Evolution Z (Book 3): Stage Three

by Bourne, David

  As he was walking toward the dwelling, he hoped her stubborn son wouldn’t be there. Duke could not stand Sam. To be honest, he would have liked to give the arrogant little bastard a good talking-to, but this would have destroyed any chance he might have had with Sam’s mother. Therefore, he controlled himself as best as he could when the boy was present. He turned around the corner of the house and had almost arrived, when he stopped and saw two men approach the building at the double.

  One tall and muscular guy kept bellowing Jane’s name. The other one, a shorter and slighter man with well-groomed hair, walked next to him and waited. Duke could not believe his eyes. He could easily recognize this man among thousands.

  “Thompson. It can’t be,” he whispered in a strained voice. Duke wondered what he should do. What was this drunkard pilot doing here? And what was the connection of his chubby friend to Jane? He decided to stay out of sight and wait first. Duke listened intently.

  Scott yelled at the top of his lungs: “JAAANE, SAAAM! Come out please, it’s me, Scott!” Tears were streaming down his weather-beaten face. Ray choked-back a lump in his throat. A short, dark-haired woman came out of the building and went to the two men.

  “Why are you looking for Jane?”

  “I‘m her husband. Please, can you tell me where I can find my wife and my son?” Scott could barely suppress his excitement.

  The woman looked surprised. “You‘re Scott?” She studied the man carefully. “Of course, it must be you. Jane has talked so often about you! I almost feel as if I had known you for a long time.”

  Scott beamed. Jane really was living here. “Where are they? I have to see them!”

  “Jane is on an outside mission, and Sam left the house with his camera in the morning. He often stays with Lisa Hailey, the girl managing the warehouse. Jane is out with a group try to find new medication. She works in the hospital and occasionally helps with supply trips. It shouldn’t be long before she gets back. Do you want to wait for her here?” Scott’s face fell. He had come so close to them, and now neither was here. It was maddening. Ray spoke up.

  “Are they going to be at the amphitheater this evening, to listen to Mr. Krueger’s speech?”

  “I‘m sure about that. They should both be back by then.”

  Scott took a deep breath. “I‘ve have waited so long, I guess I can wait a little longer. Thank you for telling us, Ms...?”

  “My name is Maria,” the woman said. “It‘s wonderful to finally meet you in person, Scott. We’ll see each other this evening at the meeting.” After saying this, she returned inside the building.

  Ray and Scott in turn went on their way. As they were walking toward the warehouse, Scott turned to Ray. “Damn it, I was so close.” Ray gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

  “You still are, Scott. You‘ll see them again. This evening is going to be something special.” Ray did not know at this moment just how true his statement was.

  At the corner of the house, Duke digested what he had heard. “That fat bastard is her husband!” He felt an all-too familiar rage rising in him. “Let’s see for how much longer.” He tore the flowers into pieces and dumped them in a trash can behind the building. Then he stormed off.

  43Alone among Friends

  At Fort Weeks, Josh let the door slam shut noisily behind him. There was no light, and his room was quiet. No one’s there. He walked directly through the darkened room and collapsed on his bed. For the first time today he was alone. Just like the previous days, he had spent countless hours in the medical facilities of the base. He had been going back and forth between the hospital and the medical tent non-stop. He had been called to one patient after another. Everything was so horribly crowded that injured people had to be placed in the tent to allow for every patient to at least have a makeshift cot. He was constantly addressed, called or asked questions. Lack of sleep and continual stress took their toll and made him reach not only his physical but also his mental limits.

  The price of survival. This is what doctors must feel like in war time.

  The last days had been very rough on the young medical student, and the constant disasters had made an impact. He had grown desperate. His mother had been seriously injured during the battle for Fort Weeks. The morning after, he had found her in a pitiful state lying on a cot. At first he almost walked by her because he did not recognize her, but a second look etched an image into his brain that had been hard to bear for Josh. A mixture of blood and tissue fluid seeping out of her ears was caught by a wound dressing. Her face had been given a quick cleaning, but bruises were still visible and after a short while, Josh had to avert his eyes.

  His once so-feisty mother now seemed very listless these days. She was introverted, a picture of misery, with her face expressing the trauma of having seen horror incarnate. Josh had tried to talk with her, but she showed no reaction. A young soldier who had just put a makeshift bandage on her hands told Josh that he had tried, too. Nothing seemed to get through to her. Josh knew from his studies that a temporary apathy after traumatic events was not uncommon. While her condition had somewhat improved in the following days, and even the fact his mother was responsive again did not make Josh feel glad. One ear was totally deaf, and she complained about a continuous ringing in the other. She had cried bitter tears when she saw herself and her injuries in a mirror for the first time. She also complained about severe pain in her left hand. It had all been too much for Josh. He had never seen her like this. For him, his mother was always the strong, self-confident woman who never even got a cold.

  “A strong mind in a healthy body,” she always said, but there was not much of that left. The fact he could not help her made things even worse.

