by Russ Watts
The man dropped his knife as Rose wrapped an arm around his neck. Javier quickly scooped it up.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you,” said Rose. She whispered into the man’s ear, and his eyes and mouth closed. He was like a statue, too scared to speak or move, his feet anchored in concrete. “You’ll what?”
“Please, don’t.” A woman’s voice came from deeper inside the diner. Javier realised the door they had come through had brought them into the main dining area, and he hadn’t checked out the serving area, or kitchen.
Rose was pressing her blade hard against the scared man’s neck, enough to draw blood, and Javier told her to stop.
“Just wait, Rose,” he said firmly. “Wait.”
Her eyes told him she didn’t want to, but she also knew better than to disobey him, and she relaxed her grip on the man.
Javier took a step toward the serving area. He saw the counter, and its row of empty tills, but no woman. Above the counter was an unlit display of the Captain’s meals ‘available all day, every day,’ alongside lurid pictures of buckets of fried chicken, and even bigger buckets of coke. Just behind lay the kitchen, but there was no sign of the speaker.
“If you come out now, I’ll spare him.”
Javier’s voice echoed around the diner, but there was no reply. The woman was probably scared too. Still, that wasn’t Javier’s problem, and he couldn’t wait all day. He also couldn’t go charging back there, in case the woman was armed.
“I’m not going to ask again. Whoever you are, just come out. If you don’t, your friend here is a dead man. I’ll give you five seconds. If you’re not out by then, I’m going to let my girl slit his throat, and then we’ll come back there for you. Do you understa…”
“Yes. Please, stop.” A slim woman stood up from behind a counter. She was petrified, and looked to be half the man’s age. She wore a pretty blue sleeveless top over skinny jeans. Long, brown hair hung by her shoulders, and Javier had to admit he was attracted to her. Whether it was her appearance, or her easy submission to him, he wasn’t so sure. The woman looked like she was about to break down. There was no confidence when she spoke, and she hugged her arms to her chest defensively.
“Come on out, sweetheart,” said Javier as he picked the gun up from off the floor. Javier patted Rose’s ass, and he felt the final clip he was looking for. This was the last of their ammo, and Javier suspected he was going to need it. As the woman slowly walked out from behind the counter, Javier reloaded the gun. This was it. He was going to have to figure something out, and he didn’t want to waste their last precious bullets on these two, if he could help it.
Javier ordered the couple to sit on the floor, their backs to the counter, so that they were all in full view of the zombies outside. He wanted them on their game; he wanted them scared, desperate, and freaked out, to know there was only one person in charge now, and they had to cooperate, or face the consequences. There had been enough surprises, and he was not going to be caught unaware again. If the man had been carrying a gun, Javier knew he’d be dead now. The frying pan had left him with a ringing in his ears, and a dent to his pride, but luckily, nothing fatal.
“So, where shall we begin?” asked Javier. “How about some introductions? I’m Javier, and this is Rose.”
Rose deftly bowed, and let a salacious smile escape her lips. She was tossing her knife from side to side, eyeing up the couple, deciding who she was going to kill first.
“Those people outside are no friends of ours. I’m very sorry to tell you this, but, well, they’re dead.” Javier sniggered. “Sooo…”
He looked expectantly at the couple on the floor, but neither of them said a word.
“Fine. You. What’s your name?” Javier asked pointing the gun at the woman.
She looked at Rose, and then to Javier, before answering. “Cindy. Cindy Constance. Look, why don’t you...why don’t you just fuck off, and leave us alone.”
Javier admired Cindy for trying at least, but her words carried no conviction. “Tut-tut. Such foul language from someone so pretty.”
Rose crouched down beside the scared young woman. “Let me do her, Javier. I’ll kill the bitch first, and then do the fat man. What do you say, fat man, fair deal?”
“Shut up, Rose,” said Javier, annoyed that she was trying to butt in. He could sense she was itching to use her blade, but she had to have some patience. Rose shot him a glare, but he ignored her.
“You. Fat man. Your name?”
“I’m D..D..Derek,” he stammered.
