by Dalton Wolf
“Fortress or Dungeon?” Quinn asked as they neared the river.
“Fortress,” Calvin suggested. “We need to drop off Brick and have him checked out, then we’re going right back out for Lucy and Lola.”
Instead of pulling in front of the Library, this time Trip drove them back and forth while the turrets re-killed the sixteen undead scattered throughout the street and park. Quinn backed the ambulance, stopping a few feet from the entrance. Those in the Hedgehog jumped out of their vehicle and ran inside, squeezing between the large ambulance and the wall. Quinn then backed against the columns, leaving no gap.
“Trip, you’re clean so get to the balcony and cover the street,” Calvin ordered.
“I can do that,” the doctor called down.
“I’m sure you need a break by now, Doc,” Calvin looked up at the older man.
“Actually, I need to talk to you, Calvin,” the doctor shot him a grim look.
“We need you to take a look at Brick first,” Calvin pointed to the ambulance.
“It’s ok,” Joel put a hand on his shoulder. “Athena just coaxed him out with a Snickers bar. He looked like a monkey going after a banana.”
“He’s actually talking now,” Sarah said. “Don’t you ever worry about him, Calvin,” she added—a little bitterly, Calvin felt.
“Don’t forget that we’ve still got to go after Lucy and Lola,” she reminded them, eyes mere slits as they followed the retreating Brick as he strode boldly behind Athena downstairs to the infirmary. Athena had a lot of medical training and had helped the company set up the little medical facility and had even helped run it for a while until they had hired a full time Registered Nurse.
“Go see what the doctor wants, first,” Sarah coaxed him on.
“I’d still have him check Brick when you’re done, though,” Boomer suggested.
“Right.” Calvin rushed up the central stairway into the lobby just inside the patio.
“What is it, Doc?” he asked, rubbing his fingers through his long blondish hair.
“I’ve confirmed everything. They are doing it, Calvin,” the doctor hissed angrily.
“Who is doing what?”
“The wall. I have confirmed it. The wall is going up around the metropolis. One hundred miles, give or take. And then a second wall at 200 miles is being prepared. Also, all outgoing communications have been severed and will remain so until they decide to open them up again.”
“What? Why?”
“They don’t want anyone calling for help from the outside until the walls are in place. They can’t allow anyone from inside the One-hundred-mile radius to escape. As of twenty minutes after the plane crash, orders were given for all outgoing vehicles to be stopped and all flights rerouted back inside.”
“What happens if they refuse to turn back?” Calvin asked.
The doctor simply returned a stark gaze.
“I…see,” Calvin responded tentatively. “What about your ride?”
“Yes. Someone will be taking me to a facility located just inside the fence. They adjusted the wall in that area so I can still get where I was going.”
“Ok. I was wondering how that was going to work.”
“Apparently there are volunteers waiting there for me.”
“I think it’s best we don’t mention any of this to the others for now. If they think we’ll never get out of here they might be more inclined to give up.”
“My thoughts as well.”
“Listen, doc. We’ve got a guy downstairs in the basement that I need you to look at. He’s taken quite a shock from all of this. Might be coming unglued. Athena is down there now, but she’s not a doctor…” he trailed off hesitantly.
“I’ll go check him out right now,” the doctor promised with a smile.
“Thank you, sir.”
* * * * *
“Hmm, blood pressure is fine,” Athena nearly whispered, speaking to herself as she pulled the stethoscope from Brick’s muscular arm and unwrapped the cuff.
“How are you feeling now, Brick?” She asked, rubbing her palms and fingers down the sides of his face and through his hair to check for bumps and a temperature. She looked deeply into his eyes, looking for any dilation or spasms.
“I feel fine, baby doll,” he schmoozed, reaching a big hand out to pat her firmly on the butt.
She slid skillfully away from his hand and grabbed a thermometer, sticking it unceremoniously into his mouth. The handsome athlete reached out with his other hand and grabbed her, catching her off-balance and pulling her close.
