Zombies in Paradise (Love in the Age of Zombies Book 2) (2 page)

Kevin my love,

I probably won’t see you off this morning. I’m sorry, I just can’t say goodbye. But I love you and miss you already. Please be safe and be careful and come home to us. We love you and need you.

My heart forever,

Michelle.

Kevin read the note several times and paused with a small, sad smile and misty eyes, then placed the note in his pocket for safekeeping. He pulled a package of crackers and a jar of peanut butter out of the cooler. The peanut butter jar was still sealed, so Kevin was able to dip the first saltine into the virgin, unspoiled surface. It was always his favorite bite, and the freshly opened crackers were so crisp a few of them broke as Kevin excavated the peanut butter surface. Washing down the peanut butter crackers with water, his palette was content, even though his heart ached for Michelle.

After he’d eaten enough to take the edge off his hunger, Kevin walked the trail to the edge of the lake, never more than thirty feet from the Jeep. Dusk was coming on; late afternoon was becoming early evening. He stood on the gravelly beach, waves lapping his feet. The lake was still, only a few ripples forming in the slight breeze. As he looked toward the island, he heard the call of a loon. It surprised him, as loons weren’t usually found this far south. It was a lonely sound. Kevin heard the response of its mate a few seconds later and thought
I’m lonely. I haven’t felt this lonely in years
.

Glancing into the clear water, he saw a few minnows dart about. His heart leapt and, surprised, he bent over to pick up a small Petoskey stone nestled among the other stones in the shallow water. Other than the note from Michelle, finding the fossil was the highlight of his day. He dropped it in his pocket and heard it click against the stone already in his pocket, the one he always carried. As he headed to the truck to get some sleep, he noticed the moon rising through the trees.
I wonder what Michelle is doing?
he thought longingly. He stood, deep in thought for a few minutes, then pulled his journal from the pack and quickly wrote a poem.

Loons

Across the lake

the nesting loons call to each other

in the late May dusk.

Small waves murmur against the rocks at my feet.

Mercury and Jupiter

Make their first shy appearance

in the western sky.

I reach into the shallows

to pick up a small Petoskey stone

barely visible in the fading light.

Everything tonight

The loons, the water, the planets, the stones

Everything reminds me of you.

I see the moon slowly rise

through the trees in the east.

If I stand very still and stare

I can watch it move.

How I would love to be holding your hand.

Chapter Two

Six weeks earlier

When Kevin rushed into the basement of his Ann Arbor home, fearing an intruder, the last thing he expected to find was his only friend in the world besides Michelle. His axe held high, Kevin was ready to go to battle to protect his pregnant wife. Having seen what men were capable of, he couldn’t afford to be cautious.

“Kevin! No!” Michelle cried. The stranger approached him with an easy yet wary smile. Facing a lunatic with an axe would make any man cautious.

“Easy, Kevin, you don’t want to put an axe through the head of a friend,” the man said calmly, hands held out to his side, palms up. As he drew near, he stuck out his hand and said, “I’m Steve. Doctor Steve. Doc.”

Kevin stood there for a moment, his brain temporarily short-circuited as he tried to process the information while adrenalin still surged through his body. Doc lived across the state, in Atlanta, Michigan, a small town in the northeast. How could he be
here?!

“Kevin, relax!” Michelle said, the beginning of a smile in her voice.

He lowered the axe to his side and grasped the hand offered him. “Doc? You’re Doc Steve? How  .  .  .  what  .  .  .  ” he stood there, blinking foolishly as Doc pumped his hand with a firm grip.

“I’m afraid your wife and I have been conspirators in an effort to surprise you,” Doc said, finally releasing his hand and glancing toward Michelle with a grin. “We’ve been talking about this for a few weeks, long before I left my home up north.”

“You came from your cabin in Atlanta?” Kevin asked. “How? Why? I don’t understand.”

“Michelle my dear, your husband looks like he could use a drink. Perhaps you can get him some bourbon while I fill him in,” Doc suggested. “Then again, I wouldn’t want him to drink alone, so if you insist, I’ll have one too.”

“Oh, I insist, absolutely!” she replied with a smile. As she headed for the storeroom/nursery she said, “Geez, Doc, you’ve been here less than an hour and you’ve already opened the bar!”

“Damn straight! It’s been months since I had a taste of bourbon and my long walk has left my legs weary. I have a thirst for more than just water,” Doc replied.

“Wait—you
walked
here?” Kevin asked incredulously.

“We’ll get to that, just hold on,” Doc said as Michelle opened a bottle of
Jefferson’s Presidential Special Reserve
and poured a few ounces into two highball glasses. Kevin completely approved of serving the good stuff.

She asked Doc how he liked his bourbon. Doc said in the old days he preferred it on the rocks, but he’d be very happy with it neat. After handing the men their glasses of bourbon, Michelle went back into the storeroom for a bottle of wine.

