Eric looked down at the large hunk of meat consuming the majority of the perfect white plate in front of him. It looked like good china, did they break it out tonight for this special occasion? How much better did they think that their situation was going to be once He and Travis led them back to the farmhouse? Things must have been particularly grueling for this little family if the arrival of two perfect strangers begged for such pomp and circumstance.
“Are you going to stare at that hunk of beef or are you going to eat it?” Brian was munching away on his own large bite of the roast the meat jammed in the side of his mouth like a hunk of chewing tobacco. “If not one of us will take it off your hands.” A heartwarming grin spread across the middle aged farmers face as he winked at Eric. Eric smiled back, grabbed his fork and cut into the roast. The fork shredded the tender beef easily and before he knew it Eric was shoveling a large piece of the beef into his mouth like he was using a pitchfork to throw hay.
The meat tasted amazing against his dulled taste buds. He hadn’t realized it but the survivors of Spokane had been living off little more than military style ready to eat meals and protein bars. Nothing very savors and certainly nothing that stood a chance of equaling the home cooked meal Eric was savoring now. The beef had been soaked for hours in a heavy broth almost like gravy as where the Yukon potatoes and the carrots that Eric had just spied hiding under the slab of beef. He speared a couple of the potatoes and forced them into his overstuffed mouth.
Eric took his eyes off his plate for only a second but he caught the eye of Brian’s wife Jenna. She had straw blond hair that looked slightly brittle and was just starting to grey at the scalp. Was it the kids that had caused the grey to take root or that last few days and that stress that came with trying to endure against the dead?
Eric had already speared a potato and two carrots and his fork was almost against his lips when Jenna spoke in a dry whisper, “You boys look like you haven’t eaten well in days, how bad is it out there?” He couldn’t see them but Eric was pretty confident that she was wringing her hands under the table as she waited for the answer.
Eric shot a glance to his left and pinned Travis down with his mouth half open and his bite of beef roast on display to those at the table. Eric gave his head a small quick shake but he knew that all five sets of eyes were glued on the two strangers and they wouldn’t miss the small gesture. Before anyone could think the worst Eric spoke in a quiet but firm tone, “It’s bad ma’am. I fled Spokane with about eight others. We had to fight our way off the South Hill and we lost a few on the way west. I don’t know how things went in Rearden; Travis could tell you more about that.” Eric looked over at the young man and though the kid was clumsy and awkward Eric felt sure that the nasty look Eric gave him would keep the kid’s mouth shut. Eric pushed on, “We were at the feed store when your husband found us, we lost another man clearing it out.”
“Maybe this isn’t the best dinner topic honey,” Brian’s words were suggestive but his tone wasn’t. He’d tell his wife the more gruesome details of what he had seen in the last two days as he went looking for some semblance of help but they were going to have that conversation in front of their kids. The old farmer gave Eric a stern look and Eric fell quiet. The rest of the dinner was spent in sheer silence.
Eric stole a look a couple of times at the rest of Brian and Jenna’s family. They had three kids, two younger boys the youngest looked about seven, the older brother maybe eleven. The problem was the daughter. She was sixteen and s drop dead gorgeous knockout for any teenage boy and with one such teenage boy sitting to Eric’s left and the looks they were giving each other across the table Eric was concerned that things might not go so well for Travis and the farmer’s daughter. Eric decided that after her did his turn as the guard he was going to lay his bed in front of the door of the room he and Travis would share.
As the dinner quickly wrapped up Jenna got up from the table and started clearing the plates. She asked her daughter, her name was Shannon to help and the two of them left through a floor to ceiling swinging door into the kitchen.
“Travis perhaps you’d like to go with my boys there and pick out a game to play while me and your partner here have a little chat.” Brian fixed the seventeen year old with the kind of stare that most fathers reserved for their daughter’s boyfriends; the kind of look that told you that if you didn’t follow the man’s wishes you’d find yourself in some trouble.
The two boys sprang from the table and ran to the living room while Travis looked with barely contained longing at the kitchen door. He followed the two boys in their wake and a few minutes later Eric heard the TV come on and an argument about what videogame to play start in the living room.
