Running Wild (12 page)

Billie released a long sigh. “I don’t know…is it me or did taking that stuff feel really wrong to you guys? I mean, all of those items would have cost thousands of dollars and we just took it. We looted a frickin’
Wal-Mart
.”

Henry, who’d just bitten into a foot long Hershey bar, snorted. “Don’t you go feeling guilty son. What stores charge these days is highway robbery, by golly. Back in my day, regular candy bars cost only a nickel and you could buy yourself a house for the price of what’s sitting in our trunk right now.”

“Well, it still feels wrong to me,” said Billie.

“Hey, there’s that truck again,” I said, pointing out the window ahead of us.

The pickup we’d encountered earlier was now pulled over to the side of the road.

I rolled down my window as we passed by and raised my hand in greeting. Just like before, however, they ignored us.

“Forget that idiot,” said Henry, “If he doesn’t want to be friendly, so be it. Besides, we don’t need more distractions. I want to get to my grandson.”

I turned to stare out the back window and watched the truck pull back onto the road.

“Looks like he’s decided to follow us,” I said. “Oh, and coming in pretty quickly too.”

The truck continued to speed up until he was riding our bumper. I struggled to see the driver, but the windows were tinted so dark, I couldn’t make out anything.

“I thought it was illegal to have windows so dark?” said Billie. “Hey jerk! Go around or get off our asses!

The truck tapped our bumper and I flew forward and hit the back of the seat in front of me. Like an idiot I hadn’t had my seatbelt on. I’d been too busy trying to lie down.

Billie swore and opened up his window. He then stuck his hand out and motioned for the driver to go around us.

Instead the truck tapped us again, this time a little harder.

“Jesus Christ!” hollered Henry. “Are you sure this ain’t one of your relatives Wild?”

I ignored Henry’s jab and instead, opened up my window and flipped the other driver off. Seconds later it tapped us a third time and I went crashing back down to the floor.

“Well, that’s it, I’m pulling over,” said Billie. “Find out what this asshole’s problem is.”

“No!” shouted both Henry and I at the same time.

“That’s what he wants, son! Hand me my rifle, Wild. I’ll take care of this jackass.”

The next thing I knew, Henry had removed his hat and was leaning out the window with his gun raised, just like in the movies.

I quickly got far down in the backseat as quickly as possible. I couldn’t imagine this turning out good.

“Tap
this
bitch, asshole!” yelled Henry as he began firing out the window, towards the truck.

“Get him?” I yelled.

“No. They sure make it look easy on television,” grumbled Henry as he reloaded.

Then, before you could say “five-cent chocolate”, the pickup flew past us, leaving us eating his dust.

“Okay, that was weird,” I said sitting up straight.

“You okay?” asked Billie, looking at me in the rearview mirror.

“Fine,” I said.

Henry rolled up his window and put his hat back on. “I’d better keep my gun ready, just in case.”

I grabbed my Ruger, something told me that I’d be needing it very soon.

Chapter Twenty

“Did you see that?” asked Billie about an hour later.

“What?” asked Henry.

I put down the book I’d taken from the store and sat up straighter. “What’s wrong?”

We’d slowed down near an abandoned motel. Three dead zombies lay near the office.

“So?” I asked. “Someone killed the zombies. Maybe they wouldn’t give them a room?”

“No, I think I saw that truck going around the back of these motel units. The one who’s been messing with us,” replied Billie.

“Well, just keep going,” I said. “We don’t need any more trouble.”

“No, I think we should have it out with that bastard,” barked Henry smacking the palm of his hand. “He might be waiting for us right now. You never know, he could be taking a break and planning on attacking us all over again. We can surprise
him
this time, though.”

Shane and Dale, noticing we’d stopped, turned around and parked next to us.

“What’s going on?” asked Dale.

“Did you see that jerk messing with us earlier?” asked Billie?”

Shane nodded. “We weren’t sure exactly what was going on. He roared past us like the devil was chasing him.”

“We think he’s hiding out behind the row of motel rooms over there,” pointed Billie.

“We can trap him,” said Henry. “Sandwich him in.”

