by Olah, Jeff
The sweat dripping from his face, neck and chest now pooled on the ground below as he pushed up once again. The pain in his shoulder was no longer the excruciating, sharp dagger it once was. The sensation now came from the lactic acid that pooled in every muscle cell deep within his chest, shoulders and arms. He continued to test the limits of his injured body every day, knowing at some point they would again have to face the infected beasts they’d been running from. He also knew the two men that stood on the other side of the door were going to be a problem.
Swinging around and planting both feet squarely on the cold concrete floor, Randy laughed. “Really… do you think all that is going to do you any good? What are you going to do if you hurt it again? I can’t fix your shoulder and you know they’re not going to let William back in here.”
Pausing a moment before pushing out three more repetitions, Mason now sat on the floor with both hands raised to the sky, stretching the pain away. “I’ll be fine. My shoulder is good. I can feel it. You need to relax, they’re giving us food and we’re safe from those things.”
“Sure, but I’m not really worried about the Feeders anymore… I know how to deal with them. These new friends of ours are a different story and I wouldn’t be so quick to relax. Do you really enjoy only being able to see April and Justin when they let you?”
Slowly removing his shirt, he wiped the residual perspiration from his face and dabbed at the few drops of blood now racing each other down his chest. “Listen Randy, I am just as suspicious of these guys as you are. We just need to find out what their angle is. Until then, I’m playing nice. It wouldn’t hurt you to do the same. How’s your head?”
“It’s fine.” Randy rubbed the back of head just behind his left ear, pushing the hair away from the lump that reminded both men of the events of just a few days ago.
. . .
The wound was less than 48 hours old, although the memory remained. Bored to tears and fresh out of new ways to annoy Mason, Randy decided to take on a new target. They had been locked away for almost two weeks and while the meals weren’t particularly bad and the nightly rest was welcomed, he was going crazy. Tightening his shoelaces, Randy stood and pulled off his shirt and tossed it against the wall behind him. He laid out the sheet from his cot on the cold concrete floor, exactly three feet in front of the door and winked at Mason.
“Uh… Randy… What are you doing?”
“HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!” Randy shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Dude, keep it quiet. They said…”
“WE’RE STARVING, IN HERE. WE WANT FOOOOOD!”
A single loud thud on the door came next.
“I think these guys are serious and THEY are the ones with the guns. Let’s not test them,” Mason suggested.
“We have been stuck in this room for two weeks, just the two of us. Why did they divide us up like this and put only a few into each room?”
“I don’t know and I don’t really care! My family is safe and…”
“I’m gonna find out. Just stay on your cot and DO NOT get up to help me.”
“What?”
“HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!”
The door rattled against its hinges as one of the men outside the door called for attention. “QUIET DOWN IN THERE OR…”
“BRING US SOME FOOOOOD!” Randy continued.
The large metal door flew open and the handle caught Randy by surprise in the left elbow. He turned away as it came to rest against the block wall with a loud crash. Randy figured the big guy would come through the door first and he wasn’t disappointed.
The larger of the two men who the group had started calling “Lurch” stumbled into the room. His eyes were still half closed and a sleep crinkle ran down the center of his left cheek. The off-white t-shirt he wore was two sizes too small and had slightly more wrinkles than it did dirt. This man was not happy and this was not the first time they entered the room to scold Randy for the noise, although this time was different. Randy had a plan.
As Lurch entered the room, he was followed closely by the smaller man, who everyone thought looked like a tree stump. They began referring to the duo as Stumpy and Lurch since neither man would give any clue as to who they really were. Randy knew there was a reason for this and was determined to find out.
Instead of backing away as the two men thought he would, Randy moved toward them and grabbed the front of Lurch’s shirt. In one motion he stepped to the side and pushed him to the ground aided by the sheet sliding underneath his feet.
As Lurch was falling he reached out to grab Randy anywhere he could, although he failed and in turn ended up flat on his back. His weight drove him into the concrete floor with such force that he lost control of his weapon and flopped onto his side. He struggled to right himself as Randy moved in and kicked the gun out of the room.
Seeing the gun slide passed him and out the door, Mason began to stand and looked to his friend. Randy motioned for him to sit back down as he pushed the second man backwards and onto Lurch. The two men fumbled around trying to separate, letting out a few grunts and groans, finally pushing away from one another as Randy stepped back and laughed. “What’s the matter, you guys don’t like my singing?”
Slowly standing, the two men brushed the debris from their clothes. Stumpy’s face was bright red and the vein running across his forehead looked like it was going to burst. Reaching back, he withdrew the handgun from his lower back and shoved the cold barrel into Randy’s chest. Lurch walked around the two men, without making eye contact with either of them and retrieved his gun from the hallway.
“Are you stupid, son? I ought to kill you where you stand,” Stumpy said.
“Sure, go ahead. But… you may want to go check with your boss first.”
“My what… My boss? You don’t have the faintest idea who we are or what we will do to you. We answer to NO ONE!”
