by White, A. L.
The wheels chirped, and the old truck roared to life as Charlie floored the pedal. “Ready?”
“Locked and loaded. Swing the truck to the right when we get there, so I can start shooting before I get out,” Jermaine replied.
***
The sound of the approaching truck’s motor spelled relief to Virginia. Forgetting the situation around her, she sprinted for the road. Perseus broke off to follow, careful to keep between Virginia and the creatures.
The flash of quick movement triggered the creatures. The lead blasted past Zeus, causing him to lose his footing and knocking him sideways. Its roar was like a demon cry freed from Hell to rain destruction on the world. Ground flashed by with each leap; massive claws dug into the pavement, powered by massive legs pumping harder and faster the closer Virginia came to it.
With one massive leap, it snapped its powerful jaws into the soft flesh of Virginia’s back. It lifted her off the ground, shook her back and forth then spit its prey onto the ground. Going in for the kill, the creature roared again and slowly strutted to a dazed Virginia.
Perseus leapt onto the creature’s back and sunk his fangs deep.
Shaking hard, the creature jettisoned Perseus, as an elephant swats a fly.
Zeus turned and ran, with the pack of creatures charging to catch up to their alpha. Filled with bloodlust for the human, they hadn’t noticed the dog until he burst ahead of them. Lowering his head and calling on tired legs to give him one last explosion of energy, Zeus slammed all his one-hundred and eighty pounds into the alpha.
The creature screamed in agony as its feet swept from beneath it. Catlike like reflexes tried to recoil and spring it back to its feet.
Zeus leapt onto it before it could, and the dog snapped his powerful maw around the creature’s throat. Warm blood choked Zeus as it gushed from the alpha. Zeus’s lungs fought for air, and every muscle ached, but Zeus hung on and shook the creature’s neck as hard as he could. Claws dug into his hind legs before the alpha’s body went lifeless. Zeus released the carcass, rose and turned to meet the attack from the pack. Backpedaling to gain an advantage, he noticed Virginia was up again and moving with Perseus toward the street. He didn’t hear the truck at first but could hear it now. It was up to him to give Virginia time to reach the truck.
Charlie laid on the horn while cutting hard to the right.
Jermaine fired three shots into the herd advancing on Virginia.
Charlie leapt from the truck, sprinted to Virginia and pulled her toward the truck. With Zeus holding off the creatures and Jermaine firing as fast as he could—slowing only with difficulty reloading with one hand—Charlie got Virginia and Perseus to the back of the truck. Lifting her up and depositing her hard onto the bed, he had no time to check where the blood was coming from.
“Jermaine, let’s move!” Charlie yelled.
Jermaine fired the pistol’s last round and ran for the truck.
Charlie reached across and forced the door all the way open just as Jermaine arrived.
Jumping in, he said, “Don’t worry about me.”
The transmission ground when Charlie forced it into first gear, popping the clutch and nearly causing the old motor to stall as the truck sprang forward. Forcing the clutch back down then easing it up, the truck raced from the herd.
“We forgot Zeus! We forgot Zeus! Turn the truck around!” Virginia screamed.
Charlie ignored her and took the turn on the main road without slowing.
Virginia slid across the bed, slamming into the tailgate.
Chapter 13
The air smelled like fresh-cut grass to Lori as she climbed from bed. Memories of back home before it had all happened flooded though her brain like a creek overflowing its banks. Most days she would have felt depressed by them, not today. Everything here felt like a new beginning—a new life that didn’t involve running from place to place, fighting just to exist. If it all panned out and she could get Virginia here, it would be complete. There was even a chance that they could, if they wanted, go back to their old house and live there. Lori shook away those thoughts; it was too soon to be planning that far out. Walter needed help now, and then she could try to find Virginia and bring her in.
After enjoying the peace and quiet for a while, Lori went to work with Walter. She didn’t doubt Walter was still inside. All she had to do was coax him out and beat down the beast. Maybe easier said than done, Lori thought to herself.
