“How ya feelin’?” Skit asked once he was allowed to see her.
“Like a half-eaten happy meal,” she said, smiling despite the morbidity of it all. “Naw, pretty good, actually. The doctor said that the prosthetic and spacers he put in were done very professionally. She didn’t see the sense in messing with them.”
“Cool … I guess. Well, cool that is, unless he put a transmitter in you like he did Sedge’s collar.”
“Fuck you, Skit. God dammit, I’m trying to deal with shit here as it is and you have to throw that in my face. Jesus Christ.”
“For an atheist, you sure do use the Lord’s name in vain a lot.” Skit was no longer offended by her propensity for swearing and simply accepted that it was who she was.
“It’s a gift,” Lisa replied.
“So when are you going to be ready to go get this bastard?”
“Not for a while, Skit. Best to let him stew for a while. Let him know that he was beaten and of no consequence.”
“Beaten? What the hell are you talking about? He was eating you, Rey.”
“I know that better than anyone, Skit. But after I puked on him and Krupp was breaking through the door, I saw his face. Not his mock face, Skit; I saw his real face and all of the hate and rage he has buried behind the facade. He’s frustrated and desperate because we’ve found him out. What he did to me was retaliation, and he wasn’t even allowed to finish that. No, he’s expecting us to come after him, and that’s where we would fuck it up. By ignoring him for a while, we’ll frustrate him and then he’ll make mistakes.”
“Got it all figured out, don’t you?”
“To a point, yes.” Lisa shifted her gaze as a young woman showed up at her door. “Hi, Ally.”
“You’ve seen him, haven’t you?” Ally asked, meekly. Lisa couldn’t read if it was fear or something more calculated.
“I’ve seen him, Ally; up close and personal.”
“You can’t kill him, you know.”
“Everyone can be killed, Ally. It’s simply a matter of when and how.”
“His life is mine; I will kill him. And my uncle—when I find him—will help. This is a family matter. He killed my mother, and I want him.”
“Who’s your uncle, Ally?” Lisa asked, trying to distract the girl from her line of questioning.
“Chief Tanner.”
“Tanner? You mean my boss, Chief Tanner?”
Ally stared back at Lisa, having read between the lines. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“I’m sorry, honey, but yes … he’s dead.”
“How?”
“How does anyone die these days?”
“I don’t know; ask my mom.”
“Okay, I deserved that. He was overwhelmed with a group of cops and soldiers on the bridge. Two witnesses saw him die. He’s not … one of them because of his own gun.”
“Well, I guess that’s something.” The girl hung her head, feeling very much alone. Then Krupp walked in the room.
“Ally, is that you?”
Ally looked up; her countenance melted and she wrapped her arms around the cop who wasn’t present when she was admitted to the hospital.
“He’s dead, Krupp. Uncle Tanner is dead.”
“I know that, sweetie, I know. He died fighting though, and that means a lot for someone like him,” Krupp replied as he patted her on the back. She pulled back and looked up at him.
“But Mom is dead and Dad is dead, and I have no one except—”
“Except me and Cat. Cat is here and would love to know you’re alive. Remember all the good times we had on the boat?”
“Cat’s here?” She looked at Krupp and blinked the tears from her eyes. “I love Cat. She was my best friend during summer breaks.”
A shrill scream cut through the moment, and they turned to see Cat running full speed toward them with her arms wide and a broad smile on her face. The joy exuding from Krupp’s daughter was infectious and everybody smiled when the two girls met and clasped each other in a warm embrace. Ally was a few years younger but they were close enough in age to be summer friends since Krupp and her uncle, Tanner, were so close. Ally started to cry, but it was hard to tell if the tears were from pain or relief at not being alone. She pulled away from Cat while wiping away her tears.
“Cat, you have to teach me how to shoot like you do.”
“Okay, Ally, no problem, but it will have to be when I get back from Little Rock.”
