Pulling my tomahawk from my shoulder, I dropped down and circled the pair. They went on like they didn’t have a care in the world. I made up my mind what my course of action would be before I’d even swallowed that mouthful of berries, so I didn’t really feel anything when I popped up just a few steps away from them just as they had finished field stripping that first deer. (In other words, I crept forward
very
slowly.)
I brought the ‘hawk down on the back of the boy’s head, splitting it open and ending him in one stroke. The girl did not react like I expected. Shame on me. I figured she would scream or maybe try to plead. Instead, she whipped the knife she was using to gut the second deer at me. I’ll be damned if that thing didn’t catch me right in the center of my chest. Had it not been for my studded jerkin, it might’ve actually done some damage.
So, long story short, I punched her in the face and knocked her out cold. I have pulled back to an old abandoned shack of a cabin. The place looks like a gentle breeze might blow it over. Nothing a little hard work shouldn’t be able to fix.
As for the girl, I dragged in a log that was about five feet long and secured her to it nice and tight. I am pretty sure she is barely out of her teens, but she has perhaps the foulest mouth I have heard on a person in quite some time; and considering some of the circles I have traveled in, that is impressive.
She has made repeated threats about what she plans to do with a very specific part of my anatomy when she gets free. I actually had to go over and make sure that she was tied up nice considering how confident she sounds in regards to separating my reproductive organs from the rest of my body and nailing it to my face so that I can truly be, and I am quoting here, “A bloody dickhead.”
When she is not cursing or making threats, she actually looks like a normal girl. She has dirty brown hair that is a mess of nasty dreadlocks, she has brown eyes and even a few freckles splattered across her nose. She has not told me her name yet, and that is not a question I care if she ever answers. When I asked her about the murders at that trading outpost, she just smiled and winked.
To my credit, I have given her twenty-four hours to answer my questions of her own free will. After that, I told her that I would be getting those answers, and that she would not like the manner in which they were obtained. Her reply: “Oooo…big scary man, you think you can scare me? What…you gonna try and shove that pencil dick of yours in my ass or something? If you think I’m afraid of you or that you can do anything that would get me to talk…well, then you are as stupid as you look.”
I have not, nor would I ever take sexual liberties with anybody, so that flippant retort did not bother me as much as hearing her say something like that. I mean, where would she even get the idea that such a thing was on the table. Granted, what I have in mind is perhaps equally as bad since it involves inflicting tremendous amounts of pain.
I let her rant on as I sat quietly and sharpened my collection of knives. Eventually she stopped talking. I looked up just once and saw her watching me. She did not have even the slightest trace of fear in her expression.
I’m not sure if she is brave…or stupid.
2
“This is stupid,” Mario whispered.
“Just do what you are told and everything will be fine,” Catie replied with a wink.
Catie glanced at Marty and Melvin; or, as she now referred to them: the Wonder Twins. The two men were decked out in full battle gear including riot helmets and flak jackets. They looked like a nasty boss monster at the end of a video game level.
“Do you really think this will work?” Braden asked with absolute sincerity.
“We need to convince the people that the idea is a good one. My just telling them it is so will not carry much weight,” Catie explained.
“And you really believe that having us in the crowd mumbling that what you are saying is a good idea will make a difference?” Louis pressed.
The looks on the faces of all four of the young men known as the Beastie Boys showed open skepticism. Catie had to admit that her idea was a bit on the sketchy side. What she was asking them to do was simple. When she spoke, they were supposed to voice agreement with her to those around them. If she could spread the idea that her plan was solid, then she would have her foot in the door of winning these people over.
“Now, as for you two, find the children. Kalisha and Caleb were at the library last anybody knew. And you guys say you took Elliott down when he left the library, right?” Catie turned back to Marty and Melvin.
“Yeah, and he was alone. We took him quick and then hid the body so that nobody would find it,” Marty replied.
“And I want Denise released, so find the kids and get her out of wherever they locked her away.” Catie’s hand drifted to her belly as she felt the life inside her stirring ever so slightly. “Everybody meet me at the housing quarters…the old Marriott?”
With that, everybody went off to attend to their tasks. The Beastie Boys would be responsible for getting the community to gather so that Catie could speak to them all and get things started. She was still at war with herself as to the course of action that she was about to undertake, but feeling the life within her start to move, things had suddenly become clear when it came to her priorities. She would make a safe place for her child no matter what. Her child would have the chance to grow up in the safest possible environment that she could manage to arrange. That did not include living as a second class citizen.
