"All the men are taken except for you Señor Jay and you might be older but you are very strong and a very good shot and protector. I can be a good wife for you," she continued.
"I'll never get married again." I instantly said, without thinking.
"Then I can be your girlfriend." She paused and smiled even broader. "Or your second novia. I seen that chica, Bridget, watching you and I think you might be sleeping with her, sí?"
I was insane to be thinking what I was thinking. "Ahhhh." was all I could manage. If you took her perfect body out of the equation at four foot eleven probably, from the neck up she looked twelve. Shaking my head, I motioned for her to go back to the house and walk ahead of me while I kept an eye out. "We'll talk about it later." I finally muttered and just because I can't help myself, I swatted her ass to get her going. She giggled, wiggled it and took off jogging. I followed. Did I mention she also had an absolutely perfectly tight tiny ass on her also? Well, she did. Boy, I was in trouble. I decided not to think about it and matched her jog keeping one eye on my surroundings and the other on her ass as it wove between the trees ahead of me.
Most of the others were already back and I saw Miguel putting tools away near the entrance of my pole barn. I loped on over wiping sweat from my face and accepted the water bottle he held out when I got there. He nodded at me letting me catch my breath. I wasn't twenty anymore.
"Ah Miguel, exactly how old is Cara?" I whispered the question out of the corner of my mouth not really looking at him and taking another swig of water. I saw him blink.
"Why she is eighteen Señor Jay. Why do you a..." he paused for a split second and his eyes went big and round. "Oh. I see," now his eyes crinkled as large grin spread across his face, "You will have your hands full with that one Señor." He started chuckling, "I have heard she is very demanding in bed," he was openly laughing now, "And I do not think she is the sharing type." He nodded in Bridget's direction who was standing on the porch watching us with a smile on her face. I noticed Cara was standing beside her watching us also. I groaned then repeated what she had said about Bridget.
"Well anything is possible I suppose Señor." He looked skeptical though.
I shook my head. It wasn't even noon yet and I was already getting tired. I told Miguel to follow me and went in search of Michael and the others. I found them in the back room. Becky was trying to make up a list of names of everyone. It was becoming quite a handful. I pulled up a chair and waved Miguel to another. The others looked at me expectantly.
"We have some problems we need to deal with now. Today. Shelter is one. We have too many people to stay here. I don't trust those zombies and we are too many to fit in the shelter." I paused briefly before continuing. "Safe transportation. Big trucks and SUV's seem to work for now but we need something better, something they can't swamp with bodies." The men were nodding in unison. I tilted my head looking closer at what Michael and Pete had been working on. The guys had been working on a guard schedule since we now numbered too many to stay in the shelter. Some would sleep down there and some up here, while others in my camper or in the pole barn where cots had been set up. They had wanted to finish their schedule then bring it to me for approval but were arguing about how many on each shift and how long the shifts should be. I had somehow become the de facto leader of our little group of renegade survivors that just didn't want to become some zombies’ dietary supplement. Juan and Pete were currently on duty and walking around the house in a continuous circle on opposite sides of each other while others were at the tree line watching carefully as some of the kids were still outside playing. I examined the sheet for a minute, then shook my head, and drew a big ‘X’ through it and flipped it over.
"Okay, what you guys had was great but a bad idea. Two hour shifts not four. Two teams of two. We'll use the women also. That means wives, and no, you husbands can't walk with your wives. They'll be with the other guy but you'll both be on the same shift. I don't want anyone distracted or talking out there or losing their head and completely forgetting were in the middle of survival." I glanced at Michael and I saw him nod firmly with an embarrassed look on his face. I was still worried about Becky, but let it go. "Also. We're not circling the wagons here. This is how we'll patrol." Quickly I drew a representation of the house. Next, I drew two half circles on either side. "These are your patrol lanes. Each team will walk around their half circle until both teams come to one side and see each other. Then you'll turn and walk back around until you get to the other side and see each other. Do it this way, back and forth. The idea is, you’re in each other's sight more and if a team doesn't appear, you can go investigate. Under no circumstances are bathroom breaks allowed. Go before or hold it and don't separate from your partner for any reason. Does everyone understand?" They all nodded. "Good. Now draw up a schedule and put me on the two in the morning shift along with Bridget." I would have preferred four teams so they would always be in sight of each other but I didn't want to stretch the guard duty beyond two hours. I turned to Miguel.
