American Revenant (Book 2): Settlers and Sorrow (14 page)

            Rick
chambered a round into the large rifle and sighted down at one of the fuel
tanks.  “I’m going to poke a couple holes in those just before they get here,
wait until that guy is about a block past us, then fire a flare right into the
gas.”

            “Got
it,” was all Dean said in reply.

            The
runner had about a two block lead, but it was obvious that he was quickly
running out of steam.  Rick cursed as the runner stumbled, but he didn’t go
down. “Move it.  Keep that lead, man,” Rick said aloud.

            The
two men waited, watching the runner.  Just after he passed the tanks Rick fired
two rounds in rapid succession, both punching holes low in the tank on the
left.  The runner stumbled again at the sound of the shots, but kept going. 
The zombies seemed confused for a moment, but returned their attention to the
meal they could see.  The runner was just going past the New London Bank when
Rick returned his attention the zombies. 

            “Wait,
Dean, let the whole mess of them get in front of those tanks.”

            Dean
waited, watching as the first of the zombies went past the tanks.  A moment
later he heard Rick say “Now”. 

            Dean
called out “Fire in the hole” loudly, to let the others know what was about to
happen, then pulled the trigger on the flare gun.

            The
flare arced down over the heads of the advancing horde of undead, bounced once
and splashed into the pool of fuel that had collected under the tanks.

            Dean
and Rick both ducked down below the edge of the roofline to protect themselves
from the explosion.

            Time
seemed to hang suspended for a moment just before the fuel ignited.  Preceded
by a loud whooshing sound as the gasoline caught, the first tank exploded, with
the second tank erupting a second after.

            Rick
and Dean both felt a moment of fear when the building they were on top of shook
violently, and the roof sagged beneath them.   Eager to get off the roof, they scrambled
carefully on hands and knees to the rear of the building.  Gordy and Mike
waited below; crouched in a corner where a longer building intersected the one
they were now on.

            Rick
passed the rifle to Mike, following it down. Dean slid down right after him. 
Rick stowed the long range rifle in the truck, grabbed his Remington 12 gauge,
and all four men made their way back to the street.  Everyone was dismayed to
see that the truck that had been parked in front of the other vehicles was now
missing its windshield.

            Standing
back from the blackened pit created by the explosion mouths hung slack in shock
at the carnage they had wrought.  The small building that had housed the auto
repair shop behind the tanks was completely gone, rubble from the building
strewn everywhere.

            The
storefronts of the buildings across the street had been blown out, and even as
they stood there one of the buildings began to cave in, crumbling forward out
into the street.

            Zombies
and parts of zombies were burning everywhere they looked.  Very few of the
living dead that had been following the runner were moving around, fewer still
had begun to pick themselves up, and Mike took these down quickly with the
suppressed rifle.

            “The
runner,” Gordy said, walking towards the downed form of the man who had been
running from the horde of undead.

            As
they walked up slowly, not sure what to expect, the man began to stir.  “What
the hell?”

            As
Gordy and his men walked up they realized that the runner was a young woman,
her hair tucked under a ball cap that somehow she had not lost in the
explosion.

            The
group stood over her, with Mike offering his hand to help her up.  “Are you the
ones that just blew up the world?” she asked loudly.

            “Yeah,
sorry about that, no other way to stop that pack of zombies you had on your
tail.  Are you ok?”

            “What? 
Am I gay?  What the hell?”

            Gordy
almost laughed at the puzzled look on her face before noticing blood coming
from one of her ears, and pointed to it.  She realized then that she wasn’t hearing
properly.

            “Fuck,
I think you guys blew my eardrum.  Thanks a lot you assholes, you could have
freaking killed…”  She stopped speaking abruptly as she turned to look back in
the direction she had been coming from.  She was stunned by the crater left where
the tanks had been, and the masses of still burning gore.  A few of the
surrounding buildings had begun to burn freely.

            “That
reminds me of this guy I used to date, he was in a band called Flaming Guts. 
They sucked.  I’m Rebecca, my friends call me Becca.  People who try to blow me
up don’t get to call me anything.”

            Mike
and the others just stood there quietly for a moment, taken back by this brash
young woman. 

            “Are
you guys all mute, because that would suck, to be nearly blown up by strange mute
men,” Rebecca said, voice still raised.

