Z14 (Zombie Rules)

by Achord, David

  “You’ll be pleased to know, none of these women are armed, as far as I know. Maybe you better search them.” I retorted sarcastically.

  Captain Steen sighed. “It doesn’t matter. They won’t be going to Fort Campbell, at least not anytime soon.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Some soldiers and civilians basically conspired to take over. It was an ill-conceived plan concocted by a few idiots who thought they knew how to better run things. It was doomed from the start. Nevertheless, a few people were killed. Fortunately, Corporal Alexander was our inside mole. He exposed the plot and we were able to contain collateral damage.”

  “How many were involved?” I asked.

  “Five soldiers and about a dozen civilians.” Captain Steen looked me in the eye. “The soldiers were tried for treason and executed. The civilians were banished. I directed them to head north and get out of this area altogether, but I’ve no idea where they’ve gone.” We were interrupted by Julie and Andie. They had fixed us a plate of food and brought them in. They seemed to sense the tension in the air, so they left, knowing I’d tell them everything later. Captain Steen waited for them to leave before continuing.

  “Although we were successful in quashing this ill-conceived act, there is a growing discontent among the remaining civilians. Until we can bring things under control, I’m not comfortable accepting any new incoming personnel.” I heard the sound of the Chinook returning.

  “There is something else I’d like to talk to you about. Due to Corporal Alexander’s role in the whole affair, he has received death threats, and someone took a shot at him last night while he was on guard duty.” Captain Steen paused a moment before adding. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to leave him with you people for a little while.”

  “Of course.” I said. I knew of at least one person who was going to like this situation greatly. “Is there anything else?” I asked.

  “No, I think we’ve covered it for now.” He stopped as he was putting his glasses back on. “Oh, let’s go talk to the pilots. When we were flying down here, one of them thought he saw some signs of life along the I-24 corridor. Let’s eat and then we’ll see what they have to say.”

  We ate our lunch, mostly in silence. I was still trying to wrap my head around the death of Howard, and the more I thought about it, the more intense the feelings of guilt. By the time I walked out of the hangar, I was in a deep funk. Julie saw it immediately of course. I put my arm around her and walked her over to the truck.

  “I don’t want to ruin your day, but I know you’re going to pester me until I tell you.”

  “You got that right.” She said. So, I told her. Her response was predictable and she started crying. I held her tightly. I saw Rowdy walk over and stop tentatively. I shook my head. He understood and walked back to the main group.

  The Birmingham women, especially Wanda, did not take the news well when they were told they would not be going to Fort Campbell. Frankly, I didn’t care. I’d already decided my contact with them was going to be limited. I didn’t like Wanda, and Kelly was going to get me into trouble. Andie was excited that Corporal Alexander was coming to live with us though. Julie and I exchanged a glance. We’d let her enjoy the day and tell them about Howard’s death later.

  Chapter 49 - Memory Lane

  We had three days of drizzling rain, which is not unusual for March. With the daily temperature hovering in the mid-sixties, it was great weather for planting certain vegetables. Our garden plots were much larger than last year and we’d added to the number of vegetables. With the five of us working, we transferred the seedlings from the greenhouse and got them in the ground in record time. Corporal Alexander, or Terry as we now called him, proved to be a hard worker. He helped with the chores and had no trepidation about getting down in the mud and individually hand planting each seedling. He got along well with both Andie and Julie, but I had not spoken to him very much. Julie chastised me about it the night before.

  The truth of it, I was not in a sociable mood since the latest meeting with Captain Steen. Howard’s death upset me greatly. It was yet another person whom I cared for deeply who was no longer with us. I felt guilty about Rick’s death, Macie’s death, and now Howard’s death. It ate at me and was yet another topic of my nightmares.

  “What is everyone going to do today?” I asked as we cleaned off the table.

  “Well Hoss, I told Cindy I’d take her squirrel hunting.” Rowdy said.

  “Is that what it’s called these days?” Julie quipped. Terry and I chuckled. Andie didn’t say anything, only stared out the window.

