“Any chance he’s with them?”
“Hell no. He’s not a fighter. I’m sure he has Sarge and Clint with him, though.”
“And that’s who you want.” It wasn’t a question.
“Either will do, but I want them both. I want them to suffer horribly.”
Zoe put her hand on Einstein’s shoulder. “Dude, vengeance won’t bring her back. Be careful with retaliation. Sometimes it can do more harm than good.”
Einstein stared down at the automatic in his lap. “I won’t rest until some good harm comes to those assholes.” To Butcher, he nodded. “Let’s go get her.”
As Butcher drove the Fuchs closer to the compound, she kept cutting her eyes over to Einstein.
He worried her.
She’d never seen him like this before. The cold steel of his voice, the grim determination in the set of his jaw were so not like the boy she knew. He was losing his grip on the boy who was a gamer and zombie know-it-all and was falling into the dark abyss of a zombie/outlaw killer.
She couldn’t really blame him. Having to watch Cassie be attacked and then shot must have torn his heart in two.
“You okay, kid?”
Einstein looked out the window. Several seconds ticked by. “No. I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again.”
“You loved her.”
He turned. “How did you know?”
“We all knew. It was all over your face.”
Staring down at the gun in his lap, he watched as two tears fell on it. “I promised her we’d get out of there.”
Butcher nodded but remained quiet.
“Have you ever loved someone so hard you’d be willing to trade places with them when their lives were in danger?”
Butcher nodded. “Actually, I currently love a handful of people that much. It’s why I’m here.”
“Would you…you know…”
“Go after the person responsible for dehumanizing and killing them? Absolutely. Hurt my family at your own risk.”
Einstein tilted his head at her.
“What? You didn’t think I’d be straight up with you? Dude, they killed two of the gentlest people I know. I’m behind you one hundred percent, but be smart, Einstein. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you.”
Butcher was about a half mile away from the warehouse district when she stopped and turned around.
“Alright folks, looks like the place is starting to burn bad. I don’t think taking the Fuchs in is a good idea and there are eaters everywhere, so no ZBs are to get out of the Beast.”
“Including you?”
She nodded.
“That leaves me, Hunter, and Burnett,” Zoe said, looking around at their lack of weaponry. “We sure as shit can’t do this with just arrows and bolts.”
“Einstein says everything they took is in that last warehouse. If you three can get there and grab munitions, we’d at least be able to go on the offensive. Without it, I’m afraid bows and arrows are our only option outside the Beast.”
Hunter closed the hatch and followed Wendell down the ladder. “That place is really burning, but the back two warehouses in the fenced area have not been touched.”
Wendell nodded. “They’re scattered about trying to save the food and water. These three should have no problem getting in and out.”
“Man eaters?”
“Are all over the place. That’s what’s making it so hard. The guards are trying to get their gate repaired, but they have to deal with a horde that entered. They’re everywhere.”
“What about Dallas?”
Butcher looked at everyone’s face before answering. “You get us weapons. You grab everything you think we need. Then burn it to the ground. She won’t be inside. My guess is she’ll be hightailing it to the railroad tracks. We’ll look for her once we give these assholes something to occupy their time.”
“Hold on,” Wendell said. “There are innocent people in there.”
Butcher held up her hand. “Listen to me. As long as they have some place to hide, they have a place to hide her. They’ll run like rats on a sinking ship, but we have to force them out. I’m sorry, Wendell, but I’m not the least bit concerned with anyone else, innocent or not.”
“I think it’s a great fucking plan,” Zoe said. “Burn ‘em out and kill ‘em all as they come through the gates.”
“We can’t do that.” It was Wendell again. “There are women and children who don’t deserve that death. Burn them out, yes, but to wantonly blow them all away? I can’t play a part in that.”
Burnett nodded. “I’m afraid I’m with Wendell. There are a lot of women we set free roaming around there. I don’t think it’s right we kill them. It’s not what Dallas would do.”
