by Mike Staton
“Can I ask you something?” Lieutenant Adams lifted her helmet from the table.
“I reserve the right not to answer after hearing your question.” Percival tucked the map into his jacket once more.
“Fair enough.” Lieutenant Adams scooped his helmet from the ground and tossed it to him. “How are you holding everything together so well? You’re infected. I’ve seen what it does to people. Dealt with it some fifteen minutes ago with your friend. How are you not raving about everything?”
Percival shook his head and pulled his helmet on. “I haven’t felt the pangs of the rage the zombie plague induces for… days now. Even Bloku didn’t feel the same as the fits of anger when I’d first suffered my bite. All I can say is that maybe this is some distant effect of the virus for someone who’s survived it so long.”
“Sounds like a fancy way of saying ‘you don’t know.’” Lieutenant Adams pulled her helmet on.
“That’s because I don’t.” Percival turned away from her and started up the stairs. He took them two at a time and cleared the main floor landing in a single long stride. Judith and Samuel had cleaned up the shattered chair and saved him from having to jump over it once more. It took him hardly any time to reach the top of the steeple and find Judith and Samuel standing on the walkway on opposite sides of the steeple tower. He moved smoothly to the door and pulled it open.
“Good vantage point. The haze on the horizon that could blow into a storm would hamper visibility and the lack of practical exits is problematic. Not to ment—“ Percival forced the whispers of Andrina to the dark corner of his mind. He stepped out onto the balcony next to Samuel, the closer of his team.
“What do you see?” Percival lifted the visor on his helmet and leaned against the railing to look out over the town. He scanned wrecked cars and bodies. He couldn’t tell from this distance if any of the corpses spread out among the streets were Kat. He wouldn’t have put it against the Army jerks to have shot her outside of the church because she got mouthy after being caught.
Or if she’d tried to run. They hadn’t hesitated to empty magazines at him and Sarah while they ran. They’d also killed two of their members before fleeing. He shook his head.
“I take it, she’s not down below?” Samuel’s voice cut through his moment of grief.
“No. Not unless she’s very well hidden.” Percival stared out over the tops of the buildings. He had to admit that the place was a very good sniper nest. It was likely the same reason the asshats had chosen the location.
“I haven’t seen anything up here. It’s a town of the dead on this side.” Samuel pointed. “Can see some of their backsides up that street. Has Krista talked with them? I saw she has the… she could try to call the assholes with Kat. Why doesn’t she just admit she was wrong?”
Samuel slammed his fist on the railing which produced a reverberating ring. His hand bounced from the railing and rubbed at his temple. “Fuck.”
“Headache?”
“And flashes of anger. How’re you handling it? I mean you were one step from being a pure green monster of rage the other day.” Samuel capped his words with a brief fit of coughing. When he finished, his features had paled and his skin took on a light sheen of sweat despite the cool winter air.
“I don’t know. I wish I could tell you more. Just… Just hang in there. I know it’s not the best or easiest bit of advice, but. It’s all you can do right now.” Percival patted Samuel on the shoulder. “I need to check with Judith. Head on downstairs. No fights with Lieutenant Adams. She’s a bitch, but she’s our bitch.”
“Is there a plan?” Samuel asked as he pushed the door inside open.
“Simple plan: find Kat. Kick the shit out of everyone between us and her. Won’t let nothin’ stop us.” Percival wished he felt the enthusiasm he laced his voice with.
Samuel shook his head and let the door close behind him as he descended the stairs. Maybe Percival hadn’t quite injected as much hope and enthusiasm as he’d intended.
He rounded the walkway, keeping close to the glass side as he moved around. He could handle the height, but a glance down brought to his mind Nadia’s final shriek as she fell from a rickety board in the rain.
He stepped up next to Judith and closed his eyes. “See anything important?”
