by Joe McKinney
“Are there any more of those things in there?” Gem asked.
“None . . . moving anymore. But I can tell you, there were more of them in there than us. And all the ones like us were – ”
I looked at Trina, who was stirring awake from Gem’s bouncing. I just ran my finger across my neck in a slashing motion.
“I get it,” she said.
I nodded. “Oh, and I got us a new gun.” I spun the tires and headed north. “It works pretty good.”
Gem put ‘Police Stations’ in the Points of Interest in the GPS and we pulled out.
“Want some chili?” I asked.
She hit the “GO” button, and the GPS routed it.
“It says we’ll be there in ten minutes,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I can eat a can of chili in ten minutes.”
Chapter 4
We turned the headlights off as we rolled into the area where the police station was located. It was a somewhat residential street, East 7 Avenue. The police station was on the corner of that road and Officer Ponce Avenue, and a sign indicating PARKING featured an arrow pointing down the latter.
It was now almost 2:30 in the morning, and neither of us was familiar with Tallahassee. We had put the radio on and heard static on too many stations. There was a news radio station out of Orlando that was still broadcasting, and they had a pretty strong signal, because it was still coming in.
They were calling it a virus, and they said it started as a migraine-like head pain, then attacked the temporal lobe of the brain first, and quickly. This was, they reported, the portion of the brain that held memory. Destroying that first made the victims forget who they or their loved ones were.
This worried me, because it was the logical first step in making anyone fair game. No sensitivities or emotions, no soft spot for anyone. Husband. Wife. Child. All just food. As for what exactly made them hunger for flesh, it wasn’t really being talked about – not openly. It was inferred but not specifically mentioned, because it was essentially cannibalism, and people frowned on that shit even if you were in a plane crash in the mountains in the snow and had to eat your pilot.
The next thing destroyed by the virus was the hypothalamus portion of the brain, where hunger and thirst were controlled. Only it did not destroy it, per se, rather it ramped it up to the extreme. This portion of the brain, according to the reporter, who seemed to have learned a ton of brain info in the last several hours, also controlled the heart, lungs, and other involuntary actions we humans so easily perform.
But it stopped these. Again, not so much spoken, but implied by the talking heads. So the virus killed off your memory, shut down your involuntary bodily functions, and made you ravenous.
Sorry, but sound the buzzer please. BZZZZZZZZT! Symptom number two should kill you dead, and nobody seemed to have an answer for why the fuck you could continue to walk around without breathing and with no heartbeat. And I swear, from my confrontation with them in the store, I saw their nostrils flaring as they held their eyes on me, so they could smell. They can smell.
And did this disease affect the actual dead? And if the answer was yes, did they reanimate? What happened if you just died naturally? Did this act like a safety net?
Not so fast, partner. Heaven can wait, ‘cause I gotcha. Now get out there and eat, because you’re starving!
If it did affect the dead, did it only do this prior to embalming? There were too many questions running around in my head, and to be honest, the fucking radio was freaking me out a bit. I had enough just looking at some of these victims on the side of the road. Gem had a death grip on the butt of that 9mm, and I had the .38 between my legs.
Lights still out, I turned left on Officer Ponce Way, and the parking lot entrance was about 100 yards down on the left. I stopped at the pivoting barrier and realized in seconds that the power was out, and pulling the parking card was not going to get me anywhere. I gunned the engine and slammed through the flimsy pressboard arm with the stop sign painted on it, and flew into the parking lot, the trailer bouncing over the speed bump behind me. I cringed, remembering Jamie on that trailer.
No cars moved in the lot and nobody crept around that we could see. The parking lot served three buildings, and snaked between them.
“We’ll need more ammo for the Uzi,” said Gem. “Maybe at the station.”
“If we can get in,” I said. “The three of us are okay, so maybe some of them are, too.”
