Dead, But Not For Long (Book 2): Pestilence and Promise

by Kinney, Matthew

  “I’m not even sure,” Lindsey admitted. “I think I’d better go talk to Snake and Jack.”

  “And Wombat?”

  She turned to look at him with a question in her eyes.

  “What about Wombat?” she asked when he offered no further explanation.

  “He seemed a little upset when you came up here to meet Reynolds,” Hawk said, putting out his cigarette.

  “I know,” she sighed. “It’s complicated. You’re right, though. I need to go talk to Wombat.”

  “He was in the ER when I left,” Hawk said with a grin.

  ~*~

  Yucca Compound, Southern California

  “Idiots!” Madec said, slamming down his cell phone. He rubbed his temples before finally turning to Bob. “One of our choppers may have spotted Hixson and Rayburn in Barstow, but the morons shot at the two men. Fortunately, it doesn’t sound like they hit them. I don’t know how many times I told them that we need Rayburn alive.”

  “Well, this is good news,” Bob said. “Barstow is kind of in the middle of nowhere. We should be able to grab them easily if they leave town.”

  “It’s big enough that they could also hide out there for a while,” Madec said. “I’m going to send the bloodhounds over there, but I’m not getting my hopes up.”

  “You don’t think it’s them?”

  “I think if the morons in the helicopter started chasing a person and shooting at them, that person would run. That doesn’t mean it’s Hixson and Rayburn, especially when so many people saw them heading west. It’s a long shot, but we’ll try the dogs anyway.”

  Madec was interrupted with another call. Covering the phone, he asked Bob, “Will you make the call about the dogs? I’m going to be tied up for a bit.”

  “Sure,” Bob said, picking up his cell phone. Before he could make the call, his phone began to ring.

  He listened to the speaker on the other end for a moment then turned to find Madec, but he’d already left the room.

  ~*~

  St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing

  Lindsey’s thoughts were spinning as she walked down the stairs. She needed to talk to Snake and Jack. She seriously doubted that Lee would get his friends to retaliate against those in the hospital, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a plan in place, either. She wasn’t sure what would happen when he returned in a week.

  In the meantime, she was anxious to talk to Wombat. She hurried to the ER, her thoughts racing and her face flushed from the jog down the stairs. The room was dark when she entered, and another movie was playing. It took her eyes a moment to adjust enough to see Wombat in the same seat where she’d left him, but he wasn’t alone. He was with the blonde from the school who had given Lindsey problems during orientation. The woman was dressed in one of the shortest skirts that Lindsey had ever seen and one of the tightest tops. Wombat’s hand was resting on the woman’s hip as she leaned over him, showing as much cleavage as possible. From Lindsey’s angle, it looked like they were kissing, or the blonde might have been whispering something to him. It was hard to tell.

  Lindsey stepped back toward the wall, wanting to get away before they noticed her. Easing the door open, she slipped out quietly. As she hurried down the hall, she passed Hawk, who turned to call after her.

  “Did you find him?”

  “I did, but he’s a little busy,” she said. She reached the elevator and started pushing buttons, not sure where she even wanted to go. When the doors didn’t open fast enough for her, she took the stairs.

  She hurried to the roof almost as quickly as she had made her way down not too many minutes before. When she got there, it was beginning to sprinkle so she moved to stand against the wall where she’d be sheltered from the rain. How could everything have changed so quickly? Maybe Wombat had never seen her as more than a friend. He had asked her not to leave, but it could have been because he would have missed the friendship. It was possible that she had been blinded by her feelings toward him and had read way more into it than was there. At least she hadn’t made a fool of herself by confessing her feelings to him. Then again, maybe he’d actually been interested until the blonde had come along. Or maybe he was a player, and Lindsey had just never seen that side of him.

  The gloominess of the cloudy sky reflected the torment inside her. There was no point in trying to compete with the blonde because Lindsey knew that the woman was way out of her league. And, honestly, she didn’t want to play games to try to get Wombat’s attention. If he wasn’t interested, then that was the end of it. Maybe she’d continue to be his friend if she could do it.

