A week passed and Big Mack was going somewhat stir crazy, doing the same thing day after day, standing on the wall, shooting zombies if they neared, watching the ones who didn’t wander around aimlessly. In the evenings he sat with Toga, and as each day wore on they found less and less to talk about. Most of the people in Covington left the two bikers to themselves. That justly earned prejudice about their culture following them even to the end of the world.
Four days after Willy had left he was suddenly barging into the small apartment above the drug store. It was night, the one gas lamp casting strange shadows across Willy’s terrified face. “Big Mack, you gotta help me.”
“Oh I do?” Big Mack answered. “Why not get Bobby to help you?”
“He’s the problem, Mack,” Willy replied. “Mack he was… he was taking women. He had me help. Take ‘em, you know, like convince them. Young girls. You know how he is.”
“And what? He got caught?” Toga said from a small reclining chair.
“Yeah, and he said I did it. He said I was the one going after these girls. There are guys coming after me. They want to hang me in the middle of town.”
Big Mack was unsure of what he could do, and was still thinking when there came a sudden pounding on the apartment’s door. An unfamiliar voice called through the thin wood. “You guys got your friend in there. We’ll be needing him out.”
“Don’t let them kill me. Please Mack, Toga. Please help.”
“Let me talk to them,” Big Mack said as he stood up from his futon. Big Mack walked to the door and opened it a crack, peering into the hall. A man with a police badge on his chest stood there, backed by six or so other men with guns on their hips.
“Officer?” Big Mack said.
“Willy is staying here isn’t he? Willy Benson?”
“Yeah, well he was. He left though a couple of nights ago; threw in with my old friend Bobby. This have to do with him too?”
“In a way. May I come in?” The man with the badge asked.
“I haven’t decided yet,” Big Mack said.
“Well, I’ll be clear. Your pal, Willy is a scum bag, and we’ve come to find out he’s been raping women since he got here. Teenagers mostly. Under the age of consent.”
“Is there such a thing anymore? In a world with the undead walking, which laws do we upkeep? Consent? The right to a trial? I’m wondering,” Big Mack said snidely.
“What’s your name?” The officer demanded.
“Big Mack.”
“What’s your real name?”
“Big Mack,” Big Mack said again.
“Fine. Well Big Mack, I’m going to let you in on a little secret about how things work around here, in this little town, and how they’re going to work on the ships. We expect everyone to abide by the same rules everyone else does, and we expect them to conduct themselves with as much human decency as they can muster. Your friend can’t muster enough I guess.”
“Bobby can’t either, Officer,” Big Mack said. “I came in with him you know. He’s the one you should be going after. He’s done this before.”
“Bobby has become a valued member of this community. I can’t say the same about you or your scumbag friends.”
Big Mack sighed. It seemed Bobby had adapted to life here quickly, and had fallen in with all the right people, while Big Mack had made no effort to do so, or even work to look less threatening to everyone else around him. The cop spoke up again.
“Listen, Big Mack. We know he’s in there, and we can bust you up and give you problems before we get him, or you can just give him to us. His fate is sealed, yours isn’t. You know?”
Big Mack considered for a minute. He was really beginning to hate Bobby, but he knew this was a battle he couldn’t win. Big Mack stepped aside and opened his door wide. Willy began to yell, looking frantically for a place to escape to. The men rushed in and surrounded him, beating him with their fists and butts of their guns before dragging his bloodied and bruised body from the apartment. As Willy was pulled past Big Mack he turned his head and spat a glob of bloody spit at him. The spit hit Big Mack on the chin, running down into his beard. Then Willy was gone.
They hung Willy in the middle of town, to cheers and applause. Toga went to the hanging, hoping to comfort his friend in his final moments. Big Mack remained in the apartment but watched through the small window that looked out towards the gallows. Half an hour after Willy had died he began squirming on the rope, gnashing his teeth. A bullet was put through his brain and his twice dead body carried off. Later that day Big Mack went to work on the wall. When he came back, all of Toga’s things were gone from their apartment. Big Mack sat in the dark, not bothering to light the lamp. He played different scenarios in his head, all of them ending with him killing Bobby.
****
A hundred miles away from Covington Bard was still making his way steadily south along the highway. A mass of well over eight thousand zombies walked with him, shuffling and bumping into one another, devouring any living thing that they came across. They resembled a parade from hell. Thousands of feet, rising and falling, all of them on a collision course with the small sea side town where humanity’s last hope had gathered.
In Covington they were just days from leaving, and the ocean was teaming with boats. Personal yachts, small speedboats, more than one giant military ship. Supplies were being loaded now non stop, and Big Mack was pulled from wall duty to help with this task. He worked from sun
