“Listen, unless you can give me something that I can take to the people inside Montague Village, I believe that we are done. You have two choices from this point. You can either bring your people in and join this community, or you can walk away and be considered outlaws.”
“Outlaws,” Catie laughed.
“Nobody will trade with you, nobody in this area wants anything to do with your kind. You are pariahs.”
“Now I am going to give you a choice,” Catie said with her voice calm, but brimming with her confidence. Dean started to laugh again, but her hard expression killed it before he really got going. “You can let all the immune leave with us, and I will give you an hour to remove their bands and send them out the gate. If you decline, then we will consider you and your community hostile and act accordingly.”
“Accordingly?” Dean laughed, it sounded cruel and bitter. “I happen to know very well the people that Elliott had living under his umbrella. They were outcasts, weak and cowardly. Why do you think he never tried to attack me before? He knew that his people were not fighters. Maybe it is something in the genes. Perhaps the same thing that gives immunity is the same gene that makes people nothing but a bunch of pacifist pussies.”
Catie took a step back and raised her hand. “Be sure, because I won’t give you a second chance.” She watched as Dean’s gaze drifted past her shoulder. She felt her stomach tighten as she hoped that he was seeing what she wanted him to see.
“I seem to have underestimated you,” Dean finally said, his gaze drifting back to her.
Catie kept her expression stoic. She made it a point to not look over her shoulder. She did not want Dean to spend too much time examining her reinforcements.
“I don’t know how you have done this, and I am curious as to who you may have brought in. I don’t believe another immune community exists near here.” Catie let her eyes scan the people that Dean had brought in support. They all appeared a bit wide-eyed and more than a little nervous. Her gambit was paying off.
“I do hope that we can come to some sort of an accord,” Catie said, stepping back and joining her group.
“I am not certain that you understand what you have walked into, Missus Dreon,” Dean said.
“Just as I am not certain that you realize who you are dealing with.”
Catie turned. Had she waited just a second longer, perhaps held eye contact for just one more heartbeat, she might have been able to stop what happened next. At least, that is what she would tell herself over and over again for the next several days.
“You son of a bitch!” a voice snarled.
The meeting had been calm. Perhaps that is why everybody, including the team sent to escort Dean Stockton and see to his safety, did not see it coming.
Denise sprinted the very short distance and launched herself at Montague Village’s administrator. She apparently had a spring-loaded blade strapped to her wrist. It was that weapon that plunged into the man’s back.
The few seconds that it took for everybody to react proved to be enough. The woman was able to pull her blade out and then jam it home once more, this time plunging it into the side of Dean Stockton’s neck. There was a spray of crimson and the man made a gurgling noise.
The armed escort had snapped out of their frozen stance of shock and surprise, but Marty was already acting. He grabbed the woman by the hair and yanked her from the back of her victim.
There were shouts of alarm and anger. From up on the wall, somebody shouted the command “FIRE!”
Catie knew better than to stand still. She also knew that there was no way she could say anything that would help the situation at that very moment. The people on the wall had just seen their leader attacked and most likely killed.
“Fall back!” she shouted as she turned and ran for the cover that currently seemed a million miles away.
There was a good section of ground that had been cleared long ago to prevent anybody from sneaking up on the village’s gates undetected. That would also allow the people on the wall to pick off her detail as they ran for their lives. Fortunately, most of her army had been ordered to hold their position on the outskirts of the dead zone. (That was what she had always called any clearing on the outskirts of a settlement.) That meant the most they would lose would be her and her ten escorts.
She reached a ramshackle building and scooted around the corner. She was panting and gasping as she tried to catch her breath; also, there was a throbbing pain in her left calf that was now overpowering the run-induced stitch in her side. Looking down, she was not exactly surprised to see the shaft of an arrow jutting from the back of her left leg just a few inches below the knee. Reaching down, she grabbed it with the idea of yanking it out. As soon as she touched it, her body dropped any and all chemical reactions that had so far been isolating her from the worst of the pain.
