TAGGED: THE APOCALYPSE

by Chiron, Joseph M

  “I think you are ready now,” Candy said, very matter of fact.

  Eve looked at her.

  “Old enough to enjoy it.” Candy pulled her blouse on over her bra. “I was six-teen when I started stripping to pay the rent,” Candy emphasized her age. “You’re going to have to start pulling your weight around here.”

  CHAPTER 24: October 30, 10 a.m.

  Sven was holding onto Eve’s tiny hand. They were slightly out of breath from their strenuous hike up the mountain. Sven put his pack down while Eve spread out the blanket she carried. He had a bottle of wine, some cheese with crackers and sandwiches. The sun on his face was warm and below them, the world was green again. She was touching her belly and looking at him. “Are you?” he asked, looking into her eyes for the answer.

  “I’m pregnant,” she said.

  It was a miracle. His heart felt like it would burst inside him. He was the luckiest man alive. “I love you so much,” he said, and then they kissed, and then again. Her kisses were wet and her body was warm beside him on the blanket. Her tongue darted into his mouth.

  “What?” she said.

  “I..” Sven opened his eyes and blinked as the dream faded and his mind refocused. Alexis lay on the bed with him. She was nude under the comforter. He was on the mattress in the back of the tower and he could feel the sharp chill of the morning just before the grow lights clicked on. Two weeks ago Jackie, Jeb and the boys had helped him knock down two walls to combine three of the largest rooms in the rear part of the upper tower to set up his grow operation. They lay on a mattress in the back, behind a jungle of pot plants. Dixon lay with his head on his paws four feet away, his eyes shifting uncomfortably between them. Sven estimated only one more week before his first post apocalypse harvest.

  “You were talking in your sleep again last night,” Alexis smiled at him, making fun.

  “Oh.” Alexis was Candy’s top girl. After the thing with Eve, Jackie saw them talking and he brought her to him. She had been coming to visit a few times a week. They would smoke some and then have sex. He gave her a bag of dope in trade. She was selling it, but it was hers to do with as she pleased. She was twenty two and a looker. Blond, slim and long legged - nothing at all like diminutive, dark-haired Eve. Before the infection, she had been a corporate secretary, and had just been admitted to law school. Like almost all of Candy’s girls, she had no idea where was her family, and was lucky to make it to the power plant with little more than the clothes on her back.

  “You were saying something about…”

  Sven planted a kiss on her to shut her up. He didn’t want to hear it. He continued kissing her until she responded and they went through the motions of sexual passion. Afterward, she wrapped the sheet around herself for the walk to the shower. “Did you say…you loved me?” She turned, smiling a little uncertainly. He was her ticket out from under Candy. She could move upstairs. She could help Sven with the garden and sales. She would have more and better everything. Her place and her world would be secure but best of all, no more bartering for sex.

  Sven just looked at her for a moment. He didn’t know how to answer. Finally he said, “You’re great, Alexis. You’re awesome.” Her smile instantly faded and she turned on her heel toward the bath.

  Sven put some fresh weed into his water bong and lit up. Dixon smiled, wagging his stub of a tail and went forehead to forehead, wet nose and stinky dog breath to dry nose with Sven, for his usual good morning greeting, and then laid back down a few feet away to watch.

  Except for Eve, things were going really well. The bright lights kept the infected at bay. Any that wandered close, they shot. The infected were not completely brainless. They learned quickly that this area was well defended and the hunting was better just about anywhere else. The swarm moved past them. Only infected stragglers remained to hide in the buildings and in the abandoned cars nearby. Two large trenches eight feet deep had been dug out in front of the entrance and sea water pumped in. Two additional twelve foot fences had been erected in front of each of the trenches. This created a large, open kill zone for the infected trying to get to the plant. Only the road remained, and that was blocked with more than a hundred mostly abandoned vehicles of all types. Eve was safe and staying with Candy in the bottom of the tower. Jackie, Jeb and the boys, Big Dennis and himself had set up in the top of the tower.

