MARZ | Book 2 | MARZ 2

by Davis, James

  Bark exploded, splintering wood flew through the air from several trees as Keith all but disappeared into the woods. Roosevelt slowed down and guided them between two tall oak trees. The roar of the engines echoed throughout the forest, leaves and twigs snapped and crunched as they sped through the wooded area.

  "Two o'clock!" Johnny shouted over the noise as he spotted the other wheeler through the trees. Roosevelt eased to his right attempting to line up with the bandit. Johnny raised his pistol and fired another four shots wildly into the trees.

  As if out of nowhere, the trees ended, and the men entered a clearing. The clearing was almost perfectly circular, no more than fifty yards across and surrounded by trees. In the center of the clearing, a thick layer of fog hovered above a small man-made pond. A thin layer of ice floated atop the entire outer edge of the pond. A large pavilion sat to the left, four picnic tables sat placed at each corner and two square bar b q grills sat atop posts in the ground just outside.

  "Over there!" Johnny shouted looking to his left as he watched Keith speed through the center of the pavilion.

  "Oh shit!" Roosevelt shouted, scrambling to yank the bars to the left as the tires slid across the frozen grass, hitting a frozen patch of mud, and losing all control. The ground crunched beneath them as it turned from mud to ice. The ice cracked and crunched as the weight of the two men and their ride easily smashed through it. The water grew deeper and deeper as the men helplessly slid into the water. They watched as Keith disappeared into the woods on the opposite side of the clearing, his right arm outstretched, and his chubby middle finger displayed.

  Chapter Seven

  11:17 a.m. January 2, 2049

  Somewhere in Georgia

  “Oh shit, that’s cold!” Roosevelt shouted as they sank deeper into the water. Johnny burst through the top of the water and gasped for air, the freezing temperature making it hard to breath. Both men's teeth chattered as they helplessly watched the four-wheeler with the last of their supplies sink deeper into the dark murky water. Roosevelt swam to the edge of the busted ice and tried to climb out of the freezing water, but the ice proved to be too thin for his large frame. He sank back into the water, his body now violently shivering. The two men swam back the way the wheeler had come in until their feet touched bottom. The chest deep water splashed in their faces as they pushed to get out of the water. When they finally made it to the water’s edge they glanced back at the water deciding if they should try to swim down to get their only rifle and bag full of supplies but dismissed the thought as a large group of infected people topped the hill.

  “Come on. We have to get out of these wet clothes.” Johnny stated through chattering teeth. Roosevelt didn’t answer, he just fell in behind Johnny as they jogged away from the advancing group of undead. They made it to the far side of the field away from the town before their bodies started to shiver out of control. They knew they had to keep moving before the shivering stopped which meant that their bodies were shutting down. The human body shivered to heat up the vital organs and keep them from shutting down. Roosevelt knew this and pushed Johnny to keep moving. They broke through the edge of the forest and spotted a farmhouse in the distance.

  “We have to hurry.” Roosevelt said through chattering teeth as they pushed forward with newfound energy after spotting the house. The front door stood halfway open and the front porch light proved that the house still had power as the two raced up the steps and through the door. Roosevelt closed the door behind them and immediately headed for the kitchen, stripping off his wet clothes the entire way. Johnny did the same and soon they were both stark naked standing in front of the open oven door.

  “Put it on broil!” Johnny chattered through purple lips. Roosevelt reached out a shaking arm and twisted the dial to broil before taking a step closer to the mouth of the oven. They stood facing the oven, slowly letting their bodies heat up when shuffling feet caught their attention. Johnny turned his head just in time to see a round fat man with a bald head slam into his naked body. Roosevelt rushed over to roll the fat man off him but was tackled to the ground by a skinny white-haired woman. The woman opened her mouth and clamped down on Roosevelts forearm but her false teeth popped out of her mouth and shattered on the floor. Roosevelt craned his neck to see Johnny struggling with the fat bastard as he held the skinny toothless woman off with one arm. Her nails dug into his chest as he tried to scoot his way out from under her. Finally, in a burst of frustration and anger Roosevelt got his foot under her waist and shoved with all his might, sending the woman flying across the room. She slammed into the cabinets and hit the floor before rolling over to get back to her feet.

