by Dulaney, C.
“Ahh…” Michael drew in a slow breath. “I see.”
“I doubt it. But you sure try.”
Michael chuckled. “That I do.” He hesitated and gathered his thoughts. “But I don’t believe in weirdoes and freaks, any more than I believe in ghosts and werewolves. You’re just you, and I’m just me. You’re got a particular skillset, same as anyone else. We’re all different, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Jonah let the godawful noise of the terminators fill the silence and kept his sharp eyes on them.
Michael studied the man. “You see quite a bit, don’t you?”
“I see enough.”
“I doubt it, but you sure try.” Michael smiled to himself over his turn of phrase. “If you did, you’d see that we’re family, and it doesn’t matter if you’re…different. You’re one of us.”
Jonah lowered his hand before the cigarette could make it to his lips. He let the things he’d been running from all these years fill his head. The moving around, the running, the hiding. The loneliness, and resentment, and the small ball of hatred he’d nurtured most of his adult life.
“Yeah,” Jonah said. “One of you.”
Michael smiled. “Do what you gotta do to help us through this. No questions asked.” He reached out and gripped Jonah’s shoulder. “You’re my brother, and you’re stuck with us.”
Jonah returned the smile and finally took another drag of his cigarette. “Kasey’s comin’ back. And when she does, I’m tellin’ her you really are a mushy pile of lady parts.”
Michael lowered his eyebrows. “She’s told me to take my balls out of my purse multiple times.” He squeezed Jonah’s shoulder again and walked away.
Jonah turned back to the street but didn’t return his attention to the terminators. He let his gaze wander out to the main road that cut through the town. “C’mon, girl,” he whispered. “Where are you?”
Chapter Eight
“Sun’s coming up,” Caleb said. “Want to give the signal?”
Jonah, Michael, and Caleb stood together at the edge of the roof, surveying the situation below. There was someone on watch on each of the surrounding rooftops, and they were all turned in Michael’s direction.
“Yeah,” Michael said. “We might as well.”
Caleb gave a stiff nod and started to turn towards the other roofs, but Jonah spoke up.
“You oughta let me handle it.”
Michael said, “You’re not going down there and run those things off.”
“Why not?” Jonah asked.
Michael let his breath out and hung his head a little.
“Because,” Caleb answered. “You go down there and run them off, where do you think they’re going to go?”
Jonah ran a hand over his hair and looked down at the terminators. “Has to be somethin’ I can do.”
Michael shared a look with Caleb.
“Well… you could,” Caleb said, “I don’t know. Go down there, pull them apart, keep them away from the weak spots?” He trailed off and looked at Michael.
The corner of Michael’s mouth twitched. “Yeah,” he said to Jonah. “You could do that.” He started to leave, but turned back and pointed a finger at Jonah. “But we’re not there yet. Not just yet. And if you go down there and get your ass killed, Kasey will have mine.”
Jonah smiled. Caleb drew his eyebrows together and opened his mouth to say something, but Jonah pushed Caleb toward his post. “C’mon,” he said, throwing a small salute toward Michael.
Michael, in turn, circled his hand over his head, signaling the shooters on the other rooftops. As they’d discussed, the people fired into the terminators discriminately. They took their time and only put down the ones that pounded on the windows or were otherwise close to breaking in. They wanted to take care of the clear and present danger first, take stock of their remaining ammo, and then see about the rest.
Jonah watched the street below. Caleb and Michael paced back and forth along the edge, keeping a close eye on the progress. Every once in a while, one of the men would hold up a hand to stop one of the shooters, or to point out something else that needed a bullet. The sun had fully risen by this time, though it was still early morning. With luck, they’d have this situation taken care of with plenty of day left to head out and help the other settlements.
Jonah passed a hand over his grizzled jaw. The way the terminators were positioned in the street, in front of certain buildings, strewn about in formations, gave him a sick feeling in his stomach. He could see their tactics; they were moving on areas with the largest windows, or more accessible areas to climb. He had to move them.
