“I’ll have a gun on Cody at all times,” he said. “If either one of you tries anything then Daddy dies first. What do you think about that Rachel?”
“I think it’s bullshit,” Cody said, jumping in. “There are bigger things going on here than the price of my life. Don’t think she doesn’t know it.”
Mackenzie touched his face again. Cody saw him wince as the fingers made contact with the angry red skin.
“I don’t doubt she knows it,” he said in a quiet voice. “And it’s a most practical philosophy in theory. But you and I both know Cody that it’s a lot harder for a little girl to put something like that into practice. Rachel isn’t just going to stand by and let her beloved father die like that – not if she can help it. Isn’t that right Rachel?”
Rachel shook her head. “Leave us alone.”
“You caught me by surprise last time you little bitch,” Mackenzie said. Now the hate shone through in his good eye. “It won’t happen again.”
Cody could feel a surge of anger bubbling up.
“What do you think’s going to happen when they get here Mackenzie?” he said. “You think you’re going to get a gold star for this or something? A pat on the back for your service.”
Mackenzie took a step forward.
“Same thing that was supposed to happen last time,” he said. “My companions and I – we’ll become a part of them. We’ll be absorbed by a power that’s beyond human comprehension. This broken suit of flesh that I’m wearing won’t matter anymore – I’ll be free of it. A suitable reward, don’t you think?”
Cody looked at the others gathered behind Mackenzie, including the boy Jack.
“Gee Mackenzie,” he said. “These guys might not dress as well as your last fan club but they don’t look stupid to me. Do they really think you’re going to take them with you? That’s if you’re even going anywhere in the first place. You assume the Exterminators will keep their promise and that’s…”
Cody felt the gun barrel clip him on the back of the head. A sharp pain bounced around his skull.
“Don’t be so negative Cody,” Mackenzie said. “Didn’t I tell you once before that they were a generous species?”
A trickle of black snow began to fall. Mackenzie looked up to the sky and held a hand out, gathering the dark snowflakes on his fingertips.
“So beautiful,” he said with a smile.
Rita looked at Cody and raised her eyebrows. “Man I heard this guy was crazy,” she said. “They weren’t lying.”
Mackenzie glanced at Rita.
“They’re not monsters you know,” he said. “That’s our job. The few down here who serve them will be saved.”
“Whatever you say pal,” Rita said.
Cody felt an increasing sense of hopelessness wash over him.
“You’re going to keep a gun on me until they get here?” he said. “Just to keep Rachel in line? That’s your master plan?”
“Yes,” Mackenzie said. “It is.”
Rita let out a snort of disgust.
“And what about me Mackenzie?” she said. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to go along with any of this. You’re not keeping a gun on my head.”
Mackenzie looked at Rita and he gave a curt nod.
“Truth is,” he said. “I don’t really need you.”
There was deafening crack in Cody’s left ear. He jumped as if a massive explosion had taken place behind him.
Rachel screamed.
Rita dropped like a bag of stones onto the black snow. She didn’t move or make a sound after she’d hit the ground. She was already gone. The gunman who’d shot her stepped forward and gave her a probing kick, making sure that she was dead.
“Rita!” Cody yelled.
Rachel shrieked and tried to grab Cody’s hand. Cody moved towards her but the gunman standing at his back swatted Rachel’s outstretched hand away like it was a mosquito in his face.
Rachel threw the man a hateful look.
Cody stared at the body of Rita. His mouth was hanging open and although he wanted to go to her, he knew what would happen if he tried. Not that it would do any good.
“You bastard!” he said, turning towards Mackenzie. His head was spinning like he’d just stepped off a high-speed merry-go-round. “You sick fucking bastard. Why’d you have to do that?”
“This is no time to be sentimental Cody,” Mackenzie said. There was that slightly bored look in his eye again, like he was talking to someone beneath him. “To tell you the truth, your lovely Rita is lucky to be out of it. Be happy for her – this city is going to get much worse in the days to come.”
Rachel took a step closer to Mackenzie.
