Zombie Rules (Book 5): Mount Weather

by David Achord

  They got a standing applause when they walked into the cafeteria. There was a lot of congratulatory conversation, and it was decided to have an impromptu party in the dorm room at twenty hundred hours.

  Certain residents of Mount Weather, that is, kids and anyone under the age of forty, were not invited. When Kelly and I arrived, there were already several jugs of homemade wine being passed around. It was going to be one of those parties. It was fine with me. Everyone was in a good mood, even Priss, who I noticed was wearing her usual ensemble and had freshly shaven legs.

  Heck, I even helped myself to a glass of wine. Before it got too loud, Justin emitted a loud whistle. Everyone became quiet. Justin nodded to Sergeant Crumby. The sergeant was holding an urn. He held it out and raised his glass with the other hand.

  “This is for Grip, a damn good Marine.” Everyone raised their glass in salute.

  A little later in the evening, the weed came out. It was a stoner’s heaven, and soon the dorm was full of smoke. I didn’t partake, but my lovely wife loved the stuff. To my surprise, I saw her and Priss smoking a bong together.

  “So, what do you think is next, Zach?” Joker asked. He’d gone around asking everyone the same question and he eventually got to me.

  “Like Justin said, voluntary vaccinations for now, but eventually everyone will be required to get it,” I said. “Well, except for me.”

  He put his arm around my shoulder and hugged me tightly. “Man, if this shit works, you’ll be like a god around here.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that,” I said.

  He hugged me again and then lowered his voice. “Hey, man, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “Uh, well, I’ve kind of been seeing Maria on the sly,” he said. “And I want to take it to the next level.”

  “You’re going to propose?” I asked.

  Joker laughed. “No man. I want to get with her, you know what I’m saying?”

  He spotted Maria at the other end of the room. She was talking with Melvin and Savannah. When he caught her attention, he blew a kiss at her. Maria pretended not to notice, but I could see her struggling to hide a smile.

  “I don’t know, Joker, she’s pretty conservative,” I said. “And traditional.”

  “Man, I really like her.”

  “Have you gotten to know her brother and father?”

  “No, man. Jorge I can handle, but the old man looks at me like he’d like to sneak up on me one night and cut my throat. I bet he was Mexican Mafia or something back in the day.”

  I chuckled. That sounded like Josue.

  “I don’t know, Joker. When it comes to women, I’m not all that smart, but I think Maria isn’t the type to jump in the sack with you unless she’s in love with you and she’s sure you’re in love with her.”

  Joker frowned and took a large gulp of wine. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m going to have to properly court her, ain’t I?”

  “Yep, probably so,” I said with a grin. He spotted Cutter and Stretch and wandered over to them.

  Justin walked up to me and gave me a fist bump.

  “Still feeling okay?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I have a headache, but it might be from all of this smoke.”

  I laughed. “Okay. I have another question. Somehow, none of these people have any kind of work duties until tomorrow afternoon. Did you have something to do with that?”

  He grinned. “I called in a favor. They owed it to me.”

  He nodded over to a group of his Marines. “They need this. They’ve been underappreciated for so long they were all ready to bug out. Especially after Grip died.”

  “You got that right,” somebody said.

  I turned toward the voice to see Sergeant Crumby who had walked up behind us. He gave us each a fist bump.

  Justin focused back on me. “The Sarge here is going to keep an eye on our boys. I’m going to sneak out of here and spend some time with my wife.” He paused for a moment and then suddenly gave me a hug.

  “I’m glad we’re friends, Zach,” he said and walked out before it got all gushy.

  “He’s a good man,” Crumby said.

  “Yeah, I believe you’re right.”

  I mingled around, talking with everyone before I started yawning. I looked at my watch and realized it was a couple of hours past my normal bedtime. I spotted Kelly, still sitting in the same chair. There were others around her now. All of them were laughing and carrying on. I walked over, trying to figure out how to subtly get her out of here so I could go to bed.

