“Took care of.” Gil roared with laughter “Hell Sarge, she saved my life last night when we met…you see I’m really sort of new to all of this.” He gave Sarge a quick synopsis on what had transpired since he had awakened and why he had to make Houston.
“So if I can’t find answers there, then I have to go to Florida and that’s what I told Iz here. And that I’d help her get to Florida if she didn’t mind a side trip.”
Sarge sat there for a few seconds mulling over what Gil had told him, stopped leaning against the wall and as he straightened he turned his head toward the doorway.
“Well baby…whatcha think?”
From around the wall walked a stunning redhead toting Mac-10s with extended magazines in both hands and a double bandoliers creating a large X in the middle of her large breasts. Her red ponytail flipped from side to side as she quickly scanned the room, and then lowered her weapons when Sarge nodded it was ok.
“Guys, meet Megan…Meg. She’s some high-tech chemist I ran into back in Colorado. Had to make sure Izzy was with you of her own free…”
“How the hell did you wind up in Colorado?” Izzy asked sternly as she frowned “Thought you said to stick to our planned route?”
“Sorry Izzy, plans changed, but got back on track now as you see.” he shot a finger toward Megan “About Megs…well Izzy, she saved my life back near Boulder. Hell baby, after that fuckin’ blue nearly ate my arm off…”
Izzy stood and put her hands on her hips and looked furiously at Sarge.
“Wait just a damned minute! That goddamned thing had your arm up to the shoulder, no one survives a blue attack. You told me to run and I did, and you never came for me at the last place we spent the night…and I waited for almost a week. Dammit, and you lived?”
“I’m sorry baby girl. Look, I’m not sure what the hell happened, still don’t, but just after you ran from the place, that damned blue let me go. Aw, hell…I tore the shit outta my arm ripping it back out its mouth, but I figure maybe it was trying to get all of me so I fell to the floor and rolled to a corner. That gwad awful beast just stood there lookin’ at me like it was puzzled or something.” he smiled at Izzy “Hell baby girl, you know all that shit I taught ya, well I took an old steel pole that was lying on the floor and shoved it just under the armpit and that made the bastard move like I just lit its ass on fire. It swung me around like a toy, but I held on to that big old thick bony plate, pulled up on the pole and shoved it down into its brain.”
“Brain?” Gil muttered unaware that he was even speaking aloud.
Izzy laughed and looked at Sarge “He’s new to all this remember?” she looked at Gil “Grinders have those flexible heads and no real necks remember? Their whole head opens, all teeth and gristle, no place for a brain.”
Sarge nodded “The brain, or at least something we think is a brain, is under a bony plate in its body. It’s kind of flat and spread out, but if you stick it under either armpit, assuming that whatever you have will penetrate far enough through its body toward the back, you’ll get the brain. Other than that, it takes a high powered rifle with one big-assed slug….380, or a .50 cal. To get them in one shot…to get through that heavy bony plate. If I was a betting man, I’d bet those bastards were bred to kill.”
Gil nodded that he understood “Or a shotgun down the throat and blow its head off.” he grinned at Izzy.
Sarge and Meg looked a bit puzzled as Izzy shrugged “Don’t understand it either Sarge. It was about to gobble Gil up as I came around the corner so as it bent down and opened its mouth, I unloaded both barrels.”
“Must have taken out the brain from the inside,” Sarge grinned “or maybe some other organs.”
Gil looked at his weapons “I take it these aren’t much good?”
“Maybe from the inside,” Meg noted with a chuckle, “that M-16 won’t crack the bony plate. At close range a pistol is as good as that, but you need to shoot as it opens its mouth and even then most of the brain is behind another bony plate...sort of sandwiched in between them. You have to be real close to have a chance for a kill…and damned lucky of course.”
Izzy laughed and looked over her shoulder to Gil “And it seems that you like to get close.” Gil had told her about the one in the shaft and the one that almost got him, he couldn’t argue, nor did he care to get that close again.
Sarge nodded to the sun shining through the wall studs.
