Emperor of a Dead World (9 page)

Brad glanced at Tyrone again.

“You appear as nervous as us,” Tom smiled.

Brad looked at Mary; she was still holding her gun. He looked at the boy; he was standing next to his gun.

“Please put the gun down dear,” Tom requested of his wife when he noticed Brad’s concern.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she set it down. “I did not even realize I was still holding it.”

Tom sat at the table and motioned for the others to join him. After they sat down the old woman brought over biscuits and jelly.

“Is your friend uncomfortable about coming in,” she asked as she set a plate in front of Brad.

“Yes,” Brad stated plainly.

“Is it because he is Mexican?”

Tyrone could not control his laughter. “I don’t believe there are any more such boundaries, ma’am.”

The others joined him in his laughter. This was the tension breaker they all needed. The old woman, Sara, laughed along with them but she did not seem to understand the joke.

After the room fell silent Brad said, “He will join us in a few minutes ma’am.”

She went to the cupboard and got another plate.

“We live in a secure housing complex consisting of almost four hundred homes,” Brad began. “We only occupy two of the houses but we have prepared three more as quarantine houses in case we find any survivors. It started with Ty and me. Rudy came afterwards and we kept him in quarantine at night for a week. He is now free to do as he pleases. We had to make sure he was not infected.” He looked around. “This place seems very secure as well.”

Tom pointed at Sara. “My mother is old and after my father died she was all by herself. In order to make her feel safe I secured this house a few years ago. She has a garden in the back and a couple of chickens.”

“Chickens,” Tyrone exclaimed. “They allow you to have chickens in the city?”

“There are no more such rules,” the old woman replied.

“I guess not,” laughed Tyrone.

“May I see the rest of the house,” Brad asked.

“Just to make sure we are alone?” Tom grinned.

“Yes.”

“Let me show you around.”

Brad and Tyrone followed Tom through every room. Once satisfied, Brad called in Rudy. As soon as he walked in Sara handed him a biscuit.

“Please take a seat and make yourself at home,” she insisted. “You don’t have to feel uncomfortable around us.”

Rudy gave the woman a questioning look as Tyrone chuckled.

After some idle conversation, Brad turned to Tom. “I can see you are doing fine but you are welcome to join us at the complex. The place is safe and secure and I hope to build a community. The larger our numbers the safer everyone will be.”

Tom looked at his wife.

“We are gone most of the day searching for survivors and gathering supplies but if you would like to come early tomorrow morning you are welcome. Do you have transportation?”

“Yes, my Suburban.”

“Good. Here is the address.” Brad wrote it down on a napkin. “We are only a couple of miles that way,” he pointed. “You are welcome to come tonight but you may feel safer in the daylight. The choice is yours.”

“We will come shortly after sun up,” Tom replied.

After this, they said good-bye and the three headed out.

“That’s four more,” Tyrone said.

“They will be a welcome addition,” Brad nodded.

When Tom and his family arrived the next day, Brad showed them around and told them they could have any house except the two they occupied and the three quarantine houses. They took the one across from Tyrone’s because it already had a garden. After this, they spent the day moving their personal things along with the henhouse. With a little luck, their brood would grow.

Now that they had found Tom’s family, Brad was anxious to find other survivors. He did not make Tom join the expeditions but he did ask him to help clean up and patrol the complex. It was comforting to have someone stay behind to keep an eye on things while they were out.

About a week later, they headed back to the racetrack. Along the way, they stopped at every convenience store and supermarket they passed. Supplies were getting short and they needed to replenish inventories. After they checked on things at the track and made sure they had plenty of feed and supplies for the horses, they went to Home Depot to pick up a pump and some hose. They still had a quarter of a tank of gas so they drove around doing recon for about half an hour then headed for the nearest gas station to fill up.

While Brad filled the tank, Tyrone and Rudy stood guard. It had already been a long day and the two were exhausted as they fought the creatures back.

“Speed it up will you,” Rudy complained. “I’m getting tired.”

“Almost finished,” Brad assured him.

Rudy had a metal rod that Tyrone had sharpened to a point on one end in Doug’s workshop. On the other end was a handle that he used to pull the rod out after pushing it into a creatures head. He had become quite proficient with his weapon but most of the creatures were bigger than he was so he had his hands full. Of course, Tyrone kept an eye on him and if Rudy got into trouble, he came over and put the thing down with one whack of his crowbar. 

After Brad tossed the pump and hose into the bed of the truck, they headed off.

“Man, I swear these things are getting more aggressive,” Rudy complained as they drove along.

“They seem faster too,” Tyrone agreed.

“It is just your imagination,” Brad insisted. “But I will admit they are getting uglier. They are barely recognizable as human beings anymore.”

“They are not human,” Tyrone replied. “They stopped being human when they got the fever.”

“What about me,” Brad exclaimed. “I had the fever.”

“That is why you are so damn ugly,” laughed Tyrone.

“Hey, what was that,” Rudy cried.

“What?” Brad exclaimed as he slammed on the brakes.

“I don’t know. I saw something down one of those side streets.”

Brad glanced at Rudy in the mirror then did a quick U-turn.

“The street on the right,” Rudy pointed.

Brad slowed and made the turn then stopped short. Three houses down someone had built a wooden wall seven feet high. It encompassed half a dozen houses in the front and extended back to the next street.

Brad turned to Tyrone, “Looks like we found some survivors.”