The people smiled and waved at her on her walk to the detention center. It made Lori feel good, and she liked it.
A van sped down the street and screeched to a halt just outside the main gate. Guards dressed in black drug two large figures from the van, who were putting up a fight that would prove no match to the numbers employed against them.
As Lori reached the gate, she saw Marius waving her to come closer.
“Take a good look at these two,” Marius said, waving at them. “I told you that we had laws for everyone—both the new and old people.”
Lori nodded, trying to get a better look.
“That one is like us. He dined on a family of the old people,” Marius said. “The other one set a trap and killed three of our people. No reason for it. He wasn’t in danger, just killed them to kill them.”
“What happens now?”
“They pay the price with their lives. Make no mistake, we need to stamp out the senseless killing here and now. I wanted you to see this, because the past can be forgiven. Once you’re enlightened to what it is we are trying to accomplish here, it can’t be.”
“If Virginia doesn’t change her ways—”
“She’ll end up like these two, with a bullet through her skull and her head chopped off.”
Marius led Lori through a different set of doors into the detention center that opened into a courtyard with tables and benches. Planters were everywhere, with several small fountains surrounding a larger one in the center. At first look, it appeared to be a place people would love to spend time. No one looked to be enjoying being here; instead, a sense of dread permeated the entire area.
“Looks like you picked up a straggler,” Stu said.
Marius nodded. “I sure did. Found her by the front gate this morning.”
“Well, I’d bet my morning coffee she’s here to see her young Mister Walter?”
“I thought if I could spend some time with Walter, it might help him come back,” Lori replied.
Stu smiled. “It sure couldn’t do any harm, ma’am. You see that man sitting by the door?” Stu pointed at a guard on the other side of the room. “If you tell him that Marius and Stu would like him to take you to Walter, he’ll see to it that you get there.”
“Thank you,” Lori replied and went to meet the guard.
“Have you told her that we have someone embedded in her sister’s party yet?”
Marius shook his head. “Not yet. If it turns out we’re wrong and her sister isn’t the cold-blooded killer we think she is, it would be better to let it go.”
“Everything we’ve heard says she is.”
“Why don’t you take a crew out there and observe from a distance for yourself? Might ease your mind a bit, Stu.”
Chapter 14
Todd woke with a sharp pain in his neck. He had molded himself to the wagon’s floorboard, trying to stay unseen. He raised his head and peeked out the side window to see if the creatures were gone. Forcing the rest of his body up into the seat, he tried to spin his head like an owl. Tears streamed down his face from trying to force his neck to move. The area was clear, no creatures any place. Wondering where Tressa was, he reached for the door handle and stopped himself.
“Tressa said to stay in the car,” he mumbled to himself. Where is Tressa?
This time he unlocked the door, climbed from the wagon and stretched his legs. Behind the wagon, he saw the red-soaked gravel topped by mounds of bloody flesh and bones. The memory exploded inside Todd’s head. He recalled the cries that had pierced his soul last night
while he forced his body into the floorboard, like Tressa had instructed him to do.
Shuffling his feet as he forced himself closer to Tressa’s remains, Todd fell to his knees and cried. He was alone in a world that frightened him, a place where only Tressa had kept him safe from the beasts.
“What do I do, Tressa? What do you want me to do now?”
The bloody heap offered no answer.
He pinched his eyelids closed so tight he felt the blood pulsing in the veins around them. Todd could see Tressa; he could see the look she made when he was a good boy and the expression when he was not. How he would give anything right now for Tressa to walk up and tell him what to do. He would die out here without her. Todd knew this better than he knew his own name.
“Where were we going, Todd?”
Todd jumped up and ran for the station wagon as fast as he could. Reaching the door, he recognized the voice as Tressa’s. “Tressa?” he asked, twirling around and making himself dizzy.
“Where were we going Todd?”
“I can’t see you, Tressa.” Todd backed over at the devoured body.
