The Feral Children [A Zombie Road Tale] Box Set | Books 1-3

by Simpson, David A.

  They made their way to the house in silence. Murray thought about all that Bob had said. He wished he could have a chance at time travel. He’d stop himself from getting run over and confined to a wheelchair.

  15

  Murray and Bob

  “You little turds stay out of my blueberries and get out of my kitchen. Go get Bob and tell him it’s time for breakfast and not to drag his feet this time.” Tobias yelled at the triplets.

  Landon, Caleb, Clara and their ever-present foxes skipped out to the garage to fetch Bob. They stood in the doorway silently as they watched him doing something under the hood. They remembered the day Caleb’s dad, their uncle Chris, left to go for supplies and never came back. They’d been on the point of starvation. So hungry that they weren’t anymore. They’d been eating dry dog food soaked in rain water. Chris had died trying to get them something to eat. In a roundabout way it was the reason they were here. It was the reason Caleb’s mom had loaded them all up in the minivan and set off to find him. There had been an accident and she’d gotten bit by one of the monsters. She turned into one herself but she’d managed to get them to the zoo. To Kodiak and Swan and the rest of their tribe. They’d whispered about it under the covers last night and they were glad Bob was taking the truck. He was a good fighter and it was better than having it rust away. They stood and watched until their growling stomachs reminded them of why they were there.

  “I’ll grab something later,” Bob said and waved a greasy hand at them. “I’m not hungry.”

  “But Baaoooobbb,” Clara sang out, “Tobias won’t let us eat without you. It’s his rule.”

  “Yeah,” Landon said in agreement. “Nobody eats if everybody isn’t counted for.”

  “We’re hungry and I smelled pancakes.” Caleb rubbed his belly at the thought of a thick stack.

  “Blueberry pancakes,” Clara encouraged. “With syrup.”

  Bob put down whatever the thing was he was working on and picked up a mostly clean rag to wipe his hands. “Okay. Hurry along, I’ll be there in a minute.”

  They were all pounding their fists on the table when he finally made it. Tobias snorted and slid a plate loaded down with pancakes and scrambled eggs in front of him.

  “Glad you decided to grace us with your presence.” He said and began devouring his own plate.

  After attending to his daily admin duties Murray rolled out to see what Bob was up to. They were in pretty good shape as far as fresh food went and the canned goods in the cellar would see them through the winter months as long as the hunts were good. They still needed stuff that couldn’t be grown and he wondered if the warehouse had pallets of toilet paper. He worried about Swan risking her life raiding houses for a roll of butt wipe. He had thought long and hard about everything Bob had told him. He’d read a lot of science fiction, had seen loads of time travel movies and understood how changing anything could affect everything.

  He pushed it to the back of his mind to let his subconscious mull it over and asked Bob if he needed help with anything. Murray loved to work with his hands and had been the driving force behind most of the tribe’s projects. The smoke house and green house, the irrigation trench and the garden layout. He didn’t know how to use the cutting torch or weld and Bob said he’d show him how.

  Murray watched him fire up the torch, drop the goggles over his eyes and sparks flew from the metal bars. Bob heated sections until they glowed cherry red, then used the vise on the work bench to bend them to the shape he wanted. Murray caught on quick and soon they were working together, him wielding the torch and Bob marking the cuts and bends he needed. They cut into the existing guard on the front of the truck and welded in the newly fabricated pieces. They repeated the process with some of the smaller diameter steel and made a guard over the windshield and side windows. Murray had been good at soldering and welding was the same thing only different.

  “Not as good as an arc welder.” Bob said. “But it’ll do.”

  It didn’t take long before his welds were smoother and better than Bob’s and he took over the torches to weld the pieces in place.

  They reinforced the frame of the truck with angle iron and Bob pedaled furiously on the bicycle powered battery charger while Murray drilled the bolt holes. The day passed pleasantly with easy talk, stories and dreams of the future.

