Page 2

"I like it," I said, looking at her mother and her sister, both of whom were digging in the flower bed by the porch. "Reminds me of my grandpa's house when I was a kid."

The hound dog on the porch perked up and began to look around as the little girl kicked her feet back and forth.

"So what did you used to do before you came here?" It was meant innocently enough but I had no innocent answer to offer her. How do you tell a child about fighting off droves of monsters, people who had been friends, loved ones, driven mad by a disease eating away at their brains, making their bodies go berserk and kill anything that they saw? Was there a good way to explain the blood on my hands and the nightmares I had whenever I closed my eyes?

"Momma says you and Uncle Fred used to fight monsters like all those knights in my bed time stories."

I nodded. Fred Miller had been my partner during the war. He’d watched out for me like a brother and together we’d saved each other more times than either of us could count. I wouldn’t leave him the night he lost his leg. I stopped the bleeding and gotten him to the field hospital during that last night of fighting. When he heard it was over he insisted that I stay with his folks knowing my family was gone and I had nowhere to go. It took a week on the road, hiking through the desolation of familiar towns and areas where the night was still starless from the smoke. Alone for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime, it had been hell but I had made it.

"That's exactly what I did," I answered with a forced smile.

The hound dog was growling low now. I couldn't see anything and the air was thick in the smell of honeysuckle. There was nothing to signal danger but dogs were always the first to know. More than a few agitated mutts had saved my ass and I wasn't about to ignore him just because I'd relocated to some Mayberry clone. The little girl had hopped off the swing and was about to run out into the yard when I grabbed her arm.

"That hurts" she whined. "Let go."

I put my finger up to my lips in a shushing motion then slid my hand down to my pistol.

"Go inside," I whispered. "Hide upstairs and don't come out until I call you."

Those wide, wondrous blue eyes were no longer full of light and innocence. There was fear now, fear of the man who had held her arm, the strange man with the gun. She ran into the house and up the stairs. The hound dog was up on his feet and out in the yard. He was growling into the tree line across from the house. I could hear movement in the leaves. The other girl and her mother saw me and quickly ran past me into the house. I could hear them calling out to the rest of the family. My heart was racing as the gun cleared leather. I drew up on my target. It was a faint silhouette but it was getting bigger. I took a deep breath and let it out as I gently squeezed the trigger. Thunder roared from my hands. In the woods a body fell and was still. Mister Miller was behind me now with a shotgun. I looked over my shoulder at him and motioned for him to stay put. The hound dog was already into the woods before I could clear the porch.

Taking short, cautious steps I walked out across the yard and over the gravel road leading up to the house. The dog ran into the tree line and began to bark before growing silent. Proudly he trotted out carrying a large raccoon in his teeth. The animal's head was mostly gone but the striped tail and gray fur were bloodied and unmistakable.

"Well don't that beat all," Mister Miller laughed from the porch. "Saved me the trouble of having to set a trap for the little bastard."

I holstered my gun and stood in the road shaking. The old man propped his gun against the porch and walked out to me, patting the astute hunting dog on the head as he passed with his prize. He wrapped his arms around me and embraced me tightly.

"You don't have to fight any more," he whispered in my ear. "It's over now.

"I could've... I mean I might have shot..."

"You're not the first broken soul to come through these doors," he reassured me. "We'll take it one day at a time and we'll find something new for you. Just give it time. The first day back in the world is always the worst."