Transformation: Zombie Crusade VI (4 page)

Luke tilted his head toward the door. “Feel free to ask him when he comes in here; you better get in position.”

Gracie slipped on the unfastened handcuffs and pretended to attach herself to the doorknob. She rolled up in a ball as best she could and pulled an old sheet over her head. Luke slid his sunglasses back on and flattened himself against the wall behind the door. They both held their breath as Jesse rattled the knob and pushed . . .

Gracie moved with the door and managed to keep the sheet over her head. Jesse gave her a little kick, and it was all Luke could do to keep from lunging at him.

“Aw, do you really think you can hide from me?” Jesse was totally focused on Gracie. He slammed the door and ripped the sheet off at the same time. He blinked when he saw the strange dark haired young woman in Courtney’s place. “What the hell—” 

Gracie shot up and body-checked him toward Luke, kneeing him in the crotch as hard as she could for good measure. Before Jesse had a chance to react, Luke had him disarmed and pinned to the wall while Gracie handcuffed him to the door.

“Who are you? You’ll never get away with this,” Jesse spat as he struggled to free himself.

“We already did, asshole,” Gracie responded. “Now why don’t you explain to me what you had in mind for Courtney? I’m really into that whole ‘eye for an eye’ thing these days.”

“Who the hell are you?” Jesse snarled. If Gracie had rattled him, he didn’t show it.

Luke stepped forward. “She’s my wife, and I’m something you should be very afraid of.”

“Did you hear that in a movie, big boy?” Jesse taunted. “I’m real impressed.”

Jesse’s overconfidence was instructive. Luke quickly called, “Gracie, go cover the back door. I think Jesse here is expecting some friends.”

The smirk faded from Jesse’s face when Gracie pulled out her suppressed .22 pistol.

Luke shook his head. “I guess you were thinking that nobody has any guns but you.”

“You won’t get away with this.” Jesse sounded much less sure of himself this time.

“You need to stop worrying about me. As far as I’m concerned, your fate is really in the hands of the people you’ve been terrorizing in this settlement. They can decide what to do with you and the rest of your gang.”

Luke stopped there when he heard two men approaching the front door, and he roughly shoved a dirty towel in Jesse’s mouth to keep the thug from warning his buddies. He nodded to Gracie. “I’ll be the welcoming committee for these guys.” He shoved Jesse up against the backside of the door and opened it several inches.

Jesse was grunting and trying to shout through the wad of cloth that wasn’t quite choking him, but his friends misunderstood what they were hearing. They lumbered up to the door, passing a bottle of moonshine between them.  The first one to take a step over the threshold announced his arrival with, “Hey, save some fun for us—”

Luke threw open the door, grabbed both men by their forearms, and roughly pulled them inside. They were drunk, and their reflexes were slow; they didn’t have time to draw their weapons before Luke had smashed their heads together, knocking both men unconscious. “Gracie, would you tie them up and frisk them?”

“It would be my pleasure, dear. What are you going to do?”

Luke removed the towel from his captive’s mouth. “Jesse and I are going to continue our little talk.”

Jesse was reassessing the situation as quickly as he could. He was having a hard time trying to figure out what these sanctimonious strangers might be after. “So do you want a cut of the action, is that it?” he tried to sound nonchalant, but his voice was high pitched and strained. “I’m sure we can work out a deal.”

“What are you offering?” Luke asked evenly.

“Ammo, food, whatever you want.”

“Did you make the same deal with the army?”

Jesse looked confused. “What army? Everybody knows the military got wiped out tryin’ to stop the infection.”

“You sure about that?” Luke pressed.

“If you believe otherwise you’re dreamin’.  Didn’t you see the news before everything went dead? Government was just as worthless after the outbreak as it’d always been.”

“Where’d you get your guns?”

“Man, you really ain’t from around here—”

Luke cut him off. “Can you get me a helicopter?” he snapped.

“Jesus, you don’t ask for much.” Jesse couldn’t tell if Luke was serious or just playing with him.  “If they come back, we might be able to shoot one down—would that be good enough?”

