After The Virus (14 page)

He forced himself to continue with the plan. “Who knows how many of the city’s original inhabitants survived the virus, or stayed after.”

“What’s that?” Big peered at the map. “A mermaid?”

“A lady diver on a rock,” One Ear clarified. “I liked watching the waves break over —”

“Why the hell would we need to know about a lady diver carved on a rock in the ocean by a park? We’re planning an invasion!” Big roared.

Luanne came running from the kitchen, but her concern turned to tea towel-wringing frustration when she saw that nothing was actually wrong.

“Big, how do you expect the man to plan, with your hollering in his ear like a lion with a sliver in his paw? Now you hush, you hear?”

A slow, easy grin spread across Big’s face. “I like when you holler at me, Luanne.” He mock lunged at her and she squealed in delight.

“Now don’t you bother me, Big. I’m getting you boys some food. Brains need fuel for planning.” She sashayed back into the kitchen.

Will wondered on how a woman could change a man, but then he guessed that this Big had just been waiting under the surface for Luanne to find. Just like he’d been waiting for Rhiannon, not even knowing that she existed. Well, truthfully, not knowing that she existed in his world.

“There’s no army base in or near that city; no reason for it to have been there. Which means a tank trumps anything they can counter with.”

“They’ve got guns.” One Ear’s voice had taken on a whiney quality.
 

“Antitank?” Will quietly asked. One Ear didn’t have to answer.

“There’s other people too, Tex,” Big cautioned as he tapped the yellow on the map. “Good people that’ll just get hurt if we go in blazing.”

“I know, Big, but a strong offensive will get us in zone. And once we’re in, we won’t be going anywhere, plus One Ear will steer us right.” He caught One Ear’s eye and didn’t look away until he nodded in agreement. Then he leaned back and shared a look with Big, who sighed.

“It’s a shame, losing more lives. You’d think we’d have learned our lesson when we got our asses kicked by this plague,” Big mused.

“Well, I figure we couldn’t fight it, or we didn’t have enough time to figure out how to fight it, before too many of us had died,” Will said.

“Or that’s the way they wanted it,” One Ear mumbled, and when they turned their attention to him, stated firmly. “The government, you know.”

Big laughed. “The jokes on them, ‘cause they’re all dead!”
 

“Maybe.” One Ear was back to the mumbling. “Maybe they’re in a special bunker.”

“First, we got to get the tank through the mountains.” Will had no opinion about any government conspiracy, so he called them back to the plan.

“We could barge it downriver,” Big offered.

“The same river that Snickers and Rhiannon dove in? I don’t think so,” he countered. “No, it’s been years since I drove them, but the tunnels must be all four lane by now, hey One Ear?”
 

One Ear just shrugged.

Big lifted his hand to cuff him again, but Will stopped him with, “Don’t matter, that’s the only way to go. No choice makes the choice easy.”

“What about the cars, Tex? There’ll be cars blocking the road,” Big reminded him.

“Don’t worry Big. I got that covered.”

As they watched One Ear with his crayons, he pondered that this was the same man who’d sworn vengeance on Rhiannon for his brother’s death. Then he forced himself to remember that this was that same man, and that One Ear was never getting anywhere near Rhiannon or Snickers again. Big caught his eye, and looking almost proud, nodded again in agreement. This pact was certainly going to be hell on his mortal soul.

“I know you got it covered, Tex.” Big’s gruffness didn’t match his soft tone. “We all trust you; even he trusts you.” Big indicated One Ear.

“As long as you all know I’m no hero, and I’m not aiming to be a martyr either,” he sighed. “I’m just a man doing what he sees as right.”

“That’s what we all like about you, Tex.” Big grinned. “We don’t need no savior, other than the one God himself provided; that’s just fine.”

“Amen,” Luanne added as she, followed by a pregnant woman, carried in trays of steaming bowls and what looked like fresh bread. When Will looked up to praise Luanne’s cooking, she brushed him off with a pleased smile. “Just veggies, a family recipe, nothing to it.”

The pregnant woman knelt down beside him and placed a napkin on his lap. Then she picked up his bowl and offered it with downcast eyes.

B.B. growled a warning. He’d forgotten she was lounging by the fire, but obviously she hadn’t been sleeping. The woman offered him a spoonful of stew. When he looked up, questioningly, Big threw a look at Luanne.

