“Is that where Jim and Barbra went this morning?” asked Abe Salazar.
“Yes, Abe. How did you know?” Bob replied.
“I was awake and happened to see them pull off before sunrise.”
“It’s true. I won’t tell you where they went for your own protection. We need to keep this amongst ourselves. If the Kentucky guys find out we sent for help, well, I don’t want to know what they would do.”
“You can count on us, Bob. What do we need to do?” Abe asked.
“Never ever be alone with the Kentucky guys. You ladies especially. I know I warned you yesterday, but now I’m telling you. We need to be as amicable as possible. I learned in the last two days that as long as we go along with whatever they want, they won’t hurt anyone. Defend yourselves only if you absolutely have to. If that happens, you have to kill them and hide the bodies. I know it sounds harsh, but if there is no body, there is no proof. Forensics went out the window two week ago. Hopefully, we won’t have to do this more than a day or two.”
“Sounds good. So, we will head over to Billings Heights and start on clearing it out,” said Danny.
“Cool, but Danny, you’re with me. We are going to head over to Dave’s house and check in. See if there is anything we can do to keep them occupied for the day.”
Vinny was cooking breakfast when Charles walked into the kitchen.
“So, what are GM’s orders for the day?” Charles asked.
“I have no idea. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since we got back yesterday afternoon. I reckon we oughta go check in and see.”
“Fine. How soon till breakfast is ready?”
“A few more minutes. Oatmeal isn’t hard, you know.”
“That’s fucking gross. I sure do miss bacon and eggs.”
“Me too. Maybe we can talk to Bob about finding some chickens and butchering a hog.”
“That would be amazing.”
After they had eaten, they went over to GM’s.
“Good morning, gentlemen. I want to say how pleased I am with how well the move went. You finally pulled your heads out of your asses and did something right.”
“Thanks, boss. So, what do you want us to do today?” Vinny asked.
“We need to get the power turned on. I’m tired of living like a goddamned caveman.”
“No problem. I was thinking that today we would get Bob to show us where the power station is and get Dave to help us figure that shit out. Do you want us to round up any women for you?”
“Not yet. We have everyone where we want them for now. Everyone here seems to like us. One thing I learned about Campbellsville is we started doing too much too soon. I’ve been reading some psychology books since we got here. Apparently, whoever lived here before was a shrink or some shit. We need to reel them in some more before we start keeping them captive.”
“You got it, boss. So, just the power, then?”
“Yes, for now. We will see how things go. I’m kinda hoping that someone will try some bullshit so we can start having some fucking fun around here. Yesterday was ok, but I’m getting bored already.”
“Well, we will see if we can plant some seeds of dissension.”
“Very well. Just don’t be obvious about it.”
“You got it. This could be fun. For now, we’ll head over to Dave’s and wait for Bob. He knows he’s supposed to come check in this morning.”
“Good thinking. Oh, and Vinny, if Bob fucks up, he’s mine. I already called dibs.”
“HAHAHAHA! You got it, GM.”
By the time Vinny and Charles got over to Dave’s house, Bob and Danny were already there.
“What’s he doing here?” Vinny asked with a pissed-off look on his face.
“He’s my right-hand man. I figured you guys were gonna wanna get the power back on soon, and Danny used to work for the power company,” Bob replied.
“Oh, well, good thinking, then. So, let’s have it. Where do we turn the power on?”
“Our main power comes from the Madison Dam,” Danny said. “It’s about three and a half hours from here. We’re going to have to divert some power switches at a few substations along the way to direct the power here. The main problem will be getting through Bozeman. It was one of the other large cities in Montana.”
“Well, that part, we got covered,” offered Dave.
“Yea, we can use the armored personnel carrier,” said Charles.
“How many people do we need to pull this off?” asked Vinny.
“Well, Danny and I can do the work,” said Bob. “Just need a security detail to keep anything or anyone from sneaking up on us. It will require a couple of hours at each substation. And it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to have people here going house to house and turning off all the main breakers. It will save us some ass pain once the power is back on.”
“You mean to tell me this is going to take a couple of days?” Charles said.
“Yes.”
“Ok, well, I suppose we oughta let GM know we’re going to be gone for a while, then. And I want your people to go around and turn off all the power. I’m not making my people go house to house,” added Vinny.
“Yea, sure. No problem. I’ll head over to the jail and let Harv know. That way, Harv’s crew can help, and we will be able to get it done on time,” said Bob.
“Ok, you do that, and meet us back here as soon as you’re done. We’ll use the APCs that are parked next to GM’s house,” said Charles.
“Sweet. See you soon.”
Jim and Barbra had been to Malta many times on their way to one of their favorite camping spots. It was a small farming community situated between an irrigation canal to the south and east and the Milk River to the west and north. The only way into or out of town was to cross one of three bridges: two across the canal on the south side of town and one across the Milk River on Highway 2. When they crossed the west canal bridge into town, the streets were full of thrillers.
“I don’t know if I should be relived or afraid,” Barbra said.
“I think it’s a good sign. Nobody has burned down half the town to kill them all. I figure everyone is either dead or they left.”
