“Damn, that was fierce!” Billy said. “Why didn’t you just let me shoot it?”
“Gramps might hear,” Courtney said. “Come on.” She broke into a jog. They needed to put distance between them and Spike’s bike.
Courtney held onto Sensa, who gamely kept up. When they had gone thirty yards or so, she ducked into the woods and crouched.
Billy was grimacing and holding his hurt arm close to his side. He sank to one knee, placed his rifle’s stock on the ground, and leaned on it. “Why?” he puffed.
The approaching roar of the motorcycles to the north was a lot louder.
“So we can take Gramps and whoever is with him by surprise,” Courtney said. “And rescue Sally Ann.”
“Ah,” Billy said. He was red in the face and caked with sweat.
Courtney put a hand to his forehead. “You’re burning up.”
“Not feeling all that good,” Billy admitted.
Courtney hoped an infection wasn’t setting in. They had no way of treating it. But first problems first. She told Sansa to lie flat, then took up a position behind a tree as close to the road as she dared without exposing herself.
Billy followed her example, bracing his good shoulder against the trunk.
“Let me do this,” Courtney said.
“Every gun helps.” Billy wiped his sweaty forehead with his sleeve.
“We need to get this over with quick so I can tend to you,” Courtney said.
Billy smiled with affection. “Thanks, Courts, for being my friend.”
“Right back at you.” Courtney said, and focused on the road, specifically on the bend that Gramps and whoever was with him would soon come around.
“I mean it,” Billy said, his voice choked with emotion.
Courtney glanced at him. “Now’s not the time, doofus.”
Billy said something that was drowned out by the racket the two motorcycles made as they swept around the bend.
Gramps was in the lead. Behind him came Rufus, the human doughnut. They saw Spike’s bike in the middle of the road up ahead, and slowed.
Exactly as Courtney hoped they would do. She pointed her shotgun at Gramps but needed him closer to be sure. “You take Rufus.”
“Will do,” Billy said.
The two bikers came on at a crawl, both looking right and left, suspiciously.
Come on! Courtney thought. Just a little closer! The wait frayed at her nerves. She itched to cut loose.
“Hey,” Billy whispered. “Where’s Sal?”
Only then did Courtney realize that Sally Ann—and Willis—weren’t on the back of Gramps’s bike.
“What did they do with her?” Billy said.
Gramps and Rufus were near enough now but Courtney was so shocked that Sally Ann was missing that she raised her head and looked toward the bend.
Gramps spotted her. He pointed and yelled and swerved his bike toward the other side of the road. Rufus did the same.
Billy fired but must have missed because Rufus didn’t so much as flinch.
Recovering her wits, Courtney aimed at Gramps’ broad back. She stroked the trigger but nothing happened. She had forgotten to feed a fresh shell into the chamber after she shot Jenks. Quickly, she remedied her mistake but by then Gramps and Rufus had threaded their bikes into the trees, and jumped off.
“Can’t anything ever go right?” Billy said in frustration while once again working the bolt on his rifle. “Now there are three of them out there.”
“We should get away while we can,” Courtney said. What with Billy sick and Sansa to think of and being outnumbered, it was the smart thing to do.
“I hate running,” Billy reiterated.
“I’d hate being dead.” Courtney turned and held out her hand to Sansa. “Let’s go, little one.”
Gaga suddenly swiveled her head toward the woods at their back.
Courtney looked, and felt a wave of cold spike through her.
Spike was sneaking toward them.
CHAPTER 18
Spike was still a ways off, darting from cover to cover.
“Keep low,” Courtney said, and angled deeper into the woods, away from the road and Gramps and Rufus, and away from Spike. She tried to keep an eye on him but lost him in the underbrush.
When she had gone far enough to deem it safe, Courtney stopped to get her bearings.
Billy was literally drenched with sweat and blinking his eyes a lot.
“You look terrible,” Courtney couldn’t help saying. “Let’s rest.”
