Human Extinction Level Loss (Book 1): Nicole's Odyssey (10 page)

Sam sat staring out the windshield as Nicole opened her door and climbed in.  She gripped the wheel and stared ahead too.

“Look Sam, I know you loved that job, that it was your home…”  Nicole struggled for words. 

“I hated that fucking job,” Sam said. 

Nicole turned and looked at Sam in surprise.  Sam turned and smiled at her. 

“I’m hungry.  Let's get something to eat,” he said. 

Nicole held Sam’s gaze, then looked forward. 

“Martin Riggs.  That makes you a Lethal Weapon,” she said, smiling. 

She cranked the ignition and headed out down the highway.

Fourteen

It turned out to be a beautiful day.  The sun shown from a cloudless blue sky.  The temperature was a balmy seventy-four degrees. 

Nicole cruised down the two lane highway, right hand on the wheel.  Her left elbow rested out the open window.  Next to her, Sam matched her position.  His right elbow rested out the passenger side, his left hand kept time with Fleetwood Mac’s
Don’t Stop
that blared from the car stereo.  Sam looked around the landscape, the tooth-pic from the IHOP where they scavenged breakfast sticking out of his mouth. 

Sam felt like a new man, like a burden had been taken off his shoulders.  As he listened to Lindsey, Stevie, and Christine belt out the promise of a better day ahead, he tried to sing along.  He echoed the last word of the last line he heard in an effort to learn the words. 

Nicole kept her eyes forward.  She was glad to be on the road again, but did not allow herself the luxury of a better mood.  She kept her eyes forward and tried to ignore Sam’s off-key call and response exercise with what had always been one of her favorite songs.  She would probably admit it still was, though she felt like the words of encouragement were empty. 

As Sam tried to commit the words to memory, she became more agitated.  Christine McVie was in the middle of telling Nicole and Sam to just think what tomorrow will do, with Sam keying off “do”, when Nicole’s agitation reached a breaking point. 

“Sam!”

Sam looked over quickly at Nicole, the toothpick that he had been rolling around in his mouth momentarily drooping. 

“Who sings this song, Sam?” Nicole asked. 

Sam pulled the tooth-pic from his mouth and happily reached down and grabbed the mp3 player and looked at the screen. 

“It says Fleetwood Mac,” Sam offered. 

Nicole glared over at Sam.  “Then how about we let them,” Nicole said. 

Sam smiled.  “Hah, good one,” Sam said as he laid the mp3 player back down on the seat. 

Nicole turned her attention back down the road in front of her. Undaunted, Sam resumed tapping out the beat on his knee.  The tooth-pic went back in his mouth and his elbow went back out the window.  He still tried to get the lyrics, but not so as Nicole could hear him. 

They cruised on for another twenty minutes when they approached an overpass.  The highway crossed a wide aqueduct. Apart from a shallow trickle of a stream running down the middle, the waterway was dry.  Nicole looked over at it from the distance and noticed movement below. 

Wandering in aimless circles were twenty-five shufflers.  She slowed the GTO as they approached.  Sam looked over. 

“We stopping?” he asked. 

Nicole kept her eyes on the Dead as she stopped the car on the overpass midway across the aqueduct.  She put the car in park and shut off the engine. 

“If you’re gonna ride with me, I’ve got to know that you can handle yourself.  I mean going berserk with the lumber is one thing, but it’s a good way to become zombie chow, yeah?” she said.

Before Sam could offer a reply, Nicole opened her door and climbed out.  Sam watched her reach in the back and grab two of the rifles. 

“Grab a couple of those boxes,” she ordered. 

Sam reached over and grabbed two boxes of the ammo and got out.  Nicole and Sam approached the guard rail of the overpass and looked down.  The Dead below wandered back and forth.  Occasionally, one would reach the steep incline of the side walls and try to walk up it, only to stumble and roll back down. 

“Set the boxes there,” Nicole said. 

Sam placed the boxes on the guard rail. 

“You even shoot a gun before?” Nicole asked. 

Sam looked down at the Shufflers.  “I had a BB gun once,” he offered. 

He watched Nicole ready her weapon and mimicked her actions. 

