The Week of the Dead (40 page)

“Who the hell said that?” Redbeard came out from behind the others. He had his helmet on and his shield and mace in hand.

“I did!” he boomed. The tan-skinned thugs began to laugh as he walked forward.

“All right, whatever,
King Leonidas
. Are you going to
slay
me?” The cocky leader asked.

“No. I’m going to bash your skull in, and then I’m going to skin you and drink your blood,” Redbeard said with a straight face.

“Don’t you know who I am?” the leader said.

“No. And I don’t give a fuck!” Redbeard commented. The leader tapped his homeboy on the elbow. The new kid raised a pistol sideways and aimed it at the massive body.

“Bring it on, bitch!” Redbeard said as he bolted forward.

As the kid closed one eye, an arrow came and embedded itself in his open eye. Another hit the heart. Tara and Faith both reached for another arrow. “What the fuck?” the leader said as Redbeard was being followed by Ferret, Rune, and Razor. Ferret threw a dagger and caught one of them in the leg. Razor threw his shield on his back and wielded his bat with both hands. He caught one of the punks in the knee cap and moved the next one. Rune was held back by Raine.

Redbeard was chasing after the lead punk. His loose pants fell and wrapped around his ankles. He tripped and fell to the ground. Redbeard caught up to him and grabbed him by the back of the head and pressed his face into a sharp point of the broken asphalt. “Please don’t skin me! I was only playing!” came from the punk’s mouth.

“
Playing
?” Redbeard took offense to this. “Playing! You were ‘playing’ when you told your ‘homeboy’ to shoot me? You were ‘just playing’ when you tried to rob us? Fuck you, you little shit,” Redbeard said as he kicked him in the rib cage.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I was only ‘playing’ what I really meant was this!” he said as he kicked the boy in the chin. “Yes! That’s what I meant. Is this how you’ve survived? Praying off the weak? Or are you just that fucking stupid? You should have tried to shoot me yourself. You would have at least died with honor!” Redbeard spit upon the punk’s face and smashed it in with the mace. Razor was calmly speaking to the one with the shattered kneecap. Redbeard came to them.

“He said their hideout isn’t too far from here. He said it’s in that apartment building,” Razor said standing up.

“Good, maybe there are more supplies if we run out.” Redbeard brought his mace down upon the punk in the toboggan.

“That was uncalled for,” Ashley said as Redbeard came back to the group.

“Aye? Fuck you, Bitch! You try waving a gun in my face and see what happens!” Redbeard was calmed by Tripod stepping in between them.

“Easy, big dude, she didn’t mean it,” Tripod said with his palms open.

“Let’s get a move on. They might have friends,” Devin said cautiously looking up. Redbeard mocked Ashley as he picked up the handles of his wheelbarrow. “
That wasn’t called for! Maybe we should have given them some cookies, and we could all have a tea party!
” he said is a playful princess voice.

“For the record, I thought that was a splendid performance!” Ethan called out. Tara removed her lips from her husband and tossed Faith her used arrow from the carcass as they went on their way.

The Drive-In

Chapter 84

Saturday 1600 CST

Glasgow

T
hey hurried along. Away from the recent dead bodies what were sure not going to get back up. However, they may have had back up not too far away. William was out front, and he was jogging forward. He turned the corner and saw a giant felt screen sticking out of a tall wall made of exposed tin. “We’re here!” he exclaimed. There was a semitruck and a few burned cars blocking the road. They had to make a circle around the fence. When they got to the front of the drive-in, they were met by a suit of armor standing in front of the ticket booth. Redbeard and Devin walked forward. “I’ll handle this,” Redbeard said.

They approached the man in the suit of armor. “Billy!” Redbeard shouted. The suit of armor turned toward him. The faceplate of the suit of armor slammed down. Instead of a lance in its hands, it held a belt-fed light machine gun at the hip. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Billy, it’s me. Redbeard. We met at the campsite. Remember?” Redbeard said as he held his hands up. A muffled voice came from behind the faceplate. “What? I can’t understand you,” Redbeard said as they slowly approached. The action of the SAW slammed closed. The faceplate of the armor slid up. The face behind the armor wasn’t Billy’s bearded face. It was someone else. The body shape was different.

“Who the fuck are you?” the armor shouted.

“I am a friend of who owned that armor. Did you kill him?” Redbeard shouted, causing the rest of the group to arm themselves.

