Dead Hunger | Book 10 | The Remnants

by Shelman, Eric A.

  “Okay, twenty-four of our numbers will be out of commission until I light the fuses,” said Punch. “Once they get the signal, they’ll duck into the tunnel and emerge with their weapons, which will be in the chute waiting for them.”

  “What’s the signal?” asked Flex.

  “There’s a line in the song we’re playing,” said Charlie. “Mama I’m Coming Home by Ozzy Osbourne. When they hear ‘the ride before the fall’ that’s when they disconnect their pseudo-restraints and drop into the tunnel.”

  “And I light the fuse at ‘by the fire in your eyes’,” said Punch.

  “Exactly,” said Hemp. “That is a few verses in advance of the second trigger line.”

  “The Red-Eyes should be a bit distracted by that time if all goes well.”

  Hemp reached down to the floor and lifted up a jar that had to be a full gallon. It was filled with round, flat, brown wafers. “WAT-5,” he said. “I want everybody to take it one hour before sunset. We know the Mothers will arrive after dark, and I do not believe they will delay long after dusk, as the more darkness ahead of them, the more time they will have to defeat us if that is their goal.

  “For the initial dose, because of the knockout properties of it, we utilize a buddy system. Nobody must fall asleep, as we will need everyone for this mission. Once taken, everyone must monitor for activity, and take another one upon the arrival of the Red Eyes. That way they will not be susceptible to falling asleep again.”

  The rule of WAT-5 was that everybody – including the Hybrids – lost consciousness upon taking it when none was in their systems. If they were already on it and took a refresher dose before the last one expired, they would not fall unconscious.

  “Everybody understand that? We must tell everybody involved, which means the entire town.”

  “I’ll broadcast it on the radio,” said Punch. “People have started tuning in again since this crap started up.”

  “I’ll be back with my starter, ready to initiate the celebratory distraction. That’s when the fun really begins.”

  “True,” said Hemp. “So, speech by Gem. At the conclusion, it’s music time. Once the music starts, it’s Nelson’s go. Nel, can you keep it up for a minimum of five minutes?”

  “With all I have, I can go twenty-five minutes, bro!”

  “We will not need that much, but if you can set it up in advance, do so. It may distract any Hungerers that accompany them.”

  Charlie slapped the table. “You know they’re bringing the dumbasses with them. That would be like Sonny coming without Cher, or the Captain without Tennille.”

  “Exactly,” said Dave. “Who cares about Sonny or the Captain? Nobody.”

  “Look,” said Flex. “It’s a pretty simple plan. It has huge implications if it falls apart, but we’ve made big stands before. Let’s not overthink it now. Everyone has their part, so we just fuckin’ do it. Execute.”

  “And that’s why you’re the Mayor of Lula,” said Gem.

  “I’m not the damned mayor.”

  “If we had an election, everyone would write you in and you know it.”

  “It’s name recognition, nothin’ else,” said Flex. “I ain’t that important. I’d say right now our Hybrids are everything.”

  Everyone agreed with that. The meeting broke up, and Travis, Colton and Beauty stayed to clean up the mess left behind by the patrons.

  It was time to get some rest. They could all be up all night.

  Gem prayed they were alive tomorrow morning.

  *****

  It would be a late night. The sun didn’t set in mid-July in Georgia until almost 8:45 PM. That meant Lilith – all of them – would not be there until 9:15 at the earliest.

  Flex, Gem, Hemp and Charlie had decided to bed down at Flex and Gem’s place, taking in a five-hour recharge. The lab being just outside of Flex’s place didn’t help Hemp in this regard. Before bedding down with Charlie, he checked on his urushiol, ensuring it was ready.

  And so he wouldn’t forget it, he put two 5-gallon containers of it on the front porch so they would practically trip over it on their way out.

