The Dead Rise (Book 1): Zombies and Chainsaws

by Evans, Mike

  She sounded more annoyed than excited; the distaste for the man was a bitterly strong one. She said, "Sounds a little bit too good to be true sir. Usually, if somebody has something that good, there's a reason for it and usually good don't fall in the sentence."

  “You are a quick one ma’am and most times you’d be right. Now luckily for you ma'am I am a man of faith.”

  She wasn't stupid, and she knew exactly who he was and how he dealt with things. She snorted trying to hold in the laugh, but she failed miserably.

  "Well now if you're a man of faith then of course I've got time to listen to you, sir."

  He was well aware he was getting nowhere with her and that he would be much better off if he just got to the point. He said, "You see I got too many people working right now but there are more trees down then I got men to cut them. What I'm calling about is to see if Jude would be up for some contract work down in Missouri. You think he'd be up for traveling? I know it's just him working, but I think he can handle it. He always put on a good job back in the day."

  “He isn’t on his own anymore sir, he picked up three boys that he works with and they are like a fine oiled machine. He's thinking about picking up a few more but just hasn't had time to look around and find anybody. He's been so damn busy because he charges a reasonable rate. People just love hiring him.”

  "Well bless his heart that's a noble thing he does, not trying to make too much money. God knows there are more men and women out there that should try and do the same."

  “So how long would you need him for? You know, given he decides that he wants to take your job that is?”

  "Well, I need to talk to him about that but honestly I was hoping we were looking at a week or less. Emphasize to him on the less and there'd be a three, wait no, five hundred dollar bonus on top of all that, if he could handle it."

  She was writing down notes as she was talking to him and she almost snapped the yellow pencil when the words, five hundred dollar bonus, came out. She knew that was a good weeks pay before taxes were taken out. She said, "Well he'll be home in a few hours for a quick lunch with the boys, I can run it by him then. When is it that you are thinking about having him leave?"

  "Well, that's kind of the reason there’d be such a good bonus. Unfortunately, it would have to be a quick kind of job. He'd have to be ready immediately; the people in Missouri that are hiring me to get rid of the wood and the downed trees are not the most patient people in the world. He would have to leave tomorrow morning bright and early before the sun came up."

  "Well, I'll take your phone number and have him give you a call just as soon as I can."

  She hung up the phone folding and shoving the piece of paper into her pocket and Patrick pulled on her shirt. He said, “Who was that Aunt Maria? He seemed kind of weird.”

  She ignored Patrick's question thinking of Jude and how tight things were. If Jude could earn an extra five hundred it would be like a small fortune to him. She said, "Patrick go and grab a jacket and some GI Joes. We need to go see your daddy on the job site. I have some really good news for him. So if you could hurry I would appreciate it."

  Patrick just stared at her for a moment not moving whatsoever. When she finished gathering her keys and purse she saw him still standing there with a curious look on his face. She snapped off like a drill sergeant, “Patrick you get your little ass moving right now or I will be leaving a handprint on it, go, go, go!”

  Patrick usually knew exactly how far he could push his aunt Maria before she would go crazy on him, but he could easily see the look in her eyes and determine that she was not messing around today. He spun on his foot and ran out of the room. He got the Velcro tight on his He-Man shoes. He sprinted to his bedroom and dug through his toy box until he found his favorite GI Joe action figures. He came out of the bedroom like a kid on a mission. Maria was already standing at the door when he came out. She was tapping her foot and holding a box of animal crackers in one hand and smiling holding out the miniature treats.

  Patrick saw the snack and made a beeline straight for his aunt. He ran straight past her jumping as high as his little legs would take him grabbing the box with one hand while yelling, “thank you!” as he exploded out the front screen door. Maria came out closing the door behind her not worrying about locking it and jumped into the driver's seat. Patrick climbed through his aunt's open driver’s side window and crawled to the passenger seat where he set up on his knees looking out the window chewing happily on animal crackers.

