Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny

by Achord, David

  “You’re pretty damn strong,” Justin grudgingly said between breaths after the first hour. I grunted in acknowledgement, repositioned the saw for a new cut, and started again. When we finally had it cut up in two foot sections, we each sat on the ground catching our breaths and rubbing our arms.

  “I have a feeling I’m going to be sore as hell tomorrow,” he lamented. I chuckled and watched as he pulled his gloves off and inspected the blisters on his hands.

  “Yeah, me too,” I admitted and gestured at the cut up tree.

  “This tree fell back around December, so we’ll stack it in one of the woodsheds and let it season for a year.”

  “You let wood season a whole year?” he asked.

  “Yeah, you can burn it sooner, but it’s not as efficient. The bottom line is, you plan a year ahead on your firewood. Those knuckleheads at the school don’t seem to understand this.” I gestured at logs.

  “Okay, now we need to split them, that’ll let them dry out a little quicker.” We didn’t really need to, I could split them at a later time, but while I had the help I was going to get as much labor out of him as I could.

  “I try to get eight cords cut every spring,” I explained.

  “Always plan ahead, right?” Justin asked.

  “Yep.”

  We went at it for the next two hours. I finally relented and used one of the ATVs with the trailer to haul the wood back to the house. Justin admired my woodshed as we stacked.

  “Isn’t this fancy,” he commented.

  “Yeah, Fred built this one.”

  “I like it. He put a pitched roof on it to keep the water off and the floor is elevated and open so air can circulate.” I nodded.

  “And here I thought you were just a dumb Marine.” Justin gave me a look at that comment. I suppressed a smile and looked at my watch.

  “I think this is a good stopping point and we’ve got plenty of daylight left. I’ve been thinking about where you guys should live. My house is too small for all of us. You guys can stay at the homestead, or there’s another house nearby that could work, unless you’d rather go live at the school.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask, why didn’t you guys ever move in there with the rest of them?”

  “At first, I saw no reason to. We had a house and a working farm. The school was meant to be a place for people who had been displaced to relocate to. I probably would have moved in there after what your people did to us, but I don’t exactly get along with the woman who is running things over there.” He looked at me questioningly and I explained the whole incident with Anthony and the ensuing fallout with Tonya as we rode at an easy gait.

  “And this Anthony dude was Tonya’s little brother?” he asked. I replied with a nod. “Damn.” After a minute, he spoke again.

  “So, the radio, how come nobody broadcasts on it anymore?”

  “Two reasons; the main reason is the generator for the radio uses a lot of diesel fuel. In fact, those knuckleheads have broken it somehow. The second reason is it hasn’t worked out how I had originally hoped.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I had envisioned using radio broadcasts to reach out to wayward survivors and bring them together to form a community. If you know anything about history, societies were built around a geographic location which usually started with some type of commerce, like a trading post or a watering hole, for instance. But, most of the people who showed up were only looking for a free handout. The people at the school aren’t bad people, but after Fred killed Anthony, our relationship with Tonya soured.”

  I noticed Justin still bouncing up and down in the saddle and admonished him. “Your ass is going to be sore as hell tomorrow. You’ve got to learn to let your body move with the horse’s movements.” He grinned as I looked him over. He was sweating as much as I was, but my hair was all matted down.

  “It looks like you have a fresh haircut.”

  “Yeah, Ruth does a good job. Besides,” he said, gesturing at my ponytail. “A Marine can’t going around looking like a hippy, now can he?” He thought about what he said and frowned. “Male Marines, that is.”

  “Well, I’ve been meaning to cut it. Hair and beards are a plethora for bacteria if you can’t wash them every day.” Not that I wanted Kelly to shave her head.”

  “If you want, Ruth can give you a squared-away haircut, and a shave. She’s really good at it. She used to shave her dad.”

  “Yeah, sounds good.”

  “So, you’re done with the school?” he asked as he tried to mimic my riding posture.