  As she looked at the other buildings across the city, she could hear the dead below, still wandering in the streets as they’d been doing for weeks now. They were never going to go away, and the thought was enough to make her mood even darker. For the first time since the start of the apocalypse, she began to feel the utter loss of hope. She began to wonder if there was any future for mankind and if life in the new world would be one of day-to-day survival and nothing more.

  ~*^*~

  ~39~

  Barstow, California

  When they had all entered the room, Ryan closed the small door, bolting it from the inside.

  “They’re okay, Emily,” Ryan said. “They’re on our side.”

  Dan breathed a sigh of relief when the woman lowered her pistol.

  “This is my wife,” the man said.

  “Dan Hixson,” Dan said, offering his hand to Emily then to Ryan, “and this is Dr. Rayburn.”

  “Oh, a doctor,” the woman said, smiling. “Pleased to meet you.”

  “Just call me George,” Rayburn said, returning the smile.

  “So what made you change your minds about us?” Dan asked.

  “I’m a marine,” Ryan said.

  “Ex-marine,” Emily corrected him.

  “Once a marine, always a marine,” Ryan said, glaring at his wife, who rolled her eyes. “I’ve been in touch with some of my buddies who are still serving, and they pretty much echoed what you said. I guess there’s not much left of what we used to call the armed forces.”

  “Some of us are realizing what’s going on,” Dan said, surveying the room. “Do you think they’ll be able to find us in here?”

  “Not without some high-tech equipment,” Ryan said. “I’ve made this bunker foolproof. If they do happen to find their way in, I have a maze of tunnels snaking out into the brush.”

  “As you can see, my husband’s quite proud of his project,” Emily said, sighing. “The upstairs has suffered a bit while he spent every penny we had on his little hobby.”

  “My little hobby saved our lives,” Ryan said, smugly.

  “I thought he was nuts,” Emily admitted. “After we sold our home in LA, we spent over a hundred grand digging holes and pouring concrete, and he plopped a used double-wide on top of it.”

  “That was intentional,” Ryan interjected. “I assumed no one would take any interest in it if it was in poor condition.”

  “I’m curious. What were you doing at your neighbor’s house?” Dan asked, hoping not to sound too nosy.

  “Watching you,” the man answered. “Your movements have been monitored since you entered town.”

  “Ryan has cameras set up around the neighborhood,” Emily said, “just like some of our other friends in town. We notify each other whenever someone or something enters the city.”

  She showed them a computer monitor which sat on a large oak desk. She clicked a mouse and several windows came up, each offering a distinct point of view.

  “It’s kind of a neighborhood watch type deal. Evan, who lives on the edge of town, told us you were heading our way, so when you entered our neighborhood, we took over. Emily kept you on the screen and let me know where you were.”

  “So the phones and the internet still work?” Rayburn asked.

  “Nope, we lost phone service a week ago. The internet was off and on for a while, and we haven’t had anything for a couple days, but we do have
these,” Ryan said, holding up a handheld radio. “We’re all on the same frequency.”

  “It sounds like you were prepared for an event like this,” Dan said.

  “I knew this day would come,” Ryan boasted.

  “You did not,” Emily said, placing her hands on her hips. “You thought the banking system would collapse, and we’d all fall into anarchy. You never said anything about zombies.”

  “But I came pretty close,” Ryan protested.

  “Either way, it worked out,” Dan said, trying to defuse the argument.

  Ryan gave his wife a smirk.

  “I guess it was dumb luck that we found this neighborhood,” Dan said.

  “Oh, you’d be surprised at how many people have underground shelters,” Emily said. “Ryan dragged me to a convention in Vegas last year. There were thousands of people just like Ryan. It was frightening.” Emily fabricated a shudder.

