Jamie sat back against the wall, defeated. They knew how to take out their current captors, but had no means in which to do it. Joe sat with his head between his legs as well. They were totally screwed until they could get out of the cellar. Fate had relegated them to an impossible situation despite their excellent planning and execution thus far. Anger built up inside of Joe until he could bear no more. He stormed himself up and over to the roof of the cellar above him and began pounding on the floor above.
“HEY YOU CRAZY ASS MOTHERFUCKERS! I BET YOUR MOTHER SHOVELS SHIT IN HELL YOU GODDAMN BASTARDS!”
Jamie and Balboa immediately jumped up to grab and silence Joe as he spewed forth line after line of obscenities. Balboa bear-hugged Joe as Jamie clamped his hand over Joe’s mouth.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jamie hissed. “You’re gonna get us all killed!”
Joe mumbled through Jamie’s clamped hand as Balboa let go of his grip. Joe’s heart raced as he thought of once again being separated from his family. The rage inside of him had snapped and he was going to get back at the people that had taken him from them so forcefully. Joe grabbed Jamie’s hand away and explained himself.
“Look, you both said until they let us out we’re fucked, right? So let’s make them let us out.”
Jamie glanced up to the ceiling and back at Joe. A mixed look crossed his face as he pondered Joe’s idea. He knew that Joe was right but the plan was not well thought out enough to do anything about it. He realized the hopelessness of the situation as well.
“Alrighty then. Let’s get these assholes riled up and see how it goes.”
* * *
Chris and Ronnie bounded from one building to another, moving cautiously along the streets in search of the next piece of their trail. They had left the area of the train and the gas station and now followed the sprinkling of Twinkie parts that littered the road in hopes of them being led to their captured comrades. The trail had not gone cold as of yet, but the light of the day would soon be waning away, leaving them with nothing to follow. Ronnie scampered along the edge of the road, spotting another piece of breadcrumb trail and nodded to Chris, who moved up along the same side of the road, searching for the trail. Ronnie swayed his head down, he was afraid of losing what miniscule trail they had as well as not making to his friends in time. They had been fortunate enough to find what they had so far, but their luck would not hold out forever.
Chris had made his way up the road, eyeing another piece of the trail. He peered around the roadway, making sure the road was clear before moving ahead and signaling Ronnie to move forward. Ronnie popped up from one knee and out of his temporary daze and did as he was instructed. Ronnie was rushing past Chris when he grabbed Ronnie by the shirtsleeve. Ronnie spun around and met Chris’ eyes as he saw what had caused the abrupt stop. Two zombies had wandered out in front of them as they were about to leapfrog ahead and Chris had seen them immediately. The two walkers had not made any sound aside from the slow plodding and shuffling of feet that they had become accustomed to hearing in the past few days. Ronnie heard the sound of the creatures as he stood there. The hairs on the nape of his neck stood up as he and Chris began slinking behind of the nearest building, a small hardware store immediately behind them. Both men turned the corner and quickened their pace as they got out of sight of the first two undead that they had seen. Ronnie slung his rifle over his shoulder and breathed a nervous sigh of relief.
“Holy shit dude, I thought those two were gonna…” Ronnie was interrupted by another zombie that came out from behind the tin-roofed hardware store as they came to the end of the side of the building. Ronnie did not react fast enough to grab his rifle as the creature lunged out towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders, baring its gnarly, rotted teeth. Ronnie stumbled backwards as the zombie began ferociously trying to bite him on the neck and shoulder. Ronnie began throwing his fists and elbows at the creature almost immediately, trying to fight off his vicious attacker. Chris had stumbled backwards as the creature had made its move and now recovered himself enough to mount an attack on the walker that was after Ronnie. He raised his rifle to shoot the zombie in the head, but quickly realized that he had no shot of hitting it without hitting Ronnie as well. Chris tossed his rifle down and reared back his right foot and met the side of the zombie’s skull with a sickening CRUNCH as its neck broke just above the shoulders. The creature, in a momentary daze of its own, was knocked off Ronnie and landed on its back. The zombie let out a guttural growl and began hissing at the two men. Ronnie quickly got to his feet and stormed over to the creature. He observed the writhing pile of dead flesh as it still desperately tried to make him into dinner, despite its neck being broken. Ronnie’s eyes filled with anger as he raised his foot and brought it down on the zombie’s forehead, curb stomping the ghoul. Chris rushed over to Ronnie and grabbed him.
