Desolation

by Mark Campbell

  Jerri nodded, struggling to catch her breath.

  Andrew led her through the dangling infected cadavers, navigating the path with his flashlight. Arrow shafts and glass crunched underneath his boots with each step.

  The cadavers reached towards the couple as they passed and held out their icy hands, trying to snatch their prey. Jerri let Andrew lead her, closing her eyes for time to time, tears running down her face. She hated showing such weakness, such pathetic weakness, but crying was the only thing that allowed her to keep some semblance of sanity.

  Jacob continued to scream against Jerri’s chest, opening and closing his tiny fists, kicking. They finally arrived at a set of double-doors at the end of the freezer. The chain’s pulley control panel was next to the door; Andrew would be sure not to touch it.

  Andrew pushed the doors open and peeked inside. The food preparation area was in complete disarray. Dry blood streaked across the checkered floor and dirty pans lay scattered everywhere. The overhead fluorescent lights flickered and the clogged sinks overflowed. Mold blossomed on the walls and rust encrusted the numerous stoves. Knives and other utensils were haphazardly jabbed into the butcher blocks. Empty wooden barrels of provisions and stacks of empty rat traps sat against the far wall of the kitchen.

  A few rogue arrows lay strewn on the floor and stuck into the cupboard doors.

  The door in the corner of the room led into the dining hall. “It looks clear,” Andrew said, cautiously scanning the room with his light. He entered and quickly crossed the room towards the other door.

  Jerri bolted out from behind Andrew and kicked the door shut behind her, frantically trying to catch her breath.

  “Are you okay?” Andrew asked, stepping towards her. He reached a hand out to comfort her. Jerri slapped his hand away and looked at him sharply. “You people are sick!” she spat. “How can anything justify that?!” Andrew looked at her, stung, and shook his head.

  “Look, I meant it when I said that I’m no saint,” he said. “I never knew… well… I had an idea but I just chose not to think about it. Things become too real when you see the man behind the curtain. I’m sorry you had to see that. For what it’s worth, I never sacked a single soul. I didn’t sign up for anything like this.”

  Jerri looked over at him and then stared down at Jacob, petting his small belly. “I’m sorry,” she said, closing her eyes. “It’s not just your people… we’re just as guilty. It’s one thing to cook the meal… and another thing to eat it.”

  Andrew looked at her and frowned.

  Jerri looked up at him and shook her head.

  “I didn’t,” she said. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t after I knew what it was.”

  “I’m glad,” Andrew said.

  “Would it make me a complete ghoul if I told you that I considered it for a moment though?” she asked, looking away. “Just an honest one,” Andrew said with a smile. A slight smile formed across Jerri’s lips.

  Her eyes darted across the room towards a large butcher knife that was tabbed in the center of a wooden cutting block in the center of the table.

  “Hold him,” she told Andrew, handing him Jacob. Confused, Andrew held the child and Jerri hurried towards the knife.

  She pulled the sharp knife out of the board and admired it as it glistened in the flickering light. “Upgrading?” Andrew asked.

  Jerri gave a sly smirk and weighted the blade in her hand. “I have to defend myself,” she mused.

  “Well, if you find some pistol ammo, share with me,” he said. “Come on, let’s go check out the main mess hall and get out of here before those two-bit cowboys find the front door.”

  Jerri nodded and started walking back towards Andrew. Something splashed behind her.

  Jerri froze and turned towards the noise, gripping the knife.

  A cook with his lower extremities gnawed off was scurrying towards her across the kitchen floor. He had emerged out from underneath the cutting table. He snarled and salivated as he got closer to her.

  Andrew started to bolt forward when Jerri held her hand up. “I got this,” she said. She ran towards the cook and stabbed the blade through the top of the man’s skull; it scraped across the bone and did not go through. She screamed, and stabbed him again, harder, until the blade cracked through the man’s skull and sliced through his gray matter.

  The cook let out a final gasp and collapsed face down into the pool of water on the floor. Jerri flung the gore off of the knife and spat on the cook’s corpse. “That’s for Teddy,” she said.

