Rocky Mountain Die (14 page)

“Were those your sisters helping us?” I ask. “They sure did know how to shoot.”

“Lots of people know how to shoot, Long Pork,” Elsbeth replies as her pants hit the ground and I hear her settle in on the commode. “This is America. Ain’t no shortage of shooters. Nope.”

“This is the apocalypse, El,” I reply. “Plenty of shortage of— Jesus! Are you taking a shit?”

“Yep,” she replies. “Feels good to use a toilet. I’m tired of digging holes.”

“Damn, El,” I say as I cover my nose. “Warn a guy next time, will ya?”

The bathroom door opens and Dr. McCormick walks in. She sees me outside the stall, hears Elsbeth doing her business, then turns around and walks back out. I’d go with her, but a one-armed man is useless with a wheelchair as we have established. I ain’t going nowhere.

“Be straight and tell me if those were your sisters, please,” I say. “Stop being all secretive and shit. I need an actual answer.”

She flushes and opens the stall, her pants still around her ankles. At least she pulled up her underpants. She smiles at me, moves past, and tries one of the sinks, but it doesn’t turn on. She sighs heavily as if this is the biggest disappointment in her life.

“You can wash up outside,” I say. “But first, answer my question.”

Elsbeth looks at me for a while then nods.

“Sure,” she says. “They were probably my sisters. I can’t say for sure, though, Long Pork. I was busy killing Zs. All I saw was heads going pop, pop, pop.”

“You said back at the bookstore that your sisters were waiting for the signal,” I say. “What signal? Why wait? Why not join us now?”

“Long Pork, you sure are dumb,” Elsbeth says. “What happens if they join us?”

“Uh, we add some bad asses to our numbers?” I reply.

“Nope,” she says and shakes her head. “They get stuck. You and Stella. Critter and Lourdes. Stuart. Even John. Everyone will want them to do as they’re told. Everyone will want them to fall in line like nice little soldiers. We ain’t soldiers, Long Pork. We is people.”

“Stop with the we is and we ain’ts,” I say. “I know you only do that for effect.”

“Maybe,” Elsbeth shrugs. “Maybe nots.”

“Funny,” I sigh. “So your sisters are just going to stay out there on their own? For how long? Do they ever plan on joining us?”

“I don’t think so,” Elsbeth says. “We’ve decided that outside is better for everyone. Too dangerous.”

“Too dangerous? For us or for them?” I ask. “Never mind, you’ve pretty much answered that already. But, apparently, not too dangerous for you to use my boy as bait.”

Elsbeth waves me off and walks by. “Let that go, Long Pork,” she says as she gets to the door. “Charlie did good. Be proud.”

She opens the door and walks out.

“Hey!” I yell. “Where are you going?”

She ducks back in and grins at me then waves her hands about.

“Poopy hands,” she says. “Gonna go wash then come get you. Unless you want me to grab your wheelchair with poopy hands?”

“Nope, I’m good,” I say. “Go get clean, but don’t forget about me.”

She smirks and is gone. After a minute, Dr. McCormick comes back in.

“Why are you still here?” she asks.

“Elsbeth had poopy hands,” I say. “She’s going to wash up.”

She grabs my wheelchair and rolls me outside the bathroom.

“Thanks,” I say as the door shuts.

I look around and everyone is getting out sleeping bags and other gear they find stacked against the walls. Elsbeth is nowhere to be seen.

Dammit, she totally forgot about me.

***

“Daddy? You awake?” Greta whispers.

“Yep,” I reply. “Can’t really sleep this way.”

I’m propped up with a sleeping bag over me with my back against a stack of crates. Stenkler still insists I have to sleep sitting up. I’m sure Kramer would have agreed, but he never made it to the hangar. Amy made sure he stayed in the chopper and went back to the Stronghold with her.

“What do you need, sweetheart?” I ask.