“I’ll always be with you. Now answer me!”
He wiped the tears from his face and dried his eyes. “To find the puppies.”
“That’s right. Now you need to be a big boy for me and go find the puppies.”
Sitting down next to the station wagon, Todd buried his face into his hands. “I can’t do it, Tressa. You know I can’t do that by myself.”
“You can’t stay here. You don’t want the creatures to come back and find you, do you?”
“Oh no! I don’t want them to come back at all. You know I don’t want them.”
“Be a big boy now and get into the car.”
Todd drug himself up and climbed into the passenger side of the old wagon, swiftly closing the door.
“Slide over where I usually sit.”
Todd giggled. “You know I can’t drive a car. That is just silly.”
“Slide over behind the wheel and show me what I do.”
“Okay, Tressa, but you know I can’t drive no car.” Todd slid behind the wheel. “First, you make a funny face when you look at yourself in this little mirror, like this.” Todd tried to make the same facial expression he had seen Tressa make a thousand times. Then he tried to move the seat like she would have but couldn’t figure out how to do it. His knees arched against either side of the steering wheel. “I don’t like sitting here. It’s not very comfortable.”
“Reach between your legs under the seat.”
Todd did as she had told him.
“Do you feel a lever?”
“Yes, Tressa. Something is there.”
“Move it to the left or right while pushing back.”
Todd wiggled it until it moved while shoving with his legs. The seat sprang backward with a metal twang, bouncing him to up and down in the seat. “I did it! I did it, Tressa!”
“Yes, you did. Good boy.”
“I deserve a prize for that, don’t I? I sure do, something really special, right?”
“Yes, you do, but not now. You’ll need to do more before we can worry about getting a prize.”
The muscles in Todd’s face formed a frown, but he didn’t say anything. He knew sometimes that would make Tressa mad, and he wouldn’t get anything.
“Todd, honey, do you see the key on the dashboard?”
“I’m not ’posed to touch keys, Tressa. No, I’m not ’posed to ever touch them. You said they were not to be played with, ’member?”
“You’re right, honey. They’re not a toy to be played with. This is not playing now. This is you being a big boy remember?”
Todd shook his head and forced his arm to extend toward the worn key sticking from the dashboard. Electricity surged through his fingertips when they made contact, causing him to recoil.
Tressa laughed at him in a loving way. “You’re okay. Try it again, please.”
This time, when he felt the worn metal, there was no shock. Todd smiled and waited for Tressa to tell him that he had done a good thing.
“Good job, honey. Now, on the floorboard by your right foot is a petal. Do you see it?”
Todd looked at his feet, finding the pedal.
“Push it all the way to the floor three times. Three fast times, Todd—down and then back up really quick for me.”
Moving his large foot over the pedal, Todd smashed it down three times as fast as he could.
“Good boy. Now turn the key to the right and push the pedal one more time.”
The motor sputtered several times without starting. Holding they key didn’t feel right to Todd, so he let go and turned it again just as the car roared to life, causing the starter to cry out. Todd shoved himself into the seat to escape his startlement. The old wagon’s engine raced as his foot held the pedal to the floorboard.
“Calm down. Everything is okay,” Tressa said in his head. “You can relax now.”
Todd relaxed his legs, and the motor softened to a mild rumble.
“Push the petal by your left foot all the way to the floorboard for me, Todd.”
He found the other pedal and pushed it.
“By the steering wheel, you see the shaft sticking out?”
Todd nodded.
“Good boy. Take that and move it until the red line is on the D in the little box on the dashboard.”
Todd couldn’t find anything with a D at first. After searching the car for it, he just happened to see it. “The one by the P and N?”
“Yes, that one. Pull the shaft toward you just a little and then down until the red line is on top of the D.”
Todd pulled the lever as slow as he could until the red line was right on top.
“Let your foot off the brake pedal.”
