“They can’t make you,” she said.
“No, I guess not. But there’s no use trying to fight.”
“Then why are you staying here with them?”
Mike considered her question for a moment and then looked at us with a huge beaming smile on his face. I thought briefly of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. I saw that whatever radiation he had been exposed to had taken root in his mouth, too. His gums were blistered in places and he was missing several teeth.
“I would’ve starved if Vance, Riley, and Watts hadn’t saved me,” he answered. “I would’ve died on the side of the road. It was a few days after I came out of the nest.”
“What are they?” I asked, unable to stop the question. I couldn’t help it, though; I sensed that we’d get a more honest answer from Mike. While he did in fact have the weight of instability around him, there was a clarity to his eyes that spoke of honesty. I didn’t doubt that it would be the same sort of unfiltered honesty that would come from a five year-old.
“Don’t know,” Mike said. “It’s like a pit with no end. Dark everywhere. I saw things that I know now weren’t real. People I knew that were dead. Monsters. Not the things that showed up last year and caused all the bombings, though…just crazy weird shit people only see in their nightmares.”
“And you’re willing to go back into that just to have a place to stay and be fed?” Kendra asked
“No,” Mike said.
“Then why?”
Mike looked up and down the hall, checking to make sure that we were alone. When he saw the coast was clear, he leaned towards us. I couldn’t help but lean towards him as well. When I did, the baby reached a tiny hand out towards Mike, grasping at the air.
“Because in all that dark, there was something else, too. I don’t know what…but something important. Sort of like knowing the answer to something but it won’t come to you, you know? I was scared out of my mind, sure, but…there was something else in there that I knew might be worth it. We don’t even realize that there’s light until we’re pitched into the dark, you know? How would we know about God without the Devil to compare Him to?”
I only nodded. I placed my arm around Kendra and urged her away from Mike, towards the restrooms. As we took a few steps away from him, still sitting with his back against the wall, another door along the hallway opened behind us.
We turned to see Greenbriar coming out of his room. He looked to us and said nothing. A confused look passed over his face for just a moment. I saw alarm there as well, but it was gone just as soon as it appeared.
“Hey, Mike,” Greenbriar said. He then waved to us and headed off towards the conference room.
“Oops,” Mike said when Greenbriar left. He chuckled and started picking at his beard again. “Can’t say no more. Nope. See you folks at dinner.”
He then stood to his feet and walked by us, walking in the same direction Greenbriar had gone.
“Crazy Mike,” I said softly, trying to ease Kendra.
“I don’t think he’s crazy,” she said. “He’s been through something we don’t understand. Eric, I want to get out of here.”
“We will,” I said.
“Now,” she said. “Forget dinner.”
I thought this over, not liking the idea. We had more food that we could have imagined a week ago just sitting in a room several feet away. We were underground and seemed safe. To pass it up so quickly seemed irrational to me.
“Let’s hear them out,” I said. “If Vance was with the National Guard, we don’t know what other sort of things he could offer us if we stay here. Weapons, protection…maybe answers he just hasn’t offered us yet.”
She thought about it for a moment and then sighed. “Fine. We’ll ask him these things at dinner. But…what if they are really planning to make that poor man walk into one of these nests?”
I didn’t have an answer. I looked to the floor as the three of us headed towards the restrooms.
18
The dinner was set up in a quaint fashion. There were paper plates and napkins set on the conference table. There was a varied cornucopia of foods in the center of the table, some of which made my mouth water. There was more canned soup and Chef Boyardee, crackers, a box of Cheerios, a half dozen sticks of beef jerky, a few cans of pinto beans, peanut butter, and several jugs of Gatorade.
Riley, Watts, Peterson and Mike were already at the table. Riley and Peterson were speaking quietly about something while Mike stared off into space. Peterson was opening up a box of plastic cutlery.
Kendra and I took our seats; the baby sat on my lap and seemed instantly drawn to the bright green color of the Gatorade in front of us. He merrily slapped at the table, trying to reach it.
Hayes and Greenbriar walked in next, followed by Vance. As everyone took a seat at the table—which was quickly becoming crowded—I tried to remember the last time I had been in a room with this many living human beings. Realizing that there were nine people in the room was both relieving and eerie at the same time.
There was murmured conversation, some of which was shared with Kendra and I as we were asked by Hayes and Peterson how we were settling in. It seemed like an odd question, seeing as how we had only been here for a little over two hours. Every word uttered to us seemed forced, even when Greenbriar took it upon himself to speak gibberish to the baby.
After everyone was settled, the room fell quiet and all eyes turned to us. It made me extremely uncomfortable. The fact that the gazes that were falling on us were a mixture of distrust and a deranged sort of awe made it even worse. I noticed right away that Watts was once again staring at Kendra like a slab of meat.
“Help yourself to whatever you’d like,” Vance said.
“Thanks,” I said, although I waited for everyone else to start digging in first. As I selected the peanut butter and a pack of saltines, I wanted to ask where all of this food had come from. I assumed Vance had known where stockpiles of food could be found in the wake of the nuclear disasters because of his military connections.
