A Very Good Man (53 page)

  Like they were all secretly evil and out to get him? His inner voice was wry and humorous about it at least, though a niggling thought that it could be true played in as well. He really needed to get out of there. Not just on the mission, but forever. Somehow he had to make it through to spring.

  Then he was gone.

  Everyone had to pretty much hate him now if they hadn't before, right? He'd made it too clear that what he'd done for them was needed and that without his efforts, they'd have been in trouble. And they had been before. Take him out of the equation and the whole thing fell apart, however that worked. It was probably true for a bunch of other people too, Lois, Julio, Burt and Nate, but they knew it about him now. No one liked to feel they owed someone that much. Especially someone “creepy”.

  They hit the road fast and hard, driving right toward the building itself, Carl at the wheel with Vickie riding shotgun next to Barry. That left him and Dave in the back together, with no windows to watch from. It was a shame because Jake would have liked the distraction from his thoughts.

  He wasn't seething, maybe, but really, he didn't need this stuff anymore, did he? No one did. He'd done his part and they'd failed in theirs, what more could they ask? Well, they could try for everything, but that didn't seem right, did it? As they rolled along the road Jake decided to just leave when he got back, no matter what. He'd left the smaller house provisioned and as long as no one got in his way, he could make it there. The idea left him feeling better. If nothing else he could get a few good night's sleep before he died. That would make it worthwhile if nothing else.

  Oh, he probably wouldn't do it, but the thought was nice. He was at least going to work on that house too, just in case.

  They had to hang on to the wagon to keep it from rolling around on them. The wood brown looked much darker in the nearly black of the sheltered vehicle, only a bit of light being let in around a screen near the top of the side, a strong looking metal mesh of some kind, the holes too small to do anything of note with, which was the point. There had been places for shackles but a few had been ripped out, probably when they tried to transport super-zombies. The stupidest weapon ever. Possibly literally. They weren't called land sharks for nothing.

  Even if Jake was the only one that called them that. It was a good name though. Descriptive.

  Nom, nom, humans. That about explained the whole thing right there. Jake sighed and rode in silence.

  The trip went fast, the roads clear for the most part, allowing them to just move at a comfortable speed.

   Right until the explosion.

  Then everything went sideways fast. Literally sideways, to the right a good way, hard to tell without windows, then tilting when a second jolt nearly knocked the vehicle over. It fell back onto its wheels somehow, but it had been close.

  They were all fine, except for Dave who had an injured arm from flying across the rig and catching himself. His left wrist, it looked like, so he could still shoot just fine. He just had to cradle the rifle in his left arm and turn a bit sideways.

  Jake didn't wait for everyone to report in, Carl was dazed and Vickie moved with him, faster than he did somehow, even though they went out the back door and she had a lot greater distance to travel getting there, and a wagon in the way. They leaped out and rolled, Vickie doing it very well, Jake kind of roughly. He'd never really practiced the move, but the gunfire coming in dictated doing something other than just standing up and waving politely.

  They both fired as they moved, not hitting anything, just trying to buy some space and not let themselves be pinned down. The blond woman smiled sweetly. It was eerie. Jake was used to seeing her matter of fact, or occasionally angry, but looking peaceful in the midst of battle...

  “Rush them?” She said, as the shooting intensified.

  “Alright.” Jake grinned. It was as good an idea as anything else given their open and exposed position.

  They did, without pause or hesitation, a suicidal move, except that the people shooting couldn't understand what they were doing at first. It actually got them to hesitate for a second.

  They wore police blues, but didn't call out for them to stop. No screaming about how they were the authorities or trying to claim the legal high ground. The reason was obvious there, they were the bad guys. More, everyone in Westwood knew it.

  You didn't stop for the police, you just shot at them instantly, because otherwise you'd be dead soon. Naturally. Vickie hit one of them, a high shoulder wound that wouldn't have even staggered a zombie for more than a moment, so Jake followed up with a head shot. It was just what you did in the field. You backed up your partners. The men fired from hidden positions, and that worked pretty well for them, since the blasts had kind of shaken up the good guys. Vickie ran and he followed behind her, picking off another one as they went, a pure luck shot of course. He wasn't that good. You didn't do accurate shooting while moving as a rule, much less running.

  Dave and Carl took advantage of the rush to do their own version of one, and go around the edge of the increasingly small group, taking the remaining four in a few moments while they were distracted. Vickie had a gunshot wound to her middle, but the red blotch didn't bleed much, it was near the center and she looked down at it and shrugged.

  “Flesh wound.” She said simply, not even bothering to bandage it. Or explain.

  “Heh. I... alright, we can chat about this later if you want. Or not. I don't really care if you want to keep secrets, just, you know, if you have super-powers... fucking use them will you? You and Tipper are sisters, right?” He said suddenly getting her to wheel around halfway and stare at him.

