“No, I actually don’t understand. Wait, hold on.” I put the phone down to listen to my radio.
“John? This is Tommy, over.”
“Go ahead, over.
“I got them. About five hundred yards south, sitting near that old farmhouse with the caved in widow’s walk. Over.”
I glanced up and saw where he was looking. Not an easy shot, but Tommy could do it. Charlie could as well. Duncan might hit the house, he might not.
“Take the shot? Over.”
“Not yet. I get the feeling there’s more of these jerks out there. Over.”
“Roger that. Over.” Charlie’s voice came through the radio five by five.
I picked the phone up again.
“Sorry about that. Had to talk to my guys briefly,” I said, winking at Meggie.
The voice on the phone was not very understanding. “Fuck your sorry, and fuck you. You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to let loose about a thousand zombies right now right up your ass, you hear me? That fucking town is dead and everyone in it, you get that asshole? This is on you.” The voice had taken on more of that nasal tone, and it wasn’t fun to listen to.
“If you say so. But you might want to reconsider that,” I said, raising my hand.
“Oh, are you going to threaten me now, cocksucker? Fuck you. You got gear, good for you. I don’t…Jesus!” The voice went silent for a minute.
While he was in the middle of his tirade, I had signaled to Tommy to shoot, but to miss very closely. He must have done his job very well. The echo of the report of the rifle echoed off the low hills that spread out in every direction.
Meggie, Brian, and the rest of the group had jumped at the sound of the shot and then looked worried. I held up a reassuring hand.
“You still there?” I asked. “My man didn’t kill you, did he? If he did, I’m sorry.” I waited and after a minute I got a response.
“You’re fucking dead. That whole town is fucking dead. You hear me? I’m turning loose every zombie in this fucking city, and I’m pointing them north. I’ll—”
“Shut up, stupid,” I said “I’ve had enough of your talk. You want to turn the spigot on, go for it. My crew and I are headed your way right now. You might make it to safety, or you might not. But you know we can shoot so you’d better be staying out of sight. As for your zombies, I have six thousand seasoned fighters on their way here right now. We could use the exercise. Set them loose. I guarantee they will eat your ass for breakfast,” I said before hanging up.
I turned to see the entire group of people staring at me.
“I wasn’t kidding. You will be safe. Go see to your defenses. My crew and I are going to see what we can do before the army arrives,” I said.
“Who are you?” Brian asked, his eyes wide.
“John Talon, like I said. Chief Executive and Commander in Chief of the army of the New United States,” I said, feeling like a pompous ass even as I said it. “We could use some representation at the new capital from Missouri,” I said. “Once we clean up here, you’re welcome to go up north to see what’s up.”
Meggie looked at me with different eyes. “You don’t say. How many do you have in your ‘new’ capital’ if you don’t mind my asking?”
“About fifteen thousand, give or take a few. We’ve had a cold couple of winters, and the population might have expanded a little more than normal. I’ll answer your questions more in a bit, but right now, time is of the essence. I have a jackass to deal with,” I said, moving away from the group and starting towards our van.
I stopped suddenly and voiced a question.
“Out of curiosity, does my little nemesis have a name?” I asked.
Meggie snorted in a most unladylike way. “Him? That jerk calls himself Zim.”
“Zim?”
“Yeah, it’s ‘Z’-‘M’. Short for Zombie Master.”
“I had to ask. Thank you,” I said, turning back to the van where the rest of my crew was waiting for me. As I walked up, I winked at Tommy.
“Nice shot. Let’s get moving. We may be cutting this one close,” I said, getting inside.
“On our way south?” Tommy asked, putting the van in gear.
“Yep. Charlie, you’re up top, shoot on sight. We need to stop this fool before he gets to his zombies. If we’re lucky, we can get him and take advantage of whatever he’s used to bottle up the Z’s. If they’re just sitting there en masse, then Duncan, you’re up,” I said.
Duncan smiled so wide I could see it from the back of his head.
As we drove south on Highway 65, I was trying to figure out how someone could control the zombies in such a way that he could just let out a few or let out a bunch? That seemed completely contrary to everything we knew about the zombies so far.
We got past a small river, and suddenly Charlie’s rifle was barking. Tommy gunned the engine and raced ahead. I watched Charlie turn in the skylight and fire behind us. Tommy turned down a side street, which was East State Highway C, and came to a stop. There was a berm of dirt that almost came to the top of the van on either side of the road, and Charlie ducked back inside as several shots whined overhead.
“They were waiting for us under the bridge by the Little Sac River. I just happened to see the front end of their truck. I tried to put a few in the radiator, but I think I shot out their headlights,” Charlie said.
“Hey, we’re ahead of them, and we know where they are. Let’s finish this idiot,” I said.
“Are we sure we want to kill him? He might be useful in flushing out his partners, if he has any,” Charlie said, stepping out of the van and moving over to the berm.
“He calls himself Zim,” I said.
“Zim?” Asked Duncan.
“It’s the letters z and m,” I said. “Stands for Zombie Master.”
Tommy and Duncan spoke at the same time.
“Kill him.”
