'Til Death Do Us Part (75 page)

She knew Mike might be saying all his greetings now, but that he would be trying to sniff around and under her many lies. He somehow knew she was
lying,
and it would only be a matter of time until he tripped her up.

And then what?
s
he thought.
“
He
’
ll probably kick me out.
”

She had her ear to the door and could hear the merriment down the hallway
. S
he waited until it died down and mostly became celebration among those that were already at the house.

“
...so good to see him.
”

“
...thought he was dead.
”

Yadda yadda, blah blah
, she thought.
This
was her
worst case scenario. She exited
her room just as she saw Tracy
closing the door to her bedroom.
She
heard the soft hiss of the shower that Mike must be taking.
She moved quickly down the hallway to see if he had possibly
said anything to anyone else. T
hen her first chance at an alternate plan revealed itself as she looked down on the four silver chains that each had a small ornate vial filled with an amber
colored
fluid sitting on the kitchen table.

“
Is this the zombie repellant?
”
s
he asked as she quickly snatched one off the table.
“
It just might be my ticket out of here.
”
She thought about taking all of them, and just might have if Angel hadn
’
t taken that most inopportune of times to walk in.

“
You look guilty of something,
”
Angel
said pointing her finger at Mrs. Deneaux.

“
It
’
s that obvious is it?
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
asked. She wasn
’
t playing with the girl, if her guilt was
s
o
apparent
to the little rapscallion
,
then she would never be able to fool Mike who already had her tried and convicted
in his mind
.

“
Ryan!
T
he mean lady is up to no good!
”
Angel
screamed into the other room.

“
Well aren
’
t you just a little darling,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said through clenched teeth.
“
I would just love to squeeze the little life out of you.
”

“
Ryan!
”
Angel
screamed again, looking into the other room for her brother.

“
I
’
m leaving and I
’
m going to make sure that you get what
’
s coming to you,
”
Mrs. Deneaux said as she placed her
stolen
chain and vial into her pocket.

Angel wai
ted and watched as
‘
the Mean Lady
’
left the room.
T
hen
,
when she was completely sure she was gone and not coming back
,
she stuck her tongue out at her.

Mrs. Deneaux went back to her room and grabbed her revolver and her
bullets
and quickly went down into the basement.
It was cool, dark
, and quiet down there. S
he paused long and hard
,
rationalizing out everything she was about to do. Mike still had no concrete evidence against her and never would
.
As for the
vial, just because Mike had made it through that didn
’
t mean it actuall
y worked. It was me
re minutes after she heard the whoosh of the shower turn off before she
got moving. The man had changed significantly.
He
might not need proof to throw her outside
,
and he would make sure that she didn
’
t have a vial. No
,
she would take her chances outside
.
That way
at
least she would have one
, she thought.

She undid the heavy bar lock on the reinforced door and stole out into the night. She stayed hidden under the deck until s
he got to the back of the house. S
he waited patiently
,
listening to see if anyone was over her. When she was confident
no one was watching from the deck
,
she walked purposefully across the yard.
She was thankful that Mad Jack had been thoughtful enough to create a small draw bridge to get
across the spike filled trench.
She
grabbed
the handle and spun it counter-
clockwise, the two foot wide beam eight feet long began to descend rapidly
;
within twenty seconds it spanned the death canal.

She keyed in a code to the electric fence
,
shutting off current to the gate which she hesitated to open. Zombies were now within
an
arm
’
s length of her. S
he almost decided to turn around and try her luck with Michael. She hadn
’
t done anything tonight that she could not recover from. Her foot turned in the loose soil as she looked back at the house. The girl Angel was on the deck watching her.

“
Fucking brat,
”
Mrs. Deneaux said as she opened the gate. Her eyes were closed as she waited expectantly for the bite of death. She opened her eyes as the first of the zombies
that was doing its best to avoid her clipped her shoulder as it moved on past.