“We haven’t gone far enough,” Billy said. “Keep going.”
Against her better judgement, Courtney pushed on. She went as fast as the growth—and Sansa—allowed.
A timber-covered hill reared and she went around it.
On the other side lay a hollow. Oval-shaped, it was as if a giant scoop had dug out the earth.
“In here.” Courtney descended the short incline, then helped Sansa down.
Billy stood on the lip, swaying. His face was red and the whites of his eyes had a peculiar yellow tinge. “God, I feel awful.”
“Rest, for heaven’s sake.” Courtney held up an arm to help him and he surprised her by taking it and letting her. Ordinarily, he would want to do it himself.
Billy sank to the grass, lay on his back, and groaned. “I’m burning up, Courts.”
Courtney’s heart skipped a beat when she checked his forehead. His skin was so hot, it was like touching the burner on a stove. “We need to find water.”
“I need more than that,” Billy said thickly.
“I’ll go look for some,” Courtney offered.
“Do me a favor first,” Billy said. “Check my arm. It feels really strange.”
“Let me see.” Moving to his other side, Courtney knelt. She carefully pried at his shirt, her nose crinkling at the foul odor that rose. His arm wasn’t swollen much, but like his eyes, it was a sickly shade of yellow. She undid the bandage, and had to cover her mouth and nose with her other hand, the smell was so rank.
Festering sores had formed around and between the claw marks. From them oozed a thick yellowish-green pus.
Courtney felt her stomach heave and swallowed the bitter bile back down.
“How bad is it?” Billy asked. He tried to raise his head to see but he was too weak. “I can’t tell much.”
“It’s......” Courtney was about to say ‘not too bad’ but she hated to lie to him.
“It feels like I’m on fire and yet ice-cold at the same time,” Billy said. “How can that be?” He coughed, and yellow spit dribbled from a corner of his mouth.
“You’re infected,” Courtney stated the obvious. She sat back, racking her brain as to what she should do. Going for help was out of the question. She didn’t dare leave them alone. Billy was in no shape to protect Sansa should the bikers or something else happen along.
“Courts?” Billy said. His eyes were closed and he was starting to breathe heavily. “My chest feels funny.”
Shaking herself, Courtney took his hand in both of hers. “I’m here,” she said. Even as she bent over him, mucus dribbled from his nose.
“Don’t go, okay?” Billy said.
“I won’t.”
“Do you remember....,” Billy said, and shivered. “Do you remember when we were in grade school? How I’d pull your hair and tease you?”
“I remember,” Courtney said, her throat constricted.
“I did it because I liked you.”
“I know.”
“And in middle school? How I liked to hang with you at lunch? And that study hall we took together?”
“You’ve always been a good friend.”
“I have, haven’t I?” A slow smile spread across Billy’s face. His chest rose and fell deeply with each breath.
“I’m so sorry,” Courtney said softly.
“For what?”
“When you told me that you loved me....”
“Oh, that.” Billy
opened his eyes. “I wish the stupid war hadn’t happened. I wish we could have lived out our lives how I’d hoped.” He shook from head to toe. “I wish....”
When he didn’t go on, Courtney bent lower. “Billy?”
He didn’t answer.
And he never would.
How long she sat there crying, Courtney couldn’t say. Several times she felt Sansa tug at her arm and say her name but she didn’t respond. She sat with her head bowed and her heart heavy, and cried as she had never wept in her life.
Billy had been her friend. One of her very best. They had known each other for so long, done so many fun things together, he was as close to her as anyone. Now he was gone. Torn from her, and from life, by the madness spawned by those in high places. By power-hungry bastards who had plunged the world into chaos. Creeps who destroyed untold millions. Who caused no end of suffering and horror. And why? Because they thought they had the right to lord it over everyone else. Because they didn’t give a good damn about anyone or anything except for themselves and their screwball politics.
Now, because of despicable people like that, she had lost someone else dear to her.
