Chess pulled the drop cloths from the floor and folded them neatly. He stood in the middle of a soft pink room. One wall had white polka dots in rows from ceiling to floor in straight and neat rows. He was rather proud of himself, had never painted a damn thing before that room. He'd googled polka dots and found a video on a stay at home mom's crafty website that gave him all the instruction he needed. He'd hung new curtain rods, applied pink and white sheer curtains. He looked at the monster of all projects sitting in its box by the door. Jayson stood in the doorway with a six pack and his woes, looking over the pink room.
"Nice." Jay told him setting the six pack on the floor.
He took a bottle and opened it as Chess opened the box and started pulling out piece after piece after piece of a crib. Never too soon and he wanted this room done. He had grown tired of listening to Jess hound him. "Thanks." Chess said, handing off the directions to Jayson. He held the bottle and unfolded the directions, which he considered more complicated than how to put together the space shuttle. Jay set out and counted all the screws, nuts and bolts they'd need to put the bed together and made sure everything was accounted for before they started.
"Fuck." He said under his breath as he thumbed through the pages of directions.
"Tell me about it." He laid out all the parts neatly on the floor. "Step fucking one." Chess sighed, pulling a beer from the carrier. Jay read step one and Chess retrieved the part Jay specified. "How's Julia? Haven't heard from her lately."
"Which one?" Jay asked, then read off step two.
As Chess put this monstrosity of a baby bed together, Jayson rattled off, over the course of 2 hours, every single solitary complaint he could think of. It'd been a month since she had come home from the hospital. A month of constant confusion and frustration. "Only so much conversation I can have with wifey at this stage of the game." He was more than annoyed at this point of the conversation. He had asked what the problem was and wanted, begged and plead for one or all of them to explain the problem. He could go to sleep in his own bed finally. It took a couple weeks to convince future Julia that she was safe from any sexual activity or innuendo. He could hand hold the hell out of her, put an arm around her occasionally, but anything more than a kiss on the cheek, she would freak out on him.
"Wow." Chess said. "Bout in the same place, Jay. She's absolutely miserable. I cannot wait till she has this baby." Chess put the last piece on and the last screw and then sat next to Jay on the floor. He took the last beer. "You know about Jersey. From what Jo said-"
"I know all about New Jersey. I'm not insensitive to the issue, but I suggested she go hide in some corner of her brain for a few minutes." He said, tucking the empty bottle in the carrier. "We went from Julia and her strange, on the verge of violent tastes to nothing. Man, I don't know which is worse."
He looked over his shoulder into the hall. "Pregnant sex. That's worse." He said quietly. "She's big as a house."
"Nah, she's all belly. She's cute. The girl's always cute."
"Think she's so cute, then go for it." Chess said, then took a drink. "You go stare at your name for a change."
He smiled. "Added vodka. Wasn't the result I expected."
"If it's any consolation, only we have seen it."
"I figured as much."
"Why didn't you bring her?"
"She wants to hang out with my brother."
"Which one?"
"Tavin. I think the threat level is low. I'm not allowed to enter, so he's not either." Jay replied without the usual uneasiness. "She's got Alex's head spinning. She's a controlling and bossy woman. He steps out of line and she's on him. She's a better mom this one, no room to breathe, smothering."
"Want me to hook you up with-"
"No, no. I can't do that. She's still bent about Hayley. I can't fuck around, no." Jay pulled out his cell phone and opened up his photos. "I get her in the morning."
"Cool." Chess said as Jay flipped through photos of Shy.
"Told her if she fucked with me I would take her to court. So I get the baby on weekends. Two weeks in a row she called me and asked if I could keep her Monday and bring her back Tuesday or pick her up Thursday or earlier on Friday. What the actual fuck?"
"What did you do?"
"I picked her up Thursday and dropped her off Tuesday. I love her and she keeps me busy."
"Tavin loves another person in his house."
"Yeah, but he loves having me around when he wants to go out and I sit with Tare for free. He gave me back my money and told me to get out of his house. We're all fuckin squatters at this point. No one's fucking happy. He keeps bringing random bitches home too. Twice with Kelly there."
"Well, you're life is more exciting than mine. I thought I had issues. Stuck here with Jess, which is fine. I got no problems with baby mama. But Ray and Candace are like our bestie couple now. Jess has made friends with her and when I got home the other day she had pink in her blonde fucking hair. Just a strip, but still. I went the fuck off." Chess chugged down the remainder of his beer and set the empty in the carrier with the other five. None of the four he imbibed touched him, but the taste was worth it. "She cried, I apologized, begged forgiveness...I had to spoon feed her strawberry ice cream, Jayson, then all was right in the real world."
Jay found this most amusing. "Ice cream." He laughed as he got to his feet. "Got three slices of cake at home that I can't eat." He took the beer container and gathered up the trash in the box from the crib. "I'm out, Chess. This was fun." He looked at the finished product. "Need a mattress."
Chess said bye to his cousin and stayed sitting on the floor in the baby's room. His message tone sounded and he looked at his cell. He deleted the text and the image that followed. The next message-meet me. He deleted that too. A simple no could have sufficed, but he chose to ignore him and put the phone back in his pocket when he stood up. He went to the crib and kicked the bar under the railing then pulled up and pushed down on the rail. It slid down smooth. He pulled it back up and it locked in placed. Hey, now...it works.
He heard Jess coming to the room before she got there. She walked with heavy foot steps and she stood in the doorway in her robe. She complimented their work and she watched a demo on how to lower and raise the railing. "Need a mattress." She commented.
"It's in the truck, Jesslyn. We got one."
She asked him to leave the window open to let the room air out. It still smelled like paint fumes.
"Yes, I will."
The message tone sounded on his phone again and he pulled his cell from his pocket. She watched him read the text. "Who's that, Chess?" It was late for text messages. Occasionally he received them and he never lied about who sent them.
"Jason." He answered. He was honest. The kid's name was, in fact, Jason. This Jason was not of any blood relation and this Jason was his friend with benefits, so completely the opposite of Ben. He hadn't spoken to Ben since he moved and hadn't heard from him either. He'd only known Jason Petrillo from their gym hook ups, he probably shouldn't have exchanged numbers with him. He probably should have left it with a blow job in the bathroom stall at the gym, but he didn't. He should have left it with an afternoon at Motel 6 room 4, but he didn't. There were things Jason could do that Julia Fry used to do that Jesslyn had no clue about and he was not about to take that road with her. Perhaps in the future and perhaps when she was not 8 months pregnant and perhaps if he added vodka at some point in time post partum. Once the baby sleeps through the night and perhaps if they could find a sitter he may be able to include Jason...it was easier just to fuck Jason.
The text read- meet me.
Not tonight...see you at the gym in the morning...he texted and then deleted the text. Tired of deleting text messages, he would see Jason at the gym and then tell him one more time about the rules they had set forth at the Motel 6 encounter.
"He just left. What's he want?"
"About going to the gym, Jess." He answered, which was not a lie either. He thought about coming clean with her. She had said he could have a fuck boy, as she termed it. Being bothered by said fuck boy when in the company of his girlfriend was another thing entirely. Jess comes first.
He'd informed Jason that he had a life. Any man, and that included Jason, came last. Jason, he decided, was too close to home. He didn't need to remind himself of this, he needed to remind Jason. He was fucking practically in his back yard. Even though they had terms of their agreement in their relationship, he knew that they weren't binding and the odds of her flipping out, being hurt and being unable to deal with a fuck boy were not in his favor.
"Oh, Ok." She said, wringing out her hair with the towel around her head. Her robe slipped open and her belly poked out. They had yet to determine a name for the girl. He supposed he'd find out when she was born like everyone else. It could be one of three names and Jess wasn't sure yet even though he had told her why he'd chosen the name he had chosen and it wasn't because of any Eric Clapton song. He requested that the name Layla or Kyra be included in her given name, either first or middle.
Chess approached her, tied up her robe and covered her before flipping off the light switch. A thought passed through his mind, wondering a moment what Mace would look like swollen with his child inside her. "Come lay down, Jess. Those feet and ankles are swollen."
