Chapter 32- Conflagration

I approached the shed cautiously. "Tracy? You in there?" No sound at first, then the scratching of something heavy and metallic sliding by the door handles. The door opened slowly, and Tracy's head peered out. "Is she gone?" she asked with trepidation. I gestured with my thumb over my shoulder. "Ran off through the woods that way." She looked visibly relieved. "Are you okay?" She nodded, still shivering a bit. "What happened?" I asked. She stepped through the doorway and into the night air. She had a long heavy crowbar in her hands, wielding it like a baseball bat. "Where's your shotgun?" I inquired, wondering why she didn't use it against that monster. She looked toward the house and back at me, still nervous. "Over there" She pointed.  "You okay?  I heard shots." She looked around nervously, not convinced that the area was safe.  As we walked up toward the house she seemed to relax a little.  Looking around in the darkness she searched the grass at our feet. "I was inside and saw something moving out here. When I came out, she jumped me, sent my gun flying before I could do anything. I saw that shed and bolted for it." She located her shotgun and picked it up, inspecting it. "But once inside I was trapped like a rat in a cage. It was terrifying.  I tried calling out to you but I guess you couldn't hear me."

I looked at her standing in the moonlight. It was hard to imagine her afraid of anything. Here she was, standing in a strangers backyard with a loaded shotgun, talking comfortably about how helpless she felt.  She truly was an amazing woman.  "Sorry I didn't hear you."  I apologized.  "He finally turned and attacked me and I emptied my entire gun to stop him." I said. "I assumed you were inside and when I started firing and you didn't show up I was afraid something had happened to you." I took a step closer to her, and her gaze moved from scanning the tree line to looking into my eyes.  She looked vulnerable and honest, and stunningly beautiful in the pale light.  I pulled her close, and she let me. "I'm glad you're okay." I said, my adrenaline rushing.  I leaned in, and she closed her eyes and tilted her chin up. Suddenly a distant scream echoed out into the night. Stepping away from each other we both looked toward the trees.

"It came from that way." Tracy said. I squinted, trying to see the source.  "It's gotta be the next house over. That's the direction she headed." We were suddenly faced with a challenging decision: go after this monster before it had a chance to infect others, or call the authorities and hope they could dispatch the beast. I knew in my heart that the right thing to do was to go help, but I felt ill-equipped to do much with a single shotgun, a kitchen knife and a crowbar. I looked at Tracy. "There's more ammo in the duffel bags, but it's a long walk in the opposite direction." I gestured toward Mr. Munn's house. "We could just split the shells from your gun, and go with what we have." Tracy gave me a huge smile, as though there was something I'd missed. "It will take more time to go load up," she said. "But we need to be prepared as we possibly can be." She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. "And I love that running away wasn't even an option in your mind." She walked toward the garage. I stood there for a second, rubbing my cheek and smiling like an idiot. "Where are you going?" I asked. "Your car is that way!" I gestured towards the woods, the way we came. She looked over her shoulder and laughed. "You really want to walk?" She asked with a wry smile.

She pulled the keys off a hook on the wall when I put my hand on her arm.  "We can't do this- its stealing." She laughed.  "You're kidding, right?" She looked at me in disbelief.  "With all that's happened are you really worried about that?" I followed her into the garage where she opened the door to the sedan.  "Don't you realize?  If the police come here and see all this they won't understand what's happened.  They'll see a dead body mutilated in the front yard, a shallow grave with who knows what inside it, a bathtub full of blood upstairs and our fingerprints all over the place." Tracy stopped and stared out the front window.  I could see her processing the information.  "The world isn't over." I continued.  "It might feel like it with all we've gone through, but doing this will put us in a cell rather than keep us free to help stop this madness."  My logic was sound, but brought a certain reality we had to face.  Tracy looked at me.  "Stealing a car or not, we either need to clean every finger print from this place or be here when the authorities arrive." She said matter-of factly.  "And if we stay, what do you suggest we say?  'We were wandering through the woods looking for his mother who we stole from the hospital when we stumbled across a family of zombies?'  We'd be trading that jail cell for a padded one."  She had a very valid point, and outside of trying to wipe every print of everything we touched and burying the bodies, we were in a tough situation.  Another scream echoed through the woods.  "And what about them?" She asked.  "Regardless of our own situation, we're some of the only people who understand what they are up against.  We need to help them."  A feeling of guilt and responsibility gnawed at me.  Was this my fault?  Had my mother been infected by Mr. Lawrence and is now responsible for a chain of events leading to the screams we hear in the distance?  I nodded quietly and opened the passenger door.  "Let's get our ammo, go help those people, then come back here and clean up."

The trees rushed by the window rapidly as we sped silently down the single lane road.  Neither one of us spoke, both lost in our own thoughts.  As we drove I began to question whether the twisting road
through this secluded neighborhood really was faster than the foot path we'd used earlier in the woods.  It became increasingly clear that while the two houses were geographically close to each other, they were accessed by completely separate roads, and the only way vehicular traffic could get from one to the other was to exit all the way out to the main road and return on the separate private drive.  The residents in this area apparently enjoyed their privacy so much that no houses were built within sight of each other, a fact that might work to our benefit.  After all, if no one bothered anyone out here, it increased our chances that the home we just left would remain undisturbed until we returned.

We made the turn onto Mr. Munn's drive and I sat forward in my seat.  "Wait, slow down" I pointed toward the tops of the towering trees.  Flickering light danced along the leaves, and the faintest glimpse of bright yellow could be seen through the tall trunks.  "What is that, emergency flashers?  Floodlights?" I saw some large bushes to the left and gestured toward them.  Can you get behind that?  Let's hide the car and go in on foot."  She steered the car across the ditch and behind the row of shrubbery.

We got out and closed our doors quietly.  Shouldering our shotguns, we walked slowly toward the house.  The flickering light got brighter and brighter.  Tracy clapped her hand over her mouth in astonishment as we saw Mr. Munn's house, flames bursting from every door and window.  Two black SUVs were silhouetted against the glow, and several men in suits walked around, their figures distorted by the heat.  There were no attempts to slow down or stop the fire, and we saw Tracy's car being winched onto a shiny black tow truck that seemed to match the SUVs.  A man wearing a white lab coat seemed to be motioning towards the other men, giving them orders.  "So much for the supplies" I said quietly to Tracy.  "You don't think they'd be willing to help us with our little problem, do you?" Tracy gave me a 'you can't be serious' look and pointed at the fire.  "That's not help, that's a cover up."  She seemed more than a little perturbed.  "This is probably the same group that injected me with that serum.  They probably hadn't heard from Mr. Munn and came to investigate."  We watched for a moment longer and then stole silently back to the car.

We sat quietly for a moment, thinking about what to do next.  "Well, looks like this is our only form of transportation." She said, getting ready to turn the ignition.  "Wait..." I whispered, and we saw headlights come around the corner ahead.  Ducking down, I looked over at Tracy who had her fingers crossed.  I pointed to them as the black SUVs roared past with the tow truck close behind.  "That totally helped." I said with a boyish grin.  Once they had passed Tracy sat up and smacked the steering wheel in frustration.  I looked over at her.  "You okay?" She nodded and grinned.  "My purse was in there, and I had a new pack of gum I hadn't even opened..."  I couldn't help but smile.  She had such an amazing way of lightening even the hardest of situations.  "Let's go." I said, looking at her.  "Those people need our help."