by Sean Kidd
“I’m sorry to disturb you, but Dr. Marcil is requesting your presence in his office.”
“Thank you MARIA, please tell him, I’m on my way.”
“Do we have to leave?” Sophie purred as she watched Bob search for his boxers. “I don’t think we have a choice.” She saw him chuckling to himself, “What is it, Bob?” He finished buttoning his pants and gazed down at her, “Maybe we could spend some time together after all this. I mean, the only other plans we have are to save the world.” Sophie smiled, “There’s nothing I’d enjoy more Bob.” She rolled over searching for her clothes, “We’ll I guess I had better get motivated then.”
They worked their way to Dr. Marcil’s office at the far end of the building and found him sitting at his desk. “Ah, good morning!” he said as they walked in. “Do we have a plan for today Colonel?” Bob took a deep breath and had a seat in the chair across from the doctor. “Yes, I do Doctor. Why don’t you head to the lab and grab the EMapp? Sophie, would you please go to the store room and find us some blankets, food, and anything else that looks useful.” He was sure she’d be able to find it. “I’m going to find us something we can use, as weapons. Once we’re back here, we’ll load the EMapp into the jeep, and get the hell out of this city!” Bob looked at both doctors, and they gave a confirming nod. “Let’s meet back at the main lab door in fifteen minutes!” The doctors checked their watches and left the room. Bob yelled out as they walked away, “Fifteen minutes!”
CHAPTER 45
October 13th 7:30am
The mid-October sun shining through the eastern window warmed my skin. I laid there still, my eyes too heavy to open. My head was foggy, and I couldn’t remember anything. I pried my eyes open enough to see a blurred garage. I blinked, trying wash the sleep away. I gave up and closed my eyes, finding a pounding in my head. I wanted to rub the pain away from my temple, but my hands didn’t work. What? I was tied up. My hands and feet were bound together in back. I lifted my face from the concrete, “Chevy!” I called out. I heard moaning coming from behind me. I rocked my body until I flopped over. Chevy was also tied up. He was asleep with a puddle of drool on the floor by his mouth. “Chevy!” I said, louder this time. I watched as he fought to gain consciousness and open his eyes. “Chevy, where’s Sidara?”
His eyes started to blink, fighting for sight, “What?” he moaned. “Someone was here! Sidara’s gone!” Chevy lifted his head and tried to move, “I’m tied up!” he groaned. Chevy fought with his restraints and rolled backwards.
“What’s that on your neck?”
On the side of his neck, I could see a small steel dart with feathers on top. “We’ve been drugged! Is there anything on me?” Chevy peeked through his one working eye, “There’s a dart in your neck too!” I struggled, “We need to get out of these restraints and get out of here. All of my weapons are gone, what about yours?” Chevy tried to look himself over from the tied position, “Mine are all gone too.” I rolled over as far onto my back as I could in frustration, “What are we going to do?” I yelled. Then it hit me, “Chevy, did they find the throwing knives in your boot?”
I watched as Chevy rolled, rocked, and reached. “Score! I’ve still got them.” Chevy twisted and fought with the bindings for minutes. Finally, his feet released, and he straightened his legs. “Wow that feels good.” I could see sweat beads building on his forehead from the struggle. With a victorious, “Yes!” Chevy’s hands were free and in front of him. He pulled at my hands and cut the bindings. The zip ties were so tight they had cut into my skin. I tried to massage out the red cuts on my wrists.
“Who did this?” I asked.
“Who do you think it was, Ty? It had to have been the guys in the Humvee, and now they have Sidara too!” Chevy went over to his truck. “Did you pack anything for a headache? My head is killing me.” Chevy questioned as reached in the back of the truck and pulled out a soda. He popped the top, took a drink, and opened his truck door. “Well at least, they didn’t take this.” Chevy held up his tomahawk, then tossed it back on the truck seat. I patted myself down, “They took all of my guns!” I reached behind my head, “Dammit! They took my swords too.” Chevy pulled the truck keys from the visor and held them up, “We’ve still got the old girl. What’s the plan?”
I thought about it for a minute, “Yeah, I’ve got the perfect plan. We hit the Arm’s Room. Then we find those guys and kill them all!”