Lisa saw the tightening around Krupp’s mouth that said he didn’t want his daughter going to Little Rock.
“Sorry, Cat, but I need you to stay here,” Lisa said, breaking into the conversation.
“But you need shooters with you,” Cat said, trying to make it not sound like a whine.
“No, I need operators with me there. I need you here, covering the ramparts and training civilians how to shoot. I don’t have anyone of your skill level who can do it, so I need you to stay here.”
“No, I’m going to Little Rock. There’s a lot to do there, and I’ll be a help to you.”
“It wasn’t a request, Cat. If you’re going to be a part of this then you have to follow instructions. We have to look at the bigger picture and that is stabilizing Hot Springs, and to do that I need you here.”
“But—”
“The discussion is over. I know that pisses you off, but it’s the way it’s going down. Do not defy me on this,” Lisa said, holding the young woman’s gaze for several moments to let her know how serious she was. “I’m not your father and I won’t play those games.”
“Okay, Lisa. I’ll stay.”
“Lisa is okay in here, but anywhere else, you will refer to me as Lieutenant Reynolds or simply Lieutenant. You’re no longer a kid hanging on your dad’s coat strings. You’re an adult and a full-fledged member of this Army with leadership responsibilities. You’re on the council and a firearms trainer. Childhood is over. Welcome to the Army.” Lisa said it firmly, but Cat saw between the words and realized that what she always wanted had just come to pass. She was no longer a reflection of her intimidating father. She was now her own entity. Adulthood was forced down her throat, and she kind of warmed to it.
“Yes, Lieutenant. I’ll get started right away.”
“Good, first order of business is getting Ally rigged up; take care of that, will you?”
“Wait, I’m not in the Army,” Ally protested.
“Reinstatement of the draft was yesterday; sorry you missed it. Welcome to the Army, Private Tanner.”
After some head shaking, both girls left the room and disappeared down the hall.
“You sure know how to make friends, don’t you?” Skit said, and Lisa smiled.
“Go check on the dogs, will ya, Skit? I need to talk to Krupp here for a couple of minutes.”
“No problem; I don’t like hospitals, anyway.”
“I have to admit, that guy surprised me,” Krupp said as he watched Skit walk away. “The way he fought in that clinic to keep you safe was impressive. I have no doubt that he would have died before he let those Z’s get to you.”
“Yeah, he surprised me too. Kind of funny when you consider that a couple of days ago, I was going to shoot him. When I was in that apartment and shot his buddy, Jonah, I thought he was nothing but a strung-out junky looking for his next high. I never would have guessed that he didn’t do drugs and had standards that might even border on morals.”
“Nope, me either. He was lucky it was you. I probably would have shot him just because I could have,” Krupp said as he came up close to her bedside.
Lisa reached out and gently held his hand between her fingers, and his brows knit together in confusion. She didn’t know why she did it; she wasn’t all that attracted to him … or was she? Her memory flashed to how many times she had looked at his ass or how his picture on the wall at the station always seemed to catch her eye. Could she …?
“I need you to know how much I appreciate that you came for me today, Ed. I mean just a short
time ago, I thought you wanted to kill me—or at least get rid of me, but when you came through that door in a rage … There was no one else I wanted to see.”
“No problem, Lisa. The fucker is a creep, and I can’t wait until we get our hands on him.” He gave her hand a quick squeeze before he eased it away.
“Sorry, I’m just feeling really alone right now. Kind of strange since I have more people in my life now than I ever have before.”
“Not many friends, huh?”
“Nope, never have. I guess I’m a little hard to deal with. Hell, my parents couldn’t even tolerate me much past my seventeenth birthday.”
“Huh, who would have thought?” Krupp said, sarcastically and let it hang until they both burst out laughing. Neither knew why it was funny, but the thought of looking to Krupp for sympathy and it being her seeking it seemed to strike both of them wrong.
