by catt dahman
“No shit? Wow, Beth, I’m speechless. Who knows?”
“Kim. Me. Len. You, now.”
“Going to the grave with me….”Alex laughed again, “I wish I could be around just to see what comes of that. Let me amend my prediction; she’s going to be a warrior, Bethy. I’m so proud you’ve kept her secret like you have. You are so strong, but you always doubt that, but that right there is how strong you are.”
“I love her,” Beth said as they walked a few steps.
“Despite your hatred for the inoculation plus everyone you love that turned hybrid with the infection, and despite the set rules you have in your mind, you would never harm a friend, and yet, you volunteered to come out here with me ‘cause you know I love you and you’re giving Kim and Len a break,” Alex said. “Tell Johnny I believe in her. And give my best to Mark and Misty; you know whom to include. And please take care of Jules.”
“Do you remember when Julia would fight with Roy and start cursing in Mexican?”
Alex laughed hard. “She was always a spit fire; I remember now,” he kept talking while Beth allowed him to get ahead of her. He might have known what she was doing, but he kept laughing and focused on Julia and her infamous temper and rants. He was bringing up things she did for the last three years, pointing out the funniest of the situations.
Beth didn’t think it over but raised her gun as Len taught her, exhaled, and pulled the trigger with perfect precision.
Alex dropped gracefully, and Beth turned so fast she didn’t see him hit the ground.
Kim had a worried look, and he and Len both were wet-eyed. Beth didn’t want to talk or hug anyone as her eyes went blurry with tears, but she did a job as she was drilled to do many times. If she thought about what she had just done for very long, she would start screaming.
Three years before, Beth went into shock from the shooting of all the zombies and didn’t even know them, much less could be called a close friend of any.
“Burn his body, please,” she asked as she passed her friends, “I don’t want a dog digging him up.”
Len and Kim traded glances but slid bandanas over their lower faces, gathered wood, and started a fire to cremate their friend. The pyre was in the middle of the road, wouldn’t spread, but would reduce Alex’s remains to ashes.
As the body burned, they didn’t stand there to smell the flesh burning; it would have been too much; they walked back to Beth, drank water, and got on their horses.
Julia finally fought her way away from Big Bill and dodged Teeg. Carl snagged her shirt, but she pulled away and ran. She cursed in Mexican all the way back down the road, running as fast as she could in combat boots and with a pack on her back. She stopped running as she caught up to Kim, Len, and Beth.
“Jules, come on,” said Beth as she held out a hand to pull Julia up onto her horse, “get up here.”
“Is he…I heard the shot,” she said as she looked at the body burning.
“I did it. And he went peacefully, Jules. We were talking about you and how you always fought with Roy and cursed. He was laughing so hard….”
Julia let Beth help her as she put a foot into the stirrup and pulled herself up with her best friend. “You were talking about me?”
“Of course. It was funny, and it made us smile.”
Julia hugged Beth. “Swear to me right now that you won’t leave me alone. Swear it, Beth.”
“I swear, you and I all the way to the end. Together.”
Julia, who never cried, put her face against Beth, and let her friend be strong this time as she cried, soaking Beth’s shirt. Beth would cry later when Kim could hold her and when she could be weak and let it all out. Her chest ached as did her throat from holding back the feelings.
She glanced at Len. “I understand you and Kim and the things you have had to do. It sucks.”
“Always does. Sometimes more than other times,” Len said, “if I die in the next five minutes, Beth, know this, you are my greatest pride: the way you have risen up and not just survived but have become a strong woman. God help those who get in your way. I am really proud of all you have become.”
Kim’s eyes looked far away. At one time, Len kind of lost his reason and went on a spree of making every one suffer who harmed innocent people, skinning them and acting as judge and executioner.
When he was bent on pure revenge and vengeance, he said that he was being Len and that he was channeling Len’s personality to get his work done.
Beth did the same a few minutes before when she helped Alex go out on his own terms. He knew the strength and the toll it took on a person’s mind.
