Rocky Mountain Die Read online

“Nope,” she says and shakes her head. “They get stuck. You and Stella. Critter and Lourdes. Stuart. Even John. Everyone will want them to do as they’re told. Everyone will want them to fall in line like nice little soldiers. We ain’t soldiers, Long Pork. We is people.”

  “Stop with the we is and we ain’ts,” I say. “I know you only do that for effect.”

  “Maybe,” Elsbeth shrugs. “Maybe nots.”

  “Funny,” I sigh. “So your sisters are just going to stay out there on their own? For how long? Do they ever plan on joining us?”

  “I don’t think so,” Elsbeth says. “We’ve decided that outside is better for everyone. Too dangerous.”

  “Too dangerous? For us or for them?” I ask. “Never mind, you’ve pretty much answered that already. But, apparently, not too dangerous for you to use my boy as bait.”

  Elsbeth waves me off and walks by. “Let that go, Long Pork,” she says as she gets to the door. “Charlie did good. Be proud.”

  She opens the door and walks out.

  “Hey!” I yell. “Where are you going?”

  She ducks back in and grins at me then waves her hands about.

  “Poopy hands,” she says. “Gonna go wash then come get you. Unless you want me to grab your wheelchair with poopy hands?”

  “Nope, I’m good,” I say. “Go get clean, but don’t forget about me.”

  She smirks and is gone. After a minute, Dr. McCormick comes back in.

  “Why are you still here?” she asks.

  “Elsbeth had poopy hands,” I say. “She’s going to wash up.”

  She grabs my wheelchair and rolls me outside the bathroom.

  “Thanks,” I say as the door shuts.

  I look around and everyone is getting out sleeping bags and other gear they find stacked against the walls. Elsbeth is nowhere to be seen.

  Dammit, she totally forgot about me.

  ***

  “Daddy? You awake?” Greta whispers.

  “Yep,” I reply. “Can’t really sleep this way.”

  I’m propped up with a sleeping bag over me with my back against a stack of crates. Stenkler still insists I have to sleep sitting up. I’m sure Kramer would have agreed, but he never made it to the hangar. Amy made sure he stayed in the chopper and went back to the Stronghold with her.

  “What do you need, sweetheart?” I ask.

  I glance around and it doesn’t look like our talking is disturbing anyone. We are hardly the only ones still awake. Candles burn here and there, along with some hand crank flashlights that are getting dimmer as the night goes on and people get tired of cranking. There are small pockets of our people having hushed conversations while others are bundled up to their ears in sleeping bags, trying to get some sleep and stay warm at the same time.

  The hangar isn’t heated, which makes sense since it would take a shit ton of energy, or firewood, to heat such a huge space.

  “What happens if they don’t let us stay?” Greta asks. “Do we take the convoy and keep going?”

  “I don’t know,” I say. “I honestly don’t. There are a lot of factors to think about. Number one being getting up over the Rockies in winter time. I have a feeling the passes haven’t exactly been kept clear by the DOT.”

  “We could go south,” Charlie suggests, joining the conversation. He’s in a mummy bag and all I can see are his mouth and nose. “Go down through New Mexico into Texas then across to the West Coast.”

  “Then what?” Greta asks.

  “Kids, don’t worry about it,” Stella says, her voice sleepy. “Just close your eyes and get some rest. We’ll deal with it in the morning.”

  “I can’t rest,” Greta says. “I have to know what’s going to happen.”

  “Me too,” Charlie says. “At least we have the sisters watching our backs.”

  “Hey, about the sisters,” I start.

  “Nope,” Charlie says. “El said she’d cut my nuts off if I talk to you about them. She looked really serious when she said it and I really like my nuts where they are.”

  “She’d never cut your nuts off,” I reply. “And I’m not sure I like her threatening to cut someone’s nuts off.”

  “She threatens to cut yours off all the time,” Greta says.

  “But that’s me,” I say. “I’m not cool with her saying it to your brother.”

  “I know she won’t cut my nuts off,” Charlie says. “But I’m not going to break my word and tell you what I know. You’ll just fuck it all up anyway.”

