“And me,” I agreed readily.
Highlander and the woman went inside the gas station, and Max and the younger woman were beside the motorcycles. Max was talking and pointing out different parts of the bike, and anyone would be forgiven for thinking that the women were actually into them. That they really were there to trade and get laid and that they weren’t cannibals looking to hook a couple of fresh bodies for their barbeque.
As the thought entered my head I could practically smell the scent of flesh cooking. The sizzle of fat on coal. The smoke of charred skin. Images splashed through my mind like a horrific kaleidoscope. Flashes of the room I was in at Tim and Clare’s candy store. Flashes of the plate of flesh that I’d half eaten before realizing. The scent of meat cooking. The sound of Phil’s screams…no, not Phil, someone else. And then Ricky. Hanging in that bathtub with most of his limbs hacked off. The horrors moved behind my eyes, my stomach lurching with every one of them. I was sweating and it trailed down the side of my face as I fought to control myself.
Axe looked back at me, but I was only vaguely aware of him. My gaze was on the small cart that the two women had rolled up in, and the hand that had slipped out of the side of it to discreetly unhook the covering from it.
I quickly scanned our surroundings, noting nothing but a shambling deader in the field opposite the gas station, and I rolled my shoulders and pulled out my machete. I stepped out from my hiding spot, confident that Kelli, Freddy, Carl, and Axe had me covered from every angle, and I moving quietly toward the cart. The young woman with Max was facing toward me and I watched her eyes widen as I came into view, but Max grabbed her by the neck and blocked her airways with his forearm.
She struggled against him as he quietly fought against her. Her hands were at her waist trying to pull out her knife, but with one hard snap and twist of her head, Max silenced her completely, lowering her body quietly to the ground and then dragging her behind his motorcycle. She wasn’t completely hidden, but it wouldn’t be the first thing you spotted if you came upon us. At least not in the first five seconds.
Moving toward the cart, I watched the reaching hand tug free the string that was holding the cover on the cart. The hand moved across to the next tie, long fingers fumbling for the piece of string, and as it reached for it I swung my machete high and then dropped it quickly, slicing the hand clean off.
There was a split second of silence before a long, thin scream echoed loudly from within, and blood sprayed up against the sheeting. I stood back, letting the person within fight against the cover before finally stumbling out of the cart and falling to the ground in a heap.
It was a woman—a girl, really. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen, and momentary pity swelled in my chest at the sight of her dirty brown hair tied at the nape of her neck. But then she looked up at me with eyes full of tears and her teeth bared. In another life I might have given her a chance to live, to make amends for the horrible things that she had done, but not in this one.
The young woman was still on her knees, and she stared up at me with hate and pain filling her features. Her hand gripped tightly to the wrist of her other arm as blood pumped freely. She was crying loudly, her face filled with rage, and I swung and took off her head with a single slice.
The cart shook and rocked, and before I knew what was happening more women were climbing out from underneath. As their feet hit the bloodied ground, Carl and Freddy took them out with their bows and arrows, and then from above I heard Kelli’s rifle going off several times, and then soft and final cries of pain from the tree line opposite.
Axe came to stand next to me, watching the head of the woman still twitching, the eyes blinking aimlessly, the mouth opening and closing and emitting a low growl.
“You meant business then?” he said, and when I looked over he was laughing.
I raised my machete and stabbed each of the bodies through the forehead, making sure to end each of the women once and for all.
“Yeah, I meant business,” I agreed. “Where are Gauge and Highlander with the other one?”
Axe smirked. “He’ll be fucking her.”
We walked around the front of the gas station and I could see Gauge sitting on the dusty ground outside, smoking a cigarette. He looked pissed off as he glanced around, and then stood up, meeting us by his bike.
“Didn’t even get to kill one of them,” he grumbled, throwing his cigarette to one side. “We sure there’s not more coming?”
