The Rabid Mind

by Bruce Buckshot Hemming

  “That’s fine. Can we get a couple of boxes of 12 gauge and maybe a box of .38 now, so we can have the ammo for protection while we go get your supplies?”

  Scott nodded, looked at his son Chris and said, “Go get them a box of 25 in buckshot and a box of your uncle’s reloads for the .38. They should all be in the reloading room.” Chris got up and headed downstairs. Scott looked at Jim and asked, “Now how long before you bring some of the stuff back here?”

  “To be honest Scott, I have no idea. Where is the closest propane dealer? That’s about the only place I can think of where we could find the big cylinders.”

  “There’s that one in Bayfield. It’s the closest one I know of.”

  Jim shook his head and said, “That won’t work. That town has some survivors and they are not sharing anything at all.”

  Scott thought for a minute. “Well, the next one I can think of is in Pagosa Springs.”

  Just then Chris returned with the ammo and said, “Hey dad, remember that propane place in Piedra? They had 100-pound tanks.”

  Scott said, “That’s right, they did. Thanks son.”

  Soon thereafter Jim and Matt finished their coffee and headed out. “Thank you Scott. We’ll do our best to get your supplies for you.”

  Scott shook Jim’s hand and said, “I know you will Jim. You’re one of the few people I would have given ammo to before the trade.”

  Jim said. “Thank you. We do appreciate it. See you soon.”

  As Jim navigated the muddy excuse for a road, Matt said, “They seem like really good people.”

  Without taking his eyes off the road, Jim answered, “Yes they are. Now we just have to figure out how to get these supplies for them and pick some up for us too.”

  Matt smirked and said, “That’s simple. We just drive to the next big town, stop at Wal-Mart and pick them up.”

  Jim laughed. “Smart-ass.”

  Chapter 27

  Jim and Deb took the CRV and headed out the next morning. Jim felt better already just having more ammo and being able to put up a decent fight. There was nothing worse in the world than having a gun with no ammo.

  They made it to Piedra and found the propane dealer. They found the 100-pound propane tanks and, making sure they were full, they loaded two into the back of the CRV. Those took up most of the room and weighted the little SUV down, but it wasn’t a problem.

  It had become dark and cloudy and looked like it might rain. They closed the hatch and Jim said, “Let’s look around before we leave.” They drove down the main street and stopped. Jim wanted to see what was in the big building in the middle of the block. He was hoping to find some coffee, creamer and sugar, maybe in a break room.

  Taking their guns and flashlights, they walked into the building. They were glad for the flashlights as they crept along in the dark building. They found the break room and Jim began going through the cupboards and drawers looking for items. When he opened the bottom cupboard, he found what he had been looking for - coffee in premeasured bags, nicely sealed in foil packages, along with some cream and sugar. Perfect, he thought. Now all they needed was some good luck on the other items and ammo.

  After she finished going through the other cupboards and drawers, Debbie walked over to the window and looked outside. She quickly ducked down.

  “Jim.” she hissed in a hushed voice. “We’ve got trouble.”

  Jim stopped bagging the coffee and said, “What?”

  “There are four infected out by the SUV.”

  “Damn it.” Jim crouched down and crept over, looking outside. The four were around the vehicle and appeared to be smelling it. Jim watched as they circled the car and sniffed. “Matt was right, they do hunt by smell.” He whispered. They turned towards the building like hound dogs tracking prey. Jim said, “Stay here while I go lock the door.” He took off running

  The things were walking quickly towards the door, tracking their scent like bloodhounds smelling the air. Jim made it to the door and flipped the dead bolt. Peeking out, he saw that they were close. He ducked down and hid against the bottom of the door. Suddenly they were banging on the door. What should he do? Run from them, or would they see him and start beating on the door harder? The door and frame shook violently as they clawed, kicked and pounded on it. Luckily for him this was an industrial steel door with thick glass.

