Desolation

by Mark Campbell

  Begrudgingly, she sat the rib down and examined the rest of the food on her plate. All of her ribs were stained.

  “Fucking great,” she muttered. She tried to pick around the mold when she noticed that the purple patches made a picture... Her expression sunk and her color paled as she finally saw the picture as it formed before her eyes like one of those old 3D stereogram books she read when she was a kid.

  Her meat had the remnants of a snake tattoo on it.

  “ You are now clear to exit the sally port. Let your skin air dry. Thank

  you for your cooperation and remember that no food is allowed to exit the kitchen.” Jerri stepped out of the sally port with a sour expression. She found herself standing near the same two guards that were posted when she went inside. The sun was starting to set and the noise outside had quieted down. A few people were still standing in line. Others were familiar, more than likely trying to go back in for seconds.

  Jerri’s face was blank and expressionless as she hurried back to her dorm. She brushed past countless wandering souls milling around in the tent encampment. Their bellies were bloated and their skin had color, but they looked perturbed. Now that their hunger had been abated, boredom started to set in. There just wasn’t any way to win.

  Ahead, she saw two Eyes walking through the crowd, talking to one another. It was Andrew and another man.

  Her gaze met Andrew’s and she froze. Andrew quickly looked away and stopped walking. He got into a quiet back-and-forth discussion with the other Eye and then pointed down one of the alleyways.

  The other Eye nodded, drew his baton, and hurried down the alley.

  Jerri looked down at the ground, unsure of how to approach Andrew. With his companion distracted, Andrew walked towards Jerri and stood next to her. He stood close enough to talk to her, but far enough for others in the distance to not know that they were talking.

  “I checked in your dorm, you weren’t there for most of the day,” Andrew said, rocking on his heels with his hands in his pockets. “I thought I told you to stay low and inside the dorm. It’s not safe out here right now…”

  “I can handle myself,” Jerri said to the wall next to her. “I don’t need your protection.” “What are you going to do, cut down every enemy with your knife? Are you a swordsman all of a sudden just because you have a rusty old blade?” Andrew whispered.

  “Why does it matter to you!?” Jerri snapped. He was starting to press her last nerve. “Seriously?” “Maybe because I don’t want to see you black bagged,” he snapped back. “I don’t know if you noticed, but the population has grown smaller around here in the last twenty-four hours.”

  Jerri grew quiet and felt her body run cold. She looked down at the ground, ashamed.

  “Where were you today anyway?” Andrew asked. He paused. “Did you go to the kitchen…?” Jerri didn’t respond and kept her eyes on the ground. “Did you eat any of the…” Andrew started.

  Jerri closed her eyes and didn’t respond.

  An old woman hobbled past. Jerri and Andrew remained silent until she passed. “Never mind, it isn’t my business. Look, we can’t talk out here,” Andrew said once safely out of earshot. “Head back to your dorm. I’ll meet you there in a little bit.”

  “Maybe I’m done talking,” Jerri said, hiding the tears and the shame in her voice.

  “Well, I’m not,” Andrew said as he folded his arms across his chest.

  “Oh! So I guess that means I have to talk then, right?” Jerri shot back harshly, “I guess that makes you an asshole and a chauvinist.” She felt guilty, taking it out on someone who has been nothing but decent to her. Even though she didn’t fully trust him, she didn’t mean to snap at him.

  “One of my many enduring qualities, I’m afraid,” he said. “Look, just please be at your dorm... We need to talk about your friend. We may have to leave sooner than expected. We have barbarians outside our gates.”

  She didn’t know what he meant.

  “Fine,” Jerri said with an aggravated sigh, biting back her fear and frustration. Curiosity had gotten the better of her in the end. “See you soon,” Andrew said. He walked off in an opposite direction from Jerri as she walked towards her dorm. As Jerri neared her dorm’s sally port, she saw that a new person had taken up residency in Teddy’s tent. The man was very thin, pale, and had huge bloodshot eyes.