“Hate to break this up guys, but we can chat on the way. Meg and I have a cycle I got running back in Boulder, but it will only hold two, so we’ll have to walk and push the bike.” he smiled at Izzy and chuckled “So you thought I was dead…yet you still left marks to every place you spent the night at. Just this morning Meg spotted your mark just on the far side of the field on the side of that old gas station, and on the front of this house. If you thought I was dead…”
“One can always hope.” Izzy grinned and jumped onto the ground “After all you taught me that…over and over again, remember?”
Meg put her arm through Sarge’s “Or we can take turns riding the cycle baby. Two of us can ride ahead to scout but keep close enough to return if a swarm is spotted, then after a bit we can swap and you guys can ride. Assuming that the major here can ride.”
As they walked what once had to be a nice divided avenue into the sub-division, Gil told Sarge and Meg to go and ride ahead a bit. As he did, he handed Sarge a hand held radio.
“We can keep in touch with these.”
“Holy shit!” Meg sputtered “Where’d you find batteries that work after all these years?” her face changed “Oh yeah, the bunker or whatever you were in.”
“I have a solar charger and they should last a few years, but let’s not wear them out.” He smiled and jumped down to join Izzy “Well guys, just keep the headset on so sound won’t travel when we talk, swarms can’t hear us…I don’t think, but there are still some unsavory characters out there. Go ahead and hit the highway, we’ll catch up in a bit.”
Sarge clipped the radio on his belt and put on the headset. With a crank of the throttle he and Meg were off. Both were surprised at how quite the motorcycle was, Sarge had done a good job of silencing the muffler even more than the factory had.
Gil unexpectedly grasped Izzy by the shirt sleeve and pulled her toward the field and pointed toward several rows of vehicles that were pulled off the road that looked like a small junk yard.
He looked over to her and saw the puzzled look and winked.
“Don’t be afraid honey, old Gil’s got a surprise for all of you.”
“Yeah another guy said that…just before I shot him.” The petite lass muttered loud enough for Gil to hear.
Sarge and Meg decided that they would ride to a hill about two miles ahead, search for swarms and then wait for Gil and Izzy to catch up. From the hill they could see the surrounding terrain and still keep an eye on the two walkers.
Sarge was about to shout back to Meg to see if they had reached the highway yet…something blocked out the sunlight as it flew overhead.
“SWARM!” Sarge shouted.
On his headset Sarge could hear Izzy giggling loudly and a loud droning sound could be heard behind them.
“Betcha we beat you all to the hill…” there was a pause and Gil’s voice came on just as the shadow swooped overhead. The two cyclists looked up but were too slow as the ultralight flashed by barely ten feet over them and then did a steep climb skyward.
“How about we keep watch from up here and you guys follow?” he chuckled “What we can see from up here is…uh, Sarge…swarm to the west about three miles headed your way, better pick the pace up a bit.”
Sarge chuckled back “Ok Gil, we go by what you see…and thanks.” With a crank of the throttle, the motorcycle picked up speed and it was Sarge’s turn to be thankful that Izzy had found Gil…and his ultralight.
Chapter 11.
It seemed that in no time they arrived in lower Oklahoma and that was where things got dicey. Wide open plai
ns and little place to hide from swarms and after one rather long chase that could had ended in disaster if it had not been for Gil watching from above. Their slight detour following a series of hand painted signs that led them to arrive only to find their goal of another settlement of survivors completely empty and a small town full of grinders. So Gil risked flying until a little after dark as they fled out into the prairie so he could see for miles and again nearly missed disaster from a swarm looking for shelter from the night. Again they flew off toward an old shack, again Gil was lucky.
Another near miss was when a swarm detected Gil and Izzy flying high about the grassy plains. It took several risky maneuvers to shake the swarm as Sarge and Meg watched helplessly from afar through binoculars, but luckily once again disaster had been averted.
