Hollowmen (16 page)

31.

“Stella!” I leaned on the banister leading upstairs and yelled up to her. “Are you coming or not?”

“I’ll be down in a minute, Remy!” Stella shouted back. “Hold your horses!”

While I waited for her, I flipped through the book again.

We’d been at the house for a few days, and we’d already settled in rather nicely. Max and Stella especially took to it. The game room downstairs had a rather well-stocked library, and they had books on everything from cooking to making candles to finding edible plants in the wild.

That was the one I flipped through now. Stella and I planned on going out to try to gather some plants to eat, but I wasn’t sure how many of them would be out, since spring was only just beginning.

The previous tenants had been kind enough to mark pages – some were dog-eared and others were written on with a red pen – letting me know what they’d been able to find around here, where it was, and if it tasted any good.

“Stella!” I called again, sine she still hadn’t come down.

“I’m coming!”

I heard her before I saw her, a weird slogging sound that I didn’t understand until she appeared at the top of the stairs wearing oversized pink galoshes she’d found in her new bedroom. They came up to her knees and the rubber made an odd slapping sound when she took a step.

To top it off, she’d added a bicycle helmet we’d found in the garage. At least she’d worn her own clothes with it, but I wasn’t sure what we’d do when she started to outgrow them. I’d have to learn how to sew, I guess.

“What’s with the get-up?” I asked Stella, gesturing to her boots and helmet.

“We don’t know what’s out there,” Stella said, like it should be obvious. “I need to be prepared.”

“Can’t argue with that,” I said. “Come on.”

I took her hand when we went out the front door. She hesitated before following me, though, looking around in all directions several times before deciding it was safe. I didn’t hurry her because that was a good habit to have.

The house was pretty isolated, which was another reason I liked it so much. As far as I could tell, it was the only house on the entire lake. The driveway even stretched a quarter of a mile to the road.

The area surrounding the property was fairly wooded, mostly with pine trees but a few maples and oaks stood bare-branched in the mix. Despite the chill, some greenery was poking out here and there, shooting up between melting patches of snow.

We didn’t travel far from the house, because I hadn’t brought anything to defend ourselves with. I didn’t hear any zombies, and the area seemed safe enough. But that didn’t mean it was. I didn’t want to be any farther than a quick dash to safety.

Stella and I took turns looking at the book, and she studied the pictures carefully. We found a few leaves of something that was supposed to edible, but when I tried it, it tasted too bitter to possibly be consumed.

We did manage to find a small cluster of berries. I examined the pictures several times before I tried one, out of fear of accidentally ingesting something poisonous. Nothing happened after I ate a few, so I let Stella try one. I didn’t let her have any more though, until I’d seen how I reacted to them.

I wished Daniels was around. He’d know what to do if we accidentally ate something that could harm us. Hell, he’d probably even know what plants were dangerous, so we wouldn’t even need the book.

That wasn’t the only reason I wished Daniels was around, of course. I missed him a lot, more than I’d expected I would. But he’d been my only companion for six months, and though our relationship was rocky a lot of the time, I truly believed he was a good person. He tried to be rational in an insane world.

Sometimes I found myself going to ask him something or wanting to tell him something, only to remember that he wasn’t here. That he would never be here again.

“Remy,” Stella whispered. Her hand found mine, squeezing tightly onto it.

“What?” I asked, pulling myself from my thoughts.

“Are they zombies?” She pointed to three figures walking on the road at the end of the driveway.

They moved normally, with the fluid movements of humans that zombies were incapable of.

“No, honey, they are not,” I said quietly as I watched them.

There were two men and one woman. The woman had fiery red hair, long curls she hadn’t even attempted to tame. The younger of the two men was wiry, with a grizzled face. He had a scar that stretched out from underneath one eye around to his temple.

But the last guy was a giant of a man. He towered over the other two, with broad shoulders and a bald head that appeared to be twice the size of mine.

Their clothes were ragged and worn, and all three of them carried bags, fat with their possessions. I supposed they didn’t appear all that different from our little group, but my heart beat erratically when I saw them. I couldn’t see any weapons, but I was never sure if I could trust people.

They paused at the end of the driveway, talking among themselves. I held my breath, hoping they would keep walking, bypassing our house completely. But they didn’t. They turned and walked toward the house.

Stella and I were near the edge of the driveway, so they would see us when they got closer. We were somewhat hidden in the trees for now, so we had a chance to run and hide. Or we could step out and introduce ourselves.

