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Three miles outside of the main perimeter, driving parallel to Highway 11, Ian turned left to follow a ridge and a dirt road that turned off the highway and ran at the bottom of the ridge. Standing up through the roof, Lance scanned around under the bright full moon. “Almost tempted to turn the NVGs off,” he shrugged.
Weaving through the trees, Ian glanced over at Dino, who was sitting in the passenger seat, just looking around with his tongue hanging out. Unlike other times they had gone out, doors were on the buggy this time and heavy wire mesh covered the open windows. With only two guns, they were quite sure they couldn’t fight off a pack of dogs before they swarmed the buggy.
Seeing the ridge turn south, Ian slowed and keyed his radio. “How close you thinking we should park?”
“This is good. From what Patrick said and the map, they should be in the house in the draw ahead,” Lance replied. “It’s only half a mile, we can walk it.”
Turning off the buggy, “Bitch, I have to climb a tree to get away from dogs, I’m kicking your ass,” Ian warned.
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to warn the group,” Lance chuckled, climbing out on the roof and jumping off. When Ian got out with Dino behind him, “We might find that mean pussy.”
Spinning around, “That’s not funny, ass monkey,” Ian snarled and then turned around, looking. “Don’t forget, you promised.”
“Brah, pussy shows up, we open a whole case of whoop ass,” Lance huffed, and both turned when Dino let out a low growl. They saw him staring to the west toward the draw they were heading for. “Dino really doesn’t like something that way.”
“Shit,” Ian moaned. Thinking over their actions for several minutes, Ian turned to Lance as the wind shifted and a putrid stench filled their noses.
“Stinkers,” they said together.
Turning west, “Think we should just back out and call no joy?” Ian asked, checking his AR.
“Not without seeing what’s there,” Lance answered. “We’re a mile off the main road and that draw is pretty secluded.” Nodding, Ian moved to the buggy and lifted out a bulging tote bag. “You’re going to haul all the extra magazines? We are each packing twelve loaded magazines,” Lance whispered hard.
“Thirteen, counting the one in our rifles, but that smells like a bunch. If we have to start shooting, I don’t want to have to start counting my shots as I subtract.”
Thinking that was very sound reasoning, “Very good point,” Lance nodded. “I’ll take point, since you have the bullets.”
Throwing the strap to the tote bag over his shoulder, Ian gave a grunt as the weight hit his legs. When Ian nodded, Lance eased off with Dino moving over and staying right beside him. After moving three hundred yards, Lance stopped and motioned Ian close. “Hear that?” Lance breathed in his ears.
Ahead and below them in the draw, Ian heard growling, snarls, and could actually hear the movement of bodies. “Maybe we should back out and call no joy,” Ian offered again.
“At the very least, we need to see how many and what has their interest,” Lance replied, and Ian gave a nodding shrug.
When Lance tried to move ahead, Dino stepped in front of him. “I know, Dino,” Lance whispered aiming ahead, then patted Dino on the back and Dino stepped out of his way. Moving through the trees and down the slope at a very gentle, quiet pace, Lance saw where the trees ended ahead. Glancing down, Lance saw Dino at his side, stalking much like a cat. Staying in the trees, Lance came to a stop and stared into the draw. The bottom of the draw was about a hundred yards wide and over twice that long, shaped in a wide U, and seemed flatter than it should have been. Lance was having a hard time figuring it out because it was packed shoulder to shoulder with stinkers.
A nice two-story house sat below them at the back of the U-shaped draw, and trees were cleared back up the slope and down the draw toward the dirt road that led off the highway. “That’s why I don’t like staying on roads outside of our perimeter,” Lance mumbled to himself.
“Dude, that’s over a thousand stinkers, easy,” Ian huffed.
Not even going to argue, Lance turned to the house and could see stinkers moving on the first floor through busted out windows. Looking to the upstairs, Lance froze. “What tha,” he mumbled, flipping up his NVG and peering through his scope. Someone had hooked up a small pipe to the rain gutter, running it to one of the upstairs windows.
