DEAD: Darkness Before Dawn

by Brown, TW

  “You are in no condition to go out and do much of anything,” the doctor insisted.

  There was a time when that woman scared the piss out of me. Now, I just saw her as an overprotective grandmother type. Sure, she was an actual doctor and was probably basing her opinion on something besides her concern for my general welfare, but I could not stay in that bed another minute.

  “Tonight is the deadline…I can’t just lay here and do nothing.”

  “Jake and a team are out searching, there is absolutely nothing that you can do…especially on your own.”

  “Is anything being done to increase security?” I asked.

  “Everybody has been moved close and a mandatory buddy system has been put in to place,” the doctor said.

  I noticed that she had crossed her arms and taken a position in my doorway. Did she think that I could not move her aside? Not that I was planning on getting rough with Dr. Zahn or anything, but it was almost funny the way she had set herself like she believed that it would really stop me if I made up my mind to go somewhere.

  Then it dawned on me. “You are buddied up with me, aren’t you?”

  Dr. Zahn smiled.

  “But what—” I started to ask about Katrina and snapped my mouth shut. I was not ready to give that information out just yet, and I had no idea how she felt about our relationship being public. The only reason that I said anything to Jake is because I knew he would not judge or say a word to anybody. He was not what you might consider a “chatty” sort of guy.

  “This is the only way that I was going to be able to get outside of the compound proper,” Dr. Zahn said with a sly smile. “I know very well that you don’t want to just sit around and wait. So, you can gear up and get out of here to see what you can do to help, and I get to have your services for one little thing.”

  “And what might that be?” I asked. This was not like Dr. Zahn at all. Or at least this was not the Dr. Zahn I was familiar with.

  “Just you never mind for right now. I will let you know the details when the time comes.”

  If that was how she wanted to play things, then fine. As long as I could suit up and get the heck out of here. Sure, as far as plans were concerned…I didn’t really have one. However, I needed to feel like I was doing something to help Carol.

  I was a little surprised to find all my field gear in the closet here in this little hospital room, or whatever this place was that they had brought me.

  I was strapping on my shin guards when the doc came back in. I don’t think I had ever actually seen her dressed for the field. When we had been on the move, she might have worn a heavy coat and a set of gloves, but now she was decked out in the works: lined gloves with studs on the back, goggles, full leathers, and she even had a catcher’s chest plate on. If all of that was not enough, she was packing a long blade on each hip and some sort of staff over her left shoulder.

  “Let’s go…we’re burning daylight,” Dr. Zahn urged.

  Why was I getting the feeling that there was a whole lot more going on than I was aware? I can’t ever recall her being this impatient. Okay, let me rephrase that. This whole thing about wanting to get out of whatever place we were currently calling home. Yeah, she had gone out with Jon and Steve once that I knew of. Also, I seem to recall her venturing out with Sunshine on a few occasions for various plants and whatever else they were using for some of those potions and crap that tasted so nasty. But beyond that, she was a camp fixture.

  Once I was ready, we headed outside. It was way brighter than I was prepared for at first. I had not realized how gloomy my room was until that first burst of sunlight caught me square in the eyes. I had to take a second to get my bearings and realized that we had done a lot of work on Winters’ compound in just a short time. For one, all of the breaches in the walls had been repaired.

  However, I was noticing something that was remarkably different from when Jon, Jake, and I had first set foot inside the walls. Even with the possibility of imminent danger, people were out and about doing “normal” things. I spotted Thalia, Levant, and Rabia in a big open space where a dozen people were building a large play structure. Personally, I did not think we were at that point where play structures merited a spot in the daily work detail, but maybe it was more to keep the kids occupied and out of the way than anything else.

  I turned to look at the building that I had exited and saw the universal sign of a big Red Cross hanging above the entry. Also, there was a really tall flag pole with a white flag sporting the Red Cross symbol as well. I guess that would make it easy for anybody in the city to see. Again, not sure if I agreed with that idea; if you asked me, it was an invitation for trouble.

  We headed for the main gate. The sentries waved at us as we approached. I did not recognize either of them, but I guess Dr. Zahn had already told them to expect us, because they simply opened the gates to let us out and told us to “be careful” as they shut the gates behind us.

  “You been planning this?” I asked as we headed down a street that was being cleaned by teams of men and women.

  It seemed that folks really have been busy. That is one thing about being out in the field. I guess the best I can compare it to is when you have a friend you don’t see for a while and they gain or lose weight in that period. It seems so drastic, but that is just because you missed everything in between.

  I saw a few burn piles in some of the dirt lots. One in particular was well over the length of a football field and the bodies were stacked at least five or so feet high. I did not have the ability to picture us securing this entire city. For one, while we had increased our numbers, we still had nowhere near enough people to man the defenses. I was not sure exactly how big the city of La Grande might be, but I knew it was a few miles across; and then there was all of the farmland that surrounded it. That was the real prize if we were going to survive.