Her entire body over the course of the last month had transitioned from a cute pregnant to an uncomfortable and bloated kind of pregnant. Her comfort was increasingly compromised. Her sleep interrupted. Still in good spirits, but tired and she had only this week began saying, 'I can't wait till this baby is out of me'.
He dried her body with her robe and hung it on the back of the door. He put her nighty on and tucked her in bed. She lay on her left side and he sat with her like he did every other night of the week, rubbing her belly and listening to the baby sing. She fell asleep a short while later and he left her because he had a list on the fridge of all the things she wanted him to do.
Downstairs, he turned off all the lights and the TV, then pulled a joint from the bag on the hook by the front door. He sat on the deck in the cool October night and he smoked. He thought about Jayson living with the Julia trifecta, and as he got high, he thought that his life could be worse. It could be him going rounds with the three of them and making an utter mess of things. She had physically healed, but the mental that her life had heaped on her hadn't improved, only worsened, deepened. She couldn't win for losing, but if anyone could put a salve on the wounds, that person would be Jayson. Like he said, he was kind of a big deal.
The message tone sounded on his phone and he nearly ignored it, figuring Jason hadn't taken no for an answer. Being high, on the deck, in the dark and having a sleeping baby mama upstairs, he thought about getting his dick sucked for a minute. He could spare a few minutes maybe, so he looked at the phone, expecting another dick pic to pop up. Wrong Jason, though and he saw a zombie, then the next message came through, a dead zombie. Leave him on the pavement? the text read, then...lol.
Are we seriously lol'ing zombies at the local mini mart now? Apparently.
He hadn't completely thought through the specifics of the family business and he had nothing official in the works. He'd stressed to the family that he was not on a payroll, none of them were, and they were under no obligation to get involved in all things dead.
You got this? He texted him back. He felt fairly confident his cousin could manage the deaths of two zoms at the mini mart. Manganelli's would be 1600$ richer, that much he knew. He would call Dr Kahn and get him out of his bed to pronounce them. As he scrolled the contact list for the good doctor with a morbid sense of medical practice, fascinated by the turned and then killed, Jay called him.
"What's up? I'm making calls." Chess told him before he could speak.
"Listen." He said nervously.
Chess listened to the hum and then the growl. "Get out of there. Run."
"I can drive, man." He said. "But-shit, there's people inside the-" He stammered, dropping the phone.
"Jayson, Are you Ok? Jayson." He said, listening as the nest descended on the area.
Chess moved through the high, sobering pretty fast as he pulled shoes on. He was a little unsure what to do at this point, heading into a nest in the open wasn't smart. He would need help and he scrolled through the phone as he put the key in the ignition to the truck. "Answer." He mumbled as he drove away from the house. How big was the nest? He didn't have Jay on the phone long enough to get specifics from him.
"Hi, you've reached Julia. Leave a message."
He hit redial and got no where. He called Alex. "Put her on the phone." He stated.
"Jules, it's Chess."
She had ignored him purposefully when he called. She hadn't spoken to him since their interaction at CVS. She hadn't seen him either. She focused on her recovery and her family, a very young and misguided family. She did not give Chester Morgan or Jesslyn the time of day. She had no allegiance to him or his people. The lines she drew lines for herself were drawn in the future and she controlled herself. Jayson had said to consolidate the three into one and she, being the dominant, consolidated. The others could speak and act and express, but she spoke for them.
"Don't hang up. It's important."
"Yes, Chester. What is so important?"
"Listen." He yelled at her and he held the phone out of his truck window where he'd stopped at a stop sign. He was a couple blocks from the mini mart.
"Where?" She asked calmly, rising to the occasion and getting herself off the sofa. Her companion wondered where she was going as she took the steps fairly fast. Shoes and a gun. Julia Morgan opted for gun nowadays. The irony of this very phone call, which she had seen coming like a premonition. Where shall you hide when the nests come? Up high. Up high.
Hiding behind a fence was off the table at this point in time. She wrapped up her ankle tight in the Ace bandage before applying her shoe. Although a healed injury, it was necessary to try to protect from reinjuring the limb.
"Julia-" Alex called as he chased her for his phone. She tossed his phone to him from where she crouched on the floor. She set she palm on the gun box. No ammo. "Ammunition, Alexander."
"In mine." He pointed at the bed. She indicated to place his palm on the box. "Your hand, Julia. You said I'm a minor."
"Yes, very well. I would assume I'll return. There's no guarantees. I also assume there is a plan in place in times like this."
"Times like what?" He asked following her down the stairs to where Tavin sat.
"If things get out of hand, then good luck."
She left on foot, considering the mini mart was closer to home than to Chess's home. She could hear the nest clearly, an ominous sound and she despised their noise, yet was grateful for their noise at the same time. It signaled their vicinity. Damn street lights in modern day Maverick were shining bright and she couldn't use her gift if she tried.
You have done this before, Morgan...she stated, giving herself a pep talk...you can do this, it's like riding a bike...
It had been a more than a decade since she had last killed the dead and it had been longer than that since she had been in a nest. Her nerves were kicking up, possibly fear and possibly adrenaline, possibly a mix of both. She stopped dead in her tracks as she witnessed the nest, where had they come from? Go! She heard Julia scream in her head. She passed off control to her and she charged ahead and into the middle of it. Where Julia Morgan had the luxury of future cleared streets and vaccinations for an extended period of time, the one she lovingly termed as drunk slut had grown in confidence and experience while running the streets in a wasteland of human body parts. Youth was on their side, but so was Julia's psyche because she loved this. Future Julia had outgrown her love for the art of warring with the dead despite having written an entire book on the subject. She didn't necessarily lack the skill or the drive, reacting as soon as she was called to action, but the sight had been off putting. She needed the push that her youthful aggressor gave her, and once that happened, she relaxed and felt her groove again. It was all rather empowering and her excitement level soared with each bullet fired.
Where had Chess gone?
She scrambled across the lot and to the truck where it parked askew near the pumps. Up and over the bumper, she stood and turned and aimed at the group of ten that moved fast on her. Alone? Why am I al-she nearly finished asking that question when she spied Jayson's car in a spot beside the market. Had they left? A million questions ran across her mind in three voices. One wasn't too particularly upset as she emptied and reloaded. The noise was most conspicuous and brought out people, living ones. In these times were they completely oblivious to the fact the dead roamed among them? These dead were especially fast.
Up high. Up high.
Up higher, she scrambled to the roof of the cab instead of the truck bed. She'd been exactly in this situation before. She looked for her exit. Her out...it would be a leap on a healed ankle wrapped in ace. She fired, hitting head shot after head shot, making quite a noisy scene.
"Where the fuck are you?" She screamed, dropping her second clip and reloading her last rounds into the gun. There were more in the truck. "Fucking bullets." She moaned, reaching for her hip. "Where's the knife?" It had been left at home. Dammit, she thought, taking better aim and slowing a little. She aimed for those in her immediate personal space. "Chess!" She screamed into the night air. "Where's that little fuck at?" She asked the zombie at her feet as she fired. "Jayson!" If one was not answering, then the other would do. She jumped on the roof over the arm that swept at her feet. Last bullet fired, she kicked at them till she heard a gun shot and felt a bullet whizz past her head. She kicked and looked over her shoulder and she had drawn them away from the mini mart's door enough for him to get out. "Open the truck!" She yelled.
"It's open." He yelled back to her.
The doors to his truck were clearly not an option, so she rolled from the cab to the truck bed, landing on a crib mattress of all things, softening her fall and started kicking at the rear window. He knew what she was doing, "Move!" He yelled at her and she moved as he fired bullets into the windows of his own truck. She kicked out broken glass and slipped in through the small opening where she rooted around in the console for any form knife or handgun. She wasn't choosy at that point. Chess was loaded for the apocalypse. Well prepared, she jammed a clip in her gun as the windshield that had splintered further cracked beneath the weight of dead who'd scrambled on the hood. She aimed in front of her and fired. His truck had already been riddled with bullets, and now the windows were gone. She steadied her feet on the dashboard and she took her time, 'one...two...three...four..." she counted as she shot those on the hood and coming through what was left of the windshield. She was a blood covered mess, had bits of flesh in her hair, which had fallen over her shoulders and face like a veil. Teeth, and bits of tongue from the zom's face exploded less than a foot from her. She felt the truck move, felt foot steps in the truck bed and she pivoted and laid on the seat...like God damned Philadelphia when the world goes dark...she aimed to her right and it was Chess not a nest zom.
