Dead Hunger IV: Evolution (61 page)

“
I see a nap in my future,” he said.  “But I’m damned sure gonna miss my truck.”

“If I know Gem, she’s going to miss that car, too.”

“Don’t remind me.  I’ll hear about it for years.  Seriously.”

Suddenly, a tremendous vibration began outside.  Flex steadied himself.  He could feel it in the very floor of the building.  About thirty more people remained in the room, and as the buses filled more and more to capacity, the process had slowed.

Paint began to chip from the interior brick, and mortar dust floated down to the floor. 

“This happened at the State House, Flex,” said Hemp.  “The intensity of the vibration they generate … it dissolves the mortar and loosens the brick.”

Flex ran to the bus.  “You people need to move faster,” he said.  “And when you think you’re moving fast enough, go faster than that!”

The bricks began to shift beside the entry door.  The chair that had been jammed under the doorknob slid backward and fell.  Hemp ran and replaced it.

“Flex, be ready.”

Several bricks slid slowly forward, then dropped to the floor.  The men could now see through to the exterior, and several hands pushed through the holes, pulling on the other loose bricks.

Flex ran forward prepared to fire at the creatures beyond, but he saw the buses lined up, side-by-side, just
beyond
.  Any shot fired might blow out a tire or penetrate the thin veneer of the buses.

Ten m
ore men remained in line.  Dave had boarded with Serena at Flex’s insistence.  He’d been through enough for one day.
 
Hemp,
Flex
and Nelson were eleven,
twelve,
and thirteen,
and
they held their weapons ready.

As the last four men waited to climb aboard, the wall fell in.  The three men ran toward the bus, changing the angle of their weapons to one that would not jeopardize the buses or their passengers.

“Hurry!” he shouted, as the last two men climbed aboard.  Moving backward, Nelson flung his silver stars with deadly, head-piercing accuracy.  Forehead shots, all.

Fifty or sixty had come through in mere seconds, crawling over one another and staggering toward them.

Nelson ran out of stars and jumped up the steps in one bound.  Hemp was firing as he moved backward, gauging his steps carefully so he wouldn’t fall.

His magazine emptied, and he jumped on the bus, almost falling forward.  Nelson grabbed his shirt from behind and pulled him back. 

They moved toward the lone occupant, and Flex placed each shot carefully, exploding the fragile skulls of the
ir
walking dead foes, until he felt his back hit the bus door. 

Then he turned and jumped on board.
 
The hiss sounded as the door closed behind him.
 
Bodies slammed against the bus door, thwarted and hungry, ever afflicted with their dead hunger that drove every move they made.

Tony Mallette waited patiently for the last transfer of passengers through the windows and into the next bus over.  

With the engine revving and wood and debris falling around them, the bus reversed away from the building, executed a perfect three-point turn, and pulled out of the parking lot, crushing rotters by the dozens along the way.

When Tony was certain that eight buses trailed safely behind him, he
settled in.

Gem came up the aisle.  “Tony?

Tony looked up at her, turning back to the road frequently.  “Hey, Gem.  “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks to you. 
But I’ve got two favors to ask.”

“Anything I can do,” he said.

She reached in her pocket and withdrew keys, holding them up.  “Crown Vic.”

Suddenly, Flex was behind her.  “Are you serious?”

“It’s right there in the street, Flexy.  If Tony angles the bus right, they can only get to us one way.  Dave already promised he’d drive it.  I need to stay here with Trina.”

“Gem,” said Flex.

“Flexy,” said Gem.  “I love that car.  It’s saved our lives a few times.”

Dave came up the aisle.  “Yeah, I said I would.  If you can get me to it.”  He took the keys from Gem and added, “It’s that awkward moment when you’re trying to act put out about having to drive the baddest ass Crown Vic in existence.”

Serena came up behind him.  “Hey, Tony,” she said.

“Serena, you are a sight for sore eyes!” he said.

From three seats back, Nelson said, “I need to ask Hemp why everyone’s eyes are sore.  This could be a symptom of something.”

Serena patted him on the shoulder and smiled.

“Okay,” said Tony.  He pulled the radio from the dash and pushed the button.  “Everyone, stay right where you are.  If anything goes wrong, just
hit the gas and stay
on the 9
3 until you hit the 95, and keep going south.  But if you can, just wait
right
here.”

Chatter came from every driver, but Tony didn’t answer them.

He set the parking brake and stood up, facing the passengers.  “This bus is making a small detour for which I apologize in advance, but
that must be made
. 
We’ll be right back in line and moving in no time
.”

He got back in the seat and drove the bus up three relatively clear streets until he pulled back out on the main drag where the bar was located.  The creatures had flooded into the building
, and Gem’s car sat behind Flex’s truck in the street.  Four or five creatures were nearby, but Tony was easily able to pull the bus door beside the driver’s door of the Ford.

“If you do this fast,” said Tony, “You shouldn’t even have to fire a shot.”

“Got it.”  Dave hit the remote out of habit, though Gem never locked the door.   He looked up at Serena, behind him.  “Ready?”

“Right behind you,” she said.