“I hope they all left.”
“I agree. Well, let’s make our way across town and see what we can find up there.”
Jim shifted the truck back into four-wheel drive and slowed down to five miles an hour. He continued up the main street through town and turned right onto South First Street, which paralleled the train tracks that went through town. He had driven a mile and half as slowly as he could when he reached the other train track crossing. He crossed over to Highway 2 and then turned left, which pointed his truck west.
“Looks like that idea worked out. Seems most of them followed us,” said Jim.
“Good idea, honey. Bob said the RV people might have come this way and we should look for…legs in the road?”
“Yea, I don’t know. He also said that there would be Z’s with only half-legs trying to get back up. But I don’t see shit. I guess we should find a good place to camp out, then.”
“Let’s cross the Milk River bridge and stay over by the casino.”
“Sounds good. We can block the bridge to keep the Z’s from crossing over.”
“Ok. Bob said that it wouldn’t stop the RV people, though.”
“He did, but it will slow them down enough to read the sign Bob told us to make. Otherwise, they might go flying by and miss it.”
“Good idea.”
Jim and Barbra crossed the bridge and immediately pulled over at the motel on the left. Jim got out and, with his machete, killed a couple of Z’s roaming the parking lot. He looked back the way they’d come and saw hundreds of Z’s coming towards them. He jogged over to the nearest truck, which had a livestock trailer attached. The repugnant smell of curdled milk and sewer gas punched him right in the nose. He started to tear up, and bile came creeping up his throat. He made the mistake of looking through the slats to see what was inside the
trailer. Four dairy cows lay on their sides and were bloated. They had apparently died of dehydration. Jim hurried up to the truck cab, and both driver’s side doors were locked. He paused for a minute with his hands on his knees to settle his stomach and breath fresh air. His cheeks were tingling, and his mouth watered. Long, ropy bits of saliva hung from his lips.
Well, shit, I wonder where this guy wandered off too. He turned his head and looked over his left shoulder to the motel. Start with the easiest. Let’s go see if one of them I already killed has the keys. Still salivating, Jim straightened himself up and walked back to the re-dead. As carefully as possible, he searched their pockets. He found keys to a small car, but not the truck.
“Barbra, take these keys and move that blue car onto the bridge. Block as much of it as you can. That will at least slow down the Z’s on their way here.”
Jim tossed the keys, and they bounced of Barbra’s chest. She bent down and recovered them as quickly as she could, and then she jogged over to an Asian import. She had it in place a few minutes before the horde arrived.
Jim started walking along the motel, pounding on doors as he went. Any room that housed a Z, he kicked in the door and dispatched it. He repeated this process seven times until he found the cowboy with the right keys. He sprinted back to the truck just as the horde was almost across the bridge.
With a rooster tail of gravel, Jim gunned the engine and whipped the steering wheel to the right. He made an oblong three-quarter circle across the highway and ran over several Z’s before he sideswiped the car Barbra had put in place. He had knocked the side view mirror off the truck and could not tell if the trailer had made it very close to the edge of the bridge or not.
Jim felt the truck rocking from the many bodies pressing into the side of the trailer. He slid across the cab of the truck and exited out the passenger side. He ran towards the trailer and was about to round the back of the trailer when he saw a Z come shambling towards him.
“Shit, they can still get through! Barbra! Start shooting these fucking things while I get another car.”
Jim ran back over to the motel and picked up another set of keys from one of the former patrons. He clicked the key fob several times until he figured out which car he was driving next. He climbed into the driver’s seat and hit his knees on the dash.
“Ow, fuck.”
Before he closed the door, he heard a retort from Barbra’s rifle. He started the car and quickly maneuvered it onto the highway and t-boned the back half of the livestock trailer at twenty-five miles an hour. He moved the trailer several feet as the air bag exploded. He could feel his skin burn as the bag snapped against his face. Taking a few seconds to clear his head, he looked left, and saw a Z licking the window. Black and yellow fluids streaked across the glass and ran down to the rain seal. Jim slid the seat all the way back and climbed over the center console and out the passenger’s side.
He heard Barbra scream. He looked in the direction of the scream and then sprinted towards it. On the other side of the camper, Barbra was fighting against a Z that had its fingers tangled in her hair. It was pulling her ear towards its mouth. She was pushing back against its nose with the butt of her rifle. Jim came around and grabbed the Z’s hair and pulled. He heard a ripping, sucking sound as it’s scalp came off in his hand. He stood there and stared at the detached flesh for a second before he fully comprehended what had just happened. Throwing the flesh and hair on the ground, he removed his machete from its scabbard and carefully pushed it into the back of the Z’s head. He didn’t want to go too far and slice Barbra too. The Z dropped like a sack of potatoes, pulling Barbra down with it. Jim reached down, untangled her hair, and helped her back up. She threw her arms around his waist, buried her face in the crook of his neck, and started to weep.
Jim looked over Barbra’s shoulder and saw several more Z’s shambling towards them from the casino.
“Harv, I’m going out of town for a couple of days. Do you think you can keep an eye on things around here without getting anyone killed?” said Bob.
