Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny

by Achord, David

  “Really?” she asked incredulously. I nodded. “But we’ve seen them frozen solid and then come back to life when they thaw out.”

  I shrugged. “It doesn’t mean they enjoy freezing. It might also mean they’re searching for food. They’re thinking again, not at an advanced level, at least not yet, but they’re thinking.” I watched as she moved a pawn forward instead of moving her knight out of danger. I momentarily debated whether or not to cut her some slack before taking it with my bishop.

  “Shit,” she muttered under her breath. “So, if they’re thinking again, are they going to come back?”

  It was a good question. “I don’t know, but I’d say it’s possible, especially if they’re looking for new food sources.” I watched in mild amusement as she advanced another pawn.

  “Why’d you do that?” I asked.

  “To try to – I’m not sure. To keep your bishop from moving, I think. Was it wrong?”

  “I’ll mate in three moves. Do you see it?” Kelly furrowed her brow and stared at the chessboard for a full five minutes.

  “Okay, I think I do,” she finally said.

  “Play it out then.” I watched as she started moving the pieces.

  “What are we going to do when they come back?” she asked as she moved my queen to the final position and looked up at me, wondering if she had done it correctly. I nodded approvingly.

  “If you’re referring to the zombies, since there are just the two of us, whenever we encounter large numbers, we’re going to avoid them and run in the opposite direction. We don’t have the strength of numbers, nor do we have enough ammunition.” I instantly thought about my escapade at the veterinary clinic and chose not to tell her about it.

  “In the meantime, we’re going to have to use what’s left of the cold weather to our advantage.”

  “How so?”

  “We’re going to do as much exploring and scavenging as we possibly can. When it warms up, we’ll probably have to start restricting our travels and stay close to the farm.” She frowned.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Oh, I agree, but I hate going into strange houses. We always see the same things: family pets that’ve starved to death, people who’ve killed themselves, and zombies of course.” She paused a moment and I thought she was going to tear up. “I wish we had a dog or a cat,” she said sadly and looked at me. “What about everyone at the school?”

  “Honestly? I’m leery of them.”

  “I guess it’s just the two of us then,” she said. Her tone was matter-of-fact, but I knew what she was thinking.

  “You want more social interaction.”

  “I suppose,” she said with a sigh. “I mean, yes. I’m not a loner, Zach. I like being around other people.”

  I nodded in understanding. Humans were social creatures after all. I was the same way at one time and wondered at what specific point did I stop wanting to be around other people. Those two frumpy psychologists would have a heyday exploring the issue I bet. I reached across the chess board and caressed her hand.

  “I think the roads are clear enough to drive on. How about this, after we feed all of the critters in the morning, we take a ride. Maybe see if we can find Bo and Penny.” Her eyes lit up.

  “That’d be nice,” she said with a smile. “I’d love to see Rhonda and her kids too,” she added.

  I nodded slowly before responding. “Yeah, I’d like to as well, but I’m not so sure how Tonya will greet us.” Kelly’s smile left her, but she didn’t protest. I reset the chessboard.

  “There’s only one way to find out I suppose, we’ll go over there tomorrow and test the waters, alright?” Kelly's smile returned.

  "I think that'd be nice." She got up and went into the kitchen, returning a moment later with a glass of water.

  “You didn’t say anything about the Marines. Do you really think Colonel Coltrane and his people will come back?” I nodded.

  “In one respect, I hope they’re far, far away. That would negate them coming back to look for me.”

  “And me,” Kelly added. I shook my head.

  “They think they killed everyone else, including you. So, if they come back, it’ll either be to take me prisoner again, or kill me outright. We have to be cautious.” I may be immune, but I sincerely doubted they’d let me live after everything that had happened, and if they found out about Kelly, it was possible they’d kill her merely on general principle.

  She nodded thoughtfully as she mulled over what I said and looked at me.

