The Dead Hunger Series: Books 1 through 5 (100 page)

“Get the bitch in the garage,” said Charlie.  “I don’t want her in here for a second!”

Then came a growl.  It was joined by another low, deep snarl.   Just as Hemp and Flex looked toward the source of the sounds, the girls cried together, “Bunsen!  Slider!  Stay there!  Don’t move!”

“Jesus, Gem!” shouted Flex.  “Get them restrained!  You know they never listen to those girls!”

“Shit!” said Gem.  “Bunsen, don’t move!”

But it was too late.  The protective instincts of the two Great Pyrenees kicked in, and they charged down the steps, taking them three at a time.

Hemp watched as Flex doubled his grip on the zombie’s arm, but while the dogs had seen her as a threat, she smelled their flesh and blood and her instincts took over, seeing them less as a threat than a meal.

She gnashed and pulled away from Flex, trying to get to the stairway.  Had her fingernails not been torn off or worn down to nothing, she would have drawn blood with her clawing fingers.

But the dogs were down now, and their unequipped feet slid out from under them like a go-cart on a slick track.  Both went down, and the zombie pulled harder toward them as they attempted to get back to their feet and continue their charge.

“No you don’t!” shouted Flex, pushing against her back as Dave and Hemp each grabbed an arm, forcing her hard to the garage door.  Charlie ran ahead and opened it.

“Hurry!”

The dogs were back on their feet and running full speed toward the creature, whose eyes would not tear away from them.  She howled with hunger and frustration, even as the three men threw her into the garage and slammed the door behind her.

The dogs reached the men and scratched at the closed door while Hemp, Flex and Dave leaned against the wall, breathing as though each had just finished a half marathon.

“Well, Professor,” said Flex, in-between breaths.  “I sure as fuck hope she was worth the hassle.”

“Flex?” asked Dave.

“Yeah,” he panted.

“What did you say to her out there?  I couldn’t hear what it was.”

“Oh.  The girl?  The zombie girl?”

“Yeah.”

“I told her if she fuckin’ moved I’d blow her brains out.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” he laughed.  “But I’ll be damned if it didn’t seem to help.”

“Enough joviality,” said Gem.  “They’re still out there, and they still need killing.”  She returned to peer out of the half-moon window in the door and fired single round after single round.

“I’m wasting ammo,” she said.  “Can’t fucking sight them from here very well.”

“We can go outside, you know,” said Hemp.  “If you think it will help.  They won’t attack.”

“Yes, let’s,” said Charlie, mimicking Hemp’s British accent.  “Let’s do.”

“Very funny,” said Hemp, smiling.  “But that way we can at least see what kind of numbers remain out there.”

“There’s not as many in the street,” said Trina.

“They’re disgusting,” said
Taylor.  “That stinky pile outside.”

“We’ll bulldoze them into a hole, honey,” said Gem.  “Right, Flexy?”

“As soon as we get a break.  And we’ve got to talk about this situation, too.  Let’s reload and go out and clear the area.”

Dave and Gem rifled through the ammo bags the women had brought back from the range, and soon everyone had full magazines and spares again. 

“Dave, man the spray bottle, would you?”

“Got it.”

“Girls, don’t shoot, because we’re out there.  But you’re staying inside.  It’s not that I don’t trust you, I don’t trust them, okay?”

“Shit,” said Trina.

“Double shit,” said Taylor.

“Triple shit, shit, shit!” shouted Trina.

“Enough of your shit, both of you,” said Charlie, nodding at Dave as she opened the door.

The girls laughed.

“And stay out of the garage.  If that thing gets inside, she’ll go after Bunsen and Slider, and you don’t want that, right?”

The girls said nothing, as that reality hit home.  They shook their heads together.

Charlie opened the door while Dave had the urushiol spray going full tilt.  They all made it through and slid their way through the rat muck on the front porch.

Once down on the sidewalk and grass, they used their pistols.  One shot to the head of the nearest zombie, being sure one of the others weren’t behind them.  Their heads were, in many cases, almost skulls, and the bullets tended to pass clean through – even more so than on live humans.

Hemp took out his dozen or so.  He looked up the street and saw they had almost dispatched this horde.

