Badlands Trilogy (Book 2): Beyond the Badlands (26 page)

Behind a crumbling farmhouse they discovered an old well. Some work with the hand pump provided them with the cleanest, coldest water they’d had during their entire trip. The two men sat behind the dilapidated structure, eating their bounty.

“Maybe after we find your family I’ll become a farmer,” Jasper said.

“Not a bad idea. At least until an armed group of maniacs comes in and takes everything you have before shooting you dead.”

“Do you have to rain on every parade?”

“Sorry.”

“I’m not saying that can’t happen, but it’s nice to dream, you know? Kinda like when I used to dream about winning the lottery.”

“I think becoming a farmer and having everyone leave you the hell alone would be better than winning the lottery.”

“Do you think that it’ll ever be possible? Just living off the land like that?”

“It’s pretty empty around these parts, so maybe. The anarchy does throw a kink in things, long-term.”

“Is that why you were headed to Kansas City? For protection?”

“I made my kids a promise that I’d keep them safe. St. Louis gave us that. Kansas City is the only other place I know that’s protected. Let me tell you, being behind that fence provided a lot of peace of mind.”

“But didn’t the bombs pretty much take care of that? Doesn’t seem any safer there than being out here on one of these farms, does it?”

“It’s safer.”

“How?”

Ed sighed. “Let’s just get moving. We still have a long way to go.”

* * *

After walking for several hours a small, country town appeared. It consisted of no more than a handful of buildings, including a gas station, a small grocery store, an auto parts store, a McDonald’s and a Burger King. A four way intersection occupied the center of the town, stop signs standing where the perpendicular roads converged. The train tracks ran beside the intersection, less than thirty yards away.

“This looks like something out of a horror movie,” Jasper said.

“Feels like an episode of The Twilight Zone,” Ed added.

“The Twilight Zone?”

“Sci-fi show back in the early sixties. Weird situations like this, usually with some sort of a twist at the end.”

“Well, this is definitely weird, but I don’t want any twists.”

“Just be careful. Keep your eyes open.”

“Oh, they’re open, alright. They’re just not liking what they’re seeing. Creeping me out, man.”

They stepped forward, headed toward the town. They walked quickly, keeping their eyes open. Jasper clutched his pistol while Ed held Jasper’s baseball bat. He couldn’t help but remember when he’d carried his own bat, back when he traveled with only Zach and Jeremy. That seemed like a thousand years ago.

Derelict cars sat motionless alongside the road, surrounded by flat, overgrown fields. Broken store windows stared blankly at them. Ed couldn’t shake the thought of a sniper standing behind one of those windows, watching and waiting.

They walked on, more distance covered. No sounds apart from the breeze blowing through the grass.

Then a crash sounded, cutting through the silence like a knife.

Ed readied the bat, heart racing.

“What was that?” Jasper asked, pistol raised.

Ed looked around and quickly caught movement. A hanging length of gutter slammed against the aluminum siding of the gas station. He pointed out the cause of the sound.

Jasper shook his head. “That scared the crap outta me.”

“Let’s get moving.”

After more walking they passed the four-way stop and kept going. The gutter whacked the side of the gas station again behind them.

Past the intersection now; halfway through the tiny town. The grocery store sat to their right, across the weedy field between the railroad track and the main road. Its windows missing and door torn from its hinges, the front of the building resembled a corpse’s face.

“Did you hear that?” Jasper asked. He stopped and raised the pistol again.

“Hear what?”

“A voice.”

Ed’s stomach plummeted like the drop of a roller coaster. “Don’t joke.”

Jasper shook his head. “I’m not joking.”

“Deadwalkers?”

“Didn’t sound like it.”

“Shit.”

“What do we do?”

“Keep walking.”

The voice called out, louder now. This time Ed could hear it.

Help.

Ed and Jasper stared at one another.

“Did you hear it this time?” Jasper asked.

Ed nodded.

“What if somebody’s in trouble?”

“What if they’re not?”

“We won’t know unless we take a look.”

“Are you crazy?”

“What if somebody really needs our help? Somebody could be dying out here.”

“Or they’re trying to kill us.”

