Race to Refuge

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Charlie

I couldn't remember where I was when I was waking up the next morning so I had that kind of startled, confused, alarmed feeling that made me sit straight up in bed.

Once I realized I was in the cabin, I relaxed a little. It did feel like a safe place. Safer even than that house in the woods I'd gone to earlier. I knew Mallory was still worried that her friend was lurking around, waiting to attack., but I knew one thing: I felt pretty good about fighting off one zombie. It was the city of zombies or the retirement home full of zombies that I didn't feel so confident about.

Mallory was something else I didn't feel so confident about. I'd felt an immediate pull toward her when I'd first seen her. She was strong, smart, and beautiful. And probably a good twelve years younger than I was. She was way out of my league—in a normal world. But this was the zombie apocalypse, where there were different possibilities. That was, as a matter of fact, the only good thing about the zombie apocalypse—that we could experience a totally different reality.

It was obvious, though, that Mallory had put major barriers up. She was uncomfortable around me. She tensed up when I entered the room. As somebody who's gone through divorce and experienced how bad a relationship can get, I saw some of the same characteristics in Mallory. She acted like someone who'd been hurt. Like somebody reluctant to trust again. I could get that. And there was one thing I knew I had in my favor—time. As long as Annie the Zombie didn't get me, that was. Although, considering I'd already survived one attack, I was feeling a bit more optimistic about my chances.

I decided that actions spoke louder than words. If I wanted Mallory to trust me, I should behave in a trustworthy, adult manner. I decided to scrounge up breakfast from the hodgepodge of stuff we had accumulated here.

After a quick perusal of the food, I decided to treat us with some of the breakfast MREs. They were actually tasty, unlike some of the other MREs. And, since they took no time to prepare, I had breakfast ready in minutes.

Ginny was the first one up. "Can I feed Mojo?" she asked shyly.

I really liked Ginny. She seemed like an awesome kid. A lot of middle school kids had issues, but I saw no sign of any in Ginny, which was pretty amazing, considering everything she'd gone through. And I'd kind of gotten the impression from Ty that the kids' home life hadn't been exactly easy, either. "Sure thing! He'll be your friend for life. As a matter of fact, I think he's your friend for life anyway."

"What should I give him? Is there any dog food?"

"That's sort of an unfortunate thing. There isn't any dog food in there. But we've got some canned soup in there. I bet he'll eat a meaty soup. Then, later on, I'll figure something out for Mojo. Maybe he can eat squirrel or possum or something."

Ginny wrinkled her nose at the thought of squirrel and possum.

The dog had clearly fallen for Ginny. His amber eyes were full of love as she found a large can of soup and poured it in a bowl she found in a cabinet.

I knew I shouldn't quiz Ginny on Mallory, but I couldn't seem to help myself. I glanced to the back to make sure Mallory wouldn't pop up and hear me pumping Ginny for information. I handed a plate of food to her and then asked in a low voice, "So you and Mallory have gotten to be good friends, right?"

Ginny nodded, smiling at Mojo as he decimated the bowl of soup. "Right."

"What do you think of her? I mean, did she talk about herself at all or her background?"

Ginny considered this for a minute. "I really like her. She's almost like a much-older sister or a cool aunt or something. But she didn't talk about herself much. I think she worked in government, but I don't know anything else. I just know that she saved my life. She stopped her car when she didn't have to and let me ride with her. There's no way I'd have made it without her."