Chapter 1 End of the world

Chapter 1


“Not a bad days work if I do say so myself,” Richie said when we got back to the compound.
I rounded on him, and punched him in the arm. “The next time I give an order, I expect you to obey it, other wise you can stay your ass at home.”
“What was I supposed to do, drive away and leave your ass there to die?”
“Yes that is exactly what you were supposed to do. We have three teams, three Hum-Vs and that is that. We lose a Hum-V and the entire compound would suffer for it.”
“Aw, Silly come off it, the day turned out alright,” Jules piped in.
“Captain, leave off, you can kick Richie's ass later, I have something for you,” Garret held up a green bottle with brown liquid in it.
“I don't know why you guys protect that asswipe, but whatever...” I grabbed the bottle out of Garrets hand, saluted him and took a large drink out of it and put the stopper back in. Surveying the room, I noticed Zane in the corner, with his favorite blonde.
Of all them men I could see myself with it would be that one. We had tried once and it so had not worked out. He was a bit overprotective and made stupid mistakes when out on missions. I can't fault him for it. Zane is a protector.
I looked around the room again, feeling good about the mission. We had successfully rescued two more humans that were immune to the zombie virus. Both kids were pretty unscathed, but still in the back of my head I wondered why they were in the good condition that we found them in. 'its the end of the world as we know it...' again with the song.
Deciding that watching my team relax with each other was not my cup of tea at the moment, I left the rec room, and sought out someplace quiet. Bottle in hand, I found myself up in the heights on top of the wall. We had essentially found a large spa, and fenced it in. With four hundred people we needed something that could be self sufficient, I should say four hundred thirty six humans, and seventy eight various animals, dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs etc... Each day the settlement improved and now with more people hearing about us and finding their way to us, it could only get better.
When Zane and I first found each other it was day fourteen after the first death, we decided that we needed a base and I knew the perfect place. It was a spa resort out in the middle of nowhere, with its own water well, back up generators, a kitchen and multiple buildings. It already had a garden that the kitchen staff had started full of fresh herbs and vegetables. It also had a small river that meandered through the property. It was just the two of us for about a week, and then four families showed up on the doorstep, begging refuge. The only reason they had lasted as long as they had was because they had banded together. We allowed it on the premis that Zane and I were in charge, that everyone would work to keep us safe and healthy, which meant that we needed to run the compound. Not something I was looking forward to.
After about three months, our population had grown to over a hundred people and the small garden we had was not lasting. Zane and I decided we needed to supplement. It was our first mission, and it was a bigger success then even we could imagine. We raided the National guard which was about three miles away and picked up over twenty soldiers that were fighting off a hoard of zombies. Up until that point Zane and I had not run into many zombies, however we knew how to handle them. That was where we scored the three Hum-Vs and so much ammunition we ended up having to make five Hum-V runs just to pick it up.
After the national guard runs, we decided we needed more, the population was growing by leaps and bounds, we scouted the B.L.M. land that was close by and rounded up about forty cows and two bulls, with two Mexican families that knew about ranching that job fell to them. We had people of all trades by this time, and the community kept growing.
Out of the soldiers we picked up, we decided we would keep three teams of seven each. One would be driving, which meant, six would be deployed on foot with a get away driver. It was all very military, and yet it had worked out.
I had no complaints about being in charge of the operations, I had proven myself well so far, Zane had military background, and my background, well lets just say it was the school of hard knocks.

***

“What the fuck are you doing up here lady?” A gruff voice asked as I took a slow drink out of the bottle I had grabbed from Garret.
“Having a drink. What are you doing up here man?” I replied in a sweet tone, with a wink. This must be a newbie, I hadn't remembered him being here before.
“Looking for a quiet place, a team just came back in and those fuckers are quite obnoxious.”
“Hmm, let me guess, a redhead loud mouth, who is talking out his ass, a young couple of soldiers dry humping in the corner, and a quiet man with a blonde bimbo?” I questioned.
“Yeah you know who I mean then, guess I can't blame you from wanting to get away from them as well.”
“Yeah well, I spend most of my time with them, it gets quite old. Especially the redhead.” I took another drink and offered him the bottle.
“JD is my name and thanks,” he said gently taking the bottle from me, and taking a small swig. “Gawd what is this stuff, tastes like kerosene.
“Wouldn't know what kerosene tastes like, but it helps take the edge of, we can thank the hillbillies I picked up a few months back.”
“Sheesh, what I wouldn't give for a good glass of scotch.” He remarked wistfully taking another cautious sip.
“Yeah well I keep the good stuff locked up in a secret location, surrounded by land mines and totally booby-trapped.” I smirked again. With dark falling, I couldn't tell what he looked like, but so far the conversation was light and pleasant.
“Don't blame you...” He paused waiting for me to supply my name, which I did not.
“Thanks for the conversation, we will be seeing you around.” I got up, took the bottle from him, and walked the opposite direction to come off the wall.
“Hey wait, would you know where I could find some girl named Silly?” He asked trying to catch up with me.
“What do you want with that ridiculous girl?” I asked my eyes squinting with suspicion.
“I was told if I want to get on a team then she is the one I have to talk to.”
“I'll let her know you asked about her,” I replied and kept walking away.