“Holy fuck, dude! Did it get you? Are you bit?” Chris began feverishly checking Ronnie’s head and neck as he asked him. Ronnie batted his hands away, still aggravated by the berating that he had just taken at the hands of the zombie.
“Naw, man. I’m fine.” Ronnie brushed past Chris as he stood there with his heart racing. Chris paused and tried to gauge Ronnie’s well-being as he fumbled around on the ground for the rifle he had dropped. Ronnie made his way over to where he had dropped his rifle in the scuffle as well.
“We are never gonna keep this damn trail alive if we have to keep ducking behind of buildings every few minutes. The damn walkers are starting to show up now, if we try and kill ‘em off then we are gonna attract a lot of unwanted attention real fuckin’ fast. We have to come up with a better idea than runnin’ blind alongside of the road.”
Chris opened his mouth to reply to Ronnie when he heard the distinctive sound of a turbo diesel engine in the distance. Ronnie stopped in his tracks as well as he heard the unmistakable noise as well.
“Shit! That’s the Humvee! Get down! We don’t know who’s driving the thing!” Chris blurted out and grabbed Ronnie down. The small hardware store had given them ample hiding space behind of it and they took advantage of it, ducking behind and out of sight of the desert tan Humvee. Both men crouched down, rifles at the ready, and waited for the rumbling of the military vehicle to get closer. They did not have to wait long, as the vehicle came to a stop about fifty feet from their hiding spot. Chris and Ronnie peered around the corner and towards the sound of the idling machine. Two figures got out of the Humvee with M4 style rifles and were making gestures back and forth. Ronnie turned his head towards the sound and strained to hear the words of the two figures; a very curvaceous woman and her ZZ Top looking partner.
“Daddy’s not gonna like it if he finds out you been killin’ these things instead of bringin’ em to him. He just needs a few more to finish the congregation.” The curvy female spoke to her brother.
“Lucy, I don’t give a rat’s fuckin’ ass what he knows about these dead fuckers. They ain’t a damn messiah like he thinks they are! We best just kill the little bastards ‘fore he sends us out after more. Besides, the crazy ‘ol fucker has got those three we picked up earlier, they oughta be plenty!”
“Bobby, I just think that…”
Bobby stormed over to Lucy, swung his hand back, and brought the backside of his palm with a snap across Lucy’s face, effectively stopping her end of the conversation.
Bobby grabbed Lucy by the face and brought it closer to his as to drive the point home. “I don’t give a shit what you got to say either, you fuckin’ bitch! You best just keep your fuckin’ mouth shut and do what the hell I tell you!” Bobby moved himself closer to Lucy and took his free hand and began caressing Lucy’s ample sized breasts. “Or do I have to teach you the hard way like I did last time?”
Lucy began to cry silently as Bobby moved his hands down lower on her body, inappropriately groping his sister. The whole time he kept his firm grip on her face, scrunching it together, keeping her mercilessly at bay. Bobby leaned in and began salaciously kissing
Lucy, causing her to writhe away from his unwanted touching.
Chris and Ronnie still sat silently nearby, watching the inevitable incest that was about to happen in front of them. They were frozen in a mixture of fear and loathing of the two people that obviously had taken their friends. Ronnie suddenly stepped away from the side of the building and towards the two would-be lovers, raised the large M249 machine gun, and aimed towards the brother/sister combo that was in front of him. Chris hesitated as he noticed Ronnie stepping forth with the gun raised and quickly followed suit once he realized the opportunity that Ronnie was seizing. If they could take Joe’s captors hostage they could have them lead them to the rest of their people, hopefully without much incident. Ronnie snuck forward with the iron sights of the machine gun trained directly onto Bobby’s body. He didn’t know whether or not Bobby’s cohort, Lucy, was a willing participant but he didn’t want to find out either. Chris fell in line behind of Ronnie and eased forward, his machine gun trained on both of the persons in the middle of the road. The diesel engine droned out any noise of their approach as they got within less than twenty feet of where they stood.
