Z14 (Zombie Rules) (52 page)

“If you want to fuck him, you’re going to have to go get permission from Julie, you dumbass.” She said. “Go get in the truck.”

Andie was three inches shorter, and probably twenty pounds lighter than Kelly. Nevertheless, Kelly was quite intimidated by her. Without a word, she walked back to the truck. Andie took her place and interlaced her arms through my right arm. She was wearing her tactical vest, so I didn’t feel any breasts this time.

“So, what are we doing here, big guy?” She asked.

“I’m just enjoying the view, Miss Andrea.” I said. “Why didn’t anyone shoot that asshole?” I asked.

“Hell, Zach. You
and Fred were moving so quick, nobody had a good shot.” She pressed her head against my shoulder. “Who would have thought that old man could move so fast.”

“Really?
You’ve seen him with those pistols, right? He’s like a rattlesnake, don’t underestimate that man.”

“I certainly don’t underestimate you.” She said.

“It looks like you and Terry are doing pretty good.” I commented, changing the subject.

“You don’t mind that I’m sleeping with him?” She asked.

“I want you to be happy. If Terry makes you happy, I’m happy for you.” I reached out and put my arm around her shoulders. “I want my little sis’ to be happy.”

“Are you happy, Zach?” Andie asked. It was a long minute before I answered.
These days, whenever I felt threatened, I went into a cold rage. It didn’t seem normal.

“I don’t know.”
I finally said.

             
When we got home, Fred and I sorted out and inventoried our loot. Everyone had the compulsion to pick stuff up and play with it. It was very irritating and I wasn’t in a pleasant mood anyway.

Rhonda, Wanda, and the three littl
e girls drove up. Rowdy was standing with us by the truck, so they pointedly ignored us and went inside, hopefully to help Julie cook. I found myself on the edge of snapping at a few people, so I went into our bedroom, stripped, and took a cold shower. Changing into some clean clothes, I waited in the bedroom and massaged my temples until I felt like I was civilized enough to rejoin everyone.

There were so many of us, some sat in the kitchen, others sat in the den. For some reason, we never used the dining room.

              Even though we had scored a major haul of loot, the conversation was hushed. I didn’t feel like talking, Fred didn’t talk much anyway, and Rowdy was worried about saying the wrong thing. I finally broke the silence.

             
“All of you did great today.” I said, without any real emotion.

             
“Yes, you did.” Fred added. “It was unfortunate about those cops, if they were really cops.”

“Fuck those assholes.” Kelly said.

“Kelly!” Wanda chided.

Fred
looked over at Wanda. “We found some good stuff. I believe we can now get you ladies properly armed, right Mac?”

             
“Hell yeah!” Mac responded.

             
“I hope you ladies are up for some firearms training.” Fred said.

             
“We’ll do whatever you say, Fred.” Mac said, with a little bit of eagerness in her voice. Julie grinned at Fred. He responded with an arched eyebrow.

             
It started the conversation. Everyone was now talking about all of the riches we found, and I ate my meal in silence. Julie looked at me occasionally, but I didn’t respond.

             
Afterward, I shooed everyone out of the kitchen and cleaned it up by myself. Eventually, Mac took the women and girls back to the radio station, Bo went home, and Fred retired to the sleeper of the Volvo. I finished up and walked out onto the back patio. Andie and Terry were smoking a joint, while Julie and Kelly were still talking about the day’s events. When I walked outside, they stopped talking, which told me they were talking about the fight. Joe was sitting there quietly.

             
“Where’s Rowdy?” I asked.

             
“He’s in the bus.” I walked over and knocked on the door before opening it and going inside. Rowdy was in complete darkness, I could barely see him propped up in his bed.

             
“Howdy Hoss, you come here for a drink?” He asked.

             
“What are you drinking?”

             
“This evening, I am enjoying a delicious and slightly expensive brand of Vodka. Svedka, I believe is the name of it.” He reached up, turned on a small reading light, and looked at the label. “Yep, Svedka.” He held it out. I stepped closer and reached for it. Taking a small swallow, I handed it back to him.

             
“When are you going to stop beating yourself up?” I asked.

             
“When are you?” He responded, and took another drink.

             
“Touché.” I grabbed the bottle and took another small swallow.

             
“It was an unfortunate situation today. I would have taken care of that dude but I didn’t ever get a clear shot.”

             
“Was I justified Rowdy?” I asked.

             
“You did what you had to do.” He answered.

             
“I’ve had a couple of people try to kill me. They came pretty close. I guess I overreact now whenever I feel threatened.”

             
“Perfectly understandable, I suppose.” He said and handed me the bottle. We sat in silence a moment before Rowdy spoke.

             
“It looks like Andie and that soldier are hooked up now.” He said, changing the subject. I nodded.

“His name is Terry
, Terry Alexander.” I said.

“Well good for her, I reckon. I guess I should have stuck with her rather than chase after Cindy.
Andie kept me straight.”

             
“You weren’t romantically attracted to Andie.” I said. Rowdy scoffed.

             
“Does something like that really matter?” He asked. I shrugged and took the bottle from him before he drank again.

