by K. S. Black
“Stay here.” Cooper motioned for her to stay put and moved towards the counter with measured steps.
“Why does that little girl have a fucking machine gun?”
“Because I gave it to her for protection. You do know what’s going on right now, don’t you?” Cooper stared at the younger and much smaller man.
Kevin pointed his XM8 at the clerk.
“What the hell are you doing, Kevin? Have you lost your mind?”
The clerk slid his hand under the counter.
Kevin stepped forward. “Leave your gun where it is and put your hands up, or I’ll fucking shoot.”
Cooper pulled up his Tavor and aimed in on the man, too.
Another shaggy-haired man dressed in a Molly Hatchet t-shirt, popped up from behind the counter holding a pump action shotgun.
“Hayley get down!”
Kevin fired several rounds from his XM8. The counter exploded in front of him.
Cooper shot the clerk squarely in the chest. The impact threw the young man backwards into the Plexiglas covered cigarette display. He bounced off and fell face down on the floor.
The shooting was over as quickly as it had started. Debris and cigarettes rained down like confetti. Neither of the men behind the counter had gotten off a shot. Cooper looked out the windows. All quiet outside. The police wouldn’t be coming. He wanted to leave and had momentarily forgotten about Hayley who had stayed planted in the same spot he left her in.
“Hayley?”
She didn’t answer. Her eyes were closed. Cooper thought she was in shock.
“Hayley!” He rushed over and checked her over for any injuries.
“I’m okay, Dad.”
“You had me really scared, kiddo. Are you sure, you’re all right?”
“I’m fine. My ears are ringing. I can’t hear very well—that’s all. I’m going to get a bottle of water.” She walked over to the refrigerator case.
He wasn’t convinced she was fine but would deal with the repercussions later.
Kevin raced to the garbage can by the front door and threw up. Before Kevin could compose himself, he grabbed him by the beard and yanked. “You want to tell me why the hell I just shot somebody? Because I need to know!”
“What the fuck, man! Let go of me. He had a gun. I wasn’t taking any chances.”
Cooper released his grip on Kevin’s beard. Then he peered over the counter. The clerk was on top of the Molly Hatchet t-shirt man who was still holding a Mossberg 500 SP Cruiser that appeared out-of-the-box new. A Colt Python .357 magnum with 6-inch barrel was on the floor next to the bodies.
Kevin stepped behind the counter to take a closer look. “Shit! There’s a girl underneath those idiots.” He kept his voice low.
Cooper hurried behind the counter and helped Kevin pull the dead men off a petite, young woman. Kevin checked for a pulse. Her throat had been cut, and her shirt ripped down the front.
“Well?”
Kevin shook his head. He picked up the Mossberg and the Python and set them on the counter.
“You may as well take them.” Cooper said. He looked back at the coffee island. All the carafes were empty. A sharp pain started to spread across the top of his skull.
CHAPTER 20
May 10 – Blythe, CA
Cooper made a hard right and pulled into a parking lot. He had spotted a Starbucks in the small shopping plaza. He parked away from the coffee shop so he wouldn't draw any immediate attention to the Humvee if someone drove by. He’d have to work on kicking his caffeine addiction, but for now, he needed to calm the beast in order to keep his headache from getting any worse. The aspirin he took after they left the convenience store hadn’t kicked in.
“All the stores look closed, man.”
“I don’t care. I need to find some coffee. You two stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
At the back of the Humvee, Cooper looked through his emergency kit. He fished out a hammer, hid it inside his jacket, and walked across the parking lot. He reached the door and gave it a tug. Locked, of course. He took out the hammer and swung hard. His first couple of hits caused the glass to spiderweb. He swung again. Tiny beads of glass rained down onto the ground. Using the hammer’s handle he cleared enough glass out of the way so he could step inside.
* * *
Not wanting to waste time figuring out the coffee machines, Cooper grabbed a French press off the sale shelf. The town still had electricity so he was able to get some hot water going in an electric kettle.
After several minutes, he placed a giant-sized paper cup filled with French Roast on the counter. Steam rose from the liquid. He inhaled the intoxicating aroma before taking his first sip.
He walked around to the customer side of the counter and grabbed some napkins, his back to the door. He heard the crunch of glass underfoot. He didn’t bother to turn around thinking it was Kevin at first, but the footsteps sounded too light.
There wasn’t much he could do when he realized his mistake. He felt the muzzle of a gun pushing against his back. A small hand pushed his head against the counter.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing in here, Cosplay. I’m with the sheriff’s department, and you’re under arrest for breaking and entering. Don’t make a move to touch those fancy guns of yours.” The voice was female. She slapped a handcuff on him with the expertise of someone who had done this many times.
“Stay down. Give me your left wrist.” She held the side of his face to the counter, spilled coffee no more than an inch away from his nose.
He managed a peek behind him. Uniform pants with black shoes. Kevin was sneaking up behind her.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Kevin said.
The deputy kept her gun on Cooper. “You need to put your weapon on the floor and come place your hands on the counter next to the big guy,” she said as she pushed down harder on Cooper’s head. “I’ll probably accidentally shoot your friend if you try anything.”
