by Nick Harland
She rested her head back on my shoulder and whispered, ‘Me neither, but when I saw her let go and kill those Zeds today I saw something in her eyes. That girl’s got a fire inside her and she knows it, that’s why she works in a lab where she has to exercise control all day. I need to ask you something and I’m not joking.’
I kissed her on the neck, slid my fingers gently up her tummy making it tense and started to run my fingers over her nipples, ‘Ok.’
‘If it came to it would you mind, would it make you jealous or uncertain about us if we had a threesome. I’ve been rampant in my time but I’ve never had a threesome. I think it would be fun, but I wouldn’t do it if it made you uncomfortable.’
Her tone was serious, so although a raft of flippant responses vied for position I thought about it properly for a minute. Would it make me jealous to see Eve being passionate with someone else, even if I was invited to the party? Then I thought of what was outside the gates and that realistically, no matter how well we seemed to be doing, none of us would make old bones. I slipped my hands down inside her pants and ran them down her hips until they fell onto the floor and replied, ‘I think it’d be fun too, rampant, fuck-fest, awesome, superhero fun.’
Releasing herself from me, jumping onto the bed, and squeezing her breasts she said, ‘Then why don’t you come over here and tell me all about it.’
I was more than happy to.
Chapter Twenty One – Unwelcome Guests
We didn’t leave the van until the next morning. After falling asleep after our little session we didn’t wake until several hours later and it was dark. Everyone else had gone to bed. It was kind of nice to stay in the van, chat, have something to eat and a glass of wine, and go back to bed again. It was like having a midnight snack when you were a child on a sleep over. Although we had used it as an excuse to retire to the van we were genuinely tired and went straight back to sleep. We met the others for breakfast and there weren’t too many sideways glances.
Bill said, ‘So what’s on the agenda for today? I know we’re not hitting the shopping centre until tomorrow at the earliest.’
Eve looked at me to answer. I looked at Esme and Andrea and said, ‘You guys are still far from recovered from your ordeal and need to eat, drink, and rest. Eve has a promise to keep so I think we’ll be taking a short trip out, but we shouldn’t be long.’
Then I looked at Bill, ‘You haven’t shown us all the mods on Lulu yet and a test run to find out if any of them need fine tuning wouldn’t be a bad idea anyway. If anyone gets bored there’s about five thousand more boxes in the warehouse over the road and there should be useful stuff in some of them.’
Eve looked over at me frowning, ‘What promise?’
I replied in a singsong rhythm, ‘Lettice and tomatoes and apples oh my.’
Dropping the frown and raising her eyebrows instead she said, ‘You haven’t watched The Wizard of Oz enough to come up with that line, honestly. It’s about thirty years before your time.’
I tried to look offended, ‘Of course I value the classics……my parents insisted, three times.’
We ate and Bill was leading us outside to see Lulu when a Range Rover pulled up outside the gates and beeped its horn. Everyone came running and Bill ran towards the gates to open them when Eve grabbed my hand, stopping me in my tracks, and shouted urgently, ‘Bill no, don’t’, stopping Bill in his tracks.
Everyone looked at Eve as two men got out of the Range Rover, one holding a machete, the other an axe, both with side arms in holsters that looked familiar. Before I could react Eve squeezed then let go of my hand, drew one of her guns, and walked briskly towards the men shouting, ‘No. Get back in the car and get the hell out of here, you’re not coming in. Make one more fucking move in this direction and you’re both dead. You know I’m better with a gun than you so don’t even fucking think about it. I’m free of you and I’m staying that way.’
The smaller of the two men slowly put his hands in the air and smiled, ‘Baby, is that anyway to greet your husband. I’ve battled through an army of these fucking monsters to get home to you and what do I find, you’ve taken everything. It was nice of you to leave a note at the Land Rover dealer but all you left me there was this lame ass V6. My emergency stash barely had enough ammo to get us here.’
Then he raised his voice and said through gritted teeth, ‘Now put that fucking gun down, let me in, and take me to my fucking stuff.’