CHAPTER 46
October 13th 5:30am
Sidara woke up, suspended from the back of the Humvee. “Hey, she’s waking up!” Luther called out to Cowboy. The vehicle came to a stop. Cowboy stepped out of the driver’s seat and walked around to the back of the vehicle. Sidara saw him and fought with the zip ties that were wrapped around her wrists and ankles. “Don’t bother trying to escape, you’re chained to the anchors.” Sidara saw that the Cowboy was holding one of Two-gun’s swords. He swung it back and forth a few times and admired the blade, “Where did your boyfriend find this little gem?” Sidara spat at him, “None of your fucking business, and he’s not my boyfriend.” Cowboy lifted the point of the sword up to the bottom of Sidara’s chin, “Careful. Careful. You’re not in much of a position to protect yourself little lady.” Sidara looked above her and saw the male that had been manning the turret had crawled inside of the Humvee. Beyond the cowboy, she could see a dead walking up to him. She was sure he hadn’t seen the dead. He lowered the blade from her chin and ran his thumb across the edge, “This is really nice. I bet your boyfriend could slice up a few dead with this thing. The dead man was just about to attack the cowboy. Trying to distract him, Sidara yelled, “I told you he was not my boyfriend, you stupid red neck!” Cowboy paused his thumb, “Now, why do you have to be like that?”
The dead was just inches for the cowboy with its arms out. Cowboy swung the blade, completely slicing off the dead’s head, while screaming, “Hi ya!” The head flew off and rolled to a stop. Cowboy walked over and drove the tip of the blade into the skull, “Die!” Cowboy pulled the sword from the skull and walked back to Sidara, “Tank you for no warning Daniel-son!” Cowboy snickered, doing his best Mr. Miyagi imitation.
The Humvee started back up, and Sidara could feel the V8 turbo diesel vibrate through her body. It didn’t help the pounding she had in her head since she woke up. She went through the evening in her head. How did this happen? One minute we were on the couch talking in the dealership and then next, she was tied to this rig. How was that possible? Sidara wondered if the cowboy had left her new friends alive.
The Humvee turned into the fairgrounds, an all too familiar feeling for the men inside the vehicle, “Open up!” Luther shouted. The garage door opened, and Tommy was standing there with his AK-47. They drove in as the garage door squeaked down. The passenger door swung open from the outside with Tommy standing there, “Where the fuck have you guys been? Kane is on a rampage! He said you should have been back last night.” Tommy disappeared when he heard Kane screaming from his office. Kane walked out and over to Cowboy, who was slowly exiting the Humvee. Kane’s face was beat read, and he was breathing deeply through his nose. “It’s not our fault, Boss. We had a run-in with some survivors.”
“Survivors?” Kane asked.
“Yeah, we went out like you told us to, and we were having a hard time finding anyone. We were headed back here, pretty disappointed because we had let you down. Luther had to take a piss, and he spotted some kids in a truck. It was a good spot on his part.”
Kane twisted his head peeking at the back of the Humvee, “So what did you bring me?”
Cowboy led him behind the vehicle, where Luther was already cutting the zip ties off of Sidara’s legs. Kane eyed her from head to toe and smiled. He glanced at Luther, “Cowboy tells me I have you to thank for this.” Fear prevented Luther from speaking, so he just nodded his head yes.
Kane hopped up on the Humvee bumper and pulled out his cane knife. Without hesitation, Sidara swung her foot striking him right in the balls. Kane cried
out and fell over backwards landing on the cement floor, “Who the fuck untied her legs?” Kane seethed. “Get her off the fuckin’ truck and chain her in my office!”
CHAPTER 47
October 13th 7:45am
Chevy and I gathered all of our gear and threw it into the back of his truck. I opened the garage door, and we headed straight back to my parent’s house. Overnight, the dead had converged in the west end. A few of them were even foolish enough to get in the way of the truck. The plow blade striking the dead, reminded me of dropping water balloons from our second-story balcony when I was a kid. Only someone filled these balloons with black ooze. Chevy spoke without looking, “Are you going to get that?”
