Edward got in the driver’s side, ignoring the way the guy screamed at him from the ditch, and pulled a tight u-turn so he was headed back east on the highway. This time he ignored the way the truck creaked and groaned with every crack and hole in the road. He didn’t have time to worry about making sure the truck survived. Horton would be on his way, and in all likelihood he would be coming up this very stretch of road. If Edward had known anything about the local terrain he might have tried to find a way around that wouldn’t possibly result in a confrontation, but Edward couldn’t risk getting lost or stranded so close to Laramie. His time here had been brief, but he’d already worn out his welcome.
He could see something coming toward him from over a mile away, but he couldn’t see exactly what yet. Whatever the vehicle, Edward had to assume it was Horton and he wasn’t going to just let Edward go by easily. He briefly hoped for a moment that Horton would think he was the other guy coming to meet him, but Horton seemed to have told him to wait at the van, and Horton didn’t seem like the kind of guy that many people chose to disobey. Also, Edward realized, the guy back at the van had still had his phone on him. He’d probably already told Horton exactly what had happened, complete with lurid tales of Edward kissing a zombie. No, Edward realized, this was about to get very ugly.
He could see now that the other vehicle had started out its life as a truck, but it didn’t look much like one anymore. A cowcatcher had been mounted to the front, and it had been jacked up and given larger wheels. The whole thing still looked rusty and decrepit, but there was no mistaking that this thing had been built to not let anything in the road stop it. It was moving straight down the middle of the highway, and as soon as the two vehicles were close enough to see each other it moved over so it was heading directly at Edward on the right side.
It had to be Horton, but he didn’t look like he had any intention of playing nice. He was going to catch Edward in a game of chicken, yet Horton had no reason to be the first to back down. In a head-on collision, Edward would obviously be the one to lose.
Suddenly Edward was painfully aware that neither he nor Liddie were wearing their seat belts.
Chapter Thirty Four
She heard and saw everything that happened around her, but comprehended very little of it. Only when the form with her, the one that always tried to stay so close to her side, talked or touched her did she feel like she could understand the unfamiliar world around her just a bit better. When he spoke, things came to her, things that she could no longer recognize enough to call memories, and she nearly felt something beyond just physical sensations. The sweet honey scent he gave off, which was so much more overpowering than any other odor, made her feel more grounded and calm. Even now, when this other form was obviously quite agitated, she felt slightly more lucid. Not lucid enough, however, to understand why the truck she was in suddenly tipped at a wild angle.
Everything was a blur. Suddenly the world was sideways, and she would have been scared if she was still capable of such an emotion. The one next to her immediately grabbed hold of her, covering her body as glass rained all around them and they were thrown around in the cab of the truck. There were horrible crunching, screeching noises all around her as the truck continued to move across pavement, and then the world turned again as the truck tipped over the rest of the way and came to a rest upside down.
“Aw, fuck me sideways,” the other one said. He let go of her and patted her up and down, then did the same to himself. She let him, not knowing or caring what it meant. She could smell blood in the air, most of it coming from the other one, and something about his shape didn’t look correct. There was a sound from somewhere outside the truck, and then voices. She didn’t understand a thing any of them said, but she could smell their owners. They were something other than her and this other one, something living. She had to get to them, to attack, to rip, to eat, but as she tried to stand up she had incredible difficulty. She had no clue why.
“Damn it, Liddie, stop squirming around for a second so I can help you. You can’t stand up when you’re upside down.”
Those words had more meaning than anything the other voices said, and although they still sounded like gibberish to her she still had a small sense of their meaning. It helped that the sweet scent coming off of him ebbed and flowed with each word. She let him pull her into a lying down position on the ceiling of the truck. He looked like he was about to help her through the now smashed front windshield, but he stopped. She waited.
“Okay, look. Just stay put, you got that? Don’t try to move. Whatever you see out there, whatever you hear…and yeah, whatever you smell, don’t try to get out? Do you understand?”
She didn’t say or do anything. On some level some of the words had made sense, but she had great difficulty turning them into any concept she could grasp. Still, the orders she got through the scent where unmistakable. Wait.
He crawled out through the window, and she waited. Or she tried to. At first it was easy. The scent stayed strong in the cab, and there was no mistaking what it wanted her to do. But something felt strange. She’d felt this odd sensation several times already, although she hadn’t been able to articulate it to the other one and it had faded quickly enough that she hadn’t been able to act on it. The urge to stay by him was strong, and that honey smell in the air was dissipating enough that it couldn’t compete with this other urge. She had brief flashes in her head—thoughts of seeing the other one for the first time, recollections of her skin against his, fractured pieces of memory where she had held his hand. If her heart had still been able to beat faster at these thoughts it would have.
Suddenly she needed to get closer to him again, even if she still didn’t understand. It simply felt important now.
She reached out into the shattered glass on the blacktop, ignoring the way it sliced up her hands, and pulled herself out inch by slow inch. There was a loud noise from very close by, a sound like a small explosion that echoed out over the wide open country. A dim part of her brain could focus enough to see that the truck was at a diagonal across the road with the back end pointed in the direction they had come. The other one (and wasn’t there something else she should have been calling him? There was a word or a name there, but she just couldn’t quite grasp it yet) was at the back end, peering around the side with some weapon in his hand.
“Horton, all we want to do is leave,” he said. “There doesn’t have to be any issue between us.”
Another voice said something, although that almost-understanding she had with the other one didn’t come to her for this voice. It meant nothing, but Edward’s did. She just wanted to…
Edward.
The name came out of nowhere. She still couldn’t understand any of the other confusing sights and sounds that had happened within the last couple minutes, but she understood that this one by the back of the truck was called Edward. She could remember that much, just as she could understand that he would be happy with this revelation.
She stood up at the front of the truck, getting ready to shamble over to him and try to let him know somehow, but she never even took her first step. There was a shot, and the bullet passing through her brain took that name away from her forever.
Chapter Thirty Five
Edward tried to make it look all the way up until the last second like he was going to ram Horton’s truck head on, then let off the gas and swerved to the left. Unfortunately, it looked like Horton had been expecting that. The trucks almost passed each other, but Horton turned right into Edward’s truck and sliced across its side with the cowcatcher. Edward fought the instinct to hit the brake and instead tried to correct the truck’s path as it swerved with the impact. The truck teetered on two wheels, looking for a moment like it could go either way, and then tipped to its side. Edward threw himself across the seat and over Liddie just as the windshield shattered and showered his back with shards. He yelled obscenities when the truck tipped again as it continued to slide, throwing both him and Liddie to
the ceiling. He could feel one of his arms break as Liddie’s full weight fell on it, but he didn’t scream. There was pain, but it wasn’t as much as he thought there should have been. Maybe that was one of the advantages of being a Z7. He still had a zombie’s tolerance for pain.
Somewhere outside he could hear the other truck screech to a halt, followed by the sound of doors opening and slamming and someone, possibly Horton, yelling orders. Edward let Liddie go, and she immediately started moving as though she were trying to stand up while upside down. In any other situation it might have been funny. Edward tried to help her, but her movements were too frantic and confused for him to get a good hold on her.
“Damn it, Liddie, stop squirming around for a second so I can help you. You can’t stand up when you’re upside down.”
She stopped, and he was able to get her into a better position. “Okay, look,” he said. “Just stay put, you got that? Don’t try to move. Whatever you see out there, whatever you hear…and yeah, whatever you smell, don’t try to get out. Do you understand?”
She didn’t give any sign whether she understood or not, but he didn’t have time to reiterate the point. He worked his way out the broken window and took stock of the situation. The truck was between him and Horton, so at the very least he had some cover for the moment. He got to his feet, being sure to stay crouched very low and out of sight, and looked around for the rifle he’d thrown in the back of the truck. It could have been thrown clear from the road, for all he knew, but as he made his way around the side of the truck he found that he’d gotten lucky for a change. The rifle was poking out from under the bed of the truck, and although it looked scratched up it didn’t otherwise look damaged. He grabbed it and gave it a looking over as he made his way to the tailgate. It seemed to be a similar model to Rae’s custom rifle back in Fond du Lac, so he thought he could operate it if needed even with the broken arm. He listened carefully for the sound of anyone coming, but Horton’s truck had stopped some distance away. Edward could hear Horton yelling orders at one other person, but it didn’t sound like they’d come any closer. He poked his head around the side of the truck but immediately pulled it back as someone shot at him.
“Listen up, pervert!” Horton yelled. “Just step away from the truck real slow, and maybe we won’t shoot you like you deserve.”
“Horton, all we want to do is leave,” Edward said. “There doesn’t have to be any issue between us.”
“No issue? Listen wanderer, Ritchie already reported back to me about what he saw you doing to that zed. We don’t tolerate any of that kind of sick shit around here. And you have to be crazy if I’m going to let a zed leave my town if it’s not in pieces. In fact…”
There was another shot, and Edward had no idea what he was shooting at until he heard the body fall behind him. He turned to see Liddie on the ground. Most of her head was gone.
“Liddie!” he screamed. “Oh my God, Liddie!” He ran to her, forgetting to keep low and out of the line of fire, but Horton didn’t shoot again. Edward kneeled next to her and, ignoring the gore and brain matter that smeared all over his coveralls, clutched her body close to his. He looked into the ruins of her skull, searching for any hope that the shot hadn’t been the killer Horton thought it was, but there was no way. She was gone for good this time, and no old man in the middle of Illinois could possibly do anything to bring her back.
“Shit, you crying over there?” Horton yelled. “You better cut that bullshit out. You’ve got to be seriously warped in the head if you actually care that much about a corpse. You better step out from behind the truck real slow now, or else we’re going to come over there and make you step out.”
Edward went quiet. He held Liddie’s body for a few more second before he softly lowered her. One of her eyes had been blown from its socket by the bullet, but the other was still there and still open. He closed it.
“Wanderer, Goddamn it, you have to the count of three to surrender your fucking ass,” Horton said. “You hear me? One!”
Edward wiped what he could of Liddie’s brains from his coveralls, then wiped away the tears that had been forming at the corners of his eyes. He stood up without saying anything.
“All right, that’s good,” Horton said. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Now drop the rifle and slowly get your ass over here.”
Horton’s truck was about fifty or sixty yards away and parked lengthwise across the center of the highway. Horton and Bert stood next to the truck with their rifles up and ready to fire. Neither of them took refuge behind the truck. They probably didn’t expect Edward to give them any trouble anymore. Edward walked toward them, not moving in any hurry but not taking it slow, either.
“Hey, I told you to drop the fucking gun!” Horton said. “Drop it now or we’ll drop you!”
Edward didn’t think twice as he threw the rifle out off the road. He didn’t need it anyway.
“Okay then, now just hold up and stop right there so I can send Bert to check if you have any other weapons.”
“I’ve got a weapon,” Edward said softly. “But I’d just like to see you try taking it from me.”
Bert gave Horton a puzzled look. “What did he just say?”
Horton shook his head. “I said stop!”
“And I said take if from me!” Edward said. He sped up, not quite moving at a jog but very clearly heading straight for Horton.
“Hell with this,” Horton said, and he pulled his trigger. The bullet hit Edward square in his chest. Unlike with his arm, he really felt this pain. All of a sudden all his breaths burned, and he thought he could feel air escaping from the gaping wound as he broke out into a flat run. But even without being able to properly breathe, Edward kept moving. It was easier than he’d expected. After all, he’d been practicing moving without breathing for almost fifty years.
“What the fuck!” Horton yelled as Edward jumped the last few feet toward him. Bert tried to shoot Edward, but the shot missed completely. Neither of them were prepared for this move, just like Horton wasn’t prepared for the next one. He brought the rifle up to ward off Edward’s attack, but the move left his hand exposed. That was all Edward had wanted anyway.
Horton screamed, more out of shock than pain, as Edward bit him. He dropped the rifle, but Edward grabbed it before it could hit the ground.
“Bert,” Horton screamed, “shoot this crazy son of a bitch!”
“I can’t,” Bert said. “He’s too…”
Edward turned around and shot Bert in the leg. Bert himself screamed and dropped to the pavement. The rifle fell out of his hands and Edward ran to take it before Bert could come to his senses and go for it again. Once he had both guns Edward stepped away from them both. He didn’t even bother to aim the weapons in a threatening manner.
“Don’t kill us!” Horton said. “Please, I can pay you.”
“It’s too late,” Edward said. “I’ve already killed you.”
Horton looked like he was about to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. He started to shiver noticeably. Bert watched this, completely unaware of what was going on.
“Billy, you okay?” Bert asked. “Holy shit, what the fuck did you do to him?”
Edward didn’t answer. He just watched as the son of a bitch who had killed Liddie dropped to the ground, shook violently for a few seconds, then stopped. That was all Edward really needed to see. He went over to Horton’s truck to make sure it still had the keys in it as Horton got back up. Horton didn’t even need any of Edward’s special orders to know that his dinner was desperately trying to crawl away.
Edward didn’t take any satisfaction as Bert’s screams turned to gurgling croaks, but neither did he cringe from it.
Part Four:
Illinois
Chapter Thirty Six
Larissa pulled her ATV up to the entrance of what had once been an abandoned Culver’s restaurant just north of Winnebago, Illinois. When they’d chosen the building the interior had been coated in thick layers of dust,
and the walk-in coolers had still contained the desiccated remains of long-decayed food. It wasn’t in quite the same sad shape now, but no one had made the effort to fix it up properly. They’d chosen it because it was one of the few buildings on the outskirts of town that looked like a stiff wind wouldn’t blow it over, but that didn’t mean they were going to stay here long. Neuman Security was still in its infancy, and they weren’t sure yet where they were going to call home.
Rae Neuman came to the door as Larissa got off the ATV and took her rifle from over her shoulders. Rae had given all of her new “employees” explicit orders to keep their weapons ready at all times. They didn’t know who, or maybe what, they would be facing, but Rae knew that a threat could pop up at any time. Just because she had confidence that they’d be getting some action soon, however, didn’t mean the others believed her.
“Yet another round of the town and we’ve still got jack shit,” Larissa said. “This is getting to be a little ridiculous, Rae.”
“Oh don’t give me that,” Rae said. “You would be finding just as little action if we had stayed in Fond du Lac, and you know it.”
“Yeah, but if I had stayed in Fond du Lac then at least I would know Merton was going to be paying me sometime soon. You still haven’t proven to me that you will.”
“Everyone will have their Goddamned pay, but you’re still going to have to wait. If you don’t fricking like it, then you can walk back up to Fond du Lac.”
The Reanimation of Edward Schuett Page 24
