by C. J. Boyle
"Do you think he'll let me in?" Dave whispered, "Do you think he'll accept me?"
Kera knew that Dave must have been talking about God. "Of course. God loves you." He smiled weakly as he took a few more labored breaths and then let go. Tears streamed down her face.
Mitchell looked down at her. "Kera. The blood. More will come." She made no movement, nor gave any indication that she would, so he bent down and grabbed her by the arm. He dragged her into the room and then locked the door behind him. He quickly ushered her through the lobby into a back office and locked that door too. She was inconsolable and fixated on the blood that was all over her. He looked around the room and found a sink. He knew that the plumbing no longer worked so he grabbed a stack of paper towels out of the holder and then squirted hand sanitizer all over them. It took a few minutes, but he eventually got most of the blood off of her hands.
There was suddenly a loud commotion from the outer room and hallway. Kera looked at the door and then back to Mitchell. Dave was her friend. He was a funny guy who made her laugh. He helped give her the normal back and now he was gone. His body would soon be gone too because Links were eating him two rooms from where she stood. Mitchell put his arms around her and hugged her close, "This all I can do at the moment."
* * *
Brody stood on the steps of a beautiful historic church. It was made of stone and concrete. It had magnificent decorative windows that were made ugly by security bars. The bars were the result of society, not the apocalypse. They were installed to keep criminals like The Bloods out, not the Links. He raised the knocker on the door and swung it a few times. The door creaked open and two heavily armed teenagers came out wearing red t-shirts. Neither of them said anything. For a fleeting moment, Brody wondered what these boys would be doing if the Link Virus never existed. That evil cynical side of his brain told him that they would be doing the exact same thing. He didn't like Joseph, but he would be on his best behavior. "I'd like to see Joseph, please?" The two teens looked past Brody to the truck parked on the street. Brody's men stood next to it, ready for a gun battle or a Link invasion, whichever came first.
One of the boys held the door for Brody. "Tell 'em to bring it round back. Seph has somethin' for you too."
Brody looked at his men. Instead of yelling at them, he brought the radio to his mouth. "Bring the truck around to the back. I'll be inside." Brody followed the boys inside and was instantly met by the unmistakable stank of marijuana. The foyer floor was carpeted with a deep red velvet that continued into the church past the benches to where the podium should be and up the stairs. Instead of a podium where a man of God would address the flock, there sat an oversized blue recliner in which Joseph sat. Right above his head at the back of the church was Jesus on a cross. Brody looked at Joseph and then back to Jesus. He touched his forehead and crossed himself. He forced himself not to shake his head or roll his eyes. It didn't get any more egotistical than this. He stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked at Joseph. Even though he was sitting in a chair, his head was at Brody's eye level. He nodded, "Joseph."
"I think by now you can call me Seph." He lowered his feet, closing the recliner, and leaned forward.
Brody grinned slightly, "I appreciate that, I do. But if I had my way I'd call you Mr. Whittaker and you'd call me Mr. Johnson."
Joseph clasped his hands together, "That hurts, Bro. That really does."
Brody looked up and around him. "Why'd you choose this place?"
"Why not? It's a sanctuary for everyone, isn't it?" Joseph forced a chuckle. "There's something about the thickness of the stone. It's harder for them to detect heat. And they sure as hell can't claw their way through it."
Brody nodded, "We brought the tear gas. Remember, that shit is dangerous." He took his pack off his shoulder and reached inside and brought out another radio. "We have a guy working on a way to boost the signal so you'll be able to talk to us when we're at New Hope." He took a step up and handed it to him. "If you find any more of those, it has to be 5 megahertz. Do you know where any repeaters are?"
"Do I look I know what a fuckin' repeater is?" Joseph held the radio up for a moment, "Thanks." He put it on the table next to him. "Next time bring me some fresh bread. That's something we can't get here."
Brody nodded, "They said you had something for me?"
Joseph pointed to his left. Eight children of various sex and ages stood there with an elderly lady. They must have been brought in during their conversation. Brody looked at their scared little faces and then waved at them. He suddenly saw Joseph in a different light.
"We can't take care of no babies and old ladies," Joseph sat back.
Brody looked down and sighed. Joseph went from asshole to hero and back to asshole in less than sixty seconds. "You know, all you guys can come back with us. You don't have to stay here."
"Thanks, but no thanks." He looked at the group of innocents and pointed at them, then he pointed at Brody. "Now get the hell outta here."
Brody looked at the group. "Let's go," he nodded to them. They all picked up something off the floor and followed him to the back of the church. One of Joseph's thugs showed them the way. He opened the door for them. Brody stood to the side and let the children exit.
"Eh, yo, where the rest of you crew at?" The red t-shirted teen looked at Brody.
