Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny (22 page)

“You decided to wait,” I surmised. She let out a long sigh.

“Yes. I didn't know what to do at first, and then I hatched a plan. An ingenious, evil plan that even you would admire.”

“You're the one who talked him into coming back here,” I exclaimed suddenly. Her lips stretched into a tight thin line; perhaps it was supposed to be a smile.

“Yes. I had to be certain they were okay. When we drove up and I saw you, that's when I finally knew. See, I thought you were dead too. That's what they’d told me. When I saw you, I knew you had the kids and I knew it was time. When you brought up Julie’s murder and he…” Her voice cracked and she started sobbing. “He smiled. The bastard smiled about her death. He stood there, smiling like he’d done something wonderful.”

She didn’t have to explain further. We watched his remains burn in silence.

I couldn’t kill her.

Janet Frierson, my mother-in-law, the only surviving grandparent of my children, had been an insufferable pain in my butt off and on for a long time now. I’d sworn to myself more than once I needed to kill her, but in the end I couldn’t do it.

“We’re going back to the school and I’m going to ask if they’ll be gracious enough to put you up for the night.”

“Zach, what about my grandbabies, are they okay?”

“Yes, they’re fine. They’re with Kelly.”

“Kelly?” I nodded. “I thought she was killed too,” she said quietly.

“So did everyone else, but she’s alive and well. I’ll tell you about it sometime. You should know, she and I are together now.” I let that sink in and waited to see if she had some kind of snide remark. If she did, I was going to kick her out of the truck right then and there. Thankfully for her, she kept any opinion she may have had in the matter to herself.

“Can I please see the kids?” she asked pleadingly.

“Not today. Tomorrow, perhaps.”

“And then what happens?” Yeah, it was a good question. I sighed deeply as I thought it over.

“I’m going to discuss it with Kelly and I’ll ask her if it would be okay if you lived with us.” I couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of my mouth, nor could I imagine this bitch living under my roof.

“With my grandbabies?” she asked. I nodded. “I’d really like that,” she said quietly.

“If she says no, I’m going to respect her decision and I’ll get you located somewhere else.” I stopped the truck and stared at her.

“I want you to understand this next part very clearly. If she agrees, I expect you to be a positive influence in the family, especially with your grandkids.”

“You can count on it, Zach.”

“And, I don’t want to see any of that old Janet Frierson crap.” She looked confused at this statement, so I jogged her memory. “Like the time you plotted to kill Rick and me, remember that?” Her face paled a bit and she looked at the floorboards. “That kind of bullshit is over with. Do I make myself clear?” She swallowed heavily before responding.

“You won’t have to worry about any of that, I only want to be with the kids.” I stared at her for a long thirty seconds, wondering if I was going to regret this decision. I hadn’t realized my left hand was now resting on my thigh, my little finger actually touching the end of my lock-blade knife where it peaked out of my pocket. It stayed there for a moment longer, before I took my foot off of the brake.

When we got back to the school, everyone was eating their lunch in a subdued silence. Justin jogged over to meet me as I got out of my truck, but stopped short when he saw Janet. I walked over to him.

“How’s everything?” I asked.

“I believe everyone is going to be alright. I’ve invited them to stay as long as they needed to rest up and recuperate.” He saw the expression on my face. “All weapons are being stored in the radio house, but I promised to return them when they left.” I nodded as he eyed Janet, who had not moved from the passenger seat. “What’s up with her?”

“I’ll explain in a minute.” I turned toward Janet.

“Did you bring anything with you?”

“I have a bag in Al’s - in the Colonel’s Humvee.”

“Why don’t you go get it and put it in the truck,” I suggested. She did so without complaint. I saw Sarah talking to the soldier who identified herself as Sergeant Benoit and motioned her over. When Janet was out of earshot, Justin lowered his voice to just above a whisper. The smartass in me would point out that the proper term is
sotto voce
.

“I thought you were going to kill her.” I nodded slightly.

“Yeah, I thought about it.” I started to explain why I didn’t, but found myself at a loss for words. Justin must have sensed it and nodded his head in understanding.

