Rotting to the Core (Keep Your Crowbar Handy Book 2)

by Durnin, S. P.

  Rebecca shook her head. “You're talking about suicide. You realize that, don't you?”

  “Look,” Jake was done with the conversation, “just give me my weapons back and you'll never see me again. You people can sit here eating granola stew, or whatever the hell that dinner was supposed to be, till Hell freezes over for all I care.”

  An unhappy murmur rippled through the gathered crowd, but Jake noticed the smiling volunteers weren't part of the quiet conversations. Their expressions never changed.

  A middle-aged man in a worn, tweed jacket raised one hand.

  “Yes, Martin?” Rebecca waved him to the forefront.

  “It seems that we'd be better off just holding his initiation now, wouldn't you agree?” Slim Martin looked a bit uncomfortable under the gathered eyes, but pressed on. “I mean, that would give him a valid reason to stay, wouldn't it?”

  As Ms. Lewis frowned and considered it, Martin stepped back into the crowd. “I wanted to give Jake time to become acclimatized to our home and our decision-making process first. That would allow him some insight as to not only how, but why we put our Laws in place. Why we've adopted the specific customs—”

  “Oh, for fuck's sake! He doesn't wanna hang around, fine! Put him out the front gate and forget him!” Benjamin stood and threw both his hands in the air, still staring hard at the blonde who'd vacated the seat beside him. “I been here for two months and still ain't been initiated! What's so damn special about this guy?”

  Rebecca gave him a calm gaze. “Jake has been on his own—alright, alright—Jake and his supposed companion have been on their own out there. He's managed to survive the past months without our walls and protections, without our numbers, and without any kind of support system whatsoever. Wouldn't that imply to you, Benjamin, that he's in possession of skills we as a community are in dire need of?”

  Jake watched as the man struggled to get his brain-box into first gear.

  “You mean he's better than us at dealin' with those things?” Ben finally demanded. “Cause I'll tell you what—”

  “Whether he is or isn't, is not the question, Benjamin. It's a simple fact.” Rebecca told him gently. “We've managed to last this long by using every last resource we could gather. Wouldn't having someone who's had no choice but to become adept at doing so, all by themselves, make it easier on all of us?”

  Ben looked confused. “I guess?”

  “That's why we need Jake to stay, and why we'll make him one of us formally immediately,” Rebecca told him slowly, as if attempting to explain what algebra was to a four year old.

  While realization finally dawned on Ben's face, he still didn't seem to like her reasoning.

  “Well that's fine, I guess. But why does he get brought in right now?” he pressed, and glanced towards the youngish blonde again. “I mean, you initiated Jerry last week, so why do I have ta wait for—”

  “Ben, we've been over this.” Rebecca's voice became tired. “It's just not something we want you to rush into. You need to consider what initiation would mean not just for yourself, but for everyone. You would be committed, from that moment on. Not a free agent any longer.”

  While Benjamin mulled over her words, Jake decided it was a good time to quash her offer.

  “Look, I get you want to look out for your group, but you're barking up the wrong tree here. I'm not good with commitment.” Had he really just said that? “What I mean is, I'm used to being on my own. I like it that way. No one to slow me down, no one to worry about, you know.”

  “I have no doubts you'll be an excellent addition to our group.” Rebecca smiled, turned to the gathered crowd, and asked, “All in favor?”

  Everyone but Benjamin, who was sulking over her rebuke, raised their hand. Penny was giving Jake a thoughtful look from where she stood in the rear.

  “All opposed?” Ms. Lewis called.

  Not even Ben raised a hand or called out.

  Rebecca was beaming. “The motion is overwhelmingly passed.”

  Jake thought this was all getting decidedly creepy. Rebecca's disregard of his repeated and emphatic protests, at the thought of sticking with her group was beginning to piss him off, too.

  “Uh-huh. Let me tell you something here. Taking into account you're ignoring everything I've said you about wanting to move on, I'll use small words so you can understand. I'm not interested. Oh, yeah. If you think I'm getting any kind of tattoo from anybody here, which I can see would be extremely unsanitary—tetanus and all—or you're lopping off any of my favorite body parts so I can be 'one of the family', you'd better be prepared to lose some people. Are we clear?”

  That drew another dissatisfied murmur from Rebecca's followers. Jake could see they took everything she said nearly as gospel, because there'd been no shortage of nodding heads as she explained why adding him to their community was a vital move. She was clearly intelligent and, even though the moo-moo clad, matronly woman might actually believe her line of argument, trying to maneuver Jake into remaining through rather obvious peer pressure told him everything he needed to know about her. Rebecca could likely justify insisting he remain to herself as something that would “benefit the tribe.”

  That made her dangerous.

  Dangerous and armed, and backed by even more dangerous people with weapons of their own. Looking about, Jake noticed Jerry, Benjamin and four other men with various rifles giving him very pointed looks, none of which seemed particularly friendly. He flicked his gaze back to where Penny leaned against a column to see she didn't appear to have the same mindset as the rest of Rebecca's followers. The dark-haired woman looked decidedly uncomfortable and was giving those closest to her covert nervous glances.

  Rebecca pursed her lips. “Jake, you must know we can't allow you to just leave.”

  “I kind of figured that.” He took a step back and turned away from her slightly. This prompted the men with an upsettingly larger number of weapons than he currently possessed, to shuffle closer within the crowd. Rebecca waved them off.

  “You're under the wrong impression, Jake. Our intention isn't to hold you captive, or maintain you as a servant, or anything to that effect. You'll be one of us.” Again with the nodding heads. Rebecca had them all totally quelled. “That means you'll have the same rights, responsibilities, and privileges as everyone here.”

  Jake eyed the men still fingering their weapons. “And what would those be?”

  “You'll have freedom to go anywhere within our home and access to all our resources—under the moderation of everyone as a group—as we all do. Once you've rested for a few days, you'll be free to join our search parties if you so choose, or take on another productive job. There is no shortage of work, to be sure, so everyone has to put forth some effort for us to maintain and eventually grow our community,” Rebecca explained. “Many of us have seen far too much of the creatures outside and choose not to go beyond the fences, which is our choice. No one will be forced to confront those things if it isn't necessary. We leave that up to our scavenging parties and those who choose to man the fences, like Will whom you saw on the way in. While our community isn't vastly numerous, a few men with good rifles on our roofs have managed to maintain our overall safety, at least without too much difficulty. The extra firearms Deputy Carson was able to acquire last week went a long way in that respect.”

  Towards the rear Penny shuffled self-consciously from foot to foot, clearly uncomfortable and Rebecca smiled broadly. Jake could almost see the gears turning behind her eyes as she went on, barely pausing for a breath.

  “Also, don't forget you will have a companion. Someone, not just to instruct you in our ways and rules, but also to ease you through your transition from solitary individual to active group member. We all understand a new location, with unfamiliar people, can be intimidating to some, especially with everything we've all been through in the past months. With only a few exceptions—” Rebecca gave Benjamin a firm look. “—all of our new additions have been linked with a companion up
on their acceptance.”

  Six pairs of men and women—and one set of young men, maybe in their mid-twenties—stood at her behest. The members of each duo looked pleased with their assigned other and, with the exception of one woman who sat apart from her apparent counterpart, even went so far as to hold hands. A sneaky suspicion began worming its way forward from the base of Jake's back-brain to the forefront of his mind. He took a good, long look, not just at the seven couples, but at Rebecca's other followers as well. Having already noted the shortage of male to female of those gathered, he did a quick bit of mental calculation.

  Nine or ten men on the roof, so take away a person for each of them. Seven more 'companion' couples. The Ice Cream Duo—Mullet Ben and Jerry—and the four other guards, all of which might have one themselves except for Ben. One, two, three kids under ten years of age. Maybe eight or nine other possible couples. That leaves twenty-seven unattached female members of the group, all of whom would have different tastes when it comes to physical attraction. Be generous and say twenty percent of that would be 5.4 women who'd...

  “Oh, you have got to be shitting me.” He stared at Rebecca's five volunteers. Her five female volunteers.

  “Whatever's the matter?” Rebecca inquired.

  Jake couldn't believe his ears. “You're not talking about providing me with a companion, or a friend, or whatever word you want to use for it. What you're trying to do is assign me a mate.”

  Moo-moo Six-guns shook her head. “Nothing so crass as that.”

  “Bull.”

  “We've learned, over the last months that the dead rising can put an incredible amount of stress on one's mental state. So much so, that without someone to be close to, many begin to lose touch with what makes us moralistic human beings. They begin to draw back from others, become emotionally sequestered. Even begin to consider other survivors as only objects for their enjoyment. Some of us have encountered those with such a mindset before. We refuse to let anyone here become victim to such a bleak and uncaring mentality, so we put our current rule in place,” Rebecca explained, clearly attempting to quash Jake's reluctance over the idea with her faulty and skewed logic. “Everyone must have a companion.”

  “Every able-bodied man, you mean.” O'Connor, didn't know why he was surprised. Maybe it was due to the fact that, at least with Rebecca in charge, those within the grainery unquestioningly made up a matriarchal tribe? “That's what this is about, isn't it. Pairing all of them up with a willing female?”

  His question clearly upset her. “Would not doing so be more preferable? Everyone here has lost loved ones. Many have seen them taken and consumed by the zombies. Or worse, turned into one of them. Can you blame them for making a choice to be comforted and to provide the same to someone else in return?”

  “Only if it's a two-way street,” Jake clarified. “Forcing folks to pair up is wrong on every level.”

  “Think of it this way,” Rebecca tilted her head slightly to one side, “the men who hold our fence-line: Will, Carlos, Oliver—even if he'll only use that ridiculous longbow of his—and the rest are tasked with insuring our protection. Is it wrong to allow them respite when they're not guarding our home from the dead outside? I think not.”

  “How many of you don't agree with this practice?” There was no way Jake could buy into something like that.

  Rebecca's eyes roved over those gathered. Her gaze halted only a few times on one person, which was the obviously unhappy Deputy Penny Carson, before swiveling once again to Jake.

  “There were some who voiced opinions against the idea, at first anyway,” she admitted, “but most quickly saw what a lift it provided to our defender's morale.”

  Jake barked out a short laugh. “Yeah. I'm sure that's the case.”

  “Don't judge us too harshly, Jake. Or too quickly. Our system of survival works. In time, you'll come to realize how beneficial companionship is. Especially in a world such as ours, now.” Rebecca gave him a tolerant grin.

  “You're out of your mind,” O'Connor told her simply.

  “Quite the opposite,” Rebecca told him easily. “Putting this rule in place, right from the start, enabled us to form a cohesive society. It allows us to focus on doing everything we must to not only survive, but increase our defenses, numbers, and resources, even with civilization currently floating belly-up on the surface of the pond. Speaking on a global scale that is. For our part, we're doing far better than we could've hoped.”

  Jake motioned towards the five women arranged before them. “And that justifies the lineup? What? I'm supposed to go along and pick which one I want? You've got to be kidding me.”

  “Do you not find any of them attractive?” Rebecca asked mildly.

  Jake shook his head in disbelief. “What in the blue hell does that have to do with anything? I don't know any of them! They know even less about me! Who's to say that after a week, one—or both of us— wouldn't want to stab the other in the throat with a bottle opener?? If you try to tell me every one of these matches are examples of marital bliss, I'll tell you you're a goddamn liar. Or an unobservant moron. One of the two.”

  The matronly woman shrugged, giving reluctant corroboration to Jake's point. “Obviously there is a period of—shall we say—adjustment with any match, but most have solidified into firm relationships. I have excellent judgment when it comes to which members of our community are compatible.”

  “Of course you do. God forbid people had any say about who they boink.” Jake's voice couldn't have been drier if you'd dropped it in the Gobi, after it consumed a forty pound bag of Morton's iodized.

  “Oh, you'd be surprised. Really.” Rebecca gave an easy laugh, then turned to the short line of volunteers. “Ladies. Thank you again, but I can see asking you to volunteer was unnecessary. Please take your seats once more.”

  The women obeyed with a few obviously disappointed looks in Jake's direction, including one from the healthy blonde as she plunked down next to Benjamin again. Mullet-head leaned over and mumbled something in the blonde's ear, causing her to roll her eyes and give him a disgusted look before turning away to keep her cleavage from his line of sight. Ben smiled at Jake and gave him a wink.

  Jake scratched the right side of his nose with his middle finger, not bothering to watch Ben's reaction and turned to face Rebecca. “Have a change of heart? Great. Who's letting me out the front gate?”

  “Don't worry, Jake, we'll still proceed. I simply realized who would best do as your companion.” Rebecca looked towards the back of the crowd. “Penny? Would you come forward, please?”

  Aw, crap. O'Connor closed his eyes and cursed the vindictive doom-god that seemed to invisibly ride his left shoulder, safely out of view. That was the only explanation for how often his luck turned pear-shaped. He honestly believed that, being so inept at anything else, his moronic guardian-deity was the one put in charge of handing out mints just inside the door of other god's bathroom in the afterlife. He fully intended to sucker punch the halo-wearing little shit once he made it to the Pearly Gates, provided he didn't head downstairs to a much warmer location. Jake reasoned there was a rather good chance his eternal residence would be made up of many sharp implements, large pools of hot lava, and shapely but Sadomasochistic she-demons (who had a thing for bullwhips and razor blades) looking for a “bottom.”

  Deputy Carson moved reluctantly through the crowd, clearly thinking something along the lines of 'Oh, crap' herself. Upon passing the front rank, Penny's eyes flicked back and forth between O'Connor and Rebecca as she stepped before him. She, like Jake, could predict what came next.

  “Deputy, you've proven yourself time and time again to be an unquestionable asset to our community. Are you willing to take the next step? Become mentor and companion to our newest member?” The group's portly matron droned on.

  Carson nodded, causing her unkempt hair to bounce about her shoulders. Even distracted as he was, in another setting—like say maybe a bar pre-zombies rising from the dead—Jake would've f
ound her quite attractive.

  “No. No fucking way,” he said.

  “Don't be a dipshit,” she mumbled. “It's not like I was looking to hook up with the group nubie when I woke up this morning. Neither of us have a choice. This is just the way things are so grin and bear it. We'll talk later.”

  “Is that your professional opinion, deputy?” Jake hissed under his breath. This was getting out of hand.

  Rebecca was smiling so widely, Jake wouldn't have been surprised if the top of her head flipped backwards like an old PEZ dispenser as she addressed the gathering.

  “Friends, today has been a good day. We've managed to keep our new home secure, none of the awful creatures currently roam outside our gates, and—most importantly—we haven't lost anyone to them for almost a week now. We've also received a new member for our group. One who possesses abilities for survival that will greatly—”

  “I know where this is leading, and I'm not going through with it,” Jake insisted quietly. “I'm out of here the minute everyone's back is turned. There's no way I'm sticking around with these nut-balls to drink the Kool-Aid.”

  Penny's low reply ghosted to his ears beneath Rebecca's ongoing tirade. “You won't be able to escape with them watching your every move. Look, are you sure about wanting to leave?”

  That surprised him. Jake would've thought the good Deputy Carson, with a secure position within their little grainery haven, would've been just fine with ratting him out.

  “Damn right I am,” he whispered back.

  “Then play along. We'll break out of here in the morning.” She took his hand as Rebecca began to wind down

  “…that being the case, I ask you all join with me and welcome Jake as a member of our community. He and his companion, Deputy Penny Carson, will make his initiation official this evening. Martin? Do you or Wanda have any problems loaning them your room a-top the head house control tower for the night? It's the most isolated place I can think of within the confines of our home, and newly minted couples need a bit of privacy, wouldn't you agree? I'm sure they'd be more than happy to give the space back to you tomorrow morning.”