  “Excuse me?” I ask. Stella chuckles. “What’s so funny?”

  “He’s right,” Stella says. “If El has a reason for you not to know about something then you should respect that. Odds are you will fuck it all up.”

  “I am highly offended by the lack of support from my family right now,” I say. “Highly offended. So offended that I might just move someplace else and sleep all alone.”

  There are a couple of hushes from those close by that are trying to sleep.

  “I don’t think there’s anywhere to go, Dad,” Charlie whispers. “And good luck getting there if you do go.”

  “Fuckers,” I mumble.

  I wait, but my family doesn’t say anything else and soon all of them are asleep, their breathing nice and even. It says a lot that we are all at a place in our lives during this zombie apocalypse that my family can drift off and sleep while we are basically captives in a strange place.

  Sure, we could open the hangar and all leave, so we aren’t really captives. But our vehicles are back in Denver, along with most of our gear. We wouldn’t last very long out there without some serious supplies. Not in this environment and not during the winter. Nope, we’re rats in a cage with the door open and a bunch of cats sitting outside waiting for us to make our move.

  Rats in a cage… Hmmm… There’s something there. It stirs an idea—

  “Shut up,” someone moans and a few voices echo the sentiment.

  “Sorry,” I whisper loudly. “My bad.”

  ***

  There are only the core handful standing outside the hangar when the chopper lands. Mainly because we know the chopper will draw attention to us and even though the hangar is well away from the fence line, we don’t want to risk a bunch of Zs catching site of a crowd of people and suddenly thinking it’s buffet time.

  Also, it’s chilly as fuck out and the wind is cutting hard. Our people ain’t dumb. They know when to stay out of the cold.

  We can all tell how the vote went as soon as Amy hops down out of the chopper. Her face is set and her mouth is a hard line. She’s wearing aviator glasses, so it’s impossible to see her eyes, but I’m sure I can guess what look she’s giving us.

  Pity.

  “Let’s get inside out of this shit,” Amy says as she reaches us. “We need to talk.”

  “Just lay it on us straight, lady,” Critter says. “We in or we out?”

  “Inside,” Amy says as the chopper powers down behind her.

  It’s not Nick flying today. They sent the B team pilot.

  Yeah, I am pretty sure we’re out.

  Critter grumbles some more, but Stella nods to the hangar and starts walking. Amy is right on her heels. Stuart pushes me, with Melissa, Lourdes, John, and Buzz close behind. We get inside and the hushed conversations going on end instantly. All eyes are on us and I can see Amy squirm. I have a feeling she wishes she’d brought some backup in case things get nasty.

  Stella is obviously thinking the exact same thing as she says, “Just be honest and I’ll make sure no one blames you and gets out of hand.”

  “I appreciate that,” Amy says. “I took a huge risk even coming back here to talk to you in person. But my vote was for you to stay, so I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the mirror if I chickened out and dropped a note as we did a fly by.”

  “What kind of note?” I ask. “Because if it was written on a bowling ball then that would have been cool.”

  “It would shatter on impact, Dad,” Charlie says. “
Bowling balls aren’t indestructible.”

  “Leave it,” Stella says as I get geared up for a pointless debate. “Amy? Tell us what you need to so we can get on with things and start planning.”

  “First, let me say that it was close,” Amy begins, all attention locked onto her. “It was almost an even split down the middle. But, there were enough nays that we didn’t bother with holding a second discussion like we sometimes do on close calls.”

  She takes off her sunglasses and I can see she is genuinely upset that the vote didn’t go in our favor.

  “I’m going to lay out the reasons why so you know what happened then I’m going to list your options as we see them,” she says. “I’m hoping you listen to my advice since I know this area and I know what you can and can’t do.”

  “Sounds fair,” Stella says. There are some grumbles, but as soon as she holds up a hand the grumbles quiet down. “Why were we rejected?”

  Amy’s eyes go to Mr. Flips immediately and he nods. We all nod.