Catie had to clamp her teeth together to keep from screaming. She slid down to a seated position and pulled her knife, setting it beside her just in case something or some
one
came upon her. She was deciding on how best to handle the injury when the sounds of running feet snapped her head up. She had her knife in her hand in the blink of an eye and waited to see who owned the shadow that was closing fast. If it went past her and was the enemy, she would keep her mouth shut and hope she wasn’t noticed seeing as how she was not really in the best condition for a fight.
“Melvin!” she hissed as the massive form lumbered past.
The mountain of flesh stopped and instantly dropped to one knee and then rolled to his right with an agility that Catie still found incredible. The man came up with the building she was using as cover shading him from any arrows that might make it this far.
“You’re hit,” she gasped. She had just the one arrow sticking out of her calf; Melvin had at least four arrows that she could see. They were poking up from various locations, but the one she could not tear her eyes from was the one sticking out from almost the center of his chest.
The man glanced down at himself and scowled. With what looked more like annoyance than anything else, he slapped away the most critical looking of the shafts. When he did, Catie saw what looked like a bladder of some sort under his clothing.
He looked up, catching her puzzled expression. Pulling open his vest, he revealed a large square that looked like it was perhaps some sort of reptile skin.
“This is one of Marty’s little contraptions.” He pulled it away from his body and Catie saw something spill from it. “Sand,” the twin chuckled as it poured from the hole made by the arrow that was now at his feet.
“Very clever,” she said with an appreciative nod. “And where is the gigantic genius?”
“I couldn’t say. When DeCarlo went batshit crazy and the arrows started to fly, I think everybody just hauled ass. I’m sure he will turn up somewhere.” The man knelt beside her and took a look at the arrow sticking from her calf. He gave a sympathetic whistle. “That looks like it hurts.”
Catie’s eyes scanned Melvin. While it was true that the most critical of the arrows had been absorbed by the apocalyptic version of a flak jacket, the other three arrows jutting from the man’s body were accompanied by dark patches that had to be blood.
“You can’t be feeling all that great yourself.” She gave a nod to his injuries. Melvin glanced at himself, his eyes not giving away anything that would indicate he felt the pain of the damage inflicted.
Just then, two more members of their diplomatic party slid around the corner. Neither of them showed any sign of being hit. They looked at Catie and Melvin and one of them paled visibly.
“What the hell happened?” one of the young men asked.
“Apparently Miss DeCarlo had a grudge against Dean Stockton and chose the worst time possible to act on it,” Melvin mumbled as he knelt down and inspected Catie’s leg a bit closer. “But I bet that guy wishes he’d been the one to go nuts.”
Catie turned to see who the big man was talking about and felt a searing blast of pain in her leg. She verged on the brink of unconsciousness, and the overwhelming desire to throw up, but she managed to keep both events at bay. As soon as she regained some sense of control, she focused her glare on Melvin who was ripping a piece from one of his multiple shirts and began wrapping it around the wound, pulling it tight just in time to send another wave of pain rolling through her.
“What the hell!” she finally blurted when she felt confident that she could open her mouth and not have her stomach turn itself out on the spot.
“I figured distraction was the best possible way to deal with this.” The big man gave a slight shrug and presented her with the bloody arrow. “You wanna keep this as a memento?”
Her narrowed eyes were all the answer she needed to actually offer to make her feelings clear. She was still getting her breathing under control when Louis arrived.
“What the hell happened?” he panted, obviously winded from running the entire way. “Did they figure out your silly trick?”
“Actually, it seems that they bought it,” Melvin answered before Catie spoke.
“Where is your gear?” Catie managed as she was helped to her feet.
She was referring to the shoulder mounted device they had slapped together. It allowed the person wearing the contraption to control the dozen figures—six on either side—that looked like people holding crossbows. Up close it was an obvious rouse, but from a distance, it had actually given the impression that four teams of thirteen archers were fanned out and prepared to rain down death. There had been a lot of skepticism as to whether or not these contraptions would pull off the deception. One of Catie’s jobs was to make sure that nobody was taking too long of look that might expose the fraud for what it was and uncover just how weak her forces really were if it came to a fight.
