Man Eaters (24 page)

“Come on!” Dallas yelled to Roper, who rose and helped Safety lay Lillian in the back of the transport. As they did, bullets pinged around them. Roper turned and shot cover fire as Safety pulled himself up.

“Come on, girl! Get your ass in here!”

Roper fired off a few more rounds before grabbing hold of Safety’s thick wrist and was lifted off her feet as he yanked her up and into the bed of the transport.

“Go, go, go!”

The transport took off and four-wheeled over a pile of sandbags before landing heavily with its back wheels in a ditch.

“Shit.” Roper looked back to the tents, expecting to see soldiers coming after them, but she saw they were now involved in a battle of another sort. Apparently, in all the confusion, the man eaters had broken free from wherever they’d been kept. The five that managed to escape began attacking everyone—civilians, doctors, and soldiers alike.

“Holy mother of God,” Safety murmured, watching the chaos.

Roper realized the wheels were spinning in the ditch and they were going nowhere. Before she could stop him, Safety jumped out and put his shoulder to the back of the truck.

Jumping out, Roper ran to the passenger side of the truck where Dallas was leaning out the window.

“Damn, am I glad to see you. He’s going to rock it. Don’t spin the wheels.”

Running back to Safety, Roper froze.

The five man eaters had quickly tripled to fifteen, as they scratched, bit and clawed at the living who were feverishly trying to get away.

And they were fleeing in the direction of their transport...with the eaters right on their heels.

“Come on, Safety, you got this,” Roper urged, shooting at the man eaters coming toward them. They were less than a hundred yards away and gaining momentum as they bit those incapable of staying on their feet, ripping flesh from their bones. Some stopped to gorge themselves on those who had fallen while others seemingly moved with a greater purpose.

“Eighty yards,” Roper said, shooting at the horde, taking foreheads off and shooting man eaters through the eyes.

Suddenly, in the back of the truck with her was Dallas. She, too, began picking off man eaters shuffling toward them.

“How’d you find us?” Roper asked, blowing the head off a zombie soldier.

“Luke. He’s the driver.”

Roper paused to look at her. “The soldier? No kidding.”

“It’s a long story.”

Roper squeezed off another round. “Save it for later.”

“They ain’t gonna be a later if we can’t get this truck outta the ditch,” Safety said, straining to get the truck to rock back and forth.

“Cover us,” Roper said, jumping into the ditch with Safety and taking the opposite side.

“Seventy,” Dallas announced, hitting her target one in four times she shot. The truck rocking lowered her percentages. “Fifty yards.”

Roper looked up to see Dallas firing away.

“Blow out slowly. Take your time,” she growled to Dallas, heaving with her shoulder along with Safety.

“Forty. Come on, guys. We either have to get out or start running!”

Roper looked at Safety. Beads of sweat dotted his brow, his enormous biceps bulged as he put more effort into it.

Dallas picked off three more, but she estimated there were still at least twenty in this first wave.

“Twenty-five.” She could see the whites of those who still had eyes. “And there are more behind them.”

Roper jumped up into the transport and quickly took out three more, but she knew they were done in ten more yards. There were simply too many of them.

The moaning was the worst of it. That low, pitiful sound like a sad cow was worse than creepy and in unison, it settled in the marrow of your bones telling you you’d either be moaning soon or be someone’s dinner.

With ten yards to go, the truck suddenly lurched ahead, leaving Safety face first on the ground. That was when Roper saw the blood on his back. He’d been shot. As he slowly tried to get up, she knew he didn’t have anything left in him. Leaping to the ground, she ran to him and grabbed his arm to help him get to his feet, but he was enormous…and heavy. As the eaters closed in, their moaning now changed to that scratchy growling sound they make while feeding. Dallas joined her and together they struggled to get Safety to his feet.

“Jesus, Roper, did you have to make friends with the biggest man on the planet?”

As they pushed and pulled the huge football player into the back of the transport, Roper turned back around just in time to smash the butt of her rifle into an eater’s face. “Go!”

“Come on!” Dallas urged, shooting the three more zombies.

Scrambling into the transport, Roper raised her rifle once more and then froze. “Fuck.”

“What is it?”

