Circle of Wagons: The Gospel of Madness (Book 4 of 6) (The Gospel of Madness - (A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Series))

by Georg Bruckmann

  Then my eyes fell on the guard on the right side of the roof. The way it moved seemed strange to me. It was way too relaxed. I turned my head the other way. There the second guard had reappeared and slowly approached. Although the hands of the men lay on the handles of their weapons, they did not have them in the ready position. I wouldn't search an area for an enemy in this manner.

  Then:

  "Hey, come on out. You'll eat downstairs with Mrs. Simon and Mr. Mack."

  That was Mr. Paul.

  I didn't move. Was that a feint, or had my paranoid brain played a trick on me? He had been so hostile the whole time - could it really be that he now just wanted to call me for dinner? They left the door open. That suggested he was telling the truth.

  "Come on! The doctor told us the whole story. You have nothing to fear."

  Mr. Paul pushed open the door and entered my greenhouse. I had hidden behind the meter-high bed that was closest to the door and felt more than silly when I let go of the little shovel, grabbed the blanket and stood up.

  Mr. Paul didn't seem to blame me for trying. Actually, he left it completely uncommented. He just said:

  "Ah, there you are. Come on, come on, come on. You'll be fine."

  Three minutes later I sat next to Gustav and opposite to Mr. Mack and Mrs. Simon at the kitchen table. Two guards were also present, but not sat down with us. So they didn't fully trust us yet. They hadn't given me my clothes back, but they had given me some different pieces that, I had to admit, smelled much better and were much cleaner.

  "You'll get your old things back later. They are still wet", Mr. Paul had said before he had turned around and left.

  "First, I'd like to say that we're not going to apologize to you. We are convinced that our handling of the whole thing was right, even if we were wrong about you. Lucky for you, we have your friend here..." Mr. Mack nodded to Gustav.

  «.... could also be captured. Without his intercession, we wouldn't have believed a word you'd say. And even luckier that he's a doctor. If he hadn't helped Mr. Lehnert give birth, we most likely wouldn't have believed a word he said either."

  No doubt about that.

  "Ah, that was a matter of course," Gustav said modestly, while Mrs. Simon rose and walked over to the stove. The smell of food made my mouth water and I realized for how long I hadn't eaten. I avoided looking at him in astonishment. I was sure that his modesty was played. He had to be as angry about the whole thing as I was, didn't he?

  Despite my hunger, I wanted to cut this short. We weren't really far from the polyclinic. I'd rather have dinner with Petra and Scarface than with these people.

  I asked:

  "So you've all sorted it out? No more questions? No admonitions to leave your territory and never come back? Nothing? Are you sure?"

  Mrs. Simon turned to me from the stove.

  "They're upset. That's understandable. But your friend here told us everything, and we believe him. What's more, we like him. We..."

  Gustav interrupted it.

  "I told them everything, including the whole Tommy thing. They'll be looking for him. The whole mess has its good points. Think about it, if..."

  Mrs. Simon was right. I was still pissed off and interrupted Gustav.

  "I guess there's still time. More importantly, when were the children killed? Where were they killed? Did they show you the picture? Did you see it? To wait here and hunt down a single man, whom they consider to be complicit, is far too short thought. That's, that's... cowardly. Too scared to take on Mrs. Doctor and her people, but hunt down two to easy beat, and then want to pull a farce from a trial. That's..."

  "We should get something to eat right now. It was a very eventful day for all of us and we are all a bit emotional, I'm afraid. Maybe...", Mr. Mack started.

  "Maybe what?" I scoffed.

  "Perhaps you're right? Is that what you wanted to say? Did you perhaps want to ..."

  Mrs. Simon took a small pot and a pan from the stove.

  "Noodles and slices of pork. Nothing big, but a decent meal."

  "Great. What's the matter with you, Gustav, don't you have to go back? Because of ... "

  "No, I'm okay. I'm okay. Listen, this could turn into something good independently of the vampires and everything else, and..."

  We talked a long time that night. In the course of the conversation, Gustav finally became impatient and we left the apartment tower for the polyclinic. Tomorrow a delegation of the High People introduce themselves to Petra and Scarface. They had also promised to bring the inverters we had had to leave behind.

  Gustav the ambassador.

  But why not?

  The High People were clearly more capable than all the wounded in the polyclinic. If the two parties could join forces, it would be a win-win situation. The Hurters needed protection, and the High People needed space - and sooner or later fresh blood, at least if they intended to procreate at this rate. Gustav was more than satisfied with the outcome of this whole thing. While we started the relatively short march back to the polyclinic, he almost seemed to be euphoric. I, on the other hand, didn't say much, let him talk and dream about his plans for the polyclinic.

  My anger had meanwhile found another focus. The vampires ... Mrs. Simon had told what she knew about the death of the children. The blonde doctor's henchmen had by no means kidnapped them from the tower. Mrs. Simon had been sober, completely objective, and I couldn't help but admire her self-control as she had sat there in her kitchen before me.

