One of the men turned and pointed to the house Bailey was staying in. She checked the fireplace, but she only lit fires to cook, and she hadn’t done that since yesterday. She looked back out the window. One of the men started toward the house, but stopped when the others didn’t follow. When he turned to the house again, Bailey realized it was Gerald. She recognized the other man as one of Mike’s, but didn’t know his name.
Where were the rest of Mike’s men? And that little girl… Bailey clenched her fists, then filled them with a knife and a gun and went to the door. She looked out through the eyehole as Gerald was walking up the steps.
That’s right. Open the door, see what happens.
The doorknob rattled, but it was locked. The door buckled and Bailey jumped as Gerald slammed into it, and then both men were throwing themselves at the door. Bailey backed up and raised the gun. The door exploded inward, and Bailey fired three shots.
The first bullet hit the man she didn’t know in the head, and he fell before the next two bullets entered Gerald’s chest. Gerald cried out and fell, grabbing the doorknob as he did. The girl outside screamed.
Gerald propped himself against the door, clutching one of the holes in his chest and groaning. Bailey stood in front of him and pointed the gun at his head, and he used his bloody free hand to shield the barrel of the gun.
“Wait—”
“Don’t talk,” Bailey said, but Gerald wasn’t talking to her. A sharp pain spread up Bailey’s leg like lightning, and she turned to see the girl had stabbed her with a pocketknife.
“Andria, get back!” Gerald shouted. “Run!”
The girl let go of the knife and backed away, crying. Bailey looked from her to the dead man on the floor, then back to Gerald, and saw the recognition in his eyes. “Bailey? Jesus Christ, you shot me!”
“I—”
“You killed him!” Andria shouted.
“Andria, run!” Gerald said, but Andria didn’t move. Bailey put her gun and knife away and kneeled down to yank the pocketknife from her leg. It bled, but only a little. She turned to Gerald.
“What happened? Where is everyone else?”
“Burke’s men came on us in the night,” Gerald said. “Ah… A few days before we went to attack them. It was a slaughter. No one else even made it out for all I know.”
“Who’s this girl?”
“Fuck off!” Gerald said, then winced. Bailey took her coat and pressed it against one of Gerald’s wounds. He tried to push her away, noticed she was trying to help, and gave up or got too tired to fight anymore. “Ty and I found her a few weeks after we left the compound, and the three of us were doing all right until you showed up, you fucking bitch.”
“I didn’t know, I thought—”
“Fuck!” Gerald screamed. Andria shoved past Bailey and hugged him, buried her head in his shoulder and cried. “It’s okay, Andria, it’s all right. You need to keep going, okay? Stay on the road like we said—”
“You don’t want to go that way,” Bailey said. “Burke’s men went that way.”
“You remember how to check a house?” Gerald said. “Andria, answer.”
“Y—yes.”
“Good. You remember how to fire a gun? Just like I showed you?”
“Yes.”
“Good girl.” Gerald handed Andria a handgun. She stared at it for a second, Gerald pushed it gently toward her, and Andria took it. She rounded on Bailey and raised the gun. Bailey stood there. “Andria,” Gerald said, “she’s not worth it. I don’t have a lot of time, Andria. Come be with me. Andria, breathe.”
Andria took in a deep breath, held it, then let it out and let the gun drop. She turned back to Gerald, and he hugged her, then turned to Bailey. “Mind fucking off so we can be alone?”
“Gerald, we can—”
“No we can’t. I’m bleeding out, and I want to do it in peace. Haven’t you done enough?”
Bailey stood, shaking her head as Gerald hugged Andria and closed his eyes. She looked at her hands, covered with Gerald’s blood. Bailey ran out the door without any of her supplies, ran back along the road she’d come up so many months ago, always searching for a way to make things right but only hurting more people who didn’t deserve it.
****
She stopped for the night in a small store near the highway. It had been cleared out, probably by Burke’s men, but she slept in the middle of an aisle and didn’t bother covering the doors and windows.