“Unless you two fuckers want to meet your own damn messiah, I suggest you let go of each other and get on the fuckin’ ground!” Ronnie hollered above the din of the Humvee.
Bobby released his inappropriate grip on Lucy and darted his eyes, wide with surprise, towards Ronnie and Chris. He shoved Lucy towards the two men and lumbered towards the still-idling Humvee. Ronnie instinctively reached out to save Lucy from falling as Chris did the same. Chris recovered his machine gun in time to raise it and fire off a burst of rounds at the Humvee.
“Don’t waste your ammo, dude! That thing is armor plated, it’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than that to get through that damn thing!” Ronnie lowered his M249 and took stock of the woman that lay on the ground in front of him. Chris did as he was instructed in the meantime and stopped his would-be assault on the vehicle, now long gone down the road. He slowly lowered his machine gun and glanced over to Ronnie.
“We are gonna have to haul ass. As soon as he gets back to wherever it is he’s goin’ he’s gonna tell the rest of his people what just happened and Joe and them are gonna get it.” A pang of gear crossed him as he realized what that might entail. If they had not yet killed any of his comrades that they had captured, they would soon.
Ronnie knelt down and observed their newly found source of information, which was still on her hands and knees in front of him. Ronnie laid his machine gun down and stared at the brunette woman that was in front of him. Lucy did not look up to meet his gaze. She did not have any reason to believe that she was going to live much longer. She knew what she had done to Ronnie and Chris’ friends and was not expecting any mercy towards her. Neither of her two captors spoke for several seconds after she had fallen in front on them. Ronnie finally broke the silence hanging in the air.
“Seein’ as how you two are the ones that took our friends and your buddy there left you for dead I’d say you are fresh out of options. We are not gonna kill you or cause harm to you unless you don’t tell us where they are right now.”
Lucy looked up to Ronnie. There was no lying in his eyes; he meant her no harm as long as she helped them out, and in turn betraying her own family. “I don’t understand. Why ain’t ya ‘ll gonna just kill me?”
Ronnie stood and reached his arm down to help Lucy to her feet. She meekly obliged, gathering herself up and facing her would-be captors. “Because ya’ll have three of our friends in this damn town somewhere and we need them back. Whatever ya’ll are planning, we need to put a stop to it right now, otherwise…” Ronnie patted his M249, “we are gonna have to make things a little more difficult for you.”
Lucy stared at Ronnie, looked over to Chris and then back to Ronnie. She had not realized what she had been doing, taking people for her father’s “congregation” had been to keep her father occupied until he could make his master plan come to fruition. She was fresh out of friends and fresh out of options. Her face began welling up with tears as she finally let out the information that Chris and Ronnie so desperately needed.
“Daddy’s gonna kill ‘em all. Your friends, they are all gonna die if we don’t stop him!”
CHAPTER 10
Bobby’s face stung as his father forcefully brought his hand across his face, returning the favor that Bobby had paid to Lucy just a few minutes before. Bobby did not flinch as Abraham again struck him, causing a trickle of blood to ooze out of his nose. Abraham grabbed Bobby’s face not unlike he had done to Lucy earlier before their encounter was broken up by Chris and Ronnie. The fire in Abraham’s eyes bore a hole through Bobby as he pulled him closer to his own face.
“How would your mother think about this, boy? She gave her life for the Lord and you can’t even take care of your own damned sister!” Abraham threw Bobby’s face away as Bobby stood there ashamed. “Not that what you do to that girl is natural anyway.” Bobby’s eyes perked up towards his father.
“That’s right, boy. I know what you did to your own sister you sick bastard. But the whore didn’t stop you from doing it, which makes her just as guilty, and just as big a sinner as you are. Your mother would be ashamed to hear of your sick deeds, Bobby.”
