Chapter 7, The CEO

In a Bar three blocks from Jacob's house, the whole bar was relatively quiet to keep the zombies from being drawn to them.

This was how far Jacob had made it clearing zombies. Once he and Jessica woke up from being unconscious.

Jessica was sitting on the stool next to Jacob and Hurd the whole conversation. Her face was white as a sheet.

Jacob was staring at her pissed.

"I swear I didn't tell her." Jessica cried

Jacob smacked her. "If you were not such a slut, we would be the power couple of the world. The love of my life would not be flying three states over in the middle of a fucking apocalypse!"

"Fuck!" Jacob punched the bar, most of everyone in the bar Hurd the phone call. "Does anyone here know how to fly a plane?"

"Sorry boss Greg didn't survive the change." Berry informed Jacob.

Jacob pulled out his phone and started making calls to give directions. Jacob didn't call Kristy first thing because he was busy preparing his people for the apocalypse.

Yes, his people he wanted Kristy to marry him for him not for his money so he lied about a lot of things for example he is not the head of the HR department, he is the CEO.

He even made sure she was safe at home and set up his secretary as a student in college because Kristy comes from a modern family and wanted to split the rent with another girl like roommates.

Everything Jacob does is for Kristy.

"Come fetch me, we are going back to Portland. Also have the boys check the sky Kristy is on her way in a jet as we speak." Jacob gave instructions and hung up the phone, ripped open a whiskey bottle and took a drink. "I fucked up."

'His love for five years dumped him over the phone for cheating on her.' Jacob ran his hands through his hair. 'Over the phone! He can't blame her driving to him to dump him in person during the Apocalypse would be dangerous. He didn't want her doing that ether. But how did she find out? No that's not the worst part why was I so stupid to do the crime in the first place?'

'Kristy would have easily forgiven him the lies on his job and finances because she didn't really care but this…'

Jacob looked up and saw the red hand mark on Jessica's face, "go to the other side of the bar. I don't want to see you."

'Who is the enemy that played dirty and sent information to Kristy? Being in the business of security Jacob was very confident in his office of not leaking information, but whoever this person was using Kristy as a chess piece to hurt him was the smartest move he had seen. he would find them and make them pay!'

Jacob scanned the room these are the people left that he had brought with him. Was one of them the trader this was an inside job. Until a moment ago they should not have even known he had slept with Jessica. Was his office bugged?

Jacob picked up his phone again and dialed. "Ignore the Lampert area and head back to Portland. We have a base already. There is no need for a second base now."

"Boss the navigation is not working in the aircraft somehow where in Idaho we're refueling and traveling by compass from here."

"Shit! Kristy is in a jet right now. you're saying we have no idea where she is going to wind up?" Jacob asked 'when things rain, they pour.'

"Kristy is a smart girl boss, just tell her about the navigation." Berry suggested

"And how do you expect me to explain how I got this information?" Jacob asked.

Berry looked up at Jacob. "How long are you going to hide who you are from her? Money is worthless boss; your people follow you for you. Kristy agreed to marry you; she loves you for you. Try being honest with her."

Jacob sighed and dialed Kristy's phone again. She didn't answer. Jacob tried to call Kristy's mom Carol. She is going home to her family right.

"Hello." a male voice answered the phone.

"Matty, who is it?" A female voice asked the male.

"I don't know. Aunt Carol marked the caller id as sunshine." the male voice told the female. "If you're looking for Aunt Carol, she didn't survive the change sorry."

All the irritation Jacob was feeling left him when he heard Kristy lost her mom. And the voice said aunt carol.

"Kristy is on her way to Portland." he got out. The words were like a choked whisper. He was thinking of how devastated Kristy must have been when she found her mom was gone.

"I know she called us. You know Kristy? I didn't think she was talking to anyone else." Matty asked curious who this person is.

"She didn't answer the call the second time. I think she was waiting for someone to call her, but I just found out the navigation system is not working so I needed someone to contact her." Jacob said.

"Oh, don't worry Kristy already knows the manna will mess with the navigation she chose to take a VLJ so she can dip to keep check on the roads. Other than that, she is using the compass." Matty informed Kristy's friend Sunny.

"She took a VLJ. She will have to touch down twice to get to Portland in an VLJ." Jacob was worried again.

"Don't worry so much, my cousin is a badass at killing zombies. She cleared half the highway to get to her flight school. By herself."

