The Broken and the Dead

Mr. Caulfield said that around four AM, Mrs. Franks came into the kitchen, she said she couldn’t sleep. She and her husband were both concerned about things, they were worried about Mr. Tucker and all those guns. She thought that maybe if Mr. Caulfield would back them up then things could get organized. Mr. Caulfield said that he wouldn’t do that. He felt that Mr. Tucker had done nothing that warranted this level of suspicion. He was about to say that he was willing to talk about it some more in the morning when there was a blinding pain and he woke up on the floor. Old Man Tucker listened then checked the back door. It was unlocked. He stepped outside with Mrs. Driscol, luckily the crazies were gone. Unfortunately so was the Driscol’s SUV. He came back in and went to the living room and on to the den, he wasn’t gone long. He came back in, one of those big Russian rifles in his hands, the one with the scope on it.

“They stole just about everything that we had set out; handguns, long guns, ammunition. Everything.”

He was putting bullets into the rifle one at a time. They looked long and deadly compared to the .22s that Billy and I had.

“We still have ours Mr. Tucker.” Billy said holding up the STG.

Mr. Tucker looked at him and said “Good job son, keep them close.”

Mom looked at Old Man Tucker and said “what are you going to do?”

Old Man Tucker slammed the bolt home and said “I’m going to hunt him down and kill him.”

Mom said that he couldn’t do that, Mrs. Driscol said that he wasn’t a judge, jury, or an executioner. Elaine sat at the table and held her head in her hands. Lucy was helping Mr. Caulfield and Billy pulled on my sleeve and we went into the living room.

“Old Man Tucker is right” Billy said in a hushed whisper. “Mr. Franks shouldn’t have done what he did.”

I looked at him and shook my head.

“I don’t know Billy, maybe there was some other reason?”

“Like what?” Billy snapped back.

At that moment Old Man Tucker came through the living room and went into the den, Mom and Mrs. Driscol following behind him trying to talk him out of doing what he said he was going to do. When they came out he was wearing a shoulder holster with a revolver in it and another holster on his belt. In them were two of those old colts he seemed to love, the DA-41s.

We all gathered back in the kitchen and Old Man Tucker finally stopped and said his piece.

“The Franks attacked Mr. Caulfield, they could have killed him, they left the door unlocked and all of us could have been killed. They stole the best firearms I had, the rest of them in there are guns, sure, but they are antiques for the most part. I don’t have enough ammunition for them. We need those guns back; the Franks didn’t give a damn about any of us, and I don’t give a damn about them so I guess that’s fair, but he put us all at risk. Me, you, the kids, all of us could have died, we still might if we don’t get the guns back. I am going to find him. I’m going to find him and I’m going to kill him.”

He paused for a moment then spoke again

“Mrs. Williams please understand, I have to do this, now where are the keys to your van?”

Mom looked very upset but Mrs. Driscol nodded to her so she dug in her pocket and handed them to Old Man Tucker. About then Lucy and Mr. Caulfield came in from the living room. Mr. Caulfield had a double barrel shotgun over his shoulder and a pistol in his hand.

“Mr. Tucker, I want to help, but what is this?” He held the gun up for Old Man Tucker to see.

“It’s a Russian Nagant revolver and it’s a 7 shooter.”

Mr. Caulfield held it up and looked at it and said quietly

“Well, I’ll be.”

Mrs. Driscol and Mom were talking quietly and finally Mrs. Driscol said

“Well, if you two are going we all are going.”

She seemed rather certain of that but Old Man Tucker seemed a little ticked off by the suggestion.

“I can move quicker alone, it would be better if you stayed here, the boys can watch things can’t you fellas?”

He looked over at Billy and me, the armory guards with rifles and revolvers. We both chimed up that we could and that he could count on us. But mom was adamant.

“No, no, no. Your house, your rules; my van, my rules.”

That was something that Old Man Tucker couldn’t argue with so he just threw up his hands and said

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I wouldn’t think of it” Mom said, “now I think you should find some of your antiques for the rest of us don’t you?”

Old Man Tucker gave a gun to Mom and one to Mrs. Driscol and one to Elaine. All three were French carbines from the First World War, he said they all fired the same 8mm Lebel ammunition but he only had about 120 of them.

“Are these any good?” Elaine asked.

“Pretty sure about a half million Germans at Verdun thought they were pretty damn deadly.” Tucker said with a strange smile.

Only Lucy stood to the back watching quietly. He quickly went through a lot of the same stuff he went over with Billy and me but their rifles were bolt action and not semi-automatic like Billy’s or mine. He was just handing them boxes of bullets for their rifles when Mr. Caulfield came in.

“We got another problem” and he paused a moment then finished “Franks slashed all the tires on the van and the other cars too.”

Old Man Tucker made a fist and swore under his breath.

“Now what?” he asked, “They have a huge head start, we don’t have a vehicle and we don’t know where they are going.”

We were all quiet when Lucy spoke up, “Yes we do Mr. Tucker, we know where they are going.”

Old Man Tucker looked at Lucy quizzically and waited for her to continue.

“They are going to the lodge and the directions are on the dining table in our house.”

With that she took Ronald Bear and left the den. Old Man Tucker looked at Mom and said

“That’s one special little girl you got there Mrs. Williams.”

Mom folded her arms over her chest and said “Yes, she is, Mr. Tucker, yes she is.”

We spent the morning getting ready; Mr. Caulfield said that he thought we could get a car off the Toyota lot about three miles from our subdivision. The adults debated and finally it was decided that Old Man Tucker and Mrs. Driscol would walk to the dealer and get us two cars that would be big enough to carry all of us and as much food and water as we could get in there. The rest of us were going to get everything out of the van and the other cars and sort through them. Mr. Caulfield was out on the screened-in porch on guard duty, even with his sore head bandaged he was looking for a fight it seems. Old Man Tucker went to Elaine and looked at her seriously.

