Arizona Afterwards - a Zombie novel

Chapter 44

Hattie let Jay and Beth do the watching.  Her vision was going.  Bad as it was though, she couldn't help but see how dire their situation was becoming.  'Take It Easy' may bring some of them down from their bloodlust.  It may make a few more of them leave them alone as the Zombies ran around trying to find loads to loosen, or concentrated on the sounds of their own wheels, but it wouldn't be enough.

Not against thousands.

And Beth wasn't moving well.  The girl was trying to conceal it.  Maybe her joy at finding Dean alive and in better shape than any of them dared to hope had masked the pain for a little while, but Hattie had seen the wounds back when they'd been made.  Beth would need a doctor.

"Alright," said Hattie, turning down the volume in the reception area to a level more suitable for conversation and putting a double serving of take-charge into her voice.  "We've done what we can here, for the town and for ourselves.  The fire isn't going to wait for anybody, man or Zombie, and anyone who wanders in here while the place is still smoking probably deserves everything they get."

Except the survivors would come here, and she knew it.  Where else did they have to go?  If she was right about Winslow having lasted for a few days longer than most everywhere else, then the survivors would have been ready to head in any direction that the authorities deemed as safe, no matter how ash-ridden and smoke-filled.

Hattie sat down in a chair.  One of the wheels had snapped off somewhere along the line and the seat felt stiff with blood, but it was better than sitting on the floor.  If she did that, she didn't think she'd ever be able to coax herself back up.

"Jay, there's a fire cabinet over there.  Can you open it up so that I can see what's inside?  It shouldn't be locked."

It wasn't and he did.  Stock standard stuff inside, although Dean leaned in and took the axe without prompting.  Fire blanket, hardhats and, yes, there it was.  That'd have to do.
Hattie reached over and got out the megaphone, wrapping the hand strap around her wrist as she did so.  She pulled the trigger and the red light came on, so the batteries were good.

"Here’s the plan," Hattie said.  "But know that we don't have long and that this isn't a democracy.  Jay, you and Dean are going to bring Beth one block west, over to the Corner."  She said the word 'corner' and paused, amazed that she'd never before realized how close it was to 'coroner'.  Funny what you notice when the noticing doesn't mean anything, just like it was funny what you missed when you most needed not to.  "Watch her close, because she's going to be hurting bad before the end of your little sprint."

They both nodded.

"And Jay, you watch Dean too."  Hattie reached up and pressed her index finger into the furrow that sat above the bridge of her nose.  "If the sights and sounds of his old friends up close make him waver in his newfound resolve, you're going to have to give him one here.  Right between the eyes.  We've been kind so far, and maybe God's given us a bit of luck as payment for it, but that ends now.  There won't be time for desperate pleas and arguments out there.  If he turns, kill him."

Jay nodded.  Hattie could see that he'd come to the same conclusion already.  Beth and Dean were nodding too.  Good.

"I'm not running.  Even if I had it in me, I don't, if you know what I mean.  No way and no how.  I'm tired of running.  I guess I'm tired of a lot of things, really, but running is pretty high on the list.  You three get out and get to the Corner.  Old Alfie Lopez was a damn good man.  Gassing up the red Ford the tourists take pictures in front of near the mural was his job, and he'll have done it right.  There’ll be a full tank.  You can bet your bottom dollar on it."

Beth took a knee next to Hattie's chair, which made the old woman feel like a departing queen.  "What about you," Beth said.  "Do you really think you can just tell us to leave you behind and we will, as simple as that?"

Hattie shrugged.  "I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be easy for you, but yes, I do expect you to go.  Don't you worry about me, though.  I'll take enough of them with me to feel like I've done my part.  I'm not sure if I can aspire to the lofty bar that Ernest set, but I'll do my damnedest."
Hattie paused.  Sucked in breath and held it.  They were listening, but she had to make them hear.  "Each and every one of us saw how many were left.  Correction, we saw at least how many were left.  There could be more.  Agreed."