  Kelly saw me and motioned me closer with a finger. When I bent over, she put her arms around my neck and whispered in my ear.

  “I am so fucking horny,” she drawled out and punctuated it by briefly sucking on my earlobe.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I whispered back.

  As I was helping her out of the chair, I noticed Priss smiling at me. She’d never done that before, which was weird.

  We said our goodbyes and made our way down the hall.

  “Where are we going?” Kelly asked as she grabbed my butt and giggled.

  It was a good question. It was difficult to get frisky in our room with the kids so close, and Janet was babysitting as well. Also, there were surveillance cameras almost everywhere…the key word being almost.

  “I know where we can go,” I said and grabbed Kelly’s hand.

  We ended up in the tack room of the horse barn. I had barely gotten some blankets on the ground when Kelly jumped me. It’d been a long time since she’d been so aggressive and I reacted in kind. When we were finally spent, we lay there, sweating and breathing heavily.

  “I think all of that screaming scared the horses,” I said to her. She giggled.

  “I got hit on tonight,” she said.

  I scowled in darkness. “Oh, yeah, by who?”

  “Priss.”

  I turned to her. “No shit?”

  “Oh yeah. All she wanted to do was talk about sex. She first suggested she and I do it, then she suggested we have a three-way.”

  “Oh, hell no,” I said quickly.

  Kelly pulled me back on top of her. “You’re damn right, now fuck me,” she said huskily.

  Chapter 41 – Bluemont

  Fred frowned at the horse blankets lying on the ground. He had neatly stacked them the day before, and he was pretty sure Burt hadn’t thrown them down there.

  “Damn kids,” he muttered as he picked them up.

  He had gotten as far as feeding and brushing the horses when Burt walked into the barn.

  “There’s been a slight change in plans,” he informed him. Fred stopped what he was doing and looked at Burt questioningly.

  “Uh, well, it goes like this. My wife insists on going with us.”

  “I’ll get another horse ready,” Fred said.

  “Yeah, about that. She also insists on taking a motor vehicle. She’s wanting to take some supplies to them. They haven’t gotten themselves sorted out yet.”

  “Alright,” Fred said.

  “I got a nice Chevy crew cab we can ride in,” Burt said. “I bought it a few months before it all went bad, so it’s still in good shape.”

  Fred gave Burt a micro. “Sounds good.”

  “Oh, and there’s something else,” Burt said. Fred waited. “There’s somebody else who wants to go with us.”

  Burt motioned toward the open barn doors. As Fred watched, Sarah walked in. And she wasn’t alone.

  Rachel waved cheerfully as the four of them exited the main gate.

  “You kids have fun!” she yelled as they drove by.

  “Is she always like that?” Burt asked Sarah, who was sitting in the backseat along with Fred and Senator Esther Polacek.

  “I’m afraid so,” she replied.

  They’d driven only a couple of miles down 601 before Fred spoke.

  “They didn’t have a problem with you tagging along, I take it.”

/>   “Who? Fosswell and Stark?” she asked. Fred nodded. “Rachel’s going to tell them in about an hour.”

  “She certainly didn’t seem to mind,” he said.

  “She encouraged me to go.”

  Fred glanced at her. Sarah responded with a shrug and a slight smile.

  The road from Mount Weather to Bluemont had been cleared over a year ago, and a lot of the potholes had even been filled in with asphalt. This resulted in a drive of approximately ten minutes.

  “It would’ve been a nice day for a horseback ride,” Burt remarked. His wife gave him a look.

  “Just saying,” he muttered.

  They continued on 601 past Bluemont proper for a mile and then turned right onto a long driveway. The house was a large modern two-story rambler. As the house came into view, Burt slammed on the breaks.

  “Oh, dear God,” Anne exclaimed.

  The house was surrounded by zombies. Fred did a quick count and estimated there were at least thirty of them of various sizes and genders.