“Miss, I have a favor to ask, would you pack me some things too? Some warm clothes, jeans, flannel shirts? And some...” he paused, looked terribly uncomfortable then added “socks and such? There is an old green back pack in my closet.”

Elaine burst out laughing; it was the most emotion she had shown since this all started two days before. Then she spoke in an exaggerated southern drawl,

“Why Mister Tucker, are you asking lil’ ol me to pack yall unmentionables?”

Old Man Tucker turned beet red, he was so flummoxed that he couldn’t respond but Elaine took pity on him and patted him on the arm

“Don’t worry Mr. T. I’ll get you sorted out while you are gone.”

Old Man Tucker nodded his thanks and got the heck out of there, Mrs. Driscol right behind him. Elaine turned to Mom and said “What century is that old guy from anyway?” Mom smiled and said “I have no idea, but he isn’t at all like I thought he would be.”

Billy and I were in the den, going through all the boxes of ammunition; we were loading every round we could find that was on our new list; 22lr, 7.62x38R, 41lc, 7.62x54R, and 12 gauge shells. He also said he had one box of 12 gauge flechettes and that we should find it if we could. We were to get all the 8mm Lebel we could find but if we found any 8mm Mauser or 8mm Hungarian we should leave them behind. He said he didn’t have many but they were not the same as the Lebel and we shouldn’t mix them. To be honest it seemed like alphabet soup to me but Old Man Tucker said it was important, while a far cry from what the Franks had stolen all of them would get the job done. We were packing them all into those old metal ammo cans. He had a bunch of them stored away under the work table. He also told us to pack up his cleaning kit in a fancy wooden box so all we had to do was add cleaning oil and little white cloth patches. We took the cans into the kitchen; I could see Mr. Caulfield out on the back porch, that big double barrel shotgun in his hands and the Nagant revolver on his belt in a fancy brown holster that was made for it. Mom was packing can goods into a couple of old copy paper boxes when I heard Elaine call her from Old Man Tucker’s room. Mom started off down the hall to see what she wanted and Billy and I followed having finished our assignment.

Elaine was in the room staring at a wall that was covered in photos, big, small and everything in between. There was a very beautiful woman in most of them and at least three kids too.

“I didn’t see these last night,” Elaine said, “do you think this is his family?”

Mom stepped forward and looked at the photos, her hands on her hips

“I suppose so” she said, “Mr. Franks said that one of his son’s owns this house so he must have a family.”

They looked at photos for a moment then Elaine said

“Mom, what happened to his wife?”

Mom thought about it for a minute and then said

“I really don’t know but Mrs. Caulfield said that she heard she had enough of Tucker, divorced him and married someone else and was living in Boston.”

Then Mom changed the subject “is this what you wanted to show me?”

Elaine turned and shook herself out of whatever thoughts she was having

“Ah, no, look at this Mom.”

Elaine opened the top drawer of a small chest; in it were neat rows of black underwear and rows of tightly rolled black socks behind them.

“Okay, he likes black underwear so what?” Mom said.

Elaine rolled her eyes, “not that, this!” she said and pulled a large photo from under the clothing.

There was Old Man Tucker, wearing a blue uniform with a white hat and looking very young and very mean.

“Ah, I see.”

Mom said that Old Man Tucker had been in the Marine Corps and that was the dress uniform that they wore.

“Why would he put this one in the drawer and hang all the others?” Elaine asked.

“I don’t know honey” Mom said handing it back to Elaine, “but I am sure he has his reasons.”

“Should I pack any of the pictures Mom? I mean look he has a shrine to this lady” Elaine said as waved at all of the photos of the beautiful woman.

“No, I don’t think so, honey. If Mr. Tucker wants to bring any I am sure he will.”

Mom smiled softly and then turned towards me and Billy standing in the door.

“And you two, did you finish your job?”

We both nodded and said yes and she then put a hand on each of our shoulders and turned us towards the hallway.

“Good” she said, “I have a few other things I think you can help with, now where is your sister?” As we walked my Mom began reeling off a long list of things she wanted done and my mind began to feel like I was in the middle of one of those crazy roller coasters.

Meanwhile, about a mile away, Old Man Tucker and Mrs. Driscol moved cautiously down the street, they were talking no chances, not wanting to run into another group of wandering crazies. There were signs of battle everywhere, burned out cars and homes. Bodies both alone and in small groups littered the way. Scattered in the corpses were some in uniform, both in police blue and army green.

“I don’t hear any gunfire” Mrs. Driscol whispered, her voice had a tremble in it that made Tucker think of a little rabbit for some reason.

“I don’t either and I don’t like it one bit” Old Man Tucker responded.

They passed a number of vehicles but none of them seemed usable having either been shot up or having crashed. Many of them had blood smeared on the windows and seats; some had mangled corpses in them as well. After about an hour and a half they got into the business part of town, they could see the golden arches had been knocked over by a cement truck and were in the street. There was a constant and growing sense of dread for them. The air was putrid with smoke and it was growing stronger. All sorts of things had been burnt, wood, rubber, plastics, and people. Mrs. Driscol pulled a large hanky from her pocket and wrapped it around her face, tying it so to act as a filter. Eventually they could see the Toyota dealership, the multicolored flags moving gently in a corrupt breeze. They knelt next to each other and Old Man Tucker raised his rifle and looked through the scope. After a moment or two he said,

“I see a couple of crazies but that’s all, one is in the lot, the other in the showroom.”

“How do you know they are crazies?” Mrs. Driscol asked.

“They have been eating someone” was his reply.

“Well, what do you want to do?” she responded.

Old Man Tucker did not answer instead a terrifically loud bang echoed through the area and the crazy in the lot flew backwards, his head nearly coming off. He worked the bolt and drove a second round home. The old Russian battle rifle dated from 1934, it had seen many battles, many owners, and many many deaths. But its age did not make it any less deadly. Mrs. Driscol could see the other crazy now; it was banging on the glass trying to get out, trying to see what was going on. Indeed it was covered in blood and had trails of it running down his chin. A second explosion and the glass shattered inwards as the crazy’s body disappeared from sight, then Tucker worked the bolt for a second time. Old Man Tucker watched for another minute or so but not seeing anything he slowly rose and put the rifle on his shoulder. He took out one of the colts and said

“Come on Mrs. Driscol, let’s go car shopping.”

