Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 45

"Oh Mike." I whispered in appalled disbelief.  "This can't be happening."

He pulled his shirt back on and sat down beside me.  "It would seem it can." 

I gazed at his profile as he stared at his hands, grappling with his own thoughts.  He's going to die.  It seemed impossible that I wouldn't see this face every day.  In just two days, it had become as familiar to me as my own face in the mirror - the square jaw with the dimpled chin, the curve of his top lip that hinted at an inner romantic, the broken nose and the calm grey eyes that seemed to read me like a book...

Mike straightened as if he had come to a decision.  "Do me a favour.  When we get to the beach don't tell the others."

I swallowed, trying to fight back a hysterical desire to scream at the unfairness of it all. "All right.  Oh, Mike, I'm so sorry."

He nodded.  "The thing is, Lori, I've decided I'm not going to getting back on the boat with you." He held up his hand to forestall my protest.  "I'm not going to make you guys responsible for putting me down when I turn and I sure as hell don't want you to remember me as one of them.  I don't want you to go after me.  Promise me, Lori."

Oh God, this can't be happening.  Tears blurred my vision as I nodded jerkily.

"Tears for me?" He asked gently, his thumb brushing my cheek gently.  It's raining, how can he tell? I wondered vaguely as I tried to blink the tears away.

"Yes, tears for you, you bloody idiot." I hissed fiercely at him.  "As hard as it is to believe, I'm going to miss your ugly mug."  The tears turned unexpectedly into gut wrenching sobs.  I tried to stop but I couldn't.  My body shook with the violence of my grief.  Why couldn't I stop?  Oh Mike, Mike, Mike. 

Mike gathered me into his arms, covering my face with soothing feathery kisses. I flung my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his with hungry, desperate need.  Responding ardently, he pressed his lips hard against mine as his hands entwined in my wet hair.  I wanted, needed, to feel his lips, his hands, his body against mine.  I gasped as he traced my neck with his mouth, hands kneading my hips against his.  He murmured endearments against my lips and  kissed away the tears that mingled with the rain. 

"I would have loved you for a lifetime, Lori."  He whispered against my hair.  It was too much.  Sobbing, I leant my head against his chest, feeling the strong beat of his heart. 

"Please don't leave me, Mike.  Not yet."  I knew it was a cruel, childish thing to say but I couldn't help myself.  I felt crazy with grief, even as he stood before me, still alive and healthy.  Mike wrapped his arms around me, pressing me closer to his chest. 

"It is what it is, Lori.  I don't regret a moment I've spent with you these last few days, Lori.  I don't want you to, either."  He grasped my shoulders and held me at arms reach, holding my gaze. In my eyes, I let him see all the things I couldn't say.  For a long moment, we stood in the rain facing each other.  Then he dropped his arms as he stared over my shoulder at the horizon.  I followed his gaze and saw the soft glow of the dawn lighting the distant skyline.  We had run out of time.

Dropping his arms, Mike restarted the engine.  My stomach churned with the need to say something and the helplessness of knowing that nothing I said would change anything.

As Mike brought the boat close in to shore, I did a quick head count and saw with relief that everyone on the shore was accounted for.  Mike put down the anchor and we jumped out in the shallows to greet the others.

"Thank God!" Ken thumped our backs.  "You were out there for so long, we were starting to wonder if something had gone wrong!"

I avoided looking at Mike.  "We're fine but we really need to get going." 

Michele paused by me a moment and squeezed my hand.  I guess she has as much trouble expressing herself as I do because her eyes said so much.  Jessie shyly smiled at me as she passed with the dog still in her backpack.  "I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm tough," I smiled.  "like you."  As we talked, Mike reached out and rubbed his dog's head.  The sadness in his eyes broke my heart.

I held back as the others grabbed their backpacks, plonked babies on shoulders and started wading through the water towards the anchored speedboat. 

I looked at Mike.  He was watching them leave with blinkered eyes.  My throat tightened.  Catching me watching him, he shrugged wryly. Pulling off his backpack, he held it out to me.  "You'd better take this."

"Mike..."

"And look after Lizzie.  She's a loyal little thing."  As he walked away, I impulsively called after him.  "I could have loved you for a lifetime, too, Mike." 

He turned and grinned that familiar crooked grin at me.  "Well, hell, maybe next time round, eh?"

