by Schafer, Jon
The next caller came on and talked about the massacre at Tropicana Field. This prompted Meat to explain that KLAM wasn't broadcasting any more locations of safe areas until they had been verified. He then listed three schools, one in Largo and two in St. Pete, that were still functioning as relief centers. He also went on to say that Jonny G was expanding the list he was compiling to include Pasco County to the North and Hillsborough to the East.
"That’s more like it," Steve stated proudly.
"Jonny G took a little initiative,” Tick-Tock commented.
They listened for a few more minutes before Steve said, "Come on. I need those keys."
Steve let them into the mechanical room through a door next to the elevators in the foyer. Entering cautiously with pistols drawn, the two men went to a small office where Steve opened a cabinet revealing rows of keys hung on hooks.
"Maintenance guy told me about these one day when I was down here checking on the generator," Steve explained. ''The company that manages the building uses him to keep current with the people who are leasing offices, so he's got keys to everything."
"He just told you about this?" Tick-Tock asked.
"I got him talking about his job and he told me all about it. Guy must’ve been bored off his ass because I couldn't get him to shut up. He ended up taking me on a tour of the whole building from top to bottom. Now I’m glad he did it."
Tick-Tock went back out of the office and looked the generator over."Seems impressive," he commented.
Steve joined him, holding up a small key ring, he said, "Masters." Looking at the equipment Tick-Tock was studying, he told him, “I had Brain rewire this to power the whole twelfth floor. If we're here for the long haul, we can take over some of the other offices to use as living space. Plus, the A/C works."
''You put some thought into this," Tick-Tock commented.
"Hopefully enough," Steve answered. Turning to go, he said, "Come on, I want to check out a few things."
Going back into the foyer, Steve went to the double entry doors and looked out. The Guardsman must have quelled the disturbance he had heard earlier as they stood idly near the MRAP, smoking cigarettes and talking.
Quietly, Steve said, "When the time comes to lock down we have to make sure those guys are gone or in here with us. We can't lock them out or they'll bust in and then the foyer will be open." Turning, he pointed to the roll down security gate covering the entrance to the Galleria, “And, if we can't get through the foyer, we can't get in there. The only other entrance is from the outside." Heading in that direction he said, "Let’s go take a look."
Finding the correct key, Steve inserted it and raised the gate high enough to allow them to duck under. Once through, he lowered it again.
The night-lights were on, showing an array of shops around them. To the left was a video rental store and next to that a woman's shoe store. In the corner was a deli, and in a line across the back wall there was a jewelry store and clothing store. To their right, set on either side of an entrance to the bank, were a cigar shop and small bookstore.
Steve walked over to the entrance of the deli and looked inside.
"Good," he commented to Tick-Tock. "No one's here. In a way, this all happened at the perfect time. No one's going to be worried about coming into work, because they're going to be trying to keep from getting eaten. Normally by this time, the deli and the Cinnabun store would have people getting them ready for business."
Turning, he waved his arm across the empty Galleria and said; "Now it’s all ours. Food, clothes, everything."
Tick-Tock gave Steve an approving look, ''You really did think this out."
"Yeah, and hopefully no one else will get the same idea. I’ve tried to come up with as many scenarios as I could, but who knows what might happen next."
"And if people do get the same idea as you?" Tick-tock asked.
"We’ll have to deal with that when it comes," Steve answered grimly. ''I don't know about you, but I want to survive this."
"Count me in," Tick-Tock said.
"I already have," Steve replied before heading for the gate.
Feeling more secure now in their environment, the two men took the elevator. As they were riding up, Steve said, "We won't be able to use this much longer. When the power goes out, I wouldn't want to get stuck in here.”
"Should be okay for a couple days," Tick-Tock said.