  Murray was good with electronics and Bob asked him to disconnect all the chimes and buzzers and interior lights. Those things will get you killed, he’d said. He replaced all the fuses with higher rated ones. By the time the sun started dipping over the trees, Bob declared it was good enough. Murray rolled back from the truck and admired their work. It looked mean and dangerous just sitting there. The passenger compartment and windshield where safely ensconced in horizontal bars. The front bumper resembled a cowcatcher from an old train. It was perfect for shoving the undead out of its path and protecting the vulnerable undercarriage of the truck. Part of him wished he could throw his gear in the back and go along for the ride.

  Murray rolled over to where Bob stood. He had a crooked smile and was staring off into space.

  “What are you grinning about?” He asked the older boy.

  “The future, my man. It’s looking pretty good.” Bob smiled.

  “What about us?” He asked, his face serious. “I’ve been going over everything you told me. I’ve read a lot of books, seen a lot of movies. I think it’s a lot more complicated than you think.”

  Bob waved his hand dismissively, “That’s Hollywood. There has to be a big conflict and the hero has to save the day just in the nick of time. This is real life. It’s pretty straightforward and simple. Seriously, I get Scarlet, we go down to the time machine, reset the parameters and you’ll never know any of this happened. This past year will just be gone. It never existed and never will.”

  “That just seems so impossible.” Murray said. “What happens to all these memories? What happens to us? We’re gone? We’re dead?”

  “No, you just come back younger. You’re the same you, just from a few years ago.”

  “I hated myself a few years ago.” Murray told him. “I wanted to die a few years ago.”

  Bob closed the hood and looked at the wheelchair bound boy.

  “Cody was picked on in school. His dad was dead and him mom struggled to put clothes on his back. Harper was a ditzy cheerleader; Vanessa was a mouse who wouldn’t say boo to a goose. Analise and Tobias were outcasts, Swan was a hippy vegan weirdo, Donny was a homeless runaway, and I was a useless cripple. All I’m saying is for some of us, a reset isn’t such a happy plan.” Murray said sadly.

  “Even if it means getting your parents back?” Bob asked after a long pause. “Is it worth it then?”

  Murray looked down at his useless legs. “Yeah. It’s worth it. Of course, it is. That’s not what I mean. I just wish I would be able to remember who I am now. Who we all are now. A bunch of losers with no future have done something pretty special. We’ve accomplished something pretty spectacular and I wish I would be able to remember it.”

  Bob squatted so they were to eye. “I’ll make you a deal. You’re the keeper of my secrets and you saved my life. By doing so, you probably saved eight billion people. When we fix things, we’ll come visit you and Kodiak and the rest of your crew. We’ll tell you a tale none of you will believe, we’ll tell you how you saved the world. We’ll make you believe it, though and we’ll help you become the people you are now. You have my word on that.”

  Murray wanted to believe it. If everything was reset, modern medicine gave him a chance at walking again. In this world it was impossible. He was proud of who he was now and didn’t want to lose that, but with eight billion lives at stake there wasn’t even a choice. He looked Bob in the eyes and held out his hand. They shook on it.

  Swan wiped the sweat from her forehead and dropped the axe. She’d been chopping for the last half hour as she rushed through her chores, hurrying to finish everything on the work schedule. She’d jogged the entire peri
meter with her wolves and found a few aggressive raccoons hissing at her inside the fences. At her command, her pack made short work of them. She didn’t even break stride. They were eaters of the undead and had actually charged the wolves instead of retreating. She used her tomahawks to take out several rabbits that were munching on the lettuce they’d planted near the back to lure them in. They were cleaned and hanging in the smokehouse. She was dying to spend some time with the stranger. Her and everyone else had tried to get him to stay, to wait until he was fully healed. Even grumpy Tobias had said he was helpful in the kitchen.

  A little.

