Gus steeled himself from some kind of violent response. Instead, Emilio laughed. Gus felt his spittle land on his cheeks. He put one arm around Gus and guided him back to the pen. One guard stepped forward to open the chain link door.
"You're starting to grow on me, viejo." Emilio ripped the backpack off Gus and clapped him on the back so hard, he stumbled into the cage. With waves of his hand, Emilio ushered Madison and Josh in. They both handed over their packs and went in with heads hung low. He slammed the door, and one of his lackeys replaced the padlock. "There you go. Welcome to the Hotel California."
Gus rubbed his back as he watched Emilio make a grand show of looking over at the setting sun and that big, gold watch on his wrist. "Tsk, Tsk. You're sightseeing has cost the rest of your group, friend Gus. You must all stay here tonight. We will come back and start over in the morning." Emilio dropped his voice. "With those who remain."
Some man screamed out from a cage to Gus' left. "You can't do this to us! You're leaving us out here to die!" Another person chimed in "If Hannah were here you'd be the one in these fucking cages!"
"Or dead!" someone else screamed.
Emilio clambered back up on his box. He put his hands on his hips. "You think someone is coming for you? Look around you. All that you see are all who are left from your little town. In the morning, your numbers might be even smaller. We left no one behind. We left no trace. And if someone, like this Hannah, came here, we outnumber her by a tiny bit."
All the people with Emilio laughed. Gus wished everyone would just shut up. At that moment, he was glad Hannah and JT weren't here. Ol' Emilio here had a good point, as much as he hated to admit it. If the two of them were to show up, they'd be very outnumbered. One of the fucks my even get a lucky shot and blow JT or Hannah away.
If he could keep them alive long enough though, would JT and Hannah find them?
Gus, don't kid yourself. Those two are miles and miles away. If they do ever come back to Colorado, they ain't goin' know what happened to us.
Gus didn't want to speak up, but he felt he had no choice. "Calm down, the lot of ya. You're goin' delusional and experiencing mass hysteria. Like the man said, they took care of everything. We're on our own."
Rumbles and boos whipped through the crowd. He heard a few "Gus, how can you say that." and also some "Why don't you help, Gus?" He ignored them all. He crossed his arms, a grumpy frown on his face.
Emilio let everyone carry on for a few more minutes before he cut them all off with a yell. "Enough. We'll take this pitiful amount you pissants collected back with us. We'll see if Cash even wants me to return tomorrow."
Emilio turned his back to the pens, stepped off the box, and marched away, his goons around him. One pushed a wheelbarrow of packs in front of him. Gus guessed they were serious about leaving them here. Fuck, it's goin' be a long night.
PIT STOP
JT and Hannah spent longer than they had intended gathering up anything useful they could find before heading out. It was hard to tell the time with the cloudy sky, but JT felt the day rush away. The anxious look on Hannah's face in the passenger seat when they did roll outmatched his own.
Their decision to drive directly north towards Laramie proved to be a disastrous one. There were heaps upon heaps of debris and crashed vehicles. If someone had traveled back and forth from the mountains, he assumed it was not on this path. JT could barely accelerate at all while navigating the giant mess. They'd already been on the road for a few hours and covered a hundred or so miles.
"This isn't going to work. I don't like the idea of being in uncharted territory if there are people out here who might've attacked the town. All this debris could back us into a corner or lead us straight to an ambush." Hannah huffed out the words, agitated.
JT took his right hand and rubbed it on her left thigh. "You're the map master babe, you tell me where to go and I'll follow you down just like the Gin Blossoms."
Hannah delivered JT a half cocked grimace for his random alt rock reference.
"Pull off the next chance you get, give me a moment to get my bearings, and hopefully I'll figure out where we're at and another route to take." Hannah sighed.
A few miles later JT took an exit for some podunk town in the middle of nowhere. There was a little strip mall type setup a couple miles off the road that didn't look to have any movement so he steered in that direction.
