Amanda Carter in the L.A.Z., life after zombies (14 page)

“Will do,” Amanda said, hopping up and brushing the dirt off of her jeans.

“When are we going to town?” Sam asked of Amanda.

“Come on, kid, we’ll talk about it on the way down to get the water,” Amanda answered.

Chapter 24

D
inner was a relatively extravagant affair for them, compared to what they were used to, and Red received many accolades for his part in making it happen. The rabbit had been boiled with salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, peas, and a little bit of dried rosemary seasoning. Afterward, Maryanne handed out candy bars, which were also a real treat. And even though the chocolate was melted, every one of the people enjoyed every bite, being sure to lick the wrapper when they had finished. Tammy sported chocolate all over her face for the remainder of the night, and no one commented on it. It was like, for a short time, they were having the opportunity to feel what normal was like again.

Red and Boo both seemed accustomed to eagerly watching the cooking process in anticipation of eating with their people. Maryanne did not disappoint. She hooked each of them up with a big bowl of stew after it had cooled. After eating, Red laid sprawled out and satisfied.

“Why does it stay so hot even after the sun goes down?” Tammy asked, scrunching her chocolate-smeared face up into a frown.

“Do you remember our oven that we used to have at the house?” her mother asked.

“Yep,” the child answered, proudly. “You used to bake cookies in it.”

“Yes, that’s right,” her mother answered, pleased that her daughter had still remembered. “Well, the desert works like the oven. It heats up, and then afterward, it stays hot for a while. Do you remember how I would tell you not to touch it, even after I was done baking the cookies?”

“Yep, and I touched it once, and it was hot,” Tammy said.

“Well, honey, it’s like that,” she said, hoping that she had sufficiently answered her youngest daughter’s question.

“Oh,” Tammy said, “so why do we live in an oven?”

Maryanne’s expression changed to one of surprise before she began to laugh.

“That’s a good question, sweetie, why don’t you ask your father?” she said and then gave her husband’s hand a squeeze, as they were seated together.

“That’s okay, I want to play with Boo,” Tammy said, turning while the little dog followed.

“I guess you dodged a bullet on that one,” Amanda said wryly.

“Kids,” commented Roy with a shake of his head.

“Who wants to light the lanterns?” Maryanne asked, as the sun had completely dropped and the moon wasn’t offering enough light.

“I’ll do it,” Sam said, eliciting a surprised look from her mother.

“You sure have been helpful lately,” Maryanne said, eyeing her daughter suspiciously.

“I’m just being pitching in,” Sam said, moving off to start the task.

“Since when is our oldest daughter all about helpful?” Jason asked in a whisper.

“Honey, it looks like our baby is growing up,” Maryanne said proudly.

“I guess,” Jason said, staring after Sam.

“So I talked to Sam today,” Amanda said, feeling like it was now or never to drop the bombshell on the group, “looks like we’ll be headed to town day after tomorrow.”

A silence fell over the group, as all the adults understood the dangers that this would present to young Sam.

“Why’s everybody being so quiet?” Sam asked suspiciously after having finished with the lanterns and returning to the group.

“Amanda just informed us of when you’re leaving on the run,” Maryanne said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Isn’t it awesome?” Sam said, and her face lit up with a broad smile.

“That’s one way of describing it,” Jason said, rolling his eyes, causing Amanda to wonder if that’s where Sam had picked up the habit.

“About that,” Roy said, speaking of the run, “I have a few more items to add to your list, if you don’t mind?”

“Sure thing,” Amanda said. “The notebook’s over there,” she said, pointing to her sleeping area. “Just put an asterisk by anything that’s a must-have.”

“Isn’t anybody else uncomfortable with them leaving so soon for this run?” Maryanne asked, looking around the group.

“I’m happy,” said Tammy, “Amanda’s getting me a coloring book, with lots of colors too.”

“It’s not soon, Mom,” Sam said. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

“We’re doing the right thing, honey,” Jason said. “Even if it doesn’t feel like we’re doing the right thing, we are.”

