by Jack Wallen
Jessica nodded. “These men and women took an oath to follow my command. The last order I gave them was that they were now under your leadership, Bethany.” Jessica turned and gestured to the well-heeled army. “They await your orders.”
I had no other choice but to put Jessica’s words to the test. I made my way to the nearest Jeep, climbed up on its hood, and turned to face the soldiers. To my shock, each and every man and woman snapped to attention and offered me a salute. The chill that raced across the whole of my back side nearly dropped me to my knees.
Jamal hopped up on the hood to be by my side. “Shit, B., this is unreal. We have a fucking army to command.”
I leaned into Jamal and whispered, “Can we trust this?”
“If there is one thing we can be certain of, it is the relative nature of trust. Prior to the Mengele Virus, I could trust that humankind wouldn’t devolve into brain-eating monsters. Post Mengele, about the only thing I know to be trustworthy is you. The more important question we should be asking is…can we afford to miss out on such an opportunity?” Jamal said with an absolute certainty I hadn’t heard in awhile.
He was right, of course. Never before had the adage, Nothing lost is nothing gained, been more apropos.
An idea struck me…one that had only the slightest hint of danger. I climbed down from the Jeep and addressed Jessica Burgess once more. “If you want us to believe you, join me and my gang on the other side of this wall. Integrate yourself into our daily lives while your army and what’s left of the Zombie Response Team units remain on this side to guard the perimeter. If you can prove your loyalty to our cause over the next few weeks, then we’ll start talking about how we can combine our efforts to right this apocalyptic ship.” I stepped dangerously close to Burgess and spoke with an undercurrent of threat. “If you show the slightest sign that you’re up to something, I will enjoy ending you more than you can possibly imagine. I don’t think I need to tell you how important these people are to me and how protective I’ve become of them. I will not hesitate to do very bad things to you.”
Jessica nodded. “Of that, there is no doubt.”
I dove my gaze deep into Jessica’s eyes, searching for some sign of dishonesty. I had no idea what I was doing at the moment, but desperation was loudly calling for any measure I could take.
“There’s one other thing I have for you,” Jessica said with a slight grin. She held out her hand one more time. The same soldier approached and handed her a small black case. Jessica turned to face me and held the box my way. “The beta cure. I believe this will aid Dr. Gerrand in his quest to keep the Cradle at bay.”
Jessica handed the case over to me.
“Ms. Nitshimi, I understand your reticence at accepting my help; it is, after all, a leap of faith most wouldn’t be willing to take. However, you should know that, although the Zero Day Collective has been removed from play, there are other enemies out there…very much alive and very much interested in watching humanity go up in flames. I can help you stem that tide of revolt. I have skills, information, and connections. I am very much aware of the machinations driving those who would be your foes. Armed with a little foresight, you could put the enemy of the human race into the grave. Please…” She intertwined her fingers and closed her eyes. “Accept this offer of good faith.”
I shot a glance at Jamal. He pressed his lips tightly together and, after a moment of pondering, nodded once.
“Fine. But, as I said, I will be watching your every move.”
Jessica nodded. “Understood.” She then turned to who I assumed was her right-hand man and said, “Order all squads to work with the Zombie Response Teams to patrol this wall. I want a clean quarter-mile radius established. No one gets in or out without the express permission of Ms. Nitshimi.” To be safe, Jessica pointed me out to the soldier.
“Yes, ma’am.” The heavy-browed male nodded and then turned back to bark out orders to his troops. Before I could comprehend was going on, vehicles were set in motion.
Morgan gestured for one of the ZRT unit leaders and informed her that they would be joining the ZDC armies in guarding New Salt Lake City. The female soldier, who wore camo in ways I could only dream of, nodded her head and turned to her soldiers to mete out orders. Like a perfectly choreographed dance, the ZCD and ZRT soldiers prepped. Soon, a battalion of men and women, all following a singular cause, were marching up and down the perimeter of the wall, ready to strike down anything or anyone on an exponentially shrinking no-fly list.