JT combat parked the truck in front of the line of stores. As Hannah shifted around with the map, he surveyed their surroundings. The store at the end of the strip had a billboard that read PePaw's Pit Stop. JT found himself drawn to neon yellow poster board hand printed with 'Apple Pie Moonshine $15.99 While Supplies Last' Maybe it was the sign, or maybe the fact the store from where they sat looked untouched. Maybe it still had a serviceable amount of supplies inside, maybe it had gotten looked over being next to an insurance agent, payday loan place and a vacant spot in between the two. So many possibilities, only some positive.
JT inadvertently belted out to Hannah his thoughts and that they should check it out. Hannah nearly leapt out of her seat from his sudden thunderous voice. She told him to go for it while she finished figuring out a route on the map, then she would join him.
JT hopped out of the truck and made his way down the sidewalk to the shop. The front doors were locked, upon peering through the windows nothing looked rummaged through either. He motioned to Hannah, who was keeping an eye on him for a moment that he was going around back. She nodded in response and then returned to the map.
The back door was also secure. This whole area seemed untouched except for a few bodies out in the field behind it that laid lifeless. He returned to the store front and let Hannah know of his plan to break out a window to gain entry.
He walked around until he found a decent size hunk of cinder and threw it through one of the glass doors. As the pieces of glass scuttled along the floor he reached in, unlocked the double doors, and entered. JT unzipped the duffle bag he brought along from the truck and loaded it up with snacks and water before coming around the corner to the display of Moonshine and assorted fifths of whiskey, vodka, and rum.
In that moment he felt himself frozen in time, it was almost like now that it was staring him in the face, he could taste it again. He thought of how it had almost cost him everything that the apocalypse hadn't and how he knew it was an easy ladder to fall back down as he picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels and stared at it blankly.
He found himself longfully swirling a jar of the Moonshine when a sudden scream from Hannah broke his gaze.
He dropped the jar and ran outside. The passenger side door of the truck stood open, Hannah was gone. He ran to the truck and started frantically looking around for movement, for a sound, anything!
"Help!" Came another cry from Hannah. She sounded close, but muffled. JT ran down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the shop, glancing sideways into the windows. He passed the loan shop, nothing. Passed the vacant building, nothing. Another scream came, and he realized it was from the last suite of the strip, the insurance place.
The doors were locked, but he saw someone had their stuff in there. Another plea from Hannah rang out but was cut short. JT, full of fear and anger, pulled his sidearm out and fired three times, obliterating the glass door.
He rushed in. A commotion came from the rear office area. He sprinted towards the sound and found a burly looking middle aged man on top of Hannah, holding her down, trying to cover her mouth with his hand.
JT didn't hesitate.
He grabbed the man and threw him back against the wall, used his left hand to pin the man, and whipped him with the butt of his pistol across his face and head. Soon as the man's face busted open, and he grew motionless, JT let go.
Hannah ran into JT's arms as the man slumped to the floor. Hannah squeezed tight. JT, still shaking with anger, gave the man a death stare. Blood from the mans face trickled down and he didn't move to wipe it. JT figured he killed the man.
; His eyes drifted down the man's shirt until he noticed the sewn on name to his button-up shirt, "PePaw"
LIMP
Long shadows covered the pen before complete darkness fell. Mist covered him in dampness like the clouds covered any moon or starlight. He had spent most of his time outside of cities since The Outbreak started. Still, it was strange to Gus, not seeing any electric lights glowing everywhere. Around them lay the darkness of the country, the back roads, places he liked to camp.
People around him chattered and grumbled about the cold. The temperature, which wasn't warm to begin with, dropped fast with the setting of the sun. Most people still had their coats or jackets at least. His didn't keep him warm enough to stop his teeth from chattering. Sitting on the damp ground didn't help either.
Pressure appeared on his left side. He turned to see Madison. She pressed up against him, her body shivered. She only had on a thin-looking pink jacket, not much more than a hoodie.
