I'm Tired of Zombies | Book 2 | Full Scale War

by Murphy, James W.

  Julia came into his workshop and said, “I’ve been wondering…”

  “Uh-oh, that sounds bad,” Dave said looking up.

  “No, not bad, but maybe good; what if those trucks and cars in that convoy had those tracker things in them? Shouldn’t we go check and see and if they do have them, we’ll destroy those too?” she suggested.

  Dave looked at her for a moment then jumped up and ran to the radio, “Doug or Ruth you there?” And again, “Doug or Ruth, are you there?”

  After several more attempts he was about to drop the radio and drive over to Paradise Valley when Ruth came over the radio, “Dave, this is Ruth, what’s up?”

  “I need to talk to Dave immediately, please,” Dave requested.

  “Okay, standby, he’s out in the barn. I’ll go get him,” Ruth said.

  A few minutes later I got on the radio and said, “Dave, Doug, what’s up, buddy?”

  “We have a job to do and a big one,” he explained. “Julia and I found that drone we shot down and brought it home. We were taking it apart looking it over and found one of those tracker things. We destroyed it, but later, Julia came to me and wondered if those vehicles from the convoy had them. You need to get over here so we can go through those things with a fine-toothed comb.”

  “We’re on our way, be there in a half hour, out,” I said, dropping the mike and running to the armory. I yelled for Ruth to get dressed for outdoor work, handed her the AR-10 and mags and nine-millimeter. I had my M4 and nine-millimeter. We took no chances. I ran out to the garage and fired up an ATV, and made sure the winch was operating, threw in a tool bag and the tool bucket. I added a pry bar, sledgehammer, and a four-pound short sledgehammer. Ruth got in and we sped down the lane to the Malone’s place with Sam in the middle.

  As we pulled up out front, Dave was getting in his truck. Julia was already in and waiving, we followed them out their gate and to the area where we’d stored the destroyed vehicles.

  “Start inside,” Dave said. “If we find one, we’ll probably find all the others in the same place in all five vehicles.” He took a hummer, as did I. Julia got in the dump truck and Ruth took the SUV.

  We were all glad the blood and gore had dried. We had to be careful from all the holes the Claymores and bullets made in the metal, avoiding cuts and scrapes. We could hear each other banging on things, grumbling, and complaining about the mess.

  Julia was the lucky winner, finding the tracker glued to the rear of the instrument panel, behind the tachometer gauge. Once she showed us where to look, it didn’t take long, and we had all five trackers.

  Dave wanted to destroy them right there, but Ruth had a better idea. She and Julia were going into Laramie to pick up some much-needed feminine supplies and said they would drop them in locations all around town. Dave laughed and said that was a great idea, and to put them in places that would confuse the people to no end. He reminded them to wipe them clean, not leaving fingerprints or loose skin with DNA.

  “Let’s get cleaned up and go,” Julia said. The girls jumped in the ATV, sped back to the Malone place where Julia cleaned up redressed, then to Paradise Valley for Ruth to do the same. They took Ruth’s truck and a complete weapons and ammunition load. They radioed Dave and I and said they’d be back that evening.

  Dave and I went back to his place and together we worked on the drone. Neither of us really knew what we were doing, but we gave it a shot. Dave’s bullet had hit just behind the wing root, behind the left wing. The impact had shattered the aircraft’s fuselage housing causing the thing to tear into two pieces and crashing. One wing had separated on impact and a small fire had burned out one wing tank and some of the wing.

  Both of us were certain we could repair the wing and fuselage, using a mixture of epoxies and fiberglass sheeting. It would be strong enough to withstand the pressures of flying we were sure. The wing, we decided, could be repaired using several lengths of carbon fiber material we had picked up on one of our outings. We would connect it using the epoxy and fiberglass sheeting.

  Flying it would be another issue. Dave was fooling around with the control and after hooking up a battery to the drone, he was able to lower the landing gear. What really surprised us were the lights on the thing came on, startling both of us. The real surprise, however, was the bulbous camera pod on the front began scanning from side to side.

