"This really works?" he asked incredulously.

I would have answered him but I ran out to the deck. Eliza might as well have had a stage light on her the way she stuck out from the crowd of zombies. She looked up immediately as she saw me. I had left my rifle in the living room; the only weapon I had was a 9 mm, and at fifty yards I'd have a better chance of throwing rocks at her. I did the next best thing-I flipped her the finger. I could hear and see Tomas laughing from here.

It was all fun and games until the two men leading the crusade started to open fire, then it got serious real quick.

At first I was outgunned two to none, within thirty seconds, I had Travis, Justin and my dad. I had run back in to snag my rifle. We got a few shots off, but Eliza and company had not advanced any further and the zombies had closed in around them like a protective barrier. I may have winged one of the men she was with...or he could have been dusting a fly off of himself. I ran to the kitchen and hastily fashioned my own hat, it wasn't done with the same level of expertise as Trip's but it did the job.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE.

Eliza "That's him." Kong told Eliza as Michael came out onto the deck.

She nodded imperceptibly, her lips tightening at the sight of her adversary.

"Didn't seem like much when he said his name was Buker and doesn't seem like much now," he said a moment before Mike flipped Eliza off. Kong was both amused at the gesture and awed that someone had enough b.a.l.l.s to do something like that to her.

Tomas burst out laughing, Kong had wanted to join him, but he didn't have a familiar relationship to fall back on like the boy did. He was certain she would cut his throat and let him bleed out where they were.

"Kill him," Eliza told her escort.

They hastily left the area as their firepower gave way to that of the defenders.

"Should we try a different approach?" Kong asked Eliza once they were in a safer area.

"No, I have found out what I need to know," she replied. "It is not Michael that keeps my zombies at bay."

"The trench then?" Kong asked, seeking clarification.

Eliza walked away looking more p.i.s.sed then usual which Kong found hard to believe. He turned to Tomas.

"They are broadcasting a signal that interferes with the physiology of the zombies."

"Like the vials?" he asked.

"No, better," Tomas said with a hint of a smile.

"That's f.u.c.king brilliant," Kong said, turning back to the house he could no longer see due to the density of the woods. He wondered what other surprises they had in store. "You obviously care for your sister, I can see that, but you cannot hide the fact that you also care for the well-being of the Talbots. What's your story?" Kong asked.

"I do not think that either of us has enough life left in us for me to recount that," Tomas said sadly and walked to catch up with his sister.

Kong had two vampires, if he was to believe what Eliza told him-and he had no reason not to-around seventy men, and close to fifteen thousand zombies on his side against one house full of mostly women and children, and he thought that he had chosen poorly. "Well it's a s.h.i.tty bed, but I made it. Might as well lie in it."

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO.

Mike Journal Entry 18 "She's getting bold," BT said as I came back in the door.

"Our little girl is growing up," I told him, wiping a mock tear away from my eye.

"Should have put her over my knee a few more times," he said, following me into the room. "What's she doing?"

"I'm thinking trying to figure out why her zombies aren't eating us yet," I told him.

"I didn't know she cared."

"Don't worry, she doesn't."

"Any ideas?"

"Really?" Tracy asked BT. "You really want an unsolicited idea from Mike?"

"At least it's entertaining," BT told her.

I wanted to join in the reverie, but I could feel time slipping through our fingers. "She has us pretty b.u.t.toned up here with the zombies and the guards, but she's not going to wait us out. Eliza isn't much on patience."

"What are you thinking?" my dad asked.

"She has every tactical advantage right now. She's going to try and find a tank or rocket launchers or a d.a.m.n Harrier Jet. We've got to stop her before that happens."

"You're kidding, right?" BT asked. "I merely asked you for an idea...not an overabundance of ways to get killed."

"BT, you should know better, man. All of my ideas are laced with an overabundance of ways to die."

"I know," he said, sitting down heavily. "When do we go?"

"Are you serious? Are you that devoid of short-term memory that you cannot remember what happened the last time you went on the offensive against Eliza?" Tracy was shrieking.

If I thought Eliza was mad at me when I had given her the finger, I had yet to see Tracy's ire when I told her of my next great adventure. She definitely raised the anger bar. I think I was going to get my slogan trademarked: Michael Talbot, bringing hate and discontent to women everywhere for forty-plus years.

"I could crank up the outage on the frequency modulator," Mad Jack piped up.

