“Geno, maybe we should go,” RC said in a low voice, taking a small step back.
But as much as the kid freaked him out, Geno couldn’t leave him standing in the street like this. If Tabitha found out he hadn’t helped a kid, she’d kill him. He had to at least try. It was a kid, after all. How much damage could a boy half his size do? He was being paranoid.
“We can’t leave,” he whispered to RC, his eyes never leaving the boy.
RC kept staring at the car up ahead. “Something isn’t right. We should go,” he insisted in a much firmer voice.
“RC, come on, it’s a kid. We can’t leave him out here,” Geno said in a low voice, not wanting the kid to hear the fear he was trying to hide. That was how you handled wild animals and vicious dogs, he thought. You refused to show fear. They could smell it, or something crazy like that.
RC took another step backward, his hands up a little as if he were ready for an attack. Geno was beginning to wonder if the heat had gotten to the man more than they’d realized. He was acting paranoid. Geno understood that something was off, but RC was acting like the child was some kind of zombie ready to attack him for his brain.
He took a deep breath and held a hand out to RC as if to placate him. “Stay here—I’ll take care of this.”
“Geno,” RC warned.
Geno ignored him. “Let’s go talk to your folks,” he said in a friendly tone, his attention back on the boy.
The boy nodded and headed toward the car up ahead. Finally, the little freak was acting like he understood how communication worked. Geno’s earlier apprehension about the kid evaporated as he glanced at RC, who was following him despite his warnings, before he took a step forward. As he approached, Geno strained his eyes, trying to see the occupants a little more clearly. They all looked really young. Really young, in fact. As he got closer, he realized it wasn’t a father at all standing there, but what looked to be a tall, lanky teenage boy.
RC slowed down, putting out his arm to halt Geno before they got closer.
“What are you doing?” Geno hissed.
“Go back,” he said in a low voice.
Geno looked at him like he was crazy. They were barely twenty feet away from the car full of kids, who obviously needed help. He couldn’t believe RC was willing to leave a bunch of kids stranded on the side of the road. They might be in the middle of an apocalypse, but that didn’t mean they ignored rules of general human decency.
And then Geno heard footsteps behind him. He turned to see who it was, and got hit in the face with a fairly small fist.
“Ow,” he muttered belatedly, stepping back. What the hell?
Another body jumped him from behind before he could know how to react, pounding fists into his back. A little arm snaked around his neck, cutting off his airflow. Geno used his elbow to hit the kid in the ribs before throwing him off.
“Get off me, you little vagrant,” he growled when the first attacker tried to bombard him again.
A grunt followed by a smacking sound grabbed his attention. He looked over to see RC fending off an attack from two other boys. Still weak from his illness, RC wasn’t faring as well as Geno had—the man needed help before the kids knocked him to the ground. Geno stepped in, using brute strength to toss the kids off of RC.
“Go!” he shouted at RC, knowing he could handle a few kids himself.
RC refused to go. “Get back! We have guns and we will use them!” he shouted.
“So do we!” one of the older kids shouted, reaching into his shirt and pulling out a sawed-off shotgun.
“Run!” Geno shouted, already racing back toward the van.
He jumped into the van and started it up as RC jumped in the passenger side, immediately reaching for the rifle and pulling it up. Geno threw the van into drive and punched the gas, speeding toward the kids before veering left, going off-road. The van bounced violently as he made his way away from the highway and through a field, making a wide half-circle before getting back onto the road heading back toward the kids’ set-up.
“I don’t see them,” he said, looking in the side mirrors. “They must be set up in that one spot.”
“Just the small group we saw, hopefully,” RC commented, smoothing his hair away from his face, the barrel of the rifle resting on the open window edge.
“They were crazy! Were they seriously going to shoot us?” Geno asked in shock.
RC shrugged, his eyes remaining on the road. “Maybe. If they’ve been surviving out here all alone, I think we have to assume they’re a bit wild.”
Geno laughed at RC’s dry tone, some of the adrenaline wearing off with the release of tension. Feral children were not something he’d ever thought he would encounter, but here they were.
“Maybe their parents were waiting up ahead or something,” Geno mused. “They could have been sent out as bait. And I fell for it. I saw an innocent kid that needed help. I wonder how many other people have fallen for that,” he said, shaking his head as he imagined the group of kids seriously injuring or killing innocent victims.
“Drive faster. We need to get back there. The walkers will be reaching that area soon. We don’t want to leave them unprotected,” RC said, alarm slipping into his tone.
Fear shot through Geno as he thought about Tabitha meeting up with those little monsters. He’d been able to fend them off, but they were as big as she was. They would take her down with very little effort, especially since he had no doubt that she’d be caught unawares, like he’d been.
“Crap,” Geno muttered, stepping down on the gas pedal.
“Are they gone?” RC asked, looking up ahead—the road appeared to be empty.
“I don’t see them,” Geno muttered.
The van idled, crawling forward now. He didn’t dare shut off the van for fear the kids would ambush them. He wanted to leave himself a quick escape.
“We should wait,” RC said, scanning the area for the walkers.
“How long?”
