In the Heart of Babylon

by S G D Singh

  “Which we don't,” Hanna said.

  The struggle over Dr. Kaiser's body sent two struggling zombies lurching into one of the shelves, and a shower of liquid and glass crashed to the floor and burst into flames. The sound of the fire alarm filled the room a moment later, and water poured from sprinklers along the room's ceiling, doing nothing to quell the flames.

  “Is that the famous doctor?” Lukango said over Hanna's shoulder, wincing as two zombies bit chunks from Dr. Kaiser's neck, leaving his head wobbling atop nothing but a bloody spine. Hanna turned away from the window, her stomach heaving, and saw Lukango, Zahi, and Kevin standing with eight others, including two blond boys with Down syndrome.

  “How much time until the gate opens again?” asked an older woman Zahi stuck protectively close to. Hanna guessed she was their grandmother, and watched Nadifa rush to her side, fussing over her while the older woman batted his hands away.

  Darnell looked at one of his remaining phones. “One hour left,” he said. “Cutting it close.”

  Without another word, the group moved for the elevators, and Hanna blinked, hesitating, trying to erase the image of her father's reanimated corpse from her memory. She followed Adam and Nadifa back through the offices, the greenhouse, where the lights were too bright and the air too stuffy, grateful that Nadifa avoided the aisle where Aunt Chastity's body lay in a spreading puddle of blood.

  They made it to the plush sitting room, almost to the elevators, when the electricity went off, filling The Resort with the deafening silence of a mass grave.

  One of the eight rescued started crying softly.

  “Fuck,” Kevin said.

  “Stairs,” Zahi's voice answered in the complete darkness to Hanna's left, and she felt the girl's hand grasp hers, pulling her forward and up a flight of stairs. Zahi's voice continued as they went, calming as a summer breeze through leaves, while Hanna struggled to bring her mind back from spiraling into hopeless panic.

  A phone's light shone on Darnell's face a moment later, his features seeming to float in inky darkness as he searched the pages of one of Adam's maps. “This way,” he decided, striding off with the rest of them hurrying to keep up.

  Luk announced he would carry Adam once they found the stairs, leaving no room for argument, and scowling at Hanna when she dared to look grateful for him helping her brother. Nadifa was relieved he could feel his back and shoulders again as he stretched, and tried not to imagine ravenous infected coming at them from the darkness that was so absolute he worried his eyes had vanished from his head.

  Those with weapons surrounded the group of eight survivors, and Luk decided they only needed one phone's light at a time to conserve batteries. They made their way slowly up endless flights of stairs to The Resort's kitchens, moving as quietly as they could manage, the knowledge that sound attracted the infected never absent from Nadifa's thoughts.

  Emerging from the stairwell, Nadifa relaxed with relief as warm light spilled through the door. The map said they were near the banquet hall, but this room looked like a garden filled with blooming magnolia trees in the late afternoon. Then, the light flickered, plunging the room back into absolute darkness. Then the lights turned on again, only on a dim nighttime setting, then darkness. Nadifa felt more blinded than before as he blinked in the weird strobe light effect, searching the room for infected.

  Kevin stiffened at his side, and Nadifa followed his gaze to see a crowd of infected twitching toward them beyond some kind of fancy swing.

  Luk grabbed hold of one of the blond kid's hands. “Run.”

  Nadifa lifted the kid who'd almost been infected and broke into a run. Darnell took the other blond boy's arm, helping a limping prisoner along with his other arm, his weapon slung over his back. They skip-ran to keep up with Zahi, who guided Ayeeyo forward over her protests that she didn't need help. Adam shouted the way from Luk's back, studying the map in his metal hands in the flashes of light.

  Hanna fell behind, running backward as she held her weapon out at the surging crowd of infected, the entire scene flashing in broken movement under the flickering light like some twisted dance party.

  Crashing through a door hidden behind a hedge, they moved through the now-empty banquet hall. Nadifa barely noticed the upturned tables and chairs, bloodstained tile and linen, and tipped-over flower arrangements as he sprinted toward the kitchen. There was no time to look for food as three infected shuffled after them, the smell of their rotting flesh making the thought of food almost unbearable. Luk's weapon shot its rusty, gore-covered bolt over and over again at the head of the group, answered by Darnell and Kevin's seconds later.

