“She’s in the follow vehicle with Julio and our guests. What’s going on?” he asked.
“So everything went okay?” asked Jim.
“Yeah. We can explain better when we get back, but what’s going on?” repeated Alec.
“That’ll be better explained when you guys get back. Just don’t say anything to Stacy,” warned Jim.
Alec looked up from the handheld radio with a concerned look. Lauren and Simon mirrored his expression.
“Okay,” he replied. “We should be there in about ten minutes.”
There was a few seconds of silence before Jim’s reply.
“See you then. We’ll send out the welcome wagon.”
Alec turned off the radio and let out an uneasy sigh.
“I wonder what that’s all about,” he said to Lauren and Simon.
Lauren shrugged and Simon was at a loss for words. Each of them quietly pondered what awaited them back at camp for the rest of the drive. Whatever it was it had something to do with Stacy. The town’s wall came into view. The streets, which normally had a few infected, were completely clear.
“That’s weird,” voiced Simon.
“You noticing what I’m noticing?” asked Alec.
“What?” interjected Lauren.
“The Zs,” Simon replied.
“What about them?” said Lauren as she looked around. “Whoa.”
She could see what they meant.
“Where are they?” Alec inquired.
Members of their community were outside of the wall. They were armed with all kinds of weapons. Many of them waved at the passing vehicles.
“Is this the welcome wagon?” asked Simon.
Slowly the town’s gates opened.
“This is one hell of a welcome,” said Lauren. “This has to be damn near everyone.”
Anyone who wasn’t outside was waiting here. Shoulder to shoulder. Jim stood out front. Simon stopped the van. Julio parked the car right behind them. They smiled as they got out of the vehicles but the welcome wagon had a flat affect.
“Jim!” said Stacy excited. “This is Gary and Liza. And this is Autumn.”
Jim smiled as he greeted them. “Welcome!”
“Where are my boys?” smiled Stacy as she looked around. “I want to introduce them.”
“Stacy…” replied Jim. “Stacy I need to talk to you.”
“Okay,” she replied, her smile faded.
“Beg your pardon,” Jim said to their guests.
Jim put his arm around her and pulled her away. Lauren couldn’t hear what was being said, but she noticed Kristie move out from the crowd. She held Marie as Callum followed. Mikey clung close to her. His eyes were red and swollen.
“No. No!” sobbed Stacy who collapsed to the ground.
Jim dropped to his knees and hugged her. Mikey ran over to his mother and threw his arms around her. Lauren hurried over to Kristie.
“Mama!” squealed Marie as she lunged for her mom.
Lauren gratefully accepted her daughter from Kristie.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Kristie looked as if she’d been crying too.
“Leo is…” she choked. “Leo is dead.”
“What happened?” demanded Lauren on the verge of tears.
“The boys jumped the wall,” she explained.
“Oh my God,” stated Lauren.
She quickly ran to Stacy who was sobbing loudly. Others joined in hugging her. The community wept with her.
“Where is he?” stammered Stacy. “Where’s my baby, Jim? Where’s my baby?” she plead as she squeezed her surviving son.
The crowd parted and there at the back was a bundle shaped like a person lying across the tailgate of a truck. Blood soaked the human cocoon. Everyone but Mikey relinquished their grip on her. Together, Stacy and Mikey approached Leo’s body. It was only a few steps. Stacy began hugging the bundle. She swayed back and forth as if she were rocking him to sleep.
“My baby. My baby,” she whispered.
She laid him back down and proceeded to unwrap his face.
“Stacy,” said Jim in a soft tone. “that’s probably not a good idea.”
“I need to see his face. I need to see it!” she argued.
“It’s pretty bad,” he said placing his hand over hers to stop her.
Stacy looked him right in the eye.
“Jim, I need to see his face. I brought him into this world and I want to see him one more time,” she reasoned.
“Not like this,” he said as tears filled his eyes. “Not like this.”
