S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND, Season One Omnibus

by Saul Tanpepper

  “How did Kelly find you?”

  “I didn’t sleep a wink all night worrying about where those things might be and if they were going to find me. When the sun came up, I was shocked to find the place deserted again. It was like they’d never been there, except for the few bodies still lying around, the ones we’d managed to kill.”

  We? I think. He’d been too panicked to even get his wetsuit on right. He didn’t kill any.

  “Gone?” Reggie asks. “Where’d they go?”

  “Back into hiding, I guess.”

  I remember how I thought the zombies had been hiding, how ridiculous that seemed. It doesn’t seem so ridiculous now.

  “I don’t know what freaks me out more,” Jake says, “knowing they can show up so quickly, or not knowing where they’ve disappeared to. The island’s got to be crawling with the Undead, but we just can’t find them.”

  “Zombies don’t hide,” Reggie insists. He holds up Micah’s old tablet computer and inspects it for damage before shoving it into the backpack. He comes over to me and asks, “What do you want to do with Micah? I don’t think we should move him.”

  I lean my head against the wall and stare straight ahead of me.

  “Jessie? Come on.”

  I blink. I hear Kelly telling me, I need you, Jessie.

  “Jessie?”

  “Go away.”

  “We need you.”

  “No, Reg, you don’t. Leave me alone.”

  “You’re wrong. We do need you. We all do.”

  You’re our rock.

  Kelly was my rock, and now he’s gone.

  “Please, Jess. There’s not much time.”

  I push him away. He clenches his jaw and makes to say something. I shake my head. I turn to Jake. I’m ready.

  “I need to know what happened to Kelly.”

  Chapter 22

  Jake nods.

  “I was going back to where we’d stashed the bags the day before,” he says. “I needed to get some fresh cartridges. I was going to try the other bore of the Midtown tunnel. I was out in the open when I saw something moving by the car where we’d stashed everything. Scared the crap out of me, at least until I realized it was Kelly. I don’t know how long he’d been there, but he’d already gathered up some of the equipment. He told me there was no way we were going back through the Midtown tunnel. It was too active with IUs. Both sides.”

  “When exactly did you guys decide to try the Harlem tunnel?”

  “Like I said, that wasn’t the plan. We were heading south toward the Battery when those two guys found us.”

  “What two guys?” Reggie asks. “Zombies?”

  “No. Warm bloods.”

  I give him a strange look, and he shrugs. “Better than calling them ‘The Living.’ Anyway, they claimed to be Arc employees. Said they were surveying the island. They had all this survival gear with them, EM guns, shotguns, machetes, body armor.”

  “Civilians don’t get issued EM guns,” I say.

  Jake shrugs. “Kelly thought that was strange, too, but what could we say? These guys promised to get us off the island. I didn’t like the idea of going further inland, but Kelly said we’d be better off just going along with it. When we asked why we were going by foot, they said they didn’t use cars or motorbikes. They said the first teams did, the ones that didn’t come back. Apparently the zombies have become supersensitive to sounds.”

  “They weren’t surprised to see you here?” I ask.

  “Not really. That was a little suspicious, too. They seemed bothered only when we confessed to having come through the tunnels to get here. One guy got on his Link and sent a few messages, but then he came back and thanked us and said they’d be taking care of that.”

  “Who was he pinging?” I ask, starting to worry. There are too many inconsistencies in Jake’s story. I’m not sure if he’s telling the truth or not. “The EM barrier would block them from pinging anyone outside.”

  “I don’t know. I never got a chance to find out, because after that, they pretty much ran us hard. There wasn’t much opportunity to talk. But the further we went, the more of a bad feeling I got. I mentioned this to Kelly. He said not to worry, but I could see he was starting to have serious doubts, too. Later, he told me to be prepared.”

  “For what?”

  “To escape, I guess. He didn’t say. They brought us both into the terminal here and they said everything would be okay. They promised us food and water. But it was a trap. Kelly must’ve known because he suddenly punched one of the guys in the face and shouted at me to run. But I wasn’t prepared. They were on me in a second. They grabbed me. I heard a gunshot. I’m sorry, Jessie.”

