“Yeah, he should, but in a way, he’s right. We can use his extra energy to accomplish a lot today in making these people feel secure,” I agreed.
“Time will tell, and they would have called us on the radios if she hadn’t made it. Speaking of that, did you find Dianne and Kyle’s children?”
“Yes, and no. We know that they’re alive, but they were the down payment on the supplies that Vinnie got last week from the group in Georgia.” Doug winced.
“Oh, that’s sucky. Dianne’s going to be so frustrated.”
“Let’s get this done so we can get Dawson back over there quickly.
“Agreed.”
Hours later, all three farms had three families and a few singles staying there. No electricity made things difficult, and I had an idea about that, but at least they had some fresh fruit and vegetables from the gardens. Most farms this far from the cities had some form of heat that didn’t rely on electricity for warmth or cooking food.
“We’re going to let each one of you take care of your own group, and we’ll check in on you to help make sure things go smoothly. There’s another group farther down south, and they have some kids who need to be rescued. We don’t know much about them or how big they are, but they’ll be looking for a meet up in the next two weeks,” Dawson explained to the group before we loaded them up to take to the other two farms.
“There are several fields and orchards that need to be harvested, and we’re working on finding more people to help, and even get another crop in before winter starts. The Church Against Zombies group is hoping that we can get an interstate co-op going before winter hits,” I assured everyone.
“Any place that has the possibility of food and shelter without hurting our families is wonderful,” Peggy replied. “We don’t mind working to survive, especially if we’re working for ourselves.”
“A lookout will be setup so that if a group comes up from the south, we’ll know about it. Even though you’re safe right now, remember that there are still ZITs out there, so don’t go out without taking precautions until we get lights setup. Nobody outside after dark,” Doug added.
“We’ll leave you to it. Kyle is going with us to talk to Dianne, and they’ll be by to check on everything before dark hits.” Dawson was getting antsy about seeing Andi.
“You go take care of your kid. We appreciate everything you’ve done for us.” Gene hugged his wife.
“If one of you will get sizes of clothes, I’ll bring back a truckload with me when the guys come to install the electric.” I figured it couldn’t hurt if they had more than one outfit to wear at a time.
“Oh, clean bodies and a change of clothes is just amazing.” Peggy left her husband’s side and gave me a hug.
“Um, sure. No problem. The clothes are just going to waste sitting in the stores, so we might as well make good use of them.” I patted her back awkwardly. “Ready?” I asked, extracting myself from her embrace.
“Yeah, hop in the truck. We’re only going to take one back so they have some form of transportation,” Doug interjected.
Now that we were driving toward Andi, Dawson wasn’t wasting any time, and the suggested speed limit for a law-abiding citizen was definitely being broken.
The twenty-minute drive took closer to ten, and since Doug had radioed ahead, the gate was open for us.
Dawson was out the door and running up the hill to the medical cabin.
The rest of us that were left got out at a much slower pace.
“It’s a good thing he doesn’t do the driving very often because I think I might be sick,” I groaned, staggering out of the truck and leaning against a tree.
“Some of the guys in the military should be in Nascar races, or join a street gang because there wasn’t room for that kind of driving before the zompoc, much less afterward,” Doug commented as he held his stomach and weaved toward the house with Stacy holding onto her brother.
I walked up the hill to see how Andi was, and found myself next to Carson.
“How’s it going, kid?” I was genuinely glad to see him.
“Pretty good. Billy’s sort of better. He can actually talk coherently again. That other girl, Andi? She’s been out since they brought her in last night,” Carson informed me.
“I’m glad to hear that. Maybe we can take you home tomorrow. What do you think?”
“Whoo!” he yelled, and then put a hand over his mouth. “Sorry.”
“Perfectly understandable, kid. Your mom will be excited to see you.”
We got to the cabin, and Angie joined us outside, taking a seat on the steps.
“River, your group needs to slow down and quit bringing me injured people. I had enough to do already with running my own medic school. We didn’t need real life people to work on,” Angie teased.
“Can we send someone to train, and then we won’t have to come back and forth from such a great distance?”
“Tell those geeks over there to get the internet up and working so we can learn from the tube know-it-all channel. A couple of people learning and doing practical application should help, but in some ways, it’s going to be a mix of old-school and new school until we get life back to normal.”
“That would a nice change. This isn’t a bad alternative, and I kind of like the view most days.” Her gaze was focused on Doug walking between two buildings.
“Oh, I see. What does Stacy think of that development?”
“Happy for him. He’s never had a chance to settle down, and it’s not like I’m going anywhere. Heard that you might’ve found yourself one of the trio of cousins. Last one to fall, and they generally go down the hardest when they take the plunge.” Angie eyed me carefully. “You don’t seem to have that ‘just fell in love’ glow. Don’t you miss him?”
“That’s a good question. I do miss having him around, but we’ve just started something, and I’m not even sure what that is exactly. I’m not really one of those gushy types, and I don’t know what the next step is.” I shrugged.