  “If they’re far away, that means…”

  “That the chances of ever seeing my kids again are pretty remote,” I finished. She nodded slightly. “Yeah. I think about it constantly, just in case you’re wondering.”

  “I know,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to bring it up, I’m sorry.”

  “”Don’t be,” I replied. “One day something is going to happen. I’ll have an epiphany, and I’ll figure out how to get my kids back.”

  “We’ll figure out how to get them back,” she admonished. I offered a smile.

  “You got that right. Alright,” I said, changing the subject. “Final game of the night. I’m going to be black and play without bishops. Let’s see how you do. Oh, let’s make a wager on it.”

  “What kind of wager?” she asked.

  “How about, the winner gets to have their way with the loser,” I said as I eyed her. This brought another smile to her face, which is what I was hoping for.

  Kelly drove, allowing me to keep watch and she slowed to a crawl as we neared the school. The fencing was supplemented with additional strands of barbed wire and it looked like they were starting to build a wall, which was a good sign. I directed her to stop when she turned in the entrance. The gate was standing open. So much for the reinforced fencing. Kelly pointed.

  “What is that?” I looked at what she was pointing at and nodded in understanding. They had found a large boiler somewhere and relocated it to the side of the building. There were various weld patches, pipes leading to and from it, and a large partially enclosed fire pit was under it. Fog was emanating from around the boiler and the smoke stack from the fire pit had a thick plume rising in the air.

  “Well I’ll be. It looks like they’ve put together a steam-powered heating system. Damn, that’s impressive,” I admitted.

  “Should we go in?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure. I would’ve thought they’d at least have a guard on duty,” I said, shaking my head in disapproval. Kelly suddenly gave a short gasp as the door to the bus suddenly opened and a man peered out.

  “I guess he’s the guard. Boy, nothing can get past him,” I quipped sarcastically and gave him a halfhearted wave. He nodded, stepped out of the bus and stretched. He was a rather homely looking man, perhaps in his early thirties but already starting to look older than his years. He sported a long beard with wisps of gray starting to peek out, and even longer hair of the same color scheme tied in a ponytail and sticking out of a farmer’s hat. My immediate thought was that I was going to get Kelly to give me a trim as soon as we got home. He was wearing a heavy canvas duster, which made it hard to judge his size, but I guessed him to be rather bony.

  “Good morning,” I said when he walked up to our truck.

  “Good morning,” he replied. “You two must be Zach and Kelly.” I nodded and stuck my hand out through the open window.

  “I’ve seen you before, but we’ve never officially met.” He offered his left hand, and when he did so, the rifle that was slung over his right shoulder slipped off and fell to the asphalt with a disturbing clank.

  “Gosh dang it,” he muttered, set the rifle against the door of my truck and then offered his hand again.

  “My name’s Floyd.” He gestured at his right hand, which was tucked into his jacket pocket. “Excuse the handshake, I injured my right arm a while back and it doesn’t work so good anymore.”

  “How’s everything going, Floyd?”

  “Not t
oo bad,” he said and looked around before continuing in a lower voice. “Tonya is a slave driver, but I must admit, we’ve made some really good improvements around here. Are you guys coming to visit?”

  I paused a moment before answering. “Kelly really wants to see Rhonda. But, I think given the current situation with Tonya, I’ll hang outside here with you.” Floyd grunted.

  “Yeah, I’ve heard the story. Tonya is pretty opinionated, that’s for sure.” He looked back at the school. “How about this, I’ll go check with her and see what she has to say.”

  “Well, I appreciate that, Floyd.”

  “Sure, I’ll be right back.” We watched in silence as he walked into the school.

  “What?” Kelly asked. “You’ve got that look of scorn on your face.”

  “He left his guard post,” I said disdainfully and pointed at the open bus door. “Hell, he even left his rifle. They should have some means of the guard being able to communicate with people inside the school. They either don’t have it set up or Floyd was just looking for a reason to get out of the cold.” Kelly snickered.

  “I take it you don’t approve.”