“Well, this won’t be much different.  Only a couple of rules; aim small, miss small, and hold your breath when you release.  Got it?” Nicole said. 

She shouldered her rifle and drew a bead on one of the Dead below, a skinny shuffler with short kinky hair and a thick black mustache.  She let out her breath and fired twice.  Both shots penetrated its skull, and the zombie dropped to its knees and fell on its face.  None of the others seemed to notice as they maintained their circuitous course around the aqueduct. 

“Whoa!  I think you just killed Borat.  His sister’s gonna be pissed,” Sam said. 

He shouldered his gun and picked a target, a big round woman with huge breasts and a face that looked like it collided with a cosmetic factory. Swollen tissue and thick makeup sat on her face below hair that had been so teased and blow-dried it formed a halo twice as big as her head.  Sam let out his breath and squeezed the trigger.  The gun clicked but did not fire.  Sam lowered it and looked it over.  Nicole waited impatiently as Sam failed to find the remedy. 

Losing her patience, Nicole reached over and flipped off the safety for him. 

“This is what I’m talking about, Sam,” she admonished. 

Chagrined, Sam shouldered his rifle again and aimed at the big woman.  “Later, Dolly,” he said and fired. 

The big woman’s head twitched at the bullet’s impact, but she did not go down.  Sam lowered his weapon a second time and looked down into the aqueduct.  Nicole scanned the Shufflers below, then looked over at Sam. 

“Which one were you trying to hit?” she asked. 

Sam gestured in the distance. 

“Dolly Parton,” he said. 

Nicole looked down then saw her. “No, Sam!” she yelled.  “That is too far away.  An effective zombie killing range on a weapon this caliber is about forty yards!  Anything beyond that we don’t care about.” 

Sam frowned.  “Sorry.  I just hate country music, ya know?” Sam said. 

Nicole looked at the Dead.  “There, shoot that one there,” she told him. 

Sam looked down.  “Which one?” he asked.  

Nicole pointed. “Mullet boy, there,” she said. 

Sam saw where she pointed.  A lanky shuffler with a gore coated mullet wandered below.  He was dressed in a “wife beater” tucked into skinny jeans over biker boots.  Sam shouldered the weapon and drew a bead on the back of the Shuffler’s mullet. 

“And you shouldn’t try to shoot Dolly anyway, the woman’s a legend,” Nicole said. 

Sam squeezed the trigger twice in rapid succession and mullet boy dropped to the ground. 

“Just call me mullet hunter,” Sam bragged. 

Nicole rolled her eyes and squeezed off two rounds into a large shuffler with lamb-chop sideburns.  It plopped down into the stream, the water circling around it slowly. 

“Hey that looked like Elvis, he’s a legend too,” Sam said. 

Nicole lowered her rifle and waited for another to come into range. 

“Yeah, but old fat Elvis.  I like skinny young Elvis,” Nicole said. 

The two sat in silence for several minutes.  Sam looked away and sighed. 

“So I guess you’re wondering what I was doing still working in that store, huh?  It’s just that-” 

Nicole cut him off.  “Look Sam, You’re coming with me and that’s… fine I guess, but I’m really not interested in your life story, you know?  We have one job to do and that is get to Colorado disease free, understand?” she said. 

Sam remained silent.  Neither said much to each other as they spent the next hour plunking zombies that wandered within range.  When they were empty, they reloaded their magazines.  Nicole slung the rifle over her shoulder and turned to go. 

“That’s enough for now,” she said. 

Sam slung his rifle and followed her back to the car. 

“So, how’d I do?” he asked. 

Nicole did not turn around. 

“You did alright,” she said as she put her rifle in the back seat and jumped behind the wheel. 

Sam was all smiles as he stuck his rifle in the back and climbed in beside her.  Nicole cranked the GTO and hit the gas.  The car sped away as Sam tried to learn the words to
You Make Loving Fun
.

