There’s
a
couple shovels in the shed, so we can take turns digging.”

Everyone agreeing, the men went
outside and we girls decided to do general housework and the laundry.

Louisa and I took turns scrubbing
clothes and linens in the sink, and she was able to give me some great pointers
since she had grown up doing laundry by hand.  In talking to her, I
discovered she was only seventeen, and Julio was eighteen.  I was
surprised because she came across as very mature.  She told me their
pregnancy was unplanned, but they had been thrilled when they found out. 
While they didn’t wear rings, her parents had signed permission for them to
marry and they had gone through a small ceremony only two months ago. 
Like Boggs and I, they had grown up as dear friends.

With Louisa’s blessing, it had
been decided that Susan would start using Wanda’s twin bed and move down from
the attic.   After the episode with Wanda, Julio and Louisa would
share their bedroom with Susan so no one would be left alone downstairs. 
We’d ask the men to help fashion a partition for more privacy later. 
Louisa had also suggested Julio drill a few small holes though the plywood in
our bedroom window to allow for some fresh air and light.  She explained
that he was a carpenter, having grown up learning the trade from his
father.  

Emilie started rearranging
furniture and dusting.  The floor was growing dirty from daily use, and
with no electricity vacuuming was out of the question.  She swept for a
long time before she was satisfied.  Damp laundry now hung on makeshift
clotheslines we had tied up near the fireplace.  The twin bed had been
moved upstairs to a corner of Julio and Louisa’s room. We decided to take a
much needed break so settled in the living room on the couches.

The men came in not long after,
sweaty and grimy from grave digging. 

“Wow,” said Gus. 
“Looks great in here, ladies.”

“Thanks!” said Emilie as she
slowly got off the couch, looking like she was in pain.

“Em?
  What’s wrong, darlin’?” asked Gus.

Emilie stretched gingerly. 
“I think I just strained my back.  I’ll be ok.”

“I’ll stretch it out for you
later,” he answered.  “And be careful, darlin’.”  He leaned over and
kissed her on the cheek.

Boggs cleared his throat. 
“We’re ready outside. 
For whoever wants to say goodbye
to Wanda.”

All seven of us filed
outside.  The sun was shining and the sky was blue.  Being out of the
stuffy cabin was a relief.  The air smelled clean, although it had the
bite of winter to it.  There was a large stain in the soil surrounding the
porch. 

“Try not to look,” said
Boggs.  “It’s just from her body being there overnight.”

I looked over to Louisa, who had
nestled against Julio.  She was being very brave, especially for being so
young.

We followed the men to a large oak
tree at the edge of the clearing in front of the cabin, where they had already
buried Wanda’s body.  The earth was mounded gently over her, and the guys
had kindly picked a small bouquet of wild flowers that now lay on top. 
Julio stepped away from Louisa to stand at the head of the grave.  I took
the girls hand in my own to comfort her. 

“I’d like to say a few words about
our dear friend,” said Julio.  “I’m not good at speaking, but this woman
deserves the best.  She lived a good life from what she told us, and we
were damn lucky to have known her.  May she rest in peace, and may she
watch over us all.”