Zombie Rules (39 page)

             
“I believe you’re right young Zach. Those two are a scouting team. They drive around at night looking for lit up homes and such. Once they find targets, they report back to their boss and come back with the rest of their buddies. It kind of makes me believe we’re dealing with somebody with military training. Somebody who has a tricked out school bus with machine guns. ”

             
“We could be overestimating them, but I doubt it.” I said. “Look at them. They’re too careful to charge us and they haven’t tried to take us out with a sniper rifle. They’re with the Captain’s group alright, and they want to find out where our honey-hole is.”

Fred was kneeling beside the truck. He spit again. He seemed to do that a lot when he was conflicted or worried. “We need to either engage or get away from them. We can’t lead them back to where we live.”

              I agreed. “We’ve got to lose them. The only way we can do it is by driving without headlights. I’m not so sure I can drive the truck with the night vision gear. At least, not with the little gremlin inside my head pounding on it with a hammer. What about you?”

             
“I suppose that I can try. Either way we’ll have to unhook the trailer or we’ll never lose them. Another option is we can meet them head on.”

             
I definitely did not want to get into another possible gunfight before I had even healed up from the last one. I voiced this opinion to Fred. He grunted in reply. “Okay, how about this. We unhook the tanker. I’ll leave a note on it trying to establish the infamous vestibule of barter and invite them to join us tomorrow morning for some merry conversation on the CB. It’s the only way we’re going to be able to shake them. They can conceivably follow us all night with night vision. I think they’ll get greedy and go for the tanker. We’ll have lost them by the time they get going again.”

             
“Alright, sounds like a plan, but I sure do hate we’re going to leave this diesel for them.”

             
I grinned in the dark. “We may be leaving the diesel and a nice tanker for them, but how far do you think they’re going to get without lug nuts on the wheels?”

             
Fred worked quickly with the lug wrench while I kept watch on the scouts. Afterword, we got a good chuckle out of our cleverness with the lug nuts. Fred made good time and we were home within twenty minutes.

             
Fred stopped at the bridge, took the night vision gear off, and looked at me quietly. “Zach, there is something I want to talk to you about.”

             
In retrospect, I should have begged Fred not to go through with his idea, and we should have killed those two scouts when we had the chance.

             
“Okay, I see the big dipper, but where do I look now?”

             
I took her hand and pointed with her finger. “Go up the outer edge of the dipper, now do you see the Cassiopeia group?” Julie was lying beside me. She shook her head. “It’s five stars shaped in a W. The middle of the W and the outer edge of the dipper line up. Right in the middle is the North Star, in between the two constellations. It is part of the little dipper, which is known as Ursa Minor. It’s the star at the end of the tail.” It was an unusually warm night for the first of May. After dinner we found ourselves outside, lying on the ground, looking up at the stars.

             
“The sky is so clear out. There must be a billion stars in the sky.” I grunted in agreement, although her estimate was very low. “Who is Cassiopeia?”

             
“She was a queen in Greek mythology. Let’s see, she was the mother of Andromeda. She was a vain woman and once bragged Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, which are sea nymphs. Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say. So, as punishment, the two of them were banished to the stars, or something like that.”

             
“You are really smart Zach, have you always been that way?” Julie asked.

             
“He has.” I looked over. Macie had joined us. The constant ringing in my right ear had kept me from hearing her walk up. “He was always correcting our teachers. It didn’t win him any awards, but the teachers soon learned not to challenge him academically. May I join you two?”

             
I was about to tell her to go wash the dishes, but Julie spoke up quickly. “Sure, we were just lying here looking at the stars. It’s so clear out tonight. Zach said it’s because there is not as much pollution and no city lights reflecting off of the atmosphere.”

             
Macie awkwardly worked her way to a supine position and lay beside us. It wasn’t long before Curly trotted up and worked his way in between Julie and me. “You’re right, it’s really clear out. It reminds me of that old Don McLean song, Starry-Starry Night. Oh look!” Macie pointed. A bright meteor streaked across the sky, leaving a greenish tail in its wake.

             
Julie gasped delightedly. “You know what it means? We get to make a wish.” I chuckled. She reached over Curly and goosed me. “You go first Macie, what do you wish for?”

             
“Easy, a healthy baby.” She said.

             
“That’s a great wish! You next Zach.” Julie said.

             
I shrugged. “I’ve got so many popping up in my head I don’t know which would be the best one. What about you?”

             
She grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Oh no, you’re not getting off so easily. Name three.”

             
I chuckled. “Okay, let’s see. A good crop, the death of all zombies, a live rock concert.” I got a small laugh out of both of them.

             
“I want us all to be a happy family, I want my little brother, and I want to give you a son.” The last one shocked me. I looked over at her. “Macie and I have been reading up on childbirth. Fred found some of his mother-in-law’s nursing books.” She had rolled over on her side to look at me, now she rolled back and looked at the night sky. “It’ll work Zach, just you wait and see.”

             
I smiled in the dark. It was a beautiful night. I did not have the heart to tell them Fred was leaving.

              After dispatching the two scumbags, I was inclined to get in my truck and leave the boy. But I was concerned. I got to within ten feet from him when I stopped suddenly. I was dumbfounded for a long five seconds.

“Tommy.” It was all I could say. He was crying and trying clumsily to pull his pants up. He stopped when he heard his name and turned to look at me. His mind was not the quickest. It took at least twice as long for him to recognize
me.

“Zach, is that you?” He had forgotten about his pants and just stood there staring at me. He suddenly remembered his two assailants and looked them over. The fear on his face was apparent. “Did you kill them?”

              I nodded. “Did you know them?”

             
He sniffled and wiped his nose. “Yeah, they were mom’s friends. I didn’t like them.” So, his mother had found yet another group to hook up with, and her son has to suffer for it. Figures.

             
“Get your pants fixed Tommy.” I said. I could inspect him for injuries at a later time. “So you and your mom found another group of people to live with?” He nodded. “Are there more than these two?” He nodded again. “How many of them are there?”

             
Tommy looked at the sky a moment and then started slowly counting on his fingers. “There are seventeen.” He said it slowly, but with resolve.

             
“Does that include these two men and your mom?” Tommy nodded slowly. He did not understand why an accurate count was important.

             
At my direction, Tommy showed me the car they had been using, which was a beat up Chevy Yukon. It had an odd assortment of stuff in it. They had been on a scavenging mission as well. With Tommy’s help, I transferred anything I thought was of value into my truck. We managed to get the two inside the SUV. I then shoved a rag in the opening of the gas tank and set it on fire. It was an easy way to conceal evidence. Their friends would find them eventually, and maybe even figure out what happened, but no reason to make it easy for them.

             
“Zach?” Tommy asked. We had been silently watching the SUV burn. I looked at him. “Can I come live with you? I don’t like those people. They’re mean to me and make fun of me.”

             
I patted him on the shoulder. I had a flashback of Felix always patting me on the shoulder. “Sure buddy.” I looked somberly at him. So much had happened since I last saw him. Good, bad, and downright ugly. I had a lot of questions about this new group and what his evil mother had been up to, but first we needed to get out of there. The gunshots and the fire would no doubt bring unwanted attention. We got in my truck and headed out.