Reaching out, Courtney tenderly touched Billy’s shoulder. The yellow pus continued to seep from his sores and she was careful not to touch them. For all she knew, the toxins could be absorbed through the skin.
Time passed, and at last she had no more tears to shed. Her cheeks were slick, her neck wet. Her eyes, though, were dry, and smarting. Clearing her throat, she roused and gazed about.
Overhead, the unnatural cloud cover. All around, the whisper of the wind in the woods, along with an occasional animal cry. At that instant a shriek torn from a throat in no wise human came from far off.
It was cool and deceptively peaceful in the hollow. Courtney looked over to find Sansa curled on her side, sound asleep, an arm over Gaga, the pair cuddled together for warmth.
Courtney sidled beside them and lay down, protectively curling her arm above the pair. She was suddenly weary to her marrow. She closed her eyes, and just-like-that she was out to the world. A tiny voice deep in her mind warned her to stay alert, that there was no telling what might come across them in the dead of night. She couldn’t stop herself. She drifted off and slept the sleep of the dead.
A chattering sound roused her from the depths of the abyss. She struggled to wake up, blinking in the dull grey of a new day.
Sansa was still asleep. Gaga was awake but lying quietly.
Above them, the chattering was repeated.
Feeling so sluggish she could hardly move, Courtney twisted her head around.
A pine grew near the lip of the hollow. From up a high branch, a squirrel vented its annoyance at their intrusion into its world.
Courtney closed her eyes and was settling back when it occurred to her that maybe something else had agitated it.
Sitting up, Courtney scanned the circle of trees. She rose into a crouch, her legs protesting, and slowly unfurled until she could peer over the top.
At first everything appeared normal. Just the trees and the undergrowth and the silly squirrel.
Then some brush rustled and a dark shape appeared, too indistinct to make out.
Courtney realized she had left the shotgun lying near Billy, and turned to reclaim it. And froze.
The undergrowth had parted and out strode a cougar. Tilting its head, it sniffed a few times.
Courtney tensed. It appeared to be normal. Even so. she had heard news stories about cougar attacks. Not a lot of them, but if this one was hungry enough, who knew? She eased toward the shotgun, then saw that Billy’s rifle was closer. By stretching her arm as far as she could, she snagged the barrel and dragged the weapon toward her.
The cougar’s ears twitched and it looked down into the hollow.
Courtney took aim. As fast as she was, the big cat was faster. It was gone in the blink of an eye, melting into the undergrowth as silently as its shadow.
To say Courtney was relieved was an understatement. She was sick of fighting, sick of having to kill. “Thank you, God,” she whispered.
“Courtney?” Sansa sat up, sleepily rubbing her eyes. She blinked, and beamed, and was on her feet hugging Courtney’s legs. “Are you all right? Are you yourself again?”
“I’m me,” Courtney assured her.
Gaga rose, and tried to press between them.
“I’m sorry about Billy,” Sansa said.
Courtney swallowed.
“What do we do now? Keep going to that place up north?”
“It’s as good as anywhere.”
“Do you think we’ll make it?”
“Let’s hope,” Courtney said.
CHAPTER 19
It wasn’t smart to try and take the shotgun and the rifle, both. It would be awkward. Neither had a sling. Lugging them would tire Courtney more readily and she needed her strength for the miles of hiking ahead.
Courtney chose the shotgun. At close range it was a cannon. Besides, she wasn’t a marksman. Or markswoman.
Sansa offered to bring the rifle but Courtney told her to leave it.
“I really want to,” Sansa insisted.
“It would slow you down,” Courtney said, giving Gaga an affectionate pat.
“You have a gun. I want one,” Sansa wouldn’t let it drop.
“It weighs more than you think,” Courtney tried again.
“Let me try,” Sansa said. “I want to be able to protect myself.”
“Fine. But when you can’t carry it anymore, just set it down. We’ll find something easier for you.”
The rifle was as long as Sansa was tall. She looked comical holding it but Courtney didn’t say anything.
