Man Eaters (15 page)

“Is that issue? What to do with these people we come across?”

Dallas nodded.

“I gotta say I never really gave it much thought. I mean, Butcher fit right in, but these three?” Roper lowered her voice. “You were wise not to give them guns. Not until we can trust them.”

“Them?” It was Butcher. She was drying her hands on a towel as she entered the kitchen. “That trust will be a long time in coming. They are young, scared, and not entirely honest about their situation.” Walking over to Dallas, she gently lifted Dallas’s bloodstained shirt. “I found some Neosporin, too. If you’ll just lean over, I can get these covered.”

As Dallas leaned over, Roper looked at the scratches, and said to Butcher, “I think we’re all on the same wavelength where that’s concerned. Dallas, Einstein and I are wondering about the wisdom of collecting people as we move along. What are your thoughts?”

Butcher hesitated answering as she applied the ointment. “Well, we’ve got a possible pregnant woman up there, her stoner boyfriend, and—”

Dallas rose up. “Wait. What do you mean, possible?”

Butcher shrugged as she gently turned Dallas back around. “She says she’s eight weeks pregnant but I can’t see that. That doesn’t mean she isn’t...it just means I couldn’t see it. We got her feet up and she’s relaxing, but…I don’t know. Something’s not kosher there.”

Dallas considered this information a moment. “And Tate?”

“Laying with her. I smelled weed when I went into the guest bathroom. Not that it matters.”

“It does,” Roper said. “We’re trying to survive. The last thing we need is someone we can’t count on because they’re too fucking stoned. We need to always be aware of our weakest link.”

“Well, it looks like we found him.”

Butcher gently rubbed the Neosporin on the scratches. “Can I ask something? I’m just curious, but how did you three decide that you were going to lead?”

Dallas looked up at Roper as if she had the answer. “Do I? Am I?”

Roper shook her head. “It happened organically. We didn’t formally decide anything. She stepped up, Einstein and I step with her. Why?”

Butcher covered the cut with a large piece of gauze. “Mob rule never works and it puts us in danger. If Dallas is leading, then it’s up to the three of us to carry out and support the plans. To that end, I think this is like the game of Survivor. Once the numbers exceed the four of us, we could be in trouble. I think we’re okay for now, but a pregnant woman will sidetrack us eventually, as will her jacked up boyfriend.”

Pulling her Harley jacket back on, Dallas studied Butcher. She looked tired. “Why don’t you get some rest? We’ll put you and Roper on watch after this first watch. We’ll have dinner around six.”

“Dinner?”

Dallas smiled. “I saw a barbecue out back. I’m going to see if there are any veggies left on the farm. I was thinking of scaring up some zucchini, maybe some summer squash, some corn. It’ll be well worth the wait.”

Butcher sighed. “That sounds delicious. I’ll lay down for a little while and then come down to help out.”

“No hurry. We’re not going anywhere.”

Once they were alone, Dallas pinched the bridge of her nose. Her back was stinging and throbbing slightly.

“You okay?”

Locking eyes with Roper, Dallas stepped closer. “Thank you for saving us—me—back there. I had no idea how I was going to get out of that.”

Roper surprised her by bridging the gap. “You’d have done the same for me. It’s what we do now, right? We’re in it for the long haul, huh?”

Dallas nodded, her eyes tearing up. Her defenses finally down, she felt the complete gravity of the situation she’d just escaped and it hit her hard. “I’ve never been so scared. How dumb is that? There are things out there that want to eat me and I’m more afraid of being raped by a no-neck Jethro.”

Roper pulled Dallas to her and gently held her as she cried. “Nothing wrong with that, love. It’s a fucked up world we live in now. But you’re safe as long as I live and breathe. On that, you have my word.”

When Roper released her, they stepped away and looked at each other for a long, quiet moment as unspoken words flowed between them. “I trust you, Dallas. Einstein trusts you. Trust that you’re doing the right things for us all.”

As Dallas trudged out the back stairs toward the garden, she wasn’t so sure about that.

****

For dinner, Dallas wanted to barbecue a variety of vegetables she’d gleaned from the fields as perhaps their last healthy meal. As she placed squash and tomatoes in a basket, Cue-Ball stood watch with his cue stick over his shoulder.

