Page 43 of Night of the Living Manny
He should just… call the police. The Army. The childcare service. What if Liam was crazy and there was no widespread infection to worry about?
Something.
Liam, though. He seemed so sure they were better off on their own, that he could find that antidote. And there was that… thing they’d hit on the way out of the garage. Brenden was torn. So torn.
“Don’t tell Daddy I cried, okay?” She wiped her face on her sleeve, sopping up the last of the tears.
“Never.” He was going to rant at Liam a bit about putting kids in survival situations, so he was lying, but he would never make her embarrassed.
“Thanks. He thinks I’m superbrave.”
“You are. Brave isn’t not being scared. It’s being terrified and still doing what you have to.” He’d heard that a million times from his mom, and she’d been right, darn her.
“Yeah. I did that. I totally did.”
“Right? Okay, want to make a green salad while I get the nuggets in?” He was still right there if she needed to talk.
“Sure. Use up all the fresh stuff first, right?” She opened the cooler.
“Yep. We have all the dressings that were in the fridge and that huge bag of lettuce.”
“The generator will be on soon. Then we’ll have the freezer and a fridge.”
God, he needed to find out how much propane they had, how the rooms were heated. He’d seen a woodpile when he took Moose out; if they needed to, they could all slumber party in the great room. Could they light a fire, or would that attract weird things?
Liam came in, went to the fuse box, and flipped the breakers one by one. “The stove and oven are gas, but the electric spark should work now. The propane is on.”
“Do we need to be careful with the propane?” Brenden asked.
“We have three tanks.”
“Okay. I’ll still try to conserve.” Liam was prepared, though. Really tight.
“Thank you. The virus will burn itself out before we run out.” The “I hope” was unspoken.
“You did good, Dad.” Susanna’s smile wobbled, but it was there.
“Not good enough, right?” He looked utterly defeated for a second.
“Hey!” Susanna got all fierce. “You had some bad eggs in the lab. Greg! I mean, who expected him to be a shit?”
“Susanna!” Liam started laughing, though. “Watch your mouth. You’re right. Who expected him to pull this?”
Susanna crossed her arms and glared at Brenden. “I made him dinner once and he does this? You’re a good guy, right?”
“I am.” Brenden hoped so. He’d never stolen a deadly virus and infected a town, anyway.
“You’d better be. I’m a good shot.” She made pistol fingers.
“I bet you are,” Brenden intoned.
“He’s an innocent bystander, like you.” There was real regret in Liam’s voice.
“Yeah, well. None of us are innocent anymore, are we?”
“No. No, we’re not. I’m going to get back to work.”
“Okay. We’ll call you for dinner.” Brenden wouldn’t brook any argument there, because the other two kids needed normalcy and reassurance and Liam needed food.
