The Dead Hunger Series: Books 1 through 5 (98 page)

“Nice job on this thing, by the way, Hemp.  Scoops them right out of the way every time.”

“The odd one goes on the hood,” said Hemp.

“No design is perfect,” said Flex.  “But this one is close.”

“I think this is far enough,” said Hemp.  “Pull over, Flex.  Let’s make some room at the dinner table.”

The three doors opened, and they got out.  They had pulled fifty yards ahead of the staggering zombies, and now had enough space between them and their prey that they could have a nice, wide target.

“Considering we’re the main course, yes,” let’s,” said Dave.  He slid his weapons from the drop holsters and raised them.

“Hold on,” said Flex, reaching inside the car for two cylinders of urushiol.  “Take one, Dave.  Put that sucker on stream.”

Dave did.  He ran forward about twenty feet and wet the entire passable area.  Then he ran side to side and wet the ground in a near circle around the three men.

He returned, breathing hard.  “Got it.”

“Good.  Their fuckin’ ratty feet will melt when they try to get past that.  We can concentrate on the tall ones for now.”

And so they did.  Flex’s K7 began tat-tat-tatting in three round bursts, and the animated, ragged bodies before them staggered and fell, dying for the last time.  They had closed the doors of the truck, locking their zombie charge in, and she seemed to be having no issues with the gunfire, for every time Flex looked over, she sat still, her face forward.

She bothered Flex.  She was calm.  Almost patient, as though she were awaiting something of which they had no clue.  Some secret held in her dead brain.

Dave’s shots were finding their marks with deadly accuracy.  His shots were clean and efficient.  One-handers, too.  Every now and then he’d stop, reload, and go again.  Bang! 
Phhmp
.  Bang! 
Phhmp
.  Unsuppressed.  Suppressed.  Glock.  Walther.

Hemp was methodical, if it were to be described.  He took his time with each shot.  He was on single-round mode with his H&K, and raised the weapon, sighted in, and squeezed the trigger, making every round count.  Seven shots, seven zombies.

The bodies stacked up and the pack making its way past them now had to scramble over them, which made for some more easy targets.  Their progress was slowed, and as  a result, they had more time before needing to move the car.

The ratz made it over first.  For a moment, the men hesitated.  No firing.  The first ratz were approaching the wet roadway and shoulder, and each of them held their breath.

And suddenly, the wave of black ratz busily putting one foot in front of the other, working their hungry ways to Concord, New Hampshire, just stopped forward momentum; they didn’t stop moving, just moving toward them.

“Hard to run with melted fuckin’ feet, ain’t it?” shouted Flex.  He looked over at the men, smiling.  “Urushiol mote, anyone?”

“You dig it, I’ll dump urushiol in it,” said Dave, firing carefully and bringing down two more of the walking rotters.

“Good enough for now,” said Flex.  “We need to get out of here.  I think Gem and Charlie are gonna be expecting us.”

“That they are,” said Hemp.  “And I need to get that girl to my mobile lab, at least.  That way I can keep her at the house so if everything goes to hell in a hand basket, I can still perform my experiments.  I’ve got the EEG machine in there.  I need to do some brain scans on this one.”

The men got back into the truck and Flex fired the engine.  The distant zombies were scrambling over the pile of bodies, but they would be gone before they made it to where they were parked.

The ratz had never made it any further, but they could hear rustling in the weeds alongside the roadway before they got back into the truck.

“This crap is gonna mess with your experiments, isn’t it, Hemp?” asked Dave.

“Depends on how serious and how widespread it is,” he answered.  “If we are literally like a beacon to these infecteds, then we will battle this until they’re all dead.”

“Or we are,” said Dave.

“I wasn’t gonna say that,” said Flex.  He cranked the wheel and pointed.  “Look over there.”

The men followed his finger, and between some distant brush, an enormous group of zombies was working their way toward
Concord.

“They probably came from the east,” said Hemp.  “Judging from their direction of approach.”