Gem nodded agreement. “But it doesn’t mean they won’t help us, either. If things are as bad as we believe, they may welcome the assistance of any . . . well, normals out there. They must realize there’s nothing to do but kill –”
Gem stopped talking suddenly, and looked ashamed. I touched her hand. “Look. I said when we left Jamie’s, I had hope. I still hold onto some of it. Hell, I’ve got this fantasy that I unwrap her from that pool cover shit, and she’s back to normal, like I made her some sort of cocoon or something, but I know in my heart . . . well, I don’t even want to vocalize it.”
“I don’t blame you for not wanting to give up yet, Flex. I love her, too.”
“Okay. I know you do, Gem. Now, the game plan. This is it.”
The building on the left was large and concrete. There were several police cars parked in front. No activity. No fewer than eight dead bodies lay on the stone steps leading inside. All had massive head wounds but three of them. Those three had no heads at all.
Gem pointed. “There’s an alley. Turn in there.”
I did, and it was even darker here. But it did curve around and run behind the main building. There were three open spaces in a row, and I pulled the Suburban and trailer combo into them and threw it into park.
Gem had installed batteries in the flashes and the walkies while I drove. Twice along the way I’d had to run the truck/trailer combo off the road to get around stopped vehicles, and the flashlights came in very handy to see just where an open path was.
I clipped a radio on my belt. We’d already chosen channel 19 and tested them. Range was advertised to be over twenty miles, but I doubted it. Besides that, I didn’t plan on ever being that far away from Gem again.
“Let me go,” Gem said.
“I don’t think so.” I reached for her arm as she leaned Trina against me and opened the door. She wasn’t smiling.
“You can’t stop me, babe. You’ve got Trina to consider and I made it all the way from Miami to Gainesville on my own. That’s quite a story, and when we finally do stop and sit and have a nice cup of coffee, I’ll share with you some of the shit I saw and dealt with on my way to find your ass, including where this innocent little girl of yours got this kickass gun.”
She got out and held the door, the rifle slung over her shoulder and the Glock in her other hand. “So pardon my rant, but if you think you’ve got some advantage on me mentally, I’ll remind you that you don’t. As for physically, you are nicely built, but pound for pound, I am quite powerful myself.”
She shut the door and before she could walk away I waved at her to open it again. She did.
“What?”
“You’ll need this.” I unclipped the walkie from my belt and handed it to her. Then I unclipped the other one off the visor. “Won’t do you too much good if I’m talkin’ to myself, will it?”
“Smartass,” she said, slamming the door and throwing me a sarcastic salute as she headed into the station building.
I watched her walk away. I was worried, but I smiled. Damn, I loved that woman. It was good to have her back.
*****
She was gone five minutes before I spoke to her. “Update, babe. You in?”
Gem came right on. The signal was perfect, and she was crystal clear. “Not yet. I’ve been keeping against the walls, and the back entrances are all secured. I’m going around to the front.”
I shook my head. With each step she was farther away, and the more nervous I got. I couldn’t lose her again. “If you get in, then find your way to the back and unlock th
ose doors. If you get in trouble, I have to get in fast.”
“When I get in, babe, I’ll do that. Want me to stay on, give you live updates?”
“As long as you don’t alert anyone of your presence, sure. Keep an eye.”
There was silence for the next ten minutes. I sunk down low in the seat. The Benadryl had done its job, and Trina was out like a light. As I scanned the street, I absently stroked her blonde hair, and found myself saying a silent prayer for her future. I included myself and Gem – and threw in the rest of humanity just for good measure.
The radio crackled to life. “Babe, I’m in. Remember all the dead people on the front steps?”
“It hasn’t slipped my mind, Gem.”
“They probably fled from here. It looks like a slaughterhouse. Cops dead everywhere, guns in hand. Looks like they got knocked out or something, then they were attacked. Weird. Almost like they were gassed, then eaten.”
“Really? I’d expect cops to shoot center mass like they’re trained, but none of this would’ve happened that fast. They should have had time to fire again and try a head shot I’d think.”
“I don’t know, Flex,” Gem said. “Looks like they just passed out and then got eaten.”
