Corn, Cows, and the Apocalypse (Part 1) (12 page)

-Population Control-

             
The surge of intelligible grim was getting on August’s nerves.  We could barely make it through the center of town to get supplies without a full on attack.  She wanted us to drag some out for target practice.  Naturally, I was the bait.

             
Dropping me off at the town crossroads was the easy part.  I walked south as long as I could, but the grim sensed my presence. Like a fork to steak, they were ready to dig in.  That left me a little under a mile to go until I reached the viaduct and a couple dozen grim and counting to outrun. 

             
My training over the last few months made running the distance effortless.  The problem was trying to get up the rising overpass at a “run for your life” pace, without passing out from hyperventilation.

             
I thought the viaduct was a stupid place for the showdown, but I didn’t voice my opinion since I didn’t quite know why I thought that.  A strategy four minutes in the planning and twenty minutes in the execution didn’t leave much room for constructive criticism. 

             
I rolled over car hoods, to save myself the time it would take to weave through them.  I saw my offensive line at the peak of the road. The great thing about the grim was they weren’t generally smart.  If they had a target in mind, they just kept right on coming.  Apparently, demons didn’t understand the concept of retreat. 

             
The crowd of grim hot on my tail were unaffected by the pace I had set.  I felt a pull at the back of my shirt, but a well-placed bullet from Haden’s side arm took out the cause of it.  I was pleased that she was as good a shot as she claimed, since my head was among the possible targets.

             
When I made it passed the line, Devin opened fire from atop his Dodge with his shotgun, and Haden with her pistol.  August stayed on the ground and took care of any that made it through with her samurai sword.  Haden didn’t bother reloading when she ran out. She just jumped down with August and went straight to bashing their brains in with a bat. 

             
“Lenore!”  August called back to me when Devin couldn’t manage to thin the line enough for her comfort. 

             
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”  I panted as a dug my bow out of the back of the truck.  I was tired, sweaty, and I might have pulled a hamstring diving into the truck bed, but once I was lined up, all I needed, was arm strength and eyes.

             
I drew back, fired; drew back, fired.  The rapid repetition was impressive, though my aim was probably off a little.  I took out nearly a dozen before my arrows ran out.  I noted a look of shock from everyone, when they realized I had cleared the entire frontal attack in a matter of seconds.  It gave Haden time to reload, and August time to rest her arms.

             
I took a moment to scrounge up a few spilled arrows from my quiver, so I could avoid resorting to hand to hand combat.  My tickling concern about our strategy was nearly to the fire ant stage.  The psychic level anxiety provided the warning, but no explanation for its reason, so all I could do was be on guard.

             
As I bent down to pick up my arrows, I simultaneously saw the movement in my periphery, and I realized why the viaduct was such a stupid idea.  I grabbed the tire iron from the floor of the truck bed and flung it near Devin’s head.  He caught the movement and ducked, though I suspected it would have missed him.

             
Before he could harangue me about poor sportsmanship in battle, the hiss of the now bludgeoned grim behind him announced itself.  He whipped around and finished bashing the remainder of its head in.  It slumped over the side of the truck, empty of demon presence. 

             
Devin would have surely afforded me a glance to thank me, but his eyes were transfixed on the attack coming from the south side of the viaduct.  The approaching horde had wrapped around from under the railway bridge.  We were flanked by grim north and south, with no option for east and west without risking broken legs from the jump. 

             
Devin called to August, but she was preoccupied with another surge.  Haden jumped back into the truck bed with us and pegged off the closest attackers on either side.  Devin struggled to get his shot gun loaded.  It was a good weapon for multiple attackers, but at some point you had to reload, and then it was a liability.  August was right, you couldn’t just rely on a weapon to save you; eventually you would run out of ammunition. 

             
“What the fuck are you doing, Lenore!?”  Haden groused.  “Pick up your damn arrows and help!”

