by Brant, Jason
It was one of the worst jobs to have at the compound, which was why Cass had given the job to Greg for the entire week. Of course, that just had to coincide with finding a body out back.
Eifort jogged over from one of the parked RVs, her face grim. “She was one of the pregnant women here.”
Cass breathed in through her nose, her brow furrowing. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the ground. “How come no one recognized her earlier?”
“She’d been raped during Ralph’s reign. She’d chosen to keep the baby, but she was suffering from depression. They’re saying that she rarely came out of the camper she stayed in with two other women.”
Brown asked, “How long has she been missing?”
“Two days.”
“And why didn’t anyone report that she was gone?”
“They thought she’d run away or killed herself. One of the other women, Heidi, said that she’d spoken of suicide a few times before.”
“So they didn’t bother to—?”
“I’m just repeating what they told me,” Eifort said.
Brown paused. “Right, sorry. I’m not blaming you—I’m just flustered by what we’re dealing with.”
Greg turned his head from everyone and retched. His shoulders shook as he fought the heaves racking his body.
“I’ll take care of this,” Lance said, stepping forward. “Go get something to drink, Greg.”
“Sorry, bro. This is just too awful.” Greg headed for a circle of tents, his head down.
Onlookers watched from the homes and vehicles.
More whispers.
“We’re losing this place,” Lance said. “Things are unraveling in a hurry.”
Brown grinded his teeth and worked at his temples with his index fingers. He looked to Eifort. “This is not the behavior of mindless creatures. This is a warning.”
“It’s medieval is what it is. Kings used to stake the heads of their enemies outside their castles as a warning.” Eifort turned back to the RV she’d come from. “People aren’t going to take this well. I’m not taking it well.”
“The infected are killing for something other than food,” Brown said. “That’s a human trait. God help us.”
Lance wanted to tell the doc to get some rest, that he looked like shit, but who could sleep when they’d just found a woman’s decapitated body behind a toilet? He peered over at the people watching, wondering how long it would be until they fled the camp, thinking they had a better chance on their own.
Even after civilization had collapsed, people still thought the grass was always greener on the other side of the fence.
He noticed Cass’ cheeks turning red. He only saw that happen to her during sex or when she was really pissed off.
“Are you all right?”
“No. I’m not all right. No one deserves what happened to her. She wasn’t pregnant because she’d screwed up and forgot to use a condom. Ralph let a man rape her. And then for these fucking animals to use her as some kind of warning...”
She turned to Lance. “I’ll kill them all.”
The body, wrapped in several blankets, sat atop another pyre.
A bigger crowd than usual gathered around the fire.
A lot of tears were spilled.
Anger boiled.
Fear spread like the flu.
Brown’s face was ashen, his eyes sunken. He gave a small speech after her cremation was complete, telling everyone to keep their eyes open, to watch out for each other. They were to report any behavior by the infected that seemed out of the ordinary.
Lance wanted to point out that everything was out of the ordinary nowadays, that normal had gone out the window just like everything else. The crowd dispersed after an hour or two, moving quietly back to their homes. Most went inside long before the night came.
Eifort and Brown spent the evening questioning people about the dead woman. Not many knew her, and they gleaned little information. No one had even seen her out and about for the past week or so.
Lance and Cass coordinated the watch shift for the night, doubling the amount of people sitting on the perimeter. They sat an extra ten yards back from the tree line. No one was to leave their post for anything, unless they were relieved by another.
The handful of night-vision goggles in the compound were given out to every tenth guard.
The anticipation of the coming darkness had everyone on edge. The horrors lurking in the shadows of the forest eclipsed their other concerns. No one worried about food or space, water or electricity.
Cass had her axe attached to her back. She held a pump-action shotgun in both hands. Lance had tried to talk her out of taking a shift that night, but she would have none of it.
He didn’t want his pregnant lover any closer to harm than necessary. But he knew that Cass wouldn’t listen to him. She rarely did.
The first shriek came thirty minutes after nightfall.
Lance felt his shoulders rising toward his ears and forced himself to relax. He’d heard these noises for months now and knew that they shouldn’t affect him this way anymore. The events of the day had him anxious.
He walked the perimeter with Cass, stopping occasionally to ask if anyone had seen anything unusual. The shrieks persisted as they usually did, filling the night with the awful chorus of the damned.
An hour or two after sundown, fatigue grabbed hold of Lance. He hadn’t slept in over thirty hours. Focusing became an issue.
Until the shrieks died down as midnight approached.
An unsettling silence fell over the compound.
The guards exchanged troubled glances and shifted in their seats. Spotlights flicked across the trees surrounding the field, searching.
Clouds blotted the moon.
Cass’ breath caught as she looked down the driveway. She froze, staring straight ahead.
“What is it?” Lance asked.
“Something moved up there.”
Lance clicked his light on and shined it along the gravel path.
Nothing.
“It moved from the left side to the right.” Cass tucked the shotgun against her shoulder and waited.
“Well, we know they’re out there,” Lance said. “Seeing movement isn’t that uncommon when you’re on watch.”
