Transformation (26 page)

32.

Cooper looked the big fat burly bastard in the face. The bastard looked straight back at him with a smile. He was clearly going to enjoy this.

He backed away and put his weapon on the ground. He walked back towards Cooper. Eye to eye. He was smiling. He was not yet finished his taunting.

“I’m going to beat your ass till you are almost dead. Then I’m going make you watch me fuck that little whore of yours.”

“That’s enough Ross.” It was the older man, Don. He and the others who left entered the clearing.

Burly Ross turned and went for his weapon, but it was already gone. The woman guarding Rachael held it. Everyone trained their weapons on Ross.

“You’re done Ross.”

“Fuck you Don.”

He ignored him. “Take him to the shed.” Everyone but Don and the woman who had been guarding Rachael escorted Ross away.

“Sorry about all this. We saw an opportunity to deal with a problem and took it.”

“Sorry about the spit.”

“Forget it. We’re even. You were right to react in such a way.”

Don pulled a knife from his belt and made quick work of the ropes holding Cooper.

“It’s a long story and we don’t have time to socialize. We’re letting you go because we know who killed Shaw.”

“It was Ben,” Cooper stated it as a fact.

“Actually, no it wasn’t. It was Ross.”

“What?” Cooper couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Sorry about all this but it was necessary, for us. When you arrived, after hitting Pedro, we saw an opportunity and took it. Ross has been sewing discord in the community for weeks since his arrival, and we needed to figure out who was working with him, who was loyal. You just help speed things up.”

“What if I would have escaped and killed one of you?”

“Didn’t happen. We wouldn’t let it.”

“What happens to Ben? He really is bad news, I mean bad news.”

“We know. We had a female guard sweet talking him the whole time. He’s bragging about all of his exploits. Shelia’s going to confront him with it and we will have a trial of some sort. We’re really just trying to make all this work. Big pain in the ass, but if we all succumb to fear and do nothing the Rosses of the world rule. It’d be the Dark Ages all over again.”

“Where’s Ben now?” Rachael cut in.

“His room, locked in.”

“But you have a female guard going in and out, trying to manipulate him.”

“She’s not trying, she’s doing it.”

“Ben’s the one doing the manipulating. You need to get back there now and make sure there’s no more communication with him, no more physical contact.”

“You know him?”

“Yes, and that is also a long story. He’s a murderer. I’ve watched him kill a lot of people.”

Don looked confused. “You didn’t tell us this, why?” He looked at Cooper.

“It’s true. He started following us. We saw him wreck, and thought he was dead.”

Don motioned to two men. “Run back there now. Put him on a tight lock down.”

“OK. We can’t let you stay because there’s still a lot of people pissed about Pedro. Don’t worry we know what went down and don’t hold you accountable but most of the others weren’t there. A lot of them seem to think you could have avoided killing him. But then they’re the ones that don’t go on patrol and have never been in an armed ambush, or what appeared to be one.”

Cooper and Rachael were given their possessions. Their packs were full.

“We stocked you up. There’s enough there for a few days. Hopefully that’ll get you to where you are going. Come back by if you can in the future. Give it at least a few weeks for things to get talked out and settled down.”

“We sure will. We’re heading up to a community at the airport, San Jose.” Cooper sighed. “I feel responsible for Pedro’s death. I had no idea.”

“No. It was all Shaw. He created that clusterfuck and he knew it. He was angry at himself. He really was a good guy. You two would’ve gotten along. He’d eventually come around and apologized to you for putting you in that situation. OK. Enough chitchat. I’m going to personally drive you out of here to wherever you want to go.”

“Hoods on then,” Cooper said.

“No. No hoods. Someone in the community vouched for you. He requested he stay anonymous, but his word has a lot of weight with us.”

Cooper wondered briefly who the anonymous source was, and why they would choose to be anonymous? But the riddle would drive him nuts so he put it out of his mind. He’d stop by here in the future and maybe then figure it out.

He’d intended to tell Rachael about his conversation with Trevor, but it kept getting put off. He needed to tell her as soon as he was able. Maybe right after they were dropped off.

§

The two guards rushed back to the pool house and as they approached they saw that the front door was opened. They had a sick feeling as if they knew what they were going to find.

The door to Ben’s room was open. They rushed in to find the body of the female guard on the floor.

“Motherfucker,” one guard growled as he knelt by her. He felt for a pulse on a neck black and blue from strangulation. Her pants were torn off and she was nude from the waist down.

“Looks like the asshole raped her,” the standing guard said.

“No shit. She’s alive. Go get help and sound the alarm.”

The guard rushed out and the remaining man turned back to the woman and took her hand to pat it.

“You’re going to be OK.”

She whimpered and moaned. Her eyes fluttered open. A pained expression crossed her face.

“I fucked up.” She was barely able to get the words out.

“No. No you didn’t. Just relax you are going to be OK.”

She pulled her hand away.

“Go find that asshole and kill him.”

