Z-Burbia Box Set | Books 4-6 [The Road Trip Trilogy]

by Bible, Jake

  “I asked what’s up,” I said.

  “Oh,” Melissa frowned. “Some of Lourdes’s people just got back from patrol. They say we’ve got military hostiles coming at us fast.”

  “Military?” Stenkler asked. “Government?”

  “No such thing,” I said. “Not the way you want. If it is government then it might as well be Consortium. How many?”

  “I don’t know,” Melissa said, exasperated. “That’s what I was going to find out. How about you come with instead of asking a bunch of questions I can’t answer?”

  “Good idea,” I said then took a couple of unsteady steps. I pointed at Stenkler. “Wanna give me a piggy back ride?”

  “No,” Stenkler said. “But I’ll help you get to everyone else. Take my arm.”

  “And they say chivalry is dead,” I quipped.

  It is.

  Huh? What the hell is going on?

  THE TRUCK DEPOT WASN’T exactly a tightly closed fortress, mostly just a bunch of overhangs with some slightly walled-in bays so long haul truckers could work on their semis out of the weather, or get some needed sleep, before loading up the next batch of corn or potatoes or asparagus. But, once I stepped away from the overhangs and walls, I realized just how much protection they gave us.

  The wind whipped at my coat and I struggled to pull it tight. You know, because of only one hand. Stenkler grabbed my stump to keep me from falling over in the wind while I managed to get my coat zipped up to my throat.

  I don’t care about your coat. Get on with it.

  Uhhh...

  “Are you alright?” Stenkler asked.

  “Yeah...fine,” I said.

  No, wait, that’s not what I said. I’m getting confused. Hold on, hold on.

  “Dammit, Jace,” Stella snapped as soon as she saw me.

  “I’m incorrigible,” I said, giving her my best cute husband smile.

  “You’re an idiot,” Critter said as he walked up to us. “But since you’re here, have a look.”

  He pretty much dragged my ass about fifty yards away from the depot and handed me a pair of binoculars.

  “Uh, Crit, it’s kind of snowing,” I said. “Gonna be hard to see anything.”

  “Oh, you’ll see this,” he said.

  I lifted the binoculars and he grabbed me by the shoulders and pointed me in the right direction.

  Oh, shit.

  Yes. Tell me about the oh shit.

  “Who keeps saying that?” I asked as I lowered the binoculars.

  “See ‘em?” Critter asked as if I hadn’t said anything.

  Which I didn’t, because that isn’t what happened. This is getting all messed up.

  Just tell me what you saw.

  “Are those Zs?” I asked Critter. “How many? A couple thousand?”

  “Closer to a hundred thousand,” Lourdes said as she came up to us with Stuart, Reaper, John, and Stella.

  Stella was still giving me the stink eye.

  “I’m sorry, did you say a hundred thousand?” I asked Lourdes.

  “Close to it, maybe more,” Lourdes nodded. “But that’s not the worst part.”

  “Oh, it’s not?” I laughed. No one else laughed with me. “Oh, come on. What’s worse than a hundred thousand Zs?”

  “An army of the living,” Lourdes said. “Shots came back from recon and said we’re looking at about a thousand strong, fully armed and equipped for war.”

  How are they equipped? That would be helpful to know. Not that they can take me. They’ll never take me.

  “Anyone else hearing that?” I asked. No one responded. “Okay, so how are they equipped? Rifles? RPGs? Blowdart guns?”

  “Tanks,” Lourdes said. “Four of them.”

  Tanks? Hmmm, tell me about the tanks.

  Man, my head is killing me. Like really killing me. This migraine sucks balls. And who knew that phantom voices came with migraines? No one ever mentioned that to me.

  “Four tanks?” I asked. “They brought tanks to fight the Zs?”

  “They are pushing the Zs,” Stuart said. “They’re driving them towards us. Which means we have big herds ahead of us and an even bigger one behind us. Behind that is an army.”

  “With tanks,” I said.

  “With tanks,” Stuart nodded.

  “Tanks not for the killing of Zs,” I said.

  “Not for the killing of Zs,” Stuart agreed.

  “For the killing of us?” I asked.

