by Poe, S. B.
“How did they build it so fast?” She asked.
“It’s what they do I guess. We need to figure a way down there. I don’t think we’re going to be able to get to that road from here.”
“If we can see it from here,” She said. “We can walk.”
“Walk? You sure?” He asked.
“That’s where we need to go right?”
“I think so. I mean it looks like a refugee center to me.” He said.
“Well let’s walk.” She reached into the back and grabbed one of the backpacks.
“Okay. Get everything we can carry. I don’t think we’ll be coming back.” He said.
He looked in the glove box again. The registration and the owner’s manual were all that was left. He patted the roof of the car.
“You’ve been a good one. Hate to leave you here.” He said.
“It’s just a car dad.”
“I know. But it has been a good one.” He said. “Ready?”
“Yep.”
They stepped over the guardrail and started down the long slope through the trees to the open space below. The trees swallowed them as they walked. He figured it was a mile through the woods to get to where they had seen the refugee camp. Leaves littered the ground and more dropped as the breeze blew. The sun flickered in and out of the ones still clinging to the branches and he could hear the steady buzz of insects and frogs. The sound of the woods. He touched her shoulder.
“Nice huh?” He looked around.
“I guess. You know it’s not really my thing.” She said. “Too many crawly things.”
“You just helped me cut off my finger and you’re worried about crawly things?” He smiled.
“That was different.” She said.
“If you say so.” He said.
They walked through the woods on the freshly fallen leaves. The sound of helicopters came and went in the distance and he occasionally he heard the sound of a car horn. He could see the trees beginning to thin in front of them. She walked ahead.
“Dad, look.” She pointed ahead and started moving faster.
He could see the edge of the trees and a few people standing out in the open. They both quickened their pace. She broke through the trees just ahead of him and reached out to the man standing in front of her.
“Hey, mister is that the refugee camp?” She asked as she touched his shoulder.
The thing turned. Its face was ashen. Joel could see the little blue veins running up the side of its neck.
“Stop.” He grabbed her shoulder.
The thing looked at her, then at him. Then its eyes just looked ahead. Joel looked at the other people standing in the field between them and the gate. All of them were slowly shuffling towards the fence.
“Don’t move.” He said. “They are all infected.”
She stopped.
“What do we do?” She started to back up.
“I don’t know. Stay here.” He said.
“No.”
“Just stay here. I’m going to try something. If something happens, run to the car. Find another way to the camp.” He said.
“Run back to the car? Find another way? Not without you I won’t.” She said.
“Listen to me. One day you’ll have to make your way without me. You have to know that. And you have to be able to do it. I won’t be here forever.” He said.
“No, but you don’t have to do something stupid.” She said.
“Just wait here. Okay?” He said.
“Okay. But I’m not leaving you.” She said.
“Fine.”
He dropped his backpack and stepped forward. He went past the first infected, maybe it wasn’t completely infected or something he thought, and walked towards a group of three of them. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Please let me be right.” He whispered under his breath. He stepped in front of the group.
The eyes were all the same. Pale with some kind of haze over them, like dirty windows. The one closest to him barely turned towards his movement. He reached out and touched the things arm. It didn’t react. There was a vicious tear along the side of the things face and the skin fell in a flap under its jaw. He could see the white bone underneath the black rot dripping from the hole. The other two didn’t move at all other than the slow steady shuffle towards the fence and the constant chomping teeth, as though they were taking bites of the air.
He looked back at Abby. She stood still. He walked back over to her and grabbed his backpack.
“I think we can get through them. I don’t think they know we’re here.” He said.
“Why did the radio tell people to avoid them? They don’t seem dangerous.” She said as they started forward.
“They’re dangerous. They showed things on the television. Attacks.” He said.
“Then why aren’t they attacking us?” She asked.
“I don’t know. Be careful. Slow.” He said.
They walked gingerly around the group of three. Beyond that there were more. A lot more. They approached the back of the largest crowd. The smell was both distinct and overpowering. He covered his mouth.
“Look.” She pointed.
He followed her finger. The fence was still several hundred yards away but he could see the guard tower. He could make out someone looking at them through binoculars. He waved. The man with the binoculars waved back.
Red Flag
“Sergeant I need you to make sure that we can get that next layer of fencing up tonight.” The major said without looking up.
