Z14 (Zombie Rules)

by Achord, David

  I loaded the truck with every baby item I could find. Other than a crib, I had no idea what was needed, so decided to let the girls sort through it all. I could always toss out the rest later. When the truck was filled, I walked around the house to see if there was anything else I could use. When I walked out the back door I saw it then, two small graves in the back yard with simple wooden crosses.

  I marked the front door with the FEMA symbol. I briefly debated on burying the parents next to their children. Instead, I got in my truck and headed home.

  Chapter 8 – Fred

  Fred hit Jackson, Tennessee as the sun was going down. Travelling a few miles, he found a place to park in Cyprus Grove Nature Park. The entrance ended in a cul-de-sac parking lot. There was only one car parked there, and judging by the level of the dust and grime on the exterior, it looked like it had been there a while.

  He got out, stretched, and answered the call of nature behind a tree. He walked around the area and spotted an octagon shaped gazebo a few yards from the parking lot, and it appeared there was an unoccupied makeshift hobo camp set up under it. Fred wondered what happened to the person or persons who set it up. He gathered a bunch of dead tree limbs, broke them up, and started a fire in the in the freestanding grill located by the gazebo. There was a coffee pot sitting in the camp. Fred rinsed it out and used it to prepare some coffee.

  The coffee was brackish and unsatisfying, but it would have to do. He spotted a rabbit scrounging for something to eat. Fred looked around, and decided it was worth the risk. He drew his revolver, fired, and reloaded before tucking it back in his holster.

  He gutted and skinned the scrawny rabbit quickly and put the meat on the grill. Fred knew without any seasoning or proper preparation, the meat was going to be very gamy tasting. He thought back to the delicious meals his wife used to make and his stomach grumbled.

  The rabbit meat was about what he expected, but it would fill his stomach nonetheless. His thoughts were interrupted by a car approaching. They must have heard the gunshot, he thought. Fred knew he was taking a risk when he fired, but he was hungry and needed food wherever he could get it. He stood slowly, and waited.

  The car was a silver Cadillac, which maybe was brand new when the shit hit the fan, but it had since been run through the mill and back. There were three people in it, a salt and pepper team of young men, and a woman sitting in the back seat. She was either white or mixed race, and they were all grungy looking. The front passenger exited first. He had three teardrop tattoos under his right eye and a spider web tattooed on the side of his neck. Fred thought tattoos, especially on someone’s face, were disgusting.

  “Hola, amigo!” He said in mock joyfulness. Fred stood there and stared at him with the coffee cup in his left hand. The young man had his own handgun, which appeared to be a Smith and Wesson Sigma, stuck in his waistband. He walked toward the gazebo with a taunting smile. Fred knew there was going to be no joyful outcome in this encounter, but still, he was willing to give them a chance.

  “I said hola amigo, don’t you fucking understand Spanish?” He asked with an arrogant note in his voice. The driver exited now, along with the woman in the backseat. They were armed as well. They eyed Fred and the truck before walking over. The three of them spread out into what they believed were tactical positions.

  “Hello.” Fred said. “I’ve got coffee, if you all have a tough constitution you might actually find it tasty. I’ve no extra cups though.”

  The driver looked back at the truck. “That truck is the tits. You got some bulletproof glass mounted up there homey? That’s sweet.” The driver said. The woman laughed. “Is it yours?” He asked.

  “Yes it is.” Fred replied. He knew what was coming. They were going to play a little game in which they thought they were going to be very clever with asinine word games they gleaned from watching B-rated gangster movies.

  Fred continued. “Unless, someone is lucky enough to kill me for it. Which one of you is going to try first?”

  “You have a problem with us, amigo?” The first one asked with a scowl on his ugly face. Fred did not bother responding. The two men looked at each other, and the driver winked at his buddy. They focused their attention back on Fred and squared off. The woman moved out of the way, grinning in glee at what she thought was going to happen to the poor dumb fuck wearing boots and a stupid looking cowboy hat.

  “I asked you a question amigo. I said do you have a problem with us?”

