Chapter 55 Shepherd and the Bridge

Chapter 55 Shepherd and the Bridge
Roughly halfway down the bridge, the barricade loomed. The logic was genius; make people block themselves in by having to come on the bridge. Shepherd knew that there were likely men under the bridge right that moment, just waiting for them to pass the line.

He stepped one foot on the bridge, squaring his massive shoulders, and grinned. To any survivor, he already looked insane in his tattered shorts and bare chest. He wore his tattoos like armor, and his muscles were the only weapons he needed. Everything about him screamed ‘other’ and ‘danger’. The people beyond that barricade knew very well what he was, and as such, they had not dared to show themselves yet.

Shepherd imagined they were shitting themselves, seeing a Cretin with a tank and without a horde. It made him gleeful. He threw his head back and laughed as he walked, slowly approaching the barricade with not a single sign of fear.

“He’s insane,” Trigger whispered, inside the tank.

“He’s menacing,” Gunner added.

“He’s gonna get himself killed.” Cue said, a barely buried tone of worry in her voice.

Gunner drove the tank behind and slightly to the side of Shepherd so the barrel of the tank was just over his right shoulder. Trigger and Cue stood behind Gunner on either side of him, watching over his shoulder and ready to bolt out the hatch if they needed to fight.

“Stop right there!” A loud voice called, not without a hint of a tremble in his voice. “We have you surrounded!”

Shepherd’s grin turned positively feral as men climbed up the side of the bridge and surrounded him and the tank on all sides.

“I love being right!” Shepherd threw his head back and howled three times, his chest heaving with every loud exhale. The sound seemed to reverberate off the bridge and echo over the water.

A low rumble began on the side of the bridge they came from, a grumbling moan that grew louder and louder. When the bridge started to shake, the men with their guns aimed at Shepherd turned, their faces going pale.

Hundreds of thousands of zombies were walking step by shambling step onto the bridge, sardined so tightly that some of them fell and were trampled beneath the massive horde.

“Oh fucking christ!” Trigger shrieked, practically climbing up the side of the tank, trying to get further away from them. “That’s not a horde, that’s a fucking army!”

“It’s gotta be every zombie in the city,” Cue whispered in terror. She exchanged a look with Trigger and swallowed hard. “I don’t think this is just about getting you to a doctor.”

“What do you mean?” Gunner asked, cutting off the same question on Trigger’s lips.

“Shepherd told me something about how we had been safe because we were in his territory, and that other territories had different Cretins running them.”

“Fuck,” Gunner scowled, arming the weapons in the tank.

“We fucking led him to a territory war?” Trigger asked breathlessly.

Outside the tank, Shepherd began to laugh, the zombies closing in on the humans mere feet away, then stopping. His control over them was so great that they even went silent when he took a deep breath and began speaking.

“What’s the toll?” He asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“Go back the way you came!” The man on the other side shouted. “We are prepared to defend the bridge with our lives!”

“Good, my horde is hungry!” Shepherd raised his arms, and the zombies seemed to wake up, shuffling and moving around anxiously.

“Wait! Wait, please! I know that tank!” Another voice came from the other side.

Shepherd froze, his smile slowly fading over his too-sharp teeth.

At the top of the barricade, a face appeared, one no one wanted to see. Barrow.

“That’s Barrow!” Cue shouted inside the tank. She put her hand on her hip, a new pistol resting there. 

“Looks like they didn’t all die. Shame.” Trigger scowled.

“Maybe Zero lived; he was trying to stop them,” Cue said, slowly backing toward the hatch as she watched the screen.

“The people who had that tank kidnapped a woman from us!” Barrow said. “Don’t fire, she might be inside!”

A chorus of mumbles started on the other side, leading me to believe there were dozens, if not hundreds, of men hiding behind the barricade.
“A woman? Why isn’t she at the—” the first man started, but Barrow interrupted.

“Are they in there, Cretin, or did you kill them for that tank?” 

“I have done nothing, but what have you done?” Shepherd asked, his voice an ominous warning.

“Is she in there?” Barrow demanded, “Let her go! We will count that as the bridge toll, but the zombies cannot pass!”

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” The first man asked.

Barrow growled and rolled his shoulders, turning a menacing gaze on the man before aiming and blowing his head off.

Shouts erupted in surprise on the other side of the bridge, screaming and thrashing as men scrambled toward Barrow. Somewhere on the other side, automatic gunfire spouted, and the screaming got worse. Men, we’re groaning and dying, but the people trying to get to Barrow stopped after the first volley of bullets. The men surrounding them ran for their lives and scaled back down the side of the bridge.

“Now that I’m in charge, no one will argue,” Barrow said coldly.

Inside the tank, Cue’s heart sank and froze at the same time. She knew he was a monster, but this? She took Trigger’s hand in hers and kissed her knuckles.

“I have to go up.”

“What? You absolutely do fucking not have to go up there!” Trigger told her fiercely.

“He’ll kill Shepherd.”

“Maybe they’ll kill each other, Gunner, back up!” 

Gunner put the tank in reverse, and Cue grabbed his arm.

“No, I can’t let anyone else die!” Cue cried, then turned and raced for the hatch. “He saved our lives!”

Trigger tried to catch her, but missed, and Cue was out of the hatch before she could stop her. 

She crawled out of the Tank and rolled off the side, coming to stand side by side with Shepherd. Next to him, she looked smaller than usual, her head barely coming up to his pectorals. 

“I won’t let you die for me,” she told him, brushing her knuckles on his. “I’ll be okay.”

“The fuck you will,” he growled down at her, but she stepped forward.

“What do you want, Barrow?” Cue shouted, her hands cupped to her mouth.

“I want you to come home, baby! We’ve been looking for you everywhere!” He said, leaping over the barricade and stepping towards her slowly. Behind him, the gates opened and revealed the carnage they had caused. 

Zero walked out, a new scar on his face from his hairline past his eye and to his jaw. He glared at Cue, his lip mangled from the scar that gave him a constant sneer.