The Human Spring

by Hollingsworth, David

  They approached the heavy front doors, also made of stone. Ehsan and Manuel heaved them open as Fatima stood with her machete, prepared for whatever waited inside. All clear. Manuel and Fatima entered first, Ehsan staying with Gustavo and Natalia. Fatima and Manuel explored the library, its numerous skylights allowing the moonlight to guide their search through the labyrinth of shelves and dividing walls. Ehsan stayed with the kids by the front desk, rubbing his thumb as he waited, wishing more than anything he had Dragon Hair.

  Fatima and Manuel found nothing in the way of zombies. Manuel showed them one of the private study rooms toward the back of the library where rations had been stored. He tried to encourage his kids to eat, but they had no appetite. Neither did the adults. Gustavo tried to look through the window, but couldn’t because of the furniture barricading it.

  Minutes later, they heard the library doors open. Ehsan froze. The three of them crept up to the entrance while leaving the kids sitting at the table in the study room. Ehsan felt useless, rubbing his thumb nonstop. Manuel led the way. As they drew close to the door, rigid with anticipation, they heard a sound by the front desk: little Andrea crying, followed by Emma trying to comfort her. Emma, Ken, Hector, and the three clinic kids came from behind the dividing wall separating the front entrance from the rest of the library.

  Hector and Lucero’s faces lit up upon seeing them. Emma smiled, Andrea demanding too much of her attention to let her show any more relief. Juan looked despondent while Ken looked even graver than usual. Hector ran up to embrace Ehsan while Lucero did the same with Fatima.

  “I’m glad to see you’re all okay, man,” Hector told Ehsan, patting him on the shoulder.

  “Glad to see you, too. But we’re in trouble.”

  “Yeah, no kidding,” Emma commented, rocking Andrea in her arms to soothe her. “We barely made it here ourselves. Luckily, we ran into Ken on the way.”

  “We saw the enemy,” Fatima informed her. “We will update you right after we get the children taken care of.”

  They escorted the new arrivals to the study room. They found Natalia huddled in a ball in the corner. Gustavo had fallen asleep face-down on the table. Manuel embraced his daughter, kissing her forehead and rubbing her back to comfort her. The clinics kid settled into the other chairs around the table. Before they could have a meeting, however, the sound of the front doors opening once more echoed through the library. Emma and Manuel stayed with the kids while Ehsan, Fatima, Ken, and Hector went to investigate, Manuel lending Ehsan his dated shovel with a wooden handle, which felt heavy and inefficient compared to the fiberglass-handled Dragon Hair.

  Ehsan heard tapping on the walls. He started to feel light-headed, though he tried to hide it. He exchanged glances with his sister. She, too, looked shaken. She turned to Ken and Hector, who had let down their guard.

  “Our enemy knows our trick for tapping on the walls,” she whispered. “We are still not safe.”

  “What’re you talking about?” Hector responded in a panicked whisper. “What did you-”

  “Focus,” Ken commanded, getting back into fighting position after hearing Fatima’s words. “We’ll catch up fully once we deal with whoever’s here.”

  They crept up to the front at a snail’s pace. Ken stopped just before exiting the labyrinth of bookshelves. He signaled for them to wait. He peaked his head out when they heard footsteps and more tapping. As soon as he did so, he lowered his arms and stepped out from behind the bookcase.

  “Ken! It’s good to see you!” Sarah’s voice exclaimed. Ehsan, Fatima, and Hector also stepped out from behind the bookcase. Sarah, Julie, Sebastian, and Andrew stood in front of them. All four ran over to hug Ehsan and Fatima.

  “Holy shit, I’m so glad to see you’re okay,” Sarah beamed.

  “Same to you,” Fatima reciprocated with a smile, which quickly disappeared. “We have serious news, though. And it is not good.”

  After putting all the kids in the study room, Ehsan and Fatima gathered all the adults to tell them what happened. Ehsan spoke first. “You remember that zombie with the trenchcoat, Sarah? And that giant one with the long hair?”

  “Yeah…” Sarah answered, unsure of Ehsan’s point.

