“Keep frosty,” Tommy said. “Anything could be out here. We’re well within zombie country. Emin, keep an eye out and honk the horn if you see anything.”
Jimmy climbed into the driving seat as Tommy, Albert, and Guy stepped from the car. They grabbed weapons from the trunk—regular ones that had no chance of burning down the place if they came in contact with flammable wood.
Albert and Guy took lookout positions on either side while Tommy approached the barn. The car’s headlights provided the only light, creating an atmosphere that belonged on the set of a Hollywood horror movie. Tommy was on his toes. He’d seen what lay behind flimsy old doors such as this. A farmer would be awoken by a noise in the middle of the night and head into the barn to check on it. He’d discover zombies feeding on his livestock and hastily shut the door and lock them inside. Not knowing what else to do, he’d leave them there. Tommy peered in through the narrow slits in the wall and angled his neck to check corners cloaked in shadow.
He identified a treasure trove of torture garden implements and there—to his left—the huge fuel tank the farmer used to replenish his machinery. He saw no undead. They would have come to investigate the bright light if there had indeed been any inside.
“Looks clear,” Tommy said. “Guy, give me a hand with the door.”
Guy fingered the chain and padlock. “How are we supposed to get past this? Unless you can pick it?”
Tommy turned the padlock over in his hand. “It’s new. Much harder to break. Nothing like the ones on our cages.”
Albert’s eyebrows rose. “You guys were in cages?”
“It’s a long story.” One I don’t much fancy revisiting. “We’ll have to pry the wood up so I can creep inside. Then I’ll use the tools to break the chain and get the door open.”
“Uh, Tommy?”
“Yeah?”
Albert stood with his hands up as if performing an unimpressive yoga pose. He faced a heavy-set man holding a shotgun.
“Nice to see young people still have an interest in farming these days.” He pumped the rifle. “Get off my property. Now.”
* * *
Tommy and Guy adopted the same pose Albert did, hands facing the sky. Tommy felt strangely relaxed. A shotgun blast was unlikely to kill him—so long as it wasn’t aimed at his head, at least.
“Hello there,” Tommy said. “I’m very sorry for interrupting you like this.” He adopted the tone of a man who’d merely knocked on their front door bearing gifts of peace and enlightenment. “We were driving past when we ran low on fuel. We checked everywhere but couldn’t find a gas station. Then we saw your farm. I would have come knocking on your front door if I thought you were in. I thought everyone had left their home in this area. I should have checked. I apologize.”
The farmer stood in his rubber boots. His jowls hung heavy on either side of his face. Droopy had nothing on this guy. “Are there more of you?”
“Two in the car. A young woman and a boy.”
The farmer groaned as he bent down to peer through the windows. Upon seeing Emin and Jimmy inside, he shifted his weight, stood up straight and put his feet closer together. Tommy recognized the stance of someone standing down. Then the man lowered the gun and placed the butt on the ground.
“Give us a minute and we’ll be out of your hair in no time,” Tommy said.
“Where are you headed?”
“Austin.”
“Austin? You boys intent on going to hell? That’s the eye of the storm right there.”
“You’ve got to head into the storm if you want to defeat it, sir.”
The farmer nodded. “Ain’t that the truth.” He waddled further into the light and extended a large hand round with fat.
“The name’s Laurie. Laurie Hasher.”
“Tommy. This is Guy, Albert. In the back of the car, Emin and Jimmy.”
Laurie nodded to them each in turn. “You can take some fuel. Heaven knows I shan’t be needing it for a while. Take as much as you need. I have to head into the kitchen to get the key. Say, would you care for some coffee? Or a meal, perhaps?”
Tommy eyed Albert. His tongue poked out between his lips. Hungry. They’d skipped dinner and forgotten the man was hungry again.
Laurie removed his hat and wrung it between his giant hams. “If I’m speaking honest, it’s not only for kind reasons I make the offer. You see, my wife has a soft spot for children and it would warm the cockles of her heart to see your little boy.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind being fussed over for a while,” Tommy said. “We’d love some coffee—if it’s not too much trouble.”
