by Mark Clodi
“I don’t know that answer. But you still haven’t answered your own question. Try not to get sidetracked.”
“Okay. I feel a need. Yeah, a need to go this way.”
“Is that so? Hm. I wonder why Katie. Don’t you wonder why?”
She waved her hand in the air and answered, “Why? I don’t think it is too important. I am following my instincts. I will survive.”
“If you say so.” Randy walked towards the shoulder of the road, away from Katie at an angle.
“You don’t have to get pissy about it.”
“You’re wrong about that.” He called back, trudging down the grassy embankment by the side of the road and out of sight.
“Fine. Be that way. You’re just my imagination anyway.”
“If you say so.” called his voice as he disappeared from sight.
“I could make you come back if I really wanted to.”
However, as hard as she tried, Katie couldn’t make him come back.
She walked for over an hour before she finally came upon a vehicle she could use. The clear night showed the outlines of the wreck perfectly. Before she approached she pulled out her rifle. Seeing no one she crept forward a few yards, then stopped. She continued to make use of this stop and watch tactic all the way to the wreckage.
The vehicles had been towed to one side of the road and left. Once she assured herself no one was around she poked into each until she found a vehicle in drivable shape, a black sports utility vehicle. Lucky for her no one had taken the keys out of the ignition. She tossed her bag into the back seat, hopped in and tried to start the vehicle, but it wouldn’t turn over. When she got out and looked the car over she noted that the dome light didn’t come on. After some experimentation she found the lights were not working either.
“Battery needs a jump.” Randy said, startling her.
“I hate it when you do that.”
“I hate it when you are ignorant.”
Shrugging Katie smiled and replied, “Lotta hate in this neck of the woods then.”
Katie sighed and pulled her bag out of the back of the car.
“You gonna walk?”
“Car won’t start. I’m not a mechanic. If it were a rifle I could strip it and have it working in a few seconds, a minute at most. But a car? Nope.”
“The battery is dead, all you have to do is jump it.”
“With what, Einstein? If there were another working car around here I wouldn’t need to jump this one.”
“Jeez Katie, no, there aren’t any other working cars, but I bet the batteries in those wrecks work just fine. Find a screw driver and a set of jumper cables. Then we’ll get the car started.”
“Yeah. Right. My dead partner will help me get a dead car working.” Katie paused, “Sure. Why not? A screw driver you say?”
“Or a wrench. Look around a little.”
Katie saw that the back end of the sports utility vehicle was full of camping gear, heaped in untidy mounds. The automatic release button under the dash didn’t open the rear door and earned her a look of disgust from Randy.
“Hey, you never know!” she protested.
“No power. No power doors. It’s not even as complicated as field stripping a rifle.”
Katie took the keys out of the ignition and used them to manually open the rear hatch, which swung up slowly with no power. Under the camping gear she found a roadside emergency kit, which contained not only screwdrivers, but also jumper cables. She found a good battery in the station wagon that was on its side a few car-lengths into the wreck and with a few quick turns of her borrowed screwdriver she pulled it out. With Randy directing her she sat the battery down by the side of the car, ran the jumper cables to its battery and gave the ignition a turn. It started up on the second try.
“Nice. I owe you one.” Katie said.
“Take off the black cable on this car first and then the other black cable…”
Katie grabbed the center of the cables and pulled, jerking the clamps off of all of the battery terminals at once.
“Or that works. Not the recommended method though.”
Katie lowered the hood on her car, tossed the jumper cables into rear seat and got in behind the wheel. The vehicle couldn’t have been more than a year or two old, everything looked new, even if it had lost the ‘new car’ smell.
They drove in silence for a while, Randy looking out the side window, while Katie scanned the road ahead for wrecks and deer.
“What’s it like, being dead?” Katie eventually asked.
“I can’t complain. You?”
She shook her head, “I still don’t get you sometimes.”
“Where are we headed?”
“Some place warm. I am thinking Florida. I can get down in the Keys, find me an island, pure white sand, blue ocean and palm trees. I could go for that.”
“A hammock?”
“You know it. Just me and you buddy. Drinking a few beers, maybe fishing a little and heading to the mainland every once in a while to stock up on food.”
“What brought this plan on?”
“You made me think about it a little. I know it’s summer now, but the weather isn’t going to last. Soon it will be cold and snowy. How would I heat anyplace up here? If I go where all I need is a sweater I should be fine.”
“What about hurricanes?”
“Don’t be a dream squasher.”
Randy shook his head. “Okay. So…Florida, island, hammock. Any other plans?”
“The world has ended. Do I need more than that?”
“What about the zombies?”
“I am going to kill every one of them I see. Every fucking one.”
“That’s…interesting.”
“Hey can you check and see if this tub has a map in it?”
“Sorry, being dead has its limitations. There probably is one in the glove box. If not just pull up to any gas station you see, they’re bound to have one.”
“Good point. I’ll just stay on this road. I have to go south as it is, then pick up a map when I stop for fuel.” Katie said.
