As they walked to the end of the bridge, the crowd of zombies did indeed part before them. Just like the colonel had said. The zombies were aware of them. They turned and watched them, but kept their distance as they got onto the main road. The horde was more interested in the few remaining pigs. It was like they were strangers in a crowd.
"In all my years fighting these damn creatures, I've never seen anything like this before. I don't know if I'm relieved, or scared shitless of that thing perched on your shoulders."
"She's fine, Colonel. You worry too much."
"Yeah, too much worry for sure. That's why I'm still alive. Just to relieve my worry a bit, why don't you and Princess Zombie there take the lead. I'll keep an eye on her from behind."
Alex smiled. He reached up, grabbed Christa, and set her down feet first. The two of them led the way, with Chaz following safely behind.
I'm Not Having Kids
There was no need to head into the woods or back roads for cover. Instead, they continued marching down the middle of the road in plain sight. Whenever the odd zombie wandered into view, they kept their distance. For several hours, Alex and Christa led the way and Chaz continued following.
Alex turned his head to the side. "It's great, the zombies aren't interested, but walking on foot is taking us forever."
"I don't mind walking," Christa replied. "It's nice here, outside the city."
Chaz caught up with them, and joined in. "I suppose we'll come across a vehicle at some point. With the number of zombies passing this way, we're bound to come across some wreckage of a life. And maybe they abandoned their vehicle for us. Not everyone has their own lucky Princess Zombie to charm their way through the onslaught."
"I'm not a zombie! I'm just a kid. I don't know why those things left us alone. Maybe it's just because you smell so bad. And you're ugly. I bet that's what it is. They just think you're too ugly and smelly to eat."
"Yeah right, kid, you go on believing that."
"C'mon, Colonel, give her a break. It's not her fault, what happened."
"It's not our fault either, but we’re the ones dealing with it. We're the adults here, and as it often turns out, it doesn't matter who or what makes the mess. It's always us that get stuck with the dirty job of making things right."
"That's pretty pessimistic, don't you think, sir? It's really just a matter of perspective."
"Things are what they are, regardless of what I think. That's just reality. Wearing rose-colored glasses won't make me feel peachy or change anything. Freak killing machines are still killing machines. They're coming after me regardless of how I feel about it."
"I suppose, but how we react to things is part of being human. It separates us from them. I mean, just think what would have happened if we left Christa behind at the bus. Where would we be now? It's not just about what's real, but more about the decisions we make. And those decisions are entirely based upon our beliefs. Don't ya think?"
Chaz remained silent, and walked faster to separate himself from the other two. He'd had enough talk for one day.
Alex and Christa trudged along together silently, but Alex could see that something was on her mind. She wrapped her hair around her finger, let it uncurl, then wrapped it again, over and over. Every once in a while, she'd look up at Alex, start to open her mouth, then just stare down at her feet. Alex didn't say anything, he just waited. Finally, the silence was too much. Christa stopped playing with her hair, and looked directly up at Alex.
"Why doesn't he like me? What did I do? I didn't caused any trouble. Not really. I wanted to let you guys on the bus earlier, but the other kids were scared. I don't understand. I've been really good."
"Ahh, don't let him get to you. He's not all that bad, he's just being careful. He's not a trusting person. Fighting wars for years makes you hard. It shakes your faith in people. At least he still trusts himself. Believe me, if that ever stops we're in trouble. He's a good soldier, and he'll get us where we need to be one way or the other."
"I don't understand what I was before, or how I changed, but I'm not evil. I feel sad when people are mad at me."
Alex smiled, and tousled her hair. She straightened it, and returned his smile.
"Don't worry, I like you. I'm not mad at you. The colonel isn't either. Trust me. That's just how he is. I mean look, he's even walking in front of us now. At least he trusts you enough to turn his back on you. That's progress, wouldn't you say?"
"I suppose." Christa displayed a sneaky smile. "Now it'd be easier for me to sneak up and give him a good scare. What do you think? Should I sneak up from behind and pounce? That'd be funny!"
"Ahhh, I wouldn't do that quite yet. I don't think he likes surprises. Plus, he may look old, but his reflexes are surprisingly fast."
"Ha! I was just kiddin' around. He probably hates all kids anyways."
"I'm pretty sure that's not the case. He has kids of his own."
"I find that hard to believe. Did he hate them too?"
"I don't think he hates his kids. He doesn't like to talk about them. I heard him say a few things in his sleep. Nothing too coherent, mostly just sad things. Like how he misses them."
"Are they dead?"
"Not really sure. They were pretty young when he left, and his wife never approved. I think they left the country."
"She left, and took his kids? I wouldn't like that. I'd miss my dad."
"War has a way of separating people. He probably didn't want to leave them, but when you've been a soldier for as long as he has, you don't know how to do anything else."
"Wow, that's so sad. His kids probably miss him a lot. I bet they're still alive. Somewhere."
"Maybe. That would be the best case, I suppose."
"He'll find them someday."
"I think he's stopped looking. Who knows if they're still looking for him?"