“Len, sometimes, I think someone besides Henry Diamond created monsters, but it takes someone bitch-cold to do these things.”
“I fed the man who abused my niece to the gators in Florida,” Len said. He never said what drove him and what fueled his temper and need to punish those who deserved it.
He never told anyone what got him through the tasks such as having to shoot an infected, good person and friend. He never told a soul his secret. “He touched my niece at night, and she screamed when it was bedtime. My sister didn’t know; the asshole just slapped her around. I could have turned him into the law or something; he would have gotten time in jail; there’s a delicate balance. His place was to vanish and never hurt a little girl again.”
“I’m sorry, Len,” Beth told him.
“That’s what I think of and what gets me through it. I kill him over and over, and it does not make me whole, but I did it, and I’d do it again. Sometimes the good guys do some very bad things,” Len sighed.
“It can be difficult.”
“I created what you all have become, huh? Based on my hatred of gator- bait boy. Well, if so, you’re my monsters. I created you, and I love you.”
“Maybe it takes one to survive one,” Kim said.
“We will abide.”
Chapter 6
Hopetown
Johnny performed her gate duties flawlessly although she cried as soon as she saw the many tear-stained faces of her friends and saw that Alex was missing. She wiped her nose and went by strict protocol.
Conner clasped her hand and squeezed, hoping she would be okay and take pride in that she was so well trained and dependable. When a group returned and the count was one or more off, it was a sad day, but losing Alex was almost too much for many of them.
Each needed to be checked verbally, and then they slipped behind a screen for a body check for bites, scratches, and the dreaded tattoo on the back of the neck.
After that, each was allowed to enter the second paddock, and each gave background information. Then, each would either be quarantined if any doubt remained or allowed to go into the camp. Everyone coming back was checked out and allowed in.
Teeg put an arm around Johnny and whispered what happened as she openly cried. Conner joined them to offer support.
Mark, George, and Matt met them as they came in. The welcome committee took over to help the new people find a place to sleep, to show them around, explain the rules, and explain all they offered for everyone. The newcomers heard all about Hopetown but were still in shock as they took it all in. It wasn’t a war zone, but a busy beehive of activity, and everyone waved and welcomed them to the group.
Len faced the three men. “We lost a civilian. She was infected but ran away and was not put down because of other circumstances. The people who were brought in have been in the mall for three years. Isolation with limited contact with others. We also lost Alex to a bite to his calf. It was red, confirmed. He asked to be taken care of, and Beth handled it.” Len reported to the men as if he weren’t the head of security. The information was vital.
Len’s voice cracked with emotion as he related the information.
Mark opened his mouth to speak but didn’t know what to say. George took in a deep breath and looked at the ground.
“I can’t believe….” Matt shook his head.
Matt took Julia into his arms a
s she turned to him, a little surprised at her show of emotion in public, and led her away, motioning the rest to go on. She was pale and dizzy, telling him how terrible it was. “I’m so sorry, Jules, take deep breaths….” he suggested. He seldom saw her vulnerable. “Let’s go sit a while.”
Halfway to their rooms, Julia faltered and then fainted, and he scooped her up and ran all the way to the medical bay where Doc and Steve checked her, listened to the stress she endured, and ran a few simple tests. He initially figured she was dehydrated from all her crying and made sure she drank bottled sports drink that he offered her.
He sent Matt out to wait and then allowed him back in to find a very irritated Julia.
Although he was sad and upset about Alex, Matt came out of the medical bay later to see anxious friends, and he was grinning like an idiot, which made no sense to those who waited for the news. “She’s fine.”
He was going to be a father.
Julia grumbled. She was devastated about losing Alex, mad at Matt for his happiness over her pregnancy, irritated, and shocked that she was pregnant, and happy she was going to have a baby. Her emotions rolled over and over as she didn’t know which one to latch onto, prompting Matt to say she was already hormonal and emotional which got him a slug in his arm, along with a frown.