“They should be meeting us soon,” RC answered.
Geno idled the van for a few minutes more. “Maybe we should go look for them.”
“Go down the dirt road this time,” RC instructed, pointing back to the road they’d talked about earlier.
He nodded and kept scanning the area as he headed in that direction, crawling along at fifteen-miles-per-hour as they scanned the area, looking for the walkers and the feral gang of kids. The van bumped along the dirt road, its frame creaking, their supplies jostling as he kept moving.
“There!” RC shouted.
Geno immediately recognized Tabitha standing next to Regan in the middle of the road. Heather was in front of them, as if she were protecting them. The gang of kids was spread out in a line across the dirt road about ten feet in front of the women, effectively blocking the road. Geno threw the van into park behind Tabitha and Regan, and stepped out alongside RC to act as reinforcements.
Heather stood in front of the group, her hands on her hips as she continued the lecture she’d started without them. “I suggest you take your bats and get yourselves home. Do you have parents? Do they know what you’re out here doing? Do you know how stupid and dangerous this is? We’re nice people. You may find yourselves meeting people who aren’t so nice and who will shoot you instead of talking!” she pointed out, the authoritative voice of a mother ringing loud with each syllable.
Geno took a step back toward the van, fighting back a grin. She seemed to have the situation well in hand.
Wolf was coming across a field of grass off to the right, he saw. Geno assumed he’d been scouting for supplies at the house he could see in the distance. The others were probably nearby, possibly hiding in one of the houses.
As the kids stood frozen, as if deciding what to do, Geno watched Wolf, who looked fearsome, his long hair blowing in the slight breeze and his gaze narrowed on the misfits threatening his people. His gun was in his hand, sun glinting off its metal. He stepped onto the dirt road and moved in next to Heather before
he spoke. “Get out of here before we have to show you how mean we can be,” he growled, the gun in his hand ready, but not yet aimed at the kids.
The miniature gang exchanged looks with one another. The gun they had brandished earlier was pointing at the ground, and none of them looked all that scary now. Seeing them like this, outnumbered and outgunned, and told off by the resident mother hen of the group, he felt a little foolish for running away in horror after their first encounter.
“Guess it wasn’t loaded after all,” Geno said with a smirk, his eyes landing on the boy who’d threatened them before.
Tabitha turned to look at him. “You’ve seen these kids?”
He nodded. “They’re quite the welcoming committee.”
Tabitha looked at him, and then at the scratches on RC’s cheek and arm, shaking her head as she turned back to face the kids.
“This is our place,” one of the older boys said, meeting her eyes defiantly.
Wolf nodded his head. “I understand that. And we’ll leave you be. We’re only passing through,” he reasoned.
“I think you have to pay a toll,” the lanky teen replied with a grin.
Wolf narrowed his eyes on the boy who Geno had taken as a father from a distance. “That isn’t going to happen,” he said, holding up the gun as Regan moved forward to brandish hers, as well.
“We could shoot you.”
“You really think we won’t shoot you first?” Wolf questioned.
“We’re kids.”
“You’re kids with a gun, threatening my family. I will shoot you, and I guarantee the lady next to me will shoot you also, as will the man who you met earlier. How many shots do you think you’re going to get off before you hit the ground?” Wolf asked, the calmness in his voice adding a menace that even Geno felt.
He watched as the kid lifted the gun again, and stepped forward as the kid made up his mind, ready to put his own body in front of Tabitha.
“You might shoot one of us, but consider your odds,” Wolf said in a low voice, stepping in front of the group on the road.
“Enough of this! Go! Now!” Heather ordered, pointing her finger down the road.
The shorter kids all looked at each other, and then at the tall teenager Geno assumed was their leader. The teen looked at Wolf before slightly nodding to the others. With that, they turned and started to head down the dirt road, back to wherever it was they were living.
Geno stood beside Tabitha as they all watched them go, shaking their heads with disgust. It was hard not to feel a little bad for the young gang, but they couldn’t afford to let themselves get complacent or fall for a sob story designed to knock them off-guard and leave them vulnerable to an attack.
Wolf turned to look back at Geno and the rest of the group. “I think we better put some distance between us and them before we stop to set up camp. I really don’t want to shoot a bunch of kids, but I will if I have to,” he said.
No one argued.
“We need to find Fred and the kids,” Regan said.
“Where were they headed?” Geno asked.
“They went to the left while we headed this way to scout it out. Was this the only group you saw?” she asked.
Geno nodded his head. “Yes, same kids, but they were hanging out in a car on the side of the paved road when we met them. You’re right we should go find the others—make sure they didn’t run into the friendly little brats,” he muttered.
“Let’s head that way,” Wolf announced, his eyes already off in the distance.
“I’ll walk, just in case,” Geno said, not wanting to leave his wife exposed to whatever it was the kids might try next.
“I’ll bring the van,” RC said, heading toward the driver’s side.
With a plan in motion, RC put the van between the walkers and the dirt road, but Geno kept looking back, making sure they weren’t getting attacked from behind. It felt good to walk and stretch his legs for a bit, even if it was hot and muggy. It was late evening, and the sun was getting lower in the sky, giving them a slight break from the heat, if not nearly enough of one.