“Your name’s D..D..Derek?” laughed Javier. “Well, D..D..Derek, I think it’s about time for you to man up. You must’ve heard us out there. You must’ve heard the gunshots at least. You were just hoping we’d pass on by, huh? Just skip the diner, and leave you two alone? Thought you’d get cosy with Cindy I suppose. Can’t blame you for that, she’s not a bad looking woman.”
Rose yawned. “Let’s just get this over with and kill them.” She drew her blade across Cindy’s top, letting it pause over her breasts, but Javier stopped her.
“Not yet,” he said.
Rose looked disappointed, but she stopped. Her knife was inches from Cindy’s face, and Rose was aching for action.
“We’ve got a problem here, and these two lovebirds are going to help us out,” said Javier reclining against the side of a table. He pointed the gun squarely at Derek who visibly shook. “You, Derek, how long have you been here? There much food left?”
Derek shook his head. “No, sir. We been here ‘bout a w..w..week.”
“A week?” Javier looked at the mess the place was in. Discarded cartons and tins lay everywhere, covering the floor and any available surface. From the smell of the back room, they had been living in the diner a lot more than a week, and the sheets he had seen had weeks of scum on them, not just a few days. Javier also noticed how Derek was clean-shaven. With so many knives in the kitchen it would be easy to keep a beard from growing. Javier looked at the dark kitchen, and saw how dirty it was. The floor was littered with discarded blue plastic bags, and the stovetops were filthy too, but not from food cooked recently, from weeks ago. Food scraps and baked oil were stuck to the top. Javier crouched down so he was at eye-level with Derek. Without taking his eyes off him, he told Rose to cut Cindy.
“Just a friendly warning, Rose.”
Rose grinned. “Stick or twist? Hmmm. I haven’t played in such a long time. I think...twist.” Needing no second invitation, Rose drew the blade sharply across Cindy’s cheek, carving a jagged line across the woman’s face. The woman gasped, and then began crying. It wasn’t a deep cut, but enough to warn Derek they were serious.
“I don’t like liars, Derek. How long have you been here?” Thoughts of self-preservation and fear were gone now. Javier was in his element, enjoying the power he held over them. “If you don’t tell me the truth this time, I’ll have Rose cut off an ear.”
Rose put the blade to the woman’s face and smiled. “Oh, please. Lie again, Derek.”
“Wait, wait! Okay, we’ve been here a month. Least I think it’s a month, it gets hard to t..t..tell anymore. We stumbled upon this place by chance, and it seemed like a..a..good place to stay. Momma’s place got burned down, and there was so much food here. You can have some. Take it, go on, we don’t mind, do we Cindy? Just don’t cut her no more, p..p..please, sir, just leave her be. She ain’t done nothin’ to nobody.”
“Sorry, Rose, he’s telling the truth this time.” Javier could see Rose was annoyed. Playing games with people was more than a hobby for her; it was like a full-time job. Since the appearance of the zombies, finding idiots to play with had proven hard. Javier stood up. “You got wheels, Derek?”
“No, sir, I promise. I never learnt to drive. Cindy can, but, well, we crashed our car out there. On account of all them z..z..zombies, you see? We ran in here, and over the past few weeks they f..f..forgot about us. I knew they were out there in the woods, but I figured we could wait them out.”
&nbs
p; “Breaking news, Derek, your friends are back.”
Javier tapped the gun against his temple, wondering what they could do. The bike was irretrievable. No way was he going to be able to blast his way through a hundred zombies with one clip. “Derek, you brought anything with you? You got any guns stashed away?”
“No, sir, nothing.”
Derek answered quickly; too quickly for Javier’s liking. He stared at the man, and noticed he was sweating. Hardly odd considering he had a gun pointed at him, but he looked more than nervous. His eyes were darting back and forth around the room.
“Derek, you know I don’t appreciate it when you lie to me. You wouldn’t be hiding anything from me, would you?”
“No, sir. There’s n..n..nobody else here. Why don’t you just take what you want and go? Take what you want, please. It’s fine.”
Javier looked around the diner. There was nothing particularly unusual, but Derek had definitely given away that he was hiding something. Javier wondered about the bathrooms. “Derek, I think I need to educate you. You see, I don’t need you to tell me what to do, what to take, or what not to take. What I do need you to do is realise that I have a fully loaded gun pointed at you, and I will use it if you don’t play ball.” Javier looked at Rose. “Again,” he stated.