He disappeared through the rooftop door before Michael or Caleb noticed he was gone.
By the time Michael realized where he was, Jonah was on Main Street, pulling and pushing at one group of terminators to move them away from a storefront. Once the cluster scattered, one long crack, from top to bottom, was visible in one of the four large windows situated at the entrance.
“Jesus,” Michael whispered. He motioned with exaggerated gestures to get the attention of the shooters on the other rooftops, then he swiped his hand back and forth in front of his throat several times, the universal sign for “Cut it out.” Caleb caught on, and yelled at them to hold their fire. The shooters were confused, but the firing eventually stopped. Jonah, standing almost in the middle of another cluster of twenty or so terminators, shielded his eyes against the sun and stared up at Michael. He nodded once, a thank you, and moved to toss a couple terminators out of his way. Before he could, a sharp pain filled the space behind his eyes. It was short, and faded just as quickly as it had come on, but he knew what it meant.
He jerked around and stared up the street. “Shit,” he whispered.
Michael noticed a change in his friend. “What is it?” he yelled down.
A terminator bumped into Jonah and knocked him around. He shoved it aside and turned, his eyes landing on something at the end of the street.
“Ah, hell, girl,” Jonah mumbled.
Michael yelled, “Get out of there, Jonah! Hide!”
Jonah pushed and shoved his way to Marlo’s store. He ran inside and ducked down next the window, out of sight.
✽✽✽
Kasey pounded on the roof and yelled out her window, “Get in here, now!” She heard a few thumps, then Jake’s feet appeared in the passenger window. He slid back inside, laughing and panting.
“Windows,” Kasey said, and rolled hers up. Jake did the same.
Kasey kept her eyes glued on the mess of ugly ahead of them. “Seatbelt.”
Jake fastened his belt and Kasey hit the gas.
“Lock your doors.” Kasey hit hers, while Jake made sure the others were secured. They didn’t think terminators could open car doors, as they seemed to have a hard time mastering a simple doorknob, but why take chances?
Kasey glanced upward and saw all the townspeople spread out across the rooftops. She thought she saw Michael and Caleb, but couldn’t take the time to be sure. She was headed straight toward a gang of terminators, with a gang of zombies on her tail. She had to time this just right.
“I’d just like to say, for the record, this is the best idea you’ve ever had,” Jake said.
Gus barked his agreement.
Kasey took a breath and gripped the steering wheel. “Okay. Hang on to something. Gus,” she called back over her shoulder, “hunker down.”
Jake braced himself and Gus laid down on the backseat with his front legs spread out. The terminators ahead turned their way and formed up into a single mass. Almost as one, the terminators hunched over, spread their feet, and tensed to attack. Kasey waited until the last second and jerked her wheel to the side. The big SUV lurched to the right, and she drove around the group.
The terminators stayed their ground and turned with her, keeping their eyes on the vehicle, waiting to see what it would do next. That was something Kasey had hoped they’d do, and they did not disappoint.
Once the Suburban was out of the way, the runners that’d been following laid eyes on new game, and they were hungry. Smelling fresh meat stirred them up and they pushed themselves forward with renewed vigor. The terminators didn’t even turn back to see what caused all the commotion.
She’d guessed right; they didn’t pay attention to the dead anymore.
The zombies swarmed over the terminators, and the terminators didn’t even fight back.
The dead didn’t rip and tear with the ferocity of the terminators, but they certainly did what they were reanimated to do. Kasey drove on down the street a few blocks, then turned the SUV sideways in the road and stopped where she could see.
“Whoa,” Jake whispered.
The terminators tried to move towards the SUV, and that alone made the sight before them more gruesome than it would’ve been. The runners tackled and tore, climbed up backs and ripped, bit into faces and disemboweled the rest.
“This is working way better than I thought it would,” Kasey whispered back. She swallowed repeatedly to keep the bile down.
The terminators they could still see reached out to them. Kasey knew it was only because of their “programming.” They were set on killing her and everyone else. But it was hard not to imagine they begged for help. Or to be put out of their misery. Kasey shut off the SUV, then wished she hadn’t. If the sight of the unadulterated butchery before them hadn’t been bad enough, now it had a soundtrack, which was much, much worse.
Gus whined.
The terminators made a unique sound, whether when they were hunting or attacking. The runners also made a unique sound, and the two were decidedly different. Kasey had never heard the noises terminators made when they were dying. It vaguely reminded her of a rabbit caught by a coyote.
This sound only seemed to urge the runners on, exciting them past the point of simply spreading the virus. That had been the biggest thing Kasey was worried about before, that the runners would stop after biting and infecting, and not eat the terminators right down to bones. If the terminators were a horror now, what would they be like infected with the zombie virus? It seemed she hadn’t needed to worry about that. The runners ripped and tore faster, pulling big chunks of flesh and guts from the downed terminators. Half the time, they didn’t even eat what they jerked away. They tossed it over their shoulders and dug back in for more. Maybe every fourth handful made it into a mouth, but the runners screeched and moaned so much, whatever made it into their gobs fell right back out.
Kasey sucked in a wet breath and forced her eyes away, up to the roof in front of them. All the people there gaped at the bloody mosh pit except one. Caleb knelt so that the only things visibly were his shoulders and head. He stared back at Kasey and didn’t seem to hear the screams. Kasey had no way to communicate with him, because they hadn’t taken a radio, but she needed to figure out some way to let him know what needed to be done next. And she needed to do that before the runners finished up.
Gus whined again. Kasey, without thinking, snapped her fingers and made a gesture with her right hand, silencing her dog.
Caleb perked up when he saw that, and Kasey knew how to get her message across.
“What the hell are you doin’?” Jake asked.
“Quiet.”
Kasey kept her eyes on her dad and went through a series of hand gestures she’d typical use with her dog. She held her hands close to the windshield so he could see every movement, and when she finished, he stared at her for another second, nodded, held up a finger, and left the edge of the roof.
“They’re startin’ to settle down,” Jake said.
Kasey chanced a glance at the pile and saw what he meant. The terminators were pretty much dead, or enough were now dead that they weren’t making much noise anymore. The runners scattered over the bloody mess calmed down and actually ate. Some, however, looked around for something else to kill.
“Stay still,” Kasey whispered. “We’re okay.” Her eyes went back to the roof.
Caleb appeared again with Michael. He wasn’t as good with the signs as she was, so he relayed his reply through Caleb. Towards the end of the message, Kasey’s mouth quirked up at one corner. She repeated the gestures back to her dad, to make sure she heard right. Once he nodded and gave her a thumbs up, she shot one back at him.
Caleb turned and shouted across the rooftop, “Send out the riders!”
✽✽✽
Riders set out in all directions, racing towards the settlements as fast as their horses could carry them. Before the terminators had arrived, a few of the residents had moved their horses into a building close to the large mechanic’s garage, and had locked the other livestock up into the few barns they had in the fields surrounding town.
Michael stared down into the mass of writhing deadheads. They were nearly finished eating.
“What the hell are we gonna do with these things?” Michael asked himself.
Caleb’s eyes wondered over to check on Kasey. She was still sitting down there, in the SUV, with Jake and Gus.
“I don’t really know, but we need to think of something before they roam off,” Caleb said.
Movement across the street caught Michael’s eye.
“There.” He pointed. Caleb stepped closer and squinted.
Jonah waved at him from the window of Marlo’s store. Small movements, so he wouldn’t attract the attention of the dead, but enough for Michael to see. Once Jonah was sure he had their attention, he jabbed a finger at something down the street.
Both men looked. The only thing down that way was houses. Michael turned his attention back to Jonah. He continued jabbing a finger, very emphatically now, and mouthed something.
“I can’t tell what he’s saying,” Caleb said.
Michael mouthed along with Jonah a couple times and finally said, “Gump.”
Jonah nodded and gave him a thumbs up. Michael looked back down the street and there it was. Missus Gump’s house. He laughed and slapped Caleb on the back, then shot Jonah a thumbs up in return.
