His Name Was Zach

by Peter Martuneac

  “Colossus,” Zach replied immediately. Abby smiled as she filled in the letters. “So how was your dance practice?” he asked as he walked into the kitchen to get some water.

  “It was good, but guess what? Apparently our dance team is going to be putting on a public performance next week, on my birthday!”

  “Really? That soon?” Zach asked.

  “Well, we’ve been practicing for it for a while now,” Abby replied as she sat up. “I was going to keep it as a surprise for you, but they’re starting to put up fliers for it, so I figured I might as well tell you.”

  “Oh, I see. So your birthday is on the third, so that makes it…seven days away,” Zach said, sounding disappointed as he did a quick count of the days. This expedition might make him miss her performance, he realized. “Damn,” he muttered.

  Abby frowned and said, “Hey, come on. No swearing.”

  “Sorry, I just…I’ve got some bad news, Bug,” Zach said as he sat down on the floor next to Abby.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Well, I saw Mayor Calvin today. He told me about this settlement that’s nearby, not far to the east, and they were overrun by zombies this morning. There are only eight survivors and they won’t last long on their own, so fourteen men of the Town Guard and I are going to go find them and bring them back to Little America. We leave tomorrow at 0500.”

  “Oh,” Abby said quietly. She didn’t look much affected by this news, but Zach could see the bitter disappointment in her silver eyes. “How long will you be gone?” she asked.

  “It depends on a lot of things. I’d say anywhere from six to ten days. So…I might miss your birthday and your performance.”

  “Yeah,” Abby said, looking down at her lap. Though she did not voice them, her thoughts were asking the same questions that Amber did. Why Zach? Why now? He just got here! Is having some time together here undisturbed too much to ask for? She was also afraid of what might happen to Zach out in the Wild. What if this expedition got overrun too? Or what if they got captured by a war band? What if they got lost or ran out of supplies? Abby would never be able to forgive herself if something bad happened to Zach while she was safe and sound and far away. She thought about asking Zach to not go, but decided against it.

  “Those people are in trouble,” she thought to herself. “Helping them is the right thing to do, and Zach is definitely the best man for the job.”

  “I’m sorry, kid,” Zach said when Abby had not replied for some time.

  “It’s okay, I understand,” she said. “But you better be careful, okay? You don’t have my permission to try anything that will get you hurt or…worse.”

  Zach smiled, hugged her, and said, “Don’t you worry, little lady. I’ll be fine. And while I’m gone, Amber will be checking up on you daily to make sure you have everything you need.”

  “Okay, sounds good.”

  There was a knock on the door and Zach went to go answer it. It was Ross.

  “Hey Zach. Did you get the word?”

  “About the expedition? Yeah, I’m going too.”

  “Fuck us, right?”

  “Bad word,” Abby called from the couch.

  “Sorry, Abby! Well, I guess I’ll let you get ready then. I just wanted to see if you knew about it. Diane’s not happy at all.”

  “Can’t say I blame her. But we’ll be alright.”

  Ross chuckled and said, “If that woman had a nickel for every time I’ve told her that in the last hour…” He left the joke unfinished as he turned around and walked back down the hallway.

  Zach closed the door and then went about making dinner for him and Abby: spaghetti and hash. They ate in relative silence, both of them dreading the rising sun to come. After they finished their meal and cleaned up their dishes, Zach went about packing his gear. He dumped out his bug-out bag and then repacked it with only the bare essentials. He stuffed five extra rifle mags into his ruck, three extra pistol mags, his map and compass, his GPS and extra batteries, and a few other miscellaneous items.

  He opened a drawer in his dresser and retrieved his picture of his wife. He stared at her beautiful features for several seconds, and a faint smile creased his lips. He then folded it and slid it back into the shoulder pocket of his camouflage utilities, just like he had carried it when he had been traveling along the Mississippi River. Finished with his packing, he set his pack and his weapons down by the front door just as another knock came. This time it was Amber, and she had a bottle of wine she bought on her way home from work.

  Zach, Abby, and Amber spent the next few hours just sitting in the living room, talking amongst each other and enjoying each other’s company. Zach and Amber had a couple glasses of wine, and Abby had asked if she could try some, but Zach was adamantly against that.

  Both Abby and Amber wanted to spend as much time with Zach as possible before he left in the morning, but they knew that he would need to get to sleep early that night. So Amber left at around nine o’clock that night, kissing Zach and trying to be optimistic when she told him she would see him in a couple weeks. She was able to hold back the tears this time, but her eyes still glistened with wetness.

  Zach gave Amber his key to the apartment so that she could come and go if she needed to, then closed the door behind her. Zach then took a quick shower but before going to his room, he knocked on Abby’s closed door, waited for her to say ‘come in’, and then opened the door. She was already lying in her bed with the lights turned off.

  “Hey Abby. Just saying goodnight.”

  “You’ll wake me up before you leave, right?”

  “Of course. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Okay. Goodnight, Zach.”

  “Goodnight, Bug.”

  Zach closed the door again and then went into his own bedroom. He pulled his shirt and jeans off and then turned the light off and climbed into bed. He lay on top of the sheets in the dark, fingering his dog tag chain. He rubbed his wife’s wedding ring between his thumb and forefinger as he tried to fall asleep. And, amazingly, within minutes he did.

  But sleep came much harder for Abby. She twisted this way and that, pulled the sheets up to her neck then kicked them off entirely. Now that she was alone in the quiet darkness of her room, her fears of what could happen to Zach took a more tangible form and filled her mind with hellish images. She cried softly to herself, unable to bear the thought of losing Zach after so many years together.

  She remembered a time long ago, when she was just twelve years old, when she had almost lost Zach for the first time. A zombie had almost bitten him on a hunting trip, so the very next day Zach started giving Abby survival lessons, in case she ever found herself having to survive without him.

  Abby lay on her stomach with her hair pulled back and the tip of her tongue sticking out at the corner of her mouth. She was holding Zach’s rifle and was aiming down the optic at a row of five tin cans set up about one hundred meters away. She sighted in on the first one and then pulled the trigger. The shot missed by a wide margin. Abby frowned.

  “Don’t jerk the trigger, Bug,” Zach said. He was lying down next to her, teaching her how to have a proper shooting form. “Squeeze it slowly. The shot should almost come as a surprise. Build a better base, too. Dig in with the toes of your right foot, and make sure to keep it aligned with your right shoulder. That way, the recoil of the rifle travels all the way down your back and leg, making it kick less.”

  Abby twisted her foot, trying to get better purchase for her boot in the soft ground, and then glanced back to make sure her leg was on line with her shoulder. She sighted in on the first tin can again, but this time she slowly squeezed the trigger like Zach had told her to do. This time, the round she fired almost hit the can.

  “Better,” said Zach. “But this time, take a breath and then blow it out slowly, and then squeeze the trigger.”

  Abby took Zach’s advice again and fired a third round at the tin can. This time, she hit it. Abby smiled and chirped, �
�I did it! Look, Zach!”

  “I saw. Great job, Abby!”

  Abby sighted in on the second can, and then knocked that one down too. And then the third, the fourth, and the fifth cans went down, all of them with just one shot. Zach congratulated her and then ran down to set the cans up again, though he set them up closer this time, at about seventy-five meters. He came back and told Abby she was going to shoot from the kneeling this time. He quickly taught her how to shoot properly from the knee, and then she got down to practice what she had just been taught.

  She surprised Zach this time, and actually did very well from this position, missing only once. Zach once again ran down to collect the cans and then set them up about fifty meters away from Abby. Now she was going to shoot from the standing, which as Zach explained was a little more difficult. She did well again, for a beginner, and was able to knock down all the cans, but she missed each one at least once.

