Generation Z (Book 4): The Queen Unthroned

by Meredith, Peter

  All but Stu and Neil Martin, that is. Stu was invariably shunned, while Neil had to suffer the humiliation of having his old friends shoo their children indoors when he walked by. He didn’t suffer it in silence. “Jeeze Carl, I’m not going to eat your kids. I’d eat your wife first. I’m just saying that someone should.” Carl Tamsen pointed a rifle. “It was a joke, Carl. Jeeze! I’m not a cannibal.”

  “You ate Eddie,” Stu reminded him in a whisper.

  “He had it coming,” Neil snapped. After a moment’s reflection he added, “I wish he had shaved. I don’t think men really appreciate how prickly they can get.”

  “I guess no one gets that zombies have their problems, too.”

  For a few seconds, Neil glared, fury in his blood-red eyes. Then he burst into laughter that was shockingly alien sounding. Neil’s laugh was similar to a saw trying to cut rock, and Stu got a case of the goosebumps from it.

  “That was a funny one, Stu. I like you and, who knows, maybe I won’t eat you. You’re too skinny anyway.”

  There was nothing funny about Neil Martin. He had been shot through the chest and also through the thigh, but other than a phlegmy cough and a dragging limp he seemed…well he hadn’t seemed fine even before getting shot, he was still alive-ish; and that wasn’t right.

  “Neil, you can’t talk about eating people or they’ll kick you off the island.” Even faster, he didn’t add.

  “Ooh, I’m shaking in my crocs.” Stu looked down and noticed for the first time that he was wearing odd rubber shoes. They were purple. Neil, scratched some of the flaking blood from the side of his face and told Stu, “I’m not staying either way and neither are you. That girl that came with you, was going on and on about that Mike guy as if he was the second coming of, I don’t know, Noah or something. I’m just saying that if that was Eddie, he would’ve been caught by now. If your friend is as good as you guys say, no one’s going to catch that boat and they’re going to get away. So, where does that leave us?”

  They had gone north to watch the chase, but when it ran beyond the range of the searchlights, they had wandered back to the Governor’s mansion. Neil climbed up onto the rock wall separating Deanna’s property from a neighbor’s yard. To Stu, he looked like a wretched and gnarled gargoyle as he sat with his feet tucked up to his chin.

  “Is there an us that I should know about?” Stu asked. “It’s not like we know each other. And you are going to turn into one of them, or are you going to pretend you weren’t enjoying yourself earlier when you ate Eddie.”

  “I’m not turning any time soon and so what if I liked it? It’s not like I’m hungry for brains or that sort of thing. It just happened and I sort of went with it. I’d prefer we don’t make a big deal about it.”

  Since he had saved Stu’s life, Stu gave him a quick promise and Neil slapped him on the back. “Good. Thank you. Now about us. I’m going to get Emily back one way or the other.”

  Stu nodded. “And I’m going to get Mike and Jenn back. I guess an ‘us’ makes sense. The question is, do you have a boat?”

  “Not one that will out-sail the Calypso. But we don’t need to out-sail her. We both know a short cut.”

  Again, Stu nodded. The overland route was close to sixty miles, but if they could take one of the smaller boats and use the same water route that Jillybean had shown them weeks before, they could cut that in half. “It’s a short cut but not that short of one. We’re looking at thirty hours and that’s if we leave right now and don’t stop for nothing.” He licked a finger and held it up. The wind was out of the north, and although the Calypso was being slowed going in that direction, they would fairly fly down the coast. “The wind is with them. Joslyn could be in Grays Harbor in a day, well ahead of us.”

  A scowl darkened Neil’s features, and with the scars and the blood and his grey skin, there was no getting around it, he was a zombie. It was strange to see one think. “I thought you said your man was good. It seems to me that a good sailor could slow down his boat if he wanted to.”

  Having this pointed out by a zombie made Stu feel especially stupid. There was no way Mike was going to race to a torturous death at the hands of the Corsairs. He would spill his wind, or drag a sea anchor, or do something to slow them down.

  Neil grinned, his teeth black in the moonlight. “You see it now. If we play our cards right, we might be able to cut off the Calypso right after she enters the harbor. Joslyn may not even see us coming until it’s too late. Even then, she’ll probably just think we’re Corsairs.”

  It was a good plan, with one major flaw: Neil was a zombie. Sure, he could walk and talk but that didn’t make him any less dangerous. Stu needed someone on his side he could trust. “We need back-up, just in case. Also, we need permission to take one of the boats.”

  “We don’t have time,” Neil shot back.

  “Don’t you think we should make time to do this right?” Neil didn’t think so, but had his vote nullified as Stu simply walked away. He slipped through the now crowded mansion to Deanna and explained their plans to the distraught governor.

  She grasped at the straw. “Yes. Take any boat you want. And, and, and we’ll get volunteers. Everyone loved Emily.” Unfortunately, a dozen years of safety and comfort had made the people of Bainbridge weak—just as Jillybean had known. Everyone who loved Emily had an excuse: Norris Barnes had a bad hip; Sheriff Deberha Perkins was too old; and so on.

  There were almost a hundred people in and around the mansion, and not one volunteered, and Deanna lacked the authority to force anyone to go with them. “Then I’ll go,” she stated, getting to her feet, and staring boldly around. Those who caught her eye, looked away, quickly. “The Corsairs do not frighten me any more than the Azael did. I may be a woman but I can fight. Tell them, Neil.”

  “You were a golden Valkyrie,” Neil said from the far corner of the room. “Nothing could stop you then and nothing can stop you now. You have five minutes. Pack light but smart. It’s going to be cold. Oh, and make sure you get a gun with plenty of ammo.”

  Stu could not believe his ears and the second Deanna stormed out of the room, he turned on Neil. “You want to take her? Are you kidding me? She’s too old for one and…”

  “We’ll talk outside,” Neil stated, cutting him off. Afraid to be touched, the crowd in the room parted as he swept through them. Once outside, he didn’t slow and Stu had to almost jog to keep up with the much shorter man.

  “What are you doing? Neil? Where are you going?”

  Neil glanced up, a sneer on his lips. “We’re going to the docks. Duh. Do you think I want Deanna tagging along? She was a Valkyrie once, and if the Valkyrie was coming along, I’d welcome her. But she isn’t. Deanna’s coming as a mother, a frightened, emotional mother. That won’t help us get Emily back.”

  It made sense and yet, Stu was still uneasy about traveling with a zombie. Neil wasn’t without his good points. Not only had he become completely fearless, he also didn’t care one wit about offending anyone. He marched straight down to the docks to the harbormaster’s shack where a gaggle of people were just then moving the bodies. With the dark they didn’t see Neil and Stu until the pair were right on them.

  “Poor Todd won’t be needing this,” Neil said, and picked up Todd’s M4. He handed it to Stu and then snatched up Steve Gordon’s rifle.

  “What are you doing, Neil?” one of the men asked in a hoarse whisper. The rumor was that Neil had come back from the dead. As far as rumors went, it seemed very believable.

  Neil charged the weapon, making everyone take a step back. “We’re going to save Emily. Any of you boys want to come along?” In answer, he received only excuses or silence. “That’s what I thought. You’re all a bunch of pansies. When the Black Captain comes you’ll deserve everything he does to you.”

  He left them white-faced and roiling in an impotent fury. It was a sad realization for Stu. These were young men who had cowered for so long behind their wall that they had become actual cowards. They co
uld have easily stopped the two from taking one of the flat-bottomed skiffs, yet they did nothing except raise the water gate when Neil barked at them.

  They paddled out onto Puget Sound where the cold wind helped push them south. They needed all the help they could get. It was a long way to Olympia and this time they didn’t have the benefit of Jillybean’s electric motor. The two men paddled endlessly, stroke after stroke.

  Neil seemed to sleep even as he kept up the rhythm. His head dropped to the V in his sweater vest as he went on relentlessly. After two hours, Stu was envious. His back ached and his hands were blistered. His wounded arm screamed with pain and his bullet torn muscles were the first to cramp. Even his ass hurt.

  Despite all this, he did not complain, knowing that Emily, Mike, and Jenn would endure far worse if the Black Captain ever got a hold of them.

  Five hours of the most intense torture passed before the vague outlines of Olympia appeared before them. “Neil. Neil! Wake up. I think we’re here.” The winter sunrise was still forty minutes away and in the dark Stu wasn’t a hundred percent certain he was even in the right city. The last time he had come through, he had been only a day removed from major surgery and under the effect of powerful pain meds.

  Neil coughed up something black that was the size of a mouse. It made a little splash when he spat it out. “Great,” he rumbled. “Now for the hard part.”

  “Yeah,” Stu agreed with a disgusted sigh. They wouldn’t have a zombie slave to help them haul their boat. They’d have to do it themselves. He angled them towards the shore where the high tide made it easy to clamber up among the ruins of a harbor-side restaurant. The first thing Stu did when they were on dry land was dig his knuckles into his back and bow his belly outward. He was rewarded by a string of cracks.

  Next, he began massaging his dead arms. He could barely lift them and yet, he was supposed to help carry the skiff. “I don’t see how that’s going to happen.” He turned back towards Neil and was startled to see a shadow move away from the side of the building. It seemed to float in the darkness as if it was made of nothing at all.

  It was made of flesh and blood, however. It was a hulking man that yanked Neil’s head back and brought a black knife to his throat.

  “Don’t move or I’ll cut the girl’s throat.”

  Stu was shocked to realize he knew the voice. “Gunner?” No one else sounded so bestial.

  “You’re not Eddie,” Gunner growled.

  “And I’m not a girl,” Neal said and took a ferocious bite out of Gunner’s arm.

  Chapter 48

  The dive from the cliff took Jillybean deep into the cold black water of the pacific. She went so deep that for just a moment, she wondered if she would have the breath to make it back up to the surface and if she did, would she come back as herself?

  She did, though it was close. Eve wanted to drown Jillybean even if it meant killing herself in the process. And it wasn’t easy to maintain herself when she broke the surface. The night was utter chaos. Men and zombies were leaping into the water so that it seemed like it was raining bodies.

  Troy Holt was in the water calling out, “Fight the surf! Get away from the cliff!” It was easier said than done and two men were turned to pulp by the crashing waves. Two more drowned; one because he jumped in fully armored, and the other because he couldn’t swim.

  “You can’t blame either of those on me,” Jillybean said, when Troy glared at her. “Who jumps into the ocean with fifty pounds of armor on?”

  “It’s all your fault,” he growled.

  “Even that?” She pointed as a fantastic white sailing ship with lights blazing slid into view. Troy looked at it as if it were a miracle until she added, “You can thank me later for saving your life.” She had ordered four of the Guardians to bring the ship around, not just to save them, but to destroy her own zombie army.

  Seeing the boat with its torches lit and hearing the horn that began to sound was enough to get the stupid beasts to lemming right off the cliff. Most of them didn’t die—killing zombies wasn’t that easy—but the tide and current slowly swept them south. Where they went from there didn’t concern Jillybean; they were someone else’s problem.

  The few remaining Knights were pulled on board, where they helped to keep the boat on station and blew the horn until their lips were numb. Jillybean went below deck, took the largest cabin for herself, and changed into dry clothes. She slept until the first light of morning woke her. Feeling refreshed, she went on deck and saw that they were being towed back into the tricky little cove that protected their small fleet.

  A glance toward the town showed that it was zombie-free, except for the many corpses that is. They looked awful. That was you. You did that. Youuuu diiiid thaaaat! Eve sang.

  Jillybean ignored her. Imperiously, she ordered a group of men in one of the rowboats to fetch her boots and coat from the cliff. Troy rolled his eyes and then nodded for them to do as she asked. She changed into her damp clothes and when her boots and coat arrived, she allowed herself to be rowed ashore.

  She started walking towards the center of town and with her came her bedraggled escort of Knights. “Isn’t she our prisoner?” one asked.

  This caused Jillybean to laugh. “Look at the hill and tell me what you see?” Her army was marching towards the town. “You can either deal with them or with me. They will kill all the men, rape the women and children for the next week straight, then sell them into slavery. I am only asking that you accept me as your queen.”

  A pallid, drooping Bishop Wojdan appeared with Commander Walker, who looked as though he could barely contain his loathing for her. They had both heard the Queen.

  “I’ve already told you, we won’t kneel,” the Bishop said. “We are not your subjects or your servants. We will not obey a single command of yours.”

  Sudden hot anger coursed through her. It came from the fury deep within, where the hatred was volcanic. Her hands balled into fists as she fought to hold onto her sanity. Somehow, she held herself together. “Your Excellency, you do not understand what’s going on. You do not understand the danger you’re putting your people in. I’m the only one who can save you. Look at them.” She pointed at her army.

  They were marching without orders from her. It was a bad sign, as was the fact that they had already broken into factions. The Coos Bay Clan marched as a unit under their red and black flag on the right, while the Magnum Killers were on the left. In the middle was Leney with most of the ex-Corsairs. Lagging behind were the Santas.

  “They won’t take no for an answer,” she said. “They’ll drag your children out into the street and you don’t want to know what they’ll do to them.”

  The Bishop didn’t even blink. “If you think that will force us to comply, you are mistaken. Besides, you’re still their queen, aren’t you? I don’t think you would allow that sort of thing.”

  She was very near to tearing her hair out in frustration, because he was right. She didn’t have it in her to do more than threaten. Furiously, she snapped her fingers and demanded, “Come with me, Bishop. We need to talk. Alone.” Although it was technically an order, he followed her into the nearest house. The moment he shut the door, she rounded on him.

  “I don’t need to kill anyone. I can burn down this town. Is that what you want? I can take everything from you. Your food, your boats, everything.”

  “You would like a boat? Stealing isn’t needed. I would much rather give you one than cause you to fall into sin.” He was calling her bluff again! “I would suggest The Star of David. She’s our finest ship.”

  Jillybean folded in the face of his unrelenting pleasantness. With a loud sigh, she threw herself down on a couch and thumped both boots onto the coffee table in a less than lady-like manner. “Fine. You win, at least for the moment.”

  Bishop Wojdan seated himself across from her, perched just on the front edge of a patched leather chair that seemed decades older than the couch. Wojdan’s ponderous belly hung between his kn
ees. It was his turn to sigh. “What more do you think you can threaten us with except straight-up annihilation?”

  “Oh, I won’t be doing anything to you…or for you. You have made your bed and soon you will roast in it. You and pretty much everyone else.”

  “Unless we kneel before her Royal Highness, of course.”

  She didn’t bother even commenting on his tone, which was borderline rude. “Exactly. My army is, and was, and will always be on the verge of mutiny. For the most part they are ex-Corsairs and, for the most part, they would like to go back to being, at least in some fundamental ways, Corsairs. They don’t want discipline. They don’t want moral absolutes. They want to rape and pillage just like they’ve been doing for the last dozen years.”

  “And you won’t let them?” He shrugged. “I suppose that’s a good start. Attacking innocent people; not so much.”

  She ignored him completely, unsure whether that had been him talking or someone inside her. Either way, it was just talk. “The only thing stopping them is me. They don’t know what to make of me. There are a hundred rumors about me and I let them all go unchallenged. The more they fester, the more nervous they are. I even use my…imbalance to my benefit. All to keep them second guessing.”

  The Bishop sat back in the old chair. It’s worn springs and decrepit foam could not bear his weight and tried to swallow him. He struggled to extricate himself, saying, “Because if they ever realize that you are just one woman they’ll turn on you.” He blew out through puffed cheeks as he got back to the edge of the seat. “You’ve managed to put yourself in a no-win situation. Eventually, they will realize that you are not infallible or omnipotent.”

  “I’m in a difficult position, not an impossible one, your Excellency. A victory against the Black Captain would go a long way to cementing my hold and bringing lasting peace to everyone. Forget the spies in my ranks and the people hatching plots, my biggest problem is that I’ll be bringing Corsairs into battle against a man they fear beyond almost anything. Can I depend on the Coos Bay Clan? Will the Magnum Killers turn on me? Will the Santas actually fight? I need the Guardians to give some moral clarity, as well as a backbone to my army.”