Dead Hunger VII_The Reign of Isis

by Eric A. Shelman

  “Doesn’t take long for nature to wipe out every trace of mankind, does it?” asked Flex, to nobody in particular.

  “In another twenty years, unless something changes, most of this planet will be primitive once again,” said Hemp. “We’re well on our way there, save for places like Kingman.”

  “We’ll see what there is to offer in Hoisington,” said Punch. “I might suggest we stick to quiet methods of taking out the deadheads or anyone else who needs it. Knives, and in Nel’s case, the stars.”

  “Agreed,” said Hemp. “Use the estrogen blocker-tipped knives, too. Cover all bases. That way if you encounter a red-eye you don’t have to penetrate very far with the blade. Just a poke will do.”

  Hemp had created knife sheathes with plastic ends approximately an inch deep. This last section was filled with the estrogen-blocking agent in an oil base, so clung to the blades as they came out. It did not take much to do the necessary damage to an aggressive red-eye.

  A noise came in the night. Everyone stopped.

  “Shh,” said Taylor. “Look!” She pointed ahead.

  A small light bounced up and down, floating just a few feet from the ground. It was clearly moving toward them, and the sound was now louder.

  “That’s a two-stroke engine,” said Punch. “Sounds like a little bike.”

  “Everyone off the road,” said Flex.

  They split up and moved to both sides of the street. Flex lay beside Gem in the tall grass on the east side of the two-lane road.

  The light bounced toward them, moving fairly slow. Every once in a while another light would come on and shine on both sides of the road, then go out again.

  “99.9% chance they’re armed,” said Punch. “Be smart and quiet, people.”

  Everyone shut up. The whining motor approached, and as the bike whizzed by us without using its search beams, Flex saw there were two riders. Just after passing them, the passenger, who held a flashlight in one hand and a rifle in the other, flicked on the light again and shone it on both sides of the road before clicking it off.

  Everyone watched it recede into the gray-black distance and moved back into the road.

  “Wonder where they’re headed,” said Trina, watching the last vestiges of the bobbing light. “Maybe on some kind of supply run?”

  “There’s no resistance in Great Bend anymore,” said Hemp. “Perhaps they cleaned it out to use it for resources and they’re going on a supply run.”

  “Not enough room on that mini bike for that,” said Punch. “That right there’s a perimeter check.”

  “Let’s get a move on,” said Charlie. “Max, be sure to let us know if at any time you think we should turn around and head back to Kingman.”

  “If you want to go,” said Isis, “then you should. Some of us may die here.”

  “Isis!” said Dave. “Seriously?”

  She stopped walking and turned to face the others. “I love all of you,” she said. “I’ve always been honest with you for that very reason; it keeps you safe.”

  “We know that, Isis,” said Nelson.

  “But you don’t know what I feel right now. You would call them alarm bells going off in your head. I feel the danger of this journey in every nerve ending in my body, and I know that’s difficult to understand, but it’s more intense than anything I’ve ever felt before.”

  “It’s the same for me,” said Max. “Mom, when Isis was out for that brief time, it was as though all goodness in the world was quieted, and only the darkness could reach me. I don’t know if I hid it very well, but I was scared as hell.”

  Charlie put her arm around her son. “I saw it. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, mom. But that’s why we can’t turn back. What we’re feeling here can’t be content to stay put. Eventually they’ll come to us where we live.”

  Isis continued. “There’s a darkness in that town, and perhaps other towns like it. It’s why we told you there had to be more of us created.”

  “But don’t you have second thoughts now?” asked Taylor. “I mean … you said you sense others like you are there, and I can only presume that they’re not … I don’t know … good like you?”

  “I don’t know that they are inherently cruel and evil,” said Isis, “but they appear to be under the control of, and alive at the behest of, someone who refers to himself as Maestro.”

