“Hey. You laughed too. Besides, if she had made it three more houses I would have shot her, and she would have lost more than a leg and half of her ass.”
Adam choked again. “That is so fucked up.”
Beth laughed back. “It is... I'm sorry. Look what's become of us.” She choked her own giggles back. The silence came back again. In the distance, somewhere over in Hazleton, smoke began to rise up into the air, a thick black pillar. Adam watched it, as did Beth.
“That did not start on its own,” Beth said.
“Nope,” Adam agreed. He laughed again.
“This is amusing?”
“No, but the situation is, because right about now I wish I was somewhere safe and warm. Drift my ass.”
Beth laughed. “I don't want to go see what that is.”
Adam sighed. “Neither do I, but I'm going to. Can't chance they come looking for us tonight, if we can see their smoke it's a bet they can see ours.”
Beth stood. “Me and you? We can leave this to Dell. It's about time to get him and Winston up anyway.”
“Winston is up. Didn't see Dell though.” Adam stood too.
“Send him back. I'll wait,” Beth said.
Adam nodded and turned to the ladder.
The Garage
The van was stripped down, wheels and frame gone, its doors off and interior stripped out. It was just a shell suspended from two A frames over the truck frame. Adam whistled as he walked by and headed up to the overhead storage area where they had set up sleeping quarters.
Dell was up and getting dressed. “You came to get me? Must be something up,” he said as Adam walked in.
“Yeah. I hate to do it, but I need you to take my shift on the bus. Beth and I are heading over into Hazleton. Smoke, just a short while ago. I guess if they didn't want us to know, they wouldn't have started a fire. I'm guessing, but I'm sure they can see our fires here.”
“Take it to them before they can bring it to us?” Dell said.
Adam shrugged. “I guess it could be good news. Maybe others that might want to travel with us.”
“But you don't think so.”
“Nope. If they were interested in joining, they would have come over. We have fires that have been going since we got here. How could they miss it? No, instead they start a fire on the other side of the city. Suspect.”
Dell tugged his last boot on, shot the laces through the steel hooks that ran up each side of the boot and tied it. “Let's go,” he said as he stood from the edge of the bed.
They were walking into the garage when Beth called on the radio.
“Beth says Company,” Billy told him.
Adam swore. He had clipped his radio on his belt but had not turned it on. He plucked it from the belt and flicked the knob. “How many?” he asked.
“Three,” Beth answered. “But they're attracting a crowd, so don't be surprised if you hear gunfire.”
She was no sooner done talking than gunfire erupted from the direction of the gate. All four men ran from the garage and headed for the bus.
Adam yanked his machine pistol free from the sheath that held it across his shoulder. He flicked off the safety as he ran.
Adam
He was up the ladder faster than he would have thought possible. Billy, Mac and Dell were up next, but the firing was over. It had not come from Beth, except at the very end. There were half dozen bodies laying in the roadway a hundred yards from the bus. Directly below, as Adam walked to the edge and looked down, two frightened young kids stared up at him. Teens, maybe, he told himself, not much past that, and they were both carrying machine pistols; a girl and a boy. The girl had a gash on one side of her face and looked pretty bad off. He glanced back up at the dead in the road, and then let his eyes fall on the other houses on both sides of the road. Nothing and nothing. He looked to Beth
“Three?”
“Some chased them. Got the other one... Dragged her off in back of the houses... She was dead already I think... Sick...” she lowered her voice. “Same with these two.”
He looked back down at the two.
“You got the sickness?” he asked the girl.
Beth stepped up beside him. “They were chasing all three of them. The ones chasing them were sick too... You could see it in their faces. They were trying to drag them of... Biting them,” she nodded as Adam looked up and met her eyes.
“That's a fuckin' lie! A fuckin' lie!” The boy screamed. “They never touched us... never. We got away,” he added in a near normal voice. He turned and looked back down the road at the dead, and when he did, Adam saw the blood leaking from his hairline. He looked back at the girl and her eyes were locked on his, staring up at him.
