Dead Hunger IV: Evolution (8 page)

“Keep trying them, please.  We need Hemp’s brain on this.”

Gem thought for a second, then took Kev’s hand and squeezed it.  “Kev.  How do we know they’re not overrun?”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t think of that,” said Kev.

“We need some idea of how widespread this is.  This attack.”

“They don’t attack,” said Whit.

“Well, that’s what the fuck it looked like to me.  They weren’t carrying sticks or anything, but it was like a Civil War battle the way they emerged from the woods in a line.”

Kev took his radio off his belt and pushed the button.  “Hemp, Flex?  Do you read?  Gammon, you read?”

A click.  “Hey.  Dave here.  What’s the scoop.”

A s
well of relief washed over Gem.  She peeled the radio from Whit’s hand.  “Dave.  We’re surrounded by zombies here.  We saw them come out of the trees behind the range, but we’re thinking they’re coming from all directions.”

“What the hell?” Dave said.  “Gem, are you sure?”

“Sure?  How
the hell sure do I have to be?  There was a line of over a hundred of the fuckers coming out of the trees, Dave.
”

There was no sound on the other end.  Gem waited, tapping her foot and looking between Charlie, Lisa and Serena.

“Dave, are you there?” Gem asked, impatiently.

“Holy shit,” said Dave.
  His voice had changed.  Awestruck. 
“
Jeez, Gem.  You were dead on. 
They’re here.”

“Put Flex on,” said Gem.  “Please.  Now.”

“Baby,” said Flex’s voice, seconds later.  “We’re about ten miles from town.  These things weren’t on the road when we left, but they sure as hell are now.  It’s like being at a fuckin’ Stones concert.
  They’re everywhere.
”

“How many hours do you have left on the WAT-6?”

A pause.  “About two and a half.”

“Okay.  Get back here.  Have Hemp start figuring out why they’re here now.”

“He already said it.  The moment he saw them all.”

“What did he say?” asked
Gem
.

“He said we’re a beacon. 
The only flesh and blood smells for miles, and concentrated in one place.  He said he worried about this.”

“Nothing we could’ve done about being alive.”

Gem looked at the car where the two girls sat inside, preoccupied.  Then she looked at Serena, Lisa and Charlie,
their faces stern and serious.

Hemp’s voice came on the line.  “Tell Kev and Whit to get on the loudspeakers and have them radio everyone they can.  Defend from your homes, tell them.  Everybody blockade themselves in and get the weapons ready.  Preserve doors and windows and kill them when they get close.  Urushiol when possible, guns when necessary.”

Charlie took the radio.  “What about us, babe?  Hemp?  Should we go home, too?”

“Yes, go, Charlie.  Go home and wait for me.  I’ve got to drop this girl off at the lab and I’m coming straight away.”

“What girl?”

“I’ll tell you about
her later.  She’s one of them.  Now get to the house, Charlie.  You and Gem.  In your condition you don’t need to be getting hurt or exhausted.  Barricade in and have a lot of ammunition and urushiol ready.  There’s WAT-6 in the kitchen drawer.  If it gets hairy, everyone take it.  Got me?”

“I gotcha, babe.  Thanks,” said Charlie.  She released the talk button.

“Let’s go, Gem.  We need to get the girls to the house and let these guys handle this from here.  Serena, you and Lisa can stay and help them, but Gem and I are out.”

Lisa nodded. “Kev, we’ll go with you.  Whatever you need.”

“I’m in, too,” said Serena. 

Gem ran back to the car, Charlie behind her.  They jumped in and the girls asked a thousand questions in the short time it took to drive to the house.

Gem swung the car forward and backed into the driveway, right up against the garage door.  No zombies
lurked
around the
exterior of the home, giving them a
clear path to refuge. 

Once inside, Gem and Charlie secured the
doors and windows
and opened the front blinds.  They
waited for the horror show
to begin.

*****

Flex used the cow catcher
to toss them aside as they appeared in the roadway
.  The
massive host
of dead men and women
were accompanied by
hundreds of ratz
that milled about their feet, seemingly drawn to them like remoras to larger sea creatures.  They flowed like a rotted, stinking tide
toward the
Concord
city limits. 

Not wanting to risk a scratch from a thrown arm,
the men
kept the windows rolled up and did not fire on any of them yet. 
They
knew where
the creatures were headed
.

“They’re drawn to this wonderful assembly of scents in
Concord
,” said Hemp, staring out the window at
the
arriving guests.  “Hundreds and hundreds, as drawn to us as we are repulsed by them.”

“What the hell are we gonna do?” asked Dave.

“I’m hoping Kev and Whit are working on something,” said Flex.  “He’s got to mobilize everyone.  Almost everyone, anyway.”

“I’m sure he is,” said Hemp. 

The zombie was strapped, and sat in the back seat next to Dave.  Whenever Flex looked in the rear view mirror, he could see Dave checking his watch and glancing at the creature. 

“Nervous, Davey?” asked Flex.

“If the WAT-6 wears off and she scares the shit out of me, yeah.  Other than that, not nervous.”

“You’ve got over two hours left,” said Hemp.  “In fact, once we’re ahead of this pack a bit we should stop and take out as many as possible.  It’s either here or in town.”

“Good point,” said Flex, knocking another two zombies aside with the cow catcher.  They fell onto their bony butts on the curved, steel grid, then rolled off in opposite directions, unable to get caught beneath the tires.

“Nice job on this thing, by the way, Hemp.  Scoops them right out of the way ever
y
time.”

