Man Eaters (30 page)

“I’ll take her,” Butcher offered. “The kid has to have some fun, Dallas.”

Roper nodded. “The rest of us can check out the barn, horse paddocks, and that riding facility up on the hill. Einstein, you want to swim or work?”

Einstein thought for a moment. “Work. Not a fan of water.”

Dallas handed Safety the binoculars. “You’re not at a hundred percent, so why don’t you survey the area. Holler if you see anything. Anything at all.

After dropping off Butcher and Peanut, Dallas pulled up to the barn. “Be on your toes and remember, the living are as dangerous as the dead. Be careful.”

After spilling out of the Hummer, Safety stood watch over the road with a pair of binoculars to his face while Cue-Ball guarded the other side of the barn. Only Dallas, Roper, and Einstein went in. They left Zeus in the car in case he began barking at the livestock roaming freely.

When they opened the barn doors, the putrid stench of decaying flesh assaulted them, as did thousands of flies that swarmed out as soon as the daylight pierced through.

“Ugh. That’s awful.” Einstein covered half his face with his forearm.

What they found were several dead sheep and a rotting pig, which had apparently tried to eat its way out of the wooden stall.

Roper cut her eyes to Dallas. “You know what this means, right?”

Dallas nodded. “The owners were turned so quickly, they had no time to free all of the animals.”

“That could mean they’re still on the property.”

Dallas ran to the other end of the barn and told Cue-Ball what they thought. “Keep your peepers open, Cue. The owners may still be lurking around as the undead.”

“Gotcha.”

When there was nothing to salvage in the barn, they drove up to the horse arena, where they were excited to find a four-horse trailer, a two-horse trailer, and a flatbed truck.

“Oh man,” Einstein said. “A flatbed would be the perfect vehicle for carrying our stuff. We could load it up with a lot of goods.”

Roper shook her head. “Nice idea, but it’s hard enough getting gas for the Hummer.”

“Besides, we’ll be ditching both when we get to the state park.”

As Dallas started backing up the Hummer to the first trailer, a gunshot rang out. Everyone scrambled for rifles.

“Got one,” Cue-Ball said, lowering his rifle. “Looks like the family wandered up this way after being bit.”

As Roper started attaching the trailer, Safety lowered the binoculars. “We got company.”

Roper leapt up and ran to his side. She didn’t need the binoculars to see the same yellow truck that had pulled up next to Dallas in the last town. “Shit.”

Dallas was immediately out of the Hummer. “What is it?”

“Those thugs are back.”

Safety handed the binoculars to Dallas, and as she looked through them, she just barely saw the bed of the truck as it headed toward the pond, which was completely obscured by a small hill that sat between the riding ring and the barn.

“They must be following us,” she said.

“Or they heard the gunshot.”

Dallas started back for the Hummer, but Roper stopped her.

“Bad plan, Dallas.”

“Butcher and Peanut—”

“Are on their own right now. We can’t run in there guns blazing. We might do more hard than good. We can better help them by closing off the main road to the house.”

Safety nodded. “I agree. We don’t need a shoot out.”

Dallas hesitated.

“You know I’m right. Come on. Everyone grab a gun. We’ll leave the Hummer here and walk down along that path over there. No one is shooting. No one will let those thugs know we’re here. Understand?”

Everyone nodded.

As they quickly made their way down the path, Dallas feared for Butcher and Peanut, and she cursed herself for not leaving someone to guard them.

“Not your fault,” Roper whispered. “I didn’t think of it either.”

Dallas looked over her shoulder. “How did you know?”

“I pay attention.”

Dallas kept moving forward. “I guess you do.”

Before they could get to the gravel road, three gunshots echoed in the air.

“Shit!” Dallas started to take off, when Safety wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted her off the ground. “No you don’t. You’ll get us all killed.”

“Let. Me. Go!”

“Keep your voice down, Dallas. Safety, put her down,” Roper demanded. “No one is going off half-cocked.”

When Safety set Dallas down, they continued to the mouth of the driveway. “Cue-Ball, you and Einstein stay here. If they come out—”

Everyone waited.

Dallas shrugged. “Shoot the engine. Shoot low for the tires. Assume they have one if not both of our girls.” She took off with Roper and Safety right behind her.

