“
I know.” She sniffled a bit.
We kissed. Our hands roamed. I pulled her to me and felt her warm skin against me. For a moment, I thought of Jenny and silently thanked her for letting us have this night together. It wasn’t often I had just one of them.
Pepper rolled on top of me, and our bodies melded together. Slow and tender at first, our hands played across each other's warm skin. I nibbled her neck, her shoulders, her breasts. Her climax came as a surprise, and I followed her over the edge.
We entwined together afterward, sharing soft kisses as we caught our breath. She stroked my face as I ran a hand over her hip.
“
You’re gonna get pregnant again, if we keep this up.”
“
Good." Her face darkened. "My ex never would admit he was the one with the fertility problem. He wouldn't adopt, either. You just keep me barefoot and pregnant, and I’ll be happy.”
I could see her smile a little in the low light. The curve of her lips faded away as she pulled herself to me.
“
Danny, tell me you love me.”
“
Huh?”
“
Tell me you love me. Like you mean it. Like I’m your wife, and we’ll be together forever. Not just for sex and babies.”
I ran my fingers through her short hair. I heard her sniffle.
“
Oh, Pepper.”
Her shoulders began to shake as I pulled her against my chest. I kissed the top of her head.
“
I love you. I love you more than life. I know it’s strange having two of you. It’s not what society told us, but all those people are gone. I love you, and I’ll be with you and Jenny and the kids for the rest of my life. I
will
be back. I can’t stand to be away from you girls.”
“
I’ll miss you, you big jerk.”
“
I’ll miss you, too. Don’t worry. I've got thirty killer Marines watchin' my back.”
“
I know. Stay out of Jinks' pants.”
“
She’s too young for me. I like older women.”
I held her until we both fell asleep. It seemed like a short night. Pepper got up to feed Michael when he started to fuss. One of the other girls joined her from the other room. I heard them talk softly, but I couldn’t hear what they said. I dozed until Pepper came back to bed, then I slid an arm around her and slept until the alarm went off.
As quietly as I could, I geared up for the trip. My unit’s camo went on first, followed by body armor. I strapped one pistol across my chest and another on my hip. Belts of extra magazines went on last. I picked up my rifle as I clicked my comm link to see who was there. Everyone reported in.
Pepper never got out of bed. I held her for a few long seconds, gave her a kiss, and left. Bill was already in the nursery with his family. I stroked Michael’s cheek. He was a light sleeper, and I didn’t want to wake him. My son. He had Pepper’s dark hair and my blue eyes. He’d be a heartbreaker when he grew up. I kissed his little forehead and ducked out of the room.
Downstairs, Ella was already up as well. She hustled around the kitchen to make a quick breakfast for us. Jinks, Hunter, and Dustin waited for us. Everyone carried enough gear to rattle when they walked. Good thing we weren’t trying to sneak up on anyone. Ella handed Bill and I an egg sandwich each, tears in her eyes. I gave her a hug. Six months with us, and she was almost back to being a little girl again.
“
You ready for this, Boss?” Bill asked.
“
Ready as I’m gonna get. Let’s move."
We walked to the parking area of the old trucking company. Four Humvees idled under the muggy morning. The APC—the Rhino, as we called it—sat among them, a monster of a truck. Anything short of direct artillery fire would bounce off its ugly, heavily armored hide. There were gun ports in the sides and mounted a fifty-caliber Browning up top.
The Humvees had also seen some modification. They'd done time in the Gulf, so the bodies were already armored. Slits in the windows allowed troops to fire from the inside with armor in place. Two of the trucks carried M-60 mounted in the spider holes. The other two boasted MK-19 grenade guns. We weren’t fucking around on this trip.
Marines milled around the vehicles as they waited for the order to mount up. Jenny stood beside my truck, holding Rachel in a sling across her tummy. I smiled as I took her into my arms.
“
I was hoping you’d show up,” I whispered.