“When the fighting broke out, I dumped it and came on the run.”
“I don’t imagine you saw where everybody else went?” Catie had to speak through clenched teeth as she bit back the pain.
“Denise is dead. She looks like a porcupine,” Mario said as he jogged up to join the others. “One of the Wonder Twins…” He glanced over at Melvin and his mouth clicked shut when he noticed the man glaring at him.
“What about Marty?” Catie finally asked, limping in between the two and snapping her fingers in front of Mario’s face to gain his full attention.
“They got him…a couple others as well, but it was hard to miss the big guy being brought down and carted off,” Mario gulped.
“So much for handling this peacefully,” Catie muttered as she watched Melvin’s face turn crimson with anger.
3
I ducked under the outstretched arms of the first zombie and kicked its legs out from underneath it. It hit the floor hard and gave me just enough space to leap sideways and avoid the next two. Glancing over my shoulder, I willed Kayla to open her eyes, but that did not seem likely.
I searched the immediate surroundings for an exit and realized that the only way out was to go deeper into the house. The archway that led to the kitchen via a large dining room was my only choice. I fired my crossbow at the closest zombie and did not even have enough time to pat myself on the back for such a well-placed shot as the bolt entered the right eye socket and dropped the leading zombie, causing the one directly behind it to trip and fall.
I hooked Kayla under the arms and dragged her with me. By the time I reached the kitchen, I was spent. I doubted my ability to drag Kayla another step. Looking into the living room, I saw that several of the zombies that had entered were now on fire. They were bumping into each other and everything around them. This was causing the fire to spread even faster.
Gritting my teeth, I reached down to grab Kayla and was surprised when I found her staring up at me. Her expression was one of confusion.
“W-w-what happened?” she groaned.
“I think you fainted.”
Kayla looked back the way we had come and then up at me with an expression that took me a moment to place as tears welled up and her lip began to quiver. Then I realized that it was gratitude, only, we didn’t have time for that sort of thing at the moment.
“You saved me,” she blubbered.
“Did you really think I would leave you?”
Kayla climbed to her feet and grabbed me in a hug. I pried myself loose and turned her head back towards the living room inferno.
“We don’t have time.” And then I ran for the door.
Whoever lived here had taken great care of it. There was a raised garden with all sorts of things growing and flowering; they even had several rose bushes along the fence. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to enjoy the scenery. The moans of the undead were a hellish chorus with the roar of the growing fire as the underlying symphony.
We were making our way down the narrow street when a dark figure emerged from the shadows at the intersection. Kayla and I skidded to a halt and I brought up my crossbow only realizing a second later that I had forgotten to reload in all the chaos.
“Thank heavens!” a familiar voice hissed. “Girls! Come on!” It was Cricket. Another pair of figures emerged to join him. Cricket was joined by Rodrigo, and he was hurt. Nat was under his arm and helping him hobble along.
“Where are the others?” I asked. He had a team of followers and I would hate to think something had happened to them. I was beginning to feel like I might be cursed.
“They already bugged out. Nat and I fell behind to help Rodrigo,” the man replied as he turned and started up the street. “Seems there is hell breaking loose down in that camp. Not sure who is to blame, but the walkers are everywhere and people are running around scared, shooting or attacking anything that moves. We just got away after mixing it up with a handful of folks that were running as if Satan were chasing them.”
I had to guess that that encounter was how Rodrigo got injured. I couldn’t see his eyes to confirm if he might have been bitten, but I figured Cricket would have dealt with it if that were the case.
We came around a corner and spotted several zombies up ahead. They were spread out and shambling through the huge open park that we wanted to cross. There were too many to simply kill, but there were also too many of them to try and run through, especially with a wounded member in the party. We had no choice but to alter our course and plunge deeper into a residential area.
