by C M Hoffmann
“I believe we should turn one of theirs. Let them see that this earthly transformation is not the end.”
“I’ve foreseen it in a vision. We will take one of the non-believers, not just any one, but one of their demons in armor. That blazing orange sacrilege on their chests has been burned into my mind by the Holy himself.”
“But, how, Preacher? Their weapons make them dangerous.”
“Yes, but our protection given by the Holiest will keep us safe. I’m counting on you, Joshua, you must take this task, bring one of the others with you. Wait for the opportune moment and seize the demon. Pick whichever you choose, there will come a time when they are vulnerable and that is when you must strike.”
“Blessings. It will be done.”
“He must be alive when he enters this place, Joshua. Not resurrected alive, but naturally alive. If he falls as a result of your interaction, leave him, and try for another.”
“Your words are His words. I will take care of it.”
“Bless you. May the Holiest watch over you in your journey.” Joshua leaves and the preacher falls into a chair with his face in his hands. He glances through his fingers and breathes an exasperated sigh. “As long as they believe me, they’ll keep me safe.” He turns away from the chained lurkers and stares out the single window.
♦ ♦ ♦
Chief, “Everyone, come in, come in. Anyone want coffee? No? You sure? It’s good.”
Rapp, “Well since you’ve ruined our evening date night plans of hunting down a crazy ass preacher, we’ll probably all be asleep soon.”
Chief shrugs, “Fair enough.”
Trey, “So what’s up with Laplace?”
“Glad you asked. Unfortunately, they have not fared half as well as us. Their survival rate since the first exposure has dropped to less than three percent. We’ve got some transmissions out of the city, and all the reports are bad. Very bad actually. The military is a no show. Unknown whether or not they really just didn’t show up, if they turned, or if they were sent away. Good news for us though with the burn out and the vehicle wall: Laplace offers us a mountain of logistics.”
Fred, “The military transport depot.”
“Exactly, it seems they have abandoned most of the vehicles there. Plus, being a military base they should have a decent amount of equipment there. Also, the high school. They should have a good few months’ worth of food up in the cafeteria. Not much considering how many we’ll have to feed, but it’s better than what we have. It really is a miracle that power hasn’t completely shut down. If it does I assume we’ll be pretty much screwed. The grid is still sporadic, especially at night, but luckily so much of it has been automated to keep running no matter what with minimal human interaction over the last few years that hopefully we’ll have it for as long as we truly need it. Plus being that we’re out of hurricane season for a while, we should be just fine. For a few months anyway.”
Cane, “So you want us to go to Laplace to recover all this stuff?”
“No, I need your group here. You’re job and results of that job are much more important for the security of the city. We can’t stop all of the steves but you’re definitely putting a dent in them. Now, with the Ravager problem we’ll certainly need you here more than ever.”
Gavin, “So what’s the plan.”
“I was hoping at least one of you would volunteer. We’ve decided to send a large secondary task force, Task Force Recovery, to one: gather supplies; and two: see if there are survivors. There aren’t enough of you here as it is. I’m looking for one to lead them, a mixture of officers and civilians willing. I’m surprised how well the civilians are coping so far with moving to new homes and helping around the city with security.”
Fred, “I’ll go. I’ve been to the depot before. I can get them in and out.”
“Are you going to be able to lead forty or fifty people in ten or fifteen trucks?”
“Not a problem.”
“Then you’re hired. Bring back as much as you can, vehicles and supplies are priority, if you can save the people then do it. If not,” Chief looks down at his desk, “I’m sure you’ll know what to do.”
“Consider it done. When do we leave?”
“The next day or so. Tonight get home to your families. Fred, you take the next few days off from the eradication assignment. Just come here so we can try to organize Task Force Recovery instead of your normal hunting rituals. Now, as for the burn out,” Chief pulls a large detailed map of the city from the wall, “show me how your door-to-door has been going.”
Each of the subgroups takes their turn explaining what and who they have found and where. They take the time to update burned down houses, empty houses, reluctant individuals, and the willing ones. The occasional interesting story interrupting the otherwise ‘just the facts’ reports.
