The room was silent as everyone mulled this over. There were plenty of bases to the west, Haven for one, but Alice couldn’t let herself get her hopes up. Thinking about Haven was dangerous. Thinking about her brother always led to tears, and right now was not the time to cry.
5
Haven Medical Base
Simon accepted the binoculars while a heavy thudding continued building in his chest. He couldn’t see the zombie without them, and seeing it would make it real. He wished desperately for it to not be real. Simon sat for a moment without lifting the binoculars, only staring off over the fields. Wind ran through his hair, tugging it gently to the side and reminding him how much he needed a haircut. He had a brief, but vivid memory of his sister ruffling his hair and saying it needed to be cut. Simon swallowed hard and pushed that thought away. She was gone.
“Um, you gonna look?” Noah asked, his voice unsure as Simon continued to stare at the barely discernible form in the distance.
Simon wanted to say no. He wanted to hand Noah back the binoculars and leave the wall. Seeing the zombie out there had brought back flashes of the nightmares he had after he woke up. What if it was his dad out there? He knew that was next to impossible, but the thought almost paralyzed him.
“Yeah.” Simon gave Noah a brief, forced smile and pushed his glasses to the top of his head. When he lifted the binoculars, he fought the urge to close his eyes. There was no use putting off what was inevitable.
It took a second to adjust the lenses to his eyes, then another few seconds of searching over the sea of grass before he caught the figure in his sights. It wasn’t his dad. As Simon watched, Noah began speaking beside him.
“It could be a survivor, right?” His voice sounded more hopeful than convincing. Simon watched the figure shambling through the grass, stumbling as it moved forward with the grace of a drunk on stilts. There was no question in his mind, he was seeing a zombie.
It was barely three in the afternoon with the sun blaring down, and one of the zombies was out for a stroll. Granted, it wasn’t moving quickly and didn’t look like it had any grand ideas about climbing the base walls, but it was out and it was the first they had seen in full daylight. Simon dropped the binoculars back into Noah’s small hands and slid his glasses on. Noah placed the binoculars on the wall beside him. They watched the figure in the distance as it became clearer.
“It’s not a survivor,” Simon said. He swore he saw Noah’s thin shoulders drop a little bit at that.
“They don’t come out in the sun.” Noah forced his voice not to quiver.
“This one does.” Simon shrugged; he hated how cold his voice sounded. Noah nodded. He pushed himself up to his feet on the wall and looked around. “Do you see any others?” Simon asked. He didn’t stand. Sitting on the wall was more than he was comfortable with.
“No. I don’t see any other movement, but the others might report something at switch.”
“Maybe.” Simon bit his lip. The younger kids usually kept watch during the day, mostly because everyone assumed nothing would happen. That was all about to change. Noah sat back down, his legs dangling over the outer edge of the wall in a way that would be ill-advised if the zombie made it to them.
“This is shit.” Noah threw a loose stone out into the field. Simon winced at the word, hating the way it slid so casually from Noah’s mouth. Noah sighed heavily. He pushed his dreads out of his face, and shook his head. “Sometimes I wish I had just died and become one of them.”
Simon sat silently, letting this idea wash over him. To have died sometimes seemed like the greatest gift to him as well. It didn’t seem fair that he was alive when everyone else he had loved was dead. Hearing Noah say it made him think about it more. He watched the thing stumbling toward them. It was moving faster now, though not running by any means. It had caught their scent. Simon could make out a few features on the thing’s ashen face.
A thin layer of dirt covered its face. One eye was swollen shut and looked infected. Its left arm hung limp at its side, and at some point it had lost its pants. What was left of the part that made it a man was shriveled and bloody.
“You’d rather be that thing?” Simon asked. There was no better way to explain how awful it would have been to have died along with everyone else.
Noah gave him a small smile and shook his head. “No, I guess not. You want me to go tell Dodge this thing is coming?”
