Dead Hunger V: The Road To California (20 page)

Nelson pointed at me, then at her, smiled and nodded.  “Yeah.”

I shrugged.  “So I’m saying we can’t take the chance of leaving you alone with him unrestrained.  If he turns … it’s not worth the chance.”

“But Dave,” said Nelson, “You put like pure urushiol on it.  It worked for Gem, right?”

“I know, Nel, but it’s different,” I said.  “From what I heard, Gem was bitten on her thumb, and when that happened I think they actually cut her wound open more, trimmed away excess skin tissue and soaked it in urushiol for hours, or overnight or something.”

“Did she ever get the headache?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said.  “I wish I knew more.”

“Don’s taken care of me,” said Rachel, tears beginning to leak from her eyes.  “Or he
thinks
he did, really,” said Rachel, laughing through her tears.  “It’s funny.  If I actually remember back, it was me taking care of him.  He has this fatherly way of talking that makes you believe it’s the other way around.”

“I’ve known men like that,” said Serena.  “David is a wonderful exception.”

“And me,” said Nelson.  “I’m a wonderful exception, too.” 

“I’m certain you are,” said Rachel, smiling.

I saw that Nelson’s eyelids were heavy, and concluded that he took a couple of quick hits of pot on the other side of the helicopter.  I also noticed he held one of the brass stars in his hand and his fingers played gently over it.

Stoned, but focused and ready.  That was our Nelson.  I knew he’d be on target, too.

“Anyway, Rachel,” said Serena.  “What David is saying is we can’t leave Don unrestrained.”

“I can’t be the one to tell him,” said Rachel.  “I’d feel like I was jamming a knife in his heart.  Like saying I didn’t trust him.”

“It’s not a matter of trust, dude,” said Nelson.  “The guy could flip any time.”

“Any zip ties in the helicopter?” I asked.

“They got those cuffs like on the cop shows,” offered Nelson.  “In packages marked Flex Cuffs.  I almost tossed ‘em, but since they had Flex’s name on them I thought it would be cool to bring him back some.  They looked pretty light anyway.”

“They probably kept them on board in case they had to restrain any meth heads,” said Serena.

“Look,” I said.  “I’ll do it.  C’mon, Nelson.  Show me where they are.  Why don’t you guys hang here until it’s taken care of.  He’ll need a friendly voice by then, and I don’t think he’s going to be very happy with us.”

Nelson and I walked over together.  I took a package of the cuffs from the box he showed me and opened it.  I stepped aside from Nelson and offered up my plan.

“How much longer we flyin’ today?” asked Weston from the front.  “I could sure use a bed.”

I walked casually around and signaled to Nelson to climb inside from the back door.  He did.  We were ready to execute our hastily thought-out plan.

I reached the front door, opened it and leaned in.  “Hey, Don.  I have something that might help your headache.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“It’s a therapy thing,” I lied.  “Grab this bar here with both hands and grip it as tight as you can.  Then lean back and close your eyes.”

“I don’t go for shit like that,” he said.  “Too damned old to try Yoga crap.”

“It’s not yoga,” said Nelson.  “It’s marshal arts stuff, and you’re never too old for that.”

Weston rolled his eyes and gripped the horizontal bar mounted on the control panel in front of him.  I supposed it was for the co-pilot to steady himself on in the event of heavy turbulence.

“Okay, hold it tight, close your eyes, and lean back like you’re trying to pull it off the dashboard.”

Nelson crept closer to him, but Don was distracted, looking at me.  As soon as he leaned back and closed his eyes, Nelson’s hands shot out and he squeezed his hands tightly on top of Don’s.

I reached over and zipped on one Flex Cuff, then the other, securing both of his wrists to the grab bar.

“What the mother fuck!” Don Weston shouted, and tried to pull his hands back.  I’d gotten the cuffs closed securely, and he couldn’t free his hands, nor could he break the plastic.

“Sorry, Don,” I said.  “We had to do this because of your bite.”

“But you put that oil shit on me!” he shouted.

