by Anna Abner
I thought he might say something, but he seemed distracted, his attention on the guard with the gun.
“Take this.” He handed me the guitar. “For now.”
“Thanks.” I situated the guitar so it hung against my chest, but I didn’t pluck any of the strings, didn’t strum. I had the unsettling feeling Ben had relieved himself of the gear because he expected there to be a fight.
“Everyone go slow,” Pollard warned as he collected his gear. “We don’t know what these people are like. Be ready for anything.”
“What are they going to do?” Simone countered. “Shoot us?”
Instinctively, I laid my hand on the hilt of my short sword. Not that I would use it. But it made me feel safer.
Pollard waved at the guard. “Hello!”
The man didn’t point his weapon at us, but he didn’t exactly jump up and down with joy, either. He was cautious. I understood that. This was a new world, and I didn’t trust people either.
“Your leg strong enough to run on?” Ben asked me quietly from the side of his mouth. I glanced up, catching my reflection in his aviators.
“Yeah.” But I wasn’t running anywhere. Not if there were medical specialists in the camp.
“No water handouts,” the man announced loudly. He was older than us. In his thirties. Maybe forties.
“We don’t need water,” Pollard shouted back.
Well, we did. We always needed water, but that’s not why we’d come.
I spoke up. “Do you have doctors? Or lab equipment?”
“Why? Are you hurt?”
“We brought a cure for the red plague.” Just saying it sent a thrill spiking through me. A cure. A real cure.
The guard pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt. “Malcolm,” he said into it. “I need you at the main entrance.”
There was no response, but the guy seemed satisfied that this Malcolm person would show up.
I got even more excited by the use of radios, even if they were battery powered. Maybe this was a good idea. Maybe we’d found the refuge I’d hoped for. The camp could have been an oasis of technology and security inside our perilous, plague-infected region.
We waited awkwardly, the five of us, in the middle of the road.
Hunny hugged Ben, but he stood stiffly, his hands at his sides, the opposite of at ease. I tried to appear nonthreatening, but I kept ahold of my sword. Just in case.
An open-air jeep rolled up and an even older man stepped out in full camo gear and a larger than normal rifle strapped on his back. Two pistols, one on each hip, finished his ensemble. He looked like Pollard 2.0.
He swung the rifle around and aimed it at our feet. “We don’t give out freebies,” he said. “If that’s why you’re here.”
I started to explain when the guard interrupted, talking right over me. “They say they have a cure.”
“Hold up.” Malcolm pointed his rifle at Ben. “You. Take off the sunglasses.”
Immediately, the tension in the air shot into the stratosphere. I stepped in front of Ben, palms up. This could all be explained, if they’d listen.
Ben grabbed me tight and nearly threw me behind him. “You are not taking a bullet for me.”
But Malcolm wasn’t a patient man. “Get on your knees!”
“Listen for two seconds,” I said, panic making me brave. “We came to you for help. We have a cure.”
“I said get on your knees.” Malcolm flicked off the safety because I heard a metallic click. “Remove the glasses.”
Ben ripped off his sunglasses, revealing red eyes. “I was infected, but I’m not anymore—”
“Get on your knees!”
“—I took medicine, and it cured me.”
Hunny shrieked, “Listen to him!”
“Please.” Ignoring Ben’s warning, Pollard approached Malcolm and got near enough they could talk privately like a couple of old chums. “He’s not a zombie anymore. You can see, and hear, that he’s not a zombie.”
Malcolm gave him a long, cold once-over. “He’s got red eyes.”
“They didn’t change when he took the cure,” Pollard explained. “Do you have medical experts? Doctors? Anyone who can pick apart the antiserum in his blood? Because that’s why we’re here.”
Malcolm lowered his rifle several degrees. “Yeah, we have medical people.” He nodded toward Ben. “Does he need to be restrained?”
“Absolutely not,” I assured.
If there was any chance this group had the lab equipment and expertise to replicate my dad’s cure, then Malcolm’s alpha dog attitude was well worth it.
