Surviving Beyond the Zombie Apocalypse (22 page)

     “So you want me to preserve your image by airbrushing this under the rug?”

     Whether it was from my play on words or something else, the colonel suddenly seemed reenergized. He smiled broadly. “Hell, you’re probably right. It’s a dumb idea. So I’ll have to go with Plan B, which is to just kill everybody.”

     As soon as the words left his mouth, Granger lowered his rifle and spun in my direction, spraying a trail of rounds into the car in front of me. I dove to the ground and somehow managed to escape the gunfire. As I lie there on the ground listening for any sound that would give me a clue as to what the colonel was doing, I felt the gun tucked in the back of my pants. As ridiculous as it sounds, I had actually forgotten all about it. Now, as I sat up and held the pistol in my hands, it gave me a little more confidence, but not much. I knew that Granger had much more experience handling weapons than I could ever imagine. More than likely, he would mow me down before I got off a single shot. Still, the mere fact that I had a weapon brought me a little hope.

     “Turner, you okay?” Granger asked with a sort of giggle. “I bet writing a nice story about how Colonel Jerome Granger acted valiantly in the face of complete chaos is sounding better about now, isn’t it?” He paused, and I imagined he was waiting for me to respond so that he would know where to unload another stream of bullets. “It doesn’t really matter when you think about it. I mean, without any witnesses, I can pretty much say whatever I want to say. Who’s going to contradict me?” He stopped again.

     I moved slowly to another car and got a little closer to where he stood on the dumpster. I held the pistol in my hand and knew in order to hit anything I would have to get as close as possible. I crept up to a gap between the cars and got a pretty good view of the colonel.

     He was standing straight and still and obviously listening to catch the slightest sound that would give him a clue as to my location.

     After a moment, he smiled and said, “I can almost picture the look of sadness on that little girl of yours when I tell her how her daddy got torn apart by those monsters. It’s sure going to be tough on her, but I’ll make sure to take good care of her. Oh, and that sweet young thing that you’re sticking it to. She’s going to need a whole lot of attention, just to help her through this rough patch.” I heard his snickers as he taunted me. “Let’s see, you came in with that black kid too, right? Can’t say I got much use for him. But no matter, the world’s a dangerous place and accidents happen all the time.”

     Although my brain recognized that the colonel’s strategy was to goad me into showing myself, the rest of me refused to be still while he joked about stealing my family. I moved as slowly and quietly as possible to the space between the cars. I raised the gun and held it pointed at Granger’s chest. I knew that I would only get one shot, and the colonel would kill me if I didn’t manage to kill him first.

     I looked over the top of the pistol and lined up the barrel until the general stood in the middle of the little metal V. I held my breath and leaned against one of the cars to steady myself. The car let out a small squeak from my weight. Unfortunately, it proved enough to draw Granger’s attention.

     He spun, pointed the gun at me and smiled with surprise. “Have you got a weapon, Turner?” He laughed. “Well, do you know how to use it? Because I’m guessing that you don’t. Anybody with the capability to use a firearm would have certainly used it by now.” He shook his head in amusement. “No, most definitely, you don’t know how to use that weapon. And I can’t find fault really. I mean you worked as a newspaper reporter. Not much need for shooting a weapon when you’re covering the latest city council meeting or doing a hard-hitting story on the new bicycle trail at the park. But me on the other hand, I have a whole shitload of experience with a wide range of weapons. It’s my job!” The colonel screamed. “Now, lower your weapon before you hurt yourself.”

     I squeezed the trigger.

     The gun jumped more than expected, and my aim was probably off. Whatever the cause, the bullet nearly missed Granger completely, merely grazing his right shoulder and causing him to drop the rifle and laugh.

     “Damn! That really stings,” the colonel said, obviously enjoying himself. “It’s probably gonna leave a mark, Turner. I bet you weren’t aiming for my shoulder, right? You had been aiming to hit me dead on in the middle of the chest.” He looked around, trying to get a location on me. “Are you aiming at me right now? Ready to get off another try? I bet you’re shitting bricks about now. I mean, you had all the time in the world and you screwed up. Now, I know where you are and I’m coming to get you.” His casual tone of voice served to make his threats even more frightening. He was right. I had no way of beating him. My mind urged me to run, to use any means possible of getting out of the area. However, at that point in time, my limbs refused to listen to my mind. I think somewhere inside me was the idea that trying to escape would be futile. I would be shot down before I had gone a half block. Besides, even if I made it off this street, where would I go? I could not simply abandon Kat and the others to the whims of this psychopath.

     Granger hopped off the side of the dumpster where his gun had fallen. I moved around to the other end of the car to get a better look at him. The colonel was rummaging around on the ground and some garbage in search of his rifle.

     At once, he raised himself to stand up straight. “Good news, Turner! I have recovered my weapon, and now I’m coming to kill you.” The friendliness in his voice almost made me smile, but the inclination was quickly replaced by a growing sense of dread in the pit of my stomach.

     I moved away from the car and a few yards down the street. I didn’t want to be in the same spot Granger had seen me. However, I could no longer see him and was only able to guess as to his plan of attack. I did not have to wait long.

     “Turner, you know I like you, right?” He chuckled as if he had said something clever. “I do. Hell, I admire guys like you who can just sit back and watch and make comments about the actions taken by others, judging whether the actions were effective or not.” He stopped speaking, leaving only a long space of silence.  

     When he spoke again, the colonel’s voice had lost its pleasantness. The words came out slowly, clearly, and coldly. “Fuck that, Turner. It’s time for you to grow a pair, take some action for yourself.” He sighed heavily, and the casual tone returned. “I tell you what; let’s make this more of a fair fight. You’ve got a weapon, and I’ve got a weapon, but we both know I’d cut you in half before your finger even twitched on the trigger. Sure, I could do that, but it would be boring, no challenge. So let’s make it interesting. How about this? I’ll toss my weapon aside, and you come out to face me. Let’s see if you can manage to hit me with at least one decent shot before I get to my weapon and defend myself.”