  Andrew said nothing. He simply watched.

  Jerri walked towards him and he handed her the child. She slid her knife under the edge of her pants and held the baby snug in her arms, rocking him.

  Andrew walked over to the barricaded door and rolled the table aside. He swung the door open and was met with a gun barrel pressed between his eyes.

  21

  The officer wearing riot gear quickly lowered his rifle away from Andrew’s face and saluted once he recognized the uniform.

  Andrew let out a sigh of relief and relaxed.

  “I’m so sorry, sir,” the officer said. “I thought you were a shambler.”

  Andrew brushed past the officer and walked into the dining hall, scanning the area cautiously. The long tables were overturned and the food serving trays had been toppled. The room looked like it was vacated in a hurry. It was completely empty with the exception of two FEMA officers. One of them was covered with ash and armed with a pistol. The other officer, the one who aimed the rifle at Andrew, glistened with flop sweat.

  “And I thought you were a pissed off civilian,” Andrew said. He turned and narrowed his eyes at the nervous rifle-bearer. “What’s your name?”

  The officer shifted uncomfortably and slung his rifle over his shoulder.

  “Martinez,” the officer said. He pointed towards his companion. “The one covered in shit is Jones.”

  Jones nodded.

  “We took shelter in here once it started popping off. We had no idea that the back cooler was a goddamn shambler holding pen so we’ve kind of been waiting for things to settle down outside,” Martinez said.

  Andrew looked at Martinez in disbelief.

  “Have you even bothered to look outside…? We’re losing this fight. Things won’t be settling down for quite some time.” Andrew said.

  “Pathetic,” Jerri said with a disgusted look on her face.

  “What was that, girl?” Jones said with a strong southern accent.

  “I said that you’re pathetic,” Jerri said, narrowing her eyes at him. “You two hid while the people you swore to protect are getting slaughtered outside.”

  Jones hiked his BDU pants up and waved the pistol at her, one hand on his hips.

  “In case you didn’t notice, you ungrateful bastards are the ones attacking us! I’ll teach you to show us some respect, you bitch!” Jones spat as he neared Jerri.

  Before Jerri could pull out her knife, Andrew pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Jones.

  Jones froze with his mouth open.

  “You won’t do anything,” Andrew said. “This girl and the child is under my personal protection.”

  Jones holstered his pistol and held his hands up apologetically.

  “Alright calm down, just calm the fuck down,” Jones said, not catching the child part. “I was just messing around. Don’t get your panties all in a bunch.”

  “Her child?” Martinez said in disbelief.

  Martinez crept forward to look at the small bundle of life Jerri held in her arms.

  Jerri, leery of the two men, stepped back.

  “He’s resting,” Jerri said.

  “Oh…” Martinez said, stepping back, looking over at Jones.

  “Well since you have all the plans, what are we going to do, chief?” Jones said to Andrew.

  Andrew looked down at his pistol and dropped the empty clip to the floor.

  “Well,” Andrew said, “for starters do you have any extra 9
mm clips?”

  Jones reluctantly reached down and took the last 9mm clip off of his tactical vest and handed it to him.

  Andrew slid the clip into his pistol and racked a round into the chamber.

  “Are we getting out of this building or are we opening up a goddamn daycare center now?” Jones asked, his eyes rolled up towards the ceiling.

  “Fuck yeah we’re getting out of here! We have to fight back and reclaim this camp!” Martinez shouted.

  “No,” Andrew said as he examined his pistol, “I’m taking the girl and the baby to Camp 7. You two are welcomed to join me if you can fight.”

  “You mean… a place that actually has supplies?” Jones said, smiling. “I almost forgot what that was like.”

  Martinez shook his head and held his hand up.

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Martinez said, laughing. “Camp 7 is up in North Dakota… That’s over a thousand miles away. You mean to tell me that we’re going to walk cross-country in hostile territory with limited ammunition and no backup?”

