“I’m sorry I just can’t believe what’s happening. It’s…well surreal. I really can’t thank you enough and I don’t know how to repay you. I don’t have any money or anything of value.”
“That’s what Christians do for a brother in need,” I told him. “It’s our pleasure and to let you know, you’re one of the few people we’ve met that didn’t shoot first. We’ve had that happen on more occasions than I want to think about. You’re a very welcome change for us. Thank you, too, for that.”
Dave chimed in with, “No money needed since it doesn’t mean anything anymore. Yeah, and it’s nice to have a new face to visit with, too. His,” aiming a finger at me, “is getting real old. Kind of like an old shoe.”
“Here we go,” came from Julia. “Chet, get ready ‘cause the testosterone is flying today.” All of us laughed.
When things settled down, I asked Chet, “What are your plans, Chet?”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I can’t believe God led me to you folks. You’ve saved my life I think, and I’ll thank God for that, forever. I don’t know what to do next. If you’ll have me, I would love to stay a few days, rest, and get some strength back, if that wouldn’t be an imposition, that is. I’ll work for my keep.”
“If they won’t let you stay here then you can come live with us as long as you want,” Dave jumped in with then, “We have a five-bedroom place east of here and the river runs just behind it so we can go fishing and hunting…whatever you want.”
“Now just a minute,” I started, “You…”
“QUIET!” Ruth barked. You could have heard a needle hit as every head turned her direction – even the puppies froze. “Chet, you may stay here as long as you wish. If we get boring, you may go to Julia’s and stay with them for a while. It is your choice, but we’d love to have you as our guest as long as you need – forever even.”
The puppies went back to their roughhousing and Sam put her head down to nap. The fire was burning down so I got up and threw two more logs on.
He looked at me and I said, “True. In time, just like Julia and Dave did, we’ll find you a place to live here in the valley and we’ll get you all decked out with power and running water. We need to begin rebuilding community somewhere; it may as well be here in this valley and with you and us. How about it?”
He sat there looking at the four of us and said, “You’re not kidding, are you?”
All four of us said no in unison. I said, “Come on; Dave and I will give you the tour.” We got up and went outside, taking him to the garage and shop first. Then to the barn and introduced him to Dusty and the rest of the animals. Showed him where the chicken coop was and told him he’d be getting eggs when Ruth made up her mind, what his chores would be if he stayed.
We took him and the brood out back showing him Erskine’s gravesite in the aspens and told him that story. He prayed for our little brother, gone, and Dave had to wipe tears from his eyes – not to mention me. Sam and the puppies romped all over.
I showed him the propane tanks and system and explained how the water and electrical systems worked. His eyes wide with wonder taking it all in. As we went along, he asked questions about Dave and Julia’s place and if they had the same setup. He had good questions.
Back inside, we took him up to the Underground again and gave him the grand tour up there. We ended in the den and I offered him a tumbler of scotch, after Dave and I had poured ourselves a glass. He accepted, but said he wasn’t much of a drinker. I told him we were not drunkards and would have a drink occasionally, and very rarely two.
We sat in the recliners, looking out over the valley below with me pointing out landmarks, Sheep Mountain, and points around the valley. We told him the story of the horde and the wild preparations we’d made during that time to protect ourselves from the threat.
Dave asked, “How did you survive the horde migrating north?”
“You mean when there were so many of them a while back…I had to dodge groups of the things,” Chet explained. “I got real good at cross-country running and since those things are so slow, I could get around them pretty good. I finally found a basement in a place and stayed there until they thinned out. It had a full hot water heater and I drank from there. Not much food, though and I lost a lot of weight. But here I am so I figure I did okay.”
After the tour, he said he was impressed with our ingenuity. He was very impressed with our idea of using the fencing from the airport as a deterrent and using the concertina and barbed wire and trees for bracing. I told him I would take him on a tour of the property the next day. I told him we would deck him out with a battle rattle supply also.
