Race to Refuge

Chapter Twenty-Three: Ty

Even though it looked like the whole retirement home had turned into zombies and were heading our way, I knew I couldn't leave until I'd found out if Nana and Ginny were here and what had happened to them. But I felt bad asking Charlie to be part of this. I didn't want to be alone and facing this stuff on my own, but it didn't feel right making Charlie risk his life to help me out. After all, it wasn't his sister or his grandmother.

"Listen," I said urgently to him, "you've done enough for me. You got me here safely and I appreciate it. But you and Mojo need to get out of here, now."

Charlie was still pressing the button on the gate. "Come on, come on," he muttered. He didn't look like he was listening to me at all.

"Seriously," I said, watching as the zombie old folks were heading slowly but surely toward us. "Get out of here. I can just run in and down the road to the retirement home."

Charlie turned to look at me in surprise. "What? Through a herd of zombies? You're not thinking this through."

"No, I'm totally thinking it through," I said. "I can run circles around young zombies and these are old zombies. I think the odds are in my favor, even if there are a lot of them."

Charlie shook his head and pressed the button again. "No, man. Not with gobs of them like that. There might be zombies lining the drive all the way to the front entrance of the Home. You're a great runner, don't get me wrong, but there's only so far you can run without resting."

He looked in frustration at the speaker again and banged it with his fist. Finally, a woman's voice spoke. "Who's there?" it asked suspiciously.

Charlie shot me a relieved look and then said quickly, "I'm Charlie. I'm outside your gate with a teen named Ty whose grandmother is one of your residents."

No word from the speaker.

"We need to get inside the gates," said Charlie impatiently. He rolled his eyes at me.

Silence from the speaker.

I spoke up this time, trying to make my voice sound younger and innocent and scared. It wasn't hard to do, considering the circumstances. "Ma'am?" I asked. "He's telling the truth. My name is Ty and I'm looking for my grandmother, who lives here. I'm also looking for my younger sister, Ginny, who might have come here separately, looking for my Nana."

Finally the voice spoke again. "What's your Nana's name?" She still sounded real suspicious.

I cleared my throat and said, "Clarice Brown."

There was silence from the speaker again.

I felt anxiety mounting again. "Did you hear me? Clarice Brown. She's a resident here. She's lived here for the last seven years."

Charlie swore softly under his breath, clearly frustrated. "Look, are you a nurse or a staff member or what? We need to come in. We've got a crowd of zombies heading our way and the relative of a resident who needs admittance."

The voice now sounded crafty. "Sounds like you're in a bad way. But if I help you out, how can you help me out?"

Charlie shot me a disbelieving look. "Are you kidding me?" he demanded of the speaker. In a furious whisper he said to me, "Ty, are you sure we need to go in there? There's something wrong. I mean, something badly wrong in there."

I nodded silently.

Charlie sighed and pushed his lips together tightly, staring at the invading horde of elderly zombies heading slowly but surely our way. "What is it that you need? We have some provisions with us. But you've surely got a lot more over in the kitchen there. What you probably don't have over there is a couple of young, healthy men to carry or load things. I'm thinking you need us a lot more than we need you."