Timmy ran up to the prone body. "Look, Mark! Mr Carpenter is a zombie!" Everyone gasped when Timmy hauled back and kicked the man as hard as he could in the side. The body jiggled slightly from the impact.

"Timmy, no! Respect the dead!" Anna ran over to pull her little brother away. She looked at the body with a mixture of repulsion and horror.

"He deserved it, Annie. He shot at me and Mark with a pellet gun the last time we raided his garden. A pellet gun, Annie. He could have taken my eye out!"

Anna hugged the small boy to her. "Tim, you and Mark know stealing isn't right. We grow plenty enough of our own food to get by."

"But Mr Carpenter's got the best strawberries around. Everyone knows that. And have you seen the size of the cauliflower he grows? There's as big as my damn head!" Timmy held out his hands out far to the sides of his head to indicate the size.

"Don't swear," Anna said automatically. She turned to the injured man who had managed to pull himself to sitting on a log and was gingerly prodding his ankle. "I'm sorry for my brother, sir. Is it broken?"

With the zombie immobilized, the boy Scouts had stopped screaming and moved en masse closer to their leader. One of the boy's squatted, warily eyeing the dead body. "Shall I get the first aid kit, Scout Leader Dan?"

The man winced at a particularly sensitive spot. "Yeah, we'll have to wrap it. I guess that's our first lesson of the day, huh, boys?" The boy nodded and ran to one of the tents. To the strangers, the man asked, "Would one of you kids please explain what is going on?"

"Sir, I have to ask you to lift your shirt for me," Petra said calmly.

"I'm sorry?" Scout Leader Dan replied. He moved his eyes between the unfamiliar children loosely grouped around him then settled on the nail gun handle Petra was rhythmically flexing her hand around.

Petra nodded at the zombie. "As you can see, things are not normal. I need to see that you weren't bitten."

Fear washed cold through James. The little hairs on his body prickled as they stood up when images of tiny Jules flashed through his memory.

The man scoffed. "I'm fine. Just a twisted ankle." He accepted the white kit with a red cross the returning boy held out.

"Sir, we know for a fact that people who get bitten will turn. We don't know exactly how long that takes, just that it happens. Now, please show us that you weren't bitten."

The boy who'd gotten the first aid kit stood up and puffed out his narrow chest. He looked Petra square in the eye. "Scouts value integrity. We are honest, trustworthy and loyal. If Scout Leader Dan says he wasn't bitten, he wasn't bitten."

Petra opened her mouth to protest, but Dan held up a hand to stop her. "I'm okay. See?" He held out his arms and turned them over for inspection, then pulled his Scout shirt up exposing a bite-free, slightly flabby, pale torso covered lightly in brown hair. "No bites."

Petra's shoulders sagged with relief. "Thank you. We just have to be sure. We've already lost people because we didn't check."

Dan nodded and frowned at the dead man. "I understand. Now please, tell me what is happening."

The trio exchanged glances. James explained, "We don't know how it started. But last night, all of a sudden, there were zombies everywhere. Someone started firing a gun, so people went to see what was going on. That's when a lot of people got bitten, but they went home and turned in the night. We're checking all the houses right now for survivors. Then we heard your screams and came here. That's about all we know."

"Where are you all from?" Nine-year-old Mark Thornton stepped up and draped his arms loosely over his little brother's shoulders. The other siblings drifted closer.

"Toronto," Dan replied. At the expressions on the trio's faces, he demanded. "What? What is it?"

"Toronto is overrun. We..." James couldn't go on. The horror of hearing the woman die was still too fresh.

The five Scouts broke out into a babble of questions. A few started to cry in fear. Scout Leader Dan gently shushed them. "I'll get the satellite phone going, and we'll call your folks. Don't worry. Help me up, now."

Their bodies tense at having to move closer to the zombie, two of the Scouts came around and offered their hands. Once standing, Dan gingerly put weight on the foot but hissed and snatched it back up. "I'll need a crutch. Alright, Scouts, time to use your forestry skills. Go look for a stout branch."

When the boys moved away, he sighed deeply. "This is their first big camping outing."

"Hell of a trip," said Viktor and the man gave a half-hearted chuckle.

While the Scout Leader directed the boys in finding materials to make a crutch or walking stick that would hold his weight, Petra dug the walkie talkie out of her backpack.

"Cool, Pet!" said twelve-year-old Robbie Thornton. "That's one of the Chief's police radios, isn't it? I saw it in his car."

She nodded, switched it on and pressed the button at the side. "Chief, this is Petra, do you hear me?"

Static crackled for a moment, then the Chief's voice came back. "Loud and clear, Petra. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, we got the rest of the batteries plugged in at the hardware store. Then we came to check on Anna Thornton and heard screaming in the woods, so we ran to check it out. We found a Scout group. The man hurt his ankle fighting off Mr Carpenter and can't really walk. Mr Carpenter is gone, though."

"May I?" the Scout Leader held out his hand for the radio.

"The man wants to talk to you, Chief."

"I'll get to him. You're in the woods you said. Petra, do you think you and the boys can get the Scouts into town by yourselves?"

Petra looked at the others who nodded.

Anna said, "We can take them out past our place, then it's only a few minutes through the short cut and along the fence to Elm Road."