Butcher checked with Einstein, who hesitated before answering.
“Fine. But once we get Dallas—”
“Then we’ll come back and take care of business.”
When the ramp lowered, Zoe turned to Butcher. “You and I both know she’s not in there.”
Butcher smiled slightly. “No, she’s not, but wherever she is, we’re going to need weapons to either get her out or keep her out.”
“Roger that.”
When the ramp closed back up, Butcher turned back to Einstein. “You’ll have your chance, Kiddo. All in good time. All in good time.”
****
Roper had been sitting on the blanket in the middle of a softball field with Dallas’s head in her lap. Honey grazed nearby as the first rays of sun peeked over the hills. The air still smelled of burnt buildings and rubber, and there was an alarm still ringing in the air.
Stroking Dallas’s head, Roper traced her eyebrows with an index finger that had lost all the skin off the second and third knuckles.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” Roper said softly, not wanting to wake her. “I would have been back sooner, but that beating took everything out of me. Pretty sure I had a concussion among other things. That asshole beat the crap out of me.” Tears came to Roper’s eyes. “I can’t do this without you, you know? I mean, what’s it all worth if I don’t have you to share it with?”
“You’ll always have me,” Dallas said, opening her eyes.
Leaning over, Roper kissed her gently.
“How long was I out?”
“Just an hour. You needed it.” Roper helped Dallas sit up. “Rest time is over. We need to find the others.”
Dallas winced as she gently rubbed her side. “Same plan as always if we get separated.”
“Rail lines?”
Dallas nodded. “I sent Sanchez and Hannah to the station. I think we owe it to her to make sure she and her daughter are safe.”
“She saved both our lives.”
Dallas struggled to get up. “Unless Hannah carries the gene, she’s at risk. You saw how many of those things have come out of the woodwork.”
“They’re everywhere.”
“He used the eaters as a way to keep people in. It was to his advantage to let the zombies roam freely.”
“Big mistake.”
“Ya think? They were amassing on their way to what must have looked like a smorgasbord to them.”
“I’m sure they got that gate fixed by now.” Roper helped Dallas to her feet.
Dallas grimaced. “Yeah, but how many got in?”
“It only takes one, doesn’t it?” Roper walked over to Honey and checked the saddle buckle. Old school. She had to grin.
“Beautiful horse. You do seem to have a way with them.”
“She’s a beauty. She was with three others, but she’s a definite trick horse. Look at that saddle. Someone loved her.”
Dallas rubbed Roper’s back. “Someone loves you.”
Roper turned and kissed her. “And I never doubt that.”
“Why did you…” Dallas gently touched the stitches on Roper’s eyebrow. “Do it?”
“Do what? Fight? It was the only way I could think of to get out. I wouldn’t have survived being raped, love.
My body might have, but my spirit? Uh uh. That would have broken me. So I figured a broken body I could recover from and maybe get free, but a busted spirit?” She shook her head. “I knew one of us had to get out of there. After that first ‘test,’ I knew our time was running out.” Roper’s eyes searched Dallas’s for truths she knew she would never be prepared to hear. “Did they…did you…”
“I bit his dick off.”
Roper stepped back. “No way.”
A slight grin turned up the corner of Dallas’s mouth. “Yep. JB’s son. I bit his dick off and then I strangled him to death with a coil from the box springs.”
“Wow. Creative.”
Dallas rubbed Honey’s soft nose. “Yeah. That’s why we have to get the hell out of here. I’m pretty sure that crazy ass redneck will be even more cuckoo now that his kid is toast.”
Roper checked her weapons, and dug around in her saddlebags before pulling out a bottle of Advil and another bottled water. “I found these in the medicine cabinet of the house.” She gave three to Dallas before opening the water bottle and taking a swig.
“We need more weapons.” Dallas tossed the pills in her mouth and took the water from Roper to wash them down.