The darkness swallowed Mike as he trotted up the face of the sand dune.  I watched him until I could no longer see him, all the while wanting to call him back with every fibre of my body, aching with the need to hold him close and tell him everything would be okay.  Letting him walk away was one of the  hardest thing I'd ever had to do in my life.  As I turned away and headed for the boat,  I thought I heard my name whispered on the wind.  My heart leapt as, for a moment, I thought he'd changed his mind.  But it was just my imagination clinging at straws.

"Where's Mike?" Ken frowned as he started the engine.

"He's not coming." I forced out, trying to appear composed.  "He was infected."

"Oh no..." Kaye stared at me, a hand rising to cover her mouth.

I shrugged, struggling to breathe through the tightness in my throat.

"Such is life."

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 41

As we entered the suburbs, I noted with sadness the many lit homes on both sides.  Each one stood as a testament to a family lost last night.  I knew that if there were people still alive, they would be huddling down in darkened homes, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, just as we had done.  So many homes also meant many zombies roaming the neighborhood.  Thankfully, the darkness and bobbing water had lulled the babies to sleep. I examined the trees and banks for any sign of movement as I floated by, intensely aware of how exposed and vulnerable we were.  

A dog barked in the distance.  I realised it was a sound I hadn't heard since this plague started.  I wondered how it had survived this long and, with sadness, how much longer it would remain alive.   "Head in, folks." Mike murmured, starting to swim sideways out of the current, followed by the rest of the group. It took us a little longer to reach them with the unwieldy boat.

"Okay, stay here." Mike whispered.  "Ken and I will find a vehicle."  I flared up, wondering why he didn't want me along.  Hadn't I proven myself yet? 

"We can't risk any noise." He continued, looking straight at me. "You have a much better chance of keeping your kids quiet than Ken or I have." I scowled but couldn't argue the point.  Michele was right - I guess I am a control freak, always needing to be in the thick of things. 

The men disappeared through the grove of trees giving us cover.  Lizzie quivered but I had to admire her obedience to Mike as she silently watched him walk away.  Now for my own kids.  Watching them like a hawk, I raised a threatening finger every time they opened their mouths.  They shut them again.  Kaye employed similiar tactics with her toddlers.  In this way, twenty minutes passed uneventfully, although my nerves were starting to feel considerably frayed by the time I heard a vehicle scream out of a driveway across the road.

"Get ready, everyone." I whispered, scrambling to my feet awkwardly with my babies.  Michele reached over and pulled Alex out of my arms.  We hurried to the edge of the treeline and saw the bright lights of a large vehicle heading our way.  Behind them, corpses poured into the street.  Ahead, the street was also filling.  This was going to be close, I realised.  The four wheel drive screeched to a halt in front of us.  Mike leaned out of the driver's window.  "Hustle, people."

Piling in on top of each other, we were inside the vehicle and on the move in seconds.  The road ahead was already thick with weaving bodies.  Mike plowed through them, accelerating to an unnerving speed.

"Um, Mike." I murmured, my face pressed up against his seat as the kids tried to untangle themselves and crawl in the back seats.  I got a foot in my back and an elbow in my side.  "Ouch!  Getting us killed...oof...in a crash...uh...won't be a big improvement...hey!...on dying in a fiery nuclear explosion."

"If they gather in enough numbers, we won't be able to get through at all." He responded calmly as a body bounced off our bonnet.  The wheels thudded over several more bodies before the car left the road and roared across the empty field behind the shopping centre, heading for the beach road.

The road stretched, empty and serene, before us.   Even the kangaroos and curlews one could usually spot beside the road were nowhere to be seen.  "Wow, it's like a ghost town." Lucas murmured in awe. 

"Let's hope it stays that way." Mike responded drily.  I knew what he meant.  If we ran into a horde of walking dead like the one at the airport...I shuddered.

Fifteen minutes later, Mike paused the car as we turned into the main street of Yorkey's Knob.  A sleepy little suburb, it nestled around a crescent shaped bay upon which the marina had been built.  The main street stood silent and dark before us, as did the whole area. The street lights had not come on. "We're about to re-enter a populated zone, folks, which means lots of walking dead, so be alert." Mike spoke, a tense edge to his voice.  The dark enveloped us on all sides as the car moved forward, except for the thirty or forty feet in front of the car illuminated by the headlights.  Within seconds, the first zombie appeared in the lights.  A bedraggled woman in her thirties, she stared at us as we passed within inches of her.  An old man bounced off the side of the car back into the darkness.  A face gleaming in the dark on the side of the road;   two children walking down the road, arms reaching for us; boys in board shorts banging on the door as we passed.  The tension in the car rose as more and more zombies appeared before us. 

