“Rigs,” he shook Fred’s hand. “This is Rachel, Barry and Sandy.” He introduced.
Fred shook hands with them all. “Do you guys mind if I just let them run through.” He pointed to the bodies. “This is the last of them.”
“No, please go ahead,” Rigs said. “Did you and your team clean up the town before the incident with your RV.”
“Incident?” Fred asked. “You mean when I lost my team. No, I cleaned up this town. I didn’t know if I was going to be stuck here or not. Plus, what was I gonna do? From my estimate and notes there were only about sixty remaining. Got ‘em all.”
“Good job,” Rigs said. “We can talk about what happened after … you … well, finish.
“Almost done,” Fred started the belt again. “Only take another seven minutes.” He nodded almost nervously. “If you listen, you can hear a slight squeal.”
“I’m sorry?” Rigs tilted his head. “They … squeal.”
“Like lobsters in a pot. I think it’s like the remaining air coming out whatever holes there are in their bodies. Wait …” Fred widened his eyes. “Hear it? Listen.”
“Oh my God,” Rachel exclaimed upon hearing the sound that reminded her of air slowly escaping a balloon. “That’s freaky.”
“Yeah, you should have seen me the first time I heard it,” Fred said. “I ran. I thought good lord, their souls are still trapped in there.”
“Maybe they are,” Barry said. “I mean you don’t know.”
Rigs shook his head with a ridiculing chuckle. “Please.”
Fred held up his hand. “Hold on there Shug. Big guy might have a point. Plus, respect for his opinion.”
“Shug?” Rigs asked. “Shug?”
“Yeah,” Fred answered.
“Rigs. It’s Rigs.”
“What?”
Rachel laughed. “I like this guy.”
“Thanks,” he said.
“It’ll be nice having you.” Rachel winced at another squeal. “Welcome to the Flaming Saffrons.”
“Yep. Chihuahua Love all the way.” Fred smiled then returned his attention to his body burning task.
FIFTEEN – BARRACUDA
Other than the weapons he was able to salvage from his team, Fred didn’t have much. A duffle bag, a canteen strapped over his shoulder and a guitar. They placed his bag in the undercarriage of the bus and he took his guitar inside.
“Well. Wow. It’s …” He looked around the interior. “Um … different than ours.”
“How so?” Rachel asked with folded arms.
“Rach,” Rigs said.
“No, I want to know. Is it … nicer?”
Fred only shifted his eyes.
“See. See.” Rachel pointed to Rigs. “We got the shaft on the Eliminator Vehicle.”
“I’ve seen worse,” Fred said. “… once.”
Barry walked through them on his way to the front. “We’re gonna get rolling. Fred, you play guitar?”
“No. No. It’s a Gibson Hummingbird, I found it two months ago. Now, don’t it just beat all you ever stepped in? Worth a fortune, well, was worth a fortune before the world went to pot. Just been hoping I would meet someone who could play.” He lifted his canteen, opened it and took a drink.
“We have water if you’d like a bottle,” said Sandy.
“Nah, this … this is rum.” Fred took a seat. “Thank you though.”
“Sure.” Sandy nodded. “So physically how are you? I’m a doctor.”
“Oh, I’m dandy, thanks.”
“Okay,” Rigs said brightly. “Let’s roll.”
<><><><>
Rachel was impatient. They had been on the road for hours and every time she opened her mouth to ask Fred about what happened, Rigs cut her off, telling her not to ask, let Fred tell in his own due course.
It could be traumatic.
Fred was an Eliminator, how traumatized could he be? She thought. Besides, she wanted to know what happened. Were they attacked by some sort of vicious gang of marauders like Rigs believed or some new breed of stiff, as Rachel leaned towards.
All it ended up taking was for Sandy to ask, “How long have you been listening to that American Pie song?”
And Fred began his story.
“It was on the CD they gave us when we first started,” Fred said. “Had a bunch of hits from last century on there. Someone made it. They said we should play it to draw them out.”
“We have a similar CD,” Sandy commented. “We do the same thing.”
