The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (121 page)

Mike nodded. “We're going to call soon.
We should be able to reach them, let them know we're coming, if you
wanted to talk to Cammy.”

Bear nodded. “I do, but I think I
mislead you with that relationship. I meant to straighten that out,
I just haven't found the time to do it. Cammy and I are not
together. True, we've traveled together awhile, and we even thought
about giving together a try. Didn't happen.” Bear took another deep
pull from his cigarette.

Mike nodded. “I guess I just
assumed.”

“
Yeah. We're both bad with
that. We, neither one, want to say it out. My fault, not yours.
But, well, I thought it should be said. I'll need a place to
stay... on my own. Cammy will... I don't know what Cammy will do,
but I'm sure she will not be with me. And the other... the other
thing is, well, she wouldn't be waiting for me or something... if
that worried you, as far as sending me out.”

Mike nodded. “Alone then. I see,” he
said.

Bear seemed to think. “Maybe not alone,
alone.”

Mike raised his eyebrows. “She may
change her mind?”

Bear laughed. “No. We talked it over. I
meant, well, maybe Beth will be there.”

“
Beth?”

Bear nodded, seemed embarrassed. He
took a deep pull from the cigarette, crushed it out against the
sole of his boot and then looked up at Mike.

Mike grinned.

“
What?” Bear
asked.

“
Nothing, except, I can see
it. I can see the two of you together. It fits.” He laughed for a
second and then his eyes turned serious. “You mean she would be
okay with you doing it? I don't mean a person has a right to tell
another what to do. I mean, well, couples... you let each other
know what the deal is.”

Bear looked even more embarrassed for a
moment and then laughed too. “She'd probably want to come. Maybe
not right away, but, well, we're a lot alike. I'd like to talk to
Beth, Cammy too, when you call. I've been worried.”

Mike stood, offered his hand and pulled
Bear from the ground with a grunt.

“
You need more lead in your
ass,” Bear joked.

“
Or cast iron,” Mike joked
back. They both laughed. “Come on,” Mike said after a moment.
“Let's go find Tim.”

The Nation

The valley was bright gold in the
evening light. The small stream a red-gold thread on the bottom of
the valley. The mixed herd of Buffalo and Cows, along with the few
Beefalo calves that had been born, were working their way to the
barn, grazing on the sweet grass that grew next to the stream as
they came.

Sandy stood with Susan and watched. Her
eyes were red rimmed, and Susan held one hand tight. Neither woman
spoke.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

Out of L.A.: The Story of Billy and
Beth

CHAPTER ONE

March 1st 12:06 am.

L.A.

Billy Jingo & Beth

Billy knocked back the tequila and
waved off Beth as she motioned to the back bar for another. She
came over smiling.

“
A man that knows when to
quit. I like that,” Beth said.

Billy laughed. “A recently acquired
habit, I assure you. Shit will bite you if you don't set your
limits,” He smiled at her, hesitated and then spoke again. “So it's
almost over for tonight... Thought you would be singing?” He raised
his voice at the end to make it into a question. He knew it was
what she wanted. He had heard her sing, there wasn't an act in the
place that could hang with her. She was it, except something wasn't
clicking between her and Jimmy, or maybe it went all the way up the
ladder to Harry. Whatever it was Billy was curious about
it.

“
Curiosity killed the cat,”
Beth said with a wide smile as if reading his thoughts.

“
Damn,” Billy said. “It's
as if...”

“
I read your thoughts?” She
laughed. It's been written all over your face since you came in. I
saw you looking at the stage, back at me, back to the stage. It's
not hard to figure it out.”

“
Hey, it's not like I'm
some wacko fan, Beth. I just think you are way to good
for...”

“
If you say it I'll smack
you stupid,” Beth told him. Her eyes were slitted, narrowed and
focused. Her right hand had doubled into a fist. Billy had no doubt
she meant what she said.

“
Peace,” Billy
said.

“
Not that it really
matters,” Beth said with a sigh. “Jimmy knows, and that means Harry
knows, and they don't care... That's not it. I'd feel for the lame
ass that came in here if I was doing a set and had anything to say
about my time on the streets... We've all been there... At least
the interesting ones.”

Billy nodded. “So what is
it?”

Beth shrugged. “I don't know, but I'm
hoping Harry will be around later on and I...”

“
Hey... Baby, what the fuck
with the drink?” A big guy, belly straining at the buttons of his
shirt. He smiled but the smile was no more than a rough semblance
of a smile. Billy tried to burn him with his eyes, but Beth reached
nearly into his face and said. “So you're done here?”

Her eyes said don't, he didn't, but he
would have liked to say something to the guy. Instead, he nodded a
yes and picked up the change she had laid on the bar. She was
talking to the fat guy before he got his change in his
pocket.

“
See that big guy over by
the door,” she asked nicely.

Billy watched the fat guy turn to the
door and then back to Beth. “Yeah?” The guy said. There was a
sarcastic edge to his voice that made Billy slow down. He wanted to
see the outcome.

Don, the big guy on the door had that
bouncer six sense and looked over at Beth and shrugged as if to ask
is there a problem. She rolled her eyes, and Don left the door and
headed for the bar.

“
I told you no more,” Beth
told the guy.

“
And I said I don't take no
orders from no bitch,” The fat guy said. He puffed up, but a line
of sweat trickled from under his too black hair and streaked his
forehead with whatever he had sprayed on his hair to get the color.
He swiped at it angrily. And began to bluster a little more when
Don's heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

“
And I missed my workout
today,” Don told him as he easily spun him around, “unless you're
it?” Don finished.

“
This is a private matter,”
The fat guy told him, but there was a quiver in his voice that
Billy heard clearly.

