by Jake Bible
"We have more guns!" Inez Two barks.
"Oh, shit, do you?" I laugh. "I give up."
The women are confused. None of them know who is calling the shots. Inez One is busy staring me in the face, ignoring the rifle barrel up her nose. Inez Two is trying to be a tough bitch and intimidate me. Neither of them are giving the others any help on how to act or what to do next. Chaos.
I like chaos.
"Listen up, bitches," I say loudly. "I can blow this bitch's head off and turn and kill half of you before you sorry sacks of shit even pull the first trigger. That's a bunch of dead bitches. Even if you get a shot off, you won't hit me because I know exactly which one of you is going to fire first and I already have my sights set on you."
They all twitch and shuffle their feet. A few of them look around as if they can figure out who I've pegged as the first shooter. No way for any of them to do that because I'm full of shit. How the fuck would I know who is going to shoot first? All I care about is taking down as many as possible in the first second before I dive to the ground and let them tear each other apart.
Which is exactly what they'll do. There are a couple of other rifles, but mostly shotguns. I hit the dirt and they pull those triggers? Inez soup is all that will be left.
"If any of you fire, you'll hit one of our own," Inez One says.
Dammit, she ain't completely stupid. Ruins all the fun.
She focuses back on me and tries to smile. It's worse than when I try to fake smile. I made a little girl cry for two days with nightmares when I fake smiled at her back at the Stronghold. Her mom still won't talk to me.
"Put the rifle down, please," Inez One says. "Then we can talk."
"If I put this down then one of your freaky clones is gonna blast me," I say.
"We aren't clones," Inez Two snaps. "None of us even look the same."
"Those two do," I say and point at two chicks standing by the edge of the group. They really do look the same.
"They're twins!" Inez Two shouts. Man, she gets angry fast.
"Oh," I say. "Well they should color their hair or something so they don't look so much alike. It's confusing."
"This woman is insane," Inez Two says to Inez One. "Let's blast her and—"
Her forehead explodes all over me. Blood, brains, bone. It just splatters across my face and I start spitting out gunk as I hit the ground. The sound of the gunshot reaches me just as I reach the dirt. Then a whole bunch of gunshots ring out and I cover my head as more brains and blood spray everywhere.
The Inezes are screaming their heads off, the ones that still got their heads, and running this way and that. Dumb broads. They should have just dropped to the ground. Better chance at living. The gunshots continue, the screams start to go away. When there is only a few sobbing Inezes left, I lift my head to see the damage.
"Shitfuck me," I say as I stare into an Inez's lifeless eyes. She got a bullet through the neck and it tore her voice box right out. I can see through her throat and out the back of her spine, which ain't there no more. "Damn."
"El!" Steph yells from far off. "You good?"
I lift my hand and give her a thumbs up. Makes me think of Long Pork.
I feel footsteps, but barely hear them as my sisters sprint from their hides to get me. I'm already up on my feet when Antoinette reaches me and gives me a big hug.
"You hurt?" she asks.
"All good," I say. "But they ain't."
I turn in a circle and look at the dead. Most were taken out with one shot, some with two. Out of all the Inezes, only three are still alive. One of them is Inez One, the dumb bitch that thought she could trick me. I kneel next to her and slap her on the cheek. Her eyes turn to me and try to focus, but there's really just pain left in there. Half her right shoulder is no more. Goodbye, right shoulder.
She's bleeding out fast.
"Why?" she asks. "You could have joined us. We didn't want to kill you."
I pick up her rifle and show it to her.
"These are for women, not girls playing at army," I say. "You pointed them at the wrong sister and paid the stupid price. Next time, just ask a bitch if she wants to join your crazy Inez club. I'd have said no and there wouldn't have been any hard feelings."
"Or mass murder," Audrey says as she comes up to us.
"You okay?" Steph asks, following right behind Audrey.
"I'm okay," I say. Inez One ain't breathing anymore. Bye bye, Inez.
The second Inez still living tries crawling away, but Audrey puts a .45 slug into her back and she doesn't do no more crawling. That just leaves one Inez.
"Help me," a weak voice pleads from a few feet away.
"Froggy Girl," I say and move to her. She's got a gunshot wound to her left bicep, but that's all. "You'll live."