  “What is my husband going to do today?” Julie asked.

  “I thought I’d go over to Bernie’s and get some honey, and then maybe do some scavenging.” Julie gave me a look. I knew what it meant. “Terry, how about going with me? I’ll show you around and you can get an idea of how we do things.”

  “Sure, sounds good, Zach.” He replied.

  “I want to go!” Andie said.

  “Have you finished your reading assignments?” I asked. Andie frowned and stuck her tongue out at me.

  “We’ll go another time.” I promised.

  “Terry, I’ve no idea what kind of training you’ve had, but we have a certain method of clearing houses.” I said as we parked in front of Bernie’s house. “This house belonged to a friend of ours. He’s dead. We can do some practicing here so we’ll be on the same sheet of music.”

  “Sounds good, Zach. We did a hell of a lot of house clearing back at Fort Campbell, so we should be good to go.”

  Surprisingly, Terry and I worked well together. I watched Terry as we went through the motions of clearing Bernie’s house. Even though it was filled with clutter, Terry moved fluidly through each room. Satisfied, I found a tote bin in the utility closet and began loading up Bernie’s beekeeping equipment. Terry saw several jars of honey sitting on the kitchen counter.

  “This old man was a beekeeper, huh?” He asked. I nodded. He pointed at the honey. “How old is this stuff? Is it good anymore?”

  I stopped a moment and was tempted to wow Terry with my vast knowledge of honey. But, I held off.

  “When honey is stored under proper conditions, it can last for years. It’s still good, let’s load it up.” We carried the stuff to the truck and I looked around outside.

  “He sure did have a lot of junk.” Terry said.

  “Yeah, one day we’ll go through it all with a fine tooth comb and see if there is anything worth taking.”

  “We can do it now.” The Corporal suggested. I shook my head.

  “I’m not up for it now.” I said. “His death reminds me of Howard’s death, which reminds me of other people who have died.”

  Terry nodded somberly. “I know the feeling. I take it he was a pretty good dude?”

  I let out a short laugh. “He was downright crazy, but crazy in a good way I’d say.” I pointed at the protective headgear. “He didn’t even use any protection when he harvested the honey. The bees wouldn’t sting him. He’d say they were his friends and would never hurt him.” Terry laughed. “Well, let’s get going. I’ve got a few places I’d like to check out.”

  Terry spoke to Andie on the radio as I drove. He told her we were leaving Bernie’s. Andie asked where we were going. “Tell her the Woodbine and Glenrose area.” I said. “We’ll be home before sundown.” Terry repeated what I said and signed off. I was content to drive in silence, but decided I needed to be friendly, and get to know Terry a little better.

  “What happened up at Fort Campbell? Are you allowed to talk about it?” I asked.

  He sighed. “I’d been in a bad mood and got into the habit of bitching and complaining a lot. One day, First Sergeant Santiago had enough of me and a couple of other soldiers, and he put us on guard duty. We stood around gate six, one of the entrances to Fort Campbell, all day long doing nothing but swatting flies. I bitched and complained about everything under the sun. So, these two privates tell me about
a plan a few of them have cooked up. They intended to kill the Captain, the First Sergeant, and a couple of others, and then take over.” He stopped a moment to look out the window.

  “So anyway, I go to the First Sergeant and tell him all about it. He went straight to Captain Steen. They decide for me to go along with this group and gather intel. When we thought we had identified everyone involved, we arrested them and I gave testimony in the court martial. But, instead of the other soldiers praising my actions, I was labeled a snitch. Someone fired a few rounds into my barracks window one night. The Captain and First Sergeant felt it would be safer for me to get out of Fort Campbell. They figured you wouldn’t mind me hanging around. So, here I am.”

  “I see.” I said. “Well, personally, I’m glad you’re here. The girls are hard workers, but there is so much to do, we always seem to stay behind.”

  “How’s Rowdy?” He asked.