  “You might say that. I can smell y’all from here. Although I wouldn’t know firsthand, I’m guessing a dog’s ass smells better than you three. I have a question for you, amigo.” Fred said.

  “Yeah, what’s that?” The passenger asked with a sneer.

  “How much time do you idiots need to get your courage up and try to shoot me? My coffee is getting cold.”

  The passenger, the white guy snarled and reached for his Sigma. Fred drew, shot, and holstered his weapon in the blink of an eye. He looked at the second man and noticed for the first time, this one had fake gold upper teeth. Fred gestured with his coffee cup.

  “Are those gold teeth?” He asked. The black amigo stared at him incredulously. “They look stupid.” Fred commented, and sipped some more coffee. Black amigo yelled and grabbed for his gun, also tucked in his waist band. Unfortunately for him, in his haste to pull his gun, he stuck his finger in the trigger guard and accidentally shot the head of his penis off. He fell to the ground screaming in agony. Fred had drawn his revolver during all of this, but did not bother firing.

  Instead, Fred took another sip of coffee.

  The girl gasped in confusion. She ran over to her black amigo and saw blood soaking through the crotch of his pants.

  “You shot them, you son of a bitch! She shouted, and grabbed the gun out of her friend’s waistband. Fred shot her a quarter of an inch above the spot where he was instinctively aiming. He frowned at his inaccuracy and looked at his revolver before holstering it.

  Fred finished his coffee before grabbing the pot with his handkerchief and pouring the dregs over the fire. Gathering up the extra guns and searching their car, he found little of value. Other than an extra magazine for one of the handguns, there was nothing but stale candy, a burnt spoon, and a used hypodermic needle. Fred managed to eat about half of the rabbit, left the rest, and walked back to black amigo.

  “Your friends are dead, and it looks like you have a bad gunshot wound. If there are any zombies around, they will have heard the noise. When they get close, they’ll smell the blood. They’ll be here soon.” Fred said.

  “Are you going to help me?” The young man asked. Fred looked him over without emotion.

  “Would you help me?” Fred asked, walked back to his truck, and drove off.

  Fred didn’t want to drive at night. He finally found a parking lot a few miles away and stopped in a parking lot. The area was quiet. He didn’t even see any zombies roaming around. Satisfied, he stretched out in the sleeper, but sleep didn’t come easily. He kept thinking about the three miscreants he encountered and wondered if it was going to be the same in every city he drove through.

  Chapter 9 – Julie’s Surprise

  The girls and Curly met me in the driveway. Julie and Macie marveled at all of the stuff, but then gasped when they saw the bullet holes in the tailgate. Curly was so concerned he pissed on one of the tires.

  “I had a little encounter.” I said. “I’m not sure where to start.” I left them standing in the driveway, took my boots off, and went inside. I was feeling anxious, nervous. I washed up, poured a large glass of water and gulped it down. I had a delayed reaction to the morning’s events I think. The two of them walked in a moment later and sat at the table with me.

  Julie frowned. “Are you okay?” She asked.

  I looked at the two of them. “I don’t know.” I recounted the story as I drummed my fingers on the kitchen table. Well, I told them most of it. I kind of omitted Andie’s parting kiss.

  “Holy shit!�
� Julie said. “Do you think you were set up? We’re they part of the Captain’s group?”

  “I don’t know. Andie seemed sincere, but I don’t know.” Macie got up and refilled my glass. “Thanks.” I said quietly and took another gulp. I looked over at them. “Has Fred checked in? He should have passed at least two checkpoints by now.”

  “Oh.” Macie said. “I almost forgot. I got him on the shortwave shortly after you left this morning. He said he had reached checkpoint bravo, but he had to make some detours due to all of the abandoned vehicles clogging the roadways. I haven’t heard from him since. I’ll try him on the radio now if you want.”

  I shook my head. “Checkpoint bravo is in Memphis. He’s going a lot slower than I had estimated. If we haven’t heard from him by dinner time, we’ll try to raise him.” I finished my water and accidentally burped. “Sorry.” I mumbled. They smiled, but didn’t pick on me this time.

