by Jake Bible
"That's the fucking spirit," I say and slap him on the shoulder. "We walking or driving?" I get the crazy look from both of them. "What?"
"We drive," Audrey says. "We leave the truck and take the Jeep. It'll give us more mobility."
"Works for me," I say. "Come on, Jack, let's go die, okay?"
"Okay," Jack says.
We walk back to the Jeep, none of us in any hurry. My leg hurts like fuck. Audrey keeps looking over her shoulder at the huge herd of Zs coming at us. And Jack looks like a Z himself as he shuffles along with us.
"I'll drive," I say.
"No, I'll drive," Audrey argues.
Jack doesn't say shit.
He clambers into the backseat and shoves a few boxes of ammo and the rocket launcher out of the way. Audrey takes the driver's seat and I take back my passenger's seat which the Barrett has been nice enough to keep warm for me. That's a lie. The Barrett is made of metal, so the seat is colder than if I'd just left it empty. That's not a bad thing since the sun is beating down pretty hard.
Chapter Twenty
Audrey likes the Jeep. She's smiling from ear to ear as she drives us way off the road and across the dry dirt that is goddamn everywhere. I thought there was dirt in Colorado, but there is way more shitfucking dirt in New Mexico. At least around these parts. Probably because there ain't humans around to water everything down no more. Just dust and dirt now.
"This isn't getting any better," Jack says as Audrey takes us along the edge of the Z-herd. He's finally not acting like a Z no more. "I'm counting a lot more than three hundred. Look at them all. Has to be at least a thousand."
"More than that," I say. "Two thousand Zs, easy."
"Where the hell did they all come from?" Audrey asks.
"Doyle must have herded these together from Albuquerque," Jack says. "Only place close by where there could be these numbers. The Doyles have been using groups of Zs to keep the town under their control, but I haven't ever seen numbers like these before."
"We have," Audrey says.
"Lots more than this," I say. "Hundreds and hundreds of thousands. But we took them down, stayed safe. We can handle this many. No problemo."
"El, you have a hard enough time with the English language," Audrey laughs. "No need to start butchering Spanish."
"I butcher what I want to butcher," I say and smile. "That's the Elsbeth way."
Audrey has to whip the Jeep to the right to avoid sending us into a drainage ditch. It takes us directly towards the herd and I can see hundreds of the shitfuckers start to notice our little four by four. Groups break off and begin that ugly shamble shuffle dance thing Zs do. They got their arms outstretched and mouths wide open.
There was an old movie I saw once where Zs all cried out for brains. These Zs don't give two shits what part of us they eat as long as they get to jam as much into their shitfucking mouths as possible. I hate Zs almost as much as I hate Doyles.
That should say a lot about how much I hate Doyles.
"Audrey? Aren't we getting a little too close?" Jack says.
"We're good," Audrey replies. "Don't you worry that frogman head of yours."
I look back over my shoulder and see Jack shaking that frogman head of his. He's also got tears streaming down his frogman cheeks. Shit. I keep forgetting that he just watched his daughter get killed. Death is just part of being a sister, so it's hard to remember that other folks ain't wired like us.
Sisters handle death. It's part of our major skill set. That's a thing, right? A skill set? I heard someone say it once. Probably Long Pork. He always said something about everything. Couldn't help himself.
But, I will say that Audrey is cutting it a bit tight here.
"I think we can cross the ditch there," I say and point to a low point on our left.
"You scared, El?" Audrey asks.
"No, I ain't scared," I say. "I just don't want to ram a Z-horde if I don't have to. Turn the fucking Jeep, Audrey. Stop being a twat."
She don't respond, just turns the wheel and takes us down into the ditch then up the other side. I glance back and watch as some of the Zs that had been interested in tasting our yummy flesh try to follow, but just end up falling into the ditch. A dozen, two dozen, fifty, a hundred of them fill the ditch. It gets so full that after a couple hundred fall in, the others are able to walk right across their backs and shoulders and get to the other side.
That ain't good.
