Isaac scoffed. “Who’d be crazy enough to go?”
*****
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Paula yelled, which was the third time Sean had ever heard her curse. She obviously didn’t care about the patients, the hacker, or the prisoner she got stuck with as punishment for her suicide attempt. She was back to her old self; no need to worry about another walk into the next mob of zombies.
“They need help looking for supplies,” Sean said.
“Let them do it,” she snapped with a curt nod at Isaac without looking at him.
“It ain’t no big deal, girl,” Isaac said reassuringly. “The Panel plussed us up, so—”
“Do you really want to get in on this?” she yelled at the big man, which looked quite menacing for a woman bound to a chair. Clearly, seating her next to the gunshot window of the banquet room to “cool off” wasn’t helping.
Isaac put up his hands and backed up. “Just tryin’ ta keep da peace.”
“He’s right, though,” Sean added. “I’m sure we’ll be in and right back out. Two hours, tops.”
She jerked her head over her shoulder. “Leaving me alone here with these clowns.”
Sean glanced around at the other isolated, which didn’t include the twins Didi had put out of everyone’s way. He tried to comfort her with his tone and gentle hands, but she again shook her body away from. His heart ached with defeat. “We’ll be well armed. We should be fine.”
Paula laughed sharply. “You could barely use your dad’s old shotgun on scavengers at the farm, let alone other strays,” she added with a glare at Isaac. Was she ever going to let that go?
Plus, that stung. “I did pretty well against the Pride of Life.”
“Oh, you mean the ones who killed Megan on the bus? Being lucky once doesn’t mean—”
“Paula,” Sean yelled, which made her pause in shock. The others in earshot gawked in surprise. “I am your husband, and I am going to do what I can to protect you.”
“How dare you—”
“Whether you appreciate it or not doesn’t matter to me right now, and it’s not like you’ve been clamoring to have me around anyway. I’ll see you later.” With that, he walked down the stairs and didn’t look back once. His heart pounded the entire time imagining the livid expression on her otherwise beautiful face, but he stayed his course.
Isaac caught up to him and patted his shoulder. “Man, yo’ balls jus’ lef’ craters back der.”
Sean laughed in spite of himself and went with the big man to arm himself for his jaunt into whatever became of Denver.
A distant sniffle stopped him. His heart sank and he turned to comfort his wife, but the only one crying was young Dawn in her boyfriend’s embrace by the smoothly finished bar, saying, “I wish I could go with you. I can take care of myself.”
Pepe stroked her hair. “I believe it after what you told me about Larchwood, but ....”
She nodded disappointedly. “Yeah, yeah, the Panel. I’m lucky Warden Jerri even let me off the bus to say goodbye to you.”
“It’s not goodbye,” he said with a gentle caress of her cheek. “Hey, maybe afterward, we could get Didi to train you like she did Rachelle. We could do it together.”
She laughed and looked into his eyes. “You be safe.”
“You, too,” he replied, then he kissed her.
The touching moment warmed Sean’s heart. He wanted to share it with his wife, but he couldn’t see her. Hell, she probably wouldn’t even look at him right now.
The young couple parted and Pepe joined the other two.
“Brought a tear to my eye,” Isaac said as he touched the side of his eye, smiling insincerely.
Pepe shoved him back, though with little result, and moved on.
Sean wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t.
CHAPTER 7
NEWER HORIZONS
Isaac eyed the approaching city like one big plantation he feared someone would make him work. The closer he got, the more brothers and sisters he saw loading trucks with rubble or bodies. Everywhere he looked, each face had shade—no Caucasian persuasion anywhere—and each set of eyes he met begged for freedom.
The masters are probably farther in town in the nicer places, he thought bitterly, even remembering the sad setup in George Romero’s Land of the Dead. Good thing the only smart zombie he ever met was the one watching his ass, and she may have been down with the living in all colors, but he didn’t see her freeing a whole city. What could he do?