“Take it easy,” Roper said from behind. “Don’t go charging in until we know what we’re up against.”

When they rounded the corner to the pond, the truck was gone.

So were Butcher and Peanut.

“No.” Dallas said. “No, no, no.”

“Butcher!” Safety yelled. “Peanut!”

No one moved while they waited for an answer.

When none came, they ran to the pond. There was no sign of a struggle, no blood, nothing to indicate anything bad had happened. They were just gone.

“Oh god,” Dallas uttered, turning to go back to the Hummer.

She’d gotten eight steps away when Roper called her back. “Dallas.”

“No, Roper. I’m going after them.”

“But they’re right here.”

Dallas whipped around just in time to see Butcher and Peanut coming out of the pond, reeds sticking out of their mouths.

Butcher grinned, holding the reed out. “Looks like all those war movies I watched growing up saved our bacon.”

No one said a word until Peanut spoke up, “That was fun!”

Roper threw Einstein a look, which he caught, and he took Peanut and Butcher back to the Hummer so she could dry off.

“That was way too close for comfort,” Butcher said, wringing the water from her shirt. “I heard them coming before I saw them. I think they stopped at the fork long enough for me to get Peanut into the water.”

“But how?”

Butcher grinned. “I asked her if she wanted to be like the Little Mermaid.” She shrugged. “My niece loves the Little Mermaid. It was all I could think of.”

“It probably saved your lives.”

Butcher looked out over the road. “Those boys might not be looking for us, but if they found us, it wouldn’t be pretty.”

Dallas visibly shuddered. “Let’s get the trailer and get the hell out of here.”

As they walked back up the hill, Roper pulled Dallas aside. “It’s not a coincidence they chose this driveway, Dallas. You know that, right? They are either trailing the Hummer or want something…different from us.”

“What do you want me to do, Roper? Just start killing everyone we run across?”

They walked in silence for a few more steps before Roper answered softly, “No, but I want you to be ready to do just that when the time comes.” Taking Dallas’s hand in hers, she held it as they walked back up the hill. “For better or worse, this is our family now and we need to protect them at any cost.”

“At any cost?”

Roper nodded “At any cost.”

****

When they returned for the horses, the man eaters had dispersed and only a dozen or so were wandering around the frontage road. They managed to get the horses without incident and cram back into the Hummer for a ride that lasted a little over two hours before Dallas started eying the gas gauge.

Everyone in the back was asleep, except for Einstein, whose eyes scanned the countryside in search of possible danger.

Facing him, Roper asked, “What’s on your mind, kid?”

Roper’s butt cheek had fallen asleep several miles ago as she shared the front seat with Butcher.

“Too coincidental them finding us.”

“You think they’re after us, too, don’tcha?”

He shrugged. “They probably want the Hummer and our weapons. We have military grade weapons. They had Billy Bob and Jethro guns.”

Butcher did not open her eyes as she said, “He’s right. Shotguns, squirrel guns, single shot action rifles. They want our stuff.”

“Stuff is free anywhere. They just have to go into any town and get it.”

“Too risky. Besides, Einstein’s right. They’ve wanted the Hummer since way back when. The question is how is it they seem to know where we’re headed?”

Einstein stared out the window at the golden hills that seemingly stretched on forever. “I don’t know, but they do, and we’re going to have to deal with them sooner than later.”

Roper turned back around and made eye contact with Butcher, who was nodding. “The kid’s right, Dallas. We have enough to worry about without our own kind hunting us down. We have to be ready to fight—ready to kill them if need be. You can’t afford to be soft on this one, Dallas. They’d kill us in a nano. We need to be ready to do the same.”

When Dallas didn’t respond, Butcher did. “She’s right. We’re already looking over our shoulders for the undead and the military. Adding those assholes to the mix is exhausting and dangerous.”

“We’re not killers,” Dallas said softly.

“Dallas, we live in a kill or be killed world now. This is no time for you to pander to your morals.”

“I understand that, Butcher, I really do. But we’re not going to go out of our way to hunt them down because they’re dangerous. When and if they become a danger to us, we’ll do whatever is necessary to defend ourselves, but going after them makes us no better than they are.”

Einstein shook his head. “That could be a mistake, Dallas. They’ve come up on us a couple of times now.”

