by Mark Clodi
“I figure we deserve an hour of quiet, so I told him two hours. In an hour we can go in and you can act all 'bad cop' on him.”
“Fair enough. He is pretty bored right now and when he is bored....”
Both men finished Jed's sentence, “He is loud.”
They both laughed at this, it was true, the first week had been okay, the new video games had passed the time pretty well, the second week they started encouraging him to do some reading, and by the third he was into math books that were making the men scratch their heads. They had insisted he work on a different subject and ever since then Hon would complain incessantly about how boring everything was. To Bubba's surprise Hon never said that the men didn't have the authority to tell him what to do or make him learn. Instead he seemed to accept the fact that there were some things he had do to. That didn't stop him from doing his assigned tasks slowly or complaining the whole while.
“We should be okay if we stay behind the industrial park. I figure the creek back there is froze solid by now, plus it wasn't that deep even if he went through the ice. Nothing should be around back there to find our tracks in the snow. We can make a path to each building cut through them to keep the tracks inside the park to a minimum too. It will be good if he gets out and burns off some of his energy.” said Jed.
“Who knew one ten year old would drive the four of us under in less than a month?”
“You two talking about our resident demon who looks like Hon?” asked Steve coming out of his camper.
“Yep. Coffee?” asked Jed.
“Sure, fill me up. I think you are right it does taste better on the grill.” said Steve taking sip of the hot, dark brew.
“We'll take him sledding a few times over the next couple of days, maybe that will help.” said Bubba.
The other two men looked at him with raised eyebrows, then Jed spoke, “If you say so.” which prompted a short, barking laugh from Steve.
“How come none of us has kids?” asked Bubba.
“You're too ugly, Greg had his chance, I am smarter than that and Steve is gay.” which brought a laugh from Bubba while Steve turned bright red under his stocking cap.
“Am not!”
“Naw? Okay, I was just joking with you, but you seemed awful sensitive to it...”
“Damn you Jed, you twist things around any which way. Why couldn't Greg have been gay? I've 'had my chance' a few times too.”
“You know I don't like talking bad about people who aren't present.”
“Sure ya don't.”
Interrupting the exchange Bubba said, “Look at him go, flipping pages like a hurricane. You ever think that maybe we should have just gone to a comic shop instead of a bookstore? He would probably read more that way.”
“Hm...you might have something there, next year when we need some quiet I think we will try that.” answered Jed.
“So what is the plan then?” asked Steve.
Bubba quickly filled him in, when he was finished Jed said, “Have we tortured the boy long enough yet?”
“You remember last night?” asked Bubba. Hon had pestered them so much that their weekly game night ended early as the other three men feigned being tired as an excuse to leave Bubba's trailer.
Grimacing Jed nodded, “True enough. Let's give it an hour like you said.”
Chapter 9
Hon pulled his sled through the accumulated snow, the men all swore this was the worst winter to hit the south that that any of them could remember.
“The snow just keeps piling down, and the cold never lets up. We keep going at this rate and we won't be able to leave until June!” Greg had said with some concern the night before.
Hon remembered thinking 'What about that is so bad? It's not like we have somewhere to go.' Besides he liked the snow. It had been three weeks since Christmas and they had not seen any zombies for two months. This was why Hon was out alone sledding behind the industrial complex. The land was, for the most part, flat and boggy, the few slopes around tended to end in creeks or ponds, but Hon had found one outcropping of rocks that rose into a small knoll big enough to sled down. The problem was that it had been covered with trees. Now, after three weeks of chopping and cutting, Hon had several paths cut through the undergrowth. He could pretend he was at a ski resort, like his parents brought him to last year. Some 'runs' had been labeled 'green' some 'blue' and one even classified as 'black' according to the way Hon did things. The snowfall last night should have reached the section he had cleared off yesterday, which meant he could sled down the new slope. At the base of 'Hon Mountain' the boy stopped. Something was not right. Crouching down he unslung his rifle and cocked his head to one side.