  Reggie stands from where he’s crouching, sifting through the last of our stuff. “I knew this was an airport. I was hoping it was Teterboro, though. So you’re telling me we’re back on the island again?”

  Jake and I glance at each other. Jake nods. “We’re at LaGuardia, not Teterboro.”

  I can see the line of Reggie’s jaw tighten. The news comes as no surprise to me. I’d been hoping and praying I was wrong about being back on LI, but somehow I knew that’s exactly where we were.

  “It’s all my fault.” Reggie murmurs.

  “It’s not your fault,” I tell him. “We all agreed to come. We all wanted to come.”

  “All except Kelly,” Reggie says. He sort of shrinks a little when he says this and gives me a nervous look. “We should’ve listened to him. I was such an asshole.”

  “You’re not an asshole,” I tell him. “A prick, maybe. A jerk, definitely. An arrogant son-of-a—”

  “All right already,” he protests. But I think I see the hint of a smile touch his lips. If I’d known he liked this kind of abuse, I would’ve piled it on more often.

  “So, where’s Kelly now?” I ask Jake. “What happened to him?”

  “I don’t know,” he replies. “Those two guys drugged me. The next thing I knew, I woke up handcuffed to a bed with a bandage on the back of my neck. I think they did something to my implant. I think they might’ve removed it.”

  “They messed with all of our implants,” Reggie says, turning his neck to show his bandage.

  “They didn’t remove them, but I think you’re going to wish they had.” I quickly explain what I’d overheard Nurse Mabel and the mysterious man talking about. “I think they’ve replaced them. With what, I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling about it.”

  “Why the hell would they replace them?”

  “I wish I knew.” I shake my head to clear it and stand up and look at the figure in the second bed. She hasn’t said a word to any of us. “Kelly’s out there somewhere. That’s all I need to know. I need to find him.”

  “First we get out of here,” Reggie says.

  I nod. “And before the prep nurse comes at seven.”

  Jake gives me a curious look. I haven’t explained the rest to them. I wave it off. “Later.”

  I go over and unlock the girl’s handcuff and tell her to get up, but she doesn’t move. I hand her the clothes Reggie and Jake found mixed in with ours. Reggie’s already packed mine away for later. Hers are the only ones besides Jake’s that aren’t filthy and bloody. “You need to come with us,” I tell her.

  But she just sits there. She doesn’t make a move to help or even stand. She’s been lying there staring at us, flinching whenever any of us make a sudden move or even look at her. She has this wild look about her, like she’s in shell shock and might at any moment suddenly start screaming. But she hasn’t made a single sound.

  Like us, she’s got a bandage on the back of her neck.

  I wonder if maybe they’ve already done something more to her, something bad.

  “Come on, Tanya,” I beg her. “Get up or we’re leaving you here.”

  “Tanya? You know who she is?” Reggie whispers. “Is she slow or something?”

  I give him a dirty look and tell him to go and get another ammonia inhalant from Nurse Mabel’s room. Th
e one I’d used on Ashley is dried out and useless.

  After he returns with it, I crush it and pass it under Micah’s nose. He quickly comes to. At first, he’s more disoriented than Ashley had been. He pushes my hands away as I try to get him ready to move. He mumbles and thrashes out, and this quickly devolves into a shouting and shoving match. He doesn’t even seem to recognize me. I try talking to him in a quiet voice and this seems to calm him.

  Jake gathers up our packs. Reggie hands me my Link—the temp I got at the Citizen Registration office—along with my inhaler. “Found it in the medicine cart,” he says. I quickly pocket the Link, but I take a blast from the inhaler. Reggie shakes his head. I know they all think I don’t need it. They constantly tease me about it. Maybe it’s psychological, but taking it does make me feel better, despite what I might’ve said to Grandpa.

  “So, who is she?” he whispers.

