by M. E. Betts
"There must be dozens of them down there," Hugo said, "if not hundreds. Just wandering the bottom."
Finn clung to Shari's leg, trembling with fright.
"Just one more reason for little guys to stay away from the water," Phoebe said, prompting dirty looks from the other adults in the group. "What? It's true."
They reached the southernmost door facing the lake, as the looped radio transmission had described. Shari reached out, pressing the buzzer.
After a moment, they heard a male voice through the speaker. "And who might the six of you be?"
"I'm Shari, and these are my friends. We heard your transmission from Champaign--"
"Ah, Champaign! It's you guys!" said the unidentified man. "I'll be damned, you actually made it. How's the place faring?"
"It's gone," Shari said, "as far as we can tell."
"Oh," said the voice from the speaker. "That's too bad."
"It hasn't been too much better anywhere else," Shari said. "We--me and my friend Daphne--came all the way from Kentucky, and we haven't come across very many people, and never more than a couple dozen together in one place."
"Things were very grim out there," Daphne chimed in.
"How did you get here?" the man on the intercom asked.
"Pontoon plane," Shari said, pointing to the Professor. "He flew."
"You know how to fly?" the man asked.
"Yeah," the Professor said. "Learned in the Air Force."
"I see," the man said. "Thank you for your service, sir." The group heard the door click. "You'll find the door unlocked. Go ahead and come on in. Someone will be right down to greet you."
They entered the building, letting the steel security door latch closed behind them. After over a minute of silent waiting, Phoebe spoke up.
"Do you suppose they're watching us right now?" she wondered, her voice a low hiss.
Shari shrugged. "Maybe."
They heard a door unlatch from the right. The sound came from an upstairs landing, and a moment later, five figures appeared. They were all dressed in riot gear and carrying assault rifles. The one at the front of the group nodded toward the staircase, a silent command for Shari and the group to go upstairs.
Shari glanced at the rest of the group, trying to gauge their level of apprehension. She wondered if they had walked into an ambush, but she wasn't sure what she would do if that were the case. She glanced at the riot gear-clad individual beside her, a female with pale green eyes and smooth ivory skin.
"Where are we going?" Shari asked the woman. Her eyes rolled passively toward Shari, locking gazed with her, then rolled passively back to look ahead as they walked down a maze of hallways and closed doors.
They entered a raised, covered walkway, passing over a deserted Lake Shore Drive below. From there, they went right, entering the northern-most building of the complex. They walked down a short hallway, climbing one more story and exiting through a steel door. As they stepped out into the fading daylight, they found themselves on the roof of the building, inland from the lake. The early evening sun was obscured by the colossal buildings dominating the western skyline, and the air carried the crisp hint of autumn soon to come.
After a couple of minutes, two figures emerged from another rooftop door. They also wore full riot gear. As they got closer, Shari saw that there was one male and one female. The male, who towered at around six and a half feet tall with cold, steely blue eyes, was the first to speak to the group.
"Greetings," he said. "Welcome to McCormick Place. You could say I run things around here. When I say that, I mean nothing goes down in this place without me knowing about it. My name's Maximum. Not Max for short, Maximus." Shari saw Phoebe make a face.
"He's always been particular about that," explained the woman next to him, repressing a smile. Her brown eyes were dark and exotic, and the whites stood out in stark contrast to her deep, cocoa-colored skin. "I'm Dacee. Good to meet you all."
The group introduced themselves, Shari speaking for Finn.
"Any of you his parents?" Maximus asked.
"No," Shari said. "We found him at a farm outside of Danville, south of here. He had apparently been living alone for at least a few days."
"Hi, Finn," Dacee said, crouching down to the boy's height and smiling warmly through her riot helmet. "It's good to have you here, buddy. Tell me, do you like pizza?"
Finn glanced at Shari, wondering if he should proceed with the interaction. Shari nodded slightly.
"Yes," Finn replied, though still somewhat bashful.
