"They have guns on us, so I doubt it," he replied, steadying himself with Matty’s help.
"Plus, there is the convenient spike strip," added Matty.
"Fuckin' bandits," Charlie said, spitting in disgust. The saliva bomb hit the ground in front of the man with the shotgun, but was quickly washed away by the rain.
Until this point, not one of the highway robbers had said a word. Then, one man stepped from the dark alley and strolled over with a hunting rifle braced confidently against his shoulder. He stopped next to the man with the shotgun, towering half a foot over his companion.
Unlike the rest, he didn't wear a mask, mostly because he didn't need to; a shaggy brown beard covered most of his face. Beside a balding scalp, the only other prominent feature was a slightly lazy left eye.
"How many more inside?" Lazy-Eye asked. His voice was raspy but deep with bass. "And before you answer, know that honesty is the best policy."
The hint of bullets was enough for Charlie to speak truthfully. "There are two in the back. They are both unarmed, as are the woman and child in the driver's cabin, but I'm sure you and your men can already see them."
Lazy-Eye cracked a small smile. "Spencer, Betty-Sue, go check it out."
The individuals known as Spencer and Betty-Sue came out from behind an upside-down station wagon. They were wearing hard hats and clicked on the attached flashlights.
Ally shrieked as the tarp was yanked back.
"Ally!" Charlie shouted, making a move to the back. "Don't hurt her!"
The man with the shotgun smashed the stock against the back of Charlie's knee.
"That was your warning," Lazy-Eye said bluntly. "Next time, you get a body full of double-ought."
At this time, Marilyn and Chris were brought out and corralled next to Matty and Agent Kim.
Charlie nodded, rubbing his scraped knees. He looked at the others and attempted to pacify them, saying, "It's gonna be okay, guys. I promise."
"Boss," the woman named Betty-Sue called out. She dug indiscriminately though the boxes. "Looks like they were telling the truth..."
Looks like Lazy-Eye is in charge, Charlie thought.
"They got a ton of supplies: guns, water, food, meds, you name it," Betty-Sue finished.
"Good, take it all," Lazy-Eye ordered. He looked north, toward the roadblock and clicked his flashlight twice. A pair of headlamps illuminated and flashed back. Then, a truck started up and drove slowly toward them.
The man named Spencer had long since lowered his rifle. He removed his mask, revealing a short beard where the hair seemed to grow everywhere but around his mouth. He tapped Lazy-Eye's shoulder and said, "Vincent, the guy back here looks like he's in bad shape, maybe we should leave them with some-"
"Shut your mouth, Spencer, and help Betty-Sue transfer the boxes. Go on, now."
"Sir, please, you don't know what you're doing," protested Agent Kim.
"Sure I do, I'm accepting your generous donation."
"No, I mean, you don't get it," Kim continued, though initially fumbling for the right words. "Look, my name is David Kim, I'm a member of the United States Secret Service..."
Spencer cast a look at Agent Kim; a look of equal parts concern and disbelief.
"We are on a mission from the President. He was assassinated two days ago, and we are on our way to a top-secret government bunker to get help. It's not far from here and-"
"Let me guess who done it," Lazy-Eye interrupted, this time a distinct country accent was made. "Was it was those damn towel heads in al-Qaeda? Or maybe those North Koreans finally grew some balls?"
"Hah, good one, boss," the man with a shotgun exclaimed.
"Bobby-D, go get the jugs and start siphoning out the gas."
"You got it, boss."
"Sir," Agent Kim pressed, taking a cautious step forward. "Please, don't do this. I swear we are telling the truth. We are with the government. We are just trying to-"
"Wrong choice'a words. I trust the government about as much as I trust a Chinaman…and I hate me a Chinaman," he snarled and took aggressive steps toward Kim.
With his hands in the air, Charlie intervened in an attempt to deflect the racial hatred. "Look mister, we are telling the truth."
"Everyone's always got some reason why we shouldn't take their stuff. Please, my baby's sick. Please, we're just passing through. Whaddya say, Bobby-D? I guess now we can add 'Please, we're just trying to get to some top-secret bunker' to the list. Hell, that's the most creative one yet."
