Jake's Law: A Zombie Novel (23 page)

He laughed. “I survive. It’s that simple. I
gather those around me who are as eager to survive as I am. There is no more civilization. It’s just winners and losers now. I intend to be a winner.”

“At what cost? Society …”

He snarled and half rose from his seat. He dropped his feet to the floor and sat forward. “Society? Society locked me away and forgot about me, as the world was dying around them. What did a thief matter to the righteous when their welfare was at stake? Don’t talk to me about society.” He waved his arms around. “Society is what I want it to be, whatever fills the void left by the old. This is the new society.”

She shook her head, dismayed by the depths of his rejection of his fellow human beings. Whatever in his past had hardened him had done a
thorough job. “I feel sorry for you.”

It was exactly the wrong thing to say. Levi leaped from his seat and propelled himself across the room
. Before she could react, he grabbed her by her shoulders, lifted her from her seat, and shoved his face to within inches of hers. His fingers dug into the tender flesh of her barely healed dislocated shoulder. His breath reeked of alcohol and disappointment.

“Don’t ever feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for your friend Blakely. He’ll come here soon because he’s a stupid
, stubborn fool. When he does, he’ll die, this time in front of you so you can witness it. You’re mine to do with as I please. Maybe you had better make a decision. You’re mine, or you’re dead. There isn’t another choice.”  

He released her. She collapsed back into her chair. She shrugged her shoulders to shift her bruised muscles.
“You should kill me now. If you don’t, I’ll surely find a way to kill you.”

He stared at her for a moment, and then laughed. “You’ve got guts. I’ll give you that. Too bad you tied yourself to Blakely.”

He resumed his seat, chuckling to himself every now and then, peering out the window into the dark void beyond. She suspected he wasn’t watching the storm unfold. He was waiting for Jake. She smiled and watched him frown when he saw her reflection in the glass.

  An hour passed before Hawk re-entered the room. Jessica glanced up at her. Something had changed
during that time. The hatred in her eyes had been replaced by something else.
Pity?
No, not pity. She couldn’t imagine Hawk pitying anyone, but there was no mistaking the redness in her eyes. She had been crying. Was Hawk seeing herself in Jessica’s plight? Had she also made a conscious decision to sell herself for comfort and safety and was now regretting her judgment?

Jessica considered her own circumstances. When Jake had rescued her, she had been at her lowest point since the Apocalypse. Injured, without his help, she would have died. Even so, he hadn’t demanded sex to nurse her back to health. In fact, he had warned her against trying to use him. Had she surrendered herself to him because, as a man, she knew he expected his reward for rescuing a damsel in distress, or because she was
simply tired of being alone? She hadn’t been lying when she had told him it had been a long time between men, but why had she chosen him? If she didn’t care for him, why was she so concerned about him, so glad that he was still alive? 

It hit her like a blow to the head. She thought herself a fool for not realizing it before. As much as Hawk hated Levi, she needed his approval, not his love. She had made mistakes in her past that had forged her into the killer that she was
now, but she wasn’t proud of it. Levi used her like the weapon she had become. He gave her a reason to continue.
Am I she so much different from Hawk
, Jessica wondered?
Do I want Jake’s approval?
Was there a chance she could reach Hawk?

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she announced.

Levi frowned at her. “So go.”

As she walked into the bedroom, Hawk followed clos
e on her heels. Jessica turned to face her half-expecting a knife in the ribs.

“Let me go,” she
pleaded.

Hawk stared at her.

“Let me go,” she repeated. “Let us both go, me and Reed. We’ll slip out of here and disappear. No one need know it was you. Your problem will be solved. You can’t kill me, but you’re afraid to keep me around.” The words tumbled out of her mouth quickly before Hawk had time to consider their source. “Help us escape. Tonight. If we stay here, Jake will come for us. He’ll kill Levi. If you let us go, we’ll find him. All three of us will leave the area.”

She knew she had no right to speak for Jake. After all, it was his ranch that had been taken. In all probability, his reasons for coming back had more to do with reclaiming his property than in re
scuing her or Reed.

“If I stay here, I’ll either kill Levi or force him to kill me. You want him and I don’t. Let me go.”

Hawk hesitated. A frown of confusion crossed her face as she considered Jessica’s proposal.

“You’ll have him all to yourself
,” she added.

Hawk drew her knife
and brandished it in her face. “I could just kill you. Say you tried to escape. Then I’ll have him to myself.”

“He’ll hate you if you do. No,
your only hope of keeping Levi safe and for yourself is to let me escape.”

Hawk
sneered. “Shut up.”

Jessica sighed inwardly.
It wasn’t going as she had hoped. She opened her mouth to try again. Hawk’s backhanded blow caught her by surprise.

“
Go to the bathroom or pee in your pants. I don’t care which.”

Jessica rubbed her stinging cheek and went into the bathroom. She tried to shut the door, but Hawk’s foot in the door stopped her.

“Leave it open.”

Jessica stared at the window.
It was dark outside. The rain was so heavy that she couldn’t see the cliff face less than five feet away. If she could escape, she could slip away into the darkness. Hawk followed her into the bathroom. At first, she thought she was going to have to pee with Hawk watching, but Hawk picked up a screwdriver lying on the window sill, the one Jake had used to install the shower curtain. She turned the screwdriver over in her hands a few times before setting it back down. Her gaze locked on Jessica, and then fell to the screwdriver.

“You need more toilet paper. I’ll get some from the hall closet,” she said, as she left the room.

Jessica glanced at the nearly full roll of paper on the dispenser and smiled. Hawk was giving her a chance. She immediately went to the window and tried to raise it. The paint-sealed window hadn’t been opened for years. She ran the blade of the screwdriver along the edge of the window seal and pushed. It finally popped open with a loud creak. She held her breath but no one came. She was running out of time. Screwdriver in hand, she slipped out the window and into the night.