I wanted to know a lot more than that, actually. I wanted to know why it felt like these people were ignoring Mike. I wanted to know how they had come to find this place and if each of them had their own stories about an encounter with the nests.
But I didn’t ask. I didn’t want my interest in these things to interfere with the decision that Kendra and I had come to in regards to leaving.
I started breaking up one of the crackers and feeding the bits to the baby. As he ate, I spread peanut butter on my own cracker. Kendra had opted for a can of pinto beans and the green Gatorade that the baby had found so interesting. I watch her drink it slowly but longingly, knowing that she was worried about keeping her fluids up for her milk.
Watching her do this and knowing that in the midst of all of this, she was more concerned about feeding her son than anything else, I got the courage to say what we had planned.
“We’ve talked about it at length,” I said. “Although you guys have been nothing but hospitable and kind to us, we’ve decided not to stay here.”
I was met with silence at first. I couldn’t read anyone’s expression. I saw no surprise, no disappointment. Nothing.
“Going to take a chance on the Safe Zone, huh?” Greenbriar asked.
“Yeah.”
Vance gave an indignant shrug as he popped a handful of dry Cheerios into his mouth. “It’s your decision,” he said. “Our doors are open to enter or to exit. I will tell you that from what we have all seen out there, it’s going to be tough-going.”
“I can imagine,” I said. “But we think it might be what’s best. Especially for the baby. We have to take a chance on the Safe Zone.”
“I can understand that,” Riley said.
“Probably a good decision,” echoed Peterson.
“Hell yeah,” Crazy Mike said, his eyes wide and beaming. He gave the baby an exaggerated smile which the baby returned with a coo and cackle.
Watts said nothing. He stared at Kendr
a, noticed me noticing him, and averted his eyes. He gave me a depressed look with an edge of anger to it as he turned his eyes towards Vance.
Vance simply looked back and forth between Kendra and I. It was the first time I had seen him look doubtful about anything. I believe he had expected us to stay and if his expression was any indication, he appeared to be slightly offended.
Still, he leaned forward and gave a smile. “Well, it’s dark out now. Feel free to stay the night. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll take you out and see what we can do about finding you a set of wheels. We’ll pack you up with some rations before you leave, too.”
I was surprised to see that Kendra was wiping a tear away from her eyes. “Thank you so much,” she said. “It’s such a hard decision but I have to think about what’s best for my baby.”
“I understand,” Vance said. “Don’t feel that you have to explain yourself.”
“Thanks again,” I said, feeling guilty as I reached out to take more of these people’s stockpiled food. Still, there was a very heavy sense that there was something going on here that I was not privy to.
Conversation dwindled among our small group as we finished our dinner. I found it odd that no one spoke about their lives before everything ended. All they spoke about was their time on the road and the atrocities that they had seen: murder, rape, even cannibalism. It was almost like they were trying to scare us into staying with them.
As if it were an omen of sorts, the electricity flickered and then went out just as Kendra and I stood up from the table. Greenbriar let out a groan. Crazy Mike let out a nervous laugh.
“Well,” Riley said, “you almost made it your entire stay without the power crapping out.”
“It’s quite alright,” Kendra said. “Even this is better than anything we’ve known for the past six months or so.”
“Thanks again, everyone,” I said, giving a wave to the dark figures huddled around the table. “I think we’re just going to rest up and get ready for tomorrow.”
“Good idea,” Vance said.
When I turned my back to the group, I felt a very real fear that someone would attack us. I have no idea where the feeling came from, but it did not leave me until we were back in our room with the door closed behind us.
“What do you think?” I asked her. “Do we stay the night and hope Vance can help us with a car?”
“I don’t know,” she said. She then looked to the baby, like he might have an answer. She sat back down on the bed and said nothing else. I knew this was her way of forcing me to the make the decision for us.
“I think leaving now, in the dark, is stupid,” I said. “We can stay here with a roof over our heads and get a good night’s sleep or wander around in the dark.”
She laughed nervously. “Yeah,” she said. “It’s almost like they planned it that way, huh?”
19
My brain still tried to link every sight, sound and smell back to the world before the bombs. So when I heard the door slowly sliding open later that night, I thought it was Maria, my girlfriend of eight months prior to the bombs, getting up to use the bathroom at three in the morning like usual.
I may have gone so far as to mutter something about Maria as I floated in that dark place between wakefulness and sleep. But then I heard Kendra’s voice, panicked and muffled beside me. My eyes flew open and I sat up, immediately turning to her.
I was met with a fist to my face.
The room was dark but when I was struck, it became suddenly bright. My head struck the floor as I fell back. I looked up and saw two men in the room with us. The one that had hit me was Watts. The other, restraining Kendra and jerking her to her feet, was Greenbriar.
“Just stay right there,” Greenbriar said.
I started to get up again and that’s when Greenbriar raised his foot high into the air, as if he was going to step up onto the cot. That’s when I remembered that the baby was up there. Its little body was directly beneath Greenbriar’s raised foot.
“If you fight,” he said, “I’ll pop his head with my boot.”
“You wouldn’t,” I said although it was weak. “I’ll kill you.”
