Zombie D.O.A. (43 page)

The man was about to respond when a kid of about twelve got out of the cab. “Get back inside,” the man said.

“Ah pa,” the boy said, “it’s hot in there.”

“I don’t care if it’s hotter than Lucifer’s hind tit. Get your ass back in the cab.”

“Ah shit!” the boy said.

“And don’t use none of that potty mouth lingo with me, boy.” He turned back to us, “now where was we?”

“We were saying we’re not with The Dead Men.”

“So where’d you get them hogs?”

“We took them.”

“From the Dead Men? You see now I know you’re lying.” He trained the gun on us and I was sure he was going to fire.

“Whoa mister,” Nate said. “Take a look at us. You see any tattoos, leather jackets, regalia and the like?”

The man seemed to consider that for a while, and then he relaxed his grip on the trigger, “Fair enough,” he said, “I’ll take you at your word, but you try anything and I’ll cut you down like the sum bitch you are. Now, what are you doing in my town?”

“We came looking for some guns?” Nate said.

“That I got plenty of, but none I can spare. Where you from feller? Originally.”

“Amarillo,” Nate said.

“No shit. I’m from Channing myself”

“My ma’s from Channing.”

“Her name?

“Braithwaite, Jeannie Braithwaite?”

“Can’t say as I know the name. Still I’ve been up here in Whelan, oh some thirty year now. We could be cousins feller.”

“Probably are,” Nate agreed.

“More than likely. I’m Jed Hoolihan, folks call me Hooley. The young buck’s my son, Jed Junior.”

“Nate Colman. Chris Collins.”

“Pleased ta,” Hooley said then,  “Now why’d you say need them guns.”

We told Hooley our story and when we’d finished he said, “Figure I can help you boys out. Got the entire stock of McBain’s Gun Store sitting in my living room. Wasn’t going to leave it lying around for them Dead Men fellers to pick up.”

“We’d be obliged for anything you can give us,” said Nate.

“Comes with a condition though,” Hooley said, “Me and the boy comes with ya. I been itchin’ for a crack at these Dead Men ever since they took my wife. Say you wouldn’t have her down in that town of yours, would ya? Pretty little thang about yea high, red hair with a temper to match, name of Alice?”

“She drive a rig?” I asked.

“Mister, she can handle an eighteen wheeler better than Jerry Reed.”

“We got a lady named Alice who says she used to drive a rig,” I said.

“That’s settled then, I’m coming with ya.”

Hooley wasn’t kidding about his armory, he really had moved the entire inventory of the local gun store to his living room. There were carbines and rifles and shotguns and pistols and revolvers, plus enough ammo to start a small war. The hardest part was persuading Hooley that we didn’t need everything. In the end we loaded up some FN P90 sub machine guns and some Smith and Wesson M & P 15’s. We also took some shotguns, a bunch of Heckler and Koch pistols and ammo for all of them. Nate picked out two rifles with scopes and I took a snub nosed Colt .38 Special. 

I was disappointed that Hooley didn’t have any AK-47’s and when I mentioned this, he fetched one in prime condition from his bedroom. I picked it up and it was like being reunited with an old friend.

Before we left the town we filled a dozen 5-gallon cans with diesel and stopped by the pharmacy to pick up whatever medical supplies we could find. We also stopped at the convenience store and loaded some provisions, including some dog chow, a bed and a pulling rope for Giuseppe.   

We arrived back in Pagan just after dark and were immediately confronted with two problems, both of them involving Pastor Ray. For starters, the preacher had lit up his church like a Christmas display again. That was easily resolved but the second problem was far more serious.

“I’m sorry Chris,” Yonder said. “I couldn’t stop him. He marched right into the town hall while I was busy with a patient, took the keys and let those boys out of the jail. They tore out of here riding that Harley, but I’m sure they’ll be back.”

“You can bet on it.” I said. “Which means there’s no time to lose. Did you get the jobs done that I asked?”

“All of them.”

“Good, then lets get the light show at the church sorted out and meet back here in ten minutes. We’ve got a lot to do.”

Me, Nate and Hooley marched up A Street where the church was lit by at least twice as many flares at before. I was pissed at Ray and as we walked I clenched and unclenched my fists, forcing myself to relax. If Ray had been in front of me right then I’d probably have knocked him cold, but the last thing we needed was to start fighting amongst ourselves.

By the time we reached the church I’d calmed down but the same couldn’t be said for Nate who was spitting venom.

“Ray McCool! Get your goddamn ass out here preacher man! I’ve had as much as I’m gonna take of your bullshit. Come out and take the ass kickin’ you got coming.”

To Ray’s credit, he didn’t back down but stepped out of his church with his bible clutched under his arm.

“How many goddamn times I told you about those flares?” Nate demanded.