  She started her Thunderbird and was thankful that summer was not here yet because she knew how the red leather seats would be like sitting in a bath of lava. She backed the car out and they drove over to Jude's job site to give him the good news. When they pulled up to the property Jude had his back to them and was facing the tree he was taking down. He was currently in the process of taking down what was left of a very large branch. She could see the jagged piece that had remained after the storm.

  Maria waved to Chuck who was Jude's right-hand man and his best friend. The only reason for that was because he had known Jude longer than she had. They had both enlisted together out of high school neither of their families having any money to send them to college. They had both left Shaw's company at the same time and Chuck had been Jude's first man hired under the new company.

  Chuck saw them pulling in and smiled waving back. When the car came to a stop Patrick swung his legs over the side of the car gripping on for dear life with his hands. He lowered himself down in a very sloppy chin up until he reached the gravel-covered ground below. He didn't wait for his aunt he pumped his legs toward the men and the chainsaws carrying a GI Joe in each of his hands. He’d been out of the car before she could even blink and Maria yelled for him to stop but knew he was gone. Chuck set his saw down walking forward to intercept the kid to keep him from possibly interrupting his dad and getting hurt or worst case earning a spanking.

  Chuck picked up the approaching smiling boy and before he could say anything launched Patrick into the air looking like a rocket, of course, one with chunky legs and arms flailing wildly as he shot up. The boy kicked and screamed as he flew into the air giving his aunt a short heart attack as she watched the spectacle take place. When the tree branch came down Pete pointed in the direction behind him catching Jude's attention. He knew it wasn't often that Maria and Patrick came to the job site and could tell by the look on her face that it was probably pretty important.

  Jude turned around seeing his son in Chuck’s arms and killed his chainsaw setting it down. He removed his ear protection and placed his hands over his ears trying to pop them. He wondered at times why he even wore the damn things. He knew he wouldn’t hear anything once he was an old man. The saws were very deafening but it made ends meet and that was what he cared about over personal health. When Chuck saw it was safe he patted Patrick on the back and put the boy down and he immediately ran towards Jude.

  Jude bent down gripping his son smiling and for the second time in a minute Patrick was on a second flight into the air. Maria came up yelling at Jude and Chuck, “Would you guys quit throwing him in the air for God’s sake! He’s going to be sick, and if he pukes in the car and I have to clean it up we won’t be having a very pleasant conversation afterward.”

  Jude walked up to Maria holding up his hands realizing he better walk on eggshells if he kept tossing him in the air. He said, “What’s going on Maria? Is everything okay?”

  She pulled out a piece of paper handing it to him not wanting to disclose to the men how much of a bonus he was going to be making if he accepted this job. He opened it seeing only the numbers saying five hundred and shrugged. He said, “This is barely enough to cover all of us for a week and that's if we don't want to eat. Is this what you came out here for?”

  Maria motioned for him to follow her and he did. She knew she had possibly lied just a little to Mr. Shaw when she had mentioned how many jobs he had been racking up. He had just barely been able to make ends meet, but
it was none of the greedy bastards business. She knew if he knew what kind of desperate financial trouble they were in he would have low-balled him and he would have made even less money on the contract. Jude leaned against her car pulling himself up on the white Thunderbird and dangling his legs just barely off of the ground and asked, "So what is it?"

  She did not waste her time asking him if he remembered who Mr. Shaw was. She knew he did. She said, "Your old boss called. He had a contract he wanted to offer you. It was for one week and the five hundred that you don't seem too excited about for some weird reason was just what the bonus would be. But the thing is, you have to be done with the job in one week or you don't get it. But if you do finish it, there's an extra five hundred dollars in your pocket, hell you could probably talk Shaw into doing it under the table on the bonus. Nothing better than tax-free dollars right?"

