Die Dead Enough (10 page)

At the other end of the strip mall was a large restaurant, every diner standing against the windows, staring in utter shock at the events that were taking place.

"Dat's right, go on and stare. Death'll be here in just a few minutes," Bobo remarked as they passed, making another left and pulling the van back onto Highway 70.

Once on the highway, it only took three minutes before Conor spied Aiden's car on the shoulder, front end crumpled accordion-style.

"There it is..." he said, pointing.

"Holy shit," said Bobo, pulling up behind it. "A fucking Bandit car? You got the damned Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am, playah?"

A gunshot rang out, drawing their attention a few-hundred yards up the shoulder where a group of young men walked, shooting at zombies with what was obviously Aiden's missing handgun.

Aiden jumped out, pissed, AR-15 slung over his shoulder. He went to the car and looked inside.

Empty.

He looked up, scanning the highway.

"Tina!"

He turned, walking behind the car and noticed something in the tall weeds not far away. At first he walked toward it slowly, unsure, but after noticing what could only be blonde hair, he quickened his pace and ran.

"Shit, no..." he said, realizing that it was her. He fell to his knees, rolling her toward him, her head falling into his lap. He turned her face toward his, brushing the hair from her eyes. There was a significant amount of blood at her left temple, still warm, still wet.

"Tina? Honey?" he said, growing frantic as he felt for her throat for a pulse. Conor joined him, gun drawn, scanning the near vicinity for monsters.

"No, no, no," Aiden said, putting an ear to her chest. "Fuck! You fucking killed her? You fucking killed her! Why!?"

He dropped his head down, his forehead touching hers as he rocked back and forth in grief.

Conor turned away, feeling his face grow flushed, his eyes beginning to overflow as he heard his brother cry. He had only heard it once before, at their grandfather's funeral. Through his blurry eyes, Conor could see a group of zombies detach itself from the trees a few hundred yards away.

"Aiden, brother, they're coming," he said, stepping closer and putting a bullet in the chamber of his gun.

"I don't care... I don't fucking care, man. Look what they did..." Aiden mumbled.

"Come on. You can't do anymore here," said Conor, trying to think of something to convince his brother to leave. "But we can sure as hell pay those cocksuckers back for what they did to her."

Aiden looked up, face red and wet, and smiled. The expression sent a chill through his brother as Aiden stood up, gently placing Tina down in the tall grass. He pulled his assault rifle up in front of him and ratcheted back the lever to ready it to fire.

"You're exactly right," he said, stomping back to the shoulder of the road. The four Crocker brothers were still walking along the highway, so far able to hold off any approaching zombies. Aiden threw open the door to the van and jumped into the passenger seat, Conor hopping in back.

"That's them up there," Aiden said, his voice bearing an eerie monotone quality. "Drop me off just behind them, Bo."

Bobo stared at him for a moment, unsure, then looked at Conor questioningly. Conor simply nodded with a look that conveyed everything.

Moments later, Aiden and Conor stepped from the van, the Crocker brothers turning as they pulled up. One of them leveled a pistol at them and Aiden calmly blew a hole in his chest, sending the boy stumbling backward, dead before he hit the ground. The sound startled everyone, their eyes growing as wide as saucers.

"Jesus Christ!" the oldest brother, perhaps twenty, screamed, his hands in the air and eyes on his dead sibling.

Aiden pointed the assault rifle at the punk's face as he strode up to him, finger tapping the trigger anxiously. He wanted nothing more than to end this kid.

"Do you know me, you piece of shit?" Aiden asked, rifle barrel now inches from the boy's cheek.

"What? Should I?" the boy asked.

"Fuck yeah, you should. Stole my fucking car. Killed my fucking girl. You should definitely know me."

"No, man. I didn't kill nobody," the eldest Crocker explained as one of his younger brothers took off at a sprint. Conor immediately took off after him, tackling him just a few yards away, shoving his face into the cinders, putting his gun into the back of his neck.

"Where you goin'?" Conor asked. "Seems to me, if you're runnin', you're guilty. Am I right?"

"I told you!" the older boy shouted. "I told you, Jessie! You should've just let her go! Now these motherfuckers are gonna kill us!"

The other Crocker brother was still standing, scowling at Aiden, seemingly unafraid.

"He ain't gonna kill us," he said. "Jessie touched his girl's titties and he's still just standing there talking. He ain't doin' nothin'"

Aiden's eyes moved to the one that was speaking, anger building inside like a boiling kettle. Without thinking he moved his rifle eight inches to the right and shot the boy in the chest, dropping him.

Conor jumped back in shock, letting Jessie free. They both stood and stared at the boy's lifeless body, then at Aiden who was once again drawing a bead on the older brother.

"So Jessie's the one who killed her?" Aiden asked of him, to which the young man nodded vigorously. "My question is... did you try to stop him?" Aiden asked through gritted teeth.

The young man opened his mouth, mind racing, but he had no reply.

"That's what I thought," Aiden said and pulled the trigger, a blackened hole appearing in the boy's forehead and the back of his head exploding into bits as he fell backwards.

Jessie took off running, pissing his pants.

"Shoot him," Aiden said, calmly, dismissively.

"No, wait," said Klaus who had now joined them. "You gotta stop this."

Conor aimed at the running boy's back, but hesitated.

"What's the matter?" Aiden asked, his voice so strange. "He killed Tina. Probably raped her, too. Do it, brother. Do it for me. Do it for her."

Conor breathed out, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger as Klaus screamed out behind him. A few hundred yards away, the boy fell like a stone. Regret instantly filled Conor, a sudden tightening in his chest and dizziness in his head. What had he done?

