“What if the long dash equates to a five and the short dashes equal a one,” MJ said, basically talking out loud as he tried to figure the logic puzzle out.
“Eight and ten?” Joann asked, “What the hell does that mean?”
“What if they represent letters in the alphabet?” Alex asked.
Erin started counting the letters off her fingers. “H and J? Still doesn’t make much sense.” “More like old school Risk board game pieces,” Paul added, completely from left field.
“Any chance you could elaborate?” MJ asked.
“The long is a ten and the short is a one,” Paul said excitedly.
“Thirteen and twenty, so what?” Joann asked.
“M and T,” MJ said.
“Mike motherfucking Talbot!” Alex said, high-fiving Paul.
“I think your message got through, Dad,” Justin said. “Paul and Alex are both fist pumping the air.” “‘Bout time, let’s go find a ladder truck,” I said to everyone, motioning that we should get going.
“They’re leaving!” Joann said with dejection.
“They just wanted to let us know they are here. Now we wait to see what kind of plan they’ve come up with,” Paul said.
“Well, I do hope they hurry up. I’m down to my last five or six packs,” Mrs. Deneaux said loudly, making sure Joann would catch it.
“I’d throw you over the edge, you old crow, if I thought the zombies would actually eat you. They’d probably just think that you were already one of them,” Joann said as she stalked off.
Mrs. Deneaux cackled wildly.
Eliza and Tomas - Interlude
“I told you they would come, Sister,” Tomas said from the doorway of the furniture store.
Eliza said nothing as she watched the ‘rescue party’ depart.
“Mistress please, allow me to go now and finish him off,” Durgan said from Eliza’s left.
“I do not believe that you possess what is necessary to defeat him,” Eliza replied, never turning to address Durgan personally.
Durgan’s body shook with rage and impotence. “Yes Mistress,” he said mildly, nearly choking on his hatred of Talbot. Tomas turned and smiled at him which enraged him more. He knew Tomas was kin to Eliza but his allegiance was in question. He would keep an eye on the demon, but the power the boy exuded rivaled that of his sister and therefore he needed to proceed with caution.
“Please, at least allow me to go onto the roof and dispatch of them. They mean nothing to you,” Durgan pleaded “Do not presume to know what is and what is not of consequence to me,” Eliza said coldly.
“Yes, Mistress,” Durgan, said bowing his head.
“Although it could be an entertaining distraction,” Eliza mused coquettishly.
Durgan’s head shot up, a glimmer of anticipation on his face, partly because he might get to kill someone but mostly because he loved to please his master. Durgan had always been a leader but he found himself relishing the role of follower, although slave was closer to his title. To be this near to her and her power was intoxicating. Why she wasted so much time and energy on the pissant Talbot he could not begin to fathom. In this world she was without limits, she had command of vast armies, countries would bow to her and he would be by her side. Now that Tommy’s blood had cured her she was once again immortal. Talbot would fall eventually, if only to the greatest enemy of mankind: Time. ‘FUCK HIM!’ he screamed in his head, his missing leg still aching.
“There is the chance, Sister, that Michael will not come to the rescue if no one is left alive,” Tomas counseled her.
‘I’m going to kill you the first chance I get,’ Durgan thought to himself. He froze when Tomas looked directly at him as if in response to his thought.
“You wouldn’t be trying to protect your friends now, would you Brother?” Eliza asked as she caressed his face.
“I have no friends,” he answered in an even tone.
“And what of me, Brother?” Eliza asked smiling.
“Least of all you, Sister.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN – Talbot Journal Entry 13
It was Perla who came up with the idea to break into a Best Buy and grab a Garmin. Within a few minutes it had located a satellite and after a query for Fire Stations we soon had five pulled up within a twenty mile radius. The closest was devoid of all equipment, they had definitely been out on a call when their fate befell them.
“I think we’re going to have problems,” Brian said dejectedly as he kicked a helmet across the empty fire station floor.
“First responders were doing what they were supposed to be doing,” I said.
“Hey!” BT yelled from the truck. “This shows which stations are volunteer based.”
“So what?” Jack said a little perturbed, this roadblock souring his mood.
“Real bright,” I said as an aside to Jack. “You’ve seen how big he is right? You always go around poking bears, dumb ass?” “I’ll ‘so what’ right upside your head you dumb cracker,” BT said, struggling to get his bulk out of the truck.
“He knows not what he says my friend,” I said coming over to keep BT from ripping Jack in half. “Although this is kind of cool. It’s much better that he’s the object of your hostility as opposed to me.” BT barely even heard me as he kept trying to get by me. I danced around him, trying to block his path, “Talbot, I swear if you get in my way again, I will beat him to death with your body!” he thundered at me.
I wisely stepped aside. “On your own, Jack.”
“Wait, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Jack said, putting his hands up.
“That’s kind of the same pose you use with BT,” Tracy said as she came up beside me.
“Am I that pathetic?” I asked as I watched the drama.
“Oh even worse I think,” she smiled.
“I used to have dignity,” I told her.
She put her hand up and rocked it back and forth. “Debatable.”
“BT, could you please not kill him, he knows how to operate the ladder truck,” I asked BT’s back.
BT had Jack backed all the way up against a wall, “Listen, you little twit!” BT said, pressing his finger on the top of Jack’s head. “A volunteer fire department means that they weren’t necessarily at the station when the end went down and more than likely never had the chance to get there.” “I get it!” Jack said. Although I think he would have said that even if BT was teaching him quantum physics and he didn’t have a clue.
“You wouldn’t have thought God would have been able to squeeze a brain in around all that muscle,” I said with a smirk.
“Holy shit Dad! He’s going to kill you!” Travis said.
“No swearing!” Tracy and I echoed each other.
“Did he hear me?” I asked Travis softly.
“I heard you Talbot!” BT shouted from across the room. “So many crackers, so little time,” BT said to the heavens.
The Cherryfield Station Fire House was a disaster. I don’t know what happened but the LEAST unsettling thing was the Dalmatian pinned to the wall with a hatchet. What could have possibly necessitated that? Perla waited outside after her third volley of puke left her virtually empty. Dried blood coated the floor. It was at least a quarter inch thick, we kept cracking through the top hardened layer into the thicker still wet and sticky portion. I pretended it was the top surface of frozen snow. The illusion was difficult to hold onto because it was close to fifty out and this snow was a red, black hybrid, oh yeah, that and the metallic smell that human blood tends to give off.