  At this news Jude whistled. He knew five hundred would go a long way toward paying off some backed up bills. He said, “So it would be a week in Missouri? You think you could handle watching Patrick for that long?”

  "I watch him every day Jude. Do you really think it would be a big deal if I watched him at night too? Hell, half the time you're out at night trying to find some way to make money. At least if you go do this you might be set up for a little bit, which as you know will help everyone."

  “So what am I supposed to do? When does this start, hell I don’t think I’ve ever known Shaw to give up any extra money before, he must be desperate.”

  “You would need to leave tomorrow. And as big of a hurry as he is in to get you down there, there's a damn good chance you could try and get a little extra money out of the job from him. Just make sure you don't say yes right away. Don't seem desperate. I told him how busy you've been, and if he doesn't know the truth there's no reason letting him in on stuff he doesn't need to know anything about. Seems like a good chance you can really come out ahead.”

  He nodded in agreement thinking that some extra money would do nothing of harm. If she could handle Patrick he could handle going out and getting work kicking some ass. He motioned to Chuck to keep working and not to quit. He yelled, “Hey guys I gotta go make a call in town I'll be back soon as I can. Let's try and wrap up this job today.”

  Chuck said, "Wrap this up today? Man, what are you talking about this is a two-day job we got going here, you said so. We ain't gonna finish this in one day man. Well, unless you plan on paying us double on this here job?"

  “Hell no I'm not going to pay you double you crazy son of a -.”

  Maria snapped and Jude was already feeling the tongue-lashing coming his way. She yelled, “You watch your mouth. Patrick is sitting right there, and you know very well he picks up on just about everything you say.”

  Jude looked at Patrick who was in the field and looked back to Maria. He said, “And how is he supposed to hear anything that I just said?”

  Maria put her hands on her hips and that was all that he needed to see. He was well aware the argument had been lost at that very moment. He held up his hands and slid off the car. He walked over to the truck climbing in, quickly turning it over and headed into town. He found the first payphone that he could. He dropped in two dimes and dialed Shaw’s number. The phone rang and he waited impatiently for Shaw to answer. When the phone was answered Sarah said, “Hello you have reached Mr. Shaw's office of Shaw Tree Trimming, how can I help you?”

  "Hey, Sarah its Jude, how are you doing today sweetheart?"

  Sarah smiled brightly, she loved the much younger Jude or at least loved watching him walk away. She said, “Oh Jude honey how are you doing today? What are you calling for?”

  “My sister-in-law Maria said she got a call from Shaw, saying he might have a job for me to do. He said they have some contract work that you guys are in a little over your head right now?”

  "Oh, he decided to send you boys down so he can still keep that big ass check they are going to offer."

  Jude smiled loving having an upper hand especially when it was on some asshole like Shaw. He said, “How big are we talking about Sarah?”

  Sarah smiled knowing Jude's situation and she could handle if she had to work for the prick a little bit longer if it meant giving him the upper hand. She said, "Well I couldn't tell you the exact figure because that just wouldn't be fair. But I could give you maybe an estimate as to what I think maybe it is."

  Jude laughed he said, "Hey I'll take what I can get Sarah. I can handle that, what kind of estimate are we looking at?"

  "Well Jude you'll have to do the math on your own honey, but let's just say you had a thousand dollars, and you took that thousand dollars times five. Well, now that might just be the amount that he's looking at getting from the great state of Missouri for the job."

  Jude whistled, “No shit?”

  Sarah laughed, “No shit honey. Let me transfer you on over to Mr. Shaw so you can get your business on, and don't go letting him off easy okay?”

  Jude just smiled knowing if ever he had an ex-wife on earth he would not want it to be her. In her defense, he knew Mr. Shaw had shared the sheets with more lovelies than anyone probably should.

  She punched the phone number to announce and transfer. Shaw picked it up on the second ring. He said, “What do you want now Sarah?”

