Z-Burbia 4: Cannibal Road (4 page)

“Suck on your spit, asshole,” Critter said as he started to pace in front of the man. “You tell me somethin’ worth a shit and then you can have some water. Until then I ain’t wastin’ none of our resources on a man like you.”

“A man like me?” Kramer asked, his face aghast with shock. “Are you an anti-Semite, Critter?”

That stopped Critter’s pacing and he looked about at us.

“What the hell is he jabberin’ about?” Critter asked.

“Anti-Semite means-” I started to reply.

“I know what it means, Long Pork!” Critter shouted. “I want to know why the hell the man said it!”

He whirled on Kramer and jammed the end of the baton against the old man’s chest. Kramer cried out as his shirt bloomed with blood.

“Oh, quit yer whinin’,” Critter snapped. “I barely broke the skin. Now tell me why you said I was an anti-Semite.”

“Well, being a person of Jewish heritage,” Kramer began, “I am quite familiar with the signs of bigotry. It is not as if you come from a region known for its wealth of liberal understanding.” He nodded towards all of us in the room. “And this is a fairly homogenous representation of humanity. It is not outside the realm of possibility that the reason there are no people of color or other ethnicities is because you do not want them here.”

“That’s because they all died!” Elsbeth shouted. “My Julio died! Joe T died! The Fertigs died! Patels! Santiagos! All of them died, you ass fucker cocksucking lick dicker!”

Lick dicker. That was a good one.

“And I’m Jewish, dildo butt!” Elsbeth continued. “They don’t hate me! They love me because I’m family!”

“You’re Jewish?” I asked. “Oh, right,Thornberg. Never made the connection.” I had to chuckle at that. “How did you stay Kosher as a canny? Did you only eat other Jews or were you flexible like Jews I knew that would chow down on some bacon any chance they got?”

The whole saloon stared at me, even Kramer, like I had lost my mind. Considering the mind losing in that room, that was saying something.

“Right,” I nodded. “Sorry.”

“Apologize,” Critter snapped at Kramer.

“My sincerest apologies,” Kramer said. “It was a stupid assumption on my art.”

“All your parts are stupid,” Elsbeth said then gave one last struggle and sighed. “You can let me up now. I ain’t gonna kill the devil.”

“I would appreciate it if you stopped referring to me as a devil, Ms. Thornberg,” Kramer said. “Being a man of science, I prefer not to be lumped in with religious dogma.”

“But you said you were a Jew,” Critter responded. “Which is it? You a man of science or a Jew?”

“I think we’ve gotten way off track here,” Stella said as she helped Elsbeth to her feet. The two women shared a look and a nod then Stella walked right up to Kramer, grabbed a chair, spun it around, and sat down in front of the old man. “Why are you here?”

“To help,” Kramer said.

“Why are you here to help?” Stella asked.

“Well, you seem like decent people that could use my help,” Kramer smiled. “I know what lies on the other side of these mountains and I believe you may be making a mistake in planning to head to Kansas City.”

“Because it is a scorched crater, right?” Stella asked.

“That and there are many other dangers that await you along the way,” Kramer said. “I have seen them all. And beyond.”

“Beyond? How far beyond?” Stella pressed.

“I’ve been to Circuit City,” Kramer said. “All the way to the West Coast.”

“Circuit City? Where is that?” Stella asked.

“Seattle,” Kramer said. “Below that is The Garden which used to be Portland. Lovely place, but they aren’t taking in new survivors. Neither is The Temple in Salt Lake. The only place that will take your group in is The Stronghold. They need all the help you can give. The military expertise your group has could be put to great use in the Rocky Mountains.” He looked about and frowned. “Speaking of which, where are your sisters, Ms. Thornberg?”

“They aren’t here,” Stuart said as he grabbed a chair and joined Stella in front of Kramer. “And from the way Elsbeth reacted, you should be glad for that.”

“I can’t argue with you there,” Kramer said. “It took all of you to hold Ms. Thornberg back. I can only imagine what would have happened if I’d met the entire group of them.”

He started to whistle Wheels On The Bus again, but was stopped abruptly by Stella’s fist to his mouth.

“Damn!” Critter grinned. “That was a a nice shot!”

“Thanks,” Stella winced as she gripped her hand. “Didn’t feel so nice, though.”