  The looks on everyone’s faces told me I had hit that nail on the head.

  “A thousand armed soldiers could do that,” I said. “We’re good, but not fight an army good.”

  “The tanks aren’t moving fast enough to catch up to us,” Lourdes said. “We move now and we’ll have at least a day, or maybe even two days, head start. Depends on how well maintained the tanks are.”

  “They break down a lot?” I asked.

  “In this weather, yes,” Lourdes said. “And it’s been a few years since the Army was up and going. They probably sat for at least a year before the Consortium got ahold of them and put them to use.”

  “That’s what you’re hoping,” I smirked.

  No, that’s right. They just got them working. Helicopters were easy. Lots of helicopter pilots and mechanics. Not so many tank mechanics.

  The world swam about me a bit and Stenkler grabbed onto me. Stella dropped her pissed off face and hurried to my side.

  “Jace?” she asked.

  “All good,” I said. “Seriously, am I the only one hearing voices?”

  “He needs to get inside,” Stenkler said as if I hadn’t spoken. Maybe I didn’t. I don’t even fucking know anymore.

  Not yet.

  “Not yet,” I said. “Where’s Elsbeth? Has anyone asked her about this army? Maybe she knows something?”

  Call her by her name!

  “She’s over there with Charlie,” Critter said, pointing to a burned out building a hundred yards off. “Been huddled up and talking with that boy a lot lately. Y’all don’t think she’s sweet on him, do ya?” He glanced at John and feigned surprise. “Oh, sorry, sniper boy. Didn’t see ya standin’ there.”

  “Ha ha,” John replied. “And she’s not sweet on Charlie. She’s been training him. I’ve even given her some pointers.”

  “They sure is trainin’ a lot lately,” Critter chuckled. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

  “Knock it off, Critter,” Melissa scolded. “Don’t stir shit up. We don’t need that right now.”

  “I’m bored,” Critter said. “All this runnin’ from Zs and runnin’ from the Consortium and runnin’ from crazies is borin’ the livin’ shit outta me. I’d give half my right arm to get back to my holler and just be runnin’ things the way I used ta.”

  He gave me a huge grin.

  “No offense, Long Pork,” Critter said. “I’m sure you’d give your left nut to have half your right arm back.”

  “How about we stop giving body parts and start getting loaded up?” Lourdes growled. “Stuart?”

  “Folks are already getting the gear stowed back in the RVs and the rest of the convoy,” Mr. Flips said as he came up to us. “Sorry to interrupt, but thought you should know that we can be gone in fifteen minutes, if that’s fast enough.”

  “I’d like it to be faster, but that will work,” Lourdes said. “Thank you.”

  Mr. Flips doffed his top hat and gave her a short bow. Always the showman, that guy.

  “Let’s do a head count,” Stuart said then looked at Stella. “You find Greta?”

  “She’s with Dr. McCormick,” Stella said. “But I need to go get Charlie.”

  “I’ll go,” I said. “If Stenkler doesn’t mind helping me.”

  “You really should get back in the RV and rest,” Stenkler protested.

  “Yeah, but I know El better than everyone here,” I replied. “Might be time to find out what the hell she and Charlie have been up to.”

  “You don’t think it’s training?�
� Stella asked.

  “Do you?” I replied.

  Talk more about the tanks. When will they get here?

  Okay, the voice has got to stop. It’s starting to make me a little sick to my stomach. Seriously. I think I’m going to barf.

  Everything waivers and wiggles and for a brief second I’m not standing out in a snowstorm. I’m in some dark building with the stink of mold and mildew all around me. And something else. I smell something else.

  “No, I don’t,” Stella said.

  “What?” I asked.

  No one responds. I mean, no one responded. I...I don’t know what I mean. Or meant. Or whatever.

  “Let’s both go,” Stella said.

  “I’ll go check on Dr. McCormick and Greta,” Stenkler said, letting go of my stump. “See if they need help with moving anyone or the medical supplies.”

  “Nope. Don’t think so,” I said, clamping my hand on his arm. “You can stay with us.”

  “Jace, let the man go do his job,” Stella said.

  “Greta is fine, I’m sure,” I said, not wanting the man anywhere near my underage daughter.

