Dead Hunger II: The Gem Cardoza Chronicle (4 page)

She fired the gun.  The bullet
appeared to pass
through the thing’s neck,
but I couldn’t be sure from
this distance.  It kept coming.  Three feet.  Two feet.  She fired again, this time the bullet
hitting it in the
chest, the blood spray fanning out behind it.  The long rifle round from Trina’s gun sent it off balance, but it quickly recovered and regained the foot or two it had lost.

Trina
cried now
as the
zombie
close
d
the distance between them.  She dropped her gun, slid down the bark of the tree to rest on her bottom and put her hands over her head.

I didn’t have to see or hear it to know she was crying, frightened beyond all comprehension.

I screamed then,
frantic
to draw the creature’s attention
away from her.  My muscles tensed as I started to break into a run
, but before I could take the first step I felt
dead, scaly
arms curl around my neck, yanking me backward.  The stench of decay filled my nostrils.

*****

I was flat on my back, the sound of machine gun fire from Hemp and Flex’s weapons still filling the forest. It had begun to rain – not just a sprinkle, but a torrent.  The woods were alive with the cacophony of giant raindrops pummeling the trees and forest floor, along with the screams and moans of living and dead men and women in the throes of battle.

Holding onto my Uzi as I fell, I saw, just for a brief moment, the pinkish mist forming, beginning to cloud from the eyes
of the creature hunched over me. 
I jammed my gun barrel skyward, deep into the monster’s throat and pushed the butt upward to get the right angle. 

Turning my face away, and driven by my desire to protect a little girl who meant the entire world to me, I screamed “Get the fuck away from me you freak!” 

I fired a continuous burst, blowing the thing’s brains through the back of its head.  I grew wo
ozy for a moment, but clearly I’d
stopped the zombie before it could paralyze me physically and send me into darkness.

Trina screamed.  She screamed again.  Then it was a constant, piercing cry.

And I was like a crazed mama grizzly charging to protect her cub when I pushed out from under the dead weight of that very dead zombie and jumped to my feet.

And then my heart soared and I laughed out loud, the shrill sound threatening to drown out the torrential rain that pounded the ground with furious power.

The
rotter
that had been ready to drop onto Trina and bite into her flesh was now frozen on its knees dead.  Its head was against the bark of the pine, a perfectly fired arrow protruding from the back of its skull, its sharp tip embedded deep
within
the tree.

Charlie made it to her before I did, but I was close behind.  She stood back and thrust her leg straight out, slamming the heel of her boot into the side of the stuck zombie’s head, snapping the arrow and sending the very dead creature tumbling off to the side, far away from where Trina cowered screaming.

I was there.  I pulled Trina into my arms and hugged her tight to me,
her
tears blending with the rain on my face.  I didn’t even notice the gunfire had now ceased.

Trina’s screams stopped the moment I pulled her into my arms.  Her body still shuddered and I held her even more tightly to my breast, rocking her back and forth.

I felt a hand on my back and whirled around, my foot flying outward in a defensive gesture.  Flex jumped back to avoid my kick to the groin.

“It’s me, Gem,” he panted, out of breath.  “Just me.  Thank you, baby.  You guys did it.  We’re safe.”

He threw his arms around me and Trina, squeezing us to him.  I didn’t even notice the horrid splatter of gore that adorned his clothing until later, and even if I had, I could have given a shit.  My Flex and my Trina were safe.

When we finally broke free, Hemp and Charlie were still locked in their embrace, soaking wet, but alive.

We were all still alive.

CHAPTER
THREE

“I want to take this one with us, because it’s fairly obvious we’ve been found and this is no longer a safe place,” said Hemp, staring at the
female
zombie pinned to the tree.

“What does that have to do with taking this one?” I asked.

Flex’s arm was over my shoulder, and in his other massive arm and hand he held Trina.

“Because we’ve put Jamie to rest, Gem.  Hemp needs a live test subject, and this one, even with the arrow wound, won’t be dying anytime soon.”

“Ultimately I’d actually like both a male and a female,” said Hemp.  “There are differences that could tell me things.  For now, though, with regard to the epidemic itself, all I need to know can be learned from her.”

Flex held Trina’s face to his shoulder; she didn’t need to see this stuff.  The pinned creature struggled and threw its arms out trying to reach us, but we were just out of
its grasp
.  Its grunts and throaty modulations sounded like puke-gargling.

“Let’s get the stuff,” Gem said.  “Rope, I assume?  Flex cuffs?”

“I’ve got to get some of my arrows back and then I’ll help out Hemp, guys,” said Charlie.  “You two get that little one back to the house.”  She had two arrows left in her quiver.  She walked to the nearest zombie, one with an arrow in his neck and his mouth and looked down at him, shaking her head.

“
In my defense
, I was trying to get around Hemp when I shot him in the neck.  The mouth shot came right after Hemp dove for his magazine.”

“We know you kick ass,” I said, smiling.

As we stared, Charlie put one foot on the dead thing’s chest, slung her crossbow back on her shoulder and  grabbed both arrows at the same time.  She yanked them and they withdrew with a bubbly hiss.  The one from the creature’s mouth had a nice chunk of meat on it.  I didn’t want to speculate which part of the human anatomy it was, but tongue came to mind.

“Really, Charlie?  We’ll buy you some more,” Hemp said, smiling.

“Why?” she asked, returning the smile.  “These are in near perfect condition.  Just like gathering seashells on the shore, without all the romanticism.”

Flex was retrieving spent magazines from among the leaves and branches, when he looked up and laughed.

