Desolation Boulevard (15 page)

Not all of the survivors in this big city,
however, were interested in the common good. Sally learned from her
breakfast companions that since the event, some of the groups that
had formed were more like criminal gangs in the way they behaved.
It seemed that, just like in the old world, bad people gravitated
towards each other. The people at St Jude’s had dubbed these gangs
“marauders” and warned Sally to be on the lookout for them while
she was out with Dylan during the day. While their numbers were
smaller than the rest of the survivors, they made up for their size
by the sheer rage the displayed. Mr Ash described them as being
like psychotic dogs who had been let off their leash. Another man
at the table told of how a pair of marauders had ambushed him and
two women he had been travelling with. After beating him almost
unconscious and leaving him for dead, they shot the older of the
two women and carried the other one away with them. He never saw
her again. The evidence of this man’s ordeal was documented clearly
in the bruises and swelling on his face. Those marks would
eventually fade, but Sally doubted the haunted look in his eyes
would.

After breakfast, when the sun had risen,
Sally and Dylan headed out into the streets. As they passed through
the front gates of the church an armed man, who was sitting in a
fold-up picnic chair, recorded their names and their planned time
of return in a large book. Every human life at St Jude’s was
precious now and he wished them luck as they returned to the realm
of the night feeders. Earlier, Dylan had equipped Sally with a
strong flashlight, a small automatic pistol (which was only to be
used in an emergency), and a can of pink spray paint. He gave her a
quick lesson with the firearm once they were in an isolated spot
away from the church, but he was very clear that for today she was
to be an observer only, which was fine with her. She was more than
satisfied to leave the killing to him. In fact, she was pretty
terrified about the whole experience. Yesterday when she had said
yes to this adventure, it seemed abstract and manageable. In the
cold light of day, however, she was beginning to regret the whole
idea. After all, these creatures that Dylan would be executing were
once people. How would she feel, for example, if they needed to
exterminate a pregnant woman? She tried to put these thoughts out
of her mind as they walked side by sided through the empty city
streets.

Dylan was trying to prepare her for the
tough day ahead by giving her as much information as she could
handle. “Did you notice anything about that group of zombies
outside the fence this morning?” he asked.

“
Just that they freaked me
out. Why?”

“
How would you describe
them, as a demographic group?”

“
What do you mean, like age
and gender?”

“
Exactly. Anything jump out
at you?”

She tried to visualise the group of
creatures that had been hovering on the edge of the light just a
couple of hours ago. “No, I can’t think of anything in particular.
What about them?”

“
Well, we’ve been studying
them and it seems like they’re almost all young and fit-looking.
Mostly male too.”

“
What’s the relevance of
that? Isn’t it just because all of the older, slower ones were
killed in the first couple of days?”

Matt looked at her. “Yeah, we said that too,
but we think there’s something else as well. We think they are
developing some kind of social structure. The stronger ones are
putting themselves into more danger. They’re taking charge. Being
leaders maybe? They just seem to be drifting into it like it’s
natural. Anyway, it’s just a theory. It’s too early to tell I
suppose.”

Sally told Dylan about the pack behaviour
she’d noticed in the group below her balcony a couple of nights
earlier.

He looked at her thoughtfully. “Yeah. Let’s
hope we’re wrong, hey?”

Then, without fanfare or fuss, Dylan stopped
walking and turned to face a plain looking, medium-sized office
block.

“
Okay, here we are,” he
said. “Let’s kill some zombies.”

Chapter 28

Matt awoke from his shallow sleep to find
Elvis licking his face. He went to hug the dog, but realised his
arm was still shackled to the heater. Damn! He’d forgotten where he
was for a moment. “Good boy Elvis. Sit.” he said quietly, as he
tried to assess his situation.

