Pepe offered a smile and a wave to them all, but they stared him down like the kids at his old high school used to. God, I miss college.
“Anyway, we’re trying to wrap up, so if you’ll excuse us,” Jake said curtly, then grabbed a broom and headed to the other side of the café.
The guy’s friends sneered or scoffed at Pepe and went back to their chores.
That went well, he thought, figuring he’d get all he was going to out of these kids. He opted for grown-up company and turned back toward the tunnels when he softly collided with an angel.
The smaller, fair-haired beauty smiled back up at him over a cardboard box. “Mind if I come in?” she asked with the sweetest smile Pepe had ever seen.
Jarring himself back to reality, he stepped aside and allowed her to pass.
She shifted the box onto her shapely hip and offered her hand. “I’m Dawn. Maxwell.”
Pepe shook her tiny hand and tried to say his name, which caught somewhere in the back of his clenching throat. He felt hot under his collar, and his heart pounded mercilessly.
“You’re Pepe, right?” she asked.
He could only nod like an idiot.
She kept smiling anyway. “Nice to meet you.”
Growing desperate, he forced himself to cough.
She gave a cute little frown as she recoiled, still smiling. “Are you okay?”
“Dawn, we’re busy here,” Jake insisted with an expectant glare.
She rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Duty calls. See you around?”
“I hope so,” Pepe finally said.
Dawn giggled and walked past him.
Pepe’s head tingled as he watched Dawn pull a bunch of rags from the box and hand them out to her peers. He caught Jake sneering at him, but he didn’t care. He enjoyed the view of the lithe, cheery angel until his experience with girls told him it was time to stop.
He wandered for a little while longer and got a lay of the land. Every room he crossed looked either alive with work or calm with chatter. When others paused to face him, he moved on. He ran into the teens again as they put away their cleaning supplies in the Laundry Room, joking about Didi sleeping with a bunch of people. Dawn smiled at him again, so he had to leave to avoid making a fool of himself again. A few people brushed past him in the hall as they bantered about the evening guard. Feeling more and more like he was in the way, he tried the tunnels again. One passage smelled too horrible to investigate further, making him turn around.
He entered what looked like a bank lobby decked out with beds—single, double, queen, bunk—and couches galore. He sighed with relief. The Day Shift Bay at last!
People chatted and laughed quietly as they settled in. It was the most relaxed any of them had yet looked.
On the far side of the lobby, Sean and Paula made one of the queen beds together, chattering amongst themselves. They almost smiled. Isaac slept on a double bed along an opposite wall, facing away.
Pepe stepped toward the big man, but a horrible odor made him move away. Isaac smelled like that one tunnel, which was probably the way to the Power.
Pepe joined Sean and Paula, who asked about his day. He shrugged. “Okay, I guess. The Clinic was a little overwhelming. That or reading Grey’s Anatomy. What’s with Isaac?”
Paula shrugged. “I don’t know. He was like that when we came in.”
Sean leaned closer to them. “I heard he messed with Didi.”
Paula shuddered. “I guess she’s not as nice as she seems, especially training a fifteen-year-old girl to fight for this camp.”
Pepe leaned in and spoke quietly. “I overheard some of the boys earlier, saying Didi was sleeping around or something.”
Paula flinched. “Do you think that’s how she keeps people in line?”
“That’s not what I—” Sean started, but stopped himself.
Pepe looked back and saw Bob, Jerri, and Craig approach with a chubby brunet in a hunter’s cap and vest. Craig and his friend smelled even worse than Isaac.
“Evening, friends,” Bob said. “Settling in okay?”
Sean and Paula made themselves smile. “Yeah,” he said. “Sure,” she said at the same time.
Jerri stepped forward, smelling of lavender. “We just wanted to see how you were holding up after your first day of work and all.”
“Most of us are okay,” Pepe said.
Craig gravely looked over at Isaac and nodded. “Yeah. This is Rusty Borman. He works in the Power with Isaac and me.”