  “You just can’t fight prejudice,” Mr. Flips says, doffing his hat towards Amy. He dons it quickly and doesn’t say anything after that, respectfully taking a few steps back and waiting for her to finish.

  “It’s not just the cannibals,” she says. “There are several other reasons. I don’t have time to go into things, but you have to know how sorry I am we can’t accommodate your people.”

  “We’ll need Kramer back,” Lourdes says.

  There are a couple groans. Okay, there is one loud, long groan. It comes from me.

  “He’s an asset we cannot give up,” Lourdes responds to my epic groan. “He has medical and scientific skills that are essential to our survival.”

  “Yes, exactly,” Amy frowns. “Which is why we can’t return him.”

  We hear it before we see it. Everyone but me turns around as their second chopper comes flying over in front of the hangar, doors open, men inside with rifles trained on us. Ah, so that’s why Nick isn’t flying Amy’s chopper. He’s flying the assault one that has us in its sights. Fish in a barrel.

  “What the fuck?” I yell, since I can’t really turn myself around. “You’re going to kill us?”

  “No,” Amy shouts over the sound of the second chopper. “Not if you give us Carly Thornberg. Kramer was a bargaining chip we thought we could use with the Consortium. After speaking with him, we believe Ms. Thornberg is a better bargaining chip. You brought Camille and her forces down on us, you need to make this right!”

  I start laughing. Amy’s frown deepens.

  “Really?” I chuckle, holding my hand across my chest and against my shoulder. My laughing hurts, but fuck if it isn’t worth it. “Do you honestly think Elsbeth is going to go with you?”

  “I think she cares for you all and will do what she needs to do to keep you alive,” Amy replies. “If she doesn’t come with us willingly then we shoot all of you and blow up the hangar with your people inside.”

  “You have it rigged to blow?” I ask.

  “No, we have an RPG aimed at it,” Amy says and nods at the hovering chopper.

  “You realize you’re leaving us here with all of your whirlybird fuel, right?” I grin. “You won’t be able to fly those choppers anymore if we stay here.”

  “You’ll need to move on to find food,” Amy says. “And you can’t touch our fuel.”

  “Oh, really?” I smirk. “Why can’t we?”

  “It’s rigged to blow,” John says, kneeling down close to me so I can hear him. “At least two redundancies that I don’t know how to bypass. It was the first thing I checked when they set us down here. Best to know what you have as leverage.”

  “Fuck,” I grumble.

  “What will it be?” Amy shouts, her eyes moving to Stuart then Lourdes, Critter, finally settling on Stella. “We can keep this civil or we can fight it out. You won’t survive the fight.”

  “Fuck you!” I shout. “Elsbeth stays here!”

  “It’s okay, Long Pork,” Elsbeth says as she pats my shoulder. My wounded shoulder. Ow. “I’ll go with them.”

  “El? They’ll just trade you to your mother!” I argue.

  “Maybe,” she shrugs. “Maybe not. Lot of time and space between then and now. We’ll see what happens. Maybe there’ll be a signal or something that points in the right direction?”

  “A signal? What the hell are you talking about?” I reply. “Have you lost your mind? Are you going all superstitious now?”

  She just shrugs again and disarms, laying all of her weapons, which there are a lot of, on my lap. Then she walks over to Amy, gives her one of those huge Elsbeth smiles, walks out of the hangar, and climbs up into Amy’s chopper. The B team pilot looks a little freaked out by how easily she gave up, but he starts the chopper up immediately and yells at Amy to hurry.

  Amy gives us a weak smile. “I am sorry for this,” she says. “It wasn’t my original plan, but it’s the only way to keep the Consortium from ripping through here and tearing apart what we’ve tried to build.”

  She walks backwards out of the hangar to the chopper, her eyes scanning our group, waiting for retaliation. When it doesn’t happen, she climbs into the chopper and it lifts off almost before her feet are off the ground. We all watch it bank and fly away, the second one right behind it. The helicopters are two imperceptible dots in the sky before any of us speak.

  “We’re gettin’ her back, right?” Critter asks. “Ain’t no way I’m lettin’ that girl get taken hostage by some snooty Colorado assholes.”