I turned to Jessica. “You might need to remove your heels before taking on our wall.”
“Nonsense,” Jessica huffed. “You’d be shocked at what I’ve done and what I can do in heels. I’ve lived in them most of my adult life, so they may as well be a part of me.”
“Then you’re tougher than me,” I responded with a wink.
We approached the wall. I nodded for Jessica to ascend first. There was no reason not to think she wouldn’t reach up and pull me to my death…all in the name of the Mengele Virus and the Great Cleansing.
I still had trouble getting past that last name.
Burgess.
This was my world at the moment…glancing over both shoulders, hoping like hell the pact I’d made with a devil I’d had no idea existed wouldn’t bite me and every living human in the ass. Within the inner sanctum of my skull, I questioned my decision. How could it be that, within the blink of an eye, the Zero Day Collective could have fallen and their surviving army and leader be at my disposal? This was all too easy, too pat. Any second the other shoe would drop from Earth’s orbit and crush my skull.
Just then, a Sun Tsu quote came to mind. It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. Could this be that chance for us to truly—and finally—know our enemy? I had to admit, the idea of trapping the daughter of the man who launched the fall of humanity had a certain appeal. Along with the journal of Jonathan Burgess and the cure for the beta iteration of the Cradle…we might finally have the pieces in place to win this war.
Might is a word with far too many meanings.
Once at the top of the wall, I hoisted my body over and took a quick look at the armies below, all working together to protect the precious cargo within New Salt Lake City.
Humanity; the living, the breathing, the thinking…my world in a microcosm.
“Is this really happening, or are we dreaming?” Jamal whispered.
“If we are, and you don’t wake me…sex is off the table.”
Jamal leaned in and gave me a peck on the check. “You are one cold woman, Bethany Nitshimi.”
I started the descent. “You love me anyway, Jamal.”
“That I do, Bethany. That. I. Do.”
*
Seated around the war room table were myself, Jamal, Morgan, Josh, Gerrand, Jessica, Raneesha, and Dane. Echo and Rizzo were, once again, playing the role of babysitter without question or complaint. No one present said a word…as if we were playing chicken with silence. After what seemed like hours, Dane pulled a necklace out of hiding from under his shirt and snapped the chain. From the broken links of metal, he withdrew a single key, placed it on the table, and slid it to me.
“What’s this?”
Dane and Raneesha exchanged knowing glances. Raneesha offered the slightest nod.
“First and foremost, it is an offering of truce. We originally had agreed you would leave New Salt Lake City once the battle drew to completion. After further consideration…”
Raneesha jabbed Dane in the ribs with a sharp elbow.
“And much persuasion by my wife…” Dane smiled and winked. “I realize how valuable your continued presence would be to us. To that end, we would request that you and your friends remain.”
I glanced around the room to see relief wash across
every face. When I returned my gaze to Dane, I nodded. “That would be…” I shot a look to Jamal. “…most logical.”
“That’s my girl!” Jamal shouted.
Dane continued. “As to the significance of the key…in Thelemite Square,” Dane glanced to Jamal, “I believe you are familiar with that location…”
Jamal sucked in a slow, angry breath. I placed a hand on his in a lame attempt to keep him calm.
Dane continued. “You will find a heavy steel door. That key is the only means of unlocking that entryway.”
I picked up the key and examined it closely. “And what mysteries will this reveal, Dane?”
“Something I believe you and your associate will greatly appreciate. Tucked inside that building is a communications array.”
“But I thought the Thelemites…”
Dane silenced me with a raised hand. “To those who followed my teachings, I did shun technology. What they did not know was that I retreated to that building daily so that I could remain up to date on what was happening within the world as it crumbled around us. After all, a leader without information is weak at best. The whole building is powered by solar and is equipped with four Tesla Powerwalls, so there’s no chance of losing electricity. If something is going on in the world, you’ll know it.”