“But they’re quiet and sneaking around. Isn’t this what you dealt with last night?”
He nodded. Rather than say anything else, he readied his pistol, praying he wouldn’t have to use it.
The silence hung in the air like a fog.
After twenty minutes by the driveway, Lance moved on. Cass followed, walking softly across the damp grass. They didn’t speak, just listened and watched. The guards kept their eyes glued to the trees.
As they moved around the back of the cabin, a cry of fear stretched from the other side of the clearing.
Lance broke into a run, cutting across the field, the overhead lights flashing by. Three guards stationed at the northeast end of the compound stood behind their chairs, frantically waving their lights around.
“Everyone stay where you are!” Lance yelled. He didn’t want anyone breaking the line.
Cass reached the panicked guards and addressed the nearest, a woman of roughly thirty. “What is it?”
“Someone is out there!” She pointed at the trees. Her brown hair hung over her forehead, stuck to her skin with sweat.
“Quiet down,” Cass said. “What do you mean someone is out there? The Vladdies?”
“No! It sounded like a woman crying!” She tried to brush the hair from her face but failed and left it.
“What’s your name?” Cass grabbed the woman’s hand to calm her.
“Judy.”
“Judy, I need you to run to the next guard with a pair of night vision goggles and bring them back here, OK?”
The woman nodded, but didn’t move.
“Judy, I need you to hurry.”
She nodded again and took off, running with stiff legs made awkward by fear.
>
Lance listened to the rustling leaves of the woods.
A voice came to him then, soft and distant.
Pain-ridden.
“Help... me... please... someone... help...”
“Oh, Christ.” Lance’s pulse, already thundering, kicked into overdrive. How could someone be out there, with them, and still be alive?
Cass shared a look with him. “Impossible.”
“Why haven’t they killed her yet? She’s giving away her position!” He turned back to the woods. “Be quiet, lady! They’ll hear you!”
“Please... please... mercy...”
Judy returned, winded and soaked through with sweat. She handed Cass the goggles.
Cass held them to her eyes and slowly scanned the woods. She remained silent for nearly ten seconds before she sucked in a harsh breath.
“What is it?” Lance asked.
Cass handed over the goggles without answering. She stared at the scene in front of them.
Lance inspected the trees through the green haze supplied by the night vision. At first, he didn’t see anything unexpected.
A hand waved beside a thick trunk, twenty yards in.
Lance stepped closer.
Saw the outline of a woman sitting against the tree. She waved again.
“So... hungry...”
The front of her shirt was dark and clung to her torso. Her shoulder was flayed open. A chunk of flesh was missing from her left forearm. One of her ankles was bent at an awkward angle.
Her chest rose and fell in short, quick breaths.
Movement came from behind her, off to the right.
A thick, rounded shoulder appeared behind a fallen tree. It shifted, and a distorted, misshapen head moved into view for a second before hiding again.
A predator, ready to spring a trap.
Lance lowered the goggles. “Did you see the Vladdie?”
Cass nodded.
“Please...”
“I guess this cements the idea that they’re setting traps for us.” Lance spotted Eifort jogging toward them and waved for her to hurry.
She arrived a moment later. “What’s going on?”
Lance gave her the goggles.
She lowered them after a long look. “I spotted at least three of them around her. They’re using her as live bait.”
“Yeah.” Lance wasn’t sure what else to say.
“And she’s been bit.”
“Yeah.”
Eifort grabbed the strap hanging from the goggles and looped it around the back of her head, attaching them to her face. She dropped to a knee, raising her trusty rifle.
“What are you doing?” Judy asked.
“Putting her out of her misery.” Eifort looked down the sights. “She’s infected and being used as a trap. Even if we could somehow get out there and save her, we couldn’t bring her into the camp. She’s already into the early stages of the virus.”
“But you can’t—”
Cass cut her off. “It’s the most humane thing to do. Leave if you don’t have the stomach for it.”
Judy looked to Lance for support. He averted his gaze and watched the trees.
“You’re going to murder that woman.” She wiped a tear running down her cheek.
“It’s mercy, not murder,” Cass said. “Walk away. You don’t need to be here for this.”
Judy fled, sobbing, crying out for someone named Frank.
Eifort fired.
The woman’s cries ceased.
The Vladdies roared.
Chapter 8
“Well, it’s another day here in Hell. Or Heaven, I suppose, if you’re a vampire sumbitch. Or if you just hated people and wanted to spend all of your time reading, just like that squirrelly little guy in The Twilight Zone. How many of yinz made it through the night? Still kicking? It was a rough one here at the Wildman’s Super-Secret Location. Damn monsters were beating on my door all night.”
Lance stared at the radio, his eyelids weighted and half closed. He’d passed exhaustion hours ago.
He was borderline delirious, spacing out for several seconds before his attention snapped back.
“...not sure what they’re gonna do about it. Those Canucks have been hanging tough though, no doubt about that. Dealing with that fire ain’t gonna happen though. Let’s see, what else has the ol’ Wildman heard since yesterday? Oh yeah, I hear that there is a whole contingent of cruise ships coming across the pond from Europe. Not sure what the fuck they think they’re gonna find here that they ain’t got going on there, but more power to ‘em, I suppose.”
