The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (120 page)

“
I'm sorry that your girl
had to go back,” Bear said.

“
It's okay,” Tim said. “I'm
actually relieved... Especially after what happened with Nellie and
Molly.”

Bear nodded and the silence descended
once more. He felt used up, out of words. He scuffed at the ground
again with his boot heel, shifting gears, pushing the remembering
out of his head, wondering what he would say to Cammy, whether Beth
would be able to talk.

The Nation

“
Hey,” Cammy smiled. “I
thought you were just going to go on sleeping forever.”

Beth levered her arms down to scoot up
in the bed and nearly banged the stump of her arm against the side
of the bed before Cammy stopped her.

“
Honey... Honey... Your
arm. You have to be careful,” Cammy told her. She took her under
the arms and lifted her gently back into the pillows.

“
Oh God,” Beth whispered
through her dry lips as she stared down at the stump of her arm.
“Somebody chopped off the rest of my arm.” Her eyes came up to
Cammy's own.

“
Honey, Sandy had to take
it. It was infected,” Cammy told her. She gently pushed her back
into the pillows. Sandy appeared over her shoulder with a wooden
cup of water. Cammy took it and helped Beth to take a sip. “Easy,
Honey, just go slow,” she told her.

Beth cleared her throat and took a
larger sip. “Oh my God... I have such a bad headache. Kind of sick
to my stomach too.”

Sandy took her hand, and her fingers
rested lightly against her wrist for a moment, feeling for her
pulse. “The stomach is a couple of things, most likely. I have no
idea when the last time you ate is, but I would bet it's been a few
days. Pain killers and penicillin on an empty stomach are tough. I
gave you a sports drink when I could get you to swallow, but you
need real food. The headache is probably the morphine. You've been
living on it the last few days. I can give you some aspirin for
that.”

“
She told me I couldn't
have aspirin,” Beth said as she looked at Cammy. “Said I had to
have the Morphine.” She licked her lips for what seemed like an
hour and then took another deep sip from the glass Cammy still
held.

“
She wouldn't take it at
first, true,” Cammy agreed with a laugh.

“
Said I had balls... Thinks
I don't remembner... Rember,” she sighed.

Cammy laughed.
“
Remember...
Remember, Honey. Yes. I asked you if you
had
balls,” she turned to Sandy and
her arched eyebrows. “She wanted to take only aspirin after Bear
took her arm off.”

Beth nodded. “I did. She talked me into
Morphine, and now look at this... I woke up with the rest of it
gone too.”

“
Only from the elbow down,”
Sandy said. “You're lucky.”

Beth tried a lopsided smile on and then
took another sip of the cold water.

“
Listen, Honey, you needed
the Morphine. You still do, really, and you can still have it if
you want it. It just plays hell with your body when you've been on
it a few days,” Sandy told her.

Beth took a deeper sip that was more
like a real drink. “That is really good water,” she
said.

Cammy and Sandy both laughed. “How
about a sandwich, soup, broth? What do you think you can handle?”
Sandy asked her.

“
I think I can handle some
more water,” Beth said.

“
I'm sure you can. And you
need liquid. I just want there to be some nourishment in it,” Sandy
told her.

“
Hot anything doesn't sound
good. My stomach is still off,” Beth said.

“
How about some cooled beef
broth? Soup? Doesn't have to be hot,” Sandy agreed.

Beth swallowed, took a deeper drink of
the cold water and nodded.

Billy And Pearl

“
Bill, Billy... William?”
Pearl asked.

“
Billy's good,” Billy told
her. “William makes me feel... too high class, I guess.”

Pearl laughed. “It's not wrong to think
proper of yourself.”

The two were walking slowly down
through the valley. Billy looked around at the valley. “You came
with them? Helped to build this? It's awesome... really
incredible.”

“
I would love to say it is
so, but no, I was here visiting family, in the states, I mean. I
came across country with friends I only met them after the fact.
I've been here about three months so far. I believe this place
began in April. I arrived in June,” she brushed a shock of thick
brown hair out of her eyes and looked up at Billy. “I did help to
build the second and third barns. The rest has been catch what
comes, for all of us really.”

“
I could listen to you
speak for hours,” Billy said. He blushed a second later. Pearl
blushed too and looked up at the clear blue sky and then back down
at the stone path they walked. “What will you do?” Pearl
asked.

“
Well, I'll wait for Bear
to come back. When we left, we really didn't talk about it. I just
don't know yet.” He looked up at the sky and then back down to the
stone flagged pathway. “He may not want to stay.”

Pearl nodded. “And if this Bear of
yours decides to go, then you will go with him, I suppose. That man
thing. All for one and one for all... follow you to the ends of the
Earth?”

Billy laughed, but stopped when he
looked back down at Pearl. “I...” He started. She smiled up at him,
and he lost his words.

“
I didn't mean to do that
to you,” she said. “Take away your words.”

He thought of a dozen retorts but said
nothing for a second. “Well, maybe I would have said something
dumb. I wouldn't have meant to. I suck at conversations like this,
Pearl.”

She nodded. “Is she your
girl?
Jamie?”
She
blushed harder. “You don't have to answer; it's really not my
business. I'm sorry.”

“
No... No... Don't be
sorry,” Billy told her. “Is she my girl?” He looked at her frankly.
“No. Probably was once upon a time. In fact
was...
but I screwed that up, like a
few other things I've done.” Billy looked away.

“
Look,” Pearl told him.
“Doesn't matter. I pry too much sometimes. I know that about me.
Come with me if you like. I have to make a patrol. Just the
valleys, foothills, takes most of two days to do. I have a truck
with four wheel drive, a camping tent that I never use, and I go
around and check all the perimeters. Boring, I suppose, unless you
like the solitude... the mountains,” She smiled up at him. He
towered over her by at least a foot. “I promise, no dead people, at
least there never has been. Of course I'm looking for them though,
aren't I?”

