“Maybe,” Moto said. “But I doubt it. Remember he can't risk tipping his hand…not yet anyway. Not until he has enough supporters to keep the rest of the enlisted men in line. Sure, now he realizes I know about his part in the plans, he knows that I'm on to him and am part of the conspiracy to stop him, but he won't be able to do anything about it for the time being.”
“How long will it take him to have you killed in an accident just like he did with General Conrad?” Felicity demanded.
“I'll have my team assembled long before then,” Moto assured her. “Franco and his Blackshirts will all be under arrest awaiting trial for treason. There is already a plan in place to take them by force if necessary.”
“So you're really just gonna hand yourself over to him?” Sonya said in disbelief. “I don't know which part of your plan is crazier; the fact that you want to put yourself in mortal danger for no reason at all, or the fact that you expect me to just sit here and wait for word you've been killed at the hands of a petty tyrant.”
“I'm still the ranking officer on base,” Moto said confidently. “I have a responsibility to my men and to my country. I don't take that lightly. We've talked about this before. You're going to have to learn to trust me.”
“It's not you I don't trust,” Sonya hissed, her eyes flashing in anger as she balled up her fists.
He reached out and put his hand on her shoulders, but she furiously shook it off. She stormed out of Apache's shelter without another word. Moto chased after her, leaving us standing there in shock. Apache clapped his hands together.
“Time for dinner I guess,” he said warmly, glossing over the obvious tension still in the room. “Who's hungry?”
“Xander,” Felicity whispered, using her small voice as she took my hand. “Please tell me you're not going on this suicide mission with Moto, that you'll help us talk him out of it? Please, baby? For me.”
I looked at her, then around to see Sam and Apache trying not to stare at us.
“Can we talk about it after dinner when we've had some time alone?” I asked, feeling embarrassed and darting looks around the room again.
“Sure,” she said at once, letting go of my hand. The tension began to seep slightly from the room. “I trust you, baby.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling better about it right away. “Now that you mention it, I am pretty hungry. What's on the menu?”
“I thought you'd never ask,” Apache said, coming back across the room and stepping between Felicity and me. Taking us in his arms, he guided us back outside.
Apache began at once to tell us about the village and how things operated. He explained that everyone in Xanadu was trained in a particular skill, but that they all took turns doing unpleasant jobs, like making sure the sewage pipe was properly removing waste, or helping prep and cook. He explained that he was the last of a council of Elders, but that he had turned decisions about their future over to a group vote. He showed us people patching thatched roofs, while others were making pottery and necklaces, and some taking out bundles of trash to the compost piles out by the crops. There was so much happening in the bustling village that it was hard to keep up. Sam followed along like an eager puppy adding comments that, for the most part, fell on deaf ears – a fact that his excitement did not allow him to notice, as far as I could see.
“This is Tarunika,” Apache boasted, as they briskly walked past a beautiful girl working on a fabric loom, making cloth out of wool. “She's not only the best fabric maker in Xanadu, she's also a fierce warrior and teaches math to the children. Her hobbies include baking desserts and making herbal ointments.”
“That's amazing,” Felicity sighed. “I'd love to try a sample some time.”
“Here,” Tarunika offered, thrusting out a small wooden bowl with purple foam in it. “It's lavender hand and body lotion.”
Felicity took a dab and began working it in, her face lighting up as the lotion spread.
“It tingles,” she exclaimed. “I wasn't expecting that.”
“It heals small wounds and cuts,” Tarunika explained.
“Thank you,” Felicity said appreciatively. “It's amazing.”
“Have some,” Tarunika graciously offered, handing her a small vial. “My gift to you.”
“I don't know what to say,” Felicity quickly replied. “You're very kind.”
“It's nothing,” Tarunika smiled. “Maybe later I can help you oil and braid your hair to keep it from tangling.”
“I'd like that,” Felicity beamed.
“Here comes just the person I wanted you to meet.” Apache waved as a muscular young man with dark eyes and dark brown hair came strolling up. “This is my son, Kaya.”
“I heard you were back,” Kaya said, embracing his father. “Welcome home.”
“Any troubles while I was gone?”
“Nothing I couldn't handle,” Kaya laughed. “Mostly just watching Sonya pace back and forth and make herself sick with worry.”
“Speaking of which,” Apache warned, “she's in a mood right now. Best to go easy on her.”
“Guess that explains why she and Moto blew me off when I said hi a moment ago. They were headed out toward the waterfall.”
“They'll be fine,” Apache assured Kaya. “They just need some time alone to sort things out. Smells like the stew is nearly ready.”
“It is,” Kaya said. “I worked kitchen detail today. We just started serving. In fact that's why I came up in the first place, to grab Tarunika and bring her down. When she gets going on a project she can get so absorbed she forgets to eat.”
“We can't have that,” Apache said pleasantly. “Let's all go down together.”
Apache led the way and we followed, Kaya taking Tarunika by the hand and trailing just a little behind us. They kept giggling, but I didn't want to turn around and invade their space, so instead I took Felicity's hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. She smiled at me, delighted by the gesture.
We sat in small groups on the open grass, with no central focus. People came and went, some eating, some serving drinks and handing out fresh baked sourdough bread, some taking dishes away. The food was amazing. There was roast deer meat in the stew along with fresh potatoes and carrots. The bread was like nothing I'd ever tasted before in my life. We drank clean stream water and freshly squeezed orange juice. I gulped down as much as I could until Felicity told me to slow down so I wouldn't get sick.
Eventually, Moto and Sonya joined us. They didn't look like they'd worked out all their issues, but at least they were no longer openly fighting. Sam wandered off to play with a group of children, and Tarunika brought out a selection of her famous pastries. They were absolutely incredible; ripe peaches and apple slices wrapped in flaky crusts coated in sweet juices. I had forgotten how much I’d missed dessert.
Afterward Apache, Kaya, and Tarunika took Felicity and me to see the Iboga fields, while Moto and Sonya snuck off again. We sat near them as Kaya inspected the bulbs and checked the root growth.
“Looks like another mature batch is almost ready,” he told Apache.
“Good,” Apache said. “You can start working in your lab again in the morning. I'll have some villagers come down at sunrise and start harvesting. That way you'll be all prepped and ready by the time the root is cooked dry and crushed to fresh powder.”
“Ready for what?” Felicity asked.
“To start synthesizing batches of antidote of course,” Apache replied with a big smile. “We've got everything we need right here to whip up hundreds of doses.”
“What about spider venom?” I asked, recalling my brother telling me about how the brown recluse played a role.
“Found a way around that,” Kaya said with a wink. “Trade secret. Turns out my way works better, or at least faster anyway. In most cases, I've cut the coma period down to less than forty-eight hours.”
“We've got a small stockpile all ready, and are working on a delivery system,” Apache added.
“How did you
figure out how to make it?” I asked, remembering Moto explaining to me that it was a very difficult concoction to replicate.
“It was all in the notes Sonya brought me,” Kaya said. “The solution was fairly straightforward once I had them, almost like a recipe. From there I just did a little tinkering.”
“A very complicated recipe,” Apache threw in. “Don't let his modesty fool you. He's spent countless hours training in medical sciences and biology. Always was a smart kid. Hell, if Z Day had never happened, he'd probably be one of those big shot research doctors locked up in a building, trying to come up with a cure for cancer.”
“Looks like I still found a way to try to save the world,” Kaya smiled. Apache, unable to help himself, took the opportunity to mess Kaya's hair up. Kaya, looking miffed, pulled away from his doting father with an embarrassed smile and ran his fingers through his hair, trying not to make it obvious he was watching to see how Tarunika would react. They were clearly head over heels for each other. You could tell by the adoring look on her face.
“When you say you're looking for a delivery system, does that mean you're planning on using it for defense purposes?”
“Not exactly,” Apache replied as he turned and looked at Felicity.
“We were thinking more along the lines of using it for offensive purposes,” Kaya added. “We plan on turning back as many as we can.”
“What about the ones that are already too far gone?” I asked.
“Their spirits will finally be allowed to pass on,” Apache said reverently. “Either they will find their way back to the land of the living or go to the Great Beyond, but they will no longer be trapped here in terrible misery, suffering from mindless hunger. That's the most important thing. That's the best we can offer them now.”
I thought about the vivid hallucinations I experienced when I was given the antidote, how I could no longer tell if I was alive or dead, how I'd wandered aimlessly from one vision to the next, working out issues from my past. By the time I came down and saw Moto was there with me, I could no longer tell what was real and what was a fantasy. My mind had been broken, but my soul had been purified of the hot, seething anger that clouded everything it touched. I imagined those who would choose not to come back would at least be liberated from that terrible state of helplessness, and I felt okay with it. I would have done anything to end that kind of unthinkable torture.
“And most importantly, they won't be a threat to other people,” Kaya added.
“How do you plan on administering the serum? It's not like you can just sneak up on a cluster, much less a full horde. Plus, won't someone have to monitor them as they turn back? I was out for nearly a full week.” I was really just thinking out loud. I hadn't meant to sound pessimistic, or to shoot down their plan. The questions were out of my mouth before I had time to think.
“We're working on a plan,” Kaya stated, looking slightly peeved by my less than supportive sounding comments. “We just need people to believe in us; people that want to help should be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.”
“Sorry,” I said, feeling genuinely contrite. “I wasn't trying to rain on your parade.”
“We've got a few ideas about the best way to administer the antidote,” Apache told us. “We've been working on this for a while. At first we tried to vaporize the serum and simply let them inhale it.”
“Zombies would simply wander into it and absorb it through the lung and skin tissue,” Kaya continued, again looking excited to tell us what they'd been up to. “Only it didn't work. It was too simple; too good to be true.”
“Since then, we've been working on creating portable sized doses that can be mounted on arrows or set into blow darts,” Apache went on. “We've made great progress too. Just last week one of our farmers discovered a way to turn corn stalk into aerodynamic spike strips. We're still monkeying with them, but there is a good chance they will work. We haven't had the time to field test them.”
“The hope was to be able to knock them out cold first,” Kaya explained. “Once we've neutralized the threat, then teams will be able to move in to monitor the health and safety of the infected as the Ibogaine takes hold. We've even been working on making restraints and face masks to help prevent the chance of further contamination.”
