by Kempf, Shaun
FOURTEEN
The rest of the team had scattered pretty well helping those out that they could as best as they could. There wasn’t much they could actually do besides walk around and try to give the refugees hope, which was dangerous work. Hope can be powerfully strong and positive, but it can just as quickly turn and be devastatingly destructive. It was all the Rangers had to give and they gave it out willingly. They offered a helping hand and encouraging words. The team, from their time in the Infected Zones, knew not to promise more than they could actually deliver.
More often than not, people knew the true nature of the situation they were in. What they needed was just someone who was able to look at the situation as a glass that was half full, but didn’t promise to fill their glass. They knew it wasn’t always possible. Still, just a little positivity was enough to help them through for a little while. The team knew that the citizens of the underground city needed more than the moment they were able to provide, but there wasn’t anything else they could do.
Although Captain Perret had been walking around and talking with the refugees, his offer of hope didn’t appear as genuine. He promised that once the team got out of the city that help would be on the way. It was the kind of hope that had a high potential of being destructive, but Ben was sure that the captain was unaware.
Ben gathered his team together in an open area on the platform near to where they had come into the camp. They set down their gear and sat down enjoying the chance to get off of their feet.
“Anyone seen Annie?” asked Ben.
“I thought I saw her with a family back near the Mayor’s office,” said Standing Bear. “But that was, like, fifteen minutes ago.”
“Well, it’s not like she’s going to go far,” Gatlin said.
“How’s their defenses here?” asked Ben.
“I spoke to the head of security,” Gatlin answered. “That guy named Timblin? Tipton? Timmons? Anyway, he said they’ve got gates on all the entrances exits and a guard or two at each. They also have a number of those wooden blockades randomly throughout the tunnels. Apparently, they send out scavengers each day to search for supplies.”
“What about the old railway tunnel?”
“One end had a cave in and the other they blocked up with a lot of random shit. I checked it out. It doesn’t look pretty, but it’ll do the job.”
“What about weapons?” asked Ben as Annie joined the group. “Where do they stand with those?”
“Don’t know,” answered Gatlin.
“I had the chance to check out their ‘armory’,” said Annie. “They’ve collected ever weapon they’ve come across. It’s quite the collection. Unfortunately, they don’t have ammunition for almost half of the weapons they have.”
“Can they protect themselves?”
“As long as it’s not a full-on assault, they shouldn’t have a problem,” Annie concluded.
“Lieutenant, we’ve got to do something,” Stand Bear urged.
“We can’t just leave them down here,” added Static. “How can the Captain just ignore this?” Static motioned to the shacks behind him.
“Maybe the time down here with these people will change his mind,” Ben pointed out. “I’ve seen him walking around at least.”
The group fell silent. At first Ben wasn’t sure why. It was painfully obviously that they were not happy with the situation that they found themselves in and losing Twitch hadn’t helped things out. Then he glanced over his shoulder and saw Captain Perret strolling towards them.
Upon reaching the group, the captain shrugged off his pack and dropped down next to it. He looked around at the men, most of which avoid his gaze. Then the captain looked at Ben.
“I talked with the Mayor again and she’ll have provisions for us by this evening,” Captain Perret told Ben. “We’ll move out first thing in the morning. From what I’ve learned we’re only a few blocks from the river. It won’t take us long to get there.” Captain Perret grabbed his canteen, twisted the cap off and took a sip.
“That’s not far, we should take these people with us,” Gatlin said bluntly. Gatlin was nothing but direct.
“That’s not our mission, private.”
“I thought our mission was to rescue people,” said Standing Bear. “Or has that changed?”
“Our mission, Sergeant, was to get to the down plane and rescue survivors. We’ve completed that mission to the best of our ability and now our mission is to get back home safely as quickly as possible.”
“What about these people?” protested Static.
“These people,” growled Captain Perret, “will be fine. They’ve survived this long down here already. They’ll be fine a little longer until we can get a larger force in here to get them out.”
“Larger isn’t always better, Captain,” Ben said. “A large force will make too much commotion and draw attention to itself. That’s why taking back this city hasn’t worked in the past. Captain, we’re in the perfect position to get them out now. Let’s not wait.”
“We’re sticking to our mission, end of conversation. Do I make myself clear?” Captain Perret glared at each man in turn. The team gave an unenthusiastic affirmative and the conversation in the group died again.
Ben was positive that something else was going on. He could not get himself to believe that an army ranger officer would so blatantly turn their back on a group of refugee civilians in need of help. It would have seemed to Ben that the captain would have been more than willingly to help these people since the passengers on the plane had perished. Unless the captain had known that there weren’t any survivors and that the true mission had been hidden behind that story. Ben would bet that the real mission had something to do with what Captain Perret had taken off of the man in the plane.
Things had been so crazy that Ben hadn’t had time to think about the files that the captain had grabbed. He needed to see what those files contained to understand just why his team had risked their lives to come to New York. More so, what Twitch had lost his life over. Ben decided that the best thing to do was wait until the captain was distracted and then get into his pack. That distraction just might need to be planned.
