Murphy's Law (Roads Less Traveled Book 2) (10 page)

“Noo, NO! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!!” the prisoner cried, attempting to scramble away from Michael. I turned around, held up a hand to stay the others, and raised an eyebrow at the beaten prisoner.

“I’m listening.”

* * *

“Gus!” I barked on my way to the barn.

He’d been playing in the courtyard with the only kid I’d seen in this place. The others followed me, practically jogging to keep up. Michael had disappeared somewhere near the Control Room. I really didn’t care. Bigger fish to fry and all.

“Wait a second, Kase, let’s talk about this,” Mia was pleading.

We were in the barn by this time, Mia grabbing at my elbow trying to slow me down. Nancy wasn’t sure what to think. Jake and Zack were quiet as well, but not Nancy-quiet. Theirs was a little more intense. I walked straight through the barn and out the door on the far end; my horse was in the pasture behind. Zack and Jake followed my lead and grabbed their own mounts by the halters, then without a word, followed me and Daisy back inside to get saddled up. Our gear had been stowed in an empty stall, so after getting my horse saddled and ready, I dug around our supplies and took what I would need.

“Mia, get your horse,” I said after she finally piped down.

She frowned, but went back into the pasture. The guys were ready and leading their horses outside. Gus and Nancy simply watched, waiting for me to fill them in on their part of the plan. I waited for Mia to saddle her mount and stuff some supplies into her saddlebags, then handed her my reins and told her to take Daisy out, I’d be there in a minute. With a curt nod, she joined the boys outside.

“Nancy,” I said and took the woman by the shoulders. “I want you to stay here. It’s nothing against you, or your skills. But we’re going to be hauling ass, and if something happens to one of the horses, and we have to run…” I let the rest of my statement hang in the air. She knew the second we stepped foot in this place that she’d be staying if the rest of us left.

“Just take care of Gus, and we’ll be back before you know it,” I said, then squeezed her shoulder and turned to leave. Nancy grabbed my arm and spun me around, wrapping me in a shockingly strong bear hug. I wheezed and crushed her in return.

We walked out together, and she smacked me once on the hip when we parted ways and went to her grandson. I checked my weapons, made sure they were all locked and loaded, and double-checked my supply of ammo.

“I’m assuming you’re going to let us all in on your plan, right?” Zack murmured next to me.

I nodded, then looked over at Mia; she was going through the same pre-game warm up. She finished and returned my stare before saddling up. Jake and Nancy said their goodbyes, he tried to pretend he wasn’t embarrassed, then she called Gus and they walked off. That little four-legged bastard didn’t look back. Not even once. I tried to tell myself that was a good thing, that he knew I was coming back. At least I was hoping that’s what it meant.

“Kasey!” Michael shouted. I saw him jogging across the courtyard with three other men. Zack and Jake mounted up while I waited to see what this was all about.

“Glad I caught you,” he panted, then motioned his men over to me. “Here, take these. I noticed none of you were carrying melee weapons, so here you are. I hope you don’t need them.” Michael handed me a hammer. I looked at it stupidly.

“Are you kiddin’ me? A hammer?”

Yes, I’d read
The Zombie Survival Guide
as many times as the next guy, but my whole Z-Plan revolved around
not
getting close enough to the deadheads in order to fight them in hand-to-hand combat. Eww, no thanks. Just stay the hell away and put one between their eyes from a safe distance. A hammer, or a nice hatchet, would have been really handy back at the grocery store. I sure wasn’t going to admit that.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about getting one of these ever since what happened back at the IGA, remember, Kase?” Zack said. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

“Yeah, I remember.” I took the hammer and slipped the handle through my belt so it hung by the claw end. “Thanks, Michael, we’ll be back as soon as we can. But if something happens, you take care of Nancy, alright?”

“Of course, don’t worry about a thing. They’ll both be well taken care of. Keep your eyes open, ride hard, and there’ll be a place here for you when you get back.”

He straightened and gestured towards the three men with him, who’d just finished doling out a few hand weapons to the others; a machete for Zack, a policeman’s nightstick for Mia, and a crowbar for Jake. The guys were happy, turning the heavy steel in their hands, a disturbing smile curling both sets of lips.

Mia, on the other hand, not so much.

“Uh, thanks. Don’t plan on getting that close, but thanks,” she said and stuck the nightstick in a leather loop close to her saddle horn. The man closest to her tipped his hat and walked over to where Michael and I stood, along with the other two men.

“This is Calvin, or Cal, one of our best marksmen. And that’s Martin and Smith. I’ll gladly send them with you, if you think you’ll need extra backup,” Michael offered with a worried look in his eye.

“No. I appreciate that, but no. You need all the rifles here you can get. We’ll be fine.” I waved the men off with gratitude and mounted up.

“Open the gate,” he said into his radio.

I tried to smile, failed miserably, and led my gang through the courtyard. I heard someone sigh behind me, someone else clear their throat, and various creaking sounds of someone getting comfortable in a leather saddle. I took my own deep breath as the heavy steel gate was slid open and we rode through. One of the folks there, a woman, threw her hand up in goodbye. I jumped a little when the gate slammed shut behind us.

Halfway to the fence gate I turned around for one last look back. Michael and Nancy were on the north wall next to one of the watchmen, above the entrance gate, watching us leave. The guards opened first the inside, then the outside gate. They said a few bye-be-carefuls to us, which we thanked them for, then turned our eyes to the winding, down-sloping road ahead. Once the prison was out of sight, Jake spoke up, breaking the deathly silence that had fallen over all of us.

“So what’s the plan, Boss?”