She was far along in her term,
She hadn’t realized she was pregnant, she was far along, but wouldn’t show until the end of her seventh month, anyway. However, she was six months along, they figured. She mistakenly thought she was just gaining weight.
She wished Alex knew.
The news made Beth happy, but then she began counting and went to Doc and Steve, leaving everyone to wonder what she was doing.
She walked back out of the clinic and told Kim he was an asshole. Kim dropped his misery at once and swung her around, happy, as he was going to be a father again.
It was the best and only good part of the day.
“We do have birth control,” Beth’s brother Steve said which earned him a barrage of name-calling from Beth. His own partner Tory was pregnant and about to deliver, so it made Beth more irritable to see him smirk.
She had yet to deal with losing Alex, and Mark shadowed her every footstep while trying to comfort Misty who was inconsolable over Alex. Mark finally handed Misty off to Johnny, Teeg, and Conner so they could go cry together as he was almost pulling his own hair out by then.
“Beth, Kim, I know this is a bad time with losing Alex, and God help me, but I’m going to cry too when it hits me. I know you just got the good news….” He ignored Beth’s glare. “But it’s Hannah and Jet.”
“Are they okay?” Beth almost panicked.
“They’re fine, not a scratch on them.”
“Why aren’t they here to greet us? We have to tell Hannah about Alex; she loved him so much….”
Mark huffed, “Again, I am sorry, but, my God, they pulled a stunt.”
“Worse than usual?” Kim asked.
“Who is tied up this time?” Len asked.
“No, I mean a stunt as in taking the horses and three of our people and going outside the safe zone with a boy who brought in a gun-shot friend. They went to rescue a bunch of people. Alone.”
“Huh?” Kim tried to make sense of that. “They left here? And went outside?”
“Took Andromeda, Sadie, and Jim. They sent Izzy back to tell us they were gone,” Mark explained as he pulled at his hair again.
Kim didn’t like that. Sadie and Jim were just learning how to handle things and weren’t trained yet. Hannah, with her brother, made sense but taking Andromeda was odd. “Why?” was all he asked.
“This boy came along with a wounded friend and held Andie and all the rest at gun point, trying to get his buddy some help. The guy died. Jet and Hannah came along and settled things, but the boy had friends who were taken prisoner. He wanted to borrow ammo to rescue them or something…not sure on that part, but then he mentioned one of the prisoners, and Hannah got a bug up her ass about it.”
“Who?” Beth couldn’t guess.
“John Ponce.”
Beth had to sit down. “Ponce was a prisoner somewhere? Who had him?”
“Some religious nut family, wait until you get that freaky story. They had children turn into a Red and a zed, and they locked them in the basement in a dog cage, got that? Okay, so they were feeding people to the kids.”
“Feeding them?” Len sat down, too, “that’s insane.”
“Healthy people they caught.”
“Pure insanity.”
“Oh, no shit, Len. It was a riot; let me tell you. You won’t believe the story, but they did it and kept people locked up to give to the children.
Ponce was one of the group members they had down in this basement of horrors. The kid...Dave I think was his name…got away and found the safe zone, and Andie, that’s who Hannah went to rescue: John Ponce.”
“I can imagine it,” Beth said quietly to Kim. She knew her daughter felt a kinship with the man. “Okay, then what?”
“The good news is that Hannah and Jet are fine, and they brought Ponce back; we let him inside; I mean what the hell, yanno? Matt and George said okay on that.”
Len nodded. “It’s a weird case that we can break the rules for. John Ponce, I’ll be damned.”
“You can get the long version later, but that basement was a horror show, and everybody was done gone crazy as hell down there, but Ponce, I guess. All the family was killed, and none of it was easy…zoms got some…some shot…except three that Jet let go. That boy, Dave, may have gone after them since he said he couldn’t face people right now. I know it’s confusing.
