Z 2135

by Wright, David W.

  The drink was hitting Katrina harder. Words were leaving her mouth in a light slur, almost a lilt.

  “This is right. You know it. Just say yes.”

  Of course Jonah wanted to say yes, to see one of his children before the other, end his obligation to Sutherland, feel a peace he’d not felt since before Molly’s murder.

  They were nearly back at his door. She drew a keycard from her pocket and went to open it.

  Great, she has a key to my room.

  “I have to know,” Jonah said, “what it is that makes you so loyal to Sutherland. I have to feel safe, or I can’t go. And right now I just don’t trust you.”

  Katrina opened the door, stepped inside, and turned to Jonah. Three steps through the doorway she removed her armor plates and set them on the ground, then removed her long-sleeved top.

  Jonah was confused. Katrina was attractive, but she didn’t seem to have any interest in him, or in anything beyond the cause.

  Is she seducing me?

  After her shirt, Katrina peeled off the tight tank beneath. She stood before Jonah, topless from the waist up. Her body was tight, and her breasts would have been attractive, if not so horribly scarred, lashes like tallies above, beneath, and around them. Her nipples looked many times burned.

  Jonah stared, unable to swallow, barely able to think.

  “Who did that to you? Geralt?”

  “Yes,” Katrina said, pulling her tank back on. “For starters.”

  “Why?”

  She pulled the long-sleeved shirt over her head.

  “Because I was a spy for The Underground, living in City 2. City 2 is where Geralt gets most of his toys. He loves traitors most because, as he says, they make the best … pets.

  Jonah felt a shiver through his entire frame, seeing too many atrocities at once, knowing she suffered them all.

  Katrina recited her story with no shame: how she was caught red-handed and treated well, encouraged to turn informant. She wouldn't budge, so she was taken to City 1 and tossed into a giant room full of slaves, owned by Geralt and offered with no limits to the Council Guard. Katrina was used by that lot for years. A girl could live well forever with Geralt, if so inclined. The more trouble they were before capture, the more he craved their compliance. Katrina was trouble and then some, without a compliant cell in her body.

  Geralt made an example of her, then left her for dead. She lived, however, and made it to the other side of City 1’s Walls because a guard took pity and led her to the sewer rather than the incinerator as ordered.

  Katrina looked at Jonah. “Geralt must pay for his crimes. This will be done, no matter what. I’m going to City 6 regardless, and will bring the doctor back. But I’d far prefer it if you talk her into coming willingly. I believe in you, Jonah, and hope you believe in us enough to do what you know is right. Trust that.”

  “I’ll do it,” Jonah said. “But I want Sutherland to promise that Ana will be taken care of if we don’t come back.”

  “Of course,” Katrina nodded. “Sutherland would settle for nothing less.”

  Chapter 18 — ANA LOVECRAFT

  They ran through the woods without stopping.

  Every time Ana thought she couldn’t bear more, ill-fortune surprised her. Her arm was pocked with diseased, rotting flesh beneath the bandage, spreading out and up into her arm—yellow blisters itching, burning, eating her alive.

  Liam blurred beside her. Running without ceasing, labored only by her pauses. He should run faster—staying with her was death.

  Are they following?

  Ana didn’t know. What she thought was the rustle of pursuit might’ve been the forest mocking.

  No, they were alone: her, him, and the burning inside her.

  Liam tugged at her wrist, the healthy one, and pulled harder. “We have to go faster.”

  Easier said than done.

  But she tried all the same.

  They were headed for The Outback, an abandoned town bordered by eucalyptus that shaded the acres around it. On the other side of The Outback, they’d find the road leading to Hydrangea … and her father.

  They had learned about the real Outback at Chimney Rock—an endless desert in a place called Oz, from long ago. No one knew what the city was called before someone from The Barrens pounded a sign in the dirt, where the eucalyptus thinned. The sign said, The Outback: Zombies Usually Flawking, flocking misspelled. Duncan had told them about The Outback, two days before they found it, and five before Paradise found them.

  I’m burning.

