The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (174 page)

The power house was up and running. It
had taken Janna and Mike most of the last two days to calibrate the
wheel and then adjust the software. They had then gone zone by zone
and tied it all together. They were still working on it
now.

As they had run the main conduit, they
had run off to the stone houses close to the cave and the four
barns farther down the valley, and what had looked like a mountain
of wire when they had bought it back by truck, was now more than
half gone: But, Ronnie reminded himself, very Little wiring
remained to be done.

There were large underground, water
proofed junction boxes that tapped into the main line every two
hundred feet, so if they needed to add a building or someone wanted
to build a house it would be easy enough to do and they had plenty
of wire left to do it.

They had added a few extra lights: Two
for the cemetery park area by the pool. One each for the men's and
the women's bathing areas, which, even with the discovery of the
hot springs and the showers Tim had promised, were still popular
bathing and swimming areas. And one near where they intended to
build a long open gathering building where they could all get
together for dinners and picnics in the summer.

Ronnie had drawn the plans for the
building. It would be a hundred and sixty feet long by forty feet
wide. It would be completely covered and include a raised area for
a band and dancing as well as numerous picnic tables scattered
throughout the rest of the area. They had taken one of the big
stake rack tracks, journeyed into the re-forested pine forests a
few miles east of the cave and cut all the logs already. The trees
were huge, straight pines. They were now blocked and waiting for
the sawmill to catch up with all of its orders: Probably some time
around April of next year, Ronnie thought, which would work out
good.

He and Tom began to walk back toward
the power plant.

“
So how's little Tom?”
Ronnie asked.

“
He's a handful, but
Lilly's already talking about another one,” Tom said.

“
What's it feel like,”
Ronnie wanted to know.

“
Tom smiled. “Like heaven.
Like... Have you ever been sitting, relaxing, just watching the
world go by, and you realize that your life is exactly the way you
want it? Perfect? No complaints? Sun is shining and nothing at all
is wrong?” Tom asked.

Ronnie laughed. “Maybe once or twice. I
look at Amy sometimes and I get that feeling.”

“
Well, that's what it's
like every day. No bullshit either. I thought about it the other
day, and I thought, well, maybe I'm weird. I have everything I
want. All of it. When I hold him and he looks at me, he gets this
look on his face and then he smiles at me. Makes my heart skip
beats, almost cry, every time! Every day, Ronnie... I couldn't want
more than what I have. In the old world I hated to go to work. I
hated to go home from work. I hated to go down to the corner bar on
Friday nights. Sometimes, I think, what the hell there was of that
old life to like? No wonder I hated it.”

“
It's not just little Tom,
it's Lilly too: This place, but little Tom capped it. He made it
all I need,” Tom finished quietly.

They walked along. Indian summer was
waning. The hardwood forest at the end of the second valley was a
perfect riot of color. The trees that climbed the slopes of the
surrounding mountains were already dropping leaves, some trees were
bare. The ducks and the geese that had used the pond almost from
the first day of its creation were gone. Probably somewhere over
Alabama or Mississippi, Bob had supposed when Ronnie had bought it
up a few days before.

The air held a promise of snow. It was
still too warm for snow, but you could tell it was coming and
soon.

The wind mill turned in the light
breeze as they walked past. It was up, wired into the grid, but
only able to charge batteries as of now. There was some problem
with the software that would not allow it to change over and
contribute its power to the main line. Janna and Mike were working
on it.

They had put the wind mill on the spine
of the mountain, just where it plunged back down into the valley
eventually ending at the second El. It caught the winds from all
directions all day long. A second windmill was being built on top
of the mountain right by the lookout. It was one that they had
built themselves after seeing how simplistic the design really was.
It was hooked into two huge generators they had bought back on the
last trip. And a third windmill was already up and running in the
open field just below the peak. It simply pulled hot water from the
mineral pool. They had welded a thick steel tank from scrap metal,
sunk it to the bottom of the mineral pool, and then run a cold
water line in from the stream. The windmill pushed the cold water
to the unit. The pressure and the heating of the water allowed the
heated water to be distributed: The main cave, the clinic, and a
few close by places in the valley. It supplied potable water for
cooking and showering. It also dropped a line into the barn that
Josh and Shar had built in the third cave. The same windmill
provided the pressure to pump cold water to all the same
places.

The showers that Tim had promised for
the mineral pool had been put on hold when a closer examination of
the pool had discovered a small fissure half below and half above
the water line that passed into a second room twice the size of the
original room. They had widened the hole to examine the room more
fully.

The water in the second room was not as
hot as the first area, but it was a matter of degrees only, and
more than hot enough for bathing. The thinking was that they should
open up the second room by cutting a new entrance from the main
tunnel. It would mean cutting through about three feet of rock, but
Bob was sure it could be done. When finished it would allow a
separate area for the men and the women. There had already been a
few embarrassing late night encounters. Tim felt if he added the
showers now it would only add to the problem. So he had turned to
the problem of being able to reach each other.

He had decided on the FM radio band.
The individual units were easy to house in almost any area: As long
as they were charged they could receive a call. He had simply left
it to Mike and Jana to build software to make it perform more like
a phone system. Small FM antennas had gone up in several places
through the valley to act as relays. They had already used them to
talk to the settlement at the state park, so they would have plenty
of range for their needs, and they could be mobile with a mobile
unit on the same frequency. They were both wearing FM units that
were tied into the system, and the base units had been installed in
several places, although they were not yet working.

The two men continued on past the barns
and came upon a herd of Moose that tended to stay close to the
small woods that hugged the side of the valley and extended up to
the mountain ridge. The sociable animals trotted down to watch them
as they walked past and headed for the power plant.

~

Amy rubbed the body lotion across
Candace's stomach. They were both stretched out on Candace's
bed.

