'Let's go check out the back, see what he dealt with before.' said Dora, who was leaning up against the lead pickup truck while Ken finished bandaging her wounds.
'Fine. But we are battled hardened, I don't know any humans who have fought more zombies than us, in fact I don't know of anyone else who has taken down a super zombie. We might be able to take him.'
A moment later Bob, Steve and Dora set off around the side of the building, they were trailed by the unwounded teen a fourteen year old named Becka. Becka's job was to act as a relay between the scout group and the group guarding the vehicles, in case Jake was to attack while they were split up.
'So you think he was telling the truth about keeping the zombies away?' asked Bob.
'We should ask. We should get as much information out of him as possible. Like can he read the minds of the slower zombies? That would be good to know.' said Steve.
'Yeah, like we can trust him.'
'You have trust issues.' Steve said.
'Just because I am paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.'
'Let's just see how this plays…whoa.' Steve stopped speaking as they came around the corner to the back of the bus dealership. Spread out before them were seven cars, some of them had windows broke out by gunfire and most had the tell-tale pock marks of bullet holes, big bullet holes. In front of them, just out of sight from the highway, were four lines of bodies. The youngest was probably nine, the oldest had to be in his sixties or early seventies, Dora counted, there were three rows of eight and a row of five for a grand total of twenty nine corpses. All of them had been shot in the head, some with a large caliber bullet, others with smaller rounds.
'I told ya it would be educational.' said Jake's voice from behind the cars.
Dora reacted before anyone else, her gun was out and pointed in the direction of the voice before the word 'told' escaped Jake's mouth. She held her fire, but just barely. Steve's gun was hardly even lifted up and when he recognized the voice he stopped raising it at all. He did cast a sidelong glance at Bob, raising his eyebrow at Dora. Bob, who had not even raised his gun, shrugged and looked at Jake.
The old man was standing in an open doorway that none of them had gotten around to viewing yet. He leaned casually against the far side and looked them over. 'I have no interest in killing you. I am, shall we say, sated, at the present time. I do not need you at all, really.'
'You could have fucking said something, like 'I will meet you back there!' I just about shit my pants goddamn it!' said Dora.
'My apologies.' said Jake, sounding anything but apologetic.
'So if you do not need anything that makes for a bad basis of bargaining. What can we give you?' asked Steve.
'I didn't mean to disrupt your conversation. I said I would give you time to talk and I will, if you still need it.'
Steve looked at Dora who glanced over at him and shook her head slightly.
'What do you want Jake?' asked Dora.
'Well I am all set right now, but I have to be thinking about the future, you understand?'
'Well we could spare this one guy, Tim, if he would be enough to keep you fed, what is he worth? A couple of buses?'
'Really?' asked Jake, surprised.
'Dora!' Steve said, 'This is no time to be joking!'
'There is never a time to joke anymore, is there?' Dora said dryly.
'I really don't want a person anyway, they draw zombies like a flame draws moths. And then there would be the upkeep, feeding them, keeping them from freezing. Too much trouble.'
'Well Tim will be disappointed that he is unable to make amends to the community. So what can we do for you?'
'Where are you planning on heading?'
'What is it to you?' Dora countered with suspicion in her voice.
Jake laughed, 'Well if this doesn't beat all. I need to know, because I might be willing to sell you the buses on credit, and collect later.'
'How? If we get to where there are other humans, they might not like that too much.'
'I don't think they could stop one man coming through, do you? You have to be heading to Des Moines, I went that way a week ago, other than the cattle yard some local zeds are keeping down here, they're the only humans around….' Jake looked at them, closely. 'So, the herd finally figured out what was going on.'
Dora nodded, 'So. Des Moines, yeah let's say we are heading there, you think we will honor our deal if we make it?'
'Lady, if you want to make it to Des Moines I can get you there. And I believe people are good and honorable, you will make good on any deal we strike, if I get the promise from you, personally.'
'How could you make sure we get there?' Steve asked before Dora could.
'Because I would go with you.'
'We wouldn't bring you into Des Moines!' Dora said.
'No, just to the border, after that you will be on your own. I would look you up later for payment, and who knows I might bring you a trinket or two as well, so you wouldn't feel like the payment was all that harsh.'
'There are other places in town to get the buses.' Steve began.
'Yeah but we're here now and we could drive away in ten minutes if we make a deal with Jake here.' Dora said.
Jake nodded, 'Guaranteed.'
'What will you take as payment?'
'A pint of blood from every man, woman and child who I help get out. Anyone could pay it, so parents could pay for the kids, or you could pay every six weeks until the debt was settled.'
'A pint for a life? That seems like a deal. No one dies?' Dora said.
Jake shrugged, 'I am a pacifist at heart.'
Dora pointed to the bodies on the ground, but didn't say anything.
Looking at them Jake shrugged again, 'Sometimes I'm not a very good pacifist.'
Dora cocked her head at an angle and stared at Jake, remembering her earlier conversation with Ken in the truck. Jake just stared back and laughed.
'So let's say I agree with your deal, me and you, I give you a pint per person, that's for those who actually make it to safety, right?'
'No, I won't go that far, I was up that way a week ago, but they were fighting hard and they might not be there, in fact they may all be dead. I will accept the payment to get you to Des Moines, to whatever you find there. I will go for the pint per person who makes it part of the contract, that suits me just fine, so if I lose a bunch of you, I lose my profits. Deal?'
'Deal.' said Dora.
They stood there for a moment then Jake said, 'For a deal of this magnitude, I think we should all shake hands. I won't require a written contract, but I want a list of every person's name the morning we leave. So, shake?'
'Don't do it.' Steve warned as Dora started forward.
Casting a mischievous look over her shoulder she said, 'What is the worst that can happen? He'll kill me and you will kill him.' Dora continued until she was next to Jake in the doorway, her hand right hand held out.
Jake took it with a tenderness that surprised her, he leaned in and whispered only to her, 'I won't even charge you for the baby.'
Dora stiffened, 'You can see that?'
'Yes, I mean it, I won't kill any more humans if I can help it. I won't even take any blood before you are ready.' Jake shook Dora's hand, then stepped inside the building, 'C'mon in folks, the buses are right this way. I can offer you some of the latest models with air conditioning and individually heated seats. All ready to drive off the lot right now. And if you are in the market for some used vehicles I have a few of those out back too, so long as you aren't picky about windows and slight body damage.'
Dora laughed and called back to Steve, 'I could like this guy. Too bad he doesn't know he just made a bad deal.'
