Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny

by Achord, David

  I glanced over and spotted Shooter. He was about twenty feet from me, leering unabashedly. Picking up a rock the size of my big toe, I hurled it at him, striking him squarely on the side of the head. He yelped in pain as he grabbed his head. Looking around for the source, he spotted me and fixed me with an angry glare, like he wanted to fight about it. I wagged a finger in warning.

  “What makes you think you’re so fucking tough?” he challenged.

  “Feel free to find out,” I replied as I got to my feet. To my surprise, he actually started to stand. And he had his assault rifle in one hand. Like I said, it surprised me, but it also excited me. I was finally going to address this issue once and for all. I was going to have to make it quick though, once the women saw what was going on they would most assuredly intervene. I didn’t have to worry about Justin; he was lying on the ground with his boonie hat pulled down over his eyes.

  Suddenly, Cutter reached out and grabbed his brother by the arm, pulling him back down and whispered to him forcefully. They traded hushed words back and forth, but after a moment Shooter slumped back to the ground in acquiescence. He glared at me briefly, and then pointedly ignored me.

  Justin seemed to have magically awakened at the sound of the approaching bus, jumped to his feet, and policed everyone up. He winked as he walked past me.

  “Zach,” Kelly said, just about the moment I was drifting off to sleep. I muttered a response.

  “Don’t you ever get upset when you kill those things?”

  “Oh, I guess I did a little bit at one time, but not anymore.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because they’re not people anymore. They’re inhuman. Killing them is the right thing to do.” She was silent for a minute or two and I thought that was the end of it, but then she let out a long sigh.

  “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” I asked.

  “After the ambush, everyone was cutting up and laughing, even me. It doesn’t seem right.”

  “Well, let me tell you a story.”

  “Okay.”

  “Back when Rick was alive, we killed a few zombies and I was all stressed about it, but Rick was cutting up and joking. He said back when he was in Vietnam, they behaved the same way and that it was a way of relieving stress. So, sometimes people will behave that way after a stressful event. Kind of a defense mechanism so you don’t go crazy. Does that make sense?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Good, now go to sleep.” I was just about to drift off again when I felt her snuggling closer.

  “You know,” she said huskily, “sex is a good stress reliever too.”

  “You’re insatiable,” I muttered. She responded with a giggle and a roving hand.

  Chapter 31 - The Rendezvous

  “Do you think anyone will show up?” Kelly asked. We’d awakened early and hurried to the school. Everything was ready except for some of the last minute arrangements, and then we hauled it all to the church. Now, most of us were sitting on the Concord Road Bridge over the Interstate, waiting for any arrivals.

  “I wonder how many?” Kelly questioned again. It was about the fourth or fifth time she’d said it. It was a habit when she was anxious. I responded with the same answer.

  “Hard to say. Maybe a few. They won’t all come at once; they’ll be trickling in a few at a time.” Yep, same answer as the last four times.

  Surprisingly, the first arrivals appeared not from the Interstate, but driving down Concord Road. It was a dually truck, much like Rick’s truck, but blue in color. And it was hauling a horse trailer. They drove right up to us and stopped. And then, a very, very large man stepped out.

  “Damn,” Ruth muttered under her breath. The man, who had skin the color of coffee with a dash of cream, had to be almost seven feet tall and well over three hundred pounds. He reminded me of some of the big pro wrestlers I watched on TV back when I was a kid. He stretched as a fair-skinned ginger haired woman exited from the passenger side. Although not as big as the behemoth standing beside her, she was no small sack of potatoes. A smaller, prettier woman with brown hair braided in pigtails exited from the rear. I walked over to them.

  “Welcome,” I said. “My name’s Zach.” The man extended his hand, a very large, calloused hand.

  “My name is Garland, but everyone calls me Big Country.” He eyed me curiously. “I’ve heard of you.”

  “You have?”

  “Yep,” He looked around some more. “I had a nice conversation on the CB radio a while back with a man named Fred. He told me about you. Is he around?”

  My facial expression must have answered for him.

  “Oh, I’m terribly sorry.” He looked uncomfortable at his imagined transgression. One of the women cleared her throat.

  “Oh, I got the manners of a hog eatin’ slop,” he said and gestured toward the two women. “This is my sister, Gigi and my wife, Julie.” Gigi was the big one. Julie was the pretty one. All three of them were wearing overalls, but somehow Big Country’s wife made it look sexy. I caught Kelly looking at me out of the corner of my eye.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” he said affably. “Gigi and I have the same momma, but different daddies.” Well that explained it, I guess. I tried not to imagine how big their mother was.

  “I’m very pleased to meet all of you,” I said and introduced the others without mentioning anything about Big Country’s wife having the same name as my late wife.

  “You guys are the first arrivals,” Kelly proclaimed.

  “Oh, yeah?” Big Country responded, and then lowered his head close to mine. “Are there any single men around here?” he asked in a whisper that probably could be heard for several blocks. He made a subtle motion toward Gigi. “I’m trying to find a husband for my little sis.” I glanced over and caught Gigi looking at me with a hopeful smile. I reached up and patted the big man on the back.