  “You got that right,” I said contemptuously. “Remember Terry relentlessly tutoring Tommy and Joe about a guard’s general orders? The first general order is to never leave your post until you’re properly relieved.”

  “Yeah, I remember that. He’s probably turning over in his grave right now.”

  “Yep.”

  Our conversation was cut short when one of the front entry doors swung open. Marc came jogging out as fast as his stubby little legs would allow him.

  “Hi, you two,” he said exuberantly. His hair had gone without a trim as well and he was even sporting a full beard. We got out of the truck and Marc insisted on hugging each of us. Ward came outside at about that time and insisted on joining in.

  “How’ve you two been?” I asked.

  “It’s been okay, Zach. It’s been cold as everything, but we’ve been okay.” I nodded in understanding. Our conversation was interrupted by Tonya walking out of the front door. The docs’ mood changed abruptly, as if they’d been caught doing something wrong. Tonya and I eyed each other. Her hair was almost fully gray now, I guess she didn’t bother with coloring it anymore, and it was cut in a short butch style. I actually think she’d gained weight since the last time I’d seen her, which was not easy to do nowadays. She stared for another second or two before speaking.

  “What’s everyone doing standing out here in the cold? Come inside, for God’s sake.” She turned and walked back in without waiting for a reply. Kelly looked at me with a small, hopeful smile.

  “Well, if that wasn’t an invitation, I don’t know what is,” Marc said with a big grin and led us into the cafeteria, which was where everyone invariably congregated.

  “I’ve got a kettle of water on the stove and was going to fix everyone some hot tea. Would you two like some?” Ward asked.

  “It sounds good,” I responded. Kelly ignored him and ran to the far end of the cafeteria where Rhonda was. I watched as the two of them embraced. Rhonda’s hair was still the same strawberry blonde color but about an inch or two longer than the last time I saw her. Her weight was about the same, as was everyone else. I guess they were doing good, food wise.

  I looked over the others. Everyone looked about the same and there were two strangers sitting at the far end of the cafeteria chatting with Gus while Tonya sat across from them, her back to me. They appeared to be about my age, perhaps a year or two older. One of them eyed me curiously as he toyed with an empty coffee mug. They were probably telling them about me and I could only imagine what the two of them were saying. The other one barely glanced at me but instead had an intense interest in Kelly and ogled her shamelessly.

  I grabbed a chair and sat, watching them casually. It was difficult to believe my friends and family had been murdered while these people sat here in the comfort of this school in blissful ignorance. Marc pulled up a chair, sat, and patted my leg.

  “Damn, Zach, it’s so good to see the two of you. How’ve you been?” he asked.

  “I miss my kids, Marc,” I answered with equal quietness. My answer was guarded. I hoped that it would provoke some kind of informational response, but if Marc knew anything he was keeping a good poker face. I kept at it.

  “But otherwise, we’ve done okay. I’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of me when the weather warms up. Those people just about destroyed everything.” Ward hurried in with a tray of cups filled with steaming tea. I nodded in thanks and took a couple of sips before continuing.

  “You know, I’m somewhat surprised those goons didn’t pay you guys a visit as well.” Ward had distributed the tea and came back to sit with us. I watched them casually, but intensely as Marc repeated what I’d said. There was no outward reaction, but they also avoided making eye contact with me.

  The distant whistling of a tea kettle interrupted our conversation. Ward jumped up.

  “One day, I’ll find a big, two gallon kettle,” he said with a grin and hurried back into the kitchen. He came back a moment later with the kettle and held it up.

  “Who wants a refill?” he asked loudly. There was a chorus of responses. I nodded gratefully as he refilled my cup first. The tea bags were soggy now, but we reused them anyway. It was brackish and tasted like green tea about three years past the expiration date. As I took another sip, I looked up and saw Tonya standing. She purposely walked toward us and sat down on the other side of the table. Ward hurriedly placed a new teabag in her cup and poured hot water in.

