by Brown, TW
Selma Maxwell was the generic soccer mom…except for all the firepower she was packing. Also, he’d seen her peel off more than once to take down a few zombies. She was a no nonsense sort who showed little reaction as she walked up and drove the long spike she kept dangling from her belt into the heads of zombies.
Cherish Brandini. The only thing that Kevin could think of was that sort of woman who married a rich guy, joined the local country club, and then talked nasty about every woman not in hearing range. She would look you right in the eyes and smile, but it never reached past her curled lips. There were definite signs of medical upkeep in her face as well as the unnatural breasts that she still seemed inclined to try and keep on display.
Bill Sten was an honest to goodness former pro wrestler. He had never hit the majors as a big name, but he had been a good fall guy for a few of the bigger personalities. Kevin knew they had to be big names mostly because he recognized them when he heard them and had never once watched one single match. Bill was balding, but his dark, curly hair was thick enough to hide that fact unless it got wet.
Jose Reyes and Manuel Rodriguez pretty much kept to themselves since they could only speak very limited English. Neither men were much taller than five feet. Jose was almost as wide as he was tall, and Manuel was as skinny as his friend was round.
Jane Mendel was tall, leggy, curvy in all the right places, but had suffered a terrible and disfiguring face wound that had left her with what looked like a permanent scowl. Still, her dark eyes made up for it with a sparkle. She was also the one that could translate for Jose and Manuel.
Last was Jill Smythe. She had been a coffee shop singer and still carried her guitar. Kevin was not surprised when they had settled in and she opened her pack that she was carrying what looked like a hundred sets of strings. She had straight red hair that hung around her oval face and brought out the abundance of freckles. Her eyes were a hazel that bordered on green and her skin was the classic ivory. As soon as she spoke, Kevin heard that Irish lilt.
Jill had come from a long line of police officers. When she had decided to leave the force and pursue music, her dad had been furious. When she had come out of the closet at Christmas by bringing her new girlfriend…that had been it. Jill had a lot of sadness in her heart, and it came out in her music.
Kevin settled in with Aleah, Heather, Catie, and Rose as Jane went to the roof for first watch and everybody else fell into whatever spot on the floor they were standing. It was almost no time before the sounds of snores varying in pitch and volume resonated through the room.
It took a while, but eventually, everybody got caught up on what had happened to each other in the past several days. Once that was done, it was Catie who spoke up.
“I don’t know if any of the children survived that mob, but if they did, the most likely place to find them would be the hospital we had been approaching when all hell broke loose.” She looked at Rose and took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m not necessarily inclined to go after them. That place looked well defended. If they took the kids in, I doubt they did so to cause them any harm. It would not have made sense for any of them to venture out of their stronghold if they did not intend to help.”
“You want to just leave them?” Rose started to stand up, but Kevin put a hand on her shoulder to keep her down.
“Let’s hold a second, Catie,” Kevin said with a shake of his head. “I don’t get you. First it is one thing…then another. I don’t help, I help too much. Now, if I am hearing you correctly, you want to just abandon however many of the children that managed to survive?”
“You are not hearing me,” Catie hissed, glancing around the room to see if they were being eavesdropped on by the others. Any of them could be pretending to sleep, but at least it did not look like they were the focus of anybody’s attention. “That hospital looked well set up. And the people that came out did so to help. And they did so against the wishes of some of their cohabitants. I think they have as good of a shot at survival as any of us. Better, since they won’t be out on the road where anything can happen.”
“And what about Deanna?” Rose challenged. “You think she has it good? Did you see what Sean did?”
“If we see any signs of them, we will do our best to try to find her, but this is a big, wide world. If I learned anything this past week, it is that you can’t just wish for something and have it happen. In case you have not been paying attention…they ain’t runnin’ Amber Alerts anymore. Those two could be anyplace. And after this long…our chances of finding them are slim to none. It sucks, but it is reality.”
Catie suddenly found something interesting on her fingertips and began rubbing her thumb across them. Kevin had watched her during that last statement, and he was now certain there was something else she was not sharing with the group. He would ask her later when they were alone.
The group sat in silence for several minutes. Rose opened her mouth at least a dozen times, but closed it each time with a frown or a scowl. At last she simply flopped onto her back and shut her eyes.
“We still thinking South Dakota?” Heather finally asked.
Kevin thought it over. This plan had been made several years ago. He had done his research like he did with anything else. He had based his plan on population density. South Dakota was ideal in that it had almost nobody living there when compared to other states. Hell, it had less population than some of the major cities.
He felt certain now that there were no promises when it came to the undead. They were congealing into mobs that numbered in the hundreds…thousands…millions. They never slept and could show up anyplace.
“I don’t know.” Kevin felt his mouth curl at the mental taste of those words. It was not something that he was accustomed.
“What?” Catie’s head popped up. “But I thought…” Her voice trailed off and she slumped over. After a deep breath, she brought her head up and looked the others in the eyes; she explained about her real reason for joining them. She spilled her history to these people that she had kept herself apart from to a degree this entire time.
