by Brown, TW
***
“I’m tellin’ ya, Danny,” Jody Rafe said around a mouthful of cold powdered eggs and burnt toast, “Slider and the captain are plum crazy. They want to turn this place into a prison camp.”
“Maybe they’re just sending a message after our guys got roughed up pretty bad by those locals,” Danny reasoned.
“I was in that office, Danny. I heard it all with my own ears.”
“How are they gonna justify this to the others, there has already been some grumbling about that late night round up.”
“I don’t know but—”
“Attention, all personnel,” the voice on the bull horn was unmistakably Slider. “Everybody is required to muster in the high school parking lot in twenty minutes. That is all.”
“Jesus,” Jody sighed, “what now?”
“You think maybe we should split?” Danny whispered. “I know it can be bad out there, but maybe staying here is not such a good thing.”
“These people trusted us,” Jody shook his head. “I realize they sorta turned on us toward the end, but maybe we gave them a reason. And we sure as heck didn’t do anything to prove their fears wrong.”
“Well I’m with you to the end.” Danny took the last drink from his coffee and stood up placing a hand on Jody’s shoulder. “And there are others who feel the same way.”
Jody watched Danny O’Leary leave as he finished his own cup of coffee. He wondered how many residential houses had to be raided in order to provide the men with this luxury. Coffee was going the way of bullets. Sure, you could still find it, but it was getting rare.
Shouldering his rifle, Jody exited the empty mess tent. As he walked along the muddy road that led into town, he began to take a closer look at the faces of the men. They looked tired. Many stared at the ground as they walked, their heads hanging as if it were too much effort to keep their chins off their chests. These men were beaten up and simply operating out of programmed discipline.
As he reached the high school, a queasy feeling began to build in his gut. His coffee suddenly felt like it had changed to concentrated acid, and he could feel an unpleasant burning in the back of his throat.
In the center of the parking lot was a hastily erected platform. It looked like little more than a few saw horses side-by-side with a sheet of three-quarter inch plywood on top. It was positioned directly below a sign that used to welcome students to Bald Knob High School—Go Bulldogs! Draped over the sign were two nooses and standing beside them was Captain Gould and Chuck “Slider” Monterro.
This could not be good, Jody thought.
As the men arrived, Jody was struck by just how few of them remained. He began to do a head count. Counting the locals who had been conscripted, there were a total of fifty-three men and women gathered minus the captain and Slider.
It took Jody a moment to register the fact that the two hooded figures beside them were wearing uniforms. This could not be happening. He began to scan the faces of the men, but everybody was so haggard that even familiar faces were hard to recognize. He wondered only briefly if he looked as worn out and beaten as these other men and women.
As he continued to scan the faces trying to figure out who might be under those hoods, his heart began to race. He couldn’t find Danny. He looked back to the hooded figures and tried to see if the body types might match his friend. It was impossible; they had just been eating breakfast and talking. Yet, he couldn’t see Danny anywh—
“What the fuck is this?” a voice whispered in his ear making Jody jump almost out of his boots. And that would have been a feat considering the fact that it felt like his socks had melded into his skin and that the boots were grafted on by way of the filth.
Jody spun to find Danny standing at his shoulder. He resisted the urge to hug the man. However, the look of relief on his face told the story.
“You thought one of those guys might be me?” Danny gasped. “Well I’ve walked the rows and I can tell you who it is. It’s Livius Nedin and Robb Olson.”
“What?” Jody had to bite his tongue and lower his voice. Several heads had turned his way and two of those heads belonged to the captain and Slider.
“A couple of the guys said that three of the civilian conscripts came into their tent and cuffed them while reading from some piece of paper listing a series of UCMJ violations that they supposedly committed,” Danny whispered.
“This just keeps getting worse,” Jody moaned.
“Men of Charlie Company…a-ten-hut!” a large woman that Jody vaguely recognized as one of the local bartenders bellowed. She was decked out in an ill-fitting uniform that looked as if the buttons might pop off at any moment and burrow into somebody’s eye. The spaces between each straining button bubbled out revealing her pale, cottage cheese-like flesh underneath. Her jowls quivered with each syllable and continued to sway just a bit for a few seconds after she spoke.
The soldiers came dutifully to attention. Heads came up and eyes stared straight ahead, but Jody didn’t think they were seeing anything. The captain climbed up onto the sheet of plywood and Jody couldn’t help but wish for it to break along with the man’s neck. Slider and the woman—Jody thought she resembled those pig-faced guards in Jabba’s palace in the Star Wars movie—manhandled each of the hooded men up onto the platform and then each took a place on either side.
“We have among us men who do not feel the need to follow orders…men who would take for themselves…not just of supplies, but liberties with those we are sworn to protect,” the captain announced, using the bullhorn so that everybody could hear him clearly.
Jody noticed both men squirm, but the nylon line used to bind them had secured their arms tightly to their sides and they could do little more than shudder.
