The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (64 page)

“
But where do we get the
initial oil from,” Mike asked.

“
Sunflowers... Corn, really
any vegetable matter will convert to oil. For what little we drive
it will see us through. It's not like we'll be coming out here all
that often, so we'll drive with it very little. We'll have the
electrics for that. And the diesel generators will only need fuel
when there is no sun or water power. That will be rare. We have
over a hundred and fifty gallons of diesel left from what we bought
in. That will last a long time too. And we'll be bringing more back
too. By the time we need it our oil will be ready.”

“
Well, what about methane,
garbage, the cows, horses, pigs,” Ronnie asked.

“
I thought about that, I
did. But even though it seems as though it will be a lot it won't
be. At least not enough to run our vehicles like we need to, but, I
thought, we can still use it and we will. It can heat for us, help
heat our water... Maybe even our houses too. Mainly the cave though
in the winter.”

“
You know,” Annie said.
“He'll talk forever.” She circled him with her arms and
smiled.

He laughed. “I like to figure things
out,” He confessed.

“
And you do,” Mike said.
“You do.”

They ate diner talking back and forth.
The radios were dead, but since they had expected it, it was not
too much of a let down. After dinner Mike got out the map to plan
out their route for the next day.

The Nation

“
We have to plan this
better next year,” Patty said. She and Candace were sitting with
Lilly, watching the rest of the Nation, supervised by Bob, digging
potatoes.

“
How so,” Candace
asked.

“
Well, if everybody’s
pregnant who's gonna dig potatoes,” Patty asked.

Candace and Lilly both
laughed.

“
Stop,” Lilly said, “You'll
make me pee my pants.”

That made Candace and Patty laugh
harder. Tears squirted from their eyes.

“
Okay, okay,” Lilly said.
“You will be this big soon. Then we will see.” She laughed again
too though.

“
Honey,” Patty said. “I
swear you have twins in there.”

Lilly nodded. “Me too, but Sandy swears
it's only one. She only hears one heartbeat.”

“
Hmm. Must be a football
player,” Candace held her hands apart, pretending to measure
Lilly's stomach, “Like... College level, I'd say.” She touched both
hands to either side of Lilly's swollen belly.

“
Ha, ha,” Lily said
smiling.

“
Alright,” Patty said.
“Back at it for us.”

Candace got back up too and they both
told Lilly goodbye. They walked off back toward the barn where they
had been gathering eggs. The interior of the barn was cool and
shadowed as they walked down to the opposite end where the rabbit
hutches were kept.

“
I don't know how you can
do it,” Candace said.

“
What, kill a rabbit,”
Patty asked.

“
Yeah... I can't do
it.”

“
Sure you can. It's food.
Can't walk to the store and get it any longer. Even then, someone
had to do it,” Patty told her.

Candace nodded. “Yeah.
But
I
wasn't the
someone who had to do it,” she said.

“
You like rabbit,” Patty
asked.

“
Uh huh,” Candace said
quietly.

“
Well then.”

Candace sighed. “Yeah... Okay... Show
me again, Pats,” She told her.

Patty nodded and then picked up a
rabbit from the cage. She laid it out along her arm, head in her
hand. The rabbit didn't struggle or try to get free.

She placed her other hand behind the
rabbit's head, cupping its head behind its ears. She stroked gently
for a second.

“
Like this,” she said. “And
you do it fast.” Her hand gripped suddenly as she dropped her arm
from under the rabbit's body and gave a quick flip of her wrist,
snapping the rabbits neck as she did. The rabbits rear feet kicked
twice and then quit. “See,” Patty told her. “No big
deal.”

She handed Candace a rabbit from the
hutch. “You don't have to,” she told her.

“
I know, but I'm going to
anyway.” She laid the rabbit out along her arm the same way she had
seen Patty do it and placed her hand behind the rabbits ears
encircling the rabbit's neck.

“
Now when you drop it,”
Patty told her. “Think of that rabbits head like the handle of a
whip you're cracking... Snap it hard and fast, and that's it,”
Patty told her.

Candace nodded, dropped the rabbits
body from her arm, snapped it's head like a whip, or like she
imagined a whip would be snapped like. The rabbit went flying out
of Candace's grasp and flew at Patty who caught it with one
hand.

“
Oh, good, Candy,” Patty
laughed. “But you are sort of supposed to hold onto it.” She held
the rabbit up which was definitely dead. “You did it!”

“
Yuck,” Candace said. “Mike
better really be impressed with this. I'm murdering rabbits
here!”

Patty laughed.

They spent the next few hours into
sunset working. They chatted back and forth. When they were ready
Patty showed Candace how to butcher the rabbit.

She picked up a heavy butchers knife,
rested the rabbits head against the butcher block. A second later
the head was falling into a bucket beside the tabletop and she left
the rabbit just off the side for the blood to drain as she picked
up another one.

There were a series of pegs with heavy
leather thongs that hung over a rounded trough of metal that
drained into the bucket. “Chop off the head and let it fall into
the bucket. Let it drain a few seconds, then stick one of the hind
legs through the leather thing to hold it over the bucket and let
it drain a little longer. I get seven or eight hanging then I start
the next part.” Patty said

“
Lay the rabbit back on the
block. This knife is wicked sharp so be careful. Feel for the joint
in the foot. Place the knife over it, work it back and forth just a
little and it will almost slice right through all on its own...
One, two, three, four,” She said as she removed the four paws from
the body.”

“
Now grab the skin at the
neck and back and pull it tight. Then take this knife with the
notch, slip it into the skin and run it down the middle and over
the stomach bottom to top... See? Now peel the skin off. It'll come
right off.”

Candace watched as Patty reduced the
rabbit to six parts in just a few minutes. “Okay,” she said. “That
looks like the rabbit I know and love.” She frowned. Then picked up
half a dozen rabbits and started in. By the time she was through
with the six she had the hang of it.

