JT sat behind what once was the front counter of the store. He kept watch out the front windows. Aside from the occasional zombie strolling around, it had been all clear.
Lindsay and Hannah stirred when the sun filled the room. JT stewed over what Lindsay had told them about Dodge, whose real name was Emilio. How he was part of the crew who had taken them all, ransacked the town. The story she told about being held against their will, imprisoned nearby in dog pens. The story about how she had gotten away when the zombie horde had attacked the pens, how she moved between the buildings, avoiding being seen by snipers while following them as they transferred the people left to an area not far away that resembled an overgrown airfield.
Hannah startled him when she came up from behind and placed her hands on his shoulders. She couldn't help but let out a little laugh when JT jumped.
"Christ, babe! I almost shit my pants!" JT bellowed. He relented his bellyaching to pull Hannah down onto his lap and give her a kiss. Hannah recoiled a little and clutched her hand up in a fist by her mouth.
"You okay? Is my morning breath that bad?" JT asked.
"Yeah, just ready for this bug to pass. Where is the Pepto when you need it right? Another taken for granted luxury." Hannah smiled.
Lindsay let out a grunt, and she raised up off of the floor clutching her wounded leg. They had stopped the bleeding, but the pain was still immense with every step. She limped over to the counter and joined Hannah and JT. The three of them made idle morning greetings until Hannah cut right to the chase.
"So, that place you mentioned, where you think Gus and the others may be, how far away would say we are from it right now?"
"Well I am no geographer but I would say it's only a couple of miles from here. We could easily make the trek on foot if we all weren't so banged up," Lindsay answered.
"I'm feeling pretty good, after the night's rest," JT said. "I think I may have just tweaked my knee some, it's nothing I can't live with. I can head out, maybe find us a working vehicle, some weapons. I can scout it out while you two rest. I can handle myself." JT's offer brought a frown upon Hannah's face.
"I don't think that's a good idea at all JT," Lindsay rebutted before Hannah said anything, "the people from this group are strewn all over, they have people watching all the time and from what I have been able to tell they're not hurting in the ammo department."
"She's absolutely right JT, you don't even know who or what we're looking for. Besides, we stick together remember?" Hannah chimed in.
"Look, you two are hurt. They have shot Lindsay, your ankle is still too tender to do much, you admitted that yourself. Plus, you haven't been feeling the best. I can do this, if there is one damn thing I learned from Dusty, it's stay alert, stay alive. Trust me." JT sounded unwavering.
After a lengthy debate Hannah finally relented and agreed to let JT head out on his own under his word that if he ran into trouble or things got to be the most remote bit questionable, he would high tail it back to them.
As the morning turned to afternoon, JT emptied the backpack, slid it on, grabbed his pipe and headed out, kissing Hannah as he left out the back door, ignoring her final plea to take her gun even if it did only have a couple of rounds left in the clip.
ATTENTION
Linda and Gus were doing their best smoke and mirrors routine for Killian as he pried them about Hannah and JT. They told him they had met them back in the mountain resort, that they had stayed there awhile and then up and left them on the lurch. That they took off in the middle of the night like thieves from a heist, they just vanished.
Killian questioned that story over and over until Gus told him that if JT and Hannah were in the area searching for them, then they were safer in a cell than out on the street because they had stole from Hannah and JT. Everyone in town had given a stern warning weeks before they pulled their Houdini trick that if they ever found out Gus had screwed them over that they would come looking for him and that they would see to it he would never screw over anyone else.
Killian had milled around the room after their conversation, taking it all in. At one point he even started dancing around with himself while singing that old Creedence song "Have You Ever Seen The Rain"
Gus had encountered some peculiar people in all his years, but this guy was on a whole new level. Harold was a crazy conspiracy theorist. Albright was the exact definition of a con man. This guy, this Killian seemed like maybe he started out a normal guy like him trying to survive this mess. Or maybe he was always a stark raving lunatic aroused by the thought of an impending battle.
"Now Gus, let me get this straight one last time. This Hannah and JT, you say if they're here it's to kill you? I want to believe you, Gus, I truly do, but you're lying to me. You see, in your attempt to deflect you forgot to mention why they would be with a woman who escaped my people. Why she would've threatened my guy, why he had to shoot her in self defense. Dammit Gus! I was really starting to like you too! Emilio! Won't you please come join our little tea party?" Killian shouted the last part.
The door Killian had entered through opened and Emilio walked through. Gus recognized him as the slick looking leader at the pens with the fancy watch, but right now he looked disheveled. He was dirty and adorned in ragged clothes. Killian could tell by the looks Emilio got that Gus recognized him.
"So you clearly know my guy Emilio! He is my own personal pit bull! He looks a little worse for wear right now, but he hatched a plan and nearly executed it to pristine perfection until your friends screwed the pooch and the whole thing got botched."
Gus shuffled around in his seat, doing his best to not be too noticeable.
"Gus. Linda. You two could've made this whole encounter a much more beneficial one for me and for yourselves. But here we are. You just had to go and lie to me and now I have to make myself crystal fucking clear. So what will it be Gus? Man to man, I will let you decide. Am I going to be making an example out of you, the lovely Linda, or will it be option C, your little cheesepuff over there. That's what you like to call her isn't it Gus? Do I have your undivided attention now? Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing!! Gets said or done around here without Killian Cash knowing about it."