"Drop the fucking nest." She screamed. Please...I'm stuck in here...She wanted out of the truck. She didn't like being cornered.
"Babe, stay down. Cover your face." He kicked at what was left of the window as she covered her head with her arms. "Gun. Gun. Gun." He demanded, holding his hand out to her. She handed off the weapon and scrambled yet one more time for another one, wedging herself beneath the dashboard and lifting the console. She could barely see in there, but she could feel and she slid her hand over the butt end of another gun. "Clip. Clip. Clip." She handed him another gun as he tossed the unloaded glock through the window onto the rear seat for her to reload. She was starting to feel like hired help.
"Where's Jayson?" She screamed at him.
"With the people in the store." He answered. "He's ok."
"Where are these beasts coming from?" She screamed.
"No clue, Julia." He answered over a barrage of gunfire.
"Gimme your debit card." She yelled, crawling through the gaping hole that once was his rear window. She patted him down and found his wallet. "Pin." She yelled once his debit card was in hand.
"Our anniversary." He answered.
"Ha, cover me." She stepped onto the side panel and she leaped over the line of dead that surrounded the truck. One cool hand latched onto her hair and he shot it promptly. He could manage to cover her at least as she ran toward the gas pump. She swiped the card and she entered the pin, then selected her gasoline grade, the cheap one cause Chess was cheap. Nozzle in hand, she sprayed the ground, then moved the metal over the grip of the nozzle to keep it running. She set it on the ground and ran, knowing this would work. "Shoot it!" She screamed.
"No. Are you crazy?" Then he thought she was, both crazy and smart at the same time.
"Yes!" She screamed as she ran toward the store. She pulled the door as Chess fired the gun, "Get down, get down, get down."
"I'm paying for this gas..." He fired, liking the idea initially, but the fire and resulting explosion threw his body out of the truck and half way across the lot. Chess landed with a thunk on concrete, tucking and rolling and somehow managing to avoid splitting his skull open, but he felt ribs snap in the process. He dragged himself to his feet, found it hard to breathe in the process. He moved slower than he would have preferred. Alone and in the debris, he watched a fireball in Maverick's October sky. He had a hard time pulling his eyes away from the fireball, similar to, but larger than that which she and Mayers set off in Oakland, Maryland. "I love that woman." He muttered, eyes moving over burning body parts and his truck took the brunt of the explosion. It used to have 4 wheels...as one rolled past him into the street. The crib mattress landed a few feet from him as he walked toward the building and away from the flaming pump.
She emerged through the door frame of the mini mart, the glass had blown out. She observed the lot, the flaming debris, the carnage she'd created. The fact that she would not get in any trouble at all whatsoever for any of this damage excited her. She kept the gun aimed down and ready as she looked for surviving dead. Chess did the same and they met up a short distance from the shell of his truck.
"Better than sex, Chess. Wow, look at this fucking mess." She was thrilled. Beyond it.
"Jules, I can't breathe right." He said, taking slow deep breaths.
"Oh, well, I am sure 911 is coming right? Especially after that awesome explosion. I love me an explosion, Chess." She let him put an arm around her shoulders and walked to the store with her.
"We cool, Julia?" Jay asked, through the wreckage of the local mini mart.
"Yes, we are." She answered, setting Chess on the curb.
"No, I'm dying." Chess said, sucking in air, trying to breathe.
"Nah, probably punctured a lung. I could fix that, but we'll just call an ambulance. Stay calm." She said like it was not a significant injury.
"Calm." He repeated.
She peered down at him as Jay went back in the store to check on the people. She made sure he was in the store and out of ear shot before she nudged him. "Gonna need new glasses, my Chess." She whispered as she crouched in front of him. "You're gonna be ok, Mister." She winked at him.
"My Julia," He said with a hint of sarcasm. "I'm dying."
"Hush, you. I'll be right with you ok. I'll stay with ya." She held onto his hand and sirens could be heard in the distance. "Hunch your back, like...like a hunchback. It improves aeration." She commanded, sounding assured and confident, releasing his hands from her grip. Briefly he noted the switch from Fry to the Queen.
"I'm gonna pass the fuck out." He winced as he hunched his back like she said and the pain jolted through his chest. "Jesslyn doesn't know I left the house. She was asleep and-"
"I'll be sure to make sure she knows where you are." She hissed at him as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
"I'm sorry, for the millionth time."
"Damn shame, Morgan." Julia said. "If you'd keep better track of all your women, this mess would have been avoided." She saw the look on his face. "Not the time or the place."
"It is not." He said through shallow breaths.
Queen had taken their place and laid him back on the concrete gently. "I could poke a hole in your ribcage and release the air, jam a tube in there. Blood will spill out and you'll breathe better. I have training in-"
"No." He whimpered as he coughed a bloody spittle at her.
"If the world was over, I would have proceeded with the tube." She smiled softly and she caressed his face. "You will be alright. I am fairly sure of it."
"The baby..."
She rolled her eyes. "Layla will know you died with honor at the mini mart." She replied sarcastically as the ambulance arrived to the scene. She hopped to her feet and gave the medic a run down of the trauma he had sustained and within moments he was in the back of the rig being assessed and then a few minutes later he was whisked off to the hospital.
Julia tucked the cell in her pocket and as she and Jayson and those inside the mini mart explained this most destructive incident individually and separately, the phone buzzed her ass cheek. She pulled the cell and opened the phone. If the pin to the debit card was their anniversary, then she figured the phone lock would be similar. She tapped in the numbers 1-0-1-1 onto the screen and unlocked the message. Instead, as Jayson gazed over her shoulder, she opened a picture message. "Whoa." She smiled, giving the abs a once over with her squinty eyes, then on down to the male appendage that she didn't need to necessarily squint to see.
The look on Jay's face was most disturbed and when he frowned, his entire face frowned. "Who's that, Mrs. Keller?"
"I don't know, Jayson." She replied, shrugging. The look on his face was most displeased. "God, Jay, I don't know who he is, but I wouldn't mind seeing his face." She answered. "Jay, it's not my phone." She told him, touching his shoulder. "Jayson, this is not my cell. My cell," She said, reaching into her other pocket, "Is right here."
"Oh, shit. Is that his cell?"
"Yes." Julia smiled, tapping out a message. She wanted a face shot. "Think between kidnappings, infections and broken bones I got the time to be trolling the internet or the neighborhood for boyfriends? Is that what you think?" She asked, a little offended. A new message vibrated through and a handsome fellow appeared on his cell screen. "Oh, my, he has decent taste in men." She hummed, as she spread her fingers over the screen to enlarge the picture. Long, shoulder length brown hair with blond and light brown highlights. Soft and easy light brown eyes. Light olive skin, a thin nose and plump little kissable lips. "Oh, he's cute, Jayson." She showed him the phone and the guy's picture.
"I know him from somewhere." He commented as they looked at the guy.
She closed the message out to the list of messages and she read his name on the list. She giggled, "Name's Jason. No Y in it."
"So what are we doing? Leaving or do we-" He said, holding her hand.
"Run this shit?" She guessed as the local authorities descended on the scene like vultures on road kill.
"Run it, then." He said as the police commissioner stood in front of her alongside the mayor.
"Mrs. Keller, Mr. Keller, Commissioner Hardy." He said firmly as he shook her hand. Wasn't what she expected for blowing up the mini mart parking lot around the corner from her house.
"Mayor Henry Gray." The man at his side nodded, withholding a handshake under the circumstances that Julia was covered in a slick and congealed substance. "A word." He stated, leading the three of them away from the mini mart's crowded parking lot and into the mini mart itself. He helped himself to the fresh brewed coffee, so Julia followed suit. "Mr Morgan has been transported to Maverick General hospital and he is stable, according to reports." They remained on mute and Mayor Gray continued. "The teams that would normally take care of this type of situation are not being dispatched. They feel as though you can clean this up since you intervened on their behalf. Is that true?"
