Just a short ways down the road a heavily graffitied, white SUV was turned sideways blocking the road. Stopped in front of the SUV was a vintage red pickup, its bed loaded with boxes. Behind the pickup another white SUV, similarly graffitied as the first, closed the trap on the pickup. Two words were repeated in the graffiti, the first was Inferno, immediately raising an alarm in her mind, the second was Diabolus.
She had no time to consider the meaning of the graffiti as a single gunman emerged from each of the SUV's. The man at the front of the pickup, used his pistol to wave out the occupants. The two men that emerged from the truck were taken to the side of the road and roughly forced to their knees. She put down her binoculars and picked up her rifle. Working the bolt she made sure a round was chambered.
Thoughts of Paulie, Claudine and Andy raced through her mind as she witnessed the execution starting to unfold in front of her. She had no idea why the two men were to be killed, but they didn’t deserve this. If she was going to save these two men she had to take out both of the Inferno thugs with a single round. One of the gunman kept bobbing back and forth, coming in and out of her sight window, forcing her to time her shot.
Gideon’s training came to her, briefly she closed her eyes, forced her breathing to slow and cleared thoughts from racing through her head. Her entire focus was on her target, everything else she shut out. Like the pendulum of a clock she watched the ear of the gunman move in and out of her sights. When she felt she had her timing right, she slowly squeezed the trigger, sending the bullet on its way. She continued to watch from the scope and saw both of the gunmen fall.
The two men rose from their knees and begin to look around in surprise. “Your welcome.” The sound of her voice startling her after days of silence. She quickly pulled her belongings together and scampered down the ladder, in case the men weren’t as grateful as she thought they should be. By the time the red pickup was headed back looking for their rescuer, she had crossed over the stream and was following the road staying out of sight.
She reached the gas station late in the day and by the looks of things it had been picked over several times already. The door to the diner portion of the station had been left open at some point and by looking in the windows she counted a dozen dead inside. When in the open she had no problem taking them down with just her knife, but in the confined spaces of the diner it would be easier for the dead to corner her.
Needing to conserve her ammunition she began looking for something else to use. A rock somewhat larger than her fist caught her attention. She cut off a length of rope and tied it around the rock. When done she had a weapon that could reach out about four feet. Taking the time to practice, in the process giving her back a couple of good wallops and once just barely blocking the rock as it careened towards her head.
While she practiced a plan formed in her head. Staying out of sight next to the open diner door, she tapped on the door frame with the rock. With the glass reflecting their movement she could see the dead advancing towards the exit. Keeping the rock on a short leash she began to swing it in slow circles, gradually playing out rope as the dead got nearer. The first one to exit the doorway she slammed the rock onto the top of its head cracking the skull and splattering its brains.
She quickly got the rock spinning again and the second dead one got the same treatment. With the doorway partially blocked, slowing the tide of dead exiting to feed on her. Moving into an open position in the parking lot, she waited for the first group to come to her. A group of three of the walking corpses were first to come at her. Keeping the rock spinning in tight circles over her head and then letting it shoot out at the forehead on the one to her left. She quickly pulled the rock back and getting it spinning again as she stepped back, she let it fly at the center dead one.
More dead were filtering in from the right. Moving to her left, she rapidly took down three more. Once again she quickly stepped backwards and then rolled to her right to attack the flank of the final five. Two quick flicks of her wrist and only three dead were left. She was sweating buckets from the exertion, and breathing in gasps. Her hand was bleeding where the rope had rubbed off her flesh and her arm was so tired she could barely hold it up.
Climbing onto the roof of an abandoned car, taking a breath while the dead reached up to grab her ankles. Swinging the rock like an ax, in a two handed chop she brought it down onto the tops of the last of her assailants. With the fight over, she bent over panting, her hands resting on her knees. As her breathing slowed, she climbed down off the car. To make sure, she tucked the rope into her belt and used her knife to stab into the brain.
Her focus on her grisly task was interrupted by the noise of a final dead one stumbling out of the exit. The animated dead body of a heavy set older woman bore down on her, making it a baker's dozen. The creature's eyes were fixed on her bloody dripping hand, causing it to pause, its jaws working in anticipation.
Anger and revulsion rose up in her. “Come and get it you Bitch.” She taunted. As the creature shambled forward, she thrust her knife up under its jaw. As the body dropped, she collapsed in exhaustion onto the pavement, laying next to her final attacker.
She laid there, the late afternoon breeze cooling her face and the pavement spreading its warmth to the sore muscles of her back, shoulders and arms. She closed her eyes and rolled her head from side to side. A wave of loneliness hit her, shaking her head she pushed those feelings down. Rising to her feet, she gathered her pack and rifle and moved into the diner.