The problem was Bobby’s mother was chained up not ten feet from where he now stood, part of Abraham’s congregation. His mother had died during the initial accident that had unleashed the toxin of the undead, but from natural causes. Once she had risen from the dead a few minutes later, Abraham became convinced that it had been a miracle from God and began rounding up both the living and the dead for his congregation. The few survivors that were left in town flocked to Abraham, in hopes that, being a man of the cloth, would help them in these troubled times. Any safety or security that the church could offer was quickly dissipated as Abraham began taking his newfound flock and turning them into zombies.
He had become convinced that since the dead were raising from the grave that only God himself could have taken such a power over man and began preparing himself and his “followers” for the end of days. He was so sure that he was right that he began sacrificing the living that were amongst his people to the dead, causing them to turn into mindless zombies, and reaffirming his stance that this was indeed the end of the world. The Bible had stated in Matthew 27:52-53 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many. Abraham had taken this to a literal meaning as the dead had begun to rise from the grave and he was certain that Christ’s resurrection had already taken place. He was going to do his duty and bring the resurrected before Christ and sacrifice them to Him to show that he was worthy of remaining by His side to rule with him for a thousand years.
Abraham brazenly shoved by Bobby. “Prepare the newest arrivals for the sacrifice. They will complete the congregation and I will show Christ that I alone am worthy of being by His side.”
“Yes, father.” Bobby managed out weakly. He reached into his pocket and grabbed one of the 9mm handguns that he had taken off Joe and his friends and checked the chamber. He quickly realized that his father had said that Abraham alone was worthy of being by the side of the Messiah. Bobby’s face grew red as he gritted his teeth and stormed off to the cellar to take care of the three men down in it. He would prove to his father that he was also worthy of being by His side.
And he would kill all three of them to prove it.
* * *
Buffey’s step quickened as she paced back and forth through the cab of the main engine. More shots being fired from farther away and still no sign of any of the men that had left out in more than two hours before. There had been no chatter on the radio, no sign from any of them, nothing to let her know that her husband, son, and other close friends were into or out of harm’s way. Ashleigh sat with Dakota in her lap, also nervously tapping her foot against the ground, inadvertently rocking the newborn
into a troubled sleep. Ashleigh looked up at Buffey, still milling about the cabin of the engine. She shared the same concern as Buffey, wondering of their friends who were out trying to save their own skin as well as the lives of everyone else on the train.
“I don’t know what to do, Ash. They have been gone way too long. Those shots had to have come from Chris and Ronnie!” Buffey’s voice climbed as she continuously paced in the cabin. Her concern quickly turned to anger at her husband and his need to take care of the group had trumped the concern for his own family in her eyes. The fact that he had taken Ronnie away from her as well, for what seemed like a wild goose chase did not sit well with her either. She had already lost a daughter and was not in the market for losing a son too.
Rickey heard his mother’s concerned voice and emerged from the far back of the cabin of the engine to see what all the commotion was about. He stepped out onto the walkway and towards his mother. Buffey was vigorously puffing on a cigarette as he stepped onto the platform to address her. He walked up within a few feet of her when they both heard the same fear-inducing sound that had haunted them for the last few days.
The undead were coming.
Buffey’s eyes widened and she quickly flipped the butt of her smoke onto the ground. She gazed around, trying to match up the sound of the zombies with their location. The far off moans of the walking dead were hard to pin an exact locale on. The ghoulish sound of them coming was not lost on Rickey either. His heart raced and tried to figure out exactly where their unwanted guests were going to be coming from.
“Mommy?” His voice cracked as she noticed his presence. He knew that she had heard the unsettling sounds in the distance as well.
“Rickey!” Buffey said in a loud whisper. “Get back in the train and don’t make a sound. I don’t know where they are but let’s not find out just yet!” Rickey did as he was told and headed back into the train. The unholy sounds of the dead combined with the fading light of the day made for an eerie mixture of dread that was not lost on the remaining survivors in the train. Rickey scurried back into the cab of the engine and promptly sat down and covered his ears. The sounds of the approaching moans made him miss his daddy even more. Once again, he needed him to be there to take care of the zombies and he was nowhere to be found. Rickey slumped down into a corner and tightly closed his eyes and clamped down harder on his ears.
Six Feet From Hell: Books 1 - 3 Page 23