  Another consequence of his mother’s injuries was that Josh was one of the few remaining medical practitioners at Fort Weeks. In the past few days, his medical knowledge had reached its limits on several occasions, and during the majority of his operations, Josh had been secretly relieved when the medics assured him they could take over the rest of the treatment. A student was quite honestly not yet a real doctor. His only major operation on a living human being had been the emergency surgery for Chris, and in that situation he had mostly followed his mother’s instructions. He felt completely overwhelmed, but couldn’t tell this to anyone without undermining his own authority as a doctor and damaging the confidence of his numerous patients. Another issue bothering him was that his new friends at Fort Weeks were avoiding him more and more. The fact his father had withheld information from them made Josh lose trust in him, too. Ray and Scott had told him they assumed that William Pelletier had not known anything about the conspiracy involving Sanctuary, Abbadon and Vita Invicta, but Josh still felt like an outsider. They probably just wanted to calm him down but could not imagine his own father would have deceived him like that. Strangely enough, Josh himself had not wanted to believe it.

  The man who had supported him in everything he did, who always said it was important to be honest and to own up to one’s mistakes had ruthlessly deceived him, as far as Josh was concerned.

  What had he done to his dad to be so excluded? Was he just not that important to him? Josh could find no other explanation because his father obviously did not trust him.

  Josh threw up his hands and tore his hair. Why, why dad? Why did you give us the cold shoulder? The young man was devastated. Josh started to sob quietly, and his body shook. He just could not get it into his head. He had never expected such a betrayal by his dad. Wasn’t I loyal to you, or do you consider me an informer? Why won’t you trust me?

  The longer he indulged in such thoughts, the more depressed Josh became. What had he achieved, after all? He was the type of person one did not need during an apocalypse—a liability. Useless. He was responsible for his mentor being eaten, and then he had simply run away. He had simply sacrificed him and fled. It had been no different with his mother. He had just forgotten her and only thought of himself. His own life had obviously been more important
to him.

  He was a mediocre, lazy student—a coward who was afraid of the sight of blood. How could he be of help to anyone? I’m no Scott who easily kills zombies. I’m no Ray who changes the outcome of a battle with a helicopter. I’m... only me.

  By now, Josh was shedding bitter tears and was more and more retreating into himself. Maybe it would be better for the others if they didn’t have to trouble themselves with him anymore. He probably would end up doing something stupid that would hurt even more people he cared for. What was life offering him now, anyways? The world stood at the brink of the abyss. Undead roamed the Earth, and he was short, scrawny, useless Josh. Who would really miss me?

  Josh opened his puffy eyes and glanced at the small wooden nightstand. He opened the drawer and looked at the shimmering metal of his pistol. He reached inside and touched the cool handle. Is that why you wanted me to take grandpa’s pistol?

  He lifted the old Colt a few inches and then stopped. It would be over quickly.

  Josh stared at the pistol for a few intense moments, but then cursed himself for his thoughts. Even if he really had wanted to act on these ideas, he suspected he would never have the courage for it. He returned the weapon to the drawer, pushed it shut and closed his eyes. He lacked the courage. Yet.

  44Possibilities

  Duke walked through the dusk to the building Richard Fuller had described to him. Fuller had used the term conspiratorial meeting. Duke had never heard that before, but again Fuller was always using words that Duke did not know. He had just grunted and nodded. Right now, he was in a bad mood. He did not like in the least the fact that Thompson and his maggots were here. When he reached the meeting point, two brawny young men stared at him and crossed their arms.

  “What about you? Do you have a death wish?”

  When they recognized him, they immediately opened a heavy metal door and let him into the building where the meeting was to take place. Duke pulled a red curtain aside and entered the room where Richard Fuller, Jenna, Toby and several guards were already waiting.

  “Ah, Mr. Powell. Excellent. Then we can get started.” Fuller sat down at a table and poured himself a small glass of wine from a decanter.

  “Would you mind explaining what this meeting is all about?”

  “You do know the new arrivals, don’t you, Mr. Powell?” Fuller asked with a smirk. Duke Powell was absolutely furious.

  “Know them...? This fucking boozehound, this wannabe pilot was the reason why Pam, Danny and I were kicked out of that house by Chris Forster back then. Afterwards, we had to fend for ourselves.”

  “How ironic,” Fuller said with a smile. “When I met them, things went a bit better for me.” Fuller told Duke how he had robbed Ray and his friends of all their possessions. Then he, Jenna and Toby had reached Sanctuary in a roundabout way and settled here.

  “You should‘ve shot them when you had the chance.”

  “Add rob us of the perfect scapegoat?”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “The timing of their arrival and the news they bring are almost perfect. My informer at the gate told me that Thompson had a test kit for the virus with him. He also claims any survivor could be potentially infected.” Fuller did not appear to be worried by this piece of news—quite the opposite. He appeared to be happy about it.

  “I‘m not sure I follow you. How can you know all of this?”

  “Do you think that you are my only ally? Say hello to another one, though I believe you may already have met.” Duke heard how the metal door opened and closed again and watched the red curtain with curiosity. It was vigorously pulled aside, and Duke displayed an expression of both surprise and exasperation. Valeria Martinez entered and nodded at those present.

  “Miss Martinez, charming as always.”

