Chapter 3
The next day Brendan, Tom, Bill and an older gentleman named Jim head to the barn to check on the strangers and bring them breakfast. The four were already awake sitting together when they enter the barn. It looked like they had been conversing but stopped abruptly when the group entered the barn.
“How were the accommodations?”, asks Brendan as he hands the strangers the plates of food.
“Served us fine”, says Alex as the four begin digging in with all of them sharing the food from their plates with Dixie.
“Good”, says Brendan. “We thought Megan and Lindsey could help Tori with the horses.”
“Sure! I used to be a vet technician so right up my alley”, says Lindsey.
“Great. Ashley we thought you could help me and Jim here with the crops”, says Brendan.
“I don’t know how much experience you have with farming young lady but I would be more than happy to teach you”, says Jim.
“No problem”, says Ashley.
“Alex if you could help me with some metal work I’d appreciate it”, says Tom.
“Is there a place to wash up first”, asks Ashley.
“Oooo please say yes”, says Lindsey.
“We currently have one working shower stall on the northwest corner of the mess hall. Might be a line though”, says Jim.
“Or if you are feeling more adventurous there is a stream about a dozen yards right though those woods behind the barn”, says Bill.
Ashley turns to Lindsey and says, “You can take the shower stall. I’ll go to the stream.”
“You sure?”
“Yea I could use a little walk anyway to wake up.”
“I will meet you at the south east corner of the corn fields”, says Jim.
“See you there”, says Ashley as she walks out of the barn.
Lindsey turns to Megan, “Tell Tori I will be there as soon as I can. I will find you.”
“Sure thing”, says Megan as her and Lindsey head off.
“We can get started whenever”, says Alex turning to Tom.
“Ok follow me”, says Tom as he leads Alex out of the barn.
“All looks pretty normal and above board”, says Jim to Brendan as Brendan looks around the barn.
“Yea maybe I made a good call after all”, says Brendan. He then notices Dixie sitting there staring at him. They lock eyes. “Go on get! Go roll in something or chase something.” Dixie doesn’t move he just continues to stare into Brendan’s eyes. Brendan is a little unsettled by this and says, “Come on let’s go.” The others leave and Brendan is the last to exit the barn while Dixie stares at him the entire time.
Lindsey is entering the shower stall and throws her clothes over the side and turns on the water. A man working on one of the buildings close by with some others notices and saunters over to the shower stall. He tries to act casual like there is a reason for him to be by the stall. He pretends he is doing some work but is really trying to get a peek at Lindsey through the slits in the stall. Suddenly the man notices a huge snake by his feet and is so frightened he jumps back and trips over a rake and lands in a pile of buckets and tools. One of the buckets actually gets stuck on his head and he starts running around erratically stumbling all over yelling, “Snake!”
The others notice this and come running over to him. “Mike! What the hell are you doing!?”, yells a woman who he was working with.
“Quit fucking around and get over here and help us!”, yells a man who was working with Mike.
Mike though is still too panicked to get the bucket off his head so the woman has to do it.
“Hold still!”, she cries. When she gets the bucket off she says, “What in all that’s holy has gotten into you?”
“I saw a snake!”, yells Mike still darting his head around trying to find the snake.
“That’s what has you pissing in your pants?! A little old garter snake”, says the man.
“No a huge one like a cobra or something”, says Mike.
“You idiot we don’t have any snakes like that around here. Now quit goofing off and help us with this roof so we can get it fixed before the next storm blows through”, says the man as he smacks Mike on the head.
“I swear I saw it!”, says Mike.
“We all know your tricks too well. Now come on quit trying to get out of work”, says the woman as she drags him back to the where they were working.
As he is being dragged back he looks around him still frightened. He doesn’t notice Lindsey coming out of the shower stall with a sly smile on her face.
Ashley meanwhile is naked washing herself in the stream in the woods. She doesn’t seem to notice Bill behind her hiding in the brush watching her. He takes out a long sharp knife and begins sneaking over to Ashley quietly unbuckling his pants. Ashley stops washing herself and closes her eyes with her back still towards Bill as he comes closer. Suddenly a fierce wind starts blowing. The birds scatter from the trees and start cawing and chirping at once. The flock of birds fly over the pasture where it startles one of the horses Megan is standing in front of. The horse bucks and gallops forward trampling Megan. Tori comes running over. Megan gets up a little disoriented but with no apparent injuries.
“Holy shit! Are you ok!?”, cries Tori.
“Yea I am fine. Just a little disoriented but I’m ok don’t worry”, says Megan.
“Are you sure she trampled right over you?”
“No I’m good.”
Tori looks Megan over and is surprised to see she looks fine, “I’m sorry I know Jezebel startles easily I should have warned you. Must have been that crazy gust of wind and the birds. You sure you don’t need to lie down?”
“I’m fine really. Remember I used to be a nurse I should know. Let’s just forget about it.”
Tori is still perplexed, “Man you are lucky. Not a broken bone or a scratch on you.”
“Yea I’m pretty tough. Come on let’s continue and just move on.” Megan walks away to continue working while Tori eyes Megan suspiciously.
Tori then calls out to a nearby woman, “Hey Jess! Can you and Ray take two of the horses and ride out to where those birds came from to check things out?”
“Sure”, replies Jess.
Jess and Ray are just getting to the edge of the woods on horses when they see Ashley walking out of them. Ray calls out to her, “Hey Ashley! Did you see anything suspicious out there or any zombies?”
Ashley walks right past them on her way back to the compound and calmly says, “Nope, just me and the forest critters. But if you want to check things out, you can never be too careful these days.”
Alex is working with Tom on forging metal. Tom is instructing him. “There is only so much gun powder so we try to use knives, spears or any other weapon we can make as much as we can. We try to collect as much metal as possible and what we don’t use for the vehicles we turn into weapons for the most part.”
“Creative and smart”, replies Alex. Then with a smile he adds, “You use them for pillaging or what?”
Tom gets the joke and smirks, “No pillaging. We just want to live in peace and take care of our own. But not everyone understands that so sometimes…well things get rough. We use them for whatever we need them for. You ok with that?”
“You can’t let others walk all over you”, says Alex.
Tom slaps Alex on the shoulder, “That a boy. Now to forge metal you need to get the fire real real hot so I’ll take the blower you get some more fuel and I will tell you when and where to add it.”
Alex walks over to the pile and picks up some more wood and stuff for the fire and carries it over. He trips though on his way back and drops the stuff and stumbles falling over. He puts out his hands to brace himself instinctively but his hands accidentally go right into the fire.
“Fuck man!”, cries Tom who rushes to get some cold water from the bucket nearby and runs over to Alex. To Tom’s astonishment and disbelief though Alex’s hands are fine.
“I’m ok”, says Alex as he stands back up, “Just clumsy. Sorry about that.”
“I…I saw your hands go right into the fire.”
Alex holds up his hands turning them around for Tom to see. “No see they are fine. It must have been an optical illusion or something. I’ll pick everything up I just have bad luck.”
“I would say you have the opposite considering you didn’t burn yourself.”
Alex laughs nervously as he starts picking up the wood, “Yea.”
The sun is setting as Ray walks over to Bridget as she is tinkering under the hood of a truck. “Hey Bridget, have you seen Bill at all today?”
“Hey babe”, Bridget and Ray kiss. “No sorry haven’t see him all day. Why?”
“I haven’t either”, says Ray.
“Well it’s a big compound honey. I am sure he is off getting into trouble or hiding from chores as usual.”
“Maybe. It’s sundown though and he knows better than to stay out after dark. I have never known him to miss a meal either.”
“Well maybe he went off looking for trouble and finally found more than he could handle. I’m sorry I know you two fought off your share of zombies together but he always gave me the creeps so don’t look to me to round up a search party.”
At the mess hall the four strangers are sitting together eating. Everyone is keeping their distance from them as rumors are starting to circulate and people are even more weary of them now and gossiping. The four strangers seem unfazed though.
Off to the side Jim and Brendan are talking. “I’m telling you I’ve never seen anyone walk the fields so fast and they were cleared without so much as a leaf or a tiny sprout after she did them”, says Jim.
“Well maybe she had prior farming experience.”
“I had prior farming experience. Quite a bit of it. And I am telling you sure as I am standing here there was something unnatural about it.”
Lakota comes over to Lindsey and asks, “Did you enjoy working today Lindsey?”
“Oh yea I used to be a vet tech so it was great to work with the animals again.”
“Yea we used to have more but well…they died one way or another. Just the dogs and cats you see running around and those 3 horses left with us now.”
Suddenly a woman starts yelling at Lakota, “Lakota! Quit goofing around and start collecting these dishes! I swear you’re the laziest son of a bitch I know!
“Sorry”, says Lakota sheepishly as he starts cleaning up.
The woman continues to berate him in front of everyone, “You always got your head up in the clouds day dreaming! That don’t cut it with me got it?”
“I was just talking…”
Lakota is cut off by the woman who starts in on him again. “I don’t care! I don’t have time for your excuses! I swear you’re good for nothing!” As the woman walks away she stubs her foot on a table. As she hops on her one foot she slips on some food on the ground and falls into a chair and lands with a plate of someone’s food on her face. Some people rush over to help her as Lindsey gives a sly smile again.
After dinner Bridget is walking outside when she sees Ashley standing there with her back to her. Ashley is looking up at the starry sky. Bridget walks up to say hi to her but stops when a cat crosses in front of her. That’s when Bridget looks down and notices Ashley’s feet aren’t touching the ground. Bridget let’s out a gasp. At this Ashley’s feet lower to the ground and she turns towards Bridget. Ashley looks at her and then asks, “Is anything wrong?”
“Um no …no not at all. Just looking for my husband”, stutters Bridget.
“Haven’t seen him.”
“Ok. Well thanks. Have a good night.” Bridget then runs off.
Bridget finds Ray and says, “We need to talk to Brendan now!”
“Why? What’s wrong sweety?”
“I just saw Ashley floating off the ground”, says Bridget checking around her to make sure nobody is in ear shot.
“What?! Come on now you must be seeing things. It was a trick of light or something.”
“I know what I saw and it was no trick!”
Ray looks in his wife’s eyes and sees how shook up she is. “Alright well why don’t you wait till morning and if it still is bothering you I am sure Brendan will listen.”
“I can’t wait I have to find him now!”
Ray sighs, “Ok I will help you look.”
Jim is walking by the pasture when he notices Lindsey sitting on the ground in the pasture with the horses standing around her staring at her. Jim ducks out of sight to watch her but neither her or the horses move. They just sit there staring at each other. “What the devil…”, mutters Jim to himself.
Later that night Brendan and Tori are sleeping in bed when Kristen comes running in and shakes Brendan awake. “There is a ghost outside in the woods Uncle Brendan! Come quick”, Kristen cries.
Brendan still half asleep groggily says, “There are no such things as ghosts. You probably just had a nightmare without realizing you were sleeping.”
Tom then walks in behind Kristen and says, “No, she is right we saw it.”
Brendan now sits up in bed, “Is this your idea of a practical joke because I’m not laughing.”
Tom is serious though, “No, come on.”
Tori who has now woken up as well says, “First zombies now ghosts.”
“Just go back to bed baby I am sure it’s nothing.” Brendan follows Kristen and Tom out of the room.
Outside Tom points to the hill, “She appeared over there moving very fast and then went through the woods. It looked like a woman but she was glowing and almost transparent. It definitely wasn’t human whatever it was. It made the whole forest glow and then the glow got a lot brighter and then it completely disappeared.”
“I saw it too Uncle Brendan. It looked like they described in this ghost story book I have. Like a woman floating into the woods just like Uncle Tom described.”
Brendan sees the seriousness on Kristen and Tom’s faces. “Suicidal to take a chance going out there in the darkness. We will do a full perimeter sweep tomorrow morning. For now get some rest.”
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