Milepost 291

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“He won’t shoot,” DeVontay said when Kiki asked about the guard by the fence aiming at him. “I’ve got something he needs.”

“He doesn’t look like the patient kind.”

“I’m his ticket out of here.”

“I hope you got a lot of those tickets.”

Kiki and DeVontay gathered the children in the loading area, still inside the slaughterhouse but in enough sunlight that they could all see one another. The gunshots rumbled around them, some far and some near, and the wide-eyed children trembled with each fresh volley.

“It’s like a war movie,” James said, miming a pistol with an extended finger and going “Blam blam blam, you’re dead!” at another kid, who burst into tears. Kiki chided James and Stephen hugged the crying boy until the sobs halted.

The other adults, Angelique and Carole, comforted the other children as best they could. There were ten children in all, ranging in age from a girl slightly older than Stephen to a toddler who was fortunately oblivious to the surrounding chaos, although his young lip quivered as if he might erupt into shrieks at any moment.

“We need to split up,” DeVontay told Kiki. “If we stay together, we’re going to be like one long line of Zaphead bait. If we break into three or four groups, it’s less likely Rooster will see us.”

“Wait a sec,” Angelique said. She’d barely taken time to dress, throwing on a man’s shirt which was too large and only half buttoned, so that her bra and panties showed. Her sallow legs gleamed in the sunlight and DeVontay wondered how long she’d been held captive. “I didn’t sign up for this shit.”

“You’re a grown-up,” Kiki said. “That means sometimes doing things you don’t want to do.”

“Okay, Mom,” Angelique said with sarcasm, even though Kiki was maybe five years older. “Don’t ground me or anything.”

Kiki’s brown eyes flashed with anger but DeVontay laid a restraining hand on her shoulder. “The kids,” he said. “We have to keep our cool.”

“You’re right,” she said, putting her arm around one of the children. “Okay, which way do we go?”

“I’m going this way,” Angelique said, strolling outside across the loading dock toward the main gate.

“Stop,” DeVontay barked at her. “If Rooster sees you, he’ll know we broke out.”

She turned and gave a mocking, seductive smirk. “If Rooster sees me, he’ll forget all about Zapheads. I’d rather be taken care of than stumble around out in the woods eating roots and berries. Been there, done there. I’d rather earn my keep on my back, the old-fashioned way.”

She hopped off the dock, her shirt tails blowing behind her as she sauntered away.

“Want me to stop her?” Kiki asked DeVontay.

“Nah, let her go. If we head out now, we’ll be gone before Rooster’s gang realizes it. Besides, she’d just bitch the whole time anyway.”

That drew a tired grin from Kiki. “Okay, what’s the plan?”

A minute later, they were traipsing up the bank like it was recess at a charter school, Kiki carrying the toddler and Carole shepherding the stragglers from the rear. The gunfire had eased off a little but was spread across a larger region, suggesting Rooster’s fighters had either gotten separated or else some of them had been killed by Zapheads. DeVontay and Stephen hurried ahead so that they reached the fence first, and the man in the fedora shook his head in disbelief.

“You’re even crazier than you look,” the man said, holding out his hand.

DeVontay passed the wire-cutters to him. “That’s good, because I’ve still got plenty of crazy that nobody’s ever seen.”

“Any Zaps out there?” Stephen asked, peering through the fence as he clung to the chain links.

“Haven’t seen a one,” the man answered, snipping links down in a row to create an opening. To DeVontay, he said, “What are you going to do with all these kids?”

“You ever heard of the Underground Railroad?”

“Escaped slaves and all that?”

“Yeah. Same thing, except all we got is the Little Red Caboose.”

Shouts erupted in the front of the compound, near the main gate. Shots rang out in unison, and DeVontay noticed the sentries atop the water tower were now gone. He had just enough of a view to see figures pouring through the gate, several staggering and falling as more gunfire erupted.

“Goddamn, we’ve been breached,” the man said, hurriedly digging into the links with the cutters.

“Hey,” Stephen said. “I see something.”

DeVontay followed Stephen’s pointing arm and saw motion in the trees. He hoped it was one of Rooster’s men, but when he saw the ragged clothes, he knew the Zapheads had likely surrounded the compound. A man howled in agony below them.

The gap in the fence was now wide enough for escape, but DeVontay was no longer sure that was the right move. The man peeled back the severed section of fence, looked at all the kids, and said to DeVontay, “Three seconds and I’m out of here. Three…two…one…”

“Go on,” Kiki said. “Heroes first.”

DeVontay stepped back and looked around, now unsure. Or maybe scared.

One of the boys slipped from Kiki’s grasp and scrambled through the opening. DeVontay snatched at him but missed, and then the kid bounced up and headed into the forest.

Stephen gave DeVontay an imploring look. “What if that was me?”

DeVontay shook his head in dismay. “Damn it,” he muttered, and squeezed through the gap in the fence, the jagged wires digging into his flesh like predator’s talons. Before he untangled himself, the boy screamed, and so did Kiki. A Zaphead emerged from the low branches and headed for the kid, not staggering, not hesitating, not hurrying, just taking care of business.

“Shoot it!” DeVontay yelled at the man.

“Are you crazy? They’ll swarm all over us.”

DeVontay grabbed for the man’s rifle but he stepped out of reach. Stephen beat the man on the back with his fists, saying, “Give him the gun.”

The kid’s scream caused DeVontay to turn back to the forest. Three more Zapheads appeared out of nowhere. The kid fled but he seemed to have lost his sense of direction in his panic. Instead of returning to the opening, he made a beeline for a point farther along the fence.

The Zapheads were on him in seconds, and he kicked and struggled as they lifted him off the ground. With gunfire clattering all around them now, DeVontay had a sense of a larger panic, movement just beyond his vision. Kiki ran along the opposite side of the fence and tried to climb it, ignoring DeVontay’s pleas for her to stop. She scrambled up several feet before she lost her grip and tumbled to the ground, landing awkwardly. DeVontay was still trying to free himself from the snags when she stood and limped forward to try again.

By then, the Zapheads had swept the boy into the forest, and only his muffled cries remained.

DeVontay shifted his rage to the man in the fedora. “I’m going to kill you.”

“To hell with you,” he said, backing away. “To hell with all of you. I told you it’s every man for himself, and I don’t give a shit if it’s kids or women or even granny there.”

The man galloped down the bank, nearly tumbling before regaining his footing, and soon he vanished around the side of the slaughterhouse. DeVontay finally freed himself and ran to Kiki, pulling her off the fence. “It’s no good,” he said. “He’s gone.”

She collapsed in his arms, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. He knew she was strong. She’d had to be, to take care of those kids in such horrible conditions, and now she wouldn’t even let herself break down.

“Let’s go,” he whispered. “That way wasn’t safe anyway.”

“I thought we were breaking into groups.”

“Plan B,” he said. “We’re going back to the slaughterhouse and wait it out.”

“What if the Zapheads take over the compound and never leave?”

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes. Right now, we don’t have a chance out here in the open.”

As they made their way back to the loading area, DeVontay cursed himself for his lack of leadership. Maybe it would have been better if I’d just skipped out with Stephen. We’d probably be clear of this place by now.

But as he watched Kiki patiently helping a barefoot young girl who winced with each step, he knew that would have been the cowardly approach.

Funny how it’s every man for himself, but the only real men I’ve met in After are women.