'Til Death Do Us Part (84 page)

“Should have dug it deeper,
” Ron said as he came in next to Travis. “Any return fire?”

“Not
hing,
” Travis said
,
taking a moment to reload. “I don’t think they’re there anymore
,
but like my dad says, ‘life isn’t something you gamble with’ so I haven’t stuck my head up to
really look around
.”

“Smart boy. They’re going to have that trench filled in soon
,
and the fire won’t last forever. The blood and gore from the zombies is going to clog the nozzles.”

“You know that’s pretty gross right?” Travis asked as he put his rifle back up to the firing slot.

“You feel that?” Ron asked as he watched a spent casing jump.

“You’
ve got to see this,
” Travis said
,
pulling back and handing the scoped rifle to his uncle.

“What am I looking for?” Ron asked, looking through the scope.

“Look at the edge of the zombies.”

“What...the...fuck?”

“Yeah that’s pretty much what I thought.” Travis said.

“They moving in heavy machinery?” Gary asked
,
running around the corner of the house.

“I guess that settles the idea of guards still being out there
,
” Travis said
.
S
tanding so he could get a better view of the oncoming nightmare.

“Cave trolls!” Gary yelled.
“
Wh
ere did they get cave trolls?” h
e asked
,
looking at his older brother who had just stood up.

“They’re zombies
, Gary,
” Ron told him.

“They have cave zombies?” h
e asked.

“There’s
no part of cave in it, I think,
” Ron said
, doubt creeping into his voice.

“So we’ve got shufflers, speeders, headers
, and now bulkers,
” Travis said
,
looking through the scope at the approaching horror.

“Headers?” Ron asked.

“The
ones with the thicker foreheads.
We
didn’t really prove it
, though,
” Gary told him.

“They’re running o
ver the smaller zombies,
” Travis told them.

The smaller zombies that could not move out of the way in time found themselves melding into the ground as they were trampled underfoot.

***

The giant zombies had passed us by when I chanced another sneak peek. “They’re just mowing the others down. It looks like a pro football team playing a pee wee team.” BT and Tracy joined me.

“It does look like the other zombies are trying to get out of the way
,
though
, doesn’t it,
” Tracy asked as more of a statement.

“That’s st
range behavior in and of itself,
” BT said.

“Not entirely.
I think they have a rudimentary self-prese
rvation mode. It’s pretty under-
developed
,
but it’s there. Come on
,
this doesn’t change our mission.
If
anything
,
it means we need to move faster.

***

The bulkers
were at the edge of the trench.
They
traversed over the broken bodies of those that had gone before them, never once slowing their stride.

“Off the deck!” Ron yelled
. “Everyone off the deck now!” h
e yelled louder.

He had just stepped into the living room when the first of the bulkers slammed into one of the support beams for the deck. Th
e house shook from the contact—
the
unmistakable crack of pressure-
treated wood cracking came next.

“Tha
t’s a four by four support post,” Gary said.
“I should know
,
I’m the one that set it there.”

“What the hell is that?” Tony asked coming across the room, he had been stationed on the other side of the house.

“Giant zombies.” Ron told him.

“Will the basement door hold?” Travis asked
,
a hint of fear in his voice.

“It’s a
solid oak door with a two-
inch thick piece of steel laid across it and the mounts are set
with four inch concrete screws,
” Ron informed him. He seemed to be doing the math in his head, with the strength of the doorway with the force being applied. Although it was difficult to concentrate with the house shaking like the foundation was set on liquefied lard, and the deafening sound of splintering wood
as the deck began to sag as it
s support posts were destroyed.

Planking rained down as it was torn free from the moorings to the house. The heavy decking crushed a few of the bulkers
,
but not enough to celebrate a victory.

“Holy shit,
” Cindy said as she gripped the couch. Dust hung
thickly
in the air as it poured in the open windows and doorways.

The bulkers sur
ged back in
following
the
brief
lull
,
after the collapse
,
the house once again began to shake as they kept ramming into it
apparently
looking for the weak spot.

“We need to get everyone that isn’t making
the last stand into the bunker,
” Ron said.

“You don’t think the door will hold up?” Cindy asked.

“It will for a little while,
”
Ron said
,
looking a little lost in his thoughts. The zombies would destroy his house and that wasn’t sitting well with him.

