Eaters (Book 2): The Resistance (17 page)

"See this empty vial?" He pointed to a tiny glass tube next to the circuit board. If I had to guess, I'd say it contained some sort of paralysis agent, something that instantly impairs motor function combined with another agent that destroys brain tissue."

"So like…a failsafe…in case the electrode doesn't work to control them."

"Exactly."

Jasmine moaned. "I really don't like this."

"Me either," Cheryl said. "How can we expect to defend ourselves against something like this? It's madness."

As they quibbled about what their next plan of action should be, Zach reminded them of something. "Does this really change anything? They're still just walking dead meat. So what if some group of dickheads is controlling them now? We can still kill them just the same as before—a shot to the head, a rock to the skull…that hasn't changed."

"That's true," Aidan replied. "Maybe we're better off staying put. We know this area pretty well and that gives us a strategic advantage."

Chip bounced on the heels of his boots, anxiously waiting for a turn to speak. "But what about the bodies? The smell of those rotting corpses just sitting by the road could lure more in—more than we could handle."

Aidan shook his head. "I think they're far enough away from our camp to cause trouble. They actually might work as a diversion."

Agitation increased all around as everyone squabbled about what they should do next. Mark and Jake were ready to leave, both insisting they needed to head north to get away from this new threat. Aidan agreed that they needed to leave at some point, but thought they should head east, deeper into the mountains. The arguments grew loud enough that Diego finally stood up and reminded them all that their voices might be carrying on the wind and reaching the ears of Eaters in the area or O.N.E. patrols.

"All right…let's just stop!" Aidan said. "We're letting our emotions get in the way of rational thinking."

Diego backed him up. "He's right. Maybe, we need to sleep on this for a night and have a serious discussion tomorrow. In the meantime, gather up your necessities, in case we decide to break camp."

Grumbles followed as the group slowly dispersed. Cheryl saw Jake, Mark, Ben, and Zach head off to a tent just as Deanna walked by her, shooting death rays with her eyes. Aidan and Diego were talking with hushed voices when Deanna plopped herself down. She wrapped a leg around one of Aidan's and leaned into him. When her clinging reached the point of annoyance, he flicked her off. She jumped to her feet and kicked a cloud of dirt in Cheryl's direction before stomping off. Curious about Aidan's conversation with Diego, Cheryl wanted to join them, but feared Deanna's wrath, so she left and decided to join Mark and the others in the tent.

They glared at her when she entered, but she came in and sat down cross-legged anyway, insisting with the determinedness of her insertion that she belonged in the conversation just as much as the rest of them.

Jake was using a piece of charcoal to draw on a cardboard square. "So, we can head northwest and bypass Phoenix by skirting around the east side then pick up Highway Seventeen going north…"

"Why wouldn't we just take Seventy-seven through Globe towards the Fort Apache Reservation? That's headed more northeast towards Omaha," Mark said.

"Right," Cheryl added. "And the main highway seems like the last place we'd want to be if we're trying to avoid O.N.E. trucks."

"With a direct north route, there will be shops along the way where we might be able to pick up food, water, and other supplies. Places where we could sleep. If we travel at night and rest during the day, we'll be less likely to be seen."

No one argued with that.

"And…honestly," Jake said. "I don't have much hope that Omaha is still secure. That's a long way to go with no guarantee of safety at the other end. I'd rather head straight up towards Provo. I know a Mormon group up there that started preparing for doomsday long before the shit hit the fan. And that's a might closer than Omaha."

"You know them well enough that they'd take us in?" Ben asked.

"I'm pretty sure that if we make it there without any bites or signs of infection, they're sure to take us in."

"Okay," Mark said. "I like the idea of a closer destination. I think we should head out tonight, maybe after scavenging some supplies from the camp."

Cheryl scoffed. "We're not stealing from them! If they want to give us some food and water, maybe a couple more guns, that's fine…but only if it's offered."

"This is survival of the fittest!" Mark insisted. "The Vultures are on borrowed time if they stay here anyway. They're not going to have much need for beans, rice, or water when they're corpses."

"He's right," Jake said. "We'll be polite and ask first. If they say, 'no', then we'll take what we need."

By the time the conversation wound down, the four men were in agreement about their plans. Cheryl was torn. At the beginning of the outbreak, she would have followed Mark and his pals to the ends of the earth. Now, she wasn't so sure. If they were planning on leaving tonight, there was little time left to work it out in her mind.

Towards sunset, as she came back from filling some plastic water bottles with water from the pit, Aidan whispered to her from behind a teepee. She glanced around to see if anyone would notice her sneaking off into the shadows then joined him near the trunk of a tall pinyon.

