Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny (20 page)

Justin picked me up at the crack of dawn and the two of us prepared a grave on the grounds of a Catholic church nearby. Everyone else showed up about noon and Josue conducted a somber, yet simple service, mostly in Spanish. Maria sobbed loudly the entire time and was literally too weak to stand. Afterward, I asked them to come spend time with us. Jorge shook his head.

“We thank you, Zach, but we’re going to spend some time alone.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice to barely above a whisper.

“We’ve got to watch Maria and make sure she doesn’t do something to herself. She’s feeling very guilty about her hijo’s death.”

“I understand,” I said. “Just remember, Marc and Ward are psychologists, they may be able to help her cope.” Jorge nodded in understanding.

“Maybe in a few days,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes.” His father nodded in agreement.

My arms and back were already aching from digging the grave, we dared not use precious fuel hauling a backhoe to the church, but Kelly wanted to spend the afternoon tending our garden plots. She called it therapeutic; all I could think of was how sore I was going to be when I rolled of bed in the morning.“So, what I don’t understand is how, and at what point, did little Jose turn into a zombie.”

“I’ve no idea,” I answered.

“Zach, that’s awful. I don’t know what I’d do if something like that happened to our kids.” She caught her breath. “I mean, you’re kids.” I stopped hoeing and put an arm around her.

“I liked it better when you said they’re our kids.” She dropped her hoe and grabbed me in a hug. “They call you mommy after all.”

“What about you?” she asked. “How do you feel about me?”

“You know I love you, you’re my girl, right?” She responded by hugging me tighter.

“I knew you’d come around,” she finally said. “But, since I’m older than you, I think that means you’re my boy.” I had to laugh.

After an extra-long hug, I held her at arm’s length.

“It’s only sixteen hundred, let’s get the horses out and take a ride around the property, make sure nothing is going on. I’m sure Sarah won’t mind watching the kids a couple more hours.”

Sarah didn’t mind at all and told us to have a good time with a small, knowing smile. I hurriedly saddled the horses and Kelly pulled out some extra blankets and tied them to the saddles. It didn’t take long for us to end up at my favorite oak tree.

“Which one of you two picked this spot?” Kelly asked as we laid the blankets out.

“I did. There was a full moon that night.”

“Ooh, you’re so romantic.” I chuckled as I used my binoculars to check the area.

“All good?”

“Yep,” I replied and sat beside her.

“So, tell me about her.”

“Macie?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, let’s see. We had a few classes together during our freshman year and started dating not too long after I got my driver’s license. You know the rest.”

“And she was your first love.” I nodded. “And you lost her virginity to her.”

“Right on this very spot.” I leaned forward and kissed her.

“I think I’m jealous,” she said huskily.

“You like this spot,” I replied.

“For some kinky reason, I really do.” She pulled me close and we kissed again.

It was dark by the time we rode the horses into the barn. Sarah met us at the door. She gave us a look, but didn’t have any smartass remark.

“I want to talk to you about something and get your opinion,” I said to Sarah. She had joined me on a sunrise run, each of us carrying assault weapons at port arms while we ran, and were now walking down the driveway getting our wind back. She looked over at me questioningly. I pointed at the scar that ran along the side of my head. Now that I was wearing my hair cropped Marine close, it was clearly visible.

“About two years ago I was shot upside the head.”

“I wondered how you got that scar. Did it happen the same time you got the scar on your cheek?”

“No, that came later.” I briefly recapped each incident. “The bullet didn’t enter my skull, it only grazed the side of my head. Even so, it messed me up, but I lived through it.”

“Are you sure?” she asked with a sarcastic grin.

“Okay, smartass. Anyway, as you can imagine, I had some cognitive issues for a while after that, but I eventually healed up.” We stopped at the corral fence and used the top rail to stretch our hamstrings.

“Alright, so the point I’m getting at is about a month afterward, I started having some very vivid dreams.”

“Nightmares?” Sarah asked.

“Sometimes.”

“PTSD,” she declared. “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It happens. You don’t seem any the worse for wear.”