Finally, we approached the turnoff for the marina.  "Hell." Mike muttered, braking sharply.  Looking up, I saw a wall of darkness at the outer reach of the headlights.  It moved into the light, revealing  blank faces and ragged limbs.  I drew in a sharp breath as an endless number of heads appeared behind the front line.  Ten, twenty deep, they just kept coming. 

With a harsh squeal of wheels, Mike reversed up the street. 

"There must be over three hundred." Lucas estimated from the back. 

"What are we going to do?" Michele asked anxiously.  No answered as we focused on the street around us.

"Mike!" I shouted. From behind us, a mob as big as the one before us, if not larger, spread across the street and gardens.  We were trapped.  The car screeched to a stop.

"Hold on, folks." Mike said calmly, and changing into first gear, charged up the street a bit before swinging a hard left into the car park of the nearby IGA supermarket.  "We're going to have to hoof it from here."

We piled out of the car. The babies cried and whimpered as they clung to backs, sensing the tension in the air.  I desperately wanted to comfort them but I needed to focus.  Pack on back and stake in hand, I ran after Mike into the dimly lit supermarket.  He stood in the center of the shop, gun in hand, warily looking around.  Blood stained the counter, fruit and vegetable were scattered and squashed on the floor, displays lay knocked over. 

As the others joined us, Mike looked at Ken and Lucas.  "Bar the doors, give us some time."  They nodded and hurried away as Mike turned to us.  "Stay close and stay alert.  We don't know what we'll find."

Single file, we walked slowly towards the back storage rooms, leaving Ken and Lucas to finish blockading the doors.  Emma cast an uneasy glance behind her as we left but said nothing.  With a toddler on her back, she couldn't offer to stay with them. She needn't have worried as they rejoined us a few minutes later.  "We've got zombies banging on the glass." Ken said tersely.  "We've maybe got about five minutes."  Mike nodded in acknowledgement.

A dragging, wet sound alerted us to company as we passed the deli.  A dark haired young woman with once-beautiful blue eyes dragged her torso towards us.  Her legs were shredded, gnawed stumps.  A long bloody trail marked her slow progress along the floor.  I wanted to end her miserable existence but every moment could mean the difference between life and death for our group, so I hardened my heart and walked by. 

From the cereal aisle on our right, came moans.  Lumbering down it towards us were three young - and very dead - employees.  Mike stepped forward and shot them, one at a time, through the head as their arms stretched out for us.  Without a word, he moved forward again.    From behind us, came the sound of crashing glass.  "Looks like we just ran out of time." Ken whispered grimly behind me. 

Knowing the horde was just behind us, our pace quickened as we hurried through the dim shop. I caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of my eye and then a figure launched itself across the aisle.  I blinked and saw Michele falling backwards, struggling with a figure, my son's frightened face peering over her shoulder.  My heart froze in my chest. Michele instinctively wrapped her hands around the woman's neck, forcing her head away.  Teeth gnashing in frustration, the woman flung her head from side to side in an attempt to sink her teeth into flesh.  My momentary paralysis broken, I ran over and pulled the dead woman's hair violently back.  Her eyes looked dully back at me as she bared her teeth.  I plunged my stake through her eyes and as her limbs stilled, I flung her body to the side.  The others circled in concern around us.

"Are you okay?" I asked frantically, as Michele regained her feet.  "Did you get bitten, scratched?" 

"No, I'm okay." She answered shakily as Alex threw himself at me.  I picked him up and held him tightly.  Moans, hundreds of moans, erupted behind us as the creatures responded to the ruckus.  Wordlessly, we all ran.

Through the swinging doors, we ran into the huge, dark storeroom.  Rows of shelves and boxes lined the room.  Someone banged against a shelf as they hurried towards us.  With a jerk of his head, Mike indicated the docking bay.  As we slid the door up, the swinging doors to the storeroom banged open.  God, they were so close now.  My heart banged frantically against my chest as I held my little boy close.  Looking around, I checked on Sarah who clung to Emma, an arm wrapped tightly around her neck. 