They circled around the lot, the cars were covered with soot from a large apartment complex that had burned down across the divided highway from the dealership. Still there was no one moving, no survivor, no crazies. Old Man Tucker looked over at his shoulder at Mrs. Driscol. For the first time he realized just how attractive the slim, young mother was. What he found even more attractive was the way she held the World War I French Berthier carbine. She held it like a pro and her eyes were scanning the horizon. ’Good for her’ he thought to himself. He just prayed that if push comes to shove she wouldn’t hesitate, somehow he didn’t think she would, she had a son back at his house, he had no doubt that she would do whatever she had to do to get back to him. They circled all the way around to the far side of the building where the customer service center entrance was located. He gently opened the door and a soft bell rang and they slowly entered. There was a counter on one side with a thick plexiglass wall separating the parts center from a waiting area for the customers. Opposite that were a half dozen service bays and a couple of vehicles were still in there. Old Man Tucker whispered to Mrs. Driscol,

“Keep both eyes and both ears open” he said, and she nodded agreement.

There was a small waiting room for customers and then the main hall with salesperson offices on either side. Mrs. Driscol tapped Old Man Tucker on the shoulder and pointed to a name plate that read

“G. Gardner, Sales Manager.”

He smiled and they let themselves in the office. It was a typical thing, desk, cheap faux leather chair, computer and a long rack of clip boards each preloaded with contracts. Behind the desk set in one wall was what they were looking for. A large steel locker labeled “Keys.”

Old Man Tucker pointed to the door and then to both eyes indicating that Mrs. Driscol should watch the door she nodded assent. The lock box was secure and a quick search of the desk yielded no results. Old Man Tucker reached into his back pocket and took out a long flat head screw driver and began to pry at the seam. He was having difficulty getting it started and eventually leaned his Moisan against the wall and using a small marble ‘world’s best boss’ award as a hammer, he finally got the blade of the screwdriver where he wanted it. He put the award down and with both hands put all his considerable weight on the screwdriver. There was a creaking sound and then a loud metallic pop as the latch was pried free of the frame. Dozens of sets of car keys were arranged on pegs inside. Luckily there was a lookup chart on a piece of printed card stock taped to the inside of the door. After a few minutes Old Man Tucker picked two sets of keys, he turned to Mrs. Driscol and said

“Shoreline pearl blue or Pre-dawn mica grey?”

“What?” Mrs. Driscol whispered.

He asked a second time “Shoreline pearl or Pre-dawn mica?”

Mrs. Driscol was a little flustered, “um, I don’t know, blue.” she said in an exasperated voice.

“Damn” Old Man Tucker said, “You got the sunroof” and he tossed her one set of the keys.

Mrs. Driscol rolled her eyes and stepped out of the way and Old Man Tucker headed for the car lot.

“They are both Highlander Hybrids” he said. “Look for inventory HH0114 and HH0121” he added.

They headed to the far side of the lot just past the pickups.

“Are they big enough?” Mrs. Driscol asked.

“They are supposed to seat 7, both have roof racks for storage and they both have on-demand 4 wheel drive. I think they are just the ticket.”

A few minutes later they found both of the vehicles. They both started right up but as they had anticipated neither had much gas, less than a quarter tank but they had more than enough to get home and get everyone packed before they started to look for fuel. The cars were comfortable and easy to drive and they pulled into the cul-de-sac in less than 10 minutes. They pulled both cars down by the house, load there first was the plan, then back to where everything had been removed from the other cars and lined up on the curb. Old Man Tucker hesitated as he remembered that Mrs. Caulfield had been killed in the accident but there had been no sign of the body. Old Man Tucker hoped that her husband had taken care of things rather than the crazies. He decided that he was not going to ask and he hoped that it wouldn’t come up. He never did well with emotional things like that. Even when he was married, when there was a problem, he would just disappear and hide in his shop.

Everyone came out of the house and started right away loading, Old Man Tucker put Billy on one roof and me on the other,

“Keep an eye out boys and let me know if you see anything or even if you just THINK you saw something.”

We nodded and Billy saluted and said “yes sir.”

Old Man Tucker smiled and said “get to it.”

It took a long time to load the vehicles and they even had to unload one of them just to rearrange everything. The SUVs were pulled down by the van and the other cars and we walked down by them. For the first time I was feeling very exposed and my stomach felt like it was full of butterflies. The bodies of the crazies that the police officer and Old Man Tucker had killed were all about, they had started to swell up and they smelled like a skunk on the side of the road. I think everyone was feeling the same as me because the equipment was loaded in record time. It only took a minute or two for Mr. Caulfield and Old Man Tucker to move the roof top carrier shell from Mom’s van to one of the SUVs. At last we began our pursuit of Mr. and Mrs. Franks.

It was decided that Mrs. Driscol would drive one and Mom would drive the other. Mr. Caulfield would ride with Billy and his Mom, Old Man Tucker with mine. To even things out a little Elaine offered to ride with the Driscols. I had kind of wanted to ride with Billy but I didn’t say anything right then, I figured this was going to take a while and there would be plenty of time for us to shuffle around. Old Man Tucker was sitting in the passenger seat, he laid his long Russian rifle between the seats and took Mom’s French one and kept it between his knees pointing at the ceiling. Lucy had been put in charge of the road atlas and armed with a yellow highlighter I helped her find where we were and we put a yellow circle around our destination. Mom asked us how far did it look like we had to go and Lucy considered it and finally said,

“From my elbow to the end of my little finger.”

Mom and Old Man Tucker chuckled quietly and Lucy said

“What?” absolutely unaware of what she had said.