  “I suppose so. A couple of days ago, Tonya informed me that the school was hers now and I had no say so in how they ran things.”

  “Well, I haven’t seen everything they have going on, but you guys have a pretty decent operation going. I’d say you don’t need them.”

  “I don’t, but Kelly is lonely. She’s a people person. Having the kids back is definitely going to help, but I think she needs more human contact.” I pointed as we made our way through the turnstile in the fence and gestured. “That’s the Allen’s house.” It looked like the gutters were full of leaves, but otherwise there didn’t appear to be any discernible damage.

  “The Parsons originally owned this house. They were the family who owned all of this property around here. The Riggins owned the other house. They were all related, Mrs. Riggins was the little sister of Old Man Parsons.”

  “Parsons?” he asked. I nodded. “Do you think the major is related to them?” Justin asked with a grin. I looked at him sourly.

  “I sincerely hope not. Anyway, they disappeared during the outbreak. Julie and I met a family named the Allens. They were good people and we moved them in, but they eventually relocated. The place seems to be in pretty good shape still, I winterized the place, so none of the plumbing is busted.”

  “Where’d they go?”

  “We’d encountered a group of soldiers from the Army. They informed us that they’d secured Fort Campbell and were relocating survivors. They worded it like it was an order and we had no choice in the matter. Me, being the smartass that I am, had a little bit of a heated conversation with their commanding officer. At first I thought he was an arrogant prick, but he actually turned out to be a pretty good guy. His name was Captain Jack Steen and his First Sergeant’s name was Santiago.” It suddenly occurred to me that I never learned Santiago’s first name.

  “Did you ever have contact with them?” I asked hopefully.

  Justin shook his head. “There were a few civilians living nearby when we arrived at Campbell. They said there used to be a large group of people living there, but there was some kind of riot, lots of people were killed, and the survivors packed up and left.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, well, the Allen family accepted their invitation. The rest of us stayed here. We met with Captain Steen once more about a month or two later. That was our last contact with any of them.”

  I thought about that last meeting. It was when Captain Steen informed me Howard had been killed, the result of an accidental shooting by one of his preteen sons. I wondered what had happened to them.

  I shook those thoughts away and gave Justin a walk-through of the house while we discussed life in general. We ended in the kitchen and took a seat at the table, a nice walnut veneer with a moderate layer of dust on it. I explained more about our interaction with the Fort Campbell soldiers.

  “That’s how I met Terry. He’d had some trouble up there so he came to live with us. He was a good dude,” I said quietly. “He was vague about his life before. I always wondered about that, but never pried.”

  “Well, as for me, I lived in a rundown house with my mom, aunt, uncle, and their three ugly kids,” Justin said with a sour expression. “I was thirteen when my dad left my mom, he decided he was going to make his fortune digging for gold in Alaska. He and my older brother took off with the promise they’d come back for me when they got settled, but I never saw either one of them again. The house was foreclosed
on, that’s how we ended up living with Uncle Butch. He was my mom’s older brother. He owned a seedy dive bar and mom was a bartender there, which suited her just fine because she was an alcoholic.” He looked out of the dirty window.

  “When I stepped off the bus and entered the wonderful world of Parris Island, the difference was like night and day. I’ve never had any desire to go back. It’s the same with Ruth. She’s said some things once or twice which makes me suspect her father molested her, but she hasn’t gone into any detail other than to say she’s never going back home either. I’ve no idea about Major Parsons.”

  “Well, it’s not an easy life around here, but it could be a lot worse.”

  “Yeah, it could be.” He looked at me. “Would you mind if we go visit the people at the school?”

  “Not at all,” I replied and stood up. “We’ve got plenty of daylight left. Let’s get back to the house and get cleaned up.” I stopped for a minute and held my finger up.

  “What?” Justin asked.

  “Oh, I just thought of the perfect revenge against Parsons.” Justin looked at me curiously. “I’m going to fix him up with Tonya.”