  “I can’t hold him anymore!” Johnny screamed just as his arms lost all strength. The fat man dropped down chest to chest with johnny, snapping teeth inching closer to his throat. Roosevelt scrambled to his feet and grabbed a wooden chair from the table, swinging just as the woman got within three feet of him. The chair shattered across her face and chest sending her sprawling to the floor. Roosevelt had a single broken leg of the chair in his hand as he turned and stepped forward, swinging the chair leg like a Louisville slugger. The wooden leg slammed into the side of the fat man’s head, caving in his skull before it had a chance to clamp down on Johnny's throat. Roosevelt moved to hit the round man once more but stumbled forward as the old skinny woman climbed up his back and wrapped her toothless mouth around the side of his neck. She continued gumming his neck as he reached back and wrapped his hand up in her white hair. He yanked hard, flipping the woman over the back of his shoulder to the floor and then slammed the tip of the wooden leg down through the back of her head. A wet slurping sound filled his ears as he yanked the leg free of her head and spun around to see Johnny trying to roll the lifeless fat bastard off him.

  “Get him off of me!” Johnny yelled in a muffled tone, the fat zed's large, hairy man titty covering his face. Roosevelt saw this and lost it. He laughed hysterically as he rolled the man off his friend. Johnny shot to his feet and rubbed at his face, disgusted with the situation.

  “It’s not funny asshole!” Johnny cursed, moving back to the open oven. The kitchen was above freezing now, and the color had returned to the two men's faces as they stood in the warmth.

  “We need to check the rest of the house for more of these things and see if they have any clothes that will fit us.” Roosevelt said, standing next to Johnny. Both men stood with their hands covering their junk for a few more minutes not wanting to move away from the warmth. Finally, after a few more minutes they both stepped away from the stove and moved deeper into the house.

  “Let’s check the bedrooms first for some clothes.” Johnny said, rounding the bottom of the staircase and heading up taking two steps at a time. When he reached the landing, he stopped in his tracks. Blood covered the walls and floor of the hall. Roosevelt stepped up next to him holding the wooden chair leg like a bat. The pair moved down the hallway listening for movement as they went. When they reached the first doorway they stopped and quickly peeked inside.

  “Oh Jesus Christ!” Roosevelt said after seeing what had caused all the blood. A small corpse that had been reduced to nothing, but sinew and bone lay face down on the bedroom floor. Roosevelt backed away from the door and closed it before moving further down the hall. The next room was empty. A tall four post bed sat in the middle of the room. The covers and pillows were in disarray like someone had just gotten up for the day.

  “Looks like this was big boys’ room.” Roosevelt said as he moved into the room. He headed straight for the dresser and began pulling open drawers. Johnny headed for the closet and slowly opened the door. When nothing slammed through trying to eat his face, he opened it all the way and flipped the switch on the outside of the door. Clothes hanging on a long wooden pole ran along the inside of the closet, boxes stacked high on the upper shelves. Old boots and shoes sat in a rack along the floor and the back wall held a tall mirror. Johnny jumped seeing his own reflection in the mirror an
d then began to chuckle.

  “I got some major shrinkage going on over here.” Johnny shouted out of the closet as he posed as Captain Morgan in the mirror. Shaking his head, he called himself a moron and started thumbing through the clothes. One side of the closet held petite women’s clothes and the other held large men’s clothes, both not the right size to fit either men.

  “We’re just going to have to make fat boys clothes work.” Johnny said, pulling out a massive pair of worn denim overalls. He browsed through the clothes until he reached the back and found several more worn out pairs of smaller overalls no doubt worn by the fat man much earlier in his life when he was a lot smaller.

  “These might actually fit you, Rosie.” Johnny said over his shoulder. Roosevelt stepped inside and Johnny tossed him the overalls. Roosevelt held them up to his body and shrugged.

