by TW Brown
The man pressed his lips tight, but he stayed silent. Both Marty and Melvin stepped forward, along with Kalisha and a young man not much older than his late teens. Catie fought the desire to tell the young man he could not be part of the team. Yet, she could not raise any possible suspicion now that the wheels were in motion. She shot a glance at Denise, but the woman did not budge. That was a little upsetting. While she had not divulged her plan to the woman, Denise did know that Catie had something in mind. Also, she would be the lone immune with these other unknowns. It would make things complicated, but again, she could not risk things at this point.
“Okay, you all fall back to that little house.” Catie pointed. “It is directly across the street and will provide a good view. If you see anything suspicious, deal with it. If we are not out before sunrise, head back to Montague.”
There were assorted nods and sounds of confirmation. With that, Catie and her five person team slipped away into the darkness. They reached the front door of the school. Melvin gave it a tug and it opened with no problem. Once again, Catie was unsure what to think.
The hallway was a four-way intersection. Looking left and right, Catie decided to continue straight ahead when there was not a single glow that might indicate somebody was inside one of the rooms. That much was a least a little reassuring.
The next intersection yielded more of the same. They were now out of the range of any sort of ambient light and Catie popped one of the glow sticks. It seemed almost as bright as a flare compared to the relative darkness of a moment before. They only had one more intersection and then they would be forced to choose a direction. They reached it, and Catie peered around the corner.
Eureka, she thought. To the right, five doorways in a row had a soft glow coming from the tall, skinny windows. Stuffing the glow stick in her pocket, Catie stepped back and relayed the findings. She told the team that she would creep to the first window and look in to see what they might be facing. Nobody objected.
Catie only had to hide her smile until she rounded the corner and started down the corridor. Before too long, she was at the first doorway. She crouched down and peeked inside. Her blood went cold and she suddenly felt like a fool.
The room was empty!
She spun in time to see her team coming around the corner with hands in the air and at least twenty people fanned out around them. She had been so confident. Now she felt like an idiot.
“How about you come on over and join your friends,” a man growled. It was not a request.
Catie laced her fingers behind her head and walked back up the hallway. They were marched back the way they had come in and taken back to the previous intersection and to the right. They stopped at a set of double doors and then were escorted inside.
It was the gymnasium. There were no windows, but the set of doors across the way was open. They passed a dozen or so fairly large cubicles that had men and women in them. Most were asleep, but a few were up reading or playing a board game around a card table.
They went out the other double doors to a covered area that looked like it had once been the playground. A handful of tents were here. The fence that kept this area secure was covered with heavy, dark tarp. A man was standing at the entrance of what looked like it had once been a large military tent. As soon as he saw them, he waved for Catie and her team to be escorted over and then ducked inside.
Catie was not certain, but she thought that she heard Kalisha gasp. She started to look around, but the man behind her gave Catie an unceremonious shove in the back and demanded that she keep her eyes forward and continue walking. They reached the large tent and two of their escorts ducked inside. A moment later, they emerged and motioned for everybody to enter.
“Daddy!” Kalisha breathed.
A slender, athletic looking man with dark skin stood waiting with his hands clasped in front of him. His black hair was a wild afro that bobbed just slightly when he moved. A young boy sat on the desk to the right, his head tilted to the side in curiosity as these newcomers entered. There was no doubt as to whose son he was, as well as who his sister might be. As soon as he spied Kalisha, the boy jumped from the desk and started for the girl.
“Kalisha!” the boy squealed.
“Caleb!” the man barked, and the boy skidded to a halt. He edged in front of the confused looking young lad and approached Catie’s group. “You have any idea what we do with trespassers? And is that Clarence Carson?”
Catie stepped forward. The two men who had been acting as her escort grabbed her and yanked her backwards, but she spun and swept the feet out from one and brought an elbow into the gut of the other. The sounds of blades being drawn came from everywhere, but the man that Catie had to assume to be Elliot brought everything to a halt.
“Nobody move! My daughter is with these people.” The man walked over to Catie and stopped before actually coming within striking range. “Nice moves. You want to tell me what brings you here in the middle of the night with my daughter?”
“Clear the room and we can talk,” Catie said, doing her best to sound as cool and collected as her captor.
“Not likely. You just took down two of my guys. I don’t think I want to be alone with you. You have something to say, do it. Otherwise…” He gave a nod and there was a strangled cry. Catie spun on instinct, instantly regretting that she had just given her back to this man.
The young boy who had volunteered to join them on the mission was holding his throat, but that wasn’t stopping the dark wave of crimson that trickled through his fingers. The man to his right winked at her as he slid his knife back into it place on his belt.
Catie spun back to Elliot who had no readable expression on his face. The man folded his arms across his chest and continued to stare at her, obviously waiting.
“Okay,” Catie sighed. She looked over at Marty and Melvin. Both men gave the slightest of nods. She hated playing her cards all at once, but her hand had been forced. She looked back to Elliot. “I came here to make a deal with you. I can help you take back Montague Village.”