“
Mmhmm,” she sniffled into my chest. “I didn’t want you to leave without saying goodbye to us.”
I kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be back in a week at the latest. I can email you guys from Tom’s computers. Look for me there.”
She only nodded. If she kept this up, I was going to cry like a bitch.
“
Thanks for letting me be with Pepper last night.”
“
She has separation issues.” Jenny smiled, her face streaked with tears.
“
We all do, baby. I love you.”
I kissed her goodbye, gave Rachel a hug and a kiss, and ordered the troops to mount up. We all slid into our rigs and pulled out onto Main Street. Tess sat beside me with her son in her lap. Jinks and Bill took up the back seat. In a small column, we rolled out of town.
“
Why are you bringin’ him?” I asked Tess as we rolled past our fields.
“
Not all that easy to find a sitter around here.”
“
Yeah, I don’t reckon it is.”
We drove out of the valley, past our warnings of burnt-out vehicles and Zed heads on posts. Up on the flats, we sped into Princeton. Downtown was fenced off now, and the city parks and courthouse lawn had been converted into community vegetable patches. Gardens filled the yards of the transplants' homes. A hundred new people lived in town now. They'd decided to take the downtown area with the houses in the blocks just behind the main drag. We waved to some folks pulling weeds in a garden. A parody of normal human interaction.
They waved back as we turned west on a side street. After a few more blocks, we buzzed down Route Six. I keyed the radio in the Humvee and checked on the troops in the warehouse. We owned it now, and we'd started up a few rudimentary trade routes. Wal-Mart and the grocery store were now ours as well. We'd barricaded the stores and guarded them with armed troops. All was well, and everybody wished us a safe trip. If the world ever gets back to normal, little towns like this will be the start of it.
We didn’t jump onto I-80 in Princeton. We'd blocked that route by dragging all the dead cars from the streets out to the off-ramps. That way, we kept the vultures from a direct entrance into town, and we kept the Zeds wandering the road instead of coming into town for a bite.
Ten miles down the road, we turned north. Another two miles, and we eased onto I-80. I radioed everyone to stay tight. Early-morning sun glittered like a thousand diamonds on the dew in the long grass. The fields lay empty this season. No corn. No beans. Weeds grew tall. Plenty of places for people to hide.
Tess began, “We need to follow this road until we get to—”
“
We’re going to Andalusia, right?” I cut her off.
“
Yeah.”
“
Okay. I know how to get there. That’s one of the reasons Kenny wanted me out here. I’m from up that way.”
“
Oh.”
I eyed her. “Why’re you girls comin' on this trip?”
“
Who wants to take care of two girls infected with the Z-virus?”
“
None of you are contagious."
“
Neither are lepers when they're in the dry stage.”
“
Oh.” She had a point.
“
Besides, O’Shea can’t afford to have his source for the anti-virus too far away. He developed it from my blood and Cindy’s. The inoculation came from Trevor.”
The little boy looked up when his mom said his name. He giggled and patted Tess’s face. She played with him for a few moments, tickling his little ribs. Trevor squealed with laughter. In spite of myself, I grinned.
“
You’ve got two babies," Tess said, glancing at me. "They were inoculated against the Z-virus, I assume.”
“
Yeah, when they got their other infant shots.”
“
And your wives?”
“
Everyone in town.” We drove past the splattered squad car we'd passed on our very first trip out of town. Someone had finally dragged the car off the pillar at some point. Papers and electronic components lay scattered though the ditch.
“
If we don’t retrieve this data, there’s a chance that if someone else finds it, it won’t matter. We’ll go through all of this all over again. This time, we don’t have enough of a population to survive another wave of infection.”
“
I get it. I just don’t like it. If we had time, I’d rather take the water routes and meet Tom up there.”
“
We’ll make it.”
I looked at her. Tess never took her eyes off her son. “You psychic or something?”
She laughed. “No. I just want Trevor to grow up to be a doctor, like Mommy was going to be.”