“C’mon sweet lips. Calvin’s not here. Let’s squeeze one in. You know you’ve been needing it for so long,” he joked.
Or at least she thought he was joking. “Cut it out,” she only half-laughed, jerking her shoulder out of his grasp and stepping over to the table to get a towel to help him clean up. Her blood rose, pulse pounding in her chest, but she was used to difficult patients from her time helping in recovery wards.
“You may have PTSD. You should lie down and get some rest.”
“I’ll lay down if you lay with me,” he suggested, pursing his lips and running a finger down her shoulder.
“Stop it Brick!” she brushed his hand away and pushed down on his shoulder, forcing him down onto the edge of the cot.
“Ooh, two minutes and you’ve already got me in bed,” he cooed in a silky voice.
“Stop it or I’m not going to help you,” she demanded, hands on hips.
He dropped both hands innocently to his sides and frowned up at her. “Sorry,” he replied. “Listen, I don’t know what was wrong with me out there. I’m just trying to keep things light here. Forgive me?” he asked, blinking, offering his best ‘sorry, baby’ face, the one he used on girlfriends who had learned of his cheating, but he still wanted to sleep with them one more time and then dump them, hard.
“Fine,” she breathed, releasing a breath she hadn’t known she had taken. “Here, let’s get some of that grime off of you,” she said.
Reaching out with the towel and waiting for him to help, she sighed in exasperation when his hands remained at his side. Becoming agitated, she reached out and snatched his shirt, dragging it up his fit torso. She then grabbed the towel she had already soaked with cold water and began wiping some of the grime off of his broad shoulders, rubbing down his powerful, well-tanned arms and scrubbing over to his well-defined chest, scrubbing hard to remove the sticky mud and gunk from when he’d crawled up the hill into the park. Brick started making his fish face again and she had to pull back once more. He was clearly receiving messages Athena wasn’t sending out, because this time he slid both arms high around her waist, trying for an embrace.
“C’mon, Athena,” he cooed. “I know you feel something here,” he breathed smoothly. “You know I’ve always had a thing for you,” he admitted.
But she felt a more sinister purpose in his words, something colder, a menace waiting in the embrace. Ducking under his overtly friendly lunge and turning, she backed away, looking around anxiously for something to use to defend herself, her panabas still sitting in the lobby.
“It’s just a hug for saving me,” he breathed heavily. His eyes now burned with feverish desire she had never seen before. He was usually so charming, but now as he leaned forward, she could only think of running. Taking two great jumps back into the doorway, she slammed into the doctor as he entered whistling.
“Oh, hello, Athena,” the doctor said cheerfully, his friendly face open, unaware of anything out of the ordinary. “Calvin said I have a patient. Is this he?”
Her eyes snapped back to Brick, who now appeared as cool as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson walking away from an explosion in slow motion, as if nothing at all had occurred, leaning his broad shoulders against a medicine cabinet to one side.
“Yes, doctor,” she replied, keeping most of the shaking from her voice. “His…his name is Brick. Stephen ‘Brick Wall’ Jacobs. He’s a quarterback and he’s had a few concussions already. He might have ta
ken another one today, though I can’t find anything and he says he hasn’t hit his head. But he clearly seems to have some head trauma. He’s certainly not acting like himself.”
Brick favored her with his most charming smile and winked. It seemed innocent enough, but a shiver shook her at some unspoken thing waiting deep within those deep blue oceans, something new, menacing leering over the doctor’s shoulder. Another shiver ran unbidden up her spine—and it wasn’t a good shiver like when Hephaestus wore a Speedo or when Calvin did his Superman pose in his underwear on the end of the bed just before ruining it with the most ridiculous superhero dance anyone had ever invented. Brick may not have been bitten, but this outbreak had certainly changed him.
“I’ll check him out now,” the doctor pushed her away. “Why don’t you go up and see Calvin. I think he wants to get going as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” she gushed relief, giving him an appreciative hug.
