Dead Hunger IV: Evolution (36 page)

“Maybe just out of range,” said Gem.  She was sure that was it.  The radios tended to work fine on the road from car-to-car, but since they’d gotten to
Concord
, it had been spotty at best.  When the wind w
as just right, or when the stars
aligned, you could actually get that
20-mile connection.

But it was rare.

“Hey!  Anyone!  Can you hear me?”

“Who the hell is that?” said Charlie, jumping out of bed and grabbing the radio off the nightstand.

“We read,” she said.  “Who is this?”

“Jeez, is this Charlie?  Is Flex there?”

“No, he and Hemp are out.  Who is this?”

“It’s Eddie.”

“Are
you guys
in trouble
?” asked
Charlie
. 

Gem knew why Charlie asked the question. 
For Eddie to be on the radio was not typical.  Jimmy ran that group of kids pretty much unopposed, and if Eddie was calling, something was wrong.

“I’m sorry to say, but yeah.  We’re all a little freaked out here, and you know that Jimmy likes us to do things on our own, so …”

“We can’t help if you don’t
tell us,” Charlie said.  “You called for a reason, right?
”

“Jimmy and Nikki are missing.”

Gem sat up on the bed and the two dogs followed suit, their ears pricked and
their eyes watching Gem and Charlie.  It was what they did when they sensed tension in their human family members.

“When did you last see them?” asked Charlie.  “Where did they go?”

“I was playing Uno with Ian and Mason
this morning
.  You know, we were laying low because of the threat you guys warned us about. 
Emma
came in and said
she
searched the house and they were gone.”

“Without telling anyone?  Do they do that?” asked Gem.

Charlie shook her head.  “How long have they been gone?”

“
Since about ten this morning
.
  That’s what Louis said.
  We thought we’d give them a chance to come back, you know, see if maybe they just made a run outside somewhere.”

Gem looked at her watch.  “That’s almost seven fucking hours ago.  Jesus.”

Charlie pushed the talk button. 
“Are the rifles missing?”

Eddie’s voice came back:  “Hold on.” 

In the background, Gem and Charlie heard, “Hey Mason!  Check the living room.  Are the guns there?”

Gem stood up and put her hair in a ponytail.  She would be ready to go in five minutes if those kids needed them.

“Yeah, Mason says the guns are gone.”

Gem opened the nightstand drawer and grabbed the other handheld.  She turned it on and said, “Eddie, what’s been going on there lately?  Have you guys
seen
anything
weird
?”

Hesitation. 
“Yeah
…
but Jimmy
said we can handle stuff on our own, or the adults will just take over
,” he said. 

“You can’t fuck around, Eddie,” said Charlie.  “People die when that happens, and we know you
are very aware of
that.  Tell us what happened.”

 
Gem and Charlie could hear the sigh over the airwaves.  “
Last night, or early this morning, I guess.  There were …
well, a bunch of them outside the house.  Something woke a few of us up.  I got up first and went to
look out the window
.  When I lifted the shade, they were right there.”

“What do you m
e
an right there?”

“It was weird, Gem.  They were standing right outside the house. 
It musta been
fifty or sixty of them
, and it was weird because it was mostly women and girls. 
Some
males
, but I’d say
it was
90% women.”

“Who saw them?”

“Me,
Emma
, Mason and Ian.”

Gem felt the color draining from her face.  “Eddie, I’m going to ask you a strange question.”

“Oka
y, I guess.
”

“You
guys
don’t know anything about this I know, because
Hemp is just now
researching it, but … did any of them appear to be pregnant?”

“
Zombies can get
pregnant
?” asked Eddie, incredulously.

“No, they can’t,” said Charlie.  “Gem means from before the gas.  Before they changed.”

“
Hold on a sec
,
”
said Eddie.

They waited.  Fifteen seconds later he came back on. 
“
Emma
just said yes.  She said some of them looked like
those starving
African
kids
in those sad commercials
you used to see
on TV.
”

“You mean their bodies, arms, everything else skinny except their stomachs?”

“Exactly,” said
Eddie.  “Yeah, I think they call it d
istended.  Like that.”

Gem was again impressed with Eddie.  Kind of the nerd in the group, but a kid who had gained respect from his peers for his intelligence and analytical mind.  Very much like Hemp might have
been
as a child.

“Okay,” said Gem.  “And you’ve talked to everyone in the house?  Does anyone know where they went?”

“They
all
said no.”

“Alright, Eddie,” said Charlie.  “Do me a favor and get everyone by the radio.  Now.  We’ll wait.”

“Charlie, they’re all here.
  They’re worried about Jimmy and Nikki.
”

Gem looked at Charlie and shrugged.  “If you’ve got an announcement, might as well go ahead,” she said.

“Hell yes I do,” she said, then pressed the button.

“Listen up everyone.  This is Charlie.  New shit is going down in Concord, and bullshit loyalty
can only
make your friends dead
.  Gem and I can help, but you’ve got to set aside any
lame ass
notions of independence and
tell us what you know
.”