  “They are highly intelligent,” Fatima revealed. “And I mean highly. The one with the trenchcoat used our method of tapping on walls to lure us out.” Julie and Emma covered their mouths in horror, while Hector grabbed his hair and started pacing. Manuel looked troubled, assuming a pose similar to Fatima’s normal thinking pose.

  “So does that mean…” Sarah went pale. “Does that mean that thing was the person in the window this whole time?”

  Ehsan hadn’t yet made the connection. He remembered the second time they saw someone in the window, during their first sprinter encounter. It’d been the trenchcoat zombie the entire time. Ehsan thought of how they went to that upstairs room searching for the culprit, those two playing dead, observing them even then. He felt violated. A wave of nausea swept over him, his throat burning up from the bile suddenly trying to make its way out. He let Fatima do the rest of the talking.

  “It would stand to reason, yes,” Fatima agreed, her lips pursed, feeling equally disgusted. “It also explains how someone could herd around that many zombies without it backfiring.”

  “Well, we know there are hyper-intelligent zombies now,” Ken said, eyes pensive. “So what next? We’ve lost the clinic, we’ve lost the school, we’ve lost a ton of people. What can we do?”

  “We need to wait for the others,” Fatima answered. “We can strategize once we have everyone together. I believe Cecilia will want to go to the fields.”

  “What if we are everyone?” Ken pointed out. “I heard Marcus, and I saw Josue. For all we know, everyone who isn’t here is dead.” Ehsan hated the thought, though he couldn’t help but wonder.

  “Mateo was only a little bit behind me, with Ana and Estefanía,” Sarah countered. “A few of the climbing zombies got in his way, but those aren’t a problem for him. He’ll be here any minute now.”

  “That just leaves Cecilia and Deon, who are two of the strongest members of our school,” Fatima added. “Neither of them have any kids to slow them down, either.”

  “They were also at the front of the school,” Ken pointed out. “Just like Josue and Marcus. The invasion was worse there, I saw it from the kindergarten area.”

  “Well, while we’re on the topic of Deon, he’s never even been to this library,” Sarah pointed out. “We haven’t been here since he joined. He’s probably just lost.”

  “Or dead, without the protection of the school,” Ken shot back.

  “It no matter,” Manuel interjected, to everyone’s surprise. They all turned their attention to him. “We need to, ehh, wait for them here. We should choose time to wait until. Si no vienen, we go to fields. Whatever we do, we fight,” he finished, balling his fist up and holding it to his chest.

  Everyone agreed. They no longer had a sundial to calculate time with any sort of precision, but they decided on a few hours after sunrise. They set up temporary beds for themselves and the kids. The library had couches and cushioned chairs scattered throughout, and blankets the school and clinic had stored in the study rooms. The adults moved all the furniture in one area near the front of the library and surrounded it with bookshelves to set up their sleeping quarters. Manuel and Sarah agreed to take the first watch, allowing the others to rest, though deep down they all knew no one would sleep well.

  Ehsan spent the night marinating in the sorrow of the collapse of his new home and the terror brought by those who caused it. He thought about the last time he spoke to Josue. He’d been right about everything, from the fall of the school to Fatima’s response to it. Would Mateo and Cecilia go down with the ship? Had they already?

  Ehsan didn’t fully fall asleep, but he nodded off enough that his sister getting up in the morning startled him. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the light shining through the library’s skylights. The two of them
walked over to the front. Sarah and Manuel sat at the front desk. Manuel slumped forward, awake but just barely, while Sarah sat straight up, staring at the door as if Mateo might walk through any second.

  “Anything?” Ehsan asked.

  Sarah shook her head, deep bags under her reddened eyes. “We’d have woken you up if anyone else showed up.”

  Fatima tilted her head, looking over Sarah’s appearance. “Are you okay?” Fatima asked after a moment, Sarah still staring at the door.

  “Yeah. Just wish they’d get here soon.”

  Ehsan and Hector switched off with Sarah and Manuel, who reluctantly agreed to rest. Fatima and Emma went to a study room strategize while Julie remained with the kids, who’d finally fallen asleep. Ken decided to search the library for anything that might be of use to them, though he had no idea what he was looking for.

