The Outbreak Series (Book 4): Deadlocked

by Baker, Thomas

  "Dodge, we'll get this sorted out." JT stepped in front of Dodge, to let the man know things would be okay. He winced when he let go of the cart. "Lindsay, who do you think this guy is?"

  Lindsay's lips pulled back into a sneer. "I think this is the son of a bitch who was in charge of attacking our town, killing most of my friends and neighbors, and kidnapping the rest. Now push the bastard out here. When you do, pull that hat off his head."

  Dodge still refused to raise his head. He swayed back and forth from one foot to another. "You're loco, lady. The zombies got you going insane. I...I never should have helped any of you. I knew it. You don't believe any of this, do you Hannah?"

  Hannah, who hadn't taken her attention away from Lindsay, turned to consider Dodge. She leaned a bit to peer around JT, who wondered if she was thinking the same thing he was. Something about him gave warning bells from the start. Lindsay wasn't one to act like she was now either.

  "It's possible you haven't told us everything, Dodge." Hannah beckoned him. "Come on up here. We'll introduce you to our friend, Lindsay. Get this all sorted out."

  JT sidestepped out of Dodge's way. He crossed his arms over his shoulders. Dodge stood still except for his right arm, which shook with what JT took as fear. "It's okay. We didn't just save you to let her kill you. Lindsay isn't some unhinged, violent person. She's a friend."

  Dodge took one step forward and stood straight and erect. He held out his right arm, which was steady now. In the hand at the end of that arm was a small pistol, pointed right at Lindsay.

  "Tu perra." Dodge sounded different. His voice was deeper and more confident. "My luck, shitty as always. The odds always seem stacked against me."

  It took JT several blinks to even comprehend the change in what was going on. "Dodge, what in the fuck are you doing?"

  "It's him, JT. It's fucking him," Lindsay shrieked. JT had never seen her so enraged. "Him and his squad destroyed my life, all of our lives. Almost killed me."

  "Whoa, wait. Dodge, have you been lying to us?" JT was sure he saw regret flitter across Dodge's face now. If that was even his real name. It disappointed him. He didn't want to think he was right all along.

  "I was about to help you too. I wasn't going to join you, but I wanted to figure out some way to get your friends out of Cash's place and still keep on his good side."

  Hannah moved towards Dodge. She stopped when he swung the gun to her. She put both of her hands up. "Okay. So let's all calm down and see if we can still work something out."

  "Work something out? Work something out!" The club trembled in Lindsay's hands. JT wanted to tackle Dodge, get the gun off Hannah. That was out of the question. He couldn't walk, let alone jump and dive.

  He didn't have to worry about getting the gun away. Lindsay charged with a yell. Hannah screamed at her to stop. The sound of a gunshot peeled through the parking lot. A red spot blossomed on Lindsay's left leg, below her knee. She screamed in pain, fury, and frustration as she tumbled to the hard asphalt. Her weapon clattered next to her.

  "Damn it." Hannah dropped to all fours and crawled over to Lindsay.

  JT got what he wanted. The gun swung around to him. He looked down the barrel of it and met Dodge's hard eyes.

  "I didn't want to do it, man. She charged me. Take my advice, at this point write your friends off as gone. Mourn them and move on."

  "Dodge, please," Hannah sobbed from her spot next to Lindsay. "Why are you doing this? You said you could help us."

  Dodge looked rooted to the ground by Hannah's plea. JT kept his hands up so Dodge could see he wouldn't make any sudden moves. He dropped his voice, so Dodge would know he wasn't making an idle threat. "I don't stop when it comes to my friends. You've got a choice and the right one would be to help us. Otherwise, that gun means nothing to me."

  Dodge's face went from confident, if confused, to annoyed, then settled on scared. JT had to think the man knew he meant it.

  Without another word, Dodge bolted to the truck. JT tried to push the pain aside and hobbled after him as best he could. There was no way JT would catch him. He watched helpless, leaning up against a car, as Dodge peeled off. The car squealed around a corner, and left the parking lot in seconds.

