Tech: Zombie Effect Chapter 16

Title: Tech: Zombie Effect Chapter 16
Characters: Logan/Carter
POV: Carter

Carter turned over trying to avoid the morning sunlight from hitting his eyes. Burrowing down into the covers, he was grateful the clouds and snow were gone, but the clearing night sky had dropped the temperature down well below freezing. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back for taking time off during the winter months. He didn’t have to get up and warm up his car. Maybe he could talk Logan into taking the day off and cuddling with him.

Wait! Carter sat up. There was no work! The world had gone to hell in a handbasket. And he’d brought home an abused woman and her son last night. Carter quickly got out of bed. He glanced at the clock but all it showed was a black screen. The power must have gone out.

Stepping into the bathroom, Carter turned on the faucet. Water came rushing out. At least they still had water. He was glad they’d switched back to the well-water system. He’d have to double-check it to make sure it could withstand the winter. It was only November, but already they’d had snow and below freezing temps. As he relieved himself, he thought about the plumbing situation. They were on a septic system, but he wanted to talk to everyone about the best way to dispose of paper waste. No one wanted a backed-up sewer system!

Carter finished his morning routine and followed the scent of coffee to the kitchen.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Logan had been sitting at the table, rose, and kissed him.

“Mornin.” Carter returned the kiss. “Is that coffee? How long have you been up? Robert, I thought Logan was going to take over at three or so. Why are you up? Where’s Shelly and Jimmy? They didn’t leave did they?”

Dammit, Carter thought to himself. He should have been up! He would have stopped them.

“You always wake up full of questions?” Robert’s gruff voice broke through his thoughts.

“Only when zombies have taken over the world! Where’s the coffee? I thought the electricity had gone out.” He felt Logan’s hand on his back, guiding him to the table.

“The electricity went out about four this morning. Shelly and Jimmy are still sleeping. And here’s a cup of coffee.” Logan handed him a mug full of steaming, black ambrosia. “Robert had a campfire coffee pot. We started a fire in the fireplace and made a pot.”

Sitting at the table, Carter blew on the steaming liquid, then took a sip. A little strong for his taste, but he didn’t complain. He drank half the cup, before starting over. He looked at Robert, “Did you get any sleep?”

“Yeah. I crashed on the couch about three-thirty, then up at six.”

Carter shook his head. “That’s not a lot of sleep.”

“I’ll sleep enough when I’m dead.”

Carter shrugged. The old man was gruff, it would take time to get used to him. He turned to Logan. “Is Shelly and Jimmy still sleeping?”

“Yes. I think they need the rest. You know, knowing they are safe has got to give them a better sleep.”

Leaning over, Carter kissed his husband. The kindness that Logan had was one of the first things that he fell in love with. “Thanks. I think you’re right.” He turned to look at Robert. “You don’t mind them staying? I don’t think they should go back and there’s really nowhere else for them to go.”

“Well, I don’t mind. But I ain’t really got no right to say anything. This is your place,” Robert said.

Carter made a mental note of the fact the old man hadn’t seemed to mind at all him kissing Logan. That alone told him that they could all work together.

“No, Robert. It’s not going to go that way. I think we have to all have a say.” Logan pointed to each of the men at the table. “The three of us. We’ve got to work as a team. Not one of us is the leader, but the three of us.”

“I agree,” Carter said. “The three of us each have a skill that works together.”

Robert scratched his head. “I won’t make decisions about your place. I’ll tell you my opinion, I got plenty of those.”

“That works. And we need your opinions.” Carter got up and pour another cup of coffee. “I think we need a plan of action. What do we need to do?” He let the question hang in the air as he walked back to the table.

“We were just talking a little about that before you came down.” Logan pushed a pad of paper toward Carter. “I started writing things down. Getting a good fence around the house, barn, and at least part of the yard is I think top priority.”

Carter looked at the paper. Logan’s notes were all over the place. He ripped off the sheet of paper and started his own list. “One: Fence. Two: Check well. Three: Bypass electronics on the stove.”

Robert leaned over and looked at what he’d written. “I got a glimpse of your folders. You organize good.” He pointed at the third item. “What does that mean? Bypass electronics?”

“Our stove is a gas stove. We can do a bit of rewiring so the stove doesn’t depend on the electrical components. It’s more dangerous that way, but I’ll walk everyone through the steps so we don’t blow ourselves up”

“Huh! Good idea. Cookin’ with the stove gonna be better than trying to cook in the fireplace.” Robert stood up. “I’ll get another pot going real quick. Be right back.”

Carter looked at his list. Then he drew an arrow between items two and three. He wrote: check septic tank at the end of the arrow.

