Flash stared at Norma a moment before focusing on Erin. “What do you think?”
“She definitely pissed off someone and she’s not telling us everything, but I guess we can’t just leave her. She needs our help. Maybe she knows the source of those campfires.”
“Alright, let’s go talk to her and try a different tact,” Flash said. “Erin, you start it off. Try being nice, sisterly.”
“Yeah, alright,” Erin said.
The two of them walked back up to Norma.
“Alright, you need to tell us what really happened to you, you know that, right?” Erin asked.
“I’m not sure,” Norma replied. Erin pushed it.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
Norma shook her head and then winced in pain. “I’m really hurting.”
“I’m sure you are, but you need to be more forthcoming. Where have you been living all of these years?” she asked.
“Just around,” Norma answered and started to take another drink. Flash grabbed the water bottle out of her hand.
“That’s not good enough. We’ll help you out, but only if you’re honest with us,” he said.
“Norma, I’m sure you’ve been through a lot,” Erin said. “I don’t know about you, but for me, being a woman nowadays is pretty tough. But you’re not exactly winning us over in the trust department.”
When she remained silent, Flash sighed and shook his head.
“You don’t want to tell us anything, so be it. Good luck to you.” He made a head nod to Erin and the two of them began walking back to the SUV. They’d almost made it to the door when Norma called out.
“Hey, wait, don’t leave me!” she whined.
Flash paused and turned back to her. He stared a moment before walking back to her.
“No more bullshit. Tell us everything.”
Norma sat in the roadway with her legs splayed open. Her eyes drifted to the pile of wadded-up duct tape sitting a few feet from her. Flash watched her. She seemed to be devoid of emotion. If the events leading up to her being beaten, taped up and left on the side of the road traumatized her, she sure didn’t show it.
“Start at the part where you got beaten and dumped. Who did it and why?” Flash urged.
“There’s a group of people over at the naval base,” she said. “Del Rio, Jerry, Max, Tom, and a few others. They jumped me last night.”
“Why’d they do that?” Flash asked.
Norma shrugged slightly. “Who knows? They’re all a bunch of psychopaths. Do you have any more food?”
“That’s bullshit,” Erin said. “You know exactly why they beat you.”
Norma gave yet another indifferent shrug, which caused her to wince slightly in pain. Erin responded by giving her a mild slap on the back of the head. Norma yelped. Flash looked surprised. So much for the sisterly approach.
“What the fuck?” Norma cried.
“I’m tired of your little games,” Erin said. “You either tell us what’s going on, or so help me, I’m going to throw your ass off of this bridge.”
Sully piped up. “I’d like to see that,” he said with a snicker.
Norma glared at Erin, but when she realized Erin was serious, her demeanor changed, and her face crinkled up like she was about to cry.
“Why are you guys treating me like this?” she implored.
“Because you’re being vague, which means you’re lying and hiding something from us,” Erin replied.
“Yup,” Sully added. “You did something to get yourself beaten and dumped, and you’re trying to act all innocent.”
Flash had been watching silently. He knew Erin well enough. She was angry and most likely would make good on her threat.
“Look, Norma. Part of our mission is to locate survivors and try to help them out, but the way we found you and your behavior is suspicious. We’re not simply going to blindly trust you.”
“Fine, don’t,” she said.
“You got it,” Flash said. “Nice to meet you, have a good life, etcetera.” He glanced at Erin. “Let’s go.”
The two of them hopped in the SUV. Sully needed no directive. He started the car and drove off while Norma was still sitting in the roadway. Flash sighed heavily.
“Don’t fret over it, she was bad news,” Sully said. Erin nodded in agreement.
Flash knew his friends were right, but one of the major missions of the teams was to rescue survivors and gather as much intelligence as possible. He looked back over his shoulder. Norma had managed to stand and was staring in their direction. Flash exhaled his breath in a dejected sigh.
“Alright, stop,” he said.
