Six Days With The Dead Part 8

*Don't know,' Charlie replied, trying to see what had the running person so spooked. And then they heard the distant howls and barks of the pack, as they burst forth from the cover of the trees. *s.h.i.t, Dogs!'

The man, running for his life had already made it half way across the meadow, but the dogs behind him were fast, hunger driving them onwards. Liz could see some of the larger dogs charging forward towards the man as he fled, but also there were smaller shapes fanning out to the left and right leaving trails of broken gra.s.s behind them. Liz had never seen such a well organised pack. The smaller dogs would cut the running figure off if he veered off course, while the larger dogs with more stamina would keep on his heels until exhaustion slowed him down.

*Oh my G.o.d,' Liz said, her hand coming to her mouth in horror, as she watched the scene playing out in the field below, *Run faster, come on, run.' she said to herself, willing the man to find some extra speed. She could not call out though, not only was he too far away to hear but also for fear of alerting the pack to their presence.

But Liz knew he was clearly not going to make it and there was nothing they could do. As the pack running through the gra.s.s closed the gap on the terrified human, she saw a large Alsatian shape launch itself into the air and land on the man's back. The man stumbled to the floor under the dog's weight, and the rest of the pack instantly caught up with the doomed person, now fighting for his life. They could faintly hear his screams drifting up from the fields below, as the pack snapped and tore into the meal they had so cleverly hunted down. When the screaming finally stopped, Liz and Charlie closed the hatch hoping the pack's hunger had been sated for now, they certainly couldn't afford to lose Delilah in an attack so far from home.

They had seen so many people die over the years but this pointless death seemed to affect those in the cart deeply. They had been fighting the Dead for so long now, it had almost become the norm of everyday life, but it was when *nature' herself turned on them that it really hit home just how precarious the existence of the Human race had become. Perhaps their plight was ultimately hopeless after all, and humanity was doomed to become just another tally in the ranks of extinct species. If the time of Man had really run its course, should they just give up this pointless struggle and accept their fate?

The silence, that before had been a comfortable absence of noise between friends, had now changed to a gloomy blanket of depression. At last Charlie broke the melancholy silence that had fallen over them.

*Poor Sod, he didn't stand a chance,' he said, hanging the binoculars back on their hook.

Liz, picking at one of her boot laces, looked up.

*There's nothing we could have done was there?' the rea.s.surance she needed plain in her voice.

*Nothing.' Imran and Charlie said in unison, both of them reaching for her.

Charlie with the touch of a father calming a scared child, and Imran with that of a comforting lover. Looking at both of them in turn, seeing the concern and love on their faces, she knew she would never accept that the future was lost to Humanity. She would fight tooth and nail in this harsh world until the last breath left her body, if not for herself then for them and their love.

*Well come on then, this isn't going to get us to the Donaldson place is it?' she said, waving her hands for Imran to turn around and get Delilah moving again.

Imran was just about to say something when a thud on the side of the cart stopped him. His mouth hanging open he looked at Charlie and Liz. Then another bang sounded on the opposite side. Soon more thuds and sc.r.a.ping sounds were vibrating through the cart, until the noise was a constant rumble. And then came a sound they all instantly knew, the dry moaning of the Dead. Looking through the spy holes on both sides Charlie could see they were surrounded.

*They must have spotted us when we were watching the field,' he whispered *We can deal with them, yes?' The other two nodded their reply.

They had been dealing with situations like this for what seemed like forever, this was just another day's work in their world of the Dead.

*Right, let's see if we can get a little s.p.a.ce between us, and them, before we put them down,' Imran said, giving the reins a harsh flick.

Delilah knowing her usual slow pace wasn't called for, began to move forward with speed. The Dead may not have been interested in her but she didn't like them pawing and b.u.mping into her as they reached for the cart, so the command to move forward was well received. Those inside could hear the Dead hands desperately trying to find something to grasp onto, as the live flesh they had seen pulled away from them. The cart suddenly rose in the air a fraction, and then with a sickening crunch came back down again. A few of the Dead had obviously fallen under the carts wheels, their flesh torn, and bones smashed. Once Delilah had pulled them about thirty meters along the road, Liz and Charlie checked through the spy holes.

*Clear this side,' Liz said.

*Clear.' Charlie echoed.

*Now it's my turn,' Imran said, as he quickly moved from the front of the cart and flipped open the top hatch.

