Only a few little scratches on the door frame showed the passage of the bear. They had killed it on a rug, so while JT continued to drag the animal away from the house, Hannah rolled up the rug and threw it outside, between Gus' house and the neighbors.
Once they finished all the extra unasked for work, the two of them double checked all the locks in the house again before they cuddled up on the couch under a blanket. She couldn't get over how good it was to lie in his arms, the fire's warmth bathing their bodies. She needed his comfort tonight. Worry gnawed at her bones.
It was as if JT could read her mind. "I'm so tired. We really should try to get some sleep tonight. Then I'll have a clear head in the morning as we search the town. I'm not giving up on Gus until I find him, you know, one way or the other."
She thought she replied to JT. She couldn't be sure though, as she drifted off to sleep.
BODYGUARD
Some of that old boiling anger, an unwelcome burning in the pit of his stomach, came back to him. Before, at a different point in his life, he would have welcomed it like an old friend. Now he didn't want to. Not because it was hard, but because it would be too easy to slip back to that person. He wanted to change, that person almost got him killed.
Hannah held the light for him as he twisted out the spike with a crowbar. It made a disgusting squelch as he freed it from the shoulder of the dead body.
How come besides us, it seems like only psychos survived the zombies? If you're breaking in here to steal, why not just shoot these people?
The spike clattered to the ground. The echo of it faded away into the dark distance. Hannah stepped forward to say a prayer over the body before JT grabbed it under the armpits and pulled. She followed behind, the way her lips locked together on her pale face made plain her struggle to hold in her breakfast.
As he pulled out the last body, he tried to imagine he was taking some passed out drunk outside, to see if that helped take his mind off his rolling insides. Because, beside the rage, guilt stalked his heart. He didn't know these people, yet he second guessed leaving now. If he stayed, he could've protected them.
He rolled the body into the big hole he and Hannah dug close to the cave entrance early that morning. The ground was hard and stony. It would have been too much work and taken way too much time to dig each person their own. It wasn't as dignified, he knew, but it would have to do.
Once the body was in, Hannah came to the other side of the hole. JT bowed his head in a show of respect and let Hannah do her thing. Once finished, JT went to her and held her tight.
After a few minutes, he looked down at her frown. "Come on. Let's search inside one last time, gather up any food left that's good, and go back to the house. This wasn't a sight we were expecting to find, and I think we both need a little time to regroup."
"I don't think... I can't bear going into the darkness again. Can I wait for you here?"
"Sure." JT gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Holler if you need me."
Hannah gave him a delicate smile. "I will, my protector."
JT sang her a terrible, high pitched, screeching chorus of I Will Always Love You. Complete with exaggerated hand motions. That brought a chuckle out of her. Smiling himself now, he saluted and passed inside.
Back inside the cave, he switched on his light. He took ginger steps around the congealed blood as he moved from shelf to shelf. Near the last one, when he turned to look down, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Something he didn't see before. In the blood on the cave floor, from the angle he stood now, it looked as if the person tried to write in it.
He walked closer and squatted down. From a distance, it could have been a trick of the light. Now that he was closer, it sure seemed like writing. L...a...r..then another letter started, then trailed off. He couldn't make out what it was.
Lar something. What the hell does that mean? Is it a clue to whoever did this?
JT stormed out of the cave, scavenging forgotten, excited to share with Hannah what he had found.
PENNED
Gus woke to a stiff shoulder and neck muscles that didn't want to move. He didn't know how he dozed off. When his body moved with only a torturous amount of pain, he glanced around. It was the same shit show as before.
He struggled up to a standing position and immediately regretted it as a wave of dizziness washed over him. His instincts wanted him to put his hands out. He tried, forgetting the pricks bound them. Instead, he slumped against the wall of the box truck and waited for it to pass.
Now that he was more awake, he became worried about Linda again. Was she brought in another truck? Or did the unthinkable happen to her? What were these thugs planning for them?
He didn't know how long he stood there in the gloom, the smell of human suffering strong in the air, a rat of worry gnawing at his mind. A sudden jerk made him stumble forward. The people, most of who were deathly quiet a moment ago, stirred and murmured. The truck had stopped and now backed up. A beep rang a splinter into his brain.
Some people cried, others moaned. The two people in front of him clung to each other, while most covered their ears. Why did they not have their hands bound? They tie me up on account of my good looks?
The noise and the truck came to a stop again. Gus tensed a moment later when they threw the U-Haul door up. Light streamed in and he blinked as he tried to shield his eyes. The group moved as one away from the opening, pressing him against the back wall. Pinned, he hollered at the sons of bitches to get off of him. Now I know what a pig in a chute feels like. Are we headed for the slaughterhouse?
The same two men who had thrown Gus into the truck stepped up onto the bumper, guns up on one shoulder. "Everyone calm the fuck down." The one on the right, who Gus thought of now as Mr. Lumpy, boomed. "You will step forward and into the pens, or I will shoot you."
Pens? We really are like cattle. "Is there a third option, mister?" Gus hollered back. "I don't like either of those choices. Is there one where I can get you to fuck off and leave us alone?"