             
“I’m going to bed. Before I do, I want to leave you with a thought. We need you Rowdy. You’re a part of our family.” I took one last, very small swallow, handed it back to him, and walked out. I heard him sobbing as I shut the door.

             
Everyone got quiet again as I walked up to the porch. “I’m going to bed, goodnight everyone.” I said. Julie followed me inside. We stripped to our underwear, got in bed, and snuggled up together.

             
“I’ve been looking forward to this all day.” She said.

             
“Me too. It started out as a good day, but kind of went sour.”

             
“Yeah, they told me about it. I hope you’re not feeling guilty.” She said. I shrugged beside her. In fact, I
was
feeling guilty. It seemed like yet another needless death. I didn’t want to talk about it, so I changed the subject and told her about Kelly.

             
“Andie has become quite protective.” She said.

             
“Yeah, she cares about both of us. She still thinks you don’t like her.”

             
“Oh, she’s okay I guess. I’m still getting used to her. Now, about Kelly, are you going to have a weak moment and do her?” Julie asked after a long moment of silence.

             
“With the exception of kissing Andie, the only weak moments I’ve had in the past year and a half have all involved you. You seem to have a spell on me.” I replied. Julie snuggled closer to me.

             
“Good.” She said smugly.

             
We got Fred’s new home built in a little over a month. The most time consuming part was driving around finding building materials, but we got it accomplished. Putting up a brick veneer over the plain concrete blocks, which Julie insisted on, took an extra week. The finished product was roughly a thousand square feet of the main living space, and a thousand square foot basement. The roof was metal, effectively making it almost impossible to set on fire.

             
Fred was pleased. At least, I caught a slight tic under his right eye, which was a very telling clue.

             
“I’ve got an idea, and am surprised I didn’t think of it sooner.” I said. Fred looked at me. “We should put some gutters on the eaves, and then fabricate them so they drain into barrels. We can collect rainwater.” Fred nodded.

             
“We still have plenty of daylight.” Terry said. “Why don’t we run into town and see what we can find?” Fred and I agreed. I raised Julie on the radio, told her what we had in mind, and we took off.

There was a Home Depot on Bell Road near I-24. We had only been there once, and
although there had been a lot of looting, it was not totally empty. We drove up to one of the broken out front doors and gave a short toot on the horn. Only one came staggering out. He was so rotten he could barely walk. I used the twenty-two pistol on him.

             
We got out of the truck and stretched while looking around. “Hey.” Terry said. He pointed down to the far end of the parking lot, over by an Italian restaurant I could never afford to eat in. There was another pair of zombies in the parking lot, slowly making its way toward us, or maybe just walking aimlessly.

             
“Hey Fred, do you think you can shoot them from here with your pistols?” I asked. Terry cocked an eyebrow.

             
“They’re what, a hundred yards away? There is no earthly way you can shoot them on a fast draw from this far away.” Terry said with a chortle.

             
I looked at Fred and grinned. “The gauntlet has been thrown.” I teased.

             
Fred grunted, walked away from the truck a few feet, and squared off like he was in a western movie. He drew with his right hand, fast as lightning, and fired two shots. He was walking back toward us reloading his pistol as they fell.

             
“Boom, head shot.” He muttered as he walked by us.

             
“Holy sheep shit.” Terry said, with his eyes wide. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

             
We found a couple of barrels and some generic plastic gutters. They had a modular design where the individual pieces could be snapped together.

             
“It’s not as fancy as custom made guttering.” I commented.

             
“The only person worried about fanciness is Julie, and she’s not here.” Fred said. “Let’s load up.”

             
We’d loaded up as much as we could and lashed it down tight. “We need anything else while we’re in this neck of the woods?” Fred asked.

             
“You guys know where a maternity store is anywhere around here?” I asked. Terry laughed.

             
“Is she outgrowing her clothes?” He asked.

             
“Oh yeah, lately all she’s been wearing are sweatpants and my shirts.” I replied.

             
“How far along is she?”

             
“We think she conceived on Christmas Eve, so a few days shy of five months. Her belly’s growing, along with her breasts, which is not such a bad thing.” Terry laughed. Even Fred smiled a little bit.

             
There was another Walmart nearby we had never explored. We drove over there and discovered a strip mall across the street from it with a couple of women’s clothing stores.

             
“These little stores will be easier to clear. We can clear Walmart on another day.” I said as I drove into the parking lot. “Maybe something will be here Julie will like.” Fred grunted in agreement but suddenly straightened.

             
“We might not get a chance.” He said. I looked around and spotted them in the parking lot of the Walmart. There were maybe one or two hundred. They spotted us about the time we spotted them.

             
“Where the fuck do these things keep coming from?” I asked nobody in particular. I sighed. “Alright, let’s just get the hell out of here. We can load up with everyone later and come back.” Terry and Fred agreed. As we drove away, Terry gave a start.

             
“What’s wrong with you?” Fred asked.

             
“I swear to God I just saw one of them point at us!” He exclaimed with incredulity. He looked out of the back window as we drove away. I scoffed.

             
“They do that, when they see you, they reach out as if they can grab you from a distance.” Terry shook his head at my analysis.