“No, we’re the good guys,” Sal informed them.
“Don’t matter. We’re giving up the girl. She’s not worth all this trouble.” His voice sounded strained, as if not totally convinced this was the best idea now that they’d undertaken it.
“Not worth the…What are you talking about?!” Sal was genuinely confounded.
“S-S-Sal…” Ellie began to explain with her hands up in the air but then he interrupted.
“Oh…Jerks!” Sal spat as he finally got the gist.
“Now come here, slow.”
Ellie and Sal were twenty feet away and began to walk carefully to the men. One of them adjusted his grip on his gun.
“Sal, throw your gun down.”
Sal grumbled as he drew an automatic pistol from his shoulder holster and placed it gently on the ground. Ellie felt the pistol tucked in the back of her belt. These two didn’t know about it.
“G-o-o-d, keep comin’…” Hank beckoned. He was starting to smile. It was fun, having these two completely at his mercy.
Ellie was a few steps from them when her eyes happened to flick up over their shoulders. She screamed, her eyes wide with terror. Both men reflexively turned to look at…nothing. In the split second their eyes were averted, Ellie swiftly and decisively kicked Hank in the crotch with all her might, then drew her pistol and shot the other. She missed, hitting his wooden rifle stock, which exploded in a splintered mess. He stood frozen, amazed, staring at Ellie. She stared back at him, panting. She kept her face hard, but inside she felt totally shocked that she had just shot at someone. He fell to his knees and put his hands up with a pleading expression on his face. Hank, who had been trying to regain his feet, saw his sidekick surrender and fell back to the ground, still groaning. “D-d-don’t move!” Ellie shouted. She was starting to tremble. The men watched her shaking hands and hoped her finger didn’t accidentally pull the trigger.
“Whoa.” Sal said in a hushed tone. He hadn’t taken two steps since the whole thing started. He quietly turned back to retrieve his gun, also training it on their adversaries.
“Holy mother of all that is sacred!” Chambers crowed, hobbling onto the scene. He had witnessed the whole thing from afar. “Missy, that was a thing of beauty!”
“T-t-thank you. C-c-can you please tie them up?”
“Sure, sure! After seeing that I don’t mind doing a little bit of squaw’s work! You’ve earned my respect, young lady.”
“T-T-Tyler and Ray need help.” She carefully approached the two prisoners and took the good rifle. She motioned for Sal. “Come on.”
“Yuh-huh…” he said, still stunned. “Did Obevens teach you that?”
“N-n-no!”
They hurried toward the shooting where their men were outnumbered. Ellie planned on changing that. She led Sal through the brush to a low spot in the terrain. She crouched down and walked stealthily to flank the attackers. They wouldn’t see what hit them.
“Lower!” she ordered Sal. He needed to keep low while moving if this was going to work.
“It hurts my back!”
“It’ll hurt something else if you don’t!” she hissed.
“You’re not stuttering!”
They hooked around to the flank of where the shots were coming from, about a quarter mile away over some groundcover hiding their advance. Ellie moved quickly from tree to tree until she saw their three adversaries about a hundred yards off. They were positioned behind an outcropping of rocks, peppering Tyler and Ray’s position with rounds. Tyler and Ray were having trouble throwing back as much lead, and the attackers were preparing to move up on them.
“Now!” Ellie leaned against a tree for stability and began plugging off rounds from the semi-automatic rifle. Sal scrambled to find a position and do the same. Dirt splashed up around the three men. The shots weren’t terribly accurate, but they did the trick. They turned and ran back into the rolling hills, where Ellie heard their horses ride off. They emerged out of the terrain far out of range and then headed out of view miles off.
Ellie and Sal regrouped with Ray and Tyler, who thanked them profusely. When they returned to camp, they found the traitors tied together, sitting dejectedly on the ground. Chambers was on guard, scratching his chin and trying to decide what to do with them.
“Leave ‘em,” Ellie said plainly.
