Gus huffed and leaned against the side of a building. He was at the end of the street now. In front of him stood a hotel, Best West Front, according to the half-broken sign. Next to him was Josh, who pleaded to team up with him. Once out of the cage the rest scattered like roaches caught in a flashlight. Josh though, he stuck to Gus like a pimple on his ass.
He hoped the kid didn't think Gus was some hero who would get him out of this shit. That wasn't him. He told Josh as much as they ran away from the cages. He'd keep them both alive if possible while also doing what the assholes wanted, if that would keep them happy and from killing anyone.
"Do you think there are a lot of zombies here?" Josh asked.
"Son, I don't even know where the hell here is yet," he snarled back. "Let's hope not, unless your good at boxing or any of that karate kid stuff."
Gus wished Linda had been in his group. If they released her too, he would have met up with her and possibly gave running off a chance. He thought that sniper shit was just a bluff. If this group had that many people in its ranks, then why didn't they just clear out the town and loot it themselves?
A woman and her daughter, who looked to be about ten, scuttled by him. She was dragging her daughter in a death grip around the wrist. The woman gave him a grimace as she passed. The two crossed to the hotel building. There Gus watched the mother scan the area, drop her backpack, pull off her daughters, and book it towards an open field.
Gus watched, helpless to even yell after them to stop. A crack echoed from the top of the hotel and the mother fell face first into the dirt. The little girl jerked to a stop, turned, and pulled on her mother's arm, crying out. Even after the blood pooled around her head.
Like Gus had told Josh, he was no hero. Still, he couldn't just stand by and watch an innocent young girl get gunned down. He made it about four steps before one of the armed goons from before raced across the field and scooped up the girl. She kicked and screamed and cried, all to no avail. The man marched robot like over to where her backpack laid on the ground. He slammed the girl onto the pavement, grabbed the pack, and rolled her over with a kick. He jammed the backpack on her and scooped her up over his shoulder.
The man looked around and spotted Gus. He came over and dumped the girl on the ground again in front of him. "There, you've been adopted." The man jabbed a finger in Gus' chest. "You! Get her to work or else."
Even after all he had seen since the start of The Outbreak, Gus recoiled in horror and shock. The girl looked up at him with dead, red-rimmed eyes. Gus didn't know what to do. Josh took a knee and opened up his arms to the girl. She stared at him like he was an alien. He took her hand. She didn't flinch. She didn't move at all. She remained motionless, like a doll. Josh guided her into a hug. She stood there like a rag doll, arms at her side, continuing to glance over his shoulder at Gus with zombie like eyes.
Well, shit. What the hell am I supposed to do now?
Josh let go of her and stood. She continued to stand at attention, her face blank.
"Little girl," Gus called to her, as smooth and soft as he could. "What's your name, sweetie?"
She didn't answer. She didn't move. She didn't even blink.
"Okay. How about I call you... sugar puff?"
Nothing.
"Can you believe it, Gus?" Josh jumped in, blathering. "They really have-"
"Not now, sport." Gus snapped at him. "Jesus Christ, have some common sense." He gestured at the girl with his eyes. Josh looked as blank as the girl for a moment, then what Gus said dawned on him. His mouth became a tight line.
"Sugar puff it is then until I hear different. You take ol' Gus' hand, sugar puff, and we'll be off to see the wizard."
He took her limp hand in his and lead her down the street, keeping his body in between hers and the field. He sure could use a wizards help right about now.
SHAMBLER
The fourth building the three of them entered, which used to be a sandwich shop by the look of it, turned out to be bad news bears from the beginning. Gus took three steps inside, one hand still clasped to the girl. A scraping sound popped up on his left.
He jumped back enough that the swipe of the zombie's hand missed him by inches. Someone had boarded the windows of the place up, which Gus took as a good sign. That decision might be the death of him.
