Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny (15 page)

Justin didn’t flinch and instead continued staring at me and even though his chiseled features gave him an air of rugged manliness, it also betrayed him when he was tense. The tightening of his jaw muscles were plain to see. He even had a vein that ran along the left side of his jawline would protrude noticeably. I doubt he was a very good poker player.

“What makes you think she didn’t stay at Fort Campbell?” he challenged.

“Let me tell you a little bit about myself, Justin. I’ve got a very good memory, maybe even a photographic memory. If I read something, observe something, and especially if I write it down, I never forget it. You understand?”

“Okay,” Justin said warily.

“So, I think you know where I’m going with this. I listened, observed, made mental notes. You said there were three teams, but that wasn’t true. There were three teams.” I counted off with my fingers. “One team went to the school and kept them in check so they wouldn’t interfere with the mission, a second team snatched me, and a third team raided my house, ultimately killing almost everyone. Ruth wasn’t with the first or second team. Ruth was with the team that went to my house.” There was a long moment of the two of us staring at each other. The tension was palpable, as they say in those mystery thriller books.

“I think it would be best if you asked Ruth,” he finally said. “But I want to make something clear, if you decide she’s committed a wrong against you, I’m not going to stand around and do nothing if you try to hurt her.”

“I suppose I understand that. I’m guessing you’ve grown fond of her,” I surmised. Justin nodded his head slowly.

“We’ve been through a lot together.”

The two of us stood there, continuing to stare at each other when I heard the back door to the house open and close. Ruth and Major Parsons saw us and walked over.

“I guess we should be going,” Ruth said, oblivious to what was going on. “We have a lot of work to do. Oh,” she added with a grin. “Kelly said the kids need some Daddy attention.” That usually meant a diaper change was in order.

“Alright, I guess I’ll see you guys later,” I said and continued staring at Justin as the three of them drove away.

Just as I suspected, both kids had made very impressive boom-booms. Kelly and I had somewhat successfully potty-trained Little Frederick, but only when one of us was paying close attention. When we didn’t, he still felt the need to shit all over himself, so we still had him in diapers. I got them attended to and herded them back to the kitchen table where I pulled one of my notepads close. I had Macie on my lap this time while the little guy crawled around under the table.

“What are you writing?” Kelly asked as she sat down across from me.

“The major believes they may have formulated a vaccine derived from mine and the kids’ blood,” I said. “I want to jot down what he had to say about it before I forget.”

“They found a cure?” Kelly asked incredulously.

“Sort of, a vaccine, kind of like a flu shot I guess.”

“Do you believe him?”

“I don’t know, but he seems sincere. He claims he tested it on himself just a few hours before the invasion. He doesn’t have any lab or equipment to monitor his progress, but he seems to be doing okay. He’s asked me to go to Atlanta with him and see if anyone is left alive at the CDC, and if there is, continue with the testing.”

“Are you going to do it?” Kelly asked. I looked at her and could see she was a little worried.

“Nope, there’s no way in hell I’m going to leave you and my kids,” I declared. She smiled in relief.

I went back to my notepad and wrote for about twenty minutes. When I stopped, I looked down and saw little Macie asleep in my lap and Frederick wrapped around my leg chewing on my bootlace. I managed to get it out of his mouth and looked up to see Kelly still sitting across from me with her chin resting in her hands. I offered her a smile.

“I guess you’re going to be outside doing chores all day again,” she said without smiling.

“Yeah, that’s the plan. Why, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“Zach, why do you think I’m perfectly fine with being cooped up in the house all day with the kids?” I thought about it for several seconds, attempting to come up with a clever reply. I came up empty.

“I’m not sure what to say. The chores have to be done if we want to survive.”

“Well then, how about you stay home today and let me ride around in the fresh air and sunshine?” She was messing with me now, she had to be.

“Don’t you realize how hard I work every day?”

“Oh? Are you implying I’m lazy?” Well, I stepped into that one.

“Not at all,” I replied quickly. She stared at me pointedly. Seeing no logical way out of this, I threw up my hands in surrender.

“Fine, be my guest.” She accepted gleefully. I waited for her to tell me she was kidding, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. So, I tried another tact and went over what had to be done. Unfazed, she responded with her own requirements of what housework she expected to complete.

Agreeing to terms, I put Macie on the couch, tucked a blanket around her and wedged her in with the cushions so she wouldn’t roll off. Satisfied, I hoisted Frederick on my shoulders and walked outside.

Kelly was already in the barn and waited expectantly as I loaded up the ATV with an abundance of tools, hoping it would dissuade her. It didn’t. She hopped on and started it with a smug grin. I pointed at the shotgun. She checked it and put the safety on before putting it back in the scabbard.

“Alright, at the first sign of trouble, I want you to hightail it back here. And, check in with me on the walkie-talkie every thirty minutes, okay?” She nodded and kissed the two of us before hitting the throttle.

I watched her ride off and sighed. “Alright, big guy, we’re going to muck the barn while Macie’s asleep.”

It took much longer than normal, I kept getting distracted by my exuberant and overly curious son. He was getting into everything and at one point he decided to see what a horse apple tasted like before I could get to him. He scrunched up his face in disgust, causing me to chuckle.

“I bet you never do that again, right?” He looked at me like he was thinking, don’t count on it, Dad.

After that, I decided it would be best to stick with the indoor chores. Macie woke up and Frederick decided he wanted to rest his eyes, which made it a lot easier. She was a perfect angel and watched me quietly with her big blue eyes while I mopped the floors.

She kept her promise and called me on the radio promptly at thirty minute intervals. She sounded like she was having fun, which of course irritated me. Nevertheless, I had no intention of not upholding my end of the bargain and worked diligently on the house cleaning. Promptly at five, Kelly called me with her walkie and advised she was on her way back.