“Huh?” I said confused. Chevy pointed to my pocket with his chin, “You’re buzzing.” I was so busy trying to come up with a plan in my head. I didn’t even feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and read the screen message, “One New Voice Message!” My fingers couldn’t move fast enough.
“Who’s it from?” Chevy asked.
“Unknown Caller.” I said, as I pressed the play button. A cursor scrolled across a bar on the bottom of the screen, showing the message was playing. The message was fifty seconds of static. Disappointed, I let the phone drop to my lap, where I felt it buzzing again. I grabbed it with both hands, “One New Text Message!” I slid my finger across the screen. My excitement was quick to vanish when I saw that it was nothing but garbled letters and characters. “I bet you it’s mom trying to contact us, but the cell towers are all screwed up.” I looked up in time, to see Chevy swerving in the road trying to hit a dead woman. “I didn’t know you were such a sick bastard.” Chevy didn’t respond to my jab.
He turned onto my parent’s street and made the turn into the driveway without slowing. He didn’t stop until he was in the garage. I jumped out, and closed the garage door behind us. I watched through the window of the door to see if we had attracted any dead. “The coast is clear!” I chirped. Chevy followed me inside, and we went straight for the arms room.
Chevy went right for the back and pulled the fifty-caliber sniper rifle off the wall again. He held the rifle up, “Now can we take it?” I thought about it for a second, “Yeah, I have a new plan, and that’s part of it.” We loaded the fifty-caliber in the back of the truck along with a hundred rounds of ammo. We also grabbed a couple of semi-automatic hand guns and HK416. It’s basically the German version of the AR-15 that was stolen from me.
All loaded up. We were off again in search of the Humvee.
“Which direction?” Chevy asked. “Let’s head back to Cornelia Street. This time we’ll try a little further west.” We passed by the dealership, reminding me of what had happened this morning and what they may be doing to Sidara right now. I felt my stomach knotting up, “Keep heading west.” I said. Further up the road, I saw something that just didn’t seem right, “Stop the truck up there!” Chevy pulled over and we hopped out. “Take a look at this.” I pointed to the headless corpse in the middle of the road that had caught my attention, “Look at how clean that cut is. I only know one thing that could cut like that.” Chevy bent down and examined the severed head, “A Ronin sword!” he exclaimed. “Yeah, they were stopped here and killed this guy with my sword. They must have been heading back to their base.”
“There’s nothing out here except hotels, then the road leads out of town.” Chevy said as he looked to the west. I joined him in his stare. “Well, we’re not going to find them just standing here.”
We started back for the truck when Chevy asked, “What’s that puddle?” He was pointing to a small spill a few feet from the severed head. I examined it and bent down dragging two fingers through the slick spot. I rubbed my thumb across my fingers feeling the viscosity of the liquid and brought it up to my nose, “It’s diesel!”
Chevy kneeled down next to me and examined the diesel, “You think it’s from the Humvee?” I looked up the road, following the path of diesel drips heading to the west. I wiped the residual fluid on my pant leg, “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
CHAPTER 48
October 12th 7:00am
Fifteen minutes later, the three met up at the lab door. Dr. Marcil had the box of EMapp, and Sophie was dragging a camping cooler, and her arms were full of blankets, “I’ve got enough food and drinks for a couple of days.”
“Good thinking, Sophie.” Bob said. Sophie looked at his hands, “Is that stuff going to work?” Bob looked discouraged, “I have to admit. It’s not much. I found a steak knife in the kitchenette. I used the knife to sharpen this mop handle.” Bob held up a wooden mop handle that had been sharpened to a point on one side, “And this!” Sophie looked, not able to figure out what he was holding. “What is that?”
Bob held up the long curved blade with a handle on the end. “I think it’s called a guillotine. I ripped it off the paper cutter!” Bob swung it through the air, “It feels like its solid steel, so it should hold up pretty well.”
“Do you really think we’re going to need such a thing?” Sophie asked.
“God, I hope not!”
Bob looked up at the speaker in the ceiling, “MARIA!” “Yes, Colonel.” “I guess this is going to be goodbye. I want to leave you with some final instructions. If anyone seeks sanctuary here, let them into the inner door, but keep the rest of the lab secure. Pass on that we have found a cure, and if they need the serum we will be at the CDC in Atlanta.”