“They might join up with those three and come after us,” Chambers countered.
“Then we’ll shoot them,” she blurted.
“Shoot them! My, listen to you all of a sudden! Let off a few rounds and suddenly you’re…”
“Then I’ll shoot them,” Ellie turned to Sal. “Come on, let’s go. Get this little adventure over.”
Sal stared at Ellie, his mouth slightly parted and his expression one of utter confusion. She shook her head in frustration and stormed off. Sal immediately chased after her.
“El! El!” he called out after her.
“That’s not my name!”
“What’s going on? I don’t get it.”
“You had a change of heart, now so have I. What’s the big deal?”
“You’re just…acting strange.”
“What, should I cower and stutter and be afraid?” she asked.
“Well, yes. That would be normal.”
“I guess I’m done with normal. S-S-Sal, there just isn’t room for it. Things have changed. People are after me. I just…I don’t know…”
“What?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Come on, try me, El. I mean Ellie.”
“W-w-what you said. Those guys are after me because Obevens betrayed Sara. They targeted me because that was how to hurt him. I just never had someone be so vulnerable on my behalf like that. Now, I guess… I-I-I just feel sort of responsible. I can’t die because it would hurt him.”
“So it’s all about him.”
“No, not all about him. I’ve lived in fear, and I’m sick of it! I’m j-j-just tired of it!”
“Okay. Okay, just calm down. It’ll be okay. We’ll make sure Obevens doesn’t get his feelings hurt.”
“Oh my gosh, that’s not what I’m saying.” She put her hands over her eyes in frustration.
“Yeah, okay, I guess I don’t really get it. But I’m trying. I’ve got a long journey to figure it out.”
“Haven’t you ever felt the responsibility of being in love?! Someone depending on you?”
“Well, I’ve got a few women depending on me. I don’t know if I’d call it love, though. They are mostly concerned about food, clothing and shelter.”
“T-t-that’s something, I guess. Forget I said anything. It’s silly.” She felt so tired all of a sudden.
“Yeah, a little bit. I mean, it’s just Obevens.”
◆◆◆
“You boys have something to learn from this wee lass. Under that sweet, ladylike façade is a caged tigress. You boys find yourselves a woman like that, I tell you. She’ll keep you on your toes. I hope your future wives, whoever they might be, are a little like what I saw in our small Ellie.”
Chambers had been going on like this for a week. Ellie ignored it, and didn’t entirely mind. In his own way, it was a compliment. It was patronizing, sure, but better than how Chambers have previously treated her. Now she had a rifle slung over her shoulder and a pistol in her belt. She rode among the eight remaining men as one of the team, and Chambers solicited her advice on all matters. They’d left the two traitors behind, on foot, with promises that if they ever ran into them again they were dead. Happy their lives were spared, the two ran off and were never seen or heard from again.
Plod west. That’s all the team did for the next two thankfully uneventful weeks. Sara’s goons did not show their faces. They didn’t encounter any undead. Ten days after abandoning the traitors, about four days out from their destination, they’d encountered a group of nomads who’d cleared off the road at the sight of strangers. Chambers tried to follow them for information, but they holed up in a grove
of trees and refused his overtures. They were well armed, and it was hardly worth a fight so Chambers backed off.
Now they rested under some trees in the heat of day. Ellie studied her map to determine approximately where they were. Chambers regularly consulted her now regarding route planning. They were dropping down from the Flagstaff area toward Kingman on what had been Highway 40. She looked down upon the flat, barren expanse that awaited them. It looked dreadful, with heat waves undulating across the ground. Her map didn’t show any water until they reached the Colorado River. It was hard to tell, really, though. Her maps were usually at such a scale as to not reveal detail.
Sal had remained pensive. She was glad he was thinking about things now, considering others and the responsibility of his position and all that. She just wished he’d kept some of the confidence with his “transformation.”