Luke was quickly satisfied that the low-life squirming before him was an independent threat, with no connection to Barnes or his lackeys. He pulled Jesse over in front of the open door, forcing him to squint against a stream of fading sunlight. “You could offer me a hundred helicopters, and it wouldn’t be enough. Be thankful I’m turning you over to the people here.”

Luke reached up and pulled off his sunglasses. He stared into Jesse’s terrified eyes as the growl returned to his throat. “I know what I’d do with you.”

A stream of warm liquid ran down Jesse’s leg.

CHAPTER 4

The decision to spend the night inside the settlement was an easy one, though Luke and the others made a return trip to their canoes to retrieve their tents and other gear. Maddy and Zach had been somewhat surprised at how many people they’d found who were anxious to step-up to leadership roles once they were assured that Jesse and his thugs would no longer be a threat. In a matter of hours, a small council of citizen-leaders was presiding over a meeting where every member of the settlement was asked to identify whom they believed should be arrested to stand trial for crimes against the community. Luke had already secured Jesse and the two low-lifes who’d shown up to assault Courtney—three more men were quickly apprehended by small groups of angry citizens who were eager to finally take a stand against the injustice they’d suffered. It was Luke’s turn to be surprised when there was unanimous agreement regarding exactly who should be arrested and forced to answer for their crimes.

A grandmotherly woman with tightly plaited gray hair emerged as the natural spokesperson for the group. She first asked for volunteers to help redistribute Jesse’s stockpile of weapons and ammunition to the people. As soon as the guns were handed out, she proposed that the council be given twenty-four hours to determine what should be done with Jesse and his followers, and she addressed the crowd to ask if there were any objections.

Someone hidden in the sea of faces shouted, “String ‘em up!” and there were loud murmurs of agreement.

The woman held up her hands to quiet the crowd, then calmly responded. “We can do that, Clem. Or we can exile ‘em. We just need a little time to consider the repercussions of whatever we might do.”

Terry whispered to Luke, “That’s Gladys Hurley. She was some sort of college professor before—knows everything about plants. She’s like everybody’s grandma here.”

“What do you think will happen to Jesse and the others?” Luke asked quietly.

“I think they’ll be swingin’ from the trees by this time tomorrow,” Terry answered with obvious satisfaction.

The settlement celebrated its newfound freedom with a community party that lasted well into the evening. After dinner, Luke shared news from the outside world and fielded questions. Most people wanted to know about specific cities and towns, but with the exception of Shreveport and Monroe, Luke had no information for those mourning their missing loved ones. The questions finally sputtered out as the day’s modest warmth dissipated, at which point the weary travelers retreated to their campsite at the edge of the makeshift housing area. A few hours after sunset, Terry found the four northerners gathered around a small fire where they were half-heartedly discussing their plans for the next day. Gracie waved the young man into the circle of light and asked him how everything was going as Luke turned away for a moment to slip his sunglasses back on. He didn’t like limiting his vision at night, but in this situation it was preferable to frightening the already traumatized young man.

Initially, Terry seemed hesitant to share what was on his mind, but he finally opened up after a few seconds of stuttering. “I want to come with you, and I’ve got about twenty other people who want to get out of here too.”

Terry had addressed himself to Luke, and after a long pause the enigmatic leader made an announcement that surprised his wife and friends. “Only the young and healthy can join my army. Everyone has to be a fighter or willing to learn. My orders, and the orders of the leaders I appoint, will be followed without argument. Those who choose to come will have to undergo a week’s training here before we head upstream; we’ll teach you guys how to arm and armor yourselves, and how to fight with medieval weapons.”

Terry nodded enthusiastically. “That’s what we all want, sir. We can’t just sit here inside this oxbow lake for the rest of our lives; we wanna get out there and do our part to win this war you’ve told us about.”

Luke stood up and placed a firm hand on Terry’s shoulder. “Bring the people who want to join us back here at dawn and we’ll get started. Oh, and even though she’s young, bring Courtney along. Gracie and Maddy will train her to be their aide until she’s strong enough to fight.”