“It might sting him a little since he’s wearing body armor. But you, on the other hand, won’t feel so good if you fucking survive.”
She lowered her gun and faced Kevin. “I have backup coming.”
“No you don’t. Put your gun on the ground and slide it over here,” Kevin said.
The deputy looked unfazed and did as she was told.
Cooper straightened himself up and worked a kink out of his back before picking up her Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol. He motioned for her to have a seat at a table and walked behind the counter to get more coffee before he sat down next to her. “Would you mind taking this thing off of me?” He held up his arm; the loose handcuff dangled from his wrist.
She reached for her keys.
Kevin moved in closer. “I’ll blow your fucking head off, pig!”
She held the keys up, appearing aggravated rather than scared.
Cooper pushed the muzzle of Kevin’s XM8 away. “Seriously, Kevin—pig? What’s wrong with you? This is not some bad seventies movie. The deputy was just going to take the cuffs off.”
Cooper held out his wrist. “Thank you, deputy. Don’t you know what’s going on? Have you watched any news?”
She leaned towards Cooper. “Yes, but I still have a job to do. I swore an oath.”
Kevin laughed. “That’s fucking funny.”
“Please excuse him. We’re not criminals. I’m not anyway. I just needed some coffee. No one’s going to hurt you. I’ll make sure of that. We’ve just had a few really, really rough days. Maybe if you take a look at some pictures I’ve taken, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on. Kevin, tell Hayley to come in here and bring my backpack with my camera in it.”
Kevin gave them both a dirty look and limped back outside.
“Don’t you think it’s abnormally quiet on the highway?” Cooper asked.
“It’s been very quiet, but lots of folks all over the county are sick.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“And
you’re riding around town going about your job like nothing has happened. Don’t you want to find out what’s going on?”
“Look, Cosplay—”
“My name is Cooper Reid. And you’re—” Cooper looked at her name tag. “Deputy Harvey.” He swallowed a mouthful of hot coffee and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Look, Mr. Reid, I know what’s happening. My job is to make sure that everyone in this town stays safe. What did you expect me to do when I saw that you’d broken in here? Just because we’re in the middle of a crisis situation, doesn’t mean that people like you are allowed to go running around doing whatever they want.”
“I understand where you’re coming from, but I’ve seen some things in the past few days, and it’s changed my whole perspective on what’s going on right now. Believe it or not, we’re in the middle of a revolution. This virus that’s made so many people sick was started on purpose. I would bet my life on it.” He lowered his voice. “Can you listen with an open mind and stop being a cop for a little while?”
Kevin escorted Hayley inside, and she rushed over to Cooper. “What’s going on? You okay, Dad?”
Cooper got out of his chair. “Everything’s good. I was just talking to Deputy Harvey and was getting ready to tell her about everything we’ve seen in the past few days.” He put his arm around Hayley’s waist. “This is my daughter, Hayley. That joker over there is Kevin. He looks like somebody famous, but I still can’t put my finger on who it is,” he said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
“Hayley, give Deputy Harvey the camera and let her take a look at the pictures.”
He scooted his chair next to the deputy and told her how he and Hayley had driven out to San Bernardino to see if anything was going on there. As she watched the slide show, he let the images speak for themselves.
“I need a little time to process this. Nothing like that is happening here,” she said.
“It may only be a matter of time before they come here and start rounding everyone up or killing everyone.” Cooper knew she was struggling to accept that their country was under siege. It was a hard pill to swallow.
“Dad, what about all the stuff outside and the damage to the Humvee? You could show her that.”
“Good idea. Come with us. Maybe seeing the Humvee and all the supplies we found will help convince you,” he said.
* * *
Cooper pulled the tarp off the trailer and showed Deputy Harvey the boxes of the military ammo, the box of grenades and the food rations.
"What is that?" She pointed and moved closer to the back of the Humvee. She ran her fingertips across the volcano shaped impact on the back door.
"That's from a .50 caliber round," Cooper said.
"What do you take me for? No hummer can stop a .50 caliber round."
“Hayley, get Okami out of the Humvee,” Kevin said.
Hayley picked up the sleepy puppy and held him in her arms. “What are you going to do?”
"Going hot!"
Startled, everyone jumped back and threw their hands to their ears. Kevin took aim and shot the back of the Humvee with his new.357 magnum. The bullet entered to the right of the .50 caliber impact in the back door.
“Don’t shoot my Humvee!” he said a split second too late. “Damn it, Kevin!”
“This baby can take it. Maybe now she’ll believe us.”
The deputy walked to the back of the Humvee to inspect the bullet impacts. The hole from the .357 was not even half the size of the .50 caliber one and the damage was much less.
“So those two impacts on the windows and the one in the back door were from .50 caliber rounds? What the hell is this thing made out of?”
Cooper told her about the vehicle, the custom work he had done on it and how Homeland Security had fired on them. When he was done telling her about what he had witnessed on the road, he and Kevin showed her the weapons they had collected.
“Look at these!” Her eyes widened. “I’ve seen them in American Rifleman and could only drool over them. I can’t believe I’m actually getting to hold them.”
