Desolation

by Mark Campbell

  Andrew knelt down on his haunches and brought his eyes level with Chris' as he rested his arms across his knees

  “You’re not looking so well Chris,” Andrew said quietly with a tsk.

  Chris tried to put on a false smile but it fell flat as his body trembled. “I’ve f-f-f-felt better,” Chris said between chattering teeth. Andrew nodded and then looked down.

  “How many times do I have to apologize?” Andrew asked. Chris looked horrified.

  “I-I-I don’t k-k-know what you’re ta-t-t-alking–”

  Andrew waved a dismissive hand.

  “Spare me your bullshit,” Andrew said through clenched teeth. “I heard you. Is that how you thank someone who just saved your life? I actually considered you a friend.”

  Chris narrowed his eyes. “A f-friend? Y-y-you ruined m-my life when you took her,” Chris struggled to say coherently, enunciating each word. “Y-you saved the girl you liked a-a-and now you’re helping her escape. How is that fair?”

  “I–” Andrew started to say, trying to stay calm as he rolled his eyes. “ You used the civilian m-m-m-monitoring program as a dating service instead of for its intended p-pur-purpose,” Chris interrupted. “You had a hidden agenda while I n-n-never d-deviated from the mission!”

  Andrew looked at him with disgust and shook his head. “You deviated the day you stuck that needle in your arm so save your grandiose speech for someone who doesn’t know what you really are,” Andrew said quietly under his breath.

  Chris looked at him as cold sweat beaded across his forehead. “I-I won’t let you h-h-hurt that girl or her child,” Chris stammered. “I’m going to t-t-t-t-tell her about the plans for the cities andthe-the Lazarus gas and the t-t-tests and-and…”

  Chris started to nod as his body convulsed and saliva bubbled out from his mouth and dribbled down onto his shirt. Andrew offered a polite smile and shook his head.

  “No, Chris,” Andrew whispered softly. “You’re not.”

  Andrew reached up and pinched Chris’ nose shut with one hand while covering the man’s mouth with the other. Chris convulsed weakly as his lungs struggled to take air. He made a muffled choking sound as his body convulsed and twitched. After several minutes, his eyes rolled up in their sockets, his chest stopped rising, and his body sunk against the corner.

  Andrew kept Chris’ nose pinched shut and his mouth covered for what felt like a solid thirty minutes after the man stopped moving and all signs of life ceased. He finally let go of Chris, wiped his saliva-covered hands on Chris’ shirt and walked out of the shack.

  A few hours later, Jerri awoke to the sound of cicadas and the glare of harsh sunlight. It was scorching inside the shack and she was soaked with sweat. Jacob lay beside her on the cot, still deep asleep.

  She quickly sat up. “Morning,” Andrew said from the other side of the room, unsure how to proceed. He smiled at her and then frowned as he looked uneasily at Jacob.

  Jerri stared at the corner of the room in horror.

  Chris was covered by a tattered old sheet and sat motionless in the corner of the room. His lifeless body reeked of defecation and urine. “Is he…” Jerri started to ask in a weak voice.

  Andrew looked down with a sullen expression and shook his head.

  “The detox was too much for him to handle,” Andrew said quietly. Jerri was troubled by the news. She didn’t much care for Chris, but she never wished death on him… She was so tired of death. It was all too much for her.

  Andrew said nothing and kept his eyes on the floor. His eyes were red and watery. He appeared to be on the verge of crying. Judging by his reaction, Jerri knew that the man must have been someone special to Andrew, even more than Andrew had led her to believe; friends were a rare thing. Sometimes you can’t pick your friends. Her thoughts inevitably shifted to the conversation she had with Chris and grew concerned as it had left her with far more questions than it did answers.

  Jerri picked up Jacob and cradled him against her. The only positive thing that came out of the camp was Jacob; she viewed the child as the only glimmer of a future humanity had left in the desolate aftermath of the outbreak. She covered the baby with a blanket, protecting him from the harsh desert elements inside a shawl.

