I set my pack down approximately in the middle of where we were all sitting and without a word I tossed the extra sleeping bag to Frank, who promptly began unrolling it. No doubt grateful for something soft to sit upon. He folded it up to a square shaped pad and placed it on the ground beneath him. I unzipped the top compartment of my pack and reached in. Within a zip-loc baggie were my fire-starting kit(s) which we wouldn't need, that, I put on the ground near my boot. Maggie reached out and picked it up out of interest. I had to repress my desire to take it from her so not to lose it. I told myself that I needed to get out of the “lone-wolf” mode and appreciate what I had going here.
An itch on my leg reminded me and I stop digging into my pack and went for the top flap instead. In the pouch located there I had the can of bug-spray. I got it out and handed it to Maggie. Then resumed my search for my dinner making stuff. Behind me I could hear the hiss of the spray as they treated their clothes and different parts of their bodies with the repellent.
I dug deeper into that compartment and didn't find what I was looking for. I held my hand out to Maggie who handed back the bag of fire-starters and put it back where it belonged. Hmm, last time I used th... “ah!” I exclaimed aloud without thinking about it. I undid the buckles holding the top cover and flipped it back, on the inside compartment was the stove I was looking for. Small, compact and a fuel bottle to go with it. I pulled those out and deliberately handed those to Maggie and reached into the main compartment for the stuff sacks containing my pots and cache of freeze dried food. The canned stuff from the store I would save for later.
I looked around and saw the three watching me, making me feel like Santa opening his bag of gifts for the kiddies ... weird. I shook it off and saw James watching me with a sort of passive interest.
“Maggie, what is the sign for hungry? Or are you hungry?” I turned to her and saw her small smile.
She pointed at me and then made a “C” with her hand as if cupping a glass) and placed the fingertips against her chest and drew it down to her stomach, then nodded at me to try it. “That's it?” I asked, amazed at the simplicity of it. I turned to James and tried it. He stared at me for a moment then gave a small chuckle and nodded. I tossed him the bag holding the freeze dried and intentionally went to work on setting up the stove.
“So how does he know the difference between my asking if he's hungry and my telling him he's hungry?” I asked as I worked on attaching the stove to the fuel container. Maggie moved closer to me and began clearing off large rock near my feet for something to set the stove on. “Common sense” she replied, “that, and you showed the question on your face. If you were telling him he's hungry then your face would've registered a different expression. We do it all the time talking, but don't realize it. Deaf people read faces better than anyone because that's about the third of their language right there.” She wiped her hands on her pants and looked at me. “The other two are body language and signs”. I nodded. “Basically, they can read people better than most” I stated, “so, it'd be hard to lie to them I suppose.”
Maggie, nodded. “You're getting it. It also helps them understand the basic tone of what's going on. They may not be wholly accurate, because they can't hear the words but they'll get an idea if someone is joking around or being serious. It also helps them guess one step ahead as to what a person might do” she gave me a wry grin, “it's saved my life once or twice, in dealing with insurgents we captured.” That caught my attention but I put it off for later.
I had the stove hooked up and reached into my pack for the two liter water bottle I carried along one side of it. I set that down and opened up the sack holding the pots. All were the cheap camping variety and none of them were unscathed from dents and dings from my travels. I eventually wanted to get into a full blown outdoor shop and see if any of the really good stuff was left. The kind of stuff I could've never afford in the other life. I set them down quietly out of habit, and chose the largest one to boil the water in. Maggie watched me as I set up our impromptu kitchen.
“Mom” James voice quietly came from behind us. We both looked up around, and saw him standing stock still, one arm pointing, the other empty but relaxed. Without thinking, my hand reached for my sidearm, but Maggie placed hers on top of mine, keeping it there. She too pointed in the direction her son was indicating. It was a doe, standing alert to our presence. She was a good 75 yards away by my guess, an easy target, but today she would live. I looked to Frank who was digging into my cache of freeze dried and didn't notice what we were looking at. “Dad” Maggie's voice called out to him quietly, he didn't respond. She picked up a small pine cone at her feet and tossed it at him gently, hitting his boot. He froze and looked around and then at her. She was grinning and kept her hand pointed at the deer. He moved slowly and peered around the tree he was sitting against. After a long moment he turned back to us, his face impassive. “Too bad we can't have venison for dinner” then resumed going over the packages of food in his lap.
I caught the quick frown on Maggie's face at her father's response to the deer, then she looked back at the doe, and smiled. I turned and saw that the deer bend her head down and was nibbling on something at her feet. For me, that was a good sign. No zombies about, no sniper creeping up on us, we were basically alone and for the time being, safe. I resumed my task of getting the stove lit and heating up the water. From the corner of my eye I saw Maggie watching her father quietly. “He'll be alright” I muttered quietly. She didn't respond at first but then nodded slowly, “yeah” she replied quietly.
Frank was getting old and it was starting to show. Not so much as when we were in the house, safe, warm, comfy. But the trip and the stresses that went along with it were obviously taking their toll. No quiet retirement for this old soldier I thought to myself. Actually, no quiet retirement for any of us for that matter.
