“Couldn’t you just command her to let me go?”
“That wouldn’t count as a legal trial. Being in limbo is the only safe place you’ve got. You’re too valuable to kill, too important to let get away. And if what you say is true, Josephine will come and get you.”
“She’ll come for me,” Kizzy said confidently, gazing at the purple telephone on the desk.
The autumn wind blew in from the open window. It came from out over the sea and brought about the changing of the season. From summer and life to winter’s cold, harsh death. Kizzy shivered.
The bright purple telephone rang.
“Well speak of the devil,” the mayor said picking up.
Kizzy nodded. It was the city, maybe the truth would finally come out.
“Hello?” the mayor said and listened for a moment. “That’s good to hear Bryson. Look, I have a visitor at the moment, maybe we can talk later. Okay, goodbye.”
She hung up the phone and smiled at Kizzy.
“Everything’s fine in the city,” the mayor said. “Just a typical Saturday morning.”
7
Leo and Josephine followed the path of destruction that the mutated men wrought through the city. These beasts didn’t walk like normal men. No, they tumbled forward, as if their legs were lagging behind the rest of their body. And anything blocking their path was either flattened or climbed over. The nearest mutant flipped over a police cruiser that tried to block its course.
“Their strength is off the charts,” Josephine said in shock.
“Yeah, you’ve really outdone yourself with this one,” Leo said.
Josephine let out a worried sigh. Where were these men headed?
The five mutants approached the city wall that led out into the country.
“This is the Pill disaster all over again,” Josephine said, shaking her head and burying it in her hands.
“It’s not half as bad as that...”
Josephine pounded on the glove compartment with her bare fist.
“Take it easy,” Leo said, reaching over and trying to grab her hand. “Geez, knock it off. Look, I’m fine, you’re fine. We’re together.”
“For now,” Josephine said.
Leo continued unfazed. “… I’m not turning into an enraged albino monster. I still have my hair. I have you with me. I’m a little scared to death, but I’m happy.”
“I’m happy for you,” Josephine said sarcastically as she stared out the window at the mess of what used to be men.
They had reached the city wall and climbed up with ease. The half-dozen cop cars that were in pursuit all stopped short.
“I don’t know where they’re headed, but we need to get Kizzy,” Josephine said.
Leo quickly drove behind the row of cruisers. He picked up the car radio. “Officer...” he glanced at the Police ID that hung from the rear-view mirror. “32411, I’m in pursuit.”
“Copy 32411,” the radio responded.
Leo approached the wall door. “I’m surprised they didn’t question me.”
“Would you follow those things out there if you didn’t have to?”
“Good point.”
Leo used the ID badge to open the door in the wall. The large metal circle rolled over to the side and they pulled out onto the dirt road that led away from the city.
“We have to follow the homing device,” Josephine said, connecting the two-way radio to her laptop.
“Okay, where to?” Leo asked.
“100 meters in that direction,” Josephine said.
“100 meters? That’s just to that patch of trees over there.”
“I know how far 100 meters is Leo, that’s what the device is saying.”
Leo drove up the path that led to the woods. As they came close they saw a young man, the one Josephine had sent out after Kizzy, pulling up on a motorcycle. He had a large purple bruise on his forehead.
“Oh no,” said Josephine, rolling down her window. She stuck her head out. “Where’s Kizzy?”
“She was captured,” the young man said, stepping off his bike. “I brought the radio.”
“Captured? By who?”
“What the heck?” Diego said looking out past them towards the city.
Josephine turned to see the mutants barreling towards them through the woods.
She was about to tell the kid to hop in the car, but he had already beaten her to it. When the door was closed the mutants stopped for a moment as if they were confused.
“We’re surrounded,” Leo said.
The mutants meandered up to the car with baffled expressions on their faces. Andre Cole looked at them through the window and sniffed. Unimpressed, the mutants continued into the woods and disappeared.
“It appears there’s something that’s bothering them,” said Josephine. “It’s pulling them in that direction.”
“Let’s hope it leads off a cliff somewhere,” Leo said.
Josephine turned to inspect Diego. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said with a nod.
“What happened to your head?”
“The constable happened. She took Kizzy”
“Where did she take her?” Josephine asked.
“I don’t know,” said Diego. “There wasn’t much conversation.”
“Where would they bring her?” Josephine asked looking to Leo.
“Her office I would guess,” Leo said.
“And where’s that?”
“Hell if I know,” he said.
“Think we’ll have to do it the hard way and ask somebody?”
Leo nodded.
“Oh my manners, Diego this is Leo.”
“Yeah, we’ve met already,” Leo said.
“Oh... How may I ask?”
“Remember the Timothy Simmons who bought the mini-death pills?” he nodded back to Diego. “He was the dealer.”
“Oh,” said Josephine surprised. “Oh,” she said, suddenly wondering what type of person she had sent out to protect Kizzy.
“I’m not doing that anymore, you know…”
“We’ve got bigger fish to fry, kid,” Leo said, starting up the car again and taking the road that led deeper into the country. Soon they came upon a small farm house nestled in the woods. Enoch bean fields and pumpkin patches grew all around the house. Leo stopped and smiled at Josephine.