"Now look here mister, this woman and that child over there have nothing to do with this, they're only doing as I've told them to do. You take me or give me your best shot, but you leave them out of this." Gus struggled to get the words out.
"Hot damn!" Killian exclaimed as he slapped the table, "A man with some hair on his balls! Emilio, get some men in here to escort some of our friends here to one of the solitary rooms. We want to keep this between us for now."
Emilio exited the room and returned with four men. Killian ordered them to release Gus and Linda as Emilio lifted Madison to her feet.
"Okay, follow me gentleman, bring the old man with us." Killian commanded. A guard pried Linda away as she refused to let go of Gus's hand. Madison wept in big whoops.
They headed for the door Killian and Emilio had entered through when Killian stopped as he reached for the handle.
"You know what? I believe I have changed my mind." Killian spun around to face Gus. "Take Gus and his bitch to solitary, give them some alone time. Bring the little cheesepuff instead."
Gus thrashed around trying to break the grip of the two men who now restrained him. Linda did the same. One man with Linda delivered a shot to her gut with the butt of his rifle, bringing her to her knees.
They cuffed her hands behind her back. Gus put up even more of a fight now as Madison screamed and kicked Emilio in his shins. Gus caught one of the men with a sharp elbow to his face, sending the man staggering. He turned now, wrestling for the rifle the other guard was carrying. Gus was so caught up with him he never saw the other guy extend out a metal baton and swing it into his ribs. Gus came close to collapsing to the floor, gasping for air as they cuffed him. They forced him to watch, helpless, as Emilio drug Madison out the door behind Killian before it slammed close behind them.
HELLS BELLS
JT stood at the precipice of a cliff, thinking about how Hannah would kick his ass when she found out he had ventured this far alone. He would need to make up a good excuse for why he found another ride, this one a Kia, and why he had been gone so long.
He looked down at the metal and concrete buildings that resembled a collection of warehouses. One had a rounded dome, the largest of the buildings, that made JT think of an aircraft hangar.
Around the entire place, making a circle like barrier, sat rusted out buses, broken down tractor trailers, and beat-up cars of all kinds. The trailers and buses extended out around the main building for about half a football field.
He couldn't make out much more detail than that without binoculars from this distance. A haze rose from the ground making everything fuzzy, ill defined. It looked like something was attached to some of the big vehicles, but he wasn't sure.
Based on the description Lindsay had given them, this had to be the place. It was much closer than she had thought to the city. The lack of movement surprised JT in such a large setting. The best he could tell it was all clear except for two guard towers. Again, the haze made everything below indistinct.
He knew he couldn't go storm the gates in the light of day, being only armed with his metal pipe, but he wanted to try to get a closer look. Stupid as that was.
JT followed the gentle slope of the bluff down and to the right. He ducked as low as possible, his knee letting him know it wasn't happy with him. It was the best he could do. There wasn't much in the way of cover between him and the makeshift edge of the compound. Some ankle high bushes and grey rocks breaking up the short brown grass. He made his way over and took cover beside a beat up white cargo van. JT tried to make himself as small as possible as he surveyed the area. He was about to make a move in closer when worried voices that sounded hurried drifted to him.
"You sure you saw someone, and it's not just another stray animal?" It was a man's voice.
"Even if it was only an animal, we have to be sure Will. I'm not taking any chances with Killian being on the warpath again." Another man with a deeper voice answered back.
"Well, I don't see jack shit." The first man spoke again.
JT opened the back door of the van and crawled inside silent, careful not to let the door make any noise as he shut it. He got into the best crouching position he could and got his pipe at the ready. It sounded as if they walked by right next to the van. His heart rate equaled a fast jazz rhythm as it pounded in his chest. His grip on the pipe tightened as he stole a peek out one of the two heavily tinted rear windows. He saw the two men, both armed, standing not even fifteen feet from his hiding spot. They both had sidearms and carried assault rifles. JT knew he would be no match for them being out-numbered and outgunned.
He stared out the window with heavy anticipation as the two men walked away. They made their way around the outer limits of the perimeter, which consisted of smaller cars. Alert as fuck, he watched them, looking for any signs of trip wires, traps or alarms of any kind. It surprised him that there didn't seem to be any.
JT's muscles tensed as he monitored the two men who were now at least a few hundred feet away. They looked up and were talking with someone. That's when JT noticed the man on the roof of a four story brick building. From his position in the van, the roof man did indeed have some type of higher caliber rifle in his hands. JT didn't want to waste any time while the others distracted the man and slid out of the van.
He zig-zagged around some cars and back up the incline low and fast until he reached what once was a service station.
JT made himself slow to a crawl. He needed to be careful, for Hannah's sake as much as his own. Even his heightened state didn't prepare him for what he came face to face with after he crawled under the cracked open service bay door of the building.