  Max squeezed Charlie’s hand and looked at her in the gloom. “Mom, there’s nothing about this that feels like it’s going to be easy, and I know the years haven’t been easy on –”

  “If you even go there I’ll kick your ass, mister,” interrupted Charlie. “I’m only 39 years old you little shit, and I’ve still got a crapload of kickass left in my tank.”

  “God, I’ve known you all my life,” said Max. “You’d think I’d know when to shut the hell up.”

  “And yet you don’t,” said Hemp, smiling. “But Max and Isis are absolutely right about one thing. If any one of you is not up to whatever might be waiting up ahead, you should go back to Kingman now. Without delay.”

  “Don’t look at me, dude,” said Nelson. “I went to California with Davy, and I didn’t even have a good reason for that. This sounds like a pretty good reason to be here.”

  Nobody else left, either. They passed a street called Sheridan Avenue and Flex was tempted to steal the sign – a tribute to his days as a teenager.

  It would keep for when they were on the way home. They would be coming home. All of them.

  If Flex had anything to say about it.

  *****

  They reached a place with a sign in front that said, Springer’s Used Cars, and the lot brimmed with very old vehicles barely visible behind the brown weeds that had overtaken the lot.

  “Damned sign should say Springer’s Very Used Cars,” said Punch. “What’s that, a fucking Cutlass?”

  “Looks like it, but we’re getting close now. Good time to duck back here and strategize.”

  Everyone moved off the road again and zigzagged through the weeds and cars until they were behind a corrugated steel building.

  On the road there had been more lights ahead, albeit dim, likely candles or some sort of lanterns.

  “It doesn’t appear that they’ve gotten any significant power up in town,” said Hemp.

  “It’s quiet, too,” said Gem. “I don’t hear any generators running at all.”

  “Good,” said Punch. “Means we’ll hear the two-stroke if it comes back.” He was always looking at every situation from a Marine’s perspective. Logistics.

  Max and Isis were quietly staring into one another’s eyes, so everyone just allowed them to finish whatever it was they were communicating. Finally, Isis turned to us. “We feel them very close now,” she said. “Hundreds, we believe. Mothers, Hungerers and others like us.”

  Trina said, “Isis, do you know how many? Could you and Max be overpowered?”

  Isis shook her head. “We just don’t know, Trina. We’ve never faced others like us, much less with a malevolent intent.”

  “Fuckin’ bugs are eating me alive,” said Charlie. “Can we do something?”

  “We must defer to Max and Isis,” said Hemp, turning to the pair. “What would your plan have been if we weren’t here?”

  “To leave Trina and Taylor here with radios and we would have gone into town to investigate,” said Max.

  “And is that still viable?” asked Hemp. “Preferred?”

  “Actually, yes,” said Isis. “We’ll bring conventional weapons, too. But we should go in alone.”

  “Fuck,” said Charlie.

  “I know,” said Hemp.

  “We’ll be safe, mom and dad,” said Max.

  “Just go. Hurry back.” Charlie threw her arms around Max’s neck. “Hit that radio and we’ll come. Use the tap method unless you need to tell us something.”

  “I will, mom.” He let go of her and looked at Isis. “Ready?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Give us an hour. We’ll be in
touch. Sync the radios to frequency hopping so nobody can listen in.”

  The radios were turned on and synced. With the frequency hopping setting, the radios changed channels constantly, hopping from frequency to frequency in microsecond bursts, allowing them to always be synced, but anyone listening in on a single frequency would hear such a short blip of sound they would likely not recognize it as a human voice.

  Max and Isis set out. Everyone sat down for a good rest.

  In twenty minutes, they heard the sound of the motorcycle engine off in the distance.

  *****

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Flex unclipped the radio, paired with the one that Isis and Max had with them, and pushed the transmit button. “Max, come in.”

  Immediately came, “We hear it.” It was Max.

  “Okay,” said Flex. “You in a safe place?”

  “Yes, for now,” said Max. “There’s an odd series of fences here.”

  “Odd?” asked Flex. The motorcycle passed him and he got low with the others and remained silent for a moment.

