I looked around at the group of men. What a bunch of cowards. “So you’ve been hearing someone crying out for help for the past 15 minutes and not one of you has done anything about it?”
Jennings spoke up. “What are we supposed to do, boy? Risk all of us to help one person out there?”
“Yeah,” I said, getting up in his face. “How can you call yourselves men if you’re not willing to do that?” I got even closer to him. So close that I could feel the shotgun pressing up against him. He backed off a step. I looked around at the rest of them. “I don’t expect Jennings to do anything. He’s nothing but a coward, a chicken in men’s clothes. But the rest of you? Are you really willing to let whoever that is die out there?”
I walked back to Washington. “Does that sound like an adult out there to you, Washington?”
He shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. Calm down, Duke. That’s why I called you in here. We need to figure out what we’re doing and do it soon. You’re the only person in this place who’s faced one of these things down today. We need your help.”
I heard Jennings mutter something under his breath. I whirled back to him and rapidly closed the distance. Before I could stop myself and before anyone there even had the chance to do anything I shot out with the stock of the gun and smacked him in the belly as hard as I could. He dropped like a stone to the floor, wheezing and grunting for breath. I looked back at Washington. “Get him out of here. He’s a worthless sack of shit.”
Washington nodded to a couple of them and they dragged Jennings out of there. I’d felt a savage satisfaction at hitting him like that but I also felt a touch of shame. I hadn’t intended to hurt Mason the night before, either, but that’s what had happened. I didn’t want anything else on my conscience. There was enough as it is.
“What should we do, Duke?”
I sighed and looked out the window. “Do we have any idea where it’s coming from?”
Wilkinson stepped up behind me. “No. We’ve tried to pinpoint it but the rain’s making it too hard to tell.”
I looked back at Washington. “We’re going to have to get a few men – maybe four or five of us – and go out there. We’ll need that many so that we can watch all four sides. If that kid really has been crying that long I’m guessing the zombies are heading straight for him, too.”
He nodded. “You have your men right here.”
“You’re not coming, too.”
“Yes, I have to, Duke. I can’t ask anyone, especially a 16 year old boy, to do something I’m not willing to do myself.”
I stepped closer to him. “These people here need you. In case,” I stopped and took a deep breath, “we don’t make it back.”
“There’s no point in talking about it, Duke. I’m going.” It was weird how quickly they’d accepted me as one of them.
I searched his face, looking for any pause or weakness. There wasn’t any. I sighed and shrugged. That’s when Fannie Mae walked into the room.
She looked around at each of the men. None of them would look her in the face. Finally her eyes rested on me. She didn’t say anything. Her arms were crossed on her chest and she looked pissed.
“You heard?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, I heard.”
“I have to do this, Fannie Mae.”
“I know, Duke,” she said, shuddering. “I know. Your courage is one of the reasons I love you.”
A thunderous silence followed that statement. My mouth was open wide enough to catch flies. One of the men behind me coughed and shuffled his feet. I took a step forward. “Fannie Mae. . .”
She closed the gap between us and put her finger on my lips. “Hush. You go do what you need to do. Just make sure you come back. I’ll be waiting for you.” She pulled me into a hug and put her lips next to my ear. She whispered so low that I could barely hear her. “If you have to run, you run. Don’t look back and don’t sacrifice yourself for these men. They’re not worth it. Come back to me.”
She pulled back from me and held me at arm’s length. Searched my eyes and said, “Do you understand?”
I nodded without saying anything, trying to keep my emotions off my face, and she finally nodded back, squeezed my hands and turned away, going back to wait for me.
Geesh.
Pressure, much?
“All right,” I said, looking around the room. “If we do this everyone needs to make sure that they’re fully aware of what’s going on. Someone needs to watch each side. They could come out from anywhere.” I felt like I was channeling Barrett. “They make no noise other than their feet on the ground and in this rain we’d be lucky to hear even that. Shooting them anywhere but the head doesn’t seem to really slow them down. Shoot for the head or you’re wasting a shot. From what we saw earlier it seems they travel in groups. Even if we get attacked by a group in front someone needs to always watch out behind us or we’re screwed. I don’t think they’re that smart but if we’re not paying attention one will slip through. All they want to do is eat us.”
I looked around at the men, for a moment amazed that they were actually taking orders from me. Not a one of them would have looked at me twice a day ago.
“Does everyone understand what we’re doing? We go find whoever’s yelling for help and we bring them back here. That’s it. No other side missions, no lollygagging, no nothing. There and back. That’s it.”
Washington looked me in the eye. He looked spooked, but resolute. I nodded at him. “Any other parting words?”
He shook his head. “No. Everyone stick together.”