“Getting them in daylight might be a bit of a stretch. We don’t want to end up back in there.”
“Let’s stay on the perimeter of the warehouse district. I took out a couple of guards and left them. If they’re still there, we can grab their weapons.”
“And…well…if you don’t mind…new clothes for you. That riot gear gives me the creeps.”
“You’d prefer me naked?”
Roper grinned. “Always. Come on, hot stuff. Let’s get a move on.” Helping Dallas up onto the horse, Roper handed her her weapons before saddling up. “So, weapons and then the train station?”
“Yep. We should be able to rendezvous with everyone shortly.”
As Honey walked along the fence-lined softball field, Roper leaned back into Dallas, who threaded her arms around Roper’s waist. They rode in silence, reveling in each other’s warmth and closeness, until Roper whispered, “Bit it off? Really?”
“Yep.”
“What did it taste like?”
“You mean before the blood?”
“Yeah.”
Dallas thought a moment. “Honestly? If there was ever a taste for stupid, I think that’s it.”
Roper laughed so hard she nearly fell off the horse.
****
Zoe
Zoe and Hunter stood on the side furthest from the main gate and watched as three warehouses burned in a roaring conflagration, the heat radiating for fifty yards.
“Weird we can feel the heat from here,” Zoe remarked.
“When she starts something, she goes big.”
Zoe turned to him. “She? You really think Dallas started it?”
“Don’t you? We never went back there. We did an amazing amount of damage, but that? Oh hell no, that’s someone who was making a very loud, very heated point.”
“They’re scrambling down there.”
“For?”
“People? Weapons? Dallas? All of the above. You ready?”
Zoe gripped her bow. “We’re killing everyone, right?”
Hunter looked at her. “Seriously?”
Zoe stood as tall as she could. “They killed Churchill, Dude. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“Yes, but I was under the assumption we were going in stealth mode.”
“In, yes. Out, not so much. If we don’t go after them, they will sure as shit come after us. We gotta cull the herd, baby. I say we kill every last sonofabitch. Save your bolts if that’s how you want to play it. Me? I’m killing every last one of them.” Taking off, she pulled out a handgun and made her way to the back fence. She was over it before Hunter reached it.
“Stealth, Zoe,” Hunter reminded. “Did you need a definition?”
She flashed him a smile that said she heard him, and tucked her gun away. “Well come on, handsome. We don’t have all day.”
When Hunter landed, they eased their way around and through warehouses, the man eaters ignoring them. Dead and undead bodies alike were scattered all about by the dozens. Man eaters hunched over as they ate the cooling flesh of those who did not make it out alive. Some of the zombies were still smoldering, probably from walking through one of the many fires in the complex. Men were running everywhere, shouting orders. Some were just shouting. It was bedlam.
“They’re saving the food.” Zoe pointed to a small building next to JB’s warehouse. “And the women.”
Hunter glanced up to see women being thrown into the small outbuilding. Three guards stood watch. Hunter signaled he was taking out the ones on the left and right. She nodded as they both slowly drew their bolts.
Thwup.
Thwup.
Thwup.
All three were dead shortly after.
“I’ll let the women go. That will distract everyone long enough for you to take out those guards.”
“Go.”
Zoe snuck her way down to the outbuilding and flipped the lock over. Opening the door, she motioned for the women to come out. “Scatter!” Zoe hissed. “Run!”
When the women ran in multiple directions, Zoe went through a busted window and into JB’s lair as Hunter made his way through a different window.
When she landed catlike on the floor below the window, Zoe rose and stared right into the barrel of a double-barreled shotgun.
“Raise your hands, honey.”
Zoe put her hands on her hips. “Honey? Where are you? Nineteen seventy?”
The guard blinked.
“I know, Bubba, you’re probably not used to seeing women in pants, but if you put that gun down, I promise no harm will come to you.”
“To me? Hon, I think you—”
Thwup.