Within a half hour we had our meals chosen and either were eating, or waiting for them to finish cooking, depending upon the time needed to do so. I made a mental note to try and find any sporting goods stores along the way outside of Louisville to see if maybe they hadn't been totally cleaned out. I wasn't worried so much now about ammo and guns since we had enough to start a small army, but food would always be a constant concern. Even with the population drastically reduced as it were, finding food enough could be a challenge. Some folks raid a store, and take far too much than they can comfortably carry. Some of those would get caught by zombies and eaten and their cache, stash or whatever you want to call it would be lost or scattered by scavengers, both human and animal. Water not so much, since I had a good quality water-filter pump that I found during my own scavenging of abandoned autos. Which reminded me to remember to check for any unused filters that might have been overlooked if we find a quality sporting goods store.
Soon we were done eating and putting away the trash. Normally I'd burned it, but given the circumstances, I used one of the plastic grocery bags that I used for (ahem) other things to put it all in. On one side of my pack was a folding entrenching tool. I got it out and began unfolding it to bury the trash. Frank got up from his seat by the tree and stretched. “I'm going to water a tree, if you all don't mind.” He bent to pick up the bag of trash and held his hand out for the miniature shovel. “I'll take care of the trash while I'm out there.” He looked at me, “I'll ask to hold off on saying anything, because I want to hear your story about what went on down there to get your pack” to which he added, “and just so you know, we're grateful that you did, but more than that, is that you got back in one piece.”
I lowered my head for a moment and shrugged my shoulders, “It needed to be done” I said simply.
Maggie took a seat across from James. Looked around and I saw that the doe had gone.
Frank came back and handed me back the shovel, already folded and resumed his seat on the sleeping bag. He leaned back against the tree and asked for a canteen of water. Maggie positioned her self between James and I so that she could interpret my words for her son. I took a moment to recall every little detail. I started out not really sure where exactly to begin. “Well, I didn't plan on it, just realized that it was a good time to try and get my pack which had food, water and other, comforts.”
It took me about 20 minutes to tell my tale, I finished it with meeting Maggie at the top of the hill, but left out the kissing part. “That's about it” I finished and waited on the inevitable questions. Not surprisingly James spoke up. “Are you that stupid?” he asked via Maggie's translation. Maggie didn't apologize for her son's blunt question. I nodded back, “believe me I was asking myself that when that shot gun guy turned and attacked me.”
Maggie shook her head in disbelief, “like I said, stupid but brave.” She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “So our stuff is basically untouched?” Frank asked. I nodded again, “yeah far as I could tell. We got lucky that the herd distracted the Hunters at the right time. I think they'd cleaned us out.” James wasn't finished. “That sniper, are you sure he was aiming for the walker and not you?”
“Absolutely. The walker was about 6 or 7 feet away from me when he got hit. A guy that good wouldn't have missed by that much, and it was a clean head shot.” yet, I still wondered if I could've been wrong. James gave a derisive snort and shook his head and made a couple of quick signs. “Damned lucky” Maggie translated. At which point Frank's voice cut in, “Guess he's not taking off like we hoped he would, but he's not making his appearance known. I'm guessing he could try and make his way over the highway tonight or tomorrow morning.” He looked up around him in the dim light. “We're going to have a long day tomorrow, moving those cars out of the way so we can get the trucks through. Better get some rest.” He sighed to himself, “James can take the first watch since my night vision isn't as good as you younger folks” he chuckled, “besides you know how he hates going to bed early.” This was directed at Maggie who nodded with a grin. James took it all in and then nodded with a serious look on his face. He bent to pick up the hunting rifle that he favored and turned to his mother.
“Be careful please” she signed to him and made a familiar “I love you” hand sign that nearly everyone knew. He returned the sign, and then said goodnight to his grandfather and walked into the woods until we could make him out standing silhouetted against a tall tree, the rifle resting comfortably in the crook of his arm. I watched him as he slowly moved until his outline was a part of the tree itself. In the dark his silhouette would blend in with the trunk of the tree, looking like knobby bark. Neat trick, I thought.
Frank, got up in his spot, knelt down with effort and began unfolding the sleeping bag so he could get in it. He took a few moments feeling the ground underneath where he planned to lay the bag for any roots or rocks that might disturb his sleep. I wished that I thought to grab a sleeping pad of sorts but realized that I wasted enough time by the truck as it was. I looked at Maggie and leaned close to whisper, “I could run back down to the truck and get a sleeping pad or two”. She elbowed me hard in the ribs with a short jab and whispered tightly out of the side of her mouth, “You do and I'll kick your ass”. I chuckled and got up on my knees to my pack and reached inside.
