Z Plan (Book 3): Homecoming

by Lerma, Mikhail

  “Nice driving!” praised Zach.

  “Let’s not celebrate yet,” said Cale. “We’re not clear yet.”

  He’d made it out of range for the larger materials, but anything lighter than a motorcycle continued to drop. Cale watched the tornado alter course and head south. RVs took to the air. Some exploded on impact with the ground. After a couple miles they were clear of the storm. A state police station was at the next exit. If it wasn’t for the storm he might have stopped.

  “Could have been guns and ammo there,” Zach suggested.

  “Probably not,” retorted Cale.

  “Well, at least you’re making good time,” he ribbed. “All thanks to a…”

  He stopped to think.

  “What should we call that?” he asked.

  “A tornado,” Cale replied.

  “No. Something different. Like zom-nado or a torn-ombie,” he joked.

  “Zomb-al warming?” Cale joined in.

  Zach laughed.

  “I’m just going to stick with calling it a tornado,” added Cale.

  Chapter 35

  THE GOOD LIFE

  Fat drops rained down on Cale as he finished putting fuel in the RV. He glanced around before putting the cap back on and returning the plastic can to the storage compartment. Eagerly he climbed into the vehicle. JoLynn sat in the passenger seat wearing another of Cale’s shirts. She’d lost another fight with dysentery. He was grateful to find the package of baby wipes. It made cleaning her up a little easier.

  She looked out her window, holding Tygee, and occasionally taking a sip of her Gatorade. Once they’d made it clear of the worst of the weather, he’d stopped and made sure she was okay. The poor girl was terrified and hadn’t said a word since the truck stop. She wouldn’t even pull her eyes from her window.

  “Just leave her be for now,” suggested Zach. “She’s been through a lot.”

  Cale silently agreed and got behind the wheel. Des Moines was only fifteen miles away. The RV hadn’t needed fuel but Cale just wanted to play it safe. He didn’t want to have to do it if there were infected around. They swayed gently as he got up to speed. The road’s edges were barely discernable. Grass had crept its way between cracks and onto its surface. His tires splashed in the puddles created by the rain. He caught himself tapping his thumb with the rhythm of the wipers.

  “That’s enough of that,” he mumbled as he reached for the radio.

  “This again?” said Zach with a tone of annoyance.

  “What? I haven’t done this in a while?” he glared at his hallucination in the mirror.

  The radio was on but he didn’t hear anything. Slowly, he turned the knob. He could hear the faintest whisper of static. Cale set it to scan and returned to watching the road.

  “Who are you talking to?” asked JoLynn.

  She looked behind her seat and into the cabin of the RV, before giving Cale a suspicious look.

  “Um…well,” he struggled. “it’s complicated.”

  “Who?” she inquired again.

  “My…” Cale looked at Zach in the mirror.

  My dead friend? My self? He wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I had an invi-invicable friend once,” offered the little girl. “Mommy said I would make real friends at school.”

  Cale smiled.

  “Oh yeah? What was your imaginary friend’s name?” he asked.

  “Delilah,” she answered. “What’s your friend’s name?”

  Cale looked at Zach in the mirror again.

  “His name was-is. His name is Zach,” he explained.

  JoLynn turned in her seat to face the back.

  “Hi Zach!” she waved cheerfully to the empty cabin.

  “Hello,” he replied with a smile.

  “He said hello,” Cale informed her.

  “I know,” she retorted. “I can see him too.”

  Cale laughed. It was just another game for her, but she made him feel better. Mostly it was to make herself feel better.

  “He’s asking if I want to play,” she told Cale.

  “Well, go play with him,” he smiled.

  JoLynn unbuckled her seatbelt and took Tygee to play. Cale looked up to see her in his mirror occasionally. She sat at the table and pretended to have a tea party. Zach sat with her, holding his imaginary cup. She poured the make-believe beverage and he quickly moved his cup to catch it. Cale grinned.