Liz repositioned herself to look through one of the spy holes in the back wall. Down the road they had left a group of ten Dead men and women in various states of decay, each shambling towards them with arms outstretched and hunger in their eyes. Two of the Dead had been pulled under the cart when they had moved, one of which now pulled itself along by its hands after having one of its legs completely ripped off. The other was a woman trying to push herself up off of the cracked tarmac. Her rib cage had been crushed and black rotting organs spilled down her front and onto the ground. Slipping on her own internal fluids, the woman fell back to floor, all the while never taking her eyes from the cart she somehow knew contained everything she desired. The other eight Dead, three men, four women and one that was so badly burnt it was impossible to tell, all continued putting one shuffling foot after another. Liz heard the soft creak of Imran's bow as he prepared to fire. As the bow string sprung back to its normal position with a tw.a.n.g, Liz saw an arrow appear in the skull of one of the Dead women. Before this woman had even fallen to the floor, Imran had taken aim on another of the Dead. This time it was the walking corpse of a young policeman. His black skin had turned sickly ashen grey and what was left of his uniform was covered in remnants of rotting gore. He took one more shambling step forward before an arrow appeared in his temple, ending his unnatural existence. One by one the Dead figures fell, each by one of Imran's arrows. The creature that had been badly burnt, was one of the last to fall. Now only ten metres away, Imran took aim. With his usual accuracy the arrow flew and penetrated its skull with such force the tip protruded out the back. Collapsing, it fell in front of the last Dead woman that could walk, tripping her up. This dead woman, her face a ma.s.s of squirming maggots, looked up at Imran. Opening her mouth of broken blackened teeth to moan, Imran could see the maggots were also feasting on her tongue and the inside of cheeks. As the woman's now lifeless head fell back with an arrow in her forehead, maggots were scattered across the body strewn road.

This only left the two they had run over.

*I'll get the last two Imran,' Liz said, as she jumped down through the back hatch.

It wasn't until her feet touched the road surface that she began to withdraw her blade. But before her blade was fully free a hand snapped out from under the cart, attaching itself to her leg. Losing her balance she fell forward, dragging the Dead man from under the cart with her. They had obviously run over three of the Dead not just the two she had seen. As she fell to the road her sword slipped from her grasp and skittered away from her, just out of reach. Rolling over on her back and kicking hard with her free foot, she caught the Dead man directly in the face. What was left of his nose split and dark putrid liquid smeared across his face. The smell was appalling and made her gag but she carried on kicking, desperate to be free of its hold. Scrabbling backwards on her elbows, she pulled the corpse further out from beneath the cart. Glancing up at the open hatch she saw Charlie, one of his ice picks in his hand. The corpse was now pulling itself up her boot and would soon be within reach of accessible living flesh. Luckily he would not be given this chance, as the ice pick swung down and punctured the top of his skull.

*f.u.c.k!' Liz said, kicking the still body off her leg, *Thanks.'

Charlie jumped down from the cart and gave her his hand to pull her up. Once she was upright again they each retrieved their weapons. Liz's from the road, and Charlie from the skull of the man. Wiping some of the gore off his ice pick onto the Dead man's jacket, Charlie looked at the two remaining Dead in the road.

*Right, let's finish this,' he said, as he began walking over to the woman still slipping each time she tried to right herself.

With a hefty swing of his boot, Charlie kicked the woman under her chin, snapping her head back violently. The woman, who was now lying on her back, hardly had time to look up at Charlie before his ice pick struck home again and she was gone. Liz had walked over to the one legged man, testing her shoulder where she had landed on it. With no foreplay or niceties her blade sliced through the air and with a crack her blade punctured the skull and the diabolical brain inside. Now that the danger had pa.s.sed, she turned and watched Charlie place his boot on the face of the burnt creature. With a firm yank he pulled Imran's arrow free and placed it with the others he had collected. Liz then bent down to the fallen policeman to reclaim the arrow, when she noticed he was still wearing his utility belt.

*Hey Charlie, anything on here we could use?' She said, tapping the belt with her foot.

Coming over he examined the contents.

*Well, his extendable baton is gone and handcuffs with no keys aren't much good really,' he said putting aside the handcuffs. Opening a small snap fastened pocket on the belt he smiled. *But this may be useful though,' he said, pulling free a small canister. With a quick shake to see if it was full, he tossed it to Liz, *Here you can have it, it's pepper spray.'

