This being the first time
that they could speak freely since receiving their orders to relieve the people manning the observation post, both men started to talk at once. While Cage asked out loud why the Staff Sergeant thought he had been specifically ordered to lead the squad on a simple rescue and recovery mission, Fagan was asking the same thing.
Fagan motioned for his superior to talk first, and Cage said, “
So what gives? I was shocked as shit when Hawkins’ little do-boy, Sergeant Cain, came and told me that I had been ordered to lead this little soiree.”
Fagan shook his head and replied, “I was as shocked as you, sir. My only guess is they want you out of the way
today.”
“That’s what I was thinking
, too,” Cage said before asking, “but for what? And they even got a full-bird Colonel out of Hood to sign the order. It doesn’t make sense because if they really wanted me out of the way; all they’d have to do is get one of the higher-ups to cut my orders to one of the Dead Cities and be done with it.”
“But it’s different for higher ranking officers, sir,” Fagan told him. “If you’re enlisted, they say go and you go, but for
anyone over a Captain in rank to be sent into the shit, they would have to be a real fuck up. Word would get around as soon as you reported in, and questions would be asked. You have to remember, the officers’ corps has been chewed up pretty badly, but the good old boy network is still intact. If they just up and sent you to Orleans or Minneapolis without a good reason, it would stir up a lot of shit.”
Looking down at the oak leaf cluster on his collar, Major Cage said, “You’re right, I forget sometimes that I’m not just a Lieutenant that can be shuffled around like so much meat.”
Fagan nodded and said, “My guess is that they don’t want you out of the camp for just today, sir. There was nothing going on at the farmhouse, and the only incoming air traffic was the resupply chopper, and they came and went before Cain even showed up with your orders. I think it all goes back to us interfering with Hawkins tests.”
“So what gives
then?” Cage asked.
Pointing to the carnage around them, Fagan replied, “Maybe since they can’t
openly get rid of you, they’re sending you out to try and get you killed.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The Happy Hallow Insane Asylum:
Steve Wendell cocked his head to one side. He was sure that he heard music, but the sound was so distant that he wasn’t sure if he was imagining it. Wondering if he was hallucinating, he dug his finger in his ear and wiggled it around vigorously. It took him a few seconds to figure out what he was hearing, but then he realized that he hadn’t lost his mind, but was hearing Anna Nalick singing “Breathe.”
Walking down the second floor hallway, he followed the
music until he came to a door near the radio room. A capital ‘A’ inside a circle with a line through it had been spray painted across its face. He paused for a moment before knocking softly.
The music cut off abruptly before a voice called out
roughly, “Who is it?”
“It’s Steve.”
After a moment, the voice said, “Advance and be recognized.”
Smiling
at the familiar sound of Grimm’s voice, he pushed down on the lever and let the door swing open on its hinges. Expecting to see the imposing figure of death greeting him, he stopped at the threshold at what he saw. Instead of finding Grimm in full regalia, he found her naked from the waist up.
Grimm saw him hesitate and avert his eye
s, which caused her to laugh and say, “I was just getting dressed, but I’m sure it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”
Steve laughed nervously and glanced down the hall. No matter how innocent the encounter was, if Heather walked up on them right now, he’d be screwed. Sneaking a peek back into the room
to see if Grimm had put something on, and after all, he was a guy, his attention wasn’t drawn to Grimm’s breasts, but rather to her arms. He had seen her in action swinging her scythe and was amazed at how thin and delicate they appeared. Not wanting to look like a dirty old man, he averted his gaze back into the hallway.
After p
icking up a tee-shirt from the bed, Grimm slipped it over her head and added, “It’s safe now. So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
Turning around and seeing that
she was dressed, Steve said, “I heard the music and was wondering where it was coming from. I’m glad I found you, though, since we need to talk.”
Glancing down at her radio, Grimm said, “Just
getting my mind right before the shit storm of epic proportions you’re about to stir up hits the fan and sprays across the countryside. I’m going to have my hands full after you leave.”
“
That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. You need to go with us,” he told her.
Smiling, Grim shook her head and replied, “
We’ve talked about this before, and you just don’t get it, my work is here.”
“Work?” Steve asked.
“I have much reaping to do,” Grimm told him. “Before you came, I only took the ones that crossed my path. Now, I have thousands of my children to take. I am going to be busy, busy, busy for the next few weeks.”
“But what about the huge group coming from the east?” Steve asked her. “There’s no way th
is house is going to stand against them, and there’s no way you can stand against them.”
With a dramatic sigh, Grimm said, “But I will not stand against them, silly rabbit. In the immortal words of Muhammad Ali, I’ll move like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”
Steve started to protest, but Grimm cut him off by saying, “And now you need to go and make sure your group is ready, and I must finish my preparations. It is going to be a busy morning.” Seeing Steve open his mouth to argue that she needed to go with them, Grimm said in a reassuring voice, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. If it makes you feel better, my plan is that when you make your grand exit, I am going to use that as a distraction to do the same since you will be drawing my children off. Thing one and Thing two are coming with me, but I believe that Igor is going with you. He sees the little girl as some kind of savior and himself as her protector.”
Still hesitant, Steve said, “
You and the Thing twins would be safer with us.”
“Safer,
maybe,” Grimm agreed, “but like I said, I have my job to do, and like I also said, I still have a lot of other things to do, so you need to go.”
“Do you need any help?” Steve asked.
With a slight grin she replied, “I may have showed you my tits, Steve, but a woman has to have some secrets.”
