by Mike Staton
“I can do that. Can I ask why you care quite so much?” While Percival could be wrong in his assumptions, he didn’t think a healthy romp would be a bad thing for Kat. Though if Cooper was a dick about it, especially afterward, they might see a darker side of little Katherine Holter than ever before.
“Because she reminds me of my little sister.” Ian looked away. “One I—“
“You don’t need to say more if you don’t want to.” Percival rose from his cot’s edge. Ian’d bared a bit more of his soul than he truly needed to already this evening.
“Let’s just leave it at things didn’t end well.” Ian kept his gaze locked on the wall. “Do you know what happened to your family, Percival?”
Percival looked away. “I was stupid and didn’t contact them before lines went down. I keep hope somewhere in my core that they’re alright. But truthfully?”
“Yeah?”
“Truthfully, they’re probably like me or worse. The old adage that there’s more guns in Texas than people is probably true now, but wasn’t before. I hope they’re fine on my granddad’s ranch. That’s what keeps me going sometimes. But… it might not be the truth.” Percival hadn’t truly thought of his parents and sister in a month. He shook his head and wiped some weird wetness from his eyes. “They’re fine and a shining beacon of hope down in the dead lands of Texas, welcoming every living soul to their ranch to build a new Republic of Texas that’ll charge forth and liberate the rest of the United States from this undead menace. All guns blazing and ‘Remember the Alamo!’ and all that.”
That wrenched a chuckle from Ian. He looked at Percival with a small smirk on his lips. “Quite the imagination you’ve got there.”
“I was a journalism major before the shit hit the fan. What else do I have to do but spin tales of dubious validity?” Percival smiled. “Besides, you’ll thank me when it comes true and our Texas Ranger Rescuers arrive.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”
“Of course. I’ll keep an eye on Cooper and look for Krista.”
“Thank you. Rest well and god speed tomorrow.” Ian backed out of the quarantine shed.
“Move as quick as I can.” Percival sat back down and stroked his temple as he ignored the quiet, whispers of a dead woman.
Chapter 11
Kat sat in a tree. She straddled the nook where the trunk split into two directions and used her rifle’s scope to peer down into Danielsville.
Their travel from the farmstead had been smooth and easy. They’d bumped into only a few zombies along their path. Those had been taken down quickly and quietly.
She’d been glad for the ease of travel, similar to some of the near winter hiking trips she’d done at the academy in Colorado. They’d slowed as they neared the town and now, a full day early, they scouted. Percival’d sent Judith and Cooper to circuit the town.
That decision had annoyed Kat, but discipline’d kept her in line. She hadn’t had much alone time with Cooper since they’d embarked for Danielsville. She suspected that’d been on purpose, but couldn’t quite put her finger on Percival’s motivation. She’d let it slide for now. She redirected her attention to the town in her rifle’s scope.
The town looked quiet from this angle. Too quiet. She swept her focused attention up one street and back down the next. She didn’t see a moving soul. Or shambling corpse for that matter. Weren’t towns supposed to be teeming with undead beasts? “What the hell?”
She muttered a couple expletives to herself. Where were the fortifications? Where were the zombies? Where were the people that were supposed to be here? It’s not like she saw a whole host of corpses either. There was, quite simply, an empty town before her. Like everyone had just up and left and no one had moved back in.
It left a bad taste in her mouth and a cold tingle down her spine. She shook her head and switched her scanning method from looking for movement to checking street signs. She settled her crosshairs over a sign, clicked her optics up a notch and read the sign. She skipped to the next street. “16th… 17th, other direction… 14th. Now…”
It didn’t take long for her to pan up the street. “There you are.”
She settled crosshairs on the storefront’s sign. The plate glass was even still intact. Her discomfort with the situation kicked up a notch. Something wasn’t right in this town. It was too pristine.
