Watch the World Burn

by Amber White

  “Thanks,” We said, and turned in that direction.

  Pieces of asphalt and flesh littered the ground, growing in size the closer we got to the mass of bodies. We dodged around the unmovable chunks, kicking the smaller ones to the sides to create a path.

  “Need a hand?” Sully asked, pointing to our right.

  A bloody, decayed hand lay a few feet away, its fingers flexing.

  I let out a small laugh. “You’re bad.” I said, shoving him playfully.

  Something thudded into me.

  “You guys are ok!” Billie said with a squeal.

  “Yeah, we’re fine.” I said, hugging her back.

  “Um, Billie? I think you should let her go. She’s turning purple.” Sully said.

  “What?” Billie pulled back, alarmed. She looked at him, saw his smirk, and slapped his arm lightly. “Evil,” She said.

  “Do I get a hug too, or what?” He asked.

  Billie hopped over to him, giving him a giant hug.

  “How are you doing?” I asked Dean, who was standing back, rubbing his arm.

  “Fine,” He said, not looking up.

  “No, really.” I said.

  “It’s just…all this death. All these people here died.”

  “It’s not our fault, bro.” Sully said, pulling him into a one armed hug.

  “I know.” Dean said.

  Sliding up to Dean, I wormed my arms around him, hugging him tight for a brief moment before backing off, linking arms with Billie while we walked down to gate together.

  The smell of rotting flesh was so overpowering, I gagged.

  “This is disgusting.” Billie said, holding her nose. “How are we supposed to clean this up? I mean, actually touching all this…this…I don’t think I could do it without throwing up.”

  “Touching it, I can live with. But I don’t think I’ll ever get this scent out of my nose. It’s like it’s carving a hole into my brain so it can stay with me for the rest of my life.” I said.

  “Oh God, it’s slimy! It’s oozing in my hand!” Sully said, picking up a hunk of flesh and throwing it into a nearby wheelbarrow.

  “The skin is just sliding right off of this one!” Dean said, poking at a bare leg.

  “Hurry up, now. We don’t have all day. We need to get this area cleaned up so we can repair the gate.” A Capitan barked.

  “Think we could get a shovel or something?” Billie asked.

  “All the shovels are currently in use. Just use your hands.” He said.

  Kneeling down, I scooped up a pile of rubble and carried it over to a different wheelbarrow not meant for body parts, letting it fall in a cloud of dust.

  “This is so gross!” Billie said, dropping a charred arm.

  “Why don’t I get the remains, and you pick up anything that didn’t used to be living.” I suggested.

  “Thanks,” She said.

  She was right, it was disgusting. Most of the flesh was still warm, some of it even hot. Every once in a while I’d pick up something that was still twitching. The artillery fire had blasted a crater into the ground a few inches deep. Inside, it was difficult to tell the difference between asphalt, metal, and zombie, everything was so burnt.

  Billie picked up something, thinking it was just rock or cement, dropping it with a scream when she realized it was a head. It had no hair left, and its eyes were gone, but inside its gaping mouth, we could still see blackened teeth. Its skin flaked in my hands as I moved to pick it up, throwing into a wheelbarrow to be taken to a burn pile.

  We were exhausted. Outside the glow of the security lights, the night went on as if nothing had happened. The trees still whispered in the wind, coyotes still howled, the crescent moon still shone weakly in the sky. It was beautiful. At least, it would have been if I wasn’t here- if my friends and I were just hanging out somewhere without all this madness.

  “You ok?” Sully asked, tapping my arm.

  “Huh?” I said, turning to him. “Oh, yeah, I’m just a bit tired.”

  “I’ll get us some water.” He said.

  He came back with four water bottles, and we sat at the edge of the crater, enjoying the cool liquid and the break from constantly bending over.

  Soldiers were still dragging bodies around us, heaving bits of debris from one pile to another. Several broken, burnt zombies had stacked themselves together, probably all trying to get at the same bit of food.

  “NO!” A man screamed. “No, baby, no!”

