Alive! Not Dead! (17 page)

After a few days of rest, Rachel felt well enough to ride along with them on their motorcycles.

There were some things she wanted to get from her place before they left. They drove back to her apartment building where she was able to loot through the destruction.  She was able to find some of her belongings.  She packed them in an overnight bag.

On the road south,
call girl Rachel Manning sat behind Mason as they drove, her long curly red hair blowing out behind her.

I saw three people come through the open sliding doors of the hospital.  I quickly ducked down next to Mindy.  There were two men and a woman.  All of them were carrying weapons.  The woman looked like she was carrying a machete.

They came into the hospital.  “Holy fuckin hell it smells like shit in here.” one of the men said.  He was wearing overalls.

“No wonder – they’re all dead,” the other man said.

“Jesus” she said.

They slowly came into the hospital, stepping over the dead much like Mindy and I had minutes before.

The woman asked “You sure you saw them come in here?”

“I was right behind them when they drove into the fucking parking lot,” one of the men said.  “It was a dude with a chick.”

“Skin wants a chick,” the man in the overalls said.

“Mits is a chick,” man one said.  “Why don’t he want Mits?”

“Cause she’s been had by everyone else.”

The two men laughed.

The woman said “Fuck you!”

“Aww c’mon Mits, you know we’re just fucking with you,” man one said.

Mits didn’t answer.

They were quiet for a little while as they stepped through the dead.  One of the men said “Jesus how many fuckin people were trying to get in to see the doc?”

Mit
s said “Would you shut up, Cab! Jesus, you’d wake these stiffs up if they wasn’t stiffs already”

Cab didn’t answer.

The other man said “Wonder where they went?”

Mits said “In here somewhere, dumbass.”

“Well no shit.  I know that, bitch, but
where
in here?”

“How the fuck
am I supposed to know, motherfucker?”

“Maybe we ought to split up,” Cab suggested.

“No we stay together” the other man said.

They came into the pharmacy.  Mits
came in first.  She was a young black girl about 18.  Her hair was dyed orange.  She had it tied up in a bun above her head.  Her top lip was large, chapped, and covered in acne.  When she talked you could see that her teeth were almost as orange as her hair.  She had on a long khaki dress which was very dirty.  She had a white glove on only one hand.  In that hand she held a machete.  Her other hand looked dirty like it was caked with something.

Second was Cab.  He was the man wearing bib overalls.  One side of his overalls was unbuttoned on the top so that the bib was hanging down on one side.  Underneath he wasn’t wearing anything.  Stretch marks could be seen low down on his belly.  He had a shotgun.  His bottom lip stuck out further than the rest of his face.  I thought to myself that he
looked like he was mentally retarded.

The third guy was thin with greased back black hair.  He wore a white wife-beater t-shirt with tight black skinny jeans and cowboy boots.  Most of his upper body
was covered in snake tattoos.  He had a diamond earring in his right ear.  He was carrying a machine gun.

Mits said “We could probably use some of this shit,” as she looked around through the pharmacy shelves.

“Skin said we find the girl.  That’s all we’re after,” the thin guy said.

“This place is dead,” Cab whispered.  He walked right
over in front of Mindy and I.  His back was to us.  The back of his overalls was covered in dried shit.  He reached back, scratched his ass and the smell got worse.

“I could use some Tylenol,” Mits said. 
“My tooth’s been hurting.”

“Ya better hide it before we get back,” the thin guy said.  “Skin
don’t like people bringing in extra shit.”

“I’ll swallo
w em now, dumbfuck,” she said.

“I got something you can swallow,” Cab said as he grabbed his crotch and laughed.  He farted right above our faces.

“You wish,” Mits said as she chewed three of the Tylenol.

“This place is empty, Gordo,” Cab said.  “Let’s check out the gift shop.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

Mits said “You two go on over.  I gotta take a shit.”

Gordo said “We ain’t separating.”

“You two sickos aren’t gonna watch me
take a fuckin shit,” Mits said.  “Get your asses over to the gift shop.”

They snickered as Cab led Gordo out the door of the pharmacy.

Mits was standing no more than 4 feet away from us.  As soon as the men left the room, she hiked her khaki dress up.  She wore nothing underneath.  She squatted and started pissing on the floor.  She grunted.  It hurt her, I could tell.  Bracing herself against one of the fallen shelves, she pooped on the floor right next to us.

Mindy exhaled in disgust.

Mits quickly jerked her head in our direction, squinting.  She was staring at a dead man to my right.

My eyes were open, staring straight ahead.  If I blinked, I would be a dead man,
too.

She kept staring in our direction.  She grunted a few more times.  A few short pieces of
poop dropped onto the floor.  When she finished, she wiped with the palm of her ungloved hand.  Then she wiped her hand on the floor.

Standing up, she came right over to Mindy and I.  “You two don’t look like stiffs to me.” she whispered.  “You look alive! You look pretty damn clean, too.”

I didn’t want to say anything.  I thought that no matter what I would say or offer to this girl, it would not be enough to please her.  She was hardcore.  She had killed many, I was sure.

“What you say, white boy?” she asked as she put the cold tip of her machete under my chin
.  Her breath was rotten.  “You wanna play?”

I changed my gaze, looked directly at her.

“Ah, so, we
are
alive.”  She put the blade to Mindy’s chin.  “What about you, girlfriend? You living?”

Mindy nodded.

“Well now…” she took the machete away.  She looked us both over.  She saw my wrapped wrist.  “You needed something for the pain, eh?”

I nodded.

“Skin can show you pain, love,” she said to me smiling her rotten orange smile again.  “Skin knows pain.”