The store’s front was white painted brick with a large, plate glass window. The kind of window you’d expect to see in an action movie, just before the protagonist threw the bad guy through it. The sign, dull in the early afternoon light, read ‘Edison and Son Rx.’ Due to the light outside, Kat couldn’t see past that pristine window and into the interior of the darkened building. A small recessed alcove led to a glass door with a small chain lock on it.
Kat swept her aim up the building, brought it around the top edge of the roof. She could see the AC and heating vents clear enough, and what she assumed was a hatch for accessing the roof from some ladder below. But outside of the emptiness of the space, it looked perfectly ordinary.
But nothing was ordinary any more. Its plainness marked it as wrong these days.
She let out a soft sigh. She wondered what trap they were bound to walk into tomorrow as she climbed from her sitting position and slung her rifle. Her descent from the tree was far quicker than her ascent had been and she dropped to the ground next to Percival. He stood with his shotgun at the ready, watching the forest.
He reminded her more of some ancient warrior with a fire thrower in hand and mystical hammer slung across his back than a post-apocalyptic leader of men. She tapped his shoulder.
“What’d you see?” He didn’t bother turning toward her, just kept his quiet vigil, watching the trees in the opposite direction from Danielsville.
“Something’s giving me the creeps. It’s too clean. There’s, like, nothing down there. No bodies, no bullet holes, no zombies, nothin’. It’s weird and I don’t like it.”
“Casings? Blood spatter?” Samuel asked.
“I didn’t have the perfect vantage point for seeing everything up there, but I’d venture to say that both’re missing down there. It’s like the town evacced before the shit truly hit the fan.” Kat shook her head. If Krista was actually down there, they might have been evacuated. Danielsville was pretty close to an Airforce base, so it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility.
“Not an impossibility.” Percival shook his head and turned toward her. He flipped up his motorcycle helmet’s visor like some ancient knight. “I’d prefer that to another reason for the town’s emptiness.”
“Stalkers?” Kat shivered. The animalistic growl of the singular stalker she and Cooper’d come across in the forest around the farmhouse had been terrifying. It was a noise meant for an animal, not a former human being. And to have the entire town full of stalkers? “Fuck me…”
“No.” Percival’s voice echoed amusement.
“I didn’t mean that literally. Jerk.” She thumped him in the bicep. “I know I don’t want to go running into a town full of stalkers. Not if what you’ve said about them hunting folk is anywhere remotely close to true.”
“It’s worse in person.” He reached up and flicked the visor back down. “But… this doesn’t feel right to be stalkers.”
“And why would they call for us to meet here if there were, right?” Kat put air to fears she felt. This stank of a trap to her, but not one involving the dead. “I don’t think their home base is here in town either. Not enough in the way of fortifications.”
Percival grunted. “We should cut back to our rendezvous spot. I don’t think that Judith’ll beat us there, but… Best we not keep them waiting if they are and we might be able to have a roof over our heads tonight if they finish their circuit quick enough.”
Kat shook her head. She knew the latter bit of that statement was hogwash. And she’d push for a quiet, hidden camp just outside of town anyways. It wasn’t as though they needed to broadcast their early arrival
by barging into town and breaking down a door.
“Lead on, fearless leader.” Kat gestured for Percival to take point as she picked up her .22 from where she’d left it by the base of the tree.
* * *
Percival hunched his shoulders. The cold seeped into his very core and he couldn’t get warm. The fact they weren’t bothering with a fire tonight didn’t help. Not that he was about to argue with it. He knew the others were just as miserable in the cold as he. Except, perhaps Kat and Cooper. They sat precariously close together.
Guess that made only half the party cold. He shook his head. And spread the MRE pouch wider. He shoved the spoon into the gaping hole and munched on ‘spaghetti and meatballs.’
“What’d y’all find out there?” He directed the question at Cooper.
Judith lifted her head from her MRE. “Quietness.”
“What does that mean?”
“She means there wasn’t anything out there to see. The zombies have been cleared from this area, or never came in the first place.” Cooper looked from Percival to Kat. “Kat was sayin’ she saw similar stuff in the town itself.”
