Engineer Benson - 10. July 25-27, 1993

July 25, 1993 Saturday, 415 PM

I think we've got everyone settled enough for me to write a bit, so here goes.

Early this morning, we got up and made a plan for our day. Buck, Mark, and I would head toward the smoke Lisa had seen yesterday, to the adjoining farm Buck thought was there. Garrett, Lisa, and Erin would remain here at the base. There was plenty to do, and each had their tasks they wanted to handle. Plus, it meant this place had eyes on it while we were out.

So we loaded up in the newly-repaired van and got the trailer attached, too - just in case we found supplies worth taking. We left around eight AM, as some clouds were rolling in, and rain began to threaten.

We began the drive with Mister Buck riding shotgun so he could direct me. I'd noticed the turn-off on our road before and not thought a lot about it, but this time Buck had me take the turn.

After another quarter-mile, the way ahead opened up. I first saw the house, a pickup, and the Airstream, but the zombies sprinkled around soon made themselves a priority. The eight creatures, each dressed in army fatigues, staggered toward our vehicle.

"Everybody out!" Mark had the slider open as soon as I'd stopped. "Stand against the van so they can't surround us!"

We did exactly that beside the van, which forced the things to come at us from one side. Buck had his baseball bat, Mark his knife, and I wielded my axe. We methodically dispatched them, with the only sounds being the impacts of our weapons, the breathy moans of the zombies, and a grunt of effort here or there from us.

After making certain they'd never move again, we then did a quick check of the property perimeter - walking around the house, careful and quiet.

"Clear." Mark relaxed and then turned his eyes to the house and the Airstream. "No smoke today, but from Lisa's description, this sure seems like the place where it was coming from."

"Yep." Buck nodded at the house. "Got a stovepipe." He rubbed his chin. "If I'm rememberin' right, a young couple with a baby on the way bought this place." He made a face. "Forget their names, though."

Mark nodded. "Well, let's find out what's what." He motioned toward the Airstream. "Let's clear this thing first, so we're sure nothing's coming behind us once we get into the house."

We quietly moved to the silvery travel trailer and stopped at the door. Mark pressed an ear against it. After a minute, he nodded. "It's quiet," he said in a whisper.

Still, we got ready for any surprises. Buck watched our backs while I readied my axe directly in front of the door. Mark stood to the side, made sure I was ready, and opened it.

Nothing attacked us, so Mark and I entered the small, odd trailer.

"Huh." Mark nudged the salon chair that'd been fitted in the middle of the floor. The kitchenette had been mostly removed, except for the sink, and additional built-in cabinets had been added. He opened a drawer to reveal clippers, nice scissors of various sizes and types, and towels neatly folded in a stack.

"It's a little barber shop?" Mark looked down the hallway. An open pocket door split the salon space from the bedroom at the end of the trailer.

"Still smells like wood in here." I glanced around at all of the renovations. "Someone did this recently - in the last month or so."

"Yeah." Mark shrugged. "Okay. Let's take a look at the house."

We moved as a group to the front of the house. "No broken windows; all the blinds are closed." Mister Buck tried the door. "Locked."

Mark nodded and stepped to the door. He gently knocked. "Hello in there. Is there anybody alive in there?"

We waited half a minute. Mark frowned and reached for my axe. "Okay, I guess we do this the—"

The sound of a sliding deadbolt stopped him. The door opened a crack, restrained by a heavy chain still in place. A woman with gray hair stared out at us. She blinked, and tears rolled down her face. "Living. Dear lord, thank you. Living people." She hurried to open the final lock and threw open the door. "Please. Do you have any formula?" She looked as if she was starving - thin and shaky. "The baby, she needs formula."

"We do, though not with us." Buck led the way inside, and we closed the door behind us. His eyes lingered on the pistol on her hip.

"Oh." She glanced down at the weapon as if just remembering it. "I'm sorry. I ain't took it off since—" She took a breath. "Well, since my son and daughter-in-law left."

