Julia leaned against the side of the camper letting the breeze blow her hair. I gave her a smile that she returned.
“All quiet on the western front?” I quipped.
She giggled slightly. “Yes, all quiet. No bad guys out here.”
Kell stood next to us with his hands in his pockets looking pleased with himself.
“Did you find anything to put the petrol in, Kell?” Julia asked him.
“What?”
Julia looked to the heavens. “A gas can?” She said in a slow mocking voice.
“Oh, err…no, I’ll go and have another look.” He scooted off back into the house. I remembered seeing jerry cans lying by the barn.
I seized the moment. “Julia, are you and him…?” I nodded after Kell as he stepped over the dead zombie and disappeared through the front door.
She giggled again. “Good God, no we’re not an item,” she snorted and gave me a mock look of disgust. “I think he’s sweet on me but I’ve just come out of a relationship and I don’t really want to get involved with anyone, especially not with all this going on.” She motioned around with her hand.
I didn’t mean to show it, but must have looked disappointed.
“That doesn’t mean to say I won’t have any relationships ever again.” She gave me a sly sexy look with her head tilted forward, biting her bottom lip. “We should exchange numbers before we split up and you never know, we could hook up sometime.”
I felt my cheeks flush. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
The ground seemed to tremble as a rumbling, growling noise rattled across the open countryside.
“What the hell is that?” Julia asked.
“That sounds like a whole shit load of trouble,” Smith replied.
Chapter Seventeen
Around a dozen small, flat trucks and twenty high powered cruising bikes rumbled into view on the road beyond the garage, heading for the Interstate. We stood still and watched the procession approach.
“Who the hell are this lot?” Eazy asked above the noise.
The vehicles ground to a halt on the road outside the garage. A tall, lean guy, dressed in a sleeveless black vest and denim jeans jumped from the lead vehicle. He was followed by two shaven headed, thick set guys with tattoos around the side of their necks. The motor bike riders cut their engines and dismounted. More of the entourage exited their vehicles and slowly moved towards us in an approaching semi circle.
I shot Smith a nervous glance. These guys looked like they had some axe to grind. Smith sighed and looked to the ground. I knew that look of desperation.
“Hi, there,” the tall guy said. He seemed to be the leader of the mean looking band. My guess was they numbered around thirty. “What ya all doing here?” His accent was definitely from the south.
“Just gassing up,” Eazy said, still stood over the pump. “We’ll be out of here real soon.”
“Hell, don’t split on our account. We just got here and could use a little company.” He gave Julia a smile and waved at Donna and Batfish sitting in the camper.
“Look man, we don’t want no trouble,” Eazy said. “We’re on our way to the Big Apple and have had a hell of a journey so far.”
“Trouble? We don’t want no trouble,” the big guy held his arms wide as if appealing to a court. He turned and faced his sniggering comrades. “We don’t want no trouble, do we boys?”
“Hell, no,” one of the shaven headed guys agreed.
I hoped the VW gas tank would soon be full. The dials on the clunking old pump slowly churned around. I noticed the butt of a pistol grip poking from the top of the big guy’s waist band. Some of the others carried Ithaca shot guns and holstered hand guns. This band of desperados wasn’t your average survival convey.
“I’m Todd and these here are my boys,” the big guy pointed to the rest of his entourage. “Who’s this pretty lady, right here?” He looked at Julia. She didn’t answer and looked to the ground.
I felt as though I should say something, like telling Todd and his bunch of ugly bastards to back the fuck off. These guys were more dangerous than the undead.
“Ah, what’s the matter sweetie pie? Are you a little shy?” Todd carried on. “Why don’t you come over here and spend some time with me? I’ll show you what a real man is like.”
Julia looked scared and took a step closer towards me.
“Oh, is that your man, sweetie?” Todd looked at me. “He don’t look like a real man. Shit, there’s not enough meat on him for a zombie snack.”
Todd’s followers burst into mocking laughter. He knew he was playing to an audience. My stomach knotted up. I knew this situation was heading for a confrontation of some kind. A state of lawlessness was a byproduct of the zombie plague.