“We ride straight through town and across the bridge. If that bastard was telling the truth, there were only a handful of cons who escaped—their leader, the women, and a few of his closest men. Apparently they weren’t even involved in the raid. Chickenshits were waiting in the woods, still in sight of town, and the other cons were supposed to meet up with them at a predetermined spot, same MO as every other place they’ve hit on their trip across the state. Michael said the meeting place wasn’t far, maybe ten miles after crossing the river? That is,
if
they even went there, and
if
they’re still there.”

“Chances are they’re not. If they saw what happened to the other cons, wouldn’t it make sense for them to have hauled ass as far away as they could get?” Zack pointed out.

Jake grunted, agreeing with his friend. Only Mia had been quiet, and when I looked back at her, she was staring off at nothing, her right hand resting close to the butt of her rifle.

“What’s your opinion?” I asked in her direction. I was beginning to think she hadn’t heard me and was about to ask again when she finally answered.

“Well, they’re convicted criminals, most of which I’m sure have a strong sense of self-preservation.” She took a long breath, puffing her cheeks when she blew it out. “Personally I don’t think they got very far. It was winter, their numbers were shot to shit, and they were stuck with all those women to keep watch over. I say we’ll find them pretty close to where they were supposed to meet the others.”

I considered what she’d said. Made sense to me. Besides, I had already decided if the cons weren’t where they were supposed to be, we were calling it quits and going back to the prison. I just hadn’t told the others that yet.

“So, a couple miles to Blueville, across the bridge, then roughly ten miles on route 17 through the Ohio countryside. Michael said to keep watch for an old gas station that’s been closed for years, then cut straight north past that, through a field, and they should be camped on the other side of a hill at the far end of that field,” I explained.

“Piece of cake,” Jake said. I cringed, Zack hit him in the arm, and Mia dug for something in her saddlebag to throw at him.

“When will you learn, Jake?” I asked, only half-teasing.

“Yeah, if we get ambushed by a gang of bloodthirsty midgets, I’m thumping your ass, buddy,” Mia said.

Little did they know, before the week was up they’d both be eating their words.

March 22
^nd
: Somewhere in Ohio

A man’s screams filled the calm, spring air. The birds that had just arrived from their vacation south took flight from nearby trees, spooked by the agonizing shrieks echoing through the valley. The sun was low in the afternoon sky, casting long shadows around the campsite. It was quiet now, almost peaceful, but for the torturous sounds coming from the remnants of the collapsed farmhouse nearby. Both tents had been ripped and torn apart, blood splashed all over the ground, and the material used to create the makeshift camp wrapped haphazardly around the mangled bodies of the women. The fire had long since gone out, reduced to nothing more than days-old charcoal.

A thick blood trail connected what was left of the larger tent to the remains of the house. From time to time a scavenger, such as a raccoon or a coyote, would venture close to the site, drawn by the smell of blood, only to be scared away by screams and shouts coming from inside the house. Really, all that was left standing was the front room; the rest had sort of folded in on itself and fallen backwards, causing the whole structure to lean back. It was from this room the screams originated. Unrelenting, unyielding.

Shakes was the first to die. She hadn’t been able to kill her brother, but she wouldn’t fail again, not with this one. What goes around comes around, some would say. Shakes’ death was quick and unsatisfying, but she took her time with the next bad man. She practiced on him, perfecting her skills, finally killing him by accident. Mistakes she learned from, have no doubt. The second and third cons, these men she kept alive for days, while Kyra and Devon were forced to watch. She had taken care of them early on, before tying up Shakes, knowing they would be the ones who could screw this up for her. Those two were tied off at the ceiling rafters by their ankles, upside down of course, stripped down except for their underwear. Shannon was crazy, but she wasn’t a pervert.

After having all the fun she could have with bad men numbers two and three, she moved on to the last. She didn’t know his name, didn’t know any of their names besides the freak, the bossman, and the bitch. Names mattered little in her world.

* * *

“Man, I’m glad the fast ones seem to be the minority,” Zack said, working the lever of his rifle.

We’d crossed over into Ohio a few hours previous, but this was the first major problem we’d had so far. They were packed tight across the main road, from ditch to ditch, and we were only halfway through the bunch when we realized we were already running out of ammo.

“Yeah, cause that’s what we should be worried about right now?” I retorted.

Mia and Jake kept pounding the lead to them. I was starting to think we’d never drop the dead bastards when pavement finally started to show through the gaps between them. Damn good thing too; I was down to my last ten rounds of .243 shells. At least we all had our sidearms and several full clips apiece.

“We’re gonna have to ride around. Look at that shit,” Jake said.

We’d made a pretty nice pile of deadheads on the road ahead of us, a stinking mass of shredded clothing and rotten, putrid flesh. You’d think being frozen for the winter would have done something for their smell. Sadly, it had not.

“Yeah, we’re just about halfway guys. I don’t want to be stuck out here overnight, so let’s get moving. We ride hard until the gas station.” I slid my rifle into its leather case attached to my saddle, grabbed up the reins, and kicked Daisy into a hard run. The others quickly turned tail and followed, off the road, around the hill of death, and back onto the pavement, straight on ‘til Gasco.

* * *

“Remember what I said…pull yourself up to relieve the blood flow when she’s gone,” Devon said under his breath to Kyra, demonstrating by bending at the waist and using his strong abdominal muscles to pull himself up, his face nearly touching his knees.

Their hands were bound behind them, their ankles fixed firmly to the rafters above. That weasel, Shakes, had helped that crazy girl haul them in there and tie them up. It had been a struggle, and wouldn’t have worked if that burned-out sonofabitch hadn’t remembered seeing several sets of chain-hoists in part of the wreckage out back. All it took then was a swift kick to Devon’s face to knock him out, and upsy-daisy. Kyra was left conscious as she was hoisted into the air. But Shakes got his; after helping her take care of them, and foolishly showing her how to use the hoists, the crazy girl had gone to work on him.