Hemp didn’t wake on his own. About 65 minutes after his encounter, Gem sat on the couch beside him and shook him gently by the shoulders. His eyes fluttered open and he moaned.
When he started to stir, Gem got quickly off the sofa, picked up her gun and held it, barrel pointed toward the floor.
“Man. What happened? Gem, why do you have your gun?”
We looked at him. We’d never heard the creatures speak other than in early stages and only to tell us how hungryhungryhungry they were, so we figured he was okay.
“You got got by a zombie,” Gem said. “Sorry, but until I heard something intelligible out of you . . .”
“I got . . . got?”
“In the hardware store,” I said. “You went into the stock room, I started to worry, and next thing I knew you were out on the floor and I was running from a dead basketball player.”
Hemp tried to sit up, then abandoned the idea. He put a hand to his head. “I don’t remember any of it. Just putting some things in my basket, and thinking I’d look in back for more stock.”
“Bad move as it turns out,” I said. “We either need a buddy system rule or just to approach every situation as if one of these things is around the corner. I’m very surprised this thing got the jump on you.”
“I have no idea how it did. I don’t remember seeing it at all. Bloody hell, I don’t even remember the stock room.”
“How are you feeling now?” Gem asked.
Hemp nodded. “Okay. The grogginess is going away pretty fast.”
Gem snapped her fingers. “This is too familiar. It’s exactly what we found with the people in Cynthia’s house, stored for food. Exactly. They were out, save for a couple of them. Taylor was awake, but perhaps in a paralytic state. Flex?”
“Come to think of it, yes. Hemp, you were out, but the problem is, you didn’t wake on your own until Gem shook you. And even that didn’t work for well over an hour.”
Hemp looked confused. “But how? Did it strangle me, cut off my oxygen supply?”
“Not a mark on you, buddy. Except on your elbow – a bruise. Probably from falling.”
“I need to find out what this is.”
I thought for a moment about the eye shine. Everyone had noticed it, and this was as good a time as any to bring it up.
“Hemp, have you thought about the eye shine aspect of these creatures? What causes it, and what, if anything, its purpose might be?”
“To be honest,” Hemp said, “I’ve kind of avoided verbalizing about it too much because it made no sense. But I have tossed it around in my mind, and I will need to do some tests on Jamie if I want to come up with any answers.”
Gem realized she was still holding her gun and leaned it against the end of the sofa. Trina walked into the room and bounced on her feet a full foot in the air.
“Bunsen is having her babies!” she shouted. “Two so far!”
Despite the seriousness of the discussion on the floor, we all smiled at this news. Even Hemp.
“Well, let’s go get some warm towels and see if mama needs anything!” Gem said.
“The miracle of childbirth,” Hemp said, rubbing his face with both hands and getting unsteadily to his feet.
Trina jumped in the air clapping her hands, and ran into the utility room where they had set up Bunsen on a large quilt. When they walked in, she was in the process of pushing out her fourth puppy. Two of the other three were already latched onto a nipple, and suckling away.
We all watched this with smiles on our faces. This was indeed the miracle of life, and we had no idea how many things would be born over the next year, how many would die, and how many would refuse to stay dead.
What we did know, by the time it was over, was that there were six more tiny souls on this planet than there were just a few moments ago, and it did our hearts good to see it. We let nature take its course, and Trina and the rest of us mourned to see the seventh pup come out stillborn.
It lay there and never moved. It was born dead, and after an hour we knew it would clearly stay dead. It was the first actual confirmation that this reanimation condition did not affect the canine population.
“They’re so wet and sticky,” said Trina.
“Yes, they are. Don’t worry. Bunsen will get them cleaned up. We’ll help her if she’ll let us,” Gem said.
“Aunt Gemmy, Bunsen is very nice. She’ll really like it if we help her.”
Gem pulled Trina into her lap on the folding chair she sat on as she watched the other squirming pups searching for nipples, finding them, and drinking of their mother’s sustenance.
Hemp stood from his chair. “I have some work to do. Flex, if you think you can handle the camera installation, I’d like to do some stuff in the lab.”
“I’m a fuckin’ electrician, so I think I can handle some cable runs and wire connectors.”
“Just fucking with you, old man,” Hemp said, smiling.
“Hemp, I’m not sure about you going in there alone,” Gem said. “Not after what happened at the store.”
“I know. We need more bodies,” said Hemp.
“I don’t know if I’d put it like that,” I said. “Maybe we need more warm bodies.”
“Point taken. Okay, first things first,” Hemp said. “I guess we should get the cameras up. That way we’ll have a sense of security, and that will set us at ease.”
“And keep us alive,” added Gem. “Which sets me at great ease.”
“Me, too,” I said. “And I already have an alarm system in the house, so I’ll just program it to chime when a door or window opens. I usually turn that off.”
I walked over to the panel and punched the buttons, then tried the front door and a window. Beep Beep.
“Good,” said Hemp. “Once the cameras are installed, I’d like to see if we can secure an EEG machine. I’ve got some ideas how to use it to do some testing – on Jamie, if that’s okay with you, Flex.”
“Hey, if your tests can help her, then there’s no reason I can think of to say no. I’m sure she’d agree with us.”
“How do you feel right now?” I asked Hemp.
“Good. No headache, nothing. No memory of it and no effects that I can pinpoint.”
I looked at his eyes. Bright and normal. No mist. No glow.
“Good,” I said. I want to go out and get that EEG machine now. We never got any more guns either, so I want to grab more of them eventually, and we sure as hell need some signal flares.”
“Hemp, if you stay with Trina, Bunsen and the babies, Flexy and I can see about getting this stuff.”
“Okay, but if you’re looking for the EEG machine, will you know it when you see it?”
“Will it say “EEG?” asked Gem.
“Might say electroencephalography.”
“Wanna write that down?” said Gem, smiling.
“Sure.”
“The hospital in Gainesville is about 18 minutes away from here – eleven miles. We already know the road is pretty clear from here to there, so this shouldn’t be a bad trip, so long as we’re not ambushed or put to sleep.”
“Or both,” Gem said. “Nothing is getting closer than a dozen feet away from me. Not if Suzi has anything to say about it.”
“Suzi?” I smiled.
“Suzi the Uzi.”
“Cute. What rhymes with Daewoo?”
“Not even sure you’re pronouncing it right,” Gem said. “You’re going to have to stick with K7.”
“That’s no fun. You ready?”
Gem shook her head. “Not yet.” She went to Hemp and hugged him hard. He returned her embrace, and when she pulled away, she said, “Hemp, I can tell you I love you already. You’re a good guy, and we appreciate being able to call you our friend.”
She hugged him again and he smiled over her shoulder at me as I looked on.
“She’s right, you know,” I said. “Something about our situation has brought
us close together fast.”
They broke the embrace and Gem kissed him on the cheek.
Hemp blushed. “Just get the stuff and get back here. Anything goes wrong, then I want you to forget what you don’t have and just get back.”
“I have to go stock up on ammo and hug Trina,” Gem said. “Then I’m ready. Give me three minutes, baby.”
And she was ready in two.