Grinning from ear to ear
,
Tabitha high tailed it to cabin number two. “Well let’s see what is behind door number two?”
Opening the door Tabitha peeked inside and said, “Housekeeping”
Stepping over the threshold she saw the couch and the tiny little fireplace that was directly across from it. The
re was the smell of the infected but it was very obvious why, there was one lying on the floor shot between the eyes. S
he
also
detected
a moldy scent, l
eaving the door wide opened Tabitha made her way to the back of the cabin where she found out that the other doors were shut and she decided to open them up and air them all out.
When she got to the bedroom she noticed that it was disheveled a little with clothing and a suitcase that was
lying
wide open. A few clothes were left inside along with a baby doll. Tabitha picked up the dolly
,
it
was wearing a
blue dress with a petticoat underneath of it. “How cute”, she said out loud, then she suddenly looked up and realized for the very first time that what must
have
happened her was tragic.
Speaking to the doll, “Is that daddy in the dining room?
Where was the family
that was here?? Who did you
belong to?
”
Holding the doll Tabitha walked back through the cabin and outside where she ran into Beth.
“Hey Beth… check this out…”
Beth looked down and then remembered the discovery that
Colt
had when she and Colt got there. “That must of been that little girls”, said Beth.
“Little girl?” inquired Tabitha.
“Yes, when we got here there was a family of infected here and
Colt
had to….” Beth took a deep breath and held onto
Chappy
tighter.
Tabitha still holding onto the doll interrupted, “Well let’s just put this pretty dolly in here on the mantle and she can keep watch over the place.”
Every time Tabitha tried to talk to Beth she somehow kept bringing up bad memories and she was always trying to keep upbeat when she realized that she had done it again. After Tabitha had placed the doll on the mantle
;
she turned around and saw Beth
staring out the window
.
Beth was really lost in thought about what Colt had said to her. How could he say what he said? She felt horrible enough
just knowing she had been
employed by the CDC and for him to come back with an ultimatum like that caused Beth to feel completely and utterly hopeless. No matter what she did or how she tried to make things right by Colt
she felt that it was pointless.
Clutching her Puppy even tighter Beth looked at Tabitha with a very sad look, “If you want maybe
Chappy
could stay up on the mantle with the doll and both of them could watch one another?”
Tabitha was completely taken back by her remark and cheer
fully Tabitha replied, “SURE!!”
Beth walked over to the mantle and placed the stuffed animal by the doll. When she had finished she walked over to the window and saw everyone gathering back outside again. For the first time now Beth felt the heavy weight of the world back on her shoulders. Down deep inside she felt responsible and did not know how to fix it.
She even wondered if the
president
was in a safe and secure location. Part of her hoped that he was alright and that somewhere in the world that a part of the CDC was working on a cure then the other part of her had hoped that the infected had found him and plucked him clean like someone eating
a leg at
Kentucky Fried Ch
icken.
Alden and Colt opened the door of the shed slowly, Tonto gave no indication of unfriendlies so Alden pushed it the rest of the way open. Inside right in the middle was a large gas generator capable of producing enough electricity to run all three cabins.
Alden walked around and surveyed the machine at the back was the fuel tank and he opened it up. “I’ll be damned we got a break kid, the son of a bitch is full.”
He walked around to the side and read the instructions. Bending down he opened a small door. The battery compartment was empty someone had taken the twelve volt starter battery. Colt was standing behind him looking at the loose wires, “Am I right
, whatever should be there, ain’t there?
”
Alden stood, “Naw
,
were good
,
some asshole took the battery but I got a spare in my truck that should work.”
Colt looked at him
, “Why would somebody take it?”
Alden did that mischievous grin again, “Why
do I have a spare in my truck?”
The two spent a few more minutes checking out the shed. In the back was a wall locker that was padlocked. Alden turned to Colt who was picking up several tools on a bench and putting them back. “Hand me that crow bar.”
Colt brought it over and Alden with one huge pull snapped the latch off the door. Tonto was poised ready to strike as Alden opened it. Col
t grinned, “JACKPOT.”
Inside was an array of firearms, hunting rifles. Alden also found
some
ammunition
for the rifes, he wondered for a minute where the ammo for the handguns was.
As they got back out front Colt called out to Beth, “Hey Youuuuu GUUYYYS
SS!”
Ceara came out of the first cabin holding onto Charlie with Maximus right behind them. Ceara’s face was pale and she looked weak. Alden looked to Charlie, “What’s wrong with her she alright?”
“No man….” before he could finish Maximus walked by Alden, “Oh shit,
what the fuck did he roll in.”
