Chapter 14
14
We’d covered over an hour’s worth of ground, yet nature hadn’t tossed us a morsel. Omar kept to the river’s path as best as he could, narrowly avoiding abandoned cars and trucks, most of them graciously devoid of dead bodies. Every once in a while, we came across an Infected either too far away or far too slow to justify wasting time or ammunition to kill. And, each time the treeline broke and gifted us with a peek of the winding body of water, the waters were so still they looked as if the earth had stopped rotating.
“If there aren’t any birds, there might be fish,” I said, lifting my voice above the harsh rumble of the diesel engine.
“Good observation,” Omar called through the slider glass. “When the predators are away, the prey will play.”
“But we’re looking for something more substantial,” Allen cut in. “Pretty sure I already said that earlier. Try to keep up, new guy.”
I laughed quietly to myself.
The man was striking a hornet’s nest while wearing a blindfold.
“Don’t worry ‘bout him,” Memphis said. “Allen ain’t like us, Gage. He ain’t never been more than a few feet of the camp. Never had to take whatever food he ran up on. One night in the woods by himself, and I bet he’ll start begging the gray skins to take him in and feed him a little people-meat.”
Allen didn’t respond.
Over time, it was becoming increasingly apparent that while Allen was the proposed “leader” of the camp, he wasn’t a complete idiot. He didn’t mess with Omar, Dallas, or Memphis. Tasia and Phil, I’d seen him boss around, but he wasn’t a fool when it came to who truly could challenge him, especially not the two identical walking caution signs. He only pushed me because he didn’t know where to place me—yet.
Dallas, perched on the side edge of the truck bed, tilted his head, letting the wind pass over his ambiguous features. “Hey, I got a question,” he prefaced. “You know how, in all them old end-of-the-world TV shows, the survivors always wind up singing some old folk song that nobody ain’t never heard?”
“I assume copyrights have to do with that,” I said.
Memphis mimed playing guitar. “Still, it ain’t never no Led Zeppelin. No Guns n’ Roses. All them white people and not one Guns n’ Roses?”
Chuckling, I shook my head.
I was both young and old enough for my life to have included everything from cassette tapes to CDs to music streaming services. The kid wasn’t wrong; Led Zeppelin and Guns n’ Roses had been part of my music rotation for years. I probably couldn’t name a folk song off the top of my head if I tried.
Dallas added, “Me, personally, I’d be wanting to hear some rap or something. I like me the female rappers. They’re nasty, and I love me a nasty woman. Man, I love me a nasty woman. You remember Temi, Memph?”
Memphis put away his air guitar and, eyes closed, leaned backward over the side panel. “Did we tag-team her?”
“No, dickhead. Temi.”
“Oh, you mean your li’l college girl from all the way back when we was, like, nineteen, right? The one that almost had you signing up for classes knowing we both dumb as hell? But Temi seemed too sweet to be nasty.”
Dallas grinned. “I know.”
I tugged on Memphis’ shirt, jerking him upward before his head would have collided with the driver’s side mirror on an abandoned, newer-model Ford.
“But we did tag-team Dana,” he said, unfazed by the fact that he’d almost gotten his head knocked clean off. “Never would’ve done that with Temi. Things change with The Obsession.”
Omar turned the truck onto the grass to maneuver around a fallen tree branch. Something about its positioning didn’t sit well with me, and my sense of foreboding was made worse by the dozen or so tattered-wing moths perched on top of the chipped bark.
“What’s ‘The Obsession’?” I asked, scanning the woods.
“Running on nothing but pure crazy,” Dallas explained. “I met Temi, and a week later, I was hiding in the cellar behind her grandmama’s house, eating up all their pickled veggies. Then, I used to keep this little jar with her blood in it ‘round my neck. Hell, I kidnapped her daddy for screaming at her.”
“But her father never yelled at her again, did he?” Memphis chimed in.
Again, their accents slipped, but what I did manage to pick up on didn’t sound distinctly American.
The previous topic finally caught up to me.
“Wait, you both had sex with Dana?”
“None of what we just said seemed strange to you?” Dallas studied me, scratching the side of his face. “Interesting. And yeah, we went a couple of rounds with Dana. So did Omar. And Phil. And…well, this might be easier if I tell you who she ain’t been with. That would be your wife, Dr. D, and you…I think.”
“I haven’t slept with Dana,” I clarified. The last thing I wanted was for some rumor to get back to Tayler and interfere with my plans. “But I commend her for being so hungry in her sexuality.”
Condoms and antibiotics were in short supply. It would be both ironic and tragic to succumb to a resistant form of the clap when, these days, death by other means was so easy to come by.
