The blonde in black actually left the ground and flew backwards a bit, and landed heavily on her back. She lay there for a second, and then rose unsteadily to her feet. Her face was twisted in pain, and she looked at Julia with a mixture of hate and perhaps fear. Hatred won the coin toss and she charged forward, punching in a straight line to Julia’s face.
I winced a little, as I knew what was going to happen next. I don’t know who trained Blackie here, but I knew who trained Julia. Charlie James was a hard teacher, but Julia had been an apt pupil.
Blackie’s punch missed as Julia shifted to the side. Julia’s right hand sunk into the other woman’s gut, and as she bent over, Julia’s left slammed into her enemy’s kidney, straightening her out again. This freed Julia’s right to head north in an uppercut which cracked on Blackie’s chin. That punch staggered her, giving Julia room to use a devastating punch her father had taught her. It connected right behind the other woman’s ear, right where the neck and jaw connected. Done right, it stuns and hurts like hell.
Julia did it right, and Blackie crumpled to the ground. Julia bounced slightly on the balls of her feet, letting her excess energy bleed off. After a few seconds, Julia rolled the woman over onto her stomach, and secured her hands behind her back. That done, the woman was pulled to her feet.
At that moment, Jake chose to return with the truck. He hopped out and scowled when he saw our fugitive was female and bloody.
“Damn, another one,” he said. “What happened to this one?”
“Uncle Charlie’s neck punch,” I said.
“Ouch. That explains it. Other one is dead, by the way. No syringes.”
“All right. One last sweep and we’ll get her to the capital,” I said, relieving Julia of her prisoner. I walked her over to the truck and literally threw her into the back, stirring up a great deal of un-ladylike cursing.
“I’ll ride in back,” Jake said.” Maybe I can get some answers.” He settled himself on a wheel bump and pulled his knife.
“All right,” I said as I closed the gate. “But be careful. Last time, you killed the prisoner, remember?”
“What? Oh, right. St. Charles. I remember. Okay, I’ll be careful,” Jake said, smiling evilly at a prisoner who looked back at him with big eyes.
I got into the truck cab with Julia, who immediately leaned in for a kiss. I obliged, naturally, and gave her a patronizing pat on the head.
“Nicely done,” I said.
Julia grinned and squeezed my arm. “She wasn’t even trained slightly well. Who teaches these kids these days?”
I laughed, but it got me thinking. Who did train her, and why was she so willing to kill innocents? I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like the answer, and since she was one of a pair, I wondered how many more were out there.
Great. This mess just became more complicated.
Chapter 20
Thankfully, the trip to the capital was boring, and Jake managed not to kill our prisoner. I took longer than I would have hoped for, but there wasn’t any direct route we could take that would have made it any quicker. Clearing the secondary roads hadn’t been a priority for the capital, leaving it to the communities to do as they pleased.
Julia and I didn’t speak much on the way; each of us was lost in our own thoughts. I didn’t know what she was thinking, but I kept returning to my father, and where he might be if he was still alive. I wanted to believe I would know it if he had died, but it had been so long I wasn’t sure any more. It would be nice to get some word one way or the other.
In the back of the truck, I could see Jake talking to the prisoner, and it seemed like she was talking back. That is, she was answering his questions and not being a smart ass. It wouldn’t have done her any good to try to rattle Jake. He spent so much time rattling other people he was fairly immune to it himself.
The day had turned out to be fairly bright, although it was getting colder. In a few months, it would be relatively safe to go through the city and whack a few zombies if you were so inclined. Winter was when a lot of families brought their kids to the city to see real live zombies without a great deal of danger. It was a little crazy, to be sure, but the kids needed to know what danger was out there and to be able to recognize it if there was an outbreak near where they lived. I didn’t know if there was still mandatory zombie combat training in school at the capital and other communities, but it would be a shame if there weren’t. Ignorance invites oblivion, as Uncle Tommy used to say.
We crossed the bridge to the capital, and I remembered from my father’s journal what had happened here. I shook my head at how close the original crew had come to losing the final fight against the uprising of zombie children. Jake, Julia, and I had come close to becoming part of them, and we would have if it hadn’t been for my Uncle Mike.
“Copper for your thoughts,” Julia said, looking over at me.
“Just trying to work through a few memories, that’s all,” I said, smiling back.
“Thinking about your dad?”
“Yeah, among other things.” I tried to sound nonchalant, but I don’t think I convinced her.
Julia put her hand on my arm. “I miss my dad, too. I keep expecting him to suddenly appear out of the woods, tomahawks in hand, looking as dangerous as ever.”
I laughed. “Not quite the image I have of my father, but that fits yours pretty well.”
Julia laughed too, a beautiful sound in the truck cab. She turned her blue eyes on me and said seriously, “They’ll come back, Aaron. When we need them the most, they’ll be here.”
“Do you really believe that?” I asked, not sure I believed it myself.
“It’s what they do, Aaron. It’s what they do.”