“Hemp, buddy.  Looks like you got your wish.”  He pointed.

My gaze followed
his finger
, as did Hemp’s and Charlie’s.  Nearly twenty yards away, in the most distant trap we’d set up, a male zombie was stuck in the snare, both of his legs pulled skyward.  He stared upward, silent.  We could only tell he was still alive because both of his hands clawed at the dirt.

“Okay, that settles it.  I’ll carry Trina back to the house, and Gem, you stay with her.  I’ll help them get these two strapped to a table in the lab.”

“Okay.  But wear masks.  We don’t have time for anyone to be taking a nap,” I said.

As we walked back toward the house, I said “Babe, we
do
have to leave, don’t we?”

Flex looked at me.  “I’m afraid
so
, babe.  These fuckers found us, and probably left a trail of stink for the others to follow.  I don’t want to go to sleep every night wondering if we’re going to wake up surrounded.  No matter how many proximity alarms we have, we simply need stronger protection.”

“We’ve got quite a lot of equipment to move with us,” I said.  “We’re going to have to hit an industrial supply store.  I think we need a hand-crank fuel pump in case we need to extract gas from stations and stuff.”

“How do you even know about stuff like that?” Flex asked, shaking his head.

“Because Uncle Rogelio used to run a small farm, Flex.  I’ve told you that. 
He had in-ground fuel tanks and t
hat’s how he filled his tractors and
other equipment
.  I think it’s an invaluable tool to have
, especially now
.”

“Shit, girl,” he said, laughing.  “You know I never listen.  I didn’t used to, anyway.  I will now.  You just saved my life, Gem.  Big time.  We were both as good as dead.”

“Nobody’s eating my Flexy except me,” I said, winking.

We got to the house and I took Trina from Flex and took her inside.  I got her settled on the sofa with a juice box, and sat with her for a while.

“You okay, baby doll?” I asked.  Flex called me that a lot, so it came automatically.

“I was scared,” Trina said.  “I didn’t kill one.”

“No, but you shot him twice, sweetheart.  That was really good for your first time.  And under such pressure, too!”

“
It
was,” she said, looking up at me with her beautiful blue eyes.  “Such fucking pressure, Gemmy
I can’t tell you
.”

I suppressed a laugh, then said
screw it
.  I
let it out
and pulled her to me.

Now might be a good time to remind you that I’d given Trina permission to use whatever language she felt
a
situation called for.  This is a new,
scary
world
and believe me when I tell you that I can’t control my
own
mouth.  I’ve always been one who doesn’t preach what she doesn’t practice, and this isn’t the time to worry about
foul language
.

Besides, Trina was trying to charge me a quarter, or a dollar, or some shit like that whenever I cussed, and let me tell you:  I do NOT carry around that kind of cash.

But I digress.

“You
were
under pressure, baby.  And you pulled that trigger like we said and you did good.  You knocked that thing back in time to let Charlie kill it.  If you hadn’t slid down on your bottom she wouldn’t . . . well, let’s just say you did really good.”

Trina’s tears came in a flood.  “I was so scared, Gemmy.”

“I know you were,” I said, her little cheeks in my hands.  I planted a kiss on each side.  “But we’re okay now.  All of us.”

“I miss Jesse, mommy and daddy,” she said, her tears still flowing.

“So do I, baby.  But remember the angels.  They helped us save Flexy and Uncle Hemp.  They were right there beside us.”

“Really?” she asked.  “I love them so much.”

I hugged her so tightly I lost track of time.

I figure it was about forty-five minutes later I heard footfalls on the porch.  I jumped up with my Uzi and pulled back the shade.  As I did it, Hemp, Charlie and Flex came in through the front door and Flex quickly set the alarm system to active.  Hemp turned on all the video monitors, the cameras all
revealing
no imminent threats, the motion detectors idle.

“Fucking rain,” said Flex.  “It’s pouring out there.”

“Doesn’t look like it’s going to clear anytime soon,” I said. 

“We need a meeting,” Flex said.  “A game plan.”

Everyone nodded, and I dropped back beside Trina.  They all sat down around us, guns at their sides.  I was glad to see Charlie had left the dirty arrows outside.  She had the Glock beside her instead.

“
Where
to go
is the main question,” Flex said.  “Any ideas anyone?”

“I’m thinking we should
go
check on Max at the CDC,” Hemp said.  “And Cynthia and
Taylor
, of course.”

“They might have gathered some more survivors,” I added.  “Max might be running low on fuel about now.”

“We should try to radio him,” said Hemp.

Flex got up and turned up the volume on the Ham Radio transceiver.  Static filled the room.

He pushed the button.  “This is Flex Sheridan, calling out to Dr. Max Romero at the CDC.  Come in, Max.”

More static.  Then a click.

“Max Romero here,” the voice came.  “Flex, do you read me?”

Flex looked at us and smiled, then pushed the talk button.  “Max, buddy.  How are you making out over there?”

“Good to hear your voice, friend,” Max said, sounding harried.  “We really cut back on power draw but apparently there’s gas flowing somewhere else in these buildings, and I can’t shut it down.  Must be a slow leak, but we’ll be lucky to make it through tonight with the fuel we have.  We’re still okay, but I’m seeing some abnormals on my camera now and then.  About twelve different ones over the past ten hours or so.”

Flex shook his head.  “They’re in trouble,” he said to us.  “Once his power kicks out the door locks release.” He didn’t need to explain it to us, of course.  It was clear what we had to do first.  He waited for us, and we all nodded in the affirmative.