by Mark Clodi
The sheriff looked at Max, but didn't say anything as he and the doctor stepped out into the hallway to continue their discussion. When Max yelled louder one of them reached back and shut off the lights before pulling the door shut, leaving him alone with what little light poured into the office from a small window near the ceiling.
Chapter 22
Red was perplexed, he could see that Max was in the county courthouse near the center of town, on the third floor in a room that looked to him like it was part of the county jail. Why was Max in jail? For that matter, he recognized the life patterns of the woman cop. And a few of the others looked familiar too. It was just after dawn, around seven in the morning and Red was standing on the street outside of a small diner sipping a coffee he had bought a few minutes before. Getting into town had been easy, he had circled the place and come in through a field that butted up against the city park. With his ability to sense where the humans were it had been a piece of cake.
'And if I can do it, so can other zombies. Zombies without my good intentions'. He thought to himself. 'Humanity doesn't stand much of a chance without making some allies among the dead'.
He took another sip of his coffee and nodded at a man wearing a police uniform that was heading into the diner. 'I am hidden in plain sight.' The coffee had a peculiar taste to it, it wasn't horrible, but it was not like Red remembered it either. 'I wonder if it will do anything for me?'
Red looked at the building and where Max was within it. He walked around the place seemingly focused on his coffee, but using his mind to scour the building for people and entrances. Red set his coffee cup down on one of the benches that were spread around the courthouse and continued walking. There were armed guards at the main doors and at a smaller set of doors in the back near a large parking lot. The ends of the building had unguarded glass doors, but they were locked. Red had watched an older man try to go through one of the side doors, then move around to the front.
This was okay for the simple plan Red had come up with, which consisted of going through the window to see what Max was doing. As he circled the monolithic structure he chose a moment to veer in when he sensed no one was around. He dashed up to the building and launched himself to the second story with a leap from the ground that left two foot sized depressions six inches deep in the sod. His hands found easy purchase on the decorative crenelations on the wall and he pulled himself onto a lower rooftop that didn't match the other parts of the building.
'Probably a newer remodel of the place. Like so many other government buildings over the years'.
From there Red moved into a rectangular alcove that went up the side of the building to just under the roof on the fifth story. There were four small widows set in the walls, one for each level. Climbing up was just a matter of pressing his legs against one side while his back was against another. All the windows were frosted, but Red wasn't depending on eyesight to verify which room Max was in. There were two people close by Max, but as far as Red could tell they were not in the room with him. This window had bars on the outside. Bracing his body with his legs Red reached out and grabbed one, he didn't pull or push, he just twisted. The ends of the bar came out of the concrete with barely a whisper of sound. After he had taken all five bars out he examined the window. It looked like it was set in metal and would be difficult to removed without breaking it. Pulling the bars out of the concrete had worked, maybe he could pull the entire window out in one piece too. Red had not dropped the bars, he was afraid the sound of them hitting the roof would expose him, he had wrapped the ends into hooks and loops and connected them into a chain. Removing one he straightened it out and dug into the wall with it. It was like pushing a fork into cake, moving it side to side he was able to gouge out a good section of concrete all around the window frame. Flaking off the pieces of concrete was making some noise and he could not stop the numerous pieces of stone from dropping onto the roof below, where they rolled and bounced until they hit the gutter with a clanging sound.
Finally he had the window loose enough that he could just grab it on the sides and pull it out, frame and all. Max was looking at him from a table in the center of the room.
“I am glad to see you.”
“C'mon, let's go!” Red said in a loud whisper.
Max raised his hands up off of the table enough so that Red could see the handcuffs.
“You can't break them?”
Max shook his head 'no'.
Red clambered into the room, sitting the window carefully up against the closed door to the hallway. The door did not have a way to lock it from the inside. Moving over to Max's hands he took one of the hand cuff chains in both hands and pulled until one of the links broke, then he did the same with the other set.
“Let's move the table over in front of the door.” Red said.
“It is bolted down.”
“C'mon, just help.” Red squatted by one side of the table and lifted, the mechanical groan seemed as loud as a drum to Max's ears, making him wince at the fear of discovery. Red moved around to the other side and pulled the table loose there too, then they lifted the heavy table and put it up against the door. Max went to the medical cabinet and pulled out a long strip of gauze and wrapped it around his head, hiding the paint there.
“Now let's go.”
Red led the way, “I can sense the people around so follow my lead.”
“Me too, remember? That is what got me into this mess.”
“Really? Wait, tell me later, let's get out of here first.”
They shinnied down to the roof, Red stayed below Max and let the other man use him as a support when he clambered out of the window. They waited on the roof for a few minutes until they thought no one was looking then hung and dropped from the gutter. A moment later they were walking along the sidewalk back towards the park Red had come in from, Max sipping the coffee from a cup that Red had retrieved from a bench along the way. Red paused long enough to open a parked car's door and filch a stocking cap off of the dash, which Max put on over the makeshift bandage on his head.
“We gotta get the others.” Max said.
