Zompoc Survivor: Inferno

by Ben S Reeder

  “Thank you,” I said. She flinched when I turned to face her, then bowed her head quickly. The woman across from me froze in place with Amy’s plate an inch from the table. The pause was brief, but I caught the movement of her head as she averted her eyes. Amy reached for her fork, then stopped as Hall spoke.

  “Let us pray,” he said as he reached for her hand. Her hand went to his slowly, and he began to say grace. The words were lost as my nose twitched under the assault of the scent of the food in front of me. With my eyes closed it was almost all I could concentrate on. Finally, the word “Amen” registered, and I opened my eyes. My mouth was too busy with the food to ask questions for a few minutes, but I noticed the way Hall’s gaze went to Amy as she devoured her salad. His smile never quite reached his eyes, but I could tell we were doing exactly what he expected. By this point, I figured most people were hungry enough to trade their souls for a few crackers, much less a hot steak dinner and some iced tea.

  “So, what’s with the jumpsuits?” Amy asked as she set her salad bowl aside.

  “The good Lord Jesus said that if any man desire to be first, then he shall be last of all and servant of all. It’s the natural order of things. Some work, others risk their lives for the safety of the rest, and some have to take responsibility for the lives of those under them.”

  “Workers in blue, soldiers in brown and the elite in black. Everyone’s role is clear,” I said between bites of my steak.

  “Very astute, Brother David. But don’t think that the elite, as you call my disciples, lead an easy life at the expense of others. Taking responsibility for the lives of so many is a heavy burden, one I hope you find yourself equal to.” He smiled at me as I took another bite of steak, savoring the blue cheese that topped it.

  “At least you understand that it’s a responsibility,” I said after a few moments. “The needs of the many, right?”

  “That one man should die, that the whole nation not perish. Your knowledge of the Bible is astounding, Brother David. The disciples do take up a tremendous burden in stewardship.”

  “But I take it those burdens have their own…rewards?” The look on his face truly scared me in that moment, because for the first time since I’d met him, the smile finally reached his eyes. And those eyes were glued to Amy.

  “Unto whomsoever much is required, Brother, of him shall much be given by the Lord. That is God’s Will. Your rewards will be great indeed, so long as you stand in service to me. You’d know your little girl was safe, I can promise you that.” I nodded and stuck another bite of steak in my mouth to buy myself a few moments.

  “I’d like to take a look around,” I said after I took a swig of the iced tea. “Get an idea of what we have to work with already, and what we need.”

  “Of course!” he said with a toothy smile. He turned to Amy. “Tell me, my dear, what do y’all think of our little Garden of Eden?”

  “If it wasn’t for the zombie apocalypse, I’d swear I was in Heaven,” she said. For the next twenty minutes, Amy did her thing, chatting about nothing at all while we ate and completely distracting Hall. Finally though, the last of the food was gone and our host got to his feet.

  He led us down through the lobby and out onto the street. The Westwind made up the northwest corner of the Crown Center Plaza. The Grant Building made up a good chunk of what I figured was the north side, and Crown Center took up the west side. The Discovery Hall stretched across the south side, and a long, staggered building completed the east side. In the middle was the plaza itself. Scattered around the open space I could see people in blue jumpsuits working at a dozen tasks, none of them easy. Some were pounding away at the sidewalks with hammers and pickaxes, while others were busy working the exposed ground with shovels and hoes. Men in black stood around the big courtyard, guns cradled in their arms. None of them got too close to the actual work, but they watched the people doing it close enough. In front of the Crown Center, I could see men in brown doing pushups, being yelled at by another group of men in black, none of who seemed to be working nearly as hard as the men they were leading.

  “You asked for a garden, darlin’,” Hall said as he gestured at the organized chaos before us. “I give you our garden, or what will be in due time.”

  “I take it this is going to be dedicated to crop production?” I asked.

  “Gardens here,” Hall drawled as he gestured at the area directly in front of us, “and our poultry and dairy stock over there.” He pointed to a nook made by the Grant Building and the big building to the east. “I estimate at least three acres here.”

  “More if you use the roof as another garden area,” I said. Hall laughed and clapped me on the shoulder.

  “Not here but an hour, and already you’ve helped us double our crop yield,” he said. “I think we should change your name to Solomon!” I laughed with him and kept my hands at my sides instead of around his throat. One of the black clothed disciples approached us and genuflected. Hall made a casual gesture and the man straightened. Behind him two other disciples escorted one of the workers, a Hispanic man with a weathered face and gray at his temples. The first disciple leaned in and whispered in Hall’s ear. The prophet turned back to us with a pained look on his face.

  “Brother David, I’m going to have to ask that Amy go back to the hotel for now. You’re welcome to stay on and observe, but this isn’t something a woman needs to see.” Amy let one of the men escort her back toward the hotel as the disciple led the other man forward. My gut clenched as the workman was shoved down to his knees.

  “My men here tell me that you’ve been causing some problems,” Hall said.