  Andrew thought about the question and shrugged.

  “Well, not exactly” Andrew said. “All we have to do is find a way to the abandoned Air Force base up in Tucson and get a bird. Staying here won’t work. Even if we get the shamblers under control and stop the civil unrest, we still have no supplies and no support and there are hundreds of marauders waiting outside our front door.”

  “They aren’t exactly just letting people leave, either,” Jones said in a disgusted tone. “They have that gate covered like flies on shit. How do you propose on leaving?”

  “There’s a secret way out at the back of the camp in medical,” Andrew said, looking over at Jerri.

  Martinez shrugged.

  “Fuck it,” Martinez said, “I’m staying. I’ll get you to medical, but I can’t turn tail like a coward. This camp is ours.”

  “I’ll go,” Jones added.

  Jerri forcefully poked Andrew in his back.

  He spun towards her, taken by surprise.

  “You’re just going to trust them?” she whispered.

  “For now we could use the extra help to get out of here alive,” Andrew whispered back.

  The dining hall sally port’s motor sparked as the door controls were short-circuited. The sally port powered down and the doors were forced open by the small group of civilians who Andrew and Jerri met earlier.

  The man in the trucker cap led the group into the dining hall.

  Jones and Martinez spun towards the group, reaching for their weapons.

  The trucker aimed his pistol at Andrew.

  Andrew quickly pulled the trigger.

  The trucker’s head snapped backwards and the back of his skull erupted, splattering the other rioters standing behind him with a mist of blood and bone fragments.

  Before the other rioters could react, Andrew popped off four more shots in rapid succession, hitting three in their chest and one in the stomach.

  The rioters collapsed onto the floor, three dead, two dying and slithering away in pain.

  Andrew slowly lowered his pistol.

  Jerri uncovered Jacob’s ears and looked at Andrew in disbelief.

  “I thought you sold televisions at Best Buy,” she muttered, looking at the corpses.

  Andrew looked back at her.

  “I’ve had lots of practice when the creatures were clawing at our wall a year ago,” he said. “I'd say I’ve become pretty proficient.”

  Martinez whistled in admiration and threw Andrew his last 9mm clip.

  Andrew caught the clip and slid it into his empty ammo pouch.

  “Lead the way, we’ll be right behind you,” Martinez said, gripping his rifle.

  Andrew looked at Jerri.

  “You okay and ready to go?” he said softly to her.

  Jerri nodded.

  Andrew walked towards the sally port, gun ready, and stepped over the corpse of the trucker. One of the men he shot had managed to drag himself into the corner, grasping his wounded stomach with one hand and the trucker’s dropped pistol with the other.

  He shakily raised the pistol…

  Jones fired a single shot through the dying man’s head and speckled the wall with red mist.

  Andrew nodded towards Jones and peered outside.

  The encampment was burning. Fires had been set at a number of dormitories, cooking the trapped tenants inside.

  Small battalions of looters wielding various weapons marched through the camp, executing infected and anybody else they came across. They pillaged the fallen bodies, searching the corpses for anything of value.

  The control tower burned like a massive torch in the distance. Four police officers hung on the gallows, stripped of their weapons and badly beaten.

  In front of the gallows, a large line of weaponless police officers had been marched in formation by civilians wielding assault rifles. The officers had burlap sacks covering their heads.

  The civilians opened fire on the officers.

  A group of officers emerged from the corner of one of the burning buildings and opened fire on the civilians, taking them by surprise.

  A firefight quickly erupted as the two opposing groups took cover.

  The infected meandered amongst the two opposing groups, taking down unsuspecting prey at their leisure.

  The marauders watched the events unfold from outside the gate, enshrouded by shadows.

  Andrew ducked back inside the dining hall.

  “We’ll have to move and we’ll have to do it fast,” Andrew told the others. “They have our guns and they’re killing with impunity. We’ll be spotted the second we step outside.”

  “I have another idea,” Martinez said, expression lightening.

  “By all means,” Andrew said, “Share.”