"No reason to apologize." I put a hand on my chest. "I'm Wayne. This here is Mark and that's Mister Buck."

"MaryAnne." She sat in an overstuffed chair in the dark room. "You're the first people I've seen since I lost Floyd and Faith."

We took seats around her.

"Wait." She blinked. "How'd y'all get to me? The dead ones were all around the house an' I couldn't leave to try and find food fer us."

"We took care of 'em," Buck replied. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "You said you've got a baby here?"

MaryAnne nodded. "Little Hope." She smiled, and tears began to flow again. "That's her name. "Hope. My grandbaby." Her expression shifted. "Y'all really have formula?"

"Yes. We picked up a couple of flats of the stuff from our run to the grocer." Mark's words made her sag in relief. He continued, "There's more too. We just didn't know we'd need it, and took a bit just in case we found someone who might." He considered her. "Floyd and Faith … your son and daughter-in-law. Were they farming here?"

"Yes. I was stayin' here helping Faith look after Hope while Floyd worked on my trailer." She lowered her head. He'd barely finished with things when he and Faith started gettin' sick. By this time, we'd heard about the fever. An' there were reports of folks goin' mad - bitin' others, attackin' them." She struggled to continue, but she did. "They … gave me the gun. An' asked me to keep Hope safe". She looked up with teary eyes. "An' then they left so they'd not be a danger to us." MaryAnne looked down the hallway. "I had some formula, but I wanted more, so I got everything together to go get some. But those things that used to be the army boys showed up, an' I've been trapped here fer goin' on ten days now." She took a shaky breath. "An' I'm down to my last two bottles of formula." She seemed unable to look at us, and she patted the gun. "There are two bullets in here. One fer me. But first, one to make sure that baby wouldn't starve to death." She wiped her face. "I know it makes me awful, but I wasn't goin' to let her starve."

The room was utterly silent as we processed her words. Finally, Buck spoke. "Yer not awful. That'd have been a mercy born of love."

"Thanks fer sayin' so." Looking up at him, she asked, "I don't reckon you folks have room fer an old lady and a baby, do ya?"

"We decide everythin' together now. But my vote has us takin' you in." Buck looked at Mark and me. "Boys, you know how I feel about her an' the little one comin' with us. If it runs, we could tow that Airstream with the pickup out there so MaryAnne an' Hope have a place to stay. What do y'all say?"

I looked at Mark. He nodded slowly. "I think we can handle that. Wayne?"

"Yeah. We can handle that. I expect the ladies and Garrett back home will feel the same way. We'll see about that when we get there." I stood. "Let's get you two out of here."

And that's what we did. After we gave the starving woman some jerky and trail mix, we loaded up what MaryAnne was able to scrape together, some young plants from the weed-filled garden that Buck wanted, then she drove the truck behind us. Buck rode with her.

On the way back, Mark sighed deeply. "I met her son and daughter-in-law maybe about a week ago. At least, I'm pretty sure it was them. Man and woman, about our age, wearing rings and roaming between the farms in the woods." He stared out of the window. "They were already gone, and I put them down."

"Aw. Man." I parked near the gate, listening to Mark and trying to work out how we'd get the Airstream behind the protection of the fence. "Why didn't you say—"

"Because she isn't ready to hear it. I can feel it in her voice and the way she talks about them. She's not ready. But when she is, I'll tell her." The van stopped, and Mark got out to help guide MaryAnne's truck with the trailer.

The girls and Garrett came out to greet us. All were excited to see another vehicle and MaryAnne behind the wheel of the truck. But once they heard about the baby, that seemed to consume them.

"Hope!" We stood around the vehicles, and Erin let the little girl grip her finger as MaryAnne held her over a shoulder. Her sky-blue eyes were wide as she stared at Erin's face and hair. "Well, aren't you the prettiest little thing?"

"Are you hungry, MaryAnne?" Lisa asked. "Mom and Garrett made grits, greens, and … uh, a few game birds."

I glanced at Garrett, who smiled slyly. I'd seen him eyeing the wild pigeons that liked perching on the peak of the roof, and that's when I learned just how good a shot with that bow he really is.

