by Mike Staton
Percival slowly brought his hands down, tucked his flashlight into his jacket pocket. He hooked his fingers under his helmet’s lip and lifted it off of his head.
“Holy…” The spot flashlight lowered.
Percival blinked away spots left by the blinding light. “Can I pick up my sledgehammer?”
The man strode down the hall. “It is you. Holy crap. Sorry about that. Yeah, get your hammer.” He didn’t carry the gun he’d threatened with. Just a broom cradled as though it were a short rifle.
“I understand. It’s been a rough couple days… It’s damned good to see you.” Percival rubbed his eyes and bent to scoop up the hammer. He rose against the protests of his body. He stifled a cough.
“Caught a cold?” The man stepped into the light cast by Percival’s flashlight. “Tis the season.”
Percival let out a chuckle. It took a moment for the man’s name to cut its way through the cotton in his head. “I wish that were the case, Abe.”
The smile fell away from Abe’s black bearded face. He was a broad man with wide shoulders that filled his red and black plaid flannel shirt almost to bursting. His biceps stretched the fabric. He wore a black beanie over that pulled down over his ears. His jeans and shoes blended into the darkness pooling around them. “When? Been given the option?”
A second man joined them. His face was pale and clean shaven with dark, sunken eyes. He shook his head.
He stood tall and lanky, all limbs and no torso. His wore clothing that accentuated the length of his limbs, making him look taller and thinner than he actually was. Especially while he stood next to Abe. It took longer than Percival was comfortable with admitting to conjure his name: Lillard.
“Earlier today. Not my brightest moment.” Percival cradled his hammer in the crook of his elbow and coughed into his opposite elbow. “Katherine Holter kept the ghoul at bay and gave me the option, but I’ve still got a job to do so I didn’t take it.”
“Kat’s alive?” Abe’s eyes regained a touch of light.
“Yeah. And apparently there’s a few other Watchmen out there too. Are you the only two here? How’s the rest of Prosperity Wells?”
Abe looked to Lillard and back before the latter answered in a flat tone. “Decimated. We’ve got 20-some here. We’re just the guards.”
Percival nodded. 20 was better than none. And none was what he originally had assumed. He couldn’t turn away the feeling of joy that not everyone was dead.
And there was an underlying current of anger at all of the dead left behind to rot or rise. If 20 were all that survived, then there were still 300 or more who’d fallen. Proxies’s goons should pay for that travesty. He gritted his teeth in a grimace.
“You alright, buddy?” Abe’s hand rose and landed lightly on Percival’s shoulder. It bounced right back as he touched the jagged holes in his jacket and he flinched away. “Shit, sorry. That where you were nailed?”
Percival nodded. He tamped the anger back down to a simmering boil in the base of his stomach. “I’m hurt and sick. Bastards who hit us shot me before they came here.”
He closed his eyes and scrubbed his hand across them.
“Want to see everyone? Do you some good, I imagine.” Abe asked.
“Yeah.” Percival opened his eyes and let out a tired sigh. “I need to see more people.”
Abe passed his broom to Lillard. “I’ll be back.”
Lillard nodded and mutely took the broom back. “He don’t look too good.”
“He’s fine,” Abe stubbornly said.
“I’m still here. Abe, lead the way please. I want to see everyone. I’ll talk about what happened out there later…” Percival followed Abe past a pair of upended tables that created a makeshift checkpoint.
“Everything’ll be fine.” Abe’s bearded face split into a smile once more.
* * *
Kat sped along the street with her rifle up. She moved on point with Susanne and Kim trailing after her. Susanne carried her pistol and remaining spare magazine. The rain had faded to a trickle, and the clouds even parted slightly to reveal the nearly full, pale moon.
She moved them toward the Humvee. Maybe she’d get lucky and Percival left the keys in it and they could drive to the Community Center. Sure, it’d be louder, and that bothered her, but it also meant they could easily transport supplies and the injured.
