Stacy had joined Dillion, and the three of them were making their way over to the table to join us.
Once Angela was seated with Dillion in her lap, some guy named Todd brought her tray and set it in front of her, since it appeared that her son wasn’t about to let her go.
Stacy stood just behind them and patted Angela’s shoulder. “Angela, Dillion, I’m going to get us some food and I’ll be right back.”
Dillion watched her walk away, but made no move to release his mother.
I brought our focus back to the trip ahead. “So, when do we get to leave?”
Patti looked to those of us sitting there. “After breakfast, we can load the vehicle and head out. If we stick to the back roads, I think we’ll find less of the ZITs and it’ll be easier to find out the information that sarge wants.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m ready to see my family.” I loved joyful reunions, and seeing theirs had made me miss my family even more. Just a few more hours and lots of ZITs to kill between now and then.
Linc
It’d been several days before the guys from town showed up at our gate, waving a white flag.
I waved them in and Josh opened the gate, allowing them to come up to the house. The group consisted of Wade, Jerry, and Beth, who I assumed were the new leaders.
“What can I do for you all?” I wanted to see why they were here before I invited them up on the porch.
“Honestly, we were hoping that you could help us with a game plan for the future and how to keep us all alive.” Wade laid his cards on the table as they approached me.
“Why don’t you come on up here and take a seat in the shade? I’ll let Jessica know that you’re here so that she and Tracy can join us. Would you like some lemonade?” I offered hospitably.
“Oh, I haven’t had lemonade in years,” Beth gushed.
“With all the kids, it’s better for them to drink that, and we have lots of lemons.” I went inside to grab the pitcher of lemonade before the children demolished it.
Jessica met me at the door. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Yes. They want to meet with us to see if we can work out a plan to survive. I’m just going to grab some glasses for lemonade. If you can get Tracy and join us, that would be great.”
“Ooh, I like a man that serves his own guests.” Jessica blew a kiss over her shoulder as she went to find Tracy.
Minutes later, I was back on the porch and all three of our guests were eagerly sipping their drinks.
“So what kind of plan were you considering that needs our help?” I asked, starting up the conversation.
“Well, so many of our friends got sick and there are quite a few that we haven’t seen since this all started, and that isn’t like them. We were hoping that we could convince you or your guys to go out to a few houses with us and see if they’re okay,” Wade explained.
“The thing is, we need to move some of the people out of town, and those farms need to be kept running if we’re going to have food in the future,” Beth remarked, being practical. “There are some people in that town who are going to get killed because they just don’t belong around the rest of us. We were thinking if we could get them doing something productive, then it would serve two purposes.”
“She makes a good point. I wouldn’t want to be cooped up with some of the townies no matter how much it might save my life. Whose farm are you looking to do a well check on first?” Jessica asked, taking a seat next to me.
“The Erickson’s are older, and rent most of their farm out to the Bailey’s. I’d start with those two farms since they have cows and pigs. I think the Erickson’s also have chickens. Any of those items would be great for us to have in town, but I’m sure that they could use some help to harvest and keep the zombies away from the live animals.”
“How many families or extras do you want to move?” Tracy asked, knowing it wasn’t a large town.
“Umm…Beth, you probably know this better than anyone since you’ve been organizing things with the food.” Jerry looked at Beth for affirmation.
“I’d say about thirty or so. We don’t want to overcrowd the farms, but I think that if we put two families at each place, it wouldn’t be so hard on any one group.” Beth paused, sorting her thoughts. “Most of the town’s people have no idea how to farm or what kind of work it would take to keep it running, so we thought that we could pair a farm family with a non-farm family so that each set can learn something.”
“I put together a list of what each farm normally produces—if they have animals, produce, or what skills they could offer. The local guy that drills wells said he’d worked for a company but could probably train some guys on how to do it if we need water for irrigation, or if the town’s pumps quit working,” Jerry offered.
“Basically, we need another set of brains that aren’t going to panic because the world is ending. Beth mentioned the solar panels that you were putting in. Do you think we could find out where to get more of those before the rest of the world gets wise and raids that warehouse?” Wade leaned forward eagerly.
“Hmm, that’s a good question. Also, we need to find out what kind of stuff we’re going to need long-term and where we could go to get it. I hate to break in and just take stuff, but it would depend on if the town is abandoned or not.”
It might be the end of the world, but we needed to hold onto the morals we had left.
“We might also have to find a way to bring people back with us who have no way to survive. Is the town willing to let them in and help them? We don’t need any repeats of what happened with Jim.” Jessica brought up the unspoken elephant in the room.
“Most people are just trying to survive, but there will be some that have ulterior motives that we can’t bring with us, or even tell that there’s a town of people that are alive,” Beth answered pragmatically.
“We don’t want some guys coming in and raping our girls, or trying to steal the few weapons that we do have from us,” Tracy offered.
