“Good morning Mr. Tookes. Max is such a delight!”
“Please, just Tookes, or Victor.” I said.
“Thank you. Thank you for what you’ve done here, thank you for making the children here have a sense of normalcy. That’s a huge contribution and one I’d like to support you in as fully as I can. In all honesty, we’re focused primarily on getting us through this winter and the early spring right now, but once we have enough food and energy stored to make it through a long winter, I want you to know that your school is very high on my list. Anything you need, I’ll do my very best to find. If we have anything here that you need to appropriate, feel free. I assume you’ve been through my mother’s library, but if there are specific topics you need books or materials for, I’ll do my best to find them for you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Tookes. For everything you’re doing. I don’t know much about farming, so anything you can find that relates to a more agrarian lifestyle. Things like growing crops, canning, preserving food, horsemanship, we can use anything like that. My goal is to have these kids ready to help by spring planting time, even if it’s in small ways, every hand will help and there’s no learning like hands on learning. Even if that guy you’re going to save tonight can make us all immune, the population of the world has been decimated. It will be several generations before we’re able to return to a life like we had in the 1950's, let alone 2011.”
“Nancy, I believe you’re absolutely right. I’m not sure that we as a people want to go back to where we were in 2011; maybe the next generations can do it better than we did. Maybe this is our chance to reset the planet. With all of the abandoned solar panels out there now and wind mills and hydro-electric power generation capabilities, maybe once we’ve destroyed these parasites, we can advance in harmony with the Earth, not trying to harness it. These kids are going to need a lot of knowledge. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.”
We sat there in silence for a long time while I watched Max play. His baby blue aura made him stand out easily to me, even when he was hiding from the other kids in a game of hide and seek.
“Hi Max. I’m proud of you.” I said to him with my thoughts.
“I’m proud of you too daddy,” he replied.
“Max, can you talk to anyone this way? Or is it just to me?”
“I like to talk with my mouth like everyone else.”
“I do too, but this is nice if we are far apart. Do you know how far apart we can be and still talk?”
“I talked to Mr. John’s brother this morning. He was silly; he said it was night time there. He talks just like Mr. John.”
“You did what? Where is John’s brother?” I asked.
“He’s at Mr. John’s house with Mr. John’s kids and their mommy. It isn’t safe for them there, so I told them to go somewhere else. Mr. John is very worried about his family. Would it be OK if I told Mr. Sean to come here, Daddy?”
“Max, it’s a long way. Remember when we got on an airplane to go see Papa at the beach? Mr. John’s family would have to be on a plane for a whole day. If you tell them to come here, it would be very dangerous for them. It might be better if we get them to some place safe where they are.”
“OK Dad, I’ll tell them to go somewhere where it’s safe.” Max replied.
“Max, do you know what we’re going to do tonight?”
“I think so. I heard you talking to Miss Nancy, you’re going to go find a man who can make everyone like us?”
I briefly pondered how Max could have heard that. And what else he might have overheard, if his hearing is that good.
“I’m going to try, yes. Do you know anything about this man? Or where were going?”
“No. Only that the army man is sending you and he didn’t tell you everything.” Replied Max. ”He never tells everything.”
“But you don’t know what he didn’t tell?”
“No. He is hard to understand. He doesn’t see things like everyone else, he’s very mad all the time.”
“Why is he so mad, Max?” I asked.
“I don’t know, he just is. I think he’s always mad.”
“Anything else I should know about tonight?”
“I love you Daddy.”
“I’ll always love you Maxmonster! You’re my favorite little boy.”
“Dad, who’s Vern?”
“Vern? I don’t know, where did you hear that name?”
“Baby Haley’s mommy told me I should say “Hi Vern!” to you.
“You talked to Aunt Renee? How is she? Where is she? What has she been doing?” I asked, particularly quickly before I remembered that Max was really just three and a half years old and didn’t know how huge that was.
“She is good. They got in a car crash on the way here with some bad guys. Uncle Eddie got turned into a badguy when he went to help them. Aunt Renee killed him. Baby Haley and Maria are Ok, they had their buckles on. Aunt Renee has been trying to get them here, but there are too many bad guys between us.”
Holy shit! I thought. Renee and the kids were alive? They were stuck somewhere between here and Atlanta? I have to go get them. I need her here. Mom needs her, Marshall needs her, we all need her.
“Max, you have to tell me if anyone else ever talks to you. When did you talk to Aunt Renee?”
“Just last night Daddy, while I was asleep. I forgot to tell you at breakfast, sorry. I haven’t talked to anyone else.”
“Ok son. I love you one million and nine. I’ll see you tomorrow OK? Be good for Gramma and brush your teeth tonight Ok? I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“OK, I will.”