  Nothing good in The Outback. Most stories taking place in The Outback ended horribly, and Ana had no idea why anyone ever went there. She couldn’t imagine how many worse stories went untold.

  They were lucky; their first time wasn’t bad. They stumbled through, Duncan so hungry for contact after finding nothing but danger following the burning of West Village. Camps and villages—even Bands, so Ana was told—all used The Outback as a training ground. There were always zombies near or around it, way more than usual and for no reason anyone could explain. Crowds seemed to self-spawn. Between zombies and training, The Outback was a churning nest of life and death.

  I am black inside.

  Pain shot like bullets through Ana’s body. She pushed herself to keep up, guilty because she was forcing Liam to drag a walking corpse behind him.

  His voice rang out from somewhere in the blur. “Snap out of it!” Liam stopped and spun her to face him.

  She fought for his eyes.

  He put his hand to her cheek and said, “Ana, can you hear me?”

  She looked at him, dazed, then nodded.

  “Can you hear them?”

  She listened. Far off—the crackle of leaves, the snapping of branches.

  The scent of rage.

  “Maybe.” A stutter, then, “Yes, I think so.”

  So.

  Much.

  Pain.

  “I know how much you’re hurting, but we’re almost there. A few minutes more, okay? We’ll figure something out in the city. Just stay with me, another few minutes.”

  Liam didn’t wait for an answer, trotting forward and tugging Ana by her unbitten wrist. They ran a few more minutes— 3 or 30, it no longer mattered—then into a clearing before crossing it and racing through the mint-scented haze that surrounded the fields of eucalyptus.

  They stopped at the sign where the woods surrendered to what once had been a thriving metropolis. The Outback was an iron reminder of what the world lost. Even if what they had heard whispered about Sutherland leading a revolution against The State was true and the impossible actually happened—that world could never return. It was warped, past bent to broken.

  Streets were crumbled or, in many cases, overgrown with vegetation. Ivy crawled up every structure. In the distance, buildings leaned at sharp angles as if stretching against nature. Ana pictured them leaning too far and toppling, then shuddered with the sense of claustrophobia creeping in.

  Mountains of concrete lay in broken piles that looked in some places randomly scattered and in others somehow neatly arranged. The Outback crawled with zombies, many on the streets and even more inside the buildings, sometimes drifting in front of windows like specters.

  Despite that, The Outback was so big that it offered many places to hide if you were careful. The hope, Liam had said, was that they’d lose the bandits behind them … without meeting more along the way.

  Liam pulled Ana into an alley so they could catch their breath. “Everything will be fine. We’ll stay alert and out of sight, get some rest, then leave when it’s safe. Okay?”

  Ana nodded.

  She looked at Liam for the first time since their flight and saw how vulnerable he was. He had one empty gun and was missing the other. His bag of trinkets from Duncan—each one engineered to keep them alive—was gone. She hoped they’d find new weapons in The Outback, before something found them.

  “In there,” Liam pointed across the street to what looked like a hollowed
-out liquor store. They ran toward it. Ana did her best to keep up as Liam held her hand, until he let go and ducked inside the old store. She followed, getting just inside the entrance before he said, “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He quickly and quietly plunged into the darkness of the empty store. He soon returned wearing a brittle layer of calm.

  Seconds later Ana heard a commotion outside the store, not too far off. Before she could open her mouth, Liam caught her look and violently shook his head. He slapped one hand over her mouth and put a finger to his lips as he pulled her behind an empty, broken shelf, out of view.

  The bandits were outside the shop, boots crunching on the caked debris. Ana knew that if they were caught it was all over, especially since Liam had no ammo.

  Ana had no idea how many were left, but it sounded like a lot. They were loud too, inviting zombies to their hunt. She was crouched low, and Liam silently motioned for her to follow him. They made their way behind the counter in the store’s rear, and when he looked back at her, she held his eyes, telling herself they weren’t going to die, so Liam could see that instead of the truth.

  Finally, the voices faded away and Liam peeked over the counter. He descended with a nod—all clear. They waited a few more minutes, then crept out of the store.

