by Connor Mccoy
“A cyborg?” Domino asked with a wry smile.
“No.” Brandon dropped his voice into a whisper. “A zombie. He’s the undead. He’s got a hunger for something. I bet it’s our blood.”
Domino folded her arms. “I thought vampires were the ones who wanted blood. Anyway, he’s clearly been through a lot. Having somebody try to kill you would mess up anybody.”
“But his teeth! He’s missing a lot of them, don’t you think?”
Domino scratched her right arm. “That he is.”
“No kidding.” Jubilee lay back in her bed. “I saw them through the window. Are we going to stay here long?”
“Yeah, do you think we’re safe with those guys in here?” Brandon asked.
Domino looked at Jubilee. “I think we should be fine. But just in case…” Her eyes met Brandon’s. “Maybe we should think about setting up a tent outside and moving Jubilee there, just in case.”
Brandon smiled. “Zombie shield.”
“You mean those tarps from our get home bags?” Jubilee did not sound enthused.
“Doc Sam has some surplus tents, and I think his friend Moses has some too. I’m sure we can arrange something,” Domino said, “but it’ll be big enough for all of us. I think it’d be best if we all spent the night together.”
“Thanks.” Jubilee hugged herself. “I wish Dad were here.”
Domino knelt down next to her. “Me too, baby. I know he’s doing the best he can to get home as soon as possible. And then we all can go home.”
Chapter Six
Jacob quivered all over. He was so stunned that he couldn’t form words on his tongue. Pummel just had shot Goat!
The man had fired three shots, one striking the front wheel of Goat’s bicycle and the other two sheering through Goat’s torso. The man lurched backward, his body going slack, which alone would have sent the bike off the road without the control of its rider. But the bullet to the front tire was enough to send the bicycle lurching off to the left. The remaining momentum sent the bike smack into the side of a stalled car. Goat was thrown off and sent face first onto the road. Without hesitation, Pummel quickly dismounted his bike and retrieved the bag Goat was carrying. Then, he mounted his bike and pedaled hard catching up to Jacob.
Jacob’s speed already was taking him far from Goat, making it impossible to tell if he still was alive. Jacob even wanted to go back and look, even though Goat likely would have shot him if he had half a mind to do so. The sheer cruelty of the murder—and it was murder—was so shocking that he felt sorry for even Goat.
Jacob returned his full attention to Pummel, fearing he would be next on Pummel’s target list. But the brute had put his weapon back in his holster. Instead, Pummel said, “Put on the speed. We have to get back to the main highway, and quick.”
And why the hell should I follow you? Taking orders from this monster turned Jacob’s stomach. His hands itched to turn the handlebars of his bicycle and put as much distance between him and Pummel, even if Pummel turned and fired on him.
“Hurry!” Pummel barked. “Do you want to live? We need to go, now! We’ve done our job.”
Jacob still wanted answers. He did pour on the speed, but to catch up to Pummel and look the killer in the eye. “What was that back there? You shot Goat!”
“Yeah, I did. What of it?” Pummel replied.
“Why?” Jacob couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “After all of this? Did you have a beef with him or something?”
“It was something I had to do. Now shut it.”
Jacob wasn’t letting this go. “And how do I know I’m not next on the list? You better start telling me what’s really going on here!”
By now they had crossed onto the main highway that led into Pleasantville. Pummel looked ready to snap, but he quickly calmed down and explained himself. “Look. You want to know what I am? I’m the reaper of this group. The boss man assigned a reaper for the resource runners. Reapers cull one of the guys,, maybe two if we’re told.”
“Cull? You mean kill!”
“Yeah, that’s the deal, and if you’re not careful, you might be next.” Pummel looked around the highway.
“If I’m next, why would you tell me?”
“No, dumbass. I haven’t been ordered to kill you. You got some muscle. You’re useful. You’re supposed to make it back in one piece. I’m saying we may have another reaper on our tail.”
