by Pam Jernigan
“They’re not zombies, and yes, yes, it is. That’s pretty simple in comparison.” At least she was certain she wasn’t imagining her friendship with Leo. Conversations with God, on the other hand, were a great deal more subject to interpretation. “It’s just… God keeps coming up. I mean, for Leo to make all the progress he’s made this week… and everything else happening… You’re the one who said God had a plan. Trouble is, I'm not sure anyone else would buy that.”
“Hmm, yeah, I don’t know.” Katrina frowned, looking away.
“So, the council… how much should I tell them? Last night, I called him my friend, without any details. Maybe I should stick with that?” Karen turned the idea over in her mind. It might be the safer way to go. Just leave out one little salient fact.
“Well, you'd kind of be lying,” Katrina said.
“Not really. I’d be telling the truth. Just not all of it.” How could she tell the whole truth without spoiling any chance she might have? Karen nibbled her thumb. A little help here, God?
#
Karen reported to the Commander’s office at ten, over-caffeinated. Somehow, she had to get these people to risk their lives for someone they’d see as the enemy. Not gonna be easy. The three-person city council waited for her there; she’d seen them before but never talked to them.
“Good morning,” she said, smiling tightly.
“Good morning, dear,” the lead councilwoman said. “I’m Faith Ambrico, by the way. These are Steven Getty, and Mattias Melendez.” They made polite noises.
“Yes, ma’am, I know.”
“I’m glad you returned to us safely,” Mrs. Ambrico started, “following your… unauthorized expedition outside the wall.”
Karen tried not to squirm. “I’m sorry about that,” she offered. “It was stupid.”
None of them seemed to disagree on that point, but at least they didn’t rub it in.
“Tell us about this camp,” Mr. Getty directed.
“Right. Well, Dr. Borsa started it. He's a researcher, studying the Mindless. Mad scientist, if you ask me - not all that ethical about his experiments. He wanted to get away from rules, so he gathered supporters and moved into an old army base.” Should she mention the whole caused-the-Apocalypse-and-destroyed-the-world stuff? It would fire them up, for sure, but what if they charged in with guns blazing? No, that could be another detail she’d skim past.
The Commander leaned forward. “How many people?”
She frowned. “Not sure, twenty or thirty? I didn't meet all of them. There were soldiers and support staff. They do their own farming, I saw that much.”
“And this is where you met this friend?” Mrs. Ambrico smiled in sympathy.
“He introduced himself my first night there,” she said, picking her way through a verbal minefield. “His name’s Leo. We talked a little. I was suspicious of the doctor, and he, um, sympathized.”
“How long had Leo been living at the camp?”
“We didn’t talk about it, Mr. Getty,” she hedged. True enough, after all. “He wasn’t part of the original group, though. Anyway, they wouldn’t take me home. And then Borsa wanted a new research subject. He picked me. I guess he figured nobody would mind too much if he picked on the new girl.” Certainly Curt hadn’t objected, she remembered. She repressed a shudder. “He had them all a little brainwashed, or something.”
“Except for your friend?”
“Um, by then he was starting to see things more clearly, you could say.”
“Interesting. One thing I don’t understand, though,” the Commander commented, looking at his notes. “I sent a delegation to the library, the next day, once we’d learned what had happened.”
“So it wasn’t just Jake and Katrina, then? Good…”
“Jake and Katrina went, too?” The commander looked furious. “That boy…”
Oops.
“At any rate,” Mrs. Ambrico took over, “we retrieved Brian and Ramesh’s bodies.”
Karen nodded, looking down and blinking. “I am so sorry,” she offered. “It was my idea; it was my fault.”
No one argued with her, compounding the guilt. I’m sorry, God. Please forgive me. There was no audible answer, but she felt a little better.
“We found their bodies, and the staircase where Jake and Katrina said they’d left you. But you, obviously, weren’t there. How did you manage to escape?”
