“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Robinson said softly. “Not anymore. You threatened the lives of people in this group. You try to intimidate everyone. You only care about helping yourself, never about what the group wants. Tonight was the last straw. In the morning we’re leaving, and you’re not coming with us.”
Aamod shrugged. “If that’s your decision. Fine. I have to do what’s right for my daughter.”
“You’re a selfish little man, but I hope to God you find some way to survive out there. For her sake,” Robinson said, pointing at Naima.
Naima didn’t look pleased by this new arrangement, but before she could object, Aamod swept her back into the house.
“We really need to get a move on,” Robinson said. “So if you guys want to say goodbye or anything, make it fast. I’ll be waiting in the car.”
Peaches and I headed back into the house. We stopped in the foyer, so as to not walk in on Aamod talking with Naima in the living room. It was too dark to tell if she was crying, but she was clearly upset. Aamod did his best to calm her down. Before I knew it, I had to do the same thing. Only with Peaches.
In a flash, she had turned on the waterworks.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’m not gonna go anymore,” she said, a couple of tears running down her cheeks.
“Why not?”
“I can’t leave Olivia here now.”
“Naima can watch her until we return.”
“I can’t ask that. Not after what just happened. And you know how Aamod is, he might just up and decide to leave immediately. I don’t want to take that chance. It’s okay. I’ll stay here with Olivia.”
I nodded. “That’s probably best.”
“But you should at least say goodbye to her.”
“I don’t want to wake her.”
“Oh, come on.”
Peaches grabbed a candle from the kitchen counter and led me to the guest bedroom. Olivia lay on the guest bed sleeping. Her protector, Jax, slept beside her.
“I hope Cathy doesn’t mind him being up there,” Peaches said. “I tried to get him off, but he wouldn’t budge.”
“I think she’s got more important things on her mind right now.” I stepped closer to the bed, looked down at the baby. “Sleep well, Olivia,” I whispered. “Hopefully I’ll be back before you wake up.” Then I leaned over and patted Jax on the head. “And you … keep up the good work.” I glanced back at Peaches standing behind me. Even in the low light, I could see her eyes were still a wet mess. I put an arm around her. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
She nodded. “But you better come back, you hear me?” She put both her arms around me and squeezed tight. “Don’t you leave us.”
“I’ll hide behind Bowser.”
She forced a smile. “You do whatever you have to do.”
“I will.”
Then she leaned up and kissed me goodbye. Her soldier boy. It was a long kiss, full of love and the taste of her tears. I relished every last second of it.
And then I left to go to war.
We took Ted’s SUV back to the Winn-Dixie to pick up the others. Ted’s SUV, of course, contained most of the weapons, and if what Kyle had said was true, we were going to need all the firepower available to us. Robinson left the keys to the other SUV (the one I’d originally lifted from the toll plaza) with Peaches, in case something happened while we were gone and she needed to leave. He had only one stipulation. DO NOT, under any circumstances, give the keys to Aamod. Peaches had agreed. If Aamod wanted to leave now, rather than wait until morning, he could find his own damn car. It’s not like there weren’t plenty around to choose from.
Back at the Winn-Dixie, as I expected, the others were concerned something had happened to us. Robinson briefly—and I mean literally in a few short sentences—explained what had happened with Aamod, and that he and his daughter would no longer be coming with us. If anyone cared, no one spoke up. Everyone was on edge, ready to get moving. Cathy especially. And so we packed into the SUV and rode in silence back to the Walmart.
Robinson parked the car around back in the same spot as before, and then we all got out, careful not to slam the doors. If we were going to have any chance at successfully completing the mission casualty free, it was imperative that Charlie and the gang didn’t know we were coming. We needed the element of surprise. Or, as Bowser so eloquently put it, “Be on their punk asses before they know what hit ‘em.”
Ted lifted the back gate. “Okay, who wants what?”
“We need a plan first,” Robinson whispered.
Ted shrugged. “Okay. Let’s plan.”
“Follow me.”
Robinson led us back along the exterior of the fence of cars, and stopped behind the white van Bowser had used for cover earlier. He gestured for Kyle to come up next to him at the front of the line. “Do you know where that door leads?”
Kyle glanced around the front of the van. “Somewhere in the back hall.”
“Obviously. Is it near where they have Brian?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, I’m not exactly sure where they have him. I haven’t been back there all day. That’s Charlie and Brett’s territory.”
“But you said they had him near the receiving doors, correct?”
“That’s what Mike said.”
“Then he’s gotta be around that area.” Robinson pointed at the three large truck bays, their heavy chain operated doors shut tight. “There’s no way we’re getting any of those open from the outside, even if they’re unlocked. But that one,” he said, pointing back at the regular sized door just to the left of the three truck bays. “That one … maybe.”
“I could check to see if there’s a roadside kit of some kind in the back of the SUV,” Ted said. “Might be a crowbar, if we’re lucky. Could try prying the door open. Course I’m assuming it’s locked.”
“No, it definitely is,” Kyle replied. “In fact, all the doors are locked, and at all times. One of Charlie’s rules. And he constantly has Brett check them to make sure they stay that way.”