“Just take his cue. He’ll either be happy to see you, or he’ll be so pissed off that it won’t matter, and you’ll get to have hot make-up sex. Really, either way, you should get hot make-up sex. It’ll just be a few degrees hotter if he’s mad than if he’s just happy to see you,” Angie advised.
“Sounds like you’ve been around the block a few times.”
“A few.” She grinned. “Dillion’s dad was a bad boy. We would fight, and the make-up was great, but then one day he just left. I had a baby and had to support both of us, so other than the occasional date, I’ve stayed single.”
“Sounds like it’s time for a change, and you’ve already got your eye one someone. I’ll take it one moment at a time and see how Cole’s feeling when I get back. I feel like we’ve done something bad and snuck out. He might not forgive us when he finds out that Andi’s been shot.”
“He will. She’s going to pull through. It might be a week or two before she goes back to the city, but she’ll make a full recovery,” Angie promised. “Wanna go in and see her?”
“Sure. I’ll bet she’s ready to get rid of Dawson for a few minutes.”
With our goodbyes said, we loaded up some fresh food supplies and Carson’s truck with the alcohol to take to his mom.
Stacy was the only one going back with me at the moment, because Sarah Beth needed to make contact with Bethel and get them down the mountain to help.
It looked like we’d be coming back and forth a little more often to get fresh food and bring back stuff that the new community needed.
I was driving Carson in his truck, and hoped that he would remember where he lived. It had only taken a few extra days, but the improvement with Billy was still on the fence, and Angie wanted to keep him a little longer. Hopefully, the co-op Carson talked about would be willing to do some trade as well. If Billy was doing better, then I’d be able to drive him home on the next trip through.
“We looked on the map, and I think we found the town you came
from. Do you think if we get close enough, you’ll be able to find it if we’re in the general area?” The wind blowing through the window felt really good in the early morning sun.
“Yeah, but we should meet one of the lookouts before we get there. They’re posted on all the major roads. We bypassed them by going on a few backroads.”
“Ah, that explains a few things about how this all happened,” I responded, keeping an eye on Stacy behind me.
This was the most exposed we’d been in a while, and I was on alert because this was uncharted territory.
About thirty minutes later, the road was blocked and I slowed down. “Do the lookouts know you?” All I could see were a few men with guns trained on us.
“Ma’am, how can we help you?” A guy approached the car while the others moved into a position to cover us.
“I came across Carson here and he was lost. I’m looking for his mom, Trish, and her sister, Jessica. Oh, and a guy named Linc. Do you know them? Can you help us?” I figured I’d approach it like I would have before the zombies and just ask for directions.
“Did she say Carson? Where are the other missing kids?” One of the other guys came to stand by the window.
“If your Carson, then your mom’s going to have your hide. We’ve been looking for weeks, and most of us were certain that you were dead.”
“That’s kind of the problem. He went with these other kids and things got a little crazy. He didn’t know how to get home because he hasn’t lived on the farm that long. Could one of you point us in the right direction?” At least they seemed to believe us and lowered their guns.
“Move the barricade,” he hollered to the others before turning back to me. “I’ll get in my truck and you can follow me. I can’t take the chance that you’d get lost.”
“Sure. He’s anxious to let his mom know what happened.” Relieved, I followed the truck and was struck by the difference after we crossed the barricade. As we drove by fields, there were people out working, and children playing like before people were infected by zombies.
“That next road we should take a right, and it’s a few miles down past the next cross section. Oh, thank goodness.” Carson wiped at his face, trying to hide his emotions.
“Wonderful. Just remember that when your mom yells at you, it’s because she loves you and thought you weren’t coming back. Take whatever punishments she hands out, and remember that it’s her way of trying to keep you safe. Okay?”
He nodded, twisting his hand nervously. “She’ll still love me, right?”
My heart broke at hearing his doubt. “I never had a mom, but from what I’ve heard, they’re pretty forgiving and love you, even when you screw up. Give her a chance, and you’ll quickly know where you stand.”
The truck in front of us slowed down and signaled a turn. Old habits from before still gave glimpses of the past life.
“This is it.” Carson got excited.
A gate opened, and the guy in the truck had an animated conversation with the guard, causing them to radio ahead.
“Here comes Linc.” Carson hopped out and ran around the truck before I could stop him.
“Carson!” Linc yelled and gave him a huge hug. “Your mother is going to be so excited. Run on up to the house.”
As he turned Linc lose, a group came out and met him about halfway. Seeing that Carson was taken care of, Linc turned his attention to me.
I left the gun in the truck and got out slowly.
“Linc? I’m River.” I held out my hand as he approached. “We found him and Billy in a cabin, almost starved to death.”
“Billy? You have Billy as well?” He examined the trucks for signs of another kid.
“Not exactly. We found Billy, but he’d broken his leg and it was an open wound. It had been infected and gotten gangrene, so we had to amputate it. Our nurse got him moved and antibiotics into him. He was incoherent when we found them. This morning, he was talking and looking much better, but Angie thought we shouldn’t move him yet. She wanted to give him about a week.” I spoke in a rush so that he wouldn’t reach the wrong conclusion.