  STAND

  After having a few hours of rest, in which he watched Madison sleep in fits next to Linda while he sat against a cold, hard concrete wall, Gus decided it was time to come up with a plan. His old bones popped and cracked as he rose to his feet. Gus paced around the people scattered on the floor or slumped against the walls.

  Almost everyone who would be in a council meeting, except Lindsay, was there. She was a smart girl, and from what JT had told Gus, didn't like to make deep attachments to anyone or any place. He wondered if she had bugged out, taken off. He couldn't blame her, it wasn't a bad move. Even if somehow she had made it back to town and against all odds crossed paths with Hannah and JT, which was a hope slimmer than his IQ, what could the three of them do against these people? Worse, what if she hadn't made it anywhere and was lying dead somewhere or even walking amongst the dead now?

  Henry wasn't there either. Henry was now a red stain on his jacket. If they all didn't want to join Henry, someone needed to try to do something. He didn't think anyone was coming for them. Not when they were stuck outside in a fence, and certainly not after being moved to wherever they were. In this building, with all these thugs running around? It would be an outright suicide mission barging in this place.

  With a wave over, Linda, Josh, and Dr. Childs gathered around him. Madison remained on the mattress, knees drawn up to her chest. Gus couldn't believe they were all staring at him. He motioned them to get closer to each other, in case any of the surrounding strangers turned out to be not so friendly or were plants, waiting to report what they overhear.

  "After thinking on it, seems to me that if we want to get out of here, we need to help ourselves do it," Gus said, talking right above a whisper.

  "When you say we, just who are you talking about?" Childs asked. "The five of us?"

  Gus gave Childs a scorn filled look. "All of us that remain. There's gotta be about a couple hundred people here, many armed to the teeth. We're going to need everyone working together to even have the slightest chance against them."

  "I don't know about that," Childs argued. "It would be easier to sneak myself out of here, then plan some big jail break. Even a small group. If we try something large scale, they're just going to kill us all."

  "Childs, if there is one thing that JT and I always saw eye to eye on, it was you protect those in your group and you leave no one behind."

  Josh jumped in. "How would we get away? You saw back in the town, they have at least one sniper. I'm not-"

  A sudden wail from below cut Josh off. Gus looked down to see Madison's face now buried in her knees. Her body rocked back and forth. Gus looked back up to Josh.

  "Way to go, numb nuts. You were there-" Gus stopped his rant. "Aw hell."

  He returned Madison to the mattress with deliberate care and put one arm around her shaking shoulders. "Sorry about that, cheesepuff. I know there's nothing I can do to make things better." He went silent, letting her get it all out. "Would you like Linda to stay here with you and we can talk somewhere else?"

  He heard sniffles and after a few moments she looked up at him with red and puffy eyes. "No, I just miss my mommy. I'm sorry."

  "You don't have a thing to be sorry about, Madison. These assholes do. I can't bring back your mom. I will do what I can to get you out of here. You sure you want to listen to our boring adult talk?"

  Madison's face changed from a look of sorrow to one of determined anger. "Yes. I want to help. I don't want to die in here Mr. Gus."

  That was grim. It was also the facts. Gus clapped her on the back. "You made your decision, my sweet, and don't call me mister, I'm just good old Gus." He looked up at Josh and stuck out both arms. "Give me a hand up now, numbskull?"

  Josh obliged, and Gus rose to come face to face with h
im. He dropped his voice so only Josh could pick it up. "Next time, think before you open your pie hole. Also, try to at least show as much courage as that little girl down there."

  The man took a step back. His cheeks flushed, and he didn't keep eye contact. Gus wasn't a fan of dressing people down. He cursed at Killian and his gang. Things were going so good for a change before these wastes of human garbage showed up.

  Gus sized up Childs. The man stood there with a pout. Josh kept his eyes down as if he had lost something on the floor he was desperate to find. Only Linda stood at attention, serious but calm. He could count on her being a rock.

  "Damn it all. I will make this clear. We need to escape, every single person from town. If we can do it stealth like, that would be the best. Who here has got some ideas on how to do that?"

