Z14 (Zombie Rules) (5 page)

             
“Zach, do you have any books I can read?” He asked quietly as he watched me work.

             
I chuckled. “I have lots of books. First chance I get, I’ll get you some good ones to get started on. I’ll even work up some lesson plans if you’re willing.” Lil’ H nodded his head eagerly.

*****

              The bus moved quickly and Howard struggled to keep up. Fred spoke into the microphone.

             
“Captain, we’re having a hard time keeping up with these tankers in tow.” There was a garbled response, but they finally slowed a little. On the first zombie they saw, the two gunners must have put a dozen rounds each into it. Howard glanced over at Fred and chuckled.

             
The shooting intensified as they neared the inner city. One of the gunners displayed some common sense and was making disciplined, short bursts to the heads of the unwitting zombies. Fred looked back. Andie was following two car lengths behind with her headlights off.

             
When they started over the bridge, the vehicles had to slow. There were corpses piled up, a few abandoned cars, and a multitude of infected. Even Fred started shooting now. He marveled at the obliviousness of the zombies as their companions dropped beside them.

*****

              I started talking about my favorite books, but was stopped by the sound of distant automatic weapons fire.

             
“Here they come.” I whispered. I worked quicker now. I wanted to have gas ready to flow as soon as the tankers arrived. Lil’ H nudged me and pointed. I saw the bright lights on top of the bus as they slowly made their way across the bridge firing at anything moving. The two trucks were following closely behind.

             
“You hear it H? They’re shooting the shit out of anything and everything.” He nodded silently. The convoy steadily advanced and eventually made their way into the entrance. I aimed a flashlight toward them and blinked it several times. The bus parked at the entrance and the two trucks made their way toward Lil’ He and me.

             
“Any problems?” Howard asked when they got out. He walked over to his son and instinctively put an arm around him. Andie exited her truck and followed.

             
“So far, it’s been smooth as silk.” I cupped my flashlight, giving us just enough glow so we could see each other. The first thing I noticed was she wasn’t wearing a bra. The rain was causing her tank top to cling to her skin and her nipples were poking out. I quickly looked up and spotted the black eye.

             
“What happened?” I asked. She glared at me before responding.

             
“What the fuck is it to you?” She said.

             
I shrugged. “Okay, forgive me for caring.” I changed the subject. “Fred, can I get you and Lil’ H to stand guard?” He nodded. “Howard, drive the truck to those set of pipes down at the end and Andie, follow Howard. Don’t light any cigarettes…” I was interrupted by Andie.

             
“Let’s get this over with unless you want to stand around jerking off all night.” She said.

             
Now it was my turn. Her attitude was pissing me off. “Get something straight right now. We do this my way. You do exactly what I say without your ridiculous remarks, or get the fuck out of here. I’m done trying to be cordial with you. This is a dangerous operation we’re about to attempt and I’m betting you have no fucking idea what to do.” She attempted to maintain her one-eyed glare, couldn’t do it, and acquiesced.

             
“Fine.” She finally said.

             
“Good.” I went over my instructions again. When I was finished, Howard got to work.

             
The loading platform of the fuel reservoir was designed to fill tanker trucks equipped with bottom loading apparatus. Designed for safety, there were a few of the processes and safety protocols in which we were going to need to bypass. After a long forty-five minutes, we managed to get fuel coming out of the pipeline, and filled both tankers without blowing ourselves up. I kept eyeing my watch, but we were actually ahead of schedule. It took another hour to fill the tankers. I gave the signal and Howard shut the valve off.

“Alright Zach, I think I’m going to leave everything exactly how it is, so it won’t take so long next time.” I nodded in agreement as
Andie watched quietly.

             
I looked around and saw something I missed. “We’re done here, almost.” She looked at me questioningly. I retrieved the can of spray paint and added my initial at the bottom of the rules before tossing the can back into the truck.

             
“Well, now we’re finished.” She smiled before she could help herself.

             
“Are we ready to head out?” She asked. She had slung her rifle and was holding her arms around her. The rain had cooled things down somewhat of what would otherwise be a hot August night.

             
“Yeah. We’re going to load up the john boats and will be right behind you. I’ve got a windbreaker in the truck. Do you want to borrow it?” She quickly shook her head. “Okay, if you change your mind let me know. We’ll be ready in a minute.” She stared at me for what seemed longer than necessary, and then jogged to her truck.

             
“Alright Howard, let’s get loaded up and get out of here.” We stacked the two boats on top of each other in the bed of the truck and lashed them down, then I gave a low whistle. Fred and Lil’ H jogged up and got in the truck with us.

             
“Look what I found!” Lil’ H exclaimed. He held up a black back pack.

             
“What’s in it?” I asked as Howard drove back over the bridge. We opened it up and looked inside. There was a couple of boxes of bullets, toiletries, some canned food, and a spiral notebook. I thumbed through the notebook. It appeared to be a personal journal. I put it back in the pack. I’d read it later.

             
“How’d it go with the Captain?” I asked.

             
“A little tense, but otherwise okay.” Howard said.

             
Howard offhandedly pointed in the distance. “Lots of zombies still out there Zach. We passed a lot of rotting corpses along the way, maybe thousands of them, but the Captain and his crew still killed quite a few.” I nodded. I was certain they would have all been dead by now. Fred offhandedly pointed at the bus.

