“Did you see that?”
George turned to the voice. There were two men on the street staring at what had just happened, flabbergasted. George saw food. It shuffled towards them as far as its wire would allow, its one arm reaching out to them.
When Doctor Rheem entered his patient’s room again, the woman was still there but something wasn’t right.
“Hello, doctor.”
Rheem stopped in his tracks and looked the scene over. The woman, rail thin and gaunt, sat in the chair much as she had earlier. But there was an axe leaning against the chair now. Rheem recognized it as a fire safety axe, like one of the ones that were kept in every hall.
“What’s up, doc?”
Rheem’s patient asked the question. The man sounded chipper, more animated than previously. Mickey ate something, tearing hunks of meat off what looked like an—
“Is that an arm?” Doctor Rheem heard himself ask in disbelief.
“Take a load off, doc,” Mickey said after he swallowed down a hunk of zombie. “And let me tell you about the medicinal attributes of Zed flesh.”
“You’re a geek, Mickey,” Gwen said appreciatively.
“Always have been.”
The Outlands
The helicopter left them on the top of a hill, two hundred kilometers outside of New Harmony and its rain. The grasses and surrounding trees swayed in the rotor wash as it lifted up and pulled off, leaving them standing there with their gear.
The four friends watched the helicopter until it disappeared on the horizon. Krieger looked in the opposite direction, the one in which they would be going. Their guide took a swig from his bottle and wiped the back of his furs across his mouth. Krieger wore leather pants and a conch belt under his pelts.
“It’s beautiful out here,” said Riley. Around them the grasslands and rolling hills spread for kilometers. In the distance the mountains loomed.
“It is,” Anthony agreed.
“I’ve never been this far from New Harmony,” said Troi. “This is wild.”
“Well, here we are now.” Evan squinted down at the digital read out on his Geiger counter. Things looked okay. He took a pull from the nipple connected to his hydration pack.
“We’re wasting daylight.” Krieger started off down the hill, towards the distant mountains. He used his long Bo staff as a walking stick. He’d slung a mean-looking grenade launcher over his back.
“A man of few words,” Evan said when the guide was out of earshot.
“He’s alright,” Anthony said hopefully.
“He’s drinking already?” Troi didn’t sound very optimistic.
“We have to catch up.” Riley slipped into her backpack and picked up her Model 7, checked the safety. The others followed suit, gathering up their gear and rifles and following the guide.
Their first day, they traversed the coastal plain, passing through fields overgrown with wild and ripe melons, with soybeans, tobacco, and cotton. They walked at a good clip, neither too fast nor too slow. The four friends were in excellent shape and did not need to stop very often. They were surprised that Krieger, with his near-constant coughing and drinking, felt no need to halt either.
They saw neither hide nor hair of any other being, living or dead. With the exception of the guide, each checked their Geiger counters frequently. Krieger wore no such device. If he had one it was secreted somewhere on his person, under his furs.
“Hey, Krieg.” Evan quickened his pace to walk beside the bearded guide. He reached into his pack and pulled out two of the bottles of whiskey. “You want these?”
“Nah. I’m not ready for ‘em yet.”
“Well, maybe you want to carry them then?”
“Nah.”
Evan stopped where he was to fit the bottles back into his pack. Krieger pulled ahead.
As they walked, Anthony thought about his students. He wondered if Jermaine would be back in class in six weeks when he returned. The kid was dying. If he was in Jermaine’s situation, Anthony wondered how he would handle it. He doubted he’d be as brave as Jermaine, as stoic. The kid knew he was living under a death sentence, and yet he came to class every day, he read his assignments and went beyond them, he flirted with Tricia. He’d thanked Anthony at the party. Jermaine—it was not the first time Anthony realized this—was a brave kid.
The afternoon warmed up, so light coats and ponchos were stripped off and stuffed away in packs. Krieger never removed his furs.
“Hey, Ant,” Evan said when the others couldn’t hear them. “You ever notice Troi’s got huge boobs?”
Troi had removed her hoodie, and wore a black sports bra. It revealed her flat, tanned stomach and the shape of her large, round breasts.
“Oh yeah. Implants. I remember when she got them.”
They let it go at that.
Their first night was spent on the plain, under the stars. Krieger built a fire and they gathered around it, each eating his or her own freeze-dried meal from the Defense Forces rations Evan had supplied. Riley noted that Krieger ate nothing, though he drank non-stop. Amazingly, their guide did not appear the least bit drunk. One by one they drifted off, leaving Krieger alone to feed the fire and spend the night with his bottle and his cough.
When they woke, the sun was rising and it was chilly. Krieger was sprawled out, limbs askew, the bottle on its side. The fire had burned out sometime in the night.
“I thought he was keeping watch,” said Troi, rubbing her arms to warm herself.
“Looks like he pissed himself.” Evan indicated the front of the man’s pants.
Krieger muttered in his sleep.
“Should we wake him?” Anthony pulled his beanie back on. It had come off in the night.
“I don’t want to touch him,” said Troi.
“Krieger, wake up.” Riley stood over the man. “Hey, Krieger—wake up.”