MaryAnne stared. "I … I am." Fresh tears gathered in her eyes, and she moved Hope to her other shoulder. "That sounds like a dream! But, I need to help with my trailer, an'--"

"No. Y'all go on." Buck looked at Erin. "Do you mind gettin' an early dinner together fer Miss MaryAnne?"

"I don't mind." Erin reached. "Here, let me take her. Follow me, and we'll get you a plate of food and a place to sit for a while."

We watched the women help MaryAnne with the baby. Erin had the wide-eyed girl on her hip, with Lisa smiling and cooing at her, while MaryAnne laughed in near-disbelief upon noticing we had power.

"It feels almost normal." Garrett looked up at me. "Pieces do." He turned back and watched until the women entered the house.

"Yeah." I patted his back. "Come on. Let's figure out how we're getting this trailer inside and where we're putting it."

That ended up being easier said than done. We had to open the gate and remove the adjacent panel (which included pulling the post from the ground). After that, we could get the Airstream inside. We pulled it right next to the eastern fence. It isn't optimal for generating solar when we stick panels on top, but it'll make some power regardless. Then we got the post reset and the fence panel back in place. This time, Buck was in charge, and that section of the fence is far stronger than the others. We definitely need to redo the rest with the braces like we have planned.

Now that our home is protected again, we can relax a bit. The baby is asleep on the couch while Lisa and Garrett watch over her. Buck and Mark are at the kitchen table, planning our schedule tomorrow with input from Erin, while our new addition, MaryAnne, listens. And most of us haven't yet had dinner, so we're going to sit down to an amazing-smelling meal.

Almost normal. Yeah. That's a good way to describe it.

Okay, time for food.

July 26, 1993 Sunday, 245 PM

We've learned a little more about MaryAnne and got ourselves nice and cleaned up too.

During the work retrofitting the fence with our log supports, she brought water and carried things around we needed. It was plain that she tried hard to make herself useful to us. After helping Buck and Mark for a bit, I wanted to start on MaryAnne's trailer so she'd have power and so I could get a few more panels up.

"So, your trailer," I began as I climbed the ladder to the top of the little dwelling. Luckily the rain had held off yesterday, so things were still dry. "The salon chair and that deep sink? Are you a hairstylist?"

MaryAnne lifted the solar panel up so I could grab it. For an older gal, she's got a wiry strength. "I was. Had the bright idea to be a mobile hair cutter." She sighed. "Rekon that turned out to be a stupid dream, now that the world has gone to hell."

I positioned the panel and eyed the roof. With careful placement, I figured I could get six panels on top, easily handling any power needs the trailer might add to our total load. "Nobody knew this was going to happen. We just have to do the best we can now that we're here."

She shaded her eyes from the sun. "I guess that's the truth. How'd you get to be so smart, bein' so young?"

I laughed and put the panel in place. I'd already run the wires, and it'd be a simple matter for me to get them wired in. "I don't know about smart. Practical, maybe."

She nodded. "Practical works. I guess that's why you fellas are in charge of this place."

"Oh, we're not in charge." I straightened and pushed the hair out of my eyes. "We vote on things, and everybody has a voice. You do too."

"Really?" She shifted from foot to foot. "Even though I'm just a old lady who doesn't know how to do anything but raise babies an' cut hair?"

"It's not about what you know; it's about what you're willing to learn and do." I grinned down at her. "And here you are, helping me with this install."

"I guess so."

I slung my head again thanks to the hair in my face, and she put her hands on her hips. "Well, now that I'm here, we'll get that hair handled." She rubbed her hands together. "Soon as you get my trailer powered, come on down an' let me trim you up. It won't do to have you fall off the roof because you can't see!"

"Hah. Well, that sounds like a plan."

