The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (27 page)

“
The other woman, Susan,
had overheard them talking about us. She told the others where we
were, how to get there, which way to run.” She paused
again.

“
So they were discussing
us?” Mike asked.

“
Afraid so,” Candace said.
“They want to take us over. They want the cave. They want us
too…
the women
,”
she finished.

“
No doubt,” Ronnie said,
“But that won’t happen. As my Daddy used to say, that dog won’t
hunt.”

“
Yeah, but it’s a problem,”
Mike said. “And it tells me they were coming for us. No doubt about
that at all.”

“
So?” Patti
asked.

“
So… I don’t know. But
we’re not going to stand by and wait for them to take us out. Now
that we know… Did they say how many? Any idea how strong they are?”
Mike asked.

“
They couldn’t tell. They
were locked up and kept away from the others most of the time. Even
so, they said they saw over twenty different men. Maybe twice as
many when both groups were together. But now the two groups are
fighting, so.” She stopped.

“
Women?” Mike
asked.

“
Not too many. Maybe a
dozen, but most of them are with them… I mean,
down
with them. I know that sounds
crazy, but they’re in it with them. They knew of one other woman
they sold to the group on the north side, but none that are being
forced to be there except that one and themselves.”

“
Well that’s something at
least,” Mike said. “I’d say we’ve put away a few ourselves, and of
course they’ve been killing each other all day long. If there were
a little more than twenty, there can’t be more than ten after
today, maybe twelve… Can’t be. We can handle that. I’d rather not
handle that, but we can. And they’ve had their asses kicked a few
times today. I don’t see them coming back for anymore surprise
attacks tonight, maybe even tomorrow. So we sleep tonight. We only
have a few hours to do that, then we have to relieve the others,
I’m sure they’re beat too.”

“
We sleep, and tomorrow we
try to contact them by radio. See if they want to end this before
they lose more. At least what they’re bringing at us,” Mike
finished.

“
What made you think of
radios?” Candace asked.

“
Because,” Ronnie answered,
“It was like they were listening to the other guys and us too. They
knew what was going on, where the others were, where we were too.
Why else did they come at us up top? They might just be laying
back, playing stupid, but I think they’re listening,” Ronnie
finished.

“
I think so to,” Mike
agreed. “I don’t think they thought we’d be up top, if so they
would’ve come at us harder. They didn’t expect us to be there, but
I know they were looking to sneak up on us. They thought they had
us. I hope they take out each other. They started to do that
today.” He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. “I think
they’re listening on the radios too. They showed up way too fast,
and why would we think of radios and not them? The other group was
using it too. It makes no sense that they wouldn’t have been, but
if they tried it, why weren’t they talking today?” He shook his
head. “I’m convinced they were using it as a tool to catch the
other group out there, us too. So, I say tomorrow we test that
theory out. Prove it, or disprove it. That’s easy enough to do. We
can decide what to do from there,” Mike finished.

Everyone nodded
thoughtfully.

“
Good. I’m beat. Let’s get
some sleep while we can,” Mike said.

Janet ~ March 24th Early
Morning

I spent the entire day in fear,
nonstop. It almost would’ve been better to have been in the fight
yesterday. Instead, I was on the sidelines always wondering what
was going on.

I volunteered to go up top tonight and
watch. I spent four hours and saw nothing, heard nothing. Well,
almost nothing. I guess it depends on what your view of nothing is.
I saw nothing to do with the men who have attacked us, but there
are packs of wild dogs, or dogs that have gone wild. I don’t guess
that would be the same thing.

It was dark. I could hear them, but I
couldn’t see them well. I suppose they could even have been wolves,
or some other wild animal. It was just dogs that came to mind,
because I have seen packs of dogs running wild from time to time,
down along the river bank, weaving in and out of the shadows of the
buildings almost everywhere we go. Right there, but hidden too.
Sneaky. And they sounded like animals... like I imagine ravenous
dogs would sound.

They came for the bodies. They fought
over them, and it was bad. The sounds, snarling and ripping in the
darkness. Sometimes they sounded almost human in their frenzy. It
was horrible. I wasn’t sure I could take it, but of course I
did.

I hadn’t even known there were bodies
up there. I mean we would take care of our bodies, why wouldn’t
they? But there were bodies. I could see some of them just laying
in the moonlight. There were some in the burned out cars and trucks
too. I didn’t know those dogs would come for them like that. And I
didn’t know you could smell blood like that... when there is so
much. I’m no drama queen; I write what I feel.

I dealt with it. What else
could I do? I find myself dealing with a lot of things lately, and
I don’t know how I do it. Even with the dogs, or wolves… the
bodies… I wasn’t as scared as I was today… down below… safe (ha,
ha). It’s not funny, except I only meant
relatively
safe. There is no such
thing as really safe. I was more afraid earlier than I was up top
because of not knowing, not seeing. I was with the kids, the little
ones, reassuring them. Still, I would’ve rather been in it. I
would’ve rather known.

This place has gone so bad, and it
seems the more we plan, the worse it turns out. Maybe we should
just leave. But no one is going to listen to me. I’m not strong
willed. I don’t argue my points. I don’t really stick up for myself
or my ideas.

When I was a girl, my uncle Delbert and
my aunt Edna would sometimes come over. He was fine, except when he
drank, and he drank all the time. Maybe you could say he was fine
for those first few hours between smashed and gone.

