Behind her, the zombies moaned and groaned.
2. Family Ties that Bind
Jason trudged across the construction site, Jack at his heels, his hand wiping the sweat off his brow. He was exhausted. He had been helping with defenses all day and his body hurt with every movement he made. His long bangs were soaked with sweat and he had finally borrowed a rubber band and managed to get most of his hair into a stubby ponytail. Now a few wisps fell around his face and he flicked his hand at them with annoyance.
Jenni was sitting at a table with several of the townspeople. He was proud of her. He knew how hard it was for her to socialize with more than one or two people at a time. But she seemed to be changing, getting bolder.
Hell, that dance on the balcony had proven that.
His dad had been a shithead. Pure and simple. Jason hadn't realized that for years. His Mom had told him horror stories of her marriage to his Dad, but he hadn't believed her. Even when numerous family members told him that the reason his Mom had custody of him was because his Dad had sent her to the hospital too many times for the Judge to ignore, he hadn't believed it. When his Dad had come for his supervised visits, he was always charming and kind and brought Jason the coolest new things for a kid his age. There was no way his Dad was an abuser.
It wasn't until his Mother died that he had finally been able to meet his half-brothers, Benji and Mikey. For a long time he had refused to meet them or his stepmother out of loyalty to his Mom. He was all his Mom had after all.
But when she had died, he had been packed up and shipped off to his Dad's house a state away. Jenni had sent him a very sweet email asking him about his likes and dislikes and he had hated her for it. When he arrived at the house, he had been shocked to see how much Jenni looked like his Mom.
More shocked when he had been shown his new bedroom and everything he had told Jenni (some of it bullshit) was in the room. She had decorated it in his favorite colors with his favorite band posters on the walls. He had hated her more for that. He had gone down to dinner to find his favorite dish on the table. He had fiercely hated her then.
And then that fateful day came. His perfect father had suddenly become irate at something
Jason had done and his face had contorted with a rage that terrified Jason. He had lifted his hand to strike Jason, but Jenni had thrown herself in front of him and had taken the blow. Jason had watched in horror as his Dad beat her without mercy for interrupting his "discipline of my son. ”
Mikey, who everyone said was growing up to be a football player, had launched himself across the room and onto his father. And then all hell had broken loose upon their household.
When Jenni had come into his room several hours later to put a glass of water on his bed stand, her lips puffy and cracked, her one eye swollen shut, limping slightly, Jason had flung his arms around her bruised body and wept uncontrollably. It was then that he had realized that all those years his Mother had been telling the truth. And he had wept tears of guilt over his doubt.
After that, he didn't hate Jenni at all. He, in fact, loved her very much.
And he had loved his siblings. In some weird way, he had loved his dad still.
But their home had been violent. He and Jenni had worn bruises. Sometimes, even Mikey. There were times all of them, even Benji, were in the brawl. That their home had ended in violence was not surprising. In fact, Jason was sure Mikey had turned back to launch himself at their zombified Dad screaming,
"Don't touch my mom!"
He winced at the thought and walked into city hall. Several people, older people, were carefully cataloging all the food that had been moved into one room for storage. Taking inventory had been something Travis had told them to do during one of the long conversations with him over the CB.
Up the stairs, down a hall, he moved toward the dining room. Tobias stood near the windows overlooking the street. Curtains covered the windows to keep the zombies from seeing the humans. But they still knew that living flesh was just out of their reach.
"He looks up at me and I know he knows who I am," Tobias said softly.
"What?" Jason stopped.
"My son. " Tobias drew back the curtain and pointed.
It was hard for Jason to determine the zombie he was pointing to. The hot Texas sun was slow cooking the zombies and their skin was crisped to a dark color and splitting. It was hard to tell the race of anyone.
"He looks up at me and I know, I know, he wants me to help him and the children," Tobias said softly. His voice was very unreal, disconnected.
"Look, dude, I think maybe we should go find your wife. "
"I don't want to speak to her. She's given up on them. But I won't. I can't. " Tobias looked at Jason. "How can I?"
Jack whined a little and Jason moved to close the window. "You shouldn't let them see us. "
"How can I give up?" Tobias persisted.
"You can because they're dead," Jason answered. As he closed the curtain, he said, "My brothers, my dad, my friends, are all dead. They're just like that. Undead. And you have to let them go or else they will kill you and make you what they are. "
"But this isn't reality. This isn't how the world works. They have to be sick. In need of medical care, but we slaughter them. " Tears slipped from Tobias’ eyes.