“No, it’s not that. Well, I mean yeah, I probably have a little of that stuff going on up here,” I said, tapping at my head. “Marc and Ward definitely think so, but the thing I’m trying to tell you is that sometimes I’d have dreams that would come true.” Sarah paused in her stretching and looked at me quizzically, or maybe she was looking for indicators I’d gone off the deep end, I wasn’t sure which. I continued anyway.

“At first it was very confusing, but after a while I was able to mostly figure out which ones were going to come true and which ones were just bullshit dreams.”

“Do you have them often?” she asked with that look still on her face. I shook my head.

“Nope. In fact, I hadn’t had one in a long time and I thought they’d stopped altogether. But, recently I’ve had the same dream about three times now.”

“Alright, I’m game. What’ve you been dreaming?”

“Colonel Coltrane is alive and well, and he’s coming back.” Sarah took her leg off of the fence rail and replaced it with the other one.

“Oh yeah?” She said it in a deadpanned tone, and for a second I thought I was talking to Fred.

“He’s not going to be alone, and I already know it’s going to be an unpleasant encounter.” Sarah cast a glance over at me.

“Okay, let’s pretend for a moment that you’re not, you know, off the deep end, cray-cray, loco, psychotic, looney-tunes—”

“Okay, okay,” I interrupted. “Forget it.”

“No, wait. Let’s pretend you’re dreams are perfectly normal. What’s going to happen and what should we do?”

“Somehow, he knows my kids are here and he’s coming back for them. He’ll either try to take me too or kill me outright. What do I think I should do? Kill the son of a bitch, that’s what I should do.” She was now quiet for a couple of minutes. I couldn’t tell if she was seriously thinking over what I said or trying to figure out the best way to placate the crazy guy. She stopped stretching and leaned against the fence.

“He’ll most likely have the same armored vehicles he used last time. And, although they may not like him, any soldiers he has with him will instinctively obey him and protect him.” I nodded in agreement.

“Unless, of course, in your dream they beam down from their orbiting space ships and you vanquish them with your trusty lightsaber,” she added.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I replied with mock sincerity along with an eat-shit-and-die look. Now she grinned openly and shrugged.

“I’m a very skeptical person by nature.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Well, if you don’t believe me, you don’t believe me.” I finished stretching, lofted my feet up on the top rail and began doing pushups. Sarah, not to be outdone, quickly joined in. When we finished, Sarah wiped the sweat off her brow and looked at me inquisitively.

“Why did you tell me about this dream of yours? I mean, you had to know I’d be skeptical.” I shrugged, a little self-conscious now.

“I’m not real sure. Back when Fred was alive, I’d talk to him about these things.”

“Am I Fred’s replacement for you?”

“I don’t know, maybe,” I replied. “I never really knew my parents, they both died when I was young. My first real father figure was a gruff old alcoholic. I think I told you about him.” Sarah nodded.

“Then Fred came along. He was so much like Rick and yet so diametrically opposite of him, and yet I liked him almost immediately.” I paused and looked at her. “He was a smartass too.” She started to retort but I kept talking.

“Julie and Macie and I both thought the world of Fred. He became a father-figure to the three of us and he was usually the first person I went to when I needed advice. He was a very wise man and he seemed to think a lot of you, so…” Sarah responded with a short nod, and was quiet for a minute.

“I’ve got an idea or two about those armored vehicles,” she finally said as we walked back to the house. I glanced at her. “The key is to get them to think there is no threat and get them out of the vehicles. The question is, do we kill them all?” She said that last sentence while we walked in the doorway and Kelly overheard it.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“The colonel and his soldiers are coming back,” Sarah responded before I could say anything.

“But we don’t know if they’re coming in armored vehicles or space ships,” she added. Our conversation was stalled when we heard a vehicle approaching. I cracked the door and peeked out with my shotgun.

“It’s Justin and Ruth,” I said and waited for a sign. Justin held two fingers out of the open window and I responded with the appropriate countersign.

“Good morning,” I said after they’d parked and got out. They weren’t smiling. Instead, there was anxiousness plainly etched on their faces.

