Melvin chuckled. “You’re such a softy.”
Melvin located the trailer five minutes later. He backed up to it and hooked it up while True made Dong stand beside him while he stood guard. Finishing, Melvin motioned for them to get back in the truck.
“Alright, we’re all good. Let’s go home,” he said.
“Amen to that,” True said.
“By the way, there was about a half-gallon of diesel spilled on the ground. Someone either opened the valve to see what was in it, or they helped themselves to some fuel and made a mess.”
“If there’s people around here, they’re doing a good job of hiding,” True surmised.
“Yeah. I would’ve spray painted a message, but everything is iced over. We’ll have to come back at some point and try to find them.”
“When is the next resupply mission to Missouri?” True asked. “I imagine Clay needs some diesel and company. The man has to be lonely.”
Melvin shrugged his shoulders. “Probably. He’s got to be lonely out there. If it weren’t for the fact that he killed someone, I’d say let’s go get him and bring him home.”
True didn’t answer. Honestly, he had liked Dalton, the man Clay had killed, so he wasn’t so sure he liked the man, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
They rode several minutes in silence. Melvin proceeded slowly and cautiously. It was taxing having to pay such careful attention, but it was necessary. Besides, it was second nature to Melvin now.
The cab of the truck was finally warm enough for Melvin to turn the fan to a lower setting. True took his jacket off and draped it across his legs before resting his rifle on top. Melvin had the dashboard lights blacked out, but he could see Dong’s head lolling.
“The little man is out cold,” Melvin said. “I’ll keep an eye on him if you want to get some shuteye.”
“You gonna drive all night?” True asked.
“For a little while. I’m too keyed up to sleep right now and I can’t imagine anyone will be outside in this cold. It’s got to be in the single-digits.”
“Alright, you get tired, wake me up and I’ll drive. Watch the little man, he might be playing ‘possum’.”
Melvin chuckled and glanced over at Dong, who had not stirred in several minutes. “You got it, bro.”
True was asleep within minutes, if not seconds. Melvin offered a small, silent prayer of thanks for getting them through another day unscathed and asked the Lord for safe travels back to Mount Weather. He knew True was an atheist, but even so he added him in his prayer.
Finishing, he glanced again at Dong, whose head was leaning against the door window. He was breathing deeply. It was going to be interesting to hear what he had to say, if they could find a way to adequately communicate. He imagined it was going to fall to Grace and Garret to interview him. With their father dead and Zach gone, they were probably the two smartest people at Mount Weather and had taken up a lot of Zach’s work.
Melvin decided that tomorrow, when he’d rested up, he was going to try to interview Dong himself and see what kind of information he could get out of him. If there was a full-fledged Chinese invasion in the works, the people in the surrounding communities, and especially Oak Ridge would need that info ASAP, and frankly he doubted the new president and his lackey, William Rhinehart, would relay the info.
He glanced at the clock. Zero-two-hundred, and they were only a few miles outside of the Cincinnati city limits. Many miles to go. Yep, it was going to be a long drive back. A little over five hundred miles. And the roads were rough. Little did he know it at that moment, but it was going to take a few days of slow driving, two flat tires, and at least one major detour before they’d see home again.
Chapter 24 – Team Fred
Nikki had slept on the den couch. It was part of an expensive set of leather furniture Fred had found in a furniture store. She awoke to the noise of Fred throwing a log on the fire. He turned and saw her staring at him.
“I got the potbelly in the kitchen going. It’ll be hot enough for tea in about ten minutes. We leave in thirty.”
Nikki sat up and stretched. Fred saw she had stripped down to a tee shirt and underwear. Her body was lean and taut, and the cool air promptly made her nipples erect. He quickly turned away and hurried into the kitchen. Nikki joined him a moment later, fully dressed in jeans and a hunter green thermal top over the tee shirt. She had not yet put her boots on, and Fred noticed a pair of thick, hand-knitted socks on her feet. Fred gave one of his small nods, poured them two mugs of tea and handed one to her.
“Have a seat and I’ll fix some breakfast.”
She sat, sipped her tea, and watched as Fred cooked up eggs and bacon. They ate in silence. Nikki was not much of a morning person and it appeared to her Fred wasn’t interested in talking anyway. After finishing, she helped him clean up their mess. Finishing, he pointed to some five-gallon jugs sitting along the wall. They were plastic, blue in color, and shaped like rectangular cubes with integrated handles on top.
“That’s our water for us and the horses. How much does water weigh per gallon?”
She bit her lower lip in thought. “Um…”
“A little over eight pounds per gallon,” Fred said. “Each jug is full, so they weigh about forty-two pounds, that’s counting the jug. Can you carry those two jugs to the truck?”
