“The other day Doc Parsons asked me if I wanted to train to be a doctor.” I paused in my work and looked at him. It irked me for a brief moment, but then I realized Grant was merely trying to find a suitable apprentice to pass along his talents to.
“What did you say?” Sammy shrugged his shoulders. I gave him a brotherly smile.
“That’s a serious thing to think about, so take your time. If being a doctor is something that would interest you, I’m sure you’d be a good one.”
“Zach?”
“Yeah, bub?”
“Are we really going to move?” I stopped working and motioned for Sammy to walk outside with me. There were a couple of stools sitting nearby and I motioned him to sit. Immediately, one of the goats trotted up, expecting a treat.
“Yes, we are.”
“Why?”
“It’s hard to explain, but back when I was your age the world was moving along at a fairly rapid pace. Now, we’re slowly but surely regressing backwards. If it were just me and Kelly and a few of the other adults, that wouldn’t be very important, but it’s extremely important for you kids that it doesn’t happen.”
“Why?”
“When you start back to school, they’ll explain it a lot better than I can, hopefully.”
“When do we leave?”
“Three days.” Our conversation was interrupted by a loud slamming of the back door. I walked to the entrance of the barn and saw Kelly making a beeline toward us with Maria following close behind. I groaned to myself.
“Sammy, when you get older you’ll find yourself having to deal with adult things that are rather unpleasant.” Sammy started to ask me what the heck I was talking about but I quickly motioned for him to be quiet.
“Your mother-in-law is being an insufferable bitch,” she growled between clenched teeth. I gave Sammy a knowing look and winked. “You’d think she was the only person who ever cooked a meal the way she’s bossing Maria and me around.”
It wasn’t the first time Janet had angered Kelly and I always invariably suffered. Before I could say anything, Rachel and Sarah stormed out of the house, spotted us, and made a beeline in our direction. This time I groaned aloud.
“My mother and I argued all the time,” Kelly continued. “But she was a saint compared to that woman.”
“My mother was never that bad,” Maria added and then she saw the tub of cow guts. Holding her hand over her mouth, she ran over to the fence rail and wretched.
“You need to take that bitch on a long drive and dump her somewhere,” Rachel grumbled angrily. I took my butcher’s apron off and handed it to Kelly.
“Alright, why don’t y’all help Sammy finish butchering the cow, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Those little girls could use a lesson or two in the kitchen,” Janet declaimed as soon as I walked in. I nudged a chair out from the table with my foot and sat down, careful not to touch anything with my dirty hands.
“You know, Janet, this seems to be an ongoing problem. You’re going to have to be nicer to people, especially Kelly.” Janet acted like she didn’t hear me and stirred a pot of vegetables. “I’m serious. We’ve had this discussion before. We’ve all got to get along and you need to start making a conscious effort to be nice.”
“Fine,” she finally said. “But she needs to learn how to cook.” I started to retort. Kelly knew how to cook just fine and Janet knew it. I suspected it had to do more with Janet feeling the need to have some control. I placed my hands on my knees and let out a long sigh. Janet glared at me.
“Is there something else you feel the need to lecture me about?”
“Are you aware in just a few months it’ll be four years?” She stopped stirring for a moment until she realized what I was talking about.
“Of course I am,” she snapped and started stirring again.
“And you and I are the only two left out of the original group?” She didn’t answer this time.
“You’re the grandmother of my children. That makes you family. But, Kelly is family too and for the life of me I don’t understand why you act the way you do sometimes.”
Janet finally looked at me then and I could see her eyes watering up. I had some other harsher things to say, but at that moment, I couldn’t do it. She looked sad, lonely, older. The wrinkles on her face seemed more pronounced these days. I softened my tone.
“I don’t want everyone hating you, okay?” After a moment, she nodded and turned her back to me so I couldn’t see the tears falling. “Well, it looks like you’ve got everything ready. I’ll go round everyone up and we’ll set up outside.” Janet didn’t respond and busied herself with the food.