*Just what a girl always wanted,' she said, catching the small can.

Unb.u.t.toning one of the pockets on her combat style trousers, Liz stored the canister to look at later.

*That was quite a large group of the Dead for such a remote country lane,' Charlie said, scratching his stubble on his chin with the back of his hand *I hope this doesn't mean the Donaldsons have been slack in clearing the Dead out of the woods, otherwise I'm in two minds as to whether to go at all.'

*Yeah, but you can't just go right past without warning them about the raiders. It doesn't matter how weird they are, they don't deserve to die,' Liz said, though she could tell from Imran's posture that he agreed with Charlie, *You're meant to agree with me' she continued, giving Imran a quick poke in the ribs.

*What? I never said a word,' he replied, squirming away from her *and I am allowed an opinion you know' Looking over his shoulder he carried on, *I say we leave the in-breeders to themselves. G.o.d, I pity the raider that tries to pick a fight with that lot, they're all completely nuts.'

*That's not the point and you know it,' Liz said *There are children living there, and no matter how the adults have decided to live, you can't d.a.m.n the kids at the same time.'

*Look, we'll see how the land lies when we get to the forest,' Charlie b.u.t.ted in, to stop Liz and Imran bickering, *and if it's bad, then we just move straight on to picking up the O'Brien's.'

*Fine.' Imran said, irritated.

He loved Liz with all his heart but, she was so stubborn sometimes it made him want to shout.

*What Liz said is right, those kids have just been caught up in the world their parents have chosen for themselves, I'm willing to bet they've had no say in the matter,' Charlie said, after a few minutes of thinking, *though I think that at some point we're going to have to do something about the Donaldson adults. What? I don't know, and I'm sure the kids will fight as hard as their parents to hold onto their way of life, but it'll be better for them in the long run to be away from there.'

Realising there was no point discussing it any further until they were actually at the forest that grew around the Donaldson home, the three of them fell silent again.

The overgrown fields either side of them soon gave way to a light woodland, as over the next hour, Delilah pulled them through the small winding lanes. The trees here were still relatively young, with high gra.s.ses and brambles growing at their bases. Liz could see small breaks and pathways trampled through the gra.s.ses and hoped they were animal runs rather than signs that the Dead roamed freely through the woods. As the forest turned denser and older, the dappling sunlight that reached the forest floor became weaker. The large branches above them, competing for canopy s.p.a.ce, were full of life. Songbirds flitted through the tree tops catching insects, while squirrels chased and barked at each other, defending territory. Here lush ferns and large spongy mosses carpeted the forest floor, soaking up any light filtering down. The lane soon became narrower, brambles and nettles spilling out from the wood, in some places they brushed the sides of the cart as they past.

*Let's hope nothing's blocking the lane up ahead,' Charlie said, looking through the front slit. *It's a long way to lead Delilah backwards before we get to a turning'

Then quite suddenly, and with an explosion of leaves, a small speckled deer leapt through the ferns on one side, landing just in front of them. For a split second the fragile creature froze, looking at the strange visitor that had appeared in her home and then bounded off through the undergrowth on the other side. She disappeared into the forest as quickly and silently as she had arrived.

*That looks promising,' Liz said, happy to see the small doe, *Surely that means there's not that many of the Dead about.'

*Not necessarily,' Charlie replied *deer are small and quick, not the easiest thing to catch with just your hands, even harder if they're Dead hands. And as they've never been used to dealing with people, like the cattle were, they're not just going to stand there and wait to be eaten'

*Ever the optimist,' Liz said under her breath with a smile.

Within half an hour of travelling through the shadowy lane, they saw a break on one side in the tree lined verge. Attached to a wide rusting gate was a creeper covered old sign post. Its paint was peeling and worn but they could just about make out the words *Silver Valley Lake'. Just beyond the gate, a gravel path led a little way before being swallowed up by the ferns and small saplings. They would have to use the areas with less dense coverage as a guide to the route the path had originally taken.

*Right this is it,' Charlie said *Imran, you're with me. Oh, and your bow won't be much good here so take a club or something.'

Imran reached for a heavy looking section of pipe hanging on the wall *Hmm, not much finesse but I guess it'll do the job,' he said, testing the weight in his hand.

