Abby sat back on the couch and put both hands on her knees. “Wow, we’re not the only ones that changed a lot. You’re willing to take responsibility for all this? That’s not the same man I remember walking out the door on his way to war with hardly a goodbye for any of us.”
Chaz paused for a moment and looked up. “That’s not a moment I’m particularly proud of. Over the years I’ve learned that there was a better way of handling that. If I can get you all to give me another chance, I won’t walk out on this family ever again. I know that’s a lot to ask, but I really mean it.
“I don’t know if that’s even possible anymore, Chaz. The kids seem so far gone, and Caius keeps pushing me further and further away. He won’t even make the time to talk with Shax and she was the one person I’d always thought he’d stand by. I’m really worried about him. He’s not making the best of choices. He’s associating with that revolutionary faction, the Freeze.”
“I’ve never heard of them, but I’m still catching up on things. You’d be surprised what you miss in six years.”
“I’m serious, Chaz. I’m really worried about him. Someone needs to reach him. Maybe you could. There’s a lot of anger to get through, but so much of that is because he didn’t have a real father growing up. If you’re willing to be patient with his hatred and listen to him, he might just let you in. That would be so great.”
“Yeah, I could do that. Taking abuse is not really my strong suit, but I owe you all at least that much.”
“Wow, this is great. Maybe we do have a chance, and now that you’re not in the military anymore you’ll truly have time for this. The kids hate the military. They don’t know it like we did when we were young. They just blame it for all our problems, and for taking their father away. I can’t say I was too fond of it in the end.”
Chaz sat back and stared at the wall. “OK, um, that might be difficult. I do have one more thing to do, and it’s kind of military related. There’s this one mission they …”
Abby just gave him a blank stare. “You’re kidding, right? You left the military years ago. The last time we talked, you said you were done. Why would you be doing anything with them?”
“They didn’t tell you how I ended up in a coma? After we talked, there was this friend I had to help out, and it kind of ended up being a military sort of thing.”
“Kind of military? If there’s one thing I learned during my stint in the army, it’s that it either is or it isn’t. There’s no in between. There’s no ‘kind of.’”
“You’re right, it was. But, that doesn’t matter now. They told me I could keep you guys out of prison and they’d drop the charges against me if I did this for them.”
“Charges against you? For what?”
“Desertion, mainly. It doesn’t matter now. What’s important is we could have a chance together. All of us.”
“There’s always something with you. I don’t know, Chaz. Maybe this is a bad idea. Some things just aren’t meant to be. It never dawned on me that we wouldn’t be doing prison time. It just didn’t seem possible. Now, with this group showing an interest in Caius, it might be better if he just stayed locked up. At least in here you know who you’re dealing with. Those revolutionaries are scary. If they have their way, we could all be back to war again. Then what?”
Chaz tried to make eye contact with Abby. “It doesn’t have to be that way. If I can just spend some time and talk with him …”
“And how exactly are you going to do that when you’re chasing this one last mission? How do you know they’ll even hold up their part of the bargain? How do you know there won’t be another mission after this one? They could drag this out forever.”
Chaz pleaded, “Abby, they won’t. This comes from high up. I can’t say much, but trust me, they’ll do their part.”
Abby stood up and crossed the room. “Honestly, Chaz, this doesn’t sound right. This is all starting to bring back bad memories. You tried fixing us before and look how that turned out. You do what you think you have to do, and we’ll do what we have to do.”
Abby walked to the door and knocked for the guard.
Chaz asked, “Abby, what does that mean? Don’t leave it like this. We can figure this out.”
The guard opened the door, and Abby rushed out without even looking back.
No Doubt
Chaz was lost in his thoughts on the car ride back to the fort. I really wish this guy would let me do the driving back to the fort. At least I’d have something to take my mind off things. It was great to see Abby again, at least for the first few minutes. Our conversations always seem to start off great, but then turn to shit at the least little problem. It’s just one more mission, then we can be done with all this and get back together again. Why doesn’t she see it that way? Is it really that difficult? The kids never make anything easy. It’s always some sort of added problem. We’ve always had a hard enough time just working out our issues. Once you throw the kids into the mix, it becomes impossible. I suppose they’re not really kids anymore. They’re practically adults. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that. Maybe once I spend some time with them I’ll be able to look at them that way. Right now, it just seems too strange.
Chaz looked out the window. They were just passing through some farm fields and coming up to a town. He’d missed the name, but he figured they were about halfway there.
“How much further to go?” he asked the driver.
“We’ve got about an hour, but I have to pick up someone else first.”
“Someone else? What are we, the local transit authority? Who are we picking up?”
“No idea, sir. I just have orders to stop at the Hills Motel on the outskirts of town and wait. It’s just up ahead.”
“This ride just keeps getting stranger and stranger.”
They pulled into the parking lot of the motel and waited. No one approached the car right away. They were parked facing the main road, but not much traffic passed by. Five minutes later, a man in dark pants and a golf shirt approached the car. Before he got too close, the driver rolled down his window and said,
“Is there something I can help you with, sir?”
