The Dead Hunger Series: Books 1 through 5 (86 page)

“Don’t worry,” said Tony.  “Fuckin’ rats.  They can’t get in.  We’ve made sure.”

We looked at the bottoms of the doors in view, and they had cut off plywood pieces and screwed door skirts on to every one, even interior doors.  I pointed.

“Why the interiors, too?”

“If they get in, we need another line of defense,” he said.  “They won’t expect it.  So we win.”

“I don’t think they expect anything except to eat you,” said Dave.  “But good idea.”

“We’re staying in a room at the Liberty Inn,” I said.  “I don’t know the room number and the rate’s good but there’s no cable.  We’re going to walk to the boat rental place once the cloud cover builds, so if you want to join us, we’d be happy to have all the help we can get.  Tonight we’ll go prepared, but it’s mainly for scouting purposes I think.”

“We’re expecting someone else, too,” said Dave.  “Flex and Gem.  They might already be here.  If you see a big guy with a short haircut and a goatee, and a tall, hot
Latina woman, that’s them.  Approach with extreme caution and make sure they know you can talk.  They won’t shoot you if you can talk, but they’re bound to be on guard for the guys who took Hemp, so tell them you know Dave and Charlie and you’ll be okay.”

“You talk about them like they’re Terminators,” said Jason, looking at his dad.

I shrugged and looked at Dave, who shrugged and nodded back.  “Sound about right,” he said.

“How long do the rats usually persist?” I asked.

“No telling.”

“How do you know when they’re gone?” asked Dave.

Tony pointed.  “Low peepholes, but not too low.  Angled down.  My idea,” he said proudly.

I went over and looked through them.  The furry bodies milled around and I closed the hole again.

“We wait,” she said.  “But as long as it’s still dark, my plan’s in motion.”

****

The meat-craving rats, for whatever reason, left an hour later.  They seemed to move as a group, the proverbial rat pack, in search of whatever food source beckoned to them at the moment.  Perhaps they had some sense of immediacy and had been here before – this same group –waiting, intending to return at a later time.

I didn’t know that they could think like this and I hoped to hell they couldn’t.  There were too many unanswered questions about the way their minds worked, not only the rats, but the zombies themselves, and until Hemp was free and able to research, those questions would remain unaddressed.

I moved the curtain aside in the window of the hotel room and scanned the street.  Dave and I had taken two candles from ZFZ4 and sat in the bathroom with the door closed, going over the map on the small vanity.  I sat on the toilet with the lid closed, and he stood.

Tommy never would have stood and let me sit.  If there were a throne, Tommy would be sitting in it, fuck the women, one and all.

Especially me.

But again, I digress.  I’m a married woman now, and should never go back to the time – even in my mind – when I was dating a dipshit.  I did think of how he killed my mother and hated him all over again, though.  It felt good to hate him, and to have ended his second life with no chance of a third.

“Where’s your head at, dude?” asked Dave, a crooked smile on his face.

“Killing my ex,” I said.

“Say no more,” said Dave.  “Been there.  Okay, oddly enough, I didn’t find a boat rental place listed, but then again, we’re in eliteville, and these rich bastards probably don’t like the idea of tourists blowing past their mansions on Jet Skis.”

“Probably not.  So what’s the backup plan?”

“The backup plan is kind of the long way around, but it gets us there.  Still just over eleven miles.  We have to get on Shelburne Road for a mile or so, but it’s pretty well past the turnoff for Carville’s place, it looks like.”

“What’s there?”

“Big ass marina.  There have to be a lot of boats, because look here.”

He turned the brochure over, and it showed an aerial photo of
Shelburne Bay.  The marina was big, and it looked to be fully rented with boats in every slip.  There was also a huge storage yard a short distance away with triple the number of boats there.

“Where’s Carville’s place on here?” I asked.

Dave pointed at the aerial shot.  See this point on the marina side?”

“I do,” I said.