Mom had me get a ruler from a little ‘Dora the Explorer’ back pack that she had prepared for entertaining Lucy. She had me measure how many inches it was from our start to our finish and then look in the corner where it said in teeny tiny letters “1 in = 30 mi” and I was able to figure out that since it was about 11 inches we had 330 miles or so to go.

“As a crow flies” Old Man Tucker added.

“What??” was Lucy’s only response causing another bout of repressed laughter.

She crossed her arms and said “I think you are making up words again Mr. Tucker” and this time the laughs were not repressed at all.

Four days. That’s all it was, four days since the swarm and already we could laugh. I look back on it now and realize what a remarkable thing that was. All that loss, all that pain and still we found a moment to laugh amongst ourselves. Of course that was before we knew just how many tears we had yet to shed. As we drove through town, looking for someplace to get gasoline the level of destruction was brought home to the rest of us. Entire city blocks were gone, burnt to the ground. There were hundreds of bodies many that had been reduced to just a few bits and a dark puddle. We rode in silence after that, Lucy sniffling quietly. I was too but I was trying to be as quiet as I could be.

We drove South on Main until we neared the on-ramp to highway 8. There appeared to be a multi-car pile up and the sides of the road were steep, too steep to drive around and both the East and West ramps were on the other side of the wreck.

“Maybe you and Lee, um, Mr. Caulfield could move a one of them, you know put it in neutral and push it?” Mom said.

Old Man Tucker looked deep in thought and didn’t answer right away Mom started to get out of the car when Old Man Tucker reached over and pulled her back into the car.

“What on Earth?” she snapped.

“Wait a moment Mrs. Williams. Something isn’t right here, just wait. Okay?”

Mom looked at him and after a moment agreed. Old Man Tucker turned to me and said

“Is your rifle ready?” he asked.

I just nodded I could feel the tension rolling off of him. There was something wild in his eyes.

“Good boy.”

He then turned to my little sister

“Miss Lucy will you be the head look out? I want you to look all around and let your Mommy and Johnny know if you see anything or anyone?”

Lucy said that she would and Old Man Tucker smiled and patted her on her shoulder. He slowly got out of the car; he waved to Mrs. Driscol and Mr. Caulfield to wait where they were.

He pulled the bolt back just to make sure there was a live round in the chamber then slowly walked down the street towards the wrecked cars. He didn’t look like he was trying to hide; I guess he figured that if there was someone there they already knew he was there too. He looked under the cars and then holding the rifle like he was getting ready to shoot it he stepped to look between the cars. He looked back at us and shrugged like he wasn’t sure about this yet. He looked inside first one car then the other, he put the rifle on one hip and opened the door, he reached in to put the car in neutral I guess, and that is when Lucy called out to us

“Mom, Johnny, there are crazies over there.”

She pointed to the thick forest that surrounded us on either side. “Oh shit.” Mom whispered. I looked back to see Billy and the others just watching us.

“I pointed to the trees and then held up my rifle.”

They looked in the direction I pointed and I could see the panic in their response. They all started getting their weapons ready. I looked back at Old Man Tucker who was trying to move the car, pushing it backwards towards the guard rail. I could see the crazies moving through the trees towards us and towards Old Man Tucker.

“What do we do Mom?”

My hands were sweating even though the weather was cool. Mom’s hands were fidgeting on the steering wheel when she seemed to get an idea. She pressed on the car horn and held it down; the crazies seemed startled as if this were something they hadn’t planned on. Old Man Tucker looked up at us and then all around, I guess he saw them because he raised his rifle and with a tremendous explosion dropped one of the crazies. He started yelling and moving his arm in a circle,

“Mom he wants us to go!”

She pressed on the accelerator and the SUV jumped forward. Old Man Tucker was stepping back away from the wreck; he wanted us to ram our way through. I looked back and I saw Billy and Elaine and Mr. Caulfield, they were shooting out of the windows. Lucy was crying and I couldn’t understand what Mom was saying so I lowered my window and pulling the charging handle back on the GSG I started firing too. The crazies swarmed from both sides of the road, a few would drop from our firing but not many and usually they just got up again. There were probably a hundred or so, suddenly we were all thrown forward as the SUV hit the car. There was a shattering of glass and squealing of metal, the wreck responded and spinning sideways it rolled down the hillside. We came to a stop and Old Man Tucker ran towards us. I looked out the back and I could see the other SUV had come to a stop behind us. They were covered with crazies. “OH MY GOD!” Mom screamed. I could hear Billy’s pop, pop, pop of his .22, followed by the heavier bang of Elaine’s rifle and the echoing explosion of Mr. Caulfield’s shotgun.

Old Man Tucker opened the door but didn’t get in.

“Shoot at the ones on the outside, don’t hit our people!” he yelled.

There was screaming coming from the other SUV.

“It’s not enough, it’s just not enough!” Old Man Tucker said.

He then yelled at Mom,

“Throw it in reverse, see if you can knock some of them down!”

He shoved a stripper clip full of bullets into the Moisan and chambered one. He started walking towards the crowd raising the rifle to look through the scope and he fired. Mom yelled

“Get down kids!”

She looked over her right shoulder and we started backing up towards the crazies. I grabbed Lucy and pulled her down to the bench seat.

“Hold on tight Lucy” I whispered to her. She said the same thing to Ronald Bear.

The impact was not as bad as the one when we hit the car just a few moments before but it was a whole lot more icky. I could hear the loud snap of bones breaking and snarls and screams of pain and outrage of the crazies that were sent flying and crushed both beneath and between the two Toyotas. Suddenly there was a banging on the hood of our car. It was Old Man Tucker he yelled to Mom to drive and wait on the East entrance ramp. He tossed the rifle in through the passenger window and pulled both of those old Colt revolvers. He walked towards the mass of crazies. The explosions were deafening and Lucy held her hands over her ears Mom was crying but she put the car in drive and pulled away towards the overpass. I sat on my knees and looked out the back; Old Man Tucker was walking towards where Mrs. Driscol would be in the driver’s seat. He fired one revolver then the other, over and again. He reached in and undid the car lock, one of the crazies grabbed him and he spun smashing it in the head with one of the revolvers. Then he backed into the driver’s seat pushing Mrs. Driscol inside. I could still hear Billy firing but he was the only one. The other SUV jumped forward when Old Man Tucker put it in gear and they started towards us.