  THE BIRD

  Later on, after their impromptu meeting Linda stirred, woken by the whispered murmurs around her. She unwrapped her body from Madison's, who laid beside her on the filthy mattress still napping, and sat up. Most people were backing away from the cage door. Some shrank against the concrete walls like cornered, abused animals.

  Linda turned from the people to the entrance. There stood Killian, sledgehammer in hand. It rested on the ground next to him. He clutched the handle while he scanned the people on the other side of the chain link. He wore a dark scowl as he methodically honed in on the people from her town one by one.

  A burning roused in her stomach. She stood, never taking her eyes off the man. Here was the one responsible for so much death. Here was a bully and a coward who pretended to be strong. Here was a man who didn't resort to tricks and sly talk like Albright. She didn't know which was worse.

  The burning reached her cheeks as she flashed back to how she had cowered from Albright, after figuring out what he was. He seemed harmless enough, and she had found a safe place. That hadn't been the truth though. Not only was Albright lying to her, she had lied to herself. Killian had made his point with blunt action when he killed Henry.

  A moment later, with no thought behind her action, Linda found herself at the door, fingers gripping the links. Her eyes bore into Killian.

  "What do you want?" she snarled.

  His scowl changed to surprise and then admiration. "Are you one of the new ones?" he rumbled.

  "Yes. Now answer my question."

  "They told me most of you were sheep. You, at least, have defiance in you. Defiance isn't a strength. I do sense a hint of steel hidden behind it."

  "I don't care what you sense. Answer my question." Her teeth clenched together, her last words were spit out in a growing fury.

  Killian stood there for a moment, eyeing her, looking himself like a man carved out of stone. "Very well. I had come to put the sheep down. If you or your people are too weak to even scavenge for me, I have no use for you. Could Emilio have been wrong about some of you?" One eyebrow lifted in question, a surprisingly white smile upon his face.

  "Hey, you all jawin' over here and didn't invite me." Linda's focus was so bent on Killian, she hadn't noticed Gus had joined her until he spoke. She also realized he had his hand on the small of her back. It was reflexive, but she thought that was a bad move by Gus.

  Linda studied Killian. His expression remained unchanged. She didn't know if he had observed Gus' gesture or not. With the tiniest turn of his head, Killian talked to Gus.

  "You are the only other one I considered sparing. From the report Emilio gave me, you were the only one to bring me back some useful supplies."

  "Sparing from what? Having to be around you and your weird obsession with the eighties post apocalyptic fashion trend?" Linda had never heard Gus be so direct and condescending before. "I'd happily leave, slick. Is that what you two were talking about? Heck, you can let us all go. We'd merrily scamper away. You and your people can then go about the dirty business of survival on your own. Makes you feel like a man, doing your own work. Put hair on your chest, my mama would say."

  Killian's smile turned a scathing smirk, one Linda didn't like in the slightest. It seemed to say she'd wake up one morning to find Gus murdered. They were letting their boilers run to hot. She scrambled to come up with something to say, to bring the tension down a bit, when Dr. Childs joined them and chimed in.

  "There is no need for any more violence, Mr. Cash," he said. "It would be of use to you to have us work together. We are valuable people. You saw we had a thriving community. You're a smart man, use our skills. I mean, I'm a doctor." He thumbed sideways to Linda. "She's a nurse. We can do much more than scavenge for you. Or die senselessly."

  Killian, who up to that point didn't even glance in Childs' direction, regarded the man for the first time. "A doctor, you say." He seemed more calm when he turned back to Linda. "And a nurse. Then what are you, funny man? An engineer? A scientist? Do you carry the cure for the Outbreak virus?"

  "No," Gus said, "but I carry both of these wherever I go." He raised up two middle fingers in front of him.

  The laughter that poured out of Killian wasn't a pleasant thing to listen to. When he finished, he snapped a finger at a guard and pointed to the lock on the door.

  "Funny guy, maybe I should make you one of those jesters or whatever they called them back in the middle ages."

