by T. L. Walker
"Richard wants to talk about the fence. He thinks he’s got it figured out."
"Where’s everyone else? Where’s Holden?"
"Waiting for me to bring you guys back to the office."
"Everyone? There’s no one watching that pen, or the front gate? And he sent you back here alone?"
"Daniel’s at the pen. We took Virginia away from the front gate, but that thing’s not going anywhere. Or letting anything in. And you’ll be with me on the way back."
Mike had a point, but that didn’t mean I liked it – or that I liked how sure he was that we would go back with him. Unfortunately, I knew that the longer I stayed here, the longer the front gate would remain unguarded. I almost set my shovel down, but then I realized that without it, I was empty-handed. Weaponless. I clutched it tighter."Fine. Let’s get this over with."
It was almost eerily quiet as we walked back toward the front of the zoo. Too quiet, I thought, craning my neck to look past the gates as we approached them.
Suddenly Luke stopped walking."Charlie,"he murmured. I began to turn toward him, but from the corner of my eye, saw him shake his head."Grab Mike and get behind something."
"What about you?"
"You need to go forward. I’ll go back. Confuse them."There was a short pause."Now!"
Somehow I didn’t hesitate. I dove toward Mike, who was still strolling along, ignorant of any danger. I grabbed hold of his hand, shouting,"With me!" as I pulled him toward my car, which was still parked just off the opposite side of the gate.
For a moment, nothing happened.
And then a shot rang out. I shoved Mike hard; he slid to the ground behind my car, crying out as his arm scraped against the pavement. The bullet hit the ground not far behind me as I propelled myself forward, the shovel flying from my hand as I landed beside Mike with a thud that knocked the air out of me.
"Dammit!"someone cursed."I said no shooting!"
I gathered myself and peered across the open space, looking back and forth until I spotted a flash of white that could only be Luke’s t-shirt. He was crouched down in a cluster of trees next to one of the enclosures. Satisfied that he was safe, I pressed myself against my car and crept to the back bumper, sucking in a deep breath before looking around it.
I still couldn’t see anyone. I jerked back behind my car again to find Mike staring at me with wide eyes. I pressed my finger to my lips; he nodded.
It was Luke who spoke first."I know where you are, so you might as well step on out and tell us what you want!"
"I don’t think so. Something tells me you’re not in charge. Find me someone who is."
It was a young woman speaking, that much I could tell. I saw Luke looking toward me, and in that moment I knew what I had to do.
Willing myself to believe that the girl had meant it when she’d said ‘no shooting’, I stood up and strode out toward the gate.
Before the world went to shit, I wasn’t one to take charge – not in any situation. But now it was almost second nature, and somehow I knew that we didn’t have time to fetch Richard."I suppose you’re looking for me, then. Now how about you return the courtesy and come on out." I did my best to keep my tone flat and my eyes from wandering. Luke may have known where these people were, but I sure as hell didn’t.
Nothing happened for several moments, then finally the girl said,"Sure, why not," and stood up from behind one of the boulders that lined the path up to the gate.
I’m not sure what I’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t anything like this girl. She was slight, her movements fluid, and I knew from a glance that she was tough. It wasn’t just her shaved head or the handgun she kept pointed at me at all times – it was her aura of control, the cold look in her dark eyes.
"Where did you come from, and what are you doing here?" I asked. I knew she was likely from the school, but playing stupid seemed like the best bet right now.
The girl smirked at me. “What, no polite introductions?”
I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes, and instead forced a smile. I almost introduced myself as Charlie, but at the last second I said,"I’m Charlotte. And you?"
"Jia."
"Great. So nice to meet you, Jia. Now tell me what you’re doing here."
"Some of my people were out on patrol and saw a lot of zombies heading this way. When they reported it, I sent out scouts to check things out. Imagine my surprise when they reported back to me that there was a group of people living at the zoo. The zoo! I mean, once I got over how ridiculous it was, I realized that it’s actually kind of brilliant. So I decided to come see it for myself."
"You mean you decided to arm yourselves and then sneak up on us. Not quite as innocent as you’re trying to make it sound."
"Hey, I get it. You don’t know us. But we don’t know you, either. We’re just trying to watch our own backs."Jia glanced behind her."Come on out, guys." At her behest, five more teenagers stepped out of their hiding places on either side of the path.
She was right about one thing – I didn’t know her, or any of the others. But I did know that there were those back at the school who took issue with her leadership. I just need to figure out how to use that. If necessary.
I had a bad feeling that it wouldbe necessary."Now yours," Jia said, cocking her head.
"I don’t think so. You had plenty of time to watch us already." For a moment I was torn between scolding and praising her; thankfully she interrupted my thoughts before I could say anything stupid.
"True," was her flippant reply.
"Where do you call home these days?" I asked, glancing at several members of Jia’s group.
But none of them would meet my eyes, and then Jia waved me off."Oh, we’re from here and there. It doesn’t really matter now. I’ve seen what I came to see, so we’ll be on our way." She began to turn, her companions immediately mimicking her in an off-putting manner...and then, when she stopped and turned back to face me, again they followed suit.
It was more than a little bit creepy, but it was swept from my thoughts with Jia’s next words."We’ll be back tomorrow. Be prepared to receive us, or this time I’ll allow them to shoot."
I lost my composure, then."Receive you? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Jia was no longer smiling, and though her words sounded logical, there was nothing friendly or agreeable in her tone."You may have things we need. We probably have things you need. We’ll trade."
I couldn’t help myself."And if we don’t want to trade?"
The girl spun away from me again, took a few steps, and then called over her shoulder,"You’ll trade. That’s how things work now."
Be careful what you wish for.
PART THREE
Lord of the Zeds
Chapter 9
The Real Enemy
Before I could speak again, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I knew it was Luke; I shrugged him off and took a step forward.
"Charlie, no." He was quiet, but firm. I glanced at him, then looked back at the group of teenagers. Each one paused to check back on us in turn – an oddly planned exit that sure as hell didn’t do anything to ease my mind – and then they rounded a bend and I lost sight of them.
"This is bullshit, Luke. They’re a bunch of kids –"
"Kids with guns,"he pointed out."We need to find the others. There needs to be two guards on this gate at all times, and they need to remain hidden as much as possible. And we need our firearms back. First things first, okay?"
The idea of once again having a gun strapped to my leg calmed me a bit, and I nodded.
Leave it to Mike to bring up the one thing I sure as hell didn’twant to think about."And the broken fence?"
Luke reached up to wipe his forehead with the back of his hand; at the last moment, he realized he’d raised the injured one, and he let it fall back to his side."First things first," he repeated.
We fell in behind him as he broke into a jog."They probably don’t even know about the fence," I tried to re
assure Mike.
"They were following the zeds, Charlie. They know about it."
"Fine.We can’t worry about that now, then." Should, but can’t. The enclosure was built in such a way that anyone entering through the broken fence could be kept at bay for quite some time...but a dozen people? Or more? People who may have weapons far superior to ours?
Forget it.
Richard was pacing outside of ‘headquarters’."Where have you been?" he called out when he saw us.
"Get inside!" Luke ordered. For a moment the veterinarian looked stunned, but then he braced himself and stood his ground.
"I was inside – we all were – waiting for you!"
"Richard, please, something’s happened. Let’s just go inside." I marveled at how quickly Luke was able to calm down; my heart was thudding in my chest, there was a roaring sound in my ears, and I itched to do something, anything.
I decided on pushing by the vet and letting myself into the building."Come on, Mike," I beckoned. He followed without hesitation, and the door hadn’t even clicked shut behind us when Luke pushed through it with Richard on his heels.
"The office. Now," Richard ordered. We moved down the hall, which was only dimly lit by the sun filtering through the small, barred, bulletproof window in the main door. There was more light pouring from the open door of his office, though, and we entered to find Virginia, Ethan, Lauren, and Mabel seated around the room. Holden leapt up from Lauren’s side and bounded toward me, but stopped short when I didn’t bend to greet him. He whined at me, and I shushed him.
Richard stormed in and rounded on us."What the hell is going on?"
I looked at Luke, who glanced pointedly at the others – but I shook my head."They need to know, and we don’t have time to play telephone with this information." I stepped closer to Richard, directing my words at him; I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, and as I spoke I eventually forced myself to meet each of their gazes in turn.
"Before we came here, we stopped at the hospital, and then the high school, trying to find medicine for Mike and Luke. It was just Daniel and I at the school; we traded them some ammo for the meds we had when we got here.
"The people we gave the ammo to made it sound like they were being lorded over by some kid. They didn’t even want her to know that we existed, so they sure as hell weren’t planning on telling her about our little deal."
"What the hell does this have to do with my zoo?" Richard snapped.
I almost threw my hands up in frustration."Because this girl, they were afraid of her, and just now she showed up at your front gate with five other kids, all armed to the teeth. She demanded that we let her into the zoo, demanded that we trade with her. Tomorrow."
Richard looked confused."Trade? Trade what?"
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath."I don’t know. Whatever she wants us to trade. Or maybe she doesn’t want to trade at all, and it’s just a ploy to get inside the zoo. Either way, it’s not good. Trust me."
"How do you know this girl is the problem?"
Mike stepped forward."I went to school with those kids. I didn’t get a good look at all of them, and I probably wouldn’t know all of them by name, but a couple of them...well, a couple of them were pretty big assholes then. Jia, though..."
I eyed him."What about Jia?"
"I...I don’t know. She’s...different, now. I mean, I didn’t know her well. She was a senior this year, and I was just a sophomore. Seeing her around, though...I guess I always thought she was a little bit keyed up, but she was like...a model student. Second in her class, on the debate team, in band, and I think she was some sort of state gymnastics champion too."
That explains the way she moved."But did she really look or seem different to you?"
Mike reached up and touched his hair."She shaved her head. I think her hair was pretty short before, but –"
I tapped my foot impatiently."I chopped my hair off too, Mike. It’s the smart thing to do. " Though shaving it is a bit extreme.
"Yeah, but Charlie, I don’t remember her being so...well, so scary. She used to do morning announcements, and I mean, she always sounded pleasant. That girl you talked to today was..." He gestured helplessly, unable to find the words.