“Hmm. I think trying to break in might make too much noise anyway,” Robinson replied. “If Brian is somewhere nearby on the other side, chances are this Charlie guy won’t be too far.”
“Most likely,” Kyle agreed.
“Okay, so if the doors have to remain locked at all times, then you must have a key to one of them, right? Otherwise, how do you get back inside?” Robinson asked.
“No key. When my shift is done, I go to the front entrance. The non-grocery entrance. There is a side door. My relief, Mike or Brenda, is supposed to meet me there. Then they’ll unlock the door and let me in, and we trade places.”
“And then once they’re out on patrol, you lock the door behind them?” Kyle nodded. “When does your shift end?”
“9:30.”
Robinson looked back at me. “What time is it, Jimmy?”
I couldn’t see my watch in the dark. Kyle fortunately had it covered.
“9:22,” he said.
Robinson sighed. “That only gives us eight minutes. Let’s get back to the car.”
After shutting off the interior lights, we huddled around the SUV’s open back gate, the surrounding darkness our best friend.
“So…” I whispered. “What now?”
Everyone looked at Robinson. Looked for guidance. Robinson just stared at the building off in the distance.
Cathy sat on the back bumper, looking down, fidgeting with her hands. “We need to hurry.”
“We also have to be careful,” Ted said. “Gotta be smart.”
Robinson turned around. “Okay, gather around, I think I have a plan. Though I’m not sure how great it is.”
“We don’t have time for great anyway,” Bowser said. “Spit it out.”
Robinson spat out his ten-step plan.
As follows.
STEP 1: Kyle would meet up with Brenda at 9:30 at the side door and talk her into helping us. Kyle believed Bren
da was just as sick of Charlie and Brett’s ways as he was, and if told the plan, would gladly help however she could.
STEP 2: Now inside, Kyle and Brenda (making sure to keep a look out for Brett) would go to the car center and unlock the doors, where the rest of us (minus Ted) would be waiting to go inside.
STEP 3: Ted would make his way to the front parking lot, find a safe spot behind a car a hundred or so yards out, and then wait for his cue via radio.
STEP 4: Leaving us to hide out in the tire and lube express, Brenda and Kyle would run frantically into the back hall and tell Charlie and Brett that someone in the parking lot took a shot at them as they were changing shifts.
STEP 5: Charlie and Brett and maybe even Mike would then follow Kyle out of the back hall and up to the front of the store to investigate.
STEP 6: Brenda would meet back up with us at the car center.
STEP 7: Once Charlie and Brett were in sight, Ted would begin firing a small number of rounds into the glass doors at the front of the building. Not with the purpose of hitting them. Just to get their attention. So they wouldn’t have any reason to begin questioning Kyle and Brenda’s story.
STEP 8: With the diversion in place, Robinson, Bowser, Cathy, and myself, would follow Brenda into the back hall, find Brian (still alive and ticking), cut him loose, and then sneak him out the back door.
STEP 9: Back at the SUV, with Brian safely in our care, Robinson would get on the radio and let Ted know the good news. Ted would then head toward the main road, Commercial Way, where we would swing around in the car and pick him up.
STEP 10: Robinson would drive us back to Cathy’s house, while Bowser, Ted, and myself would all exchange congratulatory high-fives. Cathy and Brian would hug, kiss, cry, and say over and over how much they missed one another. And then bright and early in the morning we’d come back to pick up Kyle and Brenda at the start of their first patrol, with Charlie being none the wiser.
Just. Like. That.
Ten steps.
It was almost too easy. And it would work perfectly until around step 7 or 8.
Then it all fell horribly apart.
“Ted, come in,” Robinson said over the walkie.
No answer.
We were in the car center, hiding behind the service desk. The lights were on, thanks to the store generator that Charlie and the gang were likely keeping up and running, but only the bare minimum. At least half of the light fixtures had no power going to them, or they had been manually shut off.
Again, Robinson held down the little button on the walkie and reached out to Ted. But Ted didn’t reach back out to us.
I had déjà vu, thinking of yesterday when Robinson and I had hid in the back of the military supply truck, sweating our balls off, waiting for Ted to respond, and wondering if something had happened to him.
“Should we just go look for Brian?” I asked. “We can’t wait here forever.”
“Please. Let’s get moving,” Cathy pleaded.
Robinson tried one final time to get Ted on the radio, and then clipped the radio back on to his belt and led the way out of the car center.
We stuck to the outer aisles of the store, guns in hand, snaking through the hardware and sporting goods sections. We walked quickly but with soft steps. As we navigated past the toy section and into the electronics, Ted finally chirped in.
“Robinson. Robinson. Are you there?”
Robinson didn’t stop, so neither did the rest of us. He grabbed the radio off his belt. “Yeah, I’m here. I tried to get you earlier. What’s going on out there? Do you see them?”
“I was spotted.”
“They spotted you?”
“Not the guys in the store. A group of infected.”
Now Robinson stopped, a grim look settling on his face. “Do you need our help? Should we come back for you?”
“I locked myself in a car. But they have it surrounded,” Ted said.
“Are the keys in the car?”