“I’ll do it,” Simon answered, happy for a reason to get away. He flipped around to put his feet on the ladder and steadied himself a moment before climbing down. His heart hammered with each rung, worried the ladder would slip out from under him. It amazed him to watch the other boys climb the ladders as nimbly as monkeys.
When Simon’s feet hit solid ground, he sprinted off toward the apartment Dodge slept in. Without even thinking about knocking, Simon rushed in. He was always hit by the familiarity of the apartments. The military housing was set up so the living quarters were all the same. He could see himself at the kitchen table, doing homework while his sister cooked dinner. Simon hated the apartments; they forced him to remember that he was alive and his sister wasn’t.
Simon shook off the wave of guilt that accompanied the sparse memories and ran straight to the bedrooms. Tech was drooling and flat on his stomach in the first room, and Simon shut the door quietly; no need to wake him. He opened the next door, and shut it again quickly. His face flushed. He knocked loudly on the door, willing himself to forget the image of Dodge on top of the girl. He had a good idea who the girl was.
“Hold on,” Dodge called, and there was movement behind the door. Simon heard them whispering, then Dodge opened the door wearing only sweats, his dark skin and hair sweaty. “This better be good, kid.”
“There’s a zombie working its way through the field,” Simon said. He knew he shouldn’t be trying to see past Dodge and felt disgusted at himself for leaning so he could catch sight of the girl. It was Lara, just as he had thought. She was only half under the covers. When he realized he was seeing her breast he jerked back, feeling guilty.
“It’s still light out,” Dodge answered.
“It’s there,” Simon assured him. Dodge eyed Simon a minute.
“Shit.” He bent and grabbed a shirt from the floor, pulling it quickly over his head. He pushed Simon out of the doorway and shut the door, leaving Lara in the room. Halfway across the living room, Dodge slipped on a pair of sneakers. “Show me where.” Dodge waved Simon out the front door.
Simon hurried back to the wall with Dodge close behind. When the wall came into sight, Simon saw that Noah had stood up, no longer letting his legs dangle freely below him. When Noah noticed Simon and Dodge, he began to wave them over, practically jumping up and down in his eagerness. Dodge reached the ladder first and began to climb up; Simon didn’t hesitate before following him.
“Move.” Dodge shoved Noah aside as he climbed onto the top of the wall.
Noah slipped. He landed hard on one knee before it slid out from under him. He caught the wall with his hands, scrambling to get his legs back up.
“Noah!” Simon dropped onto his stomach, reaching for him. Dodge stepped on Simon as he tried to grab his hands. They were both too slow. Simon watched Noah slip, unable to stop it, useless as always.
“Simon!” Noah’s eyes widened, and Simon knew exactly why.
Pressed to the wall like he was, Simon could see nothing but zombies below. Three more had appeared from God knew where. The original one wrapped his ashen, bloated fingers around Noah’s ankle. Noah kicked and the thing lost its grip, stumbling back a step. Dodge got a hold of Noah’s arms just as two more zombies got his legs.
Before Dodge could pull Noah up, the zombies were hauling him down.
Noah’s arms slid through Dodge’s hands as his fingers slipped free of the wall. He screamed; a sound so full of terror and pain that Simon knew he would never get it out of his head. Dodge grabbed hold of one of Noah’s hands, his arms straining to pull him up even
as the first zombie bit into the younger boy’s leg. The sight and smell of the blood frenzied the other zombies. The ones holding Noah gave him a mighty tug, forcing Dodge to let go or be pulled over with him.
Noah’s chin connected with the edge of the wall with such a loud crack that Simon thought for a moment that maybe he had been knocked out. He hoped Noah had been knocked out, hoped he wouldn’t feel any of what was coming. As soon as the zombie’s teeth dug into Noah’s flesh, that hope was gone. Noah’s screams filled the afternoon. Simon knew they would join the dead nurse’s eyes in his dreams.