“I wonder where the guy who owned this car is? I mean, it wasn’t wrecked. It was just sitting by the side of the road.”
“Probably got dragged off and eaten. You know how it is.”
“Well, not really, I didn’t turn.”
“That’s right, you jumped first, fucker.”
“Either that or stay and eat you.”
“It wouldn’t have been the first time.” Katie said.
“It would have been the last though. I don’t think you’d have capped me. What happened after I jumped.”
“Why’d you care?”
“Just curious. Don’t you remember?” asked Randy.
“I shot the target. Service before self.”
“Then what?” pressed Randy.
“I called down the artillery.”
“And then?”
“Jeezus Randy, why the third degree? I got out, went down into the building and almost got blown up, my clothes were gone, I woke up in an office somewhere…” Katie was having a hard time remembering what took place on the top of the building, concentrating she closed her eyes and tried to bring back the memories of what had happened.
“Katie!” Randy yelled.
She opened her eyes to see three deer on the highway in front of her. She hit the brakes and skidded to a stop within touching distance of the lead animal.
“For fucks sake!” the deer didn’t move. Katie honked the horn and the three animals bounded off into the woods. “Jeezus, good thing you were keeping an eye out, I’d have slammed into them.” When Katie looked beside her the seat was empty again.
Chapter 19 - Max
“Driving without a windshield; that was brilliant.” said Stewart shivering.
“I can’t believe how cold it is!” Max answered, nodding his head. Bill was driving and Max and Stewart were on the front bench seat beside him.
Bill had made them press on, ins
tead of finding a place to hold up for the night. After three hours, when they were nearing the outskirts of Knoxville, he finally pulled off of the main highway onto a side road that he said would allow them to skirt the main city and reconnect with 75 further south west.
“I don’t like it either.” Bill said, “But the road is clear and we might as well put as much distance between them and us as we can. I’m just happy the truck lasted this long.”
The truck hadn’t given them any problems at all. Aside from the shot out windows it was still working fine.
“Besides, who is tired? It’s only about eleven now. We’ve made good time.”
“Okay, I will give you that, but I think we need to find another vehicle. Or two. Traveling like this sucks.” Stewart grumbled.
“Where are we?” asked Max.
“Sign at the exit said ‘Heiskell’.” Bill answered.
“RV park up on the left!” Stewart said.
“I see it, do we stop there or go on further? I think the town is still ahead of us.”
“Stop here! We might be able to get a truck and crash in a camper trailer.”
“Stewart, why on earth would you prefer a camper over a house?” asked Max.
“Well, we could pull it with us.”
“No!” both men answered at once. They spoke loud enough to wake Javier and Ruben in the back seat.
“What?” grumbled Ruben, whose gun had thrust out the window as he shook off sleep.
“We are stopping.” Answered Bill.
Ruben glanced at the sign as they pulled into the park, “At an RV park?”
No one said anything, they all just watched as the headlights of the truck illuminated the park as they drove in.
“Kinda sparse.” Max said.
“No shit. It’s summer, why isn’t the place full?” asked Stewart, “Pull up to that building there.”
“The shitter?” asked Bill.
“Yeah, there is a fifth wheel and camper there and we can use the facilities. My bladder is about to burst.”
“Fine. Max? Any zombies around?”
Max took a moment and said, “No. It looks empty. That is weird. I thought the place would be crawling….”
Bill pulled into the empty slot beside the bathrooms and the light from the truck showed them that the door to the camper was open. A long dark streak of brown stained the side of the trailer, starting at the door and ending near the front, where the large pickup was parked.
“They’ve been here at least. Everyone keep your eyes peeled, just in case.” Bill said.
Max shook his head, but didn’t say anything, knowing the place was empty of both humans and zombies.
They piled out of the truck and checked the bathroom. There was a light switch by the door and Max tried it, nothing happened. He hadn’t expected there to be power, none of the lights were on in this part of the country now.
Everyone had flashlights ready, both to mount on their guns and portable lights as well. All of them had opted to turn their gun lights on and searched by waving the barrels around.
“Whoever came up with gun lights was a genius.” Max said as he verified that the men’s room was empty.
“Yeah, yeah, but I think night vision equipment would be better. It wouldn’t be as noticeable from a distance. So try not to keep waving your gun around.” Ruben said pushing past Max to get into a stall. “And find me some paper for the shitter, this stall is empty.”
“Yes sir!” Max said.
“Don’t call me ‘sir’ idjit!” the old man said with some warmth.
“Yeah, I know, you work for a living.”
“The oldest clichés are the best. Anyway, I’m retired.”
Max broke into a locked storage closet that was situated between the ladies and men’s restrooms. Inside he found several cases of toilet paper.
“Who needs toilet paper?” he called out as he went inside the bathroom again.
Stewart had opted to use the men’s room and came out of her stall and looked towards the showers. “I don’t feel dirty enough yet to need a shower. Definitely not dirty enough for a cold shower in the dark.”
“Suit yourself.” Max said, washing his face with the cold water from the sink.
