by Hamrick, R M
“Whoever stole the antidotes,” she looked at Audra and Vesna, “shouldn’t ruin it for everyone.”
Another official, one of the portly women who accompanied Greenly during negotiation, took over the speech as Greenly walked away from the large noises of the crowd. She explained that taggers could come in the next week to fill out paperwork to pull out their person if they no longer wanted Lysent to render care.
“We want no one to feel stuck.”
Audra smirked at the statement. That was exactly what the indentured tagging program was. The woman made clear that money would be owed with interest compounding, but they would not use humans as collateral, only giving the option of care. Other fees would apply. After out-processing, they would be available at the end of the week.
Audra waited a few days before arriving with her paperwork. She presented it to Rosie with a big smile on her face. Rosie gave a timid smile back. Audra hadn’t shown Rosie any appreciation for not revealing her identity, even if it ended up not mattering. She softened her smile and mouthed, “thank you.” Rosie nodded and accepted her paperwork. It landed in a large pile on her desk. Audra knew better than to argue. Rosie wouldn’t mess up something so important.
Audra refrained from asking how many applications had been dropped off. She knew several taggers who were on the verge of giving up and some who had, leaving the township system entirely. Audra knew she would owe near a million credits, but she would have her sister. She would wake her up with a replicated antidote. And if they could incite Lysent’s fall, this system of debt and her debt would be no more. Audra knew a lot had to go right, but it was the same as signing on as a tagger had been. For that, nothing had gone right. At least this time, she had more control.
Audra stepped outside to renewed protests. No longer on a six-month break, it seemed they were just as upset over removing the infected from the village as they were with waking them up. Releasing zombies near the towns, allowing people to keep them in their homes? They didn’t care that the announcement stated that the infected could not stay in the township. Too many dead, unsafe and worthless, they argued, ignoring that others saw them as loved, curable, and important.
The infected were people. They deserved a chance, no matter how hard the community struggled. Or in Audra’s case, how much she personally struggled. She couldn’t imagine the possibility of her sister awake and talking by this time next week. Audra disappeared more than a few times. The moonshiners’ spots were calling her name. She shook and paced in front, but she needed to stay upright to take care of her sister. Instead, she marched out of the town and went for runs, down easy roads, up harsh terrain, and coasted on rolling hills.
The next week, Audra arrived in the crowd, unsure if she was supposed to receive her sister at a specific location. Perhaps the infected would be escorted out of the town. Vesna was invited to stand with Greenly on stage as an act of good faith and collaboration. Vesna stood somber, realizing this was a business transaction, not a victory. Guards herded ten infected out into the plaza with linen sacks over their heads, all loosely bound together by their upper and lower extremities so they could walk on their own.
Audra heard the protesters gasp and squeal.
“What if they get out of control?” they whispered.
Even with Belinda in the mix, Audra let out a giggle at the thought of a mass of tangled zombies wreaking havoc on this stupid little town and its stupid little protesters. Audra tried to figure out which one was Belinda. There were a few the correct height and skin tone, but the formless white uniforms and linen sacks covering face and hair revealed little else.
Looking through the crowd, Audra spotted a few taggers here to receive or possibly just observe. No one tried to approach the chained. Taggers were a cautious bunch, and it wasn’t zombies they feared. Greenly stepped up to the podium with Vesna on her left side, and even the protesters observed their place in society by falling silent for their leader.
“Welcome. You all have been doing a wonderful job building our community and making sure there is food for all. Your successes have brought us increased rations. You did that. Now we can all be that much more productive.
“There is one of our own. Perhaps you know her. This is Vesna. Vesna runs a little shop for the corporation. You have probably bought from her before. Vesna approached me and requested that I end the six-month waiting period and release any zombies whose loved ones did not wish to be part of the program anymore. And just last week I did that.”
Greenly and Vesna looked a lot alike, petite women with graying hair. Both seemed weathered from the infection that swept the nation, but one of them was responsible for it.
“But, the six-month waiting period was imposed because an individual stole from us. One person hurt many because he or she demanded something for themselves. And the indentured tagging program exists because you must help others before you can help yourself - whether that is by giving money to further our lives here or by helping to wake up others. You cannot demand for just yourself anymore.”
Audra’s eyes widened and she hoped to make eye contact with Vesna. Vesna shifted on her feet and looked to the side of the stage. Doubt and panic filled both of their bodies. Vesna made a footstep to stage left, but two guards stepped forward and sandwiched her. Something was wrong. Audra worked her way around the crowd and to the stage.
“This woman is demanding for herself. She is not trying to help us. She is trying to hurt us.”
Greenly gave a small nod and one of the large arms of a guard grabbed Vesna. Her arms were pinched to her sides, but she struggled all the same. He pulled out his gun and with a quick move to the temple, he executed Vesna. Vesna slumped to the ground in the midst of gasps and cries. This was unlike anything Lysent had ever done in public view. What positive public opinion her speech had garnered was lost in the display of violence. With no thoughts clearing her mind, Audra doubled over in shock and a measure of less oxygen.