I walked back up the hill a little ways, more confused than ever. He talked to John’s brother in Australia? How is that possible? Why does that seem less possible than the fact that I just had a whole conversation with him? How can he have a conversation with me in his mind and a conversation with someone else with his mouth at the same time? He was able to run and jump while we talked, but I had to stand there with my eyes closed and hold on to the fence. He is an amazing kid, I thought to myself as I walked up to my room to try and get a few hours sleep before we left.
After we got back from this particular run, Marshall and I would go get Renee. If Max could talk to her, I’d be able to find her. I’d never seen her aura, but if I got close I’m sure I could pick it out. Renee was my baby sister.
Chapter 8
Sporting Goods
At 8am, the four of us and M1 loaded up into four SUV’s. I caught myself oddly wishing that we could find matching uniforms and trucks. Of all the things I had to worry about, I was thinking about finding matching vehicles. Marshall had been out earlier to top them all off with gasoline out of our cans. This trip was going to cost us a fair amount of fuel and that was a limited resource. We needed to start acquiring diesel vehicles.
“Get your head in the game, Tookes.” I said to myself out loud.
“You OK, Vic?” asked Marshall
“Yea; I had a conversation with Max this morning, he doesn’t think Frye told us everything, but neither of us knows what he left out. I could tell Frye didn’t lie to me at all, which means he’s left something out, but I specifically asked him if he told me everything and he didn’t lie when he said he did.” I replied.
We drove through an eerily quiet Culpeper. We were driving about forty miles per hour, saving fuel and trying to make as little noise as possible. It’s astounding how much noise we’re used to, four months later it’s still odd not to hear it. I wondered it Max would ever remember the hustle and bustle of everyday life before zombies. I kind of hoped not. There were a lot of things I missed, but I was looking forward to this life when this all settled down.
Building the wall was an exciting idea. I’d been mulling it over in the back of my mind; I used the first part of the trip tonight working it out in my head. It kept me from dwelling too much on what we were going to do and kept my nerves in check. The trick to me was to build in phases. If we could mine and transport 16 cubic foot bloc
ks, 48 inches square, I think they’d weigh about a ton each. That’s about the lifting limit of our equipment and more than enough to stop anything the zeds could throw against it. Renee would know what kind of footers we’d need. She’d know how to mix the concrete we’d need, how to transport all of this. She is the key to building this wall.
I hadn’t told Marshall that she was still alive; I didn’t want him to be as distracted as I was. For this mission, we had four key objectives. First, we needed ammunition and magazines. In Warrenton, there was a huge sportsman’s store. That was our first objective tonight; breach the store, clear and load out. Our shopping list was pretty simple. Camouflage clothes and backpacks and hunting vests. Radios, if we can find throat or shoulder microphones, all the better, but we only had six radios and there were nine of us. I was looking for an upgrade to Sammie, although I was unlikely to find a better scope, I was looking for a night vision version. In fact, I wanted everyone to have something night vision, either goggles or a scope. And John wanted a telescope for some reason. Lastly, we needed bullets. We need lots and lots of bullets.
When we pulled into the sporting goods store, the parking lot had a few cars and a couple of trucks. The windows were intact and it was dark inside, which were good signs. Marshall reversed our truck until the rear bumper was touching the building; Charlie did the same on the opposite side of the door. John and Reineer pulled their trucks up, like the roof on a house, effectively sealing the door.
Charlie pulled out his halligan and strode to the door, while the rest of us hunkered down on the far sides of our vehicles, creating a pen for any zombies inside. Charlie shook the doors and banged on the glass with the handle of his halligan and we waited. First one hand appeared out of the gloom inside and pushed on the door, then more and more. Charlie stuck his face against the glass, laughing, banging on the door, teasing the zombies inside.
“That’s good, get out of there, Charlie.” Said Marshall as Charlie headed back to the truck, vaulting over the hood.
John fired two rounds, blowing the deadbolt locks out of the doors. The press of zed’s pushed the doors all the way open. We opened fire. Almost every corpse that fell out of the building was wearing hunting clothes. I wondered how long they’d managed to survive before one got to them.
I couldn’t help but think about these people, holed up in a sporting goods store, doing their best to survive. One of them gets bitten out on a raid and hides the bite and turns an hour later after getting through whatever security they’d set up. I wondered what their story was. I wondered if any of them had kept a diary or journal as we cut them down leaving their prison. All in all we ended thirty-one shambling, half eaten, rotten corpses. When we worked out this process, we’d placed a lot of emphasis on not breaking the windows. We had managed to control our fire such that we didn’t break a single window although the checkout counter right inside the doorway was pretty well decimated.
Our breach procedure worked perfectly. John and Reineer pulled their trucks out of the way, opening up the doorway, as the rest of us pulled the rotten, putrid smelling corpses out of the doorway and off to the middle of the lot. Our goal was to leave this place secured, so that we could easily come back if we had to and have a reasonable assurance that it would remain clear.