  Candy had about twelve girls now in the base of the tower, thirteen counting Eve. Yesterday, Candy had come to Sven and approached him about putting Eve to work with the other girls. She told him that the other girls were jealous that Eve was getting a free ride, getting all the benefits and doing none of the work herself. “…And she’s sleeping with Brit.” Sven could feel Candy watching him like a hawk, “I believe her exact words were that she had to ‘practically throw herself at him.’”

  Sven nodded noncommittally.” Sven had seen Eve and Brit together talking almost every day, recently.

  The girls were under Candy, and the lions share of the scavenged goods ended up locked in the tower in trade for sex. It was the age old trine of sex, drugs and alcohol. There was a constant stream of refugees coming through the gates, from morning until they closed them around 4:00 p.m.. There was a lot of debris in the air, and sometimes it was dark all day. But if the sun did break through, it was between 10 and 4:30 p.m.. That was the safest time, and the infected generally stayed hidden and out of the daylight. The busiest time for the girls was first thing in the morning, around 10 am. The busiest time for liquor and smoke was after noon until just before dusk.

  The tower, and those inside of it, had the best of everything the new world had to offer. The best lights, the best weapons, the most and best food and the girls, the liquor and smoke brought more in barter daily.

  Sven went straight to Jackie and talked to him about Candy wanting to put Eve to work, before dropping the bomb. “She said Eve is sleeping with Brit.” Sven felt confused, betrayed, and maybe a little disgusted even though he was sleeping with Alexis.

  “Not sure I’m seeing it, bro,” Jackie replied. There was a long moment of comfortable silence between the two men as Jackie gathered his thoughts. “Eve would be a huge money maker for Candy, for all of us. That’s where Candy’s head is at. You feel me?”

  Sven nodded thoughtfully.

  Sven had spent the rest of the day before avoiding Candy, who went out of her way to be standing wherever Sven walked. She watched him, waiting for his decision with pursed lips. Finally at dusk, Candy approached him. “Today alone I have two offers on the table, and I haven’t even had time to put the word out properly. Two chickens from one; a whole pig from another. She’s a gold mine - young and pretty and clean. Guns, store bought liquor, cigarettes…” Candy glared at him angrily for interfering in her business. He knew she would go to Jackie, but the decision was Sven’s. “Really?”

  Big Dennis made daily rounds to ensure the lights stayed on at the plant and it didn’t go into meltdown. He was accompanied by heavily armed Mack and Tiny, Jeb’s boys, who’s job it was to learn the procedures as backup. Sometimes Jackie would go too. Now that Brit was up and around, Brit had also been accompanying Dennis on his rounds. For the electricity provided by the plant, the crew had discussed during their daily meetings a tax on all the residents of the power plant. After discussion, it had been decided that now was not the right time and that they could utilize this currently untapped resource whenever the time seemed right. Brit was staying in the guardhouse with the former guards. Jeb had been welcomed into the crew due to his moon shining ability and the fact that his sons Mack and Tiny provided most of the security for the girls.

  Over the past few weeks, their numbers at the power plant had grown to a solid five hundred. Everyone was welcomed inside the fence. But the newcomers, after being checked over by the Doc and nurses, went to the largest Admin building with the least resources and also the least secure of the three. The remaining guards and Brit had taken up residence in the guard gatehouse, which was actually
three stories tall. Additionally, the gatehouse had a basement and still had one remaining spotlight and a catwalk for snipers. The guards, not unexpectedly, had quickly re-armed themselves. Jackie and Jeb had plundered the armory in the guardhouse immediately realizing the value of the weapons, ammo and the spot lights. Before anyone could object, the better part of those things were residing securely inside the top of the control tower. The other half of the remaining weapons and lights were acquired by the tower through the working girls in trade. Folks were real stressed out these days. Every day could be your last. Men were willing to trade for a little stress release and Candy was right there to provide it. For the most part, she had her pick of the finest looking women among the refugees, and so far all her recruits seemed satisfied with the trade offs. No one was compelled to stay, and a few quit in the beginning. They were quickly replaced by new girls among the refugees. After seeing the inferior conditions, food and security outside of the tower, several had tried to return, but Candy had turned them away. One of the most persistent girls stood outside the door all day pleading to be allowed to work again with tears streaming down her face, but Candy stood strong and finally resorted to throwing rocks at her to drive her away. She had been bitten by the infected later that same evening on her way to the Admin building. Not a single girl had quit since then.

