by M. Van
“That’s bullshit,” I fumed. “Why the hell would anyone bring someone that’s infected to a refugee camp, because that’s what this is, right? That man is Dr. David Warren, and he caused this outbreak in the first place.”
“Well, considering the info I got, I think you’re wrong about that last bit, but I agree with you on the first,” Mike said, “and that’s kind of why I’m here.”
“Then please call Agent Marsden,” I said, sounding desperate. “Tell him Ash asked for him.” Internally I cursed the darkness because I couldn’t see Mike’s face and had no idea of his reaction.
“Listen, kid,” he said with a sigh, “I’m not going to go against orders here.”
“Calling the FBI is not against your goddamned orders, and don’t call me a fucking kid.”
The room fell silent for a moment until Mike added, “Okay.” He drew out the word, and I closed my eyes, letting out a sigh.
“I’m sorry,” I said, hoping to ease the mood. “I’m just a bit desperate here and maybe on the brink of insanity, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
A light switched on in the connecting room sending a yellow glow underneath my door.
“I’ve gotta go,” Mike said.
“Mike,” I pleaded, “please don’t go.” The door behind me clicked open just as the window slid shut. I turned to see Chester enter the room. Without a word, he reached for me and grabbed me by the arms.
“Wait,” I said, “what are you doing?” He jerked me up, tossing me over his shoulder. “Chester, please wait.” My fear was evident from the words I spoke. Rattled by this sudden change in events, I lost the grip on my phone, and it fell with a thump on the mattress. Unceremoniously, Chester carried me outside where the sun had finally started to rise.
I looked up to see the small structure where I’d been staying these past hours. Tents surrounded the place, and a couple of people poked their heads out as I called for Chester to stop.
“Being kidnapped over here,” I shouted at them, but except for sharing some confused glances, they did nothing. Two soldiers stood in a pathway that led down the middle of two rows of tents and stared after me. “C’mon, I need help here.”
I had barely spoken the words when I saw Mike walk up to them. He pointed at me, said something, and then shrugged.
“Big fat help you are,” I shouted at him just before Chester rounded a corner and the men disappeared from view.
Midstride, Chester half-turned—probably to see whether anyone was following him. I bet he wished he had taped my mouth shut. As he did, I saw where he was taking me and swallowed hard at the sight of the massive black eighteen-wheeler truck.
| 23
Mags
For once things seemed to go my way. The zombies had lost their taste for Savanna, which left the remaining DC people standing on the balcony as an even more enticing snack. The pack that had crowded Savanna’s hideout had made a forty-five-degree turn and now faced the balcony, pushing and shoving each other in an attempt to get closer to the people who triggered their noses.
What could only be called a migration opened up some room at the back of the DC, and that was where we were heading. I followed Savanna down the narrow corridor to the far end of the rack. Reaching it, I couldn’t help a gag reflex at the smell that made its way up my nose. I pulled the bandana up to cover my nose and mouth and noticed the embarrassed look on Savanna’s face. She gave me an apologetic smile before her gaze fell to the floor. It occurred to me that she had reserved this area for toilet use. I just shrugged and squeezed her arm. She had to do her business somewhere.
With the bandana over my mouth, I wouldn’t be able to talk to her, but the smell combined with the stench of decay was kind of overwhelming, so I kept it on. I tapped Savanna’s shoulder to grab her attention and then tapped my chest and pointed down.
Fear flashed across her eyes, but I also caught her clenching her jaw, and she gave me a firm nod. I squeezed her shoulder for some final reassurance and then started my climb down.
Savanna gazed down upon me with wide eyes as I hopped off the final ledge and landed next to a zombie. It startled a bit as I hit the ground. I instantly froze and didn’t move an inch. From my slightly bent position, I had an excellent view of the hole in its stomach that had some blackened entrails hanging out. I held my breath until the zombie lost interest and started to follow the rest in the direction of the balcony.
I shook my head, but it did nothing to settle the urge to throw up, so I focused on Savanna, who had started her climb down. Just before she jumped the last edge, my hand automatically moved to the gun strapped to my hip.
The zombies stood in little clusters, and some wandered in-between as if on the edge of the crowd of that concert that had sprung to mind earlier. I carefully watched their faces, scanning for that twitch of their heads and the raising of noses in the air. None of that happened as Savanna took the leap of that last ledge.
She hid behind my back as if that would protect her against a zombie onslaught. With her limited height, she could barely see over my shoulder. We stood like that for a long time, just waiting and hoping.
As it became clear that we were of no interest to the unlikely crowd, I turned to Savanna and pulled the bandana down. I needed to be able to communicate with her. Going back the same way I had come wasn’t an option for me; besides, I didn’t think we’d be able to get past the zombies anymore. Not after the ones here in the back had joined the front—they were packed too close together now.
Grabbing Savanna by the shoulders, I pulled her attention from the mutilated corpses.
“Where to?” I asked. Shocked eyes stared back at me as if she couldn’t grasp what was happening, but I needed her to show me the way. From what I had learned before, the group residing inside the DC had used ropes to climb from rack to rack, and they had severed the connection with Savanna’s rack so she wouldn’t be able to get back. So I gathered that we just needed to find a rack that would get us back to the balcony. It seemed simple enough, if I got Savanna to tell me where to go.