“You’re friend there’s going to be able to keep his hands to himself isn’t he?” Brian’s tone was fatherly and protective. The older man was perceptive and that was good, Eric hadn’t wanted to bring up his concerns about the two teenagers.
“I sure hope so, glad you caught that too. Whatever we do about the sleeping arrangement I don’t think either one of them should be left in a room by themselves.
“That’s going to be hard with Shannon. She’s pretty willful and stubborn as a mule.” Brian was shaking his head. Eric was glad that he was still too young to be seriously considering kids, the troubles of raising a teenage girl was enormous and there were more pitfalls then clear paths.
“I was planning on sleeping against the door once I was done with guard duty. I don’t think we should leave Travis to watch things tonight. He’s a decent guy but I don’t trust a teenager to let logic and safety override danger and desire.”
Brian was lost in thought for a few minutes and Eric spent the few minutes thinking things over in his own mind. They’d need to leave the small house as early as possible Eric didn’t want to lose too much time packing up the house. If they had the chance to come back in the future they would. The zombies weren’t going to take dishes and glasses. All they’d need would be guns and food and a few sentimental items.
Brian’s rough voice brought Eric out of his plans, “alright then it’s you and me keeping an eye on things then. You want the first watch or the second?”
Eric mulled it over for barely a second before answering, “I’ll take the first shift. Spend some time with your wife and your kids. Play a game; watch a movie while we’ve still got power. I’ll make sure nothing disturbs you guys.” Eric checked his watch, thank god for solar powered batteries Eric thought. The hands of the watch read 7:35. “We don’t you relieve me around one and then I’ll get up around five and we can start getting ready to go?”
Brian nodded to himself and then pushed back from the table the wood legs of the chair barking against the hardwood floor. He reached his hand out and grabbed Eric’s. “Thank you,” the farmer said as he squeezed Eric’s hand.
“No problem,” Eric said as he went to the front of the house and pulled a stiff wood chair from the wall and set it facing the door. He pulled back the slide of the pistol checking to make sure that bullet was chambered before he settled into the chair and stared through the door at the fearsome night that was on the other side.
One a.m. came slowly but Eric was glad to see Brian when he finally came to relieve Eric. The old farmer had a well worn shotgun in his right hand. The farmer had to use his left hand to help Eric stand up and start trudging down the hall to the bedroom he and Travis were going to share. Eric pushed the door open and it squealed on its hinges. Eric smiled; at least Travis wouldn’t be sneaking out. Eric grabbed a pillow off a dress and a thin throw blanket and nearly fell to the floor. His arms curled around the pillow making it fluff up and Eric closed his eyes and drifted off.
Five a.m. came far too quickly but as the small alarm that Eric had set the night before went off he pushed himself up off the floor as he bruised hip and knee wailed at him. Eric looked over and was glad to see that Travis was still in bed and without company. Eric grabbed his gun off the dresser and then opened the door which squeaked and then started walking as quietly as he tired body allowed him down the hall.
There was still a good hour and a half before the sun crested the horizon but Jenna was already in the kitchen working feverishly over the stove Eric thought he caught the scent of sausage as he passed the swinging door and head into the hallway and the living room. Brian was sitting in the chair that he had pulled Eric out of earlier that morning, a steaming cup of coffee in his left hand, the shotgun held in his right.
The farmer looked up with basset hound eyes at Eric as he came to stand by the older man. “You sleep okay?”
Eric looked down at the tired farmer sitting in the chair and shrugged his shoulders towards his ears, “about as well as can be expected.”
The old farmer nodded as if it was any other night and that zombies weren’t just out there aimlessly roaming around looking for someone to feed on. He lifted the coffee to his lips and took a slow sip. He must have noticed Eric’s envious stare as he set the coffee back down and motioned with his head back towards the kitchen, “Jenna’s got fresh brewed coffee in the kitchen and she should be getting close to finished with biscuits and gravy.
