“That’s horrible.”
“Yes, but it’s the truth,” the lieutenant admitted. “The mission always trumps common decency and most of the time it even trumps common sense… Their lack of foresight is the reason we’re having the trouble we’re experiencing right now. They’re too focused on their medical mission and not focused enough on law and order.”
“What trouble?” Teddy asked.
“Patience is wearing thin,” was all that the explanation that the lieutenant offered.
“Why? What happened?”
“Exactly what I thought would happen,” the lieutenant shot back. “I took it hard when I lost Parham,” he continued without addressing the question. “Like I told you earlier, he was a good soldier who handled the bullshit compromises handed down to him with ease…”
Teddy said nothing.
“Ever since, I’ve been forced to recruit from within. I’ve hired cowards, thieves, and half-wits who’re unworthy of wearing a uniform,” the lieutenant said as he gave the officer behind Teddy an icy glare.
The officer shifted around uncomfortably and looked down at the floor.
Hock brought his attention back to Teddy. “I know you’ll be different—I see the same potential in you as I did in Parham.” His expression hardened. “So what will it be—will you join me or not?”
Teddy’s first impulse was the same as it was the day when the lieutenant had initially made him the offer. Not only did he want to blatantly refuse, but he also wanted to inform the man exactly which orifice he could shove the offer in question.
However, after seeing Ein, his initial stance wavered.
He knew quite well that he’d never be able to storm the castle, guns blazing, and walk out with Ein unscathed.
At best, he’d get killed.
At worst, he’d get Ein killed along with him.
If he had a uniform at least he’d be able to come and go without raising too many eyebrows.
As much as he hated to admit it, the lieutenant’s offer might be the only way inside.
Teddy couldn’t speak aloud—he knew his tongue was too sharp and his emotions were too raw.
Instead, he nodded.
Hock gave a thin smile. “I’ll be glad to have you.” He glanced down at the wheelchair. “You can still walk, right?”
“Once the drugs wear off,” he answered in a more caustic tone than he intended.
Hock didn’t seem bothered by the tone and simply nodded. “Given your current state, you won’t be much use to me right now. Rest and get your strength back first.”
Teddy frowned. How could he rest when he knew that Ein was stuck in that hamster cage? “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to get started sooner rather than later.”
Hock seemed pleased. He rubbed a finger under his chin as he considered his options. “Do you think that you’ll be okay after a good night’s rest?”
“I do.”
Hock smiled and waved Perry over.
Perry obediently complied.
“Help Sanders get changed into something suitable and take him back to the dorm,” the lieutenant ordered Perry. “I’ll send some men to retrieve him in the morning.”
“Yes, sir,” Perry said tiredly.
Teddy stared up at his face and noticed just how malnourished he appeared to be. “What happened to you?”
Perry simply pulled his cracked lips into a forced, tight smile. “Can you stand?” he asked as he extended a helping hand.
Teddy took the boney hand extended to him, and pulled himself up off of the chair. It felt like every nerve in his leg was protesting as a wave of sharp, stabbing pain radiated up his legs and into his chest, but miraculously he was able to remain on his feet.
His knees started to buckle, but Perry grasped his wrist and drew his arm around his neck to support him.
“I hope I got your size right. I picked out something a little warmer than last time,” Perry said. “Weather took quite a turn since I last saw you.”
As he was led across the lobby towards one of the empty offices, Teddy couldn’t help but wonder what else had changed outside aside from the weather.
CHAPTER 16
A sharp, icy wind whistled throughout the camp and blew snow off of the dormitory overhangs. The setting sun was shrouded by dark dense clouds which brought the promise of even more icy precipitation throughout the night.
Perry led Teddy along a slick footpath between the dorms with the man’s arm draped over his neck.
Teddy wore two sweat-shirts, layered pants, and a thick jacket but the frigid air still pricked at his skin and made him shiver.
Indeed, the weather had changed, but to Teddy the other changes he noticed since he had last walked the camp, were much more striking in comparison.
The make-do tent cities, vendor stalls, and clotheslines that were once erected in the alleyways and used to spill out into the footpaths had been abandoned and were now half-buried in snowbanks. All of the old steel drums that were once used for fire pits were either toppled or overfilled with debris. Graffiti covered most of the walls and was sprawled across some of the dorm’s doors—slogans like DEATH TO FACISTS and NO FOOD NO WORK were commonplace.
The most haunting change to Teddy was the lack of people. Despite the fact that the sun hadn’t even properly sunk yet, the pathways and alleys were entirely devoid of civilians. The old community once comprised of laughing children and folks gathered around fires swapping the day’s gossip, had been replaced by small patrols of jackbooted officers.
Even the mangy mutts and stray cats were gone.
Teddy bleakly wondered for a moment if everyone was dead. As if to support his dark thoughts, his eyes happened on the frozen skeletal remains of a dog half-buried in a growing mound of snow. He thought of Roger’s dog, Zoey—of the goofy smile that had seemed to be permanently fixed on her furry face, and then quickly looked away from the corpse.
“Where is everyone?” Teddy asked.