“May I suggest that you have a town meeting and vote on some rules that are a death sentence, like rape? Then you might have a few other rules about less serious infractions. I think we can make the rounds of farms in the area over the next several days to see who’s alive. Once we’ve established that and the ground rules, I’ll make a trip with a few volunteers and see if we can find someplace that has solar panels. If we can put enough together, the town can run on its own power.”
“How many should we take to each farm?” Wade asked, hoping I’d lead.
“I would suggest about four teams, and I’ll come along. If you want to do two teams, that might be better, and then I’d suggest Jessica go with them as the team leader.” I was prepared for Wade to nix the idea of a woman in charge, but he didn’t even bat an eye.
“Oh, another thing, we need a way to communicate with each other. Beth, I’m going to bet that you’re the only one that knows where there might be a stash of old phones we could pull out and hook up. A landline phone will work as long as the house or business already has a current phone line. We may have to setup a few emergency places so that if there’s a problem, we can call and let the town know since there aren’t many ways to get help way out on these farms.”
“Our phones work?” Jerry asked incredulously. “Not the cell phones, though, right?”
“Correct. People don’t think about the fact that sometimes, old-school is best. Have everyone check their attics and storage for old rotary or corded phones. They can’t be wireless or electronic because if the power goes out, they won’t work. When we make a run for supplies, that’s something we can look for in our search.
“Common sense is sometimes overlooked because we’ve all become so used to the convenience of modern technology, but there are uses for the old ways. All the kids are about to get an education on how to use a rotary phone.”
“Do we want to meet at the Erickson’s and work our way back fro
m there after lunch?” Jessica suggested.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea, but if we don’t get back to town, the cooks might take it upon themselves to stash food for the next meal.” Beth winked at us, because everyone knew better than to mess with her stuff, even if she wasn’t there.
They got up, ready to leave, when Jessica stopped them. “Since you’re here and we don’t have to take a trip to town, let me get you the milk we’ve been freezing because we’re going to run out of room, and I’m sure you can use it.”
“Oh, bless you, honey. Once we get things cleared, then you can start doing deliveries again. We all miss your fresh milk and cheese,” Beth gushed as they stood in the yard, waiting on Jessica to return.
“Linc, can you open the door for me?” Jessica yelled through the screen.
Opening it, she walked out carrying two five-gallon buckets with milk inside, like it didn’t weight forty pounds.
Wade took one bucket from her and Jerry took the other, each one giving her a cautious glance after they had to use both hands to get it to the pickup truck.
“They’re frozen, so they should be fine until you get to town and can refrigerate them,” Jessica assured.
“Sounds like we’re off to a good start on getting things resettled,” Tracy said, sounding hopeful.
I wasn’t too sure. Since we were in the rural country, there was no way of knowing how bad it really was out there. There could be Jim Danvers’ all over the state, which would make a civil restart almost impossible.
Wade had brought some of his more agile fighters with both guns and other types of weapons for close fighting. Smart man, now that he’d gotten some confidence instilled in him.
Everyone gathered at the gate, I guess for my instructions, so I went ahead and started explaining how it should work.
“We all need to approach the house cautiously. There’s supposed to be two older people inside, but we have no idea if they had company, or animals that were infected. Don’t take anything for granted.
“We’ll clear this house together, and then split up into two teams so that we can cover more ground. If there are animals that are alive, make sure they have water available, and we’ll have someone out here before dark to feed them.”
A few heads nodded, and I took that as a sign to proceed.
I clutched my gun in hand, ready for anything that might jump out at us.
The yard and area surrounding the house were clear.
“Jessica, take a group around the back and check out the barn building back there,” I whispered quietly as I stepped up onto the porch.
The door was unlocked, but that was normal for most country homes. It was empty as we cleared the living room and kitchen, but the bedroom door that was shut started moving as we got closer to it.
I wasn’t sure what we’d find, but it wasn’t going to be anyone alive.
“Wade, get ready. I’m going to open the door and something is going to try to come out. You’ll need to shoot it in the head. Can you do that?” I wasn’t sure if this was his first time to shoot one of these things or not, but I wasn’t going to risk my life on too little communication.
“Now.” I threw the door open and two bodies rushed toward me.
Wade got a shot off and one fell backwards, but the other had its arms wrapped around me as I brought my long knife up, implanting it in the brain.
It slid down my body and landed next to its partner.
“That was close,” I muttered shakily.
“Let’s finish clearing the house and we can move them outside.”
Jess’s group found a cow and some chickens.
“All right, time to move onto the Bailey’s and the Johnson’s.” Wade took charge and got the group moving.
“Aren’t we going to bury them?” Roger asked, pointing to the Erickson’s.