Chief, “Excellent. You’ve all done extremely well. I have the rest of the officers and civilians not on roving patrols going to the houses further in to ascertain what’s empty and what’s occupied.”
Pops, “How is the moving going?”
“Well not everyone is completely satisfied with the style of houses or colors. But, for the most part they take it like champs. Very little complaining, if any. MRF and steve have apparently given people a real sense of community and what it takes to survive. They’ve even been reporting in on what skill set they have. Gardeners, welders, armorers, tailors, mechanics, all sorts of things really. A lot of information is floating around for these people. Some of them want to stay here at the complex but unfortunately they can’t; we can’t house a few thousand people.”
Trey, “What about the people who don’t want to move?”
“Unless we come up with a different way to have some form of visible perimeter of the city, I haven’t got the slightest idea. So far, the only plausible option is to do the Burn Out.”
Fitz, “If they don’t want to move, I say we inform them of the plan. If they still don’t want to move, then we just burn around them. We can supply as many as we can with radios or trustworthy communications of some sort and then tell them to call if they need us. Hell, they can even be our perimeter security. Then if they need us, they can call us.”
“That’s not half bad. We’ll look into what we have to spare. You know after all this, I may just give you all two weeks off.”
Cane, “Ah, vacation in steve-land. Actually wouldn’t make a bad theme park.” He takes on an announcer voice, “Come one, come all. Rest your weary heads, here take this loaded firearm, and make sure the steves don’t bite at night. Haha! We could even charge admission.”
Pops smacks Cane in the back of the head.
Trey, “Not a bad plan, little brother.”
Rapp, “I’d pay to go, if we weren’t already living in steve-land.”
Wade, “Suddenly, I’m starving. What’s for dinner?”
Cane, “Steve-burgers?” Wyatt smacks Cane in the back of the head. “Why does everyone keep hitting me?”
Gavin, “Because you need to be hit.”
“Fatty.”
“Scrawny.”
Pops, “Enough, barbecue tonight? Gotta use the food in the freezer just in case.”
Fitz, “Works for me, wanna do it at my house?”
Rapp, “I’m good with that.”
Wyatt, “Food? I’m in.”
Cane, “Me too, growing boy’s gotta eat.” Fred smacks Cane in the back of the head. “OW! What was that for?”
Fred, “Everyone else got to do it.”
The group laughs and the Chief shakes his head. “Horseplay somewhere else, but not my office. Enjoy your barbecue. Fred, meet me here in the morning.”
“Will do.”
Pops, “Everyone go home, get what you need, I think we’ve earned a night off. If you’ve got a pit then bring it, and chairs, and whatever food you want cooked. And you know what. I think we’ve done a hell of a job so let’s bring all of our esteemed guests.”
Chief, “You know w
hat you’re right. You have earned a night off. I’m going to get an officer posted at each of your houses so you can enjoy some time together. Oh and here’s those radios and chargers for Scarlett. Might as well put her to work too.”
Cane, “Don’t worry, Chief, I won’t tell her you said that last part.” Rapp smacks Cane in the back of the head. “OoOOowah, next one gets shanked, I swear.”
Chief, “The officers will be at your houses within the hour. Enjoy.”
The group laughs and they all head home for the day.
ONE DOWN, TWO UP
Mom, Pops, Gavin, Wade, Ronson, Denise, and Abbey pack up the grill from Mom and Pops’ house. Their convoy hits a snag when they load up to leave. As the officer assigned to their house for the evening pulls up, he bumps the center console and his siren chirps. Seven steves start walking down the street towards the house.
Gagliano, “Uh, sorry about that… Got a little over excited with all the Hollanns here.”
Pops sighs, “It’s fine.”
Mom, “Don’t worry about it.”
Gavin, “Go figure.”
The family and the officer line up with hand to hand weapons. They start to approach the incoming steves before they get too close to the house. As combat ensues, Denise, Abbey, and Mom break off and let the experience of the others take hold. As the ladies stand back and watch the ensuing flurry of motions they are lost in a mix of emotions. Fear, sorrow, depression, adrenaline, and anger flow through them in a rush.