“I hate to say it, but I’m starting to see a pattern here,” Sean said nervously. “Maybe I should’ve stayed on the bus.”
“Welcome to my world,” Isaac muttered.
“We can’t assume anything yet, so let’s stay positive,” Didi said with her eye deep into that little pirate scope of hers, which suddenly bumped the window. “Lord, help me, this is fugly!”
Isaac followed her scope line with his binoculars. Each person he spied wore something shabby or damaged, but they were certainly colorful. Every shade of the rainbow graced the bodies of all the pathetic people out there, most of them soiled with grime. “I ain’t no fashion expert, but I don’t think anybody knows how to dress here.”
“You said it,” Her Deadness muttered with disgust. “D&G, Louis, Gucci, all top-of-the-line brands worn like rags.”
“Check out that guy,” Rachelle said as she pointed out the window.
Isaac followed her finger to a dude wearing a black plastic trash bag on his body and the blockiest yellow shorts he had ever seen, accompanying an older woman in a dirty mink stole over a cobalt gown hanging in shards from her stout body.
Didi’s jaw dropped behind her scope. “That is a fucking Prada handbag on that guy’s ass.”
Isaac looked again and discerned the lines on what used to be a purse, its straps wrapped around each leg while sparkly bracelets peeked out of his gloves. Talk about trashy chic!
“All those poor clothes,” Didi muttered with pity. She put down her scope and took off her jacket, revealing white arms—instead of gray ones—poking out of her torn maroon shirt. She pulled a compact from her jacket pocket and inspected herself all over, brushing up any part of her that didn’t match her fake hue. “We may stand out here, no matter what color we are.”
Ron, the stocky white farmer that had been driving the tanker this whole trip, pointed over the steering wheel. “Looks like we’re going to have to stop.”
Didi pulled up her scope, prompting Isaac to look ahead at an approaching sign, which claimed in neat spray paint:
DENVER TRADING ZONE
ALL NEW ARRIVALS
FOLLOW RED ARROWS
VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT
Sure enough, a bunch of traffic signs with big red arrows spray painted on them started coming into view. The first several pointed straight up before aiming right off a highway exit, ahead of which stood an improvised rubble wall at least four feet high that blocked the highway and stretched in both directions as far as Isaac could see.
“What do we do now?” Ron asked.
The dead head shrugged while putting her jacket back on. “It’s their town.”
“And we don’t want to get our heads blown off,” Pepe said next to Isaac. Always a buzz-kill.
The red arrows made Ron turn down a few walled-off streets before bringing the group into the fence of an enormous warehouse, where rustic-looking people of almost all colors came and went in lines and groups, also dressed like they looted high-end clothing stores and just threw on everything. Outbreak looting here must’ve been quick and indiscriminant.
One of those sorry-looking folks with a rifle strapped behind him waved the truck toward a wide loading zone platform with a big spray-painted sign that said EAST INSPECTION STATION. Ron stopped the truck before the center of three freight doors, where three leather-clad brothers waited in the same shiny black trench coats—and packing long rifles—as the road masters of all the road crews. One of the two musclemen nudged the fat, beard
ed brother eating a pear in the middle with a humorous grin and his finger aimed at Didi.
Isaac didn’t like the look of that, but Didi got out and stepped onto the platform without hesitation, followed by everybody else. She wasn’t wearing any grenades on her belt, which he swore was the opposite when she got in the truck. She couldn’t have been trying to appear nonthreatening if she still wore her sword and pistols.
The fat brother stepped up to her with a clipboard in his meaty hand. His hand-carved nametag said BUDDY, and his ratty beard had caught fallen bits of pear. “What do y’all want?”
“We’re on our way to California,” Didi replied, “but the rubble’s kind of blocking the highway, and all the roads around town are ripped up.”
The burly brother glanced up and down her like he expected her to start hacking him down. Then he pointed at the muscular brother on his left, who jumped off the platform and started searching the truck.
Sean protested, and the guard shoved his sawed-off shotgun in the man’s blanch face.