Right through his temple.
Zoe grabbed the shotgun out of his hands even as he fell.
“Do you ever miss?” she said, smiling at Hunter.
“You better hope not.”
They dispatched two more guards before making their way to the locked fenced area containing an amazing stash of weaponry of all types.
“Jesus, Z, these guys have everything.”
“Except good luck.” Throwing her jacket down, Zoe started laying the rifles down on it while Hunter filled his quivers with grenades, ammo, and knives.
“Not too heavy.”
Zoe chuckled. “Why not? You’re carrying it.”
“Me? What is this? Nineteen seventy?”
They laughed all the way back to the Fuchs.
****
Everyone sat on the roof of the Fuchs watching the warehouses go up like dry timber. Zoe and Hunter had already returned and handed out weapons to everyone in the Fuchs.
“They’re scattering like ants,” Burnett said.
“I wish we were down there shooting the shit out of them all.” Einstein’s voice was cold and hard. “Fish in a barrel.”
“Well, let’s see if any of those ants want to come after this piece of candy.” Butcher brought the mic to her mouth.
“Dallas—if you can hear me, we’ll meet you as planned. I repeat. We’ll meet you as planned.” She lowered the mic and looked at Einstein a moment before putting it back to her mouth. “And if any of you JB-lovin’-cocksucking-motherfucking-douche bags want another crack at the Fuchs and the folks who just kicked your asses, we’re on the hill directly behind your now smoldering homestead. Come and get it, motherfuckers!”
For a moment, no one said a word.
Then Zoe and Burnett started laughing. “Awesome!”
Butcher grinned. “Let’s see them take the Beast without their goddamned tank. Man your battle stations, ladies and gentlemen, and let’s kick some ass.”
Everyone scurried to their predestined places and prepared to fight.
The first Jeep was taken out of commission by the first 30mm ammo launched. The three men who go
t out alive and with their hands up were blasted by several high-powered rifle shots to the head.
And that was just the first salvo.
By the time the shooting was over, three dozen of JB’s men lay dead on the hill.
Einstein insisted on going out to check each man. “I want to make sure those assholes meet justice.” Einstein said has he walked down the ramp, his rifle against his shoulder.
“You don’t fool me, kid. You’re looking for someone.”
“Yeah? So?”
“Don’t be long. The eaters will be here shortly. Zoe, go with him.”
They walked down the ramp together with Zoe in the lead. For her part, she did not say a word to him, but watched over him as he examined the dead men.
“I’m worried about him,” Butcher said, watching him kick each body to make sure it was dead.
Everyone watched as he turned over dead men and looked in their faces. Many still had their riot gear on and he used his rifle to open the face masks.
“He’s looking for the guy who killed Cassie.”
“Who can blame him?” Burnett asked. “The girl he’ll never have but will always love was killed right in front of him for being normal. I’d be pissed off, too.”
Butcher watched him, her heart getting heavier. “I guess it was too much to ask that he stay the innocent boy I met a year ago.” Butcher stared as he methodically checked every dead body.
“Eaters on their way,” Wendell announced from the turret.
Lowering the ramp, Butcher announced, “Saddle up, people, we need to get our asses to that train station.”
Burnett ran out and grabbed Einstein and told him to get in the Beast. He hesitated a moment before reluctantly returning, Zoe on his heels.
Butcher started the Beast back up when Zoe knelt next to her. “Look, I hate to ask the obvious, but where in the hell is Luke and our back up?”
Butcher blew out a breath. “You know, I ask myself that very question every hour. None of the answers sit well with me.”
“He’s either lost, got ambushed, or—”
“Or he never left.” Butcher’s voice was flat and void of emotion.
Zoe blinked. “You don’t believe that.”
Butcher shrugged. “I have no idea what to believe. All I know is he’s not here, is he? They’ve had plenty of time to get here.”
Man Eaters (Book 3): Mob Rule Page 17