Charges

by Stephen Knight

  Vincenzo swallowed as a bolt of fear cut through his sleepy torpor. “Okay. Now what?”

  “You need to take the kids and get out,” Missy said. “Forrest says the sooner you get gone, the better. Once things get hot and those bastards make it up here, you might be out of chances.”

  “Well, are you sure they’ll make it here?” Vincenzo glanced at his watch. It was two minutes past five in the morning.

  “Tony, if I didn’t think they were, we wouldn’t be talking. From what I know, it’s a big force. Forrest is heading out now to check on it. If I were you, I wouldn’t wait around to see what he has to say when he makes contact. If they’re big enough, they could put up a perimeter around the entire building.”

  Vincenzo didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Yeah, okay. Let me get the kids, and then we’re gone.”

  “But I don’t want to go,” Gabby whined, tears spilling from her eyes.

  Vincenzo could barely hear her over Daniel’s howling. Both kids had been extremely upset to be roused from perhaps the first comfortable, deep sleep they’d had since the event. Vincenzo was sympathetic, but there was nothing else to do. He rolled up their sleeping bags and tossed them into the back of the Blazer.

  Missy stuck around long enough to help him get the kids buckled into the backseat. “You need to get some car seats,” she told Vincenzo. “Remember that. You’ve got to protect these kids.”

  “I know, I know,” Vincenzo said. “Listen, is there any chance that you can ask Terrell about this missile silo? He said it was on High Point Road, but is there anything more specific?”

  “What, you mean like an address? No, Tony. The Air Force didn’t really publish street addresses and driving directions to their nuclear missile silos. But all that said, High Point Road near Kansas City in Pettis County, Missouri, sounds pretty solid. Even a limousine liberal like you should be able to find that, right?”

  “Sure, no problem,” Vincenzo said through clenched teeth. That was one thing about the preppers that grated on him, the whole conservative, holy-roller attitude they sent in his direction.

  Somewhere not too far away, a ferocious volley of gunfire broke out. Vincenzo and Missy spun in that direction and listened. It went on for several seconds, vicious and intense.

  Missy pulled the AR-style rifle slung over her shoulder into her hands. “Sounds like they’ve got more than their fair share of automatic weapons.”

  The radio on her hip chirped, and Forrest’s voice came out of its small speaker. “Home plate, you’ve got about two hundred goblins headed for the fence. We’re not able to slow them down, and we’re falling back! Over.”

  The radio call was acknowledged by Terrell. Missy looked up at Vincenzo with wide, fearful eyes then she turned back to the kids. Gabby was quiet, while Daniel cooed, sounding nervous but not yet in the meltdown stage.

  “Gabby, take care of your brother,” Missy said. “You’re going to be all right. Listen to what Tony says, okay?”

  “I want my mommy and daddy,” Gabby whispered. More tears were building up in her eyes.

  “You’ll be with them soon. Tony’s going to take you there. Be strong, okay?”

  Gabby sniffed and nodded. “Okay.”

  “I hope you have the time to find your way back to the Lord. His strength will help you through everything,” Missy said.

  A blast of full automatic gunfire rippled through the air to the south.

  Will He save you from being shot and raped, Missy? Vincenzo thought.

  Missy leaned in, kissed Daniel on the top of his head, and cupped his cheek with one hand. He regarded her for a long moment then gave her a small smile. Missy smiled back, and when she straightened, there were tears in her eyes as well. “He’s helpless,” she told Vincenzo. “Protect him. Both of them.”

  “I will,” Vincenzo said.

  A muted explosion tore through the air, deep and resonant. It was time to get the hell out of Dodge.

  Vincenzo pulled the M1A off his shoulder and laid it across the front passenger seat. “Is there another way out of this place?”

  “We have another gate in the back. You’ll have to cut across a trail to the north, but it’ll take you to a road. If you turn left, you’ll find your way back to Route 40. That’ll take you toward Columbus. If you go right, you’ll head north to 22, but that takes you down to 40, eventually.”

  Vincenzo nodded. He’d already researched the route, and Route 40 was what he wanted. “I know. All right, we’re on our way. Best of luck to you guys, Missy.”

  She nodded and, after another long look at Daniel, backed away from the Blazer. Vincenzo thought she looked like a woman who knew she was walking right into the jaws of death, but she put on a strong face for the kids. He swung into the Blazer and started it. Vincenzo dropped the engine into gear and, after one final wave to Missy, pulled away from the concrete building.

  Did I lead the bad guys here? he wondered as he drove around to the back of the property. No one had been following him, at least as far as he had been able to tell. And the preppers had found him and the kids, not the other way around.

  The people manning the back gate waved for him to halt while they opened the exit, then they motioned him through. They looked hard-faced but nervous, and Vincenzo couldn’t blame them.

  “Enjoy your day. Hope you appreciated our hospitality,” one of them snapped as Vincenzo pulled the Blazer through the opening.

  Without responding, Vincenzo goosed the accelerator and sent the Blazer bumping down the trail outside the fence.

  “Chock it, I want chock it,” Daniel said.

  “In a bit, pal. In a bit.”

  The Blazer bumped its way down the trail, which eventually led them to a back country road. Vincenzo turned right, away from the direction of US 40. He didn’t know how big the marauder force was, but it was certainly of a good size if it had passed through Wheeling. It was obvious to him that they were following the same route he was, so he wanted to add some separation. If they were going to attack Forrest’s group of preppers, they would be held up for at least a couple of hours. By then, Vincenzo would be long gone.

  He drove through the brightening morning, and for once, the kids were quiet in the back seat. In that moment, Vincenzo thought it was almost like they were a family, setting out on an early morning road trip.

  Even if it was a road trip through Hell, where fathers were shot dead for what they carried on their backs and their little kids raped by two-legged monsters that Vincenzo had never really prepared himself to meet.

  Not too late to leave them on the side of the road, paisan, the snarky little voice inside him said. Go on, do yourself a favor. Save yourself the trouble. Boot them out of the truck, and keep heading west. They’re not your people. Get rid of them. They’ll only slow you down. Get in the way. Get you killed.

  Vincenzo sighed. Please fuck off and die, he urged the voice.

  Sure thing, paisan. Just as soon as you do. We’re in this together, buddy-boy.

  Vincenzo gripped the steering wheel tightly as he fought to keep the dark thoughts at bay. There was something seductive about that little voice, that definitely id-driven little voice that counseled nothing but smooth sailing and the easy path. And he was surprised at how receptive he was to it. For an instant—and only an instant—he actually contemplated doing its bidding. Stopping the Blazer, getting out, hauling out the kids, and driving away. If he could figure out a way to do that and still live with himself, then that’s what he would do.

  Instead, Vincenzo continued driving. In a truck that wasn’t his, carrying along two kids that didn’t belong to him. He would deliver the kids to their mother, and then he would find his way across the remaining expanse of the United States to find his own family. There was no other option right now.

  He would do it all, or die trying.

  The Blazer rolled down the road, trailing fallen leaves in its wake.

  Stephen Knight is the author of the zombie apocalypse
best seller The Gathering Dead and the science fiction adventure novel Earthfall. Knight lives in the New York City area. He can be found on the web at:

  http://knightslanding.wordpress.com

  https://www.facebook.com/stephen.knight.376695

  Find more of his fiction at:

  http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Knight/e/B004SVKJH6/