Rot & Ruin

scuffling steps of the zoms. The closest was still a quarter mile away, but they were coming from all directions. The path back to the creek was totally blocked.

“Tom Imura!” called a voice, and Benny and Tom turned to see Vin Trang step out of the tall grass on the far side of the road. He stood in the one spot that was farthest from the living dead, although a few turned stiffly toward him. Vin held a pistol in one hand and several thick strings of firecrackers in the other.

Tom’s lip curled, but when he spoke he sounded almost casual. “Where’s the girl, Vin?”

“Girl?” Vin laughed. “What girl?”

“Let’s not play games.”

There was a hissing sound to their left, and they saw a second string of firecrackers come arching out of the woods behind them. It landed on the blacktop and began popping. The zoms that were coming out of the cars began to moan.

“Tom,” Benny whispered.

“I know,” said Tom without moving his lips. He pitched his voice louder. “The girl!”

“She’s dead!” Vin yelled back. “Zoms got her.”

Benny almost cried out, but Tom gave him a fierce single shake of his head. “I’m looking at her footprint, Vin. Hasn’t even had time to dry yet.”

“What can I tell you?”

“Nice trap. Who thought of it?”

“I did.”

“You couldn’t zipper your pants without instructions, Vin. This has Charlie Pink-eye all over it.”

Vin barked out a short laugh. “What’s the girl to you? I thought you had the hots for Jessie. Granted, that little girlie has some potential, but she ain’t her mama yet.”

Benny ground his teeth and started to say something, but Tom touched him, gave him another shake of the head. He bent close and whispered. “Don’t let him get inside your head.”

“I want to tear his-”

“Me too, kiddo. But let me play this my way. You keep your eye on the zoms. Let me know when they get to within a hundred feet. That’s our red zone.”

Tom yelled, “Were you at Jessie’s last night, Vin? Isn’t that where you took the girl?”

“Jessie’s? I never been to Jessie’s place-although I wouldn’t mind paying a call. But Charlie’s the one with a sweet spot for Jessie.”

“You’re saying you weren’t at her place last night? That’s funny, Vin, ’cause Captain Strunk found your lucky charm there last night.”

“My lucky…? What are you talking about? I lost that weeks ago.”

“You lost it at Jessie’s.”

“I was never at Jessie’s.”

“Then how come Captain Strunk found it on the floor?”

“Four hundred feet,” Benny whispered.

Another string of firecrackers began popping behind them, and Vin yelled something in Vietnamese. No more firecrackers came flying out of the woods.

Under his breath Tom said, “He just told Joey Duk to cut it out for a minute. I think I rattled him a little.”

“What was Strunk doing at Jessie’s place?” yelled Vin. “And what do you mean that he found my coin on the floor?”

“Mighty bad luck for you to drop your lucky coin at a crime scene, Vin.”

“Crime scene? But… hey, man… What crime? Joey and I don’t do crimes in town. You know that.”

“Tell that to the town watch. They want your head on a pole, Vin. Joey’s too.”

“For what?” Vin demanded, and Benny thought he sounded genuinely outraged.

“For what you did to Jessie Riley.”

Silence. Then, “You’re jerking us around, Tom. We didn’t do anything to Jessie.”

“Evidence says different.”

“Well, then ask Jessie. She’ll tell you.”

Tom’s face wore a twisted smile. Hard and predatory. “Jessie’s dead, Vin. You and your ‘brother’ beat her so bad that she died.”

The ensuing silence was broken only by the low moans of the dead.

“Three hundred yards,” said Benny.

“You’re trying some kind of sick con on me, Tom,” protested Vin.

“Not much in the mood for games, Vin. Jessie died in my arms, and your coin was on the floor. You’re a wanted man, Vin. You and Joey. Do you know what the people in town will do to you if they catch you? When they catch you?”

“No way, man… no way in hell.” Vin’s voice was filled with doubt now. And fear. “You gotta believe me here, Tom.”

“Why should I believe you about anything? You’re trying to feed me and my brother to the zoms. That doesn’t build a good case for innocence.”

“Almost two hundred feet, Tom.”

The closest zoms were a mix of ordinary people in everyday clothes and soldiers in the burned remains of their uniforms. One wore the black slicker and helmet of a firefighter.

“That’s your brother?” Vin called. “That’s little Benny. Oh… hell, man.”

“Yeah, you’re really racking up the points, Vin. Beating on women, kidnapping little girls, and now you’re thinking about murdering a teenager. Yeah, you’re innocent, Vin. You’re a real saint.”

“You got it wrong, Tom. This stuff out here… This is just business. You, me, Joey-we’re pros. We know the risks, we know how it works out in the Ruin. No rules, no slack. It’s all part of the job.”

“Is murder part of the job?”

“Out here? Hell, you know it is.”

“Tom,” Benny said urgently. Tom turned and saw more zoms emerging from the forest. The terrified horses nickered and tossed their heads, pulling at the tethers that held them to the axle.

“Okay, Vin, but how’s the girl fit into all of this?”

“She’s Charlie’s niece. Or cousin. Something like that. He said so.”

“And you believed him?”

No answer. Even Benny knew that Vin probably didn’t believe that story, but like most people, Vin Trang was not in the habit of calling Charlie Matthias a liar.

“Didn’t you think it was strange that he should take his niece away from her mom by force and in the middle of the night?”

No answer.

“The coin, Vin… what about the coin?”

“Someone must have put it there.”

“Why?”

“To frame me.”

Tom smiled and winked at Benny. “And why would they do that, Vin? Who would want to go those lengths to throw suspicion on you?”

It was a long and ugly silence. The zoms were almost at the hundred-foot line. Benny counted sixteen of them in the first wave. Cold sweat ran down his face and back, and pooled like slush at the base of his spine. He had his bokken in his hands, but the hard wood felt like a toothpick against what was coming for them.

“Charlie wouldn’t do that,” Vin protested. “He’d know that we’d clear our names once we got back.”

“You mean if you got back. You said it yourself, Vin. No rules out here in the Ruin.”

“Hundred feet,” Benny said, and edged backward, raising the sword in both hands. “We have to go!”

“Vin,” called Tom. “I have to get Benny out of here. You let us walk, and I promise to help you with Captain Strunk and the court.”