“
Okay, vitamin E and aloe,
and Jessie said it really will help with the stretch marks,” Amy
said as she worked her way down, over Candace's hard stomach and
onto her thighs.

“
Your stomach is hard as a
rock, Candace.” Amy said. “Mine is hard, but not that hard.” Amy
worked at rubbing out the large muscles of Candace's thighs,
rubbing the cream into her skin.

“
You're the best, Aim,”
Candace told her.

“
I don't mind. Besides when
I have twins you'll be doing the same thing for me,” Amy said and
laughed.

“
Hey, I would now if I
could move. Do you realize that the only positions I can take for
any length of time are on my side, sitting straight up and holding
my belly, or putting a pillow under it to take the weight?” Amy
nodded.

“
I can walk okay, once I
get up and moving,” she laughed. “I can't lay on my back anymore.
Even right now. A few second ago they were kicking me so hard they
made my boobs shake.” She paused as Amy snorted laughter. “Hey, for
real. And do you know what Mike did?” Amy shook her head and tried
to control her laughter.

“
Laughed, same as you, Aim,
same as you. Boobs shaking like bowls of jello, those two going at
it like it was a kick boxing match, and him laughing so hard he
cried.”

Amy let her own laughter roll
out.

“
Et tu, Aim. Et tu?”
Candace asked.

“
I'm sorry,” Amy managed.
“But it does make a funny picture.” She bent forward and kissed
Candace. “I'm sorry. I love you, Baby.” She told her.

“
You better,” Candace told
her. Because I don't know what I would do without you, Aim. I
really do love you.”

Amy stopped and looked at
her.

“
Do you think I feel any
different? I don't. I have you. I have Ronnie. The baby is coming.
That's my life. My whole life right there. You mean as much to me
as Ronnie, Candace, and that's the truth,” Amy told her. Her eyes
glistened.

“
Are you going to cry,
Aim,” she asked.

“
I don't think so. I don't
know... Hormones, I guess.” She raised her eyes from her lap where
she had watched her hands twisting. “I know what I
feel.”

Candace reached over and pulled Amy's
arm to her, Amy along with it. “I love you as much as I love Mike.
I couldn't give up either of you, and I wouldn't. I just wouldn't
do it.” she said.

Neither of them were shy about nudity
with each other as Candace was now: As Amy had put the lotion on
her skin it seemed to make more sense, but as Amy curled into her
side now it made them both more aware of Candace's
nudity.

Amy didn't seem to know what to do with
her hands, she finally rested them against Candace's breasts. “I've
been wondering when we would talk about this,” Amy said.

“
Me too,” Candace admitted.
“It's not sexual... Is it?”

“
I didn't think it was,”
Amy said. “But then I thought, well, things sometimes change...
Sometimes they change... Maybe this has changed... Maybe it's being
pregnant? Hormones? I don't know, Candace. I don't.”

Candace smoothed her hair as they
talked, sweeping it away from Amy's forehead. “I don't either,” she
said., “What I don't want is to lose you... Or Mike... Or... Any of
this. The way our lives are.”

Amy looked up into her eyes. “I don't
want to lose you and you can't lose me.” Her hand stroked the side
of Candace's stomach. “I don't think any of this will change... Our
lives, no matter what happens with us,” Amy said.

“
Really?” Candace
asked.

“
Really,” Amy said. She
raised up on one elbow and kissed Candace fully on the
lips.

~

Beth held the reins loosely the way
that Bob had taught her as she rode the horse down through the
valley. This horse seemed better tempered to her than most of the
others, still she was careful. She had been thrown twice already
with other horses that she had thought would be no
problem.

This mare was a dappled gray, and
already showing signs of being pregnant. Bob had named her Zelda. A
strange name to Beth, old fashioned, but she answered to it. Beth
had taken to calling her Zelli, and she seemed to take to that too.
She moved briskly down the valley at a fast walk, clip clopping her
steel shoes as she crossed over into the upper stretch of the
valley. A rifle hung in a scabbard off one side. Everyone was
armed, no matter where they went, it was second nature now. So when
she saw a quick blur of golden fur launch itself toward a small
calf about a hundred feet ahead of her, she pulled her rifle from
its sheath and into her hands immediately.

The gray came to a stop on its own. The
calf bawled and changed direction quickly, which caused the
mountain lion to slow and shift directions. Beth and her horse were
downwind, the lion, she decided, didn't realize they were there.
The horse, in fact, might not be aware of the lion
either.

The lion dodged back toward the calf,
and that was when Beth fired. The big cat seemed to roll into a
ball and tumble to a stop. It rose to its feet, shaking its head
violently from side to side as it tried to regain its
balance.

Beth sat in the saddle. She had been
prepared for the gray to bolt. Prepared to miss. She looked at the
lion as it sank back down to the ground and its head swiveled
toward her. She was surprised she had hit it. She was so surprised
that when the cat suddenly gathered itself and leapt at her, she
almost didn't fire.

As it was she was late, but as it also
happened the cat was all but done up. It stumbled just as it
launched and fell well short. By that time Beth had regained her
composure and fired again at the cat that had been less than ten
feet from her at that point. She hit the cat in one eye. It landed
loosely and didn't move again.

Time froze and then suddenly leapt
forward. She remembered to breathe, drew a deep breath and looked
around.

The calf had bolted back
to the herd some three hundred feet away. The cows were facing her,
horns out, obviously alarmed, ready for trouble. The big gray
snorted and then side stepped, not liking the smell of the dead
lion so close. She looked back down the valley toward the barn she
had just left minutes before. Bob and George Dell came out of the
end of the barn, looking hard in her direction as they did. George
threw his hands up in a
what's up
posture, and Beth raised her rifle and motioned
them to her with one arm, yelling
Lion
as loud as she
could.