Victor ran toward her. They met halfway and like the most heartfelt scene from a movie, they wrapped their arms around each other and cried.
“Mom, I missed you so much,” Victor said, still having his arms, which were wrapped tightly around his mother. The smell coming from him was nauseating, but she didn’t care as she dug her face into his shoulder. Morgan was a tall woman, but Victor was considerably shorter than she was. He hadn’t yet reached that growth spurt.
“I missed you too, Victory,” she said through tears.
“Why didn’t you come for me?”
“I tried,” she said with a look of concern. “I really did.”
“It’s okay,” Victor said with a smile. “I don’t think you would have survived the journey.”
She laughed and then continued crying.
Kyle stood at the doorway watching the reunion. He didn’t know what to think. Should he be happy that Victor had found his mother? Should he be angry? Should he see this as hope that one day very soon he will find Jasmine, and they would share a moment like this? He walked toward the newly reunited mother and son.
Morgan glanced up at him for a moment and let go of Victor. She wiped away the tears on her cheek and motioned toward Kyle. “Who’s this?” she said in a soft voice.
Victor released his grip and said, “This is my friend, Kyle. I met him at the gas station. He brought me here.”
Kyle just stared at them, not saying a word. Only just a few minutes ago, Victor had been his, only his. He had been the only guardian to the kid, but now it looked as though that was no longer going to be the case. The thought of raising his pistol and shooting Morgan through the head crossed his mind. He wanted to do it; he had the gun in his hand. He’d be able to calm Victor down again. That wouldn’t be a problem, at least he hoped it wouldn’t. They’d be able to leave and head for California, head for Jasmine where they’d be able to live happily as father, mother and son.
Kyle cringed at the thoughts in his mind. He was no monster. How could he think about doing something so heinous? He was angry at himself for even considering doing something so maniacal, so cold and heartless. Especially to someone he had grown to love.
“Hi,” he said after shaking the thoughts from his head. “I’m Kyle.” He waved with a half-forced smile.
“Thank you for bringing him home. I don’t know what I can do to repay you.”
You can go away, he thought, that’s how you can pay me back. Just go away. “No problem, it was on my way,” he said with a full smile. “Is it safe for us to be out here?”
“Yeah, we’re fine right now. Most of the Existing Dead don’t come around in the daytime. The ones that do are taken care of by The Embassy.” She began to rub Victor’s back with that touch only mothers know.
“Existing Dead?” Kyle asked. This was the first time Kyle had come across someone else who used the same term.
“Yeah, the creatures, monsters, zombies … whatever you want to use. Existing Dead is a term coined by The Embassy leader.”
“Doctor Greenly,” Kyle replied, not asking a question, but stating fact.
“Yeah, that’s him. How’d you know?”
“I’ve been hearing his radio broadcasts. I learned a lot from him, but what’s ‘The Embassy’?”
She stopped rubbing Victor’s back and gently pushed him back a step so she could take a better look at her son. “What happened to your face?”
Victor’s gaze met his mother’s and without even thinking twice about it, he said, “I ran into a few kids who beat me up. Kyle saw it and ran to help me. That’s how we became friends.”
“Oh … we need to go inside and get you cleaned up. I don’t see anything major, just some swelling around the cheekbones and a few cuts and bruises. I have supplies inside the house. Come on.” She began walking toward the house, pushing the shopping cart in front of her.
Victor shot Kyle a glance and shook his head as if saying do not to mention what really happened. Kyle understood without a word being said. He wouldn’t want his mother knowing either if he was in this situation.
“Thanks for stepping in,” Morgan said, as she reached the front door.
“Yeah, don’t mention it.” He looked at Victor.
“Can you two strong men help me take these boxes inside?”
They both nodded.
“It might not be my place to ask, but what is all this stuff for? What are you doing pushing a shopping cart around?” Kyle asked as he holstered the Glock on his belt and reached into the cart to hand Victor one of the boxes. He reached in again and took the bigger box. “Whoa, this one’s heavy.”
Morgan walked through the door as she began to speak. “The Embassy has a lot of supplies for its residents. When there’s a scouting team out in the city, they may not be able to make it back before nightfall. I offered my house as a safe haven for the scouting team. They give me supplies and I store them here for anyone from The Embassy.”
“So, The Embassy is like a military safe zone?”
“Not quite. There are some military people there, but it’s mostly survivors looking for refuge. Looking for a way out, as Doctor Greenly likes to put it.”
“We tried listening to his last radio broadcast, but it just kept repeating.”
Morgan nodded. “Yeah, it’s been looping for about a week now. That was an old recording. He found The Embassy shortly after that was released, and since he was the leading researcher on the Existing Dead, it was only fitting for him to take leadership responsibilities. It was just a big mess back then, but everything seems to be calming down, and The Embassy is safe.” Morgan closed the door after Kyle walked in. “Take those to the top of the stairs and into the first door to your left.”
Kyle walked up the stairs first and took the new boxes into the room. Everything about this place was starting to make sense. At first, everything had seemed weird. Why had Morgan been outside pushing a shopping cart without worrying about the dead? He still didn’t understand why the Existing Dead only came out at night around here. Back home, they would be everywhere at any time of day. Could their evolution have something to do with them staying out of the sunlight? Kyle needed to plan a trip to The Embassy to ask Doctor Greenly some questions.
They walked back downstairs and headed for the kitchen. Morgan sat by the kitchen table with a white box in front of her. She removed alcohol swabs from their packages and placed them on the table. Motioning for Victor to take the seat next to her, she began to rub it over the closing wounds. “Did they hit you on the jaw? How do your teeth feel?”
Victor grinded his teeth and used his tongue to feel around his mouth. “They seem fine. I don’t feel any pain there. Kyle gave me some pills to help take the pain away.”
“What did you give him?”
“Honestly,” Kyle said, checking his pockets for the bottle of pills but unable to find them, “I don’t remember. It was something for pain.”
“You gave him a pill and you didn’t know what it was?” Morgan snapped back.
“Hey, don’t get mad at me. I’m no fucking doctor. I gave him whatever I could to take away the pain,” Kyle said, letting out a bit of frustration.
Morgan sighed. “Since we don’t know what you gave him, I can’t give him anything for at least twenty-four hours.” Morgan took a cold compress from the first-aid kit and snapped it to start the cooling action. She placed it on the most swollen side of Victor’s face. “Hold it here for a few minutes, then move it to another place that hurts.”
Victor nodded then stood from the chair. He walked passed Kyle and headed for the living room, where he lay on the couch.
“Are you hurt?” Morgan asked.
Kyle shook his head. “No. I’m fine.”
“What about that gash on your bicep? How did that happen?”