"Miguel. I need you to put a team together and hit the city yard. I want four of those big snowplows they have. The ones with the dump container on the back. Get the ones with the ‘V’ plows, I know they have them." I knew Miguel wouldn't have any trouble getting them. I had already seen them running down the road after our last very light early snowfall. Winter was almost upon us after all. "Michael go with him. Take enough men to drive the bastards," they both nodded again, "Well go now! We need the trucks for our next move." They took off at a run. I needed Momma Jean. I didn't get up. I just hollered. "Momma Jean! Rosita!" They came running Rosita wiping her hands on a dishtowel.
"You two are in charge of domestic affairs." They both stared at me. I rolled my eyes. "Food, cleaning, kids, etc. We need food. We have a lot of women and kids and only a few weeks until winter hits. Rosita some of your people should be familiar with most of the local farms around here that grew potatoes and carrots right?" I hated to stereotype but you couldn't get white boys to box that stuff up. She nodded a thoughtful look appearing on her face. "You two have two jobs, well three. Keep this place sane. Then organize the women and kids into teams. We need to hit the farms before the ground completely freezes over. For instance, there will be a ton of potatoes still in and on the ground at those fields, even the fields already harvested. Same with other vegetables. We can eat potato soup all winter if we need to. Rosita, I have a ton of old newspapers stacked in the pole barn. You can layer the potatoes with them to keep them edible all winter. Keep a bunch set aside for seeding next spring," she was nodding emphatically, "We also need a group to clean and prepare a new place for us. I have one in mind. Where we're at is too small. Three, we need to get my supplies organized and a list made of what we are short of and what he need." Both women were nodding they knew what to do. Becky was looking pissed and left out. I had a job for her too.
"Becky. You have one of the most important jobs of all." A smile blossomed on her face at being needed. Inwardly, I groaned seeing the needy look come across her and downgraded her intelligence by a huge number of points. Fat and willing to satisfy no matter what. Yeah Michael sure picked them. "You’re familiar with all your husband's ammunition and weapons right?" She nodded. "Great! I need a complete, I mean a very complete list of ammunition types and how many of each down to the round. We're not running short yet but we will be. I need that list pronto." I gave her a serious look and she nodded vigorously. Good. It was make work because I knew exactly what I had but it wouldn't hurt to find out what the others brought with them and it would keep her out of my hair. I smiled at them waving my hands to shoo them off. They went. I needed the men back with the snowplows in order to get to the next phase. Christ this was moving too fast. War gaming is one thing, reality is quite another.
Cara trotted through with a group of kids. I blinked in surprise. She was wearing a camouflage jacket tied above the waist in place of the navy blue oversized sweatshirt I had seen earlier. I noticed it now
emphasized her rather large breasts that had been hidden earlier and looked suspiciously like one of my camouflage jackets from my closet upstairs. She gave me a saucy smile and half wave/salute as she started through.
"Hey Cara, wait!" I said. She stopped with a huge smile on her face. I could see her belly button. Hell, it was forty-five degrees outside. To be honest I did notice with pleasure that her belly button didn't have one of those stupid rings in it. God, I hated those. They looked so ignorant on a woman.
"Is that my jacket?"
"Sí, Mi Amor." she was starting to giggle. I knew what those words meant.
"You've been in my closet?"
"Sí. Bridget showed me." That set me back a bit. I hadn't realized Bridget was familiar with my closet having never been in my bedroom upstairs. I totally gave up. Obviously, they were taking over.
"Okay. Whatever. Stay out of trouble." She flipped me another jaunty wave/salute and pushed the kids out of the room. I was in major trouble for sure."Wait!" I called out. No belly ring but she was Mexican so there had to be tattoos somewhere. "You have any tattoos?" I inquired. Don't ask me why I asked, I was simply curious.
