by Brown, TW
“Doubtful, since it is unlikely that either of you will survive this little escapade.”
Nat spun on a heel and started away. She reached the fence for the junkyard and was over and gone. Kayla and I stood in the alley alone; well, except for the hundred thousand or so zombies coming our direction.
“We need to get moving.” I grabbed Kayla’s arm and pulled her along.
We were content that the zombies were on a solid trajectory that would lead them into Suzi’s camp. Now I just had to try and find my way in without being noticed. If Suzi caught me, it was all over except the dying.
We reached a small stream and I was pretty sure that this one would be the one I needed to follow to make my way into the camp. I was at least ninety percent sure that it had been the same one that I had followed when I was attempting to escape. That all seemed like a lifetime ago now.
We slid down the embankment and did our best to move from one clump of tall grass to the next as fast as we could. I saw the sentries before Kayla, and had to pull her back so she would not walk out into a small clearing and be seen. Now is when it would get dicey.
I was still thinking about how to approach these guys when Kayla slipped past me and walked right out into the very opening where I’d prevented her from doing so just moments ago. I could not believe it. Then…she turned into Kayla.
I was actually a bit mesmerized myself as she peeled off her jacket and slung it over her shoulder. She did not seem to be paying the two sentries any mind as she stopped under a tree and hung her jacket on a branch. She was still plenty far enough away that they were just now noticing her arrival. I actually saw one of the sentries nudge the other when Kayla reached down and pulled her shirt off. She gave it a dunking in the rather cold water. I was impressed considering how my feet felt like they were actually turning into ice cubes. Kayla did not seem to notice at all now that she stood in just her bra while repeatedly dunking her shirt.
It took me a few seconds to realize that the girl was using one of the old tricks from the manual. Not exactly as it was written, but the best way to deal with a situation is to turn the strength of the enemy into a weakness. Sure enough, the men were now heading right for her, neither had a hand near his weapon.
I brought up my crossbow and sighted on the one who was actually a few steps behind his comrade. I waited for Kayla to bend down and then come back up with her shirt because that was when she was making the most noise. In that instant, I fired. I did not take time to see the full effect of my shot and reloaded as fast as I could. I almost had it cranked back and ready to fire when I heard a shout.
I looked up just in time to see the man I had not shot turn to see his partner floating by flat on his back with a bolt jutting from his chest. He was smart enough to realize what was happening and his hand went for the large blade at his hip. I fired my second shot and caught the man in the shoulder. He staggered back just a step, but that was only a momentary setback. He resumed his charge and actually tackled Kayla, both of them landing with a loud splash.
I knew that there would be nothing I could do with the crossbow at this point and rushed in to help. I arrived as arms and legs thrashed in the water, making it almost impossible to tell who was who until I was right up on them. By then, I had my knife free. I was raising it to strike when the man came up sputtering, a mouthful of blood pouring from his lips.
Kayla emerged, shoving the body away and spitting out a mouthful of water as well. She gave the body a hard knee and grabbed a handful of the man’s hair.
With one quick movement, she brought her knife across his throat and slit it, ending the last of his feeble struggles. Honestly, I hadn’t even seen her draw her knife.
“Wow.” Seriously, that was all I could say. I was at a loss.
“Grab my coat, please,” Kayla said as she wrung out her shirt one more time and then put it back on. I did as she asked, not bothering to hide how impressed I was by the outcome of this little skirmish.
After we dragged the bodies to the grass to hopefully keep them from being discovered, we picked up the pace and hurried along the bank of the stream. We could actually start to hear the sounds of the camp now that we were closer. They had no idea what was coming, or, if they did, they were underestimating things severely.
I urged Kayla to follow me out of the creek. We were so close now that, if we acted like we were sneaking around, we would probably be spotted and treated like enemies. If we merged with some of the people that were coming and going, then perhaps we could get in easier. After all, with this many people, was it likely that everybody knew everybody else?
I saw a group of five carrying wood. That seemed like the best way in. I hurried over to the one that was lagging and moved in beside him. “Let me help,” I offered.
“Thanks.” The guy did not even give me a second glance as he allowed me to take a few of the sections that he’d been carrying.
Kayla made no such overture and simply stayed beside me. She was keeping her eyes peeled and I wanted to elbow her and ask her not to look as obvious, but I was too busy keeping my own eyes scanning for anybody who might recognize me. I guess I was glad that I had spent most of my time as a prisoner here inside my tent.
It only took me until we reached the drop off for the fire wood before I managed to spot a few familiar landmarks. I dropped my load onto the growing pile and started away.
“Hey!” a voice said from behind, causing me to freeze. I noticed Kayla’s hand drift towards the hilt of her belt knife.
I turned to the person that had spoken. It was the guy I’d taken some of the wood from. He was smiling. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” I really hoped that I sounded cooler than I felt. At least Kayla had taken her hand away from her hip and was now pretending like she was inspecting her fingernails out of boredom.
“Are you on one of the teams tonight?” the guy asked just when I thought that we had managed to get away clean.
I opened my mouth, but once again, Kayla was proving to be more than just a little useful.