Mr. Lumpy dropped his gun from his shoulder to train it on the person in front of him. "How about you shut it, or I shoot each one of these people in the head until you do? How's that for a choice?"
The woman with the gun pointed at her sank to her knees. Her back trembled and Gus felt two inches tall. He glared at the two men, but said no more.
"Lady, get up and get going." The man waved her on with his gun. "You all follow behind her, like we're having a fire drill or something."
Gus went last. When it was his turn to step out of the truck, one of the men spun him around to cut the restraints. Without being asked, most of the people who walked in front of him did so with their hands up. Sorrow for them washed over Gus. He rubbed each of his sore wrists instead. He'd thought after what they'd been through, it would have toughened them up some.
Ahead of him he saw five sets of what looked like chain link dog pens, longer than they were wide. A man stood in front of the cages, up on a wooden box. He had dark hair, cut close to his scalp, which he wore slicked back. His beard matched the close crop, thin around his mouth and shaved complete off on his neck. He wore big, dark sunglasses that scanned the approaching crowd. What surprised Gus the most was that the man wore nice black slacks, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a black tie. On his wrist Gus saw what appeared to be a fancy watch.
When he was closer, Gus appraised the situation. The sharp dressed man had two guards to either side of him, all armed with rifles. Once he was within hearing range, he listened to the man give orders to his underlings in a gruff, throaty voice.
Behind the cages were buildings that sure seemed like warehouses. Rough looking ones at that. In one glace around the crowd, Gus' eyes landed on Linda. To his relief, she looked fine, anxious but intact. She locked onto him and looked as if she was about to say something. As nonchalant as possible, Gus put a finger up to his lips. The last thing he needed was for some of these thugs to know who he was connected with.
; Linda took the hint. She dipped her eyes down and away while keeping her face blank. She was one sharp cookie. Gus also saw Dr. Childs and Lindsay in the crowd of people that struggled out of the second U-Haul.
They directed each person from town into one of the five pens. Some who fought they dragged and threw in with no regards to injury. One such person Gus watched them handle roughshod was Henry. Good for him. At least someone is standing up to these assholes.
When Gus got up to the front, he pretended not to hear his directions. He scowled up at the sharp dressed man. The man didn't notice at first. Slow like a robot, he dropped his black gaze down.
"What you looking at, man?" he said to Gus, a hint of a Latino accent in his voice.
"What?" Gus said. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Nobody."
One guard smacked Gus in the stomach with the butt of his rifle before Gus even readied himself. Gus coughed, harsh like a bark. It had hit him right in his scarred area, which made it hurt double.
"Get in your cage, wise ass," sunglass man said, as if he was asking Gus how the weather was today. "I won't warn you again. You'll just get a bullet."
Josh came up behind him and grabbed his elbow. "Come on, Gus. I'm going the same way."
"Gus huh?" the man snarled. "I'll remember your name, if I need to make an example out of somebody."
Josh guided Gus into the packed cage. Gus straightened up, still rubbing his side. "Thanks for the help."
Josh gave him a helpless shrug. "Wish I could do more." Gus knew the feeling well.
With wobbling feet he made his way over to one side of the cage and did a head count of the people locked in with him. He got ten, including him. He made a quick inspection of the other pens to the best of his ability. Looked to him like they each held about the same amounts. So about fifty people had been brought from the town.
Had they killed the rest?
Once everyone was inside, the chain link doors were slammed shut and padlocked. Gus thought this sounded a lot like the situation Tyrone got stuck in. JT had told him Albright had stuck the kid in a cage and turned him into a zombie. Was that what would happen here? It didn't make much sense. No, these men didn't go through all that trouble for something pointless like that. They didn't seem at all like that nutball and his cult. They had other plans for them, Gus was sure.
Mr. Lumpy was the man who locked his cage. His eyes met Gus, and the man put two fingers up to his eyes then directed those fingers at Gus. Gus gave the man a dramatic shiver. What a dick.
The people around him cried soft tears or milled around, directionless. Gus watched and looked for any weak points, any chinks in the routine the men followed. Lumpy kicked hard at the gate three times. Everyone shrank back around Gus. Gus stood steady and glared at Sunglass Man.
He had turned around on his wood box. He motioned and one of the other men brought him a police megaphone, blue and white. With a smug smile, he brought it up to his mouth.
"Listen up," his amplified voice commanded. "Enough with the whining and whimpering. Listen to my instructions, or you'll find yourself dead. I will not wait for silence."
He didn't, good to his word. He continued right on talking, even though some around Gus were still not paying the man enough attention. Gus honed in on his every word.
"My name is Emilio. You are now all working for my boss. Congratulations, you now have a purpose for your existence. Here is what you will do for him. I will give each of you a backpack. I will release you, a couple at a time, to go out and scavenge in the city. Fill up your backpacks with food, medicine, anything of value you would take for yourself. Once you can't carry any more, you will come back here and turn your backpack in. In payment for your service, we will give you food and shelter."
Gus raised his voice as loud as possible, while he waved his hands over his head. Emilio dropped his megaphone, a grim frown on his face.