"Sir, we don't care if you take our stuff. Take what you need, but please just leave us with the gas that's in our tank," Agent Kim proposed. "We have to get to the bunker!"
"Oh, I plan on taking only what we need, but unfortunately for you, what we need is everything you have...bunker," he snorted.
"What kind of people just rob others and leave them to die?" Ally said. Her tears mixed in with the rain streaking down her face.
"The ones who will do anything to survive. It's dog eat dog. No offense."
Charlie snorted in derision. "Kind of hard not to take offense when you’re stealing our stuff, eh."
Spencer finished setting down a duffle bag of supplies, and then came over. When he spoke, his breath was stale and smelled of menthol cigarettes. "Vincent, maybe we should leave 'em with some stuff? We have more than enough."
Lazy-Eye pivoted and jabbed two knuckles into his companion's chest. "Let me ask you something, Spencer. Do you want your wife to starve? How about your baby girls, huh?"
Spencer lowered his head, defeated. "No, course not."
"That's what I thought. We need all we can get. It's your family, or these strangers."
"But what if they're telling the truth? What if there's a bunker? We could go!"
Lazy-Eye shook his head defiantly. He looked in disgust at Agent Kim and the rest of the survivors. "People will say anything to get you to believe 'em."
At that moment, Matty saw Betty-Sue grab his bag and throw it in with the rest of the purloined supplies. "Hey, not that one!" he shouted, making a move toward it.
Then came a loud shotgun blast.
Spooked, Bobby-D fired a shot a foot in front of Matty. The double-ought blasted up the road and sent fragments of asphalt into Matty's calf. "Ah, damnit to hell!" Matty cursed, limping in a circle. "Look, that bag has sensitive information in it! Nothing you need! Please, just leave it-"
But as Matty tried to explain, Betty-Sue interrupted. "Boss, those things’re here!"
Lazy-Eye looked a quarter mile up the road. From the top of a convenience store, a scout flashed a light three times. "Damnit Bobby-D, those creatures heard you! Where are we at with the supplies?"
"All good. Got everything," Betty-Sue answered.
Just then a flame-red Dodge Ram 4X4 arrived. The driver pulled herself through the window and over the roof. She was younger than the rest. Her lips were cracked and she wore a cotton beanie with tassels dangling from the ears. “See Darin’s signal? Those things are on their way. What’s the plan, mama?”
“Vince, you hear her? What’s the plan?” asked Betty-Sue.
"Bobby-D, load up the gas," Lazy-Eye ordered. Then he spun to the driver. "Emma-Lou, move over. Your mama’s driving!"
“Hot damn, that’s a good steal,” Emma-Lou exclaimed, chuckling at the group’s misfortune. She shuffled over to the passenger’s seat and smiled through window.
“Little bitch,” cursed Ally.
"What about us?" Charlie protested vehemently. "You can't just leave us out here!"
"You're gonna rob us and leave us to die?" Matty exclaimed.
Lazy-Eye shrugged uncaringly. "Don't try and follow us or you'll be shot," he said, gun raised as he backpedaled to the truck. "I’m not leaving you with nothing. I’m giving you a head start. If I were you, I'd get running."
Just as fast and quiet as they came, the bandits vanished the next block over.
"What are we going to do?" Marilyn asked nervously.
Age
nt Kim was the first to offer a recommendation. "They didn't take all the gas. Let's drive the truck!"
"Can't," Charlie cut in. "The tire is off and it will take too long to get the spare locked on enough to drive..."
Rather than waste precious seconds debating a plan, Charlie made the decision for the group.
"Matty, Ally, David, help me with Dylan. We are going to make a run for it!"
"Seriously?"
"That's suicide!"
"To where?"
Just then, the first of the infected came sprinting around the corner three blocks up. Unsure where to go, it tried to stop, but slipped on the slick road.
Sensing the imminent peril, the group ceased all questioning. Collectively, they slid Dylan out the back, and took positions, two on each side of the stretcher.
"Everyone got a good handle? Let's move!"
***
"No, not the bank!" Charlie yelled.
