The Plague: Dead Solstice

by M. Scott Burgess

  “Please. There’s not that many of us. We have children with us, we can’t go back out there. You don’t know how bad it is. You don’t know how many people we’ve lost.”

  Mason nodded as if to say he agreed but was restricted by some unbreakable law. “Again, I’m sorry. I really am, but we can’t afford…”

  “We have weapons,” Dante broke in. “We know how to use them.”

  Mason’s face warped into a frown. “Are you trying to threaten us now?”

  “No. The opposite. There are more than just those things out there.” Dante paused, waiting for it to sink in almost a moment too long. “You know it as well as us. That’s why all of you are here guarding this road. We can help you defend the road. Like my colleague said, we’ve been through a lot. We know how to fight. We have mechanics. Doctors. Men who can help you farm. Me who can help you find food. We can help you.”

  Mason stared back at the truck giving the thought a moment to consider.

  “This is just the beginning,” Dante continued. “You need to start thinking about what your long-term plan is.”

  “Look,” Mason countered, “We really just…”

  “You know I am right.”

  “But how can we trust you?”

  Jadon took his John Deere hat off and said, “Look at us. Do we look like bandits or thieves?”

  “And what’s waiting for us in the back of that dump truck?” the pock-faced teenager countered.

  “Just survivors,” Jadon answered in a soft tone.

  “And how many of them are infected?” the pock-faced teenager countered.

  “None,” Kai said after a pause. His mind immediately worried about how Dean and Teddy would look to these men.

  Mason turned to a nearby man who had remained silent the entire time. The two men stared at each other for a while until the silent man finally gave a nod. “Do you mind if we take a look?” Mason finally asked.

  “By all means,” Kai answered with a straight face.

  “After you.”

  Kai nodded and lead Jadon and Dante back to the truck with Mason, the pock-face teenager and the silent man as their escorts. Kai’s mind raced as he thought about Dean. Please let someone wake Dean up, he prayed.

  The walk back felt like it took an hour, but when they reached the back of the White Whale, half of the group was outside. They backed off and tensed up as the men with guns approached.

  “It’s alright,” Kai announced. “They’re just checking us out.” Kai’s eyes shot around the truck. Teddy was sitting on the edge of the truck, his eyes red and his cheeks flush. The wounded boy was sleeping with his head in Ava’s lap. Dean was awake, sitting upright and downing a bottle of water.

  “Wow, man!” The pock-face teenager announced seeing Dean. “Thought you said nobody was infected. What’s his deal?”

  “He’s not sick,” Kai said firmly.

  “He doesn’t look like he’s fine. Do you see that thing on his neck?”

  Dean put down the water and frowned at the teenager. “I survived it,” he grunted. Kai cringed, saying anything else would have been better.

  “People don’t get better,” Mason coldly said. “No one survives that.”

  “He did,” Quaid announced from deeper in the truck. “He’s immune.”

  The pock-faced teenager belted out a sarcastic laugh. “And what about him?” he asked pointing at the wounded kid.

  “It’s not a bite,” Dante said.

  “What is it then?” Mason asked sternly.

  The teenager kept on going. “Hey, kid. You alright, kid?” he yelled.

  Kai knew that this was quickly falling apart. He tried to explain the situation. “There was an…”

  Suddenly, the kid rolled off Ava’s lap and crawled to the opening of the truck. “They shot me! They shot me!” he screamed as he tumbled out onto the hot asphalt. “They shot me!” he kept yelling.

  Within an instance, all chaos broke loose, the three men yelled and raised their guns- so did the survivors. Everywhere people were screaming, trying to pull each other out of the way. Kai found his assault rifle pointed at Mason.

  “Put down your weapons!” Kai yelled.

  “You are outgunned!” Mason yelled back.

  “Everyone calm down!” Jadon shouted.

  The kid crawled toward the mountain men. Kai tried to evaluate the situation. Mason and the silent man both had their rifles aimed at Kai’s face. The pock-faced teenager’s pistol was aimed at Cece’s neck. He had her t-shirt firmly in his grip.