“Stop.” Sal mumbled from on top of his horse. “I can practically feel you staring at me. Stop it.”
“S-s-sorry,” Ellie said.
“Are you back to stuttering full-time?” he asked.
“I-I-I don’t know.”
“Looks like it. Glad to have you back. I wasn’t a big fan of the ‘Tigress’.”
Ellie was tempted to duck her head in her old, awkward way. She resisted, though, and forced her gaze to the horizon. Peering through the dust and haze, she thoughts she caught a glimpse of something.
“L-l-look.” She stopped her horse and Chambers ordered the whole team to a halt. He stared at Ellie intently.
“What is it, girl?” he said.
“I-I-I’m not a dog!” she protested.
“Did we bring any binoculars?” Chambers bellowed.
“We haven’t had binoculars in years,” Sal noted.
“Pity,” Chambers said, dejected.
“W-w-wait. They’re walkers.”
“Down there?”
“Y-y-yeah. There’s about fifty, all spread out.”
Before they could react, one emerged from the trees immediately adjacent to them. Chambers let out a gasp. He scrambled for his pistol, but couldn’t get to it in time. It stepped up to Ellie and stopped, staring at her. She slowly drew her pistol, thinking a sudden movement may startle it, even though she knew it didn’t work that way. The zombie was only five feet from her. Ellie’s heart was in her throat, but the attack never came. Ray freed his rifle from his shoulder and blew its head off.
“Well, that was lovely,” Sal said.
“You’re joking!” Chambers exclaimed.
“Yes. I am joking.”
“Shhhh!”
Then they heard it, a moan deep in the trees. Then another further off. They sat silent, listening as it echoed down the hillside until they couldn’t hear it anymore. They didn’t move for a minute afterward as silence returned to the forest. A gentle breeze blew through and the pines swayed.
“Well, that was weird,” Sal said, spurring on his horse.
“I keep waiting for the attack to come, but it doesn’t.” Chambers noted in a authoritative tone meant to convey his expertise on the matter.
They kept moving, perplexed by the encounter and speculating as to its meaning.
Ellie broke up their conversation with a cry.
“It hurts!” she screamed as she doubled over on her horse, grabbing her side.
Sal jumped from his horse to help Ellie off hers. Tears streamed from her face as she grabbed her side.
“What is it El!?!?” Sal yelled at her.
“I don’t know! It hurts so bad!”
Then the sound began emanating from the trees. The groans of a herd approaching.
Chapter 10
“Senor? Senora?”
A mouse-like voice pricked the early morning air. It was a beggar on a street corner of Tenochtitlan holding out small carvings to those passing by. No one paid him any mind. Except one person.
A cloaked figure, in a hurry, approached the beggar and asked the price for ten carved figurines. The beggar’s face lit up and he named his price. The cloaked figure accepted the amount, but said the money was at his flat in a nearby alley. Follow and he’d get the beggar the money. The beggar’s face dropped. He said he would wait on the street corner. The stranger said no, no – he would feed him, too. The beggar was tempted, but again refused. The figure said he had business partners at his flat who were looking to start a long-term deal, and needed a constant stream of carved figures in return for a princely sum. The beggar was trembling now and turned to run away. The stranger’s hand shot out from his cloak and grabbed the frail arm to stop him. He insisted that the beggar comply. The mouse-like voice then turned to a shrill scream as the figure began dragging him into the alley. Onlookers turned away and walked faster, hot with shame for not stepping in, and fear that they would be taken, too. Maybe if this were a rebellious part of the city they would intervene, they thought. A heavy club on the beggar’s head ended the struggle.
He awoke an hour later, bound and gagged on a raft heading for the skyscrapers. There were five other people on the boat in similar straits. Two men paddled the long raft while another sat with a pistol trained on them. They pulled up to a skyscraper and the beggar began to hear the groans from inside. There had to be over a thousand undead in the building. The beggar was terrified. His capture and transport here could only mean one thing. He was getting turned.
