Zombie Rules (25 page)

             
Somewhere, she heard a small voice telling her she had missed all of the front shots and did not hit Chad until he was driving past. She hoped Zach would not notice. She continued staring at Chad. He was quite dead. She was still staring at him when she heard Zach’s voice.

*****

              I ran as fast as I could. It was about a hundred yard jaunt around a blind curve. I had no visual whatsoever of Julie and what may have happened. I had heard the gunshots, but could not be sure they all came from her weapon. As I came around the curve I first spotted the black Dodge Stratus, wrecked on the far side of the two lane roadway. I then spotted Julie standing beside the driver’s side. I slowed, held my handgun at the ready position, and approached slowly.

             
I took slow deep breaths. “Julie!” She didn’t seem to hear me or was ignoring me. “Julie, it’s me! I’m walking up!” I definitely did not want her to shoot me accidentally. I stared hard at the car, wondering who or what she was looking at. I finally got beside her and gently touched her on the shoulder to let her know I was there. She finally turned her head toward me as I was peering inside the car.

             
It was Chad, and he was quite dead. Walking over, I carefully looked in the floorboards to make sure there was nobody else. Satisfied, I reached into the car and turned the ignition off. The engine died painfully, whereas Chad probably never felt a thing.

             
Just as I suspected, they never brought anything to trade. The only things in there were a lighter and a bong. They had no other plan in mind other than killing Rick and me, and then taking what they wanted. If they had succeeded and had found Julie, well I’m sure it would not have been pleasant. The interior reeked of marijuana. I had no doubt they had gotten high on their drive over here. I guess they needed it for courage.

             
I straightened. Julie still had the assault rifle pointed at Chad, so I put my hand gently on the barrel and got her to lower it. “Was there anyone else?” She blankly looked at me and shook her head. I looked again at Chad, back at Julie, and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

             
“Good job girlfriend.” I said with pride.

             
I’m not sure what I was expecting, a proud grin? A high-five? What I got was Julie suddenly bursting into tears and sobbing uncontrollably. I reached out, took the rifle from her hands and held her as gently as I could. I mean, I had two weapons in my hands at the moment. She cried quite hard for a few minutes. Hard enough where the tears were like waterfalls and snot drooled out of her nose like a freshly turned zombie. I let her cry. I stood there quietly and held her. I guess it was the overwhelming realization that she had just killed a real live human being. She did not know it yet, but she did good.

             
I was not going to tell her the circumstances. Specifically, I was not going to tell her Chad had never fired a shot. It appeared he was not even armed. In a civilized society her act could be called murder. But I knew it was necessary. He knew where we lived. I could not allow it. However, I did not want Julie to think of herself as a murderer. If she ever asked, I did not know if I was going to fabricate a story or tell her the truth. I’d cross that bridge when I got to it.

             
After a minute or two, she seemed to gather her senses just a bit and I thought it was over. “Zach, there’s something I have to do.” Her words came out in between sobs.

             
I let go of her and stood back. “Okay sweetheart, you name it.” She fumbled with her pants, succeeded in pulling them down and then squatted right where she stood. It sounded like a Jersey cow pissing on a flat rock. I stared at her in amazement. She must have been holding it in for hours. She continued, and continued, and continued. And the whole time she was sobbing like a baby.

              After Julie finished emptying her milk jug sized bladder. She stood up, zipped up, and gave me a harsh stare. “Enough of this bullshit. I want to get my little brother.” I tried to keep a straight face. I mean, the swollen red eyes, the tear streaked cheeks, I was fine with. It actually was endearing. But, she had these two really long snot trails streaming out of both nostrils. They were like, hanging down, but they defied gravity just enough to prevent them from breaking free of her nose. I turned quickly before she saw me smiling and renewed my inspection of the remains of Chad Smith.

             
“I think we can do that.” I stood there with my hand over my face as if in deep thought, which I sort of was, but I was mostly hiding my stupid grin. I resisted the urge to call her snot face, or something equally juvenile. “What about your mother?” I asked through my fingers.

             
“The hell with my mother! I want my little brother. He’ll be safer and better off with the two of us.” I think she realized what I was trying hard not to stare at. She untied one of the burlap bags that was around her head and shoulders, and used it to wipe her face before throwing on the ground. I was about to tell her to stop wasting stuff, but stopped myself. Now was not the time.

             
I shrugged with agreement. “Alright, let’s do it. I’m thinking we should get the service van we have parked up the road. We’ve got to get rid of these bodies first. If we don’t, they’ll attract vermin and zombies. So, we load up the bodies, dump them in the sinkhole, and go get your little brother.”

             
Julie nodded. “I knew you’d think of a good plan. Let’s get going.” She did not even wait for me to respond, she started purposely walking down the highway. I hurried to catch up and started trying to at least formulate a worthwhile plan. Her mother, Trina, and even Macie might not care much for us to show up and claim Tommy. If we agreed to take them into the fold, it would probably make it easier, but to be quite honest, there was no way in hell I was ever going to accept Trina with open arms. If the two women were really holding Macie hostage, we might actually have to harm them. I had no problem with it, but I knew Julie would not hurt her mother, even if she was presently resenting the hell out of her. It could be a problem, and I wasn’t sure how it would end.

             
I was still thinking it through when we drove the van back to the bridge. I got out and guided Julie as she backed up to the bodies. I got the rear doors opened and we were about to start loading when I heard a horse whinny. I peered around the van. A cowboy was riding up on a beautiful Appaloosa horse. When I say cowboy, I’m saying he had a cowboy hat, pointy toed boots with stirrups, and a weathered duster. He was an older guy, I’d say around fifty, tall, rawboned and lanky, with a deeply weathered face. He reminded me a bit of Rick. He held a rifle casually across the saddle. It looked like a stainless model of a varmint rifle with a scope attached. I let my hand drift close to my holster and stood close to the rear of the van. I whispered at Julie. “Grab the AR, but don’t point it at him.” As he approached I waved. He responded with a wave, but kept his rifle handy. Even so, it looked promising so far.

             
He stopped about twenty feet away from the van and casually looked around.

             
“Howdy.” He said evenly. He gazed at the bodies with no change of his expression.

             
“Good afternoon.” I said.

             
“I seem to have come at a bad time.” He said. I shrugged a shoulder. “I heard all the shooting and thought I’d come see if I could help out. Looks like you two took care of it though.” He peered closer. “Were they those infected things?”

             
“No sir. I’m afraid these were real people.” I said plainly.

             
He nodded, but offered no comment. “My name’s Fred. Fred McCoy. I live down the highway about a mile or so. I’m looking for my baby brother.”

             
I walked up and offered my hand. “Zach. Zach Gunderson.” I nodded over my shoulder. “This is Julie Frierson. We’re very pleased to meet you.” He shook with a calloused hand and tipped his hat at Julie. Julie waved, but was warily keeping the rifle handy. “I’m sorry Fred, but we’ve not seen any real people in quite a while. Well, except for these.” I made a sweeping gesture. I tried to explain. “I knew these people previously and I tried to be hospitable. Unfortunately, they had other things in mind.”

             
He looked up the hill and gestured toward the house. “This is the Parson’s farm. They had a tenant living in the house. Fella by the name of Sam Hughes I believe. Is he around?”

             
He was testing me. I knew it. I hoped Julie knew it and did not say anything to get this man’s hackles up. We needed friends, not enemies. “Well sir, you are right about the Parsons, but I never heard of a Sam Hughes. My co-worker, Rick Sanders lives here. He’s the foreman for the Parsons. I work for him. When my grandmother died over Thanksgiving, I moved in here with him.” I pointed a thumb at Julie. “Now my girlfriend lives with us. The Parsons were in their winter home in Florida when all of this zombie stuff started happening. I haven’t seen them since.” Ironically, the Parsons’ winter home was in Winterhaven. Honest.

             
He took in what I said, chewed on it, and slowly nodded. “Is Rick around?”

             
“Yes sir, he is, but he’s not available at the moment.” I did not explain further and he did not ask.

             
He gestured toward the bodies. “They’ll need burying. I’ll be glad to give you a hand. We can use that backhoe there.”

             
“I’d be glad for the help, but we have a bit of a pressing matter at hand.” I motioned at Julie again. “She has a baby brother as well. He’s ten. He is currently in the custody of some people that are tied up with them.” I pointed at the bodies. “These three were a part of that group. Julie believes, and I must agree, that her brother will be better off living with us. We are going to dump these bodies down the road for now. Julie would like to get her brother immediately. Once we have him home safe and sound, I’ll dispose of the bodies properly.”

             
He digested what I said for a moment and then motioned with the brim of his hat toward the setting sun. “It’s going to be dark soon. Very risky to travel at night nowadays. Lots of black ice still on the roads and that van could slide off in a ditch before you know it. If you can hold off a bit, I’ll help you get everything tended to here. Then, if you’d like, tomorrow I’ll go along with you two.” He looked over at Julie. “Ma’am, I’d be happy to help you get your baby brother back. I’d hate to have him suffer the same fate as my baby brother.”

             
Julie was perplexed. “What happened? I thought he was alive, isn’t that why you’re looking for him?” I must admit his statement perplexed me as well, and then it came to me.

             
I snapped my fingers in realization. “Your baby brother, would he happen to be a rather large baby brother?”

             
Fred stared at me quietly, somberly. “You’ve seen him then.” I explained the encounter that Julie and I had with the huge behemoth Fred referred to as his baby brother. I omitted the nakedness part and immediately afterword Julie and I engaged in perhaps the most intense act of fornication known to what was left of mankind. Fred listened quietly. When I was finished, he slowly put the rifle in a saddle holster and dismounted. “Let’s get these bodies taken care of, and then I’d like you to take me to my brother.”

             
We loaded them up in the van and hauled them to the sinkhole while Fred followed on his horse. I drove slowly on purpose. I needed to think of the proper words to say about the late Baby brother McCoy. The sinkhole came into view too quickly. We stopped and got out. “Mr. McCoy I…”

             
“Call me Fred please.” He said.

             
I nodded and cleared my throat. “Ah Fred, about this sinkhole. Rick and I have been using it to burn trash. And, um, we came to the conclusion the best way to dispose of infected dead was to burn them.” I was not sure how he was going to react, so I paused a moment.

             
“Zach, are you saying my brother is in the sinkhole?” I nodded reluctantly. He got off of his horse and walked over to the edge. The corpse was burned beyond recognition. He stared a long couple of minutes in silence.

             
“We have no idea if people that are infected will infect other people after they are dead. And, some of those news stories said the dead could reanimate into these zombie things. This method seemed a prudent means of containment.” I could have related a few historical anecdotes to give my logic some weight, but Fred did not seem the type of person who liked big talkers. I chose silence.

             
He slowly nodded in understanding and looked at me somberly. “You did what you thought was the proper thing Zach.” He pointed. “Is that another body?” I nodded.               “Another zombie, or was it like one of them?”

             
“It was Susan Riggins. She wandered up one day. She had turned.” I said.

             
Fred sighed. “I knew her. I imagine Henry is dead too, or walking around somewhere, infected.” He took his hat off and wiped his forehead with his shirt sleeve. “I am going to carry my brother home and give him a Christian burial. I would appreciate the loan of your van.” He was quiet a moment. “I knew he had turned. He killed my wife and mother-in-law. I wanted to put him out of his misery.”