I wasn’t sure what the best course of action was, but the three strangers were walking to the house, where Boden, Serg, and Max were playing cards in the basement game room. I couldn’t let people blunder on in them.

“Stay behind me,” I told Stella.

I still held her hand, but I’d moved so I was blocking her with my body. I took a few steps out to the driveway, and she moved with me, hiding behind me.

“Excuse me.” I cleared my throat, and the three people stopped short on the driveway. The smaller man and the woman looked startled, but the giant didn’t have any clear expression. “Can I help you?”

“I don’t know,” the smaller man said, his voice lilting with an accent. I couldn’t place it for certain, but it sounded almost Irish. “Can you help us?”

“Did you need something?” I asked, rephrasing my question.

“Is this your house?” the woman asked, and she at least attempted to sound friendly.

“Yes.” I stood up straighter and tried to sound more confident. “Yes, it is.”

“You live here by yourself then?” the wiry guy asked, smirking a bit, and then gestured to Stella hiding behind me. “You and the little girl, I mean?”

I shook my head. “No. There’s three other guys in the house. Waiting for us.”

His smile fell away, and he exchanged a look with the redhead. I definitely did not like the vibe I was getting from them. I wanted to run to the house away from them, but I feared if I ran, like mad dogs, they would give chase.

“Where are my manners?” The woman laughed lightly. “I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Hayley, that’s Louis,” – she pointed to the wiry guy – “and this big guy here is Bruce.”

“I’m Remy,” I said, because I had to say something back. “And that’s Stella.”

“We’ve been wandering for days,” Hayley said. “And as you can imagine, we’re quite tired. You wouldn’t mind if we stopped and just took a little break here?”

“I …” I started to shake my head. “I don’t think – ”

“We wouldn’t be any bother,” Hayley insisted and took a step toward me. “We have our own food, so we wouldn’t eat yours. We just need a little break, to put our feet up.”

I was wrong about Bruce, the giant standing behind her. I’d thought he didn’t have any expressions, but he was definitely grimacing now as he glared down at me.

“I’ll see,” I said, because I wasn’t sure that I could fight a giant like that on my own. But in the house, with Boden, Serg, and several guns, I thought I might stand a chance. “I have to check with the others.”

I picked up Stella then, putting her on my hip, and I turned to walk quickly to the house. I didn’t look back, but I could hear them following me, Bruce’s heavy steps clomping on the ground.

As soon as I got in the door, I put her down and whispered, “Go to your room and lock the door.”

She raced up the stairs, and I walked farther into the house, wanting to put distance between myself and the weary travellers.

“Boden!” I shouted, hoping he heard the unease in my voice. “Serg!”

Louis whistled when he came inside, eyeing up the rather impressive living room. I’d stepped back, moving deeper into the living room away from them. Bruce made a noise that was a cross between a grunt and a growl, and I have no idea if that was good or not.

“This is some place you got here,” Louis commented.

“And you have all this space just for the couple of you?” Hayley asked.

“Thanks,” I muttered, and Louis took off his backpack and casually tossed it on the sofa. “Boden! We have company!”

“Company?” Boden’s voice wafted up the stairs, and within seconds, I heard footsteps tramping up them.

Boden, Serg, and Max came upstairs, all three of them looking confused. I hadn’t called for Max, and I was hoping that they’d take the hint that I wanted him to wait downstairs. I had no idea what this might turn into, but I was certain that it’d better if Max stayed out of it.

“Oh, company.” Boden’s eyes widened with understanding and surprise when he saw Hayley, Bruce, and Louis standing our living room.

“This is Hayley, Louis, and Bruce,” I said, gesturing to each of them as I said their name.

Max, who always tried to be polite, couldn’t seem to help but gape up at Bruce. I motioned for him, but it took a few seconds for him to notice, since he kept staring.

I hissed his name, and then finally Max saw me and walked over to me. I put my arm around him, pulling him as close to me as I could without looking really weird about it.

“Sorry to just intrude like this,” Hayley said, smiling at Boden. “But we just needed a bit of rest.”

“And you definitely have the room for us,” Louis said as his eyes searched the room. I couldn’t help but get the feeling that he was casing the joint.

“No, no, it’s not an intrusion,” Boden said. He glanced quizzically at me, and then turned his attention back to our “guests.” Pushing up the sleeves of his fitted black shirt, he stepped toward them. “It’s always good to help out fellow survivors.”

“We’re glad to hear you say that,” Hayley said. “Some people can be so cruel.”

“And selfish,” Louis added.

“Well, um, we try not to be.” Boden smiled thinly at them. “I’m Sergeant Boden of the US Army.”

