The Dead Hunger Series: Books 1 through 5 (25 page)

Charlie made it to her before I did, but I was close behind.  She stood back and thrust her leg straight out, slamming the heel of her boot into the side of the stuck zombie’s head, snapping the arrow and sending the very dead creature tumbling off to the side, far away from where Trina cowered screaming.

I was there.  I pulled Trina into my arms and hugged her tight to me, her tears blending with the rain on my face.  I didn’t even notice the gunfire had now ceased.

Trina’s screams stopped the moment I pulled her into my arms.  Her body still shuddered and I held her even more tightly to my breast, rocking her back and forth.

I felt a hand on my back and whirled around, my foot flying outward in a defensive gesture.  Flex jumped back to avoid my kick to the groin.

“It’s me, Gem,” he panted, out of breath.  “Just me.  Thank you, baby.  You guys did it.  We’re safe.”

He threw his arms around me and Trina, squeezing us to him.  I didn’t even notice the horrid splatter of gore that adorned his clothing until later, and even if I had, I could have given a shit.  My Flex and my Trina were safe.

When we finally broke free, Hemp and Charlie were still locked in their embrace, soaking wet, but alive.

We were all still alive.

CHAPTER
THREE

“I want to take this one with us, because it’s fairly obvious we’ve been found and this is no longer a safe place,” said Hemp, staring at the female zombie pinned to the tree.

“What does that have to do with taking this one?” I asked.

Flex’s arm was over my shoulder, and in his other massive arm and hand he held Trina.

“Because we’ve put Jamie to rest, Gem.  Hemp needs a live test subject, and this one, even with the arrow wound, won’t be dying anytime soon.”

“Ultimately I’d actually like both a male and a female,” said Hemp.  “There are differences that could tell me things.  For now, though, with regard to the epidemic itself, all I need to know can be learned from her.”

Flex held Trina’s face to his shoulder; she didn’t need to see this stuff.  The pinned creature struggled and threw its arms out trying to reach us, but we were just out of its grasp.  Its grunts and throaty modulations sounded like puke-gargling.

“Let’s get the stuff,” Gem said.  “Rope, I assume?  Flex cuffs?”

“I’ve got to get some of my arrows back and then I’ll help out Hemp, guys,” said Charlie.  “You two get that little one back to the house.”  She had two arrows left in her quiver.  She walked to the nearest zombie, one with an arrow in his neck and his mouth and looked down at him, shaking her head.

“In my defense, I was trying to get around Hemp when I shot him in the neck.  The mouth shot came right after Hemp dove for his magazine.”

“We know you kick ass,” I said, smiling.

As we stared, Charlie put one foot on the dead thing’s chest, slung her crossbow back on her shoulder and  grabbed both arrows at the same time.  She yanked them and they withdrew with a bubbly hiss.  The one from the creature’s mouth had a nice chunk of meat on it.  I didn’t want to speculate which part of the human anatomy it was, but tongue came to mind.

“Really, Charlie?  We’ll buy you some more,” Hemp said, smiling.

“Why?” she asked, returning the smile.  “These are in near perfect condition.  Just like gathering seashells on the shore, without all the romanticism.”

Flex was retrieving spent magazines from among the leaves and branches, when he looked up and laughed.

“Hemp, buddy.  Looks like you got your wish.”  He pointed.

My gaze followed his finger, as did Hemp’s and Charlie’s.  Nearly twenty yards away, in the most distant trap we’d set up, a male zombie was stuck in the snare, both of his legs pulled skyward.  He stared upward, silent.  We could only tell he was still alive because both of his hands clawed at the dirt.

“Okay, that settles it.  I’ll carry Trina back to the house, and Gem, you stay with her.  I’ll help them get these two strapped to a table in the lab.”

“Okay.  But wear masks.  We don’t have time for anyone to be taking a nap,” I said.

As we walked back toward the house, I said “Babe, we
do
have to leave, don’t we?”

Flex looked at me.  “I’m afraid so, babe.  These fuckers found us, and probably left a trail of stink for the others to follow.  I don’t want to go to sleep every night wondering if we’re going to wake up surrounded.  No matter how many proximity alarms we have, we simply need stronger protection.”

“We’ve got quite a lot of equipment to move with us,” I said.  “We’re going to have to hit an industrial supply store.  I think we need a hand-crank fuel pump in case we need to extract gas from stations and stuff.”