“I wish. I was lucky enough to find one that wasn’t locked.”
“I could go out and help,” Bowser said.
“Should we send somebody out to help you?” Robinson asked into the radio.
“I think I’ll be okay for now. They can’t get me in here. But when you’re done in there, you might have to come out and help lure them away. Unless I can figure something out in the meantime. I’m in a small car near the front entrance. Maybe three or four spaces out. You can’t miss me. There’s about seven people outside the car banging on the windows.”
“Wait … why are you so close to the building?”
“I had a position at the back of the lot, but then they spotted me and I had to run. Figured it was smarter to run toward the building.”
“I don’t know about that. Do you see anybody at the entrance? Do you see Kyle?”
“No, I can’t see anything. The view is blocked by a truck. They weren’t up there before. Not when I was running for my life.”
“So you never took a shot then?”
“No, never had a chance. And like I said, I never saw anyone to shoot at anyway. But they could be there now for all I know. If so, there’s no way they don’t see all these guys surrounding me, which could present a problem.”
“Let me go out there,” Bowser said. “I’ll be okay.”
Robinson considered it for a moment, and then nodded to Bowser. Bowser took off in the direction we had come, toward the car center. He didn’t even try to be quiet, bursting into a full gallop.
“Bowser’s coming out to help you,” Robinson said to Ted. “Stay where you are.”
“Very funny.”
“Stay in touch.”
“I will.”
Just as we came upon an entrance to the back hall, Brenda emerged through the doors, scaring the shit out of us. She seemed just as surprised, if not more, to see us standing on the other side.
Brenda was mid-fifties, big boned, with a worn look to her, like she’d visited one too many truck stops in her life. She had bottle-colored brown wiry hair with gray roots. She wore a big husky shirt to cover her big husky frame. Blue jeans. Steel-toed boots. I swear if she had pulled down her pants right then and said, “Check out my penis,” I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised. She had manly facial features, big nose, strong chin, wide jaw, all of which gravity had not been kind to. Her skin sagged more than Bowser’s shorts.
“Shit, there ya are,” she said in her beefcake voice. “I was gonna go look for you.”
“Where are the others?” Robinson whispered.
“Still up front. Come on, I’ll show you where they got Brian.”
“Is Kyle up there with them too?”
“Of course,” she said, waving us in. “Come on.”
She was eager to have us follow her.
Too eager.
Yet, we followed her anyway, without a second thought.
The back hall had fewer functioning lights than the main store, and smelled of dust and cardboard. We passed row after row of various merchandise, around a bend and into the receiving area, where we came to a sudden halt. A dark haired man was handcuffed to a large metal rack. Both hands. His arms spread wide, giving him little room to squirm. His face was badly beaten, purple and red. His clothing stained with blood.
Cathy’s husband.
“Brian!” she yelled out, but didn’t make a move toward him.
Brian sluggishly raised his head, looked over in our direction. He was alive, just as we had hoped to find him, but barely aware. In his state, I wondered if he even recognized his wife.
What we hadn’t expected to find was the three men standing in front of him, guns pointed in our direction.
Charlie, Brett, and Mike.
“That’s far enough,” one of the men said. He was shirtless and skinny, though not as bad as me. He had some muscle definition at least. He had a baseball cap on his head, and was chewing something. Tobacco, maybe. “Good work, Brenda.”
“No problem,”
Brenda said, sauntering away from us, proud of herself.
“You bitch,” Robinson said.
I think the correct term for Brenda was butch, not bitch. But who’s keeping score?
Brenda the butch bitch turned around and smiled. “You got that right.”
“Keep your thoughts to yourself nigger,” the man standing in the middle said. It was striking how easily he could fire out the N word without the slightest hesitation, like he’d said it a thousand times in the past. He had a wife beater on, and was much taller than the other two. Older. Around Robinson’s age. With a dark mustache and an angry fire in his eyes. “Put those guns down now. Less you wanna die.”
Robinson and I slowly placed our pistols on the ground. Cathy wasn’t armed, so she just stayed huddled behind us, crying. The shirtless man approached us carefully and then swept the guns off the floor.
“Welcome to our home,” the man in the middle said. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Charlie. The man holding your guns now is Brett. That’s Mike.” He pointed to Mr. Quiet on his right. “And of course you already know Brenda. I’d ask for your names but I don’t really care.”
“What did you do with Kyle?” I asked.
Charlie smirked. “Turn around.”
I cautiously turned to look behind me, praying Charlie wouldn’t take the opportunity to shoot me in the back. Though I might have preferred that to being shot in the face, as he had purportedly done to Theo.
“Hi, there,” Kyle said, rifle up and pointing at us.
“Why did you do this?”
Kyle shrugged. “You didn’t give me much of a choice. You were gonna come in here regardless if I helped you or not. This way I could try and control the outcome.”
“And a fine job you did,” Brett yelled.
“So … that’s it,” I said. “It was all a lie? You said he treats you like crap. Was that a lie too?”
“No, that’s true. He does pick on me. But what am I gonna do about it? He’s my older brother.”
Dead Highways (Book 2): Passage Page 18
