by Brown, TW
“Yeah, because it will be a cold day in hell before I go out to wage war on another group of survivors,” I said before we departed.
We’d returned home to discover a large pallet in the living room. It had several bags of rice and beans as well as an odd assortment of canned good. Some had no labels, and we’d opened one to discover green beans, but another had fruit cocktail. Apparently the cans with no labels were just a luck-of-the-draw type thing.
“Of course you will not be going,” the doc said, like I was an idiot for even speaking. “You have a much more important job.”
“Oh?” I asked, suddenly having trouble generating enough saliva to finish swallowing my food.
“You will go with BP and a few others to wherever Gable’s people were camped.”
On the walk back to the house, I had relayed to Dr. Zahn as much as I could remember of what Gable had said to me. We had walked in the center of our little group and there had been nobody besides my own people even remotely close enough to overhear, so I’d felt like filling her and the others in on the whole story.
Dr. Zahn never interrupted. She listened intently, and I was hoping that she might shed some light on the situation. Maybe she could clear things up enough to have them make sense to my seemingly simple mind. When I finished, I was more than a little surprised that not only did the doctor not ask me anything, but neither did anybody else.
“And why would I do that?” I asked after I had enough saliva to swallow and then speak.
“If for no other reason, then to see if it is possible to retrieve the young man’s mother,” Dr. Zahn said.
I mentally slapped my forehead. That thought had never even peeked its head up in my mind. The next hour was spent deciding who would join BP, Gable, and me, on this little quest. With all of the new arrivals now that we had Grady’s people with us, we had no shortage of people available. The problem that I was having was that I wanted people that I knew and trusted.
Grady’s people all seemed eager to help, but I did not know them. For me, that was a problem. We were discussing the issue when there was a knock at the door. Everybody went silent like we’d just been caught with our hands in the cookie jar.
Getting up from my chair, I opened the door. I was more than a little surprised to discover Tish from the whole riot situation standing on my porch with Graham.
“Can we come in?” Graham asked.
I couldn’t very well just say no. I stepped aside and ushered the two in. They emerged from the hall into the living room and Graham almost fell over his feet from stopping so fast.
“Who are all these…” the sentence trailed off and he turned to me with a curious and confused expression.
“Let me introduce you to Grady Jones. He is an engineer and will be a great asset if you still plan on bringing the wind turbines here and getting your power grid up and online,” Dr. Zahn said by way of greeting our new arrivals. “These people are a mix of military and civilians. Some are co-workers of Grady’s, two are fully trained RNs, and at least a dozen members of his security team are from a Ranger detachment from Washington State.”
Wow, that was way more than I’d been told. I knew we had some soldiers, but the whole Ranger thing had been a secret up until this point. I glanced at Dr. Zahn who simply maintained her tight-lipped, non-expressive face.
People started shaking hands, and a lot of names were being given, but I took that opportunity to step back and try to get a read on a few individuals. One man in particular stood out. He was doing almost the same thing that I was doing. He had slipped out of the throng and was observing everything going on around him just like me.
“Are you leaving again, Billy?” a tiny voice said from beside me.
I gave my head a little shake to clear it and redirect my attention on the person who had spoken. That was when I realized that the man was looking right at me! I had probably been staring. I glanced down to see Thalia looking up with her large, dark eyes.
“Just for a little while,” I said as I knelt down to be at eye level with her.
“How come you always have to leave?” she asked. “When you leave…everybody is always arguing.”
That was news to me. “About what?” I asked, finding it more than a little odd that I was getting my intel from a seven- or eight-year-old child.
“Everything,” the little girl huffed with a shrug of her shoulders. “It is like they are all mad at each other.”
I could only assume that it was the stress everybody felt. I know that I was never as grouchy, and certainly not as prone to violence, as I had been in the past several weeks and months.
“Well I will try not to be gone for long,” I assured Thalia.
She nodded and gave me a hug. I watched her trudge up the stairs and was sad for her. She would never know a normal life. Childhood had been taken from her and, no matter what happened, she would never get it back. There would not be any new Disney characters for her to love and want on her bedspread. There would be no trips to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal.
I realized, not for the first time, how many things that I had taken for granted in my relatively short life. It was just now starting to feel like spring. That had meant football camp and the start of baseball season. I would never walk the aisle and graduate high school.
“Billy!” a voice hissed in my ear, snapping me back to the present.
“What?” I glanced to see Katrina standing beside me.
“I just wanted to say that I am sorry.”
I actually scratched my head. “For what?”
“For getting so pissed at you and in your face when you were dealing with that prisoner. I actually thought that you were going to do something terrible.”
I briefly considered admitting that I absolutely would have if it came down to it, but I decided there was no need. Maybe she needed to feel that I was really a good guy. Who was I to take that away from her? I now knew that she had boundaries that she was not ready to cross. And while I did not look forward to it, I knew with certainty that I would do what I needed to ensure the survival of those closest to me. The old rules and morality simply did not apply any longer. If you were going to survive in this new world, you had to be willing to commit acts that were unthinkable before.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, throwing an arm around her and giving a gentle squeeze. I felt her sort of melt into my side and give a deep sigh.