  They ran down a slippery hallway and through the darkened shower room, Nadifa glad for the darkness as he followed the cell phone light around the feet of dead guards. Before he could acknowledge the stitch in his side, they spilled out onto the subway platform, where steady red emergency lighting illuminated their dismal surroundings.

  “Where's Hanna?” Luk asked, shining his flashlight around at the group. “And Zahi?”

  “Closing doors, Lukango,” Zahi's voice called out from the darkness of the hallway, and a moment later the girls came into the view, their clothes splattered with blood and their hands full of bottled water.

  Placing her blood-soaked weapon on the ground, Hanna threw a bottle to Luk. “It's nice to know you care.”

  Luk scowled until he realized what he held, and then he turned his full attention to opening the bottle and gulping the water in one eager swallow. Nadifa had never tasted anything as sweet in his entire life.

  Checking the phone, Luk announced, “We're gonna have to run if we expect to make it back by eleven.” He let his eyes wander over those with weapons, his scowl conveying the unmistakable message: Anyone falls to the infected, they get left behind. Nadifa looked down at the kid by his side, seeing his features set with brave determination.

  “Stay sharp,” Luk said, turning to enter the mouth of the tunnel. “Let's go.”

  The tunnel, devoid of the smell of fresh blood, was empty, and the group made it through the opening gate on the prison side just in time, the last of them stumbling through just as the metal bars began to close once again.

  11:00. There would be twenty-one hours until the subway opened once again. Twenty-one hours for the infected to devour anyone still alive and follow them down the tunnel. To reach their rotting arms through the bars, gnashing their teeth in hungry anticipation. Nadifa pushed the thought aside. No one met them on the platform, and Nadifa began to feel his exhaustion as he dragged his feet up the loading ramp behind Kevin and Darnell. Luk led them down the corridor to the butcher's quarters, where they left the building through a door Nadifa had never seen open in the past. Crisp fresh air washed over them as they bathed in warm morning sunshine, and Nadifa looked up at a clear blue sky that would never compare to a screen in a million years. He almost cried with joy at the sight of it.

  “This way,” Luk said. “Let's get cleaned up a little before the others see us.”

  Nadifa looked up. “Wait. You didn't tell them about—”

  “Klan zombies trying to eat our faces off?” Kevin finished. “No.”

  “Probably wise,” Ayeeyo said, catching her breath, leaning on Zahi. She'd run the whole length of the tunnel. Nadifa would've never imagined his sixty-two-year-old grandmother could jog three miles, though he knew she'd loved to go to the gym with her friends back home.

  Thinking about home brought Nadifa's thoughts to his parents. What must they think after all these weeks? They must be sure the three of them were dead by now, lost in the hurricane, swept into the ocean. Was there a chance he'd see them again?

  Darnell took over carrying Adam as they continued silently through the orchards, moving away from any voices they heard until they found a secluded portion of the creek where they could wash the gore from their weapons, hands, and faces. Hanna was covered in the splattered brains of the infected—as if she'd been doubly as determined as the rest of
them to destroy them—and Nadifa watched as she walked away from the others and submerged herself into the water fully clothed. She closed her eyes and stayed beneath the current until he worried she'd simply stopped breathing for good. Nadifa remembered her reckless laughter, her indifference for her own safety, her hatred of what her father created, and he knew without a doubt that Hanna welcomed the idea of her life ending.

  Eventually, Luk left to find the others and tell them they'd returned. Nadifa joined Zahi and Ayeeyo in the sun, where they spent the next hour stuffing themselves with as much fruit as they could pick, finally falling asleep against the earth.

  Nadifa woke to Adam's voice. “No, that won't work because we'd be fucked if the Klexters are activated.” The sun was setting, its dying light painting the orchard in deep pinks and blues, leaving Nadifa disoriented as he blinked around at the silhouettes of his companions crowding around pages lying against the dirt.