It was early morning when some latent survival instinct roused her from her sleep to let her know someone was standing over her. Bailey rolled over, raising her gun and knife, but it was Andria, standing over her, both hands squeezing a gun pointed at her head. Bailey put her weapons down and sat up.
“You killed them,” Andria said. “They didn’t do anything to you.”
“I’m sorry. I thought they were going to hurt you.”
“You don’t even know me! You don’t know anything!”
“I know,” Bailey said. Make it right. “Andria, that’s your name, right?”
“Shut up.” Andria lifted the gun as though it made it more of a threat.
“Andria, I’m sorry I hurt you. And if you want to kill me, I’m not going to stop you. But killing me won’t bring your friends back.”
“It’ll make me feel better.”
“I know you think that, but it won’t. No one knows that better than me.”
“What would you know?” Andria shouted. “I thought I was safe, I thought everything was going to be okay, and you took that away.”
“Andria, listen to me. I’m going up this highway, out into the desert. There’s a gas station there. I know a man who lives there—”
“Stop talking!”
Bailey waited for a second, staring into Andria’s eyes. The girl was terrified. Bailey kept her hands where Andria could see them and made sure not to move, but she also made sure not to break eye contact. “Whatever you decide to do, Andria, I want you to go to that gas station. Tell the man there Bailey—the toilet tank lady sent you. Show him this.” Bailey pointed to the purple beanie on her head. “He’ll take care of you forever, I swear to God.”
The gun lowered a little. Andria’s finger rubbed the trigger softly, and her eyes started to tear up. She pulled one hand from the gun and dried them, then put her hand back as though the gun might hop away from her if she didn’t.
“If you come with me, I promise nothing will ever, ever happen to you again.”
“Nothing would’ve happened except for you,” Andria said.
“I made a mistake.” Bailey’s eyes let loose. “I’ve made so many mistakes. And I don’t want you to make the same ones I’ve made. Andria… Will you go to the gas station?”
“I don’t believe you! There is no gas station, there is no man—”
“Andria,” Bailey said, and Andria wiped her eyes again, her hands trembling. “There is. I’m not lying to you. It’s not far from here. We can head out right now, we’ll make it there by sundown.”
“Why do you have to make this so hard?” Andria said.
“All I want is to make things right,” Bailey replied.
Andria stared at her, raised the gun and lowered it, raised it again. “It’s on the highway?”
“This road right here. Go that way.” Bailey pointed. “Stay on it until you see nothing but desert for a while, and keep going until you get to the gas station on the right side of the road. Will you go?”
“I’ll go,” Andria said. She sniffed hard.
“Will you let me come with you? Andria, once I get you there, I’ll leave forever, if that’s what you want. But if you kill me, you can never take that back. It’ll haunt you.”
Andria looked away like something had made a noise, though nothing had. She turned back to Bailey, avoiding direct eye contact. “Are you haunted?” she asked.
Like an old house, Bailey thought. Or maybe a crypt. “Yeah. I think I am.”
Andria’s finger rested on the trig
ger, squeezed it lightly. Bailey stared up at her, unblinking, unmoving, her hands still raised. Andria took in a deep breath, held it, then let it out.
~~~~
44
Beneath the Water Tower
Neil led them through back alleys and streets. They could hear moans the way they had come from, gradually getting louder. Neil kept shaking his head.
“They really don’t come out this way much, do they?” Annie said.
“Haven’t seen a horde in a long time,” Neil replied. “I mean, this city’s not huge, but it was almost empty when we got here. No idea who cleared it out, or how, but it didn’t take long to figure out they didn’t stay. So we cleared out an apartment building, put in the water tower, and now we’re good. Or were.”
“Quiet,” Jeremy said. He crouched low, and everyone else did the same. Around the corner ahead they heard shuffling feet.
