Absolution

by Mark Campbell

  Ein stared down at the people suffering and crying out from the cages as the police stood by and watched. “This isn’t right…”

  “After everything you’ve seen, are you really surprised?” Teddy said

  “I just hoped that things would get better once we left Tucson.”

  Teddy’s voice was grim. “If anything, I’m betting they’re only going to get worse.”

  The doors at the front of the carriage opened, and two FEMA police officers entered brandishing rifles.

  Lt. Hock trailed behind the two officers. With hands clasped behind his back, he cocked a bushy brow and studied the passengers. “Why are these people standing when they were told to remain seated?!”

  The officers looked flustered for a moment, then one of them made a move to take control of the situation. “Everyone—back in your seats!” he demanded, his voice shrill. “Now!”

  While Hock stayed behind and watched, the officers made their way down the aisle and used their rifles to push those who didn’t sit down fast enough back into their seats.

  “Hey!” a middle-aged man shouted. His silvery-brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He wore baggy jogging pants and a sleeveless T-shirt. He abruptly stepped out into the middle of the aisle in protest, blocking the way of both officers. Pointing toward the windows, he started to shout. “What they’re doing to those people isn’t right! Those cops can at least put up a tarp or something! It’s torture to keep them in the sun like that!”

  One of the officers lunged forward, drove his knee into the man’s abdomen, and slammed the back of his rifle against the back of his head.

  The man with the ponytail went down—hard and fast—to the floor.

  A woman at the back of the carriage screamed.

  One of the officers glared at her. “Quiet!”

  Both officers stepped forward and started to deliver a volley of kicks against the man’s frail body.

  The woman at the back began to sob quietly and hid her face against her husband’s shoulder. He held her close and continued to watch with wide eyes, his face contorted with fear.

  The other passengers watched the officers in horror and remained silent, frozen in their seats.

  Ein clenched his fists and started to rise, but Teddy reached over and held him back.

  Ein began to pull away, but Teddy shook his head and strengthened his hold.

  Ein pressed his back against the seat and looked down at the floor, fists shaking.

  He may be green, but at least he has heart, Teddy thought as he watched Ein.

  The officers continued to kick and stomp on the man, now unconscious, as blood poured from his nose and mouth.

  “Enough,” Hock said. “Get him back in his seat.”

  The officers reached down to grab the man’s limp body and shoved him into his seat. He immediately sank to the floor.

  “Does anybody else wish to voice their concerns?” Hock asked.

  The passengers remained quiet.

  “Good.” Hock glanced out of one of the windows, and noticed the commotion the people in the holding pens were causing on the platform. “Officers, cover the windows. There’s no need to get anybody else excited.”

  Both officers slung their rifles back over their shoulders and walked down the aisle, moving from seat to seat and pulling down the plastic shutters.

  “There was a disturbance inside the convention center, so some of the more disruptive individuals had to be moved outside,” Hock explained to the frightened passengers while his men went about covering the windows. “Everything is under control now.” He gestured toward the platform. “They’ll be accompanying us today as we head to our final destination.”

  Teddy reached up and closed his window shutter as an officer approached.

  The officer gave him an icy glare and moved on to the next row.

  “What, exactly, is this final destination?” Teddy asked. “I didn’t see Vegas in the itinerary.”

  “All will be revealed in due course,” Hock said from the front of the carriage. “In the meantime, sit back and make room for our new arrivals.” He strolled down the aisle and gave Teddy a meaningful glance before following the two officers into the next carriage.

  There was a loud hydraulic hiss as the train’s main doors folded open. A few minutes later, a group of eight Las Vegas FEMA officers led a line of bedraggled men and women down the middle of the aisle.

  The officers carried fiberglass riot batons and wore helmets with clear visors to protect their faces. They were decked out in full body armor, complete with protective pads on their arms and legs. The lower portions of their faces were obscured by black balaclavas.

  The line of men and women kept their heads down as they walked. They looked as though they hadn’t bathed in days. Heat radiated off their sweaty bodies. Their blistering skin was bright red, and pus oozed from their open boils. Strips of dead skin hung off their arms and dangled from their faces. In addition to severe sunburn, many in the group were covered with bruises, their faces swollen. Some could barely walk due to the severity of their injuries.

  Teddy and Ein watched as the wretched group approached.

  “Take the first open seat you see!” one of the escorting officers shouted at the group. “Hurry up!”

  Teddy watched as the officers pulled people out of the group and shoved them into the few open seats remaining in the carriage. They needlessly jabbed their batons into people’s ribs as they jostled their way through the weary and injured crowd.

  Teddy kept a watchful eye on the new officers, studying them as they barked orders and shoved people around. A few, he could tell, had some seniority, some prior experience in the law enforcement field; they were quieter, calmer, and stayed in the background.

  The others, who were busy screaming and shoving, looked like they had been randomly selected and given a uniform just because they were all that remained.

  Even if Homeland Security really did augment whatever was left of the military and local agencies, Teddy knew that there couldn’t be that many first responders left alive to fill the rank and file of an entire national FEMA police battalion. He figured that most of the FEMA officers had to have once been just ordinary survivors from other quarantine centers before they got scooped up and handed guns along with their marching orders.