"Yes," Julia replied too quickly. Half her job was done. She only had to drag the other half into the fire that the local fire department was putting out.
"Very well, then. Get to it."
Is he being a smart ass? Julia wondered, holding onto Jay's hand for dear life. "I-yes. That sounds fine. But-" She paused, looking to her right where Jayson stood following her lead. "There is the matter of payment. We are not as expensive as say the united states military. I assure you we will fall in under their pay grade."
"Payment. You dicker over payment when you have blown up the main four way intersection in our neighborhood?"
Julia snickered when he said dicker. That word tickled her insides. "Yes." She replied. "We defended ourselves and others from viral assassins to the best of our ability. Keeping the people inside this store alive is not a crime. Also, there is no compensation that can match that of preserving human life. That being said," She paused, "Not to get off on a rant here, but I have some experience where these matters are concerned and you, Sir, and your administration as well as the officers that are paid-" She looked at the commissioner, "And not paid enough, Sir, obviously..." She looked back at the Mayor. "Have effectively failed to put in place a plan of action for this type of event. You have failed to understand the severity of the threat and have placed all the citizens of Maverick and the surrounding areas, at great risk. You have no course of action short of dialing a telephone and waiting on a team to arrive from more than an hour away." She raised her voice. "Had we not intervened, Mayor Gray, then the threat would be continuing to walk the streets, turning more citizens to monsters and then-"
"Clean it up. We will dicker over payment in the coming days."
Dicker...she giggled internally.
"Yes, Sir." Julia said as she sipped her coffee. "I need to see whoever is in charge of the scene. I'll be right out, Commissioner Hardy. Please and thanks."
"Well, babe, you sound like you know what you're doing."
"I am not sure I do." She replied as she sipped her coffee. Jayson slipped across the store to the fridge and he pulled himself out a Monster energy drink. "Where is Jody? I also need to speak with Chess." She admitted quietly so no one would hear her. "Like that funeral home. Those Manganelli's, there's bodies intact out there and then the official stuff. I need to talk with Dr Kahn, Jayson." She paused. "I need to get on the phone to blondie and find out how much they get paid. And then, get Jimmy on the phone, tell him what happened in case things go south and they find some criminality here. Jay-"
"I'm listening." He nodded, then took a gulp of Monster.
She made her way to the officer in charge of the scene, Swigget, whom she met with a hello and a how are you doing? They caught up a moment or two and then she directed him in the most polite fashion she could muster, to set a perimeter and then keep the crowd beyond that. Find out where these people all came from, etc...and then she would be out after she made a few phone calls.
"Anything else, boss?" Jay asked once returning inside the shell of the minimart. Following her down an aisle, he pulled out his cell and then scrolled for Jody's number in his contact list.
"Yes, actually."
"Whatcha looking for?" He asked as she wandered till she found the right aisle.
"Being that I am the dominant one here at the moment..." She said, her voice sing-song and her head focused and her blood pumping through her veins on the rush of a life time.
"Uh-huh." He said, taking a gulp of his drink.
She returned to him at the end of the aisle. "Where's the bathroom?"
"Over there. The family was hiding in it." He motioned to the rear of the store as he dialed Jody's cell number. She took him by his wrist and led him. "Need me in the bathroom?"
"For this, yeah." She answered, pulling him inside the dark bathroom. As the door opened the fluorescent light flickered above their heads. "Put that shit down, Jayson." She ordered, setting her coffee on the counter. He set his drink and his cell on the counter and she held up a condom. "Like I said, I am the dominant one. She'll have to deal."
Jay wasn't arguing even though she was a disgusting, hot mess of biohazardous material and he swiped the condom from her hand with a quickness. Fuck it...he thought...I'm immune to this shit.
*** ***
"Put that shit down, Jayson."
He heard her very clearly as he answered the phone. "Uh, keep going." Jody told her, hand in her soft brown hair as her head bobbed up and down on his erection. "It's work." He said in a quiet tone as he laid his head back against the pillow.
"Like I said, I am the dominant one. She'll have to deal."
"Hello." Jody said. He figured Jayson ass dialed him and he probably did since no one responded to him. He nearly hung up, then he heard that familiar three part moan, groan and whine quality to her voice and that perked his attention.
"You don't work, Jody." She said, pulling off his dick to speak.
"I do, too." He guided her head back to work as he listened to Julia moaning through the cell in his ear. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend, because she was as skilled orally as Julia. He hit end call after a few minutes, because 1) Julia was not giving him head, and 2) he liked the girl that he had on her knees on the mattress between his thighs. He set the phone aside and paid attention to the moist heat of her mouth. As long as he'd known her he had never a harsh word to say in regard to her or her choices. Figures those two would ass dial him while fucking. Hearing Julia's voice only made him think of her, but to be honest, it only added to the pleasure rather than distracting him from it. "Ride me." He said, placing his hands on her shoulders.
She had to take her mouth off him or he would come and he wanted inside her. To feel her on him. She shimmied over his body, kissing along the way. She'd done this before. She had all the confidence in the world and true to the words he'd always heard, if you just add vodka, they come to life. But this one wasn't much of a drinker. Neither was he, but he had a couple shots with her before taking her to bed. Once the vodka took effect, she loosened up, talked easier and less rushed. Not exactly strangers, but she felt admittedly guilty. He had none, especially after the last couple weeks. She was hanging on for some reason and suggested that maybe, just maybe, if she was dicked down by someone else that she may break the spell and the hold he had on her. He didn't necessarily mean himself. Anybody could do it.
A pretty girl, that long brown hair soft in his hands and against his skin. She swore her body was out of shape and ruined after having the baby, he found the opposite. He found a curvy figure, full breasts, thick thighs and a cute ass. A little short for his taste. A little pale for his taste too. That summer tan had faded away, but as she moved over him, her soft hands caressed his skin, took his manhood in hand and she managed on top of him like she had done this a million times. She leaned over him, dropping full round breasts toward his face and he sucked her nipples, tasting her when it happened, and she got embarrassed.
"Shh, stop. It's fine." He said softly as his hands moved over her back and her waist and back over her body. He wanted her comfortable and easy, not easy as in loose or dirty, but relaxed. "You taste good." He said, sucking the same damp nipple and cupping her breasts in his hands.
"They're full." She whispered as he tasted her. "I'm trying to wean him."
He moved off her breast to her mouth and kissed her, tasting her tongue instead. Since the breasts obviously made her skittish, he didn't want to hear excuses. Her hips moved a slow rhythm on him and then gradually faster as she reached an orgasm. She had worried about that too, being able to have another man make her come and she felt shame for that too. "But it feels amazing, Jody." She said as he held her and rolled her while staying inside. He knew in her head she was comparing them. He did it after losing Tatia, then he did after losing Julia to Jayson. He compared the feel of their bodies and the taste of their flesh. Breast milk was a new ball game though and he thought that wasn't too bad either.
"Me." He had said to her when she called him. "You wanna go where?" He wasn't sure he heard her correctly. "With me?"
"On a date, Jody. Take me out."
"Oh, I don't know about that." He answered. "Gimme a minute. I'll call you back."
Jody sat staring at his cell phone and wondered if this was anywhere near acceptable. He climbed out of the Keller's basement and he saw Tavin who had sworn numerous times that he was done with her. He didn't hate her and he didn't say a single negative word in reference to her, and being that he had openly brought other females home, twice in front of her, which hurt her terribly, she got the point.
"Tavin." Jody said, staying far across the room from him.
"S'up, Jody?"
"I'd like to take Kelly out on a date. Is that Ok with you?"
Someone had to do this, either him or her. Secrets in this family ran rampant and he wasn't going to contribute to them. He'd get a yes or a no and he'd move forward depending on the answer he received.
"You wanna what?" He asked, looking up from a school book in his lap.
Jody pictured himself being beaten to death with the rather thick and heavy Anatomy and Physiology book, but he repeated himself and waited for a yes or a no. He finally felt like his old self. He finally had energy and could function again. He hadn't been on a date in ages. "She asked me, Tavin."
