by Mike Staton
Ian nodded. “That differs slightly from what Percival described the stalkers being like. Migrating hordes we’ve seen before. The stalkers he described were territorial and sounded like they stayed put in a single spot.”
“Might of come across its territory out there. Or maybe it turned in route somewhere and that’s its new territory.” Kat lightly touched the butt of her rifle and adjusted it on her shoulder.
“Just the one?”
“Just the one,” Cooper echoed. “She was awesome out there. Probably saved my ass.”
Kat shook her head. “Just shot it the moment I realized it wasn’t acting like a normal zed.”
“No need to be modest.” Cooper shot a smile at her.
“Good job, both of you. The appearance of a stalker only a couple miles out is worrisome, but hopefully it’s an isolated event. I’ll add a warning, regardless, to the patrol briefing.” Ian looked at Kat. “I want you to get with Percival, he knows about the radio linkup, and plot a course from here to Danielsville. I think a trip to meet the new friends in person might be in order.”
Kat nodded. “I think that’s a reasonable idea. Something quite doable.”
“No true rush though.” Ian straightened and turned to look out the window and into the back yard. Several of the rescued children from Prosperity Wells ran on the lawn in some frantic game of tag. “We can afford to be cautious, I think.”
“I’d recommend that.”
“I’m glad to have your support.” Ian didn’t turn back to her. “We’re turning things around. Unless you’ve got something else to report, though…”
She shook her head.
“No talking about the radio. Can we spread the word about stalker?” Cooper asked.
“Permission granted, Mister Wellington. But no embellishing. No need to start a panic here.” Ian waved them off. “Dismissed.”
Kat snapped a salute. “Thank you, Ian.”
She backed to the door and retreated from the room. Cooper followed her out.
“Other people!” She grinned. “Do you know how awesome that is?”
“Way more than you were letting on in there.” Cooper reached out and tapped her nose.
She stood there stunned for a moment at the light touch as confusion flooded her synapses. “What was…”
She trailed off as his hand cupped her cheek and lips pressed to hers. She froze, staring wide-eyed at him. Half a second later she pressed a hand against his chest and pushed.
He moved, to her surprise, away and left her feeling tingly and confused.
“I’m sorry, did I misread that?” Cooper’s face spread into a bemused smile. “Are you and Ian…?”
“What?” She blinked the afterimage of his kiss away. “I… No, we’re not. Just good friends. Friends from before college. What was that?”
“A kiss. What’d you think it was?”
She shook her head, feeling her cheeks heat. She’d not expected her first kiss to be in the hallway of a farmhouse with a pretty young man and… “I’m… It’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting it. You know? I—“
“Keep people at arm’s length. I’ve noticed. If you didn’t like it, won’t happen again. Promise.” Cooper’s smile faded from his face. He looked a little hurt.
“I didn’t say that. I…” Kat closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. She let it out slowly, calming her racing heart. “Just ask next time. Alright? I like you just fine but…”
“Arm’s length. Gotcha.” Cooper lightly dropped his hand onto her shoulder.
She didn’t squirm away from his hand, though it took effort not to. “Arm’s length. We’re still friends, alright?”
“Mmhm.” Cooper squeezed her shoulder, then dropped his hand to his side. “Thanks for saving my ass today.”
“Of course. Do that for any friend of mine.” The words felt disconnected to her. “I need to go find Percival.”
* * *
Percival stared at the map. “Main thoroughfares are almost not an option from what I’ve seen out there. Most of them were clogged with cars and people who abandoned them.”
He looked up at Kat when she didn’t respond. He cleared his throat.
She started at the abrupt sound.
“I know this isn’t the most stimulating of topics, but…” He dropped back in his chair in the sunny day room of the farmhouse. “Usually you can focus better than this. What’s up?”
“Nothin’.” Kat folded her arms beneath her breasts and leaned forward to stare at the map. She pointedly ignored his stare.
“Sure. I’ll believe that when hell freezes over.” Percival picked the edge of the map up and folded it over on itself. “I need you focused. Not distracted.”
She looked up at him. Her visage drained into impassive ice.
“No, now you’re just shutting me out.” How had he ever gotten so lucky with Sarah? She actually talked with him. He glanced at the door, noted its emptiness and said: “Talk to me.”
“I…” She took a deep breath, glanced over her shoulder.
“No one’s there. Samuel’s a few feet down, but if you talk softly, he won’t overhear anything we say.” Percival leaned in. “I can be a great confidante.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“Seriously. Need you focused. I could turn halfway through this trip and then you’ll be in charge.”
“In charge?” A flicker of panic lit behind her eyes for a second.
“I take it Ian didn’t mention that part to you?”
“Huh uh.”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” He watched her mask the panic that’d been there a moment ago. “But regardless, you need to be prepared for what might happen. Which means knowing the route to Danielsville and the backup direction.”
“I’d rather be hunting the assholes who hit us.”
“Me too.” He’d felt a particular bit of bloodlust flare in the core of his being. “Want to hunt them down and make them suffer. Drive my hammer right through their knees and into their heads. Maybe leave them for food for the zombies.”