  “She told you? I guess I can see that... but we agreed to keep it quiet. It's not like you were even lovers, but... Yeah, I guess I won't hide it from you anymore then.” She shrugged, a small smile gracing her lips. It didn't touch her eyes at all though. “I'm still going to kick Tip's ass though. She's been totally fucking up lately. Mom would have her behind if she knew about the monumental fuck ups.”

  Jake shook his head and then sighed.

  “No. She didn't tell me. God Vickie... she didn't even tell me she liked men. You think she's going to causally mention combat related abilities like that? If I weren't just leaving anyway, no matter what happens, I'd suggest we get together with a few people at the house and have a chat. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but a few of the others aren't exactly regular either. You should all stop hiding and work together.” He walked toward the downed bodies and recognized the oldest one as the local police chief, thats what the nameplate said at least. Why he still wore it now Jake didn't know, but there you had it.

  A lot of the cops still had. Like it made what they were doing somehow better or more moral. The shiny tag had scratches though, some new, some older. Jake shot each of the men in the head again to make sure they didn't get up, then took their weapons, ammo and... rocket launcher. A brand new, unused one.

  Upgrade!

  The idea made him smile. Life really was like a video game where you just found weapons lying around.

  The blond gave him a solid half glare.

  “You just think you're leaving. You can't.” She chuckled and pointed at the weapon. “Just think of all the great toys you'd miss out on if you do.”

  Jake sighed and shook his head. “Just think of the mess my brains will make after another night of sleeping alone on the set of a bad porn movie.” He mimicked putting a gun to the side of his head and pulling the trigger.

  “Oh.” She said softly. “Crap. Yeah. Well, it will work out one way or the other. If not, well, it will. It has to, because I'm not dying anytime soon. It's not how we're wired. I really don't think you're wired that way either.” She gave him a grin.

  “Tip and I are Valkyries, what are you? I've wondered for a long time actually, some of the things you've pulled off...”

  Jake shrugged. “Rumor is I'm a very good man.” If two people making you the butt of a joke is a rumor. At least they'd been pleasant about it. His Mom had mentioned that too, now that he thought about it. And... Heather.

  Vickie stared at him and didn't move or blink for a long time. A very, very long time.

  “Oh.” She said, suddenly sounding sad, but there were no tears in her eyes. “God Jake, I'm... so... sorry.”

  Then she laughed. It was low and lasted for a while but when she sobered she caught her breath instantly, breathing into her stomach like she hadn't been shot there at all.

  “Who's the Bawdri? They're the best at finding that kind of thing out, I wouldn't have guessed in a thousand years. Nate... no he'd have to be ancient to look like he does... Wait, Sammi?”

  Jake shrugged.

  “I don't know, but she's on our side, so don't hurt her, or you know, super-soldier or not, we'll have an issue.”

  Instead of flashing into anger, the woman just grinned at him.

  “A very good man. Damn... no wonder...”

  Then she shut up. Abruptly. Vickie gave him a near full minute of a look so strange Jake didn't have a name for it. It wasn't a happy thing either. Not anger at least, but she ended it by shaking her head.

  Shrugging he moved on to other things, leaving about a third of his attention on the woman beside him.

  The weapon was a lot lighter than he thought it would be from the look and seemed to be made of fiberglass. That or some strange kind of plastic. There were printed instructions on the side which he read through carefully, pretending to do all of it and then sliding the device to his shoulder. As he did that a voice called out from beyond the large fenced area. With a start Jake realized it was the police compound. Crud.

  Kind of a big thing to miss really. He felt pretty stupid for a second.

  More, on the other side of the fence about twenty women stood, all different ages, all holding weapons of one kind or another. Awkwardly for the most part. He went over the check list again, really doing it all this time, and got ready to fire, wondering what the device would do to an armed crowed. Especially one packed in that close together.

   Probably about what it would do to an unarmed one, he decided.

  “We surrender! God, we surrender, don't kill us, please, god!”

  Living inside a fence meant they didn't ever have to learn to control their voices apparently because they all started yelling it. If this had been four months prior a throng of zombies would have appeared to eat the people outside the line, making it a good plan actually, once he thought about it for a few seconds. Now there just weren't enough left, leaving the rocket launcher on his shoulder aimed, he approached the fence calmly, Vickie looking on as if wondering what he'd do to them. Really he didn't know himself. They called out about surrender but they all held shotguns and rifles.

  When he got to the fence, the women no more than ten feet away, inside the sturdy chain link, he pointed that out. Calmly. He didn't tell them to do anything, or even suggest it, but they all quickly set the weapons on the ground. A few less than gently, but nothing went off. Behind him the others had them covered, just in case anyone decided on an impromptu spot of Jake killing.