Ben’s thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Mayor Brooks walking towards the group followed by a man and a woman, both of which were carrying a box. Ben guessed that this was the supplies that Captain Perret had requested. Ben decided to use this opportunity to get away for a moment and collect his thoughts and get away from Mayor Brooks. He reached into his pack, grabbed a granola bar and headed to the edge of the platform where the tracks were.
He sat down on the edge of the platform and dangled his legs off the edge. As he took a bite of his granola bar he looked at the opposite wall and could just make out what had been a mural on the bricks. He wondered what the picture had been. This place must have been something back in the day when it was first opened. He could just imagine all the people excitedly coming across the platform to step onto the train. Smiling and laughing as they prepared to ride a train underneath the ground. It must have been quite the concept back then. Life was so different, so carefree.
Some laughter caught his attention and he turned to see two kids racing around by one of the shacks playing tag. They made him think of Josh and Leah and wondered if they would ever again feel safe enough to run and play tag. To laugh and feel carefree. He knew that if they remained down here, in this dungeon, that their lives would never change. If they did survive to adulthood, they would find the world to be a cruel harsh world no matter where they ended up finding themselves.
Ben heard someone sitting down next to him. He turned expecting to see Michael, but instead found Mayor Brooks seated next to him. He quickly looked away again.
“Mayor Brooks,” Ben said in greeting.
“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you came over here to avoid me,” Mayor Brooks said with a hint of a smile in her voice.
“No, I just had some things to think about,” Be
n said and then added as an afterthought, “Madam.”
“You don’t strike me as the military type.”
“I was a customer service representative in my past life. Mayor seems to fit you pretty good. Were you into politics before the outbreak?”
“God no,” she laughed. “I was a first-grade teacher. When I got down here, it wasn’t a large group, but they had no organization and it drove me nuts. So, I started to get everyone and everything organized. Well, when we finally got around to establishing a ruling board I was nominated to be Mayor. I guess everyone saw what I had done and thought I was the best person for the job.”
“And you don’t think you are?”
“I do a good job and always have the group’s interests in mind, but it’s a lot of responsibility and no one else seems to want the job. Lieutenant,” Mayor Brooks paused. Ben couldn’t resist looking at her. She scrunched her nose as she asked him; “Do I have to call you Lieutenant? Can I call you Ben?”
“You’re free to call me whatever you want.”
“What’s your story, Ben?”
“My story?”
“How did you go from a customer service representative to a Lieutenant in the army?”
“The short story is that I used to wander around the Infected Zones.”
“Infected Zone? I assume that are areas with zombies.”
“Across the country, there are areas, mostly larger cities that are considered Infected Zones. Zones where it is no longer safe because of the Infected, or zombies as you call them. There are other areas, safe zones, where people can find refuge.”
“You did that on purpose?” Mayor Brooks asked in shock.
“Pretty much.”
“And what made you want to go wandering around in one of these Infected Zones?”
“I found other survivors and we decided to help other’s get out and to safety. Word got around that we were pretty good at the job and the Army came calling.”
“Why didn’t you just get out yourself, besides deciding to be chivalrous and rescue other survivors?”
“Just because,” was all the Ben offered her. He did have a reason, but he just wasn’t yet ready to walk back down that road. Especially with the woman who sat next to him.
She was the first woman he had actually taken notice of since the outbreak. Perhaps it was the fact that she reminded him so much of his wife. Yet, he wondered if that was actually such a good thing. He decided to try not to think about that or the Mayor. He figured it would be for the best.
“You were in customer service, huh?”
“I’ve changed a lot since the outbreak,” Ben thought back to his days before the outbreak. He hadn’t taken the time before to compare himself now to what he had been and he realized that he wasn’t as cheerful or fun-loving as he was before. It didn’t surprise him. The outbreak had damaged a part of him and he didn’t know if it would ever be repaired.
“So, everything isn’t lost?”
“Not yet.”
They sat in silence. Ben finished his granola bar. He crumpled up the wrapper and stuffed it into his pants pocket. He tried to think about what he could do to change the Captain’s mind about not getting these people out of the City, but his mind kept wandering back to Mayor Brooks’ eyes and soft voice. He wanted to get up and walk away, but he didn’t know how to do that without seeming rude.
“Have you spoken to your Captain?”
“No, I haven’t yet. Have you?” Ben wanted the words back as soon as they came out of his mouth. He had not meant to be so harsh.
“You’re right. There’s no reason why I should take matters into my own hands.” Mayor Brooks got up and walked back towards the Rangers.
Ben scrambled to his feet cursing under his breath as he did so. His mouth had gotten him into more trouble than he cared to remember. He followed behind the Mayor, but let her get to the Captain first. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop her and it would look suspicious if he tried to stop her and then when he failed, she would continue on to the captain. He didn’t need to get any more grief from the Captain or his team. He just wanted to make sure that he could be present during this exchange to protect himself if need be.
