“Did they bring you home?” she asked.
“No. I…I was on a boat, then a submarine.”
His mind was swimming.
“A plane,” he blurted.
Lauren laughed. “Which one? Boat, submarine, or plane?”
“All of them,” he answered. “Nothing was stopping me.”
“I just can’t believe,” she started. “Oh my God! Your fingers!”
She evaluated the nubs that were left of his ring finger and pinky on his right hand.
“Oh my God!” she repeated as she noticed the scars on his left hand.
“Roll over,” he explained holding up his left hand. “You don’t even want to know,” Cale wiggled his amputated fingers.
“The beard,” she smiled.
“I’ll shave it,” he told her.
“No. I like it,” confessed Lauren.
Cale grinned.
“There’s so much I have to tell you,” he whispered to her.
“Me too,” she said in a hushed tone. “we’ve got the rest of our lives. I can’t believe you’re here. I’m never letting you go again!”
He laughed.
“I’m serious,” Lauren said cutely.
She covered him in another volley of kisses. Lauren stopped to lead him away.
“I…I just,” stuttered Cale.
Her brown eyes stared at him. He thought he’d never see them again.
“How did you make it?” she asked.
“When everything happened,” he began. “We…we were jus… We barely made it out of Iraq.”
“We?” she repeated. “So others made it back.”
“Yeah,” he quickly changed his answer. “No. Zach, you remember Zach?”
“Your roommate?” she recalled.
“Yeah, we…wha…” Cale took a deep breath. “He died. I was alone. Then I found some kids. And…an…”
Lauren squeezed his hand to let him know that it was okay.
“They died. Everyone was dying. I jus…I just kept moving. I was on a plane. It was shot down,”
“What?” exclaimed Lauren.
“It was shot down,” repeated Cale. “I just…how’d you get here?”
He was incapable of using his words.
“I’ve been with this group. First the fairgrounds, then the storage place. After everything, we ended up here. There’s so much that happened,” her words weren’t coming to her either.
She opened the door to her RV where the two of them cried and held each other. They took turns telling their stories, adding a little more detail each time before having to pass. The two of them didn’t stop touching one another. It was a mutual fear that if they did they’d somehow wake up from this amazing dream.
“This is real right? You’re really here?” asked Lauren.
Cale laughed and nodded. They kissed passionately. Slowly they peeled one another’s clothes off.
“Oh God,” she gasped at the sight of the scars on his body.
Thick tissue clustered over his cuts and burns. She ran her fingers over each one then kissed it, as if to heal it with her love. Soon their clothes were in a pile on the floor. The reunited couple made love. Only stopping to hold each other tenderly. They spent the entire day intertwined. A knock on the door interrupted the euphoria.
“Just a minute!” Lauren called.
They laughed and kissed. Got dressed and kissed some more before finally opening the door. It was Kristie.
“Hi, you two,” she said smugly.
Cale averted her gaze, embarrassed that they’d been in the RV the entire day.
“Hello,” Lauren gloated unashamed.
“Just thought I’d let you know that Simon is watching the kids,” she said. “And your welcome home party is in five minutes. But it looks like your party started sooner than that,” she grinned.
“Shut up,” laughed Lauren.
Cale gave an uncomfortable smile.
“I’m Kristie,” she greeted Cale.
“I’m—” he began.
“Cale. I know literally everything about you,” smiled Kristie. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name. You’re a lucky guy. Lauren here, never gave up hope. I won’t lie, I tried to get her to move on. I’m glad she’s stubborn.”
“Me too,” he smiled at his wife.
“We’ll be right out,” Lauren told Kristie.
Kristie smiled again and walked away. Lauren quickly fixed her hair as Cale stared at her.
“What?” she smiled.
“You’re just perfect,” he answered. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she replied, staring him in the eyes.
The two of them exited the RV and made their way back to the playground. Cale could smell food in the air. People could be heard talking while music played. As they emerged onto the open field, everyone was turned, facing them. Cheers and applause drowned out all sound. JoLynn, Callum, and Marie hurried to them. One by one, the citizens of Mountain City came to Cale and welcomed him home.
“Thank you for your service,” someone would say.
“Glad you made it back,” another would add.
“You’ve got to be one tough son of a bitch!”
“Welcome home!”
Chapter 44
THE MESSAGE
Cale sat and watched the orange glow of the morning sunrise in the east. He let the light warm him. The floor creaked as Lauren walked into the room.