  He sank to his knees, sobbing into his hands.

  “Let us…” His friend said, trying to get to the body of a woman in military fatigues.

  “NO!” The man screamed again, throwing himself over her.

  He was starting to draw a crowd.

  “We’ve all lost someone,” An officer said.

  “She was my wife!”

  “McManus, get a hold of yourself.” The officer said.

  McManus glowered at him through red, tear filled eyes.

  Even from our angle, I could tell she had been mostly protected from the blast, but her body had been ripped apart by undead hands and teeth. Her face however, was untouched. She was beautiful. She had dark red hair, pale skin, and full, pink lips. Her jaw was soft, but strong. She could have been a model.

  Her mouth fell open, letting a tiny growl escape.

  “Baby, are you ok? Talk to me!” McManus said, grabbing her hand and bringing it to his face. He touched her cheek, and she turned her head to look at him.

  She strained to sit up, making small grunting noises.

  “Don’t try to move, honey.” He said.

  The officer that had yelled at him moved closer, pulling out his service pistol.

  “No! That’s my wife! She needs help!” McManus yelled, catching the movement out of the corner of his eye.

  “Not anymore, she isn’t.” The officer said.

  The gunshot echoed around the entire base.

  Chapter 24

  “What are you all waiting for? Get back to work.” The officer barked.

  Two soldiers hauled McManus away, still crying and screaming.

  It took forever, but the whole group finally cleared out everything too big to be swept away.

  A Capitan was busy ordering the repair crew around when Colonel Colvin came to find us.

  “I wanted to personally thank you kids for helping us. You didn’t have to, but you did. I’ve talked it over with the other JAG officers, and we’ll be moving you to more comfortable accommodations for the night. We still need to work out a few problems, but it looks like you’ll be free to go in the morning.” He said.

  “Thank you.” I said.

  “Thanks,” My friends chorused.

  “What about Leon?” I asked.

  Colonel Colvin frowned. “He tried to escape during the siege; tried to pull a gun on a private. He was shot.”

  “What about his daughter?”

  “She was left in her cell.”

  “What?” We asked, shocked.

  “That filthy, low down, no good bastard,” I said.

  “What’s going to happen to her?” Billie asked.

  “She says she has no remaining family, so she’ll remain here for safe keeping.”

  We were speechless. In this whole messed up world, when people were praying to see their family again, he abandoned his child.

  “I assume you four will want to get cleaned up. I’ll show you to your quarters, and have someone deliver you food and fresh clothes. Follow me.” He said.

  He led us to a small building filled with rows of very comfortable looking cots.

  “This used to be one of the barracks we used for smaller teams. No one sleeps in here anymore, so it’s all yours. You’ll be locked in, but you should be much more comfortable. There are showers and toilets in the back.”

  “Thank you Colonel.” I said.

  He nodded and smiled. “A private will be here shortly with clothes and food.”

  While the Colo
nel marched back outside, locking the door behind him, my friends and I made a beeline for the bathroom. It had an individual shower stall for every bed, and just as many toilet stalls on the other side. White tiles lined the floor and walls. It reminded me of the showers in the girls’ locker room at our high school.

  “I wonder where they keep the towels.” Dean said.

  “I’m more worried about soap.” Billie said.

  I opened a couple steel lockers next to the showers and said “You mean something like these?”

  One locker was stuffed with clean towels; the other had enough boxes of soap bars to wash the whole damn base.

  “Don’t touch the towels yet. Our hands are filthy.” Billie said, walking over to a sink and completely covering her hands in borax.

  “You’re right.” Sully said, joining her.

  Bits of dead flesh and hot asphalt still stuck to our hands, dirt and blood spotted our arms. The cool water and abrasive borax felt good against my skin, washing away the physical signs of what had happened, but couldn’t make my hands stop shaking.

  “Whatever.” I mumbled, turning off the faucet and grabbing a wad of paper towels.

  “You ok?” Billie asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, forcing a smile.