"I bet they are. Kids wouldn't give up on finding their parents. They're kids! I'd keep looking."
"I think you're probably about the same age as his kids. That's gotta stir up memories for him. Maybe that's why he's hard on you."
"Nah, that would be good for him. I'd bring back good memories. He needs me, he just doesn't know it yet. Once he gets used to me, he'll like me more. Then he'll start looking for his kids again. Once we get done with this trip. Right?"
"Yeah, sure, that could happen."
Big Game Hunting
Chaz stopped and reached for his binoculars. The others caught up.
"What do you see, Colonel?" said Alex.
"Some vehicles up ahead. First good news of the day."
"Great, anything that looks salvageable?"
"Salvageable for sure. I'm not sure what they're doing there though."
"What do you mean?"
"They're military vehicles. Three of them in total. They look abandoned, which makes me a little nervous. Let's get closer and see what's going on."
They got within a couple hundred yards and stopped. They could make out the vehicles, but there was no sign of people. One was an ambulance, the second was a personnel carrier, and the third an armored unit with a machine-gun turret. They were just stopped in the middle of the road. Chaz scanned the area with the binoculars.
"See anything, or anyone, Colonel?"
"The vehicles are from Fort Knox. I can see their insignia on the side of the ambulance. I don't see any people though. Not sure why they're just abandoned there. It can't be good. Wait a sec. I think I saw the canvas move on the personnel carrier."
"Maybe just the wind."
"Yeah, maybe. Let's check for sure."
They approached the trio of vehicles with weapons ready. Even Christa had a knife, but kept well back from the other two.
"Keep an eye behind us, Christa. Speak up if you hear or see anything," Alex ordered.
The first vehicle in the caravan was the armored unit. The driver’s-side door was open, and there were bullet casings lying around the turret. Chaz approached the driver’s-side door, and cautiousl
y poked his head in. He couldn't quite see into the back of the vehicle where the turret gunner would have stood.
"Alex, get the other door; I'm going into the back."
Alex opened the passenger door. They both leaned in, weapons aiming into the back. Nothing stirred, nothing moved. The back was empty. The smell of machine-gun fire was still in the air.
"There were people here not that long ago, sir."
"Yeah, but where the hell are they now? Why would they just desert their vehicles?"
As they climbed out of the truck, they heard the noise of the canvas flapping coming from the rear of the caravan.
"You hear that, sir?"
"Yep, let's move back and check it out."
They moved down opposite sides of the ambulance. It appeared empty, but all the doors were locked. They kept moving back. Low moans came from the carrier as they got closer. Both front seats were empty.
"This is bad, Colonel. Where is everyone?"
They reached the rear of the carrier simultaneously. Alex trained his gun on the rear as Chaz reached for the canvas door flap. Just then, Christa's screams shattered the silence. Alex and Chaz both looked at each other with that "I-thought-she-was-with-you" look.
Alex spoke first. "I told her to hang back, just in case things got out of hand. I didn't realize she was that far back. Which direction was that scream from?"
They both looked in the direction of the scream, but there was no sign of Christa. The second scream came from Chaz's side of the road. They sprinted down the roadside.
"Alex, keep your eye on the woods, scan the ditch."
They both saw her at the same time. She was just down the road, desperately trying to climb her way out of a drainage ditch. She was panicking and not making any headway. When they reached her, it was obvious what had gotten her so upset. The ditch was full of corpses. Some were zombies, but a lot weren't. The human corpses wore military uniforms. Chaz recognized a couple of medical-officer insignias amongst the dead. The ditch was at least eight feet deep, and the walls were steep and muddy. Alex slid down and grabbed a hold of Christa. She reciprocated, and held on to him for dear life. Her whole body shook.
"Christa, it's alright. They can't hurt you. They're all dead. You're going to be fine."
"I know, I know," she cried between sobs. "But I thought I saw one moving in the pile. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into trouble. I was just looking over the edge, I wanted to see what was down here. I slipped in the mud. It's loose over there." She point to the spot where Alex had slid in.
"It's alright, we're gonna get you out of here." Alex joined his hands together. "Here, let me boost you up."
Chaz lay down in the weeds at the ditch edge, and reached an arm to help her up. As Alex boosted her, Chaz was easily able to lift her small frame up and out of the ditch. He didn't say a word, but shook his head as they briefly made eye contact. Once she was up, Chaz offered his arm to help Alex.
"Hang on a second, Colonel, I want to check things out."
"Careful there, son. She said she saw something moving." He nodded to where Christa had indicated.
Alex approached the corpses. The zombie corpses had a mesh entwined amongst them. He poked at it with his semi, then tried pulling the mesh away, but it was all entangled around the corpses. It was pretty tangled.
"Colonel, there's some kind of netting mixed in with the corpses. I think it's a hunting net, like you'd use for catching big game. The military don’t use hunting nets, do they? This is really weird. It's like they were trying to hunt a bunch of zombies with a net. Like they were trying to catch them alive. Why would anyone want to capture live zombies?"
"I don't know, son, maybe research, but let's just get you out of there. We still need to see who's in the back of that carrier. They may need our help."
