His Name Was Zach

by Peter Martuneac

  “I wish I could tell you about it, Amber,” Zach said slowly. “I really want to. But-”

  “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked,” she said quickly, interrupting Zach. She was worried that perhaps she had prodded too deeply and had pushed him away.

  “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. But the only person I’ve ever told the whole story to is Abby, and that wasn’t even until we’d been together for well over a year, and she practically had to pry it out of me.”

  “I completely understand, Zach. You can tell me when you’re ready. Like I said, I don’t want to push you into anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

  “Thanks,” Zach said. He was glad that Amber was so understanding on this issue. He was worried that his continued silence would offend her, but it seemed like she was letting him take his time and was allowing him to have a little private space.

  They walked in silence for a bit, then Amber asked, “Does Abby know about last night?”

  “Well, she was asleep when I came back into the apartment, but woke up when I went in her room to check on her. I’m pretty sure she was able to put two and two together though. Why do you ask?”

  “She just seemed very giddy this morning before you showed up. She asked about us too, as if we were officially together now. She seems very anxious for that to happen.”

  “I told you she likes you,” Zach said with a smile. “And I know that she really wants to have a mother in her life again.”

  “And she really wants you to be happy, too.”

  “Well, you do a good job of that,” Zach said. Amber smiled and kissed him. The sun was setting now so they turned back towards home. Amber went back to her apartment and Zach went back into his. Abby was in her room, her hair still wet from the shower, and she was getting her clothes ready for tomorrow.

  “You excited for school, Abby?” Zach asked.

  “You bet! I can hardly wait!” she replied, smiling from ear to ear. “Are you excited to work again?”

  “Ecstatic. It’ll be nice to get back into that type of job again,” Zach said.

  When Abby was done, Zach had her help him get their bug-out bags ready with supplies they had purchased yesterday. It was a short task, and after only a few minutes they had both of their packs staged in their closet by the front door along with their weapons, ready to go.

  They both went to bed early that night so that they could be well rested for tomorrow. Abby was so excited for the next day to come that she could barely sleep, and she awoke a full half-hour before Zach did the next morning. She quickly got dressed in the clothes that she had laid out last night: her red shoes, a short white skirt, and a cherry-red blouse. She then went out into the kitchen and made a small breakfast of oatmeal, bananas, and milk for her and Zach then sat down at the table and waited for him.

  The door to Zach’s room opened up a few minutes later, and he slowly trudged out, wearing his old A-TACS clothes and boots. His hair was messy and his beard was growing back in, but he did not seem to care. Abby smiled at him and said, “Morning! I made breakfast for us!”

  “Thanks, Bug,” Zach said as he sat down across from Abby. “You look very pretty this morning. I like that outfit,” he added.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  They ate their breakfast quickly, both desiring to arrive at their destinations for the day early. They cleaned up their dishes and then got ready to leave. Zach retrieved his rifle from the closet, slid his pistol into his thigh holster, and then asked Abby, “Do you have your boot knife?”

  “Yup,” Abby replied, pulling up the right side of her blouse a bit to reveal the knife clipped to her skirt.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Zach said. He opened the door, held it for Abby, and then closed and locked it behind him.

  The sun was still low in the bright blue sky and the air was sweet and smelled of dew. Abby couldn’t stop smiling as Zach walked with her towards her school. When they got there, they saw dozens of kids standing around outside of the front doors, most of whom looked to be about Abby’s age. Diane was among them, and she waved them over.

  “Hi, Zach! Are you ready, Abby?” she asked.

  “Sure am!” Abby replied.

  “Is Abby going to be in your class?” Zach asked.

  “She is, yes. I made sure of that,” Diane said.

  “Great, thanks!” Zach said, then he hugged Abby and said to her, “Have fun, sweetie. Play nice with the other kids.”

  “You play nice with the other grown-ups,” she replied sarcastically.

  “I’ll try. I’ll see you at three.”

