Dead Hunger: The Flex Sheridan Chronicle (31 page)

“I want to kill them.”

“Not this time,” I said.  I want to get you back to my place.”

Gem put an arm across Charlie’s shoulder.  “Babe,
now I
know
we’re going to get along just fine.”

*****

We returne
d to my house, showed Charlie how to access the gate and lock it again,
and drove in. 
Hemp
sat in a glider-rocker on the front porch with Trina
looking more miniature than usual in the large
Adirondack
chair beside him.  She was drinking a juice box of lemonade, and he was drinking a beer.

When we drove up he stood
and made his way to the Suburban, Trina following close behind.

“Hood’s a mess,” said Hemp.  “Close call?”

“Yeah, I have to talk to you about the no-kill spot.  We might need a roof mount on this one, too,” Gem said, dropping
out of the cab followed by Charlie, who got out of the passenger side rear door.

“Hey,” she said, extending her right hand, but without releasing her crossbow, which was still gripped in her left.

“So you’re the girl named Charlie,” said Hemp, taking her hand.  He then pulled her in for a hug and she didn’t resist.

He spoke into her ear, but loud enough for me and Gem to hear, “I’m Hemp.  And I’ve gotten just a bit more touchy-feely since I met these two.  I appreciate living, breathing humans all the more, so please, excuse my invasion of your personal space, but I am truly happy to meet you.”

After Hemp pulled back and let her go, Charlie said, “It’s nice to meet
you too,
Hemp.  Gem and Flex say
you’re a good guy, and from first impressions, I get that, too.  Now who’s this?” she asked, smiling at Trina.

“That little one is my niece Trina,” I said.

“What’s that?” Trina asked, pointing to the muck on the hood.

“It’s paint,” said Charlie.  Then she
knelt down and put the crossbow down in the d
irt.  She dusted her hands off and put them on
Trina’s shoulders.  “You are such a little beauty,” she said, smiling.

“Mommy says I’m a princess,” Trina beamed.  “My doggie just had puppies!”

“You’re kidding me!” Charlie said, her eyes wide.  “How many?”

“Like a hundred,” Trina said.  “Wanna come see?  They’re inside.”

“A hundred puppies!” said Charlie, smiling up at the rest of us.  She raised her eyebrows as if to ask if she could go with Trina.

We all nodded.

She stood and Trina put her hand in Charlie’s without hesitation and led her toward the house.

Hemp picked up the crossbow.  “Nice one,” he said.  “Can she use it?”

“Shit yes, she can use it,” answered Ge
m.  “I’m looking forward to
having her show
me
how to use it.”

Hemp spread his hands apart.  “Well, let’s take a look at that EEG!  I appreciate that you brought a pretty girl home with you, but that is, after all, why you left in the first place.”

“You’re right, pal.  But one thing – she’s twenty-
six
, so you might want to treat her more like a woman than a girl.  I think she’d appreciate it.”

I noticed a slight smile touch Hemp’s lips at that moment.  It seems that came as good news.

We helped Hemp carry the equipment to the mobile lab.  He put on a gas mask, checked on Jamie, and came back in the front area of the motor home.

“She’s okay,
but decomposition is continuing.  I don’t know if it’s different when they’re getting regular food, but it’s not pretty
, Flex
.”

“Should we feed her something?” I asked. 
“Hemp, she’s basically been without anything at all to eat since I put her in that plastic.  No matter what she is, she must be starving.”

Gem took my hand in hers as we waited for an answer.

Hemp
thought
a long time before answering. 
“
Flex, I don’t know what she feels or doesn’t feel.  I know she is not alive in the typical sense.  She has no heartbeat.  With the EEG I intend to learn more about her brainwave activity, but for now, under restraint, she’s not exhibiting any signs of pain or suffering.”

I nodded slowly.  “Okay. 
But as for my question of food.  Would trying to feed her something alter any of your planned tests?  Would it hurt anything?”

“I don’t really know,” Hemp answered.  “The eye vapor or mist we discovered seems to be minimal.  Her eyes are not very obscured, which means this vapor, whatever it is
,
is quite low.  If feeding her increases this, that actually might be a good thing; I need to gather some sort of
sample
to analyze.”

It all made good sense to me.  His professional way of explaining the scientific side to me did help me set aside
my
emotion
s
somewhat.

“So I hate to keep going back to this, but if we do feed her,
what
do we feed her?”

Hemp put up a finger and nodded.  “
I set a few small snares in the woods
today
after I worked on the antenna, so I might be able to come up with the brains or flesh of a rabbit or squirrel
by morning
.  I can do an analysis of her condition before and after.  You know, see if there’s any change at all.
”

“Wear protection around her,” Gem said.  “We don’t need you passing out again.”

“I have been, and I will,” Hemp said.  “Been there
, done that
, as they say.  Gem,
about the physical touch aspect of it.  You had to actually touch me before I awakened, correct
?”

Gem nodded quickly.  “
Yes, but as I told you earlier, even that didn’t work right away.  But yes, it was the same as with the other people we found. 
Once we touched them, they awoke fairly easily; but it’s as though they were content to sleep indefinitely until awakened.  I’m only glad it was us who woke them instead of
them
.”

I paced away from him and stared at the first aid supplies I’
d dropped on the counter as I awaite
d Hemp’s thoughts
.

