by TW Brown
“You folks are welcome to pass, just be careful,” the man said, making sure to announce it loud enough that all those around him could hear.
A few moments later, the strips were rolled out of the way to allow us to drive through. We had to go by another set at the next intersection. As we drove past, I saw a woman watching us. She was standing just behind the two people who were rolling the spike strips out of the way.
I hit the brakes so hard that Edmund and Miranda both slammed into the dash. The two of them cried out and began cursing at me as I threw open my door and pointed to the woman.
“You there,” I yelled, ignoring all the guns being drawn and swung around to point at me as I walked across the street and up onto the sidewalk where the woman stood. She’d drawn a pistol just like everybody else, but I didn’t care. I was staring at her face, my mouth taking a few moments to form words. “How long ago were you bitten?”
The woman looked around at the others and shook her head when one of the ladies standing at her side began to protest. She stepped up to me, her own eyes going up and down my body as if she might be looking for something. At last her eyes met mine.
“Probably the day all this started,” she said. “I guess that is over a month ago now.”
10
Proof
The woman had probably been a beauty before the attack. She had shoulder length hair that was that perfect shade of strawberry-blonde. I guessed her to be just a shade over five feet tall with a very curvy figure that made me instantly think of Marilyn Monroe. She had a tiny nose that came almost to a point, her eyes were a soft, crystal blue with flecks of gold, and I could see a hint of pouty lips under the scabbing that marred her skin.
It looked like she’d been bitten on the face just at the edge of her mouth. The flesh was puckered, but it was obviously healing…and it was apparent that it was a bite.
“How can that be?” I gasped. “Oh…sorry.” I threw my hands up when the group around her all closed ranks and brought their weapons up, all of them leveled at me. I can say from experience that those tiny holes that the bullets come out of look a whole lot larger when you are staring into them.
“I can assure you that I am not one of…them,” the woman said with a hint of annoyance. “And before you ask, no, I don’t have any idea what or why. I do know that I barely escaped from the FEMA center that I’d been staying at when the doctors got wind of me. They took me to a room and before I had a chance to ask what was going on, they strapped me onto a table and started taking my blood, hair samples…they sliced out a piece of my skin.” She hiked up her sleeve and showed me a near perfect square that was also obviously several weeks old and healing.
“Why did they let you go?” I blurted, not even realizing until after the words were out of my mouth how that could be taken a number of ways that would cast me in a less than positive light.
“You mean how did I escape?” she corrected, very gently easing down the rifle beside her that was pointed at me. “I didn’t. I was rescued.”
A woman that was easily a good six inches taller than me with her dark hair shaved down to a crewcut stepped up beside the woman with the bitten face. She was wearing military camo clothing and had her name stitched above the pocket over her left breast: Kolowicz.
“I am sorry, I know this is coming across all wrong,” I hastily apologized and went to hike up the sleeve on my shirt. It was like a John Wayne movie. All of a sudden, I heard a variety of clicks as every weapon was readjusted to be aiming at my face.
“Oh, c’mon,” I yelped. “I just want to show you something.”
Much too slowly for my liking, the guns gradually lowered once more. I noticed that the female soldier, Kolowicz, had stepped just a bit closer and was glaring down at me with a scowl that was more than a little intimidating. Doing my best to ignore her, I showed my scratch. I heard a smattering of titters and giggles.
“This was done by a zombie just a few days ago,” I snapped, trying not to sound like their derisive attitudes bothered me in the slightest. “According to all the reports before the world shut down, I should’ve turned any time these past few days, but so far—”
“Your eyes are clear and you feel fine,” the woman with the bite on her face interrupted.
“Yeah.” I took a step closer to the woman. “Hey, I’m not trying to be rude, I just haven’t met anybody who was bitten and didn’t turn. I was starting to wonder…get my hopes up. But it didn’t seem possible until just this moment.”
“There is another one of us in the group,” the woman said. I caught a whole bunch of looks that passed around the rest of the people standing here. I doubt she was supposed to be offering me up that kind of information.
“I won’t tell anybody.” I made sure to make eye contact with Kolowicz. Her glare hadn’t lessened. “About anything,” I added when her eyes narrowed.
“What’s your name,” the woman with the bite asked.
“Evan Berry.”
“I’m Katy Joplin.”
“You have no idea how nice it is to meet you, Katy,” I gushed.
The relief that was flooding me was enough to almost make me want to cry, scream, and just plain laugh. All the hope that I’d been stuffing down was now free from its bonds.
“I understand that you guys are rolling out of here,” I said. “And I have no idea where you are headed, so if you are still carrying some sort of concern about me saying anything that could possibly endanger you, hopefully that will lessen things.” I continued to make eye contact with Kolowicz.
There was a moment of silence that passed. I felt Miranda step just a bit closer to me at the same time I felt Edmund put a bit of distance between us. I filed that away for later—provided we got out of here alive.
