Hell Happened (35 page)

She heard the equipment in the parlor shutting down. Randy would be visiting her for their date soon. She had to be ready.

~     
~
     
~

Randy shut down the equipment in the milking parlor. He went out the back door and over the hill. Cheryl, he believed, wanted their date to go well. He pictured her cleaning herself up in the bathroom in the barn. It was the only bathroom his dad would allow her to use.

Throughout the day he had talked and worked with her. She always was ready to help if he asked and she had such a wonderful smile. She didn’t talk a lot about herself, but he figured that was to be expected after the hell she’d been through. He talked about how happy, all things considered, the group here was.

For lunch he’d brought a blanket that he spread out on the ground beside the large maple tree that had fallen during the storm. They talked a little and she asked more about the people in the group. He told her about how Kellie and her dad were becoming close, how Monica and Eddie were his best friends and the rescue of the astronauts and Tony making contact with the Smith Compound in Kentucky. 

The afternoon went slow for him. After he’d finished the security system and the repairs to the garage, he helped Danny move some brush after Cheryl said she wanted to get a nap.

Danny had been doing good work today and had a large area cleaned out. The older man helped Randy run some wires from the shelter to the clearing.

The man from Texas was working with a chip on his shoulder. After a while of working in silence, Randy asked why. Danny, never afraid to speak his mind asked Randy why he hadn’t got to go on one of the crews but was left here to do manual labor. 

Randy was straight with him and didn’t think to lie. “That’s probably my fault, Danny. You told Jamal you had been in jail for auto theft. I told dad because he is in charge here.”

“You mean your old man doesn’t trust me? After the shit we went through yesterday to get your food, you told your dad not to trust me? You son of a….” Danny’s face became red and his anger boiled. Randy backed off from the larger man because he was afraid.

“No, no, no,” Randy told him quickly. He knew the large man was in better shape and had a ton more experience than him and his hands looked like they’d seen a lot of fights. “I told him if you knew how to steal cars, you were probably good at driving things. I wanted you to use the tractor because I’m not real good at it,” he admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

Danny looked at Randy. His anger level dropped like a rock in a fish tank.

“You’re
shitting
me? You wanted me here because you can’t drive a tractor and you’re a farmer’s son?” Danny asked incredulously. “Dude, what is wrong with you.”

“I can drive one,” Randy admitted, seeing that he wasn’t going to get the shit beat out of him. “But you must be really good at driving things. Dad wanted this clearing done before Tia got back and I told him you’d probably be the best person for it. I don’t care that you were in jail. That was before. You’re a nice guy and Jamal likes you, and what happened before you came here is none of my business.

“If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me.”

Danny was still mad about being left out, but now he understood more. “Well shit.
If that
ain’t
the shit.
Here I was pissed at your dad and it was you I should have been pissed at.”

Randy, still a little afraid of the big man, said “sorry,” and walked away, leaving Danny to think about what had been said. Danny was nearly finished with the clearing and Randy had to get the milking chores done, and now Danny felt like hell for thinking bad about Jerry.

Randy finished his evening chores and went to the shelter. He didn’t give his conversation with Danny another thought. He wanted to clean up before going to meet with Cheryl.

Kellie was still out in the garden with Mrs.
deJesus
, Katie and the kids so he had the shelter to himself. He showered quickly and changed into clean clothes. It took all of 10 minutes.

Randy was just about to leave the shelter to pick up the brand new TV and DVD he had stored in the garage with the beer and a movie. He’d also put together a meal of shaved ham sandwiches, dill pickles, and chocolate chip cookies. He was so excited about the date and nothing else mattered until he heard Kellie’s walkie-talkie. “Are you there, Kellie?”

Randy reached for the walkie-talkie. “This is Randy. What’s up Tia?”

“We ran into some problems and we won’t be back for about an hour. But have we got a present for you!” She sounded excited and happy, and he wanted to know what the present was, but more about what problems they were having. “What happened?” he asked.

“We blew a tire on the car hauler, but we’ll get it changed and be there in about an hour. Just get something for us to eat because we’ve had a busy day,” she told him, not answering his question completely. He really liked Tia and her attitude. “Tell the kids to be good and I’ll see them in about an hour.

“Roger, Tia. I’ll tell them.”  He took the walkie-talkie to Kellie out in the garden. Katie was finishing cleaning up the weeds they had pulled and Jamal was pushing the smaller kids in the wheelbarrow.

He walked out of the shelter, into a cool breeze and found Kellie. Randy passed on the message to Tia had asked him to and handed her the walkie-talkie. “I’m taking Cheryl supper and will watch for Tia,” he told her. She didn’t comment about his clean clothes, but did furrow her brow. That was okay with him. She’d come around when his dad did that Cheryl was a good person and should be welcome into the clan they were building.

The big downside to the message was that as much as he wanted to be with Cheryl the rest of the night, he knew at some point in the next hour or so, he was going to have to help her and her crew when they got home. He hoped the TV and DVD for Cheryl would make her less upset that they couldn’t have an entire date.

“Okay. We’re going to feed this bunch of hooligans so they can help when their mom gets here,” he heard Kellie say as he headed to the barn. The twins squealed because Jamal pushed them over a bump.
Hannah was helping Katie rake up the last of the weeds and Josh and his daughter, who still looked frail even after a week, sat on a blanket husking sweet corn. Randy left them to what they were doing and headed for the garage. He gathered up the TV and DVD from the garage and went to his date.

He knocked and she opened the door. She had cleaned up, but had dressed a lot more conservatively than he’d hoped. “Hey you!” she said, acting like she was genuinely pleased to see him. “Come on in.”

He brought the boxes in and handed her their supper meal. “I know it isn’t a meal fit for a queen, but it’s fresh made bread and the ham is good.” She took the meal and he started unpacking the TV. “Where’s the
beer
?” she asked.

