Chapter 11: Lucky

"Why can't I go?" Lucky asked, crossing his arms irritably as he followed Wendy into the kitchen and dining area in the compound.

"Because I said so, and it's final!" Wendy reiterated. She was tired of this conversation. For the last few days Lucky had gotten the idea that he wanted to go out scavenging and try to help find a cat for the vaccine. Obviously Wendy had told him no, but he refused to drop it.

"You won't even give me a reason!" He said, balling his fists by his sides. "Why does Nate get to go on scavenging trips but I can't?" He glowered. "If Trixie was my mum she'd let me."

"No, she wouldn't." Wendy replied, pulling out some food from the refrigerator the group had transported and connected to the solar array. It was a small miracle having cold food and drinks again.

Lucky growled. "Come on, you know I'm a good shot. I got the best marksmanship out of any of the kids in school."

Wendy forcibly placed the platter on the counter. "Alright. I give you a reason and you stop this nonsense, understand?"

Lucky nodded.

"First off, you're a child. You're twelve." She pointed a spoon at the young Retriever. "And yes, I know you'll be thirteen in a few weeks, and yes I know that somehow makes you a man in your own eyes, but in reality you're a child. You lack the discipline and experience to be doing anything near that dangerous! The reason Nate goes out is because he's an adult, a real one, and he's proven himself." She paused, softening slightly, "Second, I promised your mum and dad I'd keep you safe. When the time comes for you to go on a trip, I'm going to be there right by you and make sure you're safe. I'm not going on this trip, so neither are you. And even if I was, you're still not ready yet. You've got a good deal of growing up to do before we let you risk your life."

Lucky frowned and stormed off toward his bunk. Wendy sighed. She knew teens were a challenge, but she never thought that having to deal with a teenage boy's hormones would be quite so stressful.

***ST***

"Okay, so we know for a fact that there aren't any cats in any of these towns." Bandit pointed to a number of nearby towns marked with small dots in pencil. "And we're not going back to a major city if we can help it."

"What about if we go south? We've mostly gone north and west, maybe we'll get lucky south of here?" Stripe suggested looking at the map.

"There are a few towns that way that could be promising…" Bandit muttered.

Rad glanced over his middle brother's shoulder before he spoke, "What about Alpurrurulam?" He pointed to the map, "Looks like it's a decent size, maybe we'll have some luck there?"

"It should only be a few hours to drive there." Frisky commented, looking at the legend on the map.

"I say it's worth a try." Trixie agreed.

"Okay, so in the morning Rad, Nate, and myself will head there and see if we have luck. If we manage to catch a cat we'll bring it back with us, if not, we'll try a different town at a later time." Bandit stated.

"Works for me." Rad replied, glancing at Nate.

"I'm up for it." Nate nodded.

And with that the plans had been made, and one eavesdropping young retriever had his own ideas for the next morning.

***ST***

"God, why do we always have to leave so bloody early?" Rad moaned as he sipped a large coffee from the travel mug he'd gotten from a burned out Ampol.

"So that we're less likely to get seen by zeds. They don't have great vision, so as long as we're quiet dusk and early morning is better than midday." Nate replied, checking his crossbow was in good order.

"Huh, did not know that."

"What you don't know could fill a library." Bandit smirked.

Rad rolled his eyes, "Whatever little bruv, just remember this drongo can fight better than the rest of you cunts put together."

Bandit shook his head, but Rad was right. The eldest Heeler brother had always been a middling student, but had turned out to be a good father and an even better fighter. "We're about five minutes out, so let's review the plan."

"After clearing any zeds we start looking through houses for a cat-we aren't scavenging anything else, but if there's anything worthwhile make a note so we can double back here in the future." Nate stated, looking up from his bolts.

"After we get the bugger we contain it in the carrier in the back and get it back to Trix so she can work her magic and see if the vaccine works." Rad continued.

"And?" Bandit asked.

"And… nothing. That's the plan, Ban."

"And we make sure we don't get bit."

"Well, obviously." Rad said, waving his hand.

