Kirk Allmond - What Zombies Fear - A Father's Quest

“Tookes, Leo would have a much better chance.” said Marshall.

“I’m not sure that’s true. I think I could take Leo in a fight.” I said.

Leo looked at me like I had grown horns and done a back flip.

“Leo, give me a baton.” She handed me one, “Now... Come at me with the other one. Quarter speed if you’re feeling overconfident.” I watched her make the decision to feint to the right and come with an overhand chop. I didn’t fall for the feint. I had the baton in place to block her chop before she even finished it. Which at quarter speed for Leo meant it looked like I just barely blocked it.

“Again, this time half speed.”

Once again, I watched her weigh her options, before she stepped in close and came down diagonally towards my good shoulder. I caught her wrist with my bad arm, sending a jolt through my shoulder, and drove the tip of the baton gently up into her jaw, lightly pressing on the underside of her chin with the rounded tip.

“Do you want to try full speed?”

“How…” she asked. “You’re not moving that fast, but I should have been able to get that last one under your hand. It’s like you knew right where I was going to be.”

“It appears I have a talent also.” I said.

“You can read minds?” asked Marshall.

“Marshall. Pick a number between one and ten, and be ready to hold up that many fingers.”

I watched shadow arms holding up fingers shoot out of Marshall. Each of them disappeared, leaving just the hands holding up eight fingers.

“Eight.”

Shadow arms shot out again.

“Four.”

And again.

“Nine.” I said “I can do this all day.”

“Incredible. How? When?” John asked.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t ever been bitten. I think when I thought I killed Penelope at the bridge, I must have gotten some of her brain in my eyes or nose or something. That’s all I can think of, I was pretty covered in gore, I’m certainly glad I appear to be immune. I wonder if our immunities are hereditary. Maybe it’s genetic? I’ve been giving that a lot of thought. I think Max’s talk of bugs means it’s a parasite. There must be something about our bodies that make us different. If I’m right, it means Marshall is immune too, and my mother has a 50/50 shot. It came from either her or my father. Let’s not find out.” I purposely left them not knowing exactly how my talent worked or its limitations.

“So, here’s the rest of the plan. I’m going to take the Jeep down at the road over to the high school through Old Man Haversham’s field. There’s a big knoll behind his house about a mile from the football field. If we’re lucky, they have the families in the stadium. Marshall and John, you’re going to wait two hours and bring the biggest two trucks you can find. Park at the farmhouse there and wait. If all goes well, we’ll be waiting for you inside the house. If not, we’re going to be coming in hot. Come loaded. I don’t know what they have there for weapons, but I bet they’re well armed. They cleaned out the club north of here, and there are at least two in Culpeper, plus Wal-Mart plus Cabela’s.”

I continued, “Marshall, do you know how many families there will be? We’re probably going to have to make a couple of trips. I’m sure the Haversham’s had a truck; I’ll spend a minute searching their house for the keys. If I can find them, I’ll put them on the driver’s seat of the truck, and maybe one of the families can drive that. Otherwise, we’ll have to bring a couple of the men on our second trip to help ferry survivors back to the farm. I’ll get them loaded up in the farmhouse. I mean to end every zombie in the school. I’m tired of playing defense here; I’m going to take the head off this snake.”

“Tookes, you’re crazy. Your plan is based on guesses and hopes.” said John.

“John, no plan ever survives the first encounter. No matter how detailed I make it, I’m going to have to adjust tactics. That’s why I need to do this alone. I can’t change gears quickly enough if I have to keep one of you in the loop on every change.”

“Tookes, you’re going to go up against a thousand slow zombies, and God knows how many smart ones. By yourself.” said John.

“This is not up for debate. If I get there and there is no chance of success, I’m going to hang tight and wait for the two of you. They’ll be expecting all four of us. They know your abilities, that was clear from the attack yesterday. It was coordinated to find our weaknesses. If my ability hadn’t manifested, we’d have been in serious trouble.”

“Vic, I understand your thinking, but when you get there, if it’s too hot, wait for us. Don’t be a hero, Max needs you.” Marshall said.

“Guys, I’m not a hero. This is the only way we’ll succeed. They’ve been a step ahead of us every time. We have to be different, we have to not act as they expect and have planned for.”

I stood up, and pushed back from the table. “I am leaving in one hour. You are leaving in three hours. Leo, there are one hundred and fifty men here that I don’t know and I don’t trust, and Max is here. I need you here. I need you to keep Max safe, in case our victory this morning wasn’t what we thought.”

“Tookes, I will defend the house and your son. We all love that little boy; none of us will let anything happen to him.”

“Alright, I’m heading out to get ready. John, I need Sammie, my aught six, and every magazine and bullet we have. I’ll need the two Sigs; do we have holsters for both? We have six magazines for them, right? Leo, can I borrow your old Kukris and holsters?”

Leo poofed and was back with them. Her entry into the room scattered some papers off the side table onto the floor. She was gone no more than one second.

“You got it, Tookes. I’ll have them cleaned and loaded for you in thirty minutes.”

“Thanks, mate. I’ll see you all at the end of the driveway in one hour. It’s now 8:05. I’m rolling at 9:05.”

My first stop was the medicine cabinet for ibuprofen. I stopped up in my room and checked on Max, who was sleeping soundly. I emptied a daypack, added the ibuprofen, and strapped my backpack on over the Kukris. Stop number two was down at the barn. I greeted some of the men, and told them that we’d have their families safe by lunch time. They all were very cordial, although I think several of them were frightened of me.

At the barn office, I grabbed a five gallon can of gasoline, a spool of electric fence wire, and the solar battery pack. Around behind the barn office was the property’s workshop. Inside there I found small three cans of propane for propane torches and the torch handle. They went into the backpack along with the wire, and the last thing was a bottle of paint thinner, a roll of duct tape and a box of finishing nails.

I had unloaded all of my truck around the property. My tool bag containing my remaining bombs from the bridge was hidden in the rafters, well out of Max’s reach and out of sight. I carried all of this down the half mile driveway, and stowed it under the back seat of a Jeep that had the keys still in the ignition.

Leo was the first to arrive, as I stood next to the Jeep, smoking a cigarette from the pack I’d picked up in the hardware store and left in my tool bag. She grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. “Vic, come back to me. Us. Max. Don’t be dumb.” She leaned in and hugged me, and kissed me on the cheek.

“I will.” Still holding her tightly, I pushed her chin up and kissed her quickly on the lips.

We waited in silence for John and Marshall to arrive. They had two minutes left.

24. The Haversham Farm

Leo and I waited about a minute in comfortable silence before Marshall and John arrived. John handed me Sammie and the two Sig’s, and a bag full of magazines. Leo walked around to the driver’s side of the Jeep with me and squeezed my hand as she said, “Stay safe Tookes.” I hopped in the driver’s seat and turned the Jeep around. It was a ten-mile trip to the Haversham’s, and I wanted to get there as quickly as possible.