"Oh yes Señor, Jay. Let me show you." She started to undo her belt quickly and I equally quickly raised my hand. "No Cara. Forget I asked. I don't want to see." She was grinning openly now. Her hands at the ready to push her pants down the rest of the way. I cringed. Nope. Miguel was right. She was trouble. "Just go girl!" I commanded regaining my composure.
"Maybe Señor Jay wants to slap my butt again to send me off?" She turned thrusting that tight ass in my face, pants half down. I could see the top of her crack. What the hell, I swatted it. Hard! She squealed!
"Now Git!" I couldn't help it. I was laughing. Oh My God, she was trouble, but she was funny and I needed the cheering up. Life was getting different for sure.
*****
“Sir! We are near the coordinates of the next tower." Corporal Rider informed Richards. She was scared hell they were all scared. They had dragged out the bodies of Lieutenant Brewer and Lance Corporal Edwards. Most of the blood had been wiped off but a faint sheen covered parts of the consoles and the wall around the back entry door.
"Good. Get the team ready. We need to convert this tower ASAP and move onto the next." He replied without looking at her. From his earlier remarks to his men, she was very glad she was dowdy looking. She pulled up the grid schematics highlighting the tower they were approaching and cross-referenced it against the new network grid they were conforming too. With a few strokes, her printer started spitting out sheets of paper. She would hand these to PFC Morales when they were complete. He would hard code the boards with the new code sequences. Each chip on the communications interface boards could be removed and programmed with the assistance of a special EPROM reader/writer. It was frustratingly slow because she didn't receive the new code sequences until they reached each destination. The chips had hardwired security protocols. It took time to get through them. A wrong protocol entered and they would shut down erasing themselves. Morales took the flimsy from her and pulled a new card out of its static shield, plugging it in. He got to work.
*****
DAY 4: 1300 ET
Miguel and his team finally arrived with the snowplows. In reality they had been gone less than a half hour and I had plenty to do but I was in hyper drive. I actually managed to clean both my AR's during their absence and my .40 but not my .45's yet. I had my whole little thing going on in the back room with solvents and parts everywhere. I'm telling you, clean is only as clean as it can be. If that doesn't make sense run thirty rounds through a rifle and clean it thoroughly, then go back a day later and clean it again. Your patches will be dirty. How it is. I had heard them pull up. I watched them enter. They were eager and I grinned. Okay it was about to get fun and no I wasn't going to say something inane like 'your back'. Obviously they were.
"Men. How many of you have heard of RAC?" Only Michael. Figures. We had war gamed it though. He knew where I was headed with this conversation.
"RAC or Regional Agricultural Commodities is where we're headed." Everyone but Michael looked confused. "The granary across from the post office?" I prompted. Still blank looks. Jesus. "The big white domes across the street from the post office beside the river." A few nods now. I shook my head. "This is the deal. We aren't safe here with so many people. We need to move now. A safer place." Wayne spoke up quickly.
"Jay. You have a great place here. It's fenced in. We've reinforced it. They can't get in. We lost a few people earlier but that won't happen again. You have the underground shelter we can run to if we get in trouble. Why would you want to leave?" I understood his concerns. He was worried about his daughter Jean finding us if we moved.
"Wayne and everyone else listen up!" I had seen skepticism on Miguel's face also. This shelter of mine was never meant for more than four to six families, and anytime those damn zombies wanted to penetrate our fence they could. They were obviously adapting and getting smarter. "RAC is our only option. It's defendable for quite a few different reasons and it's close to the river and the silo's should be full with upwards of 2-3 million bushels of wheat, soy, corn, etc." I could see Wayne didn't believe me. "Wayne. If we all piled in my shelter right now, we would be standing asshole to elbow. There would be no room to move let alone function. I understand your issue. We'll leave a force here in case Jean shows up." He nodded relieved.
"He's right!" Jason the Reaper had shown up and walked into the room. Evidently, he had been standing just around the corner listening to us. He spoke up. "You can't stay here. Jay's right. There are just too many of you. RAC is a good choice," he looked at me nodding, "I've been there. It's closed up but not locked and you can get into everything but the offices. The towers are over a hundred feet high. Great for snipers to shoot from. You can see all of Newaygo from them. I know as I've used them recently." He smiled a soft deadly smile that woke a chill down my spine.