“No trouble at all.” Laurie took his gun in his hands and motioned toward the farmhouse. “We’ll be in the kitchen when you’re ready to join us.”
And with that, he turned and walked away.
“He seems like a nice sort,” Guy said.
“Too nice. He shouldn’t have given us an inch. He needs to be more careful in future.”
“Then he’s lucky we’re here, I guess,” Guy said with a grin. “And all it’s going to cost is some delicious homemade food and a cup of fresh coffee.”
He wiped away the saliva that oozed out the corner of his mouth. Even if he did eat the farmer’s food, it wouldn’t sate the Hunger they felt. Only blood could do that, and they had no intention of extracting that toll from these people.
* * *
The farmer’s wife was called Rosetta. Originally from Mexico—like Emin—she’d escaped across the border and found work and love at Hasher’s farm. She and Emin gabbed in Spanish at a speed that far exceeded Tommy’s high school Spanish. As promised, Rosetta cooed and fawned over the hapless Jimmy, gently pinching his round cheeks and ruffling his hair. She never once commented on his complexion or cold skin.
Guy had discovered a kindred spirit in Albert as they sat across from each other, daring the other to eat more of the delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies. What had begun as a rare treat had turned into an all-you-can-eat competition. Tommy found normal food hard to keep down but it was no task at all for Guy.
Laurie nodded at Albert and pointed at his own temple. “Is your friend all right? He puts me in mind of a local lad we once had. Nice boy, but a bit simple.”
“He’s fine. What can I say? He loves his food.”
Laurie frowned. “He’s not dangerous, is he?”
Laurie had placed his shotgun in the corner of the room, out of reach but not forgotten. Tommy measured his words. “Only accidentally.”
Albert picked up another cookie and munched around its edge. Guy watched with incredulity, then resigned himself to picking up another.
“You haven’t had any zombies visit your farm?” Tommy said. “We saw a lot of them on the highway.”
Laurie shook his huge head. His watery blue eyes hung hangdog and exhausted. He’d likely had to maintain a strict watch over the farm day and night. “We had a few in the early days but they long since passed. We got very lucky.”
“We got very lucky,” Rosetta said, nodding her head. Tommy didn’t think she could hear their conversation from the other side of the room. “My family heard about these dead people wandering around and acted fast, taking off like a shot.” She shook her head. “People spend their entire lives dreaming about getting to this country, they get here, then at the first hurdle of difficulty, poof, they leave. That’s the problem with young people these days. No stamina. Except for this little one.” She tickled Jimmy’s chin. “I’ll bet you can run around in the fields all day without feeling tired, can’t you?”
“I can run really fast,” Jimmy said. “Want to see?”
Rosetta clapped her hands. “Yes. Let us see the speed of the new blood.”
“I was the fastest in my class.”
Jimmy jogged on the spot, warming up.
Tommy leaned closer to Laurie and softened his voice. He didn’t know how Rosetta would react to hearing what he had to say. “You need to leave this farm. I know that’s
not easy to hear and even harder to do, and in all honesty, I don’t expect you’ll listen to me anyway, but somebody needs to tell you. You can’t hold this place. Not on your own. You’ve done well to last as long as you have but you won’t last forever.”
Laurie’s eyes curled around deep furrowed wrinkles like candy inside a wrapper. “My old grandpappy would turn in his grave if he thought I was going to give up on his claim without a good fight.”
“Here I go!” Jimmy took off down the hallway.
Rosetta clapped her hands and cheered him on.
“Be careful you don’t break anything,” Emin said, concern crinkling her eyes.
“Yes! I’m winning!” Guy said, raising his arms triumphantly in the air.
And Albert sat dead still, a look of intense concentration on his face. Tommy had seen the same look the day they’d sprung him from his underground prison.
“The cookies, they aren’t good?” Rosetta said, placing a hand on Albert’s arm and breaking his concentration.