"That's good," Dacee said, "because that's what the cooks down in the kitchen are making for dinner tonight. You want to sit at the kids' table, with some other little boys and girls your age?"
Finn nodded, his eyes lighting up.
"I thought you'd like that," Dacee said. "We're gonna take good care of you here, Finn."
"How many people are living here?" Hugo asked.
"Approaching a thousand," Maximus replied. "Me and Dacee started this settlement from the ground up. I was head of security here in the old days, and Dacee was the maintenance supervisor. Between the two of us, we know every square inch of this place. We knew the weak points and reinforced them, knew the blind-spots, security-wise, and planned accordingly. We've taken in individuals and families. We've got people with important skills, things like doctors, teachers, electricians, plumbers. We've also got those with no skills, which is fine as long as they find a function. There's food to be prepared, cleaning to be done...." He paused, glancing briefly at Finn as he continued. "Children to be looked after. I trust none of you object to the requirement that you serve some function, skilled or not."
"No," Shari said. "We would expect as much."
"Good," Maximus said. "We'll let you get settled in for tonight, and then tomorrow we'll see where you're best suited. There's a directory in the Commons. It'll let you know which areas you're allowed in and which ones are off-limits. Bryan," he said, addressing one of the four males who had escorted them. "Do me a favor and take them over to Housing. Introduce them to Rhonda."
"Yes, sir," Bryan said.
"Rhonda will be the ones setting you guys up in your rooms," Maximus told them. "Feel free to visit the dining hall after that for dinner. Make yourselves at home."
"Thank you," Shari siad.
"Just make yourselves useful," Maximus said, turning back toward the door through he had come. "You'll do alright."
"This way," Bryan said, leading Shari and the group back into the building, downstairs, to the right, and into the heart of the commons area of the south building. It was bustling with human activity, and the group stared, incredulous, as if they had never seen crowds clogging throughways or heard the murmur of dozens of conversations going on at once.
"It's been awhile, huh?" Bryan asked, smirking.
"I can't help it," Phoebe said. "I've basically been an involuntary hermit for most of the past four months."
"I didn't know if a place still existed with this many people," Shari said, noting that some people stared at her and the group as they passed, intrigued by new faces. They had reached an opulent public area of the convention center. A bar from the pre-zombie days was still functioning, patrons filling the place and overflowing to the outside, where additional tables surrounded the entrance.
"You can come back later," Bryan said. "Have yourselves a drink after you get settled into your rooms."
"Count me in," Phoebe said. "Is it open bar?"
Bryan nodded. "Yeah. Unlike the food, they don't really ration out the liquor. If it runs out, it runs out. At least 'til someone scavenges some more."
"I wish they had something to smoke," Shari said.
Bryan smirked. "You get to know the right people around here, I don't think that'll be a problem."
"Do you guys get many threats here?" Daphne asked.
"Sometimes," Bryan said. "Not so much a threat to civilians, as those out on the perimeter, security like myself. More often than not, t
hough, it comes from other people, not zombies. Those shitmongers are hellbent on taking other people's stuff, usually violently, in a world full of stuff and low on people. Assholes."
"We know the types," Phoebe said.
"We call them sadists," Shari added. "They're pretty much the same everywhere, and as far as we can tell, there's only one way to deal with them."
"You've had to kill some of them?" Bryan asked.
"Me and Daphne have," Shari said.
"How many?" Bryan asked.
"Lots," Daphne replied, her gaze panning the room as she surveyed the area around her.
"Well," Bryan said, "you two sound like you can pull your own weight."
"I'm sure they'll find somewhere to put us to work," Shari said.
They crossed another walkway, entering the second floor of the towering hotel connected to the convention center, and found themselves in an lavish lobby with stratetically placed windows.
