by David Achord
I cleared my throat and spoke up. “Kelly has moved back to the radio tower. Her bedroom is now available. If that’s not good enough, I understand, but Andie does not get booted out of our home.”
“It’s okay,” Terry said quickly. “When we get back, I’ll see if Rowdy is willing to have a new roommate.”
Andie looked at him, as if to say, that’s it? You don’t even want to fight for me?
After a moment of awkward silence, Terry spoke. “I’m sorry I’ve hurt you, Andie. I’m sorry to all three of you for causing this issue. I take total blame, it’s not Kelly’s fault.”
And that was that. We ate the rest of the meal in an uncomfortable silence. When we were through eating and sitting there staring at nothing in particular, I stood, which caused everyone to stand. The double date was over, it was time to go.
I rolled up the tarp and tied it down on the back of the saddle as the rest of them cleaned up our mess. As I saddled up, I looked around for the deer I saw earlier. It was gone.
As we neared Franklin Pike, Julie gasped and stopped her horse. We instinctively stopped as well. I stood up in the stirrups and looked around to see what she had spotted.
There was a pack of them in the roadway, slowly walking from Franklin toward Brentwood. More specifically, they were walking toward Concord Road, which is where the radio tower stood. I nodded at Andie, who fished out a walkie-talkie and tried to raise anyone, while I pulled my Winchester out of its scabbard and used the scope to get a good look at them.
They were walking slowly, but purposely, down the middle of the road. One of them actually seemed to be leading the pack. He was almost a foot taller than the rest of them and had a more erect posture. Suddenly, he stopped, which caused the rest of them to stop. He slowly turned and looked our way. His dark onyx eyes seemed to be staring directly at me through the rifle scope. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“I can’t raise anyone on the radio,” Andie said. “We’re either out of range, or nobody’s listening.”
“Let’s run them down and kill them,” Terry suggested. I shook my head.
“These horses are not used to gunfire, they might panic,” I envisioned one of us being bucked off and breaking a leg, which would leave us in a precarious position to be sure. I dismounted.
“But, you’re right, we need to kill them. Terry, let’s get close on foot and take care of them. Girls, ride the horses a safe distance away and stand by.”
Julie scoffed. “Why don’t Andie and I take care of them and you men can take care of the horses?” I was stymied and stood there wondering what to say. She rolled her eyes.
“Fine, you two macho men go kill the zombies, us frail little girls will run away and try not to faint with fear.” Julie spurred her horse and the two of them led the horses away from us.
We worked our way to approximately one hundred yards away from them and waited until the girls were a safe distance away with the horses. As I sighted in on the tall one, who was still staring at me, he suddenly dropped down to the ground.
“Son of a bitch,” I said, and explained to Terry what happened.
“Do you have a shot?” he asked.
“Not on the tall one, there are too many overgrown bushes,” I answered in consternation. I turned my attention to the ones still standing and shot two of them before they acted. Instead of moving toward the sound, they immediately split up. It was not the usual behavior pattern, but we still had targets and continued shooting.
“I think I got four,” Terry said when we stopped. “How about you?”
I took one of my earplugs out before answering. “I believe I got six. I counted fourteen before we started, so we have at least four unaccounted for.”
I resumed scanning with my scope, but the overgrown trees and bushes were causing too many blind spots.
“We should have gotten closer before we started shooting,” I quipped, lowered my rifle, and turned toward Terry, who was staring at me intently. The barrel of his AR-15 was pointed in the general direction of my legs.
“Did you tell Andie about me and Kelly?” he asked pointedly.
I stared at him for a moment before answering. “Do you really think I’d hurt Andie like that?”
He maintained his stare a moment longer before dropping his head and putting his weapon on safe. “No, I guess not. She figured it out on her own I guess.”
“Yeah, I’d say so, she’s not stupid.”
He sighed heavily. “I get the impression if I told her I loved her but I wanted to break one off in Kelly, she would have been cool with it,” he sighed again, “but I have to be honest, I don’t love her. I’m not saying my feelings won’t change one day, but that’s irrelevant I guess. I’m sorry for messing everything up, bro.”
I remained silent, but I was thinking how some of the blame had to fall on my shoulders for playing matchmaker with those two in the first place.
“C’mon,” I finally said, “let’s walk up to the road and see if we can finish off the rest of them.”
Our shooting was accurate, there were ten corpses lying about the roadway, but we didn’t find the remaining four. They had somehow eluded us.
“They somehow knew they were in danger so they fled,” I said to Terry. “An old zombie would not have a thought in the world about danger, but these do. They’re starting to think again.”
“Yeah, it’s not a good sign,” he replied. Indeed. I called the girls on my portable and had them meet us at the road.
We walked the horses at an easy pace down Franklin Pike. Nobody spoke, which normally would have been nice, but on this occasion, it was awkward. We encountered no other zombies though, so I was grateful for that. As we neared the large horse farm, I saw Bo jog out of the barn, jump in his truck and speed toward us. He met us at one of the side gates.
“Is everything alright?” I asked him as he rolled down the window.
“Mac just shouted at me on the CB. She said she’s spotted some people coming up the Interstate.”
