“She did almost get me,” I said. “That was quite a shot. Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked again. Shooting someone is a major ordeal. I was pretty sure that Toby wasn’t registering her as a person, though. In his mind, she was some sort of beast that merely looked like a person. I didn’t have long to continue my thought.
“Oh my goodness! Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Eve and Katie yelled as they rounded the corner and saw the four of us standing beside the pickup with two corpses within ten feet of us.
Eve and Katie were slower getting out of the house than we were. They heard the same screams for help that we heard and they heard a huge salvo of outgoing gunfire without having the benefit of seeing how it played out. By the time they came round the corner of the house, everything was finished, but they were panicked. Seeing everybody intact didn’t help to quell their panic or stop them from fussing over their babies once they reached them.
Katie slung the rifle she had been carrying and knelt beside Toby, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him toward herself. Toby was put off by her tears and the unwanted hugging, kissing, and fussing over him. He had just killed a man-eater single handedly. Katie’s concern was threatening to squash the attention he had been receiving for the man sized feat he just completed.
“Katie,” I said in a hushed tone. She looked up at me and I shook my head back and forth. Whether or not she understood my reasons, she submitted to my request.
Resisting her motherly tendencies, she stood up and took a step back from Toby, looking him up and down. “You are turning into a man,” she said. It wasn’t how she wanted to respond, but it was important for Toby to be able to focus on his accomplishment rather than getting caught up in the terror that had nearly befallen him. Since the time Toby was old enough to understand fear, we had tried to minimize things he was fearful of and not dwell on them. This was a prime time to follow through with that training. As hard as it was for her to do it, Katie pushed it aside and acted like it was not a big deal.
Eve was not doing as well. She had wrapped herself around Luke like a piece of melted cheese dripping off a hot burger and showed no signs of letting go. She couldn’t control her sobs. Matt finally extricated Luke from her crushing embrace only to become entangled within her death grip himself. He allowed her the time she needed and did not attempt to evade it.
I caught a glimpse of her face during the exchange. Black streaks traced the path the profusion of tears had followed from her eyes to the bottom of her jaw line. Each sob racked her body with a renewed series of shudders. She was normally a very strong woman, but she had been pushed to her limit over the past night and day. Nobody faulted her. We each knew that we were all hanging on by a tiny margin and it wouldn’t take very much to push any one of us over the edge as well.
After a couple minutes, Eve was able to regain her composure. The sobs turned to snivels which quickly died away. Wiping the remnants of tears from her eyes further spread the moist mascara. “If we don’t get back to the house, we’ll never get that lunch finished,” she said in an attempt to shift the attention away from her breakdown.
Luke and Toby explained what had happened while we walked back to the house. They had climbed the hill out back to look for something to shoot. As they neared the crest, they heard a noise on the other side. Thinking it might be something edible, they decided to crawl the last ten feet and try to catch it unawares. When they reached the top, they saw two infected on the other side. The infected were looking in their direction and making noise, but not moving toward them. They quickly agreed that Toby would count to three and they would shoot at the same time. Both infected fell without taking a step.
As soon as the shots faded, they heard a rustling in the bushes to their right and two more infected charged them. With single shot rifles, neither of them was prepared for a second shot. They turned and fled toward the house. Toby already had a second bullet in his hand prior to his shot. He said he forgot about it at first. Later when he was running toward the house, he remembered it was still in his hand. He opened the bolt to reload, but dropped the bullet before he could insert it into the rifle. He got another one out of his pocket and loaded the gun for the second shot. When the closest one fell behind him, he thought he had enough room to make the shot on the second. Matt and I were witnesses to the result.
Two things about the account bothered me. The first was that four infected had made their way to our property, nearly fifteen miles out of town. The second, and more problematic, was the account of how two infected had lured the boys close while the other two had lain in wait in the bushes, apparently waiting for the opportune time to attack. They had successfully set up an effective ambush.
