sticky forest floor. I drew my knife and punched it through his skull, quieting his thrashing forever. I noticed his neck had a huge bite out of it, exposing his backbone and that was what had caused his head to flop around.
I looked around and saw Charlie standing over his zombie, a woman in a tattered bathrobe. She actually had a few curlers in her hair, and her dead eyes stared blankly up at Charlie, who cleaned his knife off on the robe. I squished on over and used the terrycloth to clean my own blade after I had plunged it into the earth to remove most of the gunk.
“You ever see the movie Kung Fu Hustle?” Charlie asked.
I thought for a minute then laughed. “You’re right, that was like that scene with the Beast. Loved that movie.”
“Yeah.” Charlie said wistfully. “I liked all those martial arts movies. The stuff from the seventies was the best, but they had the weirdest titles. ‘Monkey’ this and ‘Flying’ that”. He sidestepped around a melting pile of snow. “Sure wouldn’t mind seeing one of those again.”
“Training flick?” I asked, hopping the ditch.
“You know it.” Charlie said, jumping the ditch and walking to his truck. About halfway there, he stopped and cocked his head.
I looked at him. “What’s up?”
Charlie seemed confused. “I heard something that doesn’t belong in the woods.” He started walking towards the hill, keeping his rifle ready. I waved to the vehicles and got waves back. They knew something was up and would be ready to move out at a moment’s notice. I raised my rifle overhead and saw motion in every vehicle as people armed themselves and checked weapons. Probably a false alarm, but it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared.
Charlie and I approached the top of the hill, while tree branches clicked gently together above us as a small breeze swept up. We moved towards the woods, making sure we were alone. The idea was to check the area while still being hidden. We stepped carefully, avoiding small branches and such that might give us away.
At the top of the hill, we crouched down and it was then I heard something. It sounded like a walkie-talkie and I was curious as to who could be out here. I couldn’t make out what the person on the radio said, but I heard someone say, “Not yet. No shots yet, either.” A pause, then, “We’ll wait a bit longer. Maybe they had some trouble.”
Charlie and I looked at each other. Someone was waiting for us. We moved silently forward until we could see the cleared area. An intersection was a little ways up and someone had moved a car to block the intersection. We could see four people standing near the car and a fifth standing a little ways off with a radio. All of them were armed with what looked like AR-15’s.
Charlie looked at me and mouthed, “What the hell?”
I shook my head and motioned him to head back. We ghosted our way back down the hill towards our waiting vehicles. I thought about what we had seen and waved Tommy over. I explained what had happened and Tommy summed it up quickly.
“Looks like an ambush to me,” Tommy said. “Who’d you piss off lately?”
I shrugged. “Beats me. But the best way to beat a trap is to spring it before it’s supposed to.”
Charlie spoke up. “How?”
“I have an idea. You and Tommy head back to the tree line and get yourselves into firing positions. Charlie, you remember the one with the radio?” Charlie nodded. “I want him alive. I have questions about this.” Charlie looked grim and nodded again. I waved to John Reef and he came running from his vehicle with his gun. I sent him up with the other two, having seen him shoot and knowing he was steady.
I ran to the third car in line and had everyone get out with their stuff. It was a small car, but it would serve. The people piled their gear into other cars and watched in fascination as I went into the woods and dragged the zombie corpses out one by one. I positioned them into the car to look like living people, using sticks to prop them up. I put the car in gear and rode it to the hilltop, stopping just out of sight of the waiting men.
Charlie saw what I had done and nearly blew his cover. Tommy just shook his head and I was sure John was wondering what kind of lunatic I was. I signaled the men to get ready, then I jammed a forked stick in the steering wheel to keep it steady, put the car in gear, and hopped off. I got over to John’s position quickly and watched the results of my handiwork.
As soon as the car coasted over the hill, I heard “Get ready!” The voice sounded familiar, but I pushed it back as the car picked up speed and headed towards the parked car. The ambushers must have thought they were going to lose their prey, and opened fire. The car windows shattered, and the zombie decoys jerked with the impact of high velocity rounds. The leader of the group ran out from his hiding place and waved his arms. “Stop! They’re not all here! Stop! We have to wait for the Honda!”
That shook me. This was personal. I took aim with my M1A and fired at the leader. It was an easy shot, about one hundred yards. My round slammed into his shoulder, spinning him around, causing him to lose the radio. At the sound of my shot, the four ambushers spun towards the tree line, making themselves easy targets for our rifles. Tommy, Charlie, and John fired as one and three attackers went down immediately. I fired at the fourth and was rewarded with him falling to the ground, clutching his throat.
I burst from cover and ran towards the leader. I needed to get to him before he could radio whoever he was talking to. Charlie ran with me while Tommy and John ran back to the vehicles. The leader had stood up and was searching for his radio when we ran up to him.
“Don’t move!” I yelled aiming at the man’s back. Blood was on his shoulder and was staining his combat vest. “Get your hands up!” Shaking hands were raised and I could see sweat starting at the man’s neck. Charlie checked on the rest of the crew and called out from the side. “All dead.” The man’s shoulders sagged at the news.
“Keep your hands up and turn around.” I said. The man slowly turned and faced me, his little eyes staring hatred at me once again. I knew those eyes and I knew that hatred.
“Well, well. Dane Blake. I wondered when I would see you again.” I moved in close and shoved the rifle barrel into his neck. I removed his sidearm and knife then backed up. “Put your arms down.” He winced in pain as he complied. I lowered the rifle but kept him covered. “How did you know we would be coming?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
Dane looked at me sullenly, his fat face quivering with pain and rage. I repeated the question. Dane refused to answer, spitting on the ground between us. I waited a minute then punched him in the nose. Dane gasped in surprise and dropped back on his knees, clutching his bleeding face.
“How did you know?” I asked again, keeping my voice calm. Charlie was searching around and suddenly bent to the ground. He came up with the radio and brought it over. His eyes got wide at the sight of Blake, and brought up his gun.
I shook my head at Charlie and turned my attention back to Dane. I needed answers. I handed Charlie my rifle and drew my knife. The sight of the blackened tanto blade caused Blake’s eyes to go huge. I walked over to the decoy car and dragged out the dead zombie. I pulled it over to Dane and threw it in front of him. I showed him the knife, then I plunged it again in the hole in its head. When I pulled it out, it was covered in zombie goo. I brought the knife closer to Blake and he recoiled as if it was a snake. It was poisoned, to be sure, with the most frightening substance on the planet.
“I’ll get right to the point. You tell me who you are working with and how you knew about us, and I won’t cut you with this knife. Lie to me, or try to do anything stupid, and you know what will happen to you. Understand?” A drop of muck slid off the blade and fell to the grass between us. Blake followed the drop to the ground and tried to scoot away. Charlie’s rifle poked the back of Dane’s neck and he stopped.
Just then, the radio squawked. “Dane? Are you there? Is it done? Report?”
Charlie and I looked at each other. We both recognized the voice. Pamela Richards.
“That bitch,” was all Charlie had to say. I had other things to say but not right now. I held up the radio to Dane. “Tell her it’s done.”
Dane shook his head but screamed as I stabbed forward with the knife, stopping just short of his face. “ Tell her!” I yelled in his face. Dane complied, trying to sound as normal as possible.
Pamela’s voice came through again. “Did you get them all? That bitch and the kid too?” She must have meant Sarah and Jake. Rage surged through me and Dane recoiled from the look on my face.
“ Answer!” I hissed at him, moving the knife closer. Dane spoke again. “We got them all. What do you want us to do with the bodies?”
