by David Achord
Fred nodded thoughtfully before answering. “I hope you’re right. You look like I used to when I woke up after a night of hard drinking,” he said with a tight smile. I noticed for the first time how tired he looked and wondered if he had slept at all. He saw me staring at him.
“I got the boys fed and put to bed, and was going to come back and sit with you, but I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting here in a cold barn watching you change. I figured I’d wait until morning. If I opened the barn door this morning and you had turned, it would have been easier than watching the transformation,” then he looked at Julie. “I should have known you couldn’t stay away.”
Julie arched an eyebrow at him, which caused me to chuckle.
As a precaution, I kept myself in the cage for another twenty-four hours. I convinced Julie not to sit with me the entire time by telling her it would be an excellent way for me to catch up on my reading. On the morning of the third day, Fred walked in the barn before sunrise.
“Any changes?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nope. I read the entire text book that Benny loaned me and I’m not having any problem remembering what I read. My muscles seem a little stiff and sore, but otherwise, I believe I’m good to go.”
“Good. The girls have a big breakfast planned. So, I have strict instructions from Julie to get you home immediately,” he said with a grin as he unlocked the cage.
“I’ve been thinking about a lot of things sitting in there by myself,” I said as we rode back to the house. “I have a lot of ideas in mind, but I think the biggest thing is the fact that I beat the disease, or whatever it is. That’s a major milestone, and if we ever run into a doctor or scientist, it should prove to be valuable information.”
Fred nodded quietly as I talked. “It’s very possible that a segment of society is immune, but if anyone else is exposed the way I was, we now have a protocol to enact. This is a good thing, don’t you think?”
Fred looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t believe you should be saying getting exposed was a good thing while we’re eating breakfast. Julie is liable to break a plate over your head.”
Andie met us at the door. She was dressed in blue jeans and an oversized flannel shirt that looked suspiciously like one of mine. She looked at me deeply.
“Are you okay?”
“I believe so. The only thing I’m certain of at the moment is I’m starving, and not for live meat.”
Andie suddenly grabbed me in a hug and held on tightly. After a minute, she let me go, punched me in the arm, and hurried off to the kitchen. I made my way to the master bathroom, shut the door and stripped. The man staring back at me in the mirror looked drawn and haggard. Julie walked in while I was inspecting myself. She handed me a towel and a glass of water.
“I see nothing has rotted off,” she commented.
I laughed and kissed her on the forehead so she wouldn’t suffer the wrath of my foul breath. Once I got my teeth brushed I kissed her again, deeply this time.
“How are you feeling?”
I shrugged as I held her. “I’m about seventy-five percent I think. Nothing a hot shower and a home cooked meal won’t cure.”
“The generator is acting up. Fred’s looking at it, but you may have to wait a few minutes before we have hot water.”
“It’s okay,” I replied as I smelled her fresh hair. “It won’t be the first cold shower I’ve taken.” Her close proximity and the feel of her were getting me aroused. She must have felt it too.
“I’d say you’re more than seventy-five percent,” she quipped. I chuckled and kissed her again.
“I was worried shitless, Zach,” she said as she stroked my chest. “For a while, I thought you were turning.”
“How so?” I asked.
“At about the 8:30 mark, the symptoms started. You started breathing heavily, you were shaking to the point where it sometimes looked like convulsions, you were sweating profusely, and at times you were speaking in gibberish,” she leaned her head against my chest. “I wish you had not gotten yourself into such a pickle.”
I held her close. Spending two days without touching her was doing a number on me. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I pulled a dumb move, I won’t do it again.”
“Liar,” she retorted as she looked up at me. I started to protest, but she shook her head quickly. “Don’t even say it. There will come a time again when you’ll do exactly the same thing. You’ll hunt down another zombie, or find another asshole who calls himself Captain, or General or something, and you’ll decide he’s a threat. It’s in your nature, but we’ve had this conversation before, haven’t we,” she buried her head in my chest again and stifled a sob. It hurt me worse than if she had hauled off and hit me. She pulled away suddenly.
“Get in the shower. You smell awful.”
She walked out of the bathroom without waiting for a response and closed the door. The cold spray of water seemed to sting more than usual.
Our kitchen table was full, including all of the Birmingham women. Even the rug rats were present. The ladies had fixed a large meal and we all dug in. Everyone told me how glad they were, except for Wanda, who scowled at me from time to time. She was probably looking for any telltale signs of zombification. I caught her looking at me once and stifled the urge to roll my eyes in the back of my head and snarl.
Everybody else seemed happy, which made me happy. I watched as Rhonda laughed at Rowdy’s antics, and I even spotted Wanda smiling once before she caught herself.
It seemed surreal somehow, perhaps I was still hallucinating and any second now spiders would be crawling all over me again. The only thing keeping me grounded was my son. I held him throughout the meal, perhaps too tightly at times, but he’d bring me back to reality with a grunt or a squeal, or spitting food on me.
Chapter 18 – Journal Entry: January 28th, 2 A.Z.
Sometimes, Zach is a dumbass. Let me explain so that anyone reading this journal fully understands. Back around the 16th, Zach decided to build a cage and capture a zombie so we could study it and maybe understand them a little better. I thought it was a bad idea, but nobody listens to me. Anyway, we catch the thing and the quack doctors (AKA Ward and Marc) start feeding him and teaching him tricks like he was a pet or something. The damn thing escaped and Zach went hunting for it all by himself. Even though he had discussed the importance of teamwork many times, he decided to go lone wolf.
To make a long story short, dumbass found it, and proceeded to get into a knockdown drag out fight with it and some other zombies. As a result, he got a scratch and some zombie goo in his mouth. We kept him quarantined in a cage for a couple of days. He got sick for a little bit, but he didn’t turn. To be honest, I was scared to death. So was Julie. So, Zach, if you ever read this, remember what a dumbass you can be.
In other news, everything else is about the same. Tomorrow, we’re going to conduct another zombie killing mission. This one involves clearing as many houses as we can along Concord Road. We’ll see how it goes. Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fun killing zombies. I like shooting them between the eyes and watching nasty black ooze squirt out of their head just before they fall in a heap. It’s a great stress reliever, but Zach told me to be nice to Kelly and don’t accidentally shoot anyone. He can be such a downer sometimes. - Andie
Chapter 19 – Clearing Concord
We used the school bus as the mobile staging area and formed up into teams. Terry started it off and led his team to the first house, still walking with a residual limp from his gunshot wound. My team, consisting of Andie, Kelly, and Jessica, were the security team. Our job was to stand guard outside while the other teams cleared the houses. I waited five minutes, and after not hearing any gunshots from Terry’s team, I signaled Benny for him to make entry into the next house. Besides Marc and Ward, Kelly and Jessica were probably the weakest links. Jessica could fire a weapon good enough, but she was like Kelly, their resolve in a firefight was questionable.
I wa
sn’t worried though, Andie was my rock. She had my back, as she’d proven many times. We didn’t need the two other girls with us, but they needed to be somewhere, so they became my responsibility. I expected some tension between Andie and Kelly, but surprisingly, they were cordial to each other.
I got an all clear from Terry and Benny almost simultaneously over the radio. I acknowledged and motioned for Benny’s wife to move the bus forward. Suddenly, four rapid gunshots rang out. Andie pointed toward the house that Fred’s team had entered. I signaled them and we started running toward the house. Mac’s voice on the radio stopped us.
“All clear,” she said with a girlish giggle. “We’re all clear here. Fred’s just showing off.”
“What does Mac mean by that?” Jessica asked. I answered with a half grin.
“If I were to guess, they found four zombies in the house and Fred killed them. He’s probably the best shot around. He’s quick as lightning.”
“I think Mom likes him,” she said. Andie and I looked at her. “I mean, she hasn’t said so in so many words, but if she knows he’s going to be around, she checks herself constantly in the mirror.”
I chuckled and looked at my watch. “Alright everyone,” I said on the radio, “it’s high noon. Finish clearing the house you’re currently in and rally at the bus for lunch.”
Lunch consisted of a hodgepodge of food items, slices of ham and sausage, a commercial sized bag of stale potato chips, and a really bad attempt at biscuits. “Wanda and I are still experimenting with the yeast,” Mac explained. Gus took one bite, spit it out, and tossed the rest of the biscuit on the ground.
“Benny,” I said, pointing at the biscuit lying on the ground, “remember what I said about wasting food? Here’s a good example.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Gus snarled. I looked him over and then looked at Benny.
“Well, I guess I’ve been put in my place. Gus here,” I said, pointing to Gus, “has instructed me not to worry about food waste. Therefore, there will be no more food donations,” I emphasized it by putting a slice of ham on my biscuit and taking a bite. I didn’t say anything, but the biscuit tasted like cardboard that had been dipped in some kind of fecal matter. Benny’s face had lost pallor, Gus glared at me. I tried not to choke.
“Mister Zach, we’ll make every effort to be more thrifty, won’t we, Gus,” Benny said pointedly. The rest of the group murmured in agreement. I looked over at Gus, who was glaring at me.
“Do you have something you want to say?” I asked him.
He stood. “Yeah, I do. Who do you think you are?” he stood and took a step toward me.
I wiped my hands and stood as well. If he were paying attention, he would have seen how easily I got to my feet, whereas he had to hoist himself up, much like a lazy old man. “You’re treading on thin ice,” I warned. Andie snickered.
“Are you threatening me?” he asked, as he puffed up his chest, causing his effeminate looking pectorals to jiggle.
“Absolutely I’m threatening you. I’m tired of your pompous attitude. I’ve been watching you, Gus. You’re lazy and don’t carry your fair share of the workload. Hell, even the kids do more work than you, but you’re always the first one in the chow line,” I looked at Benny as I pointed toward Gus. “You and your people take care of this problem child, or I will.”
I glanced at Marc and Ward. “Operant conditioning, straight from Skinner,” I said with a smirk and turned my back on Gus. I wasn’t worried about him trying to sucker punch me. He was all puff and bluster.
Gus glanced at the two doctors. “What the hell is he talking about?”
“He’s making a dig at us,” Marc replied. “He’s referring to B.F. Skinner, a renowned psychologist noted for his studies in, among other things, operant conditioning. He’s indirectly saying we’re going to start suffering as a group unless we convince you to change your behavior.”
Ward stood up, picked the biscuit up off the ground, and added his own to it. “I’m afraid the ingredients are not quite correct, no offense ladies. May I offer these as a snack for your chickens, Mister Zach? The eggs they have provided have been like manna from heaven and I bet they’d love to have these as a snack,” he looked pointedly at Gus. “We will all make sure to correct any bad habits any of us may have.”
I grunted. Leave it to Ward to be the peacemaker. I pulled a bandanna out of my pocket and unfolded it. Ward placed the biscuits in it, and soon everyone jumped up and handed over theirs as well.
“I take it nobody likes the biscuits,” Wanda quipped. Mac erupted with a belly laugh, which caused everyone else to laugh. That is, everyone except Gus, who had sat back down, sulking and saturnine.
“I’ve just thought of your new nickname,” Terry said with a snap of the fingers, “Gloomy Gus.”
Everyone laughed again while Gus glared. Ward walked over to Gus, whispered in his ear, and patted him on the shoulder.
After lunch, I motioned Terry off to the side.
“It looks like your limp is a little more pronounced.”
Terry shrugged. “Yeah, it’s not completely healed up yet and I may be overdoing it. The cold weather certainly isn’t helping.”
“How about we swap out? Andie and I are getting the urge to clear some houses.”