When she finished, she told them that she would accept any choice they made, and she would stay with them until they reached that destination. However, she could not promise that she would not eventually feel the need to go and see for herself.
When she finished, she found that she felt a lot better. It wasn’t that she had been burdened by her desire to go home and see if anything remained; it was more that she had used that as a divider between herself and the others in some way. They were serving her means, and thus, they had been like any tool that you would wield.
“South Dakota sounds like as good of a place as any,” Kevin finally said. He looked around their group; one by one he received a nod. Rose was the last one. She didn’t so much nod as shrug her shoulders.
“Looks like we continue on with our plan as scheduled.”
11
No Mercy
I hustled down the narrow alley and came to a halt at the corner. Giving a low whistle, I listened and smiled big when the worst owl hoot in the world came in response. A few seconds later, a huge dark blob that could only be BP emerged from behind the husk of some unidentifiable vehicle.
My team all came up on my heels. I gave them a nod and pointed to where BP was emerging with Gable. Not for the first time, I offered up a silent prayer that each of us make it back alive and well. I knew that I would feel solely responsible for any casualty that we suffered.
I had picked each one of these people. Granted, they could have refused, but I’d known in my heart that they wouldn’t. That was part of the reason I’d selected each one. Besides Darla, I had cherry-picked the people that my gut told me were right for this mission. Yes, it was supposed to be a rescue, but it was also going to be a take-no-prisoners assault.
The first choice had been that guy who had been eyeballing me from across the room when I’d stepped back to ascertain my potential resources. His name was Andy Magillicuddy. He was a lit
tle taller than me; maybe six-foot-three. I guessed his weight to be around two fifty, and it was all solid. Andy was a Ranger poster boy; square jaw, his reddish hair in a high and tight haircut despite the apocalypse, and a single scar in the middle of his chin for added character.
Jerome Burgess was a carbon copy of Andy starting with his dark chocolate skin. He was always smiling, but his eyes belonged on a hawk because he did not miss a trick. He had the coolest set of throwing knives; and when asked, he happily gave a demonstration to prove they were not just for show.
Rachel Mint was a plain-Jane blonde at first glance. However, I’d seen her shove past both Andy and Jerome without them raising a fuss. In fact, they gave way with a visible respect. I was willing to bet she had some pretty awesome stories. I doubted I would ever hear them. I was also willing to bet that those two well-used looking hatchets she wore on her belt had seen some serious action.
Chet Bozer was short, squat, and looked like his face had been used as a battering ram. He never smiled. His hands looked like they had been shoved into a garbage disposal. I’d seen him in the parking lot when people had started pushing and shoving. Some guy almost a foot taller had shoved Chet. I wondered if that dude had woken up yet.
James Sagar was the least likely of the bunch. He had a mop of dirty blonde colored hair, laugh lines from actual laughing, which he did often and usually at the end of one of his own jokes, and blue eyes that matched the smile on his face in their brightness. James was also some sort of explosives expert.
To be honest, it was Andy who suggested the easy going man. I would have completely passed over him.
“The guy dropped a freaking bridge with crap he found in a garage,” Andy said, the awe ringing true in his voice. “That bastard could probably blow up the city of La Grande with a few scraps he dug out of a public bathroom.”
Sure, it was a gross over-exaggeration, but the point had been made. I wasn’t sure if we would need an explosives guy, but it sure did not hurt to have that option.
The last person I picked came from a recommendation that I got from Jerome. Her name is Paula Yin. Paula is not much taller than Thalia. If she is over four and a half feet tall, I will kiss a zombie on the lips. Paula was not in the military. However, she was on some sort of competitive shooting team. I guess Grady’s people found her in some rinky-dink town well south of here. She was up in a church steeple picking off zombies with a rifle.
When they arrived, the first thing they noticed was that there was almost a ring around the entire town made entirely of dead zombies with nice, neat holes in the middle of their foreheads. That had caused them to use caution and actually make a complete circuit around the town where they continued to find more downed undead with the same exact kill shot.
Venturing into town, they came to a halt when a voice called from a megaphone for them to come no further. Long story short, after four hours of yelling back and forth, Paula had dropped a dozen more zombies that came to investigate, and Grady had convinced her to join them.
Paula does not miss. It is not bragging or overstating things. It is a simple fact. James says he wants to be there when she does just so he can see the look on her face and confirm that she is not a cyborg or freakish human-machine hybrid. (Those are his words, not mine.) Personally, I don’t think that I ever want to see her miss. I would not want to know what force of nature might be capable of causing such an event.
“Glad to see you finally made it,” BP quipped.
“Yeah, well we were paid a visit by Graham,” I explained. “When this is done, I guess I have to lead some expeditionary force in order to secure the entire city of La Grande. After he left, I decided to wait until dark just in case there were eyes on our house.”
“You think they were watching you?” Gable whispered, fear apparent in his shaky voice.
“Of course we were,” a voice spoke from the darkness to our left.