  “It’s a good thing we’re loaded for bear,” Burt said as he put the truck in park. Anne had two rifles resting barrel down between her legs. She handed one to her husband without being asked and took the other one for herself. Fred noticed it was a Winchester model 9422 lever action rifle.

  “We can’t shoot at them without taking a chance of hitting the house,” Burt said.

  Fred opened the back door. “No problem. I’m going to draw them away. Be ready.”

  “That’s too dangerous,” Sarah warned.

  He gestured at the M4 she was holding. “Not if you cover me.”

  He hopped out of the truck before she could argue and began jogging toward an open field to the left of the house. As he did so, he drew his pistol and fired six times in rapid succession. Six of the zombies dropped immediately.

  The others turned toward the sound of gunfire. Fred stopped and calmly reloaded. Most of them were drawn toward Fred now and started making their way toward him. Two more ran ahead of the pack. Fred palmed the hammer and fired, but as he fired the second shot, he heard a gunshot to his right. Anne was out of the truck and had been running toward Fred, but stopped to shoot. She cycled the lever and jogged over to Fred.

  “You’re going to need a hand,” she explained and shot three rapid-fire shots, dropping three more. Fred paused only long enough to arch an eyebrow before refocusing.

  Burt and Sarah stuck their rifles out of the open windows and joined in. Fred watched Anne out of the corner of his eye. She’d only take a second to aim, fired, and worked the lever in a fluid motion. All of her shots were headshots. It was over within minutes.

  “Ain’t she something?” Burt said with a grin as he walked up.

  “That was some fine shooting,” Fred admitted.

  “My daddy taught me,” Anne said, blushing slightly.

  As they stood there admiring their work, there was a sound of the front door being opened. They all watched as Jim Hassburg emerged, a handgun at his side. Upon recognition, he holstered his weapon and waved.

  “Good morning, Congressman,” Burt said as the four of them picked their way through the corpses and joined Jim on the front porch.

  “I think I’d rather be simply known as Jim from now on,” he replied as fist bumped Burt. The rest did the same as others emerged from the house.

  There was Jim’s wife, Linda, and their two adult daughters, Cynthia and Caroline. Sensing it was now safe to exit the truck, Senator Polacek opened the door, stepped out.

  “Hello, Senator,” Linda greeted with as much cordiality as she could manage. Burt and Tom nodded to her.

  “Where in the world did they come from?” Esther asked. “I thought the Marines had killed them all.”

  “The cities, probably,” Sarah said. “They start migrating when they run out of food sources.”

  “Well, that’s totally unacceptable,” Esther said.

  Fred saw one of Jim’s daughters roll her eyes.

  “And you wanted to ride horses up here, smack dab into the middle of all of those things,” Anne said with a reproachful look to her husband. Burt acted like there was something interesting in the sky to look at.

  “I’m glad you came along when you did,” Jim said. “We have a few guns, but we weren’t quite sure how to deal with them. I guess it’s something we need to work out.”

  “What are we going to do with this mess?” Esther asked nobody in particular.

  Burt gave a sour expression. “What the senator means is what are we going to do with this mess while she watches and does nothing.”

  The two daughters laughed while the senator scowled at him.

  “Well, there’s no time like the present,” Burt said, looked over at a nearby barn and pointed. “You got a trailer parked in there?”

  They did indeed have a trailer, along with several canvas work gloves. Fred, Burt, Sarah, and Jim’s daughters had the arduous task of removing the bodies, which they took down the road to the repurposed dumpsters. They had to kill four more zombies who, for some reason, were drawn to the dumpsters.

  “I didn’t think they could smell any worse,” Caroline commented as the first few started to crackle and burn.

  “You get used to it, sort of,” Burt replied.

  Sarah scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

  They ate dinner in the dining room, all formal settings with expensive china and fancy silverware.

  “May as well use it,” Jim said. He had taken venison and an assortment of vegetables and made an appetizing meal out of the confection. He got several compliments, even from Esther.