“Look, I don’t know if you can consider the people around as friends, but they do have your back. Sometimes we just gotta take what we can get,” he said, and then looked over his shoulder before he continued. “Thanks for keeping Cat here. I wouldn’t be operating at optimum with having to watch out for her all the time.”
“What are you talking about, Ed? You’re staying too.”
“Fuck you.”
“No, fuck you. I need you here.” She almost laughed when his face dropped, not quite knowing what to say.
“I’m just fucking with you. You’re leading the operation, and I am on the sidelines for when you need me.”
“I think that would be best.”
“Yeah, me too. Plus, it gives me the freedom to do what I want, like get caught by cannibal doctors and shit. You know that I am going to stick my nose in anytime I want, right?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. Hey,” he hesitated, “I brought you something but …”
“But what? Give it here. Being short in the friend department has left me way behind on the gifting end too.”
“Well, it is not really a gift. It’s yours, and I just thought that you might want it.”
“Is that my …”
“Yep.”
“Wow, you cleaned it.”
“Yeah, it was pretty gross with a lot of the cooked meat still on it.”
She could tell he was nervous about saying a lot of this, but it was what it was and she couldn’t deny that.
“If you don’t want it, I will get rid of it for you. Bury it or something …”
“No, no … I think this needs to stay with me. Thank you.” She turned her rib over in her hands.
“There is one more thing that I want to talk to you about,” Krupp started warily.
“What is it, Ed?”
“Ernie.”
“Ernie? What about Ernie?”
“I want him.”
“Why?” Her tone was droll, not knowing why anyone could want Ernie.
“I knew his family, and he is just a hot-headed kid. I get that and know how to deal with it. If we just leave him out in the wind it could turn bad on us.”
“He’s yours,” she said without a second thought.
Krupp smiled, gave her a mock salute, and left, leaving Lisa to face the fears that had been recently cut into her.
***
“Are you sure that you’re ready for this?” Skit asked as she approached him gingerly while he stood next to the Chrysler that they started out in.
“Yeah. Why aren’t we taking my truck?”
“It has been requisitioned for the cause and is out with a crew clearing buildings.”
“Fucking A, no gratitude.”
“Yeah, others would call it justice.”
“Fuck you, Skit. Get in the car,” she said, and he smiled. “Oh and Skit, thanks for coming to get me yesterday.”
“No problem, Rey. Anytime.”
“I heard how hard you fought. Krupp was even impressed—well, as much as Krupp can be impressed,” Lisa said as they drove out of the gate, the ground currently free other than isolated groups of zombies around the edges being dealt with. A few pockets were also up by the wall but rebar wielding people were systematically cleaning them out. They had already had two waves of close to ten thousand and smaller groups of two to three thousand on multiple occasions. The smaller populations of Hot Springs, Piney, and other communities could more than triple that number, but the larger masses could be done for the most part. If they kept up the segregating and distractions, it could be manageable. Hopefully zombies didn’t migrate.
Lisa and Skit were amazed by the number of vehicles lined up for the venture. People who just three days ago were bankers or construction workers were now dressed in sturdy clothes with steel-toed boots and homemade sheaths filled with rebar, bats, or machetes. Rifles slung over a shoulder and handguns on hips or in a chest holster, they were going to war, but it was a war that no one ever expected them to have to fight. It could have been considered a Biblical army, with the exception of the lack of horsemen …
The dead walking was from the storybooks, yet now it was the reality, and people adjusted quickly, considering the enormity of the change. Lisa wondered about it. Was it because people were that resilient? Or was it because they got a leg up by joining a group? Were people always morally corrupt and desirous of such extreme acts of brutality performed in the name of survival, or was it something else? Something more innate and true?
A soldier waved them down as they drove along the line of trailer-less tractors and over-sized pickup trucks carrying multiple skid loaders in many varieties. New Holland, Gheils, Cat, or Kubota all performed equally well and were the fast approach to their war against the dead. Huge front-end loaders destroyed massive amounts of zombies, but for close in fast attacks, the skiddies cleaned house every time.