“If that’s what you want to do,” said Dale. “But I think we should just get the hell out of here and leave the psycho alone. What if he has a gun?”

“We’ve got guns,” replied Henry.

“But we don’t know how crazy that guy is. He might just start shooting at everyone,” said Dale.

“Look, he’s attacked us already and it’s kind of odd how he’s hiding out here now. It’s almost like he’s waiting for us,” said Billie. “I’m with Henry on this. We need to get rid of this guy once and for all.”

“What are you going to do, go back there and kill him?” I asked incredulously.

“No, but we can at least take out his tires. We’ll immobilize him and leave,” said Billie.

I nodded. “I’ll go with that.”

Stopping him before he did anything else to us later, made perfect sense to me.

“If you’re going to do something, do it quick then,” said Dale. “He’ll be coming around pretty soon, if that’s what he’s doing.”

Billie nodded. “I think we should go on foot, shoot his tires and run.”

“I guess that means I’m going,” I said. The only other person who could shoot fairly well was Henry, and he could barely walk. Well, with my injured ankle, I wasn’t much better.

“Don’t worry,” said Billie. “Dale and I are coming with to cover you.”

Dale nodded and got out of the other SUV.

“I’ll honk if I see him coming around the other side,” said Shane.

Billie and I got out and grabbed our guns. We then snuck around to the back of the motel. Sure enough, it was the same pickup truck we’d seen earlier.

“Did you hear that?” whispered Billie?

My stomach dropped, a woman was screaming at the top of her lungs in holy terror.

Dale bit his lip. “I think he’s in one of the rooms, see the backdoor?”

I nodded. The unit where the truck was parked was the only one with a backdoor.

“That’s kind of weird,” I said.

“It might be a supply room or something,” said Billie. “I think we can assume he’s no longer in the truck with the sound of that screaming.”

The thought that this lunatic was the cause of the woman screaming chilled me to the bone. What kind of person were we dealing with?

We snuck towards the parked truck and found out that it was indeed empty.

The woman screamed again and Billie grabbed the handle to the screen door. “She needs help, let’s go before it’s too late.”

When we stepped through the door we all gasped in horror, a zombie was handcuffed to the door handle of a refrigerator and less than two feet from his reach was a terrified woman tied to a chair. Her eyes were closed and she let out another ear piercing scream.

“Sh...” I whispered, moving towards her. “It’s okay. We’ll get you out of here.”

The woman opened her eyes and gaped at me hungrily while Dale attempted to remove her ropes. I could tell by her reddened eyes that they were infected with the zombie virus. She opened her mouth and tried to bite me.

“Holy crap!” yelled Dale jumping back.

Billie shook his head. “What kind of game is this freak playing?”

I was trembling. “I don’t know. What was he going to do with the zombies?”

“He was either playing with them, or playing with us,” said Dale, his face completely white.

Next we heard deep laughter and an engine roar to life. We raced out the back door only to find him tearing away.

Chapter Twenty-One

We were moving again, keeping our eyes on the lookout for the crazy truck driver. When we’d told Henry what we’d found in the motel room, he wasn’t all that surprised.

“Like I said, we’ll be running into all kinds of crazy screwballs who’ve survived this zombie apocalypse. I’m sure some of them even thrive in this bullshit,” said Henry. “They have the ability to live out their own evil fantasies without having to pay any consequences now.”

“Well, maybe they’ll take out these zombies for us,” said Billie.

Henry shook his head. “They might, but sooner or later they’re going to graduate to killing other survivors. It’s the terror they cause in their victims that gets them off. Zombies won’t give them that.”

I shuddered and hoped that whoever this guy in the truck was would be out of our lives pretty soon. I’d had enough insane people chasing me in the twenty-four hours.

We continued on our way to Nashville, only encountering a few zombies on the road, thankfully. But we did see horrifying animal carcasses left behind from some apparent zombie attacks. They were getting desperate to eat anything now.

Henry shook his head sadly. “Those damn zombies are really starting to piss me off. It breaks my heart to think about them feeding on my grandson’s horses. He owns a ranch in Texas and his horses are his pride and joy. Now they’re nothing but free bait.”

