Desolation

by Mark Campbell

  She closed her eyes and exhaled. Her body was starting to come down off the adrenaline high from her altercation earlier.

  Emotionally exhausted, she drifted off to sleep.

  “Hey. Babe...” a soft-spoken man said. “Are you going to wake

  up sometime this century?” Jerri opened her eyes and saw that she had fallen asleep in Mitch’s living room again. His place wasn’t the best, but the location was decent and the neighbors were pretty chill. The only thing that bothered her about his cramped place was that it always had the most ungodly stench of Doritos mixed with weed.

  She stretched and yawned. She was wearing her usual sleepover attire; an oversized t-shirt and panties.

  “Was I dreaming?” she asked.

  Mitch was already dressed and rolling a joint on the glass coffee table. “How would I know?” he said with a shrug. He was fairly tall, thin, and had dirty blonde hair. To the uninformed he looked like a stoner but there was intelligence hidden behind his handsome eyes.

  Jerri looked at the TV and saw that VH1 was doing one of their usual marathons. She glanced at the cable box’s digital time display and then looked over at Mitch.

  “Eleven? You let me sleep in?” she asked, almost accusingly. Mitch smirked.

  “They canceled classes again,” he said as he finished up his joint. He slid it behind his ear and grabbed the remote off of the coffee table. “That flu thing still?” Jerri asked. Mitch flipped the channel to CNN. The news footage showed army vehicles barricading a highway with lots of helicopters flying overhead. The caption read ‘Piedmont Flu spreads to six states in fortyeight hours, government issues pandemic alert’.

  “Yeah babe, apparently shit’s pretty bad,” he said. “I hope it’s better by springtime. I’ll be pissed if we get the flu when we fly out to NYC.”

  Jerri was excited about the trip. She didn’t get the chance to leave Arizona much, but that all changed when she met Mitch. He was a huge adventurer and he seemed to love to take her new places.

  She smiled.

  The news footage showed a CDC laboratory. The camera panned across a row of chimps in cages and the caption read ‘Government announces Acexa approval’.

  “We could always settle on Seattle,” Jerri said, rocking back on the sofa. “I always wanted to go there.”

  The caption on the television read ‘Homeland Security orders mandatory inoculations’. “I know, but still…” Mitch said, turning the channel back to VH1. “…New York is our plan this year. We voted. Besides, it’s not like Seattle is going anywhere. You can wait another year.”

  Jerri gave a cattish grin and threw a pillow at Mitch. Her eyes fluttered opened and she felt disoriented.

  She hated dreaming.

  Jerri made her way down the waterlogged hallway towards Krystal’s room. She wanted to check on her and let her know about the medication situation. Afterward she planned on going down to the mess hall to see if they were serving anything before she went to bed.

  Sometimes they served dinner, sometimes they didn’t; it was a gamble. Jerri stopped at Krystal's door and knocked.

  “Krystal, open up. It’s me,” she said.

  Nobody answered.

  She must be sleeping, Jerri figured, and decided to just wait and check on her in the morning. After another shower of sparks and smoke from the dorm’s broken sally port, she found herself standing outside in the cold desert night.

  Despite being the end of summer, the desert heat was unbearable during the day and at night the cold air was capable of freezing you to the core.

  There was something about the desert nighttime that Jerri always liked. Growing up in Arizona, the desert was all she knew. The cicadas were quiet and the dust had settled; nights were peaceful even inside the camp.

  She bundled herself up in a burlap blanket and looked at Teddy’s tent. He was huddled underneath an old sleeping bag reading a book by flickering candlelight. Given his girth, he glistened with a thin layer of sweat across his forehead despite the cold. She wondered if he even needed the cover at all.

  “Feeling any better?” Teddy asked without looking up. Jerri wrapped her blanket tighter around herself and nodded.

  “I don’t suppose you want to talk about it,” he said, turning a page.

  Jerri shook her head and walked over to him. “What are you reading?” she asked. She had the curiosity of a cat but had none of the luck. “Isn’t that…” “The same one from last month? Yes, yes it is,” he said, showing her the cover. “It’s one of my favorite westerns. I’d thought I’d try to read through it again.”