  He was still a mottled hue of fading yellows and purples from all the bruising. She was worried that if she ever met him again, she wouldn’t be able to recognize him. His face was still puffy and she wanted to see his real face, not the swollen one. She made her way over to the shop and whistled at the truck. Murray was beaming and Bob was rolling up the torch hoses. It looked positively wicked, like it could take on a thousand undead without slowing down. Murray bragged about the improvements they’d made and she made idle chitchat with the two until Donny and Yewan came by.

  “Where you been all day?” She asked Donny.

  He signed his answer.

  “Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not apologizing.”

  Murrays gaze was still riveted on the truck. “Apologize for what?”

  “Mr. Brainiac went to count the dead. One hundred and seven, or so he claims.” She twirled her finger by her temple. Donny was crazy, she’d only counted about seventy. There couldn’t have been forty more stacked up or tossed in the weeds.

  Probably.

  The three approached the back of the truck where Bob was sorting supplies.

  “You can’t count that high, you don’t have enough fingers and toes.” She said. “I still don’t believe it. Why were you counting them anyway, just to prove me wrong?”

  Donny scowled and signed again.

  “Really? How much?” Murray asked.

  “Impressive.” Swan said as she stared at Bob. “Not only is he a mystery man who falls out of trees and a badass zombie slayer, he also has magical all-knowing powers. Turns out you were right, Canadian Bob. The warehouse down at the river is a grocery supply place. How did you know that?”

  “Lucky guess.” Bob muttered and looked at Murray.

  Murray tried to bail him out. “If I would have seen it, I could have told you the same thing. But since I hardly ever get to go to town, I didn’t see it, now did I? Everybody knows the barges bring in the food.”

  “I didn’t know that.” She said with a snort.

  Donny grinned and flashed at her, “That’s because you’re a nobody.”

  Swan opened her mouth in retort but Harper stuck her head through the door.

  “Everyone is back so dinner is early. Come on, I didn’t have any lunch. I’m starving.”

  Bob and Murray exchanged a look and the boy whispered he’d take care of it, he’d keep them away.

  They held a celebration dinner for Bob’s last night. Even though Tobias pretended that he didn’t like the stranger, he and Analise went all out in the food preparation and unveiled their first rhubarb pie for dessert. The tribe devoured it to the last crumb. Tobias glared at Landon when the small boy picked up the empty bowl and began to lick the sticky sweet residue still inside. He was secretly pleased, though. The bowls usually got set down for one of the animals to lick clean.

  They tried to get Bob to stay a little longer again. He told them he couldn’t, he had to finish his scouting trip and return home so that his village wouldn’t have to make the move to their new location in the winter. Most of them didn’t believe the story anymore but they let it slide. The older boy had his reasons. They played board games and charades by candle light for a time and Swan always found an excuse to stay close to the stranger. They argued and laughed long past their normal bed times and when they finally curled up to sleep, they went down quickly.

  Bob tiptoed over the sleeping bodies and only the wolves raised their heads to watch his progress, their eyes glittering in the darkness. The sun was just graying the horizon, it would be another half hour before its fiery brilliance crested. He eased the door closed and looked up to see Donny and Yewan approaching from the front gate. The silent boy was used to being up most of the night and had already cleared the entrance of the undead. He stepped from the shadows and signed to Bob. Are you leaving? Bob didn’t understand so he pointed at the gate and held his hands out in a questioning gesture.

  “Yeah.” Bob kept his voice low. “I need to get on the road. Goodbyes take too long.”

  Donny nodded and the pair followed him to the garage to help push the truck. If he wanted to leave without waking the tribe, Donny was cool with it. Everyone had their reasons for doing the things they did. As they pushed the truck past the house, the tribe slipped out of the darkness to help. They were wide awake, armed and armored and moved without words.

  “Not much gets by you guys does it?” Bob asked them.

  They hugged him or shook his hand and said their goodbyes. Swan was sullen and disappointed. She’d thought about hiding in the back of the truck and not revealing herself until they were too far away to turn back. It was just a fantasy though. This was her home and her family, and as long as Diablo and Gordon walked the earth, she had a mission of her own.

