“I have a feeling we're on the same side. Did you have a run-in with these guys?” Kahn pointed at the scattered papers carelessly tossed on the ground. A tense moment passed and the leader lowered his rifle, followed by the others. He still looked suspicious but nodded.
“Who are you? How do you know this group? Neighbors?”
Kahn tensed. He was tired of the lie and was having trouble justifying hiding his identity anymore, even to his own group. There was no reason now. He cleared his throat, concerned that everybody was about to turn on him.
“I’m Captain Louis,” the officer interrupted, also slowly standing with his hands raised in front of him. “I’m in charge of these people. Garcia over there is my orderly, I’m the supply officer. This is Lars and Jones and Kimble. The young lady is a researcher for us.”
“Daisy Patterson, nice to meet you,” she added with a nervous shake in her voice.
“Yes, Daisy. I think you people can just come with us to our outpost. It’s way outside of town, and it’s safe--”
“He just said you were attacked and ran away,” the teenage kid replied.
“We’re not going anywhere with you,” his female companion uttered menacingly.
“Stop it, you two,” Jesse snapped. “You, Garcia. I asked, how do you know the Neighbors?”
“I--” Kahn paused, guilt now mercilessly gnawing at him about the pseudonym and the lie he built his life around at LOSTOP. He shook his head. “My name is not Garcia. It’s Halwende Kahn. The Neighbors caught me, killed my brother-in-law, my wife, and my son. I gave a fake name because I was scared of what they did and what the new group might do. I thought I’d be safe if I hid. But, now the Neighbors found us too, and I need to push back before they catch and kill us all. They’re-- they’re dangerous. They locked my wife and son in our house and burned it to the ground. I tried but couldn’t get to them. I barely made it out myself.”
Both groups seemed shocked at Kahn’s revelation. Tears dropped from his eyes as the guilt over his family’s death came back to him in waves of grief. Daisy, too, was crying and took a step away to wipe her eyes.
“It’s true, I was there when it happened,” Kimble replied, standing as well.
“Oh shit, you had a fake name this whole time?” Jones laughed, clearly not disturbed at all. He and Lars stood in sequence so now the two six-member groups faced each other.
“I’m sorry that happened to you, Halwende,” Deb spoke in a low voice, carefully pronouncing his full name. She and Jesse looked at each other. “I’m Deb and this is Jesse. We think the same group who did this to you kidnapped Jesse’s wife. We’re trying to figure out where they might be.”
“We have a place to start looking,” Kimble said. He slowly reached into his front pocket and pulled out the license. He held it up and slowly reached it across the divide between the two groups. Jesse took it and studied it, slinging his carbine over his shoulder in the process.
“Who’s this?” he asked.
“It’s the son of the guy who leads the Neighbors. His name is Llewelyn Wither. We were going to try and go to his son’s house and search for clues to where Llewellyn might live or be hiding out,” Kahn answered. He spent a few minutes laying out the story to Jesse’s people. How David Wither was killed by Ash, Kahn’s brother-in-law, on the day of the announcement about the outbreak after the man tried to loot their store and kill Kahn. Then, how Kimble joined the Neighbors and Kahn was almost killed at the tragic Walmart rally. Afterwards, the escape and Ash’s execution at Llewelyn’s hand, and the capture and murder of Kahn’s wife and kid. The details were new to both groups, and everyone was silent after Kahn finished speaking. He actually felt relief, having never conveyed the full tale to anybody. Sharing with this group of strangers was cathartic, and let a heavy burden lift from him. Daisy stepped to him, hugging him and carefully whispering Halwende into his ear as if to test the new name. When she released, Jesse stepped forward with his hand outstretched. Kahn gripped it.
“I’m Jesse,” he repeated. They released their handshake and Jesse indicated the other members of his crew. “This is Ty, Ice, Wiggs and his brother Ricky, and Deb.” Deb stepped forward and gave Kahn a hug as well.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” she repeated her earlier sentiment. “I think we could use your help, right? They’re soldiers,” She turned and looked at Jesse. Jones scoffed.