While she was gone, Doc swirled his bourbon and inhaled deeply from the glass. “Mmmm  .  .  .  Iike inhaling the sweet, familiar perfume of a long-absent lover,” he murmured before taking a sip and letting it linger on his palate. “Wonderful! Very agreeable! You have good taste!” he said appreciatively.

“You better appreciate it, we don’t give the good stuff to just anybody who shows up at our house!” Michelle quipped as she came back into the room with an unopened bottle of
45 North 2014 Select Harvest Riesling
.

“I consider myself a very lucky man,” Doc said graciously. “Please, allow me!” He took the corkscrew and popped the wine cork. “To answer your earlier question, Kevin, no I didn’t walk. I drove my Jeep.”

“I didn’t see any Jeep outside! Where is it?!” Kevin protested.

Doc held up his hand, signaling him to stop. “Ah-ah-ah! One step at a time! I drove my Jeep until I ran out of gas about fifteen miles from here. I walked the rest of the way. It took me about five hours, and I was walking at a brisk pace. I hoped to drive all the way here, but didn’t quite make it. There were a few distractions along the way and it took me longer than I’d anticipated.”

“You guys scared the hell out of me!” Kevin said, turning to Michelle. “I saw Doc go through our side door and thought we were under attack again! And you!” he said, turning to Doc, “I’ve been trying to reach you on the radio for days! Here I was worried about you and all along you’re playing a trick on me! I might have killed you!”

“Were you surprised?” Doc said.

“Yes!”

“Are you glad to see me?”

“Of course!”

“Then why are we talking about it?”

Kevin’s initial surge of adrenalin subsided and he found himself very glad to meet Doc in person. He stepped in and wrapped his arms around the older man. “You crazy old coot,” he said, “you’re so ornery you remind me of Dr. McCoy. It’s no wonder they call you Bones!”

“
They
don’t.” he replied testily. “No one but you.”

“Welcome to the new reality,” Michelle said, as she drew close and was drawn into their group hug. “He makes it up as he goes. Doc was supposed to get here in a day, two at the most. I was getting worried, too, but didn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“So it took you four days? Why so long?!” Kevin persisted in asking.

“Like I said, there were a few distractions,” Doc again said vaguely. “For now, I want to enjoy a very worthy bourbon in the company of two of my favorite people in the world. To us!” Doc raised his glass in a toast.

“Amen!” Michelle said.

“Cheers!” Kevin added, as they clinked their glasses together.

Over the next few minutes Doc gave them a bare-bones account of his trip. “When Michelle told me she was pregnant, I thought it was great news, but I could tell she was worried. When she explained why, I understood. I was going stir-crazy in the cabin by myself and offered to make the trip. There was plenty of gas for the Jeep and while I didn’t know exactly what to expect, I didn’t think the trip would take so long.” When pressed for details, he lifted his empty highball glass and said, “Please, not when I’m empty.” But by the time Michelle refilled his glass, he’d steered the conversation away from his trip by asking about their living arrangements.

They showed him around their home. He was impressed with the hydroponic grow room and was very happy to learn he could take a hot shower; his leg muscles were stiff after his long hike. Kevin promised he’d show him the rooftop solar panel array when it was a bit warmer outside. They were glad they’d kept the extra mattress, because now Doc could use it in the living room while they continued to use the inflatable mattress in the bedroom.

Michelle and Kevin had to change some of their lovemaking habits—not only were they not in the habit of being quiet, Kevin used to encourage her to be loud. But being quiet was kind of fun, too, like they were sneaking around, getting away with something.

So began their time with Doc. They had met over the shortwave radio not long after the Collapse and had become friends. Michelle, a nurse practitioner, valued Doc’s input while caring for Kevin’s bullet wound, and he’d become a father-figure to them both. Kevin and Michelle were fairly new lovers, having been thrown together by circumstance. She’d moved in next door just before society collapsed, and it then became obvious Michelle would not survive unless she moved into Kevin’s survival bunker/basement. Kevin hadn’t been with a woman in years, and between her intelligence, sense of humor, innate beauty, and his obsession with her large breasts, he’d quickly become infatuated.

Kevin initially resisted Michelle’s overt invitations because he still carried pain from the loss of his wife and baby, Tammy and Jason. He spent many restless nights in bed, wondering about the woman sleeping in his living room. Eventually his attraction overcame his reservations, and soon they were not only bedmates but deeply in love. Living in a small shelter, effectively surrounded by zombies and unaware of any survivors other than Doc, they both had to deal with long-buried hurts and fears caused by past relationships. The emotional upheaval caused Kevin to experience paranoid jealousy that defied logic. But they talked their way through it and eventually his delusions faded. When Michelle discovered she was pregnant, their relationship became even stronger.

