Roxanne's Story (Book 1): Survival in the Zombie Apocalypse (28 page)

Jenny was a good, sound boat but she was slow and sometimes Lucky felt that he could get out and walk faster. But at least they were safe here although they had not seen any Ze’s on shore since first boarding Jenny.

Toward the end of one day Roxanne poked her head into the galley and asked Lucky if he was frying up some fish. “No, why?”

“Because I smell seafood.” With that they both went on deck and saw that they were approaching a dilapidated building and could just make out the faded sign of “Joe’s Seafood Restaurant.” At that moment a white haired man came out and waved at them, indicating that they should come in to shore.

“I don’t like this,” Lucky said.

“Brandon is that wharf long enough for you to stop?” Roxanne asked. Brandon nodded. “OK, don’t approach the wharf yet. Mutt and I will take the raft over and check the place out. If it’s OK I’ll wave to you with my staff in my hand. If I wave without the staff then it’s not safe and you should keep going. I’ll leave it up to you two as to where you stop and double back…….if you double back.”

Brandon stopped the engines and she pulled out the raft to toss it over the side. “Roxanne, this is insane,” Lucky said. “You can’t go in there alone.”

She climbed down the ladder and said, “We’ve done this before”. The statement shattered Lucky, a bitch slap if he ever saw one. He could feel his face turning red. “Besides,” Roxanne continued and reached up with her arms, “I won’t be alone. Hand Mutt down to me and get my staff.” She teetered precariously to keep her balance in the raft as Mutt was put into her arms.

She settled herself in the raft and reached up to get her staff that Brandon was holding out to her. She balanced it in her hand and knew she had to keep it away from the raft so it wouldn’t puncture anything so she held it out in both hands to Mutt and asked, “Can you carry this for me Mutt?” Mutt leaned forward and snapped his teeth on the staff between her hands. Roxanne let go and watched as the staff tilted to the left, then to the right until Mutt found the right balance and leveled it out. “Good boy.”

Lucky and Brandon watched as Roxanne rowed to shore. The old man never left the doorway of the building and they could not see inside from their position. He did not come out to help Roxanne pull the raft onto shore. Mutt carefully stepped out of the raft, still perfectly balancing Roxanne’s staff and walked up to her. She leaned down to retrieve her staff and to pet him, then both of them walked up to the old man.

They continued to watch as the man extended his hand and Roxanne took it to return the handshake. Words were exchanged that they could not hear. The old man looked over at them once with a look of suspicion, then down at Mutt while still conversing with Roxanne. Then he turned and went into the building as Roxanne and Mutt followed to also disappear into the darkness without a signal or looking back.

As Roxanne approached the man he put his hand out and introduced himself as Joe. She smiled and returned the gesture saying that her name was Roxanne, “and this” she looked down,” is Mutt.”

He looked out to the boat and lost his smile, “Your friends are not coming in with you?”

“No, I elected to come because you reminded me of my father.”

He looked back at her and resumed the smile, “Well in that case it is my pleasure since he produced such a beautiful daughter. I have fish stew on the wood stove, please come in and join me.”

“Mutt goes everywhere with me,” Roxanne said. “Will that be a problem if he comes in?”

Joe shook his head and looked down at Mutt, “No, in fact I may have one beef jerky left that he can have. Dogs need to be fed too.”

Roxanne took a step into the doorway and stopped to let her eyes adjust to the dimness inside. It would be getting dark soon and the shadows were long at this time of day. She saw that it was a small family business with booths on the right but Joe had taken the booths out on the left and put in a cot. If the center of the room had tables and chairs Joe had removed those too because the floor was open to a bar in the back. The shelves behind the bar did not have any merchandise and were bare of even a glass to drink from.

She could see Joe in the kitchen in the back and the only other doors were to the restrooms. Joe called out from the kitchen with his back still turned to her. “There’s just me but you can check the bathrooms if you want. Put Mutt outside the bathroom door so you will feel safe from me jumping you from behind.” Roxanne smiled and checked both bathrooms to find that they were empty. She walked to the doorway of the kitchen and stood at an angle so she could see the other side of the room before entering. Unless someone was hiding in a refrigerator, Joe was alone.

She walked in as Joe was taking a roll of beef jerky out of a can and started to hand it down to Mutt. Roxanne quickly grabbed it and held it to her nose to see if she could smell any chemicals on it. Joe looked at her with confusion then took the jerky back to bite off an end and began to chew it. “It’s safe for the dog but I can understand you being cautious. Invite your friends in; although I’ll be honest I’m not beholding to a man who would send their woman in first.”

Roxanne gave Mutt the jerky and sat down on a stool at the sink, “It’s a method that is comfortable to us.”

“Oh” he went on stirring, not pleased with the answer when a thought suddenly occurred to him and he looked up. “Oh, I See! You’re a decoy! Damn, have I walked into a trap?”

“No,” she shook her head, “but I should go to the door and wave them in or they will be worried by now.”

By the time Lucky and Brandon were able to dock the riverboat Roxanne and Joe were already sitting at a booth eating while Mutt sat at her feet watching the door. Sometimes Roxanne would set aside a baby potato and let it cool before handing it to Mutt.

“Pots in the kitchen,” Joe waved them toward the back. “You’ll find bowls and spoons back there. Just help yourself.”