“He’s got them Mom!” I yelled, “Go!”

Mom went down the ramp and accelerated as fast as the SUV was able and seconds later a blood splattered version followed us.

After five minutes or so I noticed that Old Man Tucker was flashing his lights on and off at us so I told Mom that I thought that he wanted us to stop. Mom pulled over and slowed to a stop as did Old Man Tucker.

“Lucy you and Johnny stay here and keep a look out!”

Mom opened her door and jumped out and ran back to the other vehicle. I thought Mom was just keeping us out of things but Lucy took the job seriously, she undid her belt and pressed the little button that made the sun roof retract. She stood up and was looking around so I joined her; I laid my rifle on the roof I poked my head and arms through and started to examine the tree line on our side of the highway.

By the time Mom reached the other SUV, Old Man Tucker had already gotten out and was laying Mrs. Driscol out on the highway. Billy had gotten out as well and he looked as white as a sheet and he was grasping his rifle like it was all that was keeping him from sinking into the ground,

“Mom! Mom!” he cried. “Is she okay Mr. Tucker?”

He blurted out.

“I don’t see anything wrong but she is unconscious”

Old Man Tucker responded. Mom opened the driver’s side rear door and she yanked it open. Elaine was sitting there her eyes wide open, she was moving her mouth but no words were coming out. She was covered in blood and gore, thick black blood and chips of bone were everywhere

“Honey, honey? Elaine! Are you okay? Elaine?”

Mom asked in a panicked voice but getting no answer she slowed down and reached in and gently touched Elaine’s hand and in response Elaine spasmodically worked the bolt action of the ancient French carbine the magazine having already fallen to the floor at her feet. Mom said in as gently a voice as she could

“Elaine, everything is okay, you are okay, we’re all okay.”

She gently touched Elaine’s cheek and turned her face so she could make eye contact. Elaine was in shock but after a few moments Elaine nodded. Mom heard the passenger side door open and she looked over to see Old Man Tucker pulling a limp Mr. Caulfield from the seat. Turning her attention back to Elaine, Mom tried to take the rifle from her,

“Honey, you don’t need this right now, okay?” she soothed.

It took a minute but she was finally able to pry it from Elaine’s grasp. She set it against the back of the other seat and taking Elaine by both hands got her to turn and climb out of the SUV.

Mom looked over to Billy who was helping his mother to sit up, she was holding her head and blood was coming through her fingers. Old Man Tucker looked around then called out

“Johnny! Lucy! Both of you come here! Quick!”

We both scrambled and were 10 feet from our SUV when she stopped and ran back yelling over her shoulder to me

“I forgot something.”

I rolled my eyes and continued on and reached Old Man Tucker. He looked up at me,

“You and Billy, you have to be the guard, make sure your rifles are reloaded and keep an eye out.”

I heard Lucy running up behind me and sure enough in one hand she had Ronald Bear but in the other she was carrying a white metal emergency medical kit.

“Good job Miss Lucy!”

Old Man Tucker said and he reached for it.

“Now, can you get us all some bottled water, make sure everyone drinks, can you do that?”

Lucy smiled as she handed over the kit and then nodding she said

“I will get everyone millions of bottles!” and she scampered off towards the back of the SUV.

We had packed food and supplies in the same place in both vehicles so everyone would know where things should be. In fact Mrs. Driscol had taken a wide tip sharpie and written labels on the plastic trim for things like that; Water, Food, Medicine, Ammunition, Camping, Tools, Clothes.

I ran back around to the other side and knelt next to Mrs. Driscol,

“Are you okay Mrs. Driscol?” I asked and she nodded saying “I never thought that having such a hard head would be a good thing.”

She muttered it and her voice made her sound a little like she had been drinking. Lucy ran up to us, the millions of bottles turning into five and a teddy bear. She held one out to Mrs. Driscol,

“Billy’s Mom? You are supposed to drink this water right now!”

She said with a very serious face.

“Oh thank you Lucy, thank you.” Mrs. Driscol said.

She opened the water and started to drink.

“Billy, Old Man Tucker wants us to keep a guard up, and make sure your rifle is reloaded.”

He nodded and said “Okay” but his eyes were on his mother. After a minute he reached in the SUV and pulled his second magazine out of his backpack, ejecting the first and slamming the second one home. I felt like an idiot because I had left my backpack and my extra magazines in the other Toyota.

“I have to go back to the other car, keep an eye out back the way we came” I said.

Billy nodded and taking one last look at his mother who waved him on he headed back to the rear of the SUV pausing only long enough for Lucy to hand him a bottled water.

While I ran back for my backpack I stole a glance at Old Man Tucker who was wrapping a bandage around Mr. Caulfield’s upper right arm, an unopened bottle of water on the asphalt next to him. Mr. Caulfield looked to be unconscious and there seemed to be an awful lot of blood. I grabbed my pack, reloaded my rifle and started back towards the others. I could see Mrs. Driscol was still sitting up and leaning against the driver’s door. Lucy was pouring water onto a towel and Mom was using another one to try and clean some of the blood from Elaine. Elaine still looked as if she didn’t know where she was or what had happened. Lucy was crying softly but she didn’t stop what she was doing and Mom was talking to Elaine. After a few minutes Old Man Tucker came around from the rear of SUV. He had a box of ammo for his revolvers and was loading them, Mr. Caulfield’s double barrel shotgun under his left arm. He walked over to Billy who was closer and spoke to him quietly. Billy nodded and answered him. Old Man Tucker patted him on the shoulder. Old Man Tucker walked past Mom, Lucy and Elaine towards Mrs. Driscol. He knelt down and spoke to her, they were close enough and I could hear their conversation.