I got the trailer wired to our battery bank, and that panel installed pretty fast, as I had the process down from doing all the others on the roof of the house. Then I climbed down. Soon she had me in her fancy chair, chatting away as I relaxed under her scissors and clippers. It felt ridiculously decadent. Then she took out her straight razor and gave me a warm shave using a hot towel she had warmed in the built-in microwave. After she finished, I stood up, fighting the sleepy contentedness that'd come over me.

"There!" She smiled and wiped her razor clean. "Now you look proper."

"Thank you." I rubbed my slick face. "Oh, I hadn't realized how much I needed a shave until now!"

"Yer welcome."

I left the trailer while MaryAnne swept up the hair on the floor.

"What the shit?" Mark elbowed Buck from where they worked to reinforce the fence. "Look at that!"

"Hey!" Mister Buck crossed his arms over his chest. "What's this? Now Wayne is prettier than everybody else, an' we can't have that!"

MaryAnne stuck her head out of the doorway of the Airstream. "Stop yer grousin' you big baby. After I check on Hope, you can git in here, an' I'll fix you up." She seemed to catch herself. "Oh." She looked at me. "Ah, if the power can handle that?"

"Oh yeah. Particularly on sunny days, we've enough panels to run your clippers, the lights, and the microwave without ever touching the battery reserve. No problem there."

"Good. Then I'm happy to work on hair fer whoever wants it."

Over the next two hours, our group took turns taking a break to get some time in the chair. Even the ladies got a bit of a trim and their hair washed by the patient and thorough MaryAnne. There was laughter and pampering, and it was just … nice. Yeah, it was nice.

It made me sad at first that MaryAnne didn't see her value to us. But watching her light up, doing this thing she loves for a group of folks she barely knows, made me realize that she's going to be fine here.

We all don't have to be experts at infrastructure, or farming, or deadly with a knife. We just need folks willing to try and do their part.

She's proving that she's willing. And that means she and Hope have found a home here with us. And that's all there is to it.

July 27, 1993 Monday, 755 AM

Grrr. Wow.

Okay, we definitely need our own place. I know everyone in the house heard me, just from the smirks and raised eyebrows from Garrett, Erin, and Lisa after we cleaned up and got ourselves presentable. But, damn. That man just wrecked me, and there was no keeping quiet.

For the last few days, apart from some mutual handjobs and a frisky frotting session, we'd not been up to much. Personally, I didn't want to be rude to our housemates, so we kept things tame to avoid them knowing what we were up to.

But this morning, I woke to a horny Mark rolling me on my face.

"I can't wait anymore." He climbed on top and lotioned us up. "I don't care if they hear us."

"Mark." He lay on my back, and I grinned at his eagerness. "Unn. Crap, okay, slow down a little."

"Sorry." He nuzzled the back of my neck. "I'm amped up. You're so fucking cute with that haircut and shave."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes." He pushed and entered me. "Mmm. I just want to hammer away.," he growled in my ear.

"You," I wet my lips. "You be good. Go slow and be quiet."

He nibbled on my tender neck and slid forward until I'd taken him all. Then he pumped once back and forth.

My mouth opened and hung there. "Nnn. God." I relaxed face down under him. "Keep doing that."

He did. He kept a steady tempo, and the timing set the bed to rocking and squeaking. But it was way too late for us to care. And apparently, I'd started to moan, though I don't remember that.

"Shhh." Mark clamped a hand over my mouth. His thrusts increased in force, and my eyes rolled back. I couldn't help it, but I just started coming. I guess getting screwed forced it out of me, and I groaned around his hand.

Mark grunted and held himself deep inside me. It's wild - the sensation of him getting off. I love it.

We lay there with Mark panting and me in the stupor of a post-orgasmic daze.

"You got off, didn't you?"

"Mmm. Yeah. Wow." I blinked. "Uh, I don't think we were very quiet."

Mark laughed. "No. No, we were not." He rolled off and flopped beside me.

So … now I'm thinking we need to start on that cottage idea. Mark concurs, and since the fence is strengthened, I can make that our next priority.

I don't think I can take another eyebrow waggle from Garrett, so yeah. This is the plan now. Haha.

Okay. Till next time.