The alley was dark and deserted.  We raced away with the moans of the creatures behind us ringing in our ears.  A dark mass emerged from the end of the alley. Oh hell, no! 

"Over the fence." Mike said tersely, indicating the the property opposite us.  I glanced around us as the boys gave the girls and children a boost over the fence.  Corpses were closing in on us from both sides.  Their dragging footsteps and dull moans filled me with helpless revulsion.

"Your turn, Lori." Mike murmured.  I placed my foot in his hand and leaning awkwardly against the fence, handed a clingy Alex over it to Michele before pulling myself over.

We crept quickly along the side of the house to the street.  A glance showed it to be free of zombies.  For the moment. 

"The golf course is only a few blocks away." Ken whispered to the group.  "We can cross it to reach the marina."

A zombie staggered onto the street. "Here they come again." Emma whispered despairingly.  It seemed we were the only game in town tonight.

Quietly we slipped down the darkened street and weaved our way through the houses in the the direction of the golf club.  Again and again, we had to change direction or jump a fence as the horde - or hordes- blocked our journey.  We couldn't stop to draw breath or regroup.  We took turns carrying the children in an attempt to maintain a fast pace.  Exhausted mentally and physically, we pushed on in a zigzag manner, drawing slowly but inexorably towards our destination.

Finally, after two long, terrifying hours of playing a deadly game of hide and seek, the club house loomed before us. We huddled in the garage of an old apartment block, staring at the area we had to cover to reach the club house.  The clubhouse sat a good two hundred meters away, over a darkened road, parkland and a car park.  "Ready?" Mike glanced at each of us.  We all nodded, although I am sure everyone felt as drained as I did.  Emma took Sarah in her arms and I picked up Alex.  Jessie slipped her hand in Michele's.  The poor child had not said a word this whole trip.  I reached over and cupped her face gently.  Those serious brown eyes sought mine, searching for reassurance.  "You're doing so good, Jessie.  I'm really proud of you." I glanced up at Michele.  "Both of you."  They smiled at me and tightened their hold on each other's hands. 

We slipped across the empty road and into the bush parkland. A curlew cried its haunting call nearby.  Another curlew picked up the melancholic tune. Growing up, I used to think it was the cry of someone grieving. I shivered.  Tonight, it felt horribly prophetic.

"Here they come." Lucas called out softly.  Looking over my shoulder, I saw them streaming across the park on a collision course with us. What the hell? I wondered in frustration and weariness.  Could they smell us?  Were they communicating with each other somehow?

"Pick up the pace, folks." Mike called, coolly.  "Mike." I huffed, Alex already a dead weight in my arm.  "We can't keep this pace up right across the golf course."

"I know.  We'll find a vehicle at the clubhouse."

A scream brought us to an abrupt stop.  Turning around, my heart seized in my chest.  A tall, thin dead woman had pounced on Emma from the bushes.  With hungry desperation, it clung fiercely to Emma's arm.  Hampered by Sarah clinging to her chest, Emma struggled to pull away.

"Emma! Sarah!" I screamed.  Thrusting Alex into Mike's arms, I started running back. To my horror, I realised the horde were closer to them than I was.  Emma looked up at me, her face frozen with fear.  She couldn't defend herself adequately with Sarah in her arms.  Glancing fearfully to the side, she saw the horde stumbling with eagerness towards her and recognised what I had seen:  I couldn't reach her before they did.

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 39

The boat lurched as many hands pulled at it. 

"One, two, three..." Mike counted quietly.  I propelled myself forward as hard as I could, over those pale eyes in the water, and hit the water a good six feet away.  Immediately, I kicked my feet and surged away as fast as I could.  Desperation leant strength to my arms and legs and within seconds I had reached the cooler dark channel in the middle.  Mike  passed me and, with a glance at me, headed downstream.  Even knowing that the river was probably too deep for the zombies, I expected to feel a hand or teeth on my legs at any moment.

We stayed in the river for several more minutes until we reached a dense stretch of mangroves unlikely to be accessible to humans - and, therefore, zombies.  We swum to the side of the bank and heaved our wet bedraggled bodies out of the water.  I collapsed on the bank, panting.  Just when it seems I could not be more frightened, life seemed to be determined to prove otherwise.

"Come on." Mike said, readjusting his wet pack.  "We haven't got far to go."  Yeah, right.

