by LC Champlin
His crony leapt over the Nelson’s picket fence. Zander stepped back too late; the thug grabbed him by the back of the shirt. The boy’s stuffed toy fell.
“No!” Abandoning his wife, Jeremy lunged, but the kidnapper brought the handgun up. Slide slammed into jaw. He crumpled.
Nathan started toward the assailant. “Put him down. Now.”
“Back off.” Holding the struggling child by the shirt, the gangbanger shoved his pistol against the base of Zander’s skull. Nathan could only watch as the bastard half dragged, half carried his prize to the truck.
Chapter 72
Gun Violence
Hurt Makes it Beautiful - Hugo
“Shoulda taken our offer!” yelled Chainface. Laying on the horn, he pulled away. The noise would draw more monsters, human and Dalit alike.
Adrenaline washed through Nathan’s body, warm and intoxicating. He gripped the dandelion weeder as he and Albin moved apart to flank the cannibals.
The monsters crouched. Targets locked. They exploded forward like lions after zebras. All fours for a stride, bipedal for two, then back up for the lope. Powerful hind legs launched them forward. They split into two pairs, co-op hunters.
Locals screamed and shouted as they broke for cover. Several stood frozen in the creatures’ red-eyed charge.
After recovering from their initial horror, Taylor and Amanda had begun scrambling for their house.
A pair of Dalits split up to flank mother and daughter.
“Hey!” Nathan yelled, breaking into a walk-trot. “Over here, you ugly bastards!”
But thanks to whatever incomprehensible mechanism the monsters used to select targets, they paid him no heed. Their mistake.
Crunch!
The weeder sank into the nearest cannibal’s right ear. Resistance through bone, sudden give and soft slide through brain. As the enemy toppled, its weight pulled it from the shaft.
Giving the spear’s tip a flick like a samurai slinging blood from his katana, Nathan closed on the other, a former female. Almost there—And so was the cannibal. It fixated on Taylor.
“Over here!” Amanda yelled from five yards away, waving her hands.
The Dalit sprang at Taylor. A twist to the right saved her.
Fiercer than the cannibal, Amanda lunged. She shoved the predator off balance, or tried to. It dropped its CG. As she backed up, it spun to face her.
“Amanda, move!”
She did. Her foot snapped out to catch the thing’s ankle as she darted past. Then her bat came up. She swung for the fences. Wood crunched into the skull, sank into brain matter. For a moment, the Dalit swayed on its feet.
Thud. It face-planted. Blood and oil trickled from the bat-shaped concavity in the side of its head. Never come between a mother bear and her cubs.
Nathan turned to reinforce Albin, not that the attorney required it. Lip curled in disgust, Albin wrenched the rake from the other female cannibal’s skull. The former human lay in a heap, ass in the air, head twisted sideways.
Two more figures appeared from around the back of a nearby house, from the direction the Lariat had headed. Distantly its horn still blared. The more the merrier.
Sssssaaaahhh!
They dropped to all fours.
Meanwhile, the last cannibal locked its sights on a Redwood Shores yuppie. Too terrified to do more than gape and back up, the man made easy prey.
“Albin, shoot them.” Nathan jerked his head toward the two new arrivals as he turned to the last cannibal standing.
The Rock Island’s sight filled his vision. Bang! Bang! Two body shots. Heavy .45 rounds knocked it back. Advance. Don’t kill it too quickly. Bang, bang! Two head shots, the first shearing off the left half of the face, the other hammering through the bridge of the nose and into the brainstem. A string of reports sounded from Albin’s direction as he emptied most of the mag.
His targets dispatched, Nathan turned to see the second new cannibal fall beside its cohort. Gore stained the street, streaming from eight holes, four to a Dalit. While the hits at first looked like the wild, haphazard shots of a panicked novice, a closer look revealed that none had missed. In fact, each struck a major joint, artery site, or fatal point. Both cannibals also sustained head shots.
