by Mark Clodi
"At this stage in my life, I do not need guns to survive, however I find when dealing with you people it is easier if we start at a level that gives you an illusion of parity. So, you came here, to my place, you answer me first. Who are you and what do you want?"
"My name is Steve, my friends are Bob, Dora and Ken. There are others in the parking lot around the cars."
"Good Steve, no lies between us so far. And what do you want?"
"We need two or three buses. I have some living to move out of town and we need something to move them. We looked this place up in the phone book and came over here."
"Shall we lower our guns now?" asked Jake from behind his rock solid grip on the pistol.
"I am game if you are. You seem…reasonable. Can you give us the buses?"
"Without a doubt Steve, I could give you the buses, but what will you use to pay for them?"
Chapter 34
The two lowered their guns slowly, like they were in some sort of western movie, Steve let the shotgun barrel point downwards and Jake tucked his pistol into a massive holster that was hangin on the right side of his belt.
"I don't suppose you would give us the buses out of the kindness of your heart."
"Kindness is in short supply these days."
"That is a nice piece you are toting there, I don't think I have seen a revolver that large before."
Nodding Jake said, "You probably haven't, it is a Smith and Wesson five hundred. It fires a bullet weighing three hundred and fifty grains, achieving a muzzle velocity of over three thousand feet per second. I'd tell you which store I stole it from, but when I went back there the other two they had were gone. The recoil would have made the gun too much for an old man like me when I was alive, but now? Now shooting it ain't nothing. I'd compliment your shotgun but it looks like a cheap, mass produced gun sold at Wal-mart."
"It gets the job done."
"We do have different needs these days don't we?"
"Yes, which brings us back to the subject at hand. We need buses to move our people."
"What can you give me for them?"
"We could leave you alive?"
Jake sighed, "Threats? Steve, why don't you go have a little pow-wow with your folks in the parking lot. Be sure to go around back of the building first, where you can see first-hand what happened to the last group that came in and tried to make good on that threat. It will be real educational."
"How about I just take your word for that?"
"How about you go look, and then talk to your people. I am a snag you were not intending to have to deal with. At least you didn't come in shooting. So you must have had some dealing with what the humans call 'super zombies' before."
"Alright Jake, when we are done, we'll just call out, okay?"
"Suits me fine."
Steve backed off slowly, with Bob by his side they stopped when they got back to the cars, parked about fifteen feet away.
"We far enough so he can't hear us?" asked Bob.
"Probably not, he probably has super hearing too, but it doesn't matter, we only have to decide if we want to deal with him in good faith or go in guns a blazing." said Steve.
"Let's go check out the back, see what he dealt with before." said Dora, who was leaning up against the lead pickup truck while Ken finished bandaging her wounds.
"Fine. But we are battled hardened, I don't know any humans who have fought more zombies than us, in fact I don't know of anyone else who has taken down a super zombie. We might be able to take him."
A moment later Bob, Steve and Dora set off around the side of the building, they were trailed by the unwounded teen a fourteen year old named Becka. Becka's job was to act as a relay between the scout group and the group guarding the vehicles, in case Jake was to attack while they were split up.
"So you think he was telling the truth about keeping the zombies away?" asked Bob.
"We should ask. We should get as much information out of him as possible. Like can he read the minds of the slower zombies? That would be good to know." said Steve.
"Yeah, like we can trust him."
"You have trust issues." Steve said.
"Just because I am paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me."
"Let's just see how this plays…whoa." Steve stopped speaking as they came around the corner to the back of the bus dealership. Spread out before them were seven cars, some of them had windows broke out by gunfire and most had the tell-tale pock marks of bullet holes, big bullet holes. In front of them, just out of sight from the highway, were four lines of bodies. The youngest was probably nine, the oldest had to be in his sixties or early seventies, Dora counted, there were three rows of eight and a row of five for a grand total of twenty nine corpses. All of them had been shot in the head, some with a large caliber bullet, others with smaller rounds.
"I told ya it would be educational." said Jake's voice from behind the cars.
Dora reacted before anyone else, her gun was out and pointed in the direction of the voice before the word 'told' escaped Jake's mouth. She held her fire, but just barely. Steve's gun was hardly even lifted up and when he recognized the voice he stopped raising it at all. He did cast a sidelong glance at Bob, raising his eyebrow at Dora. Bob, who had not even raised his gun, shrugged and looked at Jake.
The old man was standing in an open doorway that none of them had gotten around to viewing yet. He leaned casually against the far side and looked them over. "I have no interest in killing you. I am, shall we say, sated, at the present time. I do not need you at all, really."
"You could have fucking said something, like 'I will meet you back there!' I just about shit my pants goddamn it!" said Dora.
"My apologies." said Jake, sounding anything but apologetic.
"So if you do not need anything that makes for a bad basis of bargaining. What can we give you?" asked Steve.
"I didn't mean to disrupt your conversation. I said I would give you time to talk and I will, if you still need it."
Steve looked at Dora who glanced over at him and shook her head slightly.
"What do you want Jake?" asked Dora.
"Well I am all set right now, but I have to be thinking about the future, you understand?"
