Surviving The Dead: Heartland Zombie Apocalypse Vol. 1 (11 page)

Blade decided to train Crystal just a little harder than everyone else.  After the first day Amy came by his apartment and when he let her in she slammed him up against the wall. 

“Blade what is this crap your pullin on the Captain?  Why don't you treat her like everyone else?”,   Amy demanded. 

Blade was reminded of why her squad name was Flame. The men in the squad had called her Flame initially because of her fiery red hair and stunning looks.  However, when cornered or angry like now she would erupt. 

“I treat her that way cause she needs that.  To be Captain she needs to know that she can lead this militia.  It is important that everyone sees that she is twice the soldier they are.”, Blade answered calmly.

Amy nodded, “All right then, but you pull any crap on her you answer to me.”

After the second day of training and Crystal showed no signs of backing down.  Blade grudgingly decided to help her out. 

On the ride back to the compound Blade called out to Crystal, “Crystal?”

Crystal turned to look at Blade and angrily cocked an eyebrow.  While training Blade was in charge and Crystal was the raw recruit now away from there her position required respect.

“er Captain I've been thinking”, Blade corrected himself 

“Thinking is good”, Crystal responded. 

“Captain what you need is something to increase your reach.  I thought we could speak to Mr. Canales to construct a weapon for you.”, Blade explained. 

“Thank you Corporal I'll look forward to see what the two of you come up with”, Crystal replied.

A couple of days after describing the weapon to Mick, He and Doug showed off their handy work before the crew left for the day.  The first thing Crystal noticed was Doug was walking.  He chuckled at her amazement and then propped his leg up and raised the pant leg. 

“I whittled a new one.  I'm no good just sitting around.”, Doug professed.

Mick handed Crystal the equalizer, “I think this is what your looking for, Doug did the checkering and carvings and helped me steam it into shape”, Mick  announced.

The men had turned a length of hickory into a dowel, then steamed it and bent a “L” at one end.  Mick forged iron points to attach at each end and finally fitted a forged pistol grip handle at the balance point perpendicular to the “L”.  Doug checkered it at each end and then carved ICE and CRYSTAL above and below the handle.  The equalizer ended up at just under three pounds and about thirty inches in length.

Crystal gave each of the men a hug and a kiss on the cheek, “Thank you so much I can't wait to put this to practice.” 

“Our pleasure Captain we just tinker around in the shop at night anyhow it was nice to actually have a project to work on”, Mick confessed. 

Then Crystal spun on her heel looked at Blade, “Don't we have somewhere to be Corporal.” 

“Right you are Captain.  Load up we're burnin daylight”, Blade announced. 

Yep this had to be the strangest CO that Blade ever had, but maybe she was exactly the type of person to lead in this new world.

A few days later and the initial training and testing on the captive dead had been completed.  Blade had selected the team members for the first phase of Crystal's plan.  Keeping true to her promise to Mac to keep this plan under wraps, Crystal had yet to tell Tobin that she would be leaving for a few days.  As a way to break the news to him more gently, Crystal chose to hold a small house warming party in her new apartment.

The gathering was small, besides Tobin she invited Percy and Mae and Matt and Amy, giving Amy another chance to socialize with Matt.  Tobin stopped by early to help Crystal setup for the get together hors d'oeuvres and cocktails.  There was really little to do to get ready, the couple did adjust the scant amount of  furniture and Tobin setup his MP3 player for some background music.

The first to arrive were Percy and Mae, Crystal went to greet them promptly when they knocked, “Come in, come in.  I'm so glad you came.”

“I hope ve are not to early.”, Percy expressed.

Before Crystal could answer Mae went up to her and hugged her tight, “Dot I am so happy you moved in next to us.  I just wish you were home more so we could visit.”

“I'm sorry work does keep me busy.  I am pleased we are able to get together this evening.  Have I introduced you to Tobin?”, Crystal asked as there was another knock on the door.

When she greeted Matt and Amy at the door Matt said, “Buenas noches.  Pueda tenemos permiso para entrar.” 

He smiled and then repeated in English, “Good evening,  May we have your permission to enter.”

“Oh yes please, come in”, Crystal  replied. 

Matt went on to explain, “Amy had told me this was a housewarming for you and I was trying to figure out a gift for you.  Then I remembered when I was setting up systems in Costa Rica the hospitality they prided themselves on.  One of those traditions was to show respect for the homeowner, by asking permission to enter.” 

Crystal smiled, “Thank you I truly appreciate that”

Guiding the pair to a seat Crystal asked, “Speaking of systems how are things coming here?”

“Uh oh, now you've opened a can of worms.”, Amy joked.

Matt chuckled, “She's teasing.  I need to talk my way through the process and Amy has been a good listener.  I think I can give you the short version.  The solar panels should be operational over the next couple of days. The big project is the greenhouses we're building in the atrium of two of the buildings.  By fall we'll be able to have fresh veggies all winter.  Mick expects to have wood boilers in place in a couple of weeks to heat the buildings and hot water.  He even has a plan to run the generators on wood gas, so we have a back up to the solar.”

“Ve certainly have a talented group here.  Mae and I vere fortunate to spend our retirement here.”, Percy exclaimed.

Crystal patted the old soldiers arm, “I for one thank my stars your here too.”