“I guess I have to do the talking?” she asked.
“I’d say so,” Leo said. “She hasn’t seen a man in eighteen years.”
Josephine nodded.
“Especially one as good-looking as me.”
Josephine sighed and got out. She stood by the car for a few seconds, her backpack slung over her shoulders.
“What’s the matter?” Leo asked.
“I was never any good at talking to women.”
“You’ll do fine,” he said with a smile. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
Josephine nodded and approached the house as Leo and Diego laid low in the car.
“The mini-death pills…” Leo looked back to the kid that sat in the back seat. “That’s all behind us, alright?”
“Are you embarrassed?” Diego asked.
“I’m not proud of it.”
They watched as Josephine knocked on the door and a second later a woman came to answer.
“You’re not the first guy who liked how they felt,” Diego said.
“If that’s what I used them for I wouldn’t be embarrassed.”
“What did you use them for?”
“Never you mind, you know you have...” he trailed off as the woman from the house pulled a knife on Josephine.
“Umm...” Leo said out loud.
Josephine put her hands up and the woman waved her into the house.
“Umm!” Leo said even louder.
Josephine glanced back at them as if to say ‘Help me Goddammit’ as she entered.
“Of all the random things!” Leo shouted. He got out and ran around to the trunk and opened to find a duffel bag tha
t was standard issue in every police cruiser. It was loaded with riot gear and weapons. There was also tear gas, flash bombs, and smoke grenades. It wasn’t ideal, but a smoke grenade would be the best option for this situation. He pulled out two shotguns and handed one to Diego.
“This is loaded with bean bag rounds,” he said. “They’re non-lethal, but you still have to be careful with them. You load the cartridge like this,” he pumped the barrel. “Point and shoot.” He paused and thought for a second. “What the hell am I thinking? Just avoid shooting altogether. This will be more for show.”
Diego nodded and took the gun.
Leo, armed with his own shotgun, snuck up to the house, crouching low to the ground to avoid being seen from the window. Diego followed behind.
Leo hopped up onto the porch and peaked in the window. He heard the faint sound of music playing inside the house.
“I don’t see them,” he said. “I’ll sneak around back, you wait here.”
Diego nodded and waited at the front door.
Leo crawled around the house, staying low.
“What kind of people live out here?” he muttered to himself as he glanced into a basement window.
The woman had brought Josephine down to the cellar and had her sit down on a chair. There was no clear shot for Leo to take. He instead smashed the window with the butt of his shotgun, pulled the pin from the smoke grenade, and tossed it inside. He watched as the gray smoke gushed from the bomb. The woman ran from the room, but Josephine did not since she was tied to the chair. She struggled against the duct tape to break free.
“Dammit,” Leo growled.
He ran back to the front door and entered the house. The smoke sprayed up from between the floorboards. Leo gripped his gun tightly and ran towards what he guessed was the door down to the basement. He opened it, only to find a closet where the woman was hiding. She lunged out at him with her knife. Leo dodged the stab and pushed the woman into the kitchen table. She scrambled out the front door and there was a loud shotgun blast. The woman was launched off the porch and tumbled forward awkwardly onto the grass. She laid there motionless.
Oh boy, what had the kid done? It would have to wait.
Leo took another door down to the basement. The smoke was thick. Josephine was stuck in the chair, red-faced with her eyes closed. Leo ran to her and unwrapped her wrists and ankles while holding his breath. He lifted her arm over her shoulder and stumbled back up the stairs as she was practically coughing out a lung. He brought her outside and laid her down on a porch swing.
“Oh geez,” said Leo, when he saw the woman still laying out in the yard. “What happened?”
“What’s wrong?” Diego asked.
“She’s not moving, that’s what’s wrong. Where was she when you shot her?”
“About where you’re standing?”
“You’re joking,” Leo said.
“No,” Diego responded.
“You’re not supposed to shoot someone at point blank range,” Leo groaned, smacking his forehead.
“But I hit her in the shoulder,” Diego said.
“Yeah, and you probably shattered it. I know you didn’t know any better, but god... you really should have known better.”
Leo went to the woman who lay sprawled out on the grass. He felt at her neck. There was no breath and her pulse was slow.
“She’s not breathing,” Leo said looking back to Diego.
Diego covered his eyes.
Leo rolled the woman over onto her back. She gasped and opened her eyes.
Leo jumped back, then was relieved. He patted her on the back. “Are you alright?”
The woman was spaced out, as if she didn’t know where she was. “Who are we?”
“Looks like you just avoided your first murder,” Leo said to Diego.
The woman stared at Diego with a look of horror on her face and tried crawl away. Her right arm completely limp at her side.
Leo took hold of the woman’s shirt, but then she went rigid, staring out into the woods. What was wrong with her now? Leo looked up to see what she was seeing and there stood a mutant in the clearing, standing completely still. It was Timothy Simmons, white as a mushroom in front of the deep, dark forest. His swollen, jet-black eyes squinted at them.
