“Thank you for coming with me.” I said. She smiled at me and gave me a wink.
“I am under the impression that there is a brain in that head of yours and you wouldn’t be trying this if you didn’t have an ace up your sleeve.”
She was right. I wouldn’t be trying this without having some form of insurance. I smiled at my better half and said, “That’s just the thing. I don’t have an ace up my sleeve, I have two.”
NOW
DAY 124 OF THE INFECTION
ONE
Before Amanda and I had left the previous evening, I had told Sass to have everybody moving by first light. I can only imagine what ideas were twisting and turning in his head as the sun broke the horizon. I can see Jane telling him that he was now the leader and he had to get his people moving. I have no doubt that Sass felt like he was turning his back on me as they left the storage building’s parking lot and headed for home.
As it turns out I was at the bottom of the hill heading for them as they left the parking lot and headed towards us. I could see the relief wash over my friend. Amanda and I stopped walking and waited for the rest of our group to come to us. When they were no further than fifteen feet away I saw Tabitha and her med center goons topping the hill behind them.
Jane saw the smile on my face. He looked over his shoulder and saw the enemy pursuing. He didn’t freak out or reach for a gun. He simply smiled back at me.
“I love it when a plan comes together.” I told him.
“Hannibal, you old fox, what do you have up your sleeve this time?” He asked.
“The usual, seemingly random chaos and confusion that all ties itself neatly together at the last second to save our ass.”
“Sounds good to me.” Sass said as he reached where Amanda and I stood.
I raised my voice so everyone could hear.
“They are right behind us. Don’t stop, we need to keep moving and we need to pick up the pace, but not too much. We need to stay within sight, but out of range of their guns. I am going to let Jane and Amanda set the pace, everyone else just needs to keep up. Amanda and I have bartered our safe passage through the Head Hunter land. Just stay with us and we will all be okay.”
Jane and Amanda set off at about one and a half times the speed Amanda and I had been traveling at.
“Good to see you.” Sass said, falling in line beside me.
“You were sad because you thought I was dead. How sweet! You do love me, don’t you?”
Sass made a mean face. “No. I was not happy that you hadn't gone and got yourself killed and left me in charge of this headache.”
Sass wouldn’t turn to face me. He kept looking straight ahead. I watched him for a bit then lay my head on his shoulder as we walked. “You know it’s okay for you to admit that you love me.” Sass shrugged his shoulder knocking my head off of it.
“Sometimes you really annoy me.” Sass said.
“I love you too, ya know?” I said. Sass gave me a look and then smiled at me. “Yes, I know. That’s really why you and Veronica broke up, isn’t it.”
I looked behind Sass for a second then looked him in the eyes as I said. “You do have a better ass than she does.” Again, Sass smiled at me and said, “I know.”
“Sometimes I really hate walking behind the two of you’se.” Marky Mark said which got us all three laughing.
“I fail to see what’s so funny.” Fred said. “She is right behind us.”
“Yup. She’s right where she is supposed to be. Haven’t you learned to trust me yet?”
Fred gave me a look.
“Fred, look at what all I have accomplished in the last twenty four hours. I’ve saved the girl and a friend of yours while getting lied to and stabbed in the back repeatedly by you. If you can’t trust me by now I guess I can give up any hope of you ever being my bff.”
We were passing the part of the road where there should have been pikes with heads mounted on them marking the Head Hunter’s territory. However, the pikes were gone. You couldn’t even tell that there had ever been holes in the ground. I noticed Jane and Sass both look at it.
“It’s all part of the deal Sass. We don’t want our pursuers knowing anything about the area we’re moving through.”
“Charlie? What did you and Amanda do last night?”
“What do I always do, everywhere I go?”
Marky Mark said from behind us, “You piss somebody else off?”
“No. I made some new friends.” I said.
“I’ve not been here dat long, but I have been here long enough to know you’se do not make friends everywhere you’se goes.” I gave Marky Mark a shocked look, but before I could say anything Fred added, “Amen.” Samantha started giggling.
That’s when the first gun shot rang out. Everybody ducked and Amanda said from over her shoulder. “We’re out of range. They’re just trying to rattle us.”
“They’re doing a pretty good job.” Sass said.
The round brick bank which marked the intersection of State of Franklin and the Med Tech Parkway was coming into view. I knew we were almost to the Head Hunters. I also knew a lot of people were about to have an issue with the change of direction Amanda was about to make.
“Okay guys, I feel that I need to warn you about something. We are about to jog left.”
Everyone looked to the left side of the road to see where we could be going. I could hear the thoughts going through their heads. “There’s no way he said left. The only thing over there is that bank and the Head Hunter’s building.”
“You heard right.” I said then heard Jane say, “We’re doing what?” in a loud voice.
“We are going into the Head Hunter’s arena.” I said.
“No.” Fred said and he almost quit walking. He would have stopped completely but Susie pulled his arm and got him moving again.
“They said if we ever came here again that they would kill us.” Sass said.
“Yes, I know. I was here all night. I have made arrangements.”