  “Hello, Mr. Fuller.” Valeria put her weapons on the table and flashed Duke a hyena-like grin. Duke couldn’t even get upset about it. Richard Fuller could probably sell the devil a barbecue grill.

  Fuller took a sip from his glass and swirled the wine around appreciatively.

  “I am still expecting a small special delivery, and then I‘m going to tell you my plan. Until then, let‘s enjoy our wine. There are certainly worse vintages than this one.”

  Sam was strolling through town, with the instant camera that Lisa had given him around his neck. In the beginning he had taken too many photos, and Lisa had playfully scolded him that he used up too much film when he came to her to get some more. Actually, he only wanted a reason to be near her as often as possible. Since he started writing a diary, he had been much more relaxed than in the first few days after his arrival. Even Duke Powell hardly bothered him anymore. He had photographed the sunrise and the forest where he was cutting timber. One time he even had taken a picture of a twelve-point buck standing on a hill. He had glued the photo into his diary, right at the beginning, and showed it immediately to his mom and Lisa.

  When he had the camera, he sometimes felt like a private detective hunting for clues—an ultra-cool sleuth, with a trench coat and a fedora. Since coming to Sanctuary, he had also taken some photos of the inhabitants, and each of them was glued on a page of his diary, with a caption added.

  Lisa Hailey: Prettiest girl in town

  Duke Powell: Biggest asshole in town

  Walter Krueger: Mayor of the town

  Now he was looking for some more interesting things to take pictures of, so he could go back to Lisa for new film, when he noticed four men lugging around a heavy chest. They looked around repeatedly, as if to make sure they weren’t spotted. Sam thought this odd, and he decided to follow them at a safe distance. My first case, “The Mysterious Chest.”

  The men were now struggling to carry the chest uphill, as it seemed to be heavy. One of them slipped and let go off a handle. The chest fell to the ground and opened a bit. A charred human arm became visible, whose hand almost reached the ground. Sam could barely believe his eyes, but he took the camera and snapped a photo. He stood with his back to the corner of a building so the man would not be able to detect him.

  “Pete, you fucking idiot. Watch out, or do you want someone to catch us?” one of them barked at the man who had stumbled. The man stuffed the arm back in and took hold of the chest again.

  “Sorry, lost my balance.” They all looked around for possible witnesses, but as they saw no one, they continued on their way. After a while, they arrived at a building. The guards let them in, and the men disappeared inside with the chest.

  Sam saw the two burly guys standing in front of the building. He certainly did not want them to ask what he was doing here. On the other hand, he really wanted to know what was going on inside. He took the long way around the building until he arrived at the rear of it. There was a rain barrel there. The boy tried to step on the barrel and then pull himself up to the roof. But when he stepped on the edge of the lid, he slid and made a groaning sound. One of the guards seemed to have noticed this noise.

  “Did you hear that, Randy?”

  “I didn’t hear anything. You just imagined it. ”

  “I didn’t, you dumbass. I‘m going to look.” The guard pulled a sturdy truncheon from his belt and went around to the back. After a little while he returned to his comrade.

  “Well, there wasn’t anything. I must have been mistaken.”

  “ No shit, Sherlock.”

  Sam Gerber lay on his back on the roof of the building, holding his camera. His hard was beating fast. The gorilla had come around the corner barely a second after Sam had pulled himself on the roof. It had almost been too late.

  He heard mumbling coming from inside the building. From somewhere, the sounds of a conversation were carried up here. He stood up to be able to hear better and found a vent in the metal roof. This helped him to follow parts of the conversation. Some passages were too low to understand everything.

  “Hello, gentlemen. As I can see, you fulfilled the mission I gave you. Did you do it unnoticed, as I demanded?”


  “Yes, Mr. Fuller, Sir. We had already loaded the chest when Thompson and his friends showed up. No one noticed us on the way here.”

  “Excellent. I am very satisfied. Now, if you could leave us alone?”

  “Of course, Sir. If you don’t need anything else from us...?”

  “No, that will be all for now. Jenna and Toby, if you could accompany the gentlemen and start preparations for this evening?” Jenna and Toby left with the guards and seemed to be happy to be helping Richard Fuller. Duke looked at them in disgust. Ass-kissers!

  Richard Fuller pensively rubbed his well-groomed beard and obviously enjoyed Duke’s and Valeria’s curiosity concerning the chest that had been delivered.

  “And what do we have here, Mr. Fuller?” Valeria crept through the room like a cat. From his position of the roof, Sam could only clearly recognize Duke and Richard Fuller. He also heard Valeria’s female voice, but so softly he could not identify her.

  Fuller went to the chest and opened it. It contained charred body parts and some human remains. Valeria turned away from this nauseating sight. Duke scowled.

  “So far, so good. What are we going to do with this zombie pudding?”

  “I told you I would let you in on it.” Fuller pulled a small black case from his jacket pocket. “These are the remains of some of our opponents in the small town of Reefe. I had asked the men to bring the body parts along.”

  He opened the case, which contained a beautiful antique signet ring.

  “I had this ring adapted by someone who is quite skilled at his craft. To be precise, it now has a small, sharp spike.”

  “And what‘s the use of that?” Duke asked excitedly.