“Up there,” Wolf called out, waving his hand in the air.
Geno looked up to see Fred, Lily, and Travis walking up ahead of them.
“Hey!” Geno yelled out, grabbing Fred’s attention.
The others changed direction and walked back toward them, Fred frowning in confusion. “How did you get behind us? I thought you would be a few miles up the road?” he asked when they got closer to meeting.
“It’s a long story, but we need to get out of here,” Wolf said, apparently not wanting to bother with even the briefest of explanations.
“Fred, you can take over driving. I’d like to walk with my wife for a bit,” Geno said, not caring that Wolf wanted him to drive—at least not at the moment.
They weren’t going that far. It wasn’t like Fred could do anything to the van. It was dangerously low on gas, but who drove it made no difference on that front. He had a feeling the van had some engine problems that were causing it to burn through gas much faster than it should. If they didn’t find some gas, and soon, the van was going to be joining the hundreds of other cars dead on the road. There was no point in bringing that up, though—it was what it was, as they all knew.
Nodding, Fred handed him the gun he’d carried and headed toward the van.
“What was your encounter with the kids?” Tabitha asked as they resumed walking and Wolf talked with the kids.
Geno grinned and put his fingers to his eye. “One of them tried to punch me. Then it was just a full-on, crazy melee with them on our backs and hitting us. The bigger one pulled out a gun, but I’m guessing he must not have any bullets for the darn thing.”
“That was crazy,” Tabitha said, shaking her head. “I can’t believe there are kids out here. I wonder if the parents are dead or hiding out while they send the kids out in search of supplies.”
“It’s like Lord of the Flies,” Regan mused.
Tabitha giggled. “No kidding. The tall, skinny kid was scary. I would never want to meet him in a dark alley.”
The van passed by them and they followed it down the country highway, looking for a good place to set up camp. Geno kept hold of Tabitha’s hand, knowing they were all a little nervous after the encounter with the kids. They had no way of knowing if they were part of a larger group or out there on their own trying to survive.
“I know everyone’s tired, but I’d like to keep going if that’s okay with everyone else,” Wolf said a few minutes later, even with the sun getting lower and lower in the sky.
Geno glanced down to his wife, who was trading a shrug with Regan and glancing back toward where the kids had been. “I’m game,” he announced. “The farther, the better and it’s still light enough to see.”
It was after dark when they finally found a place to set up camp. Thick trees and wild shrubs formed a line between the roadway and an open grassy area. They set up their camp on the other side of the trees in case anyone happened to be passing along on the road.
“I’ll grab some wood for a fire,” Travis offered.
“I think we need to skip the fire tonight. It’s a clear night, and the smoke will attract a lot of attention,” Fred advised.
“I agree. You all get camp ready. I’m going to cut some branches to cover the van,” Wolf said, taking his knife out of its sheath and walking toward the trees.
“I’ll give you a hand,” Geno said.
It didn’t take long to drape leafy branches over the top of the van to help conceal the bright white color that seemed to stick out like a sore thumb in the moonlight.
“Do you think they’ll come looking for us?” Geno asked Wolf in a low voice as they inspected their work.
“I don’t know, but it would probably be a good idea to keep someone on watch all night. We’ll take shifts with the rifle.”
Geno nodded, frowning and thinking of the way that older boy had seemed ready for a fight. “I’ll take the first
shift.”
“Good. Let’s get back over there and get something to eat.”
After they all had a little food in their bellies to ease the hunger, they joked about their encounter with the kids. It was easy to laugh at it now, but in the moment, it had been a different story.
“This makes me rethink the kid thing,” Geno muttered, more to himself than anyone else as they finished their meal.
“What? Why?” Heather asked with surprise.
“Look what they turn into!” he replied, only half-joking.
Heather scowled at him. “They were hungry and desperate. You can’t blame them for just wanting to stay alive. They were doing what they had to do. They were no different than the many people we’ve already encountered. In fact, it’s adults doing what those kids are doing that have us out here in the first place.”
He raised an eyebrow. “They could have asked for food instead of trying to beat us senseless. They had zero manners.”
Heather rolled her eyes. “Oh, because this is the time for manners. You don’t know their stories. You don’t know what they’ve been through. Maybe their families have been killed. They’re traumatized.”
Everyone fell silent, thinking about Heather’s words. It was hard to imagine kids being left alone in this dangerous new world. Spurred on by her sympathy, Geno imagined his own child trying to survive if something were to happen to him and Tabitha. The very idea of leaving his kid alone terrified him enough to make him understand why Tabitha had been so hesitant to have a baby.
As Lily and Travis began cleaning up after their dinner, Tabitha leaned into him and caught his attention.
“You don’t want kids?” she asked.
Slowly, he shook his head. “No… no, I guess not. I don’t want to have to see my kid turn into one of those mongrels.”
“It’s called parenting,” Heather said in what amounted to a growl. “You parent a child, you shower them with love, and you make sure they can protect themselves if you aren’t there to watch over them.”
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