“Run your finger straight across the bay and what do you see?”

I did, and tapped the page.  “
That’s
his house?”

“House?” said Dave.

“Okay, compound.”

“Exactly,” said Dave.  So if it’s not fenced on the water side, it’s like perfect.”

“And Gem’s car?”

“I think we should get someone else to drop us and drive back.  They can park it somewhere under cover outside Carville’s gate.”

“Then why wouldn’t we just drive it there?”

“Charlie.”  Dave’s eyebrows knitted together and he looked at me like I was a moron.

“What?” I said.

“In case they get caught.  Patrols?  Remember?”

“So they get caught.  What good do they do us then?”

“They don’t go there right away, Charlie.  They’ll be on the radio.  Some obscure fuckin’ channel, I don’t know.  We got the walkies, we might as well use them for this operation.  They wait until we’ve got Hemp and we radio them.  Maybe use the click method like you guys used to use.”

“Yeah, but the one these guys use,” I said.  “They know it already, so that works.  We’ve got a little urushiol left, and the silenced Walthers.  I think we can do this, Mr. Gammon.”

“Methinks you’re right, m’lady.”

“What are you, gay?” I laughed.

“Yes,” he said, his chin held high.  “Dave Gammon, the gay blade.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

“Not at all,” I said, still smiling at this kooky guy I was really starting to love.

“You read comic books, don’t you?” I asked.

“How did you know?”

“Never mind.”

“Whatever.”

“Let’s go now,” I said.  “I want to do it tonight.”

“And if you weren’t a married woman,” said Dave, “we’d be doing it right now, but let’s try and focus here.”

I glared at him, my head cocked.

“I’m trying to get you off that idea.  Tonight was supposed to be recon, Charlie.”

“Why?  Is it going to get easier tomorrow night?”  Before Dave could answer, I went on.  “No, it won’t.  All that could happen is someone in ZFZ4 could get caught, or now that word’s gotten out to all the ZFZs, which it probably has, then anyone of them could give us up and tell Carville’s guys our plan.”

“It’s frighteningly good logic.”

“Of course it is.”

“How long you giving Tony’s guys to get here?”

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Quarter ‘til one.”

“I’ll give them until one, then we’re gone.”

A light knock came on the door, and we both started.

“Guess we go now,” said Dave.

I smiled.  I was ready.  I wished Hemp knew we were coming, but it couldn’t be helped.  Dave went to the door and looked through the peephole while I strapped on my weapons.

“Charlie,” he said.

I turned. 

He pulled the door open.

“You pieces of shit,” said Flex.

“You giant pieces of shit,” said Gem, “I’m fucking preggers and you make me chase your asses across two states!”

She barreled in and grabbed me, pulling me into a tight hug.  I hugged her back with everything I had, and she pressed her cheek against mine and spoke in my ear.

“I’m not pissed, Charlie.  I knew in my heart you couldn’t wait.  I lied to myself and you proved me right.  Fuck I’m glad you guys are okay.”

She pulled away and kissed me on the lips, and we gave hugs all around.

We sat on the bed in the dark, just the hazy moonlight barely lighting the room through the heavy curtains.

“So you guys were on your way out,” said Flex.  “Ryan Carville’s?”

“Yep,” said Dave.  “Damn, I’m glad to see you.”

“I’m glad to see you didn’t beat the crap out of my car,” said Gem.

“We found your truck, Flexy,” said Charlie, smiling.  “Gun’s still intact.”

“No shit,” said Flex.  “I know what I’m drivin’ home.”

“You’re gonna have to take it from Rory and Pete first,” Charlie said.

“Those pieces of shit?” said Flex. 

“I thought we were the pieces of shit,” said Dave.

“Not anymore.  You’re officially superseded.  Where the hell is it?”

“Probably at Carville’s.  They’re with him.”

“Surprise, surprise,” said Flex.  “That means Carville’s got urushiol.”