Mackenzie’s good eye was gleaming. There was a hint of a smile on his cracked face.
“Now now Rachel,” he said, wagging a finger back and forth. “Be a good girl. Think about your next move very carefully. There’s only one other person left amongst us that I’m willing to shoot today. It’s not you and it’s not any of my friends. Can you guess who it is?”
Cody looked at Rachel. He saw the hint of a smile creeping onto his daughter’s face. She was staring at Mackenzie, not blinking.
“Well?” Mackenzie said. He’d seen the smile too and now he looked pissed off. “Who will I shoot next Rachel?”
Before Rachel could answer there was a blast of gunfire. It came from behind them. Cody’s heart jumped. At first, he thought that Mackenzie had given the man at his back the order to shoot him in the head.
But it was the gunman who went down.
Cody felt the cold steel barrel slide off his head. There was a crashing sound in his ears as the gunman fell face first onto the snow in a bloody heap.
Cody spun around and saw a small group of dark human shapes hurrying down the street. They ran forward for a while, getting closer, and then ducked for cover behind the cars on the road. A head peered out from behind the near-skeletal remains of a burned out SUV. Cody saw movement elsewhere – someone was leaning out of a storefront window nearby. A rifle barrel was pointing at Mackenzie and the ragtag army.
“Take this you ugly motherfucker!”
Nick Norton pulled the trigger.
Crack-crack-crack!
Mackenzie’s crew scattered as bullets sprayed everywhere. Shots were fired from behind the cars on the street too. It made for a tremendous racket. The ragtags raised their pistols and started shooting back. A blast of shotgun fire rang out. There were panicked cries from the ragtags as they tried to make sense of this sudden attack. Cody saw one of Mackenzie’s crew take a bullet in the gut and collapse onto the snow.
Mackenzie looked towards the shooters. There was a manic, furious look in his eyes. He looked like a man who’d just been grossly insulted.
Cody pushed Rachel onto the ground and lay on top of her.
He covered her ears as gunfire went back and forth above their heads.
Another one of the ragtags went down. It was now obvious that they were too exposed to defend themselves.
Mackenzie turned around, giving the order for his soldiers to retreat. Cody looked up and saw the gunmen take off in a hurry.
But Mackenzie didn’t run.
Unlike his troops he wasn’t in a rush to retreat into the darkness. Cody looked up and noticed that Mackenzie’s one good eye had turned black. Cold hatred spewed out of that lifeless socket, gazing in the direction of gunfire. Cody saw a couple of bullets literally bounce off the man and he realized that whatever power the Exterminators had bestowed upon Mackenzie all those months ago, it was still there.
Mackenzie walked towards Cody and Rachel with a purposeful stride. His black eye burned as he reached down for father and daughter who were still lying on the ground dodging bullets. The gunfire slowed down at that moment, as if Nick and the others realized they were in danger of hitting Cody and Rachel.
“You’re coming with me,” Mackenzie said, his arms outstretched. The scarred hands came closer.
Cody felt Rachel pushing him f
rom underneath. At first, he tried to keep her pinned down and out of reach. But Rachel wriggled her way free of his grip with surprising ease.
She jumped to her feet. As she got up, she glanced over her shoulder, searching for the source of friendly fire.
Cody saw her eyes. They were as black as Mackenzie’s – maybe even blacker. A spark of light crackled around her lean frame, spreading out, getting faster by the second. The shield was on its way. Cody felt like he was watching his daughter puff out like an angry bird, swelling up, becoming something bigger.
Mackenzie took a backwards step.
Cody looked over at Rita. She was just a couple of meters away and he groaned at the sight of his fallen companion. Her body was a twisted mess – arms flailing backwards, knees bent at awkward angle. Her eyes were open and a small trickle of blood ran down her chin.
“Rita,” Cody said.
Rachel and Mackenzie stood facing one another.
“C’mon Rachel,” Mackenzie said. “You can’t win this time. No matter what it takes, I’ll hand you over to them.”