“
Zombies!
”
Angel shouted.

Gunfire erupted, Mrs.
Deneaux
did not know from which side
,
and she didn
’
t really care as she forced herself through the gate
while
zombies were pouring into the yard. Most were being forced into the pit, but a lucky few had found their way across the beam and into the
Promised Land
.
Mrs. Deneaux did not look back as she cut a path through the horde.

She made it all the way through to almost be shot.

“
Stop!
”
a
nervous
, gun-
wielding man told her.

She put her hands up half
way.
“
You caught me,
”
s
he said sardonically.

“
Bernie, I
’
ve got a live one here!
”
h
e yelled to his left.
“
Barely,
”
h
e added
,
looking back at her.

She flipped him the bird. Her pistol still safely tucked in her holster
,
she thought long and hard about pulling it out and killing the nervous little man, but there were more men in the woods and if she wanted to save her hide she would play the game by their rules for the time being.

“
Bring her to the boss, dumbass,
”
Bernie said as if he too could not stand the man.

“
Right, let
’
s go,
”
Beans
said to her as he motioned to his right with the rifle.
“
And keep your hands where I can see them.
”

“
Why…
are you afraid I
’
ll do this?
”
s
he asked as she drew her pistol out and aimed it squarely at his chest.

Beans
raised his hands up in the air, rifle included.

“
Tell you wha
t…
you don
’
t point your weapon at me
,
and I won
’
t point mine at you. Sound fair?
”
s
he asked.

“
Fair, very fair,
”
Beans
answered
apprehensively
.

“
Now please kind
ly show me the way to your boss,
”
Mrs. Deneaux said as she put her weapon away, a slight smile across her lips.

Mrs. Deneaux was led up to a small group. She noticed the idiot Tommy who was standing
next
to a big man she figured was
‘
the boss
’
. She began to think of a story that would
position
her in the best light and get her out of here
. A
s she got closer
,
she noticed the slight woman that had been blocked from view.
Eliza
,
she thought as she took in a sharp breath doing her best to remain calm.

Eliza looked past the big man to see Mrs. Deneaux
’
s approach. Kong turned also when he saw Eliza looking. His eyebrows furrowed as he saw
Beans
leading the old woman towards him.

“
Whoa…far enough,
”
Kong said
,
putting one hand up and the other going for his hip.

“
I cau
ght her coming out of the house,
”
Beans
said excitedly.

“
And you didn
’
t think to take
her sidearm? You dumbass,
”
Kong told his subordinate.

“
I...I she pulled it
on me...we had an understanding,
”
Beans
stammered.

“
Beans
,
you
’
re an idiot.
Ma’am,
I
’
m going to need you to gently take that gun and put it on the ground.
”

“
The name is Vivian,
”
s
he said as she handed the gun to
Beans
.
“
Could you be a dear and place that
on the ground for me? Bad hips,
”
s
he told the group.

Eliza moved Kong over with her hand and stared intently at Mrs. Deneaux.
“
Is there a reason I should not immediately kill you
?
”
s
he finally said.

“
I want Mike dead as much as you,
”
Mrs. Deneaux said as she struggled to find her reserves of courage.

“
Is that so?
”
Eliza questioned.

“
I killed two of his men t
hat attacked you on the highway,
”
Mrs. Deneaux said, now wishing that she had st
ayed with Michael.
Nothing
he could have done to her would have been equivalent to looking upon the embodiment of evil. She failed to mention that she was one of the bigger reason
s for the success of the attack;
that was better left unsaid.
“
I killed his childhood friend.
”

“
Paul Ginson?
”
Tomas asked.

“
Yes,
”
Deneaux answered.

“
You know of him?
”
Eliza asked her brother.

“
Yes
,
they we
re very close, grew up together.
I believe they
considered themselves brothers,
”
Tomas stated.

“
Why?
”
Eliza asked.
“
Why would you kill him? Certainly not in preparation for meeting me.
”