  “They aren't robots,” Luk said. “No way, man. Robots that advanced don't exist.”

  “Says the same brother who keeps insisting zombies aren't a thing,” said Kevin. “Facts are facts, man. Face it.”

  Zahi stood. “We can't just stay here and starve, waiting to freeze once the weather turns. We have to believe the maps and get into those rooms. We have no choice.”

  Nadifa stood, turning until he found the regal figure of his grandmother. Just beyond the row of trees, she stood, reciting the salāt al-margin. As he watched, she knelt, bowing slowly, then stood once again. Nadifa smiled, once again silently thanking the butcher for the hijab she wore.

  Washing his hands, feet, and face, Nadifa took a deep breath and began his own prayer, feeling calm for the first time since the day he was kidnapped. Even if Adam was right and they were all shot by Klexters, at least they hadn't gone out without a fight. At least they would die on their feet. Free.

  As the last ray of light left the sky, Nadifa turned to find Ayeeyo and Zahi waiting for him, their arms around him before he could say a word.

  “We will survive this,” Ayeeyo said in Somali, her voice carrying the strength of generations. “No more doubting. Either of you.”

  Zahi nodded against Nadifa's shoulder.

  “Now go and fix this fence with Lukango,” Ayeeyo continued, extricating herself from their arms. “He is a nice boy. Very brave. Those two caddaan, too. The girl, she is very angry and sad, Nadifa. You should help her.”

  Zahi met Nadifa's eyes in the gloom, and he could see she was trying not to smile. Hanna needed no one's help. He nodded to his grandmother anyway.

  “Go,” Ayeeyo said, pushing them back toward the group. “I will keep the others safe within Mr. Terrance Jackson's quarters.”

  “Who's that?” Nadifa asked.

  “The butcher, sleeping beauty,” Zahi told him. “They have his wife and kids, forcing him to cooperate, the bastards.”

  Nadifa searched the shadows for the older man, finding him standing near Adam. He jogged to his side as the butcher lifted Dr. Kaiser's ledger from the dirt, opening it in the moonlight.

  Hanna met Nadifa's eyes across the group, shaking her head at the same time as the butcher fell to his knees, letting the ledger fall from his grasp.

  “Since day three,” he whispered. “They've been gone since day three.”

  Luk opened his mouth to say something, but ended up simply looking at Nadifa helplessly.

  “Insha'Allah, they didn't suffer for too long… ” Nadifa tried, reaching to help the man to his feet.

  The butcher looked sadder than Nadifa had ever seen him as he let Zahi take his arm, guiding him toward the others. Nadifa stayed with Luk, Kevin, Darnell, Mike, and Malik around the papers Adam and Hanna studied by the light of a phone.

  “Good job leaving that fucking ledger lying around for him to find,” Hanna said, glaring at her brother.

  “What? I'm supposed to hide that shit? Yeah, hiding and lying has worked out really well for us so far.”

  “Hey!” Lukango's voice silenced them. “Can we focus? On getting the fuck out of here?”

  Adam cleared his throat and pointed at the papers with one metal hand. “It looks like there are five rooms in this section here behind the doors you said are always locked—the ones the Klexters disappear behind. Since they don't ever leave by the gate or the subway, it's the only logical explanation for where to find them.”

  “Like, apartments?” Mike asked, skeptical.

  “More like storage rooms, is my guess,” Adam said. “If we go with the robot theory, which we should. Look. The door is more like a garage door.”

  Hanna crouched, sliding the map toward her and studying it. “They'll have motion detectors that wake up the Klexters, or activate them or whatever. We'll have to move slowly once we get inside. And not miss.”

  Kevin frowned. “Why wouldn't opening the doors activate the motherfuckers?”

  “It might,” Adam said. “But what choice do we have? The only way to turn off that fence or open the gate is locked in those rooms. Everywhere else has been searched.”

  Luk lifted his weapon. “Adam's right. We have no choice. We're dead if we do nothing. Whoever's coming, let's go. Ten hours 'til the subway opens again.”

  Kevin winced. “You think the infected have already reached—”

  “I think we should assume so, yeah.”

