“Just one?”
“That’s all I heard, but it was impossible to hear much beyond your bellyaching about moving these zombies.”
“You could have helped.”
“Could have.”
“Fine, smart-ass, any idea which direction the shot came from?”
“Best guess is back that way,” Gary said, pointing to the side and back of Mary’s backyard.
“You think it’s Paul and them?” I asked, hoping, although how would he know?
“My guess is probably. Haven’t heard much of anything since we pulled into this town and now a gunshot.”
“I’m going to check it out.” I had made the decision there and then.
“Well, let me get some stuff.”
“I didn’t mean to volunteer you too.”
“That’s alright. I feel like doing something.”
“Helping me move all these zombies would have been helpful.”
“Probably would have,” Gary said as he headed back to the house to go and grab a few supplies.
I dropped the gloves on top of the last zombie I moved. I swear I could feel microbes crawling around on top of my skin, looking for a particularly large pore to gain access into my system so that they could wreak their havoc. Nothing short of a bath in bleach was going to make me feel any better.
“You alright?” Gary asked, coming back a few moments later.
He handed me a bottle of liquid, anti-bacterial hand soap. I contemplated kissing him.
“I’m with you if you want to go, but are you so sure this is a good idea?” Gary asked.
I knew what he meant, we were low on ammo, it was nighttime and we weren’t really sure what we were walking towards. “Nothing else going on.”
“That’s the spirit,” he said sarcastically. “Why did BT think staying with you was a good idea?”
“Beats me. Let’s go and be careful.”
“Did you really think you needed to add that last part? Were you afraid I might start singing or something?”
“Sorry, it’s just something I added with the kids all the time, it’s second nature, kind of like saying ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes.”
“It’s nothing like that,” Gary said huffily. “It was commonly believed in the middle ages that when a person sneezed that they could potentially let a demon into their body and corrupt their soul, that was why people responded with God bless you. It would keep the demons from taking hold inside.”
“Okay,” I answered confusedly. Gary still looked peeved. “You still believe in the demons part?” I asked him cautiously.
“It was rooted in some truth!” he said heatedly.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Can we go check the noise out now?”
“Just make sure you say God bless you and not just bless you or you are not conveying the true meaning of the message. That shit really infuriates me.”
“And yet I’m labeled as the crazy one. I demand a recount.”
“Just go. I told Josh I’d read him a story when we got back.”
“He’s a good kid,” I said absently.
“So’s his mom,” Gary said.
“A good kid?” I asked, turning to face him as we came to the end of Mary’s backyard.
“I meant good person.”
“Oh no, you’re falling in love. I’ve seen that look before, we’ve known them less than two days.”
“The heart cares not for such trivial matters as time.”
“Gary, her ex-husband could still be alive and even if he is zombie chow, he’s only been gone a few months.”
“Time is less significant now, Mike. Nobody’s planning their summer vacations anymore, they’re planning out how to get their next meal or where the safest place to sleep is. Nobody gives a shit about the Monday morning commute anymore. It’s all about the basest of all human instincts.”
“Sex?” I asked.
“Survival,” he corrected. “Could you please get your thoughts to a loftier perch?”