  Dave and I looked at each other and stood still as we were behind the thing, near the wing roots on the fuselage. It panned from side to side, but all it would be able to show someone was the backside of Dave’s shop door and wall, and nothing there that would give any indication where the drone was located.

  That led both of us to many questions. First, was this reaction only because we sort of turn the machine on with the battery and it was calibrating itself or was this reaction from someone at a control panel from the base where this thing was launched? Were they trying to see with the drone?

  Dave looked at me and put his finger to his lips indicating for me to be quiet. He reached on his workbench, got a pad of paper and a carpenter’s pencil, and wrote, “You think someone’s still operating this thing?” I read the message and shrugged my shoulders as an ‘I don’t know’ response. The he wrote, “Should we cover the lenses?” I gave him a sideways look, held up a finger to wait a minute.

  He was looking at me while I thought about his question when an idea came to me and I got a mischievous grin on my face, looked at him and reached out for the pad and pencil. I threw his page away, began writing in big block letters and wrote, “Hi, Doc.”

  Looking at Dave, I held up what I’d written and pointed towards the camera. I saw the light go on in his head and he nodded yes and gave me a head nod to go ahead. I slid forward a few feet and not wanting them to see my hand, reach over, got a pair of needle-nosed pliers and gripping the page, held it in front of the lens. I purposely held it so that as the lens panned to the right, I slipped the page down to the left, just catching the lens. The thing stopped and panned back to the left and stopped, fixed on my paper. We now knew they, whoever ‘they’ were, were looking at the page and might be wondering what ‘Hi, Doc’ meant.

  I started laughing and Dave joined in. The camera panned to the right then back to the left and stopped again on my paper. It didn’t move. We laughed again. I turned my paper over, wrote, “You think they can hear us?”, and showed it to Dave.

  He read it and shrugged his shoulders, ‘I don’t know’. He took the paper and wrote, ‘You think they’ll know who it is showing that note?’

  My turn to shrug then said, quietly, “I don’t know, brother. You think we should write something else, maybe ask them why they’re trying to kill us?”

  He shook his head and said, “No, I don’t. I don’t think we should poke the ant’s nest anymore. Crap, we’ve already killed twenty of their guys. I don’t think we need to tempt them any more than we already have.”

  “Unhook the battery,” I told Dave. He turned to disconnect the terminal and stopped cold. I saw the camera move to the right and as I looked back at Dave, saw he was staring at the rear of the aircraft. I turned and saw a light blinking on and off on the vertical stabilator on the left side. If I didn’t know better, it was Morse code blinking.

  “Dave…” I tried, but not looking at me, he held up a hand for quiet. He was concentrating on the light blinking on and off, rhythmically.

  “It’s Doctor Roche, believe it or not and he said ‘Hello, Doug’. He knows you’re here,” Dave said looking at me.

  My blood ran cold, and I got a chill down my spine. Realizing the cat was out of the bag, I moved around to the front of the craft and lining up on the right side of the aircraft, waited. The camera moved to the right and stopped on me. I tried my best to keep a straight unemotional composure, looking at the inanimate thing. I gazed at the lens and Dave said, “He says to hold up one finger.” I complied by holding up my middle finger.

  “He says you’re defiant,” Dave said with a grin.
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  I took the paper, wrote a short message and getting in front of the camera, I tried to look defiant, and held the message up.

  Dave said, “What did you write?”

  I stood up and showed him. The message said, ‘We’ve killed twenty of your black-clad men in their black vehicles - time to quit’.

  He looked at me and nodded in agreement then looked back at the light. It was not blinking anymore. “You think they’ll come with more men?”

  “Probably,” I answered. “We need to tell the girls what’s happened and get both underground facilities fully supplied and ready to go.

  Dave turned and unhooked the power cable to the battery and the camera went still. “I don’t think we’ll be able to fly this thing if they still have some kind of control over it like they do. I say we just destroy it,” Dave said.