  We unloaded the truck and put everything in the den. It was becoming quite crowded. “We’re running out of room.” I said. I thought about last night. During our lovemaking, Julie was quite loud. I had no doubt Macie could hear it. We needed more room.

  “After the baby is born, maybe we should relocate to the Riggins house.” I said. Julie smiled warmly at the suggestion.

  “That’s a great idea! We can remodel one of the bedrooms for the baby.” Julie said.

  “It’s going to take quite a lot of work, but I think it’s doable.” I said with a nod. The girls organized our new items with great delight. I put on a pair of sneakers and went back outside to survey the damage to my Ford Ranger truck. My back window was completely gone. Nothing but remnants of tempered glass remained. The front window was cracked, and the front end had extensive damage where I had struck the woman. There was also dried blood and tissue in the broken grill. It made me sick all over again. I walked back inside and wondered if there was a bottle of whiskey in the house. Macie and Julie were having a good time inspecting all of the baby clothes and accessories. I sat on the couch and watched them enjoying themselves.

  “Are you going to see Andie again?” Macie asked.

  “Oh, hell no.” I replied. I still did not tell them of Andie propositioning me or kissing me. I intended to, sort of, but I couldn’t seem to get it out of my mouth.

  “You think she set it up?” Julie asked.

  I shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

  “You should ask her.” Julie said. “Meet with her again, get there early and set up, like you’ve done before. If you see other people in the area, you’ll know if she’s involved. I’ll come too, if you want.” I shook my head, a little too quickly.

  Julie frowned. “Why not?” She asked.

  “Remember, she told me about the other women in their group being used as sex slaves. Don’t think they won’t try to kidnap you two if they get a chance.”

  Macie and Julie looked at each other. “Zach, there’s something I need to tell you.” Julie said. I looked at her and waited. “I’m late.” I stared at her questioningly. She scoffed when she realized I didn’t understand. “I think I’m pregnant Zach.” She waited expectantly for a reaction from me.

  “Oh boy.” I responded.

  Her mouth dropped open. “Oh boy? That’s the only thing you have to say?”

  I tried to say something else, but it only came out as an unintelligible stammer. Julie went pale, ran into our bedroom and slammed the door. I looked over at Macie. She shook her head in mock disgust, pointed at me, and then pointed toward the bedroom. I took the hint.

  I knocked quietly before entering. Julie was on the bed rubbing Curly’s belly, and he was grunting contentedly. I sat down beside them and was rewarded with two different responses. Curly wagged his tail. Julie pointedly ignored me.

  “Please don’t doubt my love for you. You just took me by surprise.” I said.

  “You don’t want me to be pregnant.” She said accusingly.

  “No, it’s not that. I’m worried, that’s all.”

  Julie scoffed and glared at me. “Worried? Is that all you have to say? I guess I’m wondering why you’re not saying, why Julie, we’re having a baby, that’s so wonderful!” I suddenly had a couple of itches here and there, I could not resist the urge to scratch.

  “Julie, of course I’m happy. You caught me off guard. I’m still a little torn up by running over that woman, you know?” I held my hands out pleadingly. “I don’t know what else to say.”

  “Zach, why would it bother you? You’re a cold-blooded killer. You’re not torn up by another notch on your holster, or your gun, or wherever the fuck you put your notches.” She got up and went back into the den. I watched her backside go through the door and hurriedly followed.

  “What in the world made you say such a cruel thing?” I demanded angrily.

  She pointed outside. “Remember when we were sitting right outside eating watermelon? We were laughing and having a good old time, and you and Fred just stood there watching. Now Fred is Fred, but you used to be right there laughing with us. You don’t laugh anymore Zach!” Julie was yelling and crying at the same time now. “You’re not happy here.” Her voice drifted off. I tried to touch her but she shrugged me off and walked into the kitchen.