I didn’t want to ask any stupid questions like
who is Skin.
  Or
can we go now?
I
thought silence was best at the moment.

She looked at Mindy again.  “My” she whispered, “
you
are
a pretty one.  I like your hair.  I tried to dye mine, but it ain’t never gonna look as good as yours.”

“
What the hell you doing in there Mits? Pinch it off and get out here
!” Gordo yelled from out in the hall.

“Bitch I ain’t done yet!” Mits yelled back.  “Can’t a nigger shit in p
eace?”

“Careful you don’t shit yourself out,” Cab laughed.

“Shut up, retard!”

She put her machete under my chin again.  She whispered, “I see here Mister that you gots yourself a situation.  Let me let you in on a little secret:  the man Skin is looking for a woman.  He’s had his eye on your little pretty here for a few days.  He wants her.”

Mindy said quietly “I’m taken.”

Mits quickly zipped her machete back under Mindy’s chin in a millisecond.  She said “You are taken by who we tell you are taken by, girlfriend.  You got that straight?”

I said quickly “Whatever Skin is giving you, I can double it.”

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, a smile forming.  “I doubt it,” she said.  “I like eating pussy.  You don’t
got a pussy.  Your girlfriend do, but its Skin’s now.”

“You can have mine if you let us go,” Mindy said.

Mits raised an eyebrow.  She scratched her chin with the hand she had just wiped with.  “That’s an interesting thought.”

Mindy whispered “You walk back out of here like nothing happened.  Go with the men. 
Come back later tonight and we’ll be here, and you can have me.”

Mits was looking down at Mindy’s crotch the whole time Mindy was talking.  Mits licked her lips.  She said “I need assurance that you’ll be here.”

“You have my word.”

“Not good enough, hon.” Mits looked at me.  “He’s my insurance.”  She looked back at Mindy.  “Go hide back in the corner.  I will be back tonight with your man.”

“No! Wait!”

“A promise is a promise – a deal is a deal.  Take it or leave it right fucking now.”

I nodded to Mindy, telling her that it was ok.

“Ok,” she whispered.  She slid aro
und the corner.

“Gordo!
I found the man!”

Gordo and Cab came crashing into the room.  Th
ey aimed their weapons at me.

Gordo asked “Where’s the girl?”

Mits said quickly “He said a stiff got her last night.”

“He’s fucking lying,” Gordo hollered.  “She’s gotta be here! I swear I seen em both come in here!”

“You musta been seein things, Gordo,” Mits said.  “It’s only the man.”

Cab said strongly “Skin will get to the bottom of this – he always does.”

“You’re right,” Gordo said.  “Let’s take him to Skin.”

I looked at Mits who was smiling to herself as she stepped over a dead man.  She walked out the door of the pharmacy.

Cab grabbed me roughly by the arm.  He pushed me in front of him.  Gordo followed.

As soon as I was out the door and past Mits, she stepped between Cab and I.  She pressed herself against Cab.  “Why you talking shit on me in there, retard?”

“I was just fuckin with ya…”

As quickly as she moved her machete from my chin to Mindy’s, Mits quickly and savagely cut Cab’s throat.  He didn’t know what had hit him.  He stood there for a second, blinking, and then fell forward as blood gushed out of his ripped jugular vein.

I stepped back, shocked.

Gordo was shocked, too.  Before he knew it, the arm he was using to hold his machine gun was cut off at the elbow. As soon as it was cut off, his throat was cut as well.  He
fell down next to Cab.

Mits didn’t even blink.  She looked at me.  She sighed.  “I’m glad to be rid of those two psychos.”

I was speechless.

“Skin’s had me running all over town lookin for you folks.  I’m tired of being his little fucking gopher bitch.”

I said “So you were acting in there?”

She smiled her rotten smile.  “Kind of….”

“So what was the truth?”

“I like eatin pussy.”

I hollered back to Mindy.  “We’re ok now, Mindy.  You can come out.”

She came out of the darkness, stepping over the dead, questions on her face.  She saw Gordo and Cab on the floor, pools of blood
around their heads.  She inhaled sharply.

“It’s ok, hon,” Mits said.  “They won’t trouble you no more.”

“She killed them,” I said.  “She was just acting.”

With a stifled laugh Mindy said, “Well you’re a good actor, that’s for sure.”

Mits said “I want your pussy now.”

Mindy looked at me, more questions on her face.  “I thought this was all an act…”

“Not all of it, girlfriend,” Mits said.

“You’re not going to set us free, then?” Mindy asked.

“If you let me eat you out, I will.”

Mi
ndy bit her bottom lip.  “Here? In the middle of all these dead people.”

“Well where you want me to do it?”

“We’ve been staying in a hotel down the road…”  Mindy said.

“I know. 
The Sleep Inn.”

“How much do you know about us?” I asked her.

“I know you come from downtown a couple ’a weeks ago.  Skin seen you two and right away he was like
‘I need to fuck that bitch; she’s fine.  I wanna make her mine
,’” she said with a tune in her voice.  “So he had me and these two goofy bastards here following you, waiting for the right moment to get ya.”

“Who is this Skin guy?” I asked.

“He’s our leader.  He thinks he’s gonna rule the world now that it’s all over.  He wants to be the new king or new lord or some shit.”

“Why do they call him Skin?” Mindy asked.

She took her glove off.  All of the skin on her palm was ripped away.  Her palm was scabbed over.  She said “He asks for our skin as a sign of belonging.  I wear this glove to keep the dirt out.  It stings.  Everybody calls me
Mits
cause I wear this glove.”