"Okay." I answered, trying to figure out where he was going with it. Lord knew I'd had enough practice with John the Tripper I should have been able to figure him out, although that wasn't a fair comparison. MJ was logic based, John was acid based.

"Well that would mean more power was going out," he added.

"I get that, but to what end?" I asked.

"Mad Jack, you said that putting out too much power could fry the components," Ron said with concern.

"I did say that," Mad Jack p.r.o.nounced.

"How could someone that snorted, inhaled or smoked enough drugs to finance a cartel sound as similar to someone that graduated the top of his cla.s.s at MIT?" I demanded, throwing my hands in the air. "Ron? Help me out here, man. I don't speak genius."

"Relax, Mike, he usually has so much going on in his head, he doesn't know what he's told us or what he's thinking. He'll get there in a minute."

The cursory minute pa.s.sed. We were all waiting for some more information that was not coming. Mad Jack was pacing the room, and it looked like he was about to leave before Ron stopped him.

"MJ?"

"I need some more transistors," Mad Jack told him as if that explained everything.

"Okay, we all get that you want to put more power through the modulator. The Jeopardy bonus round question is why?" Ron wanted to know.

"Jeopardy is for the uneducated," Mad Jack stated contemptuously. "The questions are so easy."

I had stopped watching Jeopardy years ago when I realized that I hardly ever knew the answers to even the easiest hundred dollar questions. Who needs to be reminded daily of their ignorance?

Ron tried Psych 101 on MJ. "The reason for increasing power to the frequency modulator that disrupts the thought patterns of the zombies is?"

"Nice...he phrased it as a question," Gary said, smacking my arm to make sure that I was watching the riveting action.

"To drive the zombies back, thus obscuring our vial-laden exit from the armed guards," Mad Jack retorted.

Now all of a sudden it was a riveting conversation. "That's brilliant," I said aloud.

"I know," Mad Jack said.

"But you're not thinking escape, are you, Mike?" Tracy asked.

"Where would we run to that she wouldn't find us? Where could we run that was more secure? Where could we run that was as well supplied? Where-"

"I get it," she lashed out.

"Plus I have someone waiting in a truck out there that I need to bring into the fold."

"What? Who?" came the myriad of questions.

I quickly explained where I had discovered Azile and how I had rescued her. I somehow failed to tell them that she had driven the majority of the way back because she was better at it than me, it must have slipped my mind.

"You just left her out there?" Tracy accused me.

"You know, I wasn't all that sure I was going to make it back here. I figured she was safer in the truck," I said, defending myself.

"You need to go get her," Tracy said.

"I know that, dear. But it's not like I can just walk out the door and do that now, is it?"

"Don't you get condescending with me."

"Ooh look, the finger should be coming out any second," BT said to Gary.

"I don't know why you're so smug," Tracy said, turning her wrath to the big man. "You're going out there to help him."

"Me?" BT begged off. "I always have to pull his scrawny a.s.s out of a sc.r.a.pe."

"And that's exactly why you and I are going with him."

"Oh no," BT and I said simultaneously.

"I'm used to saving his a.s.s, I can't be looking out for you, too," BT shouted.

"BT, I'd been saving his a.s.s for close to twenty-five years before you ever came in the picture. I think if anyone is qualified to do it, it's me."

"I hate when you two do this," I told them.

"You keep out of this," BT told me.

Tracy and BT were still arguing about who was better at keeping me alive when I turned my attention back to Mad Jack who had lost all interest with the ravings of the monkeys below the one-forty intelligence quotient level.

"How far back can you push the zombies?" I asked him.

"A couple of hundred feet at the most."

"Will it be fast?"

Mad Jack thought about it for a moment. "Yes, they'll want to get away from the signal as quickly as possible."

"Okay. Will it be like a fire drill where everyone leaves in an orderly fashion, or will it be like a real fire when everyone tramples over each other?"

"The latter I would imagine," Mad Jack replied, looking up as he pondered the answer.

"Latter...that means last, right?"

He gave me the 'how have you survived this long' look.

I could have easily returned the gaze.

"There's one small problem with increasing the power output that much, though."

"Is there any chance you can just tell me what the problem is without me playing game show host?"

"It'll only last for sixty-four-and-a-half seconds."

"Exactly sixty-four-and-a-half seconds...or can we give or a take a second or two."

"Science doesn't lie," he stated vehemently.

"Alright sixty-four-and-one-half seconds it is, what happens after that?"