“Yes sir. We should have the entire eastern side completed by zero four thirty.” Sergeant Ponzi replied.
“You and your men have been invaluable. How much longer is General Eckerd going to let you TDY with me?” The major asked.
“Sir as far as I know we’re yours until we get a Red Flag.” Ponzi said.
“Good. Let’s go for a walk.” The major stood. The tent flap was half open and they both stepped into the sunlight. Ponzi put on his sunglasses.
“Sergeant this isn’t going to hold. No matter what we do. You know it, I know it.”
“Yes sir.”
“What would you do?”
“Excuse me sir?”
“What would you do with the people here? The people still stuck out there trying to get here. What do they think we are capable of? They can see can’t they?” The major pointed at the interstate overpass in the distance.
“It’s all they know. Someone else will fix it. Just go where you’re told to go, do what you’re told to do and everything will be fine. Funny thing sir, ninety-nine out of a hundred times, they’re right. Maybe they are a bunch of sheep but it’s still kinda rare for the entire herd to go flying off the cliff.” Ponzi said.
“Until now.” The major said.
“Yeah, well rare ain’t never, sir.”
“So what would you do?”
“Sir what chance do those people out there have? Fifty-fifty?” Ponzi asked.
“Maybe. Probably less.”
“But without us, they have none. With us here they have something to fight for. As long as we hold out they will fight to get here. We’re a goal. Most of them won’t make it. I know what it looks like when it gets really bad. And we don’t even know what we’re fighting. I’ve heard that you ain’t even gotta get bit to turn into one of those things. Guy in aviation said they picked up a family on an ambulance run this morning. The man had a massive heart attack. Medic said they thought he was dead when they got him on the helo. Said the guy woke up while they were in flight. Went crazy. They tried to restrain him but couldn’t. Bit the medic, bit his own wife. Both of them are in the medical tent right now.”
“What happened to the guy?” The major asked.
“They didn’t have a choice but dump him out the door at altitude while his kid watched.”
“Jesus.” The major said.
“Point is sir, this is all we can do. There are no good options left. And when there are no good options left, you f
ight. That’s it.” Ponzi said.
“Have you seen one? Up close?”
“Not really.” Ponzi said.
“Come with me.”
The major led him around the back of the tent. The landing area was about fifty yards across. The big Chinook sat on the ground with its rotors rocking gently in the breeze. The smaller Blackhawk was en route to the Stone Mountain station to retrieve another load of medications. They walked past the guard stationed at the back of the Chinook.
“Everything good corporal?” The major asked.
“Yes sir.”
“They started the poker game yet, Shrek?” Ponzi asked.
“Not yet Sergeant. But I’m busted. My wife will kill me if I lose any more money.” Corporal Meyers said.
“Well, I can spot you a fifty.”
“I’m good. Besides, I got a feeling we’re gonna Red Flag out of here tonight, anyway.”
“Oh you got a feeling do ya?” Ponzi said.
“Heard they popped one at Stone Mountain this morning. Said they went south. Towards the coast.” Meyers said.
“I could handle a little beach time. Maybe you’re right. Stay sharp, until that next section of fence is up things could still go tits up real fast.”
“Will do Sergeant.” Meyers said.
“Carry on Corporal.” The major said.
“Yes sir.” Meyers saluted.
The major returned the salute as he ducked under the stabilizer on the side of the aircraft. They walked to the other side of the landing zone and beyond the portable toilets set up at the very back of the fenced in area.
“Where are we going sir?” Ponzi asked.
“Right over here.” The major pointed at to the watchtower. They walked to a small gate the patrols used to get in and out of the no-man’s-land. The private on duty opened the gate. They walked across the open area to the base of the tower. They didn’t go up. The major took him right to the outer fence.
There were a half dozen infected on the other side. As they approached, the sounds of growls and groans filled the air. One slammed his head against the chain link as it tried to clamp its teeth into the steel. Rot splattered on the ground in front of them.
“Close enough?” The major said.
“Yeah, uh yes sir. Jesus.” Ponzi said.
“I don’t think this is the Messiah.” The major said. “But I do think he has been resurrected.”
“And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hell delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged.” Ponzi said.
