“Well, Professor,” said Flex, in-between breaths. “I sure as fuck hope
she
was worth the hassle.”
“Flex?” asked
Dave
.
“Yeah,” he panted.
“What did you say to her out there
? I couldn’t hear what it was.
”
“Oh. The girl? The zombie girl?”
“Yeah.”
“I told her if she fuckin’ moved I’d blow her brains out.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” he laughed. “But
I’ll be damned
if it didn’t seem to help.”
“Enough joviality,” said Gem. “They’re still out there, and they still need killing.” She returned to peer out of the half-moon window in the door and fired single round after single round.
“
I’m wasting ammo,” she said. “Can’t fucking sight them from here very well.”
“We can go outside, you know,” said Hemp. “If you think it will help. They won’t attack.”
“Yes, let’s,” said Charlie, mimicking Hemp’s British accent. “Let’s do.”
“Very funny,” said Hemp, smiling. “But that way we can at least see what kind of numbers remain out there.”
“There’s not as many in the street,” said Trina.
“They’re disgusting,” said
Taylor
. “That stinky pile outside.”
“We’ll bulldoze them into a hole, honey,” said Gem. “Right, Flexy?”
“As soon as we get a break. And we’ve got to talk about this situation, too. Let’s reload and go out and clear the area.”
Dave and Gem rifled through the ammo bags the women had brought back from the range, and soon everyone had full magazines and spares again.
“Dave, man the spray bottle, would you?”
“Got it.”
“Girls, don’t shoot, because we’re out there. But you’re staying inside. It’s not that I don’t trust you, I don’t trust them, okay?”
“Shit,” said Trina.
“Double shit,” said
Taylor
.
“Triple shit, shit, shit!” shouted Trina.
“Enough of your shit, both of you,”
said Charlie, nodding at Dave as she opened the door.
The girls laughed.
“And stay out of the garage. If
that thing
gets inside, she’ll go after Bunsen and Slider, and you don’t want that, right?”
The girls said nothing, as that reality hit home. They shook their heads together.
Charlie opened the door while Dave had the urushiol spray going full tilt. They all made it through and
slid their way through the rat muck on the front porch.
Once down on the sidewalk and grass, they used their pistols. One shot to the head of the nearest zombie, being sure one of the others weren’t behind them. Their heads were, in many cases, almost skulls, and the bullets tended to pass clean through – even more so than on live humans.
Hemp took out his dozen or so. He looked up the street and saw they had almost dispatched this horde.
“I’m going around the side of the house.”
“Not without me, you’re not,” said Charlie.
She went to his side and they walked together.
“Radio on!” said Flex.
“Got it,” Hemp called back.
He and Charlie rounded the corner. Fifty or so were headed in the opposite direction, away from the state house.
“Charlie, they’re headed toward the kids’ house. I don’t know that they’ll be smart enough to let them pass.”
“Do they have any WAT-6?”
“They did, but who knows if they squandered it? Took it when there was no threat.”
“Good point. Do they have their radios on?”
“Not usually. I’ll try,” said Hemp. He pulled the radio from his belt and turned to chan
nel 16, the one the kids used.
“Jimmy Dickson, you there? Come in,” said Hemp.
Nothing.
“Try again,” said Charlie, keeping her eye on the distant zombie pack. She walked around and sprayed a barrier on the ground around their feet with the urushiol mix. Two ratz imploded into black-blooded fur balls, getting hit directly, while the others who ventured too close squealed as their legs disappeared from underneath them.
“Jimmy! Come in. There are zombies out, my friend. Keep everyone inside, and if you have WAT-6, take it.”
“Do they have .22 rifles?”
“Some of them,” said Hemp. “Mostly
baseball
bats and traps.”
“Mouse traps?” asked Charlie.
Hemp shook his head, understanding why she might think so. “No. Pits, stuff in the trees. Swinging spikes and the like.”
“They ought to just give them guns.”
“
I c
an’t say
that
I disagree,” said Hemp. “It’s up to Kev and
his guys
, and they’re more comfortable
with the kids minimally armed
, at least for now
.”
“I hate politics,” said Charlie.
“Because you’re anti-establishment. Hence the love of the Sex Pistols.”
“We need to go over there and see if they’re okay, baby.”
“Agreed, but I don’t want to leave the girls alone, and we shouldn’t go there alone, either.”
Cha
rlie was right, of course. The
kids were smart – they had to be in order to survive, even in a place that was formerly as calm as
Concord
– but things had gotten exponentially worse in a hurry. They could be in trouble if they had used up their WAT-6 supply.
“Let’s go get Flex and Dave at least.”
“Gem’s going to be upset.”
Hemp thought for a moment. He looked at Charlie. “I’ve seen Trina shoot lately.
Taylor
, too. They can handle it, I think. Let’s arm them and bring them along.”
“Oh, shit,” said Charlie. “Jimmy’s going to be
pissed
!”
“Grandfather clause,” said Hemp. “They’ll have to understand for now.”
“Let’s go get the others,” said Charlie. “I’m worried about them.”
“I don’t think Nikki will let them do anything stupid,” said Hemp. “She’s got Jimmy wrapped around her finger, I’m betting.”
“She’s a little pepper, that one,” said Charlie, walking ahead, sending out a mist of urushiol.