Rose was like a trained soldier, just desperately waiting for the order, and now she had it. She plunged the knife deep into Cindy’s shoulder, careful to avoid the heart and ribcage, but enough to make Cindy scream in pain.
“Stick,” giggled Rose. “Definitely stick that time.” Warm blood trickled down the shaft onto Rose’s hand and she smiled. “I love it when they bleed.”
“No!”
The diner’s door exploded open and a teenage boy ran out, charging straight for Rose. Javier had suspected someone else was hiding, and he sent two shots at the boy. One missed the target and shattered a microwave above Cindy’s head. The other didn’t, and the boy crumpled into a heap. Now Derek and Cindy were both screaming and shouting, pleading for mercy, but Javier was ignorant to their pleas. He rolled the boy over to discover he had only wounded him. He dragged the helpless boy over to Derek and sat him upright, leaving a trail of blood on the kitchen vinyl. The bullet had entered the boy’s gut, and his skin was a sickly pale. He was shaking and struggling to breathe. To his credit, the boy didn’t shout, or scream. He simply murmured as Javier dragged him across to Derek.
“Shut the fuck up, all of you,” demanded Javier. “Jesus, I can barely hear myself think.”
The diner suddenly seemed very cramped. It was more like a prison than a safe house. Javier did not want to spend the next few weeks trapped inside like these three hicks, eating stale junk food, and stinking of shit.
Cindy stifled her cries enough to speak, her hands held up to her cut shoulder. “Please, sir, he’s just a boy. James is only fifteen. We picked him up outside Saint Paul’s. He…”
“James?” Javier watched the boy struggle to raise his eyes. He wouldn’t last long, not with the amount of blood he was losing. “That was very noble of you, but very stupid. Unfortunately, Derek should’ve been honest with me, and I might have spared you. You can thank Derek for your untimely demise.”
The boy drew in a weak breath and spoke. “Please, God…”
“Oh, James, I’m not God. I’m just your God,” said Javier coldly. He pulled the trigger again, and blew James’s head apart. Hair and blood splattered over Javier while Derek and Cindy began screaming again. Javier asked Rose to pass him a cloth, and he wiped James’s brains off his hands. If he let the boy bleed out, he would’ve turned, so he chose to end it quickly. Really, it was the only humane thing to do. Javier regretted wasting the bullet, but under the circumstances, he didn’t see as he had any other choice.
“Shut her up, will you?” Javier said to Rose as he threw the bloody dishcloth into a sink full of mouldy pots and pans.
Rose smashed a fist into Cindy’s face, knocking her out and sending the room back into silence.
“Oh Jesus, oh Jesus, s..s..save me,” muttered Derek. “The Lord is my shepherd, and...and…” James’s body was slumped against Derek, and his mangled face was resting on Derek’s shoulder. Derek vomited as Javier watched. “Jesus, save me.” Derek began crying as vomit and spittle dribbled down his chin.
“Now, where were we? Oh yes, I was about to educate you, Derek, on the benefits on being truthful. The reality of lying to me is currently soaking into that nice plaid shirt you’re wearing, although I doubt James appreciates it. I don’t appreciate having to waste bullets, so you are doing a grand job of fucking everyone quite frankly. It seems that you are incapable of realising just how much of a world of shit you are in. So, here’s what’s going to happen. You and me are going to have a little chat. An intervention, if you like. Then I’m going to set you free.”
Derek looked up at Javier. “Free?” he snivelled. “You’ll let me and Cindy go?”
“That’s not exactly what I said. Listen up, Derek. This is the situation. Your hitchhiking buddy, James, is toast. I had to put him out of his misery. He would’ve bled to death. I took no pleasure in doing so, but it was better to put him down now than let him take hours to go. Plus, he would’ve come back, and that’s no way to be.
“I have plans for Cindy, so to answer your ridiculous question, no, you are not both being set free. I’m not running a damn shelter, so wind your head in and listen. I can see that you’ve made yourself a little home here. You’ve got four strong walls to keep the dead out, a nice woman, and plenty of food, but your time is up. Understand? It’s over. I am leaving, and I’m taking Rose with me. Which means we are going to be opening those doors, and your house is going to come tumbling down like a pack of cards. The difference between you and me, Derek, is that I am telling the truth.”