  She stopped and stared at the man, grabbing the blade in her pocket.

  She was angry; she was angry at everything. Worst of all, her shame gnawed at her gut. She wanted a way to relieve herself mentally. “What are you doing in that tent?” she asked. “That’s not your tent!” The man scoffed.

  “What’s it to you, bitch?” the man asked, arranging his knapsack.

  She found her release; violence has a strange tranquilizing effect once everything was said and done.

  The man had no idea what manner of beast had just encroached upon him. “Get out,” Jerri said.

  “No,” the man said dismissively, amused even.

  She got the response she wanted. Needed.

  Jerri drew her knife and flicked the blade open.

  The man’s eyes grew wide with fear.

  “Whoa! Easy! Just chill for a minute!” the man said, putting his hands up. He stared at the blade and his eyes lit up with recognition. He smiled and pointed at her old knife. “Hey… that’s one of Teddy’s!”

  Jerri was taken aback by his reaction and brought back from the brink of a shallow abyss. “He’s a friend,” she snapped, keeping the blade raised. The man looked down and nodded.

  “Yeah… he was my friend, too. Old coot sold me a solarpowered CD player. I guess I never will get the CDs he promised me. I’m going to miss him…” the man said, choking back a tear.

  Jerri lowered her blade…

  “Was? What happened to him…?” she asked timidly. The man looked up at her with bereavement in his expression.

  “They black sacked him… last night… Something about suspicion of theft around the camp” the man said, tearing. “Teddy was no thief. All they saw was an ex-con though.”

  Stunned, Jerri slid the knife back into her pocket and pressed the sally port button with a shaky hand.

  The sally port door controls threw a shower of sparks and slid open, making an awful grinding noise as they moved.

  Jerri stumbled inside, knees almost buckling, throat quivering. “Attent-tent-tent-ent-ent. [STATIC] Do not move-ove-ove-ove [STATIC] the decontamination processsssssssssssssssss.[STATIC]” Jerri collapsed onto her hands and knees and started to vomit, creating a puddle of creamy bile in the middle of the sally port. She broke down into tears, sobbing deeply, loudly.

  The red light flashed.

  The shower head made a noise and spewed out black smoke.

  “You are nowwwwwwwww [STATIC] Let your– Thank you for– [STATIC]”

  Jerri slowly stood back up and staggered into the dorm building. As she staggered towards Krystal’s room, she could still smell the odor from the mess hall in her clothes

  She took a detour and went to her own room first to get changed. As she walked into her room, some semblance of normality settled in. She walked over to her wall collage and stared at her countless magazine ads. Teddy found most of the old magazines for her and bartered for some of the other pictures she wanted. When she first came into the camp, she didn’t have much except for a trash bag full of clothes. If she could go back and bring something from her old apartment, it would be a picture of her family.

  Maybe a picture of Mitch. She was ashamed to admit it but Mitch was feeling more and more like an ex-boyfriend and less like the plague victim he was. She cried for days when the white-suits tore him away from her and took him to another part of the evacuation center after he tested positive for the PT12 infection. After a year, it seemed like she didn’t have any tears left. That a part of her was finally moving on.

  She was just glad that she didn’t have to see him turn. Jerri went over to her dresser and got a chang
e of clothes. She opted for the khaki BDU pants and a black shirt. It worked for her; she was never much of a dressy type of girl anyway.

  She looked down at the mess hall clothes and kicked them towards the trash.

  As soon as she turned towards the door to leave, it opened and Andrew walked into the room, closing the door behind him. Jerri startled.

  “Fuck!” she shouted, placing a hand on her beating chest. “Don’t you knock?!” “Knock, knock,” Andrew said with a smile. He reached up and touched a clump of singed hair on his head. “What a hunk of junk… Damn fire-spitting deathtrap. I’ll put a work order in tomorrow and make sure it gets fixed personally. How’s your friend?”

  Jerri shook her head and sat down on her cot.