“You are trespassing on private property. Return to your home. Nothing to see here,” the man said.

“Go fuck yourself. We’re here to see someone. Point that weapon at me, and I will make sure you die slowly!” Redbeard shouted at him.

William came forward. “Player One has entered the game,” William shouted. The suit of armor called back, “What does the blue shell do?”

“Puts you in first!” William shouted back. The armored hands were removed from the weapon on his hip. “Blondie!” William nodded. Chaz came beside him. “Curly!” The suit of armor shouted as he walked forward and hugged the two men. “Beanie, we’re home. We’ve come to see the boss. These people are with us,” William said as he opened his hands showing the rest of the people and wagons. “He’s been expecting you. Since the electronics went down, we’ve had a guard out here looking for you,” Beanie said. “The man, who wore this armor, where is he?” Razor asked. “Inside, he brought some supplies. Come, welcome. Bring them inside. Don’t want anyone to see you!”

“Says the man in a suit of armor in the middle of the city,” Ethan said under his breath.

Beanie took them around the corner to the wall. It was a gate. A massive concrete gate blocked their view of the inside. Everyone stood there and looked as a tiny head appeared over the concrete. The tiny head looked down at them. An arm appeared and made a hand motion. The tiny head and arm disappeared as the gate made a grinding sound as a six-foot gap was made for them to enter.

Crossing over the gate, everyone began to smile. They followed the size of the gate around the high concrete wall what was being hidden from the outside by the tin wall. The man with the tiny head came down off a ladder and greeted them. “Phoenix?” Ethan called out. The man came closer, and the tiny head wasn’t as tiny as previously thought. The man came up to them in a tattered red flannel shirt and a snow hat. “My name is Rex. There is someone who wants to meet you. Please, follow me. Bean, take wall duty. Take off that silly shit.”

They walked across the parking lot of the drive-in. Weeds and grass had grown through the cracks, and the screens were all torn and generally ruined. There was a cargo van. It had broken windows and bloody handprints on it. There were cargo boxes stacked randomly near a building. The speaker boxes of the old drive-in had small PVC pipes sticking out of the ground. As the parking lot looked abandoned and in general disarray, the group noticed a new addition. “Solar panels!” Ethan called out.

“Do they work?” he asked Rex.

“Yeah, for some reason, they survived the blast. No one knows they’re here. There were some punk-ass kids not too far who tried to steal one.”

“I wouldn’t worry about them,” Redbeard said as he wheeled in behind them. Through rows of tables with plant planters on them, starting to grow, they made their way to Screen Four. As it turned out, this screen rested on top of a building that said “Maintenance.” With random graffiti sprayed in random places. The group left their handcarts outside and followed Rex into the building. Most of them went unarmed; some of the more cautious ones were packing pistols.

The Tour

Chapter 85

Saturday 1630 CST

Glasgow

T
hey all made it down the long ladder to a door. “Don’t touch anything, and go to the office,” Rex said. Mr. Harrison’s ears were popping. They all looked at each other and off the catwalk. There they looked up at a giant empty room. The PVC pipes from above were allowing oxygen and sunlight into the cavern full of plants, and there were even some pigs and chickens moving about their pens. “Holy shit!” Ethan said.

“Let’s make sure it’s cool,” Devin said. Ethan kept the antique revolver on his hip.

“It’d be a shame to get this far and fucking die,” Jamison said.

They made their way through some greenhouses. The first greenhouse had a smaller greenhouse inside of it. The humidity underground was nice against their skin. There were trays of red and green gunk bubbling as they walked by. “Algae farming,” Rex said to those with puzzled faces. “Good for food or biofuel,” Rex continued.

“Thank god for Willie Nelson,” Chaz said out loud. They came to a door that had “Office” painted on the door in a half-assed way. They all took a deep breath. Reynolds came forward and knocked politely. “Come on in!” a voice said. Most of the group stayed behind on the catwalk next to the ladder. A small group containing Rex, Devin, William, Chaz, Ethan, Reynolds, Redbeard, and Clint crossed into the office. There, they saw an office chair facing a wall of monitors and televisions. A man spun around in the high-back office chair. His left leg was perched on his right knee. There was a cat on his lap. The middle-aged man looked at the war-torn group, and they back at him. There was a cane and an assault rifle standing against the monitor bay. Reynolds looked at the man and back at the rifle. The man stood up. “Welcome to my homestead,” he said in a rather grizzly voice.

