Caught in the Web

by Jason R Davis

  Travis was saying something, and she tried to focus on it.

  “We’ll go to Bobby’s. We won’t stay there, but he’s got guns and I know he’s out of town for the weekend. He, Cougar, and Idjit had all gone over to the state park to camp and go fishing. We’ll grab some of his guns and then get out.”

  “And go where? How do we know there’s not more of them outside of town?” she said.

  “How do we know there are? We get out and find someplace they’re not.”

  “Just us?” she asked. She wasn’t sure what she was asking. She guessed she was asking if they were going to ask any of the others, but she knew that wasn’t what she meant. They couldn’t take a baby with them. What if she started crying?

  But they couldn’t just leave her.

  Travis looked at the woman who was cradling their little Nadine. She thought she actually saw some pain. She really wished she could tell what he was thinking. How well did she really know her husband? Would he be there for her if she needed him?

  “We should,” he said. He wasn’t sure, either.

  Travis didn’t stop her as she turned and walked back to the woman and their child.

  Denise looked up, and Jaime held her hands out. At first Denise stood there, gently rocking the little girl, the chubby little face resting on her shoulder, eyes closed. Her soft skin looked like it wasn’t real, and Nadine’s thumb had made its way into her mouth.

  “What’s going on?” Denise finally asked as she started to hand the baby over.

  Jaime gave a quick, scared glance back at her husband, then looked back at Denise. Why was she scared? What did they owe any of these people? They were getting out of there, so why should it matter to any of them?

  “We’re getting out of here,” she said.

  Denise looked at them, then at the little girl in her arms. Jaime thought she saw the wheels turning inside that head. She thought she saw the look that told her the woman was wondering how much of a fight Jaime would give if she was to suddenly reach out and snatch the baby. Jaime pulled Nadine to her a little tighter, getting ready for the woman’s grab.

  It never came.

  “We probably all should,” Denise said, “before things get really bad.”

  “Where are you going?” called out one of the men from the other end of the bar. Jaime turned and saw it was that perverted old man who would always just stare at her breasts whenever she came in. Just being around the guy always made her feel dirty. No matter how desperate she was for money, there were just some things she couldn’t even fathom. The man’s rough hands as they slapped her ass made her remember why she never came up there anymore. Yeah, because she was so much better than that, and that guy was so much less sleazy than her boss.

  “None of your business,” Travis called back to him.

  “Sure that’s smart?” Sullivan said, helping Jason to his feet. Jason didn’t look like he was crying as much now. His eyes were red and he just continued to stare at some point in the darkness behind the bar.

  “Why do you care?”

  “Don’t really give a shit about you. It’s the kid I’m worried about,” Sullivan said, nodding towards Nadine.

  “You don’t get to make that decision.”

  “He’s right,” the cop said, walking towards them. He kept his eyes on Travis, and it looked like he was trying to talk down a situation. Jaime wondered just what the hell his damned involvement was in this, and why the hell he cared.

  The cop just kept walking towards them, keeping his words gentle and smooth as he approached. “The kid… A girl, right? She’s only going to make it hard for you out there. What if she wakes up and starts screaming. They’ll come after you. You really want to see her get hurt?”

  Jaime kissed Nadine’s forehead. Her little girl was one hell of a screamer. She was going to be a nasty bitch like her mama once she grew up. She had a set of lungs on her that would tear down any macho man and turn him into a drooling boy in his boxer shorts who did what she said.

  But she had to live that long first.

  Jaime looked back up at Rob, who was now standing only a couple feet away. He was looking at Nadine, and she could see the glint of wetness in the corner of his eye, just barely able to be seen from the little sunlight coming through the back window.

  Something was wrong with her chest. She felt like there was a bowling ball on top of it, a knife stabbing through her gut. Her mind was reeling. She didn’t know what she wanted to do. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t think about it, making it hard to concentrate on what she should do.

  She looked at Travis, who was staring daggers at the cop. Yeah, she knew what was going through his mind, and knew she didn’t have to make the decision. It was already made. She saw the burning there and knew, inside, he thought about the three DUI’s he had, the third one costing him his job. Sure, he had said they were downsizing, but she knew better. Hell, she knew his boss! She had talked to the foreman, and he had told her it was due to his drinking.

  However, Travis didn’t think so. It was the cop’s fault. It was his foremen’s fault. It was the company’s fault. It was all the politicians’ fault. It was never his fault. It was never going to be his fault.

  She knew she felt the same way, but to her, it all started with him. It was always his fault. The damn piece of garbage that was her husband was always going to be the loser who blamed everyone else.

  “She’s coming with us,” Travis said with a snarl. He wanted the cop to fight him on it so he could hit him. Even though that wasn’t the cop who pulled him over, it didn’t matter. Travis saw all of them as the same. That was the cop who had taken away the little dignity he had.

  The old guy walked between them and was limping his way towards the back door. Travis had to step back from the man as he nearly stumbled into him.

  At the door, he stopped and turned back to look at them. “Well, you coming or what? Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Mr. Jones said to them. He turned and continued towards the outer back door.