"Emotionless?" I prompted.
"Yeah. Yeah, something like that."
"It doesn’t matter,"Richard interrupted."They can’t get in here."
Virginia shocked me by speaking up next."Don’t be stupid, doc. This place isn’t some kind of impregnable fortress. Who knows how many of them there are, or how many guns they have. It would only be a matter of time before they founda way in."
I wish I felt relieved that she was on my side, but hearing how little she trusted the zoo’s defenses was pretty damn disheartening."So what do we do? Somehow I don’t think letting them in and then simply hoping for the best is really an option."
"We could try gathering what we can to...trade...and bringing it to the front gate. Then they wouldn’t need to come in at all," Richard said. He folded his arms across his chest, as if daring someone to disagree with him.
Luke shook his head."I don’t think she’ll agree to that."
"I dunno,"Mike mumbled."We could at least try..."
"Mike. Not a minute ago you were talking about how much this girl has changed. Do you really think the person you saw today will suddenly give up her very specific request to come into the zoo?"
He shoved his hands into his pockets and kept his eyes on the floor, but he finally mumbled,"Probably not. But like I said, we could still try. What about El?"
"She’s an elephant. She likes Ethan, but she’s not going to do our bidding, " Richard snapped.
"Forget the elephant, "I agreed."I’m not even sure we want Jia and her people to know about it, to be honest. And anyway, even if wecan ‘try’ to stop Jia from coming into the zoo, it will probably need to be a last-ditch effort. We have to come up with something else. Scare them away, somehow...or...maybe..." I stopped, almost hating myself for what I was thinking. It was the old me, the pre-zombie-apocalypse me, rearing her overly-cautious head and saying, Just make them think you’ve left.
"What? Maybe what?" Richard pressed.
"Give me a minute!" I snapped. I knew I shouldn’t lose my temper, but I couldn’t concentrate with everyone staring at me expectantly – especially when I couldn’t differentiate between the ones who were hoping that I’d come up with a solution...and the ones who were hoping I would fail.
What I really needed, more than anything, was to talk to Luke, alone – but something told me we wouldn’t be allowed out of this room until we’d all come to some sort of agreement.
Or if I had it my way, some sort of decision.
"Okay. One way or another, they’re going to get into this zoo. I hate to admit it, but we need to face that fact. So we’re going to bring them in here, which means someone needs to clear out the entrance to this building."I saw both Richard and Virginia open their mouths to protest, but I shook my head, and before they could say anything, continued,"If they can’t see what they’re walking into, it’s going to go a lot harder on us. Now Richard...please tell me that there are places in this zoo where we could tuck things away and these kids would be none the wiser?"
"Yes..."
"Okay. Let’s assume that we’re still being watched. We need to gather up what we can, and Richard, you can put it away. The fewer people who know where it’s hidden, the better."I paused, and couldn’t help but grimace."I hope you’re a good liar."
"He can put on a poker face when he needs to, "Virginia assured me."But no one knows this zoo like Ethan. He really should help. And we’ll need him to check on El, especially if things get...hectic."
I couldn’t help but hesitate, much as I hated myself for doing so."He won’t tell them anything...by mistake?"
Virginia glared at me."Ethan is very protective of this zoo, and proud of how much he knows."
"They won’t know my secrets," Ethan said. I was surprised – he s
poke so little – but I took a deep breath and smiled.
"Thanks, Ethan. You’ll be a big help."I stepped into the center of the room."We have to assume that they’ve seen all of us, so there’s no point in hiding. I don’t care for it, but they’ll be less likely to question whatever supplies we choose to show off if we’re up front about other things." I hope.
"And if things go bad?"
The fact that it was Mike who asked that question – Mike, who knewthis girl Jia – didn’t sit well with me. I glared at him for a moment, then reassured the others,"It won’t. Not this time. But we’ll have to be prepared for the worst. They may only start with depleting our stores, but if any of you have read a dystopian novel or seen a movie set post-apocalypse, you know that it won’t end there. "
Luke cleared his throat."That’s a bit doom and gloom, Charlie."
"Perfect for the times, then,"I snapped."Now we better get to it. Gather what we can salvage – what we can hide– here in Richard’s office. And then Richard and Ethan can work on moving those things to...well, wherever they can hide them."
For a moment everyone hesitated, but when I opened my mouth to order them out of the office, they moved before I could speak. I shut my mouth again and let them go – even Holden skulked out on Mike’s heels, barely giving me a backwards glance as he did so.
But Luke didn’t follow. He watched the rest of them leave and then rounded on me, taking me by the shoulders. His grip was gentle, non-threatening, but I shrugged him off nonetheless."I know you’re going to chastise me. Don’t bother. If now’s not the time for harsh realities..."
"They’re already scared, Charlie. You don’t need to make it worse."
I turned away from him."They’re not scared enough. I’m going to go back to my car, see if there’s anything in there we can give them. If they’re watching us, they’ll see me."
Luke nodded."And they’ll think they have proof of our honesty."He wasn’t happy, but he was playing along – and I supposed that was all I could ask of him."You want me to go with you?"