He put an arm around her shoulders. "Too bad they didn't drag us to the beach, huh, kid?"
She glanced up to him, eyes moist, not from the almost rain. She struggled not to fall apart, that much he could tell. After seeing her mother murdered so casual like in front of her, Gus didn't know how she functioned at all.
Gus pulled his gloves out of his pocket and handed them to her. "Not the best, I know, but these will help, darlin'"
She took them, then froze, her body stiff against his. "Did you hear that?" she whispered.
Gus strained his ears. At first he only picked up the sounds of other people around him. They whispered, cried, shuffled, moaned. The girl sat as rigid as a wood plank next to him. He decided to humor her and kept listening. He was about to tell her it was nothing, maybe the wind, when a scraping sound caught his attention through the din.
Gus got up on one knee. His joints made a noise like a pop gun. He took Madison by the shoulder and looked her right in the eyes. "You stay right here, surrounded by the adults. I'm going to step closer to the fence. It's probably just a wild animal, or the-" he caught himself before he said dickheads, "jerks have come back to mock us a little more."
Her eyes pleaded with him not to leave her, even though she didn't say a word. With another snap from his knee, Gus stood and pushed his way outside the circle of people.
He took three steps and stopped, an arms length away from the door. He hadn't gotten his night eyes yet, so there wasn't much for him to see beyond the fence. He cupped his ear as he scanned the area back and forth.
Again, at first, he only heard the chatter behind him and the faint whistle of the wind. Next came the scraping sound. Far off, but unless his ears were tricking him, closer than before. He didn't know for sure what it was. He had a bad feeling though.
Gus didn't know if he should tell everyone to hush or if that might cause a panic, which would be worse. They all had been through a rough day and were already on edge. Could be a feral dog or something, no reason to get everyone all riled up just yet.
He was just about to turn and go back to Madison when movement caught his eye. He squinted at the corner of the building across the way. Some plastic bags, tangled up like tumbleweeds, crossed his field of view. He about swore. The scrape came again, this time accompanied by a thud. Then the sound of glass breaking.
Gus stood, wondering what the hell that was. The wind slapping some sign around? Scrape, thud. Scrape, thud. The sound crept closer, he felt sure, right around where Emilio and his thugs had left the three U-Haul trucks parked. That ruled out a sign.
A new sound joined the mix. A subdued clang, like something soft hitting thin metal. Scrape, thud, clang. Scrape, thud, clang.
The source of the sound came into view. It was hard for Gus to make out more than an indistinct shape at first. Another scrape, thud, clang and the shape started to become more clear. One foot clad in a heavy boot. The other foot was missing about half of its bones. What remained slid across the ground, which made the zombie look as if it was walking on a ship that listed to one side. With each step its head and shoulders smacked against the truck.
Why couldn't it have been just a damn feral dog?
Ol' limpy cleared the trucks. It seemed certain to Gus it would make a beeline straight to them. The zombies face was so banged up, Gus wasn't sure if it used to be a man or a woman. It wore the filthy remains of what looked like a track uniform, complete with an open jacket.
He backed up while he kept his eyes on the zombie until he hit a person. Gus cut the person off before they complained with a whisper. "Listen to me, good and clear. There is a zombie out there, approaching us. Pass around that everyone needs to hush it. Now."
To the person's credit, they didn't panic or talk back. Gus had to strain to catch them whispering to the person next to them. In a handful of minutes the entire group had gone silent. The only sound now was his friend limpy going thud, scrape.
It came a few steps closer to the cages, then stopped. It tilted its head and Gus thought it almost looked comical, the way it seemed to be lost. A cough tore through the silence, and with another thud and scrape limpy was right back on track.
Someone grabbed his hand, and an instinct told him it was Madison. He gave her hand a squeeze. His attention remained zeroed in on the zombie.
