by TW Brown
“But you won’t kill him or any of us,” Braden said, his voice giving away just a slight tremor that belied his fear despite the brave face he was wearing.
“You are exactly right.” Catie gave a slight nod. “I need you boys on my team.”
“And what about everybody else?” one of the other young men asked; Catie thought that it was Mario. “We are not the only people here. This place has a population of seven hundred and thirty-seven. How are…” he made a point of doing an exaggerated head count, “…seven of us going to just take over. I don’t know what you think you knew, but the people here loved Elliot. He let them have a sense of peace and calm. You are talking about turning this place into an army and becoming the type of people that we were trying to stay away from.”
“Elliot was going to inject people! He was going to mount a war of his own. The only difference is that he was going to do his in a sneaky, dirty way that is wrong on every level.” Catie had to fight to keep her voice down. She was already surprised that nobody seemed to notice when she had thrown Louis to the ground.
“Last I checked, killing is killing,” Braden offered.
“This whole time, have I said anything about having to kill anybody?” Catie raised a single eyebrow and let her eyes drift from one of the young men to the next. Eventually, she saw a slow shaking of heads.
“That is because we don’t actually have to kill anybody if this works.” She saw all four of the young men open their mouths with the questions each had, but she raised her hands and stopped them as she went on to explain the basic idea of her plan.
“You have been running around this place making the Beastie Boys something that people actually fear. All of that with just four of you? You have caused enough havoc to have people think that there is some band of heartless animals out in the zombie wilderness preying on innocent children. In a way, it is genius. It helps us take your little masquerade to a whole new level of deception.”
Catie saw looks cross the faces of the four as they listened. She hurried on with the explanation of the basics regarding her plan. As she spoke, she began to see eyes go wide and lips curl into smiles. She was winning them over even easier than she believed. She also watched Marty and Melvin. This was not exactly the plan she had laid out to them. In the one she used to bring them on board, there was no bluffing. Of course that plan had been made when she was one of those who thought that Elliot’s Beastie Boys were an army, a force to be reckoned with as opposed to the reality.
In truth, these people were ripe for the picking. She could make bigger changes once they had secured their safety. It would start with Montague, but she would deal with the less tolerable communities as well. She had found her place. This is where she would plant her flag and make a home for her and Kevin’s unborn child.
She had no doubt that there was going to be a fight ahead. She did not think this would be able to be pulled off without casualties. It would be the first ones that made or broke her fledgling band, but she would see this happen now. As if to signal that she did in fact need to hurry, she felt something shift in her body.
The baby had kicked!
18
So Few Answers
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Commander Suzi McFarlane,” Randy crowed.
“I am just going to go out on a limb and guess that there is no mutated plague virus inside the walls of Island City,” Suzi spat as her gag was removed.
“Nope.” Randy handed the reins of her horse over to one of the riders that had come from the ruins.
“So then where are my people?” Suzi asked. “I have lost at least thirty of my scouts on missions in and around that place.”
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell ya. We were not kidding when we reported that your Outriders were disappearing.” Randy did not seem the least bit bothered by the icy stare that Suzi was directing at him.
“And it wasn’t the college kids or some rebel faction from Island City that tampered with and contaminated our vaccine?” Suzi pressed.
“Correct again, Commander.” Randy did not try to hide the derision in his voice and the mockery he was making of her title.
“I take it you have failed to locate the Haynes faction?” one of the riders asked Randy.
“If she knows, she isn’t telling me,” Randy replied, giving a nod of his head to indicate Suzi. “You have people better suited for that kind of thing. I got no problem if you want me to just kill her, but I am not the torturing sort.”
“Since I am about to be tortured…apparently,” Suzi shot a withering glance back to Randy once more before continuing to address her new captors, “perhaps you can finally let me know what your real reason for wanting this Billy Haynes might be. After all, we at least got you in the ball park. And had your idiot child here not just up and killed the one prisoner we still had in our care, it is likely that he would have eventually come down and spoken with me.”
“You let the other two go!” Randy spat. “I would almost wager that they are behind those two herds that are causing so much trouble.”
“So much trouble?” Suzi lost her cool at that moment. She was starting to struggle against her bonds and her voice was audible death. “You would not let the alarm be sounded and the word given for my people to enact the emergency evacuation procedure. By the time somebody figures out that I am gone and gives that order for my people to move, it will be too late. You will be allowing thousands of men and women to die needlessly.”
“You only have yourself to blame.” Randy wheeled his horse around in a complete circle and came up beside Suzi. “Hunter was making headway, that stupid girl was starting to trust him. She would have spilled her guts before much longer.”
“Then I guess I am glad that I used your own serum on him. I suspected that he was doing something sketchy when it came to that girl. I only wish that I could have broken him in time to reveal your names so your head could have joined his on that trip. I am willing to bet that this Dr. Zahn would have been able to understand the message.”