§

Ben easily followed the kicked up trail through the woods. He could see the armed men and women clearly as they stomped through the trees talking. They assumed they were so remote that they were perfectly safe, which was normally a safe assumption. Ben arrived at the clearing in time to see the prick get cut down and hear the conversation. San Jose Airport. He could get there.

He stuck his hand down the front of his pants. His junk was still moist from the guard bitch. He rubbed his fingers around and then put them to his nose and sniffed deeply. He wished he could’ve spent more time with her.

They would be looking for him soon so he had no choice but to strike out into the woods and start running. Ben ran and ran just like the retard in that box of chocolates movie. Eventually, he slowed down but kept jogging until he came to a road. He started walking and followed the road until he came to a cabin. The sun was getting low in the sky.

There was a four wheel drive Bronco parked in front of the cabin. Ben saw someone walking back and forth in the front room through the windows. There was a little girl playing on the porch, alone.

Ben smiled as he made his approach.

33.

Sal was pissed off at himself. They had lost almost a full day because he was in a drugged sleep. Even now that he was able to stand he was dizzy and groggy. He had a hard time of walking for the first few hours. He was grateful that the route they chose, away from the others, was clear of the dead for the most part.

They made good time when Sal was able to walk faster, even jogging a little. They eventually turned north. It was a long quiet day. Only a few times did they have to avoid the dead or take a few down if they were in the way.

When the sun began to set, they started looked for a place. Neither one wanted to walk in the dark of the night if they could help it. Nighttime these days was very, very dark. It was hard to see and it was silent. Any light you shed or sound you made was a beacon for anyone and anything in the area.

They found a gas station with an access ladder to the roof. The ladder was covered by a sheet of steel that was hinged and locked in place covering the rungs. Easy enough to bypass for a thinking active human, impossible if you had the abilities of a walking corpse. They got comfortable and feasted on the junk food from the shelves below. They were safely tucked away before the sun was all the way down.

They spoke in whispers. It was the first chance they had to hold a real conversation. But even so, Sal felt he knew the kid as they’d been working together all day to travel safely. Not to mention the kid kept watch over him the entire time he was in a drug induced slumber. He seemed like a good kid and smart too. He wondered what he was doing with those crazies.

“I’m Sal.”

“Eddie.”

Not much of a talker
, Sal thought. “I’m on my way to see my people.”

“At the airport?”

“Yeah. You’re welcome to join us. I’m not extending that offer to your friends of course. So if you happen to speak with them . . . “

Eddie snapped, “They’re not my friends.”

He was speaking a little too loud for Sal’s comfort. Sal motioned for him to hold it down.

“Sorry, I know they’re crazy and . . . “ Sal started.

“They’re crazy alright,” Eddie’s volume jumped a little but he took it back down.

“Obviously.”

“No. I mean really crazy. As in fresh out of the loony bin.”

That explains a lot
. Sal thought. “What about you and your dad. Where’d you come from?”

“We lived nearby. Me and my dad made it to the mall weeks ago. It was nice at first with the original group, but then they all arrived. We can’t find my mom, but dad’s been looking.”

“So why were you out with those kids?”

Eddie looked up at Sal. “I wanted to go with my dad, but he wouldn’t let me. Said I’d be safer at the mall.”

“But you wouldn’t be?”

“Um, no. There’s more crazies back at the mall. The older folks don’t get it. They don’t see what’s happening. My dad doesn’t even believe me.”

“About what?”

“The murders. They are killing people they don’t think are worthy because the food and stuff is running low. They’re sneaky about it. Using drugs and stuff.”

“OK.” What Sal heard was disturbing but he didn’t doubt any of it.

“You see the original group, the normal people, that was there when me and my dad showed up are great people. But they are also kind of dumb because when all these weirdoes showed up seeking shelter, they just let them into the mall. All the normal people think of the mall as one big community, but it’s not. The nuts like Cullen and Dawn all live in another part of the place. The adults think it’s just kids being kids, wanting their privacy, but it’s them plotting and planning. Real crazy stuff too.”

“And you can just come and go?” Sal was looking for holes in Eddie’s story. Even though he liked the kid, he was cautious to the point of paranoia and wanted to be sure he understood what was really going on. Eddie was young so maybe some of this was an exaggeration or blanks being filled in.

“Sort of. They think of me as a dumb kid and don’t notice me half the time. And the other half the time, I’m usually hiding and spying on them.”

“And the crazy stuff?”

“You heard some of it. The new world, new human race with them as the leaders. To become one of them, you have to kill someone. So far there’s twelve in the club.”

“Twelve murders?” Sal looked shocked.

Eddie smirked. He was sitting cross-legged and staring at his feet most of the time.

“No. More. A lot more. Some of the deaths may be natural, but a lot aren’t. There were almost two hundred normal people at the mall before the crazies arrived. Now there’s less than a hundred. But even among the normal people there are a few really bad ones. They hang around with the crazy crew a lot too.”

