Z14 (Zombie Rules) (46 page)

“I see.” I said. “Well, personally, I’m glad you’re here. The girls are hard workers, but there is so much to do, we always seem to stay behind.”

“How’s Rowdy?” He asked.

“Oh, he’s enjoyable to be around, but his work ethic is fleeting. Now that he’s chasing after Cindy…” I left the sentence unfinished. Terry chuckled. I drove into the parking lot of Walmart where there were a few cars I’d not siphoned gas out of yet. I showed Terry my siphoning apparatus and we started going at it.

“How do you know which cars to siphon from?”

I pointed toward other cars. “What do you call the fancy lid that closes over the gas cap?” I asked.

Terry frowned and looked. “The fancy gas cap lid?” He replied. I laughed.

“Yeah, I guess. Anyway, take a look at the parking lot. See all of the open lids?” Terry looked and nodded. “Those are the ones I’ve already siphoned gas from.”

“Ah, makes sense.”

The first car we came to seemed to have a full tank. We siphoned half of it out and into the truck. “I’m going to leave the fancy lid closed because there seems to be a half of a tank of gas still in here.” I said as we got back in the truck. Terry nodded in understanding.

“Where to now?” He asked.

“
I believe we’ll stick with the Nolensville Pike corridor today. One day, I want to venture out further. The police department’s evidence warehouse is over in east Nashville. I think we have the numbers with us now to enable us to do so. I’ve not gone very far before because we didn’t have the numbers to be able to defend against a sizeable number of hostiles we may encounter.”

“Nashville has to be a treasure trove of stuff.” Terry said. I agreed.

“What do you think of Andie?” I finally asked. I hoped my question seemed one of boredom rather than inquiring.

“She’s a cute kid.” He frowned momentarily. “I thought she and Rowdy were hooked up.”

“Who, Rowdy? Nah, they’re friends, nothing else. I thought they were going to hook up one day, but now Cindy is here and Rowdy is like a tomcat on the prowl.”

“Oh.” He said. I started to ad
d more, but decided against it.

“
Cindy sure is a looker. So is Kelly.” I nodded silently. I guess he wasn’t interested in Andie. “You know, Rhonda is pretty in her own way too, but she doesn’t talk.”

I nodded. “Yeah, she’s very qui
et. I thought one of those kids belonged to her, but I think they’re all orphans they took in.”

“Ah, so none of them have kids.” Terry opined.

“I don’t think so.”

“What was up with you making Andie read?” He asked me.

“She’s a smart girl, but like Julie and I, she never finished her education. She and Julie are reading all of the books we have. When they finish one, we discuss it.”

“Which one are you reading?” He asked.

“I’ve read them all, I need a few more. If you spot any books, point them out to me.” I drove around two zombies standing in the middle of the road. Terry looked at them.

“You don’t want to shoot them?” He asked.

“No, we need to conserve our ammo. Besides, I’m still convinced they’ll eventually die off. I said it would happen last summer, but there are a lot of them still around.” I was looking at them in my rearview mirror as I spoke and then suddenly came to a stop. Corporal Alexander looked at me and turned in his seat quickly.

“What is it, Zach?” He asked. I continued looking in the mirror for several seconds before answering.

“One of those sons of bitches just squatted down and took a drink from the water puddle.” I said quietly.

“Huh? Are you sure
?” Terry asked.

I turned the truck around, slowly approached them, and
stopped about thirty feet away. They stared at us with those evil looking black eyes for a full minute, and then started ambling toward us.

“Well?” Terry asked
while rubbing his assault rifle. I turned the truck where his window was facing them. He grinned at me as I stuck my fingers in my ears.

I stopped the truck in front of a house on Southlake Drive, and for some unknown reason suddenly realized this house was less than two miles from the National Guard Barracks on Sidco Drive.

“What are we doing, Zach?” Terry asked. I gestured at the house.

“One of my best friends lived here. His name was Felix. You know, over the last eighteen months, I’ve been within a mile of this house more than a few times, and never checked on it.”

“Do you want me to check inside?” Terry asked. “You can wait here.”

I put the truck in park, turned it off and got out. “No, let’s get this over with.”

What was left of his parents were in the master bedroom
, but Felix was nowhere to be found. There was no food in the kitchen and it appeared some of his clothing was gone, but otherwise there was no indicator where he may be. I found a sharpie and wrote a note for him on the door.

“We’ll leave everything on this block, just in case he’s around here somewhere.
”

My next stop, as much as I wanted to avoid it, was the National Guard Barracks. The
steel doors were all locked, with the added insurance of chains and padlocks, but otherwise it seemed bereft of life.

“I’d say everything is intact. I’m sure Captain Steen will be interested in this.” I said. Corporal Alexander agreed.

We worked our way over to Harding Place and picked houses at random. It was high risk work with iffy reward. Most of the houses we searched had nothing more than skeletonized corpses, moldy furniture, dead pets and rotten food. Terry found some civilian clothes for himself and we found a few odds and ends we could use, along with some dog food. I also found a box of condoms and gave them to Terry.

“Thanks b
rother!” He said with a grin. “Do you happen to have some inside information where I may have need of these anytime soon?” He asked. I shrugged noncommittally.

“I know of one in particular who has her eye on you.” I
said. He looked perplexed.

“Are you talking about Andie?” He finally asked. He grinned when I nodded.

Fred woke up to see Sarah looking at him.

“I’m surprised you don’t snore.” She said. Fred sat up, stretched, and gave her a kiss.

“I’m surprised you do.” He responded. Sarah playfully slapped him on the chest.