  “How about you come with me and check on Dr. Kramer?” Stuart said to Stenkler. “The guy’s been asking to see you all day. He thinks he can help with Jace’s head.”

  “Yeah, that’s great,” Stenkler said. “I’d also like to ask him a couple questions about these sisters of Elsbeth’s. I have a theory on their conditioning and how to reverse it. I mentioned it to Elsbeth a while back, but she, well...”

  “Stared at you until you wanted to pee yourself?” I asked.

  “Something like that,” Stenkler frowned.

  “She’s good that way,” I said. I looked at the burned out building and smiled at my wife. “Shall we, my dear?”

  “We are moving out in fifteen, Stanfords,” Lourdes said. “Be in a vehicle before then.”

  “You wouldn’t dare leave us, would you?” I asked.

  “Yes,” everyone said.

  “Except Stella,” Critter said. “We’d find her, but leave your ass.”

  “The love,” I sighed. “It overwhelms.”

  You talk too much and say basically nothing of value. How is this possible?

  Tell me about it, strange voice in my head. Fucking tell me about it.

  ELSBETH OBVIOUSLY HEARD us coming because she’s was just standing there with a rifle in her hands, pretending to show Charlie how to load it. It was possibly the most pitiful rouse I had ever seen.

  “Oh, hey, uh, Mom, and, uh, Dad,” Charlie stammered. “What’s up?”

  I take it back. That was the most pitiful rouse I had ever heard.

  “You tell us,” Stella said. “What is going on with you two?”

  “Nothing,” Elsbeth said. “Training. And nothing. Only training.”

  “Training and nothing,” Charlie added.

  “Really?” Stella asked, her hands on her hips. “Is that the story you want to stick with?”

  “It is,” Elsbeth said. “Training and nothing. Showing Charlie how to fuck shit up with rifles and shit. Bang bang, shit gets fucked. Fucking shit. All the shit. Totally fucked.”

  “Bang bang,” Charlie said, patting the rifle.

  They were lying to you! Tell me what they really said!

  That is what they said! I swear to shit!

  Hold on. Why am I afraid of the voice in my head? It’s just me.

  No, it’s not. Pay attention! Why won’t he pay attention?

  “Brain surgery,” Stella says.

  “What?” I asked, looking at Stella. But she’s talking to Charlie.

  Was talking to Charlie. This all happened before. This happened a few days ago.

  Tell me what Elsbeth said!

  “I am not pleased with either of you right now,” Stella scolded, her finger out and jabbing back and forth between Elsbeth and Charlie. “You are plotting something and it is dangerous and probably going to get you killed.” She said that last part with her finger aimed at Charlie. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be lying to me.” Finger was back at Elsbeth for that. “You get my son killed, El, and there is nothing in this world that will stop me from kicking your ass.”

  “I know,” Elsbeth said, her face very serious. “I won’t get Charlie killed, Stella. I promise. He’s family. I don’t get family killed. I help family.”

  Elsbeth stepped up to Stella and wrapped her in a big hug. To say my wife was surprised would be a massive understatement.

  “I want you to trust me, please, please,” Elsbeth said. “Trust me that I won’t get Charlie killed and have you kick my ass. Trust me that family means more than anything to me.”

  “Then tell me what is going on,” Stella said as she pushed back and took Elsbeth by the upper arms. “I need to know.”

  “That wouldn’t be good,” Elsbeth said. “You have a duty. I tell you and you have to tell the others. If you don’t and they find out then they’ll be mad. I can’t have the others mad at the Stanfords.”

  “They’re going to get mad at Charlie,” Stella argued.

  “No, they won’t,” Elsbeth laughed. “Nobody gets mad at Charlie. He’s golden.”

  “Stay golden, Ponyboy,” Charlie laughed.

  Stella did not laugh. “No Outsiders references, boy,” Stella snapped. “You are way past Outsiders references now.”

  “Sorry,” Charlie said. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

  “You are riding with us,” Stella said. “Elsbeth can ride in a different RV.”

  “He rides with me,” Elsbeth said.

  Yeah, Charlie and I each took a couple of steps back. If shit was about to go down, neither of us wanted to catch collateral damage.