He bumped into Josh, who tripped and stumbled back to the edge of the sidewalk. The shambler turned its still well preserved body back towards Gus. It had once been a young man, one with a nose ring and those black discs in its ears. Gus wished he had a gun, a pipe, hell even a bat, to defend himself with.
"Get her the hell out of here," he hollered back to Josh.
Gus scrambled back to the edge of the sidewalk. If the thing's a Runner, I'm done for. He cast about for something to protect himself with.
Something yanked at his hand and like a magic trick, the girl stood between him and the zombie. She let out a scream, an animal mix of pain and rage. The zombie shifted its focus from Gus to the girl. He saw behind it, through the doorway, movement. There were more of the bastards in there.
The zombie wasn't a runner, but it still closed the distance between it and the girl in seconds. She was quicker though and skidded back out of its way as it lunged.
Next to him Gus saw a tree growing out of the sidewalk, its limbs still bare. He jumped and got hold of a branch. "Get over here and help me," he hissed at Josh.
With the additional weight, the good-sized branch broke off. Down the sidewalk the girl still screamed and dodged, back pedaling as the zombie chased her. Another came out of the deli.
Gus ran up beside it and smacked it full force on the side of the face. The new zombie wasn't in as good a shape as the first one. The snap of bones at the impact filled Gus with relief. He knocked its head crooked. It stumbled into the brick wall. Gus held the stick in both hands and used it like a bat, smashing the zombie's head into the wall one, two, three times. It fell.
Behind him Josh stood around, being useless. Gus yelled at him. "Come on, son. Do something. Make sure this one doesn't get back up. If it tries, stomp it to shit."
Without waiting for a reply, Gus took off after the girl. She had come to an intersection and instead of crossing the street; she had turned. Now she was out of sight, but Gus still picked up the heart piercing shrieks.
Gus ran as fast as his ol' ticker would let him. He turned the corner, choked up on the stick, and with all his force, cold cocked the son of a bitch in the head. A sick and satisfying smack brought a smile to his face.
The zombie shuffled forward and to the left. It didn't fall. The girl fell silent. It turned, now with a slouch to its left side, to face Gus. He brought his stick straight down, it bent in his hands and gave a satisfying crack from the impact. The thing thudded to the ground. A piece of the stick landed on its chest. It struggled to get back up. Gus now had a nice, pointed object. He jammed the stick right into the ear of the zombie, as far as it would go. The undead shuddered and then laid still.
The girl continued to scream. She rushed the undead body, pulled at the stick until it gave way with a sucking sound, like someone eating peanut butter with an open mouth. She beat the zombie with the stick until it became splinters in her hand.
"Girl, girl," Gus said, as he attempted to come up behind her to soothe her. "Come away now, sugar puff." He put his hands on her arms to stop the useless motion. She fell limp at his touch. Her screeches fell silent.
Gus twirled her around. She looked up to him with eyes that had come back to life, full of hot rage. One that seemed to be bottomless. She only held contact for a second before she jerked away from him.
Gus wanted to help her. What did he know about little girls? He had no kids of his own. Maybe Linda could help if they got out of this messed up situation. He looked around, feeling about as worthwhile as a condom in an old folks' home.
Sugar puff kicked at the curb, making scuff marks on her pink tennis shoes. It continued on this way for a few minutes until Josh came around th
e corner to join them.
"That zombie never got up again," Josh announced, like he had just saved the day.
Gus wanted to lay into the guy. He took a deep breath instead and thought back to what Hannah had told him about Josh in the past before he spoke. "I'm going to need a little more help out of you next time, partner. These people aren't kidding around. They've done what they said they would so far. We need to get these packs filled and back or we're all goin' be in a world of hurt."
The sun had already passed overhead, and they were the first pen out. Gus didn't like the odds of them all getting done in time. They knew there were zombies now.
The new question was, just how many?
MAPS
The now too familiar stench of death and decay greeted Hannah when the two stepped into the casino.