“Look shaken,” Nathan muttered, coming to the blond’s side.
“Of course.”
Hyperventilate a bit, eyes wide, knees shaky, hands trembling. Despite being an inveterate stoic, Albin could pull off a frighteningly good performance when he wanted to. The defenders fumbled their pistols back under their shirts.
Only when footsteps sounded behind them did Nathan lead the turn. Carolyn took point, with Amanda and Taylor on her left. A few other neighbors who’d either never reached their homes or who’d returned to see the aftermath trailed after.
“You have guns?” Carolyn snapped, face flushed despite her precise stride and squared shoulders.
“Ah.” Nathan blinked at her as if coming-to from the shock. “Yes.”
“If you had them—”
Amanda cut her off. “Thank you both.”
Nathan took a breath, but Taylor stepped past her mom. “I, um. I mean, thank you.” She brushed a strand of hair from her forehead and gave a shaky smile.
“That was awesome!” Denver screeched at a full sprint. Nathan bent his knees in time to maintain his balance as the girl tackle-hugged him around the waist. “You saved Mom and Tay!”
Wincing at the knives in his sides, he ruffled her neon hair. “I only helped. But I couldn’t get to Zander in time.” This went to Carolyn and Amanda.
“It’s real sad about him, but . . . you saved my family.” Denver released him and moved to her mother.
“I’m sure they could have handled it. Your sister’s footwork is impressive.”
“From dance,” Taylor mumbled, suddenly shy.
“And your mom—” He broke off to bestow a look of appreciation. “That took real courage.”
Amanda shrugged it off. “My daughter was in danger. I didn’t want her ending up like—” Like Zander. She looked away.
“I understand.”
Denver’s attention shifted to Albin, who’d melted into the background, just as he did at any party Nathan and Janine conned him into attending. “Hi. You were really awesome too.”
“Thank you.”
Carolyn forced through the wall of gratitude and excitement, all the more difficult due to them coming from kids, to regain the center of attention. “I’m glad that none of my neighbors were hurt, especially the Musters.” She glanced at the three women. “But they took Zander. If you had guns, why did you allow the raider to abduct him and set those affected people loose? Any of the bystanders here,” she gestured to the locals, who’d returned to the street after the battle ended, “could have been hurt. Instead, you chose to kill six ill people.”
In all fairness, he’d dispatched three. “I’m sorry, but as it appeared to me, I was saving these people’s lives.” He looked the eight inches of height difference down at her.
A presence at his elbow—Albin at parade rest. “Ma’am, do any of your neighbors possess firearms?”
“I-I’m not sure.” Nothing like an unexpected question to blow the tracks in front of a person’s train of thought.
“Does anyone here own a fully-stocked safe room?” Attorney Mode active.
“I would assume not.”
“Have you and your neighbors established a plan, including contingencies, for conducting a protracted struggle against armed aggressors?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with a boy being kidnapped and you people killing six of the affected.” Carolyn recovered her composure and her argument. Now if she would recover some common sense.
Nathan took over the defense. “It doesn’t appear this neighborhood is prepared for gang warfare, which is exactly what you would have faced if we had opened fire on those kidnappers. The cannibals—”
/> “Affected,” Carolyn snapped.
“—had MS painted on them. I’m only guessing, but it’s logical to say that stands for MS-13.”
Darkness passed over Carolyn’s expression.
“This isn’t a threat you can deal with on your own, as Zander proved.” Nathan made eye contact with as many residents as possible. “Have you called—”
“Jen, no!” Jeremy.
The cannibal strained at the end of her clothesline to attack her husband, who had fallen on his ass a yard away. Faced with failure, the Dalit backed up. Heaves racked it.
“Jeremy, move!” Nathan and Albin yelled together.
Chapter 73
Situation Normal, All Fouled Up
Victory - Silent Comedy
Scooting back, Jeremy rolled to the side. He struggled to his feet as projectile vomit splattered on the spot he’d occupied a second earlier.