“How are you doing Mrs. Driscol?” he asked.

She looked up at him, shielding her eyes with one hand and said

“I took a pretty bad bang to the head but I will survive.”

She paused for a moment then asked

“How is Elaine?”

Old Man Tucker looked back at my sister and then back to Mrs. Driscol.

“She’s in shock; she wasn’t doing that well before and now this.”

He let his voice trail away not finishing and shaking his head.

“What about Lee?” Mrs. Driscol asked.

Old Man Tucker paused for a moment then said

“He’s dead.”

Mrs. Driscol looked shocked

“HOW? Did they get him out of the car?”

Old Man Tucker knelt next to Mrs. Driscol.

“I think they got a hold of his gun, pulled his arm out of the window. It looks like they practically ate their way through to the bone, they severed several arteries and there just wasn’t anything I could do.”

Mrs. Driscol whimpered a little, choking back her tears. Old Man Tucker said quietly

“I’m sorry for your loss Mrs. Driscol, I truly am. He seemed a pretty good man”

Mrs. Driscol nodded and Old Man Tucker stood up walked towards me.

“How about you John?” he asked.

It startled me because no one called me John, always Johnny or Junior. I thought I was fine, but when I tried to answer him my voice cracked and I thought I might cry,

“I..never..shot”

My words just stumbling their way out of a mouth. Old Man Tucker knelt in front of me and put both of his gnarled hands on my shoulders.

“It’s okay John, you did fine.” He said quietly.

“You did what you had to do, those weren’t people anymore. They are just, well, crazies.”

He stood up slowly

“I don’t think I have ever known two tougher men than you and Billy.”

He nodded towards my friend who was patrolling, searching for any enemies. I tried to smile and I guess I managed a weak one.

“Thanks Ol... um Mr. Tucker.” He smiled.

“You are welcome and you can just call me Tucker okay?”

He started to walk back towards Mom and then he added in a barely audible whisper

“Besides, I’m not THAT old.”

I started to patrol my end of things, keeping an eye on the tree lines and the highway up ahead too. I made eye contact with Billy a couple of times and he waved a shy smile at me. He was upset; I always knew when he was upset. Old Man Tucker was wiping the inside of the SUV out using a towel and what looked like an old shirt. Mom kept talking to Elaine, eventually Mrs. Driscol rose and walked over to try and help Mom. After Mom had cleaned Elaine’s hands, Lucy offered to let Elaine hold Ronald Bear, pushing it into her grasp. Elaine did take Ronald Bear but she just let it hang at her side. Eventually Old Man Tucker started working on the back seat and he had to get two new towels from the back. After a few minutes he took Mom by the hand and led her down the street in my direction.

“Mrs. Williams, it looks like one of them had shoved its head into the back seat, trying to bite Elaine. I think Elaine put the rifle under its chin and blew its head right off. There is a hole in the roof, I think it must have just exploded; I think that is why there is so much blood and why she is in shock.”

After a bit Old Man Tucker gathered us all around Elaine who was still not responding.

“Listen, I don’t think we should stay here, Mrs. Williams, if you drive the other SUV again, I’ll drive this one”

He pointed to the blood stained vehicle.

“What about Lee?” Mom asked.

He thought about it for a minute then said

“I’ll wrap him up and drag him into the forest, that’s the best we can do for him now.”

Lucy spoke up “Mr. Caulfield was a good guy, right Mr. Tucker?”

He nodded, “Yes, Lucy I think he was.”

She seemed in one of her determined moods

“Then we should all say a prayer.”

I swear if she had crossed her arms and tapped her foot I would have thought it was Mom, who in fact, agreed with Lucy. So we all held hands in a circle, Mom holding one of Elaine’s hands and Lucy the other. There was a moment of silence then Mrs. Driscol quietly spoke,

“Dear God, we are here to say goodbye to some of yours. Lee Caulfield and his wife Marjorie were good, kind people who never hurt anyone. We ask that you let them rest together and with you for all time.”

Everyone said “Amen” and we started to split up. Everyone headed back, going to what I was calling Mom’s car, except for Old Man Tucker who slid in to drive the blue one. As we all got in and started buckling up, Old Man Tucker slowly drove by us, leading the way when I heard Elaine say something in a voice so quiet I was unsure I had even heard it, more breath than word, “Amen.”

We drove for another hour, twice we had to drive off the highway a bit just to get around pile ups but we didn’t have any problems. Twice we saw groups of crazies hiding in the woods but we were going so fast they didn’t even try to chase us. Old Man Tucker took an exit that was just marked 148. We followed him for about 5 miles and we turned off onto a gravel road. We drove slowly and eventually I saw a sign that read “Smith’s Fishing and Camp Ground.” Another sign just below it said “closed until Sept 1.” Old Man Tucker stopped and leaving the SUV running he got out and walked up to a big steel pipe that was attached at both ends to big railroad ties set into the ground. He took out one of his Colt’s and fired once, then again and he reached down and picked up the useless lock. He opened the gate and then walked back to our car, Mom rolled down the window and waited.

“What are we doing Mr. Tucker?” Mom asked.

He said “I used to bring my kids here years ago, go on through here, and when you go past the second pond you will see a left on the gravel road, follow it all the way to the end. There is a camp ground there; I think it will be safe. Oh, and call me Tucker.” he added.

He stepped back and Mom pulled around the blue car and slowly drove up the gravel road. I watched out the back and saw him pull through then get out and put the gate back down. It looked like he put the lock back on, probably just to fool anyone who came by. He was getting back into the SUV when he disappeared as the road curved around a stand of trees.

The sun was getting low in the sky and the dark forest was growing quite ominous. Mom turned onto the gravel road just past the second fishing pond and we followed it up to the end. There was a circular turn around with three insets for campers or tents. Each was numbered and had a cinderblock barbeque grill. There was a well in the middle of the turnaround; there was one of those old fashioned pump handles on it and a faucet that was big enough to hang a bucket on. A sign said that the water was safe washing or cooking but should be boiled before drinking. We pulled into the center lot and it wasn’t but another minute when Old Man Tucker pulled in beside us.