“I’m going around the side of the house.”

“Not without me, you’re not,” said Charlie.

She went to his side and they walked together.

“Radio on!” said Flex.

“Got it,” Hemp called back.

He and Charlie rounded the corner.  Fifty or so were headed in the opposite direction, away from the state house. 

“Charlie, they’re headed toward the kids’ house.  I don’t know that they’ll be smart enough to let them pass.”

“Do they have any WAT-5?”

“They did, but who knows if they squandered it?  Took it when there was no threat.”

“Good point.  Do they have their radios on?”

“Not usually.  I’ll try,” said Hemp.  He pulled the radio from his belt and turned to channel 16, the one the kids used.

“Jimmy Dickson, you there?  Come in,” said Hemp.

Nothing. 

“Try again,” said Charlie, keeping her eye on the distant zombie pack.  She walked around and sprayed a barrier on the ground around their feet with the urushiol mix.  Two ratz imploded into black-blooded fur balls, getting hit directly, while the others who ventured too close squealed as their legs disappeared from underneath them.

“Jimmy!  Come in.  There are zombies out, my friend.  Keep everyone inside, and if you have WAT-5, take it.”

“Do they have .22 rifles?”

“Some of them,” said Hemp.  “Mostly baseball bats and traps.”

“Mouse traps?” asked Charlie.

Hemp shook his head, understanding why she might think so.  “No.  Pits, stuff in the trees.  Swinging spikes and the like.”

“They ought to just give them guns.”

“I can’t say that I disagree,” said Hemp.  “It’s up to Kev and his guys, and they’re more comfortable with the kids minimally armed, at least for now.”

“I hate politics,” said Charlie.

“Because you’re anti-establishment.  Hence the love of the Sex Pistols.”

“We need to go over there and see if they’re okay, baby.”

“Agreed, but I don’t want to leave the girls alone, and we shouldn’t go there alone, either.”

Charlie was right, of course.  The kids were smart – they had to be in order to survive, even in a place that was formerly as calm as Concord – but things had gotten exponentially worse in a hurry.  They could be in trouble if they had used up their WAT-5 supply.

“Let’s go get Flex and Dave at least.”

“Gem’s going to be upset.”

Hemp thought for a moment.  He looked at Charlie.  “I’ve seen Trina shoot lately. 
Taylor, too.  They can handle it, I think.  Let’s arm them and bring them along.”

“Oh, shit,” said Charlie.  “Jimmy’s going to be
pissed
!”

“Grandfather clause,” said Hemp.  “They’ll have to understand for now.”

“Let’s go get the others,” said Charlie.  “I’m worried about them.”

“I don’t think Nikki will let them do anything stupid,” said Hemp.  “She’s got Jimmy wrapped around her finger, I’m betting.”

“She’s a little pepper, that one,” said Charlie, walking ahead, sending out a mist of urushiol.

Now and then Hemp sighted in on a nearby zombie and blew his or her brains out.  When they got back to the house, he pulled his radio and switched it back to 19.

“We’re coming in.  Don’t fire.”

“It’s don’t shoot,” came back Flex’s voice.

Hemp opened the door and Flex stood there staring at him, the radio to his mouth.  “I thought you’d be a proper cowboy by now, Hemp, my boy.”

“Not yet, I suppose.  But in all seriousness, we need to drive over and see about Jimmy and the other kids.  As much as I want to get testing the female in there, there was a heck of a group of infecteds heading their way.”

The girls looked at them, hope in their eyes.

“They’ll need to come, I suppose.  Or Gem can stay.”

Gem knelt down beside the girls and put their guns in their hands.  “Ready to kill some zombies, girls?”

“Yea!” said Trina.”

Gem’s face grew extremely serious.  She put a hand on each girls’ shoulder.  “This is real, you understand.  They’re already dead, so you’re not killing anything.  You’re merely putting them to rest.  Where they should be.  Understood?”

“I know that, mommy,” said Trina.  “They’re like puppets on a string.”

“That’s right.  Remember.  Always know what’s behind them.  Analyze the situation very quickly before you shoot, but then shoot if necessary.”

“Like at the range, mommy!  With the good guys and bad guys.”

“Taylor, how about you?  Do you feel okay?”

