The Death Doll (6 page)

Isaac flinched at the skinny little shit.  “You was the one wettin’ yo’ damn self about her.  Now you wanna stay in her bat cave?”

“She kept this place for two years.  Why would—”

“How long did she keep the Apocalypse Crew before she sliced ‘em all up?”

“Is that how she did it?” Paula asked with wide eyes.

Sean stepped in.  “Now, hold on.  We can’t go making snap judgments here. She rescued us.  She gave us good meals, a solid roof, and electricity in exchange for a decent work shift.”

“For how much longer, Sean?” Paula asked with a scolding glare. “That woman could kill us anytime she wants.”

Sean took her arms and soothingly said, “We don’t have all the facts about her, and I’m not going to lose my mind over hearsay.”  Still holding her in his hands, he faced Isaac and added, “You didn’t believe the stories for the longest time. Maybe whatever happened was spun up by crazy people, like you said.”

Isaac sneered as he cut in.  “Even still: she says, we do.  That’s a slave’s way. I ain’t no slave and I damn sure ain’t gonna wait around for her to cut me up.  Shit, I don’t even know why I’m still talkin’ to y’all.  I’m outta here.”  Almost immediately, he walked away.

Paula shook free of Sean and blasted, “You know what, Isaac?  After everything you’ve cost us, the least you could do is stand by us.  Have some fucking decency!”

Sean did a double-take.  That was the first time he had ever heard his wife utter such a word.  However, it didn’t stop Isaac from walking away. Desperate, Sean blurted out, “Let me talk to Cody when he gets back.  Maybe we can get some answers from him.”

Isaac stopped near one of the doors and glowered back at Sean.  “You think you can reason with her boy toy?”

“I know it’s a long shot, but he might be more reasonable away from her.  Please, just give me this chance.  If it doesn’t work, we’ll leave.  What do you say?”

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Paula and Pepe nodded. 

Isaac scoffed and shook his head with his eyes in the air.  “Fine, but if I get killed, I’m gonna bite your asses first.”

Isaac marched away, leaving Sean to hope his desperate plan worked.

CAUTION

“For a moment,” Rachelle said from the backseat, “I thought you weren’t going to take me.”

“We said we’d take you out, didn’t we?” Didi replied with a smile that crinkled her nose.  It was great to see her fun and bubbly side, a nice break from the serious hard case she had to be for all those bitchy people back at camp.  She was awesome no matter what, but her playfulness was just the best.

“You know the deal,” Cody added.  “You do what we say, when and how we say it.”

Rachelle nodded.

“Oh, and take this.” He dug into his brown leather jacket, pulled out a small revolver, and handed it out to her. “Just in case.”

She fondled the shiny weapon, its smooth surface chilling her fingertips.  Cody had trained her with guns like this, but with a laser pointer in the barrel; she never actually
fired
one.  “Are we expecting a lot of rotters?”

Cody and Didi glanced at each other.  She faintly shook her head.  He smiled back at Rachelle, again saying, “Just in case.”

Okay. 

Rachelle glanced at Didi, who was putting on that thick pair of glasses and diving into her Bible again.  “You’re always reading that thing.  No wonder your eyes are going bad.”

Didi briefly chuckled.  “Yeah, that’s why.” 

Cody looked amused, too, especially when he said, “Ask her how many times she’s read it.”

Didi smirked at Cody and waved him off.  “A fair few, smarty, and it’s just getting good, so shut up.”

Cody quietly chuckled. “You’re going to memorize it before long.”

“I don’t know.  I find something new each time I read it.”

Rachelle tried to get a look at the chapter Didi was reading, but couldn’t see.  “Which part are you at now?”

“Matthew thirteen,” Didi replied without looking up, “the parable of weeds.”

Rachelle flinched.  “Huh?”

Didi smiled at her and leaned closer. “Jesus talks about this guy whose servants found weeds growing in his garden.  Supposedly, an enemy planted them.  His servants offered to pull the weeds, but he told them not to because it would destroy all the crops, so they had to wait until harvest time.”

“Why was He talking about gardening?”

“It’s a metaphor about growing in faith—no matter what little pricks try to get into your patch,” Didi replied with a grin as she looked back at her Bible, “because when harvest time comes, you’ll be taken as either good or bad depending on how you grow.”

Rachelle’s head spun.  “Wow.  That’ll make you think.”

“We think about it every day,” Cody said solemnly. 

This woman had some serious layers
, Rachelle thought, both surprised and impressed.

