Jake's Law: A Zombie Novel (13 page)

“Why are you so
sure Levi won’t just go away?” Reed asked. “Hell, maybe the zombies got him.”

Jake’s answer gave her pause. “He had the look of
a lone wolf killer.”

“He’s
only one man.”

“He found those lowlifes. He’ll find more.
Dirt attracts dirt. The promise of food, booze or women will be enough to rally them. He’s methodical, ruthless, and determined. That makes him dangerous.”

“So what do we do?”
Reed asked. After a moment, he added, “I can rig some security cameras along the road and outside the fence for early warning if they find us.”

“That’s a good idea
. We need to become more proactive in our defense. Life is dangerous. Sooner or later, someone will find us here.”

“Who are you …” Reed paused.
“Oh, the jet. You’re talking about the military.”

“Or the militia.
Either way, their goals might not mesh with ours. I don’t intend to be cooped up in some FEMA camp like breeding cattle.”

Jake’s anger seethed just below his words. What did he know about the FEMA camps that she didn’t? She, Ben, and Liz had discussed finding a FEMA camp, but decided the journey was too dangerous. As it turned out, not going had been even more dangerous. If the army offered
safety, what was Jake’s objection – his innate distrust of authority, or was he just afraid of giving up control?

“You seem pretty certain about the military,” Reed said.
His expression at the mention of the FEMA camps betrayed his disgust.

Jake didn’t answer.

“I think you’re hiding something from us,” Reed continued. “I don’t appreciate it. We’re all in this together.”

“
The military has their own agenda. To them, it’s all in the numbers – the number of dead versus the number they can save. Who can contribute, and who is a drag on resources? To me, it’s more personal. I trust me more than I do them.”

“I think you’re wrong,” Reed responded, but he didn’t elaborate.

Jake’s answer baffled her. If they couldn’t trust the military, who could they trust? Were his own prejudices and resentment of the military clouding his judgment?

As soon as the steaks were ready, she brought them to the table.
The tension between the two men was palpable. As she set a plate in front of Jake, she deliberately brushed her hip against his shoulder. As she hoped, his anger dissipated as he reached out to fondle her waist. She smiled down at him, but she was thinking, “
My life is my own. I’ll decide who to trust and how to live it
.”

11

June 16, 2016       Oro Valley, AZ –

By ones and
twos, Levi slowly found the kind of men he needed. Some had always been cold and cruel – thieves, gang members, ruthless businessmen. Others had become that way after the plague when wits and weapons were all that stood between death and deliverance. All were barely eking out an existence, anxious for more. Levi attracted the desperate to him like a hooker attracts customers, by displaying his wares, what he had to offer them.

With the seeds of his new army in tow, he scoured the city, choosing only those he deemed capable of accepting him as leader, killing the rest and taking their supplies. By week’s end, he had
gathered twenty men and five women who shared his ideas of survival of the fittest. Most would have been at home in the cell next to him in prison. He trusted none of them, but knew they would follow him. Each of them had a basic character flaw that assured this – they sought approval in others they considered superior to them. They each needed and wanted to belong to a group with a leader that made all of the decisions and accepted all of the responsibility. Two years earlier, he would have been one of them, meekly accepting his lot in life. Now, post-apocalypse, he was a changed man – harder, colder, more sure of himself. As long as he produced for them, they would follow him.

He selected a
school in Oro Valley surrounded by a high wall and a gate as a base of operations for scavenging the area for weapons and supplies. To keep them occupied, he often made zombie killing runs for fun and target practice. Choosing three of the hardest and cruelest who showed an innate knack for leadership, either through example or by the simple expediency of pummeling all opposition, he divided the group into three teams.

One of the
se three was a woman. The other women were simply camp followers, a bit of fluff for the men to enjoy. This one was different. She was almost as hard as he was and held within her a barely controlled rage against everyone and everything. The plague had taken her family, but she couldn’t extract her revenge on a parasite. Instead, she was at war with the world. She intrigued him. In the classroom he had commandeered for his quarters, he called her to him.

S
he sauntered in, unafraid, allowing no emotion to show on her face. She stood before him, a few inches shy of six feet, her short-cropped hair dyed jet-black, with a crudely-inked tattoo of a red-tailed hawk on her right forearm. She wore tight jeans that hugged her hips and sculpted her buttocks. She wore no shirt. Her two-button denim vest barely contained her ample breasts. She would have been pretty,except for the livid scar running diagonally along her right temple. That she chose to expose the scar rather than cover it with longer hair spoke volumes to him about her. She was defiant and proud. He forced her to stand before him for several minutes before speaking. She didn’t flinch from his gaze.

“What’s your name?” he finally asked.

“Hawk.”

He smiled.
“Your real name?”

Her lips quavered slightly, and her eyes grew colder and darker, as she
repeated, “Hawk.”

He nodded.
“Okay, Hawk it is.” Her name didn’t really matter. He was sure many people had chosen new identities after the apocalypse. He found it interesting that she had chosen a predator bird for her totem. “What do you want out of life?”

She stared at him for a moment, as if she had never asked herself that question. “Want?”

“Yeah. Are you looking for an honorable death, revenge, a new spring wardrobe? What the hell do you want to do?”

Her face went rigid. “Kill zombies.”

That brought a smile to his face. Her hatred for the creatures matched his own. As long as he provided targets, she would stay with him. “Are you opposed to killing a few people, for survival purposes of course?”

S
he paused before replying. Her rigid stance relaxed slightly, but only slightly. “No.”

