by David Achord
Happier times.
General Harlan Fosswell thought of himself as a good Christian, Catholic to be precise. His wife was the first person he knew who became infected. He and his son buried her in the backyard before loading up their belongings in his government-assigned Lincoln Navigator and driving directly to Mount Weather.
Harlan looked at his Bible. It was lying beside the photo and opened to the book of Revelations. Verse 16:21 to be exact. He’d read it so many times he had memorized it long ago. He believed the Lord was using the plague to punishing mankind. And, it wouldn’t do for a couple of crazy scientists to create a vaccine so the unjust could continue living.
Gunderson. Zachariah Gunderson. The young man had some sort of immunity. Even if he sabotaged the second mission like he did the first, Gunderson was an endless supply of untainted blood.
He had no idea what happened to the soldiers in the first mission. The original plan was simple. He cozied up to his scientist friend and converted him. Craddock. Mayo Craddock. He talked him into taking a vial of the plague and surreptitiously breaking it inside one of the labs. The ensuing tests would identify it as a hot zone, the mission would be aborted, and everyone would come back home.
Nobody came back. Something went wrong. Logic dictated they were now dead or zombified. He certainly did not mean for anyone to die needlessly. But, so be it. It was the will of the Lord.
Untainted blood.
Harlan was convinced this was contrary to the Lord’s will. He picked up the phone and dialed three numbers.
“Get in here,” he ordered. He was already scheming. He knew what people did in those guard shacks to while away the boredom; that’s why he got Melvin paired up with the senator’s wife. That one worked out splendidly. Melvin didn’t know it, but Senator Duckworth was all too aware of his wife’s illicit affair.
That’s also why he put Zach and Priss together. He was sure Rhinehart’s whore of a daughter would successfully seduce Zach, but somehow it did not work. Priss was probably too much of an arrogant bitch for the hayseed, but a whore closer to his own age would work. He was sure of it. Once he caught an STD and passed it along to his wife, his value to Mount Weather would come to an end. He’d either have to leave or, better yet, Melvin would kill him. He smiled smugly at himself as his plan formulated in his mind.
“You don’t have any cavities, but your teeth could stand a good cleaning,” the dentist said. He was a thin waspish-looking man who didn’t bother introducing himself. “You’ll have to schedule an appointment for later. I have other things to do today.” With that, he shooed Savannah out of the office.
Savannah aimlessly wandered around the main facility looking for Melvin, and, not finding him inside, went outside to the main gate. His truck was gone. She felt a knot in her stomach and walked over to the guard shack.
“Have you seen Melvin?” she asked them.
“Yeah, he left out this morning,” one of the guards replied. “I haven’t seen you around here.”
“Are you new?” the other one asked.
“Yeah,” she answered. “I got here yesterday evening.”
“Uh, have you been checked out?” he asked.
Savannah nodded. “I met with Doctor Salisbury this morning.”
She could see the two men visibly relax. “So, do you guys know where Melvin went?” she asked.
“Ole crazy Melvin comes and goes,” the first one said. “Anyone leaving is supposed to let us know where they’re going and how long they’ll be gone, but he never follows protocol. Are you a friend or something?”
“Yeah,” she answered. She wasn’t a relative, but she wasn’t sure how to label her relationship with Melvin.
“Well, I wouldn’t worry,” the first one said. “Melvin can handle himself. He’ll be back for dinner, guaranteed.”
“Thanks,” Savannah said and walked back inside.
She found herself aimlessly wandering and found herself staring into an open room of what was obviously the children’s day care. There were several kids of various ages being tended to by four women. One of them was standing in front of a dry erase board trying to teach some simple math. Another one of them saw Savannah and walked over.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m Kelly. I’m new here and haven’t met everyone yet.”
“I’m Savannah; I’m new too.”
“I’m happy to meet you, Savannah.”
“Is this a school or something?”
“A combination of a day care and school, yes. Do you have any kids?” Kelly asked.