“Rusty, nice to meet you,” Sean said, offering a handshake and a genial expression that didn’t betray whether or not the awful smell offended him.
Rusty gave the group a nod and nothing else.
Jerri yawned. “Well, I’m afraid I need to turn in and gets some much-needed snuggle time with my babies. If you need me, you can find me in one of the dorms through there,” pointing to a doorway behind Sean and Paula. “I’m sorry we don’t have any more spaces for you two yet, so until we do your marital activities will have to be at your discretion. Good night.”
Sean and Paula glanced at each other but said nothing. Jerri walked on.
Craig followed Jerri. “I’m out, too. I need to check on Jake’s homework.”
“Jake Vaughn?” Pepe didn’t mean to blurt it out like that, but the heartbreak of such a pleasant guy associated with a pendego like Jake was a huge letdown.
Craig smiled and nodded. “He’s my ward. You met him?”
Pepe’s heart sank, but he held his smile. “I have. Good night.”
Craig smiled and disappeared into the next building. Bob bid them all good night and headed off to his bunk, followed by Rusty.
Pepe faced Sean and Paula, who finished making their bed and sat on it together.
Isaac didn’t move, but he didn’t snore like he did back in that Isolation theater, either.
Pepe didn’t want to be a pest, but he wanted to know what went on between Isaac and Didi. Taking a chance, he plugged his nose and tapped the big man’s shoulder.
Isaac whipped around with a backhanded fist and sat straight up, his eyes wide with terror.
Pepe barely evaded and ended up in Paula’s lap. He quickly scrambled to his feet with the Herrins, but no one else paid any attention.
A large bandage covered Isaac’s neck, which he rubbed as he glanced around. Then hung his head between his knees and breathed deeply.
Sean and Paula couldn’t take their eyes off of him.
Pepe sat next to Isaac, slowly reached for his shoulder, and asked what happened.
Isaac glanced between the three of them with his mouth hanging open. “That bitch is crazy,” he said hoarsely, though quietly. “She almost ripped my fuckin’ throat out.”
“What’d you do?” Paula asked.
The big man glared at her like she had accused him of stealing. “What’d I do? Wait ‘til you hear what these fuckers do!”
The more Pepe heard, the more he wished he didn’t.
CHAPTER 7
DROPPING THE BOMB
Pepe stared blankly at the names of the various bones in his copy of Gray’s Anatomy, but he couldn’t remember any of them right now. He couldn’t get his mind off the rotting bones pushing that wheel under the compound. He tried to think of other things like the lovely Dawn, who continuously occupied his thoughts before he learned about the Power. She was a small one and still technically a minor, though there wasn’t much left in the world that kept the technical in check. Either way, there was a beautiful spark in her. She was very sweet; not like that little prick Jake, who seemed to ride her whenever he was around. The thought of her being eaten by those things in the cave if they ever got loose—
“Something wrong?” Cody asked, snapping Pepe out of his trance.
“No, nothing,” Pepe lied as he shook his head. “It’s all good.”
Cody grinned but looked unconvinced. “Come on. What is it?”
Pepe trembled, unsure if it was the images or the morals that bugged him
the most. Never having been great at socializing, he wasn’t sure if he had the nerve to challenge one of the big bosses on their methods. Now on the spot, however, he took a deep breath and spoke up. “I heard about the turbine, and I—” He took another deep breath. Cody waited patiently. “I think it’s wrong to treat the dead that way. I mean, I get having to kill them when they try to eat us, but I’ve seen the way people mess with them when they’re tied up. We should put them down and let them rest in peace.”
Cody looked up and down Pepe as if measuring him, then nodded. “It is pretty messed up, I’ll grant you that, but we have to face facts. Winters here are bitter. Without heat, they can be deadly. We improvised with what was available. We couldn’t make the turbine work with animals without being really inhumane. People who spend too much time working underground develop a lot of health problems, and we only have so much medicine. As it is, we have each shift rotate people out so they’re never down there too long and they clean up regularly.