  “Not quite but they’ll work. There's a pretty little dress out here that should fit your skinny little ass.” Roosevelt chuckled. Johnny flipped him the bird and pulled another smaller pair of the denim overalls off the hanger for himself.

  “Found some basketball shorts and socks out here.” Roosevelt said as he backed out into the room and started getting dressed. Johnny followed and grabbed a red pair of shorts from the bed. They each slid into the oversized clothes and then slid the socks on.

  “Feels kind of gross wearing some dead fat bastards’ clothes but it sure as hell beats freezing to death.” Roosevelt said.

  “These old boots might fit us as well. Size 12.” Johnny said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

  “These people didn’t throw anything away.” Roosevelt said, pulling a tattered pair of underwear from the drawer. Johnny stepped back into the closet and grabbed the two best looking pairs of mud caked boots. He returned to the bed and took a seat and started lacing them up. He stood up and tapped his foot and then glanced over at Roosevelt who was now lacing up his own boots.

  “These ain’t half bad.” Johnny said, rocking back and forth in the old boots. Roosevelt stood a second later and agreed.

  “Now let’s go see what they have to eat. I’m famished.” Roosevelt stated as he walked out of the room and headed back down the stairs.

  Chapter Eight

  2:59 p.m. January 2, 2049

  Inside the old farmhouse

  Tennessee

  “So now what the hell do we do? We can't just go back and get more from Rick's ‘cause we took damn near everything worth a shit the first time.” Johnny stated as he tore open a packet of saltines to go with his can of tuna. Roosevelt munched on a homemade pickle he had gotten from a large jar in the pantry. He didn’t reply right away as he was thinking through their options. After popping the last hunk of pickle in his mouth, he looked at Johnny.

  “Way I see it is we have a couple of different options. We stay here and wait for that fat shit to ride by and then try to follow him or we get what supplies we can from here and take off on foot. They have a basement we haven't checked yet. Could be full of supplies we’ll need,” Roosevelt said. Johnny considered this as he spooned a portion of the tuna onto a white cracker.

  “Definitely not voting to stay here and wait on the thieving fat bastard. No telling when he’ll ever come by here if he does at all.” Johnny said.

  “We could go find him. I’d bet he's somewhere around that crazy dancin’ bitch from the apartments.” Roosevelt replied. Johnny shook his head.

  “No. We don’t need to back track. Let’s just take what we can from here and get the hell out of here.” Johnny said as he finished the can of tuna.

  Roosevelt reached into the jar and grabbed another pickle. He took a bite, the crunch audible in the room before pointing the pickle at his friend and saying,

  “You know I bet you big boy in there has some guns around here. They were rednecks and I’d bet there's at least a couple of shottys in this house somewhere.”

  “You know I bet you’re right. We’ll comb through this place after we eat. Hell, they might even have some wheels.” Johnny added. They finished eating and started going through the closets and pantries throughout the home. After piling what food they found on the main floor, they headed for the basement door. Johnny pushed open the door and flipped the lights on. Yellow light flooded the room below as they each walked down the stairs. Steel shelves lined the wall directly in front of the stairs. The shelves were packed with glass jars full of vegetables and jellies. To the right was a work bench full of tools and a massive Liberty gun safe. Johnny moved toward the safe and cracked down on the handle to no effect.

  “Shit, it’s locked.” He said before grabbing a hammer from the tool bench. He reared back, ready to beat the safe open but Roosevelt stopped him.

  “Don’t do that! That isn’t going to work. All you’re going to do is make sure we can’t open it if we find the combination.” He said, moving in to take the hammer.

  “Where the hell are we going to find the combination?” Johnny asked.

  “That old man probably has it written down somewhere I bet. We just have to find it.” Roosevelt said as he took the hammer from his friend. Johnny started searching the work bench for the combination while Roosevelt headed toward the opposite side of the room. A hot water heater sat in the corner next to a wooden set of shelves that looked to have been built long ago. Cans of paint and boxes labeled with different holidays sat on the shelves covered in dust. Roosevelt pulled a box down labeled MISC. He opened the box and started to laugh loudly. Johnny turned away from the workbench and headed over to his friend.

