Free Stay Dead 2: The Dead and The Dying by Steve Wands Page B

and show her what
it found.
    ***
    Laura fell asleep in his lap in the
rocking chair, and despite his body’s every ache and his mind’s
general good sense to not further hurt himself Walter carried her
to the bed and tucked her in. He filled another few fingers of
brandy and left the love of his life to sleep soundly. He gently
closed the door and joined his children downstairs.
    “ What’s the occasion,
dad?”
    “ Can’t an old man have a
drink without everyone raising an eyebrow?”
    “ If you can’t have a drink
now, then when can you?”
    “ Exactly. Now, what have I
missed?”
    “ Well, we were thinking
maybe it was time to start searching through our neighbors homes
for supplies.”
    “ Nonsense. We have plenty
here.”
    “ Actually, Walter, we
don’t. Considering how many of us there are we’ll go through
supplies much quicker than we thought.”
    “ When are you going to call
me dad? When I’m dead?”
    “ Sorry, dad.”
    “ Did you count everything
up?”
    “ The tally is right here,”
she handed him the notebook.
    “ I trust ya.”
    “ We might as well do it now
before we get surrounded by these things. The longer we wait the
worse we’re going to make it on ourselves and let’s face it, no one
is coming back to there homes any time soon…if ever…”
    “ Fine, you kids are old
enough to make up your own minds. What can I do?”
    “ I don’t know, I figured me
and Barb could go into the homes. You’re more than welcome to join
us. Maria is going to stay here. Honestly, we really haven’t
thought it out much.”
    “ We just know we should do
it, and there’s no sense in waiting.”
    “ Who knows what could
happen in the next few days, right now they are spread out far
enough that we can maneuver through them, take care of the close
ones, get what we can and get back home.”
    “ All right. Can we at least
wait till daybreak before we do this?”
    “ Of course. We weren’t just
going to go and do it now.”
    “ Well how am I supposed to
know? You all look ready to go.”
    “ Just trying to be ready,
dad. You don’t want us sitting around in our pajamas do
you?”
    “ No, not at
all.”
    “ Why don’t you go sit down
and enjoy your brandy?”
    “ Only if one of you will
join me.”
    “ I’ll go get a bottle of
wine,” Maria said, smiling.
    “ Two glasses…please?” Barb
said, holding out two fingers like a peace sign.
    Maria went into the kitchen, fetching
a bottle of Pinot Noir from the wine rack her father-in-law built.
There were several bottles left—not nearly enough—and mostly just
bottles of Pinot Noir. In the cupboard next to the rack were the
wine glasses and Maria almost dropped one while she reached on
tiptoes to get them.
    She returned to the living room,
uncorked the bottle of wine and poured herself and Barbara a full
glass each of the deep red fluid.
    They sat down on the couch with Jeff.
Walter sat in his chair. The room was quiet and dark.
    “ So, what shall we drink
to?” Walter asked.
    “ Being alive.”
    “ A better
tomorrow.”
    “ How about world
peace?”
    “ The ladies got it right.
Maybe you should be taking some notes. Here’s to being alive and
for a better tomorrow.” Walter raised his drink. Maria and Barbara
did the same; Jeff reached for the bottle of wine. Then they all
took a swig of their fluids and began to talk about looting their
neighbors homes for supplies.
    ***
    Carrie was just one of the most
unlikeable people on earth, and must have been before the world
went to hell. It was in her body language and in her expressions,
probably more so than in her words, but it oozed from her. Alexis
was certain that was the main reason she was still alive—that and
even the deaders probably didn’t want her as one of their own. She
probably would taste sour to them.
    Alexis wanted to pull her hair out.
The kids were growing restless and bored. Chris, the youngest, in
particular was having a hard time sitting still. He was