by David Rogers
“—been stuck up there since just before dawn.” the brunette was saying to Austin. “I thought for a minute you guys might keep going.”
“Wouldn’t have been the first to turn around and ditch us.” the man said in a tone that was clearly trying for humor despite the stress in it.
“How’d y’all end up stuck?” Austin asked.
“My car ran out of gas a couple of miles up the road.” the man said, gesturing north. “I forgot the gas gauge is broken.” The brunette frowned at him, but only briefly before she turned and took several steps to the other woman. The man kept talking as the brunette slung the shotgun behind her shoulder and wrapped her arms around the blonde in a hug. “We were on foot headed south, and we tried to get around that in the trees.” He gestured at the wreckage to the south.
“Got cut off?” Austin asked.
“Sure as shit did.” the man shrugged. “We’d seen the zombies on the road, which was why we were out in the trees, but it turned out they were all over the place. We tried to shoot our way through, but Darla was running low on ammo so we made a break for the wrecks and managed to climb up out of reach. That’s basically it.”
Jessica saw Tyler approaching on foot, his face wearing an expression Jessica instantly recognized as one of professional disapproval. The kind a boss wore in a business environment when he was unhappy with a subordinate. She reminded herself that, technically, Austin was an employee of Tyler’s; though she was not only getting less thrilled with that concept, she was also starting to wonder if who worked for who had a whole lot of meaning anymore.
“Mr. Carter.”
Austin turned enough to acknowledge Tyler without putting his back to the trio of rescuees. “This is Mr. Morris. He’s in charge.”
“Sam Kirkwood.” the man said before Tyler could say anything. “This is Darla and Beth. Ah, I haven’t exactly caught their last names.”
“I’m glad we were able to help you out, but if you don’t mind, I need to have a private word with Mr. Carter.”
“Sure.” Sam said uncertainly. “Uh, sure. Don’t want to get in the way.” He walked away from the SUV, toward the two women. Darla – Jessica assumed she was the one with all the weapons – was making some limited headway toward calming Beth down. Sam joined them, positioning himself so his back was to Tyler and Austin.
Tyler jerked his head commandingly, and Austin preceded him toward the front of the SUV. Jessica tracked their progress covertly, trying not to be obvious as she cocked her head to catch what she could of their conversation. Austin stopped just past the bumper and turned to face Tyler, straightening to a stiff, formal stance with his face smoothed back over into that impassive expression Jessica had already seen. He looked like he knew he was being called on the carpet.
“Don’t understand . . . disobey . . . put at risk . . . ammunition . . . had gotten stuck . . . completely unacceptable.” Jessica heard through the background of light wind and idling engines. Tyler’s tone was severe, and it was obvious he was quite angry. She recognized the signs. Most people who wore suits like a second skin rarely screamed, but they typically had a knack for making themselves clear without needing to resort to theatrics.
“Is Austin in trouble?”
Jessica turned her head. “I don’t know.”
“But why is—”
“Candice, it’s something for Mr. Morris and Austin to talk about.” Jessica interrupted, using her Mom tone. “Not us.”
Candice subsided, and Jessica returned her full attention to the men. Austin said something from his stiff position, something that made Tyler visibly sigh. She watched as both men were silent for several seconds – Austin waiting while Tyler apparently considered whatever Austin had said – until Tyler finally sighed again. Tyler glanced around, then pulled a folded map from the inside pocket of his jacket. Unfolding it enough to be usable, he laid it on the hood of the SUV and the two of them bent over it. Austin ran his finger over the paper, then tapped something and spoke. Tyler considered it and nodded.
Austin stepped back as Tyler turned, refolding the map as he walked toward the trio of rescuees. The big man followed, his posture still straight and formal. Jessica glanced at the rescuees. The blonde was a little calmer, though she was hovering almost in contact with Darla. Sam turned as Darla’s eyes focused on the approaching Tyler.
