Race the Dead (Book 1): The Last Flag

by Cavanagh, Wren

  “HEY!” Cho yelled, she saw an Outdoor Apparel store, picked up a trash can and hurled it through the storefront window.“Who else is getting cold here? Follow me, ladies!” She shouted as she jumped in through the broken window.

  “Hurry up!” Kate replied nervous as she pounded on a car horn trough a broken window. The dead crowd had picked up on the racket and was making their way toward them, slowly, but maybe not slowly enough. “C’mon, Cho!”

  She turned and took a quick mental roll call of her team. Saw Logan in the middle of the street filming the dead arriving to the party, watched him turn on his feet to take in the outdoor store in his shot, he then lingered on her. Winked at her before looking for Xhiu, she followed his gaze and they both saw her at the same time; ahead of them and across the street at the end of the block. She was staring at the advancing crowd, her face drawn and pale, eye too wide, arms drawn up protectively against her chest.

  “ You are way too far from the group,” yelled Kate. “Pay attention and get back here, woman!”

  But her friend’s attention was on the advancing crowd, she didn’t or couldn’t hear Kate who now run for her, Kate who saw shadows gathering behind her friend and had raised her hands to her mouth to yell out a warning. Before she could make a sound, a woman came from around the corner of the building. Her arms shot out and she grabbed a handful of Xhiu’s long black hair, yanked her out of sight and she retreated behind the building with her catch.

  “Nooo! Xhiu! Cho, get your ass out here!” Kate screamed and raced to rescue her friend. She groped for the gun under her rain poncho and wasn’t even aware of the cameraman flanking her silently. In seconds she reached the spot, gun aimed, but too late for it to matter. Xhiu lay on the sidewalk, her upper body invisible beneath three of the turned as they made a communal meal of their catch, beneath them a wide, deep, red river streamed and joined the flowing mix of snow and rain in the gutter. Gun shaking in her hand, Kate stared in disbelief at the bloody scene, until hard taps on her shoulder took her out of her bloody meditation.

  She turned and saw Logan pointing at the crowd. The large group of the dead had arrived much faster than they had planned for.

  “Jesus Christ, we gotta go!” Kate cursed, took careful aim, and shot one of the advancing dead men. Even before he hit the ground she appreciated just what a damn useless gesture that had been. She ran to the broken storefront window and yelled inside. “Damn it, we gotta go! They're here!”

  “Woot woot, I got loot!” Cho scrambled out grinning, with a large backpack and a sleeping bag, both full of goods, she took a good look at the oncoming crowd and blanched. “Shit, they got here fast.”

  “Run, damn it!” Kate screamed and ran. Cho looked at the crowd, dropped the sleeping bag, and sprinted after her. Down the street Logan waited for them, filming from afar.

  “Xhiu, where is Xhiu!”

  “Didn’t make it,” Kate yelled back tersely.

  They raced according to plan and, at the next intersection, turned and doubled back toward their prizes. No one had been in their way, no one tried to stop them, and they reached the flag safely. Shocked, feeling no joy in getting this flag, Kate cut it down and destroyed the beacon. Right then, it felt like a worthless victory.

  “Let’s go, we need shelter.”

  ----------

  The heater’s coils glowed a beautiful incandescent orange as they held the promise of comfort and warmth.

  “Okay, so the generator works,” Kate announced as she held her hands in front of the heater.

  “Gas?” Cho asked, her voice thick and subdued. She had barely managed a full sentence since they had run from the Outdoor Apparel store.

  “Just what’s in there already…didn’t find any extra.”

  They had taken refuge in the old and junk full overstock store, One of it’s doors had be laying off its hinges and two of the windows were partially cracked but not broken. They had managed put the door back on its hinges and secured the place best as they could. After securing it and ensuring that they were alone, they had settled in the back room to wait out the night. The room was smaller and easier to warm up — for an extra layer of protection, it had its own door — The generator and heater, two antiques that looked as old as the store, had been a welcome surprise.

  There had been no recriminations or accusations, as they absorbed the shock of Xhiu’s death and accepted as best as they could. To Kate it was only too obvious that Cho was blaming herself, and nothing she said to the contrary had made a difference so far. Just as traumatized, Kate found a solid wood chair that looked like it had been crafted around the Roosevelt era, and sat down. She removed her too-light wet hiking boots and socks. Everything was soaked. Her feet were wet and cold and the skin was wrinkled and white, some toes were way too white and too numb.

  “I can’t feel my little toes. I don't know if those piggies are gonna make it back from market. Hey, you guys want to do the same? Everything is soaked and we need to dry it.” She looked at them. “Logan, Cho? Dry feet?” Her friend didn’t answer and Logan’s attention was elsewhere. Perplexed, he inspected his camera —turned it off, on, then off, and on again, until frustrated, he switched it off a final time with a forehead splitting frown and sat it down on a large card box.