“Yes, that’s easy. Where are you going?”
“Danny and I are going with Vinny and Charles to switch a few of the substations and redirect power here. Then we’ll restart the power generators inside the Madison Dam.”
“Oh, like, to keep them busy for a few days? Good thinking. I got a report from a small-town policeman in Nebraska a short while ago. The RV people went through there. The leader’s name is Bill, but he said they were headed south for a spell. He said they had a few stops to make, and then they would be on their way to Washington. If they are headed somewhere else, it could be a few days before they make it here.”
“Ok. Good to know. Have you heard from Jim yet? They should be there by now.”
“No, nothing yet.”
“Damnit, I hope it wasn’t a mistake sending them up there.”
“I’m sure they will be fine. They’re the outdoorsy types.”
“I hope your right.”
Just then, the ham crackled to life, and Harv reached over to fine tune the reception with a big knob.
“Hello? Harvey, are you there?”
“This is Harvey. Identify yourself, over.”
“This is Jim. It’s good to know this thing works.”
“Glad to hear from you, Jim. Have you reached your destination? Over.”
“Yea, we’re here. We had to block the road, though, to keep the damn Z’s from overwhelming us.”
“Good job, man, I hate to say you did that for nothing, but go ahead and come on back. There has been a change, over.”
“Alrighty. Tell Bob we will see him later tonight. Uh, over.”
“Jim, when you get back to town, come to the jail so we can talk. Bob and Danny are going to be out of town for a bit, over.”
“All right, will do.”
Bob and Danny drove up to Billings Heights and found Abe. They filled him in on the details of what they needed to do for the next couple of days and told him that Harvey’s crew was going to help. When Bob and Danny returned to Dave’s house, Vinny and Charles had the APC loaded up with some food and were ready to head out.
“Took you fuckers long enough,” Vinny said angrily.
“Yea, well, we had a few places to go and make sure things were going to be ok while were gone.”
“Fine, whatever, load up. I want to get this shit over with.”
The five men headed out, Vinny driving and Danny in the front passenger seat directing the way. They drove south a few blocks and got on Grande Avenue. The first substation was on the western edge of town.
“Why are we stopping so close to town?” asked Vinny.
“Because if our people don’t get the houses all switched off by the time we get the dam restarted, I don’t want this place to be overloaded. We will turn it back on once we know the city is safe to receive,” Danny replied
“Fine, but make it snappy.”
Danny grabbed his toolbelt and toolbox from the back while Bob took the keys and went to unlock the building.
“You think we should go in there with you?” asked Dave.
“You can if you want,” Danny replied nonchalantly. “But one wrong move or misstep, and you’ll be cooked faster than you can shit yourself. ’Cause that will happen too.”
Dave apparently didn’t remember that the power wasn’t turned on yet.
“We will just stay out here to make sure no deadheads try to sneak up on you guys, then.”
Inside, Danny removed all the large fuses. Someone would have to come back here and reinstall them for the sectors of town they wanted to power. Danny worked more slowly and methodically than when he’d previously been employed by the power company.
After two hours spent there, they headed up to a substation due north on Shorey Road. This one had no building that would hide the work Danny was doing from the Kentucky guys. He made sure to remove every wire from every terminal that he could and still allow power to flow through to the town.
Next substation was north of Billings Logan Airport on Alkali Creek Road. This one had nothing to do with the power grid leading into Billings, but Danny and Bob still spent another two hours removing wires and rewiring a few others just to waste as much time as they could.
By the time they finished, it was late afternoon, and Vinny was getting antsy.
“Jesus fucking Christ. If I had known we were going to drive in a big goddamned circle around the city, I would have waited at my house. At least then I could have jerked off a couple of times.”
“We are sorry about that,” Danny replied, “but it’s not just Z’s we have to worry about out here. If some assholes come by and decide they want us dead instead of turning the power back on, we would have no way to defend ourselves while up on the ladder.”
“Well, boo fucking hoo. I’m supposed to be a leader, living in luxury, someone to look up to. Not a fucking rent-a-cop!”
“Vinny, calm your tits. These guys are trying to do their job,” Charles said.
“Fine, what the fuck ever. So, are we staying in Billings tonight? Or are we going to drive to the damn dam?” asked Vinny.
“The damn dam? Are you a baby in a stone-age-based cartoon now?” Charles asked with a smirk on his face.
“Man, fuck off.”
“I would recommend we head over now,” said Danny. “There is one more substation we need to disassemble in Bozeman. Its only five, and that will put us at the dam at about midnight. That way, we can get started first thing in the morning. It’s going to take several hours to make sure everything there is in working order.”
“Oh, for fuck sake. Fine, let’s go.”
Danny directed them through town so that they got on Interstate 90 far enough south that the Kentucky guys would not see Harvey’s roadblock. Two hours later, they exited off the freeway in Bozeman. They skirted the north side of town to avoid as much of the city as they could. When they got to the substation on Flanders Mill Road, Vinny backed the APC up to the chain-link gate. Bob and Danny closed the gates behind them and got to work.
Beginning of the New Beginning Vol 3 Page 3