Jillybean stuck out a quivering hand, afraid that it would hit nothing but air. Sadie’s eye must have adjusted quicker because she reached out and took Jillybean’s hand in hers. “You know he may want to stay here. I want you to prepare yourself, just in case. Insanity is tough. It doesn’t care who it…you know what? Never mind. Maybe we should find out his name.”
That struck Jillybean as a brilliant idea. “Maybe he’ll remember who he is! I could give him some of my pills…oh, rats I forgot to take them before we left. That’s okay. I’ll take one when we get back to the car. Spot, or whatever his name is, should probably take two.”
“I don’t think those pills work like that. You just can’t…Oh, okay, his name is Mike Jackson,” Sadie said, squinting at something on the wall. “He was valedictorian of…I can’t read that. It looks like Edmonds High School, class of 2011.”
“What’s a valedictorian do?” Jillybean turned her face up to the framed paper. She was too short and it was too dark in the room for her to read anything written on the paper.
“It means he’s smart. When you do really well in school, they give you one of these. His parents must have been so proud.” Sadie’s voice had dropped with each word so that “proud” was a barely heard whisper. She turned away and followed the sounds of Mike crying.
He was in the hallway standing like a man, moving slowly along. There were pictures here as well and he was staring at them and weeping openly. When he reached the end of the hall, there were stairs leading up to the second floor. He collapsed on the first.
“Mike?” Sadie said his name as if she were afraid to spook him into running. “Mike, it’s okay. We’ve all been there. We’ve all lost family members and friends. But now you have us. We can be your friends. Hey, Mike? Can you hear me?”
He snuffled once, mightily and then walked past Sadie and Jillybean, in the bent over, crooked armed way he had been. He was heading for the front door. “Mister Mike, sir?” Jillybean asked, nervously. She was afraid he would run off again and if he did, she didn’t think Sadie would chase him a second time, not with that black truck prowling around.
She held her breath as he went out the front door. “Mister Mike?” she tried again. “Did you hear, Sadie? She said…”
Unexpectedly, he threw his head back and let out a howl like a wolf. It was loud.
“Damn it!” Sadie cursed as she leapt forward and clamped a hand over his mouth. He started struggling and as he was bigger and stronger, he was out of her grip in seconds. Just then headlights flicked on from up the block—the direction the black truck had gone.
Mike took a deep breath and Jillybean saw he was about to let out a new howl of grief. “Spot!” she hissed. “No, Spot. Quiet boy.” He jerked around at her and she could see the confusion and the pain in his eyes. These were fading with every passing moment, being replaced by the hot spark of insanity. She recognized it, easily.
In the time it took to say those five words, the rumble of the truck’s engine turning over came to them. The rumble became a roar as it raced towards them. “Spot, come with us,” Jillybean said as she was dragged away. Sadie had her by the hand and together they ran through the house to the backyard. Behind them came Spot, the tears on his face already forgotten. And, more than likely, so too were the memories of his family.
His mind was broken.
Perhaps beyond the ability of the pills to fix, though Jillybean would try, if they escaped from their current predicament, that is. There was a gate in the back fence that led to the next yard. They slipped through it and were almost to the next street when another truck came zipping towards them.
It passed them, but didn’t go far, stopping two doors down. Three armed “men” got out. Jillybean had no way to know if they were men or women or even gorillas. They were draped in heavy leather. Two wore hoods over their heads while the third had on a spiked biker’s helmet.
Sadie immediately turned to her right. There was no gate between this fence and the neighbors and, perhaps not wanting to risk an incident with Spot barking or growling, she took the chance on moving along the front yards.
It wasn’t as if they were right out in the open. It was dark, there were cars scattered everywhere, there were plenty of bushes and trees, and there were monsters. Lots and lots of monsters. Most of them went to inspect the truck which suddenly lit up the night with mounted spotlights. One of the lights splashed onto an oak just feet from Sadie. If it swung right they would be caught—it went left, stopped for a moment and then began to swing back.
“Run!” Sadie whispered.
Jillybean was the slowest and no amount of brain power could get her little legs to go any faster. The light caught her seconds later. Suddenly she had a shadow twenty feet long, stretching to the next cross street. Monsters converged on her, singling her out. It was like she was on stage and the audience was composed of hungry, ugly cannibal critics.
She was illuminated like that for just a few moments, but then the truck started to turn around and the spotlight slid off her.
Now the night seemed blacker than black. She hit the curb and went sprawling. A monster, towering and hideous, tripped right over her, its head thunking into the pavement with an ugly sound. The other monsters were going every which way, just as blind. The next thing she knew, something grabbed her and was pulling her along the grass strip between the street and the sidewalk. In vain, she kicked but the grip was too strong for her little kid efforts.
“Stop it,” Sadie said. “It’s me. Get in here.”
They were on the far side of the station wagon. Jillybean could see it clearly. The spotlights were back, zapping their lights around as though they were huge lasers. The truck was coming for them. Sadie pushed Jillybean into one of the open doors of the station wagon.
“Get all the way in back,” Sadie said, the urgency in her voice scaring Jillybean. “Spot, you next. Lie down between the seats. Be a good boy and don’t bark, please.”
Jillybean laid down her ear pressed against the short, dirty carpet, her nose an inch away from an ancient French fry that was starting to wizen. For the next few seconds, the car tremored as Sadie and Spot hid as best as they could, which Jillybean knew couldn’t have been all that good. Without blankets or any covering, even a casual inspection would reveal them.
The car went still just as the truck pulled up right next to them. There were thuds as doors opened and closed. “I got left,” a rough voice said.
“Right,” another spoke up very fast, as if wishing to stake a claim.
“Shit,” a third voice, grumbled. Beneath the sound of the truck’s engine, she heard footsteps slipping away. The truck sat there for half a minute and then peeled away.
Sadie was the first up, her eyes right at the level of the window. “They’re in the house. Shit. Shit, okay. We should get out of here.” As fast as they could, the three of them climbed out of the station wagon and ran further down the block, keeping as close to the houses as possible. Sadie ran with her head turned back.
Even so she was so much faster than Jillybean who was struggling to keep up. She almost wished the truck would come back so she could have an excuse to rest. Sadie pushed them on to the next block before she started weaving through yards and over fences.
After ten minutes, Jillybean was stumbling along, almost spent, and yet, their pursuers kept coming closer and closer. There were more vehicles taking part in the hunt, which made no sense. All they had heard was a howl and all they had seen was just a little girl. How was that worth this much trouble?
In spite of all their weaving about, they were nearly caught by someone in a Porsche 911. It came ripping around a corner so quickly that they barely had time to duck behind another hedge. This one had been short and neat two years before, now it was a mess, growing in every direction. They cowered behind it, Sadie and Jillybean in fear, Spot just sort of there, panting and gazing about placidly.
The Porsche slowed, going past, a dark face leaning from the d
river’s seat. Jillybean got only a glimpse of it before the vehicle seemed to growl at her and speed away. When it was gone, Sadie finally saw that her sister was slagged. “In here,” she whispered, and headed for the house behind them.
She had her hand on the door knob when Jillybean saw movement from within. “Don’t,” she whispered. Going up on tiptoes, she could see that there were at least ten monsters standing around in the living room as if they were at a cocktail party. It was a strange sight and Jillybean would’ve liked to find out what had caused them to congregate like that, however Sadie was already moving on.
She headed to the edge of the hedge and was about to step around it when she saw the Porsche coming back their way. She cursed and then turned Jillybean around. “To the backyard.” They had only taken a few steps when they saw something move from around the side of the house.
Sadie held Spot back, breathing: “Shhhh,” into his ear as she pulled him down into the deepest shadows next to the bushes. Unfortunately, the shadows weren’t that deep and they were exactly where anyone searching for fugitives would look.
“Gimme the gun,” Sadie whispered as three people came creeping from around the backyard. They were too spent to run and their hiding spot was crap. “When I start shooting, you go, Jillybean. Get to the car and wait for me there.”
