Dead Texas (Book 4): The Journey West

by Slaton, Derek

  “I’ll take care of the truck,” Rufus told her, “you take care of you.”

  Carter nodded. “Alright, I’ll call it in and let them know we’re on the way.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “A Camaro, huh?” Sparks raised an eyebrow as she took up the rear of their interstate convoy. “You think his poker face was that bad?”

  Rufus nodded. “I swear if that goober got pocket aces his face would look like a porn star crawled under the table and-”

  “I get the gist,” she replied, putting up a hand.

  Rufus grinned. “So would he.”

  “Did you set out to be a dirty old man, or did it come naturally?” Sparks couldn’t help but share his contagious grin.

  “One hundred percent God-given ability,” he puffed his chest out.

  “Good to see that God was generous at one point in time.” The redhead snorted and shook her head.

  “Amen to that.”

  “So, were you guys able to figure out what Carter was hiding?” she asked.

  “Naw.” He shook his head. “We threw some questions his way, but couldn’t get a full read on him. All we got was that he was really eager to get us to the shelter and way, way too interested in the supplies we were bringing in.”

  “Yeah, I caught that part,” she agreed. “Motherfucker is lucky I didn’t deck him.”

  “God knows the little prick woulda deserved it,” Rufus added.

  Sparks raised an eyebrow. “So you got any theories?”

  “Maybe they’re like those militia douchebags and they’re stockpiling supplies?” He shrugged. “But that wouldn’t explain why they are keeping people alive in the shelter.”

  “Assuming that part is true,” she suggested.

  “Ya know...” Rufus sighed. “We really need to find an optimist to add to the group. It would be refreshin’ to go into a situation and hear how wonderful it’s gonna be.”

  “I agree, it would be nice to have a laugh at that absurdity before we rush into certain doom.” She laughed.

  “Well, I know a few jokes from my military days,” he said, and put his finger to his chin for effect. “Pretty sure if I think hard enough I can remember one that wasn’t entirely racist or sexist.”

  Sparks rolled her eyes. “Only one?”

  “What do you want?” Rufus shrugged. “It was the sixties. The only time we heard someone say P-C was when it was followed up by a P and ‘do you have any?’”

  She laughed. “Simpler times, huh?”

  Carter flashed his lights and briefly flipped his siren, signaling to two cruisers that were manning their exit. They let the convoy through, and Sparks and Rufus eyed up the two police officers as they left the interstate. There were two gas stations on either side of the road, guarded by several patrol cars. On the far end, cruisers blocked the road coming from the other direction.

  “Man, they’ve got this shit on lockdown,” Sparks commented.

  Rufus nodded. “Definitely a step up from the last shitshow we were in.”

  Carter led them down the road and a few blocks into the small town. There were officers everywhere, blocking off all the exits to town centered around a large church auditorium. Beside the building was a commercial grade transport bus with a few people loading up the bottom compartments with supplies.

  Carter parked next to the bus, waving the two trucks in next to him.

  Jeff jumped down from the bed of Ricky’s truck, approaching the greeting officer as his four companions exited their vehicles.

  “Sorry folks, I’m going to have to ask you to turn over your weapons,” the officer declared.

  Rufus fell in line next to Jeff, the two of them gripping their rifles. “And I’m gonna have to ask you to fuck right on off.”

  The officer’s shoulders tensed, and Sparks stepped in front of her men. “Sir, my name is Lacy Sparks, and I’m an officer with the Austin PD,” she said. “These are my deputies who have saved my life on multiple occasions since this thing started. They’re legally authorized to carry.”

  “Be that as it may,” the officer replied, “if you want to come into this rescue shelter, you’re gonna have to disarm.”

  Jeff shrugged. “Well, looks like we’re gonna be on our way then.”

  “Just be sure you head east on the interstate,” the officer replied. “The north is blocked off to traffic and you don’t have permission to go west.”

  “Oh, really?” Jeff clenched his jaw, stepping forward. “I wasn’t aware that a small town police officer had the ability to shut down the goddamn interstate.”

