Death and Biker Gangs (28 page)

Arthur yanked on Tony’s hair, grinning at me from over his shoulder. “Think you’re going to shoot me? What if you hit him, instead?”

Tony made a vague effort to pull away. “I’m surprisingly all right with that.” 

Hamstring let out a surprisingly powerful-sounding bellow. “Fucking help me!”

I didn’t look over my shoulder. If I looked back now, I’d probably try to help the fucker.  

Arthur fixed his stare on me. “Oh, stop looking so tortured, woman. You think you’re any better than me? What did you do to Hamstring?” He straightened up and looked behind me, though I didn’t think he could see the unfolding carnage in the main room. His lips pursed in distaste. “You really do have a thing for ferals, don’t you?”

Hamstring’s screams terminated in a wet-sounding rip as something finally tore out his throat. I kicked the kitchen door shut, though I knew damn well the flimsy material wouldn’t hold them off for long.

I am not dying like this. I am not dying like this after this piece of shit day. 
“What is it you 
want
, you sick fuck?”

At least my voice didn’t shake.

“He doesn’t really want anything,” Dax said, his bound hands springing apart. He reached underneath his bulky jacket and came up with a pistol. “He’s just a goddamn dick.”

Arthur began turning his way.

Dax’s finger switched off the safety. Then he lifted the pistol and shot Arthur in the head.

Arthur had time to look startled before the bullet sped through his skull, making his head snap to the side.
He weaved back and forth for a moment, then toppled gracelessly to the side.

I would have dropped my rifle if I hadn’t heard the zombies singing in the foyer. 
Hey, look, something finally went right for us!

Tony lifted his restrained hands and swiped the crimson gore that had abruptly landed on his face. He finally gave up, staring up at Dax with something very close to astonishment. “Um. Thanks?”

I hadn’t realized Dax had it in him, either. “Yeah, what he said.”

Dax sniffed. “He had it coming.”

Tony held out his hands. “Maybe you could…y’know…”

“Here.” Dax pulled something sharp-looking out of his sleeve and went to work on Tony’s bindings. “Told you I had marketable skills.”

“You’re supposed to tell us these things 
before 
shit hits the fan.”

“Well, if you’d wait twenty seconds before picking a fight…”

Several revenants began hurling themselves against the kitchen door, no doubt attracted by the shooting. I turned around to face the door, my hands tightening around my rifle. “Guys? We should get out of here.”

“Kids, I think we’re going to have to sell the house.” Tony staggered to his feet and flung open the door to the den. Evie burst out, alternating between whimpers and pleading howls. I reached down to pet her, but she twisted away, rushing back and forth between the three of us. Tony patted her head, then pushed her gently aside when she began licking the blood away from his hands. “How many of his buddies are out there?” he asked

“No one living, but there’s a few deadies on the prowl,” Vijay said from the back porch. He pushed the door open all the way, then stepped back when Evie rushed up to him, her tail wagging fast enough to knock over chairs. “Hi, puppy! Whoa, whose blood is that?”

I pointed at Arthur. “No one friendly.”

Vijay nodded, then reached over to rub a relatively blood-free spot on Evie’s neck. “I didn’t know you had a dog! By the way, did you guys know there’s a zombie in a ballgown in your backyard?”

Some morbid part of me really enjoyed post-apocalyptic discussion.

“That must be Christine,” Dax said. “Jackass liked musicals.”

I’m sure we all would have had a good chuckle at that, but the ghouls kept hammering at the door. I couldn’t decide whether I ought to hug Vijay or punch him. “Where the 
fuck 
have you been?”

 “Clearing out the mess on the street. Gloria managed to draw a lot of them off to another street, but they’ll start converging again soon.” He glanced at Arthur’s body in the middle of the room and apparently decided to broach the uncomfortable conversation. “So. Who’s that and what’d he do to you?”

“That was apparently Arthur,” I said.

Vijay’s face split into an incredulous smile. “For real?”

Tony hobbled up to me, leaned heavily against my shoulder, and cleared his throat. “Who’s your new pal, and why does he know Arthur?”

Oops. I was being rude. “This is Vijay. He gave me a hand when I was, uh, up a tree.”

It got quiet, aside from the crashing and wailing in the foyer.

“Up a tree?” Tony finally asked.

“Long story,” Vijay said. “Nice to meet you guys. What happened to your leg?”

“Long story.” Dax joined us, pulling the dog’s leash out from under his jacket. What else did he have stuffed under there? “We gotta get out of here. Evie, sit.”    

Evie sat down, then smiled up at him. Leave it to a golden retriever to be utterly adorable even when there’s blood on her muzzle and revenants are bashing themselves against the door.

Tony hopped over to a pile of stuff that I realized had to be our belongings. “Vibeke,” he said, “you’re going to have to elaborate on being up a tree once we get out of this pickle.”

The kitchen door sagged inward. 
Son of a bitch. 
“So can we go?” I asked. “Are we done here?”

Dax got the leash fastened to Evie’s collar and shouldered his backpack. “How? Tony can’t walk.”

Tony scowled at him. “I can hop faster than most of those fucks can shamble.”

“Gloria Fey’s out there with her news van. It runs.” I allowed myself to look the tiniest bit smug when the boys gawked at me. 
See, I did something right. 
“
Now 
can we go?”

“Gloria Fey?” Dax exclaimed. “
The 
Gloria Fey?”

“She’s a horrible driver,” Vijay said. “Hits everything in sight. But that’s probably why we’ve survived this long—zombies don’t stand a chance.”

“The van runs?” Dax asked.

“Yeah, Threepenny Sal’s a mechanic and he knocked together some sort of system…it keeps the engine clean or some shit. Well, cleaner.” Vijay shrugged. “I don’t know how it works, man, but it does, so I’m happy.”  