“Battle Rattle…what’s that?” he asked.
“We call it that when we get decked out and prepared for the possibility of battling with Zs,” Dave explained. “We have M4s with seven fully loaded magazines, suppressed nine-millimeter handguns with seven fully loaded magazines, twelve-gauge shotgun with double-aught buckshot, usually several long-bladed knives and anywhere from two to six grenades, depending on where we’re going, and squirt guns.”
“Grenades…squirt guns?” he queried.
“Yeah, we have Mark 67 and 68 grenades,” Dave explained. “The difference is an M67 is called a frag. You pull the pin, throw the grenade and the spoon flies off and the thing explodes eight seconds later. The M68 however, called a contact grenade, and when you pull that pin, do not drop it. Once you’ve pulled the pin, throw it – the spoon flies off and you need to get under cover, because as soon as it hits something it blows. It detonates upon contact with anything. That’s why you never drop one of those. They’re very dangerous things but great in a fight with a horde of Zs. The squirt guns – we found that saltwater kills Zs. Its quitter and much more efficient than using firearms.”
“I’ve heard you say ‘Zs’ several times now. Is that what you call those things out there?”
“It’s based on what I heard on a news report some years ago, when the announcer called them zombies. We shortened that to Zs - just an expedient term we use.”
“Oh, I understand. Wow, squirt guns, who would a thought? You folks are prepared for just about anything, aren’t you?”
“Pretty much,” I answered. “We were going to discuss our spring planting tonight after dinner. You see, our gardens are small now and do not provide enough vegetables for the winter. I need to build our plot large enough so we can get at least ten dozen ears of corn to put up. Dave and Julia will do the same. Equaling out the garden with the corn we’ll add green beans, peas, butter beans and other legumes, beets, carrots, lettuce…you name it. We’ve already planted ten apple trees out back and I have a half-dozen pear trees, too, that I picked up in Colorado.”
“Sounds like you’re going to be busy next spring. Mind if I hang around and help?”
“That would be just fine,” I told him.
“Boys, better get ready for dinner,” Ruth told us. “Doug, you have steak duty.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Steak…really?” Chet asked.
“Yep, how do you like yours - medium-rare?” I asked.
“That’d be fine,” he said. “May I help you?”
“Sure, come on and we’ll get the grill set up and going.” The three of us got up and went out the kitchen door to the side yard. I got the grill and pulled it around to the front of the house. Dave brought the charcoal and lighter and I gave the honor of lighting the fire to Chet. We stood there watching the flames, not saying anything. As the flames died down to allow the briquettes to simmer and heat up, Dave said, “Come on, back inside boys.” Sam and the ‘kids’ made a small stampede going inside.
We climbed the stairs and Chet stopped and turned around. He was looking back at everything, the valley, the garage, the barn… “What’s wrong, Chet?” I asked him.
“I keep thinking I’m dreaming, and I’ll wake up in a few minutes still smelly and without hope. For the life of me, I can’t believe I’m here. This is a fairy tale…isn
’t it?” he asked looking at me in disbelief.
“Well, when you sink your teeth into that steak in about forty-five minutes or so you’ll think you’re in Heaven…trust me, this is all real, brother. God has really blessed us all with this place,” I told him, slapping him on the shoulder and turning him for the door.
Inside, Ruth asked Chet, “So, how do you like the place so far?”
“I was just telling Doug that I thought I was still in a dream and would wake up anytime now, again without hope. I told him I thought I was in a fairy tale or something,” he answered her.
“Nope,” from Julia, “this is the real McCoy. Just wait ‘till you see our place…actually, it doesn’t hold a candle next to Paradise Valley, but it’s nice anyway.”
“Go throw another log on the fire, will you,” Ruth asked him.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, turning for the living room.
Dave and I had already claimed the recliners, so he sat on the couch after putting a log on. Dave asked, “What did you do before the plague?”