Looking around he didn't see anything, not at first, then he noticed the churned up snow near the end of one of his 'runs'. Something had walked through the fresh snow. 'It could have been a deer.' he told himself, 'I could shoot it for supper!' was his next thought. He untangled the rigid blue rope attached to the sled from his arm and proceeded slowly towards the churned up snow. 'Not a deer.' He saw that right away, the track was made by a foot, someone in boots. Hon took a step backwards slowly, looking at where the tracks led. His eyes followed them to the trail he took to get to the top of his mountain, but there were more tracks leading away from there as well. Cautiously he moved forward, it only looked like one person to him, the snow was not that churned up. He got to the base of his trail and saw that the tracks led on and around his knoll, but it looked like someone had gone up the trail, then came back down it. Behind him he heard crunching as something blazed a trail through both the soft fresh snow and the older, ice crusted snow beneath it. The head of his trail went between two pine trees of modest size, by climbing up a few steps Hon was able to get out of sight from what was behind him. The problem was he couldn't see anything else very well either. The bottoms of the pines were too close to the ground to let him peer under them, so the boy crouched down and slowly edged his way back down to see if he could see anything coming up behind him. It might be one of the men, after all.
He was just about sure that he had imagined everything when a black and white shape dropped out of a tree and landed near his sled. It was a younger man, with wild tangles of dark hair and black leather pants who cautiously approached the sled. Hon knew right away it was a zombie, the guy wasn't wearing a shirt and it was cold out, the thing's skin was almost pure white. Hon himself was wrapped in four woolen fleeces, he didn't like the wind breaker shells that Bubba had tried to get him to wear, he thought they made too much noise when he moved. The zombie looked around the sled, then crouched down and touched it. Raising his head the zombie slowly gazed around him into the woods. For a moment Hon was certain he had been seen, but the oily eyes of the zombie just carried right past him slowly without pause. 'How could he not see me?' Hon thought to himself, 'I can see him and I don't have my blankets!' He hadn't been carrying a survival blanket with him every day, instead he had stashed three of them at the top of the hill in a survival kit he had made. The zombie's head stopped and peered to look at the ground. Hon felt his blood run cold, he left tracks and the zombie was looking at them now.
A soft crunching sound came from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder Hon saw another man, who he mistook for Greg at first glance. The guy was tall and thin and had the same kind of brown stocking cap on that Greg wore. When he realized it wasn't Greg, the man had a beard and Greg always shaved, Hon started to turn around and aim the gun at him. The man shook his head and held up one hand, palm facing Hon, in a stop gesture. He raised a single finger to his lips and smiled. Looking at the guy Hon realized he had to be alive, for one thing he was dressed just as warmly as Hon was, most zombies they had seen in town had been in summer clothing even two months ago when it was cold. Zombies didn't dress up against the cold. The man was not carrying a gun or rifle, which was a strike against him as far as Hon was concerned; most of the living went around armed. Then he shifted slightly and Hon caught a glimpse of a small doub
le barreled shotgun slung over his shoulder.
The man continued to smile and crouched down twenty feet up the trail from the boy, trying to peer through the trees at the zombie. Hon raised his rifle slightly, miming as if to take a shot with it. The man shook his head and held up four fingers with one hand while pointing different directions with his other one. 'What?' Hon mouthed, not saying anything, the man pointed at Hon, raised one finger, then pointed at himself and raised another finger, then he gestured back and forth at the two of them and held up two fingers.
