Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny

by Achord, David

  Food: It’s not where I’d like it to be. We lost too many of our cows this past winter and bad weather had all but eradicated our winter wheat crop. This will hurt us over the coming year. Also, our gardening was meant to feed only a few people. But now, those numbers have increased. The result is our inventory has shrunk much faster than I have anticipated. Suffice it to say, nobody around here is going to get fat. If we have another long cold winter like this past one, we’re going to be hurting.

  Zombies: We encountered a horde of about twenty of them one day when we were scavenging in the south Nashville area. It’s the same neighborhood I’d been working through for the past few months and I’d never seen that many together before. We dispatched them quickly, but I have to report, those things are continuing to show more signs of evolvement. After much thought and discussion on the matter, I’ve decided to divide them into three distinct categories:

  The first category is the weak ones, or as Grant calls them, the first generation. They are mostly decomposed globs now, blind and barely able to move. Most of them in this category have all died off. The only time we find one now is when they’ve been trapped inside a closet or something similar, where they were not exposed to the elements.

  This is the Z14 category – they’re evolving. Their bodies are healing (to an extent) and their body mechanics are improving. They are more agile and they can even run. Not very well, but much better than before. They’re also drinking water now, something none of us observed during the first year. Whether or not they know how to open a can of soda is unknown, but they will damn sure attack anything alive and try to eat them. So, for all intents and purposes, a normal human becomes infected and turns. They become very violent and attack anything living. Their bodies start decomposing and they become weak. At some point, they either continue to wither and die or they start healing and rejuvenating. What causes this? Even Major Parsons said the brainiacs back at the CDC had no definitive answer.

  The last category (for now). For lack of a better term, I call this the ‘What-The-Fuck’ category. These zombies are living together, communicating, and acting in unison. Kelly and I saw firsthand how a thousand or more of them were travelling together. While we were watching them, there was some kind of silent communication between them; they all stopped at once and turned to look toward us. It was freaky, to say the least. At the CDC, several thousand of them acted in concert to overrun the facility. We’ve discussed it extensively. How did they all act in tandem and why did they attack? There is no clear answer. It could have been simply assaulting a food source, or they might have even possibly figured out what the CDC is. The thing is, this behavior is downright bizarre. Is the WTF category worthy of another rule? Z15: WATCH OUT FOR THE WHAT-THE-FUCKS! Maybe so, I don’t know. Back a couple of years ago when I was a goofy kid, I thought the rules were important, but I view my priorities a little bit differently now. Going around spray painting them everywhere doesn’t seem to be all that important anymore.

  Speaking of important things in life, I must now write about my children. They’re doing great and growing like weeds. They are healthy, a handful, and a complete joy. Rick, my first real father-figure, never had any kids and said more than once he had never wanted any. Now that I’m a dad, it seems strange he felt that way. I love my kids and wouldn’t trade anything in the world for them.

  As for myself, I’m doing okay. I have my kids and I have Kelly. I love them all dearly. It seems kind of odd that I’ve been in love three times now and I’m only nineteen. I’m sure the docs would just love to sit me down for some therapy sessions to analyze that - among other things.

  That isn’t going to happen, but if it did, I know exactly what I’d say. I’d say Macie was my first love. Pure adoration, puppy love. I literally ached when I thought of her. After her was Julie, my first true soulmate. I remember the first time she and I met, how we disliked each other at first, and how we later fell in love. Our relationship was a little unconventional by pre-apocalyptic standards (eh, the thing I had with her and Macie at the same time), but it somehow worked for us. Things were a little rocky toward the end, but I have no doubt we would’ve worked it out, had she lived.

  What can I say about Kelly? I’ve thought about it a lot. The best way I can explain it is she has been my saving grace, my rock, my friend. She is like the first warm day of spring after a cold and turbulent winter. I, love her deeply, count myself lucky, and pray that I never lose her.

  Chapter 22 – Python

  The sound of an insistent horn honking interrupted our breakfast.

  “I’ll check it out,” I told them. I picked Macie up off of my lap and handed her off to Kelly, grabbed a rifle and made my way toward the gate. I recognized Jorge’s SUV immediately and broke into a run. Something had to be wrong for Jorge to be making so much damned noise.

  “Jose is missing, man,” Jorge said breathlessly. “Have you seen him?” I looked at the two men. Both of them were visibly upset, even Josue, who I’d never seen out of sorts.

  “What happened? I mean, no, we haven’t seen him, do you know what happened?”

  “When we got up this morning he wasn’t in bed. The back door was standing open.” He wiped the sweat off of his brow. “We’ve looked all over. This is bad, man, this is bad.”

  “Maria is, what is the word?” Josue asked his son. “Hysterical?” Jorge nodded his head vigorously.

  “Yeah, man, she’s about to go loco. She’s back at the house.”

  “Okay, let me think,” I said. I took a deep breath to clear my brain.

  “Okay,” I said again after a moment. “Josue, take the SUV and go grab Sarah. Tell her what’s going on and that Jorge and I will be out searching east of the farm. She’ll know what to do. I’ll have Kelly contact Justin and they’ll join in.” I pointed at Jorge.

