“Wow, impressive. Is that why Sammy wants to become an engineer, because of you?”
“I suppose that’s part of it. He has excellent book smarts. Really good at math. The future will need thinkers and builders. I teach him what I can.” He glanced over at her. “So, you said you’re no good at math.”
“Nope. Is that something important to learn?”
“Yep, but we’ll go over that later, maybe. How are you with firearms?”
“I can shoot. Maybe not as good as you, but I can shoot.”
“Have you ever shot a person?” Fred asked.
“Other than a zed? No.” She stared steadily at Fred. “If you’re wondering if I’m capable of shooting another person, I am.”
Fred gave a hint of a nod.
“You know, there are people who say you’re a cold-blooded killer.”
“I’ve heard,” Fred said.
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Nope.”
In fact, Fred had never been bothered by the whisperings behind his back. He’d killed more people than most people knew about and more than he cared to admit, so the talk was to be expected, but lately he was growing worried about how his reputation might affect his child as they grew up. He glanced at the clock on the truck’s instrument panel. It was time.
“Get on the radio. Call Mount Weather TOC and check in,” he directed.
Nikki reached for the microphone, turned the volume up, and used the proper call sign to check in. Fred was impressed; she had been listening during the mission briefing. Whoever was manning the radio back at Mount Weather, it sounded like Lois Marnix, acknowledged the call with practiced ease and without any unnecessary chatter.
Fred waited a minute and then changed the frequency setting. When he had set it on the desired frequency, he held the microphone and made a series of clicks with the push-to-talk button. Nikki watched in puzzlement.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Fred ignored her and kept driving. After a minute, he repeated the process. This time, after a few seconds, there was a response. Sort of. Nikki deduced someone was doing the same thing Fred was - pushing the mike button a series of times, only it wasn’t exactly the same pattern as Fred’s. Fred seemed to acknowledge with a single push of the mike button before attaching it back to the holder and resetting the frequency.
“What was that? Are you communicating with someone?” Nikki asked.
“Yep.”
“Who?”
Fred was silent. Nikki asked him again who it was, but it didn’t take a mechanical engineer to figure out he was not going to answer. They rode the next twenty miles in silence before Nikki could not stand it anymore, so she tried another subject.
“I haven’t seen a single zed, have you?”
“Nope,” he replied.
“The latest news is they are now hibernating when it gets cold. Do you believe that?”
“To an extent, yes,” he answered.
“What do you mean?”
“They’ve learned to utilize shelter and they’re digesting again, which means they’re putting off heat. I’ve seen them huddling together for warmth, but that doesn’t mean they’re hibernating. They’ll come out and hunt for food.”
“Do you think they understand weather patterns?”
“I believe this new generation of zeds do, yeah,” Fred said.
“Fifteens,” Nikki said.
“Yep.”
“Alright, what you’re saying is, they know this front is coming and they’re going to hunker down, right?” Nikki asked.
“I believe so, yes,” Fred said and then paid Nikki a rare compliment. “That was good reasoning.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“You took the information I provided, analyzed it, and reached a probable conclusion. That’s called inductive reasoning.”
“Not deductive, like Sherlock Holmes?”
“No, that’s different.”
“So, I’ve made an inductive conclusion?” she asked.
“Yep. It is probable that the zeds are aware of this bad weather coming in and have hunkered down. So, you’ve read Arthur Conan Doyle?”
“What?”
“How do you know about Sherlock Holmes?” he asked.
“Oh, we have a bunch of Sherlock Holmes movies on DVD back home.”
Nikki was silent for a long moment. “There’s a woman in our group back at Shenandoah. She was a college professor, back before, and she tells everyone constantly how smart she is. She told me once that I’m stupid.”
“I don’t believe you’re stupid,” Fred declared. “That professor may be book smart, but does she know how to shoe a horse or how to spot a pregnant cow that’s having problems? I doubt it, but you can, right?”
“Damn right I can, but shouldn’t I know books as well?”
“Yes, you should,” Fred said. “I think you should probably move to Mount Weather and enroll in some of the classes – no, maybe not. Not yet.”
“Why not?” Nikki asked.
“Because if your reading comprehension is as low as you say it is, they’ll put you in with the kids. No, Rachel and I can get you going in the right direction.”
“I’ve taken the firearms and zed fighting class,” Nikki said. “I really liked them. Are there other classes?”
“Yes, there are. Zach created a whole program. They have the core education classes, but there are also classes covering almost everything having to do with survival, running a community, heck, even running a country. Zach created the lesson plans for almost all of it.”
