by TW Brown
“May as well just ask,” she muttered, changing her course to intercept a young man walking along by himself and actually whistling.
“Excuse me?” Catie hailed the man, having to step almost directly in front of him to get him to stop.
“Huh?” The young man’s head popped up and his eyes were a mix of alarm and confusion for a second. He apparently came to some conclusion and then relaxed visibly.
“Can you tell me where the administrator’s office is?”
“Sure.” The man turned and pointed to a large white building that had a steeple on top.
“Thanks,” Catie said, taking off at a jog.
“But they are in session right now,” the man called after her. “You probably don’t want to interrupt them.”
Catie heard the warning and chose to ignore it. She reached the stairs and looked up at what had obviously once been a chapel. This set a few more of her warning bells off, but she forced them down. While there were certainly those who had a twisted and convoluted idea of religion, there were others who were just trying to desperately cling to something safe and familiar. It was not fair for her to assume. Still, that did not mean that she did not need to be prepared.
Climbing the stairs, she could hear a rather heated argument taking place inside. Catie took one more deep breath and opened the doors. It was like the interior of any church that she had ever visited for the most part. Even the long wooden pews were still in place. The biggest difference came up in the pulpit. Instead of an altar or podium, there was a large, ornate desk.
A man was seated behind it and standing to his left were two big, rough looking men who had Kalisha between them; each one had a grip on her arm. The girl had obviously been crying. Standing at the bottom of the three tiered steps that ran all the way across the front of the raised dais was Denise, Eldon, and another man Catie did not recognize.
“…as the rules clearly state,” the man behind the desk was almost shouting. He stopped when Catie entered. One of the men holding on to Kalisha released her arm and took a step forward.
“Don’t stop on my account,” Catie said with a shrug. “I was just coming in to observe. Or are the hearings here of a private nature?”
“Who is this woman?” the administrator demanded. “Don’t tell me this is the young woman that Kalisha brought to our very gates.”
“My name is Catie…Catie Dreon. And I guess I am the person you are talking about. I met her outside of town in some territory supposedly run by a group calling themselves the Beastie Boys. I always thought Paul’s Boutique was perhaps one of the greatest albums ever made.” She paused and allowed herself a smile. “But I doubt you are old enough to remember. Hell, I bet you never had the pleasure of pulling a piece of vinyl from the sleeve and scouring the dust jacket while you gave a record its first spin on your turntable.”
“Your presence is not welcome here, Miss Dreon,” the man behind the desk said flatly.
“Actually…” Catie took another couple of steps into the large open room, letting the heavy doors shut behind her, “it’s missus.”
“I don’t care,” the man scoffed. “You are not a member of the council, you are a stranger at the very least and an intruder in any case. This is not a meeting open to the public.”
“The public? Or just those who are immune?” Catie saw Denise close her eyes and press her lips tight in disapproval. She also saw Eldon smile.
“As I was saying, Dean, the new arrival is not only openly hostile, but she is immune,” Eldon chirped, putting a few steps between himself and Denise.
“You say that like it is a crime.” Catie turned her focus to the man and leveled her harshest glare his direction. He quickly looked away, obviously unable to maintain eye contact.
“I will only ask you this one time, Missus Dreon,” Dean, the man behind the desk, made it a point to drip sarcasm over the title, “you need to leave immediately. Do so now by choice, or else—”
“Or else what?” Catie challenged. “Because if you say that you will have me forcibly removed, that means you lack the stones to do it yourself. That also means you are nothing but a bully and a coward. You know how I deal with bullies? A swift punch in the nose.”
The administrator sat back in his chair for a moment and actually seemed to consider her words. He steepled his fingers and stared at her. If he was waiting for her to blink, Catie had news for the man.
“Eldon?” Dean turned in his chair to the man. “Would you remove this person from these proceedings?”
The man seemed to almost stagger back, but it was quickly apparent that it was from excitement and not anything like fear or hesitation. “Yes, Mr. Administrator.”
“Oh please.”
Catie suppressed a smile at the barely audible whisper that came from Denise. She also widened her stance a bit and eyed Eldon as he turned her direction. The man had taken a few steps, but his pace faltered noticeably when she obviously showed no signs of being the least bit concerned.
“You do understand there will be no going back for you once you put so much as a finger on me,” Catie warned. “You will get your ass handed to you by a woman in front of these idiots that you are obviously and blindly trying to impress.”
Giving the man a better once over now that they were about to square off, a thought came unbidden and Catie let a chuckle escape. She bit her lower lip and shrugged at Eldon’s raised eyebrows. She also noticed that he had stopped his advance.
“What’s so funny?” the man snarled.
“I just realized who you remind me of.” Catie let the laugh carry over in her reply.
“Oh? And who is that?”
“Biff, from Back to the Future.”
That earned a chuckle from Denise, and the woman quickly threw a hand over her mouth to stifle it when all eyes shot her glares of overwhelming disapproval—all eyes except for those of Kalisha. The girl looked equal parts confused and frightened.