Jacob knocked over the stool he was sitting on. "By herself! I didn't know she was traveling by herself."

"Didn't she tell you she was so pissed off during the change that God gave her fire magic." Matty repeated Kristy's phrase. "She has decided we're going to be a zombie hunting squad." Matty shared

"Are you joining the squad too? Kristy is fire, I'm wood, my sister Brenda got water and my dad is wind. So, if you're joining you have to be a different power to fit." Matty informed Jacob.

"It will take another day before I can get back to Portland." Jacob answered wondering if he should join his fiancée's hunting party and have his men clear the area before she gets there. He chose to ignore the fact that Kristy had dumped him.

"Alright Sunny what's your power?" Matty asked

"Ice." Jacob responded distracted with his thoughts he didn't correct Matty from calling him Sunny. He was disappointed in his Ice powers now; it didn't seem as cool now that he knew all of Kristy's family were power users.

Jacob had used all his strength and his men to clear three blocks towards Kristie's house. She cleared half a highway by herself.

"Shouldn't we talk her out of this, it's dangerous for her right?" Jacob asked Kristy's cousin.

"Shit man it's more dangerous not to fight when the zombies get stronger, we will be weak." Matty responded.

"What do you mean when the zombies get stronger, they are strong enough!" Jacob got angry that Matty didn't agree this was too dangerous for Kristy to be doing.

"Don't you read man? When people turn into zombies and other people get powers that means there is manna in the air. Dead flesh is a vacuum for this energy while the living has to pull it from the air manually by meditating or get it from the zombie core."

"The manna levels are still rising. Kristy said all power will go out in two weeks, in one month the zombies will get twice as strong and have a manna core. The dead will continue to get stronger as the manna in the air grows. After a month the rain fall will mix with the manna in the air and turn red." Matty Said

"Kristy is never wrong. Shit is going to get bad and I mean really bad as the dead get the upgrade before the living." Matty took a breath. "Kill as many of those dead fuckers as you can it will help later."

"Matty, you're still on the phone? We need to call Kristy. She wants to hear us to make sure we're safe." Brenda Wined.

"I'm talking to Kristy's friend." Matty said.

"Nonsense Kristy has only had one friend since she started dating Jacob. The girl that got closest to her to steal her fiancée." Brenda put her hands on her hips.

"No, it's a boy" Matty said

"What are you talking to that cheater! Hang up." Brenda reached for the phone.

"It's not Jacob and he knows about planes. This is Sunny, Kristy does go to school. her whole life does not run around just Jacob ok." Matty stood up for Kristy. Or at least he thought he did.

"Ok sorry the only names I hear from her since she moved to Utah are Jacob and Jesica. I didn't know she had more friends." Brenda was surprised.

"Of course, Kristy is a bubbly and happy person. She should make lots of friends easily. Kristy had so many friends call her all the time, before she spent every moment with Jacob. She just focuses on them, because it was her love and her best friend. Don't bring them up in front of her; she might catch the apartment on fire." Matty complained.

"Look at yesterday she went to get her head cooled down, went for a drive and made friends with the family on the farm. Of course, they turned into zombies but my point is in under four hours Kristy had made six new friends." Matty was bitching at his sister but Jacob heard every word.

"Hey man, I do need to go hunting now. We haven't cleared anything yet because dad was bitten, but he survived and got a power so now we can kill those things."

"Wait, your dad was bitten?" Jacob cut him off.

"Yes, the survival rate after being bitten is small and it is painful but if your body is primed for a power, you can survive the bite. But don't get bitten on purpose to get a power, the chances of turning into a zombie are much stronger than awakening a power."

"I have a friend who was bitten. Can he survive?" Jacob asked

"It takes 12 hours to turn into a zombie or get a power one or the other. But it is painful and you hallucinate badly at the end of it. I suggest you put your friend in his own room. so, he does not attack you by accident from the hallucinations. If he can stand and talk after 12 hours, he made it through the awakening if he growls at you, he didn't make it." Matty informed Jacob. "I really got to go now man see you when you get to Portland. Follow Kristy's motto don't stop moving or you will be surrounded, and kill as much as you can." Matty hung up the phone.

Kristy was not at home when the apocalypse started; she was surrounded by six zombies. 'Has he been so controlling that Kristy has no friends? The answer was yes, her only friend here is someone he placed by her side.'