Brody looked at the kid. He considered answering him in the same lingo but decided against it. "They are getting some supplies at Hoover Medical."
"Aw, man. You people shouldn't have gone there!" The kid looked at another Blood, "They at Hoover!" He laughed.
Brody was filled with instant dread. He grabbed his radio, "Brody to Kera. Come in." He walked down the back steps of the church to the moving van. The kids were already in the back and his men were helping the old lady inside. "Kera's in trouble, we have to go back." He got in the driver's seat.
One of his men got in beside him, "You do know there are two other people with her, right?"
~ The Repeater ~
Carl and his brothers loaded a solar panel inside a large van while JoJo watched from his wheelchair. Archie sat next to him watching the trio. JoJo reached over and patted the dog on the head. "Okay, just make sure you don't forget the tools."
"Jam, Ray, help him into the front seat." Carl tossed a set of crutches in the back with the solar panels and then got the wheelchair from Jamal. He folded it up, laid it down, and then slammed the doors shut. Raymond and Jamal helped JoJo. They were both wearing the same black, poofy jacket. They would look like two normal handsome teenaged boys if it wasn't for the semi-automatic weapons that hung from straps over their shoulders.
JoJo maneuvered himself into the passenger seat while the twins got into the back of the van with the solar panels. Carl got in and started the van. "Arch! What are you waiting for, an invitation?" Archie jumped onto Carl's lap and walked over him to the back where the twins were.
"Are you really going to bring two children with us?" JoJo looked out the window expecting to see Links running after them.
"These children won the science fair last year," Carl glanced over at him.
"Yeah, we built a robot," Jamal added.
Raymond scooted forward, "What happened to your leg?"
JoJo grimaced, "A Link decided he needed it more than I did."
The twins looked at each other. Apparently, that wasn't enough for them. "Yeah, but how'd you get away?" The twins nodded at each other.
"Fine," JoJo turned slightly to look at them, "I'll give you the version that is less likely to give you nightmares." His eyes narrowed, "How old are you two?"
"Fifteen," they both answered at the same time.
"This is going to be short and simple so no follow up questions, okay?" They nodded at him. "I was a news cameraman for Molly Saunders."
"Molly Saunders! She's hot!" Jamal was excited.
Raymond agreed, "Yeah, I'd do her!"
"You two are the whitest black kids I've ever seen. Don't interrupt or I q
uit."
Carl looked at JoJo as he drove, "Man, I want to hear the story too but you don't have to insult them. They've been through a lot too."
"Like I was saying, I worked with Molly Saunders, and by the way, she was a real bitch. I hated her. She had me filming her in the streets of Denver while Links ran around tearing people apart." He shook his head remembering the horror of it all. "So, I was about to film our deaths on live TV when these military men came out of nowhere and tried to rescue us. I'm pretty sure they got Molly to safety, but we got separated." He pointed at them, "That shit about no one left behind is bullshit."
Raymond and Jamal waited patiently for him to finish his story, but after several minutes had gone by, Jamal finally spoke. "You didn't tell us what happened to your leg."
JoJo rolled his eyes, "Holy Christ."
"Dude!" Carl furrowed his brow at him, "Did you lose your heart along with your leg?"
"Yes, I did. Okay?" JoJo ran his hands through his hair. "This isn't easy for me, okay?"
"It's okay, man, you don't have to share if you don't want to." Carl turned the van onto the highway. "Where are we going, anyway?"
"We need to look for a tall antenna as close to half way to Denver as possible." He looked at the trip counter on the dashboard. "After we've gone about twenty miles or so." He looked out the window again. "Anywhere there are people who want to talk to each other, and mountains, there are repeaters. They're all over the place. There's one right there." He pointed at a tall radio antenna. "Depending on what we find, we could actually get a range of a hundred or so mile radius."
Jamal played with one of the walkies. "The range on these things is about thirty miles. You could just drop someone with a radio at the half way point and they could relay messages."
Carl laughed, "Who is going to do that, Jam? You?" He looked down at the trip counter, "We're at about twenty. And look there." He pointed out the windshield, "What do you think?"
JoJo nodded, "Good."
Carl pulled the van off the highway and onto a dirt road that wound up a steep hill. Soon they got to the top and pulled up to a small white building with a tall antenna next to it. Carl jumped out of the van. "We're not going to have to climb up that thing, are we?"
JoJo fumbled around with his crutches and hopped out of the van. He used the crutches to steady himself. "No, we just have to replace the power source with the solar panels and hook up the battery." He half hopped and half crutched over to the building."
Carl got the wheelchair out of the van for JoJo so that he could supervise Jamal and Raymond while they installed the solar panels on the roof of the building. Carl and Archie stood guard. Raymond kept complaining that his hands were too cold to work and Jamal kept holding up his gloved hands and telling Raymond that he should have worn gloves. Jamal and Raymond probably could have done it all without JoJo's guidance, but Carl knew it would make him feel better to participate.
