The Helper swipes the dusty air. “It’s not airborne.” Ava looks for the door.
The Chief says. “It could be Dysentery leading to dehydration.”
Ava scratches her neck and arms. “Dysentery doesn’t give you these sores.”
Lou takes in the place. “Living in shit like pigs, can though.” The grayish glass windows on one side make the warehouse inside look like a sundown community campsite. Workers are pouring excrement from improvised bedpans into a barrel. It splashes onto the chests of the men. Slack jawed people on beds have their eyes fully open, chest stiff.
The Helper extends his arm for them all to step aside. “It could just be a pain in my ass. If ya’ll don’t mind I have work to do.” Kids gawk at Ava’s group and spaced out adults move about with no destination in mind.
The Paramedic sits up and talks to keep the new guests around. “Some lowlifes captured me a few miles from here, so at night I flatten their tires and ran for it, they can kiss my asshole lips.”
Ava says. “Who are these guys? Who’s their leader?” It always gets worst never better.
Lou bumps the picnic table. “Did they have more prisoners? Hurry talk before you die.”
The Helper puts his hand on Lou’s chest. “Take it easy on him, he’s lucky he made it back.”
The Chief says. “Time is of the essence.”
The Paramedic says. “Those sicko heathens cut off my arm and fed it to their creature pets,” he looks over at the Woman. “They ambushed our group and put some of our hacked off limbs into buckets around their camp, for protection or traps, not sure.”
The Woman says. “Oh my God.” She starts to weep, Ava sidesteps away from her.
Lou pushes the Helper aside. “What did you say, what did they do with your arm, again?”
The Paramedic says. “They fed it to one of those things, they said if I passed their test I could join them.”
Lou gathers his shield and rifle. Ava says to her anxious teammate. “What is it?” Lou says. “He didn’t escape, they let him leave and now he’s led them to more slaves, hosts, or food. I don’t know what they want and I’m not staying here to find out and die in this Crater City. Inbreeding led to Genesis Virus 2, let it die here, in this…tomb.”
Ava says to Lou. “He lies like an eye witness. Lets all take a breath and relax.”
The Chief says to the Paramedic. “How did these men look?”
The Paramedic says. “Some like dying men, with no fingernails, hardly any hair, and dark veins in their necks leading to their faces. Others as pretty as her.” Looking at Ava.
Lou says. “But how did they behave?”
The Paramedic says. “Like young men with no fear.”
The Chief pulls Ava to the side and whispers.
The two town men say. “What, what is it?”
Ava says. “Your friend here has led men to you, who believe, that by injecting themselves with this certain creature’s blood, that they will become stronger and invisible to all monsters. Haven’t you been listening?”
The Helper says. “Are they right?”
Ava says. “Who gives a fuck? You need to worry about not getting caught. Can your group make a run for it?”
The Helper says. “We have a lot of elderly people here and I don’t think we could out run these men for more than a few hours. Not to mention a ward of sick people who can’t walk two steps.”
Ava says. “Vehicles?”
The Helper says. “No gas.”
Lou says to the Paramedic. “How many men were there with you at their camp?”
The Paramedic says. “Just twelve guys.”
The Helper says. “That’s it,” he looks at Ava. “You guys could take care of these guys for us. It’s the reason you’re here. A Godsend.”
Ava says. “What if they’re bringing more guys, it’ll be a suicide mission, especially if we have to fight their monster pets as well, and if the rumors are true, we’ll have to deal with men that are physically stronger and don’t get fatigue.”
The Helper says. “But what if they’re just weak crazy guys immune to this virus?”
Ava says. “If that’s the case, you guys can handle them.” She stands by her team and says. “We better go, before we get trapped in this poisonous warehouse. Something worst is coming and it’s not the Boss.”
The Woman abruptly grabs Ava’s wrist and pulls. “Don’t go. Help us.” An anxiety twister sucks her lungs away, her mouth is open, but no words come out.
Lou grabs the Woman’s arm. “Let go.”