“Oh, a soldier?” Hayley attempted to look impressed, but it came across as condescending.

I’d never heard Boden introduce himself as soldier before, so I had a feeling he was trying to intimidate them. Let them know that he knew how to kill, and he would have no hesitation doing it again. 

“And this is Private Serg.” Boden gestured over to Serg, who had no army training whatsoever.

“Serg?” Louis snickered at that.

“What Louis means is that that’s an unusual name,” Hayley said, trying to correct her comrade. “Are you Russian?”

“Not that I know of,” Serg replied. “I was born and raised in America. That’s how I, uh, ended up joining the army.”

“There’s not much of an army anymore, though, is there?” Hayley wrinkled her nose. She’d walked over to the couch and rubbed the back of it, almost petting it.

“I mean, it’s really just the two of you, ain’t it?” Louis smirked and gestured between Boden and Serg. “For all intents and purposes, that’s all that’s left of the US Army.”

“You’re right.” Boden put his hands on his hips and glanced back at Serg. “We’re not much of an army.” He turned back to Louis and Hayley, smiling as genuinely as he could. “That’s why it’s great that you’re here. It’s so good to commune with others since there’s so few of us left.”

“Right,” Serg chimed in. “We’ve got to help each other out.”

“That is what we’re always saying,” Hayley said.

“You know what? I have a great idea,” Boden said excitedly, as if something had just occurred to him. “We have a bottle of vodka downstairs. I could get it, and we could all have a drink to celebrate. How does that sound?”

Louis, Hayley, and Bruce all looked at each other, and they looked quite pleased, like they were getting away with something. Louis especially looked like the cat that’d gotten the canary, and they all chuckled.

“Yeah,” Hayley said, trying not to laugh as she spoke for the group. “That sounds great.”

“Max, why don’t you go up to your room?” I suggested. “You’re too young to drink anyway.”

I thought he might fight me, because he hated to be left out of things, but he didn’t. He just sighed and trudged away. He had to walk past our guests on his way to the stairs, and Hayley reached out and ruffled his hair as he went by. I had to use all my restraint to keep from going over there and ripping her arm off.

“Excellent.” Boden clapped his hands together. “I’ll be right back with the alcohol.”

Boden turned and went downstairs. We had a few bottles of wine off the kitchen, but I knew for a fact that we had no vodka in the house. So I had no idea what Boden was getting in the basement, but I hoped it would help the situation.

32.

Serg and I stood off to the side of the room, waiting for Boden to return, since the guests seemed to fill up the living room. They’d spread out through it, claiming their space already.

None of them talked to us, but Hayley whispered something in Louis’s ear that made him laugh uproariously. He looked at me as he laughed, and it sent a chill down my spine.

“You know what, I’m sorry,” Boden said as he ascended the stairs. “We’re completely out of vodka.”

Then he turned at the top of the stairs, coming out so we could all see him and the crossbow he was carrying. He had it pointed at the ceiling so far, but it was locked and loaded. Bruce growled, and Hayley gasped at the sight of it.

“But I did find this awesome crossbow,” Boden finished. 

“Oy!” Louis held up his hands and took a step back. “There’s no need for that!”

“But…” Hayley looked genuinely distressed and confused, and her eyes darted around the room, before settling back on Boden so she could plead with him. “You said you wanted help! We survivors need to join together!”

“I lied.” Boden shrugged. “I don’t trust any of you, and I want you to get the hell out of my house.”

Something about that incensed Louis. He shook his head and swore under his breath. He made a move toward Boden, so Boden dropped the crossbow, pointing it directly at him.

“This isn’t your house!” Louis snapped, but he stopped. “You have no more right to this house than we do!”

“We found it first,” Boden said simply. “That makes it ours, and that makes you intruders.”

“We’re not intruders. We just want …” Hayley started off begging, but when she saw she wasn’t getting anywhere, she changed her strategy entirely.

She’d been leaning on the couch, but she stood up straight. Her expression had been desperate and plaintive, but it shifted to hard anger.

“I’ve walked too far and too long to let something like this go to a couple whiny bitches like you,” Hayley said. “I am
not
going back out there. So you can either leave now, or we can do this the hard way.”

“The hard way it is then,” Boden said and took aim with the crossbow.

They really didn’t expect him to fire. I didn’t know why not, except that they’d probably been able to prey on the kindness of strangers before. With so few survivors left, it was easy to want to stick together.

But people like Hayley and her crew had made it impossible for that happen.