The trek was silent; the morbid silence of three people walking through a destroyed home. It passed uneventfully, beside her stopping to say a sorrowful goodbye to another Watchmen member.
She stopped at the Humvee and peered through the window. The interior held a motley crew of supplies. A map lay near the center console.
Kat tested the door and found it unlocked. A second later and she’d popped it open and climbed into the driver’s seat. Her stomach fell at the lack of keys. Percival likely had them on his person. Hopefully he hadn’t dropped them somewhere.
“This wasn’t here before…” Kim muttered softly. “They didn’t bring any vehicles into town that we saw.”
“It’s not theirs. It’s Percival’s.” Kat stared at the map. The former leader of the community had certainly been busy with his troupe of explorers. Nearly a dozen places on the map were circled with notes of what was there or the state of the countryside.
Knoxville was circled several times and Xed through enough that the center point had worn entirely through. Beneath the circle, in very broad strokes, was written: ‘DO NOT ENTER.’
“What happened there?” Kim reached across her to point at the map.
Kat tensed as he nearly touched her in the gesture. “Do you mind?”
He flinched away. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“She just ain’t like that, Kim,” Susanne chimed in.
“You wouldn’t know.” Kat was thankful her paintball mask hid most of her features. “I think that he might have lost the rest of his group in Knoxville, hence the notation.”
Susanne shrugged.
“You didn’t find more than him?” Kim asked.
Kat shook her head, gestured for him to move back and slipped out of the Humvee. “Huh uh. Got the impression he was the only one to come back too. If this map and his reactions are anything to gauge by, I’d guess they’re not still out there and among the living.”
Kim frowned.
Susanne shook her head. “Dangerous world.”
“Don’t grow up too fast.” Kim squeezed Susanne’s shoulder.
“Advice tha’s too little too late, old man.” Susanne looked up at him, then back to Kat.
“I don’t got any advice. When I was your age, I was a little hoodlum. And right now we’re wasting time.” She shut the Humvee’s door.
“Shouldn’t we take the rifle in the back?” Susanne asked.
Kat shook her head and led them into Brown College campus proper. “Dunno if it works right. Percival left it behind for a reason. Might be he simply wanted a shotgun instead, but could be that rifle don’t work and we ain’t got time to waste.”
Susanne opened her mouth to argue, but Kim cut her off. “Makes sense.”
Kat wove her way through narrow buildings and past scenes of carnage. Bodies, both of the living and walking dead, left to rot in the fall sun. Silently she was thankful for the drizzle that kept the stench of death largely at bay.
It didn’t take her long to make the trek back to the dorm. She led them inside with a flick of her key and straight up to the gun nest she’d occupied earlier.
She let out a quiet string of obscenities at its emptiness.
“Such colorful language,” Susanne quipped. “Thoughtcha said he was left here unconscious, injured, and infected.”
“I did.” Kat swept her red light over the room. “Kim, mind checkin’ the other rooms with Susanne. Maybe he left a clue here as to where he went.”
“I’d say he turned and wandered off, but zombies don’t open doors without breakin’ them,” Susanne said.
“Sur
e, Kat. We’ll check the other rooms.” Kim wrapped an arm around Susanne’s shoulders and pulled her down the hall after igniting his flashlight.
It took Kat a few moments of searching the room before she came across the note she’d written for him. The note asking him to stay put and rest. The note he’d added to that said he was going to help with her mission and was going to head north, but be back by dawn.
She let out a frustrated sigh. What was the point of saving his skin if he was just going to go out and get himself killed by some zed-head? He was thoroughly injured, both inside and out, and infected. How he had managed to get up and soldier on escaped her.
She flicked her tongue over her lips. She hadn’t searched to the north yet. And the Community Center was to the north. She neatly folded the note and stuffed it into her pocket. At this point, she didn’t expect the assailants of Brown College to actually show back up, but there was little reason to leave them with a direction to head if they did and searched the dorms properly.
Call her paranoid.