“Let me look at that,” Melissa sighed as Stella got up and they walked over to the bar.

I could see cuts from Kramer’s teeth on my wife’s knuckles and hoped the man had had his shots. I looked back at Kramer and John had taken Stella’s seat so that Kramer was looking into the eyes of two highly trained military men.

“Now,” Stuart frowned. “I am going to be asking the questions. You will answer honestly and without hesitation. Every time you deviate from those instructions, my friend John here will give you a smack. Those smacks will get increasingly more and more unpleasant. You’ll probably last through the first three, but after that I wager you’ll cave.”

“No need for threats, Gunnery Sergeant,” Kramer said. “I know how this all plays out. It is not my first interrogation by scared survivors and probably won’t be my last. My only request is that you consider a little quid pro quo. You ask me something and I ask you something.”

“I don’t see how we benefit from that,” Stuart replied.

“You benefit because then I know what you may not know that you will certainly need to know,” Kramer responded. “As I keep saying, I’m here to help. I can’t help if I don’t know what important information you lack.”

Stuart watched the man for a long while. As he was busy studying Kramer, I took the time to study Elsbeth. She stood behind us all; her blades sheathed once again, her arms across her chest, and glared at Kramer. I tried to get her to look at me, but she refused. Her entire being radiated hate for the man and I had to wonder at how much self-control she had to use to keep from killing him.

“Okay,” Stuart said finally. “I ask two questions and you can ask one. Don’t forget John here. Answer honestly and quickly and you’ll be just fine.”

“Your confidence in your lie detection abilities worries me,” Kramer said. “I could tell the truth and get a smack anyway.”

“I’ll know,” Elsbeth said. “Don’t you worry none about that.”

“Yes,” Kramer sighed. “I suspect you will know if I’m lying. Very well, let us get started. Ask your questions, Gunnery Sergeant.”

“What do you get out of helping us?” Stuart asked.

“I stay alive,” Kramer answered. “Like I said, I have been all the way across the country. Except for the large settlements, you are the only group of survivors that has even come close to making it in this post-apocalyptic world. You’ve struggled a lot, and lost many, but you keep going. I would like to keep going with you.”

“Why the Stronghold?” Stuart asked.

“I believe I have already answered that,” Kramer said.

“Then answer it again and elaborate.”

Kramer’s smug smile faltered, but he recovered quickly.

“The Stronghold is the only settlement that hasn’t asked me to leave,” Kramer said. “The others preferred that I take my company elsewhere. In this day and age, you do not argue with those that insist on your leaving.”

“Remember that,” Critter said as he pointed the baton at Kramer, “when it comes time for me to ask you to leave.”

Kramer nodded. “May I ask my question now?”

“Why have you been asked to leave the other settlements?” Stuart asked, ignoring Kramer’s request.

The man wisely let the slight go and replied, “I have a certain way about me that others find off putting. I also have a need to continue my research and scientific work. That work was not welcome.”

“What work?” Stuart asked. Kramer didn’t reply. “Fine. Ask your question?”

“How did you plan on getting all of your people from here to Kansas City alive?” Kramer asked.

All heads looked in my direction.

“What?” I asked. “You want me to tell him everything?”

“The highlights,” Stuart said.

“Okay,” I said. “We are using all of the diesel or multi-fuel vehicles, including the haul truck, to make a convoy. We have the supplies and weapons needed to get us where we need to go.”

“The haul truck!” Kramer smiled. “That is an impressive piece of equipment. Stronger than a tank and two stories high, but doesn’t it take an excessive amount of fuel?”

“We’ll be bringing extra fuel,” I replied. “We have stockpiled biodiesel and calculated the trip, including detours and other contingencies. We’ll slowly start to lose vehicles along the way as the fuel dwindles, but we’ll just add those passengers to the haul truck when needed. They can ride with the sick and injured in the bunk houses.”

“Bunk houses?” Kramer asked.

“Last question before I ask mine,” Stuart warned. “Jace?”

“The bed of the haul truck is gigantic. We’ve converted several mobile homes and placed them in the bed as shelter for when we have to stop and sleep. It took some doing, but we managed and there is room for all of us. It’ll be cramped, but we can sleep soundly without worrying about Zs getting us.”