  Food was becoming an issue, and I knew for a fact that we could not survive this coming winter if we did not plant crops and have a good harvest. Nothing but canned goods were still okay from before the zombie thing, and that kind of find was becoming increasingly difficult to locate.

  Honestly, I had no idea how we were going to actually pull off taking an entire city, even one as small as La Grande. And there is a funny thought. Before all of this, a town like La Grande just would not register to me as being anything but some po-dunk stop on the way to hunting, camping, or fishing. But now, with the task ahead of clearing this place out and making it somewhere that we could settle in and start new lives, this place might as well be New York or Los Angeles.

  Almost as a reminder, a few zombies came stumbling around a corner about three blocks ahead. I jogged up and put them down and then returned to the doctor’s side. She was obviously going to a specific location. Twice she had paused and glanced at street signs.

  “You want to fill me in on the details?” I finally asked. I was not pushy or impatient, but I decided that if the doc had something in mind, I might be of more use if I knew exactly what.

  Dr. Zahn stopped so suddenly that I had to jump to the side in order not to collide with her and send her sprawling. When she turned to face me, she had a look on her face that I swear was embarrassment…or guilt.

  “I’m sorry, Billy,” she said in a voice that sounded tired.

  I remembered back to when Teresa and Jamie had died. There was a period of time where the doc was more like a frail old lady and nothing like the take charge person I’d first met. This was almost how she had sounded back in those dark days after probably my best friend in the world had killed himself.

  “Sorry about what?” That seemed like the best and most logical question.

  “I know that you want to help Jake and the others find Carol…but I really have no idea where they went or where to begin to search.”

  “Then what in the world are we doing out here?” It wasn’t that I was scared to be outside the gates, but if I was going to be wandering around in zombie country, I sure as hell
needed to have a reason.

  “We need to capture a zombie.”

  The way she said it, it almost sounded like no big deal. Only…it was a FREAKIN’ HUGE deal. Obviously my feelings came out in my expression, because the doc was holding her hands up as if she thought I might just suddenly turn and run.

  “I have a reason.”

  I crossed my arms across my chest and waited. This had better be good. By the time she finished explaining, I could not say that it was a “good” reason, but it was at least one that I could understand. I also think I figured out why Dr. Zahn had brought me along. Much the same reason I had not had any problems talking about my relationship with Katrina to Jake. There are some people that you know you can’t say anything to if you want to keep it a secret. Dr. Zahn worked with Sunshine a lot; if I wanted to get information out to everybody in a speedy manner, she is the one I would pull aside and say that I had a secret she had to promise to keep. It wasn’t that she was a bad person…just a blabber mouth.

  Eventually we reached the bridge that took us over the Grande Ronde River, which acted as a sort of natural barrier on La Grande’s north side. I was surprised to discover a ten person sentry detail; Dr. Zahn was not.

  “Grady Jones,” she called as we got within about fifty yards or so.

  A tall, skinny, African-American fellow stepped away from the group. He slung his crossbow over his shoulder and actually jogged over to meet us instead of just waiting for us to reach him. As he got close, I could swear that I recognized the man, but for the life of me, I could not say from where.

  “Hey there, Doc,” the man said with a polite nod of his head. He glanced at me with a question in his eyes.

  “This is Billy Haynes, he will be assisting me,” Dr. Zahn assured.

  That seemed to do the trick, because Grady Jones turned to me and stuck out his right hand. I shook it and noticed that he was one of those guys with a grip that you just knew could crush walnuts if he gave a good enough squeeze. However, he also did not try and get into a hand squeezing contest with you either. There was a brief but firm squeeze and then he let go.

  “Nice to meet you, Billy.”

  “And you,” I said.

  “Since it is obvious that neither of you can remember, perhaps I can shed some light on the question I see on both of your faces,” Dr. Zahn said after a few seconds of silence where I felt Grady was inspecting me much the same as I was doing to him. “Billy was with that group that Sergeant Wimmer sent me with.” The doc was staring at Grady as she spoke. Once she saw the dawning light of realization spread across his face, she turned to me. “Grady was part of the team that was working on the power grid back at Serenity Base.”

  And then it hit me. When we had arrived, the place had power and everything, but there was no rumble and cough of big diesel generators. Instead, the place had been patched in to a mainline from the Bonneville Power Plant. However, a group of engineer types were all holed up in this building. They did not go out on missions or anything; they had been designated (like Dr. Zahn and all of the base’s medical staff at the time) as too important to risk. They were putting together supply lists for solar and wind power facilities.

  I had been surprised to discover that converting solar and wind power to electricity was more than just sticking out one of those reflective glass things or building a windmill. There was this whole process where the power had to be converted. Well, Grady and his team knew how this all worked.

  But Serenity Base had been overrun. We had listened that night on the radio, and then there had been the runs back to search for any possible medical supplies that might not have been grabbed.

  “Grady and his team were another group that Paul sent out ahead of the…incident,” Dr. Zahn explained.

  “Wow,” Grady breathed, “hard to believe it has been almost a year.”

  He was right. It was hard to believe. Someday, I would try and sit down to process all of this madness. I bet if I wrote some of it down, I probably would have a difficult time believing it…and I was there!

