"You got that right. I can't tell you how sorry I am about Max, he was a good guy and we needed him. He would have made our job easier, but wishing he was still here isn't going to change anything."
"I got it. Stewart, do you want to drive the diesel? I'll take the Ford. Javier you ride shotgun with me, Ruben you and that bomb you're so fond of can ride with Stewart." Inside Bill was wondering how he went from determined to find his friend to leaving him behind, 'Fucking old man, there is something up with you, something you aren't telling us, isn't there?'
Without another look around the four of them got into the trucks and drove out of the campgrounds.
Chapter 24 — Max
"You actually want me to believe this crap?" Max said to Aubrey.
"You have to believe it, I can provide you with some proof, but I need…assurances Max that you won't reveal anything to any of our kind. I'm barely holding it together this close to Sentry, I don't trust anyone else. You saw the guys who brought you in, do you think they were with him?"
"I thought they were with you."
"I contacted them. I can still do that, and they were hard to find. There are some of us who have fallen off Sentry's radar, he is a busy…entity, and some people he never knew about, others, like me, he thinks are incapacitated. And then there is that third class, who figured out some way to avoid being subjugated altogether."
"And it can be taught?"
"More like, they can give other zombies a bit of a vaccine against the compulsion. It isn't a full vaccination either. I don't think I would do well against Sentry if we were in the same room. This guy with Red gave me the basics and that was at a great distance. He wasn't willing to meet me either, which tells me something."
"Red? In Nebraska?"
Aubrey's mouth turned into a small 'o' of surprise, but she nodded, "You know Red?"
"He helped me out. But he killed some people who didn't deserve it."
"That club has a large membership these days, Max."
Shrugging his shoulders Max nodded. "So what did he tell you?"
"First, his actions told me a lot in and of themselves. We might not be of the same lineage, but he was afraid to get too close to me. The closer I am to weaker zombies, those that haven't consumed enough flesh and blood, the easier it is for me to control them. That guy who brought you in? I had to ask him to help me. I couldn't make him do it."
"Does that matter, you are all working together." Max said bitterly.
"You really think so? It might surprise you that we aren't. I had to convince him. And it was not easy. I had to share something pretty important to get his help."
"How to avoid being controlled by stronger zombies?"
Aubrey nodded, "Yes. Something I don't want to become common knowledge."
Max grimaced and said, "Oh, no we wouldn't want that would we? I mean that might mean people get to do what they want again!"
"You don't really understand what you're talking about. When we are…freshly made, we are hungry. But I think Jimbo stumbled on this technique of his when he was still hungry, it could be taught to others, with no one to control them humanity is doomed."
Max thought about that for a moment and responded, "You seem to be making a case for leaving Sentry alive."
"You haven't met him. The man is deranged; something went wrong with him when he turned. He killed, as far as we can tell, all the first zombies he created. But there is a rumor…"
"Alright, I'll bite, a rumor of what?"
"That he wasn't the first zombie."
"What?" Max shouted, "You have got to be fucking with me! I'm coming all this way, leaving my family and this tool isn't even the guy I need to be looking for?"
"It's just a rumor. He made me in his clinic and the oldest zombies there weren't that old, but it was whispered that Sentry wasn't the first. One of us who could use the computers in his office, found evidence that there were experiments on prisoners…and others before Sentry came along."
"How did it start?"
Aubrey shrugged, "Hell if I know. But the rumor is that Sentry killed the first zombie after being bitten."
"So that doesn't help us, if the first guy is dead…"
"Wait, let me finish. The first zombie didn't just infect Sentry, he infected someone else too. A cop of some sort."
"So Sentry has a sibling, how does that work?"
"Well affecting a lessor zombie is easy, no matter who it belongs to. Affecting someone more powerful is dicey, even if you are more stronger than they are. Siblings are altogether different, some are worse than your parent zombie, some are easier. I don't know why. But I did a few experiments on my own in Chicago and I know it is true."
"So finding this guy, if he can be found, is a crapshoot."
"I think I know who it is." said Aubrey.
"Yeah, who? And how did you find that out?"
"I found it out by getting a list of the security detail from the clinic, it was a short list. Everyone thought it was a guy named 'Gabe', one of the first children created by Sentry. But I met Gabe, briefly, before he was sent somewhere in the Far East. I think he is the only one of the first group to survive and I think that is why Sentry sent him halfway across the world. The other guards I ran down one by one, talking to people and putting together a picture of who I could confirm was dead. The only one missing was someone named Dan. Daniel Gears."
"And where is mister Gears?"
"I don't know."
"Gosh, I wouldn't have guessed that. So I have to find one guy, who may or may not help me, in the entire fucking world? He could be anywhere!"
Aubrey shrugged, "No. You got it wrong Max, I'm just throwing you that in case you can find him. It is one of three things I am working on right now. You, finding Dan and one other thing that I am saving as my ace in the hole."
"Why do you want me?"
"I want to know what your plans are. Maybe I can help. We both want the same thing."
Max laughed. "Oh, that's awesome. I'm one of your three methods of attack and you don't even know what I am doing! What the hell, if I don't tell you, you'll just beat it out of me, won't you?"
The look Aubrey gave him was reproachful, but she nodded. "I have a need to know."
"We're going old school sister. We brought a bomb to blow the motherfucker up."
"Not a beacon? You're not going to call down an airstrike?"
"No, it's a bomb. Although it wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't do jack shit. The guy who gave it to me has a history of honesty impairment."
This earned him a puzzled look from Aubrey.
"The guy is some sort of Special Forces bad ass. He doesn't think much of me and frankly the feeling is mutual. He headed to Washington to see if he could rescue any parts of the old government there." said Max.
"Then you won't be seeing him again." said Aubrey shaking her head.
"I hope not. In my nightmares I see him is as a super zombie, and I think I've only ever been lucky dealing with your kind so far."
With a smile Aubrey said, "I'll take luck. We're going to need it. So now that I know what you are doing I can help."
"How?"
"I know the roads are clear, but there are going to be checkpoints as you get into Florida. Sentry may be crazy, but he has some sense. I can clear the checkpoints away for you. I can keep the zombies away from you when you need to sleep."
"I don't think the people I am travelling with would care to have you with us."
"Oh Max, you're such a joy! I can't travel with you! I have other things to take care of. You'll never see me at all."
"Well that will make things easier, but what am I supposed to tell the people I'm with about the roads being clear?"
"Tell them what you want. Just go fast, things are coming to a head more quickly than I would like. I hope your bomb is bigger than a bunch of hand grenades."