Simon watched. His muscles felt frozen and he was unable to turn himself away as the beasts tore long strips and thick chunks of Noah’s flesh away from the bone. Within moments Noah’s skin had taken on a slick, mud-colored sheen as blood dripped and spread across him. He continued to scream. It seemed to Simon that Noah should be unconscious as the zombies tore him apart, but it was several long moments before Noah’s voice was taken from him when one of the zombies tore out his throat.
The wet tearing sound and the abrupt stop of his screams freed Simon’s muscles. He was too shaky to do anything but turn his head towards the yard and away from the carnage below. He pressed his face into the stone, hoping to block out some of the sound of the things below him. He could still hear the guttural groans of the zombies as they feasted.
“Get up,” Dodge ordered. He pulled Simon’s leg up by his pants when it fell over the edge. Simon forced himself back into action and helped pull his leg to safety. He slowly pushed himself up. With extra care, he turned to face Dodge and the ladder again. “Come on,” Dodge was already on the ladder and held out his hands to guide Simon on.
As Simon turned and slid onto the ladder he had one last glimpse of the things below. Noah’s small body was on the ground, and the zombies crouched over him like vultures at the last supper. Simon hurried down the ladder. Dodge tried to grab him at the bottom, but Simon pushed away from him. Simon took two big steps before bracing himself against the wall and retching. Bile and half digested food barely missed his shoes. He stood still, pressing his head to the cool stone of the wall. He tried to block out the faint tearing he could still hear from the other side.
When he turned to face Dodge again, the older boy was gone. Simon moved a few paces down the wall and put his back to it. He slid heavily to the dust and pulled his knees up to his chest. He let his head rest on them, begging himself not to be sick again as the world spun around him. The sensation passed, and he lifted his head when he heard approaching footsteps. Dodge was running back. It wasn’t until he was almost to Simon that Simon noticed the shot gun, sawed off and lethal looking.
Without a word, Dodge climbed the ladder and took careful aim. There were four shots, and then silence filled the afternoon. Simon pushed himself shakily to his feet as Dodge climbed down the ladder. Dodge turned and rested his back on the ladder, breathing heavily. He peered at Simon, who was focusing very hard on staying upright.
“You did good, kid,” Dodge said. “That up there was my fault.”
That was a lie. Simon knew Noah was falling before Dodge did, but he didn’t reach out to help him fast enough. What if the others thought Dodge was to blame? They might lose respect for Dodge and then they wouldn’t agree to stay with him. Simon put a cap on those thoughts, sickened to realize that he was more concerned about the others still believing in Dodge than he was about Noah’s death. For another moment, Simon and Dodge stared at each other until Tessa’s voice broke the spell.
“What’s going on? I heard gunshots.” Simon groaned inwardly; she was the last person he wanted to see. “Simon? Are you okay?” Tessa reached for Simon, but he pulled back from her hand.
“I’m fine.” Simon watched as Tessa slowly lowered her hand.
“Your face.” Tessa brought her hand up to touch her own cheek.
Gingerly Simon felt his face, finding it lacerated and bloody. The cuts were grimy with small rocks and dirt. He winced at the pain the small touch caused.
“Go get him cleaned up, Tessa,” Dodge ordered. “Send some guys out here. We got a casualty.” Tessa nodded. She put a hand out to help Simon away from the wall but he ignored it, putting on a brave face and standing on his own shaky legs. Tessa frowned as Simon stumbled over his own feet. She wrapped her arm under his to support him. It was awkward as she was taller than him.
“I said I’m okay.” Simon tried to free himself.
“Calm down.” Tessa scowled at him, refusing to step away. “I know you’re trying to be a big jerk like all the other guys around here, but I’m not going to let you fall on your face just to prove a point.”
Simon gave in and nodded, letting Tessa lead him away. He glanced back over his shoulder to see Dodge squatted against the wall, head in his hands.
6
John Khane Medical Center
Alice stepped inside and quietly closed the door to Zero’s room behind her. The poor man was finally getting some peaceful sleep. She checked the machine beside his bed, which ran constant checks on his vitals, and saw that they were about where they should be. She stood for a moment watching him sleep. Zero was the name they gave him when he woke from his coma; he had no idea what he had been called before that.
