Zombie Rules (12 page)

             
He stood over the toilet trying in vain to press down and increase the flow of his urine stream. Damn prostate was too enlarged to have a full flow anymore. He used the opportunity to clear his head and apply some thinking. How nice it would be if Janet took a liking to him. Under normal circumstance he’d be much too old of course. But normal circumstances went to hell not too long ago, and he did not see them coming back anytime soon. He finished up, tried the faucet and saw there was just enough pressure left to rinse his face and wet down his hair enough so he could brush it out a little bit. He’d take a shower when they got back from Nashville. He knew Zach worried like an old woman about their fuel allotment for the generator. He would make an extra effort to find fuel so he would not complain. He finished up by rubbing some deodorant under his armpits and shuffled into the den to start the day. He was about to walk out when he saw his dentures soaking in a glass by the sink. He vaguely remembered dropping them on the floor next to the chair before he went to sleep. Zach must have been looking out for him-again. He rinsed them off and stuck them in his mouth.

             
Zach told Rick about Janet wanting to ride with him and that he would stay behind. Rick smiled in agreement. He opted to drive his truck rather than the old farm truck. He wanted to impress Janet. They had rigged it up in much the same fashion, and the extended cab allowed more than two people to ride. They were all armed. Rick just assumed Don knew how to shoot and Janet confirmed she did as well. Don’s weapon of choice was a twelve-gauge pump action shotgun loaded with double-ought buckshot. Rick loved his Winchester, but opted for Zach’s Colt AR-15 with his Kimber for back up. Janet had a handgun. They ate a quick breakfast.

             
Zach stood beside Rick beside the truck. “Have you checked their weapons?” He asked.

             
Rick nodded. “Yep. Did you check out the truck?”

             
“I certainly did. You have just over a half of a tank, which gives you a range of 150 miles. I didn’t fill it up all the way because now you have a place to put twenty more gallons if you run across any fuel.”

             
“I see, good thinking.” Rick looked at his watch. “Coming up on seven o’clock. We should be going. My plan is to stay on the back roads. You know how we go to Nashville when the Interstate is jammed?” I nodded. “That’ll be my route. The plan is to be home before sundown.”

             
I nodded. “Sounds good. If you’re not back in twenty-four hours, I’ll come looking for you.” Rick nodded and looked at me. We’d been together 24/7 for a month now. It was an awkward feeling knowing we were going to be apart for the better part of the day.

*****

              Rick stopped on a bridge that crossed over I-65 and scanned along the ribbon of roadway with his binoculars. “How bad is it Rick?” Janet asked. He handed the binoculars to her. “It’s pretty congested. We could get through it, but it would be slow going.” He pointed toward the Interstate. “There are a lot of choke points. If there are thugs out there, it’d be easy to set up an ambush at any one of them.” Don had used the binoculars and nodded. “We’ll stick to the back roads. Once we get to Franklin Pike, it’ll go straight into downtown Nashville. We’ll be able to see the stadium before committing ourselves to crossing the Cumberland River. If there is a FEMA camp set up, we should be able to see it.”

It sounded simple enough. And it would have been.

              If not for the zombies.

             
They got as far as Broadway and 8
th
Avenue, about where the Federal courthouse is/was located. As Rick approached the intersection, Don gasped and Rick let out a concerned, “Oh shit.”

             
“What?” Janet was in the back seat and, at Rick’s direction, had been spending most of her time gazing out of the back window. She turned and looked out the front. “Oh shit!”

             
Rick was both amazed and frightened. “There must be thousands of them!” They were a variety of age, race, and gender, and they seemed to come out of nowhere. They must have been very hungry. The leading edge of the horde swarmed the truck. Rick punched the gas, running over several. One got hung up under the truck, but Rick did not slow down. He accelerated and turned down a side street.

             
“Rick!” Don yelled. “There are cars blocking the street!” Rick slowed only a bit, hopped a sidewalk, and performed a high speed U-turn that would have made any stunt driver proud. He hopped another curb and raced diagonally through a parking lot which was surprisingly empty of cars due to the entrances being blocked off by chain and padlock. Rick grunted, and bypassed the chained entrances by jumping the curb on the far side of the parking lot. He narrowly avoided wrecking into several abandoned cars and eventually made it back onto Eighth Avenue. Rick put distance between them and the horde.

             
“Holy shit that was close!” Rick shouted. “There is no way we could have killed all of those motherfuckers before they ripped us apart.” He glanced over at Don and Janet as he drove. They nodded in agreement.

             
“Nice driving big guy.” Janet said. She leaned forward and tousled Rick’s hair, much like she did with Zach earlier in the morning. Rick stole a couple of additional glances at his passengers. Both had broken out in a nervous sweat, which was understandable. Janet was fine, just working off the jitters. Don though was a deathly shade of pale and staring straight ahead. Rick looked back at Janet and inclined his head toward Don. Janet’s smile faltered. “Don, are you okay?” She asked.

             
Don did not answer immediately. In fact, Janet finally had to gently shake his shoulder to bring him back to reality. He slowly looked over at Rick. “There is no FEMA camp, is there Rick?”

             
Rick slowly shook his head. “If there was, it’s long gone now. We can ask Zach, but it could be, I’m thinking the reason there were so many zombies packed together is because the camp people became infected. I think the Titan’s stadium can hold something like 70,000 people. If there were a FEMA camp set up there and they all got infected…” Rick left the sentence unfinished. He hoped he sounded as smart as Zach.

             
Don looked defeated. “What do we do now Rick? We left our home. We thought we were going someplace safe. Now we have nothing.”

             
Rick slowed down to a tolerable speed and glanced over at Don. “It’s not a problem Don. You got your family out alive. That’s the most important thing. Zach and I can get you guys set up in a new home. Hell, our nearest neighbors, the Riggins, their house is empty. It’s a pretty nice one too. Five bedrooms, three full baths. I know for a fact they have clean well water. We can set up a generator to power the place. I helped Henry install two wood stoves, so Zach and I can help y’all with the wood for the winter.” As he spoke he looked on his windshield. The snowflakes were much thicker now.

             
Rick took a few slow deep breaths to calm his nerves, stopped the truck, and made a full circular scan. Seeing no zombies, he took the opportunity to get out and check the undercarriage. The carcass of the zombie was lodged in the wheel well. Fortunately, most of the body had been ground down from begin drug along the asphalt. Rick had Don turn the wheel in one direction and he was able to work the upper half of the Torso loose. As he pulled it out, the zombie’s head turned toward Rick and attempted to bite him. Rick quickly dropped the torso and kicked it away from him.

             
“Holy shit, did you guys see that? The fucking thing is still alive! There’s nothing left from the waist down but it’s still alive!” Fucking amazing, Rick thought. He got back in the truck and locked the door.

             
“Alright you two, downtown Nashville is definitely a no-go. The snow is getting heavier and will probably drop a couple of inches before the day is over. We need to start heading back, but there’s no reason why we can’t make this work for us.”

             
“What do you have in mind Rick?” Janet asked worriedly.

             
“We scrounge around and try to find stuff. We’ve been on the road two hours now and have nothing to show for it. Let’s at least attempt to round up some supplies.” Janet looked at Don and nodded. Don still looked pale, but he did not argue. Rick tried to recall everything on Zach’s list. The boy could sure write a lot of lists. He tried to get Rick to take it with him, but he refused out of nothing more than pure stubbornness. The easy items to remember were gas and food, but there were a lot of other things the two of them thought up and dutifully listed. He scratched his beard as he drove and looked around. He stopped in the middle of the Wedgewood intersection. There were two convenience stores on opposite corners. The windows were broken out and they had obviously been looted. Rick used the binoculars to confirm the shelves were bare. He drove slowly south Eighth Avenue and made their way into the community called Melrose. There were some fast food restaurants they checked out, but the freezers contained only spoiled, foul smelling food.

             
“We’re not having much luck today.” Janet said.

             
Rick started to agree, but then he stopped suddenly. Don and Janet looked at him questioningly. “There.” He pointed to a full service gas station on the corner a block away. It was old and poorly maintained, but it appeared to be still functional and up until recently had still been in business.

             
Rick and Zach had agreed one of the many items they had a need for were tools. They had quite a few back at the farm, but as any real man knew, one can never have enough tools. He scanned the area with his binoculars once more. Satisfied there were no major threats, he put the truck in drive and headed toward the building. Rick circled the building and then parked among some abandoned cars.

             
“Okay, let’s keep it simple. We’ll clear the building and then you two stand guard while I go to work. Who knows what kind of goodies may be in the service bays. And, we must be quiet. Zach and I saw firsthand these things are attracted to sound, and to a lesser degree, movement. If you guys spot any, don’t yell or do a lot of frantic moving around. Whisper just loud enough to get my attention. Got it?” He got a nod out of Janet, Don was still silent. Rick stifled a sigh. He hoped they did not do something stupid and get them killed.

             
The three of them exited the truck and shut the doors quietly. Rick left his rifle in the truck, opting to keep his hands free and using his Kimber, but only if he had to. He got a pry bar and went to the front door, which was a standard glass with a steel frame. He tapped on the glass softly. “What are you doing?” Janet whispered.

             
“Remember what I said? They’re attracted to sound. If there are any of them in there, they’ll come see what the noise is. If there is anyone living in there and if they are halfway smart, they’ll know zombies don’t knock on the door before breaking in.”

Janet looked at the door, looked at Rick and smiled. She grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.
Unlocked.

             
Rick stroked his beard gruffly. “Smartass.” He whispered. They cleared the building slowly and clumsily. Several times, he caught Janet waving her gun back and forth and cringed inwardly. He was somewhat worried she would accidentally fire off a round and he would get hit. They did not work very well as a team. Rick missed Zach already. The two of them had practiced over and over the fine art of both surreptitious and dynamic room clearing. Zach was a natural. Janet and Don were clumsy oafs.

             
Once Rick was satisfied the building was clear, he quickstepped over to the service bay. He looked at the two and grinned. “God may be smiling upon us. Look.” He pointed at a utility truck. It was a Chevy Silverado 2500. It had the utility package with tool boxes mounted on the sides. The ensemble was completed with a welder and a generator strapped down in the bed. The keys were still in it. “Let’s hope the mechanic finished working on it.”

             
Don wasted no time. He went over to a mechanics tool chest, a large Snap-On brand. “Lots of good tools in here. We should take these.” Rick agreed with a nod. They spent the next forty-five minutes unloading the chest, and then manhandling it onto the back of the truck before reloading it. Rick went outside and got the hand pump out of the truck. Janet saw what he was doing and began unloading their five gallon gas cans. Good, he thought. She’s finally starting to understand what needs to be done. He decided there was hope for her yet. He caught himself staring at her breasts longingly. So did Janet.

             
“You want to get your mind back on the task at hand?” She said without warmth. Rick snorted and started pumping gas out of the underground storage tank. It took almost an hour, but they eventually got everything they could. He even filled up both trucks, which he almost forgot about.

             
Rick stretched and looked at the sky. The snow was coming down very hard now, limiting how far he could see to just a few yards. It’s going to drop three inches or maybe more, Rick thought. It was getting colder as well. Time to go.