“Let ‘em,” Didi said. “It’s their town.”
The ginger backed off with his hands up, then watched lamely as the guard rummaged through the truck. After a tense, helpless minute, the guard came out and disappointedly said, “Clear.”
“Where y’all comin’ from?” Buddy asked warily before taking a bite of his pear, which dropped another chunk onto his chest as he chewed.
Didi smiled. “Iowa. Ever been?”
Buddy sneered while he cleared his mouth. “How long y’all staying here?”
“Not long. We just want to get through town, and check out what there is to trade here.”
Buddy scoffed, then read from his clipboard like a robot with base. “Welcome to the Denver Trading Zone, where you can find just about anything you might need or want. You just can’t leave with any of it unless you have a valid trade agreement on hand for each piece, so don’t forget to ask for it. All weapons must be approved, so nothing viral or nuclear enters the city.”
“Nuclear?” Ron interrupted.
Buddy glowered at the farmer, then went back to his spiel. “If you have a dispute with a purchase, you can take it to the nearest jex, but I wouldn’t recommend it,” he added with a teasing grin, most likely the only part of his speech that came from him rather than the clipboard.
“What’s a jex?” Pepe asked.
“Our law enforcement,” he replied calmly, but his eyes bore fire on the kid. “It’s short for judge and executioner.”
The skinny lizard shrunk back. “Got it.”
“What about the road west?” Didi asked.
Buddy put up a hand. “Y’all, let me finish so we can move on with our lives.”
Didi shut her mouth into a tight grin.
“If the jex can’t settle the dispute, you’re gonna be shit out of luck. Jexes don’t play, so keep it civil. Also, any sign of plague will be dealt with swiftly and lethally.”
Everyone in the group regarded Didi, whose usual grin never faltered.
“Oh, and you may want to experience the Halloween Bash at the old Sports Authority in four days. It’ll be a real scream,” Buddy added with all the enthusiasm of a fencepost. “Step up for weapon inspection, one at a time.”
Didi drew her sword and showed it to Buddy with that daring grin of hers.
Buddy looked it over skeptically. “That real?”
“Long story short, yes.”
The tubby brother smiled at her. “I wouldn’t take less than ten cases of ammo for that.”
Didi smiled back as she re-sheathed her sword and presented all her weapons for inspection.
All the big brother seemed to do was glance over each one, even when she pulled her grenades from her jacket. Then he drew a pink wristband from a box on a nearby table, clipped it onto her gloved wrist, and wrote a 7 on it with a thick black marker. “Next.”
Rachelle stepped up with her sword, revolver, and new pistol.
The burly man froze in place, totally stunned, bordering on terrified.
“What?” the kid asked defensively.
The big man’s jaw wagged silently.
Didi stepped up beside her minion. “Is something wrong?”
Buddy seemed to snap out of his trance, look over Rachelle’s weapons, and give her a pink bracelet with a 3 on it. “Good luck,” he said to her as he gave her wrist a shake.
Rachelle recoiled and kept glancing at Buddy as she joined Didi.
Isaac stepped up with his many weapons, but he had to snap Buddy’s attention away from Rachelle to get things moving.
“Tell me you’re the one in charge here, brother,” Buddy said quietly.
Instead of elaborating, Isaac grinned. “I got play. Why?”
“Cuz we got rid of white way back, and we don’t need more of ‘em moving in.”
Isaac gawked at the burly inspector, completely stunned. “No white?”
Buddy shook his head. “All gone. The city’s ours, brother,” he added with a big smile.
Isaac had to take a moment to let that sink in. It was like a dream come true having a place where he would be part of the majority—the elite, the ruling class—that would never be talked down to again.
On the other hand, things didn’t look as promising coming in with all the brothers and sisters still slaving away along the roads. And, with the way Buddy was talking, his new friends wouldn’t fare much better, either. He wondered how people in town would react to a white girl who did porn … and what she would do as a result. Buddy did say they would react quickly to any sign of plague, and any number of people trying to get into the zombie’s pants would likely find out pretty damn quick.