Silence came from the remote house, and Gem smiled at Charlie and gave her a thumbs up.

“Someone knows where they went.  Who the hell is it?  I need to know now, because next time I can tell you those bitches might not be content to
just
stand outside your house and smell you.”

“Hold on,” said Eddie.

“Your friends’ lives depend on how fast we know,” said Gem.

“Okay,” said another voice.  “
I know what they
went
to do
.  But
Jimmy told me not to say anything.”

“Who is this?” aske
d Gem.  She didn’t know all the kids by voice
and for the most part, it was limited to Nikki and Jimmy.

“Louis.”

She remembered him then.  About five and a half feet tall with shoulder-length, almost black hair with a side part.  None of that might not have stuck in her memory, but for his name, which
wasn’t all that common.  H
e insisted on being called Louis, and wouldn’t respond to Lou or Louie or any other variation.

“
Okay, Louis.  I
t’s for his own good,” said Gem.  “We’re ready to head out and find them, but we can’t do it if we don’t know where to start.”

“They left last night, right after everyone went
back
to bed.”

“What time?”

“Like three in the morning.”

“
I thought you said Jimmy didn’t wake up.”

“He was watching it from his room.  He heard it, too.”

“Heard what?” asked Charlie.

“I don’t know,” said Louis.  “This vibrating.  Coming from
them
.”

Charlie released the button.  “Gem,” she said.  “That vibrating is some kind of speech.  It’s some kind of communication, like what we saw in the lab when Red Dress controlled Lisa.”

Gem’s blood turned to ice.  “Charlie, what the hell are we going to do?”

“Pardon me, but I usually ask
you
that.”

“We have to try to find him.  We need to reach someone, but if we can’t, we still have to go.”

“Then we all go,” said Charlie.  You, me, the girls and dogs.”

“They could come in handy.”

Gem’s mind whirled.

“Gem?  Charlie?”  It was Louis and he sounded worried.

Gem answered. 
“So they left at three.  What did they tell you?”

“Nikki didn’t want to go,” said Louis.  “But he told her he didn’t want to go without
her
, that she might not ever see him again, stuff like that.  So she went.”

“Jesus, Louis.  Where?”

“No specific place, Charlie, they were just gonna follow the women.”

“Had
the zombies
started to leave when you went back to bed?”

“Yes, it was
weird … almost
like someone called them and they all started walking away at once.  Just started moving back into the street.
  It was
crazy
as hell.”

“Louis, did you try to talk
Jimmy
out of
following them
?”

“
I’m sorry, but I can’t tell him what to do, and
when he
makes a call
, we respect it.  He’s been a pretty good leader for us.”

Charlie cut in. 
“You did the right thing
telling us
, Louis.  You guys stay put, and stay on your radio.  If you hear anything from him, let us know right away, because we’re going to be on the street, and sundown is coming in a couple of hours.  We don’t need to be out there after dark if
they come back
.”

“
Wait a minute, Charlie.”

“Why?”

“Just hold on,” said Louis.

Charlie looked at Gem and shrugged.

Gem was just about to get back on and re-stress the urgency when Eddie’s voice came on.

“We’re going with you, or we’re going on our own.”

“Not a good idea, Eddie,” said Gem.

“Sorry
,” he said.
 
“
If we’re going to make it – if we’re ever going to become really self-sufficient, then we have to stop relying on adults.”

“It’s okay to ask for help,” said Charlie.

“Help’s one thing.”  It was Louis again.  “Total reliance is another.  We’ve got the .22 rifles, and we’ve all been practicing.  That means
all
of us.  I can tell you that any one of us can hit the equivalent of a head at
thirty yards.”

“Under duress?”

Silence.

Gem lowered her radio
and sighed
.  “Charlie, they have a point, right?”

“They do,” said Charlie.  “It is a
fucked up
new world
, and you can’t stay alive if you’re treated like a pussy
.  Can we hook them up with a
few of those Rangemaster .308s?”

“Nobody else took them,” said Gem.  I think there are six in the garage.”

“Ammo?”

“Tons. 
Scopes too, a
nd 10-round magazines for each.”

Charlie pushed the button again.  “Eddie?”

“Yeah, Charlie?”

“You guys can really shoot?”

“Hell yes, Charlie.”

“Okay.  We’re coming over, and you’re getting an upgrade. 
With scopes. 
Anybody drive?”

“Louis.  He’s really good.”

“You have a car?”

“It’s an old GTO. 
It runs good and it’s f
ull of fuel, though.”

“What year?”

“I don’t know,” said Eddie.  “It’s a boat.”

“The best kind,” said Gem, smiling.  “Probably a 70’s model.”

Charlie sighed.  “Okay.  Be ready.  We’ll be over in twenty.”

“You won’t regret this you guys,” said Eddie.  “We’ll be smart.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah.  We need to do this for Jimmy and Nikki.”

“Alright,” said Charlie.