by Micah Gurley
The door to the building slammed open and Patrick burst through.
“You okay man? That was intense! Did you see the lieutenant flip over the rail? Man, I’m shaking, look at this.” He held his arm out. It wasn’t shaking.
“Patrick, give me a second, okay?” Kyle pleaded. As usual, after battle or in this case fleeing for your life from your friends who were eating people, he was hitting the come down. It usually resulted in him shaking so bad that he needed to sit or kept him from holding anything in his hands for a few minutes.
“Sure man,” Patrick said. “I’ll get you a Coke, or a Mountain Dew...Do the Dew ya know?”
“Patrick!”
“Sorry, just talk a little when I get nervous. Oh yeah, the brave Neil made it inside also. He's in the lieutenant’s office,” he said, and darted back inside. Kyle leaned his back against the metal building. He didn’t check his watch, didn’t need to, Kyle knew it was time to get out.
Kyle sat there for a few more minutes and drank the soda that Patrick gave him. He had stopped shaking and was only left with rage and sorrow, both at Neil for what had just happened. He pushed himself off the ground and dusted his hands off, throwing the can onto the ground beside the door. He opened it and walked through.
Neil was in the lieutenant’s office when Kyle walked through with Yolanda and Patrick following him. He was dialing numbers and kept slamming the phone down only to pick it up and dial again.
"Neil," Kyle said, standing a few feet from him. Neil slammed down the phone again and looked at Kyle with loathing.
"You’re responsible for what just happened," Neil snarled. "You’re cowardice caused Tim do die. I intend to have charges brought up against you."
Rage. It was one thing to make a bad call, but another to lie to yourself and everyone else about it. Then to run away and leave others paying the price for it? It was too much for Kyle. Kyle almost jumped across the room to deliver a powerful roundhouse to Neil's smug face. It was a sloppy throw that if it had missed would have completely caused Kyle to lose his balance, but he didn't miss. His knuckles met the side of Neil's head, dropping him instantly. Kyle, all reason gone, picked Neil up the by the shirt and delivered two jabs to Neil's unconscious face. Kyle reached back to hit him again but was wrapped up in Patrick's surprisingly strong arms and pulled off. He didn't fight Patrick, but allowed himself to be pushed across the room into a corner with Patrick standing in front of him almost looking apologetic.
"Holy shit, Professor!" exclaimed Yolanda, "I hope you didn't kill him."
"I have mixed feelings about it," Kyle said, glancing at Neil's unconscious form.
Chapter 9
“Is everyone ready?” Kyle asked Yolanda, who was waiting for him when he walked into the lieutenant’s office. He passed three large push carts in the hall, that were full of rifles, pistols, ammo, and other random things that had been collected while he was out.
“Copy that, Professor,” she answered, and clicked the radio on her vest, “All units, stand by for all call.” All-call was a system that would call every phone, in every post, and allow for a large group conversation or instructions. It usually turned into people all talking over each other, and a great time to out joke on someone.
The phone in front of Kyle rang and he picked it up. “All units, this is Kyle in the lieutenant’s office, please sound off,” Kyle wondered if he would be challenged, but this was often done many times a day to make sure everyone was awake. Standard procedure when nothing interesting was happening.
The officers finished speaking. There were eleven posts that had not checked in, including all the sergeants and the lieutenant. Everyone from the towers checked in.
“I’m calling to let everyone know, what I know and what I’m planning. Also, the lieutenant and Sergeant Hicks are dead, as well as Scarrow and Johnson, that I know of.” The line went quiet.
"What about Sergeant Neil?" someone asked.
"He's recovering from the fight," Kyle said evasively.
"He should be whipped for running away like that," a voice said.
“How did they die?” someone asked , after a minute.
“Crap,” thought Kyle, guilt flushing through him. He explained all of it, too tired to care about their responses.
Questions rang out. People yelled. Some cried. He heard fear and surprise in their voices. He didn’t blame them, a good cry and yell always helped.
“I’m not sure I believe any of this,” someone else said. “I do know Kyle murdered four or five people.” The line didn’t say silent this time.
“Jen, you didn’t see what we saw, you were probably sleeping through everything,” Yolanda said fiercely. “Once they’re bitten...they die, or close enough that it doesn’t matter. And if Kyle is a murderer, than so are me and James, because we are the ones who shot the lieutenant, Hilbert, and Jones.”
“I still think the police will want to talk to you all,” she said.
“A little bit piously,” Kyle thought.
“Crazy woman, the world is coming to an end, zombies have arisen!” Patrick shouted over the phone. Leave it to Patrick to make it seem more surreal. A few laughs but not many. Kyle wasn’t sure if Patrick was trying to lighten the mood or if he was being serious.
“I didn’t call to debate," Kyle said. "Just tell you what I know. The reactor should be shut down by now,” he paused in question, and Bill confirmed that it was indeed shut down. “So our job here is done. I have family out there and I think we are heading for a small collapse of society. Maybe it’s nothing and everything will be restored in a few days. I believe all my actions so far have been justified, but right now I’m more worried about getting to, and protecting, my family. I’m leaving soon. Good luck to everyone.” He looked to Yolanda and made to hang up the phone when she raised a hand stalling him.