The man kept walking closer and answered in a gravelly voice, “I’ve got a message for Colonel Chaz Sheperd. Any idea where I can find him?”
“Yes, sir,” the driver said as he got out of the car and opened the rear door for the man, motioning him inside.
The man took a seat and told the driver to wait outside as he closed the door. As Chaz and the man shook hands, he said, “My name’s Rabban. I’m the cultural grievances adviser to the regent, but it looks like today I’m just a messenger.”
Chaz smiled and remarked, “I thought the regent got all her advice from a fancy computer. Why would she need you?”
“My position is somewhat unofficial in nature, but quite necessary. Let’s just say computers are great at a lot of things, but when it comes down to people problems they need a little extra help.”
“I see, so you’re a people person.”
“Something like that.” Rabban smiled back.
“So what’s the message, Rabban? What’s so important that you need to meet me in a motel parking lot in the middle of nowhere?”
“There have been some new developments in the mission.”
Chaz turned and looked out the side window. “Yeah, about that mission. I’ve been having some second thoughts, and I’m not so sure I’m the right guy for the job.”
“That would be unfortunate, Colonel. I’m not sure you’re objectively considering the circumstances. After you’ve heard what I have to say, you may change your mind.”
Chaz shrugged. “Go on.”
“It would seem there’s a potential lead on your old girlfriend Christa.”
Chaz rolled his eyes.
Rabban continued, “One of our body disposal ships disappeared in the Gulf of Mexico. It missed its appointed delivery in New Orleans, and the search crews haven’t had any luck find
ing it. The crews did some digging into satellite surveillance pictures from the area and found some rather disturbing images.” Rabban passed a folder of pictures to Chaz and continued, “You’ll notice some of the images from a few days ago show four people on deck. The crew manifest only lists three individuals working that ship. One human captain, and two zombie workers. We identified the two zombies on board through bio scanning of the images; the fat guy is the captain. The fourth person looks like a young girl. Her face doesn’t match any in our database, but time-phased images of what Christa would look like now match.”
“There are probably thousands of kids that would match that description. Why would you even suggest it could be her?”
“Notice anything in common with all those pictures?”
Chaz flipped through, giving them all a closer look. “The girl seems to have no interaction with the rest of the crew. They all talk or interact with each other, except for the girl. It’s like they’re totally ignoring her. Like she’s not even there. Maybe they don’t like her.”
Rabban pulled at his bottom lip. “The guy running that boat is Captain Willie Molinere. Bit of a hard-luck case. He’s not fond of people in general, but he does have a rap sheet for harassing young girls. Usually just waitresses and strippers. Not likely he’d miss our friend here. At the very least there should be some pictures of him giving her dirty looks from behind. Instead, it’s like he doesn’t even know she’s there.”
Chaz looked more closely at the pictures. “You’re right. She’s standing right next to him. How can he not see her? She’s looking at him, but he’s more concerned with the other two.”
“Exactly. There’s something different about her. We don’t know what, but if it’s Christa we’ve got a really big problem.”
Rabban passed the final picture to Chaz. It showed a gutted Captain Willie sprawled over the deck, with the girl and one of the zombies yelling at each other.
“If this is what we think it is, if one of those zombies killed Willie, their controller, then we have the makings of a major disaster on our hands. Really major. It’s apocalyptic, warmongering, riots in the streets, government toppling shit. We haven’t had a zombie attack in six years. Not since the war ended. This entire country’s economic growth and development is based on a master-slave relationship with these doped-up zombies. The guy on the rescue team that was looking for this boat and his entire department that found this image for us are now in double confinement in that prison you just left. This is serious stuff. We cannot let this get out. We need the people and the zombies that were on that boat, and we need them now.”
Chaz shifted in his seat. “Maybe you need more than just a couple of guys tracking this down.”
Rabban ran his fingers through his hair. “You heard what I just said, right? Nobody else can know about this. If it were up to me, you’d be doing this solo without your sidekick Alex. The regent agreed to you taking him because he has a history with the girl. She thinks he could be helpful once you find her, but he’s a liability in my mind.”
Chaz sighed as Rabban opened the door. “There’s no time for indecision here, Colonel. We’ll need a progress report in twenty-four hours, and every six hours after that.” As Rabban stepped out of the car he said to the driver, “Move your ass, son. That man’s on a mission and he needs to get home.”
Reunited
Chaz waited all alone for his old friend in the conference room of the military wing at Fort Knox. I’m not sure how to break this to him exactly. I know he’s going to be unsure at first, but I owe it to him to help him out of this mess. There’s no way I can just leave that kid all alone sweeping floors for the rest of his life. He needs to get out and do some good. He’s a fighter and a survivor who’s just run into a tough spot. I’m sure that once he gets a chance to prove to himself what he’s capable of he’ll come back around.
Chaz heard a knock, and the door to the conference room opened. Matt held open the door as Alex followed him in.