  “Let go of her,” Dean said. He was on his feet with a pistol aimed at the teenager.

  “Let’s slow this down,” Mason finally said. He looked at the teenager and nodded, then looked at the men at the barricade before saying, “We’re at the point where this isn’t going to end like you all hoped it would. But this can end a lot worse if you do anything stupid. This little girl, she’s coming with us. Same with this poor kid. Those two boys and that girl are coming too.”

  The Wills objected and grabbed their children tightly. Irene screamed for them to let go of Cece.

  “You can’t do this,” Kai pleaded.

  “We’re at the point where I have to,” Mason replied. “We are taking these children as hostages.” There was more protesting, but Mason held firm. “I will promise you that we will raise them like our own. They will have long full lives free from the hell out there. They will survive this with us. I promise you this, so long as you turn around and never come back.”

  “There’s only death out there,” Kai said, his voice more desperate now.

  “I don’t care.”

  “You think we actually…”

  “Shut up!” Mason snapped at him. “We’re doing you a fucking favor. We’re doing these children a favor. This is the best you’re going to get. Your alternative – if you try to come back for them, if we see you again, if you hesitate in leaving… If you don’t do exactly what I say… First, a bullet will be fired into this little girl’s head.”

  Cece was bawling uncontrollably. Irene pleaded for them to let her go.

  Mason continued, “And then, we will proceed to kill the rest of you. You may kill a few of us. You may kill me. But, do you see the men in those hills? Those are Iraq veterans, sharpshooters, avid hunters… I promise you, they will not allow a single one of you to survive the day.”

  It was finally quiet.

  Mason looked around at the group and then asked, “So what are you going to do?”

  7

  Dante held his breath as he stared at his desk. He was waiting until he heard the electronic jingle signifying that Lisha had exited the pawnshop. He took a deep breath. This was far sooner than he was hoping for. Much too soon. He had thought he would be safe here for decades more. He knew they’d never look for him here. But he hadn’t counted on Lisha. She knew him too well. And now he was left with no choice.

  “So, uh, is she your sister?” Dante’s eyes shot up at Roy who was standing at the door, an awkward smile painted on his face. “Girlfriend?”

  “Close the door,” Dante hissed.

  Roy’s eyes went wide with fear. “Yeah… Yeah, sorry, sure,” he stammered and then shut the door leaving Dante alone.

  Dante stared at the door a moment longer and then pulled open his desk drawer. He retrieved a flash drive, a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a lowball glass and set them in a line on his desk. Then he pulled out a metallic Maori wahaika. He weighed the weapon in his hand and then set it down on the desk next to the other items.

  Dante took the flash drive and stuck it into his desktop computer. After a few strokes against the keyboard, the computer’s monitor froze up and then suffered a blue death. While this was happening, Dante poured the lowball glass to the rim with the rubbing alcohol. He let it swirl a bit and then pulled himself up from his chair and went to the filing cabinet behind him. He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a key to unlock it. Dante held the glass of rubbing alcohol up. He swishe
d it around as he looked around at his office once more. And then, he splashed the rubbing alcohol onto the wall. He retrieved the bottle and set it on its side on top of the cabinet. The bottle chugged as the alcohol poured out all over the files and folders inside the cabinet.

  Dante went to the office door where his jacket was hanging on a hook. He dusted off the jacket and then pulled it on, adjusting where it sat on his shoulders to get comfortable. He returned to his desk and retrieved his wahaika and holstered it in one of his inner pockets. From a pocket on the opposite breast, he pulled out an ancient matchbook. On its bent and faded cover, Dante could just make out a diamond and the words, “Hotel Kempinski Vier Jahreszeiten.” The memory of that place almost made Dante smile. After looking around the room once more, Dante bent the matchbook back and lit a single match. He let the flame catch and grow and then placed the miniature bonfire on top of his filing cabinet – directly in the path of the spilled rubbing alcohol.