He tried yelling out through his gag, but it was no use. Even if he could have spoken, the men were in no mood to negotiate. The Queen provided the best payment, and the possibility for promotion in her cartel. These were collaborators – citizens of Tenochtitlan who rounded up people to be turned, saving their skins at the expense of their own people.
The armed man prodded them to disembark from the raft onto the crumbling concrete stairs of the skyscraper. There were more men with guns waiting. They blindfolded the chattel and led them up the stairs. The groans were louder the higher they got in the building. The beggar thought he’d climbed three or four flights of stairs, but it was difficult to tell with the blindfold. He tripped over the stairs and the handler leading him complained at the interruption. He heard a heavy door open in front of them and they shoved him through. From the sounds, he could tell zombies were very close. Their roars, bouncing around in the confined space, were deafening.
They pulled his hood off. There were handlers all around him. A gaping hole in the concrete floor revealed the walkers on the floor below. A handler grabbed one of the other captives and bound his legs together. His arms were already tied behind his back. They removed the gag and he began screaming, which further agitated the undead below. Two burly handlers held the bound man while a third tied a long rope around his ankles. They moved him to the edge of the hole and, holding tightly to the end of the rope, threw him down into the horde below. Clawing hands were ready to receive him. After a few seconds he was pulled up, covered in bloody bite marks and trembling. The handlers propped him up in a corner, ready to be thrown back in once he had changed. They had to keep the bitten people out of the pit until they turned, otherwise the zombies would tear them to shreds. Zombies didn’t eat other zombies.
The beggar was last in line. He watched as the other five were thrown one-by-one into the pit and dragged out. The first began to turn and was chucked back down into the hole.
One of the burly handlers turned toward him. The beggar said nothing. He didn’t plead or try to make deals like the others had. Ironically, in his last moments he didn’t do what he’d done all his life. Beg.
Instead, he reached under his serape and smiled as a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. A hissing sound and a sulfurous smell emanated from him. The handler, who was tired and ready to go home for the day, was oblivious. He reached out to grab the beggar, who actually wasn’t a beggar at all.
A violent blast erupted as the rebel suicide bomber detonated the explosives wrapped around his chest. The force of it knocked out the floors immediately above and below the now-obliterated humans. The weight of all t
hat collapsing cement started off a chain reaction, dropping the building and crushing nearly every walker stored in the building.
Once the dust settled, a single walker dragged itself from under the rubble. It had been in the corner of the building where the collapse was minimal. It stood up and looked around. The situation had done nothing to change the lack of flesh for it to consume.
◆◆◆
General Page stood before Sara in her office located within the church. He’d already received three briefings on the explosion in the skyscraper. None reflected well on their security measures. Now he needed to report to Sara. Despite the loss of men and stock, Sara’s main concern was the source of the explosives.
“Once we invaded we had no idea where the city’s explosives supplies went.” Page was tense. “It took us weeks before we even learned that the city had caches of dynamite. By the time we found the locations, most of it was gone. I believe Quintana was double-dealing with us all along. By giving him a mission into the mountains we probably simply facilitated his treachery.”
Sara grunted. She was slouching in her chair and staring absentmindedly over Page’s shoulder. There was a portrait on the wall of a bearded Spaniard conquistador.
“I understood he couldn’t be trusted, but I had no idea he’d been hedging his bets the whole time,” Page continued once he saw Sara had no response. “If you want, we can send a team out to find him. Drag him back.” Still, she gave no response.
“Ma’am?”
She focused on him with a simmering scowl.
“How can anyone think with you talking? Go, go!” She waved her hand to dismiss him. He left with a clenched jaw.
She was thinking about EO-1. The order to gain her the beach. The final solution to her problem. Something was nagging at her. She was anxious about the plan. Something didn’t feel right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
There were a lot of moving parts and she struggled to keep them in line with one another.
100 A.Z. (Book 3): The Mountain Page 8