Randy stepped closer still, laughing as the little man pressed harder, the barrel now buried in the fleshy part of his pectoral. “Do it then, I am begging you. Shoot me… I bet you won’t.”
Mason watched as Lurch put his hand on Stumpy’s shoulder, the way a father would his son and began to urge him away. Stumpy lowered his gun, looked over at Mason and smiled.
Randy wasn’t surprised so much by Stumpy’s reaction as he was with the power the little guy had. In one quick turn of events, Stumpy lunged forward raising the pistol and brought it down with the force of a deranged wrecking ball. Randy moved to the side, although not quickly enough as the handle made contact with the flesh just behind his ear. He fell to the floor as Mason hurried over to help his unconscious friend.
The two men made their way back out of the room and Stumpy paused at the door. He turned to Mason. “Next time we have to come in here, I’m putting a bullet in him.”
“I understand. We’ll stay quiet,” Mason muttered through clenched teeth.
“When your friend wakes up, make sure to tell him that I was the one who knocked him out.”
. . .
“Randy, you’re right. Let’s get the hell out of here!”
53
The bright yellow tennis ball wrapped tightly against his palm was the first thing he had touched in days that made him feel normal. It appeared to be brand new and was free of any blemishes. This made him smile. The simplicity of the inanimate sphere rolling back and forth against his hand turned his attention away from what the world had become, if only for a moment. Adam once again tossed it against the wall, letting it bounce on the ground before snatching it back. Doing this over and over for the last hour began to annoy Savannah, although at this point any form of attention he could get from her was welcomed. His other attempts proved pointless.
They’d been locked together in this tiny room for longer than either knew and Adam couldn’t stop staring. At first it was just casual glances while she was sleeping. Now something about her had him transfixed and she knew it. The jeans she wore were torn in places, dirty in others, and actually looked li
ke they had been through hell, although they seemed to still hug every curve of her body perfectly.
The strange chemistry between the two had grown into playful ribbing over the past couple of weeks. Trying to find a comfortable spot on her makeshift bed, Savannah rolled the stadium blankets into a ball and shoved them under her head. She turned to look at Adam only to find once again that he was already looking at her. This time she smiled and he smiled back, although the pair didn’t say a word. He was ready for her to snap at him…but she didn’t.
Savannah brushed the hair away from her face, sat forward and licked her lips. He just continued to smile as his cheeks began to turn a light shade of pink.
“Hey kid,” she said.
“Really, we’ve been together in this room for who knows how long and you’re still calling me kid? I’m what, maybe two years younger than you?”
“Sorry, it was a joke.”
“You can call me Adam or sir!”
“Yeah right kid…I mean Adam, sir.”
“That’s better,” he said.
“I’ll try to remember that… anyway, why do you think Randy went after those two idiots the other day? These people are feeding us and giving us a place to stay. We don’t even have to worry about running into any more Feeders while we’re here.”
In the short time they had been living in the safety that the stadium provided, Adam also grew suspicious of the group that allowed them to stay here. For the first twenty four hours they were here, he didn’t eat any of the meals that were provided. It didn’t take long for hunger pangs to set in and he finally caved. No one else got sick and he needed to eat. He knew there must be someone giving orders to the guards and he didn’t like that. There was no reason for it. Why keep them locked up separately? None of this seemed logical at all.
“Randy is suspicious of these people and so am I. They must have something planned and it’s not gonna be good,” Adam replied.
“Then why are they so nice to us?”
“Nice? They’ve given us food and let us sleep at night, but there’s a reason we’re locked up and I’m sure we’re not going to like it.”
“I guess, but I still think we’re better off not making waves. They have the guns and we don’t.”
“True, although we don’t even know how many of them there are. It could just be Lurch and Stumpy,” Adam said, knowing that couldn’t possibly be true. “We could easily overtake them.”
Savannah remembered when they were first brought down to the rooms and were told to get a good night’s rest. She thought it was odd the way they designated who would sleep where and then stayed in the hallway. She and the others were asked to stay in their rooms and not to come out before knocking on the door and asking. They were told it was because there were Feeders still unaccounted for in the building. The group was given time together in the one large room for meals and a few additional hours each day. The two men that brought them here watched their every move and listened to every conversation.
As she glanced back, Adam’s attention had turned back to the tennis ball. He now just lay on his back tossing it into the air, over and over.
“Adam, what do you think?”
“About what?”
“If you and Randy are right, what do you think we should do?”
“Seriously? You really want to know what I think? I think we need to stand with Randy and take down those two idiots that hurt him. Let’s find out what the hell is happening in the rest of this building. I haven’t seen a soul since we’ve been here and we could actually have the entire place to ourselves.”
“These people are dangerous. I can tell. They have that same look my brothers had right before they shot Mason… Well the big one does anyway. We need to be careful.”
Savannah turned over once again, unable to get comfortable, this time sliding her legs under one another as she sat up straight. A smile ran across her face as she used the desperately frayed elastic band sitting on the bed to tie her red mane up into a ponytail.
