Mark Clodi (22 page)

The hot July days caused everything to radiate heat, the pavement, the abandoned vehicles, the office buildings, everything was a blur of red, orange, and yellow. The burning sun also expedited the aging of their dead skin. For these reasons Nancy had opted to rest, not that the dead needed rest, during the day and hunt under the cool blanket of night.

Earlier that day they had been resting at what used to be a night club called 'Cool Water'. It's lack of windows and overall dark and cool motif made it a perfect place to lay low and wait for nightfall. During the day Nancy had heard sporadic gun shots from the north. As soon as the sun set behind the Rocky Mountains she sent Veronica and Julie to scout it out. It was not long before the two returned with good and bad news. Half a mile from the night club three men were occupying a Conoco gas station. The bad news being they were armed with rifles and hand guns. These were weapons Nancy would really like to have, adding firearms to her super human strength was a very good plan, so the gang set out towards the gunfire.

Even before they reached the gas station they could see bright flood lights and hear gun fire. The Conoco was located at a corner of a small strip mall. The gas station was comprised of one small building in the middle flanked on either side by fours sets of gas pumps. The red and white Conoco signs lit up the evening sky. The windows and doors of the gas station were boarded up and the only movement that could be seen was on it's flat roof. A parking lot filled with rambling zombies separated the gas station from the rest of the buildings.

‘Such a waste.’ thought Nancy, ‘Someone needs to make zombies stop making zombies or we are going to run into a serious food shortage.’

Nancy and her gang hid in the shadows and watched for a little while as the people, men, Nancy thought, shot the zombies milling about in the parking lot and empty streets. Veronica’s report had been accurate. There were three men atop the gas station laughing and drinking beer as if they were on a camping trip in the mountains. She watched as a zombie stumbled into the parking lot attracted to the energy the men gave off like a moth to a flame.

Nancy gave the girls orders to back her up if she looked like she needed help, emphasizing her commands with a mental nudge as well, then she crept into hearing range. Surprisingly this was farther out than Nancy would have thought, so her hearing was improving too? Or the men were just loud braggarts…

“Hey Jake, who’s turn is it?”

“Um, I think George’s.”

“Bullshit, he got the last one, the fat nurse bitch.”

“Come on Tony, you’ve got him by over a hundred fucking points” Jake insisted.

“I still say it’s bullshit, fucking bullshit. You had better start writing this shit down.” Tony shot back and took a long swig of beer which ended with him tossing the empty can over the edge of the roof.

“Hey maaaan, don’t get your panties in a ruffle. You’ll get your turn.” George said. He moved over to the edge of the roof and took aim on the approaching zombie with his hunting rifle. When he had finally lined up the shot he paused for a long moment as though something was bothering him. The bullet sailed over the left shoulder of the zombie.

“Shit!”

“Minus five points dick hole. My turn.” Tony insisted.

“Naaa man, I get one more shot, that’s the rules baby, you got to O-bide by the rules man. Not to worry, I think smoke got in my eye.” George said removing hand rolled cigarette from his mouth which he flicked over the edge of the roof.

“I’ll stick something in your eye.” Tony mumbled.

“You would too. Fucker.” George’s second shot was true and split the zombies head in two. “Give me fifteen big ones Jake.”

“Ten asshole, your first one missed.” Jake corrected.

“Fuuuck, what ever man. What-eva.” George grabbed a beer, returned to his lawn chair and started rolling another cigarette.

The men had several hunting rifles and hand guns. When they weren’t shooting zombies they argued, drank beer and talked about bitches. Nancy watched five more zombies get disposed of in the same manner as the first. She was formulating a plan on how to get the men down from their secure perch when Veronica touched her shoulder.

Veronica sneaked up to Nancy and pointed across the parking lot, “Look” she whispered. There was a dark figure leaning against a car. “He’s been there since we arrived.” Even with the bright energy of the gas station illuminating the parking lot Nancy could see that this man was void of energy. Other zombies looked dull and almost blue black in color, the living were a swirling pattern of bright energy that were easy to spot. 'Another stupid zombie, great. Or rather maybe a more intelligent one, if he were not in the streets milling about he probably was a second tier zombie already.' thought Nancy.

