End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle (36 page)

             
The grenade never went off.

             
Tanya knocked away the gun of the wounded one. The light was dim but I saw we were in a large pantry stocked with a lot of food and some guns. Not the explosives broken nose led us to believe were there.

             
I looked at Mike oddly since the grenade never went off.

             
“It’s a dummy. I couldn’t use a flash grenade in case there were explosives.”

             
“Where’s Joel?” Tanya asked, holding the gun to the guy’s head.

             
“You’ll never get him, you bitches,” he said, loudly with agony in his voice.

             
“I will shoot other things,” I said. “Kneecaps, groin, feet.”

             
“Better yet,” Tanya added. “Let’s toss him to the zombs.”

             
“Let’s tie him to the pole and let them have him.” That visibly scared the guy. I thought of Joel tied to the pole surrounded by zombies and that made me smile. The man’s brown eyes widened.

             
“He’s not here,” he finally admitted. “He said he had something to stop this.”

             
“What?”

             
I looked at Mike and thought about Joel setting his previous house on fire.

             
“Oh lord,” Mike said, looking horrified. “The bunkhouse.”

             
He rushed back and up the stairs without seeing if we were following. I had trouble keeping up.

              I wasn’t sure what I would find when I got to the bunkhouse. Instead we were greeted with no one. The lands around it were empty of living humans and a few zombies in the front probably trying to get inside. No Joel or any of his guards. I realized we had been sent on a while goose chase. Joel and Raping Bill used their men to escape. I shot the three zombies milling around the door. Pop, pop, pop and they were all gone.

             
When Dena saw it was us, she unlocked the door.

             
“Come on out!” Mike ordered. Dena came out first, followed by Annemarie.

             
“Joel is gone, at least we think he is,” Mike said.  “But he might have left explosives in the bunkhouse, so everyone walk in an orderly fashion to the house.”

             
The bunkhouse had stairs. I sat on the bottom, put the safety on the rifle and pointed it down. I felt dejected. I wanted to kill Joel and Bill but they tricked me.

             
People slowly left the bunkhouse. Despite that there could be a bomb inside, they did move in an orderly fashion.

             
I saw a zombie, a young one, used to be a woman, dark skinned, and looked Indian. She moved towards us in that disjointed zombie walk. She wasn’t close enough to start moaning.

             
“Miss,” a woman said, as she passed me by. “Can you put her out of her misery? Her name was Hattie. All she did was ask to leave.”

             
I didn’t reply. I stood up, although I felt a wave of nausea. I took off the safety and looked down the sight. The bullet hit Hattie in the forehead. She flew back and crashed to the ground.

             
“Thank you, miss,” she said, she smiled, and touched my shoulder. “For sending her to heaven.”

             
If there was a heaven, I think Hattie went long before I shot her body. I realized there must be hundreds of zombies in the trenches and lurking about. I needed to do a clean sweep before I passed out.

             
Tanya stood by the door, her gun down while making sure everyone left.

             
“We need to hunt down the zombies,” I said. “And Joel.”

             
Tanya looked at me. Her face read that she thought Joel was already gone but I had to make sure. “You look like you can barely stand.”

             
“I can stand long enough. Annemarie, come with me.” Annemarie looked at me dumbfounded. I have never asked to be paired with someone.

             
“We should all go together.”

             
“Faster if we split it. Mike, Dena and you can do the other side. We can meet in the center.”

             
Tanya looked like she planned to say something, but I stared her down. She saw my determination. It wasn’t only the zombies I needed to kill, but to put a bullet in the head of an even bigger monster.

             
Mike handed me a bottle of water.

             
“Be careful,” he said. He looked at Annemarie and me like mischievous daughters. “Both of you.”

             
I gave him my best smile. “Aren’t I always?”

              I started off at the burning gate house. No one bothered to put the fire out. The house stood burning pouring black smoke into the sky. I didn’t think it would spread, thanks to the trenches built around it. Some zombies still milled about in them not sure how to get out. I killed them all but still missed some headshots.

             
Annemarie didn’t say anything but I knew she was flabbergasted that I missed. When I concentrated, sometimes my eyes blurred.

             
My adrenaline was wearing down and I knew it. I needed to find Joel.

             
“You don’t have to do this,” Annemarie said. She touched my shoulder. I was never nice to her and I didn’t know why she was being kind to me. “Tanya, Mike and I may not be the best shooters but we can handle it.”

             
There were more zombies on the other side.

             
“Line up your sight,” I said, ignoring her.

             
I pulled in behind her, kept my body pressed against hers. I lined her up perfectly.

             
“Shoot, Annemarie,” I said. She fired and neat little hole appeared above the nose. It was enough for it to die.

             
“Wonderful!” Annemarie looked again like I punched her in the face because I have never said a kind word to her. I used the rifle to take the remaining zombies. Mowed them down one by one. They were a mixture of old and young. I knew the young ones were people who defied Joel.             

