Z14 (Zombie Rules) (26 page)

             
Major Sarah Fowkes, who prided herself on her stamina, was tired. Flying a C130 by oneself was no simple matter. She caught herself yawning, and wished desperately for a Redbull, or even a cup of the General’s awful coffee. And then, she saw them. It looked like approximately a hundred of them. They were about eight blocks away and slowly making their way toward her. She grabbed a pair of binoculars, looked them over, and gasped. They seemed to know she was looking at them. It appeared they were actually staring at her with those dark eyes, all the while ambling toward her.

             
She started to get out and run get Fred, when she heard two gunshots. Fred appeared a minute later, paused in the doorway to reload his revolver, and slowly started walking toward her. She also noticed a waft of smoke coming from the breezeway and wondered what was causing it.

             
“Hurry up!” She whispered loudly and pointed at the closing horde. Fred looked up and saw the horde of zombies. He casually walked into the roadway, and then, instead of getting into the Humvee, he unslung his M4. Sarah watched in disbelief.

Fred stopped a few feet away from the Humvee, shouldered the M4, and started firing, rapidly, accurately. He went through all four magazines quickly. Fred knew they were loaded with twenty-eight rounds each, and silently told himself he had killed one hundred and twelve of them, not counting the two he had dispatched in the apartment. When he was out of ammunition, he gently placed the M4 on the asphalt and squared off. There were perhaps thirty left.

They were close now, less than fifty feet. It was time for some quick draw practice.

Sarah watched with incredulity at the speed in which Fred would take turns drawing one of his revolvers, shoot a zombie, and then return it to his holster in the blink of an eye. She looked around anxiously, wondering when, not if, the sound of gunfire was going to attract more zombies and possible hostile humans.

She paused a moment in her own shooting and shouted at him. “Fred! What the hell is wrong with you? Let’s get going!” Fred ignored her. Did he have a death wish? She grabbed Fred’s M4, got in the Humvee and started it. “Fred! Get in damn it! We need to get out of here!” Fred acted as if he didn’t hear her and calmly reloaded.

In exasperation, Sarah jumped back out of the Humvee and began shooting the remaining zombies. When they were all lying in the roadway, some of which were at Fred’s f
eet, Sarah ran over beside him, grabbed his shoulder, and shook him roughly.

“I’m leaving! You better get your ass in my Humvee right fucking now if you don’t want to be left behind!” She shouted. She ran and jumped in. Fred seemed to be broken out of his daze and looked her in the eyes. He knew she was serious. He followed her as she jogged back to the Humvee and got into the passenger side.

Neither of them spoke as Sarah tore down the streets, all attempt at stealth abandoned. Fred sat silently. As they neared the airport, Sarah calmed down enough to talk.

“Listen, we’ll go back, get the other two, and keep searching, but no more gosh-danged John Wayne antics, you got me?”

Fred stared straight ahead. “There’s no need to keep searching. Let’s go back to Tinker.” Sarah hastened a look over at him as she drove. She thought she saw him quickly dab a tear out of the corner of his eye. She stopped the Humvee.

“What happened, Fred?” She asked quietly.

“Let’s just say I found her and leave it at that.” He pointed. “Let’s move out.”

              We gently wrapped Macie in a blanket and put her in the barn until we could prepare a grave. I suggested getting something to eat, but instead of eating, we sat at the kitchen table and brooded in silence. I only had an appetite for water.

             
We sat unmoving for several minutes, and I found myself drumming my fingers incessantly. Andie would glance at us from time to time, but was afraid to break the silence. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore.

             
“I’m going back.” I said. Julie looked at me as if I were speaking in tongues. “I’ve got to know what happened.”

             
“Do you want me to go with you?” Julie asked. I shook my head and pointed at Andie.

             
“She’s going. I have questions I want answered.” I said. Julie looked at me somberly. Her clothing was covered in Macie’s dried blood. It was a depressing sight. When I stood, Julie stood suddenly and hugged me tightly.

             
“Come back to me, my love.” She whispered in my ear and then looked at Andie balefully.

             
The sun was below the horizon when we set out. When it was fully dark, I donned the night vision gear. After a few miles I looked down at Andie. I had her sitting on the floor with a blanket over her.

             
“You can sit up now.” She tentatively pulled the blanket off of her and looked at me for confirmation. When she was satisfied I wasn’t joking, she sat up in the passenger seat.

             
“No. In answer to your unasked question, the answer is no. I don’t trust you and therefore I don’t want you to know where we live.” She bit her lip and nodded in understanding.

             
I parked on the side of the road and we hiked the last half mile to the store. When we got within eyesight, the two of us crouched down beside a wrecked car and I used a pair of binoculars to scan the area. There was a body lying beside the front door, the person Julie had shot, but otherwise it did not appear to be anyone there. Still, I was cautious, it had also appeared unoccupied earlier when those two miscreants were hiding inside. Andie’s jeep was still there as well, unmoved.

             
“Is that Barry lying there?” I asked. Andie used the binoculars and nodded her head.

             
“It was Eli who was inside. I’m pretty sure you shot him. I have no idea if there was anyone else.” She said.

We approached cautiously, ducking between cars
as we made our way closer. With Andie in tow, we worked our way around to the rear of the building, and finally worked our way to the front. Satisfied there was not another ambush awaiting us, we made our way to Barry’s corpse. He had died where he fell of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. There was a spark of pride when I noted the tight grouping of the shots.