  Jerri never was much of a reader. It always strained her eyes. “I’m heading to the mess hall,” she said. “Want to walk with me? I could do with some company.”

  Teddy smiled and shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, but I’d rather stay low and out of everyone’s way,” he said, flipping a page. “They’ve been patrolling all evening.” “They like to remind people they exist, I think.” Jerri said, shrugging. “What got you so spooked? You already stay low. You don’t break many laws.”

  Teddy shook his head and stopped reading. He looked up at her with a tired expression. “I remember one time inside a few years ago… I was still green back then. It was a week before Christmas. I woke up after the morning count and couldn’t shake this feeling in the pit of my stomach. Most of the old cons stayed behind in their cells and skipped their meal.”

  Well, obviously I like food and I didn’t know any better. I went to breakfast with my buddies… but none of us said anything. I could tell that they felt it too.”

  Teddy laughed but there was pain in his voice. “This one kid… he was greener than me. His name was Marlowe. He was doing a stint for robbery. He worked as a gardener for these old rich folks. One morning when the couple was out at church he broke into their bedroom and stole a box of jewelry.”

  “And I’m guessing they caught him?” Jerri asked, folding her arms across her chest.

  He chuckled and licked his chapped lips. “Hard not to catch him when he forgot to clean his boots off before he pulled the heist. They followed his muddy tracks all the way back to his work shed in the back of the house. Fucking idiot, he was a good kid but a terrible criminal.”

  Jerri laughed.

  “Anyway, Marlowe used to hang around me, you know? He had a mouth on him. He lost his temper with some wetbacks the day before. They laughed him off and we all figured that was the end of it. So there I was, sitting in the kitchen with that sour feeling in my stomach. Marlowe was sitting next to me running his mouth about something from the outside, cause, you know, when you’re inside, you talk about the outside a lot. So he’s talking, we’re listening, and then next thing I knew, he was quiet.

  “I felt something warm on the side of my face so I reached my hand up and touched my cheek,” he said, mimicking the motion. “When I looked at my fingers, they were covered with blood. I fucking freaked out and looked over at Marlowe; hell, I thought it was my blood at first! But then I saw him…”

  He paused and stared down at his book vacantly. “I looked over at him and watched as the blood spurted out the side of his neck like a squirt gun. It was like each time his heart pumped, it pulled the trigger and spritzed the table. The wetback that stabbed him just stood behind him… he stood behind him and just… watched him. He watched him die. I watched too. I was frozen.”

  Teddy closed his eyes and let out a chain of rattling coughs. “We all stared in shock at Marlowe and he stared back at us. He pissed his pants and fell forward on his plate with the shiv still stuck in his neck, bleeding out. The wetback standing behind him looked at us, spat on the table, and walked off.”

  Jerri shook her head slowly.

  “Jesus… I’m sorry,” she muttered. She wasn’t sure what to say. Teddy nodded.

  “After he was killed the guards put the prison on lock-down. And you know that feeling I told you about? That weird feeling in the pit of my stomach before Marlowe was kill
ed? It went away. It just disappeared and it felt like the knot inside unwound again. That was the first time I felt such a powerful premonition in my life.”

  “All that time inside though… you never saw something like that happen again?” Jerri cautiously asked.

  He shrugged dismissively. “Sure, to a lesser extent,” he said, returning to his book. “But I never felt it like I did that day. Until tonight. Something bad is about to happen, Jerri. I feel it everywhere… just stirring in the air. This time I’m staying in my cell like the wiser cons did.”

  Teddy turned the page, sighed, and wiped a tear off of his dusty cheek. He coughed and stifled a sneeze.

  “You’re being paranoid,” Jerri said. “I’m going to the mess hall. I'll see you later.”

  She turned and walked down the alleyway, passing countless tents. Lots of people were huddled up in their tents, staying in their cells. The feeling Teddy described… She realized that she felt it too. She chose to ignore it.