  He decided to wait them out and see what they did. After a few minutes they split up, slowly working their way down the side of the building. Jim’s mind raced. Had he seen any open windows? Where was the back door? Was it locked? He peeked up and couldn’t see any of them, so he took off running, not bothering to look and see if one was watching. He ran back to the room Debbie was in and she asked, “What are we going to do?”

  Jim looked at every window and doorway and then said, “Hopefully we are locked inside. I don’t think they saw us, so maybe they will give up and move on.” He pointed to the half full 5-gallon water jug and said, “Look on the bright side, at least we can make coffee.”

  They heard a clatter in the back of the building. Jim raced over to the window and looked out. Damn, still two of them in the front. That meant the others might be in the building with them. He whispered to her, “Should we make a run for it and kill the two out front?” Before she could say a word, they heard footsteps racing down the hallway. They saw the thing race past them, heading for the door. They saw two more race past.

  He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Time to kill them and make a break for the car. I’ll set up in the hallway; lean against the far wall to leave you clear to shoot on your side. Let’s go.” They stepped out into the hallway, turned on their flashlights and saw the three racing back for them. The shotgun roared and the echo in the hallway blasted their eardrums. The smell of cordite assaulted their nostrils. She fired next, dropping the next one and Jim racked the pump action and dropped the hammer on the last one.

  He quickly fed two rounds in the bottom tube of the shotgun and yelled, “Grab the coffee and stuff and then meet me at the front door.” He quickly walked over the dead bodies, making it to the front door. The two outside were pounding on the door, trying to get in. Deb rushed up to him and said, “Now what?”

  He cradled the 12 ga in his left arm and pulled the .44 mag from its holster. “Cover your ears; this is going to be loud.” He placed the barrel against the glass as the thing was pounding and kicking. He waited until the head lined up and pulled the trigger. It was loud, but not as bad as he had thought it would be. The thing flew backwards and he moved the barrel over to the other one and did the same thing. They opened the door and stepped out. They heard more racing towards them from behind the building. “Let’s go.” They both took off at a dead run for the SUV. Just as they got to the car and jumped in, two of the infected caught up and began pounding on the door. Jim fumbled with the keys, asking Deb if she could see anymore. She looked all around and cried out that more were coming. He finally got the key in the ignition and took off. One was clinging onto the rack on top, trying to pull himself up.

  Jim floored the gas pedal and screeched out onto the road, heading back the way they had come. The thing was still hanging on. “My God, they’re strong.” He said. He got the speed up to 35 and then slammed on the brakes. The thing flung past them, rolling out onto the road. He let off the brake, hit the accelerator and quickly ran it over.

  Deb looked to the rear and couldn’t see any of the others following them. She asked, “Now where?”

  “I know where some summer homes are and if we hit three or four of them, we should be able to find the rest of the stuff we need. Maybe even some ammo.”

  After an hour of driving, they turned off the highway and headed up into the mountains. The first house was huge, probably worth about 1.5 million. It was empty and there were no signs of a break in or looting. They entered the house and Debbie looked around. “Wow. So this is how the rich people live.” It had a large open ceiling and huge hand-built stone fireplace. They
walked into the kitchen and started looking around. As Deb walked into the pantry, she thought, oh my God, this is bigger than my children’s bedroom. It was stacked with food. All of the shelves were full of canned goods. “Jackpot.” she called out to Jim. Along with the canned goods everywhere, there were large bags of rice, flour, sugar, salt and fancy spices.

  “We need to get the truck up here and load up.” she said.

  Jim peeked in and whistled. “I’ll say. We’ll have enough to trade with the Brannons to get the ammo and then we need to come back and stock our cabin for this coming winter.” He continued, “You load up what they need and I’ll go upstairs to check for guns and ammo.”

