Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny

by Achord, David

  “I think it would be best if you asked Ruth,” he finally said. “But I want to make something clear, if you decide she’s committed a wrong against you, I’m not going to stand around and do nothing if you try to hurt her.”

  “I suppose I understand that. I’m guessing you’ve grown fond of her,” I surmised. Justin nodded his head slowly.

  “We’ve been through a lot together.”

  The two of us stood there, continuing to stare at each other when I heard the back door to the house open and close. Ruth and Major Parsons saw us and walked over.

  “I guess we should be going,” Ruth said, oblivious to what was going on. “We have a lot of work to do. Oh,” she added with a grin. “Kelly said the kids need some Daddy attention.” That usually meant a diaper change was in order.

  “Alright, I guess I’ll see you guys later,” I said and continued staring at Justin as the three of them drove away.

  Just as I suspected, both kids had made very impressive boom-booms. Kelly and I had somewhat successfully potty-trained Little Frederick, but only when one of us was paying close attention. When we didn’t, he still felt the need to shit all over himself, so we still had him in diapers. I got them attended to and herded them back to the kitchen table where I pulled one of my notepads close. I had Macie on my lap this time while the little guy crawled around under the table.

  “What are you writing?” Kelly asked as she sat down across from me.

  “The major believes they may have formulated a vaccine derived from mine and the kids’ blood,” I said. “I want to jot down what he had to say about it before I forget.”

  “They found a cure?” Kelly asked incredulously.

  “Sort of, a vaccine, kind of like a flu shot I guess.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “I don’t know, but he seems sincere. He claims he tested it on himself just a few hours before the invasion. He doesn’t have any lab or equipment to monitor his progress, but he seems to be doing okay. He’s asked me to go to Atlanta with him and see if anyone is left alive at the CDC, and if there is, continue with the testing.”

  “Are you going to do it?” Kelly asked. I looked at her and could see she was a little worried.

  “Nope, there’s no way in hell I’m going to leave you and my kids,” I declared. She smiled in relief.

  I went back to my notepad and wrote for about twenty minutes. When I stopped, I looked down and saw little Macie asleep in my lap and Frederick wrapped around my leg chewing on my bootlace. I managed to get it out of his mouth and looked up to see Kelly still sitting across from me with her chin resting in her hands. I offered her a smile.

  “I guess you’re going to be outside doing chores all day again,” she said without smiling.

  “Yeah, that’s the plan. Why, what’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Zach, why do you think I’m perfectly fine with being cooped up in the house all day with the kids?” I thought about it for several seconds, attempting to come up with a clever reply. I came up empty.

  “I’m not sure what to say. The chores have to be done if we want to survive.”

  “Well then, how about you stay home today and let me ride around in the fresh air and sunshine?” She was messing with me now, she had to be.

  “Don’t you realize how hard I work every day?”

  “Oh? Are you implying I’m lazy?” Well, I stepped into that one.

  “Not at all,” I replied quickly. She stared at me pointedly. Seeing no logical way out of this, I threw up my hands in surrender.

  “Fine, be my guest.” She accepted gleefully. I waited for her to tell me she was kidding, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. So, I tried another tact and went over what had to be done. Unfazed, she responded with her own requirements of what housework she expected to complete.

  Agreeing to terms, I put Macie on the couch, tucked a blanket around her and wedged her in with the cushions so she wouldn’t roll off. Satisfied, I hoisted Frederick on my shoulders and walked outside.

  Kelly was already in the barn and waited expectantly as I loaded up the ATV with an abundance of tools, hoping it would dissuade her. It didn’t. She hopped on and started it with a smug grin. I pointed at the shotgun. She checked it and put the safety on before putting it back in the scabbard.

  “Alright, at the first sign of trouble, I want you to hightail it back here. And, check in with me on the walkie-talkie every thirty minutes, okay?” She nodded and kissed the two of us before hitting the throttle.

