Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Salvation (26 page)

My wife
knew me so well.

“Mary,
go pick up Asher’s toys please. He left them all over the table. Michael, get
out of here. You can help in the morning if you want, but don’t arrive too
early. It’s late, and we may sleep in an extra hour or two. That assumes we
make it past 5:00 AM without Asher screaming that he woke up.”

“Yes,
ma’am,” he replied, giving Mary a wave and me a cautious look.

I let
the frown slide away – I was having trouble maintaining it – and Michael
relaxed when he saw me grinning.

“That
was so mean,” protested Mary, after Briana closed the door.

“Yes, it
was,” confirmed my wife.

“Michael’s
a big boy. If he can go off and fight with the militia, he can take a little
bit of teasing.”

“Teasing
hurts more than bullets,” pointed out Briana.

I gave
her a kiss. “You haven’t been shot.”

“You
know what I’m saying.” She started to become irate. “Teasing can hurt.”

“Bullying
hurts,” I corrected. “Teasing is fun, and there is a difference.”

“That
was bullying,” remarked Mary. She dropped a handful of Asher’s action figures
in the wood chest we used as a toy box.

“Was
not. Now, if I had my hand on the grip of my pistol, that might have crossed
the line.”

“Jacob…”
Briana stepped directly in front of me. “…I will have you…”

Vomit suddenly
spewed forth, all over me.

“Oh my
God,” she gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. “I am so sorry. It’s the morning
sickness. This is worse than when I was carrying Asher.”

“No,
no,” I said quickly. “It’s not your fault. It happens. Not a big deal.”

“You
should tell Renee about this,” chimed in Mary. “She told you about when she
drank too much.”

“It’s
not the same,” retorted Briana. She stumbled to the nearest chair. “That one
came on so fast. I may need to stay in the citadel more often. Wouldn’t want to
do that during a meeting. It would be too embarrassing.”

Mary
snorted. “All the women would sympathize, and if any of the guys commented,
they’d get hit in the head with a frying pan. And you have one up on Renee
since she did it to herself by getting drunk. You could tease her.” She shot me
a look. “But not as mean as Dad.”

“The way
you tease everyone, you shouldn’t be complaining, and no stopping the cleanup.
Get those toys in the box. I know you were playing with them too.”

“I was
babysitting. That’s work, not play.”

“Mary.”
Briana pointed at the kitchen. “Get me a bucket, fast.”

The
seventeen year old broke into a run, retrieving the trashcan just in time.

“Yeah,”
she mumbled, after a second bout and some dry heaving, “this is bad. I’m going to
bed.”

I helped
her into the room, placing a second plastic trashcan beside the bed. I’d empty
the dirty one before I turned in myself. I went ahead and changed my clothes as
well.

“You
okay?”

“I’m
fine,” she replied. “I just need to lie down.”

Helping
her into a nightgown, I fluffed the pillow and arranged the blankets around
her.

“If you
need anything, just yell. It won’t take us long to finish cleaning up.”

“I’m
good. Don’t worry.”

It was
hard not to, but I turned off the light and shut the door.

“Got the
mop,” said Mary, when I reappeared.

“This
was a doozy,” I agreed, looking at the mess on the floor. “I think it’s pretty
much everything Briana had for dinner.”

She
crinkled her nose. “Yep, and she hit you good too.”

“Don’t
even think about saying I deserved it,” I warned, no trace of malice in my
voice.

“Nah,
this was a baby thing, and Briana does get sick a whole lot when she’s
pregnant. I bet it happens again.”

I
shrugged. “Probably will. I’ve never known anyone to get as nauseated as her or
for it to last almost start to finish. Anyway, as long as she doesn’t puke on
Asher we’re good. It’s bad enough with him throwing up half the time he sees
her do it. Can you imagine the screaming if he gets sprayed?”

“Would
be bad. Bad if she pukes on me too.”

Full
agreement on that point. Then again, no one wants a pregnant woman to vomit on
him or her. Well, let’s change that to no one except those with deep seated
emotional problems.

“Go
ahead and tell Michael that I really was kidding earlier, when you see him
tomorrow, and it will be tomorrow. You are not going out again tonight.” I
paused. “He’s a good kid. I like him.”

That brought
a smile to Mary’s face, and I likely would have received a hug if not for the
stench I was exuding. I needed to wash up before joining Briana in bed.

*
* *

I’m not
going to discuss my actual birthday party, except to say that Briana did not
vomit on the cake, any of the guests, or in public. Total success. Instead, I’m
going to shift to the day after that when Captain Briggs flew in, accompanied
by Sergeant Brown who continued to serve as his XO. I’d informed Hawaii that I
was getting ready to move, and that if they had anything to offer, suggest, or
request it had better arrive soon. They were carrying the politicians’
decision.

“The
government has passed a resolution declaring genocide immoral.”

“What?”
asked Marcus.

He was
sitting at the table, along with myself, Lizzy, and Renee. Briana was in the
corner looking miserable and feeling worse. Mary was beside her in case she
needed anything. I’d suggested that she lie down, but my wife was determined to
keep abreast of all developments. It would be important after I left and all
responsibility for local governance fell to her. Also, she wanted to know
exactly what I was going to face and how dangerous it might be.

“Everyone
knows genocide is fucking immoral,” snapped Lizzy, “doesn’t stop it from
happening all the damn time either, not now and not before the world went to
shit.”

The
captain shook his head. “It’s a resolution without teeth, a waste of time that
received a unanimous vote.”

“Are
they going to use this against us due to the raiders and the cave?” I asked.

“They
better fucking not,” declared Lizzy. She crossed both arms over her chest.
“That was an accident. We didn’t know they were in there.”