The guide grumbled, opened his eyes, and blinked. “Shit.” He yawned and sat up, scratching the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he said, as if some suspicion he had were confirmed. “Shit.”
Troi and Evan had gotten the fire going again and were heating up a kettle of coffee and a pot with breakfast.
“Where are we?” Krieger asked.
“Did he just ask where are we?” Troi looked up from the fire, alarmed.
“Don’t fret, young lady. I’m just getting my bearings.”
“Yeah, right. Okay.”
Riley pointed to the pot. “You want some coffee?”
“I’ve got what I need right here.” He took up his bottle and made to drink when he realized it was empty. He squinted an eye and peered down the neck. A look of disdain crossed his face as he threw the bottle away into the grass. The guide stood and stretched his limbs, farting loudly.
Troi gave Riley a dubious look. Evan smiled and shook his head.
Anthony spooned some of the oatmeal into his mouth. “Hey, Krieger. How far do you think we got yesterday?”
“Fuck if I know.” The guide rummaged through his bodypack.
Troi looked at Riley again.
Anthony wasn’t feeling too confident in their choice of a guide either. “How far do you think we’ll get today?”
“Jesus Christ, kid. You gotta bother me with this shit first thing?”
“You looking for this?” Evan held up one of the bottles of whiskey he carted around.
“You hold onto that.” Krieger scrunched one eye shut as he dug through his pack. “Those are my reserves.” A smile came over his face as his hand wrapped around something he recognized in his pack. “Ah-hah.” He pulled out another bottle and screwed it open.
Evan indicated the pot on the fire. “Don’t you want something solid in your stomach?”
“Can’t you kids enjoy nature or some shit?” He took a deep swallow from the bottle. “That’s right,” he complimented the bottle, and started coughing. When he’d finished he said, “Now we’re good.”
The four friends ignored the guide and his drinking as they ate their bre
akfasts and drank their coffee. Riley thought she had rested very well. Yesterday’s walk was long and tiring and she had slept undisturbed. Sleeping out under the stars reminded her of the nights she’d spent camping with Anthony and their father when they were younger, though those nights had been spent inside the boundaries of New Harmony.
“I’ve decided I’m not going to shave while we’re out here.” Anthony rubbed the side of his face.
“That should be interesting,” his sister replied, “Coon.”
“Would you stop that?”
“What happened last night, Krieger?” asked Evan. “I thought you were on watch.”
“What made you think that?”
“Shouldn’t we keep watch or something at night?”
“You’re safe here.”
“What about Zed?”
“No Zed here. Not this close.”
“How can you be sure?”
“You want to stay up and keep watch,” Krieger told him. “Be my guest.”
Riley interrupted their repartee because she worried that Evan would push the guide the wrong way. “Which way are we headed today?”
Their guide exhaled. He looked put-upon and annoyed. Riley wondered if she had asked a stupid question. She didn’t think it was a stupid question.
Krieger stood, holding his bottle. He cocked a thumb, stuck it in his mouth, and then extended his arm. He stood there with his arm out stiff for a few moments, long enough for Troi to look around her at her friends skeptically.
“We go…” Krieger dropped his thumb, extended his forefinger, lowered his arm to chest level, and pointed. “…that way.”
“Wait a second,” protested Anthony. “We were heading that way all day yesterday.” He was pointing in another direction.
“Yeah. So?”
“So why are we going that way today?”
“Because that’s the way we’re going today.” Krieger sounded exasperated. “Any other questions?”
Anthony bit his tongue. Evan was going to say something, but Riley gave him a look.
Krieger burped. “Who’s the goddamned guide around this fucking place?” He turned and unfastened his pants.
“He’s not going to do that right here. You’ve got to do this right here?” Evan’s query was drowned out by the sound of Krieger urinating in the grass. Troi and Riley had already averted their eyes. Evan looked at Anthony. “He’s doing that right here…”
Krieger farted again.
* * *
The guide was off in front of the others, walking by himself.
“I don’t like the look of those clouds.” Evan indicated the horizon and what they would be walking into in the next day or so. Grey clouds were pressed up against white clouds, looking like ruptured pillows in the sky. Together they met a blue-grey horizon above the reds, greens and oranges of the trees that covered the hills and mountains ahead. “I thought we left the rain behind us.”
“I know what you mean.” Anthony wondered where the clouds had come from, if the rain would be hot. He looked at his Geiger meter’s LCD display.
“Still normal,” Riley said.
“How long do you guys think Krieger has been out here?” Troi asked.
“Why don’t you ask him?” invited Evan.
“Good luck if you do,” said Anthony. “He doesn’t seem to like to talk much.”
Krieger had crested a slight rise ahead of them and disappeared from view as he started down the other side.
“Yeah,” said Troi. “Maybe I will.”
“Hope he doesn’t throw a fart at you.” Evan grinned.
“Any of you notice how his hand was shaking before he had his drink this morning?” Riley asked.
“Uh-yeah!” said Evan. “The man’s a drunk.”
“That’s sad,” said Riley.