"Now we have a ton of Zs following us back into town," Jack says. "Good one."
"I know," Audrey says. "I want them to follow us. If you haven't noticed, there are only three of us and who knows how many Doyles. We can't just hit the sports complex head on and hope all those kids survive. We need to create a diversion, make some chaos, and I think bringing Doyle's Zs back to him is the perfect way to do that."
"Next time maybe ask our opinion," Jack says.
"That's optimistic," Audrey replies. "You're thinking there will be a next time. Good for you."
"It was a figure of speech," he says. "I don't hope there is a next time. I just want to get my grandkids and get the fuck away from North Valley. Get up to the prison in Santa Fe and try to build something for us."
"Should be fun," I say. "Just you and all those women. Good luck with that."
"No shit," Audrey says. "Better start cutting sheets into strips because that's a whole lot of cycles that are gonna synch right up. I hate to be you when the full moon hits."
"What's the full moon got to do with it?" I ask.
"We all cycle together on the full moon," Audrey says. "Haven't you noticed that?"
"Do we? Huh," I say. "Nope. Hadn't noticed. That's funny. We're like killer werewolves with periods."
"Okay, okay, we can end this conversation right now," Jack says. "I've heard enough."
"Oh, brother, you haven't even begun to hear enough," Audrey says and laughs. "Trust me. You better start getting used to it."
"Great," Jack says.
"I don't think Jack likes it when women talks about their periods," I say.
"No guy likes it when women talk about their periods," Jack replies. "Jesus."
"Like I said, Jack, you better start getting used to it," Audrey says. "Stop being such a whiny bitch. You a badass or some douche that gets all weak from talking about nature? Get over yourself, frogman."
"Whatever you say," Jack replies. "Now, how about you get us away from this herd? It's spreading out again and it's gonna cut us off before we can get to town."
He's right. The herd is starting to spread out and cut us off. It's like an undead fan, just getting wider and wider every second.
"God, look at them all," Jack says.
I want to laugh, but I don't. It ain't funny the first time you see a herd this size. I've seen plenty. But for Jack, this must be like the apocalypse is happening all over again.
I can see the town far off in the distance as we come up over a small hill. I also see about ten thousand more Zs. We're cut off. Ain't no way we can get to the town without going through the herd. Maybe we could go around, but we don't have that kind of time. We need to get into the town and get to the sports complex before Doyle kills everyone.
"What's that?" Audrey asks as she leans over the steering wheel and squints. "Smoke? Do you see smoke rising up?"
"Shit," Jack says. "You think he's already started torching things?"
"I don't see no trucks leaving anywhere," I say. "It'd be dumb as shit if he started torching the town before he left. That's how you get yourself all burnt up."
"Well, something is burning," Jack says.
"Could be what's left after that playground building burned down," I say. "Maybe a couple other buildings caught and the Doyles just got them put out. Don't look like the rest of the town is on fire."
"Not yet," Audrey says.
She takes us down the small hill then back up another one. It don't make the view any better, just closer. She stops the Jeep and turns in her seat to look at us.
<
br /> "Okay, we need some kind of plan here," she says. "A plan to get into town, a plan to get the kids and Antoinette away from the Doyles, and a plan to get back out of the town."
"So we need three plans," I say.
"That's good math there, El." Audrey smirks.
"Fuck you, bitch." I smirk back.
"We have a crate of grenades and three rockets left," Jack says. "I also have some Semtex boxed up, as well."
"You have Semtex?" Audrey asks. "Detonators?"
"Plenty. Simple remote," Jack says. "We can set it up then press a button and it goes boom. I already checked the batteries on both the transmitter and receivers. We're good there."
"How much Semtex?" Audrey asks. "How big of a blast area are we looking at?"
"With the Semtex alone, pretty big, but it's a one boom thing and then done," Jack says. "But if we combine it with projectiles, such as ball bearings or nails, then we have ourselves something useful."