“As I said, I’m glad we were able to bail you out, but there’s a limit to what other help we can provide.” Tyler said in a composed tone of calculated reason. “We’re tight on space and time, but Mr. Carter assures me he can squeeze you into his vehicle at least as far as the next couple of exits.”
Beth nodded eagerly, but Darla’s face showed confusion and a hint of anger. “What does that mean?”
“We can get you out of the middle of nowhere.” Tyler said. “Somewhere with shelter so you can rest up and decide your next move.”
“What are you guys, military?”
Tyler shook his head at Sam. “No, though some of us are ex-military.” Jessica thought that was stretching the truth at least somewhat; Austin was, but so far as she knew no one else in the convoy had ever been in uniform.
Darla was studying Tyler with the anger on her face starting to slowly shift to the fore, but Jessica saw her eyes flick to Austin’s face for a moment. Jessica couldn’t see his expression with his back mostly to the SUV, but he must have done something that made Darla reevaluate. She nodded slowly, then again more certainly. “Rescue and a ride. There are worse deals I guess.”
“Excellent.” Tyler said briskly. “Mr. Carter will get you settled, then we’ll all be on our way.” Tyler nodded to them and headed for the BMW.
“Give me a minute to get everyone rearranged.” Austin said as Tyler departed. He turned and opened Jessica’s door. “I think the best way to fit them is to put them all in the back seat.” he said quietly when she looked up at him. “You want to slide back across, or get out and go around?”
Jessica blinked, still trying to process everything that was happening. She shook off Tyler’s actions and considered her leg. “Um, hand me my cane and I can limp around.”
“What if I just let you use me as the cane.” he said, offering his arm.
“If you can manage, I guess I can too.” she said with a flash of a smile. Taking hold of his arm just above the elbow, she let him take most of her weight on the left side as she swiveled around and slid out of the SUV to land on her right foot. Slowly she limped around the front of the SUV, leaning unconcernedly on Austin to avoid doing more than the most basic – and light – balancing with her left leg. She was unsurprised when Austin all but lifted her up into the passenger seat when they got there, and didn’t object.
He leaned and reached past her to move the bundle of towels as she got herself resituated. Her knee was definitely aching now, but she bore it without complaint. It wasn’t even close to as bad as it had been the previous night. She could handle it.
“How’s that?”
“Fine, thanks.” she said, smiling again.
“Good. Okay, girlie-girl, why don’t you climb up here and squeeze in next to Mom.”
Jessica looked back at Candice, who was just shifting her gaze from Austin to Jessica, clearly double checking the instruction. Jessica nodded and held out her hand. “Come on Candy Bear, there’s room.” Her daughter unbuckled the seatbelt and scrambled forward. She was small enough, and the SUV’s interior roomy enough, that she was able to fit through the space between the front seats and over the center console without a problem.
“There you go.” Jessica said as Candice carefully dropped down in the seat next to Jessica. “You were so good while we were helping those people, I’m proud of you.” She draped her arm around Candice to help settle her without being squeezed between Jessica’s arm and the padded plastic of the center console.
“You were really brave mom.” Candice said as she hugged Jessica. “Were you scared?”
“Yes.” Jessica said in a stage wh
isper. “But what’s being brave?”
“Doing what you have to even when you’re scared.”
“That’s it.” Jessica nodded.
“What about this?” Candice asked, gesturing at the case of bullets wedged in next to her against the center console.
“Move that over to Austin’s seat.”
Candice tried to lift the box, then had to use both hands, grunting with effort as she got it up and slid across the console. “That’s heavy.”
“Bullets weigh a lot.” Jessica said, reaching to push on the box to help tip it over into the driver’s seat.
A gunshot sounded, and Jessica looked around sharply. Austin, who had been trying to fit the suitcase of hand-me-down clothing Trudy Morris had donated to Jessica and Candice into the back of the SUV, straightened and spun as two more shots went off. One of the Eagle people had his weapon upon his shoulder, but his left hand was raised in a thumbs up. “It’s okay, just a single. All clear.”