With a single nod, I turned my attention to Morgan. “I want you and Josh to act as liaisons between the armies and me…or, rather, us. You two will take on the responsibility of managing the soldiers.”
Morgan nodded. “Sounds fair. Right, Josh?”
“Huh?” Morgan’s question caught the distracted Josh by surprise. He immediately realized he’d been busted and rolled his eyes. “What she said.”
My next move was to slide Dane’s key to Jamal. “I want you in charge of communications.”
Jamal groaned. “You’re Uhura’ing me?”
I glared.
Jamal begrudgingly accepted the key. “Aye, Captain.”
“Gerrand, I’m fairly certain you understand your role in this.”
Richard offered a curt nod. “I have both the alpha and beta cures, as well as one of the Chatterers for research.”
At that, Jessica’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Please don’t tell me that thing is…alive…or whatever you’d call it.”
Gerrand turned his attention to Jessica. “Certainly it is. Is that an issue?”
Burgess slammed her palms onto the table. “You understand those things serve one primary function…to communicate. If there are any remaining members of the Zero Day Collective alive who happen to know the frequency used by the Cradle, they’ll be able to locate that thing within yards. On top of that, they stream both audio and video back to the ZDC servers.”
Jamal raised his hand. “Yes, but you said you trashed the ZDC HQ.”
“That is true, but considering the number of people the Collective employed, there is the possibility that someone survived with access to one of the many redundant off-site cloud accounts. Even if every copy of the uploaded files were destroyed, if someone knew the Cradle frequency, they could intercept the transmission and use it against you.”
Jamal momentarily vanished to his safe space. The second he returned, he added, “Possible, but not probable. If everything you have said is true, the probability of someone intercepting these transmissions is, at most, seventeen percent. Combine that with the fact that power outages have begun to take out many of the major grids, and that certain someone would also be required to have access to a backup energy source, as well as a link to a satellite transmitting data. One final layer of complexity would be…”
Jessica shook her head. “Are you certain of all this?”
“Jamal is never not certain,” I answered.
“However,” Jamal continued. “The very idea that this is all possible makes me leery of keeping that Chatterer alive. If it were up to me, I’d hold the thing in our Faraday cage to make sure…”
“Done,” Gerrand said succinctly. “I believe we have the materials necessary to strengthen our cage to block just absolutely anything sent by the Chatterer.”
“Get on that right away,” I said without hesitation.
Jamal leaned into me. “I also want to bring Io back to HQ. We could really use that kind of computing power.”
I nodded and said softly, “In due time, Jamal.”
“What about me?” Jessica asked with genuine curiosity.
I turned to face Burgess. “Yes, what about you? I’ve been pondering that very question since you appeared, out of thin air, to join in on our little battle to stem the bloody tide your father unleashed. I’ll be honest, Jessica, my heart and mind are at war here. However, if there’s one thing I have never been called it’s unfair. So, I’m confident the best place for you is by my side. You will help me lead this race to rebuild humanity. As you do, remember how many I have at my side willing to do whatever it takes to protect me and all that I hold dear.”
Jessica reached across the table, grabbed my hand, and offered a smile of humility. Everyone stared down at our hands, breath held, hoping I’d made the right decision.
twenty-three | return to madness
“Are we really doing this, B.?”
“A little late to question our actions, don’t ya think, J-Mart? We’re at the top of the wall about to descend into Madness.” My arms quivered against the strain of the climb. The heat and exhaustion from our recent efforts had taken their toll on my body and mind. But we had promised ourselves we’d return to the Mad Maxian playground to see what was what.
“Voice of reason,” Jamal mumbled. “Just sayin’.”
We continued over the wall and began the long climb down. I stole a glance over my shoulder, expecting to see doomsday-modified motorcycles spitting rooster tails of sand and skull-sporting men clad in leather and chainmail thongs. Instead, the area below us was empty.