  “Actually, I think we should keep it a while longer,” I said. “We know they can’t track it and he only knows about our homes, not our underground facilities. We should keep it and communicate with them. Maybe we can find out why they’re trying to kill us. To give you more room we can loose the wings and the tail, just keep the parts we need for the camera and power.”

  “Okay, I agree with you. Let’s brief the girls when they get back and get the undergrounds ready. It just may be a long winter after all.”

  Chapter 9: Taking Measures for War

  “So, we’re going to war,” Ruth said, dejectedly.

  “Such as it will be, yes,” I said.

  “What do you mean by that,” she said beginning to cry, her anger flaring.

  “There are only four of us, so it won’t be much of a war, I think. We’ll call it that for lack of another name, I guess. We just need to be ready so we can do our best to live through what ever is coming. We’ll make it; we have so, far haven’t we?”

  “Yeah, it’s been so easy so far…well, it seems to have been easy.”

  “That is because we’ve been fortunate.”

  “You mean lucky, don’t you?”

  “No, blessed, fortunate; it’s been almost providential the way we’ve survived over the last six years…six years. It’s been six years since this all began.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “What…which part?”

  “That we’ve not been lucky, that it’s been some sort of…well spiritual event for us.”

  “I am a firm believer God has had His hands in our survival from the beginning. We’re living because of His blessing and Grace. We live our lives peacefully – when we can. If we need to protect ourselves, we do. Simple as that. I see Him in our lives every day and I thank Him every day, for our lives, the food He provides, even this place after all. It’s a testament to His leadership of you, Dave, Julia, and me,” I said pointing at Ruth. “If the doc and those men of his would leave us alone, we’d live happy, useful lives in God’s sight. We would be doing just what He commanded in Genesis, to work the land and care for it. We’ll be part of the people that repopulate the planet.”

  “You’re too positive. You don’t see the danger and sadness if we loose someone or the consequences if we all get killed.”

  “I do see those things. But with God’s help I’ll face them like a man should, honorably and with courage and character. If one of you is killed, you know I’ll be grievous. I still think about Erskine practically every day. I think God wants us to have character and high morals. I know He wants us to care about others and help when we can…and I don’t think God wants a bunch of wimps around. By what I’ve read in the Bible, He uses the weakest of us to do His bidding and that means fighting and killing from time to time – like Joshua for instance. This is most certainly one of those times. We must face danger head on, protect ourselves and if that means killing, then we certainly will. Not that I enjoy killing, I don’t and never will and still feel it’s wrong when we must, but that’s not our choice. Others force us into the blackness and it’s our responsibility as citizens of God, Christians, to lift up out of the quagmire and back into the light even though we have to fight our way through the muddy waters.”

  I looked at Ruth after saying that and she was looking at me, wide-eyed and unblinking. After a long moment she said, “Doug, I love you,” and she grabbed me in a bear hug crying. I hung on, letting her sob. She needed to get the stress out of her system, and I didn’t mind letting her cry on my shoulder. That’s what a good husband does for his lady.

  She sobbed for several minutes and finally slowing to crying, she broke away and said she’d be upstairs for a while. I watched her go. I was forlorn. I put two more logs on the fire and put my winter coat and muck boots on, went to the barn and took care of the animals. Keeping busy always helped me contend with issues in my life. That and prayer.

  The animals cared for, I went over to the garage and went through a lot of supplies, deciding which needed to go into the Underground for storage. Everything I thought would do us good, I put in the back of the ATV. I would drive up the east access road and take it in through the eastern portal instead of lugging everything up the stairway. I wanted some more coffee so I went back into the house for a travel mug.

  Inside, I poured the coffee and was about to go back out the door when Dave came over the radio. “What’s up over there in Malone Land?” I asked humorously.

  “We want to get together with you guys tonight and discuss tactics. How about your place and you ask Ruth to make her pork chops again?” Dave asked.