"I did a little research online and found some blogs posted by people in the cities that have already gone through this. They were saying they had anywhere from three to five days between the time of the first attacks and when the power went out. I need you to tell everyone that after Wednesday, I don’t want anyone riding in the elevators. Don't listen to any excuses or bullshit either. We’ve got enough to do without having to drag someone’s ass up an elevator shaft if they get stuck."
The men exchanged a glance. From the look, and Steve telling Tick-Tock to pass on the order about the elevator, it was understood that Tick-Tock was now the number two in command.
"Why me?" He asked.
"Because when I reviewed the application you filled out to work at KLAM, I noticed that you spent four years in the Marine Corps. I also looked at the psych test that you took and saw that you were a stable, detailed orientated individual. I reviewed everyone’s file before I decided whom to let in on this. "
Tick-Tock reached over and hit the stop button, jostling them slightly as the elevator halted between floors.
"That's how you decided?" Tick-Tock asked with disbelief.
"Except for Mary, she's a little whacked, but she's the owner's sister. We'll have to throw her under the category of acceptable risk."
The serious look left Tick-Tock’s face as he burst into laughter. Shaking his head he asked, "What if any of the other staff show up?"
"We keep who we think we can use."
"And those who have no use?" Tick-Tock asked with a raised eyebrow.
Steve shrugged, "They're welcome to stay but we won't share any of what's ours with them. We now own everything in the building along with what's in the Galleria."
"And if someone tries to take it?" Tick-Tock asked.
"We kill them," Steve replied coldly, then watched Tick-Tock for his reaction.
The man considered this for a moment before saying, "You can still count me in, but I'm not gonna get into any of that ‘Lord of the Flies’ shit."
"Neither am I. No kangaroo courts, and we'll try to keep the weird-ass shit that comes up in a civilized perspective. But anyone who seriously threatens my survival is history."
Tick-Tock nodded and reached over to hit the start button. "What about the National Guard guys? They can take this place from us anytime they want."
Steve let out a loud breath. "I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. I'm trying to keep them on our side. I know if it comes down to a fight with them that we’ll lose, so we have to play it by ear."
The elevator doors opened on twelve and both men fell silent. Before rounding the corner into the main hall, Steve called out to the trooper at the door and was told to come forward.
Pontran was eating what looked like an apple turnover and had a fresh cup of coffee sitting on the floor next to him. Yesterday, after the National Guard showed up, Steve had passed the word to the staff that they were to be kept happy.
After exchanging hellos with Pontran, the two men entered the station and stopped in the reception area. Over the speaker came the sound of a woman crying as she told the story of how she watched while her neighbors house caught fire. When the family escaped into the street, they were mobbed by a group of dead that killed and ate them.
When she was finished, Tick-Tock pointed to the speaker overhead and commented, "That's gonna be happening a lot when people run out of food and water. I'm sure there are folks all over who are holed up, just waiting to be rescued."
"They're in for a long wait," Steve said. "Even when the Army shows up, they're going to have to search door to door and destroy all the dead th
ey find while trying to rescue the survivors."
"So, what do you want me to do now?” Tick-Tock asked. "Looks like I've got some time to kill for the next few months until the cavalry shows up."
Steve thought to himself, if they ever show up, then said, "Find out who everybody brought with them. Put together an assessment of how you think they're holding up and e-mail it to me. Then give them something to do. Make coffee, help Jonny G on the phones, whatever they're capable of."
He opened his mouth to continue, but the droning noise of a large, low flying airplane interrupted him.
"What the hell's that?" He asked, as he went out into the hallway.
Pontran was standing up with his head cocked, listening as the sound of the first plane faded only to be replaced with another. Steve quickly went past him, with Tick-Tock right behind. Pontran fell in last as they headed for the stairs.
As they emerged onto the roof, a C-130 Military Aircraft came low overhead and flew off in the direction of the Gulf of Mexico. As they stood watching, three more of the heavy transport craft went by, one after the other.
"Those are coming from McDill," Pontran pointed out.
"Yeah, but where are they going?" Steve asked.