  “Okay. Bye, Zach!” Abby called as Zach turned to walk away.

  When Zach showed up at the Drill Field, he saw a group of men and women, about forty in total, standing around and talking amongst themselves. Ross was there, standing a good head above everybody else. Standing off to the side and observing the crowd was none other than Mayor Calvin himself.

  “Good morning, sir,” Zach said as he approached.

  The Mayor turned around, smiled, and said, “Good morning, Zach. Good to see you today.” He shook Zach’s hand then turned back to the group of people.

  “These are some of our more recent recruits for the Town Guard. Not a shred of military or law-enforcement experience in the lot of them. But they volunteered, so at least they have heart.”

  “That’s all they need. I’ll teach them the rest,” Zach replied. “Am I their only instructor?”

  “No. You have three assistants. They’re the ones wearing baseball hats. One is named Bill; he drove trucks in the Army. Greg was a cook on a Navy ship, and Victor was an intelligence soldier.”

  “Well, that’s better than nothing. At least they can help me with the discipline. And on that note, sir, may I ask you something?”

  “Ask away.”

  “Exactly how intense do you want my training to be?”

  Calvin laughed and said, “My boy, you’re training these men and women to protect our town from all threats. You do whatever you have to. Just don’t hurt them, if you please.”

  Zach grinned wolfishly and said, “Right on, sir.”

  Zach walked over to the group of people, carefully eyeing the motley collection. There was a vibe of general relaxation and a lack of seriousness radiating about them, and Zach was not too happy with some of the things he was seeing. Some of the women seemed to have chosen their clothes with fashion in mind instead of function, and almost everyone had simply laid their rifles down on the ground instead of holding onto them, and this annoyed Zach to no end.

  Walking towards the nearest rifle, a semi-automatic Koleshnikov, Zach picked it up off the ground, tapped the man in front of it on the shoulder, and said, “Excuse me, is this yours?”

  “Yeah,” the man replied lazily before going back to his conversation.

  Zach tapped him on the shoulder again and said, “I have another question. Does this look like a rock to you?”

  “No,” the man said slowly.

  “Grass?”

  “No.”

  “Dirt? Sand? Shit?”

  “I don’t-”

  “Then why the FUCK IS IT ON THE GROUND?” Zach shouted. All conversation ceased abruptly and all eyes turned to Zach, watching him with confusion and apprehension (though Ross alone looked almost amused). He shoved the rifle against the man’s chest and said, “This is your weapon! This is what keeps your family and your friends safe! Don’t you ever just leave it lying on the ground ever again! Is it too heavy?”

  “No,” the man said in a shaky voice, growing more afraid of Zach. He glanced around nervously and noticed everyone else slowly pick up their weapons so as to not be targeted next.

  “Well, it’s either too heavy or you just don’t give a fuck about the people you’ve been charged with defending, so which is it?!”

  “I…it’s…” he stammered.

  “Just shut the fuck up and hold on to your goddamn rifle!” Zach said. He then strode over towards the cente
r of the group and spoke loudly so that everyone could hear him.

  “My name is Zach. In the ‘Before Times’, I served for nine years in the Marine Corps infantry, did five deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and it is for that reason that Mayor Calvin has put me in charge of training the Town Guard. You don’t have to like me, but you will respect me and you will learn from me, for I have much to teach about combat. I’m going to be tough, but I will not be unrealistic. I will push you to your limits and I expect you to give me your all. If you can do that for me, then we won’t have any problems. If you slack off, and I always know when someone is slacking off, we will have a variety of problems. Sound good?”

  Ross responded with a loud ‘yes sir’, but most of the others were either silent or were barely audible.

  “Well, one of you gets it!” Zach said. “But don’t worry, you’ll all get it by the end of today. The first thing we’ll be doing today is some physical exercise. Everyone grab your weapons and start running around the perimeter of the field.”

  Ross led the way around the field as the others strung themselves out, the slower runners quickly falling behind. But eventually they caught up with the others as Zach provided them with the necessary motivation to move faster. He could not be happier, training others to be warriors. This was his home court; here he was in his element. And so, under the watchful eye of Mayor Calvin, Zach spent the next three and a half hours training his men and women, running them hard, and teaching them the fundamentals of shooting. At around 11:30 AM, he released everyone for the day, but instructed all of them to keep training on their own time. Ross was exhausted, but thanked Zach for running what he called a ‘kick-ass course’.

  After a short break for Zach, another group of about forty men and women showed up to the Drill Field to get their training in for the day. Zach went through the same things that he did with his first class, keeping both his expectations and his intensity at the same levels as they were in the morning. Then, at 2:45 PM, he released the second and last group for the day, giving them the same advice he gave to the earlier class. He then left the Drill Field and headed over to Abby’s school.

  While Zach ran around in the hot sun, shouting and swearing at the Town Guards he was responsible for training, Abby found herself falling in love with school all over again. She didn’t have time to meet anyone before the day started, but she still enjoyed listening to Diane teach her class of about thirty thirteen and fourteen year old kids. As Mayor Calvin had said, most of the kids in Little America were around Abby’s age, and so there was another large class of thirteen and fourteen year olds being run by another teacher.

  At noon, it was Abby’s class’ turn for lunch, so she and the other kids in the class made their way into the cafeteria to eat the food that the school provided for the students. As Abby looked for a place to sit and eat, she noticed that most of the kids already knew each other and had their own groups of friends. She had only arrived in town two days ago and so did not know anyone yet. So she decided to just sit at one of the empty tables and try to make friends with whoever showed up.

  She barely had to wait for one minute before a tall boy with dark hair sat down in front of her. “Hey, are you new to town?” he asked.

  “Yup. I just got here on Saturday,” Abby replied.

  “Oh, okay. My name’s Luke.”

  “I’m Abby.”

  Luke turned out to be a pretty nice boy and was very kind and welcoming to Abby, telling her all about Little America. He was also very funny, and he made Abby laugh a lot. A few minutes later, two other girls showed up and sat next to Luke and Abby: one of them was named Molly and the other was Pam. The four of them seemed to click almost instantly, and by the time lunch was over a short fifteen minutes later, they were all talking and laughing like old friends.

  They had three more classes that afternoon, and then were done for the day at five minutes before 3:00 PM. After collecting the books she needed to take home, she walked outside with Luke, Pam, and Molly. Pam and Molly walked away to the right towards their homes (their families were some of the first on the list for real houses, and so were some of the few to not live in one of the apartment buildings so far) while Luke walked with Abby to the left.

  “So are you going to be doing any of the school’s extra-curricular programs?” Luke asked.

  “What programs?” Abby asked.

  “Well, there’s gonna be some sports like basketball and soccer. But they have some artistic clubs you can join too, like music, art class, and dancing.”

  “Dancing?!” Abby said excitedly.

  “You like dancing?” Luke asked.

  “I love it! I’m definitely gonna do that!”

  “That’s perfect! I’m gonna do dancing too.”

  “Really?”

  “Yup. My parents made me do a lot of extra-curricular things when I used to be in school, like dancing, piano, and soccer. I haven’t so much as seen a piano since The Crisis started, and zombies aren’t too crazy about soccer, but I’ve never stopped dancing.”

  “When does it start?”

  “Wednesday.”

  “Cool. I can’t wait!”

  “So it’s a date, then?” Luke said, and Abby laughed. She was about to reply when suddenly she spotted Zach.

  “There’s my dad,” she said, nodding her head towards Zach.

  “Oh, wow. He looks…tough,” Luke said. He thought ‘scary’ would be a more accurate word, but was worried that might hurt Abby’s feelings.

  “That’s just his shell. He’s a big softie at heart, I make sure of that,” Abby replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Luke!” she said before turning and making her way quickly over to Zach.