We got out of the cars and I could tell we all were worn. Lucy ran over to Old Man Tucker and started jabbering away at him. Mom and Mrs. Driscol were talking and Billy and I went off to one side for a planning session. Poor Elaine just sat in the car, not moving, it made my heart break to see her like that but I just didn’t know what to do. After a few minutes Old Man Tucker who was holding Lucy’s hand walked over to me and Billy and asked us if we would go and gather some sticks for the fire. We said sure and he gave us the obligatory

“Watch out for each other and be careful.”

He and Lucy went over to Mom and Mrs. Driscol and the four of them started talking. We both had an arm full of medium and small sized sticks, our rifles slung on our backs when Billy stopped and said “Johnny, did you think it would be like this? Killing I mean?”

I stopped for a second and thought about it,

“I don’t know Billy, I thought it would be like on TV but it just isn’t.”

He turned and looked at me, and then he looked away because he had tears in his eyes

“I did it Johnny, I shot them, they were crazies I know, but I shot them. Some of them were so close I could smell their breath, Johnny, I...”

He stopped in mid-sentence unable to continue and then I remembered something and I passed it on to Billy;

“Old Man Tucker said you and me were two of the toughest men he had ever known.”

Billy looked at me and said “I don’t feel very tough”

Sniffing back his running nose.

“Maybe that’s what makes us men”.

He asked me what I meant by that. I cleared my throat and tried to explain,

“I mean, maybe doing what we did even though we were both scared to death, maybe that’s what makes us men instead of just little kids.”

Billy thought about and smiled his crooked smile at me and whispered,

“Yeah, I think you are right.”

We gathered up as much firewood as we could carry and headed back to the campsite.

Old Man Tucker and Lucy were setting up our family tent; it was a pretty cool one with three rooms, one in the middle and one more off to each side that had their own zipper doors. Mrs. Driscol was setting out some cans of food but it was already too dark for me to see what she was making. I noticed that her rifle was leaning against a box of supplies not far from her. Mom was over by her car, talking to Elaine, gently pulling on her hands to get her to get out of the car. Billy leaned over to me as we started stacking the sticks in the pit.

“Do you think she will be okay?” he asked.

“I hope so” was all I could say.

About that time Lucy came skipping up to us singing softly,

“Mr. T. Mr. T. Mr. T. T. T. he gave the matches to ME. ME. ME.”

I rolled my eyes but Billy laughed and said

“Well, MISS Lucy, would you like to light the fire?”

He knelt down and pointed to a small bundle of dry grass that he had twisted together, neatly balanced like a teepee all around that were some small sticks and then bigger ones and bigger ones. Lucy clapped her hands and said “yeah!” she hopped twice and stood right next to Billy, he told her to take out one match and close the box, then to kneel down very close to the dry grass and then to drag the match across the side of the box. ‘Scratch, fizzle, scratch, fizzle’ went the first two matches but Billy said that he knew she could do it and on the third one it burst into flame and she put it in the grass and jumped back as if it were going to explode, clapping her hands in delight. ‘Kids’ I thought to myself, ‘just wait till she’s 12 like me.’ The fire started slowly but it grew steadily, when it started to collapse onto the red hot coals it was time for the bigger sticks. Pretty soon it was really a nice fire and while it lit up our faces with a golden light the sides of the pit kept it from lighting much of the ground. Mrs. Driscol was opening cans and dumping them into a big pot that she set inside the pit near the fire. About that time Old Man Tucker re-appeared holding a bunch of long, thin, sticks that he had cut from a tree not far away.

“Here you go Mrs. Driscol” he said handing them to her, she smiled and examined the sharp points he had made on the ends.

“Perfect!” she said “and call me Amy.”

Old Man Tucker looked uncomfortable and said

“Sure thing Mrs. Driscol.”

I had to stop myself from laughing, I was beginning to really like him but I had a feeling that he was not the kind of person that took kidding well.

That was when Mom led Elaine over to the fire, Mrs. Driscol opened a cooler and took out a couple of packages then shutting the lid said

“Here Elaine, sit here” and she patted the cooler.

She didn’t respond but Mom led her over and got her to sit down. Mrs. Driscol said,

“Well, for dinner we are having that old camping standard beans and weenies!”

Lucy looked as if she would about to have a heart attack. If there was anything she loved more than Ronald Bear it was either mac-n-cheese or beans-n-weenies. I smiled remembering that Daddy always said she only liked food with the word “-n-” in them. Remembering that almost made me cry and I wondered where he was right then. If he was safe or if he was one of those crazies or if he was dead; I shook myself not wanting to think about that right then. She opened the hot dogs and cut them up dropping them right into the pot with the pork and beans. Billy asked “then what are the sticks for?” Mrs. Driscol laughed and held up a bag of giant marshmallows. Suddenly I was considering Mrs. Driscol’s cooking rank of #2, perhaps I should re-evaluate her I thought.

I looked over at Mom, she was holding Elaine’s hand and whispering softly to her. I looked for Old Man Tucker, he was just out of the radius of light, that big Russian rifle slung over his shoulder, he was watching down the hill, watching the road, watching the forest. I prayed that he wouldn’t see anything, I had enough of shooting for now, enough of shooting people, and enough of watching them die. After a few minutes Mrs. Driscol started serving up dinner on thick paper plates; she took one to Old Man Tucker who ate his standing up and two plates over to Mom and Elaine. She started to take one to Lucy, be she insisted that Ronald Bear needed some as well so Mrs. Driscol obliged but told her to make sure that both plates came back empty.

“Don’t worry Mrs. Driscol, they will.” Lucy answered a very wide grin on her face.

After we ate Old Man Tucker asked me and Billy if we would keep watch, he wanted to

“Stretch out and rest his eyes for a bit.”

