Day 333 - Untitled Zombie Story Chapter 3.3 - (1,364 words)

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UNTITLED ZOMBIE STORY

By Wayne Webb
Chapter 3.3

“Is he going to …?” Derek left the question hanging, but as he was talking the red dot of the sniper scope disappeared. It did not move it just blinked off. He looked to the three men from Ben’s team and held out a hand to shake the nearest man’s in greeting and introduced himself.

“I know you know who I am, but I didn’t catch your name?”

“Actually I’ve forgotten yours already, and it’s Reid. In case I didn’t look grateful enough just now?” Reid had been at the knife end of the dead man on the ground between them now. “Thanks for turning up when you did.”

“Right, I’m Derek and this is James and…”

Reid held up a hand to stop him, it was still shaking lightly form the adrenalin and fear rocketing through his system. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you appeared when you did.” He crossed his arms and frowned, but his hands were still shaking as he folded them in. “But why did you appear when you did? Are you a part of this …?” He nodded at the two men with their hands in the air.

“Aren’t you going to take care of that?” The man who had dropped his gun and surrendered first was looking at his former leader standing unsteadily with two distinctly bloody bullet holes and a far off look in his milky eyes.

“No need, he won’t hurt you while the machines are on.” Reid dismissed the man’s concerns and then seemed to remember at that moment that the men’s weapons were on the ground and no one had picked them up. His cohorts were still keeping the would be highwaymen covered and so he picked up the guns and tucked the smaller into his waist band, much like the one that James still had that they knew nothing of.

“Uh, right so your magic thingamy … does what now?” The other man who had been silent until now asked.

“You know I aint that inclined to answer any questions you have after you just tried to kill us all with zombies and bullets and this insane plan.” Reid arched an eyebrow and looked to his comrades. “Billy, Zane? How about you round them up and get them off the road, somewhere we can deal with them or something?”

“Hold on!” James was grinning ear to ear and looked at his brother seeing a familiar smirk.

“You are in no position to be giving orders.” Reid looked him up and down before using his name. “James.”

James shook his head and Derek was smiling so hard he had to look away.

“Is that really their names? Billy?” James pointed to one and snorted before saying “ and Zane?”

Derek laughed despite trying not to, the resulting sound more like a snore or a hiccup mixed into a giggle.

“Uh, yeah? What’s it to you? James.” Again Reid hit the man’s name with some contempt, underlining the emphasis with a little space.

“Sorry, sorry, you probably hear that joke all the time.” James was still smiling but he was trying to suppress it.

“Joke?” Reid had no idea what he was talking about.

“The name? Come on?” James and Derek were looking at each other in disbelief.

“He doesn’t know who he is, I’ve told him but – he’s not much of a movies guy. So, no he has no idea.” Zane, the second of the men had been watching the interchange and had no expression on his face.

“Oh, well that’s umm… yeah. Carry on? I guess Billy? Or are you …” James choked on his laughter.

Zane gave him the middle finger and turned to go off and take care of the zombies, but as he was half way there a wry smile touched his face momentarily, doing his best to keep it hidden.

“Is someone going to do something about that?” the would be highwayman was pointing at his former leader, now a shuffling mess of blood and flesh and making his way through the men who were talking and heading to the pack.

“How do you do that?” The second man was watching the undead closely and seemed less concerned about his safety now, unlike his nervous counterpart. He followed his leader’s shuffling steps and tentatively push at the man’s shoulder making him lurch a little to the right. The Undead version of the man he knew just kept moving, the body falling back into a rhythm and walking forwards to the pack again. “That’s amazing.”

He still had his hands up, even after the shove he fell back into the surrendering stance, but now he was among the others he stopped and lowered them, smiled amiably and offered a handshake to James.

“Rusty.” He said by way of introduction.

“James.” Said James and took the handshake and tested the man’s grip, which was stronger than it needed to be. He was either trying to place himself dominantly in the group or overcompensating for position he found himself in.

“Yeah I get that. Derek, Reid, Billy and … well you know the rest.” He pointed about the group. “That’s Waylan there, he’s a little out of sorts because you just killed my brother and his … well I don’t like to call her his wife, that would make her my sister in law, and to be honest I would not like to consider her family.”

Rusty stood among them with his arms crossed and just melded into the group like he was part of them all along.

Waylan went white and started taking steps backwards.

“Stop right there, Waylan is it?” Reid pointed the gun he had confiscated from Waylan back at him and stopped him in his tracks.

James and Derek had a decision to make, they could easily take Reid right here and now, and the sniper was no longer in the equation and the other two hd moved on. James had heard the approach of a car in the silence, and it had to be Ben on his way down from whatever eerie or nest he had set up in to take the shots at them.

“Why don’t we all just wait for Ben to get here?” He said reasonably, but it was not for anyone’s benefit except his brother’s so they were on the same plan.

“Good idea James!” Rusty said and clapped a hand on his back harder than it needed to be.

In a heartbeat he had dropped a hand to the back of James’s pants and pulled the gun he suspected was there from the way that James had been standing. Rusty Spun around behind Reid and held the gun to the side of his head and put the man between him and Derek the only other armed person in the clearing.

“How about we all just…” he started to say but then Waylan interrupted him.

The highwayman whooped and jumped in the air seeing the tide turning he lurched forward to grab the weapon, his mouth turning into a snarl as he reached for the gun. “Let’s kill these motherfuckers and get the fuck out of here!”

Rusty turned the handgun onto his former companion and they stared at each other for a half second before committing to a shoot out between them, all the bad blood and tension in his brothers little group boiled over and exploded in the other half of that second that followed.

Rusty beat Waylan to the punch and he shot Waylan square between the eyes as the gun was raising in his hands and a round fired off into the ground at his feet.

Waylan’s head jerked back and the sound of the gun going off drew back Billy and Zane from their round up job. They rushed over with their weapons drawn to see a change in the balance of power once more.

“Everybody just chill out okay? I’m not going to hurt anyone!” Rusty had his hands in the air and the gun held loosely, exactly like Derek had done minutes before, mirroring his entry into the fray. “Well no one else that is.”