He looked around the room. Outside he could
see that the shadows were lengthening, but he didn’t think he’d
been asleep for much longer than half an hour or so. Brock was
sprawled across his narrow bed, snoring loudly. His t-shirt had
ridden up and Matt could see his fat, pale stomach rising and
falling with each laboured breath. When he glanced over at Montana
he saw that she was looking at him over the top of a tacky gossip
magazine. When she noticed him, though, her gaze returned quickly
back to the article she had been pretending to read. Matt quickly
weighed up his options and realised that the easily led Montana
might be his only hope in this potentially deadly situation.
 So quietly, being careful not to awaken the sleeping Brock,
he whispered to her across the room, “Hey. Montana.”

She didn’t look up from her magazine, and
even though she was attempting to ignore him, Matt could tell that
she was interested. Brock might have her under his evil influence
for the moment, but it was obvious that it wouldn’t last once she
met other, more agreeable, post-apocalypse companions like
himself.

Another attempt. “Montana. How are you? Are
you okay?”

She glanced at the sleeping Brock and hissed
across the room, “I’m not supposed to talk to you! Brock will be
pissed. Leave me alone”.

“
Hey. I’m sorry, okay. I
don’t want to get you into trouble,” Matt replied in his quietest
voice, realising immediately that Montana would be a pushover if he
handled her properly.

“
My name’s Matt. My
family’s gone. Yours?” She glanced nervously again at the big
sleeping man and answered sarcastically, “What do you think
genius?”

Despite her surliness, Matt had to keep her
talking because he understood that she was only trying to put up a
tough facade when, in fact, she would be suffering inside just as
much as he was. He spoke to her.

“
I really miss my parents,”
he continued. “I could use a friend. Someone nice, I mean. I don’t
think I could be friends with him.”  Matt motioned with his
head towards Brock.

“
He saved me from those
creatures. I owe him something.”

Although Matt struggled with the vision of
Brock as a knight in shining armour, it was clear that she had
developed an allegiance to him. But now Matt was going to do
everything in his power to break that faithfulness.

“
Of course you owe him
something,” he agreed. “He’s trying really hard. I’m sure he’s
doing the best he can, but maybe he’s a little out his depth? Have
you talked about how he is going to look after you in the
future?”

She looked at Matt and frowned. “What do you
mean?”

“
Well, what’s his long-term
plan? How long do you intend staying here? You don’t even have
electricity.”

She whispered back, “Nobody has electricity.
It’s off everywhere.”

“
I have electricity,” Matt
stated.

That really got her attention, Matt thought,
as she stood up and came over to him, tiptoeing past the snoring
figure of Brock. She knelt down beside him and Matt could smell her
cheap perfume and for some reason, that he couldn’t quite
comprehend, he found it touching and thought he was going to cry
again. The world was in ruins, but this girl needed to appeal to
somebody, even if it was only the hapless Brock.

“
How can you have
electricity? “ she murmured, obviously confused.

“
I live on a farm near
Millfield,” he said, trying to put his emotions to one side. “We
have our own generator. I have a fridge, TV, electric lights, hot
running water, everything. You and Brock should come back with me
before it gets dark.”

Montana looked over at Brock. “I don’t think
he’d come. He’s fucking crazy. I think he’s been … playing around
with some of those dead bodies out there. I think he’s actually
enjoying this nightmare. He told me he loves me, for chrissake! I
think if I tried to leave he’d go nuts. I’m only staying with him
‘cause there’s no one else left.”

Matt could see tears welling up in the
girl’s eyes. He had to convince her to come with him immediately,
or Brock would wake up and it would be too late. He decided to go
for it and tell her everything. “Montana, listen to me. I can look
after you. You don’t need this guy. He’s bad news. We can get in my
car and go back to Millfield right now. Tonight you can have a nice
warm shower and a proper meal, not just junk food. You can help me
look after Elvis.”

The girl was listening intently and Matt
knew he almost had her. In the background Brock mumbled something
about monsters, farted and resumed his snoring. Matt decided to
risk it all and tell her everything.

“
Montana, this isn’t just
about you and me. There’s somebody else. A little girl I brought
with me; she’s in my car now waiting for me. If I don’t get back to
her before dark those feeders will get her and it will be all our
fault.”