"A little bird told me your group is leaving—at least those of you who want to go. I guess Jake's still got some fantasy that there's some place safer out there. I just tried to talk him out of it. Told him it would be a death march—if the Eaters don’t get you, the troops from O.N.E. will. He's determined, though. He asked me if we could spare some food for the road, and I told him he could have a few cans from our stash, but that's it. He seemed pretty ungrateful for the offer."

Cheryl figured Jake and the others were probably already covertly filling their pockets with deer jerky and boiled eggs.

"Look…" Aidan implored. "You and I made it all the way down here from Colorado. You know I know a thing or two about survival. There's a better chance of making it if we stick together. We're better armed. We've got—"

After glancing around to see if anyone was watching them, he reached out and pulled her close, pressing the warmth of his body into her. "You know it would be crazy dangerous to go all the way to Provo or Omaha."

She felt her heart beating against his, smelled the campfire smoke on his skin. Memories flooded her mind with everything they'd endured together.

"You don't have to go," he said, boring into her with one twinkling green eye. "You could stay here with us...with me."

Cheryl closed her eyes, trying to find some moorings on her tipsy raft.

"I found a spot deeper in the mountains that would be the perfect place to build a cabin."

A cabin
. Camping out under the stars these last few nights made her nostalgic for that last night of normalcy she'd had with Mark before the epidemic flared out of control during Fourth of July weekend last year. They had eaten gooey marshmallows roasted over an open fire and had mind numbing sex in the foothills just outside of Golden, Colorado. Then there were all those nights with Aidan on the road where it seemed like just the two of them against the whole rotten world. She wanted those feelings back, wanted to dream about recreating civilization with someone she loved, one little piece at a time. If she couldn't have it with Mark…could she…

"I can't," she blurted before her mind caught up with her mouth."

Aidan's fingers dug into her arms as his warm lips pressed against her ear. "Why? You're not married. Why follow these idiots into hell? We've got a nice life here. It's rough, but it's comfortable. And, we're far enough away from the towns that we're usually not bothered too often."

It was the second time he had offered her a place at his side. Actually, it was the third, if she counted the initial rescue when she'd first met him. She knew this was the final offer. If she left with Mark and her group in the morning, it was certain she'd never see Aidan again. Now that she'd found him, it was hard to imagine another goodbye.

"I…I can't," she finally said, knowing that her loyalties were still with Mark even if he was going through a stupidity phase caused by fear. "I just…"

He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing tight. "Then,
I'll go with you.
I'll try to convince the rest of the Vultures to come too, because it would be stupid to split up."

Happy that she didn't have to make a choice, Cheryl rejoiced. She kissed Aidan on the cheek and ran to tell Mark the good news.

Chapter 13

A commotion in the center of camp distracted Cheryl from her mission to find Mark. People were gathering as Diego began to stumble around the embers of the dinner campfire. He sang an off key tune, slurring his words, half in English and half in Spanish, kicking clouds of dirt into fire pit.

"Must've had some tequila stashed in his bunk," Earl whispered to Cheryl.

There was laughter as everyone, even Aidan, seemed to enjoy the bit of raucous entertainment. She kicked back to watch with the others like it was some sort of comedy show.

Then, it quickly went downhill.

A glowing coal landed on one of Zach's boots, and he didn't realize it until he saw the smoke rising up from his toe and felt the heat from where it had started to burn through the leather.

"You son of a bitch!" Zach yelled. "Look what you did!"

Diego thought it was funny. "Hot head…hot foot! Makes sense, doesn't it, amigo?"

Before he could resume his song, Zach was in his face.

Every verbal barb that had been tossed between them had built up to this. Since meeting Diego, Zach seemed to have forgotten that Edmond was his favorite punching bag. Though she didn't want to see either of them get hurt, Cheryl thought these two men were more evenly matched foes which should make a more interesting challenge.

Amazed, she watched Diego sober up quick as the two men were chest to chest, staring each other down. As flames from the fire reflected in his brown eyes, he looked fierce. Looking just as intense, Zach crouched down like a tiger ready to spring. Then, they went at each other like a couple of rabid animals.

Hands balled into fists, Zach sprang forward and delivered the first blow, a bare-knuckled upper cut followed by a kick. His calculated moves were evidence that he had trained in the martial arts while it was quickly apparent that Diego was more the brawler type. He used his brute strength to punch while the tequila likely allowed him to bounce back from blows that would have made a more sober man crumble.

Cheryl winced each time she heard the
THUNK
of bone connecting with bone.

"Check out Bruce Lee and his Kung Fu juju!" Earl laughed.

"He's no match for
Thor
," one of the Vultures said. I've seen Diego fight plenty of times. He'll take a lot of hits while he's waiting for the other guy to tire then he'll go in for the kill with a big hammer."