            Gordy
laughed, “No, we aren’t mute.  And we certainly didn’t try to blow you up.  I’m
Gordy Fletcher; this is Rick Tillerman, Mike Phillips, and my son…”

            Rebecca
cut him off, saying, “Do they call you Scarface?” she asked looking directly at
Dean.

            Dean
scowled at her, pulling his scars into a very unpleasant shape.  “They wouldn’t
dare,” he growled.

            “Yeah? 
Well, that’s because they’re pussies.  Come on, my people are nearby, and that
explosion will draw every damn Zom for miles.”  Dean, contrary to his look of
disdain, was instantly smitten.

            “We
need to get our vehicles,” Gordy told her. 

            “Well,
hurry up then.”

            Gordy
waited with Rebecca while the others ran back to get the two trucks and the
car. 

Chapter 19

            Rebecca
took them to a small single story white house on the corner of West Clay and
Second Street. 

            The
house was filthy inside, as were the five people that were waiting nervously
for Rebecca to return. 

            “What
the hell Becca!  You blow the town up, or what?  And who the hell are these
people, armed to the teeth like that?”

            “That
is Arianna; I call her Airy, short for Airhead.  She hates it, isn’t that right
Airy?”

            The
tall, thin woman placed her hands on her hips and spat out an unintelligible
swear.

            “The
old guy in the corner is Everett, the blond dirty looking dude is Garett, the
dark haired dirty looking dude is Louis, and that guy in the corner looking
like he’s about to piss himself is Richard.”

            Everett
stood up from his chair, walked over and extended his hand to Mike.  Everyone
could see that the old man had difficulty walking.  Mike, to his credit, did
not look at the hand in disgust before shaking it.  Everett shook the hands of
all four men, introducing himself formally as Everett Watson.

            “You
get anything to eat, Becca?” The one named Garett asked.

            “I
did until these guys tried to blow me up.”

            “What
the hell, you serious, Becca?”  Louis asked, incredulous.

            “No,
I dropped my pack between Eighth and Seventh streets.”

            “Oh
come on, Becca, we’re freaking starving, why would you drop your pack?”

            “Because,
Airy,” Rebecca said with a tone of hateful sarcasm, “a pack of Zoms came out
from the trees on Avanti Street.  I didn’t see them in time to go around, but
they saw me before I could hide.  I was this close to becoming a Zom nom,” she
said, holding thumb and forefinger a inch apart.

            “We’re
going to fucking starve to death before you find us anything to eat,” Arianna
said viciously. 

            Voices
were raised, and everyone from the house began to yell back and forth.  Gordy
and his crew simply stood there, stunned at the nastiness these people were
spewing at each other.

            “Shut
the hell up!” Mike suddenly shouted.  Everyone in the room looked at him, fear
rising in the faces of those that didn’t know him, except for Rebecca.  “How
did you guys get through the winter together, good freaking grief!”

            “Do
you think everyone can stay civil enough to sit and talk with us a bit, tell us
how you all survived the winter?” Gordy asked.

            Before
agreeing that they could, each of the people living in the house looked to each
other, as if silently asking whether or not it was possible.

            Rick
and Mike stood silently, listening while Gordy drew the story of their survival
from the small group.

            Jimmy
wandered through the filthy house, getting an idea of how these people lived. 
He was overjoyed to find a small bookshelf in an office off the kitchen.  He knelt
down, running his fingers over the spines of the books. 

            He
slid out several, reading the back covers before deciding on one to take with
him.  With book in hand he walked back to the living room and asked, “Anyone
mind if I take this?”

            Everyone
looked at the book he was holding up.  “What kind of a name is Tig?” Mike
asked. 

            “A
Space Story,” an excellent book,” Everett said.  “The books were here when we
found the house, so feel free.  I do think you’ll enjoy that one.  I have read
it several times over the winter.  It makes me sad to think that I won’t get to
read the continuing saga now.”

            Gordy
took Jimmy’s interruption as a cue to break the conversation.  “Excuse us for a
moment, everyone,” he said.  He walked out the door, followed by his men.  Once
the door was closed they could hear arguing from inside the house begin to
rise.

            “Ok,
I know they sound nuts, but all that time cramped in a house with each other
would drive anyone a little crazy.  I know we said that the council should
decide on new people, but I don’t think that works when we’re out here.  Three
of us are on the council anyway.  I’m asking for your opinions.”

