by Bob Howard
Susan told herself that she would have to be as strong as Jon had been, even if it meant second guessing herself later. It may have been two men with families who were waiting for them to come back, or it could have been two men who would have cut their throats. They would probably never know, but if the man had listened to Jon, he would most likely still be alive right now.
A breeze swirled around the corner of the HVAC unit she was hiding behind, and the last bit of sunlight was disappearing beyond the horizon. She didn’t know if she hated the midnight watch more than sundown. She would be sleepier at midnight, but the temperature always seemed to drop like a rock as the light disappeared.
Susan decided it was time to walk the perimeter of the rooftop. It would get her blood circulating a bit, and she would get to see if there was anything going on near all of the ladders. Something told her that someone on the ground would wait for sundown before letting themselves be exposed on a ladder.
The first ladder she checked was the one where the two men had tried to climb up behind Jon, and Susan just took a quick glance over the edge before pulling her head back.
A confused expression crossed her face as she tried to match what she saw with what she remembered from the last time she had seen it. Shadows were everywhere, and if you stared at one long enough it would move. Sometimes a shadow would appear to be moving when you didn’t stare at it. This was one of those times.
Susan stood at the top of the ladder wondering if she should risk a glance again or if she should do as Jon had done. When she had heard his story, she remembered how impressed she had been when he said he just slowly lowered himself to the gravel roof and waited. Jon had heard a sound, and he could have waited where he was forever if nothing had been there, but he had been right.
She decided to take a page from Jon’s book and backed away from the ladder. She lowered herself to the roof and aimed her Beretta at the spot between the two handrails of the ladder.
Susan willed herself to stay calm, and she heard Jon’s voice talking about how he put his finger on the outside of the trigger guard until he was sure someone was there. She did the same, and just as she made the move, she felt herself involuntarily suck in her breath and then hold it.
A curved mound of shadow appeared very slowly at the edge of the roof between the bars. Susan realized she was feeling everything Jon had. She could feel her heart pounding, and hear it in her ears.
The shadow grew larger as someone rose up another step on the ladder. Susan could make out the arms, and the hands were both holding the rails. That meant whoever it was couldn’t let go quickly.
“I would say freeze, but it’s too damned cold out here already, so I’m just going to say don’t make any sudden moves.”
Susan couldn’t have been more pleased with the way she sounded. She delivered her warning without even mentioning her gun, but she sounded so calm and sure of herself that the person on the ladder could only believe she meant business.
The shadow did what it was told to do, and it seemed to shift its weight slowly to one hip so it could lean up against the hand-railing on one side. The left hand came up palm first to show it was empty while the right hand stayed on the railing.
“I have one hand on a trigger, and the other hand has a flashlight. I’m going to shine it in your face, so don’t fall off the ladder.”
Susan hoped her expression of concern would buy a bit of goodwill from the person on the ladder.
She clicked the switch on and the beam blinded the man.
He said, “You’ve always been considerate, Susan. That’s why everyone likes you so much.”
She was so surprised to see Sim’s smile that she kept the light on his face longer than she needed to. She pulled her hand away from the trigger of the gun as if it had suddenly become hot to the touch, and if Sim hadn’t taken the chance to step further onto the roof, her diving bear hug would probably have carried both of them over the side.
Susan was laughing and crying at the same time, and Sim was trying to figure out what she was saying in between sobs and laughs. There was something about not getting shot, but there was also something about last night.
“Wait a minute. Wait, Susan, wait.”
He was having a hard time getting her to stop long enough to make sense, so he had gotten a good hold on her arms and held his face down closer to hers.
“Are you saying someone was shot? Is everyone okay?”
He had heard it last night. Feeling like he was more comfortable than anyone had a right to be, he had heard three gunshots. They didn’t sound too close, and he wasn’t so sure he wanted to stick his head up through the skylight to see where they had come from. For one thing, he would lose some of his heat, and for another, he could give away his position.
The shots had been closely spaced, and then it had become quiet again. It wasn’t the first time he had heard gunshots in the city, and he didn’t think for a minute he and the crew of Executive One had been the only survivors. He just doubted there was such a thing as a survivor who wouldn’t shoot you for your boots.
Susan managed to choke out that everyone was fine, and Sim was able to gradually piece together that Jon had shot two men on the same ladder last night. When Sim understood that part, he knew that he had been in Susan’s crosshairs. That’s why she was crying so much.
In a very gentle voice he said, “It’s okay now. You didn’t shoot me. I know you could have, but you didn’t.”
Sim had debated long and hard with himself about how he was going to approach the airport terminal, especially after hearing the gunshots the night before. It could have been that someone was shooting at his friends, and there was nothing to stop either side from shooting at him.
He finally decided that he couldn’t approach the terminal exposed. He spent the day getting closer to the airport and studying the terrain for signs of other people. He didn’t see any living people, and most of the infected were still frozen, but he saw something beyond comprehension where the fire had been burning. From what he could tell, someone had set fire to the infected, but the fire didn’t burn out. That could only mean one thing. Some kind of fuel had been used as an accelerant.