There was silence for a moment then my heart stopped as a shot rang out and I saw the wing mirror of the Range Rover explode. I heard Bill behind me, ‘You heard the lady, you’re not welcome. You’re lucky that bullet didn’t hit the fence and ricochet into the engine, or your face for that matter, do you want to risk it again?’
The man backed up a step and his voice dropped again, ‘Ok, I can see you’re all teamed up and motivated but look at it from my position. I bought every fucking gun you’re holding and had to fight through a rig full of monsters to grab a helicopter and come home. I lost friends doing so. Dave here is the only one left. Then I get home to find my house is shot up, my supplies are gone, and worst of all, my fucking car is gone. I want my fucking car back. You look like you cleared out the dealer of every other decent car so how about you hand over my car and two boxes of 9mm rounds, and we call it quits. I’ll fuck off, and as my crazy bitch wife seems to have forgotten everything I’ve done for her, you’ll never see me again.’
I stood next to Eve and whispered, ‘It’s your call. You know everyone here will back you. Shoot the fucker, tell him to get lost, or give him what he wants. We’re right beside you.’
Eve raised her voice, ‘Ok, you can take your fucking car but If ever see you again I’ll shoot you before you break that smug fucking smile of yours. You’ll also have to wait ten minutes. You can have the car but you can’t have the mods, those are Bill’s work and without the car we’re going to need them.’
The man was about to speak again when Eve shot once into the air before aiming at him again, ‘This isn’t a negotiation. Ten fucking minutes and you can wait a hundred feet down the road. We’ll leave the car outside the gates with the ammo and then and only then can you come and get it. One more slimy word from your mouth and I’ll fill it with a bullet, now do what you’re told and fuck off down the road.’
The man slowly dropped his hands before turning to get into the Range Rover. I saw the smile on his face as he did so and I knew it wasn’t over. Bill ran off to detach the Zed plough and Esme found two boxes of ammo and put them in the front seat. When Bill was done I opened the gates and Bill drove Lulu out and left her running.
The man walked up the road with his friend crawling behind him in the V6. Esme pointed at a couple of Zeds that had come from behind a building. They were some distance away but on an intercept course. The man saw them and drew his gun but kept walking. I said, ‘Esme, do you think you can take them from here?’
Esme said, ‘I have no idea but I’m happy to try. I guess it would prove a point if I could wouldn’t it.’
Eve put her hand on Esme’s shoulder and said, ‘Yes it would, a very useful one. Use the fence to rest on.’
Esme rested the side of the barrel against one the fences uprights for stability. Eve said, ‘Relax, breath out and squeeze the trigger, don’t pull it. They are far enough way that you should take a hint of bullet drop into account.’
Esme took a deep breath then squeezed off a round. Neither Zed dropped but then she shot twice more, dropping both Zeds. She said, ‘I Just needed to get my eye in. I always had the steadiest hands in the lab, who knew they would be good for this.’
I could see the man smile and nod in acceptance of the show and it didn’t fill me with confidence. We backed up as he came closer and Eve said, ‘I know it will just piss him off but I’m not giving him the satisfaction of any final words or one more smug smile in my direction. You stay here and see him off.’
She didn’t wait for me to answer and stormed off. I drew m
y M9 and pointed it at the man as he came close. Esme backed away from the fence and was doing the same with the rifle. The man opened his mouth to speak and I shot a round over the gates and shouted, ‘Not one more fucking word, our business is done. You’ve got ten seconds before we unload on anything moving outside these gates. One….two…’
The man jumped in Lulu and accelerated away with his friend close behind him. I watched them until they were out of sight and was sad to see Lulu go, but I knew we’d manage without her. When I couldn’t see them anymore I turned and ran back into the sales centre.
Eve was pacing up and down the seating area and muttering, ‘Stupid, stupid, but I couldn’t kill him. He’s a bastard but I couldn’t kill him in cold blood. Now I’ve put everyone at risk. I shouldn’t have pissed him off.’
