“I don’t know, Zach,” she said. “I mean, all you have right now is a gut feeling, but nothing concrete.”
“True, and that’s why I want to find out the truth.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she asked.
“I didn’t want you to slip up and say something unintentionally,” I explained. “Tonya would figure it out in a second.”
“You underestimate me, Zach,” she said with a huff. I agreed by snuggling closer to her.
“You’re right, I do underestimate you.”
“I’m glad you’re finally seeing that.” There was a smugness in her tone which caused me to chuckle.
“I should have seen it sooner. There are a lot of things I should have seen sooner.” I kissed her for emphasis. It seemed to have the right effect.
“So, what do you want me to do?” she asked.
“I think Rhonda may be the key,” I said. “She’s a good-hearted person. Like you. When you think the time is right, ask her about it. I think she’ll tell you the truth.”
“Mmm, I’m not so sure,” she responded.
“Why do you say that?”
“After talking with her, I’ve found out she and Tonya have become quite close. Since her little brother and daughter-in-law are dead, Rhonda has become somewhat of a surrogate daughter to her. I think I’d have a better shot with Floyd.” I frowned.
“Why do you say that?”
“You’ve seen the way he’s been ogling me.” In fact, I had. I’d debated on whether or not to have a little talk with him about it, but decided it was harmless and ignored it.
“So, you’re suggesting that if you do a little flirting with Floyd he’ll tell you all of his secrets?” I asked. Kelly chuckled.
“Yep, men are like that.”
She made a good point.
Chapter 6 – Strangers
I had no idea who they were, but they were sitting in the middle of Murfreesboro Pike near an old abandoned amphitheater. We’d apparently spotted each other at the same time because the driver reacted the exact same way I did, he stopped and waited. Kelly was in the passenger seat, eyeing them with a compact pair of binoculars.
We were well into the first week of March and were still waking up to cold mornings. Although we had a warm spell toward the end of February which gave most of the roads a good thaw, it was cold this morning. The thermometer read twenty degrees when I fed the cows, so Kelly and I opted to take advantage and go on a scavenging mission. Rule number five, the cold slows them down, still held true.
“Interesting,” Kelly remarked. I glanced over.
“How so?”
“They’re SUV is clean and even looks like it has a fresh coat of wax. He’s got some oversize tires on it too. I bet it’s a four-wheel-drive.”
“Okay, how about the people?”
“I only see two of them, a man and a woman.” She continued staring. “I’d say they’re in their twenties, and maybe Hispanic.” She dropped the binoculars and frowned. “Or maybe something else, I’m not sure.” I grunted in acknowledgement. They were about two hundred yards from us, well within range.
“Is either of them pointing a rifle at us?” I asked. I already knew the answer, but I wanted her to start thinking tactically under situations like this one.
“Nope, I don’t see any guns. The passenger is looking at us with binoculars. I don’t see their breaths, so they have the heater running and the windows rolled up.”
I nodded silently in surprised acknowledgement. That was something I hadn’t noticed and it was a pretty good observation. The fact that they had their windows closed meant they were limiting their sense of sound. Not a big deal back a few years ago, but now it was unwise. I looked at her in admiration. I probably should have praised her or something, but for some reason I didn’t.
“What do you want to do?” she asked. I put the truck into drive.
“We’re not here to make friends,” I said gruffly. “We’re going to avoid them and move on.” Kelly continued watching them as I turned down a side street into a subdivision. I made a series of turns, entered a driveway and cut across a couple of backyards.
“They started to follow us, but I don’t see them anymore,” she said. I gave a curt nod. Feeling confident we had lost them, I crisscrossed through various subdivisions and started looking for houses or businesses that might yield something of value.
“These neighborhoods are all beginning to look the same,” Kelly said and gestured around at the subdivision we were currently in. “It’s amazing how much things can change in just a couple of years.”
I agreed. The yards were no longer plush with thick fescue grass, they were mostly a mixture of weeds with lots of dead patches and the telltale signs of mole infestation. Broken tree limbs and trash was everywhere, windows were broken out, cars were wrecked or vandalized, and there were a lot of houses that were now nothing more than burned-out remains.
“How in the world did all of these houses burn down? Did people do it?” Kelly asked.
“People, a natural gas leak, lightning strike, it could have been anything.”
“Such a shame,” she murmured. I agreed with a silent nod.
We went through the routine all morning. Many of the homes had their front doors standing open. It was a good indicator they had already been searched. Nevertheless, we found a dead-end street where all of the houses appeared to be untouched. I pointed at the last house.
"Do you see how the driveway goes around to the back of the house and there's access to another street?" Kelly nodded. "That'll be our escape route if someone blocks the street."
“Okay.”
Kelly and I worked diligently clearing each house. Most were either vacant or contained only corpses. After three years, the foul stench of decomposition was only a faint whiff now, unless we walked into a house with zombies still inside.
It wasn’t until one of the last houses we entered that we encountered one. Actually, it was two, a man and a woman. They were trapped in a closet under the stairs and were easy to kill.
"I bet they've been stuck in that closet the whole time," Kelly opined and eyed them curiously.