Jessica looked where his weapon was aimed and saw a zombie down in the grass of the road shoulder. Austin looked too, then went back to rearranging the boxes in the cargo area. He found room and got the suitcase situated, then left the back door open and went around to talk to the rescuees. Whatever he said was brief, then the three of them headed for the SUV. Sam went around to the passenger side, while Beth slid in to sit in the middle of the bench seat.
The blonde met Jessica’s eyes as she turned, and Beth smiled weakly. “Th-thank you, for . . . for . . .” she said in a soft voice.
“I’m glad we could help out.” Jessica smiled. The woman was actually quite pretty, even beneath the smudged dirt and tear stains on her face. She didn’t begrudge Beth her emotional state; she’d been there herself. In some ways she still was. Everything was harder now.
“Yes, thank you.” Darla said as she took the left side of the bench and propped her shotgun upright between her knees.
“You look like you’re ready to handle anything.” Jessica said as politely as she could manage. “But I guess anything can happen to anyone now.”
“No doubt.” Darla nodded, then grimaced. She reached behind her and adjusted something, then shrugged. “Ammo. We’re not out, but we didn’t have enough to handle everything we were up against.”
“We played the long game and it paid off.” Sam said as he got in behind Jessica. “Fortunately.”
Austin was standing next to the driver’s seat, patiently holding down the control to adjust the seat back. “Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.” He tucked the bullet case away beneath the seat one handed, making Candice stare. Jessica smiled in amusement at her daughter’s reaction.
“And sometimes the bear is a zombie that has a lot of friends.” Darla said sourly. “Sam, I know you’re eager to get south but if you want Beth and me to stick with you then we’re going to have to stock up before we start moving again. Food, water, ammo.”
“No objection.” he said soberly. “We need to find a car anyway. Hey, I don’t suppose y’all got anyone who knows how to hotwire a car, do you?”
“I don’t think so.” Austin said as he tried to get in behind the wheel. It was a tight fit, but he stayed seated as he moved the seat back some more.
“Damnit. Yeah, us neither.”
Darla shrugged. “We’ll have to look around for something with the keys still in it.”
“Try houses.” Austin suggested. “If there’s a vehicle at the house, odds are there are keys for it somewhere inside.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
Austin turned his head and lowered his voice conspiratorially as he continued holding down the seat adjust. “Don’t tell my boss, but I can let you have a couple of boxes of 9mm. I don’t think we have any twelve gauge handy though.”
Darla blinked at him, then smiled and nodded. “My lips are sealed.”
“It won’t be enough to get you out of something like that—” Austin said with a jerk of his head toward the killing field to the south, “—but it might help you avoid getting jammed up again.”
“Many thanks. Sixty shots is still sixty shots, even if I can’t shoot like you can.”
“Practice.” Austin shrugged. “Lots of practice. If all this keeps up, I’ve got a feeling most people with a pulse are going to be a lot more practiced than they are now.”
“She does okay.” Sam interjected. “Don’t let her talk like she’s helpless. She’s pretty good. Way better than me. I’d never even touched a gun until yesterday. Even Beth is better than me.”
“Practice.” Austin repeated. “And patience. Always play the long game.”
“It worked out this time.” Jessica put in, and heads nodded, though Beth’s lower lip quivered like she was about to burst back into tears.
“Okay, finally.” Austin said as the seat got far enough back that he wasn’t scrunched up between it and the steering wheel.
“It’s your fault for being so tall.” Candice told him.
He burst out laughing. “You’re right. If I hadn’t eaten my Wheaties and drank so much milk I might be smaller like you.”
“I’m not small, I’m ten.” Candice said in a matter-of-fact voice. She looked around as everyone else chuckled. “What?”
* * * * *
Darryl
“DJ, I don’t think nobody’s home.” Chrome said.
Darryl shrugged as he glanced around before pounding on the door again. “Bobo say be sure.” The rural neighborhood was fairly spread out, but so far everything they’d checked along this street had been empty. Three days of zombies and apocalypse and he was still getting used to how eerie it was to go hours without seeing other people when out and about. The Watkinsville area was the sticks, but it wasn’t Grizzly Adams territory either. People lived here.