“Girl?” Adam asked.
She frowned and then nodded. “They had us for a few days. They were bad sick, all of them,” she turned and pointed at the boy. “They slammed his head into the road,” She tilted her head as she looked up at Adam and then Beth. “They were trying to bite... It's the sickness... Makes you crazy. Saw my brother die of it... I don't think they got him. It might have been. It was this close,” she held her index finger and thumb barely apart. “Could have been.” She cleared her throat.
“We've been here, we didn't just get here. They're slow, sickness, I guess... They can't even get out of their own way sometimes. But we found some a few days ago that weren’t dumb... somehow,” she seemed confused. “Kept us. Got away this morning. Set them on fire. Some got away,” she shook her head, staggered, and then her eyes cleared. She continued, “Hell, maybe all of them got away. The thing is, they weren't stupid. Not like the ones we've been dealing with,” she shrugged. Her eyes fluttered as she spoke, and she staggered again.
“Sick,” Beth whispered.
The boy looked up. “I'm telling you, they never got her at all. Never did.” His own eyes were glazed, no doubt due to the head injury hiding under the hair that was slowly darkening and becoming plastered to his head. The blood was bright red now, flowing down his neck. He held the girl for a second, but it seemed all he could take, and they both sagged to the ground.
“Goddammit,” Adam muttered. “I guess that explains the fire though.”
Down the road, three more staggered into the street from behind a house where they had been hiding. Before Adam could speak, Mac and Billy dropped all four with just a short burst from their weapons. “Getting a lot better,” Adam said. “A lot.” They said nothing. He looked back down at the girl and boy and then walked away and looked over at Beth.
“I am not for it. I think she's sick... Maybe not the boy, but what the fuck can we do?” Beth asked.
Adam nodded. When he spoke, his voice was a deep whisper. “Nothing. He's not going to leave her. If they had them for a few days, chances are they're sick anyway. We can't chance it.” He leaned forward and looked down at her where she lay curled in the boy's arms. He was out. Maybe not coming back. The blood was still pumping from his head and flowing down his neck.
Adam squatted and peered down at the girl and the boy for a few moments before he spoke again. “What do you think of her neck?”
Beth squatted beside him and looked down at the girl. She stood and shook her head. “I can't tell. It looks like she's got it. Turns black, you know, but just under the skin... like... like a bad bruise under their skin. Bad description, I know,” she finished.
“Not really. Pretty close to what I have seen. Looks like the capillaries just under the skin turn black. Takes no time at all... spreads to the rest of the body. Can take the finger, hand, foot... if you're fast enough. Stop it right there. I've seen it done.”
Beth met his eyes. Her voice was low. “Can't take her head off.”
“No.” Adam sighed. He rubbed at his eyes and then turned to Billy. “How long do you guys need to finish your project?”
“Rest of today. Tomorrow to test it and make sure it's okay.”
“Yeah? All that work and that's it?” Beth asked.
“Not as compli
cated as it looks. It's swapping out the body, really. Everything is in the wiring harness, just run it into the van cab... wire up a switch. The big deal is mounting the body. I have a welder, I have a generator, but I'm not so hot with welding.”
“Really? Well, like I said, I am. Show me what you got, what you need, and as long as you can juice up that welder, I'll get it done for you,” Adam said.
Billy laughed. “Man. That's good. I was worried about it, but...” He broke off as Adam turned away and looked back over the edge of the bus. “I'll wait for you... get the generator fired up. I have to cut some plate steel and make what I need you to weld. We'll be waiting.”
Adam turned back and nodded. “Be there in a bit.”
Billy's eyes slid up to Mac, and a second later they both turned and made their way down the ladder.
“Dell... we got this, Dell.” Adam turned and looked at Dell. Dell nodded, relief clearly written on his face, turned and made his way carefully down the ladder.
Adam reached into his pocket, pulled his pouch out and rolled a cigarette.
“Roll me one,” Beth said.
“Yeah? This is rough stuff.”
“Yeah. Roll me one,” Beth repeated.
Adam rolled a second cigarette, handed it to Beth and then struck a match. Beth leaned in and pulled a deep breath as Adam held the match to her cigarette. He lit his own, looked over the edge, and then tossed the match after he shook it out. His eyes looked down the street where the three more had come from the house, bumping around parked cars. One had walked into the side of a house. He kept backing up and then walking straight forward again, slamming into the side of the house over and over again.
One woman had found the middle of the street and was drunkenly staggering her way toward them. Adam flicked his machine pistol to single shot, raised it, sighted and squeezed the trigger. Half the woman's head instantly disappeared from her shoulders. The other half seemed to hold together for a moment and then toppled to the left. The woman dropped in to the street in a heap. Beth coughed beside him. He turned.
“Jesus, Adam. Rough is not the word.”
Adam nodded and then looked down at the two teens. The girls' throat was beginning to darken, her neck was a mass of small spidery black lines. The boys head wound was slowing, but there was a fine mass of black lines running under one cheek. “Guess that answers that,” Adam said quietly.
Beth took a deep pull off the cigarette and rubbed at her temples with her free hand. “Is this the way it's going to be, do you think?”
Adam's cigarette dangled from his lower lip, seeming plastered there. “No...” He raised his eyes. “We're gonna find that place and settle down there. No more of this shit.”
Beth flicked her cigarette off the edge of the roof. “Bullshit. I don't see it. I don't believe it exists, and if it does, I don't think you can settle down.”
Adam took a deep pull from his own cigarette and then flicked it off the roof too. He said nothing, but leaned forward and looked off the edge of the roof. He looked back up and held her eyes for a moment. Beth stepped forward too, shrugged her machine pistol from her shoulder and into her hands. She raised her eyes to Adam. He nodded, thumbed his pistol to full auto, and sprayed the two where they lay up against the bus below. Beth's pistol hammered away too. They were brief bursts, but they did the job. They both backed away a moment later.
“Okay?” Adam asked.
Beth nodded.
Adam slipped his pistol back into the sheath on his back, walked to the other side of the bus, snagged the ladder and dragged it upward. A moment later he was lowering it on the other side.
“Got you,” Beth said tightly.
Adam climbed down the ladder. A few moments later he was pulling on a pair of heavy rubber gloves, dragging the bodies away from the side of the bus, over behind the nearest house and rolling them down into the ravine that the rains had cut into the hillside there. In less than a minute, he was climbing back up the ladder and then pulling it up behind him.
Beth watched the street. There were two more sick that were getting closer. The one was still slamming repeatedly into the side of the house down the street.
“Okay?” Adam asked quietly.
She turned to him. “Yeah. It is what it is.” She thought for a second, but didn't know what else she could say.
Adam nodded. “I'll send Dell back.” He waited for a second.
“Got a pint... Got a couple actually...” Beth said.
“You offering to buy me a drink?” Adam asked.
She held his eyes. “I think I'm offering more than that. I don't want to cause problems...”
Adam nodded, “I'll send Dell. We'll take a little walk. We can talk this out, I think.”
“Yeah?” She moved closer to him. Adam started to lean toward her and the ladder rattled. Beth stepped back, smoothed her shirt unconsciously and looked toward the ladder.
Iris's head rose above the ladder level. “Something's wrong with Winston,” she said.
Adam looked a question at her.
“I don't know... sick... Cammy said he has pain in his arm.” Iris looked from Beth to Adam and then back and forth again. “You had to kill them kids?”
Adam sighed. “Mac told you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Yeah... Had to... Okay, I'm coming,” he turned back to Beth, an apology in his eyes. Her own eyes said she understood. “I'll send Dell.” She nodded. Adam turned and followed Iris down the ladder.
“I can't believe it,” Iris muttered as they walked toward the garage.
“What?” Adam said, “Winston?”
“Please... You two are fucking!” She lowered her voice to a hissed whisper.