“I hadn’t thought of that.” Logan ran his hands over his face. “Gawd, Car, there’s so much I didn’t think of. I just thought about getting us supplies. But if this is as bad as what was shown on the news, our supplies won’t last us until this all ends. Hell, I don’t even know IF it’ll end!”

“Logan. You did what you could! The supplies are crucial! They will give us the time we need to get this place safe, give us time to figure things out.” Carter leaned over and hugged him tightly.

“Ahem.” Robert cleared his throat loudly. “You two need a room? Or can you keep it in your pants for awhile? Cuz, I’m hungry and going to make some breakfast.”

Carter looked at him. He could see the teasing glint in the man’s eyes. No judgment, just a bit of joking. “It’ll be hard, but I guess I can wait.”

Robert lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s hard. I’m going to scramble up some eggs. Easy to do on an open flame.”

Carter blushed at the crude joke. Yeah, he thought, it was going to take time to get use to the old army man. “I have my grandma’s old cast iron skillet. That’s probably best to use on the fire.” He pointed to a cabinet. He watched as Robert grabbed the skillet and then the eggs.

“Grab the salt and pepper and come on. If you two aren’t going to take it to bed, let’s keep plannin’. I’m thinkin’ we are on borrowed time.”

Carter picked up the pen and tablet and followed him into the living room. He put the seasonings on the coffee table as Robert knelt by the fireplace. He sat on the couch and looked at his list. “We’ve got fence down first, and I get why, but how are we going to do it? We can’t just call someone. We can’t run to the hardware store and get the prefab pieces.”

“Robert and I were talking about that,” Logan said. “There’s all the construction around here-for the subdivision going in and that new highway.”

The concrete dividers would be perfect for the fence. There probably wasn’t enough for the whole perimeter, but maybe they could double them up at weak places. Carter made a note to walk the yard, find where the weak places were.

“Hi, um. Sorry, we slept so late.” Shelly’s voice was soft and wary. “If one of you wouldn’t mind to, um, maybe drive us into town, Jimmy and I can be out of your way.”

“Morning, Shelly. Hiya, Jimmy! Come on in. Robert’s making breakfast.” Carter hoped his voice was welcoming. He didn’t want to scare Shelly. From the look of the bruises on her face and her puffy swollen lip, she’d been scared enough. He looked over to the small dog in Jimmy's arms. "Morning to you too, pup."

Jimmy set the dog down and bounced over to Robert.  "You're cookin' on the fireplace? That's cool!"

“Yeah. You like scrambled eggs?” At Jimmy’s nod, Robert started showing the boy how to stir the eggs while staying safe from the flames.

Carter took the signal from Robert and motioned Shelly to the kitchen, Logan following closely. He wasn’t sure how much the woman knew of what was going on. “Shelly, do you know what’s going on? With the world?”

“You mean the sickness? A couple of days ago they were talking about a sickness on the news.”

Logan handed her a cup of coffee. “It’s a bit more than just an illness.” He looked at Carter. “There’s more to it than that.” Then Logan told her what he knew. He told her and Carter both what he and Robert had seen last night. “Right now, there are no hotels to go to.”

Shelly sat down, her face drained of all color. “I. Um. I had seen some stuff on the television. I didn’t know it was everywhere. I don’t...I don’t know what to do.” She looked at Carter with fear in her eyes. “I don’t think I can go back home.”

“Oh! Gawd, no! You won’t go back home!” Carter was quick to reassure her. “You and Jimmy are welcome to stay as long as you want!” He looked to Logan for help.

“Shelly, it would actually be a help if you stayed. We are stronger as a group than as individuals. We’ve prepared some but have more to do. It’d be a relief to have someone here while we go and get some of the materials we need.”

Some of the color crept back in her face. “Are you sure?” At both Logan and Carter’s nod, the rest of the color came back. “I can help. And so can Jimmy. I don’t have a gun, but I can shoot if you have an extra gun. Jimmy told me you’d been shooting at targets.” She laughed a little. “Well, he told me you were shooting at trees, but I put two and two together.”

“That’s great. We can always use extra firepower if we need it,” Logan said.

“Can we eat first?” Carter asked. The talk of guns had his finger throbbing from being shot and the scent of the scrambled eggs had his stomach growling.

The three had just started to walk in the living room when they heard a car pull into the driveway.

Shelly looked out the window. “It’s him. My husband.”

Logan pushed her into the living room and toward the stairs. “Get upstairs and be quiet. Jimmy go with your mom, now. Don’t make any noise at all.”

Robert pulled the skillet off the fire and set it down on the coffee table. “I’ll get the door.”

Go to Chapter 17