“What are you going to do Kyle?” Jasmine asked
“I’m going to get my brother, gather supplies, and then head to Macon.”
“Fort Macon?” someone asked
“That’s the one.”
“Why?”
“Physical security,” Kyle said. “Look, from what I’ve seen these things are tough, and bullets don’t stop them unless you shoot them in the head. I want to go to a place where they can’t barge their way in. A place where the door isn’t just a small piece of wood, or an easily-breakable piece of glass.” He wasn’t sure if he was explaining his choice well, but he wasn’t really trying to either. He thought he had the right idea, but he could be wrong about a lot of things. He also didn’t really want all these people following him there. Most of them yes, some of them no.
“Anyway, I plan to get my brother and some supplies for a week or two, and wait it out inside those walls.” He finished talking. Questions again. Accusations and arguments started. Kyle had done what he could. He hung up the phone.
One by one the sound of heavy plastic receivers were slammed down until all only three officers were left on the line. Eric had texted his friends to keep on the line, this needed to be talked about.
Eric liked the Professor, even if he went to college. He seemed like a bright guy, but he wasn't sure what to believe. He didn't think the guy was trying to deceive anyone on purpose. He believed what he saw and in the Lord All Mighty. What he saw today was disturbing, but did he really need to go hide in a fort? He agreed with the Professor that he needed to check on his folks though, he intended to talk it over with his boys.
“Well boys,” he said high southern voice, “this hear is straight from the TV, but I think the Professor might know his business, at least some of it.”
“Let's be honest here,” Troy started, “we don’t know if anything like this is possible. But I was watching on CCTV when that guy attacked Brian. It wasn’t right.”
“I agree,” Eric said calmly, “I think we should get out of here and go check on our families. We can decide then if we want to meet up with college boy.”
"Won't we get in trouble?"
Troy asked. "What happens to our jobs?"
"Buddy, like Kyle said, we got bigger fish to fry. Besides, our bosses are dead and the reactor is shut down. Let's meet at the security building in twenty minutes and we can convoy it home." Agreements rang though.
Eric hung up the phone and started packing his gear into his bag. His whole family lived on the same dirt road, had for the last hundred years. His friends, they lived on the down the road a ways. After they got home, it wouldn’t take long to round everyone up and see what was going on. Decisions could be made then if anybody believed them. Eric started whistling a country tune and stopped worrying about it, he could only worry about the now.
Chapter 10
Noon approached, though winter’s hold remained in the form of a dark and overcast day that cast cold winds from the not-so-distant ocean. The remaining security officers and the few plant staff who were left had slowly but effectively, and without incident, withdrawn from their posts to make their way through the hostile plant. Hostile because there were more than a few people unaccounted for, and those people were more than likely sick now. Arguments had broken out about what to do for or about these people. Kyle understood and wanted to search for as many as he could, but didn’t want to spend the whole day looking. A spot check was done for the last known whereabouts for all missing officers. They had spotted a few on cameras, but they had already turned and were left inside the plant to roam.
Kyle had finishing packing some bags in the security building when Patrick stuck his head in and commented on most people leaving. Kyle, feeling that most thing were taken care of to his satisfaction, knew he now had to deal with Neil. He nodded back to Patrick, who left just as quickly, on his own errands. Kyle's anger had diminished, though he felt no remorse about his actions. He walked from the lieutenant’s office where he had been working, and walked across the now empty hall to the armory.
He opened the door to an almost empty room, except for the metal racks that stood waiting for their charge, its contents emptied to those officers who liked his idea of arming themselves. He walked to the back of the room to find Neil, still tied with zip bands and gagged, so as not to cause trouble. A few officers had spoken up about the whereabouts of his presence, thought most, having seen his actions, didn't give another thought for him. Those few though had remained to look for him.
Kyle leaned down and took the gag from Neil's mouth. Neil opened and closed his mouth a few times, while his eyes, full of hate and violence, never left Kyle. For his part, Kyle only saw a dangerous coward, and didn't feel threatened at all.
"You will pay for what you did," said Neil, more calmly than Kyle would have thought. "You disgrace your uniform and the service you were in.
Kyle, though calm, felt his fury begin to mount at the absurd commentary coming from Neil. "If you had just listened to me, Tim would still be living. You killed him with your pride and foolishness. That will forever be on you.”
"You have caused all these people to abandon their posts. The fifth general order says...”
Kyle interrupted him, his voice full of menace, "We are no longer in the military Neil. We are security guards and society is coming apart. That you cling so dogmatically to those orders shows what a danger you are. I am going to let you go, you have some people looking for you, but if you threaten me or anyone else, I will kill you." Kyle had not meant to threaten death but he knew as soon as he said it, that he meant it.
Neil, trying to look defiant, shuddered at the cold, calculated certainty that came from Kyle. He did not speak again, and allowed himself to be freed. Kyle reached down a hand to help him up, but Neil, not looking at Kyle, got up and walked out of the room. Kyle sighed and followed him.