  “That’s enough for now. You did really well,” Zach said as he took his rifle back, ejected the empty mag, and put a fresh one in. “I wish we had more ammo so you could practice more, but we’ll just have to make do. Now come on, let’s do some pistol shooting.”

  He led Abby closer to the knocked over cans. This time, he only set three up and then had Abby stand about fifteen feet away. “Make sure you square up to your target,” he told her. “Hold the pistol in both hands, bend your elbows a bit, and lean forward. Like this.” He showed her the correct shooting stance and then handed the pistol to Abby and said, “Now you try.”

  Abby followed the instructions that Zach gave her and then squeezed off a round, but the kick of the handgun was much more violent than she was expecting and the round went wild. She looked up at Zach and frowned.

  “Sorry, kid. It’s a .45, it’s gonna kick. You’re just gonna have to get used to it,” Zach said.

  Abby licked her lips and tried again. She missed the second time, and then again the third time. Finally, she hit the can with the fourth round. She then fired at the second can, missed, but then hit it on the second shot. She aimed at the third can, and her seventh and last round in the mag missed again. She frowned, upset that she had left one can standing.

  “It’s okay, Abby. You did well for your first time,” Zach said as he reloaded his pistol and slid it into his thigh holster. “Hopefully we can find some more ammunition next time we go scavenging and a pistol for you to have for yourself.”

  “Okay,” Abby said, and then she and Zach walked the short distance back towards their cabin, which he had left unlocked because they were not going far away. Zach had found a combination lock once, and had set up their door so that he could lock it from the outside with the combination lock while they were both gone. They also had made wooden shutters for the windows that could be barred from the inside, like the door. And, as a last resort, he and Abby had made a trapdoor in the floor and dug an escape tunnel that led out into the trees all around the cabin.

  Once they were safely back inside, Zach started teaching Abby hand-to-hand fighting. He started with the basics: punches, kicks, elbows, and knees. He held a pillow up against his body during the lesson so that Abby could get used to hitting as hard as she could without hurting Zach.

  She was a fast learner, and Zach was a little surprised with how hard she could hit, and her kicks were especially powerful. All those years of dancing must have given her deceptively strong muscles, he thought. They had also made her very flexible, which she proved by almost being able to kick Zach’s head. At one point, once she felt that she had gotten the round kick down to an art form, she decided to improvise a little. So as Zach held the pillow up for her, she spun the opposite way this time, hitting him with the heel of her foot. He laughed and told her that that was a very good technique, and devastating if it connected.

  Zach called it a day after about an hour of practice and then went about making dinner for both of them. They shared a large can of baked beans and some bread from a whole loaf they had found the other day. While they were eating, Abby asked, “So you’ll be teaching me all this fighting and survival stuff from now on?”

  “Yup. Every day,” Zach responded.

  “Can we still dance?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Okay, good.”

  They were silent again, and then Abby said, “So you think that one day I’ll have to survive on my own? Without you?”

  “I sure hope not, Abby. But you need to know how to just in case.”

  Abby paused and then said, “I don’t ever want to lose you, Dad.”

  Zach was about to bring a spoonful of beans into his mouth, but stopped halfway, his spoon still in the air. Dad? Had she just called him…Dad? He looked at Abby, but she had continued eating as if nothing had happened.

  “I don’t want to lose you, either…daughter,” Zach said, looking at Abby for a reaction. But once again, she looked as if this way of addressing each other was entirely normal and not new at all. Zach smiled slightly, wondering what he did to deserve having Abby in his life.

  Zach awoke to the sound of his watch alarm at 0430. He turned it off, but lay in bed for another minute. He knew what had to be done, but he hated to be leaving Abby and Amber.

  He slowly rolled out of bed and got dressed in his old A-TACS utilities and his travel-worn boots. He then left his bedroom and carefully opened the door into Abby’s room. She was sound asleep, lying on her back, but she looked like she had been tossing and turning all night, as evidenced by her tangled sheets. Zach gently sat down on her bed next to her, and looked at her for a moment. Her hair looked messy from a restless night, and one of the legs of her pajama pants had slid up to her knee, probably from rolling over multiple times in her sleep. But she still looked so calm and at peace, like an angel. Zach hated to wake her up, but knew that he could not afford to delay for much longer.

