The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (72 page)

The trucks were rapidly being loaded,
they had already switched to the second truck. Two large loads of
dimensional lumber went on the second truck nearly filling
it.

“
Hey,” Mike said. He was
standing next to a particular piece of equipment. The others
wandered over. “Damn... I'm not sure. If Bob were here he'd know
for sure,” he said.

“
Know what,” Tim
asked.

“
Know if this is one of
those whatchamacallits... You know, they go through a field of hay
and strip out the grain... If it is, we could really use it. But if
it's not one of those... Whatever they are, then we don't need
it.”

Josh laughed. “It is,” he
said.

“
Huh?” Mike
said.

“
It is...
It is a whatchamacallit,”
Josh said. “Or as we farmers call it, a grain harvester. This
is a small tow behind unit. I know... It looks huge, but there are
self contained units much bigger than this.”

Mike grinned. “You're a
farmer?”

Josh smiled back. “Yeah. A working farm
too.”

Mike looked confused.

“
That only means a real
farm. Pigs, chickens... Milk and beef cows. Crops. The whole nine,”
he said.

“
Man is Bob gonna love
you,” Ronnie said.

“
Yeah,” Tim agreed. “He
pretty much has to teach everybody what to do.”

“
Does that mean you're
coming back with us,” Ronnie asked.

Josh nodded. “No question in my mind.
It'll be good for the kids. Hell, it'll be good for me
too.”

“
Well,” Mike said, “lets
get this baby on the truck.”

It took re-positioning the trees and a
few other things, but once they made a hole the harvester loaded
right up. It was made to be pulled by a tractor, but Josh said it
could easily be converted to be pulled by a team of horses or
oxen.

Josh was impressed that they had oxen,
used them and were happy with them.

“
I've never used them...
It's a lost art,” He laughed.

The rest of the afternoon slipped by.
Once they had filled the trucks they left the cracked parking lot
and the dead behind, heading for the empty field and
dinner.

The Nation

“
Absolutely no fair,” Lilly
said.

“
She thinks I'm going to
get bigger than you are,” Candace told her.

“
No way,” Lilly said,
shaking her head.

“
Sandy thinks so,” Candace
said. “That does explain why I'm bigger than Pats and we both
conceived about the same time.”

“
Do you wish you knew what
they were... The sex,” Patty asked.

“
Sort of, but in another
way no. I like surprises. I hope Mike does,” Candace
said.

“
You could have Martians
and Mike wouldn't mind at all. He's nuts about you,” Lilly
said.

“
And then some,” Patty
agreed.

“
I think we're all lucky,”
Lilly said. “Or really blessed.”

Patty nodded.

“
So, I'm banished. Three
months of sorting potatoes, shelling peas, and your man is going to
teach me how to tan hides,” Candace said.

“
Yep... Well, join the
club,” Lilly said. “But I'm looking forward to learning how to tan
hides. We can make some baby stuff as we learn.”

“
Well I'm not grounded
yet,” Patty said. “I'm jealous.” She pointed her nose in the
air.

They were deep within the caves working
in one of the storage rooms. The air was cold. Not cold enough to
freeze, but still very cold. It was also dry air and it seemed to
suck the moisture from their hands as they worked.

One of the things that Janet had asked
for was heavy plastic storage bins, or aluminum or even stainless
steel. But she would prefer the plastic bins that would stack one
on top of the others. They would work perfectly well for what she
wanted to use them for in the storage areas, she had said. Candace
had agreed.

They all wore heavy coats, but even
with the heavy coats the cold worked it's way into them, and after
a few hours of sorting and storing potatoes they all walked back
out the long passage and into the main cave area.

They met Bob and Tom coming in as they
came into the main meeting area. The smell of cooking food hit them
and made them realize how hungry they were.

Lately they had taken to having most
meals together. That way every one would be able to catch up with
each other through the week. The evening meal bought everyone
together and it would probably continue to be a community meal
until everyone came back.

It also allowed everyone to work
straight through the days without having to worry about stopping to
prepare a meal. More work got done. One of the jobs that would now
fall to Candace and Lilly was cooking that meal. It usually fell to
volunteers anyway. This would just be a slightly longer period of
volunteering, and it was not hard physical work, but low physical
impact, which was all that Sandy would allow them to do.

Today they were having trout cooked in
fresh hay. And a salad with lettuce, radish, cucumber and carrots
from the gardens.

“
Fish,” Bob said and rubbed
his hands together. “There's something to be said for
it.”

“
Um,” Sandy
agreed.

“
You know,” Cindy said,
“I've been reading about fish, how to preserve it... smoked,
salted, we don't have a lot of salt, but we do have the smoke
house. Janet has promised to teach me how to smoke meat... And we
have all of that storage space too.”

“
But there are just so many
fish in that stream,” Sharon said. “Right?”

“
True, but there are a lot
of deeper pools, and,” She grinned. “I know where they came from.
They come from upstream. From the lake. From up top you can see the
lake... Maybe three, four miles from us... West.”

Tom was smiling. “I think I know a
young woman who wants to go fishing on a large scale,” he said.
“Got room for another?”

“
Hey!” Bob said. “Me too...
Fishing?” He shook his head. “Gotta go.”

“
I'll go,” Sharon
said.

Arlene looked at David. “Me too,” she
said.

“
And me,” David
added.

Cindy laughed. “I didn't think anyone
would want to go and there are six of us... We could go later in
the week,” she suggested.

“
Tom and I have a project
we're working on,” Bob said. He looked at Tom. “Day after
tomorrow,” he asked.

Tom nodded.