The way Tony’s face lit up, we might as well have told him that Santa Claus was real, and was personally going to save us with the aid of a very big machine gun.

A chunk of the door broke off, and an arm and head poked through. The dog tore away from Dax to launch herself at the ghoul. Her jaws clamped down around the wrist, dragging away skin as she landed on the floor.

“Evie! Down!” I snapped my fingers, and she reluctantly backed away, her hackles still up. “Guys, I’d say it’s time to bug out.”

Tony picked up the Winchester Dax had been fiddling with a few hours ago.  

Vijay leaned further away from the door. “One of us has to track down Gloria. I don’t think she went too far, but give me a minute.” He considered the three of us, the wheels in his head clearly turning. He focused on Tony, his brow furrowing. “You can’t run, but I don’t want to leave you on your own. Think the three of you can hold these asshats off for a few minutes?”

Tony looked at his Winchester. “How much you got left, Vibeke?”

“Almost a full magazine, I think.” Although with my luck, I’d probably loaded it wrong somewhere along the way, and the entire thing would explode in my face…which was still better than being eaten by zombies.

“Here.” Vijay dipped his shoulder, pulled his big rifle off, and handed it to Tony. “Think you can handle that? I’ve got half a mag left, full auto.”

Tony grinned as he handled the weapon. “Shit, where’d you dig this thing up?”

“People drop all kinds of crap when shit hits the fan.”

The ghoul Evie had ravaged caught his arm on the ragged hole left behind in the door, and bits of flesh and congealed blood splattered to the floor. Vijay blanched. “Right. I’ll get Gloria.”

“Whoa, wait.” Dax pointed his carbine at the cameraman, spurring another growl from Evie. I knelt down, slinging an arm around her chest.

Dax kept his gun trained on Vijay. “How do we know he’s not just gonna bolt? We don’t know these people.”

Great. 
Now
 he decided not to trust all humanity? “They’re okay, Dax,” I said. “They helped  me out.”

“Why the hell would I show up here and then ditch you?” Vijay asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Dax nodded slowly, lowering his gun.

The ghoul in the kitchen door let out something that sounded very close to a frustrated roar.

Evie broke away from me, charging the ghoul wedged in the door. Her jaws closed around his wrist again, and she jerked back, partially dragging him forward. I looked away. “Vijay, get going. Honk for us or something when you get here.”

Vijay eyed the dog, taking small, measured steps out the door. “She’s not gonna…
catch 
whatever they got, is she?”

I shrugged. 
We all have it, anyway. 
“She hasn’t yet.”

Vijay took one last look at the golden girl before taking off. His footsteps clattered down the porch stairs.

The zombie’s arm detached with a stomach-twisting crunch. Evie looked almost surprised, her ears lifting as she suddenly found herself gnawing on a severed limb. She spat it out and snarled at the undeterred zombie, which reached for her with its stump.

“Evie!” Dax barked. “Evie, come here!”

She obediently retreated, though her growls continued. Dax reached down to snag her leash, securing her as much as he could while holding the carbine with his other hand. “Try not to hit her if she gets loose, guys.”

The door shook again, bulging inward. The dead thing 
in 
the door moaned, stretching feebly with its stump, its eyes almost glittering with desire. “Guys?” I asked. “Does this seem smart?”

“No, this is probably the dumbest stunt we’ve tried yet,” Dax said. “But here we are. I guess we’re slow learners.”

“Just aim for the head.” Tony hobbled over to us, and we arranged ourselves in something of a line facing the kitchen door and the horrors it barely contained. “Dax, Vibeke…” he paused, as if searching for words. “That was some impressive shit back there. I’d hug you both if you smelled better.”

Dax snorted. “We wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t gotten 
shot.
”

“Hey, you can go with Vijay if you want. He might need a hand.”

“We’re here. Might as well put on a good show.” Dax glanced at me. “Vibeke? Ladies first. Want a head start?”

Yes, I wanted a head start. Everything still functioning in me said 
run
.

But they walked miles to get me…and killed people to save me. 
I knew I wouldn’t leave. Knew I’d stand here with them until the bitter end, because we’d come too far to split up now. Besides, I was pretty sure Dax wouldn’t be able to haul Tony out on his own, not with all our equipment weighing them down.

“I’m all in,” I said.

The top hinge ripped off fully. More arms came through, and a gray, sagging face pressed up against the widening seam. The zombie in the center seemed pretty much wedged in place, either unable or unwilling to back out. It was in for an unpleasant surprise when the door caved in.

We stood waiting. My heart jackhammered in my head, and my fingers itched to pull the trigger. 
It could all be over a few seconds from now.

I took a deep breath. “Dax.”

“Vibeke?”

“I’m sorry I said zombies would improve Los Angeles.” I was actually sorry for a lot of things, but Dax was the only person I could actively apologize to at that moment. “Zombies don’t improve anything.”

“True facts,” Tony said.

 Dax didn’t really look at me, but he tipped the carbine up, awkwardly saluting me with it. “We’re good.”

The door gave way. The ghoul stuck in the center splattered into brownish-gray ooze across the kitchen floor. I cringed away, trying not to breathe in too deeply.

The dead spilled in.

I picked my shots this time. Twenty-eight rounds wouldn’t get me far, but I wasn’t about to waste them by losing control of the gun in full auto. The big rifle felt almost like an extension of my body, its barrel discharging as I brought the dead into my sights, spent shells clattering around me.

I vaguely heard the other guns firing—shells kept flitting past my face—but I almost drifted to another level of awareness, some plane of existence where a nearly seventy-year-old assault rifle felt as familiar as driving a car. Hell, maybe it was some kind of shock. Only Evie’s occasional howls kept me somewhat rooted to reality.