The King of Clayfield - 01 (42 page)

I didn't think
 
anyone would
 
come out.
 
For one thing, people were shooting outside. Plus, they
 
knew as well as I did that the creatures would be coming, drawn to the noise.
 
They were safe so long as
 
they didn't open the doors to the building.

Now that Nathan and at least three of the other men were either fully or partially out-of-commission, I wasn't as willing to put the rest
 
in jeopardy as I was before. That was the first
 
moment since getting in Nathan's face at the gate that I'd had a rational thought. Up to that point, it was like I was outside of myself. My fear and rage had me all messed up.

What the hell was I doing? Did I really just put all those people in danger because one man humiliated me?

I was too far into it by this time to be having second thoughts. I slung the rifle on my
 
shoulder and ran to
 
the fence.
 
I tried the bus gate. As expected, it was locked with a padlock.
 
I ejected the spent casing from the .30-06 and put the muzzled
 
up to the lock and fired. The lock, now a jagged wad of medal, spun around on the latch. I pulled it loose and opened the gate.

As I ran around the back of the building I could hear people yelling inside. They had to know why I was there, but they
 
probably didn't know what to expect from me. I anticipated some fear-fueled resistance. I
 
slung
 
the rifle
 
back on my shoulder, pulled the
 
revolver from my
 
coat and tried the door. It was locked.

"If you can hear me in there, let me in!"

No
 
answer.

"I am going to shut off your generators! I'm going to break your windows! I'm going to drive
 
my truck
 
through
 
your door! I'm going to get Jen, and I'm going to leave you all to die!"

I was bluffing. I was already
 
starting to feel guilty about shooting the guy on the roof.

No answer.

"You made your choice!"

I could hear the lock. I stepped back and pointed my weapon. The door opened. It was Brenda. She was crying again.

"Please stop," she said.

"Where's Jen?"

Connie
 
stepped past Brenda and came outside. She looked at me but didn't say anything.
 
I pushed past Brenda into the garage. Dr. Barr was
 
wheeling Jen toward me in an
 
office chair. She was still wearing
 
that dress.

"Jesus," Jen said. "What the hell
 
were you doing out there?"

"They wouldn't let me
 
in to see you," I said. I felt embarrassed.

"Take her," the doctor said. "I have to go out and check on the others."

I pushed Jen to the door.

"Help me over the threshold," I said to Brenda.

Jen stood on her good leg.

"I
 
can hop," she said.

I looked at Connie.

"Coming or staying?"

She looked at Brenda
 
then at Jen.

"She's coming," Jen said. "We've already discussed it. Connie, go get your stuff."

Connie shook her head.

"I've changed my mind," she said.

"We don't have a lot of time," I said.
 

"I have to go help Travis," Connie said, running back into the garage.

"Brenda," I said,
 
feeling the need to explain myself. "I would have never hurt anyone in here, but Nathan wouldn't let me
 
in, and--"

"Take her and go," Brenda said, looking at the ground.

That pissed me off, too, but for different reasons. I wanted her to absolve me, or at least validate my actions. I
 
needed to hear her agree with me about Nathan. On some level, I even wanted her to thank me for freeing her from tyranny. I'd just done her a huge favor.

Maybe if I explained it
 
a little more...

"Brenda, I--"

"Just go."

She stepped back into the building and the door shut behind her.

I put the revolver in my coat pocket and picked up Jen.

"I told you I can hop--"

"Shut up,' I said.

Jen was
 
lean and
 
fit. I had noticed
 
that about her
 
at Brian Davies' house when
 
she was only wearing the towel. She
 
looked good
 
in a pair of jeans, too, but that was really
 
all I had seen of her, because she was usually hidden under a lot of bulky winter clothes.
 
We
 
had not
 
talked about it, but I
 
had pegged her to be a runner or gym member. Bodies like hers do not just happen.
 
I say
 
all of that
 
because lifting her wasn't that big of a deal for me. She wasn't that heavy...at first.
 
But, I wasn't carrying her over the threshold, if you know what I mean. I had to lug her from the back door of the building all the way out to behind the buses where our ride waited.

She could tell I was struggling. I could feel her staring at me. When we passed the diesel pump she said,

"I know you're trying to rescue me and all, but I can make it on my own."

"I'm good," I said.

"You're proud," she said. "Just don't drop me."

Somehow I got her to the moving van and let her down next to the passenger door. My arms were numb.

"Came in guns blazing, didn't you?" she said, looking at the truck.

"Can you climb in by yourself?"