Hon nodded, then the guy pointed towards the zombie and held up four fingers. Looking back at the zombie Hon didn't see four zombies, he shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the man on the trail. The man pointed towards the pine tree in front of Hon and made a 'brushing' gesture as if shooing away a fly. 'I can't hide in the branches.' he thought, 'I'd leave a trail.' While he was looking at the tree he saw the zombie creeping along his path towards the base of the trail, much as Hon had done minutes before. Behind him the man violently made as if to push Hon into the tree and finally Hon nodded and pushed into the heavy snow laden branches at the base of the tree. To his surprise the branches parted and dumped him into a tight clear area onto a bed of dry pine needles surrounding the base of the tree. Behind him the man stepped up to the hole he had made and looked out at the zombie from where Hon had been a moment before.
The man brushed up against the tree, knocking some more snow off of it and covering Hon's entrance into the base. Hon then saw him creep quietly back up the trail towards the mountain top. 'He's leaving me!' Hon thought, wanting to call out for the man not to go. Then the man paused, looked back and deliberately walked off the path into some unblemished snow. The soft crunching sound barely reached Hon's ears, but the effect on the zombie was immediate. Hon could not see the creature from where he was hidden, but he heard it start to run up the path. The unknown man turned and bolted towards the top of the hill, quickly leaving Hon's range of vision. Peering out from his hiding spot Hon saw the boot clad zombie move into sight and skip to a stop by his tree. The white skin of the thing's back was facing Hon and he brought his gun up as Bubba had taught him. The zombie turned and looked at the tree, he got down and examined the snow where Hon had pushed through to the space underneath the lowest branch, then quickly stood up and spun around to face the top of the hill. More crunching sounded and the first man was joined by two others, a zombie girl, perhaps fourteen years old and another man, this one was dressed in the rags of a business suit, the jacket had started out as dark blue, but was not coated with black streaks and globs of dried blood.
“What?” asked the suit.
“He is here.” said the bare chested zombie.
“Where?” asked the girl.
“Up there Tonya!” said the half-naked zombie, “His tracks are right here. I want you to go around to the other side, go fast and try not to make any noise. Harvey you go around the other way, this guy won't get away this time. And for God's sake be quiet!”
“You going up and over the top Reggie?” asked Harvey. Tonya had already turned and fled from Hon's sight.
“Yeah, but I gotta be careful, the guy has a gun and I know Xavier would be pissed if I get myself killed.”
“So we take him down, capture not kill?”
Reggie stared at the man as if the questioner were an idiot, “Of course! You weren't thinking of feeding were you?”
“I'm just saying...we eat him well away from these guys, bury him deep, make sure he don't come back and who is to know?”
“Maybe...”
A third voice, feminine, called out, “He'll know.”
“Fuck.” swore Reggie.
“That you Maggie? Xavier wants to see you.”
“No he doesn't. He told me he didn't want to see me ever again. So I am free of him at last.”
“Not quite, he can still catch you and it won't be pretty.” said Reggie.
“He won't catch me, I know where he is, off in town trying to get high probably, or messing with some of your brothers and sisters. Someone needs to put a bullet in that fuckwad's head.”
“Yeah, like us?”
“That would be good, but I know it isn't possible.” Zombies had an ordered society, those who made other zombies could control their children and grandchildren. If a zombie became powerful enough he could control other zombies not directly of his linage as well. It was rare for a 'descendant' to kill his maker.
“So who then?”
“One of these two groups you are playing with. Make a hole, let one get through, they kill Xavier, then we all go our own way.”
“Why are still around Maggie?” asked Reggie, “If I were you, I'd be a million miles away by now.”
“Where am I supposed to go? This area is pretty much deserted of anyone capable of hassling me, except for Xavier. When he is gone I could settle down here....”
“And what? Raise a family? Catch up on some reading? Watch a little television? Tell me, what are you going to do Maggie?”
“Well, I am not sure what I will do, but I know damn well I won't be under someone else's thumb. So sure, I could catch up on my reading, it would be a damn sight better than having the living shit kicked out of me twice a month or made to have...”
Reggie, raised his hands and made a brushing off gesture with them, “We've all been there, we all hate him. We just didn't get the break you did.”
“Tell me Reggie, does sucking up to him work at all? You're dressed like he is, does he even notice?”
