The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (33 page)

In the end, they cleared out three
stalls that they could work in. Molly stayed, and not long after
Nell found her way over and began to work side by side with
her.

The garage was a prefab steel building
that, either because of a whim of the Gods' or its design, had
remained standing. By the time some others were returning with a
cow and two large does in the back of one of the pickup trucks, the
garage was ready to go. Molly and Tom wheeled out a towering
chain-fall for the hunting party to use to dress out the animals
and then went back to work.

~

By late afternoon the third Suburban
was well under way. The lift was done, brush-guards installed and
they were working on the carrying racks. Mike and Ronnie stopped by
to look over the effort and were amazed. The Suburban looked like
something that had rolled out of some sort of Safari outfitters
garage, or a futuristic end of the world epic, Mike joked. But that
sent them all into silence for a few moments, and Mike didn't
mention it again.

Molly and Nell were working on bolting
a huge winch to the front bumper of one truck while Tom and Bob
worked on stripping out one of the pickups to get it ready for a
lift kit.

Tim and Annie had made their way to the
garage and then found themselves drafted and made part of the work
crew. Annie was in the third stall laying out the parts they would
need for the lift on the pickup truck while Tim worked at mounting
the oversize tires to new, larger rims, using a pair of heavy iron
bars and his body weight to accomplish the work. He and Annie joked
back and forth as they worked.

They were using a small twelve volt
air-compressor to inflate the tires after they had them mounted.
They both seemed to be enjoying themselves, Mike thought, and they
seemed happy to be in each other's company.

Outside, near the far end of the
garage, the chain-fall had been set up, and a group led by Janet
Dove, which included Sandy and Susan, were hoisting a large cow up
into the air.

“
Mike,” Janet said as he
and Ronnie passed by on their way out of the Garage.

Mike paused.

“
We would like to smoke
most of this meat... If we're going to be here a few days, I
thought...”

Mike nodded. “Yeah. Might as well, Jan.
We have the time,” He assured her, “And, it'll help to have the
meat with us, who knows what's ahead.” He shrugged.

Janet Dove smiled, turned away, and
Mike stood watching as the huge cow began to lift into the air from
the back of the pickup truck before he and Ronnie turned and walked
away.

A few minutes later, the two of them
fell in with Candace and Patty who were sifting through what the
chain stores had to offer in the way of clothing, canned goods and
whatever else they came across that they could find a use for. They
passed by Lilly who had taken over the toy department, blocked off
one aisle, and was keeping Brian and Janelle busy. She smiled and
waved as they passed. Janelle waved back. Her dark eyes finally
looking rested and happy.

Brian had built himself the biggest
Lincoln Log village that Mike had ever seen and was now busy
populating it with dozens of green, plastic Army Men. Mike smiled
and Brian took the time out of his game to smile back at he and
Ronnie. He held a large plastic Tyrannosaurus Rex in one hand which
seemed to Mike about to wreak havoc on the village and its
population of Army Men.

A half dozen trips with Candace and
Patty, and late afternoon turned into early evening. Fires were
burning to smoke the meat. Two large roasts were spitted over a
huge fire pit made of field stone. A stew was bubbling in a pot
that had been suspended over the flames. Nearly everyone had found
a reason to stop by the area Janet Dove had set aside for cooking,
most arriving just as she had been about to send some others out
looking for everyone to round them up for dinner. The Dog was
running around in circles, happily racing from person to person,
tail wagging crazily. The smell of roasting meat hung heavy in the
still, cool air.

~Early Evening~

Everyone sat close together at several
wooden picnic tables that Janet had drafted a few volunteers to
bring over from the collapsed section of the motel. They had sat in
a small clearing not far from the building, untouched, while
everything around them had been leveled.

The temperature was in the low forties,
but with the early evening sun still shining, it felt much
warmer.

Mike sat next to Candace, Ronnie on his
other side. Across the table, Molly sat with Nell. They were both
laughing, involved in conversation with each other. It was the
happiest that Mike had seen Nell or Molly.

Canned potatoes, fresh beef and
venison, a stew that held a bit of everything in it and a steaming
platter of peas dominated the table center. Everyone had heaped up
their plates. Too long eating thrown together meals or energy bars
had left them hungry for real food.

Their basic protein needs had been met,
but there was nothing like real food to make you... Happy, Mike
decided. He looked around the table at all the smiling faces. It
was actually a mood elevator, he decided.

“
What's on your mind,
Baby?” Candace asked. Her eyes smiled, but her mouth wore a
question he had come to know was more serious than her smile
insinuated.

He bent forward and kissed her, making
the smile on her face spread wider still. “I was thinking how happy
everyone looked.” He turned his head and let his eyes sweep the
tables once more, then turned back to Candace whose eyes and face
now wore another look he was becoming familiar with. He bent
forward and kissed her once more. “I'm pretty sure I love you,” He
told her.

She laughed, “Pretty sure!” She slapped
his arm with one hand. “You better be more than pretty sure,
Mister.”

Mike laughed and kissed her again.
“Positive,” he said. “I'd be lost without you.” His eyes turned
serious. “That's the truth,” His voice dropped to a near whisper as
he leaned even closer. “I love you so much that I don't have words
for it. I only know it's real. I only know I need you.” He kissed
her once more and sat back up to catch Annie giggling and looking
away.

Candace laughed beside him. An easy
laugh that eased the seriousness of the conversation.

“
I hope we'll have some
time later on,” she said, her voice still low, husky.

“
I'll make sure of it,”
Mike told her.

“
I was looking at that
garage building,” Ronnie said from beside him.

Mike nodded.