We made our way along the street, glancing in each direction when we came to an intersection. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that the zombies were herding us. At last we came to a street where we could make that left turn we needed to reach the walls. From there it was a matter of climbing up into a watch tower and then climbing down to the other side.
That last part proved difficult for Rodrigo. He must be hurt worse than I thought. He only made it about halfway before his grip on the rope gave and he ended up falling the last ten or so feet. He landed hard and made a pained groaning noise.
It was no longer enough for Nat to help him on her own and Cricket ducked under the other arm and began to assist as well. We were moving slow but steady, which, when dealing with zombies, is good enough. Once we were clear of La Grande and Island City and out on the open plains, I had to look around to get my bearings.
“We are on the wrong side,” I said when we came to a stop by a stream.
“You don’t want to risk leading those things back to your people do ya?” Cricket asked as he helped ease Rodrigo to the ground.
I was about to say something to the effect of how we had left the zombies behind and should be fine to head for the foothills when I heard the sounds of galloping horses coming from back towards the town. Fortunately we were under some trees, and thus, in the inky darkness of their shadows.
Still, I think everybody held their breath as these people galloped past. I didn’t need to see them clearly to know that it was the group that had been giving Suzi the business.
My mind replayed the highlights of the scene that I was witness to between Suzi and these riders who were moving fast and thankfully not in the direction of Platypus Creek. These guys were headed west and in the opposite direction of home. I had heard things that contradicted almost everything that I had thought was going on. If any of it could be believed, Suzi knew Dr. Zahn. They had not managed to locate our compound, and they had some sort of vaccine involving the zombie virus or infection or whatever it was. Also, there was no mutated plague that took down the people of Island City and perhaps the group of college kids claiming to be agriculturists were not as innocent as originally believed. None of this could be confirmed in any way which left me knowing nothing more than I had before.
I quickly shared what I had heard in the conversation between Randy and Suzi with Cricket. He listened intently, occasionally pinching his lower lip as he did so. Neither Nat nor Rodrigo seemed all that interested and were busy trying to tend to Rodrigo’s injuries. Kayla had collapsed on the ground and was little more than a lump in the grass as the shadows swallowed her.
“You need to let your people know what is going on,” Cricket finally said after a few very long moments of silence.
“You’re coming with us, right?” I asked.
“Sorry, girly,” the man said with a shake of his head. “My place is here. I got a good group of folks still willing to fight for our home.”
“Have them come,” I insisted. “Our people would welcome you all.”
“I am sure they would.” Cricket reached over and ruffled my hair. “But this is our home just like that place up in the hills is yours.”
He had no idea that the entire community was packing and preparing to run. I had not understood that response then and I certainly didn’t now. Especially seeing how Cricket and his people were willing to stay and fight. Perhaps the newest developments would convince my people to stay put. After all, the army we feared was fractured. I don’t believe they could come up against us in their current condition and do any real damage.
I watched as the horsemen rode into the shadows and finally vanished. I wondered where they might be heading. I also wondered what they had done to Suzi. Suddenly, I was torn. A moment ago, all I wanted to do was get home and tell everybody what was happening as well as what had become of Jackson. I wanted to ask Dr. Zahn if she remembered a Suzi McFarlane. I wanted to ask Billy Haynes again why these people would be looking for him; and this time, I would not be dismissed or brushed off.
Only…I was already down here. I would be kicking myself all the way home if I didn’t at least try to find out what became of the woman I had assumed to be the boss of this army. Commander Suzi McFarlane needed to be found before I just turned and ran home.
I looked over at Kayla who I could now hear snoring softly in the grass. I had pushed her hard and part of me felt bad. She had stuck by my side throughout this ordeal and maybe I could learn to actually like her. She wasn’t a bad person.
Was I?
“Will you guys take care of my friend?” I asked Cricket after pulling him aside and far enough away so that it would be unlikely that Kayla might hear.
“Where do you think you are going, girly?” Cricket was kind enough to keep his voice down as well, but I heard the urgency and maybe even a hint of disapproval.