  “Oh, he’s enjoyable to be around, but his work ethic is fleeting. Now that he’s chasing after Cindy…” I left the sentence unfinished. Terry chuckled. I drove into the parking lot of Walmart where there were a few cars I’d not siphoned gas out of yet. I showed Terry my siphoning apparatus and we started going at it.

  “How do you know which cars to siphon from?”

  I pointed toward other cars. “What do you call the fancy lid that closes over the gas cap?” I asked.

  Terry frowned and looked. “The fancy gas cap lid?” He replied. I laughed.

  “Yeah, I guess. Anyway, take a look at the parking lot. See all of the open lids?” Terry looked and nodded. “Those are the ones I’ve already siphoned gas from.”

  “Ah, makes sense.”

  The first car we came to seemed to have a full tank. We siphoned half of it out and into the truck. “I’m going to leave the fancy lid closed because there seems to be a half of a tank of gas still in here.” I said as we got back in the truck. Terry nodded in understanding.

  “Where to now?” He asked.

  “I believe we’ll stick with the Nolensville Pike corridor today. One day, I want to venture out further. The police department’s evidence warehouse is over in east Nashville. I think we have the numbers with us now to enable us to do so. I’ve not gone very far before because we didn’t have the numbers to be able to defend against a sizeable number of hostiles we may encounter.”

  “Nashville has to be a treasure trove of stuff.” Terry said. I agreed.

  “What do you think of Andie?” I finally asked. I hoped my question seemed one of boredom rather than inquiring.

  “She’s a cute kid.” He frowned momentarily. “I thought she and Rowdy were hooked up.”

  “Who, Rowdy? Nah, they’re friends, nothing else. I thought they were going to hook up one day, but now Cindy is here and Rowdy is like a tomcat on the prowl.”

  “Oh.” He said. I started to add more, but decided against it.

  “Cindy sure is a looker. So is Kelly.” I nodded silently. I guess he wasn’t interested in Andie. “You know, Rhonda is pretty in her own way too, but she doesn’t talk.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, she’s very quiet. I thought one of those kids belonged to her, but I think they’re all orphans they took in.”

  “Ah, so none of them have kids.” Terry opined.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “What was up with you making Andie read?” He asked me.

  “She’s a smart girl, but like Julie and I, she never finished her education. She and Julie are reading all of the books we have. When they finish one, we discuss it.”

  “Which one are you reading?” He asked.

  “I’ve read them all, I need a few more. If you spot any books, point them out to me.” I drove around two zombies standing in the middle of the road. Terry looked at them.

  “You don’t want to shoot them?” He asked.

  “No, we need to conserve our ammo. Besides, I’m still convinced they’ll eventually die off. I said it would happen last summer, but there are a lot of them still around.” I was looking at them in my rearview mirror as I spoke and then suddenly came to a stop. Corporal Alexander looked at me and turned in his seat quickly.

  “What is it, Zach?” He asked. I continued looking in the mirror for several seconds before answering.

  “One of those sons of bitches just squatted down and took a drink from the water puddle.” I said quietly.

  “Huh? Are you sure?” Terry asked.

  I turned the truck around, slowly approached them, and stopped about thirty feet away. They stared at us with those evil looking black eyes for a full minute, and then started ambling toward us.

  “Well?” Terry asked while rubbing his assault rifle. I turned the truck where his window was facing them. He grinned at me as I stuck my fingers in my ears.

  I stopped the truck in front of a house on Southlake Drive, and for some unknown reason suddenly realized this house was less than two miles from the National Guard Barracks on Sidco Drive.

  “What are we doing, Zach?” Terry asked. I gestured at the house.

  “One of my best friends lived here. His name was Felix. You know, over the last eighteen months, I’ve been within a mile of this house more than a few times, and never checked on it.”

  “Do you want me to check inside?” Terry asked. “You can wait here.”

  I put the truck in park, turned it off and got out. “No, let’s get this over with.”