He knew her habits and routine perfectly; he didn't think she would break it if she was upset. He never sent someone to watch her as he wanted her trust too. He even changes cloths and cars between the office and when he goes home or to see her to keep the reporters out of her life!

He has no idea how she knows about him and Jessica. 'It certainly was not planned from his end and happened while at work in the office of the CEO!'

'Does Kristy know that I lied about my job too, and we have plenty of money for marriage?'

'Does she think I lied about saving for the wedding so I could be with Jessica. I was not avoiding it; I just knew she wanted to graduate first.'

'Kristy has no idea how much I love her. Because I broke her trust and lied to her. About my family, job, income, and work I do all day. I have not lied about anything else. When I gave an opinion, it was mine. When I told her I loved her it was true. Every action around Kristy outside of work has been the real me.'

"It's not fair of me to expect her to tell the difference of what I did and didn't lie to her about." Jacob sat down at the bar again and the whole room was quiet.

These were his people. They also heard the conversation with Kristy's cousin and was waiting for Jacob to gather his thoughts and give an order.

They had just learned so much after all. Two of the men who were bitten were now crossing their fingers and praying to pass the 12-hour mark.

Jacob looked up, his eyes were cold, he was in business mode. "Chris, Dan, pick a karaoke room and do not come out for the next six hours. We won't let any zombies in. try to ignore the hallucinations."

"Yes boss!" They replied at the same time and moved.

"The rest of you, a two man watch rotation, try to get some sleep we're clearing us a runway length of road tomorrow."

"Billy report our new findings to the other branches then get some sleep."

Jacob sat on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Jessica asked shocked that the CEO sat on the dirty bar floor.

Jacob looked at her irritated. "I'm going to meditate and see if my manna comes back faster. Want to try?" He gave her a snide remark.

Jessica had not awakened a power.

"It works." Jacob told Billy after five minutes. "Kristy cleared a much larger area than we did by herself. She must have meditated to calm down and found it filled her power."

"She is very smart." Billy commented. "Are we reporting rising manna and crystals in the zombies or the power outage to the Branches as well?"

"Report those as current standing theory not proven fact. If the power does go out the info is there and can plan accordingly if the power does not go out, we will look for a new theory." Jacob said.

"Secure the power company first for each of our city's I don't want the failure to be from lack of employees. Then we think there is a rise in manna messing up the signal we need to be sure." Jacob took a breath "Either way the standing order for now is kill as many zombies as you can. I don't want to live with them." Jacob couldn't say 'he just wants Kristy to be in less danger when she is going hunting.'

In Portland Richerd picked up the phone and called Kristy once both kids were in the living room.

"You took longer than I thought you would." Kristy answered the phone.

"Matty was on the phone with your friend Sunny." Brenda complained she had waited a long time and was nervous.

"I don't Know anyone named Sunny?" Kristy said

"Come to think of it, he never said his name was Sunny." Matty said. "I just assumed it was Sunny as Aunt Carol had him listed in her phone as Sunshine. But he knew you were in a jet to Portland and wanted to tell you the radar was not working for the navigation system."

"Shit that was Jacob." Kristy said

"I told you," Brenda screamed at Matty.

"How did Jacob know where you were?" Matty asked.

"I was taking a drink of soda. My phone was ringing and I thought you were ready to go. I answered the phone without looking. Then I had to break up with him. I couldn't pretend to be a zombie anymore." Kristy complained.

"Oh, the shit gets better I was mad and flustered and screamed at him for sleeping with Jessica. And get this shit he apologized! They started their affair before the apocalypse ever happened! For more than five years I was played like a fool." Kristy was fuming now. "I'm so happy I decided to keep my virginity till after marriage."

"Then again if you had slept with him, he might have never cheated on you." Matty said only for his dad to punch him. "Ouch."

"A Real man will wait forever for the girl he loves. You did good, Kristy never think otherwise." Uncle Richerd made sure to tell Kristy how proud he was of her sticking to her morals even after the end of the world. 'Though it did bother him a bit, would she ever marry if she can go so long as a virgin, she does want kids eventually, right?'

"Anyway, I was able to righteously dump him after that. I was still civil about it because I want to use him in five years to get my hands on the level six time core. Since he is going to be in charge of the supplies at the base." Kristy showed how smart she was.

"Not anymore." Matty said. "He said he will be in Portland tomorrow. He changed his route for you."