“Oh, that’s so gross,” she blurted. “They’ve been eating off of each other.”
“Yep, I believe you’re right.”
It took her a second or two until the reality of it sunk in and she started gagging. I shooed her outside and finished searching the house. Unfortunately, there was nothing of value in this house. In fact, the rewards were very few. The only big treasure we found was a foot locker filled with some nice woodworking tools and a one pound plastic container of Folgers coffee.
“It’s still sealed,” I exclaimed when I showed it to her. “So, it should still be fresh, sort of.”
“Wonderful,” she said and then gestured at the tools. “Those must be old. Do you know how to use them?”
“I’m no expert, but I can learn.”
“Maybe we can learn together, right?”
“Of course.”
“Not a bad haul, huh?” Kelly asked.
“No, not bad at all,” I responded. In addition to the tools and coffee, we’d found some toothpaste, a package of dental floss, and a couple of boxes of baking soda.
“Are you glad I’m with you?” she asked.
“You mean here with me scavenging?” I asked.
“You usually only do this yourself.” I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her tight.
“Yes, I’m glad you’re with me.”
“No more Lone Ranger bullshit then?”
“No more Lone Ranger bullshit,” I agreed. She smiled and kissed me.
“Okay, Kemosabe, let’s drain some gas tanks and move on.”
“Where to?” she asked. I shrugged.
“I think we’re going to need to concentrate more in the rural areas and country farm houses. My gut tells me that’s going to be the best chances of finding ammo. We have to be careful though.”
“Okay, let’s do it,” she said with a smile.
We were able to siphon out somewhere around ten gallons from a couple of cars. Kelly poured in a bottle of Heet while I looked over a map and pointed out an area on Hobson Pike near the Wilson County line.
“This area is only a couple of miles away. I bet there’re some farms around.”
We exited the neighborhood and back onto a main road. We’d only traveled maybe twenty yards when Kelly gasped and pointed. The black SUV was stopped down the road, the two occupants sitting there staring at us.
“They’re starting to really irritate me,” I muttered. Kelly retrieved the binoculars from the console and looked them over.
“They have binoculars now. The dude is checking us out and the woman just waved at me.” Kelly suddenly inhaled. “He’s holding up a microphone.” I frowned before turning on our CB radio. I had no idea what channel they’d be on, so opted for nineteen. I made a show of holding up the microphone and pushed the talk button.
“Can you hear me?”
“Most definitely, man.” The response was in a thickly accented voice.
“Why are you following us?” I demanded.
“Perhaps it is you who is following us,” he responded in a cheerful, almost mocking voice. “Do you intend us harm?”
“If you think we’re following you, I’ll put your mind at rest right now. Goodbye.” I put the microphone back on the hook and drove away in the opposite direction. Kelly looked over her shoulder as I sped off, drove through some yards, and exited the subdivision on a back street.
“They’re following.” I glanced in the rearview mirror and felt my jaw muscles tightening. I sped up at about the time he spoke on the radio again.
“Please stop, señor. I was only kidding with you. We want to talk with you.”
I spotted a small knot of cars piled together at an intersection. The way they were all jammed together reminded me of an incident a couple of years ago when Rick and I were being followed. There was a gap between a few of the cars, but you had to zigzag through it at a slow speed. I drove through it, whipped the truck around and stopped about fifty yards away. I grabbed the microphone as I put the truck in park.
“If you want to talk, start talking, but if you come through that pile of cars you’re a dead man.”
I opened the truck door and stuck the muzzle of my rifle out. Kelly nervously followed my lead and did the same.
“I’ve got the front,” I said hurriedly. “Keep an eye on our six.” I watched her turn around out of the corner of my eye. Directing my attention to the pile of cars, I watched as the SUV quickly braked and stopped on the other side.
“Are you pointing a gun at us, man?” he asked over the radio in a somewhat annoyed tone. I grabbed the mike.
“I want you to answer my original question, why are you following us?”
“We only wanted to make new friends,” he said.
“You have a strange way of doing it,” I replied and continued before he had a chance to say anything else. “But it doesn’t matter. We’re not looking for friends, so turn around and drive away.”
There was no further chatter on the radio. After a long minute, he backed up and drove away. I got back in the truck and slammed the door. Those two had angered me. Kelly must have sensed my mood and was quiet now. The two of us rode in silence for a couple of miles before I stopped suddenly.
“Look,” I said, pointing at an older ranch style house with a large prefab metal building in the back.
“I bet there might be some goodies in there,” I said as I eased down the driveway.
We cleared the house and building in silence. Kelly was still unusually quiet, probably due to my outburst earlier, but I had better things to do at the moment than have a little group therapy session.
“Alright, let’s see what we can find,” I said. Kelly didn’t acknowledge, which made me start thinking maybe I’d said something critical toward her without even realizing it. I’d figure it out later.
Neither the house nor the shed yielded any ammunition or firearms, but apparently the homeowner, the gentlemen who had hung himself from a crossbeam in the shed, was an electrician. He had a little of everything relating to the field. I waved a hand at it all.