“Jesus,” I said. “Gem, hurry and get out of there.”
It was quiet for too long. “Gem,” I said. “You there?”
“Yeah, Flex. I am. I hear some noises coming from the back of the building. Closer to you.”
“I want you to get this back door unlocked. Do you think you can find these doors and avoid whoever’s making the noise?”
“I sounds like someone yelling for help,” she said. “I should help them, Flex.”
“I agree, baby. But get that door open first. And when you do, use your flashlight to signal to me it’s unlocked. You might need to prop it so it doesn’t auto-lock.”
Gem knew her shit, so there was no reason for me to worry. I expected within ten minutes I’d see the signal flashes, but I kept asking myself how many rounds I’d fired from the Uzi inside the Walgreens.
At 10 rounds per second, you could empty the entire 32 round magazine in 3.2 seconds. Had I cut down the two zombies at the drugstore in the .2 seconds? A full half second? Time flies when you’re firing a sub machine gun. I had no idea. I hoped she checked the mag and I hoped it was full when I first saw the gun. She had the Glock, but I knew she only had limited rounds left in it. Then it struck me. She was in a fucking police station. There would be guns on every downed officer. I let out a sigh of relief. There it was again. Blessed relief.
I rolled my window down an inch so I could hear noise from outside. The area, as far as the eye could see, was eerily quiet and motionless. I was glad. I heard a sudden click.
I looked left at the building, and two quick flashes of light shone from the doors. More relief. I clicked on. “Beautiful, baby. Thanks. Did you find out who was yelling?”
“It’s right around the corner. I’ve got the walkie turned way down. Trina still down?”
“Like a has-been fighter in his comeback bout. Did you grab any more guns?”
Despite her being quiet, I heard a low laugh over the radio. “Do I look like an octopus? I got a couple Berettas. It looks clear from here – think you can carry Trina over here real quick and take this stuff from me?”
I looked around. “Sure. Hold on. I reached an arm beneath the sleeping girl and pulled her onto my chest, her head tucking in beside mine. I pulled the .38 off the dash and hooked my finger around the handle and opened the door of the Suburban. Closing the door only lightly, I ran toward the building, Trina bouncing in my arms.
“Probably not the smartest thing we’ve done,” I said. Give ‘em here.”
She pulled my pants away from my waist and tucked one, then the second gun inside my waistband. “You’re a regular man of steel,” she said. “Okay. You’re loaded for bear. Get back to the truck.”
I looked at her. “Sure you don’t want to trade? You’ve done good, babe. Let me go finish up?”
“I’ve already got the layout, Flex. I’ll just –”
“Help! Help me, somebody help me! Can you hear me?” The voice echoed through the police building.
“Jesus, Flex! Get back to the truck!”
“Bullshit,” I said, pushing her inside and pulling the door shut behind me.
“Trina is with you, Flex. Trina!”
“Yes, and you’re with me, too. And you’re protective of this little girl, and you know as well as I do that she’ll never be safer than when she’s near you and you’re armed. So move.”
Gem glared at me again, and headed down the brick-lined hallway, painted in a glossy white. At the end of the hallway there was a door to the left. She unhooked a key ring from her belt and unlocked it.
“Is that a police belt?”
“A sergeant was wearing it, and he had the key. Skeleton key. Opens every door in the place.”
“Damn, you’re good,” I said. And I meant it.
We hurried through the door and turned left, then right. There was another steel door with a reinforced glass view hole. I looked down, and saw two bodies on the floor about halfway down the hallway. The door at the far end was held open with a chair. Nobody moved. “Guess we go in, huh?” I said.
Gem nodded and inserted the key, turning it until a metallic click sounded. She pushed and it opened quietly.
The moment we stepped through the door, a voice came from one of the cells. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
We stopped short and analyzed the layout. Six cells down on the right, six on the left. We could see a nose sticking through the bars halfway down on the right. Then hands waved. “Hey, down here! Down here!”