Everyone else nodded too.

“
We can take the wagon, a
good team, we'll have to take some netting... The hand nets and
poles, and...” He looked up sheepishly. “I guess I'm trying to plan
your fishing trip,” Bob told Cindy with a smile.

“
That's good,” she laughed.
“I only want to do it... I don't know how to do it.”

“
Ah... Okay, my Dear, leave
it to me. Day after tomorrow bright and early,” Bob
pronounced.

The meal continued and the
conversations went back and forth.

“
I have some news,” Candace
said. She looked at Sandy. “I was going to wait until Mike came
back, but, well, its good news.... Big news, so I'll share it.” She
took a deep breath. “I'm going to have twins,” she said with a huge
smile.

“
Now that's doing it
right,” Arlene said. “Bravo, Candace, Bravo!”

“
Wow. Mike's going to be
thrilled.” Cindy added.

“
He's going to be a good
father too. He will be ecstatic,” Janet predicted. “That's a ready
made family.”

“
My dog had six puppies
once,” Janelle said.

“
How do them babies get in
there anyways,” Rain asked.

“
Uh, we'll be learning
about that in school soon,” Lilly said, trying hard not to
laugh.

Everyone stifled their
laughs.

“
I think the baby fairy
does it,” Janelle told Rain. They both nodded seriously as the
adult conversations picked back up around them.

“
It really is good news,
Candace,” David told her. “Congratulations.”

“
Yes, Dear. I truly am
happy for you,” Janet said.

“
Well,” Patty said. She
looked over at Janelle. “It's not six, but it will do.” She
giggled. Janelle and Rain both joined in with her.

Candace giggled too.

“
Six is a lot,” Janelle
said. “This many.” She held up six fingers.

“
Exactly right,” Arlene
said. “Exactly right.”

“
She's really smart,” Mark
said.

Everyone laughed then a few moments
later the conversation moved on. The fishing trip in two days. The
corn when they got back from that. Then next week, the second crop
of Rye and Wheat which would come down to be dried on the stalk for
feed for the horses and cows. Some corn would go to the same
purpose.

Janet passed around a plate of cheese.
There were three distinct types.

Two were made from cow milk and the
last from the deer that Bob had been working with. Everyone liked
it and complimented Bob on the effort.

The meal finished up and they all
drifted off to their evening jobs. Candace and Lilly began to clean
up, joking back and forth as they did.

On The Road

When they arrived back at the field,
Nellie, Chloe and Molly were playing a game of hide and go seek
with the children, using the tent, the van and a few surrounding
trees. They all seemed in good spirits. Laughing and winded.
Molly's face sobered when her eyes fell on Mike's hand. He shook
his head to let her know that he didn't want to discuss it with the
children there. Nellie and Chloe watched the exchange and sobered
as well.

Mike laughed, and it seemed to lift the
veil that had fallen. The three women and the two children oohed
and aahed over the trucks and the trees. Molly looked over Mike's
hand.

“
Drop a tree on it,” She
asked.

“
A little more complicated
than that... I'll tell you later,” he said. She nodded, but her
eyes were serious and promised to hold him to his word. She
wandered over, slipped one arm around Nellie, and began to look
over the trucks.

The grain harvester was appreciated by
Nellie and Molly both. They had both spent the better part of two
weeks out in the fields stripping out grain by hand with nearly
everyone else.

Chloe came over to Mike and hugged him.
“Thank you,” she told him. She hugged Tim and Ronnie as well. “I
want to go back. It will be nice to have a home and people who
care... Thank you.” She walked away, and sat down with Richard and
Alicia. Alicia crawled up in her lap.

“
Are you still sad,” Alicia
asked her?

“
No, Baby. I'm not,” Chloe
told her. She kissed her on the nose.

Alicia smiled and kissed her back. She
laid her head against Chloe's chest and almost instantly fell
asleep. Chloe held her and rocked her slightly. A smile on her
face.

“
Well,” Mike said. “I saw a
herd of goats down the road on the way back. It's not exactly a
calf, but we could kill the fatted goat in celebration.”

“
Hey now,” Josh said.
“Goat's not bad at all.”

“
There's a garden we've
been going to. Someone had planted it beforehand or something, I
think. Potatoes, peppers, some melons might still be good,” Richard
said.

“
Well, I'll go get one of
those goats with Ronnie,” he looked down at his hand. “I guess
Ronnie will get the goat, I'll go with him. Give us about an hour
and we should have a goat for you. You guys get the other stuff and
we'll have us a nice dinner, because tomorrow we're pulling out. We
have a lot to pick up and then home before too much time gets away
from us.”

Tim and Rich went with Molly to the
garden that was just across the road. Mike and Ronnie climbed into
one of the Jeeps and headed back down the road.

~

They quartered the small goat and
spitted it. The potatoes baked whole on the coals as the goat
cooked. A small salad and melon slices made a good meal.

“
You got other kids in the
woods like me,” Alicia asked Ronnie who she sat next to.

“
Lots of them,” Ronnie
assured her.

“
Do you think they would
want to play with me? Because sometimes my brother don't wanna,”
she said.

Ronnie nodded. “Sure they will. They're
your age. And you'll get to play with them every day.”

“
Good,” She took a bite of
her meat and began to chew.

“
Are there other boys to
play with too,” Richard asked.

“
Absolutely. There are a
couple of boys close to your age too. They go to school. Sometimes
they go fishing, or swimming or you can slide down the stream into
the pool at the bottom. They play with the frogs at the streams
sometimes.... Brush the horses... You'll like it,” Ronnie told
him.