#
Leo leaned against the side wall of the cage, watching for activity going on in the camp. Things had settled down from last night, when he’d been shoved back into confinement, and so far this morning, almost no one was moving in the courtyard. It didn’t look like they were planning to chase Karen, but how would he know?
The cage doors were locked, just like before. Which meant he could get out. But then what? Even if he got out of the camp altogether, he’d still be alone, wandering around until he died. The prospect was not appealing.
Movement, closer. He turned to see the woman Karen had called Pip.
She slowed as she neared the cage and angled towards him. Well, towards the cage. He watched her approach and saw the moment she realized he was looking at her. She jumped a little then stood stock still, a flare of red surrounding her before she reined it back. The crowd behind him stirred. She took another step forward, studying him.
She was curious, apprehensive, and unsure of herself. Not angry, or seriously scared. What was she doing?
“Hi,” he said, giving her a little wave, not wanting to seem threatening.
Her jaw dropped.
“It’s okay,” he continued, before remembering he shouldn't reveal his ability to speak. Oops. But she wasn’t Borsa, so it might be all right. Besides, too late to change now.
All the same, he waited for her to make the next move.
She swallowed, her eyes narrowing, and took one more tiny step forward. Still well out of arm’s reach. Good. The other Mindless hadn't picked up on her emotions yet; too controlled for them, but that might change.
“You the Mindless what went missing?”
It took him a second to work through that, but then he nodded.
“Right. They said they thought they got you.” Her head tilted, surveying him. “That a new shirt?”
“Yes.” He glanced down at himself, still surprised not to see dark blue. “Karen picked it out for me.”
“So, you friends with Karen or what?” The words came out challenging, and she raised her chin a little bit. “She talked about making a friend that she shouldn’t. Stands to reason - well, no it don’t, but still, I reckon she meant you. If only ‘cause there’s nobody else in camp she’d be friendly to.”
“Yes.” Friends. He liked that. He had suspected it, but hearing it from another person was… good.
“Okay.” Another pause. She glanced around the courtyard, checking for guards. “And that was you in the back of my truck the other day, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Karen said I should hide.”
“Oh.” Her head tilted as she looked him over, her eyes sometimes flickering to the others behind him. Compare and contrast? “Why?”
That seemed obvious. “Didn’t want to scare you.”
“No, I mean, why would you listen to her?”
“She listened to me.” He considered that, briefly reliving the morning after she’d first visited him. Basking in the memory.
“Why would she even want to have anything to do with you?” Pip shook her head, a sharp little motion like she was trying to shake off cobwebs. “Wait, they said they found her in a bunch of Mindless, but not hurt bad. That ‘cause of you?”
“Yes.” He looked down. He should never have carried her out of the library, kidnapped her, he knew that. He ought to be sorry - he generated his own emotions now - but the regret failed to materialize. As long as Karen was safe. “I protected her. She protected me, later.” He met her eyes again. “Karen said we took turns.”
Pip
studied him. “You got a name?”
He nodded, slowly. “Leo.”
“Leo. Okay. Well, good. I’m Pip.” She blinked, shaking herself slightly. “And I reckon I’m going clean out of my head. I can’t believe this.” She shook her head. “This ain’t happening. Can’t be. Mindless can’t communicate, can’t cooperate, can’t be around folks without trying to kill ‘em.”
“I can,” he said. “Karen said... not Mindless anymore.”
“Oh, well, that could explain it.” Pip sounded a little dazed. “Only nobody just gets over being Mindless.”
He shrugged. He still didn’t know how it had happened, merely that it had.
“It would take a…” She paused, looking him over, then her eyes widened and her lips parted. “A miracle. Yep, that’s the only explanation. Got to be. The Lord do work in mysterious ways, they say. Alrighty, then. Miracles don’t follow the rules.” She nodded once, standing taller. Satisfied with that explanation. “God’ll sort you out, I reckon.”
That name again. He wanted to know more but couldn’t think of a way to ask.
