The Red X Chronicles (Book 1): Emergent

by Sullivan, Robert Patrick

  “Where are you going Mommy?” I knew she was just a child, and maybe that helped, but she just couldn’t understand the situation.

  “I’m going away Sweetey…” She pulled her daughter into a long embrace. “I need you to stay in the van and be good for Daddy. Ok?”

  “Uhuh.” I could barely hear Jill’s muffled words.

  “And Jill…” She was having the hardest time choking out the words.

  “Yes Mommy?”

  “I love you Sweetheart… I really really do…” She held her for a few more seconds before she could bring herself to her senses. “Elizabeth hold onto Jill for me.”

  Dennis opened the van’s back door and helped his wife out. I was amazed at how much strength she had lost in such a short period of time. She couldn’t even support her own weight. Dennis picked her up and walked around the side of the van so that no one could see what was going on, but it’s not like we couldn’t tell. Even though we were all waiting to hear the sound, the gunshot still caught us all off guard.

  Nobody wanted to think about it, and I can’t imagine how Dennis felt. So when he came back around the corner and got in the van his expression… surprised me. His face was deadpanned, cold, completely devoid of emotion and spattered in blood. He didn’t say a word, he just shut the door behind him and sat down. There were no tears, no sobbing, no… life… It was his training you see, he knew he couldn’t break down, not now, he had to keep going. Even if he was dead on the inside he still had to take care of his daughter, and that became his sole mission.

  “I think we can go now.” I said in a sorrowful tone.

  Elizabeth was fighting off tears. “I’m so sorry Dennis.” But he didn’t even acknowledge us. He was just waiting for us to arrive at our destination, he didn’t even bother to wipe the blood off his face.

  Chapter 18

  Other than Will and John arguing over directions, not a word was said the entire rest of the trip. It took another half hour until we finally made it to the rail yard. We got out of the van to make our final approach.

  “Everybody be careful, I’m not really sure what to expect.” John said as he examined the area.

  It was strange, this area had almost no damage or wrecked cars. I suppose that had something to do with the fact that it would have been closed down for the night when the outbreak started, but it was more than that. There were almost no zombies, at least not living ones.

  “There’s a lot of corpses around here, I’m guessing they’re keeping the area clear so they can unload the trucks in safety.” John continued. He stopped to take a closer look at one of the bodies. He used his foot to move the head so he could see the wound that had done it in. “It looks like they aren’t shooting them, but they were armed to the teeth when they came to the mall so let’s take it slow. Everybody behind me, and don’t make any sudden movements.” We walked behind him cautiously. It was nerve wracking thinking we were in someone’s crosshairs the whole time. “Alright, that’s the one. If we’re lucky they’ve already left.”

  As we got closer to the building we noticed several men pop up from behind cover. They pointed their rifles straight at us, getting ready to fire. John waved his arms up in the air in an attempt to get them to realize who he was, an attempt that worked.

  “Is that you John?” One of the men shouted out.

  “Yeah, it’s me. I need to talk with Harry!”

  The man on top of the building pulled out a radio before he replied. “One second!” We could hear him using it, though I couldn’t make out what he was saying. “Wait right there.”

  The men never took their guns off of us, and John was obviously distressed. “Shit I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.”

  A few moments later and the front door opened. Out walked five men, four dressed in black but not wearing masks. The man in front was different. His clothes were expensive, his hair was slicked back and judging from his age it might have been to cover a bald spot, though he only faintly had any gray hair. He kept a smug smile on his face as he walked toward us, carrying a bit of arrogance in his steps.

  “Do my eyes deceive me? Or is that really you?” He cocked his head to the side. “Johnny Boy!” He was acting chipped though I could tell his words were masking malicious intent. “Johnny John John John… It’s good to see you.”

  “I can’t say the same Harry.” John’s words were full of disdain.