“You bitch!” Clarence snarled. His curse ended in a wheeze and fit of coughing as he was obviously struck in the gut.
Elliot smiled and went back to his son. He stood beside the boy and put an arm around his shoulder. “Why would you want to do something like that?”
“Because, I think it is crappy that Dean and his group of cronies are treating people who are immune like crap. When you think about it, we are the best shot that humanity has of making it. If anybody should be treated like second class citizens, it is the people who are not immune to this.”
Catie could not believe the words coming out of her mouth. At one time, they would have been unthinkable. Yet, time and again she had run into people who thought that those who were immune should be killed. Granted, sometimes they had done things that might have warranted such treatment.
The reality was that she had reached a point in her life where she needed to choose a side. That had been something that Kevin never wanted to be forced into doing. He had some small hope that maybe people could come together and try to eradicate the undead. Catie had always felt that time had passed. Now it was time to make the best of what was left.
“How do you propose we do this?” Elliot asked. “And what makes you think that I would even want to do such a thing?”
“You want to live like this forever?”
The man looked around and then back to Catie. “What is wrong with how we live?”
“Tents? An abandoned school? Are you really asking that question?”
“Okay, you have my attention.”
Catie looked around once more and then back to Elliot. “Not like this. Me and you alone.”
The man seemed to consider the offer. Finally, he nodded. “Ladies and gentlemen, if you will excuse us. Caleb, take your sister to your tent. Everybody else, I want the rest of the prisoners taken to the holding cells.” Once the room was empty, Elliot went over and sat down. He motioned for Cat
ie to join him.
“You have ten minutes. If I think you are bullshitting me, all your friends die. That includes the ones just outside.”
“You knew?” Catie asked, only partially astonished.
“We brought you here. And if you think this is my actual compound, then maybe you aren’t as clever as I thought you to be. This is simply one of our observation posts. We keep it manned so that we can keep tabs on Montague Village and two other nearby settlements.”
Catie had to clench her teeth to keep her mouth from dropping open. Not only had she basically been led here, but if this man was not bluffing—and at this very moment, she had no reason to believe that he was—then this was not even his actual camp.
Catie explained to Elliot her plan. She talked quick and kept worrying when it did not seem like the man was going to ask her any questions. At last she finished. Elliot sat back, his fingers steepled under his chin as he thought.
“Terry!” he called. A man stuck his head inside the tent.
“Yeah, boss?”
“Execute the prisoners.”
“What?” Catie yelped.
“Just kidding.” Elliot shot a wink at Catie. “Give them the injection. Then, go out and bring in the rest of the intruders. Take them to the cells.”
“Injection?” Catie asked.
“We have a serum that we have refined over the years.” Elliot actually laughed like he was truly amused. “Hard to believe that we just used actual zombie blood in the early days. Hell, that crap has more contamination and infectious crap than you can believe. It probably resulted in a few people that might have been immune actually getting sick enough and dying. And of course we already know that even if you are immune, if you have been infected, you will turn when you die no matter what.”
“Wait,” Catie gasped, holding her hands up. “Are you saying that you inject people with something that turns them or proves they are immune?”
“How else will we be certain? Don’t worry, if a person is actually immune, then it is perfectly safe.”
“I think you are missing the point.”
“What point is that?” Elliot seemed to be honestly perplexed.
“You are turning people into zombies. I think that explains the problem in one sentence,” Catie snapped.
“Wait.” Elliot held up his hands, a smirk falling into place so quickly that it seemed like that might be more natural than anything else. “You are on board for going in and being part of a coup to overthrow Dean and his band of idiots where we might slit throats, hack people up, or fill ‘em with a few crossbow bolts. Yet, and let me see if I am just missing something here, you draw the line at dosing them with something that will kill them or prove that they are immune?”
“Turning a person into a zombie is an agonizing and slow process. That is torture. Why would you think anything about that is okay?”
“You do know that there are people in that compound that are immune, right? And some of them know damn good and well that is the case. Sandy was going to reveal the names, but somebody killed her before she could talk. That points to some people high up in the command structure. I would be willing to bet that one of them is the illustrious leader, Dean Stockton.”
Elliot still had that same nasty sneer on his face, but somehow, he had become even uglier. What Catie saw was a man obsessed with revenge; consumed by anger. He was toxic. That was never a good thing for somebody in a position of power. If she had learned just one thing in her years, it was that anything to an extreme was bad.
“So, let me see if I have this straight. You want to go in, inject the entire community—men, women, and children—you want to shoot them up with this serum that you have and then see who is left standing?”
“Let me respond with answering your question with my own. You are okay with going in and killing people outright?”
Catie ran her hands through her hair. Her mind was whirling with all sorts of things. At the center of it was the death of Kevin. He’d died at the hands of a group that was bent on wiping out people who showed immunity. He’d died caught up in somebody else’s fight. He had died a horrible and violent death.