“So perhaps it’s more of a light coma rather than a sleep,” he said.  “I might have to purposely expose myself to it with the EEG connected to me to see exactly what it does to my brain.”

“Bullshit,” Gem and I said
in unison
.

“I’m afraid it is very important, especially if this is
one of the methods they use to
subdue their victims.”

“You’ve already been exposed once,” I said.  “We know it doesn’t kill you, but we don’t know if the effect is the same the second time.  So it’ll be my turn if we try it.”

“Flex,” Gem said, grabbing my arm.  “Let’s just assume this is how it works and figure out how to deal with it.  I don’t want you to do that!”

“Sorry, babe.  I don’t have a choice.  I’ll be fine.  Hemp was, and he is.”

Gem shook her head.  “I don’t know how it’ll help anything.”

“Kind of like sulking,” I said.  “I don’t know how it’ll help anything
either
, especially when I’ve made my decision.”

Gem said nothing, but went to the door and left the motor home.  I waited for her to look back, but she didn’t.

And I knew it was
only because she
loved
and cared for me, b
ut I still felt empty standing there
without her and her worried face.

“It’s a plan.  See if you catch anything tomorrow.  If you do, we’ll feed her and see if the vapor returns.  If it does, I’m your man.”

Hemp nodded.  “Speaking of food, I’m hungry.  Why don’t we have an early dinner today.”

I agreed.  I was famished.

And I needed some Gem time.  I couldn’t stand it when that woman was upset with me.
 
Just like old times.  I loved the shit out of
her, and I think I’d do almost anything to make her happy.  Almost.  But this was so important that she’d have to just come around
.

We went in the house and brainstormed over the menu for those of us who had broader tastes than flesh and brains.

*****

Over the next day we set up the larger snares using Hemps uncanny knowledge of physics and counterweight.  It was ingenious. 
We’d gone ou
t to a local gym to gather the necessities
that we’d been unable to get the previous trip out, and now had twenty of the plastic-coated
, 20 lb
barbell weights
, and we’d also been able to secure some 50 lb braided fishing line. 
We had enough materials to construct around 10 large snares capable of capturing a man or woman.  Using a small weight initially, we tossed the line over a heavy tree branch near the most likely
courses
of access to my property.

It sounds easier than it was.  Many of the
tree branches
weren’t
heavy enough to support the weight, but eventually, we located enough strategically located trees to get the job done.

Once the line was over the branches, we tied two of the 20 lb weights to each one, and pulled the weights up about 10 feet.  Once in the air, the natural friction created between the cord and the branch itself made it easier than I would have thought to hold it up there.  Hemp suggested a 20 lb monofilament fishing line as our tripwire, and that was secured between two moderately heavy sticks stuck into the ground.  A large slip-loop was placed on the ground around the tripwire, and when completed, we tested it by using a log that weighed around
80 lbs and about the thickness of a man’s leg.

Once tripped, the left-side stick gave way, releasing the weights which dropped fast,
drawing the slip-loop closed.  One end of the
lo
g was snagged, and
by
virtue of the 40 lbs of counterweight, lifted easily into the air
.  T
he snag was tight as shit
.

This would catch a zombie.

“Not a protective measure,” Hemp said, reiterating his reasons for building them.  “Not in the literal sense.  If we catch one, chalk it up to a stray who got lucky.  If we have a forest full, we’d better get the hell out of there.”

“So no checking traps alone,” I agreed.  “Buddy system, fully armed and on alert.”

The whole process took us over four hours, because all the branches were at different heights, and one design wouldn’t work.  Different lengths of cord, obstacles on the ground such as stumps and other things that might prevent the loop from closing as intended.

Hemp’s smaller traps had yielded two small squirrels and a rabbit.  We decided to save
any
rabbits for the humans, and use
the squirrels to feed Jamie.  We realized it might not be enough to
create
the vapor
,
but it was all we had.
  And we agreed not to let Trina see the rabbits ever.  They’d remind her of her sister, and she’d cry because they were dead besides.

Hemp agreed to feed
the squirrel to Jamie
, and I was glad.  I didn’t want to do it, and I didn’t want to watch it
, though I didn’t come out and say it
.  I was still mourning her loss, and
while it didn’t feel right in my soul
to want to avoid seeing her, much less watch her eat forest rodents, I knew it was the best thing for my sanity
.

I’d skinned and cleaned small game before, so I did the honors.

“You’re pretty good at this stuff,” Hemp said, watching as I stripped the hide off each squirrel.

“Practice, that’s all,” I said.  “I’ve never messed with the heads, though.  Shouldn’t be more than a spoonful of gray matter in either one.”

“I don’t know what it is about the brain that these creatures need, but
a squirrel brain
should work as well as the next
specie
as far as makeup of the organ itself.”

“Think you’ll be able to eventually figure it out?” I asked.

Hemp shrugged.  “Time will tell.  I’m going to work on the EEG machine tomorrow morning, so I should have some sort of update for you after I’m able to hook it up and get some preliminary testing completed.”

I finished dressing the squirrels and had each tiny skull split and the brains exposed.  As I’d assumed, the brain was minuscule.  Together, it might be a couple of mouthfuls.

Hemp took the metal platter I’d put the meat on and put his hand on the lab door.