by Jake Bible
"You all will have to handle things without me from here on out," Marcie says and gives me a hug. "See you soon. Try not to die."
"I like how you said for me not to die last," I say. "Because even if I do, you'll probably still see me soon because I'll be a Z and you'll have to put me down."
"Let's hope that doesn't happen," Marcie says.
Vivian looks at me like I'm crazy. I'm getting tired of people looking at me like I'm crazy, but it ain't like I don't know why they do. I say crazy things. But that don't mean I'm crazy in my head. Just crazy in my mouth. I'm mouth crazy. Gotta remember to tell Critter that when I get back to the Stronghold. He likes funny sayings like mouth crazy.
I walk Marcie to the trucks and she hugs Audrey then hops up into one.
I can see all the women's faces and they is terrified as shit. Every last one of them.
"Ya'll are gonna be fine!" I call out to them as the trucks start up. "Just listen to Marcie and most of you will live!"
"Jesus, El," Audrey says.
"Hold up!" Jack shouts. "Hold up!"
The trucks come to a stop and Marcie sticks her head out the window.
"What's wrong?" she asks.
"Nothing," Jack says then points at the back of one of the trucks. "Muffin, in!"
The dog easily makes the leap up into the truck then turns around and whines.
"No, you stay," Jack says. "I want you safe for when we get back."
He whines again, but quickly forgets about it as the women all lean over to give him some serious scratches and pets.
"Yeah, he'll be fine," Audrey laughs.
"Good to see you care more for your dog than you do for your daughter," Kimmy says as she comes up behind us. "Come on. We don't have much time."
"I'd tell you two to go to therapy, but I think the Zs ate all the therapists," I say.
"Jesus, El," Audrey says again.
"What? Why do you always say that to me?" I ask.
"Kimmy's right," Jack says and walks away towards our vehicles. "We need to go."
Chapter Nineteen
I ride shotgun in the Jeep while Jack drives us towards town. I have the Barrett across my lap, but my new Steyr in my hands. It's pretty. I really like my new Steyr.
"I had to use one of those for a week when I was in Serbia," Jack says, nodding at my rifle. "Good gun, but you have to watch the pull to the left."
"Mine don't have a pull to the left," I say as I pat it gently. "It's perfect like a Swiss watch."
"It's Austrian," Jack says. "Probably why one of the Doyles had it. Some of these assholes came from the local militias which were really just Neo-Nazis pretending to be patriots. They loved all the Germanic shit. Thought it made them true Aryans."
"It's Swiss," I reply.
"Nope, it's Austrian," he says. "Trust me. But, like I said, it's a good rifle. I'm not partial to the bullpup style, but I think it fits you."
"I like it," I say. I ain't gonna keep arguing if it's Swiss or Austrian. I don't really care, even though I think it's Swiss.
Audrey and Kimmy are behind us in an old Ford Bronco. The kind without the top that has big, heavy roll bars welded to it. I knew a guy that had one of those Broncos once. He was a dick. He died. Shot to the head. Not by me. I was busy getting choked by him when his head went sploosh. But he had a nice Bronco.
I look back over my shoulder then over at Jack.
"Having a daughter is hard," I say.
"I thought you don't have kids," he says.
"I don't," I say. "But I watched Stella and Greta and it looked hard. Daughters can just be mean sometimes."
"They can," Jack says. "But I don't care. She's been through Hell and back. Or I hope she's back. We'll find out. When I get my grandkids to her safe and sound then we'll see just exactly who she is."
"She may put a bullet in your brainpan," I say.
"Jesus," he replies then shakes his head. "Yeah. She might."
"But, like you said, we'll see," I say.
"True," he says.
"You want me to shoot her in the brainpan if she shoots you in the brainpan?" I ask.
"What?" he says. "Why the fuck would I want you to do that?"
"Because of the murder and shit?" I reply. "You know, her murdering you. Usually when someone gets murdered then the murderer has to be killed too. That's how it works. It's justice."
"There would be zero justice in killing my daughter," Jack says. "Justice doesn't exist in this world anymore. There's right, there's wrong, and there's survival. You have to do a little of the right and sometimes a little of the wrong to keep surviving. That's the way it is after Z-Day."