"So you're making sure it's ok with me like I'm her dad or something?"
"You know very well why I am checking with you."
"Don't hurt her. Respect her. You know, treat her right."
Coming from Tavin Keller, who did nothing but disrespect her lately, that came as a surprise. He guessed that at some point in time, Tavin did respect her and love her. He still loved her, but their bad outweighed their good and he expressed that.
"She asked you?"
"She said, take me out. We've been talking the last couple weeks outside of here, strictly on the phone. We haven't-I haven't done anything with her."
"Yet."
And that was how they wound up together several hours ago. He'd taken her to the art fair in the Square. A beautiful evening and she was happy with his choice of venues, not the typical movie and dinner date. He'd read about it in the Maverick Daily Times and ironically she requested his company shortly after having seen the article. He knew it would be perfect for her interests. They spent a couple hours there, walking the street, looking at the art and they ate food from street vendors. He held her hand and they kissed a couple times. Being a true date, he was being gentlemanly and respectful, but himself at the same time. They wandered to 10th street and watched Gunny do a tattoo in the window as part of the art exhibit. Tats were art too, Gun had said when Kelly walked in the shop.
"I wanna do what you're doing. How do I do it?"
"Apprentice under an established artist. There's legalities, but that's how you start. Your art skills, you'd be bad ass." He complimented her and then told her to come back if she was interested for sure. "Good money if you're interested." Jody knew this was going to be an issue and didn't discourage her, but encouraged her interest. Gun was correct in that she had skills and that she'd be a great artist, but he or someone would have to have a face to face with him beforehand.
He let her guide him, and when she had enough art for one night, he walked her back to the car. He held the door open for her and she seemed friendlier, touchy-feely.
"Jo, are you taking me home?"
"Where else would you like to go?" He asked. The art fair had been his only idea and she was happy with that. "Are you still hungry?"
"No, I am not hungry." She replied, shortening the distance between them.
He hadn't been on, near or within kissing distance of a female since Ariana Grande. The time he had spent in Maryland with Julia was not exactly his version of a vacation or romance, so Kelly sent out some vibes his way and he picked up on them. He wasn't stupid, but he wasn't exactly sure either. So he kissed her, pressed against her, and he no longer had zombie dick as he called it. He felt her out to be sure, hands roaming over her curvy little body and since she didn't push him off her or tell him to stop, he had to stop himself.
"Home then."
"We can't go there." She said, thinking he meant to Tavin's and that was not in the cards or their imminent future.
"Not what I meant, Kelly. I meant take you home, not take you home with me."
He'd be crazy to do so. That would cause problems. The very fact that he stood beside his car groping a Keller felt strange.
"Oh, I see. I thought-" She paused, though she didn't let go of him either. "So, you don't want to go any further?"
"I do."
Between the Kellers and the Morgans, they kept the Motel 6 in business since the murder in room 12. He'd asked her at least three times before he wasted money on a room. He also wanted to be sure, 100% sure, that she was saying yes for some reason.
"Yeah, I'm sure." She said as she spied the bottle of vodka that had rolled out from beneath the seat of his car. "Oh, vodka." She picked up the bottle and she held it, then twisted the cap off.
"I took it from the house when Julia came home." Yes, it had been rolling around the floor of his car since she broke out of rehab.
"Good thing I am not Julia then, right?" She asked as she took a drink. Not too far off from the looks of the liquid courage spilling down her throat. She took down at least three shots in the car and then held the neck of the bottle like it belonged in her hand. "I'm used to Captain Morgan." She admitted. "Rum and vodka are two very different tastes."
"Yes, they are."
One room key, two more shots between them later, he had her naked and spread eagle on the bed. She had planned ahead. There wasn't a hair on her legs and between her legs she was trimmed neatly. Her panties and her bra matched and she smelled divine. A light scented perfume over the right parts of her body, he inhaled her, then face planted between her legs, because that was the direction she pushed him. She was delightfully really good in bed. A little shy at first, but once he made his descent to the nether region and spent much more time than he normally would on a first time, she literally opened up for him.
All the times that Tavin had criticized this little woman about her lack of enthusiasm and desire, that man was dead wrong.
He left the cell buzz and finally turned the sound down altogether, focusing his full attention on Kelly and her body. "What day is it?" He asked her as he moved above her. "Do you know?" He'd been holding back for an hour and he couldn't do it anymore. She felt too good. He asked on the off chance she used the calendar like Julia did. She would at least know what he meant.
"Shot." She breathed heavily as her back arched and her grip around him tightened. "I get the shot." She came, fingernails digging into his lower back, legs open as far as she could open them. "Jody," She squealed. "Come with me, Jody." He complied with her request, opting to pull out instead of come in her. In the moment or not, he recalled Chess for some reason, ranting about never trusting a girl when she says she's covered. Never...In fact, he thought as he pulled off her, he could have bought a condom. He couldn't say he didn't think this would happen, had plenty of warning, but he hated condoms.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked, rolling on her side and touching his back.
He sat on the edge of the bed, catching his breath and thinking about his brother. "Really wanna know?" He asked, looking down over his shoulder at her big brown eyes. "My brother." He answered, which wasn't what she expected.
"You have brothers."
"Yes, four of them. Gene, Greg and Allen, and Adam."
"Any sisters?"
"Dani died. She was infected." Jody said, reflecting momentarily on that memory of his sister ripping the flesh off his mother and then his father intervening. A door slamming. Hiding. He forced himself back to Greg. "My brother, he told me the first time I was ever with a girl, he said 'never leave your dick in a girl, always take it out' or something to that effect."
"That's why-" She looked down at her belly where he'd come on her.
"Yeah, didn't work out like that the first time though."
"When was that?"
"I was 15, summer break, working with them in a bar. They always worked in bars, bouncers. They always took girls home and I got her after-" He paused, unsure how this story would sound in his current time and place. It was common where he came from, uncommon in the world in which Kelly lived. Modern girls may not find that appealing.
"After what?"
"After the bar closed." He replied. In all honesty, after Greg finished with her. That was a surprise that he hadn't expected. A hot July night in a bottom bunk with Adam in the top bunk listening to his 60 seconds of what would loosely be called sex. He couldn't recall her name, he couldn't even recall what she looked like, only that she had a vagina and was common enough to ask Greg if Joseph would be pleased as well. "That was the best summer of my life. Instant addiction."
"Addiction to what?"
"Pussy, Kell."
"Oh, been there, done that."
"Been there with who?" He asked curiously, raising an eye brow at her. He couldn't picture Kelly with a female, but one never truly knew. She gave him a most strange look. "Didn't mean pussy, did you?"
"No, Jo." She answered. "I don't do that."
"You never wanted to?"
"No, and neither did he." She replied. "Have you?"
"Have I what?" He asked, thinking she meant another guy, which had never crossed his mind.
"Been with more than one person?"
"More than one at a time? No."
"How many have you been with?"
"I have no idea. A lot. I never counted."
"Oh."
That summer when he was 15, he lost count. He normally had to wait for the common girl till he figured out he didn't have to wait if he found his own girl. He found plenty. Girls from the bar, from the neighborhood, from the market, from the local hangout where everybody went to swim during the day. Everywhere he turned there were girls and he tried to get with all of them. He was not choosy. All she needed was a pretty face and a yes. Then he went and found one at school and it was all over from that point on. Tia...he hadn't thought about Tia in awhile. From the moment he and Tia separated for good he went about the business of replacing her with the next female that could hold his attention for more than 5 minutes. In so far, he'd only found Julia. She had no issues holding his attention. Then the lovely Ariana held him down regularly in Philly.
After their date and after their sex, what was there to do with Kelly? Being that they knew each other fairly well already, her questions seemed to be taking a more personal direction. Personal didn't bother him all too much, but he didn't put his personal out there to everyone. He took his time with personal, especially when personal hurt to talk about.
He leaned and picked up his cell from the floor, and when he looked at the screen he had three missed calls, 3 voicemails, several text messages. "What on earth is going on now?" He asked as he looked over the messages from Jay and Julia. He noticed Kelly peeking at his screen.