"Well we could spare this one guy, Tim, if he would be enough to keep you fed, what is he worth? A couple of buses?"
"Really?" asked Jake, surprised.
"Dora!" Steve said, "This is no time to be joking!"
"There is never a time to joke anymore, is there?" Dora said dryly.
"I really don't want a person anyway, they draw zombies like a flame draws moths. And then there would be the upkeep, feeding them, keeping them from freezing. Too much trouble."
"Well Tim will be disappointed that he is unable to make amends to the community. So what can we do for you?"
"Where are you planning on heading?"
"What is it to you?" Dora countered with suspicion in her voice.
Jake laughed, "Well if this doesn't beat all. I need to know, because I might be willing to sell you the buses on credit, and collect later."
"How? If we get to where there are other humans, they might not like that too much."
"I don't think they could stop one man coming through, do you? You have to be heading to Des Moines, I went that way a week ago, other than the cattle yard some local zeds are keeping down here, they're the only humans around…." Jake looked at them, closely. "So, the herd finally figured out what was going on."
Dora nodded, "So. Des Moines, yeah let's say we are heading there, you think we will honor our deal if we make it?"
"Lady, if you want to make it to Des Moines I can get you there. And I believe people are good and honorable, you will make good on any deal we strike, if I get the promise from you, personally."
"How could you make sure we get there?" Steve asked before Dora could.
"Because I would go with you."
"We wouldn't bring you into Des Moines!" Dora said.
"No,
just to the border, after that you will be on your own. I would look you up later for payment, and who knows I might bring you a trinket or two as well, so you wouldn't feel like the payment was all that harsh."
"There are other places in town to get the buses." Steve began.
"Yeah but we're here now and we could drive away in ten minutes if we make a deal with Jake here." Dora said.
Jake nodded, "Guaranteed."
"What will you take as payment?"
"A pint of blood from every man, woman and child who I help get out. Anyone could pay it, so parents could pay for the kids, or you could pay every six weeks until the debt was settled."
"A pint for a life? That seems like a deal. No one dies?" Dora said.
Jake shrugged, "I am a pacifist at heart."
Dora pointed to the bodies on the ground, but didn't say anything.
Looking at them Jake shrugged again, "Sometimes I'm not a very good pacifist."
Dora cocked her head at an angle and stared at Jake, remembering her earlier conversation with Ken in the truck. Jake just stared back and laughed.
"So let's say I agree with your deal, me and you, I give you a pint per person, that's for those who actually make it to safety, right?"
"No, I won't go that far, I was up that way a week ago, but they were fighting hard and they might not be there, in fact they may all be dead. I will accept the payment to get you to Des Moines, to whatever you find there. I will go for the pint per person who makes it part of the contract, that suits me just fine, so if I lose a bunch of you, I lose my profits. Deal?"
"Deal." said Dora.
They stood there for a moment then Jake said, "For a deal of this magnitude, I think we should all shake hands. I won't require a written contract, but I want a list of every person's name the morning we leave. So, shake?"
"Don't do it." Steve warned as Dora started forward.
Casting a mischievous look over her shoulder she said, "What is the worst that can happen? He'll kill me and you will kill him." Dora continued until she was next to Jake in the doorway, her hand right hand held out.
Jake took it with a tenderness that surprised her, he leaned in and whispered only to her, "I won't even charge you for the baby."
Dora stiffened, "You can see that?"
"Yes, I mean it, I won't kill any more humans if I can help it. I won't even take any blood before you are ready." Jake shook Dora's hand, then stepped inside the building, "C'mon in folks, the buses are right this way. I can offer you some of the latest models with air conditioning and individually heated seats. All ready to drive off the lot right now. And if you are in the market for some used vehicles I have a few of those out back too, so long as you aren't picky about windows and slight body damage."
Dora laughed and called back to Steve, "I could like this guy. Too bad he doesn't know he just made a bad deal."
Jake held the doors for the others and followed them as they went towards the front of the store, "Bad deal? Do tell? You don't think I am up to getting you to Des Moines."
"Oh you will try, but we may have forget to mention we are surrounded by super zombies, who are keeping us pinned into a few square blocks and probably won't take kindly to their livestock trying to leave."
They turned and faced Jake when they got to the showroom floor, seeing how he would react.
He laughed, "I'm pretty sure I had that figured out. I'm not too worried about them."
"Not even a pair of little girls so cute you could just eat them up when you see them?"
Jake's face fell a little, "Oh, them."
It was Dora's turn to laugh, "Well we didn't want to make it too easy on you!"
"Well, it is time for my little surprise in our deal, I won't have to get you to Des Moines. Not if you are looking for safety."
"No?"
"No, when I checked last week the Iowa National Guard was fighting at Bethany, in Missouri. Only about a hundred miles from here. Unless you want to go to Maryville?"
"So who got screwed on this deal, Steve?" Dora asked.
"I think both parties bartered in bad faith and came out about even, objectively I have to say Jake is getting a worse deal than we are. What do you think Jake?"
