He smiled weakly. "I'm fifty-four years old. That in itself is good reason to be tired these days, but then everyone is as tired as I am. I'm fine. A few good nights sleep will put me right again."
"Take care of yourself, we need you." I switched from Ira's condition to the people he'd examined. "What's your opinion of the five newcomers?"
He closed his eyes, leaned back in the black leather desk chair and thumped a pencil on the desk. "The two middle-aged people," he leaned forward and sifted through papers until he located the two he wanted, "Anthony Margherio and his wife Irene. He's forty-six, she's forty-four. Both are in good health, considering they've been on their own for the past three years. He was the building superintendent of a large upscale apartment complex near where you found them. She'd been an accountant's assistant. They lived this long by cleaning out all the food, water, wine, beer and other liquids and so on they could find in the other apartments when the other tenants left. Last week they ran out of rations and struck out on their own. Three nights ago, they joined up with the older people who died and the younger couple.
"Those two are Matthew and Maureen Holden. They're both drug addicts. Their health is poor, but since we don't allow drugs or liquor here, their health may improve dramatically... Let's see…He's twenty-four and she's twenty-seven. They both changed jobs frequently before the zombies arrived; I couldn't pin either of them down. Employer's drug test found them out every time, I assume. Both appear intelligent and have philosophy degrees. They'll be okay for general help until we learn more details of their work experience. They've existed with a small group of his relatives in the north woods of Michigan until recently. The group's numbers declined during a run-in with zombies, and they say they decided to go back to Chicago to locate other relatives. I think they must have exhausted their drug supply and felt the drugs would be more available in a large city. They've likely been raiding liquor stores and pharmacies to get high and staying on the move and hiding out in different places. It's a wonder they're still alive.
"And then there is Grace Abbot." Ira shook his head and exhaled hard. "Miss Abbot, say's she's twenty-one, but I think that's overstating her age by about three or possibly four years. She claims to have worked at retail outlets as a clerk, but the way she was dressed and physical signs I saw during her exam lead me to think she's been existing as a prostitute. When I inquired as to how she'd existed these past three years she abruptly changed the subject. She has an attitude and a hard edge. She may cause problems. I hope I'm wrong, but that's my gut feeling."
"It's late, my friend, let's call it a day and get some rest. It's been a long day all around."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Four days later, I drove to Mason City with Marcie Tanka and Janice Holescheck. We'd left Fort Dodge earlier after pilfering boxes full of books from the public library and the Buena Vista University Library. We worked from a long list of subjects to collect information on, but we'd concentrated mainly on medical home remedies, growing and preserving foods hundreds of years ago and cloth weaving. This was the first of many trips we anticipated making to preserve knowledge that would be imperative during the anticipated imminent decline of civilization.
Zombies were present throughout our drive, but they were scattered in small random-sized groups. We dealt with the ones that were close enough to interfere with us and hurried away from the others. One thing we guard against is getting too cocky for our own good and placing ourselves or our friends in needless danger.
Ten miles south of Mason City, I crested a slight hill and saw a pickup moving from the shoulder onto our lane of the roadway. I flipped on my lights and flashed them several times to get the other people's attention. It must have worked because they sped away from us and kept going. That irked me so I sped up and followed them toward the city.
As we approached the city limits, the strangers slowed to avoid a wreck that blocked both lanes. They pulled onto the steeply inclined grassy surface past the right shoulder to skirt the wreckage. We caught up to them and were about ten yards away when the sliding rear window opened, and a handgun pointed at us. Three shots rang out, but none hit our truck. I accepted that as positive proof they definitely didn't want to have a friendly conversation with us. Our truck stopped dead still. The slider window closed as the strangers sped off. So much for civility.
Marcie frowned when she said, "Welcome to my harsh new world."
Life at Deliverance went on as usual. Our leadership committee met with all our people who had unique qualifications and asked them to become mentors to the younger members and train those who were interested in learning their skills. In the future, the group would need all the help we could muster when our modern technology, equipment, and utilities wore out or were made useless when our electrical generation shut down.
Our five new members joined the group, but three didn't adjust to their daily work and training assignments. Janice told me Grace didn't fit in with any group she was assigned to. She was surly and snapped at anyone who tried to teach her the proper method of performing the work. She still dressed provocatively and talked with a smart mouth.
Shane received several negative reports on Matthew and Maureen. They both were ill-tempered and hard to deal with. I had expected that after Ira suggested