“Funny how none of us ever learned the words to American Pie even though we played it like … a thousand times.”
“Us either,” Rachel said. “I memorized the first couple verses and that’s it. Oh! The chorus.”
“Of course,” Fred replied. “My big goal was to find someone to play it on that guitar I found.”
“How did you know it was an expensive guitar?” Rachel asked.
“My nephew played. It was a running joke. Every year I’d ask him what he wanted for his birthday and he said, ‘I’ll take me one of those limited edition, anniversary Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitars’. Heck, I looked up that guitar so many times, only fourteen of those limited editions bad boys in the world. I knew as soon as I spotted it, I found the jackpot. On the back it has a tiny gold plate with a nine on it. So it’s the nineth one. Thought of my nephew. Boy, he’d be thrilled. Funny story, we were in Cleveland back when they were still using Eliminators in bigger towns. Right outside this club, I saw this rock and roll Zombo, carrying it. And he was carrying it almost as if he knew it was special.”
“He probably did,” Rachel said. “One of our previous eliminators, Kasper he …”
“Rachel,” Rigs interrupted. “You don’t want to bog him down with Kasper tales right now, do you?”
“That was like rude,” Rachel said, shaking her head. “Of course, Rigs has this thing about women talking.”
“Stop. I do not.”
Fred chuckled. “We’d banter like this too. We had one woman with us for a while, started with us, she moved on, then Brad joined us. But our team, we were together pretty much the whole time. That’s why it sucks this happened.” He looked at them. “Command didn’t tell you?”
“Actually,” Rachel said. “Command didn’t know the details.”
“Yeah, they did, I told them when I finally found the radio in that one house. We were attacked,” Fred said. “Out of the blue, we pulled over so Brad could take a piss. He’d piss in the RV, but no one pissed in there because then you’d have to find a place to dump it. You know.”
Rachel nodded.
“Anyhow, we pulled over and they came out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere, the woods. Had to be fifty of them, they were on us before we could think.”
Rigs asked, “Marauders?”
“No, the dead. They moved fast, we couldn’t lower the gates in time. We fought, we fired, heck we set off grenades, but in the end, we had to retreat.”
“And Brad?” Rachel asked.
“He was bit pretty bad. In fact, I was the only one that didn’t get a bite or scratch,” Fred said. “They passed over the course of a couple days. I didn’t burn them, I couldn’t. I thought you saw my little graveyard for them.”
Rachel shook her head. “No, we didn’t. I’m sorry.”
“It’s been rough. Taking them out has helped keep me sane,” said Fred. “What about you guys? You’re down two members.”
“Well,” Rachel explained. “From the beginning there has been me, Rigs, Barry, Sandy and Kasper. The sixth spot always seemed open and to rotate.”
“Like the red shirt spot, always one in every story.”
“Yes, Fred, yes, you get that reference,” Rachel exclaimed.
“Of course I do, there’s an unspoken Apocalypse fiction table of contents. Big events, big missions, love stories. I mean, even every team has their point of reference to apocalypse movies. Military guy …” He pointed to Rigs. “Tough chick with sad story is you, sometimes she i
s also the quiet angry gal. Voice of reason … has to be your doc, and you don’t have to beat me over the head with a rubber doughnut to know Barry is the moral authority. Only took me to hear him correct Rigs once about language. That leaves the hot bad boy and the easy-going fun guy.”
“Which one are you, Fred?” Rachel asked.
“Well, stars and garters, that has to be the most complimentary thing someone asked of me. As much as I like to be the hot bad boy, even more so I am the fun guy.”
“That was Kasper.”
“So that means,” Fred said. “This other new guy has to be the hot bad boy.”
Rigs laughed.
“Is that funny?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah, Rach, his name is Aldrich Yates.”
“You mean like the Senator Yates?” asked Fred.
Rigs nodded. “That’s his dad.”
Fred winced. “If he looks like his dad he is not gonna be the hot bad boy. His dad is a little guy, bald, glasses, kinda scrawny.”