  Hanna turned abruptly, striding back towards the creek, and Nadifa remembered Ayeeyo's words. You should help her.

  He found her sitting in the moonlight, her forearms resting on her knees, watching the glittering water flow past her feet.

  “Tell me how you do it, Nadifa,” she said quietly.

  “Do what?”

  “Forgive. Keep… your heart.”

  “What makes you think I've forgiven anything?” Nadifa asked, genuinely curious, but Hanna only snorted in reply. He didn't feel particularly forgiving, but he guessed anyone would seem that way compared to Hanna. He remembered her snarling face, more like a fighting wolf than a human as she whirled to face an infected man looming out of the darkness. He pictured how she kicked him in the chest just as his fingertips brushed her arm, sending him stumbling back, the bolt from her weapon destroying his skull.

  Nadifa struggled to translate the words of his faith into English. “We're taught that God is forgiving—most merciful. Compassionate. We strive to embrace what is good and turn away from the ignorant. Revenge is not an option—revenge only creates more problems in the world.”

  “So… You simply decide to forgive?”

  “I don't know about simply,” Nadifa said, lowering himself to the dirt with a sigh, remembering Ray Miller. He felt the summer breeze through the trees, smelled the sweet, fresh, sun-kissed fruit, watched the moonlight play over the flowing water. He could almost imagine he sat in luxurious paradise if only every muscle in his entire body didn't hurt. “But let me ask you this,” he said. “What in this world could be more ignorant than racism?”

  Hanna threw a rock into the water. Looked up at the moon. “The dictionary defines racism as the theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race. And racialism as the belief in the superiority of a particular race. People like my father and Dr. Kaiser have been working on the belief that science will prove there's some kind of evidence that this bullshit really exists.”

  “And that doesn't make you sad? For them?”

  Hanna was silent for a minute, then, “Adam said every captive here is probably sterile.” Hanna met Nadifa's eyes as if determined to witness the pain she expected to find in them. “Something they put in the water, he thinks. They were trying to isolate a connection between melanin and some drug they used to attack the reproductive system. Can you still be sad for them?”

  “If it worked, Ayeeyo will be disappointed.” Nadifa nearly laughed. “But considering what human over-population has done to this planet, and assuming I get out and live long enough to notice, I think I'll get over it.”

  “See?”
Hanna shook her head. “Forgiveness. It comes so easily to you.”

  “I'm not happy about the situation, Hanna. But in the last twenty-four hours I learned that feeling hate and anger? That only punishes myself.” Nadifa stood and offered her his hand. Hanna took it, grabbing for her weapon as he pulled her to her feet.

  “Let's get that fucking fence turned off,” she said.

  “Okay,” Darnell said, when they rejoined the group. “From what I understand about motion sensors—which admittedly isn't a lot—we need to cool down as much as possible, hope to stay in complete darkness to avoid any shadow-movements, and stay low to the ground. That should work.”

  “Should?” Kevin said.

  Darnell shrugged and explained his idea of submerging themselves into the ice-cold water of the stream.

  “Man, what the fuck did you do before you got here?” Malik asked him.

  “My parents are both civil rights lawyers,” Darnell told them. “They have friends in law enforcement.” He shrugged. “You learn shit over dinner.”

  “Well, I hope this works,” Mike said. “This is my only outfit.”

  “Only one way to find out.” The small group made their way to the stream and climbed into the water. Lukango actually looked excited when he emerged, bouncing once and twirling his weapon. Nadifa shivered in the cool night breeze. He wouldn't be excited until they had actually gotten everyone out.

  Adam shone his light on the map. “Okay. We're gonna have to go in blind—unless there's emergency lighting on, which I doubt—and which we better hope is really dim if there is. So everyone with weapons gather around and memorize this layout.”

  “What if there's shit in the way? They don't put everything on a fucking map!”

  Adam only shrugged and continued. “If I'm right—and I usually am—the Klexters will be here, according to where the power runs.” Adam pointed. “Two here and two here. So there's not far to move in the dark once we're inside. Once you're where you need to be—directly in front of the Klexters—just move quickly and loud, and the lights should come on.”