“Can we go? I promised Billy I would be back in time for our little meeting.”
Her words dripped with innuendo, leaving no doubt as to what she intended. Even though it was pure fiction, I could not help but blush. That might have actually helped sell our ruse. In any case, it covered our exit as she started pulling me by the wrist.
We hurried away and I waited until we were out of sight to pull free. As soon as I did, I turned to Kayla. “I apologize for ever underestimating you,” I said with all sincerity.
She actually beamed at my compliment. We blended in with another group and I had to backtrack twice to get us in the area of where they were keeping Jackson. When I finally spotted the tall, metal boxes, I felt my heart sink. I knew which one had been his.
It was wide open and empty. There were no guards posted. In fact, all of them were open. That had me curious. Maybe this was shower time or something. I needed anything I could find to cling to in order to keep my hope alive. The churning feeling in my gut was telling me that this was not going to turn out well. I shoved the voice of rational reason aside and clung to my raft of faith with all my might.
Maybe that was why I did not hear the shouts until Kayla grabbed my arm and yanked me back so hard that I almost hit her out of reflex. I turned and saw the look of pain on her face. My gaze followed hers and I found Jackson.
He and five other men and women were hanging from a long gallows. Each of them were still thrashing about, their bulging eyes easy to see.
“Let’s go,” Kayla whispered.
My feet were planted. This was yet another thing that made no sense. Jackson was dead, and it was obvious that he had been so for at least a while. Suzi had never meant to release him. That was the only thing that came to mind. But if that was so, then why had she let us go at all?
Kayla continued to tug on me, but I was not ready to just walk away from this. There had to be answers. I was missing something
.
A hard slap to my cheek snapped me out of my daze. Kayla’s own face was inches from my own.
“We have to go. Now!” she hissed.
I was about to join her when I heard a series of gongs. The camp as a whole seemed to freeze. Everybody turned with looks of confusion on their faces.
“How could that be?” somebody nearby said.
“That is from the north watch!” somebody else exclaimed.
“That has to be a mistake,” a woman insisted.
Then, it was like watching a large flock of birds being startled. People began to run in every direction at once. It was still not a mass hysteria, but more of a sense of purpose. If nothing else, these people were proving that they were very adept at handling a crisis. There was an urgency, but no signs of panic.
We used the people all moving with haste to our advantage. I was numb and allowed Kayla to sort of take me by the hand and lead the way. This entire trip had been all for nothing. Jackson was dead.
My mind was trying to come up with even a shred of reason for all of this and continued to draw a blank. I was still in shock when Kayla suddenly came to a stop. I had to look around to figure out why.
We were out of the camp. I had no idea how long we’d been running, or even a clue as to what direction. It took me a few more seconds to realize that we were west of the encampment for some reason. If there was any direction that we did not need to go, it was west. That took us away from not only Cricket and Island City, but it also put the zombies that she and I had helped lead in between ourselves and home.
I guess I had given up at some point. I wanted to go home. I was certain that I would be in trouble, but I didn’t care. I was just tired.
“Why are we going this way?” I asked.
“Because of that,” Kayla said, pulling me down into the brush.
I followed her finger. We had started up a small hill and were in tall grass, bushes, and a few scraggly trees. Somebody would have to be actively searching for us to even have the slightest chance of spotting our position. This hill provided an excellent view of the ruins of La Grande, Island City to the northeast, and Suzi’s camp to the south. I could see our wave of zombies trudging onward in the direction of the encampment. It was obvious that they had spotted the zombie equivalent of a picnic. Noisemakers would be useless at this point.
However, I also saw a group of about fifty people on horseback. They were emerging from the ruins of one of the other settlements that had supposedly been razed by Suzi’s army. Then I saw a group of riders emerge from the encampment. They had two people with them that were wearing dark hoods and had their hands tied behind their backs.
I watched as the two groups approached each other. We were not exactly close enough to be able to overhear from this spot. If we moved to our right about a hundred yards or so, then we should have no problems. I motioned to Kayla and she shook her head. Now was not the time for her to be a pain in my ass.
“I want to hear what this is all about,” I insisted.
“Then you go. I will wait here.”
I scowled at her, but if she wanted to miss whatever this was, that was her problem. Staying low, I moved through the grass with as much stealth as I could manage. It seemed to take forever, but I absolutely did not want to give away my location.
As luck would have it, I reached my place and got situated a good few minutes before the two groups reached each other. When they stopped, I had to stifle a tiny gasp. I recognized one of the riders from the encampment. It was the guy who had first brought me to Suzi. I was pretty sure his name was Randy. He had belted me a good one and Suzi had sent him on Outrider duty or some such thing.
I was only forced to wait for another moment to see who were under the hoods. I did not know the one woman, but I sure as hell recognized Suzi. If I was curious before, I was positively itching to know what the hell was going on now.
“Took you guys long enough,” Randy said to one of the men as he yanked Suzi’s hood off.
16
Vignettes LXVI
A tremendous roar echoed across the clearing where the cabin sat. Juan was frozen in place; too frightened to do much more than just await his impending doom. The grizzly rose up on its hind legs, and its mouth opened once more to let loose with another guttural roar that caused any of the remaining birds that might still be perched nearby to take flight in a rush of flapping wings.