Memphis tipped his head in Allen’s direction and thrust his hips. “And not just once, neither,” he whispered.
I stared at the back of Allen’s head, hoping he’d had to resort to getting off elsewhere because Tayler wouldn’t let him anywhere near her naked body. If Memphis knew Allen was screwing Dana, more people might have known. Not only was Allen a fuckwit for insulting Tayler’s expertise, but he was also potentially making her look as if she was being taken advantage of in front of the rest of the camp.
The truck rolled to a stop next to a massive body of water. The tree leaves had begun to change color, falling like golden pellets onto the surface. It was still early, the sun right above our heads. Here, the waters had more life to them, and I didn’t know why I’d expected to see others foraging and fishing.
I tossed my legs over the side of the truck bed and dropped to my feet on the semi-hard ground.
Dallas and Memphis followed.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“A lake, obviously,” Allen quipped, slamming the passenger door.
“Kid, what’s your problem with me?”
“Kid? Do you know how old I am?”
“I know how old you act.”
The brothers snickered.
“I don’t like you,” Allen said. “You keep flirting with my girlfriend, and it’s starting to piss me off.”
I raised both eyebrows. “Is that right? Well, that’s on me, mate. I apologize. Who’s your girlfriend? Have I met her?”
Dallas burst out laughing.
Memphis reproduced the air guitar.
Minus the crazy, they reminded me of my late twin brothers, Ty and Zach. They bounced off one another as if they shared one brain, the same way Ty and Zach used to. It was probably the only upside to having lost my family a long time ago; they never got the chance to see the world go to shit. My folks were good people. It was why they were able to leave for heaven long before hell was ushered in.
After losing my family, I’d found myself wondering if the real reason we didn’t know what happened when we died was because we would prefer it. We believed that hell was what happened after death, but it often felt as if we were already living in its embodiment.
Something in the distance twitched a tree branch.
“What’d you see, mate?” Dallas asked, and his ability to pull off an Australian accent gave me further clues that the Southern one was an act.
Memphis’ eyes lit up. “Is it a gator?”
I shook my head. “Don’t think so. Something taller. Land animal. Maybe a deer.”
It wasn’t Tayler’s steer, but she would be more than happy if we brought back a deer. I ignored the small voice in the back of my mind that claimed I would have traveled as far as the midwest to find her an entire cattle ranch if I could.
The Obsession.
“I’ll take the so-called deer,” Allen volunteered. “The rest of you, search the area for more wildlife. Memphis, Dallas—take the water. There might be fish.”
The twins didn’t budge.
“What say you, Wolfe?” Omar asked. “Heard you were Special Forces in Australia. Used to be a Marine myself. I say me and you take the deer, Allen can forage, and the devil twins can hit the water. Al, you’re not the best hunter. Don’t put yourself up to it just because of Gage. It’s not the time to be measuring dicks.”
Dallas coughed. “Might still lose.”
Admittedly, the pair was growing on me, and I blamed Giorgio for making me amenable to chaotic personalities. I was sure that if they ever met him, they would bow in worship.
“I’ll go with the twins,” I offered.
Omar nodded. “Okay, then.”
He handed me a pistol and a .308 caliber Winchester, and then he and Allen headed to where I’d spotted the movement. I waited for Memphis and Dallas to start for the lake, but from the looks on their faces, I could tell they knew what I’d really planned to do.
“Either one of you ever set a rope trap?” I asked.
Memphis waved his gun through the air. “Why, yessir!”
“All right. Get started. I’ll meet you.”
I followed Allen and Omar’s path and waited for Allen to give the order for them to split up. It didn’t take long; I’d bruised his ego back at the truck, and he needed to reclaim his manhood by single-handedly locating a wild animal he had no clue how to search for.
I crept up behind him, used one hand to cover his mouth, and placed the pistol’s nozzle against his temple with the other.
“Please don’t kill me.” He mumbled, his arms in the air despite being fully armed. “Whatever you want, it’s yours. Please don’t kill me. Whoever you are…please…”
I gave him a moment to struggle. I needed him to feel the helplessness, needed it cemented in his brain that everything that had occurred between us up to that point was nothing more than a game.
I pulled the trigger.
The gun clicked.
Still, I felt the moment he stopped breathing.
Before he passed out, pissed on himself, or both, I released him, holstered the pistol, and took a step back.
“It’s not ‘whoever’ or ‘new guy,’” I said. “Name’s Gage.”
Satisfied I’d made my point, I walked off. On the path, I spotted a burst of yellow in the middle of an arrangement of white petals and told myself that it made me think of Tayler. However, in reality, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone more than a few moments without thoughts of her taking up space in my mind.
