Military Against Zombies (The Against Zombies Series Book 2)

by Alathia Paris Morgan

  “It’s just all the need for secrecy. If he didn’t think it was wrong then why is he doing it when no one knows about it? He just makes my gut instinct go crazy.”

  “He’s certainly up to something shady. He hasn’t said anything about last week to anyone?”

  “Nope. I think he was so embarrassed that he doesn’t want it to get out or they might take away his man card.” My mom giggled just a little, which made me slightly suspicious.

  “Mom, did you tell Peter what happened?”

  “Yes, and he thought it was hilarious. He’s going to let me know if Jim says anything about the farm. At the moment, he’s trying to work things out so that the locals will start bringing produce into town because the grocery store is starting to run low on supplies.”

  “Yikes. He’s going to be desperate and do something stupid. There haven’t been any deliveries?”

  “We had a few trucks that first couple days when Cooper had that town hall meeting. The mayor had Beth, the owner of the grocery store, place several orders for supplies, but even with that, the town can only last a few months without more deliveries.”

  “The town only has a thousand people. Are they doing food rations?”

  “They’re having everyone go up to the school cafeteria for breakfast and lunch. Then it’s a sack take home dinner for everyone. There’s been lots of grumbling, but most are content to let Jim and Chris run things at the moment. When they start to get low on food, or realize that more people are disappearing than they thought, things are going to get nasty.”

  “Just promise me that you’ll be careful. I don’t want to lose my mother.”

  “You won’t. I’m a tough old broad. I would say that we’re down to about eight hundred people or a few less because some left and went to stay with other family.”

  “Do I need to make a trip to town with some produce? We don’t need everything that we’ve harvested this week, and if someone doesn’t use it, it’s going to go to waste.”

  “I don’t see how you can avoid it, but you’d better bring Jessica with you so that Jim doesn’t do something crazy to you. Even though he said he wasn’t interested in her, he’s still less likely to kill you in front of her.”

  “Mom, don’t worry so much. I’ll talk to her and see if we can come in after lunch. Anything else I should consider when we come to town?”

  “Nope. Just leave any weapons in the vehicle and let them know that you have guns in the truck for protection. Otherwise, Jim will take it personally, thinking that you’re trying to overthrow him. They’ll make you check the weapons at the gate and should let you through.”

  “All right, Mom. We’ll see you after we stop at the grocery store. Is that where we take the stuff we have?”

  “They’ll know where to send you at the gate. Don’t let on that you might have more than you need.”

  “Hey, now. I was good at mission operations when I was in the army and I didn’t show all my cards to the enemy, so don’t underestimate me.”

  “One question before you get off, is it serious with Jessica?”

  I looked over to where Jessica and the kids were working to get the last of the field done before lunch.

  “Yeah, I think it is. Only time will tell, but I think she’s a keeper. Gotta go, Mom. Love ya.”

  I hung up and went to give Jessica a kiss as I loaded her full crate onto the truck. We hadn’t decided what to do with the extra beans from the field, but I thought taking them to town would be a wonderful idea. The pantry I’d made for the family was filling up quickly with canned goods. I was in need of a walk-in freezer, but the chances I could build one and keep it functional were slim at the moment.

  “Hey, was that your mom on the phone? Did she say if everything’s okay?” Jessica glanced up when I got closer to her row of green beans.

  “Yeah, she suggested that we take a truck full of produce into town and see what they’ll trade us. We can also run by my mom’s and take her a few things on the down low.” I grinned, thinking of ways to smuggle stuff into town.

  Jessica smiled, as if she knew what I was thinking, and shoved the crate of beans into my hands instead of the embrace I’d been about to give her.

  “We can think about things like that when we get back from town. I also think we should take Ray with us to be a lookout. We can just say he’s someone that wandered onto the farm and wanted to work for food.”

  “That could work so they don’t become suspicious when they see more people out here on the farm. If they ask, it’s Ray and his brother Tyler, and we left him to stay with Tracy while we came to town.”

  “What else should we take besides the crates of beans?” Jessica asked practically.

  “Um, I think that first batch of corn because we’re not ready to do anything with it. Let’s keep enough to feed the animals, but I think a few bushels would help me get those parts I need to put the solar panels together.”

  Keeping in mind that my mom was probably correct, I had Ray get in the back of the truck and ride shotgun just in case. The roads were still amazingly clear of infected dead people, although Ray was having fun with a little target practice with the few that we saw in the distance. It wasn’t often that any of us that were ex-military got to hit targets while moving at 50 mph.

  In the last week, they’d removed the temporary barriers across the road, replacing them with gates covered in metal sheets on rollers to allow people inside. What was completely different was the extra inner gates that were much stronger concrete walls, with just enough space for a single vehicle to fit through.

  I’d thought the lookouts were on stands behind the metal gates, but they were on the top of the wall, hoping to keep the wrong kind of people out of their town. I think they’d taken the speech that Cooper had given before he left a little too seriously.

  The guys on duty weren’t ones that I recognized, but Jessica said they were just dads from town.