The new day was considerably warmer, and outside the snow turned into slush. By the end of the day, she expected it to disappear for the most part.
"Well shit," JT said beside her. She listened to his nostrils flare. "That's not a good sign."
Hannah had a sense of deja vu as the two beams from their flashlights crossed back and forth in the darkness. Rows of long dead and silent machines marched in front of them. Off to one side were several card and a craps table. There the light played across a dead body slumped over it. The face rested on the felt. It was hard to tell from where they stood if it was a woman or a man. The only feature on the person they could make out was its long, light brown hair.
"At least they don't have a spike through them," JT said to her. That was true.
Instead, the person had two holes in their back. Hannah spotted them as they walked past. She didn't want to touch the body, afraid of who it would be. She knew she'd have to though. The person deserved just as much respect as those found at the cave.
That would have to wait. She wanted to stay on task. They didn't know how many days or weeks ago the attack happened. She felt a sense of urgency to find out. They would take the dead body to the grave site on the way out.
With each step a bad idea tried to take root in her mind. Whatever demise fell upon the person on the table happened to everyone. That if they investigated the town house by house, in each one they would find a dead person.
No, she didn't want to believe that. Dr. Childs, Henry, Linda or Gus, any of them might have gotten away. They were smart, capable, and they were survivors.
She made a quick prayer in her mind that God blessed the person sprawled before them up with him to heaven, then moved on.
Before long the two of them found themselves outside the door to Childs' penthouse without incident. It surprised her to see the door closed. With a gentle tap on her shoulder, JT moved her aside. With a reverberating crunch JT kicked the door open. In a flash he was inside, his pipe at the ready. Hannah was right behind him, pistol raised.
The two did a three sixty of the place. Like everywhere else, the living room looked like someone had rifled it. The room was far from the tidy place Dr. Childs kept. The kitchen showed signs of a struggle, but she was grateful there were no dead bodies.
"I'll check the other rooms, to be double sure it's clear," JT said.
While he did that, Hannah moved over to the window that overlooked the town. From up here it looked like a Colorado postcard. If she ignored the fire damage. And the barrier wall smashed to pieces.
She turned around and her eyes fell on a map of the United States attached to a corkboard. It laid on the glass table between two leather couches. Intrigued, Hannah moved closer.
When JT returned, she didn't notice at first. She stood over the table, engrossed in deciphering the map. There were little stick pins with balls on top in lots of cities on both coasts. She figured Childs was still doing work he found interesting, studying The Outbreak. Next to the map was a busted walkie talkie.
She made to turned away to continue the search, but stopped when she noticed something odd. Childs pins and note writing along the sides of the map were meticulous. Around where Colorado and Wyoming were on the map he had scrawled a circle, over and over, to the point where the map had almost ripped. Hannah hunched down to inspect it closer.
"JT," Hannah called out after a few minutes of study. "Come over here."
In seconds he was beside her.
"What did you say you found written in blood again? Lar something, right?" she asked once JT joined her.
"Yeah, that was it. You find something?"
"Maybe. This area circled here, it's sloppy, unlike the rest of the map. I looked at what was inside the circle and there is a city in it called Laramie. Is this a clue Childs left behind?"
JT shrugged. "Have to be a big coincidence not to be. Laramie, huh? So it wasn't zombies. If there were raiders, where are all the dead people? We've found just a few."
"I don't know. We could do door-to-door searches. That will take us a few days. Or we can see how far this Laramie is from here. If they are there, everyone is in danger and the longer we wait, the less chance we can find them alive."
"What, you think they kidnapped a bunch of the people? Why? Makes little sense to me. Not saying you're wrong." JT added when Hannah gave him a face.
She couldn't answer that question. What made sense in this world anymore though? Did zombies make sense? Did Harold?
Hannah didn't want to make a decision on her own. They were a team now. They weren't married, she wasn't sure that term made sense either in the world they lived in now. She might as well be though, because she would never leave him. She trusted him with her life.