Billy laughed. “Just like
that?”

Pearl stopped on the path and looked up
at him. “Just like that? What did you think, then?”

“
Uh... I.”

Pearl burst into laughter, slipped her
arm through his and pulled him forward once more on the path.
“Rattled you. I did, no use contradicting it.”

Billy laughed after a second. “You did.
You did,” he caught up, leaving her arm where it was. “So two
days?”

“
You'll love it,” she told
him.

“
Okay. What do I need to
do?”

“
Not a thing. No one to say
goodbye to?”

“
No,” Billy
agreed.

“
Then we go.” She pulled at
his arm. “Come on. I'll show you the truck.”

The Nation

Beth sat up on the edge of the bed, got
her feet under her and then stood. “Whoa,” she said as she sat back
down.

“
Slow, Honey,” Susan told
her. Susan was on one side, Sandy on the other, Cammy anxiously
standing in front. “Take a deep breath or two. Let the
lightheadedness pass.”

Beth did as she was told, the
lightheadedness passed, and she stood once more. This time her feet
felt steady. Her stomach did not flip flop. All three of the other
women hovered close by but did not attempt to help her. She laughed
nervously and then walked to the door.

“
Hmm. A little shaky,”
Sandy said. “You feel up to an outside trip?”

“
Oh, God yes. Please,” Beth
said.

Cammy laughed. “She will never be any
sweeter,” she said.

All four of them laughed. Sandy stepped
ahead, opened the door to the room, and Beth followed her out into
the main cave area.

Beth looked around as she walked
through the main area. “I had no idea it was so big.” Her eyes rose
to the ceiling some hundred feet above her.

“
This is nothing, only the
main meeting room. The passages go all through the mountain. It's
riddled with them,” Susan told her.

Sandy swept open the main door, and a
cool breeze came in as she did. The four women stepped out onto the
rock wall edged ledge and its view of the valley below.

Beth drew a quick breath. “My God, it's
so beautiful,” she said.

Cammy came up behind her and rubbed one
hand across her low back. Beth turned and looked at her. “Anything
else?” Beth asked.

“
No. They're on the way,”
she told her.

“
Cammy,” Beth
started.

Cammy shook her head. “I know. He told
me that he told you, and what he told you was the truth.” She
smiled as she finished. Susan and Sandy slipped past them and
walked over to the long waist high rock wall that had been built on
the edge of the ledge. Beth looked pensive, but allowed a smile to
float up from the depths of her worry. She made her way across the
ledge and looked down into the valley.

“
It's so pretty,” Beth
said. She breathed in the cool, fresh air.

“
You are officially off bed
rest,” Sandy said.

Beth smiled. Her eyes slipped over to
her arm and the thick pad of bandage at the elbow. She sobered, but
as her eyes swept back out into the valley, the smile surfaced once
more and stayed. Cammy settled beside her and looked out onto the
golden foliage of the trees and the tall golden-brown fields of
wheat.

“
I will never leave here,”
Cammy said.

Beth nodded.

Cammy looked at her. “Do you think this
can hold him?”

Beth shook her head, but the smile
stayed. “I don't think a woman or a place can hold Bear,” She
said.

Cammy nodded, her face a careful
mask.

“
Feel up to a short walk
down there?” Sandy asked.

“
I say, let's go,” Beth
answered.

“
You get tired, say so,”
Susan told her.

“
She will,” Cammy said. She
linked one arm through Beth’s good arm, and the four women started
down the ledge that dropped down into the valley.

On The Road

Bear dropped to the ground across from
Mike, reached over and handed him a hot cup of coffee. He leaned
back against a tree trunk behind him and rolled a
cigarette.

“
On our way?” Bear asked,
after he had lit his smoke and taken a deep pull. He let the
blue-gray smoke drift from his nose as he held Mike's eyes with his
own.

“
Jessie's up to
it.”

Bear nodded.

“
What is it, Bear?” Mike
asked. “What's on your mind?” It was the first time he had ever
seen Bear looking uncertain.

Bear shrugged. “A few things I guess.
Like, what do you do to keep safe now? I mean, who does that? Are
there patrols of some kind?” His eyes held Mike's own. “The thing
is, I can not imagine life without drama.”

Mike nodded. “You'll miss it, or you
hope to never see it again?” He paused for a second. “We have a
patrol. Small, but effective, I think.”

“
Hmm. Good question, isn't
it? I don't know. I think for a short time I'll be glad not to have
it, and then I think I'll start feeling tied down. I don't know if
I want to be tied down again... ever.” He cleared his throat and
then continued. “Have you considered a farther reaching patrol,
like a patrol that comes out here, running for the stuff the Nation
needs? You know, like making it a fulltime thing. Wouldn't that
make sense? I'm talking about something close to a military outfit.
We could fight the dead - that might have to happen - keep them
away. There are Army bases just sitting around out here full of
weapons. We could get them. We could keep roads open, a lot of
things, Mike. I guess I sound kind of crazy, but I think some day
the Nation will need it. It will need it, because there will be
those who will bring it to us if we don't bring it to
them.”

Mike nodded. There was nothing he could
say. Whatever Bear had meant, whatever he was alluding to in the
first part of his statement about being tied down, was for himself
alone. Mike did not understand it. The second part he did
understand. It had been on his mind recently. “You volunteering? I
mean, if there was such a thing.”

“
Yeah. I've thought about
it. It feels like a place I could fit,” Bear agreed.