"That's not work, it's Julia and Jay."
"He's been filling in for me, so Jay's work." Technically. Why lie to her? "He ass dialed me earlier."
"Could have just said that."
He set the phone down and walked away. "Gonna shower, Kelly."
"Sure, I'm kinda messy."
It was not an invitation, but he allowed it. Under the stream of water, they washed and Kelly got friendly again. Her hands first, then she bent in front of him and took him in her mouth. He never turned away a volunteer and this had been the second time she volunteered. Leaning back against the wall of the shower and closing his eyes as she went to work, applying a mix of hands and tongue, suction and throat till she swallowed under the stream of luke warm water.
"You know, you're really good at that."
She dunked her head under the water and took a mouthful, then swished and spit at his feet. "Nah, I...I don't know." She smiled, then turned off the shower. She wrapped in a towel and then head into the room, leaving him standing there. "Work is calling again." Emphasis on work.
Since she was being sarcastic, he said, "Answer it."
"Jody's phone." A familiar voice answered. Jay thought that was odd.
"Kelly?"
"Yeah, what's up? He told me, answer it, so I am answering it. Whatcha want, Jay?"
"Work. Where is he?"
"Coming out of the shower. Hold on."
"Shower? Where are you two?"
Jody came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. "Yo, what's so important?" Jody asked, taking the phone off her. He listened as Jay explained the incident. "Yeah, and Chess said not to do this anymore if we're not getting paid."
"We are getting paid, Jo. I don't have time for this. Julia has a list."
"I'm sure she does. Why wouldn't she?"
"She wants you to go to the hospital and give him his phone and have him call her."
"He's in the hospital."
"Yeah, but Jules says he's on the clock and time's wasting."
"Why can't you go?" He asked, looking at Kelly whose mouth was getting friendly again. Her tongue traced circles and her lips sucked him on his neck. Mouth moving down to his clavicle. "Kell, stop a minute." He said quietly, but she ignored him. He sat down and listened as Jay detailed the list Julia had dictated to him.
"Been awhile, Jody. I'm horny." She whispered once she broke suction. His hand pressed her shoulder and laid her back on the mattress.
"Why are you with Kell?" Jay asked, having heard her last comment as clearly as Jody had heard Julia's comments earlier.
"We're on a date." He answered, placing his hand between her legs. He massaged her bump. She was slick wet and he didn't know what he wanted to do more, work or her. Please, don't ask where we are... "So, I'll be there to pick up the phone and-"
"Leave her with Napoleon at the hospital, then come back. She'll have to call his mom and dad and Jess."
"Yeah, uh, right now?" He asked, listening to her soft moans.
Jay responded in the affirmative, then he ended the call.
Jody continued playing with the bump. "Come, Kelly, then we gotta go."
*** ***
"Jay, you're lying to me." Julia hissed at him. "You serious or are you fucking with me, Keller, cause that is not cool?"
"I know it's not cool." He wasn't sure why, but he agreed with her. The coupling was an odd surprise. Last they'd checked Kelly was clinging to a dead relationship with Tavin. Once he introduced her to a girl or two as Tarin's mom, she took on this strange anger. She didn't devolve into tears and hurt like a normal reaction.
"Why would they do that? Have they lost their minds?" She ranted loudly at him.
"Maybe she's tired of Tavin's bullshit, Julia?"
"The two of them are playing games. He played his and now she's playing hers and she took the game too far." Julia shook her head in disbelief. "Bringing those whores in her house, their bed. He did that on purpose. This is the result."
Pot calling the fucking kettle black...he thought. "Do you realize how hypocritical you sound right now?"
"Oh, yes. Yes, I do. I should quit while I'm ahead." She quieted, if for no other reason than to avoid hurting Jayson's feelings. She was on a fidelity streak since they'd put rings on each other, but it hadn't been long enough to criticize the fidelity or infidelity of others.
"He is serious, though. I think he is anyway."
"She should have discussed this plan of hers with someone before acting on it."
"I thought you were quitting while ahead."
"Yes, sorry, Jayson." She took a drink of her coffee and she watched people work around her. She had police and crime scene investigators, the fire crews and the fire marshal, the mini mart owner complaining on the phone to his insurance company, dead bodies and remnants of dead bodies and finally, tow trucks arrived to remove the damaged cars from the lot. "Not the truck. Leave the truck for last." She yelled. "Are there felonies in that truck?" Julia asked Jayson seriously.
"All at the storage lot." Jay replied quietly.
"What about the weapons? Are they all legal? We have to function within the realm of some laws here, Jay. I mean, that's what he says."
Jody arrived with Kelly and instead of having Jody take her to the hospital with the cell, she had a cop take her there. "Walk her to the man. It's official, so if they say no, you say yes." Julia informed the officer. "Kelly, can you be pushy?" Kelly answered her in the affirmative and seemed to believe that. Julia then handed off a list of things for Mayers to take care of. She didn't ask where he was or why, that story would come later and only if he volunteered the information. "Answer when I call you." She hissed at Jody.
"I did. I thought you ass dialed me, so I ignored the rest of-"
"Do not ignore me again." The frustration was coming off her.
"Why do you need me exactly? The hard part is done and over with." She balled up her fists like she always did when she got angry. "You got this. You wrote the book on this. What's the protocol?"
"I-I-" She looked around her at the mess. "I don't know where to start. I-"
"Think. If you don't know, then tell me what you do know." He snapped her. "Jules, look around. What is wrong with this picture?"
"What would Cookie do in this situation?" She asked herself and anyone within earshot. "Shut it down." She answered herself. "This is my job. I've been doing this for a long time. Stick with what works and what you know." She glanced at the medical crews. "You, are there any injuries?" She asked the lead medic.
"No, ma'am."
"Then leave and take your people with you."
She moved on to the store owner who hassled the police about his business. "You, go in your store and shut up. Not another fucking word outta you. I'm sick of your mouth." She yelled at him. "Keep the coffee brewing too. Don't be lazy."
She turned her attention to Swigget, and politely fired off a list of commands. She cleared the lot of fire, rescue and police. The fire marshal hung around as did Swigget as well as two Maverick patrolmen. She wanted at least two of them to keep the news media at a distance. Once the crowd of people dispersed, she got to the real work of clearing the lot. She'd done this clearing the streets of dead a multitude of times. Side by side with survivors, street by street. It would be no different for the mini mart. Modern conveniences abound such as power washers and bleach and once she broomed the remains into a heaping pile of body parts and debris, she then relit the fire that the department had put out. While the fire burned people into ash and sent smoke into the air, Jayson dealt with those intact bodies and the ME arrived with his death certificates. The Manganelli's followed suit and triple bagged them, then hauled them away in their U-Haul. Since the families hadn't yet been notified or asked to identify the dead, they had to hold off on the cremation of the remains.
She watched the smoke puff into the dark night sky. She gave them release and then had a funeral while Jody and Jayson hosed off the lot, washing away blood and fluids. "Where did they come from?" A gaggle of fifty or so souls who'd turned and nested, waiting for dark and the appropriate moment to strike. She lit a cigarette from the pack she'd lifted from the store and smoked quietly next to the burn. Last burn she'd witnessed had been her own. She glanced at her right arm, her hand...bare...
"Jules," Jay called from across the lot. He held up the cell, "It's Chess."
She crossed to him, through wet ground and around the stream of bloody water as it funneled through a dip in the lot and into the street where it ran into the sewer. She took the phone, walked back to the burn circle. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I got a chest tube. It hurts."
"It will." She said, her voice breaking.
"Are you alright?"
"No. I'm-uh-." She answered, letting the tears escape her eyes and stream over her cheeks. "I'm all dirty." She cried more.
"Tell me what you did already."
She rattled off the last three hours ordeal in about five minutes' time. Everything from who she argued with to the clean up that Jo and Jay were doing. "That's everything. She told him she'd already had Jay call Jimmy Darth and a handful of other things that she had in mind for them as a family or family business.
"Julia, you started a business and you started your rebellion." He paused and talked with the nurse a moment and then came back to her. "She gave me drugs. Oh, this feels nice. I miss drugs."
