Dead Hunger | Book 10 | The Remnants

by Shelman, Eric A.

  Isis and Max had gone ahead, telling Hemp they were unwilling to wait while the older foursome piddled and doddered and got their shit together.

  Hemp had understood, and wasn’t particularly worried, what with the effect the sunlight had on the Mother. If the most powerful of their kind could not withstand the infrared rays, neither could the minions known as Hungerers.

  As long as they were in a safe place by nightfall, all should be well.

  “Check the radio, would you, Charlie,” said Flex.

  She reached over and turned down the radio.

  “Hey!” said Gem, switching the power off. “Don’t just turn it down, we’ll miss the song!”

  “Blah, blah, blah,” said Charlie. She pushed the transmit button. “Tommy? You read, Tommy?”

  “Roger,” came Tommy’s voice. “Got trouble?”

  “Nope,” said Charlie. “Just testing range. We’re about 9 miles out now.”

  “Y’all should be good for a few more miles,” said Tommy. “I’ve been letting people know I’m manning this radio in case there’s problems in other spots.”

  “Good,” said Charlie. “Thanks, Tommy.”

  “Hey,” he said. “Something strange came through a few minutes ago.”

  Charlie looked back at Hemp and Flex as she pushed the button. “What?”

  “Moaning. Faint and really broken up, but it sounded like somebody hurt. I answered, but nothing else. No idea who or where. Had to have been within 20 miles or so. That’s the best of this range under prime conditions.”

  “Roger that,” said Charlie. “It could have been from any direction. Thanks, Tommy. If you hear it again, let us know.”

  “Roger that. Watch your sixes out there, considering the new bullshit.”

  “Thanks, Tommy,” said Charlie. “Out.”

  “We can’t do anything about it anyway,” said Flex. “Unless they can offer more than a moan.”

  “People know about us,” said Hemp. “Our history. They tend to use our most common channels and frequencies when problems arise, to flag us. This concerns me, but I agree – without more information, we can’t do anything.”

  They drove until they were a mile from Athens when Gem slammed on the brakes.

  Everybody flew forward, hands outstretched to keep them from hitting what was in front of them. When Gem drove, they all wore their seatbelts.

  “What, Gem?” asked Flex from the back seat.

  “Dead people,” said Gem.

  “People or abnormals?” asked Hemp.

  “I think I recognize those shoes,” said Gem, her heart sinking.

  “Me, too,” said Charlie. “They were cute.” The last words were almost inaudible.

  “God,” whispered Gem.

  Everyone picked up their weapons and opened their doors. Nobody was in a hurry.

  Gem and Charlie walked slowly, making their way over to the closest body, face down, feet facing toward Athens. There was a wide swath of bloodstained dirt behind the body, stretching eight or ten feet south. She had dragged herself that far, clearly unable to walk.

  “Go on ahead, see who’s up there,” said Gem as Hemp and Flex approached.

  “C’mon,” said Flex, spotting another few bodies on the roadway beyond. “Be careful,” he said as they passed.

  “Look at her legs,” said Charlie. “Her pants are shredded.”

  “No wonder she couldn’t walk,” said Gem. “They ate her ankles down to the bone.”

  Gem reached down to pull the tattered pant legs higher, seeing that the meaty flesh all the way up to her knees was gnawed down to the bone.

  The worse part was her head – the back of her neck, really. There was a dark cavity there, as though the creatures had gnawed through her neck, twisted away the spine and other miscellaneous human anatomy in the way, and pulled her brain from her head.

  “This is why she didn’t reanimate,” said Charlie. “I know Hemp said the smell of the brain is what attracts them, but they can satiate their hunger with any part of us. Why take her brain?”

  Gem shook her head. She looked up the street at Hemp, who was kneeling down beside what appeared to be a man’s body, Flex standing over him.

  She saw him do something, and the radio on her belt buzzed. “Gem?”

  “Yes, Hemp.”

  “Is Sarah’s brain removed?”

