Dead Texas (Book 3): Lonesome Road

by Slaton, Derek

  “Well, I’m going to-” Sparks ducked at the sight of movement outside of the kitchen window. “Fuck.”

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She pulled out one of the cell phones and slipped it into her pocket for easy access. “I have company, I gotta go,” she said and tapped the earpiece before Dan could respond. She drew her revolver, aimed it at the figure as they leaned towards the window, and then jumped up to fire.

  The figure immediately ducked, prompting Sparks to duck again as well, saving her ammo and returning to cover. “Shit, shit, shit.”

  She couldn’t tell if it had been a militia or not, but as the front door crashed open she figured she’d be finding out soon enough. She slid low across the floor into the hallway, and peered around the corner. There were two militia men with handguns spreading out in the living room.

  She didn’t hesitate, putting a bullet in one’s chest. He collapsed to the floor, gasping for air as blood gargled in his airways. His partner opened fire, shredding the drywall just above Sparks’ head. She made a split decision and jumped up, running towards the shooter with her gun drawn.

  Her opponent immediately hit the ground to prevent being shot, but she leapt and landed a knee on the top of his head instead, stunning him. He staggered to his feet and took a swing at her, but she deftly dodged it, smacking the back of his arm in the process.

  As his back exposed itself to her, she wrapped her arms around his lower waist and lifted him, rotating to smack him headfirst into the floor. There was a sickening crack as his neck snapped in two, ending his evening early.

  A bullet whizzed by Sparks’ ear, hitting the wall behind her, and she dove further into the house as another militia man burst through the front door.

  “I’m gonna get you!” he screamed, chasing her down the hall. As she passed the bathroom she dragged open the bathroom door with her, a teenage zombie staggering out to sink its teeth into his throat. His screams turned from a bass to soprano as his vocal chords tore, but Sparks didn’t stick around to listen to the concerto as she bolted for the back door.

  As soon as her boots hit the grass she hit the ground hard, dazed and dizzy. She tried to refocus her eyes, flipping over onto her back, and her blood ran cold at the sight of Elijah’s face. He was flanked by four armed militia members, and he motioned to them as she tried to prop herself up on her elbows.

  “You two,” he demanded, “go clean up the mess she made. Then we’re gonna go have some fun with this one.”

  His sneer made bile rise in her throat as the remaining two zip tied her wrists in front of her. They dragged her to her feet, Elijah keeping his rifle trained on her.

  “So much death and destruction, simply because you wouldn’t walk away,” he said, clucking his tongue and cocking his head at her.

  “So much death and destruction because you and your boys don’t know how to share,” she replied with steel in her gaze as the other two henchmen exited the house, loaded up with the dead men’s weapons and ammo.

  “You still don’t get it, do you?” Elijah chided as he motioned for her to walk towards the tree line. “Sharing under these conditions means death. There are no more resources being produced, and once they’re gone, that’s it.”

  Sparks swallowed, keeping her voice steady, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. “How many people have to die just so you can live a few extra months?”

  “Everyone I come across if need be,” he replied easily.

  “You hear that boys?” She glanced behind her. “You’re expendable.” The guard directly behind her shoved her hard, and she stumbled down a small embankment into the bushes next to the woods.

  Elijah sighed. “Go get her.”

  “Yes boss,” the militia member muttered. Sparks quickly reached into her back pocket, grabbing the phone she’d stashed there. She quickly set the alarm for five minutes, and tossed it aside just as the guard made it through the bush to her. “On your feet, bitch,” he demanded, and grabbed her ponytail to drag her up.

  He shoved her back to the trail and Elijah and his quartet continued to march her through the trees. Soon they reached a clearing with an SUV parked on the edge of a dirt road. One of the militia men ran over to the vehicle and tossed her bag and weapons on the hood before hitting the headlights, illuminating the dusky scene.

  Another shoved her down onto her back, gyrating his hips. “Oh, we are gonna fuck you up, then we’re gonna fuck you good,” he sang to her, licking his lips. “You ever had a train ran on you? Hoot hoot! It’s a comin’!”

  “Settle down,” Elijah snapped. “I have questions before you can have your fun.”

  The eager young man backed off, as his leader stepped forward, grabbing the front of her tank top in his fist.

  “Now, I’m not going to bullshit you,” he said firmly, eyes ablaze with power. “Your time is short, however if you cooperate, things will be a little more pleasant. Sure my boys are gonna have some fun with you, but after that there are two options. The first, is a quick and relatively painless bullet to the head. The second, is you get fucked one more time.” He snapped his fingers, and one of the men by the truck tossed a machete onto the ground next to them. “By that.” He grinned cruelly, running his thumb up her cheek and over her ear. “So, what’s it going to be? Are you going to cooperate? Or-” he stopped speaking as his thumb hit the earpiece, and he pried it out. “Interesting,” he said as he inspected it, and then pocketed it. “Well, I’ll just hold onto that.”

  He jumped up and walked over to her bag, while the eager young man stood at her feet, rubbing himself through his pants in anticipation for his prize.

  “Xanax?” Elijah asked as he dug through Sparks’ bag. “I can understand the need to relax in these trying times.” He pulled out the GPS with a grin. “Now what do we have here?”

  Sparks’ stomach dropped, and she swallowed hard.

  “Looks like my offer of a quick death has been rescinded!” Elijah laughed, hopping up to sit on the hood of the SUV. “The only thing I wanted to know from you was where you and your friends were holed up. And thanks to your little device here, I have my answer.” He hit the saved location and then pocketed the GPS. “I do hope you get at least some enjoyment from my boys, since in a few minutes you’ll be wishing for them.”

  Sparks sighed, rolling her eyes. “Figures you limp dick fucks would be minute men,” she drawled. “No wonder you have to play military dress up to feel like a real man.”

  The young horny militia member lunged down, backhanding her across the face.

  She sneered. “Didn’t think you’d be capable of foreplay.”

  “You fucking whore, I’m gonna-” he began, but the bleat of the phone alarm cut him off.

  “What the hell?!” Elijah screamed. “Find it!”

  His cronies ran towards the noise, but none of them could find it, despite how loud it was.

  He grew impatient, jumping down from the vehicle. “Forget it, we have what we need, let’s go.”

  The horny militia member pointed to Sparks. “What about her?”

  “Leave her,” Elijah replied, and jumped in the driver’s seat. Before Sparks’ would-be rapist could reach the vehicle, a female zombie dove from the shadows and bit him in the shoulder. His leader immediately punched the accelerator, leaving him in the dust.

  “Hey bitch, come get some!” Sparks yelled, and as the zombie ambled towards her she flung her legs up, catching the midsection with her feet. The redhead used the momentum to propel the corpse over her, impaling her on a rogue branch.

  Sparks popped up, retrieving the machete from the ground and slamming it into the zombie’s chest, pinning her further against the tree.

  “Don’t move, I’ll be right back,” she winked at the zombie, using the exposed blade to snap the zip tie around her wrist.

  She slid down the embankment to find the phone, and silenced the alarm, casually strolling back towards her downed enemy. He held his wound, moanin
g, blood pooling in the dirt beneath him.

  Sparks knelt down, removing his handgun and tossing it aside. “Real good friends you picked there,” she said casually. “I mean sure, they were going to let you have your way with me, but at the first sign of trouble? Man they were quick to get out of here. I mean they acted like you were a stripper who told them they got you pregnant, they moved that fast.

  “I will give your friends this, however, your boss, Elijah? He does have a way with words. So since you were so fond of him, I’m going to give you a similar offer to the one he gave me.” She smacked him across the face to make sure he was paying attention, and he whimpered. “Hey, there you are. Now, I wanna know where the farm is. If you tell me, then I”ll leave you here to bleed out nice and peaceful. I hear it’s a nice death since when you get close to the end, your body releases all sorts of stuff that makes you feel like you’re in dreamland.”

  “And-and if I don’t?” he stammered, still clutching his shoulder.

  Sparks smiled as she walked back to the zombie. She removed the machete and grabbed the corpse’s hair, hacking at her throat until the head was severed. She carried it back over and held it close to his face, the snapping mouth wafting a putrid stench towards his terrified face.

  “If you don’t, I’m going to make sure you get a little head before you die,” the redhead promised, and his eyes bulged out of his head at the horrific realization of her meaning.

  “Okay, okay,” he gushed. “I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

  She leaned forward. “Where’s the farm?”

  “It’s about three miles away, just go up the dirty road right there and hang a left at the crossroads, you can’t miss it,” he blurted quickly.

  “You sure you’re telling me the truth?” Sparks asked, waving the head around. “Cause this bitch looks awfully hungry.”

  He paled considerably. “I swear, I swear!”

  “You know what?” She set down the head, leaning back on her heels. “I got a bonus round question for you. How in the hell did you guys find me?”

  “That boat you stole from us had a tracking marker on it,” he replied quickly. “We’ve had eyes on you ever since you took it. We waited until we had a tactical advantage to take you down.”

  “Eh, that’s what I get for stealing I guess.” She shrugged. “Okay, you enjoy your death.” She got to her feet and turned, taking a few steps. “You know, I have one more question, and it’s kind of out of left field.” She raised a hand, turning around slowly to face him again. “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

  He was shaking at this point. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Then I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t teach you that being a rapist was wrong,” she said, snatching up the head and shoving it down onto the militia member’s crotch. The zombie immediately clamped down like a vice grip.

  “YOU BITCH!” he screamed, flailing. “Oh please, fucking kill me!”

  Sparks smirked as she picked up his gun.. “Now enjoy your death.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Slim picking in there, but not a total bust,” Jeff said as he wandered out of the gas station, holding up a six pack.

  “Alright, we’re gassed up,” Ricky replied, holstering the nozzle. “Y’all ready to hit the road back to Fredericksburg?”

  Jeff hopped up into the bed of the truck. “Yeah, might as well.”

  Ricky fired up the truck and they sped off into the darkness. The ride was peaceful, nothing stirring on the roads. Once they approached city limits, he slowed to a crawl, sliding open the back window.

  “Holy fuckballs, look at that,” he said, and Jeff and Rufus turned and stood up to look over the roof.

  “Man, something nasty went down here,” the skinhead said, shaking his head. There was a mass of overturned cars functioning as a makeshift barricade across the road, a string of bodies littering the ground.

  “So now what bubba?” Ricky asked through the back window. “We can’t go back the way we came or else we’ll run into that mess of zombies we strong along.”

  “Hand me the GPS,” Jeff instructed, and Mary fished it out of her bag, passing it back to him. He sat down to fiddle with it.

  Rufus parked his ass down next to him. “What you thinking?”

  “Doesn’t look like cutting through town is going to be an option, so I’m seeing how we get to Junction from here,” he replied. The device beeped and suggested a route that would take them right through downtown. “Well, fuck. No matter what we do, we’re going to have to go through town. The road to Junction is main street.”

  “I got that winch on the front of the truck here, I can get one of them cars moved enough so we can slip through,” Ricky suggested.

  Rufus pursed his lips. “Then we just gotta hope main street ain’t blocked.”

  “Or that we don’t trigger a few hundred zombies,” Mary added wryly.

  “Oh come on baby, happy thoughts,” Ricky suggested.

  She shrugged. “A few hundred was my happy thought.”

  “Alright, let’s go for it,” Jeff said finally. “Ricky, you get the winch set and the rest of us will cover you.”

  Ricky pulled the truck up to the car barricade and hopped out, grabbing the thick wire while Rufus and Jeff stood, keeping an eye out for any movement. Ricky secured the winch and nodded to his armed guardians that he was ready to flip the switch.

  The motor hummed as the wire pulled tight, and the sound of metal scraping against concrete echoed throughout the night. It was almost immediately followed by a chorus of moans.

  “Contact!” Rufus cried, opening fire as the first corpse emerged from the fortress of automobiles. Ricky immediately made a run for his seat as several more zombies flooded out to the front of the truck.

  Rufus and Jeff were able to peg a few of them in the head as Ricky threw the truck in reverse.

  “Hold on!” he screamed, and the two in the back hit the deck as he floored it. The truck rocketed backwards and got a good thirty yards away from the horde before the winch snapped tight, slowing their escape to a crawl as the engine struggled to drag the attached car.

  Jeff leapt over the roof, sliding down the windshield and landing firmly on the hood. “Mary, shotgun!” he screamed, and she fed it through her window as Rufus laid down cover fire at the growing group of zombies barreling towards the front of the truck.

  It did little to stem the tide, but bought Jeff a few extra seconds to fire shells into the winch. On the third blast, the wire severed and flicked into the horde like a busted rubber band. The lead zombies fell apart as the wire cut them in two at the waist, tripping up the second row.

  Jeff scrambled back up over the roof and dove to the bed, grabbing Rufus on the way down. “Go go go!” he screamed, and Ricky floored the accelerator once again, speeding backwards.

  A minute later the skinhead sat up, sticking his head into the back window. “Where are you going?”

  “Getting us the fuck outta here, man!” Ricky called back. “Where do you think I’m going?”

  “We gotta go through them,” Jeff instructed, causing the driver to slam on the brakes and look back at him mouth agape.

  “Are you fucking crazy?” Ricky blurted. “There might be hundreds of those things in there?”

  “And it’s the only way to get where we need to go,” the skinhead replied firmly. “We can’t go backwards unless you wanna plow through that pack of zombies.”

  Ricky slammed his hand down on the steering wheel in frustration, and Mary put her hand on his shoulder. “Baby, you got this,” she said gently, giving him a squeeze, and he took a deep breath.

  “Alright,” he said firmly, “where am I goin’?”

  Jeff passed the GPS back through the window to Mary. “Once we clear the barricade, it’s going to be the fifth street,” he explained. “Hang a right and it’s straight on til daylight. Mary, you’re gonna have to be navigator since Rufus and I are going to be holding on for dear life.” />
  “Alright, I’ll make sure he knows where we’re going,” she confirmed.

  Ricky took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “You boys hang tight,” he said, “this is gonna be a bumpy ass ride.”

  He threw the shifter into drive and hit the gas, tires screeching before gaining traction and screaming ahead. As the grill hit the first batch of zombies, he kept their trajectory straight as corpses flew to the side like rag dolls upon impact.

  The commotion attracted more zombies, clogging the path between the cars that they’d made. He accelerated through them, scraping against the side of the barricade as he plowed through the crowd. Bodies flew through the air like bowling pins hit with a sixteen pound ball as they entered the inner sanctum.

  “Oh my god, they’re everywhere,” Mary breathed as a pile of zombies poured out of the nearby church, joining the pursuit.

  Her husband didn’t break his focus, making it to main street. “One… two… three…” he counted the streets as they passed.

  The horde was a good forty yards behind them, running at full steam. Ricky slowed as he approached the turn, not wanting to risk tipping over or flinging his buddies out of the back.

  Said buddies poked their heads up over the tailgate, aiming their guns downrange to make sure nothing was close enough. Ricky turned the corner, hit the gas, and then slammed on the brakes again.

  “What now?” Jeff barked.

  Ricky sighed. “Look.”

  Jeff and Rufus clambered over to the window, peering through it to see through the windshield. At least a hundred zombies milled about between them and yet another barricade.

  Panic gripped the quartet as the reality set in that they were well and truly trapped.

  “Ricky,” Rufus demanded, “you floor this motherfucker and aim for where those two cars intersect.”

  The driver swallowed nervously. “That’s a hell of a fucking shot, man.”

  “Well, it’s either that or we get fucking eaten,” the old man snapped. “Just do it, goddammit!”

  A primal scream tore its way out of Ricky’s throat as he punched the accelerator, and his passengers held on for dear life. The truck reached fifty miles per hour before impact against the wall of rotting flesh, vaporizing the front lines at contact. The meat and bones soaked up a lot of damage and slowed the truck down.