Terry was thrilled. “Thank you, sir.”

“Thank you, Terry, I need good fighters.”

As the excited teen walked away, Zach was the first to protest. “What’re you doing? Since when did you decide you needed an army? We can’t take on a bunch of rookies if we’re trying to move fast and light.”

Luke appeared to mull the question over for a few seconds. “Maybe I’m not worried about fast and light anymore.”

“What the heck does that mean?” Maddy demanded. “You’ve never had any interest in commanding troops—“

Gracie interrupted, “Luke, this isn’t like you. You usually talk things out with us, or at least with me. What’s going on?”

He stared at the ground for a long moment, searching for the right words to explain what he was feeling. “Well, you guys, you know I didn’t exactly have a plan when I said I wanted to head west. Now, I can sense a plan forming in my mind. Maybe forming is the wrong word—it’s more like the plan has been there all along, and I’m just starting to discover it.”

Gracie sighed. “You should have talked to us before you set things in motion with Terry. We’re a part of everything you do, and I shouldn’t have to remind you that I’m your wife. You don’t need our approval, but you shouldn’t blindside us.”

“I’m sorry,” he softly replied, “it’s like I said, I’m just discovering the plan myself.  I didn’t know Terry would come to us tonight, and the rest just sort of happened spontaneously. But it feels right.”

“Okay, zombie-boy,” Maddy offered, “consider yourself forgiven. Now what’re some of the other ideas we should know about?”

Luke scratched his head and began to explain, “Well, I know there’s no way I’m gonna be able to pass up settlements along the way. I want to know what people are thinking and how they’re living. And If we find any situations like we found here, I’m gonna fix the problem.”

“Hey,” Zach replied, “you gotta know we’re with you on that.”

Maddy and Gracie nodded their agreement as Luke continued. “Yeah, and I don’t mean to be a jerk about it, but I know I’ll fix things my way. I just don’t want you guys to feel like I’m bossing you around all the time.”

Zach smirked. “Dude, that’s never bothered you before,” he teased.

“I’m serious,” Luke protested, “I can’t promise that I won’t, what did Gracie call it—blindside you again. I didn’t know what I was going to say to Terry before I said it, but now I have a clearer vision of what I, I mean we, need to do.”

Maddy decided to end this question of authority once and for all. “Hey look, amigo, I know I give you a lot of crap, but I will follow you to hell and back. Heck, I’ve already done that a couple of times. And I know I speak for Zach on this subject too; you are our brother, and our leader. Jack and Carlson may be the brains of the resistance, but you’re the heart and soul of it. Now that you’ve managed to survive a bite, your stature’s only gonna grow in this country.”

Gracie put her arms around her husband. “See, I’m not the only person who believes those things.”

Luke allowed himself a slight smile as he conceded, “I’m not fighting it anymore. If I thought I was just one of many before the bite, I know better now. I want to help mankind return to the top of the food chain on this planet and kill the bad guys while I’m at it. I’ll need an army to do that.”

He hesitated, and Gracie stepped back to peer at her friends around the fire.  She added her perspective, “I think there may be more survivors living along the world’s rivers and lakes than we thought there were. But if all they’re doing is cowering behind their walls in fear, they’ll be there until they starve or get sick; the flu or something will get them, or malaria will make a comeback. Saving humanity is about more than simply killing off the hunters.”

Luke felt a knot tighten in his stomach, even though he agreed with every word Gracie said. He added, “Barnes and the people who do his bidding are the real enemies. My gut tells me that we have the winter months to work with before he makes his next big push, so we don’t have to be in a hurry as we head west. We’ll inform all of the communities we find about what’s going on in America. Hopefully, some of the young adventurous types will come with us. The more settled folks will know they can establish contact with Monroe or Vicksburg. Bottom line is that we bring them into the alliance opposing Barnes.”

Zach nodded. “Where do you think Barnes will strike next?”

“I think he’ll target Utah; it’s the center of what’s basically an organized confederation, and he knows they’re Jack’s strongest allies.  Plus, he’s going to have to bring in the west if he’s really planning on presiding over a united United States.” 