Liz flipped open the top hatch and gave the area a scan. With the trees on both sides she could only see for a few metres before her sight was blocked.

*Well, it looks clear, but then the Dead could be right behind every tree, so that's not saying much.' Liz said, popping her head back down to look at Charlie and Imran.

*Great,' Imran said, with a sigh, *come on big man, lead the way.'

Charlie tutted before jumping down from the cart to look around. Out of the confines of the cart, the air was cool in the tree shaded lane. Golden shafts of sunlight broke through the canopy high above them, lighting small pockets of the dark wood. Insect and flying beetles, their iridescent bodies reflecting in the sunbeams, filled the air with life. A blackbird flew down from a nearby Chestnut tree to land on the gate post, his song a musical alarm showing his annoyance at their intrusion. Flitting off as Charlie walked over to the rusty gate, he continued to call from the safety of a high perch. Charlie, standing by the closed gate noticed a plank of wood lying on the floor. Kicking it over with his boot, he realised it was actually a second sign that at some point had fallen off the gate.

*Friendly bunch the Donaldsons,' he said, reading the sign that had the words, *Visitors not welcome- You Were Warned' painted in badly formed letters.

*This just gets better and better,' Imran said, swinging one leg over the gate.

*Just be careful,' Liz said, worried that somewhere in the forest, Dead teeth ached to rip into their living flesh.

With a serious look on his face, Imran's eyes bore into her. He did not need to say the words, she knew he loved her and would do everything he could to get back to her safely. Jumping down onto the small gravel section that remained of the side road, Charlie removed one of his ice picks, readying himself for the tense walk before them. Within a few steps, the gravel gave way to gra.s.s, and then sooner than he had expected, to the ferns and large mounds of spongy moss that carpeted the rest of this wild forest. With a glance over his shoulder at the lone figure of Liz standing by the cart with her sword unsheathed, Charlie and Imran stepped forward into the shadows.

As Liz watched the two men she loved most in the world disappear into the forest, she wished them luck and cursed the strange Donaldson family for choosing such an inaccessible home. It was one thing to do what you could to keep out the Dead but to totally shut yourself off from the living too was just bizarre. Not for the first time she thought of the children the Donaldsons had there, and was determined they should do something about the situation sooner rather than later. When they returned to the Lanherne Convent she would ask for a community meeting to discuss the Donaldson problem.

Liz, standing with her back to the cart, stretched. Her legs were stiff from sitting all morning and her shoulder still ached a little from her fall earlier, so she was glad to be out of the cart again. The cool breeze whispering through the canopy covered lane was certainly a pleasant change to the stuffy cart interior. Pouring some of their water into a small bucket, she went to give Delilah a drink. Liz stroked the soft velvety muzzle while Delilah quenched her thirst.

*There you go, you needed that didn't you girl,' Liz whispered, patting Delilah's forehead.

Once Delilah had finished, Liz pulled out a few of the burrs that had attached themselves to her main and then went to sit in the open hatch to wait for Charlie and Imran to return. With her legs swinging out of the hatchway, her sword in her lap and her head resting on the frame, she watched the patch of forest beyond the gate where the men had entered. Slowly closing her eyes she let her ears become accustomed to the sounds of the forest. Listening without seeing sometimes helped you concentrate on your surroundings, Charlie had said once. When she was still young, Charlie had even taught her how to locate someone in the dark when all she could focus on was their steady breathing. So with her eyes closed she let the sounds around her be the only things to fill her senses. She could hear Delilah's slow heavy breathing, the swish of her tail as she flicked away un-wanted flies and the slight movement of her hooves on the lane's surface. From the forest she heard the squirrels scampering, jumping from limb to limb, while the angry blackbird had now changed its song and was singing to its mate somewhere to the left. Insects of various sorts buzzed through the cool forest air, and she could even hear the distant soft sound of running water from somewhere. She sat like this for ten minutes listening to the life and Nature all about her, all carrying on regardless of the fate that had befallen Man. Most importantly though, there were no sounds from the desperately moaning Dead.