With the rising temperatures, the ugly, putrid zombie tissue on the lawn and in the street became a problem. Kevin was taken aback when he saw a crocus shooting up through the fetid remains of a zombie torso. The intact bodies had been hauled off, but there were pieces and parts of bodies scattered around. Kevin didn’t have the stomach to try to remove any of it, and hoped Mother Nature would completely reclaim the remains soon, either through scavengers (ugh!) or through decomposition. In the meantime, the smell outside was unpleasant enough to keep them indoors most of the time.

About a week after Doc joined them, he officiated their wedding. It was a sweet ceremony. It felt right having him live with them, and even though Kevin already considered Michelle his wife, they both wanted a ceremony. It was short and sweet. They both said
I do
and Kevin kissed the bride. Doc graciously spent the night upstairs so they could have a brief, overnight honeymoon. They enjoyed the freedom to make noise and walk around naked.

A few days later, Doc wanted to retrieve his abandoned Jeep, so he and Kevin went to the carport to see if the Civic would start. It wouldn’t. The battery was deader than a zombie. They spent about an hour trying to discover a way to recharge the battery with solar power, but even after rerouting the power from the solar cells and letting it charge for a day, the battery was still dead. They checked Michelle’s BMW; it was as dead as the Civic. After eight idle months, the batteries were ruined. The men talked it over and reached the same conclusion: if they were going to get the Jeep, they would have to make the trip on bikes. It would be faster and safer than walking. Kevin’s bike was in good shape, but his late wife’s old bike needed a lot of work. They took it apart and used a steel brush to get rid of the corrosion on the chain and gears, then soaked them in penetrating oil. Fortunately Kevin had replacement tires and inner tubes, so they replaced the dry-rotted tires and tubes and tightened the spokes. While letting the chain and gears soak, they planned their trip using a map spread on the upstairs kitchen counter. At one point, Doc said, “You know, Michelle might not like the idea of us going, especially without her. You’d better talk to her.” They put the bike back together and Doc took a quick ride around the block to make sure it was road worthy, then they went downstairs to tell her their plans. She didn’t take it well.

“Why do you need the Jeep? Why risk getting it? Just stay here where it’s safe,” she implored. Doc explained that his medical kit, weapons and survival gear were in the Jeep, and he wasn’t about to abandon it. Then she wanted to know why the men were taking bikes and not a car.

Kevin explained that his Civic and her BMW were both dead, and even if one started it wouldn’t be much good. Passenger cars were built for smooth paved roads, and it was very likely they’d have to go off-road. Plus, even if the batteries would hold a charge, the gasoline was stale and the car probably wouldn’t start. If it did start it wouldn’t run well and wouldn’t run long. Bikes were the best alternative.

“The Jeep is just northeast of Dexter,” Kevin reminded her, “about fifteen miles away. We can get there and back in a three or four hours.”

She looked back and forth between them, realizing their minds were made up. They talked it over some more and she reluctantly accepted their decision with a resigned look in her eyes.

Doc and Kevin quickly planned a gas run. “We should look for luxury sports cars, Hummers, and high-end Jeeps,” Doc said. “We can siphon gas from their tanks. Guys who own Jeeps like mine can pleasantly obsess over them, constantly adding off-road accessories and using gas stabilizer with every tank. I haven’t run a tank of normal gas in ten years. Most engines weren’t designed for regular gas which contains ethanol, and the few times I used it the Jeep had less power and worse gas mileage. Owners like me sought out stations selling alcohol-free gas, or used stabilizers like me.”

“What’s going to happen a few years from now when all the gas is gone or bad?” Michelle asked.

“Unless someone knows how to pump oil and refine it, internal combustion engines may be a thing of the past. You can run cars on pure distilled alcohol, but synthetic seals and gaskets weren’t made for alcohol, so they’d break down in no time. Plus it would take a huge amount of grain to distill that much alcohol. Unless you had an overabundance, chances are you’d use the grain for food. Grain alcohol would be an extreme luxury.”

Kevin could tell Michelle wasn’t happy about their trip. She made a good argument for going with them, but Doc and Kevin were firmly against that—Kevin’s pregnant wife was not going to take any unnecessary risks, and besides, they only had two bikes. In the end she acquiesced to staying home. Doc was right about her not liking the idea, and that night she was not in the mood for loving. She barely even snuggled. Earlier she had complained of having a headache, and during dinner said she was feeling kind of woozy. She had also started complaining about feeling nauseous and her ankles swelling. All of these are normal during pregnancy—Kevin’s late wife, Tammy had made some of the same complaints—but even so, Kevin noticed Doc watching her closely. He was thankful for Doc’s vast experience in treating pregnancies; Kevin wouldn’t know which complaints of hers were normal and which were serious.