“Last stand?” Gary asked. “Is that literally or figuratively?”

“Figurati
vely,
” Ron clarified. “I’m not ju
st going to give them the house…
plus
,
we have got to give Mike, Tracy, BT
,
and Azile a chance to get back here. If we close up shop
,
they’ll have nowhere to come back to.”

“I’m in,
” Gary said.

“Me too,
” Tony said.

“So are we,
” Justin said putting his arm around his brother.

Everyone who was ups
tairs at that point volunteered.
Ron pared it down to the Talbots;
“
his house…
his rules
”
he had told them
,
and it seemed fitting anyway that they should be the ones to defend the homestead.

“Well at least let me figure out if there’s a way to keep the door s
hut for a longer amount of time,
” Mad Jack said.

Ron waved him to go, Gary went with him.

“Alright
,
everyone else, grab what’s important to you and get going, consider anything left out
to be gone forever,
” Ron said having a hard time believing his own words.

“Better get moving
, little brother,
” Ron said
to the departed Mike
as he walked around his house one last time.

***

“She’s
in that truck right over there,
” I said
, pointing.
We
were a good ten or so feet within the trees.

“Oh
,
you mean the one on the other side of the road with all the men
near
it?” BT asked.

“Did you really think it was going to work out any differently?” I asked him.

“A boy can dream,
” BT said in seriousness.

“Hey at least they’re not congregating around it.” I told him.

“Is that her?” Tracy asked.

“Where?” I asked
,
looking up and down the road.

“She’s looking out the window, it looks like she’s goi
ng to try and make a run for it,
” Tracy said.

“I told her to stay put,
” I said.

“Talbot
,
how much luck have you had with
telling
any woman
to do something?
” BT said.

“Good point
,
BT.”

“She can’t see the one leaning up against the back of her truck.”

“She’s going to get caught. I do not want to
get into a firefight right now,
” I told my band of travelers. I started waving frantically hoping she would see me
,
but all of her attention was to the front of the truck. The driver’s side door started to ease open.

“Why doesn’t she go out the passenger door and into the woods on that side?” Tracy asked.

***

“Shit,
” Azile said
,
peeking through the windshield. There was a man going down the line of trucks and looking in the cabs, she was far enough over on the shoulder that she’d been able to watch him go into the last five trucks. He didn’t appear to be on alert, like he was looking for somebody
,
more likely something. But her cab was not big enough that she would be able to hide.

“Come on
, find what you’re looking for,” s
he said through gritted teeth. She watched raptly as he stepped up on to the truck
two
spots ahead of her. He was in for about a minute
,
then jumped down
,
heading to the one right before hers.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Azile couldn’t take the chance that he actually found what he needed in that next truck. The view ahead and behind
,
from what she could tell
,
seemed mostly unobstructed, there were men about but they were mostly distracted talking with each other. She figured she could slip out the driver’s sid
e, cross the street and hide in
the woods until that night when she would either get back in her cab and wait one more night for
Mike or hunt down Eliza herself.
Within
moments
,
she was about to get
to
find both, although not on her terms and not even remotely how she would have planned it.

She opened the door
as
quietly as possible
and climbed down, her left foot touch
ing the pavement when she heard,
“Well, well, what do we have here? A stowaway?”

She turned to see the trucker heading her way, his face
split
with a lascivious grin.

“Damn blind spot,” s
he said softly. “I’m not a stowaway
,
this is my rig.” She
held
herself high, trying to sound convincing over her fear.

The man faltered for a moment, but recovered.
“There’s no women on this haul.”

“I was a last second addition, Kong need
ed someone to haul more zombies,
” Azile, said
,
sounding convincing even to herself.

“I’m still not convinced, there
would have been talk of a woman…
especially one that looked like you.”

“Fine
, let’s go talk to Kong about it,” s
he bluffed.
Take the bluff, take the bluff!

He looked like he might walk away. “Fine
,
I needed to talk to him anyway.”

Azile looked over to the tree line
,
wondering if she should make a run for it, that was when she saw Mike looking back at her. She didn’t want to bring the fight to him. “Let’s go.” Azile
waited
until
this man
caught up so that he could lead. She saw the look of concern
Mike
displayed as he watched her walk down the roadway.

***