“Up all night?” she asked as she hugged him.
“No,” he lied. “Just got up early is all.”
One by one, the residents outside his window went to work, doing their assigned tasks. Today Cale was going on a trip. It was a trip he’d been planning for a long time. He just didn’t know where he was going until now. Jeff Munn would arrive today, with his list of names. Seven years ago, Cale and Jeff were reunited. Jeff’s business had changed considerably. He still traded, but now he was also an information dealer. If there was anyone you wanted found, he could do it. He’d been writing down the names of every man, woman, and child for the past ten years.
Cale was looking for three people specifically. But Jeff was only able to procure one. Perhaps the most important name of the three. All that was left was to narrow down the location. Cale was already dressed and his bags were packed.
“I wish you’d let me go with you,” Lauren whispered in his ear.
“I won’t be gone more than a couple of days, babe,” he replied. “Besides, I told him I would do this. He’s counting on me to do this.”
“Okay,” pouted Lauren. “Hurry back though. We finally got you back to somewhat normal,” she teased.
Cale laughed.
“You aren’t still seeing him are you?” she said in a serious tone. “You don’t see Zach anymore do you?”
“No,” he smiled.
The phantom of his best friend stood at the window looking out.
“You know you shouldn’t lie to her,” he suggested.
It was for her own good. JoLynn was the first to come down when she smelt breakfast. She’d matured into a beautiful young lady. At sixteen years old, she was one of the best shots around. The boys her age were intimidated as hell by her. Her curly brown hair bounced as she took her seat.
“Dad, did you even sleep?” she asked.
“Yes,” he laughed. “Why do you two keep asking that?”
Lauren and JoLynn shared a look. They both knew he’d been up all night. Out of everyone in the house, these two knew him the best.
“Need any help?” JoLynn asked her mom.
“Sure,” chirped Lauren.
Within a few minutes, Callum and Marie appeared looking groggy. Despite being almost thirteen, Marie carried around her stuffed pink bear. The years hadn’t been kind to him. He was missing both eyes and part of an arm, but she loved him. Callum immediately began helping his mom and sister with breakfast. Marie hugged her dad.
“Can’t I go with you?” she whined.
“No
,” he told her once more. “I don’t want you missing school. Besides, your mom will need your help around the house.”
“He’ll only be gone a couple of days,” assured JoLynn.
“There are Zs out there,” Marie reasoned. “Something could happen.”
“He’ll come back,” declared JoLynn. “Right, mom.”
“That’s right,” Lauren agreed. “It’ll take more than a few blind Zs to stop your dad.”
“When do you think you’ll be back?” asked Callum.
“Day after tomorrow at the latest,” replied Cale.
“You driving the whole way?” his son inquired.
“Yeah. Otherwise, I’d have to wait a week for the blimp. Not to mention it costs and arm and a leg to go by airship,” Cale explained.
Cale and Zach watched as the gates opened and Jeff was allowed through with his cart of goods.
“He’s here,” stated Cale. “I gotta go.”
His wife and three children took turns hugging him and telling him to be safe. Cale grabbed his gear and headed down to meet with the trader.
“Cale! My friend!” decreed Jeff.
“Jeff Munn, you slippery bastard,” badgered Cale.
The travelling trader laughed as he pulled out one of his many notebooks.
“Here it is,” he tore out an entire sheet and handed it to Cale. “Custer, South Dakota. I marked the route I take for you. Should get you there in about seven or eight hours.”
“Thanks,” Cale replied.
“Wait,” ordered Jeff. “I threw in more than enough fuel to get you there and back. It’s at the gate for ya.”
Cale laughed. “What did I do to warrant such generosity?”
“You didn’t shoot me!” chuckled Jeff.
“Fair enough,” joked Cale.
The two shook hands and Cale marched toward the front gate.
“Careful out there,” cautioned Simon.
“I will. You hold down the fort here while I’m out, yeah?” ribbed Cale.
“I’ll certainly do my best!” he retorted.
Cale grabbed his extra fuel cans and loaded up the pickup. He was surrounded by the dead, but they were no longer a threat. Their olfactory, auditory, and visual senses had all rotted away. The ones who hadn’t had their brains reduced to mush were nothing but undead statues now. They just waited to collapse as their bodies decomposed right from underneath them. The engine roared to life. None of the infected reacted.