  “We have one or two wandering around here. I’ll do my best to make it happen. Let’s head on over to the church and I’ll introduce y’all to everyone.”

  Other groups trickled in throughout the day. We’d greet them and then guide them toward the church.

  “I count twelve,” Kelly commented.

  “Me too.”

  “I didn’t catch the name of the people who brought their kid along.”

  “Larry and Alma. They’re from Spring Hill.”

  “And I’m betting there are groups out there who won’t be coming.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  “Various reasons,” I answer. “They don’t have the means to get here, they’re paranoid about being set up, or they just don’t care. Big Country said they had a group of eight people, but nobody else wanted to come.”

  Jorge and his family arrived shortly after the last group. They parked beside our truck and scanned the crowd milling about.

  “Not a bad turnout, man,” he said. “I didn’t think anybody would show up.”

  “Yeah. Oh, by the way,” I said and subtly pointed out Gigi. “She’s single and looking for a husband. I told her all about you.” I watched as Jorge looked. It took about one second for his eyes to widen and his jaw to drop.

  “Holy shit, man, she’s huge,” he whispered in exasperation. “I thought you and me were friends, man.”

  “Wide hips,” Josue, his father said while holding up his hands, much wider than when he was showing us the width of Kyra’s backside. “She make a good wife.” Jorge shook his head violently in disagreement.

  “You two are loco if you think I’m going to hook up with her.” I chuckled as I looked at Josue, who winked at me.

  Everyone was milling around in the parking lot. There were some friendly conversations going on, but it seemed a little tense, like everyone was wary of each other. Justin had so far avoided any prolonged conversations with anyone. He kept his distance and watched them warily. When I got his attention, I motioned him to join us.

  “How’s it going?” I asked.

  “So far, so good,” he sa
id.

  “Any surprises?” I asked in our code word.

  “I don’t think so,” he replied. “I’ve only talked to a few of them though.”

  “Well, let’s get it started.” I stood on the tailgate of my truck and held up a hand.

  “May I have everyone’s attention?” I waited until everyone was looking at me. “On behalf of all of us, I want to welcome all of you to the first annual rendezvous.” I paused while there was some polite clapping.

  “It looks like the food is going to be ready in just a few minutes. You’re all welcome to eat, but our resources are limited. If any of you have something to contribute, please pitch in.”

  “Here, here,” someone in the group shouted. I smiled politely and then pointed at Justin and Ruth.

  “Justin and Ruth are the people you’ve been hearing on the radio. I’m going to repeat some of the things they said, so please bear with me. It’s been a difficult three years. Hopefully, we’ve turned the corner and this rendezvous will be the start of something positive.” I pointed over at Major Parsons.

  “That’s Major Grant Parsons; he’s a Marine and a doctor. He’s ready, willing and able to treat anyone with any health problems.” He looked at me strangely, probably because nobody had bothered to tell him what was expected of him. “Right, Major?” He cleared his throat.

  “That’s right, I’m here to help.”

  “I’m betting there are several of you who’ve brought trade items, or maybe you have a unique skill set.” I caught Rhonda waving at me from the open door and gave me the universal okay sign. “So, why don’t we talk about it over dinner, what do you say?” There was a loud bellow from Big Country which I assumed was a cheer. A path was cleared for him as he made his way toward the church entrance, much like one of my bulls when I was throwing out hay this past winter. For a big man, he moved pretty quickly.

  Dinner was quiet at first, but Big Country had a loud and jovial nature, which seemed to lighten the atmosphere. Soon, everyone was conversing with each other.

  “Where’s Sarah?” Kelly asked me. Justin answered.

  “She and Sergeant Benoit volunteered for guard duty while everyone ate.” He nudged me and lowered his voice. “I think they may have something going on,” he said. I looked at him in confusion.

  “You know, something romantic.”

  “You just now noticed?” I asked while Ruth and Kelly giggled. Justin looked at the three of us.

  “Y’all knew?” We each nodded our heads at him.

  “Speaking of romantic connections, look.” Kelly subtly pointed across the room. Floyd was sitting beside Gigi and the two of them were merrily chatting away.

  “Anyway,” Justin continued. “I got a couple of volunteers to relieve them after they have a full belly. And,” he glanced at Ruth, “we have a surprise for everyone and it’s going to happen promptly at twenty-hundred hours.” I started to ask what the surprise was, but he cut me off with an upraised hand.

  “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies, but you’re all going to be in for a mighty big surprise.”

  “That was very poetic,” I responded. “It doesn’t tell me anything though.” Justin merely grinned.

  “Just be sure to have everyone in the church, or they’ll miss out. Sergeant Benoit is going to handle the communications on this end.” Before I could pepper him with questions, he patted me on the shoulder and walked out. Ruth shrugged with her hands up in a poorly contrived expression of ignorance and quickly hurried after her lover.

  “What do you think they’re up to?” Kelly asked me.

  “I’m not sure, but they have a radio rigged up to the choir’s speaker system and those two are going to the radio tower. I have a feeling he’s going to speak to someone and he wants everyone to hear it.”