  As she neared the dining hall, she caught the scent of something delicious in the air. It didn’t smell like the usual rodentia. It smelled like they were actually cooking larger racks of meat. It smelled of pork. It’s been so long since she had pork…

  She wasn’t the only one who smelled it; a small murmuring crowd had gathered at the front of the dining hall.

  Jerri jostled her way through the crowd, eager, expectant, but her expression quickly fell flat.

  She read the handwritten sign hung on the mess hall doors:

  Closed until tomorrow for food processing. We’ve received a large supply from the Capital this evening. Please be early and remember to give thanks to our benefactors!

  God Bless America and God Save the Union. She felt dismayed and cheated. Still, she stood outside the mess hall with the others and savored the aroma of food. It didn’t satisfy her like she expected. In fact it just made the longing worse.

  Disheartened, she turned and started walking back towards her dorm. She wallowed in her self-pity and unabated hunger. She walked past the ominous gallows with her head down, completely unaware that they were all empty. Nothing but ropes swung in the cool desert breeze.

  She walked down the alleyway and maneuvered through the tent encampment like a mindless zombie, carelessly bumping against people as they shuffled past. Two FEMA police officers brushed past her and ran into a tent, guns drawn. A woman inside the tent screamed obscenities at the intruders and then there was the sound of breaking glass.

  Then... nothing.

  A black sack went over the woman’s head and she disappeared.

  Jerri didn’t pay the commotion any mind; her hunger was all consuming. Her mouth was still salivating from the aroma. After wandering past countless half-asleep skeletal residents, she finally arrived at her building and pushed the sally port button. The door made its usual grinding noise and then slid open with a metallic screech. As she stepped inside, she didn’t look behind her to say goodnight to Teddy; she didn’t have the energy and didn’t have the resolve.

  She didn’t notice that Teddy was gone. His book lay in the middle of his tent with its aged yellow pages rustling in the night wind.

  9

  Jerri walked down the moldy hallway, no longer bothering to side-step the puddles that had collected on the carpet. She looked ahead and saw Krystal stagger out of the communal bathroom.

  The haggard state of her friend immediately snapped Jerri back to reality. Krystal was barely able to walk and looked pale. Blood covered her hands and trickled out from between her slender legs from underneath her silk nightgown.

  A few others in the hall murmured amongst each other, but were too afraid to offer her any assistance. “Oh my God…” Jerri muttered, cupping her hands over her mouth. “Who did this to you?!” she shouted. Rape immediately crossed her mind.

  Krystal stopped walking and slowly turned towards Jerri, her eyes clouded and cheeks flushed. Her hair was disheveled. Jerri ran towards Krystal and put a hand on her shoulder, supporting her, ready to catch her if she fell. Her other hand slid into her coat pocket, ready to grab the knife if the attacker showed his face.

  “I’m sorry… I… I have to show you what I did,” Krystal muttered, face expressionless. “Take me to my room…” A sense of dread filled the pit of Jerri’s stomach as they walked down the hall together. She was starting to think that her frail friend had killed somebody.

  The other girls kept far away from them as they walked, stepping out of the way and retreating into their rooms. Normally Krystal talked about the latest camp gossip, boys, and shared stories about her past life in the old world. The walk felt different that night. It was quiet, awkward, and ominous. Jerri imagined it must be the way people felt when they walked towards the gallows.

  Krystal stopped walking and pointed a shaking finger at her room.

  “In there,” Krystal said weakly.

  Moving with a sense of hesitation, Jerri turned the knob and the door creaked open. Jerri’s eyes grew wide.

  “What did you do…?”

  The room’s blue carpet was splattered with crimson. A nearby army cot and blanket was soaked in it. The room had an odor to it; a coppery tang of blood mixed with spoiled fish. The dresser’s top drawer was open and Jerri saw something lying motionless on top of the undergarments.

  It was a baby.

  Jerri slowly walked into the room, afraid.

  Krystal followed close behind, crying. She shut the door behind her.

  “How…? Is…?” Jerri stammered. She turned towards her friend. “Is it yours?”