A few hours before sunset, Gil spotted what had become their favorite nighttime hangout, a small airfield and an open hanger door. As usual Gil circled the field as the cycle pulled up to the hanger and he did a quick check to make sure no grinders were in the main hanger. Once he got the ok, he landed and taxied up to the hanger.
“Well didn’t see a swarm anywhere and we know by now, from sun up to sun down, they are in the air.”
Sarge grinned “Yeah, now if the hangar is empty.” he pointed to what appeared to be a wall and two doors in it; one large, one small. The hangar part was clear, but they could only guess what lay in wait behind the smaller inner doors.
“Whatcha say we chance it?” the other three nodded and the guys pushed in the ultralight and closed the large hangar doors behind them. To the very top were old dirty panes of glass that was still intact, but other than that the doors were solid and soon secured. The four knew that the chance they took would lie within the risk of shutting themselves in with two doors still unchecked, but they were at least closed from the main hangar. On the other hand getting caught by a swarm with the hangar doors open could doom them just as quickly and darkness wasn’t far off and the ‘blues’ would be out soon; screwed either way…closed in was the best option.
Now with themselves, the bike, and the ultralight tucked inside for the night, they refilled the tanks before anything else. Now set for a hasty escape should it come to that, and a few fleeting glances at each other, they drew their weapons and headed to the first and the smaller of the two doors. This one was a regular sized door and looked to be intact.
“Meg, ready on the pole?” Meg nodded as she pulled a collapsed fiber glass, steel tipped pole they carried with them, and locked into its full extended position of five feet long; handy to poke into things and places that one might not want to be too close to…like snapping teeth. Gil slowly turned the knob, threw the door open and quickly ducked back as Sarge entered, machete in one hand his .45 caliber pistol in the other…
“Just an office…and clear. Window with nice thick steel bars on it, glass is intact.”
Gil grinned “That much I knew Sarge. Would have seen it on my fly by.”
They moved along the wall to the larger door that was a steel rollup door and listened. Gil tapped the metal wall.
“Solid wall…storage of some kind?”
Sarge shrugged and nodded at the corrugated steel door. “Well, it’s a roll-up door Izzy, grab that chain and slowly inch it up so we can peek in.”
The chain clanked against the metal track as Izzy pulled the chain and the gear at the top began to raise the door. At a foot, the men flattened on the floor…
“Don’t see a thing Sarge.” Gil muttered never taking his eyes away from the heightening gap between the floor and the slowly moving door.
“Yeah, same here on my end…lots of light…must be windows…maybe one of the skylights that you said you had seen from the air?” he glanced over toward Gil “With all the boxes and racks, I’d say small local warehouse of some kind. Probably a skylight as windows in a storage area is looking for trouble.”
“Agreed,” Gil muttered as he checked again “Ok Iz, a little more.”
More rattles and the door inched up to about two feet off the floor and as Sarge and Gil crawled a bit closer…
“CRASH!” the door echoed with the impact of something heavy hitting it and a huge paw with steel-like claws shot out and swiped at the two men. Both rolled back out of the way as a second swipe from a violet grinder tried wedging itself under the door swinging its claws every inch of the way.
Izzy jumped back, but kept hold of the chain and from the farthest distance she could obtain and still hang onto the chain, she began to lower the door wedging the female grinder under it. Wedged by its rear haunches and screaming as it swung. Meg dashed forward, took careful aim, and with her spear shoved it behind the bony plate behind its head. The grinder screamed, twitched, and then its head flopped to the floor.
Sarge got to his knees and looked at Gil “Holy shit, I think I just left something in my drawers…a really big something.” he grinned at Izzy “Way to keep your head honey, pinning it with the door was brilliant!”
Meg leaned down and smacked Sarge on the back of his head.
“Hey, what about the gal that killed the damned thing?”
He smiled “You too baby, nice…”
The door was slammed so hard the entire wall shook and once again the banging and sounds of straining steel filled the hangar. Screams of anguish and rage resounded from within the storage area. Boxes, crates, and other things could be heard being thrown and broken. The grinder’s mate slammed against the door once again and Sarge grabbed the spear from Meg. The point was solid steel and extremely sharp, but the flat steel stock was also sharpened to a razor’s edge on either side.