Alden pulled his tee shirt over his nose. Colt grabbed his own tee shirt, “Oh
,
dude
,
sick.” Maximus was bounding around wagging his tail but no one would pet him even Tonto was keeping his distance and every time Maximus got near him he growled and snapped at him. Alden looked to Ceara, “After the other girls get out here, you and Charlie take that da
mn dog and get him cleaned up.”
Ceara looked at Alden, “And just whe
re are we going to do this at?”
Alden cocked his head, “Well kid, that ain’t my problem but if I were you I would
head to the creek I can hear.”
Ceara’s brow furro
wed, “Creek, you hear a creek?”
She tilted her head as if t
hat would help her hear better,
“I don’t hear anything?”
Alden went to his truck and pulled out the plastic bag and tossed Ceara a couple of hotel shampoos, “Use these, and if you head through the woods
,
down I would say a quarter mile south
,
you will find what I hear. Charlie you go with her.” He motioned to Colt, “Give him one of those
22’s
.” Colt handed over one of the three
rifles
he was carrying,
assuming that was what the 22 was.
“Does anyone know how to use these?”
Alden started laughing, “I doubt any of you ever had a need to know, except maybe Tabitha but we will have practice in the next day or two. Charlie, keep the
hand
gun just in case
,
you
fire off a shot and we will know you’re in trouble and you need us.”
Ceara scrunched up her nose, “Why is it always Charlie do this and that, I can do stuff too, I ain’t helpless!”
Maximus ran by the bushes and started rolling in the dirt, Ceara rolled her eyes, “Never-mind let’s just go get this done.”
Beth walked around in the cabin and began straightening up. Shaking the curtains and watching the sun’s rays on the dust as it flew out. Tabitha heard the others outside and walked over to the window by Beth. Seeing Maximus trying to give Ceara all her loving at first caused her to smile but when she noticed that he was covered with slimy zombie guts made Tabitha wrinkle up her noise. “Oh that is just fucking gross, Beth check that shit out!!”
Beth put her hand on Tabitha’s shoulder and snickered out loud, “Ok, that is some sick shit there.”
Tabitha wanted to get outside and see if she could help but what’s more she wanted to razz Ceara a little. Something about Red she liked and what was more she loved how Charlie was so innocent. Remembering the mushroom conversation Tabitha thought that she might be able to have some fun with this and perhaps get Beth to smile a little, looking over her shoulder to Beth, “Come with me and let’s go see if we can help.”
Heading out the door with Beth following, Tabitha shouted to Ceara, “Awwww Red, would ya look at that!!!!! Looks like Maximus is showing you how proud he is by bringing you a present!!!! I mean instead of a bouquet of roses he’s bringing you the next best thing!!!!”
Beth thought that was a little weird but seeing how playful the dog was caused Beth to chuckle slightly.
Ceara glared at Tabitha, and then
went over to Maximus
. As if proving Tabitha right
the dog jumped up on Ceara wanting love from her. She shoved him down, “Don’t even try it, damn it. Come on.”
Charlie looked to Alden and smi
led, “This is going to be fun.”
Beth made her way over to Alden
after hearing about the generator
“Alden, I got an idea. My cell is low on power and once we get this up and running I could charge my phone and that will give me Internet access. From there I can see if I can access my contacts at the CDC to find out i
f there is any help out there.”
Colt listened to Beth and wondered if there even was
an
internet anymore but it was worth a shot. He thought back to when things were normal, he didn’t go anywhere without his Iphone and Ipad but when it all went to hell he didn’t even think about those when he left his home and Jessica. “Alden did you want to get that generator kicked on and that way it could heat the water, I know I could use a hot shower!”
Alden looked at the group
choosing to ignore Beth’s question for now
, “Okay Colt, sure let’s give it a try. Beth and Tabby I need you to get your shotguns and stand guard. I don’t know how much noise that thing will make when we start it or how many deadheads may be lurking and coming running when we ring the dinner bell.”
Colt looked to Alden, “What about Chuck and Ceara?”
Alden turned to the direction the two had gone to get Maximus cleaned up. “I think they’ll be fine if the deadheads come they come to the noise but just to be sure,”
He turned and snapped his fingers. Tonto snapped to attention, “Go with Charlie,” Snapping once more he pointed in the direction Charlie had gone.
Tonto took off at a dead run. Colt watched the whole thing unfold and looked to Alde
n, “How long you had that dog?”