He threw up a big grin at Buddy for their sakes. “They’re cool.”
“They better be,” Buddy said with a pointed glare while handing Isaac a 9 band.
Isaac kept up his smile on his way to Didi, but the warning in Buddy’s voice rang through him like his granny’s old rotary phone.
Buddy finished with the rest of the party without incident, though dealing curtly with the white farmers. “Y’all be safe, now,” he said with an insincere grin. Rough neighborhoods and all.”
Isaac actively herded the scouting party to the truck, but Ron kept glaring back at the guards. “There a problem?” he was dumb enough to ask with attitude.
A guard stepped forward, but Buddy stopped him with a cavalier grin. “Not smart, Casper,” the big brother said, then eyed Isaac. “Better keep ‘em in check if you want to keep ‘em safe.”
Seeing the writing on both walls in this case, Isaac quickly reached for Ron and pulled him back. “Let it go, man. You don’t want to meet none of them jexes.”
Ron looked shocked, but he didn’t stop Isaac from guiding him back to the truck.
“What was that all about?” Rachelle asked.
“You don’t want to know,” Isaac said quietly. “Let’s just get out of here. Y’all don’t want to deal with this place. Hell, I don’t even.”
Didi’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll keep it short. Ron, Sean, take the truck and scout the roads. We need to make sure we can get the bus and the tanker through town. The rest of us will look for supplies.”
Sean deflated a little, but he nodded. Ron just glanced back at the three glaring brothers and went to the driver side of the truck.
“We should just go,” Isaac insisted. “It may not be worth it.”
“Tempers are rising in camp, Isaac,” she reminded him. “A few more supplies may cool them down a little.”
“What are we going to pay with?” Pepe asked.
“You can use these,” Rachelle said as she dug into her jacket pockets and pulled out a bunch of jewelry.
The scrawny nurse recoiled in surprise. “Where did you get all that?”
“Emmetsburg,” she said while evenly disbursing most of the baubles, keeping a diamond ring and a few other trinkets for her own currency. Isaac wished he had hit that house with her.
“We’ll
work in pairs. Nobody goes anywhere alone. We need to watch each other’s backs. Capíche?”
Everyone nodded and headed into the truck.
Isaac stopped in the door to allow Pepe to get into the middle, but he again caught the look in the eyes of Buddy and his guards. It was a look he had seen—and given—many times to outsiders in his Washington Park neighborhood before the plague.
His first impression of this city was very wrong.
*****
Paula fumed as the frigid stream of air from the bullet hole in the glass blasted her face, resenting her confinement to this chair like their homicidal prisoner. She may as well have been stuck outside with those puerile twins, tied back-to-back to the liquor store’s drive thru sign under the barely watchful eyes of the teenagers con-gregating around the charred bodies in the parking lot. She wasn’t sure which was worse: being forced to endure the cold jet to “cool off” or that zombie once again using kids to do her dirty work.
What truly infuriated Paula was Sean, whose face she wanted to bury in the ashes outside when she next saw him. The blockhead just had to keep challenging her, or maybe he was just trying to cash in on ‘til death do us part. If she couldn’t, why could he?
“You okay?” came from the stairway, where Clarissa nursed her baby under her burp cloth.
Paula shrugged. “If wanting to kill your husband is okay.”
Clarissa laughed quietly, sadly. “David put me through that once.”
Paula didn’t appreciate the parallel to Amber’s late father, as that story ended in suicide.
The former beauty queen shrugged as she sat with Paula. “Though, in this case, I don’t see Sean having an eye for Didi, so he probably just wants to feel useful.”
“Like I have no use for him?”
“He may not see it. You have been a little glacial lately.”
Paula had to keep herself from snapping.
“I’m not saying you’re totally in the wrong. I’m just—Ow!” Clarissa jumped, then looked down at her covered infant.
Paula smiled at the moment of levity. “She’s biting now?”
Exodus Page 7