             
I looked down at the half dozen arrows mixed in with leaves and tools on the floor of the truck.  I looked out at the thirty plus grim on the south side and the dozen or so left on the north side.  Even with Haden’s bullets this would end with hand to hand combat. 

             
“Stop shooting, Haden.”  I said as I reached down for a ball-peen hammer I noticed when searching for arrows. 

             
“What?!”  Haden said shooting three more times.

             
“Devin, go help August clear up the north side and then get the truck started and come save my ass.”

             
“What, where are you—” Devin protested trying to grab me before I jumped down. 

             
“Haden cover me!”  I yelled behind me as I ran into the melee of grim.  I heard two concurrent cusses followed by a bullet that kept one of the three grim I was approaching from ripping off my arm while I kicked and hit the other two. 

             
One hit with the hammer and the grim would go down with a shattered skull, but getting the hammer there was the problem.  I raised it high only to get my wrist lassoed.  I flipped the offending hijacker over my back with strength that I didn’t really have—but that’s why God gave us adrenaline.  A favor, but not a savior. 

             
I still had to fight to get the grim’s impossible grip off me while Haden shot the others that were trying to take advantage of my leashed position.  I broke his arm at the elbow with my foot.  The satisfying crack was reminiscent of breaking up palettes for the winter fire. 

             
I drug the half arm along with me, bitch slapping a few grim on my way up the hood of a hybrid SUV.  At the top, I kicked and hammered in the heads of the aggressors scrambling to rise with me. 

             
A particularly mature grim climbed to the roof of an adjacent minivan and stared across my sea of attackers.  His intelligible eyes were creepy as hell, but I couldn’t help smiling at his side long, double-dog-daring stare.  All he needed was a long jet black coat flapping in the wind behind him and I might have swooned from his romantic villain portrayal.

             
“I’m out, Lenore!”  Haden yelled at me warning me that she was no longer going to be able to save me.  I stomped and shattered the hand that was trying to trip me.  I should have been paying closer attention to the rat bastards at my feet, but I got the feeling my dark eyed friend across the way was far more dangerous than all of them combined.

             
I heard August yell at me from across the expanse of cars separating us, but I also felt the words penetrating through my mind, demanding my retreat. Her superhero psychic link to danger was screaming to save me, but she couldn’t get to me.  It was damned ironic that the one time I was standing my ground and fighting, she was begging me to run for my life.     

             
I smashed the fingers of a grim and kicked the face of another, but I never took my eyes off the former man across from me.  When he saw my intention was to fight him, he opened his mouth and roared with an inhuman voice.  The other grim seemed to rally with this call to war—as if the battle we were already having wasn’t enough to incite their anti-altruistic spirit.

             
I found his attempt to frighten me with boogeyman tactics infuriating to say the least.  I had just spent three months being beaten to a pulp by a man I might have accidentally fallen in love with.  I wasn’t about to let a loud mouthed demon get the better of me with a stereo level voiceover from hell.

             
I took in a deep breath and half yelled, half screamed back at him.  The cathartic scream came out better than I intended, and the grim, including Captain Kick My Ass, stopped to stare at me.  I laughed out loud at his dumbfounded look.  Apparently, he wasn’t used to women that spoke their mind. 

             
I was going to begin my ass kicking subsequently, but August’s arm latched around me, and we fell into the bed of the truck together.  The tires peeled out as Haden kicked in a few grim who were applying for stowaway status.  My new arch enemy shrunk into the distance, along with all of his vermin friends.  I almost hated leaving, since I really wanted to see how that fight would have turned out.

-Reality Check-

             
“What the fuck was that?”  Haden asked once we were free of the direct onslaught of grim.

             
“That was the new me.”  I said pulling away from August’s protective embrace.

             
“Really, getting yourself killed is the new you?”  Haden was precariously standing through Devin’s driving, but I knew she wouldn’t give up her lording position to sit down and yell at me.  Her hands were propped on her hips, and she was panting from her exhaustive efforts to get the truck through the crowded viaduct so August could, once again, save me.  Her jaw was clenched tight, but it wasn’t anger that I saw behind her narrowed eyes, it was concern. 

