by Angela White
But they didn’t.
Fifteen minutes of hard running still gave them no hint of where the wagon train was and both men didn’t pretend there was an explanation. They slowed to a march with their guns in hand, trying to decide what to do.
Neither of them heard the shuffling feet over their own heavy steps, nor the faint moans over their own conversation. When the hand came through the stalks, it was able to grab one of the panicking soldiers before they could react.
The undead were thin and runny, rotting with every shuffle forward, but they still had enough life left in them to chase a meal.
“What the…shoot it!”
Nicholas screamed as the teeth sank into his arm and Peters took off running in blind panic.
Alexa’s lips tightened as the screams continued, sounding near enough for them to see the person being hurt.
“That’s one of my men!” Merrik shouted, stomping toward Alexa. “Help them!”
“What are they doing out there?” she inquired coldly.
“I don’t care. Help them!”
“What will you give me?”
Merrik shouted a curse and spun around. “I’ll do it myself!”
Alexa didn’t stop him and didn’t motion for her men to, either. The sooner Merrik was dead, the better.
Merrik reached the corn closest to the screaming but before he could enter it, a bloody man came barreling out of it and slammed into him. Both males dropped in a heap of shouts and groans.
Alexa sent David to check out the bloody man and it wasn’t until the blacksmith dumped water over him that they all recognized Peters.
“It was dead! It walked and got Nicholas, and it was dead!”
Merrik shoved the blabbering man toward Travis and turned to yell at Alexa, but she was already ahead, getting their convoy moving.
“Wait! I have a live man out still out there!”
“Not if he was bit,” Billy stated as he and Brian passed nearby. “Good as dead, and better for you if he were.”
“What do you mean?” Merrik demanded snottily.
“They like to haunt their old friends and employers,” Billy taunted with a sneer. “I’d guess that being soldiers together would make you like his family, right?”
With that hanging in the air, Billy increased his pace and got away from Merrik. He didn’t like the man, but he didn’t really enjoy sticking it to him yet. He still had a small hope that Merrik, like Paul, could learn and change.
Brian caught up with Billy, drawing Merrik’s attention.
“I want the boy now!” Merrik called out suddenly.
Billy sighed. He’d given the man too much credit.
“Talk to the boss,” Billy answered. “You get him when she says so and not a second before.”
Merrik was stopped from chasing her by the gunfighter this time, the only one who had made it this far. He and the mapmaker were no longer smiling.
“Leave her be before you get all of us killed,” the remaining gunfighter ordered in a hard gravelly tone.
Merrik wanted to argue, but he’d witnessed the brothers practicing their techniques on the wolves before Alexa arrived and knew he couldn’t match it.
“When it’s all over, I’ll remember!” Merrik swore, jerking the slave’s leash away from Travis to march her toward the opposite side of their wagon train.
The gunfighter grimaced. “Me too, son. Me too.”
3
The river wasn’t a welcome sight, not after the creek, and everyone surveyed the murky green liquid as if it were deadly.
Alexa led them through the trees to where they would be able to board small boats to carry them the rest of the way Lincoln.
Alexa stopped as the dock came into view, a bad sign, and it sent fresh tension through the wagon train.
“Wait here.”
Alexa’s order was obeyed by everyone except the soldiers and Mark. The man on Alexa’s side made sure he stayed close to her as Merrik and his men followed.
“Oh, shit.”
No one echoed Merrik’s expletive, but they were all thinking it. The boats were there, as was the dock, but the men guarding it and those running it, were in pieces. Blood washed over the dock with each as the wave high enough to reach and Alexa cautiously began the short descent.
“What happened here?” Travis asked, pulling his bandana up to cover the smell.
“Wolves?” Merrik offered.
“No way, man. Their heads have been severed!”
The scene was gory enough to make the soldiers dread the dock. None of them wanted to set a foot there. Bodies, and pieces of them, littered the wood.
“Anyone here?” Merrik called loudly, hand cupped around his mouth to add volume.
Alexa’s glare said if Merrik made one more mistake, she would have to handle him.
Travis, reading the moment, stepped in front of his friend in an attempt at distraction. “What do we do now?”
Merrik scowled at Travis for asking her, but Alexa was encouraged. Merrik’s men weren’t all the fools that he obviously was.
“Clean off the dock, load the boats, keep moving,” she answered tonelessly. She didn’t say to burn the bodies or to bury them, sure these men wouldn’t, but it didn’t honestly matter. Left here, their skeletons would provide a bit of dust for future travelers, as well as a warning of the dangers that lived and roamed here.
The wooden dock was lined in flat-bottom boats that bobbed lightly on the water. The front two even had canopies over their center and Alexa didn’t bother having them clean the rear barges. There weren’t enough of them to fill three now.
“Let’s get going,” Alexa directed. “My men will guard the wagons. Yours will work.”
Merrik thought to protest, but her men were harder, more likely to save the cargo waiting behind the corn, and he gave in resentfully. “What’s first?”
“Make brooms, get cleaning detergent from the wagons, and scrub when the water flows over.” Alexa moved toward the corn and pulled long stalks that she bound together to use for a broom. When she stepped onto the dock without hesitating and started sweeping at the blood, the soldiers joined her. When they rolled bodies into the water without a thought, she didn’t tell them to anything differently, but inside, she protested. Not burying them seemed wrong even when it wasn’t wise to waste the manpower.
4
It took them two hours to clean the dock and boats enough to use and the wagon train enjoyed the break from her relentless pace through the corn. They ate and rested, and surveyed the water for signs of life. There were none, but the death of Merrik’s two men hadn’t been forgotten and everyone stayed clear of the bank. When the call finally came to load the boats, sunset was nearly upon them.
Alexa supervised the loading of each, directing people, vehicles, and animals into the proper places for good balance. She didn’t argue or give anyone a choice, just pointed and expected them to do as they were told. Eager to get on the water, where he would have control again, Merrik didn’t argue.
Their animals didn’t like the smells of the new area, nor the water. They shied at being led across the narrow ramps and Edward ended up being the one to do that chore. He had Billy, Paul, and Brian now sheltered beneath Mark’s annoyed protection.
The mules were the easiest to handle, as they’d been through rough places before. The injured mule driver was able to control his own wagon, but he brought up the rear of the supply wagons, swaying in his seat. The loss of blood and lack of sleep was taking its toll on him. The man would recover in time, but for a few days, he’d be miserable.
Edward allowed the mule drivers to assist as the wagons were loaded, aware that they were old soldiers with supply and animal experience. The fighters were relieved to have them along. The wizened old men knew how to take care of things. The other travelers had animals that shied nervously and bucked against the reigns trying to take them onto the water. Their natural instinct said they belonged on land and it was obvious they preferr
ed to be there.
Tension thickened when the largest of the horses came across the bridge. The stallion had already nipped the gunfighter who rode it and reared up when the saddle was removed. Ten hands high, it was still the width of the horse that was impressive. Stocky and nervous, Edward waved Billy off as soon as he had the reigns in his hand.
Edward stayed still for a moment, gently stroking the horse along its nose. “Easy, baby.”
Everyone stopped to stare as Edward calmed the horse. The tones of his voice and the waves of peace were strong enough to have an effect on all of them.
Alexa blinked. “Edward.”
He turned to discover the entire group of travelers yawning, rubbing at their eyes. They were all dazed.
He flushed. “Uh, yeah, sorry.”
He led the now docile horse onto the boat and reloading resumed while the remaining slavers once more approaching Alexa about buying her men. The slave males weren’t doing well. Of the five heavily made-up males the slavers had started out with, only two were still alive and looked broken as they sat quietly grieving for their comrades.
“No.”
“But our stock has been mostly killed,” Braids complained.
“Then you’re not very good owners, are you?” Alexa asked coolly. “Get loaded or stay here.”
The big females were angry and offended, but knew better than to argue or delay, especially since there were only a few protectors still alive. When Alexa said they were leaving, she meant it, and no one wanted to be left behind at this horror scene. The flies and smells were awful, but it was worse to view the carnage. The bodies they’d dumped into the water were currently stacking up along the far side of the river bank like logs.
Alexa and David got the old woman and kids settled near the center and gave them vests. The orange life-wear was incredibly filthy and ragged, but still functional. The kids wore them happily. Their own clothes were little more than rags, sporting more filth and rips than when Alexa had first met the trio.
“Are you looking forward to being reunited with your daughter?” David asked the old woman, trying to confirm something that had been bothering him about her story.
Grammie nodded slowly. “A bit afraid, too. She doesn’t sound like she’s changed.”
David handed the kids a food pouch and then took the time to cover them with a blanket from his pack. “It will get chilly tonight on the water.”
He didn’t receive verbal gratitude, a rudeness, but he didn’t need any and let the insult slide. He continued with his questions, sure he had Alexa’s attention as she got the old woman’s tiny cooking stove lit.
“How long has she been gone? Time will occasionally allow true change.”
“Years,” the woman answered, settling back into the extra blanket that had been freed by David donating his. “And some days, it ain’t been long at all.”
The cryptic answer was one the blacksmith found hard to argue with or work around without seeming too curious. He went on carefully to pull himself out of that impression. “I have…had a daughter go missing during the war. I’m glad for you, to know yours made it.”
The expression that flashed on the old woman’s face said she believed his tall tale, and David gave her a small smile. “You look like my grandmother. Sorry if I’m bothering you.”
“David, enough chatting,” Alexa ordered, feeding into the impression he was trying to send. “Missing your family isn’t an excuse for breaking my rules.”
David’s voice dropped into defensive adoration. “I’m sorry, lady. Truly.”
“Yes, blacksmith. I hear your apology,” she responded easily. “Finish your chores and then the next.”
“Yes, lady.”
Alexa left them and David apologized to the old woman again. “I’m sorry. I’m a rookie.”
The old woman patted his hand in comfort. “You’ve been a help to me. Worry about it no more.”
David felt the wrongness when she touched him, but without a reason for it, all he could do was nod and smile.
David finished settling the family in and then helped Edward with the livestock. The chickens he was chasing didn’t seem to like his way with animals. They knew they were being taken onto the water and they wanted in it. The fact that it would kill them was hard to explain to livestock and the two men spent a few humorous moments chasing the chickens around the boat dock, clucking like fools.
Merrik’s black leather jacket was tacky with blood and he grumbled as he nervously dunked it into the river a couple times and hung it up on a nearby tree to dry.
While he loaded his boat according to Alexa’s direction, someone knocked the jacket to the ground as they passed the branch. And then someone kicked it into the water, where it quickly sank. Alexa’s men watched this in amusement and then shared laughter when Merrik started to get aboard without remembering he’d hung it up in the first place. It was a lot less than he deserved.
“Uncrate your woman,” Alexa called out to Merrik, voice like a mountain. “No one goes on the water in a box unless they’re dead.”
“What about the prisoner?” Paul asked, drawing indignation from her fighters.
“Not my choice,” Alexa stated. “Criminals don’t have rights in afterworld.”
When all the animals and gear were finally loaded, the rest of the people were brought on board the two wide boats. Merrik, his pale female, and his men claimed the largest vessel and found themselves almost alone on it. They were except for the wagon drivers, who had no choice. They went where their cargo did.
As the last of the soldiers boarded, a shadow came running from the corn behind them.
“Hey, is that…look out!”
Peters and Travis turned around to find Private Nicholas, freshly undead, lunging toward them.
Alexa fired twice from where she stood, face unreadable.
“What did you do?!” Merrik screamed, seeing she had shot both Nicholas and Peters.
“He wasn’t undead!”
Alexa pointed toward the pile of bodies that Travis was crawling out from an under. “He would have been as soon as the poison sank in. He was bitten.”
Merrik couldn’t argue with the teeth marks on Peters’ horrified face, nor the bullet through his head.
“Let’s go.”
No one argued with her order.
5
Being loosened from the dock was an unsettling feeling and curses echoed as gear slid and balance was challenged. The current tugged at the boats, then jerked them into the current and they were under way.
Long and flat, the boats were much like the old barges used before the war, except their power was only the current and poles strapped to the sides. Enough men could propel it away from the banks, but for the most part, river riding was an adventure like the killin’ fields themselves. Merrik didn’t know that because he’d never been on one and few of them were surprised when he puked over the rail only fifteen minutes into the trip.
Alexa listened to him retching from the boat in front of hers, and sighed. “About halfway through, my pet. Halfway through.”
Mark, staying close now that they were back in confined quarters, heard the mutter and forced himself not to respond. He wanted to be out of here too, but he had the feeling that the second half of this trek would be the worst.
“It will,” Alexa confirmed. “The slaughter chute is about to narrow.”
Mark took a short cigar from his pocket and lit it. The rare treat was given envious glances by most of the travelers around them, but when he passed it around his group, those jealous tendencies increased. Everything these people had witnessed said a life with Alexa was rewarding enough to be worth the risk, but more than that, she cared about her men and they were devoted to her. How many people could say that now and be telling the truth?
The water under them was smooth and calm to start their voyage, and the exhausted travelers set up pallets and bedrolls almost immediately, eager to rest. The tugging of the water was rela
xing. It lulled the soldiers and the weaker of their wagon train into sleep and caused Alexa’s men to become tenser than they’d already been. Letting their guard down wasn’t something they’d done much of during their time with her and it felt wrong, unnatural.
For Alexa, it felt normal. She’d spent too much of her life like this to be comfortable any other way and in time, the same would be true of her men. It wasn’t what she wanted for them, but it was what had to happen for them to survive and complete this quest. They were only months into a trek of a lifetime and she was toughening them up as quickly as she could.
“We have debris up here,” Daniel called, enjoying his place in the front of the boat. “Logs and branches, a few bodies.”
Alexa wasn’t worried over what they could pick out. It was what they couldn’t that was likely to hurt them. “Let me know if it gets bad,” Alexa answered.
“You got it.”
“Can we fill up around here?” he asked as she took a quick drink from her canteen.
“Not until Lincoln,” she answered.
“I’ve been wondering about the others. Shouldn’t they be getting low on food and water?’
Alexa nodded. “If we are, they should be.”
Alexa swept the snoring people, tensely settled animals, and felt the mental door open to the place where she was able to feel safe. This was as calm as it would get, the few hours before hell restarted in new ways, and she settled in eagerly. Sleep was something she couldn’t get enough of.
Two hours later, Daniel was the lone pair of eyes on their boat. Everyone else was asleep and the biker fought the drowsiness. He stood up to scan the shoreline and stared in shock, forgetting his duty for a moment. It wasn’t every day that he saw a raggedy band of women in loincloths with torches and spears.
Daniel shook his head and wiped at his eyes. “Must be getting slap-happy,” he muttered, fighting the urge to look over his shoulder. “Seeing shit again.”
6
Billy was near to the thief, who was now chained directly to the boat, and he was aware of the prisoner giving him hard looks. Billy was becoming their planner, often working directly with Alexa on travel routes and preparing rations. That pair had come up with half a dozen new plans to evade surprise attacks in just the last week and because of that, he suspected Alexa needed this man freed. It was why she’d given care of Brian to someone else for the night and placed Billy on this shift alone.