“I was a ranch hand up in Wheatland, paying my way through college, taking a class here, another there, when I could afford it, that is. I talked with a counselor at U-dub, and he arranged it so I could take classes occasionally and they’d keep me active. It was good work but didn’t pay much. I really liked being outdoors and always volunteered to ride fence line. Just to get out, you know?”
“I do,” I said. “That’s one of the main reasons I bought this place and named it the way I did.”
“Paradise Valley is fitting,” Chet said. “I’d give my eyeteeth to have a place like this.”
Dave looked at me and pointed to the southeast, shrugged and nodding, said, “We know of a place that is almost as nice as this. Julia and I were considering that place when we were fortunate to get where we live now. Sam was gracious to give us his home. We’re still saddened by his passing.”
“You’ll have to tell me that story sometime,” Chet said. “I want to hear Doug’s story about how he got this place and how he got the idea for the Underground.”
For a fleeting second, I suddenly had a nudge of a doubt about Chet’s sincerity, but it quickly passed. Only for a moment did I question myself why he was asking so many questions. But I blew it off and said, “After the after-dinner Bible study, maybe. I need to cook the steaks and the fire is probably ready by now.”
I got up and going to the kitchen, got the platter with the steaks and a pair of tongs and went back out the front. Dave and Chet followed, and we stood around the grill while the meat sizzled and cooked, chatting with each other.
“What were you studying in college?” I asked him.
“Just collecting hours, really, no major planned. They don’t have degrees in Cowboy, so I just took classes. I figured I’d make up my mind when the time came, and finish something then. That’s when the plague hit. Oh well, I’m still alive and I guess my outdoor living has paid off. Kept me alive you know.”
The steaks, done, we went in and ate. Dave, Julia, Ruth, and I had a blast watching Chet devour his steak and potato. Poor kid - kid I say, but he’s about twenty-two or so – was smiling the whole meal. He never looked up. When he had cleaned his plate, and I do mean cleaned, he looked up at us and smiled.
“That was great,” he said. The four of us began laughing because it was just plain funny.
We all finished eating, cleared the dishes and I began our Bible study with a short prayer. It was fitting, as my lesson for the day was how God can change our lives, and to prove it I pointed at Chet and said, “See.” I told them to look at the season of fall as a reminder of the downfall of mankind after the transgression in the Garden of Eden. I told them fall was a time to slow down and reflect on our own misgivings. I explained that in the fall, we all store things - food, wood for burning, and other things - to prepare for the long winter. However, we should also use the down time to store up God’s word in our hearts. That way we can, over the winter months, cleanse our hearts of the blackness of sin, rid ourselves of angry and bad thoughts. Winter should include time of solitude with God, like Psalm forty-six says, to be still and know Him. I told my family to sit alone from time-to-time with their Bibles and reflect on God’s majesty. I told them to look out over the valley, the mountains, the forests, the animals, to look up and wonder at the vastness of space and recognize and appreciate His greatness. I told them our spiritual life was not behind us, nor in front of us, but now. To let our spirituality help cause us to take a closer look at how we think, speak, and act towards others and each other. That way we can live lives as much like Jesus as we could.
In closing, I read from Peter’s first letter, 1 Peter chapter three, verses ten through twelve, 10 “For Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. 11 He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” I told them to reflect on this reading then closed in prayer.
“Wow,” Chet said. “That was great, thank you, Doug. May I ask you a question?”
“Sure, go ahead,” I answered.
“Do you have an extra Bible I can use?” he requested.
“Come on, I’ll let you choose one and you can have it for your own,” I told him with a smile and leading him to the library. I told him we used the NIV for our studies and reading and to follow along with us, he’d need one of them. I told him I had most versions of the Bible and would use quotes from other versions sometimes in my talks but would explain why when I did. He selected an NIV Study Bible, from Zondervan Publishing, a great choice.
