by RM Hamrick
Satomi was about as much of a medical student as people could be now. She had studied under a traditionally taught doctor and had pored over medical textbooks. More than the practical day-to-day, she learned epidemiology and immunology. Satomi was interested in how the virus spread and methods of eradication. How the corporation had not picked her up yet was a curiosity to Audra. Ryder reported the recruitment would have come shortly.
The group walked eight miles before they decided that a dinner break was in order. Audra suggested they set up camp and start back out in the morning. It would be best to keep the explorers rested. Perhaps renewed energy and enthusiasm would compensate for their lack of experience. Audra doubted it.
When Ziv’s head emerged from his tent the next morning, his eyes darted left and right before he stepped out. He surveyed the woods despite everyone already being out and about. With no dangers in sight, he finished with a glare directed at Audra.
Audra raised her eyebrows in amusement.
“Yes?” she offered.
“This is ridiculous. You should have cleared the path, the lab, and then come to get us. You’re unnecessarily risking our lives. We’re very valuable. We’re scientists.”
His answer was quick, something he had been stewing on for most of the night.
Audra looked around to see if anyone agreed. Satomi seemed to become smaller, wishing to avoid the conflict. Ryder was about to dismiss him in her cheery, talkative way, but Audra interrupted.
“All lives are valuable, Ziv. The sooner we get you to the laboratory, the sooner you can help them… all.”
Ziv huffed and retreated into his tent. This was the person she would be relying on to save her sister?
“I’m sorry,” said Ryder, apologizing for him. “Of course we believe everyone is worth saving and that there is still a sense of urgency after all these years. We’re just not used to being… out here. It’s a little scary. I don’t think Ziv has ever been outside the township. I just left my job at Lysent. We’re just new to all of this.”
Breakfast was silent after the outburst, except for Ryder’s sporadic attempts to boost morale. She bounced around enthusiastically, but it didn’t hide the fact they were all tired and sore.
They got a later start than Audra had imagined. Everything seemed to take disproportionately longer with scientists in tow. And Audra could only listen to their complaints so long. When she tired of them, she would charge ahead and Dwyn would stay with the crew, helping to balance things on the cart, encouraging tired and blistered feet, and making sure nobody got lost.
It took seven days to get to the laboratory. Seven long days. Thankfully it did not rain. Audra thought that would have been the end of the scientists’ morale. All of their water repellent gear would have been used to cover the sensitive equipment, leaving the group to soak in the rain. The scientific trio cheered when they reached the industrial park, surrounded by tall chain-link fences topped with barbed wire. Audra and Dwyn motioned for them to be quiet. They still had to clear out the place and it would not help to get the zombies riled up before they could establish a plan.
* * *
Dwyn and Audra escorted the scientists out of visual sight of the park and had them set up camp. They were getting much better at it. At least scientists were fast learners. Dwyn and Audra walked a large perimeter around the camp to verify that the crew would be safe before scouting out the park. Dwyn repeated the information he had gleaned from his last trip, words he had recited to her many times already. Audra did not quiet him; she knew he was nervous. He had seen almost a dozen within the fences, outside the buildings. The laboratory was along the east side of the industrial park, close to the fence. Looking through the windows, he had seen several zombies moving around inside, but did not have an exact count. It was too much for one person, especially with Dwyn’s skill set when he last came.
They circled around the park until they found the entrance with just a traffic arm bar across the threshold. A quick inspection showed a chain-link fence that could be pulled closed. They would leave it open for now, in case they needed a speedy escape. The dusty road that led to it must lead to the highway, the opposite direction from town.
They both had daggers in their hands and spare ones in their boots. Dwyn’s right leg shook in nervous excitement like it wanted to tap the ground, but it did not for fear of making noise. Audra’s leg shook too from lack of cash and moonshine as of late. She was glad to reach the pinnacle of their mission. Vesna had agreed to pay her afterward.
“Ready?” asked Dwyn.
Audra just gave a grin, ducked under the arm, and ran to the first building. Dwyn gave chase to get ahead. They wrapped around the building and Dwyn turned the corner to look. He motioned that there were two within view. Audra took the right one. Dwyn took the left. Quick motion with their knives let two fall.
The front side of the park was now clear. Now to pick a building to be their zombie pen. A quick peek inside the front office showed four in there. The front office it was. They would corral them all in there for a pool of experimental subjects.
Audra moved to the next building and tested the door. It was unlocked. A woman wearing a long dress, fake pearls, and an administrative-appropriate hairstyle greeted her at the door.
Audra apologized for not having an appointment.
She baited her outside and into the front office. Dwyn pushed her farther in and closed the door with a smile on his face. While he had less experience killing, he had learned great handling skills.
Not all were as demure as the assistant. Some zombies were faster and required the two to run and even sometimes sprint. It was difficult to tell who would be fast. Audra knew if she was ever bitten, she would be damn fast. By midday, they reached the laboratory. A quick peek inside the door showed more occupants than in the other buildings combined. There were at least twenty. What was this isolated group doing? Audra and Dwyn both needed more energy to tackle the group. They would come back after lunch.
With no screams heard from the camp, Audra did not worry. They were met with a roaring fire, treated water, and a rotating nap schedule in the pop up tents. The scientists had taken up guard to watch for biters. They did well although the fire was a little large. Audra gave them a pass - this part of the country seemed abandoned, the road unkempt and the laboratory forgotten.
“How many subjects will you need?” asked Audra.
She used her jaw to tear off a particularly tough piece of jerky.
“It really depends, but we’d like to keep them all alive. Why? Are there a lot in the industrial park?” asked Ryder.
“We’ve corralled about twenty, but the laboratory has at least that many.”
Audra looked Ryder straight in the eye, letting her jerky hand fall to her hip.
“I need to ask you something,” Audra said.
“Yes?”
“How did you know this laboratory was here? Why is it full of people?”
No answer from Ryder. Satomi, who usually leaned toward silence, spoke up for Ryder.
“Ziv worked with a group in there, studying the infected. It went bad.”
She walked to her tent, knowing the rest of the conversation did not need her. Everyone turned to Ziv.
“I had just started there. None of that was under my control,” Ziv retorted.
“You were experimenting with… people?” asked Dwyn.
Ziv’s head hung low and his long hair covered his quiet face. What Audra had already realized, suddenly came to Dwyn.
“Did everyone get infected but you?” asked Dwyn with some innocence left in his voice, but gradually doing the math in his head.
Ziv was slow to answer. Audra rolled her eyes. She did not want to listen to the sad story he was about to draw up. She was instead concerned about more pertinent information that he had kept from them.
“How many are there?”
“Fifteen scientists, three original infected. Eighteen total.”
“How many
rooms are there? Is anybody locked up? Are the doors locked? Are there other exits?” Audra spouted off questions.
Ziv seemed relieved that some of his secrets had been revealed. He answered her questions as well as he could. Audra tried to hide her anger. If they had not come back for lunch, they would have been clearing the laboratory without this information, information that could save their lives.
After she gleaned what she needed, she and Dwyn headed back. A look inside the lab showed sallow men and women in white lab coats splattered with blood, but otherwise clean. Besides some knocked over beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks and liquid on the floor, the laboratory was in fairly good shape, too.
They approached the front door, which would open into the lobby. It was locked, just as Ziv shared. Although Audra had pulled a lot of information from Ziv, she still did not fully trust it. The infected group, one survivor, and one locked door revealed his character. She needed to trust her own instincts.
And here, her first chance performed a hip-heavy walk toward her, clad in a white lab coat with a large blood stain on the hanging sleeve as if her arm had retreated farther into the lab coat for protection. Audra grabbed the hanging sleeve and pulled on the other to tie it into a faux strait-jacket. Dwyn caught sight of Audra’s doing as the zom ping-ponged through the door frame. He rolled his eyes. Dwyn bear hugged it from behind, securing the arms low on the hips, and shuffled to the front building. He called back to Audra to close the door and wait for him, but Audra had already slipped inside.
The dark wood panels on the wall gave a distinctly dated and untouched vibe. Paneling like that was long gone, often used as firewood or reinforcement. On the front desk, a phone sat with many lines unblinking and papers strewn, or thoughtfully organized if you consulted Rosie. A couch, soon to be fought over, shared its space with fading magazines - fodder for future sleepless nights. The rest of the room was empty. Audra opened the interior door and the warm colors of the front gave way to the more classic white tile and counter tops of a lab. Geeky zombies bounced from counter to counter, no longer able to perform their research.
Audra considered the knowledge lost in the minds here; knowledge seemed in short supply now. They should be saved if she could help it. One came running to her and grabbed at her neck. She sunk her dagger into it. Well, if they had such great minds, they wouldn’t have gotten infected.
Dwyn joined her outside the doorway, saw the downed zombie, and scolded Audra playfully with his eyes. Audra smiled slyly, which received a joking push in return. It was then she realized he was close enough for her to feel his breath on her ear, moving the wisps of hair along her neck. Her lack of movement signaled Dwyn. He backed off, but a second adrenaline pulsed through her body as they entered the laboratory.
Audra and Dwyn returned late into the evening. The campfire had been calmed down a great deal more, despite Audra’s silence on the matter. With the darkness of the night and their protectors busy on the other side of the fence, they did little to draw attention to themselves. Audra and Dwyn leaned up against a log, kicked off their boots, and breathed. They had done well. As their reward, the scientists gifted the two with freeze-dried meals. The reconstituted hash browns and chicken gave blessed variety from the jerky and oat bars that filled their lives.
Her feast was interrupted by the scientists’ chatter about their future endeavors. Their casual talk of human experimentation frightened Audra. It seemed foreign and cold. Ryder noticed Audra’s trepidation and stepped outside her scientific circle to comfort.
“We get that they are real people and what we’re doing is of consequence, but it’s better for the process if we coldly analyze. And honestly, burying ourselves in our work allows us to distance ourselves from the event and from dwelling on how it has personally impacted us. It’s our way of coping and hopefully it also eventually helps others.”
Audra could understand. Her escape was not science - it was running. The comfort of the repetition, the skill, it let her forget that the world was crumbling down around them.
With a full belly and a greater understanding, Audra leaned against Dwyn’s shoulder and stared into the fire’s sparks. Even if she now went back to tagging in the morning, she did feel secretly accomplished for helping this group under Lysent’s nose. And she was actually enjoying their company. They weren’t like the other villagers, content in their shell of existence. They and Belinda had that in common. And if they figured out how to create an antidote, Audra’s Belinda would be the first in line.
The next morning, the scientists were up bright and early to move into their new laboratory. Audra showed them how to operate the front gate and gave them some tips on how to avoid being seen by people passing on the road. They had trouble listening. Even Ziv was excited to restock the laboratory and go back to their happy science lives. After a quick inventory, Audra was handed a letter for Vesna requesting additional supplies.
Audra was six miles out before her body and her mind realized she was running. Away from the chatter of the scientists, she sensed the solitude even with Dwyn on her tail. Just the rustling of the debris beneath her, the scratching on her pant legs by the brush, and the speckling of the sun on her face. Running seemed to be her natural pace. Her body which seemed awkward and small when near others, felt most natural in movement, running in the woods.
While Dwyn had much improved, Audra still outran him in the longest distances, but Audra did seem exceptional in that regard. Dwyn slowed to walk after twenty miles. Audra scolded him for not eating enough to get through the four-hour mark. Dwyn rolled his eyes.
“I’ll meet you up there,” he conceded.
Audra ran the forty miles back to the township. It was late in the evening, but Vesna was there to receive her. She perused the letter as Audra unpacked items she did not need. Vesna reluctantly counted out the money she’d promised Audra.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here for the night?” asked Vesna.
Audra heard the judgment in her voice. She did not know Vesna well enough to wait for Dwyn in her company. With her payout in her pocket, she said her good night.
Audra stepped out into the cool air. She was proud of her work. Food and sleep could be enough after the long run. Maybe she wouldn’t drink tonight.
A drink, just one, would be nice.
She shouldn’t.
An odd but distinct odor wafted to her. Yelling broke out into the night. She turned the corner toward the commotion and saw a small stable on fire within the confines of the township. There were people running to help. Audra ran to help too, but then the flames licked up. She froze.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Belinda jumped up and down, clapping her hands. Her eyes squinted with her large smile. Audra had just given her the all-clear after searching the tiny wood cabin and finding no zombies or humans within. Zoms were easy, humans were not. Audra kept them clear of people, much to Belinda’s loneliness. There was only so much protection Audra could provide and people were unpredictable. But the horizontal surfaces of the cabin had a short layer of dust, everything creaked, and there was no food to be found. Audra almost jumped off the stoop to get out of Belinda’s way as she stormed the place. Belinda ran circles around the small cabin, stomping inside.
“It’s like Christmas, Audra! Do you think it’s Christmas time?”
Audra looked out the grimy window for reference, but could not see much. It had been cold for about a month. There was no snow in southern Georgia. Could be Christmas, for all they knew.
They would possibly find a well outside, but the kitchen had been destroyed. The sink had fallen through the cabinets, all the cabinet doors were off their hinges as if someone had opened them in search of food, and they had rotted off their hinges by their own weight from being open for so long. The place was full of mildew and cobwebs. As awful as it was, it had been Belinda’s dream for months. Tears of joy found the corners of Audra’s eyes. This place was dangerous. Had she been on her own, she would not stay
here. It was safer to camp in non-permanent structures, moving from place to place. But she’d risk it for Belinda. Belinda needed this rotting two-room cabin.
A scream from the other room pierced Audra’s heart with fear. She followed Belinda’s earlier march, pulling out her dagger. She recalled all the spaces in the bedroom. What had Belinda uncovered?
A bed.
Belinda fell backward onto the mattress and spread out her arms and legs. It fit her entire body. Belinda had not seen a bed since they’d evacuated their homes and gone to the community “safe” house where she and Audra had shared a cot. Belinda hated it then, but she had since stated she missed it when the uneven earth poked at her sore body.
“Come on, Audra! Come sleep with me!”
That night, they curled up together in the bed. It emanated funk, but it was so soft and so big. Belinda nuzzled up against Audra’s neck. So many years ago this bed would have been in their nightmares, little mouse holes from their nesting and removal of stuffing, cockroach eggs, and proof of other vermin. But none of those things could worsen their condition now. They slept with mice and bugs in warehouses and even in cars. At least now this thing was soft and actually meant to be a bed. Audra pulled the surrounding blankets tighter and fell asleep with her sister in her arms.
She woke up without Belinda by her side. The spot next to her felt cool to the touch. Audra reveled in being in a real bed, stretching her arms above her head and her legs below. The grime in the window was lighter than before. The sun must be up. Audra’s socked feet touched the dusty floor. As she stood up, the floor gave a little creak.
“Belinda?” Audra asked toward the other room.
It was odd not to have her by her side.
“Come in here!” said Belinda cheerfully.
Audra felt surprised to hear sleepy-head Belinda so energetic in the morning. She shuffled into the front room to find Belinda holding up a small three-foot fir tree. It leaned dangerously far as Belinda had not neatened the cut edge on the bottom. Underneath it lay a basket of winter berries and a small wooden cardinal that Belinda had been whittling during their long hours in the woods.
