by Poe, S. B.
The Time Between
Book 11
The Marionette Zombie Series
SB Poe
Copyright © 2021 SB Poe
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
For my family
Contents
Down Comes the Night
A New World
Dead Rising
Broken
Loyal and True
The Turn Home
Nothing Left to Lose
The New Rules
The Old World
When the Walls Fell
Coming Soon
Down Comes the Night
The man, Cyrus, walked several paces ahead. He looked back once or twice but seemed to Scott to be otherwise unconcerned if they were still following him. He scanned the woods, turning his head from side to side as they went down the road. The darkness enveloped everything beyond a few yards inside the tree line. They walked for what seemed like miles. The moon slid halfway across the sky. Scott watched the man ahead of them with almost every step. He was big. Not just tall. Big. His shoulders were broad. His silhouette under the animal hide poncho he wore made him look like an upright bear in the darkness. Scott thought about Ham asking him if his father had him look back on hikes because of bears, and a smile briefly flashed across his face. Then he turned and looked back. The road looked the same going as coming. All the surety he had in the daylight had evaporated.
The sound of their footsteps was the only sound Scott could hear. The sky had grown even darker as the clouds covered the stars and drifted across the face of the moon. He thought about his mother. She was going to be pissed. Happy he is okay, but pissed. He thought about that part. Were they okay? Was this really a good idea? Everything inside him screamed run, but he couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. He told Ham to stay together, no matter what, and cutting out through the woods without her wouldn’t exactly be staying together. Besides, he had no clue where they were. He turned as Ham let out a small yelp. Her hands flew out in front of her as she hit the ground. She rolled over and grabbed her ankle.
“Ow.” She cried out.
Scott stopped and knelt down beside her.
“What happened?”
“I tripped. This road is full of potholes.” Ham said.
“Yeah. You okay?” Scott asked.
“Sure. Just kinda surprised me more than anything.” Ham said.
Scott stuck out his hand. She grabbed it and pulled herself up beside him. They both turned. Cyrus was standing right next to them. They both startled slightly.
“We have to keep moving.” He said. He turned and started walking.
“I’m fine by the way.” Ham said. Cyrus didn't respond. They started walking again, paying a little more attention to the decaying asphalt beneath their feet.
The road stretched out in front of them and the trees fell away. The woods on either side of the asphalt gave way to fields. He could make out the outline of a ragged barbed wire fence just off the road to one side.
“Where are we going?” Ham whispered.
“Ask him?” Scott said. He was still pissed at her for agreeing to follow this stranger in the first place. “This was your idea.”
He didn’t need to see her face to know the look she gave him. And she was probably right to give it to him. It really wasn’t her fault. It was that damned horse. He had grown to hate it over the last few hours. But even that was unfair, and he knew it. It was one of those moments when the finger pointing eventually finds its way back around to the one doing the pointing. He had been so sure that he knew where they were going. How long had they been going down the wrong road? They had ridden for a long time. Were they anywhere near where he thought they were? They could have been miles from home before the horse even ran off. Then they wondered around the woods until dark. Now this guy is leading them even further away. Scott knew it was his fault. He had convinced her he could show her the way. And the more sure he was, the more lost they had become. He felt his shoulders slump.
“It’s my fault. All this.” He whispered.
“Of course it is. You let me convince you to go on a horseback ride in the middle of the acopalypse. What were you thinking?” Ham smiled.
“Apocalypse.” Scott said.
“Huh?” Ham asked.
“Apocalypse, you said… never mind.” Scott said.
“Look, it’s not your fault, it’s no one’s fault. Things just happened. We’ll be okay. We just have to stay together.” Ham said.
“I wish I could be as sure as you.” Scott said.
She stopped. He stopped.
“We can take off running and take our chances or we can follow him. But it’s not your fault. It’s not Cheval’s fault. It’s not even my fault. Well, it’s mostly my fault, but Opa always told me things happen for a reason. We just don’t know the reason yet.” Ham whispered.
“I wish I knew where we were going?” Scott said. She smiled and turned.
“Where are we going?” Ham spoke in full voice. The man, who was now several yards away, stopped.
“SHHHH.” He glanced over his shoulder and started walking again.
“We’re not going any further until you tell us where we’re going.” She said.
“Stay then.” Cyrus said. “The Duhasata will be here soon.”
“Why do you call them that?” Ham asked as she started walking.
“It seems appropriate.” Cyrus said.
“How so?” Scott asked.
“It means the dead.”
“In what language?” Ham asked.
“A different one.”
“Then why do you use the word?” Scott asked.
“You have a lot of questions.” Cyrus said.
“Where are we going?” Ham said.
“This way.” Was all he said.
They walked until the trees came right to the asphalt on either side of the road and then the asphalt turned to gravel. The moon peaked through the clouds and Scott could see the bend ahead in the road. The man in front of them stopped.