Taylor
said nothing, but she nodded.  Hemp came over and knelt beside her.

“You’re a great marksman,” he said.  “I’ve seen you with that weapon.  You’re even better than you know.”

“I’m not nervous,” she said.  “I have to do it sometime.”

“Yes, you do.  We’ll be right there, and we’ll have our eyes on you.  I want a bottle of urushiol hanging from both your belts, too.  Got it?”

“Got it,” said Taylor.  Trina nodded.

Gem and Hemp stood up.  The girls organized their little cotton fanny packs stuffed with full magazines.

“Let’s go see about our young friends,” said Hemp.  “Charlie, lead the way.”

“I’ve filled all the bottles,” she said.  “We’re ready to go.”

“Let’s pile in Flex’s truck,” said Gem.  “I don’t want to walk all the way.”

“We can use the AK on top,” said Flex.  “It’s like a family outing.”  He still wasn’t smiling.

They went.

Chapter Four

Flex drove slowly, and Gem used the AK on top of his truck to take out only the zombies near enough to the truck to take direct hits using the GPS screen sight. 

“There are too many damned houses around here for this gun,” she said.  “I’m afraid of sending a round into somebody inside.”

“You’re angling down for the most part, Gem,” said Hemp.  “Trajectory doesn’t support your concern.”

“
Trajectory doesn’t support your concern
,” she said with a mock British accent, and took out two more off to the right side of the truck.  They wobbled, almost headless, then flopped to the asphalt.

“Crap,” said Flex.  He looked up the street and saw forty to fifty of the zombies, clustered around the house the kids had moved into.

Because of the large number of dead creatures, Flex assumed they had been firing on them from inside the house, using some weapon or another.  Could’ve been the .22.  Very accurate, but you’d need a dead-on brain shot.

“Try them on the radio again,” said Hemp. 

Charlie pushed the button.  “Sixteen, right?”

“Yes.  One-six,” said Hemp.

“Jimmy, you there?  Come in, Jimmy.”

“Charlie?” the voice answered.

“Jimmy!  Yes, it’s Charlie.  We’re outside.  Are you okay?”

“Yeah, but everyone’s pretty freaked out in here.”

Flex shook his head.  Of course they were.  They had been in Concord since the onset of the zombie apocalypse, and had not had an enormous number to deal with before now.

“What’s with all these zombies?” asked Jimmy.

“They’re drawn to Concord,” said Charlie.  “We smell good.”

“I guess we smell better than them,” Jimmy said.  “You guys want to come in?”

“Give me the radio, would you?” said Flex.

Charlie handed it to him.

“Hey, Jim.  We came to clear them for you.  I know you’re short on weapons, and so does Hemp.  It was his and Charlie’s idea.”

“Well, have at it,” said Jimmy.  “We’re out of WAT-5, so if you’re on it, we’ll just say in here for now.  Some of the rats are sneaking in.”

“Spray them.  I assume you’ve got plenty of urushiol?”

“Hell yes,” said Jimmy.  “We’ve filled our water cannons with it.  That’s how we killed the ones you see out there.”

Flex looked again at the bodies.  Had he really paid attention, he would’ve noticed they weren’t bloodied, just melted.

“Give us some time, and we’ll be in,” said Flex, before clicking off.  He turned to Dave, who hadn’t said a word all the way there.

“You okay, Dave?  Awfully quiet.”

“I’m thinking,” he said.  “About Lisa.  About California.  And a lot about Serena, too.”

“Cali’s looking more attractive now, isn’t it?” said Charlie.  “Since this little switch.”

“It’s not looking any worse,” said Dave.  “I think I’d feel pretty safe on a motorcycle on the highway about now.”

“You’ve got time to work that out,” said Gem.  “Wait until the weather breaks.  Almost there.  Now, let’s do this shit.  I want to waddle my way back to a cozy couch.”

“Me, mommy?” asked Trina. “I get to shoot?”

Gem nodded.  “When we get out, stay close, and aim carefully.  Take your time and remember, they can’t smell you, and they won’t attack you any more than they’d attack one another.”

“Okay.”  She turned to Taylor.  “Hear that, Tay?  They can’t smell us, so we just have to aim at them and shoot.”