Now and then Hemp sighted in on a nearby zombie and blew his or her brains out.
When they got back to the house, he pulled his radio and switched it back to 19.
“We’re coming in. Don’t fire.”
“It’s don’t shoot,” came back Flex’s voice.
Hemp opened the door and Flex stood there staring at him, the radio to his mouth. “I thought you’d be a proper cowboy by now, Hemp, my boy.”
“Not yet, I suppose. But in all seriousness, we need to drive over and see about Jimmy and the other kids. As much as I want to get testing the female in there, there was a heck of a group of infecteds heading their way.”
The girls looked at them, hope in their eyes.
“They’ll need to come, I suppose. Or Gem can stay.”
Gem knelt down beside the girls and put their guns in their hands. “Ready to kill some zombies, girls?”
“Yea!” said Trina.”
Gem’s face grew extremely serious. She put a hand on each girls’ shoulder. “This is real, you understand. They’re already dead, so you’re not killing anything. You’re merely putting them to rest. Where they should be. Understood?”
“I know that, mommy,” said Trina. “
They’re like puppets on a string.”
“That’s right. Remember. Always know what’s behind them. Analyze the situation very quickly before you shoot, but then shoot if necessary.”
“Like at the range, mommy! With the good guys and bad guys.”
“Taylor, how about you? Do you feel okay?”
Taylor
said nothing, but she nodded. Hemp came over and knelt beside her.
“You’re a great marksman,” he said. “I’ve seen you with that weapon. You’re even better than you know.”
“I’m not nervous,” she said. “I have to do it sometime.”
“Yes, you do. We’ll be right there, and we’ll have our eyes on you. I want a bottle of urushiol hanging from both your belts, too. Got it?”
“Got it,” said
Taylor
. Trina nodded.
Gem and Hemp stood up. The girls organized their little cotton fanny packs
stuffed
with full magazines.
“Let’s go see about our young friends,” said Hemp. “Charlie, lead the way.”
“I’ve filled all the bottles,” she said. “We’re ready to go.”
“Let’s pile in Flex’s truck,” said Gem. “I don’t want to walk all the way.”
“We can use the AK on top,” said Flex. “It’s like a family outing.” He
still
wasn’t smiling.
They went.
Chapter Four
Flex drove slowly, and Gem used the AK on top of his truck to take out only the zombies near enough to the truck to take direct hits using the GPS screen sight.
“There are too many damned houses around here for this gun,” she said. “I’m afraid of sending a round into somebody inside.”
“You’re angling down for the most part, Gem,” said Hemp. “Trajectory doesn’t support your concern.”
“
Trajectory doesn’t support your concern
,” she said
with a mock British accent
, and took out two more off to the right side of the truck. They wobbled, almost headless, then flopped to the asphalt.
“Crap,” said Flex. He looked up the street and saw forty to fifty of the zombies, clustered around the house the kids had moved into.
Because of the large number of dead creatures, Flex assumed they had been firing on them from inside the house, using some weapon or another. Could’ve been the .22. Very accurate, but you’d need a dead-on brain shot.
“Try them on the radio again,” said Hemp.
Charlie pushed the button. “Sixteen, right?”
“Yes. One-six,” said Hemp.
“Jimmy, you there? Come in, Jimmy.”
“Charlie?” the voice answered.
“Jimmy! Yes, it’s Charlie. We’re outside. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but everyone’s pretty freaked out in here.”
Flex shook his head. Of course they were. They had been in
Concord
since the onset of the zombie apocalypse, and had not had
an enormous number to deal with before now.
“What’s with all these zombies?” asked Jimmy.
“They’re drawn to Concord,” said Charlie. “We smell good.”
“
I guess we smell be
tter
than
them,”
Jimmy
said. “You guys
want to
come in?”
“Give me the radio, would you?” said Flex.
Charlie handed it to him.
“Hey, Jim. We came to clear them for you. I know you’re short on weapons, and so does Hemp. It was his and Charlie’s idea.”
“Well, have at it,” said Jimmy. “We’re out of WAT-6, so if you’re on it, we’ll just say in here for now. Some of the rats are sneaking in.”
“Spray them. I assume you’ve got plenty of urushiol?”
“Hell yes,” said Jimmy.
“
We’ve filled our water cannons with it. That’s how we killed the ones you see out there.”
Flex looked again at the bodies. Had he really paid attention, he would’ve noticed they weren’t blood
i
ed, just melted.
“
Give us some time, and we’ll be in,” said Flex, before clicking off.
He turned to Dave, who hadn’t said a word all the way there.
“You okay, Dave? Awfully quiet.”
“I’m thinking,” he said. “About Lisa. About California. And a lot about Serena, too.”
“Cali’s looking more attractive now, isn’t it?” said Charlie. “Since this little switch.”
“It’s not looking any worse,” said Dave. “I think I’d feel pretty safe on a motorcycle on the highway about now.”
“You’ve got time to work that out,” said Gem. “Wait until the weather breaks. Almost there. Now, let’s do this shit. I want to waddle my way back to a cozy couch.”
“Me, mommy?” asked Trina.
“I get to shoot?”
Gem nodded.
“When we get out, stay close, and aim carefully. Take your time and remember, they can’t smell you, and they won’t attack you any more than they’d attack one another.”