“You were isolated, the police woman is in with a bunch of other people. I doubt they would keep quiet for us to break into the room and get her out.”
“I don't want them rotting in there.”
“Did you tell anyone about the horde that is coming this way?”
“Many times, they tossed us into the holding cell because we might be infected, they stopped listening after that.”
Shaking his head Red said, “So they know and won't do anything? Stupid.”
“I thought the zombies would be here by now?”
“No we managed to lure them off the main highway, they move even slower in the fields where the simplest barbed wire fence slows them down for awhile.”
“So how long until they get here?”
“Maybe tomorrow night. It really depends, they are all strung out now too, so it should be easier for the soldiers to cut them down.”
“They are supposed to move the others out tomorrow afternoon, they are evacuating south to get to a train. Stewart! They said they would send her and I east by car to get her to Des Moines by tonight.”
“Okay.” Red said, “You will need a vehicle anyway.... I got the perfect way to get out of town without being seen.”
Chapter 23
Max and Red were crouched in a ditch along highway twenty just outside the town of O'Neill. It was mid afternoon on a sunny day in July and Max was sweating profusely in the heat. Red, of course, was fine. He looked over at Max and said, “It isn't the heat, it's the humidity.”
“That doesn't help much. Is she moving again?”
“Yeah, she is Max. I think she is heading this way. I am not going to move the car until I know for sure.” The car Red was speaking about was on the side of the highway where there were a couple of others that the two of them had gotten from nearby farms. They had arranged them to almost block the road, all that was
required was to shove the last car into the hole when the time came. Other cars had driven by, however as long as they were able to pass the staged wreck, none of them seemed inclined to stop and clear the road completely.
“Why don't you go take a dip in the river and cool off?”
“I don't want to miss them. Besides the river is more like a stream right now, hardly worth getting all muddy for. Red?”
“Yeah?”
“How sure are you that my kids will be okay?”
“Max...I know the train is running, the locals were talking about it when I bought the coffee. The whole town is clearing out and one of them said she was glad they were finally moving somewhere safer. They know we are coming. As for your kids...well I presume they are going with everyone else. I think they will be fine, we are holding the zombies west of Lincoln, so the buses should make it through, they will get to the train, after that I can't say. I wasn't keeping track of them, they were lost to me among the other living people. I can recognize you from far away because I memorized the way your colors look, you and that woman of yours. For all I know your kids are already in Iowa. The trains have been running all day. If you don't tell someone important about what is happening it won't mean anything. We are only waiting for Stewart because she should be able to help you, help us both, I mean. Otherwise I would just have you drive one of these beaters to Iowa alone.”
“It won't do any good you know. The authorities didn't listen to me here, they won't listen to me in Iowa.”
Red turned to Max, “For your sake, for your kid's sake, hell for everyone's sake, you better make them listen.”
“I want to take Stewart and go after my kids.”
“I figured that. You won't make it, if they went down to catch a train they will be gone before you get there. Take highway twenty into Sioux City, tell someone there what is going on and get your kids after that, it will be quicker.”
“You have kids Red?'
The zombie shook his head.
“Then you don't understand.”
“Can you see the number of zombies that are gathering around Iowa Max?”
“You know I can't.”
“Then you don't understand either. Look, the decision is easy, you can go after your kids, you will probably miss them, but you can chase the train all the way to Des Moines, if that is where it is stopping, and get your kids back. If you do that it uses up valuable time, time that the military could be making plans to deal with this by sending someone after the guy in Chicago. So you can get your kids and die with them or you can tell someone who could make a difference and maybe, just maybe you could make a safe haven where you and your kids, eventually will be able to live. That is your call.”
“It is hard Red. I just lost my wife...”
“I lost everything Max, including my own life. I lost the ability to ever have kids of my own, my entire family went to feed Sentry and his men and my reborn brothers and sisters. I lost it all, so don't tell me what is hard.”
Max thought about that for a minute, sweat beaded up and ran into his eyes and he wiped it off with a bandana he had picked up out of one of the cars earlier. Visibly he sagged and nodded, “I am sorry. I just didn't think of it like that. To me it is like...”
“I am a monster? Not human anymore and that I never had any feelings or family or history. That is easy enough for you to think. The curse is I remember everything and I know what I gave up and it hurts. Don't pity me. I am making a difference now and playing the cards I got dealt. You will do what needs to be done, this time you won't fuck it up either. I can't go much further east than this Max, I just can't; the call is too strong. I will do what I can for another couple of days, but after that I am taking my friends and heading back to Colorado, or maybe a bit further North. What is the state above Colorado?”
“Wyoming.”
“Yeah, Wyoming looks pretty empty. We could make something there, Nita, Hugh and I.”
“I take it they are herding the zombie horde along without you?”
“That was the excuse. I don't think Hugh could get much closer without being drawn to Chicago. I was just going to check and see if you were still on board with helping and get you moving again if you were.”
Red cocked his head to one side, as if listening.
“What? Are they coming?”
He nodded slowly and then shook his head too. “Stewart yes, but the horde...”