Sully looked at him in confusion. “What?”
“Stop and turn around,” Flash directed.
Sully stopped but made no effort to make a U-turn. “Flash, buddy, she’s got so many red flags she should enter one of those bullfights in Spain.”
“I agree, but she’s got information of a survivor group we’ve not yet encountered. We need that info.”
Sully glanced questioningly at Erin, who said nothing.
“You’re the boss,” he muttered and made a U-turn around an old Chrysler LeBaron with flat tires. When they stopped, Flash got out.
“I’ll make it simple,” Flash said. “I want information about that group of people you referred to. Be honest and we’ll feed you. Keep lying to us and we turn around again and leave, and this time we won’t come back.”
“They accused me of stealing, but I didn’t steal anything. They come up with crazy punishments for people and they decided to give me a beat down. I remember being taped up, but that’s about it.”
“Can you take us to them?” Flash asked.
Norma stared worriedly and began shaking her head in a near panic. Flash sighed in frustration and stared off into the distance, wondering what he was going to do now.
“It’ll be dark soon,” Erin remarked.
Flash turned his head to the west and noted the setting sun. It was June, so normally that’d put them at around 1900 hours. He couldn’t believe they’d used up almost the entire day with nothing more to show for it than Norma, who was useless. He scratched the stubble on his face.
“Let’s find us a place,” he said.
They settled on a house near the Deep Creek Elementary School. Norma plopped down on a couch in the den and was asleep within seconds. The team left her and used the remaining daylight to search and scavenge.
They had a close encounter with a couple of skunks, but thankfully none of them sprayed. They found little of value, but it was not a total bust. The elementary school still had several children’s books and one teacher’s desk yielded a dozen solar-powered calculators that were perfect for kids.
At dusk, they went back to the house and used a rocket stove to cook up some hobo stew. Norma slept through it. The three of them stayed in the kitchen and whispered among themselves while they ate.
“What the hell are we going to do with her?” Sully asked.
“I think we should take her back to Mount Weather,” Flash said.
Sully took a gulp of water and shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking. We try to lure friendly survivors back to Mount Weather where Zach does his magic and puts them in a home or Marcus Hook, or something like that.”
“Yeah, that’s a standing mission objective,” Flash said and narrowed his eyes at Sully. “Why?”
“Look, bro, you’re the team leader. Whatever decision you make, I’ll back you, but there’s something about this woman. I’m getting bad vibes from her.”
“Me too,” Erin said. “And what about these people she was with? What kind of evil bastards are they to do that to somebody? Do we really want to initiate contact with them?”
Flash ate his stew thoughtfully. These two people were his friends. Right or wrong, they were the ones he always knew had his back. He came to a decision and nodded.
“Alright, we won’t initiate contact, but at the minimum, we’ll hav
e Norma show us where they’re living. We recon the area, make a report, and head on to Virginia Beach.”
“And what about Norma?” Sully asked.
“We’ll take her back to Mount Weather, if she wants to go. If not, we cut her loose.”
“I’ll go to Mount Weather.”
They looked over to see Norma standing in the doorway. She looked rough. Her eye was now swollen completely shut and the bruising was beginning to darken. She still had chunks of tape matted in her hair and it’d probably have to be cut out. She took a deep breath and walked over to the kitchen table.
“That smells decent enough. Can I have some?”
The three of them sat at the kitchen table and watched Norma eat the rest of the stew. Flash guessed from her physical stature she was horribly overweight at one time. As they watched, she devoured the stew and when it was gone, licked the bowl.
“So, tell us more about these people,” Flash urged.
“Um, I don’t know what to say.”
“You mentioned Del Rio was the leader,” Flash said.
“Yeah, I don’t know if they took a vote or what, but he’s the leader. He’s a big guy. Claims he was a Navy Seal, but I don’t know about that. They were all in the Navy though.”
“How many are there?” Erin asked.