Tony hit the door, the
y
dropped to the pavement, and both jumped easily into the Crown Victoria. 

Inside the bus they could hear the engine fire.

“That sound is music to my ears,” said Gem.  She went to Tony again and squeezed him as he pulled the bus back onto the roadway, running down two zombies in the process.  She whispered in his ear, then stood up straight, awaiting his answer.

“Geez, okay,” he said.  “They better be cute and fluffy.”

Tony searched the dash, found a handset and pushed the button.  He cleared his throat and it came over the PA in the bus.  “We’ve got one more quick stop to make,” he said.  “Then we’ll rejoin the others.”

Flex called out, “What is it, Tony?” 

“Your lady can tell you that.  I’m driving, so I’m the decider.”

Flex shrugged.  “If you say so.  I’ve got
a little
time on my hands.  I’m pretty sure everyone else does, too.”

Tony got in the driver’s seat and pulled forward, turning right at the next residential intersection.

The road was clear, and neither the horde nor the fire was a threat as they pulled up in front of their destination.

*****

The door opened with a hiss, and the two dogs bounded up the steps, followed by Gem, Flex and Tony.

“Bunsen!  Slider!”

The
sing-song tone in the young
girls’ voices were a joy to
hear
and the sound of their glee made everyone
in
the bus, as tired as they were, smile.  The two fluffy, white dogs trotted up the aisle, kissing every
face in their paths. 

Tony guided the bus back to
the caravan, stopping
just ahead of them. 
Gem’s Crown Vic was a few hundred yards ahead.

All in all, it had taken them
twenty-six
minutes.
 
Flex and Gem sat behind the driver’s seat, and Flex put a hand on Tony’s shoulder.  “Thanks for that, brother.”

Tony
looked at Flex in the wide mirror and smiled big, scratching his beard
.
 
“Whe
re to, buddy?  We didn’t have much of
a plan beyond
Concord
.”

Flex shrugged.  “You do realize I was a minimalist, right?  That I was all about a small group?”

“You gotta go with the flow, buddy,” said Tony, laughing.  “You’re welcome, by the way.”

Flex, tired as he was, stood up and
leaned over to Tony, planting a big kiss on his bearded cheek
, as promised
.

“That’s all I got for you right now, buddy.  You’re a literal lifesaver.
  Of man and beast.
”

Flex
patted Tony on the shoulder, then he
sat back in his seat with Gem beside him
.

At first, when they’d arrived, Flex couldn’t figure out why Hemp was so excited.  He loved the dogs, to be sure, but it was way more than that, and it made perfect sense.

Hemp and Charlie now drove the mobile lab, complete with the cow catcher, at the head of the group, followed by Dave and Serena in the fortified Ford.  There was little doubt
the GPS screen selector
was
set to “B” mode and Serena
watched
for
anything that needed shooting.

In three more hours, the morning sun welcomed them as they continued westward, to no particular destination.

*****

Epilogue

August 22
nd
, 2013:

Good news on the Ratz front.  They’ve begun to die off on their own.

As it turns out, they did not have any symbiotic relationship with the rotters at all; they were simply moving in packs along with them because they were a
n assumed
source of sustenance when living tissue was not around. 

The word “assumed” is used to clarify that they were wrong in their instinctive assumption.

In the cemetery that fateful day when Cynthia and Todd were overtaken by the ratz,
the creatures
hadn’t been
helping
the rotters from their
graves as everyone had quietly feared
.  They had been tunneling down to eat what they could of their remaining flesh.  The act of tunneling is what loose
ne
d the earth, allowing the zombies to make their slow but sure way to the surface.

The kicker was,
the zombie flesh did not sustain the ratz.  Without living meat, they weakened and died within six to eight months.  Some held on longer, but ultimately, only those resourceful enough to find
living flesh to eat would survive.

The flesh could be anything.  Sheep, deer, horses, humans.  Much of the livestock had died because of the cold or a lack of water and food; the ratz, because of their numbers, had likely exhausted a large portion of their available food supply in the short time they’d been alive. 

They were still out there – the good little hunters.  Which meant that with the ratz, it was survival of the fittest.  If they ate, they lived. 

Now onto the ones who can go forever without food and never die.

It had been determined, once and for all, that r
emote locations were better.  Now that Hemp had determined the creatures would eventually die off on their own once the seeping gas ceased, it was all they could hope for.
  All they could wait for.
They had to find a way to do it safely.

The primary reasons for finding a safe, remote location
could be explained in two parts:

1) With the female zombie’s inherent ability to strategize and control their male counterparts, they
were all more dangerous now;

2)  With the new vapor they possessed, allowing them to control the most valuable of our diminished society – the women capable of giving birth – it was important to use distance as the best defense.

Of course, living in remote areas made other things more difficult, including finding fuel for vehicles, and just about every other convenience.  It was important, just as in the days of early
America
, to live near a body of water.  That also allowed them to easily monitor the gas.

Hemp believed
the emission of the gas from the planet beneath them
was less than it once was, but there was no way to tell.  The density of the earth in various places would naturally create areas where the gas emitted
at a higher or lower rate
than in other places.