~
The V.H.F. crackled. "That's him," Annie's voice said. "That second voice, that's Death. And the other guy sounds like one of his boys that used to come around." She sounded scared.
"Okay, Annie, thank you," Mike said.
"He's crazy, Mike," Annie said.
"I know. But believe me, he won't touch you You and Tim come on down here," Mike finished.
~
A few minutes later the radio crackled back to life.
~
"It's a fuckin' old lady," Shitty said. "Why'd they fuckin wanna kill an old lady," he asked?
"Doesn't matter," Death said. “Let's Go, We're movin' on.”
~Divided we stand~
Mike turned around, handed Ronnie one of a hunting rifles they had bought with them and then picked up his own. The one he had handed Ronnie had a 10 round clip, camouflage paint, and looked more like an assault rifle than a hunting rifle. It was also fitted with a night scope. He unclasped his V.H.F. unit and handed it to Ronnie.
"Take over okay, they're going to be here soon. If they turn in, try to take out the lead vehicle. Let me know as soon as you see them, Ronnie," Mike said.
"What about Patty?" Ronnie asked, concerned.
Mike shook his head. "I'm putting them all in the Suburbans and sending them down the trails. We'll catch up with them after this shit is done," Mike said.
Ronnie nodded and left. Mike turned back to the camp. Silence came down upon the clearing as they waited. Mike tried to hold every pair of eyes that searched him out.
"Tom... Bob... David... And Jeff..." He hesitated, "Kate... You five are staying here. Patty, Janet, get the Suburbans ready to go now. Everybody else is going with you two.” he looked at his watch and then looked back up at Patty catching her eyes and holding them. Her face was careful, set, hard. Little blotches of color dotted her cheeks. Her lips were thin and tightly pressed together. “Like, ten minutes, so get moving." Mike finished. Patty nodded, and then she and Janet hurried off.
He had wanted to send Kate as well, had even told himself that he was going to do it, but when it came right down to it, he couldn't. She was probably the best shot they had. And he knew she would see it as him being overprotective... unreasonable. There was no valid reason to send her away.
He looked up and saw that Kate was standing in front of him. "I wouldn't have gone," she said quietly.
"That too," he said. "How are you with a rifle?"
"Good," Kate said. "Jeff is also good," she said.
Jeff walked up just as she finished talking and nodded his head. "What do you need?" he asked.
Mike handed both of them a hunting rifle like the one he had given to Ronnie. "I want both of you up there with Ronnie. If they turn in, try to take them out. We have to stop them so the rest can get away onto the logging trails. After that, we'll try to take out whatever of them are left," he finished.
They both nodded; Kate met his eyes and then they both turned away at a run towards the hill
~
The three Suburbans were packed and ready to go in five minutes. There had not been much to pack. The tents stayed; what food they had unloaded stayed. They offloaded some water and then loaded the rest of the camp into the three vehicles.
Bob gave Janet a small rubber encased compass. "Southwest... Eventually you'll run out of logging roads. Drive until you're out of gas. Make your own road as far as you can. Keep fresh batteries in the V.H.F. radios and listen in. We'll find you. We'll be fine. This may take us a few days, but we'll be there," he finished.
Patty took her foot off the brake and then put it back on and leaned across Janet to look at Mike. "Bring her back," was all she said. Mike nodded. She took her foot off the brake and the three trucks moved out.
A few minutes later they were out of sight. A few minutes after that they were out of hearing. The sounds of the big trucks soundproofed by the trees. Ten minutes after that the V.H.F. radio in Mike's hand crackled back to life.
“Headlights... Headlights... They're coming," Ronnie told him.
~
The lead truck drove right by the turn off moving at a good clip. Kate felt a rush of relief as it blew past, but a second later, the truck locked up its brakes and shuddered, hopping across the broken pavement on the huge tires to a rubber, screeching halt on the asphalt.
The other trucks were behind them spread out, coming fast. Four all together.
"Four trucks," Kate told Mike.
