by J. Thorn
“You made the cut, so what do you care?” Hillbilly shot back with a challenge. I watched his thumb rub the trigger of his semi-automatic handgun and I swallowed back about a thousand different retorts.
Haley put a hand on my knee and squeezed with warning and Vaughan gave me a pleading look in the review mirror.
“You’re right, we made the cut,” I bit out working hard to sound respectful, the exact opposite of how I really felt. “I couldn’t be happier.”
“Stupid bitch,” he mumbled, turning his attention back to the road.
It took every single thing in me to keep from leaping toward the front seat and strangling him with my bare hands. And the only thing that kept me glued to my seat with hands tucked under my thighs and my teeth biting down painfully on my bottom lip was that I was trying to be a good role model for Page. And first degree murder was not being a good role model.
“You’re welcome, Page,” I mumbled. She didn’t even bother glancing at me.
The silence in the Hummer became oppressive after that. I could see Vaughan’s hands white and strained as he gripped the steering wheel and Nelson, Harrison and King were coiled tight with the urge to stand up for me. I was absolutely thankful no one said anything, but the tension became so thick and palpable I had to wonder how we would survive the night with these pricks.
We drove for about twenty minutes before a gated military base came into view. It was nestled into towering, newly budding trees and the surrounding houses were surprisingly untouched by the decaying world. Our visitor sat up in attention, he was thrumming with excitement and pride. I rolled my eyes.
“There she is, y’all. We built the walls ourselves. It took a while, but we’ve kept the Feeders out for about a year now. We’ve been living all peaceful and civilized and shit. You’ll be happy we found you,” he boasted smugly.
I heard Haley mumble, “So happy.”
“Do you have families here? Or is this a militia compound?” Vaughan asked as he slowed the Hummer to follow the caravan through a series of checkpoints.
“There are a few families,” he answered vaguely.
Which meant mostly men. I wondered if the women that constituted “families” were here by force or choice.
There were three sets of chain link fences that seemed to go around the entire property with guard stands about ever fifty feet. Armed men in more fatigues stood twenty-five feet in the air on manmade towers, carrying heavy weaponry and keeping a keen eye on everything on the ground.
Once we reached the guards at the checkpoint, behind the first gate, we were ordered to evacuate the car while they searched every inch of it.
Vaughan’s jaw clenched tight with frustration and it seemed like he was seconds away from exploding. When they yanked the duffle bags full of weapons to the ground, I knew I needed to intervene.
“Hey,” I used my most calming tone and reached for one of Vaughan’s hand. “We’ll be alright.”
“I can’t see Hendrix,” he admitted in a low voice. “They have Hendrix and now they have our weapons. Reagan, this is worst-case-scenario.”
That was definitely true. The three SUV’s had been waved through guard inspection and disappeared somewhere beyond the last gate. We were stuck here watching all of our possessions fall into the hands of men who wouldn’t even use them to save other humans. But losing sight of Hendrix was the worst part of all of it.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” I promised, rubbing my thumb along the inside of his palm. “He’s not exactly helpless.”
Vaughan turned so he could meet my eyes. “You’re right,” he breathed.
“He’s probably already hatched an escape plan. One that involves leaving with a full tank of gas and more guns than we came with.” I smiled up at him, meeting his deep blue eyes. His forehead relaxed its worry lines and he took another deep breath, visibly settling down.
“We have to get out of here, Reagan.”
“I know.”
“As soon as possible. Keep your eyes open for anything we can use. We’ll play this their way until we figure out if they’re going to let us go or not. Until then, stay close.”
He must have meant literally because he pulled his hand out of mine and slid it around my waist, clutching me to him. I laid my head against his shoulder and forced myself not to fidget.
It wasn’t like Haley and I cuddled. This was the closest I’d been to another human being since before the initial infection- Hendrix didn’t count because I couldn’t feel anything other than the frantic pounding of my own heart. And the last time Quarterback Chris and I were any kind of touchy-feely was before his vaccine. Vaughan’s muscled body flush against mine, his warm heat pushing into every inch of my personal bubble was… disconcerting.
“Nelson,” Vaughan called out in that quiet, serious voice. When he had Nelson’s attention, he nodded his head toward Haley. “Changed my mind, since Hendrix is otherwise occupied.”
Nelson, who had two hands on each of Page’s shoulders, got the message immediately.
“Come here, Page,” Vaughan ordered next.
Page-in-disguise turned around and went to Vaughan’s free arm, while Nelson and Haley sidled up next to each other, awkwardly holding hands.
“Nelson’s too nervous to look natural,” Vaughan whispered in a shocked tone.
“Haley’s not doing any better.” This was amusing, in that we-could-die-at-any-moment-why-not-laugh-about-it kind of way.
“We’re keeping these,” one of the guards held up the three huge duffels that had been packed with guns and ammo. “You can have the rest.”
We eyed the duffels, backpacks and coolers that had been dumped out on the ground with frustration. Slowly we moved as a unit and bent down to pick up our belongings and shove them haphazardly into our respective bags.
“Reagan, you have an obscene amount of underwear,” Vaughan whispered.