  "From time to time we go on excursions with the children. Go outside with them so they can see something of the world we want to repopulate. They need to know what the plants are called and what they look like. They need to know the areas to avoid and those where they can find useful things. They must learn to watch out for the dogs and how to shoot. But also how to plant potatoes and which plants are poisonous, and all that. Such a group always consists of a handful of children and two adults. It is important to remember that these are children. We keep the groups small, because if you take too many of them outside at once, it will be difficult to take care of them all. A group like that just didn't come back at some point. We last saw them on the cameras when they left the monitored area heading north. They wanted to go to the old wholesale market. He's only a mile or two from here, and..."

  I had interrupted them.

  "Wait a minute. Cameras? Surveillance areas?"

  Mr. Mack spoke in response to my question.

  "Yes, that's my job. We've got the generator. So electricity is not a problem, at least for now. All the electronics and computer stuff in the stores wasn't touched during the looting. People were mainly concerned about food, and since we no longer have neighbors complaining about laying cables across their homes, I came up with the idea of providing a little more security in this way. I've always had a thing for this kind of stuff."

  He smiled unnecessarily apologetically, Mrs. Simon briefly smiled back at him, but there was a good amount of warmth in that smile.

  Then she went on.

  "The next morning Sonja would..."

  "Sonja?"

  "You've met her."

  Mrs. Simon made a gesture, something with her hands under the table. She meant the one-legged one. I understood and gave her sign to continue.

  "...then Sonja went with some people in this direction to look for them. She found them around evening. They were already gone. Just left in there. I don't understand how you can do a thing like that. I ..."

  She shook her head resignedly, lowered her gaze to the plate. When she looked up again, anger sparkled in her eyes.

  "You asked why we jumped at you. The answer is simple. Because we had the opportunity. After we discovered the bodies, we didn't see any trace of these people. Of course, we knew the car from the cameras and from our patrols. It often drove past us on the road. But we didn't know what those people were doing, those 'vampires', as you call them. And after the... after the bodies were found, they were gone. And then Sonja s
aw you two and remembered the picture that showed you in the car. Her daughter was among the lost children, you know. She came back here for backup. That's why you're here now."

  Her daughter had been among the dead? Then it was to Sonja's credit that she hadn't shot immediately when she saw me. When I had expressed that thought, Mrs. Simon just nodded.

  "The whole thing ended very happily anyway. This aspect of it"

  She hesitated for a moment.

  "These... these vampires... do you think they're gone?"

  I was thinking for a moment.

  On the picture no medical equipment was to be seen.

  "When your people discovered the dead, did they see IV stands? Other things? Hoses? Pumps or something?"

  Mrs. Simon shook her head, then she said:

  "No. Just a room full of bodies in an apartment on Main Street."

  "Then they're gone. They just needed blood fast and moved on."

  "Are you sure about this?"

  "No. But at least that's what it looks like. An apartment isn't the right environment for them, I guess. They definitely need a lab or something. Electricity for sure, too. What do you think, Gustav?"

  The doctor agreed with me. Then he finally said:

  "I think we've sniffed enough for tonight. We have to go back now."

  Mariam and Wanda

  Mariam was torn back and forth. From the window she watched as Wanda slowly moved towards the schoolyard, the rifle at the ready. Doctor Mahler had already disappeared back into the building and had left the injured Robby behind. Mariam observed that Wanda was trying to see if Robby was still alive from her distant position. Mariam could see that this was the case. Robby crawled, pulling a trail of blood behind him and pressing his hand on the wound in his stomach, away from school. Mariam wondered why Doctor Mahler or the one who shot Robby hadn't just finished him. So these people couldn't be that bad or vicious. Well, on the other hand, they didn't make any effort to help the injured. Deeply ducked, Wanda worked her way forward. Mariam could see that the gaze of the woman, whom she regarded as a kind of mother, was constantly sliding back and forth between the shot facade of the school and the injured man on the red and snow-covered ground.

  Damn it, I should help, instead of just watching her.

  Mariam opened the window. Her eyes searched the facade of the school. There was no one to see. Nevertheless, Wanda wanted Mariam to have her back. Carefully and slowly, so as not to make any noise, she turned the handle and opened the window. Then she fumbled around the room until she found her gun. She unlocked the gun, put her arms on the windowsill and kept an eye on the opposite school building over the iron sight. As she could recognize by occasional, quick glances, Wanda had now reached Robby. In the darkness, broken only by the light of the flashlight Robby had dropped, Mariam could not see how they spoke. But she could see that Wanda was gently lifting Robbie's head and turning her face to his.

  Now it was important for Mariam to do justice to her task and protect Wanda by not just watching her, but looking after her. So the girl kept an eye on the school, window by window she searched with alert eyes. She was all hot. She was excited. Just like in the tunnels with Tommy. But now it wasn't her own life that depended on her actions, it was Wanda's. That was a whole different kind of responsibility, a new feeling, and she couldn't exactly say she liked it. Mariam didn't dare look away. Her curiosity about Robby and his state of health simply could not prevent her from fulfilling her duty. In such a situation, Wanda had said this again and again after she had completed their shooting training for the day, everyone had to do the task assigned to him with utmost concentration and devotion. Even though one might not like this task.