The noise of the gunfire was attracting the undead, hundreds appearing over the near hill, coming their way.

"Back in the van," Conor said and they all ran for it.

"Ok, ya'll, where we goin'?" Bo asked as he settled in his seat and put the van in gear. No one said a word as they headed across the bridge that led into downtown St. Charles. They passed the old sprawling campus of Ingheist University, the shadows of zombies moving about among the buildings and the many groves of trees that covered the grounds.

"Jesus, how the hell did they get here so quickly? The zombies are everywhere," said Trish.

"Every person they bite becomes one. Adds up pretty fast, I guess," Klaus said.

"We need to find a place to hide," said Conor. "Somewhere that we can all rest. Somewhere safe."

"That's what
all
these poor souls are looking for, brutha," Bo said, watching people fleeing in all directions. "What you got in mind?"

"Gotta be some place secure..." Conor said, thinking out loud as he stared out the window, studying the passing buildings. "We could find another rooftop..."

Bo looked down and noticed the gas gauge dropping close to the empty mark.

"We need to make a decision, people," he said. "Almost outta gas."

Everyone's eyes grew wide as they stared at one another in sudden fear.

"What about Boeing?" asked Klaus. "Can't get much more secure than that. Fenced in and everything."

"They ain't gone let us in there, man..." Bobo said with a shake of his head.

"Don't you think we should try?" asked Trish from the back. "Turn here."

Bo just frowned and scratched his head as he turned the van onto North Highway 94.

"Not feelin' too good about this..." he said, drumming his fingers on his thigh. "This part of town looks pretty... Caucasian... to me, if you know what I mean."

"Bo, this is like the end of the world," Trish said. "They will let us in. They have to."

"Yeah, okay," Bo replied sarcastically. "Where I'm from we ain't got dis kinda optimism. Expect the worst and you'll never be let down."

"Not everything is a race thing," Trish said. "It's not always about that."

"Shorty, they see me - dressed like this - skin black as night... they ain't gone see it as a positive thing. They gone think - gangbanger."

"Are you?" she asked.

"A gangbanger?"

"Yeah."

"Yep."

Everyone was quiet as Bo stared ahead with and angry expression. For some reason it infuriated him to admit it.

"Why?" asked one of the young girls in a tiny voice. "Why are you in a gang? Why don't you just quit?"

Bo looked into the rearview mirror at the girl and faked a smile.

"No one just quits, baby," he explained. "If you grow up in my neighborhood, you're just part of the gang. You talk about quittin'... you get an ass-whoopin'. Or worse."

"Can't you just move?" asked a boy. "Like to another neighborhood?"

Bo laughed.

"Nah, buddy. Not that easy. Can't leave my Moms. Gotta take care of her."

"Take her with you, then," the girl said.

"Heh," Bo said. "Moms ain't goin' nowhere. No way she'd leave. No way."

"Does your mom know that you're a gangbanger?" the boy asked. "My Mom would ground me for a year..."

"She knows, buddy," Bo explained. "She pretends she don't, but... she knows. Here we go, ya'll."

He pointed just ahead at the approaching Boeing complex, set back from the road and surrounded by a tall chain link fence. Armed guards stood at the gate as a column of vehicles idled, hoping to gain entrance.

I soon became apparent that all the vehicles had been abandoned with the occupants now pressed up against the outer gate, each begging to be allowed entrance. The guards were turning them all away.

"Damn... I told ya'll," Bo said, slapping his hands down on the steering wheel in defeat. "Any other ideas?"

Suddenly the side door of the van slid open and Trish jumped out.

"Hey! Trish! What are you doing?" Conor called out. "The zombies will be here any minute!"

They watched her run to the gate, weaving her way through the gathered crowd. She finally reached the front of the throng, where she exchanged words with one of the guards. She threw her arms in the air as the guard shook his head, his face expressionless. This went on for several minutes as those in the van looked on in uncertainty.

Trish turned and ran back to the van, Conor opening the door to let her in as he scanned the horizon for the undead.

"No luck, huh?" he said.

"They said they would take the kids," she said, smiling at the young ones in the back. "It's gonna be okay. You guys will be safe in there where the monsters can't get you."

"But I don't wanna go!" one of the girl's cried. "I want my Mom! I don't wanna go in there!"

"Honey, you're not safe out here," said Trish, sadness coming over her despite the short time she had been with the kids. "No one is. You need to get behind that fence. When the monsters go away, it'll be safe to come out again. Okay?"

"How will my Mom know where I am?" the girl asked, her eyes now brimming with tears. "I- I want to stay with you, Trish! Let me stay with you!"

"Sweetheart," Conor said. "You've seen what these monsters do to people. We don't want that to happen to you, understand? We want you to live. We're trying to protect you."

The girl broke down in sobs as Trish opened the door and led her and the other children from the van.

"This is really the best thing, okay?" she could be heard to say as they followed her along the column of vehicles.

"Can't wait to see happens when they open that gate," Bo said. "People gone lose their fuckin' minds."

"No shit," Aiden added, gripping his rifle tighter. "If they break through that gate, we're goin' with 'em."

"I'm with ya, brutha," said Bo.

In the distance they could see Trish speaking with a guard, the children gathered around her. A commotion went through the rest of the crowd as suspected, some shouting and raising their fists.

Just then a bullhorn blared.

"People, please stand back," it called out. "The gate will open, but we only have authorization to allow the children inside. No exceptions..."

"No. No, we will not allow mothers to accompany the children - Ma'am! Back away, now! We will look after them. When the state of emergency clears, you may return for them."

"Sir, stop what you're doing. We were asked to give your children shelter and we have agreed. We do not have the resources t- Sir! Stand back, sir!"