Fred didn’t wait for her to answer. He picked up two of them and walked out. Nikki grabbed the other two jugs and followed. She had to set them down to rest her arms a few times, but she eventually made it to the barn. Fred was brushing out a horse when she entered. She set the jugs down and rubbed her aching hands.
“Get the truck started,” he directed.
Nikki frowned, wondering why he couldn’t start it himself. She thought maybe he wanted to see if she knew how, so she didn’t argue and hopped up in the driver’s seat. It took two tries before the diesel engine chugged to life. She got out and jogged back to the house, returning a moment later with both her backpack and saddle bags. Setting them down, she jogged back to the house again and returned with Fred’s gear. When she walked into the barn, she saw the contents of her backpack dumped on the ground.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he squatted and began inspecting her items. After a moment, he stood.
“Pack it up and let’s get the horses loaded.” He pointed. “We’re taking those two.”
Nikki was angry. Back home she was known for her fiery temper, but she held it in check and stuffed her gear back in her backpack. Fred watched impassively. She noticed and finally could not stand it.
“What?” she demanded.
“There’s a thermometer mounted on the barn door,” he said. “Did you see it?”
“That dirty plastic one? Yeah, I saw it, what about it?”
“Twenty-one degrees this morning,” he informed her. “Your gear is shy of a few things, and your pack isn’t waterproof.” He paused a moment. “Let me show you what I mean.”
He picked his own pack up, opened every pocket, and dumped the contents. He then held up his backpack. It looked like it had been through hell and back, but it was intact with no rips or tears.
“It looks like you probably should throw it away.”
“Yep, it doesn’t stand out. That’s the point. Found it in a house, brand new. Didn’t look like the owner ever used it. I used a mixture of mineral spirits and a caulking tube of silicone to make it waterproof. When I was rubbing that mixture onto the bag, I added a little bit of sand. It made the pack look rough.”
Nikki nodded. “You succeeded.”
He gestured again at the bag, and picked up a smaller, canvas bag and tossed it to her. Nikki inspected it. It was canvas and looked like the same waterproof treatment had been done to it.
“Made them by hand. Open that one up.”
Nikki did so and dumped it. Some bandannas and a dozen pairs of socks fell out.
“Do you think you got enough socks there,
old man?” she asked teasingly.
“Socks can be used for a lot more than keeping your feet warm,” Fred said. “You can cut the toes out and fashion some leggings, you can use them as mittens, you can make kneepads out of them. They’re all clean, so you can use them as field dressings. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. You only have one extra pair of socks. If they get wet, your feet will suffer. You need to add a bag of socks to your pack. Cotton and wool, all sizes. Open the other one.”
Nikki opened it and inspected the contents. There were several small pieces of wood and what appeared to be cedar shavings.
“Smalls,” Fred said.
“Smalls?”
“Yep. If you’re going to be out in the wilderness, and that’s what most of America is these days, you always want to have a pack of small pieces of wood. Seasoned and dry. Fatwood is the best. Steel wool is good to have too, but that stuff isn’t easy to find anymore. So, why do you think I carry a bag of wood with me?”
“For starting a fire when everything is wet,” Nikki said in understanding.
“Yep,” Fred replied. “I normally keep some charred cloth in here too, but I’m out and haven’t had a chance to make up a new batch.”
They went through some of the other items in Fred’s pack before he stored it all away and put it in the truck.
“Alright, we’re taking those two,” he said, pointing at two of the horses. “That one is Aisha, and the big lunkhead trying to nibble on your hair is Leeroy.”
Nikki looked them over. Aisha was a beautiful Arabian and Leeroy was a big roan colored gelding. “Why those two?” Nikki asked.
“Aisha is smart, quick, and she has better stamina than almost any horse around.”
“And Leeroy?”
“He’s not the smartest, but he’s a stayer and he’s in love with Aisha. He follows her everywhere. They make a good pair.”
Nikki grinned and helped get the two horses into the trailer. Once they had everything loaded, Fred turned to her.
“I’m not much of a sociable person and you’re likely to be sorely disappointed in this training you think you’re going to get.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” Nikki asked.
He stared at her a long moment before speaking. “It’s up to you.”
“I’d still like to go. If you don’t want me to, you have to say it,” she said.
After a moment, Fred gave a micro nod. Nikki didn’t know it, but it was a nod of approval. He pointed at the truck. She needed no further prompting and got in the passenger seat.
Fred eased the truck and trailer out of the barn, and then waited while Nikki got out and closed the barn door. Approaching the main gate, they repeated the process. When she got back in the truck, Fred fixed her with a pointed stare.