I check out the huge herd below us. It spreads out for a half mile, at least. The main highway in and out of the town is blocked completely. Even if we get inside, getting out is not going to be easy. We'll be making a bunch of noise and that's gonna turn the herd around to come after us. Audrey may have wanted that before, but with all these Zs? No fucking way we want that now.
"Where do we get ball bearing or nails?" I ask. "We didn't bring those with us."
Jack thinks for a second then points to the southeast.
"We go around that way," he says. "They were just starting to build a mall on the edge of town. I know there's plenty of nails, screws, bolts, and all of that there. We load it up and make some bombs."
"For what?" Audrey asks.
"So we can punch holes in this herd when it's time to leave," I say. "We're gonna lose time making the bombs and getting them set, but we ain't got much choice." I look at Jack. "You think they got rubber tubing or something at that construction site? Maybe bungees?"
"Rubber tubing or bungees? Why?" he asks.
Audrey laughs. "I see where you're going with this," she says. "Launch the bombs into the herd then blow them when it's time and clear a way out."
"Yep," I say. "We ain't never gonna punch our way through this herd with just a Jeep."
The second I say that, a thought slams into my brainpan. I can see on the others' faces they are having the same thought. Shit.
"We left the truck," Jack says. "How the fuck are we going to get the kids out of town with just a Jeep?"
"We're gonna pray that there are more trucks still at the sports complex," Audrey says. "If we have to, we ditch this and use one of those trucks. Or two trucks, if there are that many kids."
"That's a lot of kids," I say. "I ain't never been around that many kids. They'll need snacks and water. Kids like snacks and water."
"Kids can deal," Audrey says. "We'll worry about snacks and water once we are clear of this shit hole."
"We can let the women handle that when we get to the prison," Jack says.
Audrey turns and glares. I turn and glare.
"No, no, I didn't mean that because it's women's work or anything," Jack replies, his hands up, ready to defend against the beat down he's about to get in three seconds. "I mean that the women will already be at the prison and they have all the supplies. And there's only women. No guys there. Just women. That's all I meant."
"We scared him," I say.
"Yes, we did," Audrey agrees. She puts the Jeep in gear and floors it down the hill towards the southeast side of the town. "Snacks and drinks aren't our worry right now. Building some bombs is."
"Roger that," Jack says.
I think he's glad we ain't talking about the snacks and drinks no more.
The herd is wide enough that we come super fucking close to it to get to the construction site. We're maybe fifteen yards from the edge and that makes the Zs a little pissed. Food is so close, but so far. They can see us, but no way they can catch us. About a good hundred veer off and follow us, but we leave them in the dust. They aren't gonna be a problem for a while. Not until they catch up to us when we stop.
Time is tickety ticking. It's always tickety ticking.
Audrey's lucky because she gets to drive. Her focus is on the way ahead of us. Me and Jack gotta stare at the herd as it comes for us. All I want to do is put my Steyr to my shoulder and blow some Z heads off. I can tell by the way Jack is all jumpy and twitchy behind us that he wants to do the same thing. But it would be a total waste of ammo and just get the Zs more riled up. Got enough of them coming for us as it is, don't need the entire herd turning and aiming for our asses.
"There!" Jack shouts as we crest a ridge and come down fast towards the edge of town. "Shit."
We see the construction site, but it's a damn mess. Looks like the Doyles have already been to it more than a few times and they've left anyone else that swings by a present. There are a hundred Zs easy milling around inside the rusty chain-link fence that surrounds the construction site. It doesn't look like a ton of work was completed at all before Z-day hit, so not like there's concrete block walls we can hide behind. Plenty of piles of trash and crap, but nothing solid to give us cover when we go in.
"Still think we can find what we need?" Audrey asks Jack.
"Yeah, we can," Jack says. "The Doyles have ransacked it, but it doesn't look like they've moved all the supplies. I bet they come and go when needed and have kept the majority of shit here for storage. They don't have to worry about the Zs walking off with any of it."
"And anyone that comes by has gotta deal with all those Zs," I say. "If I were a survy or scavenger or even a crazy, I'd just keep on going and look for a better place to do some salvaging."