And then with a shrill call the blackbird was back on alarm. Liz's eyes flicked open to scan the trees before her for movement. Sure enough stumbling between the trees to the left of the gate was a Dead woman. Dressed in what appeared to be a blood stained and rotting vest and shorts the woman had a large section of her neck missing, torn out and eaten by her attacker, no doubt. Liz watched as the Dead woman kept losing her footing on the uneven mossy floor, falling down, only to slowly pull herself back up again. Even from where she sat, Liz could see the decaying skin on the woman's hands and arms was ripping on the bark each time she pulled herself upright, while beetles scurried about on her grey mouldy flesh. She had not yet noticed Liz sitting in the cart and she was in two minds as to whether to just let her go by. But realising Charlie and Imran would only have to deal with her on their way back she thought it best she got rid of her now.

*Hey, over here,' she called to walking corpse.

Slowly the dead woman, with one rotting hand resting on a tree turned to look at Liz. When she saw Liz's living flesh only a short distance away, she instinctively reached for her with her free arm. It was pitiful to watch the Dead woman release her hold on the tree and continue stumbling towards Liz. Just when Liz thought the woman had regained her balance, she would fall again, tripping on something unseen in the undergrowth.

*Oh, for G.o.d's sake, I haven't got all day,' Liz said, jumping down from the cart and walking over to where the Dead woman was once again pulling herself slowly upright.

It wasn't until Liz was closer that she realised the reason the woman was so unsteady on her feet, was that one of them was missing. The blackened and shattered stump ended just above the ankle of her right leg. Fragments of bone protruded from the torn flesh, as insect larvae burrowed happily through the rotting skin. With the woman only an arm's reach away now, Liz held her blade high ready to strike. The Dead woman moaning in desperation and hunger, launched herself away from the tree towards Liz. Dead hands suddenly fell to the floor as Liz's blade swung through the air severing flesh and bone. The woman finding Liz now out of reach, lost what little balance she had and fell face down to the floor. Turning her head so she could look up at the flesh she desired so much, the Dead woman was unaware that the blade plunging down towards her would sate that need eternally. Once it was done, Liz pulled her blade free of the woman's rotting brain and turned to go back to the cart. But she stopped mid-turn, shocked. Standing behind her was a thin middle-aged man. He was dressed in dirty jeans, a stained T-shirt and Liz could see there were lice moving in his beard and hair. The fact that he had crept up on her while she was dispatching the Dead woman wasn't what alarmed her, no, it was the bat swinging towards her head with speed that shocked her. In the split second before the bat connected with her skull, she noticed the smug smile on his face. Then as a flash of light and pain shot across her vision, her head was knocked sideways. Her blade fell from her hand and skidded across the lane, as her hand instinctively came up to the side of her head. Swaying on her feet, Liz pulled her hand slowly away from her head. She just managed to register that it was now wet with blood, before darkness swept her away into unconsciousness and she fell to the ground alongside the dispatched Dead woman.

As the tree line closed behind them, Charlie and Imran soon got used to following the path that nature had begun to reclaim. Like many things, once they knew what they were looking for, it was easy to see. Using the largest gap between the trees as an indicator to the original path's route, they walked slowly deeper into the wood. With every snap of a twig or rustle in the undergrowth, Charlie and Imran would pause, listen, and scan the area for danger.

*Well, it doesn't look as if the Donaldson's have been slack with their clean-up duties after all,' Charlie whispered, after reacting once again to a false alarm, *Now let's just hope they're in the mood for guests.'

After about twenty minutes of their stop- start motion along the over grown path, Charlie and Imran came to a high wooden gate. Lichen and moss bloomed over the roughly nailed together surface, making Charlie think this entrance was rarely used. Running from the gate in both directions ran a six foot high wall of crawling ivy. Imran went over to the wall and brushed some of the ivy aside.

*Clever,' he said.

It was clear that many years ago the Donaldsons had built a wall of interwoven branches, forming a screen that Imran a.s.sumed ran the whole perimeter of the lake they had created. Over time the woven screen had been used by the creeping ivy, so that it now resembled a solid wall of green leaves blocking off any sign of their island home. The Dead, not being able to see the island or any of the activity inside, would have no reason to push through the relatively fragile obstacle. Pushing aside a little more of the ivy, Imran made a small gap though which he could just about see what lay beyond. With his eye peering through the woven branches, Imran could see that the woodland ended abruptly a few metres from the screen. A thick carpet of high reeds and water gra.s.ses then led down to the dark lapping water of the large lake. Sitting in the middle of the lake, some forty metres from the sh.o.r.e was the island the Donaldson family had made their home. Looking like a metal fortress rising up from the water, the Donaldsons had surrounded the island sh.o.r.e of their home with tall sheets of rusting corrugated iron.