“I’m going to try to trust that,” Maryanne said, looking as if she might cry.

“Sam still needs to be brought up to speed on how the water pump works,” Amanda said. “I would also like it if she could get some practice swinging that bat some, just in case.”

“I’ll show her how to hook the pump onto the truck battery in the morning,” Roy said.

“I’ve used that bat before to whack a few of those creepers,” Maryanne said reluctantly. “I guess I can show her how to use it, but I really don’t want her getting that close to them.”

“All I can say is that I’ll try to keep her out of harm’s way, but that’s no guarantee that we won’t come across any trouble, you know that,” Amanda said, giving her friend a sympathetic look.

Maryanne nodded her head, slowly at first and then more vigorously. “I’ll show her how to use the bat. If she needs it, she’ll be ready and able to use it.”

“Good,” Amanda said. “If anybody thinks of anything else that we should be sure to go over with her, let me know.”

“Is there anything that this cripple here can do?” Jason asked.

“As a matter of fact, there is,” said Amanda. “I want you to sit her down and describe in detail some of our previous runs. If you could, please go over protocol for various types of situations and really help her to understand what is out there. It would be helpful if she’s prepared mentally and emotionally for the trip.”

“Will do,” Jason said with a single nod. He was feeling better that there would be something for him to do around the camp; he had begun to feel like a burden to his wife.

“And I’ll give her one more hand-to-hand combat lesson, only I’ll be more gentle on her this time,” Amanda said.

“I’ll teach her how to siphon gas while we’re down at the truck,” Roy said, thinking of another skill that would invariably come in handy out on a run.

“That reminds me of something else,” Amanda said, “can you show her how to unhook battery cables? From the looks of your list, we’re going to need to be coming back with a lot of batteries.”

“No worries,” Roy said. “That kind of stuff is right up my alley, but if you can’t find everything on this next run, then save it for the run after that.”

“Gotcha. I’m just excited to implement some of our new ideas,” she answered.

“Me too,” he said, being uncharacteristically chatty.

“Why do I keep feeling left out of all these conversations?” Sam asked. “It’s like you’re all talking about me, but nobody’s actually talking to me.”

“That’s about to change,” Amanda said. “By the end of tomorrow, you’re going to be ready to have everyone stop talking to you. Trust me on that.”

“Sounds fair,” Sam said with a shrug of her narrow shoulders.

Sam was tall for her age, but her body was slight, especially up through her shoulders that were slanted downward and narrow. She had the look of a distance runner, but brute strength would never be her strong suite, which was something that Amanda could relate to. Amanda was shorter than Sam, and though very muscular, she was quick and agile, rather than strong. Amanda’s strong suits were the fact that she was in such good shape and a smart thinker. She could only hope that Sam would learn how to use her brain quickly to get her out of trouble, rather than to rely upon any strength from her body that she did not possess.

Roy, on the other hand, was very strong physically, as well as smart, but he lacked the speed, endurance, and agility that Amanda possessed. Jason was smart, but his body had always been weak when it came to athletics and would be especially so now that he would have a leg that would never work quite right again for him. Maryanne possessed the smarts and a fair amount of endurance, but her heart was never posed for a fight, and she lacked much in the way of physical strength as well.

As Amanda looked around their camp at its members, including the two dogs, it crossed her mind that for their safety, having a few more people with a few more skill types would still be helpful. But it wasn’t exactly like she wanted to advertise for members, considering the pitiful lack of selection that was left out there amongst the survivors.

Since their escape from town six months ago, they had as yet to come across another viable applicant for camp membership, and that either meant that there weren’t any other suitable types left out there in their vicinity or that they were long overdue to come across them. She secretly wondered which category would prove to be correct over time.

“Looks like you’re lost in thought,” Maryanne said, coming to sit beside her. “Are you worried about Sam on the run?”

“No,” Amanda said, knowing that it was a lie. She was worried, but Maryanne was the last person that she was going to say that to, so she didn’t feel too bad about the lie, knowing that it was one of those “little white lies” that people told to save the people that they cared about some grief.

