Aidan suggested withdrawing from the area entirely and finding some secluded spot in the mountains to either squat in an abandoned cabin or build their own fortress from scratch. “I think we need to get the hell out of Sabre. We’re next to a main road here. It’s not exactly the best place to lay low if we want to try to get back to some sort of peaceful existence without worrying about traffic from the undead coming through. Like Cheryl said…we can’t comfortably eat food from the garden. The container plantings with clean soil were a novel idea, but we can’t grow enough food in them to feed one of us, much less all six of us. We were attacked by a good sized horde. Cassie’s dead. Jeremiah gave up on living; Hannah’s in the ground. I feel like this place is cursed now. I can’t imagine staying here more than another day or two and then we oughta pack up and get out. So…I agree with Cheryl. That’s my two cents. What do you all think?”
There were some murmurs of assent to his idea along with vocalized fears about leaving a spot they’d been comfortable with for months and chancing it on the unknown. Zach and Diego came around to the idea of leaving, but Kai and Jordan were hesitant to leave what they considered to be their home. The arguments got heated as talk arose of leaving them behind to fend for themselves, because the rest of the group started to lean towards heading into the Galiuro Mountains to find some wilderness area to settle in.
The conversation had escalated to a shouting match between Aidan and Kai when Jordan stood up and rushed to the front window. As he peeked through the curtains, all of their voices hushed.
“What is it?” Cheryl asked.
“We’ve got company.”
“Who?” Aidan said, rising to his feet.
“It…it looks like a O.N.E. van.”
They all went to the window and peered around Jordan to take a look. A chill ran through Cheryl’s body as she saw the white van with black tinted windows sitting in the parking lot like a fat, white bug.
“Why…” Kai said. Why are they here now?”
No one offered an answer. They gawked in silence as a man dressed from head to toe in black tactical gear with his face hidden by a helmet and visor stepped out of the vehicle, wielding a fully automatic rifle.
Chapter 6
In unison, Cheryl and Aidan told everyone in the sanctuary to take cover. Obeying without delay, everyone scrambled to the floor and crouched down between the pews.
Unfortunately, Cheryl could think of lots of reasons why O.N.E. had decided to pay them a visit. Maybe they’d just been passing by, had seen Paige’s Jeep out front, and had recognized it as a vehicle that belonged to someone who had been a member of the Resistance. Maybe they’d finally come to collect Jeremiah and enlist him back in their service, or maybe he’d disappeared last night, because they’d picked him up and tortured him until he told them that she and Aidan—wanted members of the RT—were hiding out at Divine Sundaes. Or…maybe Zach had been right. Some of the Eaters that had attacked the building had EM boxes with working tracking devices, and they had been using them to track down any survivors in the area, so they could be rounded up or eliminated. Whatever the reason they were here, the more immediate question was: how were they going to defend themselves if they were outgunned? What kind of payload was in the back of the van? More armed men? A couple dozen hungry electronically manipulated Beasts?
“Is he alone?” Cheryl asked as she helped Aidan gather the guns and remaining ammunition.
“So far,” Jordan replied with a quiver in his voice.
She was making her way back to peer out the window again when the sound of a gunshot made her drop to the floor. When it wasn’t followed by another shot after a full minute, she asked, “What’s going on?”
“I think he just shot an Eater,” Jordan said.
“You think?”
Worried that she wasn’t getting a report from the most stable-minded of fellows, she got up and elbowed him out of the way, so she could look for herself.
True to his word, the armed figure was staring in the opposite direction, facing a creosote bush near the road. There was a crumpled form on the ground next to it that looked like little more than a heap of rags. The man stared at it for a couple of seconds then he looked back towards the building.
Jordan and Cheryl tried to remain still. It was sunny enough that it was unlikely that the visitor could see inside the building through their peephole between the wooden slats, but it would be stupid to take any chances.
After staring in their direction for a couple of seconds, the man shouted something but his voice was muffled by his visor, so they couldn’t make out the words.