  He walked up the circular staircase to the upstairs rooms. He saw the bathroom with 24-karat faucets, hot tub and a closet full of shampoo, soap, mouthwash, toothpaste and medical supplies. He walked into the master bedroom. It was the size of the cabin, he realised. He checked the nightstand for guns, but no luck. He started moving clothes in the closet and found a safe. Maybe it was a gun safe. It was built like a tank. So much for getting guns. It would take ten sticks of dynamite to blow that safe open.

  He continued to look around and then found a bag to load up the stuff the Brannons had asked for. He came downstairs just as Debbie was walking into the room. “Hey, I found the rest of the stuff on their list,” as he showed her the bag. “Great. I have one more load to take to the car.” They finished loading and looked at the closed three-car garage.

  “Let’s explore some more before we leave,” he said. They walked back into the house and unlocked the garage door from the inside. One stall was empty, the middle had a 1971 Corvette and the last stall had a Hummer 3. He pulled on the release cord for the automatic garage door opener for the empty stall, walked over and lifted it up. That helped flood the area with daylight so they could see much better. Jim looked at Deb and said, “I think we should pull the SUV in here and spend the night.”

  She responded, “That sounds good to me. I’ve always wanted to make love on a bearskin rug in front of a fireplace.” She said with a shy seductive smile.

  “In that case, my lady, I will just have to find some vintage wine and cheese to honor the occasion.” The sun was going down and it was time that they get secured for the night anyway.

  He pulled the SUV inside and closed the door, relocking it. He checked all of the doors and windows just to make sure they were safe. There was ample firewood stored in the huge bin next to the fireplace and, while Jim started to get the fire ready, they made a plan in case anything went wrong. They were to head to the SUV and drive away. No matter what, they would not allow themselves to get trapped upstairs.

  Debbie found some canned ham and baked beans for dinner. She told Jim to let her know when the fire was ready and she would cook them dinner. He had split kindling and found the long 12-inch matches, opened the damper to get the draft flowing and lit the fire. Soon the fire was heating and lighting the living room up. She laughed and said, “Ah, Jim. We have a problem.”

  He looked around and said, “Really, what’s that?”

  “The only can opener I can find is electric and there doesn’t seem to be a manual can opener in the house.”

  “Of course not. That is only for peasants to use, my lady.” He handed her his Leatherman and showed her the can opener on the side.

  “You can always solve a problem quickly.” She smiled.

  They finished dinner and opened a bottle of wine. “Is it a good year?” She asked with a smile.

  “He looked at the label in the firelight. “I have no clue, but it looks old so it must be good.” He knew as much about old wine as he did a space shuttle, which wasn’t much.

  They stretched out and made love on the bearskin rug, falling asleep in each other’s arms.

  Chapter 28

  Jim awoke to the smell of fresh brewing coffee. He looked up at her and saw that she was wearing his shirt. “Now that is a beautiful sight.” He said.

  She poured two cups, handed him one and sat down next to him. She looked at him and softly said, “I’ve been thinking; we could move everything over here and spend the winter. My God, just to live in a house like this would be a dream come true.”

  Jim finished swallowing his sip of coffee. “I hate to burst your bubble, and don’t get me wrong, I surely would love all this room, but do you realize how much firewood it would take to heat this place in the winter, not to mention the lack of running water.”

  She smacked him in the arm. “You just always have to be so practical. Can’t you let a girl dream?”

  Jim shrugged his shoulders and said, “Sorry Miss. Don’t forget that I’m the one that cuts a lot of the firewood. But you are truly right. This is a beautiful spot for our summer home.” He smiled.

  Deb started to get up and said, “Oh that is a good come back Mister.”

  “Okay, let’s grab some breakfast and head out.”

  Back at the cabin, Matt and Sandra were busy digging holes for the support posts. They were working about 20 yards from the cabin. Matt said, “If we make a capital ‘A’ shape design, with the top facing away from the cabin, we can angle the poles in the ground. I am thinking about 2-feet deep, if we can in this rocky soil. Placing them about 10-feet apart, we can then notch the top pole and use long barn nails to hold them in place.”