“I’m worried,” Maryanne said, stating the obvious.

“I know that you are, my friend,” Amanda said, sounding sympathetic.

“I just think that it’s too soon, that she’s too young yet,” Maryanne said. “I don’t want her exposed to all that that’s out there now.”

“I know,” Amanda said, issuing a sigh. “But it’s like this, Maryanne, there’re two types of people left in this world now: the bad-ass good people and the bad-ass bad people. By sheltering her here, you’re preventing her from being able to discover the bad ass in herself, and that’s not going to help her in the long run. And now, while she’s young, we can help to mold and shape her and the decisions that she makes. If we wait too long, then she’ll just grow more angry and rebellious, and we’ll lose that window of opportunity.”

“It makes so much more sense coming from you when you put it like that,” Maryanne said, issuing a sigh of her own. “But neither Jason nor I are bad asses, we’re intellectuals.”

“I know that, but you’ve got two bad-ass friends watching your back,” Amanda said, speaking of Roy and herself.

“And maybe I’ll also have a bad-ass daughter too,” Maryanne said with a laugh. “I wonder which type of individual Tammy’s going to be, an intellectual or a bad ass like her sister?”

“It’s really too soon to tell, but she already reminds me a lot of you,” Amanda said.

“I don’t know if that’s a comfort or not,” her friend answered, “knowing what’s waiting for her out there, knowing that if she were like me and her father, then she’s part of a very small minority.”

“Well, it’s like Jason says . . .” Amanda began.

“She’ll be the most adjusted of us all,” Maryanne said, finishing Amanda’s sentence.

“Yep,” Amanda said with a smile. She looked around the camp, to see that Tammy had already put herself to bed, without asking for her usual bedtime story from Amanda.

“Trust me, once all the creepers are gone, we’re going to need the intellectuals.”

“You know, Amanda, if you and Roy hadn’t risked your lives to get us out of our house, none of my family would be here,” Maryanne said, and the kindness in her voice touched Amanda deeply. “Thank you.”

“Roy and I are in the bad-ass good guys’ category,” Amanda said and then issued a laugh.

“Roy had been our neighbor for years,” Maryanne said. “But you had never met any of us, and you certainly didn’t have to do what you did.”

“Let’s hope that Sam will grow up to be like Roy and me,” Amanda said, starting to feel uncomfortable with her friend’s accolades.

“That’s a scary thought,” Maryanne said, and Amanda couldn’t tell if she was joking or serious.

“Come on,” Amanda said, hopping up. “I’ll help you with the dishes. It’s been a long day for both of us.”

Chapter 25

A
manda and Roy were the first ones to wake, a full hour and a half before the sun rose. Roy was accustomed to waking early, but Amanda was not, and she had no idea why she had suddenly popped up nearly fully awake at such an early hour. Perhaps, she thought, it could have been a dream that she did not remember upon waking. She ran her hands through her hair, using her fingers as a brush. She was convinced that they did not even have a hairbrush amongst any of them, unless Maryanne had been holding out on her. Her fingers became stuck in a knot of hair, and she worked it out. If she wasn’t careful, as her hair grew out, she’d have dreadlocks like Roy had sported for so long.

The night had not cooled down much, and neither of them had slept very well. Roy had already made a weak substitute for what Amanda would consider coffee. There were enough grounds to make a few more pots of the weak brew, if they rationed it carefully. She wished that she wasn’t so attached to the substance because when it was gone, she was sure that she would have to endure a mourning process. It was hard to believe that there had once been a coffee house readily accessible all through the town. She let out a sigh and pushed herself to her feet.

Roy had suggested that they walk down the hill to the vehicles where they could be free to converse without waking the others. Roy would often wake early and go down there himself because he valued his private time, something Amanda could really understand with them living so closely on top of each other all the time.

Together they pulled the tarp off of the truck, and he let the tailgate down. Amanda had carried a lantern down with them to light their way, and this she set down behind them in the bed of the truck. Red had followed them down, opting to sit on the ground, in the dirt, rather than join them on the tailgate.