Percy smiled at the young woman, “Sank you.  I'm not sure Mister Grey is feeling so lucky right now.  I had better rescue him from Mae.”

The rest of the evening continued along pleasantly each of them sharing a little about their life before the outbreak.  Eventually Mae was beginning to weary and Percy ever attendant to her needs said good nights for the two of them and led Mae home.  Not long after that Matt and Amy excused themselves to leave as well. 

Tobin helped Crystal straighten up and when done he cornered Crystal and slid his arms around  her waist.  Crystal  reached up and clasped her hands behind his neck and looked deep into his eyes.  Tobin bent down and slowly kissed her.

“So are you going to tell me what you and Amy were avoiding?”, Tobin asked bluntly.

Crystal blinked a little surprised at Tobin's perceptiveness, “It was for Mae's sake, were we really that obvious?  I had already planned on talking to you after everyone left tonight.”

“I know you pretty well Crys.”, Tobin replied.

Crystal had Tobin take a seat with her on the couch, “We've been studying those things.  Learning what attracts them, how they move, and how to take them down.”

Crystal paused to study Tobin's reaction, but he had on his poker face, “I asked Blade to make a team of the best, to clear the area around our camp.  We'll be able gather more supplies and scout out places to go to if we ever have to leave here in a hurry.”

“Sounds like a reasonable plan.”, Tobin stated urging Crystal to reveal the rest.

“With more field experience we'll be able to build more teams and expand out.  Eventually we expect to be able to clear a whole town, like Lexington.”, Crystal finished studying Tobin's face for any reaction.

“Crystal do you honestly believe our little militia can take on all the dead in Lexington.  I was there, I barely got out and you want to charge into that?”, Tobin asked heatedly.

“Give me more credit than that Toby.  I said we've been studying the dead.  We'll lead them out and into a trap where we can dispatch them.”, Crystal retorted her resolve evident.

“You've been saying 'we' a lot does that mean you are one of Blade's crack team?”, Tobin questioned.

“I am.”, Crystal answered proudly.

“How long do I have to sit here worrying about you?”, Tobin said softly.

Crystal held both of Tobin's hands, “A week, but we should be in radio range for at least a part of each day.  We'll send in regular updates.”

“I worry about you, the thought of losing you ...”, Tobin confessed 

“You got a pretty good hold of me right now lets see where that takes us” Crystal told him coyly.

Crystal slid her arms around his neck and Tobin leaned in for a kiss.  One of his hands caressed her hip, the other other slid up her side and then fondled a breast.  Crystal laid back, across Tobin's lap and smiled up at him.  She enjoyed  the tenderness of his touch and the way he looked at her.  Tobin slid his hand over and began unbuttoning Crystal's blouse.  A sudden nervousness gripped her and Crystal stayed his hand. 

Seeing the confusion and desire in his eyes Crystal muttered,”I'm so sorry Tobin I thought I was ready for this, I'm just not.” 

Tobin was a little hurt, but he smiled at Crystal, “You know when I graduated high school I gave up all hope of ever being with you.  Now we are closer than I ever imagined, I can wait a little longer.”

Tobin could scarcely believe the change in his relationship with Crystal.  Growing up as next door neighbors he and Crystal had always been close first as playmates and later more like friends.  Tobin couldn't remember a time when he didn't harbor a crush on Crystal.  There were times when he thought she felt the same. 

When he was fifteen their fathers had planned a deer drive on their adjoining properties.  Tobin and Crystal were set together as standers, while their fathers attempted to push a deer to them.  A buck broke cover and Tobin was able to get off a clean shot dropping the deer.  Crystal let out a cheer and then gave Tobin a congratulatory hug.  With her jumping around a strand of her hair slipped out from her hat into her eyes.  Tobin slipped off his glove and tucked the strand back in and in a moment of bravery warmed her cheek with his palm.  Crystal enjoying the warmth of his hand tilted her head into his palm and held his hand in place with hers.  Their fathers arrived soon enough to check on the success of the shot and ended the moment.

As a sophomore Tobin worked up the courage to ask Crystal to prom, but by the time he asked she already had a date.  Their ways separated after that.  Crystal started college and took a part time job and when Tobin graduated high school he moved away to attend culinary school.  Tobin wasn't sure if their meeting up again in this band of survivors was destiny or dumb luck.  Which ever it was Tobin was thankful for it.  Now that he was on the verge of having the romance that he always dreamed of, he was fearful it was going to be taken from him.

A day later and the team was making final preparations to head out in the morning.  For this initial team Blade had chosen Amy, that was a no- brainer they had served together long enough.  Justin was his next pick, he was young, but had military training and understood how to take and give orders.  Hank was a pretty ordinary guy yet kept his calm no matter how stressful Blade made the situation.  Blades final pick was Crystal, a choice he made grudgingly, but Blade couldn't deny she had earned her spot.

Amy was  no stranger to the diversions that kept a soldier from over thinking the outcome of a mission.  Growing up an army brat the service had always been enough for her.  It is not that she didn't have lovers, recreational sex was one of the best ways to relieve the stress of combat.  Until she met Matt Brenner and his kids that had been enough.  Travis and Cassie she understood they were army brats too.  Matt was completely different than any man she had ever known.  At first blush she thought of him as a tree hugger, but then he proved he could handle himself in a fight, he was so smart and he absolutely doted on his children.