CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

Maine Tracy awoke in her bed. No that's not quite right, she thought. It was her bed she was using now, then the pain of loss and despair settled upon her like a cloak when she realized the other half of the mattress was cold and empty. But that wasn't quite true either; she could feel the weight of something that was making her gravitate towards the middle. She slowly turned, fearful of what she might find. Henry was sitting up on the bed staring off into s.p.a.ce, seeing things only dogs could.

"You miss him, too?" Tracy asked as she stroked the dog's ma.s.sive face and barrel-shaped chest.

Henry kept looking off into the distance, not acknowledging her ministrations.

"Listen, I know you were always Mike's dog, and I'm so sorry that I yelled at him when he saved you. He loved you, Henry. I love you, too. It's just that I guess he always thought you were our fourth kid, and I didn't see it until recently."

Henry c.o.c.ked his head to the side like he could hear something very far away. He barked once, which in itself was unusual. His mouth opened wide in what Tracy could only describe as a grin, his heavy tongue lolling about, he finally pulled his gaze back in to register Tracy's existence. He then contentedly lay down and, before finally settling in, let a blast of essence de' Henry waft throughout.

"That's my cue," Tracy said as she threw the covers off and headed for the exit.

Tony was sitting in the living room chair. Ronnie and Tracy had not told him about their suspicions regarding Mike. No matter what she had felt in her heart, she had no proof and did not want to burden the man with it.

"Feeling better, honey?" Tony asked her.

"Surprisingly, I am," she told him, heading over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "What is that smell?" Tracy asked brushing her hand past her nose.

"That Mad Jack guy caught the kitchen on fire. No, no it wasn't that bad," Tony added when he saw alarm on Tracy's face.

"Do you want some tea?" Nancy, Ronnie's wife, asked Tracy as she came into the living room.

Tracy shook her head. "No thank you."

"It's very soothing. It will help to calm your nerves," Nancy added.

"I'm fine, Nancy," Tracy said almost through clenched teeth, apparently Ron had told Nancy and hadn't thought to tell her not to say anything around Tony.

"I'm sure you really need it." Nancy said soothingly.

Tony was closely watching the exchange.

"If I want some tea Nancy I'll come and get some."

"You poor thing," Nancy said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"What's the matter? I may be an old man, but I'm not daft. I've been watching everyone tippie-toe around for the last day. Something is going on and they think the patriarch can't handle it," Tony said angrily.

Tracy swallowed heavily. "Tony, I thought Mike might be dead yesterday, but now I'm not so sure."

Tony paled rapidly, color slowly drained back into the void as he processed Tracy's whole sentence. "What changed?" he asked slowly and cautiously.

"I know this sounds crazy..." She started as she quickly looked over to Nancy. "Henry. Henry changed. I know how strange that sounds, but Henry sensed something yesterday and now he seems to be back to the way he was before. Expectant. He's waiting for his Mike to come home."

Tony was scratching the top of his head; a gesture Tracy had noticed Mike do when he was having trouble wrapping his mind around something. "So Henry told you Mike died and has now been what? Reborn?"

"I...I can't explain it completely, Tony. That d.a.m.n dog and Mike share something. Henry knew, absolutely knew something bad had happened to Mike and now something incredible has."

"So you believe in your heart of hearts that Mike is alright?" Tony asked, now tears threatening the man's visage.

"I do," she said through the tears. Because I want to, she thought. Because the alternative would be unbearable.

"I think I need to make more tea," Nancy said, running out of the room.

It was a half hour later when the entire group found themselves sitting on the deck at the Talbot compound: Tony with Carol, Tracy's mom they had become something sort of an item although they denied it to everyone that asked. Ron, Nancy, their children-Meredith, Melissa, and Mark. Tracy, with Nicole, Justin and Travis. Mad Jack, who seemed perturbed that he had been disturbed from his work. There was Angel, Sty, and Angel's brother Ryan and Dizz from the gas station in Ma.s.sachusetts. Perla, who had been Jack O'Donnell's fiancee, she had yet to pull completely out of her stupor upon his loss. And Cindy Martell, Brian Wamsley's significant other.

"Something's changed," Ron said to the group. Except for Justin, he was the only one standing. "We can all almost feel it in the air."

"It's heavy," Perla said with her head hung low. Cindy wrapped her arms around her friend.

"All the more reason I should still be working," Mad Jack said more to himself than the group.

"In due time, MJ," Ron said. "We had good reason to believe that Michael died yesterday." Even MJ who was usually off in his own world responded with a gasp. Cries of 'are you sure?' and 'I can't believe it!' were all dominated by one small girl, "The funny man is dead?" she asked, then she started to cry uncontrollably.

"Oh, honey," Nancy said, pulling the small girl to her.

"Okay...hold on," Ron said, putting his hands up. "We're now not so sure," he said quickly glancing over to Tracy.

"What about Brian?" Cindy asked with concern. If Mike had been in danger, then it only followed that they all had been.

"We...we don't know," Tracy answered.

"Have they radioed in and you're not telling us?" Cindy asked as she stood.

"No, we haven't heard anything in days," Ron said, giving back-up to Tracy.

