I kept my smile plastered on my face and continued to walk towards the girls as if nothing was wrong. Judy was only a few feet from me now. Her eyes seemed to hold back all of the concern that had ever existed in the world.
“Charlie? Is Daniel?”
Ah yes, Daniel, death’s own personal time bomb. That was her concern. Was she now completely alone or had fate somehow saved him?
“He’s alive. Stay here with me.”
Judy stopped and a moment later Veronica arrived smiling at us.
“I am distracting the enemy.” She said with an evil smile.
This girl was far from as dumb as she liked to make people think.
“Good job. Now step to my left and make sure you don’t stand between me and the door of the building. Make it look like you’re just getting out of the way for me to talk to these guys.”
They did as I asked and were to my left and a little behind me as the gunmen arrived. I angled my body to the left as well as I began to speak to the two men. This gave Amanda a perfect shooting lane from her spot inside the Mouse’s Ear. I had no doubts that if things began to look dicey out here that I would watch these two men die from sudden and unexpected head trauma as Amanda, once again, demonstrated that she was never to be taken lightly.
I said “howdy” as the two men arrived thinking that I might take a page from Veronica’s play book. I had used the word “howdy” for years instead of saying hello. I did this for multiple reasons. First off, I live in the south. Tennessee was a border state in the civil war, but we still qualify as the south. I figure if I am a southern gentleman, then I should use the southern greeting and that, by default, is “howdy”. Secondly, you always get weird looks from people when you say it. You can see a person deliberating on your mental status just because you used that word.
It’s true that the word “howdy” has a stigma to it, making everyone think of some hillbilly they’ve seen on TV. They would envision Jethro Bodine or some toothless wonder talking about how the twister took his trailer up into the sky. This is a prejudice that I’m happy to use to my advantage.
“Hello” the taller of the two hunters responded, “My name is Randy and this is Charles.”
I stuck out my hand to shake.
“My name is Charlie. I see ya’ll done already met Judy and Veronica.”
Judy glared at the two men, but Veronica had picked up on what I was doing and was all about selling the idea. She stuck her hand out to Charles, who was the closest to her and said, “Charmed, I’m sure.”
Charles took her hand and kissed it making Veronica squeal with laughter and ask,
“Are ya’ll French?”
Honest to God, I about lost it right then and there.
“Now Honey Bear, how could they have swam across that big ol ocean with all those biters out and about today?”
Veronica looked at me with that vacant, lost in thought look she has and the realization hit me that the entire time she had been telling us the story about what had happened to her today she had been in character acting just as she was acting now. If this girl had ever made her way to Hollywood we would’ve been happily paying to watch her in digital 3D.
“I didn’t think of that. I guess he just has better manners than you do punkin.”
I smiled inside at this. I was starting to have fun with this girl, and I had to remind myself to concentrate on the problem at hand instead of the puzzle that was Veronica.
“Mayhap they do. What you fellers doin out here? Ya’ll hunt’n the biters?”
Randy and Charles gave us both a look that asked the question, “How the hell are the two of you still alive?”
I glanced back to Judy and she was watching Veronica and my behavior much like a mother will watch her child when she isn’t sure if their behavior warrants punishment. It seemed she wanted to see how out of hand we would get before she spoke up.
“Actually, we are scouts from a safe house in Gray. We came to check out the area after we heard the explosion. When we got here we heard gun shots so we walked up here to see if anyone needed help.”
“That fire sure is something.” Veronica asked.
“There were a couple a biters in the strip club, but we took care of them.” I answered.
“If you don’t mind my asking, Charlie, who all makes up the “we” you are referring to?” Randy asked.
“Me and my Honey Bear…” as I said this I put my arm across Veronica’s shoulder and pulled her closer to me. “…and the others that we’ve rescued today.”
“You two are rescuing people?” Charles asked with an unbelieving smile on his face. Randy gave Charles a look and continued his questions not allowing us to sidetrack.
“How many have you rescued? Sorry to make a big deal about this, but it tends to make us nervous when we don’t know what we’re dealing with. I’d hate to think I survived these zombies only to be killed by a person with a gun over a misunderstanding.”
I smiled at the two men and held my hands up in a gesture of understanding and surrender.
“Ya’ll got me. Can’t blame a guy for trying to be careful. What about I bring em on out?”
Randy gave me a smile back. “That would make all of this much safer.”
I turned to face the building putting my back to the hunters. I held my right hand where they couldn’t see me and held up three fingers, with my left hand I waved for them to come on out. I hoped Amanda got my meaning.
Sass, Shawn and Daniel came walking out of the building. I felt the tension loosen a bit in my shoulders as I saw that Amanda was still concealed in the darkness of the building and still had one of these hunters in her cross hairs.
The hunters quickly did the math and saw that they were now out numbered. They took a tighter grip on their guns and stepped back a few paces.
“Now hold up fellers.” I said working hard not to break character. “We did what ya’ll asked. Don’t be gettin all spooked and start shootin people.”
Randy and Charles looked at each other considering what I had said.
