Zombie Rules (Book 3): ZFINITY

by David Achord

  “I’m guessing this is a long term treatment plan involving multiple therapy sessions,” I said with somewhat of a sarcastic tone.

  Ward nodded somberly.

  I withheld a condescending scoff, suspecting they were going to keep talking and talking until I either punched one of them in the nose or told them something they wanted to hear. I chose the latter, ignoring Julie’s look.

  “I’ll keep it in mind. In the meantime, let me introduce you two to one of my friends,” I said as Fred approached. Ward and Marc turned. Marc gasped.

  “Well, hello, cowboy,” he gushed. Ward frowned at him briefly, and then watched Fred dismount from Prancer. I introduced everyone.

  “These two are psychologists. They’re all from Huntsville. Benny said the Brown’s Ferry nuclear plant has gone to hell, and that’s the reason they left.”

  Fred nodded quietly. Marc eyed Fred, and then looked at me. “He’s the strong silent type, I bet.”

  I nodded with a small grin. “Maybe you should try some therapy sessions on him,” I replied. As expected, Fred arched an eyebrow at me while the two psychologists giggled.

  “Well, I’m sure you three have a lot to talk about,” I said. “We’re going to the house and get cleaned up.” I gestured at Fred. “I’ll grab the boys and a few pounds of meat for dinner.” I looked at my watch. “I’d say we’ll be gone no later than an hour. Give us a shout on the radio if anything changes.”

  “How many are there?” Rhonda asked. She was full of questions when we had told her of the new arrivals. After cleaning up, I grabbed a couple of pounds of smoked meat and herded everyone into the truck.

  “About a dozen I’d say. It looked like a mixed assortment of adults and kids. They seem friendly enough,” I chuckled. “There are a couple of older gentlemen you’re going to get a kick out of,” I started to say more, but suddenly remembered Joe and Tommy sitting in the backseat, listening to my every word. I had no idea how much they knew about sex and alternative lifestyles, and even I was smart enough to know driving down the road was not the proper venue to discuss it. I’d have to talk it over with Fred at the first opportunity.

  Julie must have seen my change in demeanor and looked at me quizzically. I chuckled. “You’ll understand when you meet them,” I said to Rhonda. Little Frederick looked at me quizzically also, but it could have merely been gas.

  Most of them were in the church when we arrived. Marc and Wade were standing close to Fred, talking to him while watching him get a fire going in the large outdoor grill. After the two boys carried the large igloo cooler full of meat over to the grill, I sent them inside and motioned Rhonda over.

  “Rhonda, this is Marc and Wade, recently from Huntsville. Gentlemen, this is Rhonda, she’s currently holding my son. His name is Frederick, named after your tall handsome cowboy,” I said with a nod toward Fred. They made their introductions.

  “You two don’t realize it, but you’ve posed us with a minor issue,” Marc and Wade looked at me questioningly. “Joe and Tommy are the two boys I sent inside. They’re twelve, and while their survival skills are quite good, they are naïve to other things.”

  I took a breath and continued. “I don’t believe anyone has ever explained the facts of life to them, which I believe Fred or I can handle, but how do we go about explaining other facts of life?”

  Wade chuckled. “Are you referring to gay people, Zach?” he asked. Fred arched an eyebrow at me. It was the third time today he’d done it to me, a trifecta.

  “Exactly,” I said.

  “You explain it in much the same way as you would explain sex between a man and a woman,” Marc said with a tolerant grin, “but we can help you out if you like.”

  Fred cleared his throat. “I guess we need to schedule a sit down with them sometime soon. They’re already starting to ask a lot of questions.”

  I suddenly thought of Tommy’s recent experience, and how ‘the talk’ was going to be received by him with a group of people around. It might have negative consequences and I had no further desire to traumatize him.

  “It should be a private discussion,” I said, more to Fred than the others. Fred looked at me curiously but said nothing more on the matter.

  “It sounds like a good plan, Zach,” Marc said. “If you change your mind, we’re only too glad to help.”