"That mother fucker!" Kristy screamed. "Why was I so nice to him then? I even told him to take care of Jessica before I hung up on him. It took so much not to scream and curse and tell him to fuck off because he owes me some payback for the shit he put me though. Now he won't be in the position to help me and instead will get in our way!" Kristy was fuming.

"Ok new plan, grab all your stuff, loot a few stores, bury mom and auntie and get the hell away from Portland. Where should we go? The more zombies for us to kill the stronger we get." Kristy said

"Stop running from your problems. We can run later but navigation has stopped working. We need a lot of things and we know the way around here. Don't lose our benefits to drop an annoying fly." Uncle Richerd said.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Kristy apologized for being rash.

"We understand where you're coming from." Brenda replied she was mad at Jacob for what he did to her cousin.

"Ok back on topic or you girls will talk all night." Richard interrupted. "For weapons we have the Glock and three boxes of bullets, a crow bar from Mattys tool box, a butcher knife from the Kitchen, and an aluminum broom." Richard shook his head at the ridiculous number of things in his son's apartment when he knew it's the end of the world.

"So, you have only one weapon for all of you?" Kristy asked.

"I could only borrow one gun, there was not enough time to purchase one with the background check." Matty complained.

"I was not counting the gun as a weapon you don't have enough guns for all of you so using one is stupid. It will draw too many zombies to you unless it has a silencer?" Kristy asked.

"It does not have a silencer." Matty replied. "But we fired it earlier?"

"You fired it when the shit just went down, most of the zombies were distracted hunting your Nabors to bother with the noise."

"The only semi decent hunting weapon you have is the crowbar."

"The knife you can only aim for the eyes or under the chin into the brain of the zombie cutting through the skull would require you to be stronger than a zombie, keep in mind zombies have the strength of about one and a half people."

"But aiming for the eyes or under the chin puts you in the zombies reach and too many scratches can be just as bad as a bite. Plus, the smell of blood will attract zombies."

"The broom is metal but crappy metal you won't be able to smash the brain with it. At most you get a few good hits to knock the zombie out of balance before the broom bends or breaks."

"The crowbar has a spiked edge and is strong enough medal to smash the skull; it is also a bit longer so you can avoid arms. Thus, that is the only weapon you really have right now."

"Matty, have you never watched a zombie movie to know what a good weapon is?" Kristy asked him

"Do you have a cast iron skillet?" Kristy asked, "Then you can use the broom to trip a zombie and smash its head with the skillet." Kristy suggested.

"No, I have a cheap frying pan from Walmart." Matty responded.

"Ok so you have two options." Kristy took a breath. "You can try to clear the hallway with the weapons you have, and break into another apartment to clear, and hope your Nabors have a decent weapon. Because yes even if you could get into another apartment without clearing the hall I don't suggest it."

"The zombies within 35 feet from you can smell you when you go out. They will come to you and with enough of them banging on any door it will break eventually."

"Going into a zombie apartment with no escape is dangerous, you would have to move super-fast."

"35 feet are a lot of zombies already. You don't want to fire a gun and increase the range to half a block. It would be fine if more of you had guns but one person can't shoot fast enough, you're likely to be surrounded in fifteen minutes."

"Or your second option: wait for me to get there. I have a garage worth of weapons we can fire and a space to move if we need a break to reload. I will be there in about three more hours and I'm parachuting to your roof."

"Your what? To the roof" Brenda asked.

"I have a space, why would I take the time to park my jet and fight my way to your apartment when I can land on it?" Kristy asked why they are so surprised this is why she grabbed six parachutes.

Kristy had thought of this when she was thinking of refueling. She used her space to park and take off again before exiting the space. It worked great as she was still in the air when she came out. So, when she gets to Matty's apartment she will go higher circle around and come out of the space with her parachute to land on the roof.

She had stopped to refill sooner than necessary to check on the baby.

It felt almost like a James Bond movie. It was fun. She has every intention to get some hang gliders so she does not have to be concerned by the parachute going in the wrong direction.

"You will be getting here a little after midnight in the dark." Richerd said. "Can you even recognize the Apartment?"

"That's a good point. I haven't been there since summer break." Kristy said "In my memories that was five years ago." Kristy paused wondering if she even knew where she was going. "But it's the third big complex after the Walmart on brook street, right?"

"Yes," Matty confirmed she could find it that way.