“What?” Scott whispered.
“Duhasata.” He said. “Ahead in the road.”
Scott couldn't see or hear anything through the darkness. The man stepped off the road.
“This way. We have to move.” Cyrus said.
Josh held his arms around his mother as he watched Bridger and Tilly cross the road away from them. He felt the heat grow inside him. Lori stood just off to the side. She reached down and squeezed his shoulder. He turned his head to look at her and she could see the anger in his eyes.
“Let’s get you home.” He said to Kate as he stood. “Emma Grace will you help take her home?”
“Sure, sure.” She said. She reached down and took Kate’s hand.
“Where are you going?” Kate asked through her tears.
“To find him.” Josh said. “And her.”
“Bridger’s right Josh, you can’t. Not at night.” She halfheartedly said. “I don’t want both of my sons lost out…” She began sobbing again. Emma Grace put one arm around her and began shuttling her towards the big house. She nodded at Josh in understanding.
He watched as they slowly climbed the steps to the porch and disappeared inside the door. He turned.
“The truck.” Josh said as he turned to Lori. “Let’s get the truck.”
“What about what Bridger said?” She asked
as she fell in beside him.
“Fuck Bridger.” Josh said.
Josh and Lori started around the front of the little building to cross over to the truck.
“You’re going to need some help.” A voice from the shadows caused Josh to pause. Jahda stepped from under the shadow of the big oak tree. “If you go, I go.”
“Me too.” Devin walked around the other side of the truck, dangling the keys in his hand.
“Just like back in South Springs.” Lori said.
“Let’s try not to release a stadium full of stringers this time.” Jahda said.
“The fearless foursome rides again.” Devin chuckled as he handed the keys to Josh.
“Swing by the church. We need to grab some weapons.” Jahda said as they climbed into the truck. “And we need Ed.”
“Ed?” Josh asked.
“We don’t know these back roads? If they ain’t where we think they are, we’re gonna have to start looking. And I’d prefer to not get lost trying to find them. And if we find them, we’ll need to be able to find our way back.”
“When we find them.” Josh said.
She nodded.
They parked in front of the little cemetery that now held some of their own. Lori stood beside the truck, watching in case Bridger or someone else came to stop them. She felt like she was sneaking a fifty from her mom’s purse. Josh came out of the building next to the church and handed her the shotgun. He carried one rifle across his back and threw the other shotgun in the back seat. Pistols and knives were already on their sides and had been since practically day one.
“Jahda? Devin?” He asked.
“Haven’t got here yet.” Lori said.
“We have now.” Devin said as they came around the side of the church.
“Find him?” Josh asked.
“Nope. Vernon said he hadn’t seen him either. Just disappeared.”
“Probably off getting stoned.” Josh said.
“You’re probably right.” Vernon said as he came around the side of the truck.
“What are you doing here?” Lori asked.
“He volunteered to come with us.” Jahda said.
“She told me why you needed Ed, I know these roads as good as anyone. I can help.” Vernon said.
“Good. You probably won’t complain as much as Ed, anyway.” Josh said as they climbed into the truck.
They slowly rolled up to the gate. Charlie looked back over his shoulder. Josh flashed the headlights. Jennifer hopped down from the bus and headed for the latch on the gate. Charlie leaned his head into the window.
“I thought we were waiting til morning.” Charlie said.
“Bridger can wait as long as he wants. I don’t work for him.” Josh said. “You gonna tell him we left?”
“Sure. If he asks.” Charlie smiled. “But you’ll probably see him before I do.”
Josh raised his eyebrows.
“He’s already out there, isn’t he?” Josh asked.
“Yep.”
“How long?”
“Half hour.” Charlie said as he glanced around the rest of the cab. “I knew he was going out when he said tomorrow. Did the same thing when he went after those soldiers. Just slipped out with a wave and a finger to his lips.”
“Alone?” Lori asked.
“Nope. Ed was with him this time.” Charlie said. Josh glanced in the rearview mirror at Jahda.
“Had the same thought you did, huh?” Josh asked.
“Guess so.” Jahda said.
Jennifer flipped the latch on the gate and slid the retaining bar to the side before reaching up and grabbing the handle to swing the gate open. The truck pulled through. Charlie watched the taillights until they disappeared over the rise at the end of the street.
The Humvee sat parked with its front end up on the curb. Its headlights shone brightly across the browning alfalfa field behind the store. Bridger stood on the kick plate with the binoculars against his eyes. Nothing.
“Not here.” Bridger said as he sat back down in the seat.
He threw it in reverse and turned out of the lot. He followed the narrow two-lane road between the fields, slowly trying to catch the outline of a horse in the moonlight.
“Where does this road go?” He asked.