The two men grinned slightly as they turned their heads to look at each other. Cooper appreciated the fact that she knew exactly what she had in front of her.
When she finished examining guns, He explained what had happened in the convenience store and described the two dead men.
“Callie is dead? No. No. No. She was only twenty-two.” The deputy squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, a tear fell to her cheek. “Her folks owned that gas station. I’ve known the whole family for years. Her parents got back from vacation about a week ago. They thought they were coming down with the flu. Callie was running the store for them while they were laid up in bed. She was such a sweet girl.
“Good riddance to those two idiots if they’re who I think they are.” Her face clouded over with anger. “They were nothing but human garbage, but Callie--” She stopped abruptly as her voice caught in her throat. She took a deep breath, wiped her eyes. “I should take you down to the station to get an official statement, but I guess it doesn’t matter.” She looked as if she was going to cry but didn’t.
“Let’s go back inside,” Cooper could see the awful realization of their situation in her eyes. “I need more coffee. You look like you could use some, too.”
They filed back into the coffee shop. Kevin, Hayley, and the deputy sat down at a table. Grabbing the largest container he could find, Cooper poured himself more coffee. He poured some into a smaller cup, set it down in front of the deputy, but she pushed it aside.
“I can’t take that. What you did is still not right.” She paused. “I believe what you’ve said about Homeland Security, FEMA camps, and the dead bodies, but infected people running around eating other people—that sounds kind of like movie bullshit to me. I’ve seen people with the virus. I know some of them have died from it, but none of them are running around like zombies.” She sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest.
Kevin took off his jacket. He held out his forearm so that she could see the large purple bruise with clear human bite marks. “Look at my sleeve,” he said and handed her his jacket.
“That doesn’t prove you were bitten by a zombie. You could have attacked someone, and they bit you in self-defense for all I know.”
Kevin grabbed his jacket from her. “Fuck you. I wasn't bitten by a zombie.”
“He was bitten by a woman who was infected with a mutated form of the Rapture virus called Dante’s Influenza. I had to kill her or she would have killed Kevin. Before that happened, we had found a dead body that looked like animals had gotten to it. But it was probably her or others like her. It couldn’t have been anything else. And I’ve seen others.”
Kevin’s mouth formed a straight line. He nodded his head and walked behind the counter.
“I bet if you go from house to house in the next few days,” Cooper said, “which I don’t recommend you do, by the way, you would probably find that most of the people who were sick are either dead now or they look like the people who tried to take a bite out of Kevin and the ones who came after me.”
After a few moments of silence, Deputy Harvey leaned forward. “Tell me more about the zombies.”
Kevin’s head popped out from under the counter when he heard the word zombie again.
He rushed back to the table, spun a chair around and straddled it with his arm slung over the back rest. “You need to get this straight. Technically, they’re not zombies,” he said. “Zombies are the dead that reanimate to eat brains or some shit like that. These people aren’t dead, and they don’t look like walking corpses although they literally smell like shit.”
Cooper sighed and wiped the corners of his mouth with his fingers. “Listen, I don’t know for sure what they are besides people infected with a virus who will never be the same as they were. According to what Hayley heard on the news, the infected have Dante's Influenza. It causes brain damage, but they’ve also been physically altered by the vi
rus.
“They’re fast, strong, and extremely aggressive. After seeing them up close, they don’t seem to react to pain. I shot some that were chasing me. They got back up and kept coming until I killed them.”
“Yeah, like zombies,” said the deputy.
“No dude. You’re not listening.” Kevin said.
“But I am listening. Don’t any of you watch horror movies? In George Romero’s movies and in the movie Resident Evil, they’re what Kevin said were zombies—the dead reanimated. But in the movie, 28 Days Later, they’re infected with a manmade monkey virus called Rage. They’re still considered zombies, even though they weren’t dead.”
Kevin cut her off. “I know that movie, and they never called them zombies, they called them the infected.”
Cooper smacked his hand on the table. “You can call them Bozo the Clown for all I care. It doesn’t matter what you call them. The fact is they are out there. They chased me for over a mile. They would’ve kept chasing me for much longer if they could. I was prey.”
All eyes were on him. “My dad’s friend, a retired Marine Corp sergeant major, who did a couple of tours in Vietnam, told me this weird story about a group of Viet Cong that attacked his platoon. It reminds me of how the infected act. Every time a marine shot one of the VC, the VC would get back up and keep coming at them.
“It would take five, six, or seven rounds to stop just one man if you didn’t hit them in the head. He said that he and his buddy killed over twenty of them in less than an hour but got low on ammo, so the sergeant major, a PFC back then, crawled out of his fox hole and dragged one of the dead VC into the hole with him. He and his buddy wanted to figure out why they were so hard to kill.”
Kevin opened his mouth to speak, but Cooper glared at him and continued.
“Every one of his major joints had wire tightly tied above it. His torso was wrapped with canvas and wire so tight that they wondered how the man could even breathe. They counted eleven holes in his body but very little blood. Over half of the shots should have taken him down immediately. They also figured that the VC were high on some kind of local narcotic that altered their awareness of pain.”