I glance around and it doesn’t look like our talking is disturbing anyone. We are hardly the only ones still awake. Candles burn here and there, along with some hand crank flashlights that are getting dimmer as the night goes on and people get tired of cranking. There are small pockets of our people having hushed conversations while others are bundled up to their ears in sleeping bags, trying to get some sleep and stay warm at the same time.

The hangar isn’t heated, which makes sense since it would take a shit ton of energy, or firewood, to heat such a huge space.

“What happens if they don’t let us stay?” Greta asks. “Do we take the convoy and keep going?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “I honestly don’t. There are a lot of factors to think about. Number one being getting up over the Rockies in winter time. I have a feeling the passes haven’t exactly been kept clear by the DOT.”

“We could go south,” Charlie suggests, joining the conversation. He’s in a mummy bag and all I can see are his mouth and nose. “Go down through New Mexico into Texas then across to the West Coast.”

“Then what?” Greta asks.

“Kids, don’t worry about it,” Stella says, her voice sleepy. “Just close your eyes and get some rest. We’ll deal with it in the morning.”

“I can’t rest,” Greta says. “I have to know what’s going to happen.”

“Me too,” Charlie says. “At least we have the sisters watching our backs.”

“Hey, about the sisters,” I start.

“Nope,” Charlie says. “El said she’d cut my nuts off if I talk to you about them. She looked really serious when she said it and I really like my nuts where they are.”

“She’d never cut your nuts off,” I reply. “And I’m not sure I like her threatening to cut someone’s nuts off.”

“She threatens to cut yours off all the time,” Greta says.

“But that’s me,” I say. “I’m not cool with her saying it to your brother.”

“I know she won’t cut my nuts off,” Charlie says. “But I’m not going to break my word and tell you what I know. You’ll just fuck it all up anyway.”

“Excuse me?” I ask. Stella chuckles. “What’s so funny?”

“He’s right,” Stella says. “If El has a reason for you not to know about something then you should respect that. Odds are you will fuck it all up.”

“I am highly offended by the lack of support from my family right now,” I say. “Highly offended. So offended that I might just move someplace else and sleep all alone.”

There are a couple of hushes from those close by that are trying to sleep.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere to go, Dad,” Charlie whispers. “And good luck getting there if you do go.”

“Fuckers,” I mumble.

I wait, but my family doesn’t say anything else and soon all of them are asleep, their breathing nice and even. It says a lot that we are all at a place in our lives during this zombie apocalypse that my family can drift off and sleep while we are basically captives in a strange place.

Sure, we could open the hangar and all leave, so we aren’t really captives. But our vehicles are back in Denver, along with most of our gear. We wouldn’t last very long out there without some serious supplies. Not in this environment and not during the winter. Nope, we’re rats in a cage with the door open and a bunch of cats sitting outside waiting for us to make our move.

Rats in a cage… Hmmm… There’s something there. It stirs an idea—

“Shut up,” someone moans and a few voices echo the sentiment.

“Sorry,” I whisper loudly. “My bad.”

***

There are only the core handful standing outside the hangar when the chopper lands. Mainly because we know the chopper will draw attention to us and even though the hangar is well away from the fence line, we don’t want to risk a bunch of Zs catching site of a crowd of people and suddenly thinking it’s buffet time.

Also, it’s chilly as fuck out and the wind is cutting hard. Our people ain’t dumb. They know when to stay out of the cold.

We can all tell how the vote went as soon as Amy hops down out of the chopper. Her face is set and her mouth is a hard line. She’s wearing aviator glasses, so it’s impossible to see her eyes, but I’m sure I can guess what look she’s giving us.

Pity.

“Let’s get inside out of this shit,” Amy says as she reaches us. “We need to talk.”

“Just lay it on us straight, lady,” Critter says. “We in or we out?”

“Inside,” Amy says as the chopper powers down behind her.

It’s not Nick flying today. They sent the B team pilot.

Yeah, I am pretty sure we’re out.