Stacy gently pushed Jim’s hands away and continued unwrapping her son. The sheet was matted to his face, anchored on by dried blood. Carefully, she peeled it back, exposing his face.
“My baby,” she whispered.
The right half of his face looked as if he’d been skinned. His lips were gone, leaving his bare gums and teeth visible. A couple of tendons was all that held his jaw together. The sections of skin that weren’t covered in blood were grey and ashen. Someone had closed his eyes. His hair was tousled and wet. Blood oozed out of his ear where a subtle cut could be seen.
“Stacy,” said Jim. “we couldn’t let him turn.”
“It’s okay,” replied Stacy.
She stroked the boy’s hair off his forehead.
“What were you doing?” she asked softly.
“He-he saved me, mom,” Mikey answered behind her.
She looked back at her surviving son and reached out to him. He hurried into her embrace like a baby bird taking shelter from the rain under its mother’s wing. RJ and Cameron stepped forward from the crowd.
“He saved all of us,” said RJ.
She looked at them. Young men, both a couple of years or more older than her son.
“We’re sorry,” chimed in Cameron.
Stacy didn’t say anything. She wasn’t ready to. It wasn’t anger, it was shock.
“The boys wanted to check out a house,” explained Jim. “It was an accident.”
He paused as she vacantly stared at her dead son. Mikey clung to her tightly silently crying.
“One of the boys busted his leg,” Jim continued. “If Leonard hadn’t have lead the Zs away none of them would be here.”
Stacy nodded. Then a subtle smile.
“Just a few days ago I was fighting with him about helping with house work,” she stated.
“And now he’s responsible for saving the lives of four boys,” Jim finished her sentence. “You must’ve done something right raising him Stacy. He was a fine young man.”
“One of the best,” added Cameron as he choked back tears.
“We’re so sorry,” RJ said solemnly.
Stacy extended the arm not wrapped around Mikey to them. Both boys hurried in for a hug. Together they sobbed and huddled over Leo.
Behind them Gary and Liza hugged their daughter Autumn a little tighter. Every parent was hugging their child or children.
Jim left them to grieve and approached their guests.
“Sorry about all of this,” he apologized. “probably not the welcome anyone expects.”
“In this world nothing is ever what anyone expects,” offered Liza. “It’s just so sad.”
They looked at Stacy and the others still holding each other.
“We’re going to hold a ceremony tonight,” added Jim. “Not to downplay the young man’s death, but we have some things to discuss.”
“We do,” confirmed Gary.
Joined by a small group of people that made up the counsel they walked toward the armory to discuss the future of both their villages.
Chapter 12
UNDERGROUND
“Just a few stragglers.” Cale reported what was displayed on the surveillance cameras to Staff Sergeant Curtis. “Looks like they’re tracking the deer we saw earlier.”
Curtis plopped himself into the reclining chair.
“They can do that?” he asked. “Track animals?”
�
�I’ve been tracked by them myself,” replied Cale. “They’ll follow anything that doesn’t smell dead, sergeant.”
Cale took a bite off of his jerky.
“I knew they followed sound, but I never thought smell was possible,” Curtis sounded doubtful.
Cale shrugged.
Curtis appeared vacant as he asked his next question. “What if we smelled dead? You think we could just walk right by them?”
“How would we smell dead?” retorted Cale.
“I don’t know. Maybe if we covered ourselves with something,” he pondered.
“Like their guts?” Cale questioned.
“Yeah!” Curtis said excitedly. “You think that would work?”
“It’s never worked for me, but if you want to try it, be my guest,” laughed Cale.
Curtis appeared offended that his suggestion was laughed at.
“I mean come on,” chuckled Cale. “If it were that easy we’d have taken the world back from the dead.”
“Yeah,” Curtis agreed.
The figures within the panels on the television lumbered out of frame and back into the wilderness. Content with what had transpired, Cale changed the channel.
“I combed through their DVD collection and I’ve narrowed it down,” he said as he grabbed two cases off of the coffee table. “Point Break or Bad Boys II?”