As if on cue, a recorded announcement played over the camp’s PA system and reverberated down the empty streets and pathways: Attention, due to terrorist activity, curfew is in full effect. Any resident caught outside will be subject to arrest.
“That doesn’t apply to us orderlies and it doesn’t apply to you since the trip is authorized,” Perry assured. “I’m your escort—you’ll be fine.”
Teddy gave him a questioning glance. “What terrorist activity?”
Two officers hurried past them, rifles ready, and quickly turned the corner onto an adjacent path.
Perry remained tight-lipped until he was sure that the officers were well out of earshot. “I’m not sure. While I was waiting for you with the lieutenant, I heard that there was some sort of fuss near dorm eight.”
“How?”
“They were blabbering over the radio before the lieutenant figured out that I was probably listening and turned the volume down,” Perry explained. “I don’t know the details… We’ll see soon enough since we have to pass that dorm.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“Ever since they started getting stricter with the rationing.” Perry frowned and shook his head. “It’s a shame how folks have been acting… They’re frustrated and are taking it out on the uniforms and even on our own home. Bunch of damn fools if you ask me.”
Teddy remembered the incident at the dining hall on the morning that the rationing was announced—he wasn’t surprised that the violence had escalated. “A long time coming if they still ain’t feeding folks properly.”
“It’s uncalled for and barbaric,” Perry argued. “If people would calm down and do what they’re told, we wouldn’t have so many problems.”
Teddy rolled his eyes. “It sounds like you’re the same old pacifist that I remember.”
“Old Perry is a survivor… I never bite the hand that feeds me.”
The word coward seemed more fitting, but Teddy didn’t argue the point.
“If their hands sti
ll fed, it sounds like most of the trouble would go away,” Teddy said.
“It’ll pass,” was the curt reply.
“What about the work crews?”
“They stopped those a while ago… Security concerns both inside and outside the camp.”
Teddy was led around the corner and down the path towards the direction that the officers were headed. He knew the pathway because it led from the dorm towards the dining hall and passed the gallows. The walk was arduous and slow as the cold seemed to stiffen his joints and slow his wobbly gait. A few more officers jogged past him and they all seemed to be headed in the same direction.
As they neared the gallows, the recording repeated across the camp’s speakers: Attention, due to terrorist activity, curfew is in full effect. Any resident caught outside will be subject to arrest.
When they walked past the gallows, Teddy found himself once again surprised by what he saw. The gallows’ scaffolding support pillars had been hacked apart and the platform had caved in. The gibbets on top leaned askew in every which direction and their empty nooses swung lazily in the freezing breeze.
Perry followed Teddy’s gaze towards the wreckage and a wry expression came over his face. “Goddamn animals… No respect for the law… A mob did that a week ago. They had us on a lockdown curfew for two whole days thanks to that little stunt.”
“Are they any worse than the animals who strung up folks there in the first place?” Teddy asked.
Perry toned down his indignation and looked over at Teddy. “Thanks to their actions, the authorities have been taking harsher measures. I lay that blame at these ungrateful people’s feet.”
“What sort of measures?”
“Before your accident, did you meet anyone from dorm thirty—the place where the woodworkers were housed?” Perry asked.
“No clue.”
“Well, in either case, you won’t anymore—they executed the whole dorm for that stunt.”
Teddy, visibly shaken, looked at him, mouth agape. “An entire dorm? You’re bluffing.”
“Wish I were… Men, women, and children all paid the price just because a few idiots from their dorm decided to act up.”
“Those tactics are going to come back and bite them in the tail,” Teddy said with a sneer. “Folks won’t stand for it.”
Perry shook his head in disagreement. “After they took out that dorm, things quieted down for a while… It started getting bad again just a few days ago. They’re going to force the authorities’ hand again—wait and see!”
Teddy found the man’s apologist attitude towards their captures disgusting, yet he knew better than to continue to argue against the very people he was about to be employed by if he wanted his cover to be believable.
Two-hundred yards past the ruined gallows, they came across a line of officers holding riot shields who were cordoning off an alleyway between dormitories eight and nine. Droplets of fresh blood peppered the snow at their feet.
Both Perry and Teddy slowed as they craned their necks to peer down the alley. A look of sickly horror washed over their faces as one of the guard tower’s searchlights revealed the gruesome scene.
Four officers, faces battered beyond recognition, were strung from the dormitory roof. The orange extension cords cut into the flesh of their swollen necks and created a web of ruptured purple veins just under their skin. Their uniforms had been stripped of weapons and a spray-painted message was scrawled on the wall over their heads: you take ours, we take yours—oink, oink.
Another group of officers were on top of the roof and hacked furiously away at one of the cords with a dull pocket knife. After a few moments the cord snapped and one of the bodies struck the ground with a meaty thud.
Perry recoiled with revulsion.
Teddy kept staring at the dangling corpse and fear created a lead ball in the pit of his stomach. Was that the fate waiting for him when he took the uniform? Would his would-be attackers even give him enough time to explain why he was doing what he was doing—would they even care?
“Keep it moving!” one of the officers holding the riot shields growled.
Perry adverted his gaze and continued to escort Teddy forward, his hooded eyes focused on the ground. “Fucking animals…”
Teddy staggered along in a daze as the ramifications of his deal with the lieutenant started to hit home.
As they navigated the footpath, groups of officers kicked-in the doors to dormitories eight, nine, and seven. They grabbed men and women seemingly at random and pulled them out into the snow by their hair as their victims screamed and protested.
Gunfire erupted from inside two of the dorms, and Teddy flinched at the crack of each shot.
The pleasant, even-keeled voice of the recorded played throughout the camp and cut through the cacophony of screams: Attention, due to terrorist activity, curfew is in full effect. Any resident caught outside will be subject to arrest.
“Let’s keep moving,” Perry insisted. “We don’t want to get caught in the middle of this…”
Teddy tried to shuffle along faster, but the adrenaline in his veins couldn’t overpower the effects of the drug’s chemical cocktail. He saw that their dorm was only a few more buildings away, but the distance seemed to grow with each crack of gunfire.
Both men came to an abrupt stop as dormitory fifteen’s door flung open and a group of men and women were forced outside by five officers armed with rifles. Terrified young children watched from the doorway and cried out for their parents, but they were kept inside by a single officer holding a truncheon.
“On your knees! On your knees!” one of the officers screamed.
The group of terrified civilians fell to their knees in the snow. A few who were not fast enough or showed any resistance were struck in the face with the butt of a rifle and they collapsed in pain.
“Hands on your head!” another officer shouted as he brandished his rifle towards the group.
The civilians who were still conscious complied.
An officer spun towards Perry and Teddy and pointed his rifle at them. “On the ground! Hands on your head!”
“I’m an orderly!” Perry shouted. “I was tasked by Lieutenant Hock to bring this man back to dorm twenty!”
The officer shone his weapon’s tactical light on Perry’s armband and seemed to relax a little. He stepped aside and waved them through. “Get to your dorm!”
“Thank you, officer.” Perry quickly led Teddy through the wretched crowd and past the row of uniforms.
Teddy squeezed his eyes shut tightly—he knew what was coming.
The crying intensified and then were forever silenced by a series of gunshots.
Teddy did not dare turn around to witness the carnage. He allowed himself to be blindly be led towards the dorm as rage boiled inside him—it took every bit of his resolve not to fruitlessly lash out at the executioners like a rabid, wounded animal.
Perry came to a stop. “We’re here... We made it.”
Teddy opened his red, teary eyes and watched as Perry placed his forearm against the door’s reader.
A robotic female voice greeted him as the door unlocked itself.
Perry brought Teddy inside and slammed the door shut behind them. He smiled as if the massacre that had just happened had all been a bad dream. “You still have your old bed.”
Teddy stared daggers at the man—he felt like ripping that collaborator’s throat out with his bare hands. He tore away from him and limped across the room towards his bunk.
Perry extended his hands at his sides and called out at his back. “Things will get better.”
Teddy bit his tongue and kept hobbling along. He looked around and noticed that most of the bunks were empty. Why wouldn’t they be? Didn’t most of the crew die on that highway? He plopped down on his barebones cot, leaned over, and cupped his face in his frost-bitten hands.
A whiny whimper interrupted his thoughts.
Teddy lowered his hands and looked towards the noise.
Zoey, looking much thinner and missing patches of her coat, cautiously approached him, her ears lowered. Her tail gave a few cautious wags but she kept her distance.
“Zoey…” Teddy said as his gloomy expression brightened. “Is that you girl?”
Her tail-wagging intensified and she gave an excited yip. Within seconds she had her paws on his chest and was licking at his face excitedly.
Teddy laughed and made a half-hearted attempt to get her down even though he relished every moment.
Zoey’s tail swung back and forth with such intensity that she could barely stand on her hind legs. She kept licking like crazy and gave an occasional series of barks.
“Easy, girl!” Teddy said after he got his laughter under control. He gave her a gleeful smile and scratched behind her ears. “I sure as hell missed you too—I can’t believe that you remember me!”
Zoey responded with a volley of overjoyed barks.
Perry walked over with his hands in his pockets. “I brought her in after the accident and when the snow started falling… It seemed a shame to just let her die out there. She was Roger’s dog, right?”
“Yeah, she was,” Teddy answered. He was genuinely surprised that Perry of all people cared enough to make such a gesture.
Perry smiled. “I’ve been feeding her old canned scraps that I had stashed away just to keep her going. Honestly though I think she’s happy to have some company… It’s awfully quiet in here these days in case you can’t tell.”
“Yeah,” Teddy said. “It’s empty.”
“Empty,” Perry agreed. He glanced around and then turned his attention back towards Teddy. “Anyway, rest up—I guess they’ll come get you tomorrow.”
He turned and started to walk away.
“Perry,” Teddy called out.
He stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“Thanks for saving her.”
Perry nodded, turned, and kept walking.
Teddy flopped back on his cot and Zoey hopped up and stretched out next to him—her tail continued to wag. He stared up at the empty bunk above him and absently stroked her matted fur. Gunshots came and went and he slowly lost his good-humored smile. He was tired and he was weak, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get any sleep.
H7N9: The Complete Series [Books 1-3] Page 50