Fred washed up and dressed. Sarah had apparently been up a good thirty minutes before him, as she had already cleaned up and was dressed in utilities. They opted to eat a couple of packets of MREs, even though they both hated them.

“Today is the day.” Sarah finally said.

“Yes, Major, it is. Have you changed your mind?”

“I have a duty.” She responded
curtly. Fred nodded. They had this discussion many times over the past month. Sometimes, there was yelling. Actually, Sarah was the only one who yelled. Fred would sit across from her silently, which sometimes angered her even more.

“So, you’re going to leave then?” She asked, even though she knew the answer. Fred did not respond. He wiped his mouth and began cleaning up the packaging.

“I suppose I can fly you.” She finally said.

“I think I’d rather drive than risk jumping out of an airplane. Besides, you’re the one who has said more than once how foolish it is to fly a big plane by yourself. Too many things could go wrong, your words, not mine.”
Every soldier left had eventually drifted away over the past couple of months. Sarah and Fred were the only ones left.

“You’re being stubborn.”
Another awkward silence and Fred methodically started packing his belongings.

“I can’t just leave, Fred.” She
finally said.

He stopped a
nd looked at her. “I understand, and I hope you understand why I have to go. There are people who depend on me.”

“I depend on you.” She retorted. Fred looked at her a moment and then resumed packing.

“Well, fuck you then, you fucking hick!” She shouted and stormed out of the small apartment the two of them had been sharing for the past six months.

Fred watched her as she slammed the door. It wasn’t the
ir first argument. She was very passionate in bed and very amicable otherwise, as long as everything went her way. However, at the slightest inkling something was happening beyond, or out of her control, she reacted with anger. Fred’s personality type was actually a good match for her. He never reacted angrily, he waited in silence for her to get it out of her system and then he’d talk. Only then would she listen to him.

She would be content to live the rest of her life being the curator of all of these aircraft
, Fred thought sadly. A caretaker, for machinery that would probably be never used again.

Fred closed the backpack
and hefted it over his shoulder. He closed the door quietly and headed to the parking lot where the trusty VW was waiting for him.

He tossed the backpack
in the backseat and looked everything over for the fourth or fifth time. Several days ago, Fred figured out the fuel problem by crafting racks from some angle iron. He bolted them on each door, which allowed him to mount two five gallon Jerry cans on each side. He looked at the two cases of bottled water sitting in the front seat, along with two cases of MREs. He sure hoped Lashonda would fix him a good meal when he got home. He made one last cursory inspection of his gear and car. Everything seemed good.

Fred fought the urge to look around, perhaps hoping he’d see Sarah running to join him with her own duffle bag. He knew it wasn’t going to happen. On impulse, he took a sharpie and wrote his address on the hood of the nearby car. Satisfied, he got into the VW and started it.

He was going to miss her.

Fred drove nonstop, fighting fatigue with energy drinks, and only stopping to refill the gas tank or answer the call of nature. Once, he swore he saw headlights on the Interstate, going in the opposite direction, before they quickly went out. He wanted to speed up, but there were far too many obstacles to go very fast.

If one were to ask, Fred would have been hard pressed to tell how he made it back to West Memphis without any incidents or e
ncounters. All he could say for certain, the sun was cresting the horizon when he made it to West Memphis.

Fred was close to his truck now, just a few thousand feet away. But he knew he was
too spent to walk across the bridge. His reflexes would be too slow.

He
parked in the same spot where he found the VW so long ago, turned it off, and fell asleep with his head resting against the window.

Fred awoke suddenly when he heard the handle to the car door being pulled on. He grabbed one of his pistols that was lying on his lap and pointed it at the window. A frightened, dirty face greeted him before stumbling back and falling down.

Fred slowly got out with his pistol at the ready. The frightened face was a boy, maybe eleven or twelve. He had a shotgun leaning up against the fender of the VW. Fred
grabbed it and did a quick circle, looking for anyone else.

“Where are your friends, kid?” He asked. The kid shook his head, he was still frightened.
“What were you doing?”

“I thought you were dead.” The kid responded. Fred looked around some more and glanced at the sky. The positio
ning indicated it was noon. He focused back on the kid.

“Are you hungry?”
Fred asked. The kid had risen up on his elbows, but was still lying on the ground. He nodded his head. Fred holstered his weapon, and looked at the shotgun.

“Browning sweet sixteen.
It’s a fine shotgun, but it needs a good cleaning.” Fred unloaded a single shell out of it and leaned the shotgun back against the fender.

“Let’s have a bite
to eat and we can talk.” Fred reached in and pulled out the case of MREs. “These things are not very tasty, in fact, they’re downright awful, but they tell me if you eat everything in the packet you’ll get a full day’s worth of nutrition. Let’s dig in.” Fred used a Case pocket knife to cut open the plastic packets. The boy watched Fred start eating and quickly joined in.

“My name’s Fred. What’s your name kid?”

“Joe.” He said.

Fred held out his hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you Joe.” Joe looked at Fred and tentatively shook his hand.

Joe continued looking at Fred while he ate. “That car was here a while back, and then it was gone. Did you take it?”

“Yes I did, but I’m returning it now. Is it yours?” Fred asked. Joe shook his head.

“Where did you go?” Joe asked.

“Well, Joe, I drove the car to Oklahoma City, and then hitched a ride to Los Angeles.”

“Why?”

“I was trying to find my daughter.” Fred responded.

“Did you find her?” Joe asked.

Fred ate in silence for a moment before answering. “I did. She had turned.” Joe nodded in understanding. They finished their meal in silence. When they were finished, Fred stood and stretched. Joe aped his movements.