“Wow.”

Eddie looked up at Sal.

“You think I’m making things up too. My dad refused to believe me. He wouldn’t even let me prove it to him.”

“No, I believe you. You seem to know who the good and bad guys are. Maybe soon we can go back and help the good ones.”

“Sure.” Eddie was back to looking at his feet. He ate a few crackers with peanut butter on them. He folded the remaining ones in their wrapper and stuffed them in a pocket. He opened a bag of chips.

“If you like those, we can grab more before we leave.”

Eddie shrugged.

“So the people hunting me down, are any of them the good folks?”

“No, the hunters are all the crazies. But yeah, a lot of the good people have been worked up and see you and your people as the enemy. When we left, they asked us to get you and the woman and bring you back so they could have a trial. But I know the crazies won’t bring you back. They want to deal with the two of you in their own way.”

“Deal with us how?”

“I don’t know. The normal people want some sort of trial. They think you all are murderers. My dad kind of saw through the panic and thought he could help calm things down before more people died if he met your people first and explained things. I have no idea what the crazies have planned.”

“So you and your dad knew we were being held at the mall? Who was holding us, the good people?”

“Yeah. It was all the normal people talked about. Some wanted to let you go, even invite you in, while others wanted to kill you. When the crazies found out and got a look at the lady they were ready to steal her and kill you. You escaped a day before they were going to do it.”

Sal wasn’t worried. Eddie’s dad was probably a good man and he would see how good his people were once he talked to them. But the thought of what they would have done to him, might be doing to Wendy now was upsetting.

“So why did you leave the safety of the mall with those crazy bastards?”

“Because Dawn and those kids are normal compared to the others, the ones back at the mall. Plus I heard that George went with him. George is one of the bad ones. I was worried about my dad.”

“So who are they? The bad ones? Where did they all come from?”

“Well, the older folks call them the kids because of their age, but they call themselves the Agnews.”

“Agnews?” That one word sent shivers down the spine of most Californians. To Sal it had a deeper impact. He wasn’t sure he heard it correctly.

Eddie took Sal’s silence as ignorance.

“As in Agnews Mental Institution.”

“Yeah. My wife is—was—a nurse and had to go there once. I don’t think she slept for a week after. I’ve only been once, as a child. I had an aunt . . . “ Sal let the thought trail off. “I grew up with the stories.”

Agnews was a mental institution in San Jose built in the late 1800’s that managed to keep its doors open until the last day of civilization. It had a notorious reputation for the horrible treatment and abuse of its patients. From what Sal remembered seeing with his own eyes and hearing from his wife, it was as bad as it was reported to be.

“They all escaped with Cullen’s help. I think he was a nurse maybe. He hated being called that, but I think that’s what he was.”

“Yeah, he’s scary.”

“No, he’s a pain in the ass. George is scary, and Sherman is terrifying. He’s from Agnews too, He was an orderly or something. He was always talking about the stuff they did to the patients.” Eddie chuckled. “You know George had fake hair, a rug . . . “

“A toupee?” Sal offered.

“Yeah, a toupee.” Eddie sat up straight, smiling. Sal had to shush him a little.

“Yeah sorry,” he whispered. “Well Cullen was always joking about ripping it off his head. He imitated George, acted it out . . . Cullen could be funny sometimes.”

Eddie mimed as if her were ripping something away. He held it up and looked at it like a dead rat. He shook it. “I think it’s still alive.”

Sal smiled politely.

“Guess you had to be there. Anyway, your friend beat him to it. She ripped it off his head. George went crying to Sherm, and he sent us to find you guys and bring you back.”

“Really?” Sal was surprised. He and Wendy didn’t have time to talk during the escape.

“Yeah. He was bleeding bad. He had to get special bandages or something. Apparently she ripped half the skin off his head.”

Sal laughed and had to suppress it to stay quiet.

“Now that I can picture knowing Wendy. Oh my god she’s…” His face fell flat. He remembered that she may be in danger.

“Why isn’t George chasing after us himself?”

“I don’t know.”

Sal figured it was probably to head them off. He could already be in the structure when he got there. He thought about the group of crazy kids heading towards the structure and the fact that Wendy was still out there and heading in the same direction. What if she met up with any one of those crazy bastards on her own. He couldn’t sit still any longer.

“Let’s go. We both need to get there as soon as we can.”

Without a word, Eddie was up and ready.

“Who’s this Sherm you mentioned. He was the orderly at Agnews?”

“Yeah. Big and weird. I only saw him once. He lives near the mall. I don’t know where but not too far away. I hate going outside or even close to the doors, so I haven’t followed them when they go see Sherm.”

Sal nodded. “OK. We’re not too far away. Maybe we can find a vehicle or something.”

“Oh and we were just one of the teams sent out to find you guys.”

Sal stopped short. “There’s another team hunting us?”

“No. There’s two more teams hunting you.”