“They’re delicious,” Albert said. “I wonder if I could extract another favor from you. I could do with something to wash the cookies down with. Water, milk, anything is fine.”
“I have some fresh milk in the fridge. I’ll be right back.”
Albert didn’t move until Rosetta had left the room. She moved a little awkwardly, legs stiff with arthritis. Albert turned in his seat to face Laurie. “She’s a wonderful woman,” he said.
Laurie’s smile was sad. “The apple of my eye. We met a long time ago across the border. People talked about building a wall between our two great nations, and although I understood the inclination, I just can’t ignore the fact I wouldn’t have met my dear Rosetta if there had been a wall between us.”
“Worth protecting.” Albert turned his head to one side and heard Rosetta getting a glass out of the cabinet. “Of course, it’s worth protecting her family and friends too. Even if they did want to leave.”
Laurie’s hangdog eyes, encumbered with fat jowls, looked up at the old man. “I don’t know what you mean.”
It was entirely too late for denial now. Words were wind. The pause had been too long, too drawn-out. Anything he said only incriminated him further.
“Rosetta’s family,” Albert pressed. “The ones who are here illegally. The ones you put in the basement. It’s okay. We’re not with the government immigration board. We’re here to make things better, to get rid of the empty shells wandering around.”
Family? Basement? What is Albert going on about?
The effect of his words on the farmer was stark. He turned pale—almost as pale as a member of the Death Squad—and his fat hands slipped toward the seam of his cushion. Tommy felt that familiar twisting, churning sensation in the pit of his gut. The man was happy to put his shotgun in the corner because he kept a pistol close to hand.
Albert must have sensed something because next, he said: “There’s no need for violence. We’re not here to hurt you or your family. We’ll leave soon. I understand why you did what you did, but you made a mistake.”
Laurie couldn’t bear to look at Albert. He looked at each of the other team members. “Who are you people? I thought you were military?”
“We are,” Tommy said.
Laurie’s tricep wobbled a full two seconds after he extended his finger at Albert. “Then what is he?”
“A keen observer,” Albert said. “Nothing more. Listen to me. We don’t have much time. And neither does the little boy. . . Fredo in the basement. You are old and your joints aren’t as strong as they used to be. You hurried to tie the family up after that creature crept into the house. You did your best but couldn’t tie the knots securely. Since then, they’ve been moving, struggling, and reaching for the boy. He’s barely even a few inches from their grip now. Soon, they will be on him and then there will be no helping him.”
Tommy glanced at the photo frames inhabiting the side tables and mantlepiece. Dark-skinned, healthy and happy beaming faces beside the protective father grinning back proudly. Tommy had noticed them earlier but hadn’t looked close enough to identify the location on each of the photos. It was the same place. This farm.
“Give him to us,” Albert said. “We’ll take him somewhere safe. Later, you can deal with the others.”
Laurie’s age showed, his wrinkles deep and furrowed. He slowly, almost imperceptibly, leaned his arm on the armrest, in a relaxed position. His expression turned desperate. “Don’t let her see him.”
Rosetta returned with the glass of milk on a tray. Beside it was a bunch of grapes and a handful of apples. “Look what I found.”
Albert’s expression broke immediately and he smiled with genuine warmth. “That’s wonderful. Thank you very much. If you’ll excuse me, I have to visit the little boy’s room.”
“Just down the hall, on the right,” Rosetta said.
Albert focused on Tommy. A moment too long for it to be natural. Tommy stood and followed him down the hallway.
“Boys going to the restroom together?” Rosetta said. “I thought it was only we ladies that did that.”
“Times are a’changing,” Emin said with a grin, her stern eyes following the two men.
Tommy was almost too afraid to follow Albert. If he was wrong, then he had picked up on a vibe and mistaken it for something more sinister than it really was. There was nothing wrong with that. Everyone had done it. But if Albert was right and there was a family down there. . .
Tommy shivered. He didn’t want to even think about what that would mean.
