Man Eaters (20 page)

“Huh? What?”

“You fell asleep? All our lives depend on you watching over us and you fall asleep?”

“I can’t help it. You don’t—”

“Get out of my sight. I can’t believe you’re laying here asleep.”

Cue ball climbed off the rock. “No harm done.”

“This time. I can’t believe you, Cue. You’re a grown man yet there are times you act like a petulant little boy. Try shouldering some responsibility.”

“Responsibility? You put me on guard duty with nothing but a crow bar? What do I have to do to earn your trust?”          

“Try staying awake when our lives depend on it!” Dallas climbed up onto the rock and hefted her rifle to her shoulder to check her sights in the dark.

Taking a few deep breaths, she realized what she would need to do—it was time to cut him from the pack. She didn’t trust him to do what was right. The only problem she had was reconciling how right it was to send someone off into the wilds of zombieville alone. She supposed she could give him a rifle and some food. She’d have to talk it over with Roper and Butcher to see what they thought. It didn’t sit well with her, but she knew she had to take care of the group’s best interests first.

Maybe she could just have a talk with him.

As Dallas stood on the rock peering through the darkness, she fought off the twin feelings of fear and hopelessness that seemed to visit her during her watch. Were they ever going to make it out of this alive, or was their death a foregone conclusion?

Lowering her rifle, she kept her ears keen to the silence, but there would be no answers for her this night, only dozens of unanswered questions.

****

After walking for half the day, they all agreed getting another Hummer was crucial to their survival. They had to get out of California.

And Einstein was sure they were coming.

“We need a car to smoke them out with,” Butcher said as they came to a field overlooking a drive-in theater that appeared more like a battlefield than a parking lot. Body parts were strewn all over, blood that had long since dried on the vehicles looked more like red candle wax, and several cars were still occupied by undead, who had stopped thrashing about but were moving nonetheless. A dozen or so others shuffled around, moaning, incapable of figuring a way out and into the cow pastures on either side of the drive-in.

“Oh hell no,” Tate said. “We ain’t goin’ down there.”

“Who knew these still existed?” Roper asked aloud.

Dallas looked at Butcher, who was gazing at a tow truck. A slow grin crept across her face. “The fastest car down there will be the Porsche. Let’s take out the eaters wandering around and grab the Porsche.”

“And then what?”

“Then we get a Hummer to give chase. If I can lure them back here, we have a chance. Here’s what I think we ought to do.”

Once Butcher had laid out her plan, she ran down to the drive-in and shot two man eaters before jumping into the Porsche and taking off.

“You realize that if a Blackhawk sees her first, she’s toast,” Roper said.

“I know, but it’s the only chance we have.”

Nodding, Roper jumped in the saddle and headed for the two dozen cattle standing around the empty feeder a stone’s throw from the big screen. Rounding up cattle was child’s play to her and she had the majority of the cows moved to the entrance of the drive-in before Dallas could even miss her.

As Roper herded the final cows into place, Dallas and Einstein dispatched the rest of the walking man eaters and then moved almost as many cars into position as cows. With the drive-in ready, all they could do was wait.

“We still keeping the horses?” Einstein asked.

“We are. When we get closer to the park, we’ll have to see about getting a couple more so everyone rides solo.”

Einstein tapped his chin as he thought out loud. “Good. We’ll have to start siphoning gas and eventually the gas left in cars will evaporate. Horses are probably going to be our more reliable rides as this thing goes on.” He eyed the small opening they’d left for the Porsche. “You didn’t give her much room to navigate. I sure hope she’s a good driver.”

An hour later, they were about to find out, as the Porsche peeled around a corner, caught air, landed, fishtailed, and then resumed its trajectory to the drive-in, a black Hummer in close pursuit.

“There she is! Everyone ready!”

The Porsche came roaring into the parking area of the drive-in before zipping through the small opening created by lining up eight cars about seven feet from the hillside. When the Hummer entered the drive-in in hot pursuit, Roper released the cows in behind it, virtually pinning it between the wall of cars and the cattle, which were too deep for the Hummer to merely back over. With the Porsche out of sight, the Hummer was sufficiently trapped.

