Dead Life (Book 4)

by Schleicher, D Harrison

  “I wouldn't do that if I was you lady. You shoot me and I'm going to just end up shooting your boy here.”

  “Well mister, I'm kinda mad at him anyways. I'll take my chances.”

  “Hang on y'all,” Cletus said, reaching for my rifle. “Just give me the gun mister.”

  “Get any closer to that barrel Cletus and I'll shoot. You need to move back.”

  He took a step back and put his hands on his sides. The idiot looked more bored than scared and if Momma was to be believed I was about to get shot in the back.

  “Lady all I want is the girl. Give her to me and I'm gone. Nobody else has to die here.”

  “That ain't true. Jimmy's already dead and I think you killed Daddy too. Oh yeah, and my Uncle Tommy.”

  “Is that true mister, you kill my husband?”

  “I don't know what he's talking about,” I said. Where the hell was Al? “Just give me the girl and I'm gone.”

  “Cletus, go get the man his whore.”

  “No Momma, she's mine and I'm keepin' her.”

  “I'm sorry mister,” she said. “I've indulged my only son for all these years. He wants to keep your woman and I'm not gonna tell him no now, especially since you probably killed his daddy.”

  I tightened my grip on the trigger of my rifle. It was set to full auto. I figured if I fell to the ground and brought it around firing I might be able to take her out before she shot me. As I started to drop, a shot rang out causing me to tense my grip on the trigger. Right before I opened fire I heard another shot and realized I hadn't been hit. My gun went off and I pretty much cut Cletus in half as I spun around to take out Momma. As I came around I saw her shotgun on the ground. She held both hands on her neck, blood leaking between her fingers. From out of the corner of my eye I saw Al and Cindy. He had one arm around her holding her up. In his other hand he held a pistol.

  “It's about goddamn time,” I said.

  “You're lucky. I wasn't going to wait for you but Cindy made me come back for you.”

  “Thanks Cindy.”

  “We need to get out of here. She says there's more of these backwoods fucks around here somewhere.”

  “The keys are in this one over here,” I said.

  Al helped Cindy over and the three of us got in the truck. I heard the blast of the shot gun as the truck was peppered with shot. Al started shooting out of the passenger window and I threw the truck into drive. We sped away headed for the logging road leading away from the shack. Muzzle flashes came from the direction of the road and I was forced to turn away as the truck was hit multiple times. Steam rose from the engine compartment and the motor sputtered. We wouldn't be making it out of here in this truck.

  “Try to get back to the house,” Al shouted. “It's the only cover we've got out here.”

  “If they pin us down in there we'll never get out of here,” I said. “I'm going for one of the other trucks.”

  “Go for that one over there,” Al said, pointing to the far side of the clearing.

  The rpms red lined as we flew past the house headed for the truck on the far side of the clearing and the engine howled. About twenty feet away from the truck the engine finally died. Well it actually didn't just die, it blew up. I am not much of a mechanic but I'm pretty sure it was one of the pistons that was now poking through the top of the hood. I didn't even get a chance to hit the breaks before the truck shuddered to a stop. The three of us were thrown into the dashboard and Al glared at me like I'd done something wrong. The only cover we had was now on fire and I was sure we only had a few seconds before the whole thing went up in flames. Bullets were still sporadically hitting the truck from Al's side so I threw my door opened and pulled Cindy from the flaming truck. Al climbed out and went to the back of the truck and started shooting back from over the bed.

  “Help her over to the other truck,” Al shouted, as he slapped in a new magazine. “I'm counting four shooters and they're still tightly bunched over by the road. We need to get moving before they split up.”

  “How do you know they'll do that?”

  “It's what I'd do,” he said then emptied his magazine in their direction. “Keep this truck in between you and the entrance to the road. If the other one's got keys in it drive it over here.”

  Al started shooting again. I took this as my cue to get moving so we started off. Cindy seemed to be doing a little better and was able to jog along with only minimal help from me. We got to the truck. It was a Ford F250 King Ranch. The truck looked to be brand new and my suspicions were confirmed when I climbed into the cab and saw the price sticker on the floor board. These rednecks only stole the best. This baby had all the bells and whistles. Best of all it had the keys in the ignition. Cindy climbed into the back seat and I fired the truck up.

  “Al wouldn't give me a gun. Said I'd shoot myself. Give me something before we get to him,” Cindy said.

  “I don't know. You look pretty banged up,” I said. We were already to the burning truck and Al was on his way over.

  “Hurry up. Just give me your shot gun.”

  My shot gun and rifle lay on the seat beside me so I grabbed it and handed it back to her as Al climbed in.

  “Honey I told you, no guns. You're hurt too bad. Steve, drive up behind the house. Use it for cover. Tell you what, take my pistol. That thing's got too much kick to it,” Al said, reaching back over the seat handing his 22 to Cindy and taking the shotgun from her. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he said, glaring at me.

  “She needs a gun.”

  “Remember when you gave me that hon?” Al asked, opening his door and getting out. “Steve, get out.”

  “Your birthday two years ago,” Cindy said.

  “That's right and I always carry it with me,” he said. “Honey you wait here. We'll be right back.”