“OK, but what about Jack and the others?” Maddy asked with concern.

“Don’t worry, I’m not forgetting about them.” Luke was still getting used to the idea that Jack Smith was his father. “The best way to help Jack is to extend and solidify opposition to Barnes. We’ll be warming up down here before the northern states shake winter loose. If nothing else, the weather will decide when we need to return to Jack or Carlson. But, hey, something tells me we’ll know when it’s time to head for home.”

“So we should act like a regular army and just keep our military ranks from the Vicksburg campaign?” Zach was making a suggestion and asking a question at the same time.

Luke shrugged. “Heck, those guys would make me a general if I asked them to, at least the Utah divisions would. Let’s just stick with me being a captain, and you three are lieutenants.”

“I think that makes sense. A lot of these people are craving some sort of government presence out here, or at least some organized authority,” Gracie pointed out. “They want somebody to give them a sense of security.”

“I agree,” Luke replied. “I’m sure that’s something Barnes has been able to exploit wherever he goes.”

“Yeah,” Maddy concurred, “who wouldn’t want the U.S. Army to come riding to the rescue after a zombie apocalypse?”

“So what do we call ourselves, I mean, what do we call our army?” Zach asked earnestly. “Barnes says he’s the U.S. Army; even though it’s not true, the name still carries weight.”

Luke furrowed his brow. “I don’t know what we should call ourselves; this is all pretty new to me too.” He looked to Gracie, but she just shrugged.

“Everybody in Vicksburg called us the Allied Army, but Jack and Carter have always just called us the Resistance,” Maddy reminded them. “We’re still a part of that, no matter where we go. Maybe we should be the Allied Resistance.”

“That works for now,” Luke said, yawning. “It’s late, and I’m actually tired for a change. We should all get some rest and talk more about the details tomorrow.”

The teens retreated to their respective tents, but Maddy had too much on her mind to sleep. “Hey Zach, do you think Luke seems a little weird?”

“Of course he seems a little weird—I think in his case weird is normal.” Zach didn’t feel like talking anymore. “You told him you’d follow him to hell and back, so don’t start worrying about stupid stuff and just stick to your plan.” He crawled in his sleeping bag and patted Maddy’s next to him. “Get in so I can shut off the lantern.”

She sighed and climbed under the covers. As soon as Zach switched off the light, she rolled toward him and asked, “Do you believe in fate? I know Luke does, and I totally trust him, but if I believe in fate, doesn’t that mean that I have to believe that Barnes and the whole pandemic were meant to be? I just can’t accept that, can you?” He could tell by the tone of her voice that she was truly troubled, but he didn’t understand why she worried about such things.

“I don’t think it’s like that. I mean, I don’t think that believing in Luke and his ‘feelings’ and trusting that he has some bigger purpose than us means that we have to also believe that everything that’s happened has happened for some giant cosmic reason.”

Maddy was still frustrated. “Sometimes I wonder how you and I got to be here—I mean here, specifically, with Luke. Why us?”

“Because we’re his friends, and he can trust us. And we trust him.”

“Okay, I don’t have a problem trusting Luke, but what if he actually does have some great destiny or higher purpose or something? Can we trust fate? I don’t think so—just look at the world around us.”

Zach reached over and put his arm over Maddy. “You had some pretty crappy things happen to you before the outbreak—do you think your dad was fated to be a meth head? I don’t believe that for a second. I think people have choices. Luke has choices, you have choices, I have choices . . .”

“But sometimes we don’t have choices—is that fate? I didn’t choose to not like boys, no matter what anybody says.”

Zach hadn’t expected Maddy to bring up being gay; they’d never talked about it, but he’d always considered it a non-issue. He decided that this was one of those times he was supposed to be sensitive and reassuring. “You are who you are, and even though I give you a lot of grief, I wouldn’t change a thing about you if I could.” 

“You wouldn’t even make me taller? Some friend you turned out to be . . .” Maddy sounded satisfied and relived. “Do you ever wonder what your life would be like right now if the pandemic had never happened?”