His mouth instantly began to water as Eric thought about soft fluffy biscuits smothered in sausage gravy and remembered the early morning breakfasts his grandmother use to make when he was a kid and spent a few weeks each summer with her and his grandpa. His thoughts quickly fell into the dark void of grief as he thought about his grandparents. Had this thing moved all the way to Moses Lake already? Probably if the news had shown places like Los Angeles and Seattle overrun with the dead. The only saving grace was that Grandpa and Grandma lived out in the farmland outside Moses Lake and Grandpa was referred as a “gun enthusiast.” If the North Koreans hadn’t gotten his Grandpa nor the Vietnamese he doubted that the dead stood much of a chance of killing the old man.
Eric came back from his reverie and nodded curtly to Brian before he went back down the hall and took a right through the swinging door and into the kitchen. Eric hadn’t even greeted Jenna when he found a steaming plate of eggs and biscuits and gravy sitting on the small breakfast counter overlooking the kitchen sink. Jenna’s back was turned to him and when the frail looking farmer’s wife turned around she had a small white ceramic cup of boiling black coffee in her hand. The deposited the cup on the counter next to the plate and gave Eric a motherly smile before turning back to the kitchen and the mountain of food cooking on the stove. “Thank you ma’am,” Eric said before he scooped up a forkful of eggs and popped them into his mouth.
“You're welcome honey,” She turned to look over her shoulder as she spoke keeping her chef’s spoon folding the sausage gravy over and over. “I don’t know if Brian told you just how thankful we are that you and that young man came to help us. He’s been out scouring the farms in the area looking for anyone who was still alive. He didn’t find any and not all of them were killed by the zombies.”
Against his desire Eric quickly chewed and swallowed a mouthful of biscuits and gravy so he could speak to Jenna, “it’s nothing ma’am. I’d like to think that during the worst of times when everything is falling apart that those of us left will rise as paragons not fall as villains.”
“Let’s hope so young man but if you’d have seen what Brian and I watched on TV you’d know that not everyone is as altruistic as you and your friend.” Jenna wiped a hand across her forehead but Eric was confident that he’d seen her sleeve glide over her eyes.
“I’ll think you’ll find that our group of people are good folks. A lot of them are probably your neighbors and friends. From what Sanchez says most of the people from Rearden packed up and moved out when they got word that Sanchez had a plan.” Eric watched as the farmer’s wife reluctantly nodded to herself and then turned back to the food. It was clear to Eric that the Jenna wasn’t entirely sure that throwing in their lot with Eric and his group was the best idea but it was the only reasonable one in this mad world.
“Mmmaa,” the low groan of someone who hadn’t had as restful of a night that they had expected filled the small kitchen and seemed to shake the cabinets.
“I don’t know if you drink it buddy but today’s as good a day as any to start drinking coffee Travis especially if you had the hell of a night that it sounds like you did.” Eric cut another large chunk of biscuits and gravy and forced the large bite into his mouth.
The groan erupted in the room again as the small kitchen seemed to shudder to its frame. Jenna screamed and a plate went grassing to the floor sending white gravy and eggs splattering against the lower cabinets of the kitchen. Eric swallowed the awkward mash of food in his mouth as he bolted up out of the chair sending it clattering against the tile floor. Jenna was in shock staggering backwards from but in a slow daze that wasn’t taking her away from danger quick enough. Eric ran the half dozen steps to her and grabbed her shoulder. His steely grip dug into her shoulder joint the pain bringing her out of her haze for a few seconds, long enough to give her orders. “Get Brian tell him to keep an eye on the door, go wake up your kids and Travis. Tell everyone to pack only what they really need. Where are your cars?”
“The back, out that door,” Jenna pointed with a trembling hand at the back door off the kitchen which just then as if on cue jolted and shook from the impact of something heavy against the solid wood of the door.
“Then get your kids and get to the front door with whatever you can carry that’s important. I don’t think we’re going to be able to go this way.” Eric’s words had the power of prophecy because at that moment the wood door jamb crack under the pressure of the battering ram that was a zombie. The wood buckled inward and the door swung open barely two feet. The torn face of a zombie turned its glassy empty eyes on Eric and Jenna as she disappeared through the swinging door. Brian had done to the back door the same thing he had done to the front, there was a long solid hunk of wood nailed to the floor making it hard for anyone to press through the slightly open door. The problem was the zombies didn’t feel pain and lacked any sort of logical thought. The creature with the graying skin and the black seeping tears in its face pushed against the door and Eric heard first the fabric of a shirt tear and then the wet sucking sound of soggy flesh being pulled from the creatures bones.