“Just what’s left of what we had,” said Gem.  “What they stole with the truck.”

“Goes a long way,” said Flex.

“If they know how to use it,” I said.  “Maybe they overused it and they’re out now.  Didn’t know how little it took.”

“Doesn’t work on us anyway,” said Flex.  “So tell us your plan, and we’ll shoot holes in it.”

We did.  And they did. 

But not many.  Turns out it was a pretty good plan.

****

Flex and Gem had brought fire extinguishers filled with the urushiol blend, both heavy on the active ingredient.  That was good.  Their arrival put us back about an hour, but since we’d decided we weren’t going to stop until Hemp was safely in our custody, it didn’t really matter.  Night or day, we were saving his ass.  Seems all of us grew a dozen more pairs of balls when we were all together.

Nothing could stop us.  I really believed that.  I think we all did.

“No matter what, we have to cross that bay in the dark,” said Dave.

“Right,” said Gem.

“How are you, Gem?  The baby?” I asked.

“Good, Charlie.  Really good.  We lost Todd, but there are two more doctors who survived in
Concord that we know of, and one is a OB GYN.  The baby’s perfect, and not showing any strange tendencies or abnormalities.”

“God, Gem, that’s awesome.”

Gem smiled.  “Look at this belly.”  She lifted her top.

“Oh, my, you have an outie,” I laughed. 

“Used to be an innie,” said Gem. 

“Ladies,” said Flex.  “You mind?”

“Just talkin’ about little Flexy,” said Gem.

“I know your tricks,” said Flex, smiling.  “Let’s go.”

A knock came on the door, soft.

Flex jumped up, his Daewoo against his shoulder.

“Relax, Flex,” said Dave.  “We were expecting help.”

Dave went to the door and peeped again.  He opened the door and Tony, Serena and Nick came in.

“Sorry we’re late,” said Tony.  “Damned ratz are out tonight.  Like a sea of ‘em.”

He watched as Flex slowly lowered his K7 and held out his hand.

“I’m Flex Sheridan.  This is my wife, Gem.”

Tony smiled big, his bright, white teeth prominent even in the dim light.  “Ah, you guys.  Dave and Charlie told us about you.”

“Sorry for the gun, said Flex.  “I’m afraid we were having our reunion and they neglected to tell us about you.”

“I’m Tony Mallette, this is Serena Castaneda, and that’s Nick Desante.  His son Jason is with us too, but he’s back at the house.”

“They’ve put together a good plan.  We made a couple of changes based on the shit we brought from Concord.  Nick, would you be willing to drive our Crown Vic back from the marina somewhere near Carville’s place?”

“If that’s what you need me to do, sure,” he said.

“It is,” said Dave.  “We’re heading to the marina first.  Let’s get there.  We have to cross the lake before daybreak.  Once we see what our watercraft options are, we’ll take it from there.”

“Perfect,” said Tony, smiling from ear to ear.  “This is exciting, huh?”

His grin was infectious.

“Wipe that shit eatin’ grin off your face, Tony,” said Flex, his face stern.

I stared at Flex.  This wasn’t like him at all.

Tony stopped smiling instantly, his face growing angry.  “Fuck you, Sherman!  Who are you to come to this town and –”

“Oh, relax, relax,” Flex laughed, and patted Tony on the shoulder.  “I’m kidding, man,” he said.  “And it’s Sheridan, not Sherman.  Those damned teeth are so white they’re like a mouthful of spotlights!  You’ll get us caught for sure.”

Tony laughed way harder than the joke was funny, but I was relieved to see the tension had gone. 

Damned Flex.

“You’re funny, you,” said Tony, still smiling.  He looked relieved Flex wasn’t really a dick. 

“Are we done?” I asked.  “Can we go get my man now?”

“Absolutely,” said Gem.  “I’d normally volunteer to drive the getaway car, but since Nick’s doing that, I’ll go in for the fun part.”