Chapter
32
After lunch, we all sat around and talked for nearly an hour. Normally, neither Matt nor I would have sat around that long while on duty. Today, it was important to spend time with the family and help take the edge off everyone’s nerves. The afternoon’s events had left everyone shaken.
After an hour had passed, I went to the kitchen and retrieved three of the vaccines I had placed in the refrigerator when we got home. I returned to the living room where everyone was congregated, holding the vials, a handful of alcohol wipes and three Band Aids. “Luke, you aren’t going to like this, but it’s time for you to get a shot,” I said as I handed the three doses to Dr. Kemp. “One is for you, Doctor, and the others are for Eve and Luke.”
“What is it?” he questioned.
“It’s a vaccination against the infection. The army gave them to me this morning.”
“How many do you have?” Dr. Kemp asked.
“After these, we’ll have five more,” I answered.
“Connor, I need to talk to you for a minute.” Matt interrupted. I followed him into the kitchen. “I appreciate what you’re doing,” he said quietly, “but those were specifically for people who are critical to the survival of the town. Eve and Luke aren’t critical to its survival.”
“I know what happened to me when my family was exposed and I thought they were going to die. Protecting your family keeps you functioning. I can’t do this without you. That makes them critical to the survival of the town,” I argued.
He walked to the window and gazed at the hill behind the house before turning back to me. “They have very limited exposure here. Even if something happens to them, I won’t quit. Those doses weren’t meant for them.”
“You’re wrong, Matt. They weren’t meant for anyone in particular. Those vaccines were given to me to dispense as I saw fit and this is as appropriate a use as I can imagine. They haven’t been exposed. This is a safe use of the vaccines. Anyone else we give them to could have had an exposure and already be infected. There’s no way we can know. Giving them to someone else could be a complete waste. Like it or not, this is my choice and I’ve made up my mind.”
“Okay,” Matt nodded in agreement. “Thank you.”
We returned to the living room in time to see Dr. Kemp plunge the needle into Luke’s arm. Luke made a gasping noise as air passed quickly through his pursed lips. He didn’t make another sound. Dr. Kemp pulled the needle out, replaced the cap and handed it to Eve, who was standing beside her seated son.
“You’re all done,” he said as he covered the red prick on Luke’s arm with one of the Band Aids I had provided.
“You’re next,” he said to Eve as he rolled up her sleeve and wiped her arm with the alcohol wipe. He repeated the process he had performed on Luke.
When he was done with Eve’s vaccination, he turned to Luke. “I’m going to need your help, Luke. I can’t very well give myself a shot. I need someone to give it to me. Can you help me out?”
Luke’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “You want me to give you a shot?” he asked incredulously. “I don’t even know how to do it.”
“It’s easy. You just have to wipe my arm with one of those wipes to kill all the germs. Then you jab the needle in really quick. The faster you do it, the less it will hurt. Once you have the needle in, you push the end of the syringe and the medicine goes in. After that, you put a Band Aid on my arm and you’re all done. Do you think you can do it?”
After hesitating, Luke slowly said, “I guess.” His intonation and demeanor indicated that he was far from sure of himself.
Luke picked up the alcohol wipe and meticulously scrubbed Dr. Kemp’s entire biceps and triceps. He then grabbed the syringe and Dr. Kemp walked him through getting the cap off the needle. Once it was removed, he handed it to Eve. Luke held the syringe in his hand, staring at Dr. Kemp’s arm, as he silently worked out what he was going to do next.
Sensing his apprehension, Dr. Kemp walked him through the process again. “Don’t hesitate once you start. The quicker you stick it in, the better it will go,” Dr. Kemp encouraged, sensing he may have misjudged what originally seemed like a good idea.