“We need to talk to you,” Justin declared.

“Alright.”

“Well,” Justin started, but hesitated. Ruth continued.

“We got the radio going.”

“That’s good,” I said.

“The radio station’s equipment was designed for transmitting only, not receiving, but long explanation short, we’ve rigged it so now not only can we transmit, we can receive.”

“Let me guess, you made contact with your friends at the CDC,” I said. Justin nodded.

“They’re not at the CDC anymore, they’re coming here. We talked to them not fifteen minutes ago. I had a brief but informative conversation with one of them.”

“So, they’re coming.”

“Yep,” Ruth answered. “The colonel has somehow figured out you and the kids are here. They’re currently outside of Chattanooga.”

I caught Sarah staring at me with a confused frown. At least she wasn’t looking at me like I was bat-shit crazy now.

“It’s going to be tomorrow, I’m thinking,” I commented over supper. Kelly looked at me in surprise. After Justin and Ruth’s announcement, Sarah and I went with them to the school, filled them in, and we hatched a plan.

“Are you sure?”

“As sure as I can be,” I responded. “The feeling is so strong I can practically smell them. So, are you ready?” She looked at me intently and nodded. I reached for her hand and gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “Good. We leave after dark.”

“Would you mind telling me where you’re going to take them?” Sarah asked. I looked at Kelly.

“I think she needs to know,” she suggested.

“It’s difficult to explain, but Kelly and the kids are going to be staying somewhere else for a while.”

“For how long?”

“It remains to be seen,” I answered and looked at Sarah. “Alright, I need to call Justin on the radio to let him know and then we can head out. The truck is already loaded.”

“They’re all on board?” Kelly asked.

“I believe so.” It all depended entirely on the school gang going along with the plan. After hearing me out, they had agreed in principal, but I had nothing but blind faith in them that they’d follow through. Justin seemed confident though.

“There are only a couple of people who know of this location,” I explained to Sarah as I drove down Nolensville Pike. Kelly followed me in the Volvo truck. “The Allens were a family who originally lived here. They’re gone now. So, the only other people who know about it are you and Kelly,” I said.

“This will be the hideout for them?” she asked as she looked around the area.

“Yeah,” I responded.

“Doesn’t look like much,” she observed.

“Exactly,” I replied.

“Okay, I understand.”

“Alright, sit tight a minute. I’m going to use this night vision gear and check things out.” Not waiting for a response, I jumped out, and walked around scanning the area. Satisfied, I unlocked the door to the shop and got the truck parked in one of the service bays. Everyone was quiet except for Frederick. He seemed to think this was a fun adventure which required much verbiage.

When we had the truck unloaded and the kids settled, I gave them a kiss and told them I loved them. Kelly walked me to the door. I turned to her and hugged her tightly. When we separated, I knew it was time.

“I have a present I’ve been meaning to give you. I started to over Christmas but chickened out. Ever since then I never seemed to find the appropriate time. I was going to do it the other day under the tree, but I forgot it.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the diamond ring. I’d given it a meticulous cleaning and it sparkled from the candlelight. Kelly gasped when she saw it. I gently put it on her finger, kissed her, and hurriedly got in the truck before I ruined it by saying something stupid.

“How long are you going to keep them there?” Sarah asked as I drove the two of us back home. I thought I’d already explained everything and wasn’t much in a talking mood, but I went over it again.

“The plan is, if everything works out, I’ll come back and get them as soon as possible.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“She knows if I don’t show up, it means I’m dead or imprisoned. She promised me she’d stay hidden for a minimum of two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” She asked. “Zach, that’s far too long for a woman to be pent up with two rambunctious kids.” She was right, but it didn’t stop me from frowning at her in the dark. I tried to explain.

“Hypothetically, if the colonel kills me, I believe he’ll stay in the area for a few days trying to find the kids. I don’t know his current state of mind, but a worst case scenario is he’ll torture people in an effort to find out where they are. That’s one of the reasons why nobody knows of this place.” I watched her as I said this, trying to gauge her reaction, which was hard to do while wearing the night vision gear.

