by Urban, Tony
"Why not? It's a big one. And I'd imagine it’s pretty strong considering how quick it put you down."
"Is that even possible? I mean, do they let you?"
"Depends how feral it is. But it seems pretty calm to me."
Mead still wasn't sure he liked this idea. He moved to the donkey's side and laid his hand on its neck. The donkey tilted its head back, enjoying being petted.
"Why do I have to ride the donkey? I think one of you should trade."
"Maybe you haven't noticed, Mead, but we're both a might bigger than you," Aben said.
"I don't know what that matters."
"I'm just saying, some men are cut out for horses. Some are more suited for donkeys." To demonstrate just how much bigger he was, Aben tapped Mead on top of the helmet.
"I hate you."
Aben wrapped his arm around his neck and pulled him in close. Mead's face was at the same level as the big man's sweaty, stinking armpit. "You're my favorite too."
Despite his annoyance and pain and the heat and the embarrassment of getting taken down by a jackass, Mead couldn't hold back a smile of his own. "Let's get the hell out of here."
Chapter 25
Juli puffed away on a stale cigarette as she watched Grady move through his flock. They'd accumulated hundreds of followers since leaving the Signs Following Church two years ago. When Grady originally shared with her his plan - no, it's God's plan, she reminded herself - she thought he was insane. That she should have left with Aben and Mitch after all. But as time passed and Grady took his ministry on the road, he was proven right over and over again. Every time doubt crept into her heart, something happened to prove Grady right.
She saw Grady looking her way and dropped the cigarette, smashing it underfoot but she knew he saw. Juli waved him toward her and his head dipped in a nod. She knew he hated leaving them, that he felt so at peace amid them, but he gradually moved through the crowd and to her. Even though she knew she'd been caught smoking, she moved a dozen yards to the right, so the aroma of smoke wouldn't be so obvious.
When he arrived, the peaceful exuberance in his face almost brought her to tears. She wished he was that happy in her presence. That she could bring him such joy, but the harder she tried, the further he pulled away. She had almost given up trying to figure out what she could do to bring him closer to her. Almost.
"I spoke with Owen," she said. "We're close. Less than two days out."
Grady nodded, knowing. "Tomorrow we're going to set up the tent a few miles from Brimley. While we do that, you and Owen will go there. Tell them about us. Invite them."
Juli fought off a shocked gasp. "Me?"
"Yes. You're quite capable.”
Juli wasn't so certain about that. She sometimes struggled to make sense of Grady's messages and she had years’ experience. How was she supposed to convince a bunch of strangers that the little man from Baltimore had a direct line to God and that they needed to join them to save the world, or their souls, or maybe both. She wasn't even sure and there laid the rub.
"Grady, I don't--"
"You will. I've seen this already."
"Well then tell me what I said because I haven't an idea." The remark came off more flippant than she intended, and she saw Grady's body tense up. "I'm sorry."
He nodded, curt, and turned away from her.
"Grady?"
He didn't look back, but didn't flee either and she supposed that was as good as it was going to get.
"What if they won't join us?"
Grady paused, still not looking her way. "They will."
"But what if they won't?"
"They will because they have no choice."
He left her there, alone, his words echoing through her head. Since his last vision, Grady had been more direct, more confident, than she'd ever seen him. And she realized that scared her.
Chapter 26
For the past three weeks Saw had rarely left Mitch's side. In many ways, it reminded Mitch of the way things used to be, of their lives on the road, only now they weren't avoiding danger, now they were seeking it out.
Saw had decided that the town had become too boring. Too ordinary. Mitch didn't entirely disagree with that opinion, but Saw's solutions were so extreme and so violent that Mitch could hardly believe this was reality.
Before laying out his plans, Saw caught Mitch inside his motorhome so early Mitch hadn't even had his first piss of the day. Mitch was still in bed when the man hammered at the door.
"Wakey, wakey. Eggs and bac-y."