“Yeah, thanks V, now if you don’t mind we’ve got work to do.” Another shot rang out and another zombie fell to the ground, fifteen points for Jake.

Nancy decided to wait until it was once again George’s turn before she moved from her hiding place. She straightened her dress and started towards the gas station.

Nancy was surprised at how close she got to the men before Jake took notice of her. She could hear them arguing over “who had fucked the fattest chick.”

“Shit George, your turn and you only get five points because she’s so damn close that even your mah-ther could nail her.”

“Who nailed George’s mom?” Tony joked.

“Hey boys don’t sh…” was all Nancy managed to get out before a bullet ripped through her left thigh. The impact knocked her backwards where she fell over a body.

Nancy screamed then yelled, “Help! I can’t believe you shot me! It hurts! It hurts bad!”

“Aahh shut it. You’re ugly and I don’t need an ugly bitch telling me what to do. I was married to one for thirteen years.” Tony called down to her.

“Heeey man, it was my turn”

Tony turned to George, “You know what? I’m getting pretty damn sick of this ‘my turn’ shit” and threw his nearly full can of Coors Light at him. It flew way over his head a fell to the ground below harmlessly.

“Dude, your aim sucks.” George said and three men broke out in laughter.

Wiping tears from his eyes, Jake said “Aw crap man that was funny, finish her off T.”

“Hey, hold on man, she ain’t a zombie, maybe we should help her?” George interrupted.

“Shit, now you really remind me of my wife. ‘Help her!’ 'Help her!' What a dumb ass! She didn’t bleed right, she had that brownish shit in her like all the others, that makes her one of them. So you are not only as ugly as my ex, but you are just as stupid as her too.” Tony said before reloading his rifle.

“Fuck you asshole, I know you couldn’t see anything it is too goddamn dark, you shot a woman man, a living woman!” said George.

Tony looked through the sight on the rifle and was surprised when he couldn’t locate Nancy. “Shit. Yeah, you’re so smart if she was a woman where the fuck is she? She was zombie man, all the way.” This got George and Jake’s attention. All three men leaned over the edge of the roof craning their necks trying to spot her.

While the guys had been busy laughing Nancy used the distraction and limped her way to one of the gas pumps. The metal roof that had once protected customers from the weather while they pumped gas now hid her from the men above. She removed one of the nozzles and flipped the switch to “On”. When Nancy pulled the handle gas began spilling onto the ground. Her plan was to smoke the guys out of their hiding place and now all she needed was a light. She had searched several of the bodies without any luck when she spotted the smoke still drifting from the cigarette George had tossed from the roof.

“You guys smell that?” Jake asked.

Nancy watched as the entire gas station parking lot burst into flames. Either the beers or the hand rolled cigarettes caused George to forget about using the ladder they had up on the roof because he chose to jump rather than lowering it in his haste to get away from the flames that were spreading into the gas station below the men. He crumpled to the ground in pain when he landed, holding his left ankle. Tony and Jake, on the other hand, lowered the ladder and began climbing down.

Tony was still halfway down and Jake had only put one foot on the pavement when an explosion ripped through the gas station. The impact of the blast threw both men into the air and after a very short flight they landed hard and lay still, their bodies smoking from where their clothing had caught fire.

The intense heat from the fire made Nancy nearly blind. She could barely make out a faint form of energy crawling away from the gas station. It was George and he was trying to escape. Nancy ran after him and when she got close enough she grabbed him by his broken ankle causing him to howl in pain.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” She tightened her grip on his leg and he screamed again.

“Two for you and one for me. It’s only fair sweet cheeks.”