Alex smiled upon seeing him. “Hey, Chaz, where you been? Haven’t seen you for a few days.”
Chaz got up to pull out a chair and motioned to Alex to have a seat. Matt nodded at Chaz and gave him a smile. “Nice to see you up and about again. Try not to overdo things too much. Your right leg still looks a bit stiff. You’re still doing the exercises I gave you, right?”
Rubbing his leg, Chaz answered, “Yes, sir, Doc. Every day just like you taught me.”
Matt smiled and walked towards the door. “It’s a good thing you’re doing here, Colonel. Just hope it’s nothing too strenuous for either of you.”
Matt left, and Alex took the seat next to Chaz.
“What’s he talking about, Colonel?”
Rubbing his stubbly face, Chaz replied, “Well, Alex, there’s this little thing I need to do, and I was hoping you could help me out. It could get a bit strenuous, but I figure it would be good for the both of us to get out and stretch our legs some.”
“I don’t know, Colonel. I’m pretty busy these days. One of the guys on our staff got transferred out the other day, and we’re all picking up extra shifts. I don’t think the general would let me go too far. Do we have to leave the fort? He’s been pretty adamant about keeping me here for as long as he can.”
“You don’t need to worry too much about the general on this one. I’ve kind of gone over his head for this exercise. He’d be glad to let you go for a while, and I’m sure your department can find someone else to pick up the slack.”
Alex’s right eye started twitching off and on. “I don’t know, Colonel. I’m getting pretty used to the work here, and it’s not such a bad place. As long as I keep my distance from the general I have some pretty good days.”
Chaz pulled his chair closer to Alex and looked him in the eye.
“We need to find Christa, son. I think she’s in some trouble and could use our help. I know what happened the last time we tried helping her, but this is different. It looks like she may have gotten tangled up with some really nasty folks and could be in over her head.”
Alex didn’t say anything, but started rubbing his right eye.
“Alex, I know what happened when we were all last together. I know it may seem like she left us in a bad spot, and things didn’t go well for either of us after that. Especially for you. I know that. Matt told me what happened with your dad and everything. That stuff never should have happened to you. To anyone. Certainly, you shouldn’t have had to go through it alone. If it makes you feel any better, I believe Christa was trying to protect us. I think she knew what they had in mind for her, and she knew we’d get dragged into it pretty good if she stayed with us.”
Alex looked up. “I got dragged into things pretty good even without her!”
Chaz leaned back to listen. “Do you really think she did me a favor? She destroyed my entire life. I have no family. I have no friends. I have no life. All I have is the work I do here. I know it’s not much being a stinking janitor, but someone has to keep the place clean. So, why not me?”
Chaz nodded. “You can ask her that when we find her. You deserve to get some answers, and she’s the only one that can tell you why she did what she did. I could be totally wrong, but I think she’ll tell you. You two always had a connection. You looked out for each other and me when we fought our way here. I’d never have made it without you two. You owe it to yourself to at least ask her.”
Alex got up and paced around the room for a few minutes. Chaz didn’t say anything. Alex’s eye twitch got worse, but the walking seemed to calm him down. Eventually he came back and sat down next to Chaz.
“I’ll go,” he said. “I’ll do it.”
Chaz nodded his approval. “Great. That’s good. It’ll be good for the both of us to get out of here for a while. It’s been too long.”
Alex got up and started to head for the door. “I’ll just tell my boss they’ll need someone else to fill in for me for a while.”
“Right, that’s a good idea.
I should start prepping things as well.”
Just before Alex headed out the door, he turned and said, “You know, Chaz, I really haven’t missed her. Not at all. I’ve never felt alone all these years, because she always been here.” He raised his index finger to his head. “She talks to me all the time. Christa does.”
Three Zombies and A Dinghy
The dingy was making good time across the Gulf. Luckily the weather held, and the storm didn’t start until they were nearing Gulf Shores just south of Mobile Bay. It was dark, and there wasn’t much traffic, so they weren’t likely to be noticed. The trip had been pretty quiet amongst the three of them until Andreas broke the silence.
“I remember you being inside my head, but not being able to do anything about it. You were distant, and you weren’t making any sense. How did you do that?”
“I’ve had the ability to hear all of you ever since I matured. Mutating is what the scientists called it. I used to be a zombie, but then I developed certain abilities … like being able to talk to you inside your head, and hear what was going on in yours.”
“That’s pretty crazy. Do you know what I’m thinking now?”
“No. Thank goodness.”
Andreas frowned. “What do you mean by that? I wasn’t thinking anything dirty about you or anything.”
Christa rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant. When you’re under the control of the Pacize drug, your mind eventually starts to go nuts. You have no control over your body and you have all these urges you want to act on but can’t. Your mind is constantly screaming in pain. I can hear that. From all of you. Every time I come near one of you I hear all that pain. It gets excruciating for me. At first it almost drove me mad, but I learned to partially block it out. I can’t do it for long though; it’s tiring.”
Awakening: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction Page 6