Leo wondered if he should try talking to him.
Suddenly, the mutant charged at them. Leo pulled the woman to her feet and scrambled to the house. Diego needed no convincing to follow. On the porch, Josephine was up and waving them inside. She slammed the door closed behind them.
The smoke had dissipated, but left an ashy after smell in the room. An old, antique, brass-horned record player still played.
“Turn that thing off!” Leo snapped to Diego.
Diego lifted the needle up off of the vinyl. The sound stopped, but record continued to spin underneath.
The mutant came up onto the porch, its heavy steps causing the old wood to creak. With indifference it sniffed around, as if it were looking for something. Everyone stood completely still inside the house. The mutant left the porch and wandered off.
Leo approached the window to peek out. The mutant was nowhere to be seen.
“What was that thing?” the woman asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.
“A science experiment gone wrong,” Leo said as he approached the fridge. “Do you have any beer?”
“You can check.”
Josephine peeled the rest of the duct tape from her wrists.
“Anything besides Graham Beer?” Leo asked, staring at the purple cans that contained, in his opinion, the worst post-plague invention to date.
“It’s all I drink,” the woman responded.
“Well I don’t drink piss,” Leo said as he closed the door. A paper under a magnet on the refrigerator caught his eye. It was a wanted flyer with his and Josephine’s picture, the words ‘$5000 Reward’ printed across the bottom.
“Where did you get this?” he asked.
“It just came in,” said the woman. “A few minutes ago.”
“I don’t think you understood my question, I asked where you got it from?”
“The fax machine that gives farm orders.”
“Do you know who sent it out?” Leo asked.
The woman shook her head.
“Any guesses?”
“I never knew who was on the other side of the fax.”
“We know it’s Patel,” said Josephine. She turned to the woman. “We’re looking for the constable station, can you take us there?”
White flesh passed by the window. Growling, limping, menacing. There was a second mutant at the backdoor. It looked as if Timothy had brought a friend.
“What’s wrong with them?” the woman asked.
“It’s another pill disaster,” Josephine said.
“That we’re working on fixing,” Leo added. “Just stay low to the floor.”
Everyone crouched down out of sight. There was grunting and sniffing from the men outside.
Josephine rummaged through her backpack and took out her laptop.
One of the mutants banged on the back door. The door knob rattled. Without warning the door was ripped off its hinges. The mutated man stood there in the opening, his eyes opened wide, large and black. He barked to the other.
“Upstairs!” Leo shouted.
He ran to the staircase and waved Josephine, Diego, and the woman past him. He followed as the second mutant entered the house. Together they lunged for Leo, who sprinted up the remaining stairs as fast as his legs would take him. At the top, he joined the others who had taken shelter in the bathroom. Josephine closed the door behind him.
They heard the mutants stumble their way up the staircase, sounding as if they were falling and hitting the walls in the confined space.
“Should we lock the door?” the woman asked.
Leo put his face in his hands.
There was bound to be a way out, but of course, they had chosen to hide in the only room in the whole house without
a window. Leo stood in front of the others and backed them away from the door.
They bashed into the door and broke it off its hinges. The mutants stood there groaning and barking in an inhuman fashion.
At that moment music began playing downstairs. It must have been the record player coming back to life. The creatures stopped their groaning. They turned, and walked out, and stood in the stairway.
“What’s going on?” the woman asked.
Leo shushed her.
Josephine crept towards the doorway. Leo tried to grab her but she twisted away and stared at the mutants. “They’re transfixed…”
But when the song ended and the silence returned the men grew agitated again. They turned, growled and barked and began coming into the bathroom once more. Josephine backed away and just as quickly the next song began to play and once more they were entranced.
“Can we get out?” Diego asked.
Josephine peeked out.
“They’re blocking the way,” she announced.
“Can we get to the record player?” Diego asked.
Josephine shook her head.
“If we were to move that player they’d rip us to shreds,” Leo said.
“We’re stuck here then?” Diego asked.
“Well, until the record ends,” Leo replied, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub.
“How long is the record?” Josephine asked the woman.
“This side is twenty minutes I think,” the woman answered.
“If there’s anything you ever wanted to accomplish with your life you’ve got twenty minutes to do it,” Leo announced to the room.
“Don’t be so goddam morose Leo,” Josephine said as she opened her laptop and plugged in the crow USB.
8
Kizzy spent her day helping the mayor with stupid little errands around the office. Since she had proved herself useless with computers she had been relegated to watering the plants, sweeping the floors, organizing closets, and other bits of random bullshit here and there. It felt as if she was wasting her life away one odd job at a time. Unlike the mayor, she only had so many years left.
As she dusted a window sill, Kizzy noticed a group of women standing down on the street below, staring up at her. At the forefront of the group was Laura’s mother. Kizzy froze. It was a strange feeling, to see the face of someone who wanted you dead. The woman stood there, smoking a cigarette, looking as if she was planning something.
The Enoch Plague (The Enoch Pill Book 2) Page 7