"Hey, call me when you're mind's clear. We need to-should we wait till you're out to go to the Mayor? This was you're idea."
"Ahh, this is great." His voice signaled he was high as a kite. "Why's Kelly with me?"
"Oh, drama in the making." She said annoyed with the fact Mayers and Kelly had a liaison at the damn Motel 6. He'd need that room once the shit hit the fan at home. The fall out from banging little Kelly Keller had yet to occur and she hoped she wouldn't be there to see it.
"I love you, woman." She heard him say, doubting he'd recall any of this.
"You are high. I'll be by in the morning." She ended the call and moved on with her night.
*** *** ***
The Maverick Daily Times covered this story in depth, which meant one article that consumed an entire page. She graced the cover, her bloodied clothing, disheveled hair and a tear strewn face as she stood next to the burn on a cell phone.
"Dammit." She muttered, slapping the paper on the counter top.
"What?" Tavin asked as he looked at the picture.
"That's me." She yelled, drinking down her third cup of coffee.
"Awe, looking like the little zombie goddess they say you are."
"Zombie Goddess...crying...Lord, of all the photo ops, they choose this one." She was disgusted. The fact that someone had photographed her was bad enough, but a photo in which she bawled like a newborn was unacceptable. The website, as Jody pointed out, had a hundred more just like it. Plus closed circuit video from the mini mart. The closed circuit video made the rounds on the news channels, social media and YouTube. All the red haired, gun toting, scene charging zombie killer. How she had transitioned from alien girl to zombie goddess in the span of a couple months time baffled her. She didn't seek notoriety...yet. She hadn't planned on making a name for herself...yet. Then the phone started ringing and people started showing up at the house randomly. She should have been out of there by the time people amassed on her front lawn, getting in her business and her neighbor's business, calling her a hero. "Me...Chess was there. No pics of his face on the paper. Jay and Jo were 20 feet from this shot. Where are they?" The guys were in a multitude of photos, but the photo they'd chosen for the cover of their newspaper and article had been Julia shedding tears aside a fire. The fire cast a glow on her and the trauma in her head at that very moment. It actually was a stunning picture.
The comments on line were a batch of mixed reviews. Everything positive and negative and in between.
'Grateful this girl did what our paid law enforcement cannot...'
'Leave a man's work to a man.'
'Blowing up our local minute mart put a lot of innocent people in danger.'
'You go girl, get em and keep getting em. I feel safer with her on Maverick's streets.'
'She's hot. Is she single?'
'Zombie Goddess has a long running history within the government conspiracy. Only recently she came out and made a true name for herself. She's been trying to warn and prepare people for a long time. More citizens need to bear arms and stand alongside this brave young woman and fight. I'd partner with her any day.'
'Deleted as this violates our terms and agreements'
'She saved countless Maverick citizens last night. Bravo.'
'There are people who get paid to do what she did. Vigilantism doesn't help, it only promotes more people to take the law into their own hands.'
'Where were our men in blue? Why was she alone?'
---'Article says she had help. One hospitalized and one inside the minimart who kept the patrons safe. These people risked their lives to prevent the chaos and destruction that happened a little over a year ago.'
'I dealt with her in Ephrata at the movie theater. She is professional, warm and caring and so is the rest of her team.'
'I've known her since high school. She was always talking bout zombies. Thought she was crazy.'
'Heard she was in Kensington for the viral outbreak and riots. If there's dead around, I want her near me for sure!'
'They kept a family alive. They kept the store clerk and several other people from dying at that market and on our streets. Someone give her a medal, please!'
She could keep scrolling as comments had been left on the article and they continued to pour in. The national news picked up on the story only because of an anonymous tip that indicated military declined to assist. The teams created for this reason were not on calls or under any stress from incidents in the nation. In fact there was a team less than an hour away at a celebratory dinner for those in the squad for their acts of valor in a neighboring county. This ruffled feathers within the teams and the military brass, but they flipped the responsibility back on the locals, stating in a press release that the County officials declined any assistance. It had also been mandated by the federal government that systems be put in place nationwide for small scale incidents to take pressure off the military and its teams. There was a list of criteria that determined military involvement.
The United States government was strapped for cash and had cut back their teams after drill day. They had avoided a calamity and kept teams at the ready. The government had issued a year's long warning to all state and local authorities to form solutions to this crisis. Most recently, lobbyists and medical experts were pressuring the United States government to fund research, create a vaccine and look into preventative methods to combat this most deadly virus. The Philadelphia-Kensington incident had plummeted society at large into legitimate awareness based on truth. It didn't create panic and chaos outside the perimeter of Kensington. If anything it got people talking and seeking solutions. Either way, as future Julia saw it, they lit a spark that would eventually cause the downfall of modern civilization. She was still pissed off about the fence on top of it.
"You should have allowed this to happen when it was supposed to. The government is passing this buck onto state and local governments." Future Julia theorized that the teams locals create would be weak, insufficiently trained and lead to the very chaos they hoped to avoid. Local government passed the buck to state government for funding. "Funding...the downfall of American modern society."
"Priorities will fund this." Julia suggested.
The powers that be within the current government were waiting for this moment. Their asses were covered with secret military installations and compounds strong enough to keep out the threats that Chess Morgan had warned them about. "The government is not, never will be, humanitarian minded. It is the almighty dollar and the power from the almighty dollar that they seek. The government, Jayson, could give a fuck about the people. They will take a select few and pickup the pieces of society when all is said and done."
"Didn't happen with you in the future, did it?"
"We killed them." Julia yelled. "You do not crawl out from beneath your rock when your food stores are nil and expect to take over with your itty bitty tank and gun. By the time that happened, please..." She scoffed at the idea. "Are you kidding? Every man, woman and able bodied individual looked upon them like the plague carrying dead. They sought their shelter, left their people dying and dead in the streets. Men, women and children suffered. Our army was stronger and they were met when they crawled literally out from under that rock of a mountain with great resistance. Every infantry from all the free states and the civilian citizens descended upon and eradicated that threat."
"I missed out on that." Jody muttered from his bowl of breakfast cereal. He sounded disappointed.
"It was most tense and there were no talks. They threatened us with nukes, you know. As if we gave a shit. Most of our people were still in squalor, just getting by. We still had dead in Jersey to deal with. We told them to start with Jersey when they launched. Fuck them and their antique threats. The audacity. I was in the midst of penning this very book." Future Julia added with a disdained look.
"She's been in a mood since last night." Julia admitted.
"Well, first of all, I hadn't seen a nest in more than a decade. I haven't had to kill one zombie in 10 years and it was most terrifying to be standing in the middle of it all over again. Then, you..." She threw her arms up in the air at Jayson, who looked most worn out and sleepy, "Then you-"
"I'm sorry." He paused, chewing up then swallowing cereal. "But she has some say. What makes you think you have the right to run things? That makes no sense and it is not fair."
"It is not fair?" She asked, her voice exasperated and she leaned across the table to him. "Fair, you have no idea the meaning of fair or unfair."
"No one told you to march into New Jersey."
She looked most hurt by that remark. Tears welled in her eyes. "No one told me to go inside that house on Green Street either, Jayson."
He audibly groaned. "A handful of people went in that house on Green Street right behind you."
"It's all my fault." She sighed, wiping the tears from her cheeks. She laughed a little, then rose from the seat. "I'm going to get dressed." She walked away, made it as far as the stairs. "Maybe I will get over it by the time I return."
"Not what I meant, Julia."
"It's all my fault. I stood in a rest stop with pretty red hair. I was held against my will in a dorm room when I wanted to leave. I was standing on the side of the road and lost. But it's all my fault. It's been so long. I'll just get over it." She yelled at him.
"Julia, I wasn't trying to-"
She cried for the second time in the span of twelve hours. "You don't wanna hear it. Fine. I'll stop."
"We were not in New Jersey with you."
"Jay, brother, shut up." Tavin said over the counter where he read the newspaper.
Julia slipped upstairs at that point. She did not appreciate anyone witnessing her tears.