A few weeks later, she stumbles into this situation. She still had not really taken any time to deal with her loss. Could all of this be weeds that have sprouted in her garden of misery and pain? And was Elliot right? What made his way any worse than hers? She wanted to go in with a ‘Trojan Horse’ plan and launch an assault on the people of Montague Village. She was using her anger at seeing the immune relegated to some lower class than others as fuel to her fire.
Somewhere along the way she had become irrational. Was she ready to become the villain? Because, when you stripped it down to its core, that would be exactly how she would be perceived by most sane and rational people. If she was on the outside looking down on these actions, she would be waiting for the good guys to save the day. Wasn’t that always how things ended in the movies?
Catie began to laugh. It was just a giggle at first, but it grew into something more. Pretty soon, she could not stop. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her vision was blurred. She noticed Elliot stand up, she thought he came to her and put his hands on her arms, but she pulled away. At some point, she ended up on the floor. Through it all, she could not stop laughing. Her mind spun and tried to anchor itself to anything, put the current was too swift and everything she reached for would slip away before she could actually get a grasp.
Her emotions were coming fast and furious. Happiness, sorrow, and rage. It was the rage that came on greatest and began to crush everything else. It smashed her happiness like some massive monster. Her mind flashed on an image of Godzilla stomping through some Japanese city. That only pushed her faster down the stream of madness.
Madness.
Catie knew that was where she was headed. She knew that to continue on this path would be her undoing. She would cease to be Catie. She would become something else. Something dark and evil. She would become Erin!
Was this how that poor little girl became the leader of an army that sought to destroy something simply because it was different? Catie could hardly breathe now as she fought herself. Part of her did want to let go and embrace whatever might come if she allowed the madness to assume control. Yet, part of her knew that to be wrong on every level.
Catie felt hands on her. She heard voices, but she could not understand them. She felt something stick her arm, and then she felt the world begin to slip away. She was sliding into darkness. She welcomed it. Perhaps she would find answers there.
9
Dancing on the Head of a Pin
I have heard the phrase, “like shooting fish in a barrel” before. I just never really gave it much thought. For one, who would keep fish in a barrel in the first place? At least now I am pretty certain that I know what they are trying to allude to with an analogy like that.
We cut the escorts down so fast that none of them had the chance to do more than bleed and die. However, I think the biggest surprise to those who had been tasked to escort me and Jim came when Jim yanked his machete free from its sheath and actually sprinted up behind Maddy.
You would think that his first instinct would be to free himself once and for all and run for cover. Apparently he is just as cool as I have always believed him to be. He slammed the pommel of his weapon into her temple and dropped her in her tracks. That meant that we had a prisoner.
The rest were afforded no such mercy. The killing was swift and violent. I was beginning to see the people that I lived my life with, grew up around, in an entirely new light. Inside the walls of Platypus Creek, everybody knows each other. We all smiled and shared good times. The select few that were chosen to venture well beyond our little area have known the world as it really is and not how those inside the walls believe (or wish) it so.
The truth is harsh and horrible. The world is chaos, bloodshed, and death. I think that, over the years, those who decided to stay inside and farm or make clothes, or whatev
er…they have all lost sight of—or, more likely suppressed the memories of—the brutal world we live in.
It has not taken me long to realize that we must be prepared to do whatever we can to survive. But much more than that, we must be prepared to do things that make us into something else. To combat those who wish to destroy our way of life or harm those we love, we must be able to commit acts that are unspeakable.
It seems an eternity ago when I took that first human life. I recall the warnings from Jim and Jackson. And now I think I might understand why they tried to keep me from killing that man. As sick as it seems, once you have crossed that bridge, you will be able to continue to do so much easier. Not because you enjoy it (at least that is not the case for me), but rather because a little bit more of your goodness and compassion dies each time.
We came out from where we had hidden to lay the ambush and I saw almost the same expressions on every single face. Acceptance. And as we walked to Jim and gathered around the unconscious body of Maddy, I felt another little piece of my soul wither, dry up, and die.
“Tie her up,” Billy ordered.
Paula went to work on that job and I decided that I needed to talk to Billy away from the others. I wanted him to know that the leader of that army in the valley knew his name. That seemed oddly important.
“Whatever it is, hurry it up, Thalia,” Billy said once I managed to pull him away from the group.
“They know your name. That lady? Suzi? She knew who you were,” I blurted, not knowing any other way.
Billy seemed to think it over for a long time; way longer than I would have expected considering he was the one saying we had to hurry and get moving back to Platypus Creek. He rubbed his stubbled head and cocked it one way and then the other like a dog hearing a strange sound.
“I wonder if she knew Winter…or if she knew Jon?” he mumbled.
Of course I was familiar with those names. They were part of the history of our community. One stood for all that was bad, and the other for heroism and good. Sunshine had never moved on after Jon. She rarely went a day without mentioning something about that man. I did not really remember him. There were flashes of the man they spoke of, but most of my memories centered on Steve and Emily, the girl who had become my sister in many ways.
