The game ended and I saw Paul yawn. I grinned when he deliberately tried to widen his eyes to stay awake longer.
"Come on, little buddy. It's time for bed.” I raised my voice to include the other kids. “The rest of you also need to get in bed. We have another big day tomorrow." Eric and Beverly looked up from playing with our puppy. Little Jack was already asleep, and the rest would soon join him.
I sighed, watching as Jean's kids changed into their pajamas, along with my own children. They were very reserved towards me and it was my own fault. Too many issues demanded my time, and I hadn't been around a lot these last few days. I vowed to change that. I had made plans for Sunday with Darin and his new family, a sweet fishing trip on Hess Lake, with just our families and a security team. I was seriously looking forward to it and the kids would have a blast. I needed it truthfully, we all did. Half the time it felt like my head was going to explode, or my heart. I wasn't sure which would be the first to quit. The constant death and sacrifice was really getting to me. In another time and place it would be considered depressing, but damn it to hell, I had a few people I trusted implicitly, and at least I had common sense. I didn't know everything either, but I did know the basics and I knew who to ask when I didn't know. We would make it. I would make damn sure of it.
I tucked each child in. Mine, and mine and mine, as they were all mine. I loved them all. Eric and Beverly I kissed on the forehead like always, and this time they hugged me. Woo, my heart pounded and I felt Jean's hand on my back stiffen, then clench. I knew it had made her happy. She was desperate for them to accept me. I vowed to make it so. The next family night I wouldn't allow Eric and Beverly to puppy out on me and the other children. We were all a family now and would always do things together. I made a decision, then and there, that the four older children would play together as brother and sister. Sure, it would take some time to make it work right but kids were resilient. I loved Jean and didn't want to lose her. I also loved our children and did not want any of them to become isolated or introverts.
"Night. I love all of you, and we are right here. You’re safe. Never forget that." I pulled Jean into our room after saying that. Children needed to know they were safe. Whether the reality was different did not intrude on their perspective of life. They needed the security of knowing Dad would protect them.
Jean and I stared at each other. Emotions ran rampant through my body as I slowly reached out to her. She came into my arms, and as I wrapped mine around her, I felt hers go around me, and I felt her tears on my chest.
"Look baby. I love you. I know I'm busy but I do. Hang in there. We're in an apocalypse."
She laughed softly against my chest and I knew everything was going to be OK.
"I love you more than life itself. Do you have any idea what I felt when Eric and Beverly hugged you?"
"Yeah, I think I do. Probably what I felt babe."
"There have been few men in my life since my husband, but none I've loved the way I love you, Jay."
"Thank you. I don't know what to say other than I love you also and I'm trying to do the right thing here."
"I know, yet I'm scared. I'm really scared. Not for me but for my kids and this new community you're building."
"Baby. I'm scared also. I'm actually terrified. How many mistakes will I make? How many people will I get killed? The list is endless. I'm scared for our children. I'm doing the best I know how and it's our community not my community."
"Hush. You're doing a great job," she whispered to me. Strangely enough, I felt comforted. God, I loved this woman. My hands moved down her sides as I lay half on top of her. Yeah, we had fallen to the bed, and I just can't help myself most times, as my hands have minds of their own. I heard her sharp intake of breath, and then her lips fastened on mine. Nirvana was my thought as I savored her essence. I needed her as I needed life itself. My mind went white as my hands moved of their own accord. Slowly I pushed the straps of her halter-top off her shoulders. My fingers were taking their time and I delighted in each second of her presence. I tugged downward, bounce, and those breasts popped free. Wow. Every time I saw them, I was impressed. My head descended and gently I licked each nipple while watching them harden, taking my time and enjoying her and them. Then I buried my head between them and blew a raspberry. I felt and heard her giggle. That was what I needed. I needed to shake her out of her mood. Christ, we were all scared shitless and needed fun where and when we could get it. I started humping her leg and her giggles turned to laughter and she grabbed me tightly, squeezing the breath out of me. Her smile was dazzling as we kissed again tenderly.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"Just doing my job, Ma'am."
"Well, get to work and do it better. I'm getting cold with slobber between my breasts.”
What more encouragement does a man need anyways, I thought as I shucked out of my clothes quickly then started on hers.
*****
DAY 8: 2200 ET FRIDAY NOVEMBER 11TH
Doctor Lynch strode into the communications room with its twenty consoles and stopped behind the one occupied by the raven-haired beauty he had spent time with the other night. He saw her stiffen when she noticed his presence and he smiled sadistically. Perhaps she needed another lesson on her belly, he thought. Her ass had been very tight and he felt himself stirring as he remembered her muffled screams and small fists digging into the bed sheets.
"Raise Don," he commanded as he rested a hand on her shoulder. He immediately felt her tremble and he hardened further. Yes, he would have her again tonight.
"Yes sir." Her voice was half muffled from the microphone she wore but it was still lovely. Her fingers played over her keyboard then touched several points on her screen and Don's visage appeared, looking back at him. Lynch ripped the headset off the girl’s head roughly and held the earpiece next to his own ear.