“Okay, he is their navigator,” Rachel said. “So that makes sense.”
“They have a navigator?”
“Thank you,” Rigs held out his hand. “I thought that was weird.”
“He’s a senator’s son,” Sandy spoke up. “He’s gonna have the cushy job. In my mind I kind of picture him preppy. Blonde hair, thin, studious.”
Rachel shrugged and shook her head. “The moment I heard the name I thought middle aged, gray, like … Oh, what was his name. Anderson Cooper. Yeah, that’s it.”
Sandy tightened her lips and nodded. “That actually makes sense.”
Barry announced from his driver’s seat. “We’re about to find out. I think that’s him up ahead.”
They all rushed up front as Barry slowed down.
He sat on the side of the road, staring down at something in his hands as if he were texting, but that wasn’t possible. Next to him was a red wagon, packed with black bags.
“His uniform is blue?” Rigs questioned.
“Royal blue,” said Rachel.
“What difference does it make?” Rigs asked.
“Just explaining it can’t be just blue. It’s Royal blue.”
When he saw them approach, Aldrich stood up. He looked slightly taller than average, with a strong build and broad chest. His dark hair looked perfectly men’s magazine styled as if he actually took time to do it. He tilted his head, looked at the RV and slightly cocked his right eyebrow. He lifted the handle to the wagon of supplies and started walking toward the RV.
“Oh my,” said Sandy.
“Oh my is right,” Rachel said.
“Oh my what?” Rigs asked.
“I think,” Fred said. “They’re saying he’s hot.”
“Thank you, Fred,” Rachel commented. “We are.”
“Whatever, Rach,” Rigs said. “You do this all the time. The last spot to fill is always the hot one.”
“I didn’t say that about Sandy,” Rachel defended.
“Kasper did,” said Barry.
“He did.” Rachel nodded. “Then Rigs sexually harassed her.”
“You sexually harassed a team member?” Fred asked.
“No!” Rigs blasted.
“He didn’t,” Rachel said. “Sandy claimed it but it’s not true, he was just honest about his post grief sexual nympho exploits.”
“Okay, enough,” Rigs opened the door. “Let’s go meet Aldrich.”
When they stepped outside, Aldrich already had the hatch open to the storage.
“Aldrich, I’m Rigs,” Rigs approached. “I see you found a place to put your stuff.”
“I’ll take what I need to have on the …” he lifted his eyes. “Whatever this is. The rest I’ll store here.”
“This is the team. Barry, Rachel, Doctor …”
“Yes.” He cut of Rigs and tossed in his belongings.
“That’s a lot of stuff,” Rigs said.
“It’s what I saved and collected. I need it all. I’ll be done in a second and we can go. Tell me you have outlets on your old vehicle,” he said.
“Told you,” Rachel said. “It’s old.”
“We have power.”
“Good.” Aldrich shut the hatch.
“So, Aldrich,” Fred stepped forward. “I know this is overwhelming. Being out here alone. Probably really overwhelming for you.”
“Not really.” he answered abruptly. “Annoying. Tedious. Not overwhelming.”
“Alright.” Fred clapped his hands together once. “I’m also the new guy here. Should we call you Al?”
“No you should not. Not Al. Not ever.” He walked to the side door.
Rigs exhaled, a sign of his frustration with the abrasiveness of the newcomer. “Look. You’re probably in a bad mood. It seems like it. The weather isn’t kind. Just know, we’re glad to have you on the team.”
Aldrich stopped mid step into the RV. “Oh I’m not here to be on your team. There is some sort of confusion. You are here to help me find the EPEV?”
“The … the what?” Rigs asked.
“The EPEV or Epev. Elite Prototype Eliminator Vehicle.”
“A Vehicle?” Barry asked. “For a second there I thought you were saying to help you find your team.”
“We find the vehicle, we find my team.” Aldrich said. “After that you can be on your merry way and be Eliminators in your own little … whatever this thing is.” He stepped inside.
Barry whistled. “This is gonna be interesting.”