“They look happy,” Rudy interjected. “Maybe we should leave them alone.”

“It appears to be some sort of fort,” Tyrone reasoned. “That means the people inside are probably armed and prepared to defend it.”

“They do not need to defend it from us,” Brad said as he removed his white t-shirt and tied it to the antenna of the truck. He then honked the horn twice. Three armed men immediately appeared on the wall.

“Shit,” Rudy cried and ducked down.

Brad held his hands up. “We come in peace.”

“What do you want?” one of them roared back.

“We don’t want anything. We are survivors just like you. We have our own place and we only want to be friends.”

“We don’t need any more friends.”

“Time to go,” whispered Tyrone cautiously.

“We are not here to cause problems,” Brad continued. “We are only trying to find other survivors so we can band together.”

Two of them exchanged glances. All three had their rifles trained on Brad. “I like your truck,” one said.

“Let’s go now,” Tyrone insisted.

Brad started to get in the truck.

“Hold on,” one of them ordered as he adjusted his aim.

Brad had left the engine running and he was now sliding into his seat and putting the truck in reverse.

“I said hold on. I mean it.”

Brad pointed down the street. “They are coming.”

As soon as the three looked, Brad slammed the door and punched the gas. He was reversing around the corner when they opened fire. Most of the bullets hit the plow but a couple went into the right fender and one went through the windshield and into the back seat. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Once they got out of sight Brad spun the truck around and took off without looking to see if anyone followed.

“Man, what was their problem,” Rudy exclaimed.

“I don’t know but one of these days I’m going back there,” Tyrone remarked through clenched teeth.”

“Forget them,” Brad insisted, “Just leave them in their own world and we will live in ours.”

“How are we going to do that? The racetrack is only a little ways from here.”

“We cannot worry about that right now. We will just prepare and deal with the situation as it arises.”

Tyrone glanced at Rudy. “Nice job.”

“What?” Rudy replied with indignation.

“It is not his fault,” Brad said in his defense. “We are driving around looking for people. We all knew the risks.”

Tyrone glared at Rudy then at Brad then stared forward without saying another word.

When they pulled up to the Administrative entrance of the racetrack Tyrone and Rudy opened the gate as Brad retrieved his t-shirt and inspected the damage to the truck.

“Everything okay,” Tyrone asked.

“Yeah, no real damage. Just a small hole in the windshield and a couple in the fender that didn’t hit anything of importance,” Brad replied. “Come on, we better get out of sight.”

There was very little conversation as they ate dinner. Once finished, they saw to the horses then stared up at the darkening sky.

Tyrone was the first to break the silence. “Looks like we need to decide how we are going to handle this new threat.”

“We will work in shifts,” Brad returned. “Two will prepare the earth for the garden while the third stands guard and rests. We need to know if those guys frequent this area.”

“We also need to know how many there are,” Tyrone replied. “If we have to go to war the more information we have the better.”

“Maybe we should forget about the racetrack,” Rudy suggested. “Maybe we should just get as far away from this trouble as we can.”

“I ain’t running,” Tyrone insisted.

“This is a good place,” Brad shrugged, “but we do not need it right now. There is still plenty of grass around the track and water in the ponds so the horses will be fine for a long time.”

“What if those guys decide they want this place,” Rudy asked.

“They have put a lot of effort into their own fort. If they wanted the racetrack they would have had it by now.”

“That’s true,” Tyrone agreed. “They never even thought about this place.”

“You guys put a lot of effort into your complex but you still came here. What is to stop them from wanting more as well?”

Tyrone and Brad exchanged glances.

“We need more men,” Tyrone said at last. “The only way to keep them from taking what we have is to strike them first and strike them hard.”

Brad shook his head. “There is already so much trouble in the world that I hate the idea of warring against humanity.”

“We don’t have much choice. They shot first. If we do not bring the war to them they will bring it to us.”

“He is right,” Rudy agreed, “but we need better weapons.”

“Remember your funeral pyre,” Tyrone asked after some thought. “Those things came from everywhere.”

Brad did not respond. He knew he was not going to like this plan.

“One word,” Tyrone smiled, “Molotov-cocktail.”

Rudy looked back and forth between the two.

“We go at night and hit them hard on that big wooden fence. When the fire erupts, the creatures will come. We stick around long enough to shoot a few rounds at our enemies and keep them from putting out the fire. The noise will attract more killers and they will take care of these guys for us.”

“Here is the problem,” Brad stressed. “First of all, it is very dangerous to go out at night when you cannot see. In addition, the truck lights will attract our enemies, both varieties.”

“We will have to be careful. Maybe go on a full moon.”

“Secondly,” Brad continued, “these guys are happy where they are. If we destroy their fort, they will need another. That may lead them here.”

“Like cockroaches running from one house to another,” Rudy laughed.

Tyrone sat back and sighed. “We need more men. Then if they come we can handle them.”

“Maybe they won’t come here,” Rudy interjected. “Maybe they will go somewhere else.”

“We are better off knowing where they are,” Brad insisted.

“We are better off killing them,” Tyrone grimaced.

“Ty, I never knew you before but I do not believe you were a murderer.”

“In war it is not called murder.”

“It is called survival,” Rudy stated adamantly.

“Okay, I get it. These guys shot at us and you guys are pissed. It makes me mad too.”

“Then what do you plan to do?” Tyrone demanded.

“I don’t know but there are probably more people just like these out there somewhere. Are we going to murder everyone?”