Tommy was tugged along by a string in his chest. Later, he wouldn’t recall a dozen hangdog faces in fancy frames following him down the creaking hallway, or the threadbare carpet that tugged on his boots, threatening to trip him up. Ahead, Albert opened a door Tommy hadn’t even known was there, and gestured for Tommy to hurry up after him. He didn’t wait as he took the steps down into the deep dark basement.
Tommy rounded the stair’s elbow and peered into the dark void below. Lightbulbs danced at regular levels as Albert—as much a stranger to this place as he was—reached up into the darkness to tug on a tiny invisible cord to turn the next glowing lightbulb on.
Voices. Somewhere in the dark. And the thick cloying reek of soil, mold, and pickled vegetables. And something else, something that made his heart leap into his throat.
The stench of decay.
He stumbled on the final step, so focused was he on that sound and smell that he hadn’t realized he’d reached the bottom.
“Oh my God.” Tommy fell back against the damp wall, a hand shaking before his eyes. To hide what he saw. But he couldn’t not look. He had to see.
Despite Albert having already told him what was down there, it still came as a shock. The figures frozen in a single blink of time on the mantelpiece. They had lost all vitality and vigor, their tanned skin pale as over-milked coffee.
“Tommy,” Albert said. “Tommy, come quick.”
Tommy was incapable of moving quickly, but he did move. The young lad mumbled around the cloth in his mouth, tears carved dirty funnels down his cheeks. The other, older figures reached for the boy, knots coming loose and unraveling. Albert loosened the knots around the boy’s ankles and wrists, setting him free.
The boy collapsed at their feet.
“He’s too heavy for me,” Albert said.
Tommy didn’t understand what he was asking. His brain refused to work. Finally, he bent down and scooped the boy up in his arms. He refused to show his back to the creatures and edged backward until he reached the stairs’ elbow where the creatures were no longer visible. Only their low groans of sadness and disapproval.
At the top of the stairs, Albert held the door open and shut it after him. He turned the key in the lock. If only memories could be locked away so easily.
* * *
Albert opened the trunk and removed the shelf, tossing it aside. He scooped the fluffy toys off and dumped them on the floor. Then he climbed onto the backse
at as Tommy laid Fredo in the trunk.
“Can you give me a hand with this?” Albert said.
Tommy opened the other door and together they pulled the plastic straps and eased the bottom cushion up. Then he leaned the back cushion forward so it created a large area in the back of the car.
Emin got in first as she had to climb in on her hands and knees. Then Guy crawled inside. “This reminds me of my summer holidays when I was a kid!” he said.
Before Jimmy climbed onboard, Albert crouched beside him. “Jimmy, this is Fredo. Do you think you can keep him company while we drive?”
“Sure.” Jimmy hopped in the back of the car and wasn’t shy in breaking the ice with the little boy.
“Watch your heads,” Albert said, bringing the trunk down. He didn’t slam it and instead leaned his weight against it until it clicked into place. “Well,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Time to hit the road, I think. We should thank Rosetta for the delicious food.”
“I did that already,” Emin said.
Tommy raised a hand, stopping him. He had to ask. “How did you know about the boy?”
Albert looked Tommy over, deciding how much he ought to tell him, or else which version. “I told you. I know people.”
He thought that was explanation enough and climbed into the front passenger seat. Tommy took a moment to process everything that’d taken place over the past hour. He had witnessed a magic trick and now couldn’t figure out how it worked. It was going to drive him crazy trying to work it out.
12.
SAM
Ten minutes later, Joel had filled a backpack with items he thought they might need for their journey to the hospital. He looked like he was filling it for a full week’s journey.
“Just how far away is this hospital?” Sam said.
Joel thought better of his earlier decision and tucked another sandwich in the bag. “About two miles.”
Sam scratched her head. Something didn’t compute. “And we’re taking this backpack with us?”
“Yes. Well, no. This is mine. That one’s yours.” He nodded to another, slightly smaller backpack.
Death Squad (Book 4): Zombie World Page 11