  I didn’t reply and instead looked at the coals. Fred must have read my mind and changed the subject.

  “I believe the grill is ready for some meat,” he said quietly. “No pun intended,” he added. Julie giggled uncontrollably, causing little Frederick to stick his chubby little hand in her mouth. I laughed as I helped Fred load the meat onto the grill. Benny walked outside with a woman about the same size as him, but with short dyed hair and much larger hips.

  “Hey, everyone, this is my wife, Tonya,” Benny said proudly. We each introduced ourselves.

  “How is everyone in your group doing?” I asked him.

  “Everyone is getting along like peas and carrots,” he looked around and lowered his voice. “We have two members of our group suffering from radiation sickness. Their symptoms may be misinterpreted as the virus infection. I can assure you they’re not going to turn into zombies.”

  “What was the amount of exposure?” I asked. Benny furrowed his brow a moment before answering.

  “Are you familiar with radiation exposure, Zach?” he asked.

  “Here we go,” Fred muttered. Julie giggled.

  Benny looked at us curiously. I started to answer, but then shrugged instead.

  “Oh no, you’re not getting off so easily,” Julie chided. “Go ahead and say it.”

  “Okay, well, it’s my understanding radiation exposure used to be measured only in roentgens, is that right, Benny?”

  “Yes, but a roentgen is a measure of exposure. It was eventually learned body tissue absorbs radiation differently than inanimate objects. So, a different measurement is used to measure the amount of absorption.”

  “Right, the Gray unit.”

  Now Benny arched an eyebrow. “That’s right, Zach.”

  “What’s a Gray unit?” Julie asked. Benny looked at me with a grin and waited for my response.

  “One Gray unit is the absorption of one joule of ionized radiation per kilogram of matter,” I looked over the various cuts of pork chops and steaks on the grill. They were nice and juicy. My stomach started growling in anticipation.

  “Young man, how do you know that?” Tonya asked. I noticed her voice was gravelly, like a chain smoker.

  “I read a lot,” I answered with a shrug. Julie looked at me.

  “Keep going,” Benny challenged with a grin. I realized I was being Mister Know-It-All again. Oh well, I continued anyway.

  “The number of Gray units a person absorbs can determine the level of sickness. An exposure of thirty or more Gray units will kill a person in under forty-eight hours,” I looked at Benny. “So, the exposure level obviously was well under thirty units, but definitely over two units. How did they become exposed, and the rest of your group did not?”

  Benny swallowed before speaking. “Tonya and I, and two other couples, all worked at the power plant,” Benny looked around at everyone. “I’d guess Zach here already knows the answer, but for the rest of you, a nuclear reactor is very powerful and complex, but, we had no problem shutting down the core safely. The problem was the spent rods.” He furrowed his brow again before continuing.

  “A nuclear rod eventually deteriorates to the point they can no longer be used to produce energy, but they are still very radioactive. You can’t simply throw them away. So, when they are replaced with new ones, the used ones are kept in tanks filled with water. The water is pumped in a continuous flow in order to keep the temperature of the rods at a safe level. Unfortunately, the circulation pumps are powered by generators.”

  “The generators run on fuel of course,” Tonya added, “and we’d been doing a pretty good job of keeping them running, but something went wrong. The
y stopped working, the water stopped circulating, and so the rods overheated and exploded.”

  “We had work schedules,” Benny said. “On that particular day, our friends went to the plant in order to conduct the appropriate maintenance. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. All four of them were exposed. The two who lived only did so because they stayed in the car, which decreased the amount of absorption. Based on the onset of the symptoms, I’m estimating they absorbed between two and six units. By the time they returned home they were experiencing headaches and vomiting.” He looked at the ground and shook his head sadly.

  “The toxic cloud had not yet reached us, but we knew if we stayed in our pleasant little sanctuary, we would have eventually become exposed and die,” he said perfunctorily and looked at his wife.