Her answer was short and sweet, just the way he had expected her to answer. He lik
ed her more and more. “You’re not bad looking, not that it would matter to these assholes. They’ll fuck anything. They’re going to be all over you. You’ll have to fight them off and sleep with one eye open.”

Her right hand dropped to the hilt of her knife, a
massive Jungle Master with a ten-inch stainless steel blade and rubberized grip. Judging by the nicks in the handle and scratches on the blade, it had seen considerable use.

“There’s an easier way,” he said.

She stared at him for a moment before a tight smile flickered across her lips. “Be the boss’s bitch.”

He stood and walked over to her. He pushed his face to within inches of hers and inhaled her muskiness. She didn’t bat an eyelash. “It won’t be that bad. They’ll leave you alone, and maybe I won’t be such a bastard all the time. Who knows, you might even grow to like me.”

Her face resumed its original hardness. “I’ll fuck you, but I won’t like you.”

He backed away and laughed. “I like you. You’re me with a set of
nice tits.”

“Is that all?” she asked.

“Move your shit in here and let the others know about our arrangement. Tonight … well, we’ll see.”

He could feel the chill of the room dissipate after she left. He would never break her or own her. He didn’t know what lot in life had turned her so cold and bitter, and he didn’t care. She would submit to him for her own reasons, and that was enough for him. However, he would sleep with a knife under his pillow just in case. She would turn on him in a heartbeat if she felt he had passed whatever line she drew between them. He licked his lips. Probing that line would be exquisite.

1
2

June 16, 2016   Split Rock Canyon –

In his secluded little canyon fortress, Jake was pleased to see t
heir living arrangement settle into a daily routine. Disorder was an anathema, and order was an island of stability amid a sea of insanity and chaos. The tension eased between him and Reed, or seemed to. Reed cherished his privacy, keeping to his RV most of the time, taking only dinner with him and Jessica. Sharing this last meal of the day gave them all the opportunity to talk things over and discuss plans for the future, and establish a division of chores. Reed proved less than enthusiastic about feeding the animals. He and animals didn’t seem to see eye to eye. After one of the goats butted him in the ass as he bent over to pour feed into their trough, he refused to go near them. However, his surprising skills as a mechanic soon had the water pump working more efficiently.

Jessica
’s attitude had changed, as if she had reached some kind of a decision. She became a willing pupil, eager to learn all she could about weapons and survival. He showed her how to disassemble the .45 and the rifle, and the proper way to clean and oil the parts. Her sudden change in attitude mystified him, but her enthusiasm pleased him. Soon, she would become a dependable third member of their group instead of someone he would have to watch over. To his surprise, her metamorphosis from frightened caterpillar to bold butterfly took only the best part of a week.

“What changed your mind?” he asked
early one morning, as they gathered vegetables before the heat of the day made the task uncomfortable. The air was still and warm in prelude to the one-hundred-plus degree heat that would come later in the day.

Jessica
still wore his cut off jeans shorts and a too large t-shirt with no bra. The sweat-dampened shirt clung to her breasts like Saran Wrap, hiding nothing from him. He found it difficult to concentrate.

“You did,” she replied.

He didn’t know what he had said or done that had finally gotten through to her, but he was satisfied. “That’s good. For a while, I was afraid for you.”

She smiled. “Not now?”

“Maybe a little, but you’re learning quickly.” A dark thought crossed his mind. “Are you in a hurry to leave?”

Her composure broke just slightly, not enough for him to decide if he had hit upon the answer or if the thought of leaving disturbed her. “No.”

Maybe it was just his ego, but his heart quickened at her answer. Being alone for so long, even at his choosing, had created a distance between him and other people’s problems. Now, a small portion of the human race had entered his small world, and he found that he liked it. He didn’t kid himself by calling it love. He appreciated Reed’s help and certainly enjoyed sex with Jessica, but he knew it could all disappear in a dark instant, leaving him back where he started. He didn’t want Jessica to leave, but he wouldn’t force her to stay. He had known her for less than a week, but the thought of losing her sickened him. He hadn’t invested as much of himself in another person in a long time. He felt exposed and confused by the inrush of feelings to which he had thought himself immune. It wasn’t love, but it was close enough.

“Good,” he replied. “You’re not ready yet.”

She placed a handful of beans in the basket she carried draped from her arm, wiped her forehead with the back of her arm, and said, “I can shoot. You taught me well.”

“You can hit a target, and you can hit a zombie. You know zombies aren’t the only threat out there. Killing a person takes some … I won’t call it courage, but it takes deliberation. It’s not something taken lightly. They might think they have the same right to kill you as you do them. ”

Her face clouded for a moment. Then she replied, “I’ll defend myself if I have to.”

He
believed her. “Good.” He decided to leave it there. There was no use in pushing her further until the need to prove herself arose.

As they were talking, Reed
joined them, perspiring profusely. His bold-print shirt lay sweat-plastered to his body. He looked decidedly uncomfortable in the heat. “I’ve been thinking about our conversation about bigger weapons. They have weapons at the WATTS Army National Guard at Pinal Air Park. Why don’t we get some?”

“
How do you know they didn’t take them with them when they evacuated?”

“They didn’t
,” he said, and then added, “I’m willing to bet on it.”

Jake stared at Reed. Reed’s certainty confused him, but life was a gamble. “It’s worth a shot.”

“When do we go?” Jessica asked.

“Now is as good a time as any,” Jake said
, snipping one last tomato from its vine and placing it in the basket.

* * * *