  “Once you go out that door…,” Jason said to them as he came around Sullivan. He looked at Nadine, and Jaime was pretty sure the kid was getting ready to break out crying again. “Once you go out there,” Jason said, wiping away and sniffing the nose that was trying to run, “we can’t let you back in. We need to bar up the back door.”

  Where they really going to go out there? She knew it made sense. There were zombies out there, and they needed to get the fuck as far away as possible. They had to leave.

  “You guys coming or what?” Mr. Jones said from where he had disappeared into the back hallway.

  “What are you all going to do? Just sit in here and hope someone comes?” Jaime said to them. She was glad her voice still sounded strong, and she even heard her tone still coming out in her bitchy manor. She wasn’t going to allow this to crack her, but she hadn’t been sure.

  “Jaime, bundle the kid up and come on,” Travis growled from behind her, walking towards Mr. Jones.

  “I don’t know yet, but I know we need to take some time, figure things out. We don’t know what the hell is going on out there,” the cop spoke up. He was still walking slowly toward them. She could tell what he was doing. He was trying to talk them down, get close, and take their daughter away from them. He had that feel to him.

  “Fuck you,” she said.

  “At least leave your daughter here where she’s safe,” the nurse said.

  Jaime looked at her, then down at her daughter. She looked back up at the nurse, her gaze hard. They didn’t care about her or her husband. They only cared about their daughter. They wanted to take her from them. They all wanted her. Just like her neighbors, who kept calling CPS on them, they wanted to steal her. Everyone, all of them. They all wanted her.

  Well, they couldn’t have her, not as long as she was alive.

  Jaime shook her head and started to walk backwards towards the door. She didn’t trust any of them. They all wanted her. She di
dn’t trust turning her back on them because she knew they would rush her. They were all monsters. They would attack her, tear her apart to get to the little girl.

  She made it to the door where Travis and that pervert were waiting. Travis stepped around the smelly old man and opened the door, then tentatively looked out. He quickly stepped out and started running towards their car parked halfway between the front door and the back door. Mr. Jones hurried past them, and she followed.

  As soon as she made it down the steps, she heard the door slam shut behind her.

  CHAPTER 13

  “Sergeant! You got a call from the outer perimeter!” yelled his communication specialist, hurrying up to him.

  Great, he thought. They probably found out about Marshall’s attempts to extract information from his friends out on the outer perimeter. When he had asked the PFC to do it, Wade had known they would probably get in trouble. He had no question they would get caught eventually, but had his superiors caught on already? It hadn’t even been over an hour yet. He had hoped for at least some bit of information before they were shut down.

  That’s all he needed was to get his ass chewed out but, hey, what were they going to do? Relieve him of his command and send someone else in to take over? There wasn’t anyone else that could do the job well enough to take over. None of these soldiers would even come close to being on his recommended list to be his replacement. In fact, other than Marshall and a few others, most of these guys were pretty green, and had only seen the slightest bit of combat. Something he was continually reminded of as he walked the makeshift camp and had to constantly ride their asses.

  He was just on his way to the command tent after checking on the field clearing project. They had found a group of soldiers huddled in between two Hummers, sneaking a smoke. He had ripped them a new asshole, thanking them for being the latest volunteers to become latrine digging engineers or, as he liked to call them, “shit diggers”.

  Keep busy or make it look like you’re busy, but never get caught just standing around. It was always the fastest way to get more work added to your list.

  He neared the command tent and looked over at the blockade. His eyes lingered on the drying blood stains that he saw on the cement. He couldn’t really see them from the distance and the different obstacles that blocked them, but he still saw them. The images burned more deeply in his mind than anything else he had seen, and he knew if he made it to sleep that night, they would be there, a new set of nightmares to keep him twisting and turning in his cot.

  The bodies were gone, the shallow, unmarked graves in the cornfield near them. Men were now digging a mass grave in case they needed it. He hoped like hell they wouldn’t, but he wanted to keep them busy so they didn’t have time to stop and think about what they were doing, or what they had just done. Keep them busy and keep their minds occupied.

  They had moved the bodies and the car was repositioned to be another part of the blockade. He hoped it would be the only one added to it.

  “Sergeant!”

  He turned to see Marshall hurrying up to him. “Yes?” he said, his voice tired and clipped. He motioned for the soldier to follow him. Avoiding the command tent, they stepped around to its side.

  “Okay. I was only able to get ahold of Jacobs, Swanson, Jessie, and Runice. Jessie and Runice are on outer barricades on the far side of town, but they told me what their orders were. Jacobs and Swanson are close to command, which is another five miles up the road, and they know less. They haven’t been given any orders yet. They are in reserve to rotate out in five hours to another outer perimeter station.”

  “So nothing?”

  “I didn’t say that, sergeant. Jessie and Runice told me their orders.”

  The sergeant gave him a dead look. He was tired, and he wasn’t really in the mood for information being stretched out for dramatic effect. Just give it to him, quick and painless. Stop this bullshit of a little at a time.

  “Their orders are to fire on anyone who gets too close to the barricade.”

  “Okay. So how’s that different than our orders?

