Zombie Theorem (Book 4): Aces Mortis

by James Wallace

  Chun ignored the man’s whimpers and calls for an explanation of who they were and what made them think they had the right to hold him. He started screaming about his rights and looking around him wildly. Chun looked around and saw movement far off across the field. “Hey moron, the more you yell, the more you ring the dinner bell,” Chun twisted the man’s head in the direction of the shambling creatures. “We have some time until they get here. But if you don’t answer my questions the way I want them answered, I am going to drag you myself over there and feed you to those things, while we talk to your pretty, little girlfriend,” Chun watched the man consider his options.

  “I have rights, you can’t do that. I want my lawyer!” he started to raise his voice before Thor had had enough and knocked the man onto his back and grabbed his foot. He dragged him ten feet before the man started crying and saying he would answer their questions. Thor looked to Chun for direction. Chun curled his finger and motioned for him to bring the man back. He turned around and dragged him back, helped him back to his knees and stepped back.

  “Welcome back,” Chun gave the man a genuine smile. “First, I want you to understand, we are not cops. In fact, we aren’t really part of the military anymore. So, we are not held to any laws or do we have to recognize your rights. If I want to, I can cut little pieces off you and feed it to those dead things, or I can put a bullet between your eyes and walk the fuck away before your body hits the ground,” he wiped his forehead as if clearing away sweat. “Whew, glad that part is over, hopefully you will not make me repeat myself again. Now do you want to tell me who the fuck you guys are? Where did you come across that APC and weapons? Oh, and the most important part why did you fire on my family?”

  The man looked like he was stealing his courage to feed Chun a load of bullshit, but when Butch stepped up and removed his Kabar from its sheath. He deflated. “Fuck, you guys are serious. Aren’t you?” he choked out after having to swallow a couple of times. Butch slid the knife very slowly and lightly against the man’s cheek, drawing a small trickle of blood. “Okay, okay. We came onto the base when a bunch of soldiers had saved us from a grocery store we had been trapped in for a while, back when there were twenty of us.”

  “What happened to those soldiers?” Chun asked.

  “After they dropped us off a group of about fifty left again to look for more survivors. As they got past the gate, another military group attacked them. It was an amazing battle. The other guys had just rolled up and decimated them. Then this guy who called himself Heath, and said he was in charge of some force that called themselves the Ridder Group. He gave us these vehicles, weapons, and supplies. He said we could do anything we wanted to with the base as long as we left the aircraft alone and protected the base,” he became quiet suddenly as if a thought came to him.

  Chun looked down at him and tapped his thigh with his forefinger, making sure the man saw it. “What’s your name?”

  The man looked up and met Chun’s intense stare for a moment before flicking his attention to the ground in front of him. “They call me Rattler,” he said.

  “What kind of fucking name is Rattler? Did your parent’s fucking hate you or something?” laughed Hootie.

  “Fuck you, I gave myself that name. I didn’t like the name that society put on me,” he spat out.

  Hashkeh took that moment to come forward. He squatted down in front of the man. “My name is Hashkeh Naabah, in Navajo it means Angry Warrior. I was given this name by my actions as a child. Why did you decide on your new name?”

  Rattler shook his head as if thinking about telling this big brown man to go fuck himself. Instead he opened his mouth. “When I was ten, I was forced to work for a local dealer named Viko. He paid well and treated me like a little brother, but when I turned twelve he gave me a gun and ordered me to kill this old lady who called the cops on him. I broke into her house and beat her down, I didn’t want to kill her, thought a beat down was good enough. But Viko had sent two of his trusted guys with me, they told me if I didn’t shoot her they would kill me, Viko had ordered it. I raised the gun and pointed it at the woman, she told me I was a coward like a snake. I pulled the trigger over and over until it clicked empty. From that point on I was named Rattler,” he cocked an eyebrow. “Why did I tell you that story?”

  “Cause you needed too,” Hashkeh informed him. “What is your real name?”

  “Matt Hay.”

  “So, does this Heath and his Ridder guys ever come back and check on you?” Chun asked, seeing an opening with the man freely talking.

  He nodded his head. “Yeah, they come by a couple of times a week and bring us things.”

  “You mean the ingredients you need to make meth?” Hootie enquired.

  “Yeah man, they bring some food but mostly things we need to make new batches. They take some of it sometimes, but mostly just ask questions about what we have seen or heard.” He cocked his head for a minute and then got a look as if he had decided something. “Last time they came by I sent one of our people to follow them. They are living out of a high school about five miles east.” He pointed his chin to the mountains.

  “Okay Rattler, I am going to have one of my guys take you over there while we verify your story with your girlfriend,” Chun answered. The man dropped his head in understanding. Hashkeh picked the man up like a sack of potatoes and carried him over his shoulder towards one of the nearby hangars. Hootie and Thor followed him to give protection if needed.

  Lupo lifted the woman off the APC and brought her over to Chun and repeated the entire ammonia inhalant routine to bring her around. Her eyes shot open and she tried to get to her feet to run but Lupo stood behind her, holding onto her shoulder and forcing her to stay on her knees. She tried to turn her head and spit on him, but he forced her head down and all she was able to do was drool on herself.

  “Damn you are a little hellion. Aren’t you?” Butch asked, standing to her side.

  “Come over and I will show you shithead, I’ll fucking rip your cock off!” she hissed.

  “Enjoy dealing with her, Lt,” Butch shook his head, chuckling under his breath.

  “Great, thanks,” Chun answered. He came forward and dropped to his knees so he could get a good look at her. Her eyes were so badly dilated he was amazed she could see anything at all. He reached out, grabbed her hair and yanked her head back viscously. He looked over her neck and arms as she tried to squirm out of his grasp. “Look, I already got all the information I needed from Rattler, and your other friend is, well, unresponsive,” he cranked her head in the direction of the big fat man, dressed in a shirt so big it looked more like a stained sheet than something someone would wear. “I want you to know, I have no issues torturing you or killing you. I want some info, if I get what I want I will let you go free. If you lie to me,” he cranked her head hard in the other direction. “Well, those shambling things are getting closer and closer, and they look a little peckish.”

  Chun let that sink in for a moment. He still held her head by her hair and returned it staring back up to the sky. He was not in the mood to be spit on by a meth head skank. Who knew what kind of diseases she carried. “Let’s start with something easy. What is your name?”

  “Fuck you! That’s my name, do your worse soldier boy, I’ve been beaten by so many pimps and Johns that there is nothing you can do to me that could make me answer your questions,” she shook her head hard, trying to free her hair from his grasp.

  Chun looked up to Butch for an idea. He was no help and shook his head. While he was otherwise distracted with Butch, the woman tore her head free by ripping her hair out, leaving a big chunk in Chun’s hand. She jumped to her feet and took off sprinting across the field. Towards the zombies coming in their direction. “Fuck you all, soldier boys!” she yelled as she ran right for the group of zombies, as she got closer she threw herself into the air, diving head first into the small horde. Butch had raised his rifle and took a bead on her, but held his fire, it would be a waste of a bul
let. She was already being torn into by the snapping red mouths of the zombies. The most surreal moment was when she started laughing. The horde threw themselves on to her, pulling at her clothes and ripping into her stomach, pulling out long red dripping pieces of intestines. Another stuck his hand in her mouth and looked to be pulling back on her jaw. She attempted to close her mouth and bite his fingers off, but they did not feel pain and kept pulling. A loud cracking sound could be heard, as her lower jaw ripped free of her head. The laughing changed to a shriek and then stopped all together.

  “Well that’s something I will never be able to scrub clean from the old memory banks,” Dio added.

  “Yeah, holy shit!” Butch agreed.

  “She had to have been meth’d out of her fucking head man. Did you hear her laughter as they tore into her?” Lupo enquired.

  “Guys, do something about that horde quietly. I need to check in on the air progress,” Chun asked as he walked back to the Dragonhawk.

  Butch led the men as they moved toward the still feasting horde. They used their suppressed sidearms to take headshots. They didn’t want to add any more noise to bring in even more of the dead.

  “Nunzio, you out there?” Chun called over the helo’s radio.

  “Chun. Nice to have you back. What’s going on?”

  Chun informed him of the situation he had walked in on. And then requested an update on the air transport.

  “Things are good on our end. We have one more trip before these birds need to RTB for more fuel,” he used the RTB acronym for return to base.

  “Negative, they can land here and refuel, should allow them to give us some air cover a little longer. My men will clear the base and then, we just have one little side mission left to run,” Chun ordered.

  “Roger all, Chun. I am sending the Apaches in for a touch and go first. ETA ten minutes till they are bone dry.”

  “No worries, tell them to be careful and have one eye open. Out.”

  “Roger that. Out.” Nunzio answered back.

  Chun climbed out from the bird and directed his men to do a quick sweep of the base and bring full fuel trucks out for the aircraft to use. He was going to go for a walk with Rattler, and he was taking Thor with him. Butch acknowledged the orders and broke the men into teams. Thor appeared out of a nearby hangar frog marching Rattler to Chun. Rattler kept sweeping his head back and forth looking around. He paled when he spotted the dead zombies lying over a once blonde haired woman.

  “What did you do to Stacey man?”

  Chun turned his head to the body. “Dude, she did that to herself. Ripped a bunch of hair out of her head getting free and then ran into the loving arms of those dead things. That chick was seriously fucked in the head.”

  Rattler nodded his head agreeing. “Yeah, that Bitch was psycho. That was sure.”

  “So, Rattler. You, that big guy behind you, and I are going to go for a little walk to this high school you said that these Ridder guys are occupying.”

  His eyes almost shot from his head. “No fucking way!”

  “If those guys scare you, just think what we will do to you,” Chun stroked his stubbly chin acting like he was thinking. “Tell you what Rattler, I am done threatening you. If you do this solid for me, I will let you free with some supplies, a gun, and a vehicle. Deal?” Chun stuck his armored glove out.

  Thor cut Rattlers zip ties off him, freeing his hands. Rattler stared at the hands for a moment, then as if stuck in slow motion raised his own hand and took Chun’s. They shook, one pump up one pump down. “Deal, but I want a gun right now.”

  “I tell you what, I’ll give you one right now,” he removed a small 9.mm Glock from his vest, removed the magazine and pulled the slide back, ejecting the round that had been chambered. “You get the bullets though, after we get to the school.”

  Rattler looked down at the empty gun in Chun’s hands, and took it reluctantly. “I guess that is the best deal I am going to get, huh?

  “I don’t see anyone else offering you better,” Chun spread his arms wide and made a great show of looking around.

  Rattler dropped his head and shoulders in defeat. He extended his open hand out. “I accept,” he took the gun carefully from Chun and slid it into his jean’s pocket.

  Thor put his gloved hand on Rattler’s shoulder. “I think we should get moving. Why don’t you lead the way?”

  The trio set off towards the front gate of the base and turned east on the street out front. Rattler moved much quicker than Chun wanted, but he figured the man must still be hopped up on some drug. Chun scanned the street and buildings, peering into windows as they passed, expecting a zombie to attack at any moment.

  Rattler read the trepidation in Chun and Thor, and stopped in front of a bank. He leaned against the door and produced a cigarette from one of his pockets, as he pulled his lighter to light it up, Thor reached out and snatched it from the man’s lips. “Damn guys, the Ridder people have cleared this part. There isn’t a zombie within the area.”

  Chun and Thor shared a confused glance with each other. “If Ridder has killed all the zombies in the area. Then where is all the rotting maggot filled bodies?” Chun inquired.

  “I never said they killed them. They cleared them out, a big group of Ridder came through and herded them out. The ones who didn’t leave with the herd were captured and fitted with big metal collars and handled with big poles. They loaded them up in trucks and took them north. I have been inside all these buildings, they are clear man,” Rattler took another cigarette from his pocket and lit it up, taking a big drag.

  Chun shook his head to Thor, ordering him to leave Rattler alone. “Why are they taking the zombies away as prisoners? What purpose or value do the stink bags have?”

  “The only thing I can think of Lt. is that they are creating an army of dead. They would not release this virus and create millions of zombies unless they had a use for them,” Thor answered.

  “PJ, one of the guys who belonged to our little group, followed one of the trucks once. They went up towards L.A., said they had a huge pit dug and were filling it up with the captured things. He overheard some of the guards saying they had plans for the things.” Rattler blew out a big cloud of smoke.

  “How much further?” Chun asked.

  “Let me finish my cig, it’s around the corner and down two blocks. They have a guard post we need to skirt by though,” he took in a big drag off the cigarette and flicked it into the street. He moved off towards the corner, but stopped as he reached it. He popped his head around the building and brought it back quickly. “We may have a problem.”

  Chun removed a small mirror attached to a telescoping pole and moved it slowly to the edge of the building until he could see what was beyond. He swore under his breath and handed the pole to Thor. Thor copied his actions but he stayed there a little longer.

  “Lt, I count six Humvees and about twenty-five men on foot. No heavy weapons I can see,” he handed the mirror back to Chun who stowed it away back in his pocket.

  “We need to get off the street until they have passed,” they moved down two doors and Chun checked finding it unlocked. He slid in and dragged Rattler with him. Thor stepped in last and closed the door. They found themselves in a women’s dress shop. Chun directed them to move behind the sales counter and hunker down.

  Once they were in position, he radioed Butch. “Butch, Chun. How do you read me?”

  The message came back after a moment, filled with static. “Chun, Butch. You are coming in but filled with static. Over.”

  “Oh, so now we are using radio protocol again? Over.” Chun came back.

  “With all the static Lt., I figured why should we waste words and time stepping all over each other’s dicks. Over,” Butch answered in his usual gruffness.

  “Okay Master Chief, I read you. We have a problem, that Ridder force I came looking for is on the move towards the base. We are hiding in a dress shop until they go by. Over.”

  “Hey Lt., bring back
a size ten for Hootie. Maybe something in taffeta? Over.” Dio requested.

  “Damn, I would look good in taffeta. Over,” Hootie’s voice broke through.

  “Hey fucktards. Get off the God Damn radio or I am going to come over and shove it up your assholes, the adults are talking. Over,” growled Butch over the radio.

  “Hopefully the penis gallery is done with their ranting. Master Chief, move the men up to the front gate. We will catch them in an ambush. Over,” Chun ordered.

  “Roger all, Lt. We will bring some party favors. See you there, Lt. Over,” Butch signed off.

  They watched the lead Humvee come around the corner and move down the street, flanked by men dressed in BDUs, holding their M-4s low. As if they had not a care in the world. As the third Humvee came by, Rattler popped up and tried to take off at a run towards the front door. It was Chun’s fast thinking and lightning quick reflexes that saved the day. He reached out, grabbing onto the man’s ankle in a vise like grip, tripping the man to the ground and climbing onto his body, clamping his hand around Rattler’s mouth as the other hand threw small jabs into the man’s kidneys. Thor moved over and slid a wicked looking eight-inch serrated blade in front of Rattler’s eyes. The fight went out of the man almost immediately.

  Thor belly crawled to the door to assure that the commotion had not been noticed. The Humvees kept moving along with most of the men, but two had detached themselves and moved toward the shop. Thor turned and crawled back quickly to Chun. He hand signaled the situation to Chun. Together they pulled Rattler behind the counter, where Thor used the pommel of his big knife to strike him unconscious. Chun pushed his back against the counter and waited. The door to the shop opened and he heard the footsteps of the men as they entered. They separated and checked the perimeter of the retail part of the shop. As they came to the back of the store, they stopped at the counter and one called out on his radio. “Alpha three, the store is clear.” He listened to the reply.