"Yes Doctor."
"Give me an update. Are you near this small town where your girlfriend lives?"
"Ex-girlfriend, and yes, we are actually on a small island on Hess Lake which is nearby. We are monitoring their activities. They have somebody gifted that has already hacked our cellular and satellite nodes. I'm trying to figure out who it is."
"Military or civilian?"
"If I knew that, Doctor, I wouldn't be trying to figure out who it is." Don's face scowled out from the screen.
"I could care less about your girlfriend, Don. I need you in other areas. Surely she can wait! I have a missing Ranger and Air Task Force missing from Detroit."
"What happened? Did your pets fail?"
Now it was the doctor’s turn to scowl, and he glared at the smile on Don's face.
"Not completely but yes. They also took out four of our F-15's. I'm not happy about that. I'm still not sure what happened. That's why I need you over there."
"If they can take out four F-15's then I'm going nowhere near them. Find someone else for that suicide mission."
They glared at each other for a minute before Doctor Lynch continued. "Why is she so important?"
Don looked at him then away while grunting. "I can't put my finger on it sir, but trust me, Newaygo is important, even more so than Jean. I feel it and I'm almost never wrong. We should address this now before they’re stronger."
"The same response as Fort Hunter?"
"Nothing that drastic, besides, I'm not sure it would work with them. They have Badgers. We caught their radar signature before it blended into background noise."
"Badgers? Animals?"
"No, damnit. Just top of the line, state-of-the-art long range mobile missile defense systems. Best of the best that just came out, and they have, I think, a full company of them, which is three for apex defense. They're protected. You would not get a missile within two hundred clicks of them before it's taken out."
Doctor Lynch pondered that thoughtfully. This wasn't exactly good news, but it wasn't like he needed Michigan anyways. Let them build their own petty little kingdom. He would ignore them.
"I'm ordering you back, Don. Go to Detroit and figure that situation out." He saw Don grimace at him, then nod off to the side. Immediately static creased the screen and his features blurred.
"What's that sir? You're breaking up. I missed what you said. Come again please." Then his visage blinked out.
"Get him back, girl!" Doctor Lynch hissed. The technician frantically hit her keys, then repeated her actions to no avail.
"I'm sorry, sir, we are not connecting with them. It's possible there is satellite interference."
"Satellite my ass, he's deliberately ignoring my wishes." Doctor Lynch was pissed and he took it out on the first person he could, the girl. "Call your replacement. Meet me in my chambers in ten minutes. Don't be late!" He threw the headset down before her and left.
"Yes sir," he vaguely heard her frightened whisper.
*****
Chapter 5
DAY 9: 0730 ET FRIDAY NOVEMBER 11TH
Josh Ederer looked up as he finished his current weld, the gasoline-powered MIG welder chugging behind him in the junkyard’s main parking lot. His short-cropped red hair was brilliant in the morning sun as he flipped his welding helmet up, exposing a pale freckled face. He frowned critically as he examined the latest welds, then glanced over at the large globular cage he had already welded around the cab of the huge tracked bulldozer. The cage, roughly six feet in diameter, was formed of three-eighth's inch rebar and was welded in a crosshatch pattern every two to three inches. It would take a small damn zombie to get its hand through that, and you could stack a thousand of the fuckers on it without denting iron that thick.
Right now he was finishing the door to the second ‘engine of destruction’ as he had started calling them. Caterpillar D10s were huge and unstoppable. You could slide a stack of six flattened cars across the yard with one, which is exactly what they had originally been used for. Now they were modified for the zombpocalypse. Using a torch, Josh had cut off the back and sides of the cab while removing the glass. Then he, James, and Pete had bent the rebar taken from the construction yard next door into a globular framework.
"Bend those edges over a little more, Jim," Josh pointed the glowing nozzle at the end where he was finishing up.
"James, damn it! You know I hate being called Jim." A short-cropped, sandy haired, younger and slimmer version of the redhead bent over the bender, leaning into it with his weight, forcing a bit more bend in the hard metal.
"Shut up, douche bag, and just do it. I don't have time to beat your ass silly again." Josh bent back over the concave oval he was building as his brother continued bending the bar until Josh nodded in approval. This needed to be close enough to perfect so it fit tightly and swung open easily. There had been too many narrow escapes in the last week to leave anything to chance. Nodding his head, Josh flipped his helmet down and set another weld, then started running a thick molten bead along the entire circumference.
He and Pete Herkenham had had four days leave from Camp Pendleton, and the two of them had been staying with James. Josh's girlfriend Alayna, whom he had been seeing since before he joined the Marines, had introduced a girlfriend of hers to Pete the day they arrived. A sweet redhead named Beverly. Pete fell in love, or lust, instantly. She was short, with slightly thick hips and a set of tits on her that made her look top-heavy. When you added the pouty red lips and a splatter of freckles across her cheeks, she was dynamite.