  “I didn’t check on her yet,” she said, crossing her arms on her lap, sighing. “I had to get out of those clothes…” “If only I came a few minutes sooner,” Andrew said with a grin. Jerri didn’t crack a smile and just stared at the floor.

  “What is it?” Andrew asked, losing the grin. “The… food situation?”

  “Among other things, yes,” she said. She looked at him earnestly. “Do they… do they even know what they’re…”

  Andrew scoffed. “Of course they know. Everybody knows, it’s just a matter of admitting it,” he said as he sat down next to her. “Honestly, people aren’t stupid; they know we don’t have any cattle or a surplus of meat. They know we didn’t get a magical supply of pork yesterday. They see or hear the black bagging. They see the empty gallows. They know… but they’re hungry. They’ve noticed the missing pets, the disappearing rats… They knew but they didn’t care. Hunger makes people do things they never thought they would do.”

  “Have you…?” Jerri started. “Ate it? No,” he said. “But I don’t judge those who do. I guess it’s where we’re at now. Even before we resorted to our pets, I started stockpiling the MREs when the ration drops came less and less frequently.”

  “So you saw this coming,” Jerri muttered. She felt stupid; she should have done the same thing. “Absolutely,” he replied. “Camp 7 decided to fortify their walls and quit being the kid in school who lets all the other kids play with their toys. Now that they see the resources are dwindling, they’ve clutched their toys against their chest.”

  “Supply and demand,” Jerri said, shaking her head.

  Andrew nodded.

  “That was the point of the seed fiasco a month back. I think it was their parting gift. They told us bluntly over the coms that they would not be sending any additional supplies and that we should start growing crops,” he said. “This bountiful harvest that the administration has so lovingly bestowed on everyone is the end result.

  “Right now, it is simply population control. We’ve got a fair share of unsavory types and people don’t really care when they turn up missing. Once our numbers come back under control, people will take notice… by then it will be too late. People will still be hungry and the administration will still need to find meat. Perhaps by that time they’ll implement a lottery system or something. George Orwell, Suzanne Collins, and Margret Atwood could have been prophets.”

  Jerri thought for a moment and then looked over at him. “Why are you working with these bastards?” she asked.

  “Well,” Andrew said, “employers are kind of limited at the moment and I hate to be bored.” She narrowed her eyes.

  “You know what I mean, smart ass,” she said.

  Andrew chuckled and thought about the question for a while.

  “I know that I’m expected to say it’s because I want to make a difference and help people. I know that,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “But… well, that’s bullshit. I don’t have any experience with law enforcement. Before the outbreak, I sold televisions at Best Buy. I’m not special. The reason I do what I do is because I’d rather be on this side of the fence and not get messed with than to be on your side of the fence. Is that honest enough for you?”

  “The winning side, huh?” Jerri said with disdain.

  “Well, I’m not sure we’re winning anything anymore,” he looked over at her and smiled. “What about you? You’re so intuitive and honest… how can you stand living in this façade of a society when you know it can’t self-sustain forever?”

  Jerri picked at a loose thread on her pants and thought about the question for a few seconds.

  “I just hoped things would go back to normal one day,” she said, looking up at the ceiling. “Like this would all is one big bad dream.” “And you’d have a house, a husband, and two-point-five kids?” Jerri laughed.

  “Yeah, and then you could sell me a new flatscreen for my massive living room,” she said with a smirk.

  “Well, I’d probably ask you for your number afterwards,” he said. “But you forgot my imaginary husband. I’d have a ring on,” she said with a wave of her finger and a ‘tsk’.

  Andrew shrugged.

  “I never did say I was a good guy,” he said with a sly grin. “I’m just an old dog trying to catch a bone where I can.” Jerri punched his arm.

  They both laughed.

  “Things are bad outside the walls, Jerri,” Andrew said, tone changing. “We may have to leave sooner than expected.”

  “Why’s that?” Jerri asked, confused. “There is more going on than the population reduction,” Andrew said. “We have raiders camped a few miles away outside the wall… We think they’re getting ready for a siege.”

