It didn’t help that most of them were raging alcoholics. That included the guy who was supposed to fly them to Florida. Tony was happy enough to jump in and sample the really good bourbons they had. His behavior really irritated Kelly since she was trying to prod everyone along and Tony was busy getting drunk with them. That irritation didn’t stop Kelly from enjoying select bottles out of the extensive wine collection. These people had the good stuff. Randy and Kelly had always stuck within the twenty to thirty-dollar range for a nice bottle of wine. The stuff they were drinking at night from the wine cellars here would have been price prohibitive back in the days when money still mattered.
On the third day Kelly finally told Gordon, the man who’d professed to being able to fly a plane, that it was go time. She felt like they were just waffling to keep them there as long as they could. After a spirited conversation it was decided they’d head for the airport in the morning.
“You really felt the need to tell him you’d shove his plane up his ass and launch him to the moon if he didn’t get off his ass and take us to Florida? There wasn’t a nicer way to put it?” An amused Randy asked Kelly as they headed for their room with a couple of bottles of reserve reds. Tony had immediately headed down to the card room to get hammered with his new found geriatric poker buddies following the tense confrontation. They wouldn’t be seeing him again for a while.
“The old bastard was going to have us sitting here explaining how to line up the sight picture on a rifle until he died of old age. I had to say something. What else did they think they were going to possibly learn from us. Hell, we don’t really know that much.”
“I know this is the kind of wine we never would’ve bought back in the old days. I know the ceiling fan actually works in our room. I know this may be our last night with any kind of privacy for a while.” Randy winked at Kelly and moved in for a kiss. She slid neatly out of the way.
“I’m thinking you go heat up a tub of water and bring it up here so I can take a nice long hot bath and really enjoy this expensive wine.”
“Your wish is my command and such.” Randy said with a bow and some twirls of his arm. The he set off to go get the water heated up for her. One of the wonders of the modern world was that the solar cells on the roof of this house actually gave them the ability to utilize the appliances in the house to heat up water for bathing. The house was even old enough to have its own cistern to collect fresh rain water for them to use.
The lights were cutoff as was the air conditioning. Basically, they’d pulled the breakers out on anything that made any noise that may attract the Zombies. That still left plenty of modern conveniences for them though. Tony had been like a little kid when someone had shown him there was indeed a working ice maker available in the house. It was amazing how used to things like icemakers everyone had gotten. Take them away and life sucked. Randy lugged the hot tub of boiling water upstairs where Kelly had the tub about a third of the way filled up with the cistern water. He added the first big bucket of hot water and set off to get another one after soliciting her promise that she’d make it worth his while.
The next morning Randy woke up with a bit of a headache and some confused memories of the night before. He smiled and kissed Kelly as the pleasant memories solidified a bit more for him. She woke up after the second kiss and sent him to go get breakfast while she got ready for the day. The way the old house had been plumbed there was even the ability to flush the toilets. Talk about an extravagance!
Randy went down to the large kitchen and began looking around for something to heat up for breakfast. Gordon was already in the kitchen opening a giant can of kidney beans. Randy guessed that meant it was kidney beans for breakfast for everyone. Randy had no desire to see Kelly’s mood change. She’d been happy last night as the date had finally been set for them to get moving towards Florida again.
“You ready to fly out today?” Randy asked Gordon after helping himself to a bowl of the kidney beans.
“Just as soon as we go gather some supplies.” Gordon responded.
“We’re leaving the weapons. You guys should be able to go raid some of the houses along the bay here and gather plenty of supplies.” Randy said in exasperation. He was damned if they were going to be delayed another few days collecting cans of beans for these geezers.
“I can’t just fly away from here without making sure this place is fully stocked. You agreed to help us gather supplies.” Gordon said. His voice rising with indignation as he spoke.
“My kids are down in Florida right now waiting for their daddy to come save them. Your people are just going to have to go find their own canned food and liquor. We’re driving you to the airport today and then you’re flying us down to Florida. Once you drop us off in the land of sunshine and palm trees, I don’t really give a shit what you do but that’s what’s happening today. Are we cool?” Randy felt like getting in Gordons face and screaming at him, but he held himself back. He held himself back until Gordon continued to just stand there not saying anything.
Randy grabbed Gordon by the front of his shirt and yanked him, so they were face to face. “I asked you if we’re cool asshole. I suggest you say yes and go pack your toothbrush and some extra boxers for the trip. We head for the airport in an hour. You have a problem with that?”
“Nope. I’ll be happy to fly you to Florida and leave you there.” Gordon responded dryly as he turned on his heel and pulled his dignity back around him to go pack a bag.
Randy took a few deep breaths to calm down then went to grab Kelly and Tony. Kelly was easy as she was already up and moving. She looked like she was going to be auditioning for one of those female assassin movies. She was strapping weapons to every conceivable place on her body she could get a strap to stay attached to. Randy figured he’d end up carrying her bag for her since it was probably too full of ammunition for her to actually pick up. God help anyone who got in between Kelly and the kids once they landed.