Taylor nodded.

“Let’s go,” said Hemp, opening his door.  Charlie sat beside him, and slid out his door.  Dave had Trina on his lap, and Taylor sat in the front seat between Gem and Flex.

They got out of the car, and the movement caught the zombies’ eyes.  They moved forward, but didn’t gnash or work themselves into a frenzy.  They drew closer than Flex liked, but he held his fire and kept an eye on Trina.

She watched one zombie at a time, he noticed.  Singled one out, watched it, raised her weapon and sighted it, and hers was the first shot to ring out.

The large, male zombie went down eight feet from her.  She looked up at Flex and nodded, satisfied.

Her face
, thought Flex. 
She’s . . . being forced to grow up fast.  She’s seven years old, with steel in her spine and fucking rainbows in her heart.

He turned back and followed her lead.  A man in a ragged, brown jacket and one shoe came toward him.  Not aggressive, just staggering.  He’s lower jaw had fallen away, so any meal he ate would be a scrape-fest, to be sure.

Flex raised his Glock and took him down with a single shot.  A female behind him nearly ran.

“Flex!” shouted Hemp.

Scared the shit out of him.  “What?” he retorted, sharply.

“Sorry to startle you, but did you see that zombie?  The woman?”

“What the hell is with you and female zombies lately, buddy?”

“It’s not that they’re female, Flex.  It’s how they’re responding.  They’re aware, I tell you.”

“I’ll try to keep an eye out for it, Hemp, but I gotta be honest.  I just want ‘em all dead as hell.”

“Go at it, friend,” he said.

Flex did.  One by one, he blew more brains out of rotting skulls.  Taylor was off to his left, and she had raised her weapon for what Flex believed was the first time.  She walked forward about five steps, and Flex saw Gem hesitate, then stop firing.

Trina took out two more.  Her face held no indication of pleasure.  She was as serious as the proverbial heart attack.

Taylor approached what was formerly a girl of perhaps seventeen.  She had thin strands of brown hair clinging to her head, and Flex was surprised to see the remnant of a red ribbon still clipped to it.

As though in a trance, Taylor drew to within four feet of the teenaged rotter, who stopped and seemed to stare blankly through her. Taylor held the gun up, steady and true, then squeezed the trigger. She cl
osed her eyes as the weapon discharged. 

The zombie girl dropped to her knees, then folded backward, landing on the grass with a dull thump.

Taylor stood there for a moment, staring down at the thing’s body. Her eyes moved to the gun in her hand.
 

“You okay, Tay?” asked Flex, softly.

The eight-year-old said nothing. She bent down, put the gun on the ground, and walked back to the truck. She opened the door and got in the back seat.

Taylor stared straight ahead. She hadn’t closed the door, so Flex did it for her.

He would have to talk to Charlie about it. She had been occupied behind the truck and had not seen any of it.

Taylor was still adjusting. 

She’d be turning nine in two more months. Of course she was adjusting.

They finished with the present group fifteen minutes later.   Charlie went back to the truck, gave Taylor a big hug, then led her inside the house with the others.

The kids inside the house looked relieved to see us.

It was only natural.  While kids liked to believe they knew everything, when life took a dark turn, they looked at  the situation first.  Then they looked at the adults and asked themselves two questions:

Are they scared?  Should we be?

After all, they
were
just kids.

*****

“It’s dead serious out there now,” said Flex, looking directly at Jimmy. 

Taylor sat quietly next to Charlie, staring off into space.  Trina was asleep, leaning back against Gem.

“I get that,” he said.

“Buddy, I respect your group here, I do.  But I don’t know if you really get it yet.”

“That’s the problem with you guys,” said Jimmy.  “You don’t understand that we get it.  It’s dangerous out there, which is exactly why we want to be armed.”

“There’s more to protecting yourself than having guns,” said Gem. 

Jimmy looked at her, and his expression softened.  He liked and respected her. 

Plus, she’s hot,
thought Flex.  That garnered a lot of respect from a kid dancing on the border of puberty.  He knew as well as anyone.

“I know, Gem, but –”

“No buts, Jimmy,” Gem cut in, then turning to Nikki.