  “El, I love you, and you are family, but Charlie is my son and I am saying he rides with us,” Stella said. “You two can talk about whatever you are talking about when we stop next. Until then it’s my turn to talk with him. Understood?”

  “I understand,” Elsbeth said.

  “Good. Because—”

  “But he rides with me,” Elsbeth said. “Sorry. You can’t win this one. Nope. Too close. Almost done. I need him with me.”

  You know how there are like a billion shades of red in one of those giant crayon boxes you used to get as a kid? Yeah, well, Stella’s face turned all of those shades at once. People may have been worried about my head calling it quits, but at that moment I was worried more for my wife’s.

  “Just tell us what is going on, El,” I said.

  Yes, back to that. Good. Very good.

  “I can’t,” Elsbeth said.

  “She can’t,” Charlie echoed.

  “Then you will!” Stella shouted. She stomped over to our son and grabbed him by the arm then started pulling him out into the snow. “This ends now!”

  Then something did end. And it broke my heart and my wife’s heart.

  “Yeah, Mom, it does,” Charlie said. He yanked himself free and walked back to Elsbeth. “My childhood. It’s over and gone, Mom. You need to understand that. I’m part of this group and this convoy not as Charlie Stanford, the son of Stella and Jace Stanford, but as my own self. I pull my own weight now.”

  “Why does she get top billing?” I joked, hoping to defuse what my wife was about to say. Didn’t work.

  “Fine. Be your own damn self!” Stella shouted. “Go ahead and see how long you last without me to pull you out of messes! You think you’re too old for your mother? Guess what? I’m too old to be taking care of an ungrateful little snot ass shit like you! Go ahead, Charles, grow the fuck up! Have fun being an adult in the motherfucking zombie apocalypse! It’s a goddamn blast!”

  The sounds of RV horns reached us then. Stella pointed at Elsbeth and there was nothing but rage on her face.

  “Fuck you, Carly Michelle Thornberg! FUCK YOU!” she roared then turned and was gone.

  I don’t think I have ever seen Elsbeth look so hurt before that moment when my wife yelled her real name at her. I grew a second heart and tha
t one broke too.

  I do not care about your hearts! What was Carly up to?

  I don’t know! I do not know! Stop it! Just stop yelling in my head! Get out of my head! My head hurts! IT HURTS! STOP! STOP STOP STOP STOP—!

  THE WATER IS BITINGLY cold. It comes crashing down over my head and the pain is beyond anything I have ever felt as all of my sutures turn into lines of freezing agony.

  “STOP! STOP! STOP!” I’m still yelling. “STOP! STOP! STOP!”

  Stella is also yelling. And so is Stuart, but he’s yelling for all of us to stop yelling. They are both bloodied and tied up, their hands bound together as they sit back to back.

  And standing in front of me, holding an empty bucket, is Cassie. That de facto leader of Elsbeth’s super soldier sister girl group.

  “Where is Carly?” Cassie growls as she throws the bucket aside and reaches for me, her hand lost from my sight as it goes over my head.

  Then the freezing agony turns to burning agony. Why? Because Cassie is jamming her thumb into one of my sutures.

  I scream.

  “Stop! You’ll kill him!” Stella cries.

  “You’re going to kill us all!” Stuart yells. “The Zs will zero in on us!”

  “Let them,” Cassie says as she smiles, her nose almost touching mine. “I’m not worried. I can get through the Zs without any trouble.”

  I’m still screaming, if anyone is keeping score.

  “Tell me about Carly,” Cassie snarls.

  Her breath smells like rancid apples. You know, like when you walk through an orchard at the end of the apple picking season and the ground is littered with brown piles of squishy yuck? Like that.

  “I’ll tell you!” I cry. “I’ll tell you everything!”

  Cassie glares at me for a second then removes her thumb from my wounded cranium and steps back.

  “Talk,” she orders. “I want to know everything now. What is Carly’s plan and where are my sisters?”

  “Okay, well, you see, it’s like this,” I start then pause. “What do you mean where are your sisters?”

  “I’m done,” Cassie says and pulls a very long knife from her belt. “You are useless.”

  “Hello?” someone calls from down below. “Uh, anyone up there?”