“Not right now. They’re dead, and we need to get the houses empty for the others to move in to. We can have a few of the guys come out in the morning to be a burial detail,” Wade answered before I could open my mouth.
As the group started out toward the road, Jessica came up beside me, taking my hand. “Are you okay? You seem a little upset.”
“That last zombie gave me a hug and I realized it was too close of a call. I have to be a little more careful.”
Pulling her close, I kissed her forehead quickly so that the others didn’t notice.
“I’ll be careful, I promise,” Jessica tried to reassure me.
After her demonstration today with the buckets, I knew that my girl had a lot more strength than I’d previously thought.
The process of cleaning and the removal of the former inhabitants took a few days. The livestock that had been left alone were certainly the priority, and we got them fed and watered.
We found five farms that had people still alive and working from their homes with no idea about what was going on in town.
Most of them had been willing to have extra help in exchange for the goods they could offer to the town.
There’d been a few times when someone had been attacked while they were out in the field by a zombie thing, but the quick actions of the farmer in using his rifle had averted disaster.
I’d been curious as to why they hadn’t come to town after seeing something like that trying to attack them.
“We didn’t want to get in trouble for killing someone, and I just assumed it was one of those city kids hyped up on bath salts or those pod things. If I’d known it was a sickness, I might have come to town. More likely, I’d have stayed away and waited to see what would happen before we got involved.”
I nodded, understanding the farmer’s feelings about letting things take their natural course.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t come to town then or you might have gotten infected yourself.”
The others were ready to head off into the world after we’d gotten the farms mostly situated, but I felt that I needed a few days to recuperate before heading into a life or death situation so far from home.
Wade seemed to understand as I tried to let him down gently. “Hey, you’ve done a lot for us and haven’t really had a lot of time to mourn your mom and friend. We can wait until Monday to go out on a hunt.”
“I appreciate that.” I held out my hand, hoping that he caught my gesture that I was done with people for a while.
Everyone assumed that I was wanting time to mourn, but I was hoping for some alone time with a certain lady. She was the best therapy that I could ask for.
“See you folks Monday,” Wade called to the girls as they watched him walk away.
“I’ve made the boys a deal. I’ll let them go on the next scouting trip if they’ll let us have three days together, alone.”
Jessica started to protest, but I covered her mouth in a steamy kiss that left no doubt about what I had planned for our alone time.
“Agreed, if Tracy’s okay with it,” Jessica said breathlessly.
“Great.” I reached onto the porch where her bags were packed and waiting for us.
“Is this like our honeymoon?”
“Nope. Just some much needed time to enjoy each other without interruptions. We’re still close enough that if something happens, the guys will radio me on a special channel so that we won’t be out in the cabin, oblivious. Can you handle it?” I asked mischievously.
“Yep. I’m ready for whatever you’ve got.” She reached and took the bag from me, which was a little on the heavy side.
“You kids have fun now,” Tracy called out to our parting backs.
I just hoped this was a sign for the future, but since things never worked out like that, I would just take what I could get far away from the zombies.
Cooper slammed the door to his new office in frustration. The president had been sick and placed under quarantine. The powers in charge had finally decided that they would use the antivirus, but it’d been too late.
The vi
ce president had been sworn in, and since the antivirus hadn’t saved the former president, he didn’t want to use it on the sick.
The vice president was still thinking on the protection protocol, but I didn’t have much faith that he would do anything in time to save the majority of those who weren’t sick.
The reports I’d received by encrypted email said my family was still okay. I missed them, but I had to be the voice of reason here, even though all the red tape was driving me nuts.
A knock sounded on the door.
“Come in.” I straightened up in my chair.
“There’s been a situation in one of the other cities. The president is recommending that we burn it, but he wants your take on the situation immediately,” the intern announced, voicing my worst fear.
“Do you know what city?”
“Charlotte, NC, sir. He did say now, sir.”
“Once he starts torching cities, there’ll be no stopping him.”
“No, sir.” The intern fell into step behind me. “He isn’t sure of himself and is hesitating when he should be acting, or acting when he should wait.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Whose intern are you?” I appraised the young man closely.
“I was working for a senator, but with all of the sudden illnesses the past week, I’m sort of freelancing it.” The young man looked around sheepishly.
“Perfect.” I clapped him on the back. “How would you like a new boss? I think I have the perfect match for you. When we get done with this meeting, I’ll explain how it’ll work and keep you safe at the same time.”
“Yes, sir. You’re something of a legend around here.”
“What’s your name?”
“Mike Gates.”
“Mike, I’m going to tell you a secret. You won’t be working with me, you’ll be working for me by keeping an eye on the president.” I grinned, knowing this was the perfect solution and way to monitor the thoughts of the man in charge.
“Sir?”
I stopped walking, pulling him into an empty area.
Military Against Zombies (The Against Zombies Series Book 2) Page 12