             
“He had two men firing those M60 machine guns. One of them had good fire discipline. He shot in tight, short bursts. Definitely ex-military. The other one was reckless, probably shot three times the amount of ammo. I believe the Captain drove. Oh, and there were a couple of them crouched down in the bus. I just happened to catch a glimpse of them, but they didn’t do any shooting. Kind of odd if you ask me, like they didn’t want us to know they were there.”

             
“Are we still planning on standing them up at the rendezvous?” Howard asked.

             
“Damn right.” Fred responded. “The man can’t be trusted. I wouldn’t put it past him to take our tanker at gunpoint and maybe shoot one or two of us just to show us who the boss is.” Howard nodded vigorously and I had to agree as well. I reached for the microphone.

             
“Come in Captain.” I said.

             
“Why Zach, is that you?” He responded.

             
“Yes sir. The op was successful. Both tankers have been filled. How is it on your end?”

             
“We’re having a good old time here. I believe we’ve terminated over five hundred of them.” He said.

             
“Roger that sir.” I said as I looked at Fred knowingly.

             
“Those boys of his must have fired over a thousand rounds each.” He said. We were hoping they would expend as much ammunition as possible. The Captain’s voice came over the radio again.

             
“Come in Andie.” He said.

             
“I’m here.” She responded. I peered through the heavy rain and saw the outline of her truck a couple of hundred yards ahead of us. It looked like she had stopped in the middle of the street and was waiting on us to catch up.

             
“Are you good?” The Captain asked her.

             
“Yeah, we’re more than good.” She responded. I wondered if there was any code-speak going on. The original plan involved meeting up with the Captain back at Nolensville and Old Hickory Boulevard. The Captain wanted to run a debriefing and then we’d shake hands or something and go our separate ways. The three of us thought this might be an opportunity for the Captain and his crew to take us out. Or at the very least, steal our fuel. We wanted no part of it and came up with our own plan.

             
We followed at the tail end of the caravan. When we approached the barricade at Thompson Lane, Howard stopped the truck and I quickly exited.

             
Howard looked out through the mesh of hardware cloth covering the window. “I sure hope he don’t get pissed and do something to you.”

             
“I don’t think he will.” I said. The truth was I had no idea how he would react. Howard was worried, it was plain to see. He nodded, put on the night vision gear and waited. I jogged over to my Ford Ranger, which was nestled among the abandoned cars. I turned my headlights on and Howard immediately turned his off. He drove off, travelling west on Thompson Lane. They were going to take another route back to the farm while I caught up with them and maintained a fifty yard gap.

We arrived at the intersection a few minutes later.
I sat in my truck and waited. The Captain and Andie walked up a moment later. He looked at the truck and scowled.

             
“Where the hell is the tanker and your friends?” He demanded.

             
“They left.”

             
“Why? I didn’t authorize this.” The tone of his voice indicated his temper was rising.

             
I shrugged. “They had other things to do. Why is it so important Captain? We pulled off a successful mission. You now have almost five hundred gallons of gas. I had hoped you would be pleased.”

             
“Get out of the damn truck.” He snarled and reached for the door handle. It was locked.

             
“Not a good idea.” I said.

             
He paused. “And why not?”

             
“Because, when I get out of the truck it is the signal for my friends to open fire. I took the precaution to have a couple of snipers set up, in case you acted the way you are acting right now.” His eyes arched in understanding. He started to reach for his sidearm.

             
“I strongly recommend you keep your hand away from your sidearm, Captain.” He stopped and glared at me.

“Captain, I believe it’s time for you and me to have a little heart-to-heart. We are not your minions.
I would like for us to continue to work together for a common goal, but your behavior right now is giving me second thoughts.” I said.

             
He leaned forward slightly. “You don’t think I can kill you before your friends can get a shot off?” He growled.

             
I nodded slightly. “You could, but then we’d both be dead. What good is that? I’d rather us part on friendly terms, but you seem to have a lopsided perspective of our relationship. Let me edify you, you do not order us around. We do not kowtow to you. If you want a thousandth man Captain, you must be one in return. I promised you fuel, and we delivered. We don’t owe you anything else.”             

             
The Captain glared at me a moment longer. He pointed one of his meaty fingers at me a moment and stomped off. He was met at the bus by two of his men and it appeared they had a quiet, but heated discussion. Andie lingered beside my truck.

             
“He’s pissed. Boy is he pissed.” She said under her breath.

             
“Yeah, I suppose. He’ll get over it.” Andie stifled a chuckle.

             
“Are you and I going to be enemies now?” I asked.

             
She bit her lip, as if coming to a decision. “Do you know where College Grove is?” She asked.

             
“Yeah. Henry Horton Highway runs right through the middle of it, right?”

             
She nodded. “At the fork, where Horton Highway splits with Shelbyville Highway, there’s a store. We cleared it of zombies a couple of weeks ago. It’s abandoned now and I don’t think anybody goes around there. Would you meet me there in two days? At sun up maybe? By yourself?”

             
I looked at her a long moment. “Okay, if I can.” She nodded and started to say something else. The Captain yelled for her. She looked at me a moment longer and then ran back to the bus. I waited for them to drive away and then waited ten minutes more. When I was satisfied, I flashed my headlights. Julie emerged a few seconds later with her AR-15. She ran to me and got into the truck.