I looked around the room, my eyes only pausing briefly on the man who was still detached from the group. I gave him a nod and he returned it. I was not entirely sure who I would be asking to join me on this little mission, but I knew that I wanted this guy. He sort of reminded me of Jon. I missed Jon.
“Okay, everybody listen up,” I called out, easing myself away from Katrina. “Graham, did you come here for a reason?”
“Actually…” the man began to speak, but Tish took over after he seemed to struggle.
“Carol Wills sent us,” Tish said.
“And?” They were running out of time if they counted on my patience. I was sick of games, sick of petty crap that had no point.
“She wants you to lead one of the units that will be going out into town to start bringing these other factions in line. She said that she has seen you in the field, and you have more of a head on your shoulders than men twice your age.”
I was flattered. Seriously, that was a pretty big compliment from the lady I called Granny Rambo. However, I had other things in mind.
“No!” a tiny voice shrieked. Every head turned to find Thalia standing on the landing of the stairs that led to the second floor. “You can’t have Billy. He is the only one we have left. If he is gone, then there won’t be any more men in our house except for strangers.” The little girl bounded down the stairs and wrapped her arms around my right leg, holding on with a ferocity that you would not think possible from somebody so tiny.
“Tell her I’m busy,” I said, reaching down and picking up the little girl. Her outbur
st seemed a bit odd, but I would not ever be one to admit that I could understand the mind of a little girl. Of course I didn’t understand the older versions either, but that was another issue entirely.
“She can make it worth your while.” Tish stepped forward. “If you agree to do this, she will give you and your people whatever you want. You can have your choices of where to live.” She let her eyes roam over the group, and I was pretty sure she was not expecting so many people. However, she was just the messenger. After only a very brief pause, she continued. “You will have a person from your group and of your choosing on the council.”
“And what makes you think—” Katrina started, but I cut her off.
“Tell her I will be there,” I said.
A wave of protests came from everybody in the room. Thalia actually started to cry. I gave her a hug and handed her to Sunshine.
I escorted Graham and Tish to the door. Just as I reached it, I paused and cleared my throat to get their attention.
“You tell Carol that I have something to take care of first and that she will have to wait a week or two before she launches this offensive.” Graham started to speak, but I held up a hand to silence him. “This is not a negotiation. I agree to do this on my terms. If that is a problem, then my answer is no. Are we clear?”
They nodded and I opened the door for them to leave. I scanned the street for signs that we were being watched and was happy to see that it did not seem to be the case any longer. When they reached the sidewalk, I called them and gave them the final demand.
“Also, I get to bring whoever I choose from my own people. I won’t be making any trips alone and without support that I know I can trust.”
Graham started to say something, but Tish actually gave him a nudge and shook her head. Turning to me, she called back, “Consider it a deal.”
I closed the door and returned to the living room to find a lot of angry faces. Katrina looked like she was going to punch me in the face and Thalia was still crying into Sunshine’s shoulder. I had no idea why this sudden attachment, but I was pretty sure that I knew what I was doing. Now I had to let everybody else know, and then I would need to hope to hell that luck would stay with me just a little bit longer. It had not been lost on me that every single person who had assumed a role of leadership in our group was now dead. Steve, Teresa, Jon…hell, even Jake and Jesus.
A barrage of questions—many of them about my level of sanity—came at me. I let everybody vent and get it out of their system for several seconds until I raised my hands for them to be quiet. It took a few more minutes, but at last I had their undivided attention.
“You heard the deal,” I began. “And before anybody asks, I believe that if Carol made this offer, it is for real.”
“Who gives a damn about being able to pick out a house?” I was surprised to see that it was Darla who was speaking up. After all, she was in a bit of a gray area when it came to whether or not she was really one of us.
“For one, maybe nobody else noticed, but our house that we currently live in is on the outskirts of town. If there is a breach, we die first. Second, we just increased our numbers by six or seven times the amount we initially showed up with. They could very easily scatter us. This ensures that we stay close. Maybe in time we can allow ourselves to be absorbed into this community, but for now, we are all that each other has got. I prefer to keep us together. However, all of that is secondary to the council position.”
Once again everybody started to bitch and moan. None of them seemed to care about having a spot on this city council but I had made up my mind once and for all that I was going to provide a safe and secure home for the people that had become my family this past year. I felt bad that I didn’t so much care about Grady and the people he brought along, but I had seen enough from Dr. Zahn to know that he was a good guy…one of us. Which brought me to my point.
“We will be putting Dr. Zahn on that council.”
The room went silent. I looked at the doc and she had her mouth open, but she wasn’t saying anything. I was going to cherish that moment for the rest of my life.
“Those people have no idea what they just agreed to,” I finished.
Everybody sort of looked at each other for what was probably seconds, but it felt like an eternity. One by one, I saw smiles and nods. I let them have that feeling for a few minutes before returning to the task we had been preparing to undertake prior to Graham’s arrival.