“Should we shove the car into place?”
“The horde is moving south again, it must have been happening for awhile and I didn't notice it. What the hell are those two doing? Yeah, we better push the car in the way.”
It was mostly Red doing the pushing while Max scrambled into the ditch by the side of the road and hid in the nearby bushes. Max could see the vehicle rolling towards them and was surprised to see it was Stewart's patrol car, there was one person in the driver's seat and one in back. Red had climbed up on the bumper of the van opposite of where the car was pulling up. The car rolled to a stop and the man inside got on the radio, after a moment he cautiously stepped one foot out of the car onto the road and looked over the road block.
Stewart's voice called out, “This is totally a setup, get the fuck back in the car and get us out of here!”
“Shut up. There are no zombies east of town yet.” the sheriff's deputy pulled out his pistol and stepped away from the car.
“You're gonna die and take me with you, you stupid son of a bitch!” yelled Stewart, who started struggling in the back seat. It appeared to Max that she was handcuffed with her arms in front of her.
Max rustled in the bushes and called out, “Officer! Over here!” which caused the deputy to crouch down and aim his gun over the hood of his car at Max.
“Don't move! You move a muscle and I will shoot you!”
Red moved out from behind the van like a whisper and launched himself at the deputy from behind slamming into him between the shoulder blades. The deputy reflexively pulled the trigger and a bullet whizzed by Max's face. Max flinched a little too late and then laughed and pulled himself up when he saw the man crumple to the ground behind the car.
“Fuck.” said Red, opening the rear door of the car and letting Stewart out.
She looked down at the ground, “Fuck.”
“What?” Max asked clambering through the tall grass of the ditch to the road.
“Dead. I didn't mean to hit him that hard. We had a plan.”
“A plan that got you a nice snack for rescuing me?” asked Stewart.
“We had to rescue you.”
“Hello? Rescue me? He is the law! I was in lawful custody. You can't rescue me from the laws of the land. As fucked up as they may be right now. He wasn't some criminal that needed killing, he was one of the 'good guys'!”
“I am sorry. Max?”
“What?” asked Max looking the deputy over. The man's head lolled at an angle a living person could never achieve.
“You need to get going. Time is of the essence. And I got to get back to Hugh and Nita. Get his gear and get moving. Don't get captured this time; I can't come get you again.”
“I don't think we want your help Red, not if it means killing people.” said Stewart.
Red ignored her and spoke to Max again. “Remember, you've got to get to Chicago and put a stop to this. You need to go.” Lifting the deputy's body Red pulled off his belt and handed it to Stewart, who also bent over and picked up the pistol. She hefted it and then brought the barrel level to Red's head.
“Stewart! No!” Max said. Red seemed unconcerned, he just held the body at arms length and stared at the woman.
“You should not have killed him.”
Red didn't say anything, he just stood looking at her, then, very slowly he leaned in until the barrel of the gun was up against his unblinking left eye.
“Stewart...he is slowing the others down, he is trying to help us.”
“Goddamn it!” Stewart said disgustedly, dropping the gun to her side,
“Why are you defending him Max? They killed your wife!”
“Another one killed my wife. Ultimately it was this Doctor in Florida who killed my wife, not Red. He is trying to keep us alive.”
Red hefted the body over his shoulder and started trudging down the road, calling out behind him, “Goodbye Max, good luck. I am glad you didn't shoot me Stewart.”
Stewart watched him for a second, then Max called her to come help him push the car out of the way so they could get moving. Stewart hopped into her car and drove it through the opening, then insisted that they push the car back and flatten two of its tires by letting the air out of them.
“Gary was calling for help, he just didn't want to wait until they arrived.” Even now Max could see a set of flashing lights coming towards them in the distance from O'Neill. He and Stewart got into her cruiser and she took off like a bat out of hell.
“They didn't send Tom or Amelia.” Max said.
Stewart nodded, “Or Cory or Erin either. Astute.”
“Why you?” Max asked.
“Why you?” Stewart countered.
“Because I screwed up. I let them know I knew they were moving the kids this morning and then I started slamming my way through the safety glass to get out of the cell.”
“I got the drop on the woman deputy. To be fair she was retired and out of shape, but when I got Amelia and Erin into the office with me and knocked down another guard, well, it was on video. They made me watch it, it was grainy and low quality, but I blurred Max. Blurred. The film showed Amelia, Erin and the deputy just fine, but I was just a blur when I hit him. Unlike our dead friend back there, I didn't kill my target.”
“So how did they catch you?”
“You went through the office; you have to be buzzed out of it. Unlike you, I seem to be faster, but not that much stronger. I couldn't get the door open. They came in with guns, busted me down with handcuffs and then gave me another exam. How'd you get the paint off your head?”
“Oh? Yeah, Red and I found some paint thinner in the garage where we swiped one of the cars for the roadblock, he scrubbed me down good with it. I got a stocking cap if you want it.” said Max pulling the hat from his pants pocket. Stewart looked at it and tossed it up on the dash, then turned the air conditioning up higher.