That's what they were using to tranquilize the guards up at the base camp in Ojai, I thought, remembering the dart sticking out of Tank's neck. They were testing out the new delivery system.
“What about people who have already been turned?” I asked, trying to sound more inquisitive than judgmental. I wasn't looking to have my head bitten off again by Kaya. “I mean, I thought once we'd been treated the antidote wouldn't work on us again.”
“Yeah,” Kaya shrugged. “There are still flaws for sure. Not everyone is going to make it back. Still, we've got to try to do our part to end this nightmare and restore order to what's left of the world, for the sake of all living creatures.”
“How many can you turn at a time?” Felicity asked, speaking up at last. “I mean, judging by the amount of antidote you are able to make at one time, then administer, and adjusting for the time it takes to monitor the treated, how long would it take to really start seeing a difference?”
“If all goes well tomorrow with the harvest, I'd say we'll have enough to treat several thousand,” Kaya spoke, giving his best guess. “That includes the stockpiles we already have. From there on, several hundred at a time.”
“We thought the best plan would be to start locally, and then spread out,” Apache explained. “We'll have to go city by city, but it's possible we could have the entire state of California in a few years.”
“A few years?” Felicity said in shock. “That's a long time.”
“It's better than nothing at all,” Kaya reminded her. “We've got to start somewhere.”
“I agree with you,” Apache said kindly to Felicity. “I'd like to see things move faster as well. That's why it's so important that Moto do what he can to keep control over the base in Port Hueneme. With the help of the military, we might be able to lick this thing in under a year, maybe even less than six months. If, on the other hand, Franco has his way, it might never happen at all.”
I expected Felicity to flip out on him, but instead she bit her lip, looking lost in thought, an inner struggle raging in her heart as evidenced by the way she furrowed her brow.
“We can talk more tomorrow,” Apache said at last. “I'm sure you're bone tired by now. Let me take you to your home for the night. We made arrangements for you to stay near me. I'll wake you in the morning when it's time. I know you two have a lot to talk about.”
“Thanks,” I said. Felicity just nodded.
We said our goodbyes to Kaya and Tarunika, and Apache led us through a maze of tree roots, then up a spindly ladder made of branches and ropes, and back up to the platforms in the treetops. He pushed open a small wooden door set into a great tree, and bid us to enter. Inside, a pot of glowing coals warmed the room and gave off a gentle red glow. There was a large, soft-looking bed nearby covered in blankets. I fell on them face first, thrilled to have someplace comfortable to sleep once more. Unlike the creaky wooden shack back at Gold Strike City, the treetop bungalow was warm and wind free. Best of all, there was no one listening outside. I turned onto my back and watched Felicity as she walked over and sat down next to me. Truthfully, I was just waiting for her to start a fight. I was certain she had already prepared a long list of points and counterarguments to anything I had to say. Instead, she simply stared at her hands, fidgeting.
“What is it?” I asked at last, unable to stand the suspense any longer. “What are you thinking? You don't want me to go, do you?”
“I didn't at first,” she said, not looking up. “But now, to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel. What if they're right? What if Moto could mean the difference between this ending now or years from now, or maybe not even at all?”
“Just the thought of there being an end to
the zombie plague is almost more than I can comprehend right now,” I admitted. “It's like we've been stuck in a waking nightmare for so long. I used to think the idea of a zombie coming to kill me was actually kinda silly, like stuff you'd tell kids that were Sam's age late at night to spook them out.”
“The zombies! Look out! They're coming to get you!” Felicity held her hands out in front of her and tried to make a scary face, but just ended up looking adorable to me, as always.
“Exactly,” I chuckled. “Now the idea of never running into another zombie again in my life seems, I don't know…,” I trailed off, lost in thought.
“Impossible?”
“Yeah,” I said, “I guess. Ironic isn't it?”
“It's definitely worth fighting for,” Felicity said softly. “But what am I going to do here if you go? All I'll be able to do from the minute that you are gone is worry. And no one will be able to tell me that it's okay, because I will know for sure that you are definitely in harm’s way.”
“I know,” I said, breaking eye contact. “I can't imagine how I'd feel if the roles were reversed.”
“I know I don't say it enough,” Felicity began, “but you are the love of my life. From the day I first met you...”
“You mean when you threatened to kill me with a shotgun,” I playfully teased, trying my best to lighten the mood.
“Honestly, Xander, I can't imagine a world without you in it. I'm not sure I would be able to survive the loss of you.”
I took her in my arms and held her tight. We didn't speak for a long time. I could feel her hot tears running down her face as I listened to the harmonious sounds of the bustling village outside, muffled by the thick, seamless walls. At last I pulled her onto my lap and began playing with her hair. She gazed at the hot coals, the red glow reflecting in her amazing eyes. After a long while I spoke again.
“You could always throw yourself into helping Kaya and the others,” I suggested. “Rather than feeling lost and out of place here without me. That way you'd be working to help bring about the end as much as me.”
Zombie Attack! Army of the Dead (Book 3) Page 7