It took the brothers no time to pick up on mud imprints that belonged to a huge animal—a buck, more than likely. Then, while Dallas and I monitored the trap, Memphis went to the lake to search for edible marine life.
Hours passed.
We ate the small package of food we brought with us: chili made from canned beans along with a rice, oat, and grain porridge topped with dried berries and honey, which we rationed like golden syrup. After lunch, Memphis returned to the lake while Dallas stayed behind with me.
“You know the doc and Allen, that whole thing is bullshit, right?” he asked. “Ain’t no way she’s fucking him. She don’t even touch him ‘less he touch her first.”
I leaned back against the broad tree trunk that had been our waiting station for nearly half the day so far. “What else have you noticed about them?” I asked, hoping he confirmed my suspicions.
Not that the opposite would stop me.
If Tayler didn’t want me, all she would have to do was say so for me to cool my pursuit.
But she had to mean it.
At this point, only a serious “Fuck off, Gage” would remedy my preoccupation with her voice, her mouth, her hair, and my hands on her body as I removed every article of clothing covering her skin.
“I don’t think she can stand him,” Dallas went on. “Honestly, I watch her a lot. It’s like a curse. I see a pretty face, I watch it. But because I watch her a lot, I know she wants to climb you.”
“She’s not the only one.”
“Dana came at you?”
“Well, yeah, but I wasn’t talking about who else might want to ‘climb’ me. There’s something about Tayler. I don’t know what it is, and I can’t say I’ve ever been this taken with a woman before. Definitely not this fast. But that’s not saying I’ll cheat on my wife or anything.”
He plucked a blade of grass and passed it between his teeth like dental floss. “Me and Memph, we’re real good at reading people,” he said. “We had to be. Had to know who to trust before we learned what trust was. And we don’t think Ari is your wife.”
I masked my surprise. “Why’s that?”
“Can’t say for certain, but you seem like the type that would double down on being a husband, knowing the vultures is circling. And they’re not only looking for the womenfolk. Me and Memph know that too.”
“Fuck, mate. I’m real sorry to hear that.”
“Oh, it’s all right. We kill people now.”
Again, I didn’t flinch.
One day, I would pretend to be put off whenever they mentioned violence.
“But you and Memphis actually remind me of my twin brothers,” I said to steer his mind away from where I could tell it had gone. “Minus the crazy, of course.”
He chuckled. “Where they at now?”
“They died long before this.”
“Fate showed them mercy?”
“Exactly.”
I spotted the tip of Omar’s head through the foliage in the distance. If he and Allen were heading our way, our prey had returned to the vicinity.
“Was I right?” Dallas asked. “About you being the new girl’s husband, I mean. Know what? Don’t answer that. If you got to pretend to be somebody’s husband, it’s for a reason. I won’t go saying nothing to nobody, but know that me and Memph, we’re not like that. We don’t go hurting people the same way we been hurt. But when you need us to kill somebody for her and the baby, we will.”
“Should I shine a light in the sky to signal you?” I joked.
“You keep tyin’ me and my brother in with good people like your brothers. And Batman. We ain’t no heroes.”
“Neither am I.”
Antlers appeared several feet from the trap.
A thick, unexpected lump rose in my throat as I watched the buck amble along, unaware of its potential fate. The second the trap was triggered, we would have to make our way over; there was no sense in making the poor animal suffer longer than necessary.
It stepped into the snare.
The trap tugged.
Dallas and I rushed over, and the lump grew thicker. We did our best to stabilize the thrashing animal as I removed my hunting knife and raised the blade.
“I’m sorry, mate,” I whispered. “I wish I didn’t have to do this, but you probably noticed things are different. I have my family to feed, and I wish there was another way.”
I lowered the knife.
The thrashing stopped.
Then, behind me, Dallas’ voice went from filled with joyful relief to laced with the threat of death. “I would think twice about that,” he hissed. “This here is our kill. I suggest you keep on. It ain’t just the two of us out here, neither.”
A weapon clicked.
“Try to be more aware of your surroundings, lady,” Memphis added. “Unless you’re trying to die. If you’re dead, you at least won’t have to worry about being hungry, so I see the upside.”
Omar and Allen joined us.
Frowning, I turned around to face the newcomer. “Where are they?” I asked.
The woman wasn’t carrying a single weapon, yet she’d brazenly walked up to a group carrying enough firearms to stock a small armory. My gut screamed that she wasn’t alone, and I would have bet the entire buck that there was a sniper in the midst.
Sighing, she reached for her belt.
“Be real careful,” Memphis warned.