She turned to go, then hesitated, and looked back at him. “I been praying,” she said, quietly. “For God to heal the world. It’s been seven years. Didn’t expect He’d start with you, but…”
She had been praying? That meant talking to God, didn’t it? It was a strange thought. Even stranger was the suggestion that God had responded, that God had used him. How could that be? It didn’t make sense.
“Course, I wouldn’t have expected His son to be born in a barn, either, and that happened.” Pip shrugged. “I’m pretty sure God knows better than me, and we don’t always get to understand. Anyways, I got work to do.” She surveyed the open area, which was still quiet. “Good to meet you, I guess.” She just stood there, watching him for a long moment. “Bye, Leo.”
“Bye.” Maybe it didn’t have to make sense. That was comforting, somehow.
She turned again, and this time walked off without looking back.
As she disappeared around the corner, a thought came to Leo. Pip had helped him escape once. Without knowing it, but still. And now Pip was a friend. With a truck… maybe they could find Karen. He would ask her about it when she came back.
If she came back.
#
Karen opened her mouth to explain and closed it again. Crap. Should have known there was no way around this. Shouldn’t have tried to take shortcuts. Okay, fine. If this was a God thing, she’d do it God’s way and let Him worry about how to handle it from there.
“My friend Leo saved me.” She took a deep breath. “From the other Mindless.”
That caused a bit of a stir; they exchanged alarmed looks. “What do you mean, the other Mindless?” Mr. Getty asked, frowning.
She lifted her chin. “He was kinda Mindless, then, too. He protected me.” She grinned. Weirdest hug ever. “I passed out, and next thing I knew, he’s carrying me. And then the camp guys came along and captured the whole bunch. I thought I’d been rescued.” She shrugged. “Turns out I didn’t need rescuing. Not from Leo.”
“So, your ‘friend’,” Mrs. Ambrico repeated, stressing that last word, “is Mindless?”
“No,” Karen corrected firmly. She knew why that was the sticking-point. God, help me convince them. “He used to be, but now he’s recovering.”
Mr. Melendez sat back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. “You know that’s a lot to swallow.”
“Yes, I know, sir. But like I told you, he protected me. He can talk, he can think.” At least she hoped he still could. No, not going there. “He even has a sense of humor; if that’s not a basic sign of humanity I don’t know what is.”
“You want to bring this monster into the city?”
“That's not what I'm asking. And he’s not a monster, ma’am. But I just want him out of the camp before they kill him.” She chewed her lower lip, thinking in the stunned silence. “You know, if he can recover, then maybe some others can, too. This could be the cure we’ve been searching for. Maybe later, if things go well, we can talk about giving them a chance. At least on an individual, case-by-case basis. Look, they don’t need to kill people.”
“And why’s that?” the Commander asked.
Karen took a breath and sent up a short prayer. She needed to say this right, but she wasn’t sure there was a right way to say it. “They’re kind of psychic. I think the term is empath, which means they can sense emotions. I mean, we kind of can, too; like, you can feel the energy when a lot of people are together, at a concert, or a rally.” Or a mob, but that was more of a negative thing. “But they feel it a lot stronger.”
“Anyway, Leo told me they need to, um, experience human emotions. It’s like they’re starving without them. And the emotional energy released at the moment of death is, well, a lot, which is why they have been killing people. It’s like they’re addicted to it, to the rush.” She took a deep breath, looking around the table. The emotions on display seemed to all be negative.
“But see, here’s the thing. That’s not the only way for them to… I dunno, get a hit? To meet that need. Any emotions will do, and just being around people who have them is sufficient. It doesn’t even matter what it is. Happy, sad, whatever. I mean, stronger is better, but still. The important part is, they can do that without harming the person. Without the person even being aware of it. It’s not like they’re taking the emotions *away*.” Usually. “We send off the energy all the time. It’s just that we can’t really pick up on it, and they can. And they need it.”