“What’s up?” Skit asked through the rolled down window as Lisa clutched her ribs, ready to scream from the change in momentum. Not for the first time, she wondered if she should be going on this trip.
“Make room for passengers.”
“This is Reynolds’s ride. We aren’t taking passengers,” Skit replied.
“No empty seats, no exceptions is what comes down from the front.”
“It’s all right Skit, clean out the back seat for them. We could use some company.”
Lisa smiled when she saw the tall man who had helped her with Howard and was on the council climb into the back seat. A couple of days ago, he looked like everyone else in a buttoned-down shirt, shiny shoes, and perfectly groomed hair and nails. To say his appearance had changed would be an understatement of grand proportions.
“Hey, Mitch,” Skit said as Mitch gave him a slap on the shoulder.
“Didn’t feel like walking, did ya?” Lisa added with a smile.
“I’m feeling pretty lucky to be riding with the queen herself,” Mitch said when he saw Lisa in the passenger seat.
The pleasure is all mine as long as your chamber is empty and your magazine full,” she replied, referring to his rifle.
“It is and they are. Little Rock, here we come.”
Another man crawled into the back with Mitch whose dress alone set the others back. He was fully decked out in a designer suit and Gucci loafers, looking as if he was dressed to kill; at a nightclub, at least.
“Hello,” Lisa said as he sat down in the back seat.
“Hello,” he said, and then didn’t seem to want to say much more. Lisa scrutinized him, wondering what his deal was. He went back to his tablet that was with him and remained focused upon what was on the screen.
“Ah, I’m Lisa, this is Skit, and that’s Mitch right next to you there.”
“Oh, sorry. I tend to forget pleasantries when I am in the middle of a project. My name is Temple.”
“Oh, a project? What kind of project are you working on, Temple?” asked Lisa, her curiosity piqued.
“Well, it’s highly confidential. I have been contracted by Work Source Inc. to optimize their temporary work staff.”
“Hey, Tem
p. You know that shit don’t matter anymore, right?” Skit said over his shoulder to the backseat, causing a moment of discomfort to cross Temple’s brow.
“Yeah, the world just isn’t like that anymore,” Lisa added, seeing Temple become so uncomfortable he was starting to squirm. Lisa looked at Mitch, who was mouthing the letters OCD.
“I had a friend in college who was dedicated like you, Temple,” Mitch began. “He would focus on one thing so intently that he could only take on subject at a time, but when he was done, it was perfect.”
Temple glanced at Mitch and flashed a very slight smile, thinking that Mitch might understand.
“Yeah, some things have to be followed through no matter what,” Lisa added having picked up on what Mitch was assuming. Temple was finishing his project because he had to finish his project; he didn’t have a choice. It was simply how his mind worked. “However, we’re going to be together for the next couple of days, so you have to tell us what you’re working on.”
“Oh, I could never reveal the specs; this could revolutionize employment practices worldwide. I’m under a confidentiality agreement,” Temple protested.
“Oh, well then you don’t mind walking.” Lisa was getting annoyed.
“No, we’ll let him stay. We just won’t let him plug in his tablet,” Skit said with a cynical smile. “We gonna watch the boy squirm with every second he burns on that tablet.”
Temple stared at them, stumped as to what he should do.
“Are any of you software designers?” he asked, and all three shook their heads. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but it has to stay here; here is like Vegas, okay? What is said here, stays here.”
“No worries, mate,” Mitch said in a mock Aussie accent.
“I have made a breakthrough in the twenty-four hour tracking chip.”
“What?” Lisa asked, expecting it to be much more than that. “Why?”
“This way Work Source Inc. or WSI can track the movements of a future or present employee. They’ll be able to see and record lifestyle habits before they even hire that person. Then, on the job, they could monitor their health and habits to see that they are getting their optimal value for said employee,” Temple finished excitedly.
Skit looked at Temple in the mirror. “That’s disgusting.”
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