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

“Marshall, who else do we have that can watch the gate? I’d like to talk with Bookbinder here a little bit. Can you get someone to cover his shift?”

“Oh, Colonel. Before you go, what’s your first name? If we’re going to be allies, I’d like to know your first name.”

“Colonel Joshua Frye, United States Army.” he said walking away.

“Sure Vic.” Marshall spoke into his radio quietly, as Frye and his men mounted their vehicles and drove off.

“Vic, Daily’s coming to take his place.”

“Charlie, right?”

“Yes, sir.” said Bookbinder.

“Charlie, no calling me sir. Tookes is fine. Let’s take a walk. Marshall, how’s your side?”

Marshall did a couple of deep side bends, and a couple of jumping jacks. “Seems fine. I feel good, just hungry.”

“Leo, would you bring Marshall something to eat, and catch up with us, please?”

“Sure, Tookes. But just because I’m fast doesn’t mean it’s not a pain in the ass to run up that hill.”

“I know, and I’m grateful for your help.” I said.

“Charlie, let’s go.”

We walked a few steps up the hill. “Charlie, do you have family here?”

“I do sir, err... Tookes. You saved my wife and two daughters from that school.”

“What are their names?”

“My wife is Myla, my older daughter Ariel is twelve, and Sara is my ten year old.”

“Charlie, I’m so happy they’re okay. My son, Max, and I went through some pretty tough spots getting here; I know a little of what you must have been feeling. I lost my wife, Candi, on the way from Pennsylvania to the farm here. I couldn’t let that happen to anyone else.”

“Charlie, do you trust me? I want your honest opinion.”

“Tookes, there’s some talk around that you’re a zombie, just like Watley was, but that you’re from a different faction. Personally, I have no opinion. You saved my family. Watley was feeding all those people to his caged zombies. You could be a zombie, or you could be Superman, I’d follow you to the end of the world. I watched you playing with your son in the side yard this morning. I’ve seen that kind of love; I’ve seen it in my own heart when I’m playing with my daughters.”

“Charlie, I’m not a zombie. You can take my pulse.” I held my arm out. “I’ve never been bitten. I’m just a man.”

“You’re more than that, sir. You’re hope. You’ve brought all of us together. We’ve seen your team fight. If anyone can beat these things, you can. And I pledge my life to that cause. You’ll find every man in the camp will do the same.”

“Charlie, I’m going to do that. I’m going to kill every one of them, if it’s the last thing I do. But I’m going to need some help. That’s where you come in. Who else in our group has military training, or potential?”

“Well, Daily, sir. He’s not a marine, but he’s military. Jimmy Koller is pretty young, I think he’s only seventeen, but he’s a good kid, and he’s fast and quiet.”

“Tookes, Charlie... Call me Tookes.”

“Sir. If you order me to call you Tookes, I’ll do so. But you really ought to think about that. You’re the leader here. The men respect you. You should carry that respect, because when the time comes, they need to jump when you say jump. They need to know that you’re the authority, and when it gets hot they need to be in the habit of not questioning your orders. Seeing a couple of former military following you in that manner will inspire them to do the same.”

“Charlie, what was your rank and job when you were in?”

“Lance Corporal, sir. I led a fire team of five men.”

“Lance Corporal Bookbinder, I’m promoting you. I need you to create five five-man teams. I need you to oversee training them. I also want you to lead a team of the best of the men. I want your teams to be in charge of searching Orange for useful items. Anything we’re going to need; food, supplies, ammunition, medical supplies, and personal hygiene. I’d like to have two teams off the farm every day, and three teams here, building defenses and manning them.”

“Last thing,” I said “Frye wants me to pass on his offer to let every one of you go live in Mount Pony. Do you think any of them will go?”

“I think there are a few; not many, but that’s a few mouths we don’t have to feed, sir.”

“Thanks, Bookbinder. Let’s have everyone out in front of the barn in four hours.” I said as Leo walked up. “I’ll expect your team assignments then.”

“Hi Leo,” I said. “Perfect timing. We were just finishing up, and you and I are up for after dinner patrol, before I have to go put Max to bed.”

Leo and I walked off, Bookbinder practically ran up to the barn office.

29. Surveillance

Leo and I walked down the hill behind the barn, to the path that borders the river. When we got down to the river bank, we turned upstream towards the gun club and started to walk the perimeter of the property. About halfway down the river trail, I felt her hand slide into mine. I reached down and turned my radio off. We walked the rest of the way up towards the old swimming hole hand in hand, walking along in silence. Neither of us felt the need to say anything.

When we got to the swimming hole, the forest around us opened up, the sun was setting behind the Blue Ridge Mountains. The sky had the most amazing cotton ball clouds lit up with reds and oranges. I stopped short, swung her around in front of me and stepped in close. Our eyes locked as I put my arms around her small frame; I slowly leaned in to her neck and whispered in her ear, “There’s a human on the other side of the swimming hole. He’s hidden in a mulberry bush on the far bank, about ten o’clock. He’s holding something that looks like a gun, but I don’t think it’s pointed at us. I’m pretty sure he’s just watching.”

“What do you want to do?” Leo whispered; her voice sexy and low in my ear.

“How fast are you? I’m a pretty good shot, but I don’t want to kill him. I just want to talk to him.”

“I think I could run on water. I’ve been wondering if I could, seems like a good time to try.”

“Is that even possible?”

“There are lizards that do it. If I don’t make it, you can shoot him. I know I can do this though.”

Continuing the embrace, I whispered “That water is deep! It’s probably twenty-five or thirty feet to the bottom there. How fast can you swim?”

“I don’t know. I’ll go around the deep water; I can skip across those rocks if I have to.”

“Okay. So, uhh... We should probably make this look convincing.” I pulled my head away, and looked into her eyes.

She leaned forward, meeting my lips, softly holding them against mine as she tilted her head to the side. I brought my hands to the sides of her face, running one around the back of her head, wrapped up in her hair, the other holding her head as I pressed more firmly, my tongue tracing the outline of her lips before parting them, and slowly circling hers. I felt her breath catch, and then hot on my cheek, as she squeezed herself against me, pressing into me as we kissed. Our auras both glowed bright green, and as we kissed they started to merge. I could literally feel her emotions. I had no business knowing how she felt, but I had no way of blocking it. I tried to pull my aura back, or disconnect them, but nothing worked.

I took her hand again, and we walked a little bit around the swimming hole, towards the rock dam that had originally been designed to divert water down the mill race from the 1700's. The dam had been knocked over long ago, but would need to be rebuilt; I had an idea to use the mill race, the old mill foundation, and a bunch of car alternators to generate power. When we got there, I squeezed her hand and whispered, “Go.”