“Revelations 20.” The major said. “Didn’t figure you for a religious man Sergeant.”
“Italian, Catholic.” Ponzi said.
“You believe it?”
“What’s that sir?”
“Do you believe it? Revelations?” The major asked.
“I don’t know. It always struck me like it was more to make an impression than a prediction.”
“And now?”
“Maybe I was wrong.” Ponzi said.
“Let’s go up top.” The major and Ponzi climbed the watchtower stairs. The two soldiers on duty stepped aside as they looked over the edge.
“Maybe a hundred so far. More show up every hour. I don’t think we can hold this very long if they keep coming.” The major said. “We will either have to leave or we have to reduce their numbers.”
“Reduce their numbers?” Ponzi asked.
“We may not have a choice.” The major said as he raised the binoculars to his eyes. “The infected are a threat.”
“Are you suggesting we just start shooting them? Where they stand?” Ponzi asked.
“Would you rather wait until we have to?” The major said.
“Sir, I understand the ROE. I understand if threatened we can engage with lethal force to reduce the threat. I don’t think a bunch of unarmed civilians, even infected ones, are enough of a threat to warrant mass executions.”
“You really think that thing at the fence is just an unarmed civilian? You aren’t seeing the truth Sergeant.” The major said.
“What is the truth sir?” Ponzi asked.
“The truth? What is out there is neither a citizen nor is it unarmed. You’ve read the reports. You’ve seen the videos. Does that really look like someone with a cold? They attack, they kill, they infect, they move on. The truth is Sergeant they’re already dead. They died and they came back.
“Died and came back?” Ponzi said. “Are you serious? Sir.”
“This is how it ends Sergeant.” The major held the binoculars as he spoke. “Sergeant?” He asked.
“Yes sir?”
“Remind me again what your Red Flag order says.” The major asked without lowering the binoculars.
“The BOLO is for anyone that exhibits atypical behavior around the infected.”
“And atypical would be?” The major asked.
“Hell if I know.”
“How about walking through a bunch of them without getting attacked? Would that be atypical?”
“I think it would, why?”
“I’m going to hate to say this because I know that I’m going to lose the most effective part of what little defense we have left but I think you’re about to have your Red Flag. Look.” He handed Ponzi the binoculars. “Just this side of that stand of trees, coming across the field.” He pointed.
Ponzi put the binoculars to his eyes and searched for what the major wanted him to see. The man was probably forty or so and the girl a teenager. He watched them moved through a group of infected like they were passing on the sidewalk. None of the infected reacted. The girl raised her hand and pointed towards the watchtower. The man looked where the girl pointed and waved his hand. Ponzi waved back. He thumbed the mike on his earpiece.
“Angel two angel two this is Madoff. Red Flag, Red Flag, Red Flag.”
He climbed down the ladder and went to the fence. As he waited for the two people he had seen crossing the field to arrive, he could hear the helicopter spinning up behind him.
Where it all Began
“What happened to your hand?” The woman in the mask asked as she cleaned it and applied a couple of stitches.
“It was an accident. I tripped.” He lied.
“You don’t have to lie. There’s nothing to fear.” She said. She lowered the mask and smiled. “If you have been bitten, you need to tell me.”
“Fine. But it was three days ago. I’m not sick at all.” He said.
“How were you bitten? Were you in contact with an infected?” She asked.
“Yeah, my wife.” He lowered his head.
“Your daughter as well?” She asked.
“Yes.” He said.
“Where is your wife now?” She asked.
“We left her. She’s gone.” He said.
“I understand.” The woman said. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.” He said. “I need to see my daughter.”
“Come with me.” The woman said.
Joel stood. He looked around the warehouse. It was almost empty. There were two people lying on cots on the other side of the partition with two soldiers standing watch. He could see the handcuffs holding them to the cots. They walked out of the rolling door.
“Dad.” Abby said from the entrance of the building across the little muddy patch. She ran to him.
“Abby, are you okay?” He asked.
“Yeah.” She hugged him.
Two more soldiers came around the side.
“I need you to come with us. Both of you.” The soldier said.
“Where are we going?” Joel said.
“Are those your things?” The other soldier pointed at the backpacks against the side of the building. The pistol and rifle were laid on top of them.
“Yes.” Joel said.