'Til Death Do Us Part (68 page)

“
Did the hook one of them is carrying give it away?
”
Deneaux asked.

“
Ron?
”
Tony asked his oldest son.

Ron knew what he had to do, but theory was always easier than
practice.

“
Ron
,
once he lays that hook on, they
’
re gone,
”
Tony stated looking through his scope.

Ron was a devout anarchist…
that was why his next words seemed to take on more meaning.
“
God forgive me,
”
h
e said as he pressed down on the detonator. For the briefest of moments nothing happened, and Ron was relieved. Then the earth exploded, or at least that was what it looked like as two strategically p
laced Claymore mines went off—o
ne on each side of the disabled truck. Ball bearings shredded the three men like a fork pulled along a slow roasted pork loin. Meat
,
bones
,
and
blood…
lots and lots of blood coated the trees on either side of the roadway.

The man still in the truck opened his door and fell to the ground, the sound and possibly some shrapnel injuring him further. He began to crawl back towards the truckers
’
encampment. Tony severed his spine, killing him instantly.

“
It
’
s good to see at least one Talbot
not all wrapped up in morality,
”
Mrs. Deneaux said as she turned to get back on her chair.

Tony let his head drop a bit, he had not wanted to kill the man, he
had
to.

“
Well
,
they
’
ll think tw
ice before they come that route,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said smiling, lighting another cigarette.

“
Wish we had more of those,
”
Ron said
,
putting the
detonator down on a small table,
absently wiping his hand on his shirt as if he could wipe off the dea
th his thumb had just delivered
.

“
It
’
s alright
, son,
”
Tony said.
“
Mrs.
Deneaux
is right
. N
o one is going to come up that way.
”

***

Eliza
’
s head whipped around as the explosion tore through her men.
“
Kong,
”
s
he said to the truck driver
’
s leader.

“
I
’
ll find out,
”
h
e told her.

“
Seems the rest of the Talbot clan has ju
st as many surprises as Michael,
”
Tomas said smiling.

“
Do not start!
”
s
he said
,
pointing her finger at her brother.

Kong came back a moment later.
“
We have a truck stuck in the only approach a vehi
cle can make. They had it booby-
trapped so when three of my men went up to hook up a tow cable it went
off. They were killed instantly…
plus the original driver.
”

“
Have my zombies made progress?
”
Eliza asked.

“
Their fence is holding so far. Doesn
’
t make much sense, it
’
s only a chain link fence and
it has extra supports
,
but still with as much push as
the zombies should be giving it.
It
should have buckled by now. And what makes it weirder is the zombies up towards the front are
not
really doing anything
, they just kind of stand there,
”
Kong finished.

Tomas had an
idea of what might be going on.
His
sister looked completely befuddled and he decided to not tell her.

“
We can make it
more difficult on these people,
”
Kong stated.

“
I
’
m listening,
”
Eliza told him.

“
We can station men in the woods and shoot ba
ck. Maybe we kill some of them…
at the very least
we can keep them off that wrap
around deck. We have more options if they
’
re not cutting down your zombies at the rate they are now. And a few of the driver
’
s are prior military
,
we could probably assemble some sort of strike team when they
’
re all huddled inside.
”

“
I would like at
least some of them taken alive,
”
Eliza intoned.

“
Of course,
”
Kong said
,
leaving to get some planning done.

Mike
Journal Entry 13

According to the mile markers
,
we had walked ten miles and where getting pretty close to the 495 and 95 interchange. Our travelin
g was getting slower and slower;
Azile was having great difficulty walking under such a heavy load. Every time she lagged behind
,
I would take more equipment from her even as she protested that she needed to do her part. By the time we hit ten miles
,
the only thing left to carry would have been her.

“
Someone
’
s coming,
”
Azile said as she stood back up.
She
had been sitting by the side
of the road with her shoes off
tenderly rubbing around her sore spots.
“
Hide?
”
s
he asked me when she realized I wasn
’
t moving.

Normally that would have been standard operating procedure, but we hadn
’
t encountered so much as
a scooter. We were traveling at a whopping
ten
miles per half day
,
and at this rate
,
we
’
d get to Maine and it
’
d
be winter and I had no desire to revisit sled travel.
“
Hold still
,
but get ready to move.
”

“
That
’
s your plan?
”

“
Better than most,
”
I told her. My heart thudded a little heavier when I saw that big rig crest over the top of a small rise.

“
It
’
s a truck
, Mike,
”
Azile said
,
looking over towards the trees.

“
Hold steady,
”
I told her, the trucker had already seen us. He flashed his lights, if we bolted now it would look mighty suspic
ious, a
lthough
‘
suspected
’
is better than dead. Now I was looking over at the tree line.

The truck was slowing as it approached. It stopped about twenty feet away.
“
That rig back there yours?
”
h
e shouted
,
sticking his head out from the window.

“
Hers!
”
I pointed to Azile. She did not look pleased that I had singled her out.

“
Run into a bit of trouble?
”
t
he trucker asked.

“
Flat tire,
”
I told him.

“
Is that right?
”
h
e asked back.

“
We
’
re running late for an appointment, is there any chance you could help us out?
”
Azile asked.

The driver switched his gaze from me to Azile, but keeping me in his periphery due to all the weaponry I was carrying.
“
That
’
s funny
‘
cause I
’
m a little late
, too…
had some truck trouble
and
had to stop and get a quick fix on.
”

What were the odds?
I thought. I was going to give it a shot.
“
Listen
,
we need to get to a particular thing in Maine
,
or we
’
re going to be in a world of hurt.
”

I watched as recognition lit the man
’
s face up.
“
Well fancy that, I have an engagement in Maine also. I just need to make sure we
’
re playing for the same team, you can never be too careful.
”

“
Never too careful,
”
I reiterated when I saw the barrel of his rifle resting on his dashboard.

“
We
had a shipment of guns and food,
”
Azile said.
“
Kong gave us directions to a place in Maine where we were supposed to deliver them. If I don
’
t at least show up and tell him what happened he
’
ll think I stole the stuff.
”

The man
’
s face softened when he heard Kong
’
s name.
“
Kong isn
’
t the most forgiving man
,
are you sure you don
’
t want to just start walking the other way?
”
The driver asked.

“
I
’
m his niece,
”
Azile said,
“
he might be mad but he
’
ll understand.
”

“
What about him?
”
t
he driver asked.

“
He
’
s my porter.
”

“
Funny,
”
I said under my breath.

“
Come on, you both can tell me what happened when
you get up here,
”
t
he driver said as he reached over and opened his passenger door.

A large orange tabby was staring me straight in the face as I went to climb into the rig.

“
Oh
,
don
’
t mind him, I picked him up back in North Carolina
. H
e was just wandering around. He climbed up into the truck and now he
’
s convinced he owns the place,
”
t
he driver said
,
smiling as he reached under and picked the cat up.