Mark Clodi - Undead Advantage, a Zombie Chronicles Novel

The girl spoke up as they got close. "Hi Hank, hi Juan." Then she couldn't say any more, but started crying and ran over and hugged Hank tightly.

Wincing again in pain Hank said, "Oh girl! Oh girlie, hold on a minute here, you are hurting my ribs!", the girl heard him and softened her embrace, she did not let go or stop crying. Her brother, seeing his sister cry, started crying himself. One of the women nearby came up and picked him up and held him while big, silent tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Shh, shhhh, you will be okay now kid, you will be okay. I am sorry. I wish we could have saved your mom and dad, we just got there too late, I am so sorry!" Hank whispered to the girl. She continued to cry, while Hank shuffled over to his seat, "I gotta take a load off girl, will you help me sit down again?"

The girl helped Hank sit and lean back before asking if she could sit with him. Hank reluctantly agreed, soon enough she was joined by her brother and all three of them made the chair positively full, it was not completely uncomfortable, just a little awkward when any of them shifted position. Hank learned the boy was named Cage and the girl was Sylvia. After crying for awhile Sylvia said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I am just so scared. And sad, I have never been so sad before."

Hank nodded agreement to that, "You are going to be sad when you think about this for the rest of your life Sylvia. No one can make that go away, but you'll have good times again too."

"I don't want good times! I should have helped dad when they got him, then helped mom, and all I did was hide in back of the car, I should never have good times again ever."

Putting his hand on her back and rubbing it Hank said, "No you did what your mom wanted. You saved your little brother and yourself. I bet she told you to hide I the back of the car, didn't she? Sylvia?"

Nodding, Sylvia, said, "Ye-yeah, but I could have done something! They took off my mom's clothes! And she was bleeding! And her arm! Her arm was gone after the accident, they bit off her arm!"

"No, no dear, try not to think of it, you just don't think of it like that. The zombies, the bad guys, they didn't bite your mom's arm off, it happened in the accident, we think, when the car rolled over. You did what she wanted, she must have known Sylvia, she must have known Juan, Kevin and I would be along to save you. That's why she told you to hide, so she and your dad could fight the bad guys off until we got there. Only something went wrong and the bad guys got them too soon, before we could save all of you. I am so sorry Sylvia."

Sylvia seemed to digest the lie, she wanted to believe she had done the right thing, but even at eleven years old she knew a lie when she heard one, if only she could believe she had done the right thing, maybe then she could forgive herself for not dying alongside her parents. Not admitting Hank was right, she gave him a curt nod that seemed to say, "I will think about your explanation of events and regard them as true until such time as I can come up with a better argument as to what really happened." Of course Sylvia did not say that, Hank just took it that way, then nodded back and pulled her close in another hug. From an aisle over Evaine was watching Hank intently, even though he could not see her, she smiled slightly to herself as she walked away to help the women with lunch.

Cage was not arguing any points with Hank, he was just keenly aware that his mother and father were gone and would never be back. Thankfully, he did not carry any survivor's guilt on his conscious.

Juan, meanwhile had safely settled back into his chair and was surrounded by kids again, mostly boys and younger girls. The kids all had hand held game players and were eager to show Juan how they could all play together wirelessly. Juan watched them for a minute or two coaching them when he noticed Cage watching them with interest. Juan tousled one boy's hair and whispered in his ear that he should go and get Cage a game too. Eager to please the boy ran off and was back and showing Cage how to play in less than five minutes. They had a little bit of a language barrier, the boy was Hispanic and not yet in school, and spoke little English, however video game playing would not be denied and through gestures and much button poking the boys got Cage playing the racing game they were all in. This made life easier for Hank as Cage soon wandered off with the pack of boys, who were already teaching him to say things in Spanish. They didn't go far though, just over to an outlet where they could all plug in their games instead of running off battery power. They sat on a carpet, which had been rolled out by the women, who had also set up a play area for the toddlers which was ringed in with boxes and chairs so they could not easily escape. The thirteen to fifteen year old teen girls were assigned the task to watch the children and Hank noticed that one girl in particular was keeping an eye on Cage.

Juan saw Hank's interest, "I asked Nanci to clean them up and keep someone watching them." He said in Spanish, "Nanci said they don't have many kids cloths here, no shoes either and their shoes were all bloody so they washed them and set them to dry up on the roof, not that they seem to mind going without shoes. She wants us to raid a clothing store or a Wal-mart to get all the kids and some adults the essentials, underwear, socks, shoes, that sort of thing. Plus she says the doc is complaining about no equipment, he stitched you up with thread one of the women had boiled up in water on a hot plate, he was not happy about it either."

"Ah it is summer, we won't have to worry about cloths right now, just put all the kids in swimsuits and hose em down, once a day."

Juan looked at Hank as if he were crazy, "You never had to deal with kids much did you Hank? You know what kind of rash they would get if you do that?", shaking his head, "You better not tell Nanci that either, unless you are joking. Here she comes now, hope you are hungry friend."

Indeed Hank was hungry, he accept the plate from Nanci for himself and Nanci handed another one to Sylvia, speaking in Spanish Nanci said, "Sorry she is barefoot Hank, her shoes, they were dirty, we got them clean, but they are still drying. You know all those dryers they got here?" Hank nodded, "Well they take special plugs, so we can't use them without re-wiring something somewhere. Alfonso is a journeyman electrician; he is going to get a bank of dryer's set up for us near the electric box, when he has time. Right now he is working on getting a bunch of generators hooked up on the roof, so when the power cuts out we won't lose electricity to the cooler and stuff. We can hook up a washer too, but only with cold water from a hose, they got a hot water heater near the bathrooms, but the men think setting up a shower is more important. I think so too."

Hank read between the lines, clothes could be cleaned in cold water, bodies could not. He did not doubt for a moment that one of the women had suggested showers instead of washers to one of the men, who was led to believe it was his bright suggestion. Sighing and thinking about the 'way the world works' he thanked Nanci for the food.

After handing out the food Nanci asked if they wanted to watch television, there was nothing on locally, but one of the women had set up several dvd players and they had at least a hundred titles to choose from, all in high definition. Sitting back Hank watched a kid's comedy a movie starring twins who were taking up where the Olson twins had left off so many years ago. He must have dozed off, because the credits were rolling for the movie, he saw Evaine approaching him she grabbed his dirty plate, she had another jug of juice in her hands too and a half smile one her face.

"Hank, the doc says you gotta finish that juice." She said pointed to the jug beside him, "And I have to leave this on here for you to finish off over the rest of the afternoon, plus you have to drink as much as possible tomorrow too, after that you get to drink yourself silly on beer and liquor so he can save the pain medicine for other people who need it more."