Moving his scope Lance paused, seeing a three-inch pipe sticking twenty feet out of the roof. “They made a vent to bring in fresh air,” he mumbled. Seeing a window without curtains, Lance held his scope on it and didn’t see stinkers upstairs. Moving to the next window, Lance gave a jerk to see a solar oven in the window. Lowering his rifle, he leaned back and whispered what he saw to Ian.
“Look in that bay window. Someone ripped the stairs out inside,” Ian whispered back. “They isolated the upstairs.”
“Motherfuckers inside can think,” Lance said in awe.
“We don’t know if they are still alive. There are some dead stinkers over on the west side near the trees that look like they have been down for over a week.”
Turning to where Ian was pointing, Lance saw the bodies and then turned to look around the house, trying to see any bodies closer to the house, but there were just too many stinkers. Most were just rooted in one spot, looking up at the second floor of the house, but some were moving through the crowd. “You see any dead stinkers close to the house?” Lance asked.
“Can’t really tell,” Ian confessed. “But I have to agree, these fuckers can think. That window you can see in, I just figured out what I’ve been staring at. They have ten-foot long spears propped up in the window. I bet they were waiting till the stinkers thinned out and were going to use those to make a break for it by stabbing those under the window.”
“You think they are dead?”
Shaking his head, “To be honest, no,” Ian answered. “But I don’t think they will be alive much longer.”
Pointing at the house, “It’s motherfuckers like that we need to rescue,” Lance hissed.
Nodding as he scanned the crowd, “Yeah, but Lance, that’s a shitload of stinkers,” Ian pointed out. “I know we are bad ass man card holders, but that’s a lot of goober smoochers for just two guns.”
“How many magazines in the bag?”
“Sixty,” Ian answered, moving to Lance’s left and taking the tote bag off before setting it between them.
“We can at least make a dent,” Lance said. “If we use all those we haul ass, and any stinkers left should try to follow us. That should give those inside a chance.”
“We make sure someone is there before we do shit,” Ian huffed, digging out two magazines from the bag.
Giving a nod, Lance pressed the laser on his AR. Not seeing the laser, Lance flipped down his NVG and saw the laser. Pressing it again, Lance saw the laser turn brighter and flipped his NVG up to see a green dot on the tree to his front. Flipping his NVG back down, Lance moved the beam to the open window and waved it around. Then he moved to another window, aiming at a small gap he could see between the curtains.
Moving to another window, Lance continued and then saw the curtains at the last window part and saw a face looking out at him. Lance moved the laser back and waved the laser at the person’s chest and saw it was a woman. She turned over her shoulder and Lance saw three other people join her, another woman and two men.
Below the window, the snarls picked up and those stinkers that were just standing began to move toward the house. “Okay, we really need these guys. They were staying out of sight to try to make the stinkers move off,” Lance told Ian as Ian passed him two magazines.
“I don’t even want to know how many were here if some moved off already. As many stinkers that are down there, I’m surprised the house is still standing,” Ian grunted as one of the people opened the window and the growls increased. “I’m ready,” Ian said, turning on his laser.
“Don’t shoot at us and we’ll try to give you a hand!” Lance shouted out, and all the growls and snarls stopped as the entire group of stinkers turned to look up the steep slope. “Game time,” Lance said, flipping his safety off.
Muffled shots rang out in a rapid steady tempo as the stinkers started toward the back of the ravine. Mowing down the closest, Lance dropped his empty magazine and slapped in a new one, barely pausing his fire. The group started bunching up as the next row tripped over the bodies of the front ranks taken down.
The four in the window stood with gaping mouths as the two shadowy figures with skull faces on the slope shot down into the wall of advancing stinkers. The only pause they noticed would be one bending down and then hand something to the other. After the other shadow took whatever was picked up, both shadows would rain down a steady stream of fire.
Muffled pops continued in a very even tempo and the four in the window watched the two turn and widen their fields of fire when all the stinkers behind the house were down. “What did the stinkers do to them?” one of the women asked in awe.
“I have no idea,” one of the men mumbled.
“Here,” Ian said, handing Lance more magazines. “I’ve seen over a dozen drop playing dead.”