Looking around, Catie saw potential. With herds numbering in the hundreds of thousands if not millions, the early ideas of barricades and moats were now becoming obsolete. Even the idea of using noisemakers would prove problematic. The noise generated to be enough to distract a mob that could often be heard when they were still a day or more away would need to rival Sammy Hagar’s proverbial fifty thousand watts of power in order to be loud enough for the zombies to be pulled off course. Sure, such measures were still useful against the smaller herds that only numbered in the thousands, but some of the super-cell mobs were simply too big. The only hope (besides running for your life and leaving everything behind) was concrete and steel like you found in the downtown regions.
Sure, one of those super-cells might never pass through, but being pregnant had turned her into a bit of a conservative fuddy-duddy. For some reason, her mind always landed on the worst case scenario and refused to come off it. If she was going to take charge in this place, and she was now certain that she would certainly give it her best shot, then there would need to be some changes. This place was ill-prepared to do anything other than withstand a siege; and, if the right forces came against them, even that would likely end in disaster.
Now that she was certain of her long-term goals, it was time to devise some shorter ones. She needed to get these people in some semblance of fighting shape. The best thing for that was to give them a fight that they had at least a moderate chance of winning. They would have to confront Dean and the people of Montague Village. Certainly she would avoid a fight if that were possible, but she did not believe that to be the case.
Also, certain things had come to light recently and she was still trying to process them fully. She was playing things on an assumption. Part of her plan would involve feeding the wrong sorts of information to the right people. If she was being honest with herself, she hoped that she was actually right in that regard, if she was wrong, this would end in total disaster.
***
“So, if I came to you and said that I wanted you to gather my food, keep watch outside my door, and deal with anybody that might wish me harm without offering you anything in return, would you be okay with that?” Catie asked the crowd.
There were confused faces mixed in with the angry and the apathetic. It was that last group she needed to target. The people who had simply fallen into the wake up-eat-stare out at the world through their window-eat-sleep-repeat crowd was the biggest problem here.
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Catie finally said. “That wouldn’t be fair, would it?” That was more of a statement, not really a question; although a few people at least made a small showing of shaking their heads in the negative.
She winced inwardly at the idea that she barely had to raise her voice to be heard. These people were so severely cowed that there had been almost no reaction to the news that Elliott was dead. Almost was the key word here. So far, nobody could locate Kalisha or Caleb and that had many speculating as to their possible fate. The potential of what they must be thinking of her at the moment made her heart hurt.
“Yet many of you have been doing something just as bad.” Her gaze hardened and she started making eye contact with as many in the crowd as possible. “You have let a handful of people go out and do all the hard work when it comes to the safety and security of this community while you stay safe and sound, locked away in your little ivory tower here.”
“Maybe you ain’t seen the inside of enough of the rooms,” somebody quipped. “This place is a dump!”
Now I have you
, Catie thought before continuing.
“And whose fault is that? You people stay inside, some of you have not set foot on the ground level in months if what I have been told is true.”
Her time with Abagail Jones had been worth every second. In addition to meeting somebody that she actually and honestly liked, Catie had gleaned a plethora of information about the goings on here in this little community. The elderly woman had spilled the beans on practically everybody and everything that had taken place within the view of her window these past several years.
“We can stand together if we are all willing to do our part,” Catie said, trying to sound as optimistic as possible which was actually somewhat of a contrast to how she truly felt. These people were soft and lazy for the most part.
“You would have us go to war with Dean Stockton and the citizens of Montague?” somebody shouted.
“If it comes to that,” Catie replied honestly.
“Why would we do something like that?” another voice called. “I doubt they care about us one way or another. And even if they do…even if Dean wants to take us down, I doubt that his own people would allow that to happen. Too many of the former citizens of Montague now call this place their home.”
“How do you have even the slightest of doubts?” Catie could actually hear her voice echoing in the auditorium of what had once been the Marriott. “I have been there and seen what is going on. That place is ready to bring all of you to heel. And what you all were living in blissful ignorance of was that your illustrious leader was preparing to launch a biological warfare attack on the people of Montague Village. He was going to introduce the zombie pathogen and then wait and see who turns.”
“Maybe that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing,” a voice called from the gathered crowd.
