Read The Emissary (Horse Women of the Zombie Apocalypse) Online

Authors: K. A. Jordan

Tags: #zombie, #apocalypse, #horse, #archer

The Emissary (Horse Women of the Zombie Apocalypse) (4 page)

BOOK: The Emissary (Horse Women of the Zombie Apocalypse)
3.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

"They found us?" Julie dropped back to ride with Beth for a moment. "What do we do?"

Beth waved at her. "Keep going. We've got to get away from these subdivisions."

They crossed an intersection at a walk to keep their noise down. There weren't any stinkers in sight, but they heard a howler on their right answer the one on their back trail.

Patch tested the wind and snorted an alarm.

"Damn it!" Alexis cut across the yards of five houses to avoid the place upwind of them. "Another freaking pack?"

"I see four," Julie called looking behind them. Her pack horse shied at something and bumped into Toby, who stumbled. "Damn spooky stinker bait! Knock it off!"

"We might need to shoot our way out of this." Beth glanced at their back trail, seeing movement and hearing howls and moans.

"We're gaining on them. Quit bitching." Alexis put Patch over a low fence, ducked behind a garage, then went over the back fence. That was enough to confuse both groups. The groans and howls stayed behind them.

The sisters skirted another subdivision by taking a game trail that paralleled a highway. A howl echoed off the buildings, making small animals scurry for cover and hidden muerto stir. The horses cantered away from the heavily populated area, until the road was flanked by farmland. The sisters let the horses take a short breather.

Dani stood on Scout's back scanning their back trail with binoculars.

"I don't see the howlers. Looks like they gave up."

"Best thing I've heard all day," Alexis said.

"I still hear them," Beth said. "The horses hear them, too."

Every horse had one ear trained behind them. Julie's Toby had his head down, and he was snorting in nervous little puffs. Mist tested the wind, her ears flickering back and forth. Patch was chewing his bit. Green foam covered his mouth and dripped all over.

"Do the fat ones seem — smarter — to you?" Julie asked.

"Smart? The damn things are dead," Alexis said. "If you crack open their heads, most of the brain is just gone."

"They don't even bleed. They just ooze slime," Beth said.

"Yeah? So how come they followed us when we zig-zagged? That's always worked before," Dani pointed out.

"See? It's not just me," Julie said.

"We've never heard them howl before." Beth had to admit the howlers were different. Getting away was never so much trouble. But they'd never seen a muerto that could run or howl. "What if there's more than one kind?"

"Two howlers out of a couple hundred?" Alexis shrugged. "Until they can outrun a horse or dodge arrows, I'm not going to worry about it."

"I don't like it," Julie said.

"Time to move out," Alexis ordered. "I want this place miles behind us before dark."

"I'd rather ride all night," Julie said. "I'm not sleeping in a camp."

"Good, you can watch all night. I'll sleep," Dani said

"Shut up."

Beth snapped. "Can it. Look at the horses." Mist was focused on something behind them. Patch had his ears almost touching as he listened to something ahead. Whatever it was, he didn't alert. "Patch has something on the freeway."

"We need to get a move on," Alexis said, touching Patch with her heels. He set off at a trot - listening behind them with one ear and listening ahead with the other.

Dani's Scout flickered his ears forward and backward. Her pack horse jogged to Scout's flank, almost as though she was hiding behind him.

Julie's Toby kept his ears flat to his head, snapping at the pack horse if she tried to get ahead of him. Irritation showed in the lines of his neck and the way he wrinkled his nose.

As the last horse in the group, Mist kept her head slightly turned to better see behind them. She also kept one ear forward and the other trained to the rear. If Julie's pack horse lagged, Mist nipped the filly on the rump.

"I think they've found a parallel road. I think the pack is pacing us." Beth said as she listened to distant howls. "

"How about we get to the bridge and cross the freeway?" Dani asked.

"That might work," Alexis said. "Patch wants to go that direction." Alexis let Patch speed up. His long trot ate up the ground. The rest of the horses matched his pace to the bridge.

An intersection opened to their right. The street was full of muerto, and there was no mistaking the pair of howlers leading the pack.