Flex looked straight ahead and thought about how to best phrase his question to Hemp.  A few more seconds and it became clear.  There was really no other way to ask.

“Hemp.  Could this mean there is no safety in numbers?  That in fact, it’s the opposite?”

Hemp was quiet for a moment or two, clearly understanding the implications of Flex’s question.  Hemp was a smart guy, and he would immediately have known why Flex asked the question.  Both of their wives were pregnant, and their primary goal was to protect family first, everyone else came after.

“Flex, you’re right.”

“It’s not good being here with a huge group?”

“We’re a draw,” he said.

“A draw.  We’re like a new air freshener in a crack den.  We stand out.”

“Exactly.  Good analogy, by the way.”

“Yeah.  Even I got that one,” said Dave.  “So in other words, there’s a chance you all up and leave,” he said.

“Depends.  I talk to Gem about anything like that.”

“I don’t know Gem like you do,” said Dave.  “But I know that nothing is carved in stone with her.  If you think you should go, she’ll go.”

“But only if she thinks so, too.  She’s fought me before.”

“I was gonna go anyway,” said Dave.  “Maybe you guys will come with us.”

“Maybe,” said Flex.  “I miss Lula.  But I might like to get a feel for what’s happening on the west coast first.”

Hemp was quiet.  Flex noticed, and thought he’d bring it up.  “Hemp?  Any thoughts?”

“The thought of driving that mobile lab across the country again is depressing,” he said.  “But you know that I’ll do anything to keep my family safe.  Anything.  So if it involves a long westward trip, then so be it.”

As they crossed the short bridge back into Concord proper, they saw men with guns running along the roadways.  Flex recognized many of them from the regular meetings that Kev held to keep everyone updated.  He saw Lisa, and he honked his horn.  She looked, and came running toward them.

He lowered his window as she approached the truck.

“Hey, guys.”  Her eyes went to the zombie in the back seat and she pulled back when the zombie with the intense, blue-red eyes bared her brown teeth and growled, her mouth gnashing side to side.

“Holy cow,” she said.  “I knew you were going for one, but I didn’t expect her to be right there.”

“How do they growl when they don’t breathe?” asked Dave.  Nobody answered.

Flex adjusted his rear view mirror and looked behind him.  “You’ve set her off a bit there, Lisa” he said.  “We’re all on WAT-5.  She’s pretty calm, considering, right Hemp?”

Hemp studied her.  “A bit, yes.  Surprisingly so, considering she literally has to be starving.”

Lisa shrugged.  “Whatever.  You know this I guess, but we were at the range – and it was going very well, Davey – when Gem looked up and saw a whole line of the sick ones coming out of the woods.”

“How many?” asked Dave.

“I’d put it at hundreds,” said Lisa.  “Beyond that, I don’t know.  But there are ratz, too.”  She held up a spray bottle of urushiol blend.  “Serena and I are staying back from wherever the front lines are, but we’re going to take out our share.  Gem and Charlie took the girls home.”

“Have you talked to them recently?” asked Flex.

“Ten minutes ago.  They’re good.  Hunkered down and armed.”

“We’re going to drop her off, check on the ladies, and we’ll be back.  We’ll radio Kev on the way to the house.”

“Okay, Flex.  Dave, you coming out?”

“Yep.  Gotta take a quick dump and load up on ammo.  I’ll find out where you are on the radio.”

“TMI,” said Lisa.  “But I’ll alert the media.  See you in a bit.”

Flex hit the gas and five minutes later they were at the house. 

It had not been hard to get the zombie out of the cell.  When they approached her, she stood with her arms down by her sides, and when she raised her head, she never met anyone’s eyes.  When pulled, she followed.

It was the same now.  They had about an hour left for the WAT-5 scent-masking abilities, and would need to take more and bring a lot with them to ensure the safety of the defense team. 

The three men got her inside the mobile lab and onto a gurney with a two-inch thick pad on top and a tiny pillow.  She fully cooperated and as she rested her head on a small pillow, Flex swore he saw her close her eyes briefly, as though she were relieved to be lying on something soft.