“I just hope he knows where he’s going…” said Anthony.
“I hope he knows where we’re going,” amended Troi.
“Look at that.” The seriousness in Riley’s voice brought them all up short. They had reached the top of the rise and were staring down at the grassy plain and foothills stretching ahead of them. It looked as though a giant groove had been rent across the earth below and filled with ivory. Krieger squatted at the edge of the outsized rut.
“What the hell?” Evan wondered, but the others were already walking quickly down to their guide.
As they came closer, they saw it for what it was. The earth had not been sundered. The white was a pile of bones, massed atop each other and strewn for some distance—a ripple across the landscape beneath which no grass appeared to grow. As they reached Krieger, they confirmed that the bones were human.
Krieger had placed his bottle and staff down next to where he rested on his haunches. The top of one hand cupped the neck and head of a femur, which he had stood up on the ground.
“Krieger?” Anthony spoke hesitantly. “What is this place?”
The man answered softly, with a far-off look in his eye. “There was a war fought here.”
“What are they?” Troi wondered. “Zed?”
“Can’t tell…” Evan stared out over the mound of bones.
“Look at that skull.” Riley indicated the one she meant. “Does the hole in it look like a bullet wound?”
“It is,” said Troi. She pulled her hair back and fastened it with an elastic band.
“Hey, I’m getting a slightly higher reading around this pile.” Anthony referred to his Geiger counter’s LCD display. He turned the volume on the device up for everyone to hear. Click...click…click…click…click.
“Background radiation’s less than that.” Evan studied his own Geiger counter.
“They must have stumbled in from some hot zone.” Riley referred to the bones piled before them. “Met their ends here.”
They all looked to Krieger, who was still holding the up-ended thigh bone.
“Let’s get away from these bones,” Anthony said.
The four friends stepped away from the vast pile of bones stretching out before them and back into the wild grasses that covered the plain. The guide sighed and took his hand off the thigh bone. It stood where it was for a second before tipping over. Krieger grabbed his bottle and his staff and rose.
* * *
“Holy cow,” said Evan. “What is that?”
It was their third day of walking. The grey clouds hovered overhead, but no rain had fallen. They’d been following the remains of a highway since the afternoon before. In places, telephone poles still stood. Most were canted at acute angles, looking wounded. The macadam had long ago erupted under fresh outbursts of weeds and other greens. It was a road that could not be used as a road any longer.
They had passed several faded green highway signs along the way that promised an interchange. What was left of the road beneath their feet began to slope upwards as they walked. Trees sprouted from the sides of the road and even from the road itself at various intervals, blocking their view of the surrounding countryside.
The highway abruptly leveled off. There were no more grasses or weeds scrabbling for a foothold here, just worn and broken chunks of asphalt scattered about the road. An array of waist-high concrete barriers lined either side of the highway. They had stepped close to one of these when Evan spoke.
Krieger stared down at the scene below them. The others joined him at the concrete barrier.
Another road emerged from beneath their overpass, stretching off in either direction. It was clogged with the charred remains of vehicles packed bumper to bumper. Cars, buses, and trucks were lined up against one another as far as their eyes could see, disappearing to the horizon. The automobiles were in various stages of rust and disrepair.
“What was this, Krieg?” Evan asked.
“Hell’s highway.”
“These cars were bombed?” asked Anthony.
“Yeah.”
They stood trying to imagine it. Where had the cars been going? Had they been stopped here when the jets started str
afing them? Had their drivers and passengers escaped before the fires from the sky rained down? They imagined that if they got close enough to the wreckage, there would be skeletons strewn about and inside the vehicles. No one wanted to get that close.
“You’re going to see a lot of stuff like this out here.” Krieger’s voice was low, but he didn’t seem overly affected by the scene.
“Were they human or Zed?” Troi asked.
“No way to tell.”
“What is that thing?” Riley looked in the opposite direction, pointing to a large tower raised to the sky.
“Cell phone tower,” answered Krieger.
“Was that supposed to look like a tree?”
“Supposed to.”
“Then that’s the ugliest tree I’ve ever seen,” Troi said.
* * *
Later that afternoon, they lay next to one another on their stomachs on a verdant hilltop, passing the two pairs of binoculars they possessed between the five of them. Off in the distance, they’d spied a house with a barn. The house, like the clouds above it, was blue-grey in color and weathered. The barn bore a similar appearance. The property upon which the buildings were set was mowed and set off with large coils of concertina wire. A path led from the wire and branched off to the house and the barn. A lake took up much of the property behind the buildings.
There was a man and a woman and three little children on the property, going about their business.
“Strange place for a house like this,” said Anthony.
“Those gables are terrible in a hurricane,” said Krieger.
“Should we go down and say hello?” asked Troi.
“And what?” Evan asked. “Introduce ourselves?”
“Okay, you don’t have to be a jerk about it.”
“I think we’d just be scaring them if we went down there,” said Riley. “Who knows how long they’ve been out here by themselves.”
“Rye’s right,” agreed Anthony. “They’re out here because they want to be alone.”
Resurrection (Eden Book 3) Page 12
