Zombie Rules (19 page)

             
“Sure. This thing will be a gas guzzler, but we may be able to use it.” To our surprise, it started right up. “How much gas does it have?”

             
She looked at the gauge. “Almost a full tank.”

             
“Awesome. Can you drive it?”

             
She grinned. It was a grin I was quickly beginning to like. “One way to find out. What do you have in mind?”

             
“Let’s take it home with us.” I said.

             
Julie followed me closely. I bet she thought I might try to speed off and lose her. The truth of it was, I was lonely. Very lonely. Achingly lonely. I could have done without a woman I suppose, if Rick were still alive. He and I were a good team. We worked well together and I enjoyed his company. I was no hermit. I needed a friend and a partner. Being an incredibly cute female the same age as me might work out very nicely. I hoped.

             
We neared the intersection where the road to the farm intersected with the state highway. I pulled over and stopped about a hundred yards away.

             
“What are we doing?” Julie asked when she got out.

             
“Let’s park this van off the side of the road right here. It’ll be a backup vehicle.” I said.

             
She gave me a confused look. “I don’t understand.”

             
“We have plenty of vehicles at the farm, three automobiles, two tractors, and two ATVs. We need to spread it out. We’re going to start parking backup vehicles at various locations.”

             
She nodded in understanding. “Ah, smart.” She gave a small frown. “We should disable it somehow, so nobody else can take them, but it needs to be something that we can fix quickly.”

             
I nodded in surprise. I had not thought of it. “That’s a good idea.” I pondered it over for a minute and then opened the fuse panel located on the side of the instrument panel. Sure enough, there was one fuse I could take out and the van would not start.               “Okay, you see which one I’ve loosened?” Julie pressed up against me and looked closer. Macie was the last girl who had pressed up against me. Even though both of us were wearing heavy coats, the close contact was making me nervous.

             
I cleared my thoughts and explained. “This way we don’t have to do something outside of the van to get it going, and it’s a quick fix. Just open the panel and push it back in.” I took the key out of the ignition and put it under the visor and straightened. Julie straightened as well, but remained standing next to me in the doorway of the van.

             
“See, we’re making a pretty good team already.” She looked at me expectantly. “Have I done a good job today?”

             
“I must admit, you have.” More than you think, I thought silently. You’ve made me smile. I’ve not even felt like smiling since Christmas.

             
“Good enough to deserve a hot shower?” She smiled hopefully.

I laughed now. Something else I’d not done in a while. “I don’t see why not, I could use one as well.”

              I stopped at the head of the bridge and used the binoculars on the house, which was about two hundred yards away. It was on a small rise about thirty feet above the level of the creek. Nothing appeared out of order. I got the backhoe out of the way and motioned for Julie to drive the truck through. I’d been leaving the concertina wire out of the way because it was such a pain in the ass to move into place, but now I painstakingly strung it across the bridge and tied it down. Larry and Curly ran out of the barn to greet us, and after we petted them they ran over and sniffed Moe’s ass.

             
“You get your clothes inside. Oh, and I found some fresh sets of bed linens. How about changing out the beds? I’m going to get the rest of the stuff and get the gas stored. Then, we’ll get the generator going and start supper.”

             
Julie smiled again. “Okay.” She grabbed an armful of stuff.

             
I have to admit, I got everything unloaded, the gas stored, and the generator going quicker than I ever had before. I was a little winded because of it, and took a moment to catch my breath before I went inside. “Hey, it’s me.” I said as I walked in the door.

             
“In here!” She replied. I walked in my bedroom. She had taken her jacket off and hung it up in the closet. The tee shirt advertised the Fayetteville High School. She had lost even more weight since I had last seen her. Still, my loins were awakened. “Oh, I guess I should have asked first. Can I share drawer space with you? I don’t have anywhere to put these clothes. They won’t take up much room.”

             
“Oh, I didn’t think of it either. Sure, no problem. You’ll be using Rick’s bed while he’s gone. On our next scavenging trip we’ll see if we can find a suitable bed for you. We have an extra bedroom. It’s full of stuff at the moment, we’ve just been using it for storage. I can clean it out and fix it up.” There was a moment of awkward silence while we stared at each other’s feet.

             
“I got the generator on. It usually takes about fifteen minutes for the water heater to warm up. I was planning on fixing up a casserole dish. I kind of just mix different stuff together and cook it up. Does it sound okay?”

             
“It sounds wonderful! Let me wash my hands and I’ll help.” I nodded appreciatively. I did not want to be constantly chiding her about hygiene. I washed up in the kitchen and went to work with the newly acquired copper cookware. Julie joined me a few minutes later. “Those are nice. They look like they were expensive.”

             
“I imagine they were. Did you know copper is an incredible metal? When it is heated, it can actually kill bacteria. It has a very high thermal conductivity as well. Copper was used in cookware before the birth of Christ. Did ancient people somehow know that it killed the bacteria in the food they were preparing?”

             
I don’t think she was impressed. She shrugged and pointed. “So, what are you going to dump in there?”

             
Note to self: not everyone is impressed with your factoids of information. “I thought I’d boil some rice, we’ve got some ground burger I put out to thaw this morning. I’ll cook it and then throw them into a pot together. Add some chopped onions, some salt and pepper, tomato sauce, throw it all together, stir it up, put it all in a casserole dish and then put it in the oven for about twenty minutes. The recipe book calls for cheese, but we’re out at the moment.” I remembered the last time I cooked up this particular dish it was pretty bland. I got some salt out of the cabinet and put a decent amount into the heating water.

