6. Trent

Chapter six

Trent

I wipe the sweat from my brow as I pause in my work. Cutting logs in half wasn't easy, but I was grateful for the table saw. I wouldn't have been nearly as productive or bored if it weren't for that. I looked around and saw a ladder sitting against the wall. One thing that's been bothering me about this house was how we were getting power. It was time to try to solve that puzzle once and for all.

I took the ladder and leaned it against the side of the house near the carport. I climbed up the ladder, onto the carport, and then onto the roof. What do you know, it was covered in solar panels.

"I figured out why we have power," I called out to the others. "The roof is covered in solar panels."

"How do they look?" Remi asked.

"They look like they're in pretty decent shape, but I don't know anything about solar panels," I replied.

I looked at the rest of the property and saw something odd. It was almost like there was a depression in the earth shaped like a giant square. It was something you wouldn't notice from the ground, but from the roof, I could easily see the difference in the terrain. Maybe that's what the trap door under the truck leads to—some sort of secret bunker or the basement?

"Hey, does the house have a basement?" I shouted.

"No, it's on a slab," Derrick replied, "why?"

"It almost looks like something is under the ground," I replied. "We should move that truck and see if we can get down through that door."

"It could just be the sewer tank," Isaac said.

Well, shit. That made a lot more sense than secret underground bunkers. I continued to look around and appreciate the beauty of the mountains surrounding us. It would have been rather peaceful if you ignored the fact that they could have been crawling with the undead and trying to eat you. I noticed a fire-lookout tower not too far up the mountain. We should go check that out soon. A place like that could be helpful if we got overrun and needed a quick, safe place to hide. I climbed back down and brought the ladder back to the workshop. Call me paranoid, but the last thing we needed was for these fuckers to learn how to climb a ladder and come crashing through the ceiling while we slept.

"Oh, good," Isaac said as he dragged another log over, "you've decided to help again."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Nothing wrong with taking a break now and then," I replied.

"You don't see the zombies taking breaks, do you?" he retorted. "Or the rest of us, for that matter."

I bit my tongue to keep from snapping back at him. Even in the apocalypse, he can't stop being an annoying big brother, but I can try not to take his bait all the damn time. So, instead of escalating the bickering further, I ignored him and finished cutting the pile that had accumulated while I was scouting the area from above. When I finished cutting the logs down, we worked together to get the fence up. Luckily, the clearing the house was in wasn't massive, so we were able to finish the project in one day. We didn't place the fence across the driveway, so that was still a potential point of entry, but the fence wasn't meant to keep out hordes of zombies so much as to keep out the random stragglers who might pop up out of nowhere.

As we cleaned up and put away the tools, I was actively ignoring the rapidly darkening sky. A storm was brewing. I fucking hated storms. The wind picked up just as we closed the workshop doors, followed by a clap of thunder that made me freeze momentarily in terror.

Eight years old.

I lay in the center of the trampoline, looking up at the dark sky. Thunder rolled in the distance, and the wind whipped around me. I loved the drama that hung in the air when it was about to storm.

"Trent!" Melissa, my five-year-old sister, yelled as she ran barefoot through the yard to the trampoline. "Mama said you have to come inside now; the storms gettin' bad," she said breathlessly as she climbed onto the trampoline and rolled to my side with a giggle, clutching her stuffed pink bunny.

"It's not so bad yet, Melly," I told her. "It hasn't even started to rain yet."

Melly snuggled closer to me. "Ok, Trent, but only another minute. Cotton Candy doesn't like to get wet," she replied, hugging the bunny tighter.

We lay there watching the sky for several more seconds until Mama came outside next.

"Melissa Grace and Trent Gabriel, get your butts in this house this minute!" Mama yelled. She had no sooner finished her sentence than the tornado sirens went off.

Fear seized me as I quickly moved my sister to the trampoline's edge and dropped her over the side. "Run inside, Melly. Run to Mama. I'm right behind you!"

The wind picked up as I followed her over the side. When I looked at Mama, she was as white as a ghost and looking off into the distance. I chanced a look behind me, and my stomach dropped. There was a tornado on the ground, and it looked like it was coming straight for us.

"Hurry!" Mama shouted.

I was gaining on Melly and was about to scoop her up as I passed her when she suddenly spun around.

"Cotton Candy!" she screeched as she ran back toward the trampoline where her bunny had been left.

"Melly!" Mama screamed.

"Melly, no!" I shouted, turning to run after her.

I tackled her to the ground just as the wind picked up Cotton Candy and the trampoline and sent it flying into the neighbor's yard.

Strong arms wrapped around me and my sister, lifting us both from the ground. Pop ran with us toward the house where Mama was standing with Isaac.

"Get downstairs!" Pop shouted.

Mama and Isaac turned and ran into the house. Pop wasn't far behind them, still carrying me and Melly. The wind sounded like a freight train was about to drive through the house. Pop didn't set us down until we were safely in the basement.