"How are we going to drive in the cold without a windshield?" she said.

"All of our stuff is in here," I said. "We have to drive it."

"There ain't nothing left of the seats neither."

"Jen--"
 

"What if the zombies come?" she said. "They'll climb right in, won't they?"

"What the hell do you want from me?" I said. "They told me they weren't going to let
 
me see you."

"Where is Sara?" Jen asked.

"Waiting for me at the stadium," I said. "She's pissed at me, too, so
 
you two
 
might actually agree on something."

"You left her by herself?"

"We need to go," I said.

"What's going to happen to Travis and the others? How will they ever
 
be able to get out now that you've got the attention of all the local monsters? They'll surround this place and starve them out."

I looked around to see if there was any way the people in the building could escape.

"Get in the damn truck and I'll take care of them."

I ran over to the buses looking for one with keys. I found one and started it up. The big diesel engine
 
rattled to life. I shifted into gear then did a very wide
 
turn in the parking lot to get the rear of the vehicle pointed at the building. Then I backed it through the gate and past the diesel pump. I got the side door of the bus as close as I could to the back door of the garage.

Unfortunately, the bus blocked the entrance to their generator building, but it was the best I could do given the time constraints. I got out of the bus and squeezed myself through the narrow space between it and the building then ran back out to the moving van.

Jen was still standing
 
on her good leg, leaning against the van.

"Is that okay?" I said.

"Why didn't you
 
pull it into the garage?" she said. "Wouldn't that have been better?"

"Sure," I said. "Maybe they'll be smart enough
 
to do that for themselves."

"We should take one of the buses."
 

"No," I said. "All the stuff Sara and I collected today is in here."

"What kind of stuff is it?"

"Tractor Supply," I said. "Animal feed, tools, boots--stuff like that."

"Can we find it somewhere else?"
 
 
 
 
"There are other farm supply stores, but we already have this stuff and--"

"Let's take that short bus."

"Sunnuvabitch!" I yelled.

I opened the door and killed the engine, and then I went over to the short bus, climbed in and cranked it. She hobbled over, and I let her. She hopped up the steps into the bus rather pathetically, but I pretended not to notice. As soon as she was seated, I pulled away toward the stadium.

It was getting late. I really hated the short winter days. It wasn't that the infected were more active during the night; I didn't know if they were or not.
 
I just preferred
 
to see them from a distance. I didn't want to only be the space of a flashlight beam
 
or headlight beam away from them before I knew they were there. Since the power went out, it got dark at night--
really
dark.
 
This was
 
a dark to which we were unaccustomed.
 
There were no longer streetlights or security lights. The glow over nearby towns was gone. If it was cloudy or moonless,
 
it was downright scary.
 

We encountered our first arrivals on our way to the stadium. They stopped and followed us instead of continuing to the maintenance building.
 
I passed the school and the teenagers. When I got to the stadium, Sara came out. I kept the bus moving until she was close enough to get in, and I stopped. She got in, and I shut the door. She didn't speak to me; she just went back and found a seat.

"How are you feeling, Jen?"

"I've been better," she said.

"We'll go to the Somervilles tomorrow, Sara," I said, looking in the big rearview mirror at the two of them. "It's getting too dark."

Sara nodded.

The closer we got to the road, the more of them we saw. Once I pulled out on the highway, I started honking the horn to get them to follow me, and they did. When I thought they were far enough away from the school grounds, I sped away.

When we pulled into the drive of the Lassiter Stables, the headlights
 
shined on three horses standing near the house. They had found their way out then around the perimeter
 
fence and back up the driveway. I didn't know if they would do any damage except to my own conscience as I watched them wither away from neglect.

I carried Jen in the house and put her on the couch. I moved Sara's blankets and thought about
 
the night before. That was going to be a topic to avoid.

"Can I get you anything?" I said.

"No," she replied.

"Let me get the fire going, and I'll work on dinner."

"Do we still have those pizzas?" she asked.

"Yes," Sara said. "We saved them for when you came back. Do you think we can cook them in the fireplace or what?"

I hadn't thought of that. We didn't really have an oven, only a gas stovetop.

"I don't know how to cook them," I said. "It's going to
 
take a while for the fire
 
to burn down enough to cook on it."

"I'll figure it out," Sara said. "You take care of her."

She got the flashlight and went outside to get the food.

I started poking in the embers and ash.

"I know you don't want to hear this," Jen said,
 
"but I think you
 
shouldn't have done what you did today. It was really stupid."

"Yeah, I don't want to hear it."