Mitch was only half-awake, but annoyance pushed sleep away as he rolled out of bed. He wore only a pair of boxer briefs but didn't bother dressing before opening the door. Saw's voice was impossible to mistake.
"Just fooling, Mitchy. I got no eggs or bacon."
"Then you're unwelcome." Mitch turned away from him but left the door open in an unspoken invitation that Saw accepted.
Mitch opened a cooler and took out a jug of water. He grabbed a glass, then looked to Saw with a raised eyebrow. "Want some water? Or do you prefer something harder to start the day?"
I'm a new man. Or me old self, depending on how you look at it." Saw gave him the finger, wagging it back and forth. "Look at it, Mitchy."
Mitch was still annoyed and didn't return Saw's grin.
"Ah, cheer up, mate. I gots us some fun planned it you're up for it."
Mitch sat down at a small table and drank half a glass of water without pausing for a break. "I don't think we have the same idea of fun anymore."
Saw flopped down across from him. As he sat, a booming fart ripped its way out of his asshole and he cackled. Mitch did not.
"I know you're angry at me, Mitchy, and I can't blame you none. I cocked things up. Not just a little either. A whole lot. Like one of those giant whales, the really big ones. Grey whales?"
Mitch shrugged his shoulders, uninterested in species of whales.
"Anyway, a hell of a massive cock up. I could of ruined everything we worked for. Everything we built. And I'm sorry for that. I am."
He looked Mitch in the eyes when he said that and there was a glint that made Mitch believe him even though he didn't want to. He didn't want to fall under Saw's spell again and had to keep reminding himself over and over again that he couldn't trust this man.
"But I'm better now. Better than before even. Because now I got it all figured out. I got complacent and then I got lazy. I'm sure you saw it."
Mitch nodded. Affirmative. Saw slid his chair around so he wasn't sitting across from Mitch but was instead sitting beside him.
"That's because I was bored. We got it good here, we do. Maybe too good though. We need some spice, Mitchy."
"Spice?
"I had a dream, like that Luther Martin bloke," Saw said, wrapping his arm around Mitch's shoulders. "When I was getting off the heroin, I saw it plain as day. There's nothing to do here but drink and drug and fuck and that's all fine and well but there's only so much of each you can do before getting bored with it all. We need entertainment, Mitchy. And I got some good plans."
Mitch realized he was getting excited and he hated himself for it. But if there was one thing he could always count on from Saw, it was that the man knew how to have a damned good time.
Chapter 27
Saw started things off by confiscating all the liquor and drugs. That got everyone good and pissed off, but it also put control back in his hands. He had all the supply and was free to make demands.
His first orders were to send most of the men, and several of the rougher women, on missions to capture zombies. He didn't want them dead - or deader - he wanted them mobile.
Over the following two weeks, the residents of Shard End had returned with nearly forty of the monsters. The captured zombies were tossed into the pit where they stumbled back and forth, smacking into the earthen walls and bouncing off each other with hisses or growls.
The residents who were either deemed incapable of hunting zombies or who had already nabb
ed their quota were given the task of moving many of Shard End’s now useless trucks and SUVs. They were pushed about fifty yards outside of town and then maneuvered into a rough circle thirty feet across.
When this initial work was finished, Saw threw a party to reward everyone for their hard work. It started off with a raging bonfire that stretched several stories into the night sky and turned the entire town orange as a pumpkin. Saw cobbled together speakers and stereos and music from bands like AC/DC and Motorhead blasted.
There was dancing, or what passed for it, and fighting, although nothing serious, and fucking, which took place in the open, bodies pressed against buildings or bent over railings. All of this was fueled mostly by alcohol, but there was ample cocaine to go around for anyone so inclined, and that was most of the rough bunch who called Shard End home. What there wasn't, of course, were opiates, but no one seemed to mind.