“Never you mind, Emily! He’s gonna look after us all,” Luanne chided. She hustled around to take the bowl away from Emily and urge her to her feet; the pregnancy hampered her movements.

“But… but the baby,” Emily pleaded.
 

“He sees you’re pregnant,” Luanne clucked. “He values life, but he’s got a woman. I know you’ve been listening.” She herded Emily out. B.B. settled as soon as the women cleared, but Will wondered whether she’d been protecting him or Rhiannon’s territory.

“Sorry about that, Tex,” Big offered. “We… well, Luanne, rescued her ‘bout a month back. The father died in the last wave of the virus. The ones keeping her debated making her miscarry to see if she’d hold their seed instead, so Luanne decided it was time to part company with them.”

“And now she’s looking for a protector?” Will filled in the blanks.
 

Big shook his head. “I ain’t seen her do that with anyone else.”

He thought for a while as they all ate a few tasty mouthfuls. Then he said, “This is what it’s come to… that a woman thinks she has to…”

He couldn’t continue the thought.

Big clasped his shoulder, and even One Ear stopped coloring.

He found he couldn’t continue eating either.

“Well.” He cleared his throat, “We aren’t so far away from equal rights and privileges that we can’t get back what we’ve misplaced.”

“It’s a plan.” Big slapped him on the back, and then returned to scarfing stew.

“Jesus, you’re going to get us all killed,” One Ear moaned.

“Nah, that was the original point of sending your Buddy ahead. They’ll already know from where and why we’re coming; we’ll just finish them in the when.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

RHIANNON

Waking was like swimming through sticky cotton balls, but the second she surfaced, the image of Snickers on the street seared her brain. Rhiannon dampened the instinct to simply lunge off the bed, or couch, or whatever she was currently lying on, to take inventory. No voices; maybe she wasn’t awake enough to actually hear. She felt — lighter — and it wasn’t just residual from the drugs.
Her hair felt fluffy and her skin tingled… the assholes had fucking waxed her!

A shadow loomed, and she almost flinched when something brushed against her upper lip…
Lipstick, they are making me up, unconscious or not
.
 

When she caught the pungent floral scent, she forced her hand into a fist; it preferred to remain lax, but her brain was raring to go. She flung her arm, fist attached, upward and was surprised at how much force she actually commanded.

Bone crunched tooth, and she opened her eyes to catch sight of Mandy clutching her bloodied mouth and reeling backwards away from the couch.

Before she could force her body to follow up the punch with an attack, the cold steel touch she’d expected against her head happened.

Audio kicked in. Mandy tried to sob through her previously-injured larynx. At that hoarse sound, Rhiannon felt smugness stretch across her face.

“Dogs learn lessons quicker than you, Mandy. You. Don’t. Touch. Me. Ever.” Though the gun dug into her temple, she didn’t lose her sneer.
 

She turned, just enough to see Grunt on the other end of the gun. “I could kill her,” she said, “And you wouldn’t hurt me for fear of ruining your plans.” She made sure to add Will’s slow drawl to her accent to emphasize her calmness. It always seemed to work wonders for him, at least on her.

Grunt, true asshole, actually thought about it for a moment, eye-locked with Mandy, who didn’t seem to like what she was seeing on his face. Then he grunted and lowered the gun. “Still, I wouldn’t like it,” he finally responded, and angled his body away from Mandy’s betrayed look.

So she let it go, figuring the pain of Grunt’s disloyalty, coupled with the neck, nose, and lip wounds, never mind Snickers' bite, was enough to keep Mandy in place for a while.

Feeling them sting, she looked down at her knuckles to see she’d cut them on Mandy’s teeth. She should have forced her eyes open before she swung.
 

“You’ll want to see this,” Grunt said.

She pulled her gaze from Mandy, who hadn’t yet transitioned her wounded face to her angry one, but she really, truly doubted she was interested in anything Grunt had to show. But despite winning the last battle, she knew she didn’t have a say.

The Doctor was tending Mandy’s split lip, so he’d be able to stall any surprise attacks from that front. Mandy’s front tooth looked a little loose, and Rhiannon seriously hoped the bitch lost it. That wasn’t even one percent of the payback she planned to exact. Right now, Mandy was radiating wounded animal vibes, and you always kept eye contact in that situation, though maybe she had that backward.