After making sure his stuff was ready to go Randy went down the hallway to Tony’s room. It was empty so he went to check out the game room. The game room was the last place he’d seen Tony headed. He went down the stairs and flicked on the light switch after staring into the dark room for a minute. It was weird how quickly he’d forgotten the old habit of reaching for the light switch as soon as he walked into a dark room. He was actually fumbling for his flashlight before realizing that he should be able to just flip on the light switch.
The miracle of light coming on in a room at the flick of a switch was slightly ruined by the sight of Tony passed out on a pool table. He was holding a bottle of rum in one hand that’d spilled all over the top of the table. It was a good thing they were leaving soon. After looking around the room and sniffing a few times Randy got the idea that Tony probably wouldn’t be allowed back in the game room anytime soon. He walked over and poked Tony softly in the shoulder. When that failed to wake him up, he smacked him in the face.
For a hungover guy who’d been passed out on a pool table Tony moved really fast. Randy jumped back out of the way narrowly dodging the thrust-out knife Tony had pulled from somewhere. Tony jumped off the table and pulled a pistol before finally recognizing Randy through his bloodshot eyes.
“Good morning.” Tony mumbled as he put away the pistol. Once he’d snapped the pistol back in its holster, he started looking around for the knife he’d dropped to free up his hands to pull the pistol.
“Morning man. Looks like you tore it up pretty good last night. You happen to forget they have flushable toilets in this house?” Randy asked.
“Oh man. If that was me, I’m so sorry. I honestly don’t remember too much after that one guy with the messed-up toupee asked me if I needed a sippy cup for my bourbon.”
“No worries. Let’s get upstairs. I just had a talk with our host and he’s going to be flying us to Florida in an hour. Gather whatever gear you want to bring and meet us in the living room in about twenty.”
“Cool. When you say you had a
talk with the guy…”? Tony trailed off looking sharply at Randy.
“Exactly. I wasn’t spending another day here with them trying to pull more information out of us on how to survive. I’m definitely not trying to go gather groceries and crap for them. We need to be in Florida by this afternoon to start looking for the kids. We’ll leave them whatever weapons we can’t easily carry. Don’t bring any bourbon.”
“I don’t really ever want to see another bottle of bourbon again. I’ll meet you in twenty in the living room by the front door. Living room, foyer, family room, ball room or whatever the hell they call it in this big ass house.”
Tony and Randy headed up the stairs then spilt up so Randy could go hurry Kelly along and Tony could get packed. They all had the weapons and other supplies they wanted to take with them already loaded up and organized. The weapons they were leaving behind were distributed with the people in the house whom they’d shown how to use them. Excess weapons and ammunition were being stored out in the garage.
A pissed off looking Gordon was sitting on the couch in the living room when they arrived. He had a small backpack with him, his shotgun, and his pistol in a holster on a regular black belt looped through his pants. He was wearing dress shoes and a blazer with khakis. Randy thought about telling him to go change into some boots and maybe considering going a little less formal for the trip but decided to not worry about it. All he really needed this guy to do was fly a plane. He should be able to do that naked if he had to. As old as Gordon was if it came down to having to run, he was probably screwed no matter what shoes he was wearing.
A miserable and pale looking Tony came into the room about ten minutes later. He apologized for being late saying he’d gong to the wrong living room first before deciding to try this side of the house to see if it was what they were talking about.
“This is the parlor.” Gordon said with a look of disdain. Randy smiled to himself and stifled the nervous laughter welling up in his chest. He’d thought about how much more disdainful that look would be if Gordon happened to take a jaunt down to the game room and smelled the destruction Tony had wrought down there. Tony looked like he might have some smart-ass comment about the ‘parlor’ but then decided it wasn’t worth the effort. He sat down then groaned when Kelly stood up and motioned for everyone to grab their gear and follow her out of the house.
“You going to make it Tony?” Kelly asked looking at the very hung-over Tony.
“Do I have a choice?” Tony fired back.
“Nope. Time to roll.” Throwing that last comment over her shoulder she made her way out the door into the backyard of the large river-side estate. Everyone filed after her down to where the truck was parked. The truck was empty now of the weapons and supplies they’d shown up with a few days ago. The supplies absorbed into the communal supply to keep the large household going. None of them had minded since they knew they couldn’t take all those supplies with them in an airplane anyway.
They’d gone over this section of the plan a few times. The small private airfield was only a few miles down the road. Gordon kept a hangar there which should have all the supplies they’d need to get the plane off the ground. They’d have to get the plane prepped and make sure the runway was clear and ready to use for takeoff. None of them really had a clue what they were doing except for Gordon. He’d let them know some of the basics, so they’d been able to come up with a plan and divvy up the tasks for when they hit the airport. They’d be leaning heavily on Gordon for anything related to getting the plane ready.