  Dante went to his door and paused, letting out a sigh. He exited his office and locked the door behind him. Ahead of him, Roy was assisting a customer, this one far wider than Lisha, with a set of gold necklaces she had brought in. On the other side of the shop, his other employee, Carly, was sitting in front of the gun case. Her eyes were glossed over- captured by the digital garbage she obsessed with on her cellphone.

  Dante walked over to the gun case with a smile. Carly’s peripheral vision caught him, and she rushed to hide her cellphone into the undersized slacks she overflowed out of. “Sorry, Dante, I was just checking on my aunt. She’s been in the hospital.”

  Dante ignored her excuses. “Can you open the pistol case for me?”

  Carly’s eyes narrowed. “Okay…” she said with blatant hesitation. She dug a key out of one of the other small pockets of her slacks and pulled the gun case open wide for Dante.

  “Thank you,” Dante said as he reached in and grabbed a Glock. He pulled the key out of the case himself and went to another case, unlocking it and grabbing a box of 9mm ammunition.

  “Everything alright?” Carly asked, slowly backing away. Dante could smell the fear beginning to waft out of her pours. Instead of answering her question, Dante forced out a passing smile and walked out of the pawnshop.

  Dante walked out into the parking lot. It was hot. Just warm enough for Dante’s liking. Dante paused and looked up at the sky. It was as blue as he had ever seen it above him. But out over the ocean, a dark blanket of clouds was being pushed in – it comforted him just slightly. Dante had always loved the blue skies here, but now he felt naked. Looking at the clear sky, all he could think of was all of the satellites up there. There were far too many satellites for his liking. He could only imagine what kind of eyes were staring back down at him. Hunting for him. It was one of only a few thoughts that frightened him.

  Screams erupted from the pawnshop behind him and Dante’s focus return to him. He craned his neck to watch as smoke began to billow out of the front doors and his employed cried about a fire. Roy was running out to tell him. Dante ignored him.

  Roy was an idiot.

  Calmly, Dante climbed into his Honda Accord and pulled out of the parking lot.

  8

  The ride back down the hill was deathly quiet. Kai sat up front in the cab, brooding, as Dante steered the White Whale around the wide bends on the mountain road. Neither man wanted to speak a word to each other. They both knew that they were both hated by the group almost as much as the men at the blockade. Those men. Those bastards. Kai had been so wrong about them.

  In total they took five of them: Cece, the Will’s daughter and both twins, and the kid Elias shot. If only that damn kid had been quiet, maybe none of this would have happened… Maybe. Of course, things weren’t looking great the moment they saw the wound on Dean’s neck. That asshole. Why didn’t he cover the damn thing up? Why didn’t he go hide out in the back?

  More than a few times, Kai wanted to scream at Dante to turn around. To drive the White Whale back up the hill and right through that barricade. He wanted to kill every one of those mountain trash bastards. That’s what the rest of the group wanted, wasn’t it? That’s what Dean would have done, right? Of course, Kai knew better. If they were even seen again by those men, it would mean death for all of them.

  Only a few miles down the road, Kai spotted a small town – if it could even be called that. In reality, it was a pair of pull-offs on both sides of the highway and a scattering of a few buildings.

  “Turn off here!” Kai yelled at the last moment.

  “Are you sure?” Dante questioned with a suspicious look.

  “Just fucking do it.”

  Dante hesitated for a moment before doing as he was told. He cranked the wheels to the right at the last moment causing the truck to jerk and groan in order to make the exit. Dante shot Kai a suspicious glare as they climbed the road up to a general store. It looked like an old country store with a low porch that ran across the front of the building. The name “Tom’s Place” was printed on the front of the building along with the words, “CAFE” and “STORE”. Dante let the truck rolled to a stop and idle as he looked to Kai for direction.

  “We’ll stop here,” Kai announced. He swung the passenger side door wide open and jumped out with his assault rifle ready.

  Kai marched into the general store, kicking the door open on his way in. He hastily walked through the store checking it for any dangers. It didn’t take long for him to decide it was free from the undead. But it had also already been looted. Only a few tchotchkes remained in the souvenir section near the cash registers. Kai stormed out of the store and went around to the side of the building and then behind it. There, he found a small pile of bodies, each with a caved-in head, rotting in the sun. Kai returned to the front of the store. The dump truck’s engine was still idling. Only a few men had climbed out of the back, they were watching with their guns ready.