Alden turned and started to go to his truck, “
A life time kid…. A life time…”
Opening the back and dropping the gate he reached in and took out a leather tool belt filled with tools, then motioned for Colt to grab the battery that sat in the corner. Colt picked it up and they headed for the shed. Beth and Tabitha had retrieved their guns and were making sure they were loaded and then followed the men. Colt placed the battery down in the frame and Alden knelt and quickly had it hooked up. Then he walked around to the side where the control panel was. Reading the instructions he flipped three switches and then turned the key. Colt looked at with a frown as nothing happened, “Damn the “battery’s dead.”
Alden grinned,
and then
pushed a button. “Naw I don’t think so,” he said as the generator came to life. It was not much louder than
the vehicles they had driven in, but it still
put a big smile on all of their faces. Wiping his hands on his pants, Alden stood and looked at the control panel again then pushed three more switches. “Ladies and gents, you will all have hot water in about a half hour.”
He patted Colt on the shoulder as he walked out of the shed.
Tabitha walked the perimeter looking out into the woods with her shot gun. Her feathers were ruffled when Alden had referred to her as “Tabby” and that caused her to walk back and forth briskly. Sure she had to watch out for the zombies, she got that
,
but when the old fuck referred to her as that it really pissed her off!
When the roar of the generator started
,
Tabitha was startled at first and then look
ed
to where the sound was emanating from then she quickly looked back out into the woods to see if anything had stirred.
Making sure that nothing would be coming out of the woods,
Tabitha quickly began pacing faster because she was trying to figure out on how to approach Grandpa Grey Tooth and inform him on his little fuck up.
Beth saw that Tabitha had in fact picked up her pace and walked up close to her to try to calm her down. “Tabitha, it looks like we will be able
to get a hot shower in a bit.”
Tabitha appreciated Beth’s attempt but she knew that if she didn’t nip this in the bud that he would slip up again. “Beth, you take watch for a minute, I got some
business I need to attend to.”
As soon as Tabitha headed to the shed she saw Alden walk around back. Quickly she addressed him sternly, “Hey Alden!! I need to have a word with ya if ya don’t mind.”
Alden turned around and looked at her but before he could get a word out she spoke right up, “You don’t like people calling you Sir and I know that you wouldn’t appreciate it if someone referred to you as Al or Alvin or Alf for that fucking matter… so before we go any further I would appreciate it if you
would refrain from calling my ‘Tabby’ or ‘Tab’,
I ain’t no
damn horse or
t
op that you pull
before you
take a drink. My na
me is Tabitha plan and simple.”
Tabitha didn’t want to get off on a bad side with Alden
with
all of the stuff he had done but ever since she was a kid she hated when people referred to her as Tabby because it reminded her of being something cute and sweet. She never thought of herself as cute and sweet and she really didn’t want to start off a new life thinking any differently than she had done all along.
Alden just looked at her, “Sweetie if you’re going to get upset every time someone throws a nickname at you, you’re going to have a real hard time in life. The name Tabby is no more insulting then Al is for me or Chuck would be for Charlie. Bottom line when you join a group or a clan you hav
e to let others be themselves.”
He patted her shoulder and looked to Colt, “Watch after the place I going to go get Chucky and his bride.” He laug
hed as he headed down the path.
Warmth
went through Tabitha’s heart
, Alden had included her in the clan
.
She knew it was silly but n
obody before had ever said anything so nice to her. All of her life she had be belittled, verbally abused and kicked around like some sort or junk yard dog and now when all of the rest of the world had gone to hell in a hand basket to Tabitha she began to feel like a
Phoenix rising from the ashes.
Now more calm than ever before in her life Tabitha walked back and began casing the perimeter thinking about how good
her life suddenly was.
Ceara and Charlie had followed where Alden told them and sure enough the creek was there, Ceara rolled her eyes, “Damn I wish for once the man would be wrong.”
Charlie laughed, “I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.”
Ceara shrugged, “Well it would be nice…. So how am I supposed to do this? Just drag him out there?”
Maximus solved the first issue by jumping into the creek, darting around trying to get the minnows. Charlie handed the shampoo to Ceara; she smiled as she took them, “Chicken, you s
cared of getting a little wet?”
She sat down on the damp shore and pulled off her tennis shoes and socks. She rolled up her pants legs and headed out into the creek, she grabbed Maximus by the collar and tried to get him to lay down so she could get him all the way wet, but Maximus bolted causing Ceara to go head first into the creek. She came up spitting and sputtering, only to he
ar
Charlie laughing. Using the palm of her hand she splashed Charlie, “You know you could help!”
Charlie wiped off what little water reached him, “I am helping, I’m watch
ing your back,” and your wet t-
shirt now
,
he thought. She huffed wiping her wet hair out of her eyes and went after Maximus again, “Maximus LAY DOWN!”