“How can you’se trust them?” Marky Mark asked.
That was a good question. I had made a deal for our safe passage, but how could I be sure that they would stick to it. They could just as easily trap us and Tabitha’s group in the arena and have a big laugh about how stupid we were to trust them. It was risky, but I had, what I believed to be, a good reason to trust their leader so I rolled the dice and took us straight for the outer doors of the arena.
“Look guys, if we don’t go we’re dead anyway. Once we get further down State of Franklin and the wreckage gets heavier we will fall into range of her guns. This is our only chance. I trust the leader here. I had a long talk with him last night and he isn’t a bad guy. Follow my lead and we will make it out of this. I won’t lie to you. It’s risky, but this is the best play we have.”
I’m not sure how much they trusted me, but they did follow me back into that building. I am fully aware of how much courage that took. As I came into the interior of the building I could see Chester Montgomery standing in the middle of the arena waving to me. His eyes were still hidden by his sunglasses; his beer was still in his hand.
“I’ll be damned boy if you didn’t do it. I just lost a case of bud, but it’s worth it to be able to see what’s going to happen next.”
Chester turned and motioned for the door at the far side to be opened allowing us to leave the arena and make our way into the building. He clapped me on the back and took a pull off the beer he was holding.
“I have to admit, it feels much better watching you open that door than it did to see you disappear under it.” Sass said which got Chester laughing so hard he had to stop walking as a coughing fit tore through his body. “I’ll just bet it does.” He said getting the coughing under control.
As the others disappeared into the interior of the Head Hunter’s home I stayed at the arena door with Chester. We stood watching the door on the other side, waiting to see if Tabitha would be bold enough to enter the building as well. This was an iffy part of
my plan. I didn’t think she would do it on her own, but the Head Hunter’s leader assured me that she would. When I asked why he thought she would do something as stupid as entering an unknown building his answer was simple. “She is the black queen. She’s used to being the baddest piece on the board. It will never occur to her that a couple of pawns could take her out.”
Chester lowered his head and said in a whisper, “Take about four steps backwards with me.” As we took these steps back I looked up and saw that we were now standing about three feet behind where the door would be when if slid shut. Chester looked off to the right and told a man standing there to let the door freefall when he gave the word. “We’re gonna need this thing to come crashing down Emil. I mean it. You get me shot I swear to your momma’s runny scrambled eggs I’ll give you an old fashioned Tennessee ass whuppin.” Emil seemed to not want anything old fashioned today because he swore to Chester that when the door came down it would be moving as fast as possible. Chester took another drink of his beer then gave Emil another look before saying, “Good man.”
It wasn’t more than a minute or two before Tabitha strode into the arena followed by her men. Chester pulled his shotgun out and pointed it at her.
“That’s far enough witch.” Chester said.
Tabitha looked at the two of us and laughed. “You run to this place? Really Charlie, I thought you smarter than this. This place wouldn’t last a day if I were to decide to lay siege to it.”
“On that matter I must beg to differ.” Chester said.
Tabitha gave the sunglass wearing, beer drinking, gun toting redneck a distasteful look. “So, you have people to speak for you now? I must know where you dug this fossil up.”
I put my hands in my pockets and said, “Shucks mam, he’s not speaking for me, he’s speaking for himself. You see this is his house. It would be impolite for me to step on his toes.”
Tabitha and her men had been slowly edging closer and closer to us as we spoke. They were nearing the middle of the arena now and we were easily in their range if they decided to start shooting.
“And exactly who’s house is this?” Tabitha asked.
“It’s the home of the Head Hunters.” Chester said as he made the motion for the outside door to drop, which it did, slamming to the ground with a loud bang. Tabitha and her men looked around at the door in surprise.
“Brandon says hi.” Chester said.
Before what he said could register in Tabitha’s mind he gave the signal to drop the inner door. It crashed to the ground just a few feet in front of us. Chester turned to look at me.
“Come on, we need to get up top to see this for ourselves.”
We began to walk towards a set of stairs, but Chester stopped and detoured towards an igloo cooler sitting in the corner of the room.
“I think a show this good calls for a cold one.” The mirror eyed man said with a smile.
TWO
As we made it to the top level which looked down into the arena I could see that most of my group was here watching what would happen next. Fred, Samantha and Susie were not with us. I imagined that they had a good idea of what came next and they didn’t want to see it.
“OPEN THESE DOORS NOW!” Tabitha screamed from below. There was a long pause in which you could hear her ranting before the leader of the Head Hunters answered.
“Ah, the black witch finally comes down from her tower to walk amongst us mortals, and what bad luck she has to freely enter into my home.”
Tabitha looked like she was about to poop out a fireball as she looked into the upper, shadowy, reaches of the building and addressed the talking figure.
“Who are you?! Come to where I can see you!”
Laughter rolled across the PA system. “So you can shoot me? I really think not.”
Tabitha was starting to get the hint that she didn’t have the upper hand in this situation. She looked around at the arena and then back up into the darkness of the second story. I noticed that there was now coiled razor wire around the top lip of the arena. I guess the Head Hunters had learned from Amanda’s maneuver and didn’t want a repeat of her actions anytime soon.