Saw, Mitch noticed, avoided anything harder than beer, but the lack of drugs didn't slow him down in the least. He roamed between the men and women from group to group, telling jokes, talking them up, and, Mitch realized, acting as much the role of a glad-handing politician as Senator Son of a Bitch had done when he was still alive. Only Saw was even better at it. Mitch thought these people would have elected him President, given the chance. Hell, they'd probably offer him their first born while they were at it. Saw wasn't just the leader in Shard End, he was their God.
And like most God's, he required not only devotion, but penance.
That came a few days later when most everyone had recovered from their exhaustion and hang overs. Saw asked Mitch to put the word out that there was to be a town meeting at dusk and everyone's presence was required. Mitch knocked on a few doors, but when he made the announcement at the Dry Snatch, he knew it would race through town fast enough.
He went to Saw's house, which still smelled vaguely of trash, but had been emptied of the garbage and had undergone a deep cleaning that left it looking almost new. Mina laid on a lawn chair, her dark skin baking to a dark chocolate under the midday sun. When he closed in on her, he realized she was nude from the waist up and quickly averted his eyes.
"Don't be bashful, Mitch. I don't got nothing you ain't never seen before."
He didn't want to look. He thought if Saw found him in the presence of his half naked wife he might be liable to bash his skull in. But offending Saw's wife wasn't a great choice either.
Mitch turned back to her, eyes darting rapidly and trying not to stare. Her black as coal nipples stood erect atop her barely there breasts. Sweat glistened against her small waist and below that she wore only a pair of white, cotton panties that looked almost bright as the sun when compared to her flesh. She tilted a bottle of beer his way.
"Thirsty?"
Mitch was. The walk here was long, and it was over one hundred degrees, but he also wanted out of this situation as quick as possible. "I'm good."
"If that's what you're selling, I ain't buying it."
She smiled. A rare expression in the time he'd known her. Matter of fact, as he thought about it, he wasn't sure he ever saw so much as a hint of happiness on her face. Her upturned lips revealed a chipped front tooth but, aside from that, the emotion brightened her face and Mitch couldn't help but smile back.
"Putting the moves on my dame, are ya?"
Saw's voice caused Mitch's smile to vanish. He turned and found the man coming toward him. Saw's shirt was off too, and Mitch could see his bulk was already returning. He wasn't muscular in a body-builder kind of way, he was more of a gorilla. Wide and thick and strong enough to break the average man in half without even trying hard.
"I came looking for you, actually. But I found someone better."
Saw laughed. "You got that part right." He stepped between Mitch and Mina, leaning in to his wife and giving her a sloppy kiss on the mouth. Then, he flopped down in a chair beside her. "You spread the word?"
"Easy peasy."
"Lemon squeezy." Saw responded. He grabbed Mina's beer and took two swallows before returning it.
"So, what's the meeting about? Or do I have to wait to find out like the rest of the riffraff?"
"Aw, Mitch, you know you're my favorite. You held this place together when I was indisposed, after all. Such a smart one, you are. And I won't forget that. Got my word."
"Well, thank you, Saw."
"We've been safe here, you know. Not a single zombie attack since we settled in."
Mitch nodded. He was well aware.
"Most folk probably say that's a good thing. But a safe man's a lazy man more often than not. Just like a man who don't never have to worry about not having food in his belly never appreciates how good it is to feel hungry from time to time."
Mitch was used to Saw's rambles. At one point, he found them entertaining, the way a boy might listen to his wizened grandfather and think the old man had life all figured out. But he'd come to realize Saw was mostly full of shit. Still, he let him go on.
"People here, me self included, we got fat and happy. But at the same time, we got bored. Remember when I said we needed some spice here?"
Mitch nodded.
"I got it figured out, Mitchy. We need entertainment of the sporting variety. In Birmy we had our football, or soccer as you blokes call it. And every week we'd go to the stadium and get pissed with our lads and cheer on our team. God, I still miss that sometimes."
Mitch felt like he was roasting in the sun and wanted Saw to get to the point already.