“The dead never stop or get sick, though, do they?” he asked pointedly.
“No,” Pepe admitted, “but shouldn’t there be some respect for the dead?”
Cody grinned comically. “I’ll show a reanimate as much respect as it shows me.”
Pepe nodded, unable to argue with that logic. It wasn’t like the dead remembered what respect was. “I guess it could be worse. At least we don’t have to worry about crazies like the Death Doll, right?”
Cody and Gilda exchanged glances again—the latter with alarm, but the former with humor. “No, we don’t. Now, let’s go over the parts of the spine again.”
Pepe tried to chuckle his tension away, but something about the way Gilda looked at Cody raised his hackles. They both looked like they knew who or what he was talking about, which gave more life to the legend. In fact, Gilda looked frightened by the mention.
On the other hand, Cody blew it off, either because he put up a brave front or he genuinely did not fear the slaughterer of the Apocalypse Crew. What did he know that Gilda didn’t?
*****
“We have a strict code of respect here,” Craig said as he and Isaac sat down in the big café-looking place he called “the Lounge.” Isaac glanced around at everyone sipping their coffees or lattés or whatever while Craig expanded on that macabre bitch’s warning back in the Power. “I’m not talking about kissing ass or anything like that. Acknowledge each other’s human rights and feelings. Say hi in passing, respond when spoken to, and other stuff like that.”
Isaac recoiled. “That’s what that whole blow-up shit was all about?”
Craig grinned. “Without it, we end up at each other’s throats, and there’s more than enough out there trying to do that. Make sense?”
Isaac knew he was being baited, but decided not to rise to it—not wanting more fingers in his neck and all. He nodded, even if it stung his neck. He also wondered if the area around his car might be clear enough yet, but decided he wasn’t ready to check.
“It takes a while to get used to them,” Craig went on. “Hell, I was in anger management before this mess, so if I can get used to it, anyone can. Anyway, it’s really pretty easy here if you don’t mess with anyone, especially Didi. She’s very quick to act.”
Isaac shook his head as he took another sip of his black coffee. “She’s like some of the guys back in my old ‘hood. Shit, y’all are the Panel, whatever that means. What do you do?”
*****
“They basically keep everyone else away from Didi,” Clarissa said as she trimmed Paula’s split ends in the small hair salon, which was nice to have someone else do for a change. The full-service shampoo and conditioner treatment was downright heavenly, too. “They also work on a bunch of secret stuff they’ve got in the Garage. No one’s been able to get in, so don’t ask me what.”
“They sound like the CIA,” Paula grumbled. “Why are they called a panel?”
Clarissa snickered. “They’re the camp’s Panel of Judges. It’s from the Bible or something. Didi and Cody are big into that sort of thing. At least they don’t shove their faith down our throats”.
“Where does Didi come from?”
Clarissa shrugged while working. “She doesn’t talk about her past. She mostly stays away from everyone, and we’re usually fine with it. I’ve overheard some of the guys saying some nasty things about her, but I don’t listen to that crap. It’s sad that, at the end of the world, men will never change.”
Paula allowed herself a laugh, enjoying the modicum of woman-to-woman confidence amongst the camp of closed-mouth strangers. She was greatly surprised how much she enjoyed Clarissa’s company. She and the former beauty queen had a lot in common; similar upbringings, same awkward teenage experiences, love of classical reading, and a healthy contempt for bigotry. Clarissa’s no-nonsense outlook and fierce dedication to the younger generation were grounds on which they bonded; not to mention a mutually recognizable distaste for Didi. “How long have you put up with her?”
Clarissa scoffed. “Since she saved my ass in Worthington. It was kind of embarrassing, but I have to give the devil her due.”
“What was so embarrassing?”
Clarissa paused with a goofy grin, but waved her off and continued working on her hair. “Maybe another time.”