The other trucks locked up their brakes too. One slid off the roadway into the ditch, the other two shuddered to a stop on the blacktop as the first one had.
"What's happening?" Mike asked.
"It's going down, Baby... Wish me luck," Kate said.
Just as the lead truck began to reverse towards the exit all three rifles opened up.
Holes punched through the darkened front windshield and the truck suddenly veered erraticly, flipped onto its side and rolled over into the ditch.
A second truck began to reverse. Ronnie opened up on that truck, punching holes into the windshield and front end. Smoke rolled from the hood. The doors flew open and machine pistols opened up on them; returning fire. The third and fourth vehicle opened fire as well.
The machine pistols were not accurate. Great for a close up weapon, but over even a short distance they were virtually useless. All three ducked at first, but when it became clear that nothing was coming near them, they shot full clips home and popped back up.
Ronnie was game, but not the shot that Jeff and Kate were. Ronnie picked a target and fired a short burst finding his range as he went.
Kate zeroed in on a man standing by the second truck, highlighted by the headlights of the trucks behind him. She squeezed the trigger and the man spun away in a two shot burst. The guns would fire as fast as you could pull the trigger.
Beside her, Jeff lined up his own shot, a man running from the wreckage of the first truck. He pulled the trigger twice in quick succession and the man collapsed in mid stride and skidded to a stop on the broken pavement.
The two remaining trucks, the one that skidded into the ditch, and one that had remained on the roadway, suddenly reversed and started backing down the highway at a high rate of speed. The one in the ditch launched itself up out of the ditch, into the air, and then slammed back down on the highway. The engine screamed as it flew backwards down the roadway.
Kate and Jeff both fired at the retreating vehicles, succeeding in blowing out the headlights on one. Even so, both trucks continued to run backwards at great speed. Within a very short period of time, the roadway was clear as the headlights disappeared around a curve.
"They're retreating... We took out two of the four trucks, but there could be people in those trucks... We got at least two guys," Ronnie told Mike.
Kate was peering at the two trucks with the night scope.
"Two dead in the second truck... One inside... One on the outside," she said.
Ronnie repeated what she had said over the radio.
"One guy that was running away from the first truck is dead. I... I don't see anyone else in that truck. Could be, but I can't see it from here. We'll have to go down there," Kate said.
Ronnie repeated the observation again.
"Hang on... They're talking on the CB," Mike said.
Ronnie switched on a portable CB unit and punched up channel seventeen.
~
"... Fuckin' care," a voice said.
"You thinking of running? 'Cause if you are, once I get these fuckers? I'll be coming for you... get your ass back here, Johnny red, I'm calling the shots now," Shitty told him.
"Shitty, I didn't say I was running... What's to fight, Man? What's to fight?" Johnny red asked.
"I had better see your fuckin' lights coming back this way in the next five minutes, Johnny, or maybe I'll come get you first," Shitty told him.
"I'm coming, I'm coming, Jesus," Johnny red whined.
~
"Can you see those other
two trucks?" Mike asked.
Kate and Jeff had both been checking the horizon with the night Scopes as well as the area around the trucks.
"No," they both said in Unison.
Both radios hissed static in the silence.
"Okay," Mike said. "Go look... But be careful."
~On the Highway~
The night before, Death had suddenly shown an interest in Psycho. He had never so much as looked sideways at her before. He had called her into his truck after they had stopped for the night and told Chloe to get lost for awhile.
This thing is coming together, he had told her. And he told her that she had proven herself. And he needed a second woman, and how did she feel about that? Then he had taken her, loveless and hard. When he was finally done, he told her to get her shit, she was traveling with him and Chloe from now on. Then he had done the other thing to her, on her stomach.
Shitty had been crazy, but not too crazy, he knew what the deal was. Psycho had been scared to death, better the crazy you knew than the crazy you didn't. And now this...
The truck was on its side in a ditch with Psycho trapped underneath a large duffel bag of fully automatic machine pistols and rifles. She knew that much, but whatever else was in that bag, or on top of that bag, she didn't know. She only knew the bag was on her lower body. It was pressing against her face and she couldn't move.