I waited for a moment before standing in her path as she paced. I knew it would be really easy to make things worse and I wasn’t sure what to say. I tried, ‘It’s alright, he’s gone. You did what you had to.’
Eve lashed out but I was expecting it and I knew the last thing she needed was for me to get angry or upset. She shouted, ‘It’s not fucking alright. I’ve given him our best vehicle and I’ve made him angry. He’s not used to losing and he’ll hold onto that anger until he can vent it exactly as he wants to. He’s going to come back and kill all of you, you know that, I’ve killed all of you.’
The others had come in and stood around looking helpless. I felt helpless too. Andrea walked up to my side and saved me, because there was nothing I could say that would help. She just opened her arms and Eve collapsed into them crying and slowly sank to the floor with Andrea still holding her. At least I didn’t have to think of anything to say, but now I looked like a lemon stood there with nothing to do. It would be my turn to comfort her later, but right then she needed Andrea. I found some tissues, gave them to Andrea, then sat on one of the couches and waited.
Eventually the crying stopped and I heard Andrea whisper, ‘You know, if I stay her much longer I won’t be able to get up. You should also know you have a very concerned and patient young man here waiting for you. He might be less than half your ex’s age but he’s twice the man and he’ll never let anything happen to you.’
Eve smiled and nodded, and disentangled herself from Andrea who did indeed struggle to get up. Eve held her head low and couldn’t meet my eyes. She came to sit next to me and snuggled in with her head on my chest so I could put my arm around her. She said, ‘She’s right, you’re twice the man he is, but I’ve put us all in danger.’
I said, ‘You mean there are two more people out there among the other 6 billion who are trying to kill us.’ Before she could retort I added, ‘I know he’s a very real threat but you don’t know what’ll happen next and all you could do was what you thought was right at the time. We did steal all his supplies, mess up his house, use most of his emergency hot water, and leave sex stains all over the bed. Let’s put it this way, you wouldn’t be the person you are and the women I love if you had just shot him in cold blood, even if he was an abusive husband and total dick. You made a deal and he accepted. The terms weren’t complicated and if we see them again all of us will shoot every bullet we have at them until they are dead. What just happened had to happen, there was no other choice. He still has to survive out there and that takes some doing. I believe you when you say he’ll be back but we can’t change that now, all we can do is carry on surviving and be ready if he does.’
Then something crossed my mind and I asked, ‘How do you think he survived? I know he works off shore on the rigs but they were obviously affected because he had to fight his way out. It sounded like some of his team survived for a while at least.’
Eve sat up but stayed close with her hand on my thigh, ‘He’s a fire team contractor and does demo’s, training, and inspections. His parents left him the business and lots of money. My guess is that he was doing some training at the time and he and his team had full gear on including breathing apparatus. He can fly a helicopter so must have been able to escape when he could get to one. I’m not sure why it took him so long. There are around 150 men on a rig though so he might have been trapped for a while. So what do you think our next move is?’
I thought about it and replied, ‘Guard tower and a 24hr watch; it was going to have to happen at some point anyway and now seems like the time. We have some good binoculars and a night vision scope. I’m sure between us we can think of some traps and a warning systems. Right now though, I think we have at least a few days while he licks his wounds and re-groups, so we should stick to the plan and hit the shopping centre tomorrow. I would hope that by the time we’re done shopping we’ll have enough provisions to last a couple of months. I guess the pressing question is, do we go for the plants or not? It would be logical for him to use the panic room behind the garage for the time being. It’s safe and has its own water. We would be close by if we go get the plants.’
Eve relaxed and smiled, ‘I won’t say fucking brilliant again but you got there before I did. You’re right, he knows he’s out numbered and out gunned and he won’t risk anything yet. Even with Lulu he doesn’t have the ammo to risk a shopping centre so he’ll be forced to scavenge house to house which takes time. I’m not breaking my promise. When Bill can attach the plough to one of the other vehicles we should go get the plants. We should also tell Andrea about all the seeds, its spring, we have tools, and it’s not all concrete out there. If we don’t use soap all the time we can use the run off from the showers to water them. We can wash our hair separately.’