            The
men conferred quietly for a moment while Gordy kept watch around them.  Mike
chose to be the speaker for all three.  “I know that we need to bring people
in, Gordy, but aren’t you rushing this a bit?  Besides, we don’t know if these
people are even capable of doing what has to be done for the Camp overall.  It
sounds like that Rebecca girl is the one that’s kept them all alive.”

            Gordy
shook his head, thinking for a minute.  “I know I may be moving a bit fast on
bringing people in, but we need more bodies, to make everything work.  I hate
to say this, but maybe we should just ask Rebecca to join us.”

            From
behind them came Rebecca’s voice.  “I don’t know about this Camp, but if you
guys have food and a safe place, then I’m willing to join.  But they come with
me.  I may not always like them, but I can’t abandon them to the Zoms.”

            Gordy
felt a flare of shame that he would even think about leaving people to fend for
themselves in this diseased world. 

            They
all went back in and explained the situation to the six people living in the
filthy house.  They stressed, several times, that everyone at the Camp worked
to make it a home, and that laziness was not tolerated.

            Rick
and the others went into the kitchen area of the house, to let Rebecca’s group
discuss the situation.  They could hear every word, and knew that Rebecca was
trying to get everyone on board. 

            Arianna
was the only holdout, and they could hear every word she said.  “We don’t know
these people, and I know you can see all those guns.  Who knows what they have
back at this ‘Camp’, if they even have one.”

            “Those
guys saved my ass, Airy, and now they’re offering to save
all
of our
asses.  We have to take a chance, because staying just won’t work.  With just
us we can’t get enough food to keep everyone alive much longer.  And if I die
of starvation and come back as a Zom, I’m eating your face first Airy, I promise. 

“I told them I wouldn’t leave without you guys, but
I’m also not stupid enough to stay behind and let you get us all killed because
you’re afraid of some mean looking men with guns.  I think the big one they call
Mike even has a tattoo.” 

The men standing in the kitchen chuckled at Rebecca’s
prodding; they could hear the sneer in her voice.  It was obvious that the
brash young woman was a natural leader. 

“Don’t be glib, Becca.  We don’t know anything about
them, and all those…those guns.”

“Save your liberal ideals on guns for later, Airy, I’m
not in the mood.  If they wanted to do nasty things to us they could have
walked in here, easily taken out Everett and the boys and had their way.  I’m
done talking about this, I’m going, and the guys want to go as well.”

The men in the kitchen heard footsteps, followed by
Rebecca walking into the room.  “We’re going, if you’ll still have us.”

“What if Arianna doesn’t want to go?” Rick asked.

“I’m not abandoning her if she’s been given a choice
and chooses to stay behind.”

“Ok then,” Gordy said, “it’s getting late in the day
and I’d like to be home well before dark.  We can start loading up whatever you
guys have to bring with you.”

“We don’t have much; I say we can be out the door in
just a few minutes.”

Garett and Louis helped Everett out to the De Soto,
which Dean would be driving back.  Richard joined Everett in the back while
Rebecca took the front passenger seat.

Gordy drove the Dodge, with Garret and Louis, while
Mike and Rick took the battered Chevy that no longer had a windshield. 

Just as the vehicles began to pull away Arianna ran
out of the house, pulling a wheeled suitcase behind her.  “Please, don’t leave
me here!”

Gordy leaned out the window and told her that she
could ride with Mike and Rick, causing her to get a look on her face like she
had just taken a mouthful of coffee grounds. 

Rebecca shouted out the window of the De Soto, “Come
on Airy, you can squeeze in back with Richard and Everett.  Throw your bag in
the back of that truck and let’s go!”

Arianna hurried to comply.  Gordy was glad to be
heading back home; it had been a long day.

****

Gordy stopped in the middle of the highway and got out
of the truck.  He waved at everyone to stay in their vehicles as he walked up
to Rick’s window.

He could hear Rebecca in the De Soto telling Arianna
to ‘Shut up, no one’s leaving anybody in the middle of nowhere.’

“Cows are out again.  I really think we need to make
finding the person handling them a priority tomorrow.”

“I agree,” Mike said, leaning over to talk to Gordy
through Rick’s window, “besides, I don’t want to be anywhere near the Camp
tomorrow with that damn Harpy screeching all day.”

Rick and Gordy laughed in agreement.

“Remember, two honks from each vehicle when we get
back.”  Rick nodded in affirmation.  Gordy said the same thing to Dean, who
gave him a thumbs up.