As soon as he did, Mama pulled us into her arms and clung to us as we huddled on the floor. "Please, God, keep my family safe," she prayed. "Keep my family safe. Keep my family safe."

The house seemed to shake above our heads, and I could see debris blowing around outside the small basement window as the tornado grew closer. I closed my eyes tightly and buried my head in Mama's neck. "Make it stop," I repeated silently in my head.

What felt like an eternity later but was likely only a few minutes, the howling wind began to fade, and as I peeked at the window from the safety of my mom's embrace, I could see that the sun had come back out.

"Wait here until I make sure it's safe," Pop ordered. I watched him disappear up the stairs and heard the door open. After a few minutes, he came back to the basement. "All clear," he said, plucking Melly from Mama's arms and carrying her back upstairs.

Isaac followed him, and Mama relaxed her arms to nudge me to follow, but I clung to her tighter. Pop said everything was ok, but terror still had a firm grip on me.

"Ok, bud," Mama said softly. "Come here."

She stood with me, carried me to the couch, and sat. Gently, she pried my arms from around her and turned me in her lap so that my back was against her chest. Mama splayed her hand across my chest and applied some pressure.

"Easy does it. Breathe with me, Trent," She said calmly.

Until she said something, I hadn't noticed that I was breathing fast.

"In… and out… In… and out."

I matched the rise and fall of my chest with hers, closing my eyes so that all my focus was on Mama's breathing. Not much time had passed when large, warm hands clasped mine. I opened my eyes to see Pop kneeling in front of me, his soft brown eyes full of concern.

"You ok, son?"

"He's ok," Mama answered as I nodded silently. "He just had a little bit of a panic attack, but he worked through it like a champ."

That was the first time I had heard the phrase ‘panic attack,' but it wouldn't be the last.

"That tornado was a little scary, huh, Bud?"

I nodded again.

"You want to know a secret? I was scared, too." My eyes widened in shock at his words. I didn't know anything could scare Pop. "It's ok to be scared. We were in a dangerous situation, but it's over now, and everyone is safe."

"That's right," Mama said. "Are you ready to go upstairs?"

"Yeah."

"Have you ever seen a naked tree?" Pop asked excitedly.

"Steve," Mama admonished with a light chuckle.

"No," I said, excitement bubbling.

"Do you want to?" he asked.

"Yeah!" I said, scrambling off of Mama's lap.

"I'll race you!" Pop said, pushing me back into Mama's lap to get a head start.

"Hey!" I complained, "That's cheating!" I raced toward the stairs, shooting past Pop at the last second with a triumphant cheer.

"You're just too fast for me," Pop said breathlessly as he caught up to me at the top of the stairs.

I followed him outside, grinning proudly, but the second I saw the yard, my jaw dropped. I knew the trampoline was gone, but I wasn't prepared for all the garbage in the yard. Trees had been stripped of their leaves and branches, and we had pieces of roofing that weren't from our roof strewn about, along with many other things.

"The naked tree is over here," Pop said, grabbing my hand and tugging me around to the side of the house.

"Whoa!" I said when I saw it. The tree had no leaves left, but that wasn't the most shocking part. What stunned me was that the trunk had no bark, like someone had taken a vegetable peeler to it like a carrot. "Wild!"

"Trent, look!" Melly yelled, running up to us and waving Cotton Candy around. "Isaac found Cotton Candy smushed between the Jackson's shed and our trampoline!"

"That's great, Melly! I'm glad you found him!"

An anguished cry broke the relative sadness, and we looked down the road to where the sound had come from. My neighbors had just come up from their cellar, and the wife was on the ground crying as she looked at where their house had once stood.

That could have been us.

I shook the memories away, aware of the other three men watching me closely. After that tornado tore through our town, I never enjoyed another storm. Isaac and Melly weren't affected, just me. A storm would start brewing, and I would be on the cusp of a full-blown panic attack until it passed— if I didn't tip over the edge first. I hated my reaction to storms, but in all the years since, I haven't been able to shake my response, though I have been able to mask the anxiety better. Or so I thought.

"Stop fucking staring at me. I'm fine," I growled as I stomped, maybe a little faster than usual, after the next clap of thunder, back to the house.

"We know you aren't, Trent. You don't have to pretend," Remi said, jogging to catch up and put a comforting arm around my shoulder.

I shrugged him off of me but then immediately reached for his arm. Mama had figured out early on that I handled the storms better with human contact. I hated how weak that made me feel, especially when my options were my big brother and two other men. It was embarrassing to need cuddles from them, though Remi hadn't minded volunteering.

Over the last eight months, we have grown physically closer. I wasn't sure if it was a situation of convenience or deeper than that, but either way, we came together in more ways than one during a storm. The first time anything happened between us, I freaked out and asked him if that meant I was gay. Remi's response shook my beliefs to the core.

"Why does it mean you have to be something? Why can't it just be two people enjoying each other in a mutually beneficial way? I think we can leave the labels back in the pre-apocalypse era."