Seeing her husband’s bloodlust and enjoyment of being back in the field, Denise starts to move further back away from the group. As she walks, absorbing the scene, she unwittingly walks into the arms of three steves. Denise shrieks as the last of the original seven steves fall. Two steves immediately sink their teeth into her flesh and all around the group silence rings in their ears.
Abbey noiselessly screams a single word, ‘mom’ and moves in a flash. She tries to pry the steves’ arms from her mother, but they are locked in death’s embrace. She punches as hard and as fast as she can at the steves’ faces. Her cries are bellows of despair. Tears fall from her eyes in a flood. Suddenly, she is yanked back from the moment and tossed to the other members of the group, where she is unwillingly restrained.
Wade, who had physically removed Abbey from the encounter and passed her to safe hands, draws his Beretta and aims. His face red from exertion and rage. The muzzle erupts in a flash, the back of a steve’s head explodes, and the process repeats. Three shots, three truly dead steves. They lay in a heap behind Denise. She collapses to her knees, arms slack by her side. Ronson, pushes his way passed Wade, and catches her before she hits the ground.
The silence is deafening.
Mom holds Abbey tight to her, “Don’t look; don’t look.”
Ronson releases a heart stopping roar followed by quiet sobs of pain as he holds his dead wife.
Pops goes to Ronson, “It’s time. She’s gone.”
Ronson, “NO! No, no, no, no, no, no, no...”
Abbey chokes back tears, “Daddy, we can’t let her be one of those things.”
“No, no.”
Abbey walks straight to Wade, who can’t make eye contact, and motions to his Beretta, “Can I borrow that?” Wade hands the gun over without a word. Abbey puts on a stone face that could cut through marble as she squats down next to her parents, “Daddy, please. She wouldn’t want this.”
Ronson, “I... I can’t.”
“But, I can. Lay her down and I’ll do it. We’ll find a place to bury her.”
Mom stands next to Abbey, “Of course we will. We take care of our own. Boys get started digging. Make it quick, we now have a memorial service to get to.”
Ronson lays his wife gently in the grass and kisses her forehead. Pops pulls him away and into a tight hug.
Abbey leans forward and kisses her mother’s cheek, “Goodbye, momma. Keep it warm for us on the other side.” She closes her mother’s eyes with her fingertips. Abbey stands up and aims the firearm. She cocks the hammer back. She closes her eyes and tries to permanently etch her mother in her mind. The way she would want to be remembered. An apron around her waist, a dish towel over her shoulder, and a pot on the stove. A short squeeze and the gun fires. She takes a deep breath and without looking back at her mother walks to Wade and passes the gun back to him, he holsters it still staring at the ground. “Wade? That’s your name right? I’m terrible with names.”
Wade, “Yea.”
“Thank you, Wade. For saving me, they probably would have killed me too if it weren’t for you. And thank you for helping me save my mother from a fate worse than death. You’ll never know how much that means to me.” She embraces him in a way that is foreign to him. It is as if he is holding a lover instead of a stranger.
“Uh, yea, you’re welcome.”
Ronson walks to Wade on weak knees and extends his hand. Wade takes hold and Ronson gives it a tight squeeze. “We couldn’t save her from death, but we certainly saved her from hell on earth. Thank you, son. If not for you, I’d be mourning more than one today.”
Wade, “Really, don’t mention it. I didn’t like my mother, but your wife was nice.”
“Thank you.”
Abbey walks off towards the house, where Gavin and Gagliano have half a hole dug already in the yard.
Mom, “Wade, call Cane. Tell him we’ll be a few minutes late.”
Ronson picks up a shovel near the hole and begins to dig.
Pops, “Wade, that was quick thinking on your part. We don’t know how this will affect either of them. Stable as they were, this may be the string that pulls everything loose. It does seem like they are forcing themselves to cope with it faster than normal, could be the new face of reality. But in the end, you did what you did faster than the rest of us.”
