Chapter 3
About four hours later I turned the truck onto the road leading to Haven. At the perimeter gate, I saw my friends Jack and Rob. Rob and I had met when me, Jack and Mindy had first arrived at the community. Although Rob and I had a rocky start, we had since become good friends. I rolled down my window, "Have any problems?" Jack asked. "No, I found some Zombies but they were all within a 30 mile radius of their homes. And I found a couple survivors living at a farm house north of Gettyville." Both Jack and Rob glanced at the kids. "Are there any empty places where they can crash until I get them settled?" I asked. "Sure, your house is empty. Mindy and I took the place two houses up from yours. I thought we would give your place back to you." Jack said. "Ok", I laughed. "I thought you would never leave." I said. "Stop by my place when your shift ends, ok?" I asked. "Hey man… that’s weird, you miss me already." laughed Jack. "Bite me, Jack. You stop by too Rob", I said. They both agreed to stop by. I drove on down the street to the drying shed "We have to be inspected for bites and scratches before we can go to the house. It's just a little safety measure we have for anyone that goes outside the fenced area." I told the kids.
After the inspection stop I drove them to my house. When we reached my place, I backed the trailer into the drive and parked it beside my shop. "Let’s go inside, and clean up before the guys get here." I told the kids. "You can take this room Jenny." I said, as I walked her back to the guest room. I reached into the closet and grabbed some of my clothes. "Just throw all my stuff from the dresser into a box. I gave Jack and Mindy my room when we first arrived. Now that they’ve moved out I can go back to my own room", I told her. "We have a community generator for power so you can take a hot shower if you want to. The towels are in the vanity. There’s even a hair dryer under the bathroom sink." I said as Bobby slipped past me carrying Jenny’s suitcase to her room. I walked over to what had been my office/computer room. "We’ll fix up this room for you, Bobby. But you’ll have to sleep on the sofa tonight. Tomorrow we’ll check the empty houses to find a bed for you." I told him. "Ok, no problem." he said.
In about 30 minutes there was a knock at the door; Jack, Mindy and Rob stood on the porch. Jenny, Bobby and I were just sitting down to eat some soup. Mindy put down a plate of fried chicken. "WOW!" Bobby and I said at the same time. "Jack I’m sorry about that bite me comment, I really do miss you if you get to eat like this. Where did you get chicken?" I asked. "You can thank Rob for that." said Mindy. Rob, who had been staring at Jenny looked over at me sheepishly and said," I knew where an egg farm was down south so I stopped by hoping some chickens had escaped their cages. Sure enough I trapped about 15 on the first day. By the time I needed to leave the next day, I had over 50 chickens. The only problem was I couldn’t find any roosters. On the way home I saw a scrawny little rooster running around a house by the highway. It took me about two hours but I finally caught him. Now he’s so pleased with his situation I can't keep him run off my porch, I guess he wants to thank me. Rob added "Jack and I made some traps and a big cage. We went back down there and were able to catch over a 100 more chickens." "Jack, Rob, and some others went out and rounded up six cows, two bulls and a couple of horses from surrounding farms, while you were gone." said Mindy. "We will have milk if we can find a good way to distribute it safely and fairly. We can use the horses to save tractor fuel." She added. "Man, I leave for a couple weeks and you guys really start getting organized." I laughed.
Rob looked back at Jenny. "I’m sorry guys; this is Jenny and Bobby Collier. I found them "holed up" in a farm house about 20 miles northwest of Gettyville. Gettyville is about 120 miles north of here. And this is Jack, Mindy and Rob." I told Bobby and Jenny. After we ate, Rob handed Jack and I each a beer. "I always stop at that market you showed me in Chico." said Rob. Mindy and Jenny were talking. Jenny was telling Mindy about their hiding in the attic. Then Mindy started telling Jenny of how she and Jack ended up here in the community.
Jack, Rob, Bobby and I got up and went outside. "How old are the kids?" Rob asked. "I don’t know…., the girl is 15 or 16 I guess and Bobby is…... how old are you Bobby?" I asked. "Jenny’s 17 and I’m 12, I’ll be 13 in three months." Bobby said. Rob smiled then said, "Nice trailer you’ve got there." We walked over and the three of us looked it over and discussed possible improvements. Rob said, "What if you mounted it to the frame of the truck like a camper. Then you could get into the truck without getting out and walking around the container? It would be heavy but this diesel could handle it. That might be handy if you woke up surrounded by Zombies." "I think I’ll just pick up a heavier truck maybe a 2 or 2 1/2 ton next time I’m in Chico. I’m afraid this ones suspension couldn’t handle the load that well." I said. "I need to be able to see out without opening the door too. I had to go out and find the Zombie I heard one morning, luckily there was only one and he wasn’t waiting at the door for me." I said.