Slowly taking aim, Roper inhaled deeply and squeezed off three rounds. The third one hit Stephanie’s forehead, sending her against a tree trunk. “Just someone I knew.”

As the transport took off, it felt as if they hit every bump in the road. Roper and Dallas were barely able to grab the sides before hurling out the back. When they were far enough away, and clearly out of the danger zone, Roper turned Safety around so she could see his shoulder wound. It was bleeding heavily.

“Do you know you’ve been shot?”

He shook his head. “Never felt nothin’.” He looked down at Lillian. “I’m fine. Help her.”

Kneeling next to Lillian, Roper realized she, too, had been shot and, judging by the location of the exit wound, she was shot by the same bullet that was now lodged somewhere in Safety’s shoulder.

“Lillian? Can you hear me?”

The old woman’s eyes fluttered open a moment before closing again. “We make it?”

Roper’s eyes filled with tears as she held the cold, bony hand in hers. “We sure did and we couldn’t have done it without you.” Roper knew there was nothing they could do for this brave woman except stay with her while her life slowly ebbed away.

Lillian smiled and said, “Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us, our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life. Live on, brave girl. Do my death justice.”

When Lillian exhaled her final breath, Roper sobbed. She cried out of a depth of sadness for a woman she didn’t know. She cried out of fear poisoning her system and making her feel weakened. She wept for the utter helplessness of not being able to save such a courageous spirit. She sobbed because she could no longer keep it all in.

“I’m so sorry,” Roper whispered.

When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she expected it to be Dallas’s, but it belonged to Safety.

“The old gal knew exactly what she was doing,” he said softly. “She went out on her own terms. You gotta respect and admire someone with the will to do that. May she rest in peace.”

Rising, Roper nodded and wiped her face before making introductions.

“Thank you for saving Roper,” Dallas said, shaking his huge hand. “Apparently, it takes a village.”

Roper forced a grin and shook her head.

“Oh no, Dallas, she saved me,” he countered. “She’s got brass balls, fo’ sho.”

Dallas smiled over at Roper before folding her up in her arms. “You’ve got to stop scaring me like this.”

Roper buried her face in Dallas’s neck and clung to her, knees weak and feeling emotionally drained. She wasn’t sure how many more near misses she had in her.

“Come. Sit. We’re safe for now.” Dallas pulled the scrub shirt off Roper and used it to press into Safety’s wound. “We’ll have to wait and have Butcher take a look at it. How are you feeling, big guy?”

“Safe. Scart. A little nauseous.”

“We’ll have you patched up in no time. Just close your eyes and rest.”

As the transport rattled along the hills, Roper asked, “Where’s he taking us?”

“Back to the horses. To Einstein.”

“You think Butcher’s still waiting for us?”

Dallas nodded. “I do. I trust her. Don’t you?”

“It’s not her I’m worried about. I’ve had plenty of time to think while I was tied to that fucking bed, and we have to cut the others loose, Dallas. It’s not a match and you need to come to terms with that. We are not responsible for their safety, and you can’t save everyone.”

“Not trying to.”

“It’s just not safe with them. We need to know we have each other’s backs and aside from the three of you, I can’t say that about anyone else.”

Sitting on the bench next to Roper, Dallas held her hand with her free hand while the other applied pressure to Safety’s shoulder. “You look exhausted. When you feel up to it, I want to hear all about it. Right now, take a deep breath and stop worrying about everyone else. You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

When the truck suddenly stopped, Luke came around to the back and popped his head in. “How we doing back here?”

Rising, Roper jumped out of the truck and extended her hand to him. “I can’t thank you enough, Private Kennedy.”

Luke shook her hand and smiled. “It’s just Luke now, ma’am. You ladies could have killed me, but you didn’t. We’re even.” When his eyes caught Lillian’s body, he looked at Dallas, who shook her head.

“Well, after getting stuck in a ditch, to lose only one of you is pretty damn good. I wasn’t so sure we were going to get out of here.”

“We have Safety to thank for it.”

Safety gave him a thumb up. “Safety.”

“Luke.”

“Are we near the horses yet?” Dallas asked.

“Another ten miles or so. Anyone want to sit up front?”

Dallas and Roper both said, “Safety.”