"Then we go in," Audrey says. "We hit hard and create some chaos. You two jump out and find the stuff we need." She taps her ear. "I'll drive around and wrangle the Zs away from you. Maybe I can get them jammed up enough that they start tripping over each other. Once you have the shit then I come back for you and we take off to make some bombs."
"Gotta do it fast," I say. "Tickety tock, yo."
"You have got too much Long Pork in that head," Audrey says. "Don't say yo."
"No yo," I say. "Got it, yo."
"Bitch," she laughs.
Audrey doesn't say another word. She aims for the main gate of the construction site and floors it. I duck my head, Jack ducks his head, and Audrey hollers as she slams into the chain-link gate. It doesn't even have a chain around it or any lock, so it flies right open without barely scratching the Jeep.
The Zs come at us fast. Okay, not fast, but they all hear the noise and see the Jeep. Okay times two, some come at us fast. I have my Steyr up and firing as six fast ones shove the others out of the way to get at us. Six squeezes of my trigger and they ain't fast no more, just dead.
Audrey whips the Jeep around and skids to a stop. "GO!" she yells.
Jack jumps out and catches me as I jump out and nearly fall on my face. My leg is burning hot. I can feel the pain burning. Shit. That ain't good. Not good at all.
I wonder if…
Can't think about that right now. Nope. Got work to do.
"There!" Jack shouts and points at a huge container as Audrey speeds off. She's hollering and yelling, trying to get the Zs to follow her, but some of them have already seen me and Jack. "Shit!"
I kill the first four in front of us and Jack takes the five coming at us on our three. I spin and take out the eight on our nine and he turns and clears our six. We do all of that while we carefully keep moving towards the container. It's one of those rusty metal ones that trains haul or you see on big semi-trucks. What are they called? Shipping containers. That's it.
About ten more Zs come shuffling out from around the side of the shipping container as we get to it. I put a bullet in their heads then eject my magazine and slam in a fresh one. I still have about fifteen rounds in the first one, but I can't risk running out if things get shittier than they are.
The front gate may not
have a chain or lock, but the doors to the shipping container have both. Jack shoots the lock off and I catch a piece of metal across the back of my neck.
"Fucking ow!" I snap.
"Sorry," Jack says as he yanks the doors open. "Oh, fuck me."
I turn and look inside. I say a lot worse than fuck me.
"They cleared most of it out," I say.
"Yeah, they did," Jack says. He rushes inside anyway and starts tearing open the few boxes that are left. He's muttering and muttering until he says, "Fuck yes! We can use these!"
He holds up a thin piece of metal with holes in it. It's maybe three inches long and half an inch wide.
"What are those?" I ask.
"Brackets," he says. "You use them to secure pipes and wires and stuff against studs in the ceiling or walls. These may actually be better than ball bearings or nails. You send a few hundred of these flying and they will shred anything and everything in their path."
"Works for me," I say. "We got enough in there?"
"We got enough," he says and smiles. He starts pulling out smaller boxes that are inside the bigger box. The smaller boxes are like the size of shoe boxes. That's just the right size for what we need to do. "We have more than enough. We can tear the Semtex into twelve pieces so we have twelve bombs."
"Now we find some bungees," I say. "Otherwise this idea ain't worth shit."
Five Zs come around the shipping container and I put them down. I can see Audrey way out across the site doing donuts in the dirt. Most of the Zs are going after her, but we still got some assholes that think we're easy meals. Fuck these assholes.
"I'm not seeing any bungees," Jack says. "Shit."
"Shit," I say. Then I see something. Off to our right is a panel truck. Just an ugly white thing sitting there. "Truck. Trucks always have bungees."
"Is that a rule you heard somewhere?" he asks.
"Nope, just my experience," I say. "I always used to find bungees in tool kits and behind seats in trucks. Came in handy when tying up fresh meat back when I was a canny."
"Yeah, uh, okay," he says. "Whatever you say. You want to go check the truck while I guard these boxes?"