“Thank you, Doug, I really appreciate this,” holding the Bible up he thanked me with a smile.
Back in the front room, I asked Dave if he and Julia would be going home or staying the night. They chose to go back to their place and giving everyone a hug goodnight, including Chet, they left.
Ruth, Chet, and I sat in front of the fireplace and talked. The young man was inquisitive, asking us several questions then told us his story. He had been riding fence line on the ranch he was working when the plague finally hit Wheatland. He explained he didn’t even know until he returned to the ranch house to report to the owner. He was unsaddling his horse when the first Z attacked him. He told us how he wrestled with the thing, horrified, and had finally kicked it and got away, running. He said the thing followed him as he ran to the rancher’s house and banging on the door, no one came but he could hear scratching and banging on the other side. He said he ran to one of the ranch trucks, knowing it had the key in it, and taking it, drove to Wheatland, only to find the little town overrun with the creatures.
He told us he panicked and drove to the west, thinking he could get over Palmer’s Pass to the other side of the mountains and be safe. He said he ran out of gas about halfway up the mountain and continued on foot. From then on, his life was one horrifying event after another.
Julia and I were amazed the kid had survived. He’d found a place to hold up through the first winter near Laramie Peak, finding an old forty-five-seventy long rifle and nine shells for it, shooting a deer and an elk for food. He melted snow for water. That spring he’d decided to make his way back to Wheatland to his families home and see if they were still alive. He said that trip educated him on how to kill a Z, as he shot up all the forty-five, seventy rounds into one Z, not killing it, and using the empty rifle as a club, hit the thing in the head, killing it.
He was able to make his way to his home, but no one was there and from the looks of the place, no one had been in the home for months. He took everything he could carry, including his father’s 30-06 rifle and two boxes of shells. He had his Boy Scout backpack and canteen and headed west once again, going back over the mountains into the valley beyond. He stayed in homes whenever he could and if not, slept on mountainsides or on boulders.
The g
uy was resourceful to say the least. We told him our stories and I explained how I was able to acquire Paradise Valley. We told him about Erskine, Gill Meadows, the ammo man, and about the Burkes. He had asked a few questions about our adventures, our tribulations and said he was surprised we were still alive, too. I told him God’s mercy kept us alive, and he agreed saying that was his excuse as well. We laughed together but knew in our hearts, it was true.
Chet broke into a huge yawn and Ruth asked, “You ready to hit the sack?”
“Yes, ma’am, I suppose I am. It’s been a long and…well, rewarding day and I’ve had to take a lot in. My mind is exhausted over all the new…everything I guess.”
“Come on,” she said getting up, “I’ll show you the guest bedroom. It has a small bathroom, too. She started up the stairs and I said good night to Chet. He responded in kind and thanked us again.
I got up and put another log on the fire and poured myself a tumbler of scotch, then settled in one of the recliners, watching the flames. Ruth came back down and poured herself a scotch and sat in the other recliner and said, “He’ll be totally unconscious in a few minutes. She had a smile on her face.
“I bet he sleeps in tomorrow,” I said.
“We should let him sleep as long as he wants,” she said sipping her scotch.
“Yeah, probably sleep ‘till noon.”
“What do you think he’ll do?”
“He asked if he could stay and I said yes. He’s an experienced cowboy; his talents are sorely needed around here. He most certainly can help us with the fencing and maybe give me some pointers on shoeing the horses. He would be a big help over at the Malone’s, helping to build their ranch fences to hold animals. I told him we’d deck him out with a battle rattle kit and he really appreciated that. He actually laughed hearing about the squirt guns.”
“You should let him ride that other gelding we got a few months back. I bet he’d get a kick outta that.”
“Yeah, good idea, I’ll introduce them tomorrow. He can choose some tack from the locker. Maybe the two of us will ride over to the Malone’s tomorrow just so he can get a feel for the valley.”
I'm Tired of Zombies | Book 2 | Full Scale War Page 10