by Karen Carr
Huck banged on the glass. “Ana, for fuck sake, give me a knife at least.”
Ana looked at her brother again. He nodded this time. She opened the door fast and threw a small pocket knife at Huck. Zeke, who was closer to the front, grabbed her arm as she tried to shut the window. He was trying to pull her through the small window. She shrieked in protest. Santiago pulled out a gun, but the glass was thick. I was sure it was bullet proof.
I heard a loud vehicle and peered through the bodies around us. It was a tank driving forward and crushing dozens of bodies under its treads. The zero who got between the wire and the truck now had a friend and they were both clawing their way into the truck.
“Huck, hurry,” I said.
Huck took the knife and opened it, producing the smallest blade and making me angrier at Ana, and struck the first zero through the temple. I kicked the other one’s head with my boot. The zombies were peeling the chicken wire back like an orange. The ones on top of the cage began to crush toward us under their weight.
Huck killed another one with his puny little knife. I caught Ana’s eyes in the rear view mirror gave her an anger-filled look and two middle fingers.
Suddenly, the zeroes began to shake. This was going to be a massively disgusting explosion.
“Incoming,” I shouted and covered my head.
We all dived down into the center of the cab as the splatter fireworks went off around us. I was buried under Huck and Zeke, so I didn’t feel any slop on my back, but I heard it falling all over the place. I hoped the chicken wire was able to protect us from most of the mess.
The noise seemed to last forever, and I was feeling claustrophobic, so I pushed my way out of my protective layers of friends.
Even out from under my living-body barrier, I still felt claustrophobic. There were so many bodies around us that the air stunk like a months-old battle field and the sunlight was blocked from our view. I regarded all of my friends, most of us had managed to stay clear of the brain dump, but the ones close to the creepers that squeezed in between the cage and the truck had muck all over their backs. Santiago and Ana sat smug in the front of the cab, unable to open their doors because of all the bodies outside.
I heard Mace’s voice, the shrill ugliness of it, as he screamed out commands. Little rays of sunlight began to appear as Mace’s men tugged away the bodies away from the entrance of the cage. They left the ones on the top to drip, drip, drip their innards on us. The noise and smell was making me go bonkers. I was sick of being locked up in this cage.
Mace’s fat ugly face appeared before us. He was beaming from ear to ear.
“Good work, Hella,” Mace said. “You sure are a pleasure to work with.”
“I’m not working with you,” I said.
I threw a bunch of goo that had dropped to my shoulder at his face. His reflexes were sluggish, and the goo nailed him in the nose, making me laugh in a nervous and irritated kind of way. “Get me and my friends out of this cage.”
Mace flicked the goop from his face and stared at me with unblinking eyes. “We have an unexpected delay while my men clean up the highway and find the best possible route to Raleigh. In the meantime, you are right. We can’t have you sitting around rotting with all of these corpses. We’ll take you out and put you somewhere more comfortable.”
Mace turned to one of his men. “Bring her to the bus, and that one too.” He pointed to Huck. “We’ll need him to bear witness. I wouldn’t want to be accused of doing anything wrong to this sweet angel.”
Mace turned about and sloshed back through the pile of dead bodies, making his way to a black bus with tinted black windows. I cringed when I saw that it was painted with Mace’s name in the form of a logo. He had branded himself.
A guard came forward with a set of keys. “Get near the front,” he ordered me.
“Not without my friends,” I said.
“You heard the boss,” the guard said. “I don’t take orders from you.” He nodded toward two other men, who raised their hand guns and pointed them at the others in the cage. I knew they had killed the Professor and would kill someone else, so I moved to the front. I wasn’t going to have the blood of my friends on my hands.
Huck pushed forward, so that he would be the first person out of the cage. They unlocked the door, and Huck stepped out, offering me his hand once he reached the ground.
I turned to the others. “I’m sorry you guys. We’re going to get some ground rules straight before we move on.”
“It’s alright, Hella,” Saudah said. “This isn’t as bad as it was before. As long as we don’t go back to Durham.”
