Chapter 4: CHAPTER 4
We left early the next morning after Grandma dispatched the zombie, who was still walking back and forth between the door to the garage and the end of the driveway. Afterward, we burned his body out by the Red Rocket sign, where he died. Before we left, I made a little makeshift memorial of a cross made from a couple of old boards decorated with a couple of license plates.
It was sad that nobody would ever know his name, but I couldn't help but think that the person that he once had been was probably happy that his body could now finally rest in peace. Unfortunately, we didn't always have the time to burn or bury the bodies, but we did what we could, and somehow with this one, I just felt that he deserved some kind of a memorial.
Whenever possible, Grandma preferred to burn the bodies in order to destroy the virus. Otherwise, it's possible that the soil and groundwater could possibly become contaminated. I sensed that there was more to her story, but she didn't seem to want to discuss it further, so I let it go. At least for now, but anyone who knows me also knows that I can be a little bit like a bulldog when it comes to letting things go.
After playing around with the radio for a while, I was able to get a station to come in. And we enjoyed some of the country music that Lucas always liked, and After a while, I noticed him tapping his toes in time to the music. The so-called DJ, some guy calling himself Trevor, was just a little annoying as he spent a lot of time between songs complaining about his situation. It seemed that his ex-girlfriend was now a zombie, and he was convinced that she wanted him dead.
Grandma seemed to think that he was pretty funny, but I got the idea that he was serious. But either way, listening to him did help to pass a boring afternoon of just sitting in the pickup.
Late that afternoon, we ended up having to drive through the town of Butterfield Mississipi. Grandma usually likes to take a safer route and avoid the larger cities, but unfortunately, the bridge on the east side of town was out, and she didn't know any other way to Mary's house.
Eighteen years ago, Butterfield had been a thriving college town with a population of 50,000. But, like most towns and cities, they had been hard hit by the apocalypse, and the whole area was now a large ghost town with probably only a handful of people left in the surrounding area around the abandoned town.
We drove through a residential area, taking care to avoid the more congested city streets where you could find yourself trapped by old cars and trucks littering the streets.
It seemed to me that the city was the worst possible place to be when the virus started, and I wondered aloud how so many people seemed to be taken by surprise with it?
Grandma sighed, "Well, when the virus first started, everyone thought it was just some new type of flu. Or at least that's what they were telling us."
"You mean the government?" I questioned.
"Yes, the government and the news media. Anyway, to make a long story short, they told everyone to self-quarantine for a couple of weeks. And then before we knew what was going on, martial law was declared, and nobody was allowed to leave their homes."
"That's just crazy!" I breathed.
" They could have warned people and at least given them a chance to escape the cities before things got bad. But, that was our government for you, first and foremost they only looked out for their own interests, no matter which party was in power at the time."
"What happened next?"
"We were taken by surprise, and most people were unprepared. So it wasn't long before people started running out of food and supplies, which meant that they had to leave their houses or starve. This, of course, allowed the virus to spread even faster."
I shuddered, "It sounds so horrible."
She reached out and patted my hand. "It was, unbelievably so. And it's been a long battle, but I do believe that it's one that we're going to win."
"I hope so," I replied, looking out the window at the passing houses.
Driving through towns like this always gave me an eerie feeling. Everything looked like it was just abandoned in an instant. After a while, I caught myself staring at the empty windows as we passed, almost expecting to see someone looking back at me. I shivered, and the hair on the back of my neck rose as I imagined that the ghosts of the town's former inhabitants were still here and watching me from inside the houses.
At one point, we had to stop and move some tree limbs, probably downed by last night's storm out of the road. Grandma and I both were a little on edge, and she kept her shotgun close at hand, but everything seemed quiet and peaceful. I noticed an old rusted tricycle overturned by the driveway of what had once been a cute little house with white shutters on the windows. Now the roof was sagging and half-collapsed from a tree falling on it, and most of the windows in front were shattered. The yard was over-grown and covered in weeds and vines with a few broken, dirty toys scattered around. It made me wonder about the people who had once lived here, and whether they had made it out alive or became victims either to the virus or zombies. I hoped that they had made it out of the city before things had gotten bad. But, the odds probably weren't in their favor considering that they were under martial law at the time.
Glancing back as we pulled away, I saw a small figure standing by a swing that was still attached to an old broken down swing set in the back yard.
" Grandma."
"I see it," she replied grimly and put the truck into park before grabbing her shotgun from the gun rack behind us.
