Dead Wrangler

by Coke, Justin

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Salvation

  The rest of them stared out the windows. She watched them. Vinny and Gerald sat around Tabitha, as if to protect her. Maybe that was the idea. It seemed obvious to her that there was a great deal of dick waving going on, though nobody had out and out done anything. But she was afraid it was only a matter of time.

  The three strangers, Daryl, Paul, and Brian, had come up the trail in their truck this morning. They were a bit sheepish as they explained that they seemed to have frightened a woman who had run off into the wild. They thought it would be better if someone she knew helped look. Meghan had called Vinny and Gerald on the walkie-talkies they kept for emergencies. When she told them Janet was missing and strange men were at the cabin they had gotten real cold. They told her to wait and they would be there as soon as they could. That proved to be almost two hours later. From the way their jackets were closed when they walked up, she guessed they'd spend an hour hiking and an hour watching the cabin. Long enough to get cold again.

  Daryl was the leader. And it wasn't because of his personality. It seemed like he ranked the other two. If they had been on their own she would have picked Brian as the natural leader. They didn't wear uniforms but they acted like Trevor's friends had when she had visited him at his barracks.

  They didn't do anything as Vinny and Gerald walked out of the woods. They didn't raise their guns, but they didn't drop them either. They stayed low, and ready.

  "Who are you three and what is going on?" Gerald said with anger in his voice.

  "I'm Sergeant Daniels. This is Privates Paul and Brian O'Donnell. We seem to have startled a woman from your group. She fled into the woods. We thought it would be better if we helped you look for her. She is armed and she would probably take being chased around the forest by armed men the wrong way."

  "Fuck! How did you startle her?" Vinny snarled.

  "We saw the ducks landing and we thought we'd head over and bag a few. When we popped out I guess she was walking down the road and startled. She was just standing there when we saw her. We drew a bead on her because well, our first reaction was that she was a zombie. When she ran away we realized we had make a mistake."

  Gerald turned to Meghan. "Why was she down there alone?'

  Meghan shrugged. "She was outside watching. I guess she decided she wanted to take a walk. She didn't say anything."

  "How could you not notice she had left?" Gerald yelled.

  "Gerald! You shut up. I didn't notice she was gone either. If we can't trust a grown woman not to wander off, well, that's Janet's problem. You leave Meghan alone. This isn't her fault," Tabitha broke in. Diane was staying behind Tabitha, looking scared. Gerald looked chastised and angry because he didn't want to feel chastised.

  They stood off like porcupines. The intrusion of three armed men made everyone tense. The claim to military rank was confusing as well, since they were wearing normal winter clothing. If anything it was in worse condition than what they were wearing. It raised suspicions in everyone. But they were trying to be helpful. After some barking the men had packed off in the truck and left the women alone, again, up in the cabin. They didn't even look at her. They were driving down the road before it even occurred to her she was being left behind.

  Meghan tried not to be resentful. She was in the best physical condition of any of them but she was doing laundry. She could be out there covering two or three times the territory they could. But they assumed she would stay here and cook them dinner.

  She'd been telling herself that she was a guest here. They didn't have to let her stay in their nice warm house. If they wanted her to do laundry and stand guard and flirt with them a bit, it was a small price to pay for a nice warm winter with plenty of food. But she could feel herself getting out of shape. She was dying for a run, but here she was, trying to get Diane to stop crying and slow cooking some venison while Janet was off in the wild.

  Tabitha was watching her. She had a look on her face like she knew what Meghan was thinking and agreed with it.

  "The way Janet told it she found you running down the highway in those tiny shorts and an AK-47 on your back."

  Meghan nodded.

  "How far did you run that day?"

  "I don't know."

  "Twenty?"

  "At least. Probably more really. Though I was walking quite a bit."

  "Gerald and Vinny know that and yet here you are."

  "Yes."