I looked up at him to see that he was laughing at me. I cleared my throat and went back to my task, ignoring the blush blooming across my cheeks.
Finally, the trunk was packed again with the possessions we were allowed to keep and we filed back into the Hummer. The hillbilly was back, with an extra handgun tucked into the front of his pants. He didn’t adjust it when he sat down and that was when I knew he was just trying to intimidate us with it. I’d made the same mistake, the barrel jabs into your thigh, or crotch, or if it gets at just the right angle it can cut you. There was no way he was comfortable, but his pride kept him from changing the guns’ position.
He gave Vaughan directions on how to get to the main meeting area and Vaughan followed them silently. He was back to being crazy angry again. I could see his stretched white knuckles even from the back row. I wondered if Hillbilly was nervous for us as a whole once he’d seen how many guns we were carrying or if Vaughan’s barely repressed rage was the finalizing factor for his fear.
In just a few moments Vaughan pulled up in front of a plain military style office building. We climbed out and walked in as a close group. The air was stagnant without central air and no open windows, but there were actual electric lights on. I could hear the whir of a generator somewhere in the distance and was kind of impressed by that.
“Welcome to the Fort,” BW greeted from a swirly chair that might as well have been set up like a throne. A line of armed men fanned out to either side of him and Hendrix sat in his own chair off to the side. He looked pissed off, but other than that he seemed untouched. “The name’s Gary. This is my base. You belong to the lucky few that are allowed in. Welcome.”
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Vaughan answered after a charged pause.
Gary’s face broke out into a wide grin and he turned his attention to Hendrix. “Now see? That is how a smart man responds when given an opportunity.”
Hendrix narrowed his eyes but otherwise did not respond.
“This is an opportunity,” Vaughan started carefully. “Unfortunately we have obligations which will force us to co
ntinue traveling.”
“Continue traveling? You can’t be serious,” Gary scoffed. He leaned back in his chair and looked along the line of his armed men. “There can’t be anything out there worth leaving this kind of safety for.”
Vaughan’s shoulders stiffened as if he was preparing for battle. “My wife’s family was last heard of south of here. We promised we’d come for them.”
“How gallant of you,” Gary bit out, enunciating each word precisely. “But you have to know they’re dead by now. Everything south of here is dead.”
“Doesn’t matter. We gave our word. We have to find out,” Vaughan answered quickly, firmly.
“Stay tonight then, think about it. Restock your supplies as a thank you for clearing up our…. infestation and leave first thing in the morning.” Gary countered, but I trusted the gleam in his eye absolutely not at all. I did not trust this guy.
“Alright,” Vaughan nodded. “And we’ll get our guns back, right?”
“Whenever you leave, you can have everything we confiscated back,” Gary offered magnanimously. But we all heard what he didn’t say, the implication in his tone of voice. Whenever we left was a little bit of a threat. “I pulled your brother’s name out on the ride over here, but I guess I need yours…”
“Vaughan,” Vaughan answered politely. “This is my wife, Reagan. My brother Nelson and his wife Haley, my other brothers Harrison, King and Page.”
“Hendrix said his last name was Parker?” Gary pressed eying Haley and me with obvious disappointment.
Vaughan noticed too and slipped his arm back around my waist, “Mine as well. We are all Parkers.”
“And we all belong to the Fort,” Gary waved around at his men. “You’ll meet everyone eventually. Tack and Sean can show you to your housing. I suppose you’ll want to stay with your wives.”
More of that creepy disappointment seeped out of him.
“We’ll all stay together,” Vaughan answered in a command.
“We have plenty of room,” Gary pressed.
“We will stay together,” Vaughan confirmed.
“Fine. They can stay in that empty house near the barracks.” Gary nodded his head to two men that must have been Tack and Sean. “But you’ll join us for dinner.”
“We have our own-“
“You’ll accept our hospitality and join us for dinner,” Gary cut in, clearly at the end of his patience.
Vaughan stared him down for a few charged moments before nodding his head, “Thank you for your kindness.”
Gary didn’t respond, just spun around on his swivel chair to face the desk behind him. His shiny bald head reflected the electric light hanging from the ceiling and I repressed the urge to salute him sarcastically.
Tack and Sean- two beastly men with the same color mousy brown hair and the same uniform of black fatigues, that I wouldn’t have been able to tell apart if I tried- led the way out a door in the back.
“Will the Hummer be alright?” Vaughan asked in a hard voice.
“Just give us your keys, we’ll take it to the shop and have it serviced.” One of the bash brothers answered.
“Our stuff is in the back. We’ll need it for the night,” Hendrix pointed out in a rough voice. He kept shooting me severe glances and I felt like shrinking under his raw strength.
“We can drop that by for you later,” the other one said.
It was a bit of a march across the campus, but at least I got a lay of the land. The three rows of fence continued all the way around the compound. Barracks were positioned throughout the grounds as well, with men walking about all in the same black fatigue outfit. I wondered how many of them were already military before Gary showed up and took over. While he had the alpha-male personality of a leader, it was more the communist-dictator-kind than American-military-hierarchy.