Spike’s bike was gone. Nor was there any sign of Gramps or Rufus
“Where you think they got to?” Sansa asked.
“No telling,” Courtney said. But she would bet they had headed north to the compound, which meant there was a good chance she would run into them again.
An eerie stillness prevailed. The only sounds were the slap of their shoes on the asphalt.
No zombies appeared.
No mutates, either.
Courtney constantly scoured the horizon for signs of a green cloud. They were spared that horror, too.
“It’s a nice day, don’t you think?” Sansa remarked at one point.
“Sure,” Courtney said. “Nice.”
She was a lousy judge of distance but by her reckoning they had gone a couple of miles when the forest gave way to a stretch of farm country.
“I’m hungry,” Sansa said.
“Makes two of us.” Courtney noted. Her stomach had been growling for a good while.
Sansa pointed at a farmhouse off to the east. A dirt track wound across fields toward it. “I bet they have food.”
“If anyone is home,” Courtney said.
“Can we go? Please?”
“I’d rather stick to the road.”
“Okay.” Sansa didn’t hide her disappointment.
They hiked on.
The talk of food made Courtney hungrier. She was imagining a plate heaped with eggs and home fries when Sansa let out a squeal of delight.
“Look!”
A junction appeared ahead. So did a building. A sign proclaimed it was Abernathy’s Market.
Courtney stopped.
“What’s an...,” Sansa said, and pronounced the rest with uncertainty, ...”Abernathy?”
“A person’s name.”
“Never heard it before.” Sansa grinned. “But there just has to be food at a market, right?”
“Maybe more than food.”
“You mean trouble?”
Courtney nodded.
“I don’t see anyone.”
“Me either,” Courtney said, Which meant nothing.
Thanks to the oppressive overcast and tinted windows, the interior was cast in dark shadow. No lights were on. An older pickup occupied a lone space in the parking lot.
Hef
ting the rifle, Sansa started forward.
“Wait,” Courtney said.
“But I’m so hungry!”
“Me first. You follow but stay back, just in case."
“I bet there’s candy,” Sansa said dreamily. “I love candy.”
Courtney went slowly, the shotgun level at her waist. In a field adjacent to the lot lay a body, the flesh mostly gone, the bones gleaming white. The owner? she wondered.
Half a dozen crows were perched on the roof, silent sentinels watching their approach. Courtney was almost to the lot when one squawked and they all took raucous wing.
Courtney looked up and down the side road. Not a vehicle, or any living thing, anywhere.
The pickup was close to the store. Dinged and dented, it had seen a lot of use.
Courtney was halfway across the lot when she was brought up short by movement inside. She couldn’t tell if it was a person—a healthy one—or yet another of the living dead.
Taking a gamble, she called out, “Is someone in there? Show yourself! I promise I won’t shoot!”
More movement suggested she had been heard. The front door—a wooden one, not pneumatic—opened.
And Courtney gasped.
Sally Ann emerged with a smile on her face and spread her arms as if in welcome. “Courts! Sansa!” she exclaimed.
Courtney lowered the shotgun. “You’re alive!” she cried, so happy at finding her friend that she was fit to burst. She started forward, then stopped.
Sally Ann was doing a strange thing. While she continued to smile and her arms were still spread as if to embrace Courtney, Sally was blinking her eyes as fast as she could blink, over and over.
Puzzled, Courtney almost asked out loud if something was wrong. Then it hit her. There was. Her friend was blinking like that to warn her....but about what?
Courtney gave a nod to show she understood, and Sally’s smile widened. “Come here and let me hug you.”
Sally stayed where she was, and began to flick her right thumb to the right.
“Why is she doing that strange stuff?” Sansa called out.
A look of fear came over Sally.
Courtney was slow on the uptake. She should have caught on to the thumb flick. The reason resolved itself in the form of the biker Gramps, who strode around the corner of the market with a big semiautomatic held firmly in both hand—and pointed at Courtney’s head.
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