"But that's all long gone now, ain't it? Anyway, like I said, I got it all figured out. And it'll be a hell of a lot more entertaining than kicking around a ball. Mitchy, we're gonna have battles."
"Battles?" Mitch asked.
Saw nodded, excited. "Every night. It's gonna be fookin amazing. You just wait. Just wait and see."
The look in Saw's eyes was a sort of frenzied glee that Mitch found terrifying and alluring at the same time. Anything that could make Saw this excited was bound to be horrific. And that made Mitch all the more excited.
Chapter 28
The small town before them was surrounded by steel shipping containers, just as Owen had told her it would be. It was fifty yards in the distance and all she could see over that barricade were occasional rooftops.
"How do we get in?" Juli asked Owen, who stood beside her.
The rest of the group had remained far behind, as Grady had instructed. As Grady had assured her would be for the best. But, now that Juli saw the fortifications which surrounded Brimley, she had her doubts.
"We knock." Owen passed her by and continued to the town.
Juli chased after, her feet kicking up dust in the dry, August heat. "Do you have a secret knock? Like Morse code?"
Owen was at the containers, at one which was turned with the steel doors facing them. He rapped on it a couple times with his knuckles. The hollow tap-tap-tap gave an almost musical quality. He glanced back at Juli.
"No, just a knock," he said.
They waited, but the doors didn't open. Instead a voice came from above. "Owen?"
They looked up and saw a young man standing in a makeshift lookout tower. A rifle was slung over his shoulder and the sun backlit him, preventing Juli from getting a good look at his face and she couldn't tell whether it was friendly or not.
"Hey, Pete."
"Shit man, it's been a while. Who's the broad?"
Owen cocked his head in Juli's direction. "Juli Villarreal. She's a friend. Let us in before we get heatstroke out here will ya?"
"Yeah. Hold up."
Pete disappeared from the tower and she heard footsteps against the metal as he descended. Juli raised her eyebrows at Owen. "That's all?"
Owen nodded. "They're good people. Just like us."
More footsteps sounded inside the trailer and they got closer. She heard metal grate, then slide, and the double doors swung open.
Now that Juli could get a good look at Pete's face, she saw it was indeed friendly and a toothy smile filled
the bottom third of it. He gave Owen a rough hug that rocked them both on their feet.
"Thought you ran away from home and joined the circus," Pete said.
"Don't believe everything you hear."
They separated, and Owen turned to Juli. "Juli, this is Pete. Pete, Juli."
Pete extended his hand and Juli shook it. It was dry and calloused, the grip firm. He had sandy blond hair and freckles dotted his cheeks, nose, and forehead. "Nice to meet you, Ma'am. Sorry I called you a broad earlier. My mouth works faster than my brains sometimes."
"I've been called worse," Juli said with a smile that she hoped didn't look as nervous as she felt.
Pete's attention returned to Owen. "So where have you been, man? We thought you were lost in the wind."
"That's why I'm here, actually. Why we're both here."
Pete kept grinning but his eyes belied confusion. Nevertheless, he beckoned them forward. “Well come on in. I know everyone's going to be excited to see you."
Pete led the way and Juli and Owen followed.
Juli had known her share of lying men. From her philandering husband to her father who beat her mother behind closed doors, only to assure Juli and her siblings that their mother was a clumsy drunk who had a habit of walking into walls and falling down staircases.
Owen Varner was a humorless, bland man who had spent thirty-three years building highways in Nebraska and, as he spoke, Juli thought he could lie as well as any man she'd ever known, maybe even a tad better. His steel gray eyes seemed almost transparent, his voice velvety smooth. If Juli hadn't known better, she'd have believed him herself. Hell, she almost did anyway.
He talked and laughed and commiserated with the men and women of the town he helped found for over two hours, all the while promising them that, even though they had a good life in Brimley, there was a better one waiting outside the walls. All they had to do was keep an open mind. And at the end of it all, Juli was certain he'd convinced them.
