Jake's Law: A Zombie Novel (14 page)

The Pinal Air Park was just north of Marana off I-10. By sticking to the back roads most of the way, they avoided areas infested with zombies. While passing through San Manuel, Jake noticed Reed staring at the wisps of smoke still rising from the school he had torched. Luckily, the wind blew from the northwest, taking with it the stench of burnt flesh and decay. He wondered how Reed felt about his act of arson. It was obvious the former schoolteacher had acted out of frustration and anger. Did he now regret burning down the school? If so, he said nothing about it.  

South of Oracle, they
doubled back north along Highway 79, passing a few abandoned vehicles along the way, but spotting few zombies in the sparsely populated area. Cutting west across the desert using dirt roads, they soon reached I-10. Here, they found long lines of cars and trucks choking the Westbound and Eastbound lanes, contributors to the last great traffic snarl before the Interstate was closed. Even the access road was blocked. They weaved through and around cars, shoving a few off the road, stopping long enough to cut a gap through the chain link fence separating the Interstate from the side roads. They crossed over I-10 on the Pinal Air Park exit.    

The Air Park was
long abandoned. Lines of mini sand dunes swept in from the surrounding desert like waves on the beach, burying much of the tarmac beneath layers of sand and a year’s growth of weeds and shrubs. Mounds of dry tumbleweeds piled against the undercarriages of the museum airplanes like kindling for a bonfire. A zombie wearing tattered army fatigues stood near the open front gate like a forgotten sentry. He was barely more than skin and bones. Even in his starved stupor, he sensed fresh meat nearby. As the creature staggered toward the jeep, Jake shot him in the head with the crossbow to avoid attracting more of the creatures with gunfire.

Only two Apache AH-64 helicopters remained at WAATS, the Western Army National Guard Training Site at the
Silverbell Army Heliport. Upon closer inspection, he saw the reason for their abandonment. Both had been cannibalized for parts, including their GE-T700 turboshaft engines and 30mm M230 Chain guns. Jake would have loved to get his hands on one of the chain guns for some real firepower.

They located the armory
quickly enough inside one of the barracks buildings. The steel vault door of the armory was locked. Reed placed his last pipe bomb where the lock met the door jam. He seemed confident the gunpowder explosive could open the door, but Jake had his doubts. The door looked too solid and heavy. He and Jessica took shelter outside while Reed lit the fuse, rushed outside, and squatted against the wall. The explosion shook the ground and rattled the building. Inside, amid a cloud of smoke and dust, the vault door was swinging free.

“It worked!” Reed yelled. He seemed as surprised as Jake at the bomb’s effectiveness.

The vault contained a locked cabinet and a fenced area stacked with crates of ammunition and a rack of weapons. In their haste to evacuate the base, the Guard had left much of their armament behind. Jake felt like a kid in a candy store as he stood in the open doorway. He immediately grabbed two M 4 carbines from the wall.

“These babies fire 5.56 mm NATO rounds
and have excellent range.” He also stuffed two M9 Beretta 9 mms into his belt.

“Where are the explosives?
This is mostly ammunition.” Reed asked in disappointment, as he pulled out crates and read labels. “I thought there would be grenades and Claymore mines.”

“
The Guard doesn’t keep things like that around. We’ll take what we can get,” Jake said.

He
forced open the cabinet with a pry bar he had brought along. Inside, he spotted an AA-12 full-auto twelve-gauge shotgun still in its case. He wondered why the Guard had left the experimental automatic assault shotgun behind but didn’t question his luck. The eight-shell magazine was attached, but to his delight, he found a thirty-two-shell drum magazine in a separate box on the bottom shelf. He held the shotgun in his hands, marveling at the light weight. Now, he could retire his old Versa Max.

He entered the wire cage with Reed and began
ferrying boxes of 7.62 mm ammunition to the door. Reed stopped him.

“What’s that for? There’s nothing here that fires
that caliber.”