“Ain’t nobody here looking for a fight. Least not a fight with anything living.”
The two men relaxed a bit.
“This is everybody?”
“Yes sir. Everybody still breathing anyways.” This wasn’t necessarily a lie. I had read once that snipers hold their breath when they are about to pull the trigger so they don’t cause any movement in the gun as they fire. The way these two guys were acting made me think Amanda was only seconds away from firing on her first target. To this end she was probably not breathing.
“He’s lying to you.” Daniel said as he reached where we stood.
I turned to look at Daniel. The bastard even gave me a smile.
“Lying how?” Randy asked.
“There is a woman in that building with a rifle and I am quite sure that you are in her sights.”
Randy looked from Daniel to me.
“Also, how he’s talking is an act. He’s tying to keep you off guard so he can take you down easier when he decides it’s in his best interest.”
Randy had never taken his eyes off me as Daniel continued to rip my well placed plan into oblivion. Slowly Randy and Charles began to point their guns at me.
“Careful boys.” I said holding my hands up. “I would be really careful right now. The woman in that building is military and spooky accurate with every one of the fifty or so guns she has strapped to her body.”
Randy looked from me to the doorway and finally noticed how I had turned placing them both directly in the open lane that existed from us to the door of the strip club. He knew that anyone with military training would have no problem taking down both of them before they could find cover.
“Why should we believe him Randy? He’s lied about everything else?” Charles said.
“Actually guys, the only thing I lied about was Amanda. Everything else you think about me you decided on your own because of how I was talking. Isn’t that right Honey Be
ar?” I pulled Veronica close to me again.
“Sure nuff punkin.” Veronica said with a laugh and a smile. I was getting very sure that I liked this girl.
Charles was not believing our story. “I say this is all another lie to get us to drop our guard.”
Randy considered this for a moment. “Maybe, but Charlie looks to be a man who likes to keep an ace up his sleeve.” Smiling Randy added, “I don’t think I would have ever enjoyed playing poker with you.”
Randy lowered his weapon and motioned for Charles to lower his as well.
“Let’s start over. Hello, my name is Randy, and this is Charles. We are scouts from a safe house here in Gray and I was wondering if your group would like to stay with us. We need more hands to help us stay safe and build a community where we will be able to survive in this new world.”
The speech sounded practiced and I didn’t really trust either of these guys, just as I was sure neither of them trusted me.
“My name is Charlie and your offer sounds good. If you don’t mind I would like to talk it over with the rest of my group before we answer.”
“Not a problem.” Randy answered.
I turned and waved for Amanda to come out. As she stepped out of the darkness of the strip club’s doorway I could tell a difference in the overall posture of these two “scouts” that had stumbled upon us. Her rifle wasn’t pointed at the two men but she was carrying it in a way that let them know it would take about half a second to sight and kill the first one that gave her a look she didn’t like. I watched as Randy did a visual count of just how many weapons she had strapped to her body. He was coming to the realization that when I had told them about her I wasn’t exaggerating.
Amanda walked to where our little group had pooled together never taking her eyes off the gunmen. To their credit the two men kept their guns pointed at the ground and made no moves towards any of us. They seemed very content to just stand there and study the parking lot or the sky while we held our deliberations.
Amanda spoke first, “There is something about these men that isn’t right. I don’t believe they are telling us the entire truth.”
“I don’t trust them either.” I said.
“There’s a big surprise.” Daniel said with a burst of laughter.
“Shut up demon.” I spat back at him.
“Why don’t you trust them?” Judy asked.
“You heard them when it was just me, you, and Veronica talking. Everything they’re saying seems planned out, rehearsed. Like the kid in school that memorized his paper and is standing in front of the class presenting it. Everything they say or do seems so deliberate it is almost robotic.”
“That’s it.” Veronica said, “I kept thinking that there was something just so odd about those guys. I couldn’t figure it out, but it’s that.”
“All I see is someone that doesn’t want us going to Gray because that means he will have to give up his little seat of power and actually become one of the followers that he keeps claiming to be.” Daniel said with a smirk.
“Daniel your word counts for shit, am I clear on this?” I said.
“How dare you!” Daniel’s eyes narrowed as he spoke. Judy looked from him to me.
“Charlie, what’s going on?” Judy asked.
I liked Judy. I didn’t want to upset her more, but I spoke before I thought. “Judy, your husband is psychotic. You may want to keep an eye on him.”
“I’m psychotic?!” Daniel was gearing up again, “You’re the one that…” But whatever he was going to say was lost because Sass had heard enough.
“He is the one that saved your life. He’s is the one responsible for saving every one of us here, except for Amanda. And you repay this kindness by constantly attacking him and trying to take over this group for your own personal agenda, which none of us care about. I suggest in the immortal words of the Rock that you know your role and shut your mouth. Bigger things than your ego are at stake here.”
He had spoken in a low, even voice, the voice of a parent that is daring the child to say one more word. Sass is a very imposing figure. Standing almost seven feet tall and hiding under that brillo pad body hair is nothing but muscle. I had been punched by him just play fighting and had bruises to show for it.