  Sandra nodded. “Good. We can have some protection once this is finished. Do you think those traders are coming back soon?”

  Matt frowned. “I hope not, at least not before we have this finished.” They worked into the day and Matt was thinking it was going to be a ten-day job, just getting the frame set up. It would be another 2-3 days setting up the ¾ inch rebar spear points. The sun warmed the day and by mid afternoon they were drenched in sweat. He pulled his shirt off, wiping his face. “Damn, this is hot work,” he said.

  Sandra smiled. “Maybe it’s time to take a break and walk down to the river for a cool swim.”

  Matt stood up straight, arching his back, and said, “That’s a good idea.” They grabbed their weapons and walked down to the river. The water was cool and they took a quick dip and were laying on the sandy shore, warming up in the sun.

  Matt propped himself up on his elbows. “We should get back to work.” He said with a smile. “After the barricade is finished, we can enjoy life more.”

  Sandra rolled her eyes. “You sure do know how to kill a moment, don’t you?” She smiled, “Can’t you think of anything else you would rather do?”

  He looked at her naked body lying next to him and fought the temptation. “Yes, but we must get back to work. You know your dad is always giving me shit about not working hard enough.”

  “You sure do know how to ruin my day.” She sat up, looking at him. Her nipples were hard in the breeze. Seeing that sent him over the edge and he grabbed her. Hot passion overcame reason.

  Afterwards, they were lying beside each other and Sandra had her head on his chest. She said, “Life is not about what you accomplished, but the special moments you share with others. That’s what makes life special.”

  Matt smiled at her and said, “That’s pretty deep.”

  She sat up on one elbow looking at him and of course he had to look at her breasts. She said, “Hey. Eyes up here.” pointing to her eyes. He looked up and she said, “I’m being serious. This is a special moment and I’ll always remember it.”

  Being a typical guy, he didn’t want to get into some mushy discussion about feelings, so said, “Me too, but now we have to get back to work.”

  “Damn you, Matt. You are such a buzz kill. I am going to start calling you slave driver.”

  As he pulled on his pants, he said, “Hey, blame your dad. He’s the one always giving us the long work list.” They both dressed and walked back up the hill to the cabin. It was time to return to the backbreaking work of digging holes and burying the posts.

  Chapter 29

  Jim and Deb drove back to the Brannon’s cabin and made the trade.
The whole family was overjoyed to have what they needed, especially the toiletry items. Jim had also put in two packages of feminine products, and the girls immediately grabbed one each. Scott was almost beside himself, having the two propane tanks and food items. His brother Ken was there and shook Jim’s hand vigorously, thanking him.

  He was so glad they had guns and ammo now. The future was looking brighter. It wasn’t all of the ammo they needed, but a lot more than they had before. They had forty more rounds for their 30-06 and .270, 200 rounds of .38 special wad cutters for Debbie’s rifle and pistol, two more boxes of 3-inch mag for the 12 ga, even though it was just #4 birdshot, and 500 rounds of CCI .22 long rifle, not to mention the two SKSs and the 1000 rounds that came with them. That was a great trade.

  Returning to the cabin, they found Sandra and Matt working hard at getting the fencing up. After dinner they decided to spend the week working hard, getting the fencing posts all the way around the camp. Matt and Sandra could string the barbwire and put up the steel pikes they had made out of the rebar.

  Trying to get the fence finished as quickly as they could was the plan and, after a very long week of 12-hour days, they managed to finish putting in all the posts. Next, they headed back to town to get the rebar with Jim’s truck.

  At the lumberyard, they discovered a generator with gas and a pull starter. They got it going and used a chop saw to cut the ¾ inch rebar in 10-foot lengths, each at 45 degree angle. They hauled 200 at a time. They wanted a 1000 total, but there wasn’t enough rebar so they had to make it work with only 600.

  After already making three trips, they returned for ½” rebar, which would be used for support between the post top and middle. They planned on using 2x4s on the inside so the barbwire would be supported.