S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND: Season Two Omnibus (Episodes 9-11) (119 page)

“Okay, okay,” Grant said. He thumbed the Link and murmured, “That woman is going to bring every Undead within a quarter mile of here.”

“Not as long as the network's up,” Jessie reminded him. “Not this close to the wall.”

“Well?” Jo screamed. “Hurry the fuck up!”

“Of course, I could be wrong.”

“Give me a minute to tie her up,” Grant said into the Link. “I'll ping you back with the photo. And keep it down.”

“After you do, leave your camera propped up where we can keep an eye on the girl.”

He stowed the device into his shirt pocket, then reached into his pack and drew out a length of cord.

“You're not actually going to do this, are you?” Jessie asked.

He nodded.

“They're not going to let you talk them out of anything.”

“Gimme your wrists, Jessie. Don't argue. And sit down— no, not this side. Back up against the other barrier there.”

“No, Grant, please, don't do this.”

“
Keep your voice down!
” he hissed. “I'm tying a slip knot. You'll be able to undo it by pulling one end with your teeth. Same thing with your feet. First chance you get, you take off through the wall.”

“How? I don't have a key.”

“There's one on my Link.” He showed it to her. “Press this and hold it against the wall.”

She stared at him as he made the knots. “Why? Why would you do this for me?”

“Not for you,” he said, though he didn't elaborate.

When he was finished, he showed her which end of the rope to pull, then he took a picture of her bound and sitting in the dirt, her back against the barrier and sent it. “Do you still have the EM pistol?” he whispered.

She nodded. “But—”

“Good. You got Jo and Rosie on either side, which means Andy Emerson, Jo's partner, is somewhere behind me off the side of the road, probably hiding in the brush. Remember, he'll have the sun at his back.”

He picked up the sword, her staff, and her pack and made a show of throwing them away, right up against the base of the wall next to the portal. Then he stood up and reconnected his Link. “Don't move,” he told her in a loud, gruff voice.

“
Straight up the road
,” Jo instructed. “
Toward Emerson
.”

“I said I'll speak with Rosie. She's—”

“
Straight up the road. And no funny stuff. He gets trigger-happy and I know he won't hesitate to put a bullet in her skull. Slowly now, pistol holstered and your hands where we can see them.
”

“I'm on your side, Jo. Remember?”

“
Funny, I forgot that for a second. Guess I'm not perfect. Then again, none of us is, right?
”

Grant glanced down at Jessie. There was no fear in his face, no regret. “Sorry about keeping you in the dark like this.”

“You're the one who's in the dark,” she spat. “About everything!”

He shrugged and looked up, shielding his eyes against the late afternoon sun. “Few more hours of daylight,” he said. “Let's not waste it.”

“No! Grant, don't.”

He stepped out from behind the cement barrier and strode down the road, just as the sun began to burn the tops of the highest trees.

* * *

The minutes passed with inexorable slowness. A half hour, then an hour.

What the hell do they have to talk about for so long?

Jessie sat and glared at Grant's Link, which he'd set on the ground propped up against the other barrier just past her feet. She could feel them watching her through it. She didn't want to jeopardize Grant's safety, so she didn't move.

The shadows lengthened, rising from her feet and progressing up her legs while the stone of the concrete barrier at her back blazed with orange light. She could feel the heat coming off of it, baking her skin.

Grant had warned her to watch out for Emerson:
He'll have the sun at his back.
But in Jessie's mind, the ones she distrusted even more were the women. Maybe it was because Grant was a man that he thought they were less of a threat.

For such a good player as he said he was, he'd sure gotten a lot wrong.

One thing he got right was the sun. It was shining straight into her eyes, blinding her. She tried to squeeze herself down, to get away from it, but a shout came from her right: “Sit the fuck up, girl!”

So much for untying her bindings. Now she wished Grant had switched her position with the camera's. At least then the sun would've been shining right on it and blinding the bitch.

Except they wouldn't have let him do that, would they?

The shadow rose to the middle of her stomach.

She twisted her bound hands on her lap and gave the camera a double-fisted one-finger salute.

Nobody shouted, which only made her angrier. She raised her hands higher in fury, up out of the shadows, and repeated the gesture.

“
Who the fuck told you to move?
”

Jessie lowered them, but kept the glower on her face.

“Move again and your friend gets nothing, chicka,” Jo shouted, not bothering with the Link.

What did she care if Grant got nothing? What did she care if they killed him?

He's already a dead man.

She started to lift her fingers again at the camera in defiance, glancing down to make sure they were pointed at the Link. But the sun was right in her eyes and she couldn't see a thing.

And that's when she realized that they couldn't see, either. That's why Grant had insisted on her sitting right where he'd pointed. Her top half was lit up like a Christmas tree, while her bottom half was underexposed to the camera's sensor.

Sorry about keeping you in the dark.

He'd known there was no way he was going to talk them out of this. He'd known and had provided her with a way to escape, even as he knew there was a very good possibility they'd either kill or hurt him badly.

So why were they taking so long?

She slowly drew her feet toward her hands, all the while keeping her eyes glued to the camera. She needed to hurry, as too much time had already been wasted. Once the shadows rose too high, the camera's sensor would adjust its exposure setting and let in more light. They'd be able to see the part of her in shadow again.

Her legs were stiff from sitting after the long walk, and it was an effort to pull her ankles close enough that she wouldn't have to stretch out to reach them, but she finally managed. Her fingers found one end of the knot. She wasn't sure if it was the correct one, and she couldn't see it.

“What's taking so long?” she asked the Link.

“
Soon, chicka
,” Jo replied almost immediately. She sounded pleased. “
Just sit tight
.”

Jessie tugged on the rope, pulling with just her fingertips. It wouldn't give. Now the shadow was almost up to her shoulders.