“How do you even know about stuff like that?” Flex asked, shaking his head.

“Because Uncle Rogelio used to run a small farm, Flex.  I’ve told you that.  He had in-ground fuel tanks and that’s how he filled his tractors and other equipment.  I think it’s an invaluable tool to have, especially now.”

“Shit, girl,” he said, laughing.  “You know I never listen.  I didn’t used to, anyway.  I will now.  You just saved my life, Gem.  Big time.  We were both as good as dead.”

“Nobody’s eating my Flexy except me,” I said, winking.

We got to the house and I took Trina from Flex and took her inside.  I got her settled on the sofa with a juice box, and sat with her for a while.

“You okay, baby doll?” I asked.  Flex called me that a lot, so it came automatically.

“I was scared,” Trina said.  “I didn’t kill one.”

“No, but you shot him twice, sweetheart.  That was really good for your first time.  And under such pressure, too!”

“It was,” she said, looking up at me with her beautiful blue eyes.  “Such fucking pressure, Gemmy I can’t tell you.”

I suppressed a laugh, then said
screw it
.  I let it out and pulled her to me.

Now might be a good time to remind you that I’d given Trina permission to use whatever language she felt a situation called for.  This is a new, scary world and believe me when I tell you that I can’t control my
own
mouth.  I’ve always been one who doesn’t preach what she doesn’t practice, and this isn’t the time to worry about foul language.

Besides, Trina was trying to charge me a quarter, or a dollar, or some shit like that whenever I cussed, and let me tell you:  I do NOT carry around that kind of cash.

But I digress.

“You
were
under pressure, baby.  And you pulled that trigger like we said and you did good.  You knocked that thing back in time to let Charlie kill it.  If you hadn’t slid down on your bottom she wouldn’t . . . well, let’s just say you did really good.”

Trina’s tears came in a flood.  “I was so scared, Gemmy.”

“I know you were,” I said, her little cheeks in my hands.  I planted a kiss on each side.  “But we’re okay now.  All of us.”

“I miss Jesse, mommy and daddy,” she said, her tears still flowing.

“So do I, baby.  But remember the angels.  They helped us save Flexy and Uncle Hemp.  They were right there beside us.”

“Really?” she asked.  “I love them so much.”

I hugged her so tightly I lost track of time.

I figure it was about forty-five minutes later I heard footfalls on the porch.  I jumped up with my Uzi and pulled back the shade.  As I did it, Hemp, Charlie and Flex came in through the front door and Flex quickly set the alarm system to active.  Hemp turned on all the video monitors, the cameras all revealing no imminent threats, the motion detectors idle.

“Fucking rain,” said Flex.  “It’s pouring out there.”

“Doesn’t look like it’s going to clear anytime soon,” I said. 

“We need a meeting,” Flex said.  “A game plan.”

Everyone nodded, and I dropped back beside Trina.  They all sat down around us, guns at their sides.  I was glad to see Charlie had left the dirty arrows outside.  She had the Glock beside her instead.

“Where to go is the main question,” Flex said.  “Any ideas anyone?”

“I’m thinking we should go check on Max at the CDC,” Hemp said.  “And Cynthia and
Taylor, of course.”

“They might have gathered some more survivors,” I added.  “Max might be running low on fuel about now.”

“We should try to radio him,” said Hemp.

Flex got up and turned up the volume on the Ham Radio transceiver.  Static filled the room.

He pushed the button.  “This is Flex Sheridan, calling out to Dr. Max Romero at the CDC.  Come in, Max.”

More static.  Then a click.

“Max Romero here,” the voice came.  “Flex, do you read me?”

Flex looked at us and smiled, then pushed the talk button.  “Max, buddy.  How are you making out over there?”

“Good to hear your voice, friend,” Max said, sounding harried.  “We really cut back on power draw but apparently there’s gas flowing somewhere else in these buildings, and I can’t shut it down.  Must be a slow leak, but we’ll be lucky to make it through tonight with the fuel we have.  We’re still okay, but I’m seeing some abnormals on my camera now and then.  About twelve different ones over the past ten hours or so.”

Flex shook his head.  “They’re in trouble,” he said to us.  “Once his power kicks out the door locks release.” He didn’t need to explain it to us, of course.  It was clear what we had to do first.  He waited for us, and we all nodded in the affirmative.