  22

  The clank and rattle of chains echoed out of the dining hall. The armed civilians stopped firing on the officers and turned towards the noise, confused and curious. Naked men and women started to emerge out of the breached dining hall sally port, moaning and staggering towards the fresh prey. Chains were draped around their legs and meat hooks dangled from their flesh like gaudy jewelry.

  Teddy led the group, eyes clouded, fingers covered with blood. The people panicked and quickly started firing on the encroaching horde, stumbling backwards.

  The naked corpses flung themselves onto the terrified civilians, bringing them down to the ground one after another.

  The terrified civilians amassed at the gate leading out of the camp, screaming, popping shots off at the undead on their heels. The marauders fired at the people pouring out of the gate but the numbers were too great; the marauders had no choice but to pull back for the time being and take their place back up on the hill.

  Inside the back of the dining hall where the bodies had been hung to drain, hundreds of chains lay on the floor. Most of the corpses had shuffled away but a handful remained snared by their chains. They snarled and pulled at the chains that bound them, entangling themselves more in the process.

  One of the vegetable freezer doors in the corner of the room slowly opened and Andrew and Jones stepped out of their hiding spot to survey the scene, weapons ready.

  The remaining corpses swung towards them, arms waving futilely, excited by the presence of fresh prey.

  Jones raised his pistol at one of the dangling corpses but Andrew quickly placed a hand on the barrel, shaking his head. “Don’t waste the ammunition,” Andrew said, glaring at the rabid corpses as they swayed. “Gunfire would just lead the ones outside right back towards us.”

  Martinez and Jerri crept out of the freezer next.

  Jerri held the bundled baby against her chest.

  “Now we sneak out the back and hope we avoid the gunplay going on at the front of the building,” Andrew said, nodding towards the rear sally port.

  “On it,” Martinez said, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. He ran towards the sally port and searched for the mechanical override mechanism.

 
; “Some plan,” Jones said, shaking his head. “Instead of dealing with some looters, now we have to deal with a camp full of shamblers.” “We never would have snuck out of here otherwise,” Jerri snapped. “So why don’t you stop bitching and do your part?” Jones rolled his eyes.

  “And what part are you playing? The nagging wife?” Jones asked. Jerri seethed with anger and stepped towards him.

  “Knock it off you two. Jesus Christ,” Andrew muttered, shaking his head. “This is not the time. Hopefully the horde flushed the civilians out the front gate and overwhelmed the marauders, forcing them to back off and give us a little breathing room. Now is the perfect chance for us to make our move. Jones, watch Jerri’s back.”

  “Sure,” Jones said half-heartedly.

  “Attention, manual emergency lockdown deactivated,” the sally port speaker announced as the door slid open.

  “Got it open,” Martinez proudly announced, holding his rifle close. The group walked out the rear of the building and found that the area behind the dining hall was in complete disarray. Multiple shamblers were clustered around the slain lying on the ground, gorging on them. Smoke was thick in the air and the cries of the dying coming from throughout the camp were deafening.

  A few sporadic bursts of gunfire popped in the distance. “Let’s just find a way to medical,” Andrew whispered, staring in revulsion. One of the gangly corpses, a former FEMA officer, turned away from his eviscerated meal at the sound of Andrew’s voice with a tattered piece of intestine hanging out of his mouth. He dropped the meat and stumbled to his feet, moaning.

  The other shamblers nearby stopped eating and looked up towards Andrew and his group. They all started to clamor to their feet and move towards him in an awkward gait.

  “Shit,” Andrew hissed between his teeth. “Run! Stay together! We’ll snake through the alleyways!”

  The gangly FEMA officer grunted and walked faster, trying to close the distance. Martinez fired and blew the top of the officer’s skull open. The creature stumbled and fell to the ground.

  The gunshot drew even more attention.

  Andrew took off running down the alley next to the dining hall, the alley next to Jerri’s torched dormitory. Martinez and Jones followed close behind, popping off shots at any shamblers who got within arm’s reach.