They all waited for Dallas to respond and when she didn’t, Butcher closed her eyes and went back to sleep. Only Einstein and Roper stayed awake, looking out the windows at the yellow hills that made up the mid California summer; hills dotted with both dead and living farm animals.

Roper knew the stench of death was nothing compared to what it would be in another week. The daily temperatures were beginning to climb and soon domestic dogs would form into wild packs, killing the farm animals still living. If this wasn’t the apocalypse, she didn’t know what was.

“Roper?”

Roper rolled her window down and stuck her head out.

She’d heard it, too—the faint sound of a chopper in the distance. “Go! Go! Go!”

Dallas shook her head. There was no “go” with four horses and a trailer hitched to the back of the Hummer.

“Then we get out and fight.” Butcher sat up so quickly, Roper hit her head on the windshield.

“I’m with Butcher. If we’re gonna go out, I’d rather go out in a blaze of gunfire.”

Dallas quickly veered off right there in the middle of the street, the horses trailer rocking back and forth as she did. “Safety, Einstein, Cue-Ball, and Butcher over on that side of the road. The rest with me. Let’s not make this easy on them.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cue-Ball said. “You really think you can take out the chopper? All it’s gonna do is blow up the Hummer and the horses, and leave us here to be eaten. There has to be—”

No one heard what had to be as they all piled out and took off to take cover among the trees.

Roper and Dallas ran behind a huge oak tree and readied their weapons.

“Think this is it?” Roper asked, spotting the chopper as it came over the crest of the road.

“It’s not looking good, but if we go, we are taking them with us.”

Dallas blinked several times as she steadied her aim on it. The helicopter looked like it was hovering in the distance. Dallas felt her stomach drop. Would they really deploy missiles against civilians?

She’d already seen the answer to that question.

“In another life, I’d have fallen madly in love with you,” Dallas said softly, putting slightly more pressure on the trigger as she looked through the scope.

“Who are you trying to fool? You are madly in love with me in this life. Why else would you have been willing to be eaten alive with me?” Roper watched with interest as the chopper started to land a good hundred and fifty yards away. “Tres romantic being eaten with the one you love. Quite a good first impression”

“Yeah, well don’t get a big head over it. Maybe I’m willing to get eaten for good friends, too.”

Roper smiled and kept her sight fixed on the pilot. “I’ve got the pilot. Let’s hope Butcher does, too.”

“I’m sure she does. You know, it’s okay to say you love me back.” Dallas adjusted the rifle butt on her shoulder. “Because I know you do. You like me, like me.”

Roper chuckled softly. “You know, in fifty thousand dreams I’ve had of finding the right woman and telling her I think she hung the moon, I never envisioned I’d be holding a rifle while having this discussion.”

“Is that a yes?” Dallas glanced over from her rifle and saw Roper looking at her.

“That’s a big, fat yes. I think you hung the moon, and I would follow you to hell and back if you asked me to.”

“I must have asked in my sleep because I think we’re already there.”

When they both returned to their sights, they watched as the chopper sat like an enormous dragonfly, waiting. Suddenly, the sound of a megaphone whined on.

“Dallas or Roper, it’s Luke. I’m not here to hurt you,” came a voice through the chopper’s PA system.

Roper and Dallas exchanged glances.

“Luke?”

Suddenly, Butcher yelled out, “Hold your fire! It’s Luke!”

Roper did not lower her rifle. “What do you want to do?”

“Let him come to us!” Dallas shouted at Butcher, “Stay put! Let him come to us!”

“I’m coming out unarmed. I need a word with Butcher, too.”

Dallas looked across the way at Butcher, whose face pleaded to be released from hiding.

Dallas shook her head. “She wants to go to him. Too risky.”

When Luke exited the chopper, he held his hands in the air. “I’m unarmed!” Luke yelled. “Please don’t shoot!”

“Let her go,” Roper said softly. “Please.”

Dallas yelled over to Butcher, “Wait until he is half way, then bring him back here.”

As Luke neared, Dallas kept the rifle trailed on him. “Think he came back for her?”

“How sweet would that be?”

Dallas lowered her rifle and tilted her head at Roper. “Sweeter than being willing to be zombie chow?”