Chapter 7

Alice beat me up so my coffee was ready. We ate breakfasts. Alice said, “I’m going to have to find something new for breakfast. This is the last of the milk. I don’t know if we will find any more that’s good.”

I nodded. “We can look but you’re probably right.” At that moment, my phone sounded with a call. I accepted the call and said, “Hello. This is Hank.”

A voice said, “Hank, this is Carmelo Ellis. It took me two days to get up the courage to call. I was afraid you might be dead or crazy.”

“No, Carmelo, I’m fine. It’s just lonely and I haven’t seen any people out for days.”

He said, “Are you alone?”

“No, I’m living with my niece, Alice. Her parents were killed by crazies. Alice had been sick and was inside with her eyes covered. I had to work and was stuck inside a cubicle with no windows. It turns out that that was an advantage. What about you?”

“My family is here. We were going to have an eclipse party but, for some reason, we all were inside and never went out. It was planned to be a sleep-over and we just went to our beds. Only one of us left the next morning. He was savaged by the crazies. I watched them chase him down. We stayed in the house with the shades drawn for days until the need for food drove us out.

“Now, we don’t worry very much because most of the crazies are gone.

“As far as people, it’s my wife, two daughters, and three grand kids with me. We know that we’ll need more people for the long run. We don’t see many folks any more. I think there might be one family left in our subdivision.”

I said, “That mirrors my thinking. I think we should meet somewhere and talk.”

“That would be good. We found your poster at the Walmart on Salem Road. Let’s meet there on the access road. We can then move to the Wendy’s or Zaxby’s”

I said, “That would be fine. I’m in a big pickup truck. I traded up after everything went down.”

“We did that, too. We have two big SUV’s, one black and one red. It takes about ten minutes to get there. What about you?”

“About the same. When do you want to leave? We can go now.”

“Suits. We’ll meet you there.”

I pressed the “off” button. I looked at Alice who smiled back. I had placed the phone on speaker so she could hear. I said, “Let’s go.”

She said, “Good. I think we should go armed. We can leave the rifle and shotgun in the truck but don’t want a surprise from the crazies or from the new folks.” I nodded. We left for Walmart.

We arrived there and took the access road that was behind the gas station and Wendy’s. We rode along it slowly looking around. In front of us, an SUV and then another turned onto the road we were on and came toward us. I saw nothing else moving. We met and I lowered my window saying, “Carmelo?”

The man across in the lead SUV grinned and said, “Hank?” I nodded. We each moved forward turning away to give us some space but allowing us to get between the vehicles if we needed that shielding. He and I got out and shook hands.

I said, “Hank Rivers,” as we shook hands.

“Carmelo Ellis. It’s good to meet you, Hank.”

“I’m glad to meet you, Carmelo.” Alice had slid over and came up beside me. “This is my niece, Alice Rogers. It’s been quiet.”

Carmelo held his hand out to Alice and said, “Alice, it’s good to meet you.” Others joined us from the SUV’s. The first person, who came up next to Carmelo, was about his age of late fifties. Carmelo said, “Hank, Alice, this is my wife, Lois.”

I held my hand out and said, “I’m Hank Rivers and this is my niece, Alice Rogers.” We shook hands.

By then, others were joining us. We were introduced all around. We met the daughters, Marianne who is middle thirties and Joyce who is twenty-eight. The grandchildren are Arnold, fifteen, Kevin, fourteen, and Carolyn, thirteen. It was a pleasant time. We adjourned to Wendy’s for cold drinks as we talked and got to know each other.

The three grandchildren and Alice grouped together. The rest of the Ellis family grouped with me. As we exchanged information, I found that Joyce was a year older in numbers but was actually only about five months older. The fact that she was quite attractive was good by me. As we talked, I found her to be witty and intelligent.

We learned some about each other. I learned that Carmelo was Italian or Hispanic by origin. It showed in his complexion. While Marianne favored her mother’s lighter coloring, Joyce had her father’s darker complexion which made her look slightly exotic to me. It didn’t reduce her allure. I noticed that Alice seemed to gravitate to Kevin who was a year older than she. Carolyn and she were already as thick as thieves.

Carmelo and Lois were older but seemed sharp about what had happened. Both their daughters had been married. Joyce had been divorced before the Eclipse by about a year. Her ex became a crazy and was killed by other crazies. Marianne’s husband was caught outside and killed by crazies when he was careless about going out. No one in the family was armed. Carmelo asked me about my pistol.

I said, “It’s gotten to be a habit. I;ve shot a few crazies. Alice’s father was a shooter and taught her. She has taught me. Her parents were caught by crazies when visiting friends for the Eclipse. We found them and buried them.” I then explained how Alice and I hadn’t been out to see the Eclipse. I didn’t mention Sharon.

We agreed to meet tomorrow since the Ellis’s had to pick up some food. Carmelo and Joyce were both concerned about how long the food supplies might last. They hadn’t really thought beyond that point. We separated at that point after exchanging numbers.

Later, Alice and I talked about them. She said, “Kevin was interested in my pistol.”

“I think he was interested in you, Alice.”

“Possibly. I liked him but, after being with you and seeing what’s outside, I’m not too sure about him.”

“He can learn. The lack of arms concerns me. With the crazies, some kind of weapon is a good idea. Marianne even lost her husband to the crazies. They still have no thought of protection. Joyce’s ex-husband was killed by the crazies, also. You would think they would be more aware though we haven’t seen many of the crazies lately.”