She stared at him for a long, silent moment. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
He nodded and the admission scared him. He hadn’t felt sickened after smashing his guard’s head in with his knee, nor after Sarah’d crushed Proxies’s skull. He’d become so casually associated with violence he’d been desensitized to it. The thought scared him. It worried him for his humanity, that the virus was coming back to the forefront and he was losing the battle there.
“Well, fuck.” Kat shook her head. “Remind me not to piss you off.”
“They shot my friends.” Roy Joy’s words suddenly had new meaning as he echoed them. “Military’s not good and shot my friends.”
He’d always assumed the insane man had been talking about the zombies he spoke to. Maybe he hadn’t.
“You went distant there for a second. You alright?”
“I’m the one supposed to be getting you to focus. Not the other way around.” Percival smiled at her. “I’m not alright. I’m infected and broken in about a dozen different ways, the foremost being a distinct longing for my dead soulmate. But I’m coping. Or trying to. Now, what has your thoughts so securely fastened on something else?”
“Something completely inconsequential comparatively.” She glanced at the door again.
“It’s still empty.”
“Yeah.” She dropped her gaze to the table between them. “Cooper kissed me.”
“Not meaning to sound insensitive here, but… So? I mean, good?” Percival found the wood grain she was studying so very intently. “He’s not my type, but I can recognize that he’s quite attractive. Not always the brightest bulb though. Good job?”
“I, uh, dunno that I wanted it. I mean,” her cheeks burned a nice crimson color, “I think he’s pretty and… It was my first and really sudden and…”
“Want to hear a funny story?”
“Only if it’s relevant to me and my dying of
embarrassment over here.” Kat’s forehead hit the table and she half mumbled her words into it.
“Sarah kissed me first. I barely knew her at the time. I was shy and at a sorority event covering it as a freshman journalism student. I nearly shit myself.” Percival smiled with the memory, even if it came to him through the haze of grief that still surrounded Sarah. “Here was this buxom goddess who’d deigned my lips to grace with her divine presence. I was a stumbling, bumbling mess for the rest of the event. Couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t think straight. Still don’t know how I managed to write my story for the next week. And, that wasn’t my first kiss either.”
“You were shy?” Kat didn’t lift her head. “No way. I mean, you’re good with people now.”
Percival leaned back, shrugged even though she couldn’t see it. “Sarah helped me out of my shell. Point of my story is more along the lines of ‘it’s okay to be confused and embarrassed over it.’ And if you didn’t like it or whatnot, tell him off. Or I’ll tell him off for you.”
“I don’t know if I liked it or not.” Kat finally lifted her head from the table. “It was just unexpected. Why am I talking to you about this?”
“I’m charismatic and a natural leader.” Percival smirked at her. “And a dead man walking. So just who else am I going to tell?”
She shook her head. A shadow passed over her features before she shook it away. “Thanks, Percival. You’re going to be missed.”
“I should damned well hope so.” He sat up straight and studied the young woman seated across from him. She was strong, capable. Fractured, sure, but who wasn’t? No one came out unscarred.
He smiled. “While I’m around, I want you to know you can come talk to me. About anything.”
She nodded and flipped open the map. Her icy exterior settled into place. “I appreciate that, but ain’t quite my shtick. Let’s get onto this. Share your knowledge with me.”
Percival nodded and traced his finger along the main highway closest to both towns. “Nope.”
He transitioned into an easy flow of relaying what he’d learned out on the road.
Chapter 10
“I’m not saying it’s a bad idea.” Percival looked from Ian to Hope. “Just that we should exercise caution here. Not everyone is as friendly as we are.”
Ian stood in dress uniform with his hands clasped behind his back. He shook his head. “I didn’t think that this was up for discussion. We understand your paranoia, Mister Polz. But we have to reach out to others eventually. We just don’t have the population here to save humanity.”
“Sav…” Percival cut himself off, scrubbed his hand across his eyes. “We still have to make it through the winter. And we haven’t even secured a better place for our people to stay.”
A week had passed since the first radio broadcast and he and Kat put together a travel plan to visit with the survivors in Danielsville. He rubbed his forehead, and transitioned to his temple. Yesterday had seen the first flurries of the season.
“We’ve been in contact with the Prosperity Wells security team,” Hope said.
“And what does Wolf have to say?” Percival felt a flash of anger for the man. It wasn’t even rational, but there it was regardless: the lingering effects of his infection. He hadn’t mentioned to anyone that he’d heard whispers on the wind during a patrol a couple days past. He’d followed them to a small cluster of zombies. It’d freaked him out to the point of leaving them alone. Samuel and Kat’d dispatched the lot of them.
“That they’ve successfully cleared a portion of campus and some small areas of town. Large part of the success has been Susanne Frankman.” Hope paused and looked at Ian, though her words were meant for Percival. “Headaches coming back?”
“Just those involved with rushing head long to meet with strangers.”
“No need to get snippy,” Hope shot back.
“Will you two knock it off.” Ian slammed his palm down on the desk. “Percival, the meeting with the Danielsville survivors is going forward. We’re part of a bigger world. This is the first step. If you don’t like it, you don’t need to go.”