Jordan backed away from the window, and let Zach take his spot as he slinked towards the other side of the sanctuary and crouched down near the pulpit. The rest of them were armed now, and bracing for the possibility that the man might open fire. Cheryl knew that if he did, it wouldn’t matter that much if she was in the vulnerable spot by the window or crouched down in the rear—the walls were thin and bullets were surely to go through them anyway.
“What do you want, amigo?” Zach whispered to the mysterious stranger. “Why don’t you just go on down the road and leave us alone?”
As if the man had heard him, he suddenly pointed his gun towards the front of Divine Sundaes. Then, another man, a good five or six inches taller, stepped out of the van and came to stand next to him. He was also covered head to toe in the same protective clothing and wielded a similar rifle. The two of them looked towards each other, seeming to converse through microphones in their helmets.
Diego growled. “We just shouldn’t be standing here like idiots waiting for their next move. I’m going out the side door. I’ll take them down before they ever knew what hit them.”
Aidan grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Wait!”
The first man had lifted his visor to wipe sweat from his forehead. A smile bloomed across Aidan’s face. “That’s Vinnie!”
“It can’t be,” Cheryl said. “Paige said he was dead.”
“Nah…that’s him all right. Look at his eyes.”
She squinted, trying to recognize something familiar in the man’s appearance despite the bulk of his dark uniform. He had a thick build and appeared to be Vinnie’s height which was about 5’9”. She couldn’t tell if he had Vinnie’s distinctive dark beard, but there was a definite resemblance in the man’s crinkled brown eyes. “I think you’re right. It’s him. It’s really him! But…”
“What’s he doing here?” Aidan asked. “Dressed like a O.N.E. thug?”
The sensation of icy fingers snaked down the nape of Cheryl’s neck. “You think he’s gone over to the dark side? Sold us out…or…” She thought about One New Earth’s Cyclops device. It had the power to implant thoughts in the mind. “Maybe we should let Diego go.”
But, the visitors did something that caused them to hold off on their offense—they took off their helmets and set their guns on the hood of the van.
“It is Vinnie…” Cheryl said under her breath, recognizing the person who was responsible for enlisting her and Aidan in the RT. Her heart slowed down a few beats.
“Who’s the other guy?” Aidan asked.
“I don’t know.” The tall stranger with Vinnie had sand-colored hair sheared back to a short bristle; pockmarked skin; a firm, square jaw; and pale eyes that looked to be light blue or green. He towered over Vinnie, making him look almost childlike in comparison. While Vinnie stared at Divine Sundaes as if trying to decide what to do next, this man looked agitated as his gaze swept around the property from left to right and back again.
Diego still had a battle-ready stance like a dog that had been told to heel after working himself up to attack mode. “What do we do? Wait for them to come up and politely knock on the door? See if they’re here to sell us Avon?”
“I’m going out,” Cheryl said.
Aidan yanked her hand away from the door knob. “The hell you are!”
“It’s Vinnie. What are you worried about?”
She exhaled loudly. “Circumstantial. We know Vinnie.”
“We don’t know what he’s here for.”
“There’s one way to find out. If we don’t let them know we’re here, they may just take off.”
“Fine with me.”
She grabbed the door knob again, and Aidan grabbed her arm.
“Let go of me.”
“You are really stubborn, you know. Haven’t changed a damn bit.”
“Just cover me, all right?”
He smirked at the admittance that she wasn’t one hundred percent sure that Vinnie and his companion had come in peace. Then, he signaled Diego to go ahead and sneak out the side door to back up his defense.
Cheryl cracked the door open. “Vinnie!”
“Cheryl?” He covered his brow with a hand to shade out the sun. Cheryl Malone?”
She opened the door a little wider and poked her head out. “I heard you were dead.”
“Not last time I checked.” He said something to his companion then gave him a hearty sock in the arm. “So great to see you. Can we come in?”