By now most of the plant staff had taken off, desperate to get to their families. Many security officers said that they would head home and check things out with their families, then head out to Macon if things looked bad. Many ignored Kyle completely, except for accusatory glares concerning the newly freed Neil.
Kyle was okay with them going, selfishly happy that he didn’t have to worry about them or that their group wouldn’t get too large. He had mixed feelings about the size of the group. With a lot of people came a lot of support, but also more headaches. He didn't need more problems or his attention diverted. Small groups were quick and could get things done, and that’s what he wanted now. He was in a hurry and needed to be on the road.
He looked at his watch, 11:35. Late again. Kyle felt desperate to get to his brother. He knew it was probably just his mind running rampant, but after what he saw this morning, he didn’t want to take any chances.
Kyle walked out of the security building, carrying a duffel bag in his hands and a large backpack on his back. He strained, the weight of the duffel almost causing him to lose his balance. The duffel, like the ones Patrick had already loaded, were full of Remington .223 ammo for the rifles, while the pack on his back had been filled with miscellaneous items that he thought might be needed.
Eric was waiting for him at the last Tahoe parked near the security building. Kyle smiled at Eric, learning against the big truck. Kyle smiled at the nonchalant air that Eric gave off. He wished he felt as good as Eric appeared.
“We got the radio torn out and put into your the truck,” he said, with a wink. Kyle shook his head in acknowledgement at this, also wondering why he had just winked. It was also true that Eric, though not officially educated, could repair, build, or create just about anything he wanted.
“Thanks Eric.” He strained as he lifted the ammo bag into the back of the Tahoe. “I’m going to see you out there?” If there was anyone that Kyle could depend on, it was this guy.
“Need to check on the family, but I appreciate the offer.”
“No problem man,” he said, looking at the smaller guy. “Just remember that if they bite you, or maybe scratch you, then you are going to get sick, so best not to engage unless it’s from a distance.” Eric nodded his head and then held out his hair-covered hand. Kyle smiled and shook his hand. Eric gave a whistle to his two friends, and they headed toward their big pickup trucks.
Chapter 11
“Ready?” Kyle called out to the Patrick and Yolanda, who had been waiting for him. Heads nodded. “Okay, let’s go. Pat you lead in your vehicle until we get to your house. Did you get a hold of your wife?”
“She thinks I’m crazy and started to put up a fight but I set her straight,” Patrick said. Kyle very much doubted that. “I told her to pack my Star Wars figurines”
“Are you kidding?”
“No way man, those things are expensive,” Pat said, in all seriousness.
“You’re an idiot,” Yolanda said. “They’re not robbers out there; they don’t want your toys.” Patrick’s face turned red and Kyle jumped in to avert the coming argument.
“Yolanda, get James and let’s roll.” Kyle had sent James to watch the security building to make sure none of the sick would show up, but most of them were still trapped inside the buildings or delay fences surrounding the plant.
Kyle got in the passenger side of the Tahoe and clicked his seatbelt in. Yolanda had decided to drive and was starting the large diesel engine. James followed with the other Tahoe. Both of the vehicles were jam-packed with spare rifles, magazines, and a whole assortment of things that had been stripped down from the security building.
Patrick honked his horn and he started pulling out of the parking lot toward the road. Kyle looked back at the nearly empty parking lots that surrounded the massive complex. He sat back thinking how glad he would be to never see this place again, for many reasons.
Patrick’s place was only about five miles down Route 27 and it was on the way Kyle would be going anyway. The rural roads were mostly empty and they only saw a few passing cars. Kyle, scanning the radio for any station, found a few F.M. stations that were reporting news, though the channels were very full of static. Apparently, there were some incidents happening around the city, as well as riots going on. Ky
le knew they weren’t riots and they were just more incidents. With most people on holiday, many businesses were closed, but everyone was warned to stay home and lock their doors.
Patrick’s 4Runner SUV pulled into the drive of a quaint, two-story blue-sided house that was surrounded by towering pines trees on all sides. Another car was in the driveway and standing behind it was a woman with her arms on her hips, and stern face. She was waiting to fight. Kyle laughed to himself, Patrick’s wife Jasmine was just about as eccentric as Patrick, with purple and orange hair, and a odd sense of fashion that had shocked her conservative southern neighbors more than once. But when dealing with Patrick, she was the sensible one and a fight seemed about to erupt.
Kyle stepped out of the Tahoe which Yolanda had turned around to face the road. James parked his truck next to them. Kyle had popped the back of the Tahoe and walked to the rear to sit down and watch. He thought he would let Patrick have his privacy on this one.
“Coward,” James laughed, as he and Yolanda walked by. They walked to where Patrick was now standing in front of his wife, arms gesturing wildly. Kyle couldn’t help but laugh as he saw Patrick act like an angry chicken and his wife fiercely point her finger at him, as if he were a child.
Their dramatic conversation was put on hold when Yolanda and James got there. Kyle watched James and Yolanda give Jasmine a hug, with Patrick now starting to point at Yolanda. He couldn’t hear what was being said, but was again amused when Yolanda started to berate Patrick with his wife looking on, nodding her head in positive reinforcement to the tongue-lashing. James just stood there with a little smile on his face, not bothering to help his friend against the females.