  Truth was, I wasn’t ok. Seeing that guy crying over the dead body of his wife, and her coming back, attacking him, had gotten to me. One day, that might be one of us.

  The shower was amazing. The water was warm, the soap cleansing, and the towel soft. I walked back to the bunks with my friends, all of us wrapped in our towels, our clothes left in a big basket.

  “Where’s that private with our food? I’m starving.” Sully said.

  We heard the door unlock and watched it swing open, revealing a girl about our age carrying a food tray and another girl behind her with a stack of clothes.

  “We only have MRE’s and fresh Hot Chocolate for tonight. I hope that’s ok.” The first girl said.

  “That’s more than ok.” Billie said.

  “Here are some clothes for you. They should all fit.” The second girl said.

  The camouflage pants and tan t-shirt we each got were a little loose, but comfortable and clean. We changed into them quickly and devoured the food, relaxing into our beds. We were so exhausted that we fell asleep as soon as our heads touched our pillows.

  Six AM was announced with the morning bugle Reveille, sending me, Billie, and Dean to sit bolt upright in our bunks, Sully flailing to the ground, startled out of a deep sleep. I cackled at him.

  “Gee, thanks.” He grumbled.

  “You should have seen yourself,” I said, giggling.

  “You should see yourself right now.” He said, smirking at me.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “Go look in a mirror, hair ball.” He said.

  I peered at myself in a bathroom mirror. He was right, I looked ridiculous. My hair was knotted and clumped, sticking up at weird angles all around my head, giving me a burgundy halo. I shook with laughter, suddenly feeling more than just a little slap happy.

  I walked back to my bed, still chuckling and slowly started to work my fingers through my hair, trying to get it to smooth out.

  “Oh, here,” Billie said, coming to kneel on my bed.

  She yanked on my hair, making me gasp.

  “Ouch,” I said, holding the back of my head.

  “Sorry, but I’m trying to comb out this huge knot.” She said.

  “With what comb?” I asked.

  “This one,” She said, showing me a small black fine-toothed comb in her palm.

  “Where did you get that?” I asked.

  “In the supply closet,” She said

  Though painful, Billie managed to get my hair untangled and decent looking fairly quickly. Just as she was finishing up, the door to our barracks unlocked and Meyer stepped inside.

  “I’m here to show you to the mess hall for breakfast.” He said.

  We slipped on our shoes and followed him out, suddenly very hungry.

  Outside, the sun shone sporadically through plumes of smoke. The air was rancid, smelling of burnt flesh and tar.

  “Sorry about the smell,” Meyer said. “We’re still burning the bodies of the infected.”

  We followed him through the maze of buildings and vehicles, some stained with blood and ash, others were riddled with bullet holes.

  Inside the mess hall, people stared at us as we passed, stopping in their tracks to gape at us and whisper to one another behind their hands.

  “Don’t mind them,” Meyer told us loudly. The soldiers within earshot quickly lowered their gaze, but kept whispering.

  Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, and coffee. It was the first real food we’d had in who knew how long. It was fabulous. We were almost finished when Colonel Colvin stood at the end of our table, smiling.

  “Good news,” He said. “You four are welcome to stay as long as you want.”

  “Can we get our weapons back, and maybe get our truck too?” I asked.

  His smile faltered, “I’m afraid not.”

  “Well then, could we be given special access to a few of the weapons here on base, so I can help Dean and Billieimprove their aim? We wouldn’t object to being supervised while we had them.” I said.

  “I’m sure we could arrange that. Give me a day to see what I can do.” He said.

  “Thank you, Colonel.” We said, forcing our own smiles.

  “I’m not sure I want to stay here,” Dean said once he had left.

  “Me too. I don’t think they like us very much.” Billie said.

  “But we’re safe here.” Sully said.

  “There’s no harm in staying a day or two,” I said. “If you guys still don’t like it, we’ll leave.”

