by Geo Dell
Ronnie repeated the observation again.
“Hang on... They're talking on the CB,” Mike said.
Ronnie switched on a portable CB unit and punched up channel seventeen.
~
“...Fuckin' care,” a voice said.
“You thinking of running? Because if you are, once I get these fuckers? I'll be coming for you... get your ass back here, Johnny red, I'm calling the shots now,” Shitty told him.
“Shitty, I didn't say I was running... What's to fight, Man? What's to fight?” Johnny red asked.
“I had better see your fuckin' lights coming back this way in the next five minutes, Johnny, or maybe I'll come get you first,” Shitty told him.
“I'm coming, I'm coming, Jesus,” Johnny red whined.
~
“Can you see those other two trucks?” Mike asked.
Candace and Jeff had both been checking the horizon with the night Scopes and the area around the trucks.
“No,” they both said in Unison.
Both radios hissed static in the silence.
“Okay,” Mike said. “Go look... But be careful.”
~On the Highway~
The night before, Death had suddenly shown an interest in Psycho. He had never so much as looked sideways at her before. He had called her into his truck after they had stopped for the night and told Chloe to get lost for a while.
This thing is coming together, he had told her. And he told her that she had proven herself. And he needed a second woman, and how did she feel about that? Then he had taken her, loveless and hard. When he was finally done, he told her to get her shit, she was traveling with him and Chloe from now on. Then he had done the other thing to her, on her stomach.
Shitty had been crazy, but not too crazy, he knew what the deal was. Psycho had been scared to death, better the crazy you knew than the crazy you didn't. And now this...
The truck was on its side in a ditch with Psycho trapped underneath a large canvas bag of fully automatic machine pistols and rifles. She knew that much, but whatever else was in that bag, or on top of that bag, she didn't know. She only knew the bag was on her lower body. It was pressing against her face and she couldn't move.
She had begged Chloe to help her, but she had ignored her, crawled to the back of the truck, and slipped out through the broken window. She had heard no shots like she had when Death had tried to make a run for it.
Maybe Chloe had made it. If so, she'd better hope that she, Psycho, didn't find a way out of it as well. Because if she did and she caught her, she'd pay. But right now, it sounded as though she had another problem.
A footstep sounded softly nearby, whoever it was had stepped in the glass scattered on the highway. When she looked up, she was looking at a woman's face. She was peering down the barrel of a large pistol she was pointing at her face.
“Jesus,” Psycho said. “Don't do it. Don't shoot.” She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Like you didn't shoot at us?” Candace asked her.
“I didn't shoot at nobody, Girl, no one,” Psycho told her.
“Uh huh... Don't call me girl either,” Candace said. “Keep your hands in sight and I will try to get that shit off you so we can get you out,” Candace said. “Do anything stupid and I'll shoot you, or these boys will.” She stepped aside and let her see that Ronnie and Jeff were standing just a short distance away. “Believe it,” she finished.
Psycho stretched her hands up over her head and kept them there.
~
They had her out of the overturned truck in about ten minutes. Candace leaned her up against the truck and patted her down, as Ronnie and Jeff watched the highway and the girl.
“I Ain't got anything,” Psycho told her.
Candace continued methodically, her hands tripping over the safety pins in the girls upper body and stomach. Her hands traveled down the inside of her thighs and she found a knife wedged down into her right boot.
“What are you, a dyke?” Psycho asked.
Candace held up the knife and smiled.
“I forgot about that,” Psycho said.
“Is there any place you didn't stick a safety pin in?” Candace asked.
Psycho blushed deep red and a frown spread across her face. “I... I didn't,” she stopped, near tears.
“They did?” Candace asked.
“All of us,” she said.
Candace stepped back. “Are you gonna do anything stupid?” she asked.
“Are you gonna kill me?” Psycho asked back.
“Why would we do that?” Ronnie asked.
Psycho said nothing, then, “I just don't want to be hurt anymore... Be scared anymore,” she told them.
“What's your name?” Candace asked.
“Psy... Cindy, they named me Psycho,” she told them.
“Cindy sounds better to me than Psycho. I'm Candace,” Candace said. “And nobody here will hurt you. You can stay with us if you want to... or you can go... after... When this is over, you can go if you want to,” she told her.
“After?” she asked
“After this part is over... whatever they have in mind,” Candace said.
“They're gonna try to kill you. Death, that's all he wants... Wanted.” She said.
Candace looked at her.
“You killed him. He's dead,” Psycho looked over at the body sprawled not far from the truck. She looked down towards the other truck, another body sprawled there.
“Who's the other one?” Candace asked.
“Other one? I only see that one and Death here,” she indicated with her eyes. She walked towards the second truck.
“Murder,” she said. “It's Murder. Where's the other one?” She asked Candace.
“On the floorboards in the back,” Jeff said.
Cindy leaned through the shattered back window and popped her head right back out. The top of her head was gone but it was... “Cassie,” she said aloud. “She was Murder's woman.”
“And whose woman were you?” Ronnie asked.