  His opponent’s eyes were like ice. “Well we do, and it is.”

  “Bullshit,” the skinhead snapped. “Come on y’all, we’re gassed up, I say we blow this joint and continue on our journey west. Officer limp dick here ain’t gonna do shit.” He flashed their opponent his middle finger and turned to head back to the truck.

  “Let me show you what happens if you do,” the officer snarled and pulled his baton. Sparks immediately lashed out, landing a kidney punch from the side, catching his baton arm as it dropped and slamming his head onto the hood of the truck.

  Rufus pressed the barrel of his handgun into the now subdued officer’s temple, leaning down to look him in the eye. “And what would that be, exactly?”

  “My, my, my, what do we have here?” A stern voice asked, and the group turned at the approach of a tall man with a full dark beard.

  “Your boy here broke free of his leash,” Rufus explained. “So my girl and I was takin’ precautions in case he turned rabid.”

  “Officer Sams, were you misbehaving?” the bearded officer asked, a touch of disdain in his voice.

  “Just…” Sparks’ captive hissed, and she didn’t let up on his arm behind his back. “Just protecting the route like you ordered, Sheriff.”

  “Well, it would appear as though you came on a little strong there, son.” The Sheriff clucked his tongue.

  “Yes, sir.” Sams gasped.

  His leader crossed his arms. “Would you like to apologize to these fine folks?”

  “I… I…” the officer grunted. “I’m sorry.”

  “So,” the Sheriff addressed Sparks. “Now that my officer has made amends, would you be willing to release him? You have my permission to put him down if he acts out again.”

  She and Rufus shared a glance and a nod, and the redhead let the rogue officer go. He rubbed his arm and slunk away to his post, red-faced.

  “Folks, let me introduce you to Sheriff Hutch,” Carter declared.

  “Pleased to make your acquaintance,” the Sheriff greeted. “Why don’t y’all follow me inside and I’ll give you the lay of the land?” He led the newcomers into the shelter, and they strolled after him, Jeff and Rufus still holding their rifles in step with Sparks. On the far end, there was a lone basketball hoop where a few teenagers played. Several families were huddled together around large round wooden tables, a few random groups of people scattered about, eating snacks and making small talk.

  “This is our temporary rescue shelter for travelers such as yourself,” Hutch said.

  “Temporary?” Mary piped up.

  “That’s right, ma’am,” he tipped his hat to her. “Junction has long been the final stop before people headed towards El Paso, as there’s not a whole lot for a couple hundred miles. While this makes it a great place to gas up, it’s not an ideal spot to house survivors.”

  “So where are you taking them?” Ricky asked.

  “There’s a little town about fifty miles up the road called Sonora,” the Sheriff replied. “My brother is the Sheriff up there, so when all this started to go down, we partnered up.”

  “I’m guessing it’s secure?” Jeff asked.

  “About as secure as anyplace can be, given the situation,” Hutch grasped his large belt buckle with his bear hand. “We’re the closest major town to it, so it’s pretty isolated. And my brother did a good job forming a posse and getting it locked down, so those un
dead creatures have been eradicated.”

  Mary raised a delicate hand. “How many people have you relocated?”

  “Over the past couple of days, we’ve been moving the citizens of Junction out there,” Hutch replied. “So when you factor in the random survivors who stopped in, I’m guessing five, maybe six hundred have found their way to Sonora.”

  “How are you doing on supplies?” Sparks piped up. “Your deputy there seemed real upset when he heard we weren’t bringing in the truckloads of food like originally intended.”

  “I’ll level with you, it’s not good,” the Sheriff admitted. “Even when we combine the resources of Junction and Sonora, we barely have enough food and water to provide for that number of people for longer than a few weeks. My brother is sending out scouts and hunters to secure everything they can, but it remains to be seen just how successful they’re gonna be.”

  Carter jogged to the front of the group. “Sheriff, tell them about the truck.”

  “Settle down Deputy.” Hutch narrowed his eyes. “I’m getting to it.”

