Tammy and Ringo (4 page)

“Hey!”

“Get back in your car!” Ringo yelled. “They’re coming!”

“You hit my car, you bitch!” the driver ignored Ringo’s warning.

“Sorry!” Tammy called, concentrating on her driving. She was finally able to get the car aimed back up the road.

“Where are you going?! Get back here!” the angry driver yelled, chasing after them.

“Get back in your car!” Ringo yelled once more. Tammy sped up, going as fast as she dared.

“Bogeyman’s gonna get 'im,” Ringo sighed, looking at the man behind them.

“I’m sorry,” Tammy said suddenly, her voice soft.             

“What?”

“I’m sorry I hit his car,” she whispered. “He’d still be inside, safe, if I hadn’t.” Ringo saw a tear falling.

“Hey, don’t go there,” he told her. “He knows, or should by now, that things are messed up. You didn’t hurt his car. He was already mad and decided to take it out on you. I warned him to get back in his car. Whatever happens to him is on him, not you.”

She nodded, unable to take her hands away from the wheel to even wipe her tears. Suddenly Ringo very gently reached across to her and wiped the tears away. She was shocked by his touching her but also surprised at the gentleness.

“Can’t have you blinded by tears,” he said kindly.

“You may have to drive soon,” she tried to laugh.

“Ah. . . .”

“What?”

“Well, the thing is. . . .”

Tammy saw a break in the traffic and shot through it, managing to cross to the median side of the east-bound lane. They were still on the wrong side, but clear of the concrete barriers. She scanned for a place to cross the median.

“What is it?” she demanded, finally able to relax for a second.

“I, ah, can’t, um, drive,” Ringo mumbled.

“You what?” Tammy asked. There. There was a gap in the tree line. Gravel. Almost a road. She took it.

“I can’t drive,” Ringo said louder.

“You can’t. . .you can’t drive?” Tammy demanded in wonder.

“No, Wonder Woman, I can’t drive, all right?” Ringo said, a little peeved. “I never had to learn. Never had a car anyway.”

“How did you get anywhere?” she demanded. Damn, this was a rough road. Thankfully it was short. Looking carefully she caught a break in the east-bound traffic and shot up onto the road.

“I walked,” Ringo shrugged. “Rode the bus. Rode my bike. Depended on where I was going.”

“You can’t drive,” Tammy shook her head. Suddenly, she laughed. Loud and hard. And kept laughing. Every time she looked at him, saw his look of offended dignity, she would launch into another round of laughter.

“It’s not that funny,” Ringo finally said sourly, which made her laugh again.

“For God’s sake,” he sighed, folding his arms over his chest and slumping in the seat.

Which sent Tammy into another gale of laughter. Realizing that she really needed to laugh right now, Ringo loosened up a bit. Listening to her laugh made him smile, and then chuckle just a little.

“Oh, my God!” Tammy gasped for air between laughs.

“Of all the things you could have said, that was the last thing I expected.”

“Why?”

“Well, you’re so. . .so. . .capable!” she exclaimed. “All this time you’re so calm and cool, and, well, I had decided that you could do pretty much anything and you can’t even drive!”

“I can do a good bit,” Ringo shot back. “Driving just. . .never came up, that’s all. It was never a skill I needed to have.”

“I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t drive,” Tammy shook her head in wonder. “What else can’t you do?”

“I can’t fly a plane, either,” he deadpanned.

He looked for a map while waiting for her to stop laughing again.

*****

“Okay. Our options are pretty thin, looks like,” Ringo said. Tammy had taken a rural exit off the Interstate near a place called Birdsong. Parking in the shade at a small roadside park, the two had spread a map over the hood of the car, pausing to eat, take care of personal needs, and look at the map.

“Do you think the bridge will get cleared?” Tammy asked.

“I doubt it,” Ringo sighed. “It’s pretty isolated and most emergency responders will be busy elsewhere unless they’ve abandoned their posts.  Any of them with any sense have already done just that if they’re smart, especially if they have families of their own.”