“Damned asshole isn’t here.” She stepped into the hallway. “Come on you two and cap the light first. No need to spoil my night vision too.”
The flashlight, three doors down, dimmed and Kim led the way into the hallway. With Susanne still in tow, he came down the hallway. “I think our next stop is the Community Center. He left word that he was going to head north to help check for survivors.”
Kim nodded. “Might as well consolidate. Maybe we’ll come across him in the trek.”
“Good point.”
“Like you hadn’t thought of it beforehand.” Susanne pushed past Kat and descended the stairs first.
“I had.” The words sounded weak as she followed the girl down.
*
“He’s way better than I expected him to be with that hammer. Five zombies, all fairly close together and no sign that they got any bit of him.” Kat admired the scene of undead carnage before her. The zombies before her had all suffered the same fate: massive blunt trauma to the braincase. And he’d done it all by himself, while sick. The sledgehammer wasn’t exactly an easy weapon to use either. One misstep and an inexperienced person would find himself toppling over with the hammer flying.
She stood up straight and took a step back from the battle site and away from the stinking corpses.
The rain had tapered off to nothing shortly after their exit from the dorm and the rank stench of the walking dead lingered heavily in the air. There was more than one reason the Watchmen burned the corpses outside of the wall.
She looked to Kim and Susanne. “We’re on the right trail.”
“You’re the tracker.”
“Hardly…” Kat answered the girl. She knew a little about following someone through the wilderness, but nothing about tracking them through an urban environment. Much less one that’d seen as much rain as this one had in the last few hours.
She breathed through her mouth as much as she dared. Too much and she’d taste the corpses. “We should keep on.”
Without further word, she led the way past Brodcust Hall and soon breached the campus area and back into Prosperity Wells via the northern gate.
Together they navigated the few blocks north to the Community Center. Kat let Kim and Susanne take the lead into the building. She pulled her mask off once she’d entered the dark hallway. She shielded her eyes as Kim ignited his flashlight.
“You really need to be more careful with that, you know. It’s how I found you and not everyone’s as nice as me.”
“Lots of people are nicer though.” Susanne moved to the front of their little group. She led the way with Kim’s light on her back. She rounded the corner that’d take them to the main gymnasium.
Almost as soon as they’d rounded the corner, a spot flashlight kicked into life. Kat quickly shielded her eyes and ducked back behind the corner.
“Knock it off, Abe. It’s us,” Susanne shouted.
“Ain’t Abe,” a male voice answered. “Who’s with you? Why’d they duck away?”
“Can’t tell that with the light in my eyes, Lillard. Kat’s with us.” Susanne continued her march down the hall.
“I didn’t know who you were.” Kat moved around the corner and jogged to catch up with her companions. “Didn’t want to be caught in a bad spot, you know? Done well to empty this place of cover.”
The spot flashlight dropped to illuminate the floor. “Didn’t ask for your assessment.”
“It wasn’t his idea,” Kim explained. “Didn’t know who might come along and securing the doors leading out would be… problematic. We didn’t have chain, most of that is tied up somewhere on campus.”
Kat nodded silently.
“Anybody else come through?” Susanne stepped up next to Lillard, moving between two overturned tables.
“Percival’s back. He’s bit though and sick. Nearly upchucked his lunch here in the hall.” Lillard looked from Susanne to Kat. “And where were you when the shit hit the fan? Weren’t you s’posed to protect us?”
Kat stood a little taller and squared her shoulders. “I was out on patrol. I was protecting you, looking for hordes of zombies nearing u—“
“Yeah. Good job.” Lillard took a step closer to her. Fire burned behind his eyes with a pent up frustration and anger that had just found an outlet. His fist tightened to white knuckles around the broom he held. “Just how did you miss a horde of 200?”
“I didn’t.” Kat stood her ground. She’d been up north, but didn’t think that pointing out that fact would somehow help the situation. “Think I didn’t already feel crappy about what happened? We all do. Every survivor.”