Inside the store we all took out our flashlights and started an isle by isle clearing. The back doors were barricaded securely from the inside. The smell of rotten flesh was pretty strong, but not as bad as I expected. I came around the corner past the isle of kayaks, face to chest with a massive corpse that was reaching for me over the gun counter. My gun raised to its head level before I realized the gigantic thing was trapped back there. I exhaled as I took my finger off the trigger and found my way to the folding section of counter.
“Got one, he’s a big fucker. I’m dragging him outside before I kill it, clear the isles, get down and don’t distract him.” I said into my radio.
I paced back and forth in front of the counter. Everywhere I went, he followed. As long as I stayed a foot or so back from the counter, which came just above his waist, he couldn’t get to me. I went all the way to one wall, then ran for the middle, flipped the counter top up and said “Come and get me!” as I backed away. I had about a ten foot lead when he made it to the opening of the counter, but his arm hit the countertop as he rounded the corner, flipping it back down.
I reset once again, this time on the other side. Once again I ran to the middle, flipped up the counter and backed off about ten feet. The giant ghoul was missing half of its thigh; it dragged its bad leg like a prop behind it. Drag and step. Drag and step. It was easy enough to stay ahead of it. I walked backwards out the door, pulling my hatchet out of the loop on my pack as I walked. I waited for it to catch me at the pile of corpses and when it reached for me as they all do, I side-stepped and smashed it skull in with the hatchet. The newly de-animated corpse landed face-down on top of the pile.
After a quick mental kudos on how well that went, a decision-shadow appeared in front of me, reaching for my throat. I barely had time to react, swinging my hatchet for the hand that would be at my throat when the swirling black smoke appeared in front of me. My hatchet removed the things hand before the monster teleported away again. I heard a scream from way off in the distance behind me and looked around for it, trying to find either the creature or a sign of where it was going to appear. I spun slowly in a circle, sig in my left hand, hatchet in my right. I backed in a crouch, turning slowly until I was back inside the store.
“There’s a smart one outside, now wounded. He teleported off, but I don’t think he’s gone. He’s going to want a little payback for the hand I removed.”
John came out to the front door.
“You cured his clap? Nice work mate! Now you play bait and I’ll reel in the zombie cod. Just don’t get your tackle mangled.”
“Tackle? What?”
“It’ll be easy. Go draw him out!” replied John, who had to be tired of explaining his slang to me.
I stepped slowly outside, repeating the same movements I had last time, hoping to make him think I was leading another zombie out. A shadow appeared to my left. The black swirl cleared as John fired, the zombie’s head exploded before the smoke had a chance to clear.
“Nice shot there John.”
“Bloody oath.” he replied. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, a second before a hand grabbed me and a bullet whizzed by my ear. As the black smoke swirled around me, I noticed the zombie on the ground had both hands.
I felt intense cold, then the smoke cleared around me and I was in the middle of a field well off from the store.
“That the best you can do?” I asked.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” he said as we circled.
“What did I do to you? I was just looking for some clothes when you attacked me!” I said.
“You killed my soldiers. I don’t appreciate that.”
“They would have killed me and besides, you can make more easily enough.”
“Starting with you!” He said, lunging for me.
I knew this was coming; I didn’t even need my ability to see it. This guy was what we’d call a ‘smart zombie’, but I didn’t get the feeling he was all that smart.
I dodged to the side, swung the sig around and blew a hole in his remaining hand. I used the gun partially to give John and idea where I was and partially because it happened to be in my left hand.
“What’s your name guy?” I asked.
He held up his hand and we watched the hole close up. “Harry Gould. I was going to turn you, but now I think I’m just going to eat you.”
Faster this time, he came for my throat, his mouth open, coming for my nose. I hit him in the head with the back of the hatchet, stunning him and giving me a second to get free.
“Are you the head of the zombies around here?”
“Darryl and I are heading down to Culpeper to take care of some group of humans who have been giving our boss
some trouble. It looks like we’ll get to report that we took out two groups of humans. Well, I will, since you killed Darryl.”
We were still circling each other. This guy was either really dumb or way smarter than I was giving him credit for. Why was he talking? Why was he waiting for my backup to arrive?
“Harry, what’s your boss’s name?”
Shadows danced in front of me. The best move for him was a leg sweep. That ended with me on my back and him on top of me. As that option started to solidify, I focused on the shadow that grabbed for my left wrist, willing him to choose that one. The leg sweep shadow evaporated and the wrist grab shadow became his choice.
He grabbed for my wrist just as I brought the blunt side of the hatched down on his forearm, shattering his fore arm bones and leaving his arm bent at a crazy angle. He howled in pain as he backed off, sticking his arm between his thighs and using his legs to pull it straight again. He held it up over his head as the bones knitted back together. The stump of what had been his other hand had grown into a knob and fingers were starting to sprout from it. A few more minutes and I could chop it off again.
What Zombies Fear (Book 2): The Maxists Page 7