Man Eaters (11 page)

No one answered right away.

“I think so,” Butcher said quietly. “They don’t seem to be leaving it. We need to get closer.”

Riding down the hill and east to a smaller knoll, the riders were able to get a better look.

Standing all around the Hummer were a dozen man eaters moaning and beating on the windows with shredded fingertips and bloody stumps.

“Oh shit.”

“Is there someone in there?”

Einstein replied first. “Must be. Otherwise, they’d have no interest.”

“Well, I sure do,” Dallas said.

Everyone stared at her.

“If we had a Hummer, we could travel much more quickly during the day. We could get out of here in a day.”

“Until we came upon other Hummers. Then what?”

“When is the last time we’ve even seen two of them in the same area? Einstein said it himself our military is stretched too thin to adequately cover a disaster of this magnitude.”

“He’s right,” Butcher replied. “This is all a stop gap measure while they find a way to secure the borders, but Dallas has a good point. We could move much more quickly with a vehicle that is allowed to travel the roads.”

“Are you all suggesting we actually go down there and kill those things?” Roper asked.

Dallas and Butcher looked at each other before nodding.

“I think it’s a bad idea to leave the horses. It’s only a matter of time till you won’t be able to get gas and we’re safer off the streets.” Roper said.

Dallas turned in the saddle. “You aren’t down with this at all?”

“I didn’t say that. I just think the horses are still our safest bet. They may not be the fastest, but they don’t require fuel and they keep us out of sight.”

Dallas considered this a moment. “The Hummer wasn’t worth splitting up from Roper and she had a good point about the horses. They would need them to get over through the mountain pass.

“The two ideas aren’t mutually exclusive.” Dallas explained. “But we can carry more in the Hummer, and it will give us a safe place to be when reconning an area.”

Roper jutted her chin out at the Hummer. “Didn’t work that way for that guy.”

They all stared at the man eaters banging bloody stumps on the Hummer windows.

“Why don’t we get the Hummer and take it to the next town over for supplies? You can meet us there with the horses. We can keep leap-frogging until the Hummer is no good to us anymore,” said Dallas.

Roper considered this. “I can work with that.”

“Splitting up is a bad plan,” Butcher added. “A lot can happen from one place to the next.”

Dallas looked over at Roper and gave her a quick smile. “Roper won’t leave the horses and I won’t leave Roper.”

Einstein pulled Gwen up to the rest. “So, you’re all saying we’re going to go down there where it’s clearly infested and kill those man eaters like we were some sorta super heroes?”

All three nodded.

He grinned. “Oh hell yeah! Count me in!”

Butcher looked to Dallas, who said, “It’s his own personal video game come to life.”

****

“Head shots only, people.” Einstein said as he hefted a rifle to his shoulder. “Don’t waste ammo shooting at anything else. It won’t stop them.”

They had tied the horses under a cluster of oak trees before hiking down to the frontage road. The closer they got, the louder came the hideous moans of the once human beings pounding their now bloody fingertips on the windows. While they would never break the Hummer windows, they would also never stop trying to get to the meat inside.

“Ah, I see what happened,” Butcher said, pointing to three of the man eaters wearing military uniforms. “The Hummer’s stuck in that ditch. My guess is those three got out to push and were attacked.”

“So the infestation has reached inland faster than we realized.”

“So it would seem.”

Roper leveled her sights at the eater nearest her, which was a good fifty yards away still. “We can use the horses to pull it from the ditch.”

Dallas agreed. “Perfect. Well then, are we ready to do this?”

Everyone gave her thumbs up.

“They will come at us,” Einstein said, “so let’s each take two who will be our responsibility to shoot.”

Butcher flashed him a smile. “Those video games have paid off. That is exactly how we ought to do it.”

As they moved closer, Dallas’s heart felt like it was trying to burst out of her chest.

“Stop,” Einstein said. “This has to be close enough. Once they see us—”

As if on cue, the man eaters stopped pounding and slowly turned toward the foursome. Instantly, two man eaters’ heads were blown to bits as Roper and Butcher nailed their first targets. It took Dallas three tries before she downed hers, and Einstein four for his first but only two for his second. As the remaining man eaters lumbered toward them, moaning that awful sound, Butcher and Roper finished them off.