Critter grumbles some more, but Stella nods to the hangar and starts walking. Amy is right on her heels. Stuart pushes me, with Melissa, Lourdes, John, and Buzz close behind. We get inside and the hushed conversations going on end instantly. All eyes are on us and I can see Amy squirm. I have a feeling she wishes she’d brought some backup in case things get nasty.

Stella is obviously thinking the exact same thing as she says, “Just be honest and I’ll make sure no one blames you and gets out of hand.”

“I appreciate that,” Amy says. “I took a huge risk even coming back here to talk to you in person. But my vote was for you to stay, so I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the mirror if I chickened out and dropped a note as we did a fly by.”

“What kind of note?” I ask. “Because if it was written on a bowling ball then that would have been cool.”

“It would shatter on impact, Dad,” Charlie says. “Bowling balls aren’t indestructible.”

“Leave it,” Stella says as I get geared up for a pointless debate. “Amy? Tell us what you need to so we can get on with things and start planning.”

“First, let me say that it was close,” Amy begins, all attention locked onto her. “It was almost an even split down the middle. But, there were enough nays that we didn’t bother with holding a second discussion like we sometimes do on close calls.”

She takes off her sunglasses and I can see she is genuinely upset that the vote didn’t go in our favor.

“I’m going to lay out the reasons why so you know what happened then I’m going to list your options as we see them,” she says. “I’m hoping you listen to my advice since I know this area and I know what you can and can’t do.”

“Sounds fair,” Stella says. There are some grumbles, but as soon as she holds up a hand the grumbles quiet down. “Why were we rejected?”

Amy’s eyes go to Mr. Flips immediately and he nods. We all nod.

“You just can’t fight prejudice,” Mr. Flips says, doffing his hat towards Amy. He dons it quickly and doesn’t say anything after that, respectfully taking a few steps back and waiting for her to finish.

“It’s not just the cannibals,” she says. “There are several other reasons. I don’t have time to go into things, but you have to know how sorry I am we can’t accommodate your people.”

“We’ll need Kramer back,” Lourdes says.

There are a couple groans. Okay, there is one loud, long groan. It comes from me.

“He’s an asset we cannot give up,” Lourdes responds to my epic groan. “He has medical and scientific skills that are essential to our survival.”

“Yes, exactly,” Amy frowns. “Which is why we can’t return him.”

We hear it before we see it. Everyone but me turns around as their second chopper comes flying over in front of the hangar, doors open, men inside with rifles trained on us. Ah, so that’s why Nick isn’t flying Amy’s chopper. He’s flying the assault one that has us in its sights. Fish in a barrel.

“What the fuck?” I yell, since I can’t really turn myself around. “You’re going to kill us?”

“No,” Amy shouts over the sound of the second chopper. “Not if you give us Carly Thornberg. Kramer was a bargaining chip we thought we could use with the Consortium. After speaking with him, we believe Ms. Thornberg is a better bargaining chip. You brought Camille and her forces down on us, you need to make this right!”

I start laughing. Amy’s frown deepens.

“Really?” I chuckle, holding my hand across my chest and against my shoulder. My laughing hurts, but fuck if it isn’t worth it. “Do you honestly think Elsbeth is going to go with you?”

“I think she cares for you all and will do what she needs to do to keep you alive,” Amy replies. “If she doesn’t come with us willingly then we shoot all of you and blow up the hangar with your people inside.”

“You have it rigged to blow?” I ask.

“No, we have an RPG aimed at it,” Amy says and nods at the hovering chopper.

“You realize you’re leaving us here with all of your whirlybird fuel, right?” I grin. “You won’t be able to fly those choppers anymore if we stay here.”

“You’ll need to move on to find food,” Amy says. “And you can’t touch our fuel.”

“Oh, really?” I smirk. “Why can’t we?”

“It’s rigged to blow,” John says, kneeling down close to me so I can hear him. “At least two redundancies that I don’t know how to bypass. It was the first thing I checked when they set us down here. Best to know what you have as leverage.”