Even after what Jerri had told her, Paula decided to press her luck. “That guy Roy said she’d cut our heads off if we don’t do what she says.”
Clarissa rolled her eyes. “Roy’s been sore at her since she found him. He didn’t like being told what was what, so she put him in his place. He also lost a friend that night, which he blames her for. I think his name was Kyle.”
“Why does he blame her?”
“He got bitten. Gilda wanted to treat him, but Cody insisted on putting him down. Didi sided with Cody.”
“So, Didi and Cody just sit in power because they do all the supply runs?”
Clarissa tossed her scissors onto the beauty counter and started twisting Paula’s hair. “Basically. It pisses me off, but I enjoyed the protection too much at first to question them. Now, I’m afraid of what would happen to my Amber if I said anything.”
Paula smiled at the segue opportunity. “How old is she?”
“Three months,” the stylist said proudly.
“Married?”
Those deep brown eyes grew cold. “We could’ve been.”
Worried she’d hit the wrong nerve, Paula turned, took her new friend’s hand, and asked what happened.
Clarissa took a deep breath and sat in the next barber’s chair. She was fidgety, which seemed out of character. “David and I were like magic at first, but I caught him eyeing Didi here and there. He kept trying to show how strong he was by volunteering to go on supply runs. One day, they let him. When he came back, he wasn’t the same. He was distant. He wouldn’t say what happened out there, but I can tell you he stopped checking out Didi altogether.”
“Do you think they—”
“No,” Clarissa immediately replied, then tears erupted from her eyes. “He killed himself after I told him about the baby.”
Paula hugged her. “I’m so sorry.”
“At least they didn’t put him in the Power,” Clarissa joked, but her mirth quickly disappeared as she broke down and cried. It wasn’t right. How can someone look out for all these people yet make them all so miserable, and how could they let it happen? Who did Didi think she was? Paula had to know.
“Clarissa, who is Didi? How did she become this dreaded tyrant?”
The sobbing stopped, and Clarissa withdrew. Her lip faintly trembled as her teary eyes searched the entrances for bodies. After a long silence, she sat Paula back down. “David told me one thing when he got back. I didn’t want to believe it after all she did for us, but—”
“Believe what?”
Clarissa shifted uncomfortably, stole another glance behind her, leaned in, and whispered. “He told me what Didi means.”
*****
Rachelle strode
into the old auto parts store that now served as the camp’s garage. The strong scents of rubber and motor oil filled her nose and mouth, even in the center of the room where the Ford awaited its masters.
Cody leaned on the bed, staring off into space. He looked out of it.
Didi tossed her sword into the truck cabin and stepped up to him. “Hey, what’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” he said with a plastered grin, which made Rachelle curious.
“Okay,” she said with a nod, apparently unwise to his expression. “Ready?”
“I am if I can come,” Rachelle said as she approached them. “Please?”
Cody regarded Didi, whose eyes narrowed at Rachelle. “I don’t know. She could use some more practice.”
Rachelle gawked at Didi, whose growing smirk gave away the fact her mentor was messing with her. Even after two years, she still had a hard time reading the woman.
Then Didi chuckled and waved her toward the truck. “Hop in.”
Rachelle lit up and bounced toward the truck.
“You can’t take a child out there,” came from behind her. “What are you thinking?”
She faced the Courtyard entrance, where that stiff Paula stared at Didi like a plague. “I’m not a child.”
“She’s trained hard,” Didi stated firmly. “If she wants to go, she’s welcome.”
“Like that guy David?” Paula fired back.
Rachelle wondered what Clarissa’s late fiancé had to do with this. David killed himself. How was that her problem or Didi’s fault?
Didi glared at Paula, making Rachelle hope the stick would get shoved down or something. “You’ve got other students, Teach. This one’s in my classroom. Hop in, Rachelle.”
Rachelle climbed into the back of the truck, leaving the smug priss to swallow that bitter pill.
The Death Doll Page 5