“Well, we won’t tell on them right now,” Lance replied, grabbing the magazines and dropping his empty, slamming in a new one. Seeing the smoke pouring off his suppressor and barrel, Lance started to wonder if this was a wise course of action.
“Gun down,” Ian called out, and Lance swung his laser to another head before pulling the trigger and then got back in tempo. Pulling his aim to the left side of the house, Lance shot ten and then swung his aim back to the right to drop another ten, then kept alternating left and right until Ian could cover his side.
Yanking the charging handle back, Ian dropped the magazine and saw the bent round drop out. Seeing the chamber was clear, he slapped a new mag in and hit the bolt release. Watching the bolt slam home and tapping the forward assist, Ian pulled the stock to his shoulder. “Up,” he called out as he pulled the trigger in a fast tempo, moving from target to target.
Swinging back to the right, Lance saw the stinkers were pushing out from the house to the slope on the right side. Too many bodies were down for the entire gaggle to come straight at them, but they still tried. Ranks tripped, falling down and making those behind bunch up tighter. With Lance now shooting those near the steep slope to the right, those trying to swing wide couldn’t and only bunched the group tighter.
Because they were shooting down the steep slope, the bullets that passed through a stinker head hit the one behind in the abdomen.
“Okay, I understand biting off more than I can chew now,” Lance mumbled, slamming in a new magazine.
Like the right, Ian saw the left side was bunching up. Feeling his bolt lock back, Ian dropped down to grab magazines from the bag while glancing behind them and saw the slope still clear. When he saw Dino sitting behind them, Ian felt better. Picking up four mags, Ian pulled his hand out and this time, he felt the bottom of the bag. Slapping one in, he handed two off to Lance.
The smoke pouring off his barrel was rolling under his NVG and burning his eyes. Slapping in a new magazine, Lance continued firing. In twenty seconds, he dropped down to eject his magazine and grabbed four more magazines. Shoving one in, he passed off two and felt Ian grab them. “Bag’s getting low,” he called out, then started engaging.
Shoving in a new magazine, Ian gave a startle while scanning his area. There were a bunch of stinkers trying to get back up, but none were actually standing. “You need help?” Ian asked, popping those trying to stand back up.
“No, but check how many magazines we have because we aren’t changing from the plan. We empty the bag, we are leaving,” Lance said, ejecting the empty and slapping in a new one.
Dropping down, Ian opened the bag before slapping in a new magazine, “Eight,” he said, standing back up and passing Lance magazines.
Finishing off his two magazines, Ian turned and saw some still standing, trying to walk over the bodies on the right. Letting Lance handle those, Ian started on the ones that had tripped on his side.
Two minutes later with smoke boiling off their barrels and suppressors, they both lowered their rifles. Their throats were burning from the cordite and their noses from the stinker stench. “Holy shit, I really didn’t think there were that many,” Lance admitted. “If this house hadn’t been in a draw, I’m sorry, but we would’ve left them to their fate.”
“You got that shit right,” Ian said, racking his bolt back and locking it open.
Locking his bolt back, Lance looked at the four gaping faces in the window. “You need to go to the front and climb down. We aren’t clearing the house, and don’t go near the piles because there are a bunch just playing dead!” he called out, and the faces vanished.
Holding out their rifles as they bent down, each started picking up empty magazines. When Ian picked up a partial magazine, he tossed it down the slope. “Fucker double fed on me,” he grumbled.
“And the girls wonder why we still practice gun drills twice a week,” Lance said, tossing in the last empty magazine. He saw a few in the mass of bodies trying to stand, but wasn’t in the mood and his gun was smoking hard. Hearing a window open on the left side, they moved along the slope and saw something unravel from the window to the ground.
“These motherfuckers just keep amazing me,” Ian huffed with a grin.
Lance looked at the rope ladder made from bedsheets and boards. “Yes, most dumbasses would just throw a sheet out the window,” he grinned.
Hearing thumping in the downstairs, they both looked in the windows and could still see dozens inside trying to get out. “All right, I like it when the stinkers stay dumb,” Lance confessed, turning back to the window.