“Keep your voice down,” Ray said. “There are people at worship here. And I won’t hear blasphemy spoken on consecrated ground.”

“Better close your goddamn ears then dipshit, cause I’ve had it up to here with your goddamn bulldoody!”

“I thought we agreed about the flares,” I said.

“Oh hark, I hear a lost soul in the wilderness,” Ray said, not looking at me but cupping a hand to his ear.

“Fuck it,” Nate said, “I’m putting them out.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Ray said.

“Try and stop me,” Nate said pulling out the first torch and trampling it underfoot.

“Look Ray,” I said, “Surely you must realize that these flares can be seen for miles in the dark. If the Dead Men…”

“The Dead Men won’t be a problem,” Ray said. “They gave me their word.”

I knew then, if I didn’t before, that there was no reasoning with Ray McCool. Even so, I said, “We’re having a meeting down at the town hall in five minutes to talk about how to deal with this situation.”

“I’ll be tending my flock,” Ray said, “The good shepherd takes care of his flock.” He turned to go, but then spotted Hooley standing in the darkness. “You found Jesus, son?” Ray asked.

“Can’t say as I have, padre,” Hooley said, “But if I do, I’ll be sure to let him know you asked after him.”

Ray turned on his heel and went back into his church.

After we’d extinguished the torches we went back to the town hall. As we entered I spotted Alice and called out to her.

Alice looked towards us and her face lit up. “Jed, she said, “Jed is that really you?” She ran towards Hooley and he opened his arms to receive her. But Alice ran straight past him, fell to her knees and embraced her son.

“Now there’s appreciation for you,” Hooley said.

“Appreciate my ass,” Alice said over her shoulder.

“What I do?”

“What you do?” Alice said, getting to her feet, “How about you disappeared with Jed Junior three months ago and I ain’t seen hide nor hair of you since?”

“I couldn’t find you!” Hooley said.

“Of course you couldn’t. Not with your head stuck so far up your own ass.”

“Ah honey, can’t we just kiss and make up?”

“Kiss and make up? It may have escaped your attention Jed Hoolihan, but we’ve been divorced five years now.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean we can’t still be married.”

We left them squabbling and headed upstairs for our meeting. The quorum this time was just Yonder, Nate, Cal and myself.

“Let’s keep things informal,” Yonder said. “Chris, I had the trench dug like you asked, the supplies moved from the mine depot and the grocery store, and the path cleared through the tunnel. So maybe you and Nate should run us through what you have in mind.”

“Nate?”

“You go.” Nate was talking to me again but that didn’t mean he was entirely willing to let bygones be bygones.

“Right,” I said. “Way I see it is this. We have to assume the Dead Men are coming back. In fact after Ray’s little act of charity at the jailhouse, we know they’ll be back. We don’t know when, but I’m guessing Bear will be itching for revenge, so it will be soon.

“The other thing we don’t know is how many men they’ll be bringing. They lost a lot of men back in Tulsa, including their entire leadership. Virgil Pratt and his four captains were either killed or zombified back at the prison, so right now the Dead Men are likely to be factionalized, probably a few power struggles going on to see who gets to be leader. Clear, so far?”

They all nodded.

“Okay, so how many men are they likely to throw at us? Well, what message is Bear likely to have taken back? A tiny town, a town divided, mainly women and children, very few weapons, easy pickings. They’ll be thinking they can take us with twenty men. But even if they bring fifty, I’m confident we can take them down, especially with the element of surprise and that Browning on the back of Hooley’s pickup.”

“Who’s Hooley?” Cal asked.

“Crazy son of a bitch,” Nate said. “But probably a good man to have around in a fight. You’ll meet him later.”

“Let’s talk strategy now. The plan Nate and I put together relies on three things, surprise, firepower and an escape route. Let’s talk about each of these in turn.  The element of surprise cuts both ways. We want to surprise them, and we will, with the firepower we’ve got. But we can’t have them surprising us, so we’ll need to put a lookout up on that hill. Cal, that gets to be you.”

“ Ah man,” Cal said, “I’ll miss all the action.”

“If and when we have to move, we’re going to rely on speed, and with that leg of yours…”

“Besides,” Nate said, “I picked you up a sweet Remington bolt action rifle in Whelan, with a scope and everything. Once the shooting starts, you can pick them off from there.”

“Now that puts a different complexion on it,” Cal said, and smiled.

“So Cal will act as our early warning system…”

“Question?”

“Cal.”

“We’re assuming they’ll be coming from route 83, what if they come from behind the hill?”

“You ever seen them fellers far from their Harleys?” Nate said.

“Good point,” Cal said, “One other thing, how will I signal you?”

“We got us a couple of two-way radios.”

“You fellers thought of everything,” Cal grinned.

“Let’s hope so. Okay, next part of the plan, we bring everyone in here, into the town hall. See any problem with that Yonder?