“What the hell?” I whispered. “Where are the gladiators, brawlers, snake handlers, guitar-playing gimp-suited nerd boys, and sand-dune royalty?”
Before Jamal could answer, the roar of a crowd interrupted. The joyous noise was an indiscernible chant, than a chorus of solidarity.
“I don’t like this, Bethany.”
“Are you kidding, Jamal? This is our perfect chance to get our asses down there and explore. Clearly the citizens of Madness are attending Sunday church and cannot be bothered with the likes of us.”
Jamal nodded and we hopped down to the sandy ground.
“I should have brought my drone.”
“This way.” I gestured and took off toward the nearest building.
Everything about the single-story structure seemed perfectly normal…minus the fact that all windows and doors had been forcibly removed. Bent and broken hinges clung desperately to door jambs and fragments of jagged glass rose angrily from window frames.
“I don’t remember an explosion strong enough to cause this level of damage,” Jamal said quietly.
Inside, the building showed the normal signs of life—for the apocalypse. Bed rolls covered the floor. Stray food wrappers and cans littered every flat surface. On the wall farthest from the window, tick marks were etched into drywall. I counted.
“There are over six hundred marks on that wall.”
Jamal nodded. “A mark for every day since the fusion generator went off in Munich.”
My stomach dropped. It had become so simple to ignore the passing of days and the march of time. I wanted the display to be wrong, to be off by a year or two. Deep in my gut, I knew it was dead on.
The indecipherable chant rose again.
“Bethany,” Jamal called out in a hushed tone. I pulled my attention from the wall of shame to see him standing at the corner, waving me over. When I didn’t immediately comply, he waved again…this time with vigorous intent.
My heart raced and my throat instantly dried as I slowly made my way to the building’s edge. Before I peeked around, Jamal stopped me. “You are not going to believe th
is. No really…you are not. Know this, Bethany Nitshimi: what you are about to see changes the game.”
“If you don’t get out of my way, Jamal, I’ll be changing your game.”
That made no sense. But then…nothing did at this point.
Jamal finally made room for me to sneak a look.
He was right. Very, very right.
In the center of an intersection the size of Times Square, a platform had been erected. Surrounding the platform was a horde of incensed human beings… all cosplaying some variation of Mad Max or Dune. They each screamed at the tops of their lungs until not a single word could be understood.
In the middle of the stage was a pole. To the side of the pole stood a man sporting the bleached skull of some beast atop his head and some type of leather skirt around his waist. The man was buff and oiled like any given tyrannical leader of a postmodern, deconstructed society should.
What stole mine and Jamal’s breath wasn’t the crowd, or the stage, or the skull-rocking leader. Tied to the pole was a man…one all too familiar to me.
“Faddig,” I whispered.
“Is this really happening?” Jamal asked.
The leader raised his hands and a hush blanketed the crowd. When he spoke, his voice Tased my heart.
“Outlanders!”
The single word brought a wave of uproarious joy splashing through the crowd. He brought his hands up a second time to summon silence.
“The reckoning is upon us. Death’s fallout has handed us a most unlikely gift. The man you see before you directed the plague of beasts against the human race. He is known to his inferiors as Faddig. To us, however, his name is as irrelevant as are his pleas for mercy.”
Every hand shot into the air, palms forward like some abstract salute to the Gods of anarchy. The silent gesture went well beyond the realm of haunting. The be-skulled man continued.
“We are not a merciless people. Although our customs may seem otherwise, we are not savages. The council of elders deliberated on a fitting punishment for the man who brought about the new world order. Some considered imprisonment; but that would require us feeding him from our most precious reserves. Some considered banishment from our city; but that would bring no promise of reform or regret. In the end, the only logical conclusion was his.” The man pointed a long, lean arm toward Faddig. “Faddig’s tale ends today, his existence is concluded. It is writ…it is done.”