“Just reaching for my two-way, see?” She unhooked a small radio from her waistband and raised it to her mouth. “Hunter, stand down.”
A voice came through the device:
“Shida, I didn’t get that.”
I released the buck, stood, and marched over to snatch the radio from her hand.
“Say that again,” I ordered.
Nothing came through.
“Julien, it’s me. It’s Gage.”
The woman reached for the radio, but Memphis swatted her hand away and aimed his gun directly at her head. Memphis and Dallas, for sure, were the type of people I planned to keep around. If we ever had to leave the camp, I would take them with me, along with Tayler.
“If this is really Gage, then answer me this…is she dead?”
“No, they’re alive,” I said. “We left Virginia together. I never left her side. They’re back at our camp, but they’re safe.”
“They’re back at your camp? They’re as in more than one? If that’s true, I need the name. There are two we were trying to choose between, and if this is really Gage, Gage would know ? —”
“Thandie. Ari picked the name Thandie, and I can’t wait for you to meet her.”
The silence returned.
Seconds later, I spotted someone walking toward us, their steps hurried yet measured. I tossed the radio to Memphis, and when Julien’s face came into view, he looked every bit of what we’d all gone through.
“Gage, don’t lie to me,” he pleaded. “Don’t…don’t lie to me. Are they really alive? They’re alive, and I can see them and?—”
I pulled him into a hug.
Julien and I had spilled blood together, which made him as much my family as Ari was, despite me knowing Ari for much longer. Seeing him alive, regardless of what shape he was in, further helped to assuage the rest of the despair that had started to creep in the moment Ari first began showing symptoms of an illness.
I released him and motioned to the group. “Omar, Memphis, Dallas, this is Julien.”
“Julien here, he’s Thandie’s real daddy, ain’t he?” Dallas asked. “I see her face in his. Ari and Thandie, that’s who he was askin’ about, ain’t it? Man, you got a nice family. And you’re lucky—I was just gettin’ ready to ask Ari for her hand in holy matrimony. Least once Gage and the doc was together and everything.”
Allen frowned.
“Yeah, I’m Ari’s husband,” Julien said, and visible relief further weighed down his shoulders. “But Ari was due around the time of the collapse when I was in a completely different state, so I haven’t met my baby girl yet.”
“You got a vehicle, Julien?” Memphis asked, all traces of suspicion gone from his expression. “‘Cause we got a truck. Y’all can fit. And I’ve met your baby, and she’s the bee’s knees. I can get her to laugh, real loud and high-pitched too, and I ain’t even all that funny. If it was my daughter, I’d be runnin’ to camp right about now.”
Julien laughed, his head hanging and his usually light hair strands dingy and soiled. “If I had the energy, I would be. And no, me and Shida have been on foot.”
The woman raised a hand. “I’m Shida, by the way. I’m Julien’s?—”
“Shida, not now.”
My gut told me that there was a story there, but it wasn’t clear what that story was. There was also the possibility that this woman had provided a particular type of “comfort” for Julien, especially if he’d believed Ari was dead. But he’d left Ari with me, so I would take offense if that were the case. He knew who I was and how I operated. Ari and Thandie would have floated to safety on my corpse if need be.
“So, uh, we got a deer,” Dallas said. “And my brother caught some fish and crab. They’re in the truck. Maybe your baby likes seafood, Julien?”
“Can babies eat seafood?” Memphis asked.
“I don’t know. We could ask the doc.”
Memphis swatted Allen’s shoulder. “Oh, you heard what Julien said, Allen? Gage and Ari ain’t married. Baby Thandie ain’t his daughter. You know what that means? You’re about to lose your girl.”
He turned the declaration into a song that Dallas danced to as if listening to an R they were like an equally unhinged yet more animated version of our sociopathic former teammate.
“Memphis, Dallas, think you can handle the deer?” I asked.
Memphis saluted.
Dallas snapped his feet together.
Omar raised a hand. “I’ll help them, boss.”
All the day’s luck finally came front and center, and I felt a smile on the cusp. “The rest of us, let’s head to the truck,” I said. “Before I left, I made Tayler a promise. I want to make sure she sees that I kept it.”
“You like making her smile?” Dallas teased, glancing at Allen.
“Yeah, man. That smile does something to me, right here.” I tapped my chest. “And I gotta admit, I miss her.”
I waited for Allen’s reply—a quip, a jab, a sneer—but all he did was peel the skin from his bottom lip with his teeth.
For his sake, I hoped my little trick with the gun to his head hadn’t bruised his ego too much. I could do worse, and I looked forward to showing him just how much more damage I could do.