by White, A. L.
Cries from the woman pierced Zoe’s ears as the woman was hauled to the end of the lot, clawing at the ground. Zoe grabbed hold of the woman’s bloody hand, trying desperately to pull her back until with a thud, everything went dark.
Chapter 20
Lori left explicit instructions as to what would need to be done if Megan was leading her and Walter into a trap. Armed with enough firepower to get her out of trouble, but not enough to draw attention, they left just after noon. About halfway there Walter handed her a piece of paper that looked to have been scribbled all over by a child. Just as she was starting to think it was Walter’s handiwork, she noticed at the bottom of the page in large letters was the name Todd.
“Todd said if you follow the lines you can see the pattern.” Walter explained.
“Looks like a bunch of scribbles.” Megan commented, walking passed them.
“Did Todd say where it started at?”
Walter pointed a finger at a spot and said. “One starts here and the other over here.”
“Good boy Todd!” Lori said more to herself than the others.
“You see something in those scribbles?” Megan asked.
“Our Todd is basically a five-year-old in a grown man’s body.” Lori explained.
“A very big man.” Walter added.
“A five-year-old in a very big man’s body.” Lori corrected herself. “Todd can see patterns in things that we take for granted. Looks like he has been watching your two groups more than any of us knew. Todd has given us a map of what he saw the patterns doing. If he is correct, and he has been in the past, all we have to do is avoid these two areas and we will not meet either of those groups.”
“If they move to another area?” Megan asked.
“Then we will have another problem to deal with.” Lori said as she started walking again.
“I haven’t seen a lot as young as he is.” Megan motioned to Walter, trying to change the subject.
Walter stayed a few feet in front of them rarely looking back. To Walter it was a blessing to get away from the others and he thought it was for Lori too, after seeing what she had turned into. He had been scared for his own wellbeing for the first time since he became whatever he was. He did not think he had reason to be too scared of anything that they would meet ahead.
“He has been like that since we met him a few weeks ago.” Lori replied.
“And you, how long have you been…like this?” Megan asked.
“I was bitten a few weeks back by a two-point-zero. Turned my shoulder into this type of skin but that was all, until yesterday.” Lori replied.
“You’re like a new born with the type of power and control that I saw?” Megan asked amused. “How can that possibly be? It took me months to be able to do what you did to me outside of the barn this morning.”
Walter slowed a little, listening in as best he could. “Don’t count on the control part too much.”
Lori laughed a little nervously and replied. “Yea, lack of control yesterday was almost a bad thing for Walter.”
“Wally got a bit of a scare then?” Megan asked.
Walter stopped where he was and turned around. “Walter not Wally!”
“Ok, Walter it is.” Megan replied with a smile at Lori. “Up here we can turn and go between the houses. I think that will somewhat hide where we came from.”
Lori looked over the alley way running behind neat rows of houses. “Looks safe enough, what do you think, Walter?”
Walter turned without answering and made his way to the alley keeping the same pace and distance between him and Lori as before.
***
Virginia watched Lori’s group leave from the walkway suspended from the top of the barn. Their progress seemed slow to her, but she figured Lori probably wasn’t in a big hurry to get into town. If they had thought the plan out better, Virginia was sure that everyone would have agreed that her and the lads would have been the better choice for this type of mission. Who better could sneak in and out unseen than her? Too late to worry over that now, it would be better for Virginia to pick a few spots where she could set up an ambush. If Lori did run into trouble and was beating it back to the farm in a hurry, Virginia figured she could slow up or stop whomever was in pursuit.
Scanning from Lori back to the road leading into the farm, Virginia didn’t see a lot of places that would offer both cover and a view of the street. The snow was melting, giving away the hidden drainage ditch on both sides. She couldn’t tell from there how deep the slushy water in the ditch was. There was a tree about twenty feet ahead of Lori that could work. Lifting its leafless branches to the sky like a demon, Virginia thought it could hide her from view. The lads, however, couldn’t get up there and if someone could see them, then they would find her. No matter how Virginia looked at it, there was no place for her to lie in wait.
“Looks like we’re going to have to play it by ear.” Virginia said to Zeus who cocked his head to the left as he looked up at her. “Come on boys let’s head downstairs and get a few things.”
Todd was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, going through an old lunchbox that Doc or Charlie had found and given him back in Rivers Crossing. Virginia went passed him, not wanting to get caught up in conversation. In the RV she found both her and Lori’s quills and slung them over her shoulder. A quick check of the crossbow to make sure it was in working order then she was off to the barn door.
“Where are you heading to, looking like your off to hunt bear?” Jermaine asked
“Nowhere.” Virginia replied as she tried to walk passed him.
“Nowhere with enough arrows to stop an army?” Jermaine asked, pushing for the truth.
Virginia stopped and gave him her best ‘really’ look that she could come up with. “It was good for the lads to get out and move around this morning, especially Zeus. I thought I would take them out again.”
“Taking the dogs for a walk then?”
“Exactly, I am taking the dogs for a walk.” Virginia replied.
“A walk that would call for not one but two quills?” Jermaine asked.
“I thought it would help me if I had a little extra weight. All of that sitting in the truck and RV isn’t good for your muscles you know.” Virginia replied.
Jermaine looked down his nose at her then at the dogs and returning his glare to Virginia. “You wouldn’t be telling me that you’re going to follow Lori but that you think I am stupid enough to buy the walking the dog story, are you?”
“Jermaine…you and I have a special relationship. I see you like the older brother that I lost.” Virginia replied, trying to look hurt. “No, I am going into the fields on the other side of the farmhouse. I just thought if I came across a rabbit or something it might be good to have a fresh meal before we leave tonight.”
Jermaine knew she was feeding him a line just like he knew there would be very few ways to keep her in the barn. It would be easier to let Charlie deal with this than to stand there trying to trip Virginia up and catch her in a lie. “Ok, just stay on that side of the barn, please. The last thing we want right now is to have that whole town see you and the dogs.”
Virginia nodded in agreement and walked out of the door, heading toward the old house. It would add a little time to her plan, but if she could make Jermaine feel better about losing the discussion then so be it.
Chapter 21
The Man in Black stood on the sidewalk in front of the diner he claimed as his own, with his small group of disciples. He was horrified at what he was seeing, how barbaric they had become in a short period of time. This was not the plan that they discussed back in Mississippi. This town was to have only a few of the ‘new people’ to keep an eye on the resettled human population while the ‘new people’ would settle in Rivers Crossing. There was no resettling the humans there if they were eating the lot of them as fast as they found and brought them there.
Walking up the middle of the street, leading a bloody human by a rope tied around their ne
ck like a recently bought prized head of cattle to be taken home for the slaughter was against everything the elders had talked about.
“Do you think we should get one before they run out?” Liza asked him as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
Looking over his shoulder at her he could see that the change was finally taking place in her. Even the gray, hard, cracked skin couldn’t hide the natural beauty she once had. “The plan is not to eat them.” He replied.
“It might not be the plan that you made, but it is definitely what is happening.”
Seeing two of the elders coming down the sidewalk he shrugged her hand off and made his way to them. “This was not the plan you guys decided on.”
“Tillford, settle down before you give yourself a coronary.” One replied. “Plans are like road maps they aren’t cut in stone.”
“We had a plan to create a new world for us.” Tillford said shaking his head in disbelief.
“And we will, Tillford. Let them have their celebration. You go have some fun too, you have done a good job rounding so many up. Before you know it, the word will spread and others like us will come.” The other added.
“This makes us no better than what life was before. What happened to the yearly tax idea?” Tillford asked.
“Some of us like the taste of human better than we do cow. Now go down there and see Harvey. I told him to pick a succulent, tender human out for you and your group. Kind of our way of saying good job and thank you.”
The Man in Black shook his head no and walked back to his group. He never liked the name Tillford and he was especially not proud of it today seeing what he had helped create. There was no love lost between him and humanity that was for sure. His whole life had been one of growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, never having enough of anything that they needed until he got a job from old Mr. Bufford selling used trucks out on highway eighty-one. Even then, he never felt like people in town treated him like anything other than poor, white trash from across the tracks. Then the apocalypse came, and he met more like him. Smart people, who had a plan for a new world where there was no wrong side of the tracks. He was struck by the startling realization that the only thing that had really changed was the tracks had been moved.
Liza came up to him to offer comfort. The whole group had heard the exchange and knew that it was all different now. “Maybe you and I could go to Rivers Crossing and grab a house. Start over?” Liza asked.
“After we get a fresh human for dinner?” he asked sarcastically.
“If you want cow that’s fine with me.” Liza answered.
Looking over his group of what he called his “Disciples,” he could see why the plan would have never worked. The one called Bubby was not a ‘new person’ at all. He had the same skin and smell that Megan had. Maybe they were something in between the Mutes and the ‘new people.’ Either way, he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with Bubby anymore. In truth, he couldn’t remember the last time he had heard Bubby speak to him or anyone else. It was probably too late to worry about what Bubby would become. Tillford believed that whatever it was had already happened and that Bubby just followed out of habit anymore.
“Maybe just this once we could go down and look at the fresh humans and think about getting one.” The Man in Black said.
Liza jumped up and down squealing like a little kid at the thought. “Can I pick one out?” she asked excited.
“I think the elders have picked one out for us. I am not saying that we will get one.” He replied.
Liza grabbed his hand and began leading him down the street toward the old car lot, knocking a few others off their stride as she pulled him behind her.
***
Stopping just short of the corner house where they could still see part of the old car lot, Megan pointed ahead of them. “There it is, the lot I was telling you about.”
Lori stepped a few steps up and tried to take everything in. The first thing she noticed was the Rivers Crossing school busses back out of the way in the field behind the lot. “I need to get a closer look at the lot.” Lori said as she moved further down the street.
“I don’t think that would be safe.” Megan replied.
“I may have friends in that lot. I need to know if they are there or not.”
“If they are there how do you suppose we are going to get them out?” Megan asked growing impatient with Lori.
“I will figure that one out when we get up there and if I see one of them.” Lori replied.
Leaving Megan standing there alone, Lori and Walter made their way to Main Street and then crossed over to the lot. It took some doing, but Lori forced herself all the way up to the edge of the lot. People were smashed against each other with little room to move. It was hard making out faces unless they had happened to look directly at her. She was trying to think quickly for a way to get them all to rush in one direction, passed her but she couldn't come up with anything that wouldn’t end in a blood bath.
Walter tugged on her shirt and pointed toward a black lady fighting her way to the edge. “It’s Zoe,” he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.
Lori noticed that people were pointing at people in the lot and they would be hauled out by the animal like creatures. She could do that to get Zoe but would she survive the creature? Lori wondered. Seeing Megan come up next to her, Lori pointed at Zoe. “I want to save her. She is my friend.”
Megan pointed at a man that looked to be the size of a small mountain. “I think he is the one you would tell. They might think something is up if you’re picking such an old, scrawny human though.”
Lori thought about it for a few seconds. “If I say it is all we need to feed Walter and I?”
Megan nodded her head yes. “That could do it.”
Lori and Megan maneuvered up next to the man and Lori tapped him on the shoulder. When he looked down at her she said, “I want that one, there.” She pointed at Zoe until he understood which one.
“That one is old, what meat she has will be tough.” He replied and pointed out another one.
“No, that’s the one I want. It is all me and my boy will need to have. We don’t like wasting food.” Lori stated as she felt the anger rising inside.
“Suit yourself.” He replied as he reached down for the chain.
“I will go get her.” Lori stated.
“In there with the humans? That might not be a good idea, little lady. Some of them may have some fight left in them.”
Lori let the change come over her once again looking into his eyes with all the fury she could muster. He stepped back a few steps from her and said. “Might be worse for them if they try. You go right ahead and get your food, lady.”
Lori moved forward into the lot, she could feel the tension and smell the fear around her as the crowd pushed to get away from her. Everyone moved but Zoe who stared into the people on the outside of the lot with a blank stare. For a moment Lori thought that she might be too far gone to be saved. Zoe wasn’t a young woman and had been through a lot before this happened to her. Moving up next to her, Lori placed her had on Zoe’s cheek and a tear slid down her face. A wrinkled hand worn from years of age rose up and gently came to rest on Lori’s. Eyes lost in despair and hopelessness focused on the face standing in front of her and a light seemed to go off from recognition. “Child run, get away from this unholy place of death.” Zoe uttered in a hushed tone.
Lori fought to control the rage rising up inside. How dare they do this to anyone let alone my friend, she thought to herself as she bent forward to scoop Zoe up. Lifting her, Lori turned to leave and the man with the creature moved to block her way. “Are you sure that you aren’t just trying to save this old woman?” He asked.
“What do you care what I do with my food?” Lori replied. “Stand aside immediately or you will be sorry!”
Moving back, he replied. “It is your funeral lady. Good luck getting through that mob. Not all of them will get a human for tonight.” Megan saw the standoff and
moved in quick and slammed into him causing the man to stager enough for Lori to go around him. Walter joined Megan leading the way through the pack, trying to open just enough room for Lori and Zoe to fit through. No one moved to stop them, most being more worried about moving to the front and getting their own human. They let her pass without an issue or helped move people out of her way so that Lori could pass by.
Chapter 22
Virginia moved around the house as fast possible, not letting anything slow her down. With Zeus keeping pace alongside of her, she cut around to the back and hugged the barn wall. Once on the other side of the barn, remembering a gully in the center of the field, she broke into a full run until reaching it. She slid down into the icy water at the bottom, followed by a splash as Zeus and Perseus joined her. For the most part there was ice that they could stay on. She edged her way to the top and peeked first back at the barn. Once satisfied that there was no movement, she scooted up a little higher to see over the far side where she could view the town. No movement was good for the moment. It wasn’t an ideal place to lie in wait, but it would have to do for a little while. From the barn the gully had looked like a crater to Virginia, now inside of it she could see that it would lead over near the tree alongside of the road. She loved when a plan presented itself when none had been apparent. After resting her leg for a while, she would travel down the gully until she reached the ditch by the tree. The lads would have plenty of cover between the ditch and the gully while she scampered up the tree to keep look out for Lori. The wind was chilling her face and making her squint, so she slid down a little bit. She trusted in Zeus’s ears and nose to let her know if danger was drawing too near. Lori and she had come a long way since that first day that they had met Old Bob just down the street from their house. She wondered if they would have made it this far without his patient teaching and understanding. Lori seemed to always have a harder time learning or following his directions, but Virginia saw him as a father figure and, if she was being honest with herself, it was fun. That was the problem with Lori, she thought, Lori was always seeing life as such a tragedy while she saw a world for the taking. Kill zombies and then move on to the next group of zombies. Kill that group and find supplies before moving on to the next group of smelly dead beings. It wasn’t hard to do, and she never had to over think it like the others did. Bob understood this, why else would he have set up all those little strongholds along the way? He had to have a place to rest up for the next group he ran into. Even Virginia knew there was no way to fight twenty-four hours a day, every day.
