APOCALYCIOUS: Satire of the Dead (32 page)

             
“Is that fat bastard dead?” asked the black girl showing her perfect white teeth in a sneer of disgust.

             
Hito nodded. “Yeah, he’s dead.”

             
He watched as both girl’s faces relaxed, relieved that their ordeal was almost over. He noticed the black girl’s face as it tensed again, and he knew that she wondered what was going to happen to her now.

Hito was glad the fat man was dead. He had taken a lot of pleasure in that one. He had deserved to die, him probably more than any other he had killed since the onset of this epidemic, but he would take no pleasure in the deaths of these two vibrant young ladies.
It isn’t personal,
Hito thought, and realized that it was rapidly becoming his mantra, but for the first time, there was a shadow of doubt in his actions.

He heard moans coming from the room behind him. “Have any idea what’s in there, ladies?” he said, with a tilt of the head, motioning behind him.

              “He called her Amanda. She’s a zombie,” ventured Annie

             
“She’s hanging in some sort of sex swing,” added Shere. Hito cringed with apparent disgust, then stood and walked over to the door. He holstered the left twin and opened the door, pointed the business end of the 9mm into the room and saw that there was, indeed, a female zombie strapped into a nylon harness, suspended in the center of the dimly lit room. He saw that she had no arms or legs, but fat hung in rolls against the straps that held her in place. He raised the 9mm and placed the barrel against the dead woman’s forehead. She hissed at him once before her toothless gums started snapping viciously at him. He squeezed the trigger and put her out of her misery. Hito began to mentally prepare himself to kill the girls when he heard Shere say, “Mister, if you want, we’ll join up with you.”

Then Annie added. “Actually, I think I’d rather kill people than these zombies.” She spoke in such a chord of disgust that part of him instantly related to them.

              Hito paused. Could these women be serious? It would be nice to have some like-minded companions. There were days when he was plagued by guilt for all those he had killed and maybe if he was teamed with others that shared his vision then, maybe, just maybe that nagging guilt would leave him in peace. If they were telling the truth, the three of them could do a more thorough job than just him. If they were lying, or just saying things out of shock, then he could easily kill them later. Hito was sure that the black woman had intuited his intentions and may be pledging allegiance to him as a ruse for her escape. He had seen a sharp intellect burning in her eyes.

             
“We owe you our lives. Take us with you and we’ll repay that debt,” said Shere. There was no innuendo in her words, just a fierce pride that would not allow her to feel indebted to another. She could not, however, deny that there was something about the tall Asian man that intrigued her. She tried to put it out of her head, thinking that this attraction had something to do with the mental trauma she had been through for the past few weeks. She tried to make sense of it, but couldn’t. She wanted him, simple as that. She wanted him for herself. The truth be told, she thought the other girl wanted him too. Shere had noticed the way the blonde had relished the way the Asian man had stared at her, and jealousy speared Shere’s stomach, gnawing at her. 

             
“I’ll go too.
Anything
you want. You'll be the boss. Just take us with you,” pleaded Annie; there was desperation
and
innuendo in her tone and Hito heard both.

             
Hito turned toward them paused uncertainly for a moment, and then holstered the remaining twin. “I’m the boss, huh?” Hito asked, raising an eyebrow.

Annie nodded enthusiastically but Shere said “I’ll be a partner, but I’m no one’s
lackey.”

Hito studied them again, pondering his decision. He liked the way Annie intoned more than just partnership, but, even more, he liked how Shere somehow believed she had the leverage to bargain, even though she was completely naked, bound to a pipe and was acutely aware of how defenseless she was.

Hito sighed then said “I’ll take you with me
if
you do what I tell you,”

             
“Whatever you say, whenever you say,” Annie agreed instantly.

"Within reason, handsome,
” Shere amended.

             
Hito withdrew a long, razor-sharp knife from his thigh and saw Annie start slightly at the sight, Shere simply tensed, her muscles corded like snakes set to strike. He held up his empty hand showing a palm. “Easy… I’m going to cut you loose, and then we’ll find you some clothes.” he said and watched them slowly relax.

             
“What’s your name?” Annie asked him. Hito was enjoying this; he was a man after-all. What man wouldn’t? 

“Hito” he said as he cut them loose.

              “Hito…” repeated the black woman. “I’m Shere.”

             
“And I’m Annie,” said the blonde.

             
The girls took notice at how he was looking at them. It wasn’t the same way as with the fat man. Hito looked at them in a distinctly sexual way, but a
normal
sexual way.

Shere cleared her throat and said “I know you saved us and all, Hito, but do you think you can hurry it up with the clothes? I’m a little uncomfortable here.”

Hito snapped himself out if his reverie and finished cutting them loose with his face turning red. “Yeah… I’m sorry about that.”

             
Shere stood and began to shake out her arms to return their circulation with a long groan. She wanted nothing more than to cover herself, but she did not want to look vulnerable either. The Asian man had already seen her nakedness so she crossed her arms before her with a look of impatience etched upon it.

Annie came to his side, considered kissing his cheek but remembered throwing up and
backing up a step asked, “Can we get some food too, I’m starving.”

             
Hito laughed. He hadn’t laughed in so long that it sounded like it had been someone else laughing for a moment before he realized it was himself. He slid off his overcoat and wrapped it around Shere’s shoulders. She looked at him gratefully; her dark hazel eyes had such intensity that Hito had to look away. “You’ll have to share this with your friend until I find you some of your own.”