All three sides of the Gump’s back property were surrounded by a tall, wooden privacy fence. Jake had theorized some time back that this was because the Gumps were known stoners and avid gardeners. Jake, of course, had no way of really knowing this, as he wasn’t from this area to begin with.
“Now,” Michael said to Caleb. “We need to figure out how to get them inside that fence.”
The sentence had barely left his mouth when Jonah burst from Marlo’s store, whistling loudly and waving to Kasey and Jake in the SUV. Those two jumped from the vehicle, and, to Michael’s horror, began yelling and cussing at the dead.
“Every time,” Caleb whispered and closed his eyes.
Down on the street, Jake laughed. “I don’t hate this nearly as much as when we do it on horseback!” he yelled. The dead were maybe fifty feet away, snarling and dripping and still hungry.
The trio walked backwards, slowly at first, to see if the damn things would follow.
“Come on! What the hell are you waiting for!” Kasey hollered at them.
A deadhead took a step forward, stumbling over the shredded corpse of a terminator. Its hands curled into claws and it hunched over, jaws clacking and bits falling out of its mouth. A few of the others started up with their growling, and one by one, they tore themselves away from what was left of the terminators.
“You know where we’re goin’?” Jake asked. His voiced pitched a bit and his feet shuffled faster.
Jonah said, “Yep,” then turned his back to the dead and walked toward Missus Gump’s. Kasey and Jake shot each other a look. They knew better than to walk backwards with a pack of hungry dead coming at them, so they spun around and tried not to run for it.
Jake glanced over his shoulder every other step, though. “Fuckin’ things are still fast. Hey, Jonah, let’s pick it up, huh?”
Jonah chuckled and broke into a jog. Kasey and Jake kept up without having to be told. There was a large front gate on the street side of the fence. Jon
ah worked the latch, swung it open, and ran inside. The other two stayed right on his heels.
“Damnit, that back door better not be locked,” Kasey said. She could hear the growls and screeches getting closer. She ran up onto the back porch and jerked the screen door open. Missus Gump met her there with a shotgun.
Kasey threw her hands up. Jake stopped so fast behind her he nearly bowled her over. And Jonah snapped his head back and forth between Kasey and the deadheads closing in.
“Don’t mean to hurry ya, darlin’,” he called over to her, “but right now would be a good time to get inside.”
Kasey, still staring down the business end of a shotgun, huffed out a nervous laugh. “Hey, Missus Gump, you’re supposed to be up on the roofs with everyone else.”
Missus Gump eyeballed Kasey, then Jake, then leaned over and peered through the screen door. “I’m as safe here as I am up on that damned roof. What’s that fella doin’ over there?”
Jake stepped up closer to Kasey so Missus Gump could see him. “Ma’am, we really hate to bother ya, but we kinda need to use your backyard to store some dead people.”
Missus Gump stared at him a long moment, narrowed her eyes, then let out a breath and dropped the shotgun. “Oh, fine. It’s the least illegal thing that’s gone on back here. Knock yourselves out.” Then she disappeared from the doorway.
Kasey wilted and Jake hollered back to Jonah, “Come on!” He pushed Kasey on up the steps and held the screen door open for Jonah, who ran straight through the house, out the front door, then worked his way around on the street so he could shut the gate behind the runners.
Kasey and Jake made sure the back door was good and locked, then peeked out the window at the bunch of runners that were corralled in the Gumps’ back yard.
“Thank God for privacy fences,” Jake said.
“We’ll set a watch for these things, but I think they’re pretty secure,” Kasey said. “Come on.”
They turned away and headed toward the front of the house. Out in the street, a group was already busy loading bodies, and parts of bodies, onto a wagon to be hauled away. Kasey saw her dad’s back just as he ducked inside Marlo’s. She passed the workers on the street and went straight for the store. Gus sat on the walk outside, waiting for her next to the door. They each patted his head as they entered, and he followed them inside. Marlo and another fellow leaned against the counter with their heads together, but snapped them up when Kasey entered.