Daniel glared from me to Sass. I imagine that he was trying to decide whether he should go for it or not. I don’t think anybody was surprised when he didn’t stray from the path he had been walking all day, and he decided to do the stupid thing and speak up.
“He has not saved my life at all today!”
“Really?” Sass spoke again. “He didn’t lead us to that house you and Judy were in? He and Amanda didn’t grab your hands and then haul you up into the back of the truck? He also didn’t grab you and throw you out of the way of those two zombies in the strip club when you froze up and was about to die? He didn’t get you clear so Amanda could shoot them? Tell me Daniel, who saved you? Who do you owe your life to at this point?”
I am betting that last comment stung like the devil. As much as I was enjoying watching Sass rip Daniel apart I knew I needed to end this fight.
“Guys, now is really not the time. Those two gunmen are watching us and we are looking crazier and crazier by the second.”
Daniel opened his mouth to say something to me, but Judy came to my rescue.
“Daniel. Shut. Up.”
Daniel turned to look at his wife in total disbelief.
“These people are our friends and are the only hope we have at surviving this. You will stop this madness right now. Charlie is not the enemy. You need to find a way of dealing with your grief that doesn’t involve social suicide.”
Daniel stood looking at his wife. Judy turned putting her back to him in a “you’re done for now” motion as she looked at the rest of the group.
“Now, where were we?” She asked.
“To go or not to go?” Shawn answered.
“I am not sure we really have that decision to make.” I said. “They may be under orders to bring us in either way.”
“Let them try.” Amanda growled.
“What worries me the most is that we don’t know what this safe area is like? You’ve seen all the zombie movies that have insane military commanders controlling a safe area that the heroes stumble into.” I said.
“It never ends well for the heroes.” Shawn added.
I nodded in agreement, “Anywhere from one to four of us would be killed by either the dead around or in the building or from the armed guards that are in the service of the crazy military leader. That is if real life ends up being anything like the movies.”
“On the other hand, it is getting late.” Judy said.
Looking up I could see that the sun was moving on into the western sky. It was now heading in the direction of the horizon though I was sure we still had quite a few hours before the day would make its way to dusk. Taking that into consideration I could still see Judy’s point. We had just been in the process of trying to find a place to stay until tomorrow and now we were being offered a ready made place. I thought that the odds were most likely fifty-fifty that we would also have to escape from this place but a fifty percent chance of crazy seemed better than a hundred percent chance of zombies. There was a good argument for this decision from either way you looked at it.
“Judy makes a good point,” Shawn said.
“Do you think we can make it to Johnson City today, Charlie?” Judy asked.
It was a fair question, but part of me couldn’t help but think Judy had taken over the fight from her husband and was doing a better job at convincing us to see things his way.
“I think we can still make it today, but I think it will be close. If you all want to go to Gray then I won’t argue against it.”
The rest looked around and Amanda gave me another of her disapproving looks.
“I say we try it.” Shawn said
“Honestly, what is the worse that could happen?” Judy added.
I wanted to sma
ck myself on the forehead. “Judy. You never say what is the worse that could happen? In the movies, as soon as you say that then something happens that’s worse than anything the people could have imagined.”
Judy laughed at me. “If you haven’t noticed Charlie, we’re not in a movie.”
“Could’ve fooled me” Veronica said as we walked back towards our camo wearing escorts to the Gray safe house.
C H A P T E R N I N E T E E N
We left by way of the back exit. This would place us well away from the burning gas station as we reached the road into Gray. We followed the two men in a loosely formed single file line with Amanda, Sass and I bringing up the rear.
“This is a stupid decision.” Amanda said.
“I don’t know. If this place is managed well enough we may not even have to go to Johnson City.” Sass said.
“Don’t start thinking like that Sass.” I said, “For no other reason than lack of resources we could never call Gray home.”
Amanda nodded, “He is correct. Even going to a place the size of Johnson City our resources will be strained and we will have to begin rationing before very long. A town as small as Gray could never keep a large group of people fed for more than a few weeks. Eventually these people will have to move to a new site.”
“That is something else that concerns me. Think guys, if you are hold up somewhere and it’s safe and you have food and water and guns and ammunition, why would you go out looking for more people to take care of?” I asked.
This thought seemed to shock Sass. “Maybe the guy in charge is a decent person who wants to save as many people as possible.”
“Maybe, but it’s human nature to horde. Every person you add to the group will put an even larger strain on your resources. So why send scouts out to find people?”
Sass seemed to be taking this personal. He so wanted to think that, at heart, people were good. I think he knew that this could never be true for everybody. But he wanted the world to be this way.
“Maybe they want to be heroes.” Sass said.
“The desire to be looked upon with favor and to be elevated to hero status is a strong desire in the human mind, but I believe Charlie is correct in his line of thinking. Self preservation is the strongest behavioral trait we have. It would have to be something else just as strong to make someone ignore the basic desire to survive.” Amanda said.
A Good Distance From Dying Page 14
