Love, Revenge and Zombies

by Travis Cotter

  “You too,” Paul said and then walked out of the office and headed to his truck still parked in the same spot he had left it in the night before.

  He fired up the truck and headed off to start his work day. The first call he got was an easy jump start and took him only a couple minutes to finish.

  He thought about heading to Abby’s diner to get some breakfast, especially after he remembered that Abby had said she would be working the morning shift. The diner was all the way on the other side of town and dispatch had asked him to stay where he was when he had called in to clear the call he had just finished. They liked to have trucks spread out around town so they could have a quick response time no matter where in town the call came from.

  So Paul decided to get breakfast from a fast food place across the street from the parking lot he had parked his truck while he waited for his next call. To his surprise while he was waiting for his food to be ready he heard his phone go off in his pocket. He figured it was work getting a hold of him but he was happily surprised to see it was a text from Abby.

  It said “good morning, thanks again for a great night.” Paul started to text her back when he heard his order number being called out. He put the phone back in his pocket and went to get his food; he would text her back once he got back to his truck. He spent the time walking back to his truck trying to think of what he wanted to say back to her, should he keep it simple or tell her how wonderful he was feeling and how he couldn’t wait to see her again.

  He pulled the phone from his pocket and climbed back into his truck, he stared at the phone for a minute. Then decided that for now he would keep it simple and see how it played out.

  “Good morning to you too and thank you too. I had a great time last night,” Paul texted back to her.

  He ate his greasy egg sandwich as he waited to see if she texted him again, it was a full 10 minutes before his phone rang again with a message. He set his sandwich down and picked up the phone that had been resting on his lap.

  He read the message “I'm happy you had a good time and I hope we are still on for another date. ;)” she texted back to him.

  Paul now had a big grin on his face and was franticly trying to think of what to say back to her, he thought about it for another minute and decided what he would say.

  “I can’t wait to take you out again; it’s all I’ve been thinking about all morning….lol” Paul texted.

  As soon as he sent it he felt that maybe he shouldn’t have added that last part, again maybe he was moving to fast. It only took a minute for his phone to ring again with another message from Abby.

  This time he was still holding the phone in his hand, the message said “I’ve been thinking about it all morning too, I hope it doesn’t sound crazy but I actually thought about calling you this morning when I was getting ready for work…lol”

  Paul was smiling even bigger after he read her message and immediately text her back “that’s funny…I was going to call you this morning too but I didn’t want to freak you out. Lol.”

  As he waited for her to get back to him the phone rang but this time it was the office calling with another tow. Paul took down the info and then shot Abby a quick text telling her that he would be busy for a while and may not be able to get back to her right away. He hadn’t heard back from her so he figured she must have got busy too, so he got to work and headed to his next tow.

  The first tow went off without incident and so did the next three that he ran after that one. The day was going by quickly but he had yet to hear from Abby again. He decided he would give her a call after he finished the tow he was taking to drop off right then. He pulled into the car dealership to drop off the car he had loaded up on his truck. He finished unloading it and drove across the street to a grocery store parking lot to finish his paperwork and call Abby.

  The phone only rang twice before he heard Abby’s voice coming through the phone, Paul thought she sounded excited when she said hello. Paul was nervous again but finally sputtered out “Hey, how’s it going?”

  For some reason he was still nervous talking to her but it seemed to be more of an excited type of nervous.

  “I’m doing good, just headed home from work. What are you up to?” she said.

  Paul had been busy all day and didn’t realize it was already mid afternoon.

  “Just got done with a tow and decide I should call you about that second date before you changed your mind,” he said with a slight laugh in his voice.

  “You don’t have to worry about that, I’ve been thinking about our next date all day,” she responded.

  “I was thinking we could go see a movie tomorrow and grab some dinner,” Paul said.

  “Sounds good to me, what are you doing tonight?” she asked trying to hide her excitement and the fact that she didn’t want to wait another day to hang out with him.

  “I’m actually working late tonight, I’m on call until 11 tonight,” he said.

  “Ok, I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see you again,” she said with what sounded like disappointment in her voice.

  Paul hated hearing that tone in her voice and then he came up with an idea “it may not be too exciting but I’m only a mile or so from your place if you wanted to ride around with me for a while? I can come pick you up.”

  “That sounds great to me. Are you sure you won’t get in trouble?” she asked.

  “I actually don’t know but I don’t think it would be that big of a deal. Plus it’s worth it if I get to spend time with you,” Paul said with a smile on his face.

  “Are you at home?” Paul asked.

  “Yea I just got home a few minutes ago, give me a few minutes to change and I’ll be ready to go,” Abby said as she headed upstairs to freshen up and change into something nicer than her work clothes.

  “Cool, I’ll see you in a few minutes. I’ll be out front just come out whenever you’re ready,” Paul said.

  “Okay, see you in a few. Bye!” Abby said and then she hung up.

  Paul started to say bye back to her but he realized she had already hung up, he figured she was just excited and in a hurry to get changed.