"Go!" Alexis ordered. Patch flattened out into a gallop, the sisters followed him. They barely crossed the street ahead of the pack.

Last in line, Beth took a shot at the nearest howler as she passed. She missed the head shot, killing the one behind it. Her last arrow hit the howler's belly. It roared at her, and shook its fist in rage. Mist popped her head with her ears flat to her skull, giving a warning swat of her tail — the horse equivalent of 'bring it on.'

"You tell 'em," Beth laughed as she bent over her mare's neck.

The pack followed at its best pace, but the fleet-footed horses left them far behind. The horses flew up and down the rolling hills, parallel to the freeway until they got close to the bridge.

"Bridge ahead!" Alexis called. "Pull up!" They slowed the horses to a trot.

Patch threw a fit. He shook his head, pulled at the reins and danced sideways away from the bridge.

"Easy. Easy, big fella. Steady now." Alexis tried to calm him. He kept fussing, chewing the bit, and wringing his tail.

"What's wrong with him?" Dani kept her horses well away from him.

"Is he scared?" Julie looked behind them, ignoring her pack horse crowding Dani's Scout. Scout swatted the horse in the face with his tail. She pulled back, snorting and fussing.

Alexis tried to get Patch across the bridge, but he reared and spun away. He tried to go down the ramp. Alexis needed both hands to turn him back.

Mist danced sideways, passing the younger horses. Beth tried to pull her around, but she spat out the bit and turned her head but not her body. She crab-stepped to the front, pinning her ears and snapping at the other horses. They scattered. Julie's pack horse shied and banging into Toby, who bit her. The pack horse squealed and reared. Julie swore, giving a strong jerk to the lead rope.

"Let's go before we have a wreck!" Dani shouted over the clatter of hooves. "The stinkers are coming."

"I can't get him across the bridge." Alexis tried again to get Patch to cross the bridge. He crab-stepped toward the ramp instead.

"Screw the bridge!" Dani shouted.

"Mist! Stop it!" Beth fought to put Mist back in the rear. The mare danced sideways, getting in front of Patch. She snapped at him, throwing her head up in a show of dominance. Patch backed away, ears pinned, back humped, and kicked out his feet in protest.

Beth turned to Alexis. "Wait! I get it. Let me take point." Patch was in Mist's rightful place as the leader when they fled enemies.

Beth pointed Mist toward the ramp. The mare grabbed her bit, surging forward.

"Works for me." Alexis reined Patch to the back. With the order changed, the two oldest horses stopped fighting their riders.

"Let's go," Julie begged. "The stinkers are coming!"

Mist plunged down the off-ramp, skating the steep slope of pavement on her haunches. The others followed without hesitation, making a terrible racket that could be heard for miles.

Beth looked back. Behind them, the muerto looked like a seething stream of putrid flesh - coming as fast as their rotting bodies would carry them. There was no losing them. The girls had to outrun them.

Mist cantered beside the freeway. The green grass was dotted with human and animal bones, shards of glass and strips of metal littered the pavement. The mare dipped her head, snorting at the mess, then leaped the ditch, taking the high ground. The noise level dropped as the others followed.

"What's that? Something moved up there." Dani pointed ahead.

Beth strained to see. The figures looked human. More stinkers? She signaled a halt, grateful Mist didn't fight.

Mist looked ahead at the moving figures, but she didn't snort an alert. It was unlikely they were living humans. Maybe Mist hadn't caught the scent yet?

"It's just a few stinkers. Let's take them out." Beth loosed the flap on her pistol, chambered a bullet and checked the safety was on before she put it back in the holster. She had six magazines of 9mm in her pommel bag. She could shoot from Mist's back. The repeating rifle was full, she had more ammo in the other pommel bag. The others were just as armed, but Dani and Julie couldn't shoot while holding the pack horses.

"Ready," Alexis said, her bow strung and her fist full of arrows.

"Beth? Do you want my quiver?" Julie held out hers.

"Yeah. Thanks." Beth took her empty quiver off and gave Julie a smile.
Julie's only fourteen,
Beth thought. S
he's trying so hard to be brave.
Beth drew the full quiver of arrows over her head. "Stay behind me, kid."

