Russ shook his head. He needed to keep talking and maybe, miracle of miracles, he could distract Ben enough to make a move for the gun. Maybe Bri would turn around at some point and aim a gun at Ben.
"Tell me who they sound like," Ben said. "Now you got me curious."
"They're a Long Island band. I used to see them in concert all the time in high school and before I went off to college. They are a hard rock band. I'd say a cross between Rush and Led Zeppelin. I'm sure you've heard one of their songs before," Russ said. "Their MTV videos were Who's Behind The Door and Tell Me What You Want. Sound familiar?"
Ben grinned. "I think I do remember them now. Really high-pitched singer?"
"Yes, at times."
"Then we need to find a record store and pick up one of their albums." Ben turned the gun around and offered it to Russ. "As if they still made albums, even without all this shit going on." He looked past Russ. "Bri, honey, we need to go."
Russ hesitated. Was this a trick? Was the zombie going to shoot him as soon as he got closer?
Ben sighed. "Take the gun. I'm not going to hold it on your head until we find the bitch and her pup. That would be ridiculous. This isn't a stupid movie. We'll work together until we find her and then all bets are off. At that point, you're going to need to shoot me in the head before I clamp down and kill her. And you and Bri. Because I will have to. The baby needs to die in order for me to survive. It's as simple as that."
"I won't be foolish enough to let you have a weapon again," Russ said.
The zombie smiled and put up his hands. "I have natural weapons."
"And two broken legs. You won't get too close to anyone like that."
"We'll see," Ben said and grinned.
Russ watched Bri, oblivious to the conversation just past, climb back into the front seat. She eyed Ben. "Where's your gun?"
Ben smiled. "Our fearless leader took it forcibly from me. Is there nothing this man cannot do?"
Russ got in and started the vehicle. "We're going to need gas soon. And a place to hide. How close are we?"
Ben leaned over the back of the seat and stared at the fuel gauge, hovering near empty. "Not close enough. We need to start heading north as well as west. I'm sure we'll find a gas station or someone with gas up ahead. Or else you'll be pushing the car." He fell back in the seat. "I'll fight off other zombies. I'll give you directions. But I'm not going to push a car. Especially since you destroyed my legs."
"We'll see what you will and won’t do," Bri said. "Just get us to her in one piece and I won't shoot you in the fucking head."
Chapter Twenty Four
Jeff knew the girl was going to be a distraction, but she would be a pleasant one. He also knew Doug had given her up for a reason and he needed to figure out why. "Do you have AIDS?" Jeff asked her bluntly. "Herpes?"
Lilly shook her head and looked appalled. Good, Jeff thought. I'm keeping her within arm's length but not with a weapon in her hand to gut me.
The girl turned back to Doug with open hostility. Jeff smiled. Obviously, the girl thought he was going to be her savior. Doug had probably killed the two idiots he'd sent to take him down right in front of her. Maybe she watched Cowboy die by their hands or even Doug's own. She thought he was going to save her from this wretched life and build her a new home and feed her. Instead, she was a tossed away gift. But why?
"What do you see?" Jeff asked the man who ran back through the weeds. "Anything to the smoke? And what took you so long?"
The man nodded. "There's a burning sheriff's office on the side road. But I found a well-worn trail through the trees. It looks like a camp."
"How many men with weapons?"
The man grinned. "Not many. Mostly women and children."
Jeff nodded. They were down to five now. "What's your name?"
"RJ. It stands for…"
"I don't care what it stands for. I'll call you RJ." Jeff looked at the other two men he didn't know, sitting under a tree talking quietly. He didn't really care what their names were. He figured they'd die at some point and he'd have to stash their Harleys somewhere safe for another time. "Take those two before they take a nap. Circle the camp and see how many guards they have posted and what weapons they carry. Most importantly, see if they have anything we'd want. Go."
Doug was wiping down his motorcycle with a washrag. As Jeff approached, he stood but didn't look directly at Jeff. "It looks like just you and I. You're not going to kill me in the woods now, are you?"