  They had some tricks up their sleeves and would need every offensive arrow in their quivers. The urushiol may not be as effective on the Mothers – at least it wasn’t with the first incarnation of them – but if Hungerers joined them, they would not be caught with their proverbial pants down.

  Lying in bed, unable to sleep, Gem whispered, “Babe, you awake?”

  His long, slow breaths told her Flex was out. He had been working his ass off the last few days, and quite often, just from his vitality, Gem forgot he was pushing 60 years old.

  She was almost 48, and it was easy to forget that she could no longer do the things she once had; the apocalypse had kept survivors in extraordinary physical condition, what with all the running, carrying and fighting.

  He did not awaken. She stiffened her fingers and poked him in the ribs.

  “Ouch,” he mumbled. “Did I fart?”

  “No.”

  “You can’t sleep, can you?”

  “Nope. Mind’s going a thousand miles an hour.”

  “You worried?”

  He felt her shrug. “Yes and no. I think our plan’s solid, but things go wrong. We’ve never invited these bitches before. I have no idea if we’re being fools or not.”

  “I’m relyin’ on Max and Isis primarily,” said Flex. “The females are diminished. We know that. Even Nelson said when they attacked him at the buses that they didn’t jump like the old days. Plus, worst-case scenario, we just have to hold the line until around 6:30 in the morning for the sun to come up and finish them off.”

  “We spray the inside of the buses with oil, too?”

  “Yep,” said Flex. “They’ll have to leap to the top to get over ‘em.”

  “So, we’re as prepared as we’re going to be.” She snuggled in next to Flex, who rolled onto his back and put his arm around her.

  A moment later, her soft snores told Flex all she had needed was to talk.

  He lay there, unable to sleep.

  Gem had pulled the old switch-a-roo.

  He smiled. It was just like her.

  *****

  CHAPTER FORTY -FIVE

  Lilith moved aside the brush and debris covering her cocoon, sliding out. With this motion came a hissing sound across the forest floor like a straw broom sweeping over a marble floor, as a multitude of Mothers duplicated the action all at once.

  At the rising of Lilith, the Hungerers all shifted on their feet, their idle brains reengaged like a transmission being shifted from neutral into drive. They were receptive to commands now, awaiting their orders.

  They had not eaten much, but their bodies were as emaciated as they would become. Their muscles were more atrophied than when they were alive – and indeed, than when they had first died – but they, too, would not deteriorate more.

  Each cell within their bodies craved meat. The brain was a rotted lump of condensed gray matter, teeming with the tiny, carnivorous molecules that comprised the earth gas.

  The hungry cells circulated throughout, the stronger ones injecting that portion of the body with a momentary charge of energy as they passed through. And this allowed them to move. Toward food. Meat.

  And when none was near, the Mothers brought the Hungerers to where they needed to be – their estrogen-driven signals could either calm the horde or send them into a frenzy; incite their hunger until they were almost mad, or cause them to walk in near silence, only feet from what they craved.

  But these dead-eyed minions did not know for what they waited; it was just a master-slave relationship. Signals sent; action taken. The Hungerers had only one true action that would be undertaken without the Mothers – feed.

  Once, they had been more easily directed, but none of the Liliths had memories of that time. The less food they consumed, the less control the Mothers had. They could no longer split their horde and move them in different directions as they had b
een able to do only weeks past. They were now limited to moving their army forward or retreating. The latter order was rarely given, for they moved in darkness and in massive numbers.

  They were largely invincible to the unsuspecting humans. Or they had been. This small group of the living had threatened their survival by discovering them.

  The ability of speech was only just now returning to them; this had allowed them to gain sympathy from their intended victims in the place called Lula.

  There was a small grain of memory regarding human compassion and the weakness associated with it. While the Mothers never considered themselves victims, they understood the weak minds of the living.

  Instinct and recent experience informed the Mothers that humans would act with less aggression when they did not hate their adversaries.

  Let’s be friends, they had offered to the breathing ones. Oh, how eager they were to accept such an offer, but they did not understand there could be no coexistence between them.

  They were the Liliths’ food, and always would be. The living human tissue provided regeneration and repair of their hungry cells, and while the science behind this process was not known to either the living or the dead, the Liliths followed their natural – or unnatural – instincts.

  The Liliths rose and walked southwest, interspersing within the thousand-strong group of Hungerers. When they approached the gathering place in Lula, Georgia, the Hungerers would stay just out of view, in the tree line.

  They would be ready to move in when summoned.

  *****

  Colton was freaked out as he walked through the bus on the southwest corner of the fortified zone. He was heading to the rear window on the right side of the dilapidated vehicle that once carried children to learn how to get through the world.

  Today’s lessons were far different from those days.

  Colton remembered what Nelson had said about his near-death encounter with the Mothers and Hungerers in the buses at the school bus graveyard, and as he moved toward the rear, he bent down and looked beneath the seats, seeing clear floor all the way back. There was no stench of the dead and no indication they had ever been inside this bus.

  He let out his breath, clinging to his Henry Golden Boy. Reaching the rear seat, he slid in, rested his rifle against the side, and lowered the window. It took a couple of good, hard jerks downward, but it was just dirt in the tracks binding it momentarily.

  Realizing he would not be able to shoot from a sitting position, he resigned himself to standing when the time came. He had wanted to be atop the bus, but the Mothers might spot him there. It was warm – 85 degrees still – so his black tee-shirt was soaked with sweat and he couldn’t help thinking that he stank.

  He and all the others had taken their first doses of WAT-5, and he carried another with him in his pocket. He wore a cool Mickey Mouse watch on his wrist, and Flex had set an alarm that would go off an hour before he needed his next dose.

  He hoped it wouldn’t last that long. Colton didn’t know whether he would be able to keep his head about him if zombies made it into his bus.

  He stared forward, seeing he had left the door open. The crank handle may or may not work, but the yellow glow from the setting sun reflected off the handle, so he put his Henry on the seat and got up, running back to the front.

  With a quick glance out the door, he gripped the handle with both hands and pulled, the bi-fold door spreading wide and closing the gap.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, Colton ran back to his shooting position and settled in, his Henry back in his sweat-coated hands.

  Now, to wait. And pray.

  Gem told him to pray, too.

  *****

  Nelson and Rachel dropped Lita off at Three Sister’s Bar, where Vikki Solms and her sister Victoria Hansen received and comforted her. Serena, feeling 100% better than she had in days, had decided to go there to be with the others, so she was there with her and Dave’s kids. At least the younger children all had one another’s company to help keep them distracted.

  Jim Cole was patrolling out front and his travel partner, Doc Scofield was inside the bar, his chair placed in front of an open window. He had brought his bag of medical supplies in case folks got injured in the battle.

  Leaning against the wall, his hand resting on it, was his .22 Henry lever-action rifle, almost like Colton’s, and he was prepared to take out any wayward rotters.

  Lita was especially clingy today, which was unusual, but perhaps she sensed the tension among her parents and their friend.

  “Come on, sweet girl,” said Vikki, hoisting the slight child in her arms. Lita looked at her with her brilliant blue eyes and said, “Miss Vikki!”

  “Yes, Miss Lita?”

  “Cookie!”

  “I think she’s gonna be cool,” said Nelson. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on Lita’s cheek, but Lita reached out, took a handful of his hair, and kissed her father on the mouth. “I love you daddy,” she said.

  Rachel leaned in and put her arms around her daughter, who kissed her with the same exuberance.

  “I think you’re more excited about the cookies,” said Rachel, stroking Lita’s cheek. “Thanks, you two. Good luck. Keep the door boarded once the sun sets, and have shooters at all the windows.”

  “Of course,” said Vikki. “We’ve got plenty of ammo and all our fortifications were inspected yesterday. We’re ready.”