“Another reaper?” Jacob thought back to the journey to Pleasantville. He didn’t recall seeing anyone following them, although if a tailing party brought telescopes or binoculars, they could have been following from a safe distance.
“Yeah.” Pummel bit his lip. “I heard things, things I wasn’t supposed to hear. There’s another ring of reapers. First ring of reapers goes with the resource team and disposes of the weak when they’ve done their duty. But some reapers are going to get taken out by other reapers. Those reapers are going to take the goods back to Middleburg.”
Jacob couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But why in God’s name would you do all this?”
“Because we can’t feed everyone. Think about it. Every man that hangs around town is another mouth to feed. Cut the numbers down, and it’s more food for everyone.”
And did Doctor Nguyen know about this? Jacob may have been wrong about the doctor having a soul after all. “But if there’s another reaper after us…”
Jacob did not finish his sentence. The sign where he and Doctor Nguyen had parted company approached. He started to slow down.
“No, dumbass! Don’t slow down! Pedal faster!” Pummel shouted.
Pummel’s sudden panic induced Jacob to pour on the speed. He sped by the sign in seconds.
“Why?” Jacob looked around. He didn’t see Doctor Nguyen anywhere.
“He’s the one! He’s the second reaper!” Pummel replied.
“Shit!” Jacob fumed. So that was it. Doctor Nguyen came along to ensure that Pummel did not make it back either. But did that mean he was done for as well?
“Yeah, he’s got to be. He wouldn’t have come with us if he wasn’t!” Pummel added.
So, Pummel’s just guessing. But if he’s right about the second reapers, then it made total sense for Nguyen to come along. I wouldn’t have seen it coming.
The Pleasantville sign soon receded toward the horizon. But where is he? Shouldn’t Doctor Nguyen have shown himself by now? Or is he waiting farther up the road?
As the minutes passed, Jacob’s anxiety over a possible ambush continued to grow. They were passing up too many stalled cars. A sniper easily could be hiding behind one of them. “Pummel! Wait! We have to stop!” Jacob cried out.
“We can’t stop! We don’t know where the reaper will come from!”
“Listen! The EMP shut down just about every vehicle. It’s not like he just can drive up and shoot us.” Jacob pedaled side by side with Pummel. “We need to find a different way back to Middleburg. I still have my map. Let’s stop and plot another route. They’re expecting us down the highway, right? There are some smaller roads. It’ll take some doing, but I think we can plot a new way to Middleburg.”
Pummel frowned. “You’re not shitting me, are you?”
“Trust me. In fact, why even go back there at all? Come with me back to Trapp. Forget these guys. If they’re out to kill you too, then there’s nothing for you in Middleburg.”
Pummel panted. He had been pedaling so hard for so long that exhaustion was starting to overtake him. The man would have to rest soon.
“They have food, medicine. I can’t up and go,” Pummel said. He even sounded a little scared.
“Trapp may not be overflowing with stuff like in the town hall parking lot, but I tell you, we can provide for you, if you’re willing to work for the town. And I can guarantee you, there’s nobody in a black hood ruling the town like you saw in Middleburg. There are better people there.”
Pummel started to slow down significantly. Jacob readjusted his speed. With sweat drippin
g down his face, the man said, “Okay. What do you figure?”
Jacob and Pummel’s boots made soft crunching noises across the soil. Each man held onto his bike and walked it as they hiked. Jacob stole another look at his map. He had been carrying it, half-folded, ever since they turned off the highway and started walking across this dry and rugged terrain.
“State Road 13 should be just a few minutes away.” Jacob coughed.
His legs had been burning from the hike, so he did not feel they safely could pedal across this uneven terrain without risking falling over and injuring themselves. The hike would eat up time, but fortunately not much. Jacob had chosen to risk pedaling farther down the highway until they came a point where Road 13 looped in close to the highway. A detour across this land would enable them to reach the road and take a new course to Trapp.
He was so confident they would reach Road 13 that he stowed the map. Besides, hunger was taking hold. He reached into his bag and pulled out an energy bar. Pummel, noticing Jacob, reached into his pants pocket to pull out a similarly wrapped food bar.