Jeff grinned. "Not yet. I still need you around. A brain always needs muscle."
Doug turned slowly to Jeff and cocked his head to the side. "Which one of us is the brains again?"
Jeff wasn't going to let the man get the best of him again. "You do know the Harley isn't yours, right? It's a loaner. I own all of them."
"I still want to keep it clean. While I'm riding it, I'd like it to remain nice and shiny. I take care of my things." Doug looked over at Lilly, propped up against a tree. "She doesn't look too happy."
"No, she does not. I'm surprised she hasn't run away yet."
"She knows there's nowhere to run. Right now it's better to be your servant and get fed than to slip away and fight zombies on her own," Doug said.
"And when it isn't better?"
Doug went back to rubbing down the chrome but put the bike between them. "Hopefully, she'll stab you in the gut and let you bleed out, dying a horrible death. Then you'll turn into a mindless zombie." Doug looked up. "Then I'll take great pleasure in shooting you right between the eyes."
"We could do this right now and get it over with," Jeff said and pulled his pistol.
Doug just laughed and went back to getting the dirt off the Harley. "We still need one another. Right now we're better off both being alive. You can feel important and boss me around all you want, too. I don't mind. Better men than you have done it. Better women, too. I gladly play the game as long as I can see that bitch Darlene once more and make her suffer."
"We need to bring the baby back alive," Jeff said.
"And we will. But then I want five minutes alone with her. I owe her."
"For what?"
Doug stopped polishing and sat down on the dirt. He was staring at the bike. "I had many good friends before this started. A nice bar in Buffalo. A family. When this began I took them all in. Sectioned off the street outside my place. Let them survive. I took in anyone who needed shelter."
"You took in Darlene."
Doug nodded. "I fed her. I gave her a place to sleep. She repaid my kindness by killing everyone I held dear. She destroyed my bar, created chaos and slipped away. I almost had her ass in St. Augustine but her friends helped her to push me back into the ocean. I swore I'd have my vengeance before I died." Doug looked up and smiled. "So, you see… you can't kill me. I haven't gotten my revenge just yet."
Jeff knew most of his story was utter bullshit but he didn't press it. He'd probably tried to rape the woman and she kicked him in the balls and ran away. He doubted Doug had any real friends, even before all this shit happened. Not loyal friends. "Then we wait until you get your meeting with the bitch. And then I'll have my fun with your corpse."
"Where did you send Dumb and Dumber and Even Dumber?"
Jeff had to laugh. "There is a refugee camp close to us. I sent them to check it out and report back."
"She might be with them," Doug said. "Do they know who they're looking for?"
"A pregnant woman."
"I hope she's the only one in the world, then. I can't say I'd trust any of them to actually find her and bring her to us. They're likely to tip her off we're after her," Doug said.
"We'll find out soon enough. The camp isn't far." Jeff was done talking to Doug. He could feel anger building inside with every smug look from the man, who thought he was so cool and in control. Jeff begged to differ.
Lilly had her eyes closed but Jeff knew she wasn't asleep.
He kicked her lightly with his boot and she snapped her eyes open. "C
ome on."
"Where?"
Jeff pointed to the trees. "Deeper into the woods. You're my property and I'm going to brand you."
"Brand me?"
"Are you this stupid? I'm going to fuck you. Get a kid inside of you so I can keep the Hurleson line going. You're now mine."
"I don't want to," Lilly said.
"I don't really care what you want. It's not about you. You don't mean shit anymore. The quicker you realize it the better. I'm going to make you one of my wives when we return. And you're going to do as I say. If you do, I promise I'll only slap you around when I'm really drunk."
Lilly tried scrambling away on her back as she stared with open fear.
Jeff liked to see how much he'd frightened the girl. This was going to be fun.
"If you fight me, it will only get me hornier. Then I'll be rougher than normal. The choice is yours."
Lilly stopped but looked over at Doug, who was cleaning the bike.