"Thank you. I was gonna say something." Jody whispered. "I'm surprised she walked away."
He looked directly at Jody, then Tavin. "I'm alive. It's like she doesn't grasp that half the time." He explained, leaning back in his chair and setting his bowl in the sink. "But she's so excited because I am alive. Like when she found out Tupac was alive."
"He's dead, Jayson."
"She says he isn't. He's alive and well in Harlem. You and fan girl went to New York to stalk him for an autograph."
Tavin laughed, "Is he still recording, Jayson?"
"He's a poet. A philosopher. A published author. Peace keeper." Jay replied as if he were speaking truth instead of speculating. "She said it, I listen when she speaks, guys. It's all we do together, hold hands and talk. It's cool as fuck cause she's a very interesting and well spoken woman. There's times though, she pulls back from me, like she's gonna break down, but she doesn't."
"Yes, she does. Yesterday when you left to put the crib together. She said she feels comfortable unloading all this on me, like we're best friends and we live together in Philly, so she's recreating that kind of thing here. I like the queen She's mature, level headed, smart, but like in an old kind of way, like a mom way. It's strange." Tavin told him as he closed the newspaper. "Should we save this for a notebook or scrap book?"
"She doesn't write anymore." Jay shrugged. "She ditched the books. She keeps everything in her head."
Jody looked bothered and spoke up. "When she brought the books home when she was pregnant, Jay, did you read any of them?"
"She insisted I read Care's. The others, no. We were not together and then we jumped and all that other stuff happened, so no."
"In the time I have known you, there was only one time I could say that I don't like you. This is the second time."
"Jersey's book, my friend, was not for me to read. It was for you, 'a testimony to what happened to her'. When she wrote the book, she blamed both of you."
"She doesn't blame me, Jay." Jody argued. "She explained it differently."
"Now, she would." He got up and he looked to the stairs. "I'll talk to her. Believe it or not, I do know what she's been through. Do you?" He asked Jody. "Have you ever sat with your girlfriend after she's been raped and held her and told her everything was gonna be ok and you knew damn right well it would never be ok again?" He looked at Tavin, then Jody and neither answered and neither wanted to guess. "Have you? Know what it's like the first time she lets you in after something like that happens? When she tells you to stop, get off her, don't touch her and you haven't done a damn thing wrong except kill the man?" He looked back to Jody. "Cut me some slack. Do you know how many times I have heard about Caleb Downing and he's been dead since I cut his throat?" He picked up Alex's bowl and Tavin's then Jody's. "I want to push her. I want her angry. I want her screaming at me. I want her to get it out and you, dumb asses, tell me to shut up. Acting like I don't know what the fuck I'm doing." He looked at Jo again. "Well? No comment? Since you two know so fucking much...think I care if she hits me, hurts me, screams at me, insults me? It's her way of getting me to shut up about it. I want her to volunteer the information. I don't wanna read it in a fucking book. Things like that, not all the details are written. The stuff that matters, that's not written down. So, Jo, tell me how you don't like me again. It's not up to you how I deal with my wife."
"Oh, that's not fair." Jody replied.
"I don't know what fair or unfair is, remember? You seemed to agree with her. It is permissible to disagree with her. She's not always the all knowing, wise person you put up on this pedestal with Tia."
"Don't bring Tia into this."
"Then don't start with me and her."
"Ok, guys, please. Jay, you of all people know how these high school romances are. So-"
"High school. Did you go to war in high school?" Jody asked. "Did you and Carmen cross the shores to a foreign land and start murdering people, Tavin? Cause if that's what you consider high school or romance, then you're crazy."
"Foreign land? It was New Jersey, Jody."
"Technically we did, yeah." Jay sided with him.
"Didn't ask you." Jody snapped at him. "I've been to North campus, it's not exactly under siege."
Jay decided to drop the disagreement there and then. Tavin and Jody didn't say another word. Since they all co-shared the house, tension happened from time to time. The three of them opted to let it drop. Jay slipped upstairs to smooth things over with Julia and he and Jody watched the reporters on the street who hoped for a glimpse of the zombie Goddess or a sound bite from her. She had sent Tavin outside earlier and made him refer the reporters to the Mayor and the Police Commissioner.
Some of them eventually dispersed, but some of them didn't.
They'd had the local news on TV all morning though and nothing surprised them more than the person who truly spoke for them. Tavin and Jody heard her voice and turned from their places at the window and door to the television. Kelly stood in front of Maverick General's ER entrance in the same clothes she wore on her date with Jody. Her long brown hair was pulled into a tail and the light make up she usually wore had long worn off.
"What's she doing?" Tavin asked, stepping closer to the TV.
"Thank you all for your patience this morning." She said as her eyes looked nervously over several of the reporters and news cameras in front of her. "Thank you, it has been a long night for every one involved in the incident at Maverick Minute Mart. On behalf of our team, I would like to thank-"
"Julia!" Jody yelled as Kelly stood as the unofficial spokeswoman for their family business.
"-all of those involved, from the local first responders who put their lives on the line to the volunteers at our local firehouses."
"Julia, you wanna see this."
"In times like this, unfortunately the times we live in, there is the need for a team of experienced individuals, a new form of rapid response. Last evening at approximately 850pm there was an incident that required the skill and experience to handle such a threat to our lives and well being. Approximately 22 of our citizens were infected with the Z virus, type II, which poses a greater risk to our people. What, in lay terms, is called a nest. The dead that are infected with type II virus are nocturnal creatures who strictly hunt once night falls."
Julia and Jayson came down the steps once Jody called and saw Kelly surrounded and speaking for them. The room was eerily quiet as she spoke.
"They are especially dangerous, move in similar fashion to you and me and are thought to have a higher level of thought and consciousness than those dead we have seen in the past. A creature that is much different from those we have witnessed in the Philadelphia-Kensington event, the Ephrata Main theater and those who walked our very streets in August of this year and last." She paused a moment, possibly unsure of what to say next. Whether she had been coached by Chess before leaving the hospital or whether she had been approached and spoke on her own was yet to be determined. "The event that occurred last evening, as I said, claimed the lives of 22 transformed individuals who wished to cause us, the citizens of Maverick, great harm. I assure you that no civilian lives were lost, only those who were in that hive like formation, or nest, that I described. The team ensured the safety of those inside the Minute Mart, then swiftly went into action, exterminating the nest before it could move off that corner and onto another corner where you or I live."
"One civilian is in the hospital currently." A reporter called.
"No. He is a member of the team." Kelly responded quickly.
"What's his current condition?" The same reporter asked.
"Alive. Awake and able to speak with his friends and family."
"What's the nature of his injury?"
"I am not permitted to discuss that, but he'll survive his injury. That's all I can say."
"Who are the members of this team?"
"I cannot answer that currently."
"What level of experience do the members of the team have?"
Kelly thought a moment. "A lengthy history of exterminating threats similar if not worse than last evening."
"What's your name?"
"Kelly Keller." She answered.
"Your name's not Keller." Tavin said to the TV. "Why wouldn't she give them her real name?" He asked Julia.
"She identifies as a Keller, Tavin." Julia answered.
"Are you part of the team, Ms. Keller?" Another reporter asked.
"In regards to the level of extermination that we saw last night, I am not qualified." She answered.
"Yes, you are." Julia said under her breath.
"No fucking way, Julia, no." Tavin looked down over her shoulder at her as Julia watched Kelly trying to decide whether to end question/answer session.
"If she were forced to, she could. She knows things."
"How will this team work? Will you have regular patrols or will there be a paging system in place? Will it run through the county or the state?"
"Once there is more information in regards to the team, the plan of action and the goals, there will be further updates. I assure you that any plan will have the people of Maverick and their safety needs in mind. As for now, I ask that you contact Mayor Gray's office or Police Commissioner Hardy's office."
"How would we get in touch with this team temporarily until the plan is put in place?"
"Contact the local authorities, 911 system is what is recommended. Local 911 dispatch will dispatch us, um, will dispatch team members."
"Us?" Tavin asked. "Who is us?"
"I think you're looking at the 'us'." Julia replied, elbowing his arm.
No comments:
Post a Comment