  “You think they’re coming back?” Ehsan asked after a long silence.

  “I dunno,” Hector admitted with a shrug. “I kinda doubt it at this point, but I don’t wanna lose hope, either. Especially since everyone still missing is so strong.”

  “Yeah.” Ehsan sighed. “This sucks. I mean, they beat us when we had Mateo, Ken, Cecilia… What can we even do at this point?”

  “I guess just go to the fields and-”

  “Watch that fall, too?”

  “I dunno, man. I mean, at least we have everyone here. But… ugh, I dunno. This sucks.”

  “Yeah.” Ehsan sighed once more. He hated having this much time to dwell. If Josue’s predictions and Ken’s pragmatic pessimism proved correct, the school had suffered the loss of about half of its adults. Ehsan kept trying to distract himself from the darker implications of these thoughts. He tried to think of something to say to Hector about video games, comics, anime, anything he could think of to take his mind off of things. Nothing worked.

  Mateo, his mind foggy from lack of rest, cracked open the door of the common room and crouch-walked over to the classroom window. The coast was finally clear. Mateo slapped his face to wake himself up as he returned to the girls. Luckily, after five years of being a firefighter, operating on minimal sleep posed no problem. He woke up Ana and Estefanía, who’d spent the morning in a chaotic sleep periodically interrupted by nightmares. They rubbed their eyes and sat up. Ana yawned and stretched while Estefanía immediately latched onto Mateo’s arm.

  “We’re gonna get outta here, girls,” Mateo whispered. “Follow me.” He led the girls outside and along the edge of the school, carrying Nimbus while the girls trailed behind him. The zombies had left for the most part, though a few small groups remained. He studied every single zombie he saw to check for familiar faces. Luckily, he recognized no one from the school. He moved as silently and deliberately as possible, a rock in his pocket to throw in the distance in case any moved in their direction. They crept past the school library, followed by the auditorium, and finally the classrooms in the front corner of the school. Mateo weighed his options. He considered finding a place to climb over with the girls, though he didn’t want to help the girls over the fence only for them to be ambushed on the other side. He realized they’d be better off trying the front gate. They snuck from the corner of the school along the front gate toward their destination.

  Just as they passed the lookout room, however, Mateo saw a sprinter charging their way. He glanced at the lookout room. The barricades around the door had collapsed in front of it, though the girls would be able to fit through an opening at his feet. He quickly looked through a gap in the rubble to make sure nothing waited inside. Empty.

  “Girls, inside!” They obliged. Mateo remained outside and stood with his back to the wall, a few feet away from the doorway. He studied the zombie running toward him. A long haired twenty-something in life, it looked at him with the same blank expression every other non-intelligent zombie did. Mateo braced himself. Just as the zombie came within five feet, Mateo moved out of the way. The zombie collided with the wall, creating a loud smacking noise. It fell to the ground, writhing around. Mateo jumped on it, his right knee pinning its chest while his left knee pinned its arm, and drove his ax into its head. It stopped moving.

  Mateo looked up. Two more sprinters ran toward him from the blacktop, and five followed from the back field. Mateo ran around the corner to check the front gate. Closed with the rusted silver padlock fastened, no zombies visible on the other side. Mateo cursed under his breath. He returned to the outside of the lookout room. The blacktop sprinters had almost reached the lunchtables.

  “Girls, I need you to get the key to the front gate,” Mateo instructed. “It’s in the black metal cabinet toward the front. Bottom drawer, attached to a blue and yellow lanyard. Understand?”

  “O-okay, Mister Mateo,” Ana’s voice responded.

  He stood once more by the wall. He braced himself, ready to take on the two barreling toward him, but unsure if he could take the next five, which had now reached the blacktop. Once more, he moved out of the way at the last second to dodge the two charging at him. They collided with the wall and fell to the ground. He chopped the head of the nearest one without hesitation. The second got up and resumed its attack, but Mateo held Nimbus up at chest level. Mateo caught its chest on his ax handle. He shoved the zombie back and jumped out of the way just as it lurched forward in response to his shove. It fell on its face. Mateo brought his ax down on its neck.