"Okey dokey," I say. "So, that's a no on putting a bullet in her brainpan."
"That's a no," Jack says. He chuckles. "They just let you walk the streets back where you come from?"
"Ain't nobody to stop me," I say. I know he's playing with me. "My sisters could try, but that wouldn't be fun for none of us."
"I expect it wouldn't," he says. "Shit."
"I see it," I say.
Big dust cloud coming down the road. Big dust cloud. Doyle has sent a lot of Doyles after us. Good. That means there's a lot of Doyles to kill.
"Have I mentioned I like killing Doyles?" I say to Jack.
"A couple hundred times," he replies. "I don't blame you."
He pulls the Jeep off the road and we hop out. Audrey pulls up behind us and she and Kimmy join us by the Jeep. Only those two are with us. A lot more of the women wanted to come, but none of them would have lasted very long. Kimmy grew up military, she has some training. More than the others. Probably not enough, but we need her. The other ladies would have just gotten themselves killed.
Or one of us killed. That happens too. People getting killed or getting people killed. The circle of life. Or is it the circle of death? Circle of life and death?
"RPG?" Audrey asks. "We put it right in front and that will slow them down."
"We only have three rockets left," Jack says. "I don't want to waste them. We'll probably need all three when we get to town."
"I can distract them and get them to slow down," Kimmy says. "They won't risk shooting me."
"They might," Jack says. "I don't want to—"
"They won't," Kimmy snarls. "I am Doyle's woman. The Doyle, not these wannabes. They shoot me and they have to answer to him."
"Fuck," Jack says.
"I'd rather we waste an RPG," Audrey says.
"We don't need to waste anything," Kimmy says. She steps out into the road.
"Hey!" Jack snaps and rushes out to grab her. She has a pistol up and under his chin before his fingers can completely wrap around her arm.
"Don't touch me," she says. He pulls his arm back. Slowly.
"Where'd she get the pistol?" I ask.
"I didn't give it to her," Audrey says. "Shit."
"I know these men better than any of you," Kimmy says. "Some of them I know intimately. But that was before Doyle took me as his. Doyle saw something in me and knew I was special. He won't give an order to kill me. He knows that I am the only one that can reign in the chaos when you all are dead."
"Not liking how that sounds," Audrey says and lifts her rifle.
"Hold on," Jack says. He puts out a hand at us, but his eyes are locked onto his daughter's. She doesn't move the pistol an inch, just keeps it jammed up under his chin. "I got this."
"You don't got shit," Kimmy says. "I'm the one that has got this. I'll go talk to them, calm them down. I'll say we've worked things out and the women are joining me and you are joining the Doyles. Hard for them to pass up a chance at having an ex-Navy SEAL as a Doyle."
"No way in hell I'd take the name of Doyle," Jack says.
"I know that," Kimmy nearly spits. "None of it is real, Daddy. These women aren't going to join me and you aren't actually going to join the Doyles. Just pretend. Trust me. I am very, very good at playing just pretend. I've had to for years now while I waited for you to show up."
"Ouch," I whisper.
"Fine," Jack says after a couple more seconds. "Talk to them."
"Put your weapons down," Kimmy says. "Don't give them any excuses to shoot."
"Not like they can hit anything," I say. "Doyles is shit for shots." I giggle. "Shit for shots. That's funny."
"El, not now," Audrey says.
"But it is funny," I say.
"Yes, it is, but you can laugh about it later," Audrey says. "Right now we just be cool and see if Kimmy here is able to deliver on what she promises."
"Worst-case scenario, we still get to kill a bunch of Doyles, so I'm good," I say.
"Back against the Jeep and just wait," Kimmy says as she takes the pistol away from Jack's chin. "Don't move or even look mean at them. This is the third team which means it's the best Doyles we have."
I snort, but don't say anything. The best Doyles they have. Now that is funny.
We lean up against the Jeep and let Kimmy walk down the road at the trucks coming at us. She gets about fifty yards before the trucks slow down. They do some macho skidding and then a Doyle jumps out of the back of one of the trucks and rushes up to Kimmy.
"He didn't shoot her," Audrey says. "That's a good sign."