“I have a group of you selected to join me on this run outside the fence. It is going to be dangerous, and it will require a very specific skill set. Any of you that I point out will obviously have the choice of coming or not. And I know that some people will not agree with my decision. I just ask that you not make a big fuss about it until I get back…and then wait a bit longer to let me to do this thing about securing the town.”
Katrina turned and left the room. She knew. I had probably just cost myself my girlfriend, but what I was about to do would require people who were ready to kill without question. Whether it was because I did not want her to see that side of me, or if it was because I knew she did not possess that trait, I honestly did not know. The fact was simple; she was not on the list I’d made in my head.
When I had pointed out or called the names of those I wanted, I was happy that each had agreed to come. I asked everybody not selected to excuse us so that I could lay out what I wanted and expected from each of the members of my team.
It seemed strange that we were about to make a trip outside the fence to possibly rescue some complete strangers. We were also ensuring that the last vestiges of what I considered to be a greater threat would be eliminated for good. However, there was one other thing, and this was personal. There was something I had missed with Jake. I needed to close that wound on my soul that had been made by what I had seen as his betrayal. I needed to know exactly why he had acted so out of character in the end. Jake was a man that I’d looked up to. He had flipped on a dime and changed into somebody else seemingly overnight.
Our meeting and strategy session lasted less than an hour. I told everybody to grab some sleep and that we would roll out shortly after dark. Heading upstairs, I was not surprised to see the door to my room shut. I knew that Katrina was in there. I hated for us to part this way, but I also needed to clear my head and save my energy. Hopefully I would come back, and when I did, we could talk it out. If not…well…that would suck.
9
Vignettes LI
Distant sound came late in the night. Emily-zombie and the others in her group clustered even tighter together. They did not join in as some of the larger ones stumbled or crawled past, drawn by the new and sudden sounds.
The cat had scurried away, frightened by the unfamiliar noise. Every so often, one of the zombie-children would succumb to that pull of the noise and stumble away into the darkness. Still, more of them remained than went to investigate. The days of being together had solidified something in some of them.
A new sound came suddenly. This one was closer. Emily-zombie began to move, and slowly, others in the group stumbled into motion. They trudged in between a pair of houses and all but disappeared into the inky blackness that existed between them as their shadows seemed to overlap and form a near-perfect dark.
A figure moved across the opening between the houses, its warmth almost a beacon in the chill of the night. Emily-zombie was not even aware that her hand had reached out until it snagged something. The warmth made a sound and moved with a jerk to get away. Hand closed into a fist, Emily-zombie stumbled forward and out of the protective cover. Another source of the warmth was just a few feet away. This one was making even more noise.
Drawn by instinct to the sound, several of Emily-zombie’s group poured from the mouth of the alley that ran between those two houses. They fell on the two figures and ripped, bit, and tore. The warmth came in a sudden rush as the zombie-children all seemed to forget about each other as each pushed and jockeyed for position.
It
lasted less than two minutes. As the warmth dissipated, Emily-zombie and the others pushed away from their recent meal. They retreated slowly back into the darkness just as more people arrived.
“Stay alert everybody!” a voice ordered. “It looks like Smith and Wilcox ran into a freaking pack of zoms. There is barely enough left to come back.”
“Yeah,” another voice agreed, “but check out Wilcox…her eyes are open and her mouth is moving.”
“Keep quiet, Jonesy,” the first voice hissed. “If those things have moved on, I’d just as soon not have them come stumbling back to see what all the noise is about…that noise you are making if I am not coming across clear enough for your moonshine-addled brain.”
“Don’t be such a prick, Tines,” another voice said with a snort. “We are on mop-up detail, and probably ain’t gonna see no action. So Jonesy tipped the bottle a little before the patrol. He ain’t gonna get nobody hurt.”
“Tell that to Smith and Wilcox,” Tines snapped. “They probably thought this was just a bullshit detail…and instead of keeping their eyes open, they stumbled into a freaking zombie’s waiting arms.”
Of course Emily-zombie had no idea what was being said, her only thought was that now there were many of those beacons of warmth, but that spark in her brain fired as she instinctively took her first step forward causing her to come to a halt. There was danger out there. The warmth was inviting, but something made her hesitate to react.
A few of her group chose to ignore the internal warning and gave in to the allure of all that warmth gathered in one place. There was a sudden burst of noise.
Gunfire.
That word came in images that made Emily-zombie remain perfectly still. More images flooded her that made no real sense other than to convey the general idea that going out there would mean that she would cease. Not that Emily-zombie feared death or even knew what it truly was in her limited capacity to be afraid.
Yet, there was that spark, that small piece of her ruined brain that refused to succumb to the infection that transformed human to zombie. Against all known explanations that science would ever be able to put forth if the means became available, the core of her child-brain—the part that made accelerated learning possible—a tiny bit continued to operate on the most basic of levels. It had nothing to do with the drive that every zombie felt to seek out sound, or to try and feed off of the warmth that all mammals gave off, which came from that vestige of the reptilian core.