“Which we’re not certain will work, and you have the symptom – the headache.”

“Damn it!” he said.  “I do
not
want to turn into one of those fuckin’ things.”

“Well,” I said, “It goes without saying that we don’t want you to.  And what you have could just be a headache.  Have you slept at all since we took off?”

“No,” he said.  “Head hurts too bad.  Why?”

“Has to do with dreams,” I said.  “Horrible, vivid dreams.  Another indicator you’re infected.”

He looked hopeful.  “So if I go to sleep and I don’t have any crazy dreams, there’s a chance I’m alright?”  He turned to look at Nelson on his left.  “And you.  You have a pretty good grip on you for a stoner.”

“Subdudo,” said Nelson.  “Keeps me conditioned.  Sorry I had to do that, but Davey told me to.”

“You do everything he tells you to do?” Weston asked him.

“Pretty much, yeah.  Except go home.  It’s the only thing he’s told me to do that I told him no.”

Rachel came over and put a hand on Weston’s shoulder.  “I’m sorry, Don.  I have to defer to them, since they’ve been through a lot more than we have.  You can’t be trusted until that headache goes away.”

“At least,” said Nelson.  “Do you need a drink of water, Don?”

“I am a bit thirsty,” he said.  “But give me just a minute, would you?” he asked.  “I need a minute alone with Dave here.”

“Sure,” I said.  “Guys?”

“Me, too?” asked Rachel.

“Just Dave,” said Weston.  “Thanks.”

They stepped away, and I stood close to Don Weston.  “What’s up, Don?” I asked.

“It’s not good, what I have to tell you,” he said.  “I feel like shit about it.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it, but I nodded.  “Go ahead, but why now?”

“Because I’ve never had a headache like this,” said Weston.  “My brain is doin’ flip flops.  I don’t know if I’ll have enough sense to tell you later.”

“Okay.”

“I killed Jess,” he said.  “Well, I shot him, anyway.  When I came out that first day, he was one of the things in my corral attacking my livestock.  I knew Jess and Rachel real good for a few years, and I liked both of ‘em.  He was a good guy.  He almost got the better of me out there, ‘cause I didn’t want to shoot him.”

“You know you had to, right?”

“I know that, but it didn’t mean I could tell Rachel.  I knew she’d hate me, and she was all I had.  Everyone else I knew was dead ‘cept her.”

“No family?”

“Not close, no.  So that’s it.  Maybe if she starts goin’ on about Jess and finding him, you’ll let her know the truth.  I can’t.”

I nodded.  “Thanks, Don.  I’ll pick the right time to let her know, and I’ll try to explain why you couldn’t tell her.”

“Bottom line is because I love her like a daughter, and I couldn’t take it if she hated me.”  His eyes squeezed together in pain as he moaned.

I patted him and motioned Nelson back over.   He went into the back of the copter and brought back a bottle of water.  “Only four left back there,” he said, uncapping the water.  He tilted it to Weston’s lips, and the older man drank half of it down. 

Nelson jumped out of the bird and stood next to me. 

“Thanks Nelson,” Weston said, with a sigh.  “Okay, then.  You guys get whatever you’re gettin’ and let’s get back in the air.  If it happens to me up there, you can just cut these ties and kick me out the door.”

“If you turn into a zombie in mid-air, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly how it will go,” said Nelson, turning and kicking his right leg straight out.

I was in shock.

Nelson went on.  “I kick pretty good with my Subdudo, so that will likely be my job.  Please allow me to apologize in advance.”

I elbowed him in the ribcage and he stepped back and threw up his hands in his Subdudo stance.  Despite the tension with Weston, I couldn’t help but laugh, holding my palms outward.  “I don’t want to take you on, Nelson.  It’s just that a little decorum might be in order, that’s all.”

He looked at Don and couldn’t suppress a smile himself.  “Dude, I’m just being honest!”  Then he looked at us.  “When did honesty become a bad thing?”

“Kid, you are something,” said Weston.