The dog obeyed but didn’t want to stay where he was, in his mind it was playtime. Ceara finally got him soaked and pulled the shampoo out of her
pocket;
she lathered him up, scrubbing his fur earning her a whine from Max. “Well
,
I wouldn’t have
to do this if you left the dead
heads alone!”
Finally she had him as good as she thought she would. Ceara let go of the collar, “Now go play and get all that soap off you. A few minutes later with a little help from Ceara
,
Maximus was rinsed off. She pulled the bottle out again, “Ok one more time, come here.”
Maximus
was more than willing to
play but didn’t want any part of the bottle again; he hopped around just out of her reach. Every time she reached
for
h
im he
jumped away.
He ran behind her and jumped knocking her back
in the creek. Charlie laid the rifle down
and
took the
gun
from the back of his jeans laying it
do
wn; he
went in to help. Ceara got up more frustrated, “Damn dog!”
She pushed the hair out of her eyes again and felt Charlie help her stand,
glaring at him, “You decide to help?”
Charlie was all smiles and chuckles as he pulled her up, “Well yeah
,
I just couldn’t take it anymore. If Max had knocked you down one more time I’d pissed myself laughing.”
Ceara smacked him on his chest,
and then
started to laugh with him. The two turned to walk out and Charlie’s foot slipped on a rock. As his arms started flail
ing
to regain his balance Ceara grabbed for him. Big mistake, she caught hold of his shirt
,
only to be pulled down with him as he fell backwards. Sitting up on Charlie’s lap their eyes met. Both the smiles started to disappear as they looked lovingly at each other. Charlie began to pull her towards him. He’d never really kissed a girl before and was nervous but he thought what the hell. His heart told him it was right.
Alden spoke up, “SO YOU TWO FINISHED WASHING THE DOG, AND NOW DOING EACH OTHERS BACK? IF YOU SO
…
YOUR
GOING ABOUT IT THE WRONG WAY.”
Ceara scrambled to her feet, her face beat red, “Ummm…. yeah… ah… I umm think he’s
all clean now… I MEAN MAXIMUS!”
She turned to see Cha
rlie was just as red as she was,
“Come on Maximus
!
” She really wanted Charlie to kiss her
,
but damn Alden
had to interrupt it
. Charlie slipped once more trying to get up. He was glad the water was cold otherwise Alden and Ceara may have seen how excited he truly was. He finally got his footing and waded out
shivering as he hit the shore.
Alden grinned at the two of them. “Well the good news is we got the generator running so when you two get back you can have a hot shower.” Charlie smiled at Ceara, “Well you can g
o first you’re wetter than me.”
Ceara smacked him on the arm and gave him a strange look. “Well Charles
,
my dear… we still have to clean our cabin remember. I’m pretty sure with us down here and the rest up there the other two cabins have been spoken for.”
Charlie looked to Alden, “Is that right?”
“Yes son afraid so.”
“Damn it,” Charlie said as he looked at Maximus “You know this is
your entire
fault.” Maximus lowered his head. Charlie looked to Alden, “You think you and Tonto could keep him occupied while we
clean that disgusting mess up?”
Alden gave Charlie’s shoulder a squeeze, “Sure kid sure.”
The three headed back up to the cabins and came walking out of the trail. Ceara then Charlie soaking wet with Alden shaking his head and the two dogs right behind him.
Tabitha continued her walk when suddenly she heard some leaves moving over across the ways. Holding her gun up she focused in the direction of where the noise was coming from. Just as she was about to take a couple steps in that direction she saw Ceara and Charlie walking
out
. Tabitha noticed that they both were ringing wet and Ceara’s appearance really told how cold the water was. Wasting no time and knew that this could be the perfect ice breaker to cause Beth to laugh she shouted, “Hey Beth!!! Don’t get to close to Ceara cause she might put your eyes outs with her nipples. Shit, I bet she could cut diamonds with them things!!!”
Beth’s mouth hit the ground just as the gun that she was holding did. Tabitha couldn’t decide which was funnier, the look of embarrassment on Ceara’s face or Beth dropping her gun! But Tabit
ha wasted no time
, “Damn Charlie boy, is that why you’re walking a little behind her
,
cause she hurt you with them things or is it because you don’t wanna talk about t
he first thing that popped up?”
With her last question asked she saw Alden then the dogs followed behind. Beth shut her eyes and just could not believe the humor that was going on. For the first time in a long time she busted up laughing and did not want to add any more humor to it. Quite honestly she felt a little ashamed in laughing as hard as she was and wanted to do something nice. Turning quickly she headed back to the van and found a blanket in the back. After retrieving it she hurried over to Ceara and held the blanket out to her. “Here Ceara, you may need this
till
you
can
get a hot shower.”