“Uh-huh.”
They did not look receptive. And her misleading them earlier was probably coming back to bite her now. She resisted the urge to say she was telling the truth this time. People who said they weren’t lying were usually lying.
“Think of it like a car battery. Their mental batteries are dead, and they need a jump-start. Even then, they can’t keep it going on their own. No alternator belt to recharge themselves, I guess. Anyway, I jump-started Leo. He said I had many feelings and being around me was enough to keep him full.” She studied all their faces. This was not going well.
“Yeah, never mind all that; it’s not important right now.” Plenty of time to worry about that later. “I’m just asking you to help me free my friend.” She couldn’t help the note of pleading that crept into her voice. “You don’t have to let him into the city or anything, or interact with him at all. He doesn't have to come here, but if he stays in that cage they'll dissect him.” Or worse.
“So it’s a rescue mission, at this point,” Jake’s dad clarified.
“Yes, please. Only a rescue.”
“I’m not certain it’s any of our business,” Mr. Getty offered, leaning back in his chair. “Our job is to protect this community, not anyone or anything else.”
She took a deep breath and stopped pleading. “Fine. If you don’t want to send anybody, let me borrow a truck; I’ll go by myself.”
That raised a few eyebrows. “Now, be sensible, Karen,” Mrs. Ambrico chided her gently.
She lifted her chin. She would add that she was pretty sure God wanted her to do this, but she didn't know how well that would be received. They might conclude she was delusional - and maybe they’d be right. Didn’t matter. That wasn’t why she wanted Leo back.
Mrs Ambrico, the unofficial head of the council, said, “We will have to discuss it, dear. Just amongst us. Give us a few hours.”
Karen resisted the urge to beg. She knew a dismissal when she heard one. Holding herself together, she smiled politely. “Okay, I’ll come back later.” It was a statement.
Meanwhile, she needed to get food and make plans. If they wouldn’t help, or even let her borrow a truck, she was going to have a long walk ahead of her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The morning passed slowly, quietly for the most part. That changed when Borsa came walking into the lab, trailed by several others. Leo couldn’t see very
much- wrong side of the cage and too many bodies in the way - but he could tell that Borsa was angry. And that the people with him were upset and scared. Those emotions drew the crowd to press up against the bars. Leo stayed where he was, not wanting to be any closer to Borsa.
“We must prepare,” Borsa said. “We don’t know where she is or what she’s going to do or say.”
“She might have been killed by dogs,” one of the others offered.
“Perhaps,” Borsa allowed. “But our patrols have found no evidence of that.”
Leo closed his eyes, clinging to that tiny scrap of hope. As long as Borsa didn’t find her, or any signs of bad things happening, he would picture her in her city. With Katrina and her preschool class. And all the people she loved. Back where she belonged, where she’d be happy. She had to be.
“You, um, wanted to see that Mindless?”
“Which- oh, right.” The doctor’s voice grew more interested. “The one that disappeared.”
“Well, I think it’s the same one,” Curt said, nervously.
“Yes, there have been a number of curious things about that one. I suspect our friend Karen might not have been entirely truthful with us.”
Leo fought the instinct to tense up, trying to remain unmoving where he sat. This wasn’t good. He still didn’t know what dissection was, but he didn’t want to find out.
“Which one…” the doctor moved closer to the cage. “The one in the green? Didn’t the other one have a different color shirt?”
A startled silence. “Uh, yeah, I think so. Maybe.”
“That would be the one you said had been on top of Karen, when you first met?”
“Yeah, it must be,” Curt said, with a confidence he didn't feel.
This did not seem good at all. Although part of Leo wondered bleakly if it would make any difference. He had lost Karen. Even if he escaped, he had no way to find her. She didn’t need him, anyway. Why fight? It wasn’t worth the energy.
“So what you’re telling me is that this specimen was with Karen then, and disappeared at the same time she did, and then re-appeared - after having changed its clothing?”
