“Einstein?”
“He just crumpled to the ground. No other movement. Proceed cautiously.”
“It’s a trick,” someone said from the back of the Fuchs. “Let’s just go. There’s no reason for us to help anyone anymore.”
Dallas handed the mic to Roper. “Tell his people I’m bringing him to the Fuchs where he will receive water and first aid. If they make one move, we will blast them to smithereens.”
Roper grabbed her arm. “He’s not our problem. Let’s go.”
Dallas looked into her lover’s eyes. Ever since being captured by a group of Bible-thumping bigots who were raping and impregnating women for some rapturous New World Order, Roper had become hard...cold. She’d been beaten to an inch of her life in an effort to escape. And although she had lived through it and physically healed, the emotional and spiritual scars would always remain.
Dallas was beginning to understand just how much they were all changing. A year on the run will do that to a person.
“Please do as I ask,” Dallas said. Pulling her arm from Roper’s grasp, she jumped from the driver’s seat to the hot pavement below. The heat from the outside flooded the Fuchs like bad gas.
“Close the door,” Roper ordered. “You see anyone so much as move, blow them the shit up. Is everyone clear on that?”
Everyone in the Fuchs nodded.
Running to the prostrate man on the ground, Dallas rolled him over and helped him to his feet just as Roper made the announcement that they would blast them if anyone moved.
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Ferdie said, “or they’d have at least fired a warning shot at her. So far…nothing.”
“That doesn’t mean squat. Stay sharp, everyone. Don’t leave her with her ass hanging out.” Roper muttered something under her breath that sounded like, “Red cape and blue tights. I hate when she does this.”
“Then don’t let her do it alone.”
Lowering the ramp at the rear of the Fuchs, Roper sprinted out of the back to help Dallas carry him in. He was amazingly light for a guy his size.
When they were in, the ramp closed behind them, clicking ominously as the lock engaged.
“He’s dehydrated,” someone said, handing Roper a canteen. “Look at the corners of his mouth.
Dallas took the canteen from her and held it to his lips. “Easy, man. Slowly.”
Shooting Dallas a glare, Roper just shook her head. “You know, a little warning might be nice.”
Dallas shrugged. “No time, baby.”
In the cool air of the Fuchs and with some water in his belly, Ike licked his parched lips and thanked them.
“Take your time,” Dallas said, taking the canteen back.
He shook his head. “Can’t. I think...I think they plan on using them for bait…my friends, I mean. I think…I think they’re planning on using them as bait.”
“Bait?”
Ike nodded. “Yeah. Bait. For catching zombies.”
Catching zombies? Why on earth would they want to catch zombies?”
He shrugged, his eyes slowly closing. “Why does anyone do anything any more? We are in Hell and the Devil is laughing.”
Butcher
Two Weeks Ago
The town erupted into a scene right out of the Alamo as Butcher’s people began attacking the townies that began shooting at them the moment they drove onto Main Street. They flooded in from everywhere swinging bats, crow bars, and even two-by-fours.
“Keep your head down!” Omar shouted at Luke as he shot his crossbow without the benefit of aiming. The bolt flew hard and fast, finding its home in the face of one very surprised townie.
“Fuckin’ A, Omar, watch what you’re doing next time!” Luke had just managed to get his head down in time before the bolt pierced the townie’s cheekbone, and he fell without a sound.
“Fucking cannibals,” Omar said, shooting once more. “They’re worse than the man eaters. I hate these pieces of shit. ” He aimed this time and sent a bolt through another man’s heart. “Hate with a capital H.”
“Reinforcements!” Luke yelled, taking out another survivor with his baseball bat. The streets were getting bloody from the attacking townies, but they couldn’t back down now. Egypt needed formula, or at least some sort of liquid other than water, and this town had been their only choice, their only option.
Standing on top of the Hummer, Omar and Hunter were doing their best to clear the area, but the survivors just kept coming. Omar licked his thumb and pulled another bolt out. “Can you even imagine eating a human?”