  “Hey, you can’t bring those guns in here. You’ll have to leave them at the gate,” the guard on duty called down to us.

  “Ray will stay here while Jessica and I take this…” I trailed off. “Um, where should we take the produce to trade?” I called up to the guy that seemed to be in charge.

  “Trade? We don’t have much that anyone could use. We aren’t letting anyone take out food or medicine.”

  “I need a few parts to keep a machine going. I was hoping those wouldn’t be in high demand.”

  The guy rubbed his beard thoughtfully. “Head over to Beth’s grocery and tell her what you need from the parts store. Denny, who used to run it, died two days ago, so Beth has taken it on since there aren’t any shoppers coming and going all day.”

  “Sorry about Denny,” I called up to him.

  “Thanks, man.” He waved us through since we’d left Ray with the three rifles. I’d kept my ankle gun attached because I wasn’t going to be without any weapons, no matter how much I was reassured that I wouldn’t need one.

  I drove slowly to the grocery store and was greeted by Beth herself. She had a few helpers—teenage girls, that were probably bored to death since all internet connections had gone silent.

  “What have you got for us today, Jessica, besides this hunky man? You were going to trade him in, correct?” Beth asked as she squeezed my arm, trying to determine if my muscles were real.

  “Not today, Beth. I’m only trading in vegetables. Although, Linc does need some parts for some project he’s working on out at the farm.”

  Beth gave me a disappointed look, but moved toward the back of the truck, peering in to see what we had available.

  “Girls, unload this truck while I go help the gentleman find the parts he’s looking for. Just stack them up inside the door and we’ll inventory them when I get back.”

  Beth crooked a finger my way as she started walking down the street.

  Shrugging an apology to Jessica, I followed Beth so that I didn’t get int
o trouble. Or I could be walking into a different kind of trouble with this lady so obviously on the prowl.

  She only hit on me three times, telling me how I was underappreciated on the farm and should come work for her. If only Jessica didn’t keep all the good stuff to herself.

  “Is there any way I can get these parts?” I asked, interrupting her sales pitch. “They’re all smaller, mostly screws and stuff to connect my project. I just wasn’t sure how much credit we would get for the produce?” I held up a list of everything I needed.

  “Why, for you honey, anything, but don’t let on to anyone that I gave you special preference.” She winked at me as she gave her hips an extra swing, I guess hoping to entice me.

  “You certainly seem to know where everything is,” I remarked as she found the third item on my list easily.

  “Oh, pooh. Denny would go on vacation and I’d fill in for him. In fact, when I was young, I worked here so that I didn’t have to be in the grocery store where my parents would’ve been all over me. It was nice to have a job where everything you did or didn’t do wasn’t going to ruin your future, you know? Then I inherited the grocery store, and now it’s a trade business. Never thought I’d see the world come to this.” Beth suddenly seemed much older than she was in reality.

  “What’s next on that list?”

  “Connecter ties.”

  “Sounds like you’re putting in solar panels.” Beth looked at me curiously.

  “Tracy’s husband, Cooper, ordered them a few weeks ago before they moved in, and I’m doing the installation. I had most of what I needed, but didn’t have enough connectors and a few other things to make things work when the electricity goes out.”

  “You think the electricity is going to stop?” Beth’s face expressed shock.

  “Cooper told us that if the sickness spread, it’ll effect everything. We’ve been lucky so far, but even if we go to the backup generators, how long until the gas supply runs out?”

  “This really is the end, isn’t it? Are you sure that you and I can’t go have a quickie in Denny’s office just in case we all die tomorrow?” Beth batted her eyes in my direction.

  “No.” I placed a kind hand on her shoulder. “Please don’t tell anyone about what I got to today, though. It’s not the end of the world, we’re just going to have to make do with a lot less people in it due to this illness.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of, and we’ll be stuck with the Jim’s of the world.” Beth shook her head and got back to hunting for the connectors.

  The other items on the list were easy, and I carried the paper bags with all the items I needed out to the now empty bed of the truck.

  Jessica had been standing on the sidewalk, talking to the girls and gathering information.

  “Beth, can you point us to the clinic? I think my mom’s been volunteering over there.”

  “Sure, honey. Only Mavis works the early morning shift, midnight to 7:00 a.m. She should be home right now. Tell her I said hello.”

  “Will do, and thank you. We’ll see what else we can find some extras of and bring them your way when they’re harvested.”

  As they watched us drive toward my mom’s, Jessica reached over and rubbed on my cheek.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Wiping the lipstick off of your cheek. How many times did she ask you to have sex on Denny’s desk?”

  “You knew she would do that? Why did you let me go alone?”

  She laughed. “Because you needed to see how many women want you, and decide if I’m really what you’re looking for in a relationship.”

  “Well, I can tell you this, it’s certainly not a woman the same age as my mother. She was sweet, though.”

  “Which is why I didn’t come along and protect you. Beth has good taste in men, and if she hit on you and you resisted, well, you passed the test.” Jessica scooted across the seat and snuggled up to me.

  I looked at her in confusion. “Were you doubting my loyalties?”