  “Her name’s Tanya,” I say, watching her face for any sign of recognition. She cringes, as if I’ve just exposed her deepest secret. “I met her on the bus coming back from Hartford the day I reported my Link missing.”

  “That’s a strange coincidence,” Jake says. But the look on his face tells me he doesn’t think it’s a coincidence at all. Thing is, it’s not. I know it’s not.

  “She said she worked for Arc as a recording clerk.”

  “Another Arc connection. But why would they do something like this to one of their own?”

  I think about Mabel and how she volunteered. “I don’t know.”

  But the truth of the matter, I do know. She wasn’t a volunteer. She’s here because of me.

  We had forensics go through the Stream records. She popped up because she tried pinging the Corben boy.

  Kelly. She’d tried pinging Kelly and, whoever these people are, they discovered that.

  Except she didn’t try pinging him. I did. I’d just used her Link. She’s just an innocent bystander.

  And she’s a good candidate for the treatment?

  Young, Mabel had said. Strong…invested in the game. She’ll make an excellent player.

  Not just any game. The Game. They were planning on turning her into a CU and selling her as a volunteer Player. I’m sure of it now. That’s what the alpha treatment is. It was for her, not Ashley.

  “We need to go!” Reggie reminds me.

  “She’s coming with us. Micah, too.”

  “But—”

  I throw Jake the cardkey. “See if you can find a wheelchair. These places always seem to have one. Bring it back here for Micah. And don’t go too far.”

  Jake runs off without a word.

  “Jessie,” Reggie says, “listen to me. We’re already in over our heads. We don’t know who she is. Think about what you’re doing, dragging her in—”

  I whirl around to face him. “She’s already dragged in! Can’t you see that?” Tanya whimpers at my shouting.

  “I—I know, but this girl—”

  “Tanya, Reggie. Her name is Tanya.”

  “Fine. Tanya.”

  “You wanted me to tell you what to do, so shut up and let me do it.” I push him aside and head over to her bed. “Can you walk, Tanya? Look, I’m not going to hurt you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “You’re the girl from the bus,” she stammers.

  I nod impatiently, though I’m grateful to hear her speak. “Yes. Now, can you walk?”

  She nods. “I—I think so.”

  “Good. Get dressed.” I stop and look her straight in the eye so she knows exactly how serious this is. “We need to get the hell out of here soon or else we’re all dead. Are you ready?” She nods again.

  I go back to Micah’s bed. He’s got an IV dripping into his arm, a urinary catheter coming from…underneath, and oxygen going into his nose.

  “How’re we going to take him with us, Jessie?” Reggie asks. “He’s unconscious.”

  “Damn it, Reggie! Stop telling me what I already know and start figuring out—”

  But then Micah startles me by reaching up and grabbing my arm. “I’m not…going, Jesss…”

  “Shut up. Yes, you are.”

  He coughs. “Won’t get…very far.”

  “You’re as bad as he is.” I smile at him. “Maybe worse.”

  “You don’t understand. I’m—”

  “He’ll die,” Reggie argues. “Can’t you see how bad he is?”

  “He’s not dying. Otherwise he’d be in the hospital. He just needs time to recover.” I don’t know if this is true, but it seems reasonable. Besides, I know what’ll happen to him if he stays: something much worse than dying.

  “No!” Micah says. He coughs. “Please.”

  “You’re upsetting him.”

  “He’s delirious, Reg.” I wait until Micah stops coughing. He leans over and spits. I expect to see blood, but there isn’t any. For whatever reason, he seems to think he’d be better off staying, but he’s wrong. He just doesn’t understand how serious the situation is. And I don’t have the time to explain it to him. It’s just burning precious minutes we don’t have.

  “Stay here with him,” I instruct Reggie.

  “Where are you going?”

  I ignore the question. Tanya’s managed to stand up, but she clutches her sheet around herself and doesn’t move.

  “You need to get dressed,” I tell her. I point to her clothes, then at Reggie. “He’s going to help you, okay?”

