Absolution

by Mark Campbell

  “They are what dorm custodians wear. We don’t have to work on details,” Perry said as he started walking towards the dining hall doors again. “We watch after the dorm… Clean up… Do orientations… Things like that. We help keep the peace as best as we can. The cops have a certain level of trust in us, so naturally people think we’re snitches.”

  “Are you?” Teddy asked as he followed him.

  “Am I what?”

  “A snitch.”

  Perry chuckled. “No, I don’t see nothing and I don’t know nothing.” He smiled. “I’m happy enough watching over the dorm, but a lot of the others don’t share my view. Some of the orderlies think that they’re an honorary officer and give the rest of us a bad name.”

  “I couldn’t stay in here and play house—I’d get out of here the first chance I got and would never get stuck cleaning toilets.”

  “Orderly work isn’t for everybody… I suffered enough outside, so I’m not in a hurry to go back out there.”

  Perry pushed open the building’s double-doors and stepped inside. He held the doors open and waited for Teddy.

  “Smells like cabbage soup again,” Perry said, sniffing the air. “I was hoping they’d make some morning hash.”

  As soon as Teddy stepped inside, a strong, lingering odor of rotting eggs immediately overpowered his olfactory senses. He grimaced and covered his nose with his hand as he looked around.

  Throngs of people filled multiple rows of tables that took up the expanse of the windowless room. Fluorescent tubes dangled from the ceiling and an American flag hung proudly on the wall next to the flag of the Department of Homeland Security. Faded propaganda posters displaying happy families were plastered under the flags. A serving station was manned by cooks wearing yellow jumpsuits and hairnets who ladled out food. Children ran in-between the tables, playing, while their parents hastily ate what they could. A few groups sat huddled at their tables far away from the others and engaged in a hushed fervent discussion. A handful of men and women wearing red armbands walked between the tables, eavesdropping as they passed through the crowd.

  Community safety reminder, a recording said over the dining hall’s PA system. If you see or hear anything suspicious, report it to the nearest law enforcement officer or dormitory orderly.

  Three officers wearing riot gear stood in the far corner of the room with their rifles across their chests as they stared uneasily out at the crowd.

  To Teddy, the setup was hauntingly familiar.

  Perry walked past Teddy and headed towards the serving line.

  “Do we have seating assignments or anything?” Teddy asked. He noticed all races were mixed together—something he hadn’t seen back at USP Tucson.

  Perry gave him an incredulous look and smiled. “No… I’m not sure what you were used to back at your last spot, but it’s really not that bad here once you get used to the routine.”

  “I’m all too familiar with routines, trust me,” Teddy said.

  Perry gave him another quizzical look and kept walking.

  Teddy carefully looked at the faces gathered around the tables, but he didn’t see Ein anywhere.

  They each grabbed plastic trays and waited in the serving line as the cooks hurriedly handed out sloppy bowls half-full of overcooked cabbage soup. A heavyset man with hairy arms grunted and practically hurled a bowl of soup onto their trays and the man at the end placed a plastic cup of off-color water next to their bowls.

  An officer stood behind the serving line and watched the entire operation carefully.

  Perry walked towards the first open pair of seats he spotted while Teddy followed.

  Teddy glanced down at the brown water and frowned.

  “This looks worse than what was in the bathroom,” he grumbled.

  Perry chuckled and sat down. “It’s discolored because they treat it with iodine. Safe to drink, don’t worry.” He picked up his bowl and sipped his bland soup.

  Teddy glanced anxiously around the room.

  “Do you see your friend?” Perry asked.

  “No, I don’t…”

  “Maybe you’ll have better luck at dinner. We’re at the end of breakfast so he probably already came and went.”

  “It’s hard to see much of anything with so many people in here.”

  Dining hall closes in five minutes, the woman on the PA announced. Please finish your meal and bus your tray to the nearest station. Work call will begin soon.

  People started getting up with their trays and walked towards the exit. Parents grabbed their kids by their arms and pulled them towards the door despite their protesting screams to stay behind and play with their friends.