“You’re gonna need to hand those rifles out sooner or later, Dallas. If we were overrun by a bunch of them, you’d be the only one capable of protecting us.”

Dallas kept pulling zucchini out of the dirt and brushing them off. “Ammo will be scarce some day, Cue. We all need to learn how to fight without using guns.”

“That’s just crazy talk, girl. The closer they get, the more dangerous they are.”

“I understand that, but rifles need bullets to be effective. We may need to hunt for our food once we’re in the mountains. We need to be smart about our ammo use.”

“I’m just saying—”

Dallas rose up. “Look. I know what you’re saying and we’re just going to have to agree to disagree. For better or worse, I’m in charge, and that’s how this is going to play out. Now, I want to dump these off in the house and go check out the barn for weapons or tools we might have missed.”

“The barn?”

She started at him. “Yeah. The barn. You were supposed to make sure it was clear. It is clear, right?”

Cue licked his lips and gazed over at the faded red, run down building. “I don’t think so.”

“You what?”

“Get that kid to go in with you. I’ll watch the house, but I’m not going anywhere without a gun, especially a fucking creepy-ass barn. Do it yourself.” Picking up the basket, he walked away.

As Dallas watched him trudge back to the house, she began to understand Einstein’s fear. This type of discord would break the group apart. People would question every call made and questioning people made for a poor team.

She didn’t ask for this.

Slinging her gun around, Dallas started for the barn and was interrupted when Butcher met her at the barn door.

“You’re not thinking about going in there alone, are you?”

Dallas stopped, realizing the huge mistake she’d almost made. “Damn that was stupid. I suppose it would be good for us to function on the buddy system.”

Dallas opened the barn door and they stood there, scanning the barn carefully. “We’re looking for weapons for the others.”

Butcher studied Dallas a moment. “You sound worried. Anything I can do?”

Nodding, Dallas walked over to a workbench and found a machete, a baseball bat, a couple three-foot lengths of rebar, a pitchfork, and a crowbar.

“Pretty good haul,” Butcher said, hefting the crowbar.

As she started back to the house, a man eater dressed in a light blue dress and apron lunged for Butcher.

“Butcher!”

Swinging the crowbar around her head, Butcher crushed the temple of the dead woman with a bone-crunching impact that sounded like a watermelon being run over. The man eater sprawled on the ground, her head bashed in, her neck at an impossible angle. 

Butcher stood over the woman and drove the straight end of the crowbar through her brain. Dallas shouldered her rifle and looked all around the exterior of the barn before returning to the body.

“You made that look so easy.”

“I was a soldier once, remember? You see a lot of death in war. You cause a lot of death in war.”

“I thought you were a medic?”

“I was. That doesn’t mean we didn’t have to shoot our way in or out of hostile places. I’ve killed my fair share of bad guys. These things? Like wiping dog doo off my shoe.”

Dallas nodded, staring down at the dead woman. “I think she might have lived here.”

“Well, where one is, others are sure to follow.”

“Right. I really want to feed everyone before we head out, so let’s clear out any we find and fix something delicious.”

After a quiet dinner of barbecue vegetable and chicken, Dallas went over the game plan for the next days of travel. Twice, when Tate interrupted, Roper or Butcher put him in his place. There was a tension in the air Dallas had a hard time ignoring. She didn’t want to waste energy worrying about the mounting dissension of the ranks. They needed a solid plan even though everyone was itching to leave after finding out about the dead woman in the barn.

“We’ll finish up here. Everyone grab a weapon, and no, not everyone gets a gun. We’re not going to waste ammunition by shooting the undead. We may need it to hunt for food later, so please don’t bust my balls over getting a rifle or a handgun.” She leveled her gaze at Cue, who shook his head slowly.

“Food?” Coca griped. “What good will food do us if we’re dead?”

“Nobody is dying,” Einstein grumbled. “Unless you don’t listen to us.”

“Us? Tate asked. “Isn’t this us all of us?”

Dallas shook her head. “Sorry to inform you, Tate, but this isn’t a democracy. Everyone has input, but only one of us is making the decisions. If you want to make your own, then there’s the door.”

Roper, Butcher, and Einstein all nodded.