“Yeah, okay.” Malcolm slid behind the wheel. “Get in.”
Simone slurped from her blue cup and happily situated herself behind the driver. I wasn’t as anxious to be driven away, though, and hung back for a second.
Ben brushed into me and said quickly in my ear, “Don’t let them take your sword, and don’t let them separate you from the group.” Then he pulled the tailgate down and sat on it.
Pollard set Hunny in the front seat. As I climbed behind her with Simone I had the sensation Pollard and Ben were whispering in the back of the vehicle, but I didn’t want to draw attention to them. I didn’t trust these Camp Carson guys either.
Malcolm drove slow which gave me a chance to question him. “Are you military?” I asked. “Did the base survive the infection?” I wanted to believe lots of neighborhoods had survived, little enclaves of safe, normal life, though I hadn’t encountered any.
“I retired from the United States Navy, yes, but I was never stationed at Camp Carson. When things got unstable I led a group of survivors here looking for protection, but the base was overrun with skin eaters,” Malcolm said. “We cleared out a space and set up camp.” He drove us past an abandoned commissary and a gas station. “We strung up a bunch of chain link and razor wire. It’s safe. It’s home now.”
“How many people in your group?” I asked.
“Eleven. Ten men and one female.” He glanced at me. “The boys will be excited you’re here.”
Because I was a girl? I got a bad feeling as I remembered Ben’s advice about being separated.
“How old are you?” Malcolm asked. “Eighteen?”
“Seventeen.”
We pulled into a parking lot of twin barracks buildings surrounded by hodgepodge fencing. Everything green or beige or black. Lots of metal and cinderblock. One guard stood on each roof with a rifle.
Unchaining the gate, Malcolm swung it wide. At the sound, a man came out of his room to watch us arrive. Then another on the second floor above him.
The buildings looked a lot like hotels. Two stories. Exterior staircases. Doors opened out toward the parking lot. No privacy, really. But lots of security. It was hot outside and several doors hung ajar.
“Hey, Smart,” Malcolm shouted to the man on the upper floor as he locked us inside the fence. “We need you and Gomez.”
Another man appeared on the walkway beside the first. “What’s going on?”
“We need medical attention,” Malcolm shouted.
Everyone piled out of the jeep, and I instinctively moved closer to Ben. My excitement was waning.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” he whispered to me.
Like what? “I don’t want you going with them. They give me the creeps.” I grasped his sleeve and, rather than shrink away, he leaned in.
“I told you I would do this. I’m going to do it.”
He was close, so close his breath tickled my cheek. He’d never been that close before.
Smart and Gomez came down the stairs one after the other. “Yeah? Is someone hurt?” asked the blond man in front.
“We’ve got a cured zombie, buddy,” Malcolm said, clapping a hand on Ben’s shoulder and not letting go. “We need to take some samples and do research.”
“Oh, wow!” the blond exclaimed, catching sight of Ben’s red irises. “Come on up. I’ve got an infirmary on the second floor.”
“What are you
going to do to him?” My voice stuttered as I had second thoughts about this whole plan.
“Take his vitals,” Smart told me, circling Ben and scrutinizing every detail from his heavy boots to his combed hair. “Draw blood. I’ve got use of a generator, so I can run his samples under a decent microscope. If I can isolate his strain of the red virus, maybe I can find how it’s evolved.” He wagged his head in wonder as he stared into Ben’s eyes. “Wow.”
If he took charge of my dad’s antiserum and Ben and all of it, I was free to go. Home was only a couple days’ walk from there. Less if I found a working, gassed up car. If Smart was as knowledgeable as he and Malcolm claimed, he could take over the cure project and accomplish so much more than me, what with their resources and experience and numbers.
Smart and Malcolm could make my dad’s dream of eradicating the red plague come true. He’d wanted it to work so badly he’d left me alone on that last day in order to finish his elixir. It was my duty to see his wish fulfilled, even if I wasn’t the one who personally manufactured the antiserum in the end.
“Don’t hurt him,” I said quietly.
