Title: Tech: Zombie Effect Chapter 13
Characters: Logan/Carter
POV: Carter
Carter saw hope in Jimmy’s face. “Yeah, really. Get in the car and let’s get her. You two can stay here until things settle down.”
Though he wasn’t sure he could shoot anyone, he was glad he had the gun. Carter bundled Jimmy into his car and as he walked to the driver’s side, he sent a silent prayer of help to a God he wasn’t sure existed.
Backing onto the street, Carter then straightened the steering wheel and headed off. The road was pitch black as the county hadn’t yet put in street lights. Though nervous about hitting a deer, he kept his brights off. Jimmy lived on the next street over, one that had just been put into for the new housing development. Carter knew it had the bright street lights, which would make him pulling up to Jimmy’s house very noticeable.
“Hey, Jimmy, do you know if anyone lives in the house next door to you?”
“It’s not finished. No one lives there. Do you think a family with kids might move in?”
“What?”
Jimmy sighed impatiently, the way only an 8-year-old boy could. “A family. With a kid my age? It’s good to have someone to play with.”
“Um. I don’t know, maybe?” Carter doubt anyone would be moving in, but then thought, who knows. It’s the zombie apocalypse, anything could happen. “Listen, I’m going to park at the house next door so your dad doesn’t know we’re there, ok?”
“Ok. He might be asleep by now.”
Passed out, probably, Carter thought, but didn’t voice out loud to the kid. “I want you to go around to the back, and look in to see if he’s still up, ok?” Carter glanced at Jimmy and saw his nod. “Don’t worry, I’ll be close by if anything happens.”
About a mile up the road was an intersection. Carter turned right, and then over an old one-lane bridge. As a civil engineer, he thought of the work that would need to be done on it. The new housing development would bring in a lot of people. Or would have brought in a lot of people. With what was going on in the world he doubted many people would be moving anywhere.
Turning on the road Jimmy lived on, Carter noted not only the street lights but how much smoother the road was. It had been laid down the previous spring and hadn’t been through a winter yet. He also took note of how many houses were still being built. It looked like only three or four of the houses had been completed. He filed in the back of his mind the materials that were lying about. If this zombie thing continued, the stuff might come in handy.
“There’s my house. Look! There’s my mom!”
Carter looked where Jimmy was pointing. There on a new driveway stood the woman from earlier in the day. The only difference was the amount of bruising. The old, yellowing bruises were still there, but she now sported a black eye and split lip.
Deciding the dad was probably asleep, Carter changed his mind and pulled directly into their driveway. As soon as the car had stopped, Jimmy opened the door.
“Jimmy! Jimmy! I’ve been so worried!” The woman rushed over and wrapped her arms around the boy.
Squirming, Jimmy tried to break his mom’s hug. “Mom. Mom. Stop. I’m fine.” Finally free from the hug, Jimmy turned and motioned to Carter. “Mom, this is Carter. He said he’d take us to his house. Please? Please, can we go?”
Carter’s eyes met the startled eyes of the woman. Even in the dim street lights, he could see the flash of desperate hope. “Um. Hi. Do you remember me? From earlier today?” When she nodded, he continued. “Well, um, you and Jimmy could come to stay with us. It might be…er….um…safer.”
“Your wife won’t mind?”
“Husband. No wife. Is that a problem?” Most of the folks in the small Ozark town accepted Carter and Logan. The townspeople reserved their harshest judgment for the “city folk” who were starting to move into their little town.
“No, no problem. Can you wait just a minute? I have a couple of bags packed for me and Jimmy.”
“Is your husband passed out? Um, I mean asleep?”
She looked at him with eyes that told of a soul older than her years. “Yes. I’ll be right back. Jimmy, stay here.”
“See I told ya!”
Carter shook his head in confusion. “Told me what?”
"That we had bags! We were gonna leave soon.”
“Yeah, you told me. Guess I need to listen better, huh?”
The woman came running back out with a backpack in each hand. Carter expected them to get in the car, but Jimmy ran toward the door.
“Hey! Come back! What are you doing?” Carter wondered if the kid was going back for a favorite toy.
But Jimmy didn’t stop or come back. Instead, he slipped inside and then reappeared with a bundle of fur.
“We can’t leave Scags! You know he’d hurt him!”
Two pairs of eyes turned to him. Only a heart full of evil could deny the pleading looks. Hell, Logan was killing him. “Ok. Let’s just get in the car and go.”
The three quickly got in the car, being careful to not slam the doors, and buckled up. Once back on the road, Carter turned to the woman. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours. I can’t keep calling you Jimmy’s mom.”
“Oh. I’m Shelly. Shelly Osborne.”
Carter glanced over and sent her a smile. “Carter Allen. And my husband is Logan.”
Jimmy leaned forward as much as his seatbelt would allow. “Mom, he’s cool. Even if he likes shooting trees.”
Looking in his rearview mirror, Carter laughed. “I was NOT shooting trees! I was shooting at a target that was ON a tree.”
His laughter stopped abruptly. They’d just turned onto the road that held the bridge when he saw glowing eyes. His first thought was that one of the zombies was wandering the woods. Then he slammed on his breaks as a young doe bounded across the road in front of him.
“Damn, that was close! You all ok?” He turned and looked at Shelly first, then Jimmy. They both nodded and then Scags barked an admonishment.
“Yeah, yeah, pup. I’ll keep my eyes on the road.”
The rest of the drive was done in silence. Carter couldn’t help but think that he must have tripped into another dimension. A portal into an alternate universe. A month ago, he never would have thought he’d be rescuing a battered woman and her son. Never mind zombies roaming the earth.
As he pulled into his driveway, a sigh of conflicting emotions escaped his lips. Relieved that Logan wasn’t home yet so he could get Shelly and Jimmy settled in, but worried that Logan wasn’t home yet. How much stuff did Robert have? Had they hit a deer? Had they ran into trouble?
“If it’s a problem to stay here, you could maybe take us into town. We could get a hotel room for the night.” Shelly was on guard. She’d learned the hard way to be tuned to the moods around her.
“No. No problem. Just worried about my husband. He’s not back yet. Come on. Let’s get you inside and settled. We have a couple of spare bedrooms upstairs.” Getting out of the car, Carter opened the back door to let Jimmy and Scags out. “Hey Jimmy, you can sleep in my old bedroom.”
“Yay! Does it have any toys?”
“No, bud. I was older than you when I first came here to live. But maybe tomorrow we can check in the attic. Grams may have kept a few from when I was little and would come to visit.”
Inside the kitchen, Carter got a good look at Shelly’s face. Blood was caked on her lip and her eye was swelling shut. Jimmy was right. The person who had done that wasn’t a person at all. He was a monster.
On to Chapter 14