Cass put a cup of coffee on the table in front of Lance. Her hair sagged to the right, looking sadder and somehow weirder than usual. “He’s broadcasting early today.” She paused and listened to the man rant for several seconds. “You’d think he would get better at this after doing it for so long.”
“The quality of his broadcast doesn’t seem to be too high on his priority list.”
“In news closer to home, we’ve got the military moving in on yinz outside of Greensburg. Word is, they don’t have all that many men, but they’re packing quite a bit of firepower. Don’t piss ‘em off out there, eh? Did I just say ‘eh’ again? Goddamn, now I sound like a Canucklehead. My daddy would have slapped me upside the dome for that one. Anywho, I wouldn’t expect to see those military men until tomorrow, but prepare yourselves. I’m not taking sides, of course, but we don’t need to keep killin’ each other over land. In case no one has noticed, there is a lot of cheap real estate floatin’ around. In fact, I’ve got some oceanfront property in the ‘Burgh if anyone—”
Brown pulled a chair away from the table and sat beside Lance. His eyes had the redness of a man coming off a weeklong bender. “Megan is sleeping, finally.”
The night had proven uneventful after Eifort had put the wounded woman out of her misery. The Vladdies continued their usual screeching, and they hadn’t tried any other brazen attacks.
But the mood of the camp hadn’t recovered.
The infected woman weighed on everyone.
Having another trap laid out by monsters everyone had previously assumed to be mindless didn’t raise anyone’s spirits.
Eifort took it hard. She’d held it in for a few hours, but had finally cracked while hugging Brown close to sunrise. She was a tough, inimitable woman, but she’d reached her breaking point for the night.
Most of them had.
“...that weird-ass noise? I can’t be the only one who noticed that crazy shit those vampire sumbitches are doing lately, can I? But more than that, what the hell is that sound people are reporting? They’re seeing holes and hearing sounds. The fuck does that mean? Can someone hit me up with a bit more information? You can’t expect me to pass this shit along if it don’t make any sense. I know that a lot of you are hillbillies, living in your bomb shelters, but let’s try to—”
“Doc, you need to get some rest.” Lance nodded at the radio. “I’ll listen to the rest of the broadcast and then talk to everyone about the military men heading our way.”
Brown sighed. “There isn’t time for rest. I have to—”
“You’re too tired to be of much good to anyone,” Cass interrupted. “You’re going to start making mistakes soon. We’re in a pinch here, and we need you running on all cylinders.”
Brown opened his mouth to argue again, but he closed it as he looked from Lance to Cass. “If anything comes up—”
“We got it, Doc. Curl up with your lady and get a couple of Zs.” Lance sipped the coffee, wincing at the bitterness. Cass was a woman of many talents. Making coffee wasn’t one of them.
The doc left the kitchen and disappeared into the hall, the rubber on his shoes dragging along the wood of the floor. His shoulders hunched to an almost comical degree, giving him a Quasimodo look.
“...about wraps it up this morning. I got this in here early today on account of those men coming into the area. There’s no tellin’ what kind of equipment and temperament they’re bring
ing with them, so I’ll feel safer staying on the down low, as the kids used to say. I dunno what my schedule is going to be over the next few days, so keep your ears to the ground and eyes to the sky. Or whatever.”
The radio fell silent.
Cass reached over and shut it off.
They sat at the table and drank their coffee, watching dust flit through the air as rays of sunlight cut through the window.
“We need to go into Greensburg and see if we can find some more of those holes,” Cass said. “If they’re getting smarter, then we need to hit them hard and fast. Give them something to think about.”
Lance could only bob his head. He wanted to help think of a plan, but he was too tired, too flustered from the week’s events, to offer any rational ideas. “I need to see what these men want with us first. If they’re hostile, I have to make sure I’m here when they roll in.”
“We,” Cass said, narrowing her eyes at him. “We have to be here when they roll in.”
“About that—”
“Don’t give me any of your shit about keeping me safe. I’ve saved your ass more times than I can count. You need me around to keep you from getting drawn and quartered again.”
“Everyone here knows what you bring to the table.” Lance rapped the table with his knuckles. “No pun intended. I need you, of course, but I’m worried about the little dude in your belly.”
“Or dudette.”
“A good blow to the stomach could take all of that away from us. We need to start preparing for your ass-kicking days to take a backseat for a while.”
Cass folded her arms across her chest and glared at Lance. “That sounds great, dumbass, but we aren’t really in a position to kick back and put our feet up, now are we?”
“But—”
“No buts. We fight, or we die. There’s nothing in between. This is Darwinism at its finest. Kill or be killed. No one is spared that decision anymore. And me? I’m not too big on the dying thing.”
Lance knew she was right, but that didn’t take the sickening sensation creeping into his gut away. The dreadful idea that he couldn’t protect his lover or his unborn child worsened with each passing day.
If a man couldn’t protect his own, what good was he?
Cass grabbed his hand, her face softening. “I know.”