Sim thought it was possible that there had been a fuel spill, and someone lit the spill, but if that was true, it would have burned more violently and even spread to the buildings. In an odd sort of way, this was like it had been a calculated or controlled burn. If he didn’t know better, he would think Jon had something to do with it.
It seemed like most of the infected in the area had been drawn into the fire. He saw plenty that were frozen in place, and they would be a problem when the weather got warm again, but he was able to move quickly and give them a lot of room.
When the ladder was in sight, Sim patrolled the area until sunset, then he eased closer. He never saw Susan take up her position on the roof, and he had to give her a lot of credit for that. He knew there were people in the building, and she still managed to get the drop on him. After what he had seen out there on his own, he was glad to see his friends had become so aware of the dangers they were facing.
Speaking of which, Sim was suddenly more afraid of what he had left behind. If Jon had shot two people the night before, there could be more of them, and standing at the top of the ladder would make them an easy target.
He took Susan by the arm and led her toward cover. The way he was shying away from the darkness was all she needed to keep her from resisting.
“How long have you been on watch tonight?” he asked.
“Since four o’clock. I’m on until eight,” she said.
“Well, I’m not going to drop in on the others after last night. If they see me coming by myself, they could think I’m just someone who made it past you. I’ll stay up here with you, and we can go in together when your relief comes out. Who’s up after you?”
“Mike, and he was begging Garrett to let Addison stand watch with him, not because he was trying for some alone time. All o
f us are scared and don’t want to be out here by ourselves. There are four ladders to the roof. What if those two guys had chosen a different ladder to climb?”
“Jon would have heard them and been waiting at that ladder,” said Sim. He said it as if it was a fact. “Jon’s taking the threat seriously, and because he did, he put an end to it, at least for the time being.”
They settled in behind an HVAC unit with Sim sitting along one side and Susan around the corner ninety degrees from him. That way they could keep watch and whisper to each other.
“It’s so good to see you again, Sim. Was it bad out there?”
“Yes, it was stupid for me to think I could make it back home on my own. No one’s going anywhere by themselves if they want to survive.”
“What was it like?”
Sim didn’t know where to begin. There was so much between the airport and Columbus.
“I spent one night inside a dumpster. There was a raccoon in there with me that kept attracting the attention of the infected. Every time it was quiet enough for me to climb out, he would start making a racket.”
“How did you get out?”
“Well, remember I’m from the South, so getting the drop on a raccoon isn’t something new to me.”
Susan’s face appeared around the corner of the HVAC unit to see if he was smiling as he described it. He did smile when he saw her skeptical expression.
“I’m not lying to you. I chucked the raccoon out, and while the infected chased after it I got away.”
Before she could ask him what happened next he went on.
“I found a tunnel, and I thought I could use it to cover some ground without freezing to death, but let me tell you, that was a bad idea. I got lost, couldn’t see most of the time, and I didn’t know if I would ever find my way out of there again.”
Sim was thinking back, but he was also thinking ahead to what they were going to do if there really was an elevator next to Air Force One.
“After I got out of the tunnel, I kept trying to go south, but I kept running into hordes of those infected. I had to run from them and try to flank them at the same time, but every time I thought I was ahead of them, there were more. They kept me moving west, right into downtown Columbus.”
“You didn’t see any other living people?”
Sim just shook his head, not even thinking about whether or not Susan could see him do it. The devastation and the loss of life had been so complete. It was a miracle that they were still alive.
“I slept in a lot of cars, but it was funny how they still found you. You could be on the floor buried under blankets, and the car would start rocking. You knew what you were going to find when you lifted your head. You just didn’t know how you were going to get out of the car without a scratch.”
Before Susan could ask another question, he said, “I gotta know what happened over there before I tell you anything else. When I saw that big open area and all of those blackened heads it reminded me of my aunt’s Thanksgiving ham. What the hell happened over there?”
Susan was thoroughly confused.
“What in the world did your aunt do to her Thanksgiving ham?”
Both of them had to put their hands over their mouths and muffle the laughing until they could stop.
“We need to do better on watch,” said Sim. “Let’s make a pass around to the other ladders, then I’ll tell you about the ham.”
Fifteen minutes later they settled back in next to the HVAC unit again, but they rotated to the other sides. They resumed whispering but kept their eyes and ears on the areas where the ladders reached the roof.
“About that ham,” said Sim. “My aunt would use a whole can of cloves on the outside of her ham. You know, she’d stick them in the ham in a pattern until the ham was covered with these little black things poking out everywhere. That’s what all those heads were like. It was like someone went around and poked big black cloves in the ice, then they set fire to them.”
Susan thought a minute. They actually did have an appearance like someone had put them there, but it only seemed like that because they only burned the ones they could reach. They tossed ladles of fuel on their heads, but sometimes they couldn’t get close enough to torch them.