Savannah found herself biting her lip as she shook her head. Kelly noticed it as well.
“Well, those three are mine,” she said, pointing. “The older one is Sammy. He’s an orphan from Oklahoma. The younger boy is Frederick, and the little girl is Macie.”
Savannah looked at her as Kelly smiled.
“They’re a handful. Well, Sammy isn’t. He’s quiet and adores Zach, but Frederick is full of energy and is constantly getting into everything.” She smiled again. “And Macie is a typical girl, she loves attention.”
Kelly expected some type of reaction or response, she usually got one when she talked about the kids, but Savannah remained quiet and continued to stare at the children. Kelly opted to change the subject.
“So, I thought I saw you with Melvin at dinner yesterday.”
Savannah nodded. “Yeah, we met out on the road. I, um, well, my family was killed and Melvin found me. He brought me here.”
Kelly nodded in seeming understanding. “He seems to be a unique person.”
“Everyone thinks he’s crazy, but he ain’t,” Savannah replied quickly with a trace of defensiveness. “On account of his zombie wife, I guess.”
“It’s definitely not something a person would normally do,” Kelly reasoned.
“Yeah. I told him he should kill her.”
Kelly paused a long moment before speaking. “Sweetie, are those the only clothes you have? I mean, I couldn’t help but notice you were wearing them last night and they look a little rough.”
Savannah dropped her head but didn’t say anything. Wonderful, she thought. First, a stranger tells her she has STDs and now, another stranger is making fun of her clothing.
Kelly realized she’d hit a sore spot and tried to smooth it over.
“Well, okay,” she said. “It’s none of my business, but if you’re interested, I have more clothes than I know what to do with stored in our trailer outside. If you want, we can find some for you.”
Now, Savannah looked up. “You’d do that?” she asked.
Savannah walked in Melvin’s room an hour later carrying an armful of clothing.
“Honey, I’m home,” she said cheerfully. There was no response. She dropped the clothes on the bed and looked around. No Melvin, no note. Realizing she didn’t even know what time it was, she spotted a clock on the nightstand, but it wasn’t working. Changing into a fresh pair of jeans and a polo shirt, she checked herself in the mirror. The clothes, the smallest size Kelly had, hung a little loosely on her.
“I’ll grow into them,” she murmured and again wondered where Melvin was. She stuck her head out of the door and looked down the hallway, but nobody was in sight. Sighing, she focused on sorting and folding her new clothing. There was a generic dresser in the small room, and she decided to use one of the drawers, hoping Melvin wouldn’t mind. But, there was a problem. Melvin’s clothing was carelessly stuffed into each drawer. She did a sniff test and wrinkled her nose.
“Men,” she exclaimed and proceeded to dump each drawer onto the bed. She spent the next two hours in the laundry room. When everything was dry, she made two trips back to the room with arms full of clothing and began the task of sorting and folding.
She was deep in thought of what she was going to do with her life when she was startled by a soft knock on the door. When she opened it, there was a woman standing there whom she had not met.
“Um, I’m looking for Melvin,” she said as she looked over Savann
ah’s shoulder.
“He’s not here.”
“Where is he?” she asked. The woman was an attractive strawberry-blonde in her mid-thirties. The way she was staring at Savannah hit her wrong and she was immediately suspicious.
“I don’t know where he is,” she said. “Who are you?”
She stared at Savannah a moment longer before turning on her heel and walking away. She passed Kelly and another woman walking in the opposite direction. The two exchanged glances, Kelly said hello, but the woman ignored her and kept walking.
“Hi again,” Kelly said with a smile when they’d walked up. “This is Maria. She came from Tennessee with us.”
“Hi,” Maria said with a quiet smile. “How are the clothes? Do they fit?”
“A little loose, but I’ll grow into them.” Savannah felt the need to explain. “I went through a rough time recently and didn’t get much to eat.”
“Oh, well, you’ll have your weight back in no time,” Kelly replied. “Speaking of eating, we’re meeting everyone for lunch and we were coming to invite you.”
