The Regulators - 02 (14 page)

“
Oveja is where you
left the team, correct
?”

Yeah, and I think it’s also where she wanted to have our
little showdown, but I must have lost her somewhere along the way. She
certainly looked like she was trying to make up for lost time.

She turned on Cresta Bonita.

I stood up from my hiding place so I could continue to track
her. She was a few houses down the street when she suddenly came to a sliding
halt. From there she froze. It looked like she might have been sniffing the air
once again, but with all the distance between us, I couldn’t be sure.

She ran to the edge of the roof and jumped over to the next
house. I believe she was sniffing the air once again. Then she went to each
side of the house and peered down below. She punched a brick chimney in
frustration and hit it so hard that brick pieces actually flew through the air.

She back tracked over and over again, at each new house
sniffing the air and peering off each side of the house. Yes, as she got closer
and closer, I was sure she was indeed sniffing the air.

It was almost dawn when she once again stood across from me
on the other side of Westwind. I watched her look towards the sky and stomp her
bare feet in frustration. She went to each side of the roof and did her
sniffing test. She must have caught my scent because she stared down at my
street for a long moment before she turned on her heels and began to walk away
in the opposite direction. It looked like she didn’t want to continue the hunt
during the daytime. I guess it was because I could spot her easier with the sun
on my side.

Suddenly she stopped.

I knew she sensed me, but I didn’t know how; I had ducked
back under the low wall the moment I saw her retracing her steps. Somehow,
though she knew I was there. She knew I was watching her.

She slowly turned around and walked to the edge of the roof
that faced my direction. I stood from my hiding place, and her eyes caught me
immediately. I’m not exactly sure how I knew this, maybe it was the slight movement
of her head in my direction, but we stood facing each other for the first time.

The moment was frozen. I had caught her by surprise and she
didn’t know quite what to make of me. So, she decided to try and mock me. She
gave me an over-exuberant and very theatrical bow. I repaid her idiotic gesture
with a gesture of my own. I flipped her the bird.

“
You gave her the
finger
?”

The middle one to be exact and it pissed her off. I could
see that in the sudden movement of her shoulders. I could tell she wanted to
charge me, but something stopped her. Instead, she looked beyond me to the
mountains in the distance. The sky had begun to lighten there. She had lost her
element of surprise.

Instead of rushing me, she gave a nonchalant wave of her
hand to me and vanished down the far side of the roof.

Game on.

I was moving immediately. I had an idea, but I needed some
stuff to pull it off and I had no idea how long it would take to find it. I
gathered up Merrick and ran to the backyard of the neighboring house. Once inside,
we gave it a rapid search, came up empty handed and moved to the next house.

All in all, I have to admit I was very disappointed. We
searched through some twenty five homes before I found what I needed, but in
the final place I looked, in the final house we searched, I found what I had
been looking for.

A hunting rifle.

I needed a weapon that could take a long distance shot. I
needed something with a scope in which to make the long distance shot. I just
couldn’t believe it took all morning to find the damn thing. El Paso is a part
of Texas and in Texas we love our freakin’ guns.

It was there waiting for me in the back of a closet. I
recognized the hard plastic carrying case immediately. I was just hoping that
when I opened it up it would be something I could use. I wasn’t disappointed at
all. The case held a beautiful Remington 700. Next to the case, I even found a
box of ammunition. I wasn’t sure whether the owner used this gun for hunting or
sniping, but the .30-06 ammunition packed a hell of a punch.

The rifle also came with a large scope. It looked big enough
to cover a pretty big distance, but the lack of a maker’s mark made me a little
nervous. I needed to test fire the rifle. I needed to make sure that the scope
was zeroed in and could cover the distance that was required.

“
Have you ever done
any long distance shooting
?”

A little bit, but it didn’t really matter. As part of the
whole ‘Guardian’ thing, I get these weird dreams at least once a week and in
these weird ass dreams I learn how to use all sorts of different weapons. I
don’t remember many technical terms, but I can sure make the guns go bang.

The only problem was that if I fired off this rifle it was
going to make a really loud noise. A really loud noise was going to attract
company. I certainly didn’t want any company. I already had to clear out a ton
of them while I was searching all the homes.

I needed to get some distance from my current location. So,
once again I went through all the homes looking for a working automobile. I was
not in luck. Every time I found a car, I couldn’t find the keys. If I happened
to find keys, I couldn’t find the car that they belonged to.

“
Did you happen to run
across any computers or laptops that you could use to make contact with your
team
?”

I did. I managed to sign onto the EPUA website. I left a
message, but due to the sheer volume of people writing on that thing, I didn’t
have a lot of hope in being rescued. To be honest, I don’t even remember asking
for an extraction. I think I just announced that I was alive and well. The
situation had become rather personal to me. I wasn’t about to turn tail and run
until I got some payback.

It was mid-afternoon before I found some decent
transportation. It was a pretty beat up dirt bike, but someone must have done
some kind of maintenance on it because it started on the second kick.

I strapped the gun case over the rear fender, left Merrick
in the back yard, and zipped up the street. The bike was a little too loud and
certain to attract the wrong kind of attention. It was also rather smoky in the
exhaust department. There was a slight chance I was wrong about it having had
maintenance.

I put some distance between Merrick and myself just by
driving around the different neighborhoods. When I felt I was far enough away
that the shamblers wouldn’t eventually end up near the homes on Tarascas, I
pulled over, grabbed the rifle, and entered the nearest house.

Inside the house, I grabbed a vase, a computer screen, and a
large clock. I hefted these things in my arms and ran to the end of the road. I
placed them strategically at different levels. The computer screen went in the
middle of the road. The clock went on someone’s porch and the vase went on a
nearby roof.

When the items were placed, I ran back up to where I had
left the bike. I could barely see the computer screen in the middle of the
road. I climbed to the roof of the same house I had entered to gather my
targets. I crawled to the very edge of the roof and peered through the scope at
the computer screen in the middle of the road.

The scope was excellent. I could very clearly see my target.
I dropped a round in the chamber and slid the bolt all the way home. I took aim
very carefully. I controlled my breathing and held my breath on the next
inhale. I squeezed the trigger until the bang actually surprised me.

My aim was true, and the scope was accurate. The computer
screen just about exploded. I retracted the bolt and dropped in another round.
I took out the clock with no problem. The vase was even easier. The rifle was
awesome. It was going to work perfectly.

Zombies began to pour out of the nearby homes.

I didn’t even notice it since I was still staring through
the scope, and my vision was limited. I did however hear the screams.

I pulled out my tomahawk the minute I hit the ground. There
were about five of them waiting for me. I took the top of the nearest zombies
head off with my first swing. The second swing met my next attacker in the
kneecap. I was being as careful as possible not to bang around the rifle too
much. I didn’t want to screw up the accuracy.

I ran the short distance to the dirt bike before the others
could grab a hold of me and placed the rifle back inside its case. I could see
more zombies in the distance. All of them were headed right towards me. I
pulled out my Recon 1 knife with my left hand.

I took out the three I had just avoided by stabbing one with
my left hand and chopping the other two with the tomahawk. The shambler whose
knee I had destroyed was crawling my way but not yet close enough to be a danger.

It was the thirty some screaming mass from farther down the
street that worried me. I stashed my weapons in their holsters and jumped on
the bike. I gave it a kick. Nothing. I gave it another kick. Still nothing. I
could smell gas. The engine must have flooded.

I hopped off the bike, grabbed the handle bars, put my left
foot on the left foot peg, and ran the bike down the road in the direction of
the screaming shamblers. I needed speed to pull this off, and fortunately for
me, the street I was on had a pretty decent downward slope. I would have much
preferred the slope to head away from the advancing horde of zombies, but
beggars can’t be choosers.