  Harry shrugged off John’s comment. “And here I thought you were dead. See the boys went ahead and told me you were at the mall.” He began pacing back and forth in front of the group. “I figured, according to what they had said, that it could wait overnight. That I would just pop in bright and early in the morning to say ‘hi.’ You know… catch up for old time’s sake.” He was enjoying every second he could tease John, and it showed. “But then! I come up to the place, and it’s full of corpses. And not the lazy good for nothing kind like in the good old days. No, it’s these bitey fuckers!” He paused to kick one of the heads of a nearby body.

  “Aw shit.” Harry looked down at his foot. “It’s hard to get blood stains out of these shoes. Anyway where was I? Right right, the mall. So we roll in, turn the walking corpses back into the regular kind, and start looking around. Not a trace of ya! Although, there were a lot of bodies eaten beyond recognition, so I figured that was the last I was gonna hear about you. But then you show up right at my doorstep! So my question is… To what do I owe the privilege?”

  John was clearly frustrated. “We need to use the tunnel to get outside of the city.”

  “Of course! So I take it you met the G.I.’s keeping a lid on this. Great guys when they’re not trying to blow your head off.” He paused for a second to look over our group. “I suppose I haven’t introduced myself. Harry Monroe.”

  “I’m Ma-“ I started to say, but their leader cut me off.

  “I don’t really care! That was mostly for the lady.” He winked at Elizabeth. She gave back a look of repulsion.

  “Ha, I like her! She’s feisty. But then again I would surmise that everyone left alive in this city has to have a bit of fight in them.” Harry was musing to himself.

  “Can we use the tunnel or not?” John was trying to keep things moving.

  “Right right, the tunnel, here’s the thing. I’m a generous man John. You know that, hell I paid you a shit ton of money. But then! Oh but then, you went and stabbed me in the back. I lost a lot of money because of you.” Harry waited for John’s response.

  “It wasn’t my fault, I wasn’t the one who called for backup. It was my partner.” John was rubbing his eyes and clearly bothered by the conversation he was having.

  Harry folded his hands and twiddled his thumbs while thinking. He stopped just before speaking again. “I can believe that. You’ve always been willing to play ball. But even if that is the truth, and there’s no way to prove that now, let’s say you still owe me a favor.”

  “Fine, I’ll tell you how to access the evidence lockup. Everything is still in there and more.”

  Harry started laughing, he turned around to his men and lifted his hands to gesture them to laugh alongside him. They joined in awkwardly. “Alright, now shut up.” His men fell quiet again. “That’s not gonna cut it Johnny Boy. See I had the goods in my possession, now they’re halfway across town in a locker. Here’s the deal, you get them back for me, and then we’ll all take a nice long trip out of town.” His face and voice became serious. “That’s the only deal you’re going to get.”

  John let out a heavy sigh then looked back at us to see if there was any opposition. “I guess we’ll take it.”

  “Mag-fucking-nificent!” Harry was elated.

  “But we’re going to need help.” John shot back.

  “I’m aware.” Harry replied. “We were planning to get our things back anyway before this whole mess started. So I already know the locks are electronic. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that part.” He patted John on the cheek, much to his disgu
st. “We stole some massive generator, I think it was used to power outdoor concerts or some bullshit, or maybe it was construction sites? Whatever. Anyway, my man Anthony used to be an electrician, he’ll hook it up so the station has full power. But the thing is fucking loud! You’ll need a distraction to keep those ravenous sons-a-bitches away from the station while you do your work.”

  “I’ll do it.” Dennis said. His voice was still vacant, and hollow.

  “Eager beaver! I like that.” Harry was quick to respond.

  “But I need a gun.” Dennis seemed to focus more than he had during the entire car ride. “One of those M4’s” He pointed to one of the guns the men were holding. “And I need four thirty round magazines, with an extra 500 rounds of ammo. It could take a while to load the truck, but I can keep it clear with that.”

  Harry squinted his eyes. “Who the fuck is this jerkoff?” He asked John.

  “Dennis, he’s in the Army reserve. He’s just trying to save his daughter man.” John said back to him.