"Heading that way, my guess is Texas or Louisiana," Pontran replied.
"So much for the cavalry," Tick-Tock pointed out.
"Holy shit, look at the city," Pontran said in awe.
Steve and Tick-Tock looked east in the direction Pontran was facing. Now that the sun was coming up, the destruction wrought by the walking dead, and the living, could be seen stretching across Clearwater.
Numerous fires were burning, sending pillars of smoke into the air. Gunshots, both near and far, could be distinguished and even from fifteen stories up, Steve could swear he heard screams. A siren from an emergency vehicle sounded but was abruptly cut off.
"It's like the end of the world," Pontran said in awe.
Steve looked out over the trashed city and wondered where Heather was in all of that. He knew if she was alive, that she'd make it to him. Until then, he had to hang on and stay alive. Motioning to Tick-Tock, he said before turning toward the stairs, "Come on. We've got things to do."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Clearwater, Florida:
Steve surfed the Internet, looking for stories about any relief coming from the military. He found a few posts from people living around Fort Hood, who wrote that the Army was moving into the surrounding area and clearing it of the living dead, but that they were moving slow.
"That's all well and good for Texas but what about Florida?" He asked his empty office. After seeing the military planes flying away, he felt abandoned. He wished he had Heather to talk to, but she wasn't answering her cell phone.
Talking to Tick-Tock about getting organized helped get his mind off Ginny and Heather, so the two men laid plans of what to do in different scenarios. Yet, even with all their projection of worst and best possible scenarios, what happened next was so off base that all Steve could do afterward was laugh.
When his phone buzzed, a young, female voice was saying, "Is this right? Did I do it right, Jonny?"
Steve knew instantly that it was Jonny G's girlfriend. The young woman had been placed at the reception desk by Tick-Tock and was obviously being trained on the phone system. He considered doing some heavy breathing into the receiver while making moaning noises but decided against it. Not everyone got his strange sense of humor.
"This is Steve," he said.
"Oh," she said startled. "This is Marcia at the front desk. I have a call for you on line two."
"Send it through, Marcia, thank you," Steve said excitedly. It had to be Ginny.
While he listened to Jonny explain to Marcia how to transfer the call, Steve wondered how long the landlines would stay up. Earlier they had been off and everyone's cell phones were giving out the recording that, due to high volume, calls couldn't be put through. Even the Internet was becoming more difficult to navigate. Most sites and servers were down, creating huge dead zones.
After a few clicks, a male voice came on the line asking, "Steve Wendell?"
Cautiously, he answered, "This is him," expecting bad news from the call now since the voice sounded too much like the cops or some other official. He was sure they were calling to tell him that either Heather or Ginny was dead.
Instead, the man said, "This is Gerry Gardolfo, Mister Wendell, and I have the deal of a lifetime for you. You are familiar with the name Dee Snider I take it?" Before Steve could answer, Gerry said, "Of course you are. Everyone knows Twisted Sister. In fact, I've heard you play their music on your station countless times."
Steve was so relieved it wasn’t a death notice or more bad news that he let the salesman rattle on for a few seconds.
"Now, you've got the chance to have Dee Snider's show, House of Hair, playing on your radio station once every week. He airs all the great bands from the -."
Steve cut the salesman off, "Gerry?"
"Yes, Steve?" He asked expectantly.
"Do you know what’s going on in the world?" He asked with the same tone of voice he would use to ask a five year old if they needed to go pee-pee.
"You mean with the dead coming back to life?" Gerry asked, unsure.
"That's exactly what I mean," Steve said. "I like Dee Snider and House of Hair, but don’t you think this might be a bad time to contract a syndicated radio show?"
"There's never a better time," Gerry assured him. "With so much of your competition being knocked off the air, when all this blows over, you'll come out on top."
This gave Steve an idea about something to have Tick-Tock research as he said, "Well, Gerry, I've always vowed that the dead will walk the Earth before I allow a syndicated show on KLAM, so I guess today's your lucky day. If you can get me a contract, and if Dee Snider isn't already lying somewhere dead or walking around somewhere dead, I'll contract for one year."
This made Gerry a happy man so he ran down the terms of the agreement. After Steve hung up, he leaned back and laughed. What next, his bank calling to offer him a low interest loan to finance a house? Someone offering time-shares?
Although warped in her thinking, when Ginny had told him days earlier that this would all blow over and everything would soon be back to normal, after that phone call, Steve could almost believe it. That is until he looked out the window and down at the street.
Picking up the phone, he dialed the reception desk. It was answered with an "Oh, shoot," and then disconnected. He tried again and this time Marcia came on the line saying, "Sorry, Mister Wendell."
"Call me Steve," he said.
"Okay, Steve," Marcia said tentatively. "What can I do for you?"
"Tick-Tock's somewhere in the station, could you track him down and send him in here please?"
“Right away, sir," she replied and hung up.
When Tick-Tock came to his office, Steve explained about the phone call and the idea it had given him. When he was done explaining what he wanted his second in command to do, Tick-Tock laid some papers on his desk saying, "These came in from the Governor, new orders to be broadcast to the public and an assurance that everything would soon be back under control.”
Steve read aloud, "All civilians are to remain indoors until further notice. Anyone suspected of being infected with HWNW is to be turned over to the National Guard. Looters are to be shot on sight. Anyone violating the curfew is subject to lethal force. Yada, yada, yada. If they had done this days ago, they might have stopped this thing. Now it's too late."
"Look at where it's from." Tick-Tock said.
"Key West?" Steve questioned after reading the letterhead on the fax.
"Tallahassee was abandoned last night. Jacksonville too. They've both joined the growing list of dead cities."
Steve then read through the Governor's announcement that everything was going to be hunky-dory before wadding it up and throwing it in the trash. Handing the orders back to Tick-Tock, he said, "Put that on
the air when you do your show. There are no more commercials or play lists, so play whatever music you want. I'll be in at four to take over for you and then Jonny G will be on."
When Tick-Tock was gone, Steve got back on the computer and did a search for Doctor Hawkins. He only received a few hits on the diminished Internet but eventually found a blog the doctor was putting out. He read with interest that the government had set up a research facility in Arkansas, with Hawkins as its head. The doctor had put out a call for anyone who had been bitten, but had not succumbed to the resulting infection, to contact him. They needed someone with resistance to the HWNW virus to study and help them come up with a cure.
In all his net surfing and conversations with people, Steve hadn't yet read or heard of anyone with immunity to the disease. If you got bitten or you had an open sore that came into contact with infected body fluid, then that was it. You were through. Game over.
Curious as to whether anyone could even come up with a cure, Steve checked the Web for anything along these lines. After twenty minutes with no luck, he finally gave up when Tick-Tock came back in.
"I only have a few minutes until I go on, so I'll make this quick. Mary is being a real bitch, so I'm giving you a heads up that she wants to talk to you when she's done with her show.”
Steve made a face.
"My thoughts exactly," Tick-Tock said. "Now, on to what you asked me to check out. On the FM dial there are twenty-six major stations in our area. Right now ten of them are dead air." He let that sink in before continuing, "Two more are off the air completely, eight are on a loop broadcasting a recording of emergency instructions and the other six are still going full tilt boogie."
"Only six?" Steve asked in disbelief.
"That's it, boss. I've got Meat's old lady going through the cable TV stations. Of the five local stations, only two are on the air."
Steve nodded, and after considering the rest of the people holed up in the station, asked, "Where's Mary's girlfriend, Susan?"
"I put her down in the foyer. She's watching to see if anyone else shows up, our people or anyone else who works here in the building. I gave her the key to the mechanical room so she can use the bathroom in there, and she's got her cell phone. I also gave her a pistol."
