Taking several deep breaths, she notched the bolt and held the Bic lighter in her hand.
“On my mark, Mr. Woolworth. Train A is going to leave the station intact. Fuck train B.”
Inhaling deeply, Zoe pushed off the water tank, dove on her belly and lit the napalm. It fired right up, just like it had in Angola.
Ready.
Aim.
Fire.
Lifting the crossbow up, she sent the fiery bolt arching in the sky toward the barrels. It felt to her like it had hovered in the air for hours before finally descending toward the barrels. She had overshot them by a good ten yards.
The good news was it landed behind them, so no one saw it.
Making an adjustment for the wind and the weight of the bolts, she lit the second one, exhaled, and released the trigger. It, too, seemed caught up in a slow motion reel, hanging too long in the air.
Someone saw it and called out.
It landed about a yard in front of the barrels.
“Someone’s shooting at us!”
Zoe had one shot left.
Ignoring the men scrambling around with their weapons, she lit the bolt on fire, giving her position away entirely.
“Up there!”
Aim. Exhale.
“You can do this, Z,” she whispered.
Bullets pinged around her as the men with the rocket launchers suddenly realized their position near the barrels.
“I can do this.”
Fire.
Just as she released the bolt, a bullet grazed her cheek. Several bullets hit the water tank and thin streams of water began pouring out.
Thwup.
Thwup.
Thwup.
Zoe managed three regular bolts in a direct line before the napalm bolt landed and hit pay dirt.
Three shots. Two dead. Napalm bolt hit the target with no results.
It didn’t look like the fire would detonate anything. There was no big bang. No boom.
Nada.
Thwup.
Thwup.
Zoe kept firing her bow, taking out as many as she could. She traded bolt for bullet, as men dove for cover firing at the water tower.
“Jesus,” she muttered as bullets landed all around her. “Do they even aim?”
And then the explosion came. It was bigger and brighter than anything she had expected, and she was glad she’d been laying down or the force of it might have knocked her off her feet.
“Jesus H—” she said, as the barrels blew, creating a chain reaction that blew up all but two of the vehicles and killed at least half the men who had been too slow to take cover.
Zoe pumped her fist in the air. “Gotcha, you mother fuckers!”
Men were on fire below her, screaming, rolling in the dirt. A couple men had been blown to the ground and were fumbling for their weapons. Charred, burning body parts seemed to fall from the sky as a black smoke choked the area.
“Kill her!” a voice yelled. “Kill that weirdo!”
Zoe knew that voice. She’d heard it when she’d watched that sick fuck order Churchill and Cassie killed.
JB was here.
“Where are you, you bastard?” Zoe muttered, looking at the train slowly approaching before she turned back to the conflagration and chaos below. She could feel the heat from the fire all the way up where she was perched on the water tank platform. The heat forced the men to move further up the tracks toward her. They were chaotic, caught unaware, unprepared, and firing wildly at the water tower and anything that moved.
She was able to put three more down before one with the rocket launchers turned toward the water tank.
She was screwed if she didn’t kill the launcher.
Her first bolt missed him and she knew he had the draw on her. She fumbled with the next bolt when the rocket blew by her, errantly missing the tank, Zoe, the tower, and everything else.
When she returned to the scope, she saw why.
There was an arrow sticking through the launcher’s neck.
Hunter.
Hunter had his crossbow out and was picking off every guy still standing. His movements were so fast and so unexpected, no one knew where the bolts were coming from.
That was when the train chugged into the station, steam spewing like a railroad engine from the wild west. She couldn’t see anyone on the train, but then, that was to be expected. They were in the last few passenger cars.
Thwup.
Thwup.
Thwup.
Hunter was a killing machine, but Zoe knew she had to get to Hunter before they killed him.
As she climbed down the tower, she heard the crashing sound of the train derailing. They had switched the tracks over, making the train pull into the yard occupied by another train. Why hadn’t it stopped? Why hadn’t Wendell at least tried to stop?
As the trains crashed into each other, metal twisted into metal. The sound was horrific—the squealing of the cars sounded almost alive as the train twisted and bent, cars jackknifing and grinding into each other, screeching to their final resting place.
That’s when she knew.
Jamming as fast as she could to Hunter, who was still firing bolts at men, Zoe could hear JB barking orders to the men, who were more interested in the train than in Hunter. They crawled over the wreckage like ants on candy. All of them, she was certain, had been ordered to find the women and leave their dyke leader alive.
All of the men moved in and out of the wreckage.
All but one.
And he turned his rifle to Hunter.
He paid for that moment of indecision with a knife to the thigh that dropped him to one knee.
Pulling out a second knife, Zoe ran up to him as he slowly pulled the blade from his leg. In an instant, she slit his throat. Ripping the first knife out of his thigh, Zoe ran over to Hunter.
“Come on!” Throwing his arm across her neck, she half-carried, half dragged him back to the Kawasaki.
“No. We have to help them.” Hunter muttered, trying to hobble back. “We can’t just leave them.”
Zoe cast her gaze over to the crumpled metal that had been the Eight Forty-Four. “We can’t help them. Get on.” She shoved him on, grabbed her backpack and started the engine.
“What the fuck, Zoe?”
Peeling out, Zoe drove as fast as she could away from the station, even as the bullets zinged all around them.
“God damn it, Zoe, go back. Go back. They need our help.”
“Yes they do, but they’re not there.” Zoe focused on her driving, barely missing a boulder near the tracks.
“What do you mean they’re not there?”
“They weren’t on the train.” Seeing another rock outcropping, Zoe pulled behind it and dismounted.
“Of course they were on the train.” Hunter winced.
Zoe couldn’t believe how pale Hunter was. “You’re hurt. You’ve lost a lot of blood, buddy. You’re not clear-headed.”
“Clear-headed enough to save your life. Again.”
Zoe peered around the rocks and gazed in the distance for the dust cloud she knew was coming. “Yeah. Nice shot. I owe you.”
“Again. Now, explain to me why—”
Zoe looked over her shoulder at him. “I saw the train just as it was pulling up. The Beast and the transport weren’t on the flatbed. I could see that from the tower. It’s why the train didn’t even slow down. No one was at the wheel.”
Hunter blinked, his face collapsing in consternation. “You know…I think you’re right. I didn’t see the Beast, either.”
“No. I am right. They knew. Somehow they knew JB’s men were waiting for them.” Looking back into the horizon, she saw the telltale signs of dust clouds. “And here they come. Looks like we’re back in play, buddy.”
“What do you think they’re thinking?”
Picking up her bag, Zoe straddled the bike. “If I know Dallas, she’s thinking it’s time to end this. Once and for all. Here. Now. That’s why she’s making a headfirst
assault. She’s coming right at the motherfuckers.”
“And we are doing what?”
“Well, I’m thinking we sure as shit are gonna help her do it, and I saw the perfect place for us to shoot from.”
“I can’t climb up that water tower.”
“We’re not climbing the water tower. Come on. Let’s end this.”
****
Dallas pushed the Fuchs harder as Roper made sure everyone was in place.
They had managed to get the vehicles off the train in one piece, following Zoe’s courageous lead with the motorcycle. They let Honey go, but not before Roper took both bridle and saddle off. Now they raced to the train station at an angle JB’s men would not anticipate until the last minute.
“Can’t imagine the look on their faces when they realize there’s no one in there,” Roper said, rifle lying across her lap.
“It won’t take them long to figure it out. We need to be on the other side before they mount up and return, looking for us.”
Roper placed her hand on Dallas’s thigh. “We’re going to finish this, love. Regardless of the outcome, only one side is going to be left standing.”
“That side is going to be us.” Dallas glanced over her shoulder at Einstein, who was holding a .357 rifle in his hands. It was a relatively new rifle in the world of guns and he had no business with it, but she knew talking him out of it would be a waste of time—time she did not have. He was out for blood. Plain and simple.
Butcher, who knelt between driver and passenger seats, held the binoculars to her face when she saw a huge explosion.
“What the fuck?” Roper said, feeling the ground shake.
“Must have been the train.”
Butcher shook her head. “I don’t think it was the train. It’s like something else blew up.”
Dallas shrugged. “Is everyone ready?”
Butcher called up to Fletcher, who had volunteered to man the turret since his bow was not needed. Not in this fight. This was a bring a gun to a gunfight fight.
“I’ve got the launcher and all canisters ready, Dallas.”
Butcher returned to her surveillance and saw several more blasts. “Dallas, I’m sure that’s not from the train at all.”
“How come?”
“It’s a steam engine. That smoke is black, like it’s coming from a different kind of fuel.”
“Well, we’re about to find out.” Coming to a small incline, Dallas faced the Fuchs toward the train yard. “Butcher, what we got?”
“Two o’clock. There are…what the fuck?”
“What is it?”
Butcher lowered her binoculars. “Their cars are on fire and there are dead guys everywhere.” She handed the binoculars to Roper, who panned left and right.
“That can only be from one or two things.”
“Zoe and Hunter.”
Handing the binoculars back, Roper nodded to Dallas. “The transport is tucked safely away, these guys’s numbers have been cut in half, and it appears Zoe and Hunter may have made it here alive. All systems are go. Whenever you’re ready, love.”
“We’ve never utilized this weapon before. It makes me nervous to shoot it with the two of them still out there.”
Butcher shook her head. “I told you, Dallas, BZ is just an incapacitating agent. We used it in Iraq and Afghanistan all the time. They’ll be confused, disoriented, and generally fucked up, but not killed. Zoe and Hunter should be fine.”
“We don’t even know if they’re here.”
“They’re here,” Butcher said, looking through the binoculars. “Arrows sticking out of people is a pretty good sign that they made it.”
Dallas grinned. “Yep. That would be them. Tell Fletcher to get ready. It’s time for us to write the final chapter.”
Butcher told Fletcher it was time.
“My boy’s out there,” Fletcher said.
“He’ll be fine. Look, in nineteen ninety-eight, the Iraqis used Agent Fifteen—a chemical weapon with BZ properties. It lasts several hours, but with no lasting effects. If ever there was a time for us to use a bioweapon, it’s now. What good is this military jalopy if we don’t use it?”
Dallas nodded. “We need to do this before they gear up and ride out of there looking for us.”
Butcher nodded. “On your go.”
Dallas held Roper’s hand. “When this is over, you’re marrying me.”
Roper tilted her head. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. We’re in this together, forever. I want to make it official.”
Roper laughed. “Officially, you’re insane. Let’s do this thing.”
Dallas nodded. “Okay, Fletcher…Fire!”
Fletcher fired the weapon and everyone waited to see the results.
“It won’t take long. If all goes according to plan, we should be able to drive right up to those assholes.”
Dallas hit the button that made the Beast impervious to chemical or biowarfare. The decision to use BZ had come from Einstein, who had believed they would be outgunned and needed a better strategy than a head-to-head confrontation. By deploying a bioweapon, they could take everyone out at once without firing a single shot.
As usual, he was right.
Once the Beast was prepared, they rolled slowly over the hill to the station, running over several fences along the way.
“Now remember—they may pass out, they may hallucinate, and they could very well start shooting at us, thinking we’re a dragon,” Butcher explained. “They’re still dangerous.”
Fletcher slid down the ladder locking the turret hatch behind him. “I can cover you from the turret, but I can’t do it alone.”
Burnett raised her hand. “I can.”
Fletcher looked at Einstein. “Kid?”
Einstein shook his head. “Uh uh. I want out there.” He pointed to where JB’s men were.
Butcher, Roper, and Dallas each looked at the other two.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Einstein said. “You think I’ve gone over the edge, and maybe I have, but you have got to stop treating me like I’m a little kid. I’m not. I can handle this. I’ve handled it so far, haven’t I? So cut me a break here. I’m not going to go all Apocalypse Now on anyone.”
Dallas checked with Roper, who managed a small shrug. “He’s not a kid.”
“Take Burnett. Wendell, you’ll stay with the Beast. You’re Fletcher’s eyes and ears. Fletcher, you shoot anyone who has their hands on a weapon. Butcher, you know your job. Babe?”
“Ready.”
“Time for the end game, boys and girls. Time for their final chapter.”
****
Zoe left Hunter on a perch behind a rock wall with all the bolts and bows. She had other plans in mind before she saw a canister of something land in the middle of the remaining sixteen men who were trying to regroup.
“Oh shit.” Zoe looked around for someplace to run, but she was screwed and she knew it. Whatever they’d shot from the Fuchs was already making her head feel strange. Opening her eyes wide, she felt like she was walking on foam legs as she stepped behind a shipping container.
“Jesus Christ, Dallas, what is this shit?” Zoe tried to shake it off, but whatever it was was messing her up really badly. She looked at her hands and saw blood all over them. The blood suddenly rose to the shape and silhouette of her dead lover. It hovered in front of her face.
“Peach?” Zoe shook her head. She was seriously fucked up.
“You killed me.”
Zoe felt tears spring to her eyes. “I had to. You…you begged me not to let you turn into one of them. You begged me. I didn’t want to….but we…we had an agreement.”
“Was it worth it? You could have just died with me. Then we’d be together.”
“Together? But…I want to be alive. They need me.”
The shape laughed. “Need you. You? Don’t kid yourself. You’re a fuck up. You’ve always been a fuck up. You’ll always be a fuck up.”
“Shut up. That’
s not true.”
“No? Look at Hunter. You fucked him up. You weren’t paying attention and they nearly ate him alive. What would you call that?”
Zoe lowered her head. “Fucking up.”
“Right. They don’t need you, Z. You’re just a liability. The best thing you can do is go out there and take as many of them out before they kill you.”
“I…I had a plan.”
“Yeah? And how have your plans worked so far?”
Zoe said nothing. The voice was spot on.
“That’s what I thought. Look. They’re all dead. Hunter’s dying. At least take some of them with you.”
Zoe nodded, unsheathing her two sharpest machetes.
“Thatta girl. I’ll be waiting.”
“Waiting? Where?”
“On the other side, where I’ve been since you put a slug in my head. Come home, Baby. It’s so much easier than what you’re doing.”
Zoe gripped the handles tightly, took a deep breath and realized that some of the men had passed out and were lying face down in the dirt. Others appeared to be picking something out of the air, while others were tearing their clothes off.
Only three still had their weapons in their hands, so Zoe catapulted herself into the yard, the ground moving like an airport walking-ramp beneath her feet. Her machetes flashed in the sunlight as she ran on her foam legs, moving like a combination of a banshee and a windmill. Before any of the men could react, she’d lopped off two arms and a head. Her blades never stopped whirling as she just kept hacking away at anyone in her path. There was so much blood. So much blood.
Blood and screaming.
Screaming and blood.
Finally, one guy raised his rifle, only to have a bolt pierce his neck. He fell forward into a coagulating puddle of blood and dirt.
For a moment, she just stood there, bathed in blood, blinking and blinking, trying to clear her head of Peach’s words.
“Zoe!”
Someone was calling her name. Was it Peaches?
“Over here! Come up here.”
She stopped to look up at Hunter. He was dying. Peaches was right. She sucked. She was a loser.
“Shh. Quiet, Hunter. I gotta do this. I gotta do something right.”
Man Eaters (Book 3): Mob Rule Page 24