“Nikki, does Jimmy listen to you?  If so, and you get what we’re saying here, would you explain our point to him?”

Flex and Gem had discussed Nikki Haley; the cute, curly-haired blonde with a figure that would have made Gem jealous at her age.  While they had never asked her age, both assumed she was around sixteen, like Jimmy.  It was hard to tell these days when fourteen-year-old girls looked nineteen.

Nikki shrugged. “He listens to me when he wants to … or when I
really
want him to,” she said.

“I’m right here,” said Jimmy, shaking his head.  “And don’t give them any ammo to use against us, Nikki.”

“Funny how you put that,” said Dave.  “And meanwhile, you’re the ones without ammo.  Awkward.”

“Ha ha,” said Jimmy, smiling despite himself. 

Probably because Dave was smiling, and when he smiled it was hard to not catch the disease.  Like a rampant yawn.

“Look, you guys are smart,” said Flex.  “We know that, and we’ve fought for you. 
You
know that.  But we’re warning you because we’ve been out there and it’s fuckin’ scary.  You’ve been in Concord the entire time, so you barely know a world where they’re everywhere.”

Flex turned and pointed outside.  “You saw that out there?  That shit is everywhere outside of
Concord.  And now it’s come here, so your group is gonna have to be tighter than ever.  And smarter.”

“Keep the WAT-5, but don’t take it unless you’re going out,” added Hemp.  “Bring your bats, bring what you need to use as a weapon.  With the WAT-5, you can safely take out your share, if you’re up to it.”

“But don’t waste it,” said Gem.  “You need to have it when you need it.”

Eddie Palmer, a kid with dark, curly hair and serious, dark eyes, shifted and raised his eyebrows.

“Go ahead, Eddie,” said Jimmy.

“I’m formulating,” said Eddie.  “I need to make sure I get this right.”

“This isn’t a formal business meeting,” said Charlie.  “Anything’s on the table.”

“I’m worried,” said Eddie, “that they’re going to force us into some facility or something.  We’re doing pretty good out here.  We’ve set up everyone’s responsibilities, and for the most part, we all do our share.  We argue now and then, but we always figure it out.”

“What’s your point?” asked Dave.  “Dude, I don’t think anyone’s considering pulling you out of here and locking you away anywhere.  I haven’t heard anyone talking like that.”

“Not yet,” said Eddie.  “Look.  All our parents are dead.  Some of them
we
had to kill.  It was hard, and we’re helping each other through it better than anyone who hasn’t been through it can.”

“It’s true,” said Nikki.  “I cried for days, and they were there for me.”

“Me, too,” said Amy Wilson, the oldest girl in the group.  “Jimmy saved me.  My dad was about to . . . about to . . . I ran outside, and then I ran into my neighbor, who was just like my dad.  Jimmy –”

“I pulled her outta there,” said Jimmy.  “I lived two doors down, and after seeing what was happening in my house, I knew exactly what I had to do.”

“He didn’t kill my dad,” she said.  “But he did hit Mr. Ferguson pretty hard.”

Amy was probably seventeen, but Flex thought she might have been the least mature, and the most skittish of the kids.  She was shy to a fault, and a bit overweight.  To their credit, these kids were not cruel to one another in any way.  If Flex could choose a group of kids to start out a society, he’d take all of them.

Dave went to the window.  The house was fully furnished, but everyone sat on the carpet in the middle of the living room floor, cross-legged.  He pulled back the blind.

“Don’t worry about it, Dave,” said Eddie.  “Louis and Emma are upstairs keeping watch out of the east and west windows, and Ian and Mason have the north and south sides.  They’ll let us know if they come back.”

Hemp dug around in his pack.  He pulled out a baggie and opened it, counting its contents.  “Okay.  I’ve got ten more wafers with me.  How many of you are there?”

“Nine of us right now,” answered Jimmy.

Flex looked at Gem, then turned his face away.  He knew why there were nine.

There had been ten.

The kids hadn’t thought to throw out the medications that were left in the medicine cabinets.  Chris Miller had watched his father tear his mother apart, and he was beyond the psychological healing his peers had to offer.

Jimmy and Nikki had shared the story with Flex and Gem, and they with everyone else.