  Al and I walked to the front of the truck. “What's the plan?” I asked.

  “I was thinking you could run out into that field over there and I could pick them off while they're trying to shoot you.”

  I looked at Al like he was crazy. “I'm not doing that. You run out there.”

  “I'm a better shot than you,” he said. “They're going to split up. One of them will guard the road. One of them will try to come straight at the house and the other two will try and flank our position from both sides.”

  “You're sure about that?”

  “No, but that's how it should be done. So for now that's how we'll assume they'll come. Take the right side, I'll go left. You stay close to the house and keep an eye on Cindy. I'm going after them”

  Al went to the left side of the house and crouched down so I did the same on the left. It wasn't long before he fired his rifle once and made a run for the woods. I went over to his side and sure enough some one was lying dead on the edge of the field. Al ran past the body and into the woods leaving Cindy and me alone. I went back to the truck to check on her. She had passed out in the back of the cab. I heard gunfire. From the sound and location, it wasn't Al. Someone was shooting at him from the field in front of the house. I locked the doors to the truck and went into the house through the back door.

  Through the front door I could see someone running through the middle of the field headed for the house. His attention was drawn to where Al had gone into the woods and it would be an easy shot to take him out. I went to the window and rested my rifle on the window sill. I was lining up a shot on his head when I remembered this was a living person I was dealing with. I lowered my aim and shot him in the chest. The zombie raping son-of-a-bitch went down but he wasn't out. I could hear him calling out to his butt buddies.

  “Tom, oh god I'm shot. Help me.”

  “You in the house,” someone hollered from the wooded area off to the right. “Why you done this thing?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Multiple shots rang out and bullets flew past me where I was crouched by the side window. He had only been trying to get a fix on my location in the house. When he s
topped shooting I ran for the open door and dove through it, rolling when I hit the ground. I came to a stop in the open and sprays of dust flew up all around me. He had me pinned down so I started rolling across the ground back towards the edge of the back porch.

  “You look like a damn fool mister, floppin' around on the ground like that. Stay still so I can shoot ya.”

  I could see the tree line from where I was and had a pretty good idea of about where he was but couldn't pin down his location. I fired a few shots in the direction I'd heard his voice trying to get him to shoot back at me but he didn't take the bait.

  “Tell ya what. Leave that rifle there on the ground and I'll let you walk out of here.”

  “He shot me Tom. You ain't gonna just let him walk out like nothin' happened,” the guy I'd shot called out from the front of the house.

  “Shut up Pat,” Tom yelled.

  “Tom, I think he killed me,” Pat called out in a much weaker voice.

  I heard a gun shot from the front of the house. “Hey Tom, Pat's dead,” Al shouted, “and your other friend ran off and left you.”

  Someone, I assume it was Tom, ran from the woods towards the front of the house. He had a rifle at his side and fired from the hip as he ran. Then he flew back in the direction he had came from and didn't get back up. Al had finished him off. I got up and walked to the front of the house. Al was running toward me.

  “Get on the radio and call Gina. He might be heading her way.”

  I ran back to the truck and pulled on the door handle. I had forgotten I had locked the truck and kept tugging on the door trying to get it opened.

  “Try the keys,” Al said from the passenger side of the truck.

  “Shit, I forgot that I locked it.”

  I finally got the door open and immediately grabbed the radio. “Gina, you there?”

  “Yeah, I'm here. Are you guys okay?”

  “We're fine. Have you seen anyone on the road?”

  “Just a few zombies but I took care of them.”

  “You were supposed to stay in the truck.”

  “They were stragglers. I wasn't going to move the truck just because of one zombie.”

  “Forget it. One of these guys ran off. He might be headed your way. Take off and meet us at the house.”

  “Alright, see you there.”

  Al got in the back with Cindy and we drove away from this little piece of hell. Driving down the logging road I wish I would have had time to end the dead lives of all the zombies these pricks had tied to these trees. Even though they were zombies at one point they had been living breathing people and what these sick fucks had done was just wrong. Killing something that's trying to kill you is one thing. Torture for nothing more than satisfying one's sadistic urges is another. We had no idea if there was anything left of the person these things had once been. Even though I doubted that there was even a shred of humanity left in the creatures this was something I would never be able to tolerate.

  I came to the gate and slowed down using the front bumper of the truck to push it open. I kind of liked this truck and was planning on keeping it now that the Hummer was a goner. I started to turn left once I was past the gate but looked back to the right. Old habits die hard; safety first. I saw Gina standing in front of the U-Haul over a body in the road. I put the truck in reverse and backed up to her.

  “What ya got there?”

  “I'm not sure but I think it's a kidnapper. He came out of the woods as I was pulling away so I ran him over with the truck.”

  “You didn't do a very good job. He's still alive.”

  “Finish him off and let's go,” Al said. “Wait a minute. Cindy wants to say something to him.”

  I looked in the back and Cindy was doing her best to get to the window.

  “Hey zombie fucker,” she said. He did his best to look up at her. “Yeah that's right I remember you. Stand back Gina.” Cindy held the 22 out the window and emptied the clip into him.