“Come here, baby and I’ll show you a real man,” he whispered rubbing his crotch.
Julia turned away and leaned close to me. I put my arm around her back and drew her close.
“Don’t listen to that asshole,” I whispered in her ear.
“What did you call me, boy?” Todd grunted. His face twisted angrily and he took a step forward.
I didn’t think he’d heard me. Now we were in deep shit. Julia rested her forehead on my shoulder.
“Where did you boys break out from?” Smith called out. “Frackville; Coal Township; or somewhere a bit stricter?”
Todd turned and looked Smith up and down. “What the hell do you mean by that?” He spat on the ground. “Are you saying we look like convicts?”
“I’m saying you guys have prison stamps all over you and you’re nearly creaming your pants at the sight of a woman.” Smith said. “My guess is with all this craziness going on in the world, you guys just slipped away, got your vehicles and now you’re on some half assed rampage across the country.”
“You’ve got a big mouth, friend,” Todd said, almost in a whisper.
Smith had taken his attention away from Julia but the situation wasn’t getting any better. Eazy looked back and forth from Smith and Todd with a nervous expression on his face. Donna and Batfish huddled inside the camper van. Rosenberg clutched the pup tightly, sitting on the floor in the back.
The pack of desperados took a few steps closer towards us. The gas pump clunked to a stop and Eazy removed the nozzle from the camper gas tank. Our getaway vehicle was full of juice but now we needed to get away.
“Why don’t you just fuck off and leave us alone?” Batfish screamed from inside the van.
Todd turned and looked through the wind shield. “You’ve got a foul mouth, honey. You look like a pair of lesbians but I could make you turn straight.” He waggled his tongue outside his lips.
“I wouldn’t touch you if you were the last male on earth,” Batfish shrieked.
Todd’s humor returned and he laughed loudly. He turned his attention back to Smith. “Hey, tough guy. What’s in the bag?”
Smith sighed. “Nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about.” I had to hand it to Smith; he didn’t look intimidated and kept his cool.
“What?” Todd cupped a hand to his ear like he hadn’t heard. He turned to the rest of his crew. “What did this guy say to me?” The rest of Todd’s guy’s jabbered their disapproval of Smith’s comments.
I didn’t know what Smith’s strategy was. We were outnumbered and outgunned and I didn’t think these guys would hesitate to use their weapons.
Todd turned back to Smith, quickly drawing the hand gun from the waist band of his pants. He pointed the gun at Smith.
“Hey, asshole. When I ask a question, I expect an answer. So what is in the bag?” he scowled.
“Woh!”Eazy said. “Let’s not let things get heavy, man.”
“Shut the fuck up. I aint talking to you,” Todd sneered without glancing in Eazy’s direction. His eyes were firmly fixed on Smith, who stood still staring down the barrel of the hand gun like it was an everyday occurrence.
Smith sighed again and took the bag off his shoulder. He undid the zipper and tossed the
bag on the ground. Todd’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. Rolls of dollar bills spilled from the bag.
“How much you got?” Todd whispered. His eyes flitted from the cash back to Smith.
“Around two million,” Smith said nonchalantly. “Give or take.”
“Put the money back in the bag and toss it over here,” Todd ordered.
“Can’t do that, my friend,” Smith said, shaking his head. “This money don’t belong to me. I’m just running an errand for someone a lot bigger than you.”
“Barclay, go and collect the bag,” Todd said to one of his shaven headed accomplices. The guy nodded and walked towards Smith.
Barclay bent down and put the spilled dollar bill rolls back into the canvas bag. He zipped up the bag, stood up and went to walk back to Todd. Smith drew his Desert Eagle and grabbed Barclay around the neck with his arm all in one quick movement. Barclay dropped the bag and his tongue protruded under the pressure of Smith’s grip. Smith held the barrel of the Desert Eagle to the side of Barclay’s head.
“Let him go,” Todd screamed. “Let him go, you bastard.”
Now the shit really had hit the fan. Todd’s entourage pulled their weapons and I felt Julia quiver in my arms as we heard the click-clack of cocking shot guns. We faced a barrage of around thirty fire arms held by dangerous men.
