“Wendell, what can you tell us about the engine?”
“The Eight Forty-Four must have filled up just before the epidemic. Coal reserves are full. Water is only at half-mast but we only need it to the next train station, and we can fill up there. Other than that, she’ll be good to go on your word.”
“What do you suggest we do for stoking?”
“Being a fireman is backbreaking business. Not counting Hannah, there are thirteen of us. Two of us every thirty minutes would be sufficient. We’re not talking anything near top speeds, just forward movement. So two at a time will work.”
“Thank you. Hunter, how did you guys fare?”
A big smile spread across his face. “We’re in Texas, Dallas. We got a cow. We’ll have it ready to go once we get a good fire going.”
“A…cow?”
Hunter grinned. “What did you expect? There are still tons of domesticated farm animals roaming the countryside. We just had to walk it over to the train and then kill it. Piece of cake.”
“Then you and Burnett can get the fire started. I want all ZB’s inside the train tonight. All in the same car. Two CGI’s will stand watch over either end of that car. After we get something in our bellies, Templeton will be going back to the compound to collect any woman who wants to join us.”
“Just women?” Sanchez asked.
“Yeah. We can’t afford guys we can’t trust. A group of women won’t overpower us, but JB’s men? We don’t want to go there, and we’re not. Templeton’s going after Nancy and anyone else he can get.”
“Alone?” Fletcher asked.
Dallas nodded. “Alone. He’s aware that he needs to get some street cred with us. If he comes back with the women and not a pack of his buddies, he can go with us.”
“And if he brings JB back?”
“Then we’ll kill him and everyone around him. Won’t we, Templeton?”
“Yes, ma’am. I don’t wanna stay here. I don’t have any loyalty to that man. You’ll see. I’ll fetch them gals and be back here unnoticed.”
“We’ll leave at first light, with or without Templeton, so you’re going to need to hustle it up. In case you are followed back here, the Fuchs’s machine gun will be manned and we will light up any vehicle following you. Light. It. Up. Are we clear?”
Templeton nodded.
“We need to secure the train cars. Make sure every door is locked from the inside. Once we get to the Roseville station, we’ll see how badly the area is overrun and make our plan there. Any questions?”
“You sure we want to wait until morning to leave? If JB knows we’re here, he’ll come.”
“Let him,” Einstein said. “We’ll be ready.”
Dallas looked around at her little group. There stood Roper, her face purple with yellow outlines. And Hunter, who stayed close to his dad. There was Butcher, without Luke or her daughter. Wendell had lost his friend, Colby, and Sanchez had lost everyone she knew. Einstein had lost Cassie and his hope. They were broken, horribly broken, and for the first time in a long time, she wasn’t at all sure if she was doing the right thing by dragging them all across a hostile countryside.
Einstein wasn’t the only person who wanted vengeance. She could see it on most of their faces. They wanted justice.
Texas justice.
“Dallas?”
Dallas blinked and turned to Einstein. “I love you like a little brother. I know you’re hurting. And Roper, my baby, with your face all smashed up—I know you don’t want to walk away from this. I know how you all are feeling, but sometimes the best thing to do is to live to fight another day.”
Four started talking at once, and Dallas raised her hands. “Please. Hear me out. We’re pulling out at first light tomorrow and leaving those bastards and their insanity behind us. When we started from Angola, it was to go home—home to make the kind of life we made for everyone in Angola, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. It’s what Churchill and Cassie would have wanted for us. They wouldn’t want us to waste ammo and time, not to mention lives, on these vermin. So I am asking you all to find a place to put your anger and thirst for revenge and focus on moving forward beyond that. Move out of this darkness and into the light. What do you say?”
The car was silent.
Then Zoe stood up. “Dallas is right. We need to climb out of this shit hole and move forward. Yes, things were shitty. Yeah, we lost people, and that totally sucked, but we gotta shake it off. We gotta get our shit together. We gotta move on.”
The train was silent once more.
Finally, Dallas cleared her throat. “Thanks Zoe. Well, if there’s nothing else to say, then everyone knows their job and guard schedule. Templeton, take the Kawasaki. Get back before dawn or we’re leaving without you. If more than one vehicle returns, we’ll kill all of you.” With that, Dallas grabbed her machete and pushed open the top roof hatch of the caboose and climbed on top of it.
She waited a moment and watched as Templeton roared off on the Kawasaki, weaving in and out of the undead.
“Think he’ll bring the bogeymen back here?” Roper asked as she climbed up onto the top of the caboose with Dallas.
“I honestly haven’t a clue. If he does. He’s a dead man. If he doesn’t, then it appears he really does want to be a part of us. Either way, it’s not settling very well in my gut, but I can’t leave any of ours to that fate.”
Roper reached out and gently touched Dallas’s shoulder. “What’s eating at you, love?”
“God damn it,” she growled, walking the length of the caboose. Standing at one end, she watched the hundreds of zombies roaming around the train station, a number walking after the motorcycle. “This whole thing is fucked up and went to hell in a hand basket.”
“Everyone knows you’re doing the best you can.” Roper put her hands on Dallas’s shoulders. “Stop being so hard on yourself, babe.”
Dallas turned and laid her hand on Roper’s cheek. “Our spirits are crushed, Baby. Can’t you feel it? We can’t go a hundred miles like this let alone two thousand. We’re crippled.”
“What can we do besides put one foot in front of the other? You’re right. The more distance we put between us and them the better. And with each passing mile, we have to hope our spirits get stronger and our desire for revenge weaker.”
“You don’t want revenge?”
Roper laughed out loud. “Hell yes I do, but this, too, shall pass. Am I sitting here wishing JB’s guys come after Templeton? Sort of. Do I wish I could put my arms around his fat neck and crush his windpipe? Absolutely. But it’s time to go. We don’t need to keep this battle brewing. We need to head home.”
Dallas smiled and kissed her gently. “I won’t rest until we pull out of here.”
“Then do me a favor and rest now.”
“I can’t.”
Roper raised an eyebrow.
“Fine. I’ll try to get some rest. What about you?”
Roper sat down and patted the roof of the caboose. “I’ll be right here until it’s my time to shovel.”
“Then you’ll wake me up, right?”
“Absolutely. I don’t have shovel duty for another five hours. I’ll wake you up then.”
Dallas closed her eyes. “I just need to rest my eyes for a few min—” and down she went, leaving Roper stroking her head and waiting to see whether or not sending Templeton out was the exact wrong thing to do.
Roper didn’t have to wait that long. Somewhere around midnight, she saw headlights in the distance. Roper gently shook Dallas, and, slowly standing, she squinted to see if there were lights behind it. “Butcher?”
Butcher was manning the turret on the Fuchs, three train cars away. “I see it, Rope.”
“You got one or two?”
Pause. “One. I got it in my sights.”
Dallas jumped to her feet, rifle against her shoulder. The area around the train was darker than black, making it easier to see the two headlights in the distance.
“Just one, l
ove,” Roper said, drawing sight on the vehicle’s lights.
Swinging the rifle around, Dallas drew a bead on the incoming transport and laid her finger on the trigger.
When the transport skidded to a halt, Templeton hopped out and waved his hands in the air. “Don’t shoot!”
The eaters moved from the train and started toward the transport.
Dallas and Roper climbed down and hacked and whacked the zombies wandering around so the women inside, all twenty-three of them, could make it to the train unmolested.
“Holy shit,” Roper said as she threw the tarp back. Inside was the Kawasaki, which she rolled down the ramp. “Twenty three, eh? A way better haul than I imagined.”
“Good work, Templeton,” Dallas said, helping him run past the gauntlet of undead on their way to the train. “You did a great job.”
“They’re ramping up, Dallas. They’ll be coming soon. We need to get the hell out of here. Before dawn if we can.”
“All’s clear still!” Butcher yelled. “But stay on your toes, people!”
Dallas and Roper spent half an hour talking to the new members of their clan. Of the twenty-three, twenty were lesbians, and all were more than thrilled to be away from the warehouses. When they were done talking to each one and getting each name, place of origin, and story, Dallas turned to Roper and said, “Well, time to inform the troops what’s what.”
Roper kissed her softly. “Your own little lesbo army. Who knew?”
Dallas chuckled. “I wish.”
They both looked at each other.
“Never say never.”
****
Wendell managed to get the train’s engine working shortly before dawn, and they all cheered when it slowly pulled out onto the tracks. With the Fuchs, the transport, the Kawasaki, and Honey on board, everyone was in higher spirits that they’d been twenty four hours ago. The lesbians had been kept in a separate car until Zoe and Roper could check them over. They were all extremely grateful Dallas had sent someone back for them.
Templeton, for his part, had been wounded in the arm by a bullet, but other than that, he had been incredibly successful in getting the women out. Dallas still didn’t trust him, knowing she couldn’t put her faith in him just yet.
As the train pulled out, there was hugging and hollering, and Dallas made her way to the engine to thank Wendell for getting them on their way. He met her half way and was caught up in an uncomfortable hug by Dallas before he could stop it.
“Have I told you how much you rock, Poindexter?”
“You don’t need to. He knows.” It was Einstein.
“So all systems are a go?”
Wendell pulled his glasses off and cleaned them. “She’s really in good shape for as old as she is. If we keep her fired up, we ought to have smooth sailing. My only concern is for the tracks.”
“What about them?”
“After a year of no maintenance, we should expect some disrepair down the way. This could be problematic.”
“Oh. Crap. Okay. What can we do?”
“I was thinking that maybe Zoe or someone could ride ahead of the tracks—maybe take out the motorcycle and go fifty, eighty miles ahead and make sure we’re not going to run into anything that could derail us.” Wendell pushed his now clean glasses up the bridge of his nose. “That’s really about the only thing we have to worry about. I should have thought about it sooner, but it wasn’t until we started moving that I realized how vulnerable the tracks have probably become to disrepair. Maintenance for the railways included spraying the ballasts with herbicide to keep weeds at bay. It’s in our best interest to scout ahead.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Without stopping the train.”
“Excuse me?”
“If Zoe can get the bike off the back ramp, then I’d only have to slow her down and not stop. The stopping and starting will use more of our fuel than I think we want to part with. If she runs out of fuel before the next station, we’re screwed.”
“Oh man.”
“Yeah. The weeds will have had a hey day. It’s about two or three hundred miles to San Antonio. At thirty miles an hour, we can expect to arrive after noon sometime, but I’d feel a lot better if those weeds were taken care of and the tracks are clean of debris.”
“Let me talk to her about it. How much can you slow this baby down?”
“I can keep her around twenty. If she can’t do it, then we’ll have to stop and let her off.”
Dallas nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Twenty minutes later, Zoe and Hunter sat astride the Kawasaki in front of the flatbed ramp.
“This is crazy, you know?”
Zoe re-gripped the handlebars and beamed. “So what else is new? If I hit it at the right angle, we’ll glide right on out of here.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Well, then we’ll crash and burn.”
Hunter chuckled. “That’s comforting.”
“Why? You want to live forever?”
“I’ll settle for living until tomorrow.”
Dallas stepped up to the red bike. “How about you both live to tomorrow?”
“I like that idea. Zoe?”
“Fine, I’m in. Tomorrow it is.” She tossed Dallas a casual wink. “Okay, we’ll ride out toward San Antonio, taking care of any weed or boulder issues along the way. We’ll meet you at the station, barring any unforeseeable complications.”
“How’s your fuel look?”
“Almost full. We’ll be fine.”
Dallas double-checked Hunter’s backpack. “You got enough food and water for the day. Are you sure these are enough bolts?”
“Unless we’re attacked by an army, yeah. We’ve got our bows, bolts, two handguns, and two rifles, and all her fancy schmancy knives. Just have someone looking out for us in case there’s an unforeseen complication.”
“Will do. As long as we keep this thing moving, no one can hurt us.”
Zoe patted Hunter’s thigh. “You ready?”
“No, but carry on.”
Zoe reached out and held Dallas’s hand. “See you in San Antonio. Don’t be late.”
“You got it. Be safe. Take care of each other.” Stepping back, Dallas hit the ramp lever and the ramp lowered slowly to the ground.
“Shit. Looks like a gap of about two feet,” Hunter said, looking down.
Starting the engine, Zoe revved it. “Sounds like a lawn mower.”
“It’s not a Harley.”
“No shit.”
“Zoe?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you certain you can do this?”
Zoe nodded and looked over her shoulder to Hunter. “Lean when I lean, keep your feet on your pegs, and no matter how bad it looks, stay with the bike.”
“Stay with the bike. Got it.”
Zoe revved the engine once, twice, and then rode down the ramp, gunning it just as she hit the end and caught wind. The bike seemed to stay airborne for a long time as the train clattered along the tracks away from them.
When the wheels landed, Zoe held firmly to the handlebars as the bike fishtailed over the hard dirt. The front end wobbled a moment as she wrestled to regain control. She thought she heard Hunter scream as she fought to keep from laying her down. When she finally righted the bike, she flipped a U-turn and wrenched on the throttle to open her up so she could pass the train.
“That was awesome!” Hunter yelled in her ear. “But I’m pretty sure I shit my pants!”
She tossed her head back and laughed. “We almost ate dirt!”
“Yeah, well you know what they say about almost!”
Zoe laughed some more as she ducked beneath the small concave windshield and lay on the hammer. They passed the train in no time, and she hit seventy-five into a curve. When the tracks straightened out, she easily hit ninety-seven as she pushed the bike harder and faster.
“Jesus, Zoe, slow the fuck down!”
“Can’t. Do the math,” she
yelled over her right shoulder. “If we have to stop to clean the tracks, the train gains about a half mile for every minute we’re off the bike. A half mile. We can’t afford too many stops.”
Nodding, Hunter held onto her waist more tightly. “I sucked at math.”
Zoe grinned. “I can tell.”
As they zoomed along the tracks, putting more and more distance between them and the Eight Forty-Four, Zoe kept her eyes on the road while Hunter kept his on the rails. The rails were remarkably clean considering there hadn’t been any maintenance in over a year. Twice Zoe had to slow down to make sure what she saw wasn’t anything more than grass. Once, Hunter had her turn around to confirm whether or not there was a raised rail that had busted up from its position. It had not, but only looked that way from the sun’s shadows.
Twice, they saw hordes in the distance moving toward Houston or, at the very least, heading east. The zombies would continue to move east toward their food supply. As long as Americans headed to the Military Zone, the zombies would follow suit, eating along the way those who couldn’t get out of their way.
It was the reason Dallas wanted to go against the grain. If the zombies were following the exodus, then the safest place to be was where they came from.
Zoe thought it was brilliant. Dangerous, yes, but brilliant. The Californians had wanted to get home. Who could blame them? For the last year, they had been far from home, helping everyone out but their own people. Zoe thought about her own people and how many of them, if any, were still alive. She doubted she would ever see anyone again. How does one reconnect with others after the apocalypse?
You don’t.
“Go back!”
Zoe turned the bike back to a section of the tracks Hunter directed her to. Sure enough, that section of track had lifted up slightly from roots, or earth movement or something. Pulling over to it, Zoe shut off the bike and they both dismounted, stretching and rubbing their lower backs.
“We need to drive that back down. See how it sticks up about three inches?”
“Tick tock. Tick tock.”
Hunter got on his hands and knees and examined the tracks. “A machete ought to get rid of the roots here.”
Zoe pulled hers out.
“No. I’ll cut it away and dig it out, you find rocks or boulders or something to bash it down with.”
Man Eaters (Book 3): Mob Rule Page 21