Or they had.
“There ain’t no cars in the garage.”
“Just wait.”
“Ain’t none of the others down this road been occupied.”
“Chrome, just fucking relax.” Darryl said, his tone growing annoyed.
Chrome subsided, and Darryl checked in both directions along the front of the house. He had three Dogz with him in two of the stolen trucks they’d been using since Friday night. Stony and Psycho were facing in opposite directions a little ways out on the front lawn, ostensibly watching for zombies.
But Stony was a little flaky at the best of times, and Psycho had a tendency to get a little preoccupied if something caught his attention. That’s why Darryl had Chrome designated as the outside lookout while he took the other two in with him. Chrome he trusted to keep an eye out by himself.
“Okay.” Darryl said after another half minute had ticked by with no response from the house. “Taking the door out.”
Chrome backed up further as Darryl raised the shotgun and pointed it at the door. Aiming just to the right of the knob, he stepped back himself so he had a chance to avoid any flying splinters, then fired. The shot pellets ripped into the wood in a tight pattern as the gun’s report echoed loudly. Darryl worked the slide to put another shell into the chamber and fired a second time, then kicked forward with his left leg.
He’d gotten better at it. His foot landed right where he wanted with all the power of his thigh and weight behind it. The weakened door burst open with a cracking of wood, bounced back against the wall behind it, and bounced again as he got his foot planted down in time to save his knee. The first two had popped him right on the kneecap when they bounced, which fucking smarted. He’d learned to use his boot to protect against that.
Cautiously, Darryl waited another few seconds, listening as he held the shotgun at the ready. Eventually he stepped back and thumbed in two shells to replace the ones he’d fired off, then raised his voice. “Let’s go Dogz. Chrome, give a yell if anything shows up.”
With Stony and Psycho following, Darryl moved into the house. The living room was a little messy with speaker wires and game controllers scattered across the floor next to DVD
and video game cases, but it was vacant. Kids had lived here, he saw from some of the toys he saw scattered around the edges of the room.
But it was empty, as were the kitchen and dining room. Sunlight through the windows gave him plenty to see by, even when he followed a central hallway past a bathroom to a den that looked to be set up as a man-cave. The house was quiet except for him and the two Dogz backing him up. It had that feeling of being empty; not abandoned, but with no one home.
“Man, check out that screen.” Stony said admiringly when he saw the enormous flat screen television mounted on the den’s wall.
“We ain’t here for no TV.” Darryl said as he ensured the room was empty. Whoever had lived here was a big boxing fan; there were big posters on the wall in several places of Tyson, Holyfield, Robinson, and Ali in glass fronted frames. The Ali and Holyfield ones were even signed, which argued for a dedicated fan. As far as Darryl knew, Ali’s Parkinson’s disease had been getting worse for quite a while.
“Too bad, that’s a sweet setup.”
“Place looks empty.”
“We checking upstairs?”
“Nah, let’s go through the kitchen, then the garage.” Darryl shook his head when he decided the first floor was okay. “But Psycho, keep an eye on the stairs in case something come tumbling down to eat us.”
“You got it DJ.”
The kitchen yielded two big boxes full of canned food, and another of boxed pasta, flavored pasta meals, and bags of rice. They got it added to the rest in the back of the trucks, then Darryl led the way into the garage. He opened the door, took one faltering step as a foul stench hit him, then stopped dead as his eyes swept around. Clutching at the door knob, he stared in disbelief at the scene inside.
“What wrong?” Stony said.
“Zombies?” Psycho asked.
“Not no more.” Darryl said, struggling to hold on to his stomach. His insides were twisting up as the blood splashed across the oil stained floor – blood and other things – assailed him. As bad as the images were, the smell was worse. The Georgia heat had clearly had time to go to work on the carnage, and he abruptly turned and bumped into Stony.