“Phoenix?” Ethan asked.

“No,” the man’s voice turned a few notches higher. “
This
is Phoenix!” The man said pointing at his cat. “My name is Carter, and you are all welcome here.”

They all stood in shock, except Chaz who came forward and hugged the man in what looked like a Jamaican garb. “Holy shit, man, it’s finally awesome to see you! How’s Fish?” Chaz spoke excitedly.

“He’s good. He’s out farming, man. We’ll go see him later.”

“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa,” Devin broke in. “You’re telling me, that…you brought us all the way out here…and you used your cat’s name as a call sign?” Carter looked at the cat.

“Yes, he’s kind of like my mascot. Back in the days when people weren’t out eating people, this was home base for my smuggling business. I used the cat’s name because I didn’t want people around here to get suspicious. Duh,” he ended in a playful tone.

The newcomer’s faces were still in dismay. “Yeah, too bad this is like the fourth ‘Phoenix’ I’ve had. At least I don’t have to remember anyone else’s names. Now, my young friends, tell me. Of all the shit you’ve seen and encountered, is it really
that
bizarre for me not to use my real name?” Carter stood in front of the group.

“Oh, fuck the bullshit; I’m happy to see you!” Redbeard said. Carter came closer to inspect the great man.

“Well fuck me sideways! You’ve got this zombie shit down pat!” Carter said as he placed a hand on Redbeard’s armor. “Again,” Carter started looking at the crowd. “Sorry for all the bullshit. I had to make sure you guys weren’t…iniquitous.” Carter took a hit from his pipe.“How do your electronics still work?” Reynolds asked him.

“Because, baby, this shit is lined with copper. Copper netting deflects everything bad. That’s also why I could only text you guys. That and it was fucking easier than listening to you complain about shit,” he said as he let out a stoned chuckle.

The rest of the group was introduced to Carter. He showed them around the labyrinth of pathways and spaces. They stopped at a series of crates with foreign writing on them. “This is how we’ve been defending ourselves,” Carter said as he popped open a wooden crate full of weapons. “Imported them from China last month, never had a buyer.”

“Chinese AKs?” Reynolds asked as he picked one up. “Yeah, the Slovs make a much better one, but beggars can’t be choosy.”

“How’d you do all of this?” Mr. Harrison asked breaking the talk of guns, as he was marveling at the sublevel architecture. “Hell, if I know. Some people said it used to be an old nuclear fallout shelter.” Ethan nudged Reynolds. “My daddy bought it because he was going to open the drive-in backup. But I don’t think he didn’t ever find this place.”

After all the introductions and the group brought their supplies down, Carter showed them some of the caverns. Everyone dropped their gear and took rest in a room full of old couches. It looked like a closet full of furniture. Carter commented that he didn’t know what was all down here but that they were welcome to whatever. “I believe you know this ugly fucker,” Carter said pointing his pipe at a man laid in a cot.

“Billy!” Clint exclaimed. The bearded man smiled. He pulled the sheet back to reveal a red-stained bandage on his lower abdomen.

“What happened?” Faith asked.

“I was hiding in the bushes. Those creatures came after me. I ran. When I turned to fight, I heard an explosion, and a piece of metal went through my armor and injured me. I walked through the forest. I was losing blood. I found a building. There were only a couple…undead people around. I killed them all. I loaded up some stuff I found, and these guys found me a few miles away. They saw the armor and thought I’d be useful,” Billy explained.

“It’s OK. Get some rest,” Faith said as she held his shoulder.

After the short tour, William was taken aside by Carter. William’s tall body was embraced by Carter as he sobbed uncontrollably about Frank. “I know, big guy, I know. But think about all he did.” As William began to sob, Carter too sobbed for Parker. “I’m sorry about Parker,” William whispered.

“That boy was going to be a lawyer. He was gonna be the first person in my family who did something
right
!” Carter said in between sobs. “And now, there’s no one left.” Carter finished.

“Hey man, you’re still here! And we’re still here!” Phil decided to speak up walking toward the two men.

“We’ve gotten this far. We can’t give up now! If we made it this far, then there’s no telling who else made it out,” Phil said, trying to raise spirits. He didn’t know who Frank or Parker was, but he figured he should do something about the two men filling their faces with tears and snot bubbles. Clint caught on to what Phil said. “Hey Carter, you got a kitchen?”