“Did you lock it up properly?” he asked.
“Yep,” she answered, and then wondered if she should be more respectful. “Yessir,” she added.
Fred didn’t respond and soon they were heading east. With the exception of the heater and the truck’s exhaust, it was quiet. Nikki quickly understood Fred was going to be content not to say a word the entire mission, so she decided to try and change that.
“It’s going to be a cold one today, isn’t it?” she asked.
“I expect it to warm up a little,” he surmised.
“What makes you think that?”
He pointed out the window. “Look at the sunrise, tell me what you see.”
Nikki looked out the window. The eastern sky was filled with thick, puffy clouds colored a crimson red. “It’s looking like a pretty sunrise.”
“Red sky at morning, sailor take warning. You remember that saying?” he asked.
Nikki frowned. “I’ve never heard it.”
Fred dropped one hand off the steering wheel and flexed it. Both his hands were stiff from the cold, and that would not do. Nikki noticed but did not say anything.
“What kind of formal education did you have while you were growing up?” he asked.
“Formal education? You mean like going to school?”
“Yep.”
“I was in fourth grade when it went bad. Like I said to Rachel and Serena, my parents were infected and killed. Some neighbors took me in. They’re good people, but as I’m sure you know, the focus back then was survival, not sending kids to school to learn about history and arithmetic. They taught the basics for survival, but the most I’ve learned school wise in the last few years was a couple of college textbooks I’ve read. I know a lot about hunting, fishing, gardening, and cooking, but don’t give me a math quiz. Oh, and I’ve learned a lot about horses from the people who live in our group.”
“What about meteorology?” Fred asked.
“Nope, I didn’t learn anything about meteors, other than they fall from the sky.”
Fred started to inform her of the correct meaning of meteorology, but decided it wasn’t important.
“Okay, pay attention. The red sky in the morning indicates there’s a front coming in, and it looks like it’s coming from the east. Let me show you.” He stopped the truck. “Roll down the window and feel the air.”
“Feel it?” she asked. “What do you mean, feel it?”
Fred did not respond, instead he waited. Nikki did as he directed. She pulled the glove off her right hand and stuck it out. After a second, she stuck her head out for several seconds before sitting back.
“It’s getting a little warmer out,” she said. “Okay, yeah, I feel wind coming from the east.”
“Yep. Feels a little humid too, doesn’t it?”
Nikki gave a small grin. “I see where you’re going. That front’s coming from the ocean.”
“Yep. Probably a high-pressure cell,” Fred said. “A lot of rain, I’m thinking. I’m no weather expert, but conditions seem right for it to turn to ice rain.”
“That’ll suck,” she said. “If that happens, we could be stuck out here a couple of days.”
“Yep.”
“So, more time for one-on-one training. I like it,” Nikki said with a smile.
Fred glanced at her sidelong for a second. He wasn’t going to say it out loud, but he was starting to like this girl. She handled the horses with practiced ease, and while she may be ignorant about a lot of things, she seemed like she had some possible intelligence in her noggin. He took his foot off the brake and accelerated to a brash twenty-miles-per-hour.
“I’d like to ask you something,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t think anybody noticed it, well maybe the first sergeant did, but you picked out a certain area you wanted to do your recon mission. Is there a reason for that?”
Fred kept his breathing steady. “I’m more familiar with that area.”
“Oh, okay. So, I assume you have a plan in mind.”
“Yep,” Fred said. “Our first priority is to get to our staging area before the storm hits.”
“Sounds like you have a specific place in mind.”
“Yep,” Fred replied.
It was a building that once housed a construction company with an office and a warehouse. He and Zach had picked it out over a year ago. They’d made changes to suit their specific needs; a makeshift stable, a living area, and rudimentary fortifications.
“Okay, is it inside or outside?” Nikki asked.
“Inside.”
“Good, we’ll be out of the weather.”
“Yep, but we’ll need to hold off on a fire.”
“Because the smoke may give us away if there are hostiles in the area,” she said.
“Yep.”
She stared at him curiously. “You don’t talk a whole lot. Were you always that way?”
Fred glanced at her. “I used to be more sociable, back when I was a family man and working for a living.”
And back before I’d lost so many loved ones and killed so many people.
“What did you do for a living, back before?” she asked.<
br />
“I had a modest sized manufacturing company that built greenhouses.”
“You had your own business? Were you rich or something?”
Fred thought for a second. “We were comfortable.”
“I bet you’re educated. Did you go to college?” she asked.
“I had a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.”
Zombie Rules | Book 8 | Who The Hell Is That? Page 13