She inched down the narrow space between the cliff and the wall of the house, silently praying that Levi didn’t
catch her. If she could reach the canyon floor before anyone noticed her escape, she would be free. The rain was coming down hard, drenching her, but would mask her escape. As she neared the end of the house, a figure slipped out the window behind her silhouetted by the bathroom light – Levi. The blade of the knife he held in her hand gleamed in the lightning flashes. With a malicious grin on his face he started toward her. She ran, but he was faster. He caught up with her before she reached the plank bridge, slamming her against the cliff face.

“No you don’t,” he whispered in her ear.
Water from his Stetson poured over her face. He pressed the tip of the knife into her right cheek until it broke the skin.

She swung the screwdriver at him, grazing his side. He winced, knocked the screwdriver from her grasp, and kneed her stomach. She doubled over in pain.

“Close,” he said, “but no cigar.”

He jerked her to her feet and dragged her back to the house. She was in too much pain to resist.
Inside, her gaze fell upon Hawk, lying bleeding on the floor. Her expression was one of disbelief. Levi nudged her with the toe of his boot.

“The bitch thought I wouldn’t catch on. Toilet paper! I put a new roll on the dispenser this morning. When I confronted her, she lied to me. No one
lies to me.”

“
You, you stabbed her,” Jessica said in disbelief and horror.

“No big loss. I’ve still got you.” He grinned.

She punched him in the face with all her strength, willing her hatred into the blow. He staggered backwards, almost tripping over Hawk. He recovered quickly, this time pulling his pistol and aiming it at her head. The gun didn’t waver, as she stared into the black abyss of the barrel.

“Don’t make me kill you,” he snapped. “
A bullet will make a nasty mess of your pretty face.”

She hesitated. A bullet to the head might have been quicker
and cleaner than what he had in store for her, but she couldn’t bring herself to, in effect, commit suicide. She had to wait for Jake. Her shoulders drooped in defeat.

“Come on. It’s time to check on the guards. Blakely should be here soon. I wouldn’t want to miss him.” 

He stepped over Hawk as he would a dying dog, devoting no more attention to her. Jessica felt a twinge of sorrow for her. In the end, she had tried to help if only for her own convoluted reasons. But there was nothing she could do to help Hawk. She had to concentrate on remaining alive until Jake came.

20

June
27, 2016   Galiuro Mountains, AZ –

Jake was
n’t a patient man. He was eager to extract revenge on Levi, but he knew his patience would soon be rewarded. The winds grew steadily stronger from the southwest. The flinty taste of dust was in the air. The unmistakable smell of moisture presaged another monsoonal downpour. The clouds grew heavy and gray, their bottoms sheered by wind. The storm would be preceded by a
haboob
, a massive dust storm. Dust would provide the perfect cover to infiltrate his ranch. He knew the guards, unable to see more than a few feet in front of them, would seek shelter from the biting dust. Once inside his compound, he would find weapons. If possible, he would free Reed and Jessica. If not, he would kill Levi first.

Levi
’s death would break the other’s spirits, making them easy to deal with. It would not be a one-on-one challenge or a long, drawn out killing. He would sneak into his house and slit the bastard’s throat in his sleep if necessary. Such men deserved no elegant ending. A quick death was efficient and less dangerous.

The western skies grew dark well before dusk, laden with tons of fine dust, sand, and pea-sized gravel
. As the
haboob
approached, it was a wall of dust five miles wide, its top towering almost a mile into the sky. It would sweep across the Avra Valley from Casa Grande to Marana, engulf Picacho Peak and Eloy, and plunge down the narrow San Pedro River valley at fifty to sixty miles per hour. By the time it reached his ranch, visibility would be near zero. He was taking a foolish risk in attempting to use the dust storm as cover. He would have to hike to Split Rock Canyon and climb the surrounding cliff to approach the ranch from the rear, all with a strong wind blinding him and trying to sweep his feet out from under him with every step he took. He would have to reach his ranch before the monsoon rains. Travel would be impossible during a deluge.

With reluctance, he abandoned his camp, taking only the rope, his spear
, a knife, the machete, and a canteen of water. He doubted anything would remain of the camp after the storm. If he failed and survived, he would be back to square one. He didn’t want to face that challenge again. He had cheated death once. He wasn’t eager to make a second attempt.

Descending the mountain was
a test of wills, his versus the wind. Sudden gusts of wind threatened to rip loose his grip from precarious handholds. His hands and legs were swollen from fluid buildup, and his muscles were stiff and achy. He was weak from a near starvation diet. His blood sugar was low and he had no medicine. The blinding dust made finding the path down the mountain difficult. Once he reached the lower canyons, he was protected from the wind and the going was better for a while, but the San Pedro River valley was a funnel, channeling the wind between the Galiuros and the Catalinas like water flowing from a fire hose. Only his innate sense of direction kept him headed southeast toward the ranch.

The hike was long, but his anger
lent him the strength his body lacked. He ignored the wind and the blinding dust. He ignored the innumerable times he stumbled and fell or slammed his head into or tree limbs. He ignored the pain. He focused his mind on the coming fight and on Levi’s death.

He knew he was no Superman, no Delta Force super soldier.
His army days were long behind him. He was a hunter. His normal prey were deer, mountain goats, and elk; not men. Even as a deputy, the worst he had handled were drunks or domestic brawls, usually a combination of the two. The first attack on Levi’s men had been achieved through surprise and with guns and explosives, not to mention the zombie army. Now, the odds weren’t in his favor. His enemy was well-fed on his food and well-armed. They were in a fortified position and expecting him, and he had a makeshift spear and a homemade machete as weapons.