"This is the place we all call home," Bryan said. "McCormick's very own Hyatt-Regency. The rooms are pretty nice, and most of them have killer views. Every morning, I sit in my room on the 21st floor and watch the sun rise over the lake. It's unreal," he said, leading them past the luxuriant reception area and toward a discreet back office. "The world's been a fucking nightmare for the last four months, but at least we have some luxuries around here to make it a little more bearable, you know?"
He knocked on the door of the office, the exterior of which was covered in posters depicting various fantasy novels and movies. There were elves, dwarves, noble heroes and fair princesses, along with various monsters and dragons.
"It's open, come on in," called a voice from inside.
As they entered, Shari saw that the fantasy theme had carried over from the exterior. A woman, around fifty, sat at a desk in the corner. Her chin-length, chestnut-brown bob was well-maintained, and her plump, rounded face was covered in full makeup. Shari was taken aback, having not seen such levels of primping since the day the apocalypse had begun. As they approached, she stood to shake their hands, and Shari noticed that she was a full head taller than the woman.
"Maximus told me you were coming," she said, extending a soft, petite, well-manicured hand toward Shari. "I'm Rhonda. Good to meet you all."
"I like the posters," Hugo said as he shook her hand. "I'm a huge fantasy nerd, myself. My name's Hugo, Hugo Quinn Clark."
"Pleasure to meet you, Hugo," Rhonda said. "Looks like you and I are going to get along, huh?"
Finn had found a bookcase in the corner that was covered in collectible toy figurines. Some at the top were in boxes, well-preserved, but those on the lower two shelves were out of the boxes, configured in various groups and poses. Finn held two characters, a two-headed monster in his left hand and a muscle-bound blonde hero in his right.
"Finn," Shari said, "you should ask before you pick up other peoples' things."
Finn set the monster back onto the shelf, but held the valiant hero to his chest. He looked at Rhonda, his expression pleading.
"Tell you what," Rhonda said, "you can keep both of those."
Finn's face lit up in a wide, open-mouthed smile. "Thanks!" he said, engaging the figures in battle once again.
"The scavenging teams bring back all the toys and posters and stuff for me," Rhonda explained to the group, "'cause they know I'm into it. The ones that are open are the ones I've already got extras of, so I usually give those ones to the kids. You wouldn't believe the stuff those teams find. I guess it stands to reason, though--it's a big city with a lot of people, so there are a lot of resources out there. It's just a matter of getting to them, but God knows I won't be of any use when it comes to that."
"It's right up my alley," Phoebe said. "Where do I sign up?"
"Not my department," Rhonda said. "Neil is the one who assigns jobs to everyone. He'll probably be getting a hold of you tomorrow. What I will do," she said as she strode across the room, taking a binder from a shelf, "is set you guys up with some nice, comfy rooms. The hotel consists of more than 1,000 units, and so we still have a surplus of rooms for the time being. Singles can have their own rooms, if they so choose." She glanced at Finn. "The seventh floor is all children," she said, "the ones who don't have, um...a chaperone. There are some adults on that floor, of course, for supervision. Will Finn be staying with one of you?"
"I don't know," Shari said, hoping not to be nominated to be the one to share a room with the child. It had been so long since she had been able to have privacy, and she yearned for a room of her own. "What do you think, Finn?" she asked.
"Don't make me go with strangers," he replied, his voice small and his face visibly frightened at the prospect.
"You want to room up with me for now, buddy?" Daphne asked, sensing Shari's reluctance to volunteer. Finn nodded, taking Daphne's hand and leaning his head against her hip. She reciprocated with a warm smile, which was generally out of character for her.
"Okay," Rhonda said, "so the two of you will need a room with two twin beds in it. The rest of you will be getting your own rooms, unless there are any objections. I think you guys'll really like it here. The units are very nice, and there's the added bonus of everyone getting their own bathroom. But," she warned, holding up one finger with its false nail painted a glossy nude shade, "try not to clog your toilets or drains. If you need some drain cleaner, pipe up before it becomes a major problem, because we only have so many people who know plumbing. If you have something to cook, there are several kitchens in the convention center for you to use. You'll find information on that in the main public area you passed through on the way here, and wherever you see directories in the building."