“I guess it smelled a little worse than ham and cloves,” said Susan. “Jon got this idea that we could control the fire if we only put fuel on the infected. What we didn’t count on was a big horde strolling in from the interstate and catching fire along with the heads.”
“That interstate?”
Sim pointed toward the place where he had spent the night.
“Yeah. The interstate must’ve been loaded with them until we set the others on fire. Then they just seemed to keep coming.”
“That explains why I didn’t see many up there. So, you guys did that. You may have thinned out the neighborhood enough for us to get away.”
“Get away? Are you going back out and trying again?”
“No, we all are. Not until next winter, but I think I know a way out. I’ll tell you all about it when we get back inside with the others.”
Sim checked his watch.
“It’s almost time for Mike to be taking over the watch. Keep an eye out for him. We don’t want him to get too excited when he sees two people up here.”
Mike appeared from the access door right on schedule, and Susan was waiting for him at the door. They exchanged a few words, and Mike started excitedly trying to see into the darkness on the roof. Sim stood up and walked over to him, and they exchanged big hugs.
Sim took a moment to reassure Mike that he was okay and said he had a little present for him. He fished around in his bag and produced a can of caviar, a can opener, some crackers, and a small spoon. He promised he would save some Johnny Walker Red for him and told him he needed to get Susan inside.
Mike felt like it was just what he needed to help him make it through four cold hours on the roof.
Sim felt like he was back in familiar territory when he ducked in through the door. Even though it was still cold in the ceiling of the terminal, it was much warmer than it was outside.
Susan led the way, and eventually they reached the spot where the mark on the ductwork indicated they were near their main shelter. Sim saw the word written on the aluminum and realized, it had been their shelter for a long time, but they needed to make it their home for a while longer. He didn’t think he would find it too difficult to convince the others once he told them what he suspected.
Garrett told them all to keep an eye on the ceilings, and not just where they had put holes they used to get around. He told them to watch for bulges where it had been flat before, and to watch for wet spots in case water started getting in. Water could mean they were walking on a soft part of the roof. Bulges could mean someone else was walking around in the ceiling.
Garrett was facing in the direction of the hole in the main terminal when he saw Susan’s feet dangling through. They had a rope tied to a rafter, and they had become quite good at climbing up and sliding down.
Susan slid down, and Garrett glanced away just as Sim came through the hole. Addison was just coming out of the tunnel that led to the passenger bridge still attached to their plane, and she saw Sim follow Susan. Her shriek scared the hell out of Garrett, and he pulled his Beretta.
By the time Garrett got in position with his gun, he couldn’t quite understand what he was seeing. Addison was hugging someone taller than her and her feet were swinging in the air. Then Sim turned his way and a broad smile spread across Sim’s face.
“Hey, Garrett. I’ll settle for getting chewed out if you’re still mad at me for leaving.”
Garrett let out a sigh of relief as Anne and Jon both came out of the shelter to see what was going on.
Susan got Addison to stop squealing by pointing at the chained doors at the far end of the terminal. From time to time they still heard the unmistakable sounds made by the infected coming from that hallway, and they hadn’t decided whether to elimina
te them or leave them there as a buffer against people.
Sim and Garrett walked toward each other, and even though Sim wouldn’t have blamed Garrett for being upset with him, he saw that Garrett was as relieved to see Sim as the others were. Garrett probably hugged him harder than Susan or Addison.
“Let’s get you two warmed up,” said Anne. “I just made some fresh coffee.”
They led Sim to the restaurant they had modified as if he didn’t know the way, but he had to admit, they had really improved it since he had left.
They had lowered the chain cage gate across the front of the store half way. If they had to pull it down in a hurry, they would only need to pull it six more feet. They had also built barricades along the entrance until the only way in was through a space no bigger than a normal door. If anyone or any thing got into the hallway outside the restaurant, they would have to face whatever was waiting for them in a smaller entrance.
Sim pushed a curtain away with one hand and ducked inside. Directly in front of him was a row of sharpened steel posts all aimed waist high and secured by some heavy furniture.
“I can see you guys hired a decorator while I was gone,” said Sim. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”
Anne went past Sim into the main living area and poured him some coffee. Sim gratefully accepted the cup, and moved toward a place to sit.
“Here, I’ll trade you this for the coffee.”
He handed Anne his overstuffed backpacks as he sat down. Anne’s curiosity got the best of her, and she started digging through the contents. The sterno cans were a nice surprise, but they still had a pretty good supply because there were several restaurants in the concourse.
The cans of caviar made her laugh, and she started passing out crackers and plates to everyone.
“I don’t think we need to ration this,” she said to no one in particular. “Besides, we’re celebrating.”
“What about Mike?” asked Addison.
“I promised we’d save him some caviar, but Sim gave him some to snack on while he’s on watch,” said Susan.