“At least we’re together,” Stan added.
“Close enough,” Zora said. She pulled Boa closer to her.
Zeke crouched at the back of the cage, holding onto the roof, watching everything with a set jaw and tensed muscles. He looked like he was ready to pounce. I let the guard push us along as the other one locked the cage behind us.
The guard escorted us through all of the bodies to Mace’s bus. As I stepped on the dead, their ribs cracked and arms and legs broke, making me wonder why their bones were so fragile. I had once had my foot stuck in a ribcage and made an attempt to avoid ribs whenever possible.
Being out of the cage made it easier to see the highway. By the signage I read, we were stuck right around the Research Triangle Park, a haven for tech heavy geeks. I wondered if most of these bodies were working on the weekend when they were turned into zeroes. The cars were dense right around this exit, but cleared up again farther away. Mace’s men were already busy trying to move them out of the way, but it would be a long day.
We entered Mace’s bus and the first thing that hit me was the smell of chemicals mixed in with perfume. The stench of lilacs and lemons and bleach was so thick it made my eyes water. I could tell by Huck’s expression, it did the same for him. We walked up the stairs and entered the long and narrow bus. It was decked out with every luxury you could imagine, large screen television, large bar, brown leather couch along one side, and a kitchenette with granite counter tops and polished woodwork on the other.
Chapter 20
Mace reclined in a brown leather chair in front of a dining table fastened to the floor with bolts. He had an unlit cigar in his hand and was chewing something in his mouth. By the disgusting drool that came out of the side of his mouth, and the spittoon on the floor, I guessed he was chewing tobacco. I hope he choked on it.
“Sit,” Mace said. He waved his hand toward a brown leather bench between the wall and the table
“Me first,” Huck said. He pushed me out of the way so that he could scoot in the bench closer to Mace. I scooted in next to Huck.
“How honorable of you,” Mace said. “But I assure you, I don’t bite like your girlfriend.”
A television, mounted on the other side of the bus, played silent Tom and Jerry cartoons. It was the one where Tom and Jerry blast off to mars. Jerry tricks Tom into going into an antigravity machine, and then shuts the door on him. Tom proceeded to get whooped by the machine.
I laughed and glared at Mace, who flipped off the television. I guess he didn’t like my silent comparison of him to Tom. Jerry always won. Mace spit out his tobacco and wiped his mouth, placing his kerchief with his slimy spit a little too close to me.
“That’s some powerful headache you gave those things out there,” Mace said.
“Not like the one I’m going to give you when I have my chance,” I said.
“A scrawny thing like you?” Mace laughed. “You might have a powerful virus, honey, but I could squash you in my hand.” Mace tightened his fist for emphasis.
“Hella is tougher than you think,” Huck said. “She’s going to make her way through this. In fact, she may be the only one that survives out of the bunch of us.”
Mace touched the bite wound on Huck’s hand. “Maybe you’ll survive too. In fact, I think I might use you as a test subject. It could be fun, huh?”
Huck flicked Mace’s
hand from his, propelling it to the bottom of Mace’s chin with such force, that Mace let out a yelp and blood trickled out of his mouth where he must have bitten his tongue. A guard poked his head in and asked Mace if he was alright, but Mace shooed him away with his hand and an angry curse.
Mace wiped his mouth with the napkin and examined the blood before looking at Huck. “And outburst like that again, my dear Huck, and you will lose your hand. I’ll feed it to someone who isn’t immune to see if it has an effect.”
I took Huck’s hand and pulled it on my lap, hoping he wouldn’t hit Mace again. I felt the tension in his fingers, in his forearms, and realized how much of Huck was ready to spring. One false move, and Mace was a goner. He’d have Huck’s fist stuffed down his mouth, not a bad idea—but not the right time. I wanted to make sure everyone back in the cage was safe first.
“Why don’t you let us travel in the bus,” I said. “You’ve got enough room here for all of us.”