  “Think of it as an investment.” Dennis added.

  Harry pondered things over for a moment. “Yeah fuck it.” He turned to his men. “Round up what he asked for, we’ll be getting back more than that anyway.” He motioned to one of his men and he walked off. “Now there’s still one more tiny issue. I’ve still got half of my men out rounding up more shit, and the guys around here… well, they’ve got lives too you know? Bill has to get to the post office before it closes, and Teddy had to do his taxes!”

  John was less than amused by Harry’s antics. “Get to the point already.”

  Harry smirked. “I’m already giving you a generator, a guy to set it up, and a gun. I’m not supplying any more man power. So one of you either better know how to drive a semi-truck, or at least be willing to learn quickly. Because let’s face it that, what is that?” He started laughing to himself. “A dragon van? That thing is not gonna cut it.”

  “I can drive a big-rig.” Elizabeth piped up.

  “I knew I liked you.” He gave her another wink. “Alright, there’s an ass load of extra trucks around here. A lot of cargo came through this train depot, so we picked up the keys to about twenty or so extra. They’re out back, take your pick, but don’t scratch the paint!” He let it linger awkwardly for a second. “Just fucking with you. The truck can burn for all I care, just make sure to bring back the stuff.” He let out a shrill whistle. “Weapons down boys, we’ve got a deal!” He turned back to us. “You can wait here we’ll bring your stuff around, that is unless you’re absolutely adamant about picking out which truck you want, in which case you can come with me honey.”

  Elizabeth let a grimace creep across her face. “I’ll just wait here.”

  “C’est la vie.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned walking back to the building from which he came.

  We waited outside while the men gathered up the supplies we asked for. As soon as he was sure that none of them could hear us Dennis spoke quietly to the group. “This isn’t going to work.”

  “Yes it is, we’ve just got to get our hands on the stuff from the lockup.” Will said.

  “I mean after that.” Dennis replied.

  “I know what you mean.” John was rubbing his neck.

  “Once we give them what they’re after, they have no reason to keep us alive.” Dennis’ cold words were all too true.

  “So what do we do?” I asked.

  “I’m the decoy, my job is to keep them off of you long enough to load up the truck. If I fake that things go bad, pretend to die, then they won’t expect me coming. If things go south, I can attack them.” Dennis said.

  “We don’t even know how many of them there are.” John growled.

  “It’s better than nothing.” Dennis said not too comfortable with the situation himself.

  “I guess so… Make it happen. We’ll leave you the van, so you can get back from the station. We’ll all have to pile into the truck. Everybody got that?” John asked, and we nodded. “Good.”

  “Hey wait a minute?” Will said looking over at one of the men who were now standing by the door. “Hey! Is that you Gregory?”

  “Do I know you?” He asked back to Will.

  “Yeah man you sold me some…” Will looked over at John cautiously. “Uh… Stuff once. You wouldn’t happen to have any more on you?” Gregory confirmed his suspicions, and Will walked over to talk with him.

  Elizabeth was shaking her head and I brought my hand to my forehead covering one eye. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I said quiet enough that he couldn’t hear me.

  “Fuckin’ whatever.” John said he was too worn from the day’s events to even try to stop him. “Just don’t get high before we do this!” He yelled to Will.

  “I’m not...! Whatever man.” Will went about his newfound business.

  We waited a few more minutes until they pulled the truck around. Harry had come back outside with a large duffle-bag and handed it over to Dennis. “Hey there big guy, make sure the gun in there is in working order. We looted it off some dead folks, so you know-” He tilted his hand back and forth. “could have been the reason. I also threw some walkie-talkies in there, should help you coordinate with my man, and each other.” Dennis checked it out while Elizabeth and I walked over to look at the truck.

  Chapter 19

  I was riding in the truck with John and Elizabeth, and though I certainly wished that John had went with the others in the van, I was still in a rather good mood about the current situation, even if it wasn’t the best of times.

  “So…?” I asked from the passenger’s seat. “You can really drive one of these things?”