             
I missed most of the lead up to my rescue, but I imagine from their perspective I was on the verge of being overtaken by a massive swarm of demon propelled bad guys, via the instruction of the king pin.  They must have been tripping over themselves trying to get coordinated to save my ostensibly suicidal ass.  Until that moment, I really had no idea how much my friends would be willing to risk to save my life. 

             
I looked back at August who had the same look of concern on her face, though she couldn’t bring herself to look at me, since she no doubt blamed herself for my over eagerness to prove my worth.  “I wasn’t trying to kill myself, Haden.”

             
“You could’ve fucking fooled me!”  She yelled before settling herself in for the ride. 

             
“I’m sorry.”  I apologized to the back of her head.  “I didn’t mean to put you in danger. I was trying to save you.”

             
“You did.”  August said meekly.  “The grim left us alone and swarmed around you.  We could have left you behind and saved ourselves.”  I looked at her with a question on my face that didn’t need to be asked, but I couldn’t help but think it.  She stared at me, finding the mettle to meet me eye to eye.  “Never.”  She said firmly answering my question.  “I would never let you sacrifice yourself for us.  You’re too…”  She trailed off, but I got the gist of her “you are so beautiful to me” speech. 

             
When Haden finally looked at me, she was back to her usual angry self.  “What was that back there anyway?  It looked like you were enjoying yourself.”  I shrugged not wanting to admit how much I wanted to have that battle.  “You do realize that grim could have snapped your neck with one hand?”  She continued to lecture.  “Those old fuckers are fast.”

             
I nodded in agreement, though I wasn’t sure I did.  He was definitely going to be a handful, but something told me I might just be able to get the better of him.  I wasn’t sure why my ego had flared so brightly where he was concerned, but I wasn’t going to over analyze it.            

             
After a few minutes of silence, Haden moved between us and peeked her head into the cab.  “I want a beer!”  She demanded, and Devin immediately started to decelerate to turn around and find a safe bar.

-
Real Folk-

             
My town wasn’t completely devoid of life.  After all, I wasn’t the only heretic born and raised in the town that Wal-Mart killed.  The few that were left, had either gone into hiding and were living off the land, or embraced their lack of greater purpose like early retirement.  Within the latter group were the barflies.

             
Drinking was a past time my hometown was known for.  More bars than churches wasn’t just a matter of priority.  It was necessity, because aside from praying on Sundays and bowling on Tuesdays, there was nothing to do in this stinking town.  Naturally, the bar crowd was mostly alcoholics that had no concern for their livers.  Since the town hadn’t run dry yet, there was no reason for them to sober up if they didn’t want to. 

             
Devin’s preference was the Double T.  He found the name intrinsically humorous.  He entered first, drawing the first few glares and guns from the patrons inside.  No one was unfriendly intentionally, it was just instinct.  I’m not entirely sure that could be blamed on the apocalypse or just the lack of social grace created by a small population with higher morals than standards. 

             
Once the grouches and grousers had settled back down and holstered their weapons, Devin manned the bar for us.  He brought us each a beer, popping the top on each one like he was familiar with the sticky side of a counter.  “Ladies,” he leaned over the bar and tapped his beer to each of ours, “to being back in the bosom,” he winked at me, “of our family.  May we never need to separate again.” 

             
“Here, here,” Haden raised her beer before chugging it down in an impromptu contest with Devin. 

             
I looked past Haden to offer August a nod before drinking my beer.  At least a small gesture so she knew I was glad that they were back, even if I wasn’t the same woman I was when they left me.  Her face was somber and distant, pressured by a great number of things on her mind.  I imagined that she was still dwelling on my almost demise, but it seemed to be something more internal than her usual motherly concerns.  I wanted to know what her troubles were, but when my mouth opened, I just poured beer into it.