"Yeah," Jack says, but his voice tells us both that he doesn't think any of this is a good sign.
The Doyle and Kimmy talk back and forth. She turns and points to us then shakes her head as the Doyle laughs. She jabs a finger up under his chin the same way she'd stuck the pistol up under Jack's chin. He doesn't like that and shouts at her. She shouts back. The Doyle gives her a shove with the side of his rifle and Kimmy slips and falls on her ass.
"This isn't feeling right," Jack says. "You two ready to get to it?"
"Yep," I reply.
"Of course," Audrey agrees.
We shift our bodies so we're within reaching distance of our weapons. Half a second is all I need to get my pretty Steyr up and firing. I can't wait to kill some Doyles with it. Yeah, yeah, I'm better with pistols and blades, but the Steyr is just so damn cute. Its bullpupness makes me grin.
"What's so funny?" Audrey whispers.
"Gonna kill Doyles with my new rifle," I say.
"Jesus Christ, El," Audrey says, but she's smiling so I know she gets it.
Kimmy gets back to her feet and is raging pissed off. She is yelling at the Doyle so loud that we can clearly hear what she's saying.
"I will make sure Doyle slices off your balls and feeds them to not just you, but to all of these men that are refusing to obey my command!" she shouts. "Do you hear what I'm saying? Do you, you moronic piece of—"
She doesn't get to finish. The Doyle puts two slugs in her belly then one between her eyes. Kimmy's body slumps to the road and all eyes turn to us.
"NO!" Jack yells.
He's got his rifle up and he's running and firing before Audrey and I can even flinch.
"Shit!" Audrey yells and grabs at the rocket launcher in the back of the Jeep. "Cover him while I get this loaded and ready!"
"On it!" I yell and run after Jack, sending bullets flying from my Steyr.
The Doyle that shot Kimmy dives to the ground, but he's not fast enough. Jack sends a wave of bullets into him and he's mostly blood and guts when his face slams into the road.
My leg screams at me to stop so I stop because I have to listen to my leg since it's part of my body and not really separate at all and it hurts. All of that.
I kneel and take careful aim. The Steyr has one sweet-ass scope on it. I don't know if it's Swiss or Austrian and I don't care. It lets me dial tight as Doyles jump out of their trucks and start shooting at Jack. One, two, three, four Doyles lose their heads. I don't mean they go all crazy. I mean I shoot their heads right off. Pop, pop, pop, pop. Off go the Doyle heads.
A bullet slams into Jack and he goes flying, landing hard on his back on the road. I watch him gasp and struggle, but there ain't a damn thing I can do about it. I have to focus on shooting Doyles or they will focus on shooting me.
I drop five more before I feel the heat of a bullet graze the top of my head. Better not have ruined my hair. I'm having a good hair day. I look fine.
Jack sits up and starts firing again. He takes a couple of Doyles down before I hear the shout behind me. I shout at Jack in case he isn't paying attention. He isn't.
"HEY! FROGMAN!" I yell. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
He flattens himself back on the road as the RPG goes screaming over us at the Doyles. Some of the morons know to run. Most of them just stare at the fire coming at them. Then they stop staring as one of the trucks explodes and is launched high into the air. I shield my eyes, but don't stop looking. I want to see the burning Doyles running around. They don't disappoint.
As soon as the burning truck comes back to earth, Jack is up and running at the team of Doyles. He empties a magazine, drops it, and slams in a new one without breaking stride. The few Doyles that ain't burning and ain't running away try to stand up to him, but they do a piss poor job at it.
I'm telling ya, the only reason the Doyles was able to run this area is because of numbers. They are shitty-ass fighters and so fucking dumb. Just dumb.
Audrey gets to me and helps me up. We walk towards the Doyles, sending a shot here, a shot there, mostly focusing on the running Doyles and ignoring the burning ones. Fuck the burning Doyles. Let the sons of bitches burn!
One of the other trucks catches and blows. Jack is sent back to the road and we duck down fast. A hunk of metal whips by us and I swear, if it fucked up my good hair day more than that fucking bullet, then I'm going to hunt down every last man named Doyle left in this world and rip open his old one so I can rip him a new one.
