by Lee, Raymond
“Are we there yet?”
Without even looking in her direction, Hal reached over and pressed Angela’s lips shut, making the girl laugh.
It would have been a charming father daughter scene if not for the fact that Maura knew Hal wasn’t the girl’s father, he was a man who’d all but outright threatened her life a few hours earlier. That type of man couldn’t be trusted to take care of a young girl. She didn’t know what his previous crimes were but after the threat he’d made against her she knew Hank was right to take the girl from him, even if Hank was no better himself.
Angela jerked her head away and swatted at Hal, connecting with his arm. He held his arm and faked an exaggerated moan, making Angela laugh harder. Classic Stockholm syndrome. The girl thought her captor cared about her when he only wanted to own her.
Janjai made a small sound and Maura looked over to see her smiling, amused by Hal’s antics. Maura rolled her eyes. Typical. The woman was once enslaved to her husband, now she was following Hal blindly. So many stupid women in the world and she used to be one of them. She would have followed Daniel anywhere and had just let him hurt her. She’d had no shield whatsoever, just like Janjai and Angela.
Well, she’d put Daniel in his place. Now he was nothing more than a voice in her head, forced to exist only through her, as she’d existed only through him for so long. It was time for Hal to be put in his place. She wouldn’t carry him with her afterward though. No, this was one piece of shit she’d kick grass over and leave behind without a second thought. Angela and Janjai needed her guidance, not his. She’d make them strong and independent thinkers, not weak followers. They wouldn’t understand why Hal had to leave but they’d come around. They wouldn’t have a choice. They’d need her to survive.
“Let’s go down this off ramp and see what we can find.” Hal nodded toward the exit.
“I thought we wanted to stay away from cities and towns,” Angela said.
“We haven’t found another working vehicle and this expressway could stretch on for miles before we find one. It’s going to be dark soon also. We need to find a vehicle or find shelter for the night.”
Nobody protested Hal’s decision, not that Maura expected them to. She didn’t dare protest herself. She’d already tipped her hand to Hal, letting him know what she knew. Daniel had always told her she let her temper get the best of her. Even now he whispered that she’d messed up. She should have followed along, baited the trap. Played the game. She hated games though, but even she knew sometimes you had no other choice but to just grit your teeth and play.
So she’d play. She’d follow the group, wait for the right moment, and take out her opponent. She felt Daniel smile, approving of her strategy. She smiled back, feeling victory within reach.
They found a gas station right off the exit and next to it, a small shopping center. Small houses lined the opposite side of the street. Unfortunately, the buildings were surrounded by zombies, as were the few cars in the shopping center parking lot.
“Any other great ideas?” Angela asked.
Hal scanned the area quickly. “There’s too many. The risk we’d take fighting our way through is too dangerous. We’ll have to get back on the expressway and try the next exit.”
“There won’t be another exit for miles,” Angela whined. “I say we go for it. You give us some cover fire while we run for that yellow house. Janjai can break a window and get us inside while Maura and I cover her on the porch, then we cover you.”
Maura perked up at the sound of that plan. Leaving Hal exposed and vulnerable made it easier for her to get rid of him.
“Too dangerous,” Hal said, shaking his head. “We need a diversion, something to make them go right while we’re going left.”
“They’re slow,” Angela said. “One of us could run toward the gas station while the rest get in that house.”
“That might work if they were all in one spot,” Hal said. “But they’re scattered all over, making it easy for them to surround us. If any of us goes for any of the buildings, we’re good as dead.”
“So we get back on the expressway?” Janjai asked, shifting the pack on her back to ease the weight.
“No,” Maura answered, removing her pack and unzipping one of the outer pockets. “I used these as a diversion before. It saved my life.”
She retrieved a grenade and a smoke bomb before shrugging her pack back on. “They like the noise, or maybe the light of the fire? Either way, we toss this sucker and wait for them to go check it out then we use the smoke bomb to make it harder for them to see us as we cross over to the house and find a way in.”
“That’s a pretty good plan,” Hal said, “but remember what happened the last time you did that? Flaming zombies spreading fire to nearby houses?”
“Fine. There’s shelter within reach, a place to cook your meat, and cars, but let’s just get back on this endless expressway and walk until our feet are too blistered to take another step.”
“Why do you think all those zombies are down there?” He turned toward her. “They stay where they find food. There are probably people in those houses, or at least there have been recently. We can’t just toss a grenade without being sure we won’t be killing anyone.”
He jerked his head toward the direction they’d come from and led them back up the ramp. Maura looked back over her shoulder and paused, thinking about going it alone. She could try. Toss the grenade, go into a house, find car keys, and leave these people behind. She owed them nothing. Sure, Hal had given her a ride when she’d needed one but who was to say she wouldn’t have survived on her own? She might have found a car. And she wasn’t truly alone. She still had Daniel, a soldier to guide her. But Angela and Janjai were lost without her. They blindly followed a man who would likely kill them to save himself. He’d already wrecked their vehicle, now waved shelter in their faces and yanked it away. She had to save them so she followed along.
“This is much better.”
“Everyone was tired and hungry,” Hal said, tearing off another piece of venison from the spitfire. “We needed to stop and rest, get some food in us.”
“Yes, we wouldn’t want that poor deer to have died for nothing.”
“I’ll take first watch so you can get some rest, Maura.” Angela looked at her. “You sound really tired and cranky. Of course if you ate something, you’d probably feel better.”
Maura seethed as she watched the other three eat the deer’s carcass. She would protect Angela. She was just a child after all, but that smart tone would be nipped in the bud pretty quick once she was in charge. Hal allowed that disrespect, but not her.
“You won’t be taking a watch by yourself, Angela.” Hal said around the half masticated meat in his mouth. “We’ll go in shifts. Maura and I will take first shift, then we’ll trade off with you and Janjai after a few hours. We’ll leave here at dawn and look for another vehicle.”
Another vehicle. Because the first one they’d found in hours was a clunker. They sat outside it now, circled around the makeshift spitfire Hal had created out of sticks they’d gathered from the wooded area along the side of the expressway and a few car parts.
“Where are we supposed to sleep?” Maura asked. “We’re sitting in the middle of the expressway, out in the open.”
“In the car,” Hal answered. “One person in the backseat, the other in the trunk. It’s hard in there, but roomy. When you’re tired enough, even the ground will do.”
“I guess I’ll take the trunk since I’m smaller,” Angela grumbled, standing up. “I’m going to go lie down now.”
“I’m ready to sleep as well,” Janjai said. “Thank you for making this for us to eat. We will have better luck tomorrow. I feel it.”
“I feel it too.” Hal smiled at her. “Good night.”
Maura watched the two settle in for the night, Janjai closing herself off inside the car, which fortunately only had blood stains on the front seats, and Angela climbing into the open trunk.
&nb
sp; “Sure you don’t want to eat any?” Hal asked, poking at the fire.
“No thank you. You sure we should have a fire going? It’s kind of a signal to others that we’re here, don’t ya think?”
“It’d be pitch black without it. We need to see if anything’s sneaking up on us.”
“We wouldn’t if we were in a building, like one of those at the last off ramp.”
“Maura, it was too dangerous and I’m not tossing around grenades in an area with houses where people might be hiding.”
“Any survivors are at military camps. They got out long before us.”
“I’m sure that’s what other survivors still on their own think, but here we are.” Hal stood and stretched.
Maura stood as well, wanting to be at eye level. “I’m not concerned with other people, I’m concerned with us. Protecting our people. Janjai and Angela are vulnerable.”
“Angela’s a lot stronger than her age would have you think. A little too headstrong but trust me, she can take care of herself.”
“She’s a kid. You need to treat her like one. For starters, teach her not to be so sassy with her elders. A child needs discipline.”
“You have kids, Maura?”
“No.”
“Then don’t tell me what Angela needs. I was entrusted with her care and considering the world we now live in, I’m doing pretty good. I know that girl better than you. She’s not your normal little girl. She’s far more advanced in more ways than you could comprehend.”
“And that gives her the right to be rude and disobey? You told her to stay in the car after the wreck and she blatantly ignored you. You just let her get away with it.”
“What was I supposed to do, lock her in her room without her television?”
“Funny. You’ll have to excuse me while I don’t laugh. That stunt could have gotten her killed.”
“It didn’t. I have this handled.”
Maura shook her head and stepped away. Just like a man. Always right, never wrong, especially when they were. Hal would lead them all right to their deaths rather than take advice from a woman.
“We’ll find another vehicle in the morning, Maura.”
“I’m sure we will.” You won’t, but we will.
Hal’s head dipped again. Maura held her breath. She’d been circling around the car while he sat propped against it, his head dipping every once in a while but he’d always jerk it back up, refusing to fall asleep. She’d talked him into allowing Janjai and Angela to get at least six full hours of sleep, hoping he’d fall asleep himself and make what she had to do easier.
Hal wasn’t much of a leader as far as she was concerned, but he was a fighter and a criminal. She wasn’t stupid enough to think she could take him out in any form of a direct attack. She had to catch him off guard so she kept walking around the car making sure the others were deep asleep by the time he nodded off himself, then she would strike.
Maura watched as Hal’s chin touched his chest and didn’t jerk back up. She stood still, her heart hammering away in her chest as the reality of the situation dawned. She was going to kill a man, not a soulless zombie that had already lost its spark of life, but a man. Yes, he was a criminal and for all she knew, a murderer, but she was going to take his life.
Her palms sweat as she turned the machete over in her hand, thinking of what she would have to do with it. Daniel had already been good as dead when she’d found him, the disease already coursing through his veins. He didn’t count. This did. Once she did this there was no taking it back. She would be killing a fellow human being.
A sound came from the back of the car and Maura jumped, barely restraining herself from crying out in surprise. She took a moment to check it out and saw that Angela had rolled over in the trunk, changing position in her sleep. She looked so sweet in sleep, an innocent angelic little girl much like one Maura would have wanted for herself. She hadn’t been blessed with children though because instead of marrying her and giving her children, Daniel had thrown her away for a virus carrier and gotten himself killed.
But things had a way of working out. Maura now carried Daniel with her and no one would ever take him away again, and she’d been given this girl, a child she and Daniel could raise together. She could love and protect this little girl far better than Hal. Men always left. They were selfish and greedy. Hal didn’t deserve the gift of this child. She did. She’d earned it and she’d do whatever was necessary to keep this little girl safe and with her. And then there was Janjai. What would the woman do without her? Follow some other pig of a man? No, she had to save them both. She had to destroy the enemy.
Maura walked back over to stand before Hal. He still slept with his chin resting on his chest, a small snore coming from him as his arms lay limp at his sides. He was completely vulnerable to her now.
Maura wiped her sweaty palm on her jeans and gripped the machete tight, knowing she’d have to use more force than she used on zombies. They were already dead and rotting, their skin softer, bones far more fragile. Hal would be harder to kill, especially if he woke up and fought back. She couldn’t go for the skull with him, and feared missing if she went for the heart. No, she’d have to drive the blade through the hollow of his neck, instantly cutting off his air supply. Even if he managed to wake up and fight back instead of dying instantly, he’d be too busy choking on his own blood to do anything to her.
“This is the end, Hal. I can’t let you hurt Angela.” She drew her arm back, lined up the killing strike and took a deep breath. Then she swung her arm in a downward arc.
The gunshot startled her, such a loud sound in an otherwise quiet night, then the pain ripped through her chest. Her arm flailed as her body twisted away. She turned to see Angela standing next to the trunk, gun in her hands. She heard two more gunshots and her body jerked in unison before she fell to the ground.
Hal jerked awake, instantly jumping to his feet and pulling his gun from his waistband. He pointed it as he scanned the area, expecting zombies, but there were none. It took his tired mind a moment to realize what he was seeing.
Maura’s body lay on the ground, blood pouring from holes in her shirt, as Angela calmly approached her, gun still pointed. Janjai emerged from the car, her hand covering her mouth but not doing much in way of quieting the panicked sounds coming from it.
“Angela? What happened?”
“She was about to kill you,” Angela explained nonchalantly. “I’ve been awake for a while, listening as she kept walking around the car, then she stopped. I don’t think she realized it but she was thinking out loud, something about someone named Daniel who left her instead of giving her a kid and how she could have me. She wanted to protect me and Janjai from you. I climbed out of the trunk real quiet after she walked away. She was so intent on killing you she didn’t even notice.”
Hal looked down and saw the machete laying next to her open hand on the ground. “She was going to stab me in my sleep?”
“Looked like she was trying to take your head off.”
“You killed her?” Janjai looked at Angela in horror.
“What was I supposed to do, watch her kill Hal? She got what she deserved.”
Hal looked at Angela, disturbed by her lack of remorse. He shared a look of surprise with Janjai before shrugging it off. He’d just nearly been murdered in his sleep and multiple shots had been fired. If there were any zombies nearby, the gunfire would attract them. He would deal with Angela later.
Hal crept closer to Maura and squatted next to her. Her eyes were open, staring at the lightening sky. He held two fingers to her throat, feeling no pulse. “She’s gone.”
“Good riddance,” Angela muttered as Janjai whimpered.
“Have a little compassion,” Hal snapped. “A life was taken.”
“She tried to kill you!”
“Yes she did,” Hal agreed. “You protected me, which was a good thing, but being happy about it isn’t. Come look at what you did.”
Angela frowned as sh
e stepped closer, stopping to look down at Maura’s body. “I saved you. I don’t understand why you’re mad. She was a bad person. Ungodly.”
Hal let out a deep breath as he searched for the right words to explain. “Some people are bad and need to be stopped, permanently. Child abusers, molesters, rapists. These are all evil people who need to be destroyed in order to protect others but even their lives are not to be taken lightly. God put us all on this earth and gave each and every one of us his love. Some people are weak and they let demons in. Those demons take control, make them do horrible things. It’s the demons inside doing those awful things, not the people themselves.”
“You can’t kill the demon without killing the person.”
“No, you can’t, and that’s why it’s always a sad thing to kill someone no matter what they’ve allowed the demons inside them to do. Do you understand?”
Angela nodded. “I’m sorry she had to die but if I had it to do over again, I would. I had to save you.”
Hal nodded then looked over at Janjai to find her eying both of them strangely. He imagined the conversation was strange to her. He wasn’t sure just how much English she knew though she seemed to speak it easily enough, but those outside of CROSS were not familiar with the concept of people allowing demons inside. They saw people like Maura as mentally ill or just savage. They didn’t know the evil that ran through their veins, which was why CROSS had to remain secret. They would never be allowed to operate openly in a world that fought against God’s word at every chance and had misinterpreted the bible in countless ways.
“We should start moving now. It’s still a little dark but those gunshots could have drawn unwanted attention.”
“Aren’t you tired?” Angela asked. “I can keep watch while you sleep.”
