by White, A. L.
Zoe shoved the shotgun into the officer’s back. “Open it up and then get in there.”
“Wait,” Tressa said, unholstering her pistol. “Now get in there and help Todd out.”
The officer made a face but moved into the cell and reached down to pick Todd up. Todd looked up and saw the officer’s face and curled into a tight ball to protect himself. Tressa went into the cell and kneeled by him. “Todd, honey let’s get you out of this place.”
Hearing Tressa’s voice, Todd flung himself at her, almost knocking them both to the ground. “I want to go home, Tressa. I’m sorry for whatever I did. Can we just please go back home and stay there?”
Leroy made a move toward them, so Zoe pointed the shotgun at him. “You only have two shots, old lady,” Leroy pointed out.
“You smarter than you look,” Zoe replied. “Now see if you can figure out where both of those shots are going.”
Tressa escorted Todd from the cell and shut the door behind her careful to ensure the lock clicked.
“Ain’t this a sight, boy? An old black woman, a dyke, and a dummy breaking out of jail,” Leroy stated.
“Zoe, can you take Todd out of here?” Tressa asked.
Zoe grabbed Todd’s hand and pulled him. At the door, she stopped. “Tressa, my Albert used to say we should all do a random act of kindness every day.”
Satisfied that Todd was out of the room, Tressa approached the cell bars. “I know who started the beating. Now I want to know who peed on Todd.”
No one answered, so she pointed the gun at the nearest man. “I have six bullets, and there is five of you. Someone will start singing, or you all will suffer.”
The room was still silent.
Tressa cocked the hammer and let the first shot go into one of the men’s kneecap.
He fell, screaming for help.
“You! You’re next.” She pointed to the next man, cocking the hammer.
“It was Leroy and only Leroy, ma’am. Honestly, none of us even hit Todd. We all kinda like him.”
“Any of you do anything to help Todd or stop Leroy?” Tressa asked.
“We should have, but, you know, Leroy is crazy, and we’re all a little afraid of him,” another man replied.
Tressa pointed the gun at Leroy, who slipped into the front of everyone else. “You going to shoot me in the knee? Get it over with then.”
Tressa aimed at Leroy’s crotch and fired. As he fell, Tressa let off another round, hitting him in the knee.
“Now you’ll know what it feels like to have a disability the rest of your life. I hope others are as kind to you as you’ve been to Todd.” Tressa turned and left the room.
Zoe was waiting for Tressa, still holding the shotgun on Johnson.
Old man Lang nodded and flipped her the keys to the old ’72 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. “Pump the gas twice before you turn the key. She’s old and cantankerous, like me.”
Tressa couldn’t find the words to reply. Them not going with her had never crossed her mind. “You can’t stay here now.”
“Child, I’m far too old to be on the road again,” Zoe replied. “These old bones have a hard time getting out of a nice, big, comfortable bed, let alone trying to wake up after sleeping in a car or the hard ground.”
“If you stay here …”
“Don’t you worry about us, Tressa. Take Todd, and catch up to the others,” Zoe replied. “’Sides, Johnson here has been hinting for weeks now about someone cooking him a special meal for his birthday. Something his mama made him every year when he was a boy.”
Johnson threw back his head and laughed. “Tressa, just take Todd, and leave while you can. These old fools will be fine here, and no harm will come to them as long as I’m around.”
Tressa hated Johnson for the morning events and how they had treated Todd. Since the day they had arrived, Johnson had been fair and had always kept his word. She would have to trust that he would be now also.
She gave Zoe a long hug goodbye. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for Todd and me.”
Zoe lowered the shotgun and handed it to Tressa. “I think you’ll need this more than me. A few boxes of shells are on the backseat floorboard.”
As she handed the gun to Tressa, a few security men approached the two.
Lang started to raise his pistol when Johnson said, “Stand fast! There has been enough excitement for one morning.”
