by T. W. Brown
Hand going immediately for her blade, Vix drew it and flashed it at the gawker. If he had ill intentions, then he would find they were not going to be easily met.
“You gave me one hell of a fright,” the man said.
Great, Vix scowled, a bloody Irishman.
“I don’t want any trouble, and if I am trespassing in your territory, I will be on my way,” Vix shouted through the glass.
This made the man bend over at the waist and laugh out loud. He finally stood up straight and gave his head a shake.
“Ain’t nobody trespassing these days, lassie,” the man said with a smile that threatened to cut his face in half. “You look like you been through some of your worst days. Why not come on out and you can accompany me to the village. I am thinking it is just about time for the morning meal.”
Yeah…and I am probably going to be the main course, Vix thought.
“Did you find her Seamus?” a female voice hollered from somewhere not too far away.
“Aye…and I dunna think she is too fond of me,” the man cupped his hands and called back. “Might be on account of me being a fella…or she may just hate Irishmen.” With that last comment, he gave Vix a little wink.
Vix turned as a dozen people emerged from some thick brush. There were men, women, and even what looked like a few teens. A woman broke free from the group and came at a jog. She stopped at the truck and gave Vix a warm smile. Her dark hair cascaded down past her shoulders and her Indian features were obvious.
“Welcome to New England!” the woman said with open arms.
***
Juan felt cold hands slide across his face and he realized with a sudden surge of horror that he had no protective gloves or headgear. Bucking wildly, he rolled as a shadow fell over him. He heard a heavy thud and felt the weight of the corpse suddenly lift from him.
“Get up,” a voice barked.
Juan grabbed the hand that came for him and climbed to his feet to discover Keith and a few others. He raised his eyebrows in question, but Keith either ignored it or did not see it for what it was.
Keith spun and shoved one of the men with him forward. “Protect the kids!” the man barked as he charged in and began hacking at the closest zombie.
Juan shook off the initial surprise and quickly joined in. It was a slaughter that ended within just a few minutes. Juan was wiping his blade off on some grass when Mackenzie rushed to him and threw her arms around his neck.
Tigah appeared and shoved his head in between his owners and let loose a big sigh. Juan jerked back and looked at the animal. There were at least three injuries that had been caused by the bite of a deader.
He took the dog’s massive head in his hands and looked into the eyes. They were the same big brown orbs; staring back with the unconditional love that only a dog can offer. Maybe they would be lucky. Maybe dogs were like people in that some of them were immune to the bite of a deader.
Standing, Juan hugged the woman once more and then looked around. Eleven children between the ages of perhaps five through twelve were huddled together. The females that had made the trip with Mackenzie stood with the children and looked scared to death. And then there was Keith and the dozen men with him. Juan would start there.
“So what the hell happened?” Juan asked. He made sure to keep his voice down so as not to upset the women and children further.
“It was way worse than we thought and more than we could handle,” Keith began. He went on to explain that they ran into what they originally believed to be the invaders. There were at least forty or so, but with the element of surprise, he had thought they could take them out or perhaps send them running.
“We got bogged down in a fight that lasted longer than I liked.” Keith looked around at his men who, now that Juan gave them a closer look, all seemed exhausted to the point of being ready to collapse. “The real invasion force started to arrive.”
“It was a fucking army!” one of the men wailed.
Juan and Keith both shot the man a hard look and he quickly shut his mouth.
“He’s right,” Keith whispered. “I would put their numbers at over five hundred…shit…maybe even a thousand. These folks have been out in this crap surviving since the beginning by the looks of it. They are packing firepower that made our stuff look like peashooters.”
“So how did you end up here?” Juan asked.
“Actually, we were coming upriver to see if we could help evacuate anybody that might have made it to the beach,” Keith replied. “But it seems that you were the only one.”
Juan felt his stomach twist. He had given that last speech about fighting for what the people of his community had built. It was his words that probably sent every one of those people to their deaths…or worse.
“You okay?” Keith asked. “I mean…you look kinda ill.”
“We need to get moving,” Juan said, dismissing the comment. “I have no idea if those people will send teams out…I doubt it, but I don’t want to stake our lives on it.”
“So we abandon our homes?” somebody asked.
Juan turned so that he had everybody in front of him. He felt the growing uncertainty. He had never wanted to be the person in charge. Somehow, it had been thrust upon his shoulders. The problem had been that he let it happen. He started to believe all the crap people said. He started to think that just maybe he was this new person who could take on the responsibility.
That had been a lie.
The proof of his failure was staring back at him. From a community of over two hundred people, they were now thirty, and many of them children. Over half of the people that made it would not have been old enough to vote.
“I don’t care what you do,” Juan said with a shrug. “I am heading north. What you all do is your business.”
“North?” a few voices exclaimed.
There was a flurry of conversation, but Juan had already tuned it out. He turned to Mackenzie and took her hands in his.
“Here is the thing,” he started, “my only priority from here forward is you. If others join us, I don’t care, but I ain’t leading nobody, and I don’t want people asking me stuff. That ain’t who I am. I plan to try and go up to someplace like maybe Alaska. Maybe all the snow and stuff will keep the deaders away. I don’t know, but it is better than nothing.”
Mackenzie smiled up at Juan and kissed him on the chin. “My place is with you. Where you go, I will follow.”
With that, Juan took her by the hand. He glanced up at the sky and figured out that it was late enough in the day that the sun should be on his left shoulder if he was headed north. He could worry about finding maps later. Right now, he just wanted to start walking.
***
Glenn peeked over the wall and found himself barely able to breathe. Cynthia was standing on the edge of the roof. She was holding a bundle in her arms. The armed patrol had fanned out and was basically holding her at gunpoint.
“If you are going to shoot me…then do it!” she called down.
Unfortunately for those gathered below, they had a bit of a problem as many of the zombies that had remained at the front doors of the school were now turning their attention to them.
Glenn actually flinched when a hail of gunfire erupted. The undead spun and jittered as bullets tore them apart. It took several seconds, but it seemed like an eternity as the noise was almost constant. Then they turned on the herd.
Glenn barely had time to duck before bullets flew in his general direction. The undead marched forward to their final demise and began to pile up in the street. Glenn could feel more than hear the bullets that hit the brick wall, tearing away chunks.
At last it was over. The silence rushed in to fill the void left by the abrupt absence of sound. Glenn could hear the blood rushing through his veins and his heart pounding not only in his chest, but his temples as well.
“Lady, what in the hell are you doing!” a man barked.
“This is my nephew…he was kidnapped by a terrible woman
in there…my brother and his wife were murdered trying to save him. If you plan on stopping me, then you better just kill me now, because I am not giving up my nephew.”
“Whoa! Hold on…who is kidnapping who…and what lady are you talking about?” Glenn was listening very carefully; the man actually sounded confused.
The noise of a door slamming open sounded. Glenn decided to risk a look over the shot up brick wall. He felt a surge of anger blossom in his gut and had to fight the urge not to run out and kill the newcomer.
“What in the hell is going on out here?” the woman who had called herself Ann screamed. “Do you know how long it took us to get these things gathered up and crowded in—”
“Her!” Cynthia shrieked and Glenn thought that she might actually drop Baby Xander. “That woman came into our camp, we were stupid enough to save her from those monsters and she repaid us by kidnapping my nephew. Now his mother and father are dead…turned into one of those things by her!”
“Wait a damn minute!” the man who was obviously the leader of the armed group shouted. “Doctor Cha, what in the hell is this lady talking about? Kidnapping babies and killing folks?”
“Don’t you start questioning me, Major Delpine. You were assigned here to protect my team and have done so admirably. But if you don’t think I am aware of some of the liberties that some of your men took—”
“That was a long time ago and those men were disciplined!”
Glenn had no idea what was going on, but it sounded like there were some fractures in this relationship. Just maybe he and Cynthia might leave here alive.
“We have a vital mission here, and you were sent to ensure that we had all we require. Your job is to provide our security and ensure our safety,” Dr. Cha snapped.
“And we have done so. We have even stayed out of your little lab like you asked, brought you your supplies by having to walk through the sewer system because you kicked us all out,” Major Delpine countered. His voice had a hard bitterness to it. “And when you have asked, we brought you those things for your lab despite the danger to my men and the fact that that sort of thing was never part of our assignment.”
“What does any of this have to do with my nephew?” Cynthia interrupted. “Or the fact that this woman…Ann…or Dr. Cha…or whatever her name is…it does not explain why she took my nephew. It does not explain why this child’s parents were murdered. It doesn’t explain why she has a nursery full of children that are being used like lab rats!”
“Actually,” Major Delpine shielded his eyes to get a better look up at Cynthia, “you’re right, ma’am. Doc, you want to fill us in on that? And what’s this about a room full of kids?”
Glenn noticed an uneasy murmur ripple through the soldiers. Perhaps they were not really aware of what was going on. And what the heck was his wife talking about? A room full of kids being used like lab rats?
“Do you think that we can find the cure for this without having to resort to extreme measures?” Dr. Cha challenged. “Did you not think we would need to break a few eggs along the way?”
“You can do whatever the hell you want with eggs, but kids? Is that what all the fuss was those months back? Was it you stealing the people’s children? Is that why we had that riot? Is that why my men had to shoot unarmed civilians?” Major Delpine roared.
Glenn’s head was spinning. He had no idea what they had stumbled into, but this sounded like a real-life nightmare. And judging by what he was seeing on the faces of the soldiers as well as the doctor, there were some secrets, or at least some long-standing suspicions, being revealed.
“Don’t you go pretending that you are an innocent in all this,” Dr. Cha shot back. “You were part of the grabbing of citizens early on—”
“We grabbed vagrants…criminals…not regular citizens,” the major cut her off. “And we never grabbed children.”
“You don’t understand,” Dr. Cha was almost pleading, “the children are different. We are seeing a difference in the ones that were turned, and we feel confident that the key to stopping this…to finding a cure…that it lies with the children.”
“You gotta be fucking kidding me.”
Glenn heard the major mutter that last line almost under his breath. He watched carefully, still not sure what was going to happen. His eyes flicked up to Cynthia. She had smartly taken the time to back up a few steps from the ledge.
“Lady?” the major looked up and addressed Cynthia. “You can come down. Nobody is gonna hurt you. You can take your nephew and go. I don’t know what happened to that kid’s parents, I don’t know nothing ‘bout how they died or got turned to zombies—”
“Shoot him!” the doctor barked. “Shoot him now!”
Glenn saw a few men shift and start to bring their weapons up. The division was clear, but it was also very lopsided.
“Looks like we got ourselves a predicament,” the major said with a deep sadness etched on his face. “Men, take the weapons of those boys. We will deal with them later. As for the doc and this lab, “I want a team to go inside. If anybody resists or tries to do anything to stop or hinder you,” he glanced over and made sure to lock eyes with Dr. Cha, “then you are authorized to shoot them.”
Glenn had seen enough. “Coming out!” he yelled. Guns turned and were trained on him as he made his way out from his hiding place, stepping carefully over the bodies strewn everywhere.
Twenty minutes later, both he and Cynthia, who refused to let go of the baby, had been escorted to a building that had once been the Moab Valley Inn according to the wooden sign out front. The place was fenced in and well-fortified.
Both were questioned. Glenn’s took longer as he was the one who was able to tell about the house where he had left Kyle and Mel. He got the feeling that he had just uncovered something ugly. Major Delpine had been visibly angry and upset when he had heard that particular part of his account.
At last all the questioning was over and the couple was reunited. They were given a hot meal and asked to please remain for the time being while a few aspects of their story were investigated. That night, just as he was drifting off to sleep with Cynthia in his arms and Baby Xander in a crib that had been stored someplace in one of the hotel storage rooms, he was almost certain that he heard distant gunfire.
He had a lot of questions for his wife, but they could wait for later. He was just glad that they were together, that the baby was safe, and that it looked like there were still some good people left in the world. When they had been eating dinner, Glenn had mentioned that maybe they could think about staying here, but Cynthia had shaken her head. She had not elaborated, so he let it be. Honestly, he didn’t care, just as long as he was with his wife.
***
“Everybody just stop what you are doing and cut down Mr. Miller!” Ronni yelled.
The fact that every single head had turned her way was just a bit disconcerting. Ronni had never liked being the focus of attention. She had never been what you might consider shy, but she was certainly not somebody who sought out the spotlight.
“Ronni, just what do you think that you are doing?” Brett called back. He made a gesture with his arms and the group gathered around him started to spread out.
“I wouldn’t get any ideas,” Ronni warned. “I already reloaded this baby. If you all don’t stop and just keep your hands out where I can see them, I will put one of those nasty little grenades right in the middle of your group.”
“Okay…but then what?” Brett asked. He got a cocky look on his face that Ronni wanted to slap right off.
“It won’t matter after that. A bunch of you will be dead. Maybe I get another shot, or maybe I have to pull my pistol and shoot as many as I can before you take me down, but how many of you are prepared to die?”
“If we die today, then we go to our Lord,” Brett retorted.
Ronni actually laughed out loud and just shook her head. That seemed to make the man angry.
“Just what is so damn funny?”
“I used to hear people say stuff like that in movies or on the television. That was fine for a show, but in real life, it has been my very limited experience that not many people are really all that anxious to just die. These days, I would think that was even more the case than usual. After all, we have made it a year after the zombies came. Some of us have had to do terrible things…some have seen the stuff of nightmares, yet we have all managed to get here…get this far.”
There was a silence for a span of a few heartbeats. Ronni took that moment to get a look at the faces of some of the people that were following Brett.
“You know,” she resumed after nobody else seemed like they were going to say anything, “my dad probably saved you a dozen times. And back at that stupid FEMA center, he offered to take you along with us when we left. Somewhere along the way, you just kind of turned into a dick. Maybe we should have just gone and left when you got nabbed by this place.”
“And what is it that you think is going on here?” Brett took a few steps forward to separate himself from the crowd a little further.
“I think that you and your crazy friends have gone on some religious kick and are acting like idiots.” Ronni brought the grenade launcher up as if to remind Brett of its existence.
“We are trying to save you,” Bret exclaimed. “We are trying to save you and your dad.”
“What makes you think that we need saving?”
“You have been touched by God!”
A peculiar light sparked in the man’s eyes. Ronni had seen a picture of a man on a tee shirt that had that same look. When she had asked her mom who the man on the shirt was and been told it was Charles Manson, she’d had to ask who that was. She had been fascinated and horrified by the answer. It was that same look that she saw in Brett’s eyes at this very moment.