The voice had a British accent. The hands didn’t look rough, but smooth. In Florida, in June, the arms were covered by long sleeves, folded back at the wrist – about as casual as a long-sleeved shirt wearer who was comfortable in them might get.
“Who are you?” Gem called, as we approached the cell.
Trina was still out cold, dead weight in my arms, as I held my .38 pointed at the body of one of the uniform-clad officers on the cell block floor.
“Chatsworth,” he said. “Hemphill Chatsworth.”
We stepped into his view, me holding a little girl, sweating up a storm, and Gem, a hot Latin woman, also soaked with sweat, hefting an Uzi. We must have been a sight.
“Hemphill Chatsworth,” said Gem, smiling. “Now that’s a mouthful.”
The man nodded, and even smiled slightly. “Hemp. Hemp to people who know me.”
“What are you doing in this cell, Hemp?” I asked. “What went wrong in your life that you ended up in jail?”
“First off he goes by Hemp,” Gem said. “Drug dealer, naturally.”
“No, no,” he said. “I shut the cell door. Locked myself in. I’m just glad it was open in the first place so I could get away from them.” He bent down and brought up his hand holding a stainless steel .45 Automatic.
I tensed as Gem swung her Uzi quickly, pointing it at his head. “Drop that shit now!”
Hemp did. He flung the gun to the other side of the cell and it skittered off the concrete floor and into the wall. “It’s empty! Empty!” he shouted, cowering.
“Why’d you grab it!” Gem said, her muscles tense as she held the gun on him.
“To show you if I was supposed to be in here I would not have a damned gun!” he said, holding his hands in front of him in a defensive gesture.
Gem’s muscles relaxed. So did mine. She looked at me and shrugged. “Makes sense.”
“I agree,” I said. “I’m glad this kid’s on Benadryl. Fuck me.”
Gem lowered the weapon, glanced again at the propped door, then turned back to the British man in the cage. “Who were you trying to get away from? When was this?”
Gem stepped back and aimed the Uzi toward the open door where the chair lay angled and propped beneath the doorknob. Chatsworth must have noticed Gem eyeing the d
oor nervously.
“I put that chair there when I ran in. I was afraid I’d be locked in if it latched, and then this happened. I’ve lost track of time, and – Jesus, I forgot I even had a watch on.” He looked at his watch. “I’ve been in here about an hour now. These two were coming after me, and I shot them in the leg to start – thought it might deter them – but they didn’t take their eyes off me, and kept coming. It wasn’t like they saw me – more like they were drawn to me. I shot one in the chest, and he still kept coming. Christ, what the devil is happening here?”
“So you figured out the head shot is all that kills them,” I said. “Good. It doesn’t take long. You take out both of these?”
Hemp nodded. “Yes, but I only got the one in the head. The other—”
“Flex, MOVE!” Gem’s voice was panicked, and she pulled me hard toward her and yanked me against the concrete wall next to Hemp’s cell. As my back contacted the wall and I dropped my gun to keep from losing my grip on Trina, I saw why. The zombie on the cell block floor had begun to move and had pulled itself toward me until its gaping, gnashing mouth must have been inches from my ankle. Fucking inches.
Gem leapt back and pulled the trigger of the Uzi, holding it down as at least 25 high velocity rounds separated the zombie’s head from his shoulders and nearly shattered our eardrums, echoing in the brick and steel block. When it was over, she leaned against the cell, breathing hard, her shoulders heaving.
I stood there speechless, as did Hemp. He sat on his knees, staring at her back, and a second later she turned and glared at Hemp. “Did you get the other one in the head? Are you fucking sure?”
I moved Trina into one arm and reached out and took the Uzi from her. “Here.” I put Trina in her arms. “I got this. Relax.” I walked over to the body lying directly across the narrow block, up against the opposite bank of cells. With my foot, I kicked the body over so it rolled onto its back. Yep. It was a one of them. The teeth were pulled back, the eyes staring blankly and sunken, the black veins running over every inch of its body.