  “What do you have going on here?” Julie and her husband had walked over and were looking at the large dry erase board we had mounted on the back wall.

  “Ah, I should have mentioned it earlier. Anything you have to trade, write it up here on one of the boards.” I pointed. “Here’s our list. Also, if you’re looking for something in particular, or maybe you have some kind of special post-apocalyptic skill, write that down too.” I pointed at a large sheet of plywood mounted on another wall.

  “That one is for posting notes or messages.” Big Country frowned in confusion. I explained loudly as other people gathered around. “You may have friends or loved ones who you’ve lost contact with. Maybe they’re no longer with us, maybe they’re simply displaced. The board is for posting notes, messages, anything for communication. We’ll leave them up forever. However, I want to tell all of you now, it’s not for posting notes to people who are deceased. I hope that makes sense.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea, Zach,” Julie said with a smile. She then elbowed her husband. “Your handwriting sucks donkey dicks, I’ll take care of it.” Big Country looked at me apologetically as he handed her the dry erase pen.

  “She’s got a special way of saying things,” he said. I chuckled. She reminded me a lot of my Julie. Big Country nudged me.

  “Is that your son with your wife?”

  “Yeah, I mean, that’s my son but Kelly and I aren’t married. We hooked up after my wife was killed. She’s been great with my kids. If a preacher shows up, maybe we’ll do something about it. Oh, I forgot to mention, I named my boy after Fred. His name is Frederick Zachariah Gunderson.” He looked out into space and mouthed the name a couple of times.

  “That’s a damn good name,” he finally declared. I nodded in gratitude.

  Big Country and I chatted amicably while we watched the dry erase boards quickly fill up. Soon, the haggling began in earnest. The chatting stopped when there was some sudden feedback from the speaker system. Rach quickly adjusted some controls and looked around.

  “Alright everyone,” she said loudly. “Any second now we’re going to be receiving a radio broadcast.” At precisely twenty-hundred hours, Justin’s voice could be plainly heard.

  “This is Tennessee calling, do you have a copy?” Justin said. After a moment, he got a response.

  “Standby, please,” a woman’s voice replied, which was shortly followed by a man’s voice.

  “Hello, Tennessee.”

  “Good evening, Mister President,” Justin responded. There was a collective gasp in the crowd.

  Chapter 32 – The Politician

  “I trust all is going well at the rendezvous?” the President asked.

  “Yes, Mister President,” Justin replied. “Everyone present is listening to you.” I eased over to where Rachel was standing.

  “We’re on a low band frequency,” she said in answer to my unasked question. “So the conversation will frequently have long gaps in it.”

  “That is excellent, Sergeant Smithson,” the President replied and there was a long gap before he started speaking again.

  “My fellow Americans down there in Tennessee, and anyone else who may be listening, the cataclysm has happened and we are now among the ruins.”

  “Oh, my God,” Rachel whispered with a chuckle. “The man just stole a line from Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Does he really think we’re all just a bunch of illiterate rednecks?” I agreed with her sentiment, but remained silent. I wanted to hear what the man had to say.

  “America is hurting, the whole world is hurting. We have faced a life changing event. We have been decimated, but we have not been beaten. We have lost loved ones, but we have persevered. Like the mythical Phoenix, we will rise from the ashes and emerge a stronger people. America is wounded, but we are not broken. We need you now more than ever.” There were some audible groans now. After a pause, the President continued, and even gained momentum.

  “I was elated and encouraged when I was informed of you courageous survivors. You give me hope that there are many others out there, just like you people from Tennessee.” I caught a look from Tonya. She rolled her eyes. It’s a good thing there were no elections in the foresee
able future.

  “Thanks to the hard work of Gunnery Sergeant Smithson, he was able to make possible this means of communication between myself and my fellow Americans. We need more soldiers like him and I am proud to announce I am promoting him, forthwith, to the rank of First Lieutenant.” I saw Sergeant Benoit make a masturbating motion with her fist. Rhonda saw it as well and frowned. Kelly giggled. There was an unusually long pause; I suppose the President was waiting until the thunderous applause died down. Just when I thought the radio had lost the signal, he began speaking again.

  “I’ve no doubt many of you have questions. How many survivors are out there? Has a cure been developed yet? What is the government doing? Let me answer by saying this; all of these issues, and more, are being fervently addressed. We are making significant strides. The American government may seem nonexistent to you at the moment, but rest assured we are here, and we hear you.”

  It seemed as though I remember watching a TV show of another president saying words to that effect after nine-eleven.

  “I will close now, but I am encouraged. I am encouraged by the hardiness and true grit of the survivors out there, not only in Tennessee, but everywhere across America. Stay strong, stay tough, and endeavor to persevere.”

  “That one’s from The Outlaw Josey Wales,” someone in the audience exclaimed.

  “I’ve counted five now,” someone else commented.

  The speech lasted for less than thirty minutes and I gleaned absolutely nothing from it. When he signed off, there was some scattered applause, but not everyone was overwhelmed with enthusiasm. Personally, I considered it a tremendous waste of fuel for the tower’s generator. Nonetheless, it got everyone talking. I quietly exited the church and checked with one of the guards.