She glanced back at Aidan and the others. Their faces were blank, hesitant, but not defensive. She felt it would be smart to remain cautious and not be too welcoming until she had a little more information. “Why don’t you step away from the guns and we’ll talk a little bit first.”
“Fair enough,” Vinnie said. He and the other guy walked a couple yards away from the van and raised their hands in the air.
“Okay. What’s with the O.N.E. van…and the gestapo costumes?”
Vinnie chuckled. “Scare you, did we? Sorry about that. I had to borrow a ride to bail out of Sedona.”
“Who’s your friend?” she asked, nodding towards the other man.
“This is Erik. He saved my life. He’s cool. Hey…it’s really hot out here,” he said, lowering his hands a few inches. “It’s gotta be well over ninety, and we’re dressed like a couple of goths gone Rambo. Can we come in now?”
Cheryl looked over her shoulder at Aidan. He turned to Zach and said, “Why don’t you go check them out first?”
Zach nodded.
“We’re sending someone out to pat you down first, okay?’ Cheryl called out to the men.
“Whatever, boss. If I’m really lucky after that, you’ll have a pair of Bermuda shorts and a cold beer waiting for me after we come in.”
She let Zach squeeze out the door past her. As he took slow, careful steps towards Vinnie and Erik with his gun keeping steady aim, Diego appeared from around the edge of the building. He joined Zach in giving the subjects a good frisking, and the men bore the intrusion with admirable patience.
After they were done, Zach yelled out, “They’re clean.”
Cheryl opened the door wider to receive their guests.
Vinnie and Erik walked towards the building. Zach and Diego gathered their guns and followed behind them, scrutinizing them with every step.
When they came through the door, Jordan and Kai scattered towards the back of the sanctuary as if they were paranoid that a source of infection had just entered the building.
Vinnie was considerably more at ease. “I’m sweating like a mother! There’s no air conditioning in those demon vans.” Without any hesitation, he began stripping off his vest and shirt. “No ladies in here, right?” He asked as he looked around the room. “Oh, no offense, Cheryl. Present company, excepted. You don’t mind if I get more comfortable do you?”
She raised her eyebrows and gave him a suit yourself shrug.
Jordan mumbled something about getting water for the guests and skirted around the pews as he headed for the kitchen.
A minute later, Vinnie was shirtless, revealing a chest full of dark, matted hair. He collapsed onto one of the rear pews and Erik, still fully attired, sat down next to him. Cheryl noticed that both of them had the O.N.E. symbol, the number one inside a triangle tattooed on their right hands. There was nothing alarming about that. She knew Vinnie had it, and it was likely that Erik would too if he’d also come from Sedona. She and Aidan had the same symbol more crudely etched into their own skin, since it was the only way they had been able to get past the guards to enter the city.
“Whew! You weren’t kidding!” Vinnie said, as he looked around the sanctuary. “This place really an old ice cream shop turned holy roller.”
Cheryl and Aidan exchanged a glance of exasperation at Vinnie’s cavalier attitude. They both sat in the pew in front of Vinnie, close enough to talk with him yet not too close to the odor of sweat that seemed to waft around him in a vaporous cloud.
Aidan laid it out plainly. “Everything about you right now is disturbing. Your clothes, your cheerfulness, your buddy here…”
“Chill out, man. You have no idea how thankful I am to be breathing right now. If it wasn’t for Erik …” He elbowed Erick in the ribs, and got a grunt and a nod in response.
“Why don’t we start with him?” Aidan said.
“Nah. I’ll have to back up a bit first.”
“Fine,” Cheryl said. Let’s start with the fact that Paige told me you were dead…with her last breath.”
“All right. So…there was a fire fight at the armory. Our plans to overtake it went south quick, and we lost five or six of the RT. Someone was tossing bullets in the wrong room, and you probably heard the big KABOOM after that. Right before the explosion, I was running the hell out of there and was shot at by some O.N.E. goon. I tripped on the curb, and when I fell, I decided to play dead instead of getting my brains blown out. Paige probably saw me on the ground and figured me for dead.”