Jake grimaced, "I lost on it, but at the end of the day I still get my blood, even if I have to kill the albino twins."
"We call them the wonder twins."
Jake nodded, "Good enough, the problem is they have a lot of super zombies. It's no wonder I hadn't seen you around, I steer clear of their area, I tangled with some of their boys before."
"Yeah? Who won?" asked Bob.
Jake looked at him and didn't say anything. Finally Dora said, "Bob, he won, he's here."
Bob laughed and said, "Yeah, right, I put my foot in that one, huh?"
Looking back to Dora and Steve Jake said, "I heard you had questions, I am willing to answer them, if I can."
"Can you read the other zombies minds?" asked Steve.
"Minds? I wasn't aware they had minds as such. But what's there I can't read."
"How do you communicate with them?"
"It's mental, I press my will against theirs, if mine is more powerful I win and I get to make them do what I want, which is why this place isn't crawling with the dead right now. Now I have made a zombie or two in my time and with those I can actually get what they are seeing and hear what they hear. I would know if they lied to me too."
"Shit. Do you remember who you were before you turned?"
"Yes."
"So if someone had created you, they could asked you questions and compel you to tell the true when you answered?"
"Yes, I suppose so, why are you asking?"
"Well most of our group knows we are leaving, so if the wonder twins kill any one of us they will be able to figure out our plans." said Steve.
Jake thought for a moment, "Maybe, but not right away. You would have to approach the level of being able to think and answer questions again. If you were just a newly made zombie, you would not be much good to them. Do you think they keep tabs on you like that?"
"No, how much flesh does it require to gain your thoughts back? A whole person?"
"I don't know, I never brought any of my children back to that level, in fact I don't bring anyone back at all, if I can help it."
"Why is that?" asked Dora.
"I never liked kids."
"Oh." looking towards Bob, Dora said, "Why don't you go get the others and bring them in here, leave the juniors out by the trucks as lookouts."
"Okay Dora." said Bob, grateful to be of some use.
After he left through the window Jake said softly, "Not the brightest bulb in the pack is he?"
"No. He is still alive and he survived this long so he has done something right."
"Fair enough, there ain't anyone alive these days that doesn't have some trick up their sleeves. I think the last of the lucky ones died a couple of weeks ago; luck can only carry you so far."
"I agree." said Dora, rubbing the stock of her gun. The other adults came into the showroom, they were uneasy and Dora kept herself between Jake and them until she could explain the situation. Once she was done, she opened the floor for comments.
"I feel…well Dora I feel a little awkward about paying the price. It's like we are conspiring with the enemy, paying that blood. I don't know if I can do it.", this was spoken by an older woman named Melinda.
"No problem, Jake here is giving us credit anyone who doesn't want to pay, I will pay for. I wouldn't want anyone to do anything against their morals."
"Why don't we just kill him and be done with it?" asked another man.
"Well, first there is no guarantee that we would be able to. If you don't believe me I think Jake has some used cars you should look at behind the building. He says he handled their acquisition all at once. There were more in that group than we have with us now."
"But we have been through a lot, they might have been inexperienced, everyone here is, well, tough." said
another man.
"Okay that brings up the second point, Jake is going to help get us to the Iowans. How long we been here Bob?"
Startled Bob looked at his watch, "Um, twenty minutes?"
"Yeah? And how many zombies have caught up with us from the mob back there? Or gathered around us from the area? None. Jake claims he can push them away from us and he has agreed to get us to the front lines. Without him we might have to fight every zombie we come across and risk losing a lot more people."
The group grumbled a bit, but finally one of the men, a younger man named Colton stepped up and said, "I'll pay my pint, you won't have to pay for me."
One by one the other ones, even Melinda agreed to pay the price.
"So now that we are down to the brass tacks, why don't you choose some of the buses and we can get going?" said Jake.
"Well alright, that is what we are here for. Is there a shop here Jake? We need to take some of the seats out of the back to make room for the supplies we plan on bringing with us." said Steve.
"Yeah they have a collision center, the bays all have buses in them right now, but the tools are free, if you just need ratchets and wrenches there are plenty to go around."
"Okay, good, what about gas stations? Any that sell diesel in the area?"
"You won't need them, there is a tank and pump out back. Its gravity fed too, above ground, you should be able to drive the buses up to it and fill them from there."
"Our day just got easier." Steve said happily. Jake showed them where the keys to all the buses were and offered them the weapons he had taken off of the people laying behind the building as a bonus. The arsenal was fairly extensive, with everything from small twenty two caliber derringers up to a large fifty four caliber black powder carbine. All of the guns had ammunition ready for the taking.
Steve set Bob to choosing the best of the guns and then had him wrap the rest of it in some plastic sheeting and tuck the bundle into the furnace room out of sight as a cache. Removing the seats took the longest time, there were enough tools to go around, but it was a lot of work to take the last three rows of seating out of each of the three buses. About an hour and a half after arriving the buses were fueled and ready to go, the diesel tank was sufficient to fill all of the extra gas cans they had earmarked for that purpose. This left them with just a dozen empty cans to fill with unleaded fuel for the motorcycles and other vehicles.