  It was the only explanation that made sense in Teddy’s mind. These officers looked exceptionally jumpy; they reminded him of some of the rookie guards with whom he’d had the displeasure of dealing with back at the prison.

  Most of the crowd had now been seated, and those who remained were escorted toward the door at the back of the carriage.

  One of the officers stopped at Teddy’s row and glared down at him with beady, brown eyes. The officer probably did his best to look intimidating, but it took everything in Teddy to smother the laughter that was bubbling up inside him as he stared at the man. His riot helmet was askew. Pimples and sores covered his portly cheeks, and a single bead of sweat clung to the very edge of his red, bulbous nose. A black balaclava covered his mouth.

  Teddy stared back at the man; he knew firsthand how dangerous fear combined with inexperience was: it surprised him that the people in charge of Homeland Security hadn’t figured that out yet. Maybe, Teddy thought, they just didn’t care anymore.

  “What are you looking at, punk?!” The chubby FEMA officer clenched his baton tightly. “Eyes forward!”

  Teddy turned his head and fixed his eyes on the headrest in front of him.

  Satisfied, the officer snorted and walked away.

  “Jesus,” Ein whispered as he kept his eyes down. “Could you stop bringing us unwanted attention?” He wiped the sweat off his forehead and sighed. “What is it with you and cops?”

  Teddy glanced over at Ein. “I don’t know who these people are, but I can tell that most of them weren’t anything even remotely close to a cop before the virus struck.”

  A few minutes after the officers escorted the straggl
ers into the next carriage, the air brakes disengaged, and the train began to creep forward.

  Teddy heard the people shouting from the platform outside. It sounded as though there were a lot of them still in the pens. They were crying, begging for help.

  Their cries faded as the train gained momentum and left what remained of Las Vegas behind.

  As the train barreled onward at full speed, Teddy closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the headrest.

  Ein sat leaning forward, nervously glancing over his shoulder. He dug his nails into the seat’s armrests.

  “Relax, already,” Teddy said, his eyes still closed. “You’re fidgeting so much, you’re shaking the whole damn train.”

  Ein scoffed. “Relax!? Well, I’m sure glad that you’re comfortable! Back when we left Tucson, you acted like you were ready to lead a revolution! Now you’re telling me to relax…like we’re on vacation! Remember what you told me? There are more of us than there are of them.”

  “I haven’t slept for days, kid,” Teddy muttered. “Get off my ass and let me sleep.”

  Ein looked at Teddy with disgust. “So all that stuff you were saying was just talk." He continued, his voice heavy with disappointment. “You know, I actually believed you. Now I see that you’re just like those other guys back at the stadium who talked a bunch of shit but ended up doing nothing. You’re—”

  Cutting him off mid-sentence, Teddy reached over, snatched Ein’s shirt collar, and, peering into his eyes, yanked him in close.

  Ein’s eyes grew wide as he stared back, terrified.

  The other passengers seated nearby pretended not to notice.

  “Listen, you goddamn kid!” Teddy brought his face close to Ein’s. “If you want to survive, you’d better learn how to pick your battles! We don’t have any idea of what we’re headed toward or what kind of support we’ll have when we get there, but you’re ready to go all-in against a bunch of trigger-happy thugs?”

  “I was just saying that maybe we—”

  “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen little punks like you get their skulls smashed just because they came into prison with a chip on their shoulder and had something to prove!”

  Ein, shaking, held up his hands.

  “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

  “Learn to sit down, shut up, and figure out the lay of the land before you do something stupid that gets us both killed. Got it?”

  Ein gave a quick nod. His typically sallow face had turned an unattractive shade of white.

  The rear door opened, and an armed FEMA officer started to walk down the middle of the aisle, evidently on patrol.

  Teddy let go of Ein’s shirt before the officer reached their row and calmly went back to resting his head against the headrest with his eyes shut.

  In his seat, Ein was still trembling.

  They kept silent as the officer passed and finally disappeared through the door at the front of the carriage.

  Ein looked over at Teddy and nervously cleared his throat. “I want to survive this.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I want to help you. What these people are doing isn’t right.”

  “Then you need to listen to what I say.” Teddy’s eyes were still closed. “It’s going to take us a little while to figure out the situation and where we’re headed, but we’ll figure it out. I know my old ass doesn’t look like it, but I’ve been around long enough to learn a few things.” He paused and yawned. “Once we get to where we’re going, we can plan our next step. Sound good?”

  “Yeah…” Ein said as he anxiously scratched the back of his neck. “What do I do in the meantime, though?”

  “I already told you,” Teddy mumbled. “Relax. Go to sleep.”

  “Teddy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you promise to get me out of here? I don’t want to die in some cage…”

  An image of Jane and Danny flashed in Teddy’s mind—his pig headed plan to get to the stadium at any cost had led both of them to their deaths. Teddy had vowed never to make that mistake again. He opened his bloodshot eyes and fixed Ein with a sober look. “Kid, I promise you that no matter what…I’m getting us out of this place.”