  "They are good men but they can be a bit dense. They're used to women like Janet. Nothing against her, she's shown quite a bit of grit since all this started. Before this she wasn't the kind of woman you wanted to have your back in a crisis. She's the type of woman who is a feminist until there's a spider that needs to get killed. Then she expects the men to step up and do it. Or at least she used to. That's the type they are used to. I'm an honorary man so I don't count. Don't expect them to see you the way you are. Make them see."

  Meghan blushed in self-recrimination. It was silly. She wanted them to acknowledge her as an assertive person, and here she was slinking around waiting for them to do it. Maybe they should on their own, but waiting around for what should happen meant nothing was going to happen.

  "Maybe I should go..." Meghan said.

  "No, it's too late today. There's no reason for another person to get lost. Just take your shot the next time it comes along."

  "What if it doesn't?"

  "In this world there's always going to be another chance to do something brave."

  They dragged in just before sunset. Janet wasn't with them.

  Tabitha looked grave.

  "Did you find her?"

  Gerald shook his head. Vinny looked away.

  "What?" Tabitha demanded.

  "She... she went near the hot springs. I guess there was a bunch of zombies there doing something, God knows what. She got away, but she was just running. We got to the highway. Looks like she got some supplies out of some cars there and went into an old house. The zombies caught up with her and then between her and some stranger they killed all the zombies. The Sergeant seems to think it was a guy named Pete. Nobody on the radio knew anything last we checked, but they're still outside talking. So... who knows? She might be alive. She might be dead."

  Sergeant Davis came in. "I heard from command. Pete picked up a woman that sounds just like Janet. They didn't get her name but she said something about duck hunters so it's her. She's exhausted but fine." He eyed the couch. "Mind if I take a seat?"

  Tabitha nodded and he plopped down with some force. "So Janet is fine. That's the good news. The bad news is my orders are to pack you all up and head up north."

  Gerald stood up. "Like hell! We don't even know you're in the military! You might just take us out in the woods and kill us and take our cabin!"

  "Would having a uniform make it more plausible? There's a lot of dead soldiers these days. Having a uniform doesn't mean a whole lot. We're not doing it to be mean. The truth is that you've got, and I'm not exaggerating here-- you have a million zombies coming your way. As in a hundred thousand times ten. Literally one million zombies. The Chicago horde is about to sweep through this part of the country. It's days away. If you stay you've got at best four days before you're surrounded. Maybe a few days before they get enough of them to just brute force their way through a door or wall. Under the National Recovery Act, I have the authority to forcibly evacuate anyone I believe to be in imminent danger from zombies. Your cabin is about to be crawling with zombies no matter how well you hide. This place just smells inhabited, you know? Your laundry pipe reeks of detergent, for one thing. Your drier has fresh lint all over the side of the house. Fresh shit in the latrine. Fresh blood where you butcher your catch. It's not enough to attract them long distance, but any zombie who gets within a hundred yards of this place is going to be curious. If he gets within fifty feet he's going to just know there's somebody around. You smell alive. I guess the cold will help dampen the smells a bit, but if I can
smell it so can they. Far too dangerous. You have to come with us. We can take you someplace a lot safer, with lots of people. Soldiers to protect you, something pretty close to a regular town."

  "What happens to the cabin?" Gerald asked. Vinny just held his head in his hands.

  "We mothball everything, leave a stock of food, and mark it on the map as a good place to hole up next time a patrol sweeps through. It'll probably be too hot for months, but one day it might be accessible again."

  "We just lock the door then?"

  "And we leave a key under the mat, yeah."

  "We don't want to go."

  "You don't have a choice."

  "I fucking well have a choice. This is America."

  "Yes, it is America. And America doesn't need five people fucking off in a cabin in the middle of nowhere just existing. We need you growing food or shooting zombies or working in a factory. We especially don't need five more zombies trying to eat the rest of us."

  "I won't go."