“There used to be over twenty of them, but some ran off, some were killed. Now, there’s seven. Six men and a woman.” She scoffed. “They call her Easy Evie. She’s pregnant and the father could be any one of them.”
“What about you?” Erin asked. “Were you with one man in particular?”
She scoffed again. “There are no morals in this world anymore. A woman can have as many men as she wants, right?”
She was staring at Erin when she said it, but Erin remained silent. Norma frowned.
“What, you’re not going to act like you’re some kind of good girl, are you?” When Erin did not reply, Norma let out a singular laugh. “So, you’re a good, wholesome girl—what a joke.” She waggled a finger between Flash and Sully. “I bet you’re fucking both of them and a couple more back at that Mount Weather place.”
“You’d be wrong,” Erin said. “But I’m beginning to get an idea of why you got the hell beat out of you.”
Norma barked out another laugh. “They’d have a lot of fun with you, little girl.”
“How are they living?” Flash asked. “What did you guys do for food?
“They still have MREs and stuff. Wormy has a garden. Poke hunts with a compound bow. He’s pretty good with it.” She eyed Erin, with the eye that wasn’t swollen shut. “He’s pretty good with his dick too. He’d like you.”
Erin gave her a baleful stare before standing. She addressed her two teammates. “I’m going to go outside and keep watch. Otherwise, I’m going to beat the shit out of this whore.”
Sully snickered as Erin walked out. Norma gestured with her middle finger before focusing on the two men.
“So, you were talking about food,” Flash said.
“Yeah, the garden, Poke hunts, and we fished. We got by okay, I guess. What else do you want to know?”
“Do they have weapons? What do they do for transportation? Are there any professionals like doctors in the group? Any kids?”
“What’s with all the questions?”
“It’s part of our mission,” Flash said.
“Okay, whatever. No kids, no gas for cars. They either walk or use bicycles. Yeah, they have weapons and a couple of them are good shots.”
“How much ammo do they have?” Sully asked.
“I have no idea,” Norma replied. “Oh, and you asked about doctors. Nope, no doctors. What else?”
“Do they have any goals and objectives, or do they just live from day to day?” Flash asked.
She thought for a moment. “I’d say they’re just living day to day. No long-range plans, no 401k investments, nothing like that.” She ran a hand through her hair and got hung up on a piece of tape, which caused her to frown.
“Alright, enough questions. Which one of you is going to find some water and get me a hot bath going?”
Chapter 26 – Team Mad Dog
The thunderstorm passed through late, and Melvin was certain he heard a tornado roaring through somewhere nearby. The rain had stopped, but the wind was still gusting, and the night was inky black.
Melvin kept diligent watch with the NV goggles, but all he saw was trash being blown around. Some larger items, like errant pieces of plastic, looked like eerie apparitions as they wafted by. Mostly though, he watched True. His body occasionally twitched and a moan or two had emanated from him. Suddenly, he jerked upright, breathing heavily. Melvin waited until his rapid panting returned to normal before speaking.
“You okay, buddy?” Melvin whispered.
True’s mind was still racing and he looked around wildly in the dark. Melvin sensed it and spoke reassuringly.
“It was just a dream, brother. You’re awake now.”
True recognized Melvin’s voice, even though he was only whispering. He slowed his breathing, pulled the mosquito netting off him, and rubbed his face.
“I’m alright,” he whispered back.
“Good.”
True stood and stretched. His eyes adjusted and he could barely see the outline of Melvin. “What time is it?” he asked.
“Zero-four-forty,” Melvin answered. He stood and walked over.
“Here, fresh water,” he said and handed over his canteen before sitting beside him.
True took several swallows and wiped his mouth. “Thanks. If you want to sleep a little, I’ll spell you.”
Melvin shrugged in the dark. “I’m fine. If I go back to sleep now, I won’t wake up until noon.”