“He’s alive. That’s wonderful, and you have a nurse? Where are you from?” he asked suspiciously.
“I think that’s a discussion we should have after you’ve talked to Carson and get his take on our treatment of them.” I motioned to the truck. “He found the alcohol and we brought it all to you, minus the bottle we used on Billy.”
Ignoring my overture to talk, he walked over and looked around the trucks. After a thorough examination, he came back, appearing satisfied.
“Drive on up to the house.” He accepted my story, motioning over to the guy who had brought us. “Thanks for your help, Brent.”
“Glad we found them, Linc.” Brent waved as he backed out, heading back to the barricade.
I had barely put the truck in park before Carson came running over to hug me. “She still loves me. We cried, and she’s not going to let me out of her sight ever again.”
Grinning ruefully at the woman hovering behind Carson, I said, “I thought that might be the case. You must be the mom who still loves him. I’m River, and this is Stacy.”
“Thank you for bringing my son home.” She came toward me, and I was suddenly being hugged again.
“You’re welcome. Sorry, I’m not used to hugs.” I wiggled to get out of the extra affection.
“I’m sorry, where are my manners?” She laughed. “Please, come inside. We have lemonade. This is my sister, Jessica, and her significant other, Linc, who you’ve already met. Carson, you may stay in the yard, but I want to be able to see you from the window,” she warned him.
“Yes, Mom.” He nodded happily. “I’ll stay with the kids. I missed them.”
They waited until he was out of earshot. “Who are you two, and how do you look so clean and healthy?”
Countless questions later, Stacy and I had retold the story to all three adults. We had permission from Brad and Dawson to tell them about the other two groups. I had also argued over telling them what had happened with Vinnie’s group.
“They didn’t want to worry you with something we’d taken care of, but I felt this needed to be said. Vinnie’s group isn’t the only one out there that may try to attack us. He did some trading with a southern group out of Georgia, who are expecting to meet next week. We’re taking precautions, but they could suddenly show up, and I believe that your barricade guards should be warned.” I had gotten close to Carson, and didn’t want anything to happen to his family.
“The Church Against Zombies that River and I are associated with have been trying to put things back together again. We’re working with those on Jackson Mountain to get the farms and harvests done. We’re looking for a way to trade with each community, and I’m impressed that you have a ZIT free zone,” Stacy complemented them.
I interrupted her moment of kissing up. “What she’s trying to say is, that we have a few farms with new residents that could use some help with solar panels so they have water and electric. Is there any way that you could help install some for us?”
“We’ve been planning to make contact with the Church Against Zombies group that we heard on the radio, but when the kids went missing, we switched priorities. We’ve had some people installing panels in the other towns, and the rest of us have been clearing out a wider area toward your mountains in hopes that we would find the kids.” Linc shook his head in frustration. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go with you and see the setup there. I won’t be going in blind, and we won’t have to bring an entire group as backup since you ladies obviously check out.”
“Our guys will take what we have to say and run with it. Carson is a special kid, and he couldn’t have turned out like he is if you were horrible people,” I acknowledged.
“Well, you didn’t have to bring Carson back or help Billy. That speaks volumes, and there’s the fact that they sent two women into negotiations with another group that could have been really hostile. I wou
ld be honored to see if we can make something work. I’m ready to get the world back to normal.”
“On that note, would it be possible to use your bathroom before we leave? And I’d like to say goodbye to Carson if that’s all right.” I looked at his mother for confirmation.
“Absolutely.”
“Oh, and he was very worried that you weren’t going to love him anymore. He’s your kid, and I know you have to come up with some sort of punishment, but he did keep himself and another kid alive for weeks. He also buried his friends, and in my book, that’s a pretty horrible thing to go through at his age. I don’t have kids, but just thought I’d put a good word in for him.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be doing chores and sleeping on a mattress in my room for a while. My boy isn’t even that anymore. He’s grown into a man in the last few months.” Trish started to hug me again, but remembered my comment earlier.
“I’d like to make it through to the safe zone before dark if you don’t mind. It’s been a long few days, and there’s a guy that needs to be told the girl he likes got shot.”
“Of course. I’ll just get my pack.” Linc kissed Jessica and walked to the back of the house, and was back within ten minutes.
“We’ll ride together, but you can take the lead until we get to the edge of Knoxville,” I offered, so he didn’t feel uncomfortable riding with someone he didn’t know for hours on end.
He nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s get on the road.”
River
The closer we got to the church, the more nervous I became about seeing Cole again. I wasn’t having the same thoughts as Carson had been, but I was worried at the same time.
Our blockades were more to keep the infected from coming through than the people, but that would be changing due to our run-ins with Vinnie’s group.
When I pulled up to the business that we’d established aboveground for bringing new people in, there he was, leaning against the doorjamb.
Against Zombies Box Set, Vol. 1 | Books 1-4 Page 50