Chapter 9 – Huntsville
We watched as the caravan slowly made its way toward us on I-65. They were coming from the south, an area I’d not ventured into past the city of Franklin.
Mac lowered her binoculars. “It’s a school bus and three cars. I spotted them coming when I was working along the Interstate. I was able to raise them on the CB. They said they’re friendly.”
Mac handed the binoculars to me and I looked them over. There appeared to be ten to twelve of them, assorted ages, gender, and race.
“Are you ready for this?” I asked.
“Yes-siree-bob-dixie,” she replied with a grin.
“I’d like for you to do all of the talking, okay?” I asked. Both Mac and Julie looked at me questioningly. Ever since Fred’s talk with me, I was starting to think I was too hot headed to be a competent diplomat.
“Okay,” Mac said, “are you alright?”
I tried to give her a grin, but it probably looked more like a frown. “Sure, if I think of anything that needs saying, I’ll say it, alright? Otherwise, I’m going to stand back and watch. Fred will be watching over us in case it goes bad, and you know how good of a shot he is.”
Mac grinned again. “And handsome too,” she added.
I snickered. Julie and I found great amusement watching Fred rebuff her advances, but there was going to be a point in time when she was going to be more assertive and then he was going to be in a pickle.
I was still smiling at the thought as the caravan slowly ascended the exit ramp and stopped at the Concord Road intersection. Mac gave them a welcoming wave. A woman was driving the first car. She tentatively waved back and crept forward, finally stopping a few feet from where we were standing on the bridge.
An older Asian man was sitting in the passenger seat. His hair was jet black with a tinge of gray around the sideburns. He opened the door and got out.
“Hello!” Mac said enthusiastically.
“Hello,” he
replied. “I’m the one you spoke to on the CB.” He held out his hand tentatively. “My name is Benny.”
Benny looked down as Mac’s large calloused hand almost completely encircled his. “Everyone calls me Big Mac.”
Benny, who appeared to be about five and a half feet tall, looked up at her in wonder. “The hell you say,” he responded.
Mac erupted with one of her belly laughs and grabbed Benny in a bear hug. “I like you already!”
The rest of them started exiting their vehicles now and gathered around us. Some of them were armed with handguns, but they all had them tucked in their waistbands.
Andie walked up and stood beside Julie and me. “Terry is going to have a fit with these chuckleheads not using holsters,” she commented quietly. I nodded in agreement as a couple of men made their way toward us. There were two them, one black and one white, kind of effeminate looking and appeared to be in their fifties. They were wearing dirty oversized matching cardigans and baggy jeans with lots of stains on them. They probably had not bathed in a few days, but otherwise, seemed no worse for wear.
“Hi, kids, I’m Marc and this is my partner, Ward.”
“Hello,” I responded and introduced ourselves.
“Are your parents around?” Marc asked.
“No, Marc, they aren’t,” I answered. They looked at us expectantly, as if awaiting an explanation. Andie stared at them silently.
“Oh,” he said, “well, I guess what we want to know is, who is in charge around here?”
“Zach is,” Andie said, somewhat defiantly. Mac chuckled.
The two old queens looked at Andie somewhat in exasperation and glanced over at me. I tried to explain.
“I wouldn’t exactly say I’m in charge,” I said. “We have a loose but unified structure. Everyone has their strengths.” They looked at me and nodded in apparent understanding, but I could also see a questioning expression, as if they did not really quite understand where I fit in.
“We operate in much the same manner,” Benny said.
“Who would you consider to be in charge of your group?” I asked. Benny held his hands up and started to speak, but stopped when I suddenly ducked and pulled my handgun out. Benny froze in place.
“Mister Zach, have I done something wrong?” he asked shakily. I looked around wildly. Everyone was looking at me in alarm. Andie had followed my cue and brought up her M4. She scanned the group but was also looking puzzled, wondering what I was doing.
“Why did you put your hands up, Benny?” I asked warily.
“Uh, I was about to respond to your question with a witty remark, something like, guilty as charged, I surrender, or something like that. It kind of seemed funny when it was in my head, maybe not so funny now,” he continued looking at me worriedly as I looked over his group closely. Everyone had frozen in place and had concerned, even frightened expressions. Realizing I overreacted, I sighed and holstered my handgun.
“Mister Zach, would it be okay if I put my hands down?” he asked tentatively. I looked around again.
“Sorry, Benny, I wasn’t sure what you were up to,” I responded without further explanation, and nodded to Andie, who stopped pointing her assault rifle at the new arrivals. I then gave the all safe hand signal and looked at the group with what I hoped was an apologizing smile. The three men looked at each other in concern, as if they were tacitly saying, should we keep driving?
“Where are y’all from?” I asked, trying to alleviate the tense situation I caused.
Benny retrieved a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the perspiration off his brow before responding. “Most of us are from the Huntsville, Alabama area. We had carved out a niche for ourselves and were living a mostly peaceful life in a gated community. Everything was going nicely, considering the circumstances, and then a rather unpleasant event occurred with a nearby nuclear power plant.”
“Brown’s Ferry?” I asked.