  “Can you ride a horse?”

  “Yeah, man, why?”

  “While they’re searching in vehicles, we’re going to search on horseback. If he’s hurt or stuck somewhere, we’ll be able to hear him crying out.” Jorge seemed a little confused by this.

  “We won’t be able to cover as much ground,” he lamented. I explained my logic.

  “We’ll have your father and the others searching in vehicles. We have to have someone going slow and be able to hear sounds you wouldn’t be able to hear over the autos’ noises.”

  “Yeah, okay, it makes sense.” I hurried back to the house, told Kelly what was going on, and then rushed to the barn. Jorge followed. He tried to help me saddle the horses, but I waved him off.

  “You better let me do it. You’re a stranger to them and they might try to kick you.” He nodded and I got them saddled quickly.

  “How long has he been gone?” I asked as I watched him get into the saddle. He looked at his wrist, realized he hadn’t put his watch on, and looked over at mine.

  “About two hours now.” I frowned.

  “When was the last time any of you actually put eyes on him?” I asked. He looked at me ruefully.

  “Maria put him to bed about seven or eight. Last night.” I caught myself from letting out an expletive or two and pointed.

  “Alright, the first thing we should do is check our traps.” Jorge’s face paled when he realized what I was suggesting, but he nodded and we headed out.

  We kept the horses at a fast walk, even though Sate was dying for a good long run. Jorge rode Hank surprisingly well, and under any other circumstances I would have good naturedly challenged him to a race.

  It took another two hours before we spotted anything. The back of their property sloped down to a small creek which was a tributary to Mill Creek. It was where we had set multiple traps.

  “Look,” Jorge whispered excitedly as he reigned up and pointed toward the far bank.

  “Look, man,” he repeated as I stared at what he was pointing at. It was an amazing sight, almost surreal.

  “Well, that’s something you don’t see every day,” I said and spurred Sate ahe
ad, which was short sighted. When we got about twenty feet away, the big horse stopped suddenly and whinnied in alarm. I held the reigns tightly and rubbed his neck to keep him from bolting. “Easy, boy,” I cooed as I backed him away.

  “That’s a snake,” Jorge exclaimed. “A big snake.”

  He was right. Lying on the opposite bank of the creek was a snake. A very large snake.

  “It looks like a Burmese python,” I said, mostly to myself. I didn’t say out loud the other thing I was thinking.

  “It must be fifteen feet long, man.” I had to agree with Jorge’s estimation, and it also had a considerable bulge in its torso.

  “Why is it so fat?” he asked.

  “I’d say it’s eaten something recently that didn’t agree with it, that’s why it’s having trouble moving.”

  “Shit, man,” Jorge said, and then realization dawned on him. “You don’t think it got Jose, do you?” The tone in which he asked was like he thought I was pulling a prank on him. I wasn’t sure how to answer.

  “We need to kill it,” I finally said.

  We dismounted and tethered the horses to a tree several feet away. Sate didn’t like it and tried to bite me, but I was wise to his temperament by now. When we got close to the big snake, he flicked his tongue at our presence but was simply too engorged to make an escape. Instead, he hissed angrily in an effort to frighten us.

  “Let me, man,” Jorge said nervously and readied his compound bow. Taking careful aim, he shot it just behind the left eye. The snake jerked with a couple of spasms and then remained still.

  “What now?” he asked quietly. I answered by pulling my knife out of my pocket and locking the blade open. Jorge’s eyes widened.

  “It’s got to be done,” I said. I saw Jorge shaking now, but he didn’t object when I waded the creek and approached the snake. I found a broken tree limb that was a couple of feet long and used it to poke it in the head several times to make sure it was truly dead before rolling it on its side.My knife was razor sharp and sliced open the snake’s underside with little effort. Jorge gasped when the contents oozed out.

  “Dios mio!” he wailed as he fell to his knees and suddenly began puking. In the mass of gore and ooze was the body of little Jose.

  He was dressed only in his underwear and was almost unrecognizable, the snake’s digestive acids had already began breaking down the tissue. As I squatted, looking at the remains, his eyes opened and he let out an infantile snarl. I stumbled back and fell into the shallow creek. Jose shakily reloaded his crossbow and put a bolt into his nephew’s head.

  I got my ass out of the creek and walked over beside him. Tears were falling in buckets down his cheeks. I got my canteen off of my pommel and handed it to him. He rinsed his mouth out and then took several swallows.

  “How did he become infected, man?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.” There were many possibilities of how he became infected before being eaten by that damned snake and I had no idea which one was the correct answer.

  “I wonder where it came from.”

  “Well, Burmese Pythons aren’t indigenous to the area.” Jorge glanced at me. “They’re not from around here. It might have been someone’s pet or it might have come from the zoo. I don’t know.” We stood there in silence for several minutes. I was about to suggest a course of action when Jorge started talking.

  “When we left Mexico, we lived in Louisiana for a month before we came to Tennessee. That was the first time I saw an alligator. They scared the shit out of me.”