Judith shook her head. “This place is too quiet. It’s the quiet of the graves before the dead rose. A quiet that should be peaceful, but ain’t. Know what I mean?”
Percival nodded. “Yeah. I think I do. Hell, there’s a couple cars down there still. You just don’t see that anywhere outside of a road now.”
Cooper set his MRE pouch down. It flattened out. “What’s the plan for tomorrow? Everyone goin’ in?”
“Kat and Samuel’ll take up residence near here,” Percival said. He continued to talk over Kat, even though she opened her mouth to add input. “Judith, Cooper, and I will go down into the town and to the pharmacy. Kat, you said it was clear down Main Street to 14th?”
“There were some buildings blocking my view, but, yeah. Looked clear. Running up 14th, if I’m sitting in the same tree as today, should give me line of sight for most of your journey. Won’t be able to watch you in the building though.” She glanced at Cooper and back to Percival. “Samuel’s more competent, wouldn’t it make sense to bring him and leave Cooper to watch my back?”
That produced a soft snigger from Cooper who shook his head and suddenly found the dirt between his legs very interesting.
“That would be precisely why I want Samuel with you.” He looked from Kat and Cooper to Samuel. That and, in dividing Kat and Cooper up, he could keep his word to Ian. “You’re perfectly capable of holding your own with a crack sharpshooter, right?”
“I… Boss, I hate to disagree with you, but I’m supposed to stick to your side.” Samuel set his MRE down and picked at the grass without actually making eye contact with Percival. “I’m your keeper, you know. Responsible for you.”
Percival sucked his teeth for a moment. Samuel was the person who’d been assigned to ‘deal with’ him should he turn suddenly. It was a side-effect of Percival not asking anyone specifically to do it.
“I am perfectly capable, you know,” Cooper chimed in. “Kat’d be safe under my watchful gaze.”
Percival frowned for a moment. He didn’t bother offering to leave Judith behind. He wanted her down in the town with him for her silent footsteps and quiet bow. If it came to violence, the absolute silent ranged variety is something he wanted close enough to be of use.
“I’m a big girl and zombies don’t climb trees.” Kat slid in for a rescue that fell on its face.
“Stalkers climb and spitters can throw to the top of the branches. And if living folk came by?” Percival shook his head. “And I’m not leaving anyone alone.”
Kat shrugged. “You’ve not mentioned Judith yet.”
“Want her in the town with me as the sneakiest person among us.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
He tipped his head toward her. He didn’t want to leave Cooper with Kat alone, but he couldn’t justify any other distribution of manpower. “So, Cooper. You’ll watch out for Kat, Kat you’ll watch our backs. I hope we don’t have much trouble down there, but if the shit hits the fan, you get home and tell everyone.”
“I’m not much of one for running.” Kat folded her arms over her chest and hunched her shoulders.
“Don’t think of it as running then. Think of it as advancing in another direction and delivering intel back to Ian.” Percival cleaned his spoon and tucked it away before folding his empty MRE packet in on itself.
Kat shrugged once.
“Any other objections?” Percival looked at the shadowed faces of his team. “No? Good. Get some rest. I’ll take first watch.”
There were a murmur of ascent and confirmations. Samuel even said ‘good night,’ before laying down and tucking his pack under his head as a pillow. Judith curled up on herself. Kat put her back to a tree and Cooper used her lap for a pillow.
Percival shook his head, turned his back to them and stared out into the darkness.
*
Percival stood at the corner of 14th and Main Street. North of him was Grey Street, only four blocks down. The town had been, thus far, empty. It was as Kat had described: empty and desolate. It had too few broken windows and too many cars on the streets. It truly had the feel as though everyone just up and left before the virus had a chance to spread here. And since there hadn’t been any living meat, no zombies had come to visit.
Percival didn’t like it. Something didn’t feel right. He kept glancing over his shoulder expecting to see something. Or someone.
He crept up to the corner, peeked around it, and retreated. “Still nothing.”
