The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (94 page)

What does that make me? Was Molly
stronger than me? Weaker? Different from me somehow? My hand came
up, I stopped it. Hers came up, she didn't. I didn't do it, but I
wanted to. I know the feeling. I wanted to lay down in that grave
when I dug it and stay right there with Lydia. I didn't care. I
wanted to do it, but I didn't.

Even after, it was bad. And then there
was Lilly. And I've had such guilt about that. I love Lilly. I
really and truly do, but at first I just needed someone to need me.
To love me. To recharge me. And Lilly did that, and once she did I
found that I had something to give back. But I have not forgotten
Lydia. I can't and I won't. And I'm sorry, Molly. I'm sorry it
happened to you too.

September
28
^th

On The Road

The camp was up early. A quick
breakfast of leftovers from dinner the night before, coffee boiled
over the campfire, and everyone was ready to go. Even the dogs
seemed impatient to be moving. Pacing back and forth around the
herd, watching for the gate to come off and the ramp to come down.
Listening to Josh for the signal to put the herd on the
truck.

The sun was barely beginning to rise
over the tops of the mountains to the south and they were
underway.

Valley opened into valley as they wound
their way through the foothills, closer and closer to the Nation.
The cool air of pre-dawn bled away to be replaced by a warm, early
fall morning. In the distance some color was already working its
way into the landscape. Yellow, a few oranges and reds. Scattered
now, but in a few weeks time the colors would dominate the entire
landscape.

In the lower valley they were traveling
through, green was still the predominant color, at least on the
trees. Mixed hardwoods and pines. Yellow-gold and grays dominated
the tall grasses of the fields as they stood in the morning sun.
Small streams crossed the valley floor in many places: Scant inches
of water covering their smooth rock bottoms; easily driven
over.

The land they were traveling was easy
for the four wheel drive vehicles. It was actually easier, Mike
thought, than some roads they had traveled in the last few weeks.
Those roads were quickly becoming reabsorbed into the earth. Nature
tending to her wounds. Smoothing them over. Flattening the man made
roads with their skyward tilted slabs of asphalt and concrete, and
washed out sections of gravel and roadbed. Little by little nature
was covering them over.

Mike had vowed he would never go to the
outside again, and he hoped that was a vow he would never have to
break, but if he did he was sure he would find a world where roads,
towns and cities were a thing of the past, and grass, trees and the
ever present Kudzu were the things of the future.

“
How long do you think
these vehicles will last,” Mike asked Ronnie now as they drove
along.

“
A few years... Maybe as
many as ten if we take care of them. We'll run out of parts first
though. No one's running the plants in Michigan, or Japan, or
wherever the parts were made. So we'll run out of ways to fix
them,” Ronnie said.

“
Look at those cars in
Cuba, though... From the nineteen fifties. All those years later
and they were still driving them. More than sixty years after the
fact,” Mike said.

Ronnie nodded. “True, but they had
parts. Not the right parts. I mean, I saw a program on television
where they said they were using Russian parts, tires, finding ways
to make the parts fit. So they looked like the same American cars
on the outside, but they weren't at all. They would have like a
rear end from a Russian truck in a fifty-nine Buick. Tough to do,
but I bet Bob or Tom could do it, the thing is, we aren't going to
have a Russian truck or two to cannibalize. When the rear end goes,
the rear end goes... I bet fifteen years tops, we're riding horses.
And all these things are just rusting curiosities sitting out in a
field that used to be a highway. Someday someone finds a piece of
plastic from a taillight and marvels over it. Or digs up a rear end
or equally dense piece of cast iron and wonders what in Hell it
could have been,” Ronnie finished.

“
You're probably right. And
all the horses will be descended from what we bought with us. Maybe
a few wild ones we catch one way or the other,” Mike
said.

“
Yeah... Probably. And
there will probably be plenty of horses to catch too, but it will
be that way with everything. The horses will devolve back into a
few breeds of wild horses. Ours will probably settle out to a few
breeds. The big draft horses and smaller riding horses. And our
dogs as well. We've already bred Angel with a wolf. Those pups will
probably breed with the pups we're bringing back with us. We'll end
up with a shaggy wolf like species of dogs that has herding and
socializing with humans as traits,” Ronnie said.

“
Same with the cows,” Mike
said. “Bob wants to continue to interbreed cows and bison. Bigger,
more muscle. And the meat is leaner. Higher protein. Bigger means
more muscle to work for us and also means more meat. We have two
different types of sheep there, Josh says. And the goats are a
mixed lot too.”

“
And,” Ronnie said.
“People. A couple of generations and we will be our own people too.
Our own race.”

Mike nodded. “I'm for it. I'm mixed
race, so I've never really been anything at all... It will be nice
to be part of something.”

Ronnie nodded. “But outside? We'll be
different from them. And who knows how they'll view that. A good
thing? A bad thing? We'll have to deal with that eventually,” he
said.

“
In our lifetime?” Mike
asked.

“
I think so. They'll know
we're here. They'll know we've got something better than what they
have. I mean they have to deal with the dead, up close and
personal... And maybe something will come our way from that too...
It would be naive to think that the dead will never come here...
Never guess we're here. Maybe even be bought into our midst through
the most common circumstances... Even mistakenly.”