Jake smiled. “Oh, I might find a use for it.”

Reed scowled as he realized Jake was keeping another secret from him, but said nothing.

After a few minutes,
Jake stopped and mopped his sweaty brow with his sleeve. “I think we’ve got all we can carry,” he said, staring at the growing pile of weapons.

Reed didn’t look convinced, but
he reluctantly agreed. He dropped a case of smoke grenades he was carrying on the floor. “I guess we really don’t need these.”

As they loaded the jeep, zombies began appearing from a few of the
nearby buildings. He had hoped to get away without firing a shot, but that now seemed unlikely. He broke open a case of 12-gauge shells and began loading the AA-12’s drum magazine. By the time the jeep was loaded, a dozen zombies had noticed them and began lumbering in their direction.

“Let’s go,” he said.

“Do we really want to leave the rest of this ammunition for someone else to find?” Reed asked.

Jake looked at the building and then at the approaching zombies. It would be close. “Okay.” He
grabbed a road flare from the glove box and hopped out of the jeep. “Crank the jeep and be ready to go,” he told Jessica. She slid over to the driver’s side. She looked worried but said nothing.

Jake raced
through the dormitory ripping sheets from the beds. He piled the sheets around cases of ammunition, struck the flare, and dropped it amid the sheets. Within seconds, the sheets began smoldering. As he exited the barracks building, a zombie stood between him and escape. He raised the AA-12 and fired low so he wouldn’t hit Jessica or Reed. The 12-gauge pellets took the zombie’s leg off below the knee. Jake leaped over it as it fell. The jeep was moving as he climbed in.

“Go!” he yelled.

Jessica floored the pedal, heading directly toward a crowd of zombies. Jake glanced back at the armory. Several zombies gathered near the door, drawn by the earlier explosion. The first pops of ammunition exploding was disappointingly small. Before Jake could express his frustration, several larger explosions quickly followed. Smoke and flames spilled out the open door, igniting the zombies. Flaming pyres, they turned toward the sounds of the explosions just as the entire building disintegrated with a flash and a thunderous boom. The zombies disappeared, along with most of the building. The concussion and a wall of heated air and dust rolled along the tarmac and slammed into the jeep. Jessica swerved but kept the jeep upright.

As they
plowed into the crowd of zombies, bits and pieces of wreckage began raining down on them. Jake brushed away a hot piece of metal, noticing absently that it was a spent 5.56 mm round, leaned over the side of the jeep and began firing. The twelve-gauge pellets ripped through the creatures like baby buzz saws, separating heads from shoulders and punching fist-sized holes through chests. He fired as quickly as he could pull the trigger. The zombies paid no heed to the carnage around them in their need to reach the jeep. Jessica hit one head on. It crumpled and rolled beneath the jeep. He quickly dispatched the remaining creatures.

Patting the still warm barrel of the shotgun, he said, “I like this.”

Reed stared at the remains of the armory beneath a large cloud of black smoke. Bullets still shot into the sky like fireworks. He turned to face Jake and said, “We should stop at a Radio Shack so I can round up some cameras and wiring for alarms,” as if he were suggesting a shopping trip to the corner market.

Jake smiled and glanced at Jessica. “You’ll have to talk to our driver.”

“As long as I can pick up some decent clothes,” she replied. “I’m tired of your cast offs.

1
3

June 16, 2016    Oro Valley, Arizona –

The explosion had been loud enough to rattle windows and
awaken Levi from a sound sleep. He rolled a still sleeping Hawk off his arm and padded to the window naked. A billowing black cloud rose above the horizon to the north. The unmistakable popping sound of ammunition exploding brought a smile to his lips. Someone somewhere was having some fun. He had no doubt that it was the trio who had wiped out his previous companions, the cop. Behind him, Hawk stirred. He turned to stare at her. One breast with a thimble-sized nipple protruded from beneath the covers. Their lovemaking had been vigorous, a tug-of-war between two strong-willed people, each bent on dominating the other. Despite her obvious hatred of him, she had seen to his satisfaction before allowing him to minister to her needs. He could tell that she was awake.

