Catholic Guilt and the Joy of Hating Men (10 page)

“The keycards work on the back gate?” I asked.

“They should,” Tiara said.

We hurried along the rutted dirt road that ran from the stables to the trees behind the paddocks. Fallon was with us; I wasn’t about to shoot him.

I glanced back and saw a wave of men running in our direction, rushing out of the stable doors. They ran in formation, like a zombie civil war reenactment. They were completely silent, most grasping machetes, a few with what appeared to be rifles.

It was unnerving. They were on their way to kill us, but they didn’t seem to feel anything about it one way or the other. No angry screams, no hesitation... just a line of
macoutes
moving swiftly toward us.

“They’ve definitely seen us,” I said.

I turned and aimed my gun. I pulled the trigger and it fired. I almost tripped.

“Don’t waste bullets,” Julia said. “You’re not going to hit them from this far away.”

“There aren’t enough bullets either way,” Fallon said. “You won’t get a chance to reload.”

We reached the back gate, wide enough for a horse trailer and just as tall as the rest of the wall. There was a small box mounted on a steel pole, along with a heavy chain and a heavier padlock.

Behind the gate were two pickup trucks, parked just outside like they were meant for something.

“Tell me you brought the key for that lock,” I said.

“That’s not our lock,” Fallon said. “Or our trucks.”

“Bullshit.”

“That’s not our lock,” Tiara said. “They’ve locked us in.”

“I know what this is now,” Fallon said. “It’s a killing pen. No way out. They’re going to see just how well this army can kill.”

“Not much of a test,” I said. “A few dozen zombies against five girls and two handguns.”

“I don’t think that’s the test they’re running,” Tiara said.

“What do you mean?”

“Six-man squads each spend three months mucking stalls. Testing to see if the chemicals are holding. Then off to the barracks for basic training. Then this, I guess... the last piece, to see just how suggestible they are.”

“How suggestible?”

“Whether or not they’re willing to kill a bunch of defenseless girls, and just how viciously they’ll do it. That’s the real test of an army, seeing how far they’ll go to follow orders.”

“But we’re not defenseless,” Julia said.

“I think they meant us to be,” I said. “Too bad for Kathleen that she won’t get to see the result.”

The passengers’ side door opened on one of the pickup trucks.

Kathleen climbed out.

Her left eye was missing; the left side of her face was pocked and shredded like she’d fallen asleep in a food processor.

She should have been dead. She probably was dead.

But she was looking at us with the eye she had left. Looking right at me.

And with binoculars hanging from her neck. She was here for the show.

“You were supposed to be unarmed,” she said.

“You were supposed to be dead,” I said.

“Not the first time. Where is Pouchon?”

“He’s dead,” Fallon said.

“I didn’t ask you for your medical opinion. I asked where he is.”

“Come on in here and I’ll help you find him.” He turned to me. “Just shoot her, already.”

I pointed the gun, following the sight marks along the top; I was pointing it right at her.

“Don’t waste your bullets,” Kathleen said. “Do I look like I’m easy to kill?”

A man walked up behind her. He was carrying an assault rifle.

“Drop the handguns,” Kathleen said. “Don’t mess up our test.”

I put down my gun.

Julia didn’t move.

“Come on,” Kathleen said, “drop it.”

“Julia...” I said.

Kathleen turned to the man behind her. “Take her down,” she said.

The man with the assault rifle took a shot.

Julia fell to the ground.

I wasn’t the only one who screamed. I ran over to Julia.

She’d been hit in the leg.

“Not bad,” Kathleen said. “We’ll see if they’ll kill a wounded girl. Maybe apply a tourniquet, Amanda, so she looks the part. And so she doesn’t bleed out before the
macoutes
reach you.”

I took off my shirt, trying not to dwell on the sweat stains on my sports bra. I did my best to remember first aid, wrapping the wound as tightly as I could.

“You girls should start running around a little,” Kathleen said. “Spread out.”

“Are you going to get me out of here or what?” Fallon asked.

“We don’t need you anymore.”

“I’ll kill you, Shannard.”

“That’s not how it works, Fallon. Being killed by a zombie doesn’t make you a zombie... it makes you dead.”

Fallon sat down on the ground. “I’m not going to run and hide,” he said.

“Whatever, Fallon. I don’t really care, as long as you’re dead and eaten at the end of this.”

I saw Fallon looking at one of the handguns lying on the ground. I knew what was coming.

He somersaulted towards the gun.

The man with the assault rifle started shooting.

Fallon stopped moving.

“Now go on, girls,” Kathleen said. “Get moving.”

I helped Julia up, her arm wrapped along my shoulders. She was unable to use her right leg, but working together she and I were able to get her hopping on her left.

We walked together as a group, along the fence, moving away from Kathleen and the assault rifle while trying not to get any closer to the oncoming zombies. But there wasn’t really anywhere to go. With Julia we were slower than they were.

“We need to make a run for the front entrance,” Tiara said. “Maybe one or two of us will get through.”

“What about Julia?” sayra asked.

“We need to run.”

“No,” I said. “We should make a run for the horses. We’ll have a better chance on horseback.”

I helped Julia over the fence into the nearest paddock, and a couple of old mares walked up to greet us.

I boosted Julia up on one of the mares. She groaned from the pain, but she was able to hold on.

“I’ve never ridden a horse,” sayra said as she came up behind.

“It’s easier than you think to ride a horse,” I said. “It’s only near impossible to ride one well. I’ll help you.”

I knelt down on one knee beside the other mare and made a step with both of my hands.

“Climb up,” I said.

sayra hesitated for a moment, but then she stepped into my hands and I boosted her up. She almost went over the far side of the horse’s back, but she soon steadied herself.