  Paul fired up his truck again and headed to Abby’s house, it was only a couple minutes before he was parked out in front of her house. He waited patiently for a few more minutes and then he saw the front door open. Out walked Abby wearing a cute yellow sundress and light brown sandals. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and from what Paul could see she wasn’t wearing any make-up but she didn’t need it. Paul was amazed at how beautiful she looked as she walked up to the truck. It was a warm early fall day and the sun dress fit her perfectly.

  He climbed out of the truck and went around to open the door for her as she got closer to the truck.

  “You look beautiful,” Paul said as he opened the door and took her hand to help her into the truck.

  The feel of her hand sent chills through him yet again and he realized how happy he was to see her. Not just happy but happier than he had been in years and the fact that he was with her right now was all he needed in the world. No amount of money or anything else would make him happier than he felt at that moment holding her hand as she climbed into his truck.

  “Thank you,” Abby said as she sat down in the truck.

  “It’s my pleasure, thanks for coming to hang out with me,” Paul said as he closed the door and went back around to get in the truck.

  As luck would have it he didn’t have to wait long for his next call, the phone rang a minute after Paul had got in the truck and started it up. They were on their way to pick up a car a few blocks away, Paul was still feeling nervous and couldn’t think of anything to say. Lucky for him it wasn’t long before they were pulling up to a broken down car on the side of the road.

  “Wait here I’ll be just a few minutes,” Paul said as he climbed out of the truck with his clipboard in hand.

  “Howdy,” Paul said to an older man who was leaning against the hood of the car with his
head hung down.

  Paul could tell he was upset about the fact that he was stuck on the side of the road with a car that wouldn’t start.

  “She just died on me, I tried to restart it but it wouldn’t do anything,” the man said referring to his car. He turned to look at it as if it could feel his disappointment as he glared at the car.

  “Do you know where you want to have it towed to?” Paul asked as he started to write information down on his paperwork.

  “I’m just going to take it back home and my son can come check it out tomorrow,” the man said.

  “Sounds good, I’ll get it loaded up and we can be on our way,” Paul said as he walked back to the truck to set his clipboard down and talk to Abby.

  “Hey I think he’s going to ride with us, I guess you’ll have to scoot closer to me and sit in the middle,” Paul said with a slight smile on his face.

  “I guess I’ll have to scoot over closer than,” Abby said with her own smile forming across her face.

  Paul walked back to the car and said to the man who was still looking down at his car “you’re welcome to wait in the truck if you want while I get it loaded up.”

  “Thanks,” the man said as he turned and headed to the truck.

  It only took Paul a couple of minutes to get the car loaded up and then he was climbing back into his truck.

  “So where to?” Paul asked after he sat back down in the truck.

  “It’s a little ways out of town, I hope that’s okay,” the man said.

  “Wherever you need to go is fine, your insurance is covering it all,” Paul said.

  “In that case I guess we’re headed to my house,” the man said and gave Paul the address.

  Paul entered it into his GPS and they were on their way.

  “This is Abby and I’m Paul,” Paul said to him.

  “I’m Dave; it’s nice to meet you both. I wish it was under different circumstances but so be it,” Dave said still staring out the windshield.

  Paul couldn’t help but notice Abby’s body pressed up against him. She was close because she had to sit in the middle but it seemed to Paul she was sitting just a little bit closer. Paul was completely content with her sitting as close as she wanted to and he was enjoying the feeling of her against him. He smiled again and just kept driving while thoughts ran through his head. He saw a smile go across Abby’s face as if she could read his mind, he was hoping she was smiling because she too was enjoying being next to him.

  Not much changed over the next twenty minutes as they drove outside of the city and headed into the forested area surrounding it.

  “It’s the next dirt road to the right up here,” Dave said as he pointed to a dirt road about 50 yards up ahead.

  Paul turned on to the dirt road and drove another quarter mile until he came to a clearing with a nice two story house sitting in the middle of the woods.

  “Nice place you got here,” Paul said.

  “Thanks, I bought it after I retired. I wanted to get out of the city and enjoy the quiet life,” Dave said.

  “Go ahead and drop it off in front of the garage,” he said as he pointed to the garage off to the side of the house.

  “No problem,” Paul said as he pulled in front of the garage.

  Dave climbed out of the truck and then Paul climbed out to unload the car. He dropped the car off in front of the garage and finished up his paperwork. He shook hands with Dave and climbed back in the truck.

  As soon as he got back in the truck he noticed Abby was still sitting in the middle. He was happy that Abby had stayed there and was happy when he sat down and felt her up against him again.

  He turned the truck around in the yard and headed back down the dirt road towards the two lane highway. As they turned off the dirt road and back on to the highway they hit a bump that made Abby bounce around, she reached out and grabbed Paul’s leg.

  After they were safely on the highway and on their way back to town he noticed that she had left her hand resting on his leg. He reached down and placed his hand in hers. She gladly took his hand and he felt that chill run through him once more. They held hands and drove down the road for a few more minutes until Paul noticed a car parked on the side of the road headed the opposite way.