  “What's so damn funny?” He asked. Roosevelt reached into the box and pulled a bank stack of money. The slip around the money read 100,000 dollars.

  “There's got to be a couple of million bucks in here.” Roosevelt said, still laughing.

  “Great! We can just go buy everything we need now!” Johnny replied with his own laugh.

  “I wonder why they kept their money hidden in a box in their basement. A bank would have been a much better choice.” Roosevelt said. Johnny looked around the room seeing the people for what they were now.

  “Preppers man. They were doomsday preppers. Shelves full of food, boxes full of cash and I bet you 100 grand that inside that safe is a ton of weapons and ammo.” Johnny stated. Roosevelt looked at the safe for a long second and then turned back to Johnny.

  “Guess we better find the combination for that big bastard then,” he said.

  “Might be in the dead guys wallet.” Johnny said, moving toward the stairs. When they reached the top, they cut for the kitchen where the two dead bodies lay prone on the floor.

  “Roll him over.” Johnny said after checking the back pockets. Roosevelt muscled the round man onto his back and then shuffled through his front pockets.

  “Nothing.” Roosevelt stated as he stood up and backed out of the room. The bodies were starting to smell and neither of them wanted to be near the things.

  “What about the bedroom?” Roosevelt asked.

  “Didn’t see anything earlier when we searched it.” Johnny shrugged.

  “Well, maybe we missed it.” Roosevelt said as he rounded the staircase for a second time. Pictures of the old couple and with the child lined the hallway walls as they headed for the couple’s bedroom. When they entered the room, they each headed for a nightstand. Johnny yanked open the drawer on his side and shuffled through a bunch of old receipts and trash.

  “Nothing here.” He said as he slammed the drawer closed in frustration. A picture that sat atop the stand fell face down making a clapping sound as it hit the wood. Johnny picked up the picture and looked it over. The picture was of the same three people, all wearing birthday hats and blowing on kazoos. The bottom of the picture read Marshalls 12th, 06/19/2047. Johnny stared at the date for a long minute repeating the numbers in his head as he counted back twelve years from 2047. He turned to Roosevelt with a huge grin.

  “06/19/35!” He said excitedly before darting out of the room and d
own the stairs. By the time he made it to the basement he was leaning over, hands on knees sucking in deep breaths. Roosevelt came down the stairs and stopped in front of him.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” He asked. Johnny pointed a finger at the safe.

  “06/19/35.” He said in between breaths. Roosevelt quickly caught on to his thinking and moved over to the safe. He spun the dial several times before putting in the first number. He twisted the dial to the second number and finally the third. Johnny stepped up next to him and looked down at the door handle.

  “You do the honors.” Johnny said. Roosevelt reached out and placed his hand on the handle and then glanced back at Johnny.

  “On three. One, two, three.”

  Chapter Nine

  4:11 p.m. January 2, 2049

  Inside the old farmhouse

  Tennessee

  Roosevelt twisted the safes handle to the left and the door gave an audible CLUNK before it crept open a few inches. They each looked at the other with wide eyes, not believing they had managed to open the safe. Johnny reached forward and pulled open the door revealing stacks and stacks of plastic tubes and small tin containers placed on the shelves inside. Johnny grabbed one of the plastic tubes and dumped the contents on the workbench. A stack of gold eagle coins slid out onto the table. Roosevelt grabbed one of the tins and sat it next to the coins.

  “Damn thing is heavy!” He said as he popped open the lid. Inside sat two small silver bars. They each looked at the stash of riches and shook their heads.

  “Any other time this would be fantastic, but we need weapons not cash and precious metals.” Johnny said in a disappointed tone.

  “We haven't gone through the entire safe yet.” Roosevelt replied before stepping back over to the safe. He spent the next couple of minutes moving the tubes and tins around. When he found nothing on the top shelf, he moved down to the second. He pushed more tins to the side and spotted a short walnut box in the back. He pulled the box out and sat it on the workbench next to the gold and silver. He flipped the latch up on the walnut box and pushed the lid open to reveal a set of nickel-plated revolvers set in a red velvet insert inside of the box.