  "Look, Gerald, I'm not trying to be a hard on. But you need to come with us. It's best for everyone. I know you're used to being alone and maybe you can't believe it when I say that civilization still exists. But it does. And what will happen if you don't go is that I will pull a gun on you. If you pull a gun back, one of us dies. If it's you, you just made me kill real people and I'll regret it for the rest of my life. If I die, you're going to have to kill my friends. Then their friends are going to roll up here with a Humvee and a machine gun and arrest you. Then they'll give you a drumhead court martial, and then execute you."

  "You can't do that! It's not Constitutional," Gerald shouted. The Sergeant just stared at him like he was stupid. He looked at the rest of their faces. He seemed to gauge their reactions.

  "I'll give you guys some time to discuss it. I'll be outside if you need me," he said, and pulled himself out of the couch. He turned and look right in Gerald's eyes. "There's a lot of people out in the world tonight in bad situations. They would consider getting rescued by the US Army to be the best thing that ever happened to them. I have to admit this cabin is about the sweetest setup I've ever seen out in the wild, and I'd be upset to lose it too. But let's not let your good fortune in having this cabin make you curse the biggest lotto ticket any of you have ever won in your life. Certainly don't make it into bloodshed." He left.

  They stared at each other, silent. Tabitha spoke first.

  "He's right. I don't know about these hordes, but you told me there were thirty zombies down at the base of this hill. I could have rolled a rock down on them this whole time. If they had found their way up here! It was one thing when we had nowhere better to go. Civilization!"

  "Tabitha, don't be foolish! They'll just take us out and kill us or do God knows what!" Gerald said.

  "Gerald, you're being the fool. If they were murderers, wouldn't they have just killed the women and waited for you to come in unawares and shot you too? If they wanted to go that way, they could have gone that way a lot easier. The fact is they are the only people we've seen in months who didn't want to kill us. I guess it's a leap of faith to believe that, but I do."

  "They threatened us!" Gerald shouted.

  "They did. They did. After you accused them of being murderers out to steal our house, they threatened to make us go to a safe place. What assholes!" Tabitha snapped back. "Gerald, I know you don't like it, but unless you're going to shoot me I'm going with them whether you like it or not. I'll be taking Diane with me because Janet is with them. Meghan?"

  "I want to go with them," Meghan said. She wasn't sure she did, but if Tabitha was going she didn't want to be the only woman left. Gerald and his son were nice, but she'd be stuck being their maid, and probably their bedwarmer too.

  Gerald pouted, arms crossed. It was not a pleasant look for a grown man.

  "Gerald, I am telling you that we need to go. I want you and Vinny to come, because you might be right. Even if you aren't we need your protection."

  To Meghan it looked like Gerald sensed Tabitha's bald manipulation, but he seemed to take it as a way to save face. He nodded and went to the bedroom to sulk. A storm of frustration crossed Tabitha's face, but she wiped it away with a force of will. She stood up and went outside. After a minute she came back in.

  "We leave at first light. We can take whatever we can haul in our vehicles. They want us to leave a little bit in case someone needs to use it later. He suggested the cured meat would be pretty valuable and that clothes were cheap. Get packing." She clapped her hands. "Vinny, you take care of Gerald and make sure he gets it together."

  They packed and argued and rolled and jammed things in bags for hours. They had been living in what she would have considered poverty, but when it was time to move it all they had too much. And unlike her old apartment, where there were boxes that she hadn't opened since her last move, all of it seemed vital. A dozen situations would pop through her head in which this piece of clothing or that tool would be critical. In the end it was food, clothing, shelter in that order. Tools she crammed into a box.

  They headed out shortly after. The way down was bumpier than she remembered, and the highway was worse. The last time she had been on a highway it had been a bloody mess, but at least it had been a lively mess. It had seemed like no one had been there in living memory. Now the highway was cold and covered in snow. They made the only tracks, and the abandoned cars sat like white crypt stones. Even the zombies had left this place. Time passed slowly and quickly at the same time. It seemed like they weren't making any progress, but each time she glanced at the clock she was shocked by how much time had passed. Gerald's pout was timeless though; he just seemed to get madder and madder the farther they went.