It was weird to think of this man as “Pummel.” It sounded like a name for a comic book character. “Hey,” Jacob said after cleansing his palette of his first bite. “What’s your real name? I figure you don’t have to worry about anonymity anymore.”
Pummel wiped his mouth before answering. “It’s John Sanders. My friends called me J.T., before everything went to hell.”
“J.T. I knew a J.T. when I was in high school. He was a lot shorter than you. He also didn’t have any hair.” Jacob ran a hand over his scalp to indicate a clean shaven head. “So, John, if you’re okay with that, did you live in Middleburg?”
“Yeah. I drove trucks for a construction company. I used to work the forklift, but I hurt my foot six months ago. Put me on disability for a while. Damn thing still hurts if I twist it wrong. So I drove until one day my damn truck cut out on me. Then they told me to go to the mayor’s office. Then they told me things had changed. I wasn’t going to be driving a truck anymore.”
Jacob nodded. “They figured you’d make a good enforcer for them. I don’t guess you want to tell me, but did you reap anybody before this?”
Pummel, or “John” as Jacob thought of him now, took a few more bites. Jacob figured the man didn’t want to discuss the subject. But then John said, “A couple on the first day. They were a couple of older guys. They were a bunch of shitheads who lived under a bridge near this motel. They were pretty much wasted anyway. The big man said we couldn’t afford to feed those guys and they’d be of no use, so I wasted them. He said we were doing them a favor, killing them quick like that. They’d starve and die horribly.”
Getting rid of the weak, the old and the sick. This sounds like eugenics. The kind of stuff the Nazis did. Though he kept those thoughts to himself, he couldn’t shake the rising anger, although he felt little of it toward John. The man was caught in a desperate situation. Without a store to buy food and water, he had to rely on whatever authority was available to offer him sustained provisions. Sadly, that meant taking lives in exchange for food.
I don’t know how lucky I am, Jacob thought. If he had not learned how to live off the land, he might have been driven to do similar things to help his family.
“So, what did you do?” John asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Your job.” John leaned a little closer. “You got some tattoos on you. Were you a bouncer?”
Jacob had forgotten that his arm tattoos were exposed with this short-sleeved shirt. He must have looked pretty intimidating. “No. Actually, I was a farmer.”
“You must be shitting me.”
“It’s the truth. I have my own homestead out in the country. I grew and sold my own food. Had a lot of fans, actually. I used to live in the city when I was growing up.” He rubbed his arm. “It was a pretty tough way to grow up. I wanted to give my kids a better life, so my wife and I picked a low-cost plot of land and we moved out there.”
“No shit,” John said with some apparent awe.
“I taught my family how to survive without relying on society to keep us going. If I can get my wife and kids back home, we could live there, probably for the rest of our lives, as we are.”
“You sound like one of those weird Amish folks, but you sure as hell don’t look like them.”
Jacob chuckled. “Never had anyone compare me to an Amish before.” He quickly finished off his energy bar. “They’d take one look at me and say, ‘No thanks, we don’t want you, sir.’”
John, chuckling himself, finished off his energy bar.
At last, Road 13 loomed ahead. Just like the map showed, the road sharply curved outward in their direction. A turn to the left would take them toward Trapp.
However, something else had caught both men’s attention. A small fire burned on the other side of the road. A man dressed in brown rags was fanning the flames with a towel.
“What’s the deal with him?” John asked.
Jacob shook his head. “I don’t know. It looks like he’s making smoke signals.”
“Like an Indian?”
“Yeah. He must be in need of help.” Jacob picked up the pace. “Let’s see if we can help him.”
A few minutes later, Jacob and John successfully had reached Road 13. This close up, Jacob easily could see the stranger had built a fire from a pile of sticks and branches. The stranger himself was covered from head to toe in dirty brown and gray cloths, with a brim hat covering his head.
