by Jeff Olah
William rubbed his hands hard against his face. “That’s how it happened. We were overrun by Feeders and stopped to clear the way.” He began to speak louder and faster at this point. He was growing impatient at having to repeat himself. “Once we got back in the RV, Mason spotted the lights from the stadium and we figured there may be people here… friendly people.”
“There is something you’re not telling me, I can read people very well and you’re hesitating and you’re leaving something out. I can tell.”
“Alright… I AM leaving something out. The biggest detail of all, to me anyway, although it won’t mean much to you. I’ll give you the details if YOU give me your word that my friends and I won’t be harmed and for once you’ll let me know what the hell is happening here. Deal?”
“Deal!”
This was the most focused he had seen her in all the meetings he had with this mysterious woman. She didn’t break eye contact for a second as he began his brief story. “My Uncle Joe…”
“Yes,” she said.
“He’s dead,” William said as he paused to let the lump in his throat fall back.
“What does that have to do with your showing up on my doorstep?”
“Everything. He saved our lives… all eight of us. While we were out clearing the front of the RV, he saw that hundreds of Feeders started coming from the rear and knew that none of us were going to make it out of there alive. He stepped out of the RV and drew them away from us so we could get out of the area. He died to save us. When we got back in the RV to leave, Mason noticed your light.” William fought back the tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.
Her look softened as she hung her head and wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m sorry for your loss; your uncle did something most wouldn’t have the courage to do. I can tell how much you miss him.”
That was it; he didn’t care what she wanted now. There was nothing else he could tell her and even though he hadn’t done anything physical in days, he was completely drained. The constant stress had taken its toll and he just wanted to be back with his friends.
Both were silent before she slowly shook her head and looked back up at him. “My name is Marie. Before the end of the world, I was the project coordinator for food services here at the stadium. There was a grand opening scheduled for later in the week and most contractors were on-site when the infection showed up. I was actually taking an early lunch and showing my husband around the stadium when we were attacked… here in this room.”
He hadn’t seen this side of her and as she tried to continue, the pain was evident. “My husband was a great man. He saved my life. He was able to fight off the first three that came to the door, although when they began to overtake him, he pushed through the crowd and slammed the door behind him. As he left the room he looked back and told me he loved me. I couldn’t do anything to help him.”
“I’m so sorry to hear about your husband.”
“Yeah, he’s still here. I go look for him sometimes.”
“I don’t understand,” William said.
“He turned into one of those things and is locked in the power room with the others. He went straight there and lured them all inside with him. When he tried to get out they piled on top of him and he was bitten many times.”
“How do you know all this?”
“The men that are watching over your friends witnessed the whole thing. They are the ones that locked the cage after my husband was overrun. They saved me and many others.”
“Where are the others?”
“They were asked to leave.”
William scratched his head and looked at Marie through squinted eyes. “Why?”
“They didn’t serve a purpose here and our resources would have been used up much quicker if they were allowed to stay.”
“Allowed?”
“Yes, one of the men here had a few weapons hidden in his vehicle and he chose to stand with me. We asked the others to leave and they did.”
“It doesn’t sound like they had much of a choice.”
“True, although it doesn’t matter anymore. They are gone now and we need to get back to living our lives.”
William was still confused as he walked back over to the seats. “Marie, if I may, I have one question. How is it that you still have power after all this time? I know this is a new state-of-the-art facility and it was said that it could supply its own power. But if you hadn’t opened yet, how is everything on and why don’t you shut off the lights at night?”
“William, the absurd truth is that we don’t know how. The engineers were doing a demo for the owners when they were caught off guard by a large horde of Feeders, so no one ever turned the power off. Every so often the lights or air conditioning will go off in a different part of the building and then without reason it just turns back on. We don’t know how long it will last and we can’t even turn it off manually to conserve energy.”
“Why?”
“The big group that chased my husband…”
“Yeah?”
“The room they are locked in has all the controls. There must be over a hundred locked behind that gate.”
“What about shooting them from outside one at a time and then going in?”
“Not enough ammunition.”
“Oh…”
Marie made her way back over to the wet bar and reached below the counter. The squawk from the walkie startled William and he turned to see what she was up to.
“Hey, it’s me; bring our guests up to the box… All of them.”
“OK,” came a voice from the other end.
He waited for her to put down the walkie before speaking. “Uh, what’s happening?”
“William, I like you… and because of your background in medicine, I would like you to stay.”
55
The vice tightening around her head was relentless. Her hair felt as though it would break off when she began to run her fingers through it. Migraines had become part of her life since she was a young adult. April knew what triggered them and could usually self-soothe. This was different. The constant pain brought her to tears more than once in the last few days. As she continued to rub her head harder against the pain, she felt a warm fluid trickling down her fingertips. She was now bleeding.