Jack is coughing hard and rolls onto his stomach as he looks back at us. His face is pain. Nothing but pain.
We get up again and walk slowly to him, our eyes looking for stray Doyles and watching the other trucks that haven't caught fire and blown up yet. Audrey helps him to his feet and opens his shirt to pluck out the two rounds that are embedded in his body armor.
"I'm sorry," she says.
He doesn't say anything, just nods with tears in his eyes.
He looks back at the burning trucks, but we can't see Kimmy's body. It's covered in truck or it's been burned up. Not sure which. Doesn't matter because dead is dead. Well, sort of.
"She won't be coming back," I say to Jack. I point at the Hell we brought to the Doyles. We can feel the heat come at us in boiling waves. "Not with this shit. If it ain't made of rock then it's gonna melt."
"Fuck," he whispers. "I just…"
"We need to go," Audrey says. She tries not to sound cruel, I can tell, but hard not to when you're talking to a guy that lost his daughter after just rescuing her. "Jack? We can't stay here. Doyle will know his third team didn't make it. He's going to kill everyone and torch the town if we don't get to him first."
"Maybe we should let him," Jack says. "What's the fucking point to any of this anymore? My baby girl is dead. I spent years trying to figure out how to get to her then I do and now she's dead. Just scorched meat on a road, surrounded by dead assholes."
I start to say something, but Audrey frowns at me and I shut up. Probably a good idea.
"The point is you still have grandchildren in that town," Audrey says. "Grandchildren that you can save and love. You quit now and they are as good as dead."
"They're probably dead already," Jack says. "It's all over. We're too late."
Audrey's frown ain't gonna stop me now.
I slap Jack across the face. When he doesn't react, I slap him again.
"You try that one more—" he starts to say. I stop him with a third slap.
He grabs my hand before I can land the fourth slap.
"Knock it the fuck off," he growls.
"You knock it the fuck off," I say. "So, your daughter is dead. Whoopty shit, dude. People fucking die. It's the zombie apocalypse. Our sister Steph died back in that town and you don't see me going all pussy and wimpy and nu
tless, do you? No, because shit has to get done. Doyle needs killing and there ain't nobody left to do it but us."
"That is a shitty fucking pep talk," Jack says. "And it isn't working. We're just going to get ourselves killed if we go into town. We need to cut our losses and go back to the prison. Maybe I can help save the women there."
"They don't need saving," I say. "They need their kids back. Life is shit without family. You still have family. Be a fucking man and save your grandkids, asshole."
He glares at me. I cock my palm back like I'm gonna slap him and he shoots out a hand and grabs me by the wrist.
"Fine," he says. "We go in."
"Not so sure about that," Audrey says. She's squinting past the burning trucks and shakes her head. "Please tell me I'm not seeing what I think I am."
"What?" I ask and look where she's looking. I see something, but I'm not sure what the hell it is.
"Use your scope," she says.
I put the Steyr to my shoulder and sight through the scope, through the smoke and flames, and focus far off down the road.
Well, poop my pants and call me stinky.
"How many you think there are?" I ask as I try to tally them all up in my head. I keep losing count and grunt as I take my eye away from the Steyr's scope and look at Audrey. "Rough guess."
"Rough guess? Three, maybe four hundred," Audrey says. "Maybe. Could be more or it could be less. Hard to tell from this distance. Might only be a couple rows of them or it could be a dozen rows deep."
"Let me see," Jack says and I hand him my Steyr. He takes a look, whistles, then chuckles. "You still want to go to town now?"
"Are you fucking kidding?" I chuckle back at him. "I want to go now more than ever. No more Doyles to kill here, might as well put down a few hundred Zs. Got nothing else to do today."
"And we have to get Antoinette," Audrey says. "There was never a question of us going in, just if you are going to be with us when we do."
Jack hands me back my rifle. My pretty, pretty rifle. He scratches his chin, right where Kimmy had jammed the pistol, and lets out one sad-ass moan. He sounds like a depressed Z.
"Okay, I'm going in with you," Jack says. "I feel like dying anyway, so killing a bunch of Zs before they overrun us and eat our faces off is just as good of a way to go as any."