  "Oh, you don't want to take the phone call that is going to answer all your problems sugar? I can just tell Jude you changed your mind. He already said how busy he's been honey, making money. You know money. That thing you love more than anything. Anyway, I'll just let him know the job got filled and-"

  Shaw screamed into the phone cutting her off slamming the receiver hard into his desk. He yelled, “You will do no such goddamn thing or I'm going to break my foot off in your ass woman! Transfer him over and do it now goddamn it. I'm going to kick your ass if you keep screwing with me today.”

  Jude held the phone out from his ear staring at it in confusion for a second realizing he'd already been transferred. He said, “I sure as hell hope you aren't threatening to kick my ass cause I'll beat the shit out of you son, I don't care what kind of job offer you got on the plate. Don't go disrespecting me!”

  Shaw yelled back the frustration pouring out of him towards his ex-wife. "Goddamn it I wasn't talking to you. That evil bitch transferred you to me, damn it that's the second time today she’s done that. You know I tell you what, she's trying to give me a goddamn heart attack. I ain't worth shit dead. This place only makes money cause I'm around to run it. She wants me dead, dead son I say dead damn it. You know what, I'm babbling, how the hell are you doing Jude? How's that little boy of yours doing?”

  Jude could see the man wasn't much different than he had been a few years ago. Jude said, "Well he is growing like a weed, sir. And he's trying to eat me outta house and home. What's up with the job offer? I've already got a job east of town I'm working on, I figured it would be a three-day job, but it looks like we might be able to finish it up in one or two days. It just depends on how motivated I can keep my men."

  Shaw did a little fist pump in the air thinking how it was probably a good thing he could wrap up the job duties today. He knew Jude well, and knew he wouldn't leave any work behind until he had finished. It wasn't in his personality which was probably why he liked him as a worker; hard workers were hard to find whereas lazy ones were a dime a dozen.

  “Well that's great news. I got to tell you because I don't know if your sister-in-law told you but you're looking at right around a five hundred dollar bonus if you can do the job in a week son.”

  “I got plenty of work up this way and I don't have to drive four hours to get there. What are you offering?”

  "But I just told you, son I have a five hundred dollar bonus if you get done in time, you tell me when the last time you got a five hundred dollar bonus was? You don't need the money then you just say the word."

  “Everyone needs money Shaw, even bigwigs like you. I’m not trying to say I don’t care about a bonus because I do, but I get a day's p
ay as well, despite that five hundred dollar bonus you are dangling in front of me. There is a good damn chance that we will just about all but have it spent by the time we get there and back. I don't have the kind of money to go down there on my own dime while I'm waiting for you to reimburse me.”

  Shaw said, “Well you didn’t really expect me to send you down there all by yourself did you? I mean without anything did you?”

  “Yup, I sure did.”

  "You know what son, I'll make sure you aren't sent down there with empty pockets. I got you a company van and I’ll even fill up the first tank for you. You can top off all your chainsaw gas tanks and your carry tanks. I'll even have Sarah call and get the finest hotel we can manage for you in town. It's a small town so I can't promise the Hilton, but it'll do. Two men to a room, Maria already said this for you while you're working so that's about the best I can do."

  "You still haven't said shit about what I'm going to make Shaw. If you think putting me up in a hotel room so I can break my back and my knees for a week is worth it then you're crazy. I need to have something that I need to fold when I put myself back in the car to drive home."

  Shaw said, “I remember you being a lot more patient back in the day.”

  Jude snapped right back, "But back in the day I had a wife and a newborn son. Now all I have is a four-year-old and a stack of bills and not enough hours in my damn day. Ever since my wife got cancer things have been tough."

  Shaw said trying to relate to him, “Well I can understand not having enough hours in the day son, but take it from me, even if you're up to date on your bills you still ain't never going to have enough time to do what you want.”

  “All I want to do is pay my bills and feed my son. I don't have high expectations in life but giving my boy the life he deserves. Get to it. How much you paying otherwise.”