A short person wearing a pack scampered down the rope ladder and then held the ladder tight as the next one came out the window. Ian and Lance watched in awe as the group worked as a team, and all four were on the ground in less than sixty seconds. The four looked around and then ran up the slope, angling toward the boys. They could see one man and a woman were carrying rifles across their backs, and the other man and woman had pistols on their hips.
Having seen that before, “Yeah, this isn’t the world where you want to run out of bullets,” Ian sighed.
The four reached them, skidding to a halt and staring at the shadows with gray skull faces. One moved to speak and Lance held up his hand. “Follow or don’t because we’ve used enough ammo here, and those inside will get out soon. And there are still those playing dead in the pile. Glad we could help, but we are gone,” Lance told them, and left with Dino leading the way and Ian following.
Watching the two walk away, the group looked at each other and one of the women just started off after Lance and Ian. When they reached the buggy, Lance and Ian grabbed an ammo can and the group moved over as the two started reloading magazines.
“Thank you,” one of the women told them.
“Welcome,” Lance nodded. “How many bullets you have left?”
The man standing by the woman who’d spoken, pulled out a Berretta and ejected the magazine. “We only had four left, and they aren’t for stinkers,” he said bluntly. Lance and Ian looked up chuckling and then realized the man was a young man in his late teens and the woman beside him looked in her early twenties. In the view of the NVGs, that’s all they could tell.
“Yeah, I really like ‘em,” Lance said, then reached in the back of the buggy and tossed a box to the young man. “Always save those four, but here’s some extra.”
Ian leaned over, looking at the rifles the two had on their backs. “We don’t have any hunting rounds. That a 300 win mag and a thirty-thirty?” Ian asked.
The other two gave a small groan and the man nodded. “We’re just grateful you came along. We were trying to lay low and let them clear out, but they wouldn’t.”
Seeing the other man and woman with the rifles standing intimately close, Ian was guessing they were in their early twenties like the other woman. It didn’t take a genius to realize they were a couple. “How long they had you trapped?” Ian asked as he and Lance never paused, using stripper clips to reload the magazines in the tote bag.
“Thirteen days,” the man said. “Name’s Alvin, and this is my fiancée Julie.”
“You did good then, Alvin, most would’ve died in three days,” Lance said as the other woman stepped up.
“Hi, and thank you for saving us and for the bullets, I’m Gail and this is my little brother Percy,” she said.
“You people think and that’s rare. We offered what we could, but I’m sure we’ll hear about it later,” Ian said, and Lance gave a grunt.
The four stared at the two, thinking they sounded young but damn sure didn’t move like they were young. “Where you headed?” Lance asked, tossing his last magazine that needed reloading in the tote bag.
“Any place we can hold up and not get eaten, shot, raped, or all of the above,” Gail sighed out, throwing up her arms.
When Ian tossed his last one in, the two just stared at each other. After a few minutes, the others started getting nervous. “I agree,” Ian finally said, and Lance turned to the four.
“Name’s Lance,” he said, holding out his hand. One by one, the four grabbed his gloved hand to shake it. “My partner there is Ian.”
They moved over and shook Ian’s hand as he moved to the back of the buggy, putting the tote bag back. “We are part of a group, but would have to talk to them,” Lance said and the four leaned toward him. “We can’t take you back now because we are going to teach some assholes that fly a pirate flag a lesson.”
“Those assholes are the reason we got surrounded,” Gail snapped.
Lance squared off with Gail and she shrank back from the menacing skull. “Sorry, they belong to us and we called dibs. They are going to get killed by us very painfully, and by us alone. I will kill any that try to kill them before we do,” Lance informed her. “Like I said, we called dibs on making the shit wads pay.”
Shaking her head and holding up her hands, “You two can have them,” Gail smiled weakly, and the others nodded.
“Don’t go south on the road,” Lance started.
“There is a robot down there that eats stinkers,” Julie gasped. “It’s the coolest shit ever!”