Helping Safety to the passenger side, Roper wadded the scrub shirt up and placed it between him and his shoulder. All he needed to do was lean back for the direct pressure he needed.

“How you doin’?” Roper asked, seeing the heavy perspiration on his face.

Safety forced a grin she was sure he didn’t feel. “I’m alive. That’s something.”

Roper looked over at Luke. “Thank you. Again.”

He waved her off. “No need. We’re square. Your friend here needs a doctor, though.”

“Oh hell no. No mo’ doctors for me.”

Roper ignored Safety. “We’ve got someone on our team who can help with that.”

Nodding, Luke started the truck. “Get in then. I’ll take us all back to Butcher.”

“You ain’t seriously gone take me to a doctor who goes by the name of Butcher are you?”

“She’s a war medic, Safety. You’re in good hands. I promise.”

Roper hustled to the back of the transport and hopped in, avoiding Lillian’s body. “How in the hell did you find me?”

“First, I found Luke. Then he found a transport. We had just driven up when we saw you make your play for that transport. We would have been right behind you, but one of the soldiers stopped us. Are you okay?”

“Barely. Einstein’s been right all along. He—” Roper looked suddenly panicked.

“Relax. He and Peanut are fine. So are the horses. Those kids follow directions well. Peanut even buried herself in the grass to hide. They’ll sure be glad to see you.” Dallas glanced down at Lillian. “Friend of yours?”

“We picked her up seconds before we busted from the transport. She...is one of the bravest people I barely met.”

Dallas threaded her fingers through Roper’s. “If you keep scaring me like this, I’ll never make it to the Promised Land.”

“Yeah. We need to do something about that.” Roper inhaled a deep breath before asking the question she had been avoiding asking. “Do you want me to cut the horses loose?”

“No. No. Not at all. Not yet. I mean…we’re going to have to sooner or later, but right now, they are still a vital part of our group. That being said, I do think we need to stick together better. I can’t lose you, Rope. The thought scares me to death, and yet we keep letting ourselves be separated. It…scares the shit out of me.”

Roper turned to her, their knees touching. “I know that feeling and I totally agree. We have to start relying on the others to do some of the heavy lifting. We can’t do it all. We’ve become a family but we’re not the parents. We have to spread the workload.”

Dallas held her hand tighter. “You’re right and it looks like we’re adding one more to the pack, aren’t we?” Reaching out with her free hand, she touched Roper’s short hair. “Love the new ‘do. When did you have time to get your hair done?”

“Oh this? It was nothing. Didn’t have time for a manicure, however.”

Dallas’s eyes softened as she looked at Roper, her short hair making her appear much younger. “It looks great, really.”

Roper self-consciously touched her hair. “Think maybe you can trim it up when we have time? I’m sure I look like a boy now.”

“You look beautiful to me.”

Roper blushed and laid her other hand on top of Dallas’s “Thank you. So we’re good with keeping Safety, right? I mean, the guy pushed a truck out of a ditch while bleeding from a gunshot wound. I’d say he’s earned his way.”

“Absolutely. Seems we keep collecting people who save your ass.”

Roper grinned. “Too true.”

They rode in silence for a little ways before Dallas said quietly, “I can’t do this without you, Roper. I honest to god can’t.”

Roper squeezed her hand tightly. “Hopefully, you won’t have to.”

****

When they finally returned to the horses, Einstein and Peanut were beside themselves. Both of them cried—out of sheer terror of being left alone. Einstein tried to be strong, but the moment he saw Roper, the floodgates opened.

“Oh man, I thought—”

“I’m a helluva lot harder to kill than that, kid. Have some faith.” Roper mussed up his hair and grinned at him.

“You guys are a long way from the rest of your group, right?” Luke asked. “I was thinking if we could find a way to get the horses in here.” He patted the transport.

Dallas placed her hand on his shoulder. “Only two would fit and I think we’re done separating. That’s not working very well for us. I appreciate the idea, though.”

Luke ran his hand through his hair and nodded. “It’s crazy what’s happening. I was trained to protect American liberty and now I’ve been ordered to kill on sight those I was protecting a couple of weeks ago. It’s insane.”

“Yes, it is. You know, you are welcome to come with us if you’d like.”