Jillybean shook her head once and tried to clutch at her sister. No one knew the limitations of the six-shot .38 better than Jillybean. Though judging by her shaking hands, Sadie had a pretty good guess. She took the gun and stood with it pointed, just as the three stepped into the pale moon light.
Chapter 22
Sadie Martin
The .38 felt like a toy in her hands. It might seem like a dragon slayer to a skinny eight-year old, but to Sadie it was small, weak and inaccurate. It was so inaccurate that even from so short a range, she felt she only had a fifty-fifty chance of hitting one of the three people.
She sighted on the middle figure. He was the largest, tall and thick, though with the dark, it was hard to tell what was shadow and what was human. In front of him was a woman. She was much more distinct since her blonde hair practically shone and her bare flesh stood out against the dark background. Amazingly, she wore short-shorts and a filled to capacity bikini top as if she were a cartoon villain.
The last man was slightly smaller than the first. He was hunched and oddly stooped in his gait—Sadie would shoot him last. Two bullets for the big man, one for the woman and two for the last guy…and one for the Porsche. The odds against her coming out alive were horrible, and yet she didn’t hesitate.
A life for a life, she thought as she brought the hammer back on the pistol. Sadie would trade her life for Jillybean’s any day. Her sister was a genius and had a beautiful soul. Under the right circumstances, Sadie knew she could be a great person, perhaps even a person who could save mankind from themselves.
For that to happen, she would have to make sure she fired straight and true. She aimed with the gun in both hands, sighting with one eye partially closed. A heartbeat from pulling the trigger, Jillybean said in the calmest voice: “Stop.”
The three people jerked in surprise. Sadie did as well and nearly pulled the trigger, which, in her mind, was what she should have been doing. This was not the time for negotiations. By definition, people who hunted three innocent strangers in the dead of night were bad guys…and yet there was Baloo and his people. They hadn’t been bad; they had been scared.
“These people aren’t our enemies,” Jillybean said quickly. “Sadie, put the gun away. That car is coming back.”
Sadie hesitated, the gun still aimed, the sight dead center on the big man. Her mind was racing, silently questioning Jillybean: how on earth could she know anything at all about these people? Weren’t they dressed just like the others? Weren’t they slinking around looking to trap them?
“It’ll be okay,” Jillybean said, but to whom she was talking to Sadie didn’t know. The strangers had seemed just as leery of trusting faceless people in the dark, but at Jillybean’s words they came forward, hurrying to the hedge.
Jillybean held back Spot, who looked like he wanted to give the new people a sniff, while Sadie pointed the gun at each of them in turn. It was small and black and probably wasn’t even seen. The woman certainly didn’t seem to notice it. She was staring at Jillybean. “Christ, you’re a kid,” she said.
“Hush, Amy,” the bigger man said, hunkering down close to Sadie. He finally noticed the gun. “Do you mind?”
“A little,” she answered, but turned the gun from him nonetheless. The Porsche was coming and he was much more afraid of it than he was of the pistol a foot from his heart. That told Sadie something about the people hunting them.
The Porsche was velvet black, looking like the steed of the devil as it came closer, moving slower and slower. Sadie thought it would stop and let out something worse than any zombie, only it didn’t stop. It slid on by, moving up the block.
Only when it was at the next intersection did everyone in the group let out their breath. The big man turned to Sadie, his eyes taking a walk all over her slim form. He then turned to Spot, his eyes went wide as he leaned away. Lastly, he asked Jillybean, “How do you know us? You said we weren’t your enemy, how do you know that?”
“Oh, I don’t know you at all, Mister, I just know you was running from those other guys even though you used to be on the same team right up until your brother fell in love with a slave girl and freed her, which is awful nice of you, that’s for sure. Too bad the big boss liked her…well, he didn’t like her, not really. He was just…what’s the word for wanting too much stuff? Not greedy, but…”
“Possessive,” the big man answered hollow voiced. He looked stunned. “How do you know all that? Who are you guys?”