Sarge swung the blade with everything he had and the beast screamed as he severed what had to have been a tendon behind the knee of one of the rear legs and the large creature fell to one side. Sarge slammed the blade at what he could see and it glanced off the solid white eye on its left side, but he managed to slice it and there was a sickening ‘pop’ and it screamed again as the other eye tucked into its protective bony recess.
“I don’t think it can see very well now.” Gil shouted as Sarge kept swiping at it, this time slashing the right front leg and it rolled backward as blood shot from its two gaping leg wounds and every time it tried to move, it slipped in its own blood. Finally it had enough…
It’s crawled back behind the shelves of crates.” Gil crawled a little closer avoiding the body of the violet…just in case.
Meg grasped Sarge and stopped him from going closer and Izzy nodded at Gil; both backed off. The female had died with both front legs outside the supply room and trapped at the waist…and Sarge read Gil’s mind.
“Fuck me…Gil I don’t like this one bit…Shit! We’re crazy.”
“Didn’t say a word.” Gil winked back at Sarge.
“Yeah, but I can read your mind…and saw ya lookin’ at the front legs.” Sarge waved the girls back to their positions and as each man grasped a leathery leg, after both kicked them a few times…just to make sure it was dead.
Izzy raised the door ever so slightly and the guys pulled like their lives depended upon it…and it turned out, it did. The bleeding corpse slid out from under the door and Izzy slung the chain downward and just as the door lowered there was another slam and the entire door shook. The beast rammed the door so many times that it was bending in places and they wondered if the steel ribbing would hold. Both men had to go and pull on the chain, but finally got the bent door back onto the floor. It took several tense minutes before the four humans began to lower their guard.
“Guys,” Sarge muttered softly “sounds like it’s getting tired, maybe it has gone back behind the shelves.” he leaned against an old car that someone had left in the hangar “Jesus…now if my heart will stop doing the jitterbug we can see about…”
“Don’t for a second tell me that we’re going to still spend the night here?” Meg scolded “There is no way in hell.” Gil pointed to the old dirty glass panes high on the hangar door to show her the sun w
as on the horizon.
“Ohhh…crap!” she took a deep breath and grasped the spear from Sarge and nodded “If we’re going to do this…” she didn’t have to say more.
Izzy grasped the chain and the guys listened at the door. Izzy could only raise the door a few inches before it jammed due to the bent slats. Sarge looked and saw nothing, but he had fallen for that grinder trick once; wounded they would crawl off hide, if followed then they would pounce from where they crawled off to; he knew these things were smart. Getting to his feet and walking over to the old car, he snapped off the side view mirror and crawled over to the door. Sliding the mirror under the door halfway he looked around.
“Fuck me…lots of blood…maybe we…” he sighed as he rolled over and looked at the other three “nope! I saw part of its foot and damned thing is still moving, but it was dragging both the right front leg and the left rear. It’s back behind the last row of shelves presently, but that could change as it seems to be on the move.” he nodded at Meg to help Izzy with the chain.
Gil looked at Sarge and frowned “You mean to say that we’re going on in after it?”
Sarge broke out into a grin “Didn’t have to say it Gil…you seemed to have said it first.”
“Yeah, well,” he grasped a large steel crowbar with both hands and looked at the girls “ok, but just enough for us to slide under.”
Meg snarled “Bullshit! We’re taking it up high enough where you can slide back out in an emergency.”
Gil shrugged and looked at Sarge “One of us might be able to make it back out…you know just in case.”
Sarge patted Gil on the shoulder and smiled “I never leave a man behind…” he looked at Megan “sorry babe, we go in and don’t come out until we got it. or…” he didn’t have to say more. Carefully the girls raised the door and the guys slid under. As just as Gil slid they tried lowering it…and it wouldn’t budge. From outside the room the guys heard Izzy’s tiny voice.
Terra Page 26