Controlling the Dead (21 page)

He puts the tub down behind her booth. Linnie hands him a pint of strawberries. He grins at me, “Free strawberries.”

“Ain’t no free there, boy. You work for ‘em,” Linnie says, pointing to the tub he just sat down.

He eyes the tub. “Like I said, free.”

“Where’s Bruno?” Not that I’m complaining, the man is scary.

She snorts, organizing her stock. “Ah. Drunk.”

Oh. “I need some tomatoes and potatoes.” She immediately fills my bag as I put the right amount of money on the table. “One green pepper and one onion, too.” She has a habit of not counting it, so I put money in for the strawberries. Rudy looks at me like he knows what I did and approves. She wouldn’t have taken his money for them.

“Git on, now. Rudy boy a scaring da customers.” We all laugh.

“Here, I’ll take that.” He picks up my box of milk and eggs. “Think we should get some meat?”

“I was going to get some.” We get lucky and find the meat man. Chris. He usually cooks any kind of meat. The kind of meat he sometimes cooks is gross. Luckily, pork bacon that actually looks like bacon is available.

“I think I might try to make hash browns with the potatoes.”

I feel him glance at me. “That sounds great. I haven’t had those in—”

“Almost five years?” I interrupt with a smile.

Gwen is happy when we arrive. She sets about helping me peel and grate potatoes, then goes to her task of bacon and eggs. I nibble on strawberries as I work the frying potatoes.

Mac shows up only managing to eat bits of food straight from the pots as people start arriving. I laugh when Gwen smacks his hand with a wooden spoon.

“Ouch, woman! There’s enough food for a circus.” I guess one can say we are feeding a circus.

Leila greets me with a hug, “What can I do to help?”

“Serve the tea,” Gwen chimes in and points to a big pitcher.

Julie strolls in carrying Ariella, she is all smiles and polite greetings. Even to me.

Everyone chats about the upcoming trip as we eat. Glinda smiles at me. I show her the chewed up food in my mouth, and she purses her lips.

Reece speaks up so everyone will hear him, “I think we should start today on some kind of combat training. Mac is good. Rudy has his brute force. Sam can Kung-fu-POW, but I could use a little help.”

“Me, too,” Glinda says. I raise my eyebrows at her. “Well, I do, Suga. For da good of humanity and all. Yew could probably use some, too!” She points her fork at me.

“I handle myself fine.”

Mac elbows me. “Give it a try.”

“I can use zombies,” I say, more excited than ever over the prospect.

This leads to a gigantic discussion on my newfound situation. Mago is polite enough to explain and people go somber while casting glances at me. Glinda ends up shuddering. “That’s some crazy ass shit! I call dibs on bein’ Suga’s buddy.” This only makes everyone laugh, reducing some tension the conversation brought about. Mac only sits and stares down at his food as if he lost his appetite.

“Now would be a decent time to point out, Miss Moore won’t be proficient to bend the dead to her will on this operation because of where the compound is located.”

This news disappoints me. I have been counting on being able to do so. “What do you mean?” I ask.

He casts me a grim smile. “Both of us will be invulnerable to the dead under Mya’s will. Mya has control of them there. Of course, rogues and uncontrolled injected will be running amok. So it will not be easy by any means.”

I swallow hard. “Where will we be going?”

“Montana.” Everyone’s hushed whispers stop. Even Sam and Ty can’t crack a joke on this one.

“Wait a minute, that’s farther than Arizona. Not to mention the cold and the resources we need to transport any survivors.” I don’t have to ask why there. The cold is enough to keep the zombies from decomposing.

“Not too much farther. It’s March, the climate might be tolerable,” Mago explains.

“What do you mean by tolerable?” This is from Reece. The guy who likes to wear a vest with no shirt. I’m sure he’d wear his leather biking chaps with no pants if he could get away with it.

“Could be between thirty and fifty degrees, this time of year.” We all let out a relieved breath. Even though Glinda looks like she is going to back out at any second.

“Well shit! It’s just startin’ ta warm up here,” Glinda complains.

“Good, now we know what to prepare for.” I try looking at the bright side.

*

We all decide it’s best to gather resources and focus on training. After Mago’s interpretation of our future situation, I figure I need a little training as well. The region is under Mya’s spell, but once we get to her, we can get any zombie attacks to cease.

Mago leaves for a week to gather his resources as well. More people, but mainly gasoline. I might have taken it for granted, but we’ve never traveled fifteen hundred miles with so many people. This is not counting the amount of travel we might be doing from here on out to other compounds, if we find out where other compounds are located. Gas is hard to come by, even though Mac told me oil is still pumped from beneath the earth’s surface. Around the same time he told me the Coalition estimates less than four million people on earth. Third world countries are nonexistent. Only animals and plant life remain.

With all the looting I’ve done, I believe him. Even though four million is too optimistic for me. Even Gwen says Sierra Vista only contains around two thousand. That’s nothing compared to the six billion that made up the earth five years ago. Gwen doesn’t know of any other large communities like that one. Mac doesn’t either. More people still succumb to famished attacks and injections. We need to get rid of the injections.

I write down all the necessary information to keep everything straight. If we’re going to do this, we need to know all we can about the world and the leftover people in it.

I look up from my composition book just in time to see Rudy’s fist slam into Mac’s face. Mac easily takes the force by allowing his body to fall backwards to avoid most of the impact, showing the group some self-defense moves.

The difference between them is Rudy fights dirty. He likes to kick the face and keep kicking even if his opponent is down. Mac might be short, but he fights like any professional fighter, clean. He can block his body better than Rudy and can use his limbs in ways that can kill a man. They are just demonstrating now, but I don’t like seeing it.

I get up and go to the loft. Gwen is making jewelry. She smiles upon seeing me. “No combat for you?”

Shaking my head, I get out my sketchbook and start drawing Gwen and her fine jewelry. She ties complicated knots over and over with hemp string.

“This one is for you,” she says, so I inspect it closer. It’s longer than my bracelet with the same beads. “When I’m finished it will be a head wrap. It will go fantastic with your little lady dreads. For good luck.”

“You don’t have to, even though I’m sure it will be perfect.”

Mac bursts in the door. He’s shirtless, holding the T-shirt to his nose with his head tilted back. I jump up to help him.

“Geez, Mac,” I say at the same time Gwen says, “What’d you do now?”

“Rudy.” He sits, keeping his head tilted. I bring him a damp washcloth, switching it for the bloodied T-shirt. Blood gushes. “The dude packs a mad punch. Someone distracted me, so I got the brunt of it.” His nasally sound makes me tighten my mouth as I suppress a laugh. “That’s okay. I’ll get him back, I’m sure he’s looking forward to it.”

I chew my lip for a brief second. “What? Why?”

“Relieves stress.”

“Maybe you should stick with instructing?”

Mac smiles with blood on his teeth. Honestly, is it sick these things are starting to turn me on a bit? “No way. It’s on now.”

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-
T
HREE

Another thing I have to do before we start the impossible mission is tell Guido about the famished. I want them around to guard, because who really knows what Dr. Jekyll has up his sleeve? One thing is for sure, they don’t have Mago anymore.

It’s almost nightfall, and I ask Rudy to come along with me. He isn’t going to be as shocked as Guido, but since he doesn’t know about my warehouse, I want to give him the heads up.

We stand at the door to the Trap. It’s warm from being sunny all day, and he wears a long sleeved T-shirt. His hair hangs in waves and he’s watching me intently with his hands in his blue jean pockets, his thumbs sticking out. He waits for me to explain more.

I glance away before looking back at him. I clear my throat, “I have a warehouse full of zombies.” I go on quickly, “Using them to guard the community while we’re gone.” I blow out a breath.

“You think showing Guido is wise?” It’s the only thing he asks me. Nothing I do ever surprises him, as if he expects the abnormal from me.

I shrug, “He needs to know so he doesn’t shoot them. There is really no other explanation.”

“You can tell him it’s Mago,” he says, but his face changes as he realizes that won’t work either.

“See? I haven’t got a choice.”

“Thanks for the warning.” He pauses, “You can tell me anything, you know?”

I smile at the familiarity of the conversation. “You can, too.”

“What do you want to know?”