  “I know of several families in Barstow alone that have shelters,” Ryan said, looking smugly at his wife, “although most of them are pre-fab. As far as I know, I’m the only one who built one from scratch.”

  “You have some beautiful furnishings here,” Rayburn said, noting the décor.

  “I figured if I was going to live beneath a dump, I might as well feel high-class,” Emily explained.

  Dan looked around, taking in the details of the underground dwelling for the first time. “It looks like you have quite a bit of room here. This has to be about the size of a studio apartment.”

  “Oh,” Ryan smiled, “this is just the living room. We have a dining area, two bedrooms, a large bathroom, and a huge storage area. We have sixteen hundred square feet down here, not including the tunnels.”

  “What about power?” Hixson asked.

  “The entire roof of the trailer is made of solar sheeting,” Ryan said, “and we’ve got a 1000-gallon fuel tank buried for the generator, which we have in a separate room. There’s over three feet of earth above us so the sound won’t carry, and it stays cool in here, year round. The ventilation system is filtered so that whatever affects the atmosphere outside won’t affect us down here. Want to see our water storage?”

  Emily leaned toward Rayburn, “I think he just brought you guys down here so he could brag.”

  “Sure,” Dan said, “but aren’t you a little nervous that they could find the hatch and be crawling down here as we speak?”

  “Not a chance,” Ryan said. “I set the alarm when I closed the doors. We’d know it if they penetrated the shelter, or came into the trailer, for that matter.”

  Ryan showed them the rooms, going into detail about how he constructed each element of the shelter.

  While Dan was interested in learning more about the shelter, he had the feeling that George was getting bored with the lecture. Emily must have noticed it as well since she urged Ryan to move on several times when Rayburn started to look distracted.

  When they reached the last room, which was a reading room doubling as a home theater, they sat down on comfortable leather sofas. Ryan brought out a couple of cold beers, which Rayburn and Hixson happily accepted.

  “I see you have quite an extensive DVD collection,” Rayburn said as he glanced at some shelves lining the wall. “Would you happen to have The Sound of Music? Someone carelessly gave my copy away.”

  “Don’t start,” Dan said.

  “Sorry,” Emily said. “I have some classics, but they’re either Ryan’s war movies or my comedies. I have a lot of Cary Grant movies. My mom got me hooked on him.”

  “Well, he’s not Julie Andrews, but I guess he’ll do,” Rayburn sighed.

  “Before we settle in, I think we should show our hosts what we’ve learned,” Dan suggested. “I think the more people who know about this, the better.”

  “Good point,” Rayburn agreed.

  Hixson filled the couple in on what they knew while Rayburn readied the DVD.

  When the recording ended, the group sat in silence.

  Ryan finally spoke, “I knew it was a parasite.”

  “You did not,” Emily said. “You said it was something from jet trails or something like that.”

  “No,” Ryan shook his head, “I said it was a virus released from contrails. I wasn’t that far off.”

  “You can see why they wouldn’t want this information to get out,” Dan said, trying to change the tone of the conversation. “Do you have the ability to copy this? It would be good to know that there’s another copy around in case something happens to us.”

  I could burn it to a DVD on my laptop,” Emily said.

  “Perfect,” Dan said with a smile. “Might as well make several if it’s not a problem.”

  “No problem at all,” she said.

  After burning the DVDs, the couple treated Dan and George to the first home-cooked meal they’d had since the crisis had begun.

  “I guess I was expecting MREs,” Dan said through a mouthful of roast beef.

  “We have plenty of those,” Ryan said, “but we also have enough real food in our walk-in freezer to entertain guests, and I have a feeling we won’t be entertaining very often.”

  “I’d be careful about that,” Hixson said. “You were taking quite a chance letting us in.”

  “I’m a pretty good judge of people,” Ryan said as he opened a bottle of beer. “George seemed like a pretty nice guy.”

  Dan chuckled, feeling the dig.

  “And Dan seems to be a perfect gentleman,” Emily said, smacking Ryan on the arm.