He thanked us profusely and walked over near the fire where he had rolled out a blanket or something and in about 10 minutes he was snoring. Billy and I took our assignment seriously we walked back and forth so that we were both scanning the same areas alternately. Mrs. Driscol spent time with Lucy and Mom kept trying to get Elaine to speak, eat, something, or well, anything at all. After a bit Lucy seemed to be fading fast; so Mom and Mrs. Driscol led Elaine into the tent followed by Lucy. It suddenly got very spooky, nothing but the softly crackling fire and its strange lights dancing in the trees around us. Around 10 or so, Old Man Tucker shook himself awake and with a shuddering groan rolled over and forced himself to his feet. He looked around for a moment then said to Billy,

“About time they went to bed, I was getting tired just listening to them.”

Billy put his rifle over his shoulder and with that sly grin of his waved me over saying

“C’mon Johnny, let’s get some rest since Tucker has rested his eyes a little.”

I slung mine too and as we walked to the tent Old Man Tucker said,

“I wasn’t sleeping you know, I just had to rest a bit is all.”

He sounded mean and grumpy but I was beginning to believe that it was all a big act. I didn’t know what the truth was about him but I figured it would all come out in time.

Billy and I shared one room with Mrs. Driscol, Mom and the girls had the other. I never did like sleeping on the ground but after the day we had I don’t think I had ever felt a softer bed. I don’t know when I fell asleep or when I woke but it had to be early in the morning, 3 or 4 I guess, I heard the zipper open on the other room and peeking out I saw Elaine, she was quietly leaving the tent. I kept an eye on her just in case. I was just about to get up and drag her back when I heard Old Man Tucker’s voice,

“Well, look who got up to keep me company.”

Elaine didn’t respond but I decided that since no one else was having any luck, Old Man Tucker might as well take a shot, so I just rolled onto my stomach and listened.

I could see their outlines from the light of the fire, Old Man Tucker was standing, the long Russian rifle slung over his shoulder and Elaine stood next to him for a minute then sat on the cooler. Old Man Tucker didn’t say anything after that, he just waited. I don’t know how long he waited but eventually Elaine said something, if it hadn’t been so quiet I doubt I could have heard her but given how hard I was straining my ears I guess it worked out because I did hear her. Elaine said

“How?”

Old Man Tucker didn’t look at her he just kept watching the slope leading up to our encampment.

“How what Elaine?” he asked.

Again there was a long delay and ’get on with it!’ was going through my mind when at last she answered.

“How can you be brave?”

I thought he would laugh, that seemed to be his modus operandi but he didn’t, instead he said

“Oh, well, I’m not. I am scared as any of you, probably more.”

She didn’t say anything for a second more then said

“The crazy was trying to get me; it rammed its head into the car and…”

Her voice trailed off for a minute, unable to finish her sentence.

“And then I saw you, you were running towards us, running towards the crazies.”

Old Man Tucker didn’t answer at all so Elaine continued

“Why did you do that Mr. Tucker? Why?”

Elaine was crying and it was all I could do to not cry too. Old Man Tucker sighed deeply and then he walked over and knelt in dirt next to where Elaine was sitting.

“Elaine” he said, “before this, before all of this shit.”

He swallowed hard before continuing

“I was dead. Nothing mattered to me. I spent my entire life loving one woman, I loved her more than life itself, and I know it was a sin, but I loved her more than I loved God.”

Now it was Elaine’s turn to remain silent.

“I tried to love her best I could, but whatever I did seemed to be wrong. The one person I loved more than anything, I drove her crazy, I hurt her feelings, and we fought over everything, over anything. She was beautiful, smart, and talented. I adored her and she couldn’t be happy with me. We stayed together until the kids became adults and then she left me. I spent five years in the bottle after that. She got married again to a professional musician and last I heard she was living the life she always wanted in Boston. But I honestly don’t want to know, it hurts too much.”

He reached into a pack and took out bottled water; opening it he drank and slowly let his breath out. I suddenly felt guilty like I was listening in on a confession.

“I was waiting to die. I hoped for it, prayed for it, I just wanted it to be over.”

He was silent then, not even a cricket disturbed them. Just the light of the fire shared their secrets.

“And then this.” Elaine said her voice having more than a little bit of madness in it. She nearly laughed at the circumstance. Old Man Turner turned and looked at her for the first time.

“Yes Elaine, and then this, and suddenly I found that maybe; just maybe my life could mean something again. I found myself caring for your sister and your brother and Billy and you too. You are like my, well, grandkids. Your Mother and Mrs. Driscol are like my daughters.” He drank again then looked away.

“My kids are grown and moved on, they are strong and they are smart, my wife is too and all of them are far away. I can’t help them.” There was a hitch in his voice and I felt tears burning in my own eyes but I held them back.

“I just thought, if I could help you, then my existence would be justified again.”

Elaine stood and walked over to him, his back was turned to her, and she placed a hand on his shoulder and said

“Mr. Tucker, I don’t know how it has been for you but I can imagine. You have been lonely for a long time. But I know this Mr. Tucker, you have a family somewhere and I am sure they love you and you have a family here and we love you too. I don’t know what we ...” and again her voice was choked off in sobs.

Mr. Tucker turned around and put his big hairy arms around her and patted her back,

“It’s okay Elaine, it’s okay, I’m going to do everything I can for all of you; no matter what it takes.”

Elaine cried some more and I could hear her sniffling and I could imagine her leaving a wet trail on his plaid shirt. Somehow I knew that he didn’t care, not one bit, and I felt that no matter what happened, no matter what horrors were ahead of us, Old Man Tucker would be there, and it made me smile. I rolled over, not happy really or satisfied, heck I was still scared as before, but somehow it was better. My friends, my family and me; we had someone on our side; someone big and hairy and mean, someone who knew about guns and fighting and stuff. I’ve heard people say that there were things that went bump in the night, we had someone that could bump back and his name was Tucker.