He pushed the button again.  “Max, we’ll come for you.  You helped us big time, and we owe you.”

“I can’t say we don’t need you,” he said.  “Cynthia and Taylor are still here, and they’re fine.  The other group you sent picked up one of the buses, so I think they’re set.  At least they were about a week ago.”

“That’s good news.  Listen, Max.  We’re at my house in Lula, but we’re pretty certain there’s a trail leading to us now, so we’re gonna have to bug out.  If you want, you can join us or we can drop you somewhere else.”

We didn’t need more people to worry about, but we couldn’t leave them, either.  That we knew.  Plus,
Taylor could be a good friend to Trina, and she could use a distraction.

Max’s voice came back over the radio.  “We appreciate it.  When do you think you’ll be here?”

“We’re going to need a few hours to prepare here, get all our supplies loaded.  Gather anything you think we can use, and that includes more lab supplies.  I don’t think we can have enough test equipment.”

He released the talk button.  “Hemp, anything you can think of?”

Hemp shook his head.  “Max will know.  He’s a smart chap.”

“Okay,” Flex said holding the button.  “We’ll radio you before we leave.  Hang tight, okay, friend?”

“We will.  Thanks to all of you.  And thank Professor Chatsworth for me, too.”

Flex held up the mic with the button depressed.

Hemp called “You just did, my friend.  We’ll see you soon.”

*****

As we scurried around the house packing and gathering supplies, the rain continued its onslaught.  It wasn’t making our daunting task any easier, because Flex didn’t have sidewalks leading to the yard – just stepping stones, and they were a one-at-a-time proposition.  You either had to stand at the far end and wait for the oncoming traffic to pass, or someone was stepping into mud somewhere in the middle.

I held a shitty, undersized umbrella over my head as Hemp and Flex brainstormed on our needs.

“We’ve got a rear camera on the lab, but unfortunately all it’s going to pick up is the trailer,” said Hemp, looking at the rig.  “Flex, do we have time for you to mount and wire up a couple of these cameras to cover our blind spots?”

“Sure,” he said.  “I’ll go grab a couple of spares from the house.   I got a small LCD monitor I can mount in the cockpit.”

“Good deal,” Hemp said.

Charlie walked up pulling an old Radio Flyer wagon filled with boxes of canned goods and other food from the house.  She was soaked to the skin.

“I think we’re putting all that stuff in the workshop trailer,” I said.

“I got it,” said Hemp.

Flex gave me a quick peck on the cheek and ran toward the house.

Hemp took the wagon handle from Charlie and pulled it up the ramp of our rolling workshop.  He unloaded the boxes as we tried to stay out of the rain.

“Ah, you’ve brought the coffee machine, I see,” he said, smiling down at Charlie.  “Any tea?”

“Two boxes,” Charlie said, smiling back.  “We’ll grab more down the road.”

He chuckled and loaded it.

“If I can find something I’m going to put additional seals on the door to the back room in the lab,” he said, after he finished loading the last wagon full of food. 

“Yeah, it’d be nice to be able to go in without worrying about getting knocked out,” I said.  “Fuckin’ zombies.  I know you need them, but I sure wish you didn’t.”

Hemp nodded agreement.  “Me too, Gem.  I wanted to get more of that testing done here, but it doesn’t look like time’s on our side.  I’m wondering if we shouldn’t try to find either a military base or maybe some other fortified building we can set up in.  Perhaps one with a large bay so we can pull all the vehicles inside.  A warehouse or something.”

Flex walked over carrying two cameras and a small monitor under his arm. 

“I heard what you were saying,” he said.  “I agree.  But I think we need to set up on the outskirts of some larger city, so we still have access to a lot of merchandise and supplies, just not so close that we’re an easy target.”

Hemp stopped and smiled.  “Flex, I’ve got a crazy idea, but it might help us if we go venturing out for supplies and the like.”

“I’m up for crazy.  Whatcha got?”

Hemp laughed, as though his idea was just a bit beyond crazy. 

“You know the technology behind noise-canceling headphones?”

“Yeah, I think so.  Whatever comes through them is broken down and the frequency reversed so the noise is cancelled out.  Like adding 10, and then subtracting 10.  Result is zero.”

Hemp nodded.  “Yep, put very simply, that’s what it’s like.  Well, I’ve got an idea – just in the working phases – of something that will do the same thing for scent.   My working name is a BSN.”