Everything. I swallow, wanting to ask him about his mother, but I can’t. The main reason being I want him to tell me without me prompting the discussion. “When did you learn to play the guitar?” I blurt out of nowhere.

He seems to think my question is fine. “I was eight when I got my first guitar. Played around with it. Self taught.” He shrugs, “I had a lot of time.”

I only stare at him. His
a lot of time
comment breaks my heart for him, knowing his mother left him alone a lot.

He must see it on my face because his eyes flash before narrowing. “What?”

“Nothing.” I smile, trying to lighten my thoughts. “Just imagining you as a kid.” I really break out into a grin now. A cute little hazel-eyed boy sitting, watching himself pluck the strings.  Rudy grins at me. “I bet you were cute,” I coo, opening the door.

He chuckles, grabbing the door over my head to hold it for me. “I was.”
Was
, my hinny. He still is, although I wouldn’t call it cute. Our gazes meet. “I bet you were, too,” he coos back.

Grinning, I duck under his arm and stroll through the door. “I was.”

*

We knock on Guido’s door and he opens it in a Speedo. The man is shameless. I sigh, “Get dressed. I have something to show you.”

It only takes him ten minutes to do so and get a couple of his men since we are going outside the gates. He already knows about the mission and possible side attacks. I don’t know what he plans to do about it, but I hope this will help.

We stand on the dock with a bright orange sky as a backdrop. “I don’t really know how to explain, so I’ll show you.” With that, I untie the rope and raise the door. The smell hits me first. The recent rain has left it humid and the sunny day heated it up. I don’t know how much longer they can last in here.

Guido’s man, Jocko, gasps and jumps back. “Whut da fuck?” He raises his gun.

I hold up both hands “Don’t. They will guard the community with my will.”

Guido is speechless. Rudy looks ready to help me if need be.

“Chickie, chickie, chicka. I knew I liked yew.” I’ve never seen him grin so wide—it’s disheartening. His eyes are bright and happy, making me sick, but his look changes. Something skulks beneath his surface as he stares at me. The change happens so quickly it disturbs me a bit.

I try not to let it bother me. “Well, they don’t really have to eat. As you know.” I wave to the zombies. “They will follow us.”

Glancing at Rudy, he is almost as revolted as I am. “I really don’t know how long they will last, and I don’t know how many there are. I’ve been collecting them for weeks.”

Guido’s eyes flash. “Say whut? Yew been doin’ this without my knowledge? Fo weeks?”

I get defensive, “Listen asshole, you would have shot them, and we wouldn’t have them now!”

He grabs my arm, jerking me to him.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Get your hands off me or you’ll have zombies eating you alive in five seconds.”

He ignores my demand. “I wouldna have shot ‘em if yew told me whut yew do,” he says in my ear, his breath smells like cigar smoke. A huge hand wraps around his throat. Rudy.

“Don’t. Ever. Touch. Her. Again. Don’t ever treat her like she’s one of your whores,” Rudy spits at him. His tone is deep and his glare calls for no less than murder if Guido disagrees. Guns cock, of what can only be Jocko and the other lackey. Rudy is just as quick. He already has a gun cocked to Guido’s temple.

I make a quick assessment, goading the zombies into action. They go for the lackeys. Gunshots and shouts ensue. They might be able to hold off one or two but not all of them.

“Aw ‘ight. Call dim dead ‘ems off ‘em!” Guido lets go of my arm. Rudy disengages his gun and pushes Guido, none too gently, away from me by his neck. The zombies stop and turn to peer at me. Guido rubs his neck, glowering at me. The lackeys chests heave as they watch the famished with fear. Tension hangs in the silent air.

Guido takes in all the famished and is the first to speak. “Dim some creepy motha fucka’s.” He looks at all of them in turn, pointing to a female. “Dat one go to tha Clap Trap. Jocko, get Peaches to fix ‘er up.” Straightening his clothes, he starts walking as if nothing happened. I screw my face up in revulsion. What a vile bastard, but the control I feel in the moment overplays any disgust for the time being. I know I can do anything. I no longer have doubts about completing my mission, but I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

*

When I wake, Gwen speaks. “Quite a riot out there this morning.”

“What?” I ask, my voice still thick with sleep, but I’m instantly alert.