For the next half hour, we struggled through the mangroves until we reached the creek which in turn led us past the shopping centre where our bike was parked. We stayed low as we made our way along the river bank.  The highway bridge stood empty and silent.    As we drew parallel to the centre, we crawled to the top of the bank and peered across the road.  The park still crawled with corpses.  They staggered and bumped against each other as they wandered aimlessly across the park and along the road.  I gazed yearningly at the spot I knew our bike was waiting for us but I knew that it would be ridiculously dangerous to try to navigate the corpse-infested streets at night by bike.  We had already discussed it and decided to follow the river home, even though it would take another hour. Another hour that Sarah was without treatment.

Sighing, I turned to Mike. "Can we at least try to contact the house from here? See how everyone is? Surely the walkie talkie will be in range?"

"Yes.  Unfortunately, walkie talkies don't take well to a dunking."

"Oh." I replied in a small voice. "Forgot about that."

Mike's voice softened as if he could read my thoughts.  "I know it feels like we've been away all night, Lori, but it's been less than four hours since we got the call from Emma.  Sarah will be fine."

He was right, I realised, feeling my spirits rise a little.  I smiled tentatively at him.  "The sooner we get going, the sooner we'll get there, I guess."

We followed the freshwater creek, staying below the top of the bank.  As the creek wound its way closer to the road, we could hear the sounds of the dead dragging their feet nearby.  It was unnerving, knowing there were so many corpses within touching distance.  If they chose to look over the bank's edge...It was a relief to enter the cover of the trees which lined the river as it passed through the suburbs, even though it meant we had to move more cautiously.  While the thickets along the river hid us well, it meant they could hide other things also.   

The silence struck me all over again.  No cars driving by, no planes overhead, no radios and tvs blaring, no babies crying - just total stillness marred only by the moans of zombies.  Even the birds and crickets seemed to have fallen silent.  I shivered and edged closer to Mike's solid presence.  As the river meandered its way closer to the road, I peered through the trees.   The hint of moonlight shining through the overcast night revealed a few corpses standing on the lawns of darkened homes or wandering down the road, endlessly searching for something.  Us, a voice whispered insidiously.

A sudden crashing through the trees ahead froze us in our tracks.  Something blundered through the shrubbery with all the finesse of a mad bull.  My heart stopped for a moment as I realised it was headed straight for us.  Mike pushed me against a thick tree, covering my body with his.  We stood perfectly still, trying to blend in with the shadows as a dark shadow floundered nearby, seeming to trip over something.  I heard a plethora of panicked curses as the man struggled to pick himself up.

All around us, the bushes erupted as corpses bludgeoned their way towards the poor man.  Everywhere I looked, I saw dark shapes.  Mike instinctively pressed harder against me, making it difficult for me to breath.  The man screamed in panic and thrashed through the shrubs towards the creek.  Hurry, I urged him silently, get to the creek.  Unfortunately, the sounds he was making were moving diagonal to the creek.  Was he disoriented or reluctant to get in the fast flowing water, I wondered as I strained to follow his progress.

Mike tensed, and with the pressure of his body, forced me to slide slowly around the side of the tree.  I realised that one or more corpses were approaching our tree.  My heart started pounding in my chest as the awareness that we were surrounded hit home.  The shape of a dead man pushed through bushes to stand beside our tree.  From the corner of my eye, I could see the hook shape of his nose and the white gleam of his eyes as he stared into the darkness.  He was so close that if he turned even two inches, he would see us.  For the longest horrifying minute, we stood in a frozen tableau, just waiting... and then the corpse lurched forward after the man who was still frantically crashing through the trees and shrubs.

Trembling all over, I released my breath slowly.  There were still other corpses nearby.  We remained motionless as we waited for the dead to stagger away in the wake of the unseen man.  Only after we had heard no further sounds of movement around us for several minutes, did we relax.  I drew deep, gasping breaths in.  Mike was still pressed against me as he looked over my head at our surroundings.  As the terror receded, I started to feel uncomfortably aware of his body along the length of mine, the feel of his thigh, his muscled arms on either side of me, his breath in my hair... glancing up, I caught the gleam of his eyes as he looked down at me quizzically.  My cheeks flamed as I realised he could probably feel my heart racing. 