  “Have any of you seen Bo or Penny?” I asked. They all shook their heads.

  “Ward and I went down to the horse farm just before the first snowfall,” Marc said. “But nobody was around.”

  “What about Johnny and his crew?” My question drew some sidelong looks. Johnny was friends with Chet. Unfortunately, Chet and several other people were killed when their tanker truck overturned and exploded during a fuel run. The ones who were left, Johnny and two of his friends, were an unlikeable sort and everyone generally avoided them.

  “I saw them driving down Franklin Road back in November,” Tonya said, “but I don’t think they’re living in that big old house anymore. They certainly didn’t bother to stop and chat.”

  “We went by there yesterday,” Marc said. “Nobody answered our knocks, but we didn’t go inside.”

  “There was a grave in the backyard,” Ward added. “We couldn’t tell how long it’d been there, but it wasn’t there in November.” I nodded in silence and sipped my tea, casually wondering which one of them had died.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” I said, looking at Tonya. “A while back, Benny loaned me a couple of books. I’ve got them in the truck and figured you’d like to have them back. I’ll bring them in before we leave.” Tonya was looking right at me when I said it, but she didn’t acknowledge it. Oh well, I’ll give the books to their guard, if he was awake. She broke her attention from me and looked down at the far end of the cafeteria where Kelly was. She was playing with the little girls and laughing happily.

  “It looks like they’re all happy to see each other,” she observed.

  “Those kids have really grown,” I commented, which of course made me start thinking about my children. Tonya stood abruptly.

  “Walk with me, Zach. I’d like to show you some of the improvements we’ve made.”

  “Sure.” I stood and followed her toward the kitchen. She pointed at one of the kitchen’s ovens.

  “That doesn’t look like a commercial gas oven,” I commented.

  “We yanked it out and I made a wood burning one out of scrap steel,” she said and continued pointing out things as we walked. They had indeed made several improvements. They had two latrines, male and female, which had been reworked for post-apocalyptic use, as were a lot of other small things, like sand buckets hanging on the wall every twenty feet or so, which I assumed were fire buckets. They had heavy tarps hanging
over windows for blackout purposes. There were even candle holders here and there with crayons stuck in them.

  “Those things burn just like candles and we have hundreds of them,” she commented. We eventually made our way outside. Tonya pointed out a new greenhouse and chicken coop.

  “We finished those before all of the snow and then we got this.” She walked over to the boiler.

  “As you can see, we diverted the creek over here so we have a water source close by. The boiler converts water to steam which serves to heat the entire school. I have plans of making it a power source as well.”

  “Very impressive,” I said and meant it.

  “We’ve still a long way to go, but I think you have to admit we’ve made considerable progress. I’d like to have running water throughout. Perhaps this summer we can make it happen.” I nodded in understanding. She went on to explain how they found the boiler and the effort it took to load it up and haul it back.

  “I’d like to make a few more modifications, but I think we’ve done a decent job. What do you think?” she asked and eyed me expectantly.

  “I must agree. You guys have done a lot.” She nodded at the compliment and turned back toward the boiler. I watched her as she checked the gauges, clucked her tongue and opened the firebox door.

  “That damned Floyd let the temperature drop again,” she quipped stiffly as she threw in a couple of logs. She shut the door, rubbed her hands together, and continued to stare at the firebox. I withheld comment about the stack of unseasoned, green wood lying on the ground nearby. Tonya turned toward me.

  “It’s time the two of us talked, don’t you think?” she said. I eyed her suspiciously. She was right. We needed to clear the air. Whether or not it ended with me cutting her throat was still undecided. She had a revolver holstered on her waist, but I was sure if she tried to go for it I could get to her first. She turned toward me, casually but deliberately.

  “I still hold you responsible for my little brother’s death,” she declared.

  “Yes, I know.” I made steady eye contact in an attempt to figure out what she was thinking, but she was showing no emotion. I decided to stir the pot a little.