“We don’t hurt people,” Malcolm assured, half guiding, half pulling Ben toward the stairs attached to the east barracks.
“He can’t climb,” I said, nervously following them. “The inner ear thing didn’t clear up, just like his eyes—”
“We’ll take good care of him,” Malcolm promised. He nodded at Smart, and he and Gomez each seized an arm. Before I could argue further, they hauled Ben off his feet and dragged him upstairs.
“Don’t worry,” Malcolm said, blocking me from chasing them. “They’ll analyze his blood. If there’s a cure, we will discover it.”
“Okay.” But I didn’t like being separated from Ben. I watched them hurry down the walkway and then into the fourth room. The door closed, and Ben was gone.
“Let me show you around a little bit.” Malcolm crossed the parking lot and because Pollard, Simone, and Hunny followed him, I did, too.
“This is a great place to hunker down,” Malcolm explained, leading us across a bare parking lot to the west barracks. “At first all I could think about was keeping the zombies out and finding water, but once we added more people and fenced off the buildings, it all started to make sense. This is home, now. We’re thinking long term.” He led us up the exterior staircase of the first building. “We have everything we need right here on this base. Food. Water. Medical supplies. It’s perfect.”
“There are eleven of you,” Pollard repeated. “Have you seen other survivors?”
“Some. But we will not be taken advantage of because we had the forethought to take over the base.” He stopped in front of a closed door. “This will be your room,” he said directly to me. “Juliet is next door. You two should get along.” He glanced at Pollard. “I’ll put you downstairs.”
“Wait.” I crept closer to my tall friend, remembering Ben’s warning. “We stay together.”
“That’s right.” Pollard put one arm around me and the other around Hunny. Even Simone slid a few inches nearer.
“We have dozens of rooms,” Malcolm argued. “You can spread out. Get some privacy.”
“No.” Pollard squeezed a little tighter. “One room.”
Malcolm laughed and threw up his hands like it was all a joke. “Your choice. Just trying to be a good host.”
The next door over opened and a young man strolled out.
“Malcolm,” he greeted.
“Stein.”
He gave me half a smile before hurrying downstairs. In the doorway a girl about my age with waist-length blonde hair appeared, a pale wraith in a white summer dress.
“Hello,” Pollard greeted, stepping around me to shake the girl’s hand. “I’m Pollard Datsik. This is Maya Solomon,” he introduced. “Simone Doyle and Hunny Green.” He pointed to each of us in turn. “It’s good to meet you.”
“Her name is Juliet,” Malcolm announced, dismissing her presence the way one does an annoying neighborhood mutt. “Before I leave, I need to warn you. Dinner bell is at eighteen hundred sharp. If you’re late, you don’t eat. I’ll give you today to learn the layout, but first thing after morning PT you’ll be assigned camp duties. Everyone pitches in.”
Malcolm continued, barking rules and curfews and expectations, but I stopped listening and approached the girl on the balcony.
“Hi.” I extended my hand for a quick, limp shake. “I’m Maya.”
“Juliet,” she responded. But she didn’t seem very excited to meet me. If anything, she was nervous.
“So.” I shifted closer and lowered my voice to prevent Malcolm from overhearing. “What’s it really like here? As nice as it seems?”
I hoped so. I could use some nice. Life hadn’t been very kind for a long time.
My imagination went on a mad dash through an alternate future where I was happy, safe, and my stomach was full. And the red plague was a distant memory.
The girl gripped my arm so tight, I winced in pain. “You should leave,” she hissed at me, her eyes wide and shimmering. “You shouldn’t be here. You or the little girl. It’s not safe.”
I opened my mouth to question her further, but Malcolm’s voice rang out in the quiet of the second floor. “Juliet, my dear. Let’s leave them be. You and I can catch up in your room.” He reached around me and pulled the girl against his side. They slipped inside her room.
A split second before the door closed, Juliet sent me a last, terrified look. And then they were gone.
“Did you see that?” I asked, turning away from her door.
Pollard shrugged. “See what? Did she say something to you?”