She had begged Chloe to help her, but she had ignored her, crawled to the back of the truck, and slipped out through the broken window. She had heard no shots like she had when Death had tried to make a run for it.
Maybe Chloe had made it. If so, she'd better hope that she, Psycho, didn't find a way out of it as well. Because if she did and she caught her, she'd pay. But right now, it sounded as though she had another problem.
A footstep sounded softly nearby, whoever it was had stepped in the glass scattered on the highway. When she looked up, she was looking at a woman's face. She was peering down the barrel of a large pistol she was pointing at her face.
"Jesus," Psycho said. "Don't do it. Don't shoot." She squeezed her eyes shut.
"Like you didn't shoot at us?" Kate asked her.
"I didn't shoot at nobody, Girl, no one," Psycho told her.
"Uh huh... Don't call me girl either," Kate said. "Keep your hands in sight and I will try to get that shit off you so we can get you out," Kate said. "Do anything stupid and I'll shoot you, or these boys will.“ She stepped aside and let her see that Ronnie and Jeff were standing just a short distance away. “Believe it," she finished.
Psycho stretched her hands up over her head and kept them there.
~
They had her out of the overturned truck in about ten minutes. Kate leaned her up against the truck and patted her down, as Ronnie and Jeff watched the highway and the girl.
"Ain't got nothing," Psycho told her.
Kate continued methodically, her hands tripping over the safety pins in the girls upper body and stomach. She found a knife wedged down into her right boot.
"What are you, a Dyke?" Psycho asked.
Kate held up the knife and smiled.
" I forgot about that," Psycho said.
"Is there any place you didn't stick a safety pin in?" Kate asked.
Psycho blushed deep red and a frown spread across her face. "I... I didn't," she stopped, near tears.
"They did?" Kate asked.
"All of us," she said.
Kate stepped back. "Are you gonna do anything stupid?" she asked.
"Are you gonna kill me?" Psycho asked back.
"Why would we do that?" Ronnie asked.
Psycho said nothing, then, "No, I just don't want to be hurt anymore... be scared anymore," she told them.
"What your name?" Kate asked.
"Psy... Cindy, they named me Psycho," she told them.
"Cindy sounds better to me than Psycho. I'm Kate," Kate said. "And nobody here will hurt you. You can stay with us if you want to... or you can go... after. When this is over, you can go if you want to," she told her.
"After?" she asked.
"After this part is over... whatever they have in mind," Kate said.
"They're gonna try to kill you. Death, that's all he wants... wanted." She said.
Kate looked at her.
"You killed him. He's dead," Psycho looked over at the body sprawled not far from the truck. She look down towards the other truck, another body sprawled there.
"Who's the other one?" Kate asked.
"Other one? I only see that one and Death here," she indicated with her eyes. She walked towards the second truck.
"Murder," she said. "It's Murder. Where's the other one?" She asked Kate.
"On the floorboards in the back," Jeff said.
Cindy leaned through the shattered back window and popped her head right back out. The top of her head was gone but it was... "Cassie," she said aloud. "She was Murder's woman."
"And who's woman were you?" Ronnie asked.
"Shitty's... Well, Death's. I mean, Shitty's up until last night, and then Death took me away from him. So, I guess I was Death's woman," She squinted her eyes, clamped one hand to her mouth, and hurried to the side of the truck and threw up. A mental snapshot of Shitty's first woman, Bitch, struggling to breath... the horrible clicking sound she had made, jumped into her head, and then she leaned over and threw up again. She dry heaved after that, but there was nothing left to come up. She sat down and began to cry. Staring at her vomit speckled boots.
~A small willing army~
The twins came to just as the moon had reached the middle of the black sky.