"Right." I continued. "The zombies are getting smarter. I'm not a genius but neither we nor Jason saw them move in, so logic dictates they came in at night and then hid in the surrounding houses by morning because there shouldn't have been more than sixty or seventy from the number of houses there. Instead, there must have been three-hundred of the bastards or more. Then when you escaped, they went inside the houses closest to us, their prey. That shows intelligence. I don't know how, or even if their communicating with each other but no other explanation fits for the number we encountered." I saw almost everyone look surprised then quickly go into denial. I sighed. Time to get mean about it.
"I see from some faces were having an outbreak of denial here." My life and the life of my family depend on having smart people around me. Men and women capable of adapting instantly to changing situations. This is life and death, I refuse to be killed or let anyone I love be killed because of someone else's stupidity."Those of you incapable of accepting facts in the face of reality and your own survival please pack your shit up now and leave. I won't stop you." I crossed my arms and waited. Nobody moved. "If anyone here has an intelligent reason why I'm wrong tell me now but remember, I said intelligent reason. The first goofy comment I hear means the door." I waited again. They looked at each other then at me again shaking their heads. I wasn't mad at all; I was simply not tolerating any bullshit when our lives depended on quick thinking and adapting. I heard Jason chuckling behind me.
"They are learning to climb also. I saw that today and yesterday." He added.
"Fuck!" I shouted. Now I was mad. I felt a light hand touch my elbow. I ignored whoever it was.
"Okay, since none of you ignoramuses is leaving I want someone on the shortwave monitoring it. See if anyone else has noticed an increase in intelligence or cleverness of these fuckers. I hate surprises."
"Jay." it was Michael and he was speaking softly. "We understand what you're saying. It's just, this is new to us and it's hard to come to grips with. None of us want to believe it but we know we have to." I looked u
p into his face.
"And while you're taking your time adapting to the new world their eating your children because you can't adapt fast enough especially when the facts hit you between the eyes with a 2x4." I said in return. He simply nodded. I shrugged and stood again.
"You're a rough one aren't you? How many would you actually throw out?" Jason was speaking again.
"None." I grinned and started laughing. "But they are living in a dream world. I had to wake them up." He nodded chuckling again. I turned around to see whose hand was on my elbow. It was Cara and Bridget. They both looked scared and intent like they were getting ready to tackle me. That made me laugh harder. I just shook my head.
"Danielle's gone." Bridget said. She was scared shitless. She had obviously enlisted Cara in her cause.
"Okay, she's probably gone to find her husband. She's only been married for a month."
"We have to go find her!" Bridget was frantic. I laid both hands on her shoulders.
"No we don't. We'll lose more people doing something stupid like that. She's probably already dead." I turned to the men standing. Most were starting to relax; realizing most of my anger was to shake them up. A couple were still worried that I meant every word. Oh I did and didn't. If I see terminal stupidity, I'll get rid of it, but I'm a happy sort and very forgiving. This new world was a shock to all of us. Some of this was understandable and way beyond the average thought process.
"How can you say that? How can you just write her off like that?" Bridget was getting mad. I gripped her shoulders tighter shaking her hard.
"Because I'm not stupid. That's why. I want you to survive, my kids to survive, and all of us to make it through this alive. If someone does something so incredibly stupid, their genes shouldn't be passed on then so be it. I will NOT waste a single human life that's left on the terminally stupid." I admit I growled the words out. I pulled out one of my .45's and handed it to her butt first. "Go ahead." I said. "Go try to find her and rescue her. I seriously doubt you'll get three-hundred yards. The zombies are waiting for us to do something stupid." She didn't take it. Just hung her head and started sobbing. "I'm sorry baby. Really, I am, but I can't protect the stupid. The smart have a chance. The stupid are chew toys." I saw heads nodding around me. She ran off crying. I saw Cara give me a last sympathetic look and then she took off after her. I shrugged. "Anyone else want to go off and try to find Danielle in a town of three thousand? Bear in mind, she may not live in Newaygo so it'll be a lot of searching." I had no takers. They were getting smarter. Good, we just might make it after all.
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