“Captain Perret,” Mayor Brooks said as she stopped behind the captain. The captain slowly turned to look at her. “I hope you have found these provisions to be satisfactory.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“I would like to request once again that you assist in getting my people out of the city. Although we’ve been able to make a life for ourselves, it is not one of high quality and we live in constant danger of being discovered.”
Captain Perret regarded her and then looked at Ben standing just behind her. Ben didn’t move and didn’t say anything. He decided to let the captain think what he would and would remain silent until any accusations were made. Finally, the captain’s attention shifted back to the Mayor.
“Madam Mayor, I understand your concern for your people here, but, as I said before, our mission has a higher priority.” Mayor Brooks opened her mouth to argue, but Captain Perret cut her off as he continued. “Furthermore, it would be a logistical nightmare for a team of six to try to get two hundred people through these tunnels and to safety. I would hate to see anyone die because we didn’t have the manpower to protect everyone as we got them out of the city.”
“And I can understand your concern,” Mayor Brooks shot back not giving up her ground. “But you have to realize that we aren’t helpless civilians down here. We know what were up against and have some firepower of our own.”
The captain crossed his arms, leaned forward towards the Mayor and said softly, “If you weren’t so helpless you would have already led these people to safety.”
Ben imagined that Captain Perret’s jab had just the effect that he was expecting. With a huff, Mayor Brooks turned on her heels and stormed off back to her office. Ben watched her disappeared into the refugee shacks followed by one of her guards. He turned back to see the Captain, with his arms still folded, staring at him.
“I suppose you had something to do with that?”
“She wanted me to speak to you, but I told her it was her place to do so, not mine.” Although it was the truth, Ben wished he hadn’t been so stupid and been more political. He should have just stuck to what he’s good at, which is direct action.
Captain Perret didn’t react to Ben’s admission. Instead, he dropped his arms, turned to the rest of the team and ordered them to settle in. They had a long day ahead of them tomorrow and they should get the all the rest they could.
As a group, they decided that they would not rotate watch, but put their trust in the temporary sanctuary they had been shown. After about an hour of settling in the lights in the chamber started to dim until there were only a handful of lights on.
Ben laid his head back onto his pack and stared up at the ceiling. Through the darkness, he could just make out some of the individual bricks that had been set into place probably a hundred years ago. He had, over the years since the outbreak, stared at a lot of different ceilings as he tried to fall asleep, but none of them were right. The only time he felt comfort was those times when he had stared up into an open sky and had been able to see the vast number of stars shining through the darkness of the night sky. He missed the open sky and hoped he would see it again.
FIFTEEN
Dave looked down at his sleeping son through the soft dim light. The corners of his mouth lifted. The last time he could remember watching his son sleep was back when he was just a baby sleeping in his crib. That was sixteen years ago, but it seemed so much longer.
“Patrick, time to get up,” Dave said as he gently shook his son’s shoulder.
“Already?” Patrick said, the word barely making it out of his mouth.
“You said you wanted to be a scavenger, this is when we get up.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Patrick said with tired enthusiasm.
Dave watched his son roll off
of his cot and start to put his shoes on with half opened eyes while Dave gathered his things together. His son had grown so much over the past sixteen years, by leaps and bounds since the outbreak. A bit of guilt snuck into his thoughts. Years before the outbreak Dave and his wife went through a divorce. Not only did Dave only get to see Patrick on the weekends, but somehow along the way Dave and Patrick had grown apart. Patrick was more excited to go home to his mom then spending the weekends with Dave and that had hurt. Dave just hadn’t known how to connect with his son after the divorce. A friend had suggested that Dave might have some hard feelings about the divorce and his wife, which he unconsciously projected onto his son causing the distance.
At first he had dismissed the idea, but lately, he had been considering it more. It had just happened that Patrick had been with Dave during the outbreak. They had taken shelter and, by chance, found their way to the refugee camp below the city. Dave wasn’t sure what happened to his ex-wife, but he has assumed the worse, but that isn’t what makes him feel guilty. It’s the fact that Patrick was with him and not his mother when the outbreak occurred. He knows that his son still thinks about his mother and holds onto hope that she, too, might have found a safe place to hide until help arrives.
Even so, Dave has taken the opportunity the outbreak has given him and used it as a second chance to reconnect with this son. It was slow going at first, but Dave continued to work at it. Now, Dave feels closer to his son than he ever has. He works hard to make sure that Patrick has everything he needs on a daily basis, even going so far as to give up his own meal to Patrick. The last few years with his son, as tough as they had been, have been the best in Dave’s life.
“You’re actually going to let him come along?” Darrien asked as he leaned in the door to Dave and Patrick’s shack.
“He’s old enough now,” responded Dave. “Besides, it’s time to get some young blood among the scavengers group.”
Dave stood and went to Patrick who stood at his father’s approach. Dave handed him an empty backpack and a revolver. Patrick looked down at the items in his hands then looked back at his father.