  “Probably eaten, but yeah. It looks like it.”

  “We’ve got Manuel here,” said Hemp. “They were probably together when whatever went on here happened. It had to have been last night.”

  “Why their brains, Hemp? The Mothers have to know their victims can’t reanimate without them.”

  “Instinctually, they may be aware. I do not know. Perhaps sometimes feeding is more crucial than expanding the horde.”

  Charlie took the radio. “Maybe they build the horde before major offensive pushes. Like how lots of boy babies seem to be born in the years preceding a war.”

  “Since gender is random, that is just coincidence I’m afraid,” said Hemp. “But that said, your original point may be correct.”

  Gem bolted to her feet. “Get the fuck back here. We need to catch Isis and Max.”

  Hemp lowered the radio and stood, nudged Flex, and they started running back toward the Mercedes.

  If you could call what Flex was doing running. More of a pained jog. Hemp was holding his own, though.

  Gem and Charlie got back inside the Mercedes and she fired it up, meeting them halfway. Jumping inside and buckling the lap belts, Gem floored it. The old diesel didn’t quite fly off the line, but when it got up to speed, Gem looked like the devil at the wheel.

  *****

  Gem passed a vehicle with both doors open.

  “Stop!” said Flex.

  “Why?” She stopped anyway.

  Flex opened the door and got out, running to the abandoned car. When he reached it, he found shell casings all around it, and empty firearms on the ground. Inside the car he found a slip of paper with his address on it.

  “Shit, she was comin’ to see us. Warn us, probably,” he mumbled.

  Gem had backed the Mercedes up. “Is that Sarah’s car?”

  “Or Manuel’s,” said Flex, holding up the paper. “They were on their way to us.”

  “What happened?” asked Charlie.

  Flex leaned in and saw the key in the ignition. It was on, but the dash lights were out, and none of the gauges responded. “Can’t tell,” he said. “Could’ve been an electrical issue or they ran out of gas.”

  “We need to know what she was coming to tell us,” said Hemp.

  “C’mon,” said Gem. “Hurry. We’re a quarter mile out.”

  *****

  Max and Isis had also discovered Sarah’s and Manuel’s bodies on the road on their drive into Athens, and it had provided a sense of urgency. They decided to leave them exposed so Flex and the others would be aware of what was happening when they got there.

  “Koko!” called Max. “What the hell happened?”

  Koko leaned against a car that looked just clean enough to indicate it might run, but he didn’t come toward them. Instead, he leaned back against it and slid to the ground, one hand on his chest.

  Isis swung the car into a U-turn and pulled up beside him. The street was littered with bodies – and several ashy outlines where bodies once lay.

  Hungerer bodies. Mothers, maybe.

  They both jumped out of the car and hurried to Koko, kneeling down.

  “Are you okay, Koko? What happened here?”

  “My … wife. They came. Surrounded my house. Hundreds of them. I told Odette to stay in the garage. They had broken the windows of our house and were coming in. I was shooting, but they kept coming. We were able to make it out the back door, and we ran into the garage. The doors were weak, but when we got in, I covered her with a tarp and reloaded my gun from a can of ammo I kept there.

  “The car was in the driveway, and when I thought they were all inside our house
, I ran out to get it. I was going to drive it through the door and get her into the car, but it … it didn’t ….”

  He broke down into sobs, his shoulders hunched forward, his face buried in his palms.

  “Koko, when did this happen?”

  “Last … night,” said Koko. “I couldn’t get to the car! I tried, but they were everywhere! I had to run back to the garage, but when I got there, they had broken through the rotted wood. I heard my wife screaming, and ….”

  Max and Isis both put hands on his shoulders, squeezing him gently. “We’re here for you, Koko,” said Max softly. “I’m so sorry.”

  Neither of them wanted him to have to recall the story. He had heard rather than saw his wife killed. It was worse because he had no way to save her. By the time he heard her terrified screams, it was obviously too late.

  Koko began talking through his tears again, despite their intentions.