Cale presented them to Curtis for consideration.
“How long are they?” he inquired.
Cale flipped each one over to check. “Point Break is…one hundred twenty-three minutes, and Bad Boys II is one forty-seven.”
“What is that in hours?” Curtis asked annoyed. “I hate when it’s given in minutes.”
Cale laughed. Quickly he did the conversions in his head.
“Point Break is two hours and three minutes,” he answered. “Probably best since our shift is two hours.”
“Agreed,” stated Curtis.
Now that the entertainment was settled on he placed the disc in the DVD tray and returned to his seat on the couch.
“You know what we need?” he asked.
“What’s that?” Curtis responded.
“Popcorn.”
“Oh my God,” laughed Curtis. “When we get back I’m going to go to the theatre and get this largest bucket of popcorn you’ve ever seen.”
Cale wanted to laugh, but Curtis’s word choice made him remember their situation. “When we get back.” Memories he’d tried to forget flooded back. Memories of Zach, Cacy, Travis, and him talking about “when they got back.” Curtis remembered his soldiers all sitting in their barracks. Each group discussing plans “when they get back.”
“Sorry,” he said.
The movie’s opening scene started playing.
“It’s okay,” Cale assure him. “This does kind of seem like a deployment huh?”
“Does, doesn’t it?” chuckled Curtis. “Watching movies and talking about home.”
“Yeah,” Cale agreed.
“This is probably a little more cozy than a deployment to Iraq though,” he added.
“Until the power goes out,” retorted Cale.
“Why would the power go out?” Curtis inquired.
Cale had an uneasy expression.
“Just this afternoon, Bailey and I were talking,” explained Cale. “He doesn’t think the power will last much longer. We’re about out of fuel for the generator and he thinks the solar panels, where ever they are, may be damaged. Sometimes they charge the battery bank and sometimes they don’t.”
“Shit,” Curtis whispered.
The group was already growing restless. About two weeks underground and no clock to confirm the time of day was detrimental to morale. Grey was becoming more and more insubordinate with each passing day that she couldn’t go home. Problem was the others saw her acting out. Curtis was on the verge of losing control over the group. He could feel it. The mission was going to shit.
“Staff Sergeant Curtis,” Cale addressed him formally. “If I could just say…”
“Go ahead,” Curtis nodded.
“I think two weeks is more than enough time for the QRF teams to give up on finding us,” Cale suggested.
Curtis nodded and smirked. “You’re probably right,” he paused. “Sergeant Cale.”
Cale laughed. Curtis laughed too.
“Figured, since you went all formal on me, I’d do the same,” chuckled Curtis.
“Yeah,” laughed Cale. “Except Cale is my first name.”
“Really? I always thought it was your last,” confessed Curtis. “The sergeant first class always called you Cale.”
“He and I were on a first name basis,” Cale grinned.
Curtis laughed again.
“Well in that case what is your last name?” he asked.
“Trust me,” he assured him. “you’d only butcher it. My drill sergeants in basic avoided it. They always called me hey you, private, or soldier.”
“Ah. Well you can just call me, Curtis,” he told Cale. “I’m not a fan of my first name.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t go there,” warned Curtis.
Cale laughed. “Roger. Got ya—Curtis.”
Cale returned to watching the movie. Curtis, however, dwelled on their actions for tomorrow. After somewhat of a lengthy internal conversation he spoke.
“We’ll move out in the morning. Head north and check out that airfield,” he explained. “I want you to brief everyone before breakfast.”
“Roger,” replied Cale. “Is that the WARNO?” he laughed.
“Do you want a formal warning order?,” he asked. “Hey you, we’ll be up all night,” Curtis joked.
“I’m good,” laughed Cale.
“This is my favorite part!” exclaimed Curtis.
On the screen Keanu Reeves pointed a gun at Patrick Swayze, who was wearing a mask. Keanu then fired the gun into the air and shouted as Patrick got away.