“What? Why not?” Marilyn asked, unable to understand why the one story Wells Fargo structure was not a good choice.
Charlie believed the untampered glass doors were locked and even if they weren't and they could get inside, the building may as well have been a tomb. The infected would gather around its walls and wait for the survivors to die of dehydration or make a break when they were at their weakest.
"Keep going! There's gotta be a better choice!"
For a fleeting moment, a surge of lightning illuminated the town and nearby potential options of refuge. Pangton was sparsely developed, but a far way off from a shantytown. The city had its share of corporate business, from laundry facilities to gas stations to grocery stores and everything in between.
"How about the RV park?" Marilyn suggested, pointing ahead and to her left.
Next to the small office building, there were only a handful of recreation vehicles. The walls of the office seemed to be made out of paper, and the nearest of RV's had its front door completely removed.
"No, keep looking!"
"My ankle hurts!” Ally yelped with each painful limp-step.
"Don't think about it!"
Matty was on the back right of the stretcher, behind Charlie. "Uh guys," he said to no one in particular. He cast another quick look behind them. "There’s more infected now and they’re catching up! We need to make a decision and make it quick!"
The anxiety made the seconds feel like minutes and the savage monsters hunting them even more dreadful, but eventually, the survivors found themselves at an intersection. Marilyn turned around with a look that said, "What should we do?"
As fast as his mind would work, Charlie evaluated the options.
On the left was Mountainside Motel. The business was two stories and seemed like a decent holdup.
His good eye shifted to the other side of the road. Unable to focus completely, Charlie could make out that the building was a school of some kind.
We can’t keep going at this pace! We need to get behind a wall! Somewhere safe, even if it’s temporary...
As valuable seconds ticked away, Charlie remained decision-less; consumed by the debate between the advantages and disadvantages of the school and motel.
"I-I'm sorry, we can't wait any longer!" Marilyn shouted over the thunder. Just like that, she yanked her son with her and tore off for the Mountainside Motel.
Panicked, Matty looked back again.
One of the infected, a half-deteriorated women in her late fifties, was one hundred feet ahead of the others. It moaned through a ripped out throat, and reached outward with overgrown fingernails that looks like claws.
Matty let go of the pipe and hustled after Marilyn.
The muscles on Charlie's arm bulged as they took over the abandoned weight. "Damnit, Matty, get back here!"
Pure terror filled Ally's face. "Don't leave us, too!"
Matty did follow Marylin, but abandoned no one. He broke off Marilyn's trail and snatched a spade-shaped shovel that was lying near the motel welcome sign. "I'll be right behind you!"
"What are we doing, Charlie?" pressed Agent Kim.
The Canadian looked back at the school.What is that? he thought, seeing what no one else did. It was a woman waving an American flag being from a second floor window. "The school! Go to the school!"
"Marilyn!" Ally called out, but the mother and son were on a dedicated path.
Charlie, Kim, and Ally moved as fast as their exhausted arms and legs would allow.
"I saw someone in the window! Ally, go on ahead and open the front door!"
Charlie and Agent Kim struggled to carry the weight of the makeshift stretcher. The metal pipes near Dylan's feet made a terrible screeching noise as they scraped against the concrete.
"I-I don't see anyone!" Ally called back, dubious.
Charlie looked up at the exact window that seconds before a person was waving a flag behind.There’s no one there now. Are you hallucinating?
Behind the group, Matty took on the first of the infected.
The fifty-year-old woman took a violent impact on the face from the back of the shovel. Her neck twisted to the right as she went spinning to the ground.
Surprised by both the solid contact and his own force, Matty didn't follow up, and in those seconds, the woman rose to her feet and lunged.
Matty dodged the attack like a bullfighter, and the woman was as frustrated as a bull for missing. So, she charged again, but this time the side of the rounded shovel impaled the woman’s neck, causing enough trauma to the spinal cord to kill her for good.
"Guys, wait up!" Matty yelled, releasing the wooden handle. Ahead, his companions were at the stairs leading up to the red brick school.