“I hope you made the right call, bro,” Justin said and then stopped talking as Janet walked up and tossed her bag in the back before getting in.

“Is it over, Zach?” I looked at the ground and sighed heavily.

“I think so. At least, it is with Coltrane, but who knows what’s down the road. Only time will tell.”

“I understand,” he said. I wasn’t going to go on and on about the soldiers who went to my house and killed everyone. Maybe they were all dead, maybe some, or all of them were still alive. I’d deal with it if I ever found them.

“What’s going on?” Sarah asked when she joined us. I briefly filled her in.

“So, I have a favor to ask you.” Here it goes. “Would you mind if Janet stayed in the tour bus with you for the night? I’m not so sure it’d be safe for her to stay here with these soldiers. They might take it personally.” She stared at me pointedly.

“It’s your bus, Zach. Your call.”

“It’ll just be for one night. I’d like some quality time with Kelly and I’m going to ask her if it’d be okay if Janet lives with us.”

“Alright, I understand. Suggest to her that she should behave herself.”

“I will.” I turned to Justin.

“I’m going to get my family.” Justin grinned.

“You do that; I’ll take care of everything around here.” He reached out his hand and we shook, which turned into a hug.

“We won, Zach,” he said as he slapped me on the back. “I thought for certain we were all dead.”

“Nah, we had an angel watching over us,” I said and quickly grabbed Sarah in a hug. She smiled, in spite of herself.

“Alright, I’m going home. I’ll see you guys first thing in the morning, say about seven.”

“We’re living at Fred’s house now,” I explained as I drove. “I’m going to drop you at Rowdy’s bus for the night. Sarah, that’s the Air Force Officer I was talking to, has been staying there and she agreed to let you stay there for the night.”

“Oh, she’s going to
allow
me to stay there?” Janet asked with a little bit of a haughty tone.

“Yes, she is. I thought it was very nice of her, considering. Now, let me tell you something. Things have changed since you’ve been gone. You should consider yourself a guest and treat your hosts graciously.” She didn’t answer, and instead pursed her lips.

“Right?” I admonished.

“Okay, I will.”

“I hope so, Sarah has a low tolerance level.” A few minutes later, I drove up to the tour bus.

“I’ll come by and get you in the morning and have an answer for you.”

“Please bring the kids with you.”

“I will.”

In spite of my anxiousness to see my loved ones, I took a roundabout route back to the old tire shop. I turned onto Old Hickory Boulevard a couple of miles west of the shop and started working my way toward it when I came upon three zombies aimlessly wandering down the road.

“Fuckers,” I muttered as I stopped the truck. They were all young men, maybe even my age. I stared at them a moment trying to see if I recognized any of them before remembering I had three very important people I was on my way to pick up. All three pressed their ugly faces up against the protective wiring and one of them attempted to open the door. They made it easy. I used the little Marlin twenty-two and quickly put some rounds into their brain pans.

Per our prior discussion, I briefly flashed my lights, letting her know that it was safe on my end. After a few seconds, Kelly reciprocated with a flashlight through a window. I jumped out and met her at the door as she unlocked it. When she had the door open, I stepped inside and grabbed her in a hug.

“I have quite a story to tell you,” I said as my kids began demanding attention. I went over to the couch they were sitting on and gave them each a hug. It looked like they’d been going to town with some coloring books. Even the coffee table had been drawn on. Kelly sat beside me.

“What happened?”

“Let’s get out of here, I’ll explain on the way.” I said. She smiled and we began hurriedly packing up the kids’ clothes. “We’ll come back for the semi later,” I said. Kelly didn’t argue.

“She really cut his throat?” she asked.

“Yeah.” After getting home, we had an upbeat dinner, with the exception of Frederick wanting to throw some of his vegetables instead of eating them. Callahan ran over and sniffed them, but didn't eat them. Apparently, he didn’t like vegetables either. We got them to bed early. Satisfied, Kelly and I made a beeline to our own bed where, after some quiet but intense lovemaking, I filled in some of the blanks that I didn’t want the kids to hear.