Archie started to growl. At first, it was a low guttural rumble but it quickly turned into an impressively loud barking fit that set everyone on high alert. Carl turned slowly around scanning the area. Both the boys dropped their tools and grabbed their guns. JoJo grabbed his pistol but it kept hopping out of his hands and he kept trying to catch it as if it was a hot frying pan. Suddenly a Link jumped out of the tree and onto the roof where the boys were. Both of their eyes went wide and they started screaming so loud that it seemed to confuse it for split second. Jamal fired at it nearly hitting Raymond.
Raymond screamed at him, "Hey! Not at me!" The Link jumped off the roof missing JoJo by only a foot. JoJo furiously fumbled with his gun and then suddenly beamed it at the Link. It bounced off his shoulder. Just as it was about to pounce on JoJo, its head exploded into little pieces. Its body collapsed to the ground with a thud. JoJo whipped his head around and saw Carl still aiming his shotgun at him. Archie ran over to the Link and started sniffing it.
Carl called up to the twins, "Are you two okay?"
Jamal was half way down the ladder. "No!" He breathed heavily and made little noises that perhaps a terrified toddler would make.
Archie got closer to the building and started his barking again. Just as Jamal got to the ground the door of the white building opened. Still reeling from his brush with the Link, he aimed his gun at the door.
A woman held up her hands and screamed, "No! Wait!"
Jamal wasn't going to yield. He could see what no one else could. The woman wasn't exactly human. Her face resembled one of the first phases of Link development. He inched closer to her, "What the hell are you?"
"Jam!" Carl was suddenly beside him. He put his hand up and moved slowly in front of Jamal's shotgun. "Jam, look, we don't shoot things that talk to us, okay?" Carl looked back at the woman. She was a weird, freaky beautiful and he had trouble taking his eyes off of her. Her eyes and skin were a grayish silver color and her hair was silver and black and very curly. He stared at her mouth expecting to see sharp, pointy rip-your-flesh-off teeth. "At least not until we ask it a bunch of questions first." Jamal did not want to put the gun down.
The woman pleaded with him, "Please. I'm not one of them!"
Carl was pleased to see she had normal teeth. She looked like one of those beautiful aliens from a science fiction show that promised to explore strange new worlds.
Raymond looked down from the roof at them. "Jam. Put the gun down, man."
Jamal finally lowered his gun. When the woman walked out into the sunlight she shielded her eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
JoJo rolled up next to Carl crushing something in the dirt with his wheel. It was enough to scare Carl into aiming the gun at him. JoJo waved his hand at him, "I think I need to be changed."
"That better be a god damned joke, man." Carl put his gun down.
* * *
Mitchell pulled out his walkie. "Mitchell to Brody, come in." Nothing. Not even radio static. He turned over the radio. The battery pack was missing.
"Probably sitting in a puddle of Dave." Kera sat down on a leather chair and had one of those little spasms where you suck in air after a big cry.
"Guess we'll have to wait a bit and then go look to see if the coast is clear." He put the radio down on the desk and started searching through the drawers.
Kera looked at her watch, "Brody will come looking for us soon."
Mitchell put a bottle of Southern Comfort on the desk and held up a little plastic bag. "Look what I found! We've got the drugs and the alcohol. Now all we need is the sex," he winked at her, "whaddaya say?"
"I would need a lot of both of those to have sex with you," she rubbed her eyes and face. She still felt the hangover from the previous night. If she lived through the day, she would probably drink herself stupid again, but only when she felt she was safe.
Mitchell's mouth dropped open. "Why? Brody?" He pressed his hand to his chest. "I'm stunning," he pointed at her, "and you could do worse." He laughed as he lit a joint and took a few puffs off of it.
"Things with him and me are complicated," Kera lit her own.
He looked at her for a long moment, "My son is a Link."
That certainly got her attention. If anyone knew what she was going through, it was Mitchell. And pretty much everyone who was left on the planet. But they weren't trapped in a room having a heartfelt conversation with her. She took a drag off her roach and waited for him to continue.
He took a drink out of his bottle and made a face, "He looked like me only younger before the...ya know. He just made twenty-two and graduated from the police academy. I was so proud of him," He looked down at the table and shook his head.
She lifted her eyebrows at him and looked off to the side for a moment and then back. Mitchell looked about thirty-five or so to her.
Mitchell laughed and then cleared his throat, "I was only fourteen when he was born." He suddenly dropped the joint onto the floor and mashed it out with his foot. He rubbed his face, "Got married when she and I were sixteen and we were married
for all of three years. We tried to make it work but... well, you know, we were young and stupid." He looked her in the eye, "Do you know many people who were married and divorced, with a kid, before they were twenty?"