“
See... Not so bad,” Patty
told her.

“
No, I'm just a baby,”
Candace told her. “But cooking it, that part I know.”

“
Yeah, well, Janet said
she'd cook them. All we have to do is eat them... And real potatoes
too... Real
baked
potatoes. And real butter... Jeez, it doesn't get any better
than that,” Patty said.

They spent some time finishing up the
rabbits, then added the waste to a com-poster Tim had built; rolled
up the skins in a bundle, placed all the rabbit meat onto a low
wheeled cart and headed up to the cave.

The Forest Lands

Ronnie stopped halfway to the truck and
stared off to the East. “What was that,” he asked to no one in
particular.

“
What,” Nellie
asked.

Ronnie shook his head.
“I...”

“
No,” Molly said. Her head
was also cocked back towards the East. A look of heavy
concentration on her face. “It was something.”

“
Like firecrackers far
away,” Annie said.

Everyone fell silent for a few seconds,
but no sounds came to them. A heavy breeze had sprung up. The sky
had darkened perceptibly in the last few minutes.

“
Firecrackers,” Mike
repeated. “Gunfire? … Far away?”

Ronnie shook his head as did
Molly.

“
I didn't hear it again...
I did hear something though,” Tim said quietly.

“
It didn't come again, at
least I didn't hear it,” Molly said. She looked at Ronnie who shook
his head.

“
Maybe thunder?” Nellie
looked up at the sky.

“
I,” Ronnie started, and
then the sky opened up and the rain came hard and heavy. They all
ran for the larger tent they had set up.

The Nation

“
These potatoes are so
good,” Lilly said.

“
And huge too,” Patty
agreed.

“
We did very well for our
first time,” Janet said.

“
About the size of a man's
fist,” Bob said. 'That is good. Usually they were nowhere near that
big when I grew them... I asked them to look for some nice reds,”
Bob said as he turned to Patty. “If they can find any that is. But,
these are nice... Very good.”

“
There are different
kinds,” Candace asked.

“
Yes,” Bob
agreed.

“
Silly,” Janelle said.
“Instant ones, boiled ones, french fried ones and them is my
favorites.”

“
They are my favorites,”
Lilly said.

“
They are my favorites,”
Janelle repeated.

“
Silly me,” Candace said
and began to laugh again.

“
Don't start that again,”
Lilly said. “You two are so bad.”

Bob laughed too and then turned to
Janelle. “She means different kinds like brown skinned, red
skinned, yellow... They call them Russet or Idaho... Like
that.”

Janelle was moving her head up and down
in agreement. “And french fried ones don't have no skin … Any,” she
looked at Lilly who nodded. She smiled and then continued. “Any
skin at all. And instant ones are all smashed up... and,” she
screwed up her face for a moment. “Did you know that potato chips
are also made from potatoes too,” Janelle asked. She looked at
Bob.

“
Yes I did,” Bob agreed.
Everyone else was trying hard not to laugh. Bob looked at Mark who
sat next to Janelle. My Nellie, Mark called her.

“
Me Nellie's really smart,”
Mark told Bob now. Janelle turned and smiled at Mark and then
turned back to Bob.

“
Well. How about we have
french fries for dinner tomorrow You can help me make them,” Bob
said. “Okay?”

“
Yes,” Janelle said. She
turned to Mark. “I wish it was tomorrow,” She told him. Mark nodded
solemnly. Janelle picked up her rabbit and began to eat.

The conversation resumed and flowed
back and forth as they ate. Outside the dark clouds that had been
threatening rain all day opened up and a light rain began to fall.
Bob looked out through the glassed in entrance at the rain and then
turned back to the table.

“
Next week we'll do the
corn, I think. Then late peppers, watermelons and then squash,” he
chewed thoughtfully, smiled. “And then it will be time for the
second wheat and rye harvest.”

“
I had no idea how much
work went into harvesting grain,” Patty said. She stared down at
her hands for a few minutes, which still ached from the first
harvest, shrugged, and then went back to eating.

“
Daunting, isn't it ,
Pats,” Janet asked.

“
It is really. I mean it
was worth it, but at the time it seemed like so much work for so
little,” Patty said.

“
It's one of those things
better done with a group of people. Then it doesn't seem quite so
lopsided,” Janet agreed. “Rice would be better. Corn too, you know.
Next year we'll have a better wheat crop, probably,” she looked
over at Bob who nodded. “Maybe rice next year... Corn of course in
a few days.”

“
For flour, you
mean?”

Janet nodded.

“
You dry it out,” Patty
asked.

“
Dry it and then grind it,
fine or coarse, which ever you prefer. It makes a good flour. Now,
rice does too.... A finer flour. But we'll have to see about that
next year,” Bob said.

“
What would you say to a
herb garden next year, Bob,” Susan asked.

Bob nodded. “Good idea,” he
agreed.

“
It would be medicinal
stuff for the most part,” Susan elaborated. “But spices, and some
spices have medicinal properties too... We could use some help to
set it up. It would be useful...
Helpful,
b
ut
I have no idea how to go about it. If you could show us, help us
start it, I'm sure we could take it from there.”

“
I’ll not only show you but
I'll help you get it going,” Bob promised.

“
Thank you,” both Sharon
and Sandy said in unison.

“
Me too,” Susan
added.

Bob nodded. “You know, I've got the
deer in their own area of the barn now... They remind me of goats,
really. Now this is kind of strange, depending on your viewpoint .
. . I heard this from elders. They were talking about a tribe that
my ancestors had traded with... Back before America became America,
but after the whites had come to this country. This tribe had
captured deer and tamed them and then had developed them into dairy
animals. They hand fed them corn and other grain.