I put my hand over hers and said, ‘Now that’s fucking brilliant.’
We went to find the others and they were outside helping Bill. He was already attaching the plough to the supercharged petrol planet killer. After he finished a weld I asked, ‘Are you sure? I thought we were going with the diesels and this is your car.’
Bill turned the welding torch off and said, ‘We were, but this has the flared wheel arches and now we have the truck we don’t need the pushing power so much. Without Lulu this is the next best choice. It was nice to look at it for a while but it’s not my car and I was never really going to get the chance to enjoy her. I wouldn’t mind being the one to drive her tomorrow though.’
Andrea asked, ‘So I gather you think that shit head is likely to come back?’
Eve replied, ‘Yes I think so, but not for a little while, so we still want to go shopping tomorrow unless anyone has any reservations. After that we’ll need to get prepared and I’ll say this now with no hesitation at all. If anyone sees him again and can get a shot off, don’t hesitate for a second. He knows the deal and it’s strictly shoot to kill from now on. It would be useful to have easy roof access, a watch tower of some kind, and some traps or warning systems in place, for shit heads and Zeds alike.’
Esme spoke next, ‘Bill has a confession to make. I think it’s awesome but he’s not sure you’ll agree.’
I looked at Bill, ‘Bill?’
Bill looked embarrassed shot a glance at Esme, ‘Tattle tale.’
Then he looked at us and said, ‘I may have almost emptied the tank before I handed her over. It wasn’t part of the deal and he didn’t know how much fuel she had in. I’m sure it won’t take him long to scavenge some fuel but it should slow him down a little.’
Eve stepped forwards and hugged him, ‘Bill, you never fail to surprise me. I agree with Esme, that’s awesome, fuck him, and the horse he rode in on.’
Then Esme elbowed Bill in the ribs and whispered, ‘And the rest.’
It was nice to see they had obviously bonded, even in such a short time, and were becoming a team. Bill rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his feet, ‘I may have also accidentally loosened one of the top control arms at the front. It won’t go right away and will still take a good knock or two before it does, but Lulu won’t go much further, if they have any sense at least, after it does. It’s one of the suspension components that isn’t a mod so I can replace it
if we ever found her again. They can see we’ve been busy in her and that she’s taken some damage so they will never know it was us.’
I looked at Eve and we nodded at each other and said in unison, ‘Fucking brilliant.’
With some help it didn’t take Bill long to complete the work on the car and when it was done I asked, ‘So what’s her name Bill, I know you must have one for her?’
Bill looked at us all and said, ‘It’s not fancy like Lulu. It’s actually the name of the aunt who raised me after my parents died when I was young. I wanted to stay grounded and keep remembering her, so it’s just ‘Mary’.’
Eve smiled, ‘Bill you sap, it’s not Just Mary, and Mary is a nice name. It’s important to remember. We can’t all be Lulu or Gigi or Fantasia. It might make us take slightly more care with her, which isn’t a bad thing either. Why don’t you explain these bits on the sides.’
Bill reached inside the car and pulled something, an 18inch ‘T’ shaped cross section dropped down from either side of the car just behind the plough. Bill had sharpened the leading edge of the cross section and it looked brutal. He said, ‘It’s not fancy but it should be roughly at knee height for most people. I’ve done my best to secure it so hitting Zeds with them doesn’t buckle the wing or endanger the wheel.’
‘It’s a separate build to the plough so if it does come loose it won’t drag the plough with it. I’ve keyed into the chassis below and the engine compartment so it should be pretty sturdy though. It’s ugly as hell but it should work.’
Leaning inside he pointed at a crude wire with a loop on the end and said, ‘You pull on this wire and secure it here to pull them back up. The mechanism is prone to jamming though so you might need to push them up from the outside if it does. If you hit a car or building with them down they’ll get ripped off and it will probably rip the wire inside out and rip the wing open, so do be careful.’