  “They’re definitely scary looking.”

  “I bet those sons of bitches are eating better than ever these days. They love to eat dead stuff.” I nodded my head in agreement.

  “We tried to go back to our old house the other day,” he said. “We had Jose with us. There were zombies everywhere. We hightailed back here and told each other how we did a good job of protecting the little man.”

  “Yeah.” I paused a moment. “Where’s Jose’s father?”

  “He disappeared shortly after he was born.”

  “That was sometime around when it started, right?” He nodded.

  “About a month before. Jose was born in October.”

  “He might have gotten killed or something.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” It didn’t seem like something he wanted to talk about, so I remained quiet. We sat there for several minutes while Jorge sobbed. When he got most of it out of his system, he turned to me.

  “I want you to do me a favor, Zach.”

  “You name it.”

  “I want you to leave me alone with my nephew. Go find my father and tell him, but don’t tell him where we’re at. I don’t want him to see his Nieto like this.”

  “Okay.”

  “And don’t tell Maria. He and I have to do that. I’ll clean him up and bring him home. Tell that to my father, he’ll understand.” He started sobbing again. I nodded and left without a word.

  Chapter 23 – Jose

  Justin picked me up at the crack of dawn and the two of us prepared a grave on the grounds of a Catholic church nearby. Everyone else showed up about noon and Josue conducted a somber, yet simple service, mostly in Spanish. Maria sobbed loudly the entire time and was literally too weak to stand. Afterward, I asked them to come spend time with us. Jorge shook his head.

  “We thank you, Zach, but we’re going to spend some time alone.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice to barely above a whisper.

  “We’ve got to watch Maria and make sure she doesn’t do something to herself. She’s feeling very guilty about her hijo’s death.”

  “I understand,” I said. “Just remember, Marc and Ward are psychologists, they may be able to help her cope.” Jorge nodded in understanding.

  “Maybe in a few days,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes.” His father nodded in agreement.

  My arms and back were already aching from digging the grave, we dared not use precious fuel hauling a backhoe to the church, but Kelly wanted to spend the afternoon tending our garden plots. She called it therapeutic; all I could think of was how sore I was going to be when I rolled of bed in the morning.“So, what I don’t understand is how, and at what point, did little Jose turn into a zombie.”

  “I’ve no idea,” I answered.

  “Zach, that’s awful. I don’t know what I’d do if something like that happened to our kids.” She caught her breath. “I mean, you’re kids.” I stopped hoeing and put an arm around her.

  “I liked it better when you said they’re our kids.” She dropped her hoe and grabbed me in a hug. “They call you mommy after all.”

  “What about you?” she asked. “How do you feel about me?”

  “You know I love you, you’re my girl, right?” She responded by hugging me tighter.

  “I knew you’d come around,” she finally said. “But, since I’m older than you, I think that means you’re my boy.” I had to laugh.

  After an extra-long hug, I held her at arm’s length.

  “It’s only sixteen hundred, let’s get the horses out and take a ride around the property, make sure nothing is going on. I’m sure Sarah won’t mind watching the kids a couple more hours.”

  Sarah didn’t mind at all and told us to have a good time with a small, knowing smile. I hurriedly saddled the horses and Kelly pulled out some extra blankets and tied them to the saddles. It didn’t take long for us to end up at my favorite oak tree.

  “Which one of you two picked this spot?” Kelly asked as we laid the blankets out.

  “I did. There was a full moon that night.”

  “Ooh, you’re so romantic.” I chuckled as I used my binoculars to check the area.

  “All good?”

  “Yep,” I replied and sat beside her.

  “So, tell me about her.”

  “Macie?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, let’s see. We had a few classes together during our freshman year and started dating not too long after I got my
driver’s license. You know the rest.”

  “And she was your first love.” I nodded. “And you lost her virginity to her.”

  “Right on this very spot.” I leaned forward and kissed her.

  “I think I’m jealous,” she said huskily.

  “You like this spot,” I replied.

  “For some kinky reason, I really do.” She pulled me close and we kissed again.

  It was dark by the time we rode the horses into the barn. Sarah met us at the door. She gave us a look, but didn’t have any smartass remark.

  Chapter 24 – Dreams

  “I want to talk to you about something and get your opinion,” I said to Sarah. She had joined me on a sunrise run, each of us carrying assault weapons at port arms while we ran, and were now walking down the driveway getting our wind back. She looked over at me questioningly. I pointed at the scar that ran along the side of my head. Now that I was wearing my hair cropped Marine close, it was clearly visible.

  “About two years ago I was shot upside the head.”

  “I wondered how you got that scar. Did it happen the same time you got the scar on your cheek?”

  “No, that came later.” I briefly recapped each incident. “The bullet didn’t enter my skull, it only grazed the side of my head. Even so, it messed me up, but I lived through it.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked with a sarcastic grin.

  “Okay, smartass. Anyway, as you can imagine, I had some cognitive issues for a while after that, but I eventually healed up.” We stopped at the corral fence and used the top rail to stretch our hamstrings.