I sat on the couch of Dave’s living room, feeling like I was in the principal’s office. His squad of security goons waited outside of the house. That was a small relief.
Dave slowly paced the floor, arms folded with a finger on his lips.
“You said you wanted them gone,” I said. “Trust me, they’re gone.”
“True,” he said with a tone that barely hid all the condescending things he wanted to say. “However, I never said I wanted you to risk your life, Jack’s life, and one of our trucks in the process.”
“We were never in any real danger, and that truck will be just fine when Dawn is done with it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She fixed the one that rolled into the river, didn’t she?”
Dave nodded silently. That always shut him up since the truck that rolled into river did so because Dave forgot to put the parking brake on.
“What was the point of your little stunt?” Dave asked. “What’s your end-game? It seems to me that following the original plan would accomplish the same thing without destroying one of our vehicles.”
“My endgame? Hadn’t really thought much about that. But if I had to make a guess, I’d say my endgame is no more zombies. Ever. If I led that pack away, how long before they come back? Days? Weeks at most?”
“Maybe. Maybe they never come back.”
“Where else are they going to go? It’s not like I can tell them to sit, toss them a treat and expect them to stay.” I laughed out loud. “Well, the ones I left aren’t going anywhere.”
“I admit, there’s a chance they may come back, but there’s a chance they don’t. Maybe they wander in another direction, or catch the scent from another encampment.”
“Great,” I said nodding dramatically. “Let’s just make them someone else’s problem. Mighty human of you.”
“It’s not intentional. Plus, anyone who’s still alive these days can handle a few more dead. Probably the same ways we handle ours.”
“Leading them away?”
A look of relief came over his face and he held his arms out toward me. “Exactly.”
I stood quickly enough to make Dave take a step back.
“That means we’re all just trading zombies. How is anything going to get better?”
“So kill them? Kill all zombies?” He snickered. “There are only a few of us and a limitless supply of them.”
“That’s just it, Marshall.”
“Don’t call me—”
“It’s not limitless. It’s, uh…” I snapped my fingers, mind searching. The stupid word was on the tip of my tongue. “Finite! Their numbers are finite, which means they could all be killed.”
Dave took a few more pacing steps and grinned at me. “Finite, huh?”
I shrugged. “You ain’t the only one that reads.”
“You know I can have you walled for what you did today, right?”
“Sure. It’s not a very good reason, and people would ask a lot of questions. But that doesn’t always stop you, does it?”
That might have been a few words too many.
His hands went to fists and his face reddened by a shade.
I put my hands up. “Look, I shouldn’t have—”
Dave cut me off by raising his hand. A placating gesture. Calming.
“We got word an hour ago that Gianni and his crew found three new people. They’ll be here soon. I’m putting you in charge of their first week.”
I groaned, but Dave made another gesture and I thought about that precarious platform on the wall.
“You’ll still perform all your runs and whatever you can to help Dawn fix that truck. Fair?”
No. Not fair. But I had pushed my luck as far as it could go in one day. I nodded.
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