“Maybe that’s not a bad thing?” Samuel slid up beside him, his bat at the ready. “Not sayin’ we should move in, but… a pristine town’s not a terribly bad idea.”
“Depends on how long it stays pristine. All these windows would make it difficult to hole up somewhere long-term,” Judith whispered. She slid around the corner without another word as though it ended the conversation.
Percival looked after her, shrugged, and followed half a moment later. Judith led the way down the street and Percival couldn’t quite shake the feeling someone was watching him. He took a deep breath and did his best to simply ignore it.
If it weren’t his imagination it was either stalkers or companions of the folk they were to meet. If it were the former, he’d deal with them the same he had before: quick headshots. If it were the latter, he couldn’t blame their caution. He just wished he had a way to talk with Kat in her superior position.
He shook the thoughts away and focused on the silence of the empty town.
The trip down the leaf strewn street went as smooth as could be expected for walking down an empty avenue and Judith led the way to the front door of the pharmacy. She paused, gave the opening a cursory glance, and opened the door. She froze as the tinkling of a bell sounded through the empty street and echoed in the door.
Samuel’s bat shot to a ready position.
Percival’s shotgun snapped up as he spun to watch the street.
“Shit. Stupid me,” Judith muttered. She gestured upward. “It’s nothing guys. Just me being careless. Not that there was really a way to avoid this.”
A bell hung from a string and was positioned just enough so that the door opening or closing would set it off. It was the sort of thing that alerted clerks to people coming or going from their store.
“It’s fine. Nothin’ else to worry ‘bout?” Percival glanced over his shoulder, then back to the street.
“Nah. Not right now. Can’t see much past the first few shelves.” Judith slipped into the building.
Samuel followed her without a word and Percival trailed after them. He only lowered his shotgun as he cleared the doorway and let it swing closed. The door set the bell off again, but it didn’t cause him to jump as it had the first time.
He flipped the safety on his gun and cradled it in the nook of his elbow. He turned about and gave the store a proper look.
He guessed that t
his place had been looted in the first days of the panic. The shelves were empty, or knocked over, if not both. A sign proclaiming ‘Get Your FluShot Here!’ had been vandalized to say ‘Get Your DeathShot Here!’ instead. The cash register by the front lay crashed on the floor, split open and emptied. The fact that the front windows were intact was a testament to how early the looting took place. Maybe the proprietors of the store had taken the majority of their wares with them.
The depths of the building remained hidden in shadow.
“Hello! Anyone here? We’re lookin’ for Dakota Grole and Anton Pipper of the Danielsville enclave.” Percival clicked his flashlight on as he moved deeper into the building. He gestured for Judith to sweep right and she moved with but a nod in the direction he indicated. “We’re the folk from Drawling, Kentucky. Percival Polz, Samuel Berkin, and Judith Dald. Anyone here?”
When no answer came, he paused in his movement toward the dark back of the building and turned to Samuel. “Watch the front, but take up a position behind the shelves. No shooting first and asking questions later. That’s how we make enemies.”
Samuel rolled his eyes behind his modified catcher’s mask, but moved into position without complaint.
Percival resumed his scouting of the building. As he moved into the pharmacy, he came across more of the same: empty shelves, some empty and flattened boxes or bottles. The walls were decorated with a variety of posters and advertisements ranging from mouthwash to 50% off clearance stuffed animals.
He reached the back wall, where there was a rack of locked up items. The glass had been smashed and the items removed. His boots crunched softly over the glass. A security gate cut off a back room, semi-solid steel hid the contents of backroom from his senses. But someone had shot a hole into the metal, not that when he peeked through the hole he could see anything but darkness. The room might be pristine, but he didn’t honestly hope that. He moved along the wall and tried the doorknob that’d lead him into it.
The doorknob refused to move and when he directed his light at it, he found that someone’d shot the lock out. He shook his head. The locking mechanism would be stuck forever in the closed position. He might be able to smash it open with his hammer though.