I joined Charlie at the berm, and together we swung our rifles back and forth, looking for the guy who shot at us. If I had bothered to reason it out, I guess we could have been in the wrong since we did shoot first. He did threaten everyone within a twenty mile radius with death and zombification, so I felt a lot less bad than perhaps I might have.
“Nothing on this side; do you think he booked it from the truck?” Charlie asked.
“No place really to go unless he had a side route he followed,” I said, scanning my side. I wasn’t looking for anything that was standing still; I figured this guy had to be moving and moving fast. He was far away from his source of power, and if we could keep it that way, we’d be in good shape.
“Tommy!” I called out.
“What?”
“Take the van and Duncan and get to the city. Find out what’s up and what we can do about it. See if this guy is alone or not,” I said.
“If he isn’t?” Tommy asked.
“Do what you need to do,” I said. “This bunch seems to have held this area hostage, so I’m not inclined to be charitable. “
“Hey Duncan!” Charlie called.
“Yes?”
“Try not to let the zombies out if you can help it.”
“Only for you.”
Charlie turned back to me.
“You figure if he sees the van drive off towards his city he’ll break cover and chase it?” he asked, scanning the area with his scope again.
“That was the plan,” I said, trying to see through trees and brush anything that might hide a vehicle.
“Not bad. Let’s see if he takes the bait. The last shots came from over there, and we haven’t heard any since, so he must have moved around us, or he’s sitting tight, hoping we go away,” Charlie said.
I scanned the trees by the lake and the creek and didn’t see anything. I looked behind me and watched our van get smaller and smaller. I was starting to think I had made a mistake when Charlie tapped me on the arm.
“Here he comes.”
A dark green pickup truck slowly emerged from the small cops
e of trees in front of us. It was moving slow, like it had a problem with its engine. As it got closer, I could see the driver, a young man of about twenty or so. He was keeping his speed about forty miles an hour, and I could see in my scope that he was extremely impatient. He kept shaking the wheel and slamming his hands on the console.
Charlie chuckled.
“Guess I hit him after all,” he said.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“He’d be driving faster if he could,” Charlie explained. “You can drive your car up to forty miles an hour for about fifteen minutes when you don’t have any anti-freeze. After that you’d better find a place for lunch because you’re not going anywhere.”
“When do you want to take him?” I asked, watching the truck get closer.
“I’d say we let him pass, then take the tires out. Should be an easy shot from behind,” Charlie said.
We ducked down and waited, keeping ourselves out of sight. At that speed, he’d see us for sure, if he hadn’t already. I asked Charlie what he planned to do if the truck stopped in front of us and Zim started shooting. We were pretty well exposed out here on the road.
Charlie shrugged. “I guess if he stops, we open up on him first and get to cover behind these hills.”
I was good with that.
The truck wheezed its way towards us, and we were forced to wait a lot longer than I thought we needed to. But then I remembered that scopes on rifles made things seem closer than they really were, and the truck was a lot further away than it really was. Experience taught me not to mention this thought to Charlie while we waited.
Charlie took a peek over the nearest hill, and gave me the signal to get flat on the hill closest to the truck. A casual glance would pass us by, but a good look would find us quickly. I was hoping Zim would be more focused on getting to his pet hordes than looking for enemies.
After a minute in the grass, the truck ran past. I don’t think the driver gave the side road a glance at all. Charlie sprang off the ground and practically leaped to the top of the hill on the other side of the road. I wasn’t as graceful, but I got there a second after he did.
Looking through my scope, I saw the lovely rear left tire in intimate detail as it rolled along the road. I was sure Charlie saw the same thing, only on the right side.
“Ready? Three, two, one, now,” I said, squeezing off my shot the same time Charlie did.
The rear tires blew out immediately, and the truck lurched back on its haunches as the rear end dropped to the ground. The brake lights shone brightly as the driver slewed the vehicle first one way and then the other. Finally it stopped in the middle of the road, and the man known as Zim popped out of the truck like he had a spring in his ass and started sprinting towards the south.
Charlie and I fired again, putting a bullet on either side of his running feet. He got the message clearly, and stopped, putting his hands in the air. We came down the hill, and I walked around to the front of our extortionist to see what it was we were dealing with.
Zim proved to be different than I thought. I expected to see some sort of nasty, pasty-faced loser who probably had no friends in the world before the zombies. What I got was a young man of about twenty-five, with model good looks, and piercing dark eyes.
“Well, Zim, it seems like your plan of unleashing a horde of zombies on me just came to a crashing halt,” I said, casually aiming my rifle at his chest while Charlie tied his hands with a zip tie.
“I still have friends. When they see I’m not back, they’ll let the whole horde loose. You’ll see. Whatever is left of the population around here is toast,” Zim said.
“Does it bother you that you’ll be part of the toast?” I asked.
“Fuck you. What are you gonna do now? Kill me? Go for it. The zombies get out. Put me in jail? Fuck you, the zombies get out. Face it, jackass. Even as a captive I have more power than you,” Zim snarled.
I had to admit, he had a point, and as much as I wanted to just shoot him or leave him out for the zombies to eat, I had to figure out a way to contain the threat.