“
Tried to grab Jill's
breast when she went past him. Jill laughed it off, said he'd been
a perfect gentleman all the rest of the night. I said cool, a
little fuck up, he's had too much to drink and so I cut him
off.”

Gentleman was a code word for a creep
that had been hanging around getting way too friendly with the
dancers.

“
That so,” Don asked. He
had stepped back to give himself some room just in case things took
a physical turn.

The guy noted the movement and then he
set his empty glass on the bar and put his hands in front of him,
palms up. “No interest in trouble at all,” he told Don.

Don nodded at the door. “Time to go
home and sleep it off, I think,” Don told him.

Billy watched the guy walk to the door
and leave. He looked back to see Don and Beth looking at
him.

“
You know, this guy is
becoming a pain in the ass,” Beth told Don.

“
Ha, ha,” Billy
said.

“
Beat it Jingo. Leave the
honey alone. It's off limits. In other words you ain't getting none
of it.” Billy watched the cloud come over Beth just that fast. She
had been teasing, Don probably knew that, but Don had a thing for
her and he hated Billy who sometimes did small things for Harry. He
didn't wait for Billy to leave but headed back to the door, opened
it quickly and looked out into the lot.

“
Probably making sure the
guy ain't fucking up his car,” Billy said under his
breath.

“
Sorry, Billy. I keep
forgetting Don isn't human,” Beth told him. That made Billy
laugh.

“
Anyway, I'll see you
around. I'll be late tonight.”

Billy nodded. “Good luck, Beth.” He
turned and walked to the door at the other end of the club. The one
that let out onto the front sidewalk.

~

The night was beautiful, Billy thought
as he walked along Beechwood Avenue. He knew pretty much everyone
he passed. He had been here for a little over six months having
made his way up from Mexico when things had gone bad for him there.
Technically he was on the run. Warrants out of New York. Somebody
had put two and two together and dug up some prints from a crime
Billy had been involved with. He had only found out about it
because he had happened to be away from the house when the Feds
showed up. His neck of the woods had no municipal police, but even
if it had they wouldn't have come with shotguns and
armor.

He had hid out for three days until the
word had trickled down to him that it was him they were looking for
to hand over to some federal agents from the U.S. It hadn't taken
much to put two and two together. He had managed to get a beat up
old Ford pickup truck and then filled-fifty five gallon drums full
of gasoline that rode on the back of it. He set off into the
desert.

The rest had been easier. Despite the
laws and the changes in the U.S. It was pretty easy to disappear
here. He had come with a little money, and that had helped. He had
worked a series of meaningless jobs as he worked his way up the
west coast. Seattle had looked good and so it had held him. That
and Beth had come along.

Beth was out of reach and he knew it,
but that didn't stop the fact that he wanted her to be in reach. He
had never met a woman like her. So he had stayed. He had watched
her arrival from God knew where, some other place in California or
Washington probably. He had watched her struggle to survive on the
streets: Watched her work those same streets, doing her act in any
place she could get into by day, walking the streets by night, and
it was then he had seen something else in her. Something hard, some
will he himself had that was hard to define, but that hardness in
her pulled him to her like a magnet. It was that simple.

He had been working for Harry by then
and so he had mentioned Beth to him. He didn't know how the details
had worked out, but a few weeks later when he had noticed she had
disappeared from the avenue, he had found her tending bar at
Harry's Palace.

Now, as he walked he became immune to
the world around him. He never heard Don until he was on him, had
spun him around and dragged him into an alley.

“
Hey... Hey! Don... What
the fuck, Don... Hey!” But it did no good. The first punch nearly
shut him down. The second did. The rest he never knew
about.

Seattle Washington

Bobby

The wind kicked up along
Beechwood Avenue in Seattle's red light district. A paper bag went
rolling along the cracked sidewalk: Skipping over Bobby's feet
where he stood watching the traffic. Money, he thought, if he could
get a little money he could be okay. It didn't have to be a million
dollars,
just...
A
few hundred, he decided. A few hundred could really fix him up
right... There had to be a way.

He watched the cars slide
by and tried to work it out in his head. The problem was he was too
far off the edge of down. He needed to be more
up, high, wasted
to think straight.
The brain just didn't work without the sauce. He needed some good
shit, and for that he needed some money. Just enough to get enough
good shit to get a good high tonight and maybe a good high tomorrow
when it all wore off and the jingle jangles set in? … Maybe, he
decided. Maybe. Bobby turned away from watching the cars as the
paper bag bounded over his feet and tumbled along the avenue. The
diner down the block was calling. Sometimes he had scored in the
parking lot, there were truckers, creeps, who knew, but they were
in this area for one thing and it wasn't the food. All he had to do
was find the right guy and he'd be set. He looked once more at the
traffic and then turned and walked off toward the diner.

New York: Rochester

John Simons

The sidewalks below him were crowded.
John stood at the apex of the steps that led up to the old court
house. It was impressive. He looked down at his hands, shifting the
small silver canister from hand to hand, rolling it across his
palm, treating it as though it were just a small fascination to
occupy his mind, when in fact he knew it was something more. He
didn't know what, exactly. He wasn't paid to know what. Maybe
someone up the ladder knew what, he didn't, and it was likely he
never would, but it was something more than just a shiny little
object to occupy his mind.

He had done hundreds of
these small jobs. Little things. Little things that probably meant
nothing in the scheme of things, at least that's what he had always
told himself. A little mental salve to prevent an infection of the
larger truth. Little things he never heard a single thing about
later on. Little things, but he suspected this time, this
job
was not a little
thing at all. He suspected this was a big thing. He suspected he
would hear about this one down the road. He suspected this one
would come back to bite him in the ass.