The two men sat in silence for a couple of minutes, watching their surroundings. The evening before, they had picked a spot on a knoll. They made camp and set up their plastic bottles and homemade trip flares. The zeds were still too stupid to understand how trip flares worked and therefore could not bypass them, but even so, the men remained vigilant.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Melvin asked.
“What?” True asked.
“The nightmare. It must have been a doozy.”
“Do you ever have them?”
Melvin emitted a soft grunt. “All the time, bro. Savannah does too, worse than me, but don’t tell her I told you. We’ll sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and just hold each other. It always helps. You know, you need to find you a good woman. A good woman always makes things better.”
True gave a slight scoff. “The only single women at Weather are skinny white girls and they ain’t interested in someone like me.”
“You prefer a woman with a little meat on her bones, I take it,” Melvin said.
“Something like that.”
“You should go to Oak Ridge with me sometime. There are a couple of fine-looking sisters living there. They’re both nurses, originally from Jamaica, and I swear to goodness they have the prettiest, bounciest titties you’ve ever seen. They’re natural too—none of that fake stuff.”
True smiled at him in the dark. “How is it down there?”
“Oak Ridge? Oh man, they have a nice set up,” Melvin replied. “They have a nuclear reactor, so they have plenty of power for everything. Most of the people were all engineers and scientists when it went bad, so they can build almost anything. They’ve overcome the fuel issue by making all their vehicles electric. Cars, trucks, tractors, all are electric. And, they have a supercomputer. I don’t know what all they’re doing with it, but they’ve got a couple geniuses living there and they’re supposed to be working on something top secret. I was told it was some sort of AI technology, but I don’t know for certain.”
“How many people live there?” True asked.
“About two hundred in the compound with another five hundred living around the area. Their housing model is a lot like Mount Weather’s.” Melvin smiled in the dark. “And, like I said, there
are a few pretty women living there. We’ll go visit sometime.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Liam said. Melvin looked over with the goggles and saw Liam sticking his head out of the truck. He opened the door and stepped out.
“Why aren’t you guys sleeping?” he asked in a whisper. That’s how they normally spoke when on mission, in whispers. One never knew how many zeds were within earshot.
“Anything going on?” he asked.
“Nope, all quiet,” Melvin replied and glanced over at True.
Liam walked a few feet away and began urinating, which he punctuated with a loud fart.
“Excuse me,” he muttered. When he was finished, he walked back over to them. “I’ll wake up my mentally challenged brother and we can get going.”
“Not yet,” Melvin said. “We need to do some recon of this area and gather some Intel before we get moving.”
He pointed to the four pails. “I got us some rainwater to clean up with. I’m not sure I’d drink it though.” He pointed to his prized possession, a Berkey water filter. “Give it thirty minutes and we’ll have plenty of potable water.”
“I can get a fire going and make some tea, if you guys want,” Liam said.
Melvin readily agreed and began the preparations for breakfast. The sky was gray by the time they finished eating. Melvin stretched and did fifty quick pushups. Jumping to his feet, he looked at the empty pot.
“No more tea? Damn. Well, I’m going to have a look around, take a few pictures. Give me forty-five minutes and I’ll be ready.”
“I’ll go with you,” True said. He then glanced over at the brothers and spoke with an exaggerated Pittsburgh accent. “You boys get to brewing some more tea.”
Liam looked at Logan. “Did he just make fun of us? I think he made fun of us.”
Melvin and True armed themselves with suppressed Berettas and set out. They walked four blocks before stopping.
“I knew it,” Melvin exclaimed. “That was a tornado that passed through here last night.”
“Are you sure?” True asked.
Melvin pointed. “It wasn’t a big one but look at the damage. You can see the path it took.” He continued staring. “A few of the smaller cars have been blown over, but that tractor-trailer rig is still upright. That’d make it around a hundred miles-per-hour. I believe that would put it in the category of an F1 tornado. Maybe an F2.”
Zombie Rules (Book 7): The Fifteens Page 16
