by Mike Staton
“Good.” Kat nodded. She felt better knowing that Krista would be with them, even if that support came after being coerced by Judith. She knew Krista’s indecision had been born of opposing obligations and not fear. She turned to Cooper. “You’re the only one who hasn’t said nothin’.”
“I’ve said plenty.” He refused to meet her eye. “I’ll go. This is important, even if it reeks of ‘trap’ to me. I mean, a horde of 400?” he scoffed.
“Good.” Kat turned away from him and back to Krista. “With that settled, please. Go on.”
Krista nodded. “We’ll sweep in and scout the situation. It’ll take days to get there. Hopefully the folk there are capable of holding out long enough for us to get in and help. If they need help, we’ll do what we can, be it thinning the horde to drawing parts of it off. There may be conflict with the armed humans behind the horde as well.”
“Rules of engagement?” Kat asked.
“What?” Cooper echoed.
“What you should do should you encounter hostile forces, Cooper. Defend yourself, don’t initiate if it can be avoided. We’re not judge, jury, and executioner here.” Krista shifted her gaze between Percival and Kat.”
“And if the area is empty?” Samuel asked.
It broke Krista’s gaze from Kat. “If they’re gone… we’ll play it by ear. Investigate the area and go from there. We can’t know everything at this point as no plan survives first contact.”
Percival nodded. “We leave in twenty minutes.”
Krista shot him a vicious look, cleared her throat and nodded. “Twenty minutes. Gather your stuff.”
Everyone nodded and the group dispersed.
*
Kat folded her sleeping bag over on itself and rolled it as tight as she could. She looped the cords along the outer edge around it and tied them off. She listened to the descending footsteps and continued to work in silence. The footfalls were too heavy for Judith or Krista and Percival would be accompanied by a second set, Samuel. By process of elimination, that left Cooper or one of the men from Danielsville. She pulled her pack close and restuffed the bottom with neatly rolled clothing.
It might be a small thing, but a clean shirt did wonders for her psyche. The extra set of pants was just plain sanitary. She took a deep breath. The footsteps had ceased. She didn’t look up, or otherwise react. Whoever’d come to visit could announce themselves. She laid her boxes of ammunition in on top of the clothing, carefully packing it so that it’d not shift. She’d keep more in a ready place in her drop pouch, but knowing that the extra was readily available put her mind at ease.
Someone cleared their throat behind her. She closed her eyes and counted silently to 10.
“If I were a zombie, I’d have bitten you by now.” Cooper’s sultry voice drifted over her shoulder. “Could still bite you.”
“You’re implying that I didn’t know you’d come down.” She shook her head without looking at him. She yanked the top of her pack over and buckled it in. “Your steps lack the broken cadence of the dead. Even the fast ones. Not to mention, they don’t navigate the stairs as well or as quickly as we do.”
“You listen to my footsteps?” A touch of awe flavored his voice.
“I listen to a lot of things. I knew who Krista was before she took her helmet off.”
“Really?”
Kat settled her sleeping bag on top of her pack and secured it. She spun the pack and set it aside. Outside of checking her rifles, again, she was ready to go. She rose from her kneeling position. “Yes. Really.”
“How?” Cooper’s voice sounded closer, even though she’d not heard him shuffle any closer.
“I pay attention. I watch for the things that matter.” She turned around. Anger burned warm in the pit of her stomach. “I listen. I’m observant. I don’t waste time with the unnecessary burdens of… everything. Any of this sinking in?”
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “I get you’ve been mad with me past couple days, but, why?”
She shook her head, threw up her hands and let out a groan of frustration. How could someone be so ignorant? “I thought we had something. You know? I doubt it. Ugh.”
“You weren’t the only one who thought that.” He took a step closer to her, his voice softening.
She felt the heat of her anger sliver off ever so slightly. She shook her head and jabbed her finger into his muscular, solid chest. “No. Uh uh. You do not get to say that after… after you chased after Lindsey.”
“Hear me out?” There was a hint of pleading to his voice. The soft light of the basement area of the Ranger Station made him look innocent. The shadows softened his strong features and gave them almost a childlike quality.
“What’s there to hear?” Kat shook her head. And this ass had been her first kiss. Of course he had. At least she’d not given him more.
“Just that there wasn’t nothin’ between Lindsey and me. I mean, you were givin’ me such the cold shoulder after the night on the road. She listened to me.” He took another step closer.
Close enough that she could smell his deep, manly musk, the ruddy scent of grass and sweat. She closed her eyes and shook her head again. “You should’ve stood up for me. Not encouraged what she did.”
“Thought you said you didn’t need anyone protecting you,” Cooper practically whispered.
“I don’t. But still. You…” She shook her head again. She let her head drop to her chest and kept her eyes closed. It was easier if she didn’t look at his beautiful features. “It’d’ve been nice to have had you at my backside.”
“You still could.”
She heard his shuffling step forward moments before feeling his strong arms close around her. She melted into his delightful musky scent and solid arms, until one hand dropped down her back and cupped her ass. Her eyes popped open.
He got one good squeeze in before she reacted. She squared her hips, popped the leg not attached to the cheek he had a hold of back. A split second passed before her cocked leg shot forward and drove her knee up between his legs. She landed the blow solidly and drove a high pitched whimper out through Cooper’s lips, but his hand didn’t leave her rear.
She felt him go weak, twisted and slid both hands to the arm he had draped around her and on her. In one smooth movement she slid out of his grip and dumped him over her hip and onto the ground. She kept hold of the arm as he moaned in pain and writhed for a moment on the floor. She took three steps around his head and yanked him over onto his face.
She just barely resisted the urge to stomp the back of his head. She, instead, yanked his arm and twisted his hand to hold it in place against her stomach. He immediately stopped writhing as she put pressure on the limb she had hold of.
“Do I have your attention, Cooper?” Kat’s voice came out startlingly cold. She’d expect the anger she felt fueling every bit of strength she had in that moment to bleed through and break her voice.
A whimper answered her.
She responded by twisting his arm. “Do I have your attention?”
“Yes… Yes, ma’am.” He let loose another whimper and tapped with his free arm. It was a gesture she ignored.
“We’re done. You want to chase rear? Go back to Lindsey. You didn’t have the permission to lay hands on me. You. Will. Not. Do it again.” Kat twisted for emphasis. “You got my first kiss, but that’s it. Understand me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cooper squeaked.
“Good.” She let go of his arm and threw it down.
He curled into a ball, holding his groin. She took a step away, bent down, and snatched up her pack and pair of rifles. She turned toward the stairs. Percival stood silhouetted near the bottom.
“Everything alright down here?” His tone was carefully neutral, his face shrouded in shadows.
Kat walked toward him. “Everything’s peachy. We ready to get a move on?”
“Just about.” Percival’s tone had dropped six degrees in temperature. “Go on upstairs.”
Kat blinked a couple
times. She stopped beside Percival, but didn’t directly look at him.
“Go on upstairs, Kat.” Percival remained absolutely still. He radiated a rage she’d not seen come from him before. A rage that drove a spike of fear into her core.
“Don’t kill ‘im,” Kat whispered. “He’s not worth it.”
Percival looked over at her and smiled. The smile never left his lips, remaining far from his eyes. “I’m just going to have a quick chat with him, is all. We’ll be up in a couple minutes.”
Kat took a deep breath. She let it out slowly and touched his shoulder. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
He nodded silently and stepped off the stairs. She waited a few heartbeats, watching him walk into the darkness toward Cooper.
“We need to have words.”
Kat ascended the stairs into the lighter first floor of the station.
Samuel glanced her way. “Is he?”
Kat shook her head, then shrugged. “I don’t know.”
The past couple minutes were a blur to her. She didn’t know what to do or how to go about it. She felt betrayed and sullied somehow.
She stopped at the top of the stairwell and Samuel moved toward her. She put out a hand against his chest to stop him from going downstairs. “Won’t help.”
He froze. “You okay?”
“Yeah… No. I don’t know.” Kat shook her head and moved her hand to her forehead. The room suddenly wouldn’t stand still.
“What happened? We saw Cooper go down, then he followed a few minutes later.” Samuel made no attempt to move past her.
The quiet rising from the lower level was nearly deafening. Kat filled the emptiness with her voice. “He came downstairs to talk to me. Think he wanted to reconcile or makeout or… something. I don’t know. I’m still mad with him. Told him as such and explained it to him. He didn’t listen, just walked closer and hugged me.”
“Uh huh.” Samuel crossed his arms over his chest.
“Which was okay, but then he grabbed my ass. It…” She shook her head and scrubbed her hand over eyes. “I don’t like being touched, you get me?”
“I get it. What’d you do?”
“Nutshotted him and threw him on the floor.” She sounded like she’d overreacted. He had only grabbed her butt, but she’d not given him permission to do so either. It seemed to be the kind of thing people who were intimate together did. Even if she’d only just barely scratched the surface of intimacy with him, did that give him the right to grab her?
“Good for you.”
“Huh?” Kat lifted her gaze to Samuel. He’d not moved or changed stance.
“I said, ‘good for you.’” He unfolded his arms. “I mean, I’ll be slightly contradictory here as, you know, I like sex and touching a pretty girl as much as the next guy, and label you as a ‘prude.’ But hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. You know your limits and are sticking by them.”
She shook her head. “I mean this as offensively as possible. Fuck you. I’m not a prude, I simply ain’t interested in jumping every pretty boy out there.”
Samuel shrugged. “To each their own.”
Kat opened her mouth to lambast him once more, but snapped her jaws closed at the sound of Percival climbing the stairs. He rose with both hands clasped behind his back.
“Everything okay?” Samuel asked.
Percival nodded. “Just had a talk with our friend down there. We came to an understanding that this place needed someone of our persuasion to stick around and watch over our interests. Someone to talk with home and that he’d be best for that.”
Kat opened her mouth, then let it close with a click of her teeth. She felt certain that Cooper’d not come to that decision on his own and she didn’t know just how to feel about Percival’s assistance in the situation. She cleared her throat and simply walked out of the station.
Neither man said a word.
Chapter 17
Percival stretched his legs. They didn’t seem to like hiking as much as they had when he’d first left Prosperity Wells with his original troupe. It seemed like he could walk forever and a day back then; just a couple months ago.
The time seemed to stretch back into the past for a lifetime, or more. He wondered if this dilation of memory was going to continue as he tromped inevitably toward losing himself to infection.
Just yesterday he’d felt a fiery rage, and let himself go into it for a few moments. He’d managed to stop himself just shy of striking Cooper and settled it by convincing the conniving shit to stay behind where he’d not pose a threat to anyone in Percival’s team.
Kat’d given him a wide berth since then. He didn’t know if he’d scared her or pissed her off. Possibly both. He let out a sigh and navigated around a tree.
“Penny for your thoughts, kid?” Morrbid’s voice drifted through the forest.
“Huh?” Percival swung his head around on a swivel. The motorcycle helmet was good for keeping crap out of his face but not so much for his peripheral vision.
“I asked how you were holding up.” Lieutenant Adams slowed to walk next to him.
Percival shook his head. “I’m hearing things and losing my cool.”
“And if I asked you what else was new?” Lieutenant Adams casually looked around. She seemed to be scanning the area, but he figured she was making sure no one else was in earshot. It was a perk of taking point.
“A heightened anger response is a symptom of infection.” Percival knew he sounded like the news casts when the infection first became widespread enough to warrant them. “Among other things.”
“You talkin’ about the boy yesterday?” Lieutenant Adams asked.
“Cooper, yeah.”
“Katherine told me what happened. He told me, without meeting my eye, that he felt it best if he sat this one out. You know, take up my position on the defense.” Lieutenant Adams paused, seemed to listen to something.
“She’s lying. She’s planning to rip everyone from your grasp. Don’t you remember Roy Joy? ‘Military’s bad,’” Morrbid whispered.
“I did the right thing.” Percival meant it more for himself than for continuing his conversation with Lieutenant Adams.
Her helmet twisted back to face him. “Of course you did. You also let him off light. Can’t say I’d have stopped with just words.”
“She’s lying again. Trying to get under your skin. I would know.”
Percival ignored Morrbid’s whispers. “I… Why?”
“Why’d you do what you did?” Lieutenant Adams returned to scanning the forest. They were making good time and on track to reach Danielsville by sundown. They’d be able to sleep with a roof over their heads and insulated walls around them.
The latter was more important than the former with winter nearly atop them. Percival’d seen snowflakes in the air just a couple days ago.
“She saved my ass. And I promised Ian I’d look after her.” Percival shrugged. “Weak excuses, I know.”
“She knows. She smells weakness,” Morrbid whispered.
“Not so much. I know a thing or two of duty and keeping one’s word.” Lieutenant Adams’s pace picked up as they encountered an incline in the road.
Percival nodded once. “What’s your excuse?”
“She’s a longtime friend. Known her longer than you’ve known her. And I’m protective of my friends, on any level.” Lieutenant Adams shifted her carbine to rest against her shoulder. “What else troubles you? I think we all need to be focused on this trip. Especially if those jackholes you came across are behind this concentration of zombies.”
“I think there’s a small horde ahead of us. Possibly in the town.” Percival shook his head, waving off the obvious question. “I don’t want to go into why I think it.”
“Sure you do. You want to tell her all about me,” Morrbid whispered.
“The voices?” She asked.
He nodded. “It’s crazy, I know.”
“Already told you I didn’t think so.” Lieutenant Ada
ms kept her head forward. “You hear voices. So what? So long as they’re not telling you to kill everyone around you, I don’t care.”
“Going to tell her that I’ve told you to do just that?” Morrbid pressed. “Give me the shotgun if you can’t pull the trigger.”
He shook his head. He wasn’t certain which voice the silent answer was addressing. “If it comes to that, I might opt to eat my shotgun first. I don’t want to be a danger to anyone.”
“That’s good to hear, Percival. Very good to hear.”
*
He could tell the town wasn’t safe. He felt it before they crested the hill and could look down on the place from above. He couldn’t explain it outside of Morrbid’s continued whispers. Whispers he’d come to associate with a zombie.
He’d settled into a comfortable stance of ignoring the dead priest.
He came to a stop at the top of the hill with Lieutenant Adams. He waited with her for the other three to catch up. Kat brought up the rear. Lieutenant Adams looked past him and down into Danielsville.
“Kat, would you get a better look at the town?” Percival moved off the road and next to a tree. He propped his shotgun and looped his hands together.
Kat glanced at Lieutenant Adams, passed her .22 off to Samuel, and looped her Remington over her shoulder. She moved up to Percival, stepped into his hands and he boosted her up. With a grunt she ascended into the lower branches of the tree. A couple minutes later and she’d ascended a decent way up into the tree.
Percival continued to watch her from the ground. “What do you see?”
Kat adjusted her seat on a branch and swung her rifle around and brought it up to peer through the scope. “Town crawls. That or several someones are doing zombie impressions down there. Not likely the safest thing to do since most people shoot the undead on sight.”
“By your estimate, is it safe to go down there?” Krista called up to Kat.
“Sure. I mean, I can only count… Seven. We can handle seven. But there might be more I can’t see. I mean, I don’t have a perfect vantage point here.” Kat lowered her rifle and looked down at them.