     The man was truly insane. His proposal meant his own suicide. Even as bad as I was with the gun, he would have no chance. I crouched there, considering his wild proposal for a moment, before he interrupted. “Well, what do you say? Sounds like fun, right?”

     As crazy as it seemed, his idea might really be my only chance. Otherwise, he would simply wait until he decided the time and rush in and slaughter me.

     “What do I say? I say you have a pretty twisted idea of fun,” I said, trying to sound as casual as Granger. I stood and walked out from where I had been hidden.

     “Turner! Thanks for coming out,” he greeted me like we had met at a high school reunion. In the next instant, the colonel lifted the gun and held me in its sights.

     My brain screamed. “How could I have been so stupid?”

     I had simply walked out in the open to be cut down by this maniac in fatigues. Now I stood here with no chance but to wait and die. So that is what I did. I tried to keep my eyes open, because I figured I would rather see what was coming. However, my ideas kept twitching more and more until I closed them. Still, I waited for the explosion of the gun and for the bullets to rip me to shreds. I finally forced my eyes open wide. Colonel Granger had lowered his gun and was looking at me with amusement.

     “Damn, Turner, I never saw anyone as calm as you. I’ve been around a lot of guys who say they’re ready to die and all of that nonsense, but when it comes down to it, they’re the first ones to run and hide. But not you. You just stood there waiting for it to happen. That takes some balls.”

     “So now what?” I asked.

     The colonel looked confused by my question. “Now, you’re going to come out into the street. I’m going to toss my weapon about fifteen feet away, and then we’ll see what happens.”

     I laughed a little in disbelief. “You mean, you’re still serious about that?”

     “Serious as a heart attack, Turner. It’s the best way to settle this matter.”

     “Like two gunfighters in the Old West, right?” I commented.

     “Yes, something like that,” the colonel answered.

     “How about this for another option? We go back to the terminal, we protect the people there, we don’t discuss what happened today, and we go our separate ways once we can,” I finished and waited for his reply.

     I don’t know what sort of response I expected, but I know it did not involve loud laughter. Granger let out a huge bellow of laughter that rumbled down the street. The sound stopped as abruptly as it began, and the colonel said, “That sounds like just about the most friggin’ civilized thing I’ve ever heard! Very logical and intellectual.” He smiled without real happiness. “I wish that it presented a viable option. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for me. I’m being honest here. Think about what you’re proposing. Do you really believe either one of us would be able to let things go like nothing happened?” He paused for a moment and shook his head. “Turner, I don’t know you all that well, but I know you well enough to realize you couldn’t hold something like this inside, keep it secret. It would eat away at you until the truth got out. What about me?” Granger paused as if expecting an answer. Getting none, he shrugged and continued. “And me, since I know that you couldn’t keep this secret, I would eventually have to sneak into your place some night and kill you. No hard feelings, just the way of things.”

     Surprisingly, the colonel’s logic made sense to me, and I wondered for a brief moment if that meant I was as psychotic as he was.

     “Anyway, I’m thinkin’ there’s no sense in putting this off. So I’m going to toss my weapon as far as I can down the street,” he announced slowly. “After that you’ve got the time it takes me to retrieve said weapon to take some action.”

     “Okay, let’s do this,” I answered.

     Granger nodded his shiny bald head toward me as kind of a gesture of respect and heaved the rifle down the street. It spun end over end and landed in a pile of boxes and other trash about fifteen yards away. He looked briefly toward me, flashed a grin, and dashed toward the gun.

    It took me a couple of seconds to realize that this was actually happening and to react. I brought the pistol up and began firing.

     The colonel moved quickly and smoothly. His movement only faltered briefly as he was apparently hit by one of the bullets.

     I kept pulling the trigger of the pistol even after a hollow-sounding click was the only response.

     Colonel Granger reached the mound in which the gun had landed and hurried to find his weapon. He turned away for a moment. When he turned back around, he was holding the rifle triumphantly in one hand above his head.

     “Well, this looks like a pickle, to be sure. To tell you the truth, I am more than a little disappointed. These stupid dead things really don’t make for much of a challenge. But you? Well, I had hoped that you would provide at least a brief distraction, maybe even cause me to break a sweat. But here we are. I have my weapon back and you’re out of ammunition after unloading on me. Let’s see here, you managed to hit me one time.” He looked down and pointed to a widening spot of red on his upper thigh.

     “Time to finish up here, so I can dress this wound.” He brought his weapon into position as a movement distracted him. He turned and looked down at the ground.

     Standing fifteen or twenty yards away, I was at first unable to see what Granger saw.

     “Miller, it’s time for you to die. That’s an order, son,” the colonel said mockingly before opening fire into the crawling, bloody body that had grabbed ahold of his ankle.

     The corpse shuddered as the bullets ripped it apart.

     I heard, or imagined I heard, Granger’s laughter as the weapon fired again and again.

     In a minute, the colonel stopped shooting and, with the silence, his composure returned.

     He turned back to face me and asked calmly, “Where were we? Oh, yes, I was just about to kill you.”

     As strange as it may sound, I remained calm about the whole thing. Maybe it was because I had been in a similar situation only moments before. Or maybe it was because I had grown tired of being afraid. Not that it really matters, but at that moment I became as calm and collected as the colonel.

     “I suppose there are worse ways to go out,” I commented. “I mean, I sure the fuck don’t want to be one of those things. I hope you will do me the favor of putting a round in my head, so that doesn’t happen.”

     Granger grinned. “I’d be delighted.”