Terry readily agreed. We informed the rest of the crew and made the necessary adjustments. I swapped out Kelly and Jessica for Anthony and Carla. Terry reluctantly added Gloomy Gus to the security team.
We made it to Mill Creek by the afternoon and had rooted out a total of eleven zombies. They were mostly dead already, rotting and hardly moving. After clearing the last house, I plopped down in a comfortable looking lounge chair on the veranda of the house we’d just cleared. The rest of my team joined me. It felt good to relax a little, and the veranda had a nice view.
“Kelly told us Julie is expecting another child,” Anthony said.
“Yes she is. Julie wants a little girl this time. I’d just as soon have another boy. Did you two have any kids?” I asked. Anthony shook his head.
“No. We had plans for a family one day, but we were concentrating on getting our careers established first. We were both real estate agents and had started our own agency when everything started happening,” he kept glancing at his wife while he spoke. She did not seem to have anything to add.
“I’m curious, what hopes and desires do the two of you have?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Carla responded.
“Do y’all want to settle down here and start a family? Or perhaps you want to move on and try to find something better?”
Anthony looked at Carla again, as if to wait to see if she was going to speak.
“We’ll probably stay here,” she finally commented and looked around. “This house would have easily sold for a million. What do you think of us taking one of these for our own?”
“I’m all for it,” I glanced behind us. “It’s a nice house, and close to Mill Creek, but it’s too large for only two people to defend against an attack and the yard doesn’t look suitable for gardening. You’ll need to take a lot of things under consideration when choosing the right place to live in.”
“What are your hopes and dreams, Zach?” Carla suddenly asked.
“It has been my hope to recreate a thriving, self-sustaining community.”
“It seems like you’ve accomplished that already,” Anthony said. I shook my head.
“We’ve started the process, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
“How so?” he asked.
“Do you guys know the difference between a tribe, a chiefdom, and a state?” they shook their heads, but were attentive.
“Each category is dependent upon the population, social structure, hierarchy and stability. Right now, an anthropologist would describe us as a band on the verge of becoming a tribe. Our numbers are small, but we’re not nomadic, we’re in a fixed location. As of yet, there is no bureaucracy, economy, or hierarchy, but we are working collective
ly,” I waved my hand. “This is a good example. I believe that at our present rate of growth, within a year, our numbers are going to swell. If we can get cooperating groups to set up communities around this area, our survival of the species will be assured.”
Carla eyed me. “You’re the subject of many conversations,” she commented. “I heard Marc and Ward talking about you the other day,” she commented. “They think your IQ is on the genius level. I believe I understand now why they’d say it,” she was looking at me curiously as she spoke. Anthony was staring at a spot on the ground, as if he didn’t like what she was saying. I remained expressionless.
“What else did they have to say?” I asked.
Anthony cast a cautioning look at her. She ignored him. “They believe you’re suffering from PTSD and are prone to sudden violent episodes.”
She continued eyeing me, as if waiting to see how I’d react. I had nothing to say, hell, they were probably correct.
“Where did you work before the apocalypse?” she finally asked.
“I worked on the farm we currently live on, but only part time,” the two of them looked at me curiously.
“Here it comes,” Andie said with a chortle.
“I was in the tenth grade at the time of the outbreak.”
Their eyes widened, the typical response, and then Carla laughed.
“I’m thinking those two gay gentlemen may have made an accurate assessment of you, Zach,” she said. Anthony looked over at Andie.
“What about you, Andie? What are your hopes and dreams?”
She shrugged. “I’m good with whatever Zach and Julie decide. I think I’d like to have kids one day, but I don’t seem to have any luck in the boyfriend department.”
Anthony nodded, but it was clear he didn’t understand. Andie explained.
“Terry and I were hooked up not too long ago, but I guess he didn’t love me, so he started banging Kelly. I found out and we split up. So, I’m destined to be single I guess.”