“I need to find out a few things before I head home. Kayla is hurt. She would follow me anyways, so I need to go now while she is asleep.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Maybe, but I would not be able to feel good about myself if I went home right now when I am so close to where some of the actual answers might be.”
“The key to that phrase is the word ‘might’ just in case you weren’t aware, girly.”
“Yeah, well, I need to do this. I am sick of being in the middle of everything but not feeling like I know anything that is happening around me.” Sure, it was probably only proving the point that I was immature and still prone to acting in a childish manner, but maybe if I could do something real and tangible, then just perhaps folks would take me seriously. Hell, maybe I would be able to take
myself
seriously.
“I’ll do it, but I don’t think that young lady is going to be very happy. She was a spunky one and awfully devoted to you. Her feelings will be hurt that you left her behind.”
“She’s injured. If she came, she might not be able to make it back.”
“You mean she will slow you down,” Cricket pointed out.
“That is only part of it,” I tried to defend myself.
“Just be careful, girly,” Cricket warned. “This valley hasn’t been like this in a long time. It is like the ugly beginning all over again. We got soldiers, bad guys, and a shitload of zombies tossed in for good measure.”
I gave the man a hug. At first he seemed to hesitate. Then, very gradually, he hugged me back. When I pulled away, the man made no attempt to hide the fact that he was welling up just a bit.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I have a feeling this will be the last time I see you. Something in my gut tells me that this is goodbye.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I know I sure didn’t plan on dying any time soon. I popped up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Without dragging this on any further, I turned and jogged off into the shadows.
***
I watched the female zombie as she just crouched there and burrowed her face into the writhing figure on the ground. It had been a while since I had heard “the scream” that was unique to a person being eaten alive. I hadn’t missed it and would have been happy if I never heard it again. Coming up to a hunched over stance, I stayed low and moved in as fast as I could, coming in with a fierce stab into the back of the head of the zombie. It ceased its eating and just sprawled across the body it had been devouring.
I yanked it away and found myself staring into the eyes of a man in his early twenties…maybe. He was a mess; besides the fact that some of his insides were heaped up beside him and spilling from the awful rip in his belly, he had apparently gotten sick on himself during the attack. Sure, there was also the acrid stink of feces and the coppery taint of blood, but to have it mixed in with the vomit that still dribbled down his chin and pooled on his throat with some of the blood, and this guy was worse off than anybody I had seen in a long time.
“P-p-please help me,” the man croaked.
I don’t know what was sadder; the obvious pain that he was experiencing, or the fact that his eyes were not showing any sign of the tracers. I tried to tell myself that I just couldn’t see them because it was night time. Unfortunately, my brain new better. He was sprawled in a perfect pool of moonlight and his face was lit as if a torch were being held to it.
I did the only thing I could think of to help the guy. I brought my crossbow up and shot him in the face. I tried to block out the fact that he started to yelp something to the effect of “No, no! Please!” just as I fired. I am pretty sure that will stay with me for a while. I am telling myself that I gave him mercy, but that is not doing much to help the twisting feeling in my gut.
The closer I got to where I’d last seen Suzi, the worse it got. Twice I had to flop down in a ditch and crawl into the drainage pipe. It was during the second such occurrence that I realized I was being rather careless. I was willingly crawling into a place where I could not even see my hand in front of my face if I went just a little too far.
The next time I had to hide (this being due to a dozen men and women moving as a group down a street and seeming to kill anything that moved), I scurried up into a bushy pine tree. If I only climbed up a couple of feet, I was still well hidden and the tree didn’t bend or sag from my weight.
At last, I came to an area that started to look familiar. It turned out that I didn’t have to look too hard to find Commander Suzi McFarlane. Apparently Randy and his crew were not taking any chances and had decapitated the woman and planted her head on a post sitting in the middle of an open space with a sign posted on that same post that announced her identity. Under her name was another scrawled message. They had used a piece of torn cloth and scrawled the message in what I had to assume to be blood; it read simply: BITCH.