“Listen, lady, you got supply and admin over here, a mechanic, and I’m a cook. We ain’t Rambo.”
“I’m not interested in fighting your battles, I think we should head back to the outpost,” the captain muttered.
“No, sir. I’m with Kimble and Gar- I mean Kahn,” Lars replied. “We don’t even know if our home is still there. These guys could use our help.”
“Yeah, I think we could. No weapons, yet, until we can trust you. Your story, um, sounds true.” Jesse quickly recounted their return from patrol to find his wife kidnapped and brushed over how they left their home. He said he recognized the flyers because identical ones were left where they had taken Mel. He did not mention the Burned Woman, or the estadio comment that led them to believe the Neighbors were hiding in the Alamodome. Nor did he mention that they were on this side of town to find a faraway eastern approach to the stadium, so far failing due to blocked roadways. Kahn’s information was more direct, and he was willing to explore this residence to look for hard evidence of possible locations. The risk seemed lower and the possible payoff higher to go with Kahn’s plan. At least at first. If it led to nothing they wouldn’t have lost anything.
“Do you know where that house is?” Kahn asked, pointing at the license in Jesse’s hands. The long-haired leader studied it closely and laughed.
“Yep, I sure do. But you aren’t going to like it. We can get you guys there and we’ll check this house with you. After that, we’ll see.” Kahn nodded his head once, confidently, at his new ally.
“Jess!” Wiggs called out, pointing to the faraway tree line. Two stumbling figures had broken through and were stepping through the tall grass toward the small group. Wiggs lifted his rifle and fired a shot. The closest, an elderly-looking woman in bare feet, took the round in the arm and spun around before falling to the ground. Ice and Ty stepped forward and began to fire at the approaching creatures. The second figure was a tall man with long hair and a beard. The creature’s face was missing its lips and its cheek was hanging in a gruesome flap. As it chomped the exposed and broken teeth toward the armed defenders the hanging skin bounced around. A round caught it in the forehead in a cloud of brackish mist. The head snapped up as the limp body dropped and disappeared into the tall grass. It was quickly replaced by another, fatter corpse that was dragging eviscerated entrails on the ground behind it.
“Come on, we’re taking the van and Humvee, too.” Jesse quickly led Kahn’s group in a line to the vehicles and arranged their placements. He directed Ricky to load the rifles in the back of the Hummer and took the driver’s seat of the Odyssey with Kahn next to him. Kimble, Ice, and Captain Louis joined them while he put Ty and Jones together in the military vehicle. He quickly placed Daisy with Deb, and the two Wiggins brothers together with Lars in each of his two trucks. Arranging twelve people, especially when half of them needed to be watched by the other half, put some stress on the young leader and he barked orders to the crowd as more shambling corpses walked out of the woods and into suppressive fire from Jesse’s shooters.
Finally, after several intense minutes, everyone had a spot. The shooters drew back and joined their counterparts. The four vehicles came to life and the drivers moved them into a column facing away from the jackknifed truck. The engines roared past the walking corpses as both Kahn and Jesse’s groups traveled together, united.
Chapter 18
- Road Trip
Road Trip
“So, are you and Halwende a thing?” Deb asked, dimples standing out from her unblemished cheeks. Her pronunciation of Kahn’s name was slow and unsure, like befo
re. Daisy sat in the passenger seat of the big extended cab truck and didn’t correct how Deb said it, since she had just learned his real name at the same time as everyone else. Daisy repeated the new name in a whisper, haltingly, testing it herself.
She crunched on a sunflower seed and tossed the shell onto the messy floor, feeling stupid and lied to now that she had some time alone to think. The ladies had ended up with Wiggs’ truck, and it was a disaster of food wrappers and discarded bottles of various beverages. Daisy’s snack barely added to the mess. She shook her head despite being a bit perplexed and angry at the attempt at small talk from someone who was essentially her kidnapper.