I gazed at her without saying anything. The girl was a mystery. She seemed smart enough, but I didn’t know her connections to any of this. And I didn’t have time to pry. We were almost to the Geneseo exit. The Interstate eased over a gentle hill. Through a shallow valley, the town spread out to the north. We'd secured the town over the winter. We thought about establishing a group of survivors there, but the scavengers beat us to it.
Several empty buildings right off the Interstate provided plenty of cover if someone with a radio wanted to signal a team over the rise west that another victim was on the way. I wasn’t planning to let us become an easy target.
I keyed the comm-link. “Raiders, checkerboard formation.”
I pulled my Humvee over into the right lane. Bill climbed into the spider hole behind the M-60. I heard Jinks load her M-203. Lance Corporal Justin Cody swung his Humvee into the left lane beside me. A Marine climbed through the roof to man the MK-19 grenade gun.
We went across the overpass as the Rhino eased into the middle of the lanes. Over the comm-link, everyone confirmed they were in position. I put my foot on the throttle as we headed up the long hill out of the valley.
“
Take down anyone who tries to get in the way,” I said into the mike, then turned to speak over my shoulder. “Jinks, pass me up that body armor.”
I took the jacket as she handed it forward. I passed it to Tess.
“
Put this over you and Trevor and get down in the seat.”
She nodded at me, eyes wide, and hunkered down.
It didn’t take long. From over the hilltop, a cluster of beater trucks and cars flew toward us. I cussed into the mike. I'd been hoping they’d still be asleep.
“
Take ‘em when they get into range.” The big diesel snarled as I hammered the throttle.
Behind me I heard the big Ma Duce open up from the Rhino. Flaming tracers reached out to touch one truck. It burst into fire. Bullets smashed the engine block. Gas flared up in a greasy cloud. The impact sent the truck out of control, and it rolled into the ditch. Grenades from Cody’s rig exploded among the other vehicles. Two of them flipped onto the side of the road.
Bullets pinged off the hood of my machine as the scavengers returned fire. They were either desperate or ballsy. We held ground as we tore toward each other. It was a game of chicken at sixty miles an hour. No rules. Everybody armed. Yeah, Mad Max it was.
They blasted past us in the ditch of the eastbound lane. We kept going.
“
Tail-end charlie, watch our back!”
“
Got it, Captain.”
The gunner on the fifty pivoted the big gun and opened up on the scavengers as they tried to make a turn. I heard the Pig as it chopped away. Grenades added their fun to the mix. Marines: when it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed overnight.
How anything could have survived that firestorm, I don’t know, but four trucks came up beside us in the eastbound lane. Rifle fire raked our Humvees. Bullets pinged against the side of my rig. One passed through the port in the window, skimming the body armor Tess had wrapped around her, and lodged in the passenger door. Tess screamed and ducked lower in the seat.
Bill swung the Pig and blasted the scavengers' lead truck. He must have hit the gas tank with a tracer. The old Chevy blew in a wicked fireball. From somewhere, an RPG streaked across the median. It slammed into the Rhino point blank. The explosion rocked us in our rig. Curses screamed out over the comm-link. We kept going. Every gun we could bring in opened up on the last three trucks, but they’d had enough. We crested the hill, and they fell behind. I watched in my rearview as they faded behind us. My mood started to improve, but that didn’t last long.
We topped the hill, went into a gentle turn, and I saw them. Three cattle trucks parked at an angle across the lanes. The back doors on the trailers rolled open, and hundreds of zombies swarmed out.
"Fuck!"
From a quarter mile, bullets and RPGs streaked in. The head of one rocket clipped the front fender of my Humvee, deflected, and exploded in the ditch. From the corner of my eye, I saw the Marine in Cody’s rig go down. Hands reached through the hole to pull him inside, and another Marine scrambled to take his place. Her ponytail cracked like a whip in the wind as she screamed her rage.