“How long have you been here Joe” Roxanne asked.

“All my life. When the world fell apart I didn’t see any reason to leave. I know this area, know where to hide, know where to find food, although I burned up most of my furniture last winter. Wood stove keeps me warm and this year I planned for the winter by chopping my own wood. Always had it delivered before.”

“Where exactly are we,” Lucky asked as he came out of the kitchen with his stew. Both he and Brandon elected to stand behind the bar where they could watch the door and their boat.

“You’re about to enter Lake Huntington. I was the last restaurant on this channel before entering the lake. I’ve picked clean everything north on the lake and your boat will have a hard time south of the lake since it narrows down into a creek with a shallow bottom.” This news was devastating to Brandon. He had fallen in love with Jenny and did not want to abandon her. “Course I guess you could raise her paddles so they won’t scrape bottom and you might get through. More likely she’ll hit rock and break up though.”

“Where does this Huntington Lake lead to?” Brandon asked. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“Very few people have,” Joe continued. “That’s why the fishing was so good here. Everybody else went to the Gulf.”

“Gulf!” Everyone chimed in at once.

Joe looked up at their confused faces. “Why yes. You’re in the State of Mississippi. Why? Where did you want to go?”

“I really think you should stay,” Joe said the next morning. “There are a couple of cottages across the lake which are habitable. I haven’t seen a zombie for a month and the last people I saw was four months ago. The only people out there now are scumbags, begging your pardon.” Roxanne had looked away at the memory of being one of those scumbags but Joe had mistaken the look on her face. “That last bunch that came through here beat me to a pulp for no reason. Took me a month to heal. And the group before that went into a rage when they found out I didn’t have any supplies and busted up everything I had on the shelves behind the bar. There’s just two of you men and most of these groups come in five or six. No match for you to handle.”

Joe told them that Huntington would eventually flow into Lake Pontchartrain and that was where Brandon wanted to go. He said there would be large gambling boats there and could be well stocked since Jenny had provided for them as small as she was. “Like Roxanne thought of Amusement Parks and how no one would be taking a vacation. That’s the same theory I’m using for gambling casinos on the water. Many of them are permanent structures and don’t go out on the water at all. They would still be standing.”

Roxanne was struggling with her intuition. She really wanted to check out one of those cottages that Joe spoke of and settle down into a normal routine again. Her intuition had led her to Jenny which took her to Joe. Was that Jenny’s purpose or was it to get her to Lake Pontchartrain? She almost decided to let Brandon and Lucky go without her and take up residence in one of the cottages, but Joe’s stories of the type of people that had come through frightened her. She had discovered that she was human and that a woman was no match for five men. She did not want to relive that nightmare again and knew that she could no longer be a woman alone in this world. She needed Brandon and Lucky as much as they needed her.

They told Joe of their need for a dingy and he said he would go with them to the northern part of the lake where the Marinas were. They would drop him off at his place on the way back to the south. Once they were on Jenny and Joe saw the inexperience that Brandon had he stayed on the bridge to give Brandon additional help and training.

Roxanne and Lucky sat on a bench facing the bow and watched the scenery go by. “Are you comfortable with this, Roxanne?” Lucky asked.

“To be quite honest, I’m torn. Joe has made it on his own out here but he’s alone. I’m worried about him now that he told us of the last groups that came through. The next group that comes through here could kill Joe or find me alone in a cottage and kill me too. It’s encouraging that he hasn’t seen Ze’s in a month since we spent two months constantly hearing their moans surrounding us although the last month became sporadic. At one time I would have taken him up on the offer, but I feel so old now and not that young woman who was running Dollywood. I can’t believe that was just three months ago. It seems ages and I don’t have the strength of being well fed, don’t know if I’ll ever get it back. I feel more like one of the victims who we used to pity because they were weak.”

At that moment Joe yelled out, “Land Ho, to your left. Pull into that Marina.”

Joe showed them where a rowboat was up on the rafters and paddles to go with it. It was a job getting it down but it was in good shape and would serve its purpose. He found some rope and showed them the proper knot to use to tie Jenny. They searched the rest of the marina but Joe had already scavenged through it for his own use.

On the way back he once again stayed with Brandon on the bridge, then called Lucky to come up and used the excuse that he wanted to see if they could find the channel and his place on their own. If they were going to cruise the lake and creek they needed to learn how to navigate. His real intent was to get Roxanne alone. As before, she was sitting on a bench at the bow watching the shoreline with Mutt at her side.

Joe sat down beside her and said, “Can’t you talk some sense into those guys? It’s suicide going toward the city. A year ago I still had heavy traffic coming through of people fleeing New Orleans. Not like that first year, but these were people who had hunkered down and tried to wait it out. Then suddenly it stopped. The city has been taken over by Ze’s and the creek can get dangerous in spots. Brandon wouldn’t know how to handle rapids. I have a bad feeling about this Roxanne. Just what is it that they’re looking for?”

Roxanne shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, “A safe place, I guess. A community perhaps, with other people who have managed to survive. We know there is a greater chance of survival with a large number of people. There must be someplace, somewhere like that.”

Joe turned to her, “Look me in the eye Roxanne and tell me that you believe that.”