She looked at Matt, clearly shocked. “What?
Are you kidding me? Why didn’t you say? Is she okay? You can’t
leave her out there! We have to get her out of here! We can’t let
those things get her!” Then she remembered Brock and her face
darkened. “What about him?” she asked, pointing to the bed.

Matt didn’t want to have
anything to do with the unhinged corpse-molester, so he took a
chance. “What do
you
think we should do?” he asked her.

The girl paused and looked across at the
obese figure before returning her gaze to Matt. “Fuck him!” she
hissed. “Let’s get out of here.”

Matt’s relief was overwhelming, and if his
hands weren’t secured he would have hugged her. “Good girl. Get
these cuffs off me and let’s get going, but don’t wake him up.”

Montana stood up and went to find the keys,
but it was suddenly obvious that she didn’t know where they were.
She looked at Matt and shrugged her shoulders. Where were they?
Matt tried to think! What had Brock done with them? He tried to
play the scene back in his mind after his hands had been
restrained. What had that freak done with the keys? Matt looked
frantically at the girl and shook his head. He motioned for her to
keep looking while he searched his memory for a clue that would
help him remember. He closed his eyes to help him think. Brock had
sat him in the corner and Montana had thrown the cuffs at his head.
Then the fat man had bound him to the heater … Shit! Had Matt seen
Brock with a key? He didn’t think so. That was why there was no
key! The cuffs were open before they had been secured onto his
wrists. Brock hadn’t needed a key to lock them! They could be
anywhere. Matt’s hopes of getting out of the room before dark
seemed hopeless.

Montana continued to search the room while
Matt desperately considered his options. If Brock woke up now, they
would be trapped here until night fell and Gabby would almost
certainly die brutally at the hands of the feeders. They had to try
something. Maybe Matt could talk Montana into knocking the
kidnapper unconscious while he slept, giving them more time to
search for the key. But what if she hit him too hard and killed
him? They might never find the key and by the time he finally
escaped from the handcuffs it would be dark anyway. And if she
didn’t hit him hard enough and he wasn’t knocked out, he would wake
up angrier than ever and maybe kill them both. He needed a plan,
and suddenly the plan came to him. He called Montana over.

“
I can’t find it!” she
whispered hysterically.

“
Don’t worry about it. I
have another idea, but you need to do exactly as I say. This might
be our only chance. Be strong and follow my lead.”

He looked into her eyes and tried to judge
whether she was capable of performing the difficult task he had
planned for her. All he saw in that pretty face was anxiety and
doubt, but he had to trust her to get this right. It was their only
shot. He leaned forward and whispered into her ear. Outside the
afternoon was getting darker.

Chapter 29

As Sally stood in the foyer of the seemingly
deserted office building, she could feel her heart beating like a
drum. She looked over at Dylan who was very carefully surveying the
layout of the place. He didn’t appear nervous at all.

“
How many of these things
have you shot?” she asked, not really sure that she wanted to know
the answer.

“
Not enough,” he replied
bitterly.

He turned around and faced Sally who was
doing her best to show no fear. “It looks safe enough now, but
don’t take anything for granted. I haven’t seen any of these
crazies come out in the daylight yet, but that doesn’t mean it will
never happen. I usually do a sweep from the top floors first,
because that’s where it’s brightest. I haven’t found any zombies in
any of those floors yet, but I don’t want to take any chances, so I
check them anyway.”

Sally looked at him and asked, “What will I
do if you find a nest here?”

“
Just follow my lead. I’ve
brought you with me because I can see strength in you that most of
the others don’t have. If I can train somebody to help me wipe
these freaks off the face of the earth, then I’ll be satisfied, but
I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.” He paused and gazed into
Sally’s eyes. “Especially people I really like. So for today, I
just need you to stay out of the way. Up until yesterday, killing
them was like shooting fish in a barrel. They’d just lie there. But
I think their behaviour’s changing.”