Rolling Thunder - 03 Read Online Free PDF Page A

from one of the younger ones. 
I walked over and piled the weapons into the cab of the Dodge and locked it
with the remote on the key chain.  They cursed me.  Spat at me.  Screamed at
me.  I ignored them and said nothing.  Didn’t react to them at all as I worked,
piling the three of them into the back of the Toyota, none too gently.  By now the
younger ones were frightened and pleading with me, asking what I was doing and
why I was doing it. 
    With them loaded up, I got into the cab of the truck and
started the engine, then drove around to the barn and stopped next to the
ambulance.  Getting out, I ignored their renewed curses, checked on Dog and
Rachel then disappeared into the barn for a moment after making sure the straw
I’d stuck into the door jamb was undisturbed.  When I’d cleared the barn
earlier I’d noticed a cabinet that held several lengths of chain and padlocks. 
These are used to secure equipment at horse shows and events so it didn’t grow
legs and wander off on its own.  Tossing the chains and locks into the Toyota I
climbed back in and headed across the pasture behind the barn.
    The pasture was large, maybe half a mile across, and at the
edge of it the forest that had been cut back was thick with large oak, elm and
walnut trees.  Parking at the edge of the forest I stepped out of the cab,
walked around to the tailgate and drug out the one farthest back, letting him
fall to the ground.  It was the one I’d paralyzed with the shot to his back and
his head cracked against the tailgate as I drug him out of the truck by an
ankle.  He was crying now, tears rolling down his face and snot bubbling out of
his nose.
    “C’mon mister.  What the hell?  I didn’t do nothing to you! 
Please!  I need a doctor!”  I ignored his pleas, dragging him to the closest
tree where I sat him up and chained him to it around his waist.  Pulling the
chain tight I snapped the lock into place and walked back to the truck.
    Five minutes later all three were secured to the same tree,
the chains tight enough around their waists that even if they had the use of
their legs they still wouldn’t be able to get free.  They had stopped cursing
me.  No more screaming.  Only tears from the two younger ones and a look of stubborn
resignation on the older one’s face.  I stood in front of them for a few
moments, looking at them, then turned to go.
    “What did they mean to you?”  The older one called.
    I stopped and turned, wanting to raise my rifle and empty a
magazine into each of them.  Wanting to draw my Kukri and see how many body
parts I could remove before they died.  But I didn’t.  I wanted them to know
terror like they had inflicted before they died.  When the infected arrived,
they would know terror.
    “They didn’t mean anything to me,” I answered, climbed in
the Toyota and headed back to the barn.

6
     
    I woke up eight hours later by the dash clock in the
ambulance.  For a moment I was disoriented, didn’t know where I was or what had
wakened me, then I heard it again.  Everything clicked into place and I
scrambled off the gurney in the back of the ambulance and looked down at Rachel
who was awake and calling my name.
    “Hi,” I said, smiling down at her.
    “What happened to me?  Am I alright?”  She was still
strapped to the backboard and couldn’t move.  The look on her face was one of
true fear.
    “It’s a really long story, so first things first.  Can you
feel your legs?  Your feet?  Wiggle your toes?”  She looked at me and a whole
new wave of fear washed across her features.
    “I think I’m wiggling them,” she said, trying to raise her
head to look at her feet, but the strap across her forehead kept her secure.
    “Hold on.”  I crab walked my way to the foot of the
backboard and gently unlaced, then removed Rachel’s boots, wincing with every
movement of my hands.  The anesthetic had worn off and they hurt like a son of
a bitch.  “OK.  Wiggle