Wade, “I know.”
“You did a good thing. They’ll be forever grateful to you for trying.”
“I don’t want their thanks. I want them to survive.”
“With you around, I think they’ll be just fine. Tonight isn’t only a celebration of our work around the city, but it’s also a funeral now. Abbey will need someone now more than ever, and I have a feeling Ronson is about to become one cold-blooded killer. He’s going to be detached from all of us. Single minded. Keep watch over Abbey. She’s going to need it.”
“I can do that.”
The hole is dug quickly with everyone pitching in. Mom brings some extra sheets from inside to wrap Denise with. Pops and Gavin gently wrap her up and carry her to the edge of the hole. Ronson stands silently near the edge watching over his wife.
Pops, “Would y’all like to say something?”
Abbey, “My mom was the sweetest lady on the planet. She would cook and bake for anyone even if they didn’t need her too. Whatever we had left over she would bring to the homeless shelters. She was more than my mom, she was my best friend. I could talk to her about anything. She loved with everything she had. Even my tattoos that she definitely didn’t approve of. She was all heart. At least now, she can rest easy being out of this fuc..., “she clears her throat, forcing the profanity back, “messed up world. Keep heaven warm for us, Momma.”
Ronson, “See you on the other side, honey. Watch over us like I know you will. Keep us and our new family safe.”
Pops, Gavin, Ronson, and Wade lift Denise’s body and set it into the hole. Ronson and Abbey both pick up a handful of dirt and toss it in. Ronson, Pops, Gagliano, and Gavin pick up the shovels and fill the rest of the hole up.
Abbey begins to softly cry and turns to Wade, “Thank you again.” She hugs him tight. Wade, not one to ever show emotion or speak of feelings, hugs her back silently. Her head fits nicely in the crease of his neck and she continues to cry. Wade stands like a statue, allowing her the time to mourn, knowing that soon there will be no time to feel. His thoughts drift to his own family, he worries about them. A pain of longing and loneliness grips his chest. He suddenly hugs her a little tighter, realizin
g it could have just as easily been his own loved ones and for a change he is happy to have a woman nearby. He enjoys the vulnerability he shows to her, but he makes a mental note never to tell anyone but her... well, eventually her.
Wade thinks back to meeting Cane in high school: not knowing that in the future he would be unofficially adopted by the Hollanns. That one day, they would be fighting to survive side by side. He concludes that he’s grateful to have met this family.
Abbey feels Wade’s embrace tighten. While he isn’t saying anything, his breathing gets quicker and his heart begins to pound. She can’t quite figure out if it’s her or that he may have lost people too; after all he is staying with a different family than his own. She feels an unusual comfort in being close to him. ‘This feels so right. Is it just real human contact, or is it mom being gone? Something about him...’ she thinks to herself. When they finally release each other, she wipes her face quickly.
Abbey, “Thanks, I needed that.”
Wade, “Yea me too. Gonna be a hell of a ride from here on out. It was nice... to... hug you.”
“Well, hopefully I’ll have you around to protect me all the time.”
Wade turns red, “Uh, yea, I can do that.”
Abbey smiles slightly, “I’m sure we’ll hug again soon.” He reddens deeper and she thinks to herself, ‘Something about him indeed.’
When the hole is filled everyone gathers around the edge and the silent time clicks away.
Pops finally breaks the tone, “Still coming to the barbecue?”
Ronson, “I think she’d want us to.”
Abbey, “Yea she’d lose it if we skipped a meal, no matter the reason why.”
Pops, “Glad to hear it, you’re family, and with this family the best medicine is each other. Let’s head out.”
♦ ♦ ♦
The rest of the groups make it to Fitz’s with empty bellies and vehicles filled with laughter. As Ronson and Abbey walk in they are greeted by the rest of the group who offer their condolences. The change in their demeanor is almost immediate. The pain of loss being subdued by the pure acceptance and trust of a new family, never to replace the old, just a substitute ‘til the end of their days.