Benny’s expression of concern changed to curiosity. “Yes, my wife and I worked there. Do you know anything about nuclear power plants?” He asked.
“A little bit,” I responded. Andie chortled.
“Well, very briefly, there was a fire and explosion which released a large amount of radiation,” he said while continuing to look at me warily. I suppose he was wondering what kind of loose cannon I was, which was understandable. “The radiation cloud has affected a rather large area. It will disperse eventually, but not for quite a while. I would strongly advise against travelling any further south than Lawrenceburg.”
“That’s good to know,” I said, and made a mental note to jot this information down. When I focused back on them, I saw the three men still looking at me worriedly.
“Mister Zach, would it be better if we get back in our vehicles and keep driving?” Benny finally asked. I shook my head quickly.
“Oh, no, not at all,” I responded, “all of you are welcome. Y’all don’t know me very well, but I get a little paranoid at times. It was nothing personal.” I guess I should have thrown in an apology somewhere in there, but for some reason I didn’t.
“His paranoia has saved our ass more than once,” Julie added. Benny nodded in seeming understanding.
“So, if you guys would like to stay here and rest up, Mac has an area set up for visitors down the road at a church. She’ll show y’all the way and help you get settled in.”
“I think we need to cook up a great big welcoming dinner too,” Big Mac added. “What do you say?”
“Why, that sounds wonderful,” Marc said, “right guys?” The other men nodded in agreement. Benny looked around at the rest of the group and got some nods of agreement.
“Okay,” he said, “it sounds like a plan.”
“Wonderful. Mac will show y’all the way.” I said and looked at Andie.
“Would you give her a hand, Andie?” I asked. She nodded amicably and I looked back at the three men. “It’s very nice to meet all of you. We can talk some more when y’all get settled in.” I shook their hands again and walked back to my truck.
Julie, who had remained silent the entire time, nudged me in the ribs. “You’re wound up too tight, love.”
“Yeah, I suppose.” I grabbed her hand and led her to the tailgate of my truck. I opened it and sat down. “I can’t explain it, but I’m not comfortable with this,” I said. Interacting with these new people was proving more difficult than it should have been. We sat, watching everyone while I gathered my wits.
“Do you want to go home?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I answered. “Maybe we get cleaned up, get our son, and come back for dinner.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said with a kiss on the cheek.
Sitting on the tailgate, we watched as Fred emerged from the wood line on Prancer, casually holding his rifle across the saddle. He was our only sniper today, but I knew if it went bad he’d protect us. I nudged Julie as the two gay men walked up to us.
“We’re not bothering you, I hope?” Ward said with a friendly smile. It was only then I noticed he had a slight, effeminate lisp. I struggled not to laugh.
“Of course not,” I said, “but why don’t you two get yourselves down to the church and get settled in? We can talk later. I’m telling you, you don’t want to miss out on one of Big Mac’s meals. She’s one hell of a cook.”
“Oh, it sounds delicious, but we wanted to chat with you a moment in private, Zach,” Marc said.
I refrained from making a derogatory comment, and instead remained cordial. “Okay, fellows, what’s on your mind?” I asked, as I watched Fred ride up to Mac. He dismounted as Mac introduced him to the group. The two of them glanced at Julie before looking back at me.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“Zach, Julie, I know at the present moment we look like nothing more than nomadic mendicants, but in our previous lives, we were quite successful psychologists,” Marc continued. “We couldn’t help but notice a certain, how shall I say it, a certain reaction earlier when Benny did
something most people would think was harmless.”
“It was nothing, guys, I merely misinterpreted his body language. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
They passed a glance at each other. “A young man surviving this apocalypse and even emerging as the leader of a group of fellow survivors,” Marc looked at me in slight wonder. “A very magnificent accomplishment indeed, but not without bearing the burden of unseen trauma I suspect.”
“You probably had to make tough decisions,” Ward added. “Decisions which had unforeseen consequences and ultimately weighed heavily on your soul.”
I looked at the two men curiously. They weren’t looking at me judgmentally, more along the expression of empathy.
“What you experienced a few minutes ago appeared much like a stress trigger,” Ward assessed. I continued looking at the two men, but didn’t respond.
“Do you feel keyed up at times, for no apparent reason?” Ward asked. “Repeated nightmares of past events? How about this? You’ll be in a good mood, perhaps surrounded by friends, enjoying each other’s company, when suddenly a memory will pop up, causing your mood to go dark.”
“These are symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” Marc said somberly.
I took a deep breath and looked around before responding. “So, you two think I’m messed up in the head.”
They quickly shook their heads.
“No, Zach, we don’t think any such thing,” Ward said. “We believe you may be hurting though, and we’d like to help.”
“Are you doctors going to prescribe medication?” I asked with a scoff.
Ward chuckled. “Well, we all know medication is not a viable option anymore, but we are well versed in other types of treatment.”
“Several of our patients were war veterans,” Marc added. “Two treatments we’ve used with significant success are known as cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure therapy.”
I looked at them a long moment before turning to Julie.
“They have their opening lines well-rehearsed,” I said with a wink. Julie smiled at my statement, but I could see something more in her eyes, which I chose to ignore. I turned my attention back to the two men.