  She nods slowly, but doubt still clouds her eyes.

  “Don’t frighten her,” I warn him.

  I pass Ashley as I step out into the hallway past the remains of the demolished door. She’s still groggy. She calls my name as I hurry past, but I ignore her, too, and instead head for her room.

  By the time I return, Tanya’s dressed—thank God for small favors—though still just standing there. Ash has made her way into the room. She’s crying, holding Micah’s hand. He’s telling her he’s staying and trying to tell her she needs to stay, too. It’s crazy talk. I pull her out of the way. She protests weakly and tries to move back. I don’t let her. I tell Reggie to take her out of the room.

  “What are you doing?” Reggie asks, when he sees me switching out Micah’s IV bag. “Do you know what that is?”

  “Sedative. You wanted me to take charge, so I am.”

  Micah glances up and frowns. He tries to protest. He reaches out at me and grabs my arm, but I open the drip all the way and within moments his hand falls back to the bed. His eyes droop. Half a minute later he’s asleep.

  “That’s some powerful shit,” Jake says.

  I turn the drip rate down. I don’t want to kill him.

  I pull the wheelchair to the side of the bed and instruct Jake to help me get Micah into it.

  When we’re done and the IV and catheter are repositioned, I check the time on Mabel’s Link. It’s almost six thirty. I toss the Link into the corner of the room. I don’t want them to track us through it.

  “Half an hour before the prep nurse shows up.”

  I push Micah out into the hallway.

  “Once we find the shuttle they’re coming on, you guys are leaving.”

  “Us?” Jake says. “You’re coming with us, aren’t you?”

  “Kelly’s still here,” I say. “I can’t go home until I find him.”

  Chapter 23

  The sound of the generator grows loud when we push through the door. We all hesitate for a moment so our eyes can adjust to the gloom. Our nerves are on edge.

  From what I can see, we’re standing inside the international terminal, the abandoned kiosks and stainless steel counters and conveyor belts twinkling dully in the dim light of morning. The high windows across the empty room are so dirty that very little light manages to filter through. If it wasn’t for the sun shining low on the horizon, it’d be hard to know if it was morning or the middle of the day.

  Ash shuffles over to me. She’s almost fully recovered from the sedative by now. “You can’t stay.”

  “R
ecognize anything?” I ask Jake, pushing her to the side.

  He shakes his head. “I remember seeing the control tower as we came in, but from in here I can’t tell which direction that was.”

  “That’s probably behind us,” I say. “Out by the runways.”

  We keep walking, not sure which direction to take but feeling better just to be moving.

  We reach an escalator. It’s not moving, of course, so Reggie and Jake lower Micah down it a step at a time.

  Ash goes ahead of us to scout for food and water. She returns just as we reach the bottom. She’s got a bagful of old candy bars and sodas.

  “Junk food,” Jake says, making a face. “Twelve-year-old junk food.”

  “Fine,” Ashley says, swiping the Milky Way with the faded wrapper out of his hand. “I’ll eat it. I’m starving.”

  “I didn’t say I wouldn’t eat it.”

  “No Red Bulls?” I joke.

  “How much time we got?” Reggie asks.

  I check my Link. “Quarter to seven. The shuttle should be here any minute now, and we still have no idea where it is.”

  “I do,” says a voice from the gloom.

  We turn as one—all except Micah, of course. He’s passed out cold in the chair, his elbows dangling off the armrests and his head flopping to his chest. Reggie’s tied him in with a sheet so he doesn’t fall out.

  A figure materializes from behind a coffee cart, cobwebs tenting the ancient urns and the display of teas beside the cash register.

  It’s Kelly.

  I drop the backpack I’ve been carrying and run over to him. He throws his arms wide and I launch myself into them. And now—now when I finally see him standing there, when his arms wrap around me and hold me like a promise to never let me go—only then do I finally let myself collapse. Only then do I let myself let go of the belief that I was never going to see him again.

  He waits a moment before speaking. Everyone has gathered around, clamoring for information.