Rigs faced Rachel. “Still think he’s hot?”
“Oh, yeah.” She walked to the RV. “But that’s not all I think he is.”
SIXTEEN – THE BLIP
Thirty Miles Northwest of Memphis
“Okay, okay, which direction do you want me to take?” Barry asked, calming his frustration.
“West,” Aldrich Yates answered. “Just west. That has to be the direction.”
From the moment he boarded, he sat at the little kitchenette table. He had what looked like a mini laptop, it was plugged in, connected to that was a device that looked like a phone. But the screens on both devices were black. He kept staring at them waiting for something to happen.
Rachel decided to try.
Tension was high in the RV. Obviously from the stranger who hadn’t said anything since setting up his dead electronics. He was pompous and snooty, he didn’t fit in at all, not even an inkling. In fact, Rachel had a hard time even imagining him getting dirty, let along taking out the dead.
Fifteen minutes into his arrival, everyone wrote him off as just a passenger that wouldn’t be around long.
Barry drove. Sandy went to her medical room. Rigs joined Barry after pretty much saying, ‘fuck it’ about the new guy, and Fred kind of sat nearby the stranger staring as if he knew that would unnerve him.
“So,” Rachel said, pulling up a chair and sitting by him … “Even though you won’t be with us long … what do we call you? Obviously not Al.”
“Obviously.”
“Will it be, Hey you or Rich, or Aldi?”
“Yates,” he replied. “Yates is fine.”
“Cool. What … what is all this?” she waved her hand around his electronics.
“This is my tracing system.” He touched the smaller device. “Portable.” Then pointed to the computer. “Main.”
“Tracer?” Rachel asked. “Tracing what?”
“The EPEV.”
“Really? There’s a tracking system on it?”
“It’s a bit more than that,” Yates answered. “The portable tracks it, the computer is higher level. That’s complicated.”
“I see. They’re both dead.”
“I know that,” Yates said. “They won’t be when they have enough power to power them up and run.”
“I see.” Rachel tapped her fingers together. “So you’re looking for the vehicle. See, I was under the impression that you were the sole survivor of your team because something happened. Maybe because you didn’t really communicate m
uch through Morse Code.”
“Can you understand Morse Code?” Yates asked.
“No.”
“Neither can most people. They get the basics, I gave the basics.”
“But you are the sole survivor?” Rachel asked.
“I hope not,” Yates replied. “That’s why I am waiting for these to power up. If I find the EPEV, I can find my team.”
“So your team is with the vehicle?”
“When they were taken, yes. We were ambushed.”
“Oh. Oh.” Rachel faced the front of the RV. “Rigs, we have a marauder story.”
“I don’t care!” Rigs replied.
Rachel shrugged. “What happened, Yates?”
“We were in Texas when we got word to head east. We stopped in this town in Arkansas. Sweep team had been there, Eliminators thought it was safe. Outskirts of the town and even inside, I saw movement. I knew it wasn’t the dead. They didn’t buy it. I pulled the short straw and had to unload the night’s supplies. I took the first load into the house when I head the EPEV leaving. It was gone. Ambushed. Dragged some of the stuff I had on the sidewalk a good half mile. That included the laptop.”
“What did you do?” Rachel asked.
“My portable tracker said they were headed east. I found a car at a sales lot, loaded up and headed after them. My tracker died outside of Memphis. I was close, I guess. The laptop with the system was crushed, I saved the hard drive and rebuilt the system from something I got from a Best Buy. However, it didn’t have much juice. By the time I got the hard drive on and the program up, I barely had time to do what I needed to do before it shut down.”
“I’m confused,” said Rachel. “You have Barry going west.”
Yates nodded. “I do. Because I saw they changed course and headed back west, I just couldn’t pinpoint where they were exactly before the system shut down.”
Fred raised his hand. “So they can be anywhere? Not just west.”
“Oh, they’re west. They’ll be easy to find,” Yates replied.
“Yeah, but,” Fred continued. “You power that up, they may be out of range.”
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