“No. Empty streets. Well, empty of movement or people. Seen bodies and cars. Some of the latter look like they’ve been shoved aside by a larger vehicle. Or squished by a big vehicle if you refer to the former. No sign of the Humvee at present though.”
Percival opened his eyes and looked over at her.
“They were here. They might still be here. We can see a lot of the town from up here, but there’s still a lot we can’t see. Hell, they could be around that corner there-“ she gestured at an intersection no more than a block away, “-but we’d never know it until we rounded that corner on foot.”
Percival nodded. What he wouldn’t give to have an up-to-date aerial shot of the town, or satellite photos; something that would tell him exactly where everything was.
“Is there a plan?” She looked at him. “Or are you practicing your silent protagonist?”
“Huh? Oh, no. Just lost in thought for a moment.” Percival looked away from her and back out over the streets. He could see the pattern of vehicles pushed out of the way by a larger vehicle now that she’d pointed it out to him.
“Clearly.” Judith sighed and scrubbed a hand across her face. “I don’t have a penny, but can offer a shiny bit of brass for your thoughts.”
“Not sure what I’d do with a spent casing, to be honest. I’m not enough of a gun nut to know how to reload it.”
“Then lets go back to my original question. Is there a plan?” Judith pushed off the railing and stood up straight.
“Sort of. Involves searching for these guys. That’s easier said than done. Especially if they know we’re looking, which they probably will. Just how many folk travel alone these days?” Percival shook his head. “A street by street until we find them and take Kat out of their murderous hands.”
“That’ll be timely. What if she ain’t got that sort of time?” Judith reached out and dropped her hand on his shoulder. “I’m not saying she don’t, just a ‘what if.’ I mean, do we have a better strategy that’s more dangerous?”
“There’s the radio. But it’s uncertain. At best we can raise Bonnibel Actual.” He pushed his visor back up. “And Lieutenant Adams remembers where she and Kat last saw the Humvee. It’ll give us a starting point.”
“What of the campsite? I mean, if I were a kidnapper who’d just snatched a victim, I’d want to take them back to known territory.”
“The campsite isn’t secure, Mister Polz,” Undead Andrina whispered in his ear on the cold breeze.
“It’s not secure. And even if they did take her back there… It’s over half a day’s hike from here. Want to talk about wasting time?”
“Not particularly. Could divide and conquer though.” Judith’s heart didn’t sound in her words.
“I’m against dividing up at this point. We’re stronger together, that’s for certain.” Percival stepped back and turned fully toward Judith. “But we’ll talk it over with Lieutenant Adams.”
“You’re deferring to her on this?” Judith’s profile twisted through a myriad of disgust.
“Yeah. I am. Tracking down a military unit in town? I know nothin’ about that. If we were scouting this town for supplies? Or trekking cross country? I’d hop all over that.”
“She got Kat caught.”
“I’m not disputing that. She also presents the best chance of getting her back.” Percival laid his hand on her shoulder. “We’re wasting time arguing over something trivial.”
“It’s hardly trivial.” Judith let out a dry chortle and turned away from the railing. “If she asks me to do something stupid, I ain’t doing it.”
“I’d not expect you to.” Percival turned and moved back around the balcony. “I know I won’t.”
“Let’s review the plan and answer questions.” Percival let his gaze drift between the ball player and the Air Force Special Operation Officer.
“We’re critically short on time, Percival,” Lieutenant Adams said as she walked over to Percival.
“It will make sure everything is crystal clear to everyone involved and explore possible alternate avenues.” He twisted his head to look at Judith before twisting back to Lieutenant Adams. He didn’t wait for her to request the map before taking it out of his jacket pocket.
Lieutenant Adams folded her arms over her chest and her helmeted head twisted between Judith and Samuel. “Alright.”
Percival spread the map out on the altar. He held his light high as the others gathered around. He reached out and placed his finger on the church. “Alright. We’re here.”
“Mmhm.” Samuel reached out and touched the map’s edge. “Campsite is somewhere out over here. If we don’t circle with our ass in our hands, we could be there by early afternoon.”