Rachel didn’t say anything. Instead she lifted her arms in a crucifix position. Mackenzie must have known what was coming because he took one look, turned around and ran off, following the ragtags. Mackenzie ran so fast that it was a miracle he didn’t slip or trip over his long cloak.
Rachel started to run after him. But Cody was already up on his feet and as she took off, he wrapped an arm around her waist to stop her.
“Leave him,” he said, pulling her back.
Rachel’s head turned towards Cody. She scowled at him with her black eyes and Cody shuddered. It was like looking at someone else. Something else.
“Let me go,” she said. “He killed Rita!”
“You’re not going after him,” Cody said, although he did release his grip. “For all we know that’s exactly what he wants you to do.”
Rachel’s shield dimmed around her. As her eyes returned to their natural color, she stared into the direction in which Mackenzie had taken off.
Cody heard a noise behind them.
He spun around and saw Marv and Lance running up the street towards the little garden area. There was a look of horror on both men’s faces and it only got worse as they raced towards the body of Rita.
“Oh God!” Marv said. Both he and Lance dropped onto their knees beside her. Marv lifted Rita’s head and checked for any vital signs. But it was obvious to Cody that she was dead
Nick and Crazy Diamond weren’t far behind. Nick’s trusty AR-15 was pointing in the direction that Mackenzie and the ragtags had made their getaway. Crazy Diamond had her pistol in hand, her eyes roaming across the surroundings for signs of anything suspicious.
“Oh shit,” Nick said, looking at Rita. He stopped running close to where Marv and Lance were kneeling beside the body. Both of Rita’s Resistance comrades were tough, grizzled men who’d seen horrific things in their lives, both before and after the Black Storm. Now they were on the brink of tears, their hearts broken by this latest loss.
“We saw somebody go down,” Nick said. “But I didn’t want to believe it was one of ours.”
Crazy Diamond looked at Cody and Rachel.
“Are you guys okay?” she said.
Cody’s face was grim. “We’re alive I guess.”
Nick turned to Cody. His rifle was still primed in his arms, ready for action.
“That piece of shit ain’t dead?” he said. “Are you kidding me?”
“Apparently not,” Cody said.
“I thought the birds tore him apart.” Crazy Diamond.
Cody shrugged. “They did.”
“Well what did he want?” Nick said. “What did he say?”
“Nothing he hasn’t said before,” Cody said. “He still wants to hand over Rachel to the Exterminators. Still thinks that’s his ticket to Paradise.”
“I swear to God,” Crazy Diamond said, looking at Rita. “I’m going to kill that bastard.”
Cody looked at Rita’s body, sandwiched in between Marv and Lance. They were both holding her up, taking a side each. Her eyes had been closed.
“Hey,” Cody said, turning back to Crazy Diamond.
“What?” she said.
“How did you know?” he said.
Crazy Diamond shrugged. “What do you mean?”
“How did you know we were in trouble?” Cody said. “And how did you know where we were?”
Crazy Diamond nodded. “Oh that.”
“Yeah that,” Cody said. “Well?”
Crazy Diamond pointed a thumb at Rachel, who was looking back at the young woman with a calm expression on her face.
“Your little girl here,” Crazy Diamond said. “That’s how.”
“What do you mean?” Cody asked. He looked at Rachel, but it didn’t look like she was giving anything away.
He turned back to Crazy Diamond.
“What’s going on?” Cody said. “What did she do?”
Crazy Diamond tapped the side of her head.
“She told me everything.”
4
They took Rita’s body to the San Antonio National Cemetery.
It was about a ten minute drive from their base at the Rand to the cemetery, which was located on Paso Hondo, a couple of miles due east of the downtown area. It was Marv’s idea to take Rita there. The National Cemetery in ordinary times had been reserved for members of the armed forces. In Marv’s own words however, they were all soldiers now.
On their way they’d stopped off at the La Paz funeral home. The building had remained untouched during the last days and still looked as if it was open for business. Cody and the others had crept inside, keeping the noise down as if they were walking through a church in the middle of service. While there they’d tended to Rita, cleaning her wound and washing her down. Marv selected an oak casket from a display room and when it was time she was placed inside.