  Sparks crossed her arms. “The truck?”

  “Most of the people in this room came in on that giant tour bus that’s being loaded up,” Hutch said. “”They were just outside of Austin when things went to shit, and they got forced into the backroads. The driver informed me that about ten miles up the road, they saw a big rig for one of those giant super center stores that had landed in a ditch. It was dinged up but still looked drivable if we could figure out a way to get it back on the road.

  “Problem is, we sent a scout to check it out and he said there were a dozen or so zombies surrounding it. Apparently, the driver was still alive when it wrecked, and that held their attention.”

  Rufus’ brow furrowed. “Then why haven’t you gone and gotten it yet?”

  “Because we’re spread pretty thin here,” Hutch replied. “Half of my officers have already moved up to Sonora to secure things, so I’m on a skeleton crew here. I have a mechanic, driver and tow truck operator, but they ain’t exactly keen to get into a conflict with those things. So I was wondering…”

  “If we could ride up there and lay the smackdown on some zombies for you?” Ricky finished.

  “I was hoping to put it a little more eloquently, but in a nutshell, yes,” the Sheriff admitted.

  Sparks put a hand on her hip. “Alright, we’ll do it, but we’re going to need some ammo.”

  “Of course,” Hutch replied with a firm nod. “Deputy Carter will take you by the armory on the way out and get you whatever you need. And I know I don’t have a lot to offer you, but when you get to Sonora I can get y’all some prime housing. Hell, I’ll even talk to my brother and see if I can’t get you a choice security gig.”

  Sparks put up a hand. “That’s appreciated, but one step at a time.” She turned to her companions. “We’ve got some zombies to kill first.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Sparks and Ricky drove their respective trucks towards the big rig just outside of town, following Deputy Carter in his cruiser once again. He slowed down to a stop about a quarter mile away from the zombie horde—close enough to see them, but far enough away that they weren’t alerted.

  “Well, there it is,” Carter said as they disembarked from their vehicles. “Looks like they’ve attracted a few more of those ghouls.”

  Rufus and Sparks stepped forward, looking through binoculars they’d nabbed from the police armory.

  “This looks like fun,” the older man said.

  The redhead shrugged. “Eh, we’ve faced worse.”

  “Why do you think I said this looks like fun?” He chuckled. “Only taking on fifteen of those fuckers is an easy day in the office at this point.”

  “We are living the life, aren’t we?” She grinned.

  “I get to spend my days hanging out with the South Texas Wrestling Champion, busting heads together.” He puffed out his chest. “So from my point of view, you’re damn right I’m livin’ the life.”

  She laughed. “Good to know I’m having a positive impact on your life.”

  “So, how do y’all want to handle this?” Carter piped up.

  “What you thinkin’, girl?” Rufus asked.

  “Let’s see,” she said, “it’s a four lane road so we have some room to work with. What do you think about doing a double barricade?”

  “Trucks side by side, cop car up front to break em up?” Rufus asked, miming the motion with his hands. “And we just pick ‘em off from the bed?”

  “These things don’t seem to be able to climb that well,” Sparks said. “So we should be pretty safe in the truck bed.”

  “Just to be safe, we should have somebody on climber duty,” he replied. “Given you have a shotgun I think that should be you.”

  She raised her eyebrows in mock offense. “You wanna put me on cleanup duty?”

  “Think of it like a vacation day, girl.” He winked at her. “I think you’ve earned one.”

  “I think we all have,” she agreed.

  Carter raised his hand. “Sorry, I didn’t quite follow that, what are we doing?”

  “Deputy,” Sparks said, turning to him, “I want you to pull your car up about twenty feet and park it across the center lanes. Ricky and I are going to line our trucks up behind you and we’re gonna climb into the truck beds. When we’re set, you’re going to hit the siren to get their attention.”

  Carter swallowed nervously. “You want them to run at us?”

  “It’s a lot safer to attack them from a fortified position,” she explained. “And besides, we don’t exactly have sniper rifles, so it’s gonna be a little difficult to pick them off from here.”