  Chapter 14 – Cutter and Shooter

  Everyone, well, the original group, were overjoyed to see my kids. Marc, Ward, Rhonda, Tonya, even Gus. And especially the little urchins. The newcomers looked on indifferently. Floyd wasn’t anywhere around.

  “Tonya, this is Major Grant Parsons, Corporal Ruth Bullington, and Sergeant Justin Smithson. They were a part of Colonel Coltrane’s Marines,” I said plainly.

  She cut her eyes at me with sudden suspicion, kind of like a dog that suspects you slipped some medicine into the bowl of Alpo. She pointed at Parsons.

  “I remember this one, I can’t say I’m pleased to see you people again,” she said sourly and then returned her stare in my direction. “Zach, I’m having a little issue with the boiler. Could you come look it over with me?” I figured something like this was going to happen, so I played along and followed her outside. When she was sure nobody else was around, she turned and faced me.

  “What’s going on, Zach?” she asked stiffly. “Aren’t these the same people who murdered everyone?”

  “Yes and no,” I replied. “It is my understanding when they received the original mission briefing from Colonel Coltrane, he emphasized nobody was to be harmed and to only fire in self-defense. They split up into three separate teams. Sergeant Smithson’s team is the group who snatched me.

  “All three claim they had nothing to do with the murders and were only following orders.” I was going to leave it at that, but she continued staring at me.

  “Yeah, well, I’m not so sure I believe them, and I can tell you the only thing keeping Parsons alive is because he’s a medical doctor and you know as well as I how badly we need him, although I wouldn’t tell him that.”

  “What’s his specialty, do you know?” she asked.

  “Pathology.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t kill them outright,” she quipped.

  “If I kill them outright at this point it’d be murder, no?” She frowned at me a long moment and took the opportunity to check the gauges on the boiler.

  “You have something in mind, I’m thinking,” she queried.

  “They’re looking for a place to live. I’ll let them tell you the story, but the short of it is, they left Fort Campbell and relocated to the CDC in Atlanta. The zombies massed together and overran the place. According to them, they narrowly escaped by the skin of their teeth. They made a group decision and felt the right thing to do was to bring my children back home.” She shook her head.

  “That’s very nice, but you have something else in mind.”

  “I’m only trying to help them out.” I didn’t, at least, not at this time, but if I did have something else in mind it was none of her business.

  “Are you trying to dump them off on me?” she asked pointedly. I shook my head.

  “It’s entirely up to you. I showed Justin the house the Allens used to live in, but he wanted to check you guys out first. It’s only a suggestion, but why don’t you talk to them, they might be able to fill a niche in your group, or you may decide you don’t want them. It’s up to you.” She didn’t comment, merely stared at me with folded arms, and then glanced at the gauges once more before the two of us went back inside.

  Everyone was in the cafeteria drinking tea or something and chatting. Little Frederick was playing with Rhonda’s girls and had an enormous shit-eating grin on his little cherubic face. Ward and Marc were chatting with the Marines. One of the men whom I had never met was trying in vain to chat with Kelly, but she was mostly ignoring him and chatting with Rhonda. I walked over and joined them.

  “Hi, Rhonda,” I said and gave her a hug. I then turned to the man who was obviously interested in Kelly. “I don’t believe we’ve ever met,” I said while extending my hand. “I’m Zach.”

  “Yeah,” he replied nonchalantly. His hand wasn’t baby smooth, but it wasn’t overly calloused either.

  “I’m Cutter. I’ve heard some things about you.” He released his flimsy grip and pointed at the scar on my cheek.

  “It looks like you’ve already been on the wrong end of a knife,” he said with a smirk. I looked at him curiously, wondering if he was posturing for Kelly’s benefit or was he just your average everyday prick with ears.

  “Yeah,” I responded.

  “How’d it happen? You smart off to the wrong person?” he asked while continuing to smirk. He probably expected it to embarrass me.