  “Chicken run, today. You ready?” Jackie came loudly through the door.

  “Yeah.” Sven said, turning his back and hastily pulling some jeans on. An abandoned poultry farm about fifteen miles east had been discovered and reported by several refugees the day before. In exchange for the information and their help, the now trusted Portland Frank and his people would run the chicken operation for the benefit of all from a secured spot in the Admin building.

  Jackie and Sven exchanged the usual manly hugs. “Brit’s moving over to the tower with us today. He’s too valuable an asset to leave waving in the wind.” Sven nodded. “Me, you, Mack and Tiny we’ll go in heavy so there’s no arguing. Bring him here. He’ll bunk with Zeb and the boys. Keep him on a short leash for a while.”

  Sven nodded, “Okay.” Jackie would discuss things one on one with his crew, but he made the decisions. Those decisions were usually final.

  “I want you with us. I know there’s some tension between you and Brit – that thing with Eve. I’m thinking you should run point on this; show him who’s boss, okay?”

  Alexis emerged from the shower completely nude, holding the bed sheet casually draped over one hand. She feigned surprise at seeing Jackie and covered herself briefly, ineffectively and not very convincingly with her long delicate hands, as she took confident strides with her long legs toward them. Jackie stopped and stared at her.

  “Hello, Jackie.” She dropped the sheet, pressing her large pink nipples and naked body against Jackie and giving him a big kiss on the cheek. Even bare footed she was slightly taller than Jackie in his heavy boots. She looked frankly at Sven after the kiss, her hand lingering on his massive shoulder completely un-self-conscious. “I’m sorry, were you boys talking business?” Alexis strode to the mattress on the floor past Sven, folded over double ostensibly to look inside the overnight bag beside it. She then looked over her shoulder, upside down, at Jackie past her shapely bare ass and the bulls eyed side ways poker faced money shot she was offering him. Satisfied, she turned and strode back to the shower, casually ignoring Sven as she passed him, swinging her bag, head held high.

  “Chicken run. Ten minutes.” Jackie turned and was gone.

  CHAPTER 25: October 30, 10 a.m.

  SNIP!

  Eve’s long dark locks fell silently to the floor around her. Eve slapped herself on the forehead, “Stupid!” She said. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” She hit herself in the same spot with the flat of her hand, with the repetition of each word. Her forehead quickly turned an angry red.

  SNIP! SNIP!

  This was even worse than that thing with Amber that slutty bitch of a cheerleader! How could she be so stupid to let herself be set up like that again? At least Amber was probably dead, or more likely one of the undead things roaming the earth. Eve tried to take some satisfaction in the thought, but all she felt was rage.

  SNIP!

  If she was going to be forced to work as a prostitute, at least she was going to be ugly.

  SNIP! SNIP! SNIP!

  She had trusted Candy. She had confided in her like a big sister or a friend. During some of the long nights of the first attacks, Eve, unable to sleep, had crawled into Candy’s bed and fallen asleep safely wrapped in her arms. Sven had even instructed Candy to ‘watch out for her.’ Eve’s rage melted into a heavy sadness. Her limbs suddenly felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, and her eyes filled with anguished tears. “Why?!!!” Then the tears came gushing out of her, and once they started, they wouldn’t stop. She found herself doubled over weeping great gasping sobs over the sink.

  Pull yourself together, Eve.

  SLAP!

  She slapped herself hard across the face. It stung, badly, but her tears stopped instantly.

  SLAP! SLAP!