Somewhere in the blackness the horse had gone. Gone to find it's own kind? She thought that was so, but she could not read the horse the way she could her own. She only knew it had a part... served a purpose. It had gone and it would come back. Possibly with another of its own kind. Maybe... maybe not. Its mind was not her mind. She had only made it as she was supposed to. She turned her attention back to the twins. The twins were hers... for her...
The silvery light was bright, almost daylight in its intensity. The twins did not fight the changes as she had thought they might. Their eyelids fluttered almost in unison. Black liquid eyes shone out and took in their surroundings, and each other. They looked around at the darkness, making not a sound, and then lifted their black eyes to the moon above. When they looked back down, they gazed at her frankly, seeming to accept their fate, looking to her to guide them, their eyes large, liquid black, reflecting the cold, silvery moonlight. And she realized they were not the same. One was slightly taller, a streak of silver-white in her hair, falling across her forehead. She swept it aside.
Donita rose from her crouch and set off into the night at a fast walk. The twins fell in behind her; the boy brought up the rear. The twins walked obediently, quietly looking around at the trees and the woods with their newborn eyes as they followed. They reached out and linked hands as they walked, drawing closer to one another.
She led them out of the scrub and into the deep woods. The tall trees marching away in even rows. Absolute silence fell as they walked. The predators recognized them and left them alone. A small rabbit stopped, sniffed the air and began to shake with its fear, frozen in the path of the Walkers. Donita skirted it, but stopped and turned to see what the twins would do. The twins stopped when Donita stopped and looked down at the rabbit frozen on the pathway.
They moved forward slowly, unlinked their hands and squatted beside the trembling rabbit. The shorter one reached out one hand and began to stroke the soft fur of the rabbit. The other, with the streak of silver-white hair still fallen across her forehead, dangled her own hands between her thighs and watched, but she made no move to pet the rabbit or stop the other from doing so. The silence seemed to deepen, the time to crawl. The Rabbit seemed to tremble less... leaning into the girl's hand as she stroked the fur.
Donita almost didn't catch the movement. It was so fast. The other girl's hands flew from between her thighs and in
one movement closed around the Rabbits throat, pulled it into the air and then flipped it backwards with a fast snap, breaking it's neck. She threw the bundle of fur back to the ground at the other girl's feet. The rabbit's feet kicked hard once... twice.. and then stopped. A thin trickle of blood flowed from one side of its pink nose. The smaller girl cocked her head to one side, raised her eyes to look at her sister briefly, then looked back down at the rabbit where it lay on the ground by her feet. She extended one hand, touched the blood that ran from the rabbit's nose and then bought that finger to her blue tinged lips to taste it.
Her eyes closed, and her body began to shake. Her twin leaned forward and rested one hand on her shoulder, a barely audible whisper coming from her lips. Words spoken strongly, but there was no air in her lungs to move across her vocal chords.
I Love You, floated on the dark forest air.
Her eyes opened and locked with her sisters. The red smear of blood on her blue-tinged lips seemed startlingly bright in the moonlight. She looked down at the rabbit once more and then stood from her crouch, took her sisters hand and turned back to Donita. Donita held her eyes with her own for a moment and then turned and began once more to make her way through the rows of tall trees, the three children following quietly behind.
~War Two~
Kate had left with Cindy and walked back into the camp from the hillside. They had talked along the way, and the things the girl had told her had infuriated her.
"This is my man, Mike," she said, making introductions. "Bob, Tom and David," she continued. "This is Cindy. She was forced to be with them."
Mike looked from the safety pins jutting out from her shirt to her belly button, her upper lip and nose. The Safety pins made the largest impression. He looked to Kate, his eyes asking if she was sure. Kate nodded.
Mike looked back at the young woman. She looked so young and pale in the moonlight, washed out, dressed as though she were playing a part. "If Kate is sure you're okay, then you're okay with me," Mike said. He offered his hand and she touched it with a closed fist. He tapped her fist with his own.
"We're going down to the creek; we'll be back. First aid kit in one of these trucks?" Kate asked.
A look of concern came into Mike's eyes.
America The Dead (Book 2): The Road To Somewhere Page 14