Out of range, the would-be victim slid down the garage door to slump with his back against it. A purple welt marred the side of his jaw in the shape of a pistol slide. He hugged Zander’s stuffed animal as if through it he could comfort his son. Sobs racked the man as he buried his face in the toy’s fur. Eyes red, he looked up at the group. “My wife, now my little boy. We have to get him back.” He sniffed, mucus running over his upper lip. Wiping his face on his sleeve, he pushed himself up.
“Jeremy,” Carolyn began in a soft tone, “we’ll do what we can. Take care of yourself and Jennifer now.”
“They’re going to kill him—or worse.” His voice broke as he slumped against the door again.
“Carolyn.” Nathan turned to the ring leader. “If you don’t act, every one of your neighbors will end like Jennifer, Zander, or those.” The corpses. “Have you contacted the military? What about the police?”
She bristled. “Of course we have. The Army made a supply delivery here, then they left. They said they were going to secure the roads. Obviously they didn’t.”
“Gangs,” Albin began “are exceedingly adept at avoiding restrictions and apprehension.”
Nathan hummed in agreement. “If this was MS-13, you’re facing a group of lunatics that has ties to Al Qaeda, drug cartels, and every dangerous element in society. If all they do is shoot you, it’s a mercy.” In short, one hell of a boogieman.
“Don’t you think I’m aware of that?” The iron in her tone persisted. “We will resist until we can convince the Army to protect us.”
“Why don’t you evacuate?”
“To where? There are close to a million people living in San Francisco, and that doesn’t include Daly City or Silicon Valley. There are even more when you consider nonresidents. Most people are fleeing. The relief services are overwhelmed. Here we have food and water, though limited, and shelter. And we have each other to rely on.” All good reasons to shelter in place.
“What will you do when the looters start in with a vengeance? This is worse than the Wild West.”
Albin sniffed. “There is no sheriff, either.”
“We’re not exactly overcome with options,” Carolyn retorted. “Do you have a better solution, then?” Arms crossed, she fixed them with a look of skepticism cold enough to raise gooseflesh.
From his peripheral vision Nathan watched the Musters: Denver and Taylor leaned close to Amanda, who had an arm around each like a raptor sheltering her young.
He sighed, shrugging in feigned defeat. “All we came here to do was deliver some supplies.” And secure allegiances. “Dealing with gangs wasn’t on the sign-up sheet.”
“I . . . can take you two to your vehicle.”
“Are you sure you want to leave now?” His sweep of the hand took in the fallen cannibals in their pools of humours, the knots of locals in conversation, the weeping husband and his hissing wife.
Redwood Shores’s leader looked over her shoulder at her flock. “Everyone, please go back inside. Stay away from the bodies. If the gang members return, hide. Collect supplies for defenses if you are able. Get in, gentlemen.” Wave toward the SUV.
“I’ll keep an eye on things here,” Amanda announced.
The leader nodded, regarding her with the trust reserved for a right-hand woman. “Thank you.”
“Me too.” Taylor.
“I wanna help!” Denver.
The trio climbed into the Acura. Nathan claimed the front seat, while Albin took the rear seat directly behind him.
“The truck is off Redwood Shores Parkway, across the street from Nob Hill Foods.” Nathan gestured westward.
“That’s fairly close.” As Carolyn spoke, she pulled away from the curb. “I don’t understand why Woodside would help us, but I’m not going to protest.”
“Hang together or die in unpleasant ways, they believe.”
“They? You don’t live there?”
“We were visiting friends.”
“You two volunteered to risk your lives?”
“Our other option was to cower,” Albin replied. “As you said, leaving the city is a nearly impossible task.”
“What about the gangs?” Carolyn asked as she waited for a neighbor / guard to drive the roadblock vehicles out of the street.