In the predawn hours, the desert has a particular beauty that they all sat silently enjoying. Even though it was still hot, with the sun down, it gave them the impression of at least being bearable.

“Is there something that you wanted to talk about?” Roy finally asked of Amanda.

“Why would you think that I wanted to talk about anything?” Amanda asked, giving her head a nod to the side and eyeing Roy closely.

“You’re doing that thing that you do when you want to say something but don’t know when to do it,” Roy said matter-of-factly.

“What thing?” Amanda asked, perplexed because he had known that she wanted to talk and couldn’t think of what he might be referring to as the tell from her.

“You’re drumming your fingers on your leg,” Roy said, “or don’t you know that you’re doing it?”

Amanda looked down at her right hand to see that she had been drumming her fingers on her leg.

“We are all spending way too much time together if you ask me,” she said. “I’m confident that we all know more about each other than most couples would in a lifetime.”

“I can’t speak to that as I’ve never been involved in a live-in relationship,” Roy said without making it sound as if he had any regrets about it. “I had girlfriends, sure, but nothing ever too serious.”

“Well, trust me, it’s true,” she commented.

“So what’s up?” he asked as he stared out across the nearly dark desert.

“I’ve had a bad feeling about this upcoming run, Roy,” she said, deciding not to camouflage it with comforting wording.

“I’d be worried about you if you didn’t,” he said. “It’s Sam’s first time out, and you have every right to be worried.”

“I guess you’re right,” Amanda said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to tell whether it’s my gut instincts talking or my emotions. The two tend to get tossed around together.”

“I understand,” Roy said, still staring out across the landscape.

“I can see why you like to come down here early in the morning, it’s beautiful,” Amanda said, following his gaze.

Time passed, and the sun had begun to slip slowly over the mountaintops, and the desert floor began to glow. Amanda blew out the lantern, not wanting to waste the fuel. It had been a while since she had been able to find kerosene. It was a shame too because she had had plenty of it in her motor home before somebody or a group of somebody’s had torched it. It was too bad, she considered, that humanity was in such dire straits and that they couldn’t seem to all pool their resources together to survive. There were times that she chose to live with hope for their future, but there were other times when she believed that the extinction of their species was inevitable.

“Amanda,” he finally said, “the truck isn’t large enough to haul back much in the way of supplies, besides the usual. I mean, between the hundred gallons of water, the planks, tools, weapons, food, and such, there just isn’t enough room to carry too much more.” He was rubbing at the little bit of hair that was left on his head.

“I know,” she answered. “I’ve already scouted out some transportation prospects. That’s why it’s important that Sam can drive.”

“I figured,” he commented. “I’m just glad it’s you and not me going out there with such a rookie. I’d be spending the whole time worrying about whether I was going to be able to bring her back to her momma all safe and sound.”

“Is this your way of saying that you don’t think that she should go?” Amanda asked, feeling more worried than she had before.

“No, no it’s not that,” he said. “I think that it’s time, given how the world is now. I just wouldn’t want to be the one to do it. It’s good that it’s you. The girl looks up to you.”

“She looks up to you too,” Amanda said, feeling her gut roil over what lay ahead and the consequences for failure.

“Yeah, she might look up to me, but she doesn’t want to be me, not like she wants to be you,” he said.

“Teens are very impressionable even though they act like they’re not,” Amanda said with a sigh. “I guess it’s no surprise that the girl doesn’t want to grow up to be a six-foot-tall black man with great teeth and big hands,” she said and then pretended to punch him in the shoulder.

He laughed. “So you see what I’m saying now. It’s better that it’s you that’s taking her. You two will do just fine, so even though it’s normal to worry about it, do me a favor and try not to worry too much okay?”

“Yep,” she said, wishing now that she hadn’t said anything at all because now she was really worried and not about to say it.

“If you bring yourself back a heavier truck, you’ll need some metal rails to cross The Trench, those wooden planks are barely adequate for this truck,” he said, gesturing with his hand to the planks.