“Shitty's... Well, Death's. I mean, Shitty's up until last night, and then Death took me away from him. So I guess I was Death's woman,” She squinted her eyes, clamped one hand to her mouth, and hurried to the side of the truck and threw up. A mental snapshot of Shitty's first woman, Bitch, struggling to breath, the horrible clicking sound she had made, jumped into her head, and then she leaned over and threw up again. She dry heaved after that, but there was nothing left to come up. She sat down and began to cry. Staring at her vomit speckled boots.
~A small willing army~
The twins came to just as the moon had reached the middle of the black sky.
Somewhere in the blackness the horse had gone. Gone to find its own kind? She thought that was so, but she could not read the horse the way she could her own. She only knew it had a part... served a purpose. It had gone and it would come back. Possibly with another of its own kind. Maybe... maybe not. Its mind was not her mind. She had only made it as she was supposed to. She turned her attention back to the twins. The twins were hers... for her...
The silvery light was bright, almost daylight in its intensity. The twins did not fight the changes as she had thought they might. Their eyelids fluttered almost in unison. Black liquid eyes shone out and took in their surroundings, and each other. They looked around at the darkness, making not a sound, and then lifted their black eyes to the moon above. When they looked back down, they gazed at her frankly, seeming to accept their fate, looking to her to guide them, their eyes large, liquid black, reflecting the cold, silvery moonlight. And she realized they were not the same. One was slightly taller, a streak of silver-white in her hair, falling across her forehead. She swept it aside.
Donita rose from her crouch and set off into the night at a fast walk. The twins fell in behind her; the boy brought up the rear. The twins walked obediently, quietly looking around at the trees and the woods with their newborn eyes as they followed. They reached out and linked hands as they walked, draw
ing closer to one another.
She led them out of the scrub and into the deep woods. The tall trees marching away in even rows. Absolute silence fell as they walked. The predators recognized them and left them alone. A small rabbit stopped, sniffed the air and began to shake with its fear, frozen in the path of the Walkers. Donita skirted it, but stopped and turned to see what the twins would do. The twins stopped when Donita stopped and looked down at the rabbit frozen on the pathway.
They moved forward slowly, unlinked their hands and squatted beside the trembling rabbit. The shorter one reached out one hand and began to stroke the soft fur of the rabbit. The other, with the streak of silver-white hair still fallen across her forehead, dangled her own hands between her thighs and watched, but she made no move to pet the rabbit or stop the other from doing so. The silence seemed to deepen, the time to crawl. The Rabbit seemed to tremble less... leaning into the girl's hand as she stroked the fur.
Donita almost didn't catch the movement. It was so fast. The other girl's hands flew from between her thighs and in one movement closed around the Rabbits throat, pulled it into the air and then flipped it backwards with a fast snap, breaking its neck. She threw the bundle of fur back to the ground at the other girl's feet. The rabbit's feet kicked hard once... twice, and then stopped. A thin trickle of blood flowed from one side of its pink nose. The smaller girl cocked her head to one side, raised her eyes to look at her sister briefly, then looked back down at the rabbit where it lay on the ground by her feet. She extended one hand, touched the blood that ran from the rabbit's nose and then bought that finger to her blue tinged lips to taste it.
Her eyes closed, and her body began to shake. Her twin leaned forward and rested one hand on her shoulder, a barely audible whisper coming from her lips. Words spoken strongly, but there was no air in her lungs to move across her vocal chords.
I Love You, floated on the dark forest air.
Her eyes opened and locked with her sisters. The red smear of blood on her blue-tinged lips seemed startlingly bright in the moonlight. She looked down at the rabbit once more and then stood from her crouch, took her sisters hand and turned back to Donita. Donita held her eyes with her own for a moment and then turned and began once more to make her way through the rows of tall trees, the three children following quietly behind.
~War Two~
Candace had left with Cindy and walked back into the camp from the hillside. They had talked along the way, and the things the girl had told her had infuriated her.
“This is my man, Mike,” she said, making introductions. “Bob, Tom and David,” she continued. “This is Cindy. She was forced to be with them.”
Mike looked from the safety pins jutting out from her shirt to her belly button, her upper lip and nose. The Safety pins made the largest impression. He looked to Candace, his eyes asking if she was sure. Candace nodded.
Mike looked back at the young woman. She looked so young and pale in the moonlight, washed out, dressed as though she were playing a part. “If Candace is sure you're okay, then you're okay with me,” Mike said. He offered his hand and she touched it with a closed fist. He tapped her fist with his own.
“We're going down to the creek; we'll be back. First aid kit in one of these trucks?” Candace asked.
A look of concern came into Mike's eyes.
“Not me,” Candace said. “We'll be back,” she leaned forward and kissed Mike.
~
Candace rummaged around in the closest pickup truck and came up with a first aid kit and a tube of antibiotic cream. In the back seat of the second truck she came up with some clean clothes and a pair of boots that were close to the right size.
Cindy walked the dirt path down to the creek, staying behind Candace. Up ahead, the moonlight reflected off the water, rippling across the surface with the current's flow.
Candace turned, “Okay,” she said, “let's see.”