“Oh, and be advised I’m bringing company,” she said cryptically. I started and tried to get her to explain, but all she said was wait until she got home. She didn’t use any of our prearranged code words, which hopefully meant everything was okay. Even so, I armed myself and was standing by when she drove up.

There was a military Humvee following her, but it was different from Justin’s. This one had a slightly different paint scheme and an auxiliary fuel tank jury rigged onto the back. When they got closer, I could make out three women, a child and a dog inside. Kelly led them up the driveway and parked.

“Look what I found,” she said with a grin.

“Who are they?” I whispered as they got out and stretched. The dog, a yellow Lab with oversized ears and paws, bounded out of the car and began running around the way excited dogs do, sniffing and finding things to piss on.

“The older one says she knows Fred,” Kelly replied. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you.”

“Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Zach.” Kelly pointed to each one as she introduced them. “This is Major Sarah Fowkes from the Air Force, Kate, Kyra, and Sam. Oh, and the dog is Callahan.” As soon as Kelly mentioned the dog’s name, his ears perked up before bounding over and checking me out.

Ignoring the dog’s persistent sniffing of my nether regions, I peered closely at Major Fowkes. She was an attractive woman. Not someone who’d ever win a beauty contest, but the kind you’d see in a gym wearing next to nothing because she could and doing bicep curls with enough weight to cause you to do a double take. I could see why Fred liked her. I guessed her age maybe in her late thirties, although she could have been older. Her features were sharp and her brown hair looked like she had grabbed a handful, pulled it back in a fist and chopped the rest of it off. I got the impression she didn’t smile very often. She returned my stare steadily as she watched me giving her the once over.

“Your name’s Sarah, right?” I asked. She nodded her head slowly at my recognition. “Fred told me about you.”

“He had a lot to say about you as well,” she replied. “Where is he?”

“He’s dead.” When I said it, her features darkened, but she quickly regained her composure.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “He was a good man.”

“Yes, he was.” I continued staring at her. “Did you come all the way from Oklahoma to see him?” She responded with something of a nod. It wasn’t going to be easy to get her to talk, that was obvious.

“I would really like to hear all about it, but let’s get you guys settled in first.” I looked over at the other two women and the boy. He was obviously shy and clung to one of them tightly.

“Okay,” I said. “I didn’t get which one of you is Kate and which one is Kyra.” One of them partially raised her hand.

“I’m Kate,” she responded. She was the tall one, maybe five ten with a typical leanness of someone who’d been on the road a while with very little to eat, long dark dirty hair tied back in a ponytail. Kyra was an inch or two shorter, with the same colored hair, but she let hers flow in a jumbled mess. They both looked like they were in their mid-twenties, but it was hard to tell. The last couple of years had obviously been hard on them, as it had with all of us.

“Are you two sisters?” I asked. They nodded at the same time. I then looked at the kid, a scrawny tow-headed boy with a pale, almost sickly complexion.

“What’s your name, big guy?” I asked.

“Sam,” he said in a quiet voice barely above a whisper.

“Sam’s a little shy,” Kate said and put her arm around him. I looked at her and surreptitiously winked.

“Sam, how old are you, fifteen? Sixteen?” I asked.

“I’m ten,” he replied, a little louder now. I feigned surprise.

“Ten? Dang, you’re big for your age.” He puffed up his chest a little at the compliment. I grinned and looked over at Kelly.

“Why don’t you take them inside and get them settled? I’ll take care of the ATV and see what I can do about getting some hot water available.” As usual, the mention of hot water got a combined look of surprise, even from Sam.

I checked the gauges that Tonya and I had mounted. They showed a charge of ninety percent. Nodding in satisfaction, I opened the panel to the circuit box and turned on the breakers for the water heater and the well pump. Unloading the ATV, I hurried inside.

Kelly was chatting amicably with Kate and Kyra at the kitchen table while Sarah sat quietly on the couch, Sam sitting beside her, thumbing through one of my notepads. Callahan had found my kids, and to his delight, realized he had two new play pals. I poured myself a glass of water and sat beside Kelly.

“How was the trip?” I asked. Kate and Kyra looked at each other like I’d asked them the last time they’d wiped their asses, which, judging by a lingering odor, had been a while.

“Shitty,” Kate answered. I don’t think she intended the pun. “We got into a few scrapes.” I got up quickly and went into the den, coming back a moment later with a pad and pencil.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear about it.”

“Where do you want us to start?” Kyra asked.

“From the beginning.”

“From the beginning,” Kate repeated. “Well, let’s see. We worked in a casino outside of Shawnee, Oklahoma with Sammy’s mom.” When she said that, my keen observation skills clued me in that they perhaps had some Native American ancestry in their blood. You couldn’t get anything past me. Kate continued.

“We’re both card dealers. We’d watched the news reports of everyone getting sick, but nobody thought very much about it and work went on as usual. One night, I guess it was Thanksgiving…”

“November thirtieth,” Kyra added.

“Yeah, it seemed to happen quickly. We had about a tenth of the usual number of customers. Kyra and I were dealing at the blackjack tables that night and let me tell you, our tips sucked. Sammy’s mom had gotten off work earlier, but she came back with Sammy to eat dinner.”

“Employees got to eat for half price,” Kyra explained. Kate nodded and continued.

“We all went on dinner break together and all of a sudden we started hearing a lot of screaming out in the main casino area. We figured some drunks were fighting or something. We were going to see what was happening but one of the security guards ran into the back room and locked the door. He had his gun out and he looked scared. Really scared.”