A zombie pinned onto the side of a silver truck with a spike through its shoulder blade. It looked like it used to be some average guy. The group had hung it up, suspended a good foot off the ground. It was a lot like how he found the townspeople back in the cave. The zombie dangled from the spike, hanging from the vehicle that still sat raised by the lift.
The zombie jerked to life when it spotted him. That's when JT noticed the cowbells tied around its neck with a rope. As it writhed and reached in his direction, the bells rang, the sound peeled away off the concrete walls of the building. Somewhere nearby another sound of bells clanging erupted, out of sight, the sound of another bell, this one more high pitched and tinkling.
JT made a mad dash into the waiting area of the station. Getting out of sight of the zombie, he ducked down behind a counter and listened hard. The bells continued to make their racket and JT assumed they were all tied to zombies, which he realized was a crafty way to make an alarm system.
The sound of footsteps approached his position. Panic crept into his thoughts as he looked for a place to hide. His only choices were staying where he was or going into one of the restrooms. He decided and jumped into the men's room. He stood there with his back pressed to the wall, pipe in hand.
JT's heart thumped in his chest. It kept time for him as he waited it out. Every muscle in his body were as tense as wires. The zombie got riled up again and it thrashed around once more. He picked up the same deep voice from before.
"Clear this building, let's find out what has the guard dogs all whirled into a frenzy."
JT made his breaths small, inhaling and exhaling through his nose. He expected at any moment for someone to walk through the bathroom door.
The noise stopped in an abrupt manner. A distinct groan and then nothing. He felt like he had been in the bathroom for an hour as he listened to the clang of the cowbell cease as well.
The door crept open. As he saw movement through the crack of the door he whirled around it, pipe at the ready, and almost swung until he froze in place. There staring back at him were Hannah and Lindsay. The two ladies looked at each other and shrugged at the same time.
"You were totally right Hannah, he just couldn't resist the urge to get himself in trouble," Lindsay smirked as she spoke.
Hannah stumbled forward, face drawn, and looked JT in the eye. She shook her head in a disapproving manner, but said nothing.
JT didn't have a clue what to say in return. He was all turned around now. He felt the words fumbling around in his brain. His cheeks warmed like he was a kid caught with one hand in the cookie jar. The one thing he could tell for sure is that he had done as he feared and royally pissed her off.
"Okay, well, this is incredibly awkward so I'm going to go make sure no one else is around while you two sort shit out." Lindsay made her way out.
"Hannah, look I know I shouldn't have come here alone, but I wanted to scout it out, to find Gus, to have a plan of attack, to..." Hannah cut him off.
"To what JT? To nearly get yourself killed? To be the big hero again? I thought you grew passed all the machismo shit. What if Lindsay and I hadn't decided to come looking for you, if I hadn't followed my gut and we stayed there waiting on you?" Hannah fumed.
She dropped her head down. It rose back up with a stern smile.
"I love you JT, but you can't do things like this to us, we can't make selfish choices in the world now. What if you had been caught too? What if while we were looking for you we were captured or killed?" With that, she relented as her eyes welled up a bit and she stepped into JT for a hug.
He grumbled in his head as he wrestled with the issue. He knew she was right. The thought of losing her though, with her maybe- no, he couldn't go down that road. Now he felt like an idiot for ever going on this crusade alone.
JT pulled her in tight as he embraced her. That's when he noticed the assault rifle slung over her back. He gave her a little spin to check it out, then spun her again with a sly and curious smile.
"It's called survival instincts, babe. A skill you lack and you need to work on. Just ignore the two dead guys when we walk out of here. On our way out, should we also
grab one of those cowbells for you?" Hannah gave a devilish grin as she led them back out towards the front counter where Lindsay sat waiting.
OLD TIMES
The three of them gathered together and headed back into the garage area. That was Lindsay's idea after JT had told them about the man on the roof. Lindsay reminded them of the snipers placed around town and advised them that given the circumstances they should steer clear of any windows.
They stood in the service bay discussing a plan. With the two men Lindsay and Hannah had taken out with their blades and the now dead again zombie hanging there, they decided staying here long wasn't a safe option in the event anyone came looking for the two missing men.
As the afternoon grew older, the three of them began making their preparations to move out. Hannah gave JT the assault rifle, and she took the holsters off the two dead guards and criss-crossed them on her hips. Lindsay grabbed up the other rifle as they looked around, trying to decide where to go.
"There." Hannah offered, pointing down the road at what seemed to be a mostly intact store. The small billboard sign above the door read "Prime Time Video"
"Good call." JT replied, "Solid door, two fairly small windows. If we can get in, it'll be a good place to rest up a bit and devise our plan to find Gus."
As a group they voted to try the back of the store first, that way they would be a little less visible on the street. After a bit of reassuring, they hobbled their way out of the station and made their way towards the video store, using anything they could along the way as cover.
JT had a flashback to sitting on the living room floor of his grandparents house when he was young watching American Gladiators with his grandpa. They both loved it when they played the game Assault and that's kind of how he felt now. Like he was moving from cover to cover. Except this time it wouldn't be getting hit with a tennis ball from an air cannon, it would be getting shot with a bullet from a real gun.
The Outbreak Series (Book 4): Deadlocked Page 15