  Mariam didn't like hers. She was reluctant to be left alone, and she was also reluctant to leave Wanda alone. She'd much rather have stayed with her if she was down there with her in the schoolyard. She would much rather have tried to comfort Robby or help him, but Wanda had insisted that she stayed up here. And she hadn't allowed any objections.

  Something changed. The light. It was gone. Goddamn it. Wanda must have grabbed the lamp and turned it off. Where was she? What about Robby? Mariam couldn't see a thing. It was dark, and the girl had no choice but to listen.

  ***

  Down in the schoolyard, Wanda did the same. She waited until her eyes got used to the worse light conditions. She still couldn't see much, though. Robbie's last words still haunted her head. But that wasn't a miracle. There had been bloody foam on his lips when he had spoken.

  "You've got to get him. We really need him. We can't do it without him."

  Then Robby died.

  According to the amount of blood, the bullet had perforated his aorta. Wanda was glad that he had faded on his own. So she was spared the need to assist him, give him euthanasia. After a short consideration she had left her rifle by the still warm corpse and grabbed his sub-machine gun. Before switching off the lamp, she had taken a few seconds to change the selector switch from fully automatic to burst of fire and to pull out the magazine in order to be able to estimate from the weight approximately how many bullets still were left. She didn't have the time to really count them. She had to move on. She had to capture that doctor Mahler. She didn't need to know why the Motorized needed him. She only needed to know that they wanted him. She could still only imagine her surroundings instead of really perceiving them with her eyes. From inside the school she heard quietly, echoing noises. There were at least two people in there. Doctor Mahler and the person who shot Robby. Maybe more. Were those noises close? Did they prepare a trap for her in the entrance area? No, these people didn't know anything about her existence and that she was hunting them, did they? Or had Robby said anything about her and Mariam? Why would he do that?

  Wanda was torn back and forth. She couldn't imagine that Robby could have done something so stupid, but she didn't want to take any chances either. Instead of using the main entrance, she decided to walk around the building and look for another way to get in. Close to the wall, carefully placing one foot in front of the other, she surrounded the school. She paused every few meters to listen. She had already left the schoolyard behind her and walked halfway along the broad side of the building without finding an open window when she heard voices sounding from above. A woman screamed and cried and howled, a deeper voice, that of a man, also screamed, and then it sounded as if someone had thrown something fragile against a wall. Wanda grinned.

  They had no idea.

  Those who fought so fiercely believed themselves alone.

  They didn't know she was there.

  Those who argued like that were not on the lookout. Anyone who fought like that wouldn't hear her coming. With now much faster, more aggressive steps, Wanda went back the way she had come and entered the school building through the main entrance. Her eyes fell on the rubble of the door. What a destructive force. She'd make these people her own. The degenerates and Ivan had taught her how to do it, and she had been an attentive disciple unnoticed by all of them. But to reach her goal, she needed a Mahler as an entry ticket.

  The fighting noises had come from above. That's why she could afford to use the flashlight as long as she was down here. She turned it on, just for a second to orient herself, looked around briefly, and the barrel of her sub-machine gun always followed her gaze. Tables, chairs - otherwise the hall was empty. A staircase at the end. She let the flashlight beam wander to make sure there was nothing between her and the stairs she could hit, then turned off the light and went on. At the same time she felt threatened and protected by the surrounding darkness. It was kind of funny. She was the Slayer here. Yet, somehow she still felt like prey. Here in the building the voices were quieter and a little more indistinct than outside.

  Broken many times, it went through Wanda's head. Just like her. She paused as she pushed her left foot to the first step of the stairs. For a fraction of a second she used the flashlight, saw that nothing was in her way and then went up the stairs. After a few seconds, W
anda conjured another flash of light into the darkness with a fast, twitching movement of her finger. On the landing above her was a woman's body. She went on to take a closer look. Whoever's dead is not a threat. Still, she took a big step over the corpse. Touching the dead was unpleasant for her. Just superstition. When she realized that thought, she had to grin. She's been grinning remarkably a lot lately, and she didn't think anyone could understand why she was doing this.

  Even though she had seen so much death herself, even though she had brought so much death herself, even though she herself had been close to death so many times before, this instinctive reluctance, this voice that told her to stay away, was still not silenced. She had to get tougher. But now she had to concentrate, not philosophize. The stairs still led further up. Was she on the right floor already, or did she have to go up another?

  Again she shot a flash of light into the darkness, down the corridor that led from the stairwell deeper into the school, listened, took a few steps into the corridor, listened again, then turned around and went back into the stairwell, further up. When she passed the body of the woman again, this time she walked on and kicked the dead hand, which did not hang over the stairs, and pretended as if it had been coincidence.

  Getting tougher.

  She was now approaching her destination. The quarrel that had taken place around Doctor Mahler had lessened a bit, had become quieter and calmer, Wanda registered when she had reached the next floor. That's what she should be doing now. Getting slower and quieter. She was pleased to notice that she no longer needed the flashlight up here. These idiots had left the door open, and the light that came out of the room was enough to illuminate the hallway so much that she could see where she had to put her feet. Now she could also understand single words.