  “It’s okay,” Dan smiled. “It’s an army-marine thing.”

  Ryan smiled and lifted his bottle to Dan in a toast. “Here’s to what’s left of the military.”

  Dan lifted his own bottle. “And here’s to retired jarheads with amazing foresight.” At his words, the others raised their beverages.

  Afterward, they adjourned to watch a movie. The relaxed atmosphere made it difficult to believe that the world just a few feet above them was in chaos. When the movie was over, the guests were shown their room.

  ~*~

  St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing

  “Look, I’m sure you’re a really great person and all, but I’m seeing someone,” Wombat said, pulling his hand away from the woman. She had approached him and asked if he wanted to go party with her. When she’d taken his hand and placed it on her hip, she had made it pretty clear what she had in mind. Then she’d leaned over him and whisper into his ear, removing all doubt.

  Wombat saw something in her eyes that reminded him of himself back in the days when he’d been a user, and he knew without a doubt that the woman was on something. Where she’d gotten it, he had no idea.

  Even if he hadn’t been interested in Lindsey, he’d given that life up and never wanted to go back to it. This woman was someone who would drag him there.

  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” she said, flashing a smile. Her teeth had a brown tint that made Wombat think she was probably using meth. He knew that some of the others had used it and had gone through hell to kick the habit. It made him wonder if the woman was going to have problems when she used up her supply. Wombat gave her a slight smile as she walked off, but he remained silent. After she left the room, he walked over to the cafeteria where Snake was eating some freshly-baked pie.

  “What’s up?” Snake asked, motioning for the younger biker to have a seat.

  Wombat relayed the story about the woman, stopping to thank Theresa when she brought him a piece of pie.

  “Not sure where someone would pick up drugs now, but maybe you’re right and she has a stash on her. I’ll try to talk to her and see if she’ll open up to me at all. I’ll just have to do it when Helga’s not watching or things could get ugly.”

  “Thanks,” Wombat said.

  “Hey, I’ve got something for you,” Snake said, after eating his last bite of pie. “Wolf and I were talking, and we think you ought to be the one to have Smiley’s bike.”

  Wombat’s eyes lit up, though he felt a pan
g of loss over their friend who had recently died.

  “That’s an awesome bike, mate,” he said. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure,” Snake said. “You’ll take good care of it, and I know some of the others wouldn’t. Let’s go have a look.”

  Wombat quickly finished off his dessert and carried both plates over to one of the bins. He walked outside with Snake, and they picked Wolf up along the way.

  The bike was a Harley Road King, and the three of them spent some time looking it over, ignoring the rain that was drizzling down on them.

  “This was Smiley’s pride and joy,” Wolf said. “He named her Roberta after an old girlfriend.”

  “Roberta,” Wombat said. “Good name for her.”

  “Well, she’s all yours now,” Snake said. “It’s a heck of a lot better than that piece of crap you’ve been riding.”

  “It sure is,” Wombat said. They spent some more time looking the bike over, and then Wombat took it for a spin around the parking lot, grinning at the others as he came to a stop.

  “This is awesome,” he said to Snake and Wolf.

  “I feel a lot better knowing you and Xena will be riding on something reliable,” Snake said.

  “Speaking of Lindsey, I need to go find her,” Wombat said. “I thought she’d come and talk to me after the chopper left. I hope this doesn’t mean she went with him.”

  “I guarantee you she didn’t go,” Snake said, as they walked back into the building.

  ~*~

  It was beginning to get dark, and Lindsey knew that the sun was setting somewhere behind the thick gray clouds. When the rain finally turned to a light sprinkle, she stepped closer to the edge of the roof to look down over the streets and the parking lot. The dead were still out there, oblivious to the rain as they clawed at the walls, shredding their fingers on the wire of the gabion walls and the concrete block around the parking lot. She watched the rain water running off the rotting bodies and down into the gutters, and she wondered if the water supply was becoming contaminated.