“Fucking love that part,” Curtis reiterated.
“I couldn’t tell,” chuckled Cale.
Cale switched the video feed back to the security cams once the scene was over. He went to change it back to the movie but something caught their attention.
“What’s he doing?” questioned Curtis as he got closer to the screen for a better look.
Cale did the same.
“He’s…digging,” he answered.
The undead man on the screen, revealed by infrared cameras, was digging around in the leaves near the bunker door. It was only a matter of time before his actions would draw others. And if others came they might find the entrance.
Cale opened the cabinet and did as Bailey had shown them. He turned dials and flipped a switch. Then another dial that read “PA” was flipped to the “ON” position. Cale rechecked the volume dial to ensure it wasn’t too loud. He didn’t want to accidentally draw all of the undead out of the forest and to them.
“Hey-hey,” he whispered into the mic.
The rotting man paused and looked around. He looked like a drunk as he clambered to his feet.
“That’s it. Over here,” coaxed Cale.
Cale flipped the PA off and they watched the man shamble into the woods in the direction he’d heard his voice.
“Not sure how long that’ll throw him off,” confessed Cale.
“How did he know where the door was?” asked Curtis. “It’s covered in leaves.”
“He can probably smell us,” speculated Cale.
“Well, fuck,” hissed Curtis.
“I could go topside and put them down,” offered Cale.
“In the dark? No way,” objected Curtis. “I don’t need my second in command up there stumbling around in the dark with his knife.”
“I was gonna use my rifle,” mumbled Cale.
“It’s too risky. Even if they opened that hatch they still couldn’t get in,” explained Curtis.
“Yeah I suppose,” conceded Cale. “Just getting cabin fever, ya know?”
“Can’t blame
you. I’m antsy to leave too,” confessed Curtis.
Pleased that their hideout wouldn’t be found for awhile the two men resumed their movie and returned to their seats. The movie was about over which meant so was their shift. Over the last two weeks Cale rotated the guard shifts so that it was fair for everyone. Tonight was the first night he and Curtis had the first shift. As the credits rolled Curtis got up and stretched. Then let out a yawn.
“Whose up next?” he asked.
“Ballard and Grey,” answered Cale.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” ordered Curtis. “But for the next time switch up everyone’s buddies. Grey and Ballard are attached at the hip. I know it sounds paranoid, but I feel like they’re always plotting.”
“E-4 mafia?” laughed Cale.
“E-4 mafia?” Curtis inquired.
“You’ve never heard of the E-4 mafia?”
“No,” Curtis looked curious.
“A group of specialists that secretly distribute information and run the real missions?” Cale couldn’t believe he’d never heard the term.
“Nope. Guess I wasn’t cool enough,” ribbed Curtis.
“Me either,” Cale chuckled. “If you want anyone with Grey, it’s Ballard. Ballard is a great soldier. She’s probably just venting to him.”
“You’re probably right,” agreed Curtis.
The two men passed through the dining area and entered the hall. Curtis went right and entered the latrine and Cale went through the door on the left to the barracks. He eased the door slowly behind him so it wouldn’t slam. A camping lantern sat on the floor in the middle of the room. It served as their “night-light,” as Ballard put it. Tomes and Bailey snored in their bunks as Cale crept past. Ballard and Grey’s bunks were just past his own. Ballard’s was directly under Grey’s. Gently Cale placed his hand on Ballard’s shoulder, who opened his eyes immediately. He’d never even fallen asleep.
“Still awake huh?” asked Cale.
“Yeah.”
Cale stood up to wake up Grey, but she was already watching him.
“You too?”
“Couldn’t sleep, sergeant,” she confessed.
“Sorry,” apologized Cale.
He knew why. He wouldn’t be able to sleep if he were just a mere few miles from home. Cale sat down on his own bunk. Grey stretched and threw her legs over the edge of her bed, almost striking Ballard in the eye with the heel of her foot.
Z Plan (Book 3): Homecoming Page 12