“Fuck you.”
“We've traveled that road before, as I recall, it was bad for both of us. You didn't act convincing enough. Let's cut to the chase; be sloppy, leave a hole, let someone with a gun get through and do the job we all know needs doing.”
Turning to the other zombie Reggie said, “Harvey, you better get moving if we are to cut this douche bag off. Go.”
Harvey made as if to protest, but Reggie 'pushed' him mentally, Harvey was lower in the pecking order and, reluctantly, he went. Reggie stood for a few minutes and Maggie didn't say anything until Hon couldn't hear any footsteps anymore, then she spoke, “So you're in?”
“As much as I can be. How am I supposed to know this isn't some staged trap by Xavier? That he orchestrated this whole thing to see who was against him?”
The woman's laughter answered him, then she said, “That is the question isn't it? This is just the type of shit he would pull too. I suppose it comes down to having a little faith, I hate him as much as you and even if I were in on this I wouldn't mind the plan going awry and Xavier getting plugged on 'accident' because he was too clever.”
Reggie stood there a moment, contemplating, then he said, “I am in. He could kill me or stomp me flat to regress me back to a mindless zombie, but at this point there is not much else he can do that he doesn't on a weekly basis.”
“So the imitation doesn't help then?”
“No, not much.” Reggie agreed. “You wanna help us catch this guy?”
“Catch him? You won't catch him, no way. You've played tag with him for the last month and never came close.”
“You know that?”
“I got nothing better to do right now, so I watch and wait, this is a guy you won't catch. What I wonder is why he let you get this close?'
“And what was he doing with the sled?” asked Reggie.
“Sledding?”
“I kinda doubt that. Do you think he was going to make contact with the men in the warehouse?”
“Maybe.”
“I'll ask him when we catch him.”
“Prepare for disappointment my friend.” said Maggie, “I'll keep an eye on you, watch your back when I can.”
“I appreciate that. I won't turn you in.”
“Unless he forces you to.”
“His ego it too large, he thinks you are gone, you know, the way I would have been. He hasn't mentioned your name in two weeks now.”
“It is good to be out
of the picture. You better get moving if you plan on getting close.”
“'Bye Maggie.”
“'Bye Reggie.”
Chapter 10
Later that morning Maggie was walking carefully through the woods, seemingly at random she stopped by a huge pine tree and said, “I don't know how you do it.”
A man stepped out from behind the tree, his double barreled coach gun aimed at Maggie's head. She smiled, “I couldn't catch you either, if it makes you feel better.”
The man nodded his head and shrugged.
“Well, I've planted the seed. I still think you could get Xavier yourself, you seem pretty comfortable moving around among us.”
He shook his head.
“Cat got your tongue?”
The man looked hurt and gestured with his gun for Maggie to move back.
Holding her hands up Maggie said, “Sorry! Sorry that was uncalled for, but I am getting impatient! It has been over a month and Xavier is still walking the earth, I want him dead. Why haven't you gone to talk to the men in the warehouse?”
Shaking his head the man gestured again for Maggie to move along. “Okay, alright, no need to be rude, I will go. Wait...can I ask you another question?”
The man hesitated, then nodded his head.
“It is going to be soon though? We are going to kill Xavier soon?”
The man's reply was a short, curt nod.
Maggie forced some breath between her teeth, it came out as a hissing whistle, “Good. That is good to hear. See ya Jaye, and good luck with whatever it is you're up to.”
The man grunted and watched as Maggie trudged away into the bright noon day sun.
Chapter 11
“Bubba! Bubba!” screamed Hon as he rushed back into the building. “Bubba, there's zombies outside! Smart ones!”
The men were outside standing by the grills, cups of coffee in their hands. Hon's pronouncement brought their guns out in an instant. Bubba rushed over and grabbed the boy, checking him for injuries.
“You hurt Hon? Are you hurt? Did they catch you?”