After Diego threw a punch and missed Zach's jaw, he found himself in a headlock. Zach squeezed, making him flounder, but Diego escaped after a knee to his opponent's groin. After doubling over for a couple of seconds, Zach seemed to shake off the pain but not the scowl on his face.

By now, there was cheering and booing for both sides. It didn't seem to be just two men having a spat. It was Cheryl's group and the Vultures facing off.

"This is getting ugly," Jasmine said before turning away.

After a few more brutal exchanges, both men looked like they were seeing chirping birds flying around their heads as they parted, hands resting on knees, trying to regain their wits.

Cheryl hoped this was the end, but the men gave no sign of stopping. After gaining a second wind, they came together again and tumbled to the ground. After grappling in the dirt for a few seconds, neither was able to attain dominance,

"That's enough!" Jake shouted, taking a step forward, looking ready to jump in.

"No," Aidan said, holding a hand out to keep him back. "If they don't work it out now, it will be a never ending pissing contest."

Zach apparently decided that he was going to fight dirty too. He grabbed a fistful of Diego's long hair and yanked hard, giving him just enough window to regain his leverage and flip to the top. Before he threw his first punch, Cheryl saw movement behind them in the trees.

"Guys…" she said, pointing past the quarreling men. "We've got company…"

Aidan saw the Eater first. He yelled for everyone to grab their weapons. As the crowd began to disperse, the men stopped fighting, but didn't seem to realize what was going on until a man stumbled into the clearing. He wore a uniform, faded olive green pants and a matching shirt with torn pockets that had dark bloodstains marring the front. Cheryl gasped when she saw his sleeve. It had a dark blue, circular patch with the words "U.S. Border Patrol" stitched in yellow. Some of the skin was missing from the right side of his face, exposing his jaw line and rotting teeth, and his eyes were sunken, unseeing orbs, trickling out golden ooze. His filthy hands were hooked into claws, reaching forward as he walked.

Both of the fighters were on their feet now. Zach regained his composure and turned to face the intruder. "Look amigo," he chuckled. "We got us a new contender!"

Mark aimed his rifle, ready to fire, but Aidan put his hand out and lowered the barrel. "It's just one. They can handle him."

"I'll take him," Diego said, stepping closer.

"He's mine!" Zach spun around with a roundhouse kick, landing square in the Eater's chest.

The ghoul flew backwards, landing on his rump.

As he rose up again, Diego squatted low. He lunged forward just as the walking corpse stumbled, doing a quick jig three steps to the right and managed to evade his grasp.

Zach attacked with a front kick. His foot connected with the monster's chin, snapping its head up and back, but failing to knock him down.

Diego threw a hard punch to his head, but again…he stayed on his feet.

"You're a pussy," Zach taunted. "My grandma could take on more dead meat than that."

"Yeah? Where's your abuela now, hombre? I bet one of them got her. Even the worms are done with her now. The Eaters are probably using pieces of her ribs to pick their teeth."

Cheryl elbowed Edmond in the ribs, whispering, "You could learn something from him. He knows how to toss Zach's grandma jokes right back at him."

"Yes, but he's got fifty pounds on me and a wicked left hook. If he ever decided to use me as a punching bag, I'd be curled up in a ball crying for my grandmother."

Instead of responding to Diego with another retort, Zach took his fury out on the wobbling corpse. He used the same kick, but with more power. The ghoul fell to the ground, where his head smashed onto a protruding rock. When he lifted back up, his advanced state of decay was more apparent as there was a softball-sized depression on the side of his scalp, giving his head an awkward, concave shape.

Before he got back up, Diego smashed his head in with the heel of his boot. His limbs twitched for a few seconds before he went still. Then, the two men forgot about him and faced each other, prepared to continue their fight. The clash was aborted when a couple more Eaters wandered into camp. Zach and Diego took turns showing their bravado and taking them down. When three more stumbling, hungry corpses replaced them, several of the onlookers raised their guns, but Aidan motioned for them to stand down.

"They're outnumbered," Cheryl said, keeping her gun raised. "Don't you think we should help?"

Aidan shrugged. "I've seen Diego take out more than that. He could do it blindfolded with one arm tied behind his back. Besides, if he doesn't get them all, Zach will do it, just to one up him."

Then, he turned to Earl and the other man next to him and told them to go check the perimeter. They hopped up and ran in the direction that the zombies came from, guns at the ready.

"We didn't hear the cans jingle. Somehow they got past the rope netting. Looks like we're going to have some repairs to do."

Guns were lowered as it became obvious that the two fighters had things under control. Zach moved with lightning speed, delivering a flurry of bone-smacking blows with his fists and feet that hit their mark every time. With each receipt of his fury, decrepit heads spun around on their necks and knee sockets cracked and buckled. Diego turned head stomping into a game, putting each Eater out of commission then dancing around them like he was doing a touchdown celebration.

