There were a few moments of tense silence, before the line crackled and Fingers’ voice came through. “Go for Fingers.”
“Hang on,” Cheryl said back, waving maniacally at Zion, “I’m going to put Zion on.”
He grabbed the microphone. “Have you heard from Wendy yet?” he asked.
“Wendy?” Fingers replied. “Who the hell is Wendy?”
“All right brother,” Zion replied with a sigh, “I’m going to give you the nickel version cause we ain’t got much time. Did you hear those bombs that went off a few hours ago?”
“Yeah, we were trying to figure out what in the hell that was,” Fingers came back.
Zion leaned on the table. “They were missiles,” he explained, “and they fucked our shit up good. We pulled survivors out of Wendy’s camp and sent them your way.”
“Whoa, whoa, sent them our way?” Fingers demanded. “Edward isn’t going to be happy about that.”
Zion’s gaze darkened. “He’s gonna have to get over it, because we’re coming that way too.”
“What the hell is going on there?” came the reply.
Zion took a deep breath. “We got fifty thousand of those things headed our way, and if we don’t get our people out in the next four hours or so, we ain’t getting them out,” he said.
There was a long silence, and then Fingers finally said, “Fucking hell man.” He let out a deep whoosh of breath through the line. “What do you need me to do?”
“For starters, when you get a hold of Wendy, you tell her to turn around and haul ass back here with those transport vehicles,” Zion replied. “We don’t have anything big enough to move our people.”
“We’re low on that too,” Fingers admitted. “We trained all the diesel from the buses to power the generators. Wish I could be more help on that, but I can’t.”
Zion shook his head. “No worries.”
“How many loads do you need?” Fingers asked.
Zion glanced at Cheryl, and she scribbled some numbers quickly on the back of a piece of paper. Once she was done, she held up three fingers.
“Three,” he said.
There was another momentary pause. “You aren’t going to be able to do that in four hours if they’re coming all the way here.” It was a statement, not a question.
Zion rubbed his forehead. “I remember that drive, and there wasn’t really a whole lot out there,” he said. “And I don’t really feel comfortable leaving vulnerable people on the side of the road.”
“Don’t blame you there,” Fingers agreed. “Those things are fucking everywhere, and by the time you really get going, it’ll be nighttime. So even guards aren’t going to help much on the side of the road.” He paused. “But wait… wait…” There was a sound of papers rustling around through the radio, and finally he said, “Bridge of the Gods!”
Zion’s brow furrowed, and he looked around at the others, receiving blank stares all around. “I have no idea what that means,” he admitted.
“Bridge of the Gods, man,” Fingers replied, speaking quickly. “It’s about halfway between us. Toll bridge over the river, they turned it into a little tourist trap a while back. Not a whole lot there, but there is a decent sized hotel.”
Zion nodded thoughtfully. “Which we can use to stash people while we get everyone to safety,” he added.
“Exactly,” Fingers said. “However…”
Zion groaned. “Fuck, what now?”
“I found a report on it from a couple of weeks ago,” came the reply, “and it’s overrun with those things.”
Zion sighed. “You’re killing me, man.”
“Don’t worry,” Fingers said quickly, “if you can send me some people, I can sneak up there with a few party favors and help you clear it out.”
Zion glanced at Mateo. “You think you can handle that?”
“If that’s where you need me,” his companion replied with a firm nod.
Zion smiled at him in appreciation. “All right, I’m sending you a few guys,” he said into the radio. “Mateo is your point man. He’s a bladed badass, so you can’t miss him.”
“Look forward to it,” Fingers replied. “If memory serves, there’s a little restaurant across the street from the hotel. Let’s rendezvous there.”
Mateo gave a thumbs up, and Zion nodded.
“He’ll be there,” he said. “Appreciate it, man.”
Fingers took a deep breath. “Anytime, bud,” he replied. “Anytime.”
The line went silent, and Zion tossed the microphone on the table. “Cheryl, does that timeline even work?” he asked. “I didn’t want to say anything with him on the line, as we don’t have any other options.”
She held up a hand as she finished scribbling some more math on the scrap sheet. “Okay…” she began, shaking her head. “Assuming that the horde is reaching the crossroads in four hours, and assuming Wendy gets back here within ninety minutes…” She scribbled some more. “Forty-five minutes each way to the hotel… shit. We need four and a half hours to get that last group loaded up and on the move.”
Zion drew his bottom lip between his teeth and nodded slowly. “Thirty minutes,” he said thoughtfully. “We can buy thirty minutes.”
“Let’s get those engines for the loppers and we’ll be in business,” Calvin piped up.
Cheryl swiveled to face them. “Engines?” she asked. “Wait, where are you boys going?” she demanded.
“Super Garden Center,” Zion replied.
She shook her head immediately, letting out a deep sigh. “Well, if you’re going to go there, you might as well get everything you possibly can,” she replied, knowing there was no time to argue. “There’s a moving truck place about a half a mile up on Weiss street. They should have some trailers you can hitch to the back of your truck.”
“That’s a detour worth taking,” Zion agreed.
Mateo raised a hand. “What about me?”
“Cheryl, see if you can round up a few boys to help Mateo clear the hotel,” Zion said.
She nodded and got to her feet. “Do you want some to go with you, too?”
He shook his head. “No, we’re doing a hit and run to get this stuff,” he replied. “And besides, we need to get people and supplies staged in the