Backing the tow truck up to the cows, Cue-Ball released the hook. Roper slid off Merlin, grabbed the hook, and made her way through the herd until she got close enough to attach the hook to the back axle of the Hummer.

As the cows engulfed the Hummer, the passenger door opened and an arm stuck a gun out and tried to shoot the beasts.

Dallas took a shot at the vehicle and the arm quickly withdrew and the door closed, just as the tow truck winch began churning, pulling the Hummer slowly through the cows, which were reluctant to move.

Einstein peered through the binoculars. “It’s working. They’re panicking inside.”

The Hummer had no place to go. Forward meant crashing into the cars, and backward was where it was moving, with or without them.

The driver of the Hummer tried to pull against the tow truck, kicking up dust and rocks that pelted the cows and made them meander away. That was when Cue-Ball turned on the juice, lifting the Hummer’s back wheels off the ground.

Once the hummer was off the ground, Dallas, Roper, Butcher and Einstein surrounded it from three sides, each behind a car acting as a shield.

“Get out of the vehicle,” Dallas ordered above the din of the mooing herd and spinning tires.

They waited for the driver to turn off the engine. When he did, Dallas repeated her command. “Toss your weapons out and come out with your hands behind your heads!”

For a long time, nothing happened as the four men in the Hummer tried to figure out what they were going to do. Dallas knew they had one of two choices: to do as she said, or to come out shooting. She wasn’t surprised that they chose the latter. They were military, after all.

Suddenly, all four doors flew open and the men inside jumped out, rifles blazing.

Butcher killed the driver with her third shot. Roper riddled her man with bullets and Dallas wounded, but did not kill hers, who fell beneath the hooves of the now frantic cattle and was crushed.

The fourth man held his hands in the air in surrender and climbed onto the running board to avoid the cows.

“Don’t shoot! Please. Don’t shoot me!”

“Why? You would have shot us.” Dallas rose, but kept her rifle poised at his midsection.

Everyone else aimed at the soldier, who held onto the Hummer with one hand while raising the other. “I was just following orders.”

“That’s what the Nazis said at Auschwitz.” Dallas didn’t move, but waited as Roper moved the cattle out of the main area, where they took off in several different directions.

The dead soldier on the ground was a bloody pulp, his skull caved in and blood oozed all over his uniform.

As the cows streamed out, Butcher and Einstein approached from two different sides. The look on the soldier’s face did not go unnoticed.

“What? You’re surprised you got taken down by a few women and a teenager?”

He slowly shook his head. “Ma’am, nothing can surprise me anymore.”

Dallas lowered her weapon. She stood fifteen feet away from him. “I’m sure. Now step to the ground and lay down with your hands behind your back.”

“Ma’am, I swear I won’t give you any problems.”

“I know you won’t. Do what I ask. Please.”

He did, and Roper came around behind him and tied his hands behind his back before pulling him to his feet. “Make no mistake here, soldier...Kennedy. We’ll blow your brains out if you even think about turning on us. As you can see, killing the living is becoming as easy to accomplish as killing the undead. Don’t add yourself to that list.”

Private Kennedy nodded and stepped forward toward Dallas, each arm in the grasp of Roper and Butcher.

“Go ahead!” Dallas yelled to Cue-Ball, who lowered the Hummer to the ground and got out to release the hook.

“Let’s get to higher ground,” Dallas said. “Butcher, would you please bring the Hummer around to the back gate over there?”

Butcher stepped over one of the dead soldiers and hopped into the driver’s side. Cue-Ball got in as well, and they drove out of the drive-in to a gravel road surrounding the theater area.

To Private Kennedy, Dallas said, “Here’s how this is going to go down. We want information about what is really happening now. We know a great deal from the last Hummer we hijacked, so if you lie, you’re dead. If you omit anything, you’re dead.”

“And if you really piss us off,” Einstein added. “You’ll be tied to a post down there and left for one of those things to have you for lunch.”

Private Kennedy nodded. “I understand.”

When they all were back together, Dallas started in. “We understand containment. We also know you’re losing that battle. So, now what? What’s the military’s next move?”

Private Kennedy inhaled deeply.

“The truth, Private, and nothing short of it, is the key to you keeping your life.”