I hoped Smith knew what he was doing.
Chapter Eighteen
“Looks like we got a Mexican standoff here,” Smith said, with his gun held to Barclay’s head. “Why don’t you good old boys just get on your way?”
“Now you’ve really pissed me off,” Todd spat. “You aint getting out of this situation alive, Slick.”
“Slick? I like that one. I haven’t heard that name since those old fashioned movies. You must have been in jail for a while,” Smith laughed and tightened his grip around Barclay’s neck. Barclay let out a gagging sound like he was choking. “Eazy, pick up the bag and toss it into the back of the van. Batfish, start the engine, we’re out of here,” Smith barked.
Eazy moved slowly, bent down and tossed the bag of money onto the back seat of the VW. Batfish gunned the engine.
“Don’t think you’re getting out of here,” Todd growled.
“Hey look, I got some juice cans,” Kell said as he came out of the garage doorway.
His smile soon disappeared when he observed the scene. He stood holding the jerry cans aloft in each hand. I must admit I’d forgotten all about Kell with the latest predicament we found ourselves in.
“Bring the cans over here, man,” Eazy beckoned Kell. “Come on, quickly.”
Kell obliged and crept over next to Eazy between the gas pumps. Eazy jammed the gas nozzle into one of the jerry cans and started to fill it. I didn’t think we had time to fill both of them. Todd or a member of his crew was going to make a move in the next few seconds. They jittered on the edge. Smith had proved he wasn’t scared but I felt one of us was going to end up catching a bullet.
The tension built in the standoff, Todd and his cronies shuffled around nervously. I didn’t know what Smith’s plans were. He had at least given us a glimmer of hope of escaping but there was no way we’d out run this lot in the VW camper. I dreaded to think what Todd and his boys would do to us if this situation turned to rat shit. The girls were probably facing multiple rape and us guys a long beating and probable execution. Smith was definitely a dead man if he didn’t play this right.
“Turn the van around, Batfish,” Smith called.
I saw Todd’s mind ticking over as Batfish backed up and K-turned in front of the gang’s parked vehicles. Some of the crew pointed their guns at the VW whilst Batfish maneuvered. This situation was like a volcano ready to erupt. I was sure if we weren’t standing by the gasoline pumps, Todd and his gang would be shooting by now. At least behind the camper we had some sort of cover. Batfish sat in the idling VW on the blacktop, nervously glancing out of the window. Eazy started to fill the second jerry can.
“Okay, Kell,” Smith said. “Take that first jerry can over to the camper and sit tight. We’ll be over in a minute.”
Kell did as he was told. He picked up the jerry can full of gas and trotted towards the VW. Then all hell broke loose.
“Ah, fuck this,” Todd yelled.
Todd swiveled his aim away from Smith and pointed his gun at Kell. He fired one shot. The bullet hit the jerry can Kell carried and reacted like a bomb. Poor Kell was blown to pieces amongst burning gasoline.
Smith turned his gun on Todd and fired. The bullet hit Todd in the side of his neck and he went down. Julia screamed hysterically. I grabbed her and made a dash for the camper. Eazy dropped the second jerry can he was filling and the gas pump nozzle. One of Todd’s gang fired his Ithaca shot gun at Smith. The pellets ripped through Barclay’s stomach and he went limp in Smith’s grip. Smith fired back and took out two of the gang with head shots. He edged his way towards the camper using Barclay’s dead body as a human shield.
Eazy left the gas pump nozzle still running when he dropped it on the ground. A pool of gas steadily flooded across the ground the width of the garage. Eazy bolted for the camper, firing off a few shots of his own. The pool of gas flooded the road and seeped around the gang member’s feet and their vehicles.
Julia and I ran around Kell’s blazing body parts and made it to the camper. We jumped in the back, closely followed by Eazy. Julia sobbed hysterically; Batfish and Donna screamed some incoherent babble.