Nate couldn't help but chuckle slightly. The brothers really were just oversized children. He was glad that they'd made it so that all three never went on a scavenging mission together, if they did he suspected nothing would ever get done. As he was about to comment on how they intended to catch the cat he heard a sound that he was almost certain was a sneeze from the back of the pickup. Apparently Bandit and Rad had heard it as well, the open windows carrying the sound forward, as he slowed the truck to a stop. The three men stepped out and walked to the back. Their supplies were in order, packed the night before, but Bandit didn't remember putting a tarp over the back…

He jerked it up quickly to reveal a yellow dog curled in a ball amidst the supplies. "Lucky?! The hell are you doing here?!"

Lucky reddened and coughed, "Um… well… I'm here to help, y'know, with getting the cat."

"Absolutely not." Rad stated.

"No way." Nate added, crossing his arms.

"Lucky, you're practically an ankle biter… How did you think this was a good idea?" Bandit asked, dumbfounded at the stupidity on display.

"I am not! I'm almost thirteen!"

"And that makes you a third their age and still a good bit younger than me!" Nate said, gesturing to the adults.

"You're only six years older than me!"

"That isn't the point." Rad interrupted. "Lucky, does Wendy know you're here?"

"No…" He said, looking away from the three.

"I thought so." Rad shook his head. "We're turning around. You, young man, have a lot of explaining to do once we get back to camp."

"No! Come on! I… I can handle it!"

"It's not a question of if you can, it's a question of if you can and not die. This isn't a game, Lucky." Nate held up his arm, revealing a series of scars. "All of us have been attacked before, we've been fortunate that none of us are dead. I'm lucky I'm immune, otherwise I would've died God knows how many fucking times by now." He paused, looking at the boy's face. "You are a child and you are not ready for this yet. We're taking you back to camp and you're going to talk to Wendy about just how stupid and irresponsible this was."

Lucky's face turned red as his blood boiled. "I'm not just a little kid!" He screamed as he jumped over the side of the pickup and ran across the pavement past a sign that declared they were a mile from Alpurrurulam.

"Lucky! Get back here!" Rad shouted, which only seemed to further increase the boy's speed.

"Shit! Come on!" Bandit ran back to the truck and followed the preteen, quickly catching up to him on the outskirts of town. Rad jumped out of the car and tackled him, years of rugby making it a breeze to grab the moving target.

"Alright, you bugger!" He shouted, pinning Lucky as he grabbed the squirming boy and took him to the truck. He deposited him in the backseat, beside Nate.

"We've already wasted enough gas and time, you are gonna sit in the back seat of this truck and you are gonna say and do nothing until we get back to camp." Bandit commanded, a rare spark of anger and protectiveness flaring in his eyes. He growled, looking at the other two, "The three of us are going to take care of our mission, and you are going to stay in here. If you even think about doing another stupid stunt like you just pulled I will personally make sure you are on latrine duty for the next year! Got it?"

Lucky looked down, his cheeks hot as he glared at the seat upholstery.

"I thought so. You have a lot to learn about the world, Lucky." Bandit muttered.

The truck pulled into town and parked beside a small basketball court.

"We are going to take care of what we came here to do. You are not leaving that seat, got it?" Bandit ordered.

Lucky refused to reply. The other three got out of the car and slunk toward the nearest building, a small house with a busted door. As Rad stepped on the porch the board squeaked and a growl was heard from inside, the eldest brother had enough time to dive out of the way as three zeds poured out, two adults and one child. The largest of them, likely the father, charges at Bandit and Rad. It was a hulking mass of former German shepherd, with flesh now flaking off bone in some places, the virus having rotted most of the man's muscles and flesh. The two men quickly worked to beat it senseless before decapitating the brute. Nate dealt with the other adult, a female shepherd with similar decay to her husband, shooting it with a crossbow bolt, which goes cleanly into the head, and while it juttered a moment it continued its charge, eventually landing on top of the collie.