Todd pulled his foot off the pedal, and the wagon inched forward. Pushing as hard as he could, the wagon halted, sending him forward in the seat.
“That’s okay, honey. We want the car to go forward, so we can get out of here before the monsters come back.”
Todd took his foot off the brake again.
“Hold onto the steering wheel and just lightly tap the other pedal.”
Grabbing the wheel with both hands, Todd tapped the gas pedal, and the car rolled forward slowly. “Good boy, Todd! When I say, you’ll turn the wheel left.”
The wagon inched forward at ten miles-per-hour, until it reached the bend in the driveway.
“Now, honey, turn the wheel to the left a little.”
Todd turned the wheel to the right, and the wagon dipped off the gravel road.
“Which way is your left, Todd?”
Todd raised his left hand real fast before grabbing the wheel again.
“Good. Turn the wheel that way.”
Turning the correct direction, he felt the gravel under the wheels as the car left the grass.
“Keep going straight until we reach the paved road at the end of the driveway.”
Todd squeezed the wheel so tight his knuckles whitened. He was so scared right now but also excited. He was driving a car. Virginia and the puppies would never believe that he, Todd, was driving a car!
Chapter 15
The sound of the motor grew quiet and distant. Zeus knew Virginia was away and safe. With Virginia and Perseus gone, the pack turned their full attention on him. Blinded by blood flowing over his eyes onto his snout from two deep gashes in his head, Zeus snapped wildly at anything and everything in front of him. He would keep forcing his way forward until he could move no more. With hind legs weak and trembling from wounds and fatigue, the rear part of his body would fail him and fall to the ground.
The sting of the creature’s fangs sliced through his skin, and Zeus would muster enough strength to rise once more. His chest pounded faster and faster while his lungs fought for air. Tripping over the curve, he went all the way down. A creature grabbed the scruff of his neck and pulled Zeus off his feet and shook him violently in the air like a puppy with a stuffed toy.
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The last remnants of Zeus’s life drained from his body. He could see old Bob throwing a ball for him in the back yard. His feet mimicked running, as, in his head, he ran as hard and fast as he could for the ball then returned to Bob with the ball, being enveloped in a big hug. He relived playing with Perseus when old Bob had brought him home as a pup. The day he had met his Virginia raced through his mind on a loop.
Pain shot down the side of Zeus’s skull from the gashes on his head. The creature had lost hold of his neck, and he landed headfirst into the ground. The grass wiped some of the blood from his eyes, and he noticed a porch in front of him. Willing himself up, Zeus turned his battered body to face the pack. They weren’t even watching him now; something had caused them to go after each other.
Zeus backpedaled until he bumped against the porch. He crouched and slid on his belly into the hole that led underneath. The creatures were far too large to make it in here. If they stuck in a head, Zeus would make them pay dearly. He listened as the pack left, having lost interest in him.
Laying down his head, Zeus labored to inhale. There was no pain now; his body was numb.
***
The evening had been quiet. Charlie and Jermaine had given Virginia plenty of space. The few times Pippa had tried to talk to her, one of the guys would get her attention and pull her away. To Virginia, the lads were her family; to the lads, she was part of their pack. The loss of Zeus disrupted the group’s dynamic, leaving it off kilter for now.
Today wasn’t the first time Zeus had placed his life before Virginia’s. There was rarely a day when he didn’t save Virginia or someone else in the group. Virginia had been saying for months he was slowing down, didn’t seem to be as strong as he had been in the past. When it came to Virginia, Zeus had his own mind and did as he pleased. Sometimes the group would forget he was a dog. He would throw that big hulking body sideways or hurtle straight into the zombies, snapping the whole time. A tear snuck down Virginia’s cheek while she remembered all the ways he had kept her safe.
Scanning the small room, she realized everyone was fast asleep now. Moving slow enough to not make any sound, Virginia gathered what she would need for the night—the .357 Magnum, crossbow, a box of .357 ammo, and all the bolts she could stuff into her backpack.