*****

Craig sighed heavily as he entered his little domicile and plopped into his bottom bunk for a much-needed break, musing over the lies he’d told Isaac.  Even after all the time he spent in the caves he helped create, he never could get used to seeing the dead pulling their little energy wheel, let alone the stench.  He’d originally designed it for the animals, but he couldn’t figure out how to keep them moving.  He enjoyed the irony of the animals playing into the current design after all.

Seated at his desk, Jake wrote something or other in his folder without acknowledging Craig’s presence, which was becoming a habit. 

As usual, it was up to Craig to initiate contact.  “Hey, buddy.  How’s your homework coming?”

“Fine,” was all the kid said without missing a pencil stroke.

He sat up, trying not to groan like an old man despite the aching of his back.  “The new teacher working out?”

“She’s okay,” Jake said with a hint of impatience.

“Not too tough or easy?  Don’t want you getting bored or overworked.”

“Can I please finish so I can knock out my chores?” Jake asked heatedly, then went back to his homework.

Craig restrained his knee-jerk desire to smack the kid across the back of the head, settling on gritting his own teeth and throwing his hands up.  Jake had never presented himself as what one would call a balanced individual; he had been a nasty little bastard since the day Didi and Cody brought him and Ben a year and a half ago.  His vicious temper and negative outlook were too hard to get through, but the similarities between him and Craig’s younger days were hard to deny.  Craig thought he could help, but no matter what he did the kid never warmed up to him.  He tried reaching out, doing things with him, and every trick in his anger management book to put up with the kid’s temper, but nothing worked. 

Drawing back on his anger management lessons, he sat up and opted to be assertive.  “Jake, spare me a minute.”

The irritable youth did his usual huff and eye roll, plopped his pencil down, and faced Craig without looking him in the eye.

“You know I’m trying, here.  From the beginning, you’ve told me flat out that I’m not your dad, and I’ve respected that, but as your guardian I’m still going to look out for you.  I asked for this, so that should indicate that I care.  Don’t you think?”

Jake stared for a moment, then gave a half-hearted shrug.

“I’m not asking for much, here.  So, why not just tell me what’s bothering you and I’ll see what I can do to help?”

Jake sighed and leaned forward.  “I’ve worked hard for Cody’s internship.  I scrubbed every floor and helped with every meal.  Haven’t I done enough yet?”

Craig knew this was coming.  He understood why Cody made his decision, but with Jake’s pattern of simmering anger, he now had to be careful how to answer the boy’s concerns.  “You know the Panel only has so much say.  When it comes to Didi or Cody, there’s no wiggle room.  A pre-med student was just bad timing, but that doesn’t mean—”

“That’s just it.  He was barely an undergrad.  What medical stuff could he have really learned?  I’ve always wanted to be a doctor.”

“Apparently, so did Pepe, but he’s older and a little more experienced.  Maybe we could—”

Jake crossed his arms and faced his desk. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

Craig rubbed his forehead.  “Be fair, Jake.  No one’s saying you won’t—”

“You never side with me,” Jake yelled as he rose from his chair, prompting Craig to stand.

“It’s not about sides.  This temper of yours is only getting worse and, believe me, it’s not going to help anything.  I’m trying to keep you from doing something that’ll get you or someone else hurt.  Mostly you.”

“I’ve got work to do,” Jake groused as he ran out of the room.

Craig yelled after, but he knew it was no use.  Burying his face in his hands, he clawed at his crown and jaw to avoid breaking something.

*****

Storm Lake looked as desolate as Rachelle expected.  Every street had seen panic and death.  A tree had fallen on one house.  A car had crashed into another.  Toppled kids’ toys.  Crushed lawn ornaments.  Overgrown lawns.  The grass in one yard grew wild through a skeleton, its skull crushed by a birdbath.  None of the other withered bodies they passed got up, either.  Too bad, too.  She couldn’t wait to test her skills against the dead. 

The truck pulled into a two-block strip called Tulip Lane.  The wind chilled her to the bone as soon as she stepped outside.  She hoped to find a good coat and some gloves, but the fact that most people around here died in the summertime made her doubt it.  She tried to follow Didi across the street, but Cody insisted she stay with him this time.  No explanation, just like with the revolver.  Their secrets!

They hit house after house in an orderly fashion, thoroughly searching every room for bodies—living or dead—and materials.  They tossed the few items worth having in the truck bed.  She found a few good outfits, but nothing for the cold.  All Cody got out of it was a bunch of little devices.  And no rotters, either.  Bo-ring!

Four hours later, she and Cody met Didi at the driveway between two big houses with a separate parking shack.  “Find much?” he asked Didi.

“Canned goods and some clothes.  Not a hint of good music.  You?”