***
The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, and false dawn had come and gone. Shapes were taking form from the shadows as Tick-Tock stood with Denise and Brain, looking down at the mob of dead pushing against the rear of the mansion. After a moment, he asked, “So who’s got the best throwing arm?”
Denise spoke up, saying, “I pitched
on my college softball team.”
Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “Fast or slow?”
With a smirk, she replied, “I like it slow, but I can do it fast when the mood strikes me.”
From behind them, Brain muttered, “Jesus, you two need to get a room.”
Tick-Tock laughed and said, “We’ll stop at the first Super 8 we come to.” Nodding to Denise, he added, “You’re it, then. There isn’t a bull pen to warm up in, so you’ll have to wing it.”
Setting the book bag filled with explosives at
Denise’s feet, Brain said, “The bombs are fairly stable, but you still need to be careful. A sudden shock can set them off, so throw them gently if you can.”
Pointing
to a spot on the fence that he had marked with the paint gun earlier, Tick-Tock said, “That’s where we need to get to. Grimm told us that there’s a trail through the woods just beyond. I want you to throw each bomb about twenty feet apart in a straight line away from the building, heading directly to that spot. You should have a couple left over, so toss them about forty feet to both sides of the Zs to widen the corridor.” Turning to Brain, he asked, “And you’ve got the rest of the bombs?”
Patting
another book bag slung over his shoulder, he replied, “Right here. I’ll use one or two for the fence and the rest for any of the Zs that follow us. Steve already showed me on the map where he wants me to use them.”
Tick-Tock nodded and said, “Then get down to the first floor with everyone else
and get ready to go. Tell Steve -”
He was interrupted by
his friend asking, “Tell me what?”
Turning, they saw him climbing through the hatch in the roof.
“That we’re almost ready to go,” Tick-Tock finished.
Making his way carefully to the edge of the roof, Steve looked down and surveyed the gruesome scene below him before asking, “Who’s the designated pitcher?”
“I am,” Denise said.
Looking her straight in the eye, Steve said
tersely, “Make every one count,” before waving for Brain to follow him as he turned sharply and headed for the hatch.
When they were
a short ways off, Denise said, “That was kind of abrupt.”
Tick-
Tock shrugged off his own feeling of anxiety at the way Steve was acting and reasoned out loud, “I guess he’s under a lot of pressure. Sometimes I think he takes too much on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so serious about anything, though.”
Just then, Steve poked his head up through the opening in the roof and said loudly, “Hey
, Tick-Tock.”
“What’s up?”
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” Steve said in a serious tone. After a moment, he smiled and asked, “Are you a sociopath?”
Tick
-Tock gave a half-laugh and said, “Probably, but why do you ask?”
“You seem to be enjoying yourself too much
, with a zombie apocalypse going on and everything,” Steve told him.
Tick-Tock didn’t hesitate
as he said, “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”
Steve laughed and said, “That’s what I thought
,” before disappearing into the mansion.
Motioning out toward the field of dead, Tick-Tock said to Denise, “
Time to do your Catfish Hunter imitation. Make it count, babe.”
***
Heather looked at the grim faces surrounding her in the first floor bedroom and said, “I need the guys with the crow bars to come up front.”
Two men made their way around Linda and Cindy to stand in front of Heather. Nervously, they shifted from one foot to the other as they waited to be called into action.
Seeing their discomfort, Heather said, “Take it easy. All you have to do is pry the storm panels off and then get out of the way.” Trying to ease their nerves, she pointed to where the window and part of its frame had already been ripped off to enlarge the opening and added, “You did a great job so far, just calm down and focus on what you have to do.”
Movement out in the hallway drew their attention
as three of the people that had been standing in the doorway moved aside to let Steve and Brain through.
Raising his voice to be heard above the sound of dead hands pounding and scratching at the storm panels, Steve said, “They’re ready up top, so I want to go over everything one more time. We can
’t afford any screw ups.” Looking around to make sure he had everyone’s attention, he said, “After the bombs finish going off, I want those panels down as quick as possible.” Pointing to Brain, Connie, Igor and Linda, he said, “You three will be back-up, and Denise will back you up. You’ll all be covering Cindy, too. I want her in the center of you at all times. Make sure that one of you has Pep on a short leash. You know how she gets when she sees the Zs, and I don’t want her running off. When the panels are down, Heather, Tick-Tock and myself will use our rifles to clear away any of the Zs that might be left standing near the opening. After that, we’ll move out the window first and cover everyone as they follow. Once we’re all clear of the building, we move to the fence as a group.”
Turning to Brain, he said, “Once we
get out of the building, I want you with me. I want you so close that if I stop fast, your nose goes up my ass.”
There w
as some nervous laughter at this.
Steve waited for it to die off before continuing, “We’ll stop about forty feet from the fence
, and Brain will do his thing. Once the fence is down, we head into the woods. At this point, we’re going to start moving fast, and I can’t stress again how important it is that everyone stay together. From what Grimm told us, the path is wide enough for two or three people at first, but then it narrows down, so we’ll have to go single file. Just follow the person in front of you, and once again, stay together. If someone goes down because they’re bitten, shoot them in the head. If they go down for any other reason, get them up and moving. If they can’t move or we can’t carry them, we have to leave them.”
Looking at the faces staring at Steve
as they digested this, Heather added, “And be ready to adjust to any situation. Make sure that if you have to shoot that you only shoot at the Zs that are an immediate threat. You may think that you’re all carrying a shitload of ammunition, but it will go fast if you start popping away at everything.”