Before he had a chance to turn his attention away from the ball he continued to toss into the air, she continued. “Adam, do you like me?”
“Wait… What? Nice job changing gears on me. Yeah, I think you’re a very cool girl, but…”
“You know that’s not what I meant. Do you really like me? Because I think I’m am starting to have feelings for you.”
“I thought we were talking about the plan for helping Randy? Where is this coming from?”
He could feel his face begin to warm and didn’t know what to do. He knew it must have been as bright as a stop sign. He liked this girl, this woman. She was gorgeous and fun to be around. Finally, little beads of sweat started to form on his palms as he looked toward the ceiling and answered. “Well… yeah. You’re very beautiful and I love your sense of humor.”
“My sense of humor? That’s it?”
“Hey, I did say you were beautiful, you didn’t hear that?”
“Yes Adam, I heard you.”
Finding the one clean spot on floor, Savannah slid her feet off the cot and stood as Adam watched. She knew if she didn’t do this now, she may not have the courage or the chance to do it later. As she walked toward him, she thought to herself, He’ll never do it. I’ll just give him a little nudge.
Adam followed suit and almost tumbled off the cot as he hurried to stand. The two met in front of his cot. “What are…?”
That’s as far as he got before Savannah took both of his hands in hers. “Just stop,” she said. As their eyes met she now knew what it was. It was his set of deep blue eyes that cut a hole in her. The two leaned in and their lips touched for the first time.
Savannah moved her hands to his neck and he slid his around her waist. She was surprised that he kissed her as if he was the one that had taken charge. She liked it and then pulled away just as quickly as she started.
“There!” she said.
“What?”
“No more tension right? Now we can get on without the awkwardness… OK?”
“What I’m feeling right now isn’t tension, it’s more like frustration.”
“OK, OK… slow it down. From the looks of things we’ll have plenty of time to work this out. I don’t think we’re going anywhere anytime soon.”
54
Every unoccupied seat in the stadium represented another person that died at the hands of those things or even worse, turned into one. Sitting quietly in the leather backed seat of the skybox typically reserved for executives and their guests, he quietly looked out over the field. A slight smirk slowly began to form at the corner of his mouth. He didn’t even notice it at first, it just happened. There couldn’t possibly be a more perfect spot in the building for watching a football game than right where he was sitting, although no one would ever get a chance to know what it would feel like.
William nervously shifted in his seat, waiting for her next question. He continued to turn his gaze from the field to her and back to the field. Time seemed to freeze as the thoughts of what was to come next terrified him. Her demeanor had drastically changed since the last time he met with her. She hadn’t been overly outgoing or friendly their first two meetings, although today something was different. He hoped Randy’s antics hadn’t sent her over the edge. William did what he could to make her understand what his group was going through, although he knew she didn’t care.
“William…”
“Yes?”
“I’m going to do something… Something I said I wouldn’t do. Something I may end up regretting.”
“OK?”
“I want you to trust me and I can’t think of any other way to make it happen.”
“I’m listening.”
“You’ve asked me for my name nine times over the course of our two encounters and each time I told you I didn’t think it was a good idea.”
“That is correct.”
“Well, I’m going to need you to do something for me first.”
He had no
idea who this woman was, although he did know enough not to screw with her. It was fairly evident that the two idiots reported to her AND they appeared just as scared of her as he was, maybe more so.
Her short dark hair fell just shy of her muscular shoulders. She looked as though she may have been in law enforcement or some other kind of physically demanding career. She was obviously uncomfortable with small talk and watching her continually mash her hands into the soft leather armrests made him uneasy. His best guess placed her very faint accent from somewhere in South America, although her grasp of English vernacular meant she had been in this country for some time. Her weathered skin and faded age lines also told him she spent a good bit of time outdoors.
Chewing the edge of his bottom lip, William wanted to hear more. He knew she could sense his anticipation and in turn he felt her displeasure. “William, keep in mind when you answer that my men have been observing every detail of your group, listening to every conversation and reporting back to me since you pulled up to our gates. And you did arrive at OUR gates.”
“No problem, we have nothing to hide. We’re running from the same monsters you are. We may even be able to help around here, if you give us the chance.”
“We’ll see.”
She took one last sip from her water bottle and placed it back on the small rectangular shaped Mahogany table between the two chairs as she stood and walked to the open area of the skybox behind the two rows of chairs facing the field. The half full bottle had dripped tiny beads of condensation down onto her pants and with one finger she flicked them to the floor. The uneven look on her face rapidly descended into a scowl. “I want the truth this time; why did you come here? Who told you we were here?”
Not quite sure what to expect, William stood and made his way over to her. “I’ve told you our story multiple times, why don’t you bring one of the others in here to confirm what I have said?”
“I think you need to watch your tone, and I may just do that. I have asked you so many times because frankly I don’t believe that your group just happened to see our lights on and decided to come check it out.”