  “We found it, Mister Mateo!” Ana exclaimed from inside.

  “Good job, girls! Now try to open the gate.”

  The girls crawled through the opening and ran around to the front gate. Mateo looked back toward the five zombies still charging toward them, having just reached the lunchtables. He tried to think of how best to fight them. He heard a click by the gate. The girls beckoned Mateo over. He obliged, quickly opening the gate and ushering the girls through. Once all three of them crossed, Mateo slammed the gate shut behind them. Seconds later, the five sprinters collided with the gate.

  “Great job, girls,” Mateo beamed, giving each of them a pat on the back while turning them away from the gate where the sprinters still thrashed around. For the first time that day the girls smiled, though they were cautious smiles, the trauma of the early morning still tucked beneath them. “Let’s head to the library. I’m sure our friends are worried sick.”

  Ken came back from his search around the library. Nothing useful. He told Ehsan and Hector he no longer had any hope whatsoever of anyone else showing up. He and Hector decided to talk to Fatima and Emma about leaving the library after the two finished their meeting. Ehsan, despite his doubt that anyone would come back at this point, wanted to wait longer. To leave for the fields meant admitting they were gone. It also meant fighting off another invasion. He decided to check in with Fatima and Emma, eager to do anything except sit around.

  He walked to the back of the library, rubbing his thumb. He thought of everyone they had lost. Of everything their group had lost. He saw Ryan lying face down for what must have been the thousandth time in his head. He saw Josue, swinging until the bitter end, while Marcus faced his death with the same horror most normal people would. Ehsan shook his head as if by doing so he expected his thoughts to fly out. No such luck. He reached the door of the study room and opened it.

  He saw Fatima and Emma embracing, their lips locked, his sister’s hands running through Emma’s hair while Emma wrapped her arms around his sister’s waist. They looked up.

  “Uhh, sorry, I, uhh…” Ehsan stammered. His face burned with embarrassment and confusion. “I didn’t, I thought-”

  “Ehsan,” Fatima stammered in return. “I h-had no idea you were…”

  “Knocking would have been nice,” Emma blurted out after a few seconds of flustered silence.

  “Fatima, I-I thought… I thought you liked Mateo?” Ehsan asked, still reeling from the discovery.

  Fatima shook her head, avoiding eye contact. “I mean, people can like both, but in my case, no. I only like women.”

  “But, ho
w, I mean…” Ehsan trailed off. “But how come you always got so…” Ehsan thought of every time he saw Fatima get uncomfortable about Mateo and Sarah. He suddenly realized why. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I just... I never found the right time.”

  “Oh.” Ehsan glanced at the floor, then back to his sister. He rubbed the back of his head. “Well, uhh, I still love you and everything, Fatima.” He grinned sheepishly, eager to break the tension. “Though does this mean I gotta think of you as competition whenever I see a cute girl?”

  Fatima smirked. “I’m fairly certain I win that contest nine times out of ten.”

  Ehsan chucked. “Probably.” He looked to Emma. “I’m sorry I didn’t knock, I was just, y’know, so wrapped up in everything that’s happened.” He smiled awkwardly. “At least that’s not the main thing on my mind anymore, so there’s that.”

  Emma smiled. “It’s okay. I guess I had no business kissing her when we should’ve been planning. It’s just, y’know, when you’re facing down potential death…”

  “No, yeah, I get it.” He cleared his throat. “So, uhh, did you two come up with anything?”

  “Yes,” Fatima answered, her voice strained but recovering its composure. “We will let Sarah and Manuel get some rest then leave for the fields, regardless of who else does or does not show up. Our enemy will probably strike tonight, perhaps even sooner. We plan to have myself, you, Sarah, and Ken act as scouts to make sure they do not take us by surprise this time.”

  “You really think we could pull it off?” Ehsan asked.

  “I hope so. We have no choice, really. We thought about asking them to evacuate, but we have no idea if Camp Pendleton is a sure bet, and there are no other leads. If we gave up now, we might be trading short-term security for a long-term death sentence.”