He sounded disappointed and I should have found that funny, but I didn’t because I felt the same way. I wanted more of them. It felt good killing them. It felt good drawing blood and hearing their screams. I wanted to kill more of them, I realized with a sickening in my stomach that I gripped with both hands and held on to tightly. I felt alive for the first time in a year.
“Let’s go to their base then,” I said, a little breathlessly because the prospect of killing more of them was thrilling. “There’ll be more of them there for us to take out.”
Gauge and Axe exchanged a glance, and my gaze narrowed, wondering what that was all about, but I didn’t get chance to ask as Highlander came out from inside the gas station. He was alone and walking with a swagger that suggested he really had just fucked that crazy cannibal bitch.
“Almost ruined the moment then, boys,” he laughed. “I was balls deep when the killing started. Almost lost my old man when she went for her knife.” He laughed and grabbed his crotch. “Could have given me another minute or two.”
“I can’t believe you,” Gauge said, looking disgusted.
“Och, don’t be like that, brother. It was her idea and I was hardly gonna say no, now, was I? I figured it was her last couple of minutes on earth, she wanted it, I wanted it, so what the hell.” He lit a cigarette and blew out a long plume of smoke. “I had to say no when she got to her knees though,” he laughed. “I wasn’t having any part of me near her teeth.”
Even Gauge cracked a smile at that.
Freddy and Carl came out of the gas station, walking quickly over to us. Freddy could hardly look me in the eye and his cheeks were bright red. Carl looked disgusted.
“Next time you want to get laid on the job, can you do it somewhere we don’t have to listen to it?” Carl snapped, looking stressed out. He slapped Freddy on the back. “Poor kid almost passed out.” And just like that, his stormy expression turned to a smirk and he started to laugh.
Highlander grabbed Freddy and pulled him to his large chest before rubbing his knuckles across the top of his head. “I’m sorry, wee man, I didn’t mean to embarrass ya. But you know, it’s time for you to learn about the birds and the bees.”
Freddy was laughing as he struggled against Highlander. “I know about the birds and the bees.”
“Is that so?” Carl laughed. “Looked like you were about to—”
A gunshot sounded out from somewhere behind us. I felt the bullet fly past me and watched as the glass front of the gas station exploded, and then we dropped to the ground as the snap of a gun behind us went off again. We skirted toward the small cart for cover.
“Everyone okay?” I asked, looking around at each man. Freddy was holding his arm and blood pumped from between his fingers, his face paling.
29.
Mikey
“Shit, how bad is it?” I asked, feeling responsible for him.
“I don’t know,” Freddy gasped, his eyes wide and his face etched in pain. “It really hurts though.”
Gauge quickly pulled a small green bag from his inside pocket and placed it on the ground at his feet. He unzipped it and grabbed a wedge of clean cotton from inside. “Let me see, kid.”
Freddy let go, and blood sprayed out quickly but then slowed to just a drip. Gauge took the arm in his grip and swiped the blood away. There was a small hole in his bicep that blood was dribbling out of.
I looked up quickly over the top of the cart, seeing movement in the field opposite. The deader that had been there previously was no more, but
other shapes now moved among the tall grasses. I ducked back down and looked between everyone.
“Gotta be twenty or so, at least.” My blood was pumping, my ears ringing, and the scent of Freddy’s blood was thick in the air.
Gauge was still looking over Freddy’s gunshot, his dark hair covering his face. “It’s okay, not too bad. Bullet’s still in there so we’re gonna need to get that out soon. I’m going to wrap it and stop the bleeding. Highlander, you got this?” He glanced up and Highlander, despite everything, was inexplicably still smiling.
“Of feckin’ course, brother. It’s what I’ve been waiting for.” He reached up inside the Highwayman cart before looking down at me. “That woman up there going to cover me?”
“Yeah,” I agreed, knowing that as long as she hadn’t been shot she’d do all she could.
“Right then, you two watch our boys here, Max in the cart with me loading up and Mikey and Axe, get on your feet and let’s go have some fun!”