Percival sighed. “Do I have permission to scrub it if I deem it too dangerous?”
“If you see something shifty, of course. It’s why I asked you to go in the first place.” Ian stood up straight once more and backed away from the desk.
Percival sighed. “Alright. Fine. We done here?”
“We’re making finalizations for moving civilians back to Prosperity Wells. Things have been quiet enough here, and the setup is already established so it’d be foolhardy to try to move with the onset of winter.” Ian glanced to Hope and back to Percival. “You’ll be going on foot to Danielsville. We need the Humvee to transport folk back and forth. It’s just too critical here.”
Percival nodded. “That’s fine. Is my team being coopted?”
“You still have your first pick, unless any turn down the request.” Ian folded his arms over his chest. “Even if I feel you’ve picked my best people. I’m not going to rob you of valuable manpower. You know better than the rest of us just how harsh this world has become.”
Percival nodded once.
“That’s all,” Ian said.
Percival rose and walked out without a word.
*
He stood in the briefing room, maps and tactical information was spread around what seemed like every surface. His team stood or sat around the table. He slowly looked at each member.
Kat’s expression was unreadable, her icy professionalism forefront and foremost present. She’d opted for jeans, a short-sleeved, navy blue t-shirt that was bulky over a second, long-sleeved, green t-shirt. A black, leather jacket hung off her chair. She seemed to embody her name, both relaxed and ready to pounce all in the same moment.
Samuel stood by the door. His aluminum baseball bat, dented from use, was propped on the wall. His gaze jumped from Percival, to the maps, to the other members of his team, and back. It never settled anywhere, and while he kept his arms crossed over his chest and still, his left foot tapped nervously. He’d chosen to go with soft grey BDU pants, tucked into black combat boots, and two layers of sweat shirts. He wore a baseball cap that shaded his eyes.
Cooper looked like a lost puppy. He’d caught wind that Kat was leaving for a dangerous mission and begged his way onto the team. He was quick and strong and, after consulting Kat, Percival’d relented and added him to the team roster.
Cooper’d found a set of green and brown camouflaged BDUs that fit him surprisingly well and wore a belt that sported a wicked machete.
Judith sported a dark hoodie with the hood pulled up despite the warmth of the room. She’d also declined to shed her brown, leather jacket. She opted for jeans and hiking boots. Her slender figure lent credence to her agile nature. She wore a long dagger, from her renaissance LARPing days she said, on one hip and a quiver bristling with arrows on the opposite. Her longbow was propped by the wall and she stood projecting a quiet strength against the side wall.
“As you all know, we’re heading out to meet representatives from Danielsville.” Percival tapped the map. He’d not been to Danielsville in his trek out before and the map lacked any notation of the location. “We’re heading out there to make friends, not to start any fights.”
That latter portion had been a secondary reason he’d admitted Cooper to the team. The young man’s pretty features would work in their favor.
“It’ll take a few days to walk the backroads as our primary source of transportation’s going to be used for hauling supplies around here.” He traced a finger along the route he and Kat had worked out days before. “It’s not far, so it should be pretty simple to get out there, say ‘Hi,’ and get back here. Questions?”
“How’re you feelin’?” Judith pushed her hood back to reveal her tightly braided hair in neat rows right against her head. It matched her dark, almost black, skin nicely.
“Not 100 percent, but certainly better than a week and a half ago.�
� Percival looked from Judith to the rest of his group. “I’m not sure how long I’ve got, if that’s what you’re getting at. I’m feeling better where everyone else has, as this point, felt shittier than a 500 pound man with diarrhea. I don’t. So I don’t know what to tell you besides the truth. I could drop dead and turn at any moment. If I didn’t know better, I’d tell you I’d beaten the unbeatable virus.”
“Who’s in charge if you bite it?” Samuel, his keeper, shuffled his feet a little.
“That’d be me.” Kat kicked her feet off the desk and sat up straight. “I don’t want it though. You volunteerin’?”
“Oh, no. That’s all yours to keep. Just figgered I’d ask.” Samuel smiled at her.
Kat returned the smile and turned back toward Percival.
“What do we do if they’re not as friendly as their online personality profile says they are?” Samuel asked.
Percival shook his head. “We bug out and come back here without them on our asses.”
“So, shake ‘em in the woods or something?” Samuel asked.
“Something… Look, I won’t ask you to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. Just isn’t my leadership style. And I’ve done some… less than moral things. If it comes to it, I’ll make the hard choices and do the hard things again.” Percival pushed the faces of those he’d killed away from his mind.
“Talking about killing the living?” Kat’s voice was quiet. If the briefing room hadn’t been near silent, he doubted he’d have heard her.
“Yeah. But only in extreme cases. There’s too few of us left to go all trigger crazy on everyone.” Percival cleared his throat. “I don’t want to kill anybody else, or have any of you do it either.”
“Some deserve it, though.” Kat’s voice was cold and resolute in that statement.
He knew just who she meant and he agreed with her. If they came across that group of military assholes… well the meeting with the Danielsville folk could wait. “That’s very true, but now’s not the time for it.”