“All right guys, I’ve made a checklist of everything that still needs to be done and who is responsible for what,” I said as we ate dinner. Everyone who had decided to go was here, sort of a last meal I suppose. We had some Tiki torches for lighting and Josue had found some of those mosquito repellent candles and had them spread out. It helped.
I pulled out a notepad and opened it to the first page. Rachel moved her chair closer and snatched it away from me with a smart-assed grin and began perusing it. They were both in pretty cheerful moods lately. I glanced at Kelly who grinned knowingly. Rachel fanned through the pages and looked up.
“Zach, this so-called checklist is about a hundred pages long,” she exclaimed. Seth leaned closer and eyed it.
“One hundred and twenty-two, to be exact,” I replied in between mouthfuls. “The mission order is comprised of the last nine pages, of which I made copies for each vehicle.” She arched an eyebrow at me.
“You wrote this out in just one day?” Raymond asked. I nodded casually.
“You think you could just give us an overview for the time being, big guy?” she asked amid a few chuckles.
“Sure. We’re going to take a total of nine vehicles. That’s why I made nine copies, one for each vehicle.” Actually, only eight vehicles would be making the trip, but only a few of us knew that.
“Which cars are we taking?” Cutter asked. I glanced at him briefly. I was going to go over all the details, including which vehicles we were going to take as I laid out the mission and being interrupted was irritating, but I held off with a sarcastic retort. Instead, I exercised patience as I counted off with my fingers.
“The Stryker, our full-sized van, our work truck, Sarah’s Humvee, Justin’s Humvee, my truck, the eighteen-wheeler, the dually, and Jorge’s SUV. Captain Kitchens will be leading the convoy in his Stryker.” I looked at the two brothers. “I figure you two can ride in the truck and pull rear security, yes?”
“We can handle it,” Shooter proclaimed and got a fist bump from his brother. I retrieved my notepad back from Rachel. I had blank spots beside each vehicle and filled in their names for the truck.
“Alright, tell me who wants to ride in what vehicle.”
“I want to ride in the Stryker!” Sammy shouted excitedly. I looked at Seth who smiled and imitated the brothers by giving Sammy a fist bump. We went down the list and I dutifully jotted down who was riding in what vehicle.
“Why so many vehicles?” Kate asked. “I mean, I’m not complaining, but it seems like we could fit everyone in half the number.”
“You’re right, we could,” I replied. It was then I noticed she was wearing makeup. In fact, Kyra was wearing makeup too. It seemed foolish.
“Let me explain. First, we have the fuel. Now, it’ll be all of our fuel, but we must take into account that one or more of the vehicles may break down along the way. If that happens, and we can’t fix the problem immediately, we’re going to unload it and abandon it. Simple. And then, there is a possibility we may pick up people along the way, or if we’re really lucky, we’ll find an abandoned vehicle or two full of items we can make use of.”
“Alright, Mister Zach, what else?” Seth asked. He was smiling appreciatively or condescendingly, I couldn’t decide which.
“All vehicles need a CB radio with sideband capability and shor
tened antennas.”
“Why’s that?” Cutter interrupted. I reminded myself to be patient, but it wasn’t easy. I imagine I wasn’t much different from other nineteen-year-olds when it came to patience; mine had a short life. I held up a finger to signify that he should wait for the explanation.
“Seth and Justin can correct me if I’m wrong, military doctrine is to stagger out the vehicles when travelling in a convoy to reduce the risk of something like an air strike. In this case, the convoy will travel closely; the first vehicle will always be within eyesight of the last vehicle. We’ll use the radios to communicate but we don’t want their transmission range to extend any further than line of sight. So, the easiest way to do this is with CB radios equipped with a short antenna.”
“A short antenna?” Kate asked.
“Yeah, the wattage of a radio and the antenna is what gives a radio range. We want to limit our range.” I pointed at Josue.