“It was
due to that in part,” he admitted. “No one holds the actual deaths against you
or Yellowstone. There was no way to know they had their non-combatants in the
cave, and they were firing from the entrance. All actions taken were reasonable,
given the circumstances. Rather, they wanted to stress, in a somewhat round
about way, that you should be extra careful this time since we know for a fact
they have children on the island.”

“Jacob
isn’t going to kill a bunch of kids,” argued Lizzy. “This is fucking
insulting.”

I had
considered dropping incendiaries on their settlement in the middle of the night
and just burning the entire lot to death, kids or no, but Lizzy was right. I
couldn’t bring myself to slaughter little ones if there was any way to avoid
it, no matter how much quicker and easier that made everything.

“I did
receive the impression,” continued Briggs, “that the government was not
completely displeased with the results. There has been a great deal of
difficulty with many of the survivors brought there, especially those who’d
been isolated or living hand to mouth doing what they had to in order to stay
alive. Reintroducing these to civilized society has not been smooth, and quite
a few are institutionalized while undergoing psychiatric treatment or rather
what passes for it nowadays.”

“And
they are happy they didn’t get the brats of a bunch of fucking psychos to deal
with,” concluded Lizzy. “Fucking hypocrites.”

“They
would have preferred to keep them alive,” clarified the captain, “but they
aren’t shedding tears over their loss.”

“That is
understandable,” pointed out Renee. “This would have been a large group too,
stretching their resources which are anything but unlimited. There’s a good
chance they would have tried to kill everyone as well. You know the prophet was
preaching that for the past few years. Even the toddlers were bound to be
messed up in the head.”

I figured
she was likely correct, and while I would have preferred to see the children
survive, I hadn’t lost too much sleep over their deaths either. Having any of
the prophet’s people around would be dangerous. Briana and I never would have
allowed them stay with or near us, barring the youngest who could be fostered
and brought up right. Best case, had Hawaii not been there to take them, would
be to visit the nearest highway and send them on their way. With the zombie
menace being the way it was, exile was little different from a death sentence,
but what were the alternatives?

“What
else did the government have to say?” I asked.

“Sergeant.”

“Sir.”
Brown nodded to his superior and passed me a folder. “They want you to seize
the island community and transport the prisoners to Montana.”

“Montana!”
Lizzy slapped a meaty hand against the table top. “Any idea how far that is?”

“This
airstrip is sufficient for the transport planes they are sending,” continued
the noncom. “It is also the closest such location to the lake. We will secure
and hold it until the aircraft arrive. We will also unload the supplies they
are bringing. There will be materials for both Yellowstone and the Black Hills.
They will then take the prisoners back to Hawaii for reeducation. Maps are
included.”

I
glanced at the charts provided. I knew the area fairly well and thought I could
get there without too much trouble. I’d have Xavier fly over the roads to be
certain.

“You can
use the same trucks carrying the prisoners to cart the supplies back here,”
said Captain Briggs. “That portion of the run should be fairly routine.”

“We need
tampons,” said Briana. “Tell them those have to be included among our supplies,
along with medicine and vitamins.”

“The
tampons we can do,” replied the sergeant, opening his briefcase and checking a
list. “There is a small factory manufacturing those now.”

“Really?”
asked Lizzy. “About fucking time. We’ve been going off what we pulled from
grocery stores and houses or making do.”

“The
government is setting up small plants, often with only a few workers each, to
produce specific items. A sizable portion of the populace is either military or
involved in the production and transportation of raw materials. Most of the remainder
are in service positions or crafting. The big ones are the steel mill and
refinery, which were already in place. There is also a textile mill producing
cotton and wool cloth, several lumber mills, a foundry for bricks, concrete
production, and so forth.”

“How are
the economics working?” I knew they were shifting people toward industry but
hadn’t kept up on the details.

He
grimaced. “It’s getting there, but there are issues, mostly with the new dollar
currency. Since there is no shortage of the old, new ones had to be created and
distributed. There have been problems getting that going, along with printing
the appropriate amounts.”

We hadn’t
bothered with anything similiar. No one was paid for his or her efforts, and
everyone had to work. Briana and I, mostly Briana, placed people where they
wanted to be whenever possible, and we made sure everyone had plenty of food
and anything else necessary to stay safe and comfortable. There was rampant
bartering of course, but I didn’t care what anyone did with their personal
property. Steal from the community, however, and you would be bound to a pole
and whipped. No toleration for that sort of thing.

Eventually,
we would have to bring back regular money. With survival being foremost on
everyone’s mind, it wasn’t a great concern, but that would change. At any rate,
our commune style existence could not last. Such systems always failed in the
end, as did all forms of socialism. Such programs are inherently abusive,
irrational, and contrary to human nature. It was only the crisis that kept us
going now. Hopefully, Hawaii and the island government would get theirs sorted
out, so I could hop on the bandwagon without having to do anything myself.

“The
medicine,” prompted Briana. “What are they producing? Anything new?”

“There
are stocks of old drugs, many of which are still usable,” said the captain. “I
can and will get those here.”

Neither
of us cared too much about that. We had looted plenty of hospitals and
pharmacies.

“As to
newer medications,” he continued, “not much has changed. Very little is being
produced. We lack the expertise, and there are no doctors or scientists with
direct knowledge regarding their manufacture. Taking equipment from a handful
of pharmaceutical companies, we can produce limited amounts of a limited number
of specific drugs. That’s it, and I do not see this situation improving. In
most cases, we can’t obtain the ingredients, specifically naturally occurring
ones originating elsewhere on the planet and derivatives that require complicated
refinement.”