This had the exact effect that Catie had hoped for from the oafish man. He let loose with a bellow and charged her with reckless abandon. Catie had hoped for this result because she was concerned deep down about her ability to bring a man of Eldon’s size to heel without some slight advantage offered.
Just as he was lunging, she made an agile sidestep and whipped her foot out to sweep the man at the ankles. The man, already having a full head of steam and unable to slow much less stop, went careening in a graceless belly flop and slide that did not end until he collided heavily with the massive doors. The impact was a mix of frame shuddering reverberation as well as a nasty crack that was punctuated with a yelp.
Diving onto Eldon’s back with both knees, Catie reached over and dug her fingers into the man’s eyes and yanked his head back. She leaned down to his ear and hissed, “Move and you will need a seeing eye dog for the rest of your short and miserable life.”
Catie shot a look over her shoulder to ensure that the goons were still staying put. While they were certainly giving anxious looks to this administrator named Dean, neither man had taken a step closer.
“Please let my man up, Missus Dreon,” Dean said as he rose from his chair. “And everybody else please clear the chamber. Take our little juvenile delinquent to her quarters, and Denise, you may return to yours as well.” The men actually looked like they might question the order, but any such thoughts vanished when Dean slammed his hand on the desk. “Now!”
Catie rose to her feet and made a point to get well clear of Eldon’s striking range. The man pushed himself up and scrambled to his feet in a hurry, one arm shooting out in a near-blind backhanded swipe.
“Eldon!” Dean barked. “I said to clear the room. I did not say for you to attack our new guest.”
The man wiped at his face and Catie was happy to see a series of perfect crescent moon-shaped marks that were leaking blood from where her fingers had dug into the tender flesh around the eyes. One side looked like it might even swell shut. When he headed for the door, Catie was even ha
ppier to see the man walking with a bit of a limp.
At last the large open room was empty save for Catie and this man named Dean. Not being a fool, Catie kept her mouth shut and chose to let him be the first to speak.
“They tell me that you come from out west.”
“News travels fast.” Catie moved into the middle pew and sat down.
“Not really,” Dean said with a shrug. “It is a small town. Most are these days from what I understand.” He stood and came around his desk, sitting on the edge and folding his hands in front of him. “So, what are we to do with you?”
“How about you let me ask all of those who are immune if they would like to leave of their own free will? We could find a new place to live and let you and yours live in peace.” Dean opened his mouth, but Catie cut him off as she continued. “But since I doubt you want to let go of all of your indentured servants, I think it will be a shade more complicated than me asking and you just agreeing.”
“Indentured servants!” Dean sputtered. He made a few gasps of incredulity, but then he stopped just as suddenly and his lips curved in a huge smile. “So, you are some sort of avenging angel? A do-gooder out to right wrongs and be the voice for the oppressed? That sort of thing?”
“Nothing quite so grand,” Catie replied. “In fact, if that creep Eldon hadn’t been such a jerk during my interrogation, I might have minded my own business and gone on my way. But then the whole thing about that girl being brought in like a criminal when all she was guilty of was going after her brother, and it got me to thinking.”
“I would be careful, Missus Dreon,” Dean warned.
“What deal have you made with these Beastie Boys?” Catie had considered how she was going to go about this. She knew that she did not have the patience to tiptoe around things. She was an “every problem looks like a nail” sort of gal.
“I have no—” Dean began to protest.
“Just don’t,” Catie snapped, cutting the man off. “We can dance around this and play silly games, but, and maybe this is the hormones talking, I simply do not have the desire to play games. Tell me what you have going on.”
“And what do you intend to do with any information I might offer?” Dean went back behind his desk and Catie watched his hands. If he went for any sort of weapon, she knew perfectly well that she was screwed.
“It depends.”
The man seemed to consider Catie with an appraising eye rather than a defensive one. Catie knew what it felt like to be sized up, and that is exactly what this felt like. At last, he seemed to come to a conclusion.
“You have two choices,” Dean spoke as he once again got to his feet. “You can get your gear and leave today. If you return after being escorted to the edge of our territory, you will be considered an invader and I will have you executed.”
“That sounds fun,” Catie sniffed. “You would just execute a woman who is pregnant?”
“Your…condition…is the only reason that you are being given that first choice of leaving. Too many people know about you. At this point, doing something would not be greeted with a positive result. I may be a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
“You mentioned a second choice.”
“Something tells me that you are former military.” Dean folded his hand on his desk. His voice reminded Catie of a teacher giving a lecture. It was not overly emotional. A guy like this might not be all that difficult to work for…or at least with. “The way that you handled Eldon? That was impressive. If you were to perhaps lead a team of men that I chose to remove the head from the group that calls themselves the Beastie Boys, then we would be in your debt and I would consider asking you to stay on and accept a post as one of our chiefs of security.”
“And if I do this, I will have some stipulations of my own.”
“Such as?” Dean asked, a bemused smile curling his lips in the start of a grin that was more creepy than pleasant.