  Tobias was the last to step forward and placed a bag of food in his hands. Bob had earned his respect and he figured the older boy would be eating MRE’s and canned food for the foreseeable future. He locked eyes with him and nodded, then walked away. He had work to do, breakfast for the tribe wasn’t going to cook itself.

  They watched as the stranger fired up the truck, pulled out of the lot and disappeared in the mist coming off the river.

  “Think we’ll ever see him again?” Swan asked.

  Murray smiled. He hoped so. He hoped it would be in a world that wasn’t overrun by the undead and he hoped it would be soon.

  16

  Murray

  Murray couldn’t keep his mind off everything Bob had shared with him. The tribe was eager to hit the warehouse but he did whatever he could to keep them away from town. Kodiak was their chief but he took council from the wheelchair bound boy because Murray thought things through, planned for the long term and knew what they needed to get through the winter. He convinced them there was no use going until they could make a big haul and if they helped him get the tractor running again, they wouldn’t have to use wheel barrows or mess with Millie to get her to pull a wagon.

  “Bob showed me how to fix it,” he insisted, “and it’s as easy to drive as a golf cart.”

  Donny and Swan were the only two he was worried about, they went outside the fences every week to hunt. The others rarely left the zoo unless they were going on a raid. When they went on a hunt, he gave them a list of things he needed, most of them should be readily available from any of the abandoned farms they’d mapped out. All of them were north, away from the town. It was easy for the first few weeks, they had just returned from a supply run, there was plenty of work to do with the early harvest and they’d had a scare from the horde Bob had killed. If he hadn’t been there it might have gone bad. Their worries faded and it didn’t take long before they were getting antsy, they really wanted to see what was available and how much there was. Kodiak was getting tired of the excuses and the waiting, too. He pulled Murray aside one afternoon and wanted to know what was going on.

  “We need to find out what’s there.” He said. “We need to know if it will be enough for winter or if we need to go to the next town.

  “Do you trust me?” Murray asked.

  “Of course I do, Mur. But I don’t understand what all the resistance is about. Why are you so dead set against us even checking it out? Donny only looked through the windows, it could be nothing, maybe just pallets of office supplies or something.”

  “Do you trust me?” the boy asked again.

&
nbsp; Kodiak opened his mouth then closed it, thought about what was being asked and considered why Murray would even ask such a question.

  “Did the stranger tell you something?” he asked. “Is that why?”

  “It’s life and death.” Murray said. “I’ll tell you everything in another week or so but for now, do you trust me?”

  Kodiak had nodded then asked no more. He did what Murray asked, either kept everyone inside the gates or sent them north to the empty farms and the rural houses that Swan had already cleared. Murray tinkered with the tractor in the shop and always had a list of a few little parts he needed for them to try to find.

  “No rush.” He’d said. “Don’t make a special trip out but when you go on a hunt, find me these and as soon as we get the tractor running, we’ll go into town. We can make one big haul instead of a bunch of little ones.”

  They always went north, always away from the machine guns he knew were coming. There was nothing wrong with the old Kubota except a dead battery but he let the air out of one of the tires, disconnected a few wires and made “progress” on getting it running when they brought him something from the list. They were safe in the hunting grounds, the only danger was the undead and they didn’t like the woods. They stayed on the roads where walking was easy. While he was supposed to be fixing the tractor, he’d hook up the golf cart and spend hours hand pedaling the charger. Using the torches like Bob had shown him, he added a few bars across the windshield and doors as zombie protection. He only had to stall for another week, he couldn’t let Tobias and Analise die. He wouldn’t get a do over if he failed. Every time they started complaining and he was tempted to tell them the secret, he remembered what Bob said. Just knowing a thing could change the future. He kept quiet, ignored their complaints and kept assuring them it would be worth the wait. They would only have to risk going to town once if they had the tractor.