The four of them were still drunk on the second day of Armageddon or zombpocalypse, as Josh and Pete were calling it. Insistent thumping against the door to his little brother's apartment had woken him. Then a splitting headache and half-shut eyes had nearly cost him his life, if not for Pete, who had also woken, and came up behind him with a baseball bat ready to punish those foolish enough to wake them after a night of heavy drinking and fucking. The opening door had slammed Josh backward, and three really fucked up and dead-looking motherfuckers had stumbled in, dripping blood all over the place with outstretched arms reaching for him. Lying on his back, he was witness to Pete taking them out with three well-placed swings to their heads. After a brief look outside showed total chaos, they got the urge to crouch behind closed doors, tossing the bodies outside and bolting the door again.
That had woken both of them up for sure, headaches forgotten, and within a short time they were dressed and getting a handle on the situation. Alayna and Beverly were also up, dressed and flipping through TV channels while looking for any source of news. Within hours, the apartment complex had been overrun but Josh, Pete, and the girls had managed to get to a junkyard two miles away at the end of the street and had closed its huge gates. Along the way, they’d picked up James and his girlfriend Sophia from her apartment just down the road. Sophia was a nurse in training and had her own place separate from her boyfriend’s in order to study without interruptions.
Over the next five days they saved a great many survivors, mostly women and children. It was during one of these many rescues that Josh had come up with his current idea and as ideas go it was quite a bit brighter than most.
As originally constructed, the D10 bulldozer was an awesome beast with unstoppable power and a huge blade that could be lifted high in the air then slammed to the ground in seconds. The cab, however, was tiny. It only had room for one, unless a second person sat in the driver’s lap. After losing a mother who could not hold onto the blade long enough to get her to safety, Josh had had enough and fashioned a globe around the cockpit after cutting most of the cab framework away. Now each could probably hold six or eight people, possibly more, and he was anxious to test them out. Josh, Pete, and James were still broken up about the unknown woman they had lost yesterday. Tied to the top of the blade, James had been quick enough to grab the child, but not the mother as the once human beasts dragged her away, screaming. Josh knew more survivors needed rescuing, and as an active duty Marine that was his core responsibility right now.
"Where's Pete? We'll need him in a minute," Josh called out again as he lowered the nozzle and surveyed his work.
"Last I saw, on top of Alayna, but I can check to see if he's done."
Josh glared at his younger brother, seeing the impish grin appear on James’ face. No doubt this was payback for the douchebag comment. He sighed. "Yeah, go get him. I want to get this in place and weld the hinges on."
James was back within a minute, Pete pretending to pull his pants up, a huge smile lighting his face. Shit! Obviously, James had told Pete about the Alayna comment and Pete was playing along. Beverly would find it hilarious anyways.
"You're both fucking mental. Now grab this thing and hold it in place while I weld the hinges on." Laughter greeted him as the two men lifted the heavy iron door, struggling as they held it tightly against the round opening in the cage work. With deft hands and a steady stream of molten fire, Josh quickly welded two hinges on the metal framework and its door, securing it in place, then a latch on the other side to lock it. He shut the welder off and rolled the hose up.
"Alright guys, let's go test them. What are the girls up to? Are they standing guard?"
"Yeah. There are six of the women on top of the cars ready to take out anything that tries to climb over the fence, and our girls are with them." Pete replied, grinning at Josh.
"Well, get our guns, we'll need them as the doors roll open."
The zombies no longer clustered in front of the door. Several days ago Josh had driven the yard crane to the front and, using its huge five-yard scoop, he’d simply swung it back and forth just outside the rolling gate, crushing them by the dozens. After two days of that and several hundred crushed zombies later, the fuckers had stopped trying to push up against the entrance. He had read many zombie books while bored on guard duty, and hated it when zombies got smart on you. It was simply not natural.
Right now, they needed more guns and a lot more ammunition. They had raided the homes behind the junkyard for food and had come up with a nice collection of hunting rifles, along with a decent supply of ammunition.
That ammunition was almost gone though. Four days of shooting had put a serious dent in it. His plan was to go into town and acquire more. Currently they were on the eastern outskirts of Howell along Grand River Avenue, not in, but within sight of town. Just inside past the subdivisions and south on 155 was the B & B Gun Shop. It would not surprise him if Billy himself were there taking potshots at these fuckers.
Billy was a high school friend he used to hang out with before joining the Marine Corps. On many a drunken night they’d put a load of buckshot through mailboxes on the outskirts of town. Josh knew that Billy had his Class 3 firearms license and a nice little collection of fully automatic weapons, and Josh wanted to get his hands on those babies.
"Let's roll, boys!" he shouted as he fired up the first diesel bulldozer. James swung in with him and fastened the second strap around his waist, checking to make sure Josh's was securely fastened. Last night they had fastened counter-weighted sling straps on pulleys that would allow them to swing out to grab someone if they needed to, and would provide an assist in leaping back. This was important as the tracks on these monsters were nothing to fuck around with, and would tear you up in a heartbeat. Therefore, a welded platform above the cleats, extra hand holds and swing straps completed the engine of destruction.
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