“So this is how I go out?” Juan actually found enough moisture in his mouth to allow him to laugh.
He considered the machete at his belt and then recalled a few things that he’d heard about bears. One of the biggest (besides the whole ridiculous ploy of pretending to be dead to make the bear lose interest and walk away) was the fact that their skulls were incredibly thick. Even if he could get his feet under him enough to allow for a decent swing, he doubted his ability to cause enough damage to kill a grizzly bear.
“Hey!” a voice barked.
The bear wasn’t the only one to turn towards the sudden and new distraction. Juan was actually surprised that his eyes had been able to be pulled away from the giant bear. He was in a position that put the person who yelled with his back to the sun. That had cast all his features in darkness, but the outline gave away the identity.
“Gerald!” Juan would have been embarrassed at any other time in his life to hear his voice crack and sound so weak and relieved, but his emotions were at the breaking point as despair collided with relief.
The big man took a step forward and raised his hands over his head. “C’mon, you over-stuffed teddy bear,” the man hollered.
The bear seemed to take a moment to consider its options. Juan was certain that he looked to be the most appealing of the two. After all, he was on his knees and basically defenseless. The bear turned towards Gerald and let its head fall back in another rumble of sound that Juan swore was deep enough to cause his insides to shift.
The bear dropped to four feet and began to approach Gerald. For the briefest of moments, Juan had this idea where the man was going to ruffle the bear’s fur and scratch it behind the ears telling him he was a bad bear for scaring the nice Hispanic man.
When the mountain of a man brought up a massive maul, that fantasy went out the window. Gerald seemed to wait until the last possible second before bringing the heavy steel weapon around in a tremendous swing. There was a solid sound like the head of the maul striking granite.
“Son of a bitch!” Gerald yelped, his hands letting go of the weapon.
Thankfully, the bear was, at the very least, seriously dazed. It staggered a step, but did not fall. It was equally fortunate that Gerald seemed to be the first to recover. He pulled a huge knife from his belt and came in from the side, driving it into the beast’s throat.
Apparently the bear was made of stronger stuff. It rose up, although not quite managing to come to its full and massive height. Gerald managed to duck the first swipe with one of those vicious paws, but the follow-through of the second sent the man sprawling like he was a child’s plaything.
Juan pulled himself to his feet. He glanced at Gerald who was busy trying to shake loose the cobwebs. Also, in the exchange, the man had lost his knife.
“Hey, Winnie-the-Pooh,” Juan called, “I thought you were in the mood for Mexican food!”
The bear did not seem to even notice the challenge and continued to lumber towards Gerald. Juan knew he couldn’t run, but if he did nothing, he was equally certain that the man who’d once again saved his life was going to be ripped apart. With nothing else handy, Juan hefted his crutch and threw it like a javelin; a very poorly designed javelin to be sure judging by the way the thing wobbled and spun as it flew through the air.
By the time it reached its intended target, the crutch had turned almost sideways. It bounced off of the bear’s body and landed impotently on the ground. The bear paused and turned for the briefest of moments, but apparently it wanted to dish out a little get back to the man who’d caved in the side of its
head and cut a gaping hole in its throat.
It took another two steps toward Gerald and then started to rise up on its hind legs again. Sadly, for the bear at least, the massive blood loss along with the trauma to the brain finally proved to be more than the beast could withstand.
With a low growl, the bear rocked and then fell forward in a graceless face-plant. There was a tremendous exhale, and then the grizzly was still.
Both Juan and Gerald remained stock still for a few more seconds before each man let out his own exhale; theirs being ones of relief rather than a final death rattle. Gerald had managed to make it to his knees. He turned, and Juan could not help but wince. The man looked like he’d just gone the distance with the champ.
He wanted to express his thanks and gratitude, however, what came out of his mouth was, “Have you seen my girls?”
“No,” Gerald answered hesitantly.
Just that quick, the relief of having been spared evaporated. Once more, Juan felt grief seep into every crack in his being.
***
Vix sat around a roaring fire with one of the strangest groups of people she could ever recall having met. Besides Paddy and Seamus, there was Algernon, a bookish looking man who looked like he belonged at a library checkout counter instead of dripping from head to toe with a variety of blades that he was able to throw with amazing precision. He had milky white skin and wore his long red hair in a series of about a dozen braids. Next came Gable, the American. He was as black as Algernon was white and kept his coarse ebony hair in a topknot. At well over six feet tall, he was built a lot like Seamus, but his muscles were well defined instead of just hiding under a lot of bulk. Gable always smiled, but it was that sort of smile that you might expect on a shark. Last was Randi. The only woman of the group, and of obvious Middle Eastern descent, Vix doubted that was her real name.
Randi had probably been a beauty once. The parts of her face not puckered and twisted from the horrible scars gave hints. She kept two cudgels on her hip, each tipped with a misshapen hunk of some sort of silvery metal. She did not talk. If she had something to say, she leaned over and whispered it to Gable who spoke on her behalf.