Cindy pulled her shirt off over her head and Candace gasped. She had told her that both men had beaten and abused her, but she had no idea it would be so bad. Healing scabs that looked suspiciously like bite marks graced one shoulder and part of one of her breasts, rusting safety pins in each nipple, and on her stomach Shitty's name had been carved into the flesh. Murder had x-ed it out and carved his own name below it.
Cindy began to cry, shaking with the sobs. Candace took her in her arms and held her. When she was able, Candace helped her with the cuts and bruises, removing the rusty safety pins as she went.
~
“So they're down to six?” Mike asked. He looked at Cindy. She looked like an ordinary young woman now without the excessively short baby T and the too tight jeans, piercings and boots. Her eyes told a different story though. Puffy, bloodshot and careful. Much more careful than someone her age should ever have to be.
“Six,” Cindy repeated, “But maybe some others got hurt. I heard Murder saying they hit somebody else. He might have been talking about Murder's truck though. And, Chloe, she ran after Murder, and I didn't hear no... any shots, so I don't know about her,” she told him.
Candace had gone back up the hill with Ronnie and Jeff. Mike picked up the V.H.F. radio and called. “Did you see someone else running away from the first truck?” he asked.
“None of us stayed,” Ronnie said. “That other girl must have made it back to one of the other trucks though. She's not around here, unless she's well hidden. Seems we would have seen her though,” Ronnie finished.
“Okay. Just keep an eye out,” Mike said.
“Oh yeah,” Ronnie said.
But it was three hours before they came again...
~
“Mike,” Candace's voice came through, not much more than a whisper, “We hear the trucks, but we don't see them... Too dark...” She had the volume down, and held the radio to one ear in order to hear his reply.
“I hear them. Just be ready for anything,” he told them.
“Got them,” Ronnie said. He had been looking through the night scope, like all the rest of them, and he had spotted some movement on the side of the highway about three hundred yards away. Two trucks were slowly idling along the edge of the tree line.
The skies had clouded over again, and there was little moonlight. It was hard to see the two trucks against the backdrop of the dark trees. The sound was all they had to go by, and that was deceptive, sounding as if it came from everywhere... and nowhere.
“Yeah... We got them,” Candace said now. “They're moving right next to the tree line... idling along... real slow. Unsure Jeff and I can get them from here.”
The radio stayed silent for a beat or two longer than she thought that it should. “You hear me, Mike?” she asked.
“Yeah, better do it... Better do it, only make it count. I don't want to get into a war with these guys with those machine pistols, you know?” Mike asked.
Candace cursed herself “Damn it, Mike. There's a whole gym bag full of clips and rifles down by the first truck. Damn it,” she said.
“Yeah, Cindy just told me. We have several, but more would be nice. I'm sending David. You cover him; he'll go down and get them,” Mike said.
“They're really close,” Candace said, but just as she said that, both trucks stopped. They simply sat idling by the tree line.
Less than a minute later David slipped by them and over the hill. He worked his way down to the truck in the ditch. Ronnie and Jeff tracked him with their night scopes, while Candace kept her scope focused on the trucks. They appeared to be doing nothing, just sitting there.
David was back a few minutes later with a large canvas bag full of rifles. He stopped as Candace and the others opened it, each taking a machine pistol and extra clips, then David moved off with the bag back to the camp. The trucks continued to sit idling by the tree line.
~
“I don't like it,” Candace said ten minutes later. She kept popping her scope up to her eye, but like the other two, she found little to see. She could only glimpse a vague outline of som
eone in the interior of the first truck, what looked like the driver, sitting... waiting. For what, she wondered.
“They're still sitting,” she whispered to Mike over the radio.
“You think you can hit them from there?” Mike asked.
“Yeah,” Candace answered, “but, hit what? The front truck is blocking the other truck, and I really can't see into the interiors,” she finished.
Just as she finished, she saw a shadow move at the edge of the woods down by the road that went into the encampment. She swung the scope quickly down just in time to see four shapes come from the woods and run quietly down the road. She squeezed off three fast shots, glad to see the trailing runner fall. She snatched up the radio.
“They fooled us! They're sneaking up the road, coming at you now!” Candace yelled.
She turned back to the vehicles and opened up on the front vehicle blowing the windshield inward. But what had looked like a driver was just the raised head rest on the back of the seat.
“Come on,” she said as she jumped to her feet, “We'll come up the row behind them.”
Ronnie and Jeff jumped up and scrambled after her, running down the hillside for the park road entrance.
She was nearly at the road when two new shadows stepped from the trees into the road. She dove for the ground as their machine pistols barked fire in her direction
~
As she hit the ground, she rolled hard to her left and came up on her elbows, the rifle in her hands. The machine pistol banged against her side on its strap.
Behind her, back towards the camp, the sound of heavy gunfire came to her. She drew a bead on the one remaining shadows - the other one had gone somewhere - squeezed the trigger, and the shadow dropped into the road. She drew a bead on the second shadow lying in the roadway and snapped off two more quick shots. The shadow didn't move. It was either dead already, or she had missed, and this close, she was sure she hadn't missed.
“Ronnie,” she called into the darkness.
“Yeah, right here,” Ronnie answered.
“Jeff?”
Silence...
She raised her voice, “Jeff?”