After that, they said their goodbyes.
Marv, Lance, Nick and Cody carried Rita’s casket into the cemetery on their shoulders. Crazy Diamond and Rachel walked a few paces behind. Crazy Diamond had one arm wrapped around Rachel’s shoulders. With her spare hand, she pointed a flashlight into the cemetery to guide the pallbearers.
Cody noticed a tall flagpole standing in the middle of the grounds. At the top of the flagpole, a large Stars and Stripes was blowing stubbornly in the breeze.
The cemetery was packed with headstones. Cody wondered if there was room for even one more person in that place. But Marv knew what he was doing – he led the way to a section that he’d used months back to bury a couple of close friends who’d died during the Resistance war with Mackenzie and the suits.
The mourners walked for several minutes. With Crazy Diamond shining a light in front of them, Marv guided the procession towards a strip of snow-covered grass tucked in beside a weather-beaten stone wall. The wall ran parallel to the main road.
They laid the casket down on the black snow. Marv and Lance went back to the van to collect three shovels that they’d brought with them. When they came back, Marv, Nick and Lance went to work digging the grave and the plan was to do it as quickly as possible.
Cody and Crazy Diamond stood nearby, staying close to Rachel.
Digging was hard work. As temperatures in San Antonio dipped further, the soil was on the brink of becoming impenetrable. The three men used their shovels to remove the snow from the chosen gravesite and they had to stab hard into the dirt in order to make any sort of progress.
Cody kept lookout while the other men were digging. His attention was focused on the road behind the wall, but he also kept his eyes within the cemetery grounds. He was looking for any sign of movement. The next attack could come from anywhere.
As he looked around he noticed two simple wooden crosses marking the spot where Marv had buried his other friends. Both crosses sat at the head of a small mound of rectangular soil, which was almost completely buried in black snow. If Cody had been more literary mi
nded he might have thought that was symbolic. Like the new world was swallowing them up, swallowing up the entirety of human history.
Rachel was looking at the wooden crosses too. She led Cody over to the modest headstones and made her way around the upturned dirt. Then she did a half-squat, leaning towards the nearest cross. Crazy Diamond shone the flashlight on the marker to help her get a closer look.
There was some writing on the horizontal strip of wood.
“What does it say?” Cody asked.
“It’s a name,” Rachel said, wiping down the marker with her sleeve. She pointed to the cross on the left. “That one says Johnny Boy.” Then she looked at the second cross. “That one says Elaine, I think.”
“We called her Laney,” Marv said, putting his shovel down and looking over. He lit up a cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke into the air. “She was crazier than a soup sandwich. Johnny Boy was much the same – he was high on life that kid. They were just young people – good people caught up in the madness. Neither one of them was older than thirty when they died.”
Marv’s gaze drifted beyond the wall.
“Rita was good friends with Laney and Johnny Boy,” he said. “She’d be happy lying next to them both, I have no doubt about that. Bit pressed for space mind you but well that’s alright.”
Lance nodded. “It’s a good call Marv,” he said.
“We do the best we can right?” Marv said.
“Right,” Lance said.
Marv sighed and went back to digging. The cigarette was still dangling in between his lips.
“You alright Cody?” Crazy Diamond said, shining the flashlight on his face. “You look a bit pale if you don’t mind my saying. Are you going to puke or something?”
“Must be all that back-breaking digging,” Nick said with a laugh.
Cody shook his head. He waved the flashlight off his face and Crazy Diamond took it away.
“I’ve never liked graveyards that’s all,” he said.
“What’s not to like?” Crazy Diamond said.
“I know some people find peace in these places,” Cody said. “Or perspective or whatever you want to call it. But they just make me uneasy.” He looked up at the black sky and the gates that watched over them. “Especially when it’s so damn dark everywhere.”
Mega Post-Apocalyptic Double Bill Page 77