“Excuse me.” Jacob waved to him. “Excuse me, sir! We saw your smoke trails. Are you alright? Do you need any help?”
The man stopped fanning the flames. He tossed aside his towel and marched up to the two men. However, he did not speak. Instead, he stopped and unpeeled part of the cloth around his face, just enough to expose his jaw. The profile was definitely masculine, coupled with the healthy amount of stubble on his chin.
I wonder why this guy is all covered up? Perhaps he did so to protect his skin from the sun. It made total sense to Jacob.
The stranger then tossed away his hat, exposing shaggy looking dark hair. He grabbed onto his chest clothing and pulled on it hard.
When his hand yanked free, it was holding a gun.
The man quickly ripped away the remainder of the cloth around his face. It was the same guy Jacob had spotted at the camp.
“Hey, Pummel,” he said icily.
And then he opened fire.
Chapter Seven
Jacob had no chance to stop the slaughter of John Sanders. Two bullets, and the man was felled instantly. He landed flat on his back on the asphalt of Road 13, his eyes frozen open. He never would blink them again.
Jacob’s hand flew toward the gun John had given him, but the stranger barked, “Hold it right there. Don’t even try it.”
“You bastard,” Jacob said with barely restrained anger.
“It was me or him. We fought for the right to return to Middleburg.” He grinned. “I used my brain, disguised myself. He should have seen me coming.”
“You’re the second reaper,” Jacob said.
“Oh, he spilled his guts about us? Damn. That wasn’t smart. I might have to plug you after all.”
Jacob thought fast. He had to keep this guy talking so he wouldn’t pull the trigger. Questions. Damn it, ask him something. “How’d you know we would show up here?”
“I didn’t. I’m not even his second reaper. Bull was the guy trailing you. I’m Falcon. I was supposed to cull Moose when he showed up here. That’s why I dressed up in this getup and acted like I was a guy who needed help. Moose wouldn’t have suspected a thing until I plugged him. But you and Pummel showed up first. Guess I get three instead of one today. The boss man’s going to be impressed.”
“All of this for what? You’re so desperate for food and water that you’ll turn into savages? Dammit, aren’t you human beings?”
“Yeah, and I’m a human being who wants to survive, and if it means blow
ing away your ass to do it, then that’s just fine with me.”
Falcon extended his gun. Jacob weighed his choices quickly. He could run for it, or he could fight Falcon for the weapon. Running only would expose him to Falcon’s bullets. Fighting was his only chance.
But before Jacob could jump Falcon, a shot rang out, except it wasn’t from Falcon. Jacob’s would-be assassin spun around and tumbled to the ground, shouting in pain. “Dammit! Dammit!” he cried out.
Somebody had shot Falcon first. But who?
More shots rang out, all of them close to Jacob, but none hitting him. The bullets clearly were aimed at Falcon, who was trying to crawl away through the thick grass. He kept screaming and cursing. One of the shots must have penetrated.
Jacob mounted his bike. If the shooter was trying to save his life, then Jacob needed to make tracks on his bicycle. He started pedaling away from the writhing Falcon, heading off in the direction of Trapp.
But who the hell is trying to help me?
A second set of wheels approached. Jacob turned his head. Doctor Nguyen was approaching on his own bike. He wore a rifle on his back. “Keep pedaling! Hurry!”
“Doctor!” Jacob didn’t know whether to be relieved or angry to see this man. Still, he pedaled harder for the moment.
Nguyen soon caught up with Jacob. “Sorry for the disappearing act. I suspected you wouldn’t stay with the highway, but I wasn’t able to reach Road 13 in time.”
Jacob wasn’t in the mood for an explanation until he heard the full story from this guy. “Pull over.”
“I’d feel better if we could keep going for now—” Nguyen began.
“I said pull over!” Jacob shouted.
Nguyen flinched. “Alright.”
The doctor pulled off the side of the road. Jacob was so eager to tear into him that he leaped down and let his bike fall into the grass. “The reapers. Why didn’t you tell me about the reapers?”