Grunt switched on the TV and turned it in her direction. She didn’t want to see any more video, but was also desperate to see Snickers. She tightened her silk —
fucking
typical
 — robe. The fabric whispered across her skin to let her know she wasn’t wearing anything underneath. She stretched her legs out and didn’t stand until she was sure she’d be steady. She was, as always, unwilling to project a diminished image.

Grunt didn’t bother waiting or watching her as he cued the video, if it was actual video; she didn’t get how they got the technology to work. Actually, the only thing waiting on her was the green dress that still hung to one side. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be waiting long.
 

Grunt blocked the screen so she couldn’t quite see what he was rewinding, but she at least knew it wasn’t a live feed.

How long had she been knocked out of the game?
How long had Snickers been abandoned in the vermin-ridden streets of some goddamned city?
And by vermin, she didn’t mean rats. No, she meant the rabid creatures to which humanity, without society or even religion, had devolved.

Grunt moved to give her a view of the turn her immediate future was about to take: Snickers still kneeling, on screen, wasn’t alone anymore. A crowd had gathered to stare at the child, but no one approached closer than a few feet. Snickers, her hands still tied, kept her head bowed.

Rhiannon’s heart ached as she watched the screen, but as two men stepped forward to claim Snickers, a slow burn spread across her chest. She recognized Buddy, Asshole’s pal (One Ear according to Will), and figured that meant Asshole was nearby. So they’d gotten away from Will.
 

Or Will let them go, or they had Will, or they’d killed Will, or Will wasn’t coming at all
. She forced her focus to the TV.

She didn’t know the guy with Buddy, but despite his inbred hick appearance, he got props for untying Snickers' hands. He looked stupid, but not mean.

Snickers tried to fight but could barely move her blood-deprived limbs; then, after Stupid whispered in her ear, she collapsed in his arms.

Buddy seemed to be nervous about the crowd, but they just silently watched the two men load the child into a Jeep and drive away.

Rhiannon stood and crossed to the green dress. Aware of everyone’s eyes on her, she slipped her prettily French manicured toes into the strappy gold high heels. She dropped the robe, not giving a moment’s thought to standing before them naked, and slipped the dress over her perfectly curled hair. She turned to lock eyes with Grunt.

Shriller, not so shrill now, murmured, “We have to take it in more.”

Mandy shushed him, harshly.

Rhiannon smiled, that smile that they — the directors, the producers, and the fans — paid twenty million for, just to see her in some romantic comedy.

Grunt stumbled back from the wattage in that smile. His eyes gooed like men’s — and some women’s — did when they thought they might fuck her. She deliberately used the term fuck in place of love, and she always had, but she might reconsider if she ever saw Will again.

“You’ll take me to that exact spot where you left Snickers,” she wooed them even while she commanded.

“We will,” Mandy confirm-croaked.

“I’ll be your Trojan Horse, but once I get my hands on Snickers, you better hope I never lay eyes on you again, never, ever, again, because —” She dropped the smile.

Grunt, the Doctor, and Shriller actually slumped at the loss of it. Mandy had her arms crossed and her glare perfected.

“Not because I’ll kill you,” Rhiannon cooed. ”I’ll just stake you, bleed you, rip out your intestines and leave you…” — she whispered now — “…for them, the Infected. If they’re smart, and despite their zombieness, I believe they are smart about such things, they’ll keep you alive while they eat you. And that will be good enough for me.”
 

She smiled again, not for them, but to make sure it still worked. It was the only weapon she had now.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

WILL

No matter how much he planned, ordered, and packed, he couldn’t shake the image of Snickers slung like some sack over the ape guy’s shoulder.

They — the Red Jackets as One Ear called them — had encircled but not touched Rhiannon on the riverbank. They had let her wave to him. They followed, not pushed. However, he didn’t like — even the little he’d seen — their attitude toward Snickers. The girl had looked like a tool for luring Rhiannon. She’d looked disposable. So he asked One Ear, and really didn’t like the offhand shrug he got in response.
 

”The movie star is bait for the Boss,” One Ear repeated.