Neil holstered his gun and picked up a nearby plank. He crept toward the corner, rounded it, and swung. The plank broke against a zombie’s head, but a second zombie pounced Neil. Annie charged and shoved the zombie, and Neil grabbed his gun and fired, then rolled and shot the one he had hit with the plank, who was still recoiling. Annie helped Neil up.
“They’ll have heard the shots,” Neil said. “Let’s get a move on. It’s not far.”
After a few more alleys and corners, Will saw the building with the water tower. Outside was another dumpster barricade on the street, and once they were over, the block was surprisingly clean.
“Last chance,” Neil said. “I’m not joking, my dad isn’t going to be happy to see you.”
“We’ll take our chances,” Jeremy replied. Neil shrugged, then opened the door.
They went up a few flights of stairs, then turned into the hallway. Neil led them to an apartment door, unlocked it with a key, and swung it open.
“Neil! Where the hell have you—”
A balding man at the stove in the kitchen looked the group over. Eggs sizzled on a little stove. After a few seconds, Neil said, “You’re burning those.”
Neil’s dad flipped the eggs and turned the stove off. “The hell’s this?”
“Some friends.” Neil turned to Will. “You wanted to talk, so talk.”
“I don’t even know where to start,” Will said. “I guess—”
“You can start by getting the hell out,” Neil’s dad said.
“Dad, just hear them out, this affects us.”
“That smoke on that hill out there? That you?”
“Yeah,” Will said. “Look, we’ve come a long way. We had to leave our home because we ran out of water. We’re part of a bigger group, they’re out on the highway. We split off to check out the city, and we got caught up in a horde of zombies.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s true, Dad. I saw it myself.”
“God damn it. You led them here?”
“No sir,” Jeremy said. “They were already here.”
“Shit.”
“We’ll help you get rid of them,” Will said. “We can get to our friends, there’s like a dozen of us.”
“I don’t need your help,” Neil’s dad said. “I’m getting you out of the city, and you can go on your way.”
“No, that’s bullshit,” Will said. Fire rose in Neil’s dad’s eyes. “You can’t just claim a whole city to yourself.”
“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do?”
“A goddamn human being.”
“Will,” Jeremy whispered, “cool it.”
“Look, Mr…”
Neil’s dad stared at Will. “Mark,” Neil said. “His name’s Mark.”
“Mark. We’ve come a really long way. We’re tired, and we’ve already lost someone, and we can’t just keep walking forever. You have plenty of room, and we can help out, you won’t even know we’re here.”
“Kid, I’m not about to risk losing everything I’ve built here.”
“That water tower,” Will said. “You built that, right?”
The glare in Mark’s eyes was replaced by pride. “Sure did. I’m an engineer at a steel mill. Er, I was. Never really did much building myself, but I didn’t have much of a choice anymore.” What was almost a smile faded from his face. “But that’s neither here nor there. Even if I had any interest in letting you stay, I’m not about to be responsible for a bunch of kids wandering through the city. It’s too dangerous to even go get your friends and bring them back. I won’t have that on me.”
“It’s not on you. I don’t mean this the wrong way, but you’re not special just because you’re older than us. Not anymore. Steven’s the oldest person in our group, he just turned 18 a few months ago. We’ve been alone for years, man. We don’t need to be taken care of. That’s not how this works.”
Mark sighed and ran his fingers through his wispy hair.
“That thing up there, that’s the key to life. You send us out into the world, and we’ll die for sure. Please… let us stay here. We’ll clear out this horde together, and then you don’t have to worry about us ever again if you don’t want to. But if you do, you’ll have a dozen sets of hands, Mark. You have eggs, which means you’ve got chickens somewhere, right? And that water tower doesn’t take care of itself. How many hours do you spend every day checking to make sure your barricades are still up?”
Mark laughed. “Christ kid. You’re smarter than you look.”
“You need our help. We need your water. Everyone wins.”
“Tch. That so?”
“You gotta admit, you’re getting a good deal,” Annie said.