“We will deal with that when I return.” Catie walked up to the desk and planted her hands on it. She leaned down so that her face was inches from Dean’s. “And I want some people of my choosing on the team just in case you plan on having me killed after I complete this mission.”
“After?” Dean scoffed. “You make it sound like it is already done. You are quite confident in your abilities.”
“Yes, I am.”
***
“I just want one person that you trust with our life.” Catie sipped on the tea and savored its sweetness. She had not enjoyed honey in an age. And tea? Not only was this delicious, but it had just a hint of citrus in it that made her want to risk scalding her tongue just so she could have a second cup.
“That is a rather short list. But you are asking me to have this person put their life at risk,” Denise replied with a slow shake of her head. “You are asking me to join you, a total stranger, along with a handpicked goon squad that the administrator assigns for a mission that has been attempted twice and resulted in utter failure.”
“I wasn’t on those other two missions,” Catie countered.
“And you make that much of a difference?”
“Yes.” Catie glanced over at Kalisha who sat quietly, holding her cup and staring down into it with almost no expression on her face. “I got her released to us, didn’t I?”
There was a long silence. Catie was still organizing her thoughts, and she had something up her sleeve that she was not ready to reveal yet. She knew that it was a risky plan at best. It could very well lead to her death as well as some or all of the team. However, over the years, she had dealt with plenty of groups like these Beastie Boys. She also saw something in their actions that led her to believe that she might be able to do something that would assure her safety as well as her unborn child’s.
After leaving the little chapel and being escorted back to the dorm, Catie considered her possibilities. She knew very well that she was rolling the dice being out and alone in the world. She had a strong desire to return home and let everybody know that Kevin had been killed. Yet, once she really thought about it, she came to the conclusion that there was simply no need to hurry. She and Kevin had left with the idea of not returning. It was not something they talked about much, but the further away they got, the more it felt like they were closing the book on that chapter of their lives. This was her chance to start fresh.
“I know that you have no reason to trust me, but seriously, do you like the way things are here?” Catie set her cup down and eyed the pot with a tiny wisp of steam curling up from the spout. Denise saw her expression of longing and poured her another cup.
“Not exactly,” Denise admitted. “But I know how things are outside of our walls. I have heard the stories of the immune being hunted like animals, treated worse than zombies. And, lest we forget, the undead do still hold their own and are still a good reason to not be outside of the protection that the walls of this town provide.”
“So you want to spend whatever is left of your life hiding behind a wall and being treated like a second class citizen at best?” Catie glanced at the wrist guard that Denise was wearing. It identified her as immune to the zombie virus. It may as well be a scarlet “I” considering the fact that it basically identified her as something of which to be afraid, or at least leery. “You happy wearing that thing and having people give you a clear berth when you pass?”
“It is for the protection of others,” Denise insisted. Catie could hear the tremor in her voice. The woman was not an idiot; she knew damn good and well that she was marked as an outcast, a pariah.
“If you help me, you will be helping yourself. Wouldn’t you like to live a somewhat normal life?” Catie pressed.
“Normal? How can anybody ever conceive the possibility of living a normal life again?”
“We might not be tweeting and Facebooking our lives away, but I can assure you that it is very possible to live a normal life. It is up here.” Catie tapped her head with her index finger. “It is a state of mind. You are telling
yourself that you are doing this to protect others. Yet you live with people who lord over you. Sure, this is a so-called mixed community. But you are nothing more than servants and grunts that get to do the dirty work. Keep it up and that system will become so entrenched that you guys will be developing your very own caste system. You will all know your place, and the rest of the community will become more and more gluttonous for power and control.” Catie felt her anger build and allowed her passion to spill into her voice.
“You want us to take this place from the unknowns?” Kalisha whispered. “You are talking like we can just stomp our feet and change things. That is what Elliot thought. Now he lives out there like a wild animal.”
“Elliot?” Catie heard something in the girl’s voice that made her perk up. “Who is Elliot?”
“A man that used to live here. Helped Dean and some of the others get the walls up. He was bit way back when this all began,” Denise explained. She glanced at Catie and then over at Kalisha who nodded for her to continue. “He did a lot of the foraging back in the early days since a bite or scratch wouldn’t be his death.”
“And why did he get the boot?” Catie asked. She noticed Kalisha’s expression grow dark; obviously this was a sensitive subject for the girl.
“As the months passed, and then years, the community grew,” Denise continued. “Of course there were some that arrived with the scars of attack. We welcomed them like anybody else. Dean and Elliot sort of ran things. They even held an election in case somebody felt like there might be a better person or people to be in charge. Elliot actually received about forty or so more votes than Dean.
“Then this small group arrived. Every single one of them was immune! It was the first time that such a group came to our gates. Dean was pretty excited. It was also when the first of the children born to a pair of immune parents arrived in our community.” Denise glanced at Kalisha.
“You were the first one?” Catie asked.
The girl shook her head. “My little brother Caleb…” She began to choke up and waved for Denise to continue.