"To be on the safe side, pull out your Christmas lights and throw the string from your window. No one else should have Christmas lights out right now. The light might help my landing; you're on the fifth floor so the lights will help me find the roof. Otherwise, I might need to land on the road."

"A parachute will slow my landing to be safe but controlling where I land is hard. I was thinking earlier I should get a hang glider." Kristy informed them of her wish for a hang glider.

"You're so eccentric." Brenda complained

"The space makes so many crazy things extremely safe all of a sudden. I'm still learning cool ways to use it." Kristy commented "imagine us using the jet to get close to a zombie horde then we float down from the sky killing all of them."

"You do the parachuting. I'll come out of the space when my feet are on the ground, thank you." Brenda said.

"Hey uncle Richard, you want to play with a rocket launcher?" Kristy asked, distracted again.

"Not in the city I don't want to blow up survivors with the zombies." Richerd replied

"Hay why didn't you ask me to play with the rocket launcher?" Matty asked pouting like an abandoned puppy.

"Because I only have one and it can only be fired five times. Uncle is better at aiming than you." Kristy explained. "And he can integrate his wind magic with it for a bigger boom."

"Where did this conversation come from?" Brenda asked confused how it went from landing here to rocket launchers.

"Well, I was checking my inventory to pick weapons for you guys, and saw a rocket launcher in the list." Kristy replied.

"Shouldn't you pay attention where you're going." Brenda asked.

"I'm in line with the compass. It's not like a road that has turns. I fly over everything and I'm the only plane I see. I'll dip down every forty min or so to find a road sign to know how far I have gotten so no I don't need to pay much attention."

"How did you not know you had a rocket launcher?" Matty asked surprised that she could miss something like that.

"The weapon stash filled the space of a garage and a lot of it was boxes and cases that stored the weapons and ammo so no I didn't stop to look. I grabbed everything that touched my fingers and left. What if the other gangsters showed up when I was cleaning out their stash? I didn't have time to search it." Kristy complained she had done good. "I also somehow have two boxes of cocaine to get rid of."

"You have what?" Richerd growled in his irritated dad voice.

"Did I say that out loud? sorry, I picked up the habit of talking to myself during the five years I was an outcast in the base." Kristy apologized.

"I didn't take it intentionally I moved it to the to be trashed pile of my space." Kristy explained herself.

"Alright, here is what we're going to do." Richard said. "Time stops when we are in the space so we can personally go through the weapons when you get here. I don't think Brenda would know the weapon by name even if you were to tell her."

"So." Richard continued. "You will call us before you jump out of the plane. I will go out of the Apartment to fetch you by myself both of us on the phone. I will be using the gun to get to the roof and let you in."

"No, I disagree." Matty said "even if you get to Kristy, you would have already fired the weapon. it will take her ten minutes to land. The zombies will surround you five minutes after that. two shooters are not better than four and you should not leave your back exposed on the way up."

"I agree with Matty we all go up to get Kristy." Brenda cut in before her dad could say anything. No way was she letting her dad go alone she had just lost her mom. Now she knows why Matty was crying yesterday. She couldn't sleep earlier she just had memories floating in her head of time spent with her mom and aunt Carol. It was too sudden one moment out to eat and joking about how much of her brother's money they could spend and the next they are gone and trying to eat them.

Brenda was happy to have water superpowers as an excuse for how wet her pillow on the couch was from her tears. Not that her brother and dad didn't know just that they understood she was not ready to talk. None of them were. The change in their reality came too soon.

"I don't think you should come up; I should go down." Kristy said. As you pointed out only one shooter is needed to clear a path to the apartment. I don't need to start firing till I land. Better time management." Kristy explained.

"The roof access is locked." Matty said

"Even better there should be no zombies up there. I can blow a door up with my fire magic so I can put the flames out later, all quieter than firing a gun." Kristy commented. "If it takes six minutes to get to your door then we have nine to fire before we are surrounded. four more minutes to adjust."

"Sure, but then the zombies are swarming into my apartment. I want to move my things to the space later, not have them covered in zombie guts." Matty was sultry. 'Kristy wanted to tell him that the space would remove the zombie guts but she decided siting on something that was once coved in zombie guts might make even her cringe a little.'

"Ok compromise, we come out when you start shooting and meet halfway." Brenda suggested

"We go out when she blows up the roof door." Richard changed the strategy.

"Ok we have a plan." Kristy was happy.