  I watched her ride off and sighed. “Alright, big guy, we’re going to muck the barn while Macie’s asleep.”

  It took much longer than normal, I kept getting distracted by my exuberant and overly curious son. He was getting into everything and at one point he decided to see what a horse apple tasted like before I could get to him. He scrunched up his face in disgust, causing me to chuckle.

  “I bet you never do that again, right?” He looked at me like he was thinking, don’t count on it, Dad.

  After that, I decided it would be best to stick with the indoor chores. Macie woke up and Frederick decided he wanted to rest his eyes, which made it a lot easier. She was a perfect angel and watched me quietly with her big blue eyes while I mopped the floors.

  She kept her promise and called me on the radio promptly at thirty minute intervals. She sounded like she was having fun, which of course irritated me. Nevertheless, I had no intention of not upholding my end of the bargain and worked diligently on the house cleaning. Promptly at five, Kelly called me with her walkie and advised she was on her way back.

  “Oh, and be advised I’m bringing company,” she said cryptically. I started and tried to get her to explain, but all she said was wait until she got home. She didn’t use any of our prearranged code words, which hopefully meant everything was okay. Even so, I armed myself and was standing by when she drove up.

  There was a military Humvee following her, but it was different from Justin’s. This one had a slightly different paint scheme and an auxiliary fuel tank jury rigged onto the back. When they got closer, I could make out three women, a child and a dog inside. Kelly led them up the driveway and parked.

  “Look what I found,” she said with a grin.

  “Who are they?” I whispered as they got out and stretched. The dog, a yellow Lab with oversized ears and paws, bounded out of the car and began running around the way excited dogs do, sniffing and finding things to piss on.

  “The older one says she knows Fred,” Kelly replied. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you.”

  “Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Zach.” Kelly pointed to each one as she introduced them. “This is Major Sarah Fowkes from the Air Force, Kate, Kyra, and Sam. Oh, and the dog is Callahan.” As soon as Kelly mentioned the dog’s name, his ears perked up before bounding over and checking me out.

  Ignoring the dog’s persistent sniffing of my nether regions, I peered closely at Major Fowkes. She was an attractive woman. Not someone who’d ever win a beauty contest, but the kind you’d see in a gym wearing next to nothing because she could and doing bicep curls with enough weight to cause you to do a double take. I could see why Fred liked her. I guessed her age maybe in her late thirties, although she could have been older. Her features were sharp and her brown hair looked like she had grabbed a handful, pulled it back in a fist and chopped the rest of it off. I got the impression she didn’t smile very often. She returned my stare steadily as she watched me giving her the once over.

  “Your name’s Sarah, right?” I asked. She nodded her head slowly at my recognition. “Fred told me about you.”

  “He had a lot to say about you as well,” she replied. “Where is he?”

  “He’s dead.” When I said it, her features darkened, but she quickly regained her composure.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “He was a good man.”

  “Yes, he was.” I continued staring at her. “Did you come all the way from Oklahoma to see him?” She responded with so
mething of a nod. It wasn’t going to be easy to get her to talk, that was obvious.

  “I would really like to hear all about it, but let’s get you guys settled in first.” I looked over at the other two women and the boy. He was obviously shy and clung to one of them tightly.

  “Okay,” I said. “I didn’t get which one of you is Kate and which one is Kyra.” One of them partially raised her hand.

  “I’m Kate,” she responded. She was the tall one, maybe five ten with a typical leanness of someone who’d been on the road a while with very little to eat, long dark dirty hair tied back in a ponytail. Kyra was an inch or two shorter, with the same colored hair, but she let hers flow in a jumbled mess. They both looked like they were in their mid-twenties, but it was hard to tell. The last couple of years had obviously been hard on them, as it had with all of us.

  “Are you two sisters?” I asked. They nodded at the same time. I then looked at the kid, a scrawny tow-headed boy with a pale, almost sickly complexion.

  “What’s your name, big guy?” I asked.

  “Sam,” he said in a quiet voice barely above a whisper.