“That’s pretty harsh,” Tammy commented.

“I didn’t say I blamed them for it,” Ringo reminded her. “A person’s first duty is always to their family.”

“Anyway,” he went on after a moment’s silence, “ according to the map the next nearest bridge is a good ways south of here, near a place called Parsons. Map shows a bridge across the river on Highway 412. If we can get across, then it’s back roads or state highways from there until we cross I-65. If we continue on that way, then there are two, maybe three good ways we can get back to I-40 well past Nashville, which you wanted to avoid anyway.”

“I wish we knew if that bridge was clear,” Tammy said evenly. “That’s a long way out of our way. Cost us some gas.”             

“Might be able to get more along the way,” Ringo suggested. “No way to be sure of that, of course. There’ll be a lot of places that let you use cards at the pump, like Wal-Mart and what have you. If they’re still working,, anyway.”

“Other options?” Tammy asked, finishing her jerky.             

“Another bridge to the north. Much farther to drive and much more rural. The upside of that one is that it takes us near Fort Campbell. I assume you have ID that will get you on a base?”

“Yes, I do,” Tammy nodded, not having thought of that.

“Well, then this might be your best option,” Ringo admitted. “You wouldn’t be at home, but you’d be safe. Well, safer,” he amended. “And they might be able to let your dad know you’re okay, too.”

“But what about you?” Tammy asked. Ringo smiled.

“I appreciate the thought, but. . .they aren’t going to let me on a military base anyway, whether it’s Campbell, Bragg, or anywhere else. This is about you, Tammy. Your dad is defending this country. You deserve to be safe.”

Tammy didn’t know what to say to that.

“Anyway, there are other bridges but all of them take us well away from where we need to be and want to go. We don’t know if these two bridges are any safer than the one we just left. All we can do. . . .” He trailed off as a large four wheel drive that had been passing suddenly stopped, backing up slightly.

“Get on the other side of the car,” Ringo said softly, his voice tight. He reached behind him as if to check something.

“What? Why?” Tammy followed his gaze. The truck stopped about fifty feet away and three large, rather scruffy men got out.

“Go on,” Ringo pushed her gently. Tammy went, not knowing what else to do.

“Hey, there!” one of the men called, smiling. The smile wasn’t pleasant.

“Hi,” Ringo nodded.

“Y'all havin’ trouble?” another called. All three were advancing toward the car.

“Nope, we’re good,” Ringo assured them. “Thanks for asking, but you guys can carry on.”

“Well, we wouldn’t be neighborly if we didn’t make sure the little lady there was taken care of,” the third said, eyes devouring the athletic blonde.

“She’s well taken care of and that’s far enough,” Ringo replied, his voice taking on a hard edge.

“Look at 'im, boys,” the driver laughed. “He’s gonna ‘protect’ his girlfriend.”

“I’m asking you, nicely, to go,” Ringo’s stance changed slightly. “I won’t ask again. There’s nothing for you here but pain and death.”

“Is that right?” the third man smirked and took another step, this time in the direction of Tammy.

Ringo’s hand moved so fast that the knife was buried in the man’s stomach before the thug realized he was under attack.

“Wha. . .what th. . . .”

The thug’s friends froze for a vital second, unable to believe what had happened. It was a second they couldn't spare.

Ringo seized a spike from his left wrist with his right hand and hurled it toward the driver, moving as he did so toward the last man. The spike hit home, taking the driver in his too-large neck, just below his Adam's apple. He probably tried to yell but lacked the necessary equipment to do so anymore.

The last man saw Ringo coming and set himself, preparing for the teenager’s rush. Arms curled, fists clenched, he was ready. He was a lot bigger and stronger than the kid coming toward him and, despite the disabling of his friends, was confident.