  I tried desperately to think up a response. To say something, anything, to make it better. I couldn’t. I was too angry. I walked outside. Looking at my watch, I made a decision. I still had plenty of daylight left. I grabbed some gear out of the barn and loaded it up in the back of my little truck. Macie came outside.

  “What are you doing Zach?” She asked.

  “I’m going for a ride. Maybe find a replacement for my truck.” I drove off while she was trying to say something.

  Chapter 10 – Kuru!

  It all happened in the blink of an eye.

  Let me start from the beginning. After leaving my house in a huff, I rode around aimlessly. I eventually found myself driving through a nondescript blue collar neighborhood off of Tusculum Road.

  When I pulled down a side street, I stopped thinking of everything else. I spotted my new love, a replacement truck for my little Ford Ranger. It was a four-door metallic green Ford F150, SVT Raptor edition, and it was beautiful. It was parked in the driveway of a tired looking brick home and stood out like a gem.

  I parked in front of the house and checked it out. It had all the accessories, including four-wheel drive and a tow package. It was almost a shame that I was going to remove all of the exterior bling, strip it of brake lights and turn signals, dull the paint job, and put hardware cloth over the windows.

  I found the keys on a hook immediately inside the front door of the house. Pocketing the keys, I cleared the house.

  It smelled, like all of the houses with rotting corpses smelled, but I was used to it by now. Hell, I didn’t even gag anymore. There were two of them, lying on the den floor. When it was clear they were not zombies, I ceased inspecting them. I was beyond caring about their demise, and concentrated more on a superficial search of the house. I found nothing of consequence except for a can of pickled herring. I put it in my knapsack, went back outside, and transferred the rest of my gear from my old truck into my new truck.

  After transferring the gas out of the Ranger, I stood there looking at it in silence for a few minutes. It was a present from my Grandmother on my fifteenth birthday, and it was the last thing I had which reminded me of her. My mind wandered as I recalled some fond memories of my childhood. All of those memories existed because of the love my Grandmother had for me. She was the one who developed my love of reading. At her encouragement, she listened with rapt attention as I read to her every night after supper. She was a good person, and I was eternally indebted to her. I turned to go, and that’s when it happened.

  My first instinctive reaction was to grab my gun, but whoever had knocked me to the ground had their hand tightly gripped on it and was trying desperately to wrest it from me. We were in a tug-of-war for several seconds. We were face-to-face as we wrestled, an
d he was breathing heavily. His breath reeked, like he had not brushed his teeth in several days. I got a good look at his face. He wasn’t a zombie. But he was still filthy.

  I fought as I held on to my sidearm tightly. If he got it away from me, I was certain I would be shot. We struggled on the ground for what seemed like a long time, but in fact was probably only a minute or two. His heavy breathing told me he was getting winded. He was older, and was probably stronger than me at one time, but I was the stronger one now.

  I punched him repeatedly with my left as we struggled. I hit him so many times my fist was starting to ache. His head was as hard as a rock, but I kept it up. I could hear him gasping for air and grunting with the pain of my repeated blows. He was getting tired and his strength was beginning to wane. With a tremendous grunt, I ripped his hand free of my gun and pushed him off of me. He tumbled back and his legs went akimbo. I hurriedly got to my feet and pulled out the Kimber.

  He was large framed and burly looking, like a construction worker by day and a bouncer in a seedy bar at night.

  I was about to give him a terminal case of lead poisoning, but hesitated when I saw a woman standing in the driveway next door, holding a small kid. She stared at me with dead eyes. Her plaid shirt was dirty and torn. The kid was runty, dirty, and looked downright weird, like maybe he had brain damage or something. It was obvious neither of them had seen a bar of soap in quite a while. She reminded me of the woman I had run over.

  “You broke my nose.” I heard my assailant say. I looked down at him in contempt. He was sitting now and holding his bleeding nose.

  “Why did you attack me?” I asked.

  “You were trying to steal my truck.” He snarled and then blew a bloody snot wad out of his nostrils.

  “Why are you lying?” I asked plainly.

  “Are you calling me a liar, you fuck?” He demanded as he struggled to catch his breath.