  “Sam’s a little shy,” Kate said and put her arm around him. I looked at her and surreptitiously winked.

  “Sam, how old are you, fifteen? Sixteen?” I asked.

  “I’m ten,” he replied, a little louder now. I feigned surprise.

  “Ten? Dang, you’re big for your age.” He puffed up his chest a little at the compliment. I grinned and looked over at Kelly.

  “Why don’t you take them inside and get them settled? I’ll take care of the ATV and see what I can do about getting some hot water available.” As usual, the mention of hot water got a combined look of surprise, even from Sam.

  I checked the gauges that Tonya and I had mounted. They showed a charge of ninety percent. Nodding in satisfaction, I opened the panel to the circuit box and turned on the breakers for the water heater and the well pump. Unloading the ATV, I hurried inside.

  Kelly was chatting amicably with Kate and Kyra at the kitchen table while Sarah sat quietly on the couch, Sam sitting beside her, thumbing through one of my notepads. Callahan had found my kids, and to his delight, realized he had two new play pals. I poured myself a glass of water and sat beside Kelly.

  “How was the trip?” I asked. Kate and Kyra looked at each other like I’d asked them the last time they’d wiped their asses, which, judging by a lingering odor, had been a while.

  “Shitty,” Kate answered. I don’t think she intended the pun. “We got into a few scrapes.” I got up quickly and went into the den, coming back a moment later with a pad and pencil.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear about it.”

  “Where do you want us to start?” Kyra asked.

  “From the beginning.”

  “From the beginning,” Kate repeated. “Well, let’s see. We worked in a casino outside of Shawnee, Oklahoma with Sammy’s mom.” When she said that, my keen observation skills clued me in that they perhaps had some Native American ancestry in their blood. You couldn’t get anything past me. Kate continued.

  “We’re both card dealers. We’d watched the news reports of everyone getting sick, but nobody thought very much about it and work went on as usual. One night, I guess it was Thanksgiving…”

  “November thirtieth,” Kyra added.

  “Yeah, it seemed to happen quickly. We had about a tenth of the usual number of customers. Kyra and I were dealing at the blackjack tables that night and let me tell you, our tips sucked. Sammy’s mom had gotten off work earlier, but she came back with Sammy to eat dinner.”

  “Employees got to eat for half price,” Kyra explained. Kate nodded and continued.

  “We all went on dinner break together and all of a sudden we started hearing a lot of screaming out in the main casino area. We figured some drunks were fighting or something. We were going to see what was happening but one of the security guards ran into the back room and locked the door. He had his gun out and he looked scared. Really scared.”

  “And then the gunfire started,” Kyra said. Kate nodded again as she brushed a loose tuft of hair out of her face.

  “Yeah, the only people that are supposed to be armed are our security, so we didn’t know what the hell was going on.”

  “We thought maybe it was a robbery or something so all of us ducked into the kitchen and locked ourselves in.” Kyra took a deep breath. Reliving the event was obviously bothering her. Kate was more nonchalant about it.

  “So, I guess you can imagine what was happening. People were turning into those infected zombie things and attacking other people.”

  “What happened then?” Kelly asked.

  “We tried calling 911,” Kate said. “But nobody answered. When the shooting stopped, one of the other security guards came in and got us. Needless to say, it was pretty shocking when we walked through the main area.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Kyra said. “It was horrible, gory. There was blood and guts everywhere.”

  “We did okay for a while,” Kate said wistfully. “After security had regained control, there were about thirty people left that were alive and not infected. Some of them insisted on leaving immediately. Dale, he was the head of security, he tried to convince them to stay, but when they started arguing he didn’t force the issue. Anyone who wanted to leave could. Some people stayed for a day or two and then couldn’t stand it. They had to go wherever they thought they had to go. By the end of the week, we were down to a dozen people, which actually worked out okay. We were making a go of it and were just waiting for everything to get back to normal. It wasn’t easy, but we actually were doing okay for a couple of years, all things considered.”

