can for another couple of days, but after that I am taking my friends and heading back to Colorado, or maybe a bit further North. What is the state above Colorado?”
“Wyoming.”
“Yeah, Wyoming looks pretty empty. We could make something there, Nita, Hugh and I.”
“I take it they are herding the zombie horde along without you?”
“That was the excuse. I don't think Hugh could get much closer without being drawn to Chicago. I was just going to check and see if you were still on board with helping and get you moving again if you were.”
Red cocked his head to one side, as if listening.
“What? Are they coming?”
He nodded slowly and then shook his head too. “Stewart yes, but the horde…”
“Should we shove the car into place?”
“The horde is moving south again, it must have been happening for awhile and I didn't notice it. What the hell are those two doing? Yeah, we better push the car in the way.”
It was mostly Red doing the pushing while Max scrambled into the ditch by the side of the road and hid in the nearby bushes. Max could see the vehicle rolling towards them and was surprised to see it was Stewart's patrol car, there was one person in the driver's seat and one in back. Red had climbed up on the bumper of the van opposite of where the car was pulling up. The car rolled to a stop and the man inside got on the radio, after a moment he cautiously stepped one foot out of the car onto the road and looked over the road block.
Stewart's voice called out, “This is totally a setup, get the fuck back in the car and get us out of here!”
“Shut up. There are no zombies east of town yet.” the sheriff's deputy pulled out his pistol and stepped away from the car.
“You're gonna die and take me with you, you stupid son of a bitch!” yelled Stewart, who started struggling in the back seat. It appeared to Max that she was handcuffed with her arms in front of her.
Max rustled in the bushes and called out, “Officer! Over here!” which caused the deputy to crouch down and aim his gun over the hood of his car at Max.
“Don't move! You move a muscle and I will shoot you!”
Red moved out from behind the van like a whisper and launched himself at the deputy from behind slamming into him between the shoulder blades. The deputy reflexively pulled the trigger and a bullet whizzed by Max's face. Max flinched a little too late and then laughed and pulled himself up when he saw the man crumple to the ground behind the car.
“Fuck.” said Red, opening the rear door of the car and letting Stewart out.
She looked down at the ground, “Fuck.”
“What?” Max asked clambering through the tall grass of the ditch to the road.
“Dead. I didn't mean to hit him that hard. We had a plan.”
“A plan that got you a nice snack for rescuing me?” asked Stewart.
“We had to rescue you.”
“Hello? Rescue me? He is the law! I was in lawful custody. You can't rescue me from the laws of the land. As fucked up as they may be right now. He wasn't some criminal that needed killing, he was one of the 'good guys'!”
“I am sorry. Max?”
“What?” asked Max looking the deputy over. The man's head lolled at an angle a living person could never achieve.
“You need to get going. Time is of the essence. And I got to get back to Hugh and Nita. Get his gear and get moving. Don't get captured this time; I can't come get you again.”
“I don't think we want your help Red, not if it means killing people.” said Stewart.
Red ignored her and spoke to Max again. “Remember, you've got to get to Chicago and put a stop to this. You need to go.” Lifting the deputy's body Red pulled off his belt and handed it to Stewart, who also bent over and picked up the pistol. She hefted it and then brought the barrel level to Red's head.
“Stewart! No!” Max said. Red seemed unconcerned, he just held the body at arms length and stared at the woman.
“You should not have killed him.”
Red didn't say anything, he just stood looking at her, then, very slowly he leaned in until the barrel of the gun was up against his unblinking left eye.
“Stewart…he is slowing the others down, he is trying to help us.”
“Goddamn it!” Stewart said disgustedly, dropping the gun to her side, “Why are you defending him Max? They killed your wife!”
“Another one killed my wife. Ultimately it was this Doctor in Florida who killed my wife, not Red. He is trying to keep us alive.”
Red hefted the body over his shoulder and started trudging down the road, calling out behind him, “Goodbye Max, good luck. I am glad you didn't shoot me Stewart.”
Stewart watched him for a second, then Max called her to come help him push the car out of the way so they could get moving. Stewart hopped into her car and drove it through the opening, then insisted that they push the car back and flatten two of its tires by letting the air out of them.
“Gary was calling for help, he just didn't want to wait until they arrived.” Even now Max could see a set of flashing lights coming towards them in the distance from O'Neill. He and Stewart got into her cruiser and she took off like a bat out of hell.
“They didn't send Tom or Amelia.” Max said.
Stewart nodded, “Or Cory or Erin either. Astute.”
“Why you?” Max asked.
“Why you?” Stewart countered.
“Because I screwed up. I let them know I knew they were moving the kids this morning and then I started slamming my way through the safety glass to get out of the cell.”
“I got the drop on the woman deputy. To be fair she was retired and out of shape, but when I got Amelia and Erin into the office with me and knocked down another guard, well, it was on video. They made me watch it, it was grainy and low quality, but I blurred Max. Blurred. The film showed Amelia, Erin and the deputy just fine, but I was just a blur when I hit him. Unlike our dead friend back there, I didn't kill my target.”
“So how did they catch you?”
“You went through the office; you have to be buzzed out of it. Unlike you, I seem to be faster, but not that much stronger. I couldn't get the door open. They came in with guns, busted me down with handcuffs and then gave me another exam. How'd you get the paint off your head?”
“Oh? Yeah, Red and I found some paint thinner in the garage where we swiped one of the cars for the roadblock, he scrubbed me down good with it. I got a stocking cap if you want it.” said Max pulling the hat from his pants pocket. Stewart looked at it and tossed it up on the dash, then turned the air conditioning up higher.
“Look we will find you some clothes and get the paint off of you, we need to do that, in case that is standard procedure for injured people.”
Stewart kept driving, after a mile or so she asked, “Where are your kids Max?”
“They took them to Lincoln to put them on a train east towards Des Moines Red said they might be in Iowa already.”
“You can't sense them?”
“It is too far. I can't go more than a mile or so if I want to be able to pick out individuals. I can sense things farther than that. Red has more distance.”
“He has killed more living than you have undead. If that is the way these things work. Why can't I do that?”
“Why can't I move as fast as you?”
“I don't know. Are the others going to be alright?”
“They will survive.”
“Do you think we will see them again?”
Stewart thought about it for a moment, then asked, “Are you going to Chicago to find the guy responsible for calling all the zombies towards us?”