  Zach had arrived at Abby’s school just a few minutes after coming over straight from work. At one point while he waited, he suddenly remembered how terrible he must look and smell from spending all day outside and working up a sweat. He hoped that Abby would not be embarrassed. She was pretty mature for her age, but was still a teenager, and thus could be unpredictable.

  He saw kids start to flow out of the school at 3:00 PM and soon spotted Abby. She was walking with a boy who looked tall for his age; he looked to be about as tall as Zach. She was clutching a few books to her chest as she walked and seemed entirely absorbed with her conversation with the boy. The boy said something that made Abby laugh loudly and Zach smiled. It almost brought a tear to his eye to see her so happy.

  She suddenly spotted him and her big grey eyes lit up. She appeared to say a quick good-bye to her friend and then hurried over to Zach.

  “Hey, Bug. Did you have a good first day?” Zach asked.

  “It was a blast! I made some new friends, and Diane is such a cool teacher!” Abby said, but as she finally got right up next to Zach, she wrinkled her nose and said, “So is there a water shortage or did you decide that showers are lame?”

  Zach laughed and said, “Hey, I’ve been working hard all day, little lady.”

  “Well, maybe now you should work hard at finding a shower,” she replied. “Oh, and guess what! The school is going to be offering a dance team! They start on Wednesday!”

  “That’s awesome, kid! I bet you’ll have a lot of fun with that,” Zach replied.

  “Yeah, and Luke will be there too.”

  “Who’s Luke?”

  “My friend. He’s the one who told me about it just now.”

  “He’s that boy you were walking with?” Zach asked and Abby nodded her head. “So…he’s just your friend?” Zach asked in a teasing manner.

  Abby stuck her tongue out and said, “Yes, he’s just my friend.”

  Zach smiled and said, “Very well.” Once they got home, Abby grabbed a piece of fruit from the kitchen before sitting on the couch and doing her homework. Zach told her that he would help her if she needed him to after his shower.

  Wednesday couldn’t come fast enough for Abby, and she was positively giddy when she showed up for the first day of practice wearing pink wind-p
ants and a black t-shirt. It was being held in the school’s currently empty auditorium, which was a little smaller than a basketball court. She was the first one there, arriving just a couple of minutes after Mrs. Wilkes. Mrs. Wilkes was a middle-aged woman who ran the dance team, volunteering for the spot because she had once been a professional dancer.

  “Hello! I assume you’re here for the dance team?” Mrs. Wilkes asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m Abby.”

  “Nice to meet you, Abby. You’re the first one to show up, but I’m sure everyone else will be along soon.”

  Within five minutes or so, the rest of the team had showed up: a total of eight girls and three boys (Luke included), all within the ages of eleven and sixteen. Once everyone was assembled, Mrs. Wilkes introduced herself and had the kids do the same. Then she explained that this dance team would be a mash-up of different dance styles, everything from modern pop-rock to ballet. Practice would be held on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and would last for an hour and a half.

  They started practice slowly as Mrs. Wilkes wanted to gauge the amount of talent she was working with. Surprisingly, most of the kids had extensive prior experience and displayed a deft grasp of the different dance styles. But by far, her best pupils were Abby and Luke. Both of them performed flawlessly in the dances that they were used to and learned new dances as if they had known them their whole lives. By the end of the ninety-minute practice session, the two of them had been unanimously voted as the team’s captains.

  All of the dancers on the team quickly became friends with each other, but everyone seemed especially enamored with Abby. This was not unusual. Abby had an irresistible personality, and could make friends anywhere she went. Luke especially seemed to enjoy being around her, and Abby found herself increasingly enjoying his company. The two of them, along with most of the other dancers, would frequently get together on their off days and practice on their own. And of course Abby would practice by herself at home.

  Thusly went the rest of the week for Zach and Abby. Abby thought she would die from happiness at how her life was shaping up now, especially with the advent of having a real school, being able to dance, and hanging out with Luke. Zach was also very happy with how things were turning out for him and Abby, though he did not show it as blatantly as she did.