  “Not problems, sir,” the man said. “I was just telling the disciples here that if we could take a break once in a while, or maybe get some water so we don’t get dehydrated, we could get more done in a day.”

  “Who are you to presume to tell me this?” Hall said. “What makes you think you know better than the Lord’s own prophet how to create the new Eden?”

  “My name’s Earnest Garza, sir. I’ve owned my own landscaping business for fifteen years. One of my crews could do twice as much as we’re doing now, even by hand.”

  “I see,” Hall said. “And I take it you’ve found some support among the rest of the workers?”

  “Of course,” Garza said. “We’ve already lost a few people to dehydration. No one wants to see their family hurt.”

  “Of course not,” Hall said softly. “Call your supporters forward. Show me that other men share your concerns.” He gestured to the disciple behind Garza, and he helped him to his feet. I wanted to warn him, to tell him not to say anything, but all I had to go on was the growing pit of fear in my stomach. “Any man who thinks as this man does, please, show yourselves. Share your concerns with me, so I might see you.” Garza turned and gestured toward the workers surrounding us, and several stepped forward. Disciples moved around behind them, and Garza turned back to face Hall.

  “You see, Prophet, I’m not the only man concerned for his fellow workers.” He stepped closer and his voice took on a sincere tone that matched his name. “We can do so much better here, we can make this the Garden of Eden you told us it could be. We just need to work a little smarter.” Hall smiled at him for a moment, then nodded to Caleb. Around the plaza gunshots rang out, and the men who had stepped forward dropped where they stood.

  “Nooooo!” someone screamed. When something slammed into the back of my head, I realized that it had come from me. I fell to my knees and got pulled right back to my feet. Hall looked at me, his face twisted with rage, then turned his gaze back to Garza, who stood ashen faced before him.

  “Your place is to work. So you work! You don’t think and you never question me. To question my authority is to question God’s Will, and I will not allow that kind of blasphemy to find fertile soil here.” Two disciples brought a woman and a teenaged boy forward, and Hall held out his hand toward Caleb. The big man drew his own sidearm and handed it over.

 
; “Please, don’t,” Garza said softly.

  “You’re a family man,” Hall said. “Let me show you the cost of defying me.” Garza stood straighter, like a man determined to face death with some dignity. But Hall turned and pointed the gun at the other two workers. It took a moment for Garza to get what was about to happen, but when it did, his face crumbled into abject despair. Hall pulled the trigger twice, and the woman and the boy fell. Garza fell to his knees with tears streaming down his face, looking like a man whose faith had just been shattered. Hall handed the gun back to Caleb and walked over to me.

  “You object to my methods, Brother David.”

  “Violently,” I growled at him.

  “I didn’t enjoy it, but heresy must be punished. I only did what he forced me to do.”

  “Bullshit. He didn’t make the decision to pull the trigger. You did. You’re just too chickenshit to own up to it.” A fist slammed into my back, and I fell to my knees from the pain of the kidney punch.

  “I can see that you’re too upset to see reason. Brother Caleb, escort Mr. Stewart to someplace more…serene. Let’s give him a few hours to calm down and get his wits about him.” Hall turned away and left me facing Caleb. When he shifted his weight, I had just enough time to duck my head and avoid taking his punch to the jaw. Someone kicked me in the ribs as when I tried to get back up, then I saw Caleb’s fist coming down again, and the world went black.

  I came to in a dark place. My ribs and my head were both throbbing, and I couldn’t feel my hands. Even breathing hurt. I tried to move and found my arms held in place behind my back. I heard the sound of voices nearby, and someone laughed. The talking stopped when I groaned as the sensation started coming back to my hands in prickling pins and needles. For a while I just laid there, letting the circulation come back to my hands and trying not to take too deep of a breath. When I finally opened my eyes again and looked around, I found myself in what looked like an office that had been stripped mostly bare. Faint light played in lines across the ceiling and paneled walls, and I could feel the rough surface of the carpet on my skin. Wires sprouted from an opening in the floor, and a broken chair sat at an angle in the corner. The floor creaked under me when I rolled over and looked toward the windows. The familiar red glow lit the night sky, and I could see the occasional flicker of white or yellow across the dropped ceiling from light moving below. For a while all I could do was lay there, but eventually I got to my feet and explored my improvised detention cell before I put my back against the wall and just sat there waiting to see if anything was going to happen.

  The door opened at some point and I was pulled to my knees. More footsteps approached from the hallway and more men came in dragging another person with them. I heard a woman’s voice and a door opening nearby, then a man cried out in pain. They threw the other man down beside me, then moved to flank the door. On their heels, Caleb stepped into the room with a worker in blue holding a lantern in her hands. Hall came in after them as I blinked against the sudden light.

  “Free his hands,” Hall said. I heard the sound of something being clipped and my arms were free. As I rubbed my wrists, I looked down at the man on the floor beside me and saw Kaplan’s battered face looking up at me. I barely registered Kaplan’s presence before one of the thugs punched me. The world went white for a second, then I found myself on the floor with my jaw throbbing.