He had asked this of Sadie, but she was just as clueless. In the dark, the men had a passing resemblance, which didn’t make them brothers, and a girl in a bikini didn’t make her a slave, and how Jillybean had leapt to love and big bosses was impossible for her to say.
“We’re nobody,” Sadie said, with a little warning note in her voice. They couldn’t be Sadie and Jillybean now that they were within spitting distance of the Pacific.
“You must be somebody to know all that,” he insisted, warily, acting as if he expected to be blackmailed at any moment.
Jillybean, who had caught the warning said, “Nope. We’re new…it’s true. We just came from…well, I guess it doesn’t matter where we came from and that’s what means it’s none of your beeswax where we came from. And as for all the rest, the clues are all there. You can see the collar marks on Miss Amy’s neck. They’re still red and that’s what means she was only recently freed by your brother…”
“Half-brother,” he interjected. “But how could you know that?”
“It’s sorta kinda simple. Amy was freed from the big boss, that’s obvious because of how pretty she is. Big bosses always like to have the prettiest girls. I don’t know why that is. Anyways, they’re also possessive like a little kid with all the toys who won’t share, you know? And who but the big boss would go to all this trouble to go after one girl? And that’s how I knowed you guys were brothers. Only a big brother would risk this sort of trouble. My only question is how come you guys don’t got any guns?”
The big man, who was carrying only an axe, blinked three times before answering: “The, uh, big boss as you call him keeps very close tabs on all the ammunition. We had guns, but without bullets they’re useless and just extra weight.”
Sadie saw that they weren’t really carrying much. The younger brother had two medium sized jerry cans of fuel and what looked like a bat slung around his back. Amy carried only a crowbar that seemed too short to Sadie to use against zombies. “Where are you guys going?” she asked, slipping a look at Jillybean and wondering if she could answer this as well.
It was the big man who answered once more. “Bainbridge.” The simple answer left Sadie nonplussed and it was something o
f a relief that Jillybean also looked clueless.
The little girl opened her mouth to ask the obvious question but before she could say anything Amy let out a little gasp. “Jason, what’s he doing?” Spot had come crawling forward on all fours and was now trying to give her crotch a good sniffing.
“Spot, no!” Jillybean cried, pulling at his shirt. “Sorry ‘bout that. He’s friendly is all. And he thinks he’s a dog. Spot is his name. Well, not his real name which is Mike Jackson and my…I-I mean, what’s your names?”
Amy had backed into the younger man and was trying her best to pull down on the frayed edges of her shorts. “He thinks he’s a dog? That’s some crazy shit. Wow…I’m uh, Amy McNea and this is my boyfriend Jason Guy and his brother, Todd.”
“Todd Karraker,” he said, sticking out his hand. He wasn’t nearly as thick as Sadie had first supposed. The long heavy coat he wore hid a lean frame. The coat was nothing like Sadie had ever seen before. There were what looked like lacquered reptile scales of great size, jutting from it in all directions.
“I’m Sally,” Sadie said, adopting the name out of the blue. She had never known a Sally in her life. “And this is May, and you already met Spot. We just met him but he seems nice.”
Jillybean was nodding in a vigorous fashion at the names. “Yes, that’s us. Is Brainbridge far and can we come with you guys? We have a car, though I’m not really sure where it is at the moment. We kinda got turnded around chasing after Spot and then hiding from bad guys.
Before Todd answered, he went to the break in the hedge and looked up and down the road. When he came back he asked, “How far is it to the car?”
As she was completely lost, Sadie looked to Jillybean to answer. “A mile or a mile and a half, maybe. It was near a park with trees. They were very tall.”
Todd grimaced. “That doesn’t help much. There are dozens of parks within a mile of here. Do you remember seeing any street signs? What about landmarks? A school?” With each question, Jillybean shook her head. Todd was about to go on when a pair of zombies came around the bushes. It was dark in the shadows and they hesitated, trying to make sense of what was in front of them.
The Apocalypse Sacrifice: The Undead World (The Undead World Series Book 10) Page 23