The Woman says. “Did you see the craters of bodies?”
Ava says. “Yeah.”
“Some of those were our friends who died of natural causes and we didn’t even have the courage to bury them, our group started out with over a hundred and now we are less than forty.”
Ava unwraps the woman’s fingers around her wrist, almost breaking them. “I’m sorry for your losses, but we have our own problems. I’m sorry, it’s just too dangerous.”
The Helper says. “If there’s only crazy or selfish people left, what’s the point of trying to survive?”
The Woman spits in Ava’s face when Ava finishes talking, and without second guessing Ava punches her to the ground. “Bitch.” Lou quickly splashes clean water in Ava’s face, knowing too well the fear of contamination and because he needs her to escape alive.
The Woman’s flimsy mental walls come crashing down. She’s crawling on her hands and knees with puffy red eyes, manages to grab hold of Ava’s knee and clings to it, the Indians restrain Ava from striking her again. The desperate Woman then forcefully brings Ava’s hand with the gun to her forehead, groveling. “Just pull that trigger on all of us. You owe us that much, this is not right; we are not sport to be toyed with. Humanity is slipping through fingertips and descending into hell.”
Ava storms off into the corner, with Lou following her, when she stops and regains her composure, he says. “Don’t let her guilt-trip you into dying.”
Ava examines the warehouse with her hands on her hips. “We owe them, we came into their home and killed their people.”
Lou says. “They fired first…I say we ditch our vehicles, get to our group and come back with a fighting chance if we have to fight. You were right earlier.”
Ava looks at the little girl eating from a can. It could be Abigail with that prick Jude. “No time, you heard them in the street.” She looks up at the dripping ceiling. “I’m fucking tired of days of damn if I do and damn if I don’t…I am going to help these people.”
Lou says. “I think you’ve been hanging around David too much.”
“You too, because you’re going to help me.”
Lou puts his head in the dark corner.
Ava says. “Run if you like.”
Lou acquiesces and says. “Our deaths are sure as sunrise…If I die I’m going to haunt your ass…what’s the plan?”
Ava kicks a box near her and says to the Woman. “What’s this?” The Woman paces closer holding her face. “Children’s toys, a bunch of useless jewelry.”
Ava crotches over the top of the box, rips it open. “Bring me all your weapons.” The Helper and the Woman run around the warehouse like chickens with their heads cut off.
Ava takes off her vest, “for protection,” she then flings thick gold and silver necklaces around her neck and over her black tank-top; the Chief walks up as she puts multiple silver bracelets around her wrists.
Lou gazes down. “I get those, but why those,” as Ava places diamond earrings in her ears, she says. “A gift for my niece if I survive this.”
Lou says. “If not, at least you’ll die in style,” he takes his rifle from his back, loads it and hands it to Ava. She shakes her head and taps her MP5, “my baby.”
Ava puts her tactical vest back on, walks over, and hovers over the Paramedic for a second, he says. “What?” She then yanks him off the table by his good arm, he screams and she says. “Suck it up, get your shit, yo
u’re coming with me as my guide.”
He says. “Ok, you’re right…I’m tired of being cooped up anyways.”
The Woman arrives and places a box by Ava’s feet.
Ava says. “Give me your tennis shoes, you’ll get them back.” Ava takes off her combat boots and laces up the red Converse tennis shoes.
The Paramedic buttons up his shirt and tells Ava. “You have silencers just sneak around and kill everyone, they’ll never hear you coming.”
Ava says. “You obviously never used silencers and believe in movies too much. Silencers do suppress sound, but the gun is still as loud as a jackhammer and it makes an echo.”
“Why use them, then?”
Ava goes through the box of weapons and takes what’s useful. “The silencers are to confuse them, they don’t know which direction the shots are coming from.”
The Chief is helping the men barricade the doors.
Lou says. “When are we leaving?”
Ava says. “No time like the present and presently we’re fucked.”
