The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (29 page)

They were talking on one of the F.M.
Stations.

“… …
Wasn’t.”
One voice said.

“
Someone shot first... It
wasn’t us… We were happy.”
A voice answered
the first.

“
They haven’t said their
names yet,” Bob interjected.

“
Well,”
the first voice continued. “
We had everything to lose. It was one of the others. Probably
sneaked up to ambush us. Someone broke those women out of where we
had them… had to. My guys said they saw someone, couldn’t give much
of a description, but we saw them again later after they gunned
down some of our guys. They were trying to catch those three women.
Tall… Thin… Dark haired young white guy… Shot them down, run right
out and took their rifles too. Must have been others with him.
Bunch of shots came all at once, but they only saw the one. Them
shots took out three of mine… They killed one of the women
too,”
he finished.

“
Why would they do
that?”
The other voice asked.

“
I ain’t them. How would I
know? My point is they killed my guys and one of the chicks. The
other two bitches they got,”
he
said.

“
So?”
the other voice asked.

“
So is this… That was
probably the plan, to get us to fight each other, I mean. Then they
can steal the women, see?”

“
What I see is, you got a
dozen machine pistols and I was supposed to get three women. Not
only didn’t I get three women, but I gave you weapons you turned
around and used on my own men… You see how that makes me
look?”

“
Yeah… Yeah… And just what
in fuck would you do if you was shot at?”

“
Okay. Point taken,” The
voice said. “What you wanna do?”

“
Well, stop killing each
other to start, then go after them that did it... Get them others.
If we come together, we can take them easy. We figure that they got
maybe thirty people… Maybe thirty five tops. We can’t take that
many on our own.”

“
These guys are sure full
of it,” Bob said.

“
Thirty,” Mike asked.
“Maybe it’s good they think that.”

“
Maybe,” Bob
allowed.

“
How many you got that can
fight?”
One of the voices asked.

“
How many you got?”
The other voice from the F.M. Asked.

“
I don’t want to play this
fuckin’ game,”
the first voice came
back.

“
Yeah… I tell you, you
know… You know how strong we are. You attack.”

“
And I could say the
same.”

“…
Ten,”
The F.M. voice said.

“
Oh come on. I say nine,
you say ten. Cut the bullshit. You only had seventeen to begin
with… counting kids and women. You lost some just like we lost
some.”

“… …
Seven,”
The voice said.

“
So if we get together we
got nineteen. Nineteen against thirty... maybe thirty
five.”

“
Yeah,”
the other voice said quietly.

The radio fell silent. Crackles and
pops of static spitting into the silence in the cave.

“
I got to talk this over
with my people. I’ll get back to you in… Say an hour from
now?”
the first voice asked.

“
Me too… But you better be
straight with me. I’m gone,”
The first
voice said.

Mike and Bob sat in the silence
listening to the pop and crackle of the static.

“
Well?” Bob
asked.

“
Your guess is as good as
mine, but they’re lying to each other. One of them started that
fight. The one, whichever one that would be, knows that, knows it
wasn’t us. So I’d say that person is setting up the other side. Has
to be, because we know for a fact it didn’t go down the way they’re
trying to paint it,” Mike said.

“
But… How does that help
us?” Bob asked.

Mike shook his head. “I don’t know yet,
Bob, but I’ll figure it out. We’ve got an hour before they decide.
We’ve got a little time to get our heads around it.”

Bob nodded.

Mike stood. “I’m going around to
everyone on post… let them know… lay it out. See how they all feel
and listen to the feedback they got for me. You think about it
while I’m gone, Bob. Talk to Jan… the two new women too, Molly and
Susan. Feel them out about it, what they think, what they feel,
whether they think they really will come for us. I’ll be back, and
we’ll have our own plan regardless of what their plan
is.”

“
Okay,” was all Bob
said.

The radio continued to spit static. Bob
reached down, pushed a button and switched it back to scan
mode.

Mike thumbed his own radio. “One… Two…
Three… I’m coming around in that order. We’ll talk about this new
thing.” He released the button.

“
Got you… One.”

“
Two, got you.”

“
Three, standing
by.”

“
Alright, Bob,” Mike said.
He turned and walked out of the cave entrance. The daylight was
fading; night was coming on. The air was cold, not snow cold, but
cold nonetheless. He walked down to the truck barricade.

~

The radio crackled to life a little
over an hour later.

“
You there?”
The first voice asked.

“
Yeah,”
the second voice replied.

“
What do you figure to do
if we do team up with you? What I mean is, who gets what? Like the
cave… them women?”
the first voice
asked.

“
What I understand, it’s a
big cave. We could share it, I guess,”
the
second voice said.

“
No… Can’t do that. That’s
like making us all one people. My people are my people. We got the
North side sewn up. You can have the cave. We got something over
here. But, let’s say you get the cave… Should be a better split for
us on the women, is what I’m thinking... See?”
the first voice asked.

“…
That sounds fair. But,
we don’t know how many there is,”
the
second voice said.

“
Don’t need to. We only
need to know the split. First off, we get the first three picks…
Then… Let’s say there’s twelve women, we get eight you get
four,”
the first voice said.