The thing was already halfway through the door when Eric raised his gun and fired. It wouldn’t matter how much the echo of the deadly shot scared the rest of the house if they were all dead. He heard a girl’s scream and a small child yelp but Eric’s attention was on the zombie whose head jerked back with the impact of the bullet before falling to the floor with a squishy swak.
Eric thought for a minute about going over and pushing the dead thing out the door with his heel but the appearance of another dead thing at the door put a stop to that plan. This face was a woman’s the hair was matted down with blood and gore a smooth transition from red to black plastering half her head like hair gel. The lower half of the woman’s mouth had been chewed off though it was certainly possible that in her frantic hunger she had torn off the skin herself as she fought to devour every living thing in her path. Eric fired two shots and it was good he did, the first shot hit the wall just a half inch to the dead woman’s face, the second bullet caught her in the left eye and she fell on top of the first zombie.
Before another zombie could show up Eric turned and ran back through the kitchen and into the dining room. He ran pass the long kitchen table and sprinted to the front door of the house. Brian was standing with his back against the door survey the situation. Jenna and Shannon were huddled together Brian’s wife cradling Shannon like a mother would hold her teething baby. The two boys looked stunned and were hanging closely to the hem of their mother’s skirt. Travis was in the back his shotgun held at his waist ready to jerk it up against his shoulder and fire the moment he needed to.
“You,” Eric pointed at Travis with the undeserved air of command. “Travis you make for the truck bed and once you’re there cover us. Anything behind us is your job to kill.” The young man nodded his eyes growing hard and confident like Eric hadn’t seen before today. Maybe it was the girl but the kid was ready to be brave and dependable. He’d do whatever he have to to save them.
Eric turned from him to Brian at the door, “Brian you’re taking the left side of the house and anything coming from that direction. We pulled in head first last night and the left side is the passenger side. Your kids are going to have to cram into the backseat of the truck, Jenna in the middle and you and me on the doors. Everyone got it?” Eric was thankful when no one asked any questions. “GO!”
Brian jerked the door open and pushed out he swung his shot gun right and then left and then grabbed Jenna’s hand a tugged her out behind him. The kids followed in quick order than Travis and finally Eric. He could hear frustrated groaning from the back of the house and he pulled the door closed as he slipped out the front.
A zombie came rushing around the right hand side of the house as Eric pulled the door shut and he raised his gun and fired. The shot caught the zombie in the chest and as he teetered backwards Eric fired another shot and took off the top right part of the zombies head. With the most immediate threat dead Eric took off at a run trying to both balance the gun in his hand and grab the truck keys out of his right pocket. He was at the door and still fiddling with the keys when the report of a gunshot added a little extra urgency to his hands that finally managed to wrap around the key chain.
Eric thrust the keys into the lock and the door unlocked and he jumped it crushing his finger against the electronic unlock button as he pulled himself into the driver’s seat. The two boys didn’t even wait to get the folding seat down they just dove over the passenger seat into the back. There were yells and screams as Shannon struggled with the latch mechanism but eventually her numb fingers found the grip and the folding seat fell. She jumped in a yell of pain from one of the boys signaling that someone had been trampled in the process. The seat was thrown back and rattled the frame as Jenna jumped in her face smashing against Eric’s shoulder in the process. Eric’s hand slipped off the ignition for a second but as Jenna worked herself into the seat Eric regained his grip and turned the key with desperate force.
The engine sputtered and then roared just as another blast of a shotgun crashed like thunder in the small space of the cab. A zombie no more than four feet away crumpled to the dirt driveway and then Brian was climbing into the truck the barrel still smoking and sending the reek of cordite into the air. Eric cut the wheel hard to the left and slammed on the gas the truck growled with angry energy as its heavy duty tires cut into the dirt and kicked up a giant cloud of pale brown dirt. Eric pulled the transmission into drive and they tore off into the early morning light towards the farmhouse and some modicum of safety.