             
Shere gave him a pointed look and Hito grinned with a shrug. “Hey, I only have the one coat.”  Shere was far from comfortable being this naked with another equally naked woman when it didn’t involve a squad-bay shower room and as she had no desire to be bumping her business against another woman. Shere saw that her only course of action was to give the blonde the coat and wait for Hito to bring her some others. She started to remove the coat and Annie stopped her.

             
“No, you keep it. I can wait,” Annie said, noting Shere’s discomfort and seemed not to share the black woman’s modesty.

             
“You girls stay here and I’ll go grab some food,” he said.

“And some clothes,” Shere reminded him again quickly after Hito as he jogged out the door.

              After a few minutes, Hito reentered the room with a plastic bag full of canned food and a can opener. Over his shoulder were several articles of clothing from Finley’s office. Hito had been relieved that they were not made of human skin. “Dinner, ladies; I found some clothes and some blankets for you, until we go shopping,” he said sliding another plastic bag to them.

             
“Are you sure you want me to get dressed?” asked Annie grinning evilly.

             
Hito noticed that she had taken the time to tidy herself up as best she could. He had never been real smooth with the ladies, but this time he wasn’t the same old Hito. “For now I think it’s probably the best idea.” Annie nodded and began putting on the proffered clothes. When they were dressed Annie looked unabashedly at Hito who had opened a can of tuna and was eating with his fingers.

             
Hito almost choked on his mouthful of tuna when he saw how she was looking at him and then composed himself as he tried to keep his arousal hidden.  Annie seemed to be instantly aware of this and eyed him evilly.

             
Shere rolled her eyes, frowned then grabbed another can of tuna and the other can opener as she listened and watched the other two, feeling very much like a third wheel.

             
Annie’s eyes never looked away from Hito and Shere was amazed at her shamelessness and again came that gnawing at the pit of her stomach. Jealousy, but she would not play these games. If Hito wanted Annie, then she couldn’t blame him; after all he was blatantly being propositioned.  Shere watched her for a while and remembered seeing grief counselors on television. They said that people often reacted to trauma by seeking comfort sexually. However she didn’t think this was the case. Annie was either one of those women that got all hot and bothered by danger or she was just a tramp. Shere believed it to be the latter of the two.

             
It seemed that they had counselors for everything. To Shere, those psychological gurus were just quacks trying to make a fast buck from people that needed to be reassured that their behavior was perfectly acceptable and normal. Angry people, bigots and racists, alcoholics, drug addicts, sex addicts, pedophiles. It was all bunk to her. It wasn’t a matter of being able to control yourself; it was a matter of being given the right motivation to control yourself. If there were really no consequences for your actions, other than a friendly talking to, then of course people would continue to do whatever they wanted.

             
She was surprised that some new age hippie type hadn’t started a ‘save the zombie’ cause to make excuses for their horrific actions; or tried to make laws so you couldn’t shoot them in the face, because that was just
cruel
. The good news was that those touchy- feely idiots had to have been devoured by the dead the first, and last, time they had tried to reason with and counsel the approaching zombie horde.

             
She would give Hito the benefit of the doubt because he was giving her the opportunity to make up for her mistakes. She owed him that much and she always paid her debts.

             
With her freedom she still had the hope of one day finding Riley. He would die slowly and she would invent new ways for him to feel pain. She was aware that there was the possibility that she would never see him again, but she had hope, and until then, she would keep her vengeance contained in the deepest chamber of her heart.

“So
what’s your story, handsome?” Shere asked casually, and Annie shot her a pained look.

             
“Yeah, tell me all about my hero,” Annie said trying to one up the black woman and slid closer to the Asian man.

             
“I just happened by,” he said, deliberately hiding his past. Shere studied him and she knew that he was lying. There were no such things as coincidences.

             
“What about you?” Hito asked Shere.

             
She shook her head. “Nothing exciting,” she said then took a bite of canned tuna. She felt Hito’s eyes on her.

             
He was fascinated by her. “How’d you end up in this predicament then?”

             
She took another bite, “I made a mistake,” she admitted and slowly rolled her eyes up and locked those large hazel eyes on his. The intensity of her look almost made him look away, but he forced himself to hold it, as she added, “But it won’t happen again.”

                                                                     
Chapter 35 - Mia Culpa

Mine Hills, West Virginia 

              After being cooped up in the mine for a couple of days Mick had started accumulating nervous energy, so he hit the weight room to work out. He found Sir Regeliel already in the gym practicing his swordplay. Mick decided not to say anything and just watched for a minute. Regeliel whirled the blade about like a circus performer; Mick had never seen anything like it. Mia and Nan were excellent fencers, but this was well beyond their abilities, this was like Kung Fu cinema with a medieval twist. Mick couldn’t help but comment on the knight’s skills.

             
“I am genuinely impressed, Reg.” The knight spun around to face Mick, a look of vehemence contorting his ruddy face. It surprised Mick; since their introduction Sir Regeliel had been gracious and friendly, almost clownishly so.

             
“Whoa, easy there, tiger,” Mick said, putting his hands in front of him in a defensive stance. He was half expecting the crazed knight to gore him with that massive sword of his.