  Liam went first. Ana followed closely enough that Liam was just a brushed finger ahead. He paused in the doorway, looked left, right, and everywhere else with a glance. He turned back to Ana, nodded again, and stepped into the street.

  They wove through the broken roads, navigating crumbled concrete, glass, chunks of rotted wood, and twisted metal. Tall buildings blocked the sun, and made The Outback seem darker than the forest.

  “Where do we go?” Ana asked quietly, able to speak now that her wrist pain had subsided to an ache less than murder.

  “I don’t know,” Liam said, voice just above a whisper as he crept toward the corner, ducking around a low-hanging sign. “Zombies could be hiding anywhere, in any building. We can take them out quietly if we have to, but killing leaves a path for the bandits. We’ve got to get through the city, though, and find the river to the west.”

  Liam made a sudden move to his right, toward an ancient car, and Ana’s heart leapt into her throat. But he reached in without hesitation and pulled a crowbar from the interior, the tool peppered in a thick layer of powder. Just as quickly, Ana calmed down—they were armed now. Barely.

  Ana pointed to a tall building two blocks up—at least ten floors, plus a few after that. “Sorry, but I don’t think I can go on much more. I need to rest.”

  “Rest?” Liam said, surprised, as they’d just woke. But then he seemed to remember her injury, her infection.

  She felt like a hindrance, and hated it. If he were on his own, he could probably navigate The Outback far easier. But her head was swimming, and she was short of breath. Running away from the bandits had taken everything she had, and now she needed to refuel.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I just need a little bit of time to rest.”

  She had started to explain more, but he cut her off, “No, it’s OK, we’ll find somewhere to hide out.”

  Ana looked up at the tall building she’d pointed out and said, “If we go high I think we’ll be safe. Didn’t Duncan say that zombies usually avoid climbing stairs or something? Even if a few strays got ambitious, they wouldn’t cluster. We could take them out one by one on our way to the top.”

  “No,” Liam said. “That’s a longer walk to the top than you realize. If the bandits happen inside, they’ll find a trail of dead zombies to the top.”

  “That’s assuming we’re killing zombies in the lobby. If they don’t see any evidence there, why go further? At least not more than a couple of floors. We go as high as we can, avoiding, not killing, and that should throw them off. I can make it to the top, Liam.” Ana straightened her shoulders. “Besides, if we go high, we can get a better view of the city and map a path out, right?”

  Liam looked at her, thinking.

  She added, “If they’re coming up the stairs, we’ll hear them. We’ll know where they are, but they’ll only be able to guess where we are. Eventually, they’ll give up, right? Or get chased off by zombies or other bandits?”

  Liam didn’t exactly smile, but it was close considering he was in the zombie-infested Outback. “Let’s go,” he said, and turned toward the tall building.

  They ducked, Liam first, through a warped metal door frame—long since missing its glass—and headed for the stairs, conveniently right in front of them. The stairs rose from the lobby, narrowing into darkness. The lobby was wide, which made it hard at first to make out the zombies inside. There were five of them, Ana noticed. The zombies looked up, one at a time, each registering an undead version of surprise before ambling toward them. Luckily they were slow, the sort of zombie that was only threatening en masse. Liam and Ana easily ran through them—not bothering to fight, feeling they’d be safe once they were up the stairs. They were one flight up, though, when they saw two zombies: a man and a woman.

  So much for zombies not climbing stairs.

  The woman was four steps up, blocking the stairs. Behind them, they could hear the shuffling zombies making their way after them.

  Adding insult to injury, the bandits burst into the lobby below, one of them finishing a sentence: “… yeah, I’m sure.”

  Liam gently pushed Ana down two stairs, backed up beside her, then planted his foot one more step behind and drove his crowbar forward into the male zombie’s face, killing it instantly. Before he could pivot toward the female zombie, Ana was running toward her. She slammed her body against the wall. The zombie gnashed and snarled as Ana ducked low and, she hoped, hopefully out of reach.

  The zombie screamed, a siren to the bandits.