  “Abby, wake up,” he whispered as he gently shook her arm. Her eyes flicked open, looking confused at first, but then she remembered why she was being woken up so early and her face took on a sorrowful expression.

  “You leaving?” she asked in a tired voice.

  “Afraid so,” Zach answered.

  “Please be safe, Dad. I need to see you again.”

  “I will, honey. I promise.”

  “Pinky-promise?”

  “Pinky-promise.”

  Abby got up to her knees, kissed Zach on the cheek, and then hugged him. “I love you so much, Zach. You’ve been the best dad a girl could dream of.”

  Zach kissed her temple as he embraced Abby and said, “I love you too, Abigail. You’re an amazing daughter and you’ve made my life so wonderful.”

  Abby hopped out of bed and then followed Zach into the living room. She sat down on the armrest of the couch and watched as Zach prepared to leave. He threw his ruck on his shoulders, slid his pistol into his thigh holster, and then grabbed his rifle. He opened the door, took a step out, but turned back to look at Abby.

  She still sat on the armrest of the couch with her ankles crossed. Her hair was still messy from sleeping and her tired eyes were only half open. She looked sad, but Zach could see that unquenchable fire of hope behind her silver eyes. She was afraid of what the future would hold for Zach, but her unbreakable hope held her back from despair. She truly was a beautiful person inside and out.

  Abby saw Zach’s eyes and could read what was in them. She didn’t want him to worry about her or her happiness while he was gone, so she gave him a tiny, closed-mouth smile, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear as she did so. He grinned at her in return, the same grin that he wore in their picture together, and Abby almost laughed. Then Zach closed the door and was gone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Abby trudged slowly inter her classroom twenty minutes before eight o’clock, just like always, though there was noticeably less spring in her step than was usual. She was the first one from her class to show up, so she just sat down in her chair and put her head down on the desk. She had not been able to
go to sleep until it was well after midnight, and had once again been unable to sleep after Zach had left, so she was feeling very tired.

  “Hi Abby!”

  Abby looked up, and despite her disappointment regarding Zach’s expedition, she managed a slight smile when she saw who came into the room.

  “Hey Luke,” she said.

  “You look tired. Long night?”

  “You might say that,” Abby said, tracing invisible lines on her desk with her finger.

  Luke looked at her with concern as he sat down next to her and said, “Is everything okay, Abby?”

  She smiled weakly and said, “Yeah, everything’s fine. My dad is just gonna be gone for a while. He had to go on a search and rescue mission out into the Wild.”

  “Oh, my dad told me about that. I’m sorry, that must be hard for you.”

  “Yeah, kinda. I mean, I’m worried about him, but I know that Zach can handle himself.”

  “Um, if you don’t mind my asking, why do you call your dad by his first name sometimes?”

  “Well, he’s not actually my dad.”

  “Oh. Adopted?”

  “Technically. When I was twelve years old and the outbreaks were just starting, Zach saved me from a pack of zombies. He’s taken care of me ever since.”

  “Where were your parents?”

  “Gone. Mom was murdered the week before Zach found me, and I never knew my real father.”

  “Oh, God. I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “It’s okay. That was a long time ago. A lot of bad stuff has happened to us, but we’ve put it all behind us.”

  More students were arriving by now, as well as Diane, so Abby and Luke started to get their things ready for the day. Diane walked over to Abby and said, “Did you say goodbye to Zach this morning?”

  “Yeah. Ross had to go too, I heard,” Abby answered.

  “He did. I miss him already.”

  “Me too, but they’ll be alright. Zach and Ross are tough.”

  “That they are,” Diane said, smiling as she walked back to the front of the classroom.