But Ringo had other ideas. As he approached the last man he leaped into the air, twisting as he did so. His right leg swept around, straightening just as the toe of his boot came into contact with the would-be rapist’s temple. Surprise still etched on his face, the man fell in a heap, dead before he hit the ground.

Ringo hit the ground rolling, on his feet in a second. Looking around him, he realized that all three attackers were down and allowed his breathing to return to normal, looking to see if Tammy was okay.

For her part, Tammy was staring open-mouthed at the carnage her passenger had wrought. It had happened so fast she had scarcely been able to follow it.

When she had reached the far side of the car she had instinctively reached into her car for her bat. She still held it tight, her shaking hands making the bat wobble in front of her.

“Are you okay?” Ringo called.

“Wha. . .how. . . .” She stopped, realizing suddenly that her passenger was far more deadly than she had known. Sure he had a sword and all that, but. . . .

Killing infected was one thing. These three hadn’t been infected.

But Ringo had killed them just as quickly, just as easily, as if they had been. From what she could see of his face he wasn’t feeling remorseful, either.

“Tammy, are you okay?” Ringo asked again, starting toward her.

“Stay back!” she ordered him, holding the bat in front of her. “Just. . .stay back!”

“All right,” Ringo said calmly, stopping where he was.

“I mean it!”

“Yeah, the bat gave it away pretty good,” Ringo nodded again. “I’m staying back.”

“Why did. . .what were you. . . .”

“Tammy, you do realize what they had planned, don’t you?” Ringo called softly. “They didn’t stop here to see if we were okay. They stopped because they saw you. You were what they were after.”

“You didn’t know that!” Tammy shot back, but the inner voice in her head knew that he was right.

“Yes, I did,” Ringo told her. “I told them we were fine. Told them we didn’t need help, so they could be on their way. And then, when they kept coming, I told them what was going to happen. This is on them, Tammy. Not me.”

“You’re the one who did it!”

“And you’re the reason why,” he shrugged. “Quite a pair, aren’t we?”

“Don’t blame this on me!” Tammy almost yelled.

“I’m not,” Ringo said reasonably. “Had I been alone, they probably wouldn’t have stopped. You did hear the man talking about ‘taking care of the little lady’, didn’t you? What did you think he meant, with a look like that on his face?”

“You ki. . .killed them,” Tammy’s voice was softer now, and the bat was slowly falling, almost as if it were too heavy to keep up.

“Yeah, I did,” Ringo said flatly. “No point denying it I guess, since you seen it.”

“Why didn’t they just leave?” she asked, her voice much smaller now.

“Because they thought they had two kids trapped here and meant to have some fun,” Ringo shrugged. “That’s the kind of men they are. Were. We looked like prey and they had a predatory nature. They thought we were easy meat.”

Intellectually, Tammy’s brain had already told her all this and she knew it to be true. Her subconscious was starting to remind her that early that same day, God was it today? All of this today? That she had killed at least four people herself, infected or not. That the world she knew had turned upside down.

That Ringo had just saved her from something really bad.

The bat fell from her hands and she slumped against the car, suddenly exhausted. Today had been so much. Too much. Her reserves were gone and so was the adrenaline she had been running on. She slid slowly down the car and buried her face in her hands, crying in a way she hadn’t since she had been a small girl.

Ringo let her be, turning to the carnage he had inflicted. He went first to the man he'd hit with the knife, finding that he was not, in fact, dead yet. Ringo fixed that and then retrieved his knife, rifling the pockets of the man he had killed with it, producing a switchblade knife, a wallet with what looked to be about two hundred dollars and several rings, all gold, some with jewels. He sighed, realizing now what the three men had been doing.

He performed a similar search of the other two, finding a pair of hand guns, one revolver and one pistol, perhaps three hundred more in cash, and then turned to the truck. He was surprised to find the truck was fairly well kept, which meant it was probably stolen too. There were three cases of bottled water and two cases of canned heat 'n' eat food along with a shotgun and a rifle.