“Sure,” Savannah said, wondering if she should instead wait in the room for Melvin. Her growling stomach won out. She shut the door and joined the two women.
“Do you know that woman who walked by you just now?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Kelly answered. “Angela Duckworth.”
“Do you know anything about her?”
“Not really,” Kelly answered. “She’s pleasant enough, but kind of aloof. Oh, her husband is Bob Duckworth, he’s a senator from Utah, I believe. Has she done something?”
“Oh, no. She was looking for Melvin. I’m sure he’ll turn up for lunch.” She looked down the hall as they walked. “Where are the kids?”
“They’re with Janet,” Kelly said. “I guess I need to go ahead and warn you about her.” Kelly filled her in as they walked and were soon nearing the cafeteria.
“So, let me get this straight, Janet is Zach’s mother-in-law from his first wife and the kids aren’t really yours.”
“They may not be my biological children, but they’re mine,” Kelly replied. “I love ‘em to death.”
“And Janet is a bitch,” Maria said with emphasis.
“With a capital B,” Kelly added.
The two women laughed and Savannah smiled uncertainly as they walked into the cafeteria. When they walked through the double doors, the cooking aromas caused her stomach to growl, which she took as a good sign. She refrained from running to get in line and forced herself to walk casually with the rest of them.
“Looks like today’s special is shit on a shingle,” a man in front of her joked. Savannah didn’t care what it was; she was ravenous. She looked around for Melvin, but not seeing him, followed Kelly.
“Everyone, this is Savannah,” Kelly said when they got seated and introduced everyone individually.
“Where’s Melvin?” one of them asked. Savannah looked up to see the one who called himself Shooter doing the asking. For some reason, she had taken an instant disliking to him. Whenever he looked at her, he stared longer than was necessary. An attractive woman his age was sitting beside him.
“I don’t know,” Savannah answered.
“He’s probably having a romantic picnic with his wife,”
The woman sitting beside him snickered. The other one, the one who called himself Cutter, laughed gleefully.
“That’s messed up, man,” a young Hispanic man said. He’d walked up as Shooter was making the disparaging remarks and sat down across from her. Savannah glanced at him for a quick second. She thought he was cute, but he needed to shave off the pencil-thin moustache. It made him look stupid.
“What’re you doing with him anyway? He’s old enough to be your father,” Cutter remarked.
Savannah didn’t respond and concentrated on her food. She’d already done the math; Melvin was thirty-nine and she was eighteen. Technically, Cutter was right, but for him to point it out angered her all the same.
“You never did say where you’re from,” Shooter pressed.
Savannah was about to put a forkful of food in her mouth, but paused momentarily and fixed Shooter with a stare. “I’m from a small town called Gofuckyourselfville. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”
Kelly and a couple others burst out in laughter while Shooter glowered.
“Don’t mind those two,” the Hispanic man said. “They grow on you after a while. My name’s Jorge, I’m Maria’s brother.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Jorge,” Savannah responded and tried to mind her manners as she ate.
“So, where are the men?” Janet asked.
“Zach, Josue, and Burt are showing Fred the farms,” Kelly answered.
“He doesn’t have guard duty again?” Jorge asked.
Kelly shook her head. “He reported in this morning and was told he’d been reassigned to the midnight shift.”
“Why?” Jorge asked.
“According to Ensign Boner, somebody was pissed because they felt they had seniority over Zach and yet was stuck on midnight shift while Zach got to work the day shift.”
Jorge scoffed. “Figures. At least he won’t be stuck with the senator’s daughter. I tried to say hello to her yesterday and she turned her nose up at me.”
“Speaking of job assignments,” Janet said in a low voice. They turned and saw Lydia making her way toward them. She smiled warmly at Kelly.
“Hi, Lydia,” Kelly said sweetly.
“Hi, Kelly,” she replied. “How are you liking your job assignment?”
“It’s wonderful, thanks for taking care of us. Right, Janet?” Kelly pointedly asked.
