Tech: Zombie Effect Chapter 2

Title: Tech: Zombie Effect Chapter 2
Characters: Logan/Carter
Series: Tech: Zombie Effect
POV: Logan


Logan slammed on the brakes as he noticed the red light at the last moment. He shook his head. He didn’t remember anything of the forty-five-minute drive to town. His mind had been on all the lists he’d mentally created in the past month. He hadn’t dared write any of them down for fear of questions he didn’t want to answer. He was terrified that he was forgetting something. Something important that could mean the difference between life and death. And time was running out.


The minute the traffic light turned green, Logan gunned the engine. As he passed the SAMs store, he sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening that Carter would get everything on the list. He pulled into the dealership that was on the other side of the giant warehouse store. He’d started researching the toughest truck two weeks ago and last week had settled on the Dodge Ram. He had asked for an extra strong cattle guard to be installed on the front grill. The dealership had called yesterday confirming it would be ready today. Logan knew in the coming months, they’d need it.


As he pulled in, he drove around to the back of the building. There, by the service bay, sat his new truck with the additions he’d asked for. The salesman and mechanic had made jokes about the geeky, gay, scientist wanting a jacked-up truck, but Logan had brushed it off. He’d heard all sorts of comments growing up and had learned to accept who he was.


With keys in his hand, Logan got out of the car and walked up to the service department. “Hello?”


“Well, hey, Logan, how you doin’?” The salesman said walking out of the office.


Logan hid his grimace at the false friendship the man tried to put into his tone. “Doing good, Tom. Doing good. Ready to get my new truck.”


“Excitin’ day, huh? All the papers have been signed, you're approved for the loan, and all the modifications you wanted are done. Just an exchange of the keys!”


The ten minutes it took to hand over the keys to his car and get the ones for the big truck seemed to take an eternity. Logan took a deep breath to calm down. Nothing was going to happen in the next few minutes. He just needed to stick to his plan. And the next step was to go to his office.


The lab that Logan worked at was just a few blocks away. He took that time to calm down, he wanted to walk into work like he didn’t know anything. Driving into the parking lot, he drove to the back of the lot. Before getting out, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out eye drops and nasal spray. Quickly, he used both and waited a minute. He could feel his sinuses start to swell and his eyes started to water. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, he was satisfied that he looked sick.


Not daring to look at the security cameras, Logan started to cough. The cameras didn’t have sound, so he just had to make it look like he was having a coughing fit. By the time he opened the front door, he knew his voice would be rough sounding.


“Hey, Jeff,” Logan croaked out to the security guard as he ran his badge to unlock the inner doors.


“Hey, Dr. Bryant. Sweet, new ride, ya got there,” Jeff said with envy in his voice. “You docs must make a butt-load of money.”


“Not as much as you think, Jeff. The payments are going to eat me alive.” Logan started coughing again. “See you later, Jeff. I’m going to try to make it through the day.”


“Yeah. Just don’t get me sick. We don’t all make the money you guys do.”


Logan rolled his eyes as he walked away. The grouchy old guard was always bitching about money. Logan suspected if he quit drinking a case a night, he might have a bit more money. He rode the elevator up to the labs where his office was located.


As soon as he entered he heard the hum of some equipment. He went into the break room where he saw what he expected-a group of his co-workers drinking coffee and talking about the latest political blunder.


Walking toward the coffee machine, Logan started coughing again. He needed to make it look good.


“I’m telling you, the president is making the biggest mistake! He’s selling our country out!” One of the lab techs was saying. Then hearing Logan’s cough turned to him. “Hey man, if you are sick, you need to get on home. The new serum can’t be contaminated.”


“Oh crap,” Logan exclaimed. “I’d forgotten that we were working on that today.”


“It’s on the calendar. Anyone who is sick or has any open sores or anything was told to stay home,” the lab tech continued.


Keeping up the charade, Logan said, “Yeah. I must have just forgotten. This cold kept me up all night. I think I’ll hit our sample room and grab some cold meds and go on home.”


