Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine

by Dalton Wolf

  “Hey. This is fracking romantic,” Gus held their joined hands out as if flipping Trip off. “So shut it. And as for the tower, who do you think got a better look at it than me and Scaggs, huh? Trust me, Dude. All the grassy areas were covered with zombies. Some were even crawling on the ground. I can’t believe I didn’t think about mentioning that before. Others were just walking around in circles like they were sniffing the air.”

  “So there might be something that trees and grass give out that attracts them when there’s no flesh around…” Athena mused aloud.

  “Maybe. Keep it in mind, but that doesn’t help us right now,” Calvin snapped them back to the current situation.

  Athena pulled out her phone and made a note in a file she was keeping.

  “You brought it up, Skipper,” Trip said. “Ooh, I like that one. Tripper and the Skipper. Trip and the Skipper…nope. Skip and Trip’s Holocaust Rescue Service. Hmm, almost…oh well, I’ll get it eventually.”

  Calvin sent him a withering glare, complete with overly-dramatic eye roll. “You’re such a jackass,” he muttered. “Look, guys. Make sure you’re feeling froggy and check your armor,” Calvin ordered. “I’ve got sort of a plan, but I’m afraid it’s not much better than the military had, just that it should save a lot more ammo. We might not have to use any if we do it right.”

  “We’re going to jump out and scare them away with our rhetoric?” Trip asked.

  “We gonna throw them Tripper to eat as a diversion while we sneak up and get the doc?” Boomer suggested from the Hedgehog.

  “Screw you, Boomer,” Tripper shot back.

  “I’ll make that plan B, Boomer,” Calvin responded happily.

  “Are we going to call in an air strike?” Athena asked. “Because that’s the only way I see us getting through that many Infected.”

  “No, even better.” He rubbed his hands together like some evil genius.

  The others stared blankly at him, clearly waiting to be impressed.

  “We’re going to take some of those vehicles from that dealership and then we’re going to herd the zombies like cattle out of town in separate directions,” Calvin announced proudly.

  “Damnit, Calvin. You’re out of your damn mind,” Boomer eyed him with an intense look of incredulity. “They’re dead, not cattle. What, we go next to them riding on top of the cars with whips and shit, or shooting our guns in the air? Why in the hell do you damn white people always have to come back to the westerns with this shit?”

  “This is Kansas City, Boomer,” Calvin explained. “Most people still think we ride horses down the streets.”

  “That ain’t it. You’re all just crazy. Hell, if we met the damned Alien alien you’d be like, ‘ooh, let’s put a saddle on it and ride him or some stupid shit like that’ Or ‘ooh, can I keep it, Dad? What do we feed it?’ It eats people, stupid. Kill it. Zombies eat people. We are people. We are Food. We need to kill them again before they can kill us the first time. We can’t keep riding around in the middle of them like we got them under control, ‘cause that can turn on us in a heartbeat, brother.”

  Calvin sighed. “I don’t want to ride one, Boomer and I certainly don’t want to feed one. But you make a good point; we can’t get complacent because of the armor.”

  “Right,” Boomer nodded. “Any one of us could get pulled down at any time and not get back up again, just like almost happened to Trip and Calvin in the garage.”

  “Wait, what?” Sarah asked.

  “What?” Athena demanded.

  “Shit.” Tripper spat.

  “Boomer!” Calvin used his name as profanity.

  “Oh damn. Sorry, guys,” Boomer laughed. “Let’s keep some perspective. That’s all I’m saying…I don’t know why I even said anything. We all know we’re going to do whatever crazy plan Calvin comes up with…”

  After throwing a withering glare at Boomer up in his cupola, Calvin ignored Athena’s glower and continued telling his plan to see if they could perfect it or better it with another. “Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll use a lead car to make most of the attracting noise. The others will drive along slowly far behind keeping the stragglers in line by bumping them or making quieter noise to attract them until we’re about a mile away. Then we just leave them out there and come back and clean out the ones that weren’t interested enough to follow. Feel free to yippee just to piss Boomer off.”

  “Sounds similar to leading away a military force with a small group of ambushers so you can raid their supply line,” Joel mused.

  “What? No. Maybe. I guess. Look, it’s the same thing we did when we rescued Boomer and Brick, only on a much grander scale and maybe actually killing fewer Infected who might be cured later. We’re just leading them away. Then we’ll come back and get the case and find the doctor…probably in the reverse order. Then we’ll dump the Kia cars and take the military vehicles with us.”

  “I doubt we’ll be able to get any Kia cars,” Athena cautioned him. “A friend used to manage this place. They usually lock the keys up in the safe.”

  “There should still be rentals or keys left out on desks or cars in for service.”

  “Not if they weren’t open today,” she pointed out.

  “Can you try to show a little optimism, Sweetie,” Calvin asked.

  “Is there anything that has happened in the past few days that suggests a reason for optimism?” she snapped acidly.

  “We’re still alive,” he shot back. “We’ll take what we find. It was daytime, remember, and the dealership is just past the parade route. The car dealerships were probably open anywhere near the parade. Car salesmen never sleep. They might have all been drunk, but they’d still be up for selling a car. So we’ll take whatever we find inside. If we can even get in there.”

  “We should check the manager’s office first,” Athena suggested. “If they have some keys that aren’t locked up they’d probably be there, or maybe we can find some paperwork that says where they are.”

  “I doubt that, but everyone keep your eyes open for anything that can help us.”

  “Hey, I think that’s a car dealership there, too,” Scaggs pointed to what they had all thought was a parking lot through the trees.

  “It’s probably storage for all of the cars being worked on,” Tripper suggested.

  “No, it’s got a different name. ABC or something.”

  “Ok, we’ll keep that in mind in case we can’t find any keys up ahead.”

  “But…never mind,” she grunted.

  Returning to the vehicles, the group drove onto Tennis Court and slowly rolled towards the back lot of the car dealership, the turrets taking out the few strays they spotted. Rolling slowly past a marine supply distributor on the right and the other dealership on the left, Calvin noted that the ‘parking lot’ was nearly as large as the Kia. Should have just said we’ll go in there instead, he reprimanded himself, but said nothing to the others as they approached the road behind the car dealership. Calvin took a careful look ahead and then around to ensure their way was at least partially clear.

  “Here,” he pointed for Felicia to stop.

  Athena leaped from the passenger seat of the Paddy Wagon, pulling the panabas out of the leather over-the-shoulder purse/sheath combo she and Hef had fashioned to hold the blade, her M-16 slung firmly over the other shoulder. Calvin, Trip, Boomer, Gus and Scaggs all climbed from the various openings in the Hedgehog. Scaggs, now the proud owner of the second finished mobile air gun in a large pink backpack, also had a collapsible spear in a round sheath hanging from the backpack in case the contraption stopped working. Felicia had acquired some paint and now both actresses wore pink armor with pretty dragon designs on the helms. Gus continued to use the spear Quinn had recommended to him and wore simple, unpainted steel armor.

  Joel stayed in his turret. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he didn’t like the up close killing thing and he was very good with the big air guns. Lucy took over Boomer’s gun because Calvin had finally realized th
ey would get more use from his muscles in melee. Knowing he would be in melee more often now, Boom had painted his armor black and now carried two hammers. He had become quite adept at throwing them in a very short time practicing in the Dungeon, his skill level nearly equal to Calvin with his axes. To emphasize this newfound skill to the others, he threw one now at a zombie that was leaning against an SUV. The head of the hammer smashed into the skull, through the atrophied brain and softly slapped the edge of the roof, the zombie’s mashed brains and skin cushioning the blow just enough to dampen the sound, both eyes popping out and dangling from the optic nerves as gooey mush dribbled from the open sockets.

  Calvin nodded to his friend in appreciation. “Let’s go through the back door,” he whispered, trying not to draw attention in case any Infected waited between the cars in the lot ahead. “Might have to kick it in and I don’t want to be anywhere near Burlington.”

  The others nodded brusquely. Silently passing through the single line of trees at the edge of the parking areas, all six could clearly see dozens of dead shambling in the areas between the cars and those same gaps afforded them their first close-up, clear view of the horde milling around in the street. The shear number of dead waiting on the other side of the lot pressed upon them, increasing the tension exponentially. Unfortunately, instead of the one building the group had expected to search, there were, in fact, four nearly identical buildings, any of which could hold the manager’s office.

  “Which building?” Tripper asked.

  “It’s not that one,” Athena pointed to one in the middle. “That’s the repair shop. It will have its own manager. It’s likely to have keys, but only for cars that need work.”

  “Ok, keep that in mind in case we can’t find any elsewhere. Dented cars are better than no cars.”

  “But we don’t want something that’s going to break down, either,” Athena replied adroitly. “As to which one is the main office…I’m going to say that one,” she pointed to the one on the north side.

  “Any particular reason, o wise one?” Tripper asked with a hint of smarminess.

  “It’s the only one surrounded by cars,” she explained simply.

  “Sounds good to me,” Boomer agreed.

  “We could split up and check them individually…” Tripper suggested.

  “No way!” Sarah argued. “I’ve seen all of those movies. If we split up, half of us die. Or at least Boomer. He’s survived waay longer than he would have in any movie. We split up now and he’s a goner.”

  “They’re never wearing armor in those movies, sweetie,” Tripper insisted. “And they’re stupid. Of course they die.”

  “Boomer isn’t really the smartest guy…” Calvin joked.

  “Hey!”

  “Sorry,” Calvin lied.

  “Well, I ain’t going off anywhere on my own,” Boomer stated emphatically, planting his feet and resting the long-handled hammers on his armored shoulders.

  “We’ll stay together,” Calvin assured them. “It’s early and this is all we have to do today. No need to get in a hurry if we stay quiet. If we do draw the attention of the Infected out on the street before we’ve got the plan ready, everyone run back to our vehicles and we’ll retreat down the street and retool the plan.”

  “Calvin Hobbes abandons plan before inception, film at eleven,” Athena jabbed.

  “Hey, I’d rather have to rethink a plan than bury another friend,” he explained with a steady glare under his open helm for each of them. “Be careful and keep quiet.” He stepped forward with a slap of his closing visor. “Boomer, you’ll probably have to knock the handle off that door. Make sure you put something between the handle and the hammer to keep the sound down.”

  “Like I carry around my own sound cushion?”

  “Just find something. That’s going to make a lot of noise and after you break it we won’t have a lock to keep them out anymore.”

  “The rest of us can rush in and find some stuff to put on the other side of the door to hold it,” Athena suggested.

  “Ok, but make sure the room is clear first,” Calvin agreed.

  The group moved silently through the back lot towards the white building they hoped held the manager’s office and safe. Boomer broke the lock using the Chiefs jacket he’d taken from his latest victim to deaden the sound…

  Four buildings and an hour later, the dispirited team trudged in despondent disappointment through the back lot of the Kia dealership with only one key between them, and that they’d found in the bloody mess that had clearly been lunch several days ago for the five dead guys they’d found running around inside. Every other key seemed to have been locked in a safe that wouldn’t open for hammer, axe or bullet.

  “Why do some of the people turn into dead and others just become a meal?” Boomer asked.

  “Maybe if they die to where their injuries would kill the zombies, they become a meal,” Sarah suggested.

  “Maybe some people are immune to the virus, so they just die,” Calvin countered

  Eying the freshly cut grass, the finely tailored trees and shrubs and the dead stumbling between the cars at the end of the lot, Tripper spat a discouraged, “Shit.”

  “No dice?” Felicia asked from the Hedgehog.

  “Nothing,” Calvin reported back.

  “Anyone know how to hot wire a car?” Tripper asked casually.

  Silence ensued.

  “Hey Boomer…” Tripper started to say.

  “Oh hell no, mother fucker! You think because I’m black—”

  “—I was just gonna to ask you to toss me a root beer while we wait for Calvin to figure out what to do,” Tripper said innocently and they both grinned. Boomer had found a refrigerator with a six pack of Dad’s which he had slung from his belt for later.

  “How about my dealership?” Scaggs pointed to the independent dealer.

  “It’s not yours, JoJo,” Felicia pointed out.

  “I found it,” Scaggs argued defensively. “If everyone is dead, it could be mine. In fact…I call dibs,” she finished proudly.

  “Let’s check it out,” Calvin agreed with a shrug and stomped off in that direction, the others falling in behind, the collective clanking of their chainmail armor sounding like a dozen silvery wind chimes in a tornado. “And for the record, when Scaggs pointed it out, part of me thought it would be the better place to check. I’m an asshole.”

  “Hey, it could be a goose egg, too,” Tripper offered realistically.

  “It’s not,” Calvin said, having already noticed something the others had not. “In fact, I think it’s going to be a goldmine.”

  After an awkward pause, Tripper added, “I still think you’re an asshole if it makes you feel any better.”

  Calvin jogged forward to the door and waved into the dealership at something only he could see through the large window. A blonde clown-lady in a low-cut crimson dress and five inch heels stood from behind a desk and teetered to the door, fumbling with the lock. Days before she must have been beautiful, but now her face was streaked with dried mascara and eye shadow that had washed down and spread all over her face and dried along with the thousand tears that had moved it all, matted blonde hair hung in a tangled mess over a dress stained with smeared chocolate and unrecognizable crumbs.

  “Thank God someone else is alive!” she shouted in Calvin’s ear, hugging him despite how the armor must have felt on her scarcely protected body. “You have to get me out of here,” she pleaded. “I’ll do anything. Anything,” she insisted, looking deeply into his eyes under his visor, clear blue eyes and promising just that. “Please?” she grabbed his arm in such a firm grip it took both of Athena’s to pry it free.

  “He’s taken, sweetie,” Athena grumbled. “Why not tell us who you are, first?”

  The woman jumped back from this armored woman who now pulled a blade from over her shoulder. “I—wha—I’m…my name is Morena Glau. Everyone calls me Mo.

  Calvin introduced everyone, knowing full well that she
wouldn’t remember the names, and then he bluntly asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m the sales manager. My uncle owns this lot. I picked up a guy at the parade and thought I’d bring him here and have some fun. We spent a few hours in the back of that BMW and when we got out there were people walking through the parking lot. I thought they might want to buy something, so I went out to work them over. He tagged along to watch. I’m…I’m not sure what happened or how, but the couple attacked us and they…they ate him. I don’t know how else to explain it. They started ripping big chunks of flesh from his arms and neck and he screamed and fell down and they turned to me and I ran inside. They weren’t able to come inside, but I watched, and Bobby, he…he got back up, and he was like them. I know it sounds ridiculous...but I think they were zombies. You must think I’m crazy…” she trailed off.

  “Lady, look at us,” Tripper laughed. “Do we look like the kind of people who wouldn’t believe that story?” he pointed to their armor and weapons and the blood dripping from all but Scaggs’ and her air gun.

  “Can you tell me what is going on?” she asked.

  “Nobody can tell you that,” Tripper snapped, but Calvin put a hand on his shoulder to tell him to lay off.

  “We don’t really have that kind of time, Mo,” Calvin explained. “But I’ll try to give you a short version of what we know. A virus interacted with something here and is turning people into…well, into zombies. We’re all trapped inside because the government has built a wall all around the city a hundred miles out.”

  “Bullshit. It’s only been a few days. The government ain’t that coordinated,” she insisted confidently.

  “Apparently they are when they really care about something,” Tripper argued.

  Calvin put a hand firmly on his shoulder and he calmed again.

  “They’re dumping in supplies, but otherwise we’re on our own until the Quarantine is lifted,” Calvin explained

  “How did you manage to stay alive for these past days alone?” Athena asked.

  “I’ve been living out of that snack machine over there. Oh my god, it’s been so long since I’ve had any junk food. I’m going to have to do spin class twice a day for a month to make this back. I’ve put on at least ten pounds. The water and bathroom still seem to be working, but I think I need some real food soon.” She finally noticed her appearance in a mirror along the far wall and tried to smooth out her dress and straighten her hair. Nothing but a full scrub was going to fix her face, though, and she grimaced in shame that lasted only until she realized she needed to get away. “Please, you have to take me with you,” she pleaded again.