Free The Coalition: Part 1 The State of Extinction (Zombie Series) by Robert Mathis Kurtz Page A

boy, Oliver. I think we should do something for him. About him. His situation is…well, untenable. It’s only a matter of time before he comes to a bad end. He’s just a child, you know.” For his part, Dale sat up and peered to his own right, checking to see if anything was headed in their direction. He spotted a movement , but quickly recognized it for another scavenger like themselves. The person—he figured it to be a heavily cloaked woman—scampered across the street two blocks down and ran into what had been an office building. “We really should do something about him.”
    “I’ve tried,” Cutter told the older man. “I’ve asked him to move with me to one of my safe houses.” He felt no need to hide the fact that he had more than one lair, but he still didn’t trust the maybe-Colonel with the locations of his homes. “And I suggested the Lunds when he brought them up. That was mighty smart of you. I do think they’d take him in. They’re a good, solid nuclear family. It would be good for him. Better than living with a bachelor like me. Or you,” he added.
    “And what has been his reaction?” Dale produced an aluminum bottle and slowly unscrewed the cap, taking a long slug of the fresh water.
    “Same as he reacted to your suggestions, I reckon. Nothing doing. The only way I could get him to leave that damned tree house of his would be to tie him up and drag him kicking and screaming. He’s really attached to that place for some reason.” Cutter sighed, thinking of it.
    “You don’t know?”
    “Know what?”
    “His parents built that place.” The expression on the Brit’s face was one of amazement. “How could you not know that? He won’t leave it because his parents put him there to protect him.”
    “He told you that?”
    “Damned if you Americans can’t be the most incurious lot.” He leaned forward to sketch in the dirt on the tile floor. “See? This is Oliver’s tree house. And here is the great garden…I mean back yard…and here is the big townhome attached to that yard. I went in there some time back, when Oliver was out and about scavenging. I knew I could look about in the area without him seeing or taking offense.
    “I went in there and you don’t have to look very far to find photos of Oliver. They were taken back before the world went to shit, but his photos are on the walls and in picture frames on desks , throughout the home. And his parents. There was even a photo album of the construction of that clever tree house. I think Oliver must have been about eight years old when his parents had it built. Totally spoiled the boy. His dad was a banker of some sort. Made a seven-figure salary. They were quite wealthy. Quite.”
    “So you’re saying , he won’t leave because his parents built it?” Cutter leaned out again to check the street. Nothing moved but a flock of starlings that lit and quickly took wing again.
    “It’s not just that. I think his parents…or at least one of them…set up the tree house as a kind of last redoubt for themselves. And for Oliver should the situation degenerate to that point. I think his parents put him there, set up the razor wire, and took down the ladder, set up the ropes and pulleys.”
    Cutter nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
    “And more than that. I think they died making sure that his tree house wasn’t just secure, but that they told him to stay there. That it was his best chance to live through this. Of course, they probably had no idea that there would be no help coming. That civilization would completely end and we’d all be left…well, like we are.”
    “So, what do you suggest?” Cutter stood. It was his way to let the Colonel know that he was pretty much at the end of his socializing for the day.
    Dale followed him to his feet. He shrugged. “I don’t know what we should do. I’m no psychologist, child or otherwise. All I’m suggesting is that the boy probably won’t last a lot longer if nothing is done.