“Here is how it is going to work,” the towering woman said as she stepped in front of Katy and folded her muscled arms across her body. “You are going to come with us back to the group. We are just about loaded up, and since we were already planning on leaving today, you are going to remain here until we leave. Then you are free to go.” She leaned closer to me, her eyes reflecting a coldness that made me take an involuntary step backwards. “If we get wind of anything following us, we shoot first and ask questions later…you understand what I am saying here?”
I had to bite back my anger as well as a few sarcastic comments that bubbled to the surface. As soon as I was confident that my voice would not betray me, I answered that I understood her meaning perfectly.
“So we’re prisoners now?” Miranda whispered to me as I followed behind Katy and her apparent bodyguard
“It’s no big deal,” I assured her. “Consider this a brief break in the action.” I saw her flash me a dubious expression. “I’m not any happier about this than you, trust me. I want to get back to my dog and the group I left behind that apparently took out Natasha’s little squad. I am pretty sure that Carl couldn’t handle and repel an assault all by himself. And while I won’t discount Betty’s ability to handle her business, it still seems unlikely that those two were able to do what is rumored to have been done.”
Edmund remained silent, but I noticed that he was looking around with more than just a little bit of concern etched on his face. I had to wonder what he’d been through up until running into me and Miranda. He’d been running for his life when we met. Apparently there were some who had taken this collapse in the fabric of our society to allow their prejudices to assume control.
I was suddenly struck by his remark about my ignorance of such things in those first few minutes of our having met. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe that racism didn’t exist before the dead got up and started chomping on people, I guess I just thought it was a very minor and extreme fringe portion of society.
“You know that you’re safe with us,” I whispered, leaning close to Edmund as we walked down a sidewalk that was strewn with debris.
We were well into this little neighborhood now, and I was getting a better look at jus
t how bad things had gotten. Bodies were sprawled in the street, in yards, a few hanging partway out of vehicles with violent trauma to the head by a variety of ways. One corpse still had a hand axe jutting from the top of its skull. Seeing that particular image gave me a pang in my gut as I realized that I’d lost so much in that encounter with Don and his gang. I’d lost my weapons, but that was no big deal. I’d also lost my picture of Stephanie: the one thing I had left from the old world and a life that was as dead as the landscape around me.
At last we reached some sort of neighborhood community center. Not the kind that I was used to in my old neighborhood in Southeast Portland. This was like some sort of country club. The perfectly manicured lawn and surrounding flower beds were not yet showing too much growth to have lost their meticulous appearance. The bushes were all trimmed into fancy geometric shapes and just starting to show the first buds of spring.
The building itself had not fared as well. The huge window beside the main entrance had been shattered, and the glass showed hints that it had been splattered with an awful lot of blood. The door had been chopped in or beaten in with a large axe or sledgehammer and the frame was splintered.
I could see the top of a swimming pool slide on the other side of the textured stone wall that surrounded the courtyard or whatever lay beyond the proper building. I could also see smoke curling up in thin tendrils. The moment I saw the smoke, I also caught a whiff of cooking meat. I hoped to God that my mouth was not watering at the smell of charred human remains.
We entered the building and I saw at least a dozen people scurrying about, stuffing things into plastic containers. Other people were snapping on the covers as the boxes became full and then hustling them out the side door. I was able to catch a glimpse of a few trucks and a small regional commuter bus that was undergoing a bit of a post-apocalyptic options upgrade packages complete with what looked like metal siding being bolted to the sides and even the front windshield.
“No gawking,” Kolowicz snapped, moving over to give me a slight shove in an effort to encourage me to resume walking.
I continued on and we eventually were led to what looked like a small reception room. There were groups of long folding tables on pushcarts and folding chairs stacked in rows along the walls.
“You will remain here until I get back,” Kolowicz said flatly before exiting the room and shutting the door behind her to leave me alone with Miranda and Edmund.
“I don’t like this,” Miranda sniffed. She grabbed a metal folding chair, opened it, and flopped down with her arms entwined across her chest.
“Yeah, why are we still here?” Edmund added.
“What happened to you being in such a hurry to get to your dog?” Miranda rattled off.
I felt like I was being grilled by the pair. The thing is, they were making a good point. We could have just driven away and put this place behind us. Of course, if we had, then I wouldn’t have met Katy Joplin and seen with my own eyes the possibility that being bitten or scratched might not be a death sentence. Then again, I could see how my companions might not consider this verification as worthwhile as I did.
“We’ll be out of here in no time.” I brushed away their comments and slid down the wall, taking a moment to just catch my breath and process the revelations of the past few minutes.
It was not long before the door opened and Kolowicz and the man I’d first spoken to after dispatching the troublesome Weatherly boys entered. The man shot me a look, and a scowl crept across his features for just a moment before he could smooth it away and resume his air of impassive calm.
“Any reason why you folks decided to stop and interrogate one of my people?” the man finally said after edging past the large woman who looked like she wanted to just kill the three of us and be done with the whole situation.