  Meghan understood a little of what he was thinking. It seemed impossible that civilization in any form existed in this empty land. No snowplows, not even any tracks to indicate that there were other people. For all they could tell they might be the last people alive. They would get to sleep in freezing cars and stand guard in the ice to head to someplace that seemed as impossible as Shambhala. Vinny didn't seem to care much either way. Meghan had begun to suspect he didn't care about much these days. He went through life waiting for it to end. Janet wasn't the only person to lose a child, and at least Janet had someone left.

  Diane–Diane was a mystery to Meghan. She felt like stone most of the time; neither happy nor sad. The water ran around her, and she existed. But there were depths beneath that outer shell. Meghan would have thought that those depths held immense grief, but that didn't quite explain it all. Meghan was a little frightened of Diane, even though Diane had never done a thing to deserve it. Diane sat in her seat and looked outside, scanning, checking the mirrors, again and again, without emotion.

  Tabitha was killing herself with worry. She sat, as quiet as Diane, but with an ashen face. She nibbled at her fingernails and stared out the windshield.

  The soldiers were relaxed and alert. They were used to being out in this. They much preferred this emptiness to the alternative, which was danger.

  They rode that way until an hour before dark, when they left the highway and headed into a forest. After a bit of back and forth on roads that were well on the way to losing the right to call themselves graveled, they arrived at a dark cabin. Yellow tape sealed each entrance. Sgt. Davis jogged around the building and gave a thumbs up. He went to the front door and moved a dead potted plant and grabbed the key. One of the soldiers, she couldn't tell which one, headed up the hill a bit, rifle in hand. The rest of them went inside. Sgt. Davis was already starting a coal fire. Soon the cabin was almost too hot, and she was sweating. They each got a can of chili and a cup of white rice with kidney beans. It might not have merited a Michelin star but it was hot and it was delicious. Vinny was sent out to deliver a serving to Paul, who would be standing guard for the next three hours.

  The rest of the group turned over in their sleeping bags without so much as a word. Meghan had a deep sleep. If she dreamt she didn't remember it.<
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  They were on the road before Meghan really knew what was happening. She ended up with Diane and Sgt. Davis in the rear truck. Tabitha and the rest were about a quarter mile ahead. Their truck was bouncing up and down on a road that was more pothole than road. The dead winter grass stood three feet high. Tabitha's truck nose-dived into a hole; her rear wheels spun, swinging in the air.

  Meghan covered her mouth, and Diane sat bolt upright. Sgt. Davis slammed on the brakes even before the zombies stood up, appearing out of the grass like ghosts. They swarmed the truck.

  "Mayday, mayday! They are all around us!" Private Paul's voice screeched over the radio. Meghan looked at Sgt. Davis, and could tell he was shocked, as she was. She couldn't understand what was happening, because it sure looked like an ambush. But zombies were too stupid for that. She'd never seen, and never even heard, of something like this. He was as confused as she was. But there was only one thing to do. She opened the door and put one foot on the rail. She wasn't going to get out, not all the way. And it took longer to roll up the window than to close the door. She fumbled her rifle up and started firing. Sgt. Davis followed her lead. They had to be sure of their shot; they didn't want to hit anyone in the truck, so they took their time whittling down the swarm. Only a few stragglers tried to approach their truck, but Meghan dispatched them. They had maybe thirty zombies down when Davis gave out a gurgling scream. Blood sprayed into the truck and he fell to the ground. She slid back into the truck, confused. She could still hear shots coming from the other truck. She reached across and closed the driver door, hit the locks, and pulled herself over to the driver's seat. She looked in the side view mirror. She didn't see Davis, but she did see–something. It was some kind of thin limbed monster, staring right back at her. She looked down. Davis was on the ground, holding his throat and squirming. The thing gave some kind of chirp. Diane screamed and pointed. Meghan turned her head. The zombies were turning from Tabitha's truck and coming for them. The thing disappeared behind the truck, out of her line of sight.