“But singles don’t pack up,” Danton said.
“I know. There’s something else going on.”
“Boyle said there couldn’t be another group experimenting. Anyone else who could do it is too far away. Oh yeah, and if you come back to base they’ll kill you.”
Cargill nodded. “Figures. Don’t think I’d go back anyway. It’s not safe. These guys are protecting me. Hell, they even find foodfor me.”
Ziggy’s groans started getting louder.
“I don’t think you can hang around anymore. You’re still food. It’s agitating them.” Cargill dropped his hands. Danton put his machetes away.
He didn’t know what he was supposed to do here. His brother hadn’t been infected. Not only that, but he seemed to be thriving. WWGTD?
Either way Danton was on his own. He figured he may as well leave Cargill be.
“Wait a minute—what’s that stink?” Cargill leaned in close and sniffed. “You smell like… like ashes.” Danton didn’t know what he was talking about. Cargill grabbed his hands, turned them over and smelled the skin at the wrist exposed between his gloves and jacket. “It’s you!”
Cargill shoved his hands away and growled. Ziggy stepped up behind him. Danton didn’t know what happened but it looked like he was going to have to put a fellow dog down after all. He threw a left hook, catching Cargill on the temple, sending the man back into two ziggies.
The other man’s eyes rolled around in his head, but he stood up, assisted by the ziggies he’d fallen on.
“So you’re one of them now.” Cargill didn’t say it like he was asking. Danton didn’t know who he was talking about but he drew his machetes again.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m one of them. And we’re gonna rip all of you lemon-scented pussies to shreds.”
“No.” Cargill shook his head. “You came alone.” He was on top of Danton in a flash, one of the machetes tumbling out of his hand. Danton tried to slice at him with the other, but Cargill had his arm pinned down. He snapped his teeth way too close, but was held at bay by Danton’s hand at his throat.
Danton felt something burning at the back of his throat and under his upper gums. It wasn’t just Cargill’s disgustingly effervescent breath, something was happening. Cargill put his weight down on his arm, bringing his face even closer and that’s when somethinghappened.
Cargill jumped off him just as fast as he’d jumped on, coughing and clutching at his throat. He disappeared into the pack and several ziggies glared at him as they began to move. Danton had no clue what had just happened. He stood and collected his other machete, watching the pack leave.
He hoped it was the last time he saw his brother.
Danton didn’t know what he was going to do, where he was going to go. He turned to head in the other direction.
And saw the little girl standing thirty feet away in a nest of remnants of burned out cars in a semi-circle.
He knew she would run so he didn’t, but he kept walking in her direction, his eyes darting left and right in case she was setting up an ambush. Whatever she was, he wanted to take her head off before whoever she was with got to him.
There was something metallic and sour on his tongue. He spat but it was still there. Danton rolled his tongue around his mouth, the distance closing between him and the girl. His gums were tender.
When they were ten feet apart the girl started walking to him. They were five feet apart when she dipped behind a twisted rusty steel door. Danton followed, gripping the handle of his machete. It was tight in the cabin of the half-crushed mini-van and he saw her slipping out of the rear window. He pushed his way to the back and saw he couldn’t exit the way she did so he kicked the passenger door with both feet until it fell off its hinges.
She skittered over the roof of another car. There wasn’t that much clearance as another car rested on top of it. No way was Danton fitting in there, but he squeezed behind the rear of the car where its bumper was melted to another. He was in a narrow corridor of skeletal automotive remains and could see her through holes in the melted, flaked metal wall separating them.
She twirled around with her hands over her head and then placed her palms on the wall where he was. She was toying with him. Was this how she killed her prey?
Danton saw a thin slit in the wall and punched his machete through. She gasped, but easily slipped around it before returning to her mock-ballet dancing. He jerked his machete back, his head feeling thick and swimmy. Maybe that poison was working on him after all.
He wanted to get away, but was unsure how to get back out. Danton supposed he could try climbing over top of the cars, but there were too many sharp edges. If he cut himself on one of them there’d be almost no way to prevent an infection.
At the end of the corridor there was a small opening. Maybe he could get through there and get to her. Danton got down on his knees and put his head and an arm through. Brief panic struck as he got stuck at his chest but he was able to wedge through without taking off his jacket.
Where had she gone? Danton scanned the enclosed area. There was a blanket on top of a bunch of old, rolled up newspapers and a pillowcase filled with something lumpy. This wasn’t a bad living arrangement. The cars kept out all the elements but rain, at least until winter, and Ziggy would have a helluva time getting in here. The only reason he’d made it inside was because she’d led him here.
Why would she bring him to her home?
His legs were weak and he leaned on a pile of tires to keep himself upright. He saw stars like he’d been sucker punched and had to concentrate on the earth beneath his feet and close his eyes as everything began spinning and he could feel the blood blasting through his veins.
She came out from where ever she’d been hiding and began pummeling him with her tiny hands and feet, making high-pitched grunting noises. Danton swung wildly with his machete, hoping in vain to catch her. The blows didn’t hurt but if he couldn’t stop her now he had no clue what she’d do next.
Danton was finally able to open his eyes and he chopped at her head. She easily leaned back and out of the way, coming back to give him a one-two combination to the groin for good measure. He staggered back, shards of pain lancing the underside of his belly. She stood and watched him, her head cocked to the side.
By the time he was able to move again the stars had cleared from his eyes. He felt odd. No, odd was the wrong word. Different. Like he’d been taken from a warm bed and dumped in the middle of a snow storm. It wasn’t a shock to his system but the change wasn’t dissimilar. Everything was the same as it was a moment ago, but the view was definitely altered.
Danton went after her again, but the energy wasn’t in his legs. He didn’t know if it was from whatever had just happened to him or if he just didn’t want to catch her. She grunted and ran around the pile of tires, slowing down to let him catch up, then speeding out of reach. He hit the tires over and over again and realized he was missing her on purpose. He started laughing.
He was enjoying this and didn’t understand why.
He began to raise his arm to cleave her head in two, but she grunted.
What was odd was he almost felt as if he’d understood it. He raised his arm again. She grunted again.
No, she was saying.
But how? She hadn’t actually said it.
She grunted again.
Come with me, it sounded like.
He should have killed her, but he followed instead.
She walked for at least a half a mile, tracking back the way he’d come by a different route until the base was within throwing distance.