"Lori?" He breathed my name questioningly, and the way he said it made my loins melt.  There was so much yearning in his voice, so much left unsaid.  He cared for me, I suddenly realised with wonder.  Not just as a friend and comrade in arms, but as a woman.  It was a feeling he would never act on, and yet I suddenly wanted him to act on it.  Desperately.   For the first time in my life, I didn't want to plan out tomorrow, I didn't want to be in control.  I just wanted to lose myself, to feel alive and whole again in the arms of a man I desired. 

I reached up tentatively and stroked Mike's cheek.  His eyes widened and he sucked in his breath, standing motionless, as I ran my finger lightly over his eyes, down his nose and along his lips.  My fingers curled around his neck and pulled his head towards mine.  His lips hovered hesitantly above mine for an unendurable moment.  I arched yearningly against him, my eyes pleading with him in the dark. Just let us have tonight, Mike. There may not even be a tomorrow.  As always, he seemed to hear my thoughts.  His uncertainty disappeared as his arms closed around me.  He brushed his lips teasingly against mine.  I could feel the hint of a smile on his mouth.  The touch of his firm lips set my nerves alight throughout my body.

"Mike..." I groaned breathily, achingly.  I quivered like an excited puppy when his hands tangled in my hair and drew my head back, exposing the long line of my neck.

"So soft," He breathed as his mouth painted a delicate path down my neck. "Your skin feels like silk..."

"Mike..." I pleaded, feeling giddy with the scent and feel of him as his lips made their way back up my neck, over my cheekbones and down...  The tip of his tongue traced the outline of my mouth, sending a shiver of desire through me.

Oh.  The utter delight of his lips over mine.  The kiss went on and on, filling my senses till all I could feel was the gentle firmness of his mouth, the slightly rough brush of his cheek, the sweetness of his breath.  I moaned softly as he deepened the kiss, drawing me in with his need, his hunger for me.  I had forgotten it was possible to feel this way...so delirious, lost, intoxicated with the feel of holding your beloved close.

A distant scream broke the hypnotic spell we had woven around us.  It came from the direction the man had taken.  Sadness flooded me.  He had been so panicked and confused...he had never really stood a chance.  I looked back up at Mike who had pulled away a little.  The moon had risen overhead, dimly lighting the grove around us. 

He cleared his throat.  "We should get going."

I nodded, still feeling his kiss burning on my lips.  He hesitated for a moment and then leaned forward to look intently into my eyes. "You're everything I ever wanted in a woman, Lori.  Courageous, passionate, funny...I've spend my whole life looking for you and when I find you, you belong to someone else.  How's that for ironic?"  His eyes searched mine and I guess he found the answer he was looking for.  He nodded and smiled wryly.  " 'Such is life.' "

I swallowed, my heart and mind in turmoil, as he moved off through the dense trees.  I wanted to reach out to him but I couldn't even begin to talk to him about what had happened when I felt so confused.  Silently, I followed him.

Relief flooded me as we crossed the bridge and saw the house still intact.  However, the number of zombies surrounding the house had swelled fourfold.  The ground beneath and around the house was thick with dark swaying bodies.  I kept my fingers crossed that the steep tangled rainforest on the hillside would continue to deter them from blocking the back entry. 

We crossed the road further up the street and made our way quietly up the mountain till we were directly above the house.  It was hard going feeling our way through the thick rainforest in the dark and I was sweating profusely by the time the house came into view.  Cautiously, silently, we moved down the mountain towards the back door.  Pausing frequently, we listened for sounds that didn't belong in the rainforest.  Like dead people.

Mike slipped up to the back window and flicked his Maglite torch on and off.  A minute later, we were inside the house surrounded by familiar, smiling faces, softly lit by candlelight.  Michele and Jessie wrapped their arms around me tightly as other hands patted me on my back and shoulders.  I gripped the kids tightly and grinned widely at the people surrounding me.  It was the best possible homecoming ever. 

"Last time I'm sending you to the shops." Emma declared cheekily. 

"Ah, come on, Em." I responded.  "We just got a little sidetracked, is all."

Mike snorted, busy trying to fend off the delighted licks of Lizzie who had jumped in his arms. "That's an understatement."

Kaye shooed us into the living room.  "Eat first and then you can tell us all about it."

I pulled off my backpack.  "Food would be great but first I need to get these antibiotics into Sarah." I looked questioningly at Emma.