Fifteen
 

Walter Jefferies, he preferred just “Walt”, drove his old style school bus down the two lane.  He looked around and smiled.  The cloudless sky beamed blue down all over him. He loved days like this when it wasn’t too hot or cold, and it just seemed like something good was going to happen.  As he bounced along, the breeze blew in and caressed his face through his graying mustache  and goatee.  Matching colored shoulder length hair whipped around his head.  As the bus crested a rise in the highway, Walt saw a sign that said “Scenic Overlook”.  Thinking it was too nice a day to waste driving, Walt drove the bus into the turn-out and parked.  He cranked the lever that opened the sliding door.  Walt jumped from behind the wheel and grabbed his chaise lounge. On the way out he mashed a button on his mp3 player that was connected to the bus’s stereo. 
No Woman, No Cry
started to play as Walt went around to the front of the bus and climbed up on the hood.  He hauled himself up on top of the roof and opened up his chaise lounge.  Walt stood and took in the view.  The green valley stretched out before him and met the blue sky at the horizon.

“Well, Alright,” he said as he reached for the zip-lock bag in the pocket of his Hawaiian  shirt and plopped down in his lounge. 

A minute later, Walt was baking in the sun to the dulcet tones of Bob Marley. 

☣

Walt slept in his chaise.  His mouth hung slightly open, a light snore emitted.  Occasionally, his head would loll to one side or the other. 
Could You Be Loved
drifted from the bus beneath him. A noise beneath the music sounded in the distance and Walt woke up.  He looked around, unsure of where he was for a second.  He rubbed his face and listened.  There was no mistaking the sound.  Under the song’s rhythms, the throaty warble of a car’s engine could be heard approaching.

Nicole and Sam rounded a bend in the road and ascended the incline.  They passed the “Scenic Overlook” sign and saw the bus parked in the turn-out.  Nicole slowed the car and gripped the wheel nervously.  Sam leaned forward and pointed. 

“Look!” he said. 

“I see it,” Nicole said. 

“There’s a guy on top of that bus.  I think he’s waving at us!” Sam exclaimed. 

“I see him, Sam!” Nicole shouted back, agitated. 

She slowed the car further and stopped at the entrance to the turn-out.  The engine idled as Nicole stared at Walt through her windshield.  Sam watched Walt jumping up and down on the roof of the bus, waving his arms frantically.  When Nicole did not immediately pull in the turn-out, Sam looked over at her. 

“Aren’t you gonna pull in?” he asked. 

“I don’t know.  We don’t know this guy.  He could be… you know, a weirdo,” Nicole said. 

Sam turned back to look at the man again.  Walt’s hair flopped up and he looked like he was doing half-assed jumping jacks as he tried to get their attention. 

“Yeah, well he does look weird… but not in a dangerous way.  We should at least check it out, maybe he needs our help,” Sam said, not taking his eyes off Walt. 

Nicole  gripped her steering wheel and debated turning in.  On the bus roof, Walt was shouting now.

“Hey!  Over here, Man!” 

Sam looked back over at Nicole.  “He definitely sees us.  It would be rude not to at least say hi,” Sam said. 

“Well, we can’t be rude, can we,” Nicole countered, her voice slathered in sarcasm. 

She turned the wheel and eased into the turn-out.  Walt saw them approach and hauled himself down the front of the bus to the ground.  Inside the car, Nicole unsnapped the guards on her shoulder holsters. 

“Look sharp, Sam.  We don’t know what this guy is up to,” Nicole said as she brought the car to a stop. 

She looked over at Sam to get confirmation he heard her, but no sooner had the car stopped, then Sam bounded out the door and went running up to Walt. 

“Dammit, Sam-” Nicole hissed. 

She reached for a pistol as she watched Walt jog up to Sam with his hand stuck out.  On his face was a big goofy grin.  She watched in disgust as the two shook hands in the middle of nowhere like long lost friends. The two exchanged some words she couldn’t hear, then she saw Sam point back at her.  She watched Sam turn and look at her and gesture impatiently for her to get out.  Nicole sat still for a moment more.  She looked behind her and around the bus.  Not being Satisfied with her progress, Sam called out to her. 

“Nicole!  Meet Walt!  He wants to know if we’re hungry!  Isn’t that great?!” 

Nicole rolled her eyes, and with trepidation, shut off the engine.  She climbed out of the GTO, but before she walked over, she grabbed her rifle from the back and slung it barrel down across her back.  She did not approach. 

“Sam, can I talk to you for a second?” she called.