“No. Are you and Jesse?” Daisy crunched and tossed another seed and refilled her cheek by pouring the bag directly into her mouth. All this stuff is going to be expired soon, she thought as she checked the date printed on the plastic snack bag. She looked over and Deb and noticed the woman blushing with a frown. “I’m sorry, hon, I didn’t mean to say--”
“It’s fine. It’s just, he’s married, you know?” Deb attempted to revive the lost dimples but her smile was flat and fake. Daisy understood immediately.
The other truck, directly in front of Deb’s, was pristine until Ricky threw a Gatorade bottle over Lars’ shoulder into the passenger-side well.
“Hey, man. Watch it, okay?” Lars said, turning toward the big man squeezed into the backseat of the truck.
“Okay, mister. I was just trying to throw away my trash. That’s where trash goes in the other truck.” He took a final bite from a Snickers bar and threw the wrapper directly at the passenger. The wrapper fluttered and landed on Q’s leg. The mechanic sighed and flicked the paper onto the ground in front of him.
“Don’t worry about Ricky, my man. He’s a little slow but he’s super nice. He’ll get real sad if you get mad at him for little stuff like that. Just let it slide, man. Tom Wiggins, people call me Wiggs,” the driver reached across and awkwardly shook the hand of his passenger. “So, we’re going to find a friend of yours?”
“Uh, no,” Lars replied, a bit confused by the question. “We’re going to search a house to try and find the guy who killed our guy Kahn’s family.”
“Oh, yeah. Cool. I must have missed some of that.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Lars was slightly confused by the exchange. He was starting to find that both brothers were probably ‘a little slow’ like Wiggs had mentioned about the bigger brother in the back seat. And I’m not the smartest dude either, we make a great team.
The cab was quiet for a few minutes until a few drops of rain began to hit the windshield. It got a little more intense with fat drops splattering and obscuring the view of the Humvee in front of them. Wiggs turned on the wipers to combat the precipitation.
“It’s raining, Tommy!” Ricky exclaimed.
“I know, little bro, I got the wipers on.”
“But, it’s sunny, Tommy.”
“I know, Ricky, it does that sometimes. Nothing to be worried about. Why don’t you take a nap?” Wiggs laughed.
“The sky is being weird and I don’t want to take a nap,” Ricky pouted, throwing himself back behind the driver’s seat, but staying quiet. After a few more minutes Lars heard the big guy lightly snoring. He put his arm over the seat and looked back.
“So,” he said. “What makes him slow?”
“Yeah, something called Fragile X Syndrome. It’s genetic, so he was born with it. We’ve known since he was a little kid. They used to call it mental retardation, but now doctors call it intellectual disability to be nicer, I guess. He’s autistic, too. He has trouble making friends and stuff, so we’re just really close. I was always able to keep him calm and help him understand things growing up, so we just stuck together. Between me and Ice, she’s up in the van, we keep him happy.”
“That’s nice, man, I was an only child so I never had a bro--”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing, too. He doesn’t know what to do about this whole people eating each other oh and also they’re dead thing that’s going on. Y’know?”
“Yeah, that’s good.” Lars was starting to understand that both Wiggins brothers were a conversational handful. He looked into the rain and didn’t initiate another chat.
“Man, them fucking wipers are shit,” Ty laughed from the passenger seat of the Humvee. “And the fucking seats suck and are uncomfortable and you drive like shit.”
“Shut the fuck up, boy. Respect your elders,” Specialist Jones snapped at the teenager. The boy puffed up and held his carbine up across the center of the cramped military vehicle.
“You ain’t my elders. You just a bitch we captured. Man, you should have seen your fucking face when we lit your ass up. I was aiming right at you, gonna take you out motherf--” Jones jerked the wheel and Ty slid toward the outside of the vehicle and slammed his back against the doorframe before being jarred back to the middle of the vehicle and knocking his knee on the raised center. He let loose a string of profanity and bobbled the carbine, finally letting it rest in the center of the two men. He tried to hold his injured back and knee at the same time.
“Watch yourself, little man, you gone get hurt,” Jones laughed.