“It’s almost too easy now,” smirked Cale as he drove north.
He and Zach rode in silence the entire way there. Cale kept replaying his last conversation with Zach in his head. The real Zach. He’d catch himself mouthing the words he’d clung to all these years. He slowed the truck as he pulled up to the gate.
“State your business!” shouted the armed guard.
“Just looking to trade. I’m a friend of Jeff Munn,” replied Cale.
The man nodded then waved to the men on the ground. The gates opened and he was allowed to drive in. The homes here were all on stilts that elevated the domiciles six feet off the ground. It was an interesting take on zombie security. Cale parked his truck and walked down the dusty street. The summer sun beat down on him. He looked at the strip map of the town Jeff had made. Cale ascertained his location by looking for landmarks, then proceeded to the home Jeff had indicated. Overhead a large white balloon traveled soundlessly across the sky.
Cale stopped in front of a home that wasn’t on stilts. He checked the map once more to make sure he was in the right place.
“Is this it?” asked Zach.
“Looks like it,” stated Cale.
He went to climb the steps to the porch.
“What do you want?” inquired a woman as she stepped out of the empty frame.
“Hi,” began Cale. “I’m looking for Jo.”
“Why?” questioned in a harsh tone.
“I have a message for her,” explained Cale.
“What message?”
Cale already figured he’d found who he was looking for.
“I don’t know if you remember me,” he started to say.
“Can’t say I do,” Jo eyed him suspiciously.
“My name is Cale,” he offered. “I was—”
“What? How did you—” she was in shock. “You were deployed with my husband! With Zach!”
“Yes. I was,” he confirmed. “Zach and I made it out of Iraq, but he…he…”
Jo started to cry.
“He was my best friend in the entire world. Zach saved my life,” Cale managed to say before starting to cry as well. “He wanted me to give you something.”
Cale pulled out the tan waterproof notebook. It was much thinner than it had been twelve years ago when Cale took it. Everything that was Zach’s writing stayed inside. He offered it to Jo.
“He told me to tell you,” Cale took a deep breath. “he told me to say that, he tried to get home. The thing he wanted most was to be with you in his last moments. To see your smiling face.”
Jo took the notebook. Cale had bookmarked the letter Zach had written. She opened up right to it. He fought tears away as he watched her eyes zip back and forth across the page. Her lip trembled. Jo sobbed loudly when she got to the end. Cale offered a hug, which she graciously accepted. A boy walked out to see what the commotion was about.
“Mom? Who is this?” he asked.
Cale looked at the boy. He felt like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. Cale was looking at the spitting image of Zach. The boy was perhaps a bit shorter, but his facial features. And the nose.
“Zach, honey,” said Jo as she wiped away tears. “This is Cale. He was in the war with your father.”
“Hi,” said Zach.
“Oh my God,” whispered Cale.
“In the letter he talked about a fight we were having,” Jo explained to Cale. “I wasn’t pestering him about having kids. I was trying to tell him I was pregnant. He just misunderstood.”
Cale stared at Zach’s son. He couldn’t believe it.
“Let’s go inside,” suggested Jo.
“Yeah,” Cale said vacantly as he looked at the boy once more.
“Is everything alright?” asked little Zach.
“Yea…yeah,” managed Cale. “You just look exactly like your father.”
“That’s what mom says!” he said cheerfully. “What was he like?”
Cale laughed with watery eyes. “Well, when I first met him I asked if he was a cross dresser.”
Zach wore the same look his father did that very night.
“Let’s go inside and I’ll explain,” offered Cale.
They talked all through the night and into the next day. Cale shared every funny story. Every witty line. He let Zach know that his father wasn’t just a soldier. He was a hero.
Note From the author
This book marks the end of Cale’s journey. I’m sure many of you are left with questions. While I can’t answer all of them, I can tell you Z Plan is not done. There were many characters I personally would have liked to follow more, but didn’t in order to stick to Cale’s adventure. I can’t believe this is the end of a seven-year project for me. Thank you to all of you who supported me the whole way. Cale would have never gotten home if it weren’t for readers like you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mikhail Lerma is a US Army veteran of ten years. He began writing during a deployment to Iraq in 2007. He lives with his wife, Brooke, and their three daughters in Iowa. He has many plans for future books in different genres, so stay tuned. This is only the beginning.
www.MikhailLerma.com
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Z Plan (Book 3): Homecoming Page 40