Bullets rained down on Smith but he still kept the body of Barclay held in front of him. I don’t know whether he noticed the gas pooling around the gang or he had a sudden burst of inspiration. He fired a shot at one of the motorbike’s gas tanks. The tank exploded and took out three of the gang standing by. The burning gas in the motorcycle tank ignited the gas on the ground, engulfing Todd’s mob and their vehicles in flames.
Smith threw Barclay’s dead body face first on the tarmac and made a dash for the camper. Batfish was already pulling away when he leapt in the back. Bullets rattled into the camper and one took out the cracked back window.
“Quick, drive,” Smith yelled. “The whole place is going to blow.”
Eazy slammed the side door shut and Batfish flawed the gas pedal. Julia sobbed into my shoulder as we sat on the camper floor. Rosenberg sat next to us whimpering, with his chin tucked into his chest and eyes tightly shut. I was glad to see he still firmly held Spot the dog.
I craned my neck and took a look out the back window to see if any of Todd’s crew was in pursuit. A deafening explosion rattled the camper windows and a huge fireball rolled across the sky as the burning gasoline ignited the pumps and blew the garage to hell. I briefly wondered if any of the gang had survived. Then I thought of Kell, blown to pieces. Poor bastard.
I thought we had all come out of the situation unscathed until I saw blood pooling on the camper floor.
“Who’s been hit?” I asked.
Chapter Nineteen
“I took a bullet in the shoulder but I think I’ll be okay,” Smith croaked. He clamped his left hand over his right shoulder, grimacing in pain.
Eazy twisted and looked at his backside. “Ah, man. I can’t believe I got shot in my ass,” he said. Blood soaked through a tear across the back of his pants.
“It’s only a graze,” Smith said, looking at Eazy’s wound. “You’ll be okay. The bullet just skimmed you.”
“It’s starting to sting now. I didn’t feel it before,” Eazy said.
“That’s the adrenalin,” Rosenberg said. He suddenly came out of his trance. “You won’t feel a superficial wound at first. Then the adrenalin level drops and the pain kicks in.”
“Can you fix us up instead of giving us a lecture, doc,” Smith grunted.
“Oh, sure,” Rosenberg stammered. He looked around the camper for the first aid kit.
“Oh, no!” Batfish screamed and suddenly jammed on the brakes.
We rolled forward and hit the back of the front seat. Smith cried out
in pain when his injured shoulder rammed into Rosenberg’s knee. Spot the pup whimpered and rolled amongst the baggage.
“What’s up?” Eazy asked.
“Donna, no,” Batfish wailed.
I looked up at Donna sitting in the front passenger seat. Her head lolled around like she was sleeping but her eyes stared open. Then I noticed the wound in the back of her head. The hole was small with only a small trickle of blood soaked into her hair. I remembered the bullet that took the back window out.
“Oh, shit,” I said.
Rosenberg found the first aid kit and clambered over the back of the seat so he sat next to Donna. He felt her pulse and looked her over. His face crumpled then he shook his head.
“She’s gone,” he whispered.
Batfish wailed and slumped with her head on the wheel. I felt my stomach churn over and everyone else looked like they were going through the same emotions. We sat in the camper on a back road with two of our party injured, one dead and another left behind, burned to a cinder.
I thought about blaming Smith for our situation. He led us to the garage to pick up a big bag of cash but no way could he have known we were going to run into Todd and his gang. We would have probably run into them at some point on the road anyway. And he did get most of us out of there alive.
One thing was for sure, Batfish was in no fit state to drive. Eazy and Smith were shot and Rosenberg would have to patch them up. Julia was still shaking uncontrollably and Donna was dead. That only left me. I’d have to drive the VW the hell out of there.
“Rosenberg, let’s get Donna in the back,” I said. “You stay in the back and patch up Smith and Eazy. Move over, Batfish and let me drive.” My Vietnam movie character came back into play.
Rosenberg and I jumped out the side door and lifted Donna’s body out of the front passenger side. We carefully laid her across the backseat and covered her with a blanket. Rosenberg went to work on fixing up Smith’s shoulder first then Eazy’s ass. Batfish slid over to the passenger seat and I jumped into the driver’s cab.
The Left Series (Book 1): Leftovers Page 11