  Andrew shifted uncomfortably. “I managed to get the tire changed and I think I can prime the jeep to get it started. We should be on the road soon before company finds us,” he said as he walked towards the door drying his eyes with his hands.

  “Andrew,” Jerri asked as she took a deep breath. She wanted to know the answers and ask him about what Chris meant.

  She wanted to know about Lazarus and the girl that Chris had mentioned.

  Andrew stopped and turned towards her, letting her see his red eyes.

  When she saw the pain in the man’s eyes, she decided it wasn’t the right time. She would ask later.

  Before Jerri could think of something else to say, Andrew sauntered outside and let the door slam shut behind him. The whole situation didn’t sit well with her at all. Her natural instinct was to run away from him. The only problem was that she had nowhere left to go.

  Mitch was dead.

  Krystal was dead.

  Teddy was dead.

  Her parents were dead.

  The only person who could help her was a man she couldn’t trust. Regrettably, his protection had become a matter of necessity due to the small bundle of life she carried in her arms.

  Jacob, despite being asleep, already was looking in better health and had started to gain some weight.

  Jerri smiled down at him and tickled his stomach. For Jacob’s sake, she knew it would be best to get away from Andrew. She knew the man held many secrets and suspected that he was dangerous in a way she didn’t quite understand.

  When the time was right and the opportunity presented itself, she would run. She refused to allow circumstance to force her to play house with him.

  She heard the jeep’s exhaust cough outside and heard the ancient engine turn over as the jeep started. She went outside with Jacob and turned the corner just as Andrew slammed the hood shut.

  “Ready?” Andrew asked with a slight smile.

  Jerri nodded and sat in the passenger’s seat. His smile made her uneasy, somehow.

  Andrew plopped in the driver’s seat and patted her knee reassuringly.

  Jerri felt a chill run up her spine but she forced a smile. There was no reason for her not to try to be cordial until she figured out what to do. Andrew was all she had for the time being, the only way to protect Jacob and everything the child represented to her.

  That was truly troubling.

  29

  The drive across the desert was insufferable. Constant jolts and bumps across the uneven terrain made Jerri nauseated. It amazed her how sensitive she had become to motion after not being inside a moving vehicle for so long.

  Jacob slept like a stone through the ride. She felt a little envious. The inside of the military jeep was not very accommodating. The seats were hard and stained, the dashboard was cracked, and the floorboards were full of sand. The canvas roof was tattered and allowed the scorching sun to shine through. Of course, the air conditioner didn’t work and the only relief from the blistering heat was the hot air blowing through the open windows.

  They had driven for miles but still didn’t see any sign of civilization. All they saw was an endless ocean of cacti and rolling hills of sand.

  Jerri habitually reached over, scanning the FM and AM channels on the radio as she cradled Jacob against her. Nothing came through the speakers.

  Andrew looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been awfully quiet since we’ve left,” he said as he studied her face. He glanced down at Jacob and frowned. The baby situation would complicate things. “Something wrong?”

  “I don’t have much to say,” Jerri said, looking down at the baby. “I keep hoping to find some music or something just to keep him asleep. I don’t want him to wake up because… well… I’m not good with kid
s.”

  She felt awful for saying it, but it was true; she wasn’t ready to be a mother. Honestly, she had no idea what to do with the child when they got to Camp 7. All she knew was that she felt like the child was the only glimmer of hope left in a feral world full of darkness.

  Andrew frowned uncomfortably. “Don’t talk like that,” he said casually. “You’ll make a great mother one day.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and searched the horizon ahead.

  Jerri smiled politely, but she didn’t say anything. She felt very awkward. She was tired of giving into his cordial dialogue and falling for his charm. She was done with it all.

  “Did you have any brothers or sisters?” Andrew asked. He was a persistent one, she’d give him that much.

  “No,” she answered. It wasn’t exactly true; she had many girls who she considered sisters due to the close nature of their friendship. She had one male friend she considered a brother.

  They were all dead, just like everybody else she ever loved. She thought about Mitch and her thoughts mulled over her disturbing dream. The jeep rolled on a few more miles and the silence lingered. Andrew looked over at her and studied her expression. “What’s wrong?” he finally asked.