  Chapter 25

  After breakfast was over, everyone gathered around the flagpole outside, standing at attention while the bugle boy played Taps and the flag was lowered to half-mast. I found myself thinking of the woman lying dead, her husband crying over her. I closed my eyes, balling my hands into fists, silently wishing the tears welling up would just go away. Images of our lives just a few months ago flash behind my eyelids, branding themselves into my vision. Sully pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his cheek against the back of my head. Billie took one of my hands, Dean, the other, both working their fingers through mine, both shaking with tears of their own.

  “You must have lost a lot of people dear to you.” A strange voice said.

  I jumped, my eyes snapping open. It was an older man, a Commander, by the looks of his uniform, with steel gray hair, dark eyes, and a lined face.

  I just nodded in response.

  “I’m Commander Russell. You four are the ones we brought in as prisoners, yes?” He said.

  “Yeah,” Sully said.

  “And you willingly helped us during the attack?”

  “Yes.”

  “That took some guts, helping us. You did the Military a great service, saved a lot of lives. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I understand you want access to our firing range and some weapons.”

  “We do.” I said.

  “My sister and I need to work on our aim.” Dean said.

  “When you’re ready, talk to the Range Master; tell him I give you permission to use any weapons, for as long as you need.”

  “Thank you, Sir.” I said.

  The Commander nodded and walked off, leaving us suddenly alone.

  “Can we go back to the, umm, what do you call it?” Billie asked.

  “The barrack?” I asked.

  “Yeah, that. Can we go back there for a while? I’m not really in the right state of mind to be handling a gun right now.” She said.

  “Yeah, me neither.” Dean said.

  I sprawled out across my bed, trying to chase away the emotions boiling under my skin.

  “You have to keep
yourself together,” I thought again and again.

  The sky outside the windows slowly cleared and darkened into the bright blue of afternoon.

  “I need to shoot something.” I said.

  “What?” Dean asked.

  “I need to shoot something. It might make us all feel better. Let’s go find the range.” I said.

  Outside, I asked for directions from the first person I saw; she pointed us to a section of the base we hadn’t been in before. It was dusty, the small metal targets, set up at different distances from the shooting area, were dented and dirty.

  “You the kids who wanted to do some firearm training?” A smooth male voice asked.

  “Yes, Sir.” I said, looking around for the owner of that voice.

  A man in his thirties stepped out from the shade of a small shed. His dirty blond hair was cropped short, his dull green eyes flashing in the light.

  “Well, I have a few weapons for you to use.” He said, indicating a table inside the shed. It was laden with pistols, rifles, machine guns, and a mountain of ammo.

  “Is that an M-16?” I asked, pointing to the streamlined black long gun.

  “It sure is.” He said.

  “Hey, that looks like the one you were carrying.” Dean said, pointing to a Colt .45.

  “Colt .45,” The range master said. “It’s a good handgun.”

  “Yeah, I just wish I could have it back.” I said.

  “If what I was told is correct, that one is yours.” He said.

  I picked it up, fingering the cool metal; the familiar weight in my hand.

  “Don’t get any ideas. It’s going back in the armory when you’re done.” He said.

  “Even though it belongs to her, and not you guys?” Sully asked.

  “I don’t make the rules.” The range master said, shrugging.

  We picked our preferred guns out, Billie and Dean each getting one similar to the ones we had packed away in our truck, and the range master went over safety and rules of the range, finally letting us have at it after he watched us load, unload, and reload our weapons.

  Aside from the blasts of gunfire and the pings of the bullets hitting their mark, it was blissfully quiet. The twins were learning quickly, their aim improving a great deal in just half an hour; by the time all the bullets were spent, they were both hitting a near bull’s-eye every single shot. I had even impressed the range master with my own marksmanship.

  I was tempted to take back my Colt when we were through, but the range master pried it from my fingers, tucking it safely into the bag he used to carry the other guns with.

  Dinner that night was by far the best thing we had to eat since we left home: Steak, with all the fixings, and our fill of coffee, milk, and ice cold water. I had moaned with pleasure at the first bite, my friends following suit. Every morsel was heaven in our mouths.