  He shook his head in disbelief, and then trudged back to his car.

  “Okay Ricky, line ‘em up,” Sparks said, jumping back into her truck. They parked about ten feet behind the cop car, parallel across the road with the beds touching to form a large platform. “Ricky, Mary, you take the right,” she instructed as the five of them climbed up. “Jeff, Rufus, the left. I’m gonna take center position in case any of these fuckers decide they want to climb.”

  “And remember y’all, ammo is precious, so don’t go shootin’ off until they are right up on ya,” Rufus added.

  “Alright, Deputy, hit the siren,” Sparks called.

  He reached for the button, and then paused, taking a deep breath. He hit the automatic locks first. A round of chuckles rippled through the group.

  “Anytime there, Bubba,” Ricky said, and Carter glared at him through the back window as he flicked the siren. The wail reverberated across the roadway, and the zombies tore towards them immediately.

  “Wait for it,” Sparks said, as the zombies tore around the cop car to slam into the truck beds. “Light ‘em up!” she screamed, and her companions lined up their shots and fired, easily hitting their targets. Sparks continued to aim around, making sure none of the creatures gained a foothold.

  “A little help here!” Carter yelped, his voice muffled through the car as a pair of zombies pounded on the sides of the cruiser. Sparks jumped down to the road with Jeff and Rufus, holding up three fingers and counting down. When she got to zero, both men fired, dropping the zombies in tandem.

  “What tha fuck?” Rufus asked, motioning to the remaining zombies slowly shuffling towards them from the big rig. They’d barely made it fifteen feet since the siren blared. “Shouldn’t they be running at us?”

  “I encountered a couple of these slowpokes yesterday,” Sparks replied. “I thought they may have taken a bullet or something. But with this many of them, it has to be something else.”

  Carter unrolled his window. “They’re starting to break down,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” Jeff asked.

  “A couple of days ago, we were taking a group down to Sonora when a pack of those things started following us down the interstate,” the Deputy said, and carefully exited the car. “One of the passengers was a doctor who suggested we let them keep p
ace with us to see if they would tire out. They sprinted at full speed for about twenty miles when they began to slow down, so we decreased our speed to let them keep up. They still moved with the same intensity, but couldn’t run nearly as fast. By the time we got close to Sonora, they were moving like these guys here. After we took them out, the doc did a quick autopsy and found that their muscles were shredded.”

  “Great, so all we gotta do is get these fuckers to run a marathon and life will be peachy,” Rufus said.

  “Well, we can set up a zombie fun run in a bit.” Jeff cocked his gun. “First, we need to take care of our current problem.”

  “Hold up, save your ammo,” Sparks said. “Hey Ricky, you got some crowbars in that truck of yours?”

  He knelt down and rummaged in his toolbox. “Yeah, I gotcha covered.” He hopped down and handed Sparks and Jeff each a crowbar.

  “Let’s get in some cardio.” She grinned.

  “Y’all have fun.” Rufus waved them off. “If it’s all the same, I’ll keep my gun handy in case they get unruly.”

  Sparks patted him on the shoulder, and then stepped forward with her skinhead companion towards the shambling dead.

  “I’ll take left, you take right,” Jeff said.

  She nodded. “Yup.”

  Jeff reached a zombie first, a youngish looking man missing several chunks of flesh from his arms. The skinhead violently drove the tip of the crowbar through its eye socket, and the corpse fell to the asphalt.

  “This seems to be pretty effective,” Sparks said with a grunt as she caved in another zombie’s head with a forceful smack. “What do you think, Jeff?”

  “Kind of wishing I had stretched first,” he replied as he ripped his crowbar out of another zombie’s temple, “but other than that yeah, it’s good.”

  The duo continued to dispatch the mini-horde until a shot rang out, startling them both.

  Jeff turned quickly to see Rufus playfully blowing smoke from his gun. “What the hell was that?”

  “That fucker was gettin’ a little too close to my girl there,” the older man replied.