*Well at least it looks like someone's home,' Imran said, noticing a thin wispy trail of smoke rising in to the air from behind the iron wall, *So, how do we let them know we're here?'

*Hmm.. not sure,' Charlie said, *Last time someone was already here but from the looks of it they don't use this gate very often, so perhaps there's another way in?'

Imran had another look through the gap in the wall of ivy hoping to see some human activity. It wasn't until his eyes searched the sh.o.r.e line for another way in, that he noticed on the far side of the lake was a small row boat. Using the same principle as their covered cart, the boat had a wicker cover over it, making it look more like an upside-down floating basket. When a pair of thin looking arms began pulling a net up out of the water, he realised the boat had a pa.s.senger.

*Hey, there's a small boat on the lake, and someone's in it,' Imran whispered to Charlie. *Don't know how we'll get their attention though.'

*You don't need to be getting their attention a.r.s.ehole, now f.u.c.k off!' A gruff male voice said in a harsh tone from behind the ivy wall.

Imran and Charlie exchanged a surprised look. They had been caught completely off guard. This person had managed to sneak up on them without making a sound.

*I must be slipping.' Charlie thought to himself.

*h.e.l.lo, is someone there?' Charlie asked quietly, *It's Sergeant Charlie Philips, I'm from the Lanherne Convent. Is that Mr Donaldson?'

*One of them. Now, f.u.c.k off! We've got no food to spare and don't want your company,' the voice interrupted before Charlie could continue.

*How did you know we were here?' Imran asked the disembodied voice, equally surprised that the man had caught them unawares.

*We've been watching you lumber through the wood like a herd of elephants since the three of you got to the main gate,' the Donaldson voice replied. *Didn't you see the sign? or are you f.u.c.king blind as well as stupid.'

Charlie had had enough of this. He was just going to give them their warning and leave them to it.

*Look, as unpleasant as you lot are, I thought you should know there's some psycho raiders in the area wiping out other outposts,' Charlie said, realising this had been a total waste of time, *We were trying to warn you.'

*Well now you've told us, p.i.s.s off back to your Nuns.' the voice replied and with barely a rustle of leaves they could tell the Donaldson man had gone.

That was all the interaction they were going to get with the strange family and Imran was glad of it.

*Ungrateful b.a.s.t.a.r.d,' Imran grumbled *come on let's get back to Liz. What a waste of time this has been'

Turning, Charlie and Imran began the walk back to the main gate through the forest, wondering if they were still being watched by an unseen member of the Donaldson family. It wasn't until they had been walking for ten minutes when Charlie stopped, a look of shocked realisation on his face.

*s.h.i.t! Run!' He said, pulling Imran forward.

*What?' Imran asked confused, as they began to run. Any care they had taken to be quiet now abandoned.

*He said he saw the three of us at the gate. They know we left Liz on her own,' he replied, leaping over a small fallen tree.

With those words, Imran put on a burst of speed and over took Charlie. Horrific images of Liz, flitted through his mind, and he prayed none of them would come to pa.s.s.

As Liz drifted back to consciousness she could feel a strange tugging at her waist. Cotton wool filled her brain and her fingers tingled, but she knew she was alive for now and that was the main thing. She gently opened her eyes, the green leaves of the tree canopy high above her blurred in and out of focus. Trying to lift up her head a fraction, an explosion of pain almost made her black out again, dark shadows swimming at the sides of vision. To calm herself she slowed her breathing and without moving her head glanced down her chest. The man who had hit her was pulling at her belt, trying to undo her trousers. It didn't take a genius to guess what he had in mind for her. Without alerting him to her now being awake she tried to move her arms slightly, but he had tied them tightly behind her. In fact the cord around her wrists dug deeply into her skin restricting the blood flow to her hands.

*At least that explains the numbness spreading up my fingers,' she thought to herself.

Glancing to her left she could just make out the handle of her sword, too far out of reach even if she could move her hands. It was a sad fact but in this new world there were worse things than being raped. As long as she could stay conscious, Liz wouldn't give up without a fight. The man, who she guessed was one of the Donaldson brothers, was fumbling with her belt buckle, his excitement affecting his dexterity.