“Wouldn’t they have already tried that?”

The voice called out again.

Help.

“I’m going to check it out.”

“No way.”

“What if I’d said that when I saw that train wreck of yours? You’d be long dead by now.”

Ed sighed. “I still don’t like it.”

“Well, no shit, Sherlock. Nobody does. But we can’t just walk away.”

“Why not?”

“We have a pistol and a baseball bat. What’s to worry about? We haven’t seen anybody in days. Probably some old fart that fell down and broke his damn leg.”

“You’re serious about doing this?”

Jasper nodded.

“Keep that pistol ready, then. I’ll be behind you.”

The two men stepped off the tracks and headed toward the store. They trudged through the tall grass and weeds in the field until they arrived at the street. More weeds sprouted through large cracks in the old concrete.

The voice again.

Help.

Jasper stepped carefully along the derelict street, eyes open for the owner of the mysterious call. Ed walked behind, his heart thumping in his chest as he clutched the bat tightly. In the distance, the hanging gutter banged away.

Jasper stepped forward slowly. The empty hole of the front door gaped like a hungry mouth. Daylight penetrated only a few feet inside before succumbing to shadow.

Help.

The raspy voice drifted through the doorway. Jasper took another step forward.

Alarms sounded inside Ed’s mind. Everything about this screamed something wrong.

Jasper took another step. Now he stood in front of the doorway. A rustling came from inside.

“Hello?” Jasper called. “You okay in there?”

No response.

Jasper took another step, placing one foot inside the doorway.

Ed’s heart raged. He stared into the shadows, but could see nothing but amorphous shapes.

Help.

Close now.
 

Ed froze.

This wasn’t right. None of it.

He suddenly realized that they’d dropped their guard behind them.

He turned.

A growl came from inside the store.

Ed suddenly grasped Jasper by this backpack and shoved him out of the doorway.

Behind him, screams pierced the air.

The carrier charged through the doorway, knocking Ed on his back. A snarling, stinking deadwalker landed on top of him as the bat flew from his hand.

Reflexively, Ed thrust his hands up, pushing the thing away. It gnashed its teeth as it strained to get to his throat.

Ed heard a gunshot, followed by another.

The carrier went limp as it fell on top of him. Warm blood dripped on his cheek.

The weight above him lifted as Jasper rolled the dead carrier off. He extended a hand and lifted Ed to his feet before handing him the baseball bat. “Go!”

The two men ran, leaving the dead carriers and the nightmarish little town behind them.

* * *

Once far enough away from the scene of the attack, Jasper and Ed collapsed while they caught their breath.

“What the hell was that back there?” Jasper exclaimed. “That thing fucking talked!”
 

“I know. I heard it.”

They panted for a few more moments, weak from exertion. Eventually their breathing became more regular. They sat, waiting for their strength to return.

“Jesus…what was I thinking?” Jasper finally said.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“That was stupid.”

“Yeah, but don’t beat yourself up over it.”

“I could’ve gotten us both killed.”

“But you didn’t. Besides, I should have stopped you.”

“I probably wouldn’t have listened to you.”

“I won’t disagree with you on that one.”

“Well, I’m glad you decided to save my dumb ass back there anyway, otherwise I’d be pushing up daisies right now.”

“So we’re even?”

Jasper smiled. “Not even close, man.”

“I figured as much.”

A minute of silence passed before Jasper spoke again. “This changes everything, you know.”

“Come again?”

“You know what an apex predator is, right?”

“Sure. Top of the food chain. No natural predators.”

“Exactly. Humans have been the apex predator of the planet for thousands of years. Then the virus came along and knocked us off the top of the food chain. The deadheads took the top spot.

I know sometimes I come off as a downer on the human race, but I always figured that once the deadheads died out we’d come back. Because we have something the deadheads don’t.”

“What’s that?”

“Language and social skills. Social skills are what allowed us to form tribes. To hunt in packs. Language made us invincible. But talking deadheads changes everything. If these things can plan an ambush like the one we walked into back there then they’re capable of a whole lot more than we thought they were.”

“Apex carriers,” Ed said.