  “Logan?”

  He looked at her and she shot an inquisitive glance at the camera.

  “Turned it off…saving batteries. While we were running for it, Tom called on my headset. The military seems to have taken over the production, at least locally, physically.”

  “Temporarily?”

  “I don’t know. They tell me to keep going. The producers in L.A. are working on getting back on track, and the lawyers for the show are fighting it, but right now my WiFi is dead. I wanted to tell you...Hell, Tom wanted me to tell you, too. He said it's entirely up to you, but he would get out himself.”

  Kate nodded. “Logan ?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Does the winner still get the money?”

  “I’d guess, you have a contract. If you fulfill it, why not? Of course, I'm a cameraman, not a lawyer. Worst case scenario —you could always sue. Or die! That would actually be the worst case scenario, the die part.”

  Kate looked at her friend: Cho had fully retreated into the far corner of the back room, a mournful figure framed by cardboard boxes and a stocking shelves graveyard filled with overstock, rubbish, and more shelving units. She sat her with her arms around her knees, drawing them tight against her chest, a grown-up variant on the fetal position.

  “Cho, what do you think? You want to keep going?”

  “Yeah, for Xhiu. We're doing it for Xhiu.”

  Kate felt a mix of anger, dismay, and pity, but she couldn’t and wouldn’t go along with that. “No, we're not. At least, I'm not.”

  “She died because of us.”

  “No. Not because of me. And not because of Logan and not...”

  “Fine, because of me! It’s my fault!”

  “No, not because of you, either. So let go of that ‘it’s all about me’ mentality. It’s too dangerous for that now. She died because none of us were paying enough attention. God knows she wasn’t.”

  “Don’t fucking blame her! It wasn’t her fault.”

  Kate sighed and shot a quick sideways look at Logan, hoping he hadn't turned the camera back on. He caught that and waved off her concerns. “I need a break. You girls take ten. And seriously think about getting out.” With that, he wandered back into the front of the store.

  “Girls? Fuck that!” Kate snorted with as much humor as she could muster. “Full woman here! Girls don’t collect crushing college debts on their way to medical careers, or kick zombie ass.” Smiling, she went to Cho and placed her hands on her friend’s arms. “It’s not anybody's ‘fault’, it’s just what happened. Now we deal
with getting out alive. This is not the adventure we signed up for, the one where nobody dies. So, PLEASE, let go of your regular frame of mind. Those emotions are not going to help us now. I'm going on for the prize. That’s all —the prize and a fast ticket out while I’m still alive.”

  Cho looked up at her then, locked eyes with her. “You never liked her, did you?”

  Kate got up and stepped away with jaws clenched and lips tight. She held her silence and needed more than a few minutes before she could trust herself to reply without flying off the handle. “She was my friend, too. Get over yourself. When we finish this tomorrow...” She turned and went to grab the latest backpack. “...And we will finish it...” She pulled out its contents and with each item, she looked more disappointed. “…We can talk about what happened. But NOW, we need to watch out for each other and stay focused. Okay?”

  On the table, she lined up the contents of the bag as she pulled them out: mylar blankets, three disposable cameras, and four t-shirts with their team logo, and...what the hell, Kate shook her head in disgust, four more protein bars. Disgusted, she upended the backpack and it spilled its last contents on the table. Three small flashlights and a new map — already folded to the relevant location — fell out, the new address circled in red. A key was taped beneath it.

  “They gave us shit. They really didn’t think this show through, did they?” Kate said and picked up the map, unfolded and laid it flat on the table. The next destination was only about half way across town, and closer to its center than the last. They were inside of a very rough spiral toward the goal. “At least it’s warming up in here. We have a key and a new map, and we’ll move out in the morning as soon as it’s daylight. Cho?” She turned to look at the other woman.

  Cho’s angry eyes were still locked on her. After a pause, her terse answer came, “Whatever.”

  Exasperated, physically and emotionally drained, Kate didn’t bother replying and looked for a surface where she could lay down comfortably. A stack of cardboard by the back exit that never got to recycling would do the trick, and offer insulation from the cold cement floor. “I'm going to sleep.”

  “Why isn’t Logan back?” Cho asked.

  That gave Kate pause. Why, indeed? She opened the door to the back room and looked into the large sales floor.

  God it was cold out here. Her teeth began to chatter, and her breath was a gray plume in the evening natural light that came past the filter of falling snow through the large front windows. The soft light silhouetted Logan as he stood at the front door, she walked over to him. Against the light the decals, logos, and dirt on the glass panes, along with the falling flakes, created ephemeral animated tattoos on their bodies.

  “Logan?”

  “She found us,” he whispered.