"He's not going to save you. He gave you away like a pair of old socks. He knows better than to cross me," Jeff said. "I'm sure whatever happened in that building made him realize you're nothing but white trash. I happen to like white trash. You know why?"
Lilly didn't answer him, closing her eyes.
"Trailer park trash bitches like to take it in the ass. But you're not good enough for it, you hear me? I'm going to impregnate you. I'm going to make you my pig that drops kiddies for me until you can't anymore. And then I'm going to kill you."
Lilly suddenly stood and stared at Jeff. There was no fear in her eyes. "If you think you can handle me, you loser."
Jeff raised his hand to slap her across the face when he saw Doug stand in his peripheral vision.
"I wouldn't if I were you," Doug yelled.
Jeff wheeled on Doug and aimed his rifle. "And why is that?"
"You're already at a huge disadvantage."
Jeff felt his anger rising. "How's that?"
Doug started moving forward, casually wiping his hands on the rag as he walked. "It's all in the genes."
"I don't follow you," Jeff said, fighting his inner self to shoot this fucking guy and be done with it. "But I don't like what I think you're implying."
"Oh, I'm not implying anything. I'm telling you she isn't exactly the prettiest thing we've ever seen," Doug said. He glanced at Lilly and nodded slightly. "Nothing personal."
"Get to your fucking point," Jeff said.
"You're not what most people would call… um, how do I put this delicately, Jeffrey? You're ugly. You're short. Balding. Beady eyes. Pudgy. No real personality or intelligence."
Jeff raised the rifle and smiled. "Nice last words."
Doug smiled. "And I've been close to you. Frankly, you stink. You have very offensive body odor." Doug pointed behind Jeff. "Your valiant men return with friends."
Shit. Jeff turned to see one of the men coming back through the woods with two women in tow.
"What are you doing?" Jeff asked as RJ approached.
RJ was grinning as he pushed the two women before him. "I got us some dames."
"Dames? Who says that?" Doug asked.
Jeff rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I told you to scout ahead. Watch them. See what they're doing. Not kidnap a couple."
"The men are all out, so we raided the camp. We're piling all the food and shit into a pickup truck. There's a lot of shit. The kids and women are doing all the work at gunpoint," RJ said.
"And you thought it wise to do this, and capture their women as slaves?" Jeff asked.
"It seems to work for you," Doug said quietly.
Jeff ignored Doug. "What happens when their men return?" He looked at one of the women and repeated the question.
She spit on the ground. "They'll gut you. All of you. There are fifty of them and they protect us."
"They didn't today," RJ said.
Jeff lifted the rifle and shot RJ in the gut. He turned to Doug. "Is this what you were talking about? A slow and painful death?"
Doug nodded. "Pretty much. Yeah."
Jeff aimed the gun at the two women. "Take me back to your camp. If you so much as look at me wrong, I will shoot you the same way."
"What should we do?" Doug asked.
"Stab him in the head so he doesn't come back to hump my leg. And then watch the road. When the men return, we're going to be fucked."
Chapter Twenty Five
She'd made a man out of his son, and Murph was thankful for it. He stared at Darlene and gripped her arm as strongly as he could.
"You're going to be alright," Darlene whispered, cleaning his wound. "We've survived worse."
Murph grinned despite the pain. "Worse? What's worse than getting shot by a stray bullet? Damn. It wasn't even for me. Isn’t that the kicker? At least if I was gunned down like in a John Wayne flick, I'd have died manly. A bullet randomly through a piece of wood? Damn it all to hell."
"Shut up and sit still. I think the bullet went out the back," Darlene said.
Murph shook his head. "Betcha it didn't. I can feel the sonofabitch moving around in there, trying to get at my weak heart."
Darlene tried to smile and failed. "You're always so dramatic."
"It's better than being scared," he said softly. "Listen, I want you to swear you'll protect John-John. Swear to me."
"I swear. But you're not going anywhere, old man. Nice try."
Murph coughed but when John and Tosha started coming over to where he was sitting on one of the few remaining benches he waved them away. "I'm talking to the lady."