So all that was there were the crazy Dad and one of the women who was a prisoner who stayed with him. You can imagine she was pissed off. With a knife and a box of matches that Hannah shared with her, she probably pulled a Len.”
“Hey,” Len objected.
Kim knew how the kid felt, not being able to face normal people after seeing pure horror.
“And Jim and another man that they rescued blew their heads off.”
“What? Why?”
“You’ll get it on the long version, but they were pretty well nuts, watching them; well, they tied the people, washed them, and put them on a table.
Next, they gave them something to take the fight out, and then they would remove the legs and cauterize. Arms and cauterize. Buttocks and parts, and they were right there to see and hear screaming.
Sadie, Andie, Hannah, Jet, and Ponce came back,” Mark finished, out of breath, and mad all over again. “I am really pissed off, especially at Jet. He knows better. I wish I have gotten to kill those nuts, too. I’m just pissed off in general.”
“I know, but I am sure Hannah out-talked him and convinced him to go. I bet it was all her idea,” Beth added; she knew her kids. “What did they claim?”
“Not much. Jet is trying to say he was the instigator, but Hannah claims the same. She says they had to save Ponce, and get this, she says that Len would have done the same. Andie says it was Hannah, and Sadie claims she doesn’t know.”
“Is everyone channeling me and blaming me?” Len got some aspirin for a headache that started. It was a hell of a day. “What did you do with our wayward kids?”
“I bitched at them for an hour, making them stand at attention,” Mark said, “I went over all the ways they screwed up and the rules; I yelled a lot and sent them both to their rooms and told them not to dare peek out.
I sent Andie out and said I needed to think over what she did, but she went along to make sure they didn’t get killed on this stunt. I don’t think there was a huge amount of danger, but I am pissed royally at them for ignoring protocol.”
“An hour?”
“Yeh.”
Kim grimaced. “I think I’ll go two hours on them. Beth, you want an hour or two?”
“I am going to skin them both,” she said.
Len was side tracked as Kevin was brought to him. Kevin had to
tell the man that Alex died on the mission.
Beth left the rest and found her children waiting in their suite. Hannah and Jet were both cleaned up and sat up straight on the soft green sofa together, eyes cutting to the side at one another. For a while, Beth paced in front of her children, deciding what to say. There was so much.
“Okay. First of all, whatever I say, you will sit right there and not move a muscle and not say a damned word. Understood?” They nodded. “Your dad is going to chew you up and spit you out for this stunt, and I am going to let him.
You were both very wrong to break the rules, no matter what you thought. You are too young and too immature to make choices like that. That you did it proves my point.”
Hannah nodded quietly.
“First. We live in a hard time. There is life, and there is death. It sucks, but we do the best we can and work hard as a unit with rules and ideals. You cannot do as you please. I have just learned I am having another baby.” Hannah and Jet both couldn’t help but look at her and grin. “That is something I have to think about. Another baby. That, my children, is life. New life. Today, we went out to that mall, and we brought back survivors, and we screwed up even if we followed rules and protocol. That’s on us.”
Jet wanted to ask questions but just tilted his head, curious now.
“We lost a survivor when she did all the wrong things and got bitten. That is death. But because we lost the rules and proper way to do things, we made mistakes, and one cost us dearly.” Beth took a deep breath. “My dear friend Alex was bitten; Alex is dead.”
Hannah gasped and shoved her hand over her mouth, raising her knees in almost a fetal position. Jet grabbed her arm and clamped down with horror. Gulping as she squealed into her hand, Hannah rocked as she cried.
“He was bitten, and he decided his terms. I walked with him and kept him talking even if I were dying inside. He was already going over, but I walked behind him, and I shot him. Me. I did it. I shot Alex because we made a mistake, and he was infected. Can you even imagine how I feel?”
Jet met her eyes.
“Now imagine me coming back in pain and finding out what you two did. What if one of you had to do what I did: to walk behind and shoot the other in the head. Jet, do you want to do that for Hannah?”