As soon as I started picking up speed, I pushed with my
right foot to gather some more. I was about ten feet from the zombies before I
felt that I had gathered enough speed to pop the clutch. The bike roared to
life instantly. I spun it around as fast as I could but not fast enough to
avoid the furiously grasping hands. The bite proof material of my clothes protected
my skin from being ripped open from the many jagged nails scratching for a
grip, but I did somehow take a pretty decent strike to the kidneys before I was
able to get up to speed and leave them behind me.

Overall, it was a good lesson for me. I now knew I only had
enough time for one or two shots. If I hung around after that, the area would
become infested.

I rode that crappy ass bike all over the place to confuse
all the shamblers. I took so many twists and turns, I almost got lost myself.
At the top of Tarascas, I killed the engine and coasted down the hill. The
first thing I did was pick up Merrick. She did her normal little dance of
greeting for me. I raided some of the homes I had previously entered and
managed to scrounge the both of us something to eat. It wasn’t great, and I’m a
picky eater.

Afterwards, the two of us walked higher up the road to the
tallest house. I was pretty sure it would be tall enough for my purposes, but
there was only one way to find out. I climbed up to the roof with my rifle.
When I found a pretty comfortable position, I sighted down towards the roof of
the home I used to identify my pursuer. I could see the entire roof perfectly.
There wasn’t a single corner that would block a shot. The distance was a bit
far. I was a little nervous about that. There just wasn’t anything I could do
to get closer and still retain an unobstructed view.

The next thing I did was walk back to the target house and
turn on a bunch of outside lights. I figured if I turned on the lights during
the daytime, zombies wouldn’t be attracted by the sudden appearance of light.

The final thing I did before I began my rest was prepare my
exit strategy. Even with only one or two shots being fired, I would need to get
the hell out of Dodge. It was late afternoon when I finished turning on all the
lights. I simply didn’t have time to look for a new vehicle so I stashed my
crappy dirt bike against the side of my new house after I strapped a hard
plastic laundry basket to the back of the seat and the back fender.

Everything was ready.

All I had to do was wait around until the shaggy headed
woman in the white dress showed up, if she showed up. I was pretty sure she
would. She would want to follow my trail and take up the hunt again. Besides,
she was probably more determined than ever after I gave her the finger and
pissed her off.

Merrick and I took a nap in the upstairs bedroom of the new
house. I can’t say it was the best sleep I have ever enjoyed. In fact, it was
rather restless. I was worried that my hunter would come before the sun set. I
kept telling myself that she would wait for the darkness because she was a
predator and most predators like to hunt in the night. Still, what the hell did
I know?

As soon as the sun had started to set, I was on the roof.

The waiting game had begun. The hunt was on. Except this
time, I was going to be playing the role of the hunter. To tell the truth, I
was almost having fun.

It wasn’t long after the sun had set when she made her
appearance. I was once again shocked at how fast she could move. She leapt from
house to house until she reached the roof of the home she had spotted me in at
the end of the previous evening.

I knew she would come back there. She needed to pick up my
scent again and that was the last place she had seen me. All the lights I had
turned on managed to create just enough of a glow that I could see most of the
rooftop.

I sighted her through the scope and watched as she walked
around sniffing the air and peering down over the sides of the roof.
Eventually, I caught sight of her face, and the scope brought it up close and
personal. The skin was an odd, grayish color. It might have been a trick of the
lights, but I couldn’t be sure. It was her mouth that bothered me the most.
There was a black stain all around her lips. Hell, even the backs of her hands
had a black stain on them. It was pretty gross, especially when I realized
where the stain came from. She was a drooler, and the drool was for whatever
reason colored black. Her hands carried the stain from when she would wipe at
her mouth. Other than that, she looked rather normal, possibly even attractive
if you took away the black drool and combed her hair.