  “I was able to run into the yard next door. That was a vacant house, overgrown, so I ran through the weeds and cut through yards until I got to Sarah’s place, but they were there, too. Hundreds of them.”

  “How did this start? Did they just show up?”

  Koko shrugged. “Yesterday, Manuel suggested we go down to the hot springs again and see if they were there. He had an idea to pour a flammable liquid into the water and just set them on fire.”

  “Sounds like a viable plan,” said Max. “What happened?”

  “They were there,” he said. “But not just the group that was there before. More. The other horde, maybe. The one they fought before. But even more than that. I don’t know. A thousand? There was no way to count them all.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “My chest … it’s tight. My heart medications are all expired. I figured if I doubled up, even if they lost potency, I might be alright.”

  “Are you out?”

  He shook his head. “No. I have some at the sandwich shop. I was shut in this car when the horde came through. I rolled the window down and shot as many as I could before I ran out of ammo. Didn’t expect them. They came about an hour after dark.”

  “But you all just stay in your homes at night,” said Isis. “What happened to that plan?”

  Koko shook his head. “Can we get … to the sandwich shop? I’m worried about myself, to be honest.”

  “Of course,” said Isis. She leaned down on Koko’s right side and Max got on his left. Together, they did a three count, and he helped as they pulled him to his feet.

  “Thanks,” he said. “I should be able to hobble over there now I’m up.”

  The sound of a clattering motor met their ears, and they all looked up to see Gem’s Mercedes barreling toward them through the center of town. They blew ashen piles to the four winds, avoiding the bodies that hadn’t sizzled in the sun.

  Max and Isis waved them over to Sarah’s Sandwiches.

  The sandwich shop that had lost its namesake.

  *****

  “Sarah and Manuel are dead, Koko,” said Gem, her voice soft. At Koko’s sudden tears, she broke down as well. She stepped to another table and pulled a napkin from the dispenser, dabbing at her eyes. She pulled two and gave them to Koko.

  “Their car looked like it crapped out not far out of town,” said Charlie, picking up the story. “Somehow the horde caught them.”

  “I heard a vehicle leaving before dawn,” said Koko, through his tears. “We all drive diesels, so I did not know who it was. I thought them foolish, though. It is never safe at night. We’ve known that for long enough.”

  Max pulled Flex aside and told him about Koko’s wife. Flex shook his head and walked back to where Koko sat.

  “I’m sorry, Koko,” said Flex. “About your wife, especially, but your friends and everyone else. What’d you do after they left? Were you able to figure out where the horde went?”

  “Maybe back to the hot springs,” muttered Koko, shaking his head. “But it didn’t sound like they were moving in that direction, and from what you said happened to Sarah and Manuel, at least some of them followed their car north. I was too frightened to raise my head when they were moving by after I ran out of ammunition, so I cannot be sure of anything.”

  “So, some might’ve gone back to the hot springs?” asked Isis. “If so, then we need to execute Manuel’s original plan.”

  Koko said, “When the sun came up, I got out of the car. I was dehydrated, but fine. All the dead walkers were gone. Once I got water in me, I tried to find Sarah and Manuel, but they were gone, and so was her car. An old, red Subaru diesel. So, I went back to my house, to the garage, to see what became of Odette. There was a lot of blood where I had left her ….”

  He began crying again, unable to utter a word. After several stuttering starts, he said, “I started looking for anyone. I know where most people live. My car wouldn’t start, so I got on that bicycle out front and started riding.”

  “You find anyone?” asked Max.

  Koko’s head drooped, and he stared at the floor. The silence in the room was palpable. “Torn apart or missing. Everyone. Something weird about the ones left behind, though.”

  “Their brains are gone?” asked Hemp.

  Koko jerked his eyes up to meet the scientist’s. “Yes. What do you know of this?”

  “Nothing,” said Hemp, shaking his head. “We found Manuel and Sarah the same way. Heads opened at the base of the neck, brains removed.”