Mace rolled his eyes. “You want me to give up command central? You are not in the bargaining seat, my dearie.” He patted his own chair. “This is where you need to be sitting.”
“Well, then, give it up,” I said matching his smug tone.
“Oh, Hella,” Mace said with an exasperated sigh. “I would give it up to you, if only you saw my point of view. With you by my side, we could rule the world.”
“What world?” I asked. “The world is just me an you as far as I can see. Mouse always wins.”
“Oh, don’t be so desolate,” Mace said. “There’s more people out there than you think. We’ve heard from many others, we just have to get to them.” Mace paused and leaned in over the table, careful to avoid Huck’s other clenched fist. “I’ve got a little secret for you, Hella. You are not the only one.”
I looked from Mace to Huck whose eyes were as large as mine must have been. What did mace say? I am not the only one? If that were true, but why would I believe Mace? If that were true, then there was hope.
“What do you mean that I am not the only one?” I asked.
“What do you think I mean?” Mace asked. His blank expression left no sign of anything.
“I have no idea, why don’t you just tell me?” I asked.
“Tell the girl,” Huck added. “You brought it out, now you are going to share it.”
Mace braced the table, like he expected the ground to shake. “I mean there is another one, a girl in Los Angeles, who has the same power as you.”
I gulped. I didn’t know whether I should be more startled to find out there was a girl like me, or that Mace had communications to Los Angeles, or that anyone in Los Angeles was alive. Our world just got so much bigger—if he was telling me the truth.
“I don’t believe you,” I said.
Mace pushed back from the table. “Of course you don’t.” He made like he was going to get up.
“Tell me more,” I said. “Prove it.” I rose from my seat.
“I’ve told you too much already,” Mace said. He was toying with me, playing me like a pawn, but I had to know the truth. I had to know more.
“Alright, I’ll do what you say, anything—I’ll cooperate, just tell me the truth. Prove it to me.” I lied. I’d never cooperate with him, and he knew it, but he sat back down and braided his fingers.
Mace sat back down again. “She’s about your age, maybe older. You’re such a young thing. I don’t even know how old you are.” He paused like I was supposed to answer him.
“I’m twenty, or twenty one—maybe even twenty two.” It had been so long since I thought about my age, I didn’t know how old I was. Back in the old days, everything was judged on age, school, marriage, retirement. Here, it didn’t matter how old you were. The only thing that mattered is if you could survive.
“Twenty one, such a great age.” Mace licked his lips. Huck fired his fist on the table, making Mace flinch. “Calm down, or you are out of here,” Mace said to Huck. “I’m not going to touch her.”
I wrapped my arm around Huck’s shoulder. “Huck, please. Let him talk.”
“He’s not talking, he’s drooling,” Huck said.
“Oh very well,” Mace said. He stretched his arm over to the wall and opened up a cabinet. Inside were all sorts of flashing and blinking lights along with a headset, microphone and portable laptop which flipped open with the cabinet door. “Command central.”
Huck and I stared at the controls.
“Inmarsat,” Huck said. “Satellite communications.”
Mace’s lips thinned in a sneer. “That’s right, Huck. We’ve got some good information on this whole zombie thing. When it started, how it started, where others are located—stuff your good buddy Hipslow-the-hipster knows nothing about. Now, whose side would you like to be on, Hella?”
I stammered. What was wrong with my tongue? Mace had rendered me speechless. “I’m on nobody’s side,” I finally said. “Tell me about the girl.” I still didn’t believe him, but I wanted details.
Mace closed his command center. “From what I understand, her virus isn’t as strong as yours. Her killing range only seems to be ten or twenty feet. My close buddies on the west coast assure me that with your capture—with your cooperation—we will be allies. East coast and west coast united. How does that sound to you?”
Before I could answer, someone knocked on the door and entered. It was a guard.
“Sir, we’ve got something for you to see,” the guard said.
Mace grumbled about not wanting to go out there again, but stood up. “You two make yourselves at home and think about what I’ve said. Make this easier for all of us, please.”