But the evasion was all for nothing as Ally shook the front doors of Pangton Elementary and High School. She peered through the windows and discovered the heartbreak. "They're chained from the inside!"
Agent Kim's forehead was creased with anger. "Charlie, I thought you saw someone!"
Coming up from his angle, Matty saw a side door and waved everyone over. "This way! Around the side! Follow me!"
By the time they abandoned the front doors and made their way down the steps and around the building, a mass of infected were twenty feet behind them; a pack of four had split off toward the motel.
Matty held the gate open for the rest. "Hurry up!"
Both Agent Kim and Charlie moved with purpose. They were the first ones through. Behind them, Ally slipped on the muddy grass. The knee on her good leg drove into the grass, skimming over a sprinkler. A section of her khaki-colored pants tore, revealing a bloody abrasion.
“Ally!” Matty exclaimed.
“Help!” she cried, reaching outward.
Matty ran back and dragged her through the gate- and just in time. The moment after the gate latched closed, a pair of infected crashed into the chain links. Their weight sent Matty and Ally bouncing off the fence.
"Guys?” Charlie yelled back.
"We're okay!" Matty said, helping Ally to her feet. He stayed behind, bracing his shoes against the fence. "Ally, keep going! Open that emergency door or we all die!"
"It's locked!" Ally said, crying. "Please! Please! Someone! Help!"
Just then, Ally's pleas were answered.
Dressed in an oversized "I HEART AZ" sweatshirt and a red beanie that covered pink hair, a woman flung open the door. "Get inside, quick!"
Ally looked back at the rest and yelled, "Guys come on-"
She was unable to finish the statement as an infected man wearing a dirty brown vest came around the blind corner and tackled her.
"Ally!" Charlie yelled, instinctively letting go as he rushed to her aid.
Luckily, Agent Kim reacted quickly enough to brace Dylan's head before it smacked the ground.
Ally was on her back, kicking and screaming for help. She did her best to push back Brown Vest, but the man overpowered her, lunged and bit. Luckily, its teeth smashed into the concrete as she evaded the attack.
"Ally!" Charlie screamed, tackling the man before
it could bite again.
Brown Vest and Charlie rolled over one another, finally ending next to a tetherball pole. While getting to his feet, Charlie slipped; bad luck that proved lifesaving as the Canadian slid out of the way just as Brown Vest attacked again.
"Go! Get inside!"
“But Charlie-”
“Go!”
Charlie spared a glance at the others. Matty was helping Ally to her feet and the stranger assisted Kim with Dylan. Satisfied, his eye returned to the threat.
Gritting his foam-covered teeth, Brown Vest panted like a dog.
What are you doing, Charlie? No weapons. You can't run past it. You-
Then the idea came to Charlie as a tetherball bounced off his back.
Grabbing the tetherball and pulling it toward him, he taunted, "Come on, you fuckin’ hoser.”
Charlie waited until Brown Vest lunged, then sidestepped the attack. He wrapped the rope around the man's neck, managing two rotations before Brown Vest's wild arms and snapping teeth were dangerously close.
To Brown Vest, the rope was more of an annoyance than a hindrance, as he focused on Charlie's beating carotid. The beast made a gurgling sound that was a cross between a hiss and a scream.
"Come and get me!" Charlie shouted, as he circled the metal pole.
Little by little, Brown Vest was pulled to the center. Charlie's plan had been based in the hope that, eventually, the man would circle enough to get caught, but that plan never came to fruition.
His third rotation in, Charlie looked back, lost focus, and subsequently slipped on a particularly depressed section of the court. On the ground, the Canadian rolled to his back, preparing to defend an impending attack.
The black-eyed monster seemed to smile at its defenseless prey, but it too, had slipped over the same soft spot, and as a result, the fight was over.
Brown Vest’s legs gave out and its entire weight pulled down against the rope. A gentle pop was all it took to snap the spinal cord.
0409 hours
David Kim walked into the cafeteria. In his hand was a wooden mop handle; the mop end had been kicked off and the jagged point used as a crude spear. "Now the school is secure," he said, setting down the blood-tipped weapon.
The Longest Road (Book 3): The Other Side Page 25