“Holy shit,” she said when I had finished the story. “Where is she now?”

“She’s staying the night in the bus with Sarah.” Kelly chuckled.

“Poor Sarah.”

“Yeah, it’s just for the night, but she’s going to need a place to live,” I said tentatively.

“Are you asking me if she can live here?”

“She could be a big help with the kids, and around the house.” Kelly was silent for a long moment. I was afraid of this.

“If you say no, it’s no problem. We can put her up in one of the houses around here. I don’t think she and Sarah could live under the same roof and Tonya is probably the same way, although I can ask.”

“No, she’s staying here,” she said, although there was no joy in her tone. “I hope she’ll behave herself.”

I was the first one up in the morning and I hurried out to flip the circuit breakers, hoping for a nice hot shower with Kelly. It was a little difficult waking her up, but I insisted.

“It feels wonderful,” she said.

“Anything for my girl,” I responded as I soaped her up. She smiled at my antics.

“You’re being awfully attentive.”

“I missed you,” I replied. “Spending a night without you disrupted my Zen.” Kelly chuckled.

“That’s a unique way of putting it, but I agree.” We kissed each other deeply. “What’s on the agenda today?” she asked.

“I promised Justin I’d meet them at seven. Do you want to go?” I asked as I soaped up.

“I’d love to, but do you think the kids will be safe?” She made a good point.

“You and I are going to have our M4s in our hands the entire time. If anyone even looks at them the wrong way…” I rinsed off quickly and hopped out of the shower.

Sarah was sitting outside reading a book when we drove up. She dog-eared a page and stood as we got out and gave Kelly a hug.

“How’d it go?” I asked. Sarah shrugged.

“She ate a little bit and then passed out. She was pretty exhausted. How’d it go with you guys?” she asked Kelly.

“It was a very long twenty-one hours and seventeen minutes without my sweetie, but we’re all good now,” Kelly said with a grin and casually held up her hand, showing off the diamond ring. Sarah looked at it and eyed me.

“I take it the two of you are engaged?”

“I suppose so,” I replied and looked at Kelly, who was giving me one of those looks.

“I mean, yes, we are totally, absolutely engaged.” Sarah smiled and tousled my short hair.

“Oh, and we talked last night. Janet’s going to move in with us. I’m going to find another bed and move it into the kids’ room.”

“I think she’ll like that,” Sarah said. “She talked about it a little last night and was worried you two would reject her.” Janet must have heard us. She stepped out of the bus and tried to put on a cheerful smile.

“How’d you sleep?” I asked. She started to answer and then saw the kids sitting in the truck. This time her cheerful smile was genuine as she opened the door and hugged them both. Kelly nudged me.

“Okay, I didn’t like it, but maybe it’s a good idea after all,” she whispered.

“Time will tell,” I whispered back and then spoke up.

“We’re heading over to the school.” Janet’s smile immediately disappeared.

“I don’t think I can do that,” she said worriedly. “Can’t I go home?” I felt Kelly touch my shoulder.

“I’ll take her home.”

“Yeah,” Sarah added. “Ride with me, Zach, and I’ll bring you home after.”

We arrived at the school promptly at seven. Surprisingly, there were two guards on duty. One of them was Private Mann, the other one was Gus. I looked at the Marine warily. He’d cleaned up since yesterday. I suppose Tonya allowed them to shower. He saw me studying him.

“I’m thinking you’re not so sure you care for me,” he said.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“I don’t want any trouble,” he said. “Gunny’s given us the rundown and told us the rules.” I nodded slowly, not having much to say on the matter. I looked around and saw some stakes in the ground off to the side of the drive. It looked like someone was planning on building something.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen two guards on duty at one time,” I commented.

“Sergeant Smithson is making changes,” Gus said with a disapproving frown while the Private looked at us curiously.

“What is this?” I asked.

“We measured it all out about an hour ago. Gunny is going to build a guard tower here,” the Private replied and pointed. “He said we’re also going to dig a trench along the road all the way to the Interstate and have an LP too.”