I caught Huck glancing at the communications cabinet and so did Mace.
Mace dangled a key. “You’re not getting in there, Huck. Sealed like a bank vault. To be sure that you stay out of trouble, I’m leaving you my man.” Mace patted the guard on the chest, told him to stay by the door, and exited the bus.
Huck and I smiled at the man, who folded his arms and stayed by the door. I scooted in closer to Huck so that the man wouldn’t hear our conversation.
“Huck, do you think it’s possible?” I whispered. “Do you think that others are out there? That there is someone else like me all the way on the West Coast?”
“I don’t know,” Huck whispered. “It’s possible. That equipment, those lights, it would be hard to fake all of that, especially since he didn’t expect us to come in here.” Huck covered a butter knife on the table with the napkin.
I leaned forward so that the guard couldn’t see what Huck was doing. “If it’s possible, they can’t be on Mace’s side. We have to get to them.”
Huck slid the knife under the table and into his boot. “How, Hella? California is all the way on the other side of the country.”
“By that thing,” I pointed to the control box. “We need this bus.”
“I don’t think we’re in a place to hijack a bus,” Huck said. “Besides, even if we could communicate with them, they are still over 3000 miles way. That’s not going to help us kill Mace.”
Mace came back on the bus. “Plotting against me, are you?” Before we could answer, he held up his hands. “Good news kids. Your cage was destroyed. We are going to move you to a more comfortable vehicle after all. Your friends are already waiting for you.”
“Where?” I asked.
Mace took a few steps toward us followed by the guard. “Unfortunately we don’t have time to fix the cage, so I have taken your advice and agreed to have you and your friends transported in a more comfortable vehicle.”
“Are you going to shove us in the back of one of those compact cars?” I asked.
Mace shook his head. “You really don’t think much of me? You are going to be able to stretch out in this one. Take them away, Mortise.”
Mortise motioned for us to get up with his gun. Huck and I obeyed, sliding out of the bench. We squished unfortunately close Mace on the way out the door. Mace, in turn, grabbed my ass and squeezed it causing me to
yelp. I didn’t want to tell Huck what happened so I pushed him out the door and into the sunlight.
Mortise escorted us down the road, where we could see the progress Mace’s men had already made. The bodies that I had killed earlier had been shoveled away and the men were working on pushing the cars out of the way of the road to Raleigh. The large tank drove forward in the distance, acting like a cattle prod to the abandoned cars.
Mace’s vehicles were already lining up to leave and Mortise walked us by several of them before stopping in front of an old limousine.
Mortise opened the door. “Get inside,” he said.
I dived in when I saw Zora, Boa, Greg, Zeke, Stan and Saudah were all waiting for us inside. They eagerly made room for us as we hugged and kissed each other in greetings.
Saudah handed us bottle of water. “Compliments of the house,” she said.
Stan handed over a bag of donuts. “Stale, but edible,” he said. “I’m sure you are hungry.”
Mace’s men had also provided an assortment of packaged junk food, which we divided up amongst ourselves. I was famished and ate in between telling the others what Mace had told us, including the part about Los Angeles.
“We could be here a long time,” Huck said. “We should get some rest.”
“Shifts,” Zeke said. He pointed to me. “You first, sleepyhead.”
“Why am I always first?” I yawned. “OK, we’ll sleep.” I curled up next to Huck and let myself fall asleep.
I woke up when the limousine started moving. Huck was still asleep on my shoulder. The only ones awake were Stan, Saudah and Zeke. I watched out the window as we rolled down the desolate highway.
“How are we going to escape?” Saudah asked.
“There’s going to be thousands of zeroes in Raleigh,” I said. “We can use them. They follow me around, you know. Mace won’t be used to the amount of undead, maybe we can use that to our advantage.”
“Like Durham,” Zeke said. “They surrounded us in the Durham Center. Is there anything like that in Raleigh? We’ll need a place to meet, what better than the tallest building.”