  The radio cycled through the stations once more yielding nothing. He meant to shut it off but accidentally hit the CD player button. “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake played. JoLynn squealed with exaggerated glee in the back.

  “I love this song!” she declared. “It’s my favorite!”

  Cale chuckled. “This song was out before I was born. How do you know it?”

  “My mommy listened to Whitesnake all the time!” answered JoLynn.

  “She even knows who sings it,” laughed Zach. “That’s pretty good.”

  Cale was impressed. She was only five or six and already had an appreciation for different generations of music. Together the three of them sang the song. Cale and Zach muddled the words in the same places, but JoLynn was flawless. She was easily the better performer. As soon as the song ended she begged for it to be replayed.

  “Let’s see what else is on, okay?” said Cale. “There might be more of your favorite songs.”

  “Okay,” she submitted.

  “Addicted to Love” played next.

  “I know this one!” cheered JoLynn.

  Cale did to, but didn’t know who sang it. Des Moines, Iowa was coming into view. Already he could see figures standing on the interstate. He turned down the music, JoLynn however, continued to sing. Cale slowed as he approached the first person. They were just standing in the rain, not doing anything. They didn’t even react to the RV pulling up.

  “Infected?” asked Zach.

  “Yeah,” Cale whispered. “What are they doing?”

  Each of them stared at the sky in the rain. They weren’t moving. They were like rotting statues who’d just become part of the landscape.

  “You remember in France,” began Zach. “How they’d play loud music and the dead were incapacitated?”

  Cale nodded.

  “Maybe it’s the same thing. It’s sensory overload. They feel the rain but possibly can’t comprehend it,” he speculated. “So they just look up and wait for it to stop.”

  “There’s no telling,” Cale replied. “Nothing about them makes one hundred percent sense.”

  Interstate 80 went right through the center of Des Moines, and like everywhere else, the interstates were blocked off. The barricades in some places had been knocked down, but were only large enough for one or two people to get through at a time. He followed the signs that kept him on 80, avoiding the dense crowds of the undead. Occasionally, he’d spot one that was recently reanimated. These fresh corpses moved about in the rain with no difficulty. Their main purpose was to attack and feed. But they weren’t a threat on foot. Cale simply steered around them and continued.

  JoLynn was blissfully unaware as she continued to sing 80s songs in the back and pretended to play with Zach. Despite Zach hovering over Cale’s shoulder and watching the road with him. Cale let out a sigh once they cleared the city limits.

  “You’ve got at least three more cities like that to get through,” Zach reminded him.

  He patted Cale on the shoulder and returned to sitting with JoLynn. Zach was right again. There was still Council Bluffs, Omaha, and Lincoln.

  “I’ll cross those bridges when I get there,” Cale said to himself.

  The road twisted and turned on their journey west. He’d escaped the dark rain clouds and enjoyed seeing a blue sky. JoLynn sang every song that played, and if she didn’t know it, she’d ask him to skip it. The songs all cycled through a few times. Before he opened the glove box and found the Now That’s What I Call the 80s case. It still had two more discs. But he also found a Now That’s What I Call Music! # 1s album.
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  “Someone really liked music,” stated Cale.

  He placed the new CD in the player. Cale knew almost every song, but hardly any of them were what he’d classify as his taste in music. He endured them because JoLynn was clearly enjoying herself.

  Within a couple hours another black cloud adorned the western sky. Council Bluffs and Omaha were only forty or so miles away. He stopped the RV and fueled it again.

  “It had plenty of gas,” said Zach as Cale climbed back in.

  “I know,” he replied. “I just don’t want to take any chances.”

  “Yeah Zach,” JoLynn scolded. “He doesn’t want to take any chances!”

  Cale laughed.

  “She doesn’t even know what we’re talking about,” chuckled Zach.

  “Doesn’t matter,” stated Cale. “She’s on my side.”

  JoLynn stuck her tongue out at the empty seat. Then giggled. Cale smiled at her and put the vehicle in gear. The massive cloud towered above them more with every mile. White-grey flakes floated down from the sky. Powder covered the ground.