“What’s even more horrible to think about is all the animals that aren’t getting fed because their owners have turned into zombies,” said Dale. “They’re probably just sitting around, waiting for someone to feed them. Wondering why the people they love more than anything in the world, isn’t doing it.”

I thought about Goldie and wondered how she was fairing. I knew she had so many people in her life that loved her now, and probably wasn’t missing me much. But I certainly missed her, just like I missed the rest of my family.

“Where exactly are you are supposed to be meeting your grandson, Henry?” asked Billie.

“Steven, my son; God rest his soul, used to own this service station, about five miles north of the Opry. I’m supposed to wait for my grandson there, if he hasn’t already arrived. He was traveling all the way from New York.”

“Oh,” said Billie, trying to make conversation. “What was he doing in New York?”

“Tiny? Well, he’s a professional wrestler and was doing some matches out there.”

“
The
Tiny” I said smiling, “as in “Tiny the Tank”? He’s your grandson?”

I’d never been much of a wrestling fan, but everyone in the world probably knew who Tiny was. He’d been in commercials, television shows, and even a of couple movies. The guy was an iron tank and the kids loved him.

Henry beamed. “Yessiree, the one and the only. I’m proud of that boy.”

“Henry, do you think he’s going to make it?” asked Billie, softly. “New York’s going to be pretty difficult to escape from, with the millions of zombies swarming out there.”

“Are you kidding me? That boy’s a brick shithouse. No zombie’s gonna put him down, by golly. You just watch.”

“He’s pretty strong,” I said nodding in agreement. Tiny had to be over six foot five and well over two hundred fifty pounds; sheer strength and power.

I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep again. When I woke up a little while later, Billie and Henry had switched spots.

“Wild, it’s going to be getting pretty grisly out there again soon,” said Henry. “Get your gun and slicer ready”

“Yeah, I’m sure Nashville’s going to be crawling with the undead. All of those country singers and tourists.”

Henry spit a wad of chew into a small cup. “Yep, but this time now, we’re the star of the show.”

~~~

I’d fallen asleep when my cell phone began to vibrate. My dad had sent me another message to let me know they were waiting for me at an abandoned warehouse four blocks away from the Grand Ole Opry.

What’s the zombie status there?

BAD near the OPRY. STAY AWAY! What’s your E.T.A?

“
Hey
,
Henry? Are we close to Nashville yet?”

“Should be coming up within the next ten minutes or so.”

My dad gave me the address and directions.

Remember to
Stay away from the OPRY. Too dangerous.

We pulled up in front of Shane and Dale and motioned for them to follow.

“It’s almost the end of the road for our little adventure, Wild,” said Henry.

I smiled. “Well, it was certainly an eye opening experience.”

He smiled and spit into his chew can. “Look, I realize I was a little hard on you when we first met. I’m like that to most. I certainly didn’t mean anything by it.”

I smiled “It’s okay Henry, really.”

“Well, it’s been a pleasure knowing you and I hope everything works out for you and your family.”

I’d never actually dove into the specifics of why my family was heading to Atlanta to Henry. I knew he had enough to worry about, all by himself.

“Thanks Henry. I wish the same for you and your family. Look, if it gets too bad in town, join up with us in Atlanta.”

“I will certainly keep that in mind.”

“I think I’d better drive Henry,” said Billie, stretching his arms. “I need you sitting shotgun and firing that gun of yours towards the zombies. You’re a much better marksman than I am.”

Henry smiled.  “Whatever you say.”

Billie yawned as we pulled over. “Grab me an energy drink from the back, will you Cassie?”

“Can I have one?” I asked. We were going to be getting into the thick of things quickly and I wanted to be alert as possible.

“Sure. What about you Henry?”

He chuckled. “Oh, no. My ticker can’t handle all that caffeine. I’m lucky if I can make it through a rough night of…”

“Zombies!” I screamed, pointing towards Shane and Dale’s vehicle. They’d also stopped, to wait for us, and Dale had apparently decided to leave the safety of their vehicle to relieve his bladder behind a nearby ash tree. Shane was too busy looking at a map to notice any danger.

“Dale, run!” hollered Billie, dashing towards his friend, who was almost a hundred yards away.