“Okay, we’ve got lots to do,” I said.  “Don, just try to relax.  Sorry it was necessary to secure you like that.”

“I get it,” he said.  “Hurry back.”

Nelson patted Weston on the shoulder before he joined me and Serena.

“I’m not sure he gets it yet,” said Serena.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure he does,” I said.

Serena walked on my left and Nelson on my right.  Out of the blue, Nelson elbowed me sharply in the ribcage.  It produced a quick pain, and I looked at him and said, “Dude!”

It was a catchy word.

“See how that feels man?” he said, eyebrows raised and his smile still in place.

I think he poked me harder than he intended, because the pain lingered.  I just rubbed it and gave him a smile and a shake of my head.  “Sorry, Nel.  My bad.”

“No problem, dude.”

It was time to gather supplies and get our asses back in the air.  I longed for isolation on land as complete as that we had while airborne.

We picked up our pace and I checked my pockets for extra magazines for the Walther.

*****

As we rounded the corner, we were on Missouri Boulevard.  Just from the corner there was a Conoco Gas, Missouri Blvd Pawn & Gun, and to top it off, we saw a place called Vince Kobb Auto Sales. 

First things first.  I saw Nelson tense as Serena pulled out her Walther.  She immediately pulled out another magazine and put it in her front pocket

I was similarly ready.  We had begun to draw kind of a crowd, though in a world teeming with souped-up, pregnant abnormals, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.  We were drawing their attention in drips and drabs, and that’s how I liked it. 

But watching Serena preparing to take action, and seeing Nelson feeding off her preparedness, it became clear to me that a plan – even a shitty plan – was better than none at all.  We had to focus on making better, more well-thought-out plans.  Contingencies, if you will.

Up until that moment, I hadn’t felt like a leader.  I hadn’t, in my opinion, acted like a leader, either.

Fuck both of those statements, because they don’t tell the whole story.  The truth is, from that morning Leona first turned until then, I hadn’t intended to be, nor did I want to be a leader.  That was the honest truth of it.  I liked hanging back whenever it was possible, and letting someone else do the heavy lifting. 

Flex.  Gem.  Hemp.  Even Charlie, though I had, for a time, felt about her the way I feel about Serena, so with her, other emotions had kicked in, and I’d have done anything to protect her.  I don’t think it was any secret; in fact, I’m pretty sure Hemp knows I was smitten with her.

But I digress.

It wasn’t that Dave Gammon was a lazy man, because I wasn’t.  I was just on the more passive side.  If goaded into something, I might join in; but if things were being handled by others who were perfectly happy to take that role, I wasn’t one to fight them.

But now things were different.  This was
my
journey, and there was no getting around it.  I was fine when it was just me and Serena, because I knew I would step up like a beast when it came to protecting her – whether a strong woman like her needed my protection or not.

But subconsciously, I realized that even when Nelson insisted on coming along, that I shrugged off just a little of the weight I’d carried before.

I felt myself shedding some of the responsibility onto his bony shoulders.  Uh huh.  Not anymore.

The only damned reason anyone was heading west right now was because I had this notion to find Uncle Bug.  It was all by my design, so damn it, I would start to be the man they needed me to be.  Even if they didn’t realize that I hadn’t yet felt like that man.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” I said, already impressed with the tone with which I spoke the words.  “We hit that little auto dealer there.”

I pointed to the medium-sized lot with several cars and trucks sporting fake balloons on window flag mounts that had gathered a year and change worth of dust.

“If any of these rotters get within twenty feet,” I continued, “we take them out.  I’ll hit the office and grab a handful of keys, and hopefully they’re marked.  All we need is battery and even an 1/8
th
tank of fuel, and we’re good.”

“Good,” said Serena.

“What next?” asked Nelson.

“Next we go to that Pawn & Gun right there.  We grab guns that would make Flex and Gem have instant orgasms.  If it’s picked through, we grab the most powerful weapons with the most plentiful ammo.  After that, pretty much whatever else we can throw in the car.  Next, we hit that O’Reilly Auto Parts there and see if we can find some big tanks.”