Finally, he swallowed hard and said softly, “We are getting ready to pull out of the state so we can bomb every major city from Sacramento to Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, and two more up north.”

“When?”

“They haven’t given a specific date. Soon, I would imagine.”

“What then?”

“After the bombings, we’re returning to kill every living human and undead we can find.”

“Is it true other cities in the country are infected?”

“Yes.”

“We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

Slight hesitation. “Yes...unless—”

“Unless what?”

“Unless we can create a vaccine, but time is running out for that.”

“A vaccine. The military is sticking with that lame-ass story?”

He shrugged and Dallas realized he was handsome in a Dudley Do-Right sort of way with a deeply clefted chin that looked like it hurt and eyes that said he’s seen too much death in his young life. “We’re desperate. I only know what I’ve heard passed down the line from soldier to soldier. If we can create a vaccine—” his voice trailed off.

“Then you can stop murdering survivors?”

“It isn’t murder.”

“The hell it isn’t. You followed the Porsche because you wanted to party?”

He looked down and said nothing.

“Exactly.”

“What do you know about these collection centers?”

He finally looked up at Dallas. “Ma’am, I only know what I need to know.”

“What have you heard?” This came from Butcher, who squatted in front of him. She rattled of her company and platoon and waited for him to acknowledge they were kindred military spirits.

“Ma’am, if you were military, you understand need to know basis.”

“I’m not asking what you know, Private. I am asking what you’ve heard.”

His eyes traveled from face to face, and in that moment something within him broke as tears clouded his vision. “I’ve just heard we are testing humans. I don’t know what for and I don’t know the reasoning behind it. This isn’t what I signed up for, and the whole thing sickens me, but what can I do?”

Rising, Dallas and Butcher stepped away from him and over to the rest of the group. “We are not killing this man. I suggest we bring him a little ways with us. If we find a safer place to leave him, we will.”

“I disagree with that idea,” Tate said. “Leave him here. He would have killed us if he could have. I say we give him what he would have given us.”

“Tate’s right,” Coco added. “We don’t owe him any favors. Leave him here. I say we vote on it.”

“We’re not voting.”

“Why not? No one appointed you Queen Bee.”

Roper got right in Coco’s face. “Back off.”

“Coco’s right. We should put it to a vote.” Tate puffed his skinny chest out in support of his girlfriend.

“Stop it. All of you. I am not leaving him here and since this seems to be an issue with a few of you, I’ll take two of the horses and—”

“Me,” Roper said, “and Einstein.”

“And Roper and Einstein. Until we feel comfortable enough to leave him some place, we’ll take him on the horses. Butcher, you’ll drive the Hummer. The rest of you are to act in support.”

“With what? Rocks and sticks?” Cue-Ball again.

Dallas sighed. “Butcher can you meet us outside of the TA Truck Stop off Highway 40 about forty miles or so from here?”

Butcher calculated the distance. “That’ll put you guys in the saddle long after sundown.”

“We’ll meet you there in the late morning then.”

Roper pulled Butcher aside. “Keep your wits about you, and don’t trust Cue-Ball. The guy’s a douche bag.” Roper handed her the magnum. “Don’t be afraid to use it in close quarters.”

Butcher looked down at the gun. “I’ll be fine. Really. You sure you want us to go that far?”

Dallas nodded. “I have a few things I want you to look for on your way.” As Dallas walked Butcher to the Hummer, Roper and Einstein struggled to get Private Kennedy up onto Gwen. Roper then retied his hands in front so he could hold the horn.

“See that dog?” Roper said, tossing her leg over the saddle. “I’ll let him tear you apart if you try to leave.”

Private Kennedy cut a look over at Zeus. “Ma’am, I’m separated from my unit, my buddies are dead, and you are my only hope of remaining alive. You won’t have any problem with me.” He reminded Dallas of a younger Tom Hanks with curly brown hair and that chiseled chin. He stood a little over six feet tall with broad shoulders that tapered to a flat stomach. She wouldn’t call him handsome, but she was certain he would be in the straight world.

After making sure everyone was on the same page, Dallas mounted Morgana and watched as Einstein pulled Peanut up with him. “She stays with us,” he said in the most commanding voice she’d heard from him since they’d met.