Another day without Mason… The short meals and the couple of hours spent together weren’t enough. April wanted to leave this place. She wanted to leave right now, just gather everyone, hop back in the RV and head to her father’s beach house. She didn’t particularly like what was waiting for them out on the road, although she had a feeling this place was not what it seemed. This place just didn’t feel right. There was something wrong with these people. Why would they lock them up like animals? Their explanation didn’t justify it.
“April, you need to try to calm yourself. You’re going to have a panic attack. Just breathe,” Karen said.
“I don’t know how you can be so clam. Why are they doing this to us?”
“I have no idea. William told me he was going to get some answers today.”
“Those guys aren’t talking! They haven’t even told us their names. I don’t like this at all.”
“They haven’t hurt us and keep giving us food. I think they’re just being cautious. They probably want to make sure we aren’t going to hurt them.”
A single tear ran down her cheek as she looked over at her son sleeping on the cot nearest the door. He lay facing the wall and hadn’t said much in the last couple of days. He usually sat and listened as April and Karen shared stories of life before all this happened. Justin only chimed in every now and again to correct his mother if she gave details of their history that made him look too much like an innocent child.
April stood, wiping her face with her sleeve and walked over to Justin’s cot. She pulled the oversized orange and purple fleece blanket from the ground and covered him. The chill in the air was a welcome distraction, although she wondered not only why they constantly kept the air
running, but also how long it would last before the power from the solar generators ran dry. The building seemed to run on autopilot, and this also made no sense.
“Has that woman talked to Mason? I know they don’t give us much privacy, although William let me know at lunch that he had talked to someone other than our two friends outside.”
“There’s someone else here?” April said.
“I wasn’t supposed to say anything, so we need to keep it quiet.”
“Who is she, what does she want?”
“He wasn’t sure; he said she asks a lot of questions about why we’re here and what all of us did before all this mess.”
“Like our careers?”
“Yeah, kind of weird,” Karen said.
“Why on earth would she…”
Their conversation was interrupted by the same three knocks on the door. This typically signaled one of their daily meals or time together, although it seemed as though they just got back to the room from lunch within the last hour.
As the door opened, Justin slowly turned over, sat up straight and tossed the blanket onto the floor in front of Stumpy. “Boy, you need to show some respect. Pick that up!”
She wasn’t afraid of Stumpy in his oversized five dollar t-shirt, denim cargo shorts and hiking boots. In fact, he sort of amused her. April stepped between this man and her son.
“Sir, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for trying to teach my poor boy right from wrong, although I think you should leave that to those of us that actually know the difference!” She extended her hand knowing he wouldn’t shake it and then turned to Justin. “Just humor the little guy and leave it on the bed.”
The looks on their faces were different. Usually they just appeared bored and pissed off. They now looked stressed. Lurch stepped to the middle of the room. “Enough… just get your shoes on and follow me.”
“Where are we going?” asked Karen.
“Don’t worry about it, hurry up.”
April sat on the cot next to Justin and slid her shoes on as she watched both men. The little guy had multiple lines of sweat running from his face and neck that were halted and soaked up by the collar of his t-shirt. He continued to pace back and forth across the room as Lurch checked the hall once again.
The feeling of bile rose in her throat. She was nauseous, although the pounding in her head had stopped since she got to her feet and started moving around. She didn’t like the way they were acting. There was a sense of finality in their voices.
While both men were deep in conversation waiting to leave, April pulled Justin by the arm and whispered something in his ear that no one in the room could hear. Karen turned to April, slowly shook her head in disapproval, mouthing the words “Not now.”
Exhaling loudly and scratching his head, Lurch pointed to the door. “I’m only going to say this once. WE are the ones with the weapons. YOU do not have any. DON’T try anything funny or I WILL SHOOT ALL OF YOU… I promise! When we reach the other rooms, you will step inside and wait for me to give you the OK to move. We are going to get your friends and then meet with someone else. Don’t ask us any questions. We will not answer anything... Understood?”
Raising an eyebrow, April looked at Justin and Karen. The three nodded in unison. “Understood,” they said.
“Good, let’s go.”
Stumpy made his way out into the hall, followed by April, Karen and Justin. They stopped briefly for Lurch to lock the door after exiting. “Let’s head over to the lovebirds next, and then we’ll go get the boys.”
Justin had begun mapping the building in his mind from the first night they were here. He now had a pretty good idea of the layout in his mind. Each section they had been taken to was exactly the same, one main artery leading to three long hallways, each containing four separate rooms. He concluded that the stadium had twelve hallways total, two of which led to the individual locker rooms and from there into the dugouts for baseball season. He also knew they were being kept separate for a reason. The people holding them here were scared of something and he knew it.
As they approached the hall leading to Adam and Savannah’s room, the two men stopped and looked at one another. The unmistakable sound of a large group of Feeders swept through the area, as did the stench of their rotting flesh. “Keep going,” Lurch said. “We’re almost there.”