"I've been treating her with fluids but the fever is still present.  The sooner we get the antibiotics into her, the better." She agreed.  I followed her into the kids' bedroom where the four toddlers were sleeping.  Sarah was flushed and restless even in her sleep.  A pang went through me anew at the sight of her shortened arm, but, I reminded myself, she was still alive and that's all that mattered, ultimately.  Emma set up the intravenous line for the antibiotics while I sat down beside my baby.  Sarah stirred and opened her eyes. 

"Mummy!" She smiled.  "Miss' you." 

Tears blurred my eyes as a wave of fierce, possessive love gripped me.  "I missed you too, baby."  Bending forward, I kissed her hot forehead. 

"Allie 'nock me over." She pouted, making me laugh.  Dobbing is an art mastered young.

"Bad Allie."  I shook my finger scoldingly at the bunk above us.  Sarah giggled, and wriggled in her bed.  I grinned and tucked the sheet in around her.  "Now go to sleep, rugrat.  You'll feel a lot better when you wake up."

Emma was watching me as I rose.  "One day this will make a great bed time story."

"What's that?"

"How mummy braved zombies to get the medicine she needed."

I shook my head.  "You have no idea."

In the living room, MIke was hoeing into a simple meal of baked beans and scrambled eggs while holding his audience captive with the tale of our adventures. It smelt so good that my mouth instantly watered.  Kaye saw my face and rose from the table.  "Coming right up, old girl."  Mike looked over at me with a warmth in his eyes which instantly brought a blush to my cheeks.  Of course his sharp eyes noted it and his lips quirked in amusement, which I decided to ignore.  I didn't even know how to begin with dealing with my rash, impulsive behaviour, so I was just...avoiding it entirely.  Pulling up a chair, I promptly devoured the meal Kaye placed before me in record time.

I was content to let Mike finish filling the others in on the events of the day.  Pushing back the plate, I sat back contentedly and looked around at the group.  On my left, Ken stood behind Emma's chair with his hand touching her shoulder; across from me, Michele, Lucas and Jessie sat wide-eyed around Mike, with Lizzie the chihuahua jumping from lap to lap, while Kaye brewed some strong coffee in the nearby kitchen.  They all appeared spell bound by Mike's dry rendition of our 'adventures'.  Zombies, crocodiles, soldiers - maybe one day it would sound exciting to me, too, instead of a bloodcurdingly terrifying memory.

"There were zombies in the water?"  Emma shivered.  "God, I would have died from pure fright."

"Not high on my list of activities to repeat.  Ever."  I agreed, with a blandness to equal Mr. Cool across the table. 

"So the army is bugging out?" Ken questioned, a frown on his face.  "What does that mean for us? Are we supposed to just sit tight while they let this virus burn itself out?"

Emma's eyes widened.  "Of course not!" She glanced around the table.  "It doesn't mean that, does it?  They wouldn't just leave us.  There are still people alive in this town!"

Mike looked around the table, his face growing unusually serious.  "It's worse than that, I'm afraid."

"Worse than that?!" Emma squeaked.  "What's worse than that?!"  Somehow, I didn't want to know the answer to that question.

Mike sighed and rubbed his closely shaven head, a sign I had learned meant he was stressed.  "Anders confirmed to me that something big is going down in the morning. Something that is causing a ruckus amongst the big boys."

"Your bomb theory again." I said flatly.  I had been afraid that was what he and Anders had been discussing...

"Bombs?" Kaye looked from me to Mike incredulously.  "You think they are going to drop bombs on us?"

"'Fraid so.  And, folks, we really don't want to be here when that happens."

"This Anders friend of yours," Ken asked quietly.  "Did he hear about the bombs firsthand or is this just army gossip?"

Mike looked at Ken appraisingly.  "Anders has many contacts in key positions and, put together, their information paints a pretty clear picture. It would be foolish of us to dismiss his information as just gossip."

Ken's brow furrowed.  "Fair enough.  What kind of bombs are we talking here, Mike?"

Mike looked a little grey. "There are a few options - fuel to air, maybe - but the word is that they are planning an attack that will...annihilate... this problem, permanently."

Ken was the first to understand what he was alluding to.  "You're actually suggesting our government is going to nuke us."

I gasped.  Surely that wasn't what he meant!  But the silence that greeted Ken's statement was deafening. 

"The government would never allow it." I argued.  "The backlash..."

"They can't let this virus get out, Lori.  It has destroyed this town and an army in less than two days! Imagine what a virus like this could do to the country - or even the world.  In the face of a threat like that, we are acceptable losses."