“Let’s walk, asshole,” I said, gesturing with the barrel of my rifle.
“If I refuse? Same rules, jackass,” Zim smirked.
His smirk lasted a second, and then it was replaced with a look of shock as Charlie brought his fist crashing into the side of Zim’s head. Zim went down like the proverbial sack of crap. He didn’t get to lay there; Charlie grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him back on his feet. Zim’s eyes were glazed over for a moment before he recovered and figured out what had just happened.
“Ow! Motherfucker! You can’t…wait!” Zim’s sentence was cut off as Charlie hit him again, let him fall, then put him back on his feet.
It took a little while longer for the effect to wear off. I had a little sympathy for him. I’d been hit by Charlie before in training, and it always felt like getting hit with a sack full of rocks.
This time Charlie spoke. “These are the rules, jackass. You open your stupid mouth to be insulting, and I will punch you to the ground. If you do not learn this rule, I will beat you half to death. If you insist on being a nasty little prick for the rest of your short life, I will finish the job I started.” Charlie grabbed Zim by his long blonde hair. “Do you understand?”
Fortunately, Zim was a quick study of human behavior, and he must have concluded that the next few minutes of his life depended entirely on his ability to control his natural, albeit misplaced and potentially deadly, character flaws.
We marched Zim back the way we had come since it was a shorter walk to Fair Grove than it was to Springfield. He didn’t have much to say, but I could see he clearly was not liking the fact that we were bringing him back to the place that he had exploited for so long.
A half hour’s hike brought us to the small shed and the table where the original phone conversation had taken place. The people of Fair Grove were finished with their preparations, and when we arrived a small group came out to meet us. Meggie was with them, as was Brian.
“Here’s Zim. He’s not so scary once you knock some sense into him,” Charlie said.
Zim glared bloody murder at Charlie, but he should have been paying better attention. Brian came up and slammed a fist in Zim’s gut, folding him in half, and dropping him to the ground.
Brian raised a hand to strike again, but I held up a hand. “There’s been enough of that, thanks.”
Brian snorted. “I don’t take orders from you.” He raised his fist again, and I stuck the barrel of my rifle in his face.
“Now you will. Hit him again, and I will see how many of your teeth I can blow out the back of your head. I figure I’ll be protecting someone from murder.” I must have had a serious enough look on my face because Brian backed off.
Meggie came to the rescue by pulling Brian off. “Thank you, Mr. Talon. I appreciate your help. What has become of your other crew members?” She looked past my shoulder, but I doubted she would be able to see where Tommy and Duncan were.
“They went to see if the zombies were really contained and whether or not Zombie Master here was actually working alone,” I said. If we could borrow some kind of vehicle, any kind, I’d be grateful.”
Meggie nodded and waved a hand to another man who ran off towards the town. “What do we do with him?” Meggie asked, more out loud to her people than to me.
“String him up! Don’t waste a bullet on him!”
“Kill him!” My daughter almost starved last winter!”
“Feed him to the zombies!”
Meggie gave me a half smile and then turned it on Zim. “I guess the people have spoken, Mr. Zim. Get him up, find a rope, and a tree.”
“I think not,” Charlie said, unslinging his rifle from his shoulder.
“What? What do you mean?” Meggie turned to me. “This man has extorted us for the last two years, threatening to send zombies to us if we didn’t pay his demands. He deserves to pay for that!”
“I agree with you a
hundred percent, Meggie, I really do. But while he’s a loud mouth asshole, I have to give him credit for keeping the scam going this long. Have any of you actually been near Springfield?” I asked. I didn’t get any responses to my question. “Did any of you ever actually ask yourself how he managed to keep thousands of zombies in check?”
Still no answer.
“Since he never really let any zombies loose, I for one can’t really say whether or not there are actually any zombies held in captivity. Bottom line is this. You aren’t going to kill him because all he did was make you look stupid for believing his bullshit,” Charlie said. “I hit him because he was an ass, that’s all.”
“If I were you, I’d drive him fifty miles away in any direction and dump him off with a warning he’d be shot on sight if he ever dared to show his face around these parts again,” I said.
Brian glared at me. “I ain’t you. And I won’t be forgetting you put a gun in my face.”
I looked back at Brian. “It might be better if you do.” I looked over at Meggie. “We’ll take that ride now. I leave this matter in your hands, “I said. “But don’t kill him.”
Meggie looked down at Zim and then at the people gathering. “And if we do?”
“Then we will have a serious problem. Let’s not let it get there,” I said. I turned to Charlie. “Let’s go see what we have down south. We’re done here,” I said. I turned to look at Meggie and Brian. “For now.”
We travelled south in a very beat up Monte Carlo that was nearly older than I was. The damn thing had a hole in the floorboards that let in fumes from the exhaust pipe which also had a hole. Charlie and I spent a very uncomfortable ride down the road, with both of us sticking our heads out of the car windows like a couple of dogs enjoying rare car trip.
The Zombie Wars: The Enemy Within (White Flag Of The Dead Book 8) Page 6