  “Alright then,” I said. “If you're feeling a little better Cindy I think I'll go ride with Gina. If that's okay with you Al.”

  “Yeah, that would be fine.”

  “Let's drive back to the Hummer and see if we can get our gear.”

  “I don't know about that. There were a lot of zombies back there,” Al said.

  “Well let's at least go see. If we can't get our stuff then we just turn around and head out.”

  “You take the lead. I don't want to have to run any zombies over with this thing until we get a wooden bumper on here.”

  “Sure you'll be okay? I know how much you love running them down.”

  “No I'm not okay. We'll see if we can get the bumper off the Hummer. It should fit on here.”

  I climbed out of the truck. “You can drive the U-Haul if you want.”

  “Let's just go. I'll try and hold out.”

  Chapter 13

  It seemed like I'd just closed my eyes when I felt a hand on my shoulder shaking me.

  “Tim, wake up,” Lily whispered. “There's somebody outside by the cars.”

  “Probably just some zombies,” I muttered. “Hopefully they'll move on.”

  “Zombies don't talk,” Lily replied, shaking me harder.

  “How many?” John asked.

  “At least two, maybe more.”

  I sat up and started gathering my gear. John was already up. He grabbed his rifle and went upstairs. Lily and I followed him up and we all took up positions in the windows. For a while we didn't see anything. Then I caught a glimpse of something moving off to my right just inside of the treeline. A few seconds later I heard a gunshot and saw a muzzle flash to my left. After that all hell broke loose. Gunfire erupted from several spots. I ducked down and looked at John. He was down but still looking out the window.

  “They're shooting at the cars,” he said.

  I raised back up and could see he was right. All three of the cars out front were now sitting on flat tires. I picked out muzzle flashes from three separate locations then the shooting stopped. I raised my rifle and prepared to return fire.

  “Not yet,” John said. “That's what they want. You'll give away our location.”

  We sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. In actuality it was probably not even two minutes.

  “What are we gonna do Sarge?” Lily asked.

  “They're probably going to rush the house. There's at least three of them. My guess is there's probably more. Lily you're the best shot. Stay up here and watch the yard. If anybody comes out of those woods shoot them. Then move to another window. Wait two minutes to see if anybody else comes out. If they do shoot them too. Then head down to the den. Two minutes that's all. Got it?”

  “Will do.”

  “Tim we're going back downstairs. I'll take the front door. You go down to the kitchen and watch the back. Anybody tries to get in take 'em out. Don't wait for them to break in. Shoot through the door if you have to. That kitchen door isn't very sturdy. Your round should just pass right through.”

  “Alright Sarge.”

  “Let's move out.”

  “Edgar,” a voice called from outside. “We know you're in there. We had a real good time with your wife. I don't think she had much fun though. You know, I thought she was lying. But after we killed your girls I realized I was wrong. She didn't know anything about what you've been up to. Edgar, you know what we want.”

  Whoever was down there got quiet for a few seconds.

  “You're pissing me off Edgar. Tell you what. Whoever is in there with you this is their chance to walk away. Come out the front door with your hands where I can see them and I'll let you walk right on down that road and out of here. How's that sound? Sounds good to me. You got thirty seconds.”

  I sat at the window hoping one of them would walk out. I didn't care what Sarge said. I was going to shoot the bastard. “What do you think they want?”

  “Does it matter?” Lily said.

  “Not really. I just wonder what the hell E
dgar was up to.”

  “Let's go,” Sarge said.

  Just as we got to the hallway he started again.

  “I made a lot of money for you Edgar. All I want is the meth. Hell, I'll tell you what, give it to me and I'll let you go.”

  Sarge and I stood in the hall looking at each other. “The windows are too high for them to come in that way. They'll have to come to one of the porches, front, back, probably both. Stay out of sight. They'll be able to see you from the windows in the kitchen. After Lily starts shooting wait two minutes. Fire a couple shots out the window then head for the den.”

  “What happens then?”

  “We drive out of here. They don't know we have a car.”

  “Goddammit Edgar. You got one minute!”

  John went to the front staircase and I went to the back. When I got to the bottom of the steps I realized I would have to crawl past the door to get to where I could see out it. With all the shit I had on my back and hanging off my belt this wouldn't be an easy task. The kitchen window was to the left of the door and I could see out of it at a fairly severe angle. The door was almost right in front of me. Unfortunately it had a window. I got on the ground, crawled past the door, and headed for the dining room. The entire time I waited to be shot in the back. This actually helped me crawl faster than I thought possible. I pushed the door open and crawled through it.

  The smell in the dining room was horrible. If I wouldn't have been so worried about being shot in the back as I crawled within two feet of the exploded body on the ground beside me I would have started throwing up again. I propped the door open with a chair and peered around the corner. It was pitch black inside the house and just a little less dark outside. There was a crescent moon just over the treeline that slightly improved visibility. I could just make out the figure of someone standing at the door trying to see in the window. He turned his head to the right. I followed his line of sight and saw someone else standing by the window over the sink. These guys were idiots. I slowly brought up my assault rifle and shot the guy at the door in the head. I swung the barrel around as fast as I could and sprayed the window. I got lucky and hit the guy out there a few times in the chest.