  “Because it doesn’t matter who the person is or from what direction they come. Whether or not it is one of us from the inside, or someone trying to get in with direct orders from General Mayfever, no one is to get in or out. Anyone trying to is to be shot…no warnings and no matter if they are wearing a uniform.”

  So they were trapping them in, as well? Wade had figured as much, but wasn’t happy he now had confirmation. Most of his outer flanks weren’t being covered by his own soldiers but by area law enforcement, people who had been called in without any idea of what they had gotten themselves into. Many of them already called to complain they needed to get home to their families, having been on duty all night. If any of them tried to leave now, they would be shot, and he doubted they would shoot anyone who was trying to get out. Like a family of fools who argued until it cost them their lives.

  He remembered the wife’s face as she looked to their child. He wasn’t even sure if it had been a boy or a girl. It was just an “it” to him, which was a saving grace, but he still saw the mother…her face, her eyes…and it was enough.

  Yeah, he really doubted any of those officers had the stomach for that. He hated himself because he knew he could.

  “Okay. Keep trying for more intel.”

  The soldier nodded and hurried away.

  The sergeant turned back to the entrance to command and walked inside.

  * * * *

  “Yes, sir!” Wade snapped. General Mayfever, who had taken command of the outer perimeter, had not taken long to start yelling as soon as he had gotten on the line. The general was not used to waiting. Wade had barely made it through getting to the communique and giving his command codes before the berating insults began.

  “Now,” said the clipped authoritative voice, “we have a team that will be coming up to your lines within an hour. You need to clear a path for it, allowing it entrance. And make sure your men know what they’re doing! I want you to be able to tell if that truck lab thing they are bringing in gets breached. If it gets breached and they try to get out of there, stop it. Also, make sure the other perimeter teams know, as well.”

  “Yes, sir; however, I have many checkpoints which are covered by area authorities and not troops. I don’t feel they would be able to make that call. Any chance of getting them rotated out?”

  “No.” It was a simple, hard answer, and the sergeant felt pretty sure there wasn’t going to be an explanation. However, there was a pause, as though the commander on the other end wanted to say something else, but couldn’t bring himself to.

  “Make sure to let the team know about these checkpoints that are not manned by troops so they can avoid them. It wouldn’t do for an incident like a misfire to happen. Not with these people. We need them.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The line went dead.

  * * * *

  When Sarah stepped off the plane, she was already feeling like she had worked all day. Her joints were sore, she was tired, and all she wanted to do was find a nice place to disappear. The second she stepped off the private jet, she knew there had been no chance of that happening. General Mayfever was already standing there to greet her. He didn’t even give her the false pretense of wanting to be there with her. It wasn’t that they didn't like each other. They couldn't stand each other.

  "General,” she said as she walked by him, not stopping to let him catch up. She knew it would annoy him. He was military, a war monger. Why had they called him in? Were they already prepping the cleanse initiative? They sure as hell better not be. Her and her team still had no idea what they were up against.

  "Ms. Demoin,” he said coldly. She didn't have to turn to look at him to hear the grimace in his voice. General Mayfever was taller than her, but while she was thin and wiry, he was cold steel. He was hard; his face was chiseled, always in an unreadable mask; his hair, which may have had some color and been longer once, was now gon
e, without any fuzz of silver to make him look grandpa-like. He was bald, lean, and his uniform was tight to allow for the muscles to be noticed beneath the fabric.

  He always had the air of authority.

  It wasn't her authority, though, and she couldn't stand for others who thought they were better than her to get away with bossing her around.

  "So, what do we know about this Einstein of yours who made the call and then disappeared?"

  He was talking about Bryan. So they still didn't have any details as to what was going on inside the town?

  "What do you need to know?"

  "Was he stable?"

  That made Sarah stop to look at the man. He kept walking until he was past her, then turned back, his eyebrows raised.

  "Yes. Yes, he was," she stammered. She hoped he was anyway. She knew he was a smart man, able to do his job like very few could. He was one of the best, but he was a lab rat. He wasn't a field scientist. It was always different out in the field.

  Could he have made a mistake and then, out of fear of being caught, taken off and disappeared? She couldn't see him doing that. Not Bryan.

  "Was? Has something happened to make him seem different?" The general had been talking to her, and she hadn't realized she had stopped paying attention to him.

  "No. Is. You…you had said was. I had assumed you were sure he was…was gone." She could barely say it, still not wanting to believe it could be true. How long had they been colleagues, working at the lab together?

  "Oh. No, we don't have any evidence of that. No one has been able to get in or out."

  "Communication has been cut, though, but that doesn't mean much, right?"

  "True."

  * * * *

  Sarah hadn't liked the man, and still wouldn't like the man. She felt the lab he had arranged for her was a cruel joke. This wasn't a lab meant to be workable. It was a thrown together hodgepodge that, with the slightest turn, the test tubes, fine-tuned microscopes, and chemicals would shatter on the floor. That was if they didn't blow up from a chemical reaction. No, this wasn't a lab. It was a bomb meant to explode at 60 miles per hour on a freeway.