Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny by David Achord Page B

yards away. I grabbed the microphone as I put the truck in park.
    “If you want to talk, start talking, but if you come through that pile of cars you’re a dead man.”
    I opened the truck door and stuck the muzzle of my rifle out. Kelly nervously followed my lead and did the same.
    “I’ve got the front,” I said hurriedly. “Keep an eye on our six.” I watched her turn around out of the corner of my eye. Directing my attention to the pile of cars, I watched as the SUV quickly braked and stopped on the other side.
    “Are you pointing a gun at us, man?” he asked over the radio in a somewhat annoyed tone. I grabbed the mike.
    “I want you to answer my original question, why are you following us?”
    “We only wanted to make new friends,” he said.
    “You have a strange way of doing it,” I replied and continued before he had a chance to say anything else. “But it doesn’t matter. We’re not looking for friends, so turn around and drive away.”
    There was no further chatter on the radio. After a long minute, he backed up and drove away. I got back in the truck and slammed the door. Those two had angered me. Kelly must have sensed my mood and was quiet now. The two of us rode in silence for a couple of miles before I stopped suddenly.
    “Look,” I said, pointing at an older ranch style house with a large prefab metal building in the back.
    “I bet there might be some goodies in there,” I said as I eased down the driveway.
    We cleared the house and building in silence. Kelly was still unusually quiet, probably due to my outburst earlier, but I had better things to do at the moment than have a little group therapy session.
    “Alright, let’s see what we can find,” I said. Kelly didn’t acknowledge, which made me start thinking maybe I’d said something critical toward her without even realizing it. I’d figure it out later.
    Neither the house nor the shed yielded any ammunition or firearms, but apparently the homeowner, the gentlemen who had hung himself from a crossbeam in the shed, was an electrician. He had a little of everything relating to the field. I waved a hand at it all.
    “I think we can use some of this stuff.” While I was looking over the equipment, Kelly pulled a tarp off of something and gasped. I walked over to what she’d discovered.
    “I haven’t ever seen one of those in real life,” I said. It was a snowmobile. Snowmobiles were practically nonexistent in the south. After all, there was no need for them.
    “I think it’s the first one I’ve ever seen too,” Kelly said.
    “Not much use for them around here back before, but we can sure use one now. I hope it runs. Let’s start loading this stuff.”
    We didn’t have room for everything, so I concentrated only on stuff I thought we could use to upgrade our power grid. After loading up the snowmobile, I checked my watch. Kelly looked at me, but didn’t say anything.
    “Alright, we’ve been here thirty minutes,” I said. “That’s our limit, and the truck is full. What do you say we head home?” Kelly nodded in agreement and got in the truck.
    I was normally the quiet one, I could listen for hours while Kelly would prattle on and on about everything under the sun, but when she was quiet it always meant something was wrong. I knew she wasn’t sick so that could only mean I’d done something. There was a time when I ignored her until she got it out of her system, but she’d grown on me lately, although I never admitted it.
    “Is there something bothering you?” I finally asked. Her typical first response was nothing was wrong, but after a little bit of prodding, it came out.
    “You know, it’d be nice if we had some friends,” she said a little testily. “I’m not saying those two are prime candidates, but still…” her voice trailed off at the end. I didn’t respond and thought about it as I drove. She was a social person, like all humans. I, on the other hand, had convinced lately convinced myself I