“I hate to tell you this, but there are big groups out there who want to wipe out any immune they can find. The reason stems from just that sort of attitude.” Catie glanced over at Marty who was just entering the auditorium from a side door. He gave a slight shake of his head before taking his spot beside his brother Melvin. The two men looked like a pair of pro wrestling tag team champs; the fact that they were twins and each one big enough to be scary all on his own made them an intimidating sight.
That shake of the head was greeted by Catie with a feeling of mixed emotions. Kalisha and Caleb were still nowhere to be found. Despite the “Wonder Twins” ensuring Catie that the kids had not been present when their father had been executed, the pair had vanished and nobody could recall having seen them in a while. She had heard a great deal of speculation as to their fate; much of it directed at her since she was obviously the one who had called for the elimination of their father.
“We need to convince Dean and his people that they must allow all immunes in his compound to be released if they wish to join us.” Catie pointed to one of the people in the front of the crowd and nodded for her to speak.
“What is to keep Dean from sending over a bunch of his goons? They could pretend to be immune and just walk into our place and take us down.” That got a buzz going in the crowd.
Catie raised her hands to quiet the throng of anxious people. “For one, as most if not all of you know, all immune in his compound are forced to wear a band on their forearm. We will insist that those bands be cut off of any who wish to join us. They will have an obvious tan line. However, we are also going to ask them to accept the injection Elliott planned to use on the unknowns. If they are already carrying the infection, they will be fine.”
When she was finally able to announce that the meeting was over and for those wishing to be a part of her next phase of the plan to stick around, she was surprised to see more than a dozen men and women lingering to hear what she had to say. Before she would speak to these volunteers, she had to talk to Marty and Melvin.
“Nothing?” she asked despite knowing the answer.
“Not a trace.” Melvin gave his brother an elbow to the ribs and the man continued. “We want to head towards Montague Village and try to find them. If they show up there with a story about Elliot being killed, that might be a problem.”
“Actually…” Catie let that word hang in the air for several seconds. “That could be to our advantage. I still want you to follow, but I want you to make sure that those two children arrive home safely. As soon as they have been accepted in the gates, come on back.”
“Excuse me?” Marty and Melvin both blurted in unison.
“If the word gets back that we took out Elliott, then Dean might actually think we are working for him,” Catie reasoned.
The two men stared at her for a long and uncomfortable several seconds. Finally, Marty gave a nod. “Just make sure of one thing?”
“Shoot,” Catie said with a nod and a shrug.
“Never use that mind of yours for evil.”
The two men departed and then Catie walked down to where the volunteers were seated. Denise DeCarlo was with the bunch. She looked like she had been up for about four days straight, and Catie could actually smell her before she had closed to within ten feet. That explained the halo effect she was having on the other volunteers.
“Okay, we don’t have a lot of time,” Catie began.
“Why not?” one of the group asked.
“I don’t want to give the people over at Montague a chance to figure out what they are going to do. We need to keep them on their heels.”
With that, Catie began to explain some of her plan and how they all fit in with the first phase. This was going to be the tough part. She actually believed that her volunteers would turn on her once they heard, but instead, there were some thoughtful nods and even a couple of smiles; that was encouraging.
***
“This isn’t fair!” the young woman protested.
“Neither is your living here without offering to do anything to help,” Mario snapped. “So…what’s it gonna be?”
The woman seemed to consider the question for a while before her head drooped and her chin came to rest on her chest. She sighed for added effect and then reached out her hand and accepted the belt with the sheathed blade.
“Who is gonna watch my daughter?” the woman finally asked.
“Nana Abagail and some of the other elderly ladies,” Louis replied, but ended his answer with a bit of an ‘oof’ as he was elbowed sharply in the ribs.
“I ain’t elderly, sonny. I’m just plain old,” Abagail Jones cackled as she made her way past the pair of young men and into the sniveling woman’s apartment.
Catie followed on Abagail’s heels, giving the young woman a slight nod. This was the woman she had encountered when she had first ventured into the building. The woman’s look of distrust deepened at the sight of Catie, but the little girl toddled right up to her and threw her arms in the air.
“Up!” the little child demanded.
Up the hall, the same scene was being played out more or less identically to what was happening with Catie. Each of her volunteers had been told what to say and how to deal with most of the possibilities that might arise. Of course it had all been made even easier after Catie had spoken with Abagail. The older woman had been the one to offer up her services as a babysitter. Even better, she had assured Catie that she could most likely bring along several more of the older residents of the community.