His shaggy hair hung almost to his shoulders. He was good looking, despite all the drugs in his system, with a strong jaw and straight nose. If the definition of his arms was any clue, he must have worked out even when he was high. Most of all, he looked kind to her, not at all the sort of guy she had imagined when she heard his story. Alice sighed and moved to the windows. They were wide and gave a sweeping view of the abandoned city below. In the past, they were probably a welcome distraction from the drab white of the hospital walls and bad news the doctors brought.
It wasn’t the same now. Looking through the windows showed a world knee deep in hell. Below Alice, the streets were no longer alive with activity. Now they were a mass graveyard for those who were dead, but not quite gone. Bare concrete streets spread out in all directions between the empty skeletons of buildings. The world humans worked so hard to build was gone. Alice stood with her forehead pressed to the warm glass far above the empty city, watching as she always did for some sign that all hope wasn’t lost.
In the beginning, Alice clung to the idea that there would be other survivors in the city. Aside from the generators that kept electricity running through the hospital, it wasn’t different from other buildings. At first the teams that went out during the day brought back a couple of survivors each time, but the last one had been found weeks ago. The truth was they were just lucky, lucky to be in a building equipped with generators, and lucky the zombies couldn’t open doors. It seemed like that luck was running out.
When things were quiet, Alice passed her days like this in one room or another. It was only in those moments that she was able to let her brain process everything she normally pushed aside. Today she had chosen Zero’s room on a whim. She felt like she should check on him, and the doctors wouldn’t be in for another hour or so. She was as alone as she could get. She let her mind wander toward Simon. The mention of Haven had brought him screaming up from the far corners of her mind.
Simon was really the only family she had. Their dad had been useless after their mom died. He hired a nanny for the first three years of Simon’s life, but after that he was Alice’s responsibility when he wasn’t in day care. She made dinner, she made sure he had a bath, and she tucked him into bed. Their dad wanted nothing to do with him. Back then, Alice didn’t understand why. As she grew older, she realized their dad blamed Simon for their mom’s death. They moved to Haven base when Simon was three, and for the next ten years their dad buried himself in work, and booze. It never got too bad. He never hit Simon or anything, most of the time he only ignored him.
Sometimes though, after a night of heavy drinking, their dad would say the nastiest things to Simon. ‘You’re worthless’ that was his favorite, always said in a slur. Alice did her bes
t to keep Simon out of their dad’s way when she knew he’d been drinking, but sometimes it was impossible. The worst part was Simon worshiped their dad. It seemed like the more mean their dad was, the harder Simon worked to please him. Alice knew it was a bad situation, but for a long time there had been no way out of it.
As Simon grew older, he and Alice became closer. She was like a mom to him, and Simon adored her. She happily let him follow her and her friends around. Year after year, Simon grew into a fun, intelligent boy. Alice liked to think he got a lot of his personality from her.
Her clearest memory of Simon was the heartbroken look on his face when she told him she was leaving for an internship. He’d been happy for her of course and knew it was best for her career, but he was not happy she was leaving. If he’d been younger, she wouldn’t have left. It was only supposed to be for three months though. If it turned into a full time position, she planned to move Simon to live with her. Their dad probably wouldn’t have even noticed.
Then Prime hit. The world went crazy overnight and the bases were shut down, no one in or out without prior approval. When her dad told her Simon was sick, she’d broken down, crying for over an hour. Right then, she’d known that she’d lost Simon.
Alice became aware of the tears on her face only as she heard the door open. She wiped quickly at the tears; she didn’t want Grace or the others to see her cry. She turned to face whoever it was, ready to smile widely, but faltered when she saw Cale step into the room. He gave her a half smile. She was sure he had used the same smile to get more than one girl into bed with him. He had a good ten years on her, but wore it well. Cale nodded toward Zero.
“Friend of yours?”
“That’s Zero,” Alice answered, turning back to the window. “Keep your voice down. He needs to sleep.”
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