CHAPTER 10

"So what's the story with the Militia?" I asked as we walked up the drive to the Red Rocket.

" A few years ago some of the locals created the Militia. Their main goal was to fight zombies and help with natural disasters and such. But, since the previous Commander retired some of their newer members have started acting out and causing problems with the general population," Norah replied.

"They must be taking advantage of the change in power," I commented and waved when I recognized someone standing by the Red Rocket. It was the waitress Penny from the cafe in town.

"Do you know where we might find Roy?" I asked when she greeted us with an absent-minded smile.

"Roy's my dad and you'll most likely find him tinkering on something in the garage" she replied and walked around the side of the building with us.

"Say did you find out anything about your brother?"

"Nothing yet, we were hoping that your dad might have heard something."

"Let me go ask him." She said and disappeared inside the garage leaving us standing outside on the sidewalk only to reappear moments later with her dad in tow.

"Penny tells me that you're looking for a missing person?"

"Yes, my twin brother went missing a couple of days ago and we were wondering if you might have seen or heard anything?"

Roy frowned, "well, now that you mention it a couple of city guys stopped by the rocket yesterday for some fuel. And I really didn't get that good of a look at him but they did have a dark-haired teenage boy with them."

"Do you have any idea where they took him?" I asked urgently.

"One of the guys said something about Atlanta. I don't know for sure if that was your brother with them but I would be very careful. Those guys looked more dangerous and organized than those Militia fellas that are running around playing soldier."

"What would they want with my brother?"

"I have no idea and we really don't know for sure that it was your brother. If it helps I heard one of them refer to the boy as Lucas."

My breath caught for a moment, " it's him, I know it!" Distractedly I brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen into my eyes. "we need to get back to Celeste's and see if I can get ahold of my mom or grandma."

"Are you talking about Celeste LeBlac?" Roy asked.

"Yes," Norah replied. "She's my aunt."

"If you want to wait a few minutes I can give you a lift after I finish up with this tune-up. I'm supposed to deliver some generator parts to your aunt today. I do have one stop to make on the way but that shouldn't take much time." Roy invited.

"That sounds good to me," I replied. After a long day of chasing Moose through the countryside, I was grateful to get a ride and for a chance to sit down for a while.

"Great," Roy replied disappearing back inside the garage before calling back. "Penny, why don't you take the girls inside for a cold glass of rootbeer."

" Sure thing, Dad." She answered and led us inside the waiting area. "We make our own rootbeer and I have to say that it's the best that you can find in the whole state."

* * *

"I just have to drop off a case of rootbeer for the Landry brothers," Roy said as he drove off the highway onto a long dirt driveway leading up to a large ramshackle two-story farmhouse with badly peeling paint.

We had just pulled up in front of the house when a gun-shot went off inside and the front door was flung open by two elderly men who shot out the door each running in a different direction as fast as their legs would take them. If the situation hadn't been so serious it would have looked pretty comical. They both looked to be at least in their eighties and I was amazed that they could move so fast.

"What in the hell -" Roy breathed. Before calling to one that was closest to us. "Jeb, what's going on?"

Upon hearing his voice the elderly man jogged over to the pickup, "My girlfriend Lois, just turned into a zombie. One minute she seemed perfectly fine and the next she was trying to have me for dinner. I think that Clem might have shot her, she's not coming out anyway but neither is Judy."

"Who's Judy?" Roy asked.

"She's Clem's girlfriend, we were getting ready to have dinner when Lois turned."

"That doesn't sound good," I said and pulled my shotgun from its sheath. Most likely Judy was already dead but we needed to check it out as quickly as possible just in case she was trapped inside the house.

"No, it doesn't, Roy replied and grabbed his shotgun from the gun rack in his pickup. "Jeb, you stay here with the pickup and we'll go see if Judy is still alive."

"Don't worry I'm not moving from this spot until we know that Lois is dead."

"Be very quiet," Roy whispered as we approached the house. "I'll cover the front door. Kaley, you check the window and be ready to draw the zombie out. Norah, we're going to need you to cover the two of us."