“He sounds smart.”
Fred chuckled slightly. “Yes, he is.”
“What formal classes should I learn?” she asked.
Fred thought a minute. “Alright, if you’re serious about this, we’ll get into it more when we’re back home and create an educational plan. It’ll depend on what you want to focus on. If Zach was here, he’d probably have you take an ASVAB test to figure out what your strong points are.”
“What’s an ASVAB?”
Fred grunted. “It used to be something important that everyone had to take in high school. Do you have any idea what you want to do?”
“I don’t know. Maybe an engineer?”
“There are different fields in engineering and math is important in all of them. You said math wasn’t your strong point.”
“Yeah, but you could teach me,” she said.
Fred didn’t answer immediately, but she could see he was thinking about it.
“Well, I think we should first get an idea of what you’d be best at and go from there. We’ll start on it when we get back. Maybe enroll you in one or two classes and see how it works out.”
“I want to be able to build stuff,” she suddenly said. “Like an engineer.”
Fred glanced at her and she thought she saw an inkling of a smile. “Math would be important then. You know, they’re always looking for people to live at Marcus Hook. Roscoe is an engineer and a lot smarter than me. He teaches people.”
“How? You had your own manufacturing business.”
“Roscoe is running a diesel refinery. That’s much more complex than designing a prefab greenhouse.”
“No, I think I want to stick around and learn from you.”
Fred emitted a single chuckle. Nikki didn’t know it, but it was the most Fred had laughed in at least two years.
“If you’re going to train with me, I’m going to put you to work too. I have about a hundred things around the farm I need to get done as soon as possible and the list seems to get longer every day.”
“I can come live with you guys?” she asked.
Fred realized what he said was tantamount to an invitation. He thought about it a moment.
“Alright, I have a proposition for you. Rachel is going to need help once she gives birth.”
Nikki interrupted him. “I’ll do it.”
“As I was saying. I’ve been depending on Sam
my to help me with the farm work, but he has school and his family. So, along with Rachel needing assistance, I’ll need a hand with the farm chores as well.”
Nikki jumped at his offer. “I’ll do it, but I want dedicated training time and I want to go on your missions with you.”
Fred was slow to respond. “I’ll try to give you dedicated time, but it’ll be here and there, and I won’t be able to take you on every mission. Plus, I’m still training Sammy. I suppose you two could become study buddies.” He frowned then. “Um, or maybe not.”
“Why not?”
“I guess you might say Serena is a little bit on the jealous side. Sammy is growing up to be a handsome young man. He’s smart and strong too. He’s making something of himself and several of the young single ladies around Weather are taking notice. Serena doesn’t like it at all.”
He did not mention the rumor that Serena possibly had a fling with another man living at Mount Weather and that Sammy may not be the father of little Kaitlin.
Nikki snickered. “He’s cute, but I wouldn’t interfere with their thing.”
“Maybe some group study sessions at times then. I’m not promising anything yet. I’m going to see how you do on this mission first.”
Nikki fixed her expression into eager determination. “You won’t be disappointed.”
Fred didn’t respond. His intuition told him this girl had what it took. He hoped he wasn’t wrong. He watched as the first drops of rain began hitting the windshield.
“Getting back to the fifteens, you were saying they can generate body heat again,” Nikki questioned.
“They certainly do. Zach and I killed a couple of them back in the spring and he confirmed it by using one of those thermometers a medical examiner uses on dead bodies.”
“What kind of thermometer?”
“A long rectal thermometer,” Fred said.
Nikki thought a moment. “You mean a thermometer you stick up your butt?”
“Yep, but you wouldn’t want that one used on you. Anyway, Zach checked the temperature of a few immediately after we killed them. He confirmed they’re generating heat again.”
“Humph,” Nikki said. “And they understand shelter.”
“Yep, among other things. It’s believed the infection did unique things to their limbic system and other organs. There’s a few reports on file back at Weather if you want to learn more.”
Nikki nodded. “Their sense of smell becomes better, right?”
“Yeah, that’s the belief.”
“So, how do you keep them from smelling the horses?”
“You keep them as clean as you can, but use water only, no soap,” Fred said. It was the first time anyone had asked him that kind of question. He glanced over at her. She was nodding.
“That’s what we do back at Shenandoah,” she said. “So, where exactly are we going?”
“Enough questions for now,” Fred said. “Concentrate on the area. Make sure there’s no zeds or hostiles watching us.”
“But I’ve got so many questions. I can keep watch while we talk,” she said.