“Don’t pull that ‘survivor’s remorse’ shit on me.” Lillard’s hand snapped out and jabbed a finger hard into her chest. “You failed us. Watchmen my ass. Probably just go out to—“
Kat swatted his hand away and ignored the spot of pain it’d left in its wake as Susanne stepped in front of her.
“You see here, Mister Wolf, we all understand that Missus Wolf died in the attack that devastated us. But it won’t her fault. It wasn’t any of the Watchmen’s fault.” Susanne swatted away Lillard’s finger as it threatened to come forward once more.
“They failed us.”
“They didn’t. We’re done here.” Susanne, in all of her small fury and might, shoved right past Lillard.
Kat and Kim followed.
“This isn’t over, Holter!” Lillard’s voice chased after Kat as she rounded another corner in the hallway.
“Don’t pay him any mind.” Kim rested his hand on her shoulder. “He’s in the minority of us. We know a lot of the Watchmen went above and beyond for everyone.”
Kat shook her head. She deflated. She’d joined the Watchmen because it seemed the right thing to do. And they needed people handy with small arms. “I was lucky. I was up north of town when the shit hit.”
“You were doing what you were s’posed to.” Susanne guided them around the corner. “Missus Wolf was so much nicer than Lillard. Pity it was the asshole of that pair who made it through.”
Kat opened her mouth to say something, but cut herself off. She didn’t need to whine to these two. She was better than that. Better than her grandparents had ever given her credit for.
They moved past a handful of doors that would’ve led to smaller meeting rooms and tiny conference halls and ended at the double doors that opened into the gym. Susanne didn’t waste any time and just shouldered the door open.
The room had been repurposed into a large, open dorm. Two dozen cots were scattered about in a variety of states of make. Some had blankets and pillows neatly draped and placed upon them, whilst others were in a state of disarray with the pillow and blanket piled nearby. A few were occupied, while even fewer didn’t have anything on them at all.
One was set near the bleachers, well away from all of the other cots. Someone lay unmoving in that particular cot. Two folding chairs had been set up near it with one person sitting nearby as a
nother paced a couple of feet from the head of the cot.
Kat guessed that was the infected person.
A majority of the cots were empty, however. Despite the lateness of the hour, there was a cluster of people on the opposite side of the gym, surrounding someone or thing. They were so engrossed with whomever they were clustered around that only a couple turned as Kat, Kim, and Susanne entered the room.
Kat moved in front of the other two and led the way across the polished, wooden floor. It didn’t take long to cross the span and she touched the shoulder of a man on the outer ring.
“’Cuse me.” Kat moved past him.
“Wow, you live up to your namesake. Didn’t hear you.” Kirby turned to let her pass without difficulty.
Another woman murmured, “It’s good to see you,” as she passed. A third grunted as he noticed her. By the time she passed him, she could see Percival sitting down with his helmet hanging from his sledgehammer’s shaft.
“I’m telling you, it’s a harsh world out there now. We were lucky before this—“ He paused when his gaze came across her. “But there’s hope yet. Kat’s here too. She’s told me there’s other Watchmen still out there. Hell, she’s been sent in to mount a rescue or evacuation of sorts.”
Kat’s cheeks burned and she felt immediately grateful for the dim light of the gym. Flashlights and candles could only do so much for the cavernous room.
Almost in unison, the crowd turned toward her. She wanted to slink back and disappear into the shadows. She certainly didn’t want the metaphorical spotlight to be centered on her. Her mouth suddenly went dry and refused to produce any words for her at all.
She’d been sent on a scouting mission. Not a rescue or evacuation mission. She didn’t even know the first thing about organizing such a thing. She’d had the notion to just walk out of here, but with 20 some odd people, that would be a lot of ruckus.
And that assumed that they could keep every child silent. Maybe using the Humvee wasn’t the best of ideas.
“Thank god.” Toni took her hand and squeezed it.
Another man clapped her on the shoulder. “I knew y’all were out there somewhere.”
