The
Zombie
Chronicles

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Finished works:
   Billions
    ---
   Outbreak
    ---
   Undead
     Advantage
    ---
   Found
    ---
   About a Woman
    ---
   Short Stories

Works in Progress:
   TZC2: Discovery

Works on hold:
   Zombie Nation
    ---
   Zombieboy

Found

Chapter 15

By the time he got back to his car at the end of the night his limp was back, more pronounced than every. He was tired from walking back and forth the quarter mile of bars and clubs, waving the photo of Theodore Roderson around in every employee's face and of drinking the syrupy apple flavored corn drink almost all the bars offered as their only alcohol free drink. The evening was a frustrating as it was cold, sure everyone knew Theodore, sure he came in once in awhile or was familiar to most of the bartenders, but no one could remember if he was there on New Years Eve, the places had all been packed. Near the end Brian had a bit of luck, he had spoken to an older woman, not a bartender, who said she recalled seeing Theodore at a different bar, Club Necrolagnia on the night in question, she had only been in an out of the place which had a darker motif, but she well remembered seeing Theodore there. The club was newer, one of the few that had opened up after Z-day, and a few blocks away towards Principal Park, the Des Moines minor league baseball franchise's home statdium.

Brian had elected to walk the distance, something he regretted now, not just because it was a long walk on a cold night, but also because when he arrived the place was closed. What the woman had neglected to tell Brian was that Necrolagnia was a weekend club, open only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. As it was Monday Brian was going to have to slog through some city files to find the owners and see if he could arrange a meeting with the bartenders that had worked on New Year's eve.

Finally reaching the car Brian started it up, set the heat to full blast and plugged in his cell phone, which had also died midway through the night. Batteries were in high demand and short supply, these days Brian was lucky to get two hours of talk time out of his cell phone and he had used that up partly on personal time talking to Kaylee and partly speaking to Walt earlier while he was in Billy B's. Brian had two text messages, one from Kaylee wishing him good night, the other from the station dispatcher, saying he had missed his check in call at elven thirty. Brian looked at the time on his phone, it was eleven fifty-two. Shit, he thought, missing a call in was bad enough, but after receiving the automated text message from dispatch he only had a half hour to call in before they sent a car after him. Brian quickly called the dispatcher and checked in. She asked him a series of coded questions to verify Brian was not being held hostage or in any trouble, then took down Brian's response as to why he had missed the check in call. Brian also notified her he was going on personal time, done working for tonight, this was how he stopped more check in calls from being placed. Sighing he slumped back into his seat and enjoyed the warmth that was finally trickling out of the vents and clearing off his windows.

Brain's drive home was uneventful, he had the car checked out until the morning, so at least he could drive in easier and he even had space in his garage to park too. His double car garage still held his old Ford Pickup, which, as far as Brian knew still ran fine, he started it bi-annually and the full tank of gas it still held was one of his best kept secrets. The other bay had been Jenny's, Brian had sold her car off eight months ago, now that bay contained his old honda motorcycle and a push mower, which Brian knew wouldn't start again. The motorcycle would start, on occasion Brian even rode it to work, not often though, his gas ration was in the tens of gallons a year, and most of that he sold off to others for a hefty profit of money or black market goods. Funny, Brian thought, as a guy who is supposed to prevent these laws from being violated, I sure break enough of them. Last time Brian had traded for eight rechargeable batteries, plus a charger and a stake of the goods, if any, brought back by a hunter/scavenger team. The fifteen gallons of ethanol blend gasoline had ended up netting him enough gray market goods to live or trade for a year of comfort. If he had taken it. Instead he sold most of the goods for slightly less than market price and invested in a scavenger group operating out of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. That investment had yet to pay off, they were gearing up for a spring hunt, and they seemed competent enough, one of the women leaders was an ex-cop who had been working as a private detective before Z-day.

After getting the car stowed away Brian came into his chilly house and looked towards his bathroom. A hot bath would take the edge off of his pain, could he afford the electric bill next month? He decided he could and started a hot bath, and two tea kettles on his stove, which he planned to use to augment the bathwater because the water heater was set to just above luke warm. Pouring himself more of the detestable apple drink he had been drinking all evening he fortified it with a good three shot of corn alcohol. Taking a large swallow he grimaced and said out loud, “Drink it or drive with it.”, as he raised his glass in a toasting motion, “Yuck.” Before the crash of civilization Brian had been a vodka drinker or crown royal, he could still get vodka, Iowa's premium vodka maker had expanded their facilities twice in the last year, however nothing was cheaper than corn alcohol. Despite the new toast, you could not actually drive on it either. Sighing again Brian disrobed and carried his large drink into the bathroom. After going back for the two boiling kettles, he shut the door behind him and put a towel down to cover the crack under the door, trying to retain as much of the heat as possible. He even mixed in some of his bubble bath, a very rare commodity and something that was overlooked a lot by looters who went out scavenging in zombie held territory. Brian tentatively dipped his foot into the bath water, although it was only around a hundred and five degrees it seemed much warmer and he eased his body into the water slowly to enjoy the sensation of warmth. After settling in he reached over the tub and grabbed a kettle and slowly poured it into the tub.

He was just reaching for his drink when his cell phone started ringing. Fuck! Who calls at...at one o'clock in the morning, of course he knew, Work. He confirmed when he looked at the incoming call number. Now he was standing naked and wet in his bathroom looking at the cell phone in his had.

Flipping it open he said, “Hello?”

Jane Baston's voice responded to his, she sounded tired, “Brian? You still up?”

“Yeah, I just got back from downtown, running down Theodore's statement. What's up?”, Brian was accutely away of how cold his bathroom really was, he tip-toed back towards the tub.

“Good glad you are still awake, Theodore's dead. Can you get over to his house?”

“Now?!”

“Life of a cop, you're the detective, you wanna see the scene now or after a herd of elephants have tromped all over everything?”

“Shit.”

“You naked or something?”

“You got me out of a bath.”

Laughing Jane said, “I'll comp your electric bill this month okay? Just get over to Teddy's and tell me what you find.”

“You can do that?”

“Sure, really, least I can do. You still have a car or do you need pickup?”

“I still have the department car checked out, at least it is still warm.”

“Good talk to me in the morning. Would ten be too early?”

“Hell yes! I'll be there though, if you have coffee for me.”

“Coffee? I am already paying your electric bill for the month, you bring coffee!”, Jane replied.

“How about we just bring our own? I will see you in the morning Captain.”

“Bye Brian, and hey, thanks.”

Groaning Brian looked at his steaming bath and almost full drink, he almost resisted taking a bone warming three minute soak, afterwards he was glad he had. He dried and redressed quickly, making sure to grab his phone charger to plug in on the way over he also used the second kettle of water to make some chicory-dandelion coffee to take with him in a thermos. The car was still warm, there was no delay for the heater to come on and he cranked it up to the highest setting while he made his way slowly through the icy streets towards the residence of Theodore Roderson.

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