“Thank you, that’s why the pirate assholes are going to die with much pain. They killed our battle bot,” Lance grumbled, and the four took a small step back. He knew they’d only seen one, so that meant the group had spotted the original battle bot before the pirates killed it. “But, we’ve replaced it and added more shit. If you walk south you will die, and it won’t be from a stinker. Now, if you are smart and can follow directions, I’ll send someone to collect you in the morning. If the group agrees, then you can stay, but you have to pitch in.”
The four looked at him with hope and Alvin finally spoke. “What are the directions?”
“Cross over Highway 11 and you’ll see a road heading east. Follow it until it runs into a slope and turns south, but you go up the slope and over the ridge into a small valley. You will see a small road down the valley. Get on the road heading south until you come to a brick house. You can’t miss it because there is a Toyota Prius that is torn to shit in the driveway,” Lance stopped as Ian huffed.
“I didn’t tear it to shit,” Ian snapped.
“That was one of the first ones you went after for the batteries. Mr. Toyota himself couldn’t put the damn thing back together,” Lance replied, cutting his eyes over at Ian.
“I got the batteries, charger, and control board, not damaging any,” Ian pointed out.
“Brah, I knew when you pulled out an electric saw, you wouldn’t hurt the crap you were after,” Lance chuckled.
Appeased by Lance’s response, Ian let Lance continue. “So,” Lance said, turning back to the four. “At this red brick house, you will find the keys in the mailbox beside the door. Go inside and there is bottled water in the back bedroom closet. There are a few cans of food, but not much. Wait there and don’t even think of going further south because you will get killed, if you’re lucky. Chewed up by a robot if you’re not.”
Clearly excited, “Are you coming in the morning?” Gail asked.
“We might, but have too much shit to do. But we’ll send someone,” Lance answered.
“And the one you send will know where to take us without getting killed?”
Really loving the intelligent questions, “Yeah,” Lance chuckled. This group just kept impressing him.
Gail looked at the others and they all nodded. “We’ll meet whoever you send in the morning if you don’t come,” Gail said.
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll see you tomorrow, just not in the morning,” Lance said as Ian pulled an M4 from the back of the buggy. “For some reason, I’m sure my woman is going to ream my ass for taking on over a thousand stinkers.”
Alvin held up his hands. “I’d try to intercede, but I’m not getting in between a man and woman.”
“Yeah, they are smart,” Ian laughed, walking up. “Any of you know how to use an M4?”
“I’ve shot a few with my buddies several times,” Percy said, holding up his hand. “I know how it works, but you have to give me some time to break it down.”
“It’s suppressed and here are six loaded magazines,” Ian told him, handing Percy a messenger bag. “Don’t think this will get you through the south because it won’t.”
“Um,” Julie cleared her throat. “Which way do we run if a mob of stinkers show up?”
“If you want my opinion, don’t run. Stay hunkered down till morning, but if you can’t, fire one of those unsuppressed weapons in the air. Wait till one of the groups shows up to kill everything and then very carefully get their attention, and tell them Lance and Ian told you to stay in the house,” Ian told her.
“We’ll wait,” Alvin nodded with a smile.
“Wise choice,” Lance nodded, climbing up on the roof of the buggy.
“Um, I meant to tell each of you, your bolts are open on your rifles,” Percy said, cradling the rifle they gave him.
“Yep, we just dumped a ton of ammo and they are hot. Leaving the bolt open lets air circulate through the barrel to cool them down faster, but thanks,” Lance told Percy as he dropped his feet in and stood up out of the roof.
“See you tomorrow,” Ian said, holding the door open and letting Dino in.
The four stood watching Ian drive off heading north. When the buggy was out of sight, Gail turned to her brother. “How old were they?”
Shrugging, “I don’t know, but I’m betting close to twenty,” Percy guessed.
“About what I thought,” Alvin nodded.
“Their voices didn’t sound that deep,” Gail pointed out. “But they moved with confidence and a bad ass attitude.”
Laughing, Julie walked past Gail and patted her cheek. “Let’s find this house and hunker down till morning. The thought of killer robots moving about with the dead walking for some reason scares the living shit out of me more,” Julie admitted.
“Amen,” the other three chimed in, following Julie through the trees.