“Josue has volunteered to take care of this. Jorge and I are going to help him.”
“No long talkie-talkie on radios with short antennas,” Josue said. “Short words only.”
“Why not?” Kate asked. She was being unusually inquisitive and had been argumentative on more than one occasion in the past. I couldn’t decide if it was Shooter’s influence or if she was a young version of Janet. “I mean, why are we limiting our range and why no long talkie-talkie?” She made quotation marks with her fingers when she mimicked Josue. Only Shooter laughed. Justin cleared his throat.
“I can answer that. First, we must assume there are people out there who are monitoring radio transmissions with their fancy little Bearcat scanners. They may be good guys or they may be bad guys, marauders. So, we limit our transmission range and we only speak when we have to. Second, and this is what I think Josue is worried about, if you talk a lot on one of those radios that has a short antenna, it’ll eventually damage the radio.”
“Si,” Josue replied.
“Oh,” Kate said.
“So, reiterating, all radio transmissions should be short and sweet and we’ll be changing frequencies often.” I saw Kate about to ask another question and I held up a finger.
“There is a pattern we’re going to use when changing frequencies. It’s all written down in the packet, so read up on it.” I’d answered her question, but not to be out done, she rolled her eyes and flippantly tossed some hair back. I had no idea why she didn’t like me, I only assumed it was because she was sleeping with Shooter and therefore she had to dislike me. Seth nodded and motioned for me to continue.
“Also included in the packet is an inventory list of essential gear. Whatever vehicle you’re in, you’ll be responsible for the gear, and of course you can bring any of your personal property along. Keep in mind though that space is at a premium.” I looked over the passenger list and passed out the copies of the mission order.
“Okay, please take the time to read up on this, and if you decide to switch vehicles, please let me know. Any questions on what we’ve covered so far?” Nobody said anything, not even Kate.
“Okay, good. Now, we need to address our biggest issue: ammunition. We don’t have a whole heck of a lot.”
“Captain, what is your inventory of ammunition?” Sarah asked.
“Ma’am, in the Stryker we started out with two thousand rounds for the fifty caliber, one hundred grenades of various types, and fifty mortar rounds. But, we only have approximately two hundred rounds of five-five-six.”
“And each vehicle is going to have their own load of ammunition,” I added.
“So,” Sarah continued. “We don’t need to be going on any zombie safaris.”
“Agreed, ma’am,” Seth said. “We only shoot in defense of life, right, Lieutenant?”
“Absolutely, sir,” Justin replied and pointedly made eye contact with everyone to ensure they understood.
“If you have a stash of ammo, don’t leave it behind. If there is some type of specialty item you think we’ll need and you don’t have it, let me know and maybe we can scrounge it up.
“Our departure is in three days. Major Fowkes and Captain Kitchens have agreed that a certain jarhead should be the road commander.” There was laughter at this.
“Absolutely,” Sarah replied. Seth nodded his agreement.
“Cool. Now, with Jorge and Josue’s help, I’ll ensure that every vehicle is prepped and ready to go. It is up to all of you to ensure you have your essentials. I’m not sharing my toilet paper or tooth paste, so bring your own. Any questions?” I looked around and waited. Rachel raised her hand.
“How long will the trip take?”
“It took us three days to get down here,” Seth responded. ”With the eighteen-wheeler and extra vehicles, I’d estimate an additional eight to ten hours. No more than four days, barring any unforeseen catastrophe.”
“We’re going to assemble at zero-six-hundred hours at the Concord and Nolensville intersection,” Justin declared. “That means all vehicles will be loaded up and ready to go the night before. We’re going to depart no later than zero-seven-hundred hours. Anyone not present will be left behind.” Sheila wiped her mouth and spoke up.
“Zach, if I may ask, you have a lot of livestock, what’s going to happen to them?”
“I had considered acquiring a second eighteen-wheeler and hooking a cattle car up to it, but decided it isn’t feasible, so I’ve worked it all out with Tonya. The school group is going to take over running my farm.”