“The odd one goes on the hood,” said Hemp.

“No design is perfect,” said Flex.  “But this one is close.”

“I think this is far enough,” said Hemp.  “Pull over, Flex.  Let’s make some room at the dinner table.”

The three doors opened, and they got out.  They had pulled fifty yards ahead of the staggering zombies, and
now had enough space between them and their prey that they could have a nice, wide target.

“Considering we’re the main course, yes,” let’s,” said Dave.  He
slid
his
weapons
from the drop holsters and raised them
.

“Hold on,” said Flex, reaching inside the car for two cylinders of urushiol.  “Take one, Dave.  Put that sucker on stream.”

Dave did.  He ran forward about twenty feet and wet the entire passable area.  Then he ran side to side and wet the ground in a near circle around the three men.

He returned, breathing hard.  “Got it.”

“Good.  Their fuckin’ ratty feet will melt when they try to get past that.  We can concentrate on the tall ones for now.”

And so they did.  Flex’s
K7 began tat-tat-tatting
in three round bursts, and the
animated, ragged bodies
before them staggered and fell
, dying for the last time
.  They had closed the doors of the truck, locking their zombie charge in, and she seemed to be having no issues with the gunfire, for every time Flex looked over, she sat still, her face forward.

She bothered Flex.  She was calm.  Almost patient, as though she
were
awaiting something
of
which they had no clue.  Some secret held in her dead brain.

Dave’s shots were finding their marks with deadly accuracy
.  His shots were clean and
efficient
.  One-handers, too.  Every now and then he’d stop, reload, and go again.  Bang! 
Phhmp
.  Bang! 
Phhmp
.  Unsuppressed.  Suppressed.  Glock.  Walther.

Hemp was methodical, if it were to be described.  He took his time with each shot.  He was on single-round mode with his H&K, and raised the weapon, sighted in, and squeezed the trigger, making every round count.  Seven shots, seven zombies.

The bodies stacked up and the pack making its way past them now had to scramble over them, which made for some more easy targets.  Their progress was slowed, and as  a result,
they
had more time before needing to move the car.

The ratz made it over first.  For a moment, the men hesitated.  No firing.  The first ratz were approaching the wet roadway and shoulder, and each of them held their breath.

And suddenly, the wave of black ratz busily putting one foot in front of the other, working their hungry ways to Concord, New Hampshire, just stopped forward momentum; they didn’t stop moving, just moving toward
them
.

“Hard to run with melted fuckin’ feet, ain’t it?” shouted Fl
ex.  He looked over at the men, smiling.
  “
Urushiol m
ote, anyone?”

“You dig it, I’ll dump urushiol in it,” said Dave, firing carefully and bringing down two more of the walking rotters.

“Good enough for now,” said Flex.  “We need to get out of here.  I think Gem and Charlie are gonna be expecting us.”

“That they are,” said Hemp.  “
And
I need to get
that
girl
to my mobile lab, at least
.  That way I can keep
her
at the house so if everything goes to hell in a hand
basket, I can still perform my experiments.  I’ve got t
he EEG machine in there.  I need to do some brain scans on this one.”

The men got back into the truck and Flex fired the engine.  The distant zombies were scrambling over the pile of bodies, but they would be gone before they made it to where they were parked.

The ratz had never made it any further, but
they
could hear rustling in the weeds alongside the roadway before
they
got back into the truck.

“This crap is gonna mess with your experiments, isn’t it, Hemp?” asked Dave.

“Depends on how serious and how widespread it is,” he answered.  “If we are literally like a beacon to these infecteds, then we will battle this until they’re all dead.”

“Or we are,” said Dave.

“I wasn’t gonna say that,” said Flex.  He cranked the wheel and pointed.  “Look over there.”

The men followed his finger, and between some distant brush, an enormous group of zombies was working their way toward
Concord
.

“They probably came from the east,” said Hemp.  “Judging from their direction of approach.”

Flex looked straight ahead and
thought
about how to best phrase his question to Hemp.  A few more seconds and it became clear.  There was really no other way to ask.

“Hemp.  Could this mean there is no safety in numbers?  That in fact, it’s the opposite?”

Hemp was quiet for a moment or two, clearly understanding the implications of Flex’s
question
. 
Hemp
was a smart guy
, and he would immediately have known why Flex asked the question.  Both of their wives were pregnant, and their primary goal was to protect family first, everyone else came after.

“Flex, you’re right.”

“It’s not good being here with a huge group?”

“We’re a draw,” he said.

“A draw.  We’re like a new air freshener in a crack den.  We stand out.”

“Exactly.  Good analogy, by the way.”

“Yeah.  Even I got that one,” said Dave.  “So in other words, there’s a chance you all up and leave,” he said.

“Depends.  I talk to Gem about anything like that.”

“I don’t know Gem like you do,” said Dave.  “But I know that nothing is carved in stone with her.  If you think you should go, she’ll go.”

“But only if she thinks so, too.  She’s fought me before.”

“I was gonna go anyway,” said Dave.  “Maybe you guys will come with us.”

“Maybe,” said Flex.  “I miss Lula.  But I might like to get a feel for what’s happening on the west coast first.”

Hemp was quiet.  Flex noticed, and thought he’d bring it up.  “Hemp?  Any thoughts?”

“The thought of driving that mobile lab across the country again is depressing,” he said.  “But you know that I’ll do anything to keep my family safe.  Anything.  So if it involves a long westward trip, then so be it.”