Moving rapidly around the diner she confirmed that it was indeed clear of all dead ones. Finding a closet which stored table settings she took some cloth napkins to bandage her hand. After thoroughly searching the diner and attached gas station the only food she could find was a few bottles of water and a can of okra. Being a southern gal, she understood it was a staple in these parts, but she never developed a taste for the slimy vegetable. She buried the can in her pack and set about securing the building for the night.
Using whatever she could find she tied shut the doors to the diner, the adjoining gas station and the rear emergency exit. Then for good measure placed chairs and glasses near the doors, just in case someone or something did enter. She settled into the manager's office for the night. There was a window big enough for her to exit through. It was a bit above the floor, so she moved the desk underneath the window.
She went through the drawers of the desk. First she found a half eaten bag of butterscotch candies, she opened one and popped it into her mouth and forced herself to savor it slowly. She began to put the remainder of the bag into her pack, but stopped and pulled out two more candies before placing the bag away. In another drawer was a near empty pint of whiskey, a pair of leather motorcycle gloves and an atlas of county maps.
She unbandaged her hand and poured a measure of the whiskey onto her wound, sucking in her breath at the sting of the alcohol. The motorcycle gloves were for a man, but they had a string to tighten them about her wrist. She pulled her knife and cut the fingers down. She rebandaged her hand with another of the napkins and slipped on the gloves.
Using the remaining light coming in from the window she studied the maps. There was a national forest about sixty miles north. On foot she could reach there in a week or so. She was realistic in her mechanical abilities and knew it would probably take her twice that long to find a car to get there. At the national forest there were lakes to fish and get water. Soon there would be berries to forage and most certainly the hunting would be better.
Being honest with herself she was both hopeful and fearful that she would find others taking refuge there. To care for others, to be part of a community and lose that again, she didn't know if she could endure that. Even more troubling, after the couple that tried to rob her and the Inferno gang keeps popping up, who did she trust, with her life?
In the morning she left through the office window, keeping the building secured in case she needed a fallback refuge. After traveling for a few days her need for
food and more importantly water was becoming desperate. She adjusted her course to move her to a stream. As she closed on the stream she stopped dead in her tracks and then dropped to the ground.
They were camped in a clearing near the stream, probably the most diverse group she could imagine. It was late in the day and it was obvious they had arrived just ahead of her. Their three vehicles were parked in positions for the quickest departure, but also formed part of their perimeter.
Two middle aged men and two teenage boys set about finishing the perimeter. The two men each carried an armload of fence stakes and the boys each carried a sledge. The men would pace off a distance and place a stake to the ground. Using a cloth over the end of the stake, to muffle the blows of the hammer, the boys set the stakes into the ground. Once all the stakes were set the boys went about stringing ropes and wire to the stakes and then finished off hanging collections of tin cans, which would clang if the ropes were disturbed.
The two men joined two women, presumably their wives by the way they touched, setting up tents. An older couple setup a fire pit and pulling firewood from one of the trailers, got a fire burning and then drove in a couple of metal stakes on either side of the pit and placed a crossbar onto the stakes. A series of hooks were placed on the crossbar. Three preteen children took buckets to the stream and began gathering water. These children were all different in appearance, the youngest a boy with curly black hair and fair skin, the other two were girls looking to be similar in age. One had caramel colored skin and lustrous black hair, the other girl was blonde and though she was constantly smiling it was obvious she was directing the actions of the other two.
While the children filled larger buckets near the fire pit, the older couple began transferring the water to a pot hanging over the fire. An even older man, with long gray hair and an even longer gray beard, was busy casting fishing lines into the stream and setting snares along the bank. The final two people in the group, a young man, perhaps middle twenties with a flat top haircut and the other a young woman, in her late teens or early twenties. They each took a position at opposite sides of the perimeter, obviously maintaining a watch.
“Boss, we got some company moved in overnight.” Hap told Tom as the group began their morning activities.
“Zeds?” Tom asked, keeping his voice down.
“Nah. Some filly shimmied up that old loblolly over thar.” Hap answered, pulling at his long beard.
“A woman, by herself, you're sure?” Tom questioned.
“I may be old boss, but I know what a gal looks like. She's quiet to, if that lower branch hadn't of cracked on her I'd of never caught her.” Hap stated.
“Well shit. Don't let the kids know yet. We need to know if she's alone. Take Jeff with you when you check your lines, see if you can sniff out anyone watching her back. I'll have Tim and Tracey scout a little further out.” Tom instructed.
“You just gonna let her sit up there?” Hap asked.
“She wanted to check us out. If she's all alone, she's going to need to know were decent folks. If she's looking for trouble she needs to see we’re not to be trifled with.” Tom replied.
Hap gave Tom a wink and a nod. “You're call boss.”
During the night she moved closer to the group to get a better look at them. The foliage of the loblolly pine was thick enough to cover her and the branches started low enough to the ground so she could climb up. She didn't plan on the first branch being rotten and breaking off as soon as she stepped on. Fortunately the old man on watch was apparently hard of hearing and she was able to finish the climb without incident.