"I'm coming with you; there could be more of them around," I announced firmly, and surprisingly enough, she didn't argue with me about it.
"Make sure the truck is locked, and the windows are rolled up, I don't know what might happen if one of them gets a hold of your brother again." She called back to me.
Once we reached the back yard, I saw that I was right, and there were two more zombies plus the one on the swing. The first one, probably the mom, was taken out easily with one blast of Grandma's shotgun as she rushed us the moment we reached the corner of the house.
While Grandma was busy with the second zombie, a male and considerably larger than the first, I concentrated on the smallest one standing beside the swing. A young girl, probably around four or five years old she was still wearing the dirty, tattered remains of a pink dress and clutching an old dirty, raggedy doll. To me, this one was probably the most horrifying. To see what had once been a young child turned into a vicious feral beast was so sad.
I hesitated for a second, and unbelievably fast, she launched herself at me with an unearthly shriek. I quickly sidestepped and unable to stop; she stumbled forward, landing in the sandbox. She sat for a moment in the sand, and I think that for a moment she forgot what she was doing until her head swiveled around and she saw me standing there. This time I didn't hesitate and quickly fired a shot into her brain, freeing her once and for all from the atrocity that she had become.
"You did good, Kaley," Grandma said from behind me. " I know that it wasn't easy; the young ones are especially hard to deal with because it's so tragic to see what they've become."
"She still had her doll. Do you think that she knew or had any awareness of what was going on?"
"No, I don't. That little girl has probably been dead for close to eighteen years now. From what we observed with the zombie back at the Red Rocket Gas N Go and now this one. I am starting to think that maybe they can retain a few superficial memories or habits, but at no time have I ever noticed any awareness or intelligence."
"But, you've never noticed anything like this before?"
"No, and I've killed a lot of zombies in the last eighteen years," Grandma said and slipped her shotgun into the scabbard on her back.
"So something could be changing."
Grandma shrugged, "it's possible; there's still so much that we don't know about the virus."
"This world is just so messed up," I replied flatly and turned to walk back to the truck when I noticed that the truck doors were open and Lucas was no longer inside.
"Oh no," I breathed and broke into a run when I saw him standing there holding the other gun from the truck's gunrack.
I ran over and gave him a huge hug, and just for a moment, he hugged me in return, and I had my brother back. But in an instant, he was gone again, leaving a distant stranger in his place.
Disappointed, I stepped back and looked wordlessly at Grandma.
She gave me a huge smile and a pat on the back before reaching out to take the gun from Lucas, " Don't look so disappointed, Honey. Lucas was trying to help us, that's a good sign, and I just know that Celeste is going to help us get him back."
* * *
A little while later, we pulled up in front of a charming but slightly shabby old Victorian-style farmhouse with peeling yellow paint.
All smiles, Mary, a sweet and motherly woman, and her fourteen-year-old granddaughter Sarah met us at the front door, and we were instantly enveloped with the aroma of fried chicken and fresh-baked bread.
"I was so worried when you didn't show up yesterday. But I figured that the storm might have slowed you down a little."
"That and a few other things," Grandma replied.
"Well, you're here now, and that is all that matters, so come on inside supper is almost ready," she said and laughed when as if on cue, my stomach chooses that moment to rumble loudly
.
"Oh, you have a cat." She reached out to pet Tucker who was looking around wide-eyed. " I have a bowl of fresh milk and some left-overs for this little guy in the kitchen. I hope that he doesn't mind my dogs. They all do well with cats, but we can always put them outside for a while if he does."
"I'm not sure we just found him yesterday," I replied and sat Tucker down, where he immediately ran over to the bowl of food that Mary sat down for him.
"Cats are a lot more adaptable than most people think," Mary remarked as he calmly set about eating his meal and completely ignoring the three large rottweilers, sleeping in their beds in front of the fireplace.
"And they're always looking for their next meal," I said with a laugh.
Just then, I noticed that Lucas had sat down on the floor beside Moose, the half-grown pup, and was now petting the dog. Quietly I nudged Grandma and Mary drawing their attention to him.
"He seems to have an affinity for animals," Mary remarked softly.
" And they for him," I replied. "
After dinner, Grandma and Mary went into the living room to catch up on all the news and talk about times and people from before I was born. After a bit, I grew bored with all of the talking, and Sarah showed me her Grandma's library where we spent the rest of the evening. She liked reading almost as much as I did, and it was nice to spend time with someone who had a lot of the same interests as me.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone