by Gunther, Cy
Chad squirmed uncomfortable in his chair.
“Now,” Adam sighed, standing up. “I’m going to gag you. Then I’m going to cut on you a bit. No questions. Just a little chance for you to get to know what’s going to be coming to you for every question that you fail to answer truthfully.”
Adam walked over and leaned close, saying softly, “And I will know, Chad. I will. I always know. Weird little thing I have, you know? Now here,” he said, taking a rag up off of Chad’s lap, “bite on this while I tie it down.”
Chad whimpered as Adam forced the rag amongst his broken teeth and tied it behind his head.
Adam stepped back, smiling. “There we are. Now, I just want you to remember this: we are not at SERE school. This is not going to end pleasantly. You are going to die before you ever leave this bathroom, regardless of how long it takes you answer my questions. The only things that you get to decide are how much pain that you’re going to suffer, and how long I have to spend in the shower afterwards getting all of your blood off of my face. Okay?”
Chad simply stared at Adam, wild eyed.
“Okay, good enough, I guess.” Adam turned his back on Chad, walked over to a table set up with emergency surgery tools and some leftovers from the machine shop. He picked up a simple scalpel and turned to face Chad, who was visibly sweating. As Adam started walking forward he paused, saying, “Now listen. Do your best to be quiet please. We actually have some kids here, and I really don’t want you to scare the shit out them, got it?”
Chad started screaming around the rag as Adam approached.
“See,” Adam said, wagging the scalpel at him, “that’s the kind of bullshit that I’m talking about.”
Lee
“How long before we can start this plan of yours?” Lee asked as she stood outside with the twins.
“We’d like to start tomorrow morning,” Corey said.
“Yeah, especially after what happened to Terrence today,” Brian added.
Lee nodded. “Definitely. I think that it’s more than doable. Emily definitely seems like she’s capable of holding down the fort while we’re gone.”
“I think we should probably leave Adam here, too,” Corey said. “I mean, if we only get the trailer in place tomorrow, and have to bring the loader right back here, that’s a hell of a lot better than nothing.”
“Definitely,” Lee said. “What do you think?” she asked, looking at Brian.
“Same deal,” Brian said. “Corey’s right. We need to get the trailer in place, and the loader secured. If we can do that and still flip the damned trailer on its side, fantastic. If it’s a two day deal, then that’s fine, too. No fucking around here.”
“Yeah,” Lee nodded. “We’ve definitely run out of wiggle room.” She looked at the two brothers. “Get all of your gear prepped tonight. We’ll talk to Adam and Ernst when their done with the sniper. Sound good?”
“Aye aye,” the brothers said in unison, and left the room, talking to each other.
Lee shook her head, rubbing the back of her head. Everything was getting a little tight, a little twisted. Emily was down in the meeting room that Ernst had given her as an apartment for herself and her children, and, as he had explained to Lee, a way to give the rest of them a break from the kids if need be. Susan and Michael, though, were fantastic.
Lee smiled at the thought of the kids for a moment, then she remembered that Emily had been forced to kill the man who had saved her and the children from their undead father.
This is so totally fucked up, Lee thought. She flipped the safety on her A4 and walked back inside, closing and locking the door behind her. Ahead she could see Ernst sitting at the laptop, looking at something. He smoked his pipe furiously, the bluish white smoke seeming to puff out like a train’s.
When she reached him she put a cautious, gentle hand on his shoulder.
His eyes flickered over to her and he smiled. “Hey Doll, what’s going on?”
“Doll?” she laughed.
“Reading too many Mickey Spillane stories lately.”
“Oh,” she grinned, shaking her head. “The twins are getting ready for tomorrow.”
“Good.”
“Where’s Adam?”
“Still downstairs, questioning Chad.”
Lee tried not to shudder. “Has he sent up any word?”
“No,” Ernst said, rubbing the back of his neck.
She slapped his hand away and started massaging his neck and upper back.
“Thank you,” he sighed.
“You’re welcome.”
“Anyway,” Ernst said. “Adam won’t send up any info until it’s all gathered. We’ll probably have to wait for him to shower, too. Pretty sure that he was planning on being thorough.”
“I hope so. What are you looking for?”
“Nothing yet,” Ernst said. “Just making sure that every single avenue of approach is covered here. I want to be able to see every possible way that those fuckers might come at us.”
“Do you think they will?”
Ernst nodded. “Definitely. Their little leader only had a few extra rounds. Chad’s half starved, and he had no extra rounds. That means logistically they’re fucked, and they need to find some sort of way to supplement their basic needs outside of shelter: food and ammunition. That’s us. They’re a fucking organized group, so they must be raiding other survivors, if there are any. They just didn’t think we were this well stocked, and they probably used the whole sniper plan before.” Ernst sighed and shook his head. “Fuck them. Fuck them all.”
“So,” Lee said, looking from Ernst to the laptop. “You’re going to watch the cameras.”
“Until one of the twin’s can relieve me. Why?”
“Well,” she said, leaning close to bite his earlobe gently, “I thought that maybe you could ask me to sit on your lap.”
“And why’s that?” Ernst grinned.
“So we can talk about the first thing that pops up.”
Ernst
Lee was asleep on the bunk in his room and he held her hand as he sat beside her. He said his prayers and counted the beads with his freehand. Time passed steadily, and Ernst felt as the world was actually moving as it should.
A knock sounded at his door and Ernst looked up.
Adam, freshly showered, stood there, smiling at him tiredly.
“Kid gave me a workout,” Adam said softly.
“Not surprised about that.”
“No,” Adam said, “neither am I. He did give it all up though.”
Ernst smiled grimly. “Not surprised about that either.”
“Well,” Adam said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the door frame, “they killed my dogs. They’re not even fucking people as far as I’m fucking concerned.”
Ernst nodded his agreement. “So, what’s the story, morning glory?”
Adam smiled. “Well, he said that they have about 150 people in the compound. Maybe 70 of those are actually combat effective. The others are basic day laborers who keep the high and mighty DEAD living like kings. Thing is, though, they had an accident – Chad wasn’t sure what – and they lost a good deal of their food and ammunition, so they went back to how they started: raiding.”
“And we looked raidable to them?” Ernst asked, yawning.
“Yeah, go figure,” Adam said. “Anyway, the word from toothy is that if he and Parker didn’t call in by day three, the rest of the gang’s hierarchy would fear the worse and rally for a full on attack. Now they don’t have much fuel or ammunition, but there are some combat vets out there that can help their cause.”
“Well, that’s a lot of bullshit that we can’t have,” Ernst said. “We’ll have to make sure that we set up an ambush to deal with them.”
Adam nodded. “You know, I tried to leave him alive for you…but I must have nicked an artery when I got excited. Little fuck bled out.”
Ernst shrugged. “Oh well. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Don’t get rid of the body
, though. I’m going to need it for the ambush.”
“You knew this was coming.”
“Suspected that it would.” Ernst said. Carefully he let go of Lee’s hand, causing her to murmur and roll over onto her side, facing the wall. He wrapped his prayer beads around his right wrist. “Let’s go look at the tapes, huh? We need to find a good place to fuck those little bastards up.”
Adam nodded, stepping back into the main room as Ernst left his bedroom. Together they walked out to the laptop and started sorting through the files that Adam had saved, matching them up with cameras that were still operating and broadcasting signals.
They sat for hours until they came up with the best spot possible.
“Definitely the old station house?” Ernst asked.
Adam nodded. “Yeah, Chad said that while they don’t have a lot of fuel for the bikes, those that can ride will. They want to make a show of force, intimidate us. But that should be about the extent of their tactics. You won’t have guys thinking about flanking us or sneaking in the back way.”
“Well,” Ernst said, “we’ll make sure that those options are taken away.”
“Fuckin’ right we will.” Adam shook his head. “I need a smoke.”
“Go ahead, light up.” Ernst leaned back in the chair and stretched. “I’m going to try and grab an hour or two of sleep before the day really gets going.”
“Sounds good, Ernst. See you in a few.”
Adam headed for the front door, glancing back once to Ernst leaning over the laptop and typing something in.
Corey
They stood together around the dining table, Susan and Michael were asleep on Ernst’s bunk. The past two days had been hectic, the preparations insanely detailed. They’d blocked off every approach except for the one which led directly from the old station house, a narrow road flanked on one side by the foundry, and a hanger company on the other. Weapons and ammo were set up, traps set.
“So,” Ernst said, “here we are. We’ve got that delightful little group called the DEAD headed our way.” He looked around at them, smiling. “We all know what we’re doing. All the handsets are charged. We know that their ammunition should be fairly limited. That little prick Parker only had a few extra rounds. Chad was half starved and had no extra ammunition outside of the four rounds left in the old AR-15 he’d been using. We know, too, thanks to Chad, that they’ll be coming with maybe 70 who can fight. Maybe a little more for show. As many as they possibly get onto their bikes.
“Try not to hit the bikes, okay?” Ernst asked, looking at them. “Not that we need the fuel, we just won’t really be able to fight any sort of fire that gets out of control. Also, Chad is doing us one last solid. He’s going to show them the way.”
Corey looked at Ernst, then over to Lee, who was smiling. Corey leaned close to her, asking in a low voice, “What did he do?”
“He nailed him to the base of the water tower with his arm pointing down into the ambush site.”
“Fuck,” Corey said. “My boy’s got a few more issues than I thought.”
“Is it wrong that I find him even hotter for doing that?” Lee asked.
“Yeah,” Corey said. “Yeah, just a little bit.”
Lee laughed and punched him in the shoulder.
Corey grinned, shaking his head.
“Everyone squared away?” Ernst asked.
They all nodded.
“Okay,” Ernst sighed, “let’s rock.”
Corey joined up with Brian as they headed out into the cold darkness of the November morning. Together the two of them set a steady pace, heading out to their position in the foundry. They kept their eyes and ears open, just in case any of the undead had entered the area after the last sweep, but there was nothing. After half an hour they were securing the door and double checking the scavenged up-armor they had placed in their firing position.
On a salvaged firing stand they had the Ma Deuce from Lee’s humvee set up, along with over a thousand rounds of ammunition. Just to be on the safe side. Ernst had laughed at them, but since they humped it out (and would be the ones humping it back), he hadn’t told them no. Lee and Adam were across the street, manning a 240 Bravo SAW that had been salvaged, and Ernst would be the greeter.
Emily was back at the warehouse, watching the laptop, making sure that nobody tried to slip in through the unsecured areas. No one was worried about Emily, especially since she had managed to handle Terrence’s old M1 and put the man down once he reanimated.
Ernst, though, Ernst was going to be the wildcard.
Corey and Brian checked the action on the .50 cal, loaded it, and sat back.
“What do you think he’s doing?” Brian asked.
“Probably sitting in that fucking recliner he salvaged and smoking his pipe.”
“Yeah, probably,” Brian said. “What the hell do you think he’s going to do when they show up?”
“Fuck if I know,” Corey sighed. He lit a cigarette and looked at his twin. “Fuck if I know.”
Adam
“How are you holding up?” Adam asked.
“Alright,” Lee answered. “Why?”
“That’s the fifth time that you checked the feed on the SAW. Pretty sure that we’re all set, kid.”
Lee laughed, shaking her head. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m a little nervous.”
“’Bout the man?”
“The man?” she laughed again.
“The man,” Adam grinned. “He’s got some serious issues, but he was fucking prepared for the apocalypse.”
“Yes he was,” Lee said softly. Then, in a louder voice she said, smiling, “And yes, I’m worried about him. He doesn’t need to sit out there. We could just open up on them when they’re in range.”
Adam nodded. “That’s not him, though. There really is something wrong with him. Something broke in there a long time ago. This is the first time I’ve ever seen that guy completely relaxed. Which is a truly fucked up thing to say.”
“Yes it is.”
“I’m almost a hundred percent positive though,” Adam added, “that he’s going to be okay.”
“Almost a hundred percent?” she asked.
“Well,” Adam sighed, checking the feed on the SAW to her amusement, “there’s always that chance that I am completely fucking wrong.”
Ernst
Although Ernst knew that it was cold, he didn’t feel it.
He didn’t feel much of anything, in fact.
He was reading, and when reading most of the world drifted away from him.
He was buried in the Book of the Five Rings, his pipe going steadily. On his lap was an antique Colt Navy revolver, 1842 model adapted to use shells instead of the black powder packed shot. In his vest pockets he carried a score of spare rounds, and he smiled at the thought as he settled deeper into the comfort of the leather armchair he had dragged out of one of the foundry offices.
He had even found a nice little table, and he had a bottle of whiskey, Jameson’s, open. As the sun rose he poured himself another double shot, put the book down for a moment and took the pipe out of his mouth, and knocked the drink back.
Life was good.
Sitting in the chair would be even better with Lee on his lap, but he didn’t want her – or anyone else – in the direct line of fire. He would either make it or he wouldn’t, but he certainly couldn’t make it worrying about the others. Hell, he could –
The sound of engines cut off his thoughts, and his smile broadened.
He poured himself another shot, drank it, then, he returned to Musashi’s text on dueling.
Within a few minutes the motorcycles were tearing down the road towards him, Harley’s with custom pipes roaring. He counted close to fifty before they came to a stop some thirty feet away, shards of glass and caltrops strewn heavily across the sidewalks and street.
A middle aged man with a thick blonde beard and long hair raised his fist, and the engines all cut out. The men put their hands on their weapons. Each and e
veryone wore a DEAD vest, and sun glasses.
Ernst grinned.
“Good morning,” he said to the leader of the pack, “beautiful day for a massacre, isn’t it?”
Some of the men glanced at each other, but the leader shook his head. “You’re going to get fucked today.”
“I certainly hope so. My girl’s extremely pretty.”
A few of the men chuckled after the leader did. The blonde man smiled at Ernst, “No, that’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
“I meant that I’m personally going to fuck you when we’re done here.”
“I know.”
Ernst put his book down, poured himself another drink, raised the tumbler up to the leader, and drank it slowly.
“You’re fucking tapped, aren’t you,” the blonde man said.
“Pretty much. I thought maybe Chad would have told you that.”
The blonde stiffened at the mention of the sniper.
“You did that?” he asked.
“I helped him guide you here, yes, yes. That was me. As for Chad’s condition, well, that was after four days of chilly weather, and an hour and a half with a friend of mine. Adam’s good with knives.”
“Adam’s fucking dead,” the blonde snarled. “Chad was my cousin.”
“Do you want to take a piece of him home with you?” Ernst asked. “I’d offer you his weapon, but it was such a piece of shit that we tossed it.”
The men on the bikes glanced around nervously, some of them noticing for the first time that they were boxed in on three sides. A few looked backwards at the way they had come.
“Enough of this fucking around,” the blonde said. “We’re here for your shit, and Parker. Where is he?”