  Krystal nodded, snot dribbling out of her nose. “I’m sorry I lied to you… I didn’t have the flu… I just…” Krystal started, choking back her tears, “I tried to get to the bathroom. I tried to make it, but I just couldn’t. I’m sorry…”

  “You never showed… I didn’t even know you were pregnant,” Jerri said, inching towards the motionless baby in the dresser. Krystal shook her head, not moving any closer towards the dresser.

  “Who else knows about this?” Jerri asked. She saw that something was peculiar about the baby…

  “No idea,” Krystal said flatly, looking down. “I was quiet… I was quiet when he… when he came out.” Jerri stopped walking and turned towards her friend. “Is it…” Jerri started.

  “Alive? I have no idea,” Krystal said, tears streaming down her cheeks once again.

  “The father…?” Jerri asked. It was a delicate question, but one that mattered. He needed to know.

  Krystal collapsed onto her knees and hung her head low, sobbing. “I don’t know,” she said in-between sobs. “I’d like to think it was Jacob’s... but after that night he got me in the shower…” Jerri had no idea what night she was referring to or to whom. Frankly she did not want to know.

  She remembered Krystal mentioning Jacob though. He was Krystal’s boyfriend back in Boston… He didn’t get out of the city in time and was vaporized when the government bombarded the east coast with nukes in their failed attempt to curtail the infection. It didn’t matter much anyway; unlike Krystal, Jacob was not immune to PT-12 and was coughing steadily during their escape. Krystal was seventeen at the time.

  “Krystal,” Jerri said delicately, “the time line doesn’t make sense… it can’t be… well… his. What happened in… the shower?” “Are you saying it was his?!?” Krystal shouted, spewing spit and tears. She hid her face in her hands and sobbed deeply. “It’s not! It’s Jacob’s! It is!”

  Jerri walked over to the dresser and quickly stepped back, gasping in horror.

  Krystal sobbed louder, covering her face, ashamed. The baby was a boy. He was grossly underweight and was curled up in the dresser’s undergarments like a dead fetus. Something wet and organic stuck to the baby’s face. He was trying to make noise, but the sound was muffled.

  Jerri looked away from the premature child as tears formed in her own eyes. “He’s… ” Krystal started to say, covering her face. “Is he alive?” Jerri nodded somber
ly.

  “I think he’s starving…” Jerri added. She stumbled backwards and sat on the cot, running her fingers through her hair, trying to think as Krystal continued to sob.

  “What should I do?” Krystal finally asked as her sobbing subdued. “Please… help me… I don’t want him to die. I just don’t know what to do. If I take him outside, and they see him… they’ll probably kill him.”

  Someone pounded against the door loudly, startling both of them. “FEMA P.D.! Open up!” a voice shouted.

  Krystal looked over at Jerri with horror.

  “Let me handle this,” Jerri whispered. She slid the dresser drawer shut with the baby inside. The pounding at the door intensified.

  “I’m coming!” Jerri shouted. She quickly went to the door, cracked it open, and stepped out into the hall. She was greeted by two armor-clad police officers wielding batons. “What’s the problem?”

  The hallway was full now of curious bystanders. They stared at the unfolding scene, whispering.

  “We got a call about a disturbance. Let me see your identification!” the officer demanded, holding a gloved hand out. Jerri reached in her pocket and got out her ID card. “What sort of disturbance?” Jerri asked.

  The officer snatched the ID out of her hand and studied it carefully. He verified it with a small UV light. “Is this your assigned room?” the other officer snapped. “Well, no, but I just–” Jerri started.

  “What’s the problem?” a familiar voice asked.

  Jerri looked over and saw Andrew pushing his way through the crowd.

  “Ah. Fuck,” Jerri muttered.

  The gawking girls slithered back into their rooms at Andrew’s presence. Nobody liked to be around when an Eye was present. The two officers turned towards Andrew and saluted. Andrew locked eyes with Jerri briefly and seemed to peer right through her. “Sir, we got a call that a woman is sick in this building. She was last seen in this room,” one of the officers said, pointing at the door behind Jerri.