“She said we should leave.” I glanced over my shoulder, though she was long gone. “She was acting really weird.” Her barracks door remained firmly closed. “It’s not appropriate for Malcolm to be in her room alone with her, right?”
Pollard joined me in the doorway. “I don’t know.” He sounded as confused as I felt. “They’re probably just talking.”
“Yeah, probably.” But I didn’t buy that explanation. Juliet was scared.
All of us were locked inside a very sturdy fence. And I’d brought us here.
I stood for a moment on the balcony overlooking the parking lot and stared at the opposite barracks building. I counted the doors. Four from the left. Behind it Ben was being examined and studied by a real doctor. Finally, something good could come of all the chaos.
“I like this place,” I said, turning toward Pollard. Despite the rules and Juliet’s frightened eyes and Ben’s sudden separation, I was hopeful.
“What about Ben?” Hunny whined. “Is he okay over there?” She seemed lost without her newest protector. “He should be here with us.”
“It’s such a relief to be rid of that thing,” Simone said loudly. “I never felt safe around him.”
“He’ll be fine,” Pollard assured.
“Tell them,” Hunny said to me, her face all scrunched up in agitation. “Tell them to let him in here.”
“I will,” I assured. “Tomorrow. I’ll find out what’s going on.” Give Smart and his lab time to analyze Ben’s blood, but then get him out of isolation.
“I’m glad we came here,” I said. In the morning I would straighten things out with Smart and then talk to Juliet about her perplexing comments. Maybe there was something I could do to help her.
“I’m not so sure,” Pollard grumbled. “Morning PT? Dinner bell? They might be a little too intense for us.”
“I thought you’d like it.” I frowned. “Weren’t you going to join the army after college?”
He tilted his head, sending me a telling look.
Oh. Enlisting hadn’t been his idea. Probably his father’s. All Pollard wanted to do was cook.
“Malcolm must be like your dad,” I guessed.
He grumbled in the affirmative.
“Chores,” Simone snorted, wiggling between us and slipping into our new barracks room. “I don’
t do chores.” She flopped onto the bottom rack of a bunk bed.
I did a quick inspection of our new accommodations. Malcolm was right. Not much space. A bunk bed, a single bed, three metal dressers, and one desk with a chair. At the back of the room stretched a wide counter with two sinks under a giant wall mirror. Behind a door were a toilet and a shower stall. Not fancy, but the small quarters reminded me of my panic room, which suited me fine.
“I’ll take the top bunk,” I said, swinging my backpack onto the mattress. “Hunny, we can share.”
“Fine.”
Pollard dumped the contents of his bag on his narrow bed. “Sounds like we arrived in time for dinner. But if you need a snack, grab what you want. Don’t forget water.”
I held back, still watching the east barracks through the window until the other girls chose their treats.
“Maya?” Pollard prompted.
I was too distracted to be hungry. Hope collided with anxiety and the resulting emotion fizzled in the pit of my stomach.
Part of me was relieved to finally be at Camp Carson after losing faith it even existed. But the other part didn’t like being separated from Ben for no good reason.
Simone choked down mixed nuts, and then announced, “I’m going to go look around. I’ll let you know what I see.” She grabbed one of her sacks and took off, and I wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not. We didn’t know anything about the camp. It might not be safe to go exploring with so many strange men stuck inside a rather small enclosure.
“Be careful,” Pollard called after her. The door closed, and he added, “There’s no government here. Not like Russell expected. Just a bunch of guys and their guns. I thought it would be different.”
I, too, had hoped for a larger, more organized community like the cities in the old days. But I had hope in these men.
“This could be a good place for us.” Not me. My home was on Cherry Blossom Court in my family’s house. But for Pollard, Simone, and Hunny Camp Carson could be a place to stay, finally, and build into something better. Maybe even their forever home.
He didn’t look like he agreed.
Heavy footsteps pounded across the landing outside our door, and then a sharp knock rattled the window.
Pollard’s back tensed, but he went forward to open the door. Without waiting for a greeting, Malcolm strolled into our room.