“Einstein and I will check out the Hummer. You two stand watch on either side.” Dallas handed her rifle to Roper, who, in turn, gave her the .357.

“Armed at all times.”

Taking it from her, Dallas said, “Gotcha, but what’s wrong with my Glock?”

Roper looked at Butcher for confirmation. “They can jam. That baby? Not once.”

As Dallas and Einstein cautiously approached the Hummer, Einstein aimed his rifle at the driver’s door while Dallas stood about five feet away and peered in. The soldier at the wheel looked half-crazed with fear and thirst. His lips were slightly cracked, and his eyes would not settle.

“Come on out. You’re safe now.”

He hesitated a moment before unlocking the door. “They’re all dead?”

Dallas motioned for him to get out. “Yeah. Come on out. We can help you get this out of the ditch.”

Looking all around, the soldier, who couldn’t have been more than twenty-one, opened the door and slowly got out, his eyes scanning the area in front and around the car. Pit stains blossomed from under his arms and around his neck. He stunk of sweat and fear.

“Keep your hands up,” Dallas ordered.

The soldier held his hands up and laced them behind his head. “We have to get out of here. Those things are everywhere.”

“Yes, they are. My question is why didn’t you radio for help?”

“I did, but there aren’t that many choppers in this area and—” He stopped, remembering his duty.

“And?”

“And that’s all, ma’am. My unit will be here shortly.”

“Then we’d better get a move on,” Dallas said. “You go over there and kneel down.”

The soldier blinked. “What?”

“We’re commandeering your vehicle.”

He let out a bark of a laugh. “Right. A girl and a boy?”

Einstein pushed him into the field. “Dude. She’s a woman and I’m a boy with a gun, and yeah, we’re taking the Hummer.”

“As you can see, it’s in a ditch, and those things are everywhere.” He knelt on the ground and Einstein relieved him of his sidearm.

“There are two rifles pointed at your head. If you so much as make one move of aggression, you’re a dead man.”

He shook his head. “Ma’am, that’s the oldest trick in the book.”

“There’s no trick, soldier, save the one the military is playing on us.” From behind the soldier came Roper, all four horses in tow. Dallas threw the Hummer into neutral.

The soldier stared at the horses as Roper attached them to the front bumper and coaxed them forward. The Hummer didn’t budge for a moment before slowly rolling out of the ditch.

“Look out!” The soldier yelled, pointing in the direction of a man eater walking toward them. Half its face was gone, its clothes were torn and dirty, and it wore no shoes. Butcher dropped it with one shot, causing the soldier to whip his head around.

“See? No trick.”

When the Hummer was out of the ditch, Dallas poked her head in to take inventory. She retrieved two pairs of binoculars and a grenade she tossed over to Einstein, who caught it with nonchalance. Pulling the binoculars out, she turned to the soldier. “What can you tell me about this vehicle?”

“Ma’am, I have no intention of telling you anything.”

Einstein shook his head. “We don’t need him. Butcher will know.”

On cue, Butcher came down the hill, her rifle in both hands against her chest. “Well done.”

“Butcher, what can you tell me about this vehicle before Einstein and I take off?”

Butcher looked into the vehicle quickly. “About twenty-five miles per gallon, with a top distance of three hundred. It will sit four of us comfortably. This baby is an M1165, which is used as a command and control vehicle, but this one has extra space and the carrier on top. Power steering and air con, you two will ride in style.

Dallas glanced over at Butcher “It doesn’t feel right leaving you guys, especially with man eaters walking around.”

“You know Roper better than I do. Do you think you could talk her into leaving the horses?”

Dallas shook her head. “Not a chance.”

“There you go.”

“You won’t get very far in that,” the soldier said. “They’ll blow you to bits.”

“What if we bring you with us?”

Suddenly, his eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped.

“Oh, I see. You thought you were coming all along.”

“You can’t leave me here! Those things are everywhere.”

“Yes they are.”

Once Roper had untied the horses, she and Butcher saddled up.

“Go on, Dallas. Once you both are on the road, we’ll meet you at Waterford, at the last exit off the freeway. “That will give you plenty of time to get gas and check out the food situation.”