  “You drive a hard bargain,” I said. “Look, she’s pretty upset and has been crying…a lot. I think I’ll put some steaks and potatoes on or maybe a chicken if that’s okay with you.”

  “Chicken. She okay?” Dave asked quietly.

  “Yeah, I think it’s the stress just breaking through and she needed a release. I think and pray that she’ll be okay. She’s a strong one.”

  “Okay. Want to cancel for tonight and talk tomorrow?”

  “No, I think you guys coming over would be nice and would cheer her up some.”

  “Okay, we’ll see you in about an hour. I’ll bring the scotch.”

  “Deal, out,” and I hung up the radio mike.

  On the way out, I thought it might be a good idea to bring up tonight, that we should wear our mikes for a while so we could have direct contact if necessary. We were on a war footing as far as I was concerned, so needed to have that instant communication capability just in case. I took a sip of my coffee and started the ATV, pulling out of the garage and heading up the mountain.

  On top, I parked next to the eastern portal and stood near the lip, gazing out over the valley to the east. Sheep Mountain was still white with snow. I could see the wind whipping the white powder on the top, showering the east side of the mountain with the white stuff. Avalanche danger would be high on that side in the next few weeks. I looked up the mountain to the north, could see wind whipping snow up there also, and wondered the same.

  Time was wasting with me just standing around, so I got busy and began taking things down the hatch. I was back, after the second trip, to the ATV and thinking there had to be a better way, when from out of the portal came, “Hey up there!”

  It was Ruth. I went to the portal and looking down could see her and she had on her work clothes. “Howdy down there, you feel better?”

  “Yes, need some help?”

  “Always, pretty lady. How about I lower stuff down on a rope and you set it aside. We’ll put it away later.”

  “Ready when you are,” she said.

  I got the rope out of the ‘trunk,’ and tied it around the handles of a few things, lowering them down. Ruth untied the rope and moved the items to the wall. This was working well, and I had the ATV empty in no time. I told Ruth I was driving back down for another load and asked her to make a pot of coffee up in the Underground.

  Driving back down the mountain, I remembered the Malone’s were coming over and kicked myself for not telling Ruth. I backed the ATV into the garage and ran into the house. I pic
ked up the handset for the intercom system I’d installed for just such a situation and hit the ringer. The other end was in the Underground’s kitchen and I figured that is where she’d be.

  She picked up on the second ring and said, “Hello.”

  “Hello, is this Ruth?” I asked.

  “Why yes, it is, may I ask who’s calling?”

  “This is the love of her life and I have news for her.”

  “What kind of news?”

  “Happy news,” I said with a laugh.

  “Okay, hot shot, what’s happening down there?”

  “Nothing yet. The Malone’s called a little while ago, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, I forgot, but they’re coming for dinner and so we can talk tactics tonight. We’re having BBQ chicken, so I’ll take one out of the freezer. Might you be in the mood to make some of your famous and delicious potato salad?”

  “I guess. You drive a hard bargain with the BBQ chicken. Are you cooking it on the grill?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I am. Only way to cook BBQ chicken as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Okay, potato salad, peas and popcorn with a movie for desert, I guess after the meeting.”

  “Got my vote hon.”

  “You bringing up another load?”

  “Pretty soon. I’ll take a chicken out first and bring up some potatoes for dinner then be on up.”

  “Okay, see you soon.”

  Back in the garage, I loaded more materials into the ATV and this time added two cases of grenades. I didn’t want to run short of those if it came to a battle. I would take an inventory of all the weapons and ammunition up in the Underground next and add, as necessary. Then I’d inventory food and add to that. I’d line the access tunnel with five or six more cords of wood. That would do. I’d fill all the water containers and store them in the back-access way from the eastern portal. I’d still have room enough to move in there.

  Ruth helped me empty the ATV and I told her I was taking it back down and would not do another load today. I said I’d be up once I’d parked the rig to store the materials we’d put in the tunnel.