  “I saw someone in that car, you mind if we turn around to see if they need help,” Paul asked.

  “That’s fine with me, whatever you want to do,” Abby answered.

  He pulled off of the road and made a u-turn to head back to the car. Paul pulled the truck in front of the car in case he had to load it up on his truck to tow it somewhere.

  He climbed out of the truck and said to Abby “I’ll be right back, just wait here.”

  “Okay,” Abby replied and smiled at him.

  He smiled back and closed the door, then headed towards the car. He could see someone sitting on the driver’s side, they looked like they had passed out or fallen asleep. Paul started to worry that maybe there was something wrong as he got closer to the car. It wasn’t until he was right next to the car that the man began to move his head up to look at him.

  Paul walked up to the driver’s side window and said “everything okay, you look like you could use some help.”

  The man just stared at him through the window for a few seconds and then started banging on the inside of the door and the window.

  “Sir, have you been drinking?” Paul asked the man as he watched him continue to fumble around on the inside of the door.

  His hands were moving up and down the door and window over and over again. Abby stepped out of the truck and asked Paul “is everything okay?”

  Paul looked over at her and said “yea, I think he might be drunk. I figure we can give him a ride home or at least call someone to come get him.”

  Paul turned his attention back to the man in the car, he was still clawing at the door. Paul said “sir, I’m going to open the door for you but I need you to calm down.”

  Paul reached down and grabbed the handle but the man inside the car was still just as active and Paul hesitated to open the door.

  “Sir, I don’t want you to fall out of the car when I open the door. You need to calm down,” Paul said as he reached for the door handle again.

  This time Paul didn’t pull his hand back, he opened the car door. The man had his weight pressed against the door and even though Paul had warned the man it would happen, he fell out of the car and on to the ground.

  “I’m sorry sir, I tried to warn you. Are you ok?” he asked as he reached down to help the man off the ground.

  The man lurched forward to grab on to him but Paul was quick enough to get out of the way. The man began to crawl towards him until he had wrapped a hand around Paul’s ankle and started pulling himself closer to him.

  “I don’t want to hurt you but you need to chill out,” Paul warned the man as he pulled his leg out of the man's grip.

  Yet again the man continued to come at him. This time Paul heard what he thought sounded like a growl come from the man as he grabbed on to Paul’s ankle again.

  “Paul, is everything okay?” Abby asked as she climbed out of the truck.

  He pulled his leg out of the man's grasp again but this time he caught the man on the side of his head with his foot as he pulled it back.

  “I didn’t mean to kick you but you need to stop grabbing me like that,” Paul said as he took a few steps back to put some distance between him and the man on the ground.

  Abby made her way towards the back of the truck “is he okay?” she asked.

  Before she could get to the end of the truck Paul yelled out “stop Abby, don’t come any closer. This guy is acting strange. Go get back in the truck, please.”

  The man turned his attention from Paul and started to get up and head for Abby who was still standing at the back of the truck.

  “Hell no,” Paul shouted as he reached over and grabbed the man by the back of his shirt. Paul spun him around and tossed him back towards his own car.

 
“Abby lets get back in the truck, we’re leaving. This guy is on his own,” Paul said and then he walked over to Abby and led her back into the truck.

  He closed the door behind her and walked around the front of the truck and got back in.

  Abby looked over at him and asked “should we really leave him?”

  “I tried to help him, hopefully once he sobers up he’ll come to his senses and get back home safely,” Paul answered. He started the truck and pulled back on to the highway and headed for town.

  The rest of the drive back to town was almost completely silent, he called the office to clear his last call and then it was back to silence in the truck. He decided that they had had enough excitement for one day and he was going to take her back home and hope he hadn’t scared her off. It was another quiet ten minutes before they pulled up in front of Abby’s house. He parked his truck and got out to go around and open Abby’s door for her; the walk to the door was still quiet and he was starting to worry.

  “So are we still on for another date?” she asked before Paul was able to say anything.

  “I thought maybe you were upset with me after what happened,” he answered.

  “I’ll admit it was a bit intense and I’m sorry I was so quiet the whole way back,” she said and then paused and smiled at him.

  “I know you were only trying to protect me, I feel like I will always be safe with you,” she said as she walked towards him.

  “You will be,” he answered as he took another step towards her to fill the gap between them.

  He reached his hand out to her and slowly touched her cheek and brushed her hair back behind her ear. She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his waist, he held her in his arms for a few seconds but it felt like so much more. He felt like he was holding the whole world in his arms and everything that was good in it. He knew in that moment that he wanted to be with her and protect her from whatever the world tried to throw at them. It was as if she could feel what he was thinking, she looked up at him and with a smile across her face she leaned up and gently kissed his lips.

  In an instant the world around them faded away and all they could see and feel was each other. It was as if a veil was drawn around them and nothing else mattered. He placed his hand behind her head and kissed her, with that one kiss it seemed like every bad thing that had happened in his life had happened so that he would be right there at that moment. Every bad thing was now worth it just to be there kissing her. After what seemed like several minutes, but still not nearly long enough they let go of their embrace.