“Watch your shit, man, you drive like shit,” the teenager let his voice trail as he sucked his teeth and rubbed his bruised knee. The two sat in silence for a moment as the rain disappeared into the bright sunlight. Jones stopped the little wipers from smearing more greasy liquid around the small front windows. Ty cleared his throat.
“What?” Jones said.
“Nothing, shit,” Ty snapped in reply. A few moments passed before he spoke again, “You a mechanic?” Jones shook his head.
“No, I’m a cook. The guy in the truck behind us, Lars, he’s the mechanic.”
“Oh,” Ty paused again for a minute before resuming. “My old man was a mechanic. I don’t see him too much. He’s in Georgia. Where you from?”
“Louisiana. My parents are there, too. Your mom here?” Jones asked. Ty nodded.
“Yeah, I mean, she was. Before all this. She died. She was bit and, you know, turned into one of those things. Jesse saved me.”
“Sorry, man, sorry about your mom. Respect,” Jones reached across and patted the younger man on his shoulder. Ty nodded and bumped Jones’ fist in reply.
“Me too, man. Me too.”
The Honda Odyssey cruised along slightly ahead of the rest of the column. The Hummer was the slowest vehicle so the trucks split the road at an interval behind it. Jesse sped ahead and around any minor obstacles, but the highway this far outside of town was pretty clear. They approached the major loop that roped the entire metro area. On the far east side, it was all ranches and widely separated small businesses like Kahn’s gun shop. Even the loop here was clear on both the onramp and the highway. The vehicles followed each other in a semi-formation as they changed directions on the new road, driving in a winding northerly route.
“You know where we’re going?” the annoyed Louisiana drawl oozed out of Captain Louis. Jesse, driving, ignored him.
“I’m sure he’s taking us the right way, sir,” Kahn replied.
“I don’t want to talk to you, mister whoever-you-are. I can’t trust any of you people.”
“What do you mean by you people, Captain?” Kimble grumbled.
“Guys, come on. Keep it together. Ice, you covering these guys?” Jesse paused, awaiting the reply from the guard on the rear bench seat. “Ice?”
“She’s asleep,” Kimble said. Jesse clicked his tongue several times as he swerved around an abandoned SUV with all the doors opened before taking the right hand lane again. Kahn could sense the man’s tension in the way he punched the gas, gripped the steering wheel, and glared ahead at the road.
“You okay, Jesse? I don’t want you to take us off the road because you’re so wound up,” Kahn tried to state mildly. Jesse just shook his head and pursed his lips.
“No, I’m not okay. These people have my wife and I can feel the clock ticking
if I’m ever going to see her again. They said in those old cop shows if you don’t find someone in 24 hours there’s like a 70 percent chance they’re never going to be found.”
“Yo man, you gotta calm down,” Kimble reached forward and patted Jesse’s shoulder. The driver flinched.
“He’s right, let’s talk about this neighborhood we’re going to for a little bit. We’re all trying to help here,” Kahn said.
“I just want to go back to--”
“With all due respect, Captain. Shut the hell up right now,” Kahn snapped at the supply boss in the middle seat. Louis looked upset and Kahn was afraid they were going to get into a shouting match, but then the captain’s eyes flicked over to Jesse for just a moment and he exhaled and sat back in his chair without a word. They all waited in the awkward silence with Kahn’s insubordinate words hanging in the air.
“Jesse,” Kimble said as softly as he could. “Tell us about this place we’re headed.” Jesse’s grip on the steering wheel loosened a bit as he seemed to absorb the question and merge back with reality. He visibly relaxed and exhaled loudly, like he had been holding his breath.
“Well, it’s a neighborhood I recognize because it’s near the first apartment Mel and I got together. The house is in a gated space so I think we might have a chance to get there.”
“Okay, that’s great. So what’s the problem? You said we wouldn’t like it,” Kahn asked.
“You’re not going to like it. To get there we’re going to have to take the high road,” Jesse chuckled. “You’ll see what I mean. Basically, that part of town is shaped like a little bowl. There’s even a quarry near the center next to one of those big renovated shopping centers they built.”
“Yeah, I know the area a little bit.”
Nation Undead (Book 2): Collusion Page 13