“Honestly, I’m tired of getting up at six every morning to check the dumpsters,” Neil added. “And I know they can hold their own. This one saved my life not ten minutes ago.” He smiled at Annie, and there was a different kind of flare there, one that made Will’s chest feel heavy, but this wasn’t the time for that, so he set it aside.
“You too, huh?” Mark said. He looked at Will. “How far’d you say you come?”
“From Gladstone,” Will said.
Mark smirked and shook his head. “Kid, you’ve barely made it ten miles. Way I see it… you all are hopeless out there.” He put his spatula on the counter and untied his apron. “All right. The girl here gets a gun. I don’t have any more, so you two stay close. There’s knives in that drawer over there. Where do we go to pick up your friends?”
****
Mark took a knife alongside Will and Jeremy, and he had his own gun, but the knife was enough to get them to the highway by sunset. Most of the zombies were still by the road leading into the city, so they had little trouble.
Will studied his map and decided they’d found the intersection. He looked at the buildings nearby, wondering which of them his friends might be holed up in.
“I’m not seeing your dozen,” Mark said.
“I’m sure they’re hiding,” Will replied, but he only felt sure they’d moved on without him.
“Hello?” Neil shouted. Mark rounded on him, eyes wide.
“Keep it—”
“Hey!” Kalli shouted from the second-story window of a nearby shop. “We’re in here!”
Will led the way up the stairs, where the two groups met with hugs and confused glances.
“This is Mark and Neil,” Will said when everyone had settled down. “They have an apartment building with water.”
“Built the water tower myself,” Mark said. “Catches rain and provides water to the whole building.”
“And we can stay?” Steven asked, already taking charge again. Will was okay with that; he didn’t like the weight of responsibility.
“There’s a horde of zombies at the entrance to the city,” Neil said. “You help us clear it out, you’re welcome to stay.”
The teens lit up like fireworks, while Steven ushered them to be quiet. He and Mark sat down to talk defensive strategies.
“You really did it,” Kalli said to Will. “Made it through the city and solved our water problem.”
>
Will blushed. “Don’t get too excited yet. We still have this horde to take care of, and all we have are three guns, some Molotovs, and a garage worth of garden supplies.”
“Hey, it’s still pretty impressive.” Kalli smiled. “I’m just glad you made it back, Will.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“Here’s the plan,” Mark said. “Most of them are on the road into town. Most. I want all of them taken care of. By the time we get back, it’ll be dark. Now there’s this old building I’ve never cared much for. I’m thinking we light up some road flares on top of the building, with the doors wide open. Those zombies get inside, and we light a fire under their asses. Literally. Anything that doesn’t get killed by the fire will go down when the building does.”
“It’s far enough away from our place that we won’t be in danger,” Neil said.
“Who lights the flares?” Will asked. “How?”
“That’s the tricky part,” Mark replied. “Only good way to get out of there without running toward the zombies is to hop to the building next door and sneak down the fire escape. Even then, it’s not a perfect route. Problem is, I can’t. No way I’d make that jump.”
“I’ll do it,” Steven said. “Figure I should volunteer before Will does.”
A few of the others laughed. Mark nodded. “Good enough plan. So what I need from the rest of you is to hang back a few streets, take care of any stragglers, and make sure this guy gets out of there okay. Worse comes to worse, you high-tail it back to our place and lay low. Everyone good?”
“We’re leaving now?” Alex asked.
“Well when do you want to do it, next Christmas? Yes, we leave now, so get your shit and let’s go!”
****
“How are you doing?” Annie asked.
“My legs hurt,” Will replied. He was sitting by a window. It was shut, but he had triple-checked to make sure it was unlocked.
“Walking back and forth across town will do that,” Jeremy said. It was dark, but they had a clear view of the target building.
“I still can’t believe this. We actually did it. Well, assuming we get through tonight, I mean.”
Zombiemandias (Book 2): In the Year of Our Death Page 28