“Oh, that’s the bad news,” he said, standing back up.  “Tia’s running late, but will be here in less than an hour. I am going to have to help her when they get here, so I thought maybe we’d hold off on drinking until later tonight?” he formed it into a question, hoping she’d see the logic of waiting.

She grimaced and sat the food down on her bed, not saying anything. “But we can get the DVD and TV set up,” he said, bending back over to open the boxes of new electronics. “That’ll give you something to do while….”

Randy’s world then went dark. He never saw the short piece of steel bar Cheryl had stashed under her pillow. She hadn’t thought she’d need it. Her plan was to get Randy drunk until he passed out, something she knew she could do as she’d done something similar in her life.

~   
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~

Randy’s bad news of Tia showing up in an hour would mean at least four more people would be at the shelter and less of a chance of her escaping. She needed to move now or she might lose her chance to get away altogether.

She slugged him as hard as she could in the back of the head and he dropped like dead man. He
fell
face first onto the floor and blood started flowing from his nose and mouth. She looked at the young man with absolutely no pity for what she’d done to him.

“Sorry my little friend, but I can’t be your princess and I
ain’t
staying in this rotten hole one more minute.” She kicked him hard in the crotch, fortunately missing his jewels, to make sure he was not faking. He didn’t move.

She picked up the knife she’d made and looked out the barn door. She needed some weapons and Randy had told her they kept them next to the door in the shelter. She didn’t want to go up there, but was pretty sure if she ran into anyone, she could talk her way out of it.

She ran up the path to the shelter entrance. She saw Josh’s daughter walking back to their camper, so that accounted for two people. She worked her way closer to the shelter doors, which were open, and where she’d been shot almost two weeks earlier. She heard kids talking and laughing and instructions by an adult. She assumed it was Mrs.
deJesus
by the accent. Randy had told her she was an older woman. The kids, regretfully, would have to be frightened into doing what they were told, but life wasn’t fair.

She listened for a minute, making sure she had a good idea where everyone was located in the shelter. She didn’t hear any men in the building so she assumed Danny was back in his tent, at the far end of the clearing. It was another piece of information Randy had passed on. She hoped he was too tired after his hard day of work and sleeping in his tent and out of her way.

She didn’t hear any other older women, so she wasn’t sure where Kellie or Katie was in the shelter.  She wanted to know where Kellie was most of all. She was the one who’d shot her and on whom she
wanted to exact the most revenge. All Cheryl had was a knife and she didn’t want to have to face a gun with just this make-shift weapon. She didn’t have a lot of time either.

Randy had said Tia would be here in less than an hour and that had been 10 – 15 minutes earlier, and the little girl who had just gone in the camper might be back any time and see Cheryl lurking outside the shelter. Cheryl wasn’t sure how much time she had available to her.

She looked past the shelter to make sure no one else could see her. She heard the closing of an oven and the sounds of pots and spoons and the smell of hot food. The shelter got quieter. They must be eating. That would be good. It meant everyone must be at the table and focused on their meal. The guns would be in the safe by the door or at least down and not cradled in someone’s hands.

The table they ate at was beyond the gun safe, which was next to the door on the left. Randy had described the entire layout of the shelter to her over the course of two days of careful questioning.

She’d hoped to be able to get in when no one was there, but she couldn’t wait. Time was wasting before more people would soon be here.

She heard the distinctive sounds of people eating and figured this was the best time to move. She ran through the door of the shelter and grabbed the first person she could reach. It was a young girl, maybe seven or eight years old. In the heartbeat it took her to choose, the little girl kicked and screamed as Cheryl puller her by the hair.

Kellie lunged to protect the little girl, ignoring her own safety as Cheryl swung the knife at her. She was able to get herself between the attacker and young Hannah and pushed the little girl to the far side of the table.

Cheryl grabbed at the older woman who stumbled as she pushed the little girl away. What good luck it was for her that it was Kellie. Using her training, she dragged Kellie away from the table by the simple expedient of throwing her arm around her neck and pulling back. The surprise at the table was complete and more of the kids started screaming.

Katie, who killed two or three zombies the previous day, stood up from the end of the table to reach for her .38 in its holster. Cheryl put the knife to Kellie’s throat. “Sit down hero or I start cutting.” Mrs.
deJesus
reached up, put her hand on the woman’s shoulder and whispered something to her Cheryl couldn’t hear.

Katie sat down slowly but the other kids were still screaming. “Shut ‘
em
up grandma or I will,” she warned Mrs.
deJesus
. The older woman encouraged the kids to a quieter crying and fear. Katie pulled John and one of the twin girls so she was between them and Cheryl. She motioned Hannah, who had been sitting next to Kellie to move back behind Katie.

“No one has to be hurt, I just need a couple of things before I leave,” Cheryl said, still choking Kellie, who was struggling for breath. Cheryl’s forearm across her neck felt like it was crushing her throat.

Cheryl backed up, pulling Kellie with her, until the gun safe was beside her. She was making up her plan as she went. Keeping an eye on the kids and not letting go of Kellie, she told the woman she had in the stranglehold to pull out a rifle and load it.

“Can’t…breathe,” Kellie was able to get out and Cheryl loosened her grip slightly, but kept the knife right up to her throat.

“Not that one. One with a scope,” Cheryl ordered. Kellie loaded it. “Set it down.” Kellie did as she was told.
“Now a pistol.
Fill the magazine.
Hurry.”
When Kellie looked as if she might aim the gun over her
head and try to shoot Cheryl in the face, she pushed the knife deep enough in her neck to draw blood. “Don’t try it lady or your neck will have a new hole and then I’ll grab one of your kids.”