“I suppose that could be possible,” she finally replied.

“She knows it’s going to be tough, but she also knows it's for the best.”

“Okay, I can see the rationale.”

“So, after two weeks, I left it up to her to decide the best course of action. She’s gotten pretty good at driving that Volvo. She’ll either go back to the school or go elsewhere. We’ve discussed a few possible alternative locations.” I shrugged in the dark. “It’ll be up to her. If she comes to you, I hope you’ll take care of them.”

“Of course I will, assuming that I haven’t been killed as well. You’re convinced it’s going to happen tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they’re only about eighty or ninety miles from here. I figure they’ll be moving somewhere between ten to twenty miles per hour, which puts them arriving in about eight hours. I don’t believe they’ll travel at night, but make no mistake, they’re on their way.”

We drove the rest of the way back home in silence. I went straight to bed, but sleeping was not easy. I awoke several times during the night, reaching out a hand in the dark only to find an empty space on the bed beside me. After a dozen or so of these episodes, I finally decided sleep was a futile effort and got up well before sunup.

It was a beautiful May sunrise filled with streaks of crimson and violet hues, and although the morning air was cool, it was nothing a light windbreaker couldn’t offset. Everyone was busy setting up tables we’d put in the parking lot of the school. Plus, Sarah’s perch on the radio tower offered her an excellent field of fire. When we were finished with our preparations, we waited impatiently. I paced nervously for a while until Tonya finally had enough and motioned toward a chair.

"You're irritating the hell out of me. Sit down and try to relax." She was right, although I didn’t say it. I reluctantly sat. She lit one of those things that looked like a cigarette but you filled it with marijuana and offered it to me. I shook my head. I wanted my wits about me, nervous or not.

“I can’t tell you how many times I rolled a joint out of toilet tissue or newspaper before I found one of these things.”

“I take it you didn’t smoke weed until after everything went bad.”

“Nope. I thought only idiots smoked it.” She gave a lazy chuckle. “If only I knew.” She puffed on it for a minute until she’d burned off its contents.

“This should more than redeem ourselves in your eyes,” she said as she gestured at everything. I cleared my throat.

“Whatever happens, I want you to know how much I appreciate it.” She was silent, but finally responded with a small nod.

“The odds are, I may be killed. If that happens, Kelly will most likely come back here. Sarah said she’d look after her, but I’d be most grateful if you’d help her out, if she needs it.”

“You’re assuming they don’t kill all of us along with you.”

“There’s only one reason that bastard is coming back here, for me and my kids. As long as you guys sit out here doing nothing more than feeding them, he won’t perceive you as a threat.”

Tonya grunted. “I hope you’re right.” Me too, I thought. If this didn’t work out the way we’d planned, I’d be killed and these people were going to suffer. Oh, Sarah could probably kill a few of them, but any decent M60 gunner would be able to take her out once they zeroed in on her.

They arrived just after noon. I was surprised. There were only eight of them and instead of riding in those armored vehicles, they were in two dirty Humvees. They turned off of Concord and into the parking lot slowly, almost casually. We all waved cheerfully as they nosed their vehicles toward us and parked. I stood so they’d have no problem spotting me.

“Only eight people out of over two hundred?” Ruth muttered questioningly.

“And no children,” I added. “Not good.”

We waited expectantly. As rehearsed, none of us had weapons visible. They were instead hidden under the picnic tables, held by makeshift brackets that Justin had hurriedly assembled last night.

While two soldiers manned machine guns mounted on the top of the Humvees, Colonel Coltrane sat in the passenger seat, staring. He somehow looked older, leaner, darker. His coal-colored eyes fixated on me like a malevolent demon. This was not the same man I’d met almost a year ago. It was like he’d transformed, mutated. He eyeballed all of us for a minute, opened the door to the Humvee, and stepped out. He stood there then, square shouldered, gazing intensely, like a Caesar among the plebeians.

Janet stepped out next. I wasn’t surprised. She looked no worse for wear. In fact, for a woman in her forties, she actually looked pretty good. It looked like she had even colored and styled her hair; not a gray strand in sight. She made eye contact, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was happy to see me.