  “No, but Beth comes on pretty strong and you managed to gracefully turn her down. She wasn’t even mad at you. Most guys don’t get a second chance with her because they mess up.”

  “It could also have to do with the fact that the likes you as well,” I retorted, enjoying the fact that she was willing to claim me in public now.

  We pulled up to my mother’s house and the curtain fluttered for a second before the front door was thrown open.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  She didn’t waste words, but swept me up into a hug like she hadn’t seen or heard from me in months. When she released me, she did the same thing to Jessica.

  “With the world ending, it’s no time to stand on formalities. My son likes you and I approve. Wherever you two are in the relationship, or if you’re just friends from here on out, you’re family.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Jessica mumbled to my mom’s back.

  “Come in so we can talk.” She glanced nervously at the houses around hers.

  “We can’t stay long. We left Ray at the gate getting to know everyone.”

  Once inside the house, Mom just started crying, and Jessica moved her over to the couch, handing her a tissue from the coffee table.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve just been having this feeling that I wouldn’t ever see you again and I’ve been so worried. All of the sick are going to die. We haven’t been able to find anything that stops this disease from making them worse. It’s hard working and caring for so many that I know aren’t going to live. I’ve had patients that died when I was nursing full-time, but this is different. There’s no hope for them.” She sniffled and blew her nose.

  “There, I got it all out.” She laughed and patted Jessica’s knee.

  “Mom, are you really all right, though?”

  “Yeah. Don’t be mad, but Peter has been here a lot. I think he’s got the sickness and I’m afraid of what will happen when…”

  “Mom, I could never be mad if you’re happy. Has he been helping at the clinic as well?”

  “No, but I might be carrying the sickness even though we’ve taken care not to have that happen.”

  “Where is he right now?” I suddenly became concerned. If he was sick and no one was watching him…

  “He’s at his house, three doors over. I’ve been checking on him. I carry my gun just in case,” she hurried to reassure me.

  That was such a burden to be carrying around. My mom had already lost my dad, and she would be devastated if Peter was gone as well.

  “I’m going to have Ray sneak in after dark. He’s going to stay with Peter just in case.” I looked at Jessica, feeling helpless.

  “Don’t, Linc. You can’t do anything, and having Ray nearby will be welcome. I’m just tired from working the early shift and then worrying over Peter. You both need to get back before Jim figures out that you’re here and he gets upset.”

  “Mom, I love you. Don’t overwork yourself so much that you get sick as well. I can’t lose you too.”

  “Now, this isn’t goodbye. I’ll call you when Ray gets here tonight and let you know he made it. Take this lovely young lady home and that’s an order.”

  A smile played at the corners of my mouth. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She got up and walked over to the door, firmly opening it. “Shoo. Go.”

  I jumped up and gave her a quick peck as I went out the door.

  Jessica burst out laughing. “Guess I’m going to have to be a little more commanding if that is how he’ll respond to it.”

  Mavis laid an arm on Jessica’s, glancing to make sure that I was out of range, but she had no idea how good my hearing was.

  “He’ll try to take out those he thinks are responsible if something happens to me. You can’t let him do that. I’ve made my peace with the man upstairs, and whenever it happens, I’m ready. Tell him to live. That’s what I want for him the most.”

  “I’ll make sure he’s okay, but don’t go play
ing the heroine either. Don’t die on us.”

  Jessica joined me outside, but she wouldn’t tell me anything. Just that my mom would be fine, so I didn’t push for more.

  I truly hoped that would be the case because it sounded like my mom had been saying she was ready to die.

  Ray made it inside that night, but Peter wasn’t doing so good. I ran my hands through my hair in frustration that I couldn’t fix this for my mom.

  Several days later, everything went wrong at the same time. My mother, called frantic.

  “He’s coming to the farm,” she cried into the phone before it went silent.

  I almost fell over trying to reach the walkie-talkie. “Incoming rednecks, prepare to defend the farm.” The fastest way to the house was to run, but I hadn’t had to do this kind of distance run in years.

  Everyone was taking up their positions. Roxanne was perched on the four-wheeler with Joy, and Nicole holding onto Trevor.

  “Go!” I yelled at her. “Don’t come back until one of us comes to get you.”

  Jessica and Tracy met me on the porch, each with shotguns.

  “What happened?” Tracy asked, hiding behind the plants for better cover.

  “Mom called and said they were coming to the farm. The call was disconnected so I have no idea what went wrong, but it sounds like they’re holding my mother hostage.”

  “What about Ray?”

  “He may not know that mom’s in danger.” I pulled out my sat phone and dialed Ray’s number. When it just rang, it confirmed my worst fears. Jim had both of them, or Ray was dead.

  “Where are the boys?”

  “In the barn’s loft, loaded up with guns behind the hay bales. Do you think they’re ready though? I mean, they might miscalculate or shoot too early.”

  I walked out a little bit and waved at the boys. “Are you going to do exactly as I tell you?”

  I grinned when I saw two thumbs go up. They might be young, but they were ready to fight.