The Grey Ones

by Candra Baguley

  Chapter 19

  “I mean, well done.” The man repeats, stopping in front of me. With a comforting smile he reaches out a hand.

  “Thanks.” I smile, reaching my hand out to his.

  “What’s your name ma’am?” He asks. His grasp is firm as he shakes my wrist up and down.

  “Isabelle.” I reply, “And you are?”

  “My name is Colonel Kirk Samuels of the United States Air Force.” He replies before turning to Travis and doing the same thing to him.

  “Yes. And this,” Chris says while pulling the brunette girl out from behind him, “Is my daughter, Katie.”

  Without taking her eyes off me, she waves once and says, “Hello all.”

  “Katie here is going to take you on the rest of the tour while we get Chad some ice.” Chris and Colonel Kirk Samuels laugh as they begin to walk towards Chad.

  “If you guys want to follow me I will show you to the Z Room.” Her long brown hair sweeps from side to side behind her when she turns and walks away.

  Jace is the first one to follow. He runs ahead to catch up with her, leaving the rest of us trailing behind. I can hear his flirtatious tone while he walks alongside her complimenting her hair. She shakes her head and pushes him into a group of people. Everyone laughs at him while he picks himself up and runs after her.

  “Hey, wait up.” He says, darting out the door after her.

  Turning to Lilly, I ask, “Is he always so…”

  “Relentless? Yeah.” Lilly laughs, walking side by side with me out the door.

  The Z room was the first room we were in when we had arrived. There’s a door leading into the business that’s sealed off with bricks and cement. That must be how they keep the tunnels a secret. I wonder how many exits this tunnel actually has. As my eyes search the room I find rolled up sleeping bags and pillows on the wooden shelves.

  “This is where we sleep,” Katie smiles. The little kids we saw playing together earlier come running past her, squealing and laughing. She chuckles before continuing, “And where the kids like to play.”

  A boy who looks to be around eight runs over to Ty and Allie and asks, “Hey, you guys wanna play with us?”

  “Yeah!” Ty bounces on the balls of his feet, excitedly, “Is that okay, mom?”

  When I hesitate, Lilly speaks up, “It’s okay. I’ll keep an eye on them.”

  I bite the inside of my cheek in hesitation before nodding at Lilly. “Okay. Thanks.”

  Once they run out into the dark hallway, with Lilly following, Katie says, “Do you guys have any special skills? I was pre-med before this happened. Now I’m pretty much the doctor here.”

  “I’ll show you my special skill.” Jace laughs flirtatiously.

  Her brown eyes roll as she looks back at me. When she shakes her head, I try to hide the smile on my face.

  “C’mon we can play doctor.” He tries again.

  “Sorry, but you’re not my type.” Katie replies with a scrunched up nose.

  “Oh yeah,” Jace’s voice deepens a little more. He steps closer to her and asks, “What is your type?”

  “Give it a rest, Jace. She’s not interested.” I interrupt.

  She smiles at me. As he steps aside, the rest of us go on to tell her what we’re good at; starting with Travis.

  “I was a sniper for the Marines, before everything.”

  “Yeah, and my family is really good at hunting. Lilly and Allie are good at making weapons, clothes, cooking, cleaning…” Jace says, trailing off at the end sarcastically.

  “What about you? What are your special skills?” Katie asks, locking eyes with me.

  “I’m good at hand to hand combat and throwing daggers.” I reply.

  “She’s also apparently good at climbing trees, from what Allie told me.” Jace says, nudging me playfully.

  “That could actually come in handy. I’ll have to introduce you to Kay and her friends.” Katie smiles at me before turning to Billy.

  “And you?” She asks. She has a gentleness in her voice that makes you feel at ease. It’s not surprising to me that she’s the doctor here.

  “Me?” Billy replies, caught off guard. His skinny finger pushes the large glasses back up his nose as he continues, “I’m not good at anything.”

  Katie frowns at his answer. Not giving up on him she looks down at the brown backpack he is clutching to his chest. She motions at it with a simple nod and asks, “What’s in there?”

  “It’s a ham radio. I’ve been trying to get in contact with my family ever since those things invaded.” Billy says, almost sounding monotone. He’s probably sick of having to tell his story.

  “Are you good with radios? We could use another person to take turns with Heather. My dad, Chad, and I were doing it until she showed up the other day and took over. I swear she wouldn’t sleep if I didn’t make her trade off with us.” Katie laughs to herself.

  “Yeah, I think I can do that.” Billy says excitedly. “Want me to give her a break right now?”

  “That would be nice of you. Do you need help finding your way back?” She says stepping towards the entrance.

  Billy puts up a hand, stopping her in her place. “No, I’ve got it. Thanks though.” He walks quickly to the entrance before ducking out the door and disappearing in the tunnel.

  “Um, okay.” She smiles before turning back to us. “You can put your bags on those shelves and follow me to the Bullseye Room.”

  “What’s in the Bullseye Room?” I ask, stashing my backpack on a wooden shelf next to a few other bags. I leave the lucky dagger inside my thigh holster and circle back to her.

  “It’s a room I think you’re going to enjoy.” She grins, revealing her straight teeth.