My fingers groped a bit, but found the straps of what I was looking for and pulled out my own sleeping bag. It was about the size and shape of a small loaf of bread and weighed about three pounds. I began undoing the compression straps, trying not to make any noise. By the time I was finished rolling it out and opening it up for me and Maggie to sleep on together, Frank had already found his way into his bag and was fast asleep. Maggie and I laid down together against an outcropping of limestone, that stuck up from the ground. It was tall enough so that our heads at least won't be attacked from behind. We laid there, her arm across my chest, head against my shoulder, and my arm around her shoulders protectively... which she obviously liked as she snuggled closer to me. Quietly, to make conversation, I asked her if she was tired of protecting herself and James.
“In the other life, you were a psychologist weren't you?” she asked with a teasing voice. “Actually,” I replied back “I was a tour-guide, but I told you that back at the tree house.” I felt her face move against my shoulder, either a smile or a grimace, I couldn't tell. Maybe she was pointing her finger into her open mouth and pretending to be gagging, I dunno. I didn't really care what she thought, as long as she wanted to be with me. I tried to tell myself that I shouldn't get too close. She could get eaten up, shot, or any number of ways to go in this new frontier.
We were becoming very much like the pioneers way back when, their dangers were no less. Their enemy however had the brains to fight back. Ours, fortunately (and unfortunately) did not. All this went through my head as she thought up another question or slept.
“Yes,” she replied quietly. “I am tired and want and need to rest. I need time to re-connect with James, I don't want to lose him... like I lost Brian.” On impulse I squeezed her shoulder tight for a moment, then let go. She sighed, “But I don't want to lose you either. We're so alone out here and even on the best battle field conditions it's not a good thing. I've seen guys lose it and it's scary. James and I have seen a lot of people who have “opted out” and it's so sad and frightening, worse than suicide bombers if you can believe that. A lot of them, died alone.”
“You know” I responded almost immediately, “I would've never suspected that, from you being a war vet and the way you brutally kill... uh, destroy those zeds, deal with the high stress so calm and probably one of the most dangerous women I've ever met. You're still vulnerable.” I saw her head nod in agreement. I threw an arm up over my head, to act as a pillow and sighed. “But then again, you are still a woman.” Maggie froze and then twitched a little, her hand moved from my chest slowly. At first I thought she heard something that James' might have missed. Then, whap her hand came down on my chest and I bit back a cry of surprise and a little pain. “Goodnight” she said coldly and turned around on the spot, her back turned to me. I rolled my eyes and laid there for a long moment, before whispering “I'm sorry.”
I felt her body snuggle closer to me without her saying a word. I took it as an means that she accepted my apology and then turned on my side and found a nice spoon position that made us both comfortable. Within a few minutes we were both asleep.
I felt a tap on my shoulder, a brief tap. Then a gentle shake. My eyes popped open and I stared in to the shadowed grin of Maggie. She was kneeling by me, rifle perched on her upright knee, butt on the ground. “Wake up soldier, your watch.” Instantly, I was awake, much to my surprise. She caught my expression, I don't know how, as dark as it was and she used no light. Battle trained I reckoned. “What?” I shook my head and got up on my own knees. I leaned forward and managed to give her a kiss before she could react. “Just surprised I'm wide awake I guess.”
“Battle hardened people, and oh yeah, you're one of them” she answered back, her tone was teasingly sarcastic “they sleep lightly, but restful.” I pecked her on the cheek and reached for the rifle. Her hand moved down to cover mine. “Don't let the night noises freak you out, there's something not quite right out there, but it hasn't moved since my watch. Might be another deer.” Her voice was pitched so low and even toned that I doubt Frank would've heard her had he been right beside us.
“Then again it might not. Frank has the last watch?” I asked as I tucked my sword scabbard into my belt. She nodded and moved to cuddle up with her son who laid on the sleeping bag much to my surprise. “He switched places with you?” She turned and almost laughed aloud. “Yeah silly. He was tired and didn't care if you guys just shared a sleeping bag.” she stifled a giggle in her palm. Carefully she maneuvered herself to lie down next to James without waking him.
I wanted to tell her goodnight, but she was already asleep by that time. Damn, that military training, and it was a good one too. I got up quiet as I could and made my way over to where we had by unspoken agreement was the patrol perimeter. As I passed him, Frank's quiet voice carried over to me, “be sure to get me two hours before dawn” then fell silent. I didn't say anything and I walked over to the tree and tried make myself a part of it's silhouette. I listened after being quiet for 10 minutes, slowing my heart rate and taking a single deep breath and letting it out slowly. Now I listened. There was no moon and heavy overcast clouds only allowed a couple of stars to shine through once in a while. I took a guess that the sniper had made it across the highway in the dark and already was out somewhere in the woods making his way towards us. Hell, they're trained to do that.
Maggie sensed it and I bet Frank did as well. I wasn't going to try and kid myself that I might be able to spot the sniper as he worm crawled his way towards us a centimeter at a time. I like to think that my senses are keen but I knew those guys were trained over and over again to be able to move without detection. My best bet would be that at least one of us will get him, even if he got one of us. Something told me that he wanted to savor the killing of me, for himself. Up close and personal. I don't know why I thought that, but it came to me. Maybe I was just getting paranoid.
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