And it showed. Zombies approached from all angles, forcing the vehicles to weave down the road. John ordered both vehicles to stay buttoned up.
“It’s all about speed now,” Mike said through gritted teeth. “We’ve got to get to the highway. It should clear up there.”
He swerved around a zombie. Jack watched as the second vehicle clipped the zombie to send it spinning to the ground in a heap.
Mike was right. Thanks to the army, once they got on the highway it was clear sailing. As he looked out his window, he felt a touch on his shoulder. He turned to see John looking at him intently. Jack started wilting under the scrutiny before John noticed. His features softened as he spoke.
“Hey. Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Oh. It’s OK...” Jack responded, unsure where this was going.
“I figure that we’ve got some time, so maybe I could show you a few things about your sidearm?”
Jack perked up at that. “Yeah, sure. Thanks!” His eyes darted to John’s sidearm.
John caught his gaze and smiled. “This here” —he pulled the sidearm from its holster—“is a Desert Eagle. Ever heard of those?”
Jack nodded; his eyes glued to the large, shiny weapon.
Popping the magazine, Joe pulled out a bullet. “This is a 50-caliber bullet.”
“It did a lot of damage,” Jack said, recalling a large portion of the zombie’s head exploding, and both Mike and John being sprayed with gore.
“Pull your gun out and we’ll talk about that, instead.” John popped the bullet back into the magazine, replaced the magazine in his sidearm, and holstered the weapon.
Just then they passed the city limits. The city fell away behind them and their vista opened into a countryside interspersed with stands of trees. Mike turned on the wipers as it started to rain, while Jack learned about his sidearm.
Chapter 29
Keith
November 8, 8:00 A.M.
Keith waved off Jack, John, and the team from the steps of the Ren. He looked at Ern, who was standing beside him. The old man had mentioned that he was a little disappointed that he couldn’t go along with the expedition. But Nancy had rightly stated that Ern wasn’t done tinkering with the furnace yet.
Keith followed Ern back into the Ren. He heard Ern admit to himself that he wasn’t really up for an expedition anyways. Keith thought that he looked tired. Almost exhausted, really. His eyes narrowed as the watched the man lean against the wall for a second.
“Right. Might as well get to it.” He heard Ern say. The next thing he knew, the old man had spotted him.
“Keith!”
Keith froze.
“Up for giving me a hand with that furnace?”
It really wasn’t a question. To Keith’s credit he nodded right away. “Of course, Ern.”
“Right. Follow me, young man!” Ern said as he marched towards the stairs. Keith dutifully fell in step behind him.
Keith noticed something strange as he followed the old man. Ern briskly walked down the stairs but faltered somewhat when he got to the bottom. The old man came to a halt and swayed in place. Keith quickly caught up to him. “Are you doing OK, Ern?”
“Yep. I’m fine!” he answered with a forced smile.
Something wasn’t right, although Keith’s expression remained impassive. He didn’t believe Ern.
Ern caught this. “I just got a little dizzy from those stairs. Altitude sickness.” He cackled at his own joke and turned away without waiting for Keith to respond.
Keith watched him walk away. He seemed to have recovered. A slight frown played across his face, but he followed the old man down the hall.
“Enough lollygagging! We’ve got some work to do.” Ern seemed to be back to normal as they stepped inside the maintenance room. “Grab me that box of tools, will you?”
Keith grabbed the heavy box and brought it to the old man, who was already kneeling behind the furnace.
“What are you doing, anyway?” Keith asked as Ern opened the box and dug through it with child-like eagerness.
“Well, some dumb-ass converted this perfectly fine boiled oil furnace to a propane furnace. Better for the environment and all that crap.” He sneered at Keith, showing his opinion of those matters. “Problem is that propane is not as efficient as oil. I won’t bore you with the BTUs and all the technical details.”
“Thank you.”
Ern cackled once more, as Keith’s dry humor was not lost on the old man.
“They did the conversion recently. And they did a piss-poor job of it too!” Ern grimaced and shook his head at the apparently shoddy workmanship. “So, I thought about fixing it up and improving the propane system. Ah.”
Ern stopped talking and rubbed his temple. He caught Keith’s concerned look and stopped rubbing immediately.
“Son, are you going to walk on eggshells around me all day?” He frowned accusingly. “It’s just a headache.”
Keith smiled apologetically. “Sorry Ern. ... Go on.”
“Well, anyway, then I looked back there.”
Ern pointed back over his shoulder to one of the corners of the room. Keith could see a bunch of barrels set on pallets, stacked two high. There must have been twenty of them.
“That’s oil. And there really is very little propane here.” Again, Ern shook his head. “What I’ve decided is that I’m going to convert this here furnace back to its original, pristine state. She’s going to be running on oil, and she’s going to purr like a kitten for it.” He smiled as he put his hand on the contraption.
“Sounds good, Ern. How can I help?”
Ern thought about it for a second. “Well, you can start by getting us a cup of coffee!”
His cackling laughter could be heard through all the vents in the school.
Chapter 30
November 8, 10:00 A.M., undisclosed location.
Dermott used to be something of a celebrity. The investment banker had been part owner of a successful business, which had afforded him lots of time for his blog, YouTube channel and a plethora of social engagements. He had also been known as quite the philanthropist, making donations to various charities around town. Little had the “common man,” as