"Then how or why would you think something happened to Mike?" Cindy asked.

Henry picked that opportune moment to saunter onto the deck and lay down in the middle of the throng.

"Him." Tracy pointed to the dog.

"Him?" Cindy sneered. "You scare the s.h.i.t out of all of us on something the dog did? Did he come out and tell you Mike was dead...oh and then miraculously he was reborn like Jesus Christ!" she shrieked.

"Listen, we're all a little stressed out right now, I just wanted to get everyone together to-" Ron was cut off.

"Don't you give me that stressed out bulls.h.i.t," Cindy was screaming. "My fiance is out there and I don't know if he's dead or alive or worse. The sitting here not knowing, what do you know about stress?"

Ron was straining to hold back his own anger. "I still have a daughter out there, or did you forget that. I know all too well the pain of loss. If you someday have a child, I hope to G.o.d that you NEVER experience the pain I suffer every f.u.c.king minute of every f.u.c.king day."

Nancy was full on crying. "Anybody want some tea?" she asked, not waiting for an answer as she exited the room hastily.

"I'm so sorry." Cindy said as the heated wind fell from her sails. "You're right we're all stressed."

Ron waited a moment to make sure that Cindy wouldn't flare up again. "Listen, I'm not one for spirituality, superst.i.tion, supernatural or paranormal, that's just not the way I was raised and it's not part of my belief system. And now that I've got that quantifier out of the way, I truly believe something happened to Mike...and for whatever reason, he's back. Mike's resurrection means something and it means something big. I've got to believe he's heading here."

"And so is the s.h.i.t storm," Travis said.

"No swearing," Tracy told him absently.

"This is still all conjecture though right?" Perla asked. She was afraid.

"Yes," Ron said, "no matter what the truth, or what we are feeling, I think that we need to be prepared sooner rather than later and that we need to redouble our efforts no matter what they may be. From gathering or storing food, to setting up our defenses, to the hundred other things we need to have done to survive an all out attack. And I want to double up on guard duty." That brought a fresh round of moans. "Except for Mad Jack, Nicole, and Angel...we'll all be taking extra shifts."

"I can guard!" Angel said defiantly.

"I know, honey, but you already have a job," Tracy told her.

"I take care of the aminals, pretty lady!" she said proudly.

"And Henry loves you for it," Tracy told her. She looked over to Justin and noticed he was rubbing at his wound where the zombie had scratched him. He was trying to be sly, but it looked like it was itching him something fierce. Her heart froze when it looked like storm clouds swept across his vision. Mike, wherever you are, hurry up, she thought.

"I can take an extra shift, Uncle Ronny," Nicole said sleepily. She wasn't quite showing yet but her energy level had dropped considerably.

"No, you need your rest and Mad Jack needs to finish his devices," Ron told her.

"What's the matter with her?" Mad Jack asked, finally realizing he was supposed to be interacting with others.

"I'm pregnant," Nicole laughed.

"How'd that happen?" Mad Jack asked.

"Did he really just ask that?" Travis asked his mother.

Mad Jack's face flushed. "Sorry, you might want to stay away from my stuff while I'm doing experiments."

"Is it dangerous?" Nicole asked, clutching her midsection.

"It shouldn't be, but no sense in risking it."

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm going to lie back down," Nicole told the crowd.

"I'll check on you in a little while, honey," Tracy told her.

"Is she going to start waddling soon?" Travis asked.

"I heard that, baby brother." Nicole shouted.

"Alright, let's get back to work. What ever Mike has going on, I'm sure it's important and we should be ready for him," Ron said before dismissing the group.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Mike Journal Entry 5 "Oh, man, pa.s.s me a joint," I told John as I sat up. "I don't know which hurts more, my body from sleeping on the ground or my head from the acid and beer."

"You should have slept on a cot," John said, looking down at me from his Army-Navy surplus green canvas cot.

"I didn't know I had the option," I told him. I didn't know how long I had slept, but it was long enough that I was no longer tripping and that was fine by me.

"You should have asked," he said as he swung his legs over and reached into a little bag to produce a pre-spun joint.

"John, how would I know to ask? Should I just randomly throw questions out there and see which ones stick?"

John's eyebrows were knitted together as he thought on my words.

"Okay...for instance, do you have a helicopter?" I asked him.

"Of course."

"Wait, what? Are you kidding me?"

"Why would I do that? Kid, I mean. I have a Safari two-seater kit helicopter."

"Okay I'm going to try and hit the pertinent points all in one shot. First, does it work?"

"Yup."

"Second, can you fly it?"

"Yup."

"Wait...real quick...so you don't have a license to drive your van, but you have whatever license it takes to fly a helicopter?"

"A lot more people on the roadways than in the air," he answered.

"Got me there. On to the bonus round where the right answers are worth double."

"Excellent I love the bonus round," John said excitedly. "So how many points are we talking about?"

"The sky's the limit!" I said, going along with his madness.

He paused for a moment. "I get it! Because it flies!"

"That'll work, hey, John the Tripper, can I shorten your name up to Trip?"

"Is this still the bonus round?"

"Added bonus maybe."

John's lip started to quiver a bit.