  “We had no choice but to leave,” she said. “We packed up everything we could and headed north. Some people went south. Benny tried to explain to them they would be travelling right through the middle of the hot zone, but they got it in their heads to go to Florida.”

  “When did this occur?” I asked.

  “A week ago,” Benny responded.

  I shook my head slowly. “The odds of your friends surviving through the month are tenuous, and even if they do, they’ll succumb to cancer within two years, but you guys already know that.”

  Benny peered at me closely. “You certainly seem to know an awful lot about radiation, Zach.”

  “If only you knew,” Fred said. He suddenly snapped his fingers and pointed at the two psychologists. “I don’t suppose you two ever conducted intelligence testing?”

  “Yes, of course we have, why?” Marc replied.

  Julie burst out in laughter. “That’s a wonderful idea!” enlightenment dawned on the psychologist’s faces and they stared at me in gleeful anticipation. I frowned and focused on the grill.

  “You guys knock it off,” I muttered. Julie laughed some more, ignored my request, and felt like it was a pertinent topic to discuss. I listened to them analyze me for a full five minutes before I gave up and walked inside.

  Although it was still daylight outside, someone had lit several of the candles that had been left over in the church. There were kids running around playing tag or something and it all sounded like a pleasant church gathering. Rhonda’s adopted little girls were intermixed with some other kids, who seemed to be having the time of their lives.

  I felt a presence by my side. It was Rhonda. She flashed me a warm smile.

  “Is this wonderful or what?” she asked cheerfully.

  “Your little girls have some playmates now,” I said, and looked her over. “Wow, you’re actually wearing some jeans today.”

  She smiled again. “It’s been too cold for dresses, although I’ve always thought the only suitable clothing for a proper woman was a dress,” she looked down at them. “I’m beginning to see the utility of pants and shirts, especially after Andie called me a dumbass,” she quipped. I smiled. Andie was always blunt.

  Rhonda pointed. “I don’t know who all you’ve met, but the little boy is named Vincent. The little girls are twins. Their names are Melinda and Melissa. Their father’s name is Gus. His wife died in the outbreak.”

  It suddenly occurred to me I had no idea the names of the little orphan girls Rhonda looked after. Not that I cared, they irritated me, and I avoided them whenever possible.

  “Have you met any of the others?” I asked. Before Rhonda could answer, Rowdy had walked up behind us. He gave me a slap on the back and squeezed Rhonda, planting a sloppy kiss on her cheek. She scrunched her face up.

  “Oh, Rowdy, you smell like a distillery,” she griped. His response was a drunken grin.

  “Howdy you two, what’s going on here?”

  I pointed. “We have new arrivals. Where’ve you been?”

  “I’ve been helping Bo with the horses,” he looked around. “Why, I believe there is at least one lady who is giving me the eye. Excuse me,” Rowdy walked over to an attractive woman who was fixing herself a plate of food. He seemed to think she was eyeing him, but it seemed to me she was oblivious to Rowdy’s presence until he tapped her on the shoulder. He introduced himself and kissed her hand, much like he had done when he first met Julie. The woman frowned at him in response.

  Mac, Wanda, and a couple of other ladies were setting up a buffet line of assorted dishes. The air was festive, full of joy, and perhaps even hope.

  I watched from the back of the church and actually smiled to myself. This was the type of community I was hoping for, and it seemed to be off to a good start. The two psychologists were right about me, of course. I did suffer from PTSD. I had no plans of accepting their offer of therapy though. What they didn’t know was that Julie was the best therapist a man could ever hope for. My thoughts were interrupted when Benny approached.

  “I want to thank you for the hospitality,” he said.

  “You’re more than welcome,” I responded.

  “I hope I didn’t do something to offend you earlier,” he added.

  I shook my head and explained. “We use hand signals, Benny. You had inadvertently used one of them and I misunderstood. It was totally my fault and I hope you know the apology I made earlier was genuine.”

  “Apology accepted,” he responded with a smile and continued. “Oh, and I wanted to say, both my wife and I are nuclear engineers. We’re quite impressed about your knowledge of nuclear energy.”

  “I read a lot,” my standard response. Benny chuckled, “but I’ve no doubt I only know the basics.”

  “When I was a little younger than you, I became fascinated with the topic. When we had to leave, I brought along some of my favorite text books. You’re welcome to borrow them if you’d like.” He must have seen my ears perk up because he grinned. “Ah, I know your weakness now. I’ll get those books. Oh, the dragon lady over there,” he said as he surreptitiously pointed at Wanda, “said nothing is free and we have to pay for this meal.”

  “She’s correct,” I responded. “We’re not a welfare agency. All of the food your people are eating is food you’re taking out of our mouths.”

  Benny watched everyone lining up to be served. “You could simply refuse to feed us,” he opined.

  “Yep, we certainly could, but our hope is to welcome survivors who would be an asset to our community, not chase them away, but, we don’t want freeloaders.”

  “I see. Would you wait here? I’ll be right back,” Benny disappeared out of the door and reappeared two minutes later carrying a cardboard box. He set it down and opened it. There were a couple of dozen oranges, along with a couple of books.

  “Those are all we have left. We had some orange trees. I’m going to miss them.” He looked downright sad when he said it. I thanked him, took the books out and carried the box to Mac. She was in the middle of serving food, but stopped when I handed over the box.

  “We’ve got some oranges,” I told her, grabbed an orange before handing the box to her. She smiled warmly at me, pulled me close, kissed me on the cheek, and then slapped me on the back with one of her meaty hands. I couldn’t help but smile at her.

  I grabbed a notepad out of the truck and found Benny talking with one of his group at the back of the church. I pointed to some chairs nearby and we made our way to them. Julie walked over and joined us. I looked at Frederick who grinned at me.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Zach,” I said, holding out my hand to Benny’s friend. He shook it. His palm felt soft and damp. It was apparent he was not used to manual labor.

  “I’m Gus. In another life my name was Vernon Gustafson, now everyone simply calls me Gus. They’re telling us you’re the one who’s in charge here.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far, but I am the one that thinks up endless things for us to do,” I replied.

  “Well, I certainly don’t know about taking orders from a, well no offense, but you’re just a kid.”

  “No offense taken,” I opened my notepad and readied my pen. “Gus,
Benny, I would appreciate it if y’all would tell me about life in Huntsville after the outbreak.”

  I wrote furiously as they talked about their travails and how they banded together to survive. I only stopped them when I asked for clarification on certain points, such as their encounter with zombies.

  “They’re incredibly dumb,” Gus said. “They were easy to kill. You just had to keep your distance from them or you were a goner.”

  “Have you guys noticed any change in their behavior recently?” I asked. The two men shook their heads.

  “Have you encountered any other survivors?” Julie asked.

  “We have,” Benny replied. “You guys are the first ones who have been friendly. We encountered a group of unpleasant people a couple of days ago. We eventually compromised with them in order to avoid violence.”

  Gus snorted. “We gave away half of our food,” he said in disgust. Benny shrugged apologetically.

  “They had guns, if we started shooting, some of us would have undoubtedly been killed.”

  Gus rolled his eyes in contempt. I understood Benny’s logic, but I doubt if I would have reacted the same way.

  “We don’t have a heck of a lot of food left, Mister Zach,” Benny said. “We appreciate your group opening your doors to us.” Gus nodded his head in agreement.

  I closed my notebook, stood, and stretched.

  “Alright, if your people are going to stay, you’re going to need to start creating work crews. Do your people know how to forage and clear buildings of zombies?”

  Gus made a sour face and scoffed. “Of course we do,” he said.

  “Good. Once you guys get settled in, we’re going to be doing a lot of it and I expect you guys to join in and pull your weight.”

  Gus scoffed again. “I was about to start liking you, kid. Now here you go giving orders already.”

  I shrugged. “Did you enjoy dinner?”

  Gus rubbed his belly without thinking and smiled appreciatively. “I must admit, it was one of the best meals I’ve had in quite a while.”