"Lean forward so I can see the exit wound," Darlene said. She had a bucket of water and a stack of towels on the table. "The sooner I clean you up the better. You don't want it getting infected."
"I never liked his wife," Murph said.
Darlene looked back at John. "Don't say that."
"It's true. He knew it, too. She was quite the bitch. I know he talks all lovey-dovey about her, but it's still the truth. She had him wrapped around her finger and I couldn't stand being around her." He leaned forward into Darlene's chest and coughed. When he stopped and pulled back, he grinned. "They've gotten nice and ripe."
Darlene smacked him playfully. "Dirty old man. Even when you're faking your own death, you're still trying to cop a feel."
"Not faking," Murph said and leaned forward in pain. "Check my back. No hole."
Darlene stared into his eyes. Her bottom lip trembled.
"Don't you dare go all watery on me, girl. We've been through too much for you to get sad now. You need to be strong," Murph said.
"Fuck you." Darlene looked up. "And fuck you."
"No," Murph said and put a hand on her face. "Don't do that. It's not his fault. It's my time, and I'm good with it. I'm just getting in the way down here. I have a wife and family waiting for me, you know. Now that John-John is in your hands I can die in peace."
"You're not going to die."
Murph coughed again, a trickle of blood in the corner of his mouth. He wiped it on his dirty sleeve and smiled. "See? You can't cheat Death. He's knocking on my door."
Darlene looked behind Murph and sighed. "You weren't bluffing. The bullet never exited."
"Why would I lie about something like that?"
"Because you're a dirty old man who wanted me to push my tits against you one more time. Am I wrong?"
"Nope. And, if you weren't my son's gal and carrying his kid, my last wish would be to see them puppies unleashed," Murph said.
"I hope where you're going there are no tits."
Murph sighed. "Then I'm going to hell."
They both laughed but Darlene turned away when more blood appeared from Murph's mouth. "I need to see my boy," he finally said. He stifled another cough. "Take good care of him. I'll see you on the other side." Murph put a hand on Darlene's belly. "And take care of this very important package. I wish I could've been around long enough to spoil him or her."
Darlene leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. His flesh wa
s hot. She also made sure she brushed her boobs accidentally across the bridge of his nose. The old man deserved one last funny moment.
When she stood and nodded at John, she thought she was going to fall. She went to the back door of the diner and poked her head outside.
The motel behind it was a mess, timber and mattresses strewn about the parking lot. Someone, at some point, had stacked six box-springs perfectly in a parking space. There was dried blood on the topmost one and it had crawled down the sides.
Certain none of the looters were in the immediate area, Darlene went to the room that had the least damage, which still meant no fixed walls but at least the roof had collapsed backwards and wasn't covering the room.
She carefully went through the rubble, stepping over what was once an end table and onto the greasy mattress. Everything was moldy and musty, the open roof letting the elements in each day. When a large field mouse scampered out from under the bed, Darlene wasn't surprised.
A lone mouse didn't bother her anymore. She smiled, remembering the time a tiny white mouse had run across the kitchen floor while her dad sat in his underwear reading the paper. Darlene had screamed, jumping onto a chair and fell onto the kitchen table, shattering it just as her dad picked up his coffee cup.
"You need to lose a few pounds, honey," he'd said calmly, eyes still glued on his sports page. He took a sip of coffee.
Darlene, even pregnant, was still lighter than she'd been at that time. She smiled. Nothing ever affected her dad. Murph was a lot like him. They'd both been good men. And now this virus or disease or whatever the hell it was had claimed another good man.
The wooden desk in the motel room was shattered into many pieces, but Darlene found what she was searching for, under a broken lampshade.
She lifted the book, wiping the dust and dirt from it.
When she turned, she saw Tosha standing watch at the back door of the diner.
Darlene walked up to her, clutching the black book.
"What are you going to do with that?" Tosha asked evenly.
"I'm going to read to the old man until he's gone," Darlene said.
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