  “I appreciate that,” Ein said with a weak smile. He paused and thought for a moment. “If you think I’d slow you down, though, you can go on your own. I’ll figure something out.” He paused. “After all, you don’t owe me anything.”

  “No, I don’t, but I owe them everything,” Teddy quickly answered.

  “Who?” Ein asked, confused.

  Teddy didn’t answer. He sniffed, closed his eyes, and leaned his head back against the headrest. After a moment, he added, “I’ll get us out of here. Just be patient.”

  They sat in silence as the train continued onward.

  Teddy shut his eyes and slipped into a dreamless, uneasy slumber as the memory of holding Danny’s cold corpse in his arms haunted his subconscious mind.

  Ein closed his eyes, but he couldn’t ignore the anxiety that twisted his stomach into knots and made any attempt at sleeping impossible.

  CHAPTER 2

  NOVEMBER 24th

  Outside the train, the full moon illuminated overgrown cornfields that seemed to stretch out for miles. The moonlight glistened off the small ice crystals covering the stalks; a thin layer of frost covered everything.

  Teddy stared dispassionately out of his window as the train barreled onward. As exhausted as he was, real sleep remained elusive—his own unsteady mind made sure of that.

  The train turned a bend in the tracks, and Teddy caught a passing glimpse of a glowing compound far in the distance. Whatever the compound was, the train was headed directly toward it. He sat up and checked out the other passengers. It didn’t look like he was the only one who’d had trouble sleeping—most everyone appeared to be on edge.

  Hell, he couldn’t blame them.

  Ein sat slouched over with his arms wrapped around his stomach. He had a sour expression on his face. The black circles under his eyes seemed to have darkened over the course of the last few hours.

  Just as Teddy was about to speak, the squeal of the train’s air brakes reverberated through the carriage, and the train slowed to a crawl.

  The other passengers looked around and opened their window shutters to peer outside, but no one could see anything past the towering frozen stalks of corn.

  Suddenly, bright white light shone through the windows as the train passed through a chain-link sally port and came to a stop in an area of tracks surrounded by fencing topped with razor wire and an array of spotlights. The FEMA banner on the fence had fallen and exposed the faded sign it had been covering. It read United States Customs and Border Protection – Region VII Detention Center.

  Overhead nozzles spritzed the outside of the train with blue chemical disinfectant.

  With their windows obscured by the murky blue substance, the passengers looked away from the windows and stared at the carriage doors. Nervous chatter and confused murmurs echoed throughout.

  “Are we at another quarantine center?” Ein asked.

  “No, kid—I think this is something different,” Teddy said.

  The front door of the carriage slid open, and four police officers entered; all of them carried batons. They wore long, black peacoats, black tactical pants, leather gloves, and calf-length jackboots. Their jackets had FEMA insignias on them, but no nametags or badges were visible. Their faces were obscured by black balaclavas—only their eyes were showing.

  “Everyone, up!” one of the officers shouted, his voice muffled by the balaclava. “Make your way to the front and head out in an orderly fashion!”

  The officers started pulling passengers out of their seats by the scruff of their necks and shoved them down the aisle toward the door. “Move! Now!”

  A woman in the back started to cry, and some of the men grew vocal in their protests, but the officers didn’t pay them any mind and continued to prod them ahead as though they were no
thing more than cattle.

  Teddy and Ein got up and followed the others as they stepped out of their rows as everyone hurried down the aisle and out the door.

  It was bitterly cold and damp outside. Spotlights bathed the area in harsh white light, and searchlights mounted on a nearby watchtower scanned the group as they emerged from the train. Chemical foggers were pointed toward the disembarking passengers and covered the area in a white haze.

  Teddy, his breath escaping in small white puffs of condensation, crossed his arms over his chest as he walked.

  Ein stood next to him and cupped his hands over his mouth to warm them with his breath.

  The group slowly funneled through a long narrow chain-link corridor that led to a windowless building with a large television screen mounted above the door. A biting breeze whistled through the chain-link and made the group shiver as they shuffled forward.

  Their assault rifles ready to shoot at the first sign of unrest, FEMA officers with mirrored visors and heavy winter coats stood on both sides of the chain-link.

  Once the group got halfway down the corridor, the television above the door turned on and displayed the image of a well-dressed man standing in front of the Department of Homeland Security emblem.

  Welcome! the man said into the camera with a tight smile. My name is Mark Hammond, camp administrator. It is my great pleasure to welcome you to our facility.

  At this facility, it is our goal to help fulfill the agency’s critical mission: to repair the national infrastructure, to clean and rebuild the cities, and to repopulate this great country.

  I understand that this task is not one that you may have taken willingly, but I assure you that your work is vital for the survival of our great nation. Future generations will benefit from what you do here, and all of you will be remembered as heroes—not just survivors.

  Of course, the abled-bodied will be expected to contribute and will be assigned appropriate work details. No matter what your trade or level of education, we will find the right job for you.

  In exchange for your vital contribution, we will provide you with safety, hot meals, medical care, and humane, comfortable living quarters. No longer will you have to forage for your next meal, search for clean water, or fight against desperate odds just to survive. Here, you are safe.