Karen began to shake. “What…”
Lurch put his hand on her shoulder and pointed down the hall as Stumpy led the group forward.
56
“Have I told you how much I hate these beds?” Adam cursed under his breath and sat back against the wall.
“These aren’t supposed to be beds and I really don’t think our comfort is a top priority for these people,” Savannah said.
Adam tossed the tennis ball to the other side of the room and wiped his hands against the front of his shirt. How is it that my heart is still racing? What are we supposed to do now? Is she my girlfriend? Do I take the lead? Do I wait for her to make the move again?
“I’m getting you out of here Savannah. I’m getting all of us out of here!” Standing and walking to the door Adam cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck from side to side like a boxer getting ready for a fight.
“You’re crazy, those guys have guns… AND they beat Randy like a dog for absolutely nothing.”
“I can’t stay trapped in here another minute. Next time they come to take us out, I’m going after the big guy to take his gun. What’s the worst thing that could happen? I take a beating from those guys? I don’t care at this point.”
“Give it another day, I’ll try to talk to Randy when we see everyone and find out what he has planned. Can you do that?” Savannah slowly closed the space between her and Adam. She stood in front of him and grabbed him around the neck. “I just told you how much I care about you and NOW you decide to go all action hero on me? Is that your way of showing affection?”
“You’re right,” He said. “Talk to Randy and see what he and Mason have to say. It’s probably better if we are all on the same page, but how are you and Randy going to talk with those guys around? They listen to everything we say.”
“They seem to focus mainly on you, Mason and William. They don’t care much what us women think or say; it’s pretty apparent who they are watching. When we are all in the room together, stay on the other side of the room to give me some time to talk to Randy… sound good?”
“Sure no problem. Now… about you and me.”
“Really, is that ALL you can think about? You men are such simple creatures.” Savannah pulled him close and kissed him once more. He didn’t let go, in fact he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her body into his. He lifted her from the ground, moving closer to the ten dollar cot he had used for the last two weeks to sleep on. As he let go and sat back on the makeshift bed, Savannah removed his shirt, smiled and began to straddle him…
Savannah stumbled backward and fell to the ground as the unmistakable sound of a key running through the tumblers of a door lock caught them by surprise. Adam hurried to slide his shirt back over his head as Savannah quickly stood and composed herself.
Karen came through the door first and warned them. “Not really sure what’s happening, but they’re taking us to see someone.”
Stumpy appeared next, followed by April and Justin. “They’re not too happy and definitely not in the mood to talk,” April said. “Just stay out of their way and do what they tell us.”
Lurch was the last to come in, his face as stern as the block wall behind him. Another loud squawk came from the walkie at his side. “We have a slight change of plans, can you talk?” said the voice of a woman on the other end. “Hold on a moment,” he said as he turned his back to the group and made his way out into the hall, shutting the door behind him.
Adam stood and made his way over to the others. “What the hell…”
The group stayed completely silent, struggling in vain to catch any part of the conversation from the
hall. Stumpy realized what they were up to and even though he knew there was no chance of them hearing anything he tried to shift their focus. “When we leave here I don’t want any funny business, especially from you,” he said pointing at Adam.
“No worries, sir. I’ll be a good boy. You can count on it.”
As they waited for Lurch to finish his conversation in the hall, Adam slowly positioned himself between Stumpy and the door. The others got bored with waiting, moved over to the cots to sit down and continued their small talk.
With the muffled conversation and intermittent squawks from the hall now muted, Lurch came back through the doorway. Everything appeared to move at an exceptionally fast pace as Adam jumped on this man coming through the door and started punching him in the side of the head. His fist made contact over and over. Lurch didn’t appear fazed by the first few blows of the attack in the slightest. He simply reached back over his shoulder, grabbed Adam by the hair and threw him to the ground as the others watched in silence.
Adam’s head hit the floor first and made the sort of squishing sound you might hear if you dropped a melon without it breaking. He rolled onto his side, then up to his feet spitting blood to the floor and brushing the dirt from his clothes. “Why in the hell don’t you inbreeds just let us go? We have no problem with you guys. We just came here to get away from those monsters that took over the city.”
“Son, we don’t have a problem with you people and never did. We gave you food and a place to sleep at night, although after that little stunt, I have a serious problem with YOU!”
Adam slurped the remaining blood in his mouth into a ball and spat it onto Lurch’s shirt. “Bring it on fat man; I’m not afraid of you one bit! How bout you put that gun down and we show everyone your real worth. Make it a fair fight.”
“Boy… you really are too stupid for your own good.” Lurch motioned for Stumpy. “Take the two ladies and her son up to the office, she’s expecting you. I have a special treat for the ignorant one here and his girlfriend.”