  “Yes, but we’re not sure what the design is yet.”

  “Okay, they just passed us,” warned Flex. “Should be to you soon. Get out of sight.”

  “Roger,” said Max.

  It was quiet for a few minutes. Then he came back on and said, “It’s like a maze.”

  “A maze?” asked Flex. “How do you know?”

  “We saw the motorcycle go through, but we couldn’t tell how. We were hiding.”

  Flex turned to Hemp. “Looks like there may be a maze at the entrance to Hoisington.”

  Hemp stared back at him. “I’m sorry, did you say a maze?”

  “That’s what he said. Flex pushed the button. “Max, come in.”

  “Here, Flex.”

  “What is the maze made of? Hedges?”

  “No, no. It’s some sort of custom-built, steel fencing. Tall, like eight or nine feet, and it has barbed wire on top.”

  “Can you tell its purpose?” asked Flex.

  Isis came on. “Flex, it appears at this point they’ve sealed off any southern access points into the town except for this maze entrance. There are two doors side-by-side, and I assume one of them will not get you in at all, while the other may be challenging. We’ve only ventured in a short distance. Because of our memory abilities, we will remember it when we get through it once.”

  “Good,” said Flex. “Isis, are you guys gonna be exposed when you go through?”

  “If anyone’s watching us from a remote, elevated post, yes,” she said. “There’s no moon, but the stars are bright. We’ll keep an eye out, but it’s a distinct possibility.”

  “No way around that entrance?” asked Flex.

  Another pause. “The fence runs east and west as far as we can see in this light,” said Isis.

  “You guys comfortable going in?”

  “I can tell you we’re more comfortable with the two of us rather than eleven,” she said.

  “Okay, but just for a quick reconnaissance mission. We didn’t follow you up here so we could sit back like lumps while you get killed, so be careful and stay in communication when you can,” said Flex.

  “Roger that,” said Max, who had apparently resumed communication duties.

  “We wait,” said Flex, to the others, putting the radio down. “Oh, fuckin’ joy.”

  *****

  Thirty minutes had passed. “Dudes, this is driving me nuts!” said Nelson. “I wonder if they got caught or something.”

  “Don’t even say that, Nel,” said Gem.

  Flex caught Gem throwing quick glances at Trina and Taylor, and he knew she was grateful they were there with them.

  It was 8:45 PM when they heard Max’s voice say in a whisper, “Okay, we’re through.”

  “What’s the story?” asked Flex.

  “It is elaborate,” said Max. “And we noticed there are wheels on the bottom of some sections of fencing, but they’re locked in place by padlocks.”

  “Does it look like it can be opened and just made into a big walkway?”

  “No,” said Max. “Several of the pieces have the wheels. Isis thinks it’s so the maze can be reconfigured if someone figures it out.”

  “That’s stupid,” said Flex. “Why the hell build an elaborate maze when you could just post guards? How long did it take you guys to get through?”

  “The fence has some areas where it might be possible to see into it while people are coming through, but now we’re in, we don’t see any towers or anything,” said Max. “Just in case, we crouched down low while we went through. Having to figure it out and backtrack a bunch of times, it still only took about twenty-five minutes. Coming home it should be a straight run, so maybe five minutes to get back through.”

  “As long as they don’t discover you and reconfigure it,” said Flex. “Or they could have a regular schedule for reconfiguration that inhabitants of Hoisington know.”

  “Let’s hope not,” said Max. “Flex, we’re continuing north. We’ll be in touch.”

  *****

  “How many people do you think were involved in the Great Bend attack?” asked Nelson.

  Hemp shook his head. “It’s impossible to say, Nel. If it’s as we suspect and there were Mothers, Hungerers and Hybrids like Max and Isis involved, the number of humans would only be significant to how easy or difficult it will be for us to maneuver within Hoisington.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Trina.