"Yeah, city slicker. I gotta question. Who the hell do you think you are and why the hell would we do anything for you? "
A few people around him cheered in quiet solitary. Emilio got off of his soapbox and came to the gate of the run they stuck Gus in. He gestured for Gus to come to him. The surrounding people parted and created a corridor for him. Me and my big mouth. Without much of a choice he walked forward.
"Let me tell you why." His voice dropped to an intimidating whisper.
Like a shot from a gun, Emilio's hand passed through the big gap between the fence and the door, grabbed Gus' shirt, and pulled hard. Before his reflexes saved him, Gus found his nose and lip bleeding as he fell hard to the ground.
"There's your answer." Emilio sneered down at him.
A few rushed forward to him as Emilio turned away. Gus felt himself pulled to his feet. Someone shoved a ripped off piece of shirt in his hand. Someone else gave him a gentle pat on his back. He held the cloth up to his nose and damned himself for a fool.
He dropped his head to stop the bleeding, rolling his eyes up to see what happened next. Emilio took his place back upon his box.
"If that's all the interruptions, I will tell you why you will work for my boss. We have snipers up in the tall buildings around here. You won't know how many and you won't know which ones. They will see you, you can bet on that. And if they see you trying to run." Emilio mimicked putting a gun to his head and blowing out his brains. "Well, there you go."
"We will also have some of my friends here tailing you. Maybe. I wouldn't press my luck if I were you. Clear? I want to see you all nod."
Everyone around Gus did what he asked of them. Gus moved his head a bit. Someone behind him muttered under his breath, "I wish Hannah never left town."
Gus wondered about Hannah and JT? Were they still okay in this world gone mad? Were they caught up in something like this along the way? He didn't count on anything much anymore. At this point the two of them were better for skedaddling off back when they had the chance to.
"You will work in shifts. When one group finishes, I will release the next. Anyone who doesn't have a bag full of supplies will find themselves left out overnight. Don't dawdle, unless you would like your fellow townsfolk to visit with the locals here, in the dark."
"If there are dead here, do we get any weapons?" someone behind Gus shouted.
Condescending laughter was the reply he got. "Don't get bit, that's my advice. Now since this pen seems to be the troublemakers of the group, they get to go first."
COLD FRONT
After sharing his find with Hannah, the two headed back to Gus' house. JT got the fire stoked and roaring again. With a sigh of ecstasy, he held what felt like stiff sausages in front of the heat. Hannah offered to make him something to eat.
While he waited for his hands and then the rest of his body to defrost, JT ran the letters over and over again in his head. Was it a clue, and if so, what the hell did it mean?
Minutes later Hannah brought over two paper plates, each with a bowl of tuna in the center surrounded by plain looking crackers. JT joined Hannah at the couch and took his. "Thanks, babe."
She put one leg under the other and sat beside him. JT thought she remained pale, and she shivered as she spooned the plain canned tuna.
"You all right there?" JT asked.
Hannah shivered again. "Yeah. As one can be given the situation. I just can't get use to the cold again, it seems."
JT took a bite and mulled over the letters as he chewed. He let Hannah eat up and warm up some before he brought them up to her again.
"I'm thinking it could be a name. Which isn't much help if they wanted someone to come along and find them." JT took another bite.
Hannah finished crunching up a cracker. "It could also be a place. To me, that makes more sense. Why waste what little energy you had left, while dying, to write a name? That's too broad. Too many possibilities. Not that places don't have loads of different names too."
"Good point. If it is a place instead of a name, it still isn't much to go on. Is it a town, a building or are we are both way
off?"
They were both silent for a while. Hannah finished, then rose to stand over by the fire. She rotated herself slow, like she was on a rotisserie.
"There is one big place we haven't searched, yet it may hold some answers."
JT swallowed the remains of his last bite. "Yeah, the casino."
"Dr. Childs might be an egotistical prick at times, but he is smart. If he got a chance, he would have left a clue easier to follow." Hannah joined him back at the couch. The color returned to her cheeks, and she looked better now.
"Whenever you're ready to go back into the cold, I'm game. I want to get it over with." JT sounded grim.
"I'll never be," Hannah chuckled. "It sounds like something more is bothering you, JT. We've found no signs of zombies yet. Aren't you afraid of stumbling around in the casino's dark rooms?"
JT shrugged his heavy coat back on and held his gloves as close to the fire as he dared. "I'm not going to like what we find in there. That's what my gut tells me. Maybe it's nothing. Then again, I didn't expect to find anything in the caves but..."
He shrugged and pulled on his gloves. Hannah opened the hall closet and got herself a new coat, hat, and gloves to put on. JT raised an eyebrow. "I know girls like to change clothes. I didn't know the same applied to their winter wear."
"Shut up, you. My other stuff is cold and stiff."
"That's what she said."
Hannah threw a black scarf at him. He threw it back. She wrapped it around her neck and mouth. He could only see her eyes now, which looked both hopeful and scared at the same time.
On the way to investigate the casino, JT shivered. He wasn't sure if it was from the crisp air or the ominous foreboding of what he might find.
SUGARPUFF
The Outbreak Series (Book 4): Deadlocked Page 5