  Linda backed up, afraid that letting her frustration off the hook might have damned them all. Not caring at this point, she took Gus' hand. This might be the last time to touch him.

  "Let's you and I talk, doc," Killian said in a more positive tone than any he had used so far.

  The guard opened the door. Another trained an assault rifle at the opening. Linda could see the sweat pop on Childs' forehead. His smile of triumph fell to a frown of uncertainty. "Sure, Mr. Cash. We can act civilized and come to some type of arrangement."

  Childs stepped through the cage's doorway. Killian took a step back. The two guards remained where they were. Childs took another step forward.

  Without warning Killian raised the sledgehammer up and jabbed it straight into Childs stomach. Childs went down in a heap. Not a sound came out of him as he fell. Killian stood over him, disgust twisting his features.

  "You sound like all those other civilians I gave my life to protect, who turn around and act as if they are better than us. When really they're all weak cowards, hiding behind laws that put us down," Killian shouted down at Childs, spittle flying.

  He raised his sledgehammer up high and held it like he was performing a pose. Linda wanted to turn away. There was no reason to see this again. She remained frozen, watching Killian's arms trembling.

  The hammer fell. A dull thud echoed off the walls as concrete chips flew into the air. The breath whooshed out that Linda held without knowing. Killian had spared Childs. Beside his head was now a crack in the concrete floor.

  With one hand Killian pointed at the guard holding the door and down to Childs. The guard came over, rolled Childs to his back, and grabbed his ankles. He dragged Childs into the cell and dropped his legs, which bounced hard off the floor.

  The chain link door slammed shut with a rattle. Once closed, Killian stepped up to it.

  "Now, Doctor, heal thyself." Killian laughed at his words as he turned and walked off, hoisting his sledge up and laying it across both shoulders.

  STORE MANAGER

  JT was doing his best to control his boiling anger. He wanted to lash out at Hannah for even picking Dodge up. Already he lashed out at himself for not trusting his instincts when he thought Dodge was acting funny.

  He thought back to the few hours earlier when they entered the store and how nervous Dodge seemed, placed in the middle of him and Hannah as they walked in. To take his frustration out on Hannah wouldn't be the right thing to do. Besides, he wouldn't want to hurt her in that way.

  Hannah knelt down next to Lindsay. She was doing her best to assess the wound. Lindsay squealed as Hannah looked it over, rolling her to her side.

  "It looks like there's an exit wound. We need to stop this bleeding." Hannah stat
ed. "JT one of us needs to go back in, see if we can find anything to wrap her leg with." Hannah gingerly stood back up as she headed back towards the store when JT stopped her.

  "There's no way in hell I am letting you go back in there alone. I'm going." JT grabbed his metal pipe out of the lower portion of the basket and put it up in the child's seat area and turned around to go. Hannah's face fell into a miserable pout, like she was putting the responsible for getting them into yet another fiasco on her. JT jerked his head away, his guilty thoughts melted away. He limped along as he pushed the shopping cart in front of him.

  When JT walked back inside the store, the smell seemed even more rancid than it had. He pulled his headlamp back on and clicked the switch to help him see. Even though the sun was rising, it was still too dim to see much of anything in clarity. He looked up and scanned the aisle markers, noting the pharmacy section. JT took deliberate steps as he made his way that direction.

  JT perused the ransacked shelves as he passed them. Prior visitors picked most clean. He didn't see as much as a bag of cough drops, yet alone anything like gauze or medical tape. From there he checked the rest of the store, determined not to give up until he found something they could use to help Lindsay at the least.

  JT wove up and down the aisles of the store, not finding much more than a few cans of beans and some hopefully not too stale boxes of cereal. After he made his way out of the cereal aisle, he found himself up front by the registers again, so he opted to check them for anything they might use. He scoured all around the checkout lanes and found some half used rolls of paper towels and two unopened bottles of water.

  Finding the water made him think what it must have been like if this place were open when it all went down, or how long this place survived once the desperation and looting set in. One thing he thought for sure was whoever had pillaged this store must not have thought The Outbreak would last long because all the cash register drawers were wide open and not a penny sat in any of them.