  “So, any more sightings?” Apparently Dr. Zahn was finished with the small talk.

  “We saw two more this morning…same general location, and now that you got me lookin’ for it, I did notice that the damn things seemed like they were scared of us.”

  While Grady and Dr. Zahn started looking at some map that Grady pulled from inside his flak jacket, I started taking a look around. I had not been to this part of the city before. In fact, it didn’t look like anybody had, so why did we have this particular bridge being watched. I guessed it to be at least a half mile or so from the compound proper.

  “Let’s go!” Dr. Zahn called, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  We crossed the bridge in silence. I gave a polite nod to the group of strangers who were standing this watch. However, as soon as we were clear and I felt my voice would not carry, I stopped walking. Doctor Zahn must have expected it, because she stopped cold and turned to face me.

  “No, Grady and his group have not joined with ours…yet. I was not even aware they had made it until I was out with Sunshine. We had discovered a small veterinary clinic and checked for any sort of medical supplies they might have.

  “I searched the second floor while she searched the main floor. I swear…I damn near killed that man.” Dr. Zahn actually had a slight smile on her face; I guess you had to be there. “When I first saw him, he was standing there, absolutely frozen in place. We did not talk long, and he made me promise not to tell my group about his. I guess they have had some pretty nasty experiences. Grady is actually the only member of his Serenity team that is still alive. Anyway, we set a time and place to meet again…alone.

  “It seems that Grady’s new group is one of the factions battling for control of La Grande. When I told him that we were the ones to knock out Winters and his people, Grady said that had effectively made us the new Public Enemy Number One in town. He and I have been meeting on the side, and both of us will try to soften up our own leadership a bit before bringing each side to the table for negotiations.”

  My head was spinning. This was sounding way more complicated than I figured it needed to be. Why were folks so hung up on who got to wear the boss’ hat? If we could all just work together, then maybe securing this city and some of the surrounding farmland would not be such a big deal.

  “…had a daughter that was bitten. I guess she was only six or seven.” Oops, I should probably pay attention, this sounded important. “Anyways, I guess this Marco was insistent that his daughter was not one of the undead. They had a few people who had shown immunity, so his thinking was that she was immune, but just still really sick. Long story short, she wasn’t. She bit her dad and killed him. The new leader had the daughter disposed of, but the group as a whole could not deny that the zombie child had not demonstrated some odd behavior from what they were used to.

  “And that brings me up to the run with Jon and Steve. Steve had insisted that this child zombie that we encountered had acted in a very odd way. Then you had your encounter, so that is why I want to capture one. It is my hope that I might be able to discover if there is a fundamental difference in these child zombies versus their adult counterparts.”

  I must have been standing there with my most obvious “Are you out of your mind!?” face on, because Dr. Zahn actually started to babble. If there is one thing that I did not ever think I would witness from the doc, it was babbling.

  “I just want to grab a couple, but I can start with one, Billy,” she said in a rush, her words running together. “I need to know what this is. Maybe if I do, I can try to attack this virus or whatever it is at the source. Also, if these behavior patterns are so out of the ordinary, it might help us to know why.”

  Honestly, I thought she was being crazy. A zombie is a zombie, but I could see real desperation in her face and it got to me. Besides, she had certainly earned the right to ask for any help that she wanted after all she had done. My only thing was Carol; I h
ad really learned to like that lady. I had a hard time justifying going off on this crazy quest while she was still a prisoner; to make it worse, tonight her captors were going to start cutting bits of her off.

  I was standing in the middle of the road; both physically, and mentally as I pondered my dilemma. I have no idea what I would have said to Dr. Zahn. Thank God I didn’t have to give her an answer at that exact moment.

  A scream came from the woods just to our north.

  4

  Vignettes XLIV

  “Looks like somebody beat us here.” Harold put what he hoped was a comforting arm around Vix’s shoulders. She shrugged it away and took a few steps toward the lip of the hill.

  “We can’t go down there,” Gemma said more to herself than anybody. She was shaking her head and backing away.

  “But whoever is in there—” Vix started, only to have Harold cut her off.

  “Is trapped…or already dead.”

  “There has to be a way,” Vix mumbled to herself.

  “Why bother?” Harold asked. “After all, if whoever it is that has secured that place and built the fence is even still alive, what makes you think they want anything to do with us?”

  Vix was quiet for a few moments. Then her eyes brightened. She looked at Harold with a smile.

  “Because they are waving a flag that says so.” She placed her hands on either side of Harold’s head and turned it.

  On the roof of the cottage was a woman with a bed sheet on a stick. In big red letters, the word “Help!” was painted. She was waving the flag back and forth, jumping up and down.

  “She may as well be on the bloody moon,” Gemma grumped.

  As the trio watched, five more people emerged from the small house. Even from this distance it was obvious that there was an animated discussion. It was also obvious that every single one of the people down there were women.

  “Well,” Harold said with a sheepish shrug, “I guess we could try to figure something out. After all, we have come all this way.”