Derek’s lips were trembling, and covered in spit. James’ warm blood was splashed across his face. “You’re s..s..sick. He was only fifteen. What did he do to deserve that?” asked Derek. There was no animosity in his tone, no suggestion he could fight back, just a weary resignation that he was next to bite a bullet.
“He came at me like a bull. What was I supposed to do, stand back and let him hit me?” asked Javier. “Look, Derek, that’s not important. The past is the past; all that matters now is what you do next. Your future is in your hands.”
Javier pulled Derek up to his feet, making sure Rose kept an eye on the unconscious Cindy. She did so with a questioning look in her eye, but said nothing. She knew better than to question Javier. Cindy was cut, but not too badly. The wounds were only superficial, and certainly nothing that would cause her any significant problems.
Rose was feeling dissatisfied though, and wanted to get stuck in. It had been too long, and Javier was having all the fun. With any luck, he and Derek would go deal with the zombies leaving them alone. All she wanted was five minutes alone with this bitch, and she would rearrange her face with nothing more than a six inch blade, and a whole heap of enthusiasm.
Javier shoved Derek over to the doorway. Beyond the upturned tables and chairs were the glass doors. Dozens of zombies were now blocking the exit, pounding on the glass, and shuffling around the walls trying to find a way into the diner.
“There’s the door, Derek, all you have to do is walk out, and you’re a free man.” Javier pushed Derek forward.
“Are you insane? I’m not g..g..going out there. They’ll rip me to pieces in s..s..seconds.” Derek began heading back to the kitchen, but Javier raised the gun and pointed it at him.
“Tut-tut, Derek. You take another step toward me, and you’re dead. I’ll just make Cindy go out there. This way, you have a chance. There’s a truck outside. No more than, what, fifty feet? See that tow-truck with the red lettering on the side? You’re going to find out if it has any gas in it. If it does, you have a choice. Get back here, and we can all leave, or take it. Take the truck, and just go. Leave Cindy with us. It’s your call, Derek.” Javier smiled as he pointed the gun at
Derek’s head. “Time for you to leave.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The run down the hill was far from easy. Weak and disoriented, Jonas felt like breaking down with every foot he planted on the hard ground. Following the centre line, he knew it would be pointless breaking into one of the buildings at the roadside. The dead could see them, and they would only end up trapped. Instead, he followed the road until they reached the bottom, and then took a hard left, running alongside the municipal swimming baths which offered a little protection by way of its high walls. Opposite it was a row of shops, all decorated with a large canopy that ran the length of the street. The shop windows were dressed for summer, with mannequins dressed in a variety of shorts and swimwear. Besides the clothing stores, Jonas noticed a bathroom supply store, a drycleaners, and a coffee shop. It appeared to be quiet, and so he paused by the baths, crouching down by a graffiti covered wall. He asked if Dakota was okay, and waited for the tail end of the group to catch up. He heard a single gunshot, and then Tyler rounded the corner with Mrs Danick just ahead of him.
“We don’t have long,” said Tyler breathlessly. “I just took out one of the runners. I don’t know if it’s them or us, but something is drawing more out. You can see them coming out of the buildings and cars.”
“Mrs Danick, how’re you doing?” asked Jonas. He could see from her face she was having trouble keeping up the pace.
“Fine. I’d rather die of a heart attack than be eaten by one of those fuckers.” Mrs Danick rubbed Freya’s head, and the little girl snuggled into Pippa’s arms saying nothing. “Sorry, Freya, I didn’t mean to use a bad word.”
Jonas heard Dakota let out a yelp, and her hand gripped his arm. A runner had found them. Emerging from the plumbing shop opposite it came straight across the street toward them. Tyler raised his gun, but Jonas waved him down. “Save it,” he said as he brandished his axe.
As the zombie got close enough to take a chunk out of his arm, Jonas swung the axe and smashed it into the zombie’s head. Spinning out of control, the runner fell to the ground. Jonas was on it instantly, smashing the axe into its skull once more. Shards of bone splintered as the axe chopped its way through the zombies face, and blood spattered Jonas’s shirt. Once the dead man had stopped moving, Jonas faced the group.