I explained about my own scratch and made it clear that my only intention was to confirm the possibility of what I was making assumption on in regards to potential immunity. As I spoke, I made it a point to maintain my eye contact with this guy and do my best to ignore Kolowicz. I had no idea what I’d done to her in this life or another, but it was pretty clear that she wanted nothing to do with me.
“That seems pretty reasonable to me.” He turned to face the woman. “Jesus, Abby, the guy wasn’t trying to heist any of our stuff or hurt anybody. In fact, it was that guy and his people that put down the Weatherly boys…which you failed to do on three occasions I might add.”
I didn’t think that he needed to add that last bit. I was already at the top of her shit list as it was. Pointing out something like that would only make things worse.
“Is that what’s been up your ass this whole time?” Miranda snorted. It took all my self-control not to bury my face in my hands and just hide.
“How about I shove something up your—” Abby Kolowicz started, taking a menacing step towards Miranda, her fists clenched.
“Abby!” the man snapped. He shot a withering look in Miranda’s direction. “And I wouldn’t antagonize her if you know what is good for you.”
“Is that right?” Miranda remained seated and looked like she didn’t have a care in the world. Now it was my turn to intervene.
“Hey, Miranda, let’s not antagonize our hosts. I am sure that things can be resolved here and everybody can be about their business.”
“Actually, my people and I are just about ready to roll. So here is my request, I am going to ask that you and your two companions remain here for thirty minutes.”
Miranda started to open her mouth in protest and I raised a hand to silence her. I doubt anyone was more surprised than me when she shut her mouth. I nodded for the man to continue.
“We don’t want to be followed, and I am hoping that you and your people will respect us in that regard. Since we will have a good head start, and you say you are returning to your people with some supplies, this should not be that big of a deal.” The man put a hand up when Abby Kolowicz began to say something. “We won’t take anything of yours and we will even have your vehicle brought to the front of the rec center here. It will be waiting for you when you leave.”
I nodded and the man pointed to a clock hanging on the wall. “Battery is good in that baby, and it is still running. It is currently just after three. At half past, you people walk out of here and we just wish each other well.”
It all seemed sort of convoluted, but if it gave them a sense of peace, then I didn’t see the harm. Heck, we didn’t even really have to stay for the full half hour. They should be well on their way within about fifteen minutes or so. We could head out and I could get back to Chewie, Carl, and the others. I had a feeling that we had a lot of catching up to do.
The man stepped up and shook my hand. “This should make us square.”
I wasn’t sure what sort of math he was using where our having taken down a deadly band of raiders equaled him making us sit in a room while his group slipped away. Heck, it wasn’t like I had any interest in them beyond the fact that I was now able to say with almost absolute certainty that the infection was not a hundred percent communicable through bite or scratch.
The door shut and Miranda started in about how she could wipe the floor with Abby Kolowicz. I’d watched a few of the UFC fights featuring women and was not about to discount either lady’s ability to dole out a solid ass kicking. Edmund had grown silent and sullen, but the truth was that I didn’t really know either of these two people well enough to be that tuned in to their moods.
As we sat in the large, open room, I decided to just let my mind clear. It had been full of worry and so much other garbage the past few days that it was time for a bit of a purge.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” a voice snapped me back to the present with a jarring degree of discomfort. “We gonna seriously sit here for a half an hour?”
I opened my eyes to see Miranda standing over me, her own expression twisted into a fair impersonation of what I assumed to be the norm for Abby Kolowicz. The thing that I noticed now that
I was even minutely more relaxed was that Miranda had a face that I could not describe any other way than to say she was a homely woman. In contrast, Abby Kolowicz was certainly not conventionally pretty, but she still had a certain attractive quality about her.
I looked over at the clock to see that it had barely been ten minutes. I wanted to ask her if she had someplace that she needed to be, but instead, I just groaned and got to my feet.
“Any input on the situation, Edmund?” I asked the man who had retreated to a corner and remained seated with his eyes shut.
“You two go on ahead.” The man made a settling motion with his body like he might just go to sleep.
“I don’t like the idea of leaving you here by yourself,” I said, brushing Miranda’s hand from my arm as I approached the man. “Safety in numbers.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that did me any good last time…no reason to think it is gonna change if I hitch myself to your wagon.”
“Nobody is hitching themselves to anything. We are together. For lack of a better word, we’re a team,” I insisted.
“I don’t remember the team saying we should slam on the brakes and get into it with those people.”
“Get into it?” I had to fight not to blow up. Did he miss the whole part about me stopping because I saw something that literally meant life and death to me? “I just stopped to confirm that woman having been bitten and it being outside the so-called seventy-two-hour window we’d been hearing about, had not turned into one of the walking dead.”
“Good for you,” Edmund replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.
I was confused.
“Why would you want to be alone in this madness?” I asked.
“Did you even ask me where I’d come from when we met? Did it occur to you to maybe ask what I’d been running from or what had messed me up so bad?” Edmund opened his eyes and looked at me with such a profound sadness.
“You said a bunch of zombies were on your tail,” I finally said once I managed to remember. “And something about a fence?”