  “Is that fucking snow?” Zach demanded to know. “It’s spring, God damn it!”

  “This is the Midwest,” replied Cale. “home of crazy weather changes.”

  The first flake hit the glass of the windshield, but didn’t melt. Then another. And Another. Cale turned on the wipers and the flakes smudged and became greasy black spots.

  “That’s not snow,” said Zach.

  “Nope. And that’s not a storm cloud,” added Cale.

  “What is it?” JoLynn asked.

  “It’s smoke,” he answered. “The city is burning.”

  “That’s a big fire,” she observed. “Why didn’t anyone call 911?”

  “Because of the monsters,” Cale replied.

  “Oh,” she sounded scared.

  “Don’t be scared,” he comforted her. “Go play. I’ll find another way around.”

  “I’m not scared,” she said before leaning in and whispering in his ear. “Zach is. But I’ll detract him.”

  Her misuse of words amused Cale.

  “I think you’re right,” he whispered back. “You two go play. I’ll worry about the monsters.”

  “Okay,” she returned to playing.

  Cale slowed the vehicle to account for his diminished sight.

  “I’m not scared,” muttered Zach.

  “You should be,” argued Cale. “we all should be.”

  “Jo might be there,” replied Zach.

  Omaha was Zach’s hometown. Cale had forgotten. His entire family was there.

  “Zach,” began Cale.

  “It’s okay,” he interrupted. “Find your family first. You’re alive. They need to know you’re alive. Mine might not be so lucky.”

  “You don’t know that,” argued Cale.

  “You’re right. But there’s no way to find out right now. Stay on course. Let’s find Lauren and Marie first. Then we’ll worry about getting to my wife,” explained Zach. “You’ve made it this far. I’m confident you’ll go all the way.”

  “Th-thanks,” Cale replied.

  Cale already knew which way to go. When I-80 turned south west he’d go straight on I-680 toward Blair, Nebraska. From there past Fremont, then south again to Seward, and back onto I-80. If they made good time, they’d be at Kearney by the evening. That meant Holdrege by night. He hoped his brothers were still alive in Holdrege. Cale knew there was no way his aunt Marie was alive. She was in poor health before everything changed. For her to still be living would be a direct act of divinity.

  The heavy soot clung to the RV all the way to Missouri Valley. Cale exited onto highway 30 west. He almost missed the large sign due to the thick smoke.

  “I never thought I’d see this again,” he mumbled.

  “I knew you would,” said Zach.

  “Home of Arbor Day.” “Welcome to Nebraska, the good life…” As a teenager Cale couldn’t wait to grow up and leave the state. He’d always felt like there was more to the world. And more in store for him, but seeing those words on that sign brought to him a sense of relief. He was going home.

  Chapter 36

  SMILIN’ SAM SMOKE

  “Where are we?” asked JoLynn.

  “Back on Interstate 80,” Cale replied as he merged onto the life line of Nebraska.

  The interstate followed the path of the Platte River and many historical trails. Like the Oregon and Mormon Trails. It was one of it’s few notable tourist attractions. People often referred to the state as a “fly-over.” A statement Cale often agreed with.

  Their detour only cost them about an extra hour or so. They’d still be to Holdrege way before nightfall. He switched the CDs for her again when the songs began to repeat themselves. Within a half hour, the familiar water tower, painted to look like a hot air balloon, became visible.

  “Is that a big balloon?” asked JoLynn excited.

  “No. It’s just a water tower,” he answered.

  “Oh poop,” she sounded disappointed.

  “Sorry girlie.”

  “Why do you call me that?” she questioned.

  “I don’t know,” he replied.

  “My daddy called me that,” JoLynn added solemnly.

  Cale felt horrible.

  “I’ll stop,” he assured her.

  “It’s okay,” she mumbled. “I like it. I just miss my mommy and daddy.”

  “I’ve got something for you,” Cale informed her. “Grab my coat.”