"Don't leave me," she cries as I start to walk away. She's boring and she ain't gonna live on her own anyway. "I won't survive out here. Not with the Doyles everywhere."
"The Doyles? What the hell are the Doyles?" Steph asks. She puts a boot toe against Froggy Girl's arm and the chick pisses herself right there. "Jesus."
"I got this, I got this," I say and push Steph out of the way. "You gotta be gentle."
I grab Froggy Girl by the shoulders and shake her ass hard.
"Who the fuck are the Doyles?" I shout in her face.
She screeches and tries to get away from me, but she ain't gonna be able to do that. Even without a shot arm, she ain't even close to my league.
"Doyles," I snarl, my nose almost touching hers. "Who the fuck are they?"
"Men," she says. "They're like us, but men. A lot more of them than us. We've been fighting for years. They find us and take—"
"Why does this matter?" Steph asks. "Gut her and let's go. We don't have time for crazies, El. We have to track those kids."
"The kids?" Froggy Girl asks, her eyes shifting from mine to Steph's. I don't think she likes what she sees, so she looks back to me. "Blind kids? A couple deaf ones?"
"Yeah," I say. "You know them?"
"I know where they're hiding," she says. "They ran into the Doyles and messed a couple of them up, but they got away. The men have been hunting them for days."
"She's full of shit," Steph says. "The kids are probably long gone by now."
"No, no!" Froggy Girl cries. "They aren't! The Doyles have the town sealed off. No way for anyone to get in or out."
"We got in," Audrey says.
"Easy," Antoinette says. "Except for all the Zs."
"The Zs," Froggy Girl says. "The Doyles control the Zs. If you ran into trouble with the undead, it's because the Doyles sent them after you."
"Did they now," Steph says and crouches next to me and Froggy Girl. "How the hell did they do that?"
"They've been training them," Froggy Girl says. "Like dogs. They use fresh meat to make them go where they want then ring a bell. Anytime the Zs hear that bell, they start shuffling that way."
"And you just let them do that?" Antoinette asks. "Why not kill them? Or leave?"
"Too many Doyles," Froggy Girl sighs. "Always too many Doyles. They hunt us too. Use us as the fresh meat and other things. Some of us tried to escape the town, but the Doyles found them and…"
"We get it," Antoinette says. She smacks her rifle and gives Steph a nudge. "Rapists. Killers. Z users. I think we should check these Doyles out."
"Forget the Doyles," Steph says. "We find the kids. They're why we're here. Stick to the mission."
"Our job is not to save the wasteland," Audrey agrees. "We go find those damn kids."
"Doyles will find you first," Froggy Girl says. "They're on their way now. You made too much noise. They'll be here any second."
I look over at Steph, but she's busy glaring at Froggy Girl. I look up at Antoinette and she gives me an exaggerated frown.
"Where's Marcie?" I ask.
"Overwatch," Audrey says. "She's got the Barrett covering our asses."
"Call her," I say. "See what else she sees. Tell her to lo
ok for Doyles."
"What the hell do Doyles look like?" Audrey asks.
"Men," I say. "You know what men look like. Cock and balls and shit."
"You got the shit part right," Audrey laughs. She pulls out her radio and walks off so we can keep talking to Froggy Girl. Nice of her.
"You know where these kids are?" Steph asks.
"Yes," Froggy Girl says. "I'll take you there. But we have to go back into the tunnels. The Doyles stay out of the tunnels."
"Fine," Steph says and yanks Froggy Girl up off her ass. The girl whimpers when Steph smacks her arm, but she doesn't try to run or anything. Steph looks at me and Antoinette. "Grab a shotgun and go through their pockets for shells. We may need as much firepower as we can get."
"Don't bother," Froggy Girl says. "They're all empty. We haven't had ammo for over a year."
"Let me guess, the Doyles took it all?" Steph asks.
"Yes," Froggy Girl says. "And they took all the ammunition-making gear from the gun shops. They make all their own bullets."
I laugh. What else am I going to do? It's funny to find out you had nothing to worry about even though you were never worried about nothing anyway. Funny. I guess that's why Inez Two was going to try to smack me with her shotgun instead of putting it to my head and pulling the trigger. No boom boom left.