Nate struggled, wincing as he felt teeth bare down on his shoulder, but managed to knee it in the chest and knock himself free, quickly firing two more bolts into its skull, putting down the zed.

"Nate, you okay?" Bandit asked, noting the blood dripping from his shoulder.

"Got bit, but knowing me it'll be a bitch for a few hours, then I'll be fine." Nate remarked. He'd been bitten a few times before, and while he was immune to becoming a zed it wasn't without consequences. He usually got a massive headache and felt body aches all over. It was like the flu and a nasty hangover all wrapped into one. But usually it passed in a day, and he was the same as always.

"Jesus kid, I know you're immune, but you'd think you were zed bait with how many times they've gone for you…" Rad commented.

At that moment they heard a scream, revealing that the child zed had slipped past them and had gone straight for the pickup. Apparently it had sensed Lucky and had decided it fancied a kiddie meal. It had yanked the door open and was climbing into the back of the cab, Lucky struggled to back up and fiddled with the handle, but it wouldn't budge-Bandit had engaged the child locks after they'd left the vehicle.

"Help!" He screamed.

Without a moment's hesitation Rad charged toward the zed, spearing it in the back with his blade before using the momentum to lift it up and toss it away from the vehicle. He quickly finished his attack and beheaded the beast, leaving a twitching corpse and pile of black blood trickling down the side of the pickup.

Lucky was quivering in the back of the pickup.

"Hey, you alright?" Rad asked.

Lucky didn't reply at first, lunging forward and sobbing as he held onto Rad's shoulders. "I… I'm sorry! I should've stayed at camp!"

No shit, you little cunt. Rad sighed, "Let's get you out of here."

"What?!" Lucky yelped.

"You clearly can't be left on your own, come on." Rad put him on the ground, the boy barely reaching his chest. "Take this." He handed him his machete.

Lucky clutched onto the blade with his dear life.

"We have to watch ya apparently, so come on." Rad pulled the blonde boy back toward Bandit and Nate, the latter having patched up his shoulder with some gauze.

"What's he doing out here?" Nate asked.

"Can't be left on his own." Rad said, pushing him toward Nate. "We're babysitting."

Nate grumbled, but didn't complain.

After about thirty minutes of walking in a tight huddle, Lucky in the middle, they found a cat after hearing a meow from a dumpster. It was easy enough to trick it, just putting out a can of cat food immediately drew the creature near. Rad snatched it up, and despite some claw marks, they had their test subject.

***ST***

"Oh thank God you're alright!" Wendy embraced Lucky as soon as he was back in the compound. She kissed him on the forehead and checked him over. After making sure he was unharmed she turned to the men, "Thank you for getting him home safely."

"Not a problem Wendy, happy to help." Bandit nodded.

"Now if you'll excuse us, we have a test subject to deliver." Rad patted a cat carrier as he and Nate headed toward the medical room and Trixie.

After a minute Wendy's expression turned from gratitude to ire. "What did I tell you yesterday?"

Lucky could feel his insides shrink; trying to get away from the wrath he was about to experience. "Um… to not go on the mission."

"And so you deliberately disobeyed me, caused all of us here to panic that you might've been hurt, or worse dead, and now you're back after I'm sure causing problems for Bandit, Rad, and Nate?"

Lucky looked at the floor.

"I am so angry with you right now, but more than anything I'm disappointed that I can't trust you." She sighed, "From now on you do not leave my sight or another adult's."

"What?!"

"You heard me. Privacy is a right, and you lost it pulling this little stunt. We'll see if you can reearn it." Wendy looked away a moment, a heavy sigh escaping as tears pooled at the corners of her eyes. "I was so afraid I'd lost you. Don't you ever do that again!"

"I won't mum, I promise." Lucky said.

"Good." Wendy nodded, quickly drying her tears, "Now come on, I need help with making dinner."

***Author's Note***

I wanted to provide a bit more zeds in my zombie story-as a few people had noted it had been a while since they'd shown up. Don't worry, there will be plenty more moving forward. Thanks again for reading, and if you liked it, or have constructive criticism, please leave a review. Thanks!