“I found a gaming computer,” Cody said with a hopeful look in his eye. 

Didi looked encouraged.  “Gamers did like to stock those suckers up.”

Rachelle had no idea why computer stuff would be of any interest.  The camp had plenty of laptops and such.

Didi shrugged, drew her sword, and nodded at the left house.  “Shall we?”

Cody nodded and followed Didi up to the house.

Rachelle’s heartbeat hastened as she followed, hoping something moved inside.  She tried to breathe steadily, but her excitement and fear—
no, just excitement
—proved hard to contain. 

Didi approached the front door and tried to open it, but it was locked.  So, the badass mama kicked the sucker in like it was nothing and walked in.

Rachelle waited patiently outside with Cody.  Something crashed inside, startling her into drawing her revolver.  Cody did the same, keeping his pistol aimed downward at the threshold.  A thud, then another.  Growling, then another thud.  Then nothing for the longest moment.  Her excitement grew with each sound, especially when something heavy scraped toward them.

Didi emerged, dragging a headless corpse with one hand and toting its head in the other.

“Is that it?” Cody asked.

Didi dropped the pieces on the lawn and grinned at Rachelle.  “I saved you one.  Still think you’re ready?”

Rachelle’s heart rate doubled.  This was the moment she waited for.  “Bring it on.”

*****

Isaac watched the pigs run around their little cage, unsure if fear of the face-munchers drove them or if they were just bored in their tiny space.  He could relate after that pale bitch tore into his neck.  He wished that Cody dude would get back already so Sean could have his pointless chat, and they could leave already.  Living under the thumb of that sword-swinging bitch was worse than being stuck in his old ‘hood for the last two years.  Did this Death Doll make all the other guys in the Power feel like that? 

He glanced around at them.  Craig and Rusty laughed about something in a corner.  Some of the other guys gawked at the action in the cages.  A short, muscular dude everyone called “Chuck” played Solitaire at one of the two tables by the weapons.  They all seemed to be handling their lowly statuses well, but not Isaac.

Hashim walked in with a Hefty bag over his shoulder, which he toted toward the chute in the fence.  The other guys greeted him as he passed by and dumped his bag into the pigs’ own dining hall.  On his way out, he said hi to Isaac.

“Brothers here just can’t catch any breaks, huh?” he replied.

Hashim stopped and looked at Isaac like he was on something.  “Say what?”

“She made you fix all our meals.  Then she sticks me down here with these things.  We need more brothers to get better jobs here.  Am I right?”

Hashim sighed and shook his head.  “No one
made
me do anything since I left the Navy, and I ran my own restaurant for over thirty years after that.  I just stuck with what I was good at when I came here.  I get no more or less respect than anyone else around here, except for my position on the Panel.  So, if you’re looking for sympathy based on your color, you came to the wrong place.”  Then he left.  The only other brother in double-digit ages around here, and he was institutionalized.  Whipped by a false sense of pride.  Or that Death Doll.  Whatever.

“Touchy motherfucker,” Isaac said under his breath.  “You should build a garbage chute if you’re so mighty around here.”

“We tried,” Chuck said without looking.  “The bags always broke.  Got too hard to clean.”

Isaac scoffed and sat with the stocky Hispanic playing cards by himself. “How long you work down here, man?”

“I helped build it,” Chuck said with a West Coast accent while placing a black nine on a red ten.  Then he snickered.  “They needed strong backs and even stronger stomachs.  You know?”

Isaac nodded.  “What’d you do before?”

Chuck dropped a red seven on a black six and grinned up at Isaac.  “I guess you wouldn’t recognize me, would you?  I was a professional wrestler.”

Isaac laughed out loud, which Chuck didn’t seem to appreciate.  “Ain’t you kind of short to be a wrestler?”

Chuck grinned sideways.  “That was part of the gimmick. 
El Corazon Grande
proved size didn’t matter; only heart.”

“That was you?” Isaac asked with surprise. 

The little guy nodded proudly. 

“Man, you were going to marry that model Shawna Glass.  Is she here with you?”

Chuck’s smile vanished.  “I lost her when my last gig in Minneapolis got overrun.  The boss flew his family and the bigger names out in helicopters, so all I could do was hop a bus with her eight-year-old daughter, Leticia.  When the driver got drunk near Worthington, he rolled us off the road.  Half died from the crash; the other half got eaten by this giant mob that swarmed us while we were unconscious.  When Leticia and I came to, we hid out in the lavatory until we heard some gunshots.  When we came out, Didi and Cody were standing over like fifty bodies.  Bob, Craig, Hashim, and Gilda were there, too.”