“This could be the human race’s extinction event,” Jasper said. “We could end up wiping ourselves off the face of the planet.”

* * *

Several hours later, they found Danny’s body. Rotting in the sun for days had turned it into something almost unrecognizable. Putrid and bloated, it looked tragically comedic dressed in what was now tight-fitting clothing. Approaching from downwind, Ed and Jasper smelled it well before they saw it.

“A full-grown man,” Jasper said, holding his nose. His voice took on a nasally pitch. He leaned it, inspecting the body more closely. “Looks like a gunshot wound took him out. But it’s definitely not one of your boys. Or your girl, for that matter.”

Ed’s face remained pensive.

“Relax. It’s not them. That’s a good thing, remember?”

“I know.” Ed stared at the body, wanting to pull his eyes away, but unable able to. Flies had already blown the corpse, depositing their eggs inside the soft, rotting tissue. Little white maggots squirmed in the man’s eyes and mouth. He turned away, wanting to vomit. “I’m gonna look around and see what I can see.”

“Good idea.”

A few minutes later, Jasper bent and retrieved an item lying in the weeds a few feet away from the railroad tracks. “Take a look at this. Looks recent.”

Ed stood and stared at the empty can of creamed corn. “It’s theirs.”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure. We loaded a bunch of it onto the train before the bombs went off. They had to have picked it up from the train wreckage.”

Jasper inspected the empty can. “This is good.”

“But this dead body isn’t.”

“We don’t know anything yet.”

Ed nodded.

“Come on, let’s get a move on. This poor bastard here is reeking to high heaven.”

* * *

They found Max’s body later that day, not yet as bloated, but also rotting in the sun. Between the various injuries, the copious amount of dried blood and the decomposition of the body they couldn’t identify the cause of death, but both men could see it had been violent.

Filled with a sense of dread and foreboding, they silently searched the area for any other bodies. Ed felt almost outside of himself, detached from reality as he combed through weeds, desperately hoping he would not find the bodies of his children.

A tense half-hour later and they came up empty-handed. They regrouped, this time upwind of Max’s rotting corpse.

“At the risk of repeating myself, I’m going to say it again. Not finding bodies is a good thing. It means they’re still out there somewhere.”

Ed nodded.

“You have to focus on that. No conspiracy theories or daydreaming about what might have happened. They’re not here and that means we need to keep moving and keep looking until we find them.”

Ed took a deep breath. In the end, he knew Jasper was right. He turned his back on the body. “Let’s get out of here.”

Before the virus, Jason’s uncle Rollie had been a psychiatrist. He also happened to be a drinker. One summer night in Jason’s parents’ backyard, after an evening of barbecue and a lot of beer, Rollie had talked about one of his patients. A man with no remorse and no conscience. No ability to empathize. Rollie said he kept a loaded gun in his desk drawer during their sessions, just in case.

After spending the last several months with Glenn’s outfit, Jason now knew why.

Rollie told him that night that ten million people in the United States alone simply had no conscience. Jason hadn’t believed him at the time, but now he was convinced Glenn was of those ten million people. He’d heard stories of the horrific things Glenn had done to innocent people in his custody. He’d seen firsthand what Glenn had done to the St. Louis guard.

Although it sickened him, he had to fit in if he wanted to survive. He had to pretend to be one of them.

And so he found himself escorting a freshly washed and tightly bound woman into the clutches of an egomaniacal sociopath.
 

“I can’t go back in there,” Beth said. “You gotta help me.”

“Shut up,” Jason said. He kept his eyes forward.

“Come on, man. Just let me go. Tell them I escaped. Please.”

“Stop talking.”

“Just let me go. I can’t go in there. I can’t do this. I won’t do this. I can’t go back to that again. Don’t you understand? I CANNOT GO BACK TO THAT AGAIN!”

Jason stopped walking and yanked the girl back by her wrist binding. “Stop yelling or they’ll kill us both.”

“Just let me go, please-”

Jason pushed Beth up against the wall of the hallway. He squeezed hard on the girl’s cheeks, focusing her eyes on his. “Listen to me. You gotta shut the fuck up, understand? You gotta keep cool.”