  Stella wheels me around so I can see everyone and they all look down at me.

  “Looks like we need a plan,” I say. “Any suggestions?”

  “No vehicles, barely any weapons, almost no food,” Lourdes says. “We have shelter and water here. There might be supplies on the base we can use. I say we take a day or two to search this entire facility from top to bottom before we formulate a plan.”

  “We may not have a day or two,” Stuart says. “The Consortium is on its way and we are right in its path. They’ll stop here and set up a command base. Best place to use before pushing through Denver. We can’t stay.”

  “Then how do we get out of here?” Mr. Flips asks. “No offense, but you people don’t exactly know how to blend in and be stealth. If it was just me and mine, we could slip through Denver and get up to Boulder without a problem.”

  “Then do that,” I say. “You and yours slip through and wait for us. Do some recon so we know what we are up against when we get there.”

  “But how are we getting there?” Lourdes asks. “There are a hundred thousand Zs between us and Boulder. We can’t walk through them and we don’t have the ammo, or the numbers, to fight through them.”

  I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I’m stalling, really. I have no idea what we’re going to do, but I want to look like I’m thinking hard and trying to work it out.

  “That was all out loud, Jace,” Stella sighs.

  “Son of a bitch,” I mutter as I open my eyes. I remember something from last night. Rat cages. “Take me outside.”

  “What?” Stella asks.

  “Roll me outside,” I say. “I thought I saw something yesterday.”

  Stella doesn’t argue. She rolls me out of the hangar and I glance around the base while everyone joins us.

  Then I see a stack of rolled up chain-link fencing.

  “We’re safe on this base right now because there are a couple layers of chain link between us and whatever Zs have decided to come sniffing around, right?” I ask.

  “Pretty much,” Stuart replies. “There are bound to be weak spots and if enough hit the fence, they’ll get through.”

  “What are you thinking?” Stella asks.

  “I’m thinking of instead of hiding behind this fence and getting stuck here, we build our own fence and take it with us,” I smile.

  No one else smiles. I am the only one smiling. Jace, the solo smiler.

  “Sometimes your capacity for stupid is too m
uch to take, Long Pork,” Critter says as he walks off cackling. “Man, they done broke the mold with you!”

  “Anyone actually want to hear my plan?” I ask.

  There are a few sighs, but eventually everyone nods.

  “Critter’s gonna regret missing out on this,” I say.

  “I doubt that,” Stuart responds. “Go ahead and lay it on us, Jace.”

  Chapter Six

  My brain is a little fuzzy, if you hadn’t guessed yet, so it takes me a few starts and stops to get everything out and into words that can be understood. By the time I’m done talking, it looks like we have a plan. It also feels like ground glass is thrashing around in my skull.

  “You need to rest,” Stella says. “We’ll find Dr. Stenkler and have him check you out then you get to lie down and sleep. Lourdes and Stuart can handle getting the supplies together and the building started.”

  “I’ll find Buzz and my brothers,” Melissa says. “Those boys know how to handle fencing and they can rig most anything with wheels. If you can’t fence it or put wheels on it then it’s useless on a farm.”

  “Cool. Thanks,” I say. I’d give her a friendly nod, but that is almost more than I can handle.

  Fuck guerilla brain surgery in the apocalypse, yo. Fuck that shit.

  They get me back to my sitting bed and I’m out in seconds. It’s fucking funny I couldn’t really sleep through the night, but during the day? Nappy nap time for Jacey.

  When I wake up, it’s dark outside. I can tell because the hangar doors are wide open. With people running through them. Lots of people. All running out into the cold, winter night.

  “What’s going on?” I ask. There’s no one around to hear me. They’re all running away from me. Well, not away from me specifically, but in the opposite direction from me. “Hey!”

  “Daddy?” Greta asks as she comes out of the bathroom and sees me shaking my fist at the dipshits that are busy ignoring me. “You alright?”

  “Where the fuck is everyone going?” I ask.

  “I don’t know,” she says, looking around. “I was in the bathroom.”

  “Maybe we should find out?” I suggest.