Then, another smatter of noise. This time, multiple weapons.
Audra looked up to all ten in linen collapsing to the ground.
“We will no longer bow to the individual!” Greenly shouted.
And with that, the crowd was on her side once again. Cheers erupted.
Audra did not hear them as she too fell to the ground. Her ears rang with death. She screamed out with no release. Soon, she was forced to suck in, but she received only dust into her lungs. She rubbed her face on the ground as she attempted another yell out. What had she done?
Audra felt a warm hand grab her shoulder. She turned to push away the intruder but saw a familiar face she could not place. The soft face came down to her and her lips brushed her hair and ear as she whispered.
“I didn’t put in your paperwork. Your sister is safe inside.”
It was Rosie.
Audra froze on the ground, eyes wide, trying to process the information.
“Get up,” Rosie ordered with a hoarse whisper. “Your laboratory is in danger. She knows where it is. They’re going to destroy all evidence of whatever it is you brought, of you, of anyone who knows.”
“How?” she choked.
“They’re sending a herd.”
Her sister was OK. She was not here in the mass of white and red? But Dwyn and the others? Vesna. Vesna gone. Her mind refused to wrap around to connect all the thoughts, but she reached a conclusion all the same. She pulled herself off the ground and without a word, a look back, or a brushing off of the smeared agony on her body, she ran.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The paths were empty. Everyone was still gathered in Lysent’s plaza, not yet dismissed. Audra raced to their small outpost in this town. There, Audra and Vesna had packed bags in case something went wrong. And something had.
Audra would not be able to tote both bags. She opened Vesna’s, retrieving a few things. As she did, a shadow came into the room. Someone was here. She whipped out her knife. Only Vesna knew this spot. And Vesna… she was gone. She rus
hed the shadow’s origin.
“No no no, it’s me,” came Dwyn’s voice.
She slacked her knife arm and fell into him. Her emotions smashed into his. He knew. He had just arrived, but he had seen. Then, he had chased her here. She buried herself in him and spoke into his chest.
“She, she, my sister... She wasn’t in the group,” she breathed.
Was that true? Dwyn wasn’t sure. Maybe that was just shock or denial. It didn’t matter in this moment. He needed to get Audra out of here. If Lysent identified her, she’d be dead.
“And, Rosie. An attack, an attack on the lab. A herd.”
That. That made perfect sense to Dwyn.
“OK, we need weapons then.”
Now they could bring both bags. Audra moved to reveal their contents - traps, knives, flares, noisemakers, all manners of self-defense. With emotions still churning, they took off with their loot while the rest of the town still reeled in the square.
“The laboratory is this way,” Dwyn said, attempting to guide Audra.
“We’re not going there yet.”
“What do you mean?” he asked but followed her all the same. Her head seemed to clear now that she was in the forest and on her feet.
“We’re going to the corral.”
Dwyn had never seen one. Even with his extra gear, he picked up his pace in anticipation even with his extra gear.
Vesna’s goal had been to wake up the surrounding corrals. Lysent’s goal was now to weaponize them by releasing them to kill people. Why not? Lysent controlled food, construction, and now were making public displays of murder. The villagers didn’t care as long as it was in the name of safety and security. Vesna had seen how urgently Lysent needed to be stopped. She had prioritized accountability, which made even more special, her forgiveness of Audra’s detour.
Audra’s heart ached with the memory.
Dwyn interrupted her thoughts with something that had been weighing on his mind.
“Your sister? You think she is still alive?”
His timidity in speech gave away that he still didn’t believe.
“That’s what Rosie said,” she replied with a harshness that ended the conversation.
Audra wasn’t sure she believed it either, but she couldn’t let go of the prospect. She had to hold onto Rosie’s words. If they weren’t true, Audra would fall apart and more people would die. And she couldn’t let that happen. Her family was more than just Belinda now. It was the entire group. She wasn’t going to lose anyone else.
But the guilt of Vesna’s death covered, like paint, every thought she had. Every possible blame and future scenario flooded Audra’s head as she stomped through the brush.
She distracted herself with endless pace calculations. The corral was ten miles east. The shepherds on horses would arrive in the morning to release and direct the zoms. They would move more slowly than Audra and Dwyn, but would not rest at night. Still, it would take two full days at least. They would possibly arrive in time for a nightfall attack.
Audra picked up the pace to give everyone more time to prepare.
The soft intermittent sirens told Audra they were close, and they slowed to a walk. It was not a good idea to rile up a herd. As they crested the hill, they caught sight of the corral, an expansive pen with close to five hundred zoms. Even from this distance, Audra’s trained tagging eye could assess their condition. Exposed to weather and to each other, their skin sagged, muscles shredded, and bones stuck this way and that. They had torn and gnawed on each other. Flaps of skin and tufts of hair clung to the chain-link fences, pulled from their hosts. Audra knew Belinda did not have the accommodations Lysent boasted, but at least she hadn’t been left to this.