Cheryl could buy that much. She and Aidan had been outside the armory when it exploded and thankfully survived it. Vinnie might have been on another side of the building where they couldn’t have seen him, or maybe they just hadn’t noticed him during the chaos.
“Then the crowds came running. You know…I went to Spain once for the Running of the Bulls, and that was nothing compared to—”
“We know,” Aidan said. “We were there…remember?”
“Oh yeah. Well, anyway. The goon who had my number took off. But then…oh my God…the Beasts. I couldn’t get to my feet. People kept knocking me down, trampling over me. When I finally got vertical, there was a Beast tugging at my arm. She was a real looker. Probably fifty pounds overweight, half naked, guts spilling out of her—”
He canned the details after seeing the glares.
“Before I could get a shot at her, I was surrounded by half a dozen Beasts. I was preparing to meet my maker when all of a sudden these creeps start dropping all around me. I saw this O.N.E. guard standing there with an automatic rifle pointed at me and figured I was his next target, but instead of shooting me, he yelled at me to get my ass moving. I didn’t argue; I decided to follow him, since I had no better option at the moment. As he led me down a few streets, we were both shooting at Beasts left and right. When he led me to his van and told me to get in, I kept my mouth shut and didn’t ask questions.”
Erik, who still hadn’t spoken yet, cleared his throat.
“Okay…so I didn’t keep my mouth shut. I think I was freaking out, screaming something about needing to get the hell out of there. Anyway…Erik here reached into the back seat, grabbed this uniform and told me to put it on. Before I could ask any questions, there were Beasts all over the van, pounding on the windshield, the windows...” Vinnie sighed, a look of horror coming over him from the memory. “Erik turned on the siren and lit up the red light on top of the van. Before I could even get a leg into these black pants of death, he peeled into the road. I’m trying to hold on for dear life and put on clothing, and he’s swerving left and right, trying to throw a Beast from the hood and swerving around others. So, when we’re a few blocks away, and I’m miraculously nearly dressed, I ask him, ‘Where are we going?’ You know what he says? ‘A quieter place.’ Yeah, that’s it,” Vinnie chuckled.
He
gave Erik another jab in the side, and he replied with a firm smile.
“Wow,” Kai said. “You must have been scared!”
“Of course I was.”
“So where’d you go?” Zach asked.
“With that siren blaring…we were able to drive right through a checkpoint…and all the way out of town! We blazed out of Sedona and half way to Cottonwood. Then, he turned off the siren, pulled over to the side of the road and told me to get out.” Vinnie gave Erik a sneer before he continued. “Of course, I protested. I had no wheels. Nowhere to go. For all I knew…everyone I knew had bitten the dust. I begged him to let me stay with him, at least for the moment. He agreed—”
“Only if you shut up,” Erik interjected.
“So, yeah…at that point I shut up for a while. He drove on to Cottonwood and pulled into the parking lot of an old burger joint. Then, he just sat there, staring into space. Finally, he says, ‘I don’t know what to do. I can’t go back. They’ll kill me for going a.w.o.l.’ That’s when I remembered you had told me about Divine Sundaes. I figured it was a bit of a drive to Sabre, but if Pastor Jeremiah and his wife were as nice as you told me…I thought they might take us in. We were discussing the idea when a couple of cars flew by like bats fleeing hell. ‘Not a good idea to be on the road now,’ Erik tells me. So we holed up in Cottonwood in an abandoned house for a couple of days ‘til we were sure that traffic had died down from anyone escaping the melee in Sedona. During that time, he told me how his family had been killed during the start of the outbreak of the infection and he’d joined up with O.N.E. just to have food and a safe place to sleep at night. He didn’t buy all their crap and wanted out anyway.” Vinnie exhaled a large puff of stale air and held his arms out wide, signifying the end of his tale. “That’s it. Here we are.”
Eaters: Resurrection Page 7