Logan gave a wave at the voices calling out to wish him well. He rode the elevator to the basement where they stored all the drug samples. The salesmen would offer cases of the latest drugs to doctors hoping to get them to buy more. Grabbing an empty box, Logan started putting as many of the drugs as he could. He knew soon that any kind of medicine would be hard to get and worth more than gold.


Closing the box up, Logan grabbed a medkit.  These were better stocked than the normal first-aid kit.  Once he had everything, he rode the elevator back up to the main floor. Walking past the guard, he called out, “They’re sending me on home. No one wants to catch my cold.”


“Yeah. See ya,” Jeff said and then mumbled under his breath just loud enough for Logan to hear, “Bet he has a bunch of sick days. Can take off just whenever they want, with pay.”


Logan ignored him and hurried out to his new truck. Putting the box of medicine in the back of the extended cab, he climbed in and started it up. He had a few more things to get before he headed home.


The Lowe’s parking lot half-full which was normal for a weekday. He grabbed one of the big flat-bed carts and looked at the notes on his phone. He’d spent the weekend before researching preppers and survival techniques. He wanted to make sure he got what the experts suggested.


Pushing the cart, Logan proceeded to load it with a food dehydrator, some plywood, a couple Multitools, flashlights, axes and other tools. He and Carter were more academics with tons of books, but none of the basic tools that most handymen had. He wanted to make sure he got the basics as well as some of the prepper’s suggestions. They had a generator already that they had gotten a couple winters ago. They’d been without power for a week and Logan vowed not to let that happen again. He knew the time was coming that power might not be available so he loaded up on some camping supplies as well.


Once the cart was almost too heavy to push, Logan started toward the checkout. Wrestling the cart, he ran into an aisle display. Cussing under his breath, he reached out to pick up the boxes. Suddenly he started to chuckle. Toilet paper! He’d run into a display of cases of toilet paper. He put the boxes on his own cart instead of the display pallet. He hadn’t even thought of toilet paper. He knew it wouldn’t last forever, but this many cases should last him and Carter a pretty long time.


The cashier was used to contractors buying large amounts and quickly had Logan’s total. Logan winced a bit at the cost but swiped his credit card through the machine. Gratefully accepting the offer of help, the truck was soon loaded up and Logan was off to his last stop-a local gun shop.


He’d called the previous afternoon to make sure his background check had gone through. Logan knew it would, he hadn’t even had a speeding ticket. All he wanted was two handguns that would be easy to load and clean.


In the store, the owner greeted him with a smile. “Well, come on in, son. Have you decided on the weapon you want?”


Logan smiled back. “Yes, sir. I think I want to get me and Carter a Smith and Wesson bodyguard with the laser. I researched them and they seem like something good to start out with.”


“Good choice! That little gun is great for home protection. Not a hunting gun, but I don’t suspect you boys are quite ready for that.”


“Not yet, but maybe one day.” Logan knew the retired military man didn’t mean anything offensive in his words. He was just stating bluntly what he thought. And he probably called every man under the age of fifty “boy” and “son”.


“Well, once you think you are ready, you come back and see me. I’ll get you set up with the right gun and even take you out back and give you some pointers,” the older man said as he unlocked the cabinet behind the counter. He pulled out two black cases and then a metal lock box. He used a key on his key ring to open the lockbox which held envelopes of keys.


Laying a couple envelops on the counter, he said, “Here you go. Open it up and take a look.”


Logan opened both of the gun cases and looked over the weapons. He had printed out a manual for these exact guns. He had already been studying it. He lifted one of the guns. It was lighter than he had expected. Looking it over, he saw the button to push to activate the laser guide.


“Being beginners, it’s probably a good idea you went ahead with the lasers. You’ll know where the bullet is going.”


“Yeah. That’s what I thought. Thank you so much, sir.” Logan placed the guns back in their boxes and pulled out his wallet.


“Officers are sir. I was just a lowly Sargent, but since I'm a civilian, just call me Robert.”


“And I’m Logan.” Logan paid for the guns and bought a couple cases of bullets. He didn’t want to buy too many and raise suspicions. He planned to stop a couple of other gun shops on his way home. He figured if he could be several cases at each store and maybe stop at WalMart for some too, he and Carter might have enough to help them survive what was coming.


End chapter 2

Read chapter 3