  “You lied to me,” he said with the same false jovial tone I’d heard him use with Garza. The thug behind me pulled me to my feet. “You said you didn’t know where the two Marines were, but my men caught them skulking around outside the compound, obviously trying to plan a rescue.”

  “I didn’t lie, I just didn’t tell you everything,” I said through the blood in my mouth. I spat on the floor at his feet, thankful nothing but spit and blood landed on his shoes. “You believed what you wanted to.”

  “I wanted to believe that a man like you would be at my side, rebuilding the world according to God’s plan,” he said. “And that can still happen. You have one chance to redeem yourself, Dave Stewart.” He reached out an empty hand, and one of his men laid a pistol in it. With a smug smile on his face, he tossed it to me. “Kill this man before me. Swear yourself to me, pledge your allegiance to God’s chosen prophet, and you’ll live.” I looked down at the gun in my hand, hefted it and tested the weight, then looked back at Hall. Kaplan looked up at me, one eye swollen almost shut, his face grim. He didn’t expect to survive the next few minutes. But Hall didn’t seem like the kind man who was willing to take any chances with his own safety.

  “I’m not an idiot,” I said as I put the pistol to my own temple and pulled the trigger. The click of the firing pin falling on an empty chamber was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard in my life. I tossed the gun back to him. He laughed aloud as his men looked at me wide eyed in disbelief. Kaplan looked pale and shaken as well.

  “How’d you know the gun was empty?” Hall asked.

  “Wasn’t heavy enough,” I lied. The last thing I wanted him to know was that I was starting to understand how he thought, and it made me look much cooler than I really was. The way his brain worked wasn’t knowledge I really wanted in my own head, but I didn’t have a lot of choice there. I’d pour bleach in my ears later…once I was a long way from this place.

  “You may not be much of a fighter, but you are still a dangerous man, David,” Hall said thoughtfully. “Bring him,” he said as he gestured to the men behind me and left the room. They grabbed my arms and pulled me along behind him. He stopped by one of the windows facing into the plaza below us. Men with lanterns walked along the outer edge of the open space, and others patrolled the rooftops, apparently watching the inside of the compound as closely as the outside. I looked over my shoulder and saw men standing guard in front of the door next to the room I’d just been pulled out of and another pair guarding a room on the opposite side of the open area we were in.

  “So, is this where you offer me a place at your side if only I see the folly of resisting you?” I said. “Because we both know how that scene’s gonna go.”

  “No, David,” Hall said sadly. “You’ve proven to me that you’re too smart for your own good. It would be easier to just kill you right now. But after today, it’s more important than ever to show my flock that I am as fair as I am stern. So, tomorrow you will share the fate of the Marines. You will be burned at the stake, unless of course you repent, in which case you’ll simply be shot.”

  “Wow, how could I resist that option?” I said.

  “I’m sorely tempted to keep you alive,” he said casually.

  “That’s worse than burning me at the stake,” I said as I wiped the trickle of blood from the corner of my mouth. “But you’re good at that kind of torture, aren’t you?”

  “I’m a man of God, Mr. Stewart,” he said. “Torture is beneath me.”

  “I watched you kill Earnest Garza’s family down there,” I snarled. “You left him alive and killed his wife and kid in front of him. You can’t tell me that isn’t torture.”

  “I didn’t kill his family,” he said, then turned his head to face me with a cold smile. “I killed the family of a complete stranger. Now no man will follow him or any other man in this compound except me.”

  “Now I almost wish the gun had been loaded,” I said.

  “This is why I hate to kill you. Any other man would be begging me for his life. A weaker man would have shot his best friend to stay alive. But you…damn!” he exclaimed happily. “You’re defiant to the last! You are Lucifer to my Yahweh, Pharoah to my Moses. You defy me when no one else will. It would be smarter to just shoot you, but the thought of defeating you…of breaking you while you failed to defy my rightful reign on Earth…I have to admit, you would be one Hell of an enemy. But God’s Will is clear in this. You must die tomorrow.”

  “Just leave Amy out of this. She’s done nothing wrong, not even by your twisted logic.”

  “I would never hurt that precious girl. In fact, I cam
e here to tell you that she will become one of my brides.”

  “Now I really wish the gun had been loaded,” I said. “I need to see her.”

  “No,” Hall said. “She’s mine now, David. I won’t let you try to poison her against me.”

  “You don’t know Amy,” I said with a laugh. “Unless I give her my blessing, you’ll never be able to be alone in the same room with her.”

  “Are you saying she’d try to kill me?” Hall asked with a disbelieving smile.

  “Not at first,” I answered. “If you were lucky, she’d get around to it eventually, though.”

  “And you’re just going to give your blessing on our union.” He shook his head.

  “I’m not doing this for you. It’s the only way I can make sure my little girl survives. The fact that you get something out of it makes me want to puke.” We traded glares for a moment, and I made sure I was the first to turn away. His mouth quirked up in a smug little grin, and he looked at one of his thugs.

  “Have the girl brought over.”

  Chapter 6

  Sow the wind…

  ~ Man is free at the moment he wishes to be ~ Voltaire