  “You don’t have much time, so hurry up if you’re going to eat,” Perry stressed.

  Teddy took a sip of the water and grimaced. He sat in front of Perry and pushed the cup of water aside.

  “You get used to the taste after a while,” Perry said. He took a greedy drink. “The city’s water treatment plant is back up and running… Hopefully they’ll extend a pipeline to us out here in the country.”

  “That may be so, but in the meantime I think I’ll pass on the water…”

  Perry grinned and quickly finished his. “A day of work will change that attitude real fast.”

  Teddy sipped his soup and gagged from the rancid taste—he quickly spit it back up into his bowl. He sat the bowl down, leaned back, and let out a frustrated sigh. “Well, fuck it—I guess I’m not eating!”

  “Once again, a good day of work will change that,” Perry said. He slurped down the rest of his soup and slammed the bowl down with a belch. “The food is hit or miss. Sometimes it isn’t half-bad, believe it or not, but as of late it has been getting pretty bland.”

  Teddy put his elbows on the table and ran his fingers through his hair, groaning. Despite the sour taste, his stomach was gurgling and his throat was perched. His body begged him to do what his mind refused to do. He ignored the pangs of hunger and thirst and looked at Perry with tired eyes.

  “You really should eat,” Perry said as he stared at Teddy’s sunken face. “Trust me… With your job, you’ll need the energy.”

  “You never even explained it to me. What in the hell kind of detail am I on?” Teddy asked. “What am I getting into with this CDT thing?”

  “Corpse disposal team.” Perry pushed his emptied tray aside and leaned over the table. “You collect the dead bodies and disinfect the abandoned buildings so that another team can go clean up everything and make it habitable again.”

  “That sounds about as fucking wonderful as I imagined it would be,” Teddy said. “So that’s my day—carting away dead folks?”

  “Dealing with the dead is a part of it—that’s why they call you vultures. There are other things involved, like moving vehicles out of the street, but CDT crews are all immune so you guys get stuck doing the nasty jobs nobody else can do.”

  “You know, it’s funny, but I figured that surviving the virus was the hardest thing I’d have to do. I thought that the worse was behind me after that,” Teddy said. “The longer I stick around the more I find out that I would’ve been better off if the damn thing took my life.”

  “Don’t be so gloom about it,” Perry said with a forced smile. “You really are doing the rest of us a favor, and people are grateful. As the city expands, people get relocated there and given a new life—a second chance.”

  “What about the immunes?” Teddy asked. “Do we get a second chance?”

  “Well… I, uh, suppose, yes, after it’s finished, I assume…” Perry said with some hesitation. “Normally, because you can’t get the virus again, they keep you working.”

  “Until?” Teddy pressed.

  Perry shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

  “I, uh, don’t really know when, exactly…”

  “Bullshit,” Teddy scoffed. “They’ll work us until we catch some other fucking disease or drop dead from exhaustion.”

  “That’s, uh, well, not exactly�
��”

  “Then there are other risks, right?” Teddy asked. “I’m sure not everyone who survived are holding hands and waiting for Uncle Sam to come save them. What about the people living outside of FEMA’s control? Do you think they’ll be welcoming us with open arms?”

  “I—I really don’t see why they wouldn’t,” Perry said.

  “Bullshit!” Teddy scoffed again, shaking his head. “It’s anarchy out there! I imagine most folks on this team end up catching a bullet.”

  “You’ll have some officers riding with you providing security,” Perry explained with another fake smile.

  “How many?” Teddy asked as he peered at Perry.

  Perry lost his smile and scratched the back of his neck. “Not enough… There aren’t enough officers to go around.”

  “So in other words, those of us who had the virus or are naturally immune are an expendable asset.”

  “Yeah, but a valuable one, if that makes any difference.”

  “It doesn’t, Perry—It really doesn’t.”

  “I wish I had better news for you, but that’s just the way things are. I know work sounds harsh, but you have to believe me when I say that things aren’t so bad here.” He held his arms up and gestured around the room. “They’re really building something here—they built a community.”

  “No, Perry, they built a prison.”

  “You don’t understand yet because you’re new. Those walls are there to protect us, not trap us.” He leaned forward and emphasized his words with his hands. “Eventually the walls will come down and things will be like they were before.”

  Teddy stared at him. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”

  Perry fell silent.

  Teddy looked down at his bowl of soup—his stomach growled and his parched throat stung.

  A shrill tone emitted from the overhead system.

  “Well, in any case, that’s the bell,” Perry said as he grabbed his tray and stood up. “We have to go.”

  Attention, the dining hall is now closed, the PA announced. Bus your trays and report to your work details or dormitory immediately.

  Teddy remained seated and kept staring at the bowl in front of him. “Fuck it.” He picked up the bowl of soup, slurped the noxious concoction down, and prayed it wouldn’t come back up.

  “Wise choice,” Perry said.

  Teddy pinched his nose shut and gulped the cup of water down in one swig. His body attempted to retch it all back up, but he swallowed the acidic mixture and burped.

  “Another wise choice.”

  “Time will tell about that…” Teddy said as he woozily got on his feet and picked up his tray.

  Clear the dining hall and report to your work details, the voice over the PA insisted. Community regulations reminder – failure to comply with official instructions is a punishable offense.

  “Let’s go!” one of the officers shouted from the corner of the room as the last few people headed towards the door. “Get moving!”

  “I’ll take you to your work detail’s staging area,” Perry said as he walked away. “It’s near the warehouse at the rear gate.”

  Teddy followed Perry and dumped his tray in one of the black wash basins by the exit. He stepped outside once more into the chilly morning air and stuck his hands inside his coat pockets as he followed Perry along the footpath. Despite the ebb and flow of conversation and the sound of children’s laughter, he noticed a palpable tension in the air that, once again, was all too familiar to him.

  They walked along a winding path that cut through makeshift bazaars and gambling huts full of elderly people. Young children ran out of the ramshackle shops and pushed their wares on the passers-by. Winter coats, gloves, and blankets appeared to be in high demand in exchange for canned goods and jewelry.

  However, none of the children approached Teddy as soon as they saw Perry’s red armband.

  Teddy stared at their frightened faces as the children retreated back to their stalls. “What do the kids do all day?”

  “Until they get a school up and running, they just get into trouble,” Perry said with a grin. “The kids, old folks, feeble-minded, and some of the mothers don’t have work assignments and get to stay here all day.”

  “A daycare center, a retirement home, and a prison all rolled into one ugly package,” Teddy said.

  “That’s a pessimistic view, but I guess I can understand why you’d see it that way—you’re new.”

  They turned a corner and arrived at a chain-link section with pedestrian turnstiles. Razor-wire topped the fence and officers wearing riot gear stood guard. A sign hung on the fence: VEHICLE STAGING ZONE – AUTHORIZED INDIVIDUALS ONLY PAST THIS POINT – USE OF DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED. People funneled through the turnstiles one at a time after the attending officers scanned their wrists and allowed them to pass.

  “This is where we say goodbye,” Perry said as he came to a stop on the footpath.

  Teddy stopped and stood next to him, staring ahead.

  The rear gate waited just past the turnstiles where rows of white busses adorned with the Department of Homeland Security logo sat idling waiting for their turn to pass through the vehicular sally port. All of the busses had their windows blacked out. A handful of people lined up to board the last remaining buses while officers handed out rubber gloves, reflective safety vests, and flimsy dust masks.

  Community notice, the PA echoed throughout the camp. Work call is commencing. Report to your detail supervisor. Failure to perform your assigned duties is a punishable offense.

  Fully-loaded buses were escorted through the heavily fortified vehicular sally port, hosed with disinfectant, and then they headed down a dirt road that stretched out into the horizon.

  Teddy couldn’t help but notice that most of the men and women waiting to board looked like they were in ill-health—many were covered with sores and coughed violently. He prayed that Ein wasn’t one of the unlucky bastards boarding one of those busses.

  “You’ll be reporting here every day so I hope you remember how we got here.”

  “I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”

  “Well, you best get to it. I’ll see you this evening.” Perry turned and started to walk away, but stopped. He looked back over his shoulder towards Teddy. “While you’re out there, take a look around. Maybe then you’ll understand that it’s not so bad in here.”

  “I don’t think I’m the one who’s looking at it all wrong, my friend.” Teddy walked towards one of the turnstiles, but was stopped as one of the officers extended a hand and blocked him.

  “Hold up,” the officer ordered. His husky voice was muffled by a gas mask. “I have to scan you.”

  “I’m from dorm twenty,” Teddy said.

  “Good for you,” the officer replied sarcastically. “Everyone has to get scanned.” He snatched Teddy’s wrist, pulled his arm forward, and scanned his RFID implant with a handheld device. He stared down at the screen and then let go.

  Teddy rubbed his wrist, frowning.

  “Teddy Sanders – dorm twenty,” the officer read from the screen. “Your bus today is number six hundred and nine.” He turned and pointed towards one of the last remaining busses idling with its doors open. “Hurry up—looks like you’re the only one your detail is still waiting for. Your sarge is going to be pissed.”

  “Great,” Teddy grumbled to himself.

  The officer stepped aside and Teddy walked through the turnstile.

  As soon as he passed, a nozzle mounted on the fence rail above his head sprayed him with disinfectant.

  Teddy’s eyes stung as he coughed and walked forward—the droplets felt like icy barbs against his skin. As he approached the bus, he saw an officer waiting by its doors holding a pair of yellow gloves, an orange vest, and a dust mask.

  The officer was a young clean-shaven Asian man with a bald head and a frostbitten face. The ballistic helmet on his head was tilted askew and the embroidered name on his jacket read P. VUE.

  “Sorry
I’m late,” Teddy said as he neared. “I got a little turned around trying to find this place.”

  “Yo, excuses are like assholes—everyone has one,” Officer Vue said with annoyance. He had a slight Brooklynn inflection in his voice. He turned his head towards the open bus doors. “Sergeant Parham! The new dude finally showed up!”

  A short African-American man with a push-broom mustache and small eyes emerged out of the bus and angrily stared out at Teddy. His uniform bore sergeant insignias and was well-pressed. His black boots were polished to a mirror finish—they didn’t appear to have ever seen a day of combat. He wore a patent leather duty belt and a black beret.

  Sgt. Parham puffed his chest out, balled his fists, and stormed off of the bus towards Teddy.

  Teddy stopped mid-stride.

  “Boss, I’m sorry for being late,” Teddy said.

  Parham approached him and punched him hard in center of his chest.

  Teddy dropped to his knees and gasped as all of the air expunged from his lungs. Veins protruded from his neck and his face turned red as he struggled to take in air. He clutched his chest, wheezing.

  “That was from Lieutenant Hock,” Parham said in a Southern twang as he looked down his nose at Teddy. “Special request.”

  Parham drove a knee against his face.

  Blood shot out of Teddy’s nose as his head snapped backwards. He collapsed on the ground with his arms sprawled over his head.

  “That was from me,” Parham sneered. “My time is valuable, so don’t be fucking late next time!”

  Teddy coughed up strings of mucus and slowly rolled over onto his hands and knees with blood dripping from his nose.

  Parham grabbed him by the collar and yanked him up onto his feet. “Now get your ass onto the bus!”

  Disoriented and dizzy, Teddy was surprised just how strong the short man was. He stumbled forward as he gasped for breath in the cold air and wiped his nose. It took every inch of restraint not to turn around and strike back, but he knew that would only end badly for him.

  He had to keep pushing forward—he had to find Ein and escape.

  Vue shoved a reflective vest, yellow rubber gloves, and a crumpled dust mask against Teddy’s chest as he passed. “Real simple, yo… Be on time next time.”