"Is the water here safe?" the Professor asked.
"Yes," Rhonda said, "luckily, there's a water filtration plant nearby. So far, we've been able to continue keep it going and supplying the convention center and hotel with fresh water, sewage and power. We try to conserve the power use, and we're always adding to the solar array on the roof. At first, the power was very limited. But after a lot of scavenging, and no small amount of sacrifice--" She paused, her eyes slick with tears. "We now have a standard of living that we thought to be impossible a few months ago. So," she said, smiling as she took a deep breath, "I think that covers everything you need to know for tonight. Come on, I'll take you to your rooms."
They filed out of the room, returning to the lobby.
"Let me see," Rhonda said as they entered the elevator, consulting a notebook. "There's almost no one on the 11th floor. You guys could pretty much have your pick of rooms."
They took the elevator to the eleventh floor, exiting into the corridor. They each chose their rooms. Shari and Daphne picked the two eastern most rooms, one across from the other. Hugo and the Professor were a few doors down, also across from one another. Phoebe was on the opposite end, the far west side of the building. Rhonda went downstairs to obtain the keycards, returning a few moments later.
"Get yourselves unpacked," she said as she distributed the keycards. "Make yourselves at home. Feel free to head over to the commons, get yourselves something to eat and drink."
Shari returned to her room. She set her bags on the king-size bed, noting how they sunk into the thick, quilted comforter. She couldn't wait to climb into bed--her own bed, something she hadn't expected when they made the decision to make the pilgrimage to Chicago. She rummaged through her bags, transferring their contents to the dressers, desks, racks and shelves. She removed her leather jacket, hanging it in the closet.
She entered the bathroom, attractive and well-maintained with a soak tub and separate glass-doored shower. She gazed into the a full-length mirror for the first time since leaving Fauna's house, taking in the sight of her reflection. Her arms were mostly bare in her short-sleeved, fitted shirt, and she noticed sinews and ripples in places that had never been particularly toned before. She littered the countertops and shower with various hygiene products, then wandered back into the bedroom and sitting area. Upon reachin
g a plush chaisse lounge, she sank down and gazed out a window overlooking the vast, darkening lake. After a few minutes, she heard a knock outside.
"We're going to the commons," Phoebe called from the corridor. "You coming?"
Shari stretched on the chaisse lounge, contemplating the question. It was, after all, a very comfortable room. However,her curiosity about the place and its inhabitants got the better of her, and she stood to join her companions, grabbing her keycard and the pack containing her last few joints on the way out.
During the walk to the commons area, Shari couldn't help but to be amazed at how normal life seemed to be at the convention center.
"It's almost like the apocalypse never happened," she said.
"Yeah," Phoebe agreed. "The only thing to tip it off is the occasional group of guards roaming the place with riot gear and assault rifles."
They gawked as they made their way through the building, as conspicuous as a group of country bumpkins plopped down in the middle of a metropolitan marvel.
When they reached the public dining area, they saw a line of people waiting for pizza. The line was long, but moving at a steady pace. There were dozens of tables with hundreds of chairs, scattered throughout the cavernous room, its ceiling studded with skylights. People talked and laughed as they shared their meals with friends, acquaintances, and loved ones. She saw couples and families, a few with children who looked old enough to cause Shari to wonder whether they had taken their first steps.
After a few minutes, they found themselves at the front of the line. Having each gotten a plate, they sat around a table big enough for the six of them. It was under a large skylight, and Shari could see the silver glow of the waxing gibbous moon outside, hovering large just above the horizon.
"I don't know about the rest of you," Phoebe said, "but I'm not so sure I'll be getting any sleep tonight. Now that I can let my guard down, I have some partying to catch up on."
"Now that you can let you guard down?" the Professor repeated, laughing. "You seemed to do that just fine the other night. I admit, though, I'll probably be hitting the bar, myself."