“Yeah, whatever that is,” Gus said sarcastically. The private eyed him before speaking.

“Everyone is inside waiting on you two.” I nodded and found a place to park.

The aromas of a freshly prepared breakfast permeated the school and made my mouth water as soon as we walked inside, and even the atmosphere seemed upbeat. Everyone was chatting between mouthfuls. Ruth saw us as we walked in and fast stepped our way.

“We have some big news, but first I want to introduce you two to the rest of the group.” She walked us over to a table where all of them were sitting off to the side.

“For all of you who didn’t meet them yesterday, this is Zach and Sarah.” She pointed at a couple who were sitting together.

“That’s Mike and Mary Wagner, they’re nurses.” Both stood and smiled nervously as they shook our hands. They were a pleasant-looking couple, dark skinned, friendly expressions. Ruth continued and pointed to each as she named them.

“I think you guys met Sergeant Benoit yesterday, her first name is Rachel. Sergeant Caswell’s first name is Brandon, and that’s Specialist Gentry Franks. All three of them are Regular Army.”

“Call me Goober,” Specialist Franks said as he stood with a grin. “Everyone else does.” He shook our hands exuberantly. He was lanky with an overly long neck which he attempted to abrogate by keeping his head dipped low. “I sure appreciate y’all not killing us.”

“You sound like you’re a southern boy,” I said. Goober nodded.

“Born and raised in a little town outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. It wasn’t called Mayberry though,” he said, laughing at his own joke.

“And you saw Private Mann outside with Gus,” Justin said. “I’m going to go relieve them in a minute.”

“But first, we have some news,” Ruth said. “We talked long into the night and a vote was taken.”

“Oh?”

“And it was unanimous.”

“What was unanimous?” Sarah asked.

“All of them want to stay here,” Ruth proclaimed. I looked at Justin in surprise.

“We’re tired, Zach,” Mike, the nurse, said. “All of us have been walking on a tight wire for the past few years and when the colonel arrived, it got even worse.”

“We just want a place to live in peace and quiet,” his wife added. “We want a place we can call home.”

The rest of them nodded in agreement.

“I woke up this morning to children laughing and playing,” she continued. “It was a pleasant way to wake up.”

“That’s wonderful,” Sarah said as she eyed Rachel. Kelly agreed. When I didn’t reply immediately, she goosed me in the ribs.

“Yeah, sounds good.” I know it didn’t sound very welcoming, but it was the only thing I could think of at the moment.

“So, counting the colonel and Janet, only eight of you got out?” I asked. I’d chosen to sit with the newcomers, hurriedly ate a plate, and now had my notepad out and asking questions as quickly as I could write.

“There may have been some others who escaped,” Mary, a buxom woman with a distinct Jamaican accent, said. “There were some of those big military vehicles missing when we made it down to the garage.”

“And the LAVs were gone,” Goober added and looked at me. “That stands for Light Armored Vehicles.” I already knew that, but I smiled and nodded politely.

“There might have been others on the upper floors,” Mike said. “But, we had no way of getting to them. We were communicating with handheld radios, but when the generators died, we had no way of recharging them.”

“Yeah, when the generators ran out of fuel, everything went dark except for the battery-operated emergency lights, but that just seemed to add to the eeriness of the whole thing,” Mike said.

“It was pretty chaotic,” Mary emphasized.

“We could hear gunfire on the other floors,” Brandon added and looked around. “But it eventually stopped. We didn’t know if that meant they’d killed off the zombies or they’d been overrun.”

“What was the issue with the generators?” I asked.

“Them doctors insisted on running those generators all day,” Goober said. “Me and a couple others tried to tell them we only had a limited amount of fuel, but they wouldn’t listen to us. So, they dried up right at the worst time.” He shook his head and rubbed his face.

“The generators were set up in the parking garage,” Goober continued. “A group was told to go down there and use the diesel from the vehicles to refill the tanks and get them restarted. They never got them restarted and they never came back.”

“We think they’re the ones who took the LAVs,” Brandon said. “You know, sinking ship and rats, all that stuff.” He then realized he was also speaking about Justin, Ruth, and Grant. “No offense.”