Dallas nodded, but walked up to Roper on the horse and handed her the binoculars. “Take these. We have two sets.”

Taking the binoculars, Roper looked down at Dallas. “We’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I’ll keep this one.”

“Stop!” came Einstein’s voice. “Look out! He’s going for the—”

When the other three looked up, they saw the soldier making a beeline for the Hummer.

Butcher swung her rifle to her shoulder and dropped him where he stood. He wasn’t dead, but he soon would be.

As they both stood over him, he managed to roll over on his back, a gaping exit wound in his abdomen.

“Damn it,” Dallas said, kneeling down. “Why couldn’t you have just stayed there?”

With blood trickling out of the sides of his mouth he said, “Ma’am, please don’t leave me here for them.”

Dallas looked over to Butcher, who shook her head before taking his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“You gotta shoot me in the head, ma’am or they’ll eat me. Dead or alive...they’ll eat me.”

Dallas handed the magnum, grip first, to Butcher.

“Ma’am? It’s all fucked up. What we’re doing here isn’t right.”

“Can you give us some clue, Corporal Lewis?”

He coughed and sputtered like a dying engine. “Closing the border and killing everyone trying to get out. Everyone. Total containment.”

“By borders, you mean the Mexico and Oregon borders?”

“All of it. We’re pulling out soon to contain at the border. This thing...it’s gotten outta hand.” More blood oozed from his mouth. “Ma’am...please.”

Butcher lightly touched Dallas’s shoulder and rose. “Thank you, corporal.”

“Would you...could you take my dog tags?”

Dallas leaned over, her heart heavy, and slipped them off from around his neck to put them around her own.

“Go on, Dallas. You and Einstein get a move on. Roper and I will finish up here.”

Dallas looked to Roper, whose eyes held a deep-seated sadness. “We’ll catch you in Waterford. Have the barbie on.”

Dallas forced a grin she did not feel and got into the Hummer. It felt more like a tank. “Don’t make me come back for you.”

“We’ll be fine. And kid? Take good care of her.”

Einstein saluted. “Ten-four.”

As Dallas pulled onto the frontage road, she glanced in her rearview mirror and saw Butcher shoot the soldier in the head.

She suddenly realized, this would not be the last time they would have to kill one of the living.

****

Dallas

The streets were eerily devoid of cars...at least moving cars. There were plenty that had been abandoned or shot to shit from the choppers. She decided to stay off the freeways, since it would be so much easier for a helicopter to spot them. Once Einstein figured out the radio, they listened to the military chatter about movement and hostiles.

“You think hostiles means all of us?”

Einstein shook his head. “They refer to us as civilians.”

Dallas was somewhat surprised by how easily the Hummer handled for such a big vehicle. “Okay, what do we have?”

“A flare gun, four automatic rifles of some kind, a first aid kit, some freeze-dried food.” He stopped. “Freeze dried food. That’s what we need. It’s lightweight, easy to fix, and has some nutritional value”

“We can check out a sporting goods store when we come across one.”

Einstein’s eyes grew wide. “Bad idea. In the movies, they’re always hanging around those stores. We might actually have better luck in a warehouse of some sort.”

Dallas barely nodded, and for the next few minutes they drove in silence while Einstein fiddled with the on-board computer system. “Cool. This has a GPS system so we can—”

“A what? Damn it. Can you figure out how to disable it?”

“Disable it? Oh. Yeah. Right. Well, usually, you can just pull a fuse. There’s also a thing called GPS Tracker Defense. It will jam the frequency transmitted from the satellite.”

“Where can we get one of those?”

“Any good electronics store will have them, but that would require us to actually go into a town and that’s a bad idea.”

“Worse than getting blown to bits by a chopper? If they radio Corporal Lewis and he doesn’t answer, they can send someone after us, if they can find us. Let’s make sure they can’t.”

Einstein sighed heavily as he worked the micro-computer. “Then let’s kill two birds and head to Santa Rita.”

“What’s in Santa Rita?”

Einstein pointed to the GPS system that now displayed a map with a red pin on it. “It’s called the Ready to Go Store. It’s like REI, and will have the freeze-dried food we want unless it’s been pillaged.”