Tressa gave Lang a quick hug and a thank you before she walked out the doors to find the wagon flanked by the rest of Lang’s crew. Todd sat in the front seat irritated, because it looked like someone had dosed him with a garden hose.
Tressa started to ask when one said, “We thought he needed to get the smell of urine off him. He wasn’t too happy about it.”
Tressa smiled. “I bet he wasn’t. He hates baths to begin with.”
“We didn’t think we had time for a proper bath, so we did the best we could.”
Tressa put the shotgun in the back seat and climbed into the driver’s seat. As she put the key into the ignition, a voice said, “Remember to pump the gas twice before you turn the key.” Looking up, she was surprised to find it was Johnson. Pumping twice then turning the key, the Vista Cruiser’s 350 cubic-inch Rocket V8 roared to life.
Tressa drove slow through the streets until she reached the gated entrance. A freckled-faced boy holding an AR-15 smiled and slid the gate open as she approached. Tressa smiled back but didn’t stop to speak. She felt free of the danger Todd had been in and like she had just jumped from the frying pan into the fire. They had survived being out in the unknown before with a heavy cost at times. Todd had been coached through what he should do if certain dangers arose. Now he had grown used to being safe under the watchful eyes of Virginia and the dogs. She would have to ensure that he knew what was safe to do and what he shouldn’t. The pressure of what had happened and the current status of their survival weighed on Tressa’s chest like a ton of bricks.
For an instant—a very brief instant—she contemplated turning around. Todd could be kept away from harm back in town. She could watch him twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Exhaling a long sigh, Tressa recognized that futile job. Todd was a grown man with the mind of a ten-year-old, a very inquisitive one at that. Not even Zeus and Perseus could keep watch over Todd every moment of the day. Leaving after how Leroy and his mob had treated Todd was the only course of action she could take. Johnson would set Todd into the wasteland on his own eventually if she hadn’t taken him out of there.
“Tressa, will we find the puppies?” Todd asked. “Cause if we’re going to find them, I need to go back.”
Pulled from her inner reflections, Tressa replied, “Yes, Todd. We’ll find the puppies. Why on earth would we want to go back?”
“Tressa, look at me. Do you think something is missing?” Todd asked.
Tressa glanced at Todd but wasn’t seeing what he wanted her to see.
“I don’t have my backpack, Tressa. None of my stuff is with me—no toys, no snacks, and no treats for Zeus and Perseus.”
“Todd, honey, we’ll find you a new backpack and toys on the way.”
“Okay, Tressa, but Virginia and Charlie helped me find that one. They might get mad when they find out I left it behind. Zeus loves them little treats I had. What if we can’t find that type?”
“Perseus didn’t like them?” Tressa asked, sliding the topic a little bit from where Todd had been headed.
Todd laughed so hard Tressa thought he might just pee himself. “Perseus don’t care what kind of treat you have. He eats anything. Not like Zeus, he’s picky, like you, Tressa.”
“I’m not picky, Todd.” Tressa smiled at the sight of Todd laughing after what had happened to him this morning.
For the next few hours, they played I-spy on the empty back roads. Todd would call out that he spied something of a certain color, mostly green. Tressa would guess everything green she could see and hope she didn’t guess it too fast by accident. Soon Todd tired
and fell asleep, offering her a rest from keeping his mind off what had happened and what he was leaving behind.
She headed toward the river, hoping to come across a town or old gas station along the way. It looked like some supplies were in the way-back section of the wagon. Tressa didn’t know what or how much was there or even if they could use what Lang had packed them. She would need a reliable map, more ammunition, enough food to get them by until they found Charlie and Jermaine, and, of course, gas. No gas meant walking with Todd again through a world filled with the dead. Tressa did not want to attempt that if it could be avoided. One sight of a zombie and Todd still dove deep into his shell, refusing to move.
Chapter 6
Gravel crunched under the tires when Charlie pulled onto the soft shoulder. Ahead of them, a small town sat nestled against the river. The old iron-framed bridge stood like a sentinel guarding the crossing.
“Straight through, or should we look for goodies?” Jermain asked through the small window in the rear of the cab.
“We need to find some more gas,” Charlie replied.
The hairs on the back of Virginia’s neck stood up, and a feeling of dread permeated through her veins. Nothing was really jumping out—even the lads didn’t seem to notice anything out of place—but it was there, Virginia could feel it in every fiber of her being. This was a place filled with something dark, darker than anything else they had yet encountered. “I think we should just cross the bridge and keep moving.”
“We have enough gas to get another couple of hundred miles down the road,” Jermaine added.
Charlie thought a moment, staring at the gas gauge sitting at three quarters of a tank. “There might be other supplies we could use. Medicines?”
“Have you looked through all the stuff we loaded? Virginia has a little bit of everything back here,” Jermaine replied. “Why don’t we do a slow roll through? That way, if we do see something we need, we can grab it and keep moving.”
Charlie nodded. “I can live with that.” Pushing the clutch, Charlie forced the truck into first gear, grinding it a little. The wheels spun, sending gravel out behind the truck as he released the clutch.
Virginia felt her stomach tighten, like a python coiling around her body—still unable to tell what was causing her so much turmoil, just knowing something bad was ahead of them. Something lurked in the shadows of yet another small farm town in the middle of nowhere.
Roars echoed through Virginia’s skull; flashes of fangs longer than her survival knife danced before her eyes. She violently shook her head in a desperate attempt to rid herself of these images and sounds. Not memories—Virginia couldn’t place them from any time or place. Something was waiting for them, something she didn’t want to meet today or any other day. She dropped her hand to the crossbow resting on the floorboard next to her knee then felt for the .357 Magnum strapped to her side. Nothing helped chase away the feeling of foreboding.
The streets were bare and devoid of cars. The shops and diners were empty, as expected. Nothing was out of place; nothing looked like someone had looted the shops or diners. No sign at all that anything had ever happened that Virginia could see. It was as if the town was hidden from the outside world—hidden and abandoned with everything left for the taking.
“I don’t see a gas station, but we might want to look in the stores,” Charlie stated.
Virginia frowned at the idea. She knew Charlie was right of course. This was just too good to just drive past. Perhaps a quick search wouldn’t hurt anything. “A quick search,” she mumbled to herself.
Charlie pulled the truck to a stop in front of a small storefront called Chad’s 5 & Dime. “The sooner we have a look, the quicker we can get moving again.”
Jermaine followed Charlie out the truck and pointed up the street. “I’m going window shopping.”
Virginia nodded and called the lads.
“Where are you off too?” Charlie asked.
“The lads and I will make sure you two don’t get ambushed. We’ll be close by,” Virginia said, walking away. The one lesson Virginia had learned these past few years was that when it looks too good to be true, it usually was, like something waiting around the corner to end your life and make you into dinner.
At the only intersection in town, Virginia saw what looked like a giant metal shed just up the road. It was the only place that had anything that looked out of place. Garbage and containers were strewn across the ground surrounding it.
“Zeus, Perseus, go,” Virginia said as she started toward the building.
Zeus took the lead on one side of the street while Perseus followed a little behind on the far side. Virginia sometimes missed the playful side of Perseus, the way Zeus would snap at him and bring him back in line with the task at hand. They were all older now—wiser, she hoped—and prepared for whatever came next. Virginia knew Perseus needed to step up his game and thought he had on the last few trips. Not wanting to admit that Zeus had slowed down and wasn’t quite the dog he was when they had first met old Bob.
The contrast between the homes along the street with the perfectly manicured yards and impeccable flower beds against the corrugated steel building at the end of the street was far too obvious not to notice. If everyone in this town was so into appearances, including the people who had lived on this street in an apocalypse, they would have never stood for the that mess at the end of their street.
Zeus halted just past the last house where the border between perfect yard and overgrown field met. His hair raised along his back followed by a low growl. Perseus stormed across the street next to Zeus, striking an identical pose. Virginia raised the crossbow and loaded a bolt.