Climbing in the truck Randy put Gordon in the front seat between him and Kelly. Tony got thrown in the back again. He got his revenge for being thrown in the back by opening up the sliding panels and asking a ton of annoying questions. That all ended when they rolled up to the gate to leave. They felt a chill up their collective spines as the gates slid open. They’d been safe here for a while. Behind these ornate gates and the long fence, they’d all felt a security they hadn’t felt in a long time. Tony felt a sense of vertigo leaving the gates behind them. Randy and Kelly were just focused on getting to Florida and finding their children.
Gordon hadn’t been outside those gates since everything had started. He was sitting in the middle of Randy and Kelly looking back and forth like he was expecting a horde of Zombies to come slamming into the truck at any time. Randy almost laughed when he saw how nervous Gordon looked. He sobered up quickly recalling how many times they’d actually experienced hordes of Zombies slamming into whatever vehicle they were in. They drove down the deserted rode in an uncomfortable silence towards the small private airport Gordon had given them the directions to. Gordon himself was doing his best not to make eye contact with them as he looked around the road checking for Zombies constantly.
They turned at a small bait and tackle shop that seemed completely out of place surrounded by the multimillion-dollar homes on the street. Once they’d turned away from the water the homes became more of the standard two to three-bedroom family homes they were used to. Randy caught Gordon staring at one bungalow style home in particular as they passed it and couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a quick jab at the guy.
“Seeing how the other half lives?” He asked with a smile. He was hoping it’d break the ice and made the ride a little less awkward.
“My daughter and granddaughter were living there right before this all happened. My son-in-law was a merchant marine and out to sea. I’d invited them to come to the mansion when the news reports started to get weird, but we hadn’t talked in so long that she just didn’t want to come. I should’ve come and forced her to leave.”
All of them stared over at the small house now. In the back of the truck Tony had no idea why they were all staring at the house. Due to his pounding headache he took a look over at the house and decided he didn’t care enough to ask. To the rest of them it was all too obvious the inhabitants wouldn’t be alive. The front door was standing wide open. A little Nissan Sentra was parked in the driveway. It didn’t look like it’d been moved in over a year. A little girl’s bike was barely visible over the top of the overgrown grass in the front yard. Gordon was openly crying staring at the bike in the weeds as they drove past it.
Kelly tried to comfort him, but the man was inconsolable. He was obviously in the middle of a massive self-loathing session. Thinking a little more about the situation Randy decided he didn’t have much sympathy for the man. Him and Kelly were killing themselves trying to make it the length of the east coast of the United States to get back to their kids. This coward hadn’t been able to go five miles down the road to check on his daughter and granddaughter. He’d left them out here to die. If it hadn’t been from cowardice, then the man had let them die out of pride. Randy swallowed his righteous anger at the man and focused on the road. A couple of Zombies had appeared at the end of the street. He did the standard maneuvering to get around them. One of the Zombies was a little girl. Gordon didn’t say anything, and no one asked but they were all wondering if it was his granddaughter.
They made it to the small airport without any additional issues. The airport had a chain across the access road leading to it with a big closed sign hanging off it. They parked the truck and quickly tried getting the chain off, but it’d been locked into place. Rather than screw around with it any more when they knew a few Zombies were definitely following the sounds of the truck they grabbed their bags and left the truck on the side of the road. Climbing over the chain they hiked up the long drive to the small airport.
The place looked untouched by the apocalypse. The houses and neighborhoods they’d driven past to get here had all been as decimated by the apocalypse as everywhere else. The airport was turning out to be one of the odd hold-outs they’d run into every once in a while. Places like schools that’d shut down early for the disease and locked up their fences, so no one ever went in or out of them. Places that stood out as a reminder of what the world had been once. Places that would momentarily make them doubt the nightmare arou
nd them. Places that had them looking around hopefully thinking maybe this was all a dream after all.
It never turned out to be a dream. In this case the illusion was made all the more real by the dense greenery of the forest surrounding them. Tall pine and oak trees blocked their view of the rest of the world. As they continued walking towards the small building guarding the tarmac the illusion was spoiled by the decaying corpse of an airport security guard splayed out on the front steps. Getting closer they could see a couple of large holes in the front of the security guards’ uniform. The guard’s gun was still in its holster. It was a scene they’d seen time and time again. Reflexively Tony moved forward and started working the holster off the corpse and checking for ammunition.
“Dude. We already have more ammunition with us than we can carry.” Randy said. He was thinking the gun and the ammunition would’ve been laying out here baking in the sun and getting rained on for months now. He wasn’t sure what good it would do them at this point to take it with them. Plus, it looked like Gordon may puke watching the corpse get yanked around like that. The rest of them were pretty much immune to the obscenity of death at this point.
Zombies! (Book 3): Violence Solves Everything Page 3