  “To answer that, we must review the chain of command, as it were. If there are Hybrids here, as Max and Isis stated they feel, then they control the Mothers to a degree, and in turn, the Hungerers. If the Hybrids do not have freewill, then we can assume that means they are under this Maestro’s control.”

  “So, long story short?” said Punch.

  “Long story short,” said Hemp, “We know that well-seasoned Hybrids can handle the Mothers and Hungerers. Minimal human involvement is necessary.”

  Punch stood up and stared toward the town. “I say we recon the place and see if there’s another way in besides the damned maze.”

  “It’s not a bad idea,” said Gem. “If they discover the kids, they’ll zero in on them fast. If there are three groups, they’d have a harder time of it.”

  “Let’s give them another half hour,” said Dave. “Then I’m game for whatever.”

  *****

  Gem kept checking the radio to make sure it was working. Isis’ voice came on at twenty-nine minutes, just one minute until the end of their self-imposed deadline.

  “Okay, guys, we’ve found them,” she said. “Now I know why there weren’t sentries.”

  “Why’s that?” asked Gem, who had been clutching the radio like it was a stress reliever.

  “Everyone in this place is a prisoner,” she said. “At least that’s what it looks like.”

  “Where are you?” asked Gem.

  “At the high school,” she said. “It’s dark and we’re still outside the main school grounds, so we can’t see a whole lot, but we can feel hundreds of them here. Maybe thousands.”

  “Should you get out?” asked Gem, her face worried as she stared at Flex.

  “No,” said Isis. “We need to be positioned inside before daylight, so you guys need to get through the maze.”

  “Seriously?” asked Gem.

  “If we’re going to take out this threat here, then yes,” she said. “We can guide you through. In fact, we can do it now if you can write down the turns.”

  “I have a pencil and paper in my pack,” said Hemp. He grabbed it and rummaged around, withdrawing them. He gave them over to Gem.

  “Okay,” she said. “Ready, Isis.”

  As Flex and the others looked on, Gem wrote down a series of numbers, associated with either an S, L or R. When she was done, she repeated the sequence of what were apparently turns, back to Isis.

  “That’s correct,” she said. “If you look overhead, you’ll see that some clouds appear to
be moving in, so if you wait perhaps another fifteen minutes, I believe you’ll have better cover. Once you’re through the maze, get out of sight and radio me again.”

  “Done,” said Gem. She turned the volume down and looked at everyone. “Get your game faces on, everyone. I have a feeling this is going to get serious.”

  Flex watched Gem’s face. She hadn’t cried in a while, and she had been avoiding eye contact with him, probably for that very reason. He knew that if she looked at him she would think of the son they had lost, and that would be the trigger for Niagara Falls. It was better she remain focused on whatever task lay ahead.

  *****

  Flex and Gem approached the maze entry first. They stood and looked east and west, confirming what Max and Isis had said. The fence extended in both directions as far as the eye could see.

  “Which door?” asked Taylor, who stood beside the left one.

  “Other one,” said Gem. “I’ve got the direction key so I’ll lead. Let’s go single file and be as quiet as possible.”

  Flex followed her, his Daewoo out just for good measure. He had quick access to his knife, but in the confines of the maze it did not appear he would need one.

  Gem reached the first turn and said, “Left.” She checked off the first L on her paper and kept walking. She reached another left right choice and said, Right.”

  She turned and stifled a scream. In front of her was perhaps the tallest, palest zombie Flex had ever seen. His arms extended, the fingers of his left hand got entangled in Gem’s wild hair, so when she dropped down quickly to avoid his mouth, his caught hand followed. Now on the ground, she seized the wrist of the creature with both hands and twisted it.

  The large zombie’s body turned in the direction of Gem’s assault as Flex withdrew his knife from its sheath and thrust it quickly underneath the monster’s chin. The long blade poked through the rotting flap of neck skin and plunged deep into the rotter’s gray matter, dripping black-red lifeblood from the creature onto Gem as she hid her face from the oozing muck.