He put the phone back in his pocket. “You’re going to be in some deep shit now, you twisted fuck,” he said.
Edward stared at the guy and tried to wrap his head around the situation. It was obvious by now that the man had been in the back of the truck the whole time. Edward had been in too much of a hurry to look back there. But that didn’t make a lot of sense to him.
“What exactly is going on here?” Edward asked. “What are you doing in the back of my truck?”
“Not your truck, fuckstick. This is Billy Horton’s truck.”
“Which he gave to me.”
“Oh, wake the fuck up. He only let you have the truck because he realized there was something seriously fucking wrong with your story. I was up there in the tower with Bert when you came in. What, you think we’re all just dumb fucking hicks that can’t tell which way Denver is? You didn’t come from the south, you came in from the west.”
Edward debated whether or not he should deny it and try to continue on with his cover story. They obviously knew he wasn’t what he said he was, but maybe he could sow enough doubt in this man’s mind that he would let his guard down. After all, he really didn’t want to be still standing here when Horton showed back up.
“That’s because that’s where our research equipment was set up,” Edward said. “I swear to God, I wasn’t lying about any of it. I just want to get this nightmare over with and go home.”
“Really? And what the fuck was that I saw when you let that thing out of the van, huh?”
Edward would have cussed if he didn’t still think there might be a way to get out of this. This man had seen the kiss. Edward looked over at Liddie and tried to decide if she could still pass at all for being alive. She might, he realized, if the man didn’t get too close of a look at her. She was still fresh enough, although if the man got a real close look he might see all the telltale signs that she was a zombie. Of course, no one in their right mind would get that close to zombies. They would go in for the attack if they so much as got a glimpse of a living person.
Which, Edward suddenly realized, was exactly what she had right now. She was looking directly up at the man in the back of the truck, yet she made no move to go after him. Either Edward was holding her back with the pheromones without even realizing it, or there was still enough of her in there to think about the situation and act accordingly. He prayed to God it was the second. Either way, that gave him an idea.
“What the hell do you mean, ‘that thing?’“ he said. “This is Dr. Gates.”
“Bullshit. Do you think I was born yesterday? I know a fucking zed when I see one.”
“How the hell could she be a reanimated?” Edward asked. “If she was, she would be trying to kill both of us by now.”
The man looked confused at that, and he lowered the rifle a little. It was still pointed at Edward, but that was a step in the right direction.
“Yeah, I guess that’s weird,” the man said. “But just look at her. She’s not moving and she’s not talking.”
“She’s in shock, okay?” Edward said. “The entire rest of our team was killed. She hasn’t said a thing since then.”
The rifle lowered just a little more. That was good, but this was taking too long. If Horton was coming out here in a vehicle like this truck, he wouldn’t arrive that quickly. But if he had something better—and Edward had to assume that this truck here was the worst thing Horton had, just in case Edward really had been about to take it somewhere else—then going at a flat-out speed even over the rough road still wouldn’t take very long. For all Edward knew, Horton had already been on his way when the man called in. He had to hurry this up.
“Why didn’t you bring her with you into Laramie?” the man asked.
Edward decided a little bit of pretend outrage was in order. “Are you fucking deaf? I just said she was in shock. It was hard enough getting her this far. I saw this abandoned van and thought she would be safe here as I went into town.” He toned his voice down, going this time for pleading. “Please, just let us go. I’m telling you the truth. Why the hell would I lie?”
The man hesitated a moment longer, then lowered the rifle completely. Edward found it ironic that such a question was what finally convinced him. It never occurred to the guy that a lie could be more believable than the truth.
“Shit,” the man said. “I’m really sorry. It’s just Horton had this feeling about you, and his hunches are usually right. He thought you might be hiding something out here.” He climbed over the truck’s tailgate, leaned the rifle against the nearest tire, and bent down to offer Edward a hand up out of the ditch.
“Apology accepted,” Edward said. He grabbed the man’s hand and yanked. The man lost his balance and tumbled into the ditch. Before he could move from his landing spot Edward kicked him square in the ribs. Whether it was because Edward lost his focus for a second or the sudden action spooked her, Liddie came out of her calm moment and went straight for the prone man on the ground.
“Liddie, no!” Edward screamed. He used that same burst of random pheromones that had stopped the teenage zombie back at the CRS, and it was just as effective in stopping Liddie. But that didn’t feel like enough to Edward. It wasn’t enough to just confuse her. He felt like he had to appeal to that part of her he still knew was inside, to bring it closer to the surface. The man moaned on the ground, apparently not aware yet that a zombie stood right over him and wanted desperately to rip him apart. Edward pulled back slightly on his control of her, talking all the while.
“You don’t want to do this. You have it in you to resist all those urges. I know you can.” He didn’t want to add that he hadn’t been able to do that himself, mostly because he didn’t want to hear it. She could be the one that was different, he just knew it. “Just leave him where he is, and let’s get up to the truck. Can you do that? Can you follow me?”
He felt her own pheromones struggling against him, trying to convince him to join her in eating this thing, this prey. In fact, the honey scent was far stronger than it should have been. After a moment Edward realized what had to be happening. There were other zombies coming this way. He could smell at least two other sources of pheromones, and they themselves had picked up the traces of meat in the air. Between Liddie and the two approaching arrivals, Edward thought maybe it wouldn’t be the best idea to try letting Liddie be herself right now. The urge from the pheromones would be too great, and as much as this man had pissed Edward off, he didn’t want Liddie to get her first taste of human flesh just yet. In fact, if he had his way she never would. When she finally came back, she would be able to do it with a clear conscience.
That left him with a choice, though. He couldn’t take this guy with them, but did he really want to leave him here to possibly get eaten? Did he really deserve that fate? He could leave the rifle behind, far enough away that the man could reach it before the zombies got here but not before Edward and Liddie made a clean getaway. That meant, however, that the zombies would be the ones to get shot, or worse, get taken back to Horton’s hideous arena. They might not have been real people to anyone else, but they were real enough to Edward and they hadn’t asked for the fate this man would give them.
This wasn’t a decision Edward was ready for yet. Human or zombie? Where did his loyalties really lie?
Edward pulled Liddie up the side of the ditch, then quickly ushered her around to the passenger side of the truck. After she was in he ran back to look into the ditch. The man was just starting to get up, and Edward could now see the two zombies coming up over a hill about five hundred feet away. He grabbed the rifle, hefted it in his hands like it could tell him the right answer that way, then made his decision and threw the rifle in the back of the truck (although this time he looked to make sure there was nothing else back there other than the tarp the intruder had hid under). The guy could get away easily enough if he ran, but the zombies wouldn’t have a chance if he had the gun. It was the closest thing he could think of to a win-win.