"What do you think we should do?"
JT rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at the map. "I don't understand, but I'd rather follow this path and be wrong. If we go to Laramie and it's nothing, we'll have plenty of time to come back and search."
"That's true. I didn't think about that."
"That's why you pay me the big bucks."
"Come on then, big brain," Hannah poked him in the ribs with her index finger. "It's too late to start out now. Let's go back, look at the atlas to plot a course, and head out at first light tomorrow."
YOUTH OF THE NATION
The sun fell behind the buildings by the time Gus and his companions headed back to the cages. It had been a hard slog. Going back to the deli had been a bust. The two stores next to it were also shit.
Then Josh had suggested searching an apartment building. Gus thought what the hell, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea. After finding and battling zombies in the first two apartments, Gus said fuck that shit. Still without weapons, both encounters had been too close of a call. The wild child became a shrinking violet during the battles. That was fine with Gus, he didn't need a dead kid on his conscious along with everything else his life had already provided him.
The three trudged through a deserted street filled with debris. The wastes of civilization blew past them in the wind. Gus walked bent over, not because his pack was heavy, it didn't hold much at all. The day had beat him down. As he walked, he couldn't help but peek up at the tall buildings in the distance.
Stuck in his cloud of grey, he only came out when he felt something touch his hand. He looked over to see it was the little girl. She gave him a tentative smile. He gave her an equal one back.
"Madison." She spoke so soft and so fast, Gus thought he imagined it. She continued to give him sideways glimpses.
Gus spoke slow, as if trying not to spook a wild animal. "Is that so little lady? It fits you better than sugarpuff." Her smile became a little stronger. "I don't think I've introduced myself. Name's Gus."
"Oh, I know. My-well, I've heard that I should stay away from you. If I have to be close, then I should cover my ears."
Gus made a big deal of being offended. "Ho, ho, is that so? Who knew I was corruptin' the youth of the nation."
He got a genuine giggle. "I guess you're nice."
"Why, thank you. I'm glad you made up your own mind. Shows you, you can't listen to rumors. I'm a stand up citiz
en of the U.S.A. and nice to boot. Unless you ask my ex-wife."
She giggled again. She looked down from Gus to her shoes. Several steps later she peered up again, this time stone faced. "I've decided to live. That's why I told you my name."
Holy hell. It took him moments to decide what to say next.
"That's good, because I'm going to need your help."
She looked at him with a new face, a skeptical one. "Me? Help you?"
"Yeah. I need something beautiful to look at in this ugly world." He gave her hand three squeezes.
She looked down again, not before Gus saw tears come to her eyes. He didn't know what he would do next, or what Linda would think, when they met back up. He glanced back over his shoulder. Josh straggled behind. With nervous eyes he scanned back and forth across the street.
"Hurry up, numb nuts," Gus hollered at him. "We gotta get back. It's pretty sad when I'm beating a young guy like you."
Josh didn't say a word, or change his pace much. Gus sighed. The three of them trudged along. A light mist started. They made it back to the pens without another incident. Twilight fell. Each had a pack only half full.
It will have to do.
HOTEL CALIFORNIA
Emilio stood up on his box, like he hadn't moved a muscle the whole time Gus gallivanted around town. Most of the people in the pens now sat on the patchy, wet ground. Most looked defeated.
Gus smiled when he saw Linda still standing inside hers. She looked as if she was trying to help someone, a man whose face was red and puffy. That's my woman. He looked away quick like before anyone might notice.
Emilio stepped off the box and would have been right in Gus' face if not for the fence. "Well, well, here are the slowpokes of the group. The rest of your pen are back already. You guys think you were on vacation?"
"Yeah," Gus retorted before he could stop himself. "I'm sure the tourism business is booming in wherever the hell we are."
The Outbreak Series (Book 4): Deadlocked Page 6