We nodded our assent and I went around to the right side of the porch and crept up to the window. I held my breath when one of the boards creaked loudly and my right foot almost went through the rotten wood. I reached the window and slowly exhaled, looking through the dirty glass I could make out some movement inside the room but was unable to see clearly.

Taking a chance I wiped off some of the dirt in order to get a better view. Unfortunately, things didn't look so good for Judy, In the doorway to the kitchen, I could see a woman's body lying on the floor with another woman bent over her. Turning to Roy I shook my head and made a throat-cutting motion. He nodded his understanding and motioned for me to proceed.

I checked to see that Norah was in place before crossing over to the front door and slamming the screen door. The zombie looked up with blood dripping down her pale face and snarled when she saw me standing at the door. I waved my hands and attracted by the movement she took a couple of tottering steps toward me and then just stopped seemingly confused.

"Dammit," I swore and waved my hands again. Zombies weren't exactly intelligent, to begin with, but this one was acting even dumber than usual. "She won't come out," I called back to Roy and Norah. "It looks like we're going to have to go in after her." I couldn't believe it when she turned around as if to go back into the kitchen.

I'd really wanted to spare the two old guys any more of a mess in their house than they already had; but at this point, it looked like we didn't have much of a choice in the matter. After my recent encounters with zombies, I was starting to get over some of my terror of them. Oh, they still creeped me out some but not nearly as much as before, unfortunately, that also made me a little careless. With a sigh, I turned my head and in that instant realized that I'd made a big mistake.

The one thing that you never ever do is to turn your back on a zombie, no matter how weak or feeble that they seem. Because zombies are basically just an eating/ killing machine that is never sated. All of this flashed through my mind quicker than the speed of light when I turned my head and came face-to-face with a snarling blood-covered Lois.

Luckily my body moves even faster as almost without thought I dropped to the floor and took her down with a leg sweep. Then before she had time to react I pulled my hand ax from my backpack and swung it at her neck. It's a little harder to chop off someone's head than you might think and it's doubtful that one will swing will do it but the ax did pin her to the floor.

You did have to give the old girl credit for trying I thought as she was still frantically trying to reach me even with her neck pinned to the floor. Her head was twisted sideways so that she could still see me and both of her hands were clawing at the rough boards of the porch. Somehow she'd managed to her feet up underneath her and she was actually trying to walk with her head still stuck to the floor. All the while she was growling and snarling at me. It was without a doubt the strangest and most obscene thing that I'd ever seen in my life.

"Move back, and I'll finish the job," Roy called.

As he finished her off before walking into the house I walked over to the hand pump well in the front yard to clean up and check for any scratches or cuts. I don't believe that she even touched me but it's always a good idea to get any of the tainted blood and gore off as soon as possible. Seconds later I heard another shot from inside the house. Since Judy had been killed by a zombie Roy would have to take care of her as well.

"The house is all clear," Roy announced as he walked out onto the porch. "I'm sorry about the mess Jeb, but we'll help burn the bodies and clean up."

"That's ok, Roy, I'm just glad that you came by when you did." He scratched his head and looked around the yard, "say did either of you girls see where Clem went to?"

Roy laughed, "as fast as he was moving he's probably clear in the next county by now."

"Not quite, but he did climb that oak tree in the back yard pretty fast for an eighty-year-old," Norah replied.

"I bet we could both outrun either of you girls," Jeb boasted to my amusement. "Back in the day Clem and I were both marathon runners."

"That explains a lot of things," I said with a smile.

"Maybe someone should go tell him that it's safe to come down now," Norah said.

"Oughta just leave him up there. That's what he gets for being such a chicken," Jeb huffed and grumbled under his breath as he went around the house to retrieve his brother.

"Well girls, I guess we need to get started with the cleanup," Roy remarked. "And the sooner the better, it's getting late and I don't want to get caught out after dark."

"I'm ready for a nice long nap," I groaned and went into the kitchen to fetch a bucket of soapy water and a mop.