“Yep,” she answered, “I’ve already thought about that, and I have a few metal rails stashed someplace in town that I think is safe.”

Red had disappeared for about ten minutes. He returned with a two-foot, coon tail rattlesnake in his mouth. Again, he had killed it by snapping its neck directly behind the head.

“Would you look at that?” Roy said with amazement. “We have ourselves a hunter.”

Red dropped the snake and then backed away from it to sit down, staring up at them while wearing a big wolflike grin.

“I think he’s smiling,” Amanda said with an awed expression.

“I think he’s going to help keep us in the food,” Roy said, adding a chuckle.

“It’s a dangerous job, hunting things like that,” she commented.

“Might be one of the reasons that he’s so proud of his accomplishment, but we won’t be letting it go to waste now, will we?” Roy said, reaching back to grab the shovel.

“We’ll need a graveyard just for the heads off of them,” she said, hopping down and reaching to grab the shovel from him.

“This desert doesn’t have a lot to hunt for, but I think if anybody can scrounge about and come up with something, it’s him,” Roy said, pointing to Red.

O

“Where do you suppose they are?” Maryanne asked.

“In the early mornings, Roy likes to disappear down by the vehicles. I suppose that’s where they are,” Jason said. He yawned and readjusted his body on the chair. “You know, these chairs aren’t made for sleeping in, especially long term. When can I be on my feet?”

“Do you need a pain pill? We have some more,” Maryanne asked, looking at him sympathetically.

“No, I don’t need a pain pill. I’m just tired of being the patient,” Jason snapped.

Maryanne’s expression looked pained as she gave her husband a commiserating look. “You’ll be down for a while. I don’t want you on that leg until it’s healed up some more.”

“Sorry, honey,” he said, giving her a softer look. “I’m just going stir crazy here.”

“You and me both, Dad,” Sam said, as if she really believed that her situation rivaled that of her father’s.

“It does hurt like hell,” he said, rubbing his knee, above the injury. “I guess I could use one of those pills.”

Maryanne produced a pill that she had stashed in the small upper pocket of her jeans.

“I thought you’d be needing one in the night,” she said, handing him the pill and a glass of water. “Sorry, but you won’t be up on that leg for a while. We’ll need to start some physical therapy for the rest of your body. I should have thought of that sooner. I guess I’ve been distracted lately,” she said, looking to her daughter.

“What are you looking at me for?” Sam asked. “I don’t have anything to do with this,” she said with her mouth full. She was eating a graham cracker.

“Don’t worry, breakfast is here,” Roy said, walking into camp, holding up the snake body.

“Ewww,” Sam said, flinching backward. “There should be a law against having to look at stuff like that so early in the morning.”

“Fine, if you’re not hungry,” Roy said, dismissing her and looking to Maryanne. “I’ll fix it up and give you a break in the kitchen this morning.”

“Wait a second. I didn’t say I wasn’t hungry,” Sam said, grumbling.

“Interesting bit of trivia,” Jason said, “rattlesnakes and maybe all snakes have a particular odor to them. That must be what Red’s smelling and how he knows where to find them.”

“Makes sense,” Amanda said, leaning in to see if she could smell anything on the snake. Apparently, her senses weren’t as heightened as Red’s. All she could smell was a vague coppery scent from the snake’s blood.

“Ergo,” Jason continued, “Red’s our early warning system if there’s a creeper around. I want you two to take him to town with you. He’ll help to watch your backs, and that will make your mother and I feel much better.”

“Sure, can I take him?” Sam said, looking to Amanda for approval.

“I don’t see why not. In fact, your dad has a point, and I think it’s a good idea,” Amanda said. “It seems to me like he’s got the sense to know when to stay quiet and when to raise the alarm. I doubt he’ll put us in any jeopardy.”

“Cool,” Sam said, reaching a hand down to scratch Red between the ears. “I’m glad you found them and brought them back to camp. Some people wouldn’t have.”

“Why don’t you thank him? He found me,” she answered.