“You mean, besides pussy or dick?”
“Don’t be stupid, man. You know what I mean. Could you eat another person? Another person you…like…know?” Omar let another bolt fly, only this one missed.
Hunter shook his head. “Not a chance. I’d rather die than eat someone I knew.”
Omar examined his bolts and looked at Hunter’s automatic. Hunter had created a crossbow that could speed-load twelve bolts. “You keep shooting. Someone has to help Luke.”
“Stay right where you are,” Butcher said, rolling out of the Hummer. “I got this.”
“The baby?” Omar asked from the top of the Hummer.
“Will be fine. She’s sound asleep anyway. ” Pulling out two machetes, Butcher looked like a pinwheel as she hacked off limbs and heads on her way toward her husband.
Husband.
The word still felt odd to her.
After the debacle with the Bible thumping slavers, and the subsequent rescue of Luke from the military, Butcher, Luke, Hunter, and Omar had returned to Angola to retrieve their daughter.
Their daughter.
Butcher had never believed in marriage, but when Luke had proposed to her when they got back to Angola, she couldn’t say no. His soft, gentle blue eyes lit up like a little boy’s when she surprised herself––and everyone else––and said yes.
She’d wanted to wait until they could reunite with the others, but everyone knew that in a zombie apocalypse, this moment…this split second was all you had. Tomorrow was a crap shoot, and if you lived through the night, you were luckier than most.
She’d been luckier than most, but only because she’d had the fortune of hooking up with Dallas, Roper, and Einstein early on. They were her family now.
Her family.
And yet, they were miles away, making the trek to Barstow’s military base in Southern California in the hopes of securing another Fuchs before heading west to Alcatraz Island. They were supposed to meet up.
What were the odds of that actually happening?
They’d laid out the plan for Alcatraz right after rescuing Luke, and Dallas had given them the timeline of the whens and wheres. Of course, anything could and would change that timeline, but at least they were all headed in the same direction. That proved to be somewhat comforting.
“Duck!” Luke cried, swinging his bat with all his might. The cannibal’s skull detached from the spine with a popping sound as it fell to the ground.
“Luke?” Butcher called to her husband.
“I see ‘em, darlin’. We can’t do anything until Henry gets back.”
Henry was a biker they’d picked up on their first trip to Angola. He’d wanted to get out of their safe zone and into the wide open spaces. He’d missed his Harley and the open roads. They’d stopped off in this burg because it had a Harley dealership and he believed they needed a scout to run ahead of the Hummer to check things out. A Harley was good for that.
It hadn’t been a bad idea until the cannibals attacked.
At first, they thought their attackers were just crazed townies. Then…then they saw the pile of picked clean bones…and another pile…and another.
“I got your back, lover,” Butcher said, guarding Luke with her two blood-stained machetes.
They’d opted against the rifles, preferring to save the ammo for when distance was needed. She was beginning to question the wisdom of that decision, but like Dallas, Butcher wasn’
t a fan of having to kill humans…even if they had turned into cannibals.
THWUP.
THWUP.
THWUP.
Three more died.
The townie reinforcements way outnumbered them, and Butcher knew if they didn’t leave now, they would all be at risk of being dinner.
“We have to go, Luke,” she said, the blood on her machetes running onto her hands. “We can’t wait any longer.”
“I’m not leaving Henry behind.”
“This isn’t the military, love. We have to. There’s too many.” Butcher took the legs out from under a teenage boy before cleaving his head in two. “Let them eat their own.”
Suddenly, they heard it. The easily recognizable sound of rolling thunder…of motorcycle pipes roaring in the wind.
Butcher watched Henry plow through the two dozen survivors before pulling up to them on a 2013 DynaWide Glide with metallic blue paint and silver trim.
“Get on!”
Butcher looked at Luke, who nodded. “Go! Take my wife out of there!”
Hopping on the back, she held on while Henry nearly popped a wheelie getting out of there.
“Drop me off and go back for him.” Butcher was off the bike before it even stopped, but when she turned around to see where Luke was, she saw him racing from the outstretched arms of the living, who looked more like the undead as they chased after him.
“Luke!”
“Go! Go! Go!” he cried, waving his arms.
Jumping into the black Hummer, Butcher looked back to see that Omar and Hunter did the same. “Jesus, what’s wrong with those people?”
“Get the rifles.”
As she started the Hummer, one of her greatest fears came to life: One of the dying on the ground tripped Luke up, and he fell hard and rolled over a couple of times.
“No! Luke!”
Omar and Hunter both put their rifles out the passenger window, but they all knew it was too late. There were simply too many of them and they were closing in fast.
Ten feet.
Eight feet.
Six feet.
Henry couldn’t get to him in time. No one could. Luke was about to fall victim to the worst of mankind.
Then came the sound of hope.
RATATATATATA.
Out of nowhere, an automatic weapon laid waste to those cannibals closest to Luke as he tried to scramble to his feet.
Those in the back turned tail and tried to run but they, too, were mowed down by gunfire coming not from the Hummer, but from four people dressed in red and white body suits with white helmets and dark face shields. Each held a smoking automatic rifle.
“What the fuck?” Omar said, turning his aim toward the four identically clad people.
“Hold, Omar,” Butcher ordered as Luke got to his feet and hopped onto the back of the Harley.
Henry hit the throttle and sped away from the dead and dying lying in the middle of the street.
When Henry dropped him off, Luke’s eyes were wide with the questions everyone was wondering.
Before anyone could utter a sound, a military transport vehicle pulled in and the four climbed aboard. Without a word, they took off toward the west.
For a moment, no one spoke. Finally, when someone finally found her voice, she asked what everyone was thinking.
“Umm...who the fuck were they?”
Watching the transport fade into the distance, Luke answered softly, “They...are a whole new set of problems for us.”
Dallas
Ike and his people appeared to be genuine in their request and Dallas agreed to help them collect the rest of their group. As they parked just outside a small town, she briefed her group on a plan that not everyone stood behind.
“Ike will be the only one of his people going with us into the town. If we’re not back in two hours, you are to kill every one of these good people sitting under that tree.”
A hand went up. “Two hours isn’t much time.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not, but it’s all we can afford to give them. With the sun setting, we still need to find a place for the night, and this backwater town isn’t it. I’ve agreed to help, but only to a certain point. I just don’t want us to be those people who turn their backs on others in need. We’ve been victims of that, so we know how that works. Any other questions?”
“You leaving any CGIs, Dallas?” Einstein asked.
Dallas nodded. “Melissa, Chris, and Ferdie will stay back to protect the group from man eaters. If you find yourselves fighting the living, I fully expect you all to engage and extinguish any and all threats. No one sits out of any fight. If you have one hand, I expect a weapon in it to crush the skulls of any and all attackers. Are we all clear?”
Everyone nodded.
“Good. Then grab some wood, branches, steel, chains, anything you can use to defend yourselves.”
“We do have a stockpile of those items over there,” one young woman said. She looked like a school librarian.
“Excellent. Then Roper, Einstein, and Fletcher are going with me and Ike to check it out. Two hours. Be safe, and remember that we are our first priority. If this slides south, get to the nearest train station and we’ll meet there.”
As the five of them headed toward town, Ike laid out the main drag for them. It was a simple design, really––a main street with seven streets on either side. It was an old-style Western town with a hardware store, a couple of bars, and a feed and grain store. It had more bars than churches and more churches than businesses.
“Our group came down to check out the feed store and, before we knew it, them folks rolled right over them and gathered them up.”
“You think they’re still in the feed store?”
“That’s as good a guess as any. Not much else is there, really. These people have a Deliverence kind of mentality.”
Einstein looked to Roper, not understanding the reference.
“Jethros and Bubbas,” she said.
“Oh. Yeah. We’ve faced assholes like that too many times to count.”
Dallas looked over at Roper and nodded. “You and Fletcher take the back of the feed store. Einstein, Ike and I will see what we can see at the front.”
“You gotta be very quiet. They got weapons. That’s why we couldn’t go after them. Our ammo ran out a few weeks back. We picked up a few rifles here and there offa’ dead guys, but those only went so far. Know what I mean?”
“Our way is to be very quiet––not go in with guns blazing. And if we have to shoot, we seldom miss.”
Ike nodded. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. “They’re in there. I know they are. I could sure use a rifle or something.”
Dallas handed him a machete. “Sorry, but we don’t loan our rifles out.”
He nodded. “Understood.”
As they crept between two buildings, Dallas came to an abrupt halt. There, on each corner of the street, was a zombie chained to a parking meter. All four stood there and stared down at their feet through greying, opaque eyes.
Next to the barber shop were two cages that looked like they could have been bird aviaries about five feet in diameter. They were made with wrought iron and had a large chain and padlock on the door.
“What in the hell?”
Einstein scooted back and grabbed Ike, pulling the man back with him. “It’s an alarm,” he said softly. “Get back.”
Dallas stepped back away from Main Street and into one of the side roads. “An alarm?”
He nodded and pointed to the man eaters chained to the paring meters. “The zombies’ movements will tell them when fresh meat is nearby. I’ll bet that’s how they knew Ike’s people were there.”
Dallas glared at Ike, who raised his hands. “I’ve never been to the town. I had no way of knowing.”
“Yeah, that’s not really a fact he’da left out,” Einstein said. “Still, it’s a brilliant sentry system.”
“I guess that pretty much sums up who the real bad guys are out in t
he world, huh?”
“The living.”
Dallas looked hard into Ike’s face. “Are they cannibals? These people who have yours.”
“C...cannibals? You messin’ with me? You better be foolin’ because I’m gonna lose my shit if you tell me they want to eat my people!”
Dallas and Einstein exchanged glances. “Ike, what are your people eating while on the road?”
He glanced away. “We’ve ate dogs, squirrels, chipmunks, you name it. But we will never turn to that...ever. That’s disgusting. That’s wrong in so many ways. You’d have to be desperate.”
“There are a lot of desperate people out there.”
“My guess is,” Einstein interjected, “this isn’t just a warning system––”
“It’s the dinner bell.”
Ike went pale. “No...God, no.”
Einstein peered around the corner. “I’m afraid so. Unless the people living here are out hunting for food, they’re waiting for the zombies to warn them food is near.”
“So what now?”
“Well, now, I am going to scoot around to the back of the feed store and grab Fletcher. He’ll take out all man eaters silently. Then we’ll see what we can see without worrying about the man eaters giving us up.”
“Your fella’s shooting will only let ‘em know we’re here.”
Dallas grinned. “This isn’t our first rodeo, Ike. We got this.”
Ike looked confused. “Sorry if I have a hard time buyin’ that two women and a boy are gonna take on a whole town. I thought we was just checkin’ it out. Aren’t we going back for the others?”
“Oh, Ike, you have no idea what these two women and this boy are capable of. You just wait. Those zombies will go down without a sound. Stay here. I’ll be back in a flash.”
And she was.
Fifteen minutes later, Dallas rejoined them. “Okay, they’re all dead.”
Ike’s eyebrows rose. “What? I didn’t hear anything.”
“I told you––this isn’t our first rodeo. Twenty arrows, twenty truly dead zombies. Anyone who keeps those things alive is a danger. It’s ridiculously stupid to keep them around for any reason. We’re going to need to be very careful with these people.” Dallas pulled out her automatic and nodded to Einstein to do the same. “We’re going to the other side of the––”
Pedal to the Metal (Riders of the Apocalypse Book 4) Page 3