Moving with caution toward the lads, she made sure to verify that the spaces between houses were empty. Drawing a deep breath, she took the next step, bringing the open field into view.
A lone figure sat just over a hundred yards from them.
Lowering the crossbow, Virginia tried to make out if it was a zombie, 2.0, or something like Lori. From this distance, it was hard to tell. The auburn hair hung down, covering the face. Clumps of mud and other small bits of debris littered the hair draping across the creature’s shoulders. Virginia raised the crossbow and aimed when, in slow motion, it raised its head and brushed the hair from its face. It wasn’t a zombie or a 2.0, from what Virginia could see beneath the dirt and dried blood.
Zeus moved forward with Perseus by his side.
The creature raised a gun and aimed at the lads then settled on Virginia.
She lowered the crossbow just enough to acknowledge that she saw it.
It followed suit, smiled then turned and ran for the woods.
Virginia took off after her, running as hard as she could. She knew this wasn’t the best idea, but something inside wanted to know what it was. If this person or thing was like Lori, maybe she had seen Lori and Walter. Doubtful, and Virginia knew it as her lungs felt like they would collapse trying to catch up.
The lads shot by her, closing on it just as it reached the cover of the thick weeds at the start of the forest. Perseus barked like a pup fetching a ball; only the movement of the tall swaying thistle’s purple flowers and the noise from the bark gave his location
Then it went silent, and the only movement from the weeds were from the breeze. Virginia tried to listen for anything out of the ordinary—a panting dog, Zeus’s low guttural growl, or even Perseus’ impatient prancing back and forth.
From above, she heard a woman’s soft voice. “Call your damn dogs please.”
Virginia moved through the tall weeds, ignoring the thorns biting into skin. Moving closer toward the voice, she could now hear Zeus’s low growl. It was almost loud enough just for him to hear, but Virginia could pick it out from the other sounds. Then came the sound of Perseus trampling weeds beneath his paws from circling the tree the woman had climbed.
“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” she stated. “If you would just call your dogs and let me down from this tree, I’
ll be on my way, and we’ll never run into each other again.”
Virginia came alongside Zeus and looked into the tree. Just out of the range the lads could have jumped up and taken a bite from her sat the redhaired woman pointing a gun at Virginia. Easing the hammer back to home, she put the gun into a pouch that hung around her waist. “There, I put away my weapon. Why don’t you put away yours and call off the dogs?”
Virginia lowered the crossbow and patted Zeus’s head.
He sat down, still eyeing the stranger in the tree.
“Perseus, come,” Virginia ordered.
Perseus moved to the other side of Virginia and sat.
“I’m coming down now. Will your dogs let me?”
“Toss down your gun, and you’ll be fine.”
“I don’t know you or your intentions. Why would I ever give up the only thing keeping me safe?”
Virginia thought for a moment. “I could say the same about you. I don’t know if you’re human or hybrid or if more of you are waiting to attack me out there.”
The woman shook her head in disbelief at her situation. “No one is with me. I lost my party a few weeks ago and have been making my way town to town, living off of whatever I can find.” She paused to consider her options. “I could shoot your dogs. I’m a very good shot.”
“You could, but I promise that I’d put a bolt in your head before you could squeeze the trigger.”
“Then I guess we’re at an impasse.”
“I guess. But I’m not the one stuck in a tree with two large dogs waiting at the bottom.”
“Fine!” She untied the pouch from her waist and sent it sailing into the weeds below. “Are you happy now? Can I please get out of this tree?”
Virginia motioned for the woman to come down as she collected the pouch. The woman climbed down out of the tree and blew a puff of air, attempting to get her hair out of her face. “My name is Penelope, but everyone just calls me Pippa. What is your name?”
Feeling more at ease, Virginia replied, “Virginia. And these two are Zeus and Perseus.”
“You named your dogs after Greek gods?”