  “Then it all went to hell,” Kyra said.

  “How?” I asked.

  “It was over a cunt,” Kate said. Kyra stared at her sister in consternation.

  “Kate! S-A-M,” she scolded.

  “I can spell,” Sam said from the den. “I’m not stupid.” Kyra looked out into the den and smiled at him.

  “Well then, you should know that your Aunt Katie has a potty mouth and shouldn’t talk like that,” Kyra said with a wink and then glared at Kate, who ignored her sister’s chastisement and continued.

  “One of the women, who I might add was friends with my sister even though I never liked her,” she declared with a dramatic roll of her eyes, “began having, shall we say, indiscretions with more than one of the men in the group. As you can imagine, it snowballed out of control. There was a big fight. If that wasn’t bad enough, there was this one guy who was off in the head.”

  “He became obsessed with someone,” Kyra said and grabbed my pen and pad. She wrote down that the man had raped and killed Sam’s mom. I nodded in acknowledgement as Kelly looked over my shoulder.

  “He ran off before anyone found out and was never caught. We were a tight group up until that point,” Kyra said. “And then it all came apart. My boyfriend loaded up a car, we grabbed Sammy, and the four of us took off.” Kyra stopped then, stood suddenly and went out of the back door. Kelly and I looked questioningly at Kate.

  “His name was Burton Rainwater. He was cute, a pretty nice guy, but not very smart. He said he had some relatives that lived near Fort Smith, so we jumped in the car and headed out.

  “We were running on fumes when Burton spotted a truck stop. He was convinced we could siphon gas from some of the cars in the parking lot.” Her face darkened.

  “There were some people there. Burton tried the friendly approach, but they weren’t buying it. So, he got the bright idea of pulling a gun on them. It was a big mistake. He was shot. They let us drive off, but we only made it about another ten miles before we ran out of gas. Burton died somewhere along the way. We didn’t even have a shovel to bury him. We wrapped him in a blanket and had to leave him on the side of the road. As you can imagine, Kyra didn’t handle it very well.” I nodded and wrote quickly. Kate waited until I caught up.

  “S
o, there we were, stuck with no gas.”

  “Yeah, most of the later model cars have this plastic ball in the neck of the gas tank. Its purpose is to keep gas from spilling out if the car is in a rollover accident.” I’d figured that one out the hard way and had modified my siphon hose so it would work, but it was still difficult. Kate looked at me oddly. Yeah, there I went again, speaking like a know-it-all.

  “Yeah, okay. So, there we were. Stuck. We were about to start walking when Sammy spotted some of those things on the interstate, and they were coming our way. We locked ourselves in our car and ducked down in the seats, but they spotted us and crowded around the car.”

  “That must have been terrifying,” Kelly said. Kate nodded.

  “Yeah, we were stuck like that for two days. They made a meal of Burton, but that wasn’t enough for them. Those men at the truck stop had taken Burton’s gun, so we had no way of killing them.” Kate shuddered at the memory.

  “We didn’t think we were going to make it, but here comes Sarah.” Sarah briefly looked up at the mention of her name and then went back to reading the notepad. I wasn’t sure which one she had but she apparently found it very interesting.

  “So, have you ever heard the expression, bad-ass-bitch? There were ten or fifteen of those things and Sarah killed them all in a little under a minute.”

  “She shot them all in the head,” Sammy said loudly from the den.

  “Yeah, she did, and then she asked us if we wanted to join her. And here we are.”

  “Did you guys encounter any other live people?” I asked.

  “Yeah, outside of Little Rock. They seemed like nice people, but Sarah was having none of it. She only wanted to reunite with Fred.” I looked through the doorway into the den. Sarah acted like she wasn’t listening. “She gave us the option of staying with them or going with her. We chose to go with her. Same thing in Memphis. Some people tried to wave us down, but Sarah never even slowed down.” I looked into the den again. Sarah must have sensed it.