Read Rabid for Free Online Page B

Carl turned off his flashlight and rested it upright next to the wall.  He laid the machete across his lap, gazing at the blade.
    Taylor said, “Right now I’d prefer them banging on the door rather than tearing up the only working car we’ve seen since getting stranded in this town.  He held Tina’s keys in his hand, sorting through them until he found one with the Ford logo on it.  “You said you’ve got half a tank?”
    “Close to it, I think.”
    “That’s enough to get us where we’re going.  There are a few small towns like this scattered along the way once we hit the Nebraska border.  Some of them have gas stations.  If one of them looks safe, we can stop off and fill up.  That’s if it looks safe.  Otherwise we keep going.  I’m not taking any chances.”
    Carl looked up at him inquisitively.  “Imagine that.  You not taking any chances?  That’s a first.”
    Taylor waved a dismissive hand at his brother and then turned his attention to Tina.  “What he really means is that I’ve learned more than one lesson the hard way.”
    “Do the two of you bicker like this all of the time?” Tina asked.
    “Situations like this bring out the best in us,” Carl said.  “I’m just giving him shit and he knows it.”
    “I read this book not too long ago,” Taylor said.  “It was about survival.  Like who lived and who died in bad situations, but mostly about why certain people were more likely to survive than others.”
    Carl glanced at Tina, cocking his thumb toward his brother.  “He reads a lot.  A real bookworm.”
    “Anyway, a lot of the book spent its time dealing with the ingredients of survival.  How you could take the same situation and the same circumstances, and one man might die while another might come out of it.  Some of the prerequisites were obvious.  You know, staying calm, being a leader, setting goals, stuff like that.  The part that caught my attention was the one that said having a sense of humor can be a tool for survival.”
    “That’s not surprising,” Tina said.  “A lot of people use humor as a coping mechanism.”
    “So,” Carl said, “is this the part where we go around the room taking turns telling knock-knock jokes?”
    Taylor looked at Carl sternly and then continued.  “Say what you want, but you’re doing it right now without knowing it.  We’ve both been doing it since we’ve been stuck in this mess.”
    “Okay.  Maybe.  But what’s your point?”
    Taylor shrugged and stared at the kerosene lamp.  The flickering orange flame performed its own kind of hypnotism, lending a certain degree of peacefulness to the situation.  “Sharing knowledge?  I don’t know.  I’m not sure I was trying to make a point.  Talking to talk I guess.”
    “I think it’s cool,” Tina said.  “I like learning stuff like that.  It seems like I have my nose crammed in school books all the time lately.  It’s nice to hear something different.”
    Taylor smiled at her.
    Carl said, “He’s a closet geek.  You wouldn’t know it because he plays Mr. Cool Guy most of the time, but when you get to know him you find out he’s a big nerd.  He even used to collect comic books.  Go on, tell her about the stuffed animals.”
    “Shut up.”
    “C’mon, tell her.”
    “Stuffed animals?”
    “Fine.  I’ll tell her.  So Taylor had this collection of stuffed animals.  Different kinds of cats.  Leopards, tigers, lions, panthers.  You name it, and he probably had a stuffed animal to go with it.”
    “I was a little kid,” Taylor said.  “What kid doesn’t have stuffed animals when they’re that age?”
    “When he used to go to sleep at night he’d line them up around himself in the bed.  Build a fortress of stuffed animals to keep the monsters out.  He still believes in monsters.”
    “I don’t believe in them,” Taylor said.  “I acknowledge that they could exist.”  He turned to face Tina and smiled uneasily.  “It’s kind of a