He would run my aunt Edna
down, call her names. Bitch... worse... In front of everyone, even
us children. Sometimes my father would say, “Delbert, you can’t
truly mean that,” and he would answer that he did. He did truly
mean that; that she was
a silly
bitch
, and, when he was really
drunk,
a silly cunt
. That was what she was, and there was nothing else to say
about it as far as he was concerned.

She had no back bone. Neither do I, and
I have no self confidence either. Bob treats me well, but I wonder,
does Bob ever think that way about me? I ask because I do.
Sometimes I pity myself the same way I did Aunt Edna, and I think
I’m just a silly bitch. Maybe even the other word…
Sometimes.

I’m upset. I shouldn’t write when I’m
upset. I hope I’m not stuck inside and afraid when anything goes
on.

It’s probably only a few hours before
dawn. I’ll try to sleep. I don’t want to be a silly bitch, but I
don’t want to be afraid either. I don’t know if I can sleep. I
guess I’ll try…

~The outskirts of the city~

They stood in the shadows and listened
to the night. The living were at war, and it could only mean good
for them. The moon rose high into the sky. The sounds of fighting
from the city had ceased, but fires burned in the distance. Fires
were heat. Fires were bad. Fires frightened them all, and they
wanted nothing to do with them. Several times they had been tempted
to go down into the city and feed, but the fires had been too
frightening, too frightening even with the smell of so much fresh
death on the wind. So tempting... So tempting, but the fire was
fierce, a pain of its own. Heat was for those who lived. For those
who were dead yet lived, heat was an enemy.

Pain. Corruption.

They stood and silently waited,
sniffing the wind. Some whining lightly, deep in their throats,
others growling, salivating in their own dry way, eyes running as
they scented the air and waited.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Morning of the Day

March ~ 24th

The plan was simple enough; it just
took a little while to set in motion.

They had guards posted above and at
both ends of the road. While not entirely sure of either of the two
new women, Mike split them up and allowed them to work with some
others. It was probably clear to them that he didn’t entirely trust
them, but they had to know what was at stake and probably wouldn’t
think much of anyone who would allow two outsiders to come in and
be given weapons, trust and the responsibility of helping to guard
their territory.

In the best of circumstances, they
probably wouldn’t be guarding anything at all. But these were not
the best of circumstances, and were not likely to be any time soon,
Mike told himself. So he’d split them up. He didn’t really believe
that the other side could be so deceptive as to plant them,
especially the way they had come to them. The fear he had seen in
their eyes had been real.

While they had been working on Janet
Dove's master list, radios of all types had been collected and
brought back. Some had been tested, some had not. The idea they had
thrown around was to have a system they could depend on once they
began to travel. Base units and hand held units, everything they
had found came down to just a few different choices, either
centering around an F.M. system, or on a C.B., Citizens Band radio
system.

Both offered several channels and two
way talk. And both could reach and remain clear for well over a
mile. Mike had been unable to conceive of any circumstances where
they would need more than that. So it was a matter of portability,
and what everyone else might have. That had become much more
important after what had happened to the two groups, both of which
had been able to eavesdrop on the others broadcasts.

Most people were familiar with Citizens
Band, but not with the small hand held mobile F.M. Units, so they
had decided to switch from the F.M. units they were using to the
more familiar C.B. Radios.

What Mike suspected was that they were
using one of the C.B. radios, but without knowing what channel they
were using, it seemed it would take a lot of trial and error to
locate them. But a hand held scanner had solved that
problem.

Bob had also installed five mobile
scanning units in the vehicles they were going to take. They
operated like a standard Citizens Band radio, or they had a scan
feature. They flipped from channel to channel looking for activity,
probably good for long haul truckers looking for conversation to
keep them awake at three A.M.

Bob also had a few scanning F.M.
models. They could pick up, or used to be able to pick up, most
fire, police, taxi, rescue, things like that. They also scanned a
great many channels used by cheap hand held F.M. WalkiTalkies, even
some cell phone conversations and, in this area, Military
conversations. Now, all the bands were silent.

Bob and Tom installed the units. Less
than an hour after sunrise both types of radios were up and
running, scanning the channels for conversation.

There was still some time involved to
scan every channel. Twice the C.B. stopped on channel eighteen but
caught only a click before it moved on. At first it had seemed like
it was all static, but the second stop convinced them. Bob stopped
the scanning and set the radio on channel eighteen. Twenty-two
minutes later a voice spoke and let them know they had chosen the
right channel.

Overheard on C.B. Channel
Eighteen

“
Nothing yet,”

“’
Kay,”

“
Good job, Bob,” Mike
smiled.

A few moments later the F.M. caught the
end of another conversation…

“…
Can’t tell…”
Answered with only a click.

Bob isolated that channel as
well.

“
None of the hand held F.M.
units we have, have that channel. That’s police… Or used to be,”
Bob said matter-of-factly.

“
That’s how they got it
then,” Ronnie said. “Hey, there are abandoned cop cars all over the
city. I’ve seen a few myself. Smart.”

“
Was smart,” Mike said, and
smiled again. “We’ve got them both now.”

“
But which is which?” Bob
asked.

“
That’s what we’re about to
find out,” Mike told him.

~

Twenty minutes later Mike, Bob and Nell
were ready to roll. They were inside the cave where they were sure
they couldn’t be observed or overheard. Mike felt it was impossible
for them to be able to get close enough to the cave to overhear
anything that they said, but better safe than sorry, he’d told
himself. They had already surprised them by attacking, maybe
listening in on the radios in the first place. It was best not to
underestimate them. They had discussed it while they worked
installing the radios.