The four of them exit the warehouse from the back door. Which is quickly being nailed shut, giving them that extra push to keep moving forward.
14
Delilah brings David a bowl of food and she places it down next to him; he’s on a hill resting against thin shrubs looking through his binoculars. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Delilah says. “They’re coming back.”
David glimpses up at her as she stares over the landscape. He notices her expression changing. “What is it?” Then he ganders in the direction of her eyes with the binoculars, to behold a fleeing truck swerving and hopping its way to the nearby city. Not Crater City, this one is westbound. David stands up and views the path behind the truck then hands Delilah the binoculars, then darts down the hill with Delilah chasing after him.
David unfastens the horses; he calls out to the Indians. “We have to go, a few hundred of those things are heading this way.”
Cooper hurls his things into a bag then runs to his horse; David’s packing up his dented stove and weapons.
Delilah and Youngblood gather their friend’s belongings and throw the backpacks and cracking leather bags over the horses’ saddles, then each of them jump up to the remaining horses and hold-up for David. Lou took David’s motorcycle, so David rides his horse, forcing Delilah to give another horse one more go around after one left her for dead in the blistering rain.
David tells the group. “I’m going to head for the city that truck was driving towards. They might look kindly on me warning them.”
Youngblood says. “Or they’ll shoot you in the back.”
David pulls on his reins and adjusts the horse’s direction. “Fine, do what you like, but we can’t leave this general area until our friends come back, and that city offers plenty of protection.” David observes Cooper. “Hopefully the dead just pass through this campsite and don’t look back. Are you coming with me?”
Cooper says. “Me and Youngblood will journey around the city and locate an alternative area to wait in.”
David says. “Let’s meet back here tomorrow. If the dead has cleared out.”
Delilah says to the Indians. “Good luck you guys.”
Ahead of the human couple and the dead mob, the truck is a speck of dust in the distance, a prized jewel shining.
A new wonder to write about. An breathtaking event ready to absorb David.
Avoiding the largest herd he has ever seen in an open area. David and Delilah ride side-by-side for twenty-two minutes in a straight path angling away from the Judas steer/zombie at the head. Zombie heads are malformed into a turban shape, all move as one, guzzling the tumors from the backs of the weaklings. Culmination of bodies is a cold cloud grinding up the soil, sucking the life from the air.
In his rearview mirror, blurry cone heads are gliding towards the city. At their current pace, the dead will arrive in an hour, but if they start running, ten minutes or less. David slows down before endeavoring into the city. It’s been years since he set foot in a city, too many bad memories and even worst people.
He gazes over to her. “Be ready for anything.”
Delilah speeds away. “I always am.”
The two enter in the city, wandering around and eventually seeing the speeding truck parked in the middle of the street. An older man is trying to get a woman out of the passenger seat. David dismounts the horse and paces forward, overshadowed by the colossal structures. “I’m here to help out.”
Delilah watches on, leans in, and pets the horse’s neck, the horse flutters when she stops to get off. She squeezes both reins and leads both horses towards David.
The old man looks at David and ignores him. Down from the street in front of the truck, a tall woman with two people behind her exit from a building and as she comes closer, she points at David, mouthing to her friends.
David gets to his knees and puts his hands behind his head, when the two people run up with shotguns. David says. “Hundreds of those things are heading this way because of that truck, we drove wide around, don’t blame us. We just wanted to warn you…we’ll be going now.”
Delilah’s kneeling beside David, side-eyes him. “I think we’re going to be here for a while.” The horses circle behind them, eating the grass through the cracks of the concrete. The streets are clean of trash and cars.
The two men stop aiming their shotguns to turn their heads to speak to the woman as she approaches. Right at this moment, David jumps up, grabs the barrel by its tip, faces it towards the other shooter, punching the man in front of him in the face with his other hand. Delilah punches the guy in front of her in the groin and gets the shotgun out of his hands as he leans forward, she then points her weapon, making the woman by the truck put her weapon down.