  “He was a piece of garbage who claimed to be Special Forces, but it turned out he was nothing more than a jailer who told a lot of lies. He got me good, but it was a fatal mistake for him.” Cutter’s smirk changed to a little bit of disbelief.

  “He’s dead?”

  “Not only is he dead, but all of his friends are dead too, and I set his house on fire to boot.” His buddy walked up before he could respond with some kind of stupid retort.

  “Yeah, you’re Zach,” he said without waiting to be introduced. “I’m Shooter.” He looked at me with one of those half-smiles that made you wonder if he knew something you didn’t. I shook his hand with as much pleasantness as I could muster. The two of them were obviously brothers. They were both about six feet tall, had the same average facial features, hazel eyes, and each had a slight dimple in their chin. They appeared to be in their mid-to-late twenties. The absurd nicknames convinced me they were both arrogant and stupid. I knew them for less than five minutes and already I didn’t like them.

  “Where did you guys come from?” I asked.

  “Until recently, we were living over on River Road,” Cutter said. Ah, I thought. I remembered what those two married travelers, Charlie and Mary, had said. We’d met them last March. They didn’t have any pleasant things to say about that group.

  “What happened? Did y’all get flooded out?”

  “Yeah,” Cutter replied and looked at me questioningly. “How did you know that?”

  “Easy enough to figure out,” I replied. “When the Wolf River dam gave way, everything close to the river flooded. So, where did the rest of your people go?”

  “Who cares,” Shooter said with a snort and walked off. I looked at Cutter who merely shrugged his shoulders. I wasn’t going to get any more out of them. Maybe Ward or Marc would know. Maybe I’d ask them about it later.

  “Well, it’s good to meet you,” I lied and looked over at Kelly, who had paused in conversation and now eyeing me amusingly. “Let’s plan on leaving in about thirty minutes,” I said to her. Before she could respond, Cutter piped up.

  “Damn dude, do you always boss her around like that?” he asked with feigned disapproval. I shrugged.

  “She’s her own boss and she knows it.” I gave Kelly a wink and walked over to where Marc and Ward were sitting. They were engaged in an animated conversation with the three Marines. Justin looked up as I pulled up a chair.

  “Your two frie
nds seem to think we’ve done you a terrible injustice,” he said with a frown.

  “You have,” I said and pointed at the major. “Especially him.” He started to reply, thought better of it, and instead pursed his lips.

  “But anyway, I’m done with it. Maybe we’ll talk about it some more at a later time. So, guys, these three are looking for a place to live.”

  “Yes, we are,” Ruth said. Marc and Ward frowned in unison. I could see them thinking it over and the contradictory feelings flashing across their faces.

  “Well, there is certainly room enough here,” Ward said cautiously.

  “But our food supply is tenuous,” Marc rejoined. “Maybe something could be worked out, we’d have to discuss it with Tonya, of course.”

  “Where’s Floyd?” I asked. Marc looked up.

  “What? Oh, he went hunting earlier.” He looked around indifferently. “I thought he’d be back by now. Maybe he has guard duty.”

  I didn’t see anyone guarding anything when we drove up, but that didn’t mean very much around here. We talked some more before Kelly walked over with the two kids in tow. “We need to go,” she said with an underlying sense of urgency. It seemed odd, but she didn’t have to tell me twice. I stood, picked the little guy up and gestured at the Marines.

  “Are you guys ready, or would you like to stay a while and get to know everyone?” I asked. Before anyone could reply, Kelly spoke up.

  “I think they should go with us.” I saw worry in her face now. “There might be a surprise waiting.” I had no idea what had her worked up, but she’d used our code word for duress. Something was definitely going on.

  “Okay, how about it guys?” I asked them. I guessed they sensed Kelly’s worry too, because they readily agreed. We bid everyone goodbye, which took about five minutes longer than was necessary and walked out to the truck.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Floyd’s missing,” she said.

  “Who’s Floyd?” Major Parsons asked. I ignored him and looked at Kelly.