“The hell I won’t. And the hell you will. Son, you have no clue what I’ve been through this last year. Killing a baby would be incredibly low on the list of messed up shit I’ve done.”
Without warning, Watts delivered a swift kick to my ribs. I caught it just in time, blocking some of its force with my arm. My ribs were saved, but the wind went rushing out me in a gasp.
“When you have your wind back,” Greenbriar said, “get to your feet and get dressed. If you take more than two minutes to do it, I’ll stomp the baby’s head and let Watts here have the room to himself. He may want Kendra as company.”
“Oh, I do,” Watts said. He approached her and ran his hand through her hair as Greenbriar held her tight against him. Watts placed his mouth on her neck and nibbled playfully.
Kendra wriggled and let out a whimper.
Fear rose in my stomach like angry hornets disturbed from their hive. I gritted my teeth, trying to find a way out of this. Realizing that the situation was hopeless, I got to my feet quickly. My side cramped up from where Watts had kicked me, but I pushed past it. I threw on my shirt and slid my socks and shoes on.
“You’re fast,” Greenbriar said. “That’s good.”
“What is this?” I spat. “What do you want?”
“Depends on who you ask,” Greenbriar said. “If you cooperate, we’ll all get what we want, I think. But if you don’t, only Watts and I will get what we want. And that’s this ungrateful bitch bent over and naked. And you know what? Even though I think Riley might be gay, I think he’d have a turn, too. We all will.”
The baby stirred awake, pouting and then beginning to cry.
“Can you shut that thing up?” Greenbriar asked.
I went to the baby and picked him up. He was still tired but his eyes were looking around for the still-panicked sounds of his mother.
Watts smiled at me and then reached behind his back. He withdrew a handgun, the kind that policemen usually wear on their hips. “You’re going to leave this room, walk through the conference room, down the hall, up the stairs and back out into the garage. If you don’t do exactly that, I’ll blow out your knee and make you watch us kill the baby and do all sorts of fun things to your lady. Got it?”
I nodded. I was terrified but there was also a rage inside of me that I didn’t know existed. It was boiling in my guts and I felt like I might explode from the force of it. I was trembling and I tried to tell myself it was more out of primal anger than fear.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Another man appeared in the doorway and answered. Vance.
“For a ride,” he said.
I opened my mouth to respond, but felt the nudge of Watts’ gun at my back as he led me out of the door. I carried the baby close to my chest, holding him close because the world felt as if it were wobbly; the punch and my head hitting the floor was just beginning to phase me. There were fuzzy edges to everything I saw. Behind me, Greenbriar followed us out with one arm around Kendra’s neck, and the other pinning her arm behind her back.
20
We were led to Vance’s dump truck, still parked out in front of the parking garage. Another truck sat beside it. Riley sat behind the wheel of this truck, looking at us anxiously as we came out. Someone else sat on the passenger side—Peterson, I assumed.
Greenbriar got behind the wheel of the dump truck as Vance and Watts forced me, Kendra and the baby into the bucket. I climbed up a steel ladder that ran along the side of the bucket and crawled over into the shallow side. Kendra and I had to trade off the baby as we loaded ourselves in. When I finally managed to snap myself together and realize that something horrible was likely going to be happening soon, I realized that Crazy Mike was already in the back. He nodded at me, frowning.
“Should have just kept on driving, walking, or whatever,” he said a
s I helped Kendra over, holding the baby awkwardly against my chest. “Too late to leave now, my man.”
Before I could respond, Vance and Watts climbed over into the bucket as well. Watts still had his gun aimed at me. I thought of my own weapons, sitting in Vance’s little underground bunker. I suddenly felt very stupid for giving over our supplies so easily. Not that it mattered—we would have still been defenseless against the stealthy attack Watts and Greenbriar had organized against us.
Vance pounded on the side of the bucket. A noise like metal thunder boomed and Greenbriar started the truck. When he pulled off, a lurch caused the baby to start crying. I held him close to my chest, rocking him. I became very aware that here, in the back of this damned dump truck, that we had no food for him, and no diapers. We only had what Kendra could provide naturally and as of late, that hadn’t been much.
“Mike knows the deal,” Vance said once the cumbersome truck had picked up speed.
He then made a point to show me the backpack that he had been wearing the whole time. He reached inside and pulled out what looked like telephone headsets. They had a small black box along the right side of them and when he handed it out to me, I realized that the black box was a camera.
“Take it,” he said.
I did, not wanting to cause any more trouble than was necessary. Kendra made a soft whimpering sound. I think she had somehow already figured out what Vance and his stooges had in mind.
Vance then handed one to Mike. Mike looked at it and slid it on over his head just like a set of headphones. “This right?” he asked.
I was confused and slightly angry to see that Mike was almost eager to participate in whatever was happening.
“That’s it exactly,” Vance said. He then turned to me. “Now you.”
I slid the odd headset over my head. I expected the camera to have some weight to it, but it was incredibly light.
“What is it?” Kendra asked. I did not like the dread in her voice.
“A camera,” Vance said.
“So he can see what’s in there,” Mike said.
Nests: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller Page 7
