“I say we just go out fighting now Mike,” Brian said.
A few others thought the same.
“We voted on this already, either we’re all in or we’re all out. I’m prepared to fight to the end by myself or with all of you by my side.”
More zombies began to funnel through the breech point in response to Brian’s call to arms.
“We’ve voted,” Alex said. “With Mike we have a chance. I’ve said my piece and I am at peace with the decision. I am prepared to meet my Maker.”
“I’m not sure if I should be honored or not with that comment Alex.”
Alex shrugged his shoulders.
“Well at least you clarified that, buddy,” I told him.
The small pile of rifles and pistols we produced could have kept a guerilla unit in Southern Peru stocked for a few years. I honestly don’t know how we could have carried all this armament and still move effectively. Now I know why the ladder bowed so much under BT. Sure, a good part of it was his bulk, the rest had to do with the two rifles and three pistols he contributed to the pile, plus the five hundred or so rounds he had stashed on him at various locations on his body.
“Got anything else on you?” I asked him softly, pretty much just kidding.
When he smiled at me diffidently, I didn’t even want to know where that one might be hidden, best not to think of things like that.
“I will give you some time to say your prayers to your false God,” Eliza said as she strode back through the roof door, her entourage of zombies on her heels.
“That’s not like her,” BT mused, coming up beside me.
“I agree but there’s no sense in trying to figure it out. A normal woman’s motives would be impossible to figure out.”
“And she’s not normal,” BT concluded.
“Let’s start working on some contingency plans while we have a chance,” I said, getting the group into a circle, except for April who had not yet decided to stop napping.
“What if Durgan beats you?” Perla asked.
“He won’t,” Tracy said.
“Okay, but what if he does?” Perla asked again, “We can’t just leave our fates up to her.”
“Personally, I’d rather let the zombies eat me,” Cindy said.
That’s how you know Eliza is one mean mother, when people would rather get eaten alive than spend any time with her.
“Could we survive a jump off the roof?” Joann asked, “I mean, we’d land on all those zombies below us.”
“And then what?” BT asked peering over the edge. “Even if you didn’t so much as bruise a muscle from the forty foot drop you’d still have to make it through close to a hundred feet of zombies.”
“Plus I’ve got a feeling that we won’t be anywhere near the edge,” Mad Jack said, “Eliza’ll have us surrounded.”
“Okay, who’s got what?” I asked the group as I pulled out a Glock 26 from a concealed holster.
BT hoisted out a seven inch barrel .357 Magnum. Erin had a stubby .22. Travis had a small .32 revolver, and Justin produced a sling shot. Hey it was a weapon, not a great one, but just ask Goliath how effective they could be.
“Sorry man,” Brian said. “All I had was that rifle. We won’t be able to put up much of a fight with these anyway,” he said, getting depressed at the notion.
Mrs. Deneaux came into the center of the circle, a small Derringer in her hand. “It’s not for them, sweetie,” she said, placing the barrel up against April’s head and her still prone body.
“That’s even worse,” Cindy said.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Mad Jack said.
“What will God think if we take our own lives? That is a mortal sin!” Perla was nearly crying again.
“The sin would be to allow Eliza to possess us,” Marta said resignedly.
“Agreed,” Paul said.
“You’d better beat him,” Marta told me.
I’d bested him twice, but once was with a rifle and the other was while he was recovering from the first injury, not exactly a hand on hand combat situation. Sure, I had trained for this in the Corps but that was a LONG time ago. My philosophy was and still is that carrying more ammunition is your best bet.
The door to the roof opened slowly. All of our weapons raised. We tipped our hand; did this make the deal a no go? It was Tomas. I dropped my weapon down to my side but no one else followed suit.
“Mr. T, there is no time for this. Tell them to put their weapons down so that I may approach,” Tomas said.
“Tommy?” I asked, hoping beyond hope.
“No,” he shook his head. “I thought it would be easier for you to accept me if I reverted back to how he sounded.”
“Put your guns down,” I told them.
Tomas approached. “Eliza is enhancing Durgan. You will not be able to defeat him with his new powers.”
“Enhancing how?” I asked. The question wasn’t fully out of my mouth before I stumbled upon the answer myself. “She’s turning him into one of her, into one of you.”
“Not quite, that would take too long and she doesn’t want him to share her blood.”
“Then how?” Gary asked.
“The same way she accelerated his healing and the same way I survived all these years, a half-bite.”
“Like a nibble,” Eddy said.
Tomas nearly smiled. I don’t think that Tommy was as far gone as Tomas believed him to be.
“What does this do for Durgan?” Tracy asked.
“He’ll be faster, stronger.”
“Great, like he didn’t already have that going for him,” BT said.
“BT, I’m right here man,” I said.
“Sorry man, I’m just saying. It’s not like you didn’t already know that.”
“Yeah, I guess I just didn’t need it vocalized from my own camp.”
“My mom used to say the truth hurts,” Eddy said.
I laughed. “Great, out of the mouths of babes.”
“Why are you here Tomm… Tomas?” Tracy asked, “Is it just to tell us this?”
“I’ve come to give Michael the same opportunity that Durgan is receiving.”
“Wait, you want to turn me into a half-vamp? I can’t,” I was panicking on the inside.
“It’s the only way,” Tomas said.
“Hear him out,” Mad Jack said.
“And then after today? Then what? I watch as my family and my friends die. I watch as my children catch up to me in age and eventually die? I won’t, I can’t watch that, I can’t be a part of that.”