“What about that tour bus?” Kate asked. “Why can’t we take it?”
“We considered it, but after discussing the road conditions with the captain, I don’t think the bus would be a viable means of transportation, so we’re going to go with the van instead.”
“But the bus has a toilet,” she lamented.
“Oh, please,” Sarah retorted. Kate’s lips tightened, but she didn’t say anything else.
“Okay, getting back to the fuel, we have the two tankers, one will be for diesel and one will be for gas.”
“How much?” Seth asked. I noticed Raymond had surreptitiously slid my notepad closer to him and was now reading it intently.
“Each tanker can hold up to five hundred gallons, but we only have about two hundred gallons of each, maybe a little less. With each vehicle filled up, we should be okay, but we may need to siphon a few tanks along the way.” Raymond looked up.
“It looks like you’ve thought of everything, Zach. We need to set you up with the logistics team when we get home.”
“Ray runs the logistics team,” Sheila said.
“It’s a lot of work,” he lamented. “I could certainly use some help.”
I didn’t comment. The truth was, the only thing I really wanted to do anymore was run a farm, raise my kids, and chase Kelly around the house. I cleared my throat.
“If you’ll note, I’m going to have the semi, work truck, the dually, and the van loaded up and ready to go on the eve of departure. Sergeant Caswell,” I said and nodded toward him, “has agreed to assemble a team to guard them that night.”
“That’s affirmative,” he replied. “True and Mann have volunteered.” I pretended to look at my notes while I gauged the reactions of Justin and Seth out of my peripheral vision. I didn’t detect signs of suspicion.
“Okay, I would like for each of you to read the mission order thoroughly and have a good idea of how this is going to be run. If you find a mistake or have a suggestion, please speak out.”
The rest of the evening was spent by everyone discussing what they should bring. Several questions were asked of me, that is, until I kept referring them to specific pages in the checklist and mission order. Everyone slowly ran out of steam and decided to retire to their respective homes. Brandon and his crew lingered behind and were the last ones to leave.
“Do you think it’ll work?” he asked.
“Yep. How’s your scavenging going?”
“We’ve been going at it hot and heavy. Tonya’s been on our asses for
shirking our duties.” Blake scoffed and spat.
“I’ll be one happy ex-soldier when we get out of that school.”
“Yeah,” True added.
“Well, anyway, we’ve found some stuff we can use, the rest we’ll give to you.”
“We ain’t giving it to Tonya, that’s for sure,” True said. I chuckled.
“Alright, we’re still good with the plan?” I asked. The three of them nodded. “Good, I’ll see you men in two nights.”
I started to walk back inside, but as I did so, their headlights caught the shadow of two figures standing beside the barn. I pulled my Kimber out and started to open fire.
“Wait, Zach.” It was Sarah. She and Rachel emerged and walked over.
“What are you two doing?” I asked as I holstered my handgun.
“Being nosy,” Rachel responded cheerfully.
“Not cool,” I rejoined.
“What’s going on, Zach?” Sarah asked. I didn’t answer, only stared at her coldly in the dark.
“Does this mean you don’t trust me?” she asked in a softer tone.
“The two of you are soldiers; you’ve sworn an oath, correct?” Sarah didn’t say anything this time, she merely stared at me. “The answer is yes, you have, and I think the two of you don’t give your word glibly.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m not going to answer you. You two are going to have to trust me and honor my request to not say anything about this. It’ll all come to light very soon. Afterward, if you feel I’ve done something wrong, you can criticize me all you want.”
“Does Kelly know?” Rachel asked.
“Of course.”
“Oh, good, we’ll ask her,” Rachel said and headed for the door. Sarah reached out and grabbed her by the arm. Rachel scoffed.
“You’re no fun.”
“I want you two to stay quiet about this. I’ll explain everything at a later time.” They didn’t like it, but they didn’t argue and left soon answer.
Chapter 49 – Departure
Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny Page 39