Luke had been holding the syringe like a pencil between his thumb and index finger. Suddenly, he jabbed it into Dr. Kemp’s arm. Without releasing his grip on the bottom of the syringe, he placed his left hand at the top, gripped the flanges with his fingers and slowly but steadily pushed the plunger down with his thumb. When the syringe was empty, he withdrew it from Dr. Kemp’s arm. He took the cap back from Eve, covered the needle, and handed the used syringe to her. Finally, he covered the small prick wound with a Band Aid.
Everyone was stunned at Luke’s instant transformation from timid to fearless. Matt broke the silence with laughter. “Dr. Kemp, you’re a braver man than I am.”
Dr. Kemp said, “I have to admit, I was starting to wonder at the wisdom of my idea. It turns out the boy is a natural. I couldn’t have done it better myself.”
After the vaccinations were completed, we said our goodbyes. Katie and Eve were both strongly against us going after Curtis without help. We explained that tonight was about reconnaissance. If an opportunity to take Curtis out presented itself, we would obviously capitalize on it; otherwise, we had decided to wait until Tuttle could assist in a day or two.
As we left the house, tears were shed by the women. Katie questioned why we couldn’t let people fend for themselves. Inside, she knew the reason. It wasn’t right to leave people who couldn’t take care of themselves to die when we could help them.
By the time we finally got on the road, the sun had passed its peak and was beginning its downward trajectory to the west. It wouldn’t set until eight-thirty. After that, we would begin our surveillance of the ranch where Curtis was squatting. In the meantime, there was plenty to do in town.
Once again, we took the back roads to bypass Sgt. Martinez and his roadblock. When we got to town, we made a bee line for Wim Cummings’ house. He owned Northern Pumps, which was the local pump company. He also drilled wells. I wanted to see if he would be willing to drill a well in town and help get it set up with solar power so people would have access to water after the power went down. We stopped on the curb in front of his home. His truck was in the driveway. Similar to Marty’s house, and every other house in town, the shades were drawn.
“Well, I hope this turns out better than it did at Marty’s,” Matt quipped as we walked to the front door. Matt stopped short of the porch and took a step to the side into the grass. I rang the bell and banged the ball of my fist hard on the solid wood door. Ten seconds passed and I banged again.
Matt quietly said, “Someone is peeking through the curtains. I can’t see who it is, though.”
A female voice sounded inside, “Open the door, Wim. It’s Matt.”
The door opened two inches. Wim pressed his face up to the crack to verify what the voice had informed him. “Connor, come in,” he said, swinging the door wide to reveal the interior of his house. I knew Wim well, but had never been in his home.
“Are you expecting trouble?” I asked, eyeing the pistol in his right hand.
“Not really,” he replied. “If I was expecting trouble, I would have answered with the shotgun. I’m just being cautious.”
“Ahh, a man after my own heart. Nothing says leave me alone like a gun in hand. I’m going to recommend that in the future you bring the shotgun when you open the door, but that’s not why I’m here. Do you mind if we sit down?”
“Of course not. I was just about to offer,” he said, pointing into the living room. Prior to entering the house, Matt donned his gasmask. We entered and Wim closed the door. He led the way into the living room and sat in the recliner directly across from the muted TV, which was showing scenes of chaos from across the country. Matt and I sat on the couch. “What brings you to my humble abode?” he asked. “I figured you guys would be up to your necks in it by now.”
“You’re not far off on that one. We came by to see how deep your sense of civic duty runs,” I said cryptically.
“Oh, great,” he said, coming across as put off. I knew him better than to buy his act. “I can already see where this is leading. It’s going to end with me doing a whole lot of work for free.”
Turning to Matt, I asked straight faced, “Did you call and tell him why we were coming?”
“No, but it’s like I’ve always told you, Wim is a bright guy. It doesn’t take him long to figure stuff out.”
“Alright guys, out with it. What do you need?” Wim asked.
“The electricity isn’t going to last forever. We figure that within two weeks we’re going to be back in the dark ages,” I explained. “There isn’t a good source of fresh water in town. People won’t last long without water. We were wondering about the feasibility of drilling a well in a central location in town and putting a solar powered pump on it or even a hand pump.”