"Which way?" Steph asks and gives Froggy Girl a shove.
"Back into the river," Froggy Girl says. "It'll be safer down there. We'll be fine once we're in the tunnels, but we're dead if we stay out in the open."
"You're dead, not us," Steph says.
Audrey comes running up to us and she don't look happy.
"Marcie says we have two teams of eight coming from the east and the west," Audrey reports. "Heavily armed. M-16s and M-4s. Not ARs, but military. A couple tactical shotguns. Everyone has a nine on their hip or a .45. Tight formations and disciplined. They have training."
"Probably National Guard or Reserves," Steph says. "Maybe old police, but with M-4s, I'd say there are at least a few soldiers in the mix."
"National Guard?" Antoinette scoffs. "We can take down SpecOps. The Guard won't be a problem."
"Two teams of eight converging on us from different directions is the problem," Steph says. "Bad numbers and bad position. We follow this chick into the tunnels and track down the kids. Then we slip out of here and say goodbye to this shit town."
"Take me with you," Froggy Girl pleads. She's holding her arm and blood is pouring from between her fingers, but she ain't crying. "You killed all my family. I have nothing left here."
Steph sighs and shakes her head. She ain't a fan of Froggy Girl.
"Here," I say and tear her shirt open. "Antoinette?"
Antoinette comes over and takes a look. She's got medical skills. We all do, sort of, but she has a way with gunshot wounds. She grabs Froggy Girl's arm and turns it this way and that.
"Through and through," Antoinette says. "Audrey?"
Audrey fishes out a shotgun shell from her belt and cracks it open. Before Froggy Girl can fight, Audrey pours the black powder into the gunshot wound while Antoinette pulls out a lighter.
"Gonna hurt," Antoinette says and lights the powder, cauterizing the exit wound which was the nasty one. She packs some gauze in the entry wound and winds a roll of tape around Froggy Girl's arm. "That'll keep you from slowly bleeding out. I'll clean it and do it up right when we stop."
"Are you gonna take me with you if I help?" Froggy Girl asks, her eyes full of tears. Her bottom lip is all chewed up and bleeding. She bit the shit out of it when that powder went off. "I won't help if you leave me here."
"Then we kill you," Steph says.
"Steph," Antoinette says. "Come on."
"You prove you're not a waste of resources," Steph says, "and if you don't slow us down, then we'll think about it. Pull your weight, make good on your promise, and you have a chance. It's a small chance, got it?"
"Got it," Froggy Girl says.
"Ladies, we need to get the fuck out of here now," Marcie says as she comes jogging up to us with the Barrett in hand. That is one gorgeous gun. "We have sixty seconds before these Doyles reach us."
She tosses me my pack when she gets close. I hug her tight because I have my blades back. Yay, blades!
"Get off me," Marcie laughs as she pushes me away. "You wanna carry the Barrett? This thing is a heavy bitch." She eyes my shoulder. "Never mind. That doesn't look good."
"I'm fine," I say and take the .50 caliber rifle from her. "Where are the Humvees?"
"We hid them in a garage about two blocks from here," Marcie says. "The Zs thinned out a lot after we lost track of you. I think this girl is right about the Doyles having them trained."
"Shit fuck," I grumble.
"What's your name?" Steph asks Froggy Girl as she motions for us to get moving.
"Inez," Froggy Girl replies.
"Froggy Girl," I say. "That's what I've been calling her in my head. No way I'm calling her Inez. They was all called Inez. Fucking crazies."
"Okay, Froggy Girl," Steph says. "Are you ready to earn your keep?"
"Yes," Froggy Girl replies and starts walking to the edge of the culvert and the "river." "Follow me. Stay close. You have flares?"
"We have flares," Audrey says.
"We'll need them once we're in the tunnels," Froggy Girl says. "Get them ready so you ain't trying to strike them in the dark."
"Oh, we're good in the dark," I say.
"Yes, right, okay," Froggy Girl says and gives me a scared little grin.
Then she hops into the river and we follow just as we hear the sound of men's voices.