The older couple put together a breakfast, which they all ate together. It pleased her to see the young blonde girl, carry a bowel, to the young woman on watch, before sitting down next to the old man to eat. In a symbolic way, she pulled out the last of the smoked fish, in her pack and ate along with them.
At the end of breakfast Tom led his wife aside and hugged her close, whispering in her ear. “We got eyes on us.”
Sue Higgins had been with her husband enough years to understand he wanted to keep this secret. “You expecting trouble?” Sue whispered back.
“I don't think so. As far as we know it's a lone woman, keeping tabs on us from that tree. We're poking around, to make sure she's alone. Don't let the kids know yet, but clue in Miri, Pete and Sheila. We need to be extra cautious.” Tom answered.
“Jimmy won't be happy, your keeping this from him.” Sue stated.
Tom exhaled slowly. “If our peeper hasn't brought company, I'll take him on the run this afternoon. That will free up Jeff, to stay here and give Jimmy a chance, to take on more.”
Sue closed her eyes and thought a moment. “He's ready.”
She watched the group through the day. After they finished their breakfast, they fell into an obvious, often repeated routine. One of the men and the old man went to check their lines. The younger man and young woman left on foot, perhaps to hunt. Two of the women, gathered together the children for lessons.
As the day wore on the fish and small animals they had caught were smoked or added into their lunch. The old man went along the stream bank pulling greens and digging roots, some of which were also part of their lunch. When the group gathered to eat, she had nothing left, but the can of okra and she was not nearly hungry enough to eat that. She sipped water sparingly, but eventually the pressure on her bladder made her drop trou, sit down over a branch and relieve herself. If the group heard the urine splattering against the branches they made no notice of it.
After their meal, one of the older men, the one she had pegged as the groups leader, the young man and woman and one of the teenage boys, got into their small car and left. They had hooked up a small trailer they pulled off the top of their van and secured a number of gas cans and storage bins into it. The group wasn't all about work, the children burned off energy playing tag and kicking a ball around. For a while the little blonde girl played monsters with the old man.
She hadn't quite convinced herself to greet the group, they seemed like good people and had their shit together. In her mind she was beginning to know them. The tall middle aged man, with the blocky build was the leader. His wife was the petite strawberry blonde and the teenage boy that left on the run was their son. His second was the other middle aged man, he had the look of a bookkeeper you could almost see him count everything he looked at as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. His wife was the tall middle aged women with dark hair, mediterranean complexion and big boobs. Their son was the other teenaged boy. The younger man seemed to be in charge of their security, he always made a point to talk to anyone going on or coming off guard duty. She didn't think he and the young woman were a couple, though they did spend a lot of their time together, but just as coworkers.
The old man and older couple were long term traveling companions, showing an easy familiarity with everyone in the group, despite their obvious diverse backgrounds. The three younger children were hardest to place. The old couple seemed to direct them in their chores and all of the women seemed to take turns looking after them. The blonde girl and old man seemed to have a connection, maybe grandfather and granddaughter.
Whatever the truth of these people turned out to be it concerned her that she was making connections with them, developing feelings towards them. She had lost so many dear to her, the mere thought of going through that again pained her. Equally disturbing to her was if she approached this group and they rejected her.
“Mom. Mom. Mom. Dad and me....” Jimmy started excitedly.
“Dad and I.” Sue corrected.
“Sorry. Dad and I took down a zed.” Jimmy continued.
Sue tried to hide her concern. “Oh did you?”
Jimmy continued. “Yeah. We found a little bit of a gas in the bottom of the tank at the station. Tim was pumping it out and Tracey was helping him. Dad and I were on watch, when some zeds started coming our way. Dad flipped a hubcap up the street, like a frisbee and drew them off. Anothe
r zed following that pack must of caught something and started coming our way. I wanted to shoot it, but Dad stopped me.”
Jackson was all ears listening to the story. “Was it a long shot?”
Jimmy shook his head. “Nah maybe thirty yards, but the shot would of drawn them all back. We hid around the corner waiting for it. My heart was beating so hard, I thought it could hear it for sure. As soon as it passed us, Dad tackled it to the ground and I stabbed it in the back of the dead, just like we been taught.”
Sue took in a breath and put a smile on her face. “I'm proud of you honey.” Sue turned to the rest of the children. “I want you all to take a lesson from this. This is a troubled world and we've given all of you a knife to carry to protect yourself from that trouble. That does not mean you have to go out and prove anything. You need to take your direction from us.”
Eschewing the okra, she ate a few of the butterscotch candies for supper, before making a hammock by weaving a rope across a couple of branches. It was well after midnight when she drifted off and was sleeping soundly when the group began their morning routine.
Dead Reckoning_HZA, Vol. 3 Page 10