Once I stopped caring about labels according to a society that no longer existed, I found I immensely enjoyed Remi, not just physically. I wouldn't necessarily say we were in a relationship, but we had a different kind of closeness.

"Looks like we're bunking together again," Derrick told Isaac.

"I don't know why we even bothered sleeping in separate rooms," Isaac chuckled.

"Sorry, guys," I apologized. A flash of lightning followed by thunder loud enough to shake the house sounded, making me jump.

"You don't have to apologize, T," Derrick replied, patting my shoulder as he walked by. "I get it. Besides, better Remi than me. It was awkward as hell spooning you every time it rained," he teased.

"Come on, cuddle bug," Remi said, tugging me toward the couch. "Let's read a book while Isaac and Derrick figure out dinner."

Remi plucked a book off the bookshelf against the wall and sat down, pulling me down behind him. He lifted his arm so that I could tuck myself against his side. At first, I always felt a bit ridiculous because I had a larger build than Remi, but as soon as I got into position, that feeling was immediately replaced by calmness.

Once we were situated, I looked at Remi's chosen book and laughed. " Little House on the Prairie ?"

"What? I like Little House on the Prairie ," Remi said defensively. "It's good, wholesome, frontier fun. And I suggest you start liking it too because this is only book one, and the owners have the entire series."

I leaned up and pecked his cheek. "I never said I didn't like it," I replied with a wink. "I love me some Laura Ingalls Wilder."

Remi held the back cover, and I held the front, and together we started to read. The thunder continued to fall as it began to rain, but the sound of it on the tin roof was a mood of its own that I quickly appreciated. All we needed now was a fire to complete the cozy vibes. We had a fireplace, but since we didn't know how long the house had been deserted, it was best to check the chimney for any blockages before we tried to light a fire. The last thing we wanted to do was smoke ourselves out of the house or burn it down—next time.

A few chapters in, I heard something scurrying inside the walls and looked at Remi. "We should probably start thinking about ways to get rid of our mouse problem if we're going to stay here," I commented.

Remi nodded. "Between the four of us, I'm sure we could rig up some sort of trap," he agreed.

"What are we talking about?" Derrick asked as he sat in the armchair across from us.

"The mice in the walls and how we need to get rid of them," I replied.

Derrick nodded in agreement as he looked around the room. Suddenly, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "That's her!" he yelled, springing from his seat and grabbing a framed picture off the coffee table.

"That's who?" Remi asked.

"The girl I saw," Derrick replied excitedly. He turned the picture around for us to look at. It was a picture of a man who I presumed was his daughter. The pretty blonde teen smiled at the camera with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. They stood together in front of a diner called Granny Sue's.

"She's pretty," Remi commented.

I nodded. "She was."

"I'm telling you," Derrick argued, "that's who I saw standing in that fucking window today," he said, pointing.

"So what exactly are you trying to suggest, Derrick?" I asked, stifling a laugh. "That the house is haunted?"

"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't fucking know!" he replied in exasperation. "The only thing I know for certain is that I saw this girl today."

"Maybe she's in the walls," Remi suggested with a chuckle.

"Why would she be in the walls?" Derrick asked.

"Better yet, how could she be in the walls?" I countered.

"Did you forget I sent you in here to let them know dinner was ready?" Isaac asked from the kitchen entryway.

"Oh, shit. Yeah," Derrick laughed. "Dinner's ready." He placed the picture down, the discussion temporarily forgotten.

While we were reading about what Laura was up to in the big woods, Isaac and Derrick managed to put together a decent dinner of old beef jerky we still had with us and a peculiar medley of canned vegetables. Considering we were usually stuck with the beef jerky and only the beef jerky, we were eating like kings.

After dinner, Remi and I did the small amount of accumulated dishes. The worst of the storm had passed, leaving behind a steady fall of rain. I didn't mind the rain. Feeling my usual calm self, I wasn't ready for the sudden gust of wind that ripped into the house with a howl.

The plate I was putting away in the cabinet clattered onto the plate below as I dropped it in fright. "Not another storm," I groaned.

Remi rubbed my back soothingly. "Come on, big guy. Let's crawl into our little bubble and ignore the storm." As we passed my brother, I ruffled his hair and bent to kiss the top of his head.

"Night, bud," he said in response.

I nodded at Derrick and followed Remi into the bedroom he had shared with Derrick last night. As soon as the door closed behind us, he pressed me against it and pulled my head down to kiss me softly. When he broke the kiss, his hands trailed beneath my shirt. Together, we got it off, and I tossed it across the room as I reached for his shirt next.

"Is it wrong that I sometimes hope for a storm because I want to be with you?" Remi asked as I pulled his shirt off and sealed my lips to his exposed shoulder.

I leaned back so that I could look at him. "Remington, you don't need a storm to be with me," I assured him.

His smile was blinding, and his kiss threatened to set the whole house ablaze.