Nearly every house in town that bordered the forest had a ten-foot-high deer fence in order to keep the animals from consuming the flowers and vegetables grown in the backyards.

"We can do it, Chief. We've got the Thornton's to help us," she responded.

"Excellent. You're good kids. Alright, hand the radio over."

"One last thing, Chief. Have you seen Father Lee? He was really...upset. We're a bit worried about him. Oh, and have you checked on my mom yet?" Petra closed her eyes, bracing for the answer.

Concern was in the Chief's voice at Petra's statement. "I haven't seen Father Lee, but I'll give him a call. As for your mom, I'll get there. I haven't forgotten. I'm out by Prancing Lake right now. I'm going to loop down and come back up MacLaren Road."

"I know you won't, Chief. There are a lot of people to check on. And the farms are way more – are really important. We'll need those goats and llamas for, well, for way more than just food. I'll go check on my mom's road so you don't have to."

Silence beat by. Finally the radio crackled to life, "I say it again, Petra. You are an incredibly intelligent, brave young woman. Call me if you need me. Don't take any risks, okay?"

A smile curled across Petra's face. "You neither, Chief. And you let us know if we can help you. Okay?"

The Chief was chuckling when he replied, "Okay. Hand it over now, Petra."

While Scout Leader Dan spoke with the Chief about the situation, Petra went and knelt by her latest kill and closed his eyes. As she wiped her hand across fallen leaves on the ground, she looked up at her friends. "Father Lee would say something."

Anna hitched up the knees of her khakis and knelt beside Petra, with Viktor following suit. James took a knee on the far side of the body.

"Lord," Anna began. "We didn't mean to hurt Mr Carpenter. He wasn't always nice, but we hope you forgive him and give him a nice place in Heaven. Amen."

"Amen" the others echoed. Marty Thornton cuffed little Timmy when he didn't say it right away.

Retrieving a pair of pliers from her pack, Petra braced her hand on the forehead, gripped the nail and pulled.

"What are you doing?" Dan said, horrified. He leant on the sturdy stick the Scouts had cut from a nearby tree and hobbled over.

"We have to collect all the nails," Petra explained. "There probably aren't any more supply trucks coming in."

The Scout Leader blanched, then his skin quickly went grey then green. He spun and vomited all over the campfire. Stinking steam and smoke rose up causing everyone to cough and wave their hands to clear it.

"Well, at least we won't have to worry about putting that out," Viktor observed.

"Vik!" Petra said disgusted.

He pointed at his head. "Weird and wonderful ways, remember?"

"Sir," Petra shook her head at him and addressed the man who wiping his mouth on a tissue from his pocket.

"I'm Dan Novak. Please, call me Dan, young lady. Petra? I believe that is what the Chief called you. May I call you Petra or do you prefer Miss?"

Embarrassed by the man's deference, a flush worked its way up Petra's neck. Most adults just tolerated the three of them or ignored they were there. "Petra is fine. It's probably best that we pack up your camp and take everything with us. It'll save a trip back out here. Where is your car?"

"My van is parked in Parry Sound. We got dropped off out on MacLaren Road by taxi. What about him?" Dan pointed to the corpse.

"We'll have to come back later for him. I'm sure Mrs Carpenter will want to bury him... if she's not, you know, a zombie too." Petra grimaced.

James stepped up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She pressed her forehead into his shoulder briefly.

Dan clapped his hands. "Alright, Scouts! Let's see how fast we can get this place broken down. We'll contact your parents when we're in town." The boys sprung into action rolling up sleeping bags and collapsing the tents.

"Don't you have a wife you're worried about, Mr?" asked Timmy.

Dan stooped to be on the same level. "The Scouts are my family, young man."

"Don't you have parents?" Timmy swiped his nose with the back of his hand.

"They died a long time ago. It's just me, I'm afraid. Are these your brothers and sisters?" Dan nodded to the others who were helping to roll up the tents.

"Yeah, well, not those three." He pointed at the nearby trio. James cocked a finger and pretended to fire it at Timmy. "I got a mom and dad. But my dad is a real sum'bitch and my mom, well, dad doesn't let her out much. Except when he's passed out, then she takes us mushroom picking. She's real good at it, too. She knows exactly which ones will kill you with one bite!"

Anna raced over, scolding, "Timmy! What have I told you about calling Dad that? I'm so sorry. He's six and doesn't have a filter."

"Well he is!" insisted Timmy.

Pity filled Dan's eyes. "It's alright. He's just telling the world as he knows it."

"My dad..." Anna trailed off. She scuffed the ground with her sneaker as she struggled with what to say. Timmy wriggled out of her grasp and rushed to tie off the end of the tent roll Viktor was holding.

It wasn't hard for James to imagine how the siblings appeared to the outsider with their ratty clothes and skinny-bordering-on-underfed bodies.

Dan smiled warmly. "No need, young lady. Care is another important Scouting value. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know."

Anna gave him a tight smile. "Then please say a prayer that we'll sneak right by our house and you won't have to meet my ol' man."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Please remember to always extinguish your campfires!

Many forest fires can be linked back to campfires that weren't properly put out...although I'd recommend using sand or water to do it 😉

Thank you for reading and please consider voting and sharing with your friends!

WORD COUNT: 2069

NANO WORD COUNT: 20, 736

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 22, 561