Sergeant Smithson was the first to meet him. He too was wearing a clean uniform. He stood at attention and saluted. The colonel returned his salute before catching himself, causing him to glare balefully at the sergeant.

“So, my suspicions were right,” he growled.

“Sir, when the CDC was in danger of being overrun, we secured the two Gunderson children and escaped.”

“And you took it upon yourselves to bring them back here,” he said calmly, but there was an underlying anger in his voice. “Why?” he asked.

“Because it was the right thing to do, sir,” Ruth answered.

“I must agree,” Major Parsons added. The Colonel stared hard at his three Marines for a moment and then a slow, hard smile crept across his face. He then turned to me and placed his hand on his sidearm, which, at the moment, was secure in his holster. I tried to return his smile but it probably looked like I was straining to pass a kidney stone. I held out my hands in a placating gesture, hoping he couldn’t see through my deception.

“As you can see, Colonel, I’m not armed. Nobody is armed. So, there is no cause for violence. In fact, we welcome your presence.” I hoped I sounded convincing. For all I knew, he’d probably order his soldiers to open fire at any second. None of them were smirking or making any threatening gestures, but just the same, they all looked very tense.

“We shall see, Mister Gunderson, we shall see,” Colonel Coltrane said, almost under his breath. He slowly looked around, like a snake looking for prey, and spotted the picnic tables topped with trays of food. Rhonda, Kate, and Kyra were busily waving homemade fans to keep the flies off. We’d taken all of the kids and locked them in one of the school rooms.

“What the hell have you people got going on here?”

“Lunch,” I answered.

“Are you people expecting company?”

“Indeed we are,” I replied, “you.” The colonel now looked surprised.

“You were expecting us?” he asked. I nodded with my best used car salesman smile.

“I bet you’re people are hungry, Colonel. Why don’t y’all have a seat and dig in before the flies eat it all?” I suggested. He now smiled smugly.

“I believe we will, Mister Gunderson.” He turned toward his group and ordered them to exit their vehicles. Based on their clothing, it looked like they were a loose mixture of civilians and soldiers. One of the soldiers, a Marine, didn’t dismount. Instead, he stayed put and manned one of the M60s. He was pretty scrawny and looked worried. His finger was not currently on the trigger and I hoped it stayed that way.

“So, you were expecting us,” Coltrane repeated again.

“How could you stay away, Colonel? After all, you have only one purpose in this world now, and it involves me, am I right?”

“You
and
your children,” he said in a low, menacing baritone. Janet, who was standing beside him, glanced at him before returning her gaze at me. Her expression was unreadable now.

“Where are they?” he demanded.

“They’re gone, sir,” Ruth exclaimed suddenly.

“And you’ll never see them again,” I added. His stare was unflinching. It was a cold, evil stare and he smiled without humor.

“I’ll deal with you later,” he replied menacingly to Ruth and focused back on me.

“You will turn over your children immediately or I will kill everyone here, one by one.”

“Just like you did back at my farm? Just like you killed my wife and friends?” I asked. He smiled again. He was smiling too much, and the more he smiled the harder it was for me to keep up the façade.

“So, I see we understand each other,” he replied, almost boisterously. “When we arrived at your quaint little home back last September, I tried to deal with them in a reasonable manner.”

“If I understand correctly, you ordered my children be handed over, or else.”

“I see Corporal Bullington has told you what happened. Did she tell you your petulant little wife had the audacity to call me a vulgar name before firing a shot at me?” he asked. He made it sound like Julie had committed a heinous sin and scoffed in contempt.

“There was nothing more to do but eliminate the obstacle, and as with all obstacles, I remove them and complete the mission.” He stared at me dispassionately.

“In the end, I will win again and we will pick up where we left off.”

Our plan was working, sort of. He had just admitted to his responsibility for the massacre. He said it loud and clear, everyone heard him. Everyone except Sarah, who was three hundred yards away staring at us through the scope of her sniper rifle, waiting for the signal. Once I raised my hand, she was going to put a bullet in his head.