Highlander stood up and grabbed the corner of the tarpaulin on the cart, dragging it off. It fell to the ground with a noisy crinkle as he gripped the edge of the wooden cart and quickly hoisted himself in. He reached down among the boxes and then he was lifting the biggest gun I’d ever seen onto a large black stand and clicking it into place.
“All right, ya psycho bitches, let’s fuckin’ party!” he called out, giving a loud whoop before aiming for the field and firing the gun.
Bullet casings sprayed out at his feet as he continued to pull the trigger and screams ricocheted from the field. Highlander looked down at us and smiled, and Axe reached into the cart and handed me a large black gun. I’d like to say I knew exactly what it was, but I had no clue other than it was heavy as hell.
I hoisted it up, and as Highlander’s gunfire died down, Axe and I took over. Every shot that hit a body brought me to life more and more, my fear subsiding with the need for blood and vengeance. I didn’t know who I was becoming as I slaughtered those women, but I knew I needed him to help me survive.
Axe moved around the side of the cart to get a better aim, and I inched forward. Gunfire was going off somewhere behind me, and I imagined Kelli up on the ridge alone and I prayed that she could handle whatever was happening because I knew I couldn’t get to her right then.
In the distance I saw a small horde of deaders heading toward us, drawn by all the noise, and my anxiety intensified. I aimed and fired, aimed and fired, over and over. Shots missing, shots hitting, bullets flying past me. I lost count in the end, unnerved by everything that was happening and the never-ending assault, and the fact that the undead were getting closer by the minute.
Footsteps behind me and my name being called had me turning, and I watched as Kelli, her blond hair bobbing, ran toward us. Blood was sprayed across her face and arms, her dress a mixture of flowers and blood splatter. She skidded to a stop beside me, take a brief glance at Freddy and Gauge before coming up next to me. She was breathless, hair and eyes wild, but her rifle was still held tight in her grip like an extra limb.
“Well this went a little sideways, huh?” she panted, taking aim and firing into the tree line to the right. Her rifle cracked and I knew without asking that she’d hit her target. “So many deaths,” she tutted despondently.
“I think they were expecting us,” I agreed dryly.
“No shit,” Axe replied, coming back around to the side of the cart.
Highlander had dropped down in the cart, and I would have thought he was injured or dead if it wasn’t for his loud singing coming from within.
“On the bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond…” he crooned loudly while Max continued to pull belts of bullets from the boxes. “O’ ye’ll tak the high road and I’ll tak the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye.” His hands suddenly gripped the edge and he peered over at us all. “Got a horde heading our way, boys.” His gaze swung to Kelli and he smiled wider. “Sorry, darlin, didn’t see ya hiding there.”
“That’s okay.” She smiled back. “That horde is going to be getting bigger by the minute.”
He gestured toward his gun. “Aye, me boy here is good but he ain’t the best for aiming. Those Savage bitches are gonna be getting up, ready for round two, any minute now. What ya thinking then?”
“We’re going to have to move forward. Press them back,” I suggested. “They fall back into the horde and get themselves killed, or they come forward toward our guns and die anyway.”
A bullet whizzed overhead and Highlander dropped down, his face dropping from view before popping back up seconds later. Max was low in the cart, sweat trailing down the side of his face.
“That was close,” Highlander laughed. “All right then. I’ll get locked and loaded and cover ya while you push forward. Gauge, can ya keep cover for me?”
I glanced over at Gauge, who had just finished bandaging Freddy’s arm and was in the process of putting his kit away. His hands were bloody and he smeared them down his jeans.
“I can help too,” Freddy said. “I’m right-handed and it was my left.”
“Just keep out of the way, kid,” Gauge grumbled. “Need this done so we can get you back and get that bullet out. Moving could lodge it further into your muscle and cause more nerve damage.”
“I’ll be okay, let me help!”
“You could lose your Goddamn arm, kid!” he bellowed. “Is that what you want?”
Freddy looked depressed at the thought of not being able to help, but Gauge’s words had gotten through. Another bullet slammed into the side of the cart and wood splintered around me.