“I think we can use some of this stuff.” While I was looking over the equipment, Kelly pulled a tarp off of something and gasped. I walked over to what she’d discovered.
“I haven’t ever seen one of those in real life,” I said. It was a snowmobile. Snowmobiles were practically nonexistent in the south. After all, there was no need for them.
“I think it’s the first one I’ve ever seen too,” Kelly said.
“Not much use for them around here back before, but we can sure use one now. I hope it runs. Let’s start loading this stuff.”
We didn’t have room for everything, so I concentrated only on stuff I thought we could use to upgrade our power grid. After loading up the snowmobile, I checked my watch. Kelly looked at me, but didn’t say anything.
“Alright, we’ve been here thirty minutes,” I said. “That’s our limit, and the truck is full. What do you say we head home?” Kelly nodded in agreement and got in the truck.
I was normally the quiet one, I could listen for hours while Kelly would prattle on and on about everything under the sun, but when she was quiet it always meant something was wrong. I knew she wasn’t sick so that could only mean I’d done something. There was a time when I ignored her until she got it out of her system, but she’d grown on me lately, although I never admitted it.
“Is there something bothering you?” I finally asked. Her typical first response was nothing was wrong, but after a little bit of prodding, it came out.
“You know, it’d be nice if we had some friends,” she said a little testily. “I’m not saying those two are prime candidates, but still…” her voice trailed off at the end. I didn’t respond and thought about it as I drove. She was a social person, like all humans. I, on the other hand, had convinced lately convinced myself I didn’t need anyone, like Henry David Thoreau, the quintessential misanthrope. Well, I had myself mostly convinced. Besides, Thoreau had a secret craving for people to love and accept his literary works.
Okay, yeah, I really liked having Kelly with me. She was pretty, sexy, loved sex, and was pleasant company, and I was slowly coming to realize she was quite smart, but I damn sure didn’t need anyone else. I mean, who needed friends, right?
We turned into our driveway as the sun was disappearing beyond the horizon. It was getting dark enough to use the headlights as Kelly jumped out and unlocked the heavy steel gate. I drove through, stopped and waited as she locked it and jumped back into the truck. When I parked, we sat there in silence a moment.
“Those two seemed sketchy,” I finally said. She didn’t respond. “I mean, look at the way they made contact, it seemed strange to me.”
“Well, I’d say after you threatened to kill them we can pretty much write them off.” She got out of the truck and walked into the dark house before I had a chance to respond.
It was completely dark when I had everything unloaded. Kelly had the fire going and dinner ready. She and I ate a quiet dinner of ground chuck and mixed vegetables. We shared the same plate and beverage glass with candlelight for illumination. The lack of conversation continued.
“This is the last of the fresh meat,” I commented. “We have some smoked meat, but maybe I ought to butcher a cow tomorrow.” Kelly responded with an unintelligible mumble.
I knew this was the part of a relationship where I was supposed to communicate and work out an amicable solution, but I wasn’t sure I cared about any kind of an amicable solution. I mean, I didn’t need any friends, and neither did Kelly. She had me.
After dinner the two of us cleaned up the kitchen, mostly in continued silence.
“I’m going to check outside,” I muttered. I saw a slight nod, but that was the only acknowledgement. I made the last rounds, ensuring everything was
secure and there was no unknown threat, no hidden enemy lying in wait to attack us in the night. Locking the three deadbolts, I added some wood into the fireplace and watched as the flames took hold.
“Do you want to play some chess?” I asked. Kelly shook her head.
“I think I’d rather lie by the fire tonight, okay?”
“Sure,” I replied.
We brushed our teeth together, undressed, and got under the covers. In spite of the tension in the air, it seemed natural when we worked our bodies together into a spoon. I had my arm draped over her and she stroked it lovingly. I made several attempts to say something, but could get no further than a sigh. Kelly squeezed my arm.
“If you’ve got something to say, please just say it.”
“I’ve got trust issues,” I finally said. “I don’t know how much you remember, but it started with Macie’s boyfriend, Jason. He and his friends tried to ambush and kill me.”
“Julie told me about that. But, you killed them, right?”
“Yeah, they were stupid and didn't stand a chance, but Andie’s uncle, the captain, he came very close to killing me. Felix, my best friend at one time, turned on me. Colonel Coltrane abducted me, had everyone killed and kidnapped my children. And those people at the school, they act like I’m nothing more than a guest and seem to have totally forgotten I’m the one who came up with the original concept of the school and gave them a place to live.”
“I understand, Zach, but there’s something you’re not seeing.”
“What’s that?”
“We need to rebuild,” she said. She rolled around to where she was now facing me.
“Think about it. There’s only so much the two of us can do. Look at how much Tonya has accomplished with the group of people she has. A couple of psychologists, Floyd the crippled farmer, Rhonda was a nanny back in the day, she has no special skills. Gus, who knows what the hell he did, but it couldn’t have been anything special, right? So, with just a few ordinary people she’s accomplished wonders.” She gently reached out and stroked my face. “You did the same thing, you know. Back when everyone was still alive, you all accomplished a hell of a lot.”
Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny Page 5