* * * * *
“Brick’s not going to do us any good out there, Calvin,” Sarah was arguing on the upper patio when Athena walked up.
“I know,” Calvin admitted unhappily. “The doctor just called up and said he needs some rest. Look, he responded to Athena best. Let’s leave her here with the doc to help Brick. They can take turns keeping an eye on him and watching the front. The rest of us can bring back the girls.”
“I think I need to stay here, too!” Sarah said in a rush, eyeing Athena apprehensively, noting something out of place, a shadow on the open prairie of her always sun-kissed face.
“Yes!” Athena agreed immediately. “Sarah should stay with me.”
“Ok, what’s up?” Calvin asked suspiciously, eyes oscillating between the women.
Grasping for any reason to have another person present, she disposed of several lies, and then her eyes lit with purpose. “I think we need to make a real meal for everyone.” And she didn’t have to lie; it was a good idea.
“And I don’t want to leave Athena here alone to deal with all of that,” Sarah colluded, just knowing she needed to.
“Boomer is here now. He’s worth both of us together, anyway.”
“I think you’ve both done very well so far,” he countered honestly.
“Everyone will do better with a good meal in their bellies, Calvin,” Athena argued.
“Fair enough. Boomer, take the other turret,” he said into his mic to the rest of the group, who were all preparing down in the lobby.
“I guess that leaves me in the back again,” Felicia grumbled.
“Sorry, FeFe,” Scooter responded. “You don’t get to ride in the back.”
“Why not?” she demanded, now mad that she didn’t get to go at all, her green eyes flashing in anger. “I’m ready to help!”
“Good, because we need you to drive.”
“I—I’ve never…driven one of those before,” she said hesitantly.
“It’s simple. The military demanded that they be easy to drive,” Quinn enlightened her.
“And I don’t know my way around here…” she argued, but this was clearly going to be the last wall in her defense as she was already blushing with excitement at getting to drive the wondrous vehicle.
“We’ll tell you where to go,” Tripper promised her with a hand on her shoulder.
“Well, ok then,” she replied.
“Who’s riding with me this time, then?” Quinn asked.
“I will,” Tripper said.
“Ok, Tripper, I’ll stay shotgun in the Hedgehog,” Calvin agreed with a nod. “Head for the street; I’m on my way down.”
It’s Always Faster Coming Down
“It’ll be getting dark eventually,” Trip mentioned discretely to Calvin as they clanked noisily down the hall towards the vehicles. He and Calvin slowed behind the others, intending to let them get out of earshot.
Though sunset was still several hours away, everyone was already tired from the mental stress. Eventually they would need to sleep and there were still too many people they had to rescue. Calvin didn’t even want to think about trying to do that at night. Luckily he didn’t have to.
“We got it fixed, Calvin,” Gus said distinctly into his ear from atop the TV tower. “Everything seems to be working.”
The clarity of Hef’s closed communication system was phenomenal, even at this range. The wind occasionally blew too hard and drowned his voice out, but that was unavoidable.
“Wait a second and we’ll try to operate it from here, then,” Calvin suggested, and nodded to Felicia, who held up the touch screen device with the video feed, never losing step or balance.
She nodded affirmation.
“Ok, it’s working here, too,” Calvin replied. “You coming down?”
“Yes. It will take us about twenty-five minutes,” his friend explained.
“That fast?” Athena asked in wonder.
“It’s always faster coming down. Sometimes a lot faster,” he joked.
“Not funny,” Scaggs interjected coolly.
“How are you doing, Scaggs?” Calvin asked, already knowing the answer from the strength and lucidity of her voice.
“Good,” she replied. “But this isn’t as much fun as I thought. I can feel the tower swaying in the wind. That’s not fun. It’s thrilling, and beautiful, but hardly fun. I feel like it’s trying to throw me off.”
“I thought you rode those mountain peaks in Asia?” he asked.
“Yeah, well, mountains don’t sway in the slightest breeze,” she spluttered.