“We have been given a solemn duty and I will not have our honor damaged by a few…”
He droned on, but Jody had tuned him out. This was wrong. He knew both of those men well. Neither would do what they were being charged with. He puzzled over the situation until a collective gasp snatched his attention back to the scene up front. Both men had been fitted with his noose and shoved off the platform. The drop wasn’t severe enough to snap their necks, so they flopped at the ends of their lines for what seemed like an eternity.
It was too much. Jody’s coffee had swirled with his stomach acid and created a toxic mixture. Doubling over, he vomited his breakfast all over his filthy boots.
He wasn’t alone.
***
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” The girl yanked her arm free of the two female soldiers who had brought her outside.
Major Wanda Beers continued to use her knife to clean under her nails. When there was no response, the girl did exactly what Wanda hoped for; she approached within arm’s length.
“Hey…I’m talking to y—” she started.
Quick as a flash, Wanda’s gloved backhand connected with the young female’s cheek sending her sprawling in the snow.
“Shari!” an even younger girl exclaimed and rushed to the one laying on the ground with blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
“Erin, no!” the oldest of the females hissed, but made no effort to move.
Wanda looked up and appraised the group. The one who had just spoken showed some usefulness. Well, Wanda chuckled inwardly, at least to the point that she knew to stay still and keep her mouth shut. There was another girl who stood beside her with a look of disdain etched on her face. Oddly enough, it seemed directed more at the two huddled together in the snow than for the soldiers standing around with an assortment of weapons on display—less than half actually had any remaining ammunition, but nobody needed to know that.
“What is it that you want?” This question came from the only male in the bunch, He obviously had a stronger attachment to the pair of females standing than the two on the ground, but it was clear that he would pose little physical threat. He could barely walk.
“Let’s start with names.” Wanda continued to work at her
nails as she spoke. “My name is Major Wanda Beers, United States Army. I am the commanding officer of the expeditionary element of Ohio’s 371st Sustainment Brigade. My mission is to seek and secure a location for citizens to use as a safe zone.”
“You look more like a bunch of looting raiders to me,” the young man said. Wanda nodded and that earned him the butt of a rifle in his gut.
“My name is Aleah Brock,” the older female spoke. Wanda looked up and made eye contact. She also looked around at her men. Some of them were already eyeballing this one. She would have to have the word spread once everybody got settled in that unless this girl volunteered for the brothel, she was not to be harmed.
“Okay, Miss Brock, do you want to tell me where your doctor is?” Wanda asked. She heard a gasp from the one she had backhanded.
“What have you done to Peter?” the one identified as Shari screamed as she struggled to her feet.
“So you do have a doctor,” Wanda said.
“We did,” Aleah replied. “He went out on a supply run and didn’t return.”
“You had a doctor and let him go outside these walls?” Wanda said with a disbelieving shake of her head.
“We didn’t let him do anything,” the girl next to Aleah spoke up.
“And what might your name be?” Wanda’s eyes flicked to the girl. She neither blinked nor flinched, which scored her points in Wanda’s book.
“Heather Godwin…from Heath.”
“Okay, Heather Godwin from Heath.” Wanda pushed away from the truck and slid the knife in its sheath. “So how do a group of girls and one gimpy boy manage to secure a place like this? Who is the brains behind it? Because I have seen some of the work that is done and somebody knows their stuff. So…which of you is it?”
“None of us,” Heather answered. “One of the people who used to live here did it. He left on the same run.”
“Okay…” Wanda had been through this before. Whoever it was had probably hidden during the commotion when they had burst through the doors and began dragging the residents of this place out into the snow. “Nobody so much as utters a word. Any of you who do will be shot. Nod if you understand.” Everybody nodded. “By a show of fingers, and on the count of three, how many weeks ago did he leave? If it was longer than three months ago, just hold up all ten fingers.” She saw the expressions on their faces and already knew what the results would be. “One…two…three.”
As she figured, none of them matched. She walked over to Heather and leaned in very close. “I will give you to my soldiers as a plaything if you lie to me again. Are we clear?”
“Yes.”
“I need to be sure.” She looked over her shoulder to the female soldier standing beside and nodded. Without hesitation, the soldier put the barrel of her handgun against the young man’s temple. “So…how long ago did he leave?”
“Eleven days,” Heather whispered.
“And where did he and the doctor run off to?”
“Newark. They are trying to find medicine for Valarie.”
“The retarded girl?” Wanda glanced over to the bundled up black girl who was standing just outside the doorway staring into space.
“She has Down’s syndrome!” a voice snapped from behind her. Wanda turned and was more than a little surprised to see the girl she had backhanded come to her feet. Her entire demeanor had changed.
“Excuse me?” Wanda asked.
“She has Down’s syndrome. Calling her retarded is…ignorant!”
Perhaps she had misjudged this one, Wanda thought. “Well whatever the case, she serves no purpose and will only be a drain on supplies. How you could allow your doctor and the architect of this little sanctuary to risk everything for a girl who will contribute nothing to the group in any productive way is beyond me.”