That night as Jenny Bobby and I sat around the table, Jenny kept asking me about Rob, "How old is he? what did he do before this Zombie thing happened? does he have a wife or girlfriend? where does he live?" I finally had to throw up my hands and stop her, "I don’t know" I said. Why didn’t you ask him?" I said. "I just met him, I couldn’t" Jenny said. "Ok, ok, I’ll find out." I said. "Don’t tell him I was asking. I’d be so humiliated and embarrassed" Jenny said.
"We need to talk about you two. Who will you live with? You need to be with a family" I said. "We’ll live here with you. You’re the closest thing we have to a family now. We know we’re safe with you. We can help you around here. I can help you with work. We can clean your house and Jenny can cook." Bobby said. Jenny nodded her head in agreement. Jenny looked at me and said "Our folks are probably dead, like Grandpa, right?" "Yes, I’m afraid so, if they had got out in time like Jack, Mindy and I, they should have arrived at your Grandfather’s, but you probably will never be positive." I told her. "But you guys can certainly stay here. You can stay as long as you want." I said. I wasn’t sure about having kids underfoot. But I was getting used to having them around to talk to. And I did feel somewhat responsible for them now. "Let's sleep on it for a while. We can talk some more tomorrow. I’m going to bed; I’ll see you in the morning." I said. I stood up and walked to my room. Jenny helped Bobby make his bed on the sofa. When she finished Jenny went into the guest bedroom to settle in.
The next morning I walked over to talk to Jack, who was keeping the guard shift records this month. "I need to work some guard shifts so I can have about two weeks free to check Zombie movement patterns out of Sacramento. I want to see if Rob will come too. I need to go into the city for some ammo and other supplies." Sure" he said. "Are you ok with back to back shifts?" he asked. "I don’t care; I just want to get back out. I’m concerned about the pattern I’m seeing in the Zombie’s spread. I don’t want a couple hundred or couple thousand to show up on our doorsteps one day without our knowing it’s going to happen" I told him.
Over the next two months Rob and I picked up a new truck in Chico and spent a lot of time working double shifts in order to free ourselves of mandatory guard and patrol duties. When we were off shift Rob was usually at my place working on the container or visiting Jenny.
After two grueling months we had logged enough shifts to take a month off. We had also completed modifications to the container and had it mounted to the new truck. We cut gun slots with covers we could close and lock. A remote start/kill switch for the generator was installed and some exhaust fans for cooling. We cut a pass thru into the truck cab in the event we needed to escape rather than fight. After we inspected the unit one last time, we were walking back to my house when Bobby rushed up eating a sandwich. "Where did you get the bread Bobby?" I asked. "Jenny made it. Jenny says nobody wants a wife that can’t cook." he said. "Well, as long as you got the bread I promised you. I never promised to make it myself, right?" I said and tousled his hair.
We went into the house where Jenny was in the kitchen humming a tune. Pots and pans clattered as
she worked. "Wash up Bobby, supper is almost ready." she said. Jenny walked into the living room. "Oh!" She exclaimed seeing Rob. They were both red faced as I looked back and forth between them. Jenny walked over to Rob and whispering asked "Did you ask him?" "Not yet, give me time." he said. "Ask who, what?" I asked. Rob looked at me and blurted "We want to live together, if you approve". He said. I said "Of course I approve. But I need you to wait until after this trip. I don't want you or Bobby staying alone while we are gone. I need Rob to come with me. I want to track some more Zombie travels. And I want to be here in case you come running home after seeing how a single guy keeps his house. We should be gone two or three weeks no more than that." I told them. "Bobby asked, "Can I come?" "No", I said. "You have to stay here and protect your sister", I winked at Jenny. We will try to find you a Kevlar vest or leather jacket though. You will also need a helmet with a face shield or at least glasses and some sort of scarf to protect your face." I said. After eating supper, Rob and I discussed where to go on this trip. We decided to head south to check for Zombies between Haven and Sacramento. I wanted to see if they were searching for food or had chased people and were continuing in the same direction similar to their mindless attack method. I wanted to know if masses of Zombies were moving our way. I didn't want to find out by the alarm going off when they were at our fence.