  “Good,” said Nelson. “All the kids on WAT-5?”

  “Once we close the door, we’re giving them their first half-doses,” said Victoria. “We have extra, too. Hemp made sure.”

  “We’ll get through this,” said Rachel.

  “I know,” said Vikki and Victoria together. Just like the sisters they were.

  “Yeah, we will,” chimed in Scofield. “Come hell or high water. Too many good people here for us to lose.”

  Three Sisters Bar was where all the more vulnerable citizens of Lula and all the children too young to engage in battle would be cloistered during the encounter. It was outside the fortified zone, but in their discussions, they all agreed the bar’s structure was strong enough to defend from within should it become necessary.

  Having said their last goodbyes, Rachel and Nelson hopped back on Nelson’s scooter and he drove them to Flex’s place, where Hemp, Charlie, Flex, Gem and Punch Magee were putting the final pieces in place.

  “Got my pocket full of stars. The ones that throw nice and far and plant deep,” said Nelson, approaching the group alongside Rachel.

  “Excellent, Nel,” said Hemp. “I’ve got the last of the urushiol and the WAT-5 loaded already.”

  The radio on Gem’s hip squelched, and a voice said, “We’ve spotted the Mothers.”

  Gem unclipped the radio as everyone stared at it. She pressed the transmit button. “How far out?”

  “Fifteen minutes max. This is happening.” It was Mark Weir. “We ready to jam? I see the snipers are in the buses, all settled in.”

  “If you can call Colton a sniper,” said Flex, “I’ll be a proud papa.”

  “He’s pretty good,” said Charlie.

  “On our way. Out,” said Gem, re-clipping the radio on her waistband. “Let’s roll, people.”

  Punch hopped on his golf cart, Rachel and Nelson mounted the scooter, and Flex, Gem, Hemp and Charlie got in Gem’s Mercedes. They kicked up dust as they left the driveway.

  They all silently prayed it wasn’t for the last time.

  *****

  Wendy and Eileen had just arrived in the fortified zone. The sun was dropping fast, and word had just been received from Mark Weir that the Mothers were on the march. They would arrive shortly.

  “Okay, come on,” said Wendy, directing the bait onto the table. The volunteers were understandably nervous, but they complied with her orders as she placed them atop the makeshift serving table constructed from plywood and 2x4s. A series of tablecloths were draped over the wood, providing an area of concealment beneath the long table.

 
; In that area of concealment was the entry to the escape tunnel. In that tunnel were weapons for those lucky enough to make it underground before the Mothers tore open their bodies and consumed them.

  The risk was there; they all knew it, but it was not presented to them in such stark terms. They were to follow instructions, understand the importance of timing, and execute their parts in this life-and-death performance flawlessly.

  The thermite-filled pipes were positioned far enough away so as not to drip directly upon them, but anything could happen. It was important they do what they were supposed to do when they were supposed to do it.

  No sooner and definitely no later.

  The ropes draped around their wrists were placed only to make it appear they were restrained. In reality, they merely looped around, ran beneath their bodies, from one to the next, to the next, to the next.

  They all only wore bras and underwear, both of which would be covered by light strips of cloth to give the impression they were nude, ready for consumption by the Mothers.

  Their plan for all of them was to unloop, slide forward, duck beneath the tablecloth, duck walk to the tunnel, drop in, grab a weapon, and get to the outside perimeter to start killing any surviving dead.

  Cake and pie. Piece of. Easy as.

  They all hoped it would be so.

  “Keep calm,” said Eileen. “You know what to do, so just execute when the time comes. Wendy and I will be right underneath the table, so if things get dicey, just knock and we’ll have a look.”

  *****

  “Here they come,” said Hemp, standing atop the bus on the east side. “No guns in view. If you see anyone in view of the square with a weapon, get them out of there immediately. Everything ready?”

  “As ready as their going to be, hot stuff,” said Charlie.