Chapter 21
I considered that as we entered the capital. If our current situation wasn’t needful enough, I hated to think how much worse things could get. We had a fringe group looking to restart the zombie apocalypse, a group of kidnappers that seemed to be shadows and smoke, and outbreaks happening all over the place and no pattern or end in sight. All we needed now was another uprising of zombie kids and we’d be three exits past Royally Screwed.
I pulled the truck into the narrow streets of the capital and made my way up the small hill towards the president’s house. I felt a little weird just handing Blackie over to the authorities, but that feeling was stomped when I thought about all of the people she had infected, and all of the kids whose parents would never be coming back.
Parking the truck, I threw a wave to the President’s bodyguard as I got out and received a nod in reply. Jake got out of the back and lowered the gate, and without so much as a ‘Scuze me.’, he dragged the woman out of the truck and dumped her on the ground. Grabbing her by the collar of her shirt, he pulled her to her feet, pushing her forward towards the fence gate. I hadn’t seen Jake this upset in a while, and so I was very curious as to the extent of his conversation with Blackie in the back of the truck.
President Jackson, alerted to our presence by his guard, walked out on the porch just in time to see Jake dump the woman to the ground. I could see he was not happy with the way a prisoner was being treated, especially a woman, but he was reserving judgment by remaining quiet for the moment.
Jake walked the woman into the yard then stopped, forcing Blackie to look up at the president.
“What have you here, Jake? Why is she your prisoner?” President Jackson’s voice was very precise, to the point, and slightly irritated.
“To be fair, she’s your prisoner now,” Jake said. “This is one of a pair of individuals who was causing the outbreak in Freeport. Her accomplice, another woman, died there. We found this.” Jake held up a vial of dark fluid. “I’ll give you three guesses as to what it is, but the first two don’t count.” Jake gave Blackie another shove, and she stumbled forward to fall at the steps of the porch.
President Jackson turned and spoke to his guard, who in turn spoke into a small radio. In five seconds, four heavily armed men raced around the h
ouse. They positioned themselves round the woman, but I noticed they kept at least two of them between the prisoner and the president. They moved very well, and seemed to be capably trained. I wouldn’t look forward to a fight with any of them.
President Jackson spoke quietly, but his voice carried across the yard with ease. “Young lady, you are in a lot of trouble. For your recent activities, you could be executed immediately, and I doubt anyone here would mourn your passing. But I would see a cessation of these outbreaks, and you are going to give us as much information as you have. You will decide how that interrogation will go, but I caution you against any bravado. It will not serve you in any way.”
Blackie sneered and then spit on the lawn. For half a second, I thought President Jackson’s guard was going to shoot her on the spot. His face flashed in rage for a split second before he recovered.
“Your arrogance is duly noted. However, it will not help you any further. Robert,” President Jackson spoke to the man behind him. “Take this person to the detention center, and place her in the lower level. She is to be secured, and then searched. I want Brenda on this; she will know what to do and what to look for.”
Robert snapped a quick salute then went inside for a second. Coming back outside, he was carrying a small duffle bag, which he placed in front of Blackie. He took out handcuffs and leg irons, and when the prisoner was secured to his satisfaction, he placed a small black hood over her head. When finished, he took Blackie by the arm and walked her out of the yard and down the street. He was followed by three of the guards. The fourth went onto the porch and took the position normally reserved for Robert.
President Jackson turned to us and waved us inside. Once seated around a table, he spoke directly. “Thanks for your help. Were you able to get any information on your trip back here that might be of any help?” He spoke to all of us, but the question was directed to Jake.
“I didn’t bother with the why of the situation, since it really wasn’t important and a waste of time to bother asking,” Jake said. The president seemed to mull that one over for a second before nodding slightly.
“I did find out that they were planning something bigger, once I figured out how to read between the insults, threats to my sacred well-being, and the destruction of all I held dear. When I tried to find out what it was, she changed tactics and tried to get me mad enough to kill her. I could have, easily, especially when she told me she enjoyed infecting children the most, but by then I knew she was just trying to cause an incident,” Jake continued. “When I questioned her about where she was from, I got a curious answer.”
“What was that?” President Jackson asked.
I was curious too, and leaned in like the rest of the listeners.
“She said nowhere that I would ever dare to go, being a ‘chicken shit towner’ as she called me, “Jake said. “I don’t think she meant to say that last out loud, but I think it’s important.”
President Jackson leaned back and looked at the ceiling. “I wonder what she meant. If she thought you were a ‘towner’, which I can only assume meant you were a person who lived in an established community, then she must live in either a remote area outside the communities, like you do, or someplace else, although I can’t think of where that might be.”
Julia spoke up. “She had to learn her hatred of communities. She’s too young to have formed that opinion on her own. She also has no fear of hurting kids. That’s not something you see in any community.
I nodded. “It makes sense. It also suggests someone has been holding a grudge against society for a long time, and decided the time was right to strike out.”
Jake shook his head. “Why now? What’s different about now, as opposed to say five or ten years later, or even a few years earlier? I don’t understand the timing.”
President Jackson stood up, signaling the meeting was over. “I think we will find out those answers in due time. In the meanwhile, you might want to take that vial over to the medical center. I imagine you’d prefer not to have it break open in your pocket.”