  “How are things going around here?” Burt asked.

  Jim shrugged. “None of the water pipes have busted, Parvis made sure of that. We don’t have electricity yet, but Parvis seems to think he can get the powerlines repaired before it gets cold. Even so, we have a generator.”

  “That you hardly use,” Cynthia said.

  “Don’t be cynical,” her mother chided.

  Cynthia responded by smiling sweetly.

  “Fuel usage is a concern,” Jim explained. “Plus, at the moment, we only have one generator. If it breaks down…” he finished the sentence with a shrug. “So, we use it sparingly. I had it on for the oven and stove, and I’ll fire it up again after dinner so we can have hot water for showers.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” Anne said and looked at the women. “How are you gals doing?”

  “Well…” Caroline started to say but was cut off by Senator Polacek.

  “We are suffering from a terrible injustice,” she declared. She then stared pointedly at Sarah and Fred.

  “Ever since the Tennessee contingent arrived, the dynamic at Mount Weather has taken a destructive downward track.”

  “Now, Esther,” Linda chided. “These people came to visit out of the goodness of their hearts; they don’t want to hear criticisms.”

  “I do,” Sarah said. “Please, tell me, Senator, how have my friends from Tennessee caused all of the issues Mount Weather is currently going through?”

  Esther made a display of a frowning. “Let me refresh your memory, young lady; we had a democratic process in place, and then you people show up and stirred things up. Why, on the first day, Zach brutally assaulted two of our children.”

  Burt saw Fred frown and explained. “The two children she’s referring to are grown adults. Zach caught them breaking into his trailer. He took a switch to them.” Burt cackled. “Those two Cranston idiots had a hard time sitting for a week.”

  Fred gave a micro and then stared pointedly at Esther. “Sounds like they got what was coming to them,” he said.

  “Perhaps you weren’t paying attention, Mister McCoy; we had a democratic process in place. People don’t go off willy-nilly and administer their own justice.”

  “That’s twice I heard you say that,” Sarah said. Esther looked at her. “Democratic process, you’ve said it twice.”

  “Yes,” Esther replied. “The representati
ves of the country, that would be people like Jim and myself, address issues, discuss, vote, and come to a resolution that is for the betterment of all.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was led to believe the congressmen and senators from Tennessee are dead,” Sarah said.

  “That would be correct,” Jim said.

  “So, when Tennessee residents arrived at Mount Weather, why wasn’t one of them appointed as a state representative or senator?” Sarah asked as she looked pointedly at Esther, whose lips were pressed together.

  “Hell, for that matter, there is no representative from Oklahoma, so why was I not appointed? I’ll tell you why, because it would have diminished your perceived power base.” Sarah shook her head and continued.

  “You’ve got it wrong, Senator; you people caused this and it had been brewing for a while. The president’s death acted as an impetus to the upheaval, us new arrivals had nothing to do with it.”

  There was a long moment of silence before Jim cleared his throat.

  “Well, now, that is certainly an interesting perspective of the Mount Weather events. Why don’t I get the generator going again and everyone can enjoy a hot shower?”

  The rest of the evening was spent with everyone taking turns with the showers before Jim shut the generator off for the night. The house had five bedrooms and Fred was assigned one of them. After showering, he wrapped himself in a towel and went immediately to his room. It was hot and stuffy and he broke out in a sweat immediately. He opened the windows and was hit with a soft breeze. It felt good and he stood there letting it wash over him. He heard the door softly open and close behind him. Turning, he saw Sarah.

  “Do you really think I’m going to share a room with the esteemed senator?” she asked. She dropped her bag and walked over to him. She was wearing a pair of shorts, a T-shirt, and nothing else.

  “I’m not sure Rachel would approve,” Fred said.

  “Rachel is the one who encouraged it, remember?” she reminded him as she stared at him deeply. “I’ve missed you.”