With the shotgun in hand, David runs over to the couple near the truck; a bleeding woman is in the arms of an old man struggling into a building. Delilah leads the two men to the woman leader who chuckles and says. “Shoot us toots.” Delilah cocks the gun.
She has a buzz cut. How? Thick arms every woman gets after puberty and a revolver behind her belt buckle like a swashbuckling pirate.
David says to the leader. “Wait. I can help that woman, there.”
The leader says. “I’m listening.”
David says. “I have some medical training. The woman ponders walking around not afraid. “What do you want?”
David says. “Sanctuary for my group until these monsters pass, then we’re out of your hair forever.”
The big woman walks up to him, and extends her hand. David shakes her hand, she says. “Queen.” He says, “David and Delilah,” and follows her to the building. Delilah points the shotgun into the backs of the men to hurry up towards David.
David stops before he walks in the building and says to Queen. “Two Indian buddies of mine might join us, please don’t kill them.”
Queen says to him. “Sure kid, but if you fuck me I’m going to feed all of you to those things, understood?” David nods, then she yells to her men to take care of the horses and the weary truck.
Queen looks at her men. “The balls on this guy. Take note.”
Delilah’s at the bottom of the stairs. “David, you sure about this?” He’s holding the woman’s legs up the stairs. “I’m busy. Do what you want.”
He says to Queen. “I hope he’s taking her to the first floor, we shouldn’t be moving her.”
David helps the old man lift the woman up the steep stairs to the third floor.
15
Down the road from the rundown warehouse, Ava puts her hair in a samurai topknot using the little girl’s rubberband. “I’ll create a diversion, you two circle to our vehicles so we can gain some kind of upper hand, make sure you kill all non-friendlies on your way there, and I’ll do the same. We’ll reconvene at our bikes. Got it. Good.” She claps her hands like a quarterback and breaks the huddle formation.
The tentative Paramedic says. “We should rea
lly all stick together.”
Ava appraises her predicament, keeping her eyes on the city and not the three wise men. “We don’t know how many there are, they could surround us and slaughter us. With two groups we’ll be faster and confuse them with our gunshots. The unknown is our disadvantage and advantage. These intruders don’t know who’s here either.”
Lou says. “Also, if one team has bad luck and gets surrounded by all the bad guys, the other team has time to escape.”
The Paramedic says. “Where was all this self-doubt five minutes ago?”
The Chief shakes Ava hand. “Good luck.”
The Paramedic rubs his half arm, walking like a man being lead to the gas chamber, with Ivan the Terrible holding the lever. “This is going to be a doozy.”
Ava says to the high-strung Lou. “I wish I went with David this morning.”
Lou says. “Me too, lucky bastard.” Ava and Lou exchange transient smiles then run in opposite directions.
16
The room is filled with maps taped to the wall with X’s and O’s drawn all over them. David can see them better when someone pulls back the curtains and draws the blinds up from the two windows. The two eyes of the room. With care, the hemorrhaging woman is laid on the ground; David takes off his vest and belt. “Bring me all your medical supplies, some alcohol, bowls and something to absorb this blood like any clean clothing or towels.” Each person around him have dunno expressions.
Queen says. “Hurry up. Stop acting brand new.”
The strangers that followed David out of curiosity to the third floor are now running in different directions gathering supplies. David sees the woman’s face for the first time and this has turned real. This will be his first surgery, where he is the lead. Three people’s lives hangs in the balance, no pressure.
Queen hands him a bottle of liquor and a bowl when he takes off his vest. He washes his hands with the expensive liquor, the smell opens his mind like roasting coffee beans, he then hands the bottle to Delilah. She takes a sip from the bottle, removes her thin jacket, and wipes her face of sweat. David glances at Queen. “Do you have a doctor?” Queen says. “You’re looking at her on the ground.” Why ask? David sees multiple bites on her. One on her hand between her thumb and forefinger, another bite on her thigh, and scratches on her neck with some fingernails still lodged in those scratches.
Genesis Virus Page 30