  Koko’s expression remained neutral for maybe ten seconds, but as his brain processed that they were both truly dead, his face contorted, and he turned away as he began to cry again.

  “I lost so many people,” he said. “I thought it was over.”

  “We all did, Koko,” said Isis. “Max and I, as well as Beauty, back in Lula, are uniquely equipped to connect with them. We intend to make every effort to do so before they make their next move.”

  Koko turned. “You believe they’re … making moves? Strategizing somehow? Not just mindlessly killing?”

  “That’s right, you weren’t with us. How much do you know about the Mothers and the Hungerers?”

  “Hunger what?”

  “It’s what the Mothers call them.”

  “The Mothers?”

  “The ones with the red eyes. They were pregnant when they turned. The increased estrogen levels in their bodies changed them differently, making them far more powerful. Telepathic, even. They can communicate with one another from afar, and with the hordes of Hungerers.”

  “Shoot me now,” he said. “I must’ve been in my own world. I was in remote areas where there were few people and fewer of the zombies. I did not learn what you did.”

  Isis smiled. “We were forced to learn. I was created when my mother was pregnant with me and was exposed to the eye vapor of one of the Mothers. Max is the same.”

  “Hey!”, came the call from the street. The entire room jumped up and grabbed their weapons, hurrying to the door. Flex and Gem burst out first, barrels in the business position, finding a woman standing in the middle of the street. She called, “Who the fuck are you?”

  “I’m fucking Gemina Cardoza Sheridan, little lady. Who the fuck are you?”

  “Not so little’s who I am. Lower your weapon.”

  “After you,” said Gem.

  Flex just stood beside her, a smirk on his face. He’d already lowered his Daewoo. “You tell her, babe.”

  “That’s a smart man you’ve got there,” the woman said, her barrel still pointed in their general direction.

  “That’s why he married me,” said Gem. “Now stop fucking around and come inside. We have more pressing shit to deal with than your ass.”

  Flex nodded and smiled as he followed Gem back inside Sarah’s Sandwich Shop.

  *****

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Nelson had approached the shaded buses carrying the meager supply of kerosene he had found – one pint can – several times, only to have one of the Mothers or another move toward him
, fast.

  He’d scramble backward into the sun and wait for them to retreat again. He wasn’t willing to die to kill them, but if night fell, they would have free reign – and they were too close to Lula for comfort.

  He’d called out on the radio for Jax, and while he had heard some brief clicks, Jax never responded. He was renowned for letting his battery drain, so Nelson wasn’t surprised.

  He wondered how long the creatures had been hiding there. No more people had disappeared from Lula that he was aware of, but he didn’t know everyone and as far as he knew, nobody had done a thorough census lately.

  He heard the sound of one of the other forklifts and turned to see Jax riding toward him. When he got there, he looked down at the outline of ash.

  “You call, man?”

  Nelson pointed at the buses. “All six of those buses are loaded with Mothers and Hungerers. Why didn’t you answer?”

  “Battery’s on its last legs,” said Jax. “Sorry. So, what’s the strategy?”

  Nelson stared at the buses. The red eyes of the Mothers were visible, tucked deep in the shadows within each dilapidated vehicle. They were watching, waiting.

  Perhaps they knew they were trapped, or maybe they never felt impending doom or defeat. Nelson didn’t know or care. They just had to die.

  “Take this can,” said Nelson, holding it out.

  Jax got off the forklift and approached him, reaching out to take the kerosene. Nelson pulled it back. “Hold on. I have an idea. You got that crossbow with you?”

  “Yeah, but I’m not very good at it.”

  “Think you can hit the side of a bus from thirty yards?”

  “I’m at least that good.”

  “Okay. Get on your lift and follow me.”

  Nelson got back on the Hyster and drove toward the gate to the yard. He passed the main office building and turned right onto the access road that led to the bus graveyard. Beside it was a wholesale hardware store with a good-sized garden section.

  He pulled up to the front of the badly faded, hunter green building and stopped. Jax pulled up beside him.