“I see,” he said. “What would you say if I told you I was already working on the problem?”
“I would say I want to hear about your idea,” Matt said.
“Solar isn’t an option. This morning, I talked with Ray over at Sparky’s about what you’re suggesting. He doesn’t have the panels in stock. I don’t know if you’ve seen the boys in camouflage with the big guns at the edge of town or not, but even if you could get someone to ship the panels, I don’t think they’re going to let the load past the roadblock. Besides, it would require too many panels to be practical. I do have an alternate idea that you might like, though,” he said as he shifted in his chair, rested the elbow of his raised forearm on the armrest, and leaned his head against his open hand.
“The Rocking X Ranch ordered a pumping windmill that arrived a couple days ago. We were going to install it next week. It turns out they aren’t going to need it anymore. I heard that a pack of those crazy people went through the area this morning and killed Walt, his wife, and the hired man. The windmill is the answer to your problem. I was thinking about drilling a well at the high school. There is a lot of room and it is right in the middle of town. I can probably have it drilled within a day and have the windmill set up within another day.”
“Is there enough wind to actually run the windmill?” Matt asked dubiously.
“Yes and no,” Wim answered. “There are a couple problems. First of all, there are a lot of trees in the area which will block the wind. To optimize the output, we would need to cut them down. Secondly, the wind doesn’t blow constantly. This is a very big windmill. It will pump a lot of water with a light breeze, but it does need a breeze. Since we don’t have constant wind, we’re going to need to build a reservoir. I also spoke with Paul Steele this morning. He agreed to bring his earth movers and a crew to dig the reservoir.”
“Okay. It sounds like your sense of civic duty is pretty strong after all. Is there anything we can do to help?” I asked.
After thinking for a couple seconds, Wim answered, “There are two things I can use help with. Even with everything that’s going on, I know there is going to be a lot of resistance to digging up the baseball field for the reservoir. People are going to be upset. It would help a lot if you could smooth that out. The second thing I need is some security. I haven’t seen any of those monsters since the sun came up, but they were thick last night. We need protection while we work.”
“We can do both of those. How long until you can start?”
“I’ll have the drilling rig in position in an hour.”
“Matt and I can cover you until 6:30 or 7:00. After that, we’re going to have to leave. Will that give you enough time to get everything set up?”
“Absolutely. I’m a little hesitant to work through the night, especially without you guys being there,” he said.
“What if we get a group of guys to cover you after we leave? We can equip them with some of the weapons stash from the station? I have four guys in mind who have combat experience. I haven’t talked to them yet, but I’m pretty sure they will all be game,” I said.
Wim nodded his head enthusiastically. “This is going to work. We’re going to have the ability to pump water by tomorrow night.”
“We need to do a few things before we start on the well,” I informed Wim. “We’ll meet you at the high school in an hour.”
Two of the guys I wanted to help with security for the well site attended my church. I had their numbers in my phone and dialed as I drove across town to the sheriff station. They were brothers and they lived together. I reached the first who spoke with his brother. They were eager to help with the project and agreed to meet us at the station where we would equip them with the gear they would need. I also had the number for the third in my phone. He didn’t answer. The number for the fourth wasn’t listed, but I knew where he lived. We would pay him a visit after the others showed up.
We arrived at the station and quickly moved inside to the armory and began gathering supplies. Each of the volunteers would receive a gas mask, a rifle, a pistol and plenty of ammo for both guns. There were four sets of night vision goggles. Matt and I each took a pair for ourselves and the others would be given to two of the volunteers. By the time we had gathered the supplies and taken them to the reception area, a late eighties step side Chevy pickup was pulling up in front of the office. Jeb Black and his brother Frank exited the truck and enthusiastically climbed the steps to the front door. They walked in with smiles on their faces.