The young woman standing in front of me was a trembling mess. Even with her dark complexion, I could tell all the blood had drained from her face.
“Savanna,” I said. She didn’t hear me. Well, of course, she didn’t hear me. I snapped my fingers in front of her eyes, and she blinked. Focus returned to her dark eyes, and she blinked again.
“There you are,” I said. Her head shifted nervously from left to right, and I feared her eyes were about to roll out of their sockets. I squeezed her shoulders again and forced her to look at me.
“Tell me where to go, Savanna,” I said. I sounded as if I were addressing a small child, and I didn’t like it. Savanna probably had people talking to her like that her whole life, but she didn’t seem to mind it this time. She pointed to her right at the large rack parallel to ours.
“That’s it,” I said with a smile and turned to guide us in that direction.
After we had made our way up, we crawled down a path carved out of boxes and crates on one of the levels of the giant rack. With the use of ropes, we shimmied over to one of the neighboring racks and again followed a path that led us to a gap that had to be at least ten meters and was effectively a dead end. Savanna motioned to me with her arms mimicking a swing. I looked around and found the ropes that she would have likely used before to manage the gap, but unfortunately, they lay in a pile on the other side.
I glanced over Savanna’s shoulder in the direction of the balcony and noticed only the group from the DC still standing there. Knowing Angie and the others would probably show up at any minute, I took the time I had to rest my limbs and sat down with my feet dangling over the edge of the rack. Savanna joined me and we sat in companionable silence for a moment until Savanna tugged at my shirt.
“Thank … you,” she said. I wanted to say that she should thank me if we made it out of here, but at that moment, the others decided to make their entrance.
“To
ok you long enough,” I called out to beat Tom to the punch. Angie, Preston, Tom, and even young Toby came jogging down the hall. They stopped at the edge, where I couldn’t detect any evidence of residual stairs, so the railing had probably been removed.
“You okay,” Angie said.
“Just peachy,” I replied.
They swung the rope over to us, and about five minutes later, we stood on the other side, where I wrapped my arms around Angie, relieved that at least this part was over.
“God, you stink,” she said as she hugged me tighter.
“Odor de zombie,” I said as I released her. Preston patted me on the back.
“Good job,” he said, looking at the girl.
“It was decent enough,” Tom said with a smirk.
“Coming from you, I’ll take that as a compliment,” I replied.
“Well, don’t let it get to your head,” he said before he pointed at the girl. “Who’s this?”
“This,” I said, tapping Savanna on the shoulder and waited until she released her death grip on Toby, “is Savanna.”
I pointed the others out to her and clearly spoke their names.
“She’s pretty good at reading lips,” I said to the others, but not turning my gaze from Savanna, “so try to face her when you speak.”
“We will,” Preston said. “Now let’s get you guys cleaned up.”
“You’re stinking up the room,” Tom added. I shot Tom a look, but Savanna didn’t seem to mind and threw him the biggest smile. I glared at Tom as his face grew bright red.
“C’mon, Rambo,” Angie said and grabbed him by the arm. “Let’s go.”
“Preston,” I said, taking a couple of big strides to catch up with him, “any progress with the others?”
He continued walking, but shot me a sideways glance.
“Bob is not the easiest guy to convince,” he said. “I’m starting to fear our trip might have been for nothing.”
“Well, not entirely for nothing,” I said. I glanced over my shoulder where Savanna was holding a tight grip around Toby’s shoulders. Preston smiled at that and said, “No, not for nothing.”
We rounded a corner, and I almost bumped into Angie who stood alongside Tom with her hands at her side slightly parted from her body. Tom stood in attack position pointing his weapon at Bob, Marcus, and several other men who held guns of their own.
At the sight of them, one of Preston’s hands reached for his weapon while he raised the other palm pointing out.
“Whoa, easy,” he said. “Everyone relax.” His words didn’t change anything in the men’s positions, guns were still raised, but on the bright side, they weren’t shooting each other. “What’s going on?”
“Those two are infected,” Bob said. “And by now, you’re probably all infected.”
“What are you talking about? We’re not infected,” Angie said.
“We all saw what happened,” Marcus said. “That one almost got herself buried under the things.” He said those last words pointing a finger at me. He spoke the truth of course, and normally I wouldn’t have had a problem with that, but in the way he said it, it sounded as an insult. I stepped around Angie, which inclined the men to point their guns at me, and I raised my hands.
“We are not infected,” I said, trying to keep the calm in my voice.
“All right, enough,” Preston said. “What is it you’re trying to gain here?”
“We want you to leave,” Bob said. Shock ran over me in a wave.
“Excuse me!” I said.
“You heard me,” Bob replied. He shot me a more than angry look.
“We are the only outside contact you’ve had in months—military,” I said, “and you want us to leave?”
Ignoring me Bob turned, jabbing his gun in Preston’s direction as he spoke.
“I don’t know what kind of games you’re playing, but we want none of it. You can join those ungodly creatures out there as long as you leave us alone.”
My mouth had fallen open at that point, and I turned to face Angie. She just shrugged as if she’d seen it all before.
“Fine,” Preston said, “if you just point us to the door.” He knew perfectly well where the door was, but the fact that five men with guns blocked the hallway that led to it, presented us with the issue of getting there.
“We’ve already placed the rest of your stuff at the end of the hallway,” Marcus said. “Now leave.” All five men started to back up until they cleared the hallway that we needed to take.
Tom started to ease his way to our exit but kept his weapon trained on the men. Slowly we followed him, one by one, eyes focused on the men with guns. Bob held his chin up as if he’d been sitting on his high horse for too long. He somewhat reminded me of that father I had met with Ash, which seemed like ages ago. He had a similar way of tending to his flock. The fact that I couldn’t remember the rest of the father’s name kind of felt reassuring. It made me think that maybe one could get past the nasty experiences in life, or at least forget them.
The rest of the men had eyes big as saucers as if they were high strung on caffeine, and now I started to resent them for not offering us any coffee when we’d first got there. I realized my mind was going all over the place. Must have had something to do with a hell of a crappy day that I’d had to deal with. Fortunately, a voice pulled me out of that haze.
“What about us?” Toby said, his voice a trembling mess. I turned to him unaware that they hadn’t followed. It had seemed logical to me that they would.
“You’re coming with us, of course,” I said. I didn’t check with the others for their opinions, because the two siblings were coming with us, but I doubted there would be any objections. Savanna gave me a faint smile as I reached out my arm and signaled her to come. She pulled Toby into her arms and moved cautiously to me. Once in range, I wrapped an arm around her and led her past Preston and Tom into the hall.
The five men remained at the beginning of the hall and stood there watching us while we found the rest of our gear. I released Savanna to collect the rest of my stuff as Angie stepped closer.
“Are you planning to adopt them too?” she asked.
I stood, connecting my M4 to the load carrier vest with a clip before I let my eyes fall on Angie.
She gazed up at me with a goofy grin. “I’m just asking.”
I just shook my head and sighed.
| 24
Ash
“Strap her in,” Warren said after Chester dragged me inside the truck. Chester carried me past the improvised lab tables and sat me down in a corner. To my surprise, I was sitting in my trusted wheelchair. Though the chair was probably chained to the rig again, I couldn’t help the sigh of relief that passed my lips.
“I can do it,” I said agitated as Chester started tugging at my legs. I grabbed the straps from his hands and fastened them myself.
Chester looked up at Warren, who was peering into a microscope.
“Do you want me to tie up her arms?” he asked.
“No, just keep an eye on her,” he said without looking up from what he was doing. Chester shrugged and walked the short distance across the rig and planted himself in a chair.
I was still feeling angry about the conversation I’d had with Mike and his inability to act. That little walk of shame slung over Chester’s shoulder hadn’t done wonders for my mood either.
“Why the hell does everyone keep buyin’ your shit?” I said caustically.
That had Warren look up at me, and he raised an eyebrow as he said, “If you wish to be tied up, that can certainly be arranged.” The nasty grin on his face made my stomach churn, but I held his gaze. “If you mean why no one inside this camp questions my actions,” he added, “well, then perhaps you should take that up with Colonel Cornwell.”
I blinked, remembering that name far too well. Cornwell was second in command at Cheyenne Mountain, but what the hell had he to do with this?
“Cornwell,” I said with a little more disdain than I in
tended. That man and I had gotten off on the wrong foot from the start, and that was kind of how we’d left it. The fact that he had wanted to dump me in one of these camps and threatened to take my friends away still didn’t sit well with me. “General Whitfield’s stooge.”
“He’s not so much a stooge if the president has his ear,” Warren said. “Well, at least he’s not Whitfield’s stooge.”
“Cornwell is helpin’ you,” I said, unwilling to believe it, or maybe it was more like hope, because I was pretty sure the man would be capable of it, although I couldn’t understand why.
“How did you think I’d gained access to Cheyenne in the first place?”
As I thought back on it, I remembered Whitfield not being a big fan of the president, and I think it was Cornwell who had explained the rift within the government. This had led most of the armed forces to disagree with the president’s decisions concerning the Mortem virus.
I had zoned out during most of that briefing, but could it be that Cornwell wasn’t on the side that we thought he was? If he wasn’t loyal to Whitfield, he could have easily arranged for a free pass for Warren to enter Cheyenne.
“So what,” I said, “Cornwell maintains this cover for you, so you can destroy the entire world and not just parts of it?”
Warren shook his head. “Kid, perhaps you’re just too stupid to understand any of this,” he said.
I didn’t like the condescending tone or the fact that he called me a stupid kid, but I managed to keep my voice calm as I said, “Then why don’t you explain it so I can understand.” He looked up and sat back with a smirk on his face.
“You might think I destroyed the world, and perhaps I did—it was my virus after all, and I released it,” he said, “but do you really think I could do this all on my own? The others are all trying to save their own asses now, but I haven’t lost sight of the greater picture, and once I have your friend, I’ll finally be able to finish this.”