  Jerri looked at him, stunned.

  “Why not call for backup from one of the neighboring camps? We’re not the last one left, right?” she asked.

  Andrew shrugged. “We've yet to get a response,” Andrew said. “I doubt we're the last. More than likely it's technical issues. At the worst indifference. But this is our reality. We have no idea what the marauders have for weapons. Our camp could fall in a matter of hours. Staying is a gamble. We need to get out of here.”

  “First we need to go check on my friend and then you can regale us with your plan for escape,” Jerri said.

  She stood up and Andrew stood up next to her, chuckling. “Don’t worry, I’ll work something out. Would I be a complete asshole if I told you that your friend's thousand yard stare freaks the shit out of me?” he said.

  “Yes, but unlike most assholes at least you’d be an honest one.”

  16

  “Hey,” Jerri said, knocking, “open up, it’s me.”

  There was no answer.

  Jerri put her ear against the door and heard the baby crying. She looked at Andrew and shook her head. Slowly, she opened the door and stepped inside with Andrew following her. They both covered their nose to mask the stench of urine as they tried to see in the dark room.

  Andrew hit the light switch on the wall and the fluorescent fixture on the ceiling flickered to life. Krystal was sitting on the cot with her shirt off and breasts exposed. Her skin was pale and her eyes were distant. Her whole body looked haggard and weak.

  Baby Jacob lay on the carpet, kicking and squirming in his own feces and urine. His feet mashed into his runny stool and his fingers were coated in it.

  Andrew quickly looked away and put his hands on his knees, fighting his gag reflex.

  “What happened?!” Jerri shouted as she ran over towards her. Krystal looked at Jerri and a small flicker of recognition lit up in her eyes.

  “Jerri…?” she asked in a state of bewilderment. “What… where is this…?”

  Jerri stared at her, mouth agape.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you…? Stop this!” Jerri shouted, shaking Krystal by the shoulders. “Stop being like this!” Krystal’s body shook easily and she offered no resistance. “Stop…? Stop where?” Where is this?” Krystal asked again.

  “She’s lost it,” Andrew said from the doorway. “There goes my idea.”

  Jerri spun towards him, exasperated.

  “What can we do?! What was your plan?!” she pleaded with panic in her voice. Andrew walked over and crouched near the baby.
He carefully picked the screaming child up and cradled him against his chest, examining him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an old handkerchief.

  “There’s a man I know who sneaks people out of the camp,” Andrew said as he cleaned the baby up with the cloth. “He owes me for looking the other way on a few things… He’ll take us out of here for free. I trust him.”

  Krystal cooed to herself and rocked side-to-side on the bed, dancing to a song nobody heard but her.

  Andrew frowned.

  “He’ll never take her though,” he said, nodding towards Krystal. “She’s a liability.” “Then think of another way!” Jerri said. Her anxiety was getting the better of her. She stood and started to pace the room, running her fingers through her hair. She stopped and took the baby from Andrew and gently rocked him.

  The child stopped crying and started to talk gibberish. Jerri bounced him in her arms.

  Andrew was deep in thought.

  The baby laughed.

  Jerri, despite the circumstances, smiled. It’s been a long time since she heard a baby’s laugh, and it was a ray of light in breaking through the gloom of the situation.

  Andrew was broken from his concentration and looked over the laughing baby. He couldn’t help but smile himself.

  “Do you honestly think things are any better in Camp 7 than they are here?” she asked. “I’m absolutely sure,” Andrew said, smiling. “They have the two ARKs which are the nation’s only central seed depositories, they have cattle ranches, crops, and they have a large portion of what’s left of the military. It’s safe there and there is no hunger, no rat meat, no…. You know. It can be a fresh start for all of us.”

  “Almost sounds too good to be true,” Jerri said, thinking about the picturesque scene of a quaint farming community. Jacob started to babble and laugh in her arms. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked up at her with two of the bluest most beautiful eyes she ever seen.