“She’s alright,” Gus answered any unspoken questions they might have. “She’s not clutching the rails like she’s never going to let go, so that’s a good sign.”
“And however long he told you it would take us, I can beat that by five minutes. I gotta make sissy.”
“Then don’t look down, sweetheart,” Gus warned her.
“Why not?” She had to ask, being the only person in the world who listened when people said things like ‘don’t look now’ or ‘don’t say you heard it from me’ or even ‘don’t look down’. It was probably bad and she probably didn’t want to know. Which, of course, is why that was her next question.
“What is it?”
“Just trust me.”
“It’s zombies, isn’t it?” she asked. “It’s a whole bunch of zombies just waiting for us to come down so they can eat us?”
“Well, it’s not little old ladies looking for a bingo parlor,” he answered.
“Right, zombies.”
“Yep. They made it into the parking lot. Someone must have tried to get in or out while we were climbing. They left the gate open.”
“It wasn’t open before, that’s for sure,” she grunted back.
“It looks like that pit in Raiders where he drops the torch into the Arc room.”
“That bad?” Calvin asked.
“Oh my God!” Scaggs exclaimed after looking down. “Yes, it’s that bad.”
“Where do you want us, Gus?”
“Same place as last time,” Gus responded after a long pause. “I’ll adjust as we get down closer. It looks like we can cross that same corrugated roof walkway after a little fight…maybe”
“Cool. See you in twenty-five.”
“See, Mr. Quinn,” Trip smiled at the stout armorer. “You won’t be alone for long.”
“Fair enough,” the deep-voiced redhead replied with his own style of heartiness.
“On second thought,” Calvin decided. “Why don’t you go on back to the Dungeon, Quinn? Let Hef do modifications on your vehicle. We’ll have enough people out there with Gus and Scaggs and we need your truck rigged for passengers.”
“Good idea,” the big smith admitted.
“Let’s take you by there first.”
“No need.”
“You’ll be alone…” Calvin said hesitantly.
“I’ve been alone most of my life,” the giant man laughed.
“That’s not what I mean. Let us at least escort you across the
river.”
“It’s been mostly clear so far. If I get in trouble, I’ll call your friend.”
“Then at least stay on the radio with him until you get there.”
“He’s got work to do. He can’t be stopping to talk to me every five seconds,” Quinn admonished him.
“You’re right.”
“Calvin, this thing is military grade and more than big enough to get me out of most scrapes and your friend has enough toys to save me from anything else that my own two weapons can’t. Go get Gus and that pretty actress down from that lightning rod and save your other friends. I feel a storm coming on,” he warned.
“Be careful, Quinn.”
The man smiled fondly and nodded.
“Let’s go,” he announced to the rest and they looked up to Sarah on the balcony for a nod that it was clear. Quinn opened the gate and exited first, through the back door of the ambulance, shutting and locking it after. He quickly pulled out and the others ran to the middle of the street to the waiting Hedgehog.
“I can’t believe it’s staying so empty here now!” Tripper exclaim in disbelief.
“Yeah, how come they’re not gathering around the building?” Joel wondered.
“Because this isn’t some cheesy B-movie,” FeFe snapped. “They’re not always going to find us wherever we go.”
“It might as well be a cheesy movie,” Joel shot back. “Do I need to remind you there are zombies?”
“Must be attracted to things other than sound,” Calvin thought aloud. “Although, we have been trying not to make any extra noise near the windows and now we’ve closed the doors to the inside offices to keep the sound down even more, just in case.”
“I don’t want to find out how fun it wouldn’t be if we couldn’t keep this clear,” Boomer mused. “Sure was nice not having to fight my way in after that fun in the park.”
“But you’ve got armor and a weapon now, Boom,” Joel pointed out.
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s disgusting splitting skulls, but with these face shields Hef made, I feel almost impervious to zombies.”
“Just keep saying stupid things like that, Boomer, and you’ll find out why black people never live to the end of horror movies,” Gus cautioned him from afar.