Adam was taken aback. “What the hell are you talking about?” He stopped and closed one hand on her shoulder, turning her back to face him.
She squinted her eyes. “Are you serious? It's obvious.”
“It's obvious that you see something that isn't happening,” Adam said.
“Right... Right... I won't tell. But it's fucked up. You shouldn't be with Cammy if it's Beth you want.”
“I'm telling you nothing's going on,” Adam said.
She glanced down at his hand, shrugged it from her shoulder. “No? You will be. It's not fair to Cammy is what I'm saying.” She turned and walked off to the garage, leaving Adam standing for a second before he got his feet moving and followed her.
The Nation
“I don't want you to go,” Amy said.
“I know... I would rather have you go too, but...”
“I know... And I don't want to go. I don't think I could take the riding. So, let me be clear... you.” She propped herself up on her elbow next to him, the weight of one breast pressing softly against Arron’s arm, and poked her finger into Arron's chest. “I don't want you to go.”
“It's not fair to blind me,” Arron said.
Amy looked down at her breasts. “Assets,” she said.
“Headlights,” Arron said.
Amy smacked his arm with an open hand.
“Ow,” Arron said in a mock hurt voice. “Blind me then beat me.”
“I don't want you to go.” She punched his arm with a closed fist.
“Ouch. Now that hurt.” Amy drew back her hand to do it again. “Okay... Okay, I'll stop screwing around... Honey, I can't do anything about it. You know that.”
Amy dropped her fist and laid her head back on his chest. Her fingers picking at the tight curls of his chest hair. “I know... I just didn't like the way it went down. It was like you guys went to James, James went to Sandy, Sandy lowered the boom on Katie and me.” She raised her head from his chest and held his eyes with her own.
“It didn't go that way, exactly.”
“So, how exactly did it go?”
“Aim...”
“No... No fair... No Aim this or that. What did you two do or say? It's important, because if you feel like you can't talk to me... ask me... share with me... If you
have to go behind my back...”
“Nobody went behind anyone’s back. It went like this. Conner, me, James and Jake were talking. I guess Conner and I brought it up. James said Sandy wouldn't let either of you go. I didn't, Conner didn't, James didn't, Jake didn't. Nobody said anything else. Sandy had already planned to tell you. And Conner and I had planned to say no, even if it meant that we couldn't solve it with you, if we had to end up not going. Whatever it took, but nobody ganged up, conspired. Honey, you're six months pregnant. You said yourself that you wouldn't go.”
“I said I don't want you to go.”
“I know. But you know I'm going. If it was you and Katie, you would go. I know you would. Conner is my friend. It's that simple, and it's my place as part of all of this... this place. Who else would go? Jake? James? David maybe? One of the new guys that Conner doesn't even know?”
“You're making it like I should feel guilty about this, like I'm being greedy... like I want too much,” Amy said.
Arron reached over and pulled her closer to him. “Stop it. It's not about anybody being right or wrong. Guilt... no guilt. It's not about that.” He stroked her hair. “Aim, it's going out because we have to. That's all.”
“You could get killed,” Amy said quietly.
Arron sighed. “Okay. I can't say that wouldn't happen. I can't. But I can say that I am not interested in being dead. In fact, I have a very healthy interest in staying alive. I intend to pursue that interest. Honey, I can't see the future.”
“I am just afraid,” Amy said. Her voice choked, and she buried her head further into Arron’s chest. Arron held her as she began to cry.
Hazleton: Adam
“Hey,” Adam said. He knelt down next to Winston where he lay on a cot. Cammy had found the cot and set up in a small side office. He looked in his eyes. “What's going on?”
Winston nodded. “I think it's just something else, Adam. I know Cammy is worried, thinks it's my heart, but I don't think so.”
Adam nodded. “What can I do?”
“Nothing, really. I think it just has to run its course.” He shrugged.
“Pain in your chest? ... Arm?” Adam asked.
“Arm aches. Pressure in my chest. I got a bad ticker... I know it. I get that sometimes. I got Nitro... plenty,” Winston said.
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