Tiara and Cadance both climbed onto mounts of their own, Tiara hopping on from a jump and Cadance awkwardly climbing up the front of a Trakehner. I managed to find a quarterhorse, a short little chestnut that stood out among the taller warmbloods. I hopped on, and we started trotting our horses along the fence. If we were lucky we’d reach the stables.

We were circling around the
macoutes
, but they’d been watching us, shifting direction and heading toward the stables as well. They weren’t mindless; they were matching our moves.

“We’re going to make it,” Julia said.

“We need to speed up,” I said. I brought my quarterhorse up to a gallop.

The other horses did the same, with or without being cued by their riders; no horse wants to be the one that’s left behind.

I heard a scream, and turned to see sayra fall; she was clear of the mare’s hooves, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to catch her horse or get back on.

I didn’t know enough about riding bareback to turn around and help her. I’d have to either get off my horse or leave her.

There was no way I’d be able to help her and still outrun the
macoutes
.

I started slowing my horse.

“I’ve got her,” Tiara said. “Just keep going.”

She brought her horse around and pulled sayra up.

“They’re too close,” I said. “They’ll catch us when we dismount.”

“Then we don’t dismount,” Cadance said. “We need to ride up the stable aisles. There should be enough clearance.”

“Should be?”

She brought her horse up to the front and kept pushing, arriving first at the stable door. She leaned over and pulled it open, still straddling her horse. She moved on to the stable beside it, as Julia’s horse was catching up.

“That’s good, Cadance,” I said. “Now ride up the aisle.”

She took her horse into the stable, slowing down to a trot.

Julia’s horse hesitated, but eventually followed.

I waited for Tiara and sayra.

The zombies had caught up to them.

“Keep going,” I called out. “You can make it.”

Tiara swung her right leg over and threw herself off the horse.

The
macoutes
swarmed her. Her horse broke free with sayra on its back, trotting toward the stable.

Tiara didn’t get back up. She was screaming.

I knew sayra would make it inside. I had to see if I could save Tiara.

I couldn’t see what was happening to her; I took a few steps forward. She was crying, shrieking... and then it stopped.

I saw it; the
macoutes
were feeding on her.

I slowly started back toward the stable door, hoping they wouldn’t notice me.

But one of them was watching me. Then another.

I turned to run.

I reached the door and started to pull.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder.

One of the
macoutes
threw me to the ground. More of them surrounded me.

They had me pinned, but not one had bitten me.

A
macoute
stuck his face against my neck and sniffed.

“Just do it,” I said. “Just fucking eat me.”

But they didn’t.

They slowly climbed off of me. They still surrounded me, but as I pushed past them toward the stable they didn’t try to stop me.

I finished opening the door and walked inside, closing it behind me. The
macoutes
did not follow.

Cadance led us into the hallway to the front door. We found the shotgun lying on the concrete floor. There was no sign of Pouchon.

“Where’s Tiara?” Cadance asked as she swiped her keycard.

“She didn’t make it,” I said.

She nodded. “Just like Rarity. But you made it, somehow.”

“I don’t know why, Cadance. They let me go.”

“Maybe they just hate my family so much they wanted to see you make it out of here.”

She pushed open the door and stepped outside.

The three of us followed behind, Julia clutching onto my shoulder.

I didn’t notice that Kathleen was out there waiting for us. Kathleen and the man with the assault rifle. And Gary, too, still looking a little dazed. And another guy, with yet another assault rifle.

“It feels like you cheated,” Kathleen said.

“Where’s Mike?” I asked.

“He’s dead, thanks.”

“We’re not going back in there,” I said. “You might as well just shoot us.”

“She doesn’t speak for all of us,” Cadance said. “I don’t want you to shoot me.”

“No one needs to be shot,” Kathleen said. “The test was a success.”

“But they made it out,” Gary said. “How is that a success?”

“Shut up. Tell me, girls... did you feel terrorized?”

“Uh, yeah,” Cadance said.

“And the
macoutes
did eat your sister...”

“Both her sisters,” Gary said.

“Again, Gary. Shut up.” She looked over to me. “Tell me, Amanda, do you feel that these zombies would be effective as an instrument of terror?”

“Yes,” I said. “Your parents would be so proud of you.”

“Good. Then there’s no need to feed more of you to the
macoutes
. Why that’s a waste of good breeding stock.” She turned to Gary. “Restrain them.”

“With what?” he asked.

“With the plasticuffs... in your jacket pocket... remember?”

Gary bound our wrists behind our backs, starting with me.

“So what are you going to do with me?” Cadance asked. “Are you going to let me go?”

“Do you have problems listening?” Kathleen said. “We’re going to drug you up, like the other girls.”

“Oh... I thought you were talking about the other three.”

“Amanda’s immune. Isn’t that what Gary told you? So it would be pretty hard to turn her into a zombie if she can’t be turned into a zombie. You following me so far?”

“So what are you going to do to her?” Cadance asked.

“Gary’s taking her,” Kathleen said. “Something about a trip to scenic Lake George.”

Gary licked his goddamn lips again.

“I really think you should just shoot me,” I said.

“I won’t get into it,” she said. “Just trust me that I’ll be a lot happier if your corpse is weighted down at the bottom of a lake. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some
macoutes
to round up.” She turned back to Gary. “Put them in a cell. We need to count the corpses... there’d better be nine of them. Pouchon had better be there.”

“Pouchon was nothing,” Gary said. “I’m sure he’s dead.”

“You’ve always been too sure of things. I guess that’s how you lost your pharmacist license.”

He bristled but didn’t reply.

They brought us into the building.

“The
macoutes
must still be in the yard,” Kathleen said. “I’m guessing you didn’t give any of them access cards?”