  “Kill the engine,” Kai yelled to Dante through the open passenger side door. “We’re staying here.” Dante frowned at him for a few seconds before doing it.

  “What the hell do you mean ‘we’re staying here’?” Cliff Will shouted. His voice was brimming with rage. “They have our children! They said they would kill them if they saw us again! We’re maybe only two miles away from them!”

  “They won’t kill them,” Kai barked.

  “They put their guns against my boys’ heads!” Cliff Will continued. “For Christ sake, they promised they would take care of them if we left. Why aren’t we doing that?”

  “We need to go get them,” Elias suggested in a strange determination.

  “Go get them?!” Kai mocked. “Did you see how many guns they have?”

  “I did,” Elias shot back, “and I told you we should have turned around, but you didn’t. And now we’re in this mess.”

  “I was trying to get us to Mammoth! Everything I do is to get us all to safety!”

  “And who made you leader?” Elias sneered.

  Kai was shocked. He looked around at the group- no one came to his side. Kai wanted to cry, you did! but he could see on the faces around him that it would only make them angrier.

  “I say we go get them back,” Elias repeated. “We’ve fought worse and won. We just need to get the jump on them. We can do it.” Elias paused as Dean climbed down from the back of the truck. The two locked eyes for a moment- and for a moment Elias hoped Dean would announce his support. But instead, Dean yawned and turned, walking to a nearby house, abandoning the group to their own arguments. Without Dean’s support, Elias looked around desperately for anyone else.

  “It’s suicide, Elias,” Jadon said when their eyes met.

  “You’re freaking kidding me,” Elias said still looking around. “We’re just going to let those monsters take our people? Our kids? You all make me sick.” Fed up, Elias walked back to the truck and climbed in to grab his gear.

  “Listen,” Kai ordered in a firm voice, “I have a plan. We’re stopping here for a reason. If we
stay here, just down the road from them- give it time. They’ll realize we’re not a threat to them. Eventually, they will let us in. We’ll get your kids back.”

  “And if you’re wrong?” Cliff Will coughed out. Kai was hesitant. “We should go, Kai,” Cliff Will said barely above a whisper.

  “Please, Kai,” Clarisa Will begged.

  Kai locked eyes with Cliff Will’s wife and said, “We’re not going anywhere.” His voice was cold and determined. He flexed his grip on his rifle, holding it firm.

  Dante climbed out of the truck and walked around to the group and said, “We stay.”

  Cliff Will’s eyes began to tear up. Desperate, he looked around the group, eventually landing on Hector.

  “Oh, now you fuckers decide to give a shit about what I think?” Hector sneered. “You can go fuck yourselves.”

  Cliff Will began to breathe heavily. His hands tightened into fists about to erupt in an attack. Kai stood ready, tightening his grip on the rifle. It was Cliff Will’s wife who defused the situation. Clarisa put her hand on her husband’s arm and whispered something into his ear. Cliff Will took a deep breath and then threatened, “If my children die because of this, I’ll kill you.” Cliff Will left, walking toward the general store. His wife followed in tow soon after.

  Kai looked to the rest of the group for support. “I know it’s not ideal,” he said, “but it’s the only choice we have.” But already the group had begun to disperse. Some began to pull tents out of the back of the truck. Others began checking out the buildings. Kai’s eyes locked on Irene’s. Hers were full of tears. Full of pain. Kai wanted to comfort her. He wanted to embrace her and tell her he was doing this for Cece. “Irene...” Kai choked.

  Irene swallowed down her tears then shook her head at him. She turned and walked toward Cliff and Clarisa Will.

  9

  The last grasp of sunlight was creeping out from the other side of the horizon, stretching out the shadows of the small strip of buildings. Kai had spent his time searching each building in Tom’s Place for any signs of the undead but had fortunately found none. Now he was rushing to use this last bit of light to pull his gear from the back of the dump truck.