Startled Nancy looked up to see a black figure on the other side of George. The same black figure that Veronica had pointed out to her across the parking lot. He was a large man well over six feet tall and probably pushing close to two hundred and fifty pounds. He wore black steel toe boots, dirt and oil stained jeans, and a gray mechanic style work shirt that had the name “Dave” sewn on the left breast pocket in red letters. Nancy wondered if it was the reflection from the flames or perhaps his last meal that gave the tips of his long blond hair a pinkish tint.

“Fuck off, Dave.” she snarled back, emphasizing his name. Nancy began pulling George by his broken ankle causing another scream to erupt from his lips. Her progress was cut short when Dave reached down and grabbed George by his wrist suspending him mid air between the two of them. George let out another yell of agony.

“Come on pumpkin pie, I’ve had my eye on these guys for two days now, I deserve a little something for my efforts don’t you think?”

Irritated she turned back to face Dave. “I don’t give a crap how long you watched them. The bottom line is this: I got them down and they are mine, all three of them. You had better let go unless you want that beautiful blond head of yours split in two by her.” Nancy finished pointing to Veronica who had taken her standard place at her misstress's side.

“Such violence. Don’t you think we’ve all seen too much violence the last couple of days? Let’s be civilized. We each get one and then maybe we all head off into the shadows and have some fun, just the three of us.” he smiled.

“Not a chance in hell. V” Nancy gave the nod for Veronica to put an end to the discussion. She raised her blade but stopped when Dave revealed a sawed off double barrel shot gun that he had been hiding behind his right leg. The gun was now pointed at her master’s head.

“I know what you are thinking pop tart, ‘is it loaded?’, ‘can his dead fingers accurately pull the trigger while holding the meat with his right hand? Is he a lefty?’ Lets not find out ok? It is a sawed off shot gun after all, I don't need to be too accurate at this range.”

Nancy continued their gruesome tug-o-war for a few more seconds staring into his eyes searching for some sign of a bluff before she released her grip dropping George to the ground.

“See you soon Dave.” Nancy warned before she turned and limped away.

To Vernica Dave said, “I like her. But me and you could have so much more fun.”

“It doesn’t work that way. If you don’t know that by now you are as stupid as you look.” replied Nancy.

“How many chickas you got in your little gang? I saw what, three? Come to think about it, I might have to get me my own little harem. Sure you don’t want do be my leading lady sugar plum?”

The look on Veronica’s face told him her answer. Dave shrugged and walked away pulling George behind him. The back of his shirt read “Big Dave’s Custom Cycles”.

“So, he’s a biker. I dated a biker once.” she watched as he paused to blow her a kiss before he dragged George’s screaming body into the night, “He was an asshole too.”

Nancy and the girls gathered up the unconscious Tony and Jake, they were half burned and more than half dead, but they made a satisfying meal for the girls as they retreated back into suburbia.

Chapter 38

Max was feeling better, he woke up in what looked like a doctor’s examining room and not a very up to date or modern one at that, it had a, well, 'shabby' look about it. The magazines were months old, the walls were not really dirty so much as stained with dirt and the place had an underlying, unpleasant odor to it. The window, set high upon the wall was going gray, indicating the sun was probably going down, as the office was also hot. Max struggled to sit up and stopped immediately, his stomach hurt, he gingerly lifted the blanket covering him and saw his mid section had a bandage wrapped completely around it, white and pristine and it looked professional. Otherwise he was nude. 'Crap.' he thought, he did not see his clothing anywhere in the office. Twisting to the side to try and get himself up on one elbow was painful, but less so than attempting a sit up. An IV dangled from his left arm, he left it in. Funny in movies the first thing people do when they wake up in this situation is pull the IV out and go running around looking for trouble. Max did not feel so robust as to pull his own IV out, and running around butt naked in a world full of flesh eating zombies was about as stupid a thing that Max had ever thought of. He sat up, almost feeling like he was going to vomit, then just sat there. He was not sure how long he remained there sitting before there was a brief knock on the door and a nurse came into the room in a brusque manner.