“
Sure… Sure, when pigs
fly. I was born in the day time, but it wasn’t yesterday, you know
what I mean? … No… Listen… You get the first two picks. If it’s
twelve we go fifty, fifty, like that, ‘cause you know you’re gonna
take the best looking bitches anyway. You know it, so do I.
Probably there will be six ugly or old ones and we’ll get stuck.
You wouldn’t want them anyway. This way it’s fairer. And it ain’t
like the cave’s an issue. You said you don’t want it,”
the second voice said.

The radio hissed static.

“
When,”
the first voice asked?

The other voice
laughed.
“That’s good… What say we get
together tomorrow... Early… Talk out what to do and how to do
it?”
the second voice said.

“
Okay… Peace out,”
the first voice said.

“
Peace out,”
The second voice repeated.

Bob and Mike looked at each
other.

“
That’s that,” Mike
said.

“
Yeah,” Bob
said.

Mike stood, “I’m going to make the
walk, let everyone know.”

“
Everything they said?
About… About the women too?” Bob asked.

“…
Yeah,” Mike decided.
“Everything. About the women too. Everyone’s in it. They should all
know the truth,” Mike finished as he began to walk to the front
entrance.

“
Okay,” Bob said
softly.

Mike walked off into the
darkness.

~ March 25th ~

It was three hours before dawn.
Everyone except Candace, Ronnie and Tom were up and gathered in the
cave. The three of them were still at their posts, but Mike had
talked to them earlier. They knew what this conversation would be
about. Mike had also spoken to Bob, and Bob and Tom had spent part
of the night finishing the work on the remaining four trucks, three
pickups, one other Suburban. Now everyone was waiting quietly for
Mike to speak.

“
We’ve decided what to do.
When I say we, I mean all of us. I’ve been around and talked to
everyone. I listened to every idea that came at me. I know you look
to me to lead, and I do, but this is not a decision I could make on
my own. It affects all of us too much.”

“
If you noticed that
Candace, Ronnie and Tom weren’t here, be assured I got their
feedback and opinions, and it weighed into the decision. Here’s
what we’ve decided to do...”

They listened while Mike spoke, and
when he was finished, there were no questions. Mike had thought
there might be. There were also no dissenters... at least no vocal
dissenters. If anyone thought it was a bad idea, they kept it to
themselves.

“
Alright then,” Mike
concluded. “Let’s go get them.”

Everyone had a job to do, and they got
to it. They talked to one another in subdued tones as they
did.

~ Overheard on C.B. Channel Eighteen
~

“
They’re moving,”
the first voice said.

“
Check… uh…Check,”
The second voice said.

“
Looks like… Two Jimmies or
Chevy Suburbans… Two people in each one… Looks like they’re heading
back out… Back out Washington Street… … Lost them, they… …Shit…
Okay… Okay, got them… That’s four; two pickups coming by as well.
Okay… That’s me… Six will pick them up in a little…”

“
Uh, yeah, good… Anything
yet, Six? Look like they’re up to anything?”

“
Still waitin’,”
Six replied.

“
Um hmm… …”

“
... Six... Yeah, um, okay
this is Six... Two and two... Nope. Looks like they’re going out to
the dealerships… Maybe... I don’t see nothin’ funny… Looks
legit.”

“
Yeah. I read you, but two
and two and another two and two… So eight… Eight out of thirty,
thirty five? What kind of sense does that make? Does it make any
kinda sense?”

“
Naw. It don’t… Maybe,
though, they just want more a them batteries…?”

“
Okay… Eight? …
Eight?”

“
Yeah… I hear them but I
don’t see them yet.”

“
Okay Eight… Just let me
know. Uh… Keep advised.”

…
a few minutes
later…

“
Uh base this is Eight…
Just passed me… Blew by the boat place and went right up the hill…
We ain’t got nobody out there.”

“
I know that… Don’t matter.
Just watch for them to come back…”

“
Uh base this’s
one.”

“
Yeah, one?”

“
Holy shit this’s good… Go
to channel ten… They’re talking on channel Ten, Base.”

~ Overheard on C.B. Channel Ten
~

“
Well… Just keep your eyes
open while you’re going,”
Bob said.
“Those guys could be anywhere, anywhere at
all.”

“
Got you… Listen… You care
what kind of trucks we get?”
Mike
Asked.

“
He said he doesn’t care.
Just pickups. Trucks are trucks. Those Suburbans are too hard to
handle bringing stuff back…. What ever runs, I guess,”
Bob said.

“
Got you,”
Mike Agreed.

~ Overheard on C.B. Channel Eighteen
~

“
Okay… Okay, good One,
good… You guys watch for them to come back… Sounds like they’re
just swapping out trucks. I could see where those bigger Suburbans
could be a pain in the ass, I suppose… Let me know when they’re on
the way back again… I’ll monitor them here too… Base
out.”

“
One, got you.”

“
Six standing
by.”

Base clicked once to acknowledge
both.

~ Overheard on the VHF Band Radio
~

“
Okay,”
Mike said,
“We’re here …
We’ll be coming back at you in about a half hour with two pickups…
Is everything okay back there?”

“
Seen nothing at
all,”
Bob said. “
Like there’s nothing going on.”

“
That’s a good
thing,”
Mike said.
“I’m standing by… Switching to the hand held.”

“
Okay,”
Bob said.
“I’m here when
you need me.”

~

Mike pulled the trucks off the pavement
and headed towards the tree line about three hundred yards behind
the dealership they had chosen. There were many game trails, snow
mobile trails and off road tracks that cut through the woods at
random. Some of them were well used off road trails that had been
established for years.