“Wow, you’ve come a long way,” said Diane.
“Yeah, you could say that. Our plan is to stick to the Mississippi River and follow it south as far as we have to.”
“That’s pretty much our plan,” said Ross, chewing on some ravioli.
“What about before all this zombie business? What did you do?” Amber asked.
“Well, I was a Marine for nine years after high school.”
“No shit?” said Al, his eyes lighting up suddenly. “I was a Marine, too. ’67-’71.” He pulled up his sleeve to reveal an Eagle, Globe, and Anchor tattoo on his arm, similar to Zach’s.
Zach pulled his collar down and showed the top half of his, and said, “I served from ’03-’12. I was in the infantry, did six deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. What’d you do?”
“Flew a Huey. I went to Vietnam twice.”
“Wow. What was that like?”
“Actually, it wasn’t too bad most of the time. At least, not where I was. But on my second deployment, I got shot down on a long-range recon mission in enemy territory. My co-pilot and crew chiefs died, but I got out without a scratch. I spent twenty days dodging Viet Cong patrols before I finally got back to friendly lines. They sent me home after that, and that’s when I met Cara. Wonderful woman, God rest her soul. I married her just six months later and then decided to not re-enlist with the Corps. How was it for you?”
“Some deployments were safe but boring. Others were dangerous but exciting. Both have their ups and downs. I went to Baghdad once, Fallujah twice, and Afghanistan three times.”
Al let out a low whistle and said, “Fallujah. That had to be rough.”
“It was,” Zach said, nodding his head. Wanting to avoid any further questions about his time in that city, he quickly pointed at Ross and said, “What about you? What’s your story?”
It turned out that Ross had been a professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks, and Diane, a nurse, was his wife of ten years; they’d been high school sweet hearts.
Matt, Pat, and Vicky were college kids at the University of Wisconsin. Vicky had been a senior studying psychology and Matt and Pat had gotten full scholarships to play football. Matt played as quarterback and Pat was a wide receiver. The two of them had been nigh unstoppable in high school, had set several school and state records, and some sports scientists had begun to wonder if, as twins, there was some kind of telepathy between them that allowed them to know what the other was about to do.
They continued to talk amongst themselves for a while, learning about each other, until the sun had gone down. “So we should probably set up a night watch and get some sleep, yeah?” said Zach. Al agreed and volunteered to take the first watch. Everyone else got some space between themselves so that they could lie down comfortably. Abby slept curled up next to Zach, who lay on his back with his hands behind his head, staring up at the stars, recalling pleasant memories…
Zach sat on the surprisingly clean train that was carrying him into Chicago. It was packed full with people heading into the city to celebrate Independence Day. Zach intended to meet up with some friends, spend the day with them, and then see a White Sox game later that night. He stared out his window, looking at the trees, cars, houses, and telephone poles rushing across his field of vision.
He was in a very good mood, he realized. Just last week, Sergeant Zach Davidson had officially concluded his service in the United States Marine Corps. He was a free man now and was loving every minute of it. And thanks to a good friend, he had a job lined up with the Chicago Police Department and would start working next month. Everything in life seemed to be going his way.
Except that he was still single. He’d had a couple girlfriends over the last nine years, but none of them could handle his constant deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Sooner or later, they all eventually left him. His last girlfriend was over three years ago, and this fact didn’t usually bother him, but some days he found the loneliness to be oppressive.
An automated voice announced that they were approaching the next stop, but this was not where Zach was getting off. The train slowed down, gradually coming to a complete stop in front of a train station. The doors opened up, and some few people got off the train, including the elderly woman who had been sitting next to Zach. Several people who had been waiting for the train now boarded it and spread out to find seats. Zach pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time, but he dropped it and it hit the floor. As he bent down to pick it up, he heard a woman’s voice say, “Is anyone sitting here?”
“It’s all yours,” he answered without looking up. She sat down and turned to thank him just as Zach sat up, and he found himself looking into the eyes of the Air Force lieutenant from the hospital! There was instant recognition in both of their eyes, and they smiled at each other.
“You!” they both said in unison, and they laughed.
“I haven’t seen you since Afghanistan,” Zach said.
“I know! How amazing to run into you again!” she replied.
“Yeah, I just got out of the Marines last week, so now I’ve come back home for good.”
“No way! I just got done with the Air Force last month! You live around here, too?”
“Yup. Born and raised,” he answered. “So what are you doing in the city today?”
“Just wanted to do a little shopping, maybe see some fireworks later on,” she answered.
“By yourself?”
“Mhmm. Most of my friends had other plans today,” she said, which was actually a lie. “How about you?”
“I’m gonna go see the Sox game tonight, but I figured I’d come out a little bit early and just, you know, hang out.”
They talked about what they were doing now that their time in the military was done, and they soon arrived at their stop in Chicago. They stood up and exited the train once it came to a stop in front of the platform, standing in an awkward silence for a few moments as the train’s doors closed and it slowly pulled away.
“Well,” she said slowly, “it was great seeing you again.”
“Yeah, uh, you too,” Zach replied. She smiled and stayed standing in front of Zach for a moment longer, her eyes pleading for Zach to say something more, to ask her out on a date. But when it looked like he wasn’t going to do it, she said, “Okay. Bye!”
She started to walk away from Zach, heading down the platform. Zach watched her for several seconds, his hands clenched into fists as he wrestled with himself, trying to force himself to go after her before she got away. Amusingly, the big, bad Marine Sergeant Davidson was very shy around women when meeting them for the first time and often found it hard to ask them out on dates. And he had wanted to ask this woman, for even he could tell she had taken an interest in him. But he couldn’t get the words to come out.
She was almost out of sight now, starting to get lost in the bustling crowd. People walked back and forth, carrying briefcases, sipping coffee, or talking on cell phones. There were men in suits, women in dresses, and people dressed comfortably for the weather. Finally, Zach found his nerve and he ran to catch up to the pretty lieutenant.
“Hey, wait,” he said as he caught up to her. She turned around to face Zach as he said, “I don’t suppose you’re hungry? I know this great Italian place we could go to, if you wanted lunch.”
She smiled and said, “I love Italian.”
“Great,” Zach replied with a smile. He took her hand in his and led her in the opposite direction. She turned her head and said, “What kind of ring is that?”
No, she didn’t say that.
And that’s not her voice.
“Huh?” said Zach.
“I asked what kind of ring is that,” Amber said again. She was sitting next to Zach with her legs crossed, her knees almost touching him, and he’d been subconsciously fingering his wedding ring. Ordinarily, such close proximity to a stranger would have bothered him, but with Amber…he enjoyed having her this close.
“A wedding ring. I was m
arried for a couple years, but the disease…” he answered slowly, his voice trailing off at the end. The words had escaped his mouth before he even realized what he was saying. Why was he sharing such intimate information with a woman he barely knew?
“Oh my God, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Amber said, concerned that she might have upset him; she hadn’t expected an answer like that. But Zach just shook his head and said, “It’s okay.”
They sat in silence for a few moments. Amber chewed on her lower lip nervously while Zach looked off into the distance. He was unsure of how to proceed from here. He considered just ignoring Amber until she went away. She was clearly waiting for Zach to continue the conversation, and he wanted to but was struggling to find the right words.
“Uh, so what about you? Ever married?” he asked, and then he internally berated himself for such a dumb question. But to his surprise Amber answered it anyway.
She sighed heavily and said, “Yeah, a long time ago. I was twenty and stupid, and I married a loser I met my freshman year of college. Things were great for the first year and a half, but then one day…he just vanished. No message, no warning, no goodbye. I was scared that he’d been abducted or even murdered, and I even filed a ‘missing person’ report with the police. Then a week later, I get a phone call from him. He had run off with some wealthy, forty-something bitch and was living with her in her mansion in Barcelona.”
“Holy hell,” was Zach’s reply.
“Tell me about it. Dad kept threatening to buy a plane ticket to Spain so he could kick his ass, bless his heart. But I’d moved on and couldn’t care less what happened to him.”
“That had to be rough though.”
“Yeah. So here I am: a once-divorced, twenty-nine year old girl in a world overrun by zombies. Some life, huh?”
“It could be worse. You have your dad, at least.”
“I do, and I don’t know what I’d do without him. But…”
“But what?” Zach asked, breaking the short silence that had stretched between them.
“But…sometimes it’s just hard, you know? Being alone, I mean. Not alone, but…you know what I mean. Dad is wonderful, but there are days when I wish I could be in the arms of a lover, not a father.”
Zach was caught off guard by this. Was she trying to drop Zach a hint? He hated when women spoke in riddles instead of just being direct. It confused the hell out of him. Was she really making a move on a guy she had only known for a few hours? Zach didn’t want to get emotionally attached to this woman, or any woman for that matter.
And yet, just hours ago he had promised Abby that, if given the chance, he would try to find someone who could make him happy. And not just any old promise, but a pinky-promise. He just hadn’t expected to have to own up to it so soon. He was feeling the same way he did at the train station in Chicago so many years ago. It felt like this was the only window he was going to have with Amber if he ever wanted to take a chance with her, and it was rapidly closing. If he didn’t do anything now, he might never get another shot.
“Is…today one of those days?” he asked slowly.
Amber smiled back and said, “Hmm, not quite.” She stood up and Zach was starting to feel pretty foolish, having taken such a blind leap of faith. But then she said, “But maybe soon.” Then she went back to where her pack was and lay down next to it. Zach stayed sitting up for a minute, trying to get a handle on what had just happened. He looked over at Abby, who had rolled over onto her side. Then he lay back down and soon fell asleep.
Chapter Five
If Zach had a thermometer, he would have seen that the temperature was well over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. It had been four days since he and Abby first met Al and the others, and every one of those days had seen triple-digit temperatures. Because of this, progress was much slower than anyone would have liked. They stuck to the shade as much as the terrain would allow, but it did not help much. They walked slowly and had to take frequent breaks so as to not get heat exhaustion.
Everyone did what they could to stay cool, whether it was wearing hats to keep the sun off of their face or removing shirts. Zach had also given Abby his bandana, and he would soak it in the water then wrap it around her head to keep her cool. She hadn’t wanted to take it from him, but he insisted.
During this time, Zach spent a considerable amount of time with Amber, walking next to her and talking a lot. Abby noticed this, and she saw how happy Zach was when he was with Amber. And this, in turn, made her happy.
But Zach was not with Amber at the moment. He and Al had gone to scout ahead of the group for danger while the others rested in the shade. They did this type of recon once in a while, just to make sure they weren’t about to blunder into anything dangerous. They were a few hundred meters ahead of the group, walking quietly through the trees.
“So you like my daughter?” Al said to Zach.
“We get along, if that’s what you’re asking,” Zach replied, hoping to avoid this topic with Al.
“Seems like you two do more than just get along. I see you around her all the time, especially at night,” Al said, giving Zach an accusatory glance.
Zach stopped walking, turned to face Al, and said, “So what are you saying?”
“I’m just letting you know that I’m her father, and I will protect her. And I’ll be damned if I let another bum like you hurt her!”
“I’m not hurting her, Al, and I’m not going to. We’re just friends.”
“Yeah, that’s what they all say,” Al replied as they both started walking again.
“I’ve no reason to hurt her. We’re not even…it’s not even like it’s possible to be dating. We just like talking to each other. Can’t you see how much she laughs?”
“She laughed a lot when that no-good husband of hers talked to her, too.”
“So what are you gonna do, Al? Never let her have a man in her life ever again? Never let her even talk to a man?”
“Not a loser like you! She doesn’t need you! I knew Marines like you, and I appreciate your service but I would never let you be with my daughter.”
“Well, why don’t you let Amber be the judge of what she does and doesn’t need?”
Al scoffed and said, “I doubt you’d say the same concerning Abby.”
“Abby is fourteen! She’s a child, and sometimes I have to make decisions for her own good. Amber is a grown-ass woman and doesn’t need her father to babysit her!”
Al wheeled around suddenly and got right in Zach’s face, coming almost nose to nose with him. “You just stay the hell away from her,” he said. He walked past Zach, shoulder-checking him along the way and said, “It’s clear. Let’s head back.”
While Zach and Al were gone, Abby had sat next to Amber underneath a tall tree to rest her legs. She took her hat and bandana off and said, “It sure is hot.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Amber replied. “I hate being covered in sweat all the time.”
“I know. It’s so gross!” Abby agreed. She rolled up the bottoms of her cargo pants to let her legs cool off a bit and said, “Do you like Zach?”
Amber laughed at the directness of Abby’s question. “You don’t beat around the bush much, do you?”
“Nope,” said Abby, smiling. “So do you like him?”
“Maybe. Am I allowed to like him?”
“Of course you can like him! You two are really cute together, and you make him happy. He really likes you, you know.”
Amber smiled and said, “Oh yeah? Did he tell you that?”
“No, but I can tell.”
“May I ask you a question then?”
“You just did,” Abby replied, and they both laughed. “Of course, what is it?”
“Is Zach naturally hard to get close to or is it just with me? He just doesn’t really talk about his past very much, and he seems reluctant to answer any questions about him that I ask.”
“That’s just how he is. He’s got some things in his past that he doesn’t like talking about
. He’s told me, but we’ve been together a while.”
“So he’s not disinterested in me?”
“No, definitely not. Just give him some space when he wants it, and give him some time. My advice: show him that you care about him and that you respect the boundaries he sets up and eventually he’ll open up to you. He just needs to do it on his own terms and at his own pace. He’s very careful about who he gives his heart to…especially after his wife.”
“Yeah, he mentioned her.”
“He did?” Abby asked, genuinely surprised. “He must really, really like you.”
“I hope he does,” Amber said, smiling again. Changing the subject slightly, she asked, “So how long have you known Zach? I think he mentioned it once, but I’ve forgotten.”
“Almost two years now. I had just turned thirteen when he found me.”
“He told me about that day. That must have been so hard for you,” Amber said.
Abby nodded and said, “It was. I’d lost my mom just a week before and was all alone. I was so afraid and lonely that I couldn’t even tell him my name.”
“Afraid of Zach?”
“Oh no, not at all! I fell in love with him almost immediately. I was just…I don’t know. Everything that had happened, from zombies mauling people to death to seeing my own mother murdered…it was all just too much to handle. So I just didn’t talk for a while. It was like some kind of coping method for me.”
“Zach said he called you ‘Bug’ before he knew your name.”
Abby giggled and said, “Yup! I remember the first time he called me that.”
“I think it’s adorable. He treats you so well, as if you were his actual daughter.”
“And I feel like I am. Even when I’m grown up and everything is normal again, he’ll still be my dad. I’m very lucky to have him.”
“Well, it’s very sweet, the relationship that you two have.”
Just then, Al and Zach had returned to the group, both of them looking angry. “Alright, let’s get going,” Al said curtly.
His Name Was Zach Page 9