Chapter Six
Getting into the tunnels is no problem. I could have led us back into them without a problem. But once we get to that six-point intersection thingy, that's when it gets tricky.
"Why so many tunnels?" I ask. "This town is too small for sewers like this."
"Storm drains," Froggy Girl says. "This area gets flash floods. It all runs down from the other towns and hits us. They built this last century to stop the town from getting flooded all the time. Only need it a couple times a year, but when we do I'm glad these are here."
"But you live down here," I say. "You don't get flooded?"
"We live far enough away," Froggy Girl says and shrugs.
"Like Inez? In that basement?" I ask.
"That's not a home," Froggy Girl says. "That's a hiding place in case one of us gets cut off from the rest. It's safe there. The Doyles don't try to get in because of the Zs outside that door."
"Speaking of," Antoinette says and pulls her machete from her pack. She points at one of the tunnels. "Hear that? At least twenty heading this way."
"Can't be," Froggy Girl says. "There's never that many down here."
I see where Antoinette is pointing. "I know why," I say. "They got through that door. There was a lot of them and even metal ain't gonna hold out that many Zs forever."
"Oh," Froggy Girl says. Her shoulders slump. "That's too bad. I liked to go to that place sometimes to be alone."
"You didn't eat the beans, did you?" I ask.
"What does that mean?" Steph asks.
"Nothing," I say.
"We standing and fighting or just moving on?" Audrey asks, her own machete out too.
I pull my blades, very happy they are back in my hands, and look at Steph. We're all happy to let her make the final call.
"We go this way," Froggy Girl says, pointing to a tunnel opposite of where the Zs are coming from.
There's a loud hiss and growl and three Zs come sprinting out of the tunnel right at us. Fast ones. Stupid, fast Zs.
Audrey slashes one across the neck and it keeps running for a couple of feet before its head tumbles right off. She drops to a knee and slashes at a second one, slicing its legs in half. Before it can fall to the ground, she takes its head off and shoves the body away from her
The third one heads my way and I duck as it dives at me. I shove my shou
lder up into its guts, sending it flipping over my back. Its arm gets caught in the Barrett's straps and I fall right on my ass. Right on top of the Z. The thing grabs me and tries to bite my arm, but I flip my blade around and give the Z the old reverse thrust to the forehead move. The fucker dies fast.
"We cool?" Steph asks as I get to my feet.
"Cool," Audrey says.
"Cool," I say.
"Wow," Froggy Girl says. "That was incredible. The Doyles don't even move that fast."
"How the hell did any of you live this long?" Steph asks, but it ain't really a question. She shakes her head and lights a flare as she steps into the other tunnel. "This way, right?"
"Yeah," Froggy Girl says. She hurries up next to Steph and points down the tunnel. "Two miles this way. That's where the kids are. But we have to be careful halfway, alright?"
"Alright," Steph says. "Why do we have to be careful?"
"Because a mile in and we'll be right underneath the Doyles' camp," Froggy Girl says. "They sometimes keep guards by the storm drains to listen for us. We usually only send the Inezes in black this way. If they hear us, they'll grab us for some Doyle fun."
"I doubt it's fun," Steph says. "You hear that, sisters? A mile in and we go silent. Not a clatter or clank. Make sure your gear is taped down before we get there."
"I'll do you," Marcie says to me as she pulls a roll of duct tape from her pack. "You do me next."
"Deal," I say as we get walking.
I hold a flare while Marcie follows me and tapes down anything on me or my pack that's loose. She even tapes the Barrett to my pack so it doesn't rattle. Audrey is doing the same to Antoinette while Antoinette holds the flare. Froggy Girl keeps looking back at us, her eyes wide with some emotion I can't make out in the red light of the flares.
"Here," I say and toss her a roll of duct tape. "You do Steph. Do it right, Froggy Girl. You do it wrong and it could get us into a fight we don't want to be in."
"I'll do it right," she replies. "I don't want us to get killed."
"I said get us into a fight, not get us killed," I say. "Pay attention. Doyles ain't gonna take us down."
She nods, but the look she gives me I do recognize. She don't believe me. She still thinks these Doyles are hot shit. They ain't. I haven't met one, but I can say they ain't as hot as my sisters. Hells yeah to the sister heat.