“
It's one of those
industrial prefabricated jobs. I've put up a few, but I had no idea
how well engineered they were. They hold up pretty well, or at
least this one did. The buildings not really damaged at
all.”

“
I noticed that too,” Mike
agreed, “What are you thinking?”

“
Well,” Ronnie grinned,
“When we get where we're going, it may not be a bad idea for a
dwelling... or dwellings. At least for a temporary dwelling until
we build... if we build. Lightweight, easy to put up. Easy to
insulate. Not bad in an earthquake, if that stuff's not completely
done with us.”

Mike was nodding his head. “I'm for it,
but are they hard to come by? I mean, where could we get
one?”

“
Not as hard as it seems.
There are outlets where you can buy them in larger cities. And
there are thousands already set up. We could take them apart pretty
easily, take them where we want them and put them back up. All the
structural supports are pretty much the same. You just add more or
take away to make the building the size you need. Very lightweight,
so they'd be easy to transport. They'd go up or down pretty fast,”
Ronnie finished.

“
Has my vote,” Bob added.
“Fast, easy. They seem solid. It will save us a ton of
time.”

“
I've seen them around. I
think it's a good idea. We wouldn't have to worry about wooden
structures falling down on us.” Mike looked around. “Almost all the
wooden structures are down. Concrete seems okay, for the most part,
steel. But wooden structures just give too easily. Putting them up
fast would also be a plus,” he finished. He raised his eyes from
the ground - he had a habit of looking at the ground to visualize
his thoughts - and saw that Molly and Nell had been listening to
their conversation. They were nodding their heads in
agreement.

“
That garage is really
solid,” Molly agreed.

“
Cement's cracked here and
there, but the building itself held up really well,” Nell agreed.
“I don't even like walking into a wooden building anymore. You can
feel it move, hear the creaks and groans... pops.” She shook her
head.

Mike and Ronnie both nodded.

”
It's a good plan,” Mike
said. He turned his head to Molly. “Where did you learn to turn
wrenches?” he asked her.

Molly smiled. “My dad had a race car.
It started out as a hobby but became something else. He'd work on
it all week long and then run it in races on the weekends.” She
smiled shyly. “When I was a little girl, as far back as I can
remember, I used to go out and watch.” She laughed. “Pretty soon I
was fetching wrenches, parts.” She laughed again. “The first time I
came in with greasy hands, I thought my Mother was going to die.
When I was fifteen, my Dad bought an old beat to shit Mustang. A
sixty-four. It was a project car, he'd said. We'd work on it in our
spare time together, finish it up and sell it for a profit.” She
smiled and her eyes misted as she seemed to be looking back through
the years.

“
It took nearly a year of
work. That was also the time I was eligible to get my permit. The
day I got my license, he handed me the keys,” she finished, smiling
happily at the memory.

“
Pretty nice,” Candace
said.

“
Yeah, except it got
smashed flat when this,” she lifted her hands and gestured
helplessly, “happened. But once we're where we're going to be, I
think I'll try to find another one, or maybe a two door sixty-two
Chevy Impala. I've always liked the way those Chevy’s look.” She
shrugged, “Crazy, I guess, but I really think I'm gonna do it.
There must be one somewhere.”

“
I can see that,” Patty
said. “Or something else worth rebuilding.”

More than a few heads nodded in
agreement.

“
Sometimes,” Patty added as
an afterthought. “The thing you find is better than the thing you
thought you wanted.”

Nell looked at Molly. Molly smiled, and
Nell leaned closer and kissed her.

“
You two?” Candace
asked.

“
Nell tempted me,” Molly
said.

“
It's like Patty said,
sometimes the thing you find is better than the thing you thought
you would find... or want. I hadn't expected this much out of life
in the old world let alone this one,” Nell said smiling, but
serious. She worked her hand into Molly's and leaned closer to
her.

Mike's eyes swept across Patty's face,
expecting to see a smile but finding a distracted, sadness on her
face instead. Patty swept it away so quickly though that he wasn't
sure just a second later that it had really been there at all.
Maybe, he decided, he had imagined it. After all, Patty had found
the better thing she hadn't known she would find in Ronnie. There
would be no reason for that sadness to be on her face. He found his
own hand holding Candace's, and she leaned into him for a
kiss.

“
Get a room, you guys,” Tim
said as he and Annie passed by. Annie was blushing but had a huge
smile on her face.

“
Horn dogs,” Tim told her
as they walked away, laughing with each other and holding hands as
they went.

“
Horn dogs?” Mike
asked.

“
I don't know about you but
I am no horn dog,” Janet Dove joked as she passed by.

The thought of prim and proper Janet
Dove making a statement like that caused everyone to crack up.
Janet stopped, a shocked look on her face.

“
Good one, Jan,” Candace
said.

“
I can't believe I said
that,” Janet said.

Everyone cracked up then, including
Janet Dove.

~Evening~

Candace lay in the crook of Mike's arm
as they talked quietly.

“
Gotta go in about five
minutes,” Mike told her. “My watch.”

“
No,” Candace said. “You
can't go if you can't get out of bed. Besides, we paid for the room
for the night,” she finished and laughed.

Mike chuckled. “This is nice. Privacy,
first we've had in... well, forever.”

“
When we leave, we'll be
back to getting none at all again,” Candace told him. She snuggled
against his side, one hand resting against the flat of his stomach,
her index finger drawing small circles. “But,” she lifted her eyes
to his. “I guess I have to let you go. Just think about that alone
time for later.” She kissed him softly. “Something to keep you
thinking about it.” She turned away, swung her feet to the floor
and began to get dressed.

“
You do give me things to
think about,” Mike told her. He trailed his fingers down her back,
bent forward and kissed her shoulder.