“There’ll be plenty of time for questions later. I need to concentrate on the road and I’m watching for threats too.”
Nikki was not deterred and kept asking questions, but Fred had become silent. After a couple of questions went unanswered, she shut up, but only for a couple of minutes before asking another question.
“I’ve got an idea of how to pass the time,” Fred finally said.
Nikki glanced again at him, this time with a curious smile. “How?”
“It’s a childhood game I’ve grown to love. It’s called quiet mouse. Ready? Go.”
Chapter 25 – Wilmington
When life was normal, it was a fifteen to twenty-minute drive from Marcus Hook to Wilmington, Delaware. Depending on the traffic.
There was no traffic anymore, no rush-hour snarls, but the roads around there had not been maintained in years and it showed. Plus, there was still snow and icy patches where the sun’s rays did not reach. Johnny G had thought ahead and had snow chains on the tires. Still, travel was slow.
An additional thirty minutes was added to today’s travel because Riley stopped their Suburban and told him she wanted to perform a move she heard about called the reverse cowgirl on Johnny G. As soon as they stopped, a half dozen zeds spotted them and surrounded their vehicle. Instead of concern, it seemed to excite her. She gyrated on him wildly while the zeds beat and clawed on the vehicle, snarling, and gnashing their teeth.
Johnny G had to admit to himself, he’d done some crazy things back in the day, that time in Singapore with the two prostitutes during the middle of a typhoon came to mind, but that had been over twenty years ago.
After Riley had her way with him, she climbed off and pulled a dagger out of a sheath that was above the sun visor. Johnny G hurriedly pulled his pants up because he had no idea what she was going to do next. Riley grinned, rolled the window down, and stabbed the nearest zed in the face through the fencing that was covering the window. She killed two of them before the other four began to comprehend and scurried off in a slow amble. Riley exited the vehicle and squatted. After a moment, she stood, put her pants back on, and sat in the driver’s seat.
“Okay, let’s get going,” she said.
She exited 495 to Dupont Parkway and after a couple of turns, she slowed and stopped.
“Here it is,” she said, pointing out the window.
She was pointing at a metal building, a warehouse in the middle of an industrial complex, with a large parking lot where a dozen shipping containers and several tractor-trailer rigs sat silently. He could see the Delaware River from where they were parked.
“Nice location,” he remarked.
“There are a couple of boat docks out back and we’ve found a big tugboat with diesel engines. It’s in a dry dock not far from here, but dad said once we move here, we’re going to launch it. That’ll open up all kinds of possibilities.”
Johnny G nodded silently. Most boats had gas engines, so finding one that burned diesel was a plus. They had a couple of boats back at Marcus Hook, but they were only used for fishing during pleasant weather.
He continued scanning and observed the beginnings of several modifications. There was a lot of fencing and barbed wire, and several shipping containers were stacked around one building, presumably to act as a safety barrier. Riley pointed.
“We’re going to add firing ports around the perimeter and when the weather breaks, we’re going to put greenhouses on the roof. Dad’s pretty sure the roof can hold the extra weight, but he wants you to check it out.”
“What’re you guys doing for power?” Johnny G asked.
“There’s a diesel generator out back, but since the river is so close, we were thinking of hydroelectric,” Riley answered and casually stroked his thigh. “Is that something you can help us build?”
“Yeah, if we find the right equipment and material,” he said. “I’m sure there is plenty out there in all of these other buildings where we can make something work. Speaking of which, how’s the scavenging going?”
Riley gave a smile. “Let’s go inside and you can see for yourself.”
Johnny G provided cover while Riley unlocked the gate. It was an overcast day and there was a light amount of sleet falling. He looked east. The sky was dark. He mentioned it.
“Storm’s coming. We probably need to get back soon. Otherwise, we may be stuck here a day or two.”
Riley stared with those feral eyes. “We have living quarters built with a full kitchen and wood burning heaters. We can stay here for several days if we have to.”
“What about water and food?” he asked.
“Yep. Stocked up.”
“Hmm, I don’t think I brought any fresh underwear,” he remarked.
Riley giggled. “I’ll loan you mine.”
She leaned forward and kissed him, probing deep with her tongue. He’d never tell her, but her inexperience with sex w
as obvious. He didn’t mind though, what she lacked in knowledge she more than made up with enthusiasm. Eager enthusiasm.
“I have to know something,” he said.
“What?”
“Did the three of you get together and concoct a plan for you to seduce me, so I’d be an ally in this trading post adventure?”
Zombie Rules | Book 8 | Who The Hell Is That? Page 14