  What was left of his parents were in the master bedroom, but Felix was nowhere to be found. There was no food in the kitchen and it appeared some of his clothing was gone, but otherwise there was no indicator where he may be. I found a sharpie and wrote a note for him on the door.

  “We’ll leave everything on this block, just in case he’s around here somewhere.”

  My next stop, as much as I wanted to avoid it, was the National Guard Barracks. The steel doors were all locked, with the added insurance of chains and padlocks, but otherwise it seemed bereft of life.

  “I’d say everything is intact. I’m sure Captain Steen will be interested in this.” I said. Corporal Alexander agreed.

  We worked our way over to Harding Place and picked houses at random. It was high risk work with iffy reward. Most of the houses we searched had nothing more than skeletonized corpses, moldy furniture, dead pets and rotten food. Terry found some civilian clothes for himself and we found a few odds and ends we could use, along with some dog food. I also found a box of condoms and gave them to Terry.

  “Thanks brother!” He said with a grin. “Do you happen to have some inside information where I may have need of these anytime soon?” He asked. I shrugged noncommittally.

  “I know of one in particular who has her eye on you.” I said. He looked perplexed.

  “Are you talking about Andie?” He finally asked. He grinned when I nodded.

  Chapter 50 – The Long Road Home

  Fred woke up to see Sarah looking at him.

  “I’m surprised you don’t snore.” She said. Fred sat up, stretched, and gave her a kiss.

  “I’m surprised you do.” He responded. Sarah playfully slapped him on the chest.

  Fred washed up and dressed. Sarah had apparently been up a good thirty minutes before him, as she had already cleaned up and was dressed in utilities. They opted to eat a couple of packets of MREs, even though they both hated them.

  “Today is the day.” Sarah finally said.

  “Yes, Major, it is. Have you changed your mind?”

  “I have a duty.” She responded curtly. Fred nodded. They had this discussion many times over the past month. Sometimes, there was yelling. Actually, Sarah was the only one who yelled. Fred would sit across from her silently, which sometimes angered her even more.

  “So, you’re going to leave then?” She asked, even though she knew the answer. Fred did not respond. He wiped his mouth and began cleaning up the packaging.

  “I suppose I can fly you.” She finally said.

  “I think I’d rather drive than risk jumpin
g out of an airplane. Besides, you’re the one who has said more than once how foolish it is to fly a big plane by yourself. Too many things could go wrong, your words, not mine.” Every soldier left had eventually drifted away over the past couple of months. Sarah and Fred were the only ones left.

  “You’re being stubborn.” Another awkward silence and Fred methodically started packing his belongings.

  “I can’t just leave, Fred.” She finally said.

  He stopped and looked at her. “I understand, and I hope you understand why I have to go. There are people who depend on me.”

  “I depend on you.” She retorted. Fred looked at her a moment and then resumed packing.

  “Well, fuck you then, you fucking hick!” She shouted and stormed out of the small apartment the two of them had been sharing for the past six months.

  Fred watched her as she slammed the door. It wasn’t their first argument. She was very passionate in bed and very amicable otherwise, as long as everything went her way. However, at the slightest inkling something was happening beyond, or out of her control, she reacted with anger. Fred’s personality type was actually a good match for her. He never reacted angrily, he waited in silence for her to get it out of her system and then he’d talk. Only then would she listen to him.

  She would be content to live the rest of her life being the curator of all of these aircraft, Fred thought sadly. A caretaker, for machinery that would probably be never used again.

  Fred closed the backpack and hefted it over his shoulder. He closed the door quietly and headed to the parking lot where the trusty VW was waiting for him.

  He tossed the backpack in the backseat and looked everything over for the fourth or fifth time. Several days ago, Fred figured out the fuel problem by crafting racks from some angle iron. He bolted them on each door, which allowed him to mount two five gallon Jerry cans on each side. He looked at the two cases of bottled water sitting in the front seat, along with two cases of MREs. He sure hoped Lashonda would fix him a good meal when he got home. He made one last cursory inspection of his gear and car. Everything seemed good.