“Come at them straight and they’ll see you coming half a mile off.” Lieutenant Adams tapped the map. “Our ultimate objective, helping Bonnibel Actual, is here.”
“Right. We could see the backside of the horde from the steeple,” Percival tried to redirect the conversation. “It seems some of the outliers are losing interest in whatever’s got them clustered up. It might warrant trying Bonnibel on the radio.”
“They might see Samuel coming half a mile from head on, but they’d never catch me.” Judith cut through what Lieutenant Adams’d been explaining.
“I’d believe it. You’re near as sneaky as I am. However, it doesn’t change that it’d waste a day to go there and back.” Lieutenant Adams stood straight and folded her arms over her chest once more and fixed her helmeted gaze on Judith. “Look, I want to fin—“
“I’ll go alone then. Scout it out and—“ Judith cut Lieutenant Adams short only to receive the same treatment in return.
“And what? We’ve only the one radio. You’d not be able to radio your report and if, IF, you were snatched as well, then we’re rescuing two people instead of one. You’re not going alone.” Lieutenant Adams leaned forward and stabbed the map with a finger. “The hum—“
“Is a divide and conquer strategy a viable solution in this situation?” Samuel’s voice cut through Lieutenant Adams’s words. He looked at Judith and nodded once before returning his gaze to Lieutenant Adams.
“There is a certain strength in numbers,” Lieutenant Adams picked her words carefully. “We’re all concerned for Katherine’s well-being and getting her back safe and sound.”
“Some more than others,” Samuel said.
“Which is the driving reason I want to start our search in the town and spread out from there.” Lieutenant Adams ignored Samuel’s verbal jab. “Divide and conquer would weaken us as a whole. However, I can tell that you’re excessively locked on this strategy. I want to keep you safe as can be.”
“Like you did for Kat?” Samuel shot at her.
“Knock it off.” Percival fixed Samuel with his helmeted gaze. “We’re on the same side.”
Samuel let out a huff and backed down.
Lieutenant Adams cleared her throat. “Judith and you’ll head for the campsite. Don’t head for it head on. Circle around it. The arc needn’t be as wide as when we entered the town, but arc around it. Percival and I will head to where Katherine and I last saw the Humvee.”
She reached out and tapped the map.
Percival nodded once. It wasn’t the most diplomatic of solutions, but it hadn’t raised a fuss from Judith or Samuel. “Judith, you take lead on that excursion. Samuel, you follow her. She’s a fart in the wind compared to your crashing through the woods, so you listen to what she says as far as moving silently goes. You get me?”
“I understand.” Samuel straightened.
“If they’re all there, what then?” Judith folded her arms over her chest. “I mean, I’m damned good with my bow, but we don’t know how many there are.”
“You call Bonnibel Actual. Ask them to fire off a flare or something equally noticeable.” Lieutenant Adams slid the radio off and pressed it toward Samuel. “No being a hero. You call Bonnibel Actual and you wait for us to join you.”
Judith nodded.
“I’m dead anyways.” Samuel picked the radio up and added it to his gear.
“Not yet, you’re not.” Judith looked at him. She’d donned her mask so it became impossible to read her features. She twisted her head toward Lieutenant Adams. “We won’t do anything stupid and suicidal. If no one’s there, we’ll beeline to the convenience store we holed up at. Might be close to night by then and a good spot to regroup.”
“Agreed.” Lieutenant Adams straightened.
“We’ve got our plan formulated. Let’s get under way.” Percival picked up the map and set to folding it back up.
Lieutenant Adams nodded and turned without a word to head for the front door. Samuel trailed after her a couple seconds later.
Percival slid his gaze to Judith as he tucked the map back into his jacket pocket. “We want her back. We’re gonna get her back. Don’t you worry and don’t do anything stupid. We’re not losing anyone else.”