“What does that mean?” Shari stood up and brushed the snow from her hands.
“It means that we will not be keeping her,” Wanda said.
“You can’t—” Shari began, but Wanda cut her off.
“I can do whatever I like, little missy.”
“If it’s food, I’ll give her some of mine…if it’s something else, just tell me what I can do, but you can’t just throw her out or shoot her or whatever you plan on doing.”
Wanda glanced around at the group and sort of expected the same looks of outrage from the others. Instead, she was greeted by gaping mouths and looks of obvious astonishment. Now she really wanted to meet the person who had held this all together.
6
Staring into the Void
The plastic shin guard had split and caught the skin just below my kneecap in between the pieces. Somehow they had acted like scissors and cut deep into the flesh. I hadn’t been bitten! I guess I now knew what hysterics felt like, because I couldn’t stop laughing. The tears filled my eyes, and I really thought that I was going to pass out.
“Watch him, Nickie,” DeAngelo growled. “I’ve never seen anybody get delirious like this after being bit. I’ll take out these on this side. Yell if he loses consciousness.”
Nickie nodded in the affirmative, but I was still unable to say anything. God help me, I tried. I finally got enough control of my body that I was able to wave her over. She was really cautious.
“Go. Help. DeAngelo,” I managed each word between fits of maniacal giggling. Then I showed her my knee.
Now it was Nickie’s turn to act like a loony. She fell on top of me and hugged me. Her knee also caught me in the solar plexus and knocked the wind out of me. Oh well, at least I’d stopped laughing. It’s hard to laugh with no air. Anyways, she jumped off of me and took off after DeAngelo.
I was lying in the snow trying to get my wind when I heard the slow and steady crunch…drag…crunch…drag. I wiped my eyes and found myself looking up at a zombie child. She couldn’t be any older than six or seven. The poor thing had been torn open something terrible. Her entire torso was bullet ridden and she had a wound to the neck that looked like a knife had been plunged in and gone all the way through.
I tried to reach for a weapon only to find that I couldn’t really move. Having the wind knocked out of me had left me defenseless as a baby. I managed a croak when I tried to call for help.
Just that fast and all my hysterical joy was gone and replaced by fear and dread. I waited for the child to throw itself on me and start biting. I very briefly wondered how long it would take me to regain my breath, and would I be able to scream once I did.
I was overwhelmed with horror. That is why it took me a few seconds to realize that this child-zombie was just standing there staring at me. All it did was cock its head to one side and then the other like that certain way a dog has when you just know they are trying to figure something out.
I could feel my fingers twitch and I thought that I was going to start sobbing when that first teensy bit of oxygen made its way into my lungs. The entire time, the child-zombie simply continued to…study? That is the best way to describe it. I actually felt like it was trying to figure me out.
Once I was able to flex my hands, it was just a few seconds before I could move my entire arm. I kept my eyes glued on the little girl as I sat up very slowly. The only weapon I still had handy was an oversized pocket knife. I tried to move my hand for it, and that is when the situation changed in a hurry. Just that quick, it was just like any other zombie. It stumbled for me with arms outstretched. I heard it make a squeaky mewling sound as it tripped and stumbled in the snow. The only thing that saved me was that the snow was almost at its waist, her being so small and all.
Something whizzed past and the child toppled over backwards. She wasn’t even heavy enough to sink completely in the snow. The handle of a pretty fancy looking knife jutted up from her face. I looked up to see Nickie standing at the top of the berm with two more matching knives.
“My brother told me I should join the circus,” Nickie said. I stared back blankly because I really had no idea what she was talking about. She waved the other knives at me. “Throw
ing knives? Like when that guy has a girl hold a balloon or tied to a big spinning wheel?”
“Oh,” I said. Actually, that was kind of what I said. It came out as more of a croak. I was still a bit tender from having the wind knocked out of me.
“DeAngelo is right behind me, he went after two other zombies that tried to get away.”
“Excuse me?” I was positive that I did not hear her correctly.
“Well not really try and get away,” Nickie said with a frown. “It was like they just decided not to come after us.”
“Were they younger?”
“Who?” Nickie looked at me like I was still hysterical.
“The zombies!” I snapped a bit harsher than I intended. I got to my feet and started the rest of the way up the berm.
“I guess…” Nickie was backing up as I climbed like she thought that I was coming for her.
I had this stupid image in my head. I could see DeAngelo chasing down the two escapees, and just as he reached the woods, a bunch of the little bastards would jump out and attack him. My fear seemed even crazier when I reached the top and DeAngelo was already walking back across the snow.
“Nickie told me about your knee,” he said as he reached the berm. “Gotta say I’m relieved. Not just about you not being a zombie…but I didn’t want to be the one to break the news to the little woman.”
“So what was the deal with the two you chased?” I asked as casually as possible. I had no idea what exactly I thought I’d witnessed with that little girl zombie. The problem was that things just refused to sit right in my mind.