“You’re not curious?” he asked.

She rolled over on her side and propped herself up on one elbow. In that position, the scar on her temple made her look like a fierce Amazon warrior. “Should I be?”

He shook his head. “No. It’s enough that I am. I think my
cop friend is consolidating power.”

“You hate
him, don’t you?” She smiled as she spoke, delighting in tormenting him.

“
He tried to kill me, so yes, I’m a little miffed.” He flashed her a tight-lipped grin. “I don’t forgive easily.”

She rolled out of bed,
giving him a quick glimpse of her shaved pubes, pulled up her jeans, and grabbed her shirt from the floor. She slid it over her head and sat on the edge of the bed, as she donned her socks and laced her boots. Levi stiffened when she reached for her pistol and knife. He was naked and unarmed. She noticed his look of concern and smiled.

“Don’t worry. If I decide to kill you, I’ll tell you first.”

She walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Levi relaxed.

“Someday I’ll have to kill that bitch.”

He dressed and went downstairs. The smell of burned bacon filled the kitchen from an untended skillet on the stove. He grabbed the handle, burned his fingers on the hot metal, and grabbed a rag from the counter. He turned off the flame and slid the smoking skillet to the side.

“Which one of you fucks is trying to burn down the house?” he yelled.

One of the women, a mousey young thing who called herself Flicker, rushed in, saw the mess, and cursed. “I was …”

Levi slapped her across the mouth hard enough to draw blood. She staggered against the counter, staring at him in fear. He pointed a forefinger at her. “Don’t ever leave st
uff cooking on the stove while you go do drugs. Do you want to burn us out?”

“I was …” she began.

He raised his hand in the air to strike her again, and she cowered. “I don’t mind the drugs, but when they interfere with business, I put my foot down. If you don’t want to become zombie bait, you’d better straighten your shit up.” He looked at the ruined bacon, noticed there was no coffee brewing, and growled, “Make some coffee, goddamn it! Do something useful.”

He left Flicker
massaging her split lip and walked into the living room. Empty beer cans, plates of half-eaten food, and dirty clothes lay scattered across every surface. Half a dozen men in various states of undress and drunken stupor filled the room with the stench of unwashed bodies and farts. Weapons, some as filthy as their owners, lay discarded on the floor. He could tolerate lousy personal grooming habits, but not a blatant disregard for good weapons.

“Get off you asses and clean those weapons before they blow up in your faces the next time you us
e them.”

People glanced up with dazed expressions, but they began moving
, if slowly, gathering weapons. A secret thrill coursed through his veins that he could motivate such men through fear and intimidation. Almost any one of them could have broken his back in a fair fight, but he had no intention of fighting fair, and they knew it. None had the temperament to be leaders. Each one had already submitted himself to the leadership of others since the end of the world. Levi had simply become the latest in a long line of cruel bosses.

“Did any of you notice the explosions to the north?”

They glanced at one another uncomprehendingly.

“I thought not. Does anyone know what might be burning north of here?”

One raised his hand. “A house?” he said.

At Levi’s scowl, he backed away. “The only thing north of Marana that could blow up like that is the National Guard Armory at the Pinal Air Park. I know because I intended for us to go there yesterday and raid it, but you assholes were too busy partying. Now, someone else has beaten us to it. Now, they have machine guns and explosives, while we have these.” He kicked a .38 Smith and Wesson
pistol lying on the floor into a corner with the toe of his boot.

“I know where we can get some machine guns,” one of the
group said.

Levi stared at him.
He thought the man’s name was Justin or Justice. He wasn’t sure which. “Where?”

“A gun shop
on the south side,” Justin said.

“No, fool, I want something good, not more hunting rifles and pistols.”