Louis ran at Boden. Maybe he thought he could get to him before Boden pulled the trigger, but he didn’t. He’d barely made it two steps when the arrow pierced through his neck.

“You son of a bitch!” Hayley screamed.

While Louis clawed at his throat, I made my move. I figured I’d leave the giant for Serg and Boden to take care of, but I could get Hayley out of the way.

I raced over to the fireplace and grabbed a poker. Hayley was rushing towards Boden, who was reloading the crossbow with the quills he’d jammed into his back pocket. That left Serg trying to distract Bruce, who lumbered toward him.

I ran forward and landed on the back of the couch, knocking it back to the ground. Hayley was a few steps away from me, so I swung out wide with the poker. It connected with her back, and she cried out before falling forward on the floor.

Serg chucked a kitchen stool at Bruce, but he smacked it away and it crashed into the banister. Fortunately, Boden had finally reloaded the crossbow, and he fired at Bruce. It went through his ample bicep, but it didn’t really seem to slow him down.

“Why in the hell did you grab a crossbow?” Serg shouted in frustration.

“Cause we had more quills than we had bullets,” Boden said, once again struggling to reload. “It seemed logical!”

Hayley rolled onto her back, and I stood over her. I slammed the poker into her arm, and I could actually hear the bone snapping.

Serg had climbed up on the kitchen counter and grabbed the last kitchen stool. When Bruce came after him, trying to grab him, Serg tried beating him back with the stool. He swung it as hard as he could, and he landed a few good blows on Bruce’s head and arms.

Bruce was undaunted, though. He grabbed the stool and ripped it from Serg’s hands.

“Boden!” Serg yelled, backing up as far as he could go. “Fucking shoot him in the head!”

Bruce had grabbed onto Serg, one massive hand on each of his arms, and he’d begun squeezing him, crushing Serg with his bare hands.

Boden stood behind Bruce and aimed the crossbow up at the back of his head. It was nearly pointblank from that range, and when Boden pulled the trigger, the quill shot right into his head. It didn’t go all the way through, so the point was imbedded somewhere deep in Bruce’s brain.

It worked, though. Bruce let go of Serg, stumbled back, and then fell to floor so hard, the whole house shook.

“Please.” Hayley cradled her arm and scooted back away from me with tears in her eyes. “Please, don’t kill me.”

“Fine.” I lowered the poker. It didn’t seem right to attack her when she was defenseless like that.  “Get your shit and get out of here.”

“Thank you,” she said and struggled to get to her feet. “Thank you.”

She went over to gather her bag, as well as Louis’s, but since she only had one arm, that was a bit of a problem. As she fumbled around with the straps, I turned back to see how Serg was doing.

He sat on the counter, rubbing his arms. “Don’t ever grab the crossbow again,” Serg told Boden. “Use it for hunting, sure, but if we’re fighting zombies or something, no crossbow.”

“Sorry,” Boden said. “I didn’t think I’d actually have to shoot anybody with it, though. I thought that just bringing it out would be enough to scare them off.”

“We all survived,” I said. “And that’s what counts.”

“Yeah.” Boden had been looking at Serg, but then he turned toward me and his eyes widened with fear. “
Remy
!”

Then it was slow motion. I was turning around to see what was behind me, and the gun was going off, a loud shot that echoed through the room.

I lifted my arm, thinking I needed to shield myself from something, but I saw Hayley with a hole blown in her chest, falling back to the floor. When she landed, a knife clattered out of her hand.

She’d gotten a knife from her bag and was running up behind me to kill me.

I didn’t understand the gunshot until I looked at the top of the stairs. Max was lying on the floor, his feet hanging over the top step, with a shotgun lying next to him.

“Max!” I yelled and ran up the steps to him.

“Did I get her?” Max asked and sat up.

“Yeah, you got her.” I sat down next to him and brushed the hair back from his eyes. “What were you doing?”

“I heard you fighting, so I got the gun out from your room,” Max explained. I kept a loaded shotgun under the bed, in case zombies broke in during the night. “Then I saw her coming at you, so I shot her.”

“Oh.” I dropped my hand and didn’t know what to say to that. He’d saved my life, but he had just killed somebody. And he was only eight. The recoil had been so strong, it’d knocked him down.

“Did I do something wrong?” Max asked.

“No.” I shook my head and put my arm around him, pulling him to me. “No, you didn’t. I just wish that you hadn’t had to do that.”

“I know.” He pulled away from me, so he could look up at me. “I know you wish things were different, but they aren’t. This is the way things are, Remy. And they’re not going back to the way they used to be, no matter how much you want them to.”