As one, my entire group spun, weapons up and ready to start punching holes in people. Graham stepped forward into the soft glow that the moon offered, hands raised. I was not in the least bit surprised to see Tish step out of the shadows to join him. However, when Carol emerged along with six other guys, I went from almost relieved right back to nervous in the span of a single heartbeat.
“Easy, Billy,” Carol said, obviously seeing my discomfort. “We are here to help in whatever this is that you felt the need to sneak out and do. This will solve a few problems. First, it will clear the air of whatever secret you think you need to keep from us, and second, a few of my boys are in doubt as to your capabilities. I believe this should settle things nicely.”
I noticed one man in particular sort of snort and give a dirty look. I had a feeling who the Doubting Thomas was that Carol was referring. Personally, I could give a rat’s ass what some stranger thought of me.
“So you were watching the house,” I said as I stepped forward.
“Sorry, Billy.” Carol nudged Graham aside as she moved forward to face me directly. “I realize that trust is tough to come by, but you have to understand that we have the same issues. And when you suddenly have a house full of absolute strangers that were slipped past our quarantine, you must appreciate that we have some questions.”
She did have a point. And I imagine that I did not do anything to help matters by sneaking out in the middle of the night without so much as a word. Still, if I was such a security risk, why would she want me leading a group of her people on this mission to secure the town?
“We have a great deal to discuss,” Carol said out loud. “You and I will talk later,” she whispered just to me. “But perhaps we can start with the simple question of what exactly you all are doing?” This was said in a very neutral tone, but I could tell that she would expect an honest and complete answer.
Fine, I thought, if I was so sick of the secrets and silly games that folks were playing, maybe it was up to me to lead by example. I pulled Gable up beside me and related everything that I knew. I shared the entire story as he had told it and even included some of my own questions and concerns.
“But if the guy who hooked up with Jon wasn’t Jake…” Carol obviously had some of the same questions that I had. It was good to see that somebody else was stumped and that it was not a simple case of me being an idiot.
“This is part of the new way of things,” I said with a shrug. “No calendars, no way to really keep track of things. We have no idea how long Jon was out there before he came to us. It could have been days or weeks. We only know that he was a recruiter in Boise when it all started, and that he was in a place and things went bad. He arrived with two others that he said he located at a FEMA center that fell in the first ten days, but as far as details, we know next to nothing about what happened between points A and B. That leaves an awful lot of time unaccounted for. Hell, he could have been anyplace…done who knows what! I feel sorry for anybody who tries to go back and record history for future generations.”
“I still don’t really understand why we are doing this,” a voice spoke up. It was Doubting Thomas; big surprise.
“My mom and a few others are kept back at wherever we are camped when the team goes out on a mission. A detachment is left to guard them. Basically they are held as insurance that we return and don’t desert the group,” Gable explained. “Some of the people we have collected along the way were from raids. They were given a choice of join or die. Those who joined and had friends or family…”
“We didn’t ask you to come,” I spoke up when it was clear that Gable was struggling to keep his emotions in check. “You are free to return to the compound or wait here. I honestly don’t care. However, we have someplace to be, so if you will excuse us.”
I didn’t wait for a response, I looked at Gable who pointed in the direction we needed to go and then started off. Less than a block later, Carol was at my side.
“That is why I want you to lead one of our groups,” she said from the corner of her mouth in a voice barely above a whisp
er.
It took us another two hours to reach the spot where Gable said put us within a few hundred yards of the encampment. Zombie presence had been almost nil the entire way.
We had gone up and into the woods in the foothills of the pass that led back to our old home. I signaled for everybody to halt and took Gable and Andy with me to scout up ahead and get a look at what we were dealing with. To say that I was disappointed would be putting it mildly.
We managed to skirt well around the few fires that marked the camp. I was trying not to laugh. These clowns did not seem to know a damn thing about what they were doing. The sentries were standing in clear view with the flames making them all perfect targets. I came up with an idea as we did the complete circuit and pinpointed the five individuals standing the late night watch.
“Okay,” I said as everybody gathered around, “this is the plan…”
I finished and asked if there were any questions. I was actually surprised that not one person, not even Doubting Thomas, had opened his or her mouth.
Now I was actually grateful for Carol and the people that she had brought along with her. If we did this correctly, it would be the easiest mission in history. I tried to slam the door on that thought as soon as it came. Sure, I knew I was being silly and superstitious, but I was scared to jinx what looked like an amazing stroke of luck.
I had teamed with one of Carol’s people and insisted that one of mine be matched with one of hers. I left Carol and Graham with Gable back at a dry creek bed as a rear guard. I wasn’t fooling anybody. I left them because I would not have any of her people operating without one of my own on hand. I’m pretty sure that everybody knew it. I wasn’t bringing Gable because I did not want to risk an emotional outburst; we had no idea what we would find when we took the camp.
I crawled on my stomach to a spot under some thick brush that was just starting to bud. The mostly bare branches scratched at my face. I had my goggles, but they were currently on my forehead since I needed to see as clearly as possible. I felt my companion move up beside me and wriggle a bit as he brought his crossbow into position.