“Let’s do this,” Gauge snarled, looking furious.
Axe reached up as Highlander handed more guns down, and Carl took one and I grabbed another, slipping it into the back of my pants, and then we all turned and got into position.
Highlander and Gauge stood up first and immediately started firing into the trees and fields opposite, and then Carl filtered in behind me with Kelli heading behind Axe, and we stepped out from behind the cart, guns raised and ready to kill.
We moved forward as one, an impenetrable wall of firepower letting loose shot after shot. I could hear Highlander singing loudly again, and his machine gun erupting loudly as he pressed the trigger and held it down. Bullets sprayed overhead, all aimed in one direction as Savage zombies got back up to their feet and came toward us, unafraid of death now that the devil was kissing their black souls.
I aimed and took out brain after brain as the small horde in the field finally caught up. Screams erupted as the Savage women that were still alive either stupidly stayed where they were and became zombie food or they stood up and headed toward us, dropping their guns and raising their hands to the sky.
I pulled out the second gun from my waistband as the first gun ran out of bullets, and I took aim and squeezed the trigger.
Body after body fell, each death another stain upon my soul as I gave no mercy to any of these women. These killers. These monsters.
My gun clicked upon empty and my chest heaved as Kelli stalked past me and took out a Savage woman who was trying to crawl away. She’d been shot, and she left a darkened trail behind her as she pulled herself along the ground, coughing and spluttering as blood left her lips.
And then it was over.
They were dead.
The deaders were completely dead.
And I felt…unsatisfied.
I stalked through the long grass, searching for more. Alive or dead, I didn’t really care, I just wanted to kill. I just wanted to feel strong. To feel powerful. To not feel like a Goddamn victim anymore. Like I wasn’t still chained up in a candy store or a cave, with the scent of flesh on my tongue and fear in my heart.
A heavy hand landed on my shoulder and I turned, startled, to find Carl behind me. He raised his hands in defense.
“It’s just me, it’s just me,” he said quickly, and I lowered my gun, realizing that I must have looked like a damn psycho, stalking through the field, searching for something to kill.
“Hey,” I said, not sure what else to say.
He gestured for me to follow him and I gave one last glance around me before heading back to the gas station. As my feet moved from muddy field to solid ground, I noticed my bloody footprints left behind and I lifted my chin.
Highlander had his arms raised and was singing at the top of his lungs that he had a lust for life, and Kelli was laughing along with Freddy, who looked like shit. His ginger hair was even brighter against his stark skin and he was laughing, but the pain was still etched into his gaze.
“Need to get him back and get that out of his arm,” Gauge said, a thick cigar tucked between his lips.
“Horses got startled, but they were still there,” Kelli said. “We just need to get him back up the ridge.”
I headed over to the horse and cart that the two Savage women had come on. The horse was dead on the ground, the cart tipped over, and I kicked through the meager contents, growing angrier when I saw the large plastic box of meat and a bag of herbs. Other than that, it had been empty, just the Savage women hidden beneath the cover.
“Is that…?” Carl asked as he looked down at the plastic tub, blood leaking out of it.
“Yeah,” I replied, my stomach twisting and turning in knots. I turned back to the Highwaymen, stalking to Axe. “Let’s go.”
Axe’s face split into a slow grin and Highlander finally stopped smiling. “All right, let’s go.”
Gauge grabbed Axe by the shoulder and glared at him. “What are you doing? This wasn’t the plan.”
Axe shrugged out from his grip. “He wants to fight. Who am I to deny him that?”
Highlander jumped down from the cart and came to stand by Gauge. “Don’t be a prick, Axe, this has nothing to do with fighting. This is you trying to show Shooter one last middle finger before you fall into line, but I’m telling ya, this won’t end well for you, brother. Just let it be.”
I frowned, wondering what they were all talking about. “Listen, I know there was a plan, but Kelli and Carl can get Freddy back to Haven. I’m heading to those mines with or without you. I can fight. I can help.”
The Dead Saga | Book 7 | Odium 7 Page 22