“Hemp,” he said.  “She almost looks comfortable.”

Hemp looked at him.  “I’m not sure she’s not,” he said.  “Something is different about her, guys.  I don’t know what yet.  She seems more . . . I hate to say it.  I hate to give her credit.”

“More what?” asked Dave.

“More human.”

“Less affected?” asked Flex.

“Exactly.  Affected, but not to the extreme as is typical.”

“I gotta get into the house,” said Flex.

“Me, too,” said Hemp.  “Help me with these straps.”

Dave and Flex helped Hemp strap her waist, wrists and ankles.  They turned out the light and closed and locked the door once outside.

“I’m going to have to beg off most of your hunts,” said Hemp.  “I’ll need a lot of simple observation time with her, and it won’t do to have too many interruptions.  I have a feeling what I learn from that creature out there is going to help all of us.  I’m certain she’s the key to some important answers.”

“I believe you,” said Dave, opening the front door.  Gem and Charlie rushed forward and immediately scooped up Flex and Hemp, squeezing them hard.

“Uncle Davey!” said Trina, her arms open wide.  “Hugs!”

“I knew there was gonna be a beautiful girl to greet me, too!” said Dave, lifting Trina into his arms and spinning her around. 

“It’s me!” she said.

“It is!” he said in response.

“Where’s that
Taylor?”

“In the potty,” whispered Trina.  “Shh.  Don’t tell.”

“Zipped,” said Dave. 

As everyone was breaking their embraces,
Taylor came in and the welcomes started over.

They all sat down and Gem produced hot cups of coffee for everyone except the girls.  For them, there were ice cold sodas. 
Taylor liked Sprite, and Trina liked Pepsi.

All was in order.

“Hemp says we’re a beacon,” said Gem.  “So we’re the steak cooking while you’re walking through the campground.  The one that makes you want to go toward it.”

“Essentially, yes,” said Hemp.  “We are the largest concentration of food source for them, and their sense of smell is greatly enhanced.  They smell us for miles.  It could be up to a hundred miles or greater.”

“Like a dog’s?” asked Dave.  “Is their sense of smell that good?”

“I have a sneaking suspicion it is better,” said Hemp.  “Perhaps like a bear or shark.  You know the old saying, if a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to hear it?  The bear will smell it.”

“I had no idea,” said Charlie.  “Wow.”

“The ratz are number five without any enhanced abilities,” said Hemp.  “If it has improved, they might now have the best sense of smell of any creature on Earth.”

“And if the zombies could strategize, they’d just follow the ratz, since they can find us with those great noses,” said Dave.

Hemp stared at Gammon, his eyes intense. 

Dave looked at him.  “What?  You’re freakin ‘me out, dude.”

“It’s what you just said,” said Hemp.  “About the zombies following the ratz.”

“They’re not
doing
that, are they?”

Hemp shrugged.  “I’ve got some ideas, but I don’t want to say until I’ve tested the one outside.”

“Is she special?” asked Gem.  “What’s different about her?”

“She was . . . kind of resting,” said Hemp.  “In her cell.  Sitting.”

“I’ve never seen them sit for no reason,” said Gem.

“Exactly,” said Flex.  “They don’t get tired.”

“Not to mention how she responded to the weapons.  Immediately backing away.  Coming back when the weapon was away.”

“Like Jamie,” said Gem.  “Flex, you told me about what Jamie did at the pool, and Hemp, you tied it together later.  She knew her arm was broken, so she didn’t follow you into the pool that day.  Knew she couldn’t tread water.  And in the mobile lab, her brain scan went wild when she saw the weapon.”

“These creatures are incapable of drowning, so in retrospect, what Flex’s sister did doesn’t make much sense,” said Hemp.  “And while perhaps some particle of remaining instinct guided her actions, having only been infected for a very short time, what’s going on now seems more specific.”