I mean honestly, who let a Zombie version of Hulk Hogan during his glory years attack innocent travelers, just to weed out the weak?
The entire thing was disgusting to me and I felt like treating Gary exactly how I’d treated his “infestation.”
Rat bastard.
“The women typically stay over there.” Tweedle Dee pointed to an isolated set of barracks where two women sat on the front step. One was in a sun dress that was desperately trying to meet in the middle of her body like it was confused and thought it was a belt. The other one was in a t-shirt that had been cut to reveal her entire stomach and men’s jeans that hung too low on her waist. I really thought after Zombie’s destroyed my home and killed everyone I loved that I would never have to use the term “whale tale” again.
I had been wrong.
And now I needed to wash my eyes out with bleach.
“All the women stay together?” I asked in a weak voice.
“We don’t exactly go off and marry them, now do we?” Tweedle Dumb laughed.
The rest of us wisely stayed quiet. I glanced over at the women again. A guy approached them with a rifle slung over his shoulder. He held out a couple cigarettes to them and they took them lighting up and laughing at whatever he was saying to them.
I shivered against the violent feeling of nausea churning my stomach. A hundred different scenarios for how I could save those women started forming in my head, but I doubted there was really anything I could do. My highest priority in this moment was to not become one of them and that meant leaving this alternate reality with the Parker brothers alive and well.
“Here it is,” Tweedle Dee grunted in front of an obviously unused house. “There isn’t a generator hooked up to this one, because most of us prefer the barracks. Gary will negotiate a price for one though if you decide to stay.” His eyes traveled the length of Haley in the way I would look at a fresh, hot pizza. I was seconds away from taking my pocket knife and removing whatever organs made Haley look like a delicious meal to this creeper.
“We’ll be fine,” Vaughan said calmly instead.
“Supper’s in the mess hall in an hour. If you’re late, you don’t eat. Don’t be late,” Tweedle Dumb instructed and then the two of them were walking away.
“Welcome to Pervert Island,” Haley mumbled when they were out of hearing distance.
Vaughan grunted and then turned around and opened the unlocked door. We piled in behind him and took a look around.
The inside was dusty and stuffy, but there was furniture set up neatly and windows that would open up. Vaughan set out to opening all the shades and getting the windows open to let some light in the dark space. I walked to the back of the house where the bedrooms were, counting three plus a bathroom.
Not that the bathroom was going to work, but it was comforting that it was here.
I walked into the farthest room, intending to claim it for Haley and me when I felt a presence behind me. I turned around from inspecting the musty bed and saw Hendrix leaning against the wall just on the inside of the door.
His hands were behind his back, and he was watching me carefully. His longish dark blonde hair was a little wild, the scruff on his jaw just a bit longer than it was yesterday and his deep blue eyes so severe they made my heart jump.
“You alright?” he asked gently.
I walked toward him, unable to stop myself. “Are you alright?”
He shrugged, nodded and smirked at the same time. It was like the trifecta of sexiness. Damn him.
“Kind of scary though, right?” I asked, still walking toward him, unable to stay away from him- although I was moving slowly, that was the extent of my self-control.
“Are you trying to tell me, you were scared for me?”
I finally made myself stop directly in front of him, but mostly it was because if I kept walking, I’d run him over or wrap myself around him… one or the other. He looked down at me with some kind of emotion I was convinced I didn’t have a word to describe. It was too serious, too deep and yet gentle enough to make me feel safe all at the same time- those kinds of emotions just didn’t exist in the world we lived in anymore.
“I am not trying to tell you that,” I argued. “I just didn’t want you to be traumatized or anything. We need everyone on the top of their game. We can’t have you turning into a weepy girl just because some big bad men took your guns away.”
“You’re a girl,” he pointed out needlessly.
“Very good, Hendrix,” I teased, feeling my own lips turning into a smile. “You’re smarter than you look.”
I earned the same momentary scowl I got every time I tried to joke with him. But then he said, “You seem to do just fine as a girl.”
“It’s a figure of speech,” I whispered on a croak since he had taken my hand into his and tugged me forward just a little. My free hand rested on his beating heart as if I held it in my hand.
“We’re going to get out of here, Reagan,” Hendrix promised. “And when you’re done playing Vaughan’s wife, we can go back to whatever we were doing before.”
I cleared my throat and licked my lips before asking obtusely, “Is that a figure of speech too?”
His eyes twinkled at my response and he dipped his head just an inch towards mine.
“Reagan, get ready for dinner. We’re leaving in a half hour,” Harrison called from the doorway.
Hendrix and I jumped apart. I felt my cheeks blush but there was nothing I could do about it at this point. Hendrix was determined to give me a heart attack and the universe was determined to make us abide by the textbook rule- the one where at middle school dances you had to keep the length of a textbook between you.
“Harrison, we’re in the middle of something,” Hendrix growled.
“Oh, hey, Hendrix,” Harrison greeted sounding genuinely surprised. “It’s nice that you didn’t die earlier.”
My mouth dropped open. That’s how we were going to be from now on? We were that cavalier?
“Get out of here,” Hendrix pushed his little brother into the hall and then kept staring at him until he’d disappeared into another room.