Mike shrugged.

“
All it takes is one body
not taken care of. A group headed for us that dies on the way...
Who's to say that hasn't already happened?”

“
Jesus,” Mike
muttered.

“
Sorry,” Ronnie told
him.

“
No... No. You are my
balance... Or I am your balance. Either way it completes the
picture. I can see those outside taking a look at this and seeing
how good it is and wanting it... Do you know what Bear talked to me
about? He said we need a military branch. A part of us that keeps
them away. That does the dirty work, makes the runs to the outside
world. That makes sure paradise stays paradise forever. Or
something close to forever,” Mike looked at him.

Ronnie raised his eyebrows. “Well... I
think the man has a good idea... We need that exactly. That would
make me worry less. And I would bet it wouldn't be all that hard to
get people who want to do it either... Starting with Bear. Take it
to them before they bring it to us.”

Mike nodded and shook his head.
“Jesus... Where's the old non-talking Ronnie?” He laughed again.
“You are right on it though. I can see it. We have to be ready for
it... Bear had a name picked out even... The
Outrunners.”

“
Outrunners?” Ronnie
asked.

“
Simplistic... They're out
there running down what we need. That's the public viewpoint
anyway. How we sell it, but they're also doing the other jobs. The
jobs that have to be done if the rest of want to live
safely.”

“
Good name... Makes
sense... So it will be a private and a public business,” Ronnie
said.

Mike frowned. “Yeah... Sounds like the
old world, I know.”

“
Yeah, but, we're not the
old world sort. We're not trying to hurt our own people... That's
the difference,” Ronnie said.

“
So if we kill to keep our
people safe?”

“
Will you kill a zombie?
Same thing. It's a preemptive strike. And, I'm not saying we have
people out there to kill anyone. I'm saying if the fight comes to
us we be prepared. These
Outrunners,
be prepared. That's all
it is... Right?”

Mike nodded. “Just reminds me of the
kind of shit I hated about the world... But I see your point,” He
gazed out the window and they drove in silence for a while. “Okay,”
he said at last. “When we get back we'll set it up... I'll talk to
Bear... You too. We'll get the council in on it. Get it in place
before winter kicks in.” He looked over at Ronnie. Ronnie offered
his closed fist. Mike touched it with his own.

The Nation

Candace woke up next to Patty. Gray
light crept into the room through the windows. She reached over and
pushed Patty's hair from her forehead, smoothing out the frown
lines that appeared as she did. Patty's eye opened. She rolled up
on her side and faced Candace.

“
Morning, Pats,” Candace
said.

Patty smiled. “Morning, Candy.” She
reached over and pulled her closer.

“
Mike's going to think I
look like a house,” Candace said.

“
He doesn't know right? You
couldn't tell him, right?”

“
Nope. I'll tell him
tonight. A girl's got to have some secrets, Pats,” Candace told
her. “I love you, Pats.”

“
I know you do, Candy. I
love you too,” Patty said.

Home In The Valley

The long procession of trucks rounded
the final curve in the foothills where they marched into the
mountains, and a long narrow valley opened before them. In the
distance a notch opened in the low mountain chain that was outlined
against the light blue of the morning sky. Ahead the valley floor
swept up to meet the level of the notch. Several tiny figures stood
silhouetted against that notch. The entire top of the ridge seemed
to be filled with people. Arms raised, waving as the caravan grew
closer and began the slow climb to the top of the notch. As they
reached the top, the stone ledge leveled out and stretched away
towards another ledge and the rise that lead up to the
cave.

The livestock truck pulled around where
Mike had stopped: Reversed, and then lined up on the notch where it
gradually slipped down into the valley. Josh shut the truck down
and the other trucks pulled up and shut down as well.

The dogs jumped out of the cab as Josh
climbed down. A dog barked from the top of the ridge. It sounded
like Angel to Mike. The dogs below woofed back and then followed
Josh around to the back of the truck where he and Bear pulled out
the ramp, set it up, and then opened the wide rear doors. The two
dogs herded the sheep out and followed Josh as he walked down the
ledge into the valley below. “Looks like we're home, dogs,” he
said, as he walked down the slope.

Mike and Ronnie walked up to the top of
the notch. The sun in their eyes. The others following along behind
them.

Mike's eyes fell on Candace as she
stepped forward. Patty brushed by him on her way to
Ronnie.

“
I can't tell you how much
I've missed you,” he told her.

“
Just kiss me, Baby,”
Candace said. “That will show me. You can figure out how to tell me
later.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to
her.

THE ZOMBIE PLAGUES: BOOK
FOUR

Created by Geo Dell & Dell
Sweet

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PUBLISHED ON SMASHWORDS

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The Zombie Plagues Book Four

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THE ZOMBIE PLAGUES: BOOK
FOUR

CHAPTER ONE

Bear

August 4th

We were down along the river checking
over some old buildings that are perched on the cliffs there, high
above the water. Fall was not far away, and we knew we had to get
moving, get out of this dead city. We had half the country to cross
and find a place before winter came back around again.