It crashed against the fence to the left of Gus. The rattle its body made seemed to attract it back to that location. As soon as it righted itself, it stepped forward running into it again. It looked like a malfunctioning robot, stuck in a loop. After a few more tries, it moved on. It scrape thudded its way around the fences. It did several listing laps.
It was on its third lap when Gus realized that he hadn't seen too many lone zombies. Usually they came in big groups. Here in this city though, they seemed spread out, not as organized. He hoped limpy here didn't have any friends that would show up late for the party.
The crowd remained quiet and calm, as if in anticipation for some big show to start. If they didn't remain that way, Gus was afraid they'd become the dinner buffet. He had no idea how strong or well put together their beautiful accommodations were.
After one more lap, the zombie either got bored, if that was possible, or some other unknown reason caused it to move along. Gus watched limpy go, thankful he didn't have to listen to that damn scraping noise anymore. Worse than nails on a chalkboard.
Now that the zombie left, Gus turned his attention to Madison. She watched the zombies back list away, wide eyed. Her lower lip trembled. With an easy tug, he shifted her away.
DASHBOARD LIGHTS
Silence was their companion for the next few miles since their last stop. JT had lifted back the center console and urged Hannah to slide into the middle next to him while he drove, one arm around her, one hand on the wheel. They had spoken little, other than Hannah stating Cheyenne should be where they head next before stopping again if they needed to.
Hannah hated the vulnerability they had shown at the last stop. It was stupid on both of their parts to split up, even more stupid of her to sit there alone with the truck door unlocked. She didn't even have a weapon at the ready.
She kept beating herself up over it; she kept telling herself she should've been paying more attention, that the man should've never even gotten close to her. She replayed it in her mind. She recalled JT going into the building; she had waited a few brief moments listening and making sure he was okay before returning to the map.
Next thing she knew while skimming over the lay of the land the door swung open and before she could say or do anything, the man clamped his hand down over mouth and drug her out of the truck while she fought to get away. He pulled her along inside the insurance office, locking the door behind him, forcing her into the back office where she squirmed away and called out to JT. The man kept urging her he wouldn't hurt her if she was nice to him and how he wouldn't hurt her friend if she stayed quiet enough for him to not come looking for her...
"Hannah? Are you sure you're okay?" JT's question shook her out of her head
space.
"Yes, just mad at myself thinking about it is all," Hannah huffed.
JT pulled over onto the next county road they came across. It was getting dark, so he decided they needed a place to lie low for the night given how their day had gone, even though their goal was Cheyenne.
Hannah didn't argue as JT pulled the truck up alongside an abandoned combine that sat idly on the side of the road like a monument of easier times. They both got out and took in some still crisp, cool night air.
JT put down the tailgate, and they both took a seat upon it. They talked for a while before deciding to crawl into the cab of the truck for some rest. JT moved everything from the back seat either to the floorboards or to the truck bed so Hannah could lie down. After getting her situated, JT climbed back into the front seat and looked back to her. Hannah didn't know what was washing over her, but something about JT rushing to her rescue and how handsome he looked in the pale moonlight made her tingle all over. It was almost as if JT read her mind as he stared at her and then speaking, "You know I will never let anything happen to you right? I love you Hannah, nothing will ever change that."
Hannah's cheeks flushed. Her only response to him was a come here motion with her index finger and a huge smile. JT rushed into the backseat with her. Kissing her electrified his body every time, even more so on tonight after the attack. It didn't take long for them both to fulfill their desires. JT couldn't help but feel like two high school kids who had snuck out as they tried to find the right position to make love.
The cool air coming through the cracked windows mixed with their body heat quickly fogged up the windows as Hannah gripped the door handle while they both climaxed together.
Afterwords Hannah laid in JT's embrace as he sat with his back against the door, both of them eventually drifting off, in this moment from bliss filled exhaustion.
The Outbreak Series (Book 4): Deadlocked Page 7