             
“What do we have to drink?”

             
“Right now, just grape Kool-Aid and coffee.” I said. “I’m out of sodas and juice. Sorry.”

             
Julie shook her head. “No, don’t be. It all sounds delicious.” She grabbed the box of rice and began to open it, but stopped. “Zach, I have this speech prepared and I was going to do it over dinner, but I’ve got to get it out of me.” She turned and looked at me. “I was a real bitch before, and I want to say that I deeply regret my behavior. And, it was really stupid of me to go along with mom’s bullshit. For some unknown reason she has to create drama wherever she goes. I went along with it, although I’ve no idea why, so I guess I’m just as guilty. When you guys made us leave, I was missing you before we even made it halfway down the road. When that asshole thought he was going to rape me, I kept thinking if you and Rick were around he’d be too afraid to ever try something like that. And, I kept watching all those so-called men. It was like the difference between night and day. You two plan, organize, and take action. You’ve got your shit together. Those idiots don’t do much but sit around smoking weed and talking in one syllable words about their glory days in high school. You would have thought Jason was the next Peyton Manning or something, the way they talked.”

             
Yeah, he was going to be a superstar, but it did not matter anymore. I really did not want to talk about them at the moment. Maybe later I’d fully debrief her about them.

             
She continued. “Anyway, what I’m saying is, none of us appreciated you two, me especially, and I am truly sorry. I’m so glad you found me when you did. I feel like I’ve been given a second chance and I’ll try my hardest to make good on it.”

             
I must admit, it really did sound sincere, but just in case, I was still going to sleep with my gun. I responded with a small grin. “Apology accepted. I think the water is hot enough for you to take a shower. I’ll get dinner finished up. It should be ready by the time you get out.”

             
“Would it use too much hot water if I shaved? I haven’t done that since the last time I was here. My armpits feel like two miniature jungles.” I said it would be fine, but I honestly wondered how long it’d take to shave a month’s worth of growth. “Thanks Zach, you really are a good guy.” She said quietly. She began to walk back to the bathroom. I turned toward the stove. She suddenly kissed me on the cheek and then hurried to the bathroom before I could react. The boys were sitting there on the kitchen floor, raptly watching the whole encounter. I guess it was more entertaining than sniffing each other’s ass.

              I did not sleep well. It must have been something to do with the way she smelled after she got out of the shower, her scrubbed face with no smudges of dirt. Oh, and the shiny damp hair she had carefully combed out. Maybe it was what she was wearing when she joined me for dinner, which was one of my flannel shirts, some socks, and nothing else. At least, nothing else I could see. I imagined she was wearing a pair of those sexy panties I was tempted with earlier. I stole a few looks at her legs. They had a wonderful silky smooth, freshly shaven look.

             
We conversed as we ate.

             
“Were you involved in any sports when you were in high school?” She asked between bites.

             
I nodded. “Cross country track. I was a long distance runner.” Being tall and skinny were positive attributes for long distance running. “How about you?”

“I was on the swim team, but I kept getting ear infections so I quit. After school I had a part time job at a grocery store. Were you planning on going to college?”

              I nodded. “Sort of. I was going to need a scholarship, or become hopelessly in debt with student loans. I had considered joining the military after graduation, but my Grandmother and Rick both were against the idea.”

             
“Rick was against it? Isn’t he a veteran or something?” She asked.

             
“Yeah, he was a highly decorated Vietnam vet. He said the military isn’t so bad as long as nobody was shooting at you.” We both laughed at his logic. There was a pause in conversation as we ate. I decided I needed to make sure Julie was on the same page as me.

             
“Okay, let’s talk about some slightly serious stuff.” I said.

             
Julie stopped with a fork halfway to her mouth. “Okay.” She replied quietly.

             
“Well, where to start.” I scratched my chin, much like Rick would scratch his beard. “Lately, I’ve been a little bit depressed.” Little hell, I was so far down in the doldrums I was ready to eat a gun. I squashed the thought and continued. “I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, the world as we know it has irrevocably changed and it will not recover anytime soon. You seemed to have been in a bit of denial the last time we spoke about it.”

             
Julie nodded. “Yeah, I guess I was. It was really hard for me to get it, you know?”

             
“I agree. It’s a real kick in the ass when you get over the denial stage and realize it. I let it get the better of me, and I had become quite depressed.”

             
“What about Rick?” Julie asked. I suddenly realized I was speaking as though Rick were not around. I had to be more attentive.

             
“We never discussed it directly, but I think he knew. I had been doing a lot of moping around. But, I got up this morning and made a decision, enough moping. I am going to survive no matter what happens. I’m going to make it work. It’s not going to be easy. In fact, it’ll probably be tough as hell. There are going to be a lot of obstacles along the way and a lot of long days with very little sleep. If you want to be a part of our team, I need to know if Rick and I can count on you.”

             
Julie started to answer and I held up a hand. “Before you respond, let me give you your options. Stay with us and you can expect a lot of long days, hard labor, and orders being barked at you constantly, which you will be expected to follow without argument. If you want no part of it, it’s no problem. We can set you up in a vacant house, or we can even rig up that van for you to travel and live out of until you find other people to join up with.” I took a breath and was about to continue when Julie stopped me by tapping her glass of water with a fork.