             
I picked up his weapon and inspected it. It was a fully automatic military issue M4 assault rifle.

             
“Where did this come from?” I asked.

             
“They found the Murfreesboro Police SWAT van and broke into it. There were a few of those guns in it, along with the two machine guns they mounted on the bus.”

             
I nodded and continued inside with Andie following so close she bumped into me when I stopped suddenly. There was another body lying on the floor in a fetal position. I heard raspy breathing and an occasional whimper. When I was sure there was nobody else in the store, I removed my night vision apparatus and used my flashlight for a better look. I pointed my rifle with my free hand, kicked his rifle away, and rolled him over with my boot. He groaned in agony. It was indeed Eli.

             
“I can’t walk.” He lamented. I looked him over. He had a bullet hole in his jacket about where his belly button would be.

             
“Yeah, looks like my aim was off. The bullet must have gone through your spine. I’m surprised you’re still alive.” He whimpered again.

             
“Search him.” I said to Andie. She went through his jacket and found a small caliber handgun. She looked at it a moment and handed it over to me. I held the flashlight under my armpit and stuck the gun in my jacket pocket.

             
“What the hell were you guys thinking anyway?” I asked in a friendly tone.

             
“Barry wanted some payback. When we got back to the compound, everyone made fun of him getting beaten up by a teenage boy.” He had a coughing fit. I slung my rifle, dropped down on one knee and gave him some water from my canteen. Most of it ran down his face, but he managed to drink a little.

             
“Thanks.” He said. “Are you going to help me?”

             
“We’ll see. Tell me what the plan was.” I said in the same friendly tone. Eli coughed again and I helped him with some more water.

             
“I’m dying for a cigarette, haven’t had one in forever.” He looked at me. “You got one?” I shook my head. Andie pulled out a joint, lit it, and put it in between Eli’s lips. He took a draw and smiled gratefully.

             
“It’s almost as good as a Marlboro.” He puffed on it again and coughed. “I personally didn’t care you kicked Barry’s ass. He was always strutting around like a banty rooster and needed to be taken down a notch.” He looked at me. “We found Andie’s diary. She had written down all kinds of shit about you, including meeting you here.” I glanced at Andie. She looked down at her feet.

             
“Barry asked George how to set up an ambush. He drove us up here last night and told us what to do. We spent the night in here freezing our balls off just so Barry could get even with you.” He smoked some more of the joint and had a coughing fit before continuing. I wondered if George was on his way back to check on his comrades and glanced out of the window.

             
“So, instead of you showing up, it was them two bitches. They thought they were clever with filling that canteen up with piss.” He coughed again.

             
“So you had a taste?” I asked with a sour smile on my face.

             
Eli nodded his head. “Yeah, it made me throw up.” Good, I thought.

             
“Well, when we saw the bitches, we looked at each other and kind of agreed to take them.” He looked at me with sudden worry. “We weren’t going to do anything, just scare ‘em a little bit.” I smiled condescendingly, like I actually believed his bullshit.

             
“I guess you know the rest.” He said and involuntarily groaned in pain. “You didn’t have to shoot me.”

             
I looked at him with loathing. If I had not shot him, had Julie not have shot Barry, there is no telling what they would have done to my girls. I thought of Macie staring at me as she slowly died.

             
Not bothering with a response, I stood and looked around. The store was pretty much the same as the last time I inspected it. Gutted, nothing left but trash. I made a pile of trash next to a wooden counter and lit it on fire.

             
“Hey man, what are you doing?” Eli asked. I ignored him. When the flames were going good I grabbed the weapons and walked out. Andie followed in silence.

             
“Are your keys in the jeep?” I asked. She nodded. “Come on, we’ve been here too long.” The sounds of Eli screaming in agony were echoing in our ears as we drove away.

             
“Do you want me to follow you?” Andie asked when we arrived back at my truck. I took the keys to the jeep and put them under the floor mat.

             
“Nope. You either ride with me with the blanket over you, or get in your jeep and go your merry way.” I said. I looked back toward the direction of the store. There was a faint orange glow which was growing rapidly. The smoke was hanging low in the air.

             
“Make up your mind, I think we’re going to have company soon and I’m not hanging around.” I walked to my truck. Andie hurried after me and hopped in. She sat down in the floor and pulled the blanket over her without being told. I took a roundabout route back home.

              The next morning, we buried Macie beside her child. She would have liked the gesture, and Rick would no doubt enjoy the company of a woman. While we were gone, Julie had cleaned her up. She’d washed out Macie’s hair, brushed it carefully, and applied make up to her pale face. She looked beautiful.

             
The Allen family joined us for the makeshift funeral. Everyone cried. I held up well, all things considered, but I was numb from the neck down. I could not even feel the shovel in my hands as I threw the dirt on top of the coffin.

             
It was a sunless day, overcast and dour.

             
After the burial, we went back to the house and shared lunch. Lashonda made everyone coffee as we sat in the den making small talk. Andie sat off to one side looking awkward and out of place. She was wearing one of Macie’s pullover sweaters. I thought of how Macie’s breasts filled out the sweater nicely, and how it hung loosely on Andie.

             
“Howard.” I said. “Would you be willing to move your family closer to us? There are a couple of good houses nearby. They’re large enough for your family. We can protect each other better.”

             
Howard looked at me somberly. “You think the Captain will try to pull something?” He asked. I nodded.