the twins. “That’s seven blocks away. It might as well be all the way to the Mars. Do you understand what we are up against? It’s the end of the world out there.”
“ Take your neighbor’s car,” Emmett said. “It’s right there, we could get the keys, and you could drive us home.”
“ It would be faster,” Tom said, “but there’s no way we’re doing that, not again. We would have to go into their house and find the keys. I don’t want to risk it. What if they are home, and what if they are zombies? And what if we can’t find the keys? What then?”
Swinging his arms like a baseball bat Winston said, “You can fight them with your skateboard. It worked before.”
Tom frowned.
“ What about bikes?” Winston shrugged.
“ I have three choices to think about; bad, crazy, and insane,” Tom said. “Help me. Emmett, you keep watch. Winston, you help me gather the last of the gear from the garage and the house.”
Hauling the supplies up into the tree house didn’t as take long as he thought it would. From the position of the sun, he thought that it was almost noon. That left plenty of time to get to the twins’ house and back to the tree house if they needed to before dark. They put their packs on. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE TWINS’ HOUSE
Cutting through back yards and climbing over fences, they followed the secret pathways that only kids know. Tom found it was way more work than he’d expected. The twins weren’t good at much of anything; some kids never get outside, never learn how to do stuff. Their parents keep them in because either they’re too busy to watch them, or they don’t trust the neighborhood they live in. It was frustrating and it slowed them down.
“ Where are all the people?” Winston stared into a kitchen window. “Not everyone can be gone. We can’t be the only ones who made it. Can we?”
“ Quiet,” Tom shushed. “We have to be careful, we don’t know what’s in these yards.”
“ I do. Big evil monsters that want to eat us, or worse,” Winston said.
“ We know they aren’t monsters,” Emmett snapped, “don’t be so stupid.”
“ Do you have to be a jerk all the time?” Winston pushed Emmett.
“ It’s why we are checking each yard first,” Tom said. “My plan is to move quickly and quietly, but carefully.”
“ We’re not moving quickly,” Emmett complained. “That house is empty. See, the windows and the back door? Wide open.”
“ If you two could climb over the fences better I wouldn’t worry about it so much, but you’re so slow that if we make a mistake, I don’t think we will survive. Maybe we can leave you to feed the zombies if something goes wrong, Emmett.”
“ Don’t talk to my brother that way,” Winston said.
Tom kicked a teddy bear, sending it tumbling across a yard. “I’m not talking. I’m telling. See all these suitcases and packs, what do they tell you?”
“ That the danger is gone. If there were any zombies here, wouldn’t they attack?” Emmett asked.
“ Maybe we should call out to see if anyone is here,” Winston said.
Tom put his finger to his mouth and shushed him. “It would be like painting yourself with bright pink paint and running down the street yelling “Here I am zombies. Come get me.”
The tearing of packaging crinkled behind Tom.
“ Give me a doughnut, Emmett.”
“ No, butt head. Get your own.”
“ You have to share, remember. Don’t kick that.”
A family sized jar of pickles scooted down the driveway past Tom and shattered against the house. The smell of pickles in the air tickled his nose and made his mouth water. Tom turned. “What the hell did you do that for?”
Sugar glaze and crumbs stuck to Emmett’s face. “You kicked the teddy bear.”
“ Don’t,” Tom said. “Just keep it together long enough to get home. Then you’re on your own.”
“ Tom, what do you say to the freaking out pickle?”
“ I’m not answering that
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