“In thirty seconds, I want you to open the outer door and lock it behind us.”
“I understand Colonel, and may I say, it’s been a pleasure working with all of you.”
Bob paused, “MARIA it’s been a pleasure working with you too. And thanks for saving my ass last night!”
The steel door opened, as they ran out Bob was sure he heard, “You’re welcome,” from MARIA.
Bob popped open the back of the Jeep. Sophie threw in the blankets while he loaded the cooler, “Get in the back seat, Sophie!” She ran around to the side door of the jeep as Bob felt the wind being knocked out of him. He fell to the ground and tried to look back at Dr. Marcil.
The Doctor was wedged between the back of the jeep and a dead man. The man took a large bite from Dr. Marcil’s neck. Blood sprayed across Bob’s face. Dr. Marcil dropped the box of EMapp, and it landed at Bob’s feet. The dead man pulled the doctor to the ground and buried his face in his chest. Blood pooled on the ground so fast, Bob could barely escape it. He made it to his feet and snatched the box. Dr. Marcil was already dead.
Bob tossed the EMapp in the passenger seat and leapt into the driver seat. He started the engine, put it in gear and stepped on the gas. The sound of metal scraping on pavement rung through the vehicle. “What’s that sound, and where’s Dr. Marcil?” Sophie screamed as she looked out of the back window, “Oh my god! They’ve got Claude!” Bob hit the brakes and put the jeep into reverse backing off the bike rack.
“What’s that?”
“It’s nothing.” Bob replied without looking at Sophie.
The Jeep took off again through the courtyard and turned onto St. Catherine Street, “What’s the fastest way out of the city, Sophie?”
“I don’t know! They got him! He’s dead!” Sophie cried. Bob reached over and grabbed her shirt collar, “Sophie, you need to focus, if we don’t get out of here, we’ll be dead too!”
“I’m sorry!” Sophie screamed back.
“Take a left at Rue Addington onto Aut Jean-Lasage and then cross Pont Champlain!”
Bob glared back at Sophie, “What?”
Sophie pointed straight ahead, “Take a left at those lights up there, and then follow the signs for the Champlain Bridge!”
Five minutes later, they were crossing the bridge leaving Montréal behind. Bob looked back feeling sorry for Dr. Marcil. He reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out the hard drive, holding it up, “Let’s hope we don’t need the Doc to decipher this.” Sophie took the hard drive from Bob’s hand, “I’ve worked with Claud
e for years. If you can get me to the facility in Atlanta, I can generate the serum. Where are we now?”
“I’m not sure.” Bob answered.
“There’s a sign coming up. Fifteen miles to the U.S. Border.” Sophie leaned back in her seat, watching as the fields passed by, “Where is everyone, Bob?” He had been wondering the same thing, “I don’t know. Maybe they’re all dead.”
Ten minutes later. They could see the U.S. Border in the distance. Sophie leaned forward and put a hand on Bob’s shoulder, “Bob look at the lines of cars.”
He didn’t acknowledge. He had already taken the problem into consideration and was looking for a way around them.
“Why are there so many of them?” Sophie asked. “With the spread of the Ebola, people panicked. Some may have been trying to get home to their families while others might have been trying to flee from the city.” Bob took his foot off the accelerator, approaching cautiously, “Get up here in the front seat, Sophie! Grab the floor mat and cover that broken window. I want some sort of barrier between you and the outside. Just in case we run into any trouble.” Sophie opened the jeep door, stuck the floor mat in the top and slammed it, securing it in place over the window. Bob had slowed the jeep to a walking pace, when he passed the first vehicle. It was a mother and her two daughters. They all had their faces against the glass, trying to escape. Sophie looked over, her eyes slowly closed as she shook her head, “Are they all dead, Bob?” He grabbed onto her hand and watched as a tear rolled off her cheek, “Dr. Marcil and I did this. It’s all our fault!” She sobbed. Bob pushed the hair back from her face, “Hey! Don’t say that! It’s not your fault. It was a fucked up strain of the Ebola that did all this. You have found a new cure. You’re going to be the person that saves the world!”