“Yes, wouldn’t want the Zs to get you,” Kramer grinned.

“What happened to Kansas City?” Stuart asked.

“Oh, they played with matches and got burned,” Kramer said. “There was a group in their midst that was not satisfied with staying a defensive community and insisted on developing better offensive capabilities. Unfortunately, they refused to listen to my counsel and the results were fatal.”

“They were building a bomb and it detonated on them?” John asked.

“They were trying to adapt several missiles and it was a little more complicated than they first thought,” Kramer said. “Luckily, I was asked to leave the Combine before the incident occurred. I had gotten several miles away when I saw the explosion.”

“Bullshit,” Elsbeth said. “Smack him.”

“I don’t think he’s lying, El,” John said. “He’s holding back information, but he isn’t lying.”

“He is lying and you need to smack him,” Elsbeth insisted. “Smack him hard.”

“How about I let you rethink your answer before you get a smack then?” Stuart asked Kramer.

“Yes, that would be rather polite of you,” Kramer said. “Perhaps I misspoke when describing the incident. It may not have been an accident and could have been related to why I left.”

“Did you set those missiles to blow?” John asked. “Are you the reason Kansas City doesn’t exist anymore?”

“Possibly,” Kramer said. “I did warn them about the dangers of working with such materials. And maybe I wasn’t asked to leave so much as I escaped. There may also be a chance I did not give them one crucial piece of information regarding the correct way to arm the missiles.”

“You let them blow themselves up,” Stuart stated. “How many people were in the Combine?”

“Hard to say,” Kramer shrugged. “But not a one was a friend to me.”

“Sounds like you ain’t never had no friends,” Critter said. “And sounds like any folk that are stupid enough to get involved with you ends up dead.”

“I have had a long spell of unfortunate occurrences,” Kramer said. “But I swear on my soul that I’m here to help you folks and will do everything in my power to keep you from coming to harm.”

“I don’t think any of us believe that,” Stuart said. “Now, how about you tell us your connection to Elsbeth? She’s said a little of what she remembers, but I’d like to hear it from your end. Why did you have those girls?”

“I was hired to,” Kramer said. “There are people in this world that play at games with stakes so high that your little Holler here doesn’t even register to them. At least not until you made it register.”

“What people? Governments?” Stuart asked. “Were you hired by the US government to experiment on those girls?”

“The US government?” Kramer laughed. “That puppet organization is completely useless when it comes to actually getting things done that need to get done. I was hired by a select few that wanted to make sure the government,any government, could not interfere in their plans.”

“Some type of cabal?” Stuart asked. “Just spill it, Kramer. Stop making me drag it out of you. Who were these people that had you kidnap those girls?”

Kramer sighed and his eyes found Elsbeth’s. The two locked glares for a long while before Kramer finally turned his attention back to Stuart.

“Not one of those girls was kidnapped,” Kramer said. “They were given to me by their families. But one of the families decided they didn’t want to be a part of my program anymore and hired Ms. Foster’s company to extract their daughter. I was alerted to this by the others and had everything ready for the attack. It was to be the first true test of the girls’ conditioning. It would have worked too, but Foster was a very resourceful woman. Then there was the issue of the Zs. That certainly didn’t help. I’m surprised that my facility was affected at all, but that is just a testament to the strength of the compound.”

“The compound?” Stuart asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s not exactly my area of expertise, but I have zero doubts that the zombie apocalypse was a manmade occurrence and not just a bit of bad luck,” Kramer replied, but held up his hands. “I don’t know more than that. Programs on the level as mine are always insulated from each other. I couldn’t tell you what caused the zombie outbreak anymore than anyone could talk about my program. Distinctly separate entities all with strings attached to one organization.”

“The Consortium,” I said before I knew I was going to. Everyone looked at me. I gulped and looked at Kramer. “That’s who hired you, right? The Consortium?”

“That’s what they call themselves now,” Kramer said. “And the makeup of the organization has changed considerably since Z-Day, I am sure. But, yes, that would be the group.”

“Are you telling us that the Consortium is responsible for Z-Day?” Stuart asked. The guy was getting pissed and I had to wonder how long he could keep it under control before he lunged from that chair and strangled Kramer. “The crazy fucks that destroyed Asheville and are probably coming for us now? They made Z-Day happen?”