I had to cover my mouth with my hand. While I was almost gaining some sort of understanding on some of the things that had evaded me for the most part, I was now getting a whole new batch of questions dumped in my lap.
Suzi knew Dr. Zahn? And what was this about rumors of a mutated version of the zombie virus inside the walls of Island City? All of this was now a lot more than I was ready or able to handle. I needed to get back to Platypus Creek and give this to Billy and Dr. Zahn. As much as I tried to be all grown up and try and handle things like an adult, I was not up to the task of dealing with something this big.
I was going to hate myself, but I started to retreat back to Kayla. I would try to swing through Island City on the way and make good with Cricket, but my priority was to make it home. Even if they abandoned Platypus Creek, this was not going to go away. For whatever reason, this group wanted Billy, and by the sounds of things, it was not going to be a happy or pleasant meeting.
I reached Kayla to discover that she had actually fallen asleep! I leaned over and shook her. She did not move at first and I felt my heart skip a beat. I put a hand to her chest and it took me a second before I felt it rise and fall very slowly. All I could think was that she had somehow gotten nipped or infected while she led me to safety from the encampment.
When her eyes fluttered, I pretty much expected to see dark tracers. When I saw regular old whites, I grabbed her and hugged her.
“What’s wrong?” Kayla mumbled. I could hear the fatigue in her voice and realized that she had simply been asleep; all of this adventure had taken its toll on her.
“Nothing.” My voice was muffled as I had yet to release her from the hug.
I finally put myself at arms’ length and gave her one more quick inspection; never can be too careful. After I was reassured that she was not infected or in any way injured, I related what I had heard. I don’t think that I was ever happier to see such an expression of cluelessness on somebody
’s face. If I was stumped, Kayla was even more lost than I.
“Look, I doubt we are gonna figure this out,” I finally said. “What I am sure of is that we need to get home and tell Billy, Dr. Zahn, Jim, and Paula. If somebody is going to make sense of this mess, it will be one of them.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Kayla sighed.
“We have a long haul ahead, so we need to get going.”
I got to a crouch and looked back down the hill. The meeting was still going on. Also, apparently the person that had been captured along with Suzi had been deemed unnecessary. I could just barely make out the form of a body on the ground.
Kayla and I stayed in a crouch until we were over the ridge of the little hill. Only, now we had a new set of problems. There was a sea of zombies down below. They had reached the encampment and, now that I was not solely focused on what I’d heard at that meeting, I could hear the screams and cries as people below died terrible deaths. I could also see that, while some were trying to fight, most were running for their lives with whatever they could carry. A very fortunate few had managed to reach the area where the horses were allowed to graze and galloped away. Sadly, most of the horses had been on the fringe of the camp and gotten engulfed by the undead swarm.
Seemingly a million miles away to our left was Island City. I tried to find a way around that mob, but it seemed unlikely unless we wanted to move parallel to it and move around the tail end. That would not be a problem except for the fact that it would put us on a wide open stretch of land where we would have no cover and easily be seen. I was impatient, but this was no time to be careless. We would have to wait out the zombies.
***
“Let’s go.”
Kayla shook me awake. I had not thought that I would actually be able to sleep. Between everything bouncing around in my head, my desire to get to Billy, and the screams that seemed to never end coming from the encampment, I honestly thought that I would just lie in the grass under the interlaced branches in this grove of trees and churn things over in my mind.
Apparently not.
I’d let Kayla resume her nap while I took the first watch. When she woke and promptly scolded me for not letting her do her part, I’d relented. The next thing I knew, she was waking me up and it was almost dark.
“We have wasted the better part of a day,” I said around a yawn.
“Yeah, but that herd has finally cleared out for the most part. I think we can move right down into that old neighborhood area and stick to the shadows. We could make it to the walls and then use Island City as our cover as we make for the pass road that will take us home.”
That was as good of a plan as any. I got up and slung my pack over my shoulder.
“Oh,” Kayla said as she climbed over the fence that enclosed the junkyard, “I sharpened your blades. Also, you have my crossbow. Yours got messed up somewhere along the line. You are the better shot, so I figured it would be best if you were the one with the working crossbow.”
“Thanks,” I grunted as I landed on the ground and in the near perfect black of the shadows of one of those towers of old automobiles.
“I tell you because I think you should probably load that thing.”
It was then that I realized Kayla was talking in a whisper. A second later, I heard the rumble of a zombified dog. I saw a shadow that oozed along the ground and was just a bit darker than the shadows already being cast.
I was thankful for the bright moon just overhead; otherwise we might be in for a bit of trouble. I backed up a few steps and looked over at Kayla who was already up on the rear bumper of a car and trying to keep her eyes on the zombie dog while still doing her best to get out of range of its muzzle.
I lined up my shot and fired. There was a noise, and I thought for a second that I’d scored a kill. Then I realized I’d actually pinned the pathetic thing to the ground. Hopping down, I hurried over and ended its suffering—if zombie dogs suffer, that is.
