“Momma, momma wake up,” Georgi heard Alex whisper.
She peeled her eyes open. “What is it, sweetie?”
“Somethin’s wrong with Mr. Somerset,” she said. Her voice was shaking.
Georgi could hear Murphy’s low growl as she pushed herself up out of the blankets.
“Mr. Somerset,” Georgi called. “Are you okay?”
His head turned in the direction of her voice. He sniffed the air, but didn’t say anything.
“Mr. Somerset?” Her voice trailed off.
His body jerked around. He started walking toward the treehouse.
“Rosemarie…” Georgi whispered. Her voice cracking. “Rosemarie,” Georgi tried to say her name louder. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the man stumbling across the yard.
“Wha...what is it?” asked the sleepy voice of Rosemarie.
“Uh...I think Mr. Somerset...”
Rosemarie scrambled to stand next to Georgi at the railing. Her heart was pounding so hard that she could feel it in her ears.
A small hand grabbed Georgi’s and she jumped. Tearing eyes from the scene before her, she looked down at my daughter.
“Alex,” Georgi said. “Please put your headphones on and get into your blankets.”
Alex looked up at her mother.
“Now, Alexis,” Georgi said. Her throat tightened.
Alex settled down on her blankets while her mother kept her eyes on the stumbling man. Reaching for the only gun she had thought to bring into the treehouse, Georgi wished that she had brought many more.
“Randy, “ she started screaming when the thing that was once Mark started trying to reach up to towards the women.
The thing’s head was thrown back. His eyes were glazed over with a sickly milky white color. His teeth kept snapping together as if he were biting something.
A shot rang out. The side of his head exploded. Blood and flesh flew everywhere. The rest of Mark fell to the ground.
“Momma!” screamed Alex. She threw her arms around Georgi.
“Oh my god,” whispered Rosemarie. She stood for a few seconds then fell to her knees.
Georgi sagged to the floor pulling Alex down with her. A wave or rage crashed into her. “Randy! I thought you were going to lead him away,” Georgi yelled.
An excited Randy yelled, “I got it!”
“I am sorry, baby,” Georgi whispered to her daughter. “Stay here and don't look.”
Georgi got up looked over the edge of the treehouse. Randy was poking the body of poor Mark. She could hear Rosemarie dry heaving. She looked over at her. Rosemarie’s body was shaking violently with each heave.
“You can come down,” he said. “It’s dead!”
“Momma?” Alex sat looking up at Georgi. Her eyes crying out for answers.
The woman couldn’t say anything right away. How could I tell this sweet child what had happen? she thought. Mark had become a monster over night. The savageness of the thing played over and over in her head. He would have killed them. They had to protect themselves. This time. Oh, God! This time?
“Momma?” Alex repeated.
Georgi shook herself. She had to tell her the truth.
She knelt down next to Alex. “You know those stories that your Daddy told you about...the sickness going around?”
She looked up at Georgi with wide eyes and nodded.
“It seems they might be a bit true,” Georgi said.
Alex stared at her mother with her big innocent eyes colored with fear.
“Mr. Somerset was sick from a bite. And got sicker,” she went on. “His mind eventually went away and he became like the person who bit him.”
“Like rabies?” Alex almost whispered.
“Yes, like rabies. Your Daddy had to shoot the man or he would have tried to bite us and make us sick.”
Georgi felt terrible telling her daughter these things. But it look like zombies were definitely real. And she needed to know.
Georgi could see the terror in Alex’s young eyes. The child began to shake. “Can they get me here?”
Georgi held her tightly. “No, baby. You are safe. I’ll protect you.”
She buried her head into her mother’s chest and cried.
“I heard a shot.” Neil came running out of the woods. He skidded to a halt at the body. “Oh…damn. Is everyone okay?”
“Yeah,” Georgi said. “Just shaken up.”
“You guys stay up there while we clean up,” Neil said. “Come on, let’s get him out of here and bury him.”
Randy looked up at Neil with a big grin on his face. “Yes...don’t want it stinking up the place.”
“Not it… him,” whispered Rosemarie.
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