  “Obviously.” Elizabeth looked over at me with one of the most condescending gazes I had ever seen. We had already been on the road for a while, so it was, of course, a stupid question.

  “What I meant to ask-“ I was still tripping over my words around her sometimes, I guess that kind of thing just happens when you’re young and nervous. “was, how do you know how to drive a big-rig?”

  She gave this slight nod which gave the impression she now understood where I was coming from. “My Dad is a long-haul trucker. He always thought it was a good job, or at least that it paid well for something so simple. I guess it’s sort of a family profession. He made sure that my brothers and I were more than capable of driving these things. Heck, I learned how to drive my Dad’s truck way before I ever got my hands on a car.”

  “Hey slow down Elizabeth.” John interrupted. “This thing doesn’t have the best turning radius, I can’t imagine you want to try and turn it around on one of these city streets. We’ll let the other’s find a clear path first.” He pulled the radio up to his mouth. “Hey is First clear for the next couple of blocks? We’re just coming up on Maple.”

  We heard Will’s voice come from the radio. “Nah man, there was a bad wreck up there. We had to cut over to Mason on Sierra. We’re still looking for a way through.”

  “Let us know when you find a path.” John said, and laid back down in the back of the cab. “Make sure to give them plenty of time, but keep us moving too. I don’t much feel like getting surrounded.”

  “Yes Sir!” Liz mocked him, but it wasn’t enough to bring a response. “Anyway… So I wanted something a bit more exciting than sitting on my ass for 12 hours a day and collecting a paycheck.”

  “I can understand that.” I said back to her.

  “It’s kind of funny though, this is definitely going to be the most exciting part of our lives, with zombies eating people, the whole city going to hell, and working to break drugs out of a police station, then here I am, sitting in a truck.” She let her head slump low but quickly pulled it back up to keep her eyes on the road. “Aw shit!”

  “What?” John asked sitting up frantically.

  “You don’t think my college credits are going to transfer, do you?” When he heard her question John rolled his eyes and slumped back down.

  “Probably not, the records are going to
be hard to get.” I replied.

  “Well that’s just shit…” She pursed her lips together and brought them up the corner of her mouth. “That’s a year and a half down the drain then…”

  “That sucks.”

  She kept talking. “So while my brothers got their own trucks, I went to college, which was apparently a big waste of time! My Dad always said he was proud of me for it… But I kinda get the impression that he was a little disappointed that I didn’t follow in his footsteps.” She shrugged her shoulders. “But I would rather do something I like, even if I have to start over, than do this for a living.”

  “Is…” I started. “I mean, do you think your family is ok?”

  She rolled her head to the side. “Yeah,” She eeked out the word slowly. “Physically they should be. They’re a bit further west, so unless this thing kept spreading they should be ok… But they have to be freaking out…” Her tone grew somber. “I know Daddy’s gotta be a wreck right now. He was always a little over protective… I haven’t even got to call them since this all started you know? As far as they know I could be…”

  The radio crackled to life again. “Mason goes all the way through to Belmont. We can see the station up ahead. Dennis says we’re going to head back your way and meet up.”

  “Sounds good, we’ll see you in a few.” John sat up. “You can speed up now.”

  It didn’t take but a few minutes to see The Glory, a name I started musing about for the van, come around the corner. We pulled up next to them at a clear spot and Dennis got out of the driver’s seat. “Elizabeth.” He said opening up the rear door. “I need you to look after Jill for me while we do this.”

  “Sure thing.” She opened up the door, and helped her climb up.”

  “Keep her in the cab. There’s a pawn shop that has a clear view of the station. It has barred windows. I should be able to provide good covering-fire and the noise should keep those things away from the truck.” He turned his attention to his daughter. “You hear that Jill, stay in the truck with Elizabeth, even if one of these monsters comes up they shouldn’t be able to get in. Daddy will be right down the street protecting you.” He gave her a smile though it was clear that it took great pain to let it out.