Tate shook his head. “Whatever. Fine.” He grabbed the crow bar and pushed away from the table. “But I agree with Coco. There will always be food along the way.” With that, Tate left the kitchen.

Coco sighed. “Tate is an asset, you know? He has a lot of skills and talents you’re missing out on because—”

“I’m sure he does, but pushing back on everything we’re trying to do doesn’t really show he’s a team player. Right now, we just need to get our ducks in a row as a unified group. Tate keeps making that more difficult. We don’t need difficult. We need teamwork.” Dallas looked around the room. “Are there any questions? Cue?”

“I suppose you’re the only one who can drive as well.”

Dallas cocked her head. “Is everything going to be a pissing contest with—”

A sudden banging on the door made everyone jump.

“I’ll get it,” Roper said as she jumped up with Butcher right on her heels. Two seconds later, a shot rang out. Five seconds later, Roper and Butcher came running back down the hall.

“We gotta get the horses and Hummer and get the hell out of here.”

“What is it?”

“Come see.”

When everyone ran to the front door, they looked out and saw a group of nearly three dozen man eaters plodding down the driveway, two hundred yards away.

“We can take ‘em,” Roper said.

Dallas shook her head. “Let’s not risk it nor waste ammo. Grab your gear. Einstein, help Roper saddle up. Butcher, you stand watch at the barn. The rest of you grab your weapons and get to the Hummer.”

Roper, Einstein, and Butcher bolted to the barn.

“Give me the keys so I can get everyone in,” Cue-Ball said.

Dallas shook her head. “On the horses this time is you, Roper, and Tate.”

“I’m not splitting up from Coco,” Tate whined.

Dallas sighed. “Fine. I’ll send Butcher.”

Surveying the area, Dallas did not see much, if anything, to take, except a Costco size box of matches. By the time the horses were ready, the man eaters were less than a hundred yards away and closing.

“Las Positas, then?” Roper asked.

Dallas nodded. “First freeway exit. I’ll steal a page from the military and will spray paint a big D on a house nearest the off ramp to let you know we’ve arrived. Meet you there when?”

“Tomorrow afternoon. Around two. We’ll head out at six in the morning and it’ll take all day. Traveling at night on the horses is just too slow and too risky.” Roper looked at the man eaters, now only fifty yards away. “We better get moving. Keep your wits about you, Dallas. I—we need you.”

“Got it. Stay safe. See you tomorrow.” Dallas reached out and held Roper’s hand for a brief moment. “Don’t stand me up.”

Roper barely grinned. “Not a chance.”

Roper, Butcher, and Cue-Ball left the barn just as the man eaters hit the driveway.

Calmly starting the Hummer, Dallas drove around the walking undead, thankful she could not hear their desperate moaning or dragging feet.

Glancing over at Einstein, Dallas saw his furrowed brow. “What is it?”

He bit the side of his mouth as he collected his thoughts. “We were a good mile, mile and a half off the main road.”

“And?”

Slowly shaking his head, he said, “I don’t know. Something about it just isn’t right. They couldn’t see us or hear us. So what brought them to us?”

Dallas gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Einstein, just say what it is you’re thinking.”

Looking in the back at the others before leaning over to Dallas, he said softly, “They weren’t just walking around mindlessly, Dallas. They were looking for us.” He paused and gave a slight shake of his head. “No, not looking.”

“No?”

“No.” He hesitated. “Those man eaters were hunting us.”

****

Roper

They rode for about an hour and a half before dusk turned darker and they agreed to settle for the night on top of the highest hill of the surrounding area. It was so strange to look out for miles into vast darkness. There wasn’t a light to be seen anywhere.

“You telling me we have to have our asses in a saddle for eight hours again tomorrow?” Cue-Ball said, sliding off Gwen and rubbing his butt with both hands.

“Everyone will have a turn riding,” Roper said, sliding off Merlin before securing all four horses to a sturdy oak tree. She had chosen this place because she could see in three hundred sixty degrees and the large tree would keep most of the morning dew off them.

“Well, are we at least making a fire?” he asked sardonically.

Butcher grabbed her rifle from her horse and shook her head. “No need. It’s not that cold. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow, so we all need some rest.”

Cue-Ball paced back and forth. “Who can rest with those things after us? I mean do we even have a plan? Where are we going? Why not have a fire? How come—”