“Let’s go check the camper, see if we can use it.” Bill said to them after everyone had finished. “Javier, you and Max each take an end of the trailer. Ruben I want you to keep an eye on our truck and watch our backs. Stewart you get the job of going inside and seeing how bad it is. I will check the truck in front and see if I can find keys.”
Everyone split up and headed to their positions, with Stewart pausing by the open door of the camper.
“Empty, right Max?”
“Empty.” He confirmed.
Easing inside the open doorway, Stewart turned on her flashlight and shielded the lens partly with one hand to keep the light dim. The kitchen was in disarray, there were bowls and open boxes of food strewn on every part of the floor. The bloody streak from outside began at the doorway and did not lead inside. There were only two ways to proceed, toward the main bedroom or down the galley where there was a door set between a table and a built in bench seat. Stewart opted for the bedroom frist.
The queen sized bed filled the room almost to capacity and the small shower and toilet area attached to it was empty and looked untouched. The covers and sheets on the bed were ruffled, as if someone had been sleeping there only moments before. Cautiously Stewart put her hand down on the bed, it was cold. Feeling along it further she could not detect any warmth. Breathing a quick sigh of relief she gave the room a cursory glance and spotted a key ring hanging from a coat rack, along with a heavy black leather belt.
Stewart grabbed the keys and turned to check the back end of the camper. It ended in a doorway, just beyond the kitchen table. The floor creaked as she moved along it and just as she was about to twist open the door handle, she heard Bill whisper to her form the doorway.
“Stewart? Anything?”
Straightening, Stewart said, “Clear so far, I’m going to check the back, it looks like there is another room here.” She turned the knob and pulled the door open. The room beyond was filled with boxes and equipment. Almost buried under the detritus was a motorcycle with knobby tires. Stewart poked around among the boxes, to make sure nothing was hiding behind them, and didn’t find any zombies.
“All clear here Bill. The only blood is at the entrance there.” She walked towards him and held out her hand, “And I found the keys, I bet they go to the truck out front.”
Bill took the keys, “A good bet. Whoever owned this rig had a key saver under the bumper too.” Bill held up a small rectangular box with one hand, he slid it open to reveal a key, which he matched up to one on the key ring.
“So do we hide out here until the morning?”
Bill nodded, “Yeah, I’ll go get the others and then we’ll set a watch. I want two people up at all times.”
“We need two of Max.” Stewart muttered.
“That would be nice, yeah. So…I spoke to Trish before we left.” Bill said, mentioning his wife.
“Yeah?”
“She said, well, she said you and Max were involved.”
“It’s complicated.”
“He’s like a brother to me. I don’t want him to get hurt.” Bill said.
“Are you shitting me? Is now the best time for this?”
“It’s the first time I’ve been able to bring it up. I’ll leave your personal stuff to you and him. I just want to know if you’re fine for this….” Bill waved his hand around.
“This? You mean this mission?” Stewart started laughing.
“Well, yeah.”
Still laughing, she said, “A little goddamn late now, isn’t it? I mean, unless you are planning to leave me here or something?”
Bill turned his head sideways and looked at her in the dark for a moment, then let out a soft laugh of his own, “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“I mean wh
at would you have done if I had said, ‘no’?”
“I didn’t think you would.”
“Then why ask?”
Frustration crept into Bill’s voice, “I don’t know. I just feel responsible somehow…”
“How is that possible?”
“No, I mean as your officer and all.”
“Oh. Now I get it. No fraternization among squad mates.”
“No, not that.” Bill said, voice rising, “That’s not what I meant…”
“Geez, Bill, you’re easier to get all flustered than Max. We are fine, me and Max. Me and you. You and Max though, that could use some work.”
“What do you mean?”
“You. You’re all coming down giving us orders like we aren’t friends. In our case it is true. And I am used to having a commanding officer. So is Ruben. Maybe even Javier. But Max? He thinks you’re still his buddy. I don’t think he gets the whole ‘tell me what to do’ stuff.”
“Have I been that bad? I mean I am just trying to keep everyone alive. If I don’t bring Max home I would never forgive myself. And if I don’t come home, well Trisha will kill anyone who does.”
“So we all stick together, one way or the other.”
“Yes.” Bill replied.
“Fair enough. But you might want to explain that to Max, when you have a moment alone with him. If you can get one.”
“I think I can arrange that.”
“Good. Let’s call the others together, clean this place up and get a little sleep.”
Bill and Stewart stepped outside and called the others over.
“Okay we’ll try and get a few hours’ sleep here. I want guards in shifts. Max, you and I will go first, we’ll wake Stewart up in a couple hours to stand with us. Then we’ll wake the others a couple hours after that and Max and I will go to bed. Finally Stewart will get to turn in and grab a couple more hours at the end of the shift. This way everyone gets four hours sleep in the next eight hours and we have three people up for most of the time. We’ll aim to leave by eight.”
Everyone nodded. Javier and Ruben entered the camper and called out dibs on the large bed at the same time.