  “The magic one?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Cale laughed. “The magic one.”

  She handed it to him with an expectant look. He searched the pockets with one hand and when he felt the plastic bag he stopped.

  “Close your eyes,” he told her.

  She obeyed.

  “No peeking!” he teased when she glanced through a space she’d made between her fingers.

  JoLynn laughed. Cale pulled out the Ziploc bag and extracted the pictures of her parents.

  “Open them.”

  When she did she smiled brightly. She grabbed them and looked at her parents’ smiling faces.

  “That’s my mommy and daddy!” she pointed at them.

  “I know,” he smiled.

  JoLynn grinned from ear to ear proudly.

  “That’s me as a baby!” she added.

  “Yep,” Cale hugged her.

  She squeezed him as he drove. Every time he thought she was going to let go and sit down, she only hugged him tighter.

  “Do you have pictures of your family?” she asked.

  “I do. But they’re on my iPod,” he told her.

  “Can I see them?” she asked as she grabbed the device.

  “Sure,” laughed Cale.

  She turned on the iPod and Cale pointed to the folders she needed to select. The first image popped up.

  “Is that you?” she inquired.

  She didn’t recognize him without facial hair.

  “Yeah,” he smiled as he rubbed his face. “I need a shave.”

  “No don’t cut it off. I like it,” she whined.

  “Okay,” he laughed. “I’ll leave it.”

  “Is that your baby?” she pointed to Marie.

  “Her name is Marie,” explained Cale. “And that’s my wife Lauren.”

  “She kind of looks like my mommy,” observed JoLynn.

  Cale looked as she compared their pictures side by side. She wasn’t wrong. They had similar hair color. JoLynn’s mom’s was wavier, and Lauren’s chin wasn’t as pointed. But their eyes were the same color, and they had similar noses.

  “They do,” he agreed with her.

  “Are we going to find them?” she asked.

  “I hope so.”

  “Can I play with your baby? I love babies,” she added.

  “She won’t be a baby when we find her. This picture was taken almost two years ago. The last time I saw her she was only a little bit older than that,” Cale informed her.

  “Why?
” questioned JoLynn.

  “I had to go somewhere. For a long time.”

  “Where?”

  “Just far away,” he offered.

  JoLynn sat and looked at the pictures. Both her own and the iPod’s. She would laugh or smile from time to time, but mostly sat silently. Cale glanced at her every few minutes to see what picture she was looking at.

  “Cale?” she said meekly.

  “JoLynn?” he teased.

  She didn’t notice.

  “When you find them you’ll be a family,” JoLynn stated.

  “Yeah,” he confirmed.

  “What will I be?”

  He hugged her tightly. Cale had similar conversations with his brothers when they were old enough to realize that they were orphans. Sure, they lived with their aunt Marie and grandmother, but deep down, they knew that the three of them were all they had left. The two women that took care of them were blood related to their father. They even loved them like they were their own, but they could never replace their mother and father. No one could. Just like he’d never replace JoLynn’s father. Nor Lauren her mother. But they could love and care for her as if they were. Like family.

  “You’ll be part of my family,” he whispered to her.

  JoLynn hugged him back and cried. He rubbed her back and wiped her tears.

  “You an Marie can be sisters if you want,” he said softly.

  “Sisters?” she whimpered.

  “Yeah. I’ve never had one, but I hear they’re pretty great,” he told her.

  JoLynn seemed pleased with that. She gradually stopped crying and yawned.

  “Why don’t you go lay down for a little bit, okay?” he suggested.

  She didn’t reply. JoLynn sat the pictures and iPod on the passenger seat and retired to the bedroom. Cale turned off the music so she could sleep.

  “She’s become attached to you,” said Zach.

  “I think so too. Not like she really had a choice though,” Cale added.

  “She has a choice. You’re not some guy who abducted her. You saved her, man. How many people would have done that? Imagine if some weird pedophile or something saved her,” Zach asserted.