  Jerri sighed and looked over at him. She had to ask the question that had been bothering her since the night before. “What’s Lazarus?” Jerri asked as she stared at him sternly. Andrew looked at her, not all that surprised by the question.

  “Why ask?” he responded as he focused his attention back onto the road. “Was Chris telling ghost stories?”

  Jerri narrowed her eyes.

  “He said to ask you,” she quickly responded. “I think you’re hiding something from me and I want you to come clean with me.” Andrew frowned. “There’s nothing to come clean about,” he said. “We heard reports of some strange subclass of infected that were near impossible to kill.” He shrugged. “Someone called them the ‘Lazarus Subtype’ and it just stuck.”

  Jerri nodded, even though she wasn’t much for religion. “That creature in the dorm… You said ‘Lazarus’. Was that one of them?” she asked.

  “I think so,” Andrew continued to lie nonchalantly. It came so easily for him. “I never saw one but I heard the rumors.” Jerri looked down at Jacob and thought for a moment. “And what about Alison?” she asked.

  Andrew was getting sick of hearing that woman’s name. “Who?” he asked.

  “Chris said to ask you about some girl named Alison…” Andrew shook his head.

  “Never heard of her,” he said. “It’s just a sick man’s ramblings.” Jerri fell silent again.

  Andrew looked over at her.

  “Is that all? Are you done interrogating me or can we talk like normal people?” he asked as he turned his attention back out the windshield.

  “I’m not in a talkative mood,” she said shortly.

  “Anything I can do?”

  She hated when people asked that. Sometimes, it was best just to leave her alone and let her work it out her own way. Before she could give a snarky reply, Andrew slowed the vehicle and narrowed his eyes, leaning towards the bug-splattered windshield.

  “You see that?” he asked, slowing the vehicle.

  Jerri looked ahead.

  In the horizon, just over a small rise in front of a sandy embankment, the remnants of a commercial jetliner lay scattered across the desolate landscape. It had broken apart into hundreds of pieces. Mechanical debris and suitcases lay scattered out for miles. The fuselage of the plane had broken in half and laid upside-down, mostly intact; skeletal remains were still fastened to their seats and dangled from their seatbelts with their arms over their head. Countless others, mummified by the desert sun, lay strewn across the sand. The closer the jeep got, the more gruesome the details became.

  Jerri wondered where the plane was headed before it met its fate. Did it try to land at Sky Harbor in Phoenix and get turned around? Did it pass over Tucson International? Was it shot down by the military or overran by the infected mid flight? She was sure it would be a story that would never be told.

  Andrew pulled close to the wreckage and stopped.

  “What are you doing?” Jerri asked, panicked.

  Andrew turned off the ignition and stepped out of the jeep.

  “Relax,” he said, scanning the area. “This crash happened a long time ago judging by the look of things; probably at the onset of the pandemic. I’m just going to check some of the luggage. Perhaps I can find something useful.” Like a working GPS, he thought humorlessly to himself.

  “I’m staying in here,” Jerri said, brushing her hair back behind her ears with her fingers.

  “Suit yourself,” he said. Andrew walked towards the accident, making sure not to step on any of the mummified corpses or trip over any of the twisted piles of metal. The air smelled foul and thick with the stench of rot. Most of the luggage had fallen apart during the crash and the contents were scattered across the land. Some of the luggage looked relatively unscathed.

  He walked towards one piece of unharmed luggage, a black Samsonite duffel bag, and unzipped it. Nothing. He moved to the next one.

  As Andrew riffled through the luggage, Jerri stared out the rear view mirror, bored and hot. A man wearing a tattered dirty Hawaiian shirt and burnt khaki shorts lurched towards the rear of the jeep, only about twenty yards away. His eyes had sunken into his skull and his leathery skin had been pulled taunt against his skeletal frame. He staggered in awkward gait, one arm outstretched.

  Jerri gasped at the sight of the implausible. “Andrew!” she shouted. She locked the doors of the jeep and leaned over the driver’s seat, frantically mashing the horn to get his attention.

  Andrew had walked up to another piece of luggage that looked promising. Just as he reached down to unlatch the case he heard the jeep’s blaring horn. He half-turned his head towards the jeep, wondering what in the hell got into the girl.

  A boney hand shot out of the sand and snatched Andrew’s wrist. Andrew screamed and stumbled backwards, managing to pull his arm free. His first thought was Lazarus. The rest of the mummified-looking man emerged out of the ground, fine granules of sand filling every crack of the corpse’s leathery hide. He wore a badly burnt business suit and his left arm had been dislocated; his left shoulder jaunted up unnaturally towards his head and a piece of bone had torn through his shirt.

  Andrew scurried onto his feet and quickly drew his weapon. It was not what he had first thought; it was clearly some form of an Acexa variant. How it survived for so long was incomprehensible to him.

  All around Andrew countless bodies started to dig their way out of the sand, clawing and slithering their way to the surface. “Holy fucking shit,” Andrew muttered, staring at the emerging dead that surrounded him.

  The man in the burnt suit swiped at Andrew with his good arm, stumbling forward in his momentum.

  Andrew quickly fired a shot into the man’s forehead. The back of the man’s rotted skull burst open and sprayed the sand with chunks of gray matter and bits of bone. He collapsed on the ground, motionless.

  The jeep’s horn continued to blare.

  “Jerri!” Andrew shouted, sprinting towards the jeep.

  A limping flight attendant with a sunken face lurched in front of him. Andrew shot the woman in her temple and shoved her aside as he ran faster, breathing frantically, zigzagging his way through the infected as they swiped and tried to grab him.

  The slow, shuffling horde followed him and made ghastly moans. More bodies continued to claw their way out from the earth and join in the pursuit.

  “Jerri!” he shouted again as the jeep came into focus. Two weathered corpses had gathered at the driver’s side door and bashed against the glass. The man wearing the Hawaiian shirt was at the rear of the jeep, slapping the rear window. At the front of the jeep, a mangled corpse wearing a Southwest Airlines pilot’s uniform.

  As Andrew approached, one of the men at the driver’s side door snarled and turned towards him, rev
ealing his yellow rotted teeth. Andrew shot the man in the forehead and the corpse crumbled onto the ground.

  The others around the jeep turned towards Andrew and started limping towards him. Andrew fired three shots in rapid succession and took all three men down, exhausting his ammunition in the process. He holstered his empty pistol and ran towards the driver’s door.

  Jerri unlocked the door and swung it open for him–

  Andrew leaped inside, slammed the door shut behind him, and locked it.

  A horde of over a hundred corpses lurched from the plane wreckage towards the jeep.

  “Are you okay?!” Andrew asked, eyes frantically searching Jerri’s body.

  “Yes! Yes! Just go! GO!” Jerri shouted, pounding the dash with her open palm, screaming.

  The horde was just a few feet away from the jeep, ready to entomb it. Andrew turned the ignition, half-expecting it not to start. The engine started without protest.

  Andrew threw the transmission into ‘D’ and took off, leaving a long plume of dust in his wake as he drove up the embankment. The infected horde followed after the jeep for a few feet and, once the jeep disappeared over the other side of the hill, stopped their pursuit.

  Moaning, the entire horde fell to their knees and started to burrow into the sand, clawing into the earth with their bare boney hands.

  30

  Andrew and Jerri remained speechless as the jeep trekked across the desert for countless miles. Jerri slowly rocked Jacob side-to-side in her contemplative stupor.

  “They were burrowing,” Andrew finally said to himself. It challenged everything he thought he knew about their behavior. “The bastards were burrowing… hiding from environmental exposure… They should all be dried husks… but they were burrowing.”

  Jerri was startled by the sound of his voice and looked over at him. “They operate off of basic instinct right?” she asked. Andrew nodded gloomily.

  “Self-preservation is as basic as instincts get,” she replied, looking out the window. “During the outbreak I heard stories of shamblers knocking away weapons and staying clear of fire.”