“For the next twenty miles or so it doesn’t go anywhere. Lots of trees. Lots of nothing. It eventually comes to Wallace. Little four building town with about fifty folks, before all this, of course, and then it joins up with 131 and goes to Birmingham.”
“This road goes all the way to Birmingham.”
“Yeah, if you want to take the longest way possible.” Ed said.
“Shit.” He stopped the vehicle again and got out. He stepped into the middle of the road and glanced up at the shadow of clouds passing over the moon. The darkness enveloped the road.
“What else is out here? Any other towns or anything?” Bridger said.
“Good old Collier. Sixty miles from Birmingham, eighty miles from South Springs and eighty miles from Columbus, which puts it right in the middle of nowhere.” Ed said. “Some houses, some trailers and a whole lot of woods. That’s all that's out here.”
“Shit.” Bridger said again.
“What now, boss man?” Ed asked.
“I don’t know.” He said as he climbed back in the vehicle and continued down the road.
Emma Grace lifted the percolator from the stove and poured a cup of coffee. She turned and sat it on the table. Kate watched the steam rise from the cup but didn’t reach for it.
“Can I fix you something else? Maybe some food?” Emma Grace asked.
“No, thank you.” Kate said.
“I know you’re worried. I wish I could say something that would help but..” Emma Grace said.
“It’s okay. The only thing that would help is for those kids to be back here. I’m so selfish. I was sleeping when they left. I was asleep in the middle of the day. It’s my fault. I should have kept a better watch on them. I saw them. I ignored them. Just a couple of kids playing was what I thought. I can’t…” Kate said.
“Stop it.” Emma Grace said. “It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault. And what’s to say they won’t find their way back on their own. We don’t know they’re lost out there. They might know right where they are and exactly what they’re doing.”
“They’re just kids. They don’t know what they’re doing.” Kate said.
“They were able to get out of here with no one knowing. It seems they are a little more capable than you want to give them credit for. That may not be what you want to hear, but it should be. They’re not helpless. At least not as helpless as you think.” Emma Grace said.
Kate blinked and broke her gaze from the steam off the cup. She looked at Emma Grace. She felt anger rise up but she heard her dead husband’s voice in her head. “Fair enough.” It was something he used to say. Usually when someone showed him a different way to look at things. A brief smile crossed her lips.
“I need to take a walk.” Kate said as she rose.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Emma Grace said.
“No, no. You didn’t upset me. I just need to clear my head.” Kate said.
“I was just trying to help.”
“You did. I needed to hear what you said. He’s my baby boy. But he’s not a baby. He’s still a child, if sixteen is still a child in this new world, but I need to remember he’s not helpless. He, and her, have been through a lot, just like all of us. I need to hold on to that.” Kate started down the hallway.
“I wish I could do more.” Emma Grace said.
“Thanks.” Kate said as she walked through the screen door into the quiet, dark streets of Collier. The moon slipped behind the clouds and the town grew darker.
A New World
They cut through the trees and wound their way back towards the road. Their escort kept ahead of them while they watched the woods. None of the dead came. By the time the road crossed their path again, Scott had aga
in lost all sense of direction. The moon was still on his right, but they had been walking long enough that it had traveled halfway across the sky. The road ahead glowed in its light. He could see the trees give way to more open field just ahead, but this wasn’t an empty open field. There were rows of shipping trailers. Some looked like they had just been unhooked from their semi, but some looked like they had been there a while with flat tires and weeds grown around the axles. Dozens of them, all neatly lined up behind a chain link that shimmered in the moonlight.
“This way.” Cyrus said as he turned towards the field.
“Wait, what is this place?” Ham asked as she and Scott stopped.
“This is home.” He turned.
“Stop.” A girl’s voice came from the darkness on the other side of the fence.
“It’s me.” Cyrus said.
“Who are you?” The voice returned.
“Stop it, Holes. Just open up.” Cyrus said.
“Who’s with you?”
“Some kids.” Cyrus said.
“Jesus, Cyrus. You can’t do that. You know that.”
“I couldn’t leave them out there. They’re just kids.”
“He’ll be pissed.” She said as she reached for the latch holding the gate shut.
“He’s always pissed. But he’ll get over it.” Cyrus said.
“Are they bit?” The girl said.
“No, they’re not bit.” Cyrus said.
“He’s really gonna be pissed you’re bringing them in.” The girl said.
“I’m not bringing them in. They just got lost. They know where they are supposed to be and I’m gonna take them there. Tomorrow.” Cyrus said.
“Oh yeah, where’s that?” The girl stepped from the shadows.
She was a few years older than Scott. Her hair was two toned. From the scalp out a couple of inches was black, from there to the tips was bleached white. The weapon she held was like Ham’s spear, except it had a lawn mower blade fitted into the end of the staff instead of a wrought-iron fence post. She glanced at Ham’s weapon and smiled. Ham smiled back.
“They’re from Collier.” Cyrus said.