“I promise to keep in one piece.” Judith’s head drooped slightly as she let out a shallow breath that sounded as though she’d been holding it during the whole planning session. “I just want to get her back whole and worry she might be broken instead.”
Chapter 23
Kat let out a groan and decided consciousness sucked. Her head throbbed and her arms felt numb and lashed above her. She couldn’t quite piece together why either sensation pressed itself on her being. She slowly opened her eyes and winced at the movement. The area around her right eye stung. And she smelled a faint trace of copper.
She shifted and felt the ground beneath her wobble and immediately froze. How had she slept standing upright on unstable ground?
She took a few quick breaths, blinking quickly at what meager light came to her eyes. As the fog of unconsciousness slowly bled away she pieced together the hints of her situation.
She last remembered a brief and vicious fight in the church basement. Either they’d killed her there and this was a personal hell, or they’d carted her off to somewhere.
Her surroundings were dark and whatever’d hit her and ended the fight had left her with a bruise. She licked her upper lip, tasted the metallic tang of blood, and concluded that it’d also bloodied her nose. It would explain the throbbing in her skull as well.
She took a couple deep breaths through her mouth and blew hard out of her nose. A wet chunk of something flew out, but her nose didn’t start bleeding again.
She counted it as a win.
Her hands were bound somewhere above her head, which explained why she’d woken up standing. If she guessed, she stood on a stool or something equally unstable. She stood on her bare tiptoes and relieved some of the pressure on her arms. The pins and needles sensation of her arms ‘waking up’ nearly drove her to tears.
Kat clamped her eyes closed, drawing swift, quick breaths. She wiggled her fingers and felt the chain extending above her head. She gave it a gentle shake and listened to the music of the chain shaking. She shook her head, and felt with her toes, realizing with sudden clarity that her feet were bare. Her boots and socks’d been swiped by the assholes who’d chained her up. She took a deep breath and felt around the round edges of the cool, metal stool. As a final measure, she twisted her arms and hands, bending and stretching her fingers to feel what secured her to the chain. Hard plastic cut into her wrists: the plastic of a zip tie.
She worked through what her returning senses had revealed. Someone
, likely the military unit in the area, had zip tied her hands to a chain above her head. They’d hoisted her high enough to put her on a narrow, circular stool, and balanced her while she was unconscious. She’d been left in some dark, dank place filled with a slight mildew stench. A basement?
The darkness was complete enough that she could figure that her location wasn’t some tent outside. That and the lack of natural sounds. At most she could hear a gentle drip of something in the distance.
“So. I’m caught. I’m in a building. My arms feel weak and I’m barefoot.” Kat shook her head and opened her eyes and twisted her head around. Her surroundings remained dark. She slowly twisted around on the stool, producing soft clinks and tinks from the chain above as she moved. She made a quarter circle before a dangerous wobble on the stool nearly sent her tumbling off it.
She froze and stabilized herself while drinking in precious, cool air. She shivered from the exertion of merely turning around on an unstable surface. She muttered several expletives to herself.
She yanked down hard on the chain, driving the zip ties into her wrists, and winced at the pain that shot through her arms. “Okay, that was a dumb idea.”
She twisted at a sudden noise. A soft creak permeated through the dark space. It was chased by the thump of a footstep that clearly drifted down from above. Kat closed her eyes and listened. The rhythmic thumps crossed overhead and paused before the creak of a door opening.
“She might need water.” A baritone male voice drifted down.
“You’re just wanting to stare at her some more. She’s likely not even conscious yet,” a second male voice stated.
“Naw, I ain’t.” The footsteps resumed, drifting in from behind Kat.
“Well… shit.” Kat shook her head. Apparently she’d twisted herself to face away from the entrance to the room she was in.
“If she’s awake, you know you’re not allowed to question her without someone else present.” The second voice called after the first.
“Yeah, yeah.” The footsteps hit the basement floor and vanished from her ability to hear them. Perhaps the floor was carpeted.