"Well what if it works both ways? You know we get better, stronger and faster if we eat more people. What if people start getting something from killing us?"
Red thought about it for a minute, remembering Max and the corn field outside of North Platte, he nodded slowly. "That could be, I've seen a few things myself."
"So, how many zombies do you reckon Max killed before I ran into him? And how many more before he ran into you?"
Red shrugged, "Max could see zombies at a distance, he just knew where they were and he said his ability was getting stronger too."
"So, did you just get better at one thing?"
"No."
"Probably he is better at more things than he knows."
"Yeah, look where you going with this?"
"What if he can get what he needs? What if running into me and then you wasn't coincidence? What if he ran into us and set us on the paths we are on right now to help him out in the long run?"
"That'd be a might useful talent." Red said doubtfully, "Kinda far-fetched."
"Yeah, like seeing zombies from a distance or being able to protect yourself from other zombies messing in your head."
"Still a bit of a stretch Jimbo." said Veronica, "I mean carry that logic out far enough and you have Max getting himself arrested so Red would have to come break him out, which allowed this other zombie to kill Nita and take Hugh. Thus setting up Red to come here and meet us, to get the ability to resist the other zombie and help Max, and the other humans live safely in Iowa."
"I'm sticking with it. Until I learn different." Jimbo said stubbornly.
Veronica shook her head, but Red was more convinced by her chain of logic. 'Why am I here? Chance?' he thought, then said, "Well it'd be hard to prove. I guess we'll see if Iowa falls or not in the next few days. I think they are going to attack soon."
"I'm right, the more I think about it, the more sure I am. So you know what that means don't you?"
"You get a brownie?" Veronica chimed in.
"No, it means we have to teach Red how to resist more powerful zombies."
"What a surprise. I agree though."
"Was it the Max connection?" asked Red.
"No, it was what you said about NASCAR." All three erupted in laughter, which brought Bobby into the kitchen with his gameboy to see what was so funny.
"So what happened to cowboy?" asked Red as Veronica tussled Bobby's hair. The boy pulled away and sat on the floor, focusing his attention on the video game once more.
"Cowboy?" Jimbo asked, turning somber, "He didn't make it. He reloaded, then took about three steps and fell over while he was reloading. He wasn't dead and the rest of the mob got him. We didn't stick around to see him come back."
"Did you think about saving him?"
Veronica shook her head, "No, what could we do? I was a barista at a coffee shop and Jimbo was an auto mechanic before this happened, neither one of us know anything about putting humans back together."
"You could have changed him yourself."
"There's a thought, how would he be when he came back? Still fast or would he start all over again." the big man shook his head, "No, he was still shooting once in a while as the zombies approached, I wasn't willing to risk it. I supposed we could find him if we went back…well maybe not now with all the weaker zombies called east."
"So what can you tell me about mind reading and resisting the control of more powerful zombies?" Red asked.
"I'll show you a few things first. Bobby? Put the game down would you, so we can show him what we can do?"
The music on the video game cut off and Bobby set it on the floor and stood up. Jimbo went to the counter and took a pad of paper and a pencil from a drawer and put it on the table in front of Veronica and Red.
"I'm going to stand over here looking outside." Jimbo said as he moved to the back door and peered out of the window next to it. "Bobby why don't you write a number on the piece of paper."
Bobby took the pencil and drew a square on the paper, inside of it he wrote the number twelve.
"Twelve, inside a square. Let's stick to numbers okay, you don't want to rely on me to guess what you draw."
Red sighed, "This is no big deal Jimbo, I've seen that before, you can see through the boys eyes."
Jimbo turned and smiled, "Oh? Well let's see if I can impress you a little more." He walked over and took the pencil from Bobby. "Go over where I was."
Bobby walked across the room and Jimbo wrote the number thirty three on the pad of paper.
"What'd I write?"
"Thirty three."
"Okay so you trained him to see through your eyes too, that is…different. Still not very useful."
"Let's do it again Bobby." Jimbo wrote two hundred and ten on the paper.
The boy shrugged his shoulders and said, "I can't see nothing." Then a moment later he said, "Okay two, one and zero. Two hundred and ten."
"See? I can choose to let him in or out."
"Yeah, but how?" Red persisted.
"That is the crux of it, isn't it? Now for Veronica and Bobby here I went in and did something to their brains. We have a level of trust with each other and I didn't monkey around with anything I found there. It was like I went in and turned a switch to 'on' that was 'off' before. It's hard to explain exactly. The thing is I can't do it without you letting me."
"How do I let you?"
"This is where it gets interesting. I don't know for sure. See Bobby was mine, I made him and that relationship gave me certain control over him. And V? She was my sister, she is my older sister though, if you understand what that means."
"Sure, she was made before you. On the hierarchy that means she should be more powerful than you. But I know about siblings, I have enough zombie siblings."
"That's it exactly. In your case you can kind of keep me out, but you aren't doing it consciously, it is like your body has a defense against me, probably because I am not as strong as you. But you don't really know what you're doing so I can kind of get in, read surface thoughts and stuff. I might, just might, be able to read a number with you resisting me. I think that's where we need to start. We'll try it, then I want you to try and resist me, then I want you to try and let me through. If we can get you to the point where you have some control, then maybe we can do more."
"Okay, I am game. Let's give it a try."
Jimbo went back to stand by the door and they practiced until the sun came up, by which time Red was able to let the other man through or deny him access with a fair amount of success. From there they went on to Red thinking things and trying not to let Jimbo read his mind, then letting him. Again the lesson went fast and soon he was able to give Jimbo messages with no effort at all. After a half hour more of watching them stand with Jimbo talking out loud, but Red only sending mental communications to the other man Veronica stood up.
"Well this is mighty boring for me. I am going to go take care of the livestock. C'mon Bobby-Sue, you're coming with me."
"Veronica!" the boy complained, "Don't call me that!"
"Sure thing little man, but let's get moving, the cows aren't going to milk themselves."
After they were gone Red spent a few minutes asking why they milked the cows and took care of the animals and Jimbo explained that the cows had to be milked or it caused them distress and they took care of the animals in case they ran into humans who needed meat.
"Jimbo, I'm not doing so well am I? I mean I can't read you at all."
"You'll get it. I have to admit it is going slower than it went with them. Like I said, 'switch on', that was all it took."
Red shrugged his shoulders and both men sat listening to Reilly barking at the animals outside, while Bobby called out encouragement for the dog to bark louder.
"There is always a nuclear option." Jimbo said.
"What's that?"
"You open up as much as you can and I hit you with everything I have to try and get in. It might work. It might not."