'Til Death Do Us Part (66 page)

Ron ran up to the railing.
“
I guess it
’
s time,
”
h
e said
,
heading in as quickly as he had come out.

Travis was still tryi
ng to process the information w
hen the majority of the Talbot compound residents came outside.

“
Ron
,
we can
’
t…
the entire system isn
’
t ready,
”
Mad Jack was pleading.

“
No real choice,
”
Ron said.

“
What is it?
”
Perla asked, her eyes wide.

“
Has anyone seen Erin?
”
Tracy asked.
“
I checked the entire house and the garden, she wouldn
’
t have left
the grounds would she?
”

Tony was coming from the rear of the house. He looked up at everyone on the deck.
“
Back gate was open.
”

The
words were foreboding to Tracy.
She
had known how distraught Erin had been over Paul
’
s passing but she didn
’
t think she would do anything quite that foolish as to leave the security of the compound.

“
We have to go look for her,
”
s
he begged. No one heard her
with a
half a dozen conversations going on.
“
Ron,
”
s
he
grabbed his forearm,
“
I think Erin has left, we need to find her.
”

“
She
’
s as thick as her husband. Not to fret it
’
s Darwinism at work,
”
Deneaux said.

“
Ron
,
I
’
ve got to find her,
”
Tracy said with alarm.

“
Absolutely not. We have no idea what
’
s coming
,
but it
’
s not good. Erin put herself at risk I will not put others out there also. Besides once we arm our defenses getting back will be near impossible.
”

Tracy ran over the deck to the backyard to see if Erin was still in shouting distance.

“
Grab the ammo,
”
Tony said to Travis.
“
Station it every ten feet along the deck.
”

“
Ammo is a last resort
, dad,
”
Ron stressed.

“
Hurry up then,
”
Tony told Travis
with a smile
. The defenses they had built looked formidable
,
but every fortress was pregnable.

T
ravis turned and headed back in. H
e noticed Justin in the shadows of the darkened living room. His lips were moving but no words were emanating forth.
“
Justin?
”
Travis asked nervously.

“
She
’
s fucking back
,
brother.
”
Justin shivered.
Travis walked over cautiously to his brother.
“
Relax
,
I can see the concern on your face
.
I haven
’
t gone to the dark side yet.
”

“
No?
”
Travis asked.
“
How long have you known they were coming?
”
h
e asked before going to fulfill his grandfather
’
s orders.

Justin was caught off guard.
Long enough
,
he thought.

Tracy was frantically calling out Erin
’
s name
.
The
only thing answering back was the chirp of crickets
that
were beginning to still with the approach
of multiple diesel engines.

***

Erin heard the ragged screams calling her name
,
but the peace the wood
s offered her pulled too deeply.
That
and the half bottle of valiums she had taken were all she wanted in life as she laid her head back down on th
e exposed tree root. Her breath
s were shallow and her thoughts fogged over.
“
Paul?
”
s
he mumbled in question.
“
I
’
ve missed you so much.
”
She sobbed with relief.

Not this way
, Erin
, h
er husband said wi
th a sad smile. It was too late;
Erin
’
s heart
slowed further and then stopped.
Her eyes shot open, f
rozen in surprise at her final resting spot.

***

“
How much time do we have?
”
Gary asked, looking out the small road that led to the house.

“
Well
,
they
’
re on the access road for sure,
”
Ron replied.

“
So within three miles,
”
Gary said aloud.

“
Too close
,
brother. I know what you
’
re thinking.
”

Gary was done
thinking;
he was heading for the front gate. Ron had dug out a pit i
n the middle of the access road;
it was seven feet deep, twelve feet across
,
and the width of the road across about ten feet. They had built a makeshift bridge over the gap so that they could get in and out when needed. The aluminum structure was held in place with heavy metal rods
which
, if removed
,
would cause the bridge to collapse once anything of substantial weight bore down on it. The idea being that the defenses around the house were stout but would have great difficulty holding up to a tank or in this case tractor trailers ramming at full steam.

“
Dad
!
”
Ron said louder than he needed to.

“
I
’
m covering…nothing yet,
”
h
e said
,
looking through his scope.

Travis wa
s back with his second ammo run.
He
had just stood up and was turning to run back in.
“
Zombies!
”
h
e yelled
,
pointing into the woods about
forty
yards away. They had been heading towards the house
,
but changed direction when they spotted movement; Gary.

“
There
’
s dozens of them,
”
Lyndsey said.

“
Sis
,
get the kid
s down into the fallout shelter,
”
Ron said, not taking his eyes off Gary. There were dozens in sight
, but
more kept coming.
“
Gary
,
it isn
’
t worth it!
”
Ron shouted wrapping his hands around his mouth to project his voice. But that was a lie, it was worth it. One truck could smash through just about everything they had accomplished.

Gary was humming as he was running
,
then he started to sing softly,
“
Risin
’
up, back on the street. Did my time, took my chances. Went the distance, now I
’
m back on my feet. Jus
t a man and his will to survive…
”
Gary reached the bridge just as he completed the first stanza. He saw the zombies but still figured he had enough time to pull the pin.
His shoulders, arms, neck
,
and legs
,
strained as he pulled on the two foot around pin. Inch by blessed inch it scraped free.

“
Gary
,
get o
ut of there,
”
Ron shouted.

Tony started shooting.
Gary could hear zombies thudding to the ground.

“
Still time,
”
h
e said as the bodies hitting
the
ground still sounded far enough away.

Added to Tony
’
s precision shots
was Travis’ cover fire
.
“
Uncle Gary, you should really get your ass moving!
”
Travis shouted.

“
No swearing,
”
Tracy admonished him.

“
This is as good a time as any,
”
h
e answered his mother in between blasts.

She was too lost in twisting worry to give Travis any flack over his response as she watched zombies streaming through the woods like ghostly bearers of death.

Gary had both legs dug in
to the ground and was pulling with all his might, the pin yielding but on its own schedule, not caring in the least that Gary
’
s timetable was running late.
The
majority of it was out, but now the bullets were of close enough proximity that he could hear them whining by like
relentless deer flies. He pushed up and down until the heavy
‘
pin
’
dropped to the ground. H
e lifted it over his head and again broke out into song.
“
It
’
s the eye of the tiger, it
’
s the thrill of the fight…
”
Gary tossed it to the side and started running.

“
Let
’
s go
,
Rocky, get your ass back here!
”
Ron was motioning for him.
“
If he starts shadow boxing while he
’
s running, I
’
m going to kill him.
”

BT was beside Travis, they were keeping the zombies to Gary
’
s left from approaching any closer, but it was Tony
’
s sniper rifle shooting that was keeping the ones that had got
ten
up behind him from being able to drag him down.

Cindy held the gate open for
him as he ran through. S
he quickly closed it and latched it
,
heading back up to the deck as the first of the zombies crashed into it. Gary gave the zombies the finger, sang one more stanza and headed upstairs.
“
Risin
’
up to the challenge
of our rival
,
and t
he last known survivor…
”

“
Are you nuts?
”
Ron yelled at his younger brother.
“
You did
good
.
”
He
gave
Gary a hug.
“
Don
’
t do it again.
”

Gary saw a trail of dead zombies where he had been.
“
Yeah
,
that
’
s probably safe to say.
”

“
It doesn
’
t sound like they
’
re coming any closer,”
Tracy said.