"Yes, sir, let's do that. Just what my day needs is a little more excitement."
Zombie Convoy
Chaz motioned for Alex to come back, and lay down to offer him a hand. Alex grabbed it, and worked himself up the slippery slope.
"Let's check that carrier now. Christa, you follow Alex. Stay right behind him. We don't need any more diversions today. The first two vehicles are empty, so we need to check out the last one. Stay close; we need to know where you are."
Christa nodded in agreement.
As they approached the carrier, the sounds were more pronounced. Nothing intelligible, but more persistent and desperate than before. Given the guttural sounds, whatever was inside couldn't be human. As Chaz pulled back the canvas covering, Christa stepped back. Inside were a half dozen makeshift cots in place of benches. On each cot was a zombie in varying degrees of agitation. One wasn't moving at all. Most looked groggy, but the two up at the front were frantic. Leather straps kept them all restrained to their cots. Straps bound their wrists, ankles, foreheads, chests, and upper legs. Whoever had done this wasn't taking any chances. Even stranger was that each cot had an intravenous bag feeding into the arm of each zombie. The bags of the two frantic zombies were both empty. They almost tore their straps once they saw Chaz and Alex.
Chaz pulled both sides of the canvas and secured them open. "What in hell is going on here! Since when does the US military capture live damn zombies?"
"I'd say right now, sir. I think it's a sedative in those intravenous bags. I'd say a couple of them need a refill."
"Yeah, well, I've got half a mind to just put a bullet through the whole group of them and be done with it."
"I don't know, sir. That may not be the best idea. Someone wants these things alive, and they've gone to a lot of trouble."
"A lot of trouble, and a lot of wasted lives, based on what we saw in that ditch. This is incredibly risky. Why would they be doing this?"
"I'd guess some kind of research experiment?"
Chaz nodded in agreement. "If the stories we've heard from Atlanta are true, then that's exactly what's going on here. These are Fort Knox vehicles, so there must be research going on there. The rumors are true."
"The question is, sir, what are we going to do with them? I'm assuming we're taking at least one of these vehicles. Should we take more?"
"Yes, definitely. I'm done walking for a while. Driving will get us there quicker. As much as I like the firepower of the turret truck, I'm not sure we need it. I don't really want to, but I think we need to take these freaks with us."
Christa stepped into the truck, and the two frantic zombies settled right down. She walked right to the front of the truck.
Alex leaned protectively towards Christa. "Easy, Christa, these two are a little upset. I don't think you want to be standing so close."
"It's OK, Alex, they won't hurt me."
"Really? How do you know that? They likely haven't fed in a while, and were pretty pissed just a few seconds ago."
"I know, but look. They're happy now. They won't hurt me. They can't."
Chaz shook his head. "Happy. You think they're happy now? And yes, they can hurt you. I've seen these monsters rip bindings before. You need to step back off the truck."
"They won't. I know they won't."
Alex guided Christa back off the truck, and Chaz followed them. As soon as the back cover closed, the two zombies starting moaning and thrashing about again.
"Alright, son, here's what we're going to do. I'd really like to take the ambulance and the turret truck. But something tells me the folks at Fort Knox would much rather see these drugged-up zombies show up at their door. They've sacrificed a lot of their men to get this far, so it's obviously important to them."
"Sure, that makes sense. I really don't want to drive this carrier with those things thrashing around in the back for hours."
"Neither do I. We could sit Christa back with them. She seems to calm them down pretty good. I don't much trust her alone with them, but it would get us there in one piece."
"No damn way, sir! Sorry, sir, but you can't lock a little girl in the back of a moving truck filled with starving zo
mbies. Are you nuts?"
"A little. Don't be so sure she's just a girl. We still don't know what she is, but I'm betting it's not human."
"Damn, Chaz, she can hear you."
Christa looked away from the men, wandered further away, then plunked herself down in the middle of the road with her back turned.
"I don't want her locked in the back with those things. Let me see if I can find anything in the ambulance to help. Maybe there's more of those IV bags we could hook up. Those dead soldiers wouldn't have driven all the way home with a truck full of frantic zombies lunging for their throats."
"Good idea. Go check."
The ambulance was still locked, but a few blows with the butt of his semi and Alex had the door open. He squeezed between the front seats, climbed over a divider and made his way into the rear. It was loaded with medical supplies. He rummaged around cabinets and drawers, not finding any IV bags. Then he noticed a big red cooler near the rear doors, stamped with toxic bio-hazard logos. Sure enough, he opened the cooler and found a stash of IV bags. He exited the rear doors, and headed for the carrier.
Christa remained seated on the road with her back turned. Chaz watched her intently from behind. The sounds from the carrier were louder than before.
"Colonel, I found them, a whole cooler full. This has to be the same stuff those zombies inside are hooked up to. The bags are unmarked, but so were the ones feeding them."
"Only one way to find out, boy." Chaz kept his eyes on Christa. "Go swap out those empty IV bags." He kept staring at Christa. "You can do that, right?"
Revealed: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction Page 3