Cheryl was sure that if anyone had the balls suggest that the two of them were working as a synchronized team, they would have been insulted.

There was one final intruder that wouldn't go down as easily as the others. He wasn't a large man, but he was stocky with a large, sturdy head. He was also fresher than the others, looking like he'd only been turned within the last couple of days. Each time he was knocked to the ground, his snarls seemed to get angrier. By the time Zach and Diego finished with him, they both looked punch-drunk and so weary that their arms were hanging limply by their sides. They were both bloodied and bruised with heaving chests, and flecks of blood and spittle frothing at their mouths, but they were still ready to go at each other. Aidan and Jake finally broke them up, pinning the exhausted arms of their respective man behind his back.

"Can we call a truce now?" Aidan asked in an exasperated voice. "You're both good men, and there's no point in making this a death match. We need both of you."

Neither of them spoke. Their heads hung low, chins touching their breastbones as if too fatigued to lift them any higher. Aidan released Diego's arms and nodded to Jake to release Zach's.

"Shake."

The sulking forms defiantly kept to themselves.

"Come on…shake. Damnit!"

After a few seconds of hesitation, they finally complied with a brief, angry thrust of their sweaty palms.

Cheryl suspected they only agreed to call it quits, because of their exhaustion. When daybreak came, it was possible that one would wake with the other's hands around his throat.

Then, she remembered that Jake and Mark planned to leave before then. She considered approaching them about holding off for one more day to give Zach a chance to recuperate.

As the audience began to disperse, Aidan looked alarmed. "Where's Earl and Al?"

"The guys you sent to check on the perimeter?" Mark asked.

"Shit. We forgot about them!" Jade said.

"Rifle in hand, Aidan hopped over the fire pit and ran in the direction they'd gone. Mark, Jake, and several of the others joined them."

A man from Aidan's group watched them go and said with a nervous voice, "They should have been back long ago."

"Maybe they've just been working on repairing the ropes," Kai said, optimistically.

"Maybe...
maybe not
," the man replied. "Get to the trees!"

The campers scrambled skyward. Cheryl joined them, climbing up a rope ladder then pulling it up after everyone was off the ground.

They waited and grew more nervous as they heard the sound of gunfire dozens of yards beyond the camp perimeter.

About fifteen minutes later, after the shots stopped, Cheryl considered hopping down to go look for the men who hadn't returned. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw motion in the distance.

"There they are…" Edmond said, pointing towards the top of a head appearing above a rustling shrub a few yards outside the camp.

Blond hair.
Was it Mark?

The rest of the head emerged.

Not Mark. Not any of the others from her tribe…

Instead of oozing, jelly like orbs, this creature had black holes where its eyes should have been. He wore a ripped t-shirt that said,
Arizona State University
(though some of the letters were blacked out by bloodstains, so it read,
"…izona  …ate…sity")

Jade took him down with his crossbow, a crack shot between the eye sockets.

Cheryl kept an eye on him, making sure he didn't stand back up. "Maybe the bodies down by the road are attracting them. We should—"

"There's another one!" Kai yelled.

She aimed her gun. The hit would have been direct if the woman in a bloodstained peasant top and shorts hadn't wobbled on an apparently broken ankle just before she pulled trigger. Instead of hitting her in the head, the bullet grazed her ear, knocking a chunk to the ground.

"I'll take her," Jasmine said, aiming the pistol in her hand. Her first two shots missed altogether, but the third pierced her temple. Jasmine whooped as the Eater fell to the ground.

"Why aren't they back?" Patrick asked as he continued to scan for any more signs of movement. "They should all be back by now."

Before anyone could answer him, the forest around them seemed to uproot itself and come alive with dozens more of the undead.

"Oh crap!" he yelled. His shaking hands were unable to hold steady as he aimed and fired, missing as many times as he hit.

Cheryl took down five in quick succession, but like a hydra, every head that was put down just produced numerous more to replace it. The group in the trees shot as many as they could with their guns and crossbows. Still…more of them came. No longer at the perimeter of the camp, they were encroaching on the center and surrounding the trees where they were perched.

"There's too many!" Cheryl yelled. "What do we do?"

Patrick screamed, "You're asking me? How the fuck should I know?"

He stopped firing, and she thought it was possible that he was trying to save a bullet for himself. There was no time for her concern, because there were three Eaters shaking the base of her tree. She aimed at the one with the nearly skinless skull that seemed neither male nor female, but the violent motion of the tree trunk made her lose her balance. She gave up her mark and clung to the branch instead. The next earthquake caused her gun to tumble the ground.