“They haven’t worked that far south,” Nathan lied. “The relief organizations dropped off a few pallets of water and MREs, so Woodside isn’t starving.” The thought of the snobs subsisting on Meals Rejected by Ethiopians threatened to make a smile break despite the situation’s severity.
Turning left onto Marlin Drive, she glanced at him. “When are they bringing more?”
“When they can.” Shifting the seatbelt to a more comfortable position, Nathan shifted gears: “What can you tell me about the raiders?”
The older woman’s expression hardened. “They put one of their big trucks on each side of the neighborhood, then drove through with a bullhorn demanding everyone gather at the intersection of Marlin Drive and the parkway, beside the tennis court. They looked like the military. In fact, some people thought they were from the Army.” She paused to turn right, south, down Dory Lane, the intersection before the ill-fated meeting site.
“When we came out, they told us they would protect us from the affected. In exchange, they wanted supplies. I was suspicious. Eduardo, whom you have already encountered—”
“He accused us”—accurately—“of being with the raiders.”
“Yes. He caused unrest among a number of the residents. They began arguing with the new arrivals. The raiders responded by seizing several of our people.” She navigated around a series of abandoned luxury vehicles. It provided a moment for her to school her features.
Nathan kept his eyes forward. Red Chief, the greedy bastard, lacked the patience to tease out loyalty from the people’s tangle of fear and anger.
“The kidnappers said we needed to understand the dangers we faced without their protection. Again they demanded our supplies. We gathered what we could. They returned three of the seven hostages, but they said we hadn’t ‘paid’ enough for the others.
“I see.” So far her story matched Sarge’s version.
“From then on, we put vehicles at every street into the area and made emergency barriers with construction supplies we located. There are caltrops made from garden hose and nails, too. That’s angered the raiders even more, though.”
“The roadblocks seem to need work,” Nathan observed, “since they failed to stop the MS-13 members.” A large truck could push the cars aside.
Albin leaned forward. “Were you able to speak with the raiders’ leader?”
“I assumed the man was only a lieutenant.”
Watching the industrial scenery and abandoned vehicles slide by, Nathan nodded in thought. “They sound like a formidable group.”
“They’re inhuman and despicable.”
They fell silent.
Working with the Goats is only temporary, reason reassured in the back of Nathan’s mind.
“Up here,” he directed, sitting
taller as they approached Nob Hill Foods.
On the left, near the curb, rested the charred corpse of a pickup. Burned-rubber and gasoline stench filtered through the Acura’s AC vents as flames licked the truck.
Chapter 74
Hot Wheels
Shepherd of Fire - Avenged Sevenfold
Nathan slumped back with a groan. Keep the drama high. From the backseat came Albin’s sigh of disappointment.
“Is that your truck?” Carolyn asked as she slowed the SUV to a halt.
“That was our vehicle,” Albin corrected. “No longer.”
“The supplies.” Nathan exited and looked around before approaching the truck’s cab. Empty. As it had been before the Goats torched it.
He returned, half collapsing into the front seat. Then he rubbed his chin with his knuckles, gaze drilling into the wreckage.
“Why did they do this?” Carolyn’s voice dropped, barely audible.
Nathan ducked out again. Slam. With his back against the SUV, he shoved his hands through his hair.
The back door opened, releasing Albin. The blond leaned against the vehicle, beside his employer. They stared at the blackened metal in a perfect portrayal of bleak defeat.
Carolyn stepped out to join them.
“I’m sorry,” Nathan breathed. “I wanted to help you.”
She folded her arms. “You can’t. Now, do you have a way back to Woodside?”
Looking down, Nathan nodded. “Someone will come looking for us in a few hours, assuming they can get through the chaos out there. They’ll radio when they’re in range. But after seeing your situation, I can’t just return to Woodside and pretend all you need is a few cases of Dasani.”
“Yes, you can,” Carolyn replied. “You can wait with us until your friends come, but there’s nothing else you can do for Redwood Shores.”