Chapter 21
Jake nodded and Julia and I made sure there was plenty of space between Jake and us as we left the presidential home and headed up the street to the medical center. There were a lot of people about, and a few looked at us curiously. Several were not shy about pointing at us as we walked up the road, and I could see Jake was slightly irritated by the tightening of his jaw and the narrowing of his eyes.
“What’s everyone’s deal?” Jake asked of no one in particular. “Why are we so popular?”
I couldn’t let that one go even if I had tried. “Maybe it’s because we’re so darned good looking.”
Jake snorted. “I’ll buy that for Julia, but you’re a sight. You got your ass kicked by an ugly tree.”
I casually punched Jake in the arm, causing him to stumble to the side. He swung back, but there wasn’t any effort in it, since he missed by a mile. We walked up to the medical building and found it was closed for the day. I thought that was weird at first, but I guess that people had to go home sometime. It was getting later in the evening, so we would have to decide if we were going to stay here of head back home. I put the question to Jake and Julia.
Jake groaned. “I’d rather head home, we could be there before it was too dark. Besides, we don’t have a great track record when it comes to this place.”
I couldn’t argue with that, since Jake had killed a man here and I had fought with several myself. But all arguments flew out the window when Julia spoke up.
“Let’s stay! We need to get cleaned up anyway, and we could go to dinner and stay in one of the inns like normal people. Please please please please please pleeeese?” Julia looked up at me with big eyes and blinked rapidly. On her beautiful face, it just looked ridiculous. I couldn’t do anything but laugh.
Jake grunted. “Well, there goes my plan. All right, where do you want to stay? By the way, I still have zombie virus in my pocket.”
I wrapped Julia up in a hug and walked back the way we came. “Let’s get back to the truck and park it somewhere closer to an inn. We’ll secure the virus at the truck; I think there’s a container there. We’ll find a place to stay, clean up, and go eat. Objections?”
Julia wrapped her arms around my neck and did a pull up to kiss me. I took that as a no. Jake just shook his head. I didn’t think I’d get a kiss from him.
We drove the truck to the edge of town and secured our cargo with one of the storage managers. He put everything into a small shed and locked it, handing us the key. If anything happened to our stuff while he was on watch, he’d catch hell and he knew it. This was his business and he took it seriously. As far as I knew, no one had ever stolen anything from under his careful eye.
Walking down the main street, we took in the general feel of the place. People were bustling about, a few stopped to wave and say hi. However, there was still a kind of pall over the area, like something was out of kilter. As I walked, I watched people storing wood and topping off water supplies for winter. We were about two months away from not having much in the way of rain and the river sometimes froze over.
We decided to splurge and spend our night at the most luxurious hotel in the capital. It was a four story stone building that looked out over the river. We could have parked our truck in the parking garage that made up the interior of the building, but we would have had to carry all of our stuff into our rooms.
At the front desk, I signed us in for three rooms, and Jake snorted again, but he got over it quickly when Julia stared at him hard enough to draw blood. I opted for the river view rooms with the balconies, and paid the outrageous sum of two silver pieces per room. It was a lot, and could have bought a decent amount of supplies, but since we were extremely well off in terms of money, I didn’t mind a little splurge. That was a benefit of being a former collector. I could go anywhere and get what I wanted without too much fuss.
We went into our separate rooms and I quickly took off my weapons and di
rty clothes. I was somewhat amused to see how much weaponry I actually carried on myself when I went zombie hunting. Two knives, a tomahawk, a pistol, three loaded magazines, and a sword. I was surprised my back didn’t hurt from all that hardware.
After my shower, which was nicely warm, I put on my spare pants and stood out on the balcony drying myself with the evening breeze. It was cool but I kind of liked it. With my shirt off, I felt like some kind of ancient warrior immune to the elements. The first stiff wind would likely send me scurrying for cover, but I indulged my fantasy for a second.
Figuring I had a moment before everyone was ready, I got out my kerosene spray and brought my blades out to the small table on the balcony. I sprayed my knives first, burning off any virus that may be sticking around. I didn’t see any red flames, so that was a good sign. I wasn’t going to have to make another sheath this time. My ‘hawk burned red for a while, but since I used it the most, that wasn’t a surprise. My sword took the longest, because it was so big, but it was always fun to hold that flaming sword up like a torch. One of these days, I was going to burn myself being silly, but not today. When the flames died, I realized it was a good thing I was on the top floor or I might have scared the hell out of anyone above me.
After the burning, I pulled out a piece of steel wool and a small bottle of oil. Fine steel wool was useful stuff. It could clean a weapon, polish some metal, and small bits could start a fire. I rubbed each blade until they were shiny, then worked a bit of oil around to keep things from rusting. My weapons were all carbon steel, and they needed care. My sword made me grateful it was cool out, as I really had to work that big boy.
When I was done, I looked up and was surprised to see Julia looking at me from her own balcony. She was wearing just a towel, and her wet blonde hair was pulled back behind her ears. She looked absolutely stunning, and I felt something turn over in my chest as I smiled at her.
Generation Dead Book 2: What You Fear Page 7