Day 8 - Impounded (introduction)

"you're nothing but a goddamn hunk of useless blubber Billy-Ray Simpson, my ma was right I should have married that Jimmy-Lee Roberts, he became a surgeon and drives a caddy!" This last invective was delivered with the cutting venom so typical of Mary-Lou these days, or so thought Bobby-Joe, eldest child of the volatile pair currently arguing in the cramped living space of the trailer the family shared on the edge of Jungville town.  Bobby and his sisters, the devilish twins who had become the terror of their school teachers were sitting in the kitchen nook while the"adults" verbally duked it out.

"Jimmy-Lee, was a goddamn TREE surgeon Mary-Lou and you and your ma are welcome to that durn fool!" Billy-Ray countered trying, but not quite matching the intensity that his feisty wife could bring to the fight.  Billy-Ray towered over the diminutive woman but that had never stopped her calling him out onto the mat and dusting the big man off.  Bobby-Joe snorted at the thought of his ma dressed in them karate pajamas and laying daddy right out on the floor....

"Bobby-Joe Simpson what are you guffawing at boy!" his mom's shriek cut across his daydream, bringing him back to reality. Billy-Ray seeing an opportunity to divert his wife's wrath from him added to Bobby's discomfort "yeah boy, what you laughing at? anything funny about a zombie goddamn apocalypse?"  Bobby-Joe knew this was diversionary too, his pa was having the time of his life in the apocalypse, he loved a good fight and the chance to kick ass and shoot his crossbow at the monsters put a dangerous gleam in his eye that Bobby hadn't seen since Billy-Ray had gone out to the desert to fight for Uncle Sam.  "ain't nothing ma, pa i swear. ain't nothing funny 'bout these dead heads and them swarming all over the place...."

"Damn right there ain't" Mary-Lou added when Bobby-Joe trailed off looking crestfallen at the rebuke.  Seeing that haunted look on her boy's face moved her and she came over to give him a hug that reminded Bobby of the mercurial nature of his mother, the quick anger tempered by the strong love and bond she had for her family.  Bobby-Joe allowed himself to be hugged, feeling safe for a few minutes in the arms of his mom before easing gently away, his strong independent streak exerting itself again.  "What we gonna do ma?" he whispered in a low voice, as low as it was it still filled the room with a tense atmosphere as the family sat and contemplated their options.

"Well I still say we go get the car, fill it with supplies and light out of here for cousin Del's place." stated his pa with a grumpy, sullen tone to his voice.

"And I said that would be fine if you hadn't parked the car in that disabled space while you plink cans in the train yard with the boy last week and had the car goddamned impounded!" Mary-Lou countered.

Bobby-Joe recognised the dangerous tone his mother had adopted to remind Billy-Ray of the disasterous first day of the apocalypse when she had gone searching for her family only to find out that after collecting the girls and running the gauntlet of zombies to the train yard, that the boys had been at the police station arguing with the impound guy, resulting in Billy-Ray getting arrested for punching the traffic cop in the mouth.  Acting quickly he tried to divert the coming storm. "Well let's go get it then" he said, standing up and fetching Thunderbolt - his trusty .22 bolt action from his bunk.  "we can't stay here, those monsters are all over the place and sooner or later we're gonna have to go so let's just go." with that he headed for the door of the trailer, slinging the rifle over his shoulder and turned to face his family.  With a gleam in his eye similar to that in his father's, he flung open the sagging plastic door and gestured to the stunned people staring back at him "shall we?"

Turning he looked out into the yard, smiling to himself when he heard the distinct metallic clacks of multiple firearms being readied.  "lets do it"

love this pic of the family Simpson