Flip This Zombie - Jesse Petersen [36]
“Well,” I sighed as Dave came back down from the awning for the third time. He was getting so comfortable at doing it, I wondered if he even noticed the height thing anymore. “That was some good teamwork. Now, thanks a lot, Kid, but we—”
“No, no, no,” The Kid interrupted as he stomped toward me with his little fists raised in a fighting stance. A pretty good one, too. He was future UFC material with that form. “No way are you fucking me out of my pay.”
“Hey!” I snapped. “Language.”
He shot me a look that could have killed. “Screw you, lady. You owe me a third of whatever you get plus ammo.”
“And we’re going to give you that, Robbie,” Dave said, his tone so much more adult and soothing than mine.
Funny, I used to get so pissed because I felt like Dave was stuck in adolescence, but now… well, he wasn’t that guy on the couch playing video games instead of getting a job anymore.
I dropped my own tone to match his, hoping, I guess, to impress him a little. “Seriously, Kid. We’re not going to fuck you over. We’re more than happy to give you supplies equal to thirty percent of what we’re paid for this job and the ammo right now and you can be on your way.”
The Kid folded his arms. “Oh yeah, right. Like I’m going to just believe that whatever you give me is thirty percent. No way. I’m coming with you to wherever you’re going and I’m watching you get your payment. Then we’ll decide together what thirty percent amounts to.”
I gave Dave a side glance. I’m sure that would really impress Dr. Barnes… Kevin… when we revealed that we had not only brought in another person on our scheme, but that he wasn’t even in puberty yet. I hated to think of his reaction.
“I don’t know,” Dave said with a shake of his head. “That may not go over. This is sort of top-secret stuff.”
The Kid snorted. “Okay, Mr. and Mrs. CIA. If it was so secret, you never should have let me help you in the first place.”
I opened my mouth to point out, once again, that we hadn’t invited him to help us do anything, but he kept talking.
“But you did, so a deal is a deal. I’m going with you.”
I glared at the boy, then waved David over to the side for a confab. “What do we do?” I whispered. “He can’t come to the warehouse.”
Dave shot him a look over my shoulder. “I think there’s not much choice. I mean, you can’t really blame him for doubting our intentions. And he did help us out.”
“Barnes is going to think we’re a bunch of idiots,” I moaned.
Dave rolled his eyes. “I’m sure your boyfriend will get over it.”
“Haha,” I sneered as he turned away and faced The Kid again.
“Okay, look, you can come with us.” Dave hesitated. “But when we get close to where we’re going, we’ll have to blindfold you so you can’t see.”
The Kid’s brow wrinkled and there was a moment of nervous hesitation on his face that made him look as young as his years. Then he shook it off.
“Okay, I guess. But if you go all Catholic Priest on me, I’ll cut your hands off.”
Dave stared at him. “Gross. On both accounts. Trust me, I’ve no interest in going anything on you. I just want to make sure you’re not going to interfere and cause trouble with our contact. If you come, you keep your mouth shut, got it?” Dave asked in a stern and sort of fatherly tone.
The Kid stared at him for a long moment where I swear he actually looked a little impressed. So was I, truth be told. Then he nodded. “Okay.”
“Now let’s load this fucker up and get going. Thanks to all our noise those ones on the outskirts are getting too close for comfort and I’m just not in the mood for a showdown,” Dave said as he grabbed for our captured zombie’s feet and motioned me to take the shoulder area to toss him in the back of the van.
Strive for more. More zombies, more fighting, more profit…
It took us a while to get rolling and then there was all the drama of blindfolding Robbie to deal with, too. The Kid was such a whiner, you’d think we were burning his eyes out with acid, not gently wrapping them with an old necktie Dave had in the van. I don’t know why he had one.