  On the other side of the door, Xhiu looked back at them, and was that a flicker of recognition Kate saw in her eyes? The dead woman lifted her hand, laid it on the glass, and pushed against it. Kate looked on in shock, feeling body tighten in tension onto itself and her stomach fall more deeply in her gut than she would have believed possible. From the chin down to her waist there wasn’t much meat left, but she could see gnaw marks on the ribs. She wondered how Xhiu was able to hold her head up.

  “Jesus Christ...Move away from the door,” whispered Kate, she grabbed Logan by the elbow and pulled him away, “Maybe she’ll leave.” Logan nodded and they both retreated to the back room followed by Xhiu’s attentive gaze. Cho looked at them, noticed the drawn down lips, the too tense faces and the fearful countenance, she saw how Kate was pushing against the closed door.

  “What?”

  Kate hesitated, not ready or willing to deal with more drama, she was ready to lie. Ready, but not fast enough.

  “Xhiu is outside; she seems to know we're here,” Logan answered.

  “OH my God!” Cho jumped up from her corner. “You didn’t let her in? What's wrong with you?! We have to let her in...”

  “She's dead.” Kate looked at her levelly. “If you open the front door, you go outside and stay outside with her.”

  “She's alive!” Cho shoved Kate from the door and ran out of the room. Logan went after her, as Kate stayed behind long enough to grab the key, fold the map, and place both in one of the inner pockets of her jacket. Cho might be losing her damn mind, but she had a game to win.

  The Army is here

  “So?”

  The officer seated in the heated Army command trailer shook his head. “Nope, sorry,” Lt Col Lim replied with a lopsided grimace. “Everyone there…is there of their own volition. Worse, so far it sounds like all of them want to continue this ‘contest’, this ‘race’. Correct? We are here for containment and rescue. I am not risking my troops to chase after people who don’t want to be rescued.”

  “They...” Tom began.

  “They, who’s they?”

  Tom rolled his eyes, inhaled deeply, and brought himself under control. Constant drinking had a way of eroding your patience, but the last thing he wanted to do was to antagonize the man who could be the only reliable rescue ticket around for everyone. “Sorry, it's been a long day. The producers that run the show — executives, the company, whoever. They think they can get us rolling again by tomorrow. They were pretty explicit about no one leaving the area or the production.”

  Lim smiled. “Anything is possible. Honestly, we aren’t quite ready to have you leave either. But have a seat, please.”

  “Thank you.” Tom dropped in one the fold-out chair facing the officer and continued, “I'm worried that we won’t be able to rescue the contestants, especially in this weather. This show was put together fast and cheap. They cut plenty of corners, I can’t find any solid plans for a safe evacuation or rescue. Can you help, if anyone wants to give up and come out?”

  “Maybe...rescues are within the scope of our mission. Just make sure they want to be rescued and won’t be playing hide and seek with us while looking for that next flag.”

  “Okay, okay. But the army has cut off all our communications. Let me get in touch with my cameramen and get a take on the situation.”

  “I do that. You’ll be streaming the show again.”

  “No. No, sir. I swear, I just want to talk them out of it and would rather do it outside of the production’s loop.”

  Lim considered the man seated next to him. His breath stank of alcohol from feet away — it probably could peel the bark off a tree up close — but he was trying to keep himself together. Better yet, he realized things had gone to hell and his interests seemed to lay in the welfare of the people on the ground. Alright, it’s good to have an ally, so let’s see if this turns out to be a good one, he thought to himself. By tomorrow, he could change his mind or have someone change it for him. Lim nodded, and rose from his chair.

  “All right let’s do that. I’ll be right next to you. Please focus on the topic of them getting out. Nothing else.” He took Tom’s elbow and helped him up but the man staggered and almost fell over. Hmmm, maybe more shitfaced that I thought, Lim realized. “Let’s get you some water and an hour’s rest.”

  “No, I’m okay!” Tom slurred, heard himself slur, and shame hit him like hammer. The small rest and the heat in the room had pushed his body over the edge and he was quickly loosing the little hold he had on himself. “I swear...”

  “You seem...Dehydrated. No offense — you look like shit, but I understand! You've had a tough day and I have a few loose ends I want to attend to. It’ll give you an hour and half of rest while we get set up.” He gestured to a younger officer, who came running. “Captain Helms, take Tom here to CSH. Get him some water, a little bit of rest, and bring him back to me in exactly one and a half hours.”

  The younger officer grabbed of Tom and guided him away, nn their walk to the infirmary, the ground and the people seemed to swirl and dance around Tom. He kept
stumbling and would have hit the ground multiple times if the Captain hadn’t held him up and kept him moving. Humiliated, he appreciated how drunk he was, and what a spectacle he was making of himself. Not that it’d stop him from taking his next drink; it never did. It also didn’t stop him from noticing how very well-armed the soldiers were, or that his escort, careful and solicitous though he was while following his orders, was cagey as fuck and kept his other hand firmly on the handle of his Beretta M9.