Dwyn let out a low whistle and then a curse.
“They’re all coming to us?” asked Dwyn.
Audra looked at the five hundred as a mass. She imagined them destroying the forest as they came like an unstoppable ocean wave.
“No, no, not for our little place. They wouldn’t. It would be unsafe to have all these zoms running around after they plowed through our laboratory,” scrambled Audra, half convincing herself.
The scientists would be frightened beyond belief. Dwyn looked scared, too.
“Why do they look like that?”
“Lysent packed them all in together and left them.”
“These are just chain-link fences. How have they not…I don’t know… stampeded out?”
“Listen. Hear that siren? In a few minutes, it’ll stop and another one will replace it coming from a different direction. They keep them going in circles, so they don’t weigh on the fence.”
“So, they direct them?”
“Sorta.”
“And now they’re going to direct them right into our lab?”
“Not all of them. Maybe fifty. A hundred?” Audra tried to estimate.
“I think we can handle fifty. Much more and we’d get overrun.”
“That’s why we’re here.”
“We set them loose?”
“Yes.”
Releasing the corral prematurely might call off the attack. All hands would be needed to round up the zombies. Or, maybe not. Maybe hundreds more would be directed toward them, simply because they were available.
Despite her affirmation, neither made a move toward the corral. By ripping open select fences, they could split the herd and choose their general trajectories. It mitigated the risk to others but promised nothing. Zombies would stumble into the townships, onto people’s paths, and increase the ill favor that the infected garnered.
They sat waiting for an answer to manifest. The bodies were walking corpses. Only the virus’s grip on their metabolisms kept them alive. Without it, they would pass from their injuries. Death would be more merciful, but they did not have time. There were hundreds and Lysent was purposely keeping them alive.
“Vesna would release them,” Dwyn concluded.
She would. Given her way, she would have brought them to Lysent’s fences and she would have mass-cured them. She would let them all writhe and die in front of those who swore to protect and care.
“We’re not Vesna.”
Audra pulled away from their hiding place and headed toward the lab, corral untouched. They did not bother to cover their tracks. A giant herd would be on the way soon.
Audra pulled more food from her pack and encouraged Dwyn to do the same. It was crucial to stay ahead of the energy expenditure. Accessible food energy allowed you to run. Without it, your body had to convert fat stores. In twenty miles, you’d be forced to walk. Their pace might still be unsustainable. She hoped that adrenaline and salty snacks would see them through.
Her legs felt like concrete and she felt a snapping pain on her hip with each step. She reminded herself that the sooner she reached the laboratory, the longer she would have to rest. And even if she arrived useless and spent, the scientists would have warning. For now, they had no idea.
Dwyn and Audra ran by moonlight to reach the gate of the facility. After fifty miles, Audra’s priority was still telling the others about the impending attack, but a disproportionate second priority was raiding their food supply. With just fifty yards left, their bodies demanded they walk.
The scientists jumped at the sight of their runners. Dwyn had left them just last night to support Audra and Vesna.
Good news never traveled this fast.
“What happened?”
Audra opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. In the day of running, she had not considered how she would share the news, that she had been wrong, that Vesna had been wrong, that Vesna was dead. Soon, she found words, but they were not graceful or soothing. Confusion and sadness mingled in their wake.
What would they do without their leader? Leave? Surrender?
And they had lost a friend.
“I told you they would figure it out,” came Ziv’s smug brag.
Despite her complete bodily exhaustion, Audra still had to hold herself back from so
cking him in the jaw. Audra contented herself knowing that he was in the same path of harm despite his condescending mouth.
“What do we do?” asked Ryder.
Ryder, the one full of answers and ideas, had been confronted with a problem that overwhelmed her. She looked panicked. They all looked panicked.
“I know this attack is scary, but we have notice and time to figure something out. You guys need to finish any time-sensitive stuff. Then we’ll buckle down and get ready for a siege, of sorts.”
“About that ‘time-sensitive stuff’…” said Satomi.
She motioned to the conference room window to reveal an infected man circling the table.
“Subject Four is our first aerosolized delivery,” Gordon reported.
“Gordon and Ziv are working on that. Satomi and I are systematizing antiviral production,” explained Ryder.
Audra had only thought of the human occupants of the laboratory when she rushed over, but now she realized all of their work was in jeopardy, too. Without the lab, Belinda would remain where she was, how she was. Lysent was sending a herd to destroy old evidence and any chance for her sister. With the fog of the corporation’s promises lifted, Audra knew she would never get her sister through tagging.
The crew had stopped talking. Audra looked up and realized they were waiting for her approval.
“That’s great,” muttered Audra.
“How did you get him in there?” Dwyn asked, pointing to Subject Four.
“It was Gordon,” said Satomi.
She gave Gordon a sweet smile, and he blushed in return.
The zombie was clad in a jumpsuit, perhaps a member of the maintenance crew. Audra wondered if he would wake in time to help them in the attack, but she did not voice the hope.