"Ready." Dani had her pack horse lead knotted so she could toss it over the pack without tripping the horse as it ran free.

Beth took a hard look at Julie's pack horse. Half their food was on that horse. Julie might never speak to her again, but if push came to shove, 'stinker bait' would be its fate. Beth met Dani's eyes, then looked at Julie's pack horse.

Dani nodded, patting her pistol.

"Okay." Julie knotted her pack horse's lead, too. She had a death grip on it. If that stupid horse pulled, she might fall again.

"Julie, don't let her pull you off. If she pulls, you let her go," Alexis ordered from the back.

Julie nodded.

"Move out," Beth said, taking the lead.

A long, inhuman howl rose behind them as the muerto poured down the off-ramp. The girls were well ahead, but the pack would catch up if the muerto ahead delayed the sisters. The horses snorted at the pursuing pack and picked up their pace.

They kept to the high ground as they swept toward the muerto on the road. Beth lifted her bow to shoot.

A huge white truck pulled from behind a wrecked semi. A man with a machine gun standing in the back. The two men Beth thought were muerto hopped into the back as it crawled towards them.

Beth swore, then held her hand out and down in the signal to slow. Muerto behind them, unknown men ahead. Which was worse?

The fence to their right was 6 feet tall. A fresh horse could jump it, with a running start and at a 90 degree angle.

They didn't have fresh horses.

They were trapped.

*

 

Chapter 4

 

"Alexis! What do we do?" Beth shouted.

"See who they are!"

"How?"

"Wave your tartan!"

Beth whipped the yellow plaid scarf from her waist and waved it.

"Now what?"

"See if they wave back."

After a moment, one of the guys in the back of the truck waved a strip of blue-green cloth over his head.

"Davidson!" Dani shrieked. "Clan Davidson!"

"Thank God!" Julie's voice broke.

Alexis warned. "We aren't safe yet. Keep an even pace. There's a swarm behind us we still have to outrun."

"You think?" Dani quipped.

As the two parties came closer together, Beth made out the faces of the men in the back. She knew the exact moment when the men realized they were women by the amazed look on their faces.

"Crap, a bunch of drooling macho men. I hope they can shoot." Beth wiped her sweaty face with her tartan.

"Cute ones, too." Dani sounded upset instead of excited. "Great, I haven't had a bath in a week."

"Give it up. Otherwise, we're stinker bait." Alexis scolded. Disgust was heavy in her voice, but she wiped her hair from her face.

"I hope Tyler is with them," Dani said with sisterly malice. "He's going to gag at the sight of you."

"At the smell of us." Beth wrinkled her nose.

Mist suddenly tossed her head, pinning her ears as the other horses stopped, heads up, and tested the air for scent of the newcomers.

"Well, that means it's up to me," Beth grumbled, making Mist walk closer. The mare side-stepped closer, chewing the bit and snorting in little puffs. A man in the back of the truck handed his machine gun to another, then hopped out. Mist snorted a warning at him, every muscle in her powerful body tense. She danced sideways, chin to chest, ready to fight or flee.

Beth patted her, giving her reassurance.

He was dressed in camouflage pants and a green vest with his blue and green tartan hanging at his waist. He was still armed to the teeth, but his knives and pistol were tied down. He held his empty hands palm up, chest high.

"Zack Hetzer, of Fort Chatten." He was in his thirties. His unshaven face was weathered, his eyes clear blue. His expression was slightly amused.

"I'm Bethany McLeod, of Dunvegan." Mist crab-stepped close, her head came up to smell him.

"Your horse seems a little scared." He laid his open hand on Mist's face. For a tense second, Beth expected Mist to bite. Instead, the horse relaxed with a sigh. Behind them, Beth heard the other horses sigh as well.

BOOK: The Emissary (Horse Women of the Zombie Apocalypse)
3.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

The Scot and I by Elizabeth Thornton
Kill Shot by Vince Flynn
The Rebel by Marta Perry
Linda Ford by Dreams Of Hannah Williams
Witch Twins at Camp Bliss by Adele Griffin
Enemy by Hughes, Paul
Gilded Edge, The by Miller, Danny
The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick