by Lara Frater
I stared at him instead. I was too tired and hot to speak but I stared at him and gave him a look of daggers.
Joel didn’t respond. He walked closer to me. I smelled his awful breath and that he didn’t shower. He took my blond hair, which Ariel had arranged to cover my face. He grabbed as many strands as possible and tugged it hard. Then he moved it back until a zombie grabbed it.
“Grace, I’m sorry.”
I wanted to tell Daddy to shut up. I wanted him to tell me why he was sorry.
The agonizing heat cramps came around noon along with a blinding headache. Everything felt hot and painful and I felt nauseous. The headache felt like I was being stabbed in the eye. Joel might be right, I should have begged. He won’t know I’d be lying. I couldn’t die here, not before killing Joel. I could pretend he won.
If it was pretend.
He might laugh and still leave me on for the rest of the day the way he did with Tommy. The cramps were in my leg. I used to get them jogging. I wanted to stand up and massage them but I couldn’t because I was tied up. I tried moving my legs but it didn’t help. I needed to stand and walk around. As soon as I rode the cramp, another started more painful than the first. I wanted it to stop. I cried not caring if the field workers or the guards heard me or Joel would hear about it later. I wanted to go home, ride Euclid, and see my rifle and friends again.
The zombies were on me again, moaning like madmen. I didn’t know how many hands I felt, caressing me. They were all trying to pull me towards them, still not realizing I was tied to the pole.
I heard the chain link fence rattle loudly and the moaning got louder. It shook so much I felt the vibrations in the ground. A moment later a guard, white and non-descript just like most of Joel’s men, appeared with a rifle in my line of vision. If I was only free. He aimed but not at me. He fired three shots and I felt some of the hands fall away. The man said nothing; did not even acknowledge my existence. He walked away without a word. I struggled on the pole but I was not going anywhere.
I had been momentarily distracted by what happened but then the cramps returned and my head throbbed. I had two blisters on my legs, second degree burns. I wished I had hair there. I had waxed with horrible store bought wax only last week.
I cried even more when I realized I had forgotten to miss Daddy or Joe. I wanted daddy to come, kill all the monsters and save me. I wanted to be home again, getting ready for my next year of college. I wanted to rib Joe, see my grandmother, go to dainty parties to meet boring boys, hope my mother would call, and have Edina bring me a snack and ask me about school.
But none of that would happen. And I hated it because that world was dead and never coming back.
I’m sorry Grace, Daddy told me. He wasn’t lying in bed, dying. We were in his study, a place he rarely allowed me in.
“Why, Daddy?” I asked, “because of the virus?”
“No,” he said and gave a sad smile. “Because I sheltered you too much, because I didn’t let you see the real world. I didn’t prepare you for this.”
“This is different.”
“I did not let anything bad touch you. I did not challenge you to learn about the world, beyond the wealthy. The world is beautiful and sometimes deadly.”
“But you made sure I had some skills.”
“Not that kind of skills, shooting has helped you along so far, but soon the shooting will be less, lawlessness will end, and your skills won’t be wanted as much. That’s when you have to put down your gun and become one with society.”
Explosions. Screaming, men shouting. I opened my eyes and I had no idea what happened. Did I hear an explosion or dream it?
I smelled the strong scent of burning wood, heard the crackling of fire and people around me, both guards and field hands alike were yelling. The zombies were moaning as well excited by the turn of events.
Even though I could barely move, I managed to move my head. The guard house that stood about 30 feet away from me was engulfed in flames. This wasn't a dream.
“Help,” I said, but it came out a whisper. Was this the revolt? Or did Joel get tired of this house and decided to burn it down?
Whatever had happened knocked down part of the fence near the guard house. The zombies slowly moved in, trying to figure a way to get over the trench, excited at so many people around. Eventually they would end up walking on top of each other to escape. Here I was a sitting duck. Around me, like a movie, people scattered. From Joel’s uniformed men to the people in the fields. It was utter chaos.
A white SUV smashed through the flaming gate and pulled to a stop as soon as it was clear of the fire. The doors opened and four people emerged including three women dressed in black riot gear with helmets. The sole man held a rocket launcher which was empty but smoking. Now I knew what blew up the guardhouse. He took it off his shoulder and placed it in the car.
They began shooting at the guards some of which returned fire. The field hands ran off in different directions. Some ran through the burning gate, others ran towards a large barn like structure. I waited for someone to help me. I pulled at the stakes but they were heavy in the ground. This was not the way I wanted to die.
Finally someone noticed I was tied to the ground and ran to me. It was a black man about my age, good looking, wearing a fishing hat. He carried a hoe which he used to break my bonds. He first broke the rope tied to the pole. I moved my arms and massaged my legs. He then broke the rope holding my legs down. I was free.
After almost two days tied up, I could barely move. I lifted my arms and pushed but my legs wouldn’t obey.
I didn’t say anything, but the man understood. He came to the ground and lifted me to my feet, but I began faltering, so he held on. I willed my legs and feet to walk.
Someone ran towards me holding a rifle. It was Aisha. Her sister was having trouble keeping up. I don’t know where she got the rifle but didn’t care. When she handed it to me, I felt like I got a limb back. I looked to the black man and said. “Turn me around towards the zombies.”
The guy looked confused but did what I asked. I now faced the zombies in the trench. They began moaning in excitement. Other zombies were moving their way. I checked the magazine, fourteen rounds left.
I shot 10 of them. I knew I was in bad shape because I had to hit two of them twice to get a head shot. I didn’t get them all but enough for them to be less of a bother. I wanted to make sure I had two shots: one for Joel and one for Bill.
My legs were filled with pins and needles but I was feeling them again. I felt hot and nauseous.
One of the women wearing riot gear came over to me. I lifted the gun in case she was hostile but when she raised her helmet, it was Tanya underneath. She looked sweaty and uncomfortable.
“Hi,” she said.
“Can I have the assault rifle?”
“You can barely stand up.”
“Give me an assault rifle.” I said but my head was swimming.
“I’m Ryan,” the man said, holding me. “She’s been out in the sun for two days. You got to get her cooled.”
“Cool me later. I got someone to kill.”
“Get in line,” Tanya said.
“Jim?”
“Jim’s hurt but alive. We lost a lot of people.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to admit I was relieved about Jim but felt nothing for the others.
“Aisha,” Tanya said, then hugged the girl tightly but only for a moment. “How many men Joel got?”
“He has 23 men and 3 women. His men dress in fatigues but there are maybe 10 who are true believers. The rest should scatter or surrender.''
“You want Joel and Bill. Bill likes to rape.” I said. Tanya gave me a look but didn’t say anything.
“There were three in the guardhouse when it exploded,” Ryan added.
I looked at the man with the missile launcher and knew it was Mike. I think I fell in love with him right there.
Ryan helped me to the SUV where I found that the others i
n the car were Annemarie and Dena.
“Grace,” Mike said, lifting the mask. “Sorry we couldn’t rescue until now. I had the ammo but we needed riot gear. We found some at a police station.”
“Can I have an assault rifle?”
He looked at me and then looked at Ryan holding me up.
“And a glass of water and an aspirin?” My adrenaline was up. The fact that I was crisp toast was put on the backburner, pun intended, my thought centered on putting a bullet through Joel’s head.
Mike didn’t say anything. He reached into the SUV, pulled out a bottle of water and gave it to me. He reached into his pack and nabbed a bottle. He opened it and handed me two pills. I took the pills and drank slowly. When he seemed satisfied I drank enough, he reached in again and handed me the assault rifle. Daddy said it was overkill but I think some overkill was expected now.
“All loaded.”
“Thanks.”
“Aisha,” Tanya said. “Find yourself and the others a good place to hide.”
“The bunkhouse. My sister can get people there. Give me a gun. I’m going with you.”
“You’re too young—“ Tanya started.
“Tanya,” she said, her voice while still sounded like a kid had a mature edge to it. “I can tell you who’s a threat and who isn’t.”
I handed the rifle Aisha gave me back to her. “Two shots left. Make them count.”
Mike said nothing and Tanya instead said. “Annemarie, Dena, go with Ariel. Get people to safety. Any guards give you trouble, shoot them.”
Ariel looked at Aisha, but didn’t anything.
“Go, you can trust them,” Aisha said, then hugged her. “You’ll be fine.”
I put the assault rifle on single shot. Joel liked to hunt, I think it’s time he learned what real hunters did.
The front doors of the estate were closed but unlocked. A tarnished brass knocker was in center of the door. Our house had brass knockers. I remembered when I was little watching Edina polish them.
Mike motioned us to move to the side. He pulled the door open but stepped aside as well. I wasn’t surprised when a bunch of shots fired but they were aimless and didn’t hit anyone. When they stopped, Mike looked at us and put his hand on his ears. He then pulled a cylinder from his bag that looked like a grenade. I moved back and put my hands over my ears as did the others.
Mike tossed it in. Despite covering over my ears the blast was deafening. When I removed my hands, I heard men screaming. Good.
Through the open door, I saw four men. Three were on the floor covering their ears including the broken-nose kid and had dropped their guns. The nasty one Chris had swung his rifle on his back and was holding his ears.
When he saw me, he managed to raise his rifle. I was faster. I enjoyed putting a bullet in his brain and watching him fall back with his eyes open wide. Did he really think I wasn’t going to kill him?
The three remaining were still on the ground with their hands over their ears.
“I can’t hear!” one of them screamed.
Mike grabbed all the weapons on the floor. Four rifle. He passed them to Tanya. She looked overloaded with weapons. She swung three over her shoulder and handed one to Aisha.
“These guys okay? Aisha?” Tanya asked, pointing at them.
Aisha looked them over.
“None of them are okay,” she said. “But none are monsters.” She looked at Chris, but didn’t say anything.
“Who can we talk to?”
She pointed to the broken nose kid. Mike helped him up but grabbed his right hand roughly. He didn’t resist.
“Mike, you got rope?”
The two other guys heard that. They turned white and I giggled. Did they think Tanya was going to hang them?
“Mike, can you tie these two fellows up? You fellows won’t give us a problem, right? Otherwise Grace will make you look like your friends.” She pointed to Chris. I enjoyed seeing him dead, but I looked forward to seeing Joel and Bill the same way. I wondered what Daddy would have thought about my bloodlust. Daddy crushed his enemies financially. You couldn’t do that in this brave new world.
Mike didn’t reply. He pulled rope out of his pack.
“Go over there,” he said motioning to a pretty antique bench. The men obeyed.
“Tell me where Joel is,” Tanya returned her focus on the kid. I kept one eye on him and one eye on Mike.
“I don’t know!” the kid said, still with his hands out, still looking a little disoriented but it looked like his hearing was fine. “He ran out when we heard the explosions. He told us to defend the house and he’ll be back.”
“He’s going burn the house down.” I said, my voice quiet. “He did it before.”
“This is a giant fucking mansion.”
“Things aren’t going his way,” I held my gun to broken nose kid.
“You got anything to set fire to the house?” Tanya said, grabbing the kid.
“Please don’t shoot me!” the kid said looking at me even though everyone else had guns.
“She ain’t gonna shoot you,” Tanya said. “She would have already done it.” Mike finished tying up the two guys and came back to us.
“We got a stockpile of weapons in the basement,” he said. “I ain’t ever been down there. I swear. Joel only lets a handful of people see it.”
“How do we get to the basement?”
“Go through the study,” he said pointing left.
“How many ways into the basement?” I asked. In my house we had two ways in. My father’s study had a door to the wine cellar which connected to the regular basement through a sturdy door.
“Through the kitchen or the study.”
“Which one is Joel likely to use?” Mike asked.
“If you lie I will shoot you where it hurts, not where you die,” I said.
Tanya looked at me strangely but even a rich bitch had her breaking points. This kid was dawdling and I didn’t want my adrenaline to wear off before I found Joel.
“He likes the entrance in the study.”
We left them tied up and went through two double doors to our left. No one was on the other side. It led into a giant meeting parlor, the same room I tried to escape from. I saw the stairs leading to my room upstairs. I heard knocking and yelling coming from behind the door of the infirmary and I assumed it was the woman who couldn’t help me.
Tanya tried the door but it was locked. She knocked hard. “Who’s there?” she asked.
“I saw her before. I think her name is Sam.”
“Are you here to help us? Can you open the door?” said a voice from the other side. She sounded as hopeless as she did when we first met.
“We’re looking for Joel.” Tanya said.
“He’s not here. I’m Dr. Samantha Philips—“ she said. “Joel locked us in.”
“Stand back,” Tanya said. She went to her bag and pulled out a crowbar. She jimmied the door and kicked it opened.
Standing about four feet away was the middle aged white woman with long greying hair wearing a track suit. She didn’t look like a doctor. Tommy was lying on the cots, his eyes still closed and his skin still red.
“I saw you in the courtyard. I thought finally someone’s come to rescue us.”
“Where’s Joel?” I said, still mad about her not helping me.
“I don’t know. He came in, said we were under attack and locked us in. I heard an explosion before that.” She looked at us with eyes widen in fear.
“Hey!” screamed a male voice from behind me. “Turn around and drop your weapons!”
I obeyed the first order, turned around and instead of dropping my weapon I dropped one of Joel’s men. Head shot, I had gotten so used to doing them, not realizing that on humans there are other viable and less messy places.
Dr. Philips had her hands over her ears. Tanya grabbed her arm. “We need to find Joel. Where do you think he is?”
Dr. Philips didn’t pull away but Tanya released her. “Are you going to k
ill him?”
“Yes,” I said. Dr. Philips’ eyes widened again.
“You gotta a problem with that? He killed nine of my people, wounded two more and god knows what he did to Grace here.”
She looked me over. I could tell by her face she knew what I went through: Big Bill and the pole. I felt some sympathy for her.
“Come see me when it’s done.”
“Listen,” Tanya said. “Joel might be thinking ‘bout blowing the house. You might want to move out somewhere.”
She looked at Tommy. I did too. He looked so vulnerable like in his move Turbo Spy when his character got shot and found a kindly old lady who nursed him back to health. “I can’t leave him.”
“Is he really bad?” Tanya looked at me strangely for actually being concerned about someone. She looked at Tommy and her eyes grew big.
“It’s heatstroke. If I move him, he could die.”
“Shit, is that Tommy Haldish?”
“Worry about it later. Let them stay here for now. We’ll move him only if we have too.” This came from Mike who stood behind me. He dumped the extra weapons on a nearby couch and looked at Dr. Philips.
“I’m leaving these here. Lock the door and let no one in except for us. Aisha, can we trust her?”
“Yes. Sam’s a prisoner just like the rest of us.”
Tanya led the way to the other door which led to the study. This door was unlocked. Tanya kicked it open and stood the side.
It was empty. In my father’s study, the cellar door was behind a bookcase.
“Look for things not covered in dust,” I realized my lips were dry. I willed my body to go a little longer. “That will be the mechanism to open the door.”
The others searched while I watched, not because the work was beneath me but my eyes had gotten blurry. I willed them to focus but not before Mike took my arm.
“Come on, sit down.”
I reluctantly sat on a leather sofa. Mike pulled a water bottle out from his bag and gave it to me. Our fingers touched and I felt a spark but he pulled away. I sipped the water slowly.