  She smiled or was it a snarl like one of the infected? In a twisted way it felt really good. Not good exactly, more like just real. The pain pulled her back to reality. It pulled her out of her bottomless well of emotions, into the here and now. She needed it. She craved it.

  She took a heavy breath and examined her work in the mirror. She looked like shit. Her thick, dark brown hair once flowing gracefully over her shoulders now was just ragged clumps of unevenly sheered off…fur really. Her eyes were red, and there were dark circles rimming them. Raccoon face.

  SNIP! SNIP! SNIP!

  Done, if you could call it that. She didn’t look ugly as much as she looked more like a scrawny, frightened little boy - like someone had rubbed all the cute girl-shine off of her. She looked at the heavy scissors in her hands. She opened the blades and rubbed the sharp edge lightly against her arm, tracing the line of the prominent blue vein just beneath. She pressed a little harder, feeling the sharp edge pressing against her soft skin. The blade left a reddish white trail that quickly faded but didn’t break the skin.

  This was no kind of life to live. She had no one and nothing left to live for. Her parents were both dead. As much as she felt bound and restricted by them while they were here, at least they loved her. Even her crazy mother loved her in her own twisted way- at least before she went off the deep end. Eve shook her head to expel the thought of her mother’s last moments on earth. Sven was fucking that bitch Alexis, who made certain to remind her at least one thousand times a day with a look, or a nod, or a self satisfied smirk every time they passed each other in the bottom of the tower. To Candy, she was just a commodity to be used - used and discarded when she had served her purpose.

  Someone pounded loudly on the bathroom door, “Chicken run!”

  She could kill herself but why bother, she realized, when death was all around her? One misstep, one false move, one momentary lapse of attention and the infected got you. Pull yourself together, Eve.

  “Coming!” Eve called through the locked door. She quickly splashed water on her face, collected herself and rushed out the door.

  CHAPTER 26: October 30, 10:15 a.m.

  “This is it. It’s now or never. They all went on the chicken run.” Dennis spoke in a harsh whisper to Brit inside the guardhouse. Thompson and Rusty followed close behind.

  “I don’t know. Things are going really well. The community is finally getting on its feet. With the chickens and the pigs they found, we may finally have a sustainable community without having to rely on scavenging so much.” Brit shook his head.

  “What?! Why didn’t you say this before?” Dennis was turning red.

  “I’m in,” Thompson said.

  “I’m in, too. This is a federal installation and we are duly appointed federal officers sworn to protect this installation.” Rusty rehashed his well rehearsed outrage speech, “They are trespassing on federal property, run
ning a house of prostitution, operating multiple criminal enterprises, drug dealing, moon-shining, growing marijuana…somebody, please correct me if I am saying anything that isn’t true! They treat us like second class citizens around here. They stole our weapons! Weapons issued to us by the United States- God bless America- and provided to us for the protection of this installation. This is our power plant. I’ve been working this gate for fifteen years.”

  “Exactly!” Dennis said, “and how do you run a power plant without nuclear engineers?”

  Thompson made the sound of an explosion. “You’d have meltdown,” Rusty said. Rusty roughly shoved Brit. “Are you with us or not?”

  Dennis quickly stepped between them. “We’d all be dead without them,” Brit said.

  “We’d all be sitting on a year’s worth of food, safe and warm, with heat and lights and working plumbing,” Thompson said.

  “The survivors would have rushed the gates. There would have been no way to keep them out. What would you have done, shoot them?” Brit said.

  “Well, yeah,” Rusty said. “It’s us or them.”

  “This is our place,” Thompson said.

  “This is our power plant,” Dennis was the calm voice of reason. “You know they’ve turned this place into a circus…a whorehouse.”

  “Yeah,” Thompson nodded vigorously.

  “That’s fucked up!” Rusty’s face was turning a disturbing shade of crimson.

  “I live over in the control tower. They’ve got everything. Stockpiles of food, weapons, ammunition, lights, you name it. And they got all of it from pimping those girls, selling pot and making liquor.”