Morgan stared intrigued. It was easy to see that this was the first time she had ever heard anything like this. “That’s interesting.” She took a forkful of food.
“Yeah, then the following morning she tried to kill Victor, but I took care of her,” Kyle said instantly regretting it. “I mean, she tried to kill me, not Victor.”
“Where the hell have you been taking my boy?” Morgan asked, her tone of voice bordering on anger.
“Sorry,” Kyle said, in an equal tone. “I misspoke.”
“Sure you did.”
“Mom, please,” Victor pleaded. “I’m fine.”
“No you’re not. Look at your face. You were almost killed by someone and it’s all this man’s fault. He’s not fit to take care of you.”
The last bit of sunlight fell beyond the wooden fence of the backyard. Twilight had finally settled, and the Existing Dead would be coming out of their hiding spots.
“I’m sorry I’m not the ideal person you wanted looking after your boy, but the fact of the matter is that I brought him home. He wanted to come here and I brought him. I could have easily left him back at the gas station, but I didn’t.”
“You just wanted him because you couldn’t have your son. You needed a replacement.”
Kyle didn’t understand how Morgan could know all of this. There had to have been something he was doing that made her aware of the situation.
Victor continued eating his food as though arguments didn’t faze him. He took one bite after another and just stared at them going back and forth. After he was done with his meal, he stood and said, “I’m going to my room,” then left.
“I’m leaving tomorrow, so you can stop worrying that I’m going to steal Victor in the middle of the night. And besides, where the fuck can I go?”
“Just stay out of sight ’til morning.”
“And where am I supposed to do that?”
“Go upstairs and sit in the room with the supplies. Find something to keep you busy or just fall asleep. I don’t care, just stay out of sight. We don’t need them knowing we’re in here.” Morgan left the room leaving Kyle with his thoughts.
There was nothing he could do. Victor was going to stay with his mom and he was going to California.
Kyle remained in the kitchen eating his dinner. Having to eat dinner alone after a fight had happened a lot between him and Mary.
After he finished his dinner, he looked around for a trash bin. He wondered where all of Morgan’s trash was going. The house was clean and tidy as if no one had been living there, but people had been here. Maybe she takes her trash somewhere every day in the cart, he thought. Kyle stacked the three paper plates into one pile and left the kitchen.
He walked into the living room where Morgan was quickly trying to put the drape back up. She turned and glanced at Kyle. “They’re starting to come outside,” she whispered. “We need to get this back up.”
Kyle reached for the other end of the drape and lifted it to the hook above the door. Morgan did the same with her end.
“Great,” Morgan said, “Now stay out of sight ’til morning. A big part of our safety is that we don’t let them know we’re in here.”
Kyle nodded. Morgan began walking upstairs, taking the steps as slowly as possible so not to make too much noise. Kyle remained in the living room, looking through the window. He could see many of the Existing Dead shambling into view from all different directions. Their moans and shuffles could be heard through the window. That’s how thin their barricade between them and the dead was. A female Existing Dead looked in Kyle’s direction. He couldn’t tell if it was intentional or random. Letting go of the drapes, Kyle’s heart began to race. He needed to learn to stop playing with fire.
Moments passed and nothing happened. The Existing Dead didn’t start banging on the door or window. He didn’t want to take any more chances and decided to just go upstairs.
He walked up the stairs as carefully and slowly as Morgan. It was a lot harder than she made it seem. When he reached the top, he heard whispering voices coming from somewhere. He paused to eavesdrop on Victor and Morgan talking. From what he could make out, they were talking about him.
“I like him. He’s fun,” Victor said.
“Fun doesn’t mean safety, Victory. He’s not all there and he seems dangerous,” Morgan replied.
“Who doesn’t seem dangerous out here? You’ve been in safety this entire time while me and Kyle were out in the middle of it. We met real dangerous people; Kyle is one of the good people as far as I’m concerned.”
Kyle smiled. It was nice to know that Victor thought so highly of him. He opened the door to the storage room and walked inside. There was no bed or covers in the room, only boxes with food and supplies. He broke down a few of the boxes and laid them down to make a bed. He then used all the medical gauze he could find to make a pillow. It wasn’t big, but resembled the pillows airlines handed out to their passengers.
Darkness quickly swallowed the neighborhood. It was a new moon, so not even the light reflecting from the moon was visible. Kyle lay on his improvised bed with the moans from the dead howling outside and thoughts running through his head. He was tired and in desperate need of a good night’s rest. But how could he rest knowing that Jasmine was still out there? In the past few hours, Kyle had gotten antsy, and wanted to do nothing more than to leave with Victor and find Jasmine.
A ticking in the room began breaking the endless drone of moans. At first he thought it was someone knocking on his door, possibly Victor. “Yeah?” Kyle whispered, sitting up in the makeshift bed looking toward the door. There was no reply. He heard the tapping again, but this time it was louder. He felt a chill run down the back of his neck, which made the hair on his arms stand on end. In what seemed as a quick blink, Kyle opened his eyes and through the darkness he could see Mary standing in front of the closed door. She held the hand of a faceless Eddie.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kyle jumped back until he was pressed up against the wall. His eyes opened as wide as saucers and his breathing became more erratic. Was he dreaming?
“Kyle,” she said as both of them took one step closer.
“Stay away, Mary,” he replied.
“What are you doing, Kyle? Why haven’t you reached Jasmine’s house? Wasn’t she the reason you left us?”
A disgusting hiss began to exude from the hole in Eddie’s face. It was as if he were trying to speak, but since he was nothing more than a throat, speaking was impossible. Blood began to squirt out of the opening like the splatter of a paint spray can.
Mary put her hand on Eddie’s head and said, “Yes, I know. Daddy has found a new son. He doesn’t love you anymore.”
“Don’t say that!” Kyle yelled. “I love Eddie. Even after death, you’re still trying to get to me, you fucking heartless bitch!” Kyle stood, enraged. “Get the fuck out of my head!”
“That’s just like you, Kyle. Getting angry when you’re faced with the truth.”
More blood began to spray from Eddie.
“Shut up,” Kyle said.
“You’re the most heartless person out of all of us, Kyle.”
The figure of Susie walked through the door and entered the room. Her chest was mangled by the slug that had killed her. She was being followed by Angel, who was wrapped in a blanket. Chet entered the same way, his face beaten beyond recognition.