  Liam leapt past Ana, crashing his crowbar into the zombie’s face and dropping her to the stairs. Below them, in the broken doorway of the second floor, zombies shrieked.

  One of the bandits screamed, “They’re up there!”

  Liam grabbed Ana’s hand and they began racing up the stairs, making it one more flight before the bandits caught up with the zombies on the second-floor stairwell.

  Suddenly: screams, human and zombie; grisly gnashing; four energy blasts perfectly spaced; a wet slap; two thuds; a stumble and a curse; the scampering of feet.

  Liam and Ana continued up the stairs.

  As they ran, Liam screamed, purposefully drawing more zombies into the stairwell behind them.

  They hit the rooftop doorway as more gunfire erupted several floors below. The bandits were too well-armed to be delayed long enough for Ana and Liam to escape. They’d have to stand off against the bandits 14 stories above The Outback with nowhere to go.

  Ana was hoping—the entire run up—that they’d find an advantage on the roof. Somewhere to hide or something to shift their odds or change the game. As they raced from the doorway and toward what looked to be a large water tower, Ana asked, trying to catch her breath, “How many bandits do you think there are?”

  “Not many. Ten, maybe a few more.”

  “Think we can take them?”

  “Hell if I know, but we’re going to try our damnedest,” Liam said as they ducked behind the tower and looked around.

  The nearest building was at least four stories shorter. Even if they could survive the fall, the gap was too far to jump.

  There were three other towers on the roof, along with several 10-by-10 wooden boxes. Ana had no clue what they were. But there were no other doors, or places to run.

  “So this is it?”

  Liam nodded, peeking past the tower—their only pathetic cover—ready to face whatever emerged. Ana knelt beside him, catching her breath.

  The stairwell door exploded open. His false confidence vanished, along with the color from his face.

  Chapter 19 — ADAM LOVECRAFT

  Adam sat in the City Watch van’s passenger seat, noticing how much different The City looked from a Watcher’s side of
the glass.

  Chief Keller didn’t walk him down personally, saying it was better for Adam to serve as the Chief’s eyes and ears without the overt connection in the other men’s eyes. Adam had asked if other Watchers already knew that he went to the Chief’s office all the time, and Keller said yes, but that everyone also knew he felt an obligation to look after the son of Jonah Lovecraft. And it was well established that since he’d lost his own son, he couldn’t stand to see young men, particularly ones with promise, lost to The Dark Quarters. Keller had assured Adam that many of the men already considered Adam one of them. They’d loved his father like a brother, and by extension, they loved Adam.

  “You’re already in the system. Simply give your name to Dispatch and they’ll send you out on the next call. This is a learning experience above all else,” the Chief had reminded him, “but you should also try to have fun.”

  So Adam had walked down to Dispatch alone, giving his name to the man with the bulbous nose sitting at the front desk. “You’re here for a ride-along, eh?” The man seemed friendly, despite his red face, which looked angry at a glance.

  “Yes,” Adam nodded.

  “Pretty young, huh?” the man said, but his face broke into a genuine smile.

  Adam nodded.

  “Good for you. Now, a ride-along is just what it sounds like: you’re along for the ride, to see what a Watcher goes through on a daily basis. You can definitely ask questions, though, as many as you want. The Watchers will give you a good idea of what you can expect in a few years, when you’re out in the field … at least they’re supposed to.”

  The man looked at the screen then turned back to Adam. “You have Fogerty and Carson, so you should have an OK time. Carson’s a good kid; you’ll like him. Fogerty’s an old bastard like me—don’t believe a word he says unless you plan on hating the world.”

  Adam laughed and said OK. The man pressed a button on his desk and called for Fogerty and Carson. A few minutes later a good kid and an old bastard led Adam to their van.

  Fogerty said he’d been on City Watch forever, and looked it. They were only gone from the station for a few minutes when Adam decided he didn’t like Fogerty at all. Fogerty had a personality like Adam had expected Chief Keller’s to be, judging from Keller’s appearance. But while Keller was kind, Fogerty seemed mad at the world.