             
I felt dizzy. I had to sit. There was a gazebo near us, so I headed towards it but didn’t make it. My knees buckled and Annemarie grabbed me to keep me from falling. She walked me over to the gazebo and sat me down. She lifted some water to my lips, I sipped slowly and vomited nearly hitting Annemarie. Not very lady like. Since I hadn’t eaten, only water and bile came out.

             
“Let me know when you can walk, and we’ll head to the house,” she said.

             
“Have to get Joel--” I said, my voice slurring.

             
“You’re in no condition to do anything.”

             
“Well, well, well, hello ladies.”

             
I looked up and there was Bill. He also had an assault rifle, probably the same one used to mow down our people. Now it was pointed at us. Annemarie raised hers immediately. I couldn’t even lift my arm.

             
“Not doing so well, are you Princess?” And he touched my face with his revolting hands.

             
I became as fast as fucking lightening when I brought up the rifle and shot him in the leg. Bill crashed to the ground, dropping his rifle. Annemarie quickly grabbed it before Bill could. He was too busy holding his injured leg.

             
“You bitch!” he yelled not noticing we had the upper hand.

             
I had adrenaline again, at least briefly. I held the gun to Bill’s head. He stopped shouting and realized how fucked he was. He began dragging his body away. Not that he could get that far.

             
I didn’t shoot him, although I really wanted to. Annemarie didn’t either.

             
We watched him crawl on his belly away from us.

             
Annemarie looked peeved. She raised her rifle.

             
And shot Bill in the ass.

             
I looked at her. “You missed the head.”

             
“I wasn’t aiming for it.”

             
I giggled. I walked besides him as he crawled.

             
“How many women did you rape, Bill?”             

             
He didn’t answer. I should have killed him but I wanted to torment him, wanted him to feel what I felt when he was on top of me. I thought of all the other women he visited in the night. Was Aisha one of them? Her sister?

             
Bill continued to crawl. Did he realize he had nowhere to go?

             
As he got closer to the trench, he suddenly backtracked. I saw seven zombies still inside. They saw Bill and got excited. Their hunger moan filled the air. I had an idea.

             
I looked at Annemarie, looked at Bill and the zombie trench. She smiled.

             
I took one of Bill’s arm and she took the other.

             
“What the fuck!” Bill yelled and he kept yelling as we dragged him across the grass. “What the fuck are you bitches doing?”

             
“You’ll never rape anyone again,” I said as we pushed him into the trench.

             
I heard the zombies moan louder and I heard Bill screaming. Music to my ears. I watched them surround him and tear flesh and while normally I find the sight of blood and torn flesh disgusting, the only queasiness I felt came was from the being in the hot sun. I had no sympathy at all to Bill’s cries for help. I had no intention of giving him any mercy.

             
Then I fainted, still holding the gun. I don’t know if it discharged when it hit the ground. I just knew daddy would have been disappointed I was so irresponsible.

              “Grace,” an arm touched me. I opened my eyes to see my father. “You will be okay now.” Then he vanished and was replaced by Dr. Philips.

             
I was naked again, but no one was on top of me except a cool white sheet. I had a cool wet cloth on my head, parts of my body were covered by some kind of lotion, and an IV was stuck in my right arm. My hair was wet. I wasn’t in the meeting room downstairs but a large bedroom with two beds. I was still at the estate house. Tommy was in the other bed. His eyes were open but a little glazed. Next to my bed was my rifle and I felt joy. I was so worried I had lost her. I stared at her enjoying the company. The room was air conditioned. The low sound of blowing was music to me.

             
“How are you?” Dr. Philips asked.

             
Everything that happened hit me, the heat, the thirst, being raped, tortured and killing Bill.

             
All I could say was: “Sleepy.”

             
“You slept for quite a while. I hope you don’t mind. Tanya and I stripped you and put you in a cold bath.”

             
“Am I okay?”

             
“No heat stroke but getting there. You were very dehydrated. Luckily Joel took saline bags whenever he found them. He put a lot of people on those poles--” she paused. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you before. Joel had this place locked up tight. No one has ever escaped.” I knew she was right but I was still disappointed. I didn’t say so.

             
“What about Tommy?”

             
Philips looked at him. He was in a bed not far, also with an IV. He wasn’t naked though, he wore what looked like pajamas.

             
“He’s lucky to be alive.”

             
I looked at him and waved. He managed to give me a weak one back.

             
“I love all your movies,” I said and suppressed a giggle.

             
“Thanks—“ he said. His voice was so hoarse, he didn’t sound anything like he did in his films.

             
“What about you? I asked, turning my attention back to Dr. Phillips. “Were you Joel’s prisoner?” my throat was dry, but the doctor knew, she gave me a cup of water in the same plastic cups that Joel used.

             
“Yes, but Joel treated me okay because he needed my skills.”

             
“You get a visit from Bill ever?”