“Can’t say I blame them,” Goober muttered.

“Gunny was smart, they left right when it all started,” Brandon continued. “We waited a little over three days before the colonel finally gave the order to evacuate.” He shook his head in disgust. “A lot of good people died in those three days.” That must have been around the time Janet planted the seed, I thought.

“What was the plan?” I asked.

“Work our way to the parking garage, load up the LAVs, and bug out. Getting down to the parking garage was fairly easy, but once we got there we lost ten people.”

“They’d found a way in and were waitin’ on us,” Goober said. I looked at Brandon, who shrugged.

“I don’t know if they were expecting us, but there was a bunch of them massed around the doors. I’d say there were about a hundred or more.”

“What happened?”

“We took them out, but like I said, it cost us ten in the exchange.” He looked sidelong at his companions. “The colonel seemed to think that was perfectly okay. Anyway, the plan was to take the LAVs, but obviously they were gone. So, we took the Humvees, which don’t offer much protection. The only saving grace was Goober and Mann; they manned the M60s and cleared us a path. It wasn’t until we were clear of Atlanta that Colonel Coltrane told us of our actual destination.”

“What about the other doctors?”

“They were all trapped on the third floor,” Brandon said. “There were a few attempts to rescue them, but the stairwells were jammed packed after the first day.”

“No other survivors?” They all looked at me sadly.

“None that we know of,” Mike said.

“And the rest of Atlanta?”

“Gunny can answer that best,” Brandon said. “He led most of the patrols around the area.”

In fact, Justin and I had already talked about it. He advised all he ever saw was zombies and dead bodies. So, in all probability, any survivors had bugged out of Atlanta long ago. I continued peppering them with questions and wrote down everything they said.

“We were more or less in siege mode,” Brandon said. “There were simply too many of those things wandering around the city to do much of anything. We should’ve gotten out of that place a long time ago,” he lamented.

“But, they wouldn’t leave because of the labs. They were obsessed with finding a cure and we’d all heard about you,” Mike said, gesturing toward me. “The colonel believed you were dead, so your kids were VIPs.” I digested what he said and looked pointedly at him.

“I have a question and I want an honest answer.” I hooked a thumb at Justin and Ruth. “Don’t worry about them, you can speak your mind here without worrying about it.”

“Ask away,” Mike replied.

“How did Major Parsons treat my kids?”

“Like they were his own,” Mary said immediately. “Nobody mistreated your kids, Zach. We believed they were our last best hope for humanity.”

“If nothing else, they were spoiled rotten,” Rachel, who had been quiet up until now, added. The rest of them chuckled. I glanced over at Justin and Ruth. They looked back as if saying, are you satisfied now?

I caught Tonya eyeing me. I excused myself and walked over to her.

"Are you really going to let these newcomers live in the school?" I asked.

“I think it’s a good idea, Zach, but we’re going to need more beef cattle. A dairy cow or two would be nice also.” I eyed her. “Well, you practically dumped those two sisters and that kid on me.” I didn’t dump them, they made the choice on their own, but I didn’t argue the point. I was frowning, but I nodded.

“We should be able work something out.” Tonya smiled in victory.

I sat on the den floor and played with my kids until they could hardly keep their eyes open. They didn’t want to go to bed, but when I tucked them in and lay down beside them, their heavy eyelids slammed shut within a minute. I quietly left the bedroom and joined the women in the kitchen. Kelly gestured at the wind-up clock on the kitchen counter.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s only six. That son of yours is going to be rarin’ to go at about four in the morning. You’re on your own with that,” she said while smiling sweetly. I chuckled.

“I understand. What are y’all talking about?”

“While you watch the kids tomorrow, we’re going to find Janet a bed.”

I smiled. “Yeah, okay. I’m going to check around outside before it gets too dark out.”

“Shit,” I muttered. I saw them as I approached the gate. There were three of them, and it looked like one of them was actually trying to climb over the gate. I took no chances and dispatched them with my shotgun. Kelly met me at the door and I explained.