“What do you want from us?” Tabitha asked. Her voice sounding much more subdued than before.
“Oh, how nice, you seemed to have finally felt the gravity of your situation. What do I want? It’s simple black witch, I want the truth.”
Tabitha looked furious at this man’s presumption.
“It would sound as if you are, in a round about way, calling me a liar. If that is the case I see no way for this conversation to continue.” Tabitha snapped.
“Oh, make no mistake; I know you are a liar. I am just wondering if you can find the strength to tell me the truth to one question. And I will even let you know that I already know the answer.”
The PA went silent giving Tabitha a chance to say something, but she remained quiet. The voiced boomed back across the arena.
“The question is this. Were you behind the mass murder and arson that destroyed the group living at Food City?”
The silence stretched out again. Tabitha simply stared up into the dark. She refused to give an answer either way.
“I take it by your silence that you are admitting to your actions?” The PA said.
“No!” Tabitha yelled. “No. My people had no part in that.”
“Really? Then answer me this question, if you weren’t responsible for those deaths how is it that I have an itemized list of everything that you took from the store before you burned it down?”
This question seemed to punch Tabitha in the face. She took a step back and turned around to look at her men. The man mountain from the maintenance depart was not with her this time. I guess Marky Marks beating had put him on the injured reserve for this adventure. Tabitha watched her men for a moment then looked back up into the darkness.
“Fine. If you know the answers, then I guess I can’t protect them anymore.”
“Protect who?” The PA crackled.
Tabitha pointed to the men behind her. “Once my husband and daughter had been returned to me the leaders of that place wouldn’t leave well enough alone. They kept pestering me about civil rights of those under my care. They questioned our morals and ethics. They also made it absolutely clear that they weren’t going away until my husband and daughter were able to freely leave the building and choose for themselves where they would live from then on. I told my boys to scare them. I wanted to shut them up and convince them to find a new cause to pursue because they were getting tiresome to deal with and I was over the hassle. Things got out of hand. Shots were fired. At that point my men were doing nothing more than protecting themselves. I regret how things ended, but I would have been a fool not to allow my community to profit from it. After the news reached me of the firefight I put a second group together to attempt to aid anyone wounded and to collect any and all provisions that were left in the store.”
“You’re saying that you had nothing to do with it? It was all your men and the citizens of the city you were attempting to, as you put it, scare?”
“Yes.” Tabitha said in a meek tone. I was amazed at how well she played this role once she had decided that it would best serve her purposes to be the victim. There was another pause as the leader of the Head Hunters thought this new batch of news over. Chester elbowed me in the ribs, saying, “He ain’t gonna buy her sob story. Trust me.” Then he took another pull from his beer bottle as the PA crackled back to life. The voice on the other end was calm. He spoke slowly, and he sounded nowhere in the neighborhood of happy.
“You are so full of shit your eyes have to be brown.”
Quiet engulfed the building again. Tabitha must have been unsure of what to say. As the quiet stretched out Tabitha started to become visibly more and more furious at her unseen accuser.
“It was an accident!” She screamed. “They fired first. My men were just protecting themselves.”
More quiet answered her words. Finally reaching h
er breaking point she screamed into the air. Her head was thrown all the way back against her neck. Her spine was straight, and her arms clung to her sides as her hands balled up into tight fists. She screamed, “What do you want from me?!” into the dark recesses of the building.
Again, quiet answered her outburst. After what seemed about ten years I hear the crackle of the PA system coming to life.
“Four months ago, on the day this all began, I made my way to Johnson City for two reasons. I had a friend here that had seen all of this coming and I knew that if I were able to hook up with him then I would most likely be safe. The other reason was my girlfriend worked here in Johnson City. I had called her, and I had told her what to do until I could get to her. She told me that she was safe and there was no hurry. You see, she worked in this very building. The people here were lucky. There was a construction company working behind this building when it all went to pieces. These construction workers helped get as many people as they could up onto the roof to try and wait the madness out. I didn’t make it to her until almost dark on that first day. With the construction workers at my disposal I was able to help plan the building of this castle and eventually they asked me to serve as their leader, which I accepted.”
I had an idea where this was headed. If Tabitha saw it as well she made no sign. She stood defiantly in the middle of the arena and listened to the story as it rolled out of the PA speakers.
“We knew we were in a bad spot when it came to supplies. But, what we were lacking in that department we more than made up for in skilled labor and materials. I sent out scouts to find any nearby communities for us to open trade agreements with. My girlfriend was on one of these scout teams. Her team found the group that had locked themselves away inside Food City. She became very close to the leaders of the group and made a contract with them that would benefit us for months to come. I was there to personally oversee the installation of the barriers behind the plates of glass in the front of the store and saw you recapture your husband and daughter. I left a few days later when the work was done. Abbey, my girlfriend, stayed behind. She was going to wait for the trucks to return to collect the food and water before she headed back.”
A Good Distance From Dying_Book 2_Samantha's Song Page 32