“That is odd, don’t you think?” Kayla asked as we sort of jogged across the rest of the junkyard.
“What?” I was scanning for any more signs of trouble, so I was not really doing much in the way of thinking.
“Did you run across any zombie dogs when you came this way the first time?” Kayla asked, although I could tell she was starting to struggle with running and talking, so I slowed my pace just a little. Also, she made a good point.
We rounded the corner of a long row of those stacked cars and emerged in a relatively bright swath of ground that seemed to almost suck in the moonlight. I only took a few steps when the low moan of a zombie caused me to pull up short. Kayla actually skidded to a halt and ended up on her butt from trying so hard to not only stop, but reverse directions as well.
“Where the hell did they all come from?” Kayla asked.
Looking around, I saw zombies coming out from all over the place. Also, I could see a section of the junkyard where the wall had fallen. Zombies might be like electricity and take the easiest path, but when they are stuffed into a space too small to contain them, they have no problems making a new path.
“Just run, Kayla,” I urged, grabbing her arm and pulling her along.
She drew her belt knife and seemed to gather herself with a few deep breaths. We ran along together, making no style points at all as we pushed, shoved, and spiked our way to the other end of the junkyard. We finally reached the fence on the other side. It was no problem to jump, hook my leg over and be free and clear.
I turned and saw Kayla as she struggled to pull herself up and over as well. She just got one leg over and her face was an expression of triumph; then she vanished. It was like seeing somebody get pulled under water.
“No!” I screamed. I ran back and pulled myself back up just in time to see Kayla disappear under a pair of zombies.
She screamed and I threw myself over, landing on my feet and plunging my knife into the back of the head of one of her attackers. A trio of undead were all reaching for me and I only had a split second to think that it was lucky for Kayla, otherwise she would be under a pile of five instead of just the pair, one of which I had already ended.
I heard Kayla shriek and my blood chilled. That was not the sound of fear, it was a scream of pain. I kicked at the closest zombie of the trio approaching me and then grabbed the one that was on top of Kayla by the back of the neck. With a quick jab, I stabbed it in the side of the head.
Kayla shoved the body off of her and scrambled to her feet. I could hear her crying and I kept hearing the word “no, no, no, no” being almost chanted as she threw herself at the fence. I had to shove another of the trio away, this time angling my push so that it collided with the remaining one that was still coming.
I looked up to see maybe a hundred more of the undead advancing towards all this commotion. Turning, I leaped and caught the top of the wall and hauled myself over for the second time. Kayla was on her knees and I could see dark liquid dripping from her left arm and onto the ground in front of her.
“C’mon, Kayla,” I panted, finding myself out of breath after the repeated trips up and over that tall fence that had once sealed off the junkyard.
“Just go,” she whimpered.
“Umm, no.”
“I’m bit, Thalia.” She held up her arm to emphasize the point.
I was about to say something when more moans carried from close by. We needed to get to the relatively safe walls of Island City. This was not the time or the place for a debate.
“That does not mean a thing until we get you someplace and wait for a symptom to show.” I grabbed for her and she scrambled back and out of my reach.
“Don’t touch me!” she cried. “If I am infected, you can catch it.”
“I know how it is transmitted,” I huffed. “And I will not touch you, but you need to get up. If you are infected, I promise to take care of you.”
“You need to get back to warn the others, you don’t have time.”
“I can wait until we get somep
lace where I can get a better look.”
“But—” Kayla tried to protest.
“Shut up and get on your feet!” I barked. “You came this far. You have shown that you are not just another pretty face and that you can handle yourself. Don’t throw it all away now by acting like a…a…a girl!”
Kayla sniffed and stood up. I blew a sigh of relief since I could now see zombies converging from all over. That herd had broken up quite a bit coming through here. I felt like an idiot for not realizing that this possibility existed.
I unzipped my coat and cut away a piece of my shirt, handing it to Kayla to use as a bandage. She wrapped her forearm quickly after she used her own knife to cut away the ragged section of the sleeve. It only took a moment, but in that amount of time, the hundred zombies coming our way had more than doubled.
We ran for the oasis that Island City represented. When we reached it and had gotten safely behind the walls, I sought the first house and hurried inside. Lighting a lantern, I did not really care if I gave away our location. I held my breath as I turned to face Kayla.
I staggered back and I saw her expression crumble. I had to shake off my emotions right away.
“No!” I said in a rush. “I am actually just relieved. No squiggles!”
“Really?”
She stood up and walked over to a mirror mounted on the wall and peered at her own reflection. She used her thumb and index finger to peel her eyes open as wide as possible as if she expected to discover something hidden that would reveal her to actually be infected.
Her face slowly broke into a smile and she turned to me. Her mouth opened as if she were about to say something, and then she simply collapsed.
“Kayla!” I ran to her, my heart suddenly in my throat. She had looked fine. What could have caused her to just drop like that for no apparent reason?