Janet gave her a look before responding. “Yes, you’ve been very gracious.”
“Yes, well, I need to speak with Melvin, have any of you seen him?” she asked. She received several shakes of the head. Lydia then looked at Savannah.
“Do I understand correctly, you’re Melvin’s girlfriend?”
“This is Savannah,” Kelly said quickly. “She and Melvin are good friends.”
“Yes,” Lydia said as she glanced at her tablet. “You’re scheduled for guard duty tonight.”
“But, I’m supposed to stick with Melvin,” she said, fighting to keep a quaver out of her voice.
Lydia smiled condescendingly. “Orders are orders. Captain Fosswell is the Officer of the Day. He advised me you are to report directly to the main guard post no later than twenty-three hundred hours. Let’s see,” she paused a moment and looked on her screen. When she did, her smile faltered.
“It looks like you’ll be working with Mister Gunderson,” she said, and then looked at Kelly.
Kelly was not to be put off. “Perfect,” she said.
“Are you sure?” Lydia asked, her expression uncertain.
“Of course,” Kelly said and looked at Savannah with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Zach will take care of you.”
Janet snorted. “At least he won’t be stuck with that Rhinehart bitch,” she said.
Savannah almost finished her plate of food before she thought she was going to bust. She excused herself and went back to the room. Melvin still was not there. The ordeal of the physical and a full belly made her sleepy. She didn’t remember even lying down. She awoke suddenly with a fright before she realized it was Melvin who had sat on the bed beside her.
“How’re you doing, sleepyhead?” he asked with a smile.
Savannah sat up and stretched. “What time is it?” she asked.
Melvin looked at his watch. “About twenty minutes before your guard shift,” he said.
“You knew?” she asked.
His expression tightened. “I got told about ten minutes ago.”
“Can’t you do anything about it?” she asked.
Melvin shook his head. “Somebody’s pulling some shenanigans. I’ve got guard duty too, but I’m the acting sergeant-of-the-guard.” He stood and worked a kink out of his back before he realized he was doing exactly what Lo
nnie had done. He stopped himself.
“What’s that?” Savannah asked.
“Sergeant-of-the-guard? It means I’ve got to keep an eye on the whole compound and can’t stay with you the whole time. I’ll get to the bottom of it tomorrow, but tonight we’re stuck.”
She sat up in the bed, looking at Melvin.
“What?” he asked.
“Your girlfriend came looking for you earlier. Is that where you’ve been all day?”
Melvin stared at her. “She told you?”
“She didn’t have to.”
Melvin inhaled and let out a sigh. “I was helping Burt at one of the farms. She was waiting for me when I got back.”
“Did you do her?” Savannah asked.
“No,” he replied quickly. “I’d told her it was over before I left. She seemed to think after a few days on the road, I’d come to my senses. I made it clear she was mistaken.”
Savannah wrapped her arm in his and put her head against his shoulder.
“And here I am, getting in the middle of things.”
Melvin patted her on the leg. “It’s not your fault. Alright, get cleaned up for guard duty.”
She would have liked to have taken a fresh shower, but she only had time to brush her teeth. Shortly after walking back to their room, there was a knock on the door.
Chapter 27 – Another Shade of Guard Duty
Kelly told me how Savannah had reacted when she was told she’d been assigned guard duty and now she was absent from dinner.
“Zach, she looked scared to death,” she said. “I’m not sure what’s happened to her, but the thought of being away from Melvin and stuck in a little shack with a strange man has unnerved her.”
“I’m not strange.”
She gave me a lighthearted punch in the arm. “You know what I mean.”
So, I got an idea. I raided the cafeteria, made a fresh urn of coffee, fixed a couple of dozen sausage biscuits, and loaded it all up on one of the pushcarts. I rolled it to the elevator and down the hallway to Melvin’s room. Zoe was with me, and she acted like we were on a great adventure which was going to culminate with me feeding her all of the sausages.