  Cano watches us from the tunnel while we take turns climbing up the ladder, into the Bullseye Room. When I step up into the warehouse, the first thing I see is people running around inside, throwing daggers at targets high and low. It looks like they created an obstacle course made out of plywood, ladders, cardboard boxes, and rope.

  As I stare at the wooden quarter pipe walls on both front sides, I ask, “Who made this?”

  “That would be Kay, Justin, and Leon. They made it about three months ago with some of their other friends. But, the rest of them left.”

  “What about all of those boxes on the floor?” I ask with my sight focused on the cardboard boxes in the center of the U shaped course.

  With a laugh she replies, “When they first built the course one of the men here thought they could do it easily. Ended up falling pretty hard, so we added boxes to make it less dangerous. The fall at least.”

  “Oh wow, is he okay?”

  “He’s fine. Luckily, it was just a broken leg.”

  I watch a girl climb up the ropes. As she climbs higher and higher, I take note of how tall the obstacle course is. I wonder what building this used to be. The girl screams out when her hands slip off the rope, sending her into a stack of boxes below. A couple guys on the side laugh as they jog over to help pull her out of the boxes.

  Once she’s out and back on her feet, Katie yells, “Hey Kay. Are you good?”

  The girl fixes her clothes as she replies, “Yeah. I’m good.”

  “Alright. I want to give the newbies a chance to check out the course. Are you guys okay to hang on the sidelines for a bit?”

  “Yeah, that’s cool. Let’s see what they’ve got.” When Kay smiles, the piercings in her dimples glimmer in the light. She rolls her long sleeves up her tattooed arms.

  Katie watches her as she kisses one of the guys who helped her out. Her fingers glide through his faux hawk until playfully tugging it. They laugh as they walk off to the side, where there are other people waiting. They lift their water bottles and take gulps in between sentences. When a few of the others begin talking to them, they turn away from the course and sit.

  “Ready to pick out a weapon?” Katie’s soft voice brings my attention back to her.

  I follow her stare
to a table a few feet off to the side. Lying on the plastic tabletop are daggers, ninja throwing stars, paintball guns, and even spears. I tuck a few daggers in my waistband, along with a few throwing stars. I’ve only used them a few times in my life; I was never really good. Daggers are much easier for me to control. My fingers skim across the sharpened tips while I think to myself how they could be effective against the looters, and maybe even the Grey Ones.

  Since I was quickest at picking out weapons, I’m the first to go. Standing on the line, I stare at the target ahead. It sits in the back of the U-shaped course. I twiddle a throwing star in my fingers, trying to remember the right stance.

  With everyone watching, I raise my hand back like I’m holding a dagger. The first one misses the target completely. An uproar of laughter comes from my side to where Kay and the others sit. I ignore the critics that continue to snicker at my failure and focus on the same target. This time, I step into my throw. The jagged stainless steel bounces off the wooden target and falls to the ground. The Guerrillas erupt in laughter as one of the younger boys mimics my throw.

  My hands begin to shake the more irritated I become. I grasp my fingers tightly around the last star and turn to face the jokester. Without warning, I throw it right past the boy. The stainless steel stabs into the wooden shelf centered behind the group. They fall silent and shift their widened eyes from the star to me.

  In a full sprint, I run into the center of the U-shaped obstacle course where a rope hangs from the tall ceiling. Wrapping both hands around the rope hanging from above my head, I yank it downwards and jump up. My feet pinch the braided manila as I lift my body quickly. This is something I have done many times before.

  When I reach the top, I grab one of the daggers from my waistband and begin running along the narrow wall. As I glance around, I find the target on top of the wall across from me. Still running, I throw the small dagger at it, nailing the middle red circle perfectly. Travis cheers me on from below as I grab the other two daggers from my waistband. I throw one after the other, piercing into the centers of separate targets.

  My fingers grasp the red handle from my thigh holster as I move for the final target. Jogging across the plywood, the wall suddenly wobbles beneath me. I drop the dagger and watch the red handle spin before stabbing into a box in the pile below. Before my body can be thrown from the top, I leap for the thick rope hanging from the ceiling. My hands slip down the manila, burning my palms. If I let go, I’ll fall. I’ll fail. I grasp the rope tighter. My body jerks, coming to abrupt stop fifteen feet from the ground.

  I look around the obstacle course and find a dagger sticking out of the target in front of me. My body rocks from side to side, swinging the rope back and forth slowly. I keep throwing my weight forward and backward until I’m close enough to yank the black handle from the red center. I aim at the final target. With my body still rocking gently, I throw the dagger. Flipping over and over again, the blade pierces the center perfectly.

  “Bullseye.” Jace laughs as my body plummets into the boxes below.

  Brown cardboard surrounds me, my body disappearing into the boxes. Laying there, I take a moment to catch my breath. The lights above me are shining down, and as I inhale and exhale slowly I feel accomplished.

  My moment is interrupted by an arm reaching in for me. Travis pulls me out and helps me to my feet. His dimples sink in when a wide grin spreads across his face. With a spear in his other hand, he says, “My turn.”