She tugged again, still to no avail.

“Okay,” Emerson shouted. “We've come to an agreement. I'm sending Grant back to tell you what it is.”

Jessie stopped pulling and jerked her head up.

She strained her neck to see over the top of the barrier and was promptly shouted not to move. But what did it matter if she did now? She fell back against the cooling concrete barrier.

He was coming. She could only see his silhouette against the sun, but she knew it was him. None of the other Live Players was as large as he was.

She felt herself relax. She couldn't believe they actually let him go, but there he was.

He stopped.

“
Call him,
” Jo said.

“What?”

“
Call Grant over to you.
”

Jessie frowned.
Call him over?

“
Do it now! Loudly.
”

“G-Grant?”

“
Louder.
”

“Grant!”

He started walking toward her again.

“
Good. Now stand up.
”

“No.”

“
Stand up or we shoot him.
”

“You're just going to shoot me.”

“
We're not joking.
”

“He's got a family.”

“
We've all got families, chicka. Why do you think I'm in this hell hole? I got mouths to feed too, you know.
”

Jessie could feel the last of the sunlight illuminating her face as she stood. Her last chance to untie herself was gone, wasted away while she just sat there like a complete idiot. Grant had given her a perfect opportunity and she'd just let it pass her by.

She watched him come. He didn't seem to be in any hurry. Had they drugged him? Or maybe he was afraid they'd put a bullet into his head if he made any sudden movements. She kept expecting to hear a gunshot, but none came.

He stopped again.

“
Call him to you.
”

Don't do it
, Grant told her.
It's a trick.

Jessie sucked in a lungful of air, held it. For a second she thought she'd heard him inside her head.

“Grant?”

“
Louder
,” Jo said.

“No,” Jessie whispered.

Can you hear me?

“Grant? What did they do?”

You need to run now, honey. Untie yourself and run.

A terrible noise started coming from his Link, loud and grating. They were sending some sort of interference. Startled, Jessie stumbled onto her side. The noise only got louder.

Run!

She looked up to see Grant shambling toward her again, his arms outstretched. Other figures had joined him, stumbling, lumbering out of the shadows, drawn by the noise from his Link.

“You killed him!” Jessie screamed. “You killed him.”

She stuck the end of the rope on her wrists into her mouth and pulled. The knot quickly came undone. She flung the cord away. Now her feet.

Grant was more than halfway to her now.

She bent down and tugged at it, but the knot remained. She'd pulled on the wrong end before, and now it was hopelessly tangled.

A shot rang out, and the noise coming from the Link stopped. “
Stand up, bitch!
” Jo told her.

“No.”

Jessie, I'm sorry.

“Shut up, Grant,” she mumbled as she pried at the rope at her ankles. God, why didn't her fingers work?

Can you hear me?

“Yes, I can fucking hear you, Grant! It's this god damn knot!”

I should've believed you sooner.

She could hear the scraping of his feet now on the road. The scraping of dozens of feet. The sound of their moaning.

“
I said stand the fuck up!
”

She reached over and picked up the Link and tried to smash it against the cement. Finally, the screen cracked, but the horrible sound wouldn't quit.

Throw it. Get it away from you!

Yes, she needed to get rid of it. She stood up and hurled it back up the road. It skipped along past him and he started to turn.

An instant later, the noise stopped.

“Sure, now you fucking break.” But she knew it wasn't broken. They'd stopped sending the interference.

The Undead hesitated. They were confused. Gone was the noise attracting them to her. Back inside their heads was the irritation pushing them away.

“Go on now,” Jessie whispered. “Leave me alone.”

But now the Link inside her pack was making that noise, drawing them back. They resumed marching toward her. And by the sound of their moans, they'd sensed her, sensed her fear, smelled her sweat. They knew she was there. Now, not even the wall was going to stop them.

To her left, she saw a flash of movement, and a person stepped out from behind the rusted truck. But it wasn't Rosie. It was the other woman, Penny Smith. They had lied. Emerging with her was her partner Henry Jayco. Rosie wasn't with them, not that Jessie could see.

To her right she saw Jo Vail. They were all standing out in the open now, watching, waiting for the Undead to do the job.

She wondered if Arc would pay them extra for doing it this way. After all, it was good entertainment.

She didn't have enough time to figure out the knot. She stood up again and hopped backward until the barrier was at her heels, then she flipped herself over it. The wall was now fifteen feet away. More importantly, so was her sword.

The long shadows cast by the Undead reached out for her along the ground before disappearing against the wall. Grant was still in front, but now less than twenty feet away. He was moaning and hissing up a storm while inside her head he was telling her to hurry, that he'd been a stubborn ass. He called her Rachel and said he was sorry for what he'd done.

Jessie glanced up. He was close enough now that she could see how they'd killed him. A thin line of blood glistened beneath his chin. They'd slit his throat. He would've died almost instantly.

That's what had taken them so long. They'd had to wait until he was reanimated.

She crawled to the sword and grabbed it and inserted the tip beneath the knot. Grant took another step.

Fifteen feet.

She began to saw away.

Twelve feet.

But the damn thing was too dull!

Ten.

Eight.

Six.

He leaned down over her, a mountain of a man, and opened his dead mouth.
I'm sorry, Jessie.

The rope wouldn't cut